[network] @309_W1C_2DZ; video; evening 293 [open]

[howdull]

[The video feed clicks on to the sight of an unfamiliar face sporting a patchy and thin moustache. This face belongs to a boy in his late teens, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, with blond hair and blue eyes. He's wearing, rather incongruously, a Belstaff coat that's much too long for him.

He grins into the camera.

He's been locked up for so long, trapped in a straight jacket, and he plans to make the most of it while Sherlock is the one locked up inside his own mind. He rolls his shoulders luxuriously, getting used to the odd new body.]

Daddy's home, boys and girls, I hope you've not been naughty.

[His grin widens, showing slightly crooked but very white teeth.]

Comments

@user; voice

[cosmicwords]

...We were already fairly certain that our bodies were not actually our bodies, weren't we?

[He's felt that way all along.

His voice is not angry or sad but tired. Somehow he feels like he's been trapped here centuries...month? No, centuries. He's starting to feel his age.]

perma-text

[rubikscomplex]

yep
always nice to have physical confirmation, though

[cosmicwords]

I do not think the nanites are us either, however. The real us is still someplace else.

[rubikscomplex]

yeah
in the server
but the nanites in our bodies are clearly tied to specific files stored there

[cosmicwords]

Maybe.

Some core component of what we are is still locked in time. I believe whatever data the server has on us comes from that...

And the resurrection system twists through time and quantum states to find traces of us to make us whole again when there is no body to work with.

[He hums thoughtfully.]

That's my theory anyway but I could be wrong.

[rubikscomplex]

[House considers that.]

seems reasonable with the whole quantum thing thrown in
so what happens when some of us gain memories?
the core component gets shifted to a different timelock?
that always happens when we die
no one's spontaneously gained years while they were still alive

[cosmicwords]

...I think that might be why we're running out of time. The machine is breaking down.

When it cycles through states we might end up with fragments of data we should not have, like it pulls in parts but not a pure whole. The result causes us to suffer from strange memories or mental or physical imbalances until we quantum lock again. We are physical beings after all, our quantum states are synced to our environment.

Sometimes it creates the anomalies when things go particularly badly...

I apologize if this is all a bit hard to follow, I haven't yet determined the details of how all of this might work. I know quantum physics a bit, it comes from living in my time, but I have no idea what the machine itself actually is.

[rubikscomplex]

you've got more of it than i do
i follow the big developments
but most of it's out of my wheelhouse
application, specifically

what about the physical environment, though?
that's in a quantum flux state, too?
'cause we had one night a while back where everything ground to a halt
and how do we account for the admin and miller seeing different things than we are?
observing different quantum states?

[cosmicwords]

Tney are looking at a different state, they themselves are in another state, or their machines have never been updated.

The Norfinbury they see is the town as it once was, before the cultists came.

[rubikscomplex]

at least it is until we access the new areas
and the state is set
like when we find the death vids for former residents
we open the box
and the cat's dead

i'm really regretting not becoming a theoretical physicist right now

[cosmicwords]

[A small, sympathetic laugh.]

It can get pretty confusing, can't it? Even in my time we don't quite have it all figured out yet.

[rubikscomplex]

[That's not a particularly helpful comment and House seizes on it to ruin the moment.]

good for you time
we need someone who does have it figured out
someone who's a quantum computer herself

[He means Winter.]

angelcakes and rhysie are about all we got on tap
easily on tap, anyway
i'll talk to one of them

[cosmicwords]

Wait, what exactly do you expect them to help you with?

[Please don't go around taking people's blood again, House.]

[rubikscomplex]

lots of things
guess we'll see

[He really only means asking them about quantum computers, but why not wind the guy up a bit?]

[cosmicwords]

[chaos simply rubs his brow and sighs. The sigh is vaguely audible.

He knows House is just trying to get him going, it's what House does. He's met difficult individuals before.

He decides to just hop a step ahead of him rather than take the bait.]

Well, they might know a bit about quantum computers but I doubt any of us knows enough. I know quite a lot about quantum physics and some about computers, for example, but they're computers from over four thousand years in the future.

Our best source of information would be Winter or Andromeda and they are both fragmented, at least for now.

Until we can help them pull their own minds back together all we can really do is make an educated guess.

...So...

You will probably have to wait a while to find the actual hard answers you are seeking.

[So don't be a jerk if people tell you they don't know, House.]

[rubikscomplex]

[Take all the fun out of it, chaos.]

thanks for the tips, order-hater
but you know what they say:
never hurts to ask

[And then belittle and berate.]

[cosmicwords]

[There is a small laugh at the name Order-Hater, not because he thinks it is particularly clever but because he is amused at the idea that he could ever hate Order. She'd been his partner since the dawn of consciousness.]

Well, if they have any insight I would be quite interested in knowing what is.

I am not very good at exploring but I might at the very least be able to contribute what I know to trying to figure some of this out.

[And maybe keep a closer eye on House in case he decides to do anything insane....again...]

[rubikscomplex]

i'll be sure to keep you apprised

[Which is about the best chaos is going to get from him.]