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<p>Cress shook its head, leans over, and hugged her. “Take the time you need.”</p>
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<p>Cress shook its head, leans over, and hugged her. “Take the time you need.”</p>
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<p>“Right. Let’s meet at a park or something in the morning. Hanne will kill me if you all pile in here again,” I said, at which Hanne nodded eagerly. “And I imagine things are going to be really weird out there, so I don’t want to pile into a bar or whatever.”</p>
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<p>“Right. Let’s meet at a park or something in the morning. Hanne will kill me if you all pile in here again,” I said, at which Hanne nodded eagerly. “And I imagine things are going to be really weird out there, so I don’t want to pile into a bar or whatever.”</p>
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<p>“Really, really weird,” Sedge muttered.</p>
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<p>“Really, really weird,” Sedge muttered.</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2023-09-25</p>
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@ -289,9 +289,38 @@ Something about the ephemerality of the sand and the permanence of the tile spea
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<p>There was a long silence, followed by a sigh of her own. <em>“Just us?”</em></p>
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<p>There was a long silence, followed by a sigh of her own. <em>“Just us?”</em></p>
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<p><em>“Yeah,”</em> I sent. I tried to keep any disappointment out of my voice. It wasn’t hard with how tired I was.</p>
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<p><em>“Yeah,”</em> I sent. I tried to keep any disappointment out of my voice. It wasn’t hard with how tired I was.</p>
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<p>Another long pause, and then a sense of a nod.</p>
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<p>Another long pause, and then a sense of a nod.</p>
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<p>A few moments after I sent her the address of the sim, she popped into being beside me.</p>
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<p>A few moments after I sent her the address of the sim, she popped into being beside me. Her expression was flat and motions stiff as she walked with me to join the rest of the clade in the pagoda. Even as the rest of the Marshans greeted her, she simply nodded, saying nothing.</p>
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<p>(Reed’s pagoda - more conversation among the stanzas now)</p>
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<p>If I’d been expecting us all to fall into conversation, I was disappointed. However, there was relief when we fell back into silence, each thinking our thoughts, looking out over the pasture at the fog and the shadows of sheep. The only sounds were those of the sim — a hint of mist further out on the grass, another tinkle or two of a bell — and my own breathing.</p>
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<p>((After Dry Grass leaves, Reed goes to talk with Lily))</p>
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<p>Once more, questions bubbled up within me. What could I possibly do in the face of such enormity? How could 48 billion people just disappear? What was Phys-side doing about all of this other than hiding the details they doubtless had? More ‘how could I’s dogging my heels — how could I be sitting here in silence? How could I have stepped away from Dry Grass, the one person I knew who was working hardest on this? How could I not have looped Lily into this whole conversation?</p>
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<p>“So,” Lily said. “What’s up?”</p>
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<p>Cress laughed nervously, brushing its hand up through its hair. “Uh…everything.”</p>
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<p>“The folks we went to talk to–” I set aside the fact that I felt compelled to leave out just who those folks were; I was sure Lily could guess. “–were doing some looking around and tallying up losses within their clade and others. It sounds like, if they’re representative of losses across the System, there might be almost fifty billion people missing.”</p>
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<p>“Dead,” Lily corrected, face darkening. “Fifty billion dead.”</p>
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<p>“Right,” I said all but under my breath. “And phys-side has said relatively little. They confirmed there was downtime and data loss, and I guess maybe hinted at the fact that…this whole thing may have been deliberate.”</p>
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<p>She sat up straighter, brow furrowed. “Deliberate? Like a bomb or something? I was thinking maybe a solar flare took us out.”</p>
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<p>“Exactly at midnight on New Year’s Eve at the turn of the century?” Tule asked. I was pleased to hear only tiredness in his voice, rather than any ire. “How small are the chances for that?”</p>
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<p>She shrugged. “Not none, I’m sure.”</p>
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<p>“What would an attack on the System even look like?” Rush asked. “I don’t know that a bomb sounds right. That would have taken out a lot more data. It would have taken out some sims, at least, some objects.”</p>
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<p>“Ye-e-es,” I allowed. “So maybe it was a virus or something. CPV that affects everyone doesn’t exist, does it?”</p>
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<p>Silence and headshakes around the pagoda. The contraproprioceptive virus — the one sure way to kill anyone on the System — only seemed to work when tailored specifically to an individual’s sensorium, disrupting their sense of proprioception until they either dissipated and crashed or quit out of agony. Not only that, but, from what I’d learned from the stories that came out surrounding it a few decades back, it had to somehow pierce the skin, to breach that sense of physical integrity, before it could do it’s awful job of unwinding a person entirely.</p>
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<p>“Well, if this…attack or whatever was deliberate and we don’t know anything about <em>how</em> it was done, do we know anything about who might have done it?”</p>
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<p>Sedge leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “There’s always been a bunch of people who hate uploading. Sometimes it’s because they feel like we’ve abandoned Earth, sometimes it’s because everyone makes out Lagrange like some sort of heaven while Earth is still kind of hellish. Even after all the work they’ve gotten done using the Artemisians’ information, even with a lot of the climate shit either halted or actively starting to get better, Earth has hardly gone back to what it was like back before the industrial revolution or whatever.”</p>
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<p>“Yeah, but hate it enough to destroy it? Kill billions and billions of people?”</p>
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<p>“I’m not sure they think of us as people.”</p>
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<p>Lily snorted. “Not as people,” she sneered. “Sorry, Sedge, I know it’s not on you. You’re probably right. I’m just feeling like shit now.”</p>
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<p>Rush smiled faintly. “I think we all are.”</p>
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<p>“And you said no sims have been hit?” she asked. “You’re the one of us who’s at all interested in that.”</p>
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<p>Ve nodded. “Yeah. Ser… Well, some of the people we’d been talking to were sim designers, and they said they hadn’t seen any of their sims messed up or disappeared or anything.”</p>
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<p>She nodded slowly. “Odists, then? Dry Grass and her clade?”</p>
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<p>Ve hesitated, looked to me.</p>
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<p>“Yeah, Dry Grass met with us because she’s back to working as a sys-side engineer.”</p>
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<p>“Alright,” Lily said, shoulders sagging. “I’m sorry I’m having a hard time letting go of that, but I’m not exactly disappointed that you’re all close with someone who knows about all of this.”</p>
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<p>“Thanks,” Tule and Cress mumbled in unison. Cress continued, “You don’t have to like her or anything. Not everyone needs to like everyone else. She just also has information, too.”</p>
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<p>“I get that. Did she have anything else to say about Marsh? Like…that’s why we’re all coming together, isn’t it?”</p>
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<p>“Just that phys-side said they weren’t able to recover anyone beyond whoever’s still alive now, and that there might be something sys-side could try, but she didn’t exactly sound hopeful.”</p>
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<p>“Hopeful,” she mused.</p>
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<p>“Not much of that to go around,” I said, feeling exhaustion pulling at my cheeks, pressing at my temples. “But I guess it’s all we have to go on for the time being.”</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2023-09-25</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2023-09-25</p>
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@ -42,14 +42,14 @@
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<li class="done1"> Part 1 — Marsh has gone missing and the date has jumped forward — whaaaa — exploring the new System, what it looks like, contact from the LVs<ul>
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<li class="done1"> Part 1 — Marsh has gone missing and the date has jumped forward — whaaaa — exploring the new System, what it looks like, contact from the LVs<ul>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="002.html">002</a> — It all kicks off</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="002.html">002</a> — It all kicks off</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="003.html">003</a> — Dealing with fallout of Marsh being gone, starting later that night when Reed catches up with Vos and Pierre, deals with his own grief</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="003.html">003</a> — Dealing with fallout of Marsh being gone, starting later that night when Reed catches up with Vos and Pierre, deals with his own grief</li>
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<li class="done1"> <a href="004.html">004</a> — Exploring other clades throughout Lagrange, meeting up with other Marshans to talk through results, walking sims and seeing how others are reacting</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="004.html">004</a> — Exploring other clades throughout Lagrange, meeting up with other Marshans to talk through results, walking sims and seeing how others are reacting</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="005.html">005</a> — The perisystem feeds, tallying up the missing, building up percentage of lost personalities, the Marshans wind up leading an effort, Dry Grass working behind the scenes because Odist</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="005.html">005</a> — The perisystem feeds, tallying up the missing, building up percentage of lost personalities, the Marshans wind up leading an effort, Dry Grass working behind the scenes because Odist</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="006.html">006</a> — Reconciliation of a sort between Lily and Dry Grass as they meet up for dinner, talking about what it means to be a clade without a root instance.</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="006.html">006</a> — Reconciliation of a sort between Lily and Dry Grass as they meet up for dinner, talking about what it means to be a clade without a root instance.</li>
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<li class="done0"> Part 2 — Phys-side is being a little sketchy about what happened, turns out there was a reset and a lot of work behind the scenes after a coordinated attack between phys- and sys-side, taking the form of a generalized weapon that wiped out most of the System. Large chunks of it were restored after a lot of work and help from the Artemisians, but not total success — virus loophole was fixed (incl singular attacks), but no guarantee there won’t be another work-around, plans to split the System into smaller pieces, move some of them to Earth/Sun Lagrange points<ul>
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<li class="done0"> Part 2 — Phys-side is being a little sketchy about what happened, turns out there was a reset and a lot of work behind the scenes after a coordinated attack between phys- and sys-side, taking the form of a generalized weapon that wiped out most of the System. Large chunks of it were restored after a lot of work and help from the Artemisians, but not total success — virus loophole was fixed (incl singular attacks), but no guarantee there won’t be another work-around, plans to split the System into smaller pieces, move some of them to Earth/Sun Lagrange points<ul>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="007.html">007</a> — Dry Grass loops Reed & co into discussion with phys-side engineers (maybe she’s been booted from her stanza anyway for talking with the 8th?)</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="007.html">007</a> — Dry Grass loops Reed & co into discussion with phys-side engineers (maybe she’s been booted from her stanza anyway for talking with the 8th?) Huddle to talk about why they’re being so cagey</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="008.html">008</a> — Huddle to talk about why they’re being so cagey</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="008.html">008</a> — Talking with Dry Grass, Cress, and Tule about feelings</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="009.html">009</a> — Larger meeting with other representatives of clades with missing members, bit more info (loophole was patched, but no guarantee), introducing concept of splitting the system up</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="009.html">009</a> — Larger meeting with other representatives of clades with missing members, bit more info (loophole was patched, but no guarantee), introducing concept of splitting the system up</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="010.html">010</a> — Clade representatives form a group, start organizing/strategizing/investigating, contacted by chill phys-side syseng, learning even more about both what happened and plans to split system, plus how phys-side is seeing things</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="010.html">010</a> — Clade representatives form a group, start organizing/strategizing/investigating, contacted by chill phys-side syseng, learning even more about both what happened and plans to split system, plus how phys-side is seeing things</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="011.html">011</a> — Finding up-tree (or maybe down?) instance of person who caused the whole thing, seems super upset, promises they’re unable to contact that instance, but whether or not they’re telling the truth left up in the air</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="011.html">011</a> — Finding up-tree (or maybe down?) instance of person who caused the whole thing, seems super upset, promises they’re unable to contact that instance, but whether or not they’re telling the truth left up in the air</li>
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<li class="done0"> Part 3 — The ramifications, both global and personal (but mostly personal) — a lot of talk among the Marshans, their partners, and a chill phys-side syseng — looking into trying to reconstruct Marsh by cross-tree merging Reed, Lily, and Cress — it doesn’t work, so it turns into coming to terms with letting go of the past<ul>
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<li class="done0"> Part 3 — The ramifications, both global and personal (but mostly personal) — a lot of talk among the Marshans, their partners, and a chill phys-side syseng — looking into trying to reconstruct Marsh by cross-tree merging Reed, Lily, and Cress — it doesn’t work, so it turns into coming to terms with letting go of the past<ul>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">013</a> — Dry Grass and Günay going over system capabilities when it comes to reconstructing personalities</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">013</a> — Dry Grass and Günay going over system capabilities when it comes to reconstructing personalities</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">014</a> — Reed and Hanne talking, Reed admits to starting to grieve now that things are calming down, expresses doubts about reconstruction</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">014</a> — Reed and Hanne talking, Reed admits to starting to grieve now that things are calming down, expresses doubts about reconstruction</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">015</a> — Planning reconstruction</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">015</a> — Planning reconstruction, a night with Dry Grass</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">016</a> — It doesn’t work, clade admits it’s time to start grieving proper</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">016</a> — It doesn’t work, clade admits it’s time to start grieving proper</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="017.html">017</a> — Discussing list of requests to sysenges both phys- and sys-side for improvement, incl someone digging into Artemisian archives</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="017.html">017</a> — Discussing list of requests to sysenges both phys- and sys-side for improvement (e.g: cross-clade merging), incl someone digging into Artemisian archives</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">018</a> — Coming to terms with letting go of the past</li>
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<li class="done0"> <a href="013.html">018</a> — Coming to terms with letting go of the past</li>
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<p>Page generated on 2023-09-20</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2023-09-25</p>
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