[voice]

[hot_mes]

I've been through this before. I've been targeted on a hit list like this, precisely five days before I arrived in this world.

I guessed from the wording of the Null broadcast that some people might not have seen that they were named as targets. Consider this fair warning to everyone in this city: the Null would rather kill you than work with you.

[a pause, and then his tone turns positively savage]

As I did before, I'll do again. My only target is the one putting out the hit list. I will destroy the Null and anyone who tries to kill us. Anyone who'd foolishly sacrifice our chances of getting home for this death game should be dealt with, and I have no problem doing so.

[addendum message, five minutes later:]

I've been blocked from the message. Anyone who was quick enough to copy it, we'd appreciate a public airing of the names on the list.

Comments

[voice; private]

[hot_mes]

That's the only real trouble with a purely robotic species. [present company clearly excluded. Law's been thinking about this, comparing it to what little he knows of Vegapunk's work on cyborgs] Whatever they think of themselves, lacking emotional context means they lack the ability to understand nuance. We creatures of emotion can change our minds on the turn of a single memory or reaction, and either fuck up a plan or carry out something grand and reckless.

Obviously, they had no idea what putting out a bounty list would do to the populace, even if it's all completely factual from their point of view.

[voice; private]

[synthedick]

[It's okay, Law. Nick doesn't like most purely robotic people, either.]

They're a lot like some of the gods in that regard. For beings that feed off emotion, they're surprisingly ignorant to how they really work when it comes to us.

[voice; private]

[hot_mes]

[a soft, sly chuckle. They do indeed understand one another]

It's almost as if one extreme or the other is not the way to live a balanced life.

[voice; private]

[synthedick]

[He'll be grateful for that when some of this has smoothed over.]

Good luck getting either side to understand that now. I tried to talk some sense into Sorrow and get him to compromise when it comes to feeding off us, but he wouldn't have it. And when it comes to machines like the Null, they tend to see in binary only.

[voice; private]

[hot_mes]

At this point it's less about talking sense into either side and more about negotiating our place between them. They have their means of surviving, such as it is. We've been unwittingly dragged in between them. We can either remain their pawns or we can take matters into our own hands.

[granted, he's still going to investigate an alternate means of food source for the emotionally-dependent side, but that's going to have to take a back seat while people are gambling on murder games]

[voice; private]

[synthedick]

[If only everyone in the cave had their priorities straight.]

Yeah, because with the way that message sounded, there's no turning back. It's only a matter of time before this war ends up on our doorsteps, and if we want to make it through this thing, we're going to have to be prepared.

[And in some cases, that means making difficult choices they don't want to make for the good of them all.]

I'll let you know if anything new comes of that transmission from the Null. We'll see how long it takes until we've all got targets on our backs.

[voice; private]

[hot_mes]

Good, yeah. Keep an eye on them for as long as you can. We need as much information as we can get right now.

[he'll be kicking himself for weeks over letting his temper get the best of him when he could have been investigating himself.]

[voice; private]

[synthedick]

Will do. Keep in touch.

[And with that, he lets Law go for now. He's got some surveillance to do.]