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( cw: body horror and discussions of such )

Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen, and others of the Moira.

[ The voice over the network is pleasant, an attempt to keep things light despite what she's here to discuss. After the happenings so far this month, keeping things as light as possible seems like the best idea. ]

For those of you who haven't met me, and I know there are a lot of you, I'm Cortana. I'm one of the two AIs within the Moira's systems at the moment.

[ She'd do a video feed rather than audio, but audio or text is easier when you don't have a physical form. Video isn't impossible for her, but again, a base audio post is easiest. Should anyone reply with video, she'll happily respond in kind. ]

Now, with that introduction out of the way, I can focus on what I'm actually looking to discuss today. I've been focusing on the ship for the last few days--all of the changes that have occurred and the structural integrity of it now that it's been merged with the Caducan ship and has thus become glass in some areas--but now I want to focus on you, the crew.

It's difficult to not take notice of the way the merge has affected some of you. Like the ship, parts of some of you have turned to glass, and I'm looking to take inventory on what. I'm not certain that knowing what body parts of who became glass will be terribly beneficial, but you never know. It'll at least be useful to keep track of so we can observe any changes that might occur.

[ Maybe there's a connection somewhere. Maybe there are body parts more likely affected than others. Maybe they can find a way to fix it. She hates that it's all so uncertain, but anything that can possibly be helpful somewhere, somehow, she wants to make sure they have it. It's better than sitting in the systems doing nothing, at the very least. ]

So! Assuming you don't mind, if you've experienced the effect of the ships merging and now find part of yourself glass, tell me about it here? What part or parts of the body are affected, how strong the glass is, if you know, and how you're handling it are all answers that could prove useful. Of course, you're welcome to share more than that, should you wish to.

Thank you all for your time. I do hope that the rest of this month is less eventful than it has been so far.

Cortana, over and out.

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[ Somewhere on the ship (spoiler: Medbay) he listened to her speech.

It wasn't difficult to listen, her voice had a way of drawing the ear and making one want to pay attention. About half an hour after she had signed out, he opened up a channel back; audio only. ]

If you learn anything, that isn't offered in the vein of confidentiality, we could use any and all updates here in Medical.

One pinkie toe and an old bullet scar are glassed up for me. They don't hurt, they just feel weird.

Haven't really tested how strong the glass is. Seems like a potentially shatteringly bad idea.

You sound far too lovely to be simply just an AI.

[He's opting for text, since talking too much is painful as hell right now.]

I wasn't sure at first but I'm almost certain some of my insides turned into glass. That's what it feels like anyway.

Of course. One of my intentions was to send a copy of the list to those of you in Medical.

[ If anyone can make use of the intel she gathers through the post, she's certain it's the medbay staff. ]

I had a feeling you might want the information, particularly for any cases that haven't bothered to get themselves looked at.

A scar? Interesting, I hadn't considered that the glass might affect something like that. Is it only the scar tissue itself that has changed? None of the skin around it?

[ Sorry if she sounds a little too fascinated by that--it's an interesting thing to consider! ...When you don't have any skin of your own. ]

Pun intended, I hope. But of course, that was the reason for the 'if you know' addendum. I don't expect most people to be sure of how strong it is, but it could help to hear from those who do.

Ahh, is that flattery I detect?

[ There's an edge of amusement in her tone. ]

I don't believe I said just an AI, as I certainly like to think of myself as more than just something. However, it is what I am, though possibly more advanced than some on the ship are used to.

[She clears her throat.] Uh, yeah, some of my hair. I'm lucky, I suppose. That and a lot of my clothing, but just some of my hair, as far as anatomy goes. Tried snapping a strand off and it bloody hurt my scalp so I've been walking around with a weird modern art glass sculpture attached to my head.

[ Text is always a viable option, and one she'd recommend anyway if she were aware of his pain. ]

I see. May I make a few inquiries?

[ She's going to anyway. ]

1. Have you gone to the medbay to have them take a look? If not, please do. Anything internal turned to glass should have a doctor observing it, at the very least.

2. Have you any idea of what it is that may currently be glass? Or is it a very general certainty that something inside is now glass?

Clothing isn't too much of a problem, so long as it hasn't caused any difficulty removing it. Hair, however... Certainly more problematic.

[ There's a soft, thoughtful hum. ]

It's not the worst that I've heard of thus far, but that doesn't mean it isn't still unfortunate. If I may, when you tried to break the strand off, did it break? You're one of the few who may actually have an answer to how strong their glass is.

It did break with a little effort. The glass is strong, but the strands are thin, separate strands. Madness, if you ask me. It's wonderful to sleep on. [Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.]

[ Unlike with BB, Tex has heard of Cortana—who hasn't heard of Cortana, since the war ended? It's amazing to think she would have the chance to talk to Cortana, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit jealous of the fact that Cortana had had a hand in ending the war. It's for this reason that she chooses to answer, and not only that, but does so on an audio channel rather than via text. ]

My right arm and part of my left hand have turned to glass. I'm finding it incredibly frustrating, and considering I usually take my frustrations out on the heavy bags—it's even more frustrating.

So you've been paying attention to the changes on the ship.

What are your research capabilities in regards to that? [She's only got the rawest of data on Cortana in the Med Bay, currently. She's not certain of the woman's abilities.]

Excuse me for being curious, but you said there were two AI's on this ship?

Do you know who the other one is? [ It's not like Sakura would know. ]

Ah, so each strand of hair is separate rather than all one block, for lack of a better word, of glass shaped like your hair? That was my next question, actually. That does sound frustrating.

[ Not that she's ever had to deal with real hair or sleeping to understand how truly frustrating it must be. ]

I can imagine so.

[ Ahh, Texas. Cortana's been wanting to speak with her, actually. She's been aware of some people here with armour that looks suspiciously like the SPARTAN Mark VI armour, and from what she's been able to tell, two of those are Texas and Washington.

She sticks to the conversation at hand for the time being, however, despite the handful of questions she has. ]

You say your right arm; is that the entire arm? Right from your shoulder down to your fingertips, or is it somewhere in between? And how much of your hand, if I may ask? I know these are specific questions, but the more detailed the data, the better chance there is of it being useful.

Well, [She pauses like she's thinking something over.] They're separate, but they're packed pretty close together. I mean, with the exception of a couple that were in my face when they turned to glass.

[ A sigh. ]

It's all very bizarre, isn't it? People and parts of people turning to glass? Do you think there'll be a way to change it back?

[ There comes an audible sigh and then a pause, as if he's shaking his head. He was shaking his head but then remembers she can't see him, so he speaks up. ]

I imagine there are more than a few of our crew who are trying to stoic it out. As a coping mechanism if nothing else.

[ If prior experience with his previous crew had taught him anything, it was that people would seek to focus on anything except the personal, in an effort to avoid the harsh reality of a situation. They would insist they were fine and throw themselves into trying to work on the problem, just to avoid thinking.

Yes, he may be intimately familiar with these sorts of coping mechanisms as well as a monumental hypocrite. But that wasn't important right now. ]

Can you interface directly with the other information streams being worked on? Engineering as well as Medbay? I have to imagine you could run pattern recognition algorithms faster than we could identify any patterns with the naked eye?

As best I can, yes. I felt someone ought to, considering the potential catastrophe of parts of the ship being made entirely of glass.

[ While she can understand why the Caducan ship had been made of glass, given their planets, it hardly seems the most sound material to use in a spaceship, no matter how strong. And now with the ships merged, who knows how well the glass and metal parts of the ship are fused to one another?

There are a large number of concerns Cortana's been dealing with since the ship combination occurred. ]

Without a physical form, I'm not able to run any physical tests on any of the changed locations. However, residing within the systems, I can observe all parts of the ship that I have access to at the same time in order to keep an eye on things. I can test how the systems are working in the altered areas of the ship, as well as run a few basic scans on the rooms themselves.

I haven't detected any threats or potential issues thus far, but I do know that the Moira is very different from the ships and systems that I'm used to. I can't run a number of my processes as successfully as I can where I'm from, so it's possible I may have overlooked something.

No need to excuse yourself! I welcome curiosity.

[ It's a trait she's fond of, having a great deal of it herself. ]

There are two of us within the ship's systems, but there are more than just the two of us on board. The rest happen to have physical forms, unlike myself.

As for the other AI in the systems with me, his name is Black-Box, or BB. The others, I've yet to have the pleasure of meeting.

My whole right arm, from just below the shoulder. The left hand is my thumb and first two fingers, along with the parts of my hand just beneath them.

Thank you for answering my question! There was nothing this advance in the world where I come from.

It's really amazing to me that we have many unqiue and talented individuals on board. [ Sakura smiles though it's inaudible. Her voice does contain some of her own cheeriness though. ]!

1. Not yet, been busy. Probably gonna go do that soon.

2. I don't know if I could pinpoint it, but my legs hurt when I stand too long - sharp pain. Thinking maybe my bones might be glass. My stomach hurts occasionally and when I breath deep enough if feels like I'm inhaling something sharp.

Also some of my dog's hairs are glass too.

Let's see if I can hook you up with a holoform then. I got a handy helper who's an expert on the matter and having you able to physically get around would be a hell of a help.

I have an idea about this.

When we were at a stop with an experimental Ingress, when it was damaged it created fusion worlds between two people that fell into it. But there were worlds that were well meshed and functional.

So I think either we can divide things again, or we can merge things into something functional and effective.

You also might want to discuss fusions with Peridot, or the properties of "living" crystal.

My right arm's got it, from the elbow down. It feels just like normal, more or less, but it's been a bit stiff. I'm getting a little better with it though.

Obviously, I haven't been too keen on finding out how strong it is yet.

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