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2254-12-10 14:40:12 Ætherglow > I trust Protogen’s plan more. Akatsuki, Protogen, and Pulse can maintain a web of sensory silence over me more easily while I’m still connected to the æther, and we can run the comms wire between us to communicate while I use the primitive monitoring device as our eyes and ears inside.

2254-12-10 14:40:18 Artemis > what do I do, then?

2254-12-10 14:40:21 PULSE > you be vigilant, we’re going to need all the focus we have to have a chance against an Admin’s perception

Zeta hands you the device--a thick rectangular device in a reprinted plastic shell, one one side an LED display and on the other a glass lens protruding out a bit.

[Primitive Monitoring Device added to inventory]

It connects a cable to one of the device’s outputs, and its other end to a splitter--to that it connects a taped-together adapter, and from there it runs a thin wire up to your ear, where it sets the tiny wearable speaker in place. From the other end of the splitter it hands the wire to Luka, who hastily works to patch it into her optical adapter, as Akiko patches the other end of the primitive earphone to the other adapter and hands it to Zeta, who sets it in its ear. Luka finally unrolls the long optical cable and connects the two adapters, linking you to Zeta by a 20 meter tether.

2254-12-10 14:41:59 Protogen > there--everything is compatible!

“Testing,” you whisper into the device’s microphone, and hear it transmitted to your ear.

2254-12-10 14:42:04 Protogen > heard!

2254-12-10 14:42:08 Protogen > now Aydan, this is a one way audio connection, we’ll hear what you hear, and you’ll see the camera’s output on its screen. Best we can do with such limited materials

2254-12-10 14:42:13 Ætherglow > it’ll do. sensory-share that feed with the others

2254-12-10 14:42:19 暁 > ready to deploy the obfuscation program?

2254-12-10 14:42:22 PULSE > my Song of Silence will be impenetrable!

Luka presses her fingers down on invisible keys in the near-æther, manifesting one of her conduit instruments. You feel the vibrations on your avatar in the near-æther as they activate the sensory shield over the processor core chamber.

2254-12-10 14:42:28 暁 > selective sensory suppression field stable

2254-12-10 14:42:32 Protogen > we’re projecting this over the entire room, but as soon as you get visual contact, keep me updated on the enemy’s position, and yours, so we can narrow our focus to greater effect

2254-12-10 14:42:36 Ætherglow > ok. we’re ready.

2254-12-10 14:42:39 Protogen > projecting an echo over the door so you can open it unseen

2254-12-10 14:42:43 Ætherglow > engaging now!

Slowly you turn the latch handle--even under the suppression field you can’t help but worry about the noise. Pulling the hatch inwards, you see the chamber--a long narrow hallway between rows and tall stacks of hardware racks, shining with a constellation of blinking blue lights, leading deep into the dark room. You see your breath as you exhale--the cooling system is working well.

The walkway down this corridor is a bare metal grate, showing the layers of hardware below. In the low G you can mostly pull yourself along by the handles between the cabinets. Here all around you is the heart of the computer system you’ve come to know so well, on which all of your technopathy depends while you’re on the colony--a cellular system, each module able to be replaced without shutting down the processor. The sheer density of nanoscopic electrical connections surrounding you is staggering, but the æther here feels just as thick, almost tangible to your fingers as you drift through the fog, turning each blue LED into a star with many rays. Sectors of the processor light up in your æthereal senses as technopaths across the colony make use of them.

As you continue, you can no longer see the hatch you entered through, nor the far end of the walkway ahead. Even more surreal, your contacts with the metal walkway makes no sound in the large cavernous room. You keep going--hard to believe you are less than 20 meters from where you started--it feels as infinite as the æther itself. You see nothing but deep darkness ahead, but hopefully your ancient eyes can see better--you watch the scene ahead of you in the camera’s monitor.

At last you catch sight of your enemy on the little screen--the white coat of Admin Vanitas, lit up by the flickering LED lights. Her back is turned as she manipulates something at the far end of the hallway. As she shifts to the side you catch a glimpse of the familiar black rectangle--ÆON’s device--its case broken open and a number of wires now connected to it board, as Vanitas runs them into another device, with cables running out from it to the processor core around it, and one you see interwoven with the braided black hair of the Admin, running into a port on the back of her neck.

“Visual contact,” you speak in a low voice into your monitoring device. “Enemy is at the far end of the room. The length of your remaining cable will tell you my position.”

You wait, making sure she didn’t seem to hear you. But she continues her work.

“I think I am undetected. Continuing my approach,” you say, then return the camera to your eyes to see your enemy ahead, still turning her back.

If Admin Crypta and Synth, or Unas and NULL, are present here, you can’t tell through the thick æthereal haze radiating from the processor core and the suppression field projected by your enemy over the room. You can’t resolve any distinct pattern in the glow. Their messages wouldn’t reach you through the silence either. All you can do it complete your part of the mission and trust them to do theirs.

You approach, reaching just a few meters away from Admin Vanitas--still preoccupied with her work. This close, you catch sight of the words scrolling across the little screen of ÆON’s device--she’s trying to decrypt it, running attempt after attempt--a brute force attack? Against the capabilities of that ancient device, she might actually be able to get in that way. You have no time to lose.

You pull yourself ahead, within reach of your target--if she turned around she could run into you--but she still seems oblivious to your presence. As soon as you make physical contact, your technopathy will be useless. You reach into your pocket with one hand and grasp the handle of the hypospray injector, while your other hand keeps the camera pointed at your invisible foe.

You take a deep breath.