synopsychic | Open to All Investigators-Beginning of Digital Frontier Jaunt

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Open to All Investigators-Beginning of Digital Frontier Jaunt

For those who are experiencing this for the first time, don't worry. Just keep calm and listen to this message.

If you're hearing this, you're what we call an investigator: someone who retains their memories from their home and other worlds if they have them while in a Jaunt. Some of us have blended in with the setting and are called Infiltrators; don't try and jog their memory back otherwise we'll be in a lot of trouble. They also cannot use the network we're on right now.

What we need to know now is who's not thinking they're a program and what they have noticed so far. Anything will help us try and figure out a way to solve this next issue.

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Will we be in trouble because attempting to jog their memory will irreparably break something, or because they'll think anyone trying to explain that they actually have another life entirely is absolutely mad?

[It's an important distinction, okay.]

I'm not sure I'd trust anyone on the Red Team not to react badly to people trying to tell them they're not who they think they are.

Anyone would react poorly to that. The question remains, is the risk that they might react violently, or that attempting to break the illusion ensnaring them may damage their minds?

Good question.

The worst ones usually are.

Unfortunately, yeah.

Um.. I don't think I have seen a case where it broke anyone's mind before, but.. I also don't know if anyone has ever tried telling one of them.

[ She sure hasn't, when it came down to people she knew suddenly not remembering themselves. ]

Although I don't know if it's a good idea to just try..

Oh, there's no need to worry about that. I hardly know any of you well enough to make a convincing go of it.

I just prefer having as much information as possible ahead of time to blundering about blind.

[ That's a relief - in fact, there's a half-audible mental sigh coming from Chizuru in relief when she hears the response. She doesn't think she's very qualified to stop people once they've got an idea stuck in their minds. ]

You seem like a very careful man. [ Quick to draw conclusions, huh, Chizuru.. ] I'm glad.. sometimes these situations can be dangerous, so it's true that it's good to be well-prepared.

I've never quite been called that before.

[There's a faint current of humour riding the words, though his thoughts still carry the flavour of wary tension.]

I'm a scholar, of sorts, and clever enough to know when I'm in unfamiliar territory.

A scholar? [ It's not really said with surprise as much as there's a hint of amazement in it.. not that Chizuru isn't easily amazed, but still! She thinks there's so many amazing people among the Travellers.. ]

That's great..! Maybe you can help us figure out more things! Um-- when we're stuck in a place you actually understand, I mean.. [ Since this whole technology mumble jumble might as well be Chinese to her, and some other people don't seem much better off in that regard. ]

Perhaps. A familiar frame of reference would help - or a library. If we're lucky, maybe these fellows will give us access to one, once they're through being menacing.

That might be a little bit more..

[ Considering their track record. There's been a few Jaunts where she was pretty sure the natives didn't trust them all the way through.. ]

They do seem a little bit intimidating [ moreso than they usually have to deal with, anyway ] don't you think?

They're certainly making a credible attempt at intimidation. The colour scheme they've chosen does help.

I hope they won't try to do something seriously bad to us.. especially since there could be some of us among them.

[ You know, just as Infiltrators. And fighting people she knows turned Infiltrator is definitely not anywhere on Chizuru's "do want" list. ]

Does that happen often? Those you know being placed in the ranks of the potentially hostile?

[It's an uncomfortable thought. What little he's heard so far about Infiltration is rather uncomfortable in general, but being so thoroughly turned against one's friends an allies (as he assumes at least some of the Travelers must be)...]

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tealeafs - 2015-04-25 16:50 (UTC) - Expand

Honestly? It wouldn't work anyway. From what I've seen so far, the only way to snap someone back from Infiltrator to Investigator is to kill them and hope they resurrect in the Jaunt.

That... doesn't always go well though.

[Wait, what.]

That's not possible.

Trust me, it's so possible it gets annoying how possible things are around here.

Of course that doesn't mean get homicidal and kill everyone you recognise. For one, that's a surefire way to get caught as an outsider or as a maniac. The locals might arrest you or kill you for it.

For another... not everyone comes back. Some of us have disappeared over time.

And here I was preparing for a spot of friendly mass murder to pass the evening.

[He even thinks in arid sarcasm. Joy.]

The dead can't return. There are creatures that can cheat death, or replace the fallen so convincingly that most onlookers are none the wiser, but once a soul has passed beyond the Veil, that's it.

Trust me. They were dead.

[There's a careful neutrality to Dick's mental 'voice' as he says that, forcing himself not to drop behind that curtained wall that kept him from reliving Harrogates nightmare all over again.]

Anyway, hopefully that won't be happening too much here. It would be nice to get through two Jaunts in a row without someone dying in the process.

Setting quite the high bar, aren't you? These fellows don't look terribly friendly.

[It's not really acceptance of the assertion that the dead can return, merely a refocusing on more pressing matters.

Like unhappy armed people who might be inclined to prevent anything as cheerful as a no fatality streak from forming.]

They look worried for the most part. No one's tried attacking yet, so... so far so good?

I suppose that depends on the temperament of their commanding officer.

Oh, JORD1? I saw him on a Jaunt some time ago... but he didn't have as much authority then.