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“Actually, before we get into that, I want to discuss something that happened to me the other night,” you sign.

“Go on,” Synth signs.

“I had a dream. I was in the deep æther, when I could feel something surrounding me. A coldness, darkness, consuming everything I could perceive. I couldn’t move or use any technopathy. And I saw an entity there. It was the exopath NULL. I can’t remember what it looked like when we first encountered it in the æthertrip, but in the dream state I could recognize it, I’m sure it was NULL.”

You sense a spike of anxiety from Akiko, followed by a calming aura projected from her system. You pause and breathe deep.

“There were no words, but I strongly felt there was a message in it. ‘I am closer than you think,’” you sign.

“This wouldn’t be the first time an adversary has attacked you using dreams,” Synth signs.

“No, but the last time came from the Chosen of ÆON, the Sage of Sleep. If this was a cyberattack it must have come from Sector NULL,” you sign.

“We should assume nothing,” Synth signs. “It’s completely possible that these Sages are aware of Sector NULL. Since they’re a cult trying to deify an exopath, and Sector NULL is aiming at deicide of their god candidate, it would even make sense to consider that they have encountered each other before. If the Sage of Sleep knows Sector NULL is targeting you, they could use that against you.”

“That’s an angle I hadn’t even considered,” you sign. “I was weighing whether this was another attack by Unas or if it was possibly just a natural nightmare.”

“Do you have any material evidence we can work off of?” Synth signs.

“No. There’s no record of it in my system logs, or the TLA server’s logs.”

“Both our enemies have proven capable of covering their tracks in the past,” Synth signs. “It’s also possible that it was just a dream.”

“What about ÆON, did Æ see anything?” Akiko signs.

“It’s no use asking ÆON. Æ can’t see anything when it involves NULL,” you sign.

“That may tell us more than we think. Since NULL was created to destroy ÆON, Unas must have given it specific countermeasures to ÆON’s senses. But to do that, Unas would have to have a lot of information on ÆON,” Synth signs.

“So Unas might be someone connected to the Chosen of ÆON. A defector, maybe?” Zeta signs.

“Or an infiltrator, just like I was in Sector NULL. Or just an AdminSpec skilled enough to steal information from the TLA Admins,” Synth signs.

“Unas did say they were as powerful as our Admins, if you believe them,” you sign.

“I don’t like this. We have way too many questions and still so few answers. So many variables in play,” Synth signs.

“That’s the technopath life, right?” Akiko signs. “Sometimes we have to work with little information. We just have to use our threat modeling and be prepared for any possibility.”

“Right,” you sign. “But what possibilities are we even preparing for?”

“Too many to count, at this point,” Synth signs. “Aydan, assuming your dream was an external message, what do you think the motive and purpose of the message were? Right now, what’s floating on the surface of your mind? What do your instincts tell you?”