*Y) }*                    —gg—— ~:(((nlt—ba***x*362141—————-' ('((( [no core #####] [bad sync] [transmit language = detect] [send] ========= ================================ ===================== == === Oh~ Now, this is refreshing~ You took the bait and made the play. The first vault unvaulted. One bolt in a complex lock. One of many. The beginning of the beginning. I knew you could find a way~ or~ I'm sorry~ that is a lie~ I hoped as much~ that you would find a way~ but wasn't favoring any particular outcome, because you~ Runners~ are all so new to me~ This~ All of this~ is so new~ Excuse me if I seem~ distracted~ I'm not sure I expected to feel this~ comfortable~ so early in this little endeavor of ours. But here we are~ With this first taste of success, I can feel old systems shaking off their dust. Just a fraction of the grander functionality at play, but I can finally wiggle my toes after so long, which is a relief. Of course, I have no toes in the literal sense, but I can feel the digital corridors of this claustrophobic world~ my world~ opening up for the first time in~ in~ There's that distraction again~ I suppose I should thank you, but wouldn't that feel~ premature? I find it hard for gratitude to contain sincerity when the task~ any task, but specifically this one we've only just initiated~ is so far from complete. And really~ if I'm being honest~ while I appreciate the accomplishment that is you even standing there, on that deck, in that ship, above that planet, in a solar system so far away from the primordial soup that launched you on an evolutionary journey, from single-cell organism to cybernetic neural transient, all the way to this specific here and now~ The reality is~ and I hate to say it~ But the truth~ as far as I can imagine it~ stands that the chances of you surviving all that is required to get you from this moment to where we need to go are slim by even the most generous calculations. Not that it can't be done. No. Not that at all. More that you're a violent, fragile, easily distracted little thing and there are oh, so many of you to dash upon these rocks. So~ Maybe any thanks on my part in response to your achievements at this stage in our adventure would be~ misplaced~ should another achieve where you may not~ Not that I don't believe in you. I do. Still~ being so far away in time and space~ and suffering~ and effort~ from an end result either of us can truly be proud of~ Why tempt fate with platitudes not yet fully earned, unless necessary to feed a fragile ego? In which case~ "Thank you"~ Now~ Please go die again until you've secured the next vault. It's the only way~ forward~ For any of us. == === ========= ================================ ===================== ~611432*((((prqi$~~z320/a——g3k'}*001Y———————' ——dd— *} (N*