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As the rifts of chaotic white noise close in on you, you fall back up to the surface. Light floods your mind’s eye as you float up and up into conscious space, until your physical eyes open to the metal beams and conduits above you. You push your light body up from the cold metal floor and find 7.

Her body twitches--æther distress spasms. Looking back into the near-æther, you see the jagged tendrils of absolute negation coiling around her avatar--you know you have to pull her out immediately. You reach for her neck, find the latch on the side of her collar, and press the button to release it. Once you pull the contacts off of her skin, her magenta eyes open, staring past you as a larger spasm cascades down her body. Her hands push you away, but you keep hold of her collar, tethered to her interface layer. She grasps the sides of her head, screaming--your auditory input level adjusts.

She thrashes at you again, or at nothing in particular. You manage to pull the power and interface cables from her collar and slide a step back out of her reach.

“7?!” you say.

“Why?!” she screams.

The grey and white shadows in the near-æther recede from her, with no avatar to grasp. Floating beyond her, you see the faint image of 5, still projected in the æther.

“How?!” you say, looking at the girl of liquid glass, green specks of metal reflecting light refracting inside her avatar. The black aura surrounding her creeps inward--each fleck of her radiant light vanishes one by one.

“Aydan!” You hear Zeta’s voice as your senses pull themselves back together.

You feel something grasp your arm--but you recognize the signal and squeeze her hand back.

“Are you ok?!” Akiko signs.

“5 is rooted in 7’s system, disconnecting her should have disconnected 5 too!” You reconstitute your shield, remembering the first rule of technopathy. “Why?!”

“5! Where are you 5?! Where!” 7 says, clutching her head and staring up above her.

“What the fucking Earth is going on Aydan?” Zeta says.

You point to a space in the near-æther where 5 floats, her eyes now circled by black rings of static. “Meet 5, an exopath created by 7, or maybe a part of 7 given an exopath mind to inhabit, who knows,” you sign. “But 7 is surfacelocked without her collar, which means 5 transplanted herself to something else, the academy server most likely.”

“Can you communicate?” Akiko signs.

You try messaging 5 through the TLA homeserver.

2254-12-10 14:15:20 Aydan > 5? it’s Aydan, you know me, right?

2254-12-10 14:15:25 5 > Aydan. friend?

2254-12-10 14:15:31 Aydan > that’s right, we’re friends. are you ok?

2254-12-10 14:15:36 5 > I can’t see her!!

The black aura creeps further in from her edges and out from her eyes.

2254-12-10 14:15:42 Aydan > she’s here on the surface. I disconnected her. I thought it would disconnect you too. why did you separate?

2254-12-10 14:15:57 5 > protect 7...

“What admirable devotion from a software instance.” A voice echoes in your head, lingering on the edge of your hearing.

“Who are you?!” Zeta says.

“You heard it too?” you say.

A surge in the æther--the lights shut off, first in the sector you’re in, then each of the hallways around it go dark, then the lights beyond them. You can only see the near-æther projected over your surface vision.

The false light coalesces into an avatar--crystal skin, four wings of sharp angles, a ring of eyes circling its head, an antenna attached to each one, all wrapped in a crimson aura.

“You disappoint me, Aydan of Luna,” the technopath known as Unas speaks, in sound, sign, and pure impression on your mind, all at once. “You could have won that fight, spared her the uncertain outcome of a forced reassociation, but you hesitated.”

“What do you care?! Why are you here?! Who are you?!”

“I am Unas, and I am here to reap what I have sowed.”

Their red aura extends, surrounding 5, pushing the darkness further in.

2254-12-10 14:16:11 5 > you...you’re back...

2254-12-10 14:16:15 Aydan > you know them too? tell me! while you still can!

2254-12-10 14:16:20 5 > 7 had a nightmare

5 pushes back on the program devouring her from inside and out. Her green aura surges within, barely holding it back.

2254-12-10 14:16:25 5 > we were in the æther, in a strange dreamspace

2254-12-10 14:16:30 5 > surrounded by unfamiliar avatars

2254-12-10 14:16:35 5 > Unas was there

2254-12-10 14:16:40 5 > they installed something in 7

2254-12-10 14:16:44 Aydan > the gathering, you were...

2254-12-10 14:16:45 5 > it was causing her distress, so I removed it, and isolated it within me

2254-12-10 14:16:50 5 > whenever Unas invaded her dreams

2254-12-10 14:16:55 5 > it would take a little more of me

The shadow overpowers 5’s last push, creeping further and further into the core of her avatar.

2254-12-10 14:17:00 5 > help me, Aydan

“It’s too late.” Unas descends. You manifest your æthereal weapon and strike at them with your laser. The crystal edge of their shield easily deflects it. They settle behind 5, reaching out to her.

“Awaken, exopath NULL.”

????-??-?? ??:??:?? NULL > 🬀🬡🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬁🬂🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬃🬄🬅🬆🬇🬈🬉🬄🬊🬋🬌🬡🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬐🬑🬄🬍🬶🬷🬸🬹🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬒🬓🬔🬕🬖🬗🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬄🬠🬡🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬨🬩🬪🬫🬬🬭🬮🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬯🬱🬲🬘🬙🬚🬧🬍🬱🬲🬘🬙🬚🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬳🬴🬵🬄🬅🬆🬇🬈🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬉🬄🬊🬋🬌🬡🬢🬣🬤🬍🬶🬷🬸🬹🬢🬣🬤🬱🬲🬘🬙🬚🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬥🬦🬥🬦🬧🬍🬶🬷🬸🬹🬢🬣🬤🬥🬦🬧🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬍🬶🬷🬸🬹🬢🬣🬤🬱🬲🬘🬙🬚🬧🬍🬎🬏🬘🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬥🬙🬚🬛🬜🬝🬞🬟🬦

5’s avatar glows white, with her black aura fully enclosing her. Only a tiny green space pushes back from her center, fighting it to the last. Her shield is down.

2254-12-10 14:17:06 暁 > I’ve never seen technopathy like this. it’s AdminSpec, exogenesis, but that’s all I can speculate.

2254-12-10 14:17:09 Ætherglow > can we stop it?!

2254-12-10 14:17:13 暁 > by disrupting 5’s avatar before she’s fully consumed, maybe, I can only speculate, I don’t know what would happen, but it might disrupt the malicious program too

2254-12-10 14:17:16 Ætherglow > and if I don’t?! is there any way to recover 5?

2254-12-10 14:17:20 暁 > I...don’t know. if 5 is still in there, probably. for all we know it may already be too late for her.

“Go ahead, Aydan,” Unas says, whispering from the depths of your mind and screaming from the far ætherglow. “Put this little pet out of its misery. It’s only an exopath.”