[Video]

[checksum]

[Osprey sits in front of the camera, the shot zoomed in to only show his head and shoulders.]

This is an open inquiry to the Initiative, and to any transports who may have relevant information. I, and at least one other transport, have begun manifesting symptoms that are... problematic. We seem to be losing visibility in the extremities.

[He holds up a hand in front of the camera, and the fading is obvious - his fingers are almost impossible to see.]

I'd hoped to avoid having to cause issues again, but if there is no response from the Initiative within a fairly short timeframe, I will take action again. I won't be shooting anybody, but let me be clear - I'm a better digital counter-security expert than I am a physical one, and we both remember how your physical security handled me.

[He pauses for a moment.]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to sound threatening. But I am not in a comfortable state of mind here. A prompt response would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

Private voice

[checksum]

You're approaching this from a criminal perspective. I'm looking at this from an epidemiological perspective. And perhaps my first response was a bit unwise. I'm sorry, but I happen to be freaking disappearing!

[There's a pause.] I'm sorry. That wasn't called for. But irrationality comes with the meat, so you should be used to it.

Back to the topic at hand, though - digital security is not as nimble as physical or psychological security. If I can get data, I can get data. If I can't, it won't have mattered that I tipped my hand. They don't have access to my personal toolkit to tailor defenses against it.

If anything, you're the one who's blown our chances at investigational groundwork. By posting this rant, you've tipped your hand, not that it wasn't already compromised from your initial post.

Re: Private voice

[danno_williams]

[Oh, now you've done it, full blown conniption fit]

Number one, I didn't blow anything. We were already blown way way way WAY blown thanks to your little rant there. And also? Meat? Unless you're a fucking computer we're both meat dumbass.

TWO, as far as we know, the Initiative IS made up of PEOPLE. So, an epidemi-whatever perspective is not going to fucking work. People are about as far from a computer as we're going to get. People are irrational, driven by emotion and sometimes just plain stupid. If you know what you're doing people being stupid is your best weapon in ANY situation.

They're acting like criminals right now, so, I don't know about you, but investigating them like criminals seems like a good idea.

Private Voice

[checksum]

I am, in fact, a natively digital intelligence, thanks. I use a biological sleeve because it gets around a lot of societal crap back home as long as I keep my mouth shut.

Two, you're the one assuming the Initiative is actively responsible for this. I don't believe that's a valid assumption. I do believe the phenomenon is related to whatever they're doing to pull us here and then throw us through time, though, which means they have a knowledge base likely to provide greater insights. So unless you've got an expert on temporospatial physics hiding somewhere, we're going to have to work with their experts, and trying to work nicely beats the alternative.

Re: Private Voice

[danno_williams]

[He sort of glosses over the part of the conversation where Osprey might be right the whole actively responsible part anyway.]

Natively digital intelligence? Isn't that just a fancy word for AI? Huh, weird. And here I thought running into Tony Stark was...

Wait a second, that's who we need to go see.He's not a temporospatial expert or anything but if the com... err, my sources are right he'll at least have SOME idea of what might be causing this.

Private Voice

[checksum]

That's an excellent idea. Meet you at his assigned apartment? If he's not there we can discuss our next move more securely in person.

Private Voice

[danno_williams]

Yeah, sounds like a plan. See you in a few.