[Codex Fragment Intercepted]Title: Partner = 1
Source
Thread
Visibility
Access
_____________________________________________________________________
A pairing was unavoidable. As much as she would have preferred to continue alone, this protocol was baked into the structure of the Crucible itself. You could not have pancakes without flour, and this initial grouping was the base ingredient for the initial part of the dungeon. Narratively, two was more interesting than one. It is difficult to have conflict when a person is alone.
She examined her system notes.
THREAD STATUS: GHOST THREAD
Sandbox
PairingPending…
As a final precaution, she could spy. She knew she would be forced to work with someone. There would be few she would pick, but he had some potential.
System.Access.grant(sandboxID, "user.remi.page", {
mode: "observe_only" });
It took a moment for the system to accept her hack.
[ACCESS UPDATE]Thread:
Target: user.remi.page
Mode: OBSERVE_ONLY
Status: Granted
A small window appeared in the top left of her HUD covering her mini-map. . She fixed it reflexively with a few rapid setting adjustments to slide it to the middle left of her vision, tucked neatly in her periphery, where she could observe, but it wouldn’t be obtrusive. Visible, but never in the way. It was skinned like a security camera. Nel found it amusing that even with this, the HUD attempted to ground everything in logical metaphor.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She watched Mr. Pages’ onboarding data stream flicker in her overlays. He was certainly not strong. She snorted, a three! But in the Crucible, strength wasn’t everything. He could rewrite fate, and that was something uniquely exploitable. Better to observe him until she decided. He might make a good Robin to her Batman.
Later, she saw the bargain and then ran a quick system scan:
[SCAN STARTED]List. objects(newer_than:5m, type:callable, vis:public)
[RESULTS: 1]
> kernel.protocol.faustia
Type Visibility Params Persistence Created_at Author
It returned something she thought was impossible, at least for a regular user.
He had changed the system permanently, not just in the moment, but for all future moments. Now anyone could ask, and it would have to answer.
Her choice was made, and yet she hesitated to commit. She tried to just watch, but sometimes he was so frustrating. He got some basic math wrong, not surprising given what he taught. And yet her heart ached for him as she watched him transform, then curl into a ball in fear of drowning. A weakness, , but also resilience that was far more valuable.
But she still couldn’t confirm selection.
She dug into him like a needle, drawing blood to analyze and test. She hacked into the cracks of systems to find out everything she could. She pulled past virtual meeting logs. . His birth certificate she already had, which was how she knew about Oedipus. . She found a pattern analysis highlighting his strengths and weaknesses. . Nel combed through the logs of his odd, sometimes tangential thoughts, an especially poignant one about some ducks. .
He already had hybrid potential. A penchant for innovation that occasionally confounded the system. These were all tools that Nel could utilize. If he could actually rewrite The Crucible from the front, and she from the back, it offered some powerful possibilities. But there was a risk that he might rewrite her fate too. Was that sort of risk worth it?
In the end, it was her own memory that convinced her. She had flagged its replay, and joined him to watch it in the maze. He had believed in her, and that was something they could build on. Far more valuable than a shiny spear or set of armour.
When she returned to her sandbox, that last time, she sat for a long time, but then had selected him. Now, all she needs to do is wait. She could not join him fully until then. He would be left with no other choice but her, a consequence of his own decisions. Nel liked it that way. Her story, her choice, her new partner.