2254-08-23 10:00:00
Your system alerts you. It’s time to get up and get ready for class. You sit up, and the whole room seems to spin around you for a moment. Turning your head antispinward will do that. But no, the vertigo...
> make amphetamine --dose=25mg
That should help. A small cup slides out of the machine’s dispenser and a liquid pours into it from the nozzle. You drink the tasteless solution.
“Hi Aydan!”
You hear Zeta. You didn’t notice it come up behind you.
“Oh...
“Sure, lead the way,” you say.
“Over here.” In the hallway, it opens a door you don’t think you’ve ever noticed before, one of many such maintenance access doors in the colony. Behind it, a narrow staircase leads down into darkness.
You follow Zeta...
Technopathy is your only hope for survival. You reach out to grasp the local network, and in it, the airlock’s control module right in front of you. You try to connect.
No matter what you try, it returns the same cryptic error, leading...
Paralyzed by confusing, conflicting emotions, you reflect on your machine side for a more objective perspective. Your neural log tells all, and altering it is next to impossible. You open your message history with Zeta.
2254-08-23 10:43:04 Zeta > hey...
“I had a terrible dream... I was pushed into an airlock and thrown out into space. I was fighting for breath and getting nothing. It was the most horrible sensation, and it all felt so completely real. The silence, the cold, the complete...
“Maybe have everyone meet here and then we’ll go to the garden together and meet there,” you say, feeling indecisive as ever.
“Okay, if that’s what you want,” Zeta says.
“Could you summon everyone? I’m still trying to pull my head together...”
“Sure,”...
Much as you want to answer, to be honest with your friend who has stood by you through so much, doubt ætherlocks you from speaking. You feel unsteady walking across the hall. Something foundational in you is shaken and you can’t be sure of anything...
You send an emotional message: confusion.
“Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” Akiko signs. You feel surrounded , embraced by the CommTech program she projects into the near-æther--an aura of serenity, almost as tranquil as the day after your...
We should use JSL, and arrange ourselves to be difficult to spy on,” you sign. “Make a tight circle and keep your hands close to your body and we should be pretty safe.”
“I agree, that’s the most secure option,” Synth signs, repositioning themself.
“What...
“That reminds me of something I saw in the æther last night,” you sign. “First I was seeing myself from the outside, and I was a girl in my class. That means the other perspectives I saw could have been other real people too. I remember, I was old....
“I know a girl in our class, Ida...well, it’s her and a boy named Kaj, they say he knows a little bit about everyone. At least, he’s been half-right about two things that would have been pretty hard to know about,” you sign.
“Like what?” Akiko signs.
“Li...
“The reactor core. If I have to kill me I’m taking everyone down with me,” you sign.
“...Fair enough,” Akiko signs.
“But that would destroy ÆON’s root device, they wouldn’t do that...well, if they even know it’s here,” Zeta signs.
“What’s the sign for...
“Okay, what if...” you sign, but pause, frozen in indecision. “I had two ideas that might work equally well, is the thing.”
“Then let’s do both!” Akiko signs.
“I’m not so sure that’s possible,” you sign. “The two things most sure to breed rumors in...
“If I win...go on a date with me that isn’t a pretense for something!” you sign.
“You kids are so damn predictable,” Synth signs.
“Hey, you’re what, ten months older than me?” Akiko signs. “Besides...doesn’t making this the terms of a duel kind of...
“You can talk to them, and I’ll discreetly try and judge whether they’re lying using my CommTech,” you say.
“Okay. I’ll give you a sensory link so I can go talk to them alone,” Zeta says.
You receive and accept its sensory link, overlaying its vision...
2254-08-24 14:02:44 Aydan > ask if they know of anyone in our year who is part of a cult
“So I’ve been hearing rumors, and I just want to know, do you know if anyone in our year is involved with...a cult?” Zeta says.
“Cults? Now that’s more...
After messaging Synth, you meet up in one of the garden meadows. There, Synth is waiting for you with their bag open.
“Ah.” You unstrap your terminal from your arm, unbuckle your interface collar from your neck, and drop them in the bag. It’s been a...
“Than I think Pulse might be at the center of it all, we should focus on her,” you say. “But at the same time, we can’t afford to let our guard down. We should keep our attentions equally divided between the three in the coming days...”
“Hmm, okay,...