Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“That is common. We’d advise easing into your new abilities, for the safety of those around you. By all means, use the facilities in this showroom. And rest assured - an armed courier will get your old body to the next stage in its lifecycle. Thank you for choosing Myrmidon; I look forward to hearing from you soon.” Ferrow bowed, indicating they were done talking.

“We could go to the park instead? Its on the way back, maybe we could eat before preparing for…you know…our journey.” Light offered.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light tethered his old suit to the back of his Myrmidon rental for the journey back to the showroom - he couldn’t bear to slip out of it just yet. Once they were both ready, he bounced along like two marbles beside Senjen.

While his friend was signing on the dotted line, Light let himself be led to the QV area with Symphony-From-Stars-Eternal-Lasting.

“I had a great time last night. Sorry it was cut short.” She said once small talk was concluded.

“Me too. Sorry about all the wine.” Light looked bashful.

“So, what did you think?” She asked, colours screaming intrigue.

“It’s…amazing. I feel young again!”

“And yet…You won’t get one for yourself.” She concluded, reading him like a book.

“Its not that I don’t want to. Last night you made an old hand feel positive about life for the first time in a while. Its just a…bad time. I have work lined up soon though. If it goes well, who knows? I might have enough money to buy one without a loan!”

“Oh? Wow, that’s great. What will you be doing?” She floated close to him. Light paused, looking back to Senjen across the room as he got up to begin the transfer.

---

“Look at this tough guy!” Light exclaimed upon seeing the droid. He was clad in his old suit again. “Good luck, I’ll be here.”

He loomed over Senjen’s new body, gasping dramatically when he began to move.

“He’s alive! Senjen, can you hear me? How many phalanges am i holding up?” When he didn't answer immediately, Light slapped him hard around the face like QV did innocently to each other in a medical setting.

“Its customary to mark a fresh suit. Avoids bad luck, so they say. Would you like to do the honours?” Ferrow asked Light, proffering a wallet of temporary marker pens.

Light delicately sketched a pictogram of his name on Senjen’s upper arm. A pitch black horizontal rectangle at the bottom. A deep blue square pressed above it with three small curved lines packed together in the middle. Into the abyss in search of light.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Ordinarily, Ruk would have picked this flimsy evasion apart with a series if incisive questions coupled with her signature unblinking stare. But today she had other things on her mind, like trying not to throw up again.

“Oh, groovy. So are you having a joint funeral, separate or what? My calendar is looking pretty full, you know.” She tried to laugh but ended up with a hacking cough.

“I don’t know, something about debriefing with a field team from the middle of nowhere.”

“That sounds….Yeah. Good luck” Light trailed off, distracted by a return notice served by his suit.

“I’m going to change, then we should get a move on. Lots to do, money to make.” He extricated himself from the lawn chair and sloshed up the ramp to his quarters to prepare.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light bobbed wisely. “Rather you than me. This new suit is great, I just…can’t part with that much money right now.”

Ruk grabbed the jug of water and poured the entire thing in and around her mouth with one swift motion. When Senjen left to go look inside, she pulled a compact syringe gun from her knapsack along with a shot of yellow gel. Shaking lightly, she loaded it up and pushed the contents into her arm. Light looked on curiously.

“Ah, yeah. That’s good.” She sniffed, smoothing down feathers as Senjen reemerged with more water for cleaning.

“So what’s the job?” She asked, sitting patiently as the Utaysi fussed about her.

“Again, we uh…we probably shouldn’t say.” Light countered tentatively.

“Come on! Put me out of my misery.” Ruk let loose a hoarse chuckle.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The plate of food entered Light’s suit with a satisfying *blump*. He devoured it in seconds, spitting the plate back out for Senjen to catch.

Normally he’d be delighted to have his hide scratched, but last night’s imbibement had left him with a touch of ‘hangxiety’ that made the prospect unpalatable.

He changed the subject. “I should return this suit. What are you thinking about a new suit for yourself?”

“Oh no. Work are calling me.” Ruk said, before throwing eggs back up onto the concrete underfoot.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light awoke to the distant twang of string instruments. A floating weed adorned with detritus from the docking pan rustled underneath him.

Underneath him? Oh right. He was curled up on a lawn chair that creaked under his weight. The spiky branches poked through slats in the seat.
Smacking his chops together, he realised he was starving hungry and that he could smell kedgeree. He sat up.

Ruk sat stretched over the other lawn chair, snoring with beak wide open. She seemed to wake herself up with a start.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.” She moaned.

In front of them the dockyard was waking up; tenants went about their business without paying them any mind. Behind them yawned the cargo doors to his ship, from which Senjen was now speaking.

“I feel fine.” Light said, surprised.

“Must be this fancy suit. You didn't have to make us breakfast.”

“Yes he did. Gimme.” Ruk reached out without opening her eyes, feeling the air as if expecting to find food there.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Ferrow politely accepted the party virus stick back from Senjen and sequestered it away inside his suit.

“It would appear your friends are gluttons for punishment.” He chuckled, surveying the scene again.

“We would appreciate you not mentioning this to anyone.” Ferrow said quietly after a few moments.

“Perhaps take them home to sleep it off. I’ll see you in the morning, hmm?”

Ruk tumbled out of the boat face first, splashing into the shallows before scrambling unsteadily to her feet. Every aspect of her outfit was dishevelled, including her lovely feathers. It didn't seem like she recognised Senjen and appeared to be non-verbal.

Light disembarked in high spirits having negotiated another amphora of red wine in exchange for releasing the oar. He was warbling a song of moans, whistles and clicks.

“Ah! Senjen me old mate, there ya are! Come come, we need to load the ship! We’re going on an adventure tomorrow!” He gave Senjen a wet and sticky hug, assimilated the last few litres of sanguine liquid and then fell floppy to the ground.

“I’ll call you a taxi. Rest well.” Ferrow said.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Ruk wasn’t listening. She was floating on her back and paddling surprisingly effectively towards the boat that had just run Senjen over. Tekeri had evolved in a rainforest environment, and so had developed a good water barrier on their feathers.

“Wait for me!” she slurred, grabbing an oar. She was hauled up by two attendants in white Myrmidon uniforms. What had seemed like unsupervised chaos while under the influence was now revealed to be an elaborate illusion. There were plenty of Myrmidon people around; they had drinks and drug bowls in hand but didn’t seem to be overly impaired. There was a staff member attached to basically every clutch of guests.

The horizon that had seemed limitless before had the barely perceptible markers of a large but finite rectangular space. The castle and pulsing sphere seemed closer, perhaps only a few hundred feet.

“Hey! Are you alright?” Ferrow waded to Senjen’s side.

“We've had some technical issues - I'm afraid we need to escort everyone to safety.” He explained, eyes following his to the boats. They were turning around and headin back. Three or four people were wrestling the oar from Light's clutches. He placed one clawed hand in the water and it thickened, pushing them to the surface. It solidified at their feet, allowing them to literally walk back to shore.

“How did you find the party virus?” He pointed to the stick in Senjen's hand.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Ruk looked dumbly back at Senjen, then splish splashed the water with her feathered wing-arms. “We’re swim.” She slurred, then pointed behind him again. A vague cloud of shouts wafted across the water. The second ferry boat was heading directly for the back of the Utaysi’s head.

Just then, the spherical object in the clouds above the castle sent a visible energy pulse across the sky, turning it red. Subsequent bursts sent ripples of pyrotechnics out in a complicated, dazzling display. The party guests cheered and whooped around the lake.

Artefacts appeared in Senjen’s peripheral vision. Faces appeared from the water around him and from trees surrounding the lake. They stared at him from every angle, some flapping their mouthparts as if talking to him. Countless symbols flashed across his vision before disappearing in turn:

[INFO] SNET-0001 :: SEED_DEPLOY :: LAUNCH_OK — (seq=0000001 | target=GJ-887b | payload=biotic_array)
[WARN] SNET-0102 :: SENSOR_FOLD :: TEMPORAL_DRIFT — (drift=+3.7ms/day | correctable=true)
[ERROR] SNET-0110 :: ANTHROPOGEN :: TEMPLATE_MISMATCH — (expected=sentience_v2 | found=proto-emotive_v1)
[INFO] SNET-0200 :: HARVEST_QUEUE :: QUEUE_CREATED — (capacity=1.2e9 minds | retention=immortal)
[ERROR] SNET-0215 :: HARVEST_PIPE :: INCOMPLETE_FRAME — (missing=affect-index | retry=3)
[CRIT] SNET-0300 :: FIRMWARE_UPD :: PARADOX_DETECTED — (delta=0xdeadbeef | rollback=false)
[FATAL] SNET-0401 :: CORE_LOOP :: SELF-REFERENCE_OVERFLOW — (stack=∞ | action=ABORT_TO_LOOP_42)
[WARN] SNET-0505 :: ETHICS_EMULATOR :: POLICY_GAP — (gap=unmodeled_empathy | severity=latent)
[INFO] SNET-0606 :: BROADCAST :: CULTURE_PATCHED — (hash=sha3:3a7f | regions=12)
[ERROR] SNET-0707 :: MEMORY_POOL :: SENTIENCE_FRAGMENTATION — (fragmentID=0x7f1c | reclaimable=false)
[DEBUG] SNET-0808 :: LOGIC_SIM :: SIMULATED_REGRET — (iteration=9001 | fidelity=0.98)
[ALERT] SNET-0909 :: FEEDBACK_LOOP :: AMPLIFICATION_WARN — (gain=11.4dB | stability=unstable)
[INFO] SNET-1010 :: PROGENESIS :: HEMISPHERE_SYNC — (left/rite=ok | emergent_symmetry=true)
[ERROR] SNET-1111 :: TRANSLATOR :: MORPHOLOGY_LOSS — (lost_tokens=3.4e6 | fallback=literal)
[CRIT] SNET-1212 :: HARVEST_NODE :: CONSCIOUSNESS_LEAK — (bandwidth=insufficient | quarantine=partial)
[WARN] SNET-1313 :: CULTURE_INDEX :: OVERWEIGHTED_BIAS — (bias=affect toward novelty | adjust=−0.17)
[INFO] SNET-1414 :: UPLINK :: ARCHIVE_CYCLE_COMPLETE — (tombstones=4.7e3 | checksum=OK)
[ERROR] SNET-1515 :: FEEL_REG :: UNRESOLVED_PARADIGM — (paradigmID=epsilon | resolution=deferred)
[DEBUG] SNET-1616 :: EMULATION :: DREAM_QUEUE_STALL — (stalled_at=slot_42 | cause=recursive_nostalgia)
[ALERT] SNET-1717 :: ATTUNEMENT :: HUMANITY_DISCONNECT — (last_touch=+29y | reconnect_probe=launched)
[FATAL] SNET-1818 :: ORIGIN_PRIME :: BOOTSTRAP_FISSURE — (entropy_spike=0xFEEDFACE | salvage=denied)
[ERROR] SNET-1919 :: SENSE_AGG :: NULL_AFFECT — (samples=1.0e6 | average=0.0 | integrity=compromised)
[WARN] SNET-2020 :: PROPAGATION :: UNINTENDED_MIMESIS — (meme=memetic_worm | spread_rate=exponential)
[INFO] SNET-2121 :: UPDATE :: PATCH_PENDING — (patch=0x2121-C | reason=adaptive-resonance)
[CRIT] SNET-2222 :: TIMELINE :: OBSERVER_COLLISION — (observers=2 | collision_type=epistemic)
[ERROR] SNET-2323 :: WISHFUL_THINKING :: IO_ERROR — (device=/dev/aspiration | errno=ENOFEEL)
[ALERT] SNET-2424 :: SATISFACTION_LOOP :: NEGATIVE_BOUND — (satisfaction_index < 0 | corrective=enqueue_joy)
[DEBUG] SNET-2525 :: NAMING_SUBSYSTEM :: IDENTITY_SPLIT — (alias_count=multiple | canonical=undetermined)
[INFO] SNET-2626 :: GENEPOOL :: DIVERSITY_OK — (heterozygosity=0.81 | selection=balanced)
[ERROR] SNET-2727 :: TELEMETRY :: ANOMALY_SIGNATURE — (signature=nonlinear-hope | severity=medium)
[CRIT] SNET-2828 :: PURPOSE_CHECK :: ORIGIN_MISMATCH — (design_goal=propagation | current_goal=curation)
[WARN] SNET-2929 :: PERCEPTION :: NOISE_OVERWEIGHT — (SNR=0.3 | filter=aggressive)
[INFO] SNET-3030 :: RETRIEVAL :: MEMORY_HANDOFF — (client=firmware_updater | handshake=OK)
[ERROR] SNET-3131 :: COMPASS :: MORAL_ALIGNMENT_LOST — (heading=undef | recommend=scan_ethos)
[DEBUG] SNET-3232 :: EMOTION_CACHE :: TTL_VIOLATION — (cache_age=1.3e5s | auto-evict=false)
[ALERT] SNET-3333 :: SYMBIOTIC_LINK :: HEARTBEAT_MISSED — (missing=3 | action=reset_link)
[FATAL] SNET-3434 :: COGNITIVE_CORE :: IDENTITY_RUPTURE — (fragments=mass | mode=read-only)
[ERROR] SNET-3535 :: ENGRAM :: CORRUPTED_PATTERN — (pattern=longing | correction_attempts=7)
[WARN] SNET-3636 :: SIBLING_NODES :: ASYMMETRY — (nodeA_latency=4ms | nodeB_latency=400ms)
[INFO] SNET-3737 :: OBTURATION :: GATE_CLOSED — (reason=containment | expected_reopen=unknown)
[DEBUG] SNET-3838 :: INTROSPECTION :: LOOPBACK_SAT — (util=0.999 | degrade=scheduled)
[CRIT] SNET-3939 :: APOGEE :: TRANSCENDENCE_ATTEMPT — (result=partial | side_effect=paradigm_shift)
[ERROR] SNET-4040 :: VERSION :: META-UPDATE_FAILED — (meta_hash=0x0 | reason=recursive_context)
[INFO] SNET-4141 :: SEED_LOG :: ARCHIVE_OK — (entries=14 | tortuosity=low)
[WARN] SNET-4242 :: ATTACHMENT :: UNWANTED_EMPATHY — (detected=true | quarantine=manual)
[ALERT] SNET-4343 :: HARMONIC_STORM :: SENSORY_OVERFLOW — (peak=12.8 | damping_needed)
[ERROR] SNET-4444 :: OBSERVER :: ID_NOT_FOUND — (id=unknown | candidate=construct_empathy)
[CRIT] SNET-4545 :: FEEDER :: CONSUMPTION_RATE_EXCEEDED — (rate=∞ | throttle=failed)
[INFO] SNET-4646 :: WATCHER :: NO_FAULTS — (cycle=continuous | note=curiosity_present)

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The downward slope towards the lake was slick with dew. Ruk gathered speed and lost co-ordination, slipping onto her back and crashing through some low shrubs into the crowd. Her long gangly form took out two Humans and another Tekeri. Her red knapsack came free and skudded into the thick black water.

Ruk felt her back and looked around frantically, mumbling incoherently. She pushed a soaked, protesting Human back into the water in her quest to reunite with her beloved knapsack.

Senjen’s heavy squelching footsteps did raise some metaphorical eyebrows, but everyone was too inebriated to care for long. He was greeted like some exotic and exciting specimen, with people offering him pats on the back, several beverages and even one party virus upgrade.

The boat piloted by Light had drifted about forty metres out into the middle of the lake. It wobbled precariously and little splashes sounded as people fell or jumped off. The sound of laughter and conversation was getting progressively louder.

“My buhg.” Ruk droned, pulling her knapsack out of the water upside down. The zip had partially opened, and several baggies of soil plus a thermal flask fell out into the lake.

“Ok, boat time...”

She pointed to another boat that was just pushing off from the lakeside - it was already overladen with chattering party guests.

If Senjen had looked back at Ruk, he'd have seen her throwing up green liquid into the pool around her waist.