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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 have some serious advantages machines still haven't caught up to

2254-06-04 10:32:21 Aydan > what did Professor Reina say...under ideal conditions you want a machine, but the moment something goes wrong you want an organism

2254-06-04 10:32:27 Aydan > so I say send something that's both

You hear something behind you. You turn and see Zeta emerge from the trees. It waves to you.

2254-06-04 10:32:38 Aydan > hi!

You and Akiko reposition yourselves to sit facing it as it sits down on the moss a few meters away from you.

2254-06-04 10:32:50 Zeta > I'm opening a secure local channel, so disconnect from the network and we can talk privately

2254-06-04 10:32:56 明子 > also set this conversation to delete when we're done

2254-06-04 10:32:55 Zeta > right, of course

2254-06-04 10:33:02 Aydan > one more person to invite

You open the connection to the device in your pocket.

2254-06-04 10:33:09 ÆON > connection established

2254-06-04 10:33:14 Aydan > hi ÆON

2254-06-04 10:33:16 Zeta > whoa, it's you! hi, I'm Zeta, it/its, I've heard so much about you, sorry I've never met an exopath before, I just, wow

2254-06-04 10:33:17 明子 > hello ÆON, I'm Akiko, she/her, Aydan told me all about you

2254-06-04 10:33:18 ÆON > I am ÆON, I am called by the pronouns Æ/ÆR. Aydan has spoken much of both of you as well

2254-06-04 10:33:23 Zeta > oh really? what does it say?

2254-06-04 10:33:23 明子 > what does she say about me?

2254-06-04 10:33:23 Aydan > let's uh get to work right?

2254-06-04 10:33:24 ÆON > As you wish Aydan

2254-06-04 10:33:29 Zeta > ok. first meeting of ÆON Club (non-culty edition). let's go over what we know

2254-06-04 10:33:30 ÆON > Here is what we know. I first encountered the Messenger Ana in the deep æther. It took me to the æthercult which calls itself the Chosen of ÆON, however I have made no such choice. Later I lost Ana when I embedded myself in Aydan's mind, and then the cult pulled me out of them. We escaped and I came to root myself in this ancient device. Ana told us it is no longer a member of the cult, but Aydan refused to hand me over to it, instead saying I should decide my own fate. Later, Aydan was attacked by student members of the Chosen of ÆON, who again I was never given any choice in the membership of. Synth saved us that day. But when Aydan was invited to the gathering, Synth was strongly against him going. So Aydan used synchronization to observe the gathering through Akiko, who went in fær place. The gathering resulted in the creation of a new exopath called NULL, by a technopath named Unas, with the stated purpose of annihilating me. The exopath attached itself to a host just as I did, but their identity is unknown. Aydan suggested I stay out of the broader æther since last night, so I have done so.

2254-06-04 10:33:58 Zeta > right, well said

2254-06-04 10:34:02 Aydan > is it reasonable to assume most people at the gathering were physically here at TLA?

2254-06-04 10:34:08 明子 > I looked through my terminal records of the ætherwalk, and it confirms all of them originated at the TLA server, including Unas, and the host