Ravens of Eternity

160 AMA #Eva and Miko stretched out while floating around in the middle of empty space, and looked at Helios from a great distance. Even as far as they were, and through Helios’ rings, they could still feel the sun’s heat.

Its warmth bathed them even as they floated in frigid space.

Underneath them, hundreds of megameters away was Gaea, spinning away in silence. Billions of lights covered its surface, which somehow gave its brown and dull blue sheen a slice of brilliance.

Close to the two of them were their blacked-out D-ranked Federation fighters, which neither had seen for quite a while now. There was a little bit of dust left in the cracks and crevices, which revealed how much they had been neglected.

Their EyeCasts floated around them lazily as they relaxed.

Eva looked right at her own EyeCast – the one with cat ears – and smiled at it. Similarly, Miko looked at her own, while the third circled around them and captured incredibly cinematic shots of the both of them.

“Hey everyone,” said Eva. “It’s been a while, huh? A really long while.”

“Almost half of a year by my count,” added Miko.

“And Raijin and I are really sorry about that! We couldn’t help it at all! Anyway, let’s get the AMA going, shall we? Who do we start with?”

.....

Eva and Miko both went through a number of questions in their DI’s – questions that Mack had sent a few cycles ago that he pulled from user comments on their videos. They had considered pulling some comments from their ‘Cast as well, but figured they would just do a separate video instead.

Just to keep things from being confusing.

“Wait,” said Miko. “You said some time ago that you had a question you wanted to ask me, right? What was it?”

“Oh! Wow! I can’t believe you remember,” said Eva. “I almost forgot myself, damn. Anyway, question is – can you speak a bit of Japanese for me? I wanna see if our DI translators know it.”

Miko nodded, then quickly spoke a few phrases. Some of which Eva sort of understood due to the shows that she used to watch back on Earth. But other than that, her DI didn’t produce a single translated word.

“Hmm, I got an error,” she said. “Apparently, I only have Drogar installed, but it says that it’s recognized. So that’s good, right? Recommends that I buy and install the Ancient Earth Language Compendium... Wow, we’re Ancient Humans, technically speaking.”

“We should do that,” said Miko. “So we can understand any Reborn.”

“Reborn? You’re using that term now?”

“I like it. It fits.”

Eva let the idea settle in her mind. She liked the term refugee. It had a certain charm to it, even if some saw it negatively. She saw it as a sign of strength, that even though she had nothing left to her name, she was able to make something.

Free of their old lives, the refugees were able to remake their lives as they saw fit, even though the difficulties were enormous.

But they couldn’t stay refugees forever. At some point, they would just become residents, and there was little romance in that.

“Anyway, let’s get to the first question for our second AMA,” she said. “Raijin? Wanna do the honors?”

Miko went through her DI and picked through a huge list of questions. They had previously gone through it all, and highlighted the few dozen that were most appealing and attractive or thought-provoking.

“From Quetzal-Co-Tottle,” said Miko. “‘Where the hell are you two? I want more videos! lol.’ I wish to stress that Quetzal used multiple exclamation points and a number 1 to express excitement.”

Both of the girls chuckled.

“Soooo,” began Eva, “about six months ago, we kinda took a big big big contract. But it was super hush hush and we just couldn’t talk about it. We couldn’t even show anyone, and I think we released a few here and there. No-one watched it though. Was prolly too boring for you guys.”

“And then, roughly four months ago,” added Miko, “the secret facility we were in was attacked, and we ended up prisoners in an alien empire. It was fun.”

“Also, we say six months, but that was prolly two years for you, yeah? Give or take a month or so, I don’t really know exactly. Anyway, we were totally able to record while we were prisoners, so you’re all gonna see all of that whole crazy adventure.”

Underneath her clear-faced helmet, Miko smiled widely at her EyeCast.

“We almost died,” she said happily. “A few times. But I ate some of the most amazing food! It was so worth it!”

“You got to eat more than I did,” said Eva.

“Well, you were too busy working, when you should have been having fun instead. So boring!”

“Next question!” exclaimed Eva. “This one’s from 6BobboB9, and he or she asks ‘Why do you like to pilot so much?'”

Miko pursed her lips a little as she thought about it, then replied matter-of-factly.

“We all know that Freya is a piloting freak,” she said. “But I do not enjoy piloting like she does. I would much prefer to stay grounded and design jet chassis than flying them. But I will gladly strap into a core if necessary.”

“Yeah I guess I’m a bit of a piloting freak like Raijin said,” said Eva. “Shamelessly speaking, I love to fly. It makes me feel free, like there’s nowhere I can’t go, and nothing I can’t do. Like now, we’re out here, floating around in space. We couldn’t have been able to get here and do this if we weren’t able to fly. Isn’t that cool as hell?

“I always used to look out my window when I was a kid. I wanted to be out there so much, but all I could do was watch birds as they flew by, or perched on the trees and fences. If anything came near them, they just up and flew away. They did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and I really kinda envy that.”

Miko giggled.

“That is true, I do also enjoy being completely free,” she said. “Okay, next one. PityTheCool asks ‘There are Tetragrammaton Technology respawn stations, right? So can you respawn or not? If so, why not go all out in everything you all do? I mean, who cares if you die? You have infinite lives!'”

“That’s a really good one,” said Eva. “Yes and no. There’s corporations out there who focus on medical clone technology, just like TT. They replace lost limbs, organs, that sorta stuff.”

“A few also offer biological backups,” added Miko. “They print out clones based on your genetic footprint, and have a networked link to your memory backups, which is updated regularly. If this link is severed through a medically confirmed death, the backup clone is activated and fed with your most recent braindump.”

“And it’s crazy expensive,” added Eva. “What, like five mil per year? And that’s the minimum package that Tetragrammaton Tech offers. The base package comes with three clone bodies total. To get more, you’ve gotta upgrade.”

Miko nodded resolutely. The cost was ridiculously steep. But that wasn’t why it wasn’t attractive.

“This sounds amazing, right? However there is more to it. Human life is rooted in our individual consciousness. Once this body dies, so does its consciousness. It will not suddenly transfer to the clone body. She will have the same memories, but her own consciousness.”

The third EyeCast circled around them until they were silhouettes painted against Sol’s light. As they spoke, it recorded what seemed to be like an otherworldly painting.

“Kind of a weird thought,” said Eva, “but theoretically, they could awaken all your clones at the same time. There would be multiple you’s, but each one with different perspectives and thoughts and paths. Like, from that point on, each one’s gonna have their own different memories and lives.

“Kinda like that movie about that guy who needed more of himself? So he cloned himself, then the clone decided to clone himself. It was really funny. Anyway, doing that clone thing is probably illegal. Can’t have lots of the same someone all over the place. Imagine if one of them’s a killer, too. Do they all get charged?”

“It is much to think about,” said Miko. “And yes, multi-clone activation and simultaneous clone activation are illegal. I am sure that does not stop some people from doing so. In any case, I am not sure that having extra lives is worth it. Five million every year is a great amount of money despite dying anyway.”

“I agree. We’ve got better things to spend our money on than life insurance. Even if it’s the best life insurance ever. The kind that gives your clone your life.”

“I would much rather put that towards building my own lab.”

“The Admiral really rubbed off on you, huh?”

Miko nodded resolutely. Dreams of having a secret lab burned in her mind. She absolutely needed one of her own. She wanted a hidden lab with secret hallways and deadly traps.

Why not, right?

“Alright, last question,” said Eva. “OneProstiLager wants to know ‘Weren’t you both trying to get rich? How’s that coming along? Is it hard? Did you give up?'”

Miko sighed into her EyeCast.

“I am steadily saving up,” answered Miko. “There are a few workshops I can purchase on Helios where I can build up my first lab. But we will first need better cores and chassis so Freya and I can take on more lucrative contracts. We still need to decide how to proceed next.”

“I personally have been thinking a lot about wealth lately,” said Eva. “For reasons you’ll all see in the cast. I feel like I’ve gotta rethink how I’m going about gaining wealth. Like, if I’m doing it in a way that feels right, you know? Like it doesn’t betray the person that I am.

“Last thing I wanna do is end up doing things that I regret. I wanna avoid being a person who hurts others for their own gain. I can’t let my own desires get harmful for others, that sort of thing.”

“Perhaps you are also defining wealth too specifically,” said Miko. “My parents taught me it was about contentment and having little needs.”

“Says the girl who needs to build a secret lab.”

“Yes, but I do not want a hundred labs. Just one big one. That will make me happy and fulfilled.”

Eva laughed jovially. Her friend’s wishes were both ridiculously simple and complex at the same time.

“I guess that’s true,” she said. “Having few needs doesn’t exactly translate to having more money than necessary. Though lots of people certainly see it that way. Maybe I just gotta find what that means for me, yeah? What needs should I let go, and which ones make me wealthy.”

“Is this perhaps where you say friendship is wealth?”

“Sorry sister, friendship doesn’t pay rent.”

The two of them laughed at Eva’s joke.

“We will still confront pirates lethally, yes?” asked Miko.

“Hmm, it depends, I guess,” answered Eva. “Are they nice pirates? Gentlemanly pirates? Or at least polite?”

“Probably not, no. We have not yet met one that is any of those.”

“Then screw ’em.”

The two of them laughed again, and continued relaxing out in the vastness of open space.