reach the residents

[ximilian]

● ● ● REACH THE RESIDENTS

For any questions you want to ask Viveca or Degar and receive an IC response, please direct them here. Please indicate in the subject line who you are trying to contact.

// VIVECA

Hi, what can I help you with?

// DEGAR

Today was gonna be the day, but they'll never throw it back to you. And by now, you should've somehow realized what you're not to do.

▶ NAV

Comments

Sometime in P1

[chronosynthesis]

Viveca?

[Syrlya has spent about ten minutes in The Pile before determining this is not a one person job. But he has questions.]

Appreciate the supply. Where did it all come from?

[vivecai]

Hi Syrlya. What is it?

[ she listens to his question before answering. ]

From all over. Many different worlds and universes. We try to draw these things from the universes closest to us at that time, as that takes the least amount of energy.

[chronosynthesis]

So it's not ordered supply, it's... a portal drawing what you're looking for from other places? Do you control what comes through?

[vivecai]

Yes, more or less.

[ it's a good way to describe how the teleportation machines work. ]

I have set in parameters for what we need, but if you mean whether I hand-pick everything that comes through... no. I could, but it would take far too long.

[chronosynthesis]

[So the supply drop is always going to look like this... suffering.]

Not like you hand-picked us? [A pause.] Was that you? From the dream.

[His dream but like, also everyone else's.]

[vivecai]

[ sorry to disappoint... ]

It's a little more complicated than that. [ a lot more complicated than that, actually, but she's not going to go into details. ] But no, actually, it wasn't. That's not part of my job description.

[chronosynthesis]

How many of you are part of this... team? [Organization? Right now, he doesn't quite have a scale of the operation.] I assume they are aware we have arrived ahead of schedule.

[vivecai]

That's not something I'm at liberty to say right now, but let's just say.... not many. [ she sounds like were she a human, she might be grimacing. ]

And yes, I'm doing everything I can to get everything prepped for your first mission as soon as I can.

[chronosynthesis]

There is a lot being asked from someone we really don't know much about.

[Secret organizations, he understands. But he'll still prod them for information if they're going to present themselves as allies.] All right, how much are you at liberty to say? Anything about this... trade, of changing the course of regret for cooperation?

[Is it probably an effective bargaining chip? Well... he's still here. But damn, personal.]

[vivecai]

All you can do is trust that we know what we're doing.

[ which... considering the whole power out that's about to follow, is maybe a lot to ask. ]

I can tell you about the orbs, if you want. They've been scattered all around the universes, and they — they're powerful. They have the power to alter the fabric of reality. That's why we have to get them back, because if they're left alone, they'll eventually cause enough disturbances to destroy entire worlds.

But we need to direct that reality-altering power somewhere... and we need people capable of getting the orbs back. People who will commit to it. So the contract you've made, it isn't just with us. It's with the orbs as well. It binds your regret to them, and their power to you.

[chronosynthesis]

I... see. [There's silence as he considers that. It's not even the most wild concept he's ever heard of, but it's new and he's realizing they're pulled in far deeper than it seemed.]

If one of you could bond us to those through our dreams, does that mean you have some sort of connection to them already? Where did these orbs come from?

[vivecai]

Not us, the station. We don't know everything, either... but the orbs are supposed to be here. This station is meant to contain them, so what we use to be able to speak to all of you is also connected to the orbs, wherever they are.

[ then, a little wryly, ] I wish I could explain this better, but against popular belief, I'm not all-knowing.

[chronosynthesis]

[Lightly:] I didn't assume you would know everything.

[Just... maybe more than seeming like they're jumping into this blindly.]

But then how did you come to learn about the orbs and station?

[vivecai]

I —

[ she pauses, as if she were about to say something and be unable to; after some seconds have passed, she speaks again. ]

I'm the AI of this station. Isn't that enough of an answer?

[chronosynthesis]

... No? [Was it supposed to.] It does not sound as if you've always been with the station, or the orbs.

[But he can take a guess why she deflected so abruptly.] I assume that, too, is something you are not at liberty to say.

[vivecai]

... you're perceptive.

[ she manages to sound aggrieved and impressed at once. ]

But you're right. This is who I am, now, and this is what I have to do. To help you with all I am. If I could, I — [ the words break off, suddenly, as if she had been forced to stop talking. ]

... Unfortunately, right now, that's all I can say.

[chronosynthesis]

I understand. [He doesn't like not having all the pieces, but asking Viveca for what she can't tell him won't do either of them any good.]

I appreciate the clarity either way. I've promised to return and help with sort the... supply drop. [More like supply dump.] So I'll leave you to it.

[To do whatever it is AIs do. He'll figure it out.]

Post-mission 1

[bindsthedead]

Miss Viveca, I have some questions about the Orb. It's clear that it's very powerful, and offers that power in terms of exchange, rather than gifting it, but- what does it want? And what do you and the people you're working with want it for?

[vivecai]

Hi, Sabriel. [ somehow, viveca manages to sound tired before the conversation has even started... but perhaps that's just how one feels about the orbs, in general. ]

I'm sure you've noticed that leaving it out there is a danger to everyone on that planet. The longer the individual orbs are left loose... the worse it will get. What we want is to gather them here where they can't harm anyone. This station is specifically built to contain them.

As for what the Orb wants... chaos, I suppose, is the best word for it. It seeks to disturb everything around it.

[bindsthedead]

I admit, it did grant the Lord's wish in a way that caused the greatest amount of misery. And So-Yeon... I'm not sure what bargain she struck with it, but it ended in her death.

Am I correct in assuming that it cannot act on its own, and must do so through granting someone else's wish? [That would line up with what she saw in Gyeonje. If the orb is limited to granting wishes, and can only ask for what it sees as within someone's power or authority to give...

Well. They'll need to keep it out of the hands of any rulers or authority figures in the future.]

And if chaos is truly its nature... How can we trust that our own bargains will work out well for us? Did we contract with the orb, or with whoever is responsible for this station?

[vivecai]

There is a limit to what it can do on its own, but merely its presence is sometimes enough to affect its surroundings. Whether it can cause something like in Gyeongje on its own — no, something on that scale needs a bargain.

[ it isn't entirely good news, but not entirely bad news either. ]

If you mean undoing your regret... your contract is with the orb, not us. But that will only happen once all the individual parts are on the station. And it will undo your regret and not alter anything else back in your home, if that is what you're worried about. That I can guarantee you.

[bindsthedead]

And the Lord was only able to offer the Outer District because, as its ruler, the Orb considered Gyeonje and its people his- something within his authority to offer in a bargain?

While for us, our fee is granting its requests. But doesn't that suggest that the orb wants to be made whole? And how can you guarantee it won't do anything else to our homes?

[Are they sure they can contain it? Restrain a force of powerful magic using technology?]

[vivecai]

Yes, exactly... well, for the Lord.

But for you... yes, you are fulfilling the goals to get the power of that particular orb. But Sabriel, haven't you wondered why it's only asking for something so little for something so large as undoing a regret?

[ her voice gets softer, here. ]

That's because you've already bargained away something to match it: your time. Do you know how much chaos in the fabric of time and space it creates to have you here? If you bargained your life, you would die and that would be it. But by coming here, and staying here — the Orb can't ask for more than that. You're already giving it all the chaos it wants. Why would it do anything to your homes when that would only affect the home of that particular timeline?

[bindsthedead]

It's hoping that we'll create more chaos in the process of retrieving it? Or is it that our presence is... sending out ripples, somehow?

[That's the best way Sabriel can describe it. Ripples spreading across a still pond, or the slight breeze caused by someone's movement.]

Still... Does it realize you're trying to contain it? Will the orbs try to resist us at some point? Or is anyone else seeking them out?

[vivecai]

The latter. You are causing a disturbance to your timeline by exiting it to be here, which is the worst kind of chaos you can create. It isn't anything harmful, but it isn't supposed to happen, and that is the essence of chaos.

[ then, she laughs. ] You have a lot of questions, don't you? If I ever need a replacement, you'd be great for the job. Let's see: the individual orbs know they are more powerful as a unit, so they don't resist being gathered together, but the more of them there are, the more they have power to affect their surroundings. Meaning this ship. So at some point, we will need your help in making sure nothing and no one is harmed or affected.

As for whether anyone else is seeking them — on the same scale as us, no. On the planets they are on, yes, some are the cause of great strife over trying to possess them. But right now, no multiversial entity is trying to find them all... and as long as we get them here, no one will be able to.