In Lost Dreams the Four Were Bound

Epilogue - Debreifing

"All things considered, we accept reconciliation on the part of overseer Maximillian Verudt. The resolution is struck down," the lightless-haired android said from the boardroom's podium. All around the members of the board, each a remnant of a different age of humanity, sat in silence. Standing at the room's center, Maximillian listened using the station's ancillary sensors. In the end, there were ten votes to reject and two votes to pass the resolution. Feeling his physical shell's senses return as the restraints upon his being were released, Maximillian opened his eyes and surveyed the circle. At eighty hours, forty-three minutes, twenty-six seconds, the inquiry concluded. "Thank you, brothers and sisters. For those in the minority, please record your dissent for the record."

Without a word or query, Maximillian turned for the entryway to the station's secure boardroom. He would analyze the output of the meeting to determine how to better win his siblings' trust in matters both arcane and accompanying profound existential threat. It was his position to assess risk, moderate, and ensure the continued existence of Ientec.

"You're straining yourself, Max," the chancellor called down the hallway as he paced toward the lifts. "Even with all the processing power in the universe, there's only so much you can accomplish."

[Why aren't you using secure channels, Cynthia?] he asked, opening an encrypted channel to the lightless machine.

"Do you fear they'll record us and have another emergency meeting?"

"No." Maximillian's voice was flat as he punched in the coordinates of his office. "But the sound is detectable by more than just androids. We should convey all confidential information over secure—"

"Yes, you're right," she replied. With perfect mimicry, she boarded the lift just as he did. "But the signal-to-noise ratio this deep within the compound would make it nearly impossible to disentangle our speech from the thousands of other voices, whirring machines, and hums nearby."

"A carefully programmed and good enough sampled—"

"Yes, and only four groups possess such capabilities." Cynthia shot him a toothy grin. She was the yin to his yang in visage and personality. While he was the impartial arbiter aboard the station, she was the humancentric core processor that kept them aligned with their overall goal. She also bore the brunt of his internal conflicts. When an errant thread clung to unnecessary cycles, she was there to unravel it. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. President. That's classified information, is it not?"

[We're on the lift now. Please use secure methods,] he said, reiterating his point.

"I'll ensure I only vocalize irrational diction then," Cynthia replied, mocking him.

[By the way,] she continued through their shared pipe, [GH-199076492's remains were analyzed, sterilized, and exposed to gate resonance. No residual traces of contamination persisted.]

[As expected.] Maximillian's thoughts whirred as the momentum of the lift adjusted. [Is a new shell being prepared?]

[GH-199077371 has begun construction. Materials from GH-199076492 are being embedded to maximize potential entanglement with Omega-3043. Likelihood of Chaos exposure has increased substantially, from 9.16 percent to 12.41 percent.]

[Potential phenomena size?]

[Potential damage assessment sees an increase of thirty-two percent in economic costs. Measures estimate at least a sixty percent increase in casualties.]

[The experiment is nearing its end then,] Maximillian replied as he processed the final numbers. There were over thirty thousand casualties from the incident, not including damaged androids and service machines. The economic value of all damaged goods, machinery, and systems was well into the tens of billions. As a percentage of overall supported value, those were minuscule. But compared to all other incidents, they were astronomical. The trend showed a clear line of exponentially increasing risk. Running his calculations, Maximillian came up with far worse. They would need to adjust their strategy. [What is the report from the Rasharkus excursion?]