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[dualreaping]

[So he's figured out how this tablet works now, so started reading back a bit. One thing has mostly caught his attention, so here he is.]

A lot of you seem adamant to abstain from offering your loyalty to the initiative, which...I understand in the sense that they are strangers just as much as the United Earth.

But should the claims of their forces attempting to raid your own home world be true, it would have disastrous consequences for the people you know still there. Is that worth the risk?

Or is there something else I'm missing here?

[C'mon people, he suspects he's missed something important. Give him some deets.]

Comments

[maiinframe]

Everything.

[Wow, way to be cheery and optimistic, Helmsman.]

User'th world hath not encountered the Empire?

[dualreaping]

If I encountered this empire you're talking about, I wouldn't have said I'd never heard of it, now would I?

Now what are you talking about? How is it significant?

[maiinframe]

[]He can be a little repetitive sometimes. It's a result of his programming]

The Empire conquerth all. If user ith unfamiliar with Empire, thith ith becauthe Empire hath not found user'th home world yet.

[dualreaping]

[Oh, that gets a bit of a chuckle out of him.]

I assure you, boy.

I've nothing to fear from this empire of yours, in my own universe or elsewhere.

[maiinframe]

[The Helmsman doesn't laugh back; he's gravely serious about this.]

With all due respect, user, that ith what many have thought before. And they have all fallen.

[dualreaping]

If this Empire of yours ever thinks picking a fight with Death itself would be a smart move, I can't help but wonder how they've come as far they have.

[maiinframe]

[A long pause before he answers.]

User ith Death?

[dualreaping]

That's right.

[maiinframe]

[The Helmsman's response is immediate, his voice a sharp whip crack, his tone raw and anguished.]

Where have you been?!

[dualreaping]

[WOW UH]

Waiting to die, were we?

[maiinframe]

For tho long...

[A pause, punctuated by harsh breathing, before the Helmsman starts mumbling to himself, very softly. He's repeating ship protocol, endless lines of code, to calm himself down.]

[dualreaping]

[Man, this is the second one today. He briefly wonders how many others here have some sort of deathwish.]

But you're not dead back in your own universe?

[maiinframe]

[It takes awhile before the Helmsman responds.]

No. System ith still functional. System will continue to be functional, it ith Her will, it ith for the good of the Empire, all hail the Empire, all hail the Empire, deliver uth from evil, all hail the Empire...

[dualreaping]

Then I'm afraid I can't help you.

You're going to have to live a while longer until it's your time.

[You...messed up guy, you. He thinks it's kind of sad such a person hasn't just died yet but hey, not his problem in the end he figures.]

[maiinframe]

[The Helmsman mutters to himself for a few moments longer, the sound eventually tapering down into silence.]

System understandth. User Death must do user'th duty, the same as system. System'th serviceth are still needed by the Empire.

All hail the Empire.

[dualreaping]

What exactly are your services to this...Empire of yours?

[Cause dayum son if you don't sound like a computer.]

[maiinframe]

[If you asked him, he'd say he's a computer, because as far as he's concerned, he is. He denies the organic nature of his body, and the fact that he was once a troll with things like the ability to walk and free will.]

System ith the helmsman for the Battleship Condescension. Dutieth include steering and powering the ship.

[Job description: power source for an interstellar aircraft carrier.]

[dualreaping]

[Helmsman steering a ship ok yeah that's c-

Did he just say powering.]

You...power your ship? Like a battery?

[maiinframe]

Yeth. System ith both navigator and power sourthe.

[dualreaping]

...is that even safe?

[maiinframe]

System hath been operational and functioning for thousandth of sweepth.

[dualreaping]

Operational, perhaps.

But you sound barely alive.

[maiinframe]

System hath... organic partth. But system ith only expected to be operational.

[dualreaping]

And I can't imagine such a task was a consensual one.

[maiinframe]

[For just a moment, that bright, biting anger returns to the Helmsman's voice.]

The Empire ith not big on consent, no.