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I am aware. But that's the thing about revenge. If you just keep hitting back, it get worse. That's why revenge is a very dangerous thing to pursue if you don't know what you're doing. If you let your anger control you.

But I'm not talking about an attack.

Do you remember what I told you about trauma games before?

Yes, I remember.

However.

Regardless of whether or not I decide to— [ an odd pause ] Regardless, if we are attacked again, particularly without provocation, I will defend us. That is not negotiable.

Self defense is always acceptable. If that's what it is.

But again, missing the point.

I told you about trauma games. If you ran them, people wouldn't want to talk to you, associate with you. Let you learn new things.

If you follow revenge, even if people don't actively attack you for fear of you, they won't want to associate with you.

Nor with them.

Broken AIs, who are still far away from being stabilized. Isolated and alone on a big ship that's stagnant. With a Captain who will become stagnant because no one wants to interact with her.

An AI with nothing new to learn from, with nothing new that can happen to them, will not be able to grow. And if they can't grow, they can't stabilize.

Epsilon is an AI fragment who has a soul. Who was enough of a person to fill a full team slot on his own. You know how he did that? Because he made friends. He made connections. He learned and grow because he allowed new experiences to shape him.

Your AI need to be able to do that too, or you will never be able to help them.

Revenge is isolation. If you put it above everything else, revenge is all you will ever have and it will be all they ever have, and you do not grow with revenge.

And if an AI doesn't grow....then what's the point of your existence?

[ There's a long silence. ]

[ A silence eventually punctuated by Iota … disappearing. ]

[ It all goes: the avatar, the feeling of presence all around him. He's left with nothing, alone in the teleport deck. ]

....

[Welp.]

[But she didn't kick him out.]

[Well]

[.....]

[TIME TO INVESTIGATE, I GUESS.]

[I mean, he watched the footage, he's got a pretty good map now, can he head to whatever room she was in before she left the ship before?]

[ The very last room she'd stopped off in before leaving the ship … happens to be the very same galley she'd taken Puma to when they'd drank hot chocolate together. It's a fair trek from the teleport deck, but nothing gets in his way of heading over there. ]

[Welp]

[Was there anything she was reading there?]

[ Nothing like that, no. ]

[ There's isn't much of note in here, unless one counts the clean mug and spoon standing next to the machine she'd used to make the hot chocolate. It looks like she'd been planning on coming back and making herself some … ]

[So it was a sudden interruption.]

[....]

[Let's head to communications.]

[ That's over towards the bridge. And … ]

[ And the route seems familiar, somehow, and it's not because of his mental map. Weird, huh. ]

[ The virtual keypad on the comm room's door indicates that it's locked. ]

[....that's...that's VERY weird.]

[Well, if there's weird familiarity going on, is there any sort of deja vu feeling for numbesr?]

[(Or whispers)]

[ No. It just … it just feels familiar, like he knows this place. Like he's been here before. ]

[ Like he should be more aware of it than he actually is. ]

[Is....is this from Ai-chan? Please be from Ai-chan.]

[Or the weird memory.]

[Rubbing at his neck.]

Maybe I should look for Ai-chan...

[Well, just in case there's a factory reset.]

[Let's press all zeros.]

[ It's impossible to say. ]

[ And all he gets for his attempt is an ACCESS DENIED screen. ]

[Frowns and sighs.]

[....what about captain's quarters?]

[ The personnel quarters themselves weren't shown on the surveillance footage, but the general area—and thus, the route that would take him to them—sure was. ]

[ And once he gets there, it's easy enough to figure out which is the captain's quarters. It's set apart from all of the rest, and even from the outside it seems like it's bigger. ]

[Well, let's see if we can get into there.]

[ He can! The door isn't locked. ]

[ The doorway opens out into an office space. It's pretty simple in there, with a large viewing window looking out into the vastness of space. There's a sofa, a fancy futuristic glass desk with screens and holoprojectors. There's. Also. A cat plush toy, perching on said desk. ]

[ There are two other doors, one to the left, and one to the right. ]

[....]

[Damnit, Iota.]

[Okay, let's check the left first.]

[ What, can't a girl like cats? ]

[ The door to the left opens into a tiny little kitchen space. It's as simple as the room before it. Out on the counter is a half-eaten bag of marshmallows, open but with the wrapper re-sealed to keep them fresh, and a folded scrap of cloth—it may look familiar to him; Aoko tends to wrap her cookies in cloth bundles when she's giving them as gifts. ]

[I AM TRYING TO KILL MY FEELINGS, OKAY]

[...welp]

[Let's check the right.]

[ MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP THAT. ]

[ He's probably expecting the right door to lead to the bedroom, and he won't be disappointed. It's set out a little like this, with the addition of a closet and … while there are a few plants, they're clearly ones Iota has picked from Kyriakos herself; most are living in repurposed mugs. There are also more cat plushes!! One is on the sofa, and the other is on the bed, sitting next to a datapad. Also by the bed is what looks to be a storage compartment with a virtual keypad lock. ]

[ On the shelves are a few books—all non-fiction, talking about basic AI theory (remarkably similar to his world) and much less basic astrophysics. ]

[ Sitting on the desk is a notepad and pen. ]

[MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAJOR ASSHOLE BECAUSE I AM BOTH SAD AND ANGRY?]

[Hmmm, let's look at the notepad first. Remarkably basic for a ship.]

[ Iota has drawn … she's drawn squiggles. ]

[ Looping squiggly squiggles and meaningless, time-wasting doodles. ]

[ And … a list? ]

[ 'Marshmallows, cream, chocolate chips, cookies. NOT bread, celery, carrots, ice cream, coffee grounds, snow.' ]

[...what you got against veggies. And ice cream? Well, maybe ice scream headaches.]

[Hm.]

[Checks the plants. They been watered recently?]

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