Choose your Path

Ætherglow #84

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2254-06-03 (Lunar Traditional Calendar™ property of MoonTime Inc.)

Along with your friends Akiko and Zeta, you have devised a plan to investigate the secretive technopath gathering tonight. While you sit at your desk in your room...

Ætherglow #85

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You turn to Zeta. “You should go along and make sure Akiko’s okay,” you sign.

[Akiko liked that]

“We’re probably the best candidates anyway, since our genders are more similar than Zeta’s,” Akiko signs. “You don’t want to deal with dysphoria on your...

Ætherglow #86

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“No, that’s too risky for ÆR, I’ll drink the dissociation juice.”

You break open the white bottle’s seal. The colorless liquid inside has a sweet smell.

“Drink it fast,” Akiko signs. “It’ll be easier.”

You try to follow her advice and drink most of the...

Ætherglow #87

You lay back. Your room is black. You can’t tell if your eyes are open or closed. But the dark is alive. It shapes itself into an image, outlined by traces of light. A pattern forms in your vision. Stars. You’re floating in space. You’re floating. The...

Ætherglow #88

The idea of entering the æther fills you with overwhelming curiosity.

“Let’s go together.” You look over at Zeta.

“Can you see me Aydan?” Zeta signs to you.

Warm, you answer.

Your hand moves. You sign, “Yes.”

“I’m watching over you both, don’t worry,”...

Ætherglow #89

You fall into the song, into the glow. Its texture is soft, tranquil. But why? You stop yourself from dissolving completely, and the current of light rushes against you like water washing over your skin, pushing you out of its vortex. You’re spinning...

Ætherglow #90

Lessons you have no memory of flash before your eyes. Concepts take shape in your hands. First a sphere of æthereal light appears. Then it grows, larger than you. It takes a triangular form. Two points become wings, stretching wide, branching into...

Ætherglow #91

Wait, you feel.

The star-white exopath outlined in space-black flies down, passing by each avatar in the circle. It draws near you, and some thought rises from the back of your mind, like instinct, a program. You shield yourself in a reflective veil,...

Ætherglow #92

Stay, you feel.

“I’ll try and listen in!” Not so difficult for a Communication specialist, but doing so undetected is tricky. You reach out into the æther to find the thought network connecting Synth and Unas. It’s like a thin fiber tying them...

Ætherglow #93

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2254-04-06 03:47:32 Aydan > get her safe place

2254-04-06 03:47:35 Aydan > Unas, the vessel, not safe

2254-04-06 03:48:02 Zeta > okay...whatever that means, don't worry Aydan! I'll get her to her building!

2254-04-06 03:48:13 Aydan > thank

2254-04-06...

Ætherglow #94

[ÆON liked that]

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Your sleep was restless, your dreams delirious. When you awakened you still felt lighter than air. Your proprioceptive and vestibular senses haven’t returned to you, you feel constantly off balance, yet you never actually fall--unless...

Ætherglow #95

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“I don’t know what’s real, but there’s no harm in letting ourselves feel,” you sign.

“That’s sensible,” Akiko signs. “There’s really no harm in enjoying the moment.”

“The present moment is all technopaths have, right?”

“The current line in the æthereal...

Ætherglow #96

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2254-06-04 10:32:04 Aydan > frail human bodies won't make it, but the machines we build have no limits to where they can reach

2254-06-04 10:32:10 明子 > spoken like a true technopath

2254-06-04 10:32:14 明子 > don't count out biologics just yet though, we...

Ætherglow #97

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2254-06-04 10:34:13 Aydan > we should assume both of them are here at TLA, even if only for our own caution

2254-06-04 10:34:17 Zeta > NULL would apparently annihilate ÆON if they ever encountered each other, and obviously we want to prevent that, but...

Ætherglow #98

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2254-06-04 10:35:39 Aydan > we should try to talk to Synth, without making ourselves vulnerable, but I still think they could be turned to our side

2254-06-04 10:35:51 明子 > the impression in the æther when Synth confronted Unas was a feeling of genuine...

Ætherglow #99

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“Yeah, we should make sure it’s okay,” you sign. You stand up almost simultaneously to follow after Zeta.

You sign, “I keep feeling like--“

“--We’re thinking the same thoughts,” signs Akiko.

“It’s disorienting.”

“Yeah. I haven’t gotten used to it. But...