one █ voice

[uzi]

_{( The voice is clipped, sharp, and to the point-- no scuffling with controls or stopping to take things in, here. Also? Whoever this woman is, she sounds pissed off. )}

So, City—great name, by the way, though I think someone beat you to it—stop me if I’ve got any of this wrong.

Alternate dimension, time travel, and duplicates of people we might already know. Superpowers, overly ambitious AI, and absolutely no discretion about who it pulls in, despite claiming to want “heroes.”

And apparently no reliable way back, since you’re all sitting on your hands, here. Perfect.

Just one question—is the universe as I know it going to implode because of all this crap?

Comments

[uzi]

I'm not keeping my fingers crossed, but thanks for the thought. _{I guess.}

[nottheanswers]

Then I'd enjoy it while it's quiet, if I were you. Good odds it can't last too long.

[uzi]

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try.

No chance of preventing whatever it is that'll break the quiet?

[nottheanswers]

Depends. Are you psychic?

[uzi]

Not the last time I checked. But I hear that could have changed.

[nottheanswers]

If you have an unfailing ability to predict the future, we could prevent everything that might crop up. Maybe.

Until that happens, we poke at the shadows we can and do our best to minimize the damage. Sure, there are known threats to keep under watch and warning signs to heed, but there are also the dead ends.

[uzi]

And I suppose if I say I'll wait around for such an event, and then trace it to its source, you'll say that the next one will come from somewhere different.

[nottheanswers]

It could. But taken out one keeps it from recurring.

[uzi]

Half-assed strategy is better than no strategy, then.

[nottheanswers]

You can only do so much with the unknown. You can take measures, but it's a shot in the dark.

[uzi]

I can do a lot about the unknown, thanks all the same.

[nottheanswers]

What did you have in mind?

[uzi]

I'm not sure I could tell you.

[nottheanswers]

Could, or should?

[uzi]

A little of both. And proving me wrong is a hard road.

[nottheanswers]

Figure the should part's all about the level of your acquaintance, how well you can trust the other party.

[uzi]

Alternate reality world where people look like the ones I know, but aren't?

Safe to say trust no one.

[nottheanswers]

Not a bad plan. But someone you definitely didn't know could be a decent place to start, eventually.

[uzi]

So. You, then?

[nottheanswers]

Hell, that's up to you.

[uzi]

Good answer.

[nottheanswers]

It was an easy question. We're talking about about establishing trust, and it would be presumptuous of me to expect you to extend it to me on my say so.

Defeats the whole purpose.

[uzi]

But if you'd expected me too that would have said something quite different about you, wouldn't it have?

[nottheanswers]

Ask the right question, it can tell you whatever you're trying to find out.

Unless this is just the conclusion I wanted you to draw, of course.

[uzi]

Assuming I think like you expect and I believe everything either of us is saying.