Eclipse Phase: Oblitus Memorias

[Josh]

"My last memory," Eli said softly. "I... I'm not sure. How do you know what it is?"

He stood and walked over to a dispenser to get himself a glass of water, which he downed in a single gulp.

"We don't have timestamps on our memories. I experienced traumatic sleeve destruction at least three times that I know of, that I remember. Those were times my stack was recovered, science team members were a priority for extract or if not possible, stack destruction. I'm pretty sure i was restored from site-local backup at least twice, which means, well, you know what that means- I went somewhere, and I didn't come back."

He dispensed another glass, then took a more measured sip.

"What feels like my last memory? A party. I don't know why I was there. It was..."

He chuckled suddenly.

"Pretty wild. Desperate. I think this was when everyone knew that we weren't going to make it. Any of us. The Titans were going to fucking swat us like insects, then go on and scour the system. No more humanity. So we did the human thing. We drank, we did drugs, we fucked. There was a woman..."

He frowned and took another sip.

"Reactive skin tatts. Mood-reflective. Sticks out, because those were a fad before the war but once things were going bad they went away quickly. But her mood was hyper. Blasting. I could..."

He paused.

"I knew what she wanted. I knew exactly what she wanted, I knew what to say to her. You know what, Muninn, I didn't use to know. I didn't used to be able to categorize and deconstruct people like that. Fuck! I remember it now, Robbie was the platoon leader and he told me if he didn't come back he wanted me to take his sleeve out from storage at the base and get it good and fucked up and laid. She thought it was with the 217th and she was fucking scared and in denial and thought that the Titans could come through the line at any time and she wanted someone to hold her."

He put the glass down. "So I let her think what she wanted to think and she couldn't wait to get into a dark place to pay me back. I told her what she wanted to hear because i knew exactly what it was."

The memories were starting to cohere now.

"She was right, you know. They could've breached at any point. This was late in the war. They had us and they could've rolled us up at any point, but they hadn't yet and we didn't know why. We were all dead and we knew it. So we... we drank and got stoned and fucked because it didn't matter now, at least we weren't out there at the moment."

He tapped the table.

"I remember getting the ping for a recall to the Fozzy, that was our transmit station. I was pissed because I was, y'know, this close and I owed Robbie one, fuck, I owed him a lot more than one and fuck he didn't have to die like that, fuck. But you don't ignore a recall because we're on issued MUSEs and they can get in and make your life very fucking unpleasant if they don't get the ping that you're moving now."

He shrugged. "So I moved. I remember. She tried to hang on, she wouldn't let me go, and then she went fucking crazy and I had to punch her to get her loose and she was screaming and then I left. I remember walking right back into the party hanging out and pulling my trousers up as I went and nobody gave a shit because they were either too fucked up or already fucking on the floor anyway. I got out the door and it was cold as hell and Robbie's sleeve automatically bumped a quarter-degree to compensate, and then..."

Eli waved his hand, saw that it was shaking. "That's it for that. Just cold, then warm, then it cuts. I think that was the last one. It was pretty late in the war. And I need a fucking drink. Do we have any g-goddamn booze?"

[Gogglesgirl]

Phi mulled Munin's words over in her head, images from the dream still embedded into her eyes.

"Well, I don't know a ton about where she was prior to... everything. She was in pretty close contact with our parents, at least compared to myself. They lived in the same enclave Zeta and I grew up in. It's possible that when everything happened they had her nearby. If they wanted to keep her safe, they probably would have kept her under lock and key where they were until they could get her uploaded."

After another moment of pensiveness, Phi continued.

"As far as where they are now, all I can guess is that they aren't in any of the anarchist circles. They're too capitalist for that."

"Even if you can't help, Munin, thanks for offering. It means a lot to me."

[Dark Silver]

As Mal entered engineering he finds another individual in the section, staring at a holographic display of the solar system along side several charts of measurements, numbers and figures. Next to that was what appeared to be an active communication with another man in a morph that Mal would classify as being of Middle-Eastern descent. He recognized the individual after a moment as Marzuq Abdul Wadud al-Bahth, the person who had hired them to help him track down a hidden treasure. The individual al-Bahth was talking to, however, he did not recognize. As the doors hissed shut behind him, al-Bahth looked over his shoulder, turning the seat to look at him.
"Ah, Mr... Edwardo, was it? You come to see where we're going?"

Mal walked into the engineering cabin fully expecting to be able to go over some of the system diagnostics, check the drives, and maybe handle a few minor things that wouldn't take much brainpower - but let him just numb out after the issues with Parvarti.

Instead he walked in to find their client....taking up his precious engineering space....

"Mr. al-Bahth..." Mal said as the Middle-Eastern male addressed him, "No...actually, was just coming to check on Muninn's systems....I didn't even know you were here." Still - any opportunity to learn more couldn't hurt, "But since you've mentioned it, some more information on this excursion you've recruited us for wouldn't be bad."

Even as he said this, Mal was walking to one of the engineering displays, pulling up the most recent diagnostics run, and since he didn't trust Vasili or his men as far as he could throw one of the overbuilt security morph that Vasili employed for his thugs. Without speaking, he typed in commands for Muniin to deep scan for listening devices or trackers that might have been installed.

[B4UTRUST]

Phi mulled Munin's words over in her head, images from the dream still embedded into her eyes.

"Well, I don't know a ton about where she was prior to... everything. She was in pretty close contact with our parents, at least compared to myself. They lived in the same enclave Zeta and I grew up in. It's possible that when everything happened they had her nearby. If they wanted to keep her safe, they probably would have kept her under lock and key where they were until they could get her uploaded."

After another moment of pensiveness, Phi continued.

"As far as where they are now, all I can guess is that they aren't in any of the anarchist circles. They're too capitalist for that."

"Even if you can't help, Munin, thanks for offering. It means a lot to me."

"It is no problem, I assure you. If, as you say, they are unlikely to to have taken up with any anarchistic or non-corporate entities I would suggest we begin by looking towards the inner system and the hypercorporations thereof. Between the Morningstar Constellation and the Planetary Consortium there is plenty to begin to sift through. Do you happen to know which corporations or enclaves they were tied with prior to The Fall? We may be able to narrow it down by tracing corporate acquisitions and mergers."


---------------------------------

"Ah, yes," al-Bahth began. "I apologize for that. This location was the best I could find to both work and be able to talk to my husband at the same time. Sadly, your crewmates are not the quietest or politest with regard to personal privacy."

He turned and began tap a few commands to move the display perspective. It zoomed in towards the asteroid belt.
"You see, somewhere in here is 34351 Decatur, a three and a half kilometer diameter Koronis-family asteroid. Orbiting at about 3AU from Sol, it is what most would consider to be in the middle of nowhere. But, thanks to a stack of shipping invoices and manifests from a defunct corporation, I believe it is now, or at least once was, more than the barren rock most people see it as. Back before The Fall, Monolith Industries had assets transferred between divisions and the ultimate destination of at least one asset is, as you might have guessed, 34351. I believe that what was transferred there is still there and will be of quite some value one way or another.

"So, simply, we're going on a treasure hunt."


----------------------------------

There was a clicking noise as a catch released on a hidden drawer in the wall of the medbay. A light illuminated the cavity from further back as it slid partially open. Far enough for one to pull on if they desired, or close it away.
"Inside I believe you will find what you are after. The previous ship doctor had a small private supply. I cannot speak to its quality, of course, but observations indicate it was capable of making one intoxicated. I believe he once mentioned having infused it with Tetrahydrocannabinol.

Muninn went silent, waiting for Eli's choice.
"Guilt. Fear. Pain. Anger. All of these emotions are natural to feel. Expected even, given what you have experienced. It would be easy to classify much of what you describe, the emotional coloring of your memory, as Survivor's Guilt. But, I believe, that would be something of a disservice and be dishonest to both of us.

"I have a query concerning what you described. The woman you described. You said that you did not use to be able to 'deconstruct' people. Were you actually able to do that back even then, or is this an artifact of your mind coloring the memory? What is the first time you realized you were 'deconstructing' people?"

[Josh]

Eli grunted as he pulled the bottle free from the safe.

"I don't know," he said as he pulled the cork and took an exploratory sniff. "When I look at somebody now, it's as though my mind is running a continual set of equations that I can't explain or articulate. For something resembling a baseline human morph, reading the microexpressions, the eyebrows and the cheeks and the philtrum, and it all adds up to data points that indicate whether I sense if somebody's lying to me, or if they like me, they're suspicious, whatever. It's... intuitive, but thorough. Even in mechanical morphs, I think unless they've edited themselves to specifically remove tics altogether, I can read the gestures, the small motions. Harder to do, but it's there. And in some of my memories I can do this. I could tell that the briefing officer wasn't expecting any of us to make it out alive, or one of the squaddies had a crush on another one, and the one they had a crush on didn't have any sexual response at all in them. I remember knowing these things, and then I remember... some other time. When I didn't really pay attention to people."

He spread his hands, momentarily forgetting the bottle. "Like I walk into a room, there are people talking, I process the noises they're making and make appropriate noise responses, but..."

Eli grimaced. "Those memories seem so shallow. Like do you know, when you're a child?"

He looked at Munin's avatar then barked out a laugh. "You wouldn't. Never mind that. But a child has... childish perceptions. You get the same sensory data as an adult, but you lack context. So you remember an innocence and an ignorance. You saw things, and then years later suddenly you'll make the connection- ooooooh, mom and dad were talking about sneaking off for a quickie."

Eli lifted the bottle, took a drink, swirled the liquor around in his mouth before nodding. "This isn't bad. Not great, but not bad either. So anyway, there are memories that are like that. Like once when I talked to people, they were doing all the things I notice now, but I didn't notice them. I can't process them in my memory, I can't revisit and redo the math, because I didn't know the symbols or equations that I know now. But the thing is, Munin, is that when I was sleeved in that bot morph you put me in at the beginning, I couldn't do it then either. It wasn't until I moved to the Duster sleeve that I suddenly could do it again, and then I noticed. And now I remember that I could do it before."

He took a longer drink.

"I think my head's fucked up, Munin. Somebody or something got in there, and I think they- it, whatever, changed me. I don't know who I am. I haven't known since I woke up. I don't think this is just post traumatic stress, though fuck yeah I'll own that I'm carrying a load of that. But that doesn't encompass an entirely new perceptual spectrum of ability."

As he spoke the bottle shook in his hands, though his face was blank and nigh-unreadable, the very microexpressions he spoke of reading in others utterly indiscernible in his own expression.

"I don't know who I am," he said. "I don't know what I am."

[B4UTRUST]

"One could argue that while I may not have had a biological childhood or traditional upbringing, I did have a nascent state of existence, even if the scale of time involved is different. I can appreciate the sensation of having memories reinterpreted by new information and context. I could go further in depth on the variety of AI design and creation if you like, but I think that would be deviating from our current focus.

"Your head is not, as you say, fucked up. As has been tested, your results are within the standard deviations for baseline normal. But I do understand the fear of a lack of knowledge and control. A loss of a feeling of autonomy. We could debate the nature of change and of the human condition as it relates to change, that change is inevitable and good or bad, it will happen. What your quandary is, however, is not a result of simple change of circumstance or experience, but a complete change in how you functionally think and interpret the world around you. A loss of self.

"As to what you are, I am afraid that I must tell you that you are unfortunately one hundred percent transhuman. I understand if this diagnosis makes you feel a bit unsettled and disappointed. Joking aside, there may be an answer to your query. Though, I will note, it is somewhat impossible to test for to verify the hypothesis.

"I am sure you are aware of the various types of strains of the Exsurgent virus and the variety of alterations and effects they can produce on infected hosts. There is one strain, however, that has been identified as rather benign overall, as improbable as that may seem.

"Prior to The Fall during the height of study of the Exsurgent virus on Earth, this strain was isolated by two researchers. Further study of the strain lead to insights on the effect the virus has on the transhuman brain. Careful analysis of infected subjects discovered that their altered synapses generated a modulated brainwave pattern that is extremely difficult to detect. The designation of these modified brainwaves were labeled following the traditional accepted method as 'psi' following alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and theta waves. These infected individuals have been designated as 'Asyncs'. Study of the explicit causal factors behind psi waves were rather stymied. Theories regarding what were dubbed 'extraordinary' mental processes were inconclusive. Some of the mental processes examined were shown to change quantum states. Neuroimaging and mapping enabled scientists to pinpoint structures within the brain, neural activity and perturbations in the brain's bioelectric field that are associated with psi processes, but attempts to duplicate those features in non-infected brains resulted in failure. Or worse. Attempts to identify Async brain patterns were unsuccessful. It's been postulated by many researchers that the mechanics underlying psi are simply too strange or too far beyond transhumanity's current understanding of physical sciences. This, perhaps, merely reinforces other theories that the Exsurgent virus is in fact of alien origin.

"One of the leading speculations regarding this particular strain is that the changes wrought in the mind by the infection actually entangle some of the neural sub-systems, enabling some sort of quantum field within the brain, or possibly create Bose-Einstein condensates within the brain, allowing for quantum computation or perhaps hypercomputation. Documented mental capabilities of some studied Asyncs showed enhancement to the level provided by modern implants and neuromods. In some cases, beyond current levels. This, however, does not explain the capabilities of other Asyncs. Other documented experiments showed examples of some being able to read or affect other biological minds. These abilities seem to involve reading brain waves from a short range or affecting another's mind via direct physical contact with the bioelectric field. Of course, I can only offer speculation in what has been publicly documented. All of that being said, I will point out something very interesting about what is generally understood about the changes made by the virus. Most of the understood effects that have been documented and studied take place on a subconscious level, meaning that the Async is not actively aware of the fundamental processes happening. It is quite possible that various factions or hypercorps have made further breakthroughs in research but have not released further findings.

"This particular strain, if you are unfamiliar, is the Watts-MacLeod strain. It is believed that currently the percentage of transhumanity that has contracted the Watts-MacLeod strain remains statistically insignificant - less than .001%. As of yet, no documented cases of Watts-MacLeod have inflicted any other abnormalities other than the modulation of the brainwave patterns. Though, I will note, there is an increased risk of Asyncs succumbing to other Exsurgent strains should they encounter them. Other common risks associated with this strain include extreme fatigue and in some cases lethal levels of biofeedback from extensive usage, along with a statistical likelihood of developing mental disorders due to increased mental stress placed on the mind.

"As I said, this is merely a hypothesis, little more than conjecture based on available information. Psychological distress aside, I believe the difficulties, frustrations and changes you are experiencing may be attributable to you being a host for a strain of the Exsurgent virus."

[Josh]

Eli's facial control slipped at last, emotions flickering nakedly across his face as he took it in.

Horror, at the thought that the virus had in fact touched him, had nested within him, had changed him in that way that would follow an ego relentlessly from stack to stack, morph to morph.

It had happened when troops had cast back in occasionally, which had led to thorough post-cast quarantine and examination. 'Time bombs', they were called. Sometimes they even literally exploded, by means that had never been determined. How does a human body produce the energy to blow out and level the first floor of a building?

But then Muninn mentioned the name of the strain, and Eli's face shifted to bafflement, wonderment, incredulity.

He laughed suddenly, a roaring belly laugh.

"Are you," he gasped between peals of laughter, liquor sloshing on the floor as he staggered around. "Fucking. Kidding me? McLeod? Fucking McLeod? MCLEOD? Cyrus fucking McLeod gets something named after him? That fucking useless turd-brained halfwit motherfucking hack?"

He flopped down in a chair and took a drink as he sat back and stared at the ceiling.

"I... perhaps... have a strain of the exsurgent virus in my ego. Named for Cyrus motherfucking shit-sucking goat-fucking McLeod."

His head flopped back and thonked solidly against the bulkhead behind him, bringing a wince.

"Out of everybody in the field, it's his goddamn name that makes it into the books after the fall. That incompetent, goofy sonofabitch that only got the deferral into research because his goddamn mom was an admiral. God, fucking tell me he got it named for him because he was a goddamned test subject. Goddamn. Fucking McLeod."

He sat for a moment longer, took another drink. When he spoke again, his voice had distinctly begun to slur, but all levity had drained away, leaving it cold and clinical, as the mask settled on his face once more.

"I'm going to need all the aggregated journals and data on that strain in particular, as well as all public source info you can lay talons on for current data on the exsurgent virus, please. I'm behind the times."

[B4UTRUST]

"I am glad that you find amusement in my theory. Yes, The MacLeod of Watts-MacLeod is named after Cyrus MacLeod. Am I to understand that you are familiar with this particular researcher? Also, for what it is worth, I find that your open acceptance of this theory to be reassuring that you are capable of handling this going forward.

"All publicly available data on the Watts-MacLeod strain that I have is readily available in the ship's library database. I can attempt to request more information from public sources but that will require time and potential cost. The most up to date information, however, will most likely be inaccessible outside of specific groups or corporations carrying out the research. They are equally unlikely to publish that they are continuing such research as anything to do with the Exsurgent virus is viewed as extremely hazardous and actively frowned upon by the vast majority of transhumanity."

[Josh]

"For good reason," Eli said.

He took another drink as he stared at the wall. "I should tell the others," he said. "Even though they might kick me off the damn ship by way of the airlock. No point in playing a zombie bite scenario, right? General Regulation 2114 revision C, all suspected incidence of exsurgent contamination to be reported immediately."

He tapped the table next to him. "We called that 'getting Charlied', you know. We mostly never saw them again."

[B4UTRUST]

"I am afraid I do not understand the reference 'getting Charlied.' Do you believe it is the best course of action for this team for them to be aware of what is potentially going on? Please remember that there is no definitive method that I have available to prove either scenario conclusive at this time. I could disable the airlocks for the time being, perhaps?"

[Dark Silver]

Mal listened as he pressed commit on the scan parameters - anything that would be foreign to Mal's systems as factory, or of unknown use in the standard daily operations of the ship would be catalogued and displayed once the scan was done - as well as any weirdness in the shipboard info-net.

"No worries Professor," Mal turned back to the middle-eastern man, Engineering has become my little get away, I don't mind sharing. Hopefully you've otherwise had good accommodations onboard Muninn." As the scholar explained about the asteroid, Mal almost sighed. A chance at no payout didn't suit him entirely....as long as they could keep the ship going.

Eventually, he'd have to get in touch with his family, let them know he was alive.

"So we go there, hope no one else caught onto your research, and hope that the asteroid actually is what you think it is. Anything you think might be there waiting for the unlucky SOB who decides to show up without Corp credentials?"

[Josh]

"I'd appreciate that," Eli said. "Let me get a shower and something to eat, let everyone else get cleaned up and fed, and if you could prep a basic brief on..."

He grimaced.

"...Watts McLeod that a layman can digest, that would also be good."

His voice had steadied. His face had shifted, composing itself into the expression of bland amiability he generally had. "It tracks with some of what I've been experiencing, at least, and given that it is potential exsurgent infection even if apparently benign, we have to assume that I have it until proven otherwise. That was the policy during the war."

[B4UTRUST]

al-Bahth smiled up at Mal.
"Given the lengths I had to go to to piece this information together, I would say it is highly doubtful that anyone else is aware of this location. This is something of my specialty, after all. But yes, I suppose someone could have lucked onto it, or one of the people who were involved in putting corporate assets on a remote rock in the middle of nowhere right before The Fall could have in the intervening years managed to get back out here. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility. But I'm fairly confident that what was put there is still out there, waiting.

"Now, as to what might be waiting for us 'unlucky SoBs' as you call us, probably not much. From what I've been able to determine there wasn't anything by way of defenses installed. At least nothing on any of the shipping manifests that I obtained. But, my friend, that is why I hire professionals to assist me 'alays kadhalk?"

---------------

"I will see what I can put together for you. In the meantime I will disable the airlocks until you feel it is safe to reengage them. I will advise the crew to gather in the briefing room in 45 minutes for your debrief. That should provide ample time for them to attend to any hygiene and nutritional needs."

---------------

There was a series of soft tones that came over the hidden speakers throughout the ship by way of signaling Muninn's announcement.
"Attention all crew, this is Muninn. An important briefing will be held in 45 minutes in the briefing room. For those new to the ship, the briefing room is located directly across from the crew lounge located to the aft of crew quarters. Please be in attendance promptly and see to any hygienic and nutritional needs prior to this meeting."

[Josh]

Eli made his way to the cleaning station in his quarters.

He wasn't, he felt, afraid of the rest of the crew. Many of their present egos had not encountered the works of the Titans and the exsurgent virus, and thus lacked the visceral reaction that he himself had for the prospect of infection.

Certainly they would understand the hazard intellectually, but until you'd performed a decontamination and material sampling run on a mess hall filled with sludge from a gray goo attack by an infected squaddie, you really lacked the kind of perspective that Eli or Vasily had.

Still, they might decide to kill him. And truthfully, he couldn't blame them.

Is this my way of absolving myself of suicide? Foisting the decision on others?

He didn't think so. While he could sense the impulses, now that he could categorize them, characterize and quantify them, they could be managed.

Or could they? Could that be in fact what a scrap of self-aware code that had hijacked his neural processes directed him to think?

Was this even Eli, or simply a reskinned artificial construct infiltrated into human society?

Down that road led madness, and he would not succumb to it.

"I am Eli Wohl," he said softly as he used the sonic scrubber to clean the bouncer morph he was occupying.

That was the only functional operant theory, until demonstrated otherwise. Assume his ego was in fact Eli, and that Eli was in control. Then work to keep it that way.

[Dark Silver]

al-Bahth smiled up at Mal.
"Given the lengths I had to go to to piece this information together, I would say it is highly doubtful that anyone else is aware of this location. This is something of my specialty, after all. But yes, I suppose someone could have lucked onto it, or one of the people who were involved in putting corporate assets on a remote rock in the middle of nowhere right before The Fall could have in the intervening years managed to get back out here. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility. But I'm fairly confident that what was put there is still out there, waiting.

"Now, as to what might be waiting for us 'unlucky SoBs' as you call us, probably not much. From what I've been able to determine there wasn't anything by way of defenses installed. At least nothing on any of the shipping manifests that I obtained. But, my friend, that is why I hire professionals to assist me 'alays kadhalk?"

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Mal said, easing back in his chair, "Truth be told Doc, I was just a Private Eye before the Fall. Professional is one thing I may have been."

He mused a bit, looking a the display screen, waiting Muininn's feedback on the ship diagnostic, when the announcement came over the intercom,

There was a series of soft tones that came over the hidden speakers throughout the ship by way of signaling Muninn's announcement.
"Attention all crew, this is Muninn. An important briefing will be held in 45 minutes in the briefing room. For those new to the ship, the briefing room is located directly across from the crew lounge located to the aft of crew quarters. Please be in attendance promptly and see to any hygienic and nutritional needs prior to this meeting."

"Who the hell called a all hands briefing?"

He sighed, looking at the client, "Well, I suggest you listen to what Muninn said. One of the joys of a Synth-Morph, I don't have to worry about the clean ups and what not. See you in the conference room in 45."

[Josh]

As the crew filed into the conference room, all save for Eli, the wall monitor lit up with his image. He was freshly groomed, immaculately clean now, and sat at the small pull-out desk in his quarters, hands interlaced in front of him.

"A matter has arisen," he said "and I have confined myself to quarters until such time as you make your determination on this. There is a possibility, though currently unverifiable, that at some point prior to departing from Earth, I was infected with a stable strain of the Exsurgent virus known as the Watts-McLeod strain."

The name of the strain brought on the first hint of a reaction to his otherwise blank face, a slight twitch of the cheek that to an experienced reader of microexpressions would indicate disdain.

"The product of this infection is the apparent capacity for what could be termed... abnormal abilities, or in layman's terms, 'psychic powers'. Munin is now providing you with both the short summaries on available information on Watts-McLeod, as well as links to such detailed research as was available."

[raulpascal]

Jameson stood with the rest of the crew, listening to a dead man talk about superpowers. What the hell am I doing here? he asked himself. He was a sommelier--a goddamn sommelier, for fuck's sake--before the fall. He could tell you all about the best Sangiovese to match with your meal, upsell you, convince you in front of your date that the extra markup was totally worth the price. Not...whatever this was. He remembered waking up, he remembered slime and confusion, but before that, his last memory was giving his recommendations for the best Chardonnay to accompany grouse. The voice--Moony? something like that--had told him that he was part of a batch of mostly military, that he probably had military training but for a number of reasons he couldn't access that part of his memory. Or maybe that part of his memory was lost; maybe he was from an earlier backup, and he didn't have the training yet. Or maybe, he thought more and more, maybe this was all just a fuck-up. Maybe he was just Jameson the sommelier, somehow caught up by accident in this nightmare fuel. On the plus side, he thought to himself, I'll never have to have another goddamn glass of Chardonnay.

[Dark Silver]

Mal looked down at the display on the table infront of his seat as Muninn displayed the data. Video entries, scientific papers, thesis.....

Stuff way over his head.

Friday, download and shift data, standard relevancy. Give me the big bite.

Mal's DA went to work on the file, and would eventually give him the standard report he liked - just like when he owned his PI office.

"So, what you're saying is you got hit with a bug that gave you superpowers - more so than gene therapy so switching morphs?" The Synth-face Mal wore for now just watched the screen, "So thats why you're talking to us over the comm system instead of in person - you're afraid it's contageous?"

[Josh]

"No," Eli said. "I'm giving physical separation so that if there is a... abnormal manipulative capacity associated with this, you are not in range. So far as all the studies indicate Watts-McLeod is not contagious, and if it were well, you most likely would have all been infected long before now due to our prior exposure."

There was a long pause.

"I'm giving you the room to make a clearheaded decision, and the capacity to carry out that decision if you need to. I don't know how many of you watched old movies from the twentieth, but I'm not going to be the asshole who got bit by the zombies."

[Dark Silver]

"Muninn, any indication that this Watts-McLeod is something that can cause Eli to harm the rest of us? Make him go feral or be a danger?"

Mal just waited for the response, "To be honest, this is a bit above my head. But we can just keep an eye on you for now, and see how it goes. Does this....strain...of the virus have a history of making people going apeshit?"

[B4UTRUST]

"While it is, at its base, a form of the Exsurgent virus, the Watts-McLeod strain in itself does not have a history of causing abnormal aggressive behavior. However, it should be noted that the changes made by the virus can present in abilities that may be used in harmful or violent ways. I will point out that your crewmate has exhibited none of those particular abilities to date and has maintained a notable level of self-control and concern over his actions. I do not believe at the current time that he poses a direct threat to this ship, the crew and its current mission. I hope this answers your question."

[Josh]

Eli waited, fighting the urge to add to the discourse, to alter the tenor and direction of the discussion.

His mind was different, he was certain. But was it really Watts-Mcleod or some other alteration made to his ego in the late stages of the conflict? Some sort of noetic boost as part of a military program?

He was suddenly dubious, opened his mouth, closed it, and continued listening.

[raulpascal]

Jameson stared at the data; he wasn't sure how, but he understood what it said, knew that what was being said was accurate. Moreover, he understood the proper protocols for viral infection. What was being said made sense--Eli wasn't a threat.

Something else occurred to him suddenly. "If he was a threat," he said to nobody in particular, "and I personally don't think for a minute that he is, but if he was, if there was some risk of drastically altered behavior, would you really want him off by himself, where he could do who knows what?" He wasn't entirely sure people were even paying attention to him, but at his words several people glanced over, eyed him quizzically. He had a moment of nervousness, but he was used to this attention from people with power. "Or, you know, it seems to me, anyway." He flashed his best "aw shucks, don't mind me" smile. At the same time he scanned the group, looking for the types, the hierarchies, who's in charge and who wants to be and who's not comfortable with the hierarchy as it stood. There's power in being the powerful one he thought, but there's also power in being the powerful one's friend, and at much less risk.

[B4UTRUST]

"If he was a threat," he said to nobody in particular, "and I personally don't think for a minute that he is, but if he was, if there was some risk of drastically altered behavior, would you really want him off by himself, where he could do who knows what?"

There was a voice that did respond to him, though it was not out loud. Through a private channel via his muse, Jameson heard the voice of their ship, Muninn.
"There is very little chance of him causing problems in his current location or state. He has requested that I take certain precautions to ensure this prior to this meeting, Mr. Sukarto. He very much wished for meeting to be as free from any inadvertent influence as, forgive me for the wordplay, humanly possible. You, as a crew, however will still need to decide the outcome."

[Dark Silver]

Mal thought about the information given to him, over how they still very much needed Eli, and what the chances of some SuperAI Virus infecting Eli was - and that it was for the most part benign for now.

"Muninn, release the locks on Eli's quarters. Monitor him for abnormal behaviors outside expected parameters which could cause issues for the ship or crew, and alert me directly if anything falls outside expected bounds."

Mal looked at the screen, "Come on out of there Eli, we still got a ship to run."

With that, the Synth-bodied PI got up, and headed out of the conference room.