Mysterious Logbook: Difference between revisions

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Entry 11 added. - We must remove the Vex from the collective consciousness. Beyond the Light, and beyond the immediate threat of the Dark, they are the long-term enemy. We will not be safe until they themselves have been deleted from existence, and the knowledge that they existed to begin with is gone.

Jzpelaez

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@@ Line 1,711: / Line 1,711: @@
 :<span style="color:#008080;">Imagine stumbling upon an inscription in the desert: </span><br>
-:<span style="color:#008080;">“I am Ozymandias, king of kings. Look upon my works. Or don’t. I really don’t care."</span>
+:<span style="color:#008080;">“I am Ozymandias, king of kings. Look upon my works. Or don’t. I really don’t care." </span>
 Until I can synthesize my own version of the mind fluid, the Vex are <br>
@@ Line 1,791: / Line 1,791: @@
 All 12 members of the first exo cohort are dead.
-The symptoms of their dissociation became… extreme. One poor man <br>
+The symptoms of their dissociation became... extreme. One poor man <br>
 developed complete echopraxia and echolalia—his empathy was so overgrown <br>
 that he could not help but mimic or repeat whatever I did and said. Even <br>
@@ Line 1,805: / Line 1,805: @@
 “They believed they were dead! One of them told me that she was in hell, <br>
 and I was another damned soul sent to deceive her. Was she even wrong? <br>
-The rest were worse—do you know what the other principal manifestation <br>
+The rest were worse—do you know what the ''other'' principal manifestation <br>
 of the Cotard delusion is, Clovis?”
@@ Line 1,811: / Line 1,811: @@
 autopsies of their terminal brain states.
-“Delusions of immortality! At least when they insist upon it, Clovis, we <br>
+“Delusions of immortality! At least when ''they'' insist upon it, Clovis, we <br>
 recognize it as a pathology!”
@@ Line 1,818: / Line 1,818: @@
 myself, Doctor, then I have an ethical obligation to avoid death.”
-“That’s your son’s quote,” she snapped. “You know, I’ve seen the video of <br>
+“That’s your ''son’s'' quote,” she snapped. “You know, I’ve seen the video of <br>
 his final days. That naked, white exo, just paramuscle and soft membrane, <br>
 writhing in its cradle. When you were done with him, he looked like nothing <br>
@@ Line 1,833: / Line 1,833: @@
 Mr. Miller has also passed. The poor young man had a bad reaction to the <br>
 titrated, denatured Vex fluid we were using as a last-ditch therapy. The <br>
-substance did restore damaged structures very well, but we were ultimately <br>
+substance ''did'' restore damaged structures very well, but we were ultimately <br>
 unable to control its more radical transformative effects. I had a very <br>
 encouraging final conversation with him, in which he thanked me for all my <br>
@@ Line 1,851: / Line 1,851: @@
 evolution’s tangled ways cannot be so easily rationalized. I was wrong. <br>
 Their brains concluded that all of their internal processes failed. No <br>
-digestion, no breath, no heartbeat, no sense of interoceptive health… <br>
+digestion, no breath, no heartbeat, no sense of interoceptive health... <br>
 all signs of death.
@@ Line 1,880: / Line 1,880: @@
 From now on, we will block access to pre-upload episodic memory. We <br>
 should also consider a built-in procedure to block memories formed <br>
-after the exobody transubstantiation, returning them to a “factory <br>
+''after'' the exobody transubstantiation, returning them to a “factory <br>
 state” should the need to restart occur. It would be very difficult <br>
 to actually track down and delete the full memory engrams since <br>
@@ Line 1,900: / Line 1,900: @@
 <tt>
-:'''WARNING'''
+:'''WARNING:'''
-::*'''Organ functions in terminal stage.''' <br>
+:*'''Organ functions in terminal stage.''' <br>
-::*'''Overdose of stimulants and nootropes ''' <br>
+:*'''Overdose of stimulants and nootropes''' <br>
-:::'''guarantees liver failure.''' <br>
+::'''guarantees liver failure.''' <br>
-::*'''Prionic breakdown of basement membranes''' <br>
+:*'''Prionic breakdown of basement membranes''' <br>
-:::'''arrested by abnormal crystallization of''' <br>
+::'''arrested by abnormal crystallization of''' <br>
-:::'''integrin proteins:'''<br>
+::'''integrin proteins:'''<br>
-:::'''recommend immediate medical inquiry.'''
+::'''recommend immediate medical inquiry.'''
+</tt>
+==ENTRY 11==
+Elisabeth believes we are infested.
+She has detected Vex microstructures in the Europan ice. Veins of <br>
+altered crystals crawl towards the surface, harvesting the heavy ions <br>
+of the Jovian winds, culturing their construction.
+From there, the Vex found ways to spread by exploiting <br>
+misunderstandings. They ride our carrier waves as slight <br>
+interference. Whenever a packet has to be resent, whenever a suited <br>
+engineer calls, “Say again?” to her work partner, the repeated message— <br>
+adjusted to compensate for the Vex interference—encodes the negative <br>
+image of that interference and spreads the infection.
+To pass on your image in the form of ''error''? Disgusting.
+Somehow, the Vex taint has followed us home from 2082 Volantis. How can <br>
+this be? The initial survey team went through quarantine according to <br>
+all the Ishtar protocols. The expedition frames were destroyed in situ. <br>
+The Vex on Europa—both our original gate builder and the unfortunates <br>
+who came through our traps—have been totally isolated. Even my assistant <br>
+underwent a stringent teardown and reset!
+The only possible vectors are my own exos.
+:<span style="color:#008080;">I should have insisted they spend more time in quarantine, but I was eager to ramp up production. </span>
+It is the Vex resilience that lets them spread. Their immunity to the <br>
+most dramatic subversions means that they last long enough to build up <br>
+a dose of more subtle and insidious infiltrators.
+There is no sign of any resulting pathology. The Vex are, so far, simply <br>
+curious. But Vex curiosity always leads to Vex transformation, and I <br>
+refuse to let my exos be contaminated. I grew up on stories of tyrants <br>
+forcing their followers into the crucible of eternal life, only to realize, <br>
+too late, that there was an unseen flaw. I demand purity for the receptacle <br>
+of my soul!
+And there is the issue of... preventing panic. Too many are aware of the <br>
+rumors that the Vex spread an “existentially compromising information hazard.”
+:<span style="color:#008080;">Ah, had we only been allowed to contain that mess on Pluto ourselves! That meddling warmind made too much noise. If my teams discover they are infected, they will expect Bray Station to drop right on their heads. That will damage productivity. </span>
+No, like that contract-breaching psychologist and the death of Mr. Miller, <br>
+this must all be handled quietly.
+The exos are intrinsically robust; the seed of Clarity within them has <br>
+natural anti-Vex properties. Whatever taint they contain must therefore be <br>
+a residual human weakness. Resident in their legacy architecture. So we will <br>
+simply purge that architecture.
+I will plan a simple extension of the memory wipes already used to fight <br>
+dissociative rejection. In fact, I intend to create a “noetic immune <br>
+system” in the exomind to trigger memory wipes when certain classes of <br>
+informatic hazard are detected. These will be explained to the psych team as <br>
+a preventative measure against future dissociative disorders.
+These wipes will, conveniently, return the exos to peak mission readiness. <br>
+Perfect for soldiers operating in traumatic alien environments. Perfect for <br>
+the continuing mission at the Forge Star, stockpiling material for future <br>
+exo production, here and elsewhere.
+:<span style="color:#008080;">Now if only I could figure out this dream they all keep reporting—something about a tower, and gruesome murder— </span>
+Elisabeth agrees with my prescription. She is eager to solve our security <br>
+issues and stand up exo production at the backup sites. Of course, we only <br>
+have one Clarity Control, but ''she'' hardly knows that, and she’s stopped <br>
+asking so many questions. In truth, I think she’s ready to abandon her <br>
+doomed body and make the upgrade.
+I’ll give her silence on that front a few more days, and then she’ll <br>
+surely volunteer herself.
+Less apparent is how to solve my own infection.
+There are abnormal structures in the fiber of my body’s extracellular matrix. <br>
+A mess of tiny lenses growing in my deepest flesh.
+I suspect Vex influence on protein folding, perhaps passed to me through my <br>
+assistant when it was in 2082 Volantis. I would hate to see my bones <br>
+tessellating into a radiolarian tapestry...
+<tt>
+:'''CORPOREAL STATUS:'''
+:*'''Body at 30.6 C. Pulse 140 BPM, strong,'''<br>
+::'''unsteady: extreme fear. Drawing down''' <br>
+::'''blood volume to control pressure.''' <br>
+::'''Strangling pulse ox.'''
+:*'''Frequent saccades to assistant,''' <br>
+::'''indicative of preoccupation/obsession.''' <br>
+::'''Recommend 30 ms TMS pulse to enhance''' <br>
+::'''mindfulness.'''
+</tt>
+So far, the Vex influence has been fortuitous since it arrested a serious <br>
+medical problem. But the thought of such taint in me... it aggravates other <br>
+anxieties...
+I have been haunted for some time by a suspicion that M. Sundaresh is not <br>
+who she seems.
+I recognized her name from the Ishtar Collective teams studying the Vex, <br>
+but I have no record of ever hiring her. And if I had, I would certainly <br>
+have noticed; therefore, I remain convinced that the Collective cracked <br>
+the problem of simulated human consciousness long before I did.
+I have considered how M. Sundaresh herself would have been an invaluable <br>
+source, yet I cannot locate any work done by her from ''before'' our first <br>
+expedition to 2082 Volantis.
+Nor does Elisabeth recall an M. Sundaresh from our expedition group.
+Then who else could she be? A Vex infection? It is unthinkable. The Vex <br>
+cannot generate conscious persons! But they can emulate human minds they <br>
+encounter... and perhaps even use them as tools. Infiltrators. ''Carriers''.
+<tt>
+:*'''Anti-emetic drip engaged.'''
+</tt>
+I cannot trust myself with this filth in me! I am compromised. I need <br>
+Elisabeth to fix this, or all my work is in danger!
+Did Clovis II ever tell Wilhelmina and Elisabeth about his tinkering? <br>
+Despite sharing the same parents, the two sisters are totally different <br>
+genetically: my son arranged for Elisabeth to receive a maternal allele <br>
+wherever Wilhelmina got a paternal one, and vice versa. A diversified <br>
+portfolio. If one failed, the other might succeed.
 ==Notes==