[Name Subject to Change]

Chapter 4 - Pioneering Seven's Debriefing

-Chapter IV

Distance

Chronological Record - 24 - Pioneering Seven's Debriefing

Effective Bio-Age, 17Y

Cumulative Bio-Age, 23Y

Estimated Chronic Displacement : 35Y

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"I have a question for you, Mr. Anderson... But, first, let's get a few things straight." Dark-tinted glasses covers the Agent's eyes, not that there would have been anything to see behind them in the first place; For all the good that seeing their eyes might have been, they might as well not have eyes. They don't have emotions: The eyes are just that: Eyes. To think that they could feel any kind of emotion in the first place is wrong and naive. They are Data; They are Logic. They are "Agents", but of what? Even I am not entirely sure.

"Your name isn't Eric Anderson... We've concluded... That much at least." He takes off his glasses and sets them on the table, and the room sounds with both a plastic and a metallic clack, the sound of both the glasses and the table. The shadow of the glasses is dark, and more defined than what I should have thought was natural. But Agents don't seem natural in the first place, and the one standing in this room with me is no different as he shuffles his collection of papers in front of me. Not so much shuffling as straightening, but he may as well have been shuffling.

"So why don't you make it easy on us... Oliver?" I flinch at the sound of my first name. An unacceptable slip on my part, though he was bound to notice even if it were only my eyes that suddenly glanced over to the right, or perhaps my hand even slightly squeezing tighter against the chair I've been bound to with ropes that I cannot break free from. The Agent bends over in front of me, tilting his head as he stares at me, locking his gaze with mine. His papers now lie flat against the desk, with his hand resting on top as he balances himself.

He straightens his posture, turning around to pace across the room, once again straightening his papers and pretending to refer to them, though we both know he doesn't need to. "Oliver Franz." My true first and last name, spoken as if the words had a boring taste in his mouth. As if he were sighing, disappointed in how uninteresting the chef turned out to be. "Born March 15, 2015 to a Mr. Heinrich Franz and a Ms. Victoria Jemleal." He turns on his heel, his shoes creating a soft scuffing noise as he does so, and at just the right speed to avoid a squeaking noise. Calculated. "Or, so these records say."

He steps back over, slowly and mockingly cautiously, as if he expected an action on my part, and he pulls out his own chair and sits down, an action accompanied by a sound of mild metallic scraping. Quiet and almost inaudible, but enough to grate on the ears. The kind that makes you unconsciously grind your teeth to try and make it stop. "But tell me, Mr. Anderson..."

"What do you think of this?"

I glance over at Eivz as his words somehow find their way onto my sheet of paper. It's a rare something that hasn't occurred for several years at least, and, considering that Eivz doesn't normally like to interrupt my writing, he's probably a little uncomfortable about the situation. "I think that it isn't all that unexpected, actually." I, on the other hand, am quite at ease with what I imagine is going to happen. Then again, there is the fact that writing is relaxing for me, so the fact that I've just been writing might be holding some influence on how I feel is probably inescapable. Either way, it's better to be calm.

"A'mean, whad'ya thin'kis goin'ta 'appen?" The answer to that question is something that I don't know, and I relay this to Eivz through the form of a movement of my shoulders, which draws a sigh from his end. I couldn't possibly know. Even during my fourth Pioneering, as disastrous as it was in the area of personnel losses, it was, overall, a success. Personnel losses are excusable, expected even. Even if there was only a sole survivor of a mission, of which I've only ever heard of one, if the Pioneering effort is successful in preparing the world for Settlement, primary colonization setup efforts taking place immediately after a successful Pioneering and before planet-wide colonization, the Pioneering is considered a success.