RECV EDC: 07FEB2019
COMM MODE: QEC OP SREF
CODED ABST: D/M/C
CRC: 2014139095 1391
============================================================
Stay put Wells! We've been chasing you all over the sector,
one step behind the entire way. Don't worry, the Corp is
either giving up or they're so far behind that they don't
even matter at this point. Seriously, we're right behind
you, just sit still a little longer and we'll be there.
Needless to say, we got your message. Yeah, I realize I'm
being cryptic, and that you don't know who "we" are; don't
worry, it's someone you can trust. At least, I think you'll
trust him, you never know.
But I'm getting ahead. We got your message. Actually, I got
your message first. I was searching, alone and desperate,
without any success. I turned to the Xero-mods, who I've
been friendly with for a long, long time. Dr. Sossial is a
wonderful and powerful woman in their ranks, and I was glad
to read that you had interacted with her directly.
I went to see them in person; the only way to really speak
with them is on their own very-secure turf. She only spoke
highly of you- she was present for all of the research done
on you, you should know. She particularly like your sub-
conscious. Don't worry about the last episode at the lab,
she has seen far worse in her espial of the Corporation.
After you escaped, Sossial took full advantage of the
position that you had placed her in.All of her colleagues in
the room were dead, and you had broken out. The only thing
left to do was to explain her survival and steal your
fully-copied consciousness from the Corporation's computer
banks.
The Xero-mods always work in pairs- no more, no less.
Sossial's comrade was in security, and she knew that he
would be sure to personally respond to any event in their
lab; indeed, it turned out that he was viewing the hallway
video-feed when you escaped (as you know, there are no feeds
in the labs themselves,) and had diverted the images away
from his team's monitors. I thanked him in-person on your
behalf.
He arrived shortly after you left, and with Sossial's help
he prepped and de-banked your memory units and their backup
power rods, taking them to a smuggling portal of his own
making where he stowed them to be passed to a trustworthy
recipient later. He returned to his post.
Sossial, while he was out, set to work self-inflicting
enough bodily harm to make it appear as if she were as much
an object of your rage as the others. When she lifted her
hand to pull the alarm it was with genuine despair for her
life. It's an ugly business, but it's one that she is expert
in; she survived.
If you haven't guessed already, the smuggler that the
Xero-mods hired to retrieve your consciousness was me.
Shortly after you escaped, the Corporation focused all of
their effort on your capture, believing that you had escaped
with all of their research and effort. I slid in and out on
a false wetware reclamation permit, and grabbed a copy of
you while I was at it.
I've had you with me since shortly after you escaped the
Corporation.
Of course, I was afraid to interface with you in any way;
who would want to be the one to wake up a version of you,
Wells, to the reality that you've been encapsulated in a
machine? I don't think you'd even want to be the one to do
it. Still, at this point I felt I had no choice. No one
could find you better than you. The Xero-mods agreed, and
with their help I interfaced you with the ship that I had
named in your honor. The Xero-Carbon Wells is now fully
operational, just the way I figured it would be someday.
That was around the time of your last transmission. Your
consciousness was a kanthorgian dog to deal with, but after
the initial shock wore off, you accepted your new fate. The
fact that you're still alive out there was a huge help; your
consciousness now seems to see itself as the only protector
fit and capable enough to do you any justice in your fight
against the Corporation, and probably everything else that
you'll ever face. Honestly, he's as bad as you are, and now
he has direct control over the ship.
With his (your) help, we've tracked you pretty closely. The
ship now seems to be acutely aware of your decision making
process. But it's not just that- the Xero-Carbon version of
you "feels" (can it do that?) that it can see what you see,
that you're somehow linked. I don't know much about that
possibility, as this Prigoginic stuff is so new.
The rest we can catch up on, just stay put for a bit, let us
come to you.
gemini://cosmic.voyage/Xero Carbon Wells/log4.txt