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Aziz Oberon, Seleucian ambassador to Murmansk Sunset, was having mixed feelings about his assignment. There was a sense of awe in returning to Earth, a planet he and every living Seleucian had only seen on video as children. The oceans in particular… the oceans were astounding! More water than the mind could grasp, all under the most perfect, natural, breathable air, and the sky alive with the floating of birds. It was almost overwhelming. On the other hand, Earth's gravity was difficult to adjust to, even with his vigorous training program before his assignment to this planet. Human physiology had adapted to the conditions of Mars, and it didn't understand the notion of an "ancestral planet" that it should automatically find agreeable. And then there was Murmansk Sunset. Perseides, after his visit to Earth some years ago, had praised its civilization as a beacon of light among Earth barbarism. If that were the case, Aziz shuddered to think what the rest of the planet would be like. There were more comforts than on Mars, that had to be acknowledged, but there was no sense of community. For someone used to the tight-knit settlements of Mars, it was unsettling.

Nevertheless, negotiations on the sharing of technology and trade were going well, and the Murmansk Sunset government stood by its promise to help in the setting up of a Seleucian outpost on Earth. Even more importantly, they were requesting a Seleucian participation in the construction of a new space station, one that would serve as a hub for all trade traffic between Earth and other planets. The matter would also be discussed face to face between Saratov and the Seleucian governing panel, but he would do some preparatory diplomatic work before that.

After some weeks, Aziz was getting curious about the state of other nations on Earth. He could watch the news in Copenhagen, of course, but he didn't trust everything he heard. He sensed that Earth might be a more complicated place than generally assumed, especially in the continents beyond Europe, from where fewer news were available. Still, the Murmansk Sunset authorities were not very keen on him wandering around the planet, and so he had to wait for some good excuse to convince them otherwise. That excuse came with the announcement of the grand opening of the new Imperial institute of Arts and History, in nearby Berlin. All Seleucians were interested in arts and/or history, so Aziz could make a good case for his request to attend as an official delegate from Seleucia Astraea. Also, the Middle European Empire was in a defensive alliance with Murmansk Sunset, and it would be awkward for the Murmansk elites to snob it, as they were prone to do with most 'cultural' events elsewhere in the planet.

It should be interesting.


Research progress:
Rocketcruiser chassis with two missile hardpoints, two point defence laser hardpoints and two gravity bomb hardpoints: 73%
Basic point defence laser: 52%
Advanced conventional warhead missile: 46%
Gravity bomb: 98%
Plasma jet propulsion: 5%
Pressure pocket terraforming: 26%
North Pole water and mineral survey: 4%

Well, that last bit is kind of hard to supply, without breaking some forum rules...