oo5 ⊗ video ⊗ fifth move ⟹ backdated to oct 5th.

[oxfordian]

[ charles is visibly distressed when he appears on the screen, this time. he's in what seems to be some underground facility, and there are other faces behind him—notably collette, emma, galadriel, raven, and others. his eyes remain closed for a second and you can hear him take a deep breath. then: ]

We have... borrowed a gentleman by the name of Richard Lawson...—from the United Earth. He is a cabinet member of the President's. Yes, the President of the United Earth. [ charles clears his throat, steels himself. ]

We've learnt a great many things about the United Earth from his head, and we feel it best to share that information with all of you, here on the Network.

[ charles states the next words with a heavy voice. ]

The President of the United Earth is not human. "He" is—artificial. Artificial Intelligence, or what you would call an A.I.. The United Earth... has never seen his face, as far as we have deduced.

We will try to answer questions about what we have learnt to the very best of our ability, but do be patient. Ah—[ he closes his eyes again, considering. then he nods as though he's made the right decision and he knows it. ]

That is all.

( note: wow i knew i forgot something like a winner. THIS TAKES PLACE DURING/AFTER these linked shenanigans: [ x ] [ x ] [ x ] [ x ] )

Comments

[stonefaith]

The public of the United Earth are held very separate from their military. They may send forces back. To search for him, at the very least, even if they still believe that most of us are dead.

[ which bariyan isn't really sure about. the initiative had said one thing, but how do you miss an entire island of people crawling back to the surface, really? ]

[whatsupcroc]

You did say that they have big groups of military heads that walk around the whole time. If that's how it is, and I were this AI guy, I'd be scared what someone holding on to Dick and being able to break him away from my control would really do.

So yeah, that's probably going to happen. But I think it was going to happen anyway. Did you hear what the UE walked away with from the Initiative? I mean, what Dick thought they were after, and what they got.

[stonefaith]

I did not hear. I am not certain why they were here in the first place. We only arrived halfway through the bombings.

[whatsupcroc]

Oh, the Initiative didn't say anything back then. I'm not sure when they'd been planning to at all, really! The UE guys were after the teleportation technology. They got away with a defunct version.

[stonefaith]

So they witheld information from us again. Important information. Defunct or not.

[whatsupcroc]

Oh, in a way it's better/worse, because it's not even intentional I think. It's like the kid principle: you don't think to tell kids about what's going on because they're only supposed to do what you tell them. Why do they need to know everything? As far as they're concerned, it's not an important detail. So why tell?

[stonefaith]

Astute observation. That's how we've been treated our whole stay here.

Was there anything else that they failed to mention to rest of us?

[whatsupcroc]

Hah! So they're treating everyone like a teenager? That's so stupid!

Does stuff like the daily injections and an idea of how the UE side works for civilians count? 'Cause outside of those other things we learned from our cabinet guy, there was nothing that we thought to ask from the Initiative people who showed up here. When it came down to handing Dick over there were more concerns about the "what are you going to do" than the "so what else have you not bothered telling us."