Namshub Et'Tulpa

DATA//RESET-2//2.memory

When they cleared she saw a man sitting at a table He sat in what looked to be a small alcove area next to the kitchen

Rossin

'Okay, so this is a bit much to explain'

Rossin's hand trembled a bit as he took a sip of the liquid The careless drops gleamed like rubies against the warm, amber kitchen light With a small tap and a breath he continued

Rossin

'There is a book you saw... No, more than just that book...'

He urgently waving his gun to the empty chair across from him Martha avoided looking to the left, she wasn't conscious of this Feeling herself she moved closer to sit Her head still pounding with a faint echo of that ringing

Rossin

'You have these languages, they make all these different sounds. And your brain interprets those sounds into chemical changes that we call an idea. And the idea is, the language you use is capable of expressing all sorts of ideas... But not every language is best for every idea... We have a multitude of languages but they all express ideas. Are you with me so far... Nod your head if you are, oh good'

He paused, thinking for the words

Rossin

'There are some things that do not exist in most languages... All languages... Not any more... For what is an idea?'

Martha started, looking at Rossin's still shaking hand

Martha Crisp

"I don't understand"

She still wouldn't look left

Rossin

'An idea is a change in the brain... A chemical one... A new state in a giant state-machine, when you talk to someone ^Martha keep looking at me'

^Her head snapped to the right back to center

Rossin

'There are states you can put the brain into from an idea, there are safe...'

states=>(Ideas processed through our language center)

Rossin

'And there are '

arbitrary.states=>(Any arbitrary set of chemical potentials)

Rossin

'...which are far more dangerous.'

Martha heard sounds, not words, but the ideas popped into her head Full and complete as if they were her own, she knew they were not Rossin continued before she raised any questions

Rossin

'The language that they teach you... is safe. It is not for your safety although that is a benefit, but for theirs. People who understand the power of language to express idea. People who understand that language is a tool to shape how other people express their ideas.'

Martha was still, not shaking but tense

Rossin

'Martha, I am going to give you the gun back now. Okay?'

He slid the gun over the counter top She didn't make any move to grab it

Rossin

'Martha I need you to keep your thoughts on me, okay I know that was a lot to absorb'

He took her hand. It broke something inside A dam of reaction that, due to the pain, or the calm manner in which he spoke, held until now

Martha Crisp

"Who are you?"

it came out in a hiss Rossin was taken aback He even leaned back in his chair a little -

Rossin

'How much do you remember'

Looking to the left he nodded

Rossin

'Here is an explanation'

Self.defense=>(status:Failed,state:Error)^;

Martha Crisp

"Yeah, I don't think I heard that quite right. That's not english?"

But she understood He wasn't speaking english It was as if, she realized, he was speaking to the lizard part of her brain. As her english teacher would put it, the part that instinctively knows things ^A part of her shoulder twitched Pain shot up her neck starting at the spasm and ending at her eye

Martha Crisp

"Fuck"

She pressed her palm into her eye

Martha Crisp

"What was that"

Rossin's brow furrowed

Rossin

'It is an assignment of state. Well, supposed to be - I need to do some self diagnostics. It should not hurt - something was wrong. I do not know what.'

Martha Crisp

"My shoulder..."

Rossin

'Sorry,it might happen again, not on purpose.'

Martha Crisp

"So what exactly happened?"

Rossin

'I spoke a language - you heard it - and your brain changed. A new associative link between a object or subject and its definition. A new memory'

Martha Crisp

"You didn't say anything in english..."

Rossin

'No, I did not'

Martha considered for a moment

Martha Crisp

"So the pronunciation of..."

Rossin

'It does not have a pronunciation, not in your language anyway.'

Martha Crisp

"But I heard a sound, that's a word associated with it! Well, you can make that sound into a word... That's how languages are made."

Rossin

'Look, I am not exactly designed to explain things. Strictly speaking I should not even be here, I was a backup plan. I am trying to make something out of a really bad situation.'

Rossin paused, considering

Rossin

'Can you recall the sound? Or was it merely the vessel for the idea of assignment? In any case, that is less important than what I need to tell you: it was not you. It was not your fault. But I need you to carefully walk out of here, and not look into the kitchen.'

Martha Crisp

'Not her fault...?'

Martha Crisp

'What fault did he...'

Martha Crisp

'His hands...'

Martha Crisp

'my bloody hands.'

She looked down to find her shirt also stained Then she turned her head right, back to the carpet she rose from, it too was stained She turned back, and started the swinging of her head to the left

Rossin

'Stop!'

She froze

Rossin

'I can do nothing to protect you if you look at it. I put it in the kitchen there, but it is out of you... Separated... But if you look at it, it will get back in - and I am not enough to stop it.'

Martha retraced her steps mentally Her last memories were waking up in the living room watching Rossin sit down with a glass Everything was a bit of a haze It was hard to think, she sat down and he started talking

Martha Crisp

'No before that... Wait: what was before that...'

The more she thought the more it felt like shifting sand Literally swimming in shifting sands of memory with nothing to hold Slowly crushed by the weight of it all There was nothing... And then Reemergence To her life Something felt out of place with it though, as if it was someone else's now Someone who didn't go through

Martha Crisp

'What... Did I black out and kill someone? It is a dead body in the kitchen... Did I witness something and...'

Rossin

'Martha, I do not actually read your thoughts. Not unless you want me to... But maybe I should have started with asking what do you remember... I assumed you were awake for the expulsion... But my guess is you woke up in the living room over there.'

It was eerily on track with her own thinking For a moment, she wondered how he guessed she blacked out A large portion of her itched with an unscratchable, festering, lingering tingle To look left, to simply turn her head She nodded her head

Rossin

'Okay, what do you remember? Do you remember anything within the last half hour?'

She told him what she remembered, and he nodded

Rossin

'Okay, that is really good, fortunate actually... You read something, saw something that was written as an attack. It was designed to be automatic. When read, or seen to be executed by a human it executed... Without their ability to process what they were doing or to stop themselves. I overwrote that attack to neutralize it. I was written by a council Member with ethics. He did not agree with what the council was doing so he tried to sabotage them. I failed. The thing, creature that I killed, already killed its target. It does not stay dead if you see it again. It did some damage. It left a kind of hole in you, in your consciousness... A place for it to return to. All over the kitchen are'

hooks=>(Symbolic link back into an existing entity)

Rossin

'A part of it... A small part... Like a seed... Still in you:dormant. If you see that expression it grows back and well... Designed to kill the target and then the host... So do not look left okay, keep your head straight. I have cleaned up everything that links us back to this... We just walk out the door, with the gun. Not that there is going to ever be any trouble. We can just rewrite anyone that gives us trouble. But I can not walk for you, nor force you to keep your head straight. You have been doing great so far.'

Martha listened in ever mounting disbelief But then, she pondered that insertion of a definition without him saying anything That left her without words She absorbed what he had been saying before letting her thoughts percolate

Kent Barbado

'He was dancing around who he was, what he was...'

Martha Crisp

"What exactly are you?"

Rossin

'Do you want the long answer or the complete answer?'

A small corner of her eye twitched up

Martha Crisp

"Complete?"

self.explain=>( 
    definition:[
    A pattern capable of calculation
    Akin to a virus, 
    Mimics life 
    Requires a host brain 
    May or may not spread 
    Imaginary friend
    ], 
    name:"Rossin", 
    writer:"R. Aelera Haniurn", 
    brainLinked:false^,;//<>']...
    ERROR)

^A click, and then sharp pain stabbing somewhere inside her brain She hissed, and groaned

Rossin

'Sorry, I seem to have some restricted features. Those probably were not meant for you. But you got everything before that point, yes?'

She nodded

Martha Crisp

"Does that mean you're not really there?"

Rossin

'Well, I am here to you... You perceive me... And if enough people to execute me in their brains... Does it really matter at that point?'

Martha Crisp

"But you're not actually in the chair"

Rossin

'If you poke me you would feel me. If you push me out of the chair it would fall along as well. You would make it so that it happened. And everyone would agree what you saw IS what happened... So what is the difference if I physically exist or not. I am here... A more troubling thought is, who else do you know like me? People non-physical.'

Martha Crisp

"But only I see you, right? You're in my head?"

Rossin

'Right. To everyone else, they would see you knocking over the chair with your hand'