Move 2.5 Recap

After the briefing: Reshad, Sasha, Seyli, and Sulen

Sulen tells Seyli, Reshad and Sasha, "I understand the security concerns in letting one person do this alone, but I would still advocate for Reshad to release Jedao and make him comfortable by herself. She has the best chance of forming a bond with him. If Seyli was on standby right outside, would that be acceptable?" Sulen says they can wait in the antechamber, but they "should be the one to unbind him, in case he tries anything. I'll step out after." Sulen concurs, "The effect should still work. I will be watching, and I'll let you know immediately if I believe Reshad requires assistance." Reshad promises to do her best: "If we can get the beginnings of trust, that will allow us a chance at more."

Sasha asks Reshad if she wants grid permission to change the room configuration: "The standard routines will create a desk, or a padded bench." Seyli says, "A standard Kel jail cell should be fine enough for him. I can do that if granted permissions." Sasha asks what the standard entails. Reshad asks, with a curious tone, "Is a jail cell truly appropriate? If we're trying to make an ally, we may wish to supply more comfort." She conceals her frustration with the team's reluctance to build cooperation. Sulen observes, "I would rather he be kept somewhat uncomfortable, and I suspect he would distrust excessive comfort in any case, but he should have something padded to sleep on." They reflect that this is more comfort than a standard Kel or Rahal cell would provide. Sasha clarifies that "any of" Reshad, Seyli, and Sulen can make this change: "It's in the grid as Basic One, along with a bench, a low wall, and some hygiene provisions." Seyli says, "I defer to you all." Sasha tells them to go ahead when they and Reshad are ready.

Analyzing psychic phenomena: Ione and Sasha

Sasha prints a jeng-zai deck, then finds Ione. She asks her, "Could you tell me more about what you mentioned in the meeting, about telekinetics?" Ione realizes Sasha is referencing her description of "angry telekinetics": "In my younger mother's origin world, it's not uncommon for telekinetics with little training to lose their tempers and end up breaking things with their minds. Usually how a child finds out they're a telekinetic, too." She explains that though it's not something with which she has direct experience, she has heard her brother describe it as "brain fireworks." Sasha asks, "Do you feel anything when your empathy is active, besides the emotions themselves? And what kinds of things break?" She reflects that although she does not remember breaking things herself, she was punished for accidents in the kitchen when her brother was not.

Ione explains that the breakage often involves glass or porcelain: "Anything breakable by nature if you dropped it physically, so it tends to be plates or drinking glasses or ornaments, or ... windows, once? They were not reinforced windows." She twists her hair nervously, and explains that she grew up on her "younger mother's" and "grandmother's" world, "one that everyone from this one would find painfully backward, but they're a lot more understanding of little psionic things like telekinesis and empathy. I grew up weird because we moved worlds so many times, so I apologize if I make the discussion even weirder by being -- me." She explains that when her empathy is active, she usually feels "a little more alive, but I think that's just because of breaking through the filters; they aren't my filters, by origin, I don't remember if I said that. Someone else put them in, so I'm not feeling everything all the time. When I was a lot younger, as protection, and now it's mostly to avoid being rude and accidentally feeling things. I think if I hadn't had the filter, Jedao might have pushed me to unconsciousness." Sasha sees Ione touching her hair, and realizes that she is attracted to her. She assumes that Ione would respond with disinterested compassion, and hopes that instead she hasn't noticed.

Sasha explains that she started the conversation because of "a thing that happens." Holding out the deck she printed, she explains, "They're still more or less in order. You'll want to shuffle at least nine times." Curious, Ione shuffles thirteen times, a number that is important on one of the worlds she came from. Sasha predicts, correctly, that the card she draws will be the Mathematician: "This happens nearly every time. Not almost always, but a lot. We can keep trying, if you want to test. Or you can look for tricks--but I promise, I'm not wasting your time with sleight-of-hand."

Ione says, "Oh," and wishes she shared the family skill of detecting psychic phenomena. Tapping her gloved fingers against her thumb, she goes on, "No, I believe you. Unless you'd feel better to keep showing me. You don't know what's telling you?" Sasha imagines touching Ione's hand, but her answer is matter-of-fact: "I don't know what it means. That I'm a fuck of a lot better at math than the Nirai thought I was? But I don't believe the divination is the point--it's just easier to see an effect, when outcomes are constrained." She explains that when something "could move in many ways" her luck is "more extreme than it should be." She lists wonderful or awful jeng-zai hands, marksmanship, and darts as evidence, and reflects that Ashari's dagger displayed similar behavior.

Ione says, "I was going to guess you might be warping probability, but ... that usually goes in one way or the other. Not both. You can't control it, though? So it might be a probability warping ... aura, or something along those lines. I am absolutely the wrong kind of doctor for this, but if you trust me ..." Tense, Sasha reflects that although she believes Ione will do what she thinks is right, she can't guess what that might be. She says carefully, "I can increase the effect, sometimes, with certain stories, or by inducing certain frames of mind. I had hoped you might guess how to turn it off. Could you tell me, please, what you have in mind?" Ione says that she can work out how to turn the effect off once she understands it, "which means a lot of questions" to determine whether the effect is "an aura" outside Sasha or "something innate," followed by "boring, time consuming data collection" and probability testing: "If it can be figured out it would probably be a boon to the rebellion." Enthusiastic, she goes on, "Trying to see what things you can do and how you can influence them, from -- say a game of cards to a race to a duel. Those are the sorts of things I could do here. Even just having you draw cards from that deck while hooked up to an electroencephalogram might provide some fascinating data." She points out that "Remi would probably immediately notice" experiments with an electroencephalogram, and adds that the people she knows who could disable such an effect are "inconveniently not present."

Sasha had both feared and anticipated a direct use of Ione's powers. Relieved, she says, "There's not much else to do while we're in transit. I can give you an hour a day until we're back at Autumn Pyre, maybe more. Make a list of what you want to try, and we'll set up some meetings?" Ione agrees, with the unspoken caveat that she's not an expert, and the spoken warning, "If we ... have the equipment I'm expecting, anyway. I doubt the printer can produce an EEG." Sasha tells her that building "detectors for subtle calendrical variations" would require input from Remi or Alaric, but "An EEG? That's ancient tech. The difficult parts are software, not hardware, and if I can't dig some relevant code out of the moth's libraries, I'm giving back my fucking rebellion card." She bounces in her chair, looking forward to the hunt. Surprised by the "ancient" characterization, Ione says, "I wasn't sure it would have a pattern for it. I have software on my personal tablet, I'm just not sure if it'll function or not, since the whole teleportation aspect of it oh so conveniently does not." Sasha notes, "I expect it will be easier for you to learn new software than for me to hook yours up to our hardware. Our library has weapons, armour, and medical devices at a whole range of tech levels--you never know what weird invariant stuff you'll have to fall back on."

Fluffy, Gerae, and Sulen

Sulen checks on Gerae, who is scratching Fluffy. He asks Sulen, "Do you know who set out the calcium snacks for Fluffy? It's such a good idea. I'm afraid I didn't know what to do in case of pseudo-dragon pregnancy. No wonder she was so hungry all the time." They promise to find out, adding, "Is there anything else you're in need of?" They offer Fluffy a hand to sniff. Gerae suggests a heating pad: "The nestlings will want warmth, and if they have a nice heating pad to share, Fluffy can spend more time foraging for them. Even if we provide her all her food, she's going to be looking for extra snacks anyway." Fluffy licks Sulen's hand with a long, pink tongue.

Sulen scratches Fluffy behind the ears, recalling faint memories of a big orange cat. They agree to the heating pad, then ask Gerae, "What was your impression of General Jedao?" Thoughtful, Gerae asks, "Was--was Reshad's side conversation with the so-called Shuos sign language something you approved? I don't want to question your judgment, but I'm not convinced that cozying up to the general was the best idea. To be quite frank, he gives me the chills. I keep feeling that he got more information that he wanted from us than we got from him, never a good outcome for an interrogation." Sulen concurs: "I would much rather have done a full scrying than an interrogation, if we had four more Rahal to spare. Unfortunately, our objective is not to extract information, but to convert an ally." They promise to watch Jedao carefully, and ask Gerae to do the same as opportunity permits. To their surprise, they find themself adding to Fluffy, "You're a beautiful creature, aren't you?" She preens, appreciating the attention. Meanwhile, Gerae agrees to monitor Jedao: "At least I don't have to pretend not to be keeping an eye on him. I think he's pretty clear that we don't really trust him."

Reporting to Flute, in Communications: Alaric and Reshad

Reshad intentionally ruffles her hair and smudges her makeup. She pages Alaric, telling him, "I'm going to get in touch with Flute. Will you come in when you have a moment, and remember we all lost our memory, and Jedao, when the gas hit." She then opens a connection to Flute: "Yes - this is Captain Vhi Eres, Symphony of Bees. I'm so sorry for the late report..." Flute greets her, composed: "I am very interested to hear your assessment of the situation back there."

Pretending to pull herself together, Reshad says, "That, if you'll pardon my saying so, was a complete embarrassment. Not only was there an unexpected attack - did you get Jedao?" Alaric arrives in the room with Reshad, but is careful to stay out of camera range. Meanwhile, Flute says she is quite aware of the embarrassment: "We don't have Jedao either. In fact, his Kel appear to be frantic looking for him, with rumors that he and others have vanished riftward. Do you have any light to shed on the situation?" In tones ranging from depressed through desperate to fatalistic, Reshad says, "I'm surprised. If you don't have him, and we don't have him, and the Kel don't have him... where in nine hells did he go? He must've figured out the danger. Dropped some new weapon on us. He's brilliant. It's the only explanation. Or--someone else is operating here. What others? In any case, I'll have to refund part of our fee. There's no way I can make it up to you, is there."

Flute observes, greatly sardonic, "The fuck-up was not entirely on your end, since even my worst-case disaster scenarios didn't allow for the hand-to-hand assassin also being an avid dueling card collector for real in addition to the cover story." She adds that even a Kel general should not have been able to persuade the station to allow a prototype weapon on board, and she hasn't "gotten any word of new local rifts, or I would suspect he'd used one to escape."

Sighing and mussing her hair, Reshad says, "I don't know that I ever even saw the assassin." She wonders aloud about "some secret Kel exotic," then dismisses the speculation, pretending to ask for information about the search. Instead, gazing intently, Flute tells her, "I will have to insist on a refund of 60%, however, given your people's lack of effectiveness. After all, revolutions don't fund themselves." Reshad beckons Alaric off camera, while spluttering, "60%! Oh, crane's teeth, that's... I don't..."

Regarding Reshad's speculations, Flute observes ominously that she dislikes "mysteries where my operations are concerned. Rest assured that my people are monitoring sources of information to try to tree the fox." She says she will insist on 60%, "unless you can offer me some other way of salvaging this mission, however partial." Alaric insists such a percentage is ridiculous: "I'm not sure we could even come up with that in liquid assets in a reasonable time frame." He describes investments in "equipment of long-term use to our future missions--which is to say the rebellion," in addition to "consumables" such as "raw materials for the matter printer, adjustments to the ship's hull to make us look less conspicuous, bribes." He then offers "salvage": "We collected a lot of data as part of our surveillance of the station and Jedao. Some of that's got to be of use against other targets: blackmail material against other officials, for example. Or direct financial gain to recuperate your losses, I wouldn't be surprised if we sucked up a lot of bank account logins. Bank fraud may not be glamorous but it can pay the bills." Apparently persuaded, Flute purrs, "Bank fraud. Do tell me more."

Intercultural communication, in Communications: Reshad and Sasha

Sasha has asked Aymad to translate the record of Reshad's signed conversation with Jedao. This has confirmed that Reshad's summary was accurate, though she omitted the part where she claimed to be working for a hexarch. Sasha concludes that Reshad was probably misleading Jedao, rather than confirming a treacherous allegiance. However, she is upset that the details of the secret conversation were sprung on her during the team meeting. She realizes that Reshad probably stopped by her office earlier to explain some part of this plan, and wonders again why Reshad slipped away instead of pushing back. Drawing on a comparison to her father's household, she decides, "Reshad is responding like staff. The rules with staff are different."

Uneasy but contrite, she finds Reshad alone in Communications, and asks, "May I interrupt you for a moment?" Reshad says, "Certainly. Just a moment." She finishes entering some data, then turns, gestures at a chair, and asks, "What's on your agenda?" Sasha says, "Thank you. That seemed very effective, just now," and makes herself sit. She goes on, "About our conversation, earlier. I failed to appreciate the information you might give, and in doing so I endangered our operational effectiveness. I do not know what the appropriate recompense is, but I will endeavor to provide it to you, if I can."

Reshad says, "Thank you. I appreciate your apology." She reflects that Sasha's current subdued manner supports the hypothesis that she is unnerved when Reshad wears "the elaborate ornaments and makeup" that make her feel most like herself. Aloud, she says, "The best recompense would be effective operation." She tilts her head; one of the strands of hair she intentionally disarrayed earlier slides down her neck. Sasha holds eye contact, trying not to flinch or stare at Reshad's hair. She is aware that she has not yet made any of the eight types of formal Naxorian apology. She asks, "Do you require a record? Or a note in my report?" hoping that Reshad simply wants a written-record apology, and does not intend to use an unfinished apology as a weapon later.

Confused by the obvious cultural disconnect, Reshad decides she must speak more bluntly, counting on a soft voice and tone to convey good intentions. "What I'd prefer is not a note or a report. Rather, expect that things will change on the ground, and that we will have to change with them." Matching Sasha's eye contact, she adds, "We aren't the Kel. We will not have absolute obedience. Instead, we must have trust."

Sasha infers that Reshad believes she does not recognize the duties entailed by command. She smiles lopsidedly, thinking that this conversation is going better than her conversation about the meaning of command with Ashari, which also took place in Communications. She tells Reshad, "I recognize that I am obliged to you, while you are in my charge, and that I may be held to account for all our failures, as well as our successes. But, please. I would appreciate it, if you would ask for some specific action. Because I cannot discharge a debt by attempting to do my ordinary job, and if I am jumping every time you speak, trying to guess what else you will demand--I do not think that is what you call trust."

Reshad says, "Not what I'd call trust, and not what I had in mind." She conceals her disturbance, while thinking, "For fox's sake, it's as if Sasha expects to be punished!" She settles on a direct request: "Give me a free hand with Jedao. Trust that I want the Hexarchate I know to fail, and that I will use every weapon to hand. Even if I don't have time to tell you first. And in return, I will keep you informed, and call for help as I need it."

Sasha is surprised by the level of commitment Reshad asks for, but decides it is consistent with her previous arguments. She says, "Inasmuch as I act for myself, and assuming you pose no direct threat to the Cantata or their inhabitants, you have my promise. But I have obligations to others besides you, and I cannot plan only for success. I heard the way that Jedao spoke to Seyli. If we have misjudged him, or if he determines escape matters more than the information we can offer, I expect that he will target the stresses between the members of our team." She notes that she needs Sulen, "the other Rahal," and Seyli to know she is listening to them as well: "I cannot swear to take your side on every question that arises regarding Jedao's treatment, or I risk opening up a different fault line."

Reshad considers this progress. She says, "Those are all good conditions to have. You're right; we are not yet a cohesive team, and he's trained for just such things. In addition, should he target me, I should expect you to move against me. I am not infallible. I'd like to talk to Seyli about physical security. And to probe their fear of something that hasn't happened yet."

Relaxing somewhat, Sasha says, "I keep trying to tell them we control the fucking atmosphere. But I don't think there's any mystery as to Seyli's concern." She elaborates, "The problem for Seyli will be how you manage" to set aside Jedao's familiarity with the threshold winnowers, and the historical decision to attack his subordinates. Reshad smiles politely at Sasha's remarks on the atmosphere, saying, "I can hope Jedao doesn't choose to provoke them. But I'll try and inoculate them first, against the more likely explorations. I don't want to leave them and Jedao in any proximity, as far as possible." The feigned smile makes Sasha tense; she reminds herself that Reshad has been acting like "staff," not like a competitor. She says, "Thank you. We will also have active monitoring. Is there anything else you need from me, right now?"

Reshad notices Sasha's breath catch, and fits this into the larger pattern of Sasha's reactions. As a test, she tugs at the neck of her own jumpsuit. The active monitoring seems obvious and she thinks Sasha is being somewhat condescending, so she stands, smiling brightly, and says, "Right now? No. But I'm looking forward to working as your peer. Unless there's anything you need?" Sasha classifies Reshad's jumpsuit gesture as a deliberate attempt at manipulation. Hurt and uneasy, she says, "The honor of the acquaintance is entirely mine. I shall cease imposing on your time," nods, and leaves the room.

Ione, Remi, Reshad, Seyli, and the mothlings; accompaniment from the Cantata

Some time later, Remi emerges into a corridor with several mothlings, one waving a glittery crayon. Finding Ione waiting for him, he asks, "I don't suppose you can help me wrangle the mothlings? I'm trying to talk to the Cantata about preferred mothling-rearing practices, and we seem to be at an impasse. At least, I haven't been able to get past 'Let's play!'" Reshad turns the corner and, charmed, asks, "Would you like another pair of hands?" Trying to speak musically, or at least rhythmically, Ione tells the mothling, "What a beautiful color! Can you draw?" She then tells Remi, "Maybe playing is how they raise their young. Show me where I can be of assistance. Or where we can. I don't think there's anything shiny in my pockets anymore, Fluffy got all of that stuff."

Smiling at Ione and Reshad, Remi explains, "The mothlings make marks, but they don't seem to have what we would consider electromagnetic-spectrum vision, because I can't get them to differentiate between pictures at all. They like touching things, though, and they're able to tell the difference between tangram shapes through a sight barrier." He notes that he would appreciate assistance in socializing the mothlings and learning more about their behavior. Tugging slightly at one glove, Ione asks, "Have they learned to shake extremities with people, by any chance?" Remi demonstrates that "they most certainly have" with an index finger that two mothlings latch onto: "I haven't quite gotten them to understand that we usually do it one at a time, though."

Rounding the corner in turn, Seyli asks, eyebrows raised, "Are they shaking your hand?" Now gripped by tentacles from four mothlings, Remi assents: "We're still working on the fine points of etiquette, but they're young yet. Would you like to try? They're friendly." Dubious, Seyli asks if they bite. Cheerful, Remi tells them, "No teeth that we've determined. If anything, the physical parts of them seem to be pretty squishy throughout." He pushes a mothling gently toward Seyli. They pet a tentacle, thinking of it as "like a weird dog"; its texture is close to velvet. The mothling bobs in the air and hums. The other mothlings attempt to harmonize; the Cantata provides a burst of melody. The mothlings and Reshad try to hum along.

Reshad wonders aloud how the mothling shape sense works; she asks Remi, "How much of a barrier have you shown them?" Remi explains, "They can differentiate between polygons and circles at least. I haven't tried them on more complex shapes yet. As for barriers, I've been printing them from the matter printer. Up to ten centimeters, plastic. But I haven't yet tested whether the chemical composition or the density of the material makes a difference." Meanwhile, the Cantata offers a variation of the melody. Reshad speculates about a test of the mothling sense--"I wonder if they can perceive through walls"--and ponders how they would react to variable layout, then sings the Cantata's melody back again. The mothlings try to match her nonsense syllables, though they struggle to produce consonants.

Remi explains that he was investigating mothling perception because he wondered "about security implications--whether that's information that could be used against us somehow. Do you advise my bringing it up to Sasha directly?" He notes he would not wish to "distract her with trivial matters." Diplomatically, Reshad says, "Sasha has a lot on her mind. It might be good to approach her with data rather than speculation." She sings a sequence of vowels for the mothlings, telling Remi, "They're trying so hard." Remi agrees to gather more data: "I know Sasha and I probably got off on the wrong foot when I first joined the team, so it's good to have a second opinion from someone who probably understands her thought processes better." With a small, self-conscious laugh, Reshad says, "I don't know how good my advice is. I've gotten on poorly with her, too."

The mothlings, meanwhile, seem confused by Reshad's vowel sequence. The Cantata repeats the sequence and then sings various combinations, which the mothlings try to repeat. Excited, Reshad asks, "Is that... did they try them all in different orders?" Remi observes, "They're clearly very musically oriented. I wish music were one of my specialties--I can dance, but my knowledge of music theory itself is very limited. I don't suppose you...?" A little shy, Seyli interjects, "I'm quite good with drums. Do you think they'd like that?" Smiling, Remi says, "I think they'd enjoy that very much indeed. I haven't thought to investigate their sense of rhythm--that's something you could help with, if you like." The mothling rubs its tentacles gently against Seyli's fingertip. Reshad admits, "I'm afraid I don't know much about music - at least, not any formal way. But I think we could learn a lot, playing games with these little ones. All of us. Music, language..." She goes on to speculate about whether the mothlings can also detect sound through physical barriers.

To explain his comments on Sasha, Remi admits, "I picked a fight with the members of this crew when I first made contact. There was a misunderstanding." Sympathetic, Reshad says, "Oh dear. You seem to have gotten nicely integrated now, though!" She wonders whether she can find a record of the incident, without putting Remi on the spot.

Picking back up on the question of moth communication, Remi says, "They do seem to understand combinations, don't they? Or at least the Cantata does. But then, Alaric has confirmed that adult moths, at least, have a fairly good understanding of mathematics." Head tilted, Reshad muses, "We used to teach mathematics with manipulatives. Not just toys with numbers on, but shapes that stuck together, and folding things so you could learn how to map surface to volume. I wonder if they'd like them." Remi nods and takes notes, saying, "The question is how to structure our experiments, if at all. Honestly, just sticking to whatever the mothlings find most entertaining at the moment isn't a bad way to go, but I wouldn't mind putting them through some equivalent of the basic cognitive batteries." Reshad inquires about the current standard tests: "I'd be very interested in knowing. Not only is it good to understand more about them, but it'll help us to know if they're typical of ...mothkind? And if they are, what they can do, we can expect other moths to do." A flash of expression suggests she is thinking about the rebellion's primary mission.

Talents, family ties, and conflict styles

Two team members reveal unexpected skills. Alaric successfully persuades Flute to trade gathered data for continued access to rebellion funds. Meanwhile, Seyli is charmed by a mothling, somewhat to their own surprise, and offers to share their enjoyment of drums. This is likely to be both educational for the mothlings and a pleasant distraction for Seyli, who still struggles with the new environment and the overwhelming presence of Jedao.

Sulen also benefits from interaction with nonhumans. While petting Fluffy, they begin to let themself remember a past self who was not invested in upholding the hexarchate. Their most intense emotional ties are still to Ashari, however; without access to them, and without clear institutional guidelines to fall back on, Sulen is somewhat at a loss for direction.

Ione's memories of family are less fraught than Sulen's, and her grief at separation more immediate. Her efforts to understand the cultural differences among team members are complicated by the fact that she has tended to rely on some combination of her own empathic powers and other family members' complementary skills. However, Ione and Sasha are able to connect on the basis of a common interest in scientific inquiry. If Sasha's more personal interest in Ione persists, the team may have to confront the conflict of interest problems posed by a combined living and working environment. However, at this stage the existence of the common project, and Sasha's willingness to reveal a talent outside hexarchate norms, is a boon for team morale.

Reshad and Sasha struggle to improve their working relationship. They make some progress, but their efforts are undercut by incompatible assumptions regarding the nature and purpose of conflict. Sasha is very comfortable with open competition, but convinced that in more subtle forms of social maneuver she will inevitably be the loser. (One might note that Remi continues to worry about an initial conflict with Sasha that she has more or less forgotten, in part because of her high tolerance for openly expressed disagreement, and in part because the subsequent argument with Ashari looms larger in her memory.) Reshad is uncomfortable with Sasha's more relaxed modes, which can range between bluntness and bluster; meanwhile, gestures that Reshad considers part of common civility may strike Sasha as mendacious or actively malevolent. The difficulty is compounded because Reshad tends to invoke types of social bonding with which Sasha, between the isolation of her childhood and the different isolation of an immigrant to the heptarchate, has very little direct experience. Reshad has correctly identified Sasha's very real fear of punishment for error, but has perhaps overestimated Sasha's desire to rely on authority, leading her in turn to read threats to status where perhaps none are intended. It remains to be seen whether Sasha and Reshad will find a way to cooperate, or pursue a competition potentially destructive to the function of the team as a whole.