ataraxion | video; backdated to shortly after the jump

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agent york

video; backdated to shortly after the jump

[ York waits until after all the normal post-jump news bulletins go out to make his own post. He's obviously walking the hallways as he videos himself, by the view, an upward tilted view of his face with the hallway moving behind it. ]

I never checked in after my expedition last month. Sorry about that, anyone who was waiting to hear back. I got back just in time for the jump, so, you know. Priorities.

Anyway, here's the story, if you don't know. Before I was brought here, I had an AI chip implanted in my head. I show up here, and my AI is gone, okay. And, he didn't show up in a body like a lot of other AIs do. So I got to wondering, if there's some technology on the ship that gets used to create the bodies, maybe the chip is in one of the labs somewhere. Maybe somewhere we don't know how to get to yet.

And I know I didn't say anything about going off on my own, but that's the way it happened. I got impatient, you know how it is. I had a lot of areas on the ship I wanted to check. [ He shrugs, perhaps a bit too nonchalant. ] Anyway, the long and the short of it is...I didn't find it. Hey, I told you, I understood the odds were against it. Doesn't mean I don't feel better for trying.

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[Well.

Now that Delta's had a little while to gather himself as best he can, he goes over this message very carefully. It certainly looks and sounds like York, and moreover the content of the message is in keeping with York's personality. Perhaps Epsilon was sincere when he'd said York was here.

Still, he goes over the video several times to look for discrepancies and, finding none, takes his chip in one hand and the communication device in the other. It was no mistake that the chip had come with him, then, even though it had been some time since he was physically located in it. Finally he turns on the anonymous feature of his not-smartphone and texts in reply.]

What does this chip look like?

Sort of octagonal. Has a couple prongs coming out of the middle. Who's asking?

017 >> 164.

[accept file transmission thisisthechipyouarelookingfor.jpg ?]

[ That was the chip all right. But that couldn't be. Not from someone with that designation. ]

You just got here. Where did you get that?

It was in my locker when I arrived. I am told only one's personal belongings are to be found there. Do you claim it is yours?

[It really does seem to be York after all. Delta allows a little cautious optimism to enter his demeanor. If this really is him--]

[ —there's only one conclusion he can draw from that. There's just a long enough pause for him to come out of his shock before he switches to a video feed. ]

D?

I am afraid so. Hello, York.

[There's so much more to say, beginning and ending with "I missed you" but with several other important observations in the middle, such as "I am sorry to be stuck in this human body" and "This is all highly confusing". Still, he hopes York won't find his new form too strange to get used to.]

I did not see you during my arrival.

[ He rubs his forehead, still a little disbelieving of this. But not really, because it's obviously D. There's no getting around that. ]

Yeah...I got out of the locker room pretty quick this time 'round. Just showered and left.

...So that's what you look like, huh? I wondered.