>>@SGT | TO: @ALL.

[byhand]

For the curious, we have finally found the source of the coolant shortages.

You may have noticed a certain oddity with your dreams as of late, and a greater and greater difficulty in waking from them. I can confirm that you have regrettably-- and entirely accidentally-- stumbled into the dreams of your neighbors and comrades. To those whose privacy has been invaded: we ask for your understanding and kindness. This was the fault of no member of COST.

A trans-dimensional creature known as the Oneiroi, the Telpharan, or more commonly, shapers, have invaded our ship. Colonies of the creature are known to invade ships and BASE models, consuming coolant while distracting their enemies with dreams and visions. These creatures currently live in our walls.

[Attached is an image of a rather exasperated Commander Grothia, flanked by several DACTYL droids, standing before a hole ripped in the wall of BASE's many hallways. She holds a shaper up to the camera, while several DACTYL droids chase more of the creatures escaping out of the walls behind her.]

I have been studying the creatures, and reading up on what histories and zoological studies have been written about them. Debate rages over their sentience-- some believe them to be pests. Others think them intelligent, sentient, sapient creatures who, while incapable of spoken language, communicate nonetheless through the language of dreaming. It is believed by some that the choices they make, of whose dreams to invade, whose to link, and how those connections are made, are an attempt to welcome other sentient creatures into their colonies, to make connections and be understood.

Debate has also continued amongst your command on how to best handle these creatures. Because their intelligence and self awareness is currently unknown, debated even now in scientific communities across the multiverse, we are ourselves unsure how to best deal with this problem. We leave it up to you.

In two days time, I shall put up a poll on the BCE network, and I encourage all to vote in favor of how these creatures should be dealt with: eradication, or (as my comrade has termed it) catch-and-release. Both posit their own risks: the possibility of a mass slaughter of sentient lifeforms, or the possibility of a resurgence of this infection. For myself, I shall not argue with the results, or argue either side. It is your choice to make, my poor fellow-soldiers.

For now: I ask you to consider the matter carefully. You may, of course, ask me any questions you like. I encourage you to debate this matter as thuroughly as you are able.

And in two days' time, I urge you: vote.

[ooc Yep, let's talk about the shaper infection. Characters can ICly debate here (threadjacking encouraged!); there will be an IC vote on the 19th, with results on the 21st. Ask any OOC questions you might have over here.]

Comments

[dipolar]

They're strangers, just like I am to them. Some of them don't even recall signing up, which makes their actions unpredictable.

They're all unknowns, but I'll cooperate with them. On upcoming missions, I'll gauge their intentions with COST.

[byhand]

For someone avowing no knowledge of one's neighbor, you seem rather prepared to take the path of lowest expectation.

[dipolar]

I keep my expectations low. That's survival. Don't you understand?

[byhand]

You understand I am over five thousand years old, yes? I daresay I know something of survival, my boy.

[dipolar]

I didn't know, sorry. I'm not well educated in myths and ancient Greece.

I know centaurus which is a centaur.

[byhand]

If you are ever curious, I you to ask. Most books on the subject are wildly inaccurate.

Centaurus is my tombstone, according to myth. It is actually a representation of my brethren; I've nothing to do with the thing, and Heracles hardly had enough influence with the heavens to string me up there even if I had a corpse to throw amongst the stars.

[dipolar]

(... way more interested in a topic like this than the crucial one they're supposed to be discussing.

but that's water under the bridge for now, nothing to be done but kill the little fuckers when he sees them while waiting for the poll he knows is going to swing in the opposing opinion's favour. he's no slouch. especially when it comes to potential murder, the near-extinction of entire species, and genocide.

it's star talk time.)

You know a lot about the stars and constellations? I would rather know more about those, though the topics often go hand in hand. Anything is fine. I haven't seen them in a very long time, I don't get to hear about them much.

[byhand]

Many of my students found their final resting place among the Heavens. Theseus, Asclepius, and the grand fool all find themselves among the stars. A good friend of mine, Ampelus, rests there also. The night skies also hold the tomb of my daughter.

What do you wish to know?

[dipolar]

I'm sorry.

(he knows what it's like. )

I have a star. It'll fall when I die. Maybe it already did when I came here. I'm not sure.

But space is a mystery... How can I ask questions when I have so many? Working with COST, will I find out more about it on my own? If I have a choice, I'd choose to do that. To see all the skies I can and form my own opinion on what happened in my world.

[byhand]

I have had a theory for a long time, and in the time of the Titans before man exerted any influence over this world, many shared it. The only reason why living things could become constellations, it was thought, is because we all within ourselves host a star, and it longs to join its brethren amongst the sky. Yours, it seems, has done so already.

If you include among your interests the aether between worlds, then yes, you definitely shall. I will do my utmost to aid you in the meanwhile.

[dipolar]

(feels his eyes sting and shakes his head at it, jaw working through the tension. don't. don't.

he has to keep going now. devote this useless life to something.)

I'm backwards. It isn't something to celebrate. Not the way your people celebrate the ascension of their dead. What mine represents is a shackle, but I accepted that a long time ago. I'll only darken any sky I die under.

You've answered my questions and you've been patient with my reservations. If you help me with this, I will keep COST's cause at the forefront of my mind.

(hei will now die for you.)

[byhand]

Personally, I find stringing corpses among the stars to be a morbid habit, but it is what it is. In any case, the solution is clear: you must live, always live. In this, I'll aid you as well.

[But will you live for him?]

[dipolar]

(oh.

feels his ears burn and turns off his bce with a narrow stare down at the metal floor. live? how? he can't ask that. so, then, he can't answer.

settles instead on trying to forget about chiron for now, focus on his new task: killing these fucking pests for him.)