%title Ioan Bălan --- 2305
:writing:novel:chapter:fiction:scifi:post-self:qoheleth:

The first message was not long in coming, arriving about an hour after Ioan\#c1494bf arrived home. At least it wasn't high priority; ey had the choice to accept then or experience later. Half duplex, though. Would be an actual conversation.

Ey sighed, closed eir eyes, accepted. The things ey did for work.

*"Hi Ioan,"* came Dear's voice. It was still seated on the couch. *"Long time no see, hmm?"*

Ioan nodded, subvocalized, "Yeah, took you ages. Have something for me?"

*"Maybe. We've got a file from someone down-tree. Or, well, hmm."* It appeared to think for a moment before continuing, *"Someone down-tree from me found a file, and she thinks it might be a file from the clade, maybe one of the original ten."*

Ioan waited until the fox was done before responding, "Alright, send it over."

The file arrived promptly. Eir shoulders sagged. It began with `-----BEGIN AES BLOCK-----` followed by thousands of apparently random letters, numbers, and punctuation.

"What's an AES block?"

*"An old encryption algorithm. And I mean **old**."* Dear looked a little embarrassed. *"We like old things. That's why she figured it's probably from one of us."*

"You don't sound convinced, yourself."

*"I'm not. You must understand that this isn't something any of the clade wants known. It's just a name, yes, but it is important to us in a way that is hard to overstate."* Dear sighed. *"Much of the clade is of the opinion that, if we could simply wipe the Name from our minds, we would."*

"You're right in that I probably can't understand the importance here." Ioan frowned. "I'm trying to square your use of the poet's work in your very names with your desire to forget the Name itself."

*"Names bear power."*

"A memorial, then?" Ey hastened to add, "Sorry. It's probably not my place to understand. We can drop it for now."

*"Yes. A memorial."* The fox's shoulders slumped. *"Let's come back to it later. I don't want to get too distracted now. Still, we will have to speak more on this soon. It would be good for you to have a more complete picture."*

Ioan nodded. "So do you want me--"

*"You don't need to worry about the file itself. That's why I didn't just forward it to you automatically."* Dear paused, then added, *"Though I probably should have. Amanuenses form an* Umwelt, *so this is part of yours, now. We'll talk about it at the end. Something to keep in mind, I guess. When we find the key, we'll let you know and send over the contents."*

"Good. I gave AES a check, and you're right, that's ridiculously old. Can't you just crack it?"

*"We could. Some of us probably already have. I want the key, though. It's probably a word or something, and may prove interesting in its own right."*

"Interesting?" Ioan asked.

*"Interesting in that the act of finding the key may turn up further clues."*

"Ah. Good point. I'll do some digging on old cryptography, too, and see what all's out there. Keep in touch, yeah?"

*"Good fucking luck. Cryptonerds were --- are --- very wordy. There's going to be a boatload to sort through."*

Ey grinned, "I'll fork and research, then."

*"Good plan. Gonna get back to the hunt, and hey, Ioan?"* The fox gave an earnest smile. *"Thanks. Even if I'm just running ideas past you, it's good to put in words."*

"Of course, Dear." Ioan waved. Ey always felt silly interacting with sensorium messages. Would \#tracker think em crazy? "Thanks for the project."

Dear bowed, signed off.

\#tracker was, indeed, giving \#c1494bf a bemused grin.