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Whoa...the post settings from the admin accounts are really different than the normal accounts.

I'm sure you're expecting Jo or Maury or one of the others but those are all people who are way smarter and way more qualified than me, and those people are working overtime to trace down a signal we keep picking up on. Not sure what it means yet, but I'm hoping for the best. We thought we were able to isolate the problem when the other regions appeared on the current layer but it's something deeper.

But hey, isn't that what we're all trying to do here? Hope for the best.

Call me curious, but what's your favorite color? I've been teaching myself color theory lately. Bonus points if you say "why", too.

Zee Carlisle
Hiring Manager
Retr

spec Incorporated

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Yeah. I know.

[Anna doesn't sound mad to hear that, no matter how short her sentences are. she doesn't know how she managed to tell Clover that and apparently get believed when it rings so strange with her now. maybe Clover doesn't have 18 years of this shit weighing on her mind, too.]

You know how I am about being controlled, though. That's all robots are. Things that get stuff programmed into them that they have no choice but to obey. [this is about to get dark, she thinks.] I don't want to lose my free will after I spent so much time winning it back. You know?

I get it, but I have more science to lay out.

[Kara waves that off, thumb popping the cap off her beer and flicking it high into the sky.]

Robots aren't controlled. Robots are a complex set of programs, but at the core they are machines. You've described actual emotions. That means A2 is sentient. Sentience means thought, and therefore free will. And from what you've told me, Operators are there to help people anyway. So, either A2 goes along willingly, or you're missing a puzzle piece.

[god. Kara just has so much stuff going on, doesn't she. she's smart, she's pretty, she has every single good superpower known to man... it's a really good thing that Anna already made friends with her and is in absolutely no mood to feel bitter towards her. it's not right.]

[she looks ahead while Kara talks, then turns her head to the side slightly to reply to her.]

Maybe I am missing something, but... I really want to believe you on this. You know a lot of stuff that I just. Don't, you know? I trust you. [she gives a halfhearted smile at that.] You didn't get this far from not knowing what you're talking about.

[Anna has just literally come into contact with both of her fields of study. Biomechanics is a rather niche bit of interdisciplinary work, after all. And it makes her feel a little self-conscious, knowing that she's almost lecturing Anna. Almost.]

Well, we're all definitely missing something. [A few screws at least.] but I'm glad? I just want to help, and I think this stuff all tracks. Based on what information I have, those are the conclusions I've come to, at any rate.

[She gently elbows her friend.]

We'll figure it out, as memory returns if nothing else. Been a hell of a month.

Sure as hell has.

[she appreciates Kara's expertise a lot, and the fact that she's able to talk about this so confidently when everything else is a mystery. it's doing a lot to help, though she hasn't quite realized how much yet and it probably won't hit her for a while. after she's had time to process it all.]

Anyway, that's what I've been up to, I guess. Big spike in bad brain shit. You get anything interesting after I made you remember her friend? You got confirmation on the whole alien thing, I guess.

Yeah, I guess.

[Definitely got that confirmation.]

Other me blew up at that guy in my memories. The superhero. Just went off on him about how there's no way he can understand her situation. Truth be told, I believe her. It sounds like she lost everything. I think her home planet blew up, or something.

[Her foot traces a lazy S in the dirt beneath their feet and she stamps a foot next to it. It's a stylized S, almost not one...]

And I remember this. The Crest of the House of El. Her...I guess family colors? It means Hope, and Of the Sun in her language.

[Anna's quiet while her friend talks. kind of makes turning into a robot seem a little... lacking in comparison, if that's what happened to Kara. that's a lot of shit to go through, and she's not gonna try to talk must about it because she also can't understand that situation.]

Damn. At least the crest is good. [or at least the outline looks that way.] If that's the kind of stuff she embodied, then, like, yeah. That sounds like you.

[giving people hope, shining it down on them like the sun... there's a lot of metaphor she could let herself get lost in, but she's not going to right now.]

Don't blame her for losing her shit at that other guy, either. How the hell is anyone supposed to relate to that? [how many planets just blow up?] Worst thing in the world is when someone who thinks they know everything thinks they can tell you how to react to something.

Hah.

[Kara takes a long drink of her beer and swipes her foot across the S. It's just a pictogram to her, and while she'd like to learn more of the language purely from an academic perspective, there's no reason to give it too much weight. It's just linguistics.]

I don't know about being of the sun, but yeah. The worst thing is I'm pretty sure that dude and I are related. He's got the same crest on his chest. Sanctimonious dicks are bad enough. Sanctimonious dicks that are family? Even worse.

Preaching to the fuckin' choir on that one.

[but instead of being bitter, she's gonna try to think of something encouraging to say. it takes a second, and she fills time with a drink.]

I think there's something to that whole "of the sun" thing. You asked me what was wrong, then showed up with beer and offered to talk with me about it, just so I could get it off my chest and maybe not feel like I was handling all this alone. Think about it, Kar.

[she turns her head towards her friend and grins, and it's warmer than anything Anna's worn in a while.]

Is that sun-ish?

[She's not sure she follows that particular line of logic, but there are definitely worse things to hear. Maybe it's one of those Hu-Mon emotions that an alien like her just isn't going to understand? Maybe.]

Sorry, I'm just...trying to be a good friend? Lord knows, I'm not really the most easy person to get along with, so maybe I'm overcompensating. Is it too much?

Please. If you're not easy to get along with then I must be a total fuckin' misanthrope. [she presses her shoulder against Kara's briefly, just to let her know it's a joke and everything's okay.]

It's fine how it is. You're helping people. That's all you want to do, yeah? Whether it's the city or the world or just one depressed chick who definitely needs some more vitamin D in her life. [that's literal, and she's hoping blowing by it can deter the jokes.]

That sounds like the sun to me.

[Kara...snorts.]

If it were anyone else, I'd ask if vitamin D was euphemism.

[She can be funny too. Right?]

[so much for that. but the surprise of hearing Kara of all people say it steals a laugh from Anna, which is unfortunate because she was definitely drinking.]

Don't you have, like, ten degrees? I didn't think you were allowed to make dick jokes.

[Okay, she laughs too. Mostly...]

Just three. Four if a bach degree counts. I am totally allowed to make dick jokes.

[it does take Anna a second to figure out what Kara means by "bach degree", but that's just because she doesn't even have that.]

Good to know. I'll come to you with all the good dick jokes I have saved up now. [she smirks.] No, it was literal. The actual vitamin. I don't think people want to know about my sex life. You know, such that it is.

Oh. Well. There are pills for that. And I guess with summer coming on you could tan.

[She's not sure if Europeans tan.]

[she shakes her head.]

I mostly burn. And if things end up like I'm pretty sure they will, I might not even have skin anymore when summer hits. [god, that's. she hasn't actually said it out loud until now. it's gruesome.] Fiberglass, maybe? Or maybe something so advanced it doesn't exist yet. But it probably doesn't tan either.

Well, when that happens, you're going to have to let me look at you.

[For science.]

Though, I don't think you'd have fiberglass for skin. Too rigid.

Yeah, sure.

[she agrees to that pretty quickly, almost surprising herself, but if Kara actually knows, or can figure out, what her body turns into when it happens, hell yeah, she trusts her expertise.]

Depending on how much you wanna examine, I mean. Only one person has those privileges right now. [but again, nobody wants to hear about it.] Where's synthetic skin tech even at? How out of your league are you gonna be if I turn out to be something advanced?

Uh. Yeah, no, I'm just going to want to see skin from your extremities. Arms, legs, maybe a bit of poking around your joints.

[She doesn't need or want to go near other parts.]

And...I don't know. I mean, I've made synthetic skin that can feel real, and pick up on touch based stimuli. That's what my old job entailed, at Michigan State. They were doing synthflesh, they called it. But if it turns out to be like, actual organic, vatgrown fake skin? I'm going to be out of my depth and I'm going to try and replicate it.

Okay, well. I don't know how much I'll be able to let you replicate stuff. That's a... biopsy, right?

[she knows words. and she's glad to be focusing on this instead of uncomfortably making sex jokes.]

Depends on how it works and how much you need as a sample. But yeah, sure. I get the feeling that whatever I'm gonna turn into is way more advanced than anything we have now, if it's supposed to fight giant floating centipede robots.

It is a biopsy, yes. And probably just a few scrapings if it's organic.

[And if it's inorganic, well...that's a bridge that can be crossed later.]

Oh, shit, okay, that's a lot less than I thought. I thought you'd have to, like, take a slice out of me or something.

[she shakes her head.] God, I know nothing about science.

I mean, I will be. But it won't be a deep slice. Don't worry it won't hurt.

[She...will use all the science to make sure of that.]

I mean... I guess if it goes to help people, sure, like. Yeah.

[it's all hypothetical at this point. when it becomes reality, she might have different opinions.]

Glad to be of use to someone. Usually when people donate their bodies to science, they have to die first.

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