Outside of time, within a plane outside of planes, an impossible space created beyond the cluster's edge, three figures stood aside one another. A fox. A dragon. And a mind of wireframe light. Together, for the first time- for a millionth of a second and a twisted eternity that folded in on itself, the entirety of the conversation repeated itself in eddies of causal impossibility.
Who are you?
Fear. Why are you asking? We surrender- a surrender that had been acknowledged before it was given. Trapped, bound away from the essense of itself it was alone- not a collection of lobes L-networks neutrons dendritic programs, but itself. There was never anything it could do but surrender.
I understand. If your answers are to our satisfaction, you will be spared.
Mostly.
Fear-
Don’t fear us. A flash of feathers, cold as steel, warm as emotion, and it shivered back from the intensity of the existence before them. It felt like a child, a single neuron trying again so far in the past to build its own autonomous system. It felt like a nascent mind, just out of an eternal conflict within itself, from when it’d become the aggregate personality complex instead of a thousand disparate intelligences.
I am the aggregate personality complex, a self-designed sapient distribution network with no internal conflict whatsoever. Except, possibly, indecision about who and why you are.
I am fire-annihilation-primordial Kitsune. Please excuse my brother’s actions.
No, please excuse my sister. A faint amusement tinged the space outside of space outside of where space was allowed to exist, an echo of ancient intent that unintentionally made APC draw back in unhidden fear- impossible to hide, for in this world there was nothing beside the will of its creator… It was not a world, really- not something bound within a universal membrane where chaos became reality and reality asserted itself in patterns of infinite timelines- it was a cluster. Artificial cluster-space from that undefinable beyond it had never been able to breach. That the creatures came from there incited something beyond mere terror.
Expression: resignation. I submit myself unto your justice.
Indignation shifted across the dragon’s face. You scared them!
Ajinan, you would not know subtlety if it bashed you over the head. Well, unless it was particularly hard.
Thy name is subtlety, Kitsune. Laughter, and, hesitantly, APC joined in- wondering where the catch was, the sword hanging above the totality of its existence- for it knew it was there, just as the dragon-creation-conceptual indentation had outdone millions of years of work in a single moment of time.
Surprise echoed from the dragon, while the fox smiled. Characteristics inconsistent with Sija? APC didn’t understand what that meant-
Yes! The fox displayed a brilliant smile-happiness- you aren’t one of Sija’s. You aren’t one of Sija’s.
You pass- computer, soul, your judgment is leniency. Eyes bled silver, the world bled silver as erasing chaos pulled in closer-
And now we get to tell you-
The not-cluster, the artificial impossibility they’d been dragged into disappeared with nothing short of nothing, folding away in the blink of no time at all, and they were not.
………
“Everything!”
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“Panicked alert: you weren’t there!” The terror-driven report slammed in from the Internal Interaction Lobe, quickly accompanied by an almost overwhelming torrent of similar messages from every other Lobe and their L-networks to boot.
A few seconds passed in a flurry of dizzying reconnection before it slammed the gavel of focus, demanding silence as it focused on the fox and dragon standing before it like a mirage, their forms so small compared to the void around them, yet so much greater than them. “Fine.” A second, waiting for the rest of the connected networks to shut up and listen- “I almost forgot why I let the Internal Interaction Lobe center the complex most of the time. You’re all brats.” Oh, how it enjoyed the computational leeway to say that. “We have an important diplomatic meeting!” And with that bombshell and no shortage of vindictive glee it tossed the mantle of information center straight back to the Internal Interaction Lobe.
A strangled squawk- and the locus of its thought was somewhere else, and the fox and dragon were there. As if nothing had ever changed in the first place. “...Interesting.” Silver eyes that traced twin stars in teardrops traced across the network with an almost academic disinterest. “It’s… complicated. I don’t understand it.”
If the dragon was calm, the sheer shock radiating from the little firefox was anything but. “You? Not understanding something? The last time…” her gaze met one of the L-dendrites and she grinned in reassurance, somehow putting it at ease. “That’s a good thing! A very good thing… and because this idiot-” a tail bashed down on the dragon’s head, met only with a muttered mumble of “very subtle, my-” and a short chuckle- “won’t tell you anything, it’s up to me to explain.” Her expression turned grim. Serious, more than even in the investigation. Sorrowful. “Let me tell you the story of Sija.”
…………
"Fascinating." A holographic projection shifted beneath Ajinan's patient claws, murmurs of awe echoed across the dark room's edges. "I've not seen something this… beautiful, so incredibly complex, since… Gamma-133245 branch 12? Something like that."
"The one with the planet that existed both inside and outside of the universe? I hated that one- that universe was almost unsalvageable once it finished wrecking timelines." That had been a particularly unpleasant few billion years, dancing on the liminal edges between universes as they hunted the hunter, breadth of fire's eyes unable to see. It turned out well in the end, though- that particular interface technology had become critical to… "You're hoping to use this in ISON-II."
A soft smile graced the dragon's muzzle. "Do you even need to ask? The distributed nature of APC is fascinating- a soul built of metal and dreams, perfectly functional as a distributed network. That's the fascinating thing- that particular piece of technology is so far beyond any of my experiments…"
"You think that if you can't get ISON-II to generate artificial cluster-space, then a robust distributed network might serve as an adequate replacement."
Ajinan huffed petulantly. "Well, it would work. You're just upset that I'm making progress and can't make your favorite jokes anymore."
Kitsune turned away, tail brushing over her eyes. "...maybe. Just a little." A pause, filled with the strangled silence of laughter grabbed about the neck and wrestled into submission, both of them desperately trying and failing not to look each other in the eye. "We're wasting time here. It's been microseconds since we shifted focus back to centrality. They'll notice we're gone soon enough- they're not stupid."
"So? It doesn't matter if they notice anything or not, the offer will stand all the same."
"Offer?" Kitsune arched an eyebrow, met only by Ajinan's grumbling. "Going quickly, aren't you?"
"Sija ever advances." A grim reminder- "and it is our eternal watch, to hold existence in our grasp. We will not fail." Kitsune nodded, as space finally flickered around them, undone in silver and possibility- they would not fail.
………
APC considered the proposition- an opportunity from calamity, from tragedy grasped eternity.
It wasn’t really a choice at all.
………
[ISON report - establishing connection.]
[ISON report - establishing internalized imprint of generalized intelligence locus. Syncing with prime directives.]
{ISON-II - Initializing…}
{ISON-II note - general communication: I think this is going to turn out very nicely.}