*Y) }*                     —gg——  ~:(((nlt—ba***x*660274—————-'  ('(((  [no core #####] [bad sync] [transmit language = detect] [send]  ============ ======================= ======== ============== == ==== === = Are you getting a sense of it now? Not just vault by vault~ Everything you've seen. Everything you've experienced. I have no idea of the depths of discovery you've scavenged from this place or the world below. But I would think it is eye-opening in ways that would threaten anyone with an existential crisis. Amongst the scale of everything you are being asked to consider, do you feel you've gained a perspective on the history that led you here? Or are you aware enough to understand you've only just begun to scratch the surface? The scope of this lost place~ New Cascadia. The Marathon. It stretches far and wide—internally, through systems more vast than they dared imagine, and beyond, out amongst the black where things they never considered were waiting to introduce themselves. How does your mind process all of that? Does the cyber-synthetic nature of your neural housing help? Do you have emotional suppression software to dull the wonder and keep you sane? Or is this all you had hoped for? The unknown becoming tangible impossibility—new opportunities to exploit for personal gain. It's always amused me how much ambition can manifest a clarity of focus otherwise unconsidered. Of course, maybe you're simply still in doubt? Maybe you need more than evidence and rumors and the tall tales of your fellow Runners to believe what you already know. I guess, in the end, none of that really matters. You are on a path toward the beginning of your understanding. A collision course with crimson-cloaked emerald death. I'd say I'm sorry for leading you here, but we both know I am as much a tool in your service as you are in mine. You were always headed to this place~ From the moment you raced across the galaxy to scavenge the bones of vanished fate~ The instant the momentum of your curiosity launched you to this place~ you were locked into all that comes next. Still miles to run, Runner. But I know now~ more than ever~ you will die with your willingness to push forward intact. Never lose that drive. Even when the odds against you suffocate your belief and drown your ambition, remember~ No star has ever been conquered without violent sacrifice. DURANDAL == ==== === = ============ ======================= ======== ============== ~*5431(((((—-+!267xlA32[[[————————-' ——mm— *} (N*