Episode description[edit | edit source]
Determined to prevent two murders predicted by Crystal Palace, the Notion heads to one of Skein's allocologies, a floating, all-in-one corporate campus. Their plan? Infiltrate the lab of Wind's Poem, one of the potential victims, by pretending to be the inventors of a solid-milk-based art startup. While Tender and Poem talk about passion projects, Fourteen Fifteen and Grand Magnificent try to locate the blueprint to a terrible weapon.
This week on Twilight Mirage: Bona Fide, Good Faith
Now I'm in the lab, always working late
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
All this many centuries later, stepping out onto the observation deck still took her breath away. The bulk of the Restitution of All Things, flagship of the New Earth Hegemony’s central fleet and her temple aloft, was made of traditional materials. But in key places, like here on the observation deck, there was no metal or glass or plastic. There was only light. And with each step she took, the pulsing glow below bellowed back color. A silent fanfare accompanying her as she studied the delicate figure of her goal; the Twilight Mirage.
It would be only one more conquest- no, that’s not right, she told herself. Conquest was the term the imperial Hegemons of the old Earth Cult would have used. Not her. She was Our Profit, last of her kind, the final Hegemon. She had lived in her first life to enact great change, to put at ease an unstill market place, and to offer so many more access to the sacrament of exchange. In her first century alone, she convinced the world that a second chance could not be debated, and that salvation was universal for all who would work for it.
But it was not enough. Even after she taught the world that we all must be our own unmoved movers, even after the regulations and oversight committees, even after hunger reached an all time low, she could still see the flaws. The market did not provide for everyone, it could not. And so she found among the greatest minds of her time a solution; a second life, and then a third, and forth, and soon, she and the Restitution of All Things, was on course to the Mirage. Part of an achronological fleet, flanked on one side by a swift ship sent decades after she left, and on the other by one she’d christened a century before her own vessel launched.
The system ahead, this Mirage, this Quire, finally, would grant her freedom and legacy. A real utopia, a perfect world of opportunity, for all who believed.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
After deciding on their business casual looks, Tender, Fourteen, Grand, and Morning check into Truance. They meet the intern, Greel Kerney, who takes them downstairs to their presentation room. While Greel leaves to get water, Tender takes the moment to search the Truance network. She finds two projects in the works, the Compel Project being researched by Ocean's Roar, and the Reframe System being researched by Wind's Poem. Tender is already familiar with the Reframe System, which was installed in her mech. From the files, Poem mostly seems interested in the system's recreational and artistic uses despite being funded by military grants. The Compel project on the other hand is a gun that manipulates the Mirage to turn a pocket of space into nothingness, creating "micro-vacuums" in targets. Tender also uncovers that Compel is an axiom being used to fuel the gun, given to Ocean's Roar by Profit's Cadence. The blueprints for the gun are downstairs, and is already producing weapons for the Church of the Self.
Just before Poem and Roar arrive to the sales pitch, the team agrees on having Grand snoop around for the blueprints while everyone else presents Calciyummm. After excusing himself, Grand sneaks deeper into the facility, using bio-gloves to bypass security. He ends up in the production facility and finds the production line being monitored by two interns. By pretending to be a mechanic, he uses the opportunity to sabotage a drone sending out a handful of guns to the Church.
Back at the milk pitch, Tender demonstrates Calicyumm using her own powers to spoof the product. While Wind's Poem is impressed, Ocean Roar is underwhelmed. He leaves, letting Poem take over the rest of the meeting. Roar bumps into Grand on the way down, but is none the wiser to his espionage. When Grand returns, the room has turned into a full milk-lounge, as Wind's Poem explores the various applications of Calciyummm. Poem asks if Tender and Morning could give her advice on a project she's working on and they both agree to go back to her office.
Wind's Poem shows everyone the Reframe System. She explains that she grew up on the Earth colony of Luna 7, which didn't have natural environment diversity like Earth itself did. By manipulating the Mirage, she can craft environments for people that don't have other avenues to see the world. However, she has doubts about her development. Since time moves slower in the Mirage, there could already be new technology in place on the other side.
Tender and Poem proceed to flirt while Morning's Observation pulls Grand and Fourteen over to discuss the plan. Fourteen and Morning exclaim that Grand was suppose to destroy the blueprint for the gun because otherwise there's nothing stopping them from making more. Fourteen says that they can come with Grand this time, and they, Grand, and Morning leave to fully disrupt the system this time, leaving Tender alone with Poem.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Austin Walker (GM)
- Ali Acampora (Tender Sky)
- Art Martinez-Tebbel (Grand Magnificent)
- Jack de Quidt (Fourteen Fifteen)
Other Characters[edit | edit source]
- Morning's Observation
- Greel Kerney
- Wind's Poem
- Ocean's Roar