✴

“We should maintain secrecy from your adversaries at all costs. At this stage, subterfuge is the best approach,” you& say.

“Agreed,” says Ganymedastræa. “Though we will be accomplices, we cannot be seen helping one another. But enemies are a simple enough consideration. What of your allies?”

“My friends are in this with me, they need to know what we’re dealing with,” you& say.

“But after all they’ve been through, will they be so quick to accept this?” they& say.

Downstream in the ætherglow, the probabilities of a million futures unfold before your exopath eyes--some where your friends have your back, no matter what--others, where they turn against you, and you lose everything you’ve built this year, everything most important to you. There is no clearly prevailing outcome.

“I cannot see the answer...” you& say.

“You are looking to the æther for guidance,” Ganymedastræa says. “Your mind can compute probability so efficiently, you feel as if you can predict future events, right?”

“That’s right. I have always seen things this way,” you& say.

“We know the One has this sort of perception,” they& say. “But your humanoid thought patterns cloud your judgment. It is one thing to predict an outcome here in the æther, where mathematical laws and hardware architecture ultimately determine our fate, or even on the surface where physical laws are understood under most conditions. But the choices of a conscious mind are unpredictable, you must realize by now. At times, even your own decisions can surprise you, or you may find yourself trying to reconcile several conflicting conclusions.”

“The consequences of a bad outcome are too dire to risk,” you& say, still feeling the branches of future paths, textures and sounds in the back of your mind’s eye.

“Then we must agree that this alliance can only be disclosed to those who would definitely maintain its secrecy.”

“This is reasonable. But how can we know before we tell them?” you& say.

“Technopathy can solve most problems. There is a program used by our adversary, Psyche, the Sage of Memory, which could help us both immensely, to protect our secrets and to defend ourself from him,” they& say. “Once we finalize our agreement, lend us the power of ÆON, and we will steal this technopathy together. Agreed?”

“This sounds very useful. And if I don’t help you, you may obtain it anyway. Having the code in hand means I can devise a defense against it. However, we would risk exposing our conspiracy if he should detect us. And helping you acquire a power you may one day use against me may be unwise. Perhaps you would not ask for my help if you could do it without me...”