Sixth Blood [Video + Filtered Voice]

[speakveryclearly]

[The video feed, recorded at around 11am on August 20th, shows the inside of a Transport's Initiative-provided apartment. More specifically the bookshelf. Some people might recognize the three novels, or the simplified Initiative-approved introductory history to Exsilium's Earth, or the calendar on the nearby wall from Roslyn Small and deduce this is Kanaya Maryam's quarters in Unit 505.]

Hello. I'm Kanaya Maryam and I live in Unit 505. [Those people are right, judging by the politely frustrated fifteen-year-old girl's voice. Those people would also, if they looked closely at the bookshelf, perhaps notice that the thickest volume she owns is not present on the shelf in its usual place, or at all.] There's recently been some kind of mishap. Before I left for a mission in July, I was in possession of The Twilight Saga. This is where I kept it. I sometimes took it with me to read elsewhere, so it's not impossible that I could have misplaced it. However, I pretty distinctly remember having it before I left, and it's only after my return that I noticed it was gone. I've searched quite a few places I regularly visit in vain.

That's not all. I've gone to quite a few bookstores today, thinking that perhaps I should just remedy the situation unilaterally by purchasing a replacement. And all of them not only denied this volume was in stock, they had no idea what I was describing. I checked their stock too to make sure they weren't just discriminating against such an obviously alien Transport as myself, and saw no sign whatsoever of the book where it would belong in any alphabetical ordering scheme.

I know many people don't appreciate the quality of the book, but regardless of how you feel, it is my property that has disappeared. I'm not mad yet. I just want to know what's going on.

[The "yet" hangs in the air ominously for a few seconds before the video ends.]

[For one network user, there is a voice message today as well, playing on the tablet with the name of "Haruka Takahashi" attached.]

I bought you a birthday present. I can leave it at an agreed-upon location for you to pick up if you don't want to see me. There's a note inside that you don't have to read.

Comments

[speakveryclearly]

Well... it's a rather uninformed hunch. However, I get the feeling...

Some parallel universes are just Exsilium except some unfortunate soul dropped their purse down the gutter one day. Those universes are too close to pull transports from, usually. While other universes, such as ones where humans aren't the primary lifeform, are mostly too far.

My intuition is therefore that the year 2000 on Earth is somehow in an optimum range of difference and similarity. Some outright think that the transporter has the capacity to identify heroes; in that case, perhaps it was a heroic era?

[mentalisolate]

That certainly seems like a reasonable assumption. Even those who aren't human among the Transports are overwhelmingly humanoid. Of course, that could just be due to the increased difficulty of disguising those people on missions, but it's as good a theory as any.

Ah...though I think "hero" is a bit too subjective to be a proper factor.

[speakveryclearly]

Mm, the disguise technology is an essential part of smooth mission operations. [She's a twinge annoyed by that fact, though she makes a token effort not to show it.]