003; [voice]

[interspace]

So, who knows anything about AI and/or fixing some seriously delicate hardware? Both, even. Got a buddy of mine who fries like an egg in sunlight here and I'm hoping to get him up and running like the good ol' days. My nest egg seems to have disappeared from the last time I was here, but... I'll do whatever I can to pay you back for your time. Errands and stuff.

Seriously, I would really just appreciate getting ALFRED back. It's weird not having him around. You know?

Who the heck's Alfred?

You've seen her cool glasses? That's him!

Comments

[codes]

[ What does she mean by STILL HERE geez it's not like she has any choice!!! ]

When?

Do we need to throw a 'welcome back' party? I've never seen people just come back.

Kind of weird.

[interspace]

[ And it's not like Misha had any choice in leaving, either!! ]

Tell me about it. Just trying to make the best of it right now, and... that includes getting ALFRED back up. A party can wait.

[codes]

Yeah, yeah. You kind of left in the middle of our previous work.

[ Thankfully she keeps backups of everything. ] I salvaged what I could before your stuff started to get tossed out. Not that I had any interest in setting up an AI myself.

They're terribly problematic.

[interspace]

[ A put-on sigh. ]

Yeah, and you wouldn't be alone in thinking that. Think you'd be able to start back up what we had before?

[codes]

Likely.

[ A sigh from herself. ] Save for one problem.

I'm not in the city right now.

[interspace]

Where are you? Thelma and I could come pick you up if that's your issue.

[codes]

A date.

[ Howling with laughter. ] No, no. That's not it at all.

I was asked to do a favor and I'm upholding myself to that. It shouldn't be longer than a week.

[interspace]

[ Misha chuckles. ]

Sure, I'll leave you to your romantic getaway, then. I'm in a different room now, but it still might be easier to drop by your place whenever you get back. Sound good?

[codes]

He's going to die if he hears you call it that.

[ Rin herself seems to be enjoying the attention nonetheless. ] Yeah, yeah. I still have the same place.

Can you believe it? I haven't even bothered to deal with this cresting thing in all this time--but they get really awesome apartments. Maybe I ought to just so I can move on up in the world.

[interspace]

That just sounds like an invitation to keep on going.

Cresting thing... That's right. I remember all that going on around the time I left. It kept happening? Damn, maybe I should see if I can get my hands on one if I can get a suite with it.

[codes]

Yeah, apparently it happens to a number of people.

[ Kind of sucks it hasn't happened to her yet, but she's not exactly throwing herself into danger. ]

City looks like shit right now too. Missed the excitement.

[interspace]

I've seen the city, yeah. Almost glad to have missed it. I soothe myself by remembering it'll probably happen all over again next month and then I don't feel nearly so bad.

[codes]

He did flee from the battle. Wonder why--it isn't as if we were strong enough to take him down.

I caused a fair bit of trouble myself.

[interspace]

Maybe he wasn't looking for a fight. It's the first thing I think of when that kind of stuff goes down.

What sort?

[codes]

Oh, he was looking for a fight.

[ Pause. ] Hold on.

[ Soon she'll receive a copy of this video sent directly to her D-Terminal. Yes, Rin just happens to back up every post. ]

[interspace]

[ Misha is silent for a while as she watched the recorded video. ]

He wasn't picking a fight with us. Well, not "us," but you know what I mean. That was taunting, pure and simple. Trying to demoralize or throw us into a frenzy or... just study our reaction.

[codes]

It worked.

Though we were already provoked by that point. We spent who knows how many weeks with different personalities. I was nice to people.

[interspace]

Surely a sign of the upcoming apocalypse that we're only now recovering from. This wouldn't happen to be that SCOPE virus thing, would it?

[codes]

Who knows what it was?

[ A dismissive grunt. ] Likely though. It's the only explanation provided to us.

[interspace]

No offense, but let's hope that never strikes again. I'd hate to go wacko like that, too.

[codes]

It likely won't.

[ If only she can see the frown on her face. ] It did confirm that we're susceptible to the same things that the Digimon are though.

[interspace]

So it's like swine flu or something. Some kind of virus everyone can catch. Good to know, bad way to find out.

[codes]

We just need to come up with a 'vaccination' for it in the future.

[interspace]

Don't you kind of need a sample of the original to make a vaccine for it?

[codes]

We do have a sample. [ Why does that sound so ominous? ]