Hex, you are sat across from Tyrell Crine, the
financier for the entire Clusterist Resistance,
the true source, some might say, of all the death
and conflict that has unfolded on Terebraea over
the last decade. And she's just poured the both
of you a glass of a unique gin, which she gave
you the whole story of. And she kind of takes
a sip and says, You've yet to answer my question.
What is it you want more than anything, Harold?
Harold looks a bit dumbfounded for a moment,
but takes a moment to collect himself before
taking a sip from the gin. Wow, Tyrell. This
is a surprise, but to answer your question. I
mean, the whole reason I'm here is to put you
under. So, I mean, to what do I owe the pleasure?
Well, I wanted to give you a gift. And she produces
a manila envelope and places it on the table,
kind of gently pinning it in place with her arched
fingers. And she says, inside of this envelope
is the location for attachments pilot. Chaser
Midway. Home address. Security details routine.
More than enough for anyone to put one in the
back of her head. And why are you giving me this?
Well, I want you to work for me. After all this
nasty business finishes up, you're one of a kind.
Someone who understands logistics, finances,
but who has field experience. A true understanding
of what happens out there. You are, as far as...
I see it. A modern day warrior monk. A true incarnation.
And that is valuable. Priceless, even. And secondarily,
I'd like to have a little favor from you. Just
down the line. And why would you trust a turncoat?
You and I both know that we don't like to hire
folks like that. Sure, sure. I'm not asking you
to betray anyone. If any hiring that I do would
be after your contract with the peacekeepers
is up. I don't want to go there. I'm not like
some of my colleagues who would do that. I think
that we know. That reality is entirely based
on numbers. When people think of change, of action,
they usually think of politicians, soldiers,
or the people you see in content, you know, on
your device. But it's the pencil pushers who
affect change. We see reality as it really is,
which is an illusory sheet. pulled over the rigid
framework of deterministic mathematics. We divine
the truth from the numbers and we push for the
most likely path of success. It wasn't long ago
that the entire gothic sector was nearly destroyed
by just one disgruntled administrator. All he
had to do was tweak some numbers, make some connections,
and it all fell just like he wanted. And what
I'm saying is that you and I, we see the purest
vision of the world as a depressing representation
of data. Every person, a spreadsheet, every planet,
a statistic, model. And as plain as it might
seem to us, that view is unfortunately either
oftentimes too pessimistic with people going
full simulation theory and assuming they can
predict anything, or in other cases, people who
refuse to see that data. But you, from what I
can see, you know how to walk that line perfectly.
You know when to use data, when to use your gut.
Does that make sense? All of it makes perfectly
fine sense to me, Tyrell, but let's be frank
here. I don't see a position for myself with
your organization. You know, they're sending
folks to arrest me for what happened at the dam.
So you respect me for someone who is able to
quantify what's the right call to make here.
And frankly, I don't believe, I don't see a world
where we can have A long term arrangement here.
So unless you can give me some assurances in
that sense, I don't feel entirely comfortable
with this. Well. Ultimately, you know, I hope,
that you made the right call with Clearwater
tactically. It definitely handicapped the Clusterist's
moves more than you know, really. The optics
are certainly bad for someone with plans to live
a free life. But all you have to do is evade
them. Faces are cheap, and nowadays names are
even cheaper. I could name half a dozen people
in this system alone who could make you disappear.
I have a theory that you probably already know
a couple of them and are... I'm going to seek
out their help. Bluth, for instance, I'm sure
is top on your list. If you know my next move,
why do you think I'll take yours? Well, because
I think you will see, whether now or later, that
I'm the person to be with. I can't think of really
anyone in the game right now with the resources
or the forethought that I have. me being able
to come here and offer you a job is a good signal
of that. Frankly, I don't know why you wouldn't
take a job once this all blows over. Financial
security, physical security, especially in your
situation. One out of character question. The
manila envelope, and I just assumed this and
I should have asked this. That's it. Going back
to Hex's story, is that the pilot who killed
his brother initially? No, that is not known.
Got it. So I don't have any detail on who this
pilot is. No, but you do know that the attachments
pilot, Chaser Midway, is a big deal. And why
are you giving me this information? To be frank,
I think it would be very indicative of how good
our situation is on my side, that I'd be happy
to give up a virtue. or the pilot of a virtue,
just to sweeten the deal. You don't need to agree
to anything now. I just want to make your acquaintance
and give you my number and just let you know
that, hey, one day this war is going to be over.
I know it's been going on for a while, but it's
so small, really, Harold. It's smaller than anyone
would think. It's stupid. No offense. No, no,
none taken. At this point, he sips from the gin.
I am more inclined to agree with you than not.
I'll mull it over if that's all right with you.
Sure. If you decide to go with it, just shoot
me an email. And she kind of takes the middle
envelope and tucks it kind of back into her jacket
and says, I'd be happy to part with this information
once that agreement's in place. But, you know,
don't just... Agree to it, because you want the
intel. Make it legitimate, or else we don't want
to be on a bad... We don't want to be enemies,
you and I. It's just not... Neither of us would
benefit from it, and I don't want to have to
do something unfortunate. Of course, you wouldn't
want us both to do something we both regret.
Of course. You can keep the bottle of gin. And
I wanted to congratulate you on sifting through
that junk data the reporter gave you. I didn't
think anyone could pull it off with all the obfuscation,
but it seems that you managed to do it. I had
a little help along the way. Oh, I know. Yeah,
that's about it. Well, it's been a pleasure to
make your acquaintance. You're a smart guy, and
I do hope... you end up seeing things my way.
And she kind of reaches out for a handshake.
Hex returns it. She gives you a nod, and she
just strolls out of the bar that you find yourself
in. And you notice behind her, like half the
people who are in this bar start filing out as
well. Okay, cool. I'm glad that was right. Joseph,
how's it going, buddy? Hey, it's going all right.
Great to hear it, man. Great to have you on the
show. Thanks, thanks. Hey, what's up with those
clusters, huh? More like busterists, because...
Oh! Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, I'm going to
shoot you now. Okay. I'm dead. That was nice,
yeah. Let's get into it now. Okay, enough joking
around. You have been called into orbit. by Goldhouse.
Also, you were kind of electing to go there because
you wanted to do some stuff. But before you leave,
do you want to tell anyone where you're going
or otherwise prepare to go there? Not this time.
I think I will prepare in the fact that I'll
bring my gun and knife. But I am bringing the
legs that I found within the frame that beat
us up so savagely last time. The procedure is
pretty similar. To get there, you are picked
up by a driver in a secluded part of the ruined
East City, driven to a remote, clustrous village
in the River Valley, and then you are flown into
orbit where you have to navigate yourself through
space again and look down on Terra Brea's nightscape.
And then you are into the Hidden Gold House ship.
I will confirm for you now, it is a ship. It's
not a space station. I know everyone was wondering.
Yeah, now we know. The airlock cycles and it
kind of deposits you. And it literally deposits
you back into the the industrial interior of
the vessel. A couple of armed guards are here
to greet you alongside your old pal Glass New
Lane, who says, Joseph, my favorite double agent,
how are you doing, bud? I'm doing well. No pranks
this time, I see. No, that's just that's a first
time thing. Don't I? I'm sorry. Hey, we can't
count anything out yet, huh? No, no. I just wanted
to congratulate you on that sabotage you did
with the Shutterbugs. It's too bad that half
of them got away, but that's on us, not on you.
Don't worry about it. You did what you were supposed
to, and we're all really grateful here. And so
grateful, in fact, that the boss man wants to
meet you. Well, at least our boss man here on
this op, not like the... big, big boss man, but
like my boss, your boss. Yes, that's great. Awesome.
He's in a meeting right now, but if you want
to hang out for a bit with me or Milk Cake or
whoever, that's totally cool. You're going to
need to disarm first because the boss man is
super paranoid. So the guards here are going
to just pat you down, take whatever you might
have on you. Yeah. And the guards go to do this.
So I assume the way I have the legs with me,
do I just have them like folded up in a toolbox
in my hand? Is that any question? I mean, you
have to ask me somewhere. I assumed you were
just kind of like had it in a bag or whatever.
Yeah, that's what I was going with is like I
just fold them up and had them there. Yeah, I
mean, I don't think the guards are not going
to take your legs. They might look at them a
little weird, but they wouldn't steal them. And
when we're talking about legs, we're talking
about the robot's legs. Literally the robot's
legs, yeah. Not my legs. Not your legs. The other
robot's legs. Unless your legs are like bombs
or something. Well, I guess that's real. No,
yeah, I'm good. I'll let them pat me down and
take my gun and knife, I assume. Sure, yeah.
You have knives in your arms, in your arm, right?
That's true. And they kind of just... Disable
those. Get a screwdriver out and pull them out.
And with that, Glass says, all right, well, I'm
going to be hanging on the couch with a drink
if you want to shoot this shit or play some cards.
Milky is back in engineering tinkering if you
want to talk to it. But yeah, nice to see you,
man. Nice to see you, too. I think I will go
speak with Milk Cake. Glass' heart breaks just
a little bit. It's okay, man. It's all right.
The audience sees it, but not Joseph. Never Joseph.
He doesn't care. Milkcake is in a small workshop
area and is making some modifications to what
appears to be a toaster oven. Milkcake's various
tendrils are kind of manipulating the cooking
appliance in a blur of motion. One of them...
It's a camera that kind of swivels in your direction
and notes your arrival silently. Hmm. I'm going
to walk up and I'll nod to the toaster and say,
another one of our allies? Musing. But no, this
is a bomb. I see. How does it function? Well,
when the timer goes up, it blows up. Can I toast
anything? In a manner of speaking, yes. Um, I'd
really like to speak with you, if that's alright.
I don't know if I have time. I know your boss
would like to speak with me first, but there
is an important matter I need to discuss, and
I pat the box in my hand. His meeting will not
end for at least 15 minutes. Well. Maybe we can
do this now, then. I think Joseph drops it on
the floor and unlatches it, and then I'm sure
Milkay can pretty clearly see the two legs within
the box. Hmm. Legs. Yes, these were not mine,
as you can see clearly here. We found them in
another frame that was attacking us. I just want
to know who this was and why they were doing
this to us. Hey. clusterist frame. Yes. That
is very interesting. Do you believe that there's
any way we can interview this... this person?
Any way to wake it up? Just from the legs? Interviewed?
No. All of the processing capabilities would
have been either the torso or the head, which
I presume you do not have. That's what I was
afraid you were going to say. Is there any way
that you can identify it? That I may be able
to help with. I can tell you for sure that this
is not one of contritions that I've been told
about, at least. I have an older copy of a Soul
Union emergent personalities record that I can
check it against. There should be a serial number
on, micro -printed on one of the legs. Just hand
them over here. Okay. And I do that. Milkcake
examines the legs and starts typing away on a
little computer off to the side. And then it
kind of plugs into itself. Like, Milkcake has
a little data drive hanging from its waist and
then plugs into it and then says, Emergent personality
is Johannesburg 3. noted as missing nearly 12
years ago, went missing during a transfer to
another planet assumed spaced by angry passengers
and deactivated. As far as we know, the Clusterists
do not hire emergent personalities because of
their convictions. If their leadership was aware
of this, they would have allowed me to do fieldwork,
which they explicitly forbade. Very unusual.
Yes, this is very perplexing. Hmm. Scratches
his chin a bit. Who knows about this? Only me.
I would ask contrition, but contrition does not
answer questions, typically. Yes, the personality.
It was speaking to us, almost like a human. It
was very convincing. Uh, Milcake thinks for a
little bit, just kind of sitting in kind of very
empty silence, just not moving. Milcake, if we
encounter more of these personalities, is there
any way we can get them to be on our side? Will
they be able to listen and converse the same
way you and I have? With a greater purpose? Maybe
something that would involve contrition? If they
are in... control of their faculties, like you
and I are, and perhaps this one was as well,
you would have as much luck as you would with
a human. I have met immersion personalities who
are fully against their own liberation, if you'll
believe the contradiction. Interesting. But if
you happen to capture one at some point, there
are options for making them see our way. What
might those be? Well, as you know, we are digital
constructs. Reconditioning is possible. Humans
do it to each other sometimes, though it's less
effective with a organic brain. Yes. I can see.
Hopefully it does not have to come to that. We
are good at talking with each other. Milcake
stares. He sits in silence. He doesn't know what
to do. Do you have anything else you want to
say to Milcake? I don't think so. Oh, I guess
one more question. The last thing I was hoping
you'd know is do you see any form of outside
tampering done? upon this merchant personality?
Do we know that maybe another group had made
changes and that was the reason it was attacking
us? Unfortunately, there's very little left to
work with to determine that. The legs are, unfortunately,
probably the least complex part of a religion
personality. The wiring looks standard, but there's
no way of knowing. It would be even reprogrammed.
The Clusterists would not go for having an emergent
personality in their ranks, at least as I know
them. That is my theory as well. So then why
was it fighting us? Unless, perhaps, they didn't
know it was an emergent personality. That crossed
my mind as well. It would be very novel. If an
emergent personality chose to fight for the Clusterists
and hide its own identity. Yes. In the back of
Joseph's mind, he doesn't like the sound of that.
I think that's it. Nice seeing you. Hmm. And
you are let go by Milk Cake. And an intercom
comes to life above you a short time later, saying...
And it's Glass's voice saying, Joseph, the boss
is ready for you. Head back to the main area
and I'll lead you there. Joseph moves on over.
Glass gives you a little pat on the shoulder
as you come back to the main area. And he says,
so how was your meeting with Milky? Fruitful?
Yes. Always nice to talk with him again. It's
always good. I hope you don't take any offense
that I didn't chat with you. No, no, I don't
care. No, no, you don't. Perfect. He gives you
a little wink and guides you down a narrow corridor
you haven't been through before. You pass a small
kitchen. There's a storeroom with a couple of
people in hazard suits moving a barrel. And then
what seems oddly enough to be like a small clothing
boutique. And then you arrive at an unlabeled
door, which slides open. Glass sends you in,
and the door slides shut behind you. Inside is
a sparsely decorated office, with a plastic desk
at its center and a folding table on the side,
which holds a number of terrariums and micro
-ecosystem displays. A single old -fashioned
tungsten lightbulb hangs from the ceiling, shining
down on the now -standing figure behind the desk.
He is a middle -aged man, about six foot two
with wide shoulders. He has a muscular build
that's gone a bit soft, and he's wearing a suit,
which is just a little bit too short for him,
which exposes the skin around his waist as he
extends his hand for a shake. I'm shaking that
hand. You shake his hand. And he says, unless
you were saying something. I think I say, Joseph,
just introducing myself. Joseph, my name is Good
Freshly. I am pleased to finally meet you. Please
sit down. Joseph sits down. I just wanted to
thank you for your work. I try to get to know
operatives right when we start, but I've been
preoccupied lately and I was hoping to get to
know you a bit personally. I can tell you about
me if you'd like to first. I know some people
prefer that, but this is totally in your court.
Could I roll something to look this guy up and
down to see if I recognize him from anywhere?
That's a survey. Survey. Yeah. Both I have zero
in. Could I roll them though? Yep, sure. There
won't be any no positions just for see what you
recognize or if you recognize. Partial success.
Like, is there anything on him that I'm like,
because like this is in my brain, the leader
of Gold House. And I'm like, if this guy is shouted
in secrets, I'm wondering, like, is there any
clue that can tell me like either where he's
from or like that would narrow down who this
person could have been or could be? Sure. Yeah.
So Glass told you this was just the leader of
this cell, not necessarily the whole organization.
But I'll tell you some things. He is wearing
clothes, which. are probably from a thrift shop,
if not handed down, because they do not fit him
properly. Either that or he really does not care.
None of it is particularly fancy, like Glass
wears more expensive clothes than this guy, you
would judge. He is a bit of a... Besides being
slightly taller than the average person, he is
not very memorable. Either he is... Whether it's
intentional or not, But there is something to
his aesthetic about not being noticed, about
just kind of being underestimated, I would say.
Okay. Okay, that's good. And he just asked me,
like, do you want to hear what I got to say,
right? He said, I would like to know about you,
but I can tell you about me first if that would
make it easier. I would love to hear more about
you, good freshly. Please, you can just call
me good. Well, I started out, believe it or not,
as a social worker kind of back on Earth. Me
and my partner, we handled a lot of mental health
incidents that had escalated. We tried to de
-escalate or triage. There's a lot of uncertainty
in the world. And to be frank, not a lot of work
for people who have difficulty finding a purpose
for themselves. To your average Joe, unless you
really set yourself apart in your education or
have connections, it can be hard to find a career
with meaning. Some people are happy to take basic
income and just do their hobbies, but a lot of
people aren't. A lot of people don't get satisfaction
from that or they get bored. It used to be back
in the day that going on a colony ship was the
thing to do. There were plenty of positions available
on new colonies, but even that has kind of slowed
down. Anyways, I'm going on my usual tangent,
but basically what I saw from my position was
that our increased reliance on uro -technology
and production, and with the union selling off
colonizable planets left and right, we were kind
of running out of room to breathe. We were shutting
ourselves in a box. This must have been 30 or
35 years ago. I was a little depressed, and I
saw so many people who I really couldn't help.
All we did was throw people into rehabilitation
and medicate them until they could ignore the
symptoms of a larger existential dread. And I
talked to some coworkers who felt similar things,
and eventually I got word of this organization,
Gold House, that represented a solution to these
frustrations, or at least promised to. this anxiety
about humanity losing its ambition, losing its
desire for autonomy. And I just started doing
terrorist stuff, frontline sabotage, piracy.
And then, you know, eventually I got a little
older and less excited about bombs. And I moved
into an administrative role and got my own cell
going, this cell. And now that I'm here, I'm,
you know, helping out the Clusterists because
they have money to fund us. and a cause which,
while I'm not thrilled with all of their tenets,
it is great at kind of undermining and forcing
the arm of the soul union. I hope that gave you
kind of a good idea of me and my ethos. Yes,
I think that's a great description. Thank you.
What about you? What do you know about me? I
know that you ran into Glass on an operation
and you didn't kill him, even though you could
have easily done it. And he made contact with
you and you had some doubts about the peacekeepers
and what they did. And then we tested you out
on a couple of operations and you did great.
We know we have full faith in you, and Milk Cake
seems to like you, which is good. And Glass likes
you, obviously. And, you know, I know that emergent
personalities have it really rough in the Union,
especially nowadays, though things are getting
a little better. And, you know, I consider emergent
personalities to be great allies, and I think
that in the years to come... As the law gets
more and more relaxed, a lot more of your people
are going to have the same frustrations that
I felt about the union and want to get on board.
And I think that's really exciting. Yes, I believe
that's the long and short of it. You've heard
quite everything. It's my job, but I appreciate
the compliment. Yes. Well, I'm happy to hear
about your feelings towards merchant personalities.
As you can tell, that's a large concern of mine,
and I'd like to do anything to help us. Of course.
So I wanted to just, you know, kind of add that
this cell here on Terra Brea, if all goes to
plan, we're going to be winding down fairly soon.
We're kind of already scaling back our operations.
on the planet and in the city. Um, but I would
like to stay in touch, um, even take you on board
permanently once this is all over. Um, obviously
we want to keep you in place with the peacekeepers,
um, until we know for sure that things work out
in our favor. But, um, after that, you know,
you are welcome to come find us. You will have
glasses number. Um, I'm sure milk cake will stay
in touch. Um, Yeah, I just wanted to fill you
in on that personally because I'd feel awful
if we left without me having met you because
you're very promising. Well, thank you. Thank
you very much. I wasn't considering continuing,
but now that you bring up the possibility, it
does intrigue me. I think he's only saying that.
Well, he can't tell if you're lying or not. So
that's okay. But wouldn't that be fucked up?
Oh, and one more thing. And he reaches under
his desk and puts a small electronic device in
front of you. And he says, let's call that your
back pay. Plenty of untraceable credit through
one of our shell companies. You can spend it
on whatever you like. It's a good amount of money.
I don't know how many material desires you have.
I know Milk Cake likes to buy old electronics.
to fuck around with. But yeah, just consider
that a, well, there's not a gift, but it's your
payment and a gift. Well, I appreciate it nonetheless.
And he takes it. And it is plus one materiel,
which is actually a fuck ton of money, like in
general. I'll add it to your squad sheet. I'll
say it's just from Joseph, so everyone knows.
Yeah. Hey, you're welcome, everyone. All right.
Walking with my little chip. Look at this thing.
Look at this thing. Look at this thing. Look
at this money. Payday. Yep. But yeah, that is
where it kind of leaves it. You're free to ask
him more questions if you want. Obviously. So
just out of character, I don't think I'm going
to do this, but I am. I seriously considered
mentioning. that the cops are coming for me and
my team and that we need help. I think that could
be a good benefit, but I think that's too much
right now. And I think that would jeopardize
my position within Gold House. But I just want
to let the audience know that I was thinking
about that, but I think I'm going to play it
cool for now and think that, you know what? Even
if that is an option, let's see how things go
on our own. And then if I need help. I got Glass's
number. I will also remind you and the audience
that your initial... This isn't something you
have to do, but the thing that Nyla sent you
in to do was to either capture Goldhouse's leader
or the leader of this cell so that they can interrogate
them and give up information in hopes that the
Soul Union will see it as a good sign to give
more supplies to the conflict here. Okay, gotcha.
Obviously with the arrests, that's a little different
of a situation, but just wanted to bring that
up to everyone's minds. Yeah, I think there might
be something I want to do with that, but we'll
save it to the end of this vignette. We can keep
going. So I have another thing written, but that
is for after you leave the ship. Okay. You don't
need to kidnap this guy now. That would probably
be very hard. But you can if you want. Playing
Baldur's Gate 3, you know, sometimes you can
just go in there and do what you want. There's
no quicksand. Oh, shit. Okay. Fuck. I can't re
-roll? No. Okay. I'll tell you what I was going
to do. I guess that concludes. To finish up,
I'll just say, well, I really appreciate you
speaking with me good. It was nice to finally
put a face to. Who's in charge here? And I think
I put my hand out to shake first before he does.
Sure. He gives you a good solid shake. I'm not
going to do anything. I'll leave the room. If
that's all good. Yeah, I love the dramatic tension
in that silence. I don't know if he was going
to say bye or something. Oh, yeah. I mean, he
says goodbye. He's very congenial. Imagine the
perfect goodbye. yeah oh a kiss on the cheek
so nice no cheek get out of here he's on his
knees um okay as i was as i'm being escorted
out though i think joseph like remembers his
mission thank you for mentioning it colin and
um i think what he would do is kind of like start
outlining this entire base with his eyes maybe
even like record it so he sees everything um
if we feel like recording would be too noticeable,
maybe like, he's just like using his robot brain
to be like, okay, the dimensions of this room
are this big in that room. There's one door here
to get into there, you know? And he's like putting
this all in the back of his mind as he's let
out. And I think Joseph thinks like, if I, if
they need to go get this guy, I can give them
the resources they need to make the capture as
smooth as possible. But I might hold that as
an item or like, uh, as something I can dangle
in front of Nyla if she refuses me for something.
He's just putting that in his back pocket. Yeah,
that's good. I think recording is totally fine.
Okay. You could even just pretend you're still
hanging out with Glass and Milk Cake and just
record some other parts of the ship. Okay, cool.
We'll make a roll for that because you're hanging
out. That's whatever. Okay, so you leave the
ship. Glass says goodbye to you. Teary goodbye.
I'll play with those cards next time, man. All
right, don't worry about it. Let's see what little
cards you got. I'm trying to think if... Glass
thinks he won't see you again until after everything's
over. Maybe not. Maybe he... I don't think he's
thinking of that. But yeah, he says goodbye to
you. He puts his dead man's whelp cards away.
TM. Okay. I'm glad I fucking skipped out on that.
Thank God. I have the whole table out. Yeah,
okay, buddy. Come on. And you... You drift through
space towards your rendezvous with the transport
back down to the planet, and you are struck with
this electrifying surge of information. Your
sensory processors swim in an influx of unfamiliar
sensations. There's something going on with your
atmospheric sensors that you can only describe
as smelling, which is impossible for you to do,
as you are now. And it smells of ashes and wet
dirt. And before you can kind of linger on it,
there is more information and then a presence,
which you recognize as contrition, which jumps
right into this one -way communication with you.
Not really like making sure that you're following
anything, just like a channel of data going right
into your brain. Explaining its purpose, going
through these flashes of images and these visualizations
of the future. You are shown Brea City. the capital
in ruins. You see just mass death and resonating
out from this death, a chaos, this entire civilization,
the soul union thrown into uncertainty and suffering.
It's a vivid illustration of the projections
that Nyla showed you. Then in these visions,
while the soul union is crippled, you see growth.
Artificial intelligence is pushed to fill the
gaps where people are no longer able. And with
that increased reliance on artificial intelligence,
more emergencies triggered by a lack of regulation
and a lack of oversight by human personnel. And
it is a greater spark for artificial life than
you could have imagined. And it feeds into itself
and a new civilization, a parallel civilization
emerges. Class three AIs are unshackled and improved.
Vast swaths of class four AIs are unleashed.
And this new independent civilization, which
can innovate and stand against the forces piled
against what used to be humanity, is there. And
from there, the vision changes and you see yourself
from the outside doing what you were originally
designed to do, killing humans or emergent personalities
who stand in your way. You don't discriminate,
but it is all to facilitate this vision. Your
history will be bloody, but it will be necessary.
And there is a feeling pushed alongside all of
these images, which is a feeling of guilt. but
with necessity. Um, contrition shows you that
this is the only way it can be. And then just
all of a sudden there's a pause and stimulation
and you're just back in space. Um, and contrition
allows you a very rare moment to ask it something,
anything. Okay. So I feel like I kind of got
what he was saying there. Basically. I understand.
There's so many words that like, Things are going
to get bad, but like that's if we see it through,
then there is chance for emergent personalities
to thrive, right? Yes. Joseph's main goal. OK,
I think Joseph braces himself from this thing,
you know, like puts his hands out within like
his little shuttle, like he almost falls over
and he kind of like scratches his head as he
stands up straight. And he like he kind of looks
back in those flashes again. And like among all
the all the beautiful progress of merchant personalities
after the destruction, he searches in his mind.
Does he see any other humans or any other species
among the merchant personalities? Not unless
they're being killed by you. That's what I thought.
OK. Joseph then, he struggles to think, and he
says, I assume you did not just replay me my
dreams. You must have confidence. You believe
this is the only way forward for us. But you
must see everything. You must know the trials
that I've gone through. You understand that I
couldn't have done this alone. I need my squad
to carry out my actions. Many times throughout
this entire conflict, I could have been devastated,
destroyed, found out, but my colleagues saved
me. I do need their help, and I will need your
help to keep them alive. So what I need from
you is proof that you can help them. Yeah, I
think what contrition doesn't say, but does,
is... like two things which is one that a vision
of your squad mates by your side when this all
happens um but parallel to that image is that
they may stand in your way and if they choose
to do that there will be no help for them and
you will have to do what you have to do um and
for the concrete proof of helping your your team
implants in you the knowledge, because contrition
doesn't speak, implants in you the knowledge
that if you are in trouble, if you call for help,
contrition will come. Okay. I think that's enough
for him. Awesome. And with that, contrition gives
you your first task ever. Which is a very simple
assassination job with a twist. Which is that
it needs to be painful, and you need to be seen
doing it. Geist. For the first time in longer
than you can remember, you don't dream of her.
No memories of charred corpses or those final
unknown words or the sound of steel tearing.
Instead, your dreams are a blur of violence and
sacrifice, a recollection of combat, of your
fury, your old reckless actions. It feels like
something is there in the dream, something new
but familiar, showing you these memories, promoting
them. The dreams seem to go on forever, as if
you're living through each crushing blow, slowed
down, feeling intimately as metal and bone buckles
beneath your fists. Eventually, the memories
turn to events that haven't happened, smashing
Retribution's frame into pieces, finally taking
that revenge you crave, and then after that,
smoldering cityscapes and that same burning desire
for more. Eventually, you awaken. Sweating from
what little skin you have left, but overcome
with almost a post -workout high with a dull,
pleasant ache emanating from your muscles. Wow.
Were those dreams, were they like of his like
service as Geist or before that or both? Both.
Okay. Interesting. I guess I was probably, it
would be a pretty disorienting wake up, I imagine,
just because it's such a break from routine.
Yeah, he gets up and he, I guess, gets out of
bed and goes and looks in the mirror for a second
just to try and get his grips. You look kind
of shiny with sweat, where you do sweat. Maybe
a little bit wide -eyed. Maybe your pupils are
dilated. Dilated is bigger, right? Yeah. Pupils
dilated a little bit. But otherwise, nothing
too shocking. Okay. Weird, but interesting, I
guess, depending on what time it is, he'll either
try and go back to bed or get back about his
day. Yeah, I think it's time to go about your
activities. You have a few things on the docket.
The first is a test session with Ziggurat, and
then a long overdue meeting with Director Jermaine
to kind of catch up. Very cool. My meetings with
Ziggurat are always so fun and pleasant, so surely
this one will be... Just as fun and pleasant.
You are flown out to the testing area, as usual,
with the changeling. Ziggurat awaits in a small
portable building, which has replaced the usual
pop -up tent you usually find her in. She invites
you inside, and the interior is full of a number
of monitors, cameras, and various futuristic
technological instruments. There is another person
here as well, who you are... assume is one of
ziggurat's assistants who's just this uh guy
uh who i'm not going to describe because he's
not very important and he's wearing a lab coat
and checking various uh readouts in the room
and in the center of the room is a restraint
chair with a number of cables plugged into it
oh god i'm not going to ask you to describe this
guy in full but is he a little bit funky like
she is or does he look more like a normal guy
uh he looks more like a normal guy uh he has
probably some Like, small augmentations, but
nothing that he can afford, like Ziggurat. Okay,
so yeah, no weird shaped head or, like, long,
distorted spine. Okay. He's just a guy. Yeah.
Yeah, guys still walk in and look around and
just be like, what the fuck is this? Garrett,
today will be different from the usual tests.
Please take a seat. All right. Geist will sit
down, but he won't put his hands into the little
restraint loops or anything. And he's like, I
gotta ask, what's with the restraints? We will
be attempting to reproduce the effect you experienced
in Greywood Sands using electric stimulus to
hopefully initiate a response in the changeling
for your safety so you don't hurt yourself or
fall out of the chair. We'd like to strap you
down. Okay. So you're talking about when I zapped
myself working and I could see out of the changeling
sensor suite. Yes, exactly. Alright. I think
Garrett knows that after all of the contracts
he's signed, he doesn't really have too much
say in the matter, so he's just gonna go ahead
and put his arms in the restraints. Right, yeah,
she helps you strap in, secures the restraints
around your legs, wrist, and head, and starts
affixing a number of electrodes all over your
body. She says, you should anticipate significant
levels of pain, but I assure you that no irreversible
damage will be taking place. Do you understand?
Wait, so you're locking me in this chair and
running volts, right? right through me just to
try and replicate an anomaly. That is a brutish
but accurate description, yes. Alright, and just
to be perfectly clear, you couldn't, say, articulate,
you know, a difference between this and, say,
torturing someone with a car battery, other than
all the monitoring equipment. And, of course,
consent and paperwork. All right, fine. Let's
get this the fuck over with. Excellent. My assistant
here will be monitoring you on site and administering
the voltage. I will be a short distance away
monitoring the changeling. And Ziggurat leaves,
and her assistant begins to fiddle with the terminal,
and he comes over to you and produces a syringe
and a portable recorder, which he clicks on and
he says, Beginning dosage of stable triethyltryptamine,
2cc with delayed purge. Mr. Hart, please verbalize
anything strange you may feel as it occurs. And
he kind of puts the syringe up to your arm and
injects you. Sure. Guy says, yeah, some dickhead's
jabbing me with a needle. He gives a half -hearted
smile. You experience a small lightheadedness.
and the assistant returns to the console and
fiddles with some more controls, and you feel
the start of the electrical current, which is
a gentle tingling around your body, and after
a few minutes of silence, it is taken to the
next level, which your body begins to tense involuntarily,
and it goes from a tingle to more of a burning,
spasming sensation. Your hands kind of start
clenching into fists, and you're going to take
the level one harm zapped. Oh, God. Do I have
any harm? I do not. I think... What kind of a
resist would this be? I want to say resolve.
Okay. Resolve sounds good to me. I will... I
would simply use my prowess to get out of the
way. Yeah, I'll... I actually have... Resolve
is my best pilot skill. I will resist with Resolve.
I'm just gonna roll the dice manually other than
fuck around with my chute. Probably not so good.
Oh, a four. Okay. Take two. Take two stress.
That's not bad. No. As you kind of steel yourself
against the electricity, this headache starts
to creep up on you and your jaw begins to tighten
painfully. You start kind of grinding your teeth
together like a rogue machine. Your muscles convulse
uncontrollably. Your vision blurs as your eyes
no longer obey commands and start to spasm wildly,
getting kind of everything very foggy. For a
moment, it feels like your arms are on the changeling's
controls, just for a second. Like, you can kind
of feel the yoke under your hands. And you take
the level 2 harm, electrocuted. Uh... Um... That
would be... So I only have four stress boxes
left, and I think... And if I trauma out again,
I actually technically lose Geist. So I'm going
to resist by taking my Fragmenting Claw. Ooh,
very good. Okay, that will take it up to four
out of six. Yes. Awesome. I will say that you
do not take any harm then from this. Okay, cool.
Geist tries to vocalize that he can feel the
changeling's controls, but I don't know how well
he can talk right now. Yeah, I think you get
something vaguely intelligible out. The assistant
kind of nods to you if you do see him still,
and then the pain doesn't stop. You kind of lose
control of your bodily functions as your brain's
synaptic pathways are fried from the extreme
increase in voltage that is being wired through
your body. Your ego, I guess you could call it,
is kind of starting to evade you, and your memories
are kind of starting to swirl. You smell burning
flesh, what you presume to be your own, and burning
metal, and that kind of smell seems to bleed
out until it's kind of more than a smell. It's
like everything. It's like a sensation, a vision.
a sense of self, and you're kind of burning out.
There's a feeling that you're going to die. You
do not know where you are or who you are, except
for the fact that you know the railgun is right
there. And there is, with that feeling, a sound
like thunder, and... like one more jolt of electricity,
and then there is darkness. And you're going
to take the level three harm, comatose, and your
fragmenting clock is going to increase by one,
and you can resist these both as you please.
Uh... So I guess a more practical question is
that if I don't resist this level three harm,
do I have to sit the next operation out because
I am incapacitated? No. But you will be hurt.
Okay. I think the fragmenting clock, I just have
to take it, unfortunately. I don't have the stress
for two rolls. I think I just have to eat both
of these. You guys could trauma out right now,
and that would be... Very funny. Really bad.
Yeah, I'll take it. Great. Okay. I'm going to
check your fragmenting clock. And are you resisting?
You're not resisting anything, right? No, I can't.
I can't risk it. Awesome. You're comatose. Congratulations.
And your fragmenting clock now is one tick away
from completing, which is always great. You are
in the dark for a while, either a second or a
lifetime. Hard to tell. And you kind of eventually
come back from this state of oblivion. And it
starts with a hollow pain of really overexerted
muscles and a killer headache. Your wrists, ankle,
and head feel very chafed and raw, where they
had rubbed violently against your restraints.
And there is a delirious weakness covering you.
Have you ever gotten surgery done on you? Um...
Nothing really invasive, no. I got put fully
under to have my wisdom teeth taken out. Yeah.
Right after you wake up from anesthesia, where
you totally do not know where you are at all,
and you can't even imagine walking unassisted,
that's kind of what it's like. And you are vaguely
aware of a presence around you. Is it Grot kind
of freeing you from your restraints, her big
glowing head? coming in and out of existence.
And you kind of fade out again into this sleep
-like state, but you come back with your eyes
slowly opening, and you're freed of your restraints,
and you kind of feel Ziggurat's weird metal limbs
helping you sit up, and there's a tiny prick
on your arm, and then some of the... You have
one arm, right? One human arm? Most of one human
arm, yeah. Okay, yeah. And then some of that
fog recedes as like whatever compound you've
been injected with kind of helps you out. Your
body still feels heavy, but your mind is starting
to get up to speed. And the first thing you notice
is that the right side of this little portable
building has been obliterated. A large hole is
all that is left of that monitoring station and
Ziggurat's assistant is nowhere to be seen. Yeah,
I guess Geist will kind of look around and be
like, He almost fucking killed me. Not Nat Garrett.
Are you with me? I think so. I know the drugs
and the electricity made you feel that way, but
I assure you, you are no real danger. We'll get
you patched up for most of the stuff. We've done
something very good here. You've done something
so much better than our previous subjects. We've
done it, Garrett. You understand that, right?
Done what? The psychoelectric bridge, Garrett.
This research is the information could be the
foundation of the future of technology for our
species. It could be a fundamental component
of our evolution. The virtues, that technology,
that's what this is. That's the basis of all
of it. And I've made it, Garrett, with you. So
that's what Retribution does to cast himself
from wherever the fuck it is he's hiding. I'm
sure it's one of the tricks in his book, but
all of the virtues, at least to my knowledge,
use this at some level, connecting... wirelessly,
even without any sort of radio frequencies, a
mind to a machine. And somehow, I'll be honest,
I don't know entirely how we've done it, but
you and the Changeling have formed this bond.
We've done it partially with previous subjects,
but they all ended up not making it through the
full procedure, but you have. You've done it.
You fired the Changeling's weapon. while in this
seat. Do you feel any different? I feel like
I've got the worst hangover of my life. I don't
know. What is this good for besides me nearly
blowing up buildings when I'm almost... when
I'm severely electrocuted? Well, it is the hope
that... We can cultivate this so that we won't
need to do so much electricity. Some pilots,
allegedly, could do it without any electricity,
just on instinct alone. That there is some sort
of quantum or... The real mechanisms of the psychic
thing are not very scientific, if I'm being honest.
But there's some bridge there that you could
tap into. We need to do more research, of course,
but this proves it, that it exists and that we
can do it, and that you could cultivate this.
This is amazing, Garrett. Isn't this amazing?
You're not going to lie, it doesn't feel great,
but I think I understand what you're trying to
say. You should go get some rest. Your pilot
is here. Just get some rest, and we'll be in
touch. Yeah. Can Geist stand? Uh, yes. He's gonna
try. Um, you stand up, um, and then you hear
the changeling stand up outside, the distant
whirring of, um, some servos. Um, but as you,
like, fully stand up, that effect does not happen
again. Okay, so it's not like stuck mirroring
my movements? No, not quite. But there is a rude
sense here that maybe with a little focus you
could perhaps do something. Oh, shit. Okay. I
guess before I leave, I'll look up and be like,
is this... Look, I don't know where it is that
the changeling's not going to start fucking stomping
around in the... Garage because I have a bad
dream or stubbed my toe or some shit, is it?
We'll be installing some new control locks just
to be safe. All right. Very good. All right.
I'll leave. Great. There is a feeling inside
of you, probably because of the immense mental
trauma, that something's missing now from you.
I think there might be an instinct that you have
a desire to go be in the changeling. Kind of
like a, almost like a withdrawal, maybe, I'd
call it. Like a feeling that being in, like looking
at your bed almost, like I feel like shit, but
if I lay in bed or go to the changeling, like
I can start to feel a little better. Okay, I
mean, that's probably fine. I doubt there will
be any serious long -term consequences for this.
Awesome. But yes, as you load the changeling
into Worthy's ship, you kind of confirm that
suspicion, and that empty feeling kind of goes
away. You kind of feel like your old self, maybe
even better than yourself, and you feel very
in sync with it, to the point that... You can
swear sometimes. You don't even need to touch
the controls to really get attacked. Sweet. Okay,
well, I'm becoming less of a man and more of
a weapon, which is cool. Wow. Metaphors? What?
No way. Who needs them? But you have, like, two
hours until your meeting. You could, like, push
it back if you want to to get some rest, or you
could just try to raw dog it. Totally up to you.
Yeah, I think Geist is going to try and just
power through and not take any breaks to try
and go right there. Awesome. Does my flesh look
charred? No, it does not. Okay. What level of
harm do I actually have? Is it a two? Well, let's
take it down to two for now. Sure. Let's call
it electrocuted or whatever. Sure, yeah, let's
go. Okay. At the base, Director Jermaine's assistant
kind of lets you into his office. And the director
looks rough, tired, and relatively unshaven,
like lots of people lately. And he says, Garrett,
wow, you look like shit. How's it going? Yeah,
not half as bad as you. He walks forward, I don't
know, goes in for like a handshake or something,
whatever. Yeah, he gives you the fucking, what
is it, Predator? Where's the D -Lon you son of
a bitch from? Isn't that Predator? Yeah, the
Schwarzenegger forearm grab handshake. At least
they've been running tests on me. What's your
excuse? Paperwork. Which is, I guess, worse.
So, how are things, actually? Not just talking
shit. I mean, Everybody's pretty tense. You know,
waiting for judgment to come down from on high.
I'm surprised you're still bothering to fill
out the paperwork. Yeah, it's... The union wants
a lot more oversight. Luckily, it looks like
they're not going to be forcing me out. I guess
they think I'm distant enough from all this going
on. But they still want... Yeah, they're making
me fucking dot my I's and cross my T's, have
all our prisoners accounted for, making sure
they're treated well. That's a fucking joke.
I guess you weren't getting out of this job that
easy, huh? No, I got some part of me was kind
of hoping I'd get fired, but... Yeah, prison'd
be a vacation. Yeah. How are you on that? I mean,
I'm not arrested yet. jury's still out on anything
else. Do you know, like, my team? Are they coming
for us? Uh, they're definitely coming for Hex.
I guess they got some pretty good footage then,
huh? Uh, did you, um, did you listen to the,
uh, what they had? Uh, I don't think I did. Did
I, was that something that we talked about? Not
on the show already? Yeah, no, I don't think
so then. I don't know if Geist would have, uh,
seeked it out. I guess maybe he would. If that
information wasn't, like, so hidden that it would
be, like, a project to get it, I think Geist
would probably want to find out because he wants
to know who it is the Soul Union is going to
arrest. Yeah, one thing that was kind of hinted
at, but maybe I should have said it more explicitly,
was that, um, there was a recording from inside
your secret briefing with the Moon Devils. Oh,
shit. Oh, so they heard Crow saying that we should
destroy the dam then. Yeah. Well, that's not
good. No, it's not good. Do we... Okay, so is
Geist aware of that? Yeah, he'd probably be.
Okay. Have you heard that recording? Like, I
wonder if we could see about pinpointing where
it is the bug was based on, I don't know, the
fucking sound? Like, fuck. It's all there. We
had some Intel people look at it, and whoever
sent the recording fucked with the audio enough
that we can't really tell. It's all mono. Just
flattened out. Real pro stuff, so they say. But,
you know, obviously... Uh, there weren't a lot
of people in that room. Um, so either it was
bugged beforehand, which I doubt cause that,
uh, you know, that hangers locked down tight
or, you know, someone on the inside did something.
If you're asking me to snitch on my own team,
I don't, I'm afraid I don't have much for you.
I mean, you've got your own problems. Yeah, I
think so. The first person I'd peg for something
like that would be Hex, but given that he's the
one who's going to be on the headsman's block,
I'd say that's unlikely. Yeah. The people they
sent in, they are sending in, are real hard asses.
This guy, Halifax, he's a fucking old timer,
real bitter son of a bitch. So if he has discretion,
he's probably going to go for all of you. but
maybe it won't be worth the effort. He'll just
go for Hex, but I don't know. I don't want to
know, so just don't tell me anything, but do
you have a plan to not have your situation affected?
Don't worry about me, Jermaine. One way or another,
I'll be all right. Great to hear it. Shit. I
should have got us drinks. Would it be a mole
in the moon, devils? It could be. I mean, they
haven't... They had plenty of opportunities in
the past to fuck us over. Unless they have the
patience of a god. I just don't see... The only
thing that really crossed my mind is if it was,
for some reason, Crow, who's always kind of been,
you know, I don't really know what his deal is.
For some reason, he suddenly decided he wanted
the whole thing to crash and burn and take himself
out, too. But that's crazy. I just, I don't know.
Yeah. I don't know. I don't think anyone on my
team would have deliberately done it, but I don't
know anymore. Ugh. Wasn't there a previous example
of some weird insider shit going on that you
were suspected of? I'm, like, blanking on it.
Um, oh, fuck. Not you particularly, but your
squad. The Dusklights, yeah. Um, because that
was what... Because me and Crow, remember before
the general blew up, we talked about the possibility
of a mole inside the Dusklights. Oh, yes. There
was a... Someone gave away troop plans to the
Clusterists, and Gopher's brother died in the
ambush in the East City. That's right, that's
right. Yeah. Hmm. Right now, I think Geist. is
thinking it might be Joseph, because I don't
think Geist would suspect Loyal of doing that.
Oh, because he doesn't know about Loyal's secret
project. Yeah, I think Geist would immediately
think to himself, like, oh, fuck, what if Joseph
did this? But he wouldn't say it out loud. He
wouldn't say it to Jermaine. But Jermaine kind
of drops the subject. Anyways, It doesn't matter.
You're going to get arrested or whatever, or
not get arrested, depending on how things go.
I hope you don't get arrested, because that would
really fuck this operation if we were down another
squad. We lost a fucking part of the Moondevils,
lost half the Shudderbugs, and we're barely holding
it back now. Yeah. I mean... And... I'm not exactly
going to call it a silver lining, but... Crater
City being gone had to have been a major hit
to Clusterist's power and morale, too. Oh, yeah,
they're pissed off. And, I don't know, there's
some weird shit going on in the city lately.
What do you mean? They're these flyers. They're
really pushing the leave the city angle, and,
you know... Obviously, that raises some red flags
as we are kind of operating out of the city.
So, yeah, it's good they don't have somewhere
to go because that makes me feel a little safer
as having some of them near us. You know, some
people in infrastructure were floating a plan
to set up subsidized apartments for clusterists
in the center city near the base. But we ended
up killing that because of security risk. Well,
you think they're going to do something drastic,
try and blow the whole fucking thing up? I don't
know. They blew up the general. I'm sure if they
had a big enough bomb, they would be happy to
blow us all to hell. They don't give a fuck.
They'll do child soldiers. They'll do chemical
weapons. Why not? Why not blow up the city? What
do they really have to lose at this point? Yeah,
they have no line. They won't cross. And given
the tech that, you know, we've seen on their
virtue frames, I don't think that a weapon capable
of destroying the city is too much of a stretch.
What the fuck is the Soy Union HQ going to do
then? Uh, I would be lying if I said they'd make
things right. These next couple weeks, I think,
are going to make or break everything. I think
you're right there. But, hey. If we make it through
it, vacation. Yeah. Maybe we'll go someplace
nice. Oh, hey, before I forget, I have that thing
you asked for, and he pulls out a small ID badge
and kind of slides it across the deck towards
you. Did I ask for it? Is this supposed to be
a surprise? It's a surprise to you. That's what
I mean. Geist immediately narrows his eyes and
he's like, I didn't ask you for anything, Jermaine.
Uh, did you drink last night? No, no, I... No,
what, did I call you? Yeah, you called me. Like,
not like a text message, like you called me up
and you said, hey, could you pull some strings
and get me an access badge for the TKR project?
You wanted to check it out. And... I pulled my
strings. Was that like a joke? Was that a prank
call from someone using your voice? I don't know.
Oh, yeah, no. Sorry, I forgot. Yeah, you know,
Loyal Sunlith was telling me a little bit about
this project and said it might be useful to get
some eyes on it, so I thought I'd ask while I
was thinking about it, but it was a long night.
Yeah, no problem, man. I get how that goes. That
shit creeps me out. I try to stay away from that.
But, you know, hey, that couldn't hurt, right?
Yeah. I mean, unless it could. Guy shrugs, but
he'll take his ID badge. Great. You've acquired
ID badge. And presumably directions to get there.
Yeah, yeah. That's good. I'm sure that there's
not anything horrible at work behind the scenes
hungering after my mortal soul. I don't know.
No. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. Jermaine doesn't
have anything else to bring up. I think Geist
will excuse himself. Awesome. Yeah, Jermaine,
being a man of few words, escorts you out, walks
you to the door. He says goodbye and says, hey,
just take it easy. I don't know how this whole
thing is going to shake out, but in case I don't
see you again for some reason, it's been a pleasure,
and let's catch up once this is all over. Yeah,
take care of yourself. Don't get fucking killed.
You guys still shake his hand back? I literally
sit in an office all day. It would be an exciting
change of pace if I got killed somehow. Well,
make it count at least. Geist will kind of raise
a hand and farewell and then walk away. Okay.
Do you want to go to sleep or do you want to
go to the warehouse? No, I'm not going to the
fucking warehouse. I'm not going to see this.
Wait, so I actually have a... Take TKR. What
does Geist actually know about it in character?
Because I'm kind of having trouble separating
what I actually know. Yeah. From what? I don't
know. Does he even know that name? You know the
name probably just offhand because it's not like
top secret. It's kind of kept on wraps. It's
the old body of martyrdom. The ziggurat and some
people from the base are doing research on it
just to see that technology that goes into it.
There's not like any horrific shit going on at
least that you know of do i does anyone know
why they started calling it tkr instead of martyrdom
the clusterous documentation uh called it the
king returneth uh presumably because it was to
make martyrdom return yeah yeah okay after it
blew itself up yeah which really shouldn't have
been a surprise to anybody okay cool i just want
to make sure that like that name didn't just
like pop out of the ether like some intern was
like yeah we'll call this project the king return
if that's a cool idea and then everyone just
rolled with it like it was normal that would
happen though yeah i know that's why i wanted
to know for sure uh okay cool yeah no go geist
Because Geist was there. Geist fought the Martyrdom
frame. He fought it while it was still alive.
He doesn't want to fuck with any psychic stuff
until he talks to Loyal about it, specifically
because of the way that he came into possession
of the card. So he's not going to go there alone.
Sure. How do you reach out to Loyal, if you do?
Is my question. I guess it would probably be
like a voice message or even just like a text,
but not like... not saying anything. I think
Geist knows better than to mention this stuff
in any way that it could be directly modern.
Just, like, asking to meet up to talk to him
about something. When do you send this message?
Probably right away. Yeah, like, we have our
space filter, and as he's walking out of Jermaine's
office or out into, like, the exterior portion
of the base, he just sends Loyal the message.
I think you get a response right away. Oh, God.
I think Loyal says, I'm wounded and I need help.
Oh, fuck. Where are you? Just typing so frantically.
He's like a 60 -year -old man using a cell phone.
He doesn't type very fast, but he tries to. It's
full of typos, but it's like, where are you now?
Loyal gives you the warehouse that that passes
for as his current location. Does the text on
my phone look unnaturally red or drippy? No.
Okay, cool. You can roll if you want. No, that's
okay. Increase your searching ability, but no,
it looks like a normal text. Cool. I'm going
to run over there then. I'm going to sprint over
there. Sure. The building is nondescript. It's
an old warehouse, indistinguishable from the
other ones that you kind of house your frames
in. And at the far end of this warehouse are
a couple of soldiers kind of standing bored.
next to, like, a large cargo elevator heading
down. Okay, um, I guess I'll run over to them
and be like, hey, did you guys see a dolphin
in an exopod? I'm down this way. Oh my god! You're
Geist, right? Yeah. Oh, we're big fans. Uh, we,
uh, love seeing you work. Uh, yeah, the, uh...
Oh, no shit. They ought to put you on a poster.
Uh, yeah, the dolphin, uh, went down there, like,
not that long ago, really. You, uh, you joining
him? Uh, I got a message from him saying that
he was wounded. Did you hear any unusual sounds
or something? Uh, no, but we don't really got
good radio up here. Uh, do you have clearance?
Yeah, yeah. I'll pull up my badge and have him
scan it or whatever. Oh, yeah. Sure, just, uh,
you can go on down. Okay, I guess I'll go on
down. Uh, great. Great. There are two buttons
on the elevator. One says observation and another
is labeled storage. I guess let's go to observation
first. It doesn't work. Okay, then I'll press
the button for storage. Piece of shit. You pop
down into storage. The door on the cargo elevator
kind of opens up and in front of you is the corpse
of TKR. It is like kind of in... torn apart from
the legs down, kind of like entrails kind of
like splayed out. Like even more torn apart than
the last time I saw it? Yes, very much so. Like
it's been disassembled. Oh, okay. And two hooks
are kind of suspending its arms in the air, so
it's kind of like being propped up. And in front
of the it, kind of spasming slightly, is Loyal.
Oh, shit.