#dosskey

“You waiting for someone, hon?”

“What? Oh. Unfortunately: no.”

“You want some more cocoa?”

“Thank you.”

Apologies. I did not mean to be flippant in my previous answer. I suppose I grew accustomed to the ease with which I have previously been able to rescue Ironbeak from trouble. It may not be quite as easy this time.

Thistle seems certain about his location, and Gillian has been using technology to try to make contact, but we have had no luck thus far.

Flattered confusion. Your concern is appreciated, kind strangers. Recent events have been … interesting.

     I’m almost out of cans of beans. I suppose I may as well open up that bag of pearlpeas now that I have a reliable water source. Not sure if that microwave in the “galley” works, though, so I might have to find an alternate heat source.

     I could go exploring some more, since I do still have a gun. When I mentioned to the captain that I was afraid of what this one might shoot, he said “let’s find out” and pulled the trigger while it was still in my hand. Turns out it’s a sort of energy burst gun and is relatively safe to fire on the ship--as long as I keep it away from anything electronic or flammable. It seems to recharge automatically, but I’m not sure if it can run out of juice. I tried practicing with it in the sand room, and it is very hard to aim.

     I seem to have lost the ring Ruby gave me at some point since going down to the moon. I noticed it was gone when I was preening the sand out of my feathers earlier. I hope it’s just somewhere on the ship and not down on that moon.

     I imagine that excursion would have turned out differently if Dosskey were here.

Ressurance: it is not rude, but I did have to ask Gillian for an explanation of what precisely you meant. The short answer is: no.

Elaboration: the longer answer is that as an Outcast, it would be nearly impossible for me to “back up” any of my memories, and according to Serverside’s traditions, extremely taboo to do so.

All hiveminded Glitch are essentially “backed up” among the hivemind. As long as one member of that hivemind exists, in a sense, all the memories of those who have been in the hivemind are preserved. If it was a very large hivemind that has been reduced to a single individual’s body, many of the smaller memories will be overwritten, but the important ones will still be recoverable.

Thoughtful. I am not a traditionalist among my people by any means. But I do respect the belief among the Outcast that our creators intended us to live but once, and as independent people. Profound: those in a hivemind may live an Age or more, but they will never know the joy of discovery, the excitement of keeping a secret, the mystery of romance, or the ache of loneliness.