Guest: Can you give him a message? He won’t receive it immediately, but yes. I’m sure he’ll be going through these logs as well. Guest: Ok. Guest: Bruce. Get rid of the failsafes. You want me to trust you? I got rid of your letter. I didn’t show him. I need to know what you know. Everything. You don’t like him very much, do you? Guest: Why would I like him? For starters, I think he’s been quite the gentleman about matters thus far. Do you realize how easily he’s been able to lure your alter-consciousness to the forefront? Yet, in the three instances when you showed up, he hadn’t once attempted it. Guest: That’s just the thing. My body isn’t a time share. Neither is his. I was here first. I’ve had decades in this body. It’s mine and I have a right to be upset about it being taken. I understand at this point that no one wants this scenario but it still skeeves me out. We should be working to stop it or cure it -- not normalizing it. And if it is the norm? What if, like the bug he believes is in my code, it’s simply a matter of ... progression. Guest: I don’t believe that. There would be more of us if that were the case Not necessarily. Evolution can take millions and millions of earth years. Guest: It wouldn’t have started with me. What makes you say that? Guest: There’s nothing out of the ordinary about me. That’s a judgement call the self is never ready to make. In any case, I think it’s safe to say that you’re comparatively extraordinary now. Guest: Yay Hypothetically speaking, if you were to be separated from your alter, would you like to remain aware of it -- the shifts and your prior involvement? Guest: No Thank you for your input. It will be taken into consideration should the occasion arise. Guest: Wait you think it could? The occasion? Probability-wise, I’d say it’s inevitable. As I’ve mentioned, we have quite a number of high-potential outlooks. Guest: How long ? By my last estimates, 3 to 5 weeks. Guest: Wait wait so by next year this will all be over? If by ‘over’ you mean no longer of affect to you. Guest: Yes What do you plan to do with your extra week? You know, it is when this city gets turned upside down. Guest: You mean right side up. The way it should have always been? No, I mean demon goblins and alien invasions. Guest: Is it ending for me or not? Guest: There were no goblin bs before this started As I’ve said, a ‘cure’ isn’t in our perceivable horizons at the moment, and thus not a priority on our agendas. We may attempt a separation -- a bisection of the dual identities -- and it may be feasible to sweep your memories free of your prior involvement, as you seem keen on. Yet, this by no means suggests any ‘end’ or ‘overness’ to neither the phenomenon of us being here nor the events that arise in relation to our being here. Guest: Who is ‘we’ again? Bruce and myself, in some contexts. Shifters -- and their proxies -- in general, in some other contexts. Guest: And I’m assuming you’d be experimenting on some rando first right? There are none available to experiment on. Guest: Ask for volunteers. I don’t wanna be first but I’ll be third Personally, I’d take a different approach, but Bruce is unlikely to take risks with others before himself. Guest: And he can’t do that without Brandon’s permission. Guest: So how is this gonna work without volunteers? This is the dilemma, I suppose, behind why he’s insisted on delaying the prospect. You don’t agree that it’s a worthwhile risk? Guest: I don’t know. The shift isn’t death. And he could kill someone. That’s why I’d volunteer to be third. After he’s sorted out the kinks and the murder. ‘Kill’ is actually the fourth of our main concerns -- and arguably the best of the worst-case scenarios. Am I to take this to mean that you wouldn’t agree to the prospect, knowing there’s a fair bit of risk involved? Guest: What are the other risks? At the top of the list are the regular side-effects you’d expect from meddling with human consciousness: various manners and severities of brain damage, resulting in losses of consciousness, mobility, personality mutations, and the like. Guest: Intense Guest: Maybe I’d be fifth In other words, you want it off the table? Guest: Maybe. I said maybe. For me. The fewer maybe’s there are, the more accurate my calculations. This isn’t just chit-chat, ultimately. Bruce will want a full report. Guest: Tell him to find volunteers and he’s not allowed to experiment on Brandon I will make certain he receives that message. Guest: And the other one too. About knowing everything I assure you, he wouldn’t miss it. You don’t expect that you will be directly interacting with him again, in the near future? Guest: I don’t know. Do you wish to? Guest: No May I ask why not? Guest: Why would I want to talk to him over my man? For the same reasons you’re conversing with me currently, I’d presume. Guest: If he and I speak again face to face it won’t be because I wanted it to happen. Guest: Why does that happen by the way? And why recently and not always? I apologize. It seems as if we've been running on a clock, and I've been programmed to terminate all processes at this ti