🌒

“This goes far beyond the level of mere autism, I am in awe,” you say.

[7 liked that]

“Oh...thank you, it was a lot of trouble moving all this from my old room.”

“Oh good, you didn’t just always live next door and I never noticed,” you say.

“No...only since this semester. I lived with my mom in her Admin suite before,” 7 says.

“Must be weird being an Admin’s daughter,” you say.

“She mostly leaves me alone, but...when she was home she could be kind of a lot...” she says. “Still, it was weird, she didn’t get me a dorm room last semester, but when she found out I had made a humanoid friend she suddenly changed her mind and got me sent to this room, I didn’t ask for that or anything...I don’t understand the things she does sometimes.”

“That’s just parent shit, they always want you to be more normal, I guess even technopaths still end up acting like parents,” you say. “I don’t get what my moms do half the time either.”

“I hate it here. People everywhere. I have to go all the way down to the wall to get food and the autokitchens don’t have the things I eat. And the æther here is so crowded and loud too...”

“Well, not right now, in any case,” you say.

“Right, the error at hand,” she says.

“Okay, so tell me what you know about it and what you’ve tried so far,” you say.

“Hmm, it’s a lot for talking...” she says.

"Can we still message each other?"

She picks up a cable from her desk and plug one end into her terminal, handing you the other. "Try."

You connect.

2254-10-01 18:50:45 Aydan > test

2254-10-01 18:50:48 7 > good, at least this works now

2254-10-01 18:50:53 7 > it’s been happening to me more and more. it started sometime last semester, but it was rare then, and always localized to my own system. I assumed it was an internal issue with my interface or transmitter, but I couldn’t find anything physically wrong with them. now that it’s spread beyond me it’s quite concerning...

2254-10-01 18:51:02 7 > especially since when it happens I can’t even communicate with 5, or she might be able to help

2254-10-01 18:51:08 Aydan > you can’t? even by hardwire connection?

She shakes her head, no. You feel around in the pockets of your skirt to make sure your connections are secure.

2254-10-01 18:51:14 Aydan > test

2254-10-01 18:51:15 ÆON > Received.

You switch back to your conversation with 7.

2254-10-01 18:51:21 Aydan > well that’s strange...local hardware connections are working for me

2254-10-01 18:51:29 7 > it’s not the connection that’s the problem, though, I can reach devices just fine, but I can’t reach 5