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Inner Sanctum | 4:27 PM | Second Day
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feel the adrenaline being pumped into your heart as your lizard brain urges you to punch them in the face.
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and automatic, without sacrificing convenience in the process. I hope I am able to meet your expectations!"
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venerable order all but declared they wouldn''t wipe their asses with our work. How the tables have turned, with one of their most promising scions coming right to our lap."
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outside of the order.
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emergency stasis pin. Allow me to show you."
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aesthetics. It was amazing how far a fancy cover for a thesis went, or some good illustrations or diagrams, or... Well, things like this.
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More like forever. I doubted she had any long-term plans for this beyond impressing the order and possibly getting a buyer for the concept. "Nevertheless, the incantation - which you shall be free to review shortly - does allow for activation and deactivation at the wearers convenience. This may be done by simply pressing ones finger into the center of the face and holding it for a few seconds. Like so--"
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other than the pin - one you may be able to infer by simply examining it closely." She smiled slyly. "But for the sake of our audience, I''ve crafted some visual aids on my logic engine to assist in the explanation." She held up the device. "May I attune it to your own network?"
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terribly sorry - I was working on this at the logic engine in my bedroom here this morning, and the data must have become corrupted somehow when I was transferring it over. I did test it, so if you''d afford me just a few additional minutes, I can make a fresh transfer--"
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off about the parts which could be made out. It was the uncanny valley again. Close to human, but not quite right.
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Right, right. She''d said something about her logic engine being broken, hadn''t she? And then had left to get a replacement. Had that been deliberate? A setup?
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love is great, and She does not wish to lay down punishment unless there exists no alternative. But mark these words: This shall be your third and final warning. Her will shall be denied no longer."
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robably interfacing heavily with the logic bridges, trying to figure out what happened. "No. I configured the logic engines here to only accept audiovisual information, and this room is isolated from the rest of the sanctuary. It looks as though they used a simple request-flooding technique to stop the message from being terminated prematurely, but now that it''s finished, there''s nothing left to even exhume."
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Wait, I thought to myself. Are they really not going to take this seriously at all? They''re just going to move on?
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I mean... Isn''t what we just heard a really serious-sounding threat?
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ladyship, I''d be insulted by your implication towards the quality of her runesmithing." He looked towards Anna. "What is it that you like to say? That you can''t bring the blunt end of a toothbrush in here without you knowing of it."
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Creepy."
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cult after us. That''s never happened before."
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death? Like, scythe-and-black-cloak death?"
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But didn''t it sound an awful lot like the tone of that letter I''d found with Kam? I thought. Using religious terminology. Sins, absolution... And after the other letter, too...
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swear I was seeing flashes of... Something. Like my mind could just about touch what it was trying to grab, but couldn''t quite reach far enough to close its grip around it.
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Be rational, I thought. It was like Neferuaten said. Most of the time, deja vu was just the brain drawing associations with similar experiences one couldn''t consciously recall. Over the course of the past two years, I''d been to a lot of similar events with more or less the same people, so it was inevitable that I''d had similar experiences. And stress leads to heightened mental activity. All the times I''d had these thoughts had been moments when I''d already been feeling bad.
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actually." Fang said. "You might want to see it first, real quick?"
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purpose of the endeavor is for you to show us the damn things." He clicked his tongue. "You do understand that, don''t you? I hope you haven''t let your reputation go so far to your head that you never cultivated basic sense."
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Crrk. I felt a sharp twinge in my mind, like something had snapped mentally out of place.
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knew what it would be. As clear as day.
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Fang will withdraw an item that looks like a sheathed blade, but covered in small pieces of strange, silver-white machinery. As soon as the inner circle sees it, they will react with shock and panic. Someone - in 87% of scenarios, Zeno, but sometimes Hamilcar, Anna or even Linos - will demand what they''re doing with it and where they got it. Fang will explain that they were entrusted with the task of completing it by a departed member of the order, though they won''t say who. Later, I will learn this was my grandfather, but that won''t be until half way through the night.
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After this, the conclave will demand they hand the item over, but Fang will only do this under the condition they stall the conference until they''ve led everyone down to the sublevel to reveal its purpose. Kamrusepa will get upset and refuse to go. We''ll travel to an elevator that goes deeper in the facility, and... And then...
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What... Just happened?
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It''s not going to be the sheath, every logical part of my brain said.
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Something like that couldn''t really happen. It''s absurd. Impossible.
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Isn''t it?
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Yes, master Hamilcar," it said, lowering its head, and then addressed the room at large. "A 30 minute recess to the conclave has been declared. If you wish, you may exit the chamber, though please try and return within the allotted time, so as to not cause any delays."
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Once matters have been resolved," Zeno echoed sardonically, brushing his fingers through his beard in frustration. "Once what has been resolved, exactly?"
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moments."
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All guests of the Conclave, please descend from the stands and follow me," the golem instructed.
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It had felt so real, but it hadn''t happened that way at all.
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