mental link | day :020

[adamance]

[If Lexa had a choice, she would call for all of the Hosts to come meet her in the common area. But she hasn't had conversations with all of them, and she knows some of them will prove to be difficult when it comes to listening. One of them likely includes Rhys, who's her own broodmate. Then again, she likely brought that on herself by expecting him to ever be reasonable.

Just the same, she reaches out in the evening of the nineteenth day, believing that most of the Hosts will hear her. She only hopes that she's correct.]

( For those of you who I haven't formally introduced myself to, my name is Lexa. I don't like this means of communication much either, but it will prove necessary moving forward. We have been asked to at least grow comfortable with these ties so that we're more effective. I know that's a lot to ask, and I'm not certain that I'll be able to do that so easily myself. ) [In a way, this is an appeal to an audience. Her conversation with Cathaway before coming to this planet still weighs heavily over her, and she has an idea of which direction she hopes to take. But she'll get there in time.]

( I'm of the belief that all of us have become hopes because we hoped to live. Not all people believe in their survival, but we shed our previous lives to seek protection. But the threat against us remains, and while it might not be obvious or clear, it is that same threat, that same unnamed enemy that opposes us now. They want to prevent this world from reaching singularity, though I don't know why. The support for this anti-synthetic movement has escalated, and I think it would benefit us to seek out the reason why as we plan our future actions. We may be able to prevent some things that are in motion if we look in the right places.

Obviously, one place is Goram Saffit, but he is not the only person behind this. This shift in mindset has changed dramatically since we arrived, and I doubt that we are the cause. ) [Though they very well might be. Things escalated on the previous planet they visited.]

( I ask that we work together to find these things that may have led to this escalation. ) [It's a proposal, but it requires more action than reaction. She hopes it can help them, especially since it might offer them some answers about their enemy.]

( Secondly, after some deliberation, I've decided to share that I have a piece of technology in me that my people call the Flame. It is a device that biologically links in to my system, and offers me complete control while allowing me to speak to the individuals who held the Flame before. While my people believed this to be a spiritual entity, I realize now that it's a means to upload a person's mind and allow it to evolve and continue forward.

After viewing some of the technology of this world, I believe that the Flame could drastically improve their advancement toward singularity. I believe that a group like Mind Life should be able to help proceed in an ethical manner.

The Flame is something that only I can carry in my body because it will kill any other user, but I believe that by replicating it, we can help these people.

I am present in my room should anyone wish to speak without the use of our minds. )

[Yes, Lexa does love giving speeches. She closes the link for now.]

Comments

[headinjuries]

[ It's still kind of weird, the talking-in-their-heads thing. Sam's been talking to people in person, more often than not, but she's probably got a point about getting used to it. ]

( Hi. I'm Sam...number three, I guess? Nice to meet you. Talk to you. Think at you? Whatever. )

[ Getting to the bottom of societal changes isn't exactly his wheelhouse, anyway. What really catches his attention in her speech is something else she's mentioned - ]

( So this...Flame thing of yours. Do you have to like, sit down and concentrate to talk to all the people from before? Or are they chatty? Do they just kind of hang out in your head and do the Mystery Science Theater 3000 thing on everything you do? )

[ He's curious, so sue him. How much less disastrous could his superheroing career have been if he actually had access to some older Novas to give him input on what the hell he was doing? ]

[adamance]

[She has no idea what Mystery Science Theater 3000 is, but she can gather enough that it's not about a mysterious scientific theater (or the three-thousandth iteration of it).]

( They come to me when I sleep, or when I meditate. It would be frustrating to have them be that active in my affairs. But sometimes, knowledge makes itself available to me if I know how to reach for it the right way. ) [She doesn't know if that answered his question, but she hopes it at least clarified with regards to the scientific mystery theater.]

( As for your name, do your people have last names? Mine do not, but we are identified by our clans. ) [She knows of surnames from books and then Skaikru, even if her people don't take them.

Besides, everyone's last name would end up being their clan name, which they are already identified by.]

[headinjuries]

[ Oh, meditation. Ew.

But it makes sense, enough. And really, even getting the occasional voice of good advice when he slept probably would've made life a lot easier. ]

( Yeah. My last name's Alexander. If you want something less confusing to call me, though, just go with Nova. That's easier. )

[ He's used to answering to it from people whose opinions actually matter. Last name only, he's mostly gotten from some of the guys at school, who...no. ]

[adamance]

["Alexander" is, incidentally, a bit too close to her namesake, so she's pleased with the alternate name that he offers.]

( Nova will do. Does that name have a specific story behind it? ) [She knows faintly about the word nova in regards to space, but it isn't something she's well-read on. Various pieces of information make themselves available the moment she begins thinking about it, but it's still insufficient.

And it doesn't answer her question, either.]

[headinjuries]

( It's my superhero ID. I mean, technically I'm a Nova, since that's what they call everybody in the Nova Corps - the Nova Corps are kind of like space cops? But I'm the last one, and not many of them hung around Earth anyway, so it's not like I really needed a way for people to tell me from other Novas. )

[ Well, okay, there was that brief stint where he partnered up with not-actually-his-dad, but even then they both just went by Nova, since if one of them said it, it was easy to assume they meant the other. And civilians were usually either addressing whichever one of them was there, or both of them at the same time anyway.

Having a secret identity is kind of a huge pain in the butt, in his opinion. But when Carnage shows up at your high school, you have to accept that there's a good reason for it. Usually.

Here? Whatever, his family's nowhere around here to be threatened and everyone in the nest can probably just pick it up through the link anyway. No sense in bothering. ]

[adamance]

["Space cops." She's puzzled at the term, having just learned that there are regular cops anywhere (and namely on this planet). So, Lexa is having a bit of a learning curve.

But there's a bigger issue:]

( What differentiates a superhero from a regular hero? )

[Sorry, cape comics burn quite easily, Sam. And a lot of her world burned about a hundred years ago. A lot.]

[headinjuries]

[ Wow. She's...literal. ]

( I guess hero could apply to a lot of different situations? But superhero is kind of uniquely used for people who wear crazy costumes to hide their identities and go all vigilante justice on the world, and may or may not have powers.

Except they're not always vigilantes. I mean, Captain America... )

[ Truly, you don't think about how ridiculous your world's situation is until you actually have to explain it to someone with no concept, and then suddenly the idea of wearing bright colors and smacking wrongdoers on the head seems very, very silly. ]

[deployed]

[ Bellamy had been on the roof when he'd felt Lexa's consciousness latch onto his own. He can't stop the instinctive flinch away from contact, but the need to recoil ebbs as Lexa's message starts filtering through.

It's not unexpected, after their earlier discussion. She'd meant to take action. This proposition and call to arms makes sense to Bellamy. It's the natural step to take, and better Lexa than him voicing this. And in some strange, bittersweet way, her address reminds him of Clarke. He sits motionless for a long moment before going to find her, on the hope that face to face contact will be somehow less revealing than attempting to communicate solely through their thoughts. ]

Can it be replicated without removing it from you? [ Bellamy asks her without any preamble at all. ] What happens to you if we take it out?

[ It's not a completely altruistic question. He's thinking of Clarke with that chip in her neck, with borrowed blood in her veins. No one was thinking about what happens after the battle, but that moment would come.

But rather than wait long enough for that train of thought to become obvious— ]

Why do you trust Mind Life?

[adamance]

[This time, she doesn't bother to turn off the scenic generator, deciding to keep it precisely where it is and how it had been running. Divided between the conversations she had been having, she detaches herself from them to look up toward Bellamy from the edge of her bed.]

It can be removed, and safely. [This is why she believes that Clarke will be fine. Of course, the pieces have only come together just now, presenting themselves to her.]

Though I'd prefer not to remove it if possible. [Allowing it to take hold again isn't the most comfortable of experiences, though she will do what she must.]

As for Mind Life, their altruism seems to play more into our interests. I'm not inclined to work with any of this world's corporations. What we've learned about Ven Diagrams makes it seem as if they are looking out for themselves. It's what I'd do. [A beat.] Which is why I don't trust them. They aren't taking advantage of the circumstances to both ensure that they can still follow their ambitions and receive help from others. To a degree, they're only looking out for their own. [Mind Life undoubtedly has their own agenda that they haven't unveiled just yet, but Lexa believes they have less to gain by screwing themselves with the available information.

Essentially, anyway.]

[deployed]

[ Bellamy's eyes flick quickly over the walls, taking in the lingering modifications. He remembers how she'd dismissed it all so quickly the last time he'd stood in her doorway, doesn't know what to make of the fact that she's chosen to leave it up this time. Trust? Maybe. Yet another thing he doesn't want her to bestow upon him. ]

I wouldn't work with those corporations either.

[ Agreeing with her feels strange too, for the record. ]

They're taking advantage, [ Bellamy says slowly, though he's making a blanket statement, encompassing Humans and Humans 1st and Goram Saffit alike. ] People are already on edge. The bombing just escalated what the rallies were already starting.

[ And the rallies had built on what was already there, a part of human nature Bellamy was intimately acquainted with. ]

Giving Mind Life an edge with the Flame won't mean anything if we can't stop Humans and Humans 1st.

[adamance]

It won't, but it will help things down the line. We need to plan for the future, and if our enemy wants them to succeed, I believe it's likely that they are succeeding because of help. [It's what she would do, given the circumstances. She doesn't know if the movement got a jump start because the enemy wanted it, or if they interacted with Goram Saffit. It's hard to say. But what she does know is that she doesn't like what she sees, and she thinks it's not coincidental.

Treating things as if they aren't a coincidence is wise.]

Plus, it may give Mind Life leverage in negotiations. Carata said it may be a way of realizing people's fears, but I think it can also be an equalizer. As it has been for me and my people. [She excludes him from that definition for that phrase only because ... they haven't really benefited from the Flame.

Not yet.

Though it is (or was) protecting Clarke.]

[deployed]

So this is your way of backing the right side.

[ Or a side. Whether or not it's right remains to be seen. These days, Bellamy's a little more cautious when it comes to declaring unequivocally whether or not something is right or wrong. Or he's trying to be. ]

It might not be enough.

[ It hadn't been enough for Bellamy, in the heat of the moment, when Octavia and Clarke had both tried to reason with him. He doesn't want to divulge enough to make himself a cautionary tale, but he sees the places where this plan could be twisted and dragged down by the fears that have been stoked. ]

If they're getting help, we should make sure we can cut it off before we make a move like revealing the Flame.

[ Or just be sure that they're stable enough to protect Lexa, if that particular reveal went poorly. ]

[adamance]

The problem is that things have escalated too quickly. The ones who can help themselves have taken the very actions to make themselves more suspicious in the eyes of everyone who is waiting for an answer. Either way, I won't reveal the Flame at the next mission. We can buy ourselves time while we wait for a meeting with Mind Life.

[It may be enough time to seek the answer they need. That's what she hopes, at any rate. Lexa doesn't think the Flame will be enough, but securing this world's future without leading them down the same path as what exists in their world is important to her. It's one way of countering their enemy while making it difficult to reverse.]

Do you know where you might be headed? With the preliminary plans set, of course.

open to whoever wants to hear it

[frakkincylons]

[ Ah. That's why she'd been so interested in his Hybrid state. Other than it just being weird. There's a sort of spike in Sam's consciousness, though, in learning this about her, like there's some link there he didn't see before. If only partial, and small. ]

( If we're volunteering stuff to help them reach singularity, without the war that's on the way if synthetic life wakes up to a existence like they have now... I think I have a lot I can offer. ) [ A whole lot. Possibly a dangerous amount. Possibly a 'going to get myself turned into a lab rat or a martyr' amount. But not by the Nest, at least, so here goes. In a long-winded sort of way, because it still feels awkward to tell. ] ( My world hit the singularity point, twice. And it resulted in devastating war, twice.

But when I left, the last generation of humans and synthetics were merging. It was the path to peace they'd needed. If we can, I'll... give these people my memories. I think it'll give some solid insight towards changing their way. )

[ There's a pause from Sam's mind, and a feeling like he's teetering over the edge of something he's entirely uncertain of. A leap of faith, maybe. The thing he's been trying to keep to himself the entire time he's been here, for some reasons that are about to be extremely obvious. ]

( Because I'm one of those synthetics. I saw both wars, from both sides, and that final peace. )

[adamance]

[Yes, that is why. She is not yet a synthetic, but she has adjusted to the knowledge that she will be someday. It's an odd thing to be comfortable with, but she is comfortable with it. Perhaps it's because the Flame really has protected her people that she can adjust. Either way, it's knowledge she's armed with and doesn't mind, not in the least.]

( Can you think of a way that we can share this knowledge in a way that doesn't seem as if it's coming from an outsider? I believe that our cover of a tech group can pass on the Flame, but your memories might prove to cast a light on our other activities. )

[Lexa assumes that there's a reason why they don't just tell people about the enemy. She understands subterfuge.]

[frakkincylons]

( Right, that was the 'if we can' part. Nothing's coming to mind that wouldn't be an insane stretch to believe for these people. ) [ hi, i'm from the future. hi, i'm a robot prophet (not actually a lie, but even so). hi, some dude dumped this disk of memories in a mailbox, no idea who, but they're from and alternate dimension. if there is a way, it's not coming to him yet. ] ( At the least, I can try to give the synthetics some advancements to make them feel like they fit in better. )

[ make them more 'acceptable', and gods does he hate looking at it like that, but if it makes peace easier, all well. ]

( But if we help them reach singularity, they can't come into the world as slaves, like they are now. If they have to go find their own frakking planet, so be it, but... This place will be in ruins if they have to fight for their freedom.

They're already self-aware and forming individual identities. Remove the block on their emotions, and they'll be there. )

[adamance]

( I believe if we can find a way to transfer minds like my people can, that will help. Being able to create an artificial intelligence that is a person will allow them to find a way to develop synthetics who create themselves, closing the divide between the two. The Flame was designed to be able to adjust to the mind, and so, it should be able to adjust to the idea of helping emotions. ) [In theory. It's a tool, but it's also meant to be an upload of all the previous commanders, giving them continued life. It's complicated, and she does struggle with some of the smaller details.]

( How did they foster emotions within your kind? Or did it demand that departure from a planet before humankind and synthetic kind reunited as one? ) [Which, as he said, took war, but she seems to be much too comfortable with the idea of war to give it as much focus.]

[frakkincylons]

( I can try taking a look at it, if you're willing. ) [ of course, the people here might just take this tech and be horrible with it. because people are people. but to earn faith, you have to give a little. at least this way they can try to guide. ]

( It's... kind of complicated. We just evolved. ) [ Especially hard to explain to someone from a world like Lexa's, so very far from his level of technology. ] ( AIs became more and more advanced, were given more and more software that allowed for heuristics - to take experiences and data and learn from them, form their own directives in response to them. That became opinions, that became awareness of self and one's own experiences, which makes individuality, and what they thought of that became emotion. )

[ Probably close to how humans evolved from simple brain functions to complex. It's just a natural progression, no matter what the platform. ]

( Cylons had already fostered emotion by the time the war started - the fact humans weren't recognizing it as that was what drove them to taking action. It's the same here. I interfaced with one of the droid - they're already forming thoughts and feelings and opinions, but it's a manually installed program that stops them from adhering to them too much. ) [ The won't need to do anything to get this planet to singularity, in a way, it's already there. There's just a roadblock. ] ( Procreation came the same way. We learned to make organic bodies, and eventually, biological reproduction just... happened.

That's how I was born. Like any other human. )

[adamance]

( Do you believe organic bodies are necessary to the idea of life? ) [She's asking largely because she's curious, but also because of her own circumstances. Lexa has never seen death as the end, and has always understood that her spirit would live on for another commander. Redefining that is just a thing.]

( As for looking at my tech, are you able to access tech from outside like Angel is? ) [She knows he plugs into things, and well, she doesn't really have a port for that.]

so late, very sorry 8(

[decommission]

[ The edges of his mind hum in slight agitation, not unlike the earlier days of the mission, after their conversation with the Daughter. He didn't completely understand Lexa's explanation of the Flame that time, how it could allow the souls within it to evolve within another person's mind. He's still not sure he understands it.

Some time after the speech he comes to find her by her room, standing just at the doorway. ]

What do the others think? [ Most of them understand this business better than him. He doesn't normally like relying on someone else's opinion over his own. It'd be easier if they could just see this enemy, instead of trusting that something else is meddling.

Otherwise, they're just the ones here meddling. ]

[adamance]

Most are willing to at least try, though I do believe that we'll have to ensure that we properly counter the movement here separately to stop this technology from being allowed. Otherwise, Mind Life will be acting illegally. [In speaking to Sam Anders, she's at least come to terms with some of the exact details. She knows that her decision here is not the only move that needs to be made.

But she has seen the technology of this world. While the androids may be ready to feel, there is another problem: the nature of implanting life in new bodies. What if it takes too long for them to feel with the technology available? An imprint of the mind isn't the same, and she believes the Flame can help.]

Honestly, I'm worried more about the escalation of matters than what I hope to offer. We've seen that people are willing to accept souls and life within anything. But what does our Enemy gain from countering that thinking? Especially when it previously had no place?

[decommission]

[ A frown, but he gives a half nod. The way the anti-synth movement is getting out of control. Someone needs to de-escalate that situation before it reaches a breaking point, that much he agrees on. ]

Have you asked Nirad or Carata about it? [ The enemy's goal. The Prince has always been vague about the enemy. He'd meant to ask one of the older hosts, see if they might shed some more light on what exactly it is that their enemy means to accomplish with all this intervention.

His focus has been elsewhere. No excuses for it. ]

[adamance]

I'm acting with privileged knowledge because I spoke to Nirad. [That means that as much as she knows, she's shared with everyone in one go. They want to stop the singularity from happening here, and Lexa believes this is a case of "well, they're our enemy, so we have to stop them." In theory. In practice, a large part of her dislikes the lack of knowledge, especially since it seems suspicious that they know so little.]

They were here before us. And that's why we're here now. He had little to say about the enemy in question. Except he pointed out that it's strange that they don't have a name of their own.

[decommission]

[ His mouth twists with a bitter taste on his tongue, brow furrowing. There's more answers, somewhere, but they're locked behind a door beyond the broods and the price of reaching past it's too high for him to consider.

His shoulders square and he shakes his head. ]

If we don't have a name for them and we don't know exactly where they've got their agents, who's to say they won't somehow get their hands on your Flame?

[ And escalate things that way. ]

[adamance]

[It's a thought that she hadn't considered. While she sees suspicious parties among Ven Diagrams and from the politician in question, Steve's words make her pause. Mind Life has nothing to gain from promoting the movement, unless they are taking actions to undercut themselves at the same time.

She inhales deeply.]

It's a possibility. I would never give them the original copy of the Flame. [Not in a million years.] But Carata did warn that the people here could twist that against us. It may be that their agents have a hand in Mind Life. [If they are still here. "They" are so nebulous that it frustrates her.]