update from sparkleup
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<p>She poked him in the side, grinning. “You must be drunk if you’re using words like ‘mawkish’ and ‘beholden’. Let’s see. You could introduce me to Marsh, maybe.”</p>
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<p>Reed shook his head. “That’s not on me, you know that. We have a one-way relationship.”</p>
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<p>“But they’re your down-tree instance! You’re patterned after them. You talk every year <em>at least</em> once, right? You’ll talk to them later tonight, right? You have for the last hundred.”</p>
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<p>“No, probably not. If I hear from them directly, anything more than just a ping, I’ll know something’s gone horribly wrong.” He shrugged — carefully, what with her head resting on his shoulder. “Like I say, it’s a one-way relationship. All I do is live my own life, right? I stay in touch with the rest of the clade to greater or lesser extent, but Marsh has their own life.”</p>
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<p>“No, probably not. If I hear from them directly, anything more than just a ping, I’ll know something’s gone horribly wrong.” He shrugged — carefully, what with her head resting on his shoulder. “Like I say, it’s a one-way relationship. All I do is live my own life, right? I stay in touch with the rest of the clade to greater or lesser extent, but Marsh has their own life.”</p>
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<p>“They have several.”</p>
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<p>“Right. We all fork, we all merge back down to whoever our down-tree instance is, and since I was forked from them, I merge down directly. They get all our lives, one year at a time, but we don’t really get anything in return.”</p>
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<p>He could hear the frown in her voice. “How miserable.”</p>
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@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
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<p>“That’s another thing you could do: be a little less weird.”</p>
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<p>He laughed, kissed atop her head. “Uh huh. Love you too.”</p>
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<p>“But I was saying they have to be miserable. They chill out in their house and spends their days remembering yours, you and your cocladists, and just living vicariously through you all.”</p>
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<p>“That’s not all they do. They sing. They have Vos and Pierre, right? They spend time with their partners. They go to Vos’s plays. They have friends over. They sing a <em>lot</em>. They cook–“</p>
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<p>“That’s not all they do. They sing. They have Vos and Pierre, right? They spend time with their partners. They go to Vos’s plays. They have friends over. They sing a <em>lot</em>. They cook–”</p>
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<p>“Are they as bad a cook as you?”</p>
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<p>“Oh, worse, according to Tule’s girlfriend. Truly terrible.”</p>
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<p>She laughed.</p>
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@ -52,15 +52,15 @@
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<p>“See? You’re so weird.”</p>
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<p>“I guess we are,” he said, smiling and nudging Hanne upright once more. “No dozing off, now.”</p>
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<p>She grumbled and rubbed at her face. “Sorry if that came off as rude. I guess it’s just outside my understanding.”</p>
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<p>He scooted up onto the couch, himself, sitting cross-legged to face her. “It’s okay. It’s not wrong, even, I just don’t think it’s wholly right, either. It’s a matter of intent. Our intent is to live our own lives to the fullest, and it’s their intent to let us do so and yet still be able to experience that at one layer of remove. We’ve been doing it for a century, and it’s worked out well enough since then. If all this–” he waved around the room, feeling the gentle spin of drunkenness follow the movement, “–is just a dream, if we’re all doing our best to dream in unison with each other, then I think intent may be all that we have, right? However may billion or trillion people have uploaded are all trying to dream the same dream together, all mixed up and poured into the same System, we have to form what meanings we may on our own.”</p>
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<p>He scooted up onto the couch, himself, sitting cross-legged to face her. “It’s okay. It’s not wrong, even, I just don’t think it’s wholly right, either. It’s a matter of intent. Our intent is to live our own lives to the fullest, and it’s their intent to let us do so and yet still be able to experience that at one layer of remove. We’ve been doing it for a century, and it’s worked out well enough since then. If all this–” he waved around the room, feeling the gentle spin of drunkenness follow the movement, “–is just a dream, if we’re all doing our best to dream in unison with each other, then I think intent may be all that we have, right? However may billion or trillion people have uploaded are all trying to dream the same dream together, all mixed up and poured into the same System, we have to form what meanings we may on our own.”</p>
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<p>“I think we broke two trillion instances a while back. I don’t know how may uploads, but I don’t think it’s hit a trillion yet.”</p>
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<p>“Right. Sorry, guess I’m kinda rambly when I’m drunk.”</p>
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<p>Leaning forward, she gave him a light kiss. “It’s okay, I like it when you ramble. Just don’t lose track of the time.”</p>
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<p>23:45.</p>
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<p>Reed started to nod, then stiffened as they felt first one, then another set of memories crash down onto him. “<em>Fuck.</em> One of these…days I’ll convince…them to give me some warning…sec…”</p>
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<p>Hanne laughed and shook her head, standing from the couch to go get herself a glass of water.</p>
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<p>He closed his eyes to turn down one of his senses, setting the sweet-smelling glass of brandy aside to rid himself of another as best he could. He sat and spent a moment processing, savoring the memories. Rush had forked and quit first; ve had split off a new copy of verself then the original had quit. On doing so, all the memories ve’d formed over the last year fell down onto Reed, ready to be remembered like some forgotten word on the tip of his tongue: all he needed to do was actually remember. Next had come Sedge. Clearly, Tule had already done so, forking and merging back down into Sedge so that he could fork and merge down into Reed. Three sets of memories — two from his direct up-tree instances and one from a second-degree up-tree instance — rested on his mind, ready for integration.</p>
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<p>There would be time for full perusal and remembering later. It was rapidly approaching midnight, and he needed to get the memories sorted into his own, interleaved and zippered together into as cohesive a whole as he could manage, all conflicts addressed (though with as separate as their lives had been until then, there was thankfully quite little in the way of conflicting memories), so that, shortly before midnight, he could fork and then quit, himself, letting that new copy of himself live out the next year with Hanne, with all their joys and sorrows, while the original instance quit and let all those memories — those of Rush, Sedge, Tule, and himself — fall to Marsh to process, savor, and treasure for themself.</p>
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<p>He closed his eyes to turn down one of his senses, setting the sweet-smelling glass of brandy aside to rid himself of another as best he could. He sat and spent a moment processing, savoring the memories. Rush had forked and quit first; ve had split off a new copy of verself then the original had quit. On doing so, all the memories ve’d formed over the last year fell down onto Reed, ready to be remembered like some forgotten word on the tip of his tongue: all he needed to do was actually remember. Next had come Sedge. Clearly, Tule had already done so, forking and merging back down into Sedge so that he could fork and merge down into Reed. Three sets of memories — two from his direct up-tree instances and one from a second-degree up-tree instance — rested on his mind, ready for integration.</p>
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<p>There would be time for full perusal and remembering later. It was rapidly approaching midnight, and he needed to get the memories sorted into his own, interleaved and zippered together into as cohesive a whole as he could manage, all conflicts addressed (though with as separate as their lives had been until then, there was thankfully quite little in the way of conflicting memories), so that, shortly before midnight, he could fork and then quit, himself, letting that new copy of himself live out the next year with Hanne, with all their joys and sorrows, while the original instance quit and let all those memories — those of Rush, Sedge, Tule, and himself — fall to Marsh to process, savor, and treasure for themself.</p>
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<p>He heard Hanne return, heard her climb back onto the couch before him, felt her press a cold glass of water into his hand.</p>
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<p>Five minutes left.</p>
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<p>Three.</p>
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@ -69,21 +69,21 @@
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<p>He nodded, willed away the drunkenness, took a sip of water, and, with a rush of intent, brought into being beside them a new instance of himself. Exactly the same. <em>Precisely</em>. Had such a thing any meaning to an upload, they would be the same down to the atomic level, to the subatomic. All of the memories, all of the personality, all of the history.</p>
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<p>For a fraction of a second, at least. From there, they began to diverge, each remembering things differently. The Reed that still sat on the couch saw Hanne from <em>this</em> angle, and yet the one that stood beside the couch saw her from that. The one that sat on the couch felt the fire on his cheek, the one standing felt it on his back.</p>
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<p>“Alright. I love you, Hanne Marie. I’ll miss you.”</p>
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<p>She rolled her eyes. “Tell Marsh I said–</p>
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<p>She rolled her eyes. “Tell Marsh I said–</p>
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<div style="height: 100vh"></div>
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<p>“See? You’re so weird.”</p>
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<p>“I guess we are,” he said, smiling and nudging Hanne upright once more. “Hey now, no falling asleep on me.”</p>
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<p>“Right, sorry. Still, uh…still fifteen minutes.” She grumbled and rubbed at her face. “Sorry if that came off as rude. I guess it’s just outside my understanding.”</p>
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<p>He scooted up onto the couch, himself, sitting cross-legged to face her. “It’s okay. It’s not wrong, come to think of it, I just don’t think it’s wholly right, either, you know? It’s more a matter of intent. Our intent is to live our own lives doing as we will rather than as they would, and it’s their intent to let us do so — and by not interfering, even with communication, <em>force</em> us to do so — and yet still be able to experience that almost like a dream. They forked us off a century ago, me, Lily, and Cress, and we’ve been doing it for the last century, and it’s worked out well enough since then. If all this–” he waved around the room, feeling the gentle spin of drunkenness follow the movement, “–is just a dream, if we’re all doing our best to dream in unison with each other, then I think intent may be all that we have, right? However may billion or trillion people have uploaded are all trying to dream the same dream together, all mixed up and poured into the same System, we have to form what meanings we may on our own.”</p>
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<p>He scooted up onto the couch, himself, sitting cross-legged to face her. “It’s okay. It’s not wrong, come to think of it, I just don’t think it’s wholly right, either, you know? It’s more a matter of intent. Our intent is to live our own lives doing as we will rather than as they would, and it’s their intent to let us do so — and by not interfering, even with communication, <em>force</em> us to do so — and yet still be able to experience that almost like a dream. They forked us off a century ago, me, Lily, and Cress, and we’ve been doing it for the last century, and it’s worked out well enough since then. They’re more than just Marsh, now. They’re Marsh and all of us. If all this–” he waved around the room, feeling the gentle spin of drunkenness follow the movement, “–is just a dream, if we’re all doing our best to dream in unison with each other, then I think intent may be all that we have, right? However may billion or trillion people have uploaded are all trying to dream the same dream together, all mixed up and poured into the same System, we have to form what meanings we may on our own.”</p>
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<p>“I think we broke two trillion instances a while back. I don’t know how may uploads, but I don’t think it’s hit a trillion yet.”</p>
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<p>“Right. Sorry, guess I’m kinda rambly when I’m drunk.”</p>
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<p>Leaning forward, she gave him a light kiss. “You know I like it when you ramble. Just don’t lose track of the time.”</p>
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<p>23:45.</p>
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<p>Reed started to nod, willed away the drunkenness, then stiffened as he felt first one, then another set of memories crash down onto him. “<em>Fuck.</em> One of these…days I’ll convince…them to give me some warning…sec…”</p>
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<p>Hanne laughed and shook her head, standing from the couch to go get herself a glass of water.</p>
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<p>He closed his eyes to turn down one of his senses, taking one more sip of the sweet-smelling brandy before setting it aside to rid himself of another two as best he could. He sat and spent a moment processing, savoring the memories. Rush had forked and quit first. Ve had split off a new copy of verself then the original had quit. On doing so, all the memories ve’d formed over the last year fell down onto Reed, ready to be remembered like some forgotten word on the tip of their tongue: all he needed to do was actually remember. Next had come Sedge. Clearly, Tule had already done so, forking and merging back down into Sedge so that he could fork and merge down into Reed. Three sets of memories — two from his direct up-tree instances and one from a second-degree up-tree instance — rested on his mind, ready for integration.</p>
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<p>There would be time for full perusal and remembering later. It was rapidly approaching midnight, and he needed to get the memories sorted into his own, interleaved and zippered together into as cohesive a whole as he could manage, all conflicts addressed (though with as separate as their lives had been until then, there was thankfully quite little in the way of conflicting memories), so that, shortly before midnight, he could fork and then quit, himself, letting that new copy of himself live out the next year with Hanne, with all their joys and sorrows, while the original instance quit and let all those memories — those of Rush, Sedge, Tule, and himself — fall to Marsh to process, savor, and treasure for themself.</p>
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<p>He closed his eyes to turn down one of his senses, taking one more sip of the sweet-smelling brandy before setting it aside to rid himself of another two as best he could. He sat and spent a moment processing, savoring the memories. Rush had forked and quit first. Ve had split off a new copy of verself then the original had quit. On doing so, all the memories ve’d formed over the last year fell down onto Reed, ready to be remembered like some forgotten word on the tip of their tongue: all he needed to do was actually remember. Next had come Sedge. Clearly, Tule had already done so, forking and merging back down into Sedge so that he could fork and merge down into Reed. Three sets of memories — two from his direct up-tree instances and one from a second-degree up-tree instance — rested on his mind, ready for integration.</p>
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<p>There would be time for full perusal and remembering later. It was rapidly approaching midnight, and he needed to get the memories sorted into his own, interleaved and zippered together into as cohesive a whole as he could manage, all conflicts addressed (though with as separate as their lives had been until then, there was thankfully quite little in the way of conflicting memories), so that, shortly before midnight, he could fork and then quit, himself, letting that new copy of himself live out the next year with Hanne, with all their joys and sorrows, while the original instance quit and let all those memories — those of Rush, Sedge, Tule, and himself — fall to Marsh to process, savor, and treasure for themself.</p>
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<p>He heard Hanne return, heard her climb back onto the couch before him, felt her press a cold glass of water into his hand.</p>
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<p>Five minutes left.</p>
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<p>Two.</p>
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<p>“Something wrong?”</p>
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<p>He held up a finger and closed his eyes. Once more, they thought to himself, <em>I’m ready to quit</em>, then then willed that to be reality. Rather than the sudden nothingness that should have followed, he felt the System resist. He felt an elastic sensation that he’d never felt before. There was a barrier between him and the ability to quit. He felt it, tested it, probed and explored. It was undeniably present, and though he sensed that he could probably press through it if he desired, it was as though Lagrange desperately did not want him to quit. It didn’t want the Reed of now to leave the System.</p>
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<p>“I can’t.”</p>
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<p>“You can’t?” Hanne tilted her head, then leaned forward to take one of his hands in her own. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to. I don’t think Marsh will mind if you’re a few minutes late. Hell, you can even send them a message saying you don’t want to this year. I think they’ll–“</p>
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<p>“No, Hanne,” he said, carefully slipping his hand free so that he could stand. “I mean I can’t. I’m not able to. It’s impossible. Or possible, but– wait, hold on.”</p>
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<p>It had been more than a decade since he’d done so, but if ever there was a reason to do so, this was it. There were very few reasons that the System would try to stop an instance for quitting and one of them, well, no– It had been more than a decade since he’d broken the communication embargo, but he sent Marsh a gentle ping.</p>
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<p>“You can’t?” Hanne tilted her head, then leaned forward to take one of his hands in her own. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to. I don’t think Marsh will mind if you’re a few minutes late. Hell, you can even send them a message saying you don’t want to this year. I think they’ll–”</p>
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<p>“No, Hanne,” he said, carefully slipping his hand free so that he could stand. “I mean I can’t. I’m not able to. It’s impossible. Or possible, but– wait, hold on.”</p>
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<p>It had been more than a decade since he’d done so, but if ever there was a reason to do so, this was it. There were very few reasons that the System would try to stop an instance for quitting and one of them, well, no– It had been more than a decade since he’d broken the communication embargo, but he sent Marsh a gentle ping.</p>
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<p>Or <em>tried</em> to, at least.</p>
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<p>All the ping was was a gentle nudge against the recipient’s sensorium, a sense that someone was looking for them, was seeking them out, was just checking if they were free, if they were even there. From the sender’s side, it felt like a gentle touch, a brush of some more metaphorical finger against the symbolic shoulder of the recipient, a reassurance that they were indeed there.</p>
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<p>But there was nothing. Reed felt nothing. No sense of Marsh. Attempting to send a sensorium ping to someone that didn’t exist just felt like daydreaming. It felt like a silly, pointless imagining, as though one was imagining that they could touch God on the shoulder or shake hands with the devil.</p>
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<p>“Hold on, one more sec.”</p>
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<p>00:02.</p>
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<p>He thought across the clade, thought of one of Marsh’s other forks. Pinged Lily.</p>
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<p>The response was immediate, words flowing into his consciousness through some sense that was not quite hearing. <em>“What’s happening? I can’t–“</em></p>
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<p>Pinged Cress, the other fork. Asked, <em>“Cress? Can you–“</em></p>
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<p>The response was immediate, words flowing into his consciousness through some sense that was not quite hearing. <em>“What’s happening? I can’t–”</em></p>
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<p>Pinged Cress, the other fork. Asked, <em>“Cress? Can you–”</em></p>
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<p><em>“What the fuck is happening?”</em> came the panicked response.</p>
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<p><em>“My place,”</em> he sent back, followed by his address. He repeated the message to Lily and, on a whim, his own up-tree instances, Rush, Sedge, and Tule.</p>
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<p>00:04.</p>
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<p>Cress arrived almost immediately along with Tule — they shared a partner, so it made sense they’d be together for the evening — leading Hanne to start back on the couch. “Reed,” she said, voice low. “What is–“</p>
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<p>Cress arrived almost immediately along with Tule — they shared a partner, so it made sense they’d be together for the evening — leading Hanne to start back on the couch. “Reed,” she said, voice low. “What is–”</p>
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<p>Lily arrived next, already rushing forward to grab Reed’s shoulder. “You can’t either?” she said, voice full of panic.</p>
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<p>Before he could answer, Sedge and Rush arrived. The living room had become quite crowded, all instances of the Marsh clade clamoring over each other to talk to Reed, the first long-lived fork from Marsh.</p>
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<p>“Reed!” Hanne shouted, standing and stamping her foot. Quiet fell in the room. She spoke carefully, and he could hear anger just beneath that tone. “What happened?”</p>
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<p>The rest of the clade looked to him as well, and he quailed under so many gazes. “I can’t quit. I can’t merge down. I can’t reach Marsh. He–” his voice gave out and he had to take a sip of water. “He’s not on Lagrange, as far as I can tell.”</p>
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<p>The rest of the clade looked to him as well, and he quailed under so many gazes. “I can’t quit. I can’t merge down. I can’t reach Marsh. He–” his voice gave out and he had to take a sip of water. “He’s not on Lagrange, as far as I can tell.”</p>
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<p>00:07.</p>
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<!----->
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<p>Silence fell thick across the room. The clade — Marsh’s clade — stared, wide-eyed. Their expressions ranged for unsure to terrified. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what expression showed on his face.</p>
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<p>Silence fell thick across the room. The clade — Marsh’s clade — stared, wide-eyed. Their expressions ranged for unsure to terrified. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what expression showed on his face.</p>
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<p>“Okay, no, hold on,” Hanne said, shaking her head and waving her hand. She appeared to have willed drunkenness away much as he had, as her voice was clear, holding more frustration than the panic he felt. “Did they quit? They couldn’t have, right? You just pinged them earlier today.”</p>
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<p>He nodded.</p>
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<p>“And they said nothing about quitting?”</p>
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<p>“Nothing.”</p>
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<p>Hanne glanced around the room, singling out Marsh’s other two immediate up-tree instances, Cress and Lily. Both shook their heads.</p>
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<p>“I was just talking to them about an hour ago, actually. They and Vos were wrapping up the first part of the night’s celebration and they were going to–“</p>
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<p>“I was just talking to them about an hour ago, actually. They and Vos were wrapping up the first part of the night’s celebration and they were going to–”</p>
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<p>“Vos!” Reed shouted. “Shit, sorry Lily.”</p>
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<p>It took a minute for Vos to respond to Reed’s ping. <em>“Reed? It’s been a bit. What’s up?”</em></p>
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<p><em>“Is Marsh there?”</em> he sent back.</p>
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<p>At this, both Vos and Pierre took a half-step back, looking startled.</p>
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<p>00:11</p>
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<p>Reed spent a moment composing himself. He stood up straighter, brushed his hands down over his shirt, and nodded. “Right. I’m sorry, love. When midnight hit, I forked and tried to quit as usual. I couldn’t, though. The System wouldn’t let me.”</p>
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<p>Cress and Tule’s partner, I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass of the Ode clade, stood up stock straight, all grogginess — or perhaps drunkenness — from the party fleeing her features.</p>
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<p>“That’s only supposed to happen when quitting would mean the loss of too much memory, though. The root instance can barely quit at all in the older clades–” Dry Grass winced. Reed did his best to ignore it. “–because the System really doesn’t like losing a life if it won’t be merged down into a down-tree instance.”</p>
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<p>Cress and Tule’s partner, I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass of the Ode clade, stood up stock straight, all grogginess — or perhaps drunkenness — from the party fleeing her features.</p>
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<p>“That’s only supposed to happen when quitting would mean the loss of too much memory, though. The root instance can barely quit at all in the older clades–” Dry Grass winced. Reed did his best to ignore it. “–because the System really doesn’t like losing a life if it won’t be merged down into a down-tree instance.”</p>
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<p>“So, you couldn’t quit because…” Hanne said, urging him on.</p>
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<p>“Well, I imagine the same is true for anyone with lots of memory inside them. If there’s no one to merge down into, it just looks like…like…”</p>
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<p>“Like death,” Dry Grass said darkly. “It looks like death. You could not quit because, to the System, you and all of your memories would die, and the System is not built for death. That is what it felt like, is it not? It felt like you could not possibly quit without pushing the weight of the world uphill?”</p>
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<p>Reed frowned. “Perhaps not all that, but it certainly felt like I was trying to push against something really hard. It didn’t feel like it was impossible like anything else the System would prohibit, it just felt like I was being forced away from that option.”</p>
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<p>“Like death,” she muttered again. Vos began to cry. “Marsh is not on the System, then, no.”</p>
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<p>“So are they…is Marsh dead?” Pierre whispered, his own voice clouded by tears. Vos towered over him — over all of them, really — and had always seemed as though she could weather a storm better than any stone, but now, both looked suddenly frail, fragile in the face of the loss they were all talking around.</p>
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<p>“So are they…is Marsh dead?” Pierre whispered, his own voice clouded by tears. Vos towered over him — over all of them, really — and had always seemed as though she could weather a storm better than any stone, but now, both looked suddenly frail, fragile in the face of the loss they were all talking around.</p>
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<p>“They’re not on the System,” Reed and Dry Grass echoed in unison.</p>
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<p>“How can you be sure, though?” Hanne asked. “You can’t merge down, sure, and you can’t ping, but could they just be in some locked down sim or a privacy cone or something? Can those even block merges?”</p>
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<p>Lily shook her head. “Not that I know of, no. I don’t think anything blocks a merge.”</p>
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<p>“Hey, uh,” Sedge said into the uncomfortable silence that fell once more. “Has anyone checked the time?”</p>
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<p>Everyone tilted their heads almost in unison. It was more a habit than anything, not a required motion, but the habit that Marsh had formed so many years ago had stuck with all of the Marshans throughout their own lives.</p>
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<p>Systime 246+41 00:17.</p>
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<p>“Wait, what–“</p>
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||||
<p>“246? But–“</p>
|
||||
<p>“Wait, what–”</p>
|
||||
<p>“246? But–”</p>
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<p>“It says 2369, too!”</p>
|
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<p>Everyone talking at once quickly grew overwhelming. Reed shook his head, covered his ears with his hands, then, remembering that he was standing in the middle of a small crowd, tried to mask the movement by turning it into running his fingers through his hair.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Okay, one at a time,” he said, having to speak up to drown out further exclamations. “I’m seeing 246+41. Everyone else seeing the same thing?”</p>
|
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|
|
@ -201,23 +201,23 @@
|
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<p>Dry Grass tilted her head, then nodded. “Another fork is keeping a tally. Missing instances are now numbering in the thousands.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Vos took another half-step back. “Wait, <em>thousands?</em>“</p>
|
||||
<p>“It is proving difficult to keep up with the feeds,” she said, speaking slowly. Perhaps still receiving updates? “One of me is just reading the feeds and marking a tally every time a missing instance is mentioned.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Thousands, Jesus,” Hanne whispered. “I should check in on Jess. And probably–“</p>
|
||||
<p>“Thousands, Jesus,” Hanne whispered. “I should check in on Jess. And probably–”</p>
|
||||
<p>She started as Pierre sagged briefly against Vos, then either quit or left the sim. “He…I mean…” Vos began, shook her head, and then followed suit.</p>
|
||||
<p><em>“Do you two need anything?”</em> Reed sent to Vos. <em>“Or just space and quiet?”</em></p>
|
||||
<p><em>“The latter,”</em> she replied after a few long seconds. The sensorium message was so clearly sent between sobs that Reed had to swallow down the same sensation rising in his throat.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Give them some space,” he mumbled against that awkward pressure in his chest. “So, okay. What’s the whole story again? Midnight hit and suddenly it’s thirteen months–“</p>
|
||||
<p>“Give them some space,” he mumbled against that awkward pressure in his chest. “So, okay. What’s the whole story again? Midnight hit and suddenly it’s thirteen months–”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Thirteen months and ten days, almost exactly,” Sedge corrected.</p>
|
||||
<p>He sighed, nodded. “Right. Midnight hit and the date jumped forward and now there are thousands of–“</p>
|
||||
<p>He sighed, nodded. “Right. Midnight hit and the date jumped forward and now there are thousands of–”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Tens of thousands,” Dry Grass said, then averted her gaze. “Apologies.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“It’s alright. Tens of thousands of people missing. The feeds are going nuts. What about phys-side? Anything from them?”</p>
|
||||
<p>Dry Grass shrugged. “I have not been looking. I am uncomfortable with phys-side. There is a reason I am no longer a tech.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“I’ll take a look,” Rush said. Ve forked quickly, the new instance almost immediately disappearing as ve stepped from the sim. “Though I’m not as fast at it as you are.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Anything from Castor or Pollux? Or Artemis? It’s only a few months round trip, definitely less than thirteen. We don’t really talk. I don’t have anything from any of the Marshans on the LVs.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Shit,” Dry Grass muttered, expression falling. “Yes, there is.”</p>
|
||||
<p>When she didn’t continue, Lily stamped her foot, growling, “And? You can’t just leave that hanging there! I don’t fucking get you Odists, you’re always–“</p>
|
||||
<p>When she didn’t continue, Lily stamped her foot, growling, “And? You can’t just leave that hanging there! I don’t fucking get you Odists, you’re always–”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Lily!” Tule and Cress said as one.</p>
|
||||
<p>She made a show of regaining her composure, movements overly liquid as she straightened up and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. “Sorry.”</p>
|
||||
<p>An awkward silence lingered, overstaying its welcome. Eventually, Dry Grass’s shoulders slumped. “You do not need to apologize. The messages will only affirm your feelings about my clade. The eighth stanza continues to manage the flow of information in–” She cut herself off and dug her hands into her pockets, an oddly bashful gesture. “I should not be telling you this, understand. I am not even supposed to be in contact with them, Hammered Silver would have my head if she knew, but An Answer has been in contact. Please do not share any of this. They continue to manage the situation, and, from the sounds of it, they are describing it as an issue with the Deep Space Network and the Lagrange station. There are few mentions of the Lagrange System itself. I can read between the lines as well as any of them, though, and I do not think this is true. At least, not wholly.”</p>
|
||||
<p>An awkward silence lingered, overstaying its welcome. Eventually, Dry Grass’s shoulders slumped. “You do not need to apologize. The messages will only affirm your feelings about my clade. The eighth stanza continues to manage the flow of information in–” She cut herself off and dug her hands into her pockets, an oddly bashful gesture. “I should not be telling you this, understand. I am not even supposed to be in contact with them, Hammered Silver would have my head if she knew, but An Answer has been in contact. Please do not share any of this. They continue to manage the situation, and, from the sounds of it, they are describing it as an issue with the Deep Space Network and the Lagrange station. There are few mentions of the Lagrange System itself. I can read between the lines as well as any of them, though, and I do not think this is true. At least, not wholly.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Wait,” Cress said. “So they’re saying that there’s a problem with the DSN and the station? How do you mean?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“There are a few messages from over the last thirteen months, but they are queued up as though they have been held until now. There has been no contact between the LVs or Artemis and Lagrange.” There was a pause as Dry Grass’s gaze drifted, clearly scanning more of those messages. “Most messages have been discarded…only a few from the Guiding Council on Pollux plus a few clades on Castor…have been let through…outgoing messages are ungated…”</p>
|
||||
<p>“There’s a bit about that in news from phys-side, actually,” Rush said, looking thoughtful. “Communications failure on the Lagrange station. Something about aging technology. The DSN was also having problems so a few new repeaters were launched. Some from the station, even.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -231,7 +231,7 @@
|
|||
<p>She shrugged, another sheepish motion, and averted her eyes. “Do you really expect that we are receiving unfiltered information from phys-side?”</p>
|
||||
<p>Reed stole a glance at Lily. She looked to be spending every joule of energy on keeping her mouth shut.</p>
|
||||
<p>There had been an enormous row within the clade when first Cress, then Tule, had gotten in a relationship with a member of the Ode clade. Most of the Marshans had largely written off the stories of the Odists’ political meddling as overly fantastic, yet more myths to keep the functionally immortal entertained. Even if they had their basis in truth, they remained only stories.</p>
|
||||
<p>Lily, however, had had an immediate and dramatic reaction, cutting contact with the rest of the clade — including Marsh — for more than a year. She had even refused to merge down for two years until tempers had settled.</p>
|
||||
<p>Lily, however, had had an immediate and dramatic reaction, cutting contact with the rest of the clade — including Marsh — for more than a year. She had even refused to merge down for two years until tempers had settled.</p>
|
||||
<p>Hanne spoke up. “Listen, can we maybe give this a few hours to play out? I need to sleep, and if Reed doesn’t take a break, he’s going to explode.”</p>
|
||||
<p>The others laughed. Reed felt a twinge of resentment, shouldn’t they be dumping all of their energy into this? Shouldn’t they all fork several times over and throw themselves at the problem? Still, it was true enough, and if they stood around the living room spinning their wheels any longer, tempers would continue to flare.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yeah,” he said. “Give me at least four hours. I’ll do a little digging and grab some sleep, then maybe we can meet up somewhere else and talk through what we’ve learned.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
|
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Reference in New Issue