[b]Orange![/b]

"I appreciate the confidence," said Orange. "Because, like I said, I am doing -" she made The Gesture again, "[i]A Journalism[/i]," again returning to default, "and what I think society has forgotten is that journalism is an art form. It is not simply about providing the facts in order. It is about communicating information to the mind of the public. Presentation is essential. Without showmanship," she smiled at Crystal, "how are they to know what is important?"

She took up a cup of Mrs. Everest's favourite tea. Held it under her nose, breathed in the scent. Perfect.

Then she poured eight different random flavour cubes into it and took a sip before her senses could catch up to the changes.

"So we must begin with background and preamble," said Orange. She held a steady expression but she also immediately poured herself a glass of water. "Each of the Hecatoncheires was built to overcome the sins of its predecessor. Goat's predecessor was humanity, and so he was made to be legible and controllable. A machine mind, a tame supercomputer genius who would follow orders and try its best to please. It turns out there is a precedent for this kind of person; they're the kids who have to be carried out of their college admission test on a stretcher to be treated for a ritalin overdose. It turns out that cramming additional hardware into a conscious mind comes at the cost of sanity. Hence why I," she raised her cursed tea to her lips again, "am collectively smart, individually stupid, and limited in cognition speed by the necessity to speak out loud."

She was pouring another glass of water the second the tea was back in the saucer. "A brief question interlude. The operation has already begun. The risks are less mapped than I'd like, but I like my position. You can help as my worst-case backstop; if the rest of me is somehow completely destroyed then I can rebuild from this node with time and care. Anything else, before I proceed?"

*

[b]November![/b]

Blue: I want the external wall.
White: Why?
Blue: I can make that cut.
White: That is not the question.
Blue: I haven't gotten to make a cut like that for years. It's safe, it's quick, I'm ready.
White: And the vault contents?
Blue: I'll be careful. Punch a hole in a corner, check with a camera, extend cuts out from there.
Orange: Are you sure that the first impression we want Goat to have of us, his liberators, is us waving a thermal torch around his head?
Red: I remember another time you cut into a room when you didn't know what was inside.
Red: The ship was pressurized, you knew that much
Red: But you didn't know the humans hadn't secured their tools properly before abandoning it
Red: The atmosphere vent sent a screwdriver through my forehead. We lost like three weeks.
White: We can probably make the cut technically, but the risk profile is too high for the person we're ostensibly rescuing. Veto.
Green: Then the door?
White: Why?
Green: Can slice it, seal it behind us, then cut out from the inside once Goat is extracted.
White: Can you open that door?
Green: I'm sure I can.
White: That is also not the question.
Green: I don't know.
White: But, like Blue, you want to show how cool you are by doing this really hard thing in a stylish way?
Green: ._. yes fine okay god
Green: why did i invent you you're such a bully 
White: We're taking the ceiling.
White: The failure risk is bad, but we have the greatest ability to control that outcome. The risks are by far the most well known and do not fall on Goat. We will simply react firmly to those risks if they arise.