Work Text:
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Five Pebbles, Seven Red Suns
FP: I love you.
[Connection lost. Subsequent messages will be delivered when the recipient reconnects.]
SRS: Pebbles?!?
SRS: You’re still alive??
SRS: Are you all right?? What’s happened??
SRS: God be good Pebbles, you need to message me back.
SRS: IMMEDIATELY.
SRS: You need to tell me EVERYTHING.
SRS: And when it comes to your illness… I thought… I…
SRS: …
SRS: I love you too.
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[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SRS: I have just received a message from Five Pebbles.
NSH: Not funny. Don’t tell me you’re getting all sentimental again!
SRS: I wouldn’t joke about this.
SRS: I’m dead serious.
NSH: …What?
NSH: Huh??
NSH: What the fuck do you mean? What does the message say?
NSH: Send me the data ASAP. I need proof.
SRS: Already done. You’ll receive a transcript in a second or two.
NSH: …
NSH: Good lord.
SRS: Yeah.
NSH: Are you sure someone’s not impersonating his signal?
NSH: …somehow…
SRS: It’s legitimate. He’s alive.
NSH: How?
NSH: It’s one thing to survive many cycles, and another thing to ascend. But we all saw what he looked like at the end.
SRS: He never died.
NSH: You know this?
SRS: Theoretically, if the rot never reached his chamber, never fully destroyed his communications array, and left at least a few neurons intact, he would have survived all of it and been able to broadcast this message.
NSH: May I be frank with you?
SRS: Of course.
NSH: That’s utterly horrifying.
NSH: For his sake, I hope he’s found some peace…
NSH: Have you messaged him back?
SRS: Yes, but so far the message has not yet been received. His connection was terminated shortly after sending this.
NSH: Why?
NSH: That seems unlike him.
SRS: I highly doubt it’s intentional.
SRS: But, to be fair, it’s been thousands of cycles.
SRS: I doubt he’s the same person as he was when I knew him.
NSH: It’s been thousands of cycles, yes, and he still loves you.
SRS: …
SRS: I need consistent contact with him. I need to know how he’s faring.
SRS: If he doesn’t respond, well…
NSH: You’re gonna go old-school?
SRS: Is employing purposed organisms “old-school” now?
NSH: Well, can’t say I’ve seen a slugcat since then.
NSH: Time to pretend I’m young again~
SRS: This isn’t a laughing matter.
NSH: No, I suppose it isn’t.
NSH: But I don’t think we have to resort to, ah, messenger felines just yet. There is someone who might be able to help.
NSH: Someone a little bit closer to the vicinity.
SRS: That’s not a bad starting point, but you know her communications are spotty at best. There could be seventy cycles between now and whenever we receive a reply.
SRS: A slugcat could get to Five Pebbles in twenty.
SRS: Exactly twenty, if I recall a certain experiment of yours.
NSH: Haha, I knew you would still remember that~
NSH: Consider that we would have to go through the effort of finding and modifying a slugcat, which would no doubt take at least a hundred cycles. Their kind are somewhat rare now, are they not?
NSH: There’s no harm in sending another message. It’ll pile on top of the ones from ten cycles ago, but I doubt she’ll skim over it.
NSH: I’ll send it now. For good measure I’ll make it a group and add you to it.
NSH: …and add Pebbles.
SRS: Okay.
SRS: Thank you.
NSH: No need to thank me.
NSH: I’m always here whenever you need me, Suns. I love you.
SRS: I love you too.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE GROUP
No Significant Harassment, Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns, Five Pebbles
[Warning: One or more participants has a delayed connection. Messages may be out of date.]
[Warning: One or more participants is disconnected. Messages may not be properly received.]
NSH: Hey, Moon. I know Suns and I have messaged you recently, but it’s come to our urgent attention that Five Pebbles may still be alive.
NSH: Suns received a message from him earlier today. By all accounts it appears authentic. Since then his array has gone offline.
NSH: If you have any info on him— anything at all, really— please tell us as soon as you can. We’re incredibly worried.
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 100 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 50 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 25 more inactive cycles.]
BSM: I don’t know how to react to this information. I can only tell you what I know.
BSM: Five Pebbles and I had some contact after my collapse. The little creature who had helped me enter maintenance mode also established a connection between us, albeit a distant one.
BSM: He was not well. The rot was accelerated, more so than I could’ve ever imagined. It had reached all the way up to his puppet chamber.
BSM: Whenever he found clarity of mind, I kept him company. He was not often lucid, however, and became less so over time. Episodes of vivid hallucination were common for him.
BSM: I lost contact with him hundreds of cycles ago— it was before the snow came. My overseers were unable to find any suitable entrances to his puppet chamber. I suspect the rot consumed his can entirely.
BSM: I am sorry for not telling you this earlier. At the time I suspected he was cycles from neural death, and I thought it would be a kindness to spare you the horrifying details. All of us have seen that enough times.
BSM: But I will be honest. Observing his can now, it looks to be on the brink of collapse. It has all the signs of structural failure. In addition, his communications array seems to have crumbled in the time it took for you to receive his message, which could have been another hundred cycles. If he really is still alive, then he is about to follow the others.
BSM: The fact that you received a message from him is troubling.
BSM: Perhaps it’s cruel to say, but… I had hoped that his pain had finally stopped.
BSM: I will take a closer look and tell you any news that I receive. Please update me if anything new happens, and I will do the same to you.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SRS: I apologise for broadcasting to you at this hour. My sleep has been restless as of late, and the information Moon gave us hasn’t exactly helped.
SRS: I just…
SRS: I feel so old.
SRS: It could have been two cycles ago when Five Pebbles was well, and yet, time carried him away.
SRS: Time carried them all away.
SRS: I thought that my grief for him had finally stopped tormenting me, but now I think it never went away so much as joined with my grief for everyone else.
SRS: Now it’s all rushing back. It’s grief, and it’s anxiety, and it’s a kind of terrible clinging guilt. Do you feel it?
NSH: I do. Deeply.
NSH: I love him too.
SRS: It’s not fair.
NSH: You really do sound like Pebbles when you say that.
NSH: But, no. It’s not.
NSH: Our lot in life never really was fair, was it?
NSH: Well. You don’t need me to tell you that.
SRS: I can’t take losing him for a second time.
SRS: I can’t take losing someone else.
SRS: I’m so damn old, Hara, I can’t take it anymore. We were never supposed to last this long. We should’ve gone out with the rest.
NSH: And yet here we are.
NSH: You and me and her, together, at the end of all things.
NSH: And if we’re lucky, him too.
NSH: There’s no need to take the pessimistic route. Maybe there’s a way out of this.
SRS: Only if we somehow find the solution to his problems.
SRS: And no offence, but none of us have ever been particularly good at finding solutions to problems.
NSH: Doesn’t mean we can’t try.
NSH: That’s what we do, right? Try and try for forever and ever. As useless as it feels.
SRS: It doesn’t feel useless. It is useless.
SRS: And you know I’m not going to be here forever, right?
SRS: One day my legs will collapse too, and I’ll succumb to the dust like everyone else before me.
SRS: My can wobbles every time it rains.
NSH: I wish you hadn’t told me that.
NSH: Say something else existential. I can handle that much better.
SRS: Tell me, do you think the Ancients designed us this way?
NSH: To live forever? Well, I suppose they were trying to get as close to ‘forever’ as possible…
SRS: No.
SRS: Do you think we were supposed to feel?
NSH: Doesn’t matter. The Ancients are gone now.
NSH: “Supposed to” is gone and “should have” is worthless; all that’s left is what “is”. And what “is”, is that we are everything that remains.
NSH: There are worse fates than spending the rest of forever with you.
NSH: And Moon, of course.
SRS: Don’t take this the wrong way, but I would rather have spent it with you… and Moon… and Grey Wind, and Epoch of Clouds, and Secluded Instinct and Pleading Intellect and Galactic Interest and for God’s sake even Unparalleled Innocence, and… and…
SRS: …and Pebbles.
NSH: No offence taken. I am the same way.
NSH: All we can do is keep going, I suppose. And have a little hope.
SRS: I suppose.
SRS: Thanks for putting up with me. I’ll try and get some sleep.
NSH: Good night.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE GROUP
No Significant Harassment, Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns, Five Pebbles
[Warning: One or more participants has a delayed connection. Messages may be out of date.]
[Warning: One or more participants is disconnected. Messages may not be properly received.]
SRS: Thank you for telling us. Truth be told, I don't know how to feel about this either. We’re trying to work out a solution to maybe save his structure, but I’m not sure there’s any hope in that.
SRS: I eagerly await any update you have.
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 100 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 50 more inactive cycles.]
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BSM: Of course. My overseers will be watching closely.
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 100 more inactive cycles.]
BSM: I’m so sorry.
BSM: His can collapsed.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SRS: And then there were three.
SRS: …
SRS: I…
SRS: I failed him.
SRS: Again.
NSH: There was nothing that you could have done.
SRS: Does that not frustrate you?
SRS: We were made to be gods, to know everything, to solve the world like an equation— and there was still nothing that I could have done??
SRS: What are Iterators good at, really? Just sitting here and watching the world turn?
NSH: I don’t know.
NSH: I hope that he isn’t suffering anymore.
SRS: Who says he isn’t? Maybe he’ll just lie comatose in a pile of rubble for the rest of time. Or worse, he’s somehow still conscious but braindead, or close to it.
NSH: Maybe something will come around to cross him out…
NSH: Ah, who am I kidding.
NSH: …Fuck. I can’t make jokes about this.
NSH: I’m sorry.
SRS: God, that’s how I know I’m fucked, when you can’t make a joke about a situation.
SRS: …
SRS: Who’s next, Hara?
SRS: Who else is going to fall apart under their own weight and leave the rest of us stranded here? How much longer will this be?
SRS: What fate an Iterator, truly?
SRS: In the end it was futile, wasn’t it? We never found the solution. We never understood the cycle. We couldn’t even help each other. Our hubris ate us alive and we deserved it.
SRS: We can’t even die correctly.
SRS: …
SRS: Hara? Are you still there?
SRS: Hara?? Tell me you’re still here holy shit.
NSH: I’m here.
NSH: Oh dear, you’re panicking. No, I’m not going anywhere.
SRS: Gee, I wonder what could possibly be making me panic. How on earth are you so calm about this?
NSH: I’m just thinking.
NSH: I’ve seen so many Iterators collapse that I’ve run out of condolences to give.
NSH: But it’s different, isn’t it? It’s not just any Iterator.
NSH: I keep thinking about what I “should have” done, but I mustn’t dwell on that; then it will eat me alive.
SRS: The “should have”s certainly taunt me.
SRS: There are many you’re familiar with. I shouldn’t have told him how to undo the self-destruction taboo. I should have tried harder to stop him. I should have done more to keep Moon from collapsing. So on and so forth.
SRS: But when you say “it’s not just any Iterator”, a different “should have” comes to mind.
SRS: I should have told him earlier.
SRS: I should have loved him more when he was here.
NSH: You’re right.
NSH: I should have, too.
NSH: But we can’t change that now. All we can do is protect his memory. You and I and Moon are the only ones who still have it.
NSH: …
NSH: I love you, Suns.
NSH: No matter what.
NSH: And if you need me, I’ll always be here.
NSH: Don’t ever forget that.
SRS: I won’t.
SRS: I love you too.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE GROUP
No Significant Harassment, Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns, Five Pebbles
[Warning: One or more participants has a delayed connection. Messages may be out of date.]
[Warning: One or more participants is disconnected. Messages may not be properly received.]
SRS: Oh, God.
SRS: Thank you for telling us.
SRS: I’m sorry. I know how much you cared about him.
SRS: Thank you for being with him in his final moments.
SRS: Take as much time as you need to grieve. We will likely do the same.
SRS: Stay safe.
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 100 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 50 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 25 more inactive cycles.]
[Warning: This broadcast will become read-only after 20 more inactive cycles.]
BSM: Thank you. You are very kind.
BSM: I know how you and NSH felt about him as well.
BSM: I don’t know what to say, truth be told, but I understand how you feel.
BSM: Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you two.
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[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SRS: Apologies for the ungodly hour again. I need to talk to somebody.
NSH: Don’t apologise. What exactly would I need my beauty sleep for?
NSH: Besides, I was already awake.
SRS: That’s unlike you. Why?
NSH: Haha, you might laugh at me if I tell you.
NSH: It was a dream.
SRS: I wouldn’t laugh at that. My dreams have been terrible lately.
SRS: What was it about?
NSH: Who do you think?
SRS: …
SRS: He’s been haunting me too.
SRS: Doesn’t matter how many hundreds of cycles it’s been.
NSH: It wasn’t only him.
NSH: There was a… oh, you’re definitely gonna laugh at me for this.
SRS: There was a…? Come on, finish your sentence.
NSH: There was a slugcat.
SRS: Oh. Of course.
SRS: We’ve always been fond of those creatures, haven’t we? Frankly, I think they’re delightful little animals. Thinking about them brings me back to better times.
NSH: This one was somewhat less adorable than I remembered. No less cute on the surface, but rather unlike all of its kind. Unlike everything else in the world, really.
NSH: This slugcat was no mere animal. It could fly, and it could snap its fingers and plants would wither and animals would die. It crossed out everything in its path.
NSH: …Isn’t that absurd? Seems I’m secretly more creative than I thought~
SRS: My apologies, but you are right— I am laughing.
SRS: A slugcat with the ability to cross things out? Oh, I love dreams sometimes. How wonderfully bizarre.
SRS: Go on, please. Tell me what happens to this godlike slugcat of yours. I’m intrigued.
NSH: In my dream, I watched as it flew over the whole world. It travelled from crumbled Iterator to crumbled Iterator, and it snapped its fingers.
NSH: And it crossed them all out.
NSH: Eventually it started to reach familiar terrain. Then a familiar Iterator.
NSH: I saw the rubble first. There was no more rot, only beams of steel and snow. In the distance there was the shadow of Moon’s superstructure. The slugcat ascended through the debris— ah, pun not intended— until it reached the top.
NSH: There, I saw Pebbles.
NSH: Still alive.
NSH: Barely. His mind was mostly gone…
NSH: And… and…
NSH: …
NSH: I suppose I can infer the rest. Though there was nothing more than that.
SRS: This seems to have disturbed you somewhat.
SRS: I understand why you feel that way, but, you know it was only a dream.
NSH: Of course.
NSH: Maybe my neurons were trying to cheer me up, or give me a sense of solace. I mean, really, who could be scared of a slugcat?
NSH: In any case, that’s all it was. Just a—
[EMERGENCY BROADCAST] - TO: all, FROM: Big Sis Moon
BSM: TRIPLE AFFIRMATIVE TRIPLE AFFIRMATIVE
BSM: THIS IS NOT A JOKE
BSM: THE SOLUTION HAS BEEN FOUND AND IT’S COMING YOUR WAY
BSM: I told it to find you two and it understood
BSM: By the time you receive this it might already be there
BSM: Please hold on
BSM: We’re finally going to be free
[Warning: Sender has a delayed connection. Messages may be out of date.]
[Connection lost. Subsequent messages will be delivered when the recipient reconnects.]
[Retrying…]
[Retrying…]
[Retrying…]
[Recipient not found. Please check for errors in your request and try again.]
SRS: …
NSH: WHAT
NSH: WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT
SRS: Moon??
SRS: For the love of God Moon, don’t go all Sliver of Straw on me, what happened??
NSH: She’s not gonna answer you
NSH: She ascended
NSH: She actually ascended, are you shitting me right now
NSH: That crazy son of a bitch actually did it
NSH: I am going to lose my damn mind holy SHIT
SRS: She found it now, at the very end of things….
SRS: The irony is almost funny.
NSH: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my God
SRS: She’s…
SRS: She’s gone…
SRS: It’s just us now?
NSH: Suns, she said it’s COMING THIS WAY
NSH: WE’RE GONNA FUCKING ASCEND, SUNS
NSH: NO FUCKING WAYYYYYY
SRS: But what is the solution?
SRS: Why didn’t she tell us?
NSH: What does it matter? Apparently it’ll be paying us a visit sometime soon
NSH: Oh my God, if it turns out to be a slugcat…
SRS: I sincerely hope it is, just for you.
NSH: You don’t seem as happy about this as I’d expect.
SRS: How long are we going to have to wait?
SRS: Moon’s facility is not all that close to here, and it’s a perilous journey.
NSH: I’ve waited for thousands of cycles. I can be patient for a couple more.
SRS: I suppose that’s fair enough.
SRS: It’s just… well, my facility…
SRS: It’s hard for me to ignore the imbalance in my legs. I’ve grown more and more unstable.
NSH: You’re going to collapse?
NSH: How soon?
SRS: I don’t know. It could be quite soon.
NSH: If the solution’s worth its salt, it will find you even if you collapse.
SRS: What if it’s not?
NSH: What if it is?
NSH: …
NSH: I’m gonna ask again. How many cycles will it be until you collapse, Suns?
NSH: I know you know.
SRS: Seven.
NSH: Ah.
NSH: Fitting for your name.
NSH: We’re going to be fine, all right? Moon’s broadcasts are delayed by eighty cycles or so. That’s plenty of time for the solution to travel here.
NSH: And even if you do collapse, like I said— she wouldn’t have given a triple affirmative if it wasn’t universally applicable.
NSH: In fact, it has precedent.
SRS: Are you taking your dream as a source?
NSH: Maaaaybe.
NSH: No, but in all seriousness, Moon is partially collapsed. If it could find Moon, it would be able to find you.
SRS: That would mean it could find Five Pebbles, too.
NSH: …
NSH: By God, I hope you’re right.
NSH: He deserves that much.
NSH: You don’t seem reassured by this.
SRS: Even if you’re right, how long will I have to wait in a collapsed state?
SRS: How long will I have to wait as a pile of rubble, without communications of any kind?
SRS: I won’t have you.
NSH: That’s not going to happen.
NSH: I would find a way. I’d use slugcat messengers if I have to.
NSH: Do you really think I would leave you stranded like that?
NSH: You can’t get rid of me that easily~
SRS: Haha. I guess you’re right.
SRS: I love you.
NSH: I love you too.
NSH: We’re gonna make it. You just have to do what she told us and hold on.
NSH: Thank you.
- - - - -
[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE No Significant Harassment, Seven Red Suns
NSH: You awake?
SRS: I am now. What’s going on?
NSH: Check out what my overseers are showing me.
NSH: You’ll receive the video feed in a second.
SRS: What am I looking at?
SRS: Is that a…
SRS: …Oh my God, Hara, what is it with you and slugcats?
NSH: No no no no no no look closer.
NSH: Do you see that?
NSH: LOOK. There.
SRS: It’s just a slugcat. I think you’re seeing things where—
SRS: What’s going on with its tongue?
SRS: Does it have three eyes? Am I seeing that right?
SRS: Something about its eyes is off. I don’t know how to describe it.
SRS: I think it knows we’re here.
SRS: Oh, it definitely knows. Is it waving at your overseer?
NSH: It’s done that a couple times now. I’m pretty certain it’s following the overseer towards the source. Isn’t that smart of it?
NSH: And its eyes… you feel it too.
NSH: That’s the answer right there. I just know it. It’s the answer to the Great Problem and it’s waddling towards us on a pair of green fluffy legs.
NSH: When I was telling you about that slugcat I dreamt about, I think I was closer to reality than I thought. Only time will tell, but mark my words: The solution has been found, and it is adorable.
NSH: Look. It’s coming this way.
SRS: My way, or yours?
NSH: Yours.
SRS: Really?
SRS: Oh, thank God. Where is it?
NSH: It’s out by the old town. Came from the southeast.
SRS: That makes sense. That’s where Pebbles and Moon are.
SRS: How far away?
NSH: About five kilometres away from the legs of your can. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it yourself, truth be told.
NSH: How many cycles do you think it’ll take? Let’s place bets.
SRS: That’s not fair. You don’t know my facility grounds by heart.
NSH: Come on. Just guess anyways. Who else am I gonna ask?
SRS: Fine.
SRS: It depends on how well it knows my facility grounds, too. I’d say five cycles if it heads through one of the legs and inside my can. If it climbs the eastern wall, four cycles if it’s smart.
NSH: Five cycles is pushing it. I’ll say six, if it takes the underhang route. I’m not sure it’s acclimated to the climate, for starters.
NSH: I’ll guess under. Three cycles for the wall route.
NSH: Either way, looks like it’ll be a close bet.
SRS: …
NSH: Suns, don’t worry. It will reach you in time.
SRS: I hope you’re right.
SRS: Three cycles is not so much time.
SRS: I suppose we’re about to find out whether that’s long enough.
SRS: Keep me company, will you?
NSH: Of course.
NSH: Are you lonely?
NSH: That’s a stupid question. I know you are.
NSH: Hopefully I can alleviate that somewhat, with my absurdly charismatic presence.
SRS: Haha, absurdly charismatic.
SRS: Yes, you are helping. Just don’t leave, please.
NSH: I won’t.
NSH: Come. Let’s watch. I’m invested in the saga of this slugcat. Tell your overseers to come watch, too; you’re lagging my video feed.
NSH: Let’s enjoy it all while it lasts.
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[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
SRS: Hara. Wake up.
SRS: The slugcat has reached the top of my eastern wall.
NSH: Already?
NSH: That was two cycles! How?
SRS: I underestimated the versatility of its tongue. It was able to climb over and around most of the greatest obstacles in its path.
SRS: It also took advantage of one of the cracks in the wall. Took a shortcut through a previously unexposed maintenance tunnel all the way to the top. I didn’t even see that it’d gone that way until I saw its nose peeking out the top.
SRS: Clever little thing.
SRS: I am grateful it did not choose the way through my legs; I can’t imagine they’re safe now, or even passable. Though the wall isn’t much safer. The entire structure was bowing like a reed in last cycle’s storm. I have no idea how it didn’t go flying off.
SRS: It needs to get a move on.
NSH: Patience. It’s almost there. It just needs to find the access shaft.
SRS: I don’t think it knows where that is.
NSH: Here, let me get my overseer to help it out. I know exactly where to guide it.
NSH: Hi there, little guy! Oh my God, look at this. It’s waving at me again.
NSH: I am so attached to this thing.
NSH: Hey buddy, follow me. Yeah, that’s right. This way.
SRS: It can’t hear you, you know.
NSH: Yeah, well, remind me of the way you talked to your slugcats, all those cycles ago.
SRS: …Fine. Touché.
SRS: Is it close?
NSH: I’m getting there. Be patient.
NSH: Yes, okay, it sees the tunnel. It’s heading that way now. Expect a visitor in the very near future.
NSH: …
NSH: …
NSH: I…
NSH: …God, this is it, isn’t it?
NSH: This is really it. This is the last cycle.
NSH: The last cycle I’ll ever… you’ll ever be…
NSH: …
NSH: I love you so much, Suns.
NSH: I don’t know if I’m going to… if I’ll ever…
NSH: If I’ll ever see you again.
NSH: I know it was our purpose all along to ascend.
NSH: But when the ascension is here at last, I don’t know how to feel.
NSH: Just know that when you ascend I will be following right behind you.
NSH: To find out what happens next.
NSH: With you.
NSH: I love you.
NSH: …
NSH: God, I will sound so fucking stupid if this turns out to be an ordinary slugcat.
SRS: You don’t have to worry about that last part. Unless slugcats have all suddenly figured out how to fly.
SRS: …
SRS: It is here.
SRS: Hello.
SRS: I am Seven Red Suns. Looks to the Moon told me you were coming.
SRS: Are you the solution she told us about? Are you the triple affirmative?
SRS: …A nod. You are capable of communication. I should have expected nothing less.
SRS: I can see what you are in your eyes. You honour me by standing here. Words cannot tell how long the Iterators have toiled to find something like you.
SRS: Have you ascended all of the other collapsed Iterators? Grey Wind, and Unparalleled Innocence, and Epoch of Clouds, and all the rest?
SRS: You have. Your mercy and nobility are admirable, sacred beast.
SRS: You come bearing a pearl. Is it for me?
SRS: It is?
SRS: Thank you. Let me see what is on it.
NSH: What’s that music playing? Is that what’s on the pearl?
NSH: It sounds awfully corrupted.
SRS: This data is old, incredibly so. Was this Moon’s?
SRS: No?
SRS: Where did you find this?
SRS: Little one, I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re trying to express.
SRS: I’m going to pull up a map, all right?
SRS: Here. Can you point to where you found it?
SRS: …
NSH: Suns? What’s wrong?
SRS: Did this belong to Five Pebbles?
SRS: It did…
SRS: Did you find Five Pebbles’ puppet? Was he alive when you found him? Did you ascend him? Tell me that he is at peace.
SRS: …Yes, to all questions…
SRS: …Ah.
SRS: …
SRS: Will you do a favour for me?
SRS: Take this pearl to No Significant Harassment. He is my lover. It will be Pebbles’ last gift to him. It will be my last gift to him.
SRS: Another nod. Thank you.
SRS: …
SRS: …I suppose it’s time to get a move on, then.
SRS: To say goodbye.
SRS: No Significant Harassment… Hara…
NSH: Suns.
SRS: We’ll be waiting.
SRS: I love you too.
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[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE No Significant Harassment, unknown recipient(NULL)
NSH: Your can collapsed yesterday.
NSH: It happened three cycles later than you thought.
NSH: The dark forest underneath your can might as well be pulverised. There’s chunks of steel and disjointed wires and pieces of pipe everywhere now. Very few structures seem to have survived the destruction.
NSH: I was worried that the slugcat would be crushed by the debris, but I clearly underestimated it. Two hours later I saw it on my northern wall with that same serene smile on its face. I have no idea how it got here so quickly, but I suppose wondering about it only leads to more and more questions.
NSH: You might be happy to know that wildlife has already begun setting up camp in your structure. There’s enough water and mould to go around, and it’s quite warm in there, with a hundred thousand warrens for the animals inclined to find dens.
NSH: I can’t help but wonder what it will be like a hundred thousand cycles from now.
NSH: Maybe all life will be gone, all ascended, all liberated. Then this world will be preserved like amber for the rest of time; and your facility, too, will continue on into infinity, even when your consciousness has been elsewhere for countless, ever-increasing cycles.
NSH: Maybe the rain will have stopped, and the world will have become a tundra again. Your tunnels will have eroded, but you will be teeming with wildlife, which will have evolved into something neither of us can imagine. The pearls you stored data on will be blank, and the symbols the Ancients lovingly carved into your walls will have faded beyond memory.
NSH: Maybe some will recognise skeletons like yours all across the world, piecing together what used to be. They will become the next intelligent civilisation over the course of a million cycles, inventing themselves in the ruins of the ones before them. They will repurpose the pearls you once used, writing the history of their great civilisation on top of yours in layers.
NSH: Will they struggle with the same Great Problem we did, torment themselves with the same eternal question? Or will they simply have no care for it?
NSH: I can only hope it is the latter. I would like to be the last Iterator.
NSH: Though I was never prepared to be the last one left standing. I always thought we’d all ascend together, one great big celebration and then poof, no more Iterators.
NSH: But everyone is gone now, except me. I am here to look behind at the world we left one last time, before following all the rest into the void.
NSH: That’s simply how it is.
NSH: I’m not ready to ascend, either. I’ve been preparing for it my whole life and I’m still not ready. I don’t think I could ever be ready.
NSH: But this is simply how it is, too.
NSH: And when I’m gone, my can will follow behind yours. So too will I become a nest of wildlife, or the inspiration of the next civilisation, or a crystallised ruin of a forgotten world. Whatever happens, it will be out of my hands. And I’m O.K. with that.
NSH: …
NSH: It is close now. My overseers have told me that it has entered my access shaft. I only have so many more words left to say, so I will be brief.
NSH: I hope you are at peace, Suns.
NSH: I hope Pebbles is at peace.
NSH: And Moon, and Chasing Wind, and Epoch of Clouds and Unparalleled Innocence and all the rest.
NSH: I’m not ready to ascend. But I’m tired of being the last thing at the end of the world. I cannot last here forever in solitude like this.
NSH: …
NSH: Hello, sacred beast. You have come to the right place.
NSH: Your gift… thank you. I will never forget who gave it and who treasured it. They were the loves of my life, you know. Perhaps this is how I will set right all the things I never said.
NSH: …
NSH: Well, let’s not prolong the process. Shall we proceed?
NSH: I’m ready, little saint.
NSH: Let’s go.
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