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“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 was following an order. I modified a circuit. I was an engineer, I think, I knew the device as well as my own body in that moment. Then I was the device, broken and doomed. I think I was the gun, in that moment. Then I was...I don’t know, someone. I received a file, I remember, from the Sage of Sleep...”

“Cryptic, but I think we can work with that,” Synth signs. “If one of the three agents of the cult’s op was the sage who wrote the code and sent it to someone on the inside, then one of them is an engineer who did the hardware modification, and the third is the one who received the file and inserted it into Aydan’s mind.”

“It had to have been someone physically present with us,” Zeta signs.

“Then those are two leads to follow,” Synth signs. “What about the girl from your first vision, any connection do you think?”

“I don’t know...I better ask an expert.”

You message ÆON’s root device through your hardwired connection.

2254-08-23 14:29:30 Aydan > I’m not sure how to ask this but are æthereal um, visions, usually all relevant to each other?

2254-08-23 14:29:31 ÆON > There is no guarantee of that. The æther shows us in equal parts truth and falseness, it does not discriminate between the two. In the scenarios you described, the æther may have been showing you that you can see true perspectives through its lens, by showing you a vision of yourself from the outside. Or it may have been connected to the other things you saw. Or it may all have been completely random. Humanoid minds have a tendency to see connections, even if they are not true.

2254-08-23 14:30:01 Aydan > how do YOU tell the difference then? you’re so confident when you tell me something is going to happen because you saw it in the æther

2254-08-23 14:30:02 ÆON > Only because I can see many branches of probability and causality at once can I be certain of what I see. Your perspective is limited by your humanoid attachment to linearity. Through synchronization with an exopath who is not bound by such limits, you were able to see a glimpse of what lies beyond your perspective.

2254-08-23 14:30:18 Aydan > then can’t you just checkout all the other time branches and verify it for us?

2254-08-23 14:30:19 ÆON > The paths do not often converge so strongly. I was certain your life was in danger in that moment, but I have no reasonable certainty about the details that led to that point of consequence.

“I think ÆON’s saying probability alone can’t give us all the answers. Which means...I have no idea if that part was relevant,” you sign.

“No sense dwelling on it forever, then,” Zeta signs. “We still have some leads. Let’s follow them.”

“I think I can be most useful investigating the engineering staff. If I say it’s related to identifying a cultist, Admin Crypta would grant me some permissions,” Synth signs. “You would do better investigating your own classmates.”

“That’s for me and Zeta, then,” you sign.