101 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
101 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
RECV EDC: 07FEB2019
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COMM MODE: QEC OP SREF
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CODED ABST: D/M/C
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CRC: 2014139095 1391
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============================================================
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Stay put Wells! We've been chasing you all over the sector,
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one step behind the entire way. Don't worry, the Corp is
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either giving up or they're so far behind that they don't
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even matter at this point. Seriously, we're right behind
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you, just sit still a little longer and we'll be there.
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Needless to say, we got your message. Yeah, I realize I'm
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being cryptic, and that you don't know who "we" are; don't
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worry, it's someone you can trust. At least, I think you'll
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trust him, you never know.
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But I'm getting ahead. We got your message. Actually, I got
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your message first. I was searching, alone and desperate,
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without any success. I turned to the Xero-mods, who I've
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been friendly with for a long, long time. Dr. Sossial is a
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wonderful and powerful woman in their ranks, and I was glad
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to read that you had interacted with her directly.
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I went to see them in person; the only way to really speak
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with them is on their own very-secure turf. She only spoke
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highly of you- she was present for all of the research done
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on you, you should know. She particularly like your sub-
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conscious. Don't worry about the last episode at the lab,
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she has seen far worse in her espial of the Corporation.
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After you escaped, Sossial took full advantage of the
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position that you had placed her in.All of her colleagues in
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the room were dead, and you had broken out. The only thing
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left to do was to explain her survival and steal your
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fully-copied consciousness from the Corporation's computer
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banks.
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The Xero-mods always work in pairs- no more, no less.
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Sossial's comrade was in security, and she knew that he
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would be sure to personally respond to any event in their
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lab; indeed, it turned out that he was viewing the hallway
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video-feed when you escaped (as you know, there are no feeds
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in the labs themselves,) and had diverted the images away
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from his team's monitors. I thanked him in-person on your
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behalf.
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He arrived shortly after you left, and with Sossial's help
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he prepped and de-banked your memory units and their backup
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power rods, taking them to a smuggling portal of his own
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making where he stowed them to be passed to a trustworthy
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recipient later. He returned to his post.
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Sossial, while he was out, set to work self-inflicting
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enough bodily harm to make it appear as if she were as much
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an object of your rage as the others. When she lifted her
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hand to pull the alarm it was with genuine despair for her
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life. It's an ugly business, but it's one that she is expert
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in; she survived.
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If you haven't guessed already, the smuggler that the
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Xero-mods hired to retrieve your consciousness was me.
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Shortly after you escaped, the Corporation focused all of
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their effort on your capture, believing that you had escaped
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with all of their research and effort. I slid in and out on
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a false wetware reclamation permit, and grabbed a copy of
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you while I was at it.
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I've had you with me since shortly after you escaped the
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Corporation.
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Of course, I was afraid to interface with you in any way;
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who would want to be the one to wake up a version of you,
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Wells, to the reality that you've been encapsulated in a
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machine? I don't think you'd even want to be the one to do
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it. Still, at this point I felt I had no choice. No one
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could find you better than you. The Xero-mods agreed, and
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with their help I interfaced you with the ship that I had
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named in your honor. The Xero-Carbon Wells is now fully
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operational, just the way I figured it would be someday.
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That was around the time of your last transmission. Your
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consciousness was a kanthorgian dog to deal with, but after
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the initial shock wore off, you accepted your new fate. The
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fact that you're still alive out there was a huge help; your
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consciousness now seems to see itself as the only protector
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fit and capable enough to do you any justice in your fight
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against the Corporation, and probably everything else that
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you'll ever face. Honestly, he's as bad as you are, and now
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he has direct control over the ship.
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With his (your) help, we've tracked you pretty closely. The
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ship now seems to be acutely aware of your decision making
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process. But it's not just that- the Xero-Carbon version of
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you "feels" (can it do that?) that it can see what you see,
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that you're somehow linked. I don't know much about that
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possibility, as this Prigoginic stuff is so new.
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The rest we can catch up on, just stay put for a bit, let us
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come to you.
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