Scene #9764: Click My Link and Consult My Diagrams

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	The holding place for the last surviving escapee from a wiped out alien planet could be none other than Petra's silly little floating island. Hydrochoeria hangs high above the Great Ocean, a spike of rock the size of a town, orbited by smaller chunks chained to stay close, one of which houses the Warpgate that gives Tamamo access to the lair. Looking past the bridge to the island, the layout is much more similar to the types of town-builder life sim games that Tamamo might be familiar with herself or through Nika or even Lilian, than it is to a regular town. Besides the ominous castle, there's only one big residential cube, and the rest of the space is made up of rubber-lined parks, facilities, architectural passion projects, or playgrounds. Love and Justice live here somewhere-- in the terraced cascade of a garden on a hill beside the apartments, there's a sizeable splash of pink among the other flowers and herbs growing. The entire island really is kind of becoming a playground superstructure though. Platforming courses that vary on a scale between 'American Ninja Warrior' and 'Eggman's final dungeon' are built on scaffolding that dangles them over nothing but kilometers of open air between the ocean below. There's no sign of Petra at first when Tamamo arrives, but within a minute, the metal bars running over the roof of the building beside where she is on the rubber turf road creak with her scampering arrival. And she hops down from the roof, wearing a big colorful mascot costume. Unzipping it down to her hips, Petra shakes out her sweat-soaked hair like a dog, and tugs down the tank top underneath to properly cover herself. "Hi Tamamo! Sorry, I lost track of time playing with Nika. Dictum's place is over this way." It's a couple minutes to walk to the castle on the edge of the island, during which time Petra shucks off the rest of her inexplicable outfit and holds the cartoonish bundle of plastic above her head with both hands. Past the castle doors, she dumps it into a laundry hamper, and then leads Tamamo up the spiral staircase. Dictum's room is one of the few occupied bedrooms in the castle, and therefore much larger than the little robot actually needs, supplied with a pile of books or drawing supplies as Petra attempts to slowly feel out their actual interests. Petra knocks on the wooden door of the room, calling out through it rather than opening it herself. "Hey, Dictum! I'm back! Good to come in? We've got kind of, uh, a bunch to talk about."
Tamamo	Tamamo was prepared for town-builder layout as well as the obstacle course, having heard them spoken of and seen some of Nika's set up. She'd even enjoy town-builder games on their own, without the impulse to play things that help her better understand Nika, by their own merits -- though it's not like she ever would have tried them, without someone close to her doing so, first. She wasn't ready for Petra's costume, and it won't pass without comment. "Why are you wearing that?" There's something tone-independent that gives the unexplainable impression of suspicion. Few but Petra get this from her, as 'a treat.' Justify your dress, scamperer. "Mm, it really is all pushed together like that, to give room over to these other projects, I see," of the Residence Cube. In any case, she follows after, geta tapping along. Her own dress is more casual 'than usual,' being a red kimono beneath a mossy-green hakama skirt. Both have cloudy patterns, and the latter, tied in a bow at her waist, has large, apron-style pockets. That is clearly the immediate advantage and purpose, as she pulls out a miniature notebook and thoughtfully thumbs through it along the way, twirling a pencil with her other hand. "You have made some arrangements for entertainment, I see." That's one way to term 'enrichment,' or 'not making it resemble a prison.' "Hello! ...again, I should say. Do you recall our last meeting?"
Lilian Rook	What 'Dictum'-- the ostensibly final remnant of proof that life and civilization had ever existed on Kepler-1652b, recovered from centuries of drifting in space and uploaded to a ecclectic mixture of unlikely technology-- has actually done while left to their own devices for a couple months on Hydrochoeria is 'shockingly little'. After acquiring the ability to double jump, they'd spent ample time learning to utilize it as effectively as possible (by taking Petra's stupid fucking platformer playground entirely seriously), and after being assigned a room, they'd drawn those meandering-squiggle Arrays all over the door and walls first thing there, but there's only so long that anyone can stay quietly freak out about something that mysteriously hasn't happened yet in a completely different world than this one. More importantly, there's only so long that someone whose most recent memories are those of hard-bitten lonely survival, a nearly hopeless launch into space, and then sitting on a desk as a tape casette for weaks, can stay shut in. Despite being a chunky space-grade eight-track placed under a glass-and-chrome bell jar placed on a waist-height robotic trundlebody, socialization eventually becomes the dominant need after the mystique of being cut off from Mesmer Jr. (which they aren't anymore) fades and boredom sets in. Despite their stupendously serious attitude about the dumbest things, and the fact that they have to get around even mundane architecture as if they're the protagonist of a Chibi Robo sequel, 'a couple of months' is just so much time to have to oneself that nothing can be all that urgent by now. So Dictum wants to hear the music that was originally on the Golden Record before they overwrote it again. And then they want more music 'like that'. And then they want a computer; and then the fourth time asking they're willing to haggle about the internet capabilities of it. Then they want a minifridge for the sole purpose of having an array of beverages to taste for enrichment, and then it's a kite, and a paintball gun, and a 'grappling hook' to play stupid community activities with, as they remain perpetually enthralled by a mere 9.81m/s^2 gravitational value. Once it's come to durdling sand art outside the Cube, in comes the request for a second grabber, just recently, so as to not need fifty bespoke attachments instead of just using tools from a random shed or closet. There are distinct advantages in the fact that Dictum all but grew up in the era of the Existential Threat. This is the most grass they've touched in at least a subjective decade. Nika has otherwise had time to build up her mixed-lukewarm feelings into at least moderate fascination with Petra's alien friend. The Kepler trip itself, even experienced remotely, has given her about a thousand times more to think about when it comes to Dictum. The last couple of months have been good to her, with everyone enabling her new interest in fishing, beach sports, and building goofy shit. Lilian beginning to dedicate a little bit of her week to coming over 'to tend the pepper garden', as an excuse to socialize for hours with Sakura, which inevitably becomes spending time with everyone, she has no reason to worry at all about anything! So she's had Petra in a stupid costume that is most certainly from something that was her second-most-recent media fixation, and is 'timing her splits', whatever that means, for ominous-innocent reasons. She catches up along the way, having to yell "Tamamoooooooooooooooo!!" from down the road when she can only run as fast as a normal girl. The first thing she says after catching her breath is, after turning to Petra, "Okay this one doesn't count because we both gotta ¶get up and drink water¶ anyways so your PB is the same."
Lilian Rook	When actually reaching the castle chamber, though, Nika's nervousness about 'meeting a new person', coloured in by so much secondhand negativity, and amplified by the enormity of what'd happened in the Kepler system, slows her down to a crawl outside the room. Watching Petra like a wary deer from twenty feet, she says "You first." like she can retroactively make Petra's approach an order. Inside the room, currently in the midst of slowly being filled with random nonsense, not particularly well-sized for a robot half anyone else's height, said robot is in the middle of taking apart what appears to be a large RC car; an exercise rendered comical by the fact that it would be less than knee-high to an adult, but is nearly riding size for Dictum. Pausing in the middle of sorting a shock spring into a neatly laid-out row of its brethren, pivots around on their tracks to properly face the door, lacking any other means of displaying that they're paying attention. "Hello again Petra. It is good as always to see you. It's been some time. If there is so much to talk about, have you just completed some major project of yours?" The vocalization, at this point, is fully synthed, and yet the unmistakable grain of a tape player is stubbornly in the background. When Tamamo enters as well, Dictum makes a zippy thirty-degree swivel to 'look', and then slowly puts the spring aside with gripper arm motion that reaches almost fully behind them. "I apologize; I do not. If we have met before, then I must assume that you are one of the individuals who was responsible for first accessing the automated interaction ritual I left behind for such an eventuality. While I've retained the queried and ventured information, the specifics aren't so clear. May I know your name?"
Petra Soroka	"Why are you wearing that?" Petra hesitates, half-stripped, and then wiggles the empty arms of the mascot costume that hang limply down at her hips. "Oh, because-- like, that's the game. It turns out you can just buy stuff like this off the internet, so I've gotta ÷wear the right hat÷ for the game. It's kind of so hot, though." The weird inflatable rubberyness of the costume makes it look like she'd practically bounce when wearing it properly. It looks neither attractive nor comfortable! It's difficult to imagine any suspicious ulterior motive to her wearing this thing, and yet, since it's Petra, there must be one! "Okay this one doesn't count because we both gotta ¶get up and drink water¶ anyways so your PB is the same." "Yeah," Petra nods to Nika, both of them being similarly out of breath, but Petra being by far the more exerted one. "I can totally do better later. But, later." "You have made some arrangements for entertainment, I see." "I mean, it just seems way too cruel not to. You know?" Still, it's not really like anyone but Petra and Sakura have much cause for sympathy with Dictum. The weird little alien-made-robot is mostly inconvenient to Lilian by existing at all, resulted in Ash's life being worse and NAZCA being more dangerous, two things that Dictum would be not only unrepentent about but proud of having accomplished while braindead. "... It just feels weird to really attribute any kind of, um, malice to them at all. They're just sort of doing their best. Er-- I really, do hope you can keep that in mind, because they're probably going to piss you off a little bit." "You first." Petra swivels around on her heel while walking through the hallway, stepping backwards to give a rear-facing salute to Nika. "Kingdom of Hydrochoeria Diplomatic Ambassador to the people of space, on the job!" "If there is so much to talk about, have you just completed some major project of yours?" "Yes! Sort of! I mean, a big stage, at least." The door can actually be left open, because this is Petra's island, and therefore inherently trustworthy. Nika's able to eavesdrop from the hallway without coming in, implicitly invited into the conversation without the expectation to show her face to a semi-hostile stranger. Because Petra is a kind of bad landlord to live under, she plops herself right down on the edge of the bed to chatter, looking down at Dictum's project. "Oh my god, cute. You know, I've got tons of extra mechanical scrap down in the dungeons-- you're totally invited to dig through it if you need. Oh, but-- there are just, like, weapons loose in there? So be careful." Channeling somewhere between Arthur and Nika, "If you think you're in danger, try to ROLL under, or JUMP over!" She clears her throat. "Um. Anyways, yeah, it's a topic. So this is Tamamo-- if you don't remember the name, the context will be so clear in a sec. Tamamo, this is Dictum." Petra braces her palms on her knees, leaning forwards off the side of the bed. "So, we went to Kepler. We took a FTL trip there and back, and we've got some questions, and also, uh, to share some stuff with you."
Tamamo	Tamamo, who has not the faintest clue what kind of splits are being timed, warms immediately to say, "Nika," and come to a stop, half-turned to wait for her. "'It is good to see you' -- is true, but it has been too little time to say that, I suppose." The trial of the Chicago branch is really the only thing that strained her schedule recently, and everything is well back to 'normal' by now. "Were you... oh, competing in the obstacle courses?" She looks a bit concerned, as they get close, glancing between Nika and the Arrays. Well... she'll leave it to her to decide what's comfortable. For her own part, Tamamo is going in without hesitation, and she isn't targetable by those techniques, anyway. '... It just feels weird to really attribute any kind of, um, malice to them at all. They're just sort of doing their best.' "You need not be worried for that. We have seen that they were not dishonest, and I know full well that 'survival' is self-justifying. I will make allowances for the stranded survivor of a slain world, no matter how justified its killers might appear to be." . . . She might've answered first, but is distracted enough for a moment to turn to Petra and confirm, "You are dungeon-building? Is this also a game thing?" She's really only played the one game with those, not counting the farming sims with haunted mines, as it doesn't occur to her to count them. "I am known as Tamamo-no-mae, as it happens." She could have said that up front, too, but checking memory was the point, of course. "Just as you have guessed, I was present on that island. I was the one who asked about the storage necessary for 'revival,' and also after the moon and seas. The entity on the moon does remain a problem, by the way, if not a particularly urgent one. Unwarded exposure is rather lethal, and so, I should like to do something about it at some point or another." It'd be weirdly casual for the topic, but she truly has so many other things to be concerned about than 'the freedom to wander into the woods at night.' "In aspects most relevant to the topics discussed then, regarding Lilian Rook, who was ejected from the conversation during 'sanitization'..." If she's upset about that, she hides it well. "...you may know me as the one most directly responsible for her stabilization." One could otherwise credit Sakura, but that's different in a few ways, and not helpful for this particular conversation. Finally, she gives the barest nod to Petra. "Thanks to Nika's communicative ability, the trip showed us more than 'remains.' Ah, but, as to my questions... I had quite a few things that I wished to say, some time ago, and of these, most have proven no longer necessary. Those most useful for us to know now might be anything quite specific you know of those that destroyed your world. They are still... 'around,' and though they are presently far away, it is not impossible that they will choose to travel." Taking a seat on a cushion, placing one if necessary, Tamamo tilts her head, crossing her arms as she thinks. The sleeves on his outfit aren't large enough for her to hide her hands in them. "I should also like to know about the Augers."
Lilian Rook	''It is good to see you' -- is true, but it has been too little time to say that, I suppose.' "I think you can say it whenever you want!" says Nika, perhaps predictably. "There's no laws or anything and I'm always ¶saying¶ whatever I want so it's okay by me and no one else gets an opinion!" Plus, she likes hearing it. 'Were you... oh, competing in the obstacle courses?' "She's keeping her end of the bargain." Nika says, sagely. 'Kingdom of Hydrochoeria Diplomatic Ambassador to the people of space, on the job!' Nika giggles, once and then twice. "I totally forgot for a sec that Hydrochoeria is an ¶actual thing/historical footnote¶ and not just like the save file." she says. "But you'd totally be an ambassador of a ¶game world/pocket universe/reverse-isekai¶ so it kinda works both ways." 'Oh my god, cute.' Dictum performs a practiced two-way micro-swivel, to kind of look like a facade. The tape plays with a bit of background fizz. "Is it? I had observed that your culture views vehicular maintenance as a particularly serious endeavour, and that taking it up as a voluntary pastime evinces reliability and maturity." They pause with the tape sound rolling for a bit. "Well, 'cute' is fine too. I don't mind it." 'If you think you're in danger, try to ROLL under, or JUMP over!' You'd swear that the extreme quiet of the background noise means 'politely appalled'. "There are live weapons? Unsecured? Why? What are they for, Petra?" The conclusion they try to draw from this is "Well, I assure you that I've become very adept at jumping." 'So this is Tamamo-- if you don't remember the name, the context will be so clear in a sec. Tamamo, this is Dictum.' 'I am known as Tamamo-no-mae, as it happens.' The tape recorder noise plays a speed-up whine and a clear click-settle. The little robotic grabber is pulled . . . formally? Close. "Oh I see. If I recall correctly, you are the current mate of the Existential Threat Vector--" There's a tape-change cachunk right at the moment Dictum coincidentally remembers Petra's strongly worded advice. "--known as 'Lilian Rook'. Is that correct?" 'In aspects most relevant to the topics discussed then, regarding Lilian Rook,' Hm. Yes. It seems that way. '...you may know me as the one most directly responsible for her stabilization.' Hearing that, Nika edges a little closer in the corridor. She stops just short of actually leaning her head around the corner, though she does fix her attention very obviously on Tamamo, as if she's about to explain how to do something that's been stumping her. Only when her name is mentioned does she suddenly make a noise, surprised into an awkward "--Hi?!" and then shuffling into view. "That's me. I helped. Hi." she says, struggling with something. Dictum's response, not knowing anything about Nika and unclear as to her relative importance here, is to use the gripper greeble to wave at her, using an audible motor-whine wiggle back-and-forth at the 'wrist' articulator; which causes Nika to bounce up and down on the balls of her feet.
Lilian Rook	"Then, Miss Tamamo, you are the one responsible for innovating the technology that is currently being employed to delay the Threat Vector's Stage V metamorphosis event? Or were you only responsible for its practical applications? I have been fascinated by your work since first hearing of it regardless. Do you maintain--" There's an obvious, suspicious pause. "--treatment, of any other subjects? Are there others performing a similar role as you? It's been difficult to learn much of your planet's efforts to combat the Existential Threat." 'So, we went to Kepler. We took a FTL trip there and back, and...' 'Those most useful for us to know now might be anything quite specific you know of those that destroyed your world. They are still...' Partway through, Dictum falls silent, in that way only they can; a silence where the noise of gently crackling tape and the soft whine of motors plays across a long desert of words. Slow and quiet, the noise builds almost imperceptibly until well into the explanation, where it bleeds through like a mechanical tinnitus ring. Their robotic body is left completely motionless, emoting nothing in particular; forgotten or unwanted. 'I should also like to know about the Augers.' The speakers play a heft side-switch clunk, and Dictum finally jerks to face the women who have entered their room by now. "I apologize. I think I might have been lost in thought." says Dictum. Almost too quiet to be heard, like a private murmur, they say "That's disappointing." to some piece of what they'd heard, non-specified. Nika, seeing Tamamo and Petra making themselves comfortable, elects to sit cross-legged on the floor just outside, creating a forum-like semicircle; and immediately wiggling to try and make a stone floor feel less uncomfortable under her butt. For some reason, this arrangement prompts Dictum into continuing. "I assume you're asking about the artifacts recovered shortly after the onset of the Pandemic Threat. I must apologize again, preemptively, for my lack of concrete knowledge on them; I rarely spoke to those who were tasked specifically with their study." "What I know to be generally accepted fact is that they arrived at our planet and all three orbiting bodies over a period understood to be no longer than one month; that is, by your measurement; with the appearance of being precisely targeted by an intelligent attacker, since their trajectory placed the vast majority at major-- you call them 'ley lines', correct?" Nika, taking some sort of initiative, exaggeratedly nods, keeping her mouth shut for the time being and trying to hurry Dictum along. "By some definitions, they could be considered organic, similar to a colony of differentiated organisms similar to observed, albeit poorly-understood, examples present within the Pandemic Threat period. It was known that they possess the attribute of absorbing all recondite resources, including with directed applications, that they come into contact with, and resultingly aggravate the Pandemic Threat. As their interior geometries have no relevance to any systematic application of those resources we were aware of, it was theorized that the accumulated resources were instead translated into 'mass' on a higher dimensional order that permitted travel or navigation from a hypothetical space as we utilize distortions caused by gravity in our universe."
Lilian Rook	Nika's response is "Wow." followed by "That's ¶super interesting/totally useless/cool story bro¶. There's like a zillion of them here still." Dictum, as a result, pauses for several seconds, the tone of which is utterly inscrutable without clear and unntentional body language. "I suppose you would, yes." they say. Then, clearly looking to Tamamo next, they ask "Is this the 'communicative ability' you mentioned? I'm struggling to classify exactly what method you're using. Is Miss Nika another outside consultant? From another planet?" Like a student interrupted in the middle of the college presentation they overprepared for, blinking dumbly at the front of the classroom, Dictum says "So . . . If you have seen it for yourself, you must be satisfied that my caution is not unwarranted? Perhaps even that my position is not in error." It still feels like avoiding asking. Avoiding knowing. As wheedling-prompting verging annoyingly argumentative as it is, they haven't even mentioned Lilian again. "All of my memory data pertaining to the study, containment, and combating of the Existential Threat, is high-priority information. I made especially sure that it was safeguarded against potential data loss. As I was involved in the Program for a number of years, 'everything I know' would take us multiple consecutive days to run through once. Would it be presumptuous to assume that you would like to know more about our countermeasures? Or to how to continue our research?"
Tamamo	'Is it? I had observed that your culture views vehicular maintenance as a particularly serious endeavour...' "Ms. Soroka has personal feelings regarding this particular hobby, I think." She's thinking about ratbots. 'Well, I assure you that I've become very adept at jumping.' Murmured, "Impressive." With those trundle-feet? 'If I recall correctly, you are the current mate of the Existential Threat Vector--' "The correct term," Tamamo raises a finger, "is 'spouse.' This is appropriate following formal ceremony." She refrains from getting into gendered terminology, for now. 'Do you maintain--' There's an obvious, suspicious pause. '--treatment, of any other subjects? Are there others performing a similar role as you?' Patiently, "Not quite so, no. However, my ministrations do have some effect on others, as these subjects are linked. I suspect that the same was true in... other worlds." Deciding to maintain a positive demeanor as she settles down, Tamamo continues, "As you have asked after my techniques, it may be useful to you to understand a bit about what I am, and for that, it is first necessary to understand two things that are broadly true, yet difficult to discern. The first is this, 'when the universe began, all things were possible; as it aged, possibilities are pruned into certainties and impossibilities; this process is the same as that in which mystery transforms into knowledge.' All mages of my world were familiar with this truth in its final form, especially. The second revelation is this, 'to live is to possess spirit.' In an age long ago, before so much that lived retreated from 'this side of the world' to its reverse, it was known that every star was alive." She's not actually looking at anyone but Dictum as she speaks, but this is surely for the whole of the audience, to be so into her storytelling posture, sitting seiza on the cushion. "I am that portion of spirit of the star that gave life to Earth that took on a form of flesh, so as to live among humanity. This was done out of curiosity, which distills to fascination and attachment. Through a certain ritual, the circumstances of 'an age long ago' could be applied 'now,' preserving a possibility that seemed lost. This provides the reason that I can care for 'humanity' as such, without 'being human,' as well as how I might gather techniques and resources outside of the expected. Among these, I am well-versed in bindings and in the enforcement of patterns." She actually could go on, but decides to leave the matter of her powers there for the moment. "As to Augers, I use the term your 'interaction ritual' used. I am not as familiar with these as some, but both 'siphoning resources' and allowing the arrival of more Antegent -- the Pandemic Threat -- are dangers I would see decisively and safely handled." At the question, she half-turns toward Nika with a slight smile, "Would you say you are 'from another world,' Nika? Ah, but they did say 'planet.'" That restricts the question considerably. Still, she leaves it to Nika to answer for herself. "Mm, 'unwarranted'... no, your concerns, and your fears are not irrational. This does not, unfortunately, make your 'position' one that need be correct, even from the limited perspective of 'survival.' It is entirely possible that there was no path of early quarantine and elimination that would have been sufficient to emerge perpetually victorious. Did you know..."
Tamamo	Sliding right back into a storytelling mood, "I once came across a city of people who felt no unhappiness? There was no fear, and no sadness. They wanted for nothing. They would never, I am sure, have suffered the Existential Threat, no matter how many eons passed." She shakes her head in pity, "Neither did they understand fear of death, nor sadness for another's passing. Love and compassion were as foreign as hatred, for they understood only the most relaxed form of what passes for friendship, and had no need to feel strongly for any other, when all losses could be borne without pain, and no mistake would ever bring tears. There is much they sacrificed for their contentment and safety, though they knew not of any cause for complaint." She continues, after a bit, "I should like to hear more of your Program, still." Even if it seems it won't have the specific details she wants on the Three Moons.
Petra Soroka	"You are dungeon-building? Is this also a game thing?" "The dungeons of the castle!" Petra protests to both Dictum and Tamamo, swinging her feet petulantly. "I don't have any prisoners, so it's really only me who ever goes down there. And the weapons aren't just lying around in piles of junk-- er, I think-- they're all on the counters or whatever." "I had observed that your culture views vehicular maintenance as a particularly serious endeavour, and that taking it up as a voluntary pastime evinces reliability and maturity. . . . Well, 'cute' is fine too." "Woah. That genuinely answers a question I had about Kepler for the longest time. You really don't do gender like Earth does." "Is that correct?" Petra tries to shoot Dictum a low-key thumbs-up of approval for their tonal shift, like they're allies on the same side in certain ways. There's really only a fifty percent chance that Dictum has divined the meaning of a thumbs-up from context, though. "The term for women is 'wife', by the way. For men it's 'husband'. Just, like-- I mean, over time, you'll culturally adjust to everything, inevitably." After Tamamo's addition, Petra makes a tiny bit of a face. "Or spouse, yeah." "That's me. I helped. Hi." Oh wow. It is so sudden to try and introduce Nika for real right now, with no wind up. Petra's face scrunches up a bit, and she makes silent eye contact with Nika past the hallway door. A droplet of Silver rolls up from Nika's wrist to the back of her hand, squiggling into the shape of the word 'Difficult?'. "It's been difficult to learn much of your planet's efforts to combat the Existential Threat." Now it's time to lock in, on a more difficult topic than Petra enjoys when talking with Dictum. She sighs, folds her legs over each other, and glances over to Nika again. "There haven't been any efforts from 'the planet', as you know. Until only recently, all of the Vectors were separated from each other in isolated communities that didn't know about the nature of the Existential Threat at all, besides one who was captured by... a group of extremists who planned to control the world after it ended, rather than prevent the end in the first place." Is that a fair way to describe what's effectively a branch of the American government? Absolutely. "So you've gotta understand that, compared to Kepler, Earth is super individualistic both culturally and because of the Onslaught. And this is pretty much, bad. But that's the place we're starting from, with pretty much only 'individual'-level care as an option. So Tamamo's methods are both the best Earth has available, and also, really pretty effective." "That's disappointing." "Yeah..." This is a part that really only Petra could feel burdened to explain in sympathy. As the last messenger of Kepler, Petra's pressed Dictum for social details of their world before for the sake of recording, but in return, Dictum's obligated to hear about Kepler's fate too. "Sorry. It's gone. It's probably not surprising to hear, but there's no doubt about it anymore. The world itself is physically in pieces. But it's not lifeless, per se. Which is what I want to talk to you about."
Petra Soroka	Petra's only qualifications as a scientist are her time at Lobotomy Corporation, rather than anything to do with recondite or cosmic phenomenae. She can only speak to the part of Dictum that wants to study people-- just, hopefully in a more ethical way. "The people that ended it were still there. With Nika's help, we were able to talk to them, and they talked back, and, like-- we went there, investigated around, had a conversation, and left, pretty much unscathed." Petra raises up a finger, trying to be emphatically certain, but ending up a little bit too anxious instead. "And I really really wanna make that clear. Whatever you might think of them, we've demonstrated that they're rational, predictable, and conversation...able, within reasonable expectations. The worst end-result you know of for the Existential Threat still isn't a mindless killing machine, or inherently incompatible with currently existing humans. And I'd really like to believe that you agree with me that that means something when it comes to the treatment of the Blooms on Earth, who aren't even that far progressed." "Is this the 'communicative ability' you mentioned?" Wow Petra would really really like to make sure Dictum agrees with that previous point before saying anything about Nika! "Yeah! That's the one. Um," Petra's eyes flicker over again, "Nika's locally involved, and a friend of mine. But she's one of the biggest reasons why we're able to learn as much as we have. We've got a bunch of samples we took from the new Kepler, and she made sure a lot of them were safe to have on Earth." "So . . . If you have seen it for yourself, you must be satisfied that my caution is not unwarranted?" Petra puts her palms to either side of her on Dictum's bed, springs creaking as she leans back. "The caution's super warranted. I don't want Earth to turn out like Kepler, and I don't really want the Blooms to turn out like yours did, either." "And to that end... do you know anything about where the Existential Threat comes from? Do you know what someone could possibly mean by 'The Infinite Devil Machine'? After visiting Kepler, we've actually got reason to believe that none of the Blooms on Earth are an immediate terminal threat-- or, uh, that we're not helping reduce that threat already with our methods-- but that something else related might be."
Lilian Rook	'Ms. Soroka has personal feelings regarding this particular hobby, I think.' 'Woah. That genuinely answers a question I had about Kepler for the longest time. You really don't do gender like Earth does.' Dictum makes a curious motor-whirring noise for a second, dwelling on the answer only shortly. "I'm not unfamiliar with the concept of gender, if that's what you've come to assume. We aren't clones or robots; my current condition notwithstanding." Ha. Ha. "I have tentatively concluded that your planet's comparative scarcity of recondite resources, technology, and practical applications, have exacerbated differences in physical ability, but little else. Ownership and maintenance of tools isn't a particularly gendered construct in my understanding; or at least no more than owning and using a toothbrush." Nobody tell them about the pink tax. 'The correct term, is 'spouse.' This is appropriate following formal ceremony.' 'The term for women is 'wife', by the way. For men it's 'husband'.' Dictum has the uncanny ability to use blank and uninflected tone to say "I understand." like a surpassingly bland 'okay.' "You have my condolences for the unfortunate complications of your bonding." For once, from someone else, it sounds like 'on account of her being terminally ill with apocalypse disease and all' and not 'on account of the homosexuality'. 'Not quite so, no. However, my ministrations do have some effect on others, as these subjects are linked. I suspect that the same was true in... other worlds.' "Other than the ability to recognize each other on contact, we never found any useful data that linked any studied subjects in a tangible way." Dictum says, finally with nonzero interest. As they go on, it even turns into a tiny ember of machine-purring enthusiasm. "It was considered a top priority that stage IV subjects not be introduced to one another for risk of unforeseen complications, however. If your innovation is capable of subduing a stage IV Vector's deterioration process, I would politely yet firmly urge you to proceed with application to all known examples." 'Politely yet firmly' oh my god who do they think they are. Nika, between all the conversation that doesn't have that much to do with her, being Elite business that happened long before she ever met anyone from outside her mountain, nods in Petra's direction, but makes sure to awkwardly flash a little smile. 'As you have asked after my techniques, it may be useful to you to understand a bit about what I am, and for that, it is first necessary to understand two things that are broadly true, yet difficult to discern...' It's a lot of information to take it, but not something Dictum is strictly unready for, nor incapable of processing helpfully. By their own account, Kepler was a much more magically developed planet than Earth, without a period of hiding and diminishment. Still without any particular notion for telling 'that' Earth apart from any other, at least in any sense but shallow trivia, they're perfectly capable of accepting weird Multiversal differences from what may or may not be technically possible or true in their native universe. "I gather that you are an unusually powerful form of elemental being, posessed of high intelligence. We had no record of any emerging from a star, rather than a planet, bit I suppose anything is possible. It wouldn't be feasible to confirm nor entirely rule out the presence of leylines within a star." That's kind of it, though. Going by the slightly overheating whine to the backtrack of their voice, all that about 'possibilities and impossibilities' flew over their head. To be fair, it's rather low to the ground right now. They have to tilt back on their little axels to look at Tamamo properly when standing up.
Lilian Rook	'I am not as familiar with these as some, but both 'siphoning resources' and allowing the arrival of more Antegent -- the Pandemic Threat -- are dangers I should look decisively and safely handled.' "From what I have been told, the Pandemic Threat was already handled a short time ago by your planet; not without great and tragic cost, I'm aware. The subsequent emergence of the Existential Threat is still poorly understood, but there is undoutedly a causal relationship. When charted to a heat map, the projected rate of Vector events increases quadratically as proximity to dense impact sights, or particularly large 'Superaugurs', increases." Reminded of something that was passingly mentioned not very long ago, Nika impulsively murmurs "I want to hear Lilian's ¶theory/intuition/probable cause¶ . . .", which immediately seizes Dictum's attention with a full track rotation clickset. "The Existential Threat Vector it-- herself has studied the nature of the phenomenon?" comes out in a hiss-grained rush, followed by a slowdown to soft rumbling following Nika's sudden jump up to a stiff-spine posture in awkward surprise. "No, I apologize; that's only hasty speculation. It's surprising to hear that a Stage IV infected subject would approach the matter in a scientifically-minded, or even curious way, much less volunteer information." "Umm. Sorry the people you know were mean?" she says, briefly forgetting that she's already spoken to them. "I think ¶we're all¶ kind of interested in--" The meaning of her sudden, eyes-wide freeze-up is lost on Dictum. Of course, naturally, 'we all', meaning everyone, would want to know. "Though I hold my doubts as to the odds of usable data, I encourage you to gather information whenever possible." Dictum says. 'Yeah! That's the one. Um, Nika's locally involved, and a friend of mine. But she's one of the biggest reasons why we're able to learn as much as we have.' "I understand." says Dictum, not understanding. "Thank you for your valuable contribution to the Project." They wiggle their manipulator up and down in place of a nod. Nika nods back in mirror. 'Mm, 'unwarranted'... no, your concerns, and your fears are not irrational.' 'The caution's super warranted. I don't want Earth to turn out like Kepler, and I don't really want the Blooms to turn out like yours did, either.' That's obviously relieving for Dictum to hear. It couldn't be clearer through the emotive smooth hum of the tape track. "Why is 'Blooms' your preferred nomenclature, exactly? I've been meaning to ask. It ostensibly supplies a natural, even productive connotation." Which just leaves the deeply, personally unpleasant part that they've been able to put off and not think about for months.
Lilian Rook	'Sorry. It's gone. It's probably not surprising to hear, but there's no doubt about it anymore. The world itself is physically in pieces.' 'The people that ended it were still there.' 'It is entirely possible that there was no path of early quarantine and elimination that would have been sufficient to emerge perpetually victorious. Did you know...' "I expected as much, but it still isn't easy to hear. Or pleasant to consider." Dictum says. "When I last saw it, the planet had already experienced complete collapse of its biosphere, leading to a total depletion of breathable atmosphere and thermoregulation. Unknown electromagnetic disturbances had rendered communications completely unusable, and any remaining survivors would have been experiencing advanced psychological contamination. Numerous splinter-entities of Vector 1 had infested all previous areas of civilization. One eighth of the planet had been wholly subsumed by Vector 2, and Vector 3 had rendered meaningful travel essentially impossible. I was fortunate, and was the beneficiary of many of my colleage's sacrifices." "That post-metamorphic coherency as an entity is possible is news to me, but dispiriting at best. It means that they may remain a clear and present threat to even planets that have yet to experience their own Existential Threat event, if any remain. Continuing on to infect other individuals and spread the Incursion Syndrome is the one thing we had the benefit of seeing none of." 'Whatever you might think of them, we've demonstrated that they're rational, predictable, and conversation...able, within reasonable expectations.' "I disagree." It seems, for an instant, that there will be more, but for once, Dictum is uncharacteristically un-wordy. "Even Stage III cases rapidly declined by all of those metrics. You're mistaken." 'And to that end... do you know anything about where the Existential Threat comes from?' Being contradicted on 'Vectors' being inherently unreasonable, unstable, untrustworthy, and incomprehensible disaster-beings obviously dampens Dictum's mood, even when the subject turns to the thing they have the most experience in, and were once the most invested in; and even the part they were once a proud part of. "We have only theories." they say, not venturing to describe them. "All Vector cases displayed a conceptualization of 'contact', even to the point of parasociality, with an inconsistent quasibeing external to themselves." 'After visiting Kepler, we've actually got reason to believe that none of the Blooms on Earth are an immediate terminal threat--' 'Until only recently, all of the Vectors were separated from each other in isolated communities that didn't know about the nature of the Existential Threat at all' "I do confess to wondering why it is that your planet has experienced so few obvious cases, all of which have been allegedly able to progress considerably without deleterious deviations." Hey. Petra never said that. Did Mesmer say that? "Four straightforward cases with unusual but unbroken symptomatic trajectories is very different than our data . . ."
Lilian Rook	'Do you know what someone could possibly mean by 'The Infinite Devil Machine'?' That's what finally makes Dictum lock up. Without physical habits, they have to say out loud, dry and a little stupid, "That name gives me chills." first. "Existential Threat Vectors have well-known behaviours of expressing nonsensical assertions and sentiments, frequently expressing incoherent grievances with real or imagined facts, and naming things in strange and inappropriate ways. I wouldn't overly fixate on that kind of language." And yet, they just admitted to it bothering them. 'And I'd really like to believe that you agree with me that that means something when it comes to the treatment of the Blooms on Earth, who aren't even that far progressed.' "Though the course of their Incursion Syndrome has progressed unusually, I think you will find that assessment is incorrect." Dictum says, uptight on lightly stressed servos. "I will gladly teach you the publicly available emergency methods for diagnosing infection in sophont individuals. Many are appropriate to even layman experience." This is a bit bullshit to say after only really meeting one of the four (that they know of) though. 'I should like to hear more of your Program, still.' "That is a lengthy and complicated subject." Dictum says. With the slowing of the tape noise down to a melancholy rustle, it seems as if they may ask to leave it alone, or fall into wallowing contemplation; and yet the unlikely inverse happens. They turn around with a "Pardon me a moment.", trundle over to their desk, double jump to the surface with their airjets to reach the top cabinet with their manipulator arm, and remove a paper journal, which they bring back down and offer to Tamamo while she's seated. "My work with the College of Existential Defense, though ultimately barely meaningful, is a period of time that I feel a certain sense of attachment to; perhaps even pride. I met the closest colleages and comrades of my entire life there. Even though it was never my intended role in society, it became a dear and important place to me." "So I've elected to write down everything I remember of it in my spare time. To call it a 'memoir' would be too strong a term, but even if it serves no purpose but to leave some permanent record that it happened, the exercise of ordering my thoughts and reexaminating details with the benefit of time and clarity has been a useful one. While it isn't fully complete just yet, I expect it will be more useful to you than my explaining in a stream of consciousness." Dictum says. "Please take good care of it. I would dislike writing it all out with charcoal again."