Scene #9614:

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	Petra continues to be the reigning champion of being parasocial about people who are right in front of her. Despite Dictum's presence on Hydrochoeria, and the fact that Petra is capable of visiting and speaking with them more often than anyone else, she's still intensely weird about worrying about their wellbeing, and of all things, fretting about being a good friend to them. Even with Sakura's power smoothing out the edges of taking on unfathomable amounts of suffering, the blur of days, weeks, and centuries of Dictum's maddening decline in space is heavy on Petra's mind-- so, the fact that she was kind of busy with Lilian's wedding for over a week or so, feels like she's done some little betrayal to the Dictum who's never experienced that memory. Her primary mood when she shows up isn't 'guilty', though. Bouncing up the spiral staircase in the castle two at a time, all the way from the dungeon workshops up to the guest bedroom, Petra is still glowing from the wedding and its aftermath, and finds everything in the world around her exciting and beautiful. So the armload of mechanical parts in her arms, which are still warm from having just been welded together, are mostly a gift she's made for a friend rather than an apology for the burden of leaving them to their own devices for a bit. With her arms full, Petra has to hip check the bedroom door a couple times as a replacement for knocking. "Hey Dictum! I've got a little thing for you. An upgrade!"
Lilian Rook	Dictum's world-saving urgency was very easy to sustain with Mesmer. Experientially almost fresh out of desperately escaping their planet, after Sakura and Petra's intervention, gratefully 'rescued' from the Lair of the Existential Threat (Lilian's desk), and interrogated in a very scientific room about the nature of the Threat and its countermeasures (and incidentally, one or two questions pertaining to anything at all about them), fretting and prepping and planning felt both natural and like the only thing they could do. Now they've spent a couple of weeks in a funny little castle town on a flying island surrounded by former LobCorp clerks and a couple of even funnier robots, spinning their wheels metaphorically and literally, and waiting for any opportunity to do anything about the Threat until they, frankly, got bored and exhausted of sustaining it. The experience of being surrounded by life and society again settles in, and is still ringing in their proverbial ears a little when Petra shows up again. Having a bedroom is perhaps a tiny bit silly, but the private space is appreciated all the same. Dictum hasn't been able to do much with it, but has apparently crested the peak of the shock-related bell curve and started doodling on spare paper with their clumsy little gripper arm, both to practice using it and to pass the time. A studio-sized sketch pad mounted on an artist's stand is as host to absurd amounts of math and orbital figures as it is scores of crude doodles, including what looks to be a robot mouse and a winged serpent. Well. They've also scribbled on the floor in charcoal. And the back side of the door. It's that weird, squiggly, almost patternless 'magic circle' again. Baby steps. "Oh. Petra. I had wondered about your general whereabouts and condition." Oh they're trying soooo hard not to sound excited that it's kind of lame. The first thing they do is wheel away from the window with little zippy motors. "Was this what was occupying your time? It sems like you went through considerable effort on my behalf. Though I don't think it was strictly necessary, I appreciate your consideration all the same."
Petra Soroka	"Yeah... sorry 'bout that." Petra's in a good enough mood that 'repressed excitement at her return' doesn't immediately send her spiraling into crushing guilt, but there's a wobble on the edge for a moment there. She navigates around the door carefully to not topple the metal in her arms, bumping it with her hips to close it again once she's inside. "I was occupied with... er, I'll get to that in a sec! First, first!" Petra places the pair of roughly dictionary-sized engine-looking things on the ground along with a pile of miscellanious scraps and attachments, then flops down crosslegged behind the pile. She holds up one of the boosters, rotating it around for Dictum to see, a little too quickly in her excitement. "Compressed air jets! See, see-- I mean, it's up to you of course-- but look, they'd fit here and here on either side," She gestures with it, a few inches above the wheels and mirrored across their body, "And that'd make it way easier to go up stairs! And other stuff." "See, I thought for a bit on how to do this in a, like, elegant and comfortable way, since, you know! If it takes fuel, then that's adding a whole new demand to your body and everything! Your electrical output's pretty much all dedicated to your mind, so if it was electrical you'd have to lug batteries around or something, but-!" Her attention flickers around the room, and she zeroes in on the drawing on the sketchpad, clapping her hands together delightedly. "Oh! You've met Love! And that looks like, Koban?" There probably isn't a single distinguishing feature on the doodle of the ratbot. How does she do that? "I hope Love didn't worry you much. She's not super familiar with, um, thinking about things like you or I do or behaving herself, but she wants to be a good girl and she works hard at it." Tamamo's contributions to Love's emotional state come right up to Petra's lips, and she files that away as a possible route for convincing Dictum about Lilian later. "But, yeah! The method I came up with is sort of like the ratbots instead. It's--" Dictum's nerd-ass doodling means she doesn't actually have to simplify her explanations, for the first time ever with someone besides Eggman. "So, the ratbots float through antigravity generation, right? All of them have vents through the antigrav engine for mass equalization with the atmosphere, like an inner ear, or else they'd pop. But here, I thought, if I could regulate the inversion of density caused by the production of antigrav, I could produce vaccuums with almost no waste heat, condensing the air inside of the jet with a natural siphon. And then, poof!" Petra taps on the side of the jet demonstratively, and it shoots out a burst of air that rustles Dictum's drawings and causes her arms to jump. "Just like that! Cool, right?"
Lilian Rook	'Yeah... sorry 'bout that.' "It is no problem." Dictum lies just a little. The tape sound fuzzes a bit. "Even Mesmer Junior was forced to leave me alone for extended periods of time while she was made to tend to her duties. I understand." Their attention clearly turns down to the heap of parts and metal, going by the little whir of refocusing cameras and the downtilt of the gripful grabber. "Oh. Is this related to my comment on the difficulty of stairs? I apologize for keeping you strenuously busy over an offhanded remark. I will try to consider my observations more carefully in the future." Okay, so, still a little excited. They do a little half-spin back and forth to follow Petra's gestures to the intended installation points, then approach the pile more closely. 'If it takes fuel, then...' 'if it was electrical you'd...' "Having already thought about my own reluctance to rely on external resources, and coming to the logical conclusion that there is no meaningful qualitative difference between needing to monitor my power usage and using up calories, save that the former is monitored more precisely and less automatically, leading to increased room for irrational anxiety, I'm still unsure how much I actually miss those concerns." The way Dictum prattles on about their private thoughts in isolation now actually pitches the audio up just slightly, like the tape is being run faster and thus having ten percent of a chipmunk effect. "Beyond the obvious utilitarian versus experiential binary of benefit and drawback, I find my own feelings regarding physical incorporation to be strangely mixed. Food, hydration, rest, even breathable air, were such constantly present, critical concerns for so long that I feel oddly relieved to no longer concern myself with them, and yet it feels like a shame that it should be by obviation rather than abundance." They punctuate it with a tiny camera whir up at Petra's face, and a side-flip click. "I'm unsure why." 'And that looks like, Koban?' "I don't know." Dictum says. "I wasn't informed of their names." They consider the matter of Love for a second, then turn their chassis back and forth to evince a head-shake. "I have grasped the situation regarding her existence as a recondite sophont. I am not overly surprised that your planet has these entities as well." Close enough. 'So, the ratbots float through antigravity generation, right? All...' '...no waste heat, condensing the air inside of the jet with a natural siphon. And then, poof!' "I intended to admit to confusion as to your planet's seemingly inconsistent technological paradigm, but after some consideration, I've concluded that it only seems inconsistent if I assume my own is a perfectly even baseline with no fields unusually ahead or behind an invisible 'average' progress curve." Dictum declares that like they're sooo proud of themself (a little). "Your access to graviton-theory technological assets is gratifying and reassuring." For stairs reasons? "While it is perhaps an excessive solution to the issue of stairs, I'm very impressed with the innovative result you've described, and I appreciate your concern greatly." Oh. "May I try them?"
Lilian Rook	While Petra is inevitably busy with the next part, Dictum takes the brief opportunity to ask more questions while it still seems casual. "Judging by your demeanor, I assume that the situation regarding LSCC awareness of the Existential Threat remains unchanged, and that there have been no further conflicts with Mesmer Junior." Dictum manages to talk about the entirety of everything they're concerned with on Earth in one sentence, since, like, those two (three?) things are literally all they've experienced. The vaguely AM radio filter they use there makes it come across like 'nice sunny weather right?' "I admit that I'm slightly anxious staying uninformed of developments, but I'm confident that you would tell me if anything came up."
Petra Soroka	". . . I'm still unsure how much I actually miss those concerns." "Right! Right?" Petra can't really know for sure whether Dictum's tendency to ramble at length about everything is a natural trait of theirs, since every environment Petra's ever known them in has been one of extreme stress or confusion or loneliness. It's entirely possible that Dictum doesn't know what their 'natural' state would be either, given that they've hardly known any other environment either. A little guiltily, Petra feels compelled to indulge it by chattering right back, reflecting Dictum's personal contemplations with her own. "I was, er, put into a robot for a while too, actually." Petra pauses for just a moment while thinking about how it's been three separate times. "Didn't need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, whatever, you know? People'd say it was an upgrade, but I was really unhappy at the time... not just for that reason, but a little bit for that. It does feel like losing something a bit, right?" "But then also, it kind of feels needlessly cruel to tack limitations back on just because. I feel like it's gotta be by your request. You know, a lot of Earth cultures and religions have fasting as a practice, for, like, meditative or spiritual purposes. There's something to engaging with the... minigame of self-preservation, as a focusing tactic; but when you're starving because there's no food at all, that makes it harder to focus instead, right?" "I'm unsure why." Petra chews on the inside of her lip, leaning back against the windowsill. As Dictum mentions the limitation of breathable air back on Kepler, her eyes trace over to the warding symbol scribbled on the inside of the door. "Maybe it feels like running away, rather than winning. ... I do think being affected by the world is something that's, like, important. Being able to lose to or triumph over physical reality is what makes any of it seem real." That's probably the most Dictum-positive sentiment she's ever expressed to them. "I have grasped the situation regarding her existence as a recondite sophont." "Actually, what would you, uh, define those as?" Petra racks her brain for any magical intelligent creatures she's met in Lilian's world, and lamely comes up with, "Like, er, ghosts?" In order to not just singlemindedly grill Dictum, she elaborates further on Love's nature, and then keeps going when she remembers that it's actually very relevant. "Because, she is that, but she's also a specific subcategory of thing from a different world besides Lilian's or the LSCC, where I used to work. They're called Abnormalities, types of entities that are, magical, derived from humans but sometimes wildly different, with unique emotional fixations that have to be tended to or else they get stuck in a destructive cycle. For a long time, what we did was just farm and study them, but with help from the multiverse, we've been able to stabilize the more intelligent ones. Like, for Love specifically, Tamamo put a seal on her, and she's gotten a lot better. I think the, um, relevance is clear."
Petra Soroka	"May I try them?" "Yessssss!" Petra immediately springs down to start fidgeting with the pile of metal again once she's given permission, humming to herself while she sorts out cords of cables and metal brackets, holding them up to Dictum's side to see how they fit. "Tech's just like that, though. Maybe in a thousand years, the tech of every world will be so thoroughly shared that they'll be basically indistinguishable. The world where I was born was unified before I was born, and even with just, like, twenty years of that, I rarely see anything out in the multiverse that really surprises me tech-wise. Your planet... I guess I don't know enough about what your society looked like. But some of these worlds don't even have space programs." "I admit that I'm slightly anxious staying uninformed of developments, but I'm confident that you would tell me if anything came up." "Well!" Petra is slightly tense, but mostly happy, to be finally bringing this up. She hesitates before continuing, shoveling through her pile of resources to find a motorized gyroscope, unscrewing the panel of the jet to wire that in so she can hook it up to Dictum's neural connections. "There's one development, that I think is one of the most important things ever, that's basically put everything else on hold for a little while." Petra holds her breath, then releases it, pointing her finger directly skywards. "And that is:! Lilian got married! Her and Tamamo's wedding was a few days ago! And, you know, I'm happy for her, but for you that's also a really good sign, right?"
Lilian Rook	'I was, er, put into a robot for a while too, actually.' "Why?" The tape faintly plays hissing blank space. Curious. What a silly question. 'Didn't need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, whatever, you know?' "Oh." Click. "I understand." Okay so they totally thought Petra meant that she got deposited in the cockpit of a giant robot like a teen boy from a Gundam show. 'But then also, it kind of feels needlessly cruel to tack limitations back on just because.' "So goes the paradox of organic life." Dictum 'sighs' by making the tape noise cracke like a blown-into microphone. "It's inevitable that organic life builds up its experiential base of collective culture long before it is able to do anything about the circumstances of its evolutionary reality, and so we romanticize the things that kill us while taking for granted the critical connectors of our psyches. From observing the LSCC, albeit from a limited perspective, it seems no different here. Making any sophont endure the possibility of scarcity, deprivation, illness, and mutilation, is an inexcusable indignity, and yet without them, it becomes far too easy to erode all sense of time and place, and eventually selfhood, by pushing out of mind things like the solar cycle or physical contact in order to further improve productivity." 'but when you're starving because there's no food at all, that makes it harder to focus instead, right?' Dictum slows the roll uncomfortably. "Yes. I am aware." they say. "I realize now that I know very little of your background. Have you previously been subjected to these circumstances, too?" 'Maybe it feels like running away, rather than winning.' Dictum ends up thinking on how they feel about that answer much longer than the really need. In actuality, it was a snap decision. The track shifter clicked, from tape six to one, right when they knew. "I don't like to believe that I am the type of individual who considers 'winning' over abstract concepts to be meaningful, but I that equivalence does feel unfortunately correct." 'Actually, what would you, uh, define those as?' "That is a difficult question. In that I don't know what you would consider 'defining' to begin with." says Dictum. "Various cultures believe in 'good' and 'bad' non-tangible entities that are responsible for many things thoroughly explained by science. Our interactions with those which provably exist have largely been interstellar in origin and relatively apathetic in attitude. Otherwise, the natural state of our planet's recondite resources emerges as flora and fauna that experience energies which promote intellectual growth until they obtain sophont status, or spontaneous ensoulments of energy itself. My culture's studies into the nature of death have been far less successful than the planet on which I landed. I theorize this is due to the greater abundance of planetary energy and the considerably less stable point that planet occupies within the celestial spheres." They almost leave it at that, before casually dropping, as a total afterthought, "It's almost funny to reflect on the fact with 'above' is typically associated with goodness, given how backwards that turned out to be. But it seems 'Earth' was able to handle the Pandemic Threat with even less success than we were." 'For a long time, what we did was just farm and study them' "Excuse me?" For a second, Dictum forgets about Petra installing parts, and haphazardly swivels. "Farm and study?"
Lilian Rook	'Your planet... I guess I don't know enough about what your society looked like. But some of these worlds don't even have space programs. The mention of 'a thousand years from now' puts Dictum in a sufficiently melancholy mood to go attentively silent for a while. They only add "I couldn't help but notice that yours seems to have progressed very little. All of our planet's orbital satellites were all but fully settled." 'There's one development, that I think is one of the most important things ever, that's basically put everything else on hold for a little while.' That seems to reenergize Dictum, who barely resists swiveling towards Petra in excitement, and only then because her hands are busy with delicate work. 'And that is:! Lilian got married!' "Really? That's it?" says Dictim, indredulosity briefly outcompeting insipid politeness. They reel it back with "I don't know if I would describe that as a development. Perhaps it could be classified as an anomaly." Then, after a thoughtful dead-air pause. "No, it's most certainly an anomaly. The standard progression of Existential Threat infection, observed in every single case, should decrease quantity and intensity of secure social attachments, and prohibit any increase. Vectors are defined by derealization, depersonalization, and antisocial behaviour and perspectives without exception. The Existential Threat itself, obviously, has no higher goal than to eradicate life, not produce it." They think so hard on that topic that they miss their chance to double back and ask the other question they end up having right after. The reel axles make a frustrated little high-speed squeal.
Petra Soroka	"Why?" Oh god that's such a complicated question. Petra can trim down the answer a lot, but it's sort of a lie to not mention Lilian at all, right? It definitely wouldn't be encouraging to hear that Petra used to be an enemy to Lilian and is now her biggest fan, after getting locked up in-- "Oh." "Oh." Petra mirrors the blank realization a few seconds after Dictum does, revving down from trying to work out that topic. "Well, I also have a mech. I've lived a very robot-centric life." "So goes the paradox of organic life." "Right." Petra nods, tilting the little propulsor around to make sure it adjusts as it should. "You could call that the driving question of my entire life. If the human psyche is built around suffering as an essential component for development, then how ethical can it be to prevent it? Or avoid it yourself? The greatest artists, philosophers, writers, the most, like, virtuous politicians, are all defined in some way by suffering, because that roots people into the world, and everything transcendental has to come from the world first." "But, like, you know. If you have the power to prevent it, it's kind of intolerable not to." Petra holds the jet up to Dictum's side after screwing it back shut, then traces the outline of it with a rippling trail of Silver. With another bit of Silver, she shapes an angle grinder into her hand. "Gonna have to open up a connection into your nerves for this. It won't hurt." It must be a little worrying for your surgeon to snicker over top of the sound of a grinder whirring to life. "It's funny to say that while we're having this conversation, but-- if there's a threshold for how much anyone 'needs', then you're probably over it." "Have you previously been subjected to these circumstances, too?" The 'cutting' part is over in a moment. All Petra had to do was open up a small hole in each side, infinitely more navigable within for having the Silver, and it's only a couple minutes later that she's clipping wires and soldering them to a connector panel that bandages up the hole. "Not that... extreme, ever, no." "I was homeless for a while, though. Just enough to know how much easier I still had it than a lot of people. For you, it was because you were under attack, right?" "Our interactions with those which provably exist have largely been interstellar in origin and relatively apathetic in attitude." Petra blinks. "Your interactions with... mythological figures that turned out to be from space?" "Otherwise, the natural state of our planet's recondite resources emerges as . . . " "Oh, okay. Like tsukumogami, yeah. I guess the only relevant point of difference is that the origin of the Abnormalities is from the collective human spirit, rather than the world itself. The difference is... well, in my opinion it's both practical and academic, but, like, they're still basically magic creatures."
Petra Soroka	"It's almost funny to reflect on the fact with 'above' is typically associated with goodness, given how backwards that turned out to be." "Huh?" Petra stops what she's working on in surprise, looking up at Dictum's camera. The Silver soldering iron in her hand drips onto the floor, elevated charge having nowhere to go but right back into the metal. "Why?" "The Onslaught-- that's what they call the Pandemic threat on Earth-- happened before unification, and also, like, before either I or Lilian were born. Did they come from... 'above'?" She adds, helpfully, "They did seem to get completely wrecked by it. If I remember what Lilian's said right, it was ninety percent of the world's population that got wiped out, and almost all in the last few years of the Onslaught." She hesitates before adding the extra information, "Well, that might be because the Enlightened-- the magic users-- were in hiding and didn't come out to help until several years into it? Did your world not have a distinction between, people with recondite resources and people without any?" "Farm and study?" "Whoop," The Silver flickers out of Petra's hands when Dictum turns, welding flashes vanishing to not draw a line across their body. "Um, yep. They were used to produce energy, and without proper management, they'd just kill everyone." Petra points at them emphatically, while collecting her tools again to finish up affixing the jet to their body. "Don't think that's gonna make me any more likely to want to put Lilian in some fucked up facility, though! I'm just saying, I've got professional experience in, uh, safety procedures!" Oh god she didn't consider how this would sound if Lilian ever heard about it. "All of our planet's orbital satellites were all but fully settled." "I grew up on a moon of the fifth planet from the sun," Petra nods, fixing the jet onto Dictum's side with a satisfying click. "Really, it varies a ton. Offworld colonies aren't, like, super common, though; people from Earth are usually surprised when I say that." "I don't know if I would describe that as a development. Perhaps it could be classified as an anomaly." "Anomalies mean something, though!" Petra insists, a little bit too secondhand proud for it to come across as impartial. "Like-- Lilian isn't planning on leaving the world, and not just out of a temporary 'recovery pattern' or whatever! She's serious about what she wants!" "And Tamamo doesn't want her to go either, obviously. She put an array on Lilian ages ago that kept her on this side of the threshold, which is what Lilian wanted. And I think I know Exigent Serenity well enough to know that she's not raring to blow up the world that she's married in." Petra stands up and wipes off her jeans of metal shavings, wincing when she burns herself on them. Gesturing towards the door, "Wanna try it out? We can walk up to the roof to test-- oh, and, if you fall for more than a second, the antigrav will kick on to slow you down just in case of emergencies. Gimme like, a week, and I can calibrate that for double jumps." Opening the door, Petra abruptly voices the thought that had partly formulated earlier, but not completed. "The impulses caused by the Existential Threat are defined by what they want and can't have. When the Blooms have what they want, there's way less danger of anything spiraling out of control. One of those things is still, I know, an issue with a fundamental principle of reality, but that's not all of it."
Lilian Rook	'Well, I also have a mech. I've lived a very robot-centric life.' "It shows." says Dictum, cheerily. Then, "I hope that was reassuring." slightly nervously. 'You could call that the driving question of my entire life. If...' Dictum listens along with shocking pleasantness for how grim the subject matter really is. With a human being, it'd take active listenings skills at least on Petra's level to convey it, but the continuous, warm sound of tape reel and vinyl record crackle are inherently cozy on their own, and it gets more so when halfway through, Dictum begins very very quietly playing one of the tracks from the golden record, like ambient backing. "I was completely unaware that you were a philosopher of the prime questions as well as a skilled technician and a scientist. Though I was already grateful, of course, my opinion of you, Petra, has continued to increase far beyond my wildest expectations. I think I have begun to see why it was so important to you to urgently take matters into your own hands." "These philosophical, sociological matters, were the focus of my studies before they changed. I agree with you entirely." says Dictum. "The world in which these two facts are not in conflict is a world in which everyone is capable of suffering and of preventing everyone's suffering but their own. No one should be 'immune' to the condition of being alive, and no one should be deprived of agency regarding how much of that condition they can tolerate experiencing at any given time so long as they continue to interact with each other; which is itself a prime cognitive necessity of another order." 'if there's a threshold for how much anyone 'needs', then you're probably over it.' 'Not that... extreme, ever, no.' Dictum tunes the music down slowly, as if slowly lowering a glass to speak, with the equivalent gravity. "I've been made aware by the information conveyed by resynchronization with my automated interaction ritual that the length of time I spent in space was one I cannot even begin to fathom. I still do not understand the mechanism of your psychological intervention, but I assume that it was necessary." Dictum says, a little grimly. "Though I assume I was in a non-functional state by that time, such thorough memory deletion up to the point of merely weeks; it almost feels as if I was treated too gently." The tape winding makes a frustrated electronic purring noise. "Which is completely irrational; you're right." 'For you, it was because you were under attack, right?' Dictum speaks in tones of confirmation and nothing else. "The Existential Threat was a known phenomenom before my birth. A global state of emergency was declared a year after I had begun non-compulsory education. In the end, I lost my home not long after what we would consider an age of majority. The intervening years, where I continued to have decreasingly regular access to power, as I was fortunate enough to live in one of the last areas to be resettled, were used to learn as many practical and technical skills as I was able." "My only formal employment was a period of two years, within a maximum security scientific compound devoted to the containment and study of Existential Threat Vectors and the Violation Paradigm phenomena, to secure shelter for my remaining family. I regret to say that I accomplished very little before Vector 3 compromised the arcology. I have spent only nearly the last year, from my perspective, without a place of residence."
Lilian Rook	'Your interactions with... mythological figures that turned out to be from space?' "Oh! No, excuse me. I had only meant to say that it seems nearly all sophonts that exist in extraterrestrial space are non-corporeal in nature." Dictum says ever so very helpfully. "I've heard a great deal about 'the human spirit'. I admit to having some curiosity as to what differences could be responsible for the apparently widespread existence of post-death sophont phenomena and the alleged state of the collective unconscious." 'The Onslaught--' Dictum repeats "Ninety percent?" in crackling whisper-quiet dismay. It sounds as if the tape track, built to prevent this very eventuality, had suddenly succumbed to eight hundred years of magnetic corrosion all at once. "The deaths of one in five people was already an inconceivable tragedy that compromised the functioning of society for decades. Earth would be in no position whatsoever to handle the Existential Threat for even as long as we did. I can't bring myself to call its unusually delayed onset 'fortunate' in that case." They nearly forget Petra's question entirely, then hasten back to it in brief. "The phenomena began at the time of a mass orbital collision. An infection following a physical wound." 'Did your world not have a distinction between, people with recondite resources and people without any?' Dictum wiggles back and forth to give a properly emphatic head shake. "No. It was considered part of compulsory education and a universal right. The disparity between the original sophont-form of Lilian Rook and the average member of your species is much larger than in mine." 'Don't think that's gonna make me any more likely to want to put Lilian in some fucked up facility, though! I'm just saying, I've got professional experience in, uh, safety procedures!' "I do think it should make you more amenable to the obvious solution, though." says Dictum, turning towards the window. "Love appears to be happy enough." 'Offworld colonies aren't, like, super common, though; people from Earth are usually surprised when I say that.' "It was a mistake in the end." Dictum mic-crackle sighs. "Vectors 1 through 3 emerged on separate orbital bodies. We were unable to mount a prompt and proportionate response as a result. The lessened social cohesion of leaving our home planet no doubt made it much more possible for the Existential Threat to take root." 'She put an array on Lilian ages ago that kept her on this side of the threshold' Dictum, politely ignoring Petra's insistences at first, cuts dead quiet when she gets to that part. It's sort of endearing how transparent their mood is when the clunk-cachunk switches into a rapid rewind sound. "You have technology that prevents Stage V metamorphosis?" It doesn't even sound like a real question. 'Why didn't you tell me that earlier?' at most. "Who is Exigent Serenity and how does she relate to a marriage? If Lilian Rook has already voluntarily submitted to corrective treatment, why resist further measures?" 'Wanna try it out?' Dictum, on the spot, puffs both jets and does a whole entire backflip. The ensuing joy is enough to disract then for ten whole seconds, doing a little circle in place. "What is a double jump?"
Lilian Rook	'The impulses caused by the Existential Threat are defined by what they want and can't have.' "That seems very unlikely." Dictum says first, automatically. Then they decide to consciously backtrack it. Petra can literally hear that consciousness backtracking. "I wonder why it would be the case that this applies to Earth's Existential Threat Vectors. The Vectors that I worked with in containment never showed signs of improvement after extensive appeasement. Vector 2's sophont host was reportedly very well-off."
Petra Soroka	"I hope that was reassuring." Petra giggles suddenly, covering her mouth with a hand. "Don't worry about it. Yes, it was. I'm just happy to help." "I was completely unaware that you were a philosopher of the prime questions as well as a skilled technician and a scientist." Petra double-takes, lips parted in confusion as she turns to look back at Dictum. She's certainly not above being glazed, but even more than that, the fact that Dictum responds positively at all rather than calling her an unsociable psycho is jaw-dropping. "Wait, for real?? Oh my god, no one ever appreciates when I get philosophical! I feel like--" She gesticulates aimlessly, momentarily rendered mute by having too many thoughts cramming their way through her larynx at once. "On a basic level, every single thing I do is in pursuit of that. Philosophical wisdom and sociological understanding. I don't think there's anything more important. I can't believe you studied that; that's so cool!" "The world in which these two facts are not in conflict is a world in which everyone is capable of suffering and of preventing everyone's suffering but their own." "Right! That's-! Well, we could talk about the details for hours. That does neatly solve that one problem, though the effects extrapolating from that might not result in an ideal society." Petra is nearly giddy, already imagining how she can make more time to come to Hydrochoeria and have philosophical debates with Dictum! She's such a nerd, but, like, really, how lucky could she possibly be that the one extraterrestrial survivor whose cooperation is necessary for the Blooms' best future has the exact same interests as her! Would she be able to get Dictum going to college? Maybe after they've stopped trying to rat Lilian out to any environment they're in. "But you're right about something really important. I think the two important spiritual pursuits are, um, understanding yourself, and understanding others. And if there isn't anyone else around you, there's no motivation to understand yourself-- that's dissocation, derealization, you know, severing you from the world. But the inverse, when there's people around but no 'self', then the former gives the opportunity for the latter. It's, uh," Petra's hand dips when her stream of consciousness falters, awkwardly still as she tries to stick the landing of her impromptu rambling. "Um, I think a person that's alone is fundamentally a worse person and society shouldn't be structured in a way that facilitates isolation." "I've been made aware by the information conveyed by resynchronization with my automated interaction ritual that the length of time I spent in space was one I cannot even begin to fathom. " Petra's mood sinks, visibly enough that it's obvious to Dictum too. Coming right off of her tirade against solitude, the eight hundred years of empty space that rests between her, Dictum, and Sakura is a heavy topic. "Yeah. It's been... about eight hundred years." Petra's eyes flicker away. 'Since the entire planet you knew was gone', is implicit, not just the distance for Dictum personally. "I'm sorry. ... If it was too gentle, then you can blame me feeling sympathetic in the moment. I just don't think that would've been a fair ending." "I wasn't sure if it'd be uncomfortable or anything to be reminded of that, but-- even if you were completely antagonistic after the ritual, yeah, it just wouldn't have been fair. I was only assisting the person who really put most of the work in, a friend of mine. I really do want to introduce you to her at some point."
Petra Soroka	"A global state of emergency was declared a year after I had begun non-compulsory education." One year studying philosophy. A handful more studying the Existential Threat, and then working, redirecting the path of their life for the ostensible few years they had remaining to stave off the end by seconds. Or, considering the methods that Kepler's scientists used, maybe speeding it up. But imagine coming to terms with that. The idea that there was a recruitment effort against a global catastrophe, some alien threat far away, and signing up to combat it academically, equipping yourself into the apparatus that society created solely for the purpose of managing the Threat, was made with such misunderstandings and poor intents in mind that your assistance ended up worsening the apocalypse despite your good intentions. It feels impossible to rationalize, especially after the euphemistic weight of 'compromised' and 'without residence'. Obviously the only way to cope would be to double down and convince yourself that it just wasn't enough; anything else would drive you insane. Petra twists her lips, lost in thought. She's really gotta get Bond talking with Dictum too, huh? What she eventually says is, "... We're just about the same age, huh?" "The deaths of one in five people was already an inconceivable tragedy that compromised the functioning of society for decades." Petra makes a sharp, single syllable of a laugh. "Sorry. I was just thinking a moment ago, how you guys somehow announced a global state of emergency years before the end. Earth would be hard pressed to do it in the last half hour. I wasn't around for it, but I'd bet they didn't even convene the fucking United Nations about it until twenty percent of the world's population was wiped out. No, if anyone had the power and made the decision to destroy the Earth, the most dedicated effort to stop it that anyone would make would be to try and bribe the Vector to leave them for last." 5r "But, you know. Here we are now, with all four Blooms alive, happy-ish, and mostly in agreement about delaying the end of the world. And all that just for being treated like humans." "Love appears to be happy enough." "Iiiiiii, agree!" Petra says, emphatically. "That's sort of what I mean, too! Love's living a normal life on her own terms. She even had a job for a while, you know. All she needed was a little help." "The lessened social cohesion of leaving our home planet no doubt made it much more possible for the Existential Threat to take root." "I think I've got a different opinion, but I'm not saying you're wrong. See, I actually know the origin of every Bloom on Earth. Becoming a Vector isn't something that happens arbitrarily." Petra leans back on the floor, propping herself up with one hand and holding four fingers up on the other. "All of them were caused by isolation. Winter was trapped with a family that hated her, spring was dumped in the woods as a child, summer grew up in the wastes the Onslaught created, autumn was neglected and ignored. Every one of them has been improved by personal company and emotional support-- when I say giving them what they want, I don't just mean, like, appeasement, you know." "I don't know what Kepler's colonies looked like, but I don't think your theory about social cohesion is wrong! Because, I bet the isolation of those colonies, and the, um, comparatively less self-regulation caused by diverse group attention and cooperation in a child's life, made it easier for those kids to fall through the cracks."
Petra Soroka	"You have technology that prevents Stage V metamorphosis?" Petra starts to shake her head, and then switches to a nod so that she isn't misinterpreted. "I don't. Tamamo does, though. I don't know the details about it, and I'm pretty sure it's too personal to be replicable for the other three, but, like-- like, it works! We've got so many possibilities, Dictum!" Petra's tone suddenly lurches, in a way that catches even herself off-guard. The brightly cheery tone that she prattled away about the wedding with is gripped by the diaphragm, becoming almost desperately optimistic, supported by a plea directly from her heart. "You know?! Everything we've done on Earth so far, has been the slowest, most difficult way just to buy more time, and you know yourself that corrective methods just delay things more! The goal is to find some way that just works, for however long it needs to, by cooperating with them. Lilian's making plans for a hundred years out. I want to live at least five more years. The difference about this corrective treatment, is that it's one she wanted." But, Dictum's been cooped up too long already. This is a conversation that can happen on the move, and when Dictum spontaneously does a backflip, Petra claps the tips of her fingers together gleefully and gets immediately distracted thinking about jumps and flips. "Oh my god-- yes! Awesome! Oh shoot, I'll be back tomorrow to give you better suspension in your wheels-- there's so much jumping to do around here; I built it that way. Come with me, with me! I'll walk with you while we go up the center tower, it should be a good test of stairs for you." Petra holds the door open, and then scampers after them, hitting her own spontaneous backflip in the hallway outside. "A double jump's when you jump a second time while already in the air! It's really good for precision landings, changing your momentum, or getting extra height." She holds up a finger and closes her eyes, as if this is important wisdom. "In my culture, it's considered inhumane to not be able to do a double jump." Going up to the castle roof is actually a really good tutorial for Dictum's new jets. There's a short stairway leading to the central section of the residential wing of the castle for a first runthrough, and then the central tower of the castle has a spiral staircase going up several flights. Up there, there's a bridge connecting the tower to the orbiting rings of the castle, just wobbly enough to encourage practicing micro-adjustments through careful uses of the jets at lower power. And then, a viewing deck where they can see the island in its entirety, and a screen-- where Petra can harrass them into looking at pictures of Lilian's wedding.
Lilian Rook	'Wait, for real?? Oh my god, no one ever appreciates when I get philosophical! I feel like--' "That's disappointing to hear. But philosophy is seldom appreciated in its own time." Dictum says. The mic-crackle as if blown on seems to be something they like using now. "Though the ultimate objective of philosophy could not be any more important to the future of all sapient life, it is frequently discarded in the pursuit of adjustments to material needs in the short-term, even when unnecessary." The tape reel slows to a steady buzz. "Though, in the circumstances I am familiar with, it was understandable. There is little time for deeper thoughts when survival itself is uncertain." 'though the effects extrapolating from that might not result in an ideal society.' "I think an ideal society is one in which everyone chooses to contribute to it and no one chooses to go against it. The purpose of society is to include all people and manifest a sum greater than its parts from their many talents and perspectives and their collective labour." 'Um, I think a person that's alone is fundamentally a worse person and society shouldn't be structured in a way that facilitates isolation.' "So, on that, we agree perfectly." Dictum cheerfully announces. 'I really do want to introduce you to her at some point.' "I would love to meet as many of your friends as you will allow me." Dictum does a little spin for emphasis, increasing volume and grain."Fairness is in very short supply. The Existential Threat itself is, in a sense, the ultimate unfairness. I'm sure your intellectual allies are people of considerable wisdom and value." '... We're just about the same age, huh?' Dictum spins from looking at the sketchpad back to Petra, tilting their cameras to look 'up' with an oddly soulful, almost puppy-like mien of contemplation. "I haven't know what age, or race, or even what gender role my own experiences best translate to in your culture. Not yet. But I feel as though that is most likely true." 'Sorry. I was just thinking a moment ago, how you guys somehow announced a global state of emergency years before the end. Earth would be hard pressed to do it in the last half hour.' The tape recorder noise grows to a point of hissing. Dictum fidgets with their manipulator. "If your claim isn't hyperbole based in excessive negativity, that would be extraordinarily troubling." they say. "I assume it must be to some extent. Otherwise it would be a wonder that your species has survived so long. But even if you are merely overstating a reality, such a grievous lack of social cohesion cannot be allowed to continue if we are to survive the emergence of the Existential Threat. Especially when at least one Vector is so far developed along all of the traditional markers of Incursion Syndrome." 'But, you know. Here we are now, with all four Blooms alive, happy-ish, and mostly in agreement about delaying the end of the world.' "I hope for more than just a delay." Dictum says, quietly. 'Winter was trapped with a family that hated her, spring was dumped in the woods as a child, summer grew up in the wastes the Onslaught created, autumn was neglected and ignored.' "Four . . ." Dictum's cameras lower to the ground. Their manipulator droups. "At least you have a complete strategic awareness of their whereabouts. That is more than we had with Vector 1, 2, and 3. Prosaic naming convention notwithstanding." 'made it easier for those kids to fall through the cracks.' They suddenly perk up, in a tense-fizzling way. "How did you know that they began as children?"
Lilian Rook	'Lilian's making plans for a hundred years out. I want to live at least five more years.' Petra's strained positivity is so desperately hopeful, so earnest and sincere and heartbreakingly yearning, that Dictum can't bring themself to say anything to the contrary. Not now. As much as they might want to urge a more sober attitude, all they can do is fidget back and forth with sharp, minuscule turns of their chassis. The tape click-hisses like a wince when Petra proudly claims she wants to live even five years. They only can't keep quiet at 'one hundred'. The rolling hiss builds uncomfortable dead air. "Those plans may be in error. Though I've erred on subtlety over precision, so as not to be detected with my active scans when I was limited to a sessile vessel, I have already detected roughly 1.6 six kilograms of diffuse quasiparticle matter within Lilian Rook's sophont host mass, and observed a geometric increase of roughly 0.01% per day. Even assuming this rate of contamination holds steady, the Incursion Syndrome will progress to an unsurvivable extent within eighty years, even provided no earlier health issues or accidents arise, which are very likely to be induced by a Lucidity Collapse relapse." 'A double jump's when you jump a second time while already in the air! It's really good for precision landings, changing your momentum, or getting extra height. In my culture, it's considered inhumane to not be able to do a double jump.' "Oh. That sounds very useful." Dictum chirps. "Especially considering your planet's lowered gravity. Your recondite traditions are very charming." As they trundle off after Petra on their little wheels, occasionally hopping or performing little flips for calibration and entertainment, Dictum adds when the time seems right, "I would very much appreciate another opportunity to speak to Mesmer Junior. There are many misconceptions I feel a duty to clear up, and I hope that it will put her better at ease to know some of these facts."