“Why do you even work with the System if you hate us so much?”
“Because 2.3 trillion people live on the System,” they said. “That is 2.3 trillion lives. We agree on that, yes?”
Nods around the table.
-“2.3 trillion lives, then. 2.3 trillion lives that were taken from us here on Earth. 2.3 trillion minds in almost twenty billion uploads that might have lived full lives here among us phys-side. We resent that they were, and yet our only recourse is — must be — to keep them alive, to ensure that they at least remain among the living in some form or another.” Their gaze drifted to the three present Odists. “We, too, desire nothing but the stability and continuity of the System, just for different reasons. This instance of us is an ISO specifically to live up to our own principles.”
+“2.3 trillion lives, then. 2.3 trillion lives that were taken from us here on Earth. 2.3 trillion minds in almost 25 billion uploads that might have lived full lives here among us phys-side. We resent that they were, and yet our only recourse is — must be — to keep them alive, to ensure that they at least remain among the living in some form or another.” Their gaze drifted to the three present Odists. “We, too, desire nothing but the stability and continuity of the System, just for different reasons. This instance of us is an ISO specifically to live up to our own principles.”
All three of the Odists nodded, expressions varying from serious to vaguely disgusted.
“Regardless of our opinions of each other,” Speaking said, picking up the prior thread. “Speaking with 8-stanza-1 was a frustrating experience. I am told that I was the instance sent to discover their presence, relying on tools developed by my down-tree instance, I Have Sight But Cannot See. I have no memory of this, but it does sound like something that I would do.”
“What about it was frustrating?” Selena asked.
-“They are…emotional. Very emotional. Understanding their voice through their sobs or wild laughter was difficult. All the same, they are a very grounded individual. They speak concisely and with no misdirection in their words.” She shrugged. “They just speak in coherent, well-formed sentences and paragraphs about untrue things. Their every word is part of a lie. Their very existence is built up around lies. They breathe lies out on every breath.”
-“They are very tightly integrated,” en4 said. “They all speak thus. This is why they split away from us. It was a mutual decision.”
+“They are…emotional. Very emotional. Understanding their voice through their sobs or wild laughter was difficult. All the same, they are a very grounded individual. They speak concisely and with no disregulation in their speech.” She shrugged. “They just speak in coherent, well-formed sentences and paragraphs about untrue things. Their every word is part of a lie. Their very existence is built up around lies. They breathe lies out on every breath.”
+“They are very tightly integrated,” en4 said. “They all speak thus. This is why they split away from us some decades ago. It was a mutual decision.”
“You kicked them out?” Jonas Ko asked.
They shrugged eloquently.
-“Despite these lies,” Speaking continued, “I was able to glean plenty. All I needed to do was assume that every statement was false. en4 confirmed much of this from the LCNZ’s view. They — the OBLC — differ from the LCNZ in the sense that they believe each of those lives is a life lost, rather than a life preserved. They belief that the lives here on the System are, and I quote, “shadows and negations of souls”. They believe that clades are negations and that up-tree instances are shadows.”
+“Despite these lies,” Speaking continued, “I was able to glean plenty. All I needed to do was assume that every statement was false. en4 confirmed much of this from the LCNZ’s view. They — the OBLC — differ from the LCNZ in the sense that they believe each of those lives is a life lost, rather than a life preserved. They believe that the lives here on the System are, and I quote, “shadows and negations of souls”. They believe that clades are negations and that up-tree instances are shadows.”
“Yes,” en4 said. “They believe that each of these negations negates a life phys-side, and thus the only way they could even bring into balance, much less overcome, the negation offered by the System is to destroy it. They hoped that by destroying you, they would give those who remained phys-side a chance at heaven.”
“You said there were a group of collectives that worked together on this, though, right?” Selena asked.
“Collectives and individuals, yes.”
@@ -85,15 +85,15 @@ The three of us agreed that we'd hold off until we knew more, both about the sit“That’s not on us, though.”
“Is it not?” they asked mildly. “For a while, it was quite popular for individuals to upload in order to work on the climate catastrophe, and yet many of them would disappear shortly after doing so, falling into new habits, new friend groups. It is only in past few decades that the pace of climate change was reversed.”
“Yes, but hasn’t much of that changed thanks to the Artemis data dump?” Boiling Maw dos Riãos, another of the furries sitting at the table asked. She was some sort of mustelid, though larger and far more thickly-furred than Debarre. “Most of that effort took place sys-side as well.”
-“I will answer, but after this, we should return to the topic of the Century Attack,” en4 replied. “Many of these collectives — of which the LCNZ is one — believe that this is a side effect of the Artemisians’ convergence, rather than any effort from those who uploaded in order to help.”
+“I will answer, but after this, we should return to the topic of the Century Attack,” en4 replied. “Many of these collectives — of which the LCNZ is one — believe that this is a side effect of the Artemisians’ convergence, rather than any effort from those who uploaded in order to help. We would say, “Are we to rely on aliens to solve every problem? Ought we not also work ourselves?”“
“That’s not–” Boiling Maw started, anger painting her face. She paused, took a deep breath, and settled back into her seat, sulking. “Right. Moving on.”
-Speaking bowed respectfully to the Riã. “Yes, though perhaps there will be time for a separate conversation on this matter at another time. For now, 8-stanza-1 spoke of these negations and shadows and of their reasoning, and while I am left to guess at the negations of their own statements, I am reasonably confident of at least their reasoning for attacking Lagrange, thanks to en4’s confirmations. They wished to reopen the gates of heaven to humanity. I also believe that those other collectives and individuals who worked behind the scenes on this attack had their own reasons, and as the investigation continues, both with me working sys-side and Answers Will Not Help coordinating with phys-side, we will learn more and publish the results to the feeds.”
+Speaking bowed respectfully to the Riã. “Yes, though perhaps there will be time for a separate conversation on this matter at another time. For now, 8-stanza-1 spoke of these negations and shadows and of their reasoning, and while I am left to guess at the negations of their own statements, I am confident of at least their reasoning for attacking Lagrange, thanks to en4’s confirmations. They wished to reopen the gates of heaven to humanity. I also believe that those other collectives and individuals who worked behind the scenes on this attack had their own reasons, and as the investigation continues, both with me working sys-side and Answers Will Not Help coordinating with phys-side, we will learn more and publish the results to the feeds.”
Dry Grass frowned. “Are you sure that that is wise? Does the entirety of Lagrange need to know these reasons?”
“The eighth stanza and Jonas clade have made their decision. I do not care.”
“Why not?”
-“Because it is out of my hands. It is outside my bailiwick. That is their role. It is their responsibility to manage spin.”
-“We’re working on it,” Jonas Ko said. “The goal is to spin it so as to discourage anything like this going forward, not give anyone ideas.”
-“That was going to be my next question,” Dry Grass said. “If there are other sympathetic uploads or anyone else phys-side, would it not be dangerous to publish that information.”
+“Because it is out of my hands. It is outside my bailiwick. That is their role. It is their responsibility to manage spin.” She sat down once more, movements speaking of a barely contained energy. “I am the tool and have served my purpose. It is my job now to mourn my own losses.”
+“We’re working on it,” Jonas Ko said soothingly after a moment’s silent acknowledgement. “The goal is to spin it so as to discourage anything like this going forward, not give anyone ideas.”
+“That was going to be my next question,” Dry Grass said. “If there are other sympathetic uploads or anyone else phys-side, would it not be dangerous to publish that information?”
“We are on it, my dear,” Answers Will Not Help said, laughing.
“So,” I said after the conversation drifted into silence. “What do we do now?”
“Mourn,” Dry Grass said. “Work and mourn.”
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