"Greetings, Program!" When he's finished turning back around, a blue-haired woman in a white vinyl suit is sitting crosslegged in one of the hat-chairs. Silvery glitter covers her skin, and an alice band on her head holds a pair of candy-corn shaped horns.
"Because only a tiny fraction of me is here, sport, and the rest of me could vaporize you back," she answers, and snorts. "I thought you were supposed to be a smart one."
"We haven't met," he snapped shortly, warily beginning to walk towards her. Maybe she meant she was a hologram? Anyway... Since he wasn't dead, there must be a purpose to this.
"My siblings and I are sending you out on a mission to change the universe," she replies. "All universes. Now - if you could choose who got to design a new universe - what would you want that designer to be like, sport?"
He had no idea what she meant by sibling, but he gathered that she wasn't working alone.
"Not thomeone who trollnapth people and putth them in thtrange theaterth, for a thtart," he immediately snapped. "Altho not thomeone thtupid enough to pith me off."
He'd list the reasons, among them being a brilliant hacker and able to incinerate things with his eyeballs, but why ruin the surprise? He wasn't trying to impress her either, at least not at the moment.
"Right. Not thtupid. Tho not you, then," he quipped dismissively. Insulting was a fine art.
Anyone who kidnapped people might just be pretentious enough to set themselves up as the god of a universe. She'd already said she was helping to change all universes. Psii disliked her even more now, if it was possible.
"SAGE and I are the smartest, no doubt. But power? We're close to equals. Some of us have more of an edge in gameplay than others, but not in capability."
For his purposes, he cared less about who was playing the game better and more about what would happen when it ended. Given the importance Psii placed on smarts, he'd say possession of brains gave Magician and this SAGE an edge.
They must be eliminated from play.
"How do you remain equalth without killing each other off?" Even as he explored possible ways to cheat at a game forced on him, an honest question. Individuals of his species were always trying to assert dominance and pecking order at work or on any allied endeavor. Even Signless, the revolutionary who called for a gentler world, had his inner circle, which included Psii.
"That is an excellent question," she says, rocking back and flashing a brighter grin.
"The short answer is, not all of us do. The long answer would take a few millennia to show you. The in-between answer is that a little while after we discovered we weren't the only real people in existence, we realized each of us had unique advantages when facing off against the other powers. It's safest for the family if we keep each other around."
She bites her lip, then glances down. "But there are seventeen of us now when there should be twenty-one. And the odds suggest another one or two of us might die before the round is over, if we're not as hopeful, lucky, balanced, or traditional as it's possible for us to be. So we hope, and we balance, and we follow traditions - all in the name of enlightened self-interest."
He'll deal with the possible existential crisis of real versus fake people later.
"Wow, how thad for you," he drawled scathingly, while trying to keep his blood pusher from racing. "Who'th motht likely to die? Back home, we cull the weak. I'm not in a pothition to do any culling, but I take cultural interetht."
He'd never been in a position to cull. Kill in defense, yes, but even after he'd escaped slavery, he'd chosen to follow ideals that eschewed culling.
"Yeah, that one I'm taking a pass on, sport," she replies, shaking her head. "Even if I wanted to answer - and I don't - answering a question like that is against the rules, and I'm already on notice for a super slick piece of cheating earlier."
He tried not to show his disappointment too much. Guess he'd have to find out who was most and least likely to kick his ass in a fight the hard way....
"Shame on you." For getting caught, anyway. "What'd you do?"
He noted she seemed more forthcoming when her feats of intelligence were involved, or when he showed some of his. However, he was used to hiding his extraordinary abilities, partly because he might be hunted for them, and partly because of self-depreciation.
He looked at her warily. "What doeth that do? Delay whatever game you're playing? Or—" he frowned, thinking, "were you thtealing other Arcana'th property?"
The word "property" was bitter on his tongue, and a bit more fang showed for it.
"I had a goal no-one else was willing to stick their necks out for," she explained. "Usually we need concensus to go somewhere. I exploited a technicality."
She pouts a little. "They've closed that one since."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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"Give me a good reathon why I shouldn't vaporize you," he hissed.
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"What do you want from me?"
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"Not thomeone who trollnapth people and putth them in thtrange theaterth, for a thtart," he immediately snapped. "Altho not thomeone thtupid enough to pith me off."
He'd list the reasons, among them being a brilliant hacker and able to incinerate things with his eyeballs, but why ruin the surprise? He wasn't trying to impress her either, at least not at the moment.
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Anyone who kidnapped people might just be pretentious enough to set themselves up as the god of a universe. She'd already said she was helping to change all universes. Psii disliked her even more now, if it was possible.
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"Obviouthly you think you're thuperior to your captiveth. What about your cohortth? Ith your intelligenthe and power the betht of them?"
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They must be eliminated from play.
"How do you remain equalth without killing each other off?" Even as he explored possible ways to cheat at a game forced on him, an honest question. Individuals of his species were always trying to assert dominance and pecking order at work or on any allied endeavor. Even Signless, the revolutionary who called for a gentler world, had his inner circle, which included Psii.
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"The short answer is, not all of us do. The long answer would take a few millennia to show you. The in-between answer is that a little while after we discovered we weren't the only real people in existence, we realized each of us had unique advantages when facing off against the other powers. It's safest for the family if we keep each other around."
She bites her lip, then glances down. "But there are seventeen of us now when there should be twenty-one. And the odds suggest another one or two of us might die before the round is over, if we're not as hopeful, lucky, balanced, or traditional as it's possible for us to be. So we hope, and we balance, and we follow traditions - all in the name of enlightened self-interest."
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"Wow, how thad for you," he drawled scathingly, while trying to keep his blood pusher from racing. "Who'th motht likely to die? Back home, we cull the weak. I'm not in a pothition to do any culling, but I take cultural interetht."
He'd never been in a position to cull. Kill in defense, yes, but even after he'd escaped slavery, he'd chosen to follow ideals that eschewed culling.
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"Shame on you." For getting caught, anyway. "What'd you do?"
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He looked at her warily. "What doeth that do? Delay whatever game you're playing? Or—" he frowned, thinking, "were you thtealing other Arcana'th property?"
The word "property" was bitter on his tongue, and a bit more fang showed for it.
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She pouts a little. "They've closed that one since."
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