The climb up the branch was a further strain on Diana's sore legs. The stairs were short and wide, probably a consideration for a horse or some other creature who did not like to walk down steep slopes.

This made it exceedingly annoying to walk up though, the spacing making it awkward to keep a steady pace. Some steps needed two footsteps, others three, a neat average of two and a half paces. Unfortunately the Human body was only made with single steps in mind.

What waited for them at the top looked like something out of a fantasy book. At a glance, it appeared reminiscent of the gondolas that patrolled the waterways of Venice before it sank, only larger and more intricately detailed.

Further inspection revealed sets of appendages sharing the appearance of bird wings, four pairs running along the keel with a pair on each of the horns. Along the centerline was a long building that looked like a cottage, reddish planks made up the walls and a variety of brown shingles covered the roof. It even had a chimney!

"Is this it?" While Don was impressed with the aesthetics, a field he had no experience in, he was less than enthusiastic about the capabilities. "Will it really fly?"

"Without a doubt. Make yourselves comfortable inside if you feel so inclined, I will make merry with the boatswain." The Captain left, implying that they weren't to follow.

The rules of etiquette they had practiced up to now were in full effect from this point on, and Don held open the door for Diana in an effort to follow them.

'Lavish' is how Diana might describe the interior. In comparison to the gilded halls of the Oberlux, it was actually quite modest, but it was still far above what she considered the norm for fashion and decoration of a house.

And this was a transport craft.

True, it was diplomatic in nature, and operated under what was likely the most influential and rich organization among the stars, but it was still only a transport craft. A ferry.

How the hell could they compete with something that could afford to make their cheapo transport vehicles bastions of wealth like this? Granted this was probably an exception owing to the fact it was for diplomatic use, but the issue remained.

She again found it fortunate that these people wanted to help them, not hurt them. Even if that meant they would have to scratch their backs in turn, that was fine. So long as they retained independence, autonomy, and a reasonable degree of secrecy, there were things they were willing to give up. Brass-barreled cannons and telegrams were still a long shot from railguns and modern communication systems.

"What's your impression of their tech?" Alone in the room, her question could only have been directed at Donovan.

"To be completely honest, I haven't seen enough to even get a hint." He was looking out the window. The wings were moving, kind of, but it wasn't really the flapping motion of a bird. "I'd like to say they are a millennia behind, but looking at this shit I can't help but feel they aren't so much behind our technology as they are just having taken a separate path."

"So they have more options thanks to split?"

"More like they have options thanks to split." He took a swig of whatever the coffee-like substance waiting for them on the center table was. It was sweet with a hint of sour. "We didn't really have another branching path, physics really only works in one way, but you saw how they fought a star right? We can't do that with the physical sciences."

"True, but I feel like that might have been something of a unique case. If I remember correctly, being targeted for genocide by our local star was something of a recent problem for humanity, and split being a factor in that equation even newer."

"That was not at all what I was getting at." Don looked at her like she was crazy. "How could I explain it better... an example maybe? Hmmm."

Diana waited for him to formulate his thesis. She was asking a lot from him, both now and in the future, owing to his being more familiar with the technological development side of humanity rather than its cultural and political side.

Plus, they had plenty of time before they reached their destination.

"... settings. That's it!" He pulled out his tablet and started typing something in. "Yeah, that'll work. Diana, are you familiar with the alternative history timelines in books and movies and stuff?"

"Intimately. The Man in the High Castle sits among my favorites."

"Good, then do you know anything about the 'blank'-punk settings?"

"Like diesel-punk and steam-punk?" She was wondering how those were going to fit in.

"Exactly. Do you understand the premise behind them?"

Diana tried to remember anything about them besides 'oh, there was a focus on steam engines' in an attempt t not seem clueless. "It's like a version of humanity that has become over-reliant on one form of power generation right?"

"Sometimes. ARC and I agree that a more fitting description is an alternate history where humanity never progressed past a certain technological level, be it because other technology was universally deemed to impractical or there was a lack in materials vital for progression to the next stage. Consequently, human society evolved to become hyper dependent on that tech and push it to the limits."

"Okay, I think I see where you're going with this. Please continue."

"What I think has happened is that we, that is our version of humanity, was placed into an environment where we were forced into the realm of physics because all other paths of progression were cut off. Split is not a resource we had access to.

As a result of that, we developed things that they might not have even needed, or known they needed. Split seems like something very versatile, and can probably handle many of the more basic needs we developed technologies for. Gunpowder, it seems, is one such innovation.

I think reading and writing might also be a result of this, just to connect it to something you have a better grasp of. If everybody can speak to and understand everybody else perfectly fine without resorting to something like a thesaurus to find a definition, you don't need to resort to reading to figure things out.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Similarly, it seems that because of this, basically everything is done by word of mouth. Teaching, relaying orders, the chronicling of history, all taken care of by the spoken word. It's not that they are too stupid to develop a writing system, it's that they never needed one."

That was a bold claim. Even if they didn't really need one, it had been displayed that they did in fact create one. The Sanctum Script. Besides, "Wouldn't curiosity and innovation drive them to create an alphabet regardless? I know for a fact there were a great many things we developed even if they were otherwise completely useless."

"Maybe, but that's just my theory. Do you have any ideas?"

Don took the time to finish his drink as the two of them brainstormed.

"Don, I think I might have an idea about their behavior. It assumes your theory is correct of course." Diana was no slouch when it came to thinking, at least in a calm and controlled environment.

"I'm all ears." Don reclined in his chair, relinquishing the speaker's podium to her.

"It has to do with the process of their evolution, both genetically and societally. As with your argument, this stresses that the root cause of our difference is attributed to split, and I think that they started when life began. It has to do with their attitude in regard to innovation and progress."

He was giving a level of attention she wasn't yet used to.

"I should preface this by saying my knowledge on the subject of evolutionary biology is second hand, but I think I understand the gist of how it works."

She didn't want to seem like an idiot if she ended up being wrong.

"That's fine. I'm not exactly an expert on industrial development or how science progresses either. We can run these theories by ARC later to see if they hold water." Don started committing their thoughts to paper by typing an abbreviated list on his tablet.

"Great. Anyways, I think that there might have been a sizable evolutionary divergence in regards to whatever it is that drives innovation and progress. And I think it is on a very basic level."

"How basic are we talking?"

"Food-chain level. If split is as versatile a tool as the Scholar describes it, then it means they probably never went through the same intellectual arms race we had with nature. Let's say that in the act of, oh I don't know, hunting, they needed to quickly dispatch their prey from range, split seems like something that would be very useful. It would also be a very useful tool against some apex predator that outmatches them physically."

"Wouldn't they have never developed weaponry in that case?" Donovan's counterpoint was something he had been subjected to for a while now, the sword. Split could not have been all-powerful if it meant that they resorted to sharpened metal sticks.

"I don't think learning to smelt metal into weapons is as big a deal as you think it might be. Weapons are used because they make you a more effective and deadly fighter. That seems basic and natural enough to have been something they ended up just doing.

Alternatively, that knowledge could have been introduced by a somewhat more intelligent party. There seem to have been many different species introduced into this galactic community. I don't think it would be strange if there were a few innovations further along the tech tree that spread by random chance."

"Fair point. What does this have to do with evolution."

"I think they never evolved to value innovation, they never had the instinct to improve their technology because they had the crutch of split. If it serves them pretty much everything they could ever need or want, as I think it does, they would become over reliant on it and assume all of their answers can be found in it."

Don sat back and thought on it. It made sense, kind of, but he agreed with her in the belief that this hypothesis was incomplete at best.

"Wouldn't they have at least made some advancement over the ages though? Even if by complete and total accident?"

Diana shrugged. She couldn't say anything about that as she had no idea how such a thing might occur in the first place.

How do you accidentally figure out calculus? To her knowledge the patterns found from calculus could be found naturally, but you couldn't exactly prove it without a relatively deep understanding of mathematics. Sinusoidal waves, for example. You can see them if you look for them, especially if you know what you're looking for, but it's hard to make sense of them outside of that.

An independent investigation done by Donovan aboard the Oberlux, the mentioning of calculus and other calculus related concepts, confirmed that they did not know anything about them.

The Scholar's knowledge of math ran deep as far as his intellectual circle was concerned. It was part of his job to run the Oberlux's crew payroll, and they were not something he had even seen mentioned in the few textbooks that were available to him.

Don might have found the answer to his own question after recalling one of their previous conversations.

"Do you think they might be suppressing technological findings to maintain control?"

"Who?"

"The nobles, nobility, royalty. They have groomed themselves over generations to be extremely potent when it comes to using split, so wouldn't it make sense for them to want to maintain that power by disincentivizing and destroying innovations that threaten to overthrow them? They certainly have the power to do so."

Diana thought about it. It would make some sense, but there were counterpoints. Some of these would give advantages over neighboring rulers, enemies, like guns or crossbows. Others wouldn't really threaten their power, saws and shovels being an example of tools of industry.

She couldn't really see how higher levels of math could be construed as hostile either.

"It might be a part of it, but we will have to live in this society in order to really find out. We just don't know enough yet."

"True. Mercedes, off the chair." Mercedes thought she could be sneaky and hop up onto one of the padded chairs in the room while they were engrossed in conversation. Don was unwilling to risk her hair getting all over the plush cushions.

The knock at the door put a temporary end to their conversation and in walked the Captain.

"I apologize if I am interrupting, but we have arrived."

His decor was slightly different than before, the biggest changes being the addition of a cape that extended to his knees and an assortment of expensive looking jewelry scattered around his body.

The earrings were particularly visible as they pierced the tips of his longer ears, weighing them down and changing the way his face looked. The golden loops were embroidered with a variety of what could only be precious jewels, though Diana couldn't remember if any minerals from earth shared similar characteristics.

This was evidently his ceremonial garb, a display of wealth and status for this occasion.

"Do you feel yourselves presentable? If there is any other article of clothing you may need, we will try to provide it." He seemed nervous.

"I think we will be fine as is." Diana was once again kitted in her favorite outfit, though the addition of some hair accessories and a necklace made an appearance. "If anything, might I ask for a comb for my hair? The walk disorganized it somewhat..."

She didn't actually need the comb.

"I feel I'm fine as is." Donovan filled out his dress uniform quite nicely. Unfortunately there was no flair to it, something that the Captain and Scholar alike reacted negatively to.

This uniform was monotone grey, with little embellishment in either pattern or embroidery. The emblem of the navy was absent as well. The only striking objects on his person were the golden pinky ring on his right hand courtesy of the Scholar and the cowlick on the back of his head that had escaped everyone's notice until now.

Donovan needed the comb.