Comproller 604 stood under the ancient faded, yet still majestic portrait of Kavon Goodsmythe, addressing the assembled Gineers: The Mainteks, their servals, Monganers, and all the lower Comprollers too. Their sea of faces looked expectantly for his leadership. To give them direction in this wholly unprecedented crisis. He had none to give, and yet they waited and he must speak. He cleared his throat and began. "Fair Shift to you."
- Start -
"And also with you." The mass of workers called back. 604 couldn't help but smile, He had always wondered what that felt like. Powerful, it turned out. He felt 702's hand land on his shoulder, and the power swelled inside of him.
"My fellow 'Gineers," He channeled that power into words. "I wish I had the words that would show you the way through this dark time, that would lead us to the end of this calamity unscathed. Unfortunately, my skill is in numbers and not words.
"Here is what the numbers say. This is not the first crisis we have experienced, nor is it the last. We have been tested before, and we will almost surely be tested again - for I know that this is not the test that we fail.
"When our history was lost to us, did we fall?
"No. We followed the Directive. We kept the Instances running.
"When one of our own sought the destruction of not just our, but all of the worlds, did we fall?
"No. We survived the assault of Legion - and through the leadership of the Great Kavon Goodsmythe we even reclaimed our history, and with it - our identity.
Now, faced with an unknown Instance suddenly appearing in our Scope, requesting access with ancient keys that send ripples through the deepest bowels of Central. Do you think we will fail?"
604 received a booming "No!"
"Yes!" He threw his fist into the air. "For I ask you, what is our Directive?"
"To keep the Instances running!"
"This is no more than another Instance, and we will keep it running.
"Will it be hard? Of course it will be. But I, as your elected Director, will lead you through it, as best as I can."
604 paused to take a breath. The hard part was over. "I will be meeting with the heads of every department in the next few cycles to discuss the decryption of these ancient keys. We will also be preparing for to update this new Instance to the latest Firmware. This will require the full and optimized effort of every Department, but is simply part of our job.
Thank you for your trust in me, for all of these years. That is all.
May your Mondays be as Wednesdays,"
"And your Wednesdays be as Fridays." The crowed called back.
604 left the walkway, and entered the Director's office. He still wasn't used to the feeling, even decades later - of being above. The room had never quite felt like his.
"Why didn't you become the Director?" He asked 702, flopping onto the ergonomic chair that sat behind the Core Terminal. "You'd be terabytes better than I am at it. In fact, most of what I do is just what you have suggested."
702 leaned against the clear Alumina housing of the quantum computer. "And that's just the way I like it."
"Is that so?" 604 opened a window into the air in front of him and began to type - The department heads were most likely already waiting on the SCRUM request.
"Oh yes." 702 replied, he could tell with a smirk. "All of the power, none of the responsibility."
"Sounds like a cushy gig."
The light-particles of the window he was typing in disrupted as 702 stuck her head through them. "Really, though - its because you are better face than I'll ever be."
She leaned back and gestured to the Divisions below them. "If I had just given that speech, there would have been a riot. I would have told them to get being a wuss and get to work - that they'd know more when I felt like it, and they could just shove off.
You see, terrible speech."
604 chuckled at that. "So you're the brains and I'm the face?"
"Hasn't that always been the case?"
"Fair point."
"Its why we are an unstoppable pair - why we were able to find the other Instances again in the first place. Its what led us to Kavon, and to the defeat of Legion. I can tell them what's wrong, but you can make them want to fix it."
604 finished the request and closed the window. "Did you think my speech worked?"
702 nodded. "I mean, the are always going to be trolls. There is no doubt going to be some response from the No Vacancy commitee, but the are a bunch of mouth-breathers who don't understand a fraction of how this system works.
"But when I looked out to the sea of 'Gineers - the ones who mattered. The department heads, the subject experts, the Cogs of the Core. They hung on your every word - they will follow you as far as this takes us."
"Speaking of which, have you heard anything from Inquiry?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." 702 pulled up a window from her terminal implant, sliding it over into 604's view. He read it over as she continued her brief.
"From our best guess at translating the ancient protocols, this is an old Instance. Very old. Possibly one of the original Instances. We have scribes going over the data on full cycle, but if this is true, there are some interesting implications."
"An Instance that has been cut off for even longer than the others. That does raise some concerns."
"Further adding to the confusing nature of this situation, is the fact that they are requesting access to us, not the other way around."
"Possibly an incredibly adept Wytch, who's reach finally picked up our frequency?"
"That is what we are thinking."
604 examined the translated file. "There's this word that keeps being referenced, I am not familiar with it."
"Can you comment it out and send it back over?"
He did.
"Ah, yes." 702 nodded. "That appears to be the original designation of the Instance, defined by the Directive."
"Interesting. How do you say it?"
"Apocalypse."
"Very archaic. What does it mean."
"No idea."
- End -
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