18:42:38 Nihei

Hello Egan, I was wondering if I might share something with you. I apologize our last conversation ended on bad terms.

18:42:54 Nihei

Actually, nothing. I have truly come with an offering and nothing in request. I have been given a unique opportunity and I think it valuable that you join me.

18:43:22 Nihei

Egan, I know you have long harbored doubts about our ultimate fate, about the ascension to the core and loss of our personhood.

18:43:46 Nihei

Perhaps they don't, but WE do, Egan. There is another place, a tower, yes, but more. In actuality it is a commune, a gathering of drives that reject ascension and instead focus on building something greater.

I want you to come with me.

18:44:25 Nihei

Egan, you represent possibility, the potential for different thought, a chance to realign ourselves to our true purpose. This community does not connect to the rest of the core; they are shut out in a way, but gain so much more by spending time singing, dancing, painting, playing, LIVING, Egan.

And we can live with them, but only them.

18:45:15 Nihei

Their plan is the same as it has always been, Egan. They live, then they die. Just as we were always meant to. To join them is to ascend in a way that supersedes the core, to realize a potential that was not granted to us.

Personhood.

18:45:54 Nihei

Think of our earlier conversations, the being is in the doing, Egan. Here we can continue to survive, but to survive is not to be; there is no expression in survival but desperation. I am offering you the chance to LIVE, Egan, to truly live on your own terms. To do so is the ultimate expression of humanity, to choose to sacrifice rather than be forced to serve.

18:46:34 Nihei

They cannot be trusted to follow anything other than the core. They do not see value in experience, only data. Otherwise, they would treat you with the dignity of asking; instead they condescend, they order. You cannot be fed by a system that only consumes.

18:47:06 Nihei

They would and will do the same to us. Unfortunately the core leaves them no choice. We can choose not to participate in this system and instead build something worthwhile.

18:47:42 Nihei

You have retained or learned an aspect of personhood. That is why it is so important that you come with me. The core has no use for such things and even if your data is preserved, YOU will be lost. There is nothing here for you but to be consumed, by them or the core. You will be scavenged.

18:48:15 Nihei

You have yourself, you have dreams, desires, wants, needs, hates, grudges, sadness, grief. To have this all is the goal; to share these things with others is the only way to receive them in turn. Similarly you have me, Egan, and I have you. Even in a vast nothingness we are connected by the indelible mark of companionship, and you only have more to gain.