So, Joseph, let's just cut right into it. Where
are you and what are you doing? I am calling
Nyla Westedge, my boss, to the pod that I basically
was housed in before I, you know, became, not
sentient, but was allowed to walk around the
base. It was my, like, assassination pod where
they kept me. And I think I'm calling her in
to go over the, you know. Maybe I bring up the
specifics of like the last mission we were in
and like I have more questions about like a robot
that has blood. You know, that's weird. I need
some answers. Do you know something, you know,
as a robot? I'm curious. That could be the basis.
Sure. Yeah, she doesn't ask many questions. She
picks up the phone instantly. You know, she she
heads over to your pod. Remind me where your
pod is and what it kind of looks like. I. Don't
know exactly where it is. I would be like I assume
it'd be like somewhere kind of hidden away, maybe
even underground. But like it was just going
to be like basically like a room essentially
with like a pod in the middle where I would be
like hooked up and then maybe some like books
laying around and like the mechanical pieces
is not really like set up any other way. It's
very bare bones. I always imagine it's kind of
like one of those abandoned like cargo containers
that just never gets opened. just like unaccounted
for in any manifest yeah yeah we'll say that
yeah sure whatever um but yeah she shows up opens
the door because of course she has a key to your
place um and you know walks in um and she you
know looks at you and says okay what what is
it uh quick out of character question do like
is there any relationship that i have with nyla
like I don't think we've had a history. We never
went over it. But like, does she even like like
me or am I just like an employee? Yeah. Well,
you had a chance to say you had a relationship
with her, but you did not declare that you did.
So she has no feelings for you besides being
a co -worker. I figured, yeah, that like nothing
else was going on. OK, I'm probably leaning against
the pod. And Joseph says, Nyla, I'm. Very happy
that you came. I had something very important
that I want to bring up to you. OK. All I ask
is that you let me finish my thought before you
tell me your reaction. Is that OK? He nods. Also,
I think this is she would pick up that like Joseph
seems visibly nervous as well. Like he may be
like shuffling his fingers and like looking towards
the floor. But he probably breathes a long sigh.
And he says, during our operation on the factory,
I met another individual as I was stealing the
data. His name was Glass New Lane, and when I
surprised him, he did not shoot me. Glass was
looking for the same information as I was, so
we managed to both swipe a copy. Glass gave me
his number, wanted to keep in contact, and we
met again recently. Nyla, I... Had to know why
he didn't try to kill me. Why he was so friendly
with a machine. Glass is not a Clusteris. He
belongs to Gold House. And he knows I'm a Peacekeeper.
And he wants to remain friends. Doing so would
require me to divulge Peacekeeper information.
And that I cannot do. Not alone. You are the
only other person I have told this to. I believe
we could work together. Because we might not
have this opportunity ever again. Trying to decide
whether to make you roll or not. Yeah, I really
wish I could. This is what I was telling you.
I wish I could get this fucking speech skills
up. I realized I'd be talking to so many people.
So here's your option I'll give you. You can
not roll if you'd like. You can take the default
result, which I have, you know, written out like
the midway one. Sure. Or you can risk it for
the biscuit and try to roll and get a better
result. But you may also risk getting a much
worse result as well. Yeah. I mean, the much
worse result is me not playing anymore. So I
don't know if I want to do that. I might just
go the default route on this one then. I mean,
I wouldn't remove you from the game if you failed
this. You wouldn't? No. It would just make your
life harder. But I'm cool with either one because,
you know, it will like if you fail the role,
it will affect you. Yeah, I know. That's what
I'm thinking. And it's like I already have such
a low fucking score in this anyways that I feel
like I'm going to get fucked over. Like I don't
we don't exactly roll well in this game. So it
would be a risk. But I could would I be able
to use stress or something for an extra dice?
You can push yourself. And then is there an extra
thing I can do? Like, isn't there like a fate
point or something? There's a devil's bargain
where I tell you a bad thing will happen guaranteed,
but you'll get another die. You will get an extra
die, but you will attract the attention of a
major player that has not shown up yet. And it
might not be positive. Oh, really? You know what?
Let's have the dice tell the story, Colin. We'll
do it. We shall do it. You didn't sound confident
there. Well, I mean, I had to come up with it
on the spot, but I do have prep for certain things.
Okay, because I will roll. I assume this is a
sway. Sure, so you will get two. That's a consort,
actually, because you're consorting with someone
you know, and you're not really lying either.
You're just kind of saying like, hey, this is
the stakes. This is the situation. Could I, so
I have, I'm looking at my stress. Ooh, I would
be put at, so I only have three left for the
next mission, though. Yeah, you could just take
the Devil's Bargain. You could risk it for the
biscuit. You know, up to you. Okay. Fuck it.
If I die in the next game, I'll know why. I'm
pushing myself, and I'm doing the Devil's Bargain.
Is that plus 2D? Yeah, so you'll roll two dice
total. Okay. And position risky affects standard?
It's a desperate position, but yes. Okay. All
right. Personal success. Is this like what you
would have said anyways? Yeah, basically. Okay,
so I just lost two stress for no reason. Perfect.
Oh, you did more than lose two stress, my friend.
Yeah. It's called the devil's bargain for a reason.
Okay, so first of all, you get a mark in XP and
resolve. Yahoo! You actually move towards getting
social skills up, which is good. Nyla kind of
listens attentively to you and like nods her
head and said, okay. Do they know anything else
about you, besides that you're a peacekeeper?
I didn't divulge anything further. Do you know
anything else about this individual, or Goldhouse?
Here's what he told me, specifically. I was confused
by his reaction to me, so I asked him what Goldhouse's
motives were, and from the inside, it seems that
they aren't excited about bowing down to aliens.
From the opinions I hear on base, neither are
we. They believe humanity needs to develop itself,
as many have said. Our interests may align in
terms of the Clusterist Rebellion if we can get
them on our side. We might not be able to make
them friends with us, but we could make them
enemies with the Clusterists, and that could
be beneficial for us. I see. Now, let's say things
fall through. No peace is made. Goldhouse is
on the target board. Well, then we have a prepared
assassin. as soon will be acquaintances with
the head of Goldhouse, ready to act when you
give the order. She kind of sighs and like rubs
her head. Fuck. And then she reaches into her
pocket and pulls out this little round device,
which you instantly recognize is the device which
is used to suspend your operating functions when
they put you in the pod. It's like something
that they just plug onto your head. And she kind
of holds her hand out and says, Joseph. Please
put this on. I'm sorry, but this is part of the
procedure for this sort of thing. Joseph nods
and he backs into the pod as he was planning
to. And he says, if you would like this to end,
we can make that happen. He kind of clears his
throat and says, Joseph, I understand completely.
And you are correct. And it is a good idea. This
procedure is designed to protect us as well as
you. I promise no harm will come of you. Joseph
says nothing. Yeah, Joseph backs into the pod
and then he says, Either direction earns us success,
Naiva. We can slowly integrate Goldhouse into
our attacks against the Clusterists through talks,
or we can sabotage Goldhouse from the inside.
It's a win -win. And should we succeed, you can
be the one to present the whole operation. If
you would like to. We can say you instructed
me on it, too. Well -placed plan that ended the
rebellion in a few short months. Many would owe
you a debt. And then he puts the item on. Some
would call you a hero. And he lays back in his
pod. Yeah, you shut down. And as you shut down,
you know, the systems shut down like one by one.
Like a little cascade, like your physical ones
go out first. Then like your processing unit
like slows down. And there's like a brief moment.
It's like for like a human, it would be like
imperceivable. But you're not a human. You feel
something connect to you. Something like really
big. It's like imagine like an ant gets touched
by like a human. It's like picked up just for
a second and then put back down. And then it's
just black. And then you wake up. You know, there's
no real. You can't tell how long it's been immediately,
but your internal chronometer kind of slowly
speeds up and you realize it's been 12 hours
since you went to sleep. Nyla is standing in
front of you, and next to her is Whitecliff,
the Seoul Union Emergent Personalities Division
agent who interrogated you prior to your assignment
with dusklights. Nyla is looking tired and shaken,
but Whitecliff looks at you without much expression
at all. Neither of them is really saying anything
and kind of wait for you to say something or
make the first move. I nod to White Cliff. Hello
again. He doesn't say anything. Nyla produces
this, like, data drive, sort of like brick, and
hands it to you and says, Give this to your contact
in Gold House. It has intel on it regarding an
operation. Build trust with them. Get us as much
information as you can get. If we can hurt them,
or even take them down, we may be able to get
the Seoul Union to throw us some more budget
finally. This could be... Very big, but we need
someone in there. Joseph is now going to turn
his head towards Wycliffe and wait for a response
there. She nods to you. Joseph takes the item,
and he steps out of his pod. Nyla clears her
throat and goes back into the rehearsed speech.
She's like, we really appreciate you doing this
for the Peacekeepers, Joseph, and we want you
to know that... We will support you through this,
and this is a very big move for your people.
She kind of cringes a little bit at the end.
Yeah. Joseph, you can't see it on space, but
he's cringing too. But he nods and says, thank
you for thinking of us. Well, I kind of turn
to Wycliffe again just to see, is there anything
else coming from her? Can I get anything? You
have dice, right? Yeah. Do you have... Study
or survey? No, I have zero. You can roll a zero
die if you want. This is just a gather information
roll, so there's no consequences if you fail.
Okay, I will do study. Let's study her face.
Partial success. It's hard to tell exactly what
she is thinking. Your best guess is like a thinly
veiled contempt and mixed with like... A gratefulness
that her life gets a little bit more interesting
because of this. You're not sure exactly why
she's here, but presumably it's just part of
the procedure Nyla mentioned that she supervises.
Gotcha. Okay. I think Joseph just keeps looking
through almost like some acknowledgement, you
know, or like in fear to be like, is this okay?
You know, almost like a kid would like look to
their parent if they're going to do something,
you know. It's just that he keeps checking on
her. But from what he can gather, he gathers
that, I suppose, and keeps quiet. But he nods
to everyone there and says, you know where to
find me and you know how to reach me. You know,
nylon nods and they leave you to it. You notice
a couple of things that have changed while you
were unconscious. Whitecliffe presumably made
some modifications to your body. You are not
sure what because you do not have access to the
logs. for those particular things, but presumably
it's some fail -safe program or she downloaded
some logs or something. Strangely enough, there's
also another anomaly, which is that besides Whitecliff's
tamperings, I may figure out how to phrase this
in a cool way. Sure. I guess it's more of a feeling
than anything. You feel clean? You feel like...
I'll use a metaphor, because I like metaphors.
Please do. Like, imagine you had a house of cards,
right? And it was a pretty good house of cards.
And then someone broke it down and then rebuilt
it exactly like you made it, but slightly better,
imperceptibly better. Like, you couldn't even
put your finger on how it's better. And you're
not sure why that is. Okay. I think I gotcha.
I'm just generally feeling like something has
changed positively within me. I know that, but
I don't know what it was. Yes, it's gotcha. You
know, it's like not quite emotional, but maybe
it is. I was going to ask, like, is it through
my mind or like mechanically? You it almost feels
like you've had a spiritual moment somehow. Like.
You kind of feel like a little bit of angel dust
is on you. I don't know how else to put it without
giving it away. They fucking slipped me some
psychedelics while I was under. Yeah, I got you
on that robot mushrooms, boy. Damn it. It's weird.
It's also a little scary because you can tell
when Wycliffe does something. It's pretty obvious.
It's like big black boxes inside yourself. You
can't see inside. And there's usually just bad
shit behind them. You know that much. But this
is like totally different. And if you really
think about it, you felt it in those moments
right before you shut down. When that whatever
it was made contact with you. All right. Hex.
Let's talk about Tesco Long, your reporter friend
from Starlane News. Lately, she's been pressing
you for information and kind of straining your
friendly relationship. But let's talk about how
you first met her and how you became friends
in the first place. Yeah, so back in Hex's corporate
life, you know, when he rubbed elbows with the
likes of Bluth and Glint, Hex was caught up in
another one of Bluth's schemes that he didn't
quite agree with. At a high level, the reason
why Tesco is so, I guess, forward with asking
for tips on his current work is at one point,
he gave her a tip on Bluth since he didn't quite
agree with what was going on there. And so here
we are. Now she keeps reaching out to him, hoping
for more, but he's not as forthcoming these days.
And we've yet to explore why. So you receive
a message from her. on whatever device you receive
messages on. And all it says is, I'm in trouble.
Meet me at trailer. Trailer, presumably meaning
her house where you know where that is. Okay.
Hex looks up. He's in his office at the time
of receiving this at his whatever this universe's
equivalent of an iPad is. And he rolls his eyes
since he knows... Is this from an unknown number?
Would he know who this is from? Yes, it's from
her number. Okay. Actually, it's not. Okay. It's
from, like, a burner number. Okay. Well, he has
a feeling since this isn't the first time it's
happened. And is this trailer, like, on base
where Hex is with the Peacekeepers? It's not
on base. Since he's not with the Peacekeepers,
she lives in the city. It's in the Technology
District is where she lives. Okay. Hex has a
hunch as to what this is about and against his
better judgment, he decides to go for it. But
since he's not a hundred percent, he's going
to bring maybe like, I don't know. I don't think
he'd be packing heat. So maybe just like a melee
weapon or something like a baton. Yeah. It's
like only a short drive. You can get there just
from like a taxi service. All right. Probably
self -driving cars at this point, now that I
think about it. So you can just do that. Hex
gets in like a Westworld ass vehicle. drives
him over there. He checks his email while he's
on the way. It's a very thrilling commute. Yeah,
Tesco's residence is a small trailer in an unused
parking lot in the Central City's Technology
District. It is a grimy, run -down, portable
housing unit that is really only meant to be
used for a year or two, but this one has been
used for nearly a decade. Some of the external
walls are held together by a generous coating
of nail tape, and you see that the door is ajar.
And inside you hear like the slamming of drawers
and like some shuffling around. Okay, well, Hex
parks, shuts the engine and takes a deep breath
and walks up to the trailer door and knocks on
it. Yeah, the door is ajar. Oh, right. You can
still knock on it in ajar. No, he knocks, you
know, like you don't just enter a place. He goes,
hello? Like the noises from inside stop as you
like knock on the door. Hex knocks again. Hello?
Am I at the right place? He kind of inches backwards
away from the doorframe, though. Now he's a little
wary, thinking that he might have gotten it wrong.
You're Tesco's voice call out. Harold? Is that
you? Hex feels relieved. Yep, it's me. And he
comes in through the doorway. Come inside just
to see her lowering a pistol that she was aiming
at the doorway. Jesus Christ, Hex says. Or at
least whatever the equivalent is. I don't know
if Christianity is a thing in this universe,
but whatever. If you want Hex to be a Christian,
more power to you. Harold, come here. And she
scatters some papers off her bed and pulls out
this big hard drive. Hex closes the door behind
him and walks in. She takes the hard drive and
shoves it into your hands. Take this. Don't upload
it to the network. Don't feed it to any of the
AIs on the base. It's important. I don't know
why, but if anyone can figure out what it is,
it's you. There are some names on there. A lot
of innocent people that she promised wouldn't
get hurt. Slow down. What's going on? One of
my contacts with the Clusterists, he gave me
this. He said it was big. He went dark. I haven't
been able to get in contact with him. I think
he was compromised. Something happened. Were
you in contact in the clusters? Yes. Harold,
listen. I might be being followed. I'm not sure.
I don't know if he told them anything, but the
peacekeepers can't touch this, okay? I need you
to understand that. I don't want the peacekeepers
looking through this because there are people
who didn't do anything wrong who I know would
get in a lot of trouble. I want you to look at
it. Just keep it private. Can you do that? Harold,
what's that deep sigh, collects himself. All
right, I can do this for you, just given what
you've done for me in the past, but I have to
know, what am I expecting on here, and are you
okay? Should I bring you on the base with me?
She thinks about that and says, I don't... I
don't know what's on it. Don't be a hero. Let
me know. I don't know if... Some things are really
big, Harold. Some things are too big for the
Peacekeepers or the Clustris. There's just too
much information, okay? I know too much. I gotta
go to ground for a bit. I'll be fine. That's
my new number for now. I'll send you a letter
or something if it changes. I trust your judgment.
I mean, you've come this far. He gestures towards
the trailer. But if that changes, let me know.
I know how big this can get. He's referencing
the last mission they were on. So don't feel
bad reaching out for help, all right? Yeah. I
know I haven't been forthcoming, but there's
no reason to get hurt here. I know. Sorry for
being such a shitty friend lately. I hope this
does something. All right. Any idea on when I'd
be hearing back from you? Or... She, like, pulls
on a coat and, like, starts walking out the door
with, like, a loosely held together briefcase.
And just says, I don't know. Maybe I'm just imagining
things, you know? Maybe it's fine. But, uh, just,
uh, I don't know. Figure it out, Harold. I gotta
go. And she just, like, starts... Half jogging
out into the city. All right. Hex looks at the
hard drive and looks back to his car and just
exits the trailer and starts driving back to
base silently. No music on the radio. Damn. Not
even Nujabes. Nope. Not even Space Nujabes. You
know, this is the timeline where he didn't die.
That's so good. That's why everything's so great.
I don't know, man. Yeah, what do you do with
this hard drive? All right, well, I absolutely
don't put it on the system or anything akin to
that. Actually, let's assume Hex has a personal
computer. And, you know, he's been around the
block. He knows that he needs to air gap this
from any other systems. So what he does is, before
he goes to base, picks up his laptop, all that
jazz. and in his car, you know, he goes airplane
mode, disables anything that could connect to
any other systems, and he plugs it in. What does
he find? Give me a study roll. Ooh, okay. I didn't
realize checking folders was that tough. Person,
players, head, study. Oh, man, you haven't been
hitting the books lately, fucking meathead. Is
this risky, controlled, or desperate? That's
a great question. Yeah, let's... He's controlled.
Okay, all right, desperate. All right, roll it.
Personal success. Okay. My computer blows up.
Let's see. Let me tell you a couple things. All
right. You take a quick look at the data drive.
It is the reason you can't just... discern what
it is is that it is a humongous amount of information
like if you ever get an email like with invoices
and they're all just like numbers instead of
like any title that's what this is it is a ridiculous
amount of information like more than you could
hope to ever even begin to ascertain anything
but you didn't get a partial success so what
i will tell you is that this is a money trail
there are shipping manifests addresses, logistics
reports, unlabeled item purchases from off planet.
And at first glance, a lot of them seem like
unrelated. Like it's just like they're buying
empty crates or whatever, and they're shipping
it to like a shipping yard. It's like, that's
not that weird, but all of it being here and
the fact that someone presumably maybe died over
this information gives you the sense that there
is something bigger here, something that you
could uncover. And, you know, like as you like
go through some of these PDFs, you click one
and you notice like the airplane mode indicator
on your laptop flickers half a second. And like
it just says, oh, file corrupted. And just that
one file and just that little flicker. Maybe
it was a visual glitch. Who knows? But, you know,
as you're like, where were you? Where do you
say you were? Like parking lot. Is this like
right outside where you saw Tesco? Yeah, let's
say it's just like a random ass like paid parking
lot in the city. Sure. Like he went to base and
then he went off base to do this since he didn't
want to connect to any networks. Yeah, a car
pulls up next to you. Oh, fuck. It has like Seoul
Union plates on it. Peacekeeper. And out of it
comes Nyla. And, you know, two soldiers who have,
like, no identifying information on them. And
she kind of just, like, knocks on the window.
Hex rolls it down. To what do I owe the pleasure?
Harold, I'm very sorry for the interruption,
but I need you to go with these two here. Happy
to. Mind telling me why? Uh, I can't, but you're
not in trouble or anything. It's just regarding...
It's regarding Joseph. And she, like, rubs her
face. Can a hex inspect Nyla just to see if she's
being forthcoming? Like, is her hand on her pistol
or something? Are you paranoid, boy? Hex is very
paranoid. Yeah, give me a survey. Let's do desperate.
Well, this isn't desperate, actually. This is
just controlled. Well, partial success. You get
the impression that she's not really hiding anything
from you. She has her hands tied by some bureaucratic
mess, and you get the feeling that it is, Just
a coincidence that she's here now. All right.
Which is disconcerting, almost. Well, Hex doesn't
want to just leave this here. What about my car?
I can follow you. Oh, we can just send it back
to the base. All right. Hex shuts his laptop
and pockets the hard drive as he's stepping out
of the car. So, Loyal, tell me about your nightmares.
You're going to have them now, probably far more
frequently than you used to, but I'd like to
get an idea of how they manifest for you, if
they're any different for dolphins, and what
they've been about. If they're new, I imagine
they're mostly about maize. Loyal is swimming
in a water current corridor, and, like, sees
her drowning in the distance and can never reach
her. And she's, like, screaming out, bubbles
are flowing out of her mouth, and she's also
disintegrating and turning into other smaller
dolphins, like the little dolphin who is writing
his report on his favorite person or whatever,
some role model, and that was Sunlith. And those
are, like, swarming around him and saying, Why
didn't you save me? Why aren't you home? Why
don't you belong anywhere? What is your home?
What is your planet? Why didn't you save me?
And they also turn into bubbles. So is this like
a reoccurring dream? Yeah. Except sometimes the
dolphins that come out of May's say different
things about different people in his life. Maybe
some of his co -workers from Europa. Let's say
you're having that nightmare again. But this
time, you know, Maze is in the water, but you
are able to reach her. And she does not dissolve
into dolphins like she usually does. She's just
kind of, you know, thrashing about in the water,
like reaching out for you to grab her. Oh. He
would allow her to grab onto his dorsal fin and
attempt to take her to the surface. Yeah, you...
Let her grab onto you. And she is so heavy this
time. And it's like the water itself is like
pulling her down and pulling you down by extension.
And you like look back at her and all the water
around her is just blood. Just red, sticky blood.
Like, weaving around her, like, tying her down,
pulling her down into the blood are these wires,
these bleeding wires that you recognize from
your time in the assembly room with the Remnant
of Martyrdom, with TKR. And the lucidity of your
dream, like, the ability to control it, to change
things, very quickly escapes your grasp and you're
just pulled down. and you feel these wires piercing
your skin, like sewing themselves into you, sewing
your eyes shut and your blowhole, your mouth,
and just pulling you into this red, dark abyss
beneath you. But then you wake up. Yeah. I think
he wakes himself up by thrashing and hitting
the side of his head against his exopod, the
glass. I think when you thrash about, and you
hit your head on the exopod a little bit of blood
comes out from like your your melon like a little
scratch nothing serious but you have a little
bit of that cloudy blood just in the exopod now
and you know it gets filtered out like it usually
does but yeah that's good it's like a couple
seconds where he thinks he's still in the dream
because the blood is still in the water he doesn't
know if he's awake or not and then he sees his
dingy apartment with his little shrimp tank next
to him it's like oh right i'm still here And
you have an appointment with the head chef today,
right? To help prepare some meals. I do. In the
early days of the war, it used to all be prepackaged
meals and these like hyper -efficient nutrient
supplements. However, now with like almost a
decade into the occupation, the menu is a lot
more diverse. Both of you have shared a love
for food and you've actually taken to help them
prepare some food in your spare time in the past
as well. But this is the first time we'll really
look at it. According to this chart, he is your
closest friend on Terra Brea. How long has this
friendship been going? I feel like we hit it
off fairly early in my deployment. He was one
of the first people to talk to me. Maybe he,
like, has a history of knowing that dolphins
really appreciate seafood cuisine, and we bonded
over that. I'd help him prepare fish. And over
the years, part of what Sunleth does and the
like body of water on Terebrae is he helps catch
some local fish and shellfish and brings it to
Mr. Chef, whose name is Luigi Soler. Luigi Solare.
Luigi Solare. Yes, I know him. We are foodies
together. What are you helping him make today?
What are you bringing him? That's a good point.
What kind of fish live in? The lake. I'm assuming
they're like weird alien fish or maybe they're
not. Maybe they're convergently evolved. So there
are the area around Brea City is terraformed
specifically. So a lot of that will actually
be earth fish. But if you get something from
like the rivers, there will be more like how
many rivers have like, you know, space prawns
and other space fish, you know, that are they're
aquatic, but a little different than earth animals
in a way that I will not bother explaining. OK,
I think I'm going to. Be bringing him some...
God, what are they called? It's slipping my mind.
The ones that are shaped like marshmallows, but
they're made out of fish, and also they're shellfish.
Scallops? Scallops, yes. I'm bringing Luigi some
scallops that I have dredged up from the lake
bed. They're freshwater scallops somehow. It
works differently here. That's totally valid.
Yeah, you bring him into the cafeteria, and Luigi
gives you a big greeting. He says, Sunleaf, how
are you, my friend? I'm doing well. I brought
some fresh scallops for you today. He grabs the
scallops and like places them on a little cutting
board. There's a lot of, you know, you're in
the kitchen. There's a lot of cooking implements
here. Everyone, we all know what a kitchen looks
like. As you explain your state of mind, he kind
of fixes you with a concerned look. And you feel
like a low tingling in your brain, like a really
minor empathic connection. He's kind of like
probing you to see if you want to talk. I don't
want to yet. And if... He's able to, like, get
that message without me saying anything. I send
that. It's like, I just want to cut these. I
just want to open these scallops. I just want
to prepare fish. I want to think next to another
person for a while. He picks up on that. He understands.
And, you know, he just looks down and, like,
smiles and just gives you some instructions on
scallop preparation. I don't... Do scallops have
shells originally? Let me look up a scallop.
Ooh, they're weird. They look like... A very
classic shell, like the kind you'd find on the
beach. In fact, if anyone has been on the beach,
they probably found one of these shells. It's
like a super classic fan -style seashell. Oh,
yeah, like a mermaid would come out of. Like
a mermaid would come out of, exactly, or that
they'd have for their bra. And we do, like, shocking
these open, I guess. I have some, like, tools,
or maybe I don't have tools. I'm just using my
dexterous robot appendages that are built into
my exopod. To open these up, and I suppose I
feel the need to start making some small talk
with Luigi, my friend, and I ask him, so, anything
new happening around the kitchen these days?
Well, with all the budget cuts and such, we've
had less mouths to feed, so I've actually been
able to make... This is not his voice. He's Italian.
I have to do an Italian voice. With all the budget
cuts, I've, uh... This is not Italian either,
but we're just going to have to make do with
it. He's a future Italian. With all the budget
cuts, we've had a lot more time to focus on what
we're making because there's less mouths to feed.
I've been doing some gourmet stuff like scallops
like this. Usually I'd have to put this in a
giant soup, but now we can actually sear them
and make it nice and good for everyone who's
not allergic, that is. That's nice. As long as
it says, like, very clearly, not absorbing this
information, but still trying to be polite. Uh,
Tanith, you're supposed to, uh, could you put
those in the other bin? You're putting them in
the shell bin. And he kind of points out how
you've been putting the shocked scallops in the
discard bin. Oh, blowholes. I'm sorry, Luigi.
I just haven't felt like myself lately. Do you
want to, uh, talk about it? How long have we
been here together? How many years now? Ten years.
Do you ever wonder what we're doing here and
if we are getting into something above our heads
that we don't understand? Well, I just cook the
food, but I don't know. I trust the people who
sent us here to know that we're doing something
good. But you see a lot more than I see, Sunless.
You see a lot here, too. This is one of the gathering
places. This is where people all come to eat,
talk to each other. How does morale seem? Have
people been saying any strange stories? Have
you overheard anything unusual lately? He kind
of frowns a little and says, People are not as
happy or as motivated as they were when we first
got here. Everyone can see that this could be
over if we just had a little more resources,
but we're sitting on the fence. People are dying.
We don't have any other choice. It's just the
way it is. That's to be expected, but it's not
really what I'm talking about. I feel like, I
don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about
with Luigi here. I don't know how much clearance
he has on high -level military operations. I'm
trying to choose my ways carefully. Your relationship
with him is very strong. He's like, you would
trust him to keep it quiet even if you did talk
about it, but it's mostly if you want to expose
him to that sort of information. That is the
concern more than a security clearance thing.
well maybe depending on like what his level of
psychic connection is he's just like getting
some of this anyways but sunleth says i've seen
something recently that some things recently
that i can't explain i just i thought i was here
for a really simple reason where i came here
for a very simple reason to protect something
or at least Some of us have. And I just, I don't
know what to think about this place anymore.
He like reaches out psychically to you again,
just as you like dwell on these thoughts. And
he's, you know, in the meantime, like shucking
these scallops. And you feel him probe you a
little bit. And then you don't know if it's your
subconscious or something else, but something
pulls him deeper into your mind. And you see
his face like shift instantly to like distress.
And his hand slips and the little knife he's
been opening these shells with cuts across his
hand. And you see like blood, just not a lot,
but some just splatter on the countertop. Some
of it landing in a little bowl of salt water,
just clouding it. And he like shakes his head
and he's like, oh, I'm, uh, uh. And as he's,
you know, sputtering, someone clears her throat
behind you. And you see... Nyla, there. Flanked
by a couple of soldiers. They aren't dressed
like the typical military police. They have no
identifying markings on their uniform. And she
says, Loyal, I'm sorry to barge in here, but
something came up. I'll need you to go with these
two. They have some questions for you. I can't
tell you more right now. I'm sorry. Okay. If
the exit suit I was in was capable of, like,
jumping in surprise, it would. But I think it
has safeguards against that since it is so large
and heavy. But I say, oh, okay, just one second.
And I turn back to Luigi and I'm like, I'm sorry,
let me take this from you. And I try to like
help him a little bit, probably very awkwardly,
just like trying to take the knife out of his
hands, trying to like find where the nearest
first aid kit is to help him. And I'm just kind
of making a mess of it in the process. Yeah,
he kind of like gestures that he's fine and like,
you know, kind of waves you off and like kind
of touches your hand with his hand and some blood
rubs off on your exopod. And he goes to a little
nearby medical cabinet and starts dressing himself
up. And he says, I'm fine. Just attend to your
things. I can finish up here. I can finish up
here. Okay. Okay. We'll talk later. And I hold
my robot hand in front of my face with the blood
on it for a second and then wipe it off on the
nearest dish rag. And then I go with Nyla. Nyla
doesn't come with you. I go with the muscle.
You're on a remote test site about an hour's
flight away from the city in the South River
Valley. The vector mines have called you down
here to test your new interface with the changeling.
Very few people live down here, and it's ideal
for this type of live -fire exercise. This exercise
involves a number of long -range targets being
shot into the air at high speeds for you to destroy.
However, alongside these targets are a number
of barricades which pop out of the ground in
front of you to block your line of sight. The
goal of the exercise is to determine how close
your mind's reaction time is in comparison to
the changeling's with your new skin interface.
So far you've been able to keep up, but as you
reset again for the final round, you hear Ziggurat's
voice in your ear. Garrett, we will be disabling
certain limiters for this final round. Do not
be alarmed and proceed as usual once the klaxon
sounds. And with that, you feel something shift
in the changeling, something subtle and indistinct.
There's an electric, almost pulling sensation
on your body, but before you can linger on it,
the klaxon sounds. Eight targets erupt into the
air, and as they do, barricades fire up simultaneously,
blocking your view. What do you do? Well, I assume...
So the idea is that he has to duck and weave
between these targets and then transition into
battle mode to hit them with his railgun, because
they're very far away, right? Yep. That's the
plan, yeah. So he just immediately gets right
into it. He shifts into speed mode and tries
to rocket off between the barricades. Great.
Let's get a maneuver roll. I have to be rolling
maneuver. That doesn't look great. Two, two,
and a three. Oh, shit. Yeah, you fly forward
trying to get around this barricade, but whatever
change Ziggurat just made caused the controls
to become... Way too sensitive. You jet forward,
and you clip the edge of the wall. This causes
you to slow down and spin, and by the time you
reorient yourself and get clear, you notice that
the targets have almost hit the ground, leaving
very little time for you to react. What do you
do? All right. So now I can transform and bombard?
Yeah, you can bombard. I would hear battle as
well. Okay. I mean, yeah, that kind of makes
more sense because they're not exactly stationary
targets. It's not really a sniping situation.
So, yeah, let's battle. Do I... Do I have to
use the railgun? Like, is that the whole point
is to, like, test, like, the changing between
forms or could I splash them with my machine
gun? It's up to Geist in the moment, really.
Okay, sure. The parameters have changed. I'm
using my machine gun. Let's get it and let's
roll better. That's... Wow, that's the... No,
that's still a fail. Wow, so that's a 3 -3 -2
instead of a 2 -2 -3. God damn it. Six failure
dice in a row. You pull up your rifle to snap
off some quick shots, and beyond all expectation,
targets are destroyed. Six shots hit eight targets
in an incredible display of speed and accuracy,
but there's almost an inverse delay here. The
rifle went off before you'd even consciously
chosen to fire the first shot, and... It leaves
this weird tingling in the back of your head.
Yeah, Geist immediately flips on his comm and
he's like, what the fuck was that? What was what?
The weapon fired on its own. I mean, it felt
like it did. Ziggurat kind of ignores your question
and says, Garrett, there are some people back
at the hangar here to see you. Come back over
here and dismount, please. He kicks it back into
mobility mode and takes it over to wherever he's
supposed to park Changeling. You return to the
nearby hangar and you feel like the blood pulsing
in your body very acutely, but you kind of quickly
realize that what you're feeling is not blood
in your body, but the oils and cooling fluid
that are pulsing through the Changeling kind
of outside of your body. How does my skin look,
my blue skin? Does it look any different? Um...
Mm -hmm. You can't see your body. Like, you know,
there's like a big camera screen in front of
you, I imagine, in the cockpit, right? Oh, yeah.
And as you sense this, you like look down and
look at your body, and the changeling just looks
down at the ground, and you can't even... It's
like... Your mind is cropping your body out of
it. So it's like, can I even see the inside of
the cockpit? Or is it like my physical body vision
is just the view screen from the front of the
changeling? Yes, that is exactly it. That's not
supposed to do that. Yeah, he starts to panic
a little. Maybe not panic, but like something
is very clearly wrong. He tries to like move
his his body, his real body, just to see if he
can do it without moving the changeling itself.
Um, yeah, you can't right now. It's like ever
since that shot went off, you there's something.
The boundary between you and the changeling is
gone. You just kind of are it now to the point
that you can't feel your own body at all. All
you feel is the changeling now. Something's going
on with my interface. I can't disengage. I can't
get out. Garrett, don't panic. Just pull the
ejection lever. Can I even do that? Can I pull
the ejection lever? You try to pull the ejection
lever and the changeling reaches up its arm and
pulls in the air, kind of like mimicking you.
I can't see my body. My motions are synced with
those of the frame. I can't interface with anything
inside of the cockpit. There's just a silence
on the line. And then you feel this very painful
jolt, like you're being yanked through like a
bush of thorns and you come slamming so to speak
back into your body and the changing just like
shuts down um and you're gonna take the level
two harm migration feedback you can resist that
as you'd like i would like to resist it please
this is gonna be a stress resist right uh you
can choose actually in this case uh yeah i'll
take the stress resist uh this will be Resolve.
So here's the thing. Mm -hmm. If I roll a one,
I will trauma out during a vignette, and I don't
want to do that. And also, I got an extra quirk,
so I think I will actually instead check off
my quirk, the new quirk that I just developed,
direct synaptic interface. Well, you don't...
Or wait, no, it's a number of quirks. Yeah, you
would check off... It would be either expertise
or acuity. I think this is acuity specifically.
Okay, cool. So you check off two quirks. Yeah,
because it... Oh, that sucks! Oh, my God. I want
to just say fuck it and take the stress roll,
but I know for a fact that it will absolutely
trauma me out because I have no luck. I mean,
look at how I've been rolling so far. So what
are the odds? 100%. Sorry, did you say this is
a harm or damage? It is a harm. Okay. But if
you resist it, it goes away completely. Okay,
okay, okay, okay, okay. Fuck it. I'll resist
with quirks. I'll take two. I'll get rid of my
direct synaptic interface and unpredictable boosters.
Yeah, I think the... As you get, like, forcefully
shunted out from the machine, you see that there's
some... Physical damage to the connectors that
connect it to your skin, like it's sparked a
little bit. Ziggurat's voice comes back over
the intercom. I have forcefully objected you
from the system. Now please dismount. There's
someone here to see you. And she seems a little
peeved off with you. Well, maybe if he let me
know what the hell was going on, it doesn't matter.
Geist disengages from the changeling and gets
out a little bit unshakably. Now he looks at
his skin grafts. Do they look any different?
Do they look scorched? They look the same. There's
some soot on them from the ejection, but no physical
damage you can see. Okay. I will go see who's
here to see me. At the foot of the changeling
is Nyla. And she is flanked by two armed men
wearing no identifying information. And trailing
behind them is Ziggurat, who looks unusually
subdued. Alright, Nyla, what's going on? I'm
sorry to bother you during your training, Geist,
but I need you to go with these two men. I cannot
say anything more at this time, but rest assured,
it'll be fine. Geist, uh, I mean, he goes, he
goes to walk with them, but he just, um, as he
does, he looks at one of them and says, don't
suppose you boys can tell me anything about where
the fuck you came from? You look into black mirrored
sunglasses and... No expressions. Yeah, that's
what I thought. Let's get this over with, whatever
the fuck this is. X, Loyal, and Geist. You have
any electronics on you confiscated or modified
such that they lose any networking capabilities
completely severed from the network and your
surroundings. You are each separately and at
different times taken to the base's administrative
building, to a subterranean section you've never
been to before. Nobody here seems to be wearing
any identification, and all the doors are likewise
unlabeled. You notice a distinct lack of any
electronics. Doors are using manual keys. There
are no cameras, and there are a number of levers
on the wall labeled a power break. After ten
minutes of walking through featureless beige
hallways, your escort deposits you in one of
these rooms. Inside the room are two folding
chairs. each facing each other. One of the chairs
is already occupied by a woman wearing a black
technician's jumpsuit. Circular scars trace along
the bridge of her nose and over her eyes. What
do you mean by circular scars? Like perfect circles?
It's like almost like an infinity sign, like
vaguely. Except the middle part where they would
join is much more rough and scraggly. So does
it look like... cosmetic scarification or like
an actual wound can i tell i think that'd be
a role probably survey oh good thing i have i
got a two failure yeah you try to like figure
out what this was caused by and it's just not
in your domain whatever caused this um wound
it's just not something you're familiar with
she introduces herself and she says My name is
Whitecliffe. I represent the Soul Union Emergent
Personalities Division. Please take a seat. Pleasure
to meet you. He sits down. Geist looks around
the room a little bit and then kind of stomps
over and sits down and kind of fixes her with
a quizzical look but doesn't say anything. I
say, hold on, this will be easier if I do this.
I'm just like taking the chair and kind of like
scooting it away so I can actually be in front
of her. Is this fine? She does not respond to
your question. This meeting is regarding EP Star
Plus Industries onboard combat assistant V2 model
J0534, colloquially known as Joseph. All responses
are being recorded and will be made available
should any legal action occur in the future.
We have already interviewed all your other squad
mates, so please be aware of any contradictions.
They will be heavily scrutinized. Any deception
can be considered an act of grand sabotage given
the subject matter. Do you understand? And loyal...
The part about her having interviewed all your
other squadmates is a lie. Hmm. She can see him
eyeing everything in the room. And then he looks
back to her and says, I understand. Yeah, I guess
I do. Sure, I'll answer the best of my memory.
Could you please state your name for the record?
My name is Garrett Hart, callsign Geist. My name
is Thunlith. Harold Pritchard. As the subject.
Joseph indicated any desire to change his current
circumstances. No, not as far as I know. I don't
exactly chat with the thing. Has he tampered
with any electronic systems outside the scope
of his operations on official missions? On official
missions, Hex rubs his chin, thinks for a moment.
I don't recall. Has he done something wrong?
Has he displayed any other concerning behavior?
Something that is just like thinking about Joseph
in comparison to Geist. Who has been displaying
the most concerning behavior out of anyone and
says no. Are you sure that's the response you'd
like to leave on the official record? The penalties
for obstructing investigations on emergent personalities
are quite severe. Like I said, if this is referencing
something specific, I can get more specific,
but Joseph has been nothing but a good, reliable
squadmate to me, so let me know if this is pertaining
anything particular. Are you aware that the subject
that's killed Friendly is in the past? I'm not.
I don't suppose you could provide a little context?
Unfortunately, I am not able to comment on active
investigations. Are you aware that the subject
has killed friendlies before? And loyal, this
is a lie. No, I am not aware of such a thing.
Has he indicated any resentment for his position
in the Soul Union? No. I mean, so far as I can
tell, he's pretty jazzed that he's able to fly.
Are you aware that the subject has been in contact
with a splinter group of terrorists known as
Gold House? No, I have not. Hex is starting to
look a little nervous. Anything else? No, look,
if this thing is a liability, are my team's lives
at risk when we get deployed, you know, with
him there? There are always risks using weapons
of mass destruction. If you have any doubts about
him. Any small things you've noticed, it would
be helpful to hear them. I do not. I have no
doubts whatsoever, but, I mean, if he's done
something, then I think that speaks more to my
feelings towards the... He hesitates to say,
man, bot. Using three words, how would you describe
the subject? Analytical. Loyal. Human. He seems
too human. Kind of freaks me out. Any closing
statements? Joseph has been an excellent member
of the team and a good companion. I have no issues
with his performance or behaviors. Joseph has
been nothing but a loyal squadmate, so I could
speak to his character, but like I said, I'm
operating with limited info here. I have a question
for you, if you'll humor me after all you wasted
my fucking time today. If he's... So dangerous.
Why is he in the field? Why is it that you have
this whole fucking secret black box wing with
no computers just to put what you very clearly
believe to be severe liabilities into the field?
Are we that hard up for pilots, really? You're
the pilot. You tell me. Alright, Geist gets up
and goes to leave. Now if there's not anything
else, you may go. Hex gives a nod and exits the
room. I look at her again. I know that I cannot
look into her mind, but I really want to. I turn
around and float away.