voice; un: eliasainsworth

[thornydisposition]

I believe I have some information that might be of use, or at least to consider.

[The voice is low and very even, having only the barest hint of a conversational cadence.]

My companion, Shuyi, and I managed to locate and capture Miz Poppy. We captured her and two of her Deemer companions, and as we began to take them back to Perdition's Rest, she had some very interesting things to say.

She reaffirmed that there was no way to safely separate a Taraxa from its host without the destruction of the latter. What is more troubling, however, was that she insisted that hers and her compatriots' mission of destruction was something which the TIMELINE.EXE asked of them.

Before we could deliver her back here, one of the other captured Deemers sacrificed himself so that she may escape in the confusion.

It is not my intention to offer this information in order to incite mass confusion or doubt, as it is quite possible she was lying. But I do not think we can completely discount that she might be telling the truth—or that she and her fellows are somehow deluded enough to believe that they are. It is, as I originally said, something to at the very least keep in mind.

Comments

AUDIO. UN: LOKI

[selfimage]

That means that the execution of the program itself isn't something exclusive to ALASTAIR.

[ there's an easy way to connect the dots here, and it leads right back to Oska. ]

Isn't that curious?

[thornydisposition]

Indeed.

That is what I have gathered from this, myself.

[Particularly with the other information that had been gathered. Zymandis, and its particular take on the Timeline. They have the threads, but to weave them into the truth of the matter was a tricky ordeal.]

I am unsure of this changes our directive, but it certainly makes matters more complicated.

audio | UN: ANIKI

[dokyuu]

Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone set two groups against each other to achieve a goal...

[He knows the Timeline isn't a person, but that doesn't discount someone using it as a tool to accomplish their goals. Whatever that was meant to be.]

[thornydisposition]

Mm, certainly not.

[A brief pause.]

Have you noticed anything that might pertain to an outside opposing party before this?

[gunah]

But at the cost of killing each other?

[ Then again, he's right. This wouldn't be the first either. It doesn't make the thought any easier to swallow. ]

video; un: deathweaver

[respired]

[ Irritably. ]

We already know these slugs for liars. Their claims of salvation and religious devotion were a front. They cannot be trusted.

video;

[thornydisposition]

[Elias switches on his video feed to reply. It only seems polite.]

What would you see that they stand to gain in misleading us in this manner, then?

[He had been wondering that himself, specifically of what Miz Poppy had said about the Timeline. Unrest, sure, but she should know that they wouldn't take her word for it. Not without good reason.]

audio; un: kazbrekker

[steler]

Has anyone found any evidence to the contrary about the Taraxa separation?

[because he hasn't heard any but who knows.]

audio

[thornydisposition]

I personally have not.

I know others have been able to separate the parasite from the host, but I haven't heard if any hosts survived the ordeal.

audio; un: urahara

[predomination]

[don't mind urahara just casually sliding in here.]

We had a few survive, though "survive" is a very loose way to describe it. They're just blank- like every bit of personality and thought has been drained out of them.

It lines up with what the documents said about how the Taraxa infect hosts.

@shirogane | audio

[racking]

I was with Urahara when we tried to separate them. After we got the Taraxa out, the person they'd inhabited was alive, but there was...nothing left of their minds, as far as I could tell.

I don't know if that can be reversed by a healer.

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

Not soundin' like it. Had someone tell me that when he separated the Taraxa and its host, it left the host in a vegetable state. Alive, but no one's home.

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

It's soundin' less and less like the Deemers are gonna be able to be saved. We're gonna be sending a few back to Oska, just in case there's somethin' we overlooked, but it's not lookin' very likely.

That said, I'm sure some are awful curious about this timeline mess. Assuming they weren't lying. Hard to say for sure. Either way, there's no real reason to not fulfill whatever task ALASTAIR put out for us right now.

audio

[thornydisposition]

I came to a similar conclusion in our confrontation with the Deemers at their camp. Due to the fervor with which they fight, they are... particularly difficult to subdue.

[And they didn't really seem to be interested in anything but absolute victory or absolute defeat. One had even sacrificed himself to allow Miz Poppy to escape... It was a difficult enemy to face.]

I don't believe we have any other option currently, but I will be... very curious as to what answer they might have to this, if any.

video | username: xXx_trueblue_xXx

[competing]

Hang on a sec — let's say she was telling the truth. Why would the Timeline thing tell one group to do one thing, then tell us to do the exact opposite? Can a program just... change its mind like that?

[ gdi pidge where are you to explain coding to him..! ]

video

[thornydisposition]

[Elias turns on his video feed to reply, since he thinks it's the polite thing to do when faced with a video message.

So, hello there, Lance.]

Assuming she is telling the truth, and assuming these directives are coming from the same source, it would mean that our two groups clashing here on this planet is, in some way, the outcome that it desired.

As for the outcome of that outcome, well. That, I am unsure of.

AUDIO. UN: LOKI

[selfimage]

[ REMEMBER LOKI.

luckily this is more serious. ]

The program only calculates, at least, from its standpoint. I suppose it would depend on who interprets that calculation. But, really, this is just all hypothetical for the time being. We don't know enough about our own Timeline.exe and its origins to say.

[gunah]

Perhaps each of them sees from a different angle.

Perhaps-- there are multiple Timelines. Perhaps she lies.

text | un: Sasaki

[ex_adept136]

If that's the case, it opens the door for a number of possibilities. As others have said, it could mean this "TIMELINE.EXE" program isn't ALASTAIR's product, and they might not understand it as well as we've been led to assume.

It might be a means to throw us off, of course...

But if we find it isn't, I don't think we could blindly follow its dictates going forward.

[Haise still remembers how that system had been what people cited as the reason they had to kill Nalanni and Ryba. They'd been told that was the only way. He'd doubted it then, and now...]

text

[thornydisposition]

Their tenuous understanding of the Timeline would explain how sparing they are with information regarding it and our directives.

I agree. We should not panic, as it would simply compromise us, but we should be increasingly wary going forward. Especially since we are dealing with something of such high importance.

audio; un: sai

[daimeinashi]

If nothing else, it will be a worthwhile matter to bring to Lloyd. We were not even aware of Zymandis' existence up until now, after all.

audio

[thornydisposition]

I agree.

I do not think this will be the sole instance of us dealing with their opposition, going forward from this mission.

[Particularly not with the ideological differences Elias had noticed so far.]

video; un: G.SLQHV

[twinpeak]

—Wait, what? But... that would mean they have access to a computer in Oska. Getting into that thing without anyone noticing should be impossible!

[ Because that is, truly, the surprising part here. ]

video; un: shuyi

[gunah]

[ Why is there a child here? Why are there so many children in Audentes? ]

They would not need to. She claimed that Zymandis has their own TIMELINE.EXE. A superior one.

text | un; sieglindesullivan (icly backdated)

[grunehexe]

[The problem with this magitech is that it picks up on subconscious thoughts from time to time. Including,]

Naturally the moment I am sent on a different mission this world descends to the seventh circle of hell...

[Don't you... mind that...]

Once again it seems like Audentes will be first divided... still, I must thank you for sharing this information, whether it proves itself true or false in the end.

finally!!!

[gunah]

We thought, for a long time, whether or not to share this.

But in the end, we felt you deserve to choose for yourselves.

audio | un: Princess

[assent]

Elias... [ When she starts the audio, delayed after reading and listening to everything else, she sounds uncertain. Her voice doesn't shake, but it's softer and definitely more hesitant. ]

Who is to say that the system is even functioning properly? Software of any kind can be manipulated... who is to say that is not the case here? From what I understand of what has been said, ALASTAIR receives its information from this program and does not entirely know how it works... it could be possible.

audio

[thornydisposition]

I believe anything is within the realm of possibility, as unfortunate as that may be.

The fact that they do not have a complete working knowledge of the technology they possess is troubling, and it requires that we only work on blind faith.

I can't think of anything else we might be able to do about this possibility until we return from this planet.

[Video | un: tsukuyo]

[sekimorinashi]

If the Zymandis have their own program, does that make 'em our rivals?

I gotta say I ain't inclined to think any people who willingly put parasites into others are worth listenin' to. At the very least they look at the bigger picture and care for nothin' else.

If the Taraxa were only hired by the Zymandis, I'd like to have a chat with the real masterminds at work here.

video

[thornydisposition]

ALASTAIR has told us themselves that they have employed Taraxa in the past, albeit that their hosts were temporary. A very interesting qualification given what we have found happens to hosts after their parasites are removed.

So if Zymandis merely hired them, it makes that organization not only our rivals, but one eerily similar to the one which claims us as well.