text; after the babadont plot

[bothbarrels]

θ: Who here is an artificial life form? How were you created?

θ: Who here has siblings? How do you get along?

θ: Who here has a close friend who you consider closer than family? How did you develop that bond?

θ: Who here knows you died back where you came from? How are you dealing with that information?

[ Yes, it's the middle of the night and Theta is bored. Plus he just wants to know more about the people here. He hopes everyone who responds sticks to text; he doesn't want to awaken North. ]

Comments

[inner_child]

Ooh, yes! If you're willing?

[onequartershark]

If you ask me anything I don't want to answer, I'll tell you.

[inner_child]

I want to know if he remembered me. And whether he liked the rest of us.

[onequartershark]

He did.

When he wasn't sure what to do, he'd try to think of what the rest of you would have done if you were there.

[ That's probably the simplest way to put "Epsilon simulated the other fragments so he could talk to himself and solve problems that way." ]

[inner_child]

Really? I wish I could have met him.

Did he also remember all the agents? Did he remember North?

[onequartershark]

Only a little.

He knew their names and a little about them, but Alpha wasn't allowed to know us personally. Epsilon didn't have the chance to either.

[inner_child]

Oh. That's sad.

Do you think Epsilon would have liked North? And York?

[onequartershark]

Probably.

He would have had to complain about it for a while first, though.

[inner_child]

Why's that?

North and York and Delta are my best friends in the world. I'm glad he would have liked them.

[onequartershark]

Epsilon could be a difficult person sometimes. He didn't always like people, and could have a hard time admitting it when he did.

But if you knew him, you knew.

[inner_child]

I guess a bunch of us were like that.

I'm not, but I think a lot of us were.

[onequartershark]

I think you're right, Theta.

[inner_child]

Did you know the other AIs very well? Besides Epsilon, I mean?

[onequartershark]

Not well. I was familiar with Delta before things ended, but by the time I was back in the picture everyone else was gone.

[inner_child]

Can I ask you about something more personal? It's okay if you say no.

[onequartershark]

Shoot.

[inner_child]

Epsilon remembered everything, right? Did that cause any issues between you?

[onequartershark]

[ She thinks. ]

You'd think it would have caused more, but Epsilon was pretty stable by the time I met him.

He could separate himself from the memories. He wasn't Alpha, or the Director. He was himself.

[inner_child]

That's good. I would have liked to have met him. Maybe it can happen here...

[onequartershark]

Maybe. I wouldn't get my hopes up, though.

[ She's not sure it would be for the better. He was dying slowly, and at least going out the way he did was a way Epsilon chose. ]

[inner_child]

Yeah. It seems kind of random, who comes in and from when, doesn't it?

[onequartershark]

It does. I guess we'll find out, huh?

[ Carolina's not great at talking to kids in the first place, but it's just... really natural to try to speak gently like that to Theta. ]

[inner_child]

Yeah.

Thank you for talking to me about him. I really appreciate it.