Chapter Text
They had noticed it as soon as they had come home, though only as an unplaceable shift in their system with an answer on the verge of fully loaded, a progress bar with an unchanging display of ninety-nine percent. Like opening all their documents and finding that someone had removed all the whitespace. “But why?” one would be inclined to ask, as they were left with the creeping dread they had been tampered with for reasons yet unknown to them.
At first it had been easy to ignore, after their initial obsessive scanning resulted in nothing more than their security systems outputting a blank stare. Even Sig’s antivirus software, which was meant to ward off all but the most patient and dedicated of attackers, was lackadaisical about their fears. It hummed through their files before shrugging and returning to its usual vigilance at remnants of the broadcast network. Forced to accept that there was nothing more they could do, they turned their attention to greater matters.
Namely, an auxiliary chamber for Pebbles. After the collapse of his own structure, he was left with few options on where to go. So few intact cans remained, and even if those two were on better terms Sig was already pushing his systems with Moon’s new residence in his. Which left Suns. Though, they flattered themself to think it was not out of pure necessity that he had come with them, even if it was certainly part of it. Things were easier between them, now. Not as they once were – but then, that might be for the best. ‘As they once were’ had been a contributing factor to much that had gone wrong.
They’d promised to be there for him. Perhaps more importantly, they had promised the inverse as well, that they would not keep themself at such a remove from him out of fear of any debt that might have lain between them. All was dismissed, as much as they were both able. What remained was a tentative hope that the future might be better.
However, applying all those lessons was difficult on a cycle to cycle basis, and it was only after Suns was once again maddened by this strange twist in their systems that they realized he was still entirely ignorant of it. Why would he not be, if they had not told him? With the final steps still remaining on the second chamber, he did not have access to their systems.
Besides, he was distracted enough not to pick up on their mutterings as they looked through their memory confluxes (again) and cleared every performance test (again). Though he wasn’t unfamiliar with seeing another iterator’s structure at this point, since he’d spent several cycles as a guest inside Sig’s can, it had not been with the keen eye of someone about to integrate himself into that greater whole. Which, of course, meant more careful inspection.
It was an incredible honor that Pebbles took this so seriously and only bode well for a successful connection. And each time he activated the automatic doors to Suns’ chamber with increasing suspicion – seventeen times in the last five minutes, but who was counting – they reminded themself of this.
Alarmingly though, there was no sign of stopping. If anything each time he simply looked more incredulous.
“Are they truly so interesting?” Suns finally asked, lowering their arm down so they could see what he was possibly finding so fascinating, upsetting, or any combination thereof. Not even a little bit because the twitch of their puppet at each chime was starting to throw off their readings.
Another activation. The slide of metal into the wall and subsequent cheery ring was now about as pleasant as a rusty screw inside their umbilical arm.
“...Why do they still emit a sound?” Pebbles eyed the gap in the wall that the door had disappeared into with far too much scrutiny. “What advantage could it possibly serve you? And for that matter, they open without a citizen ID to allow passage. Is there some other criteria that they use? It seems a major security risk if not.” And another–
“Pebbles, please. You’ll wear out the motor.” He stopped, but only barely. “And it was hardly my idea – my Benefactors added the original alert, they’re tied to the same notification I get whenever they open.” Which, while not truly unpleasant, started to twinge when poked at too many times. “I – you cannot possibly be this entertained.”
“I am not. It is irritating,” said Pebbles, all traces of irony presumably taken out back and shot before they could occur to him. “Like I was saying – it is the criteria that bothers me. Can random animals simply access your chamber at any time by activating a proximity sensor? …Not that a door stops them, come to think of it.”
Then he glared at the interior of the wall. “You must have replaced the speakers at some point as well. Again, I must wonder about the purpose. Was it merely a repair for repair’s sake, an ingrained habit easier to keep than to rid yourself of?”
This was an invitation Suns recognized, to a debate they both enjoyed revisiting. Tradition versus practicality – or was it even an adversarial relationship? They knew this. At the same time: “Pebbles. It’s a door.”
Catching on to their exasperation, he at last looked over to them. Whatever he saw must be at least as concerning as a functioning speaker, because his antennae lowered in thought. “It isn’t. What is it?” Before they could respond, he thankfully decided to clarify. “I mean what’s aggravating you. You’re… twitchy.”
Their eye did something definitely not categorizable as twitching, no matter what he said. “No, I’m not! I’m…” But Pebbles’ discerning gaze was as unquestionable as their architect’s had once been, a comparison that struck them only then and refused to leave. Only bright, where hers had been dark, and even after the ages of the world that had turned by they were still compelled to answer. “Oh, fine. Come here, take a look at this.”
At their request Pebbles stepped down into the heart of Suns’ chamber. Arranged like an amphitheatre, it bore marks of all that Suns dared not forget, which in the course of their long existence was much. Artifacts recovered from the city above by both themself and their Messenger were laid in a haphazard setup around the upper bend, pearls most obviously but also the occasional mask that had survived past their citizens. In the pit itself were the reminders of Spearmaster they could not bear to keep shut away in the cubby they’d once claimed as a nest. For all their intelligence, they had still been entertained by bright toys at times…
Most egregious was the printed version of a three-dimensional model Pebbles had once sent them, detailing a map of his city, structure, and the old temple below. After everything that had happened, they had scoured their logs to find anything indicative of him that was not tied to more painful shared interests, and that could be displayed. Most of the time the model was background noise, something to be struck by on the occasion they needed a reminder of all that was at stake. Or, in their more melancholy moods, simply of better times.
Considering the collapse of said structure, they had frozen the first time they’d let him into their chamber and there it guiltily sat. But Pebbles had only tilted his head at it, as if trying to remember the context for why they had such a thing before being distracted away.
All this made for careful maneuvering, if one did not have the advantage of lifting themself up and over it. Though, at least the fabrics they’d collected made for a comfortable enough environment. It was the least it could be, considering they’d had to sacrifice the upper bounds of their gravity manipulation to keep everything in place.
As they dragged open the files of interest, Pebbles settled and sat back until a screen was flicked his way. “Take a look at this. Do you notice anything unusual?”
“I am unlikely to find anything that you could not, considering the current difference in our processing power.” Still, he obligated, as if entertaining them more than anything. “...Is there some baseline I’m missing? All seems well enough.”
“Right!” They threw their arms in the air. “All seems perfectly…” A truly irrational thought occurred to them, but in the absence of anything else it might be worth checking. “Actually, wait a moment. All seems too well.”
Like stepping into low gravity, the ease with which their systems operated had tricked them into doubting their steps. Even the buoyancy of ease could read as malicious if you weren’t expecting it. Of course, they wouldn’t catch it, since all their tests would be cleared so long as the minimum threshold was reached. There was no warning for an improved performance.
Even as they set up new tests to detect levels above normal operations, they muttered to themself. “That doesn’t make any sense though, if anything my systems should be less functional than usual… honestly, I expected a few faults to occur in my absence, but this…”
Below average processing load and better memory usage as well, said their new system reports. They groaned, now horribly embarrassed about fretting over this for as long as they had. They’d even checked both statistics, but they’d only been looking for something wrong – this had completely escaped them. “Good news. Everything appears to be going better than fine. Which honestly, I’m not at all used to. Everything was trending downwards for so long outside of active recovery…” What would be the possible causes of this?
At least the symptom itself was not harmful, and that did much to lessen the tension that had been building in their puppet’s neck – they’d gotten so used to that limited form that sensation was still sharper within it. “I apologize then, for the false alarm. Still, I at least have some other places I can check for – well, I suppose non-issues. So you did help, you know.”
“I did not,” said Pebbles. “On account of not doing much of anything. You talked yourself around – a sufficiently well-mannered lizard could fulfill the same purpose.”
“Think of it as elegance, Pebbles, not simplicity. Letting someone talk out their own problem is the oldest strategy around, even for our kind. It’s half the reason we had engineers. And the entire reason we had the broadcast network! It’s a very efficient troubleshooting method.” Dangling above him was too much like looming, so they settled near him on the ground.
He considered this, though Suns wasn’t sure if he found being implicitly compared to a Benefactor much more flattering than being compared to a lizard. “Technically speaking, the power and internal workings required to run my vocal synthesis and audio intake may actually be more intensive than the equivalent energy that most animals exert in the same–”
Alright, a different strategy. “I’m not trading you for a lizard, stop trying.” But their tone was so light even Pebbles would know it for the cautious prod it was. Teasing him, as they might once have, was still hazy ground – but then, overly stilted attempts to perfectly chart out a conversation were on average much worse.
Sure enough, he waved them off, a grudging acknowledgment of the point. “No, I was not inclined to believe so. But truly, is there a reason you didn’t think it might be a beneficial effect? Perhaps your microbiota have re-fused some component back together. While it’s not what we’re inclined to monitor, positive changes that is, it shouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility. On occasion, even I can acknowledge that not everything is inclined against us.”
He did have a point. Self-repair was terribly convenient, when it bothered to work. Though that was less frequent these days, as the microorganisms left to their own devices were wily and evolved in unpredictable ways as all living beings tended towards.
“No, it’s… well, you are right.” Best to concede, since this time it had been for the best. While it still bothered them for a reason they could not place, that explanation was as plausible as anything. “I’ll still run what further diagnostics I can, but if I don’t find anything I’ll just… accept the stroke of good luck and move on. But – you know. I do want everything to go smoothly.”
Pebbles gave a jerky nod. Yes, he knew what they spoke of. And no, he was not eager to address it.
With the advice they had received from Moon they had some confidence in their ability to make their structure hospitable for him. But how could they be rid of that lingering fear, until all had proven to be well?
This returned them to the auxiliary chamber. They had made significant progress on it over the past few cycles, hence why they’d returned to this worry in the first place. And Suns did mean both of them – without Pebbles’ help, they would have stumbled about far more than they had – but it had stalled these past few days for non-technical reasons. They knew the cause. As did Pebbles, they imagined. As soon as it had gone from an abstract, empty room to unmistakably an iterator’s chamber, both of them had shied away from it.
Really, they had no excuse. The hard parts were all done, and they were grateful for it. Rewiring had been a special kind of awful that left them cursing so colorfully that Pebbles had been obviously mortified by association. So many electrical shocks, though only one had been strong enough to temporarily short their travel puppet. Frustrating, being so conductive. At least with local communications, one of them – Pebbles, they meant Pebbles, Suns might be trying to let themself ask more of him but subjecting him to their structure’s temper at being tampered was not a request they could make – had been able to control the fluid valves. As a Benefactor would once have, rather than through the more convenient umbilical connection.
Technically, they could have set it up such that he could use theirs. All it would take was some simple reconfiguration. But he’d been cagey about it when they halfheartedly suggested it, and they understood why. To have that nigh-limitless power he’d once known and then relinquish it to another after a fleeting purpose was fulfilled? Not that they thought he wouldn’t give it up, it wasn’t a lack of faith. But how could anyone not be bitter?
Still, it was hard to accept. After all, what remained was the final threading of the umbilical arm, and then the initial connection of Pebbles to their structure. They could do it at any time. Suns had even lost their best excuse for why they hadn’t brought it up again, with the new quirk of their structure seemingly not malicious.
Just in case, they ran a paranoid check of their psychological parameters. No, there were no threads of distrust that could be stalling them.
Whatever the emotion precisely was, considering it had the same trigger it was likely the same for Pebbles. Though, he’d lasted a little longer. They’d managed a test of the water intake and outtake from the chamber, and he’d frozen after the checks came back clear. As if it had finally hit him, what was once again possible.
Though neither of them had spoken of it, they felt the shift. His gaze lingered when they disconnected from their own umbilical, even more so when they reconnected. Not envy, they wouldn’t ascribe something so accusatory. Yearning, perhaps.
With all that said, the tension of the silence was telling. Both of them knew that if neither of them ever said anything it was never going to happen. Besides, there were other projects to attend to, many of which Suns wanted Pebbles’ company in solving and all of which would be easier with a structure at his disposal. For so long, they’d toiled in solitude with a sole confidant, and trust that their single connection to the outside world would keep up their lifeline with a string of pearl-bearing messengers. Needless to say, without Sig they were certain they would have lost all sense of time, and then all sense of themself. Any particular desire towards independence had long since…
Oh. Perhaps that was their fear. That upon induction into their structure, Pebbles would see what on their worst days felt like an endless, clawing hunger for companionship and shy away from it. Worse yet, view it with disgust or fear. He was not the same as them in this way, they knew.
But then, he wasn’t a stranger to that side of them either.
They had confessed to him once, that they knew they’d fed off his admiration as much as his friendship in their earlier days. And even with that, he was still here. Was he not?
More relevantly, it would likely count as retreating on their previous words if they stepped back at the first sign of him knowing anything inconvenient about them. After all, if it was not about owing him for their mistakes, but that simple desire for companionship, then this should not be unwelcome.
They knew that.
“Do you think…” As their voice caught Pebbles’ attention (he’d drifted in focus to giving their mask collection a mildly judgmental look that he quickly stifled, though they knew he couldn’t help it), they nearly lost their nerve. Suns drummed their fingers on the ground, willing the rest of the sentence to the surface. “Should we finish the secondary chamber this cycle? Get you connected?”
Pebbles didn’t respond at once, and they hoped nothing showed how antsy they were the longer his stare lasted. “There’s no real reason not to, at this point.” But he made no effort to stand.
“...Right.” They turned over his words, and committed to saying something probably stupid. “Well, are there any non-real reasons, then?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” No true hostility, but a brief bristle he smoothed down. Part of Pebbles might always search for those familiar signs of condescension, as they might always have to make a conscious effort to avoid it. Though it wasn’t from them alone that he’d had cause to fear it, they knew their part in it. So much had been meant that had been said poorly. “Besides, there aren’t–” He cut himself off. Closed his eyes, started again. “Fine. It all feels so… permanent.”
A spiral threatened to form before they even knew the anxiety had reared in their head. Frantically, they reigned it back. The nervous impulse of he already wants to leave you would be disastrous if spoken aloud. “Then we’ll make you a travel puppet,” said Suns instead, as impulsively as their first thought.
“I – what?” If Pebbles had been expecting a specific answer, it had not been that. “Not that I’m opposed,” he was quick to say, raising a finger. “But I fail to see the connection.”
What were they doing? This felt awful, like they were already shooing him out through the mere suggestion. But he didn’t seem offended, and in that they’d learned he was rarely subtle. “So you can leave, as freely as I can.” In their structure, they preferred their original model when possible and kept their travel puppet tucked away, but it was essential for feeling capable in the wilds. Leg supports allowed Pebbles to walk, but running would be difficult. His hands could only grip loosely, and poor extremity reinforcement meant a blow to his head would risk snapping an antennae. “I don’t… I know it doesn’t really solve the problem, since there are few options of where to go next. But it should lessen the permanency, right? I don’t want you to feel trapped here.” What a horrible end that would be, one box traded for another.
But Pebbles only huffed. It might, they realized after further analysis, have been a variant of his laugh. “A generous offer. One I will accept in time, I imagine. But no. That is not what I meant.”
He gestured around him, at the assorted relics and curios. “This is not a transitory state, is it? There will come a time where my chamber here will look something like this,” –and he glanced around and sighed– “If more organized.” That was fair enough. “With the ability to leave a chamber comes the ability to render it your own. The barrenness of my previous chamber was more reflective of an inability to make it otherwise.”
Briefly, Pebbles fussed with the fabric beneath him. Sol crimson was not so different from the shade the hem of his robes had once been. “It will become more mine than my own structure ever supported. Memories of it will dull, what grief remains will lessen. So I imagine, at least. And as Moon did, I will shift my speech and thinking to match.”
A more pointed look. “Do you see it now? It is a slow burial of what remains, leaving it to a forgotten grave.”
In truth, Suns did not. Or at least, they did not intimately understand it. This place had always been so intrinsically theirs, a diorama of themself no more perfectly representable. But then, they’d never had to start entirely from scratch. For all the tribulations along the way, their life had been mostly linear and continuous. Pebbles’ had not been. There was a division, where one life ended and the next began.
Actually, maybe that perspective would help. “I suppose I can see what you’re saying. But could they not both be yours in equal measure – one for your past self, and another for the you that exists now? Must one claim superiority to the other? Like a winding river with two streams, one that diverges further downstream from the other. Both are real, naturally.”
“...You must be feeling better,” said Pebbles, a wry hint to his voice. “Good. Though more to the point – you argue, then, that both representations of the self are of simultaneous importance? An interesting concept. Less an abandonment, then, and more a divergence… But then, that-what-was should be already irrelevant to me, since I am no longer the same person. The streams run in parallel, but never together.” A shift in his posture. “No longer even in continuity with myself.”
They almost took the statement at face value, but noticed the clutch of his arm in time. “What I mean is what you said at first – you aren’t abandoning your past self. You lived as him when you were him. And he isn’t irrelevant either, he's just as real as you are now. His world and his surroundings and not divorced from yours, but they are first and foremost a reflection of him. You deserve a reflection of yourself as you are now! All this to say it’s an imperfect analogy, I mean only to reassure you that you aren’t somehow betraying yourself by not lingering there.”
Now Pebbles did laugh, though as ever it was almost inaudible and more a rasp that shook his chest. If it was any less genuine, they might take some offense, but as it were they were simply happy to hear it.
“Alright, alright, I see your point,” he said, shaking his head. “Any unintended implications will be ignored as best as I am able.”
(Perhaps someday they would speak of it directly. Not now – but that conversation where they’d stepped out of time, tragedy set in motion by a hundred different factors but none so distinct as that of a flawed metaphor. I struggle to accept being a bug, a plea ignored however unintentionally. This oblique reference was not conscious for Suns. When they recognized it, however, they knew they’d meant it as another peace offering added to the pile of them and were grateful to see it accepted).
“Oh good,” said Suns, relieved for reasons they were not prodding at now, as mentioned. “Besides, I missed the important part – there will be other cycles, Pebbles! If you don’t wish to confront it today, a bit of procrastination won’t hurt us.” Perhaps that was all he’d wanted to hear from the beginning.
Or not, since Pebbles got to his feet with some focus, the weight of the leg braces not as challenging for him as they’d first been. “No. I have been putting my old structure to rest since I knew of its fall, and it is time to see that through. Delay will not help matters – come on. Before I lose my nerve.”
[DIRECT BROADCAST] Private - Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SOURCE NODE TRACE - SRS_ROOT, NSH_ROOT
SRS: This announcement of mine will come as no surprise, since I assume you’ve set up an alert for when I would reappear on the broadcasts, being the secret worrywart that you are. Unless there is another reason you have pinged me nearly two hundred forty thousand times since I left your structure? Thank you for that, by the way, but you can’t cover up our old conversation history that easily.
NSH: ping
SRS: All this to say, hello again Sig. Please turn off your autodetector, I’ve missed you from the moment your structure faded from view, but that is more than the sum of all other missed direct messages. By nearly a factor of ten.
NSH: ping
SRS: No Significant Harassment, I will come back there myself and shut it off. I have the capacity.
NSH: ping
SRS: SIG
NSH: Suns, it’s so great to hear from you! Yeah, in retrospect I should have done the math on that one but in my defense this is very funny. Did it crash your bandwidth? Didn’t mean to test your new systems but if I managed to so much the better.
NSH: ping
NSH: Oops, didn’t actually turn that off. Give me just one second.
NSH: You have to admit though, it’s very fitting revenge for all the messages I’m going to get because you decided to announce my return with my ID in global announcements.
NSH: Give me just…
SRS: I swear that you are delaying your messages for just long enough for another one to come through.
NSH: ping
[TERMINATE srs_autodetect.exe? Y/N]
[SHUTTING DOWN…]
NSH: …one second.
NSH: What? No, never, that would be pointless and annoying of me~
NSH: But actually, sorry to immediately blast you with notifications to go through right after coming back online. Most of the more sophisticated tools I have were not really suitable for someone whose systems I don’t actually want to intrude on, so you get the low-tech classics.
NSH: Suns come back or I’ll send you another two hundred thousand messages.
SRS: Sorry! Sorry, was clearing the notifications now that it’s off. Please no, anything but that.
SRS: Void, you’re awful.
NSH: Missed you too, old friend.
NSH: And hey, I resent the accusation of being worried! I had no reason to, consider complete faith in your abilities granted. But look, I didn’t even have to set up an alarm this way, since I knew you’d have to message me right away once the notifications kept coming through.
SRS: …I rest my previous statement.
NSH: So cruel to me and my goodwill.
NSH: But really, how was the trip?
SRS: Hardly the most treacherous either of us have made by this point! Though, I did forget what likes to hide away in the shallows around my structure. If you ever do visit, do yourself a favor and take the long route through hills, following the old railways. Well, what’s still there of them, anyway.
SRS: No near-death experience for either me or Pebbles though, just far more quick thinking required than anyone really likes to be necessary.
SRS: Have you been keeping yourself busy? And dare I say, it might be nice having the structure to just you and Moon?~
NSH: Oh, the scandal. Being all up in each other’s systems all the time.
SRS: Please, spare my delicate constitution the sordid details.
NSH: I’m rolling my eyes at you. Horrible not being able to do that in person anymore, really nothing like it. Underrated reaction, I find.
NSH: But no, we’re both doing well. Honestly, it’s good you reconnected when you did – we’ll probably both be out soon to check up on Grey’s structure, scope out the situation there. Which means, you guessed it! Waterproofing puppets, round three.
SRS: Oh no, I have no fond memories of that.
NSH: Yeah, though I might get away with making a submersible for real this time! Since, you know, Moon and water.
SRS: Of course. You think she’ll be alright, with Grey’s can as it is?
NSH: Eh… it’s not like I don’t have reservations, but she wants to come and like I’d ever tell her she can’t. Worst comes to worst, I go in alone and even just having someone for the return trip will be a help. It’s hard to imagine Grey will be in a great state.
NSH: But, all this reminds me – we’ve also been working on an attachment for the external pack that would allow global communications. Still some kinks to iron out, but I was going to send you what I’ve got. Since you’re the one with the most communications experience now, lucky you~
SRS: Oh dear, I did not mean to become the subject matter expert. But I’ll happily do what I can. Mind if I share it with Pebbles as well?
NSH: By all means, the more the merrier. Plus, then we’ll have full generational coverage, which means less hiccups during distribution.
NSH: …Crazy to think about doing distribution again. You didn’t do all that much Q and A fielding, did you? Only what you thought was worth responding to.
NSH: I still remember your original welding drone FAQ, hahaha.
SRS: I barely remember that one, what was unusual about it?
SRS: Wait. I think I might recall it now. Is this of “if you have to ask, you’re beyond all help I know how to give” infamy?
SRS: …I still don’t know what possessed me to write that…
NSH: Are you kidding? That was comedy gold, I’ve never read such a passive-aggressive user guide before! I still have it saved in triplicate, I can’t believe you removed all the funny bits in later editions. I sent it to the local group back in the day, I’ll never forget Pebbles thinking all of that was a completely respectable way to respond to questions… ah, you two scare me sometimes.
NSH: Speaking of, how’s he doing? Any hiccups in getting another chamber set up? Hopefully with a different ID than yours, or else he also just got two hundred forty thousand pings that I am sure I will be hearing about again.
SRS: You are spared, for now.
SRS: Honestly, nothing outside of the ordinary. You know, from our current sample size of… well, two now! I have more respect for your electrical work, though, and did you know that at some point gravity controls flipped between generations? Immediately being slammed into the ceiling was not really what I was prepared for.
NSH: HAHA
NSH: I mean, are you okay?
SRS: I was! And then I heard him mutter ‘Ah, whoops’, and suddenly the floor was the floor again instead of the ceiling and I was not there, so. Needless to say, if you do see my pride lying around anywhere, please return to sender.
NSH: Am I a bad friend if I ask if you were recording in the chamber at the time.
SRS: Audio only, I’m so sorry. I’m also devastated, frankly. Good news on fall compression though, that’s working great!
SRS: The biggest hurdle has honestly been proper partitioning and resource management. It’s subconscious for me, but he’s not used to having to constrain himself on a healthy system. I keep catching him running structure-wide scans and comparing them against historical data when he thinks I’m not looking! Void help me if he finds the logs from when I really was having processing speed issues.
NSH: Have you broken the news to him about maximum file sizes yet?
SRS: Please don’t remind me of the painful conversations ahead. My ego is still recovering from said gravity incident, thank you.
SRS: Still, of all the gripes to have that’s minor enough. And I might have a few useful things for you and your own split processing – some optimizations as well as an update that permits for root-level ID differentiation instead of adding an alias to the broadcasts.
NSH: Wait, really? That’s been bugging me and Moon for ages, gimme!
SRS: What a gentleman! But yes, here you go~
SRS: …
SRS: Did those not upload properly…?
NSH: Not seeing anything come through, so probably not.
SRS: Ah, wait. I think I’ve identified the problem.
SRS: I’ll confess my communication towers are not fully back up, since I did want to message you as soon as possible. Which means that if Pebbles is, for example, having a projection call… there goes the bandwidth.
NSH: And look at that, mine’s not at its best at the moment either. Guess he went to call Moon the fancy way as soon as he could. Kinda sweet, actually.
SRS: As much as I do agree…
SRS: Sig, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the ‘fancy’ way may actually be older than he is. I think it’s far more normal for him.
NSH: What? No, there’s no way, I didn’t finish the first hologram package before…
NSH: …
NSH: Now why would you go and point that out? I didn’t want to remember that.
NSH: Can we pretend I was calling it that ironically?
SRS: Oh, of course, why not?
SRS: So long as I can remind you of the time you called the broadcast network itself old and cumbersome in front of Moon~
NSH: Why would you remind me of that.
NSH: You weren’t even there for that! Why do you know about that?!
SRS: Pebbles, I’m afraid. I had a mole in your local group the whole time.
NSH: No, how could he do this to me why must my most heinous actions be dragged into the light.
NSH: It’s been ages since I remembered to be embarrassed about that, why…
NSH: Suns you’ll never believe this, I’m being saved from your cruel and unusual bullying by one of my wonderful messengers. Do I appoint it Grand Councillor of these lands for its sacred service. I think I actually might.
NSH: Okay, and hopefully my own bandwidth is not so awful that…
[NO SIGNIFICANT HARASSMENT HAS ATTACHED 1 IMAGE FILE. VIEW? Y/N]
[DOWNLOADING ATTACHMENTS 1/1…]
[ATTACHMENTS DOWNLOADED. OPENING ALL FILES…]
SRS: First of all, that is an adorable little messenger, look at their little paws! Aw, they look to be in great health as well.
SRS: Second of all, does your new Grand Councillor perhaps tax you per pixel?
NSH: I’m going to teach this one how to make rude gestures at you, I swear Suns.
SRS: I assure you, my own Spearmaster had a very colorful vocabulary by the end! I’ll live.
SRS: Are they outgoing or incoming?
NSH: Incoming! I started sending out pearls with your instructions on network repairs to the local group, and then everyone in Iniquity’s End to the south and Hope of Flourishing up north. Which unfortunately means I have to cut this a bit short, since this little fella has a returning pearl for me but looks to have delivered the original.
NSH: Do you mind covering your own local group? I didn’t want to step on your toes there, and had limited messengers besides.
SRS: I’m sure a few of the local nomadic slugcats that pass by can be coaxed into the task, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.
NSH: Ah, you and your humane approach. Thanks though, it means I can send the next batch further west.
NSH: …Okay, little buddy is officially bouncing off the walls. Great to talk as always Suns, send a projection once Pebbles gives you your network back!
SRS: Alright, alright, I will. And I’ll send along that ID program as well!
Though their travels with Sig meant they had readapted to local communications, as the distant tether of the broadcast signal was pulled from its connection they were reminded this was not the case with anything long range. A buzzing hollowness was left in its place, though thankfully with enough life to it they knew that he was merely distant and not absent altogether.
Had it always felt like that? They didn’t remember it being this quiet, and they couldn’t say they liked the change. But perhaps it was to be expected. Once they had experienced the severing of all those lines in a rush of devastation, and the silence after that had been…
Suns pulled back from those memories, awareness condensing as they strayed well away from Pebbles’ own domain. Being in the same systems at the same time created a feedback loop that opened the door to working memory, which they’d both known about courtesy of Sig and Moon. Still, they’d only been concerned about it from a privacy perspective at first – they had not expected the confusion over which thoughts were whose, made all the worse by having similar reactions to stumbling over the other’s own consciousness.
Though right now, with that contemptible silence looming within, they would prefer the chaos of that unintentional meeting…
That hardly mattered. Pebbles was busy, and they shouldn’t intrude in such a manner besides. Though, this made for a good time to analyze usage patterns in their communications arrays – presumably there would be a point where both of them wanted to run a bandwidth-intensive process. If it was only ever to Sig and Moon then they might be able to use a single signal, but with Sig sending out pearls to other iterators? Their options for communications were looking much wider.
Speaking of, they sent out a few overseers to scout out potential messengers. Lone travelers often found the boon of karma they could grant a worthy payment for a pearl delivery. Of course, it was still more convoluted than creating another purposed organism for the task, but for various reasons it left an unpleasant hitch in their processes to think of doing so these days.
The bandwidth usage, right. They hadn’t expected much, only the ability to support two conversations at once and perhaps some file sharing. Not a projection as well, so they were surprised all had worked as well as it did with Pebbles’ activities in mind.
Like they’d suspected, it was as increased as every other metric in their structure, though the effect was mitigated by the amount of towers they had active. Suns was no closer to identifying the root cause (aside from Pebbles’ theory of placing their faith in the self-repair microbiota) but they thought they’d at least found the mechanism their systems had pulled off this feat through.
Their usage limits had changed across the board.
Or rather, they didn’t even have usage limits anymore. Those hadn’t put in place by their Benefactors, they had been a local group-wide agreement for purposes of rain cycle coordination to avoid exactly the kind of natural disaster that had dealt the final blow to their and the next five local groups' communication arrays. Iterators, working in perfect disharmony, could wreak such havoc across even themselves far too easily. And it had only gotten more difficult to manage the more communications had gone silent.
Frankly, they hadn’t been aware those permissions could still be changed. Perhaps whatever mechanism had kept them in place had finally rusted away.
That would do it. Suns tried to convince themself that was the answer to this problem of theirs. A distant lock had finally snapped, their systems had adjusted accordingly, and they’d likely have to set up new limits after analyzing their neighbors’ outputs to avoid catastrophe. That was all.
Unless, of course, it was not a deprecation of that system. Unless it was a transfer in ownership instead, to adapt to a shifting status…
That would be ridiculous, though. They were the fourth oldest in their group, and even knowing the extenuating circumstances surely they were still removed from any actual authority. Too much would have to go wrong for those particular permissions to come to them, and Suns refused to waste their time entertaining it for long.
They were as they always had been. A near stranger to the rest of their local group, with a distance from the rest of them that they’d maintained well throughout the cycles and had no interest in closing. Nothing had changed there.
Besides, Suns had no desire to revisit authority. They were not the sort of person who could use it well without guidance, and the world they lived in was an condemning one. It would not make the same poor judgment twice, by giving them power they did not understand and could not see its course of influence.
It was not group seniority. It could not be.
But if it is not, said a savvier, more cynical side of them that had been awoken from its forced slumber as soon as the rush of those removed limits had been discovered. If not that – then what?
For that, they had no answer.