hadriel | THREE ❢ VIDEO

What a nice welcome after such a long time away. You creatures never disappoint with how angry you get.

[Rage is back, back again. Go ahead, tell a friend. She's giving a nonchalant smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes -- it's hard to be pleased about being well fed when you've just spent six months scouting in enemy territory.

In fact, her face goes to neutral as she picks up again.]

First things first: We don't know for certain how the Null were able to find us, but we did discover at least part of the problem: there's a mole in the cave.

[Her voice goes cold when she makes the statement, and it pretty much stays that way for the rest of this post. Also, no, she wasn't trying to make a pun or a clever reference to the city being underground.]

This is the only way for the Null to consistently be able to chase us through space. [And not just because Fear sucks.] Hope and Sorrow's investigation should turn up more information about that. Would that you'd all voted for me, but like my brethren, I'll defer to your decision.

Second, it would seem your strangely shaped bodies have inspired our pursuers. We found them experimenting with bipedal robotic bodies that move the way you do. By the way, that doesn't exactly help anyone's case here. Clearly, they're finding you useful to a large extent.

[She's suspicious as hell, in effect.]

Finally, the Null's objectives have changed. They've constructed prisons capable of containing us no matter the form we take, and not only that, but they'll be able to use us to power their operations. I know some of you will see this as justice, but before you jump to such a predictable conclusion, consider this: our interference aside, the power my siblings and I gain from you is used to keep you alive and comfortable. We're able to coexist. What the Null want is our absolute confinement for their selfish purposes. Think for a moment about what that means. You all seem to like Delight. How would you feel if someone locked her up in a small space to do whatever they want with her?

[She's angrier now, more emotion in her voice and face. The silence after that question is short, but it's long enough for her anger to cool again.]

The mission was too dangerous for us to obtain more information than that. Given we're actively being betrayed by someone here, I wasn't inclined to share any of this with you, but I suppose it isn't fair to leave all of you in the dark because of one person or small alliance's actions.

[She leaned much more heavily towards not wanting to tell the residents, but Delight would tell them, and Rage is the last person who wants to disappoint Delight at all.]

Consider this a gesture of goodwill.

[With that flat, clipped sentence, she cuts the feed.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rey isn't going to be the one to claim that they all deserve to be locked up, but she does have a concern:]

When you say "mole", are you implicating one of us?

[A mole; humanoid, synthetic bodies; wanting to use the gods as tools. Nick might almost be amused by the irony of that last one if it didn't all hit a nerve in him. It's all too close to home.]

These bodies of theirs good enough to let them hide among us? Or would they stand out like a sore thumb?

[Like him.]

[Well none of that is good, but one thing in particular stands out to Chris.]

Wait, so, is that how they've been following us the whole time? Like since the beginning of whenever Fear started moving us around?

[Which he'd gotten the impression was ever since people started showing up, but maybe it was earlier or later?]

Would that mean you can figure out who the mole is--if it's just one person anyway--by who's been here the right length of time?

They even been following us this whole time?

( It's a sudden whim of a thought, really. The gods have been running this whole time, but that doesn't necessarily mean they've been chased the whole time. )

[Good to know he isn't the only person suddenly wondering about this.]

If not that's make more sense, since uh, there's not a lot of the old crowd left. But yeah, no idea.

( Hm. Kate's quiet for a long time. God, sometimes - like right now - she misses her guys. Alicia would be all over this, Carl would be picking out pieces of the puzzle.

Marc-

She misses him most of all, no matter how many years go by. )

Could've 'ad a mole who left. ( Her voice sounds like she's not entirely convinced by this argument, but it's a possibility that would make some sense. ) Explains why they contacted us in the first place.

( Because if they've had a mole for all this time, why go to the trouble of asking the general population for their help killing Hope?

The longer she thinks on this, the more things don't make sense.

And the more she wishes she had one of her guys here to offer an explanation. )

[so by power of deduction, this is Rage. Ugh. Law's frustration and annoyance has probably fed her considerably. If he sounds angry now, though, it's for a different reason.]

I hope you're all self-aware enough to understand the irony of the situation.

That said, even if I don't like you, I wouldn't jump to endorse enslaving you. That would make me no better than you, or the 'gods' I hate back home.

Wait a second, bipedal robots? Do they look like us, or do they still look like, y'know, robots?

[ Is it more likely that the mole is someone who's been here from the beginning? She tries not to pale at the implications.

That would certainly narrow it down. ]

If they've "consistently been able to chase you through space," then couldn't the mole be one of you? Hasn't this been going on since before any of us were brought here?

Thank you for at least being forthcoming with us. But, may I ask what you mean when you say that there's a mole? You suspect us of betrayal, I assume. Have you not wondered why one of us may do such a thing?

[Science-fiction isn't exactly in his wheelhouse, but...]

Did they make a robot that looks like a human, or a robot that looks like a robot that's supposed to "infiltrate" us?

[Delmar is horrified by the notion]

You don't think someone would really do that, do you?

Do you actually want a gold star for keeping us alive after abducting all of us so you can get what you want from us?

[Long pause where Matt is probably biting his tongue.]

But you think one of us is working some sort of double agent angle? With.. who?

[Sorry. He's still new.]

Do you think this 'mole' would have the ability to change its appearance or change 'identity', so to speak?

[Michael feels like he knows Rage already, even though they've never met. He's just... very familiar with her particular emotion. That said, he's still using text.]

If they have a way to hold you,
then does that mean they'd need to capture us, too?
Like fuel for an engine.
Or can they be made to feel emotions?
In which case they don't need us alive at all.

R-Robots???

[She's immediately, like, way too close to the camera.]

How are t-they powered? By their souls? Or are they more cyborg in nature and ohhhhh gosh there's so many things here.

[Wait. She should contextualize this.]

I uh, I k-know things about robots. If that. Helps.

[Huh. Haven't spoken to this one yet. At least she's more forthcoming with information.]

So now we have a second set of people trying to use us for our, uh, I dunno, two legs or whatever. Is that how you're doin' the split? They want the legs and you just want the feelings?

Was thinking about this, too. It would make more sense how the Null were able to connect with the network here, despite it lacking in the technological components that would constitute that as a "hack".

[As for who, Rey can think of a likely suspect, but knows better than to point fingers in the open.]

There's this thing called the Null. They're electronic, but it sounds like they're branching out into, say, Terminator models. When they first approached us, they said that they wanted us to so a task for them--turns out it's killing Hope--and they'd let us all go home. The second time? They were a lot more touchy.

「 Ah, it's one of them...! In truth, he doesn't really care about the undertones of this conflict but... there are too many involved.」

How can you be so sure about the effectivity of those prisons?

Also, if you think we have some kind of symbiotic relationship... You are a little delusional.

From what I understand, the Null are actively trying to avoid feeling any emotions at all. Therefore it's unlikely that they would be interested in any course of action that involves them being capable of providing energy to the gods.

[So Michael's probably onto something, with the whole question about if the Null need the inhabitants of Hadriel for this plan to work out.]

Do you have confirmation that these prisons do, in fact, work as they are intended?

Meaning they'd need an energy source for their energy source.
And I guess they could theoretically kidnap other people,
[say, people who aren't so inclined to rebellion,]
but we're already here.
Either way, this doesn't end well for us.

[A familiar voice.]

Only Hope?

[Huh. Well.] None of that sounds... good. At all. These Null pop up a lot?

Only Hope to start off with. We were told that we'd be given weapons to help 'em. But apparently their goals have changed, now they've decided to catch 'em all. And if they do, then we're expendable.

Only twice that I know of. This whole--thing about the robots and the jails and so on, it's all news to me.

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THREE ❢ VIDEO

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