From 0856ec4e7c1ed3893dda86c9c4b3e62dd2238acc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Madison Scott-Clary Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 19:30:12 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] update from sparkleup --- writing/post-self/marsh/007.html | 12 +++++++++--- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/writing/post-self/marsh/007.html b/writing/post-self/marsh/007.html index 332b055e1..686157821 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/marsh/007.html +++ b/writing/post-self/marsh/007.html @@ -86,7 +86,7 @@

“Günay,” Need An Answer said. “I will remind you that we are asking you, not your superiors. You may answer honestly without fear of reprisal. We are running this show, now.”

There was a rustle of noise from the AVEC stage. Low murmurs and shuffling in seats, quickly quelled.

“This is intended to be a collaborative effort, Need–” Jakub began.

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“Have you lost 23 billion souls, my dear?”

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Need An Answer interrupted, and there was danger beneath the calm in her voice. “Have you lost 23 billion souls, my dear?”

There was no response for several seconds. The tension, even across the AVEC feed, was palpable. Eventually, he bowed. “Günay, you may carry on.”

The systech nodded slowly, looked off into space for a moment — consulting something on her HUD, I imagined — before nodding. “We only have an estimate, but yes, our estimate is 0.977% of the total instances on Lagrange were lost or corrupted.”

A low mutter filled the room, this time from those sys-side.

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“And?”

“There was some experimenting on that front from a therapeutic standpoint, but they were never able to remove a singular memory, only to wipe back from the present moment to a certain point in the past.”

I prodded at the slab of table, unmoored from the floor as it was. It was immobile. “Are you thinking they did that for everyone?”

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“Everyone who survived, perhaps,” Dry Grass said, shrugging. She looked tired, as though the exhaustion were catching up with her. “But come, they are unmuting. We should be quiet. We should listen.”

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“Everyone who survived, perhaps,” Dry Grass said, shrugging. She looked tired, as though the exhaustion were catching up with her. “Did you notice anything leading up to midnight?”

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I thought for a moment, just pressing gently against the table. I just wish it had some give, I thought. If it’s going to be floating in air, it should have some give.

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Aloud, I said, “I remember mentioning some déjà vu, and then Hanne mentioned similar.”

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“Come to think of it, I remember getting almost punched in the face with that, too,” Sedge said, frowning.

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Dry Grass sat still, looking down at the table as though tallying up these experiences. “We did notice some of that in our experiments, yes; memories whose tails were left dangling trying their best to dovetail into the new ones being formed,” she said slowly. “But come, they are unmuting. We should be quiet. We should listen.”

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Sure enough, the mute symbol had begun to pulse, and a few seconds later, it disappeared and the small noises of rustling began to come through from phys-side once more.

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“Thank you for clarifying,” Dry Grass said, offering a hint of a bow to the gathered System techs and administrators. “We would like to ask if there has been a general memory modification that would have removed time leading up to