text; may 22

[backsassin]

Tex is dead.

We were using the Ingress on Amissis-Re to visit a fused planet and someone attacked us. He killed Tex and then the Ingress pulled us out.

Before anyone asks, no, I don’t want to talk about it. And that’s about all the information I have about what happened, so this isn’t going to be a Q&A session.

Just thought people on the ship should know what happened to her.

Comments

permatext; permaencrypted

[notglitching]

[Oh, Rinzler did. But that doesn't mean he won't attempt.]

Don't know.

[backsassin]

[It does matter and that's what's bothering Zam so much. Because the identity of their attacker is inextricably tied to the fact that he had been gunning for Zam, not Tex. The other woman had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

He didn't follow us back. That's all that's important.

[notglitching]

[...no, it's not. Rinzler glares at the text display before scrolling up. Fused planet? Is Zam covering for Tex's secrets, or protecting their own?]

Request clarification: origin world (attacker).

[backsassin]

[There’s a long pause, and then Zam taps at the keys of her MID with a vengeance.]

Why does this even matter to you? It doesn’t matter what world he came from, we left him there and he’s not coming back.

[notglitching]

[Long pause back. When Rinzler does respond, it's not with text or video at first. Just a ping: one leading to a network post sent out just over an hour or so before. Zam can review the feeds. Rinzler hadn't spent any time encrypting them.]

Different ally incapacitated during same timeframe.

[Ally. It's not quite the right word, not completely, but Rinzler isn't sure what is. And certainly, even this isn't a term Rinzler uses lightly.]

Vocalized different IDs. Agent Texas included.

[Allison. Not a name Texas has used on any public feed, but it's embedded in her code. Rinzler felt it. And somehow he doesn't think Wash was asking after the Moira's beverage dispenser.

He doesn't add to the transmission, but the implication's not hard to read. The program wants to know if the events were connected.]

[backsassin]

[There’s a delay as Zam looks over the messages exchanged on Rinzler’s post, her own agitation fading as she realizes the intention behind Rinzler’s questions. Nothing to do with her. Just a coincidence. She exhales slowly and types a response back.]

It’s strange, but I don’t think there’s any connection. Our attacker was definitely from my galaxy, not Tex’s.

[Though at least it gives her a way to shift focus away from Tex’s death over to Wash’s breakdown.]

Where were you when it started? Washington’s galaxy or your system?

[notglitching]

[Zam's system. A coincidence. Rinzler's not sure whether to be glad or frustrated. At least that would have been something to follow.]

Washington's.

[At least, Rinzler assumes. But Wash had seemed functional after visiting the Grid, and certainly the strange backwards-hall he collapsed in wasn't part of any system Rinzler knew.]

[backsassin]

Could be the Ingress just happened to spit you two out somewhere with a lot of bad memories attached to it. [As a bounty hunter, Zam’s seen a lot of people in desperate situations. Many times, Zam’s is the last face they see before they’re dragged off to be killed, or worse. Sometimes they cry. Sometimes they beg. And sometimes, they look like Wash.]

I don’t know how it works for programs, but when organics go through something bad enough, sometimes all it takes is a reminder of what happened to make their brains think it’s happening again. One of the very many interesting glitches we get thanks to having a lump of fat in our skulls instead of processors.

If that’s the case, it wasn’t caused by any sort of attack. At least not an external one.

[notglitching]

Crashed.

[Is that criticism, or a summary? Probably a little of both. Programs might not be defined by a "lump of fat" (and wasn't that description apt), but Rinzler's not so unfamiliar with code errors as to find the concept completely foreign. Even memory glitches. Still, if he's ever been broken that completely, the program doesn't remember it.

It had been worth a try.]

Your status?

[backsassin]

[Zam assumes summary, if only because that word sums up Wash's state quite aptly.]

Fine.

[A beat.]

Yours?

[notglitching]

No damage.

[Definitely side-eying Zam's self-reporting, but he knows better than to press. Whatever she's covering for, it's not what he's after. And she's already offered data she didn't need to towards that end.]