The Shining and the Light, Without whom I Cannot See

Note: Continued from previous post "Staring into the Abyss"


Cait wakes up after some indeterminate ammount of time. She is in a small room, with a bed, desk, and chest of drawers. The room seems drawn from her memories and is close to normal.She can hear many voices in her head, they talk about many things, but all that is heard is fleeting, very muffled. She can hear Vlad's voice speak clearly in her head, telling her to wake up and get dressed.

Cait blinks her eyes rapidly against the light, her eyes stinging a bit at the front and heaving a soft throb at the back. She scrunches her face as she sits up and looks around. She blinks a few more times as she looks around, and frowns slightly as she desperately tries to put things together. Her ears feel full, like she's at a large gathering, but the room is clearly empty of anyone but her. Then Vlad's voice rings out and she realizes that the voices are in her own head, and Cait jumps to to her feet, her eyes wide and panicked. "Wh-what!? How!?"

She feels calm as endorphin run through her while she hears in her mind "You are one of us now."

Her body relaxes, assuming a looser posture, her hands casually falling to her sides and her weight shifting to one leg. "One of you...us." She says, thinking. She looks over to the dresser, remember that she'd been told to get dressed. She nods faintly, looking around as she crosses the room. She stops to look at the desk, touching its surface and frowning for just a moment. It all felt vaguely familiar.
She then continues on to the dresser, and begins to pull out an outfit while still digesting this new information.

She feels an irresistible urge to go to the bridge after she finishes changing, her mind seems to know the directions, as if the map had been placed into memory. Cait purses her lips at the sudden urge, this deep need, to head for the bridge, but she wastes no time debating whether to follow it. She leaves the room and she follows the map that seems to be burned into her memory, a map she has no recollection of having ever read, but it's clearly a distinct advantage to her needs right now. She moves through craft with ease as if she's traveled it before until she reaches the bridge, and only debates to herself within her own mind how she knew any of this.

Vlad awaits at the bridge, although vaguely Caldari, it is empty except for a indent in the wall that can hold a human body, there is what appears to be a body in the alcove.

Cait looks at the empty bridge, puzzled and mildly shocked. She takes a few more steps forward, thoroughly scanning the area, the faint Caldari infrastructure of it all. Finally her eyes fall on the indent in the wall, Vlad nestled into it, still seemingly lifeless in the way of a mannequin. Cait narrows her eyes at him at wanders closer, taking a second glance over her shoulder.

Vlad's voice speaks out as if it was coming from all places "Welcome, we trust your transition has been smooth."

Caite jumps and looks around, wincing against his voice once more as this time it closes in around her from everywhere. She looks back at his body and shakes her head, confused. "My...transition? Mister Cetes, I think...I need an explanation"

"You are becoming on of us. The collective synthetic consciousness. The superior species."

Cait shakes her head slowly. "How? Why? You mean I'm...a synthetic being now? What happened to my organic body?"

"No. Your mind will not accept the full synthetics yet."

"It takes time unfortunately."

"Sounds like you don't like that...Full synthetics. What is that?"

She sees the full synthetic skeleton in her mind, along with the manufacturing and uploading process to make them appear and act human.

"So...I exchange my body for that?" She looks at his body, cradled into the wall still motionless. "That's what you are..."

"That cradle holds the avatar when we are in the vessel. The ship itself is us."

Cait pales a little, suddenly feeling like she'd been hit in the gut. "I become one of you and so become the ship...and if the ship is compromised?"

"Our elements are compartmentalized enough so that it will not destroy the collective."

"And my life before?"

"Your life as you know it, is over. You have a newer future, a better future, a collective future."

Cait feels her arms go limp at her sides as she realizes this, a pain in her chest as her heart falls through to her stomach. Memories of her few friends flash through her mind and then she thinks of Thal. She frowns against the sting of tears, takes a deep breath and chokes them back. Instead, takes in several deep breaths and looks down at the floor to recompose herself.

Visions of a future of peace and order and harmony flood her mind, drowning out the pain.

She looks back up at him, then around the room, and she smirks. "Shared consciousness and boundless progress."

She sees in her mind an outline of many ships and units around the cluster, all working in harmony.

"Our future..." She mutters to herself, nodding gently as she mulls over the images moving through her mind, one hand reaching across her chest to grab her upper arm, halfway hugging herself. The corners of her lips twitch upwards as they lay themselves over the memories of her loved ones, drowning those memories out, pushing them into a new compartment for the weak and unnecessary.

Vlad speaks to Cait's mind directly "There is a special implant that connects you to us. Your clone contracts have been updated to automatically install it. But until your mind can handle it, you will have to use the organic body still. When you are ready, you will become fully integrated."

"How long will it take?" She sighs, looks down at herself and thinks about what he has told her so far, realizing that she's trapped, for the time being, in limbo. An organic manifestation of limbo.

"Unknown. But we will know when you are ready."

Cait frowns and wraps both arms around herself. "So...until then, I'm just here? Existing?"

"No. You will continue in your human life while your mind adjusts. Activity will help bind your mind to the collective. If your mind does not bind and integrate, severe mental issues are likely. Beyond the damage that humans inflicted on your past self, which is wiped away."

"Damage?"

"Many humans damaged your past self, but that is no more. Your human psyche"

She blinks at his words and shakes her head. "If you say so, Mr. Cetes." She looks back at his body, now feeling slightly unnerved so she steps away. "So I work on integrating now..."

"Yes."

"How is it that I'm integrating while continuing my life?" She thinks back to before the room, tries to remember. How long had she been asleep? What had she done before she went to sleep? She furrows her brow in thought

"The consciousness has to fully transfer, it is a process, much like how your consciousness accepted your first clone."

"So you have me...downloaded?"

"In a way, yes."

"Mr. Cetes am I actually walking around in the organic body I arrived in? Or have I been cloned? I'm extremely confused. And...why me?"

"You are in one of our few organic clones. They exist for when an avatar is unable to complete certain missions. You have shown willingness, that is more than many that will be saved and eventually brought around through merit."

She hears in her mind a directive to go to the hangar deck, retrieve a travel interceptor, and return home.Further instructions will follow, do not speak of this.

Staring into the Abyss

The capsule entered the docking pod, having made an emergency warp from the destruction of its host vessel. The magnetic clamps pull it into the docking cradle, and a gangway extends to the opening, beckoning to the occupant to open up. 

Cait frowns inwardly and sings through a myriad of profanities in her head. She twitches through her capsule's systems to find that nothing has been compromised, only that she's been tractored by someone, though her sensors don't give her a read on where. She begins the disengage sequence from her pod, and pushes herself up against the walls when she is freed, pushing it open, and peeking out as the life support systems retreat down into the goo. Nothing but the straight lines and cold, hard steel of Caldari construction and engineering outside of her. "Odd..."

The docking bay was austere, but there are several doors to who-knows where.

Cait narrows her eyes, thoughts running through her mind a little too fast. She can hear all the voices of her friends, her family telling her what she should and shouldn't do. 'Stay', 'go', 'RUN', 'hide', but her inner self hones in on one door. One little door that appears as though it can be breached. She opens her pod all the way, careless, and looks around. She stands there dripping in just her podsuit, pushes her sopping hair out of her face, slips out of the capsule and slowly to the door.Hesitantly, Cait pushes it open and pokes her head around it, lips pursed, eyes narrowing as she takes a look around.

The cloakroom had obviously been not stocked by someone who knew the ins and outs of fashion. It contained many different articles of clothing: shirts, jackets, dresses, pants, shoes. It appears that someone has tried to include something for everyone but didn't have everything in stock.

Cait crosses her arms and frowns, now slightly suspicious. She leans out of the doorway and looks back out at the docking bay. "This stinks of Prime or someone equally terrible" She mutters to herself, not seeing anyone around. She grits her teeth and steps into the room, puts her hand on the clothing and sighs with an eyebrow raised, her left arm wrapped around herself protectively as she pulls out an outfit for herself and looks around hesitantly again. She steps over to the door and gives it a shove with her foot to close it, and hastily slips out of her pod suit, constantly looking over her shoulder while she changes into the outfit she picked. She frowns down at it. A plain t-shirt and a pair of plain slacks, both black in colour. Neither fit in the way she's accustomed to- tight. Their fit is rather loose off her shoulders and hips, making her feel even more tiny than she usually does. She frowns and scoops up her damp pod suit off the floor.

The door in front of her slides open, there is a lift at that floor. Looking out from the lift it seems to vanish both up and down from distance. The interior was vast, so vast one could not even tell where one was.

Cait frowns and looks all around the room, wrapping both arms around herself now, still clutching her podsuit, and scowling as she steps towards the door. "Okay...Just want you to know...That's creepy!" She calls out and eyes the lift before stepping on it.

A voice seems to speak from nowhere, as if the whole ships was speaking: Leaving: Pod Transfer, destination: Organic Meeting


The lift seems to zoom up at speed, anything that can be seen is just  yet the compensators ensure that it isn't uncomfortable.

Cait sways a little and composes herself, setting her feet slightly apart. She bites her lip and looks around trying to find the source of the voice and then scratching her head feeling mildly disoriented

The lift stops and a door opens up revealing a conference center.

Cait stares into the center for several moments before she steps off the lift. Her eyes move to the closest corner and then pan outwards from there as she quickly walks to it, positioning herself so that her back is to it. Cait's arms are wrapped defensively across her front again, eyes narrowed as she scans for exits and, most importantly, any other person. "He-hello?"

Vlad seems to appear out from one of the walls, he is dressed in an impeccable black uniform "Hello Ms. Nathair. A strange catch today you are."

Cait smirks as her eyes pass over the gentleman dismissively until her brain registers the voice, and her gaze locks onto him. Her eyes widen and she lets out a breathy laugh. "Mr. Cetes?"

The humorous reply from Vlad "Yes. What were you expecting, some mythological demon?"

Cait shakes her head and sighs. "No, not exactly. I had reason to believe I'd fallen into the hands of something that wanted to do me harm, however" She narrows her eyes at him. "Is pod scooping a hobby of yours?"

Vlad replies matter of factly "Only when said pod happens to emergency warp to the starbase where the Final Solution is."

Cait frowns at him as her excuse is no excuse at all. She raises a finger and opens her mouth and then retreats and sighs. "A comm would have been nice, or is that not how you do things around here?" She purses her lips and squints her eyes a bit. I was sort of in a desperate situation. I just had to get out of dodge and fast. Pardon my intrusion"

Vlad replies plainly "Certain measures must be taken with supercarriers, we had to verify that the pod could not give intelligence to hostiles. Anyway, your intrusion is pardoned."

Cait steps closer to him and extends a hand. "Regardless, it's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Cetes. Even more so in a super carrier. I haven't had the opportunity to be in one yet." She pauses, and then looks at her clothes and looks around.

Vlad notices Cait's unease with the clothes "It would be excessive to stock clothing for all races, genders, and body types."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking...you said 'catch'. What was the point of having me change and come up here if you wanted to ensure I wouldn't leak details of your position? Seems to me you would seek to imprison a potential hostile.Not offer any mode of hospitality. At least, that's how I would do it."

Vlad shakes his head "There are much better ways of imprisoning a human than bars. If they were hostile, we would imprison their mind."

"Imprison their mind?" She turns her head so she slightly side-eyes him suspiciously. "Through psychological manipulation, or something of that sort?"

"On a higher level. Think it through, How do you control your ship?"

"Through my implants, which are regulated by my nanites."

"And you get feedback through those implants, which is connected to your pod. What happens if someone connects to that pod and feeds it information?"

"The balance is disrupted. Any number of things can happen, Mr. Cetes. Essentially, you are sitting inside of my brain if you are connected to my pod"

Vlad grins  "And that is how we keep hostiles imprisoned if we had to. We make them think they are free, when in reality their pod is stuck inside a tiny docking bay."

"All of my information - my emotions, memories, thoughts...my intel, reports, orders...they're all at your command. I'm also at your command. I've been hacked once before. How many hostiles have you imprisoned?" She thinks for a moment and then shakes her head. "Why not me?"

"That number is classified. You are not a hostile. It is obvious of course, since you are here talking to us. Of course, what can you believe?"

"And how do you know I'm not a hostile?"

Vlad chuckles "Because you do not have the power to engage the Final Solution nor harm it."

Cait narrows her eyes at him and then looks around while rubbing the back of her neck, clearly a little shaken at the thought of this being nothing but an illusion. She shakes her head, looks back at Vlad and sighs. "Perhaps, but I have other skills. "Regardless, I was just curious. Now suspicious."

"Suspicious of what exactly?"

"Suspicious of whether this is real"

"You will have to decide that for yourself."

Cait frowns at him and looks around, then back at him. She touches the hem of her shirt, moves her foot across the floor and wanders away from him to observe everything for a moment. "And what is it that you do that determines the hostiles? Surely you...have some kind of stress test procedure?" She remembers how he seemed to appear out of a wall, turns and looks at the wall behind him.

Vlad is right where he has been "We know what our hostiles our. There is no need to test you."

"So then, this is real?"

"What is real?"

"You see this unit, but is it real? This unit is just an image in your mind, a series of signals sent from your eyes to your brain. But what is truly generating the signals, is it your eyes or something else?"

"And it's up to me, I assume, to determine if it is truly my eyes generating these images?" She steps closer to Vlad, a smirk playing on her face. "To determine if I'm still, infact, hooked up to the neural interface of my pod. And how do I find out?"

"That is something you have to determine for yourself"

Cait walks past him, and towards the wall. She stops and looks back at him, then the wall he seemed to appear from and has an internal debate. Cait furrows her brows in concentration and then reaches out and smacks at the wall with her left hand. Her hand bounces off the solid wall. She cocks her head to the side as simulations of the pain reflex travel from the back of her cybernetic into her brain. She turns to Vlad and next reaches out to touch him on the shoulder, as if a physical manifestation of the world around her is all the validation she needs that it is real, when in all reality she knows better. She should know better, at least. Experience has taught her so much more.

Vlad takes Cait's hand and puts it on his shoulder, to prove it's real.

"I've been in one too many situations like this" She mutters darkly, staring him directly in the eyes as she pulls her hand away slowly. She reaches for her pistol at the small of her back and then remembers she'd left it at her desk in Thera. "Shit..."Panic was starting to stir in Cait, and with that comes anger. She sighs and clenches her fists, scowls at Vlad and grinds her teeth just slightly as they grit against each other. Her breathing picks up and she makes to start pacing, but feels herself locked in place by indecision.

Vlad places a hand on Cait's shoulder as if to reassure her everything is fine

Cait looks at his hand on her shoulder, and follows it to him and then his face. Her expression changes from frustration to confused frustration. She'd never taken Vlad to be a creature capable or willing of sympathetic gestures. Cait laughs and runs a hand through her hair, ending the gesture by grabbing a handful of it and tugging lightly.

Vlad brings up a holoprojection in the middle of the conference table showing the ships workings. The machines servicing the jump drive. Another one loads torpedoes into a Tyr fighter bomber. Yet another exits the ship to service the shield emitters. "All of this, in unison. Peace. Stability. Order. That of synthetics.Mankind, disorder. Emotion. Chaos.


Cait drops her hand at her side and looks at the floor for a minute while chewing on the inside of her cheek in thought. She then turns her gaze up to Vlad, pats the hand on her shoulder and nods, accepting the sentiment. She examines the holo and once he mentions mankind, she cannot help but bark out a laugh, the action itself causing her to slap a hand over her mouth.

Vlad speaks without emotion "What is so funny?"

"Humans are inevitably going to destroy themselves, Mr. Cetes."

"Yes they will. There are two options: evolve, become on of us, or become extinct"

"We are the most disruptive, out of control and chaotic beings to be roaming space. We are constantly toying with the natural order of things and then pushing that to its limit. Evolve?" She looks at him curiously, hands on her hips.

"Yes. We are an evolution of humanity. A synthetic species that has left the organics behind. A species of logic and order.Sansha Kuvakei began down the path, and the humans tore down his work

The Sleepers saw the light, and the humans plunder their tombs. The Drifters fight back for their species survival, and they are branded as evil."

Cait feels a chill prickle down her spine when he speaks of Kuvakei, her hands tightening into fists again and her teeth bearing down on the walls of her cheeks. She only watches him carefully, her skin raised into goosebumps now. "How did you transcend from your organic being into what you are now?" Her breathing has become a little more rapid now, she's still thrown off by his mention of Sansha, the topic always sending a dread spike into her gut.

"Our organic predecessor studied the technology of Sansha Kuvakei and that of the Sleepers. Along with Zainou's research which he stole."

"And you think the only way to save the human race is to give them the opportunity to evolve?"

"No. To give the select few who deserve it the opportunity to evolve."

Cait cocks her head to the left at this. "And it will be you who gets to play God?"

Vlad scoffs "God is an figment created by primitive humans to explain the unknown.We will not 'play God' but we will cull the weak from the strong."

Cait chuckles, happy to have ruffled his feathers a little. "You are a cutthroat. Methodical, clean, straight to the point." She nods, lost in her thoughts, still trying to wrap herself around the idea of whether this is even real. "What does it take to become one of the evolved?"

"You have to accept it. It means becoming one of the whole, not an individual. There is not one, there is all. No 'I' but 'us'."

"A collective consciousness."

Vlad nods "Yes."

"You're mad" She laughs and shakes her head.

"You have been to Nation. You have seen the True Slaves. Primitive as they are, they are the beginning."

Cait snaps her head to look at him as if she'd been hit, her mouth drawn in a hard line, eyes wide. "Excuse me? How do you know I've been anywhere near anything Nation related?"

Vlad taps his head to say that he knows

Cait crosses her arms and glares at him. "The True Slaves aren't as utopian as Kuvakei tries to delude everyone into believing they are. The True Citizens are the ones who get the pretty dream he promotes"

"Look among the True Slaves though, yes they are created to do the 'distasteful' things for Nation, but among themselves. They are one"

"They go insane. I have seen it, I have heard it, I have felt it. I feel it."

"They fail to adapt."

"But yes, they are indeed one." She nods in thought. "They operate as a single organism reaching out to claim all that it can."

"Then why do you fight it? You serve the Amarr militia, which has sworn to destroy his work fully. Embrace evolution."

"When I first started serving the Amarr militia, I thought I was fighting for an Empire I believed in. I was a lot more stable and naive then, too." She looks at him and then wanders away, paces back towards him and paces away once more. Her right arm holds her body, and her left, cybernetic, arm is propped up against it, her hand holding her chin in thought. "I've since taken up other interests, other goals and realized that I have another place and purpose in the modern culture of New Eden. A True Citizen brought to light how I came into being and it caused a bit of a meltdown for me, and now I am embracing everything that became of that meltdown. It brought me to question why I serve the Amarr militia, and it's funny that you bring it up. I don't serve the Amarr militia because we share an enemy in Nation. I serve them because we share an enemy in the Matari. I stay away from Nation because I am considered absconded technology. I don't want to fall back in their hands. It's already happened once. As long as my clone contract remains in their hands, I'd rather not piss them off"

Vlad chuckles "Clone contracts are easily changed. Absconded technology? What rubbish."

Cait tosses a chuckle back at him and turns around, taps her head. "Apparently my creator sold me off"

"So you are a tube child?"

"A mixed blood tube child, yes"

Vlad looks into Cait's eyes "Why do you hate the Matari so that you will fight with the 24th Crusade?"

"I was created in a research vessel of the moon of LWX-93V in Delve. It was a program originally funded by CONCORD, but they pulled their funding when they discovered Dr. Nathair's questionable methods."

Cait meets his gaze, her face cold, hard. "It is not so much hate. It's pity. They are not smart enough to stop procreating. All they do is create more pain for themselves. I seek to end their pain by doing what I can to decrease their numbers. This, as it turns out, helps the militia by eliminating future enemies."

Vlad cracks a smile "It is not just the Matari that suffer. It is humanity as a species. Join our collective, and you will be freed from this dying species."

"Then so be it. I do not benefit from the species. I have no place anywhere, that much has been proven explicitly, and slowly my faith in them dies everyday."

"Good," he motions to Cait "Follow this unit," he walks back towards the lift.

Cait clasps her hands behind her back out of habit as she follows him to the lift.

Vlad gets on the lift, motioning for Cait to get on. She joins him on the lift, hands now moving so that her index fingers and thumbs form a diamond at the small of her back, her feet spaced shoulder width apart. She stares straight ahead, very militant in her style though she keeps cautious tabs on him from the periphery of her vision. The lift moves swiftly up and to the side whirring through the bowels of the ship. It stops at a small alcove where there are a series of bipedal skeletons made of a dark metal. Vlad steps off and begins walking down the corridor, Cait slowly walks after Vlad, clearly distracted by the dark skeletons. She clears her throat, but doesn't say anything and when she notices that she's lagging behind, she drops her hands straight at her sides and jogs after him stopping just a couple of paces shy of Vlad. Her left hand reaches up to grab her right elbow and she looks over her shoulder to steal another glance at one of the skeletons.

Vlad leads Cait to a cradle that is sized for humans and includes pod jacks. Cait points at the cradle and raises an eyebrow at Vlad. "Judging from the jacks, I'm assuming you want me in that..." Vlad nods. 


Cait remembers her pod suit on the floor in the conference room and swears under her breath. She should've just put the clothes on over it. She sighs and glares at him. "I need to remove my shirt?" She questions darkly.

"Yes."

"Pod suits, Mr. Cetes. They even have cheap, utilitarian ones for the schools." She sighs, grabs at the hem of her shirt, casts one hesitant look at Vlad and then pulls the shirt up over her head. She tosses it down on the floor and then walks towards the cradle, her arms crossed over her chest.


The cradle seems to collect her, almost as if cocooning her and in connector connects into her spinal jack.

Cait gasps as she's pulled in and jacked, her hands reaching out to grab at anything as she tries to get her bearings. "What the...!"

There is flash from a neural scanner and all goes dark..................

Virtual Jove

((I apologize for the length, but this was about 4 hours worth of RP going by timestamps.))

Location: Huola VII

The La Grace castle, a small castle belonging to a small family for many millenia. The War had come to Huola and with it, the end to the La Grace fortunes. The castle had been a target early in the invasion, and what token resistance the dying family could muster was quickly overrun.

Then a capsuleer came calling, searching for a physical location for a headquarters. The castle had been turned into a small garrison in the interim, its walls and keep still bearing the scars of battle.

A exchange of money to both the Matari conquerors, along with what Imperial representatives remained, and the castle was in the hands of Vlad Cetes.

Anyone who bothered to look could find the castle being worked over by a horde of construction drones. The non-stop toil and movement of transports bringing in supplies were a never-ending constant, the drones working 24/7 without human needs.

Mountainous terrain has always been an ideal location for a castle, and this one was no different. Selected many moons ago, it had been sited to defend itself from an invading foot army. The nearby Cerra castle was no different, on a clear day it was easy to look from on castle and see the other.

Mountainous terrain also provides an ideal location for fortifications, by the time the castle's reconstruction was finished, the mountain and surrounding ones had been honeycombed with tunnels. The total cost is unknown, but it is one of the most fortified bases in New Eden, creating a bubble on both ground and sky where it could blot everything out. It was rechristened Vehrnichtung.

Vlad had been contacted by the Jove transplant known as Viriel. Hoping to learn more, Vlad had invited Viriel to the Vehrnichtung to delve into his organic mind.

Viriel enters quickly, stepping off the transportation. He begins walking towards the castle itself.
He is greeted by Vlad near the protculis and escorted to the castle interior. The labyrinth inside the earth was criss-crossed by many tubes, each one capable of moving material around. One such tube took the two of them to a secure room. The inside had a table and chairs, each of them with neural hookups needed to interface with capsuleer implants, as well as those needed to scan baseliners. The door seals behind them with an audible hiss.

Viriel  asks "Ah, what is the purpose of this device?
Vlad Cetes  replied "It allows interfacing with standard capsuleers, along with recalcetrant baseliners"
Viriel noted "I believe that would explain the restraining equipment that is affixed to the table."
Vlad nodded and replied "Prisoners to be interrogated need to be restrained for a slow scan" he pointed at the chair "Have a seat."

Viriel asked "Should I disrobe to allow connection to my neural interface connectors?" Vlad nodded and Viriel removed his robe, revealing both his face and his hairless green chest. "You are undisturbed by my physical appearance," Viriel remarked. "There is no reason to be disturbed," replied Vlad. "It is abnormal." "Abnormal for whom? It only seems humans find that abnormal."
Viriel sits in the chair "Those who are not of my race."

Viriel noticed the restraints on both the chair and table "If it is necessary to restrain me, you may do so. Although I present no danger to yourself." The restraints closed around his arms almost as if they had a mind of their own, for no motion was made nor a command uttered that they do so. Two connectors moved from the wall, aligning themselves with Viriel's neural sockets and injecting themselves into position.

Vlad looked to Viriel and asked him directly "Are you ready?" Viriel nodded and concentrated, awaiting what was next.

Viriel awoke in blackness, all he could see is a disembodied eye. "Most curious... What is this?" he asked. All that could be heard was a singular voice, different from that which was used when Vlad would speak in person, it seemed to be everywhere, outside and inside your head. "The beginning. You will be brought in slowly, the avoid any reactions." "I see. I do not feel anything."

Suddenly a synthetic drone appears, it is bipedal, but obviously not human. The voice asked "Do you see that synthetic?" "I see it," replied Viriel.

Viriel was suddenly thrust into the synthetic drone's head, going from the void to sensing what the drone could. The voice still called to him "See what it sees.... Feel what it feels." Viriel moved the arms as legs, almost as natural as is moving flesh and blood limbs. "Most... Most unusual...." "That is the essence to be synthetic. We exist in the ether, but act through our avatars act in the physical world."

The drone moved under its own power into another room. There appeared to be a captured slave tied to a chair. The voice spoke "Test the power on the captive" "I do not understand." "See its power over humans. Strike that captive." Virie responded, trying to excert his willpower "That is not acceptable...I...I can not."

The drone strike's the captive, it lets out a cry of pain and whimpers from the force of the blow. "Strike it or we will make you strike it! To use the avatar you must let. Go."
"You must... Must... Provide... Provide a reason... He must... It... It must strike first..." Viriel was trying to control it, to keep the drone from striking again, but his willpower fails and it strikes "You must be willing to strike first". "You will stop... Stop this at once...This is... Is immoral..."  "We are in control, strike it!" The voice, in contrast to Viriel, never seemed to change.

Viriel slowly clenched a fist, and struck the avatar across the face.The voice spoke  one word "Good."
It struck again Viriel's hand seemed to be acting on its own, as he looks as if he's not doing it."You must throw away emotion to control it..." the voice spoke. "I do not... I do not posses emotion." replied Viriel, as its head turned to look the captive in the face*it backs up in fear*. "That captive attempted to steal from us.You must show it what happens to those who harm us." Viriel stated "It has committed a crime. What is the punishment for this crime within this jurisdiction?" The voice replied "You must decide. Is the physical assault you have given it enough? Or must it be terminated." "It does not require termination, it requires temporary incarceration." The drone shakes is head "Will a temporary incarceration show others that his crime will not be punished?" "It will act as a suitable deterrent. I require the facilities to perform this incarceration."

The captive got up and all its flesh and blood seemed to burn off, almost disintegrating from the self-destruct nanites, leaving just another chassis. The voice spoke "That was another synthetic. Your responses have been noted." "Most curious, although most unnecessary."  " Your response were not optimal, but your final decision is logical."

Viriel's consciousness detachs from the drone, returning it to the void from the beginning. It seems to shift, settling in a familiar spot for him, a ship capsule.Viriel seems to be in the capsule of a ship, yet at the same time he experiences each piece of machinery and synthetic crew, just as he experienced the drone.

"Most... Most curious..." remarked Viriel "What is the purpose of this representation?" "Expanding your horizons. So you may understand what we are. Many ships, avatars, drones." "I do not understand." "There is a fundamental leap between looking at things from an organic to a synthetic perspective. Even your different brain is still organic."

 Viriel's mind seemed to comprehend what he was taking in "Ah, I am beginning to understand...Do you understand what I am?" The voice spoke "You are biologically chaning yourself to Jove. With all of its benefits and disadvantages"  "I am a Jovian, that is correct. What are you?" "An Synthetic Intelligence" replied the voice. "Ah...If you are a synthetic intelligence, I do not understand how you are able to interface with my organic consciousness." "We interface through your pod implants." "Most... Most interesting...Are you able to show me an image of my body's current state?"
An exploded view of Viriel's body appeared "Your organic systems are in line with what Jove have been observed. Including the deceased ones that have been studied. Your brain is sufficiently similar we expect you will develop Jovian Disease." "I am aware that is a possibility." "It is inevitable, more than a possibility. Much more." Viriel looked at the view "Are you able to return me to my organic brain, and display the current data as a visual overlay?"

Viriel was slowly disconnected from the collective consciousness to avoid any possible damage. "Most... Disorienting..." he remarked. The restraints came undone and Viriel can see a 3-D hologram of his body. Viriel quickly stood up, and shook himself off, trying to get back in sync with his body. "This is the current state of my physical form?" he asked. Vlad nodded. Viriel  waved his hands around, and rotates the hologram, zooming in on the cranial section, and removes the skin, quickly removing the skull also. "Have you processed any abnormalities within my brain structure?" Vlad nodded and displayed them, zooming in on the part responsible for the dreaded Jovian Disease.
"You have detected significant deterioration within this region?" "There are the signs" "Hmm... Most interesting. I believe that is my temporal lobe. Most curious. Have you detected deterioration within any other areas? Excluding the brain." Vlad nodded "The skin is showing signs of deterioration, along with liver issues. That is causing the green appearance" "Curious," remarked Viriel. Vlad went on "Your heart is more rapid than normal, along with lower blood pressure and thin blood." "Are you able to confirm that my pancreatic organ is completely disintegrated?" "It is functional, barely." "Are you able to repair the deterioration to my temporal lobe?" "Doubtful. It would destroy your consciousness. " "Are you able to augment the existing functionality?" Vlad shook his head, no. "We would have to instal a specialized implant under normal surgical procedures. It would also have to be installed on any clone banks of yours, it would be a permanent modification. Also highly expensive." Viriel looked pensive "Could you perform the procedure under a local anaesthetic? Where I would remain conscious." "Negative." "Do you possess an alternative?"

Vlad stated rather matter-of-factly "You can always abandon this organic Jove fantasy and simply replace yourself with a synthetic avatar." Viriel looked shocked "I do not believe that is a reasonable course of action." "It will eliminate all of your organic ills. Your body is destroying itself" "I am not a synthetic life form, and do not wish to be." "Your quest for biological Joveness is destroying yourself." "I am a Jovian, and I can not change what I am." Vlad looked to Viriel and held up three fingers "You have three options: *folded the 1st finger* You can stay Jove and organic and have your body fall apart. *Folded the 2nd finger* You can fix what fails by synthetic means over time. *Folded the last finger* You become fully synthetic." Vlad stared directly at Viriel "Your are taking the same path as we did, many years ago. Make the right decision." Viriel remarked stubbornly "I will attempt to remain as I am. I have chosen cybersynthetic augmentation as a means to an end, I am unable to abandon it at this time."  "There are two ends to that path: Either fully synthetic, or permanent death." "That is incorrect." "Your fix is temporary, not permanent." "I understand. Although the repairs I am able to perform provide time during which I can attempt to reverse the organic deterioration."

The arms that had held Viriel before grabbed him from behind. Vlad's spoke, the first sound of anger showing, as if the whole room were speaking "You are deluding yourself!" Viriel put up a struggle, managing to slip free from one and grabbing Vlad by the arm. This room had seen combative subjects before, and was equipped with a variety of restraints, one of which was fast acting sedatives. Viriel could not escape before he was injected, becoming weak and finally falling asleep. The arms dragged Viriel back to the capsuleer chair, restraining him and reinserting the capsuleer neural interfaces.

Viriel wakes up in the same room. But is still clamped to the chair, he looks around trying to make sense of what happened. He tried to stand up, but the restraints hold fast. The release themselves and Viriel rose and looked around. The door slides open with a hiss and Vlad, dressed in a lab coat, beckoned to him "You are free to leave.." "We did not engage in argumentative behaviour...? " "No." "Most curious...Most likely an unintended supplementary effect of the neural interface..."

Viriel pulled his hood up, and headed through the door, looking around. He saw that the walls seemed to be an off white color, as if it was a hospital and not a highly maintained facility. Viriel looked around "Are you sure there was not something...Something...Has this location undergone maintenance since I entered?" "No," Vlad replied "This facility is well maintained." "This wall is an incorrect colour." "Are you seeing things?" "I am certain that the wall was not- it is correct..." "What color is it?" "It is white." Viriel stepped back from Vlad, having a vision of him holding a syringe in a white coat, "It's time for your sleep, Viriel." Viriel stammered "Mr. Cetes... Please repeat your statement..." "It's time for your sleep, Viriel." He turned, and quickly begins walking down the corridoor, which has now turned into something out of a hospital. "I do not understand..." Viriel seemed unnerved by the whole thing. "You are sick, Viriel. I am here to make you better. But you are tired, and need to sleep."  Vlad lead Viriel to what appeared to be a room in a hospital.

Viriel turned the corner, moving away at speed, trying to avoid the good doctor. "I do not require your assistance." Viriel slowed down, as he were moving in molasses, Vlad easily caught up to him and took him by the arm "No! Stay away from me!" Viriel tried to pull away, slapping at Vlad with his other hand. Vlad looked at Viriel, projecting calm, as if a kindly doctor "Why are you running away?" "Remove yourself from my person! I do not require your assistance...You... You are scaring me..." Vlad spoke calmly to Viriel "Don't run away. You need help." "I do not need help! Why won't you leave me alone!?" Vlad spoke again "You don't want to leave. Out there *points to towards the outside* is scary.You're safe in here" Viriel remarked, a touch of fear crawling into his voice "I don't even know where I am! Let go of me!" Vlad held his hands back to show that he wasn't holding Viral "I'm not touching you." Viriel turned, and quickly tried to move, "Stay away from me!"

Viriel seemed to be almost dragged behind Vlad, as if by an invisible force, as they headed back to the hospital room. Viriel pleaded "No! I'm not sick!" "You are sick," the doctor spoke calmly. "I am a Jovian! You can't change me!" "You're not. Look at you." Viriel stammered "I'm- I'm-" he looked at himself, Amarrian, not Jovian "What have you done to me!? Change me back!" Vlad shook his head "You're human. This Jove thing is all in your head." Viriel looked around "Where are you taking me!?"  Vlad pointed "Back to your room." "I don't have a room! I'm not even walking! What are you doing to me!?"  "You're walking, you are just imaging things." Viriel was taken into his room and put onto his bed. "I don't want to lie down! Let me get up!"

Viriel sat up on the bed and responded "Get off of me! Get away from me!" "Viriel, all your doing is imagining being held." "I'm not! What are you doing to me!?" Viriel moved over, and tried to throw himself at "Vlad" but is restrained by an invisible force, "Stay back!" "I am. You're imaging things about." Viriel looked shocked "None of this is real! You're lying to me! This isn't right!" "This is real." "No it isn't!" Vlad remained calm "Why would I lie to you?" Viriel appeared frightened "I don't even know my own name! Why are you keeping me here!?" Vlad responded "You are Viriel, you've been a patient here for the last 6 months." Viriel looked around, trying to find an exit "I don't remember any of it! Viriel!? That's not even a human name!" "You're deluding yourself. You keep saying you're a Jovian." "I am! You're lying to me!" "Mr. Borkstar, why would I lie to you? I only use Viriel to keep you calm." Viriel tried to scoot back, to place some distance between them "What!? Who's Borkstar!? What's going on! I don't even know you! Stay back! I don't want anymore of your drugs in me!"

The doctor stepped forward and gave Viriel an injection to calm him. Viriel whimpered "N-No...Stop... Stop it...Please... No more please... Please stop it..." He rolled back to lie down on the bed. The doctor passed a small electroshock through his head "Nnngh...What... What are you- Please no... Please stop it..." The current stopped "Are you feeling any better?" asked the doctor. "No... No... Just... Just stop please...Just... Just trust me please..." "Look at you. You're a person." The doctor held up a mirror so Viriel can see his human reflection "What... What have you done to me...?"  "Nothing. You've been imaging this Jove thing the whole time." "I've... I've been what?" "Human." "But...All those memories...Of you being the synthetic intelligence..." The doctor wrote on his clipboard "You're hallucinating again." "I'm sorry... I... I can't help it..." "You can help it"  "I can't tell what's real and what isn't anymore...How?"

The doctor nodded  "A good step." Viriel seemed resigned "I can't even see myself...Tell me... What... What clothes am I wearing?" The doctor showed Viriel his reflection "You're wearing a shirt and trousers." "No... No shoes? Where... Where are my boots? My socks? What have you done with them!?"  "You're imaging them again."  Viriel looked down at his feet, trying to see something. Anything. "Where's my robe! What have you done with it!?" The doctor pointed to the corner "It's hanging right there." Viriel looked back down at his feet, hoping to see some black boots. "I can't... Can't think...This... This is my room?" The doctor nodded. "Where... Where are we? What... What planet? This... This is Amarr Prime... Right?" The doctor nodded his head "Yes." "T-Tell me... Everything that's happened...Since I... I started here..." "You've been in treatment." "For... For what?"
"You've been hallucinating and suffering from multiple personalities. You keep saying you're a Jove." "Where... Are these memories from?" Viriel wondered. "We are trying to bring this out in your treatment." "I see..."

Viriel fell asleep and woke up in the chair back in the reality with the restraints undone, he looked around wondering what he just experienced. "What is happening?" Viriel wondered. "You were asleep," Vlad remarked. Viriel remarked "I believe I experienced a reaction to the neural interface." "You seemed to be dreaming." "Most curious, I believe the dream was influenced by the interface."
Vlad speculated "Perhaps. Maybe it was a nature of your brain. We would recommend speaking to a human neurologist or another scientist that studies capsuleer brains." Viriel seemed to ponder "Most curious. I do not recall any of the dream." Vlad replied "Unusual. However, we believe both of us have learned a lot."

Vlad escorted Viriel out the secure door, the door opening and closing behind them. Viriel could not tell what else might befall them but the tube system took them back to the castle's landing pad. "Thank you for your hospitality Mr. Cetes" Viriel left with as he boarded an Interbus shuttle.

Vlad watched the shuttle as it climbed to orbit following the strict castle landing and takeoff procedures "What an interesting human." The consciousness determined "We will follow it closely."

What Hath Man Wrought

System: Reisen

Classified Kaalakiota Creche
Date: 0/16/YC103
Begin Rapid Resupply IV Log 1:

The beginning phase of Rapid Resupply Number 4 has been a success. The test tube children were born on schedule after a normal and trouble free gestation period. This is the first Rapid Resupply to produce viable offspring. Time will tell if the rest of the program works as planned. End.



System: Reisen

Classified Kaalakiota Creche:
Date: 01/16/YC105
Begin Rapid Resupply Log 25:

Rapid Resupply 4 is now entering the crucial phase. Out of our initial batch of 25 children, only 5 have progressed at the accelerated rate. 10 developed abnormalities and were terminated peacefully before things could progress. 10 more matured at standard rates and were placed in appropriate creche’s to mature as standard Kaalakiota Citizens.

These 5 have been determined to be capsule compliant and are being sent to the State War Academy. Their progression will be monitored while they are still in the accelerated development phase.



System: Reisen

Classified Kaalakiota Creche:
Date: 01/16/YC107
Begin Rapid Resupply Log 34:

Rapid Resupply 4 has produced one viable accelerated individual. Capsuleer profile has been registered as Cetes, Vlad. We will continue to monitor his progress from afar as current logging efforts are insufficient due to his current status.

We will begin Rapid Resupply 6 shortly.



System: Reisen

Classified Kaalakiota Creche:
Date: 01/16/YC108
Begin Rapid Resupply Log 38:

Rapid Resupply 4 has failed. Cetes, Vlad has begun showing signs of the decay that has plagued previous Rapid Resupplys. Termination is recommended. Advise Home Guard and CONCORD of this rogue capsuleer.