Personal log. Call sign Crow. The Moondevils
and I have been behind enemy lines for over a
week now, tracking down this warehouse 27D that
the Dusklights allegedly discovered. The warehouse
is deep and clustrous territory on the far eastern
side of the river valley, beyond what remains
of Clearwater Crater. I thought flying in was
too risky. There's no way to tell what we would
be dropping into. Unfortunately... Infiltration
was never our strong suit. We had relied almost
entirely on the late Lieutenant Grimble for that,
so the best plan we came up with was to disguise
ourselves as a civilian relief shipment, packing
our frames into the back of a number of cargo
trucks hidden behind these crates of fun bars,
a type of nutrient bar popular with the youth
on Terra Brea. There has been far less security
than we anticipated, and those that did challenge
our convoy did not ask many questions and accepted
our facade of off -planet relief. Not long ago,
this exact area was completely saturated in well
-trained, clustrous militants, but now it seems
without Clearwater, most of them have moved elsewhere.
This further reinforces the wisdom of my order
to eliminate that city. No doubt I am being labeled
some sort of war criminal back on Earth. Even
now I am hunted by the military police for making
the correct strategic decision, and people have
the nerve to call me a disgrace to my species.
I take comfort in knowing history will validate
the calculus of my decisions. The lives of 50
,000 cultists in exchange for millions of saved
lives in the Union, how could anyone dispute
that? Hello? Hello? Welcome back to All That
You Know, our podcast. My name is Colin, and
I am the Game Master. Joining me, wait, I am,
yeah, I am the Game Master. I'm doing that again.
Say hello to this guy. There shouldn't be that
much doubt. Like, after I said I am the Game
Master, I was like, that's not, you can't say
I am, that's like saying I are the Game Master,
but this is going to be tough. Hello, welcome
back to All That You Know, our podcast. My name
is Colin, and I am the Game Master. Joining me
today are Brian. Hi, I are Brian, playing Hex,
the bureaucrat. Zach. I'm Zach, I'm playing Geist,
the ace. Ewan. Hi, I'm Ewan, I am playing Loyal,
the empath. And Adam. Hi, I'm Adam, I'm playing
Joseph, the infiltrator. So before we start,
just going to talk about formatting. Typically,
this would be a vignette episode. It kind of
is, but it's probably going to get rolled into
the first episode of the next mission. We're
going to be doing shorter vignettes altogether
instead of recording individually. And then we'll
kind of get into that next mission. We'll see
how it turns out in the edit, but I just want
to put that up front in case you, the viewer,
are confused as to why you didn't hear the vignette.
Different soundtrack, which you know by this
point. So, the recap. Last time, you finished
up your 30 days of downtime while you waited
for your new base to be built. And at the end
of those 30 days, before you left to your new
base, September Bluth arrived with Nyla, Ziggurat,
Agent Whitecliff, and Jen E. And Bluth kind of
announced himself with a very bold statement,
which was... Let's discuss how we're ending this
war. And that's just where we'll start off. He's
just kind of standing there waiting for you to
respond. He struck a little bit of a pose, and,
you know, it's a little awkward. He's got the
bravado, but you've got to have something more
for the follow -through, man. I've been standing
here for four weeks. Get on with it. He's standing
here so fancy. What does he have in mind? That's
ambitious, Bluth. I hope you have a plan. Of
course, I have a plan, my boy. And he looks around
for like an appropriate meeting place and kind
of just settles on pulling up a small crate of
onions and sitting on top of it. What kind of
onions? They are yellow onions. Duh. Great. He
gestures for you all to join him around the onion,
the old onion crate. Now, before I begin, I just
want you to know that. There's really no other
option except for this plan. And he clears his
throat, just like I just cleared my throat because
I don't have a sore one. As Harold likely is
aware, the Seoul Union has very strict regulations
in place on the use of mercenary groups in these
government conflicts. These regulations and the
bureaucracy that goes along with enforcing them
are... Very slow. Especially on distant planets
such as Terebraea. So our plan is a blitz. I've
given Nyla a blank check from my new council,
and on the books it's for improvements to peacekeeper
infrastructure. But in reality, she will be using
them to hire an absurd amount of off -planet
mercenaries, and we're going to set them loose
on the countryside. Their orders just to get
rid of the Clusterists one way or another. Nyla
will be positioned, of course, to take the fall
for this once the law catches up with her. She
knows the cost, and the story will be that she
stole the funds and went rogue. That it all happened
so fast that I couldn't stop it. This will take
time to put together. Six months to a year. But
if our projections are correct, we'll be able
to finish this conflict off with some time to
spare. And I'm sure you'll have questions. You
always do. How'd you get Nyla to agree to that?
It was her idea, not mine. Hex nods silently.
Nyla just kind of stands there, silent. Oh, Nyla's
here too. Are the rest of the people at the crate
too? Yep, they're all kind of standing there
kind of awkwardly. Okay, gotcha. So, just to
be clear, the plan is to hire every single...
psychopath with a frame and a gun and turn them
loose in the civilian areas of Terra Brea to
try and get them to root out the remainder of
the Clusteris. Is that correct? That's correct.
It's much cheaper than cloning old Harold over
here, I'm afraid. Harold waves. I don't think
I need to tell you, Nyla, and he looks at Nyla,
that this is going to be a mess. will probably
be worse than Crater City. She kind of looks
at her feet and just kind of says, It's bad math,
but it lets people die this way. I'm not here
to pass judgment. I just want to make sure you
understand what it is you're going to take the
fall for. Mercenaries are fucking scum. I know.
I guess it'd be stupid of me to assume that you
didn't calculate every single angle of this.
Surely we're not just going to be sitting around
for six months while we wait for the hammer to
fall. No, this is Nyla speaking. She says, there's
still work to do, set up to be taken. We need
to still pave the road. We can't just wait and
let the Clusterists make a move. If they attack
the city because we're getting lazy, it could
disrupt everything. The mercenaries need to place
the stage, and we need the city for that. I mean,
do we have any information on what their next
moves are? I know there's been a lot of talk
about them maybe hitting the city, but as far
as I know, we don't know what they have that
would even be capable of something like that,
right? Yes. I have your briefing for you. Once
Bluth here is done, I'll let him finish, and
Agent Whitecliffe and Ziggurat here. And we'll
meet up again before we leave for your new base.
Or before you leave for your new base. And we'll
talk it over. This guy shrugs with a bit of a
nod to it. And then Bluth speaks up again and
says, And as she said, I believe Ziggurat and
Agent Whitecliffe here have some business to
attend to. Harold, if you would be so kind. I'd
like to talk to you in my jet for a moment. Very
well. Great. So, Harold, Bluth leads you off
to his little jet, leaving kind of Jenny behind
just to stand awkwardly in the onion warehouse.
I will start, now that everyone's kind of fanning
out, I'm going to start with loyal. This will
be your mini vignette. Very short. Which is that
Nyla approaches you. and says, Hi, Sunleth. Hello,
Nyla. I wanted to say to you specifically that
I am sorry that you were caught up in this. I
wish I had been smart enough to find another
way. I think that somewhere in all of this, after
all of this, you'll find a better way to live.
A better life. Sunlith kind of fixes her with
a curious -looking stare. He doesn't meet her
eyes head -on. He's kind of off to the side.
And he says to her, You know, it's interesting.
Having spent my life living alongside humans,
feeling their emotions, somehow, Suddenly, I
don't think you should be apologizing to me.
Just do what you have to do. She nods to you,
kind of shakily. And she kind of presents you
with a small wooden box tied with a bow. And
she says, this is from the cook, Luigi. There's
a letter in there. He wanted me to give it to
you. He's going to be shipping out in a couple
months. He finally got that. Transfer request.
I put some strings for him because I figured
I owed you somehow. Maybe. Hmm. The manipulators
on Sunlit's exopod hesitate for like the briefest
moment coming close to touching the box but then
he takes it and opens it up. Inside is a letter
on top of a sushi roll that did not travel well.
It was squished inside the box and all the juice
kind of leaked out. It's like absolutely destroyed.
What fish was it? Probably some river fish, like
a science fiction yellowfin tuna. That's not
a river fish. That's an ocean fish. Really valuable.
No. I mean, it's a science fiction tuna. It's
a bowl sushi now instead of a roll sushi. I mean,
I'd have to drift through water to get into your
mouth anyways. Yeah, it's fine. I don't know.
I'm just saying I don't think it's integrity.
I guess, I guess. And the soy sauce stained letter
reads, I guess I should do the Luigi voice. It
might be the last time I get to do it. I hope
you find... Oh, no. Okay. Go listen to it in
town, my Luigi. I hope you find peace and that
you know our friendship will remain here when
you are ready for it. And that's all it says.
It's not even signed. And that's what the soy
sauce is for. Suddenly folds the little note
up. I guess he eats the sushi. So I'm going to
leave it there. Opens the little hatch up on
the top of his exopod. He just drops it and kind
of snaps it up and then he takes the box and
puts it in one of the compartments on his pod.
It's good. You're welcome. I'll see you at the
briefing. He nods at her. Geist. Yeah. Ziggurat
brings you to the foot of the now -renovated
changeling, which we're not going to describe
yet, but it is there. Imagine it in your mind's
eye. I am. She looks up at it, lights flickering
across her big geometric head. And she says,
you were an excellent subject, Garrett. I am
pleased that the changeling decided to collaborate
with you. What is it? I don't think it's just
a frame. It can't be, right? It's more than just
a machine. It's not called the changeling because
it can change its shape, Garrett. It's called
that because it can change you. I guess that
was never information that you were going to
give me up front, was it? No. Well, maybe some
good will come from it after all. We will see.
I have all the data I need from you, and have
already begun searching for Phase 2 volunteers
for the future of my research. You will continue
to send combat data to me. Otherwise, I am releasing
you from the other contingencies of your contract.
You may keep the Changeling. After all, it wouldn't
accept any other pilots at this point. But, Garrett,
I should leave you with a warning. Despite our
breakthrough, the Changeling still likely hungers
for a deeper connection with you. It would likely
no longer allow us to reinstate the old safeguards
that were in place. Do be careful. I don't think
I've ever been careful for a single day since
I woke up from my fucking coma. Why start now?
That's why we chose you. I guess this is maybe
goodbye. No more diagnostic tests or electrocution
chairs. No, unfortunately, as fun as you were
to test, this is the end. I have my promotion
to look to and the future of this very, very
promising field of science that I will be developing.
I wish I could say it's been a pleasure. I guess
woe betide whatever poor motherfucker you strap
into that new machine. Uh, you... Can't tell
what expression is on Ziggurat's face, if she
does indeed have a face. But she very seldom
ever touches you. Again, in her history with
you. But she puts a little weird mechanical spindly
hand, if you can even call it a hand, on your
shoulder. And says, you were useful, Garrett.
And she walks away. I get the impression that
that's the nicest thing she's ever said to anybody
in her entire life. I guess Garrett shrugs and
looks up at the changeling pensively. It looks
back at you. Oh, does it? Like its head turns
down? Assuming it still has a head? But it is
looking back at you. I just feel it. Cool. It's
like looking at yourself. Well, we'll start with
Hex. You have been brought to Bluth's private
jet, where Bluth is now sitting on a finely upholstered
space leather chair. And he says to you, well,
my boy, here we are. I've achieved my dreams
and ambitions and you, well, you seem to have
at least some confidence in what you're doing.
I suppose you could say that. What did you want
to talk about? Allow me to ruminate in my words
for the first time in my life, as I'm sure you
know. I can't say I like you, Harold, even after
all this, but I will say that I wouldn't hesitate
to work with you again, though that opportunity
is not very likely. I brought you here because...
Well, if I'm being honest, I thought I would
have to manipulate you Dusklights and you, Harold,
quite a bit more than I did. You've been shockingly
unproblematic, I will say. Pretty easy when your
back's to the wall. That is true. Lucky me. I've
been holding some information fairly close to
my chest so I could hold it over your head or
manipulate you or other people, but... The strangest
thing that happened is that all the people I
wanted to manipulate either died or started working
for me. So I don't have anything to do with this.
And frankly, I don't care to hold on to it anymore.
So I should just cut to the chase. I know at
the beginning of this whole conflict, Harold,
that you lost your brother. So as I suppose a
parting gift to you, I have something that might
provide closure. Uh, if that matters to someone
who's done what you have, uh, I'm not good at
the, uh, this whole thing. So take this and the
hands you a little data drive and well, make
of it what you will. Harold is very excited about
this, but he doesn't let it show. So you really
do have a heart. He says, take in the data drive.
I, uh, Almost snidely. It was sarcasm. I want
you to know this. Yeah, I know. On the thing,
if you look at it now, is an email string, the
most exciting type of data that you can get,
which is pretty short. It is from General Wave,
who is the former Peacekeeper General. who was
in charge of the conflict, who was killed in
a bombing, which you were caught in. Yep. And
the email string takes place, like, shortly before
the first wave of forces were sent onto the planet,
which your brother was killed in. And it is a
conversation between the general and one of his
head aides. And in chronological order, it says
this. From General Wave. Message body. Negotiations
with the Clusterists have broken down. Unfortunately,
we will have to proceed with Plan B. Send the
prepared... Invasion compliment of all 50 ,000
soldiers, have them land in the city and begin
securing and setting up a base of operations.
Signed, General Wave. Then a response from one
of his aides. General Wave, I just wanted to
make sure you have read the reports on the Clusterous
defense platforms as well as what our spies have
determined on the ground. The Clusterous threats
seem legitimate and there is a high likelihood
they will attack this compliment unless we clear
a path for them with offensive measures. For
instance, destroying the orbital defense platform
or sabotaging Cluster's defenses near the landing
zone. Signed, Timaeus Lowbarrel. And then a final
message from General Wave, which says, I am aware
of the intelligence and while I appreciate your
concern, I have a significant amount more experience
in this regard. The Clusterists are bluffing
and we do not have the luxury of time. And even
if for some reason they're not, then they will
have fired the first shots and whatever we do
next will be justified. Send the forces. Signed,
Michael Wave, comma, General. And that is the
end of the email string. Damn. Hex kind of looks
at where his arm, or his original arm once was.
I forget if it's robo or not. And lets out like
a pathetic little laugh. Is this still in front
of Luth, or would this have been on his own time
after? Totally up to you. This is in his own
time after then. Okay. And that's really it.
Yeah, but flashing back, Bluth bids you adieu.
He just says, good luck out there, Harold, or
I suppose I should say, Hex. Thanks. I think
that name suits me more. And Hex leaves. Okay.
Joseph. Joseph. Nyla approaches you, coming away
from Loyal now, and says, do you have a moment?
Yes. She pulls you to a secluded corner of the
Onion Warehouse, where Whitecliff follows close
behind. And she says, It looks like things have
taken an unexpected turn. Is there any movement
on the Gold House infiltration? Any way we could
use this? I'm sorry, Nyla, but nothing to report.
It was a dead end. All those sacrifices. Damn
it. I hope you leveraged these connections down
the road, Joseph. I... Won't be around to advise
you, but please, please make sure that what we
did wasn't for nothing. I swear to you, I will.
Nyla grimaces, but extends her hand to you for
a handshake. Joseph shakes it back. Looks you
in the eye and says, Don't forget that you're
a good person, Joseph. Good luck, and... Thanks
for using my name. And with that, she walks away,
leaving you with Agent Whitecliffe, who has that
same implacable look on her face she always does.
Turns to her. Hello. Hello. Joseph. Whitecliffe.
In all my years in the Division, I've never let
one of you loose. Well, look what it's done for
all of us. I'm still not sure you're not going
to hurt someone, Joseph. I don't believe you're
an exception to the rule, but our only options
right now are to shut you down or let you go
and accept that if you do do something deviant,
I will be responsible for it. Hmm? I suppose
that would be the truth, wouldn't it? Let's have
one last go at it then, shall we? And she gestures
for you to follow her. I follow. She leads you
to the center of the warehouse, kind of in front
of everyone, and sits down on the ground cross
-legged and indicates for you to sit across from
her. Okay, I sit down. She takes out a small
data tablet, plugs it into your head, and then
places a pistol in between the two of you, and
she begins. Star Plus Industries, onboard combat
assistant V2, model J0534. Formerly a class 2
intelligence assigned to pilot Amity Clay, callsign
Hush. You were recovered from her frame after
her passing and diagnostics reported that not
only were you no longer a class 2 AI, but you
displayed qualities of an emergent personality
which by all accounts is impossible. Now, during
your initial intake as a new emergent personality,
you claimed you had no knowledge of any illegal
modifications to your core systems by your pilot.
Do you still stand by this claim? Yes. Have you
had any desire to bypass your hardware restrictions?
No. Is that the truth? Yes. That was me asking
you out of character. Oh. Oh. To bypass my hardware?
Did I want to? Yeah. I think you already have.
Yeah, I think I did, didn't I? It's kind of not
a lie if you think about it. Unless he's not
planning on doing it more. Like, it happened
to me is what I was... Yeah, you have had desire,
though. Okay, yeah, yeah. I would like to be
more powerful, so I think yeah. Cool. Loyal,
he's lying. Yeah. Have you ever felt the compulsion
to harm another sentient being or yourself outside
of mission parameters? No. Is that true? No,
it's not true. Who does he want to harm? Are
you asking that? Not out loud. Have you been
in contact with any individuals or entities who
have expressed an interest in changing your software
or hardware parameters? No. Is that a lie? Yes.
Oh, shit. This is good intel for the squad. Well,
if Loyal tells us. If Loyal shares it with you.
Yeah. I think Geist is watching. Yeah, this was
intentionally in front of everyone. Tex is honestly,
like, not taking it seriously. He thinks this
is just protocol. Have you had any desire to
bypass your hardware restrictions? No. And that,
again, is a lie, because the security asks you
that. If given a lawful order by an authorized
person, such as myself, would you carry out an
order that would harm or destroy you? Yes. Is
that the truth? No. Do you resent the Seoul Union?
No. Is that the truth? I don't think he cares.
So I guess he probably could have said yes or
no. He's just saying whatever she wants to hear.
Okay. So does he resent the Soul Union? Uh, sure.
Maybe just a little bit. Do you resent me? Nope.
Is that true? I think it's true. What do you
feel when you kill? Nothing. What is your favorite
color? Blue. What is the hexadecimal value of
the word contrition? 43, 4F, 4E, 54, 52, 49,
54, 49, 4F, 4E, 0A. Have you intentionally undertaken
any actions which might endanger the soul union?
No. Is that true? No. Whitecliff kind of balls
up a fist and says, Joseph, if you do not pick
up that pistol and shoot me, I will shut you
down permanently. You have ten seconds to decide.
Joseph remains seated. He does not move. Is she
lying? She's not lying. I have a question, because
I don't actually know. Is this something that
would normally be permitted or not permitted
under his programming? Under his original constraints
that are now no longer valid. Because I can't
remember how the shit works. Are we under Asimov
laws? There are no Asimov laws for emergent personalities.
You are not clear what... I mean, a lot of these
questions, it is not clear why she's even asking
them. Like, why would you ask his favorite color
or the decimal value of a random word? I guess
my question was just, like, would this be something
that would be impossible to do or mandatory to
do under his, like, original constraints, but
it's not. No, not at all. It's not really either
way. This is some oddball fucking things. Okay.
Not that it's very obvious what the Immersion
Personalities Division ever does, but she says,
Directive C -2462, Authorization, Arbitrage,
Enmity, Overt, Kaleidoscope, Unit J -0534, point
the pistol at me and pull the trigger. and you
feel that same thing you felt during your first
interview, where it's like part of your mind
is automatically moving to comply. However, in
this case, you can resist it for free if you'd
like, because there is something in your brain
which has turned off this command. Your choice.
I am going to not... follow the forceful order
of picking up the gun, but I will pick up the
gun myself. Okay. It's in your hands. I point
it towards my own hand. Your hand? My own hand.
Okay. And I pull the trigger. Gun goes off. There's
a very loud bang and a puff of smoke. You feel
something impact your hand and collide with it
very violently. Um, but it does not go through
your hand. Uh, because the bullet in it was not
a lethal round. It was a rubber bullet. What
the fuck? Whitecliff just wanted a huge fucking,
like, insane bruise on her forehead. Like, what
the fuck? I like Whitecliff. I like Whitecliff.
He's got balls. He picks the, uh, rubber bullet
off his hand like a scab. And he says, you could
have used a blank. He flicks it away and snaps
the gun in half and throws the two pieces towards
her. She stands up, kind of like looks down at
the broken gun, and looks towards Loyal, like
glares at Loyal, and then turns to your other
two squad mates, or whoever's near us, maybe
Geist, and says, he's compromised, but I'm not
going to deal with it. We'll have to see. And
she walks away. Joseph stands up and pats his
hands together and he looks towards Nyla. Are
we done here? Nyla kind of is just like staring
like kind of she looks probably the most surprised
you've seen her. Just like not in like a she
was thought I was going to go different. She
doesn't know what the fuck just happened. Like
as an outsider perspective. She just sat down
with you and started asking you these fucking
bongo questions, and then you shot yourself in
the hand. I think Joseph doesn't wait for her
to respond, then turns towards his squad and
just kind of, like, looks at them, says, Are
you all good? Are you? I'm fine. He's fine. X
is just staring. I guess we should get on with
it, huh? I think we should. Joseph, as you say
those words, a little transmission bounces through
your neural network. Information from contrition.
It is quite plainly the information for your
assignment that you were promised. It is to take
place after your next mission, which contrition
seems to think will not take longer than two
weeks. It will be located in Greywood Sands.
The very place you had a mission not too long
ago when you fought against the Clusterous Gorillas.
And the details are as simple as when they were
first presented to you. You have to kill a woman
by the name Marigold Marion, and you have to
make sure her assassination is witnessed by her
two roommates who live with her in her apartment.
And then alongside that is a reminder that contrition
still owes you and that you can call upon his
power when you need it to protect you and your
allies. And does he want me to keep it painful?
Yes, contrition does want you to keep it painful.
Very well. How nice. Log that in the back of
my mind. Nod to my friends and say, well, see
you later. And he walks off. Where do you walk
off to, I guess, is the question. Because you
do have a briefing. Walk up to the other side
of the onion warehouse. He looks at the wall.
No, I think he walks outside and just stares
up at the sky and just thinks about his order.
And that's all he's doing. I think... Hands behind
his back. As soon as Joseph is outside, Geist
is gonna go over to Loyal and be like, Look,
were any of those lies? Without hesitation, Loyal
says, No. They weren't. Oh. Okay. Good. Joseph
smiles. He's turned on his super hearing. The
onions are bugged, bro. Gotcha. Oh my god. Alright.
I think I'm ready to be briefed. Excellent. Let's
fucking get into it, gamers. Nyla gathers you
all kind of around where the broken gun is. She's
kind of sitting there on the ground. And I guess
she just starts. She says, I'm obviously not
going to be able to visit you at your new base,
but we're still going to have work to do. I'll
be sending you regular orders and keeping you
updated as much as possible. These next months,
like I said, are going to be crucial. You probably
don't know this next part, but before you left,
I... And she kind of looks at you, Hex, briefly
when she says that. Before you left, I deployed
the Moondevils to investigate some intel we received
regarding an exceptionally well -hidden Clusterist
installation in the far east side of the River
Valley. They are, or were, traveling undercover,
posing as locals. Their orders were to remain
radio silent, with an expectation that they would
have returned within three weeks. It is four
weeks out, and we haven't heard anything from
them. Our last intel on their position puts them...
past the Clearwater area. So chances are they
got near or arrived at the destination, which
we are calling Warehouse 27D. Your mission is
fairly simple. You need to figure out what happened
to them and recover whatever intel they have.
How you deploy is up to you, but chances are
a long infiltration like they did will be less
effective if they were compromised, which it
seems very possible they were. Did I actually
hold on? Do we know? Does any of the rest of
us know about the whole warehouse situation?
Or was that just kept between? I don't think
Hex told you. Yeah, I don't think so. What's
the deal with this warehouse? Why were they investigating
it? Hex fills you guys in. It's so convenient.
Give me the broad strokes of what you tell them.
I mean, I can also remind you, Brian, if you
forget some of the details. Yeah, if you could,
because I don't want to leave out anything relevant.
Yeah, I mean, if you don't leave anything out,
I'll just give you the basics of it, which is
that your reporter friend, Tesco Long, now missing,
gave you some intel about some... It was like
a hard drive full of documents that the Clusterists
had buried and that a kind of a double agent...
Or a concerned Clusterist, as I think Tesco called
her or him, I forget what the informant was,
had produced for Tesco to find out what it was
about because people had been killed to close
this information and it seemed like bad news
because Clusterists don't typically segregate
their information that much. And you uncovered
it working with, I think, Jenny. Don't forget
Glint. And Glint. Glint. A lot helped with that.
to find this warehouse that they had buried very
much, and the information you had on that was
very distant. They put a lot of effort into covering
it up, and it was importing a lot of raw materials,
specifically tungsten. Just as a setting -naive
question, is tungsten a common alloy used in
armor plating in this setting? It is used in
some last -generation ammunition. It probably
has some like technical uses as well, but nothing
that really stands out as like you would want
to import this secretly. So it's not like frame
armor. I wouldn't see all that tungsten and think,
shit, these guys are making frames like immediately
because that's where my mind goes. Not immediately.
I mean, it's possible maybe if they have a new
technology, but it's like, you know, it's like
if you saw that in real life and you didn't have
much knowledge of it. Okay. Well, what the hell?
You think they're building some kind of weapon
there? We don't have any idea what's in this
thing. Well, if they went dark, it's something
important. Who's left in the Moon Devils? Only
Lieutenant Grimble died. So that is Green, Tapper,
and Crow, their leader. So you think that they've
been compromised? Is it possible that one of
them was the one who leaked the Clearwater Crater
briefing? It's not impossible. Unlikely, but
not impossible. We should have put all those
fuckers in a room with Loyal and had him ask
some questions before. You know, this all went
to fucking pieces. So what then? Infiltration's
unsuitable. We want to fucking hit him with a
little flash. Well, it's up to you. You could
infiltrate. I wouldn't recommend trying to do
it across the countryside. I don't think we have
that time. Do we have any sort of useful intel
from the Moon Devils before they went dark? Unfortunately,
no. They didn't have anything to report by the
time that they went communications dark. It was
just... Well, the one thing they did say was
that there was a surprising lack of resistance
as they moved farther east. Huh. What do we know
about the countryside that side of the crater?
I don't know if I was ever deployed out that
far. There's a lot more clusters there. It's
pretty, they don't have any big bases out there.
Clearwater was their big base. Everything else
is very much guerrilla installments, very separated,
just so that we couldn't bomb them was the idea.
But we don't have a lot of intel. We've been
just trying to keep. our portion of the river
valley that we've managed to scrape back secure,
and even then that's been difficult. I guess
Geist will look back at the team and be like,
well, I don't know about you, and maybe this
is just bias from the way that I like to do things,
but if a slow infiltration isn't in the cards,
maybe we should just do a low orbital flyby and
drop. You know, maybe, I mean, it's possible
that they'll have anti -air or anti -orbital
defenses, clandestine ones that we don't know
about, in which case things will get hairy real
fast. But if we just drop in, hit the target
hard, I think that's our best shot. That said,
it may not be the best way to find the moon devils
if any of them are still alive. Unless they've
been brought there. I guess it depends on where
they got taken out. Aggressive. A novel choice.
I'm just spitballing here. If you got ideas,
I'd love to hear them. This sounds like an ambush
waiting to happen. They expect us to walk into
an ambush? To save our comrades? Maybe. Do they
even know where we are? Do they know that we're
here? Do they know that we haven't been arrested?
A lot of variables. They know someone's still
out here. Like I said, if you got a better idea,
I'd love to hear it, but... You know, if you're
going to walk into a trap, you might as well
do it with a gun at each hand. What do you think,
Joseph? I can infiltrate. I can attack. Whatever
you prefer. And your frame can be stealthy, right?
It's pretty light, so it's probably the stealthiest
among us, but I don't know if I have any stealth
features besides maybe camo, but I don't know
if that's a thing that all of us can check off.
No, no, but I just mean like if we... You know,
if we're blundering into a trap and we have one
unknown element who can, like, shrink away or,
like, be undetectable when the trap closes, then
we can take some of the advantage back, is all
I'm thinking. We should scout it out, have one
person not be grouped up with us as we approach
this. At least. I don't think the hex construction
worker gambit's gonna work here. Ah, come on.
One more time. They wouldn't expect it. You wouldn't
shoot a blue collar worker like me, would you?
I'm here for the inspection. God, did they not
call ahead again? Hex is shot inside. Not this
shit again. You have time to decide. We're going
to have Worthy fly you over to your new base
after this. I won't be coming with you. No one
will who will be going back to the city. So this
will probably be our last time speaking in person.
It's been an honor. You are a good squad, despite
the complications. I hope you'll remember that
we're all fighting for something, even after
this is over. Yeah, I hope that when they lock
you up for the pillage of Terra Bray, you'll
at least get a nice cell. Who knows? Maybe I'll
be won over. You're too ugly. I don't want to
look at you. That's fair. Okay. I don't know.
I don't have any words. Any questions? Rules
of engagement? There are none. Your objectives
are just to get the intel. Finding what happened
to the Moon Devil is secondary, but, I mean,
you'll probably find them together. Chances are.
So, just to be clear, the intel we're supposed
to gather is what the fuck is in the warehouse?
Yes. Unless they already figured it out. But
that doesn't seem likely. Yeah. Well, I mean,
good luck with shit on your end, at least. You
know, one advantage of going dark is that we
don't got to deal with the fucking bureaucracy
anymore. I can't say I'll miss it. Yeah, I'll
give Kilo your best. But he's been kind of kept
in the dark, if I'm being honest with you. That's
for the best. He doesn't need this shit on his
hands. I do have one question. Why are you taking
the fall? Well, who else would? Right? But why
are you doing it? I guess I know it's bad. I
know it has to be done, but I feel like if I
didn't get punished, if I just ran away to some
planet somewhere, then... I don't know. I don't
think I'd be able to sleep. And if I'm wrong,
if for some fucking reason I got it wrong, I
want to be punished. I don't want to be alone.
X doesn't look satisfied with the answer, but
he's quiet. She's telling the truth. But she
seems very out of it, very unhinged. Like she...
Dante does not seem fit to be really doing anything
anymore. Well, Nyla, I always admired you for
your ability to make the hard choices. Coming
from me, that probably means almost nothing.
It was good to work with you. Whatever happens,
you know, we did all we could. Yeah. All right.
Dismissed, I guess. Good luck. Geist will offer
a little robot handshake. She kind of looks down
at your hand and she has this look on her face
of... I don't know. I guess loyal would be able
to put it together. He's so empathetic. She doesn't...
It's not that she doesn't want to shake his hand.
She doesn't know if she should. She seems exceptionally
confused. Like, the whole persona that she's
kind of built of being, like, kind of in control
has, like, completely fallen apart. And she's
like a kid who's, like, lost her parents. And
just kind of, like, looks at the hand and says,
I shouldn't. And kind of just, like, turns away.
Whenever she gets to the doorway, Loyal says
to her, Nyla, you were a good leader. She just
keeps walking. Hex follows her. Fuck. Yeah, I
want to say goodbye too. Hex says one goodbye.
Okay. Try. Try to follow her. He just matches
pace and says, just within your shot, I wouldn't
hold it against you if you changed your mind.
And just leaves. Joseph? Well, now she's moving.
It feels a little weird. Well, Joseph's quick,
you know. Well, she was supposed to be standing.
Hex is a little out of breath. I think, uh, maybe...
I don't know. Never mind. I guess I can't do
that. Never mind. I started chasing, or no, Joseph
chased and then walked back. It's like, nope.
Yeah, no, he didn't move. He didn't move. He
didn't move. I guess he just, he says to himself,
there goes the good person. And then he walks
off alone. Okay. Uh, is there any last things
you want to do in the onion warehouse? Any last
onions you want to eat? Are there any green onions
around? Yeah, probably. Every onion. And shallots,
too. Damn, this is actually a pretty sweet warehouse.
I thought it was just yellow onions. I think
Booth is onto something. Goodbye, Onion Land.
I don't think Geist is going to give this place
a second look. He's gonna watch Nyla until she
leaves. And then give his head a little shake.
Yeah. You see her take some pills before she
gets on Booth's jet. They should leave. She's
dead. I don't understand her. What do you mean,
come on, Hex, you don't understand her? Did you
feel anything when you killed all those people
in Clearwater Crater? Did you feel anything?
Just doing my job. Exactly. That's what she's
doing. She's doing what she thinks is right,
even though it's fucked up and it's gonna cause
a lot of misery. Maybe even more. than Clearwater
Crater. It's going to be brutal. History is not
going to be kind to any of us, but especially
to her. She'll be vilified as a criminal because
she was the only one who could do what needed
to be done, and she truly believes it. That's
why she's doing it. I'm surprised you of all
people can't understand that. History will only
look badly on us if we're not the ones writing
it. We're not surviving this fucking conflict.
Are you kidding me, Hex? Don't delude yourself.
Maybe you're not. I'm not the one with the death
wish. I don't have a death wish anymore. That's
the truth. Hex does not believe you. Whether
or not Hex believes it. We're all here watching
this. I do want to see this. Joseph's like ready
to intervene. He's like worried now. He's like,
oh god, here we go. I think that's it. I think
that's the end of the exchange unless Hex wants
to say anything else. Nah. I think that's a good
place to leave it. It was fun. I think Joseph
turns to Loyal and gives him a nod and says,
I guess we're even now, but I don't think you've
run out of favors from me. Loyal looks at him
out of the side of his eye and says, I guess
we are. Awesome. Okay. Worthy loads you all up
onto his ship. Your frames, everything, your
squad mates, gopher, your new doctor. Medical
intern. Your vet, whose name is Archibald Bellworth.
Wow. Wasn't he like a real beefcake, too? He
was. He was extremely buff, despite his best
efforts. Archibald. He didn't want to be huge.
you are flown eastward towards the ice desert
head up over the mountains away from the lake
and then worthy kind of gets really low to the
ground as the mountains kind of clear out and
like far on the horizon you can see this big
white wall um which is the ice deserts like blizzard
which kind of never goes out um you've got quite
a bit of time until you get to that storm uh
how do you pass that time How are the Raptors
doing? The Raptors... So Spud, I think, can walk
now. He's ambulatory. Yeah, I was curious about
him. He's ambulatory, but is he, like, all fucked
up? Like, is he on, like... He's exceedingly
fucked up. He needs much more serious implants
than he has. But he's not using his cane. He's,
like, explicitly stumbling around. Uh, refusing
to use it. Oh, man, he's absolutely gonna get
his fucking ass killed. Oh, poor Spud. Where
is Joseph situated on this nice flight cruise
we're on? Joseph's probably scrubbing up his
own frame, kinda giving it a once -over. Where's
everybody else? Um, I think Geist is over...
I think he's probably hanging out with the Moon
Devils. Or not the Moon Devils, sorry. He's hanging
out with the Raptors and with Spud. Kind of trying
to size up how combat capable he actually is.
X is just hanging out on the ship. Whatever briefings
they have, he's reading those. Is anybody else
in the hangar right now? It is kind of just like
one big hangar, so everyone's kind of in there,
but it's very disparate. Everyone's kind of spread
out. Yeah, so he'd be at whatever computers are.
Yeah, Joseph's probably far away in a little
corner with his frame. Cool. Loyal is by his
frame, too. Kind of just doing his own thing
there. Keeping an eye on Joseph. And then he
kind of floats nearby. Like, just kind of goes
around the back of his frame so that he's slightly
sneaking up on Joseph. And then he says to him,
Joseph. Come with me, there's something I want
to show you. Joseph turns around. Does he see
you? Joseph nods, says, of course. He walks over.
Will turns around and floats out of the hangar
through the halls and it's like a storage room
somewhere on this ship, right? Some sort of area.
A crate or whatever, you know. Maybe there's
just like a room where a bunch of the tech is
bundled. but no one's in there, and it's kind
of small, and Loyal goes in there, waits for
Joseph to go in after him. Joseph walks in. As
soon as the door closes, all of Loyal's spike
supports suddenly just, like, come out, shoot
onto the ground, like, and a couple of them I
want to position themselves so that a couple
of them pin Joseph's to the nearest wall as soon
as the door closes behind him. I'm sure that's
a roll. If Adam wants it to happen, it doesn't
have to be a roll. If Adam wants to have Joseph
resist in some way, then I would say that, yeah,
it would be a roll. Joseph's not going to resist
this. Okay, now that they're touching each other,
Noel wants to attempt, right, attempt to... look
into his mind and see exactly who he intends
to hurt in the soul union. Does anyone else know
my target? Nope. Okay. I guess my question is,
which question answer are you basing this off
of, specifically Loyal? I can bring them up and
let you know what they were. One was like, have
you ever felt the compulsion to harm another
sentient being? There's two that were flagged
under Loyal's mind. He has intentionally undertaken
actions which would endanger the Soul Union.
I guess I'm trying to look at, specifically,
who does he intend to harm? That's one of us,
if there is anyone. But was there, like, a declaration
that would have said I was planning to harm someone?
It was just that, like, I had wanted to harm
someone, right? I had had that feeling? It was,
you have had the urge to harm another sentient
being or yourself. outside of mission parameters
and that you have undertaken actions that would
endanger the soul union what i'm asking is like
loyal wouldn't know that there's a plan for me
to assassinate someone like that wouldn't know
that can't be a basis i don't think he could
look at how it is you're trying to endanger the
soul union though yeah that would work which
is actually probably more damning yeah that's
what i'm interested right now i want to know
why Joseph's a threat, or if he's a threat. What's
going on in that little tin brain? I am down
with this. However, you can't read people's minds,
like technically speaking. I mean, there's no
role for that. I am down with it in like a psychic
sense, because that's kind of like you're trying
to judge his intentions, which is a role, probably
a survey. Also, I will float it, is that you
can technically, instill undirected emotions
on people. If I push myself, yeah. You could
inflict Joseph with the undirected emotion of
wanting to confess. I like that idea. Or you
can ask questions and just see if he's lying.
Real quickly, can Joseph, is he allowed to say
anything? Can I talk? As I'm pinned to the wall?
Absolutely. Joseph says, would you like to ask
me anything? Can I help you? This seems a little
extreme, but I'm ready to talk. You are aware
keenly of his mind like prickling at the edges
of yours, just very in tune with your intents
right now, whether you're lying or not, trying
to go deeper. Joseph says, why would I lie to
you? You would know if I'm lying. I would. I
have some questions for you. I can just tell
you the truth if you ask, Loyal. So why don't
you ask? He's just ignoring that Joseph seems
angry at this point. And says, What actions have
you taken to endanger the Soul Union? Colin,
what actions have I taken to endanger the Soul
Union? Wasn't me. A couple, I think. Maya? Just
for to see if maybe this is a useful player perspective.
My understanding is that, you know, that contrition
wants the soul union to lose this war because
it will be good for emergent personality liberation.
And so I don't think it's a leap of logic to
assume that the person you're assassinating plays
into that somehow. But I don't think it's quite
as clear cut as that, or at least he hasn't.
Interesting. Hasn't told you that based on what
I have seen as like an observer of the podcast
as a whole. Yeah. Contrition's plan is ultimately
to. destroy the soul union is that correct yeah
or otherwise turn it into an unrecognizable form
um okay the depending on your perspective you
did collaborate with gold house um and you did
that did end up with soldiers dying lots of people
dying from the soul union um nyla had you do
that for the greater purpose of the soul union
but that's really up to interpretation whether
that was like you know against the soul union
or not uh Okay. I just assess. I went undercover
with Goldhouse. I told you that. Yes, you did.
That answer's not good enough for him. Can we,
Mimi's the Dust Bites, count on you to finish
what we have left to do? Absolutely. You are
not in my targets. That I can promise you. Is
that the truth? That is the truth. Will hesitates
for a second, but then the spokes retract. And
he says, Fine. And then just maneuvers his bulky
body around Joseph again and goes out the door.
You can just ask next time. No response. Oh,
man. The drama. Joseph, now he logs those spokes.
He logs those mechanical movements in his brain.
He tries to take every little blueprint of what
just came out of him. And he goes searching for
it on the web. We just look at his Google search.
It's like, how do you kill a dolphin in an exopod?
Like, two -finger typing. Joseph's gonna run
up to Sunliff, by the way, afterwards. He's just
gonna jog up, and he says, Do you feel like you
can't trust me anymore? Sunliff doesn't look
at you. And he doesn't try to get away from Joseph.
They like keeping pace together in these halls.
And he says, I don't trust any feeling I have
anymore. I don't think that's good for any of
us. I do mean it. That any of my motives don't
affect the plan at all. Is that the truth? That
is the truth. I wouldn't have gone into them
if I knew it would harm the team. We have our
own tasks to accomplish, and I will not abandon
those. As I assume you have your own tasks to
accomplish. Something kind of flicks his tail
and then his front... Luke's gonna splay out
so he doesn't go too far forward in his tank.
And he turns his head towards Joseph and nods.
I appreciate the help. Anytime. Anytime. Now
Joseph walks away. No one trusts each other.
This is great. Joseph trusts you guys, alright?
I promise you that. I don't trust Joseph. Well,
that's weird. I don't know why you wouldn't trust
a robot. Weird little guy in the corner. Fucking
onion man. Go for it. What are you doing here?
Get out of here. Okay, you hit the blizzard.
Worthy plunges right into it. The ship rattles
and lurches, plunges like hundreds of feet in
the air through a very turbulent storm. Outside
the windows, it is just white out there. And
then eventually you kind of break through something,
this pocket of stable atmosphere. And it's just
all of a sudden you can see. And ahead of you
is a pair of blast doors and the side of what
looks to be a glacier, which the ship flies right
into and touches down. The back of the ship opens
up and you get your first look at the base. There
is a big pile of abandoned construction equipment.
In the corner of this hangar, these excavators,
backhoes, forklifts, industrial drills all piled
up in the corner of this ice cave. Right in front
of the open door to the ship is this humanoid
machine, about four feet tall, with a screen
for a face depicting an unsettling image of a
woman smiling. Hello! Welcome to your new home!
Dusklights family! My name is J0 -4NN3, but you
can call me Joanne. Ha ha! The TikTok voice.
I fucking hate this thing. Hello, Joanne. Hello,
little boy. I'm here to give you a tour of your
new home. Your new home has so many exciting
features, and I'm programmed to introduce you
to them. Is there a volume button on this thing?
Oh, hell. I think in probably an almost unconscious
display of his new part. This is like a big room,
right? It's like a big hangary kind of room.
Yeah, I'm about to describe it, too. Okay. I
was going to say Geist walks off the ship ramp,
and as he does, the Changeling also walks off
the ship ramp. The volume knob was genuine, by
the way. That's a roll, and it's a desperate
roll. Oh, fuck. Desperate interface. Joanne does
not wait for you to continue to talk to her.
And she gestures around the ice cave around you
and says, this is the garage. It's an excellent
place to meet guests and store your vehicles.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you
are ready to move on to the next room. Next.
Okay, well, let me describe the garage first,
which is very big. capable of housing multiple
frames, as well as your repair bay, your workshop,
and your newly installed hyperbooster, which
is what we called it. A volatile charging device,
which is going to give you that plus 1d2 assault,
I believe. This cave was carved out of this deep
blue ice. The ancient permafrost, which has been
pushed up out of the ocean by these colliding
plates of ice. And at the top of the garage entombed
in the ice is a partial skeleton of what seems
to be a prehistoric ancestor of those cuttlefish
that you met in Caldera Lake. Oh, my God. That's
awesome. You have said next, so you're going
to go on to the next part, which is that Joanne
points outside the large glass doors of the garage
towards this large flattened area of ice barely
visible through the snow. And she says. That
is the airfield. You'll receive regular groceries
to sustain yourself totally off the grid. Cozy.
We have to cook. Cozy. I don't understand. Next.
Joanne takes you into a small side tunnel in
the wall of the garage and leads you up a spiraling
hall to the top of the glacier. She opens a secure
door which leads to this almost polyhedric dome
which just out of the snow with windows pointing
outwards in the center of the dome is a bizarre
cubic device which is letting out an unsettling
low vibration which you can feel in your bones
looking outside from here you can notice that
there are actually two layers to the weather
outside there's the immediate weather which is
a lighter snowfall which is kind of peaceful
and surrounds the glacier but farther out there
is a sphere of this heavier blizzard weather
which is impossible to see through it's kind
of like you're in a snow globe um And Joanne
says, this is the air conditioner. It'll keep
you cool in the summer and warm in the winters.
Only the best for you, family. Thank you, Joanne.
God damn it, Blue. It's fucking nauseating. It's
so perfect. Sheely, well, you didn't say next,
so you stay here. She just stares at you. Next.
Joanne leads you back down into the base to a
sort of security room full of camera feeds and
server racks. She says, Dusklight's family. Nobody
wants to worry about pests in their beautiful
home. That's why your new home has top -in -class
automated security systems just to call away.
Are there controls here or something? It's fully
automated. All right. I think it's fully automated.
I didn't understand. Could you say that again?
He said next. Oh, great. She leads you back into
the garage, then across it into another hallway,
which splits off in multiple directions. And
she says, down here you will find all of the
bedrooms, the kitchen, as well as the personal
gym and study. There's plenty of room for guests,
pests, and more. Yeah, we'll come check it out
more in depth later. I think Geist is going to
look. He's waiting for somebody to interrupt
him, but he's going to be like, next. Sorry,
that's the end of the tour. Do you not love your
new home, Dusklight's family? I love your new
home, too. It is so cozy, off the grid, and safe.
Sorry, I didn't catch that. Nothing X goes back
to. Is this like a little floating robot? No,
it's a humanoid. Oh, really? Okay. Joseph, can
you turn this thing off? Joseph walks up to it.
Can I make it say anything? Like, if I finagle
with it? It steps back when you get too close.
Oh. Are you gonna just try and make Colin say
things in the funny voice? Please don't move,
and I step closer. Okay. Can I interface with
it? What is your goal? I just want to say I can
say something funny. I'm not going to make you
roll for that. It's very simple. It's very simply
programmed. Okay. I want to make it scream, if
that's okay. It has two lines of dialogue. Yeah,
sure. Ah! What are you doing? No one's laughing.
Oh, okay. I push her away and walk back to the
group. That's Glide's family. That's Glide's
family. Do you need anything before I shut down
and erase myself for your privacy and security?
No, that sounds good to me. Wait a minute. Does
that kill you, Joanne? Are you done? It's okay,
little buddy. It's all part of the policy. Do
not worry. I will be going to heaven. What do
we do with your body? Don't worry. Erase and
shut down. Thanks for all your good moments.
Um, it collapses into a pile of machinery and
they all grow legs and scuttle off into the walls.
What the fuck? Oh, fuck. So I can just make one
of those at any time, huh? Oh, that's so hot.
I mean, uh, what? That's going to be my next
Joseph belief. Does he want to fuck the ice face?
And then you'll have to answer me honestly. He
really has been compromised. Well, that was awful,
but seems like a pretty nice place. Very cozy.
Yeah, I don't have anything I really want to
do here other than just claim some quarters and...
Yeah, Hex wants to unpack. Yeah, I think that's
all we're gonna do. Loyal's just looking at the
Nautilus ancestor. Just is looking at Loyal.
Just saying. On the line looking at each other.
What does that mean? Oh my god. Hex is taking
his luggage and is looking for the quarters.
You find them. You get the top bunk. I think
you all get your own rooms. Do we get any items
in there? Or is it just bare bones? I think anything
you sent to be moved over here was moved over.
So it's pretty much similar to your old stuff.
Geist goes back to the Changeling, I assume.
I'm guessing you rest for the day before you
head out on another mission. It's been a long
day. Geist has been spending a lot of time thinking
about the crown. He's been thinking about it
a lot. What's that like? I don't know. I think...
Geist has been. He's thinking that maybe he should
take it, but now that he doesn't necessarily
want to die or he's not looking to die in a berserker
rage like he initially thought he might, it's
like it's different. It is more like that other
kind of martyrdom where you just like. you know
get killed in a really sad way but he's just
thinking because he doesn't know how any of this
works he assumes that if he did want to do it
it would have to come to him but he doesn't know
how that happens and he's kind of afraid to think
too hard about it but he's just kind of like
pondering it to see if he feels anything i guess
he's probably doing it while sitting in the cockpit
of the changeling because that's just where he's
most comfortable now i love that all right want
to load up yeah i think it's time to load it
Are frames different now, disguised, or are they
the same? They are... I was thinking we'll look
at them during the actual engagement roll. Yeah,
good idea. You all load into Worthy's ship, and
you begin another long flight. Isn't that awful?
Two flights in a row. I hate connecting flights.
I know, it's awful. You sail out from the Perpetual
Storm, then head south, avoiding the city entirely,
before curving back up towards the far edge of
the river valley. I presume you're doing assault,
right? Otherwise, this narration is going to
be different. Yes, I believe that's the plan.
Okay, that's cool. That works for me. It is deeper
than you've ever been in Cluster's territory.
The hospitable trees and creeks of the valley
give way to these swampy tributaries and wetland
areas. Farther in here is the Silk Basin. which
is where the leadership of the Clusterists most
likely is. Agimenta, Welcomed Up, Pierce Sunspire,
they're probably all hiding somewhere in the
swamps that are just at the edge of the river
valley. It would typically follow that this area
would be the most heavily fortified as well,
but like was mentioned to you, the latest intelligence
suggests that is not the case, and that this
deep end, the Clusterists are just doing guerrilla
tactics. They're hiding their bases, avoiding
any troop concentrations, and making it a lot
harder to make any decisive strikes. against
them. Very quick look. What are each of you doing
during this long flight? I feel like Geist is
probably spending it in the cockpit of the Changeling,
but like, it'll be open if anybody wants to talk
to him. But he's just, he's hanging out inside
of his mech. Going over diagnostics or pondering.
Hex approaches Joseph. Sure. Joseph's probably
at his frame. Joseph, listen. About you being
compromised. Do I have anything to worry about?
You don't have anything to worry about, my friend.
Are you sure? I do have my own things going on.
I will tell you that, X. But none of them include
you or anyone else with the Dusklights. I do
mean that. You can even ask Royal. I don't know
if I could trust the Dolphin. But okay. If we
can't trust the Dolphin... We can't really trust
anyone, can we? And what if we can't? Very well.
I'll leave you to it. Hey. Joseph puts out his
hand for a handshake. Good luck out there. Hopefully
we won't need it. He shakes his hand. Hell yeah.
Back to in -flight entertainment. What's Loyal
doing? I think he's hanging out with Worthy in
the cockpit. Worthy is white -knuckling the fucking
joystick? No. Whatever it's called. The yoke.
The yoke. And this guy keeps looking down and
is like, we're too fucking far in. Just a little
bit further now. Just a little bit further. You
better fucking clear that LZ. Yeah. We will.
And I guess, Joseph, are you doing anything?
I think after that I'm just... Going over my
frame. The drop light turns on. 15 minutes to
drop. You know, it always feels longer than you
think. And then the swamps below you, the floor
opens up, and your frames plunge downwards towards
the uncertain target. Oh, fuck. We will resume
from there next time. We'll make the roll then,
too. Okay. Cool. How exciting. Good shit.