🌘

“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 and hearing over your own. It’s still disorienting, but you’re starting to get used to this kind of thing.

You activate your empathica program and configure it to interpret emotional data from nearby neurological-electronic systems. Unless they intentionally obfuscate their subtle emotional reactions, you should have an idea of whether they’re being deceptive or not.

Zeta crosses the room to intercept Ida and Kaj before they can leave. While looking down at your terminal to appear distracted, you hear the strange blend of its voice from inside and outside. “Um, hi,” Zeta says.

“Zeta, right?” Ida says.

“Yeah. I know we’ve never really talked but well...I hear in the ætherglow that if I want to know anything about anyone at TLA, you’re the ones to ask.”

“Our reputation goes far, huh,” Kaj says. “But yeah. You could say I have an interest in knowledge, in communication, in the dynamics of social space. A special interest even. Go round collecting such information long enough and you find yourself becoming a logic gate in that social circuit, controlling and directing its flow.”

“He’s dramatic about things is what he’s getting at,” Ida says. “So what is it, Zeta, intel about a rival? Or a crush?”

“Oh, um, not exactly...well...”

“Aw, don’t embarrass this curious enby,” Kaj says. “We’re professionals here, we don’t judge.”

2254-08-24 14:02:44 Zeta > what would be the best way to phrase this...