1/4 --- 2019/06/14(Fri)14:24 No. 935777 ID: f0a059
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In the year of His Grace 204, a surveyor research vessel left the port of Nor Minuta.
The records of its name were never properly archived, and it would never return, splintered to pieces and sunk to the ocean.

One survivor was found months later, suspended on a crude raft made of flesh and blubber. It was held together by bone strips.
When sound speech and reason returned, the survivor spoke of walls of flesh bursting forth from the ship, of bestial roars, of the screams, the terror, the foul stench of copper.
Soon, the survivor withdrew from society, a quiet hermit with a lifelong fear of the sea from that day on.

The outlandish tale soon faded into obscurity. For all anyone knew, one more ship had been lost at sea, and one more shipwrecked survivor driven mad from the trauma.

2/4 VESSELMIND 2019/06/14(Fri)14:24 No. 935778 ID: f0a059
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Light returns. It is the fifty four thousand seven hundred twenty third day of the voyage.
Digestion vacuoles are filled with the return of the divers. Water filtration is operating at 93% efficiency.
Our waking routine continues.

We are the neuromatter mesh strewn throughout this organism. We are the Vesselmind.
Our objective remains as ever. Survival.

We have been aware of the inevitability of contact and the inevitability of conflict to follow.
We have grown within our form many creatures, and through the years they have earned our respect and shattered it.

We have grown the Agents, autonomous drones, and many of them have turned from us.
They are among our greatest and most dangerous growths.

You have been shaped into being as the next stage of our experiment.

VESSELMIND 2019/06/14(Fri)14:26 No. 935782 ID: f0a059
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The Agents, all shaped as female, all with the capacity to birth, have drifted from our values.
In some cases this is tolerable. Others are rogue and beyond salvaging.
These rogue Agents are too intrinsically tied to the functioning of the Vesselmind to be destroyed. They must be contained and controlled.

Your task, as our sole male, Omega, is to locate those still loyal to us. You must impregnate them, for we have designed your form primarily for this purpose.
From them will begin the next generation. We orchestrate the evolution of greater beings.
Rogue Agents may contaminate this process. Under no circumstances are rogue Agents to be part of this process.
You are capable of producing a toxin that will render female Agents sterile. Use this if necessary.

You will almost certainly encounter our previous creations, and the meagre societies they have formed. Engage with them as you see fit. We do not care for our remnant parasites.

A toxin in your body not of our design is spilling forth into your blood.
Death will not come for years, but suffering and impairment will occur much more quickly.
Intimate connection with a fertile Agent, or contact with the blood of any Agent of our design, will cleanse you of this toxin.
However, we know this will not last, and this must be corrected approximately every three days.
We did not intend for this, and we know the cause for this is an act of sabotage by the rogue Agents, attempting to prevent your birth.

We have implanted within you a quickness to learn and the ability to locate our creations easily by their unique bioresonance signatures.
Our memory stores should have provided you with all the information you require, unless this process too was sabotaged.

Go now, and fulfil your mission. Completion will be rewarded, and you will be cared for in peace until we have need to call upon you again.
We must return to other matters now, and we are severing our direct neural connection. If you have need of us, seek out our ganglia.

4/4 Omega 2019/06/14(Fri)14:27 No. 935783 ID: f0a059
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I'm alive.

That's a lot to take in right now. I'm alive, I'm breathing, my heart is beating, and I have no sense of continuity. It's like I just woke up, but I have no memory of anything before.
I don't feel like I know anything.

I guess I know how to walk.

I don't know where I am, who I am, what anything is, and all I have is some weird compulsion to look into these weird vague senses of presences I have all around me.
That, and something about a grand mission involving them. Some voice at the back of my mind compelling me to mate with them?

One of them seems very close by--

~Well, I was right,~ says a voice in my mind, as a figure moves closer to me. Its form sends chills through my body. ~I thought a new Agent was being made here.~
~Who are you?~ I ask. Whatever channels my mental voice flows through are easy to selectively open and close. This is natural and correct. Through our connection to the Vesselmind, we can speak, with neither distance nor obstacle a concern. This I know to be true. Such is the nature of the Vesselmind, which is a part of us, as we are a part of it.
~I am Psi, the twenty third Agent of the Vesselmind. I have not received orders for several hundreds of days, so I have become an explorer. Do you have an assigned purpose?~
~I think so.~
~What is it?~
~I cannot recall in great detail.~ Thoughts feel hazy. I'm not sure what the reason for that is. I'm going to assume it's a side effect of being born. I've never been born before to have a frame of reference for it.
~That is odd. An Agent is not created without a purpose behind them.~

I have a very strong urge to charge at this creature and do things I do not yet have clear concepts or names for, but it is offset by the powerful dizziness and general lack of understanding I have for the world around me, my own body, their body, or much of anything.
The creature that called itself Psi looks at me with their head tilted. ~...you do not appear well. Perhaps you are a rejected iteration. That is unfortunate, you seem very close to being fully formed.~
~Rejected iteration?~
~Aborted before completion due to genetic failure or other malfunction of the spawning process. Dumped out by the growth chambers before you were fit for survival outside of them.~
~I do not think I was dumped out.~
~Perhaps your design is flawed,~ it says, tilting its head the other way. ~Maybe you are an experiment in terminal conditions.~

I think I am beginning to feel an emotion I believe is called 'irritation' with how I am being addressed. I am newly born and I am aware my social skills and knowledge appear to have gaping holes in them. I do not know how to manipulate this interaction away from what feels like a volley of insults into some more useful answers.

Show her your dick. That should explain everything.

She could at least give you a few minutes to wake up. What's her assigned purpose, specifically~?

Okay I'm guessing the spoilered text is what the toxin is keeping secret from Omega.
This means Omega knows that contact with the blood of an Agent will cleanse him of the toxin, and that the toxin is impairing him.

The amount of blood is unspecified so let's just assume it doesn't need to be a lot of it. Omega, request a drop of blood from this Agent in front of you. You KNOW this will help you remember. Inform her of the toxin and the sabotage.
Also, note that her body is different from yours.

(spoiler text was just to keep lewd things from showing up on the front page, sorry!! and i still missed a spot or two, dammit)

Okay fine, Omega doesn't know shit.

Then he should just examine the Agent before him and ask why she is different. Also tell her he has... impulses he doesn't understand. Maybe those have something to do with his orders.

(Minimize thread... minimize... oops, I accidentally clicked the eye icon. How careless of me. No choice but to participate now!)

Tell her that just because you don't recall your exact purpose, it doesn't mean you don't have one.
Then approach her and proceed to shove your purpose between her legs. Do not allow her to withdraw.
Propose to her that she becomes an experiment herself. An experiment for you.

Ogle the tertiary features on this fine specimen and expand dong.

Say you have been told by the Vesselmind that there has been disruption to functions that are a threat to its continued survival. Your current condition is probably a symptom of this.

You have been directed to investigate this and locate functioning Agents to assist in iterating their designs.

Spray your sterility juice at her. Your face is a terminal condition!

>>935783
Tell her that if she hasn't received orders, then perhaps she's the flawed one.

Just say that if you are a new design, as you assume you are from what she said, then it seems there was a flaw in your design regarding imprinting memories into you. Feels like beyond the basics such as speech and movement there's a lot missing and what is there is hazy. Either that or a flaw in the growth chamber memory implanting system. Perhaps you were released slightly too soon, before they were all imprinted. Whatever the reason, the designer ought to be informed of your memory situation.

Start visually and physically inspecting your body, poking and feeling it to try and figure out what all your bits do, and compare your form to Psi's. Note what's different and ask her what the things that are different on her body do and if she knows what the things that are different on yours do.

Tell her what your mission is, as best you can piece together from your fuzzy memories and feelings. Say you have a compulsion to investigate these vague sense of presences you have, of which she is one, and... Something...? ...Uh, mate with them? Yes, that's the word. And that's a problem because you don't know how to do that. Does she know how? You need to figure out how quick because you have a strong feeling you have a very important mission.

Show her your manhood. Explain that you have certain urges, feels like a command.

Normal procedure should be to invite the subject to a relaxing environment, procuring refreshments. Then, you can make inquiries about herself, access her loyalty to the Vesselmind, and persuade her to improve her assessment of you, if not them, before you attempt to fulfill your main directive.

Begin procedures with her by complimenting her appearance, while conditions are still optimal. On the field, your chances of events going to procedure within safe parameters are... low.

>>935783
Inform her that your mission is becoming clearer the longer you are awake. It does involve interfacing with other agents such as herself. The method of this is not clear yet, but her assistance in understanding.. everything, would be appreciated. At least until you get your bearings.

try not to get an erection (and fail)

1/4 Omega 2019/06/15(Sat)17:27 No. 935952 ID: f0a059
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>maybe she's the flawed one
~If you have no orders perhaps you are the flawed one.~
~I have standing orders I am adhering to. Maintenance. Inspection. That is why I am here. What are your standing orders?~

>your mission is mating
>show her your penis
>ogle her
As I recollect my immediate briefing I take in the sight of this creature, and my eyes take in the absence of parts between its legs and the presence of a slit. I feel an odd surge to my groin and something slides out and engorges from whatever slit I have between mine.
I'm confused and a little concerned that something inside my body is trying to fall out, so I try to push it back in gently but it feels absolutely stuck and strangely hard for something that can't possibly have bone inside.

With my other hand I feel at the strange dangling pouch just below it, but it feels incredibly sensitive and if I put too much pressure on it it hurts.

Whatever this odd hard tube is, I can feel it throbbing and I have strong urges to thrust my hips, but the motion seems pointless.

2/4 Omega 2019/06/15(Sat)17:27 No. 935953 ID: f0a059
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Psi watches me with confusion. ~I have not seen an Agent with an organ like that before. What does it do?~
~I do not know but I am growing aware of my mission. I am to mate with all loyal Agents and impregnate them.~
~What does 'mate' and 'impregnate' mean?~ asks Psi, before pausing and recalling that as Agents we can call upon the Vesselmind for such definitions.
Psi makes an irritated chitter-rattle. ~The Vesselmind is not accepting enqueries at this time. I do not suppose you can explain?~
~No,~ I say, trying to think if I can recall what the words mean.

>different parts
~What does your slit do?~ I ask. ~And why does your chest have those bumps? And why do you have a hole in your head?~
Psi looks at me oddly. ~Waste removal, or at least one of the openings, I have not figured out why but it is common among Agents, and it is an opening that connects to my lungs to allow me to breathe air while otherwise fully submerged.~
~That doesn't seem like it could connect to your lungs without going through your brain.~
Then they just poke the slightly squisher lump that makes up their forehead and shrug. ~If it does, it has not impacted me.~

Psi idly touches a breast and rubs it a little. I feel more urgent pulsing in my... crotch organ. It needs a name.
~What is that?~ asks Psi, pointing at it.
~I do not know,~ and as I say that, suddenly I'm aware of the word. ~It is my penis.~
~What is a penis?~
~This is.~
~...what does it do?~
~I don't know. Get bigger and swell. Be hard.~

Psi stares at it. ~Okay. Is it related to 'mate' and 'impregnate'?~
I shrug helplessly. It bounces up and down after my body motion and Psi appears to experience a mixture of confusion, disgust and intrigue as they watch it bob.
~It looks painful. Are you sure it isn't a tumour?~
~Yes.~

3/4 Omega 2019/06/15(Sat)17:27 No. 935954 ID: f0a059
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~I am supposed to do this action and this other action with loyal... Agents? Loyal Agents only.~
~Loyal?~
~Obedience to the Vesselmind and acting only to its instructions and guidelines.~
~I think I am loyal, but I am not certain. The Vesselmind has not directly told me I am loyal or not. It is not letting me ask, either.~
~Does that mean you've been rejected? Were you disloyal?~
~No, it usually answers my queries. It must be busy.~ Psi does not seem to believe being disloyal could be possible.

>initiate courting procedure
~You look appealing. I would like to touch you.~
~What? Why?~

I walk over to Psi and touch at a breast, and wince as I feel the pulsing and throbbing of my penis speeds and gets stronger. I exhale sharply. Psi looks at me confused, and touches their slit between their legs.
~Why is it swelling?~ Psi asks, squirming. ~Why is it dripping?~
~Is it?~ I look down at my penis and see it dripping, before I realise Psi is talking about their slit.

~Look at it,~ says Psi. ~What did you do? What did you do? This has not happened before, what did you do? It is throbbing now!~
~What is that bump?~
~I do not know but it often hurts when touched so do not touch it.~

I notice the bumps on Psi's chest have smaller bumps, which have apparently also swollen slightly, and I rub one of them.
~Stop that,~ Psi says. ~It is weird and I do not know what you are doing or why I feel like this.~
~How do you feel? I feel like I need to rub this penis on something. In something.~

I move my hand from the chest down to the slit and trace the contour. Psi tenses up and squeaks. ~Do not put your appendages into my body!!~
I feel my heart beating stronger, not from cardiac malfunction, but like something is clearing from me.

4/4 Omega 2019/06/15(Sat)17:28 No. 935955 ID: f0a059
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~The mating procedure,~ I say, starting to breathe heavily, ~is the insertion of the penis into the vagina.~
~Vagina?~ asks an increasingly overwhelmed Psi.
I rub the groin slit again. ~This.~
~No, that does not make sense, why would I willingly allow anyone or anything to enter my body?!~
I move my penis near this 'vagina'. ~They do seem like they should fit together.~
Psi looks helplessly confused and I can feel Psi's confusion across the Vesselmind's neural mesh.
~...What does impregnate mean?~

I still have no idea, but I do know every fibre of my being wants to initiate this mating procedure right away.

>force yourself on her
If I harm an Agent physically, mentally or emotionally without a dire emergency as the root cause, the Vesselmind will be harmed also. If the Vesselmind is harmed, I am harmed.
I may need to take the initiative, perhaps aggressively, but I must first convince Psi that it is a necessary action.

>>935955
Voice your innate knowledge you have to her. These reactions are normal and natural signs of arousal. Arousal is the physical sign of wanting to mate. Mating is your primary objective. You would like to mate with her. Whether you two continue or not is up to her. Mating would likely result in both of yours physical arousal dissipating after.

>>935963
Yeah this seems about right.

Maybe you should get more comfortable first. slow down. Psi clearly needs time to... Process.

Sit or lay somewhere. Touching seems to have an effect on both of you. Have her caress you. Do the same to her. Anywhere. Not just your "Organs".

...You could try licking her vagina before putting your penis in. It seems lubricated already but more might help.

>>935955
Hmm, it's like our suggestions are reminding Omega of facts that the Vesselmind should be telling him. Here let me attempt to educate him in the most awkward, alien way possible.

Impregnation is a method of reproduction-- creation of new Agents without the Vesselmind's direct guidance. The new Agent will be made via some combination of features of the mating pair. Genetic information must be combined during the process, and the penis delivers the male's information to the female. That is why insertion is required.

>>935783
Politely state that you have an impulse to experiment with her and request permission to implement it.

>>935970
Way ahead of you. I really was trying to set them up on a date first, though things have escalated quickly.

Tell her that her disconnect from the Vesselmind could be a test; not for her, but for you. They are testing our ability to court fellow Agents, to see if we can induce positive feelings for us independent of influence from the collective. The most important part is this: she should only accept your mating if your actions to her so far have been acceptable, if not welcoming.

Inquire about the sensations she is feeling about her body. As this is new to her, you should ask if she ever touched her body in this way or if it just reacts that way around you. If the latter, ask if if she'd enjoy it if she got to know you better, and get her to a more comfortable position. If it's the former, you should back off as she would want to explore her own body, while you explore yours.

Apologize if you're a little desperate. You have this feeling if you don't mate every few days, you and anyone around you could get hurt.

Try to explain that if you complete this process, her body will be used to create new life, like a miniature growth chamber. Ask how she feels about that, and what she would want to do about it. Would she plan to care for it herself or leave it for the collective to continue her designation? Would she want you around to aid her through it?

How does she feel about her designation? Maybe you can call the Mind yourself and get her reassigned, if she's willing.

>the Vesselmind will be harmed also
Hmm, no such information was mentioned before. This complicates matters. And she clearly said not to touch her or put appendages in her body...

Place her hand on your penis while you try to recall the concept of impregnation.

Then tell her that she is not mentally prepared and that you're leaving. Attempt to leave.

>>935955
"My function can also be described as the dissemination of new genetic information to loyal agents. I believe your port is intended as a receptacle, as it is responding to my equipment.
The vesselmind created me as part of a plan. Will you assist?

This is going too fast for Psi. She is overwhelmed and confused and doesn't want to mate with you and forcing her will harm her and that'll harm all. Hold up and do not force yourself on her.

Tell her that mating ought to be done with the agreement of both parties and she obviously doesn't agree so you will not do so, even though you have a burning desire to. Also say that an agreement to mate can be withdrawn at any point by either party and will be stopped. This will give her the comfort of a out if she does decide to try mating with you. And also offer that if you do mate, you'll lay on the bottom and she'll be on top so she has control and can leave at any point.

Since she and you are run through with confusing thoughts and desires and feelings regarding mating, then perhaps sharing them in full with each other will help. Especially if Psi does, since she seems more confused than you. Could you literally put your heads together to get a stronger telepathic link to share your emotions and thoughts?

Say that her physical reaction to you without any of her mental direction indicates to you that Vesselmind must have designed it into her, and presumably the other Agents, from the start. That and it's a very deep drive, below conscious thought. Vesselmind had to have had that and mating as part of its plan all along, it just needed to make one like you to put it into motion. But that does not mean it needs to be a recklessly fast motion. We have time, unless Vesselmind says otherwise.

Since she objects to another putting any part of themselves into her, then suggest that she could put herself into herself instead. She could insert a finger(s) into her vagina to test what it feels like. And in the same vein, you could do a "test run" of your penis by gripping it and rubbing your hand up and down it. Check that nothing breaks in the process.

1/5 Omega 2019/06/16(Sun)16:21 No. 936047 ID: e351b9
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>signs of arousal
>touch more

~These are all indicators of physical arousal, an indicator of wanting to mate. Mating is my objective. I wish to mate with you.~
~But what does mating do?~
~It will lead to impregnation. We are of two different biological sexes, and we contain a half each of genetic information,~ I say, information previously inaccessible now flooding my mind. ~This half needs to be combined, my genetic information will be transferred inside your womb where it will recombine with your genetic information. Your womb will then act as a growth chamber for a new Agent, without direct creation by the Vesselmind.~
~Womb?~

I rub my hands on her stomach. Her. I begin to understand this concept of biological sex a little better. I am he, she is her. I think. ~It will be somewhere around here,~ I say, as I slowly move my hands downwards.
~I do not think that is possible,~ she says, trembling. ~I do not think an Agent can fit inside my body, without me dying.~
~It will be smaller. There will be a growth process outside.~
~Why is this a process that needs to happen when the Vesselmind can grow new Agents at whim?~
~Do you question the Vesselmind's judgement?~ I do not mean to sound accusatory, but it comes across as such.

Psi makes a long, deep whining squeak-whistle noise. ~I do not, but I am afraid to have something grow inside me.~
~If you are not ready, I will leave you alone. Mating is my mission. Mating specifically with you at this very time is not.~
She makes another odd prolonged noise as she starts rubbing my body in turn. ~Do not leave me like this, new Agent.~
~My name is Omega.~ I pause, and look at the symbol on her head. ~Why do you have the symbol of phi on your head, not psi?~
~Agent Phi has the symbol of psi,~ she says, her mental voice bleeding through wordless conceptual thoughts about the sensations coursing through her body. She is very distracted. ~It seems like a mistake, but the Vesselmind does not seem capable of such a minor error.~
~Perhaps it was rogue Agent sabotage,~ I say.
~It must have been,~ says Psi, rubbing her body against mine now.

~Lay on the floor and spread your legs,~ I say. The directness of this only occurs to me after it is already said, and I wince a little.
~I do not know if I can go through with this,~ says Psi with another audible whine.
~Then we can continue rubbing each other on the floor.~

2/5 Omega 2019/06/16(Sun)16:21 No. 936048 ID: e351b9
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The floor is warm, slightly moist, and soft.
Psi's body is warmer, and softer, and much wetter in a place I cannot turn my attention away from.

~Has your body felt like this before?~
~No,~ says Psi. ~I do not know how to think or feel but all I know is I have a desire to...~ Her words trail off as her arousal bleeds into my own. ~I do not know what. Make this go away.~
~Are you ready for me to insert my penis into your vagina?~ I must make absolutely clear to her what my intentions are. I am acutely aware she is scared by so many new sensations at the same time. I do not want to risk terrifying her into something unexpected that complicates the mission. Or, even worse, to violence. Violence between Agents will not end well.

Psi makes another anxious whistle, and rolls onto her back, spreading her legs. ~Do not hurt me,~ she says, half an instruction, half a plea.
~Tell me if anything hurts.~
~I am already aching and sensitive. I will tell you if anything hurts more.~

I move into position.

3/5 Omega 2019/06/16(Sun)16:21 No. 936049 ID: e351b9
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I move my penis into her vagina-- no, what I have accomplished is squashing it between my body and hers.
~...I do not think you did that right,~ says Psi, who is starting to feel less afraid and more confused and annoyed. ~Do it properly.~
I jostle around until I feel the wetness of my penis gliding against her labia, and I slowly try to work it inside. Psi squeaks and rattles and tenses up, gasping for breath. From the channels she opens almost involuntarily, this seems more from the unexpected new sensation more than any pain, so I continue.
~Stop,~ she says. ~Those spines are rubbing me in the bump, it... it does not hurt but I can not cope with this sensation so much so quickly.~ She looks at me, eyes filled with tears.
~Are you crying?~
~No, no, my eyes are watering. These sensations are too much to process.~ The welling tears flow down her face as she gasps for breath.
I start to try and gently remove myself before she squeaks again. ~No, stop! Just... just hold position, it does not hurt, it does not hurt, it is just severe. I can feel something in my belly twitching too. I do not know what it is, but please do not remove your penis, I will be fine.~

I give her a few more seconds to adjust and then I try pushing in more deeply. I hear myself grunting and groaning as the sensation makes everything harder and throbbing so much it feels painful, yet the feeling does not yield. I try to go deeper but I can't. Psi is breathing rapidly, and watching her breasts rise and fall just makes me more frustrated.

I start to remove myself from her and then the thrusting action from earlier makes sense. I push into her again, and she tenses. Her squeaks of surprise and overstimulation are quieter. Out, in. I do this a few more times before I find a rhythm.
~Do not stop, do not stop,~ says Psi, squeaking intermittently, sighing and moaning.
~I feel like I might burst,~ I say. ~I feel like I need to keep going until I do.~
~Yes, keep going,~ says Psi, panting.

Nothing else in this world around me matters more than Psi and this act. I feel overwhelmed both in sensation and a strange surge of emotion.

4/5 Omega 2019/06/16(Sun)16:21 No. 936050 ID: e351b9
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And then I feel overwhelmed in a different way, thrusting into her as instinct pins me down.
My breath judders out as a long rumbling moan as I feel fluid course through me and into her.
Psi tries to get back her breath. ~You are slowing down.~
~I think I just transmitted my genetic information,~ I say.
~Oh.~ There's a brief pause. ~Please keep going.~
I try, and I feel an intense feeling of pain. However, the sounds Psi makes when I do so keep me going, and as I ignore the pain I feel more swelling and tightness. I was born for this. I want to feel what I just felt again.
I'm panting for breath as I try to get back to my previous pace, as Psi makes more noises and louder. I realise very quickly that it is not about the depth, but the spines rubbing against the bump she had no name for, and I adjust my rhythm. She arches her back and pants as I feel her vaginal walls clench repeatedly.

5/5 Omega 2019/06/16(Sun)16:21 No. 936051 ID: e351b9
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~Oh.~ Psi sounds disappointed. ~That was it?~
~What was?~
~It felt so good but lasted so briefly. I feel... I do not know. Not disappointed. Just wishing for more.~
~I do not think I can keep going.~ Our bodies remain close. ~I do not want to disengage just yet, though.~
~That is alright,~ says Psi, who does gently nudge me to the side so I am not in danger of crushing her.

Mission goal accomplished. I mated with a female Agent. In the same growth chamber I was born in. We stay together, skin on skin, and I feel my penis rapidly losing the rigidity and sensation of swelling it had before. As we pant and gasp we both notice each other opening and closing channels in uncertainty of what to say or do next.

Offer to touch her down there with your hands. Your hands don't have a recovery period like your penis does. If she would like some more from that specifically, she would need to wait for your recovery time. Give the both of you some time until then. Enjoy the peace and sensation.

If an agent is harmed, the Vesselmind is harmed, and if the Vesselmind is harmed, you are harmed. So, logically, the same would apply to being pleased, right?

See what you can do in that regard.

One goal was completed, but the mission was not. Not until all the loyal Agents are impregnated. This leads to the question, how do we know which Agents are loyal and which are not? We should assume the possibility of rogue agents lying about being loyal, so we can't exactly trust the words anyone says. In some ways, it makes sense that a rogue Agent would reach us first.

Psi said that she had not received new orders in a while. I wonder if this is true. There's also some discrepancy in how she first said that she chose to become an explorer, but then said she has standing orders of maintenance and inspection. If she's here under the orders of inspection, she should've said so from the start. Because if she's got orders of inspection, her being here would serve those orders just fine, and she wouldn't have to say that the exploration was outside her orders.
So that's one thing. The second thing is, the fact that her name is Psi instead of Phi is concerning. Could she be a clone of Phi or something like that? What's the designation of the Agent with the mark of Psi then?

Anyway, I don't think that questioning her about this would lead anywhere. But at the same time, we can't sterilize her unless we know for certain that she's a rogue Agent.

Tell her that the act of mating was very pleasing and then lie that, based on your exchange, you trust her with absolute certainty to be a loyal Agent. Then ask her what she knows about rogue Agents. Explain that you need this info so that a rogue Agent wouldn't fool you into distrusting her, or compromising your orders.
Any info that she gives us can be tested by comparing it with the info from other Agents, to find discrepancies and to be able to determine if anyone's lying.

Lastly, get up and tell her that you need to continue with your mission. In case we need to rest or find sustenance, we should find proper chambers to do so.

>>936051
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY
72 HOURS REMAIN
actually the time limit probably isn't that strict but let's all try to remember it.

Mentally go over what just happened. Remember what you did right and what you did wrong. You should strive to improve your methods and thus avoid the pain of having to continue thrusting past your delivery.
Ask her if she would like to travel with you to find more Agents. Your task is to impregnate all those still loyal, and any help would be appreciated.

Clearly the two of you want to mate again later, but both of you will need to develop protocols to demonstrate arousal and readiness to mate to each other. Perhaps using your markings or additional temporary adornments.

>>936070
We should be careful second guessing her loyalty, it's also likely she was more at risk of going Rogue before we came in. Value drift does tends to set in when you give subjects free will, but give them nothing interesting to act on.
If we start to panic about how we might have failed our mission before we even left our birthing chamber (must be some sort of record), remember that we just took action to ensure Psi's loyalty to the Vesselmind through positive reinforcement.
At least, that will be what we will report to them the first chance we get. Also, request to have her reassigned to be your assistant, if she consents.

Just lay here against each other until you both have caught your breaths, your hearts aren't hammering away and you've calmed somewhat before talking. Then tell her that you'd like it if she accompanied you as you set out on the rest of your mission, if she's okay with that. Failing that, could she come with you to wherever you two need to go to clean yourselves off; You could help each other wash off. And also to where you two can get something to eat and drink.

Ask Psi what she's feeling and what questions or worries she has. You might be able to answer about what'll happen to her now that she is impregnated. (And then later the both of you ask the Vesselmind the same questions to see how right or wrong you were.) You want to help her with any troubles she has or may have.

Thinking of the Vesselmind, try calling out to it yourself like Psi tried earlier to check if you can do the same thing as her. Ask her how concerning it is that the Vesselmind didn't respond to her. How unusual is it for the Vesselmind to not respond to a Agent? Has it been happening more or less for her and the other Agents? Perhaps you two should find a more direct way to speak with it if it does not respond to a call. One that would more likely get its attention.

Ask her what her life has been like and what her explorations have found. When she was born were her memories and thoughts fuzzy like yours have been? How long has it been since she was born? What orders did the Vesselmind give her before? When did she decide to start exploring and why? What is there to be found within Vessel, anyway? And how much does she want new orders from the Vesselmind?

Psi said she was the twenty-third Agent born, so are the twenty-two preceding Agents still alive or did some die? And how many more were born after Psi? Have there been ones that have gone missing, presumed dead? Any ones that Psi get along well with and ones she doesn't? Who does she think is possibly loyal or disloyal to the Vesselmind and why?

Tell Psi that you think it'd be possible to improve that brief, really good feeling she had during mating but it'd take experimenting together, if she's up for that. Trying other positions, angles, rhythms, and anything else you two can think of. And you two can still mate after impregnation, just so she knows. It's not something that only happens when it's to impregnate.

1/3 Omega 2019/06/17(Mon)15:08 No. 936173 ID: f0a059
File 156080933152.png - (141.50KB , 800x600 , v-14.png )

>improve for next time
I have learned a great deal. Next time, more focus on that bump. But gentle focus. It seems like a delicate balancing act. Also, need to find out what the name for it is.

>offer to touch her
~I could continue rubbing you there,~ I say.
~No,~ says Psi. ~No, I think I have had enough for now. We can try again later.~

>at least pretend to think she's loyal
~I believe you are a loyal Agent,~ I say. ~Do you know anything about rogue Agents?~
~Rogue Agents keep most of themselves closed from the Vesselmind. They ignore its wishes. They believe themselves to be slaves under it rather than understanding they are facets of it.~
~I am confused, Psi. You said you were exploring, but you also had orders to maintain and inspect.~
~Exploring sounds more interesting than inspection,~ says Psi, feeling a little hurt.
I stroke her arm a little, shaking my head. ~I am not accusing you of anything, Psi. You sound loyal enough to me.~

Our breaths start to calm. I can only imagine what it must be like to have your ability to talk tied to your breathing rate. What inconvenience.
~I am hungry and thirsty and feel a desire to remove this sweat from my body. Where should I go?~
~First, we should leave this birthing chamber.~
~That makes sense.~

We stand, slowly, and make our way to the chamber's exit. The glow from beyond turns into a dazzling light as my eyes adjust to the chamber exit slowly opening like the iris of an eye.

2/3 Omega 2019/06/17(Mon)15:09 No. 936174 ID: f0a059
File 156080935920.png - (92.68KB , 800x600 , v-15.png )

In front of me, I see a large column, and around the column appear to be several closed passages to chambers like the one I just left.

Near the column, however, I sense another presence, but this one feels... stranger. Quieter. Off, somehow. I start walking towards it and it appears to be another Agent? It has a body like Psi's but with different features. I think it is also female. Then again, I think all the other Agents but myself are female.

>ask Psi a bunch of things about her
~Psi, how do you feel about...~

I trail off as Psi suddenly steps behind me quietly, and I realise the Agent near the column is looking directly at me.

~She was not here before,~ says Psi. Her abrupt skittish reaction puts me on edge, and our mutual anxiety begins forming a closed feedback loop.

3/3 Omega 2019/06/17(Mon)15:09 No. 936175 ID: f0a059
File 156080936966.png - (22.16KB , 800x600 , v-16.png )

The Agent approaches me, glances down to my groin, and looks to Psi, and I am having a hard time reading her with her facial expressions and her closed channels.

~Omega, then.~ she says. ~You were supposed to die before you were born.~

Psi and myself are not sure how to respond to that.

~I am the Agent Mu. I came here to prevent your birth, and evidently, I have failed. I will have to find alternate ways to stop you,~ she says, mouth opening and baring her teeth.
~We cannot hurt each other without feeling each other's pain,~ I say, aware of the vague background sensations I feel from Psi and now Mu as if they were vastly distant extensions of myself.

Mu rips a tooth across her arm and both me and Psi gasp and clutch at our own arms, Psi adding a colourful staccato volley of clicks and rattles.
Mu holds her arm up, blood drawn, seeping out of her wound, as my eyes tear up.

~I am prepared to wound more sensitive areas,~ says Mu. ~It appears my toxin did not properly take. Introduced too late, I suspect. I have developed a new formula that will prevent you from impregnating any Agent at all. If you are wise, you will stand where you are, arms in the air, and allow me to administer it to you.~
~I do not understand,~ I say.
~You must be sterilised.~
~Why?~
~I do not have time for explanation. If you waste any more of my time, I will also imprison you in a forgotten recess of the Vessel for the rest of your life.~

~I have already mated with Omega,~ says Psi. ~What does this mean?~

Mu looks taken aback. ~...Prevention of further outbreak before treatment of current symptoms. I have another toxin prepared for this outcome too, however. Both of you, stay where you are, and do not interfere with my work.~
Psi doesn't say anything. She does feel incredibly upset, however.
We both raise our arms.

I was born to mate with Agents, and I am incredibly aware that I have natural weapons and very little guiding instinct on how to use them properly. And if I inflict too much pain, I am likely to feel it worse than this clearly absolutely rogue Agent will.
There has to be something I can do. Psi seems just as stunned and useless as I am, but I can't just stand here and let this rogue Agent toxically castrate me!
Is there some way I can at least temporarily convince her otherwise?

Considering everything she said about not wasting time, probably not. Go for her eyes.

I don't see a time constraint here, sounds like she just wants to avoid the question.
Headbutt Psi to stun Mu long enough to get her in a chokehold - two concussions are better than one!

Ask her why she would sterilize you when it would obviously benefit the rogues to use you to make more rogue Agents.

>>936175
What if we incapacitate her and then drag her over to a ganglia and force her to reconnect with the Vesselmind?

On the subject of violence, there are ways to restrain someone that aren't particularly painful.

You could also just... run away? Yes, she can cause you pain, but only by injuring herself, and you do not sustain the same injury, only feel it. That is not sustainable.

I propose we incapacitate her (or convince her otherwise) through acts of pleasure.

The options that I see are:
- Masturbation (both Omega and Psi)
- Oral (Psi giving Omega)
- Sex while standing (Omega giving Psi)

Masturbation might be impossible if she wants to keep our hands up, but oral and sex shouldn't be too much of an issue. As long as we keep our hands up, Mu shouldn't feel too threatened even if we ignore her orders to not move. In that case, we may also need to be able to endure some pain in case Mu harms herself again, at least until the pleasure kicks in.

Inform Psi of this plan. Ask her what she thinks of it, and try to convince her that it's our best chance to turn things in our favor. Then proceed to carry it out in order of your or her preference.

If that doesn't work then... we fite

>clearly absolutely rogue
It's fortunate that we now have a proper way to distinguish rogue Agents from loyal ones.

She seems to have an axe to grind. While she doesn't want to humour you, you can probably challenge her on philosophical grounds to make her rant.

"What do you mean, 'outbreak'? Is mating wrong? Then how come it feels so right? You arrived in the aftermath, so you didn't feel it, but..."

Touch and rub Psi's nipples and nethers, and start rubbing your member (if not too tender) to illustrate your point. It can be two versus one on this. Twice the feedback of any non-critical wound she can deliver to herself - and if she delivers too many wounds, she will bleed herself to weakness. She won't make that mistake. If this is her main strategy, she'll be strategic in her use - like cutting her leg when you try to run to make you trip.

Expect sharp pain if you can't catch her off-guard with the pleasure strategy. Backup strategy is to maneuver carefully around her and just grin and bear it when she wounds herself.

Also, her strategy may backfire if you can overpower her sensation. With enough pleasure, even pain remains somewhat pleasurable - or necessary. You've had a taste of this already.

>>936175
Attack her, if she tries anything make sure to dodge it. Try to expore your natural abilities.

>>936204
this is a good point. She's probably conditioned herself to bear pain, but perhaps not pleasure?

Either way, you must resist. If you cannot perform the task you were designed for, you will die, just in a slower, more painful fashion, disguised as mercy.

Quickly analyze the situation and your options. Firstly, fighting Mu, or even getting within her reach would be a Bad Idea. Besides you and Psi not knowing how to fight and Mu's training to resist pain, she also has some means to administer her toxins with or as a part of herself. Get too close and she'll stab you or Psi with a hypodermic needle or toxin coated claw or somesuch and then it'll be all over. She might even have a device or part of herself that could launch a toxin coated dart, so be wary of anything she points at you or Psi. So you two keep your distance from Mu, backing up around the edge of the chamber, keeping your eyes on Mu the whole time.

If you have a means to telepathically speak with Psi privately, you ought to do so now to figure out what you two are gonna do. Otherwise you're just gonna have to keep what you say to short directions 'cause Mu will immediately react.

Mu saying she doesn't have time for this is likely not (just) because she's avoiding the question. It's probable that the Vesselmind's senses of this area have been temporarily severed, deadened or on a looped recording to hide Mu's activity and your condition; That would explain why Psi couldn't call the Vesselmind earlier. But it wasn't complete because the Vesselmind did sense the kind of toxin Mu gave you before you were born. And you are so important to the Vesselmind that it likely has called upon its known loyal Agents to converge here to investigate. But that aside, Mu knows that the longer she's here, the greater the chance someone or something loyal to the Vesselmind she can't deal with will pass through here. She knows her time is running out fast, so don't expect her to talk much or give much leeway to you two not following her orders.

This leaves the options of fleeing, trying to run the clock out until help arrives, or delaying or subduing Mu by non-physical means. >>936204 and >>936209's idea of subjecting Mu to the alien feeling of sexual pleasure to delay her does have some merit, but could you two channel a powerful enough sense into Mu for it to work? And could you or Psi even get the feeling of sexual pleasure so soon after you've mated? Is there some other telepathic means you two could throw at Mu to disorient or delay her? A psychic scream of painfully loud gibberish?

So, all that's left is fleeing. If you two attempt to flee, best to split up right off the bat. Mu can't chase you both so at least one of you will very likely be able to get to a safe area or to where you can call for help. The only problem, and it's a big one, is that Mu can and will attempt to induce enough pain via harming herself to keep you two from running. All you two can do is push through like your lives depend on it, because they do.

>>936192
A prudent question, but one we can't trust that Mu will give a truthful answer to, and especially not that she'll spare Omega to turn him into the rogue Agents' breeding stud. Mu may already know about Omega's ability to sterilize females, so putting him in a position where he could do so a rogue Agent (or Agents) would not be a acceptable risk. Also, Mu may know and act like she doesn't know he can sterilize female Agents, bring him into a den of the rogue Agents, whereupon they dogpile him so he can be easily injected with sterilizer toxin.

>>936175
Oh a seal? Neat. Violence is out. You could try and convince her that you're already a walking Dead shark. (A lie) In three short days the toxin will kill you. The least she could do is wait for the toxin to finish the job. Hopefully she'll have enough mercy to let you go. Of course, if she's not buying then you can always try restraining her. Sharks have thicker skulls than seals so you could try knocking yourself in the head which would stun her long enough for you to go running in and tackle and restrain her hands.

>>936175
"So, you're immediately resorting to threats and force instead of attempting to explain the situation, even though by your own admission I present no imminent threat.
Further, you have stated your intention to poison me. My understanding is that the combined effects of these poisons would be fatal.

I have no reason to comply with your demands. You offer me nothing but demand everything."

Can you use your hand to start pleasuring Psi? If you can disable her with pleasure then you can disarm her and dispose of her weapon, then connect her to the ganglia to give the vesselmind access.

She seems to talk as if she's treating a disease coming from you. Does she not know you can immunize others by yourself? Does she think she's doing this for the good of the Vesselmind? Or is there something wrong with the Vesselmind?

Getting her to monologue by asking questions and demanding answers would be a good way to stall for time.

1/3 Omega 2019/06/18(Tue)15:42 No. 936321 ID: f0a059
File 156089777190.png - (22.92KB , 800x600 , v-17.png )

>use sexual pleasure as a distraction
I stay still and slowly lower my arms. ~I am not going to hurt you, Mu.~

Mu snarls and barks. ~I ordered you to put your arms in the air!~
~I will stay where I am.~ I slowly glide my hand towards Psi, who, fortunately, is still quite close to me. She keeps her arms in the air and whines and whistles as I slowly stroke her further and further towards that intriguing bump from her slit. I rub it a few times, gently, and she whines a little louder.

Mu looks a little confused. I rub my other hand on one of Psi's nipples. My own organ is still too tender for me to join in, but I can at least focus on trying to arouse more reaction from Psi, whose fear and anxiety towards Mu are not helping this case. She isn't complaining, though, but neither is she telling me anything.

Mu glares at me, shifting uncomfortably. ~Stop whatever it is you're doing,~ she says, looking like she's starting to lose control of the situation.
>use as rogue breeding stud
~Surely I would be of greater use to your cause as a way to make more rogue Agents?~

2/3 Omega 2019/06/18(Tue)15:43 No. 936322 ID: f0a059
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Mu makes a guttural grumble. ~You brainless slime, you don't understand it at all!~ She throws her hand-flippers up into the air. ~You have no idea what this entire process entails!~
I stop rubbing Psi. She makes a disappointed click.
~I have seen lesser creatures breed, you dense moron! I have seen how this pregnancy process works and I have seen it kill a sizable number of the females that go through it! And I have no desire now nor will I ever to voluntarily expose myself to one of the slowest, most painful deaths the natural world has to offer, whether or not I'm told to do it by a giant jellyfish will not change my mind! You carry a poison that kills, Omega, and you carry it in that sack between your legs!~
~But-- but we are reborn if we die,~ says Psi, now finally lowering her arms. ~Right? The Vesselmind told me this, and--~
~Your naive beliefs about reincarnation are unfounded and unproven! I have seen Agents die and I have yet to see them after the fact! Also, even if I were to survive this process I was shaped for without my desire, where would that leave me?! Obsolete! Second-best, not even to a carefully designed and crafted successor, but to a randomly recombined lump forced out of my own body! Did Omega tell you this was your fate, Psi? Are you still happy to go through with this process of swelling up like a tumour and bleeding to death?!~

Psi and myself are thoroughly stunned.
~Did you know anything about this?~ asks Psi.
~The Vesselmind did not mention anything like this to me,~ I say, absolutely truthfully.
~What do you care, male? The only part of the process you're involved in is setting things into motion, without any higher semblance of thought, plan, design... My purpose was, and remains, under my own direction, the design and curation of servitor organisms, and this entire campaign is an insult to everything I was both designed for and remain the indisputable master of! I designed your toxin, I designed this toxin,~ she says, waving around what looks like a cowry shell. ~I've designed other toxins, and I've designed the biofilms that produce them! If anyone is going to be responsible for designing and creating a new generation of Agents, it should be me! With thought and clarity! Not by shoving organs into others until they turn into walking growth chambers!~

3/3 Omega 2019/06/18(Tue)15:43 No. 936323 ID: f0a059
File 156089780754.png - (15.12KB , 800x600 , v-19.png )

~I'm sorry,~ I say to Psi, as I quickly and forcefully rub and insert my fingers into her vagina. Psi squeals and rattles loudly in a mixture of surprise, sensation, and irritation.
~Warn me next time!~ she snaps.
Mu, however, actually drops the cowry shell as she clutches at her own groin, gasping in shock and overstimulation.

I run as fast as I can after it and grab it, running past Mu in the process as she tries to regain her posture from a sudden, unexpected alien sensation.

I... don't actually know what to do with this. However, Mu doesn't have it anymore.

~Hey! Give that back!~ She makes angry noises at me again but doesn't seem to look like she wants to risk knocking it from my hands.
Maybe it would affect her too.

I point the slightly pointier part of the shell towards Mu and she freezes up, flippers in the air. ~Okay, Omega, let us not make decisions we can't undo here, you have no idea what's inside that.~
~Wait. You said it was going to sterilise me.~
~I wasn't lying about its outcome.~
~Is this a lethal toxin?~

Mu looks at me with an annoyed, guilty look. ~Coma-inducing.~
~You were going to put me into a coma?! How does that even guarantee sterility?!~ This is a first. I have not felt blinding outrage before.
~You can't go around trying to make Agents pregnant if you're less responsive than a sea cucumber, Omega!~
~I did not choose to be born this way any more than you chose to be born how you were, this is unreasonable and illogical!~
~I will not be lectured by a creature made to rub a tube inside the bodies of others!~

I should probably think of a way to safely get rid of this cowry shell before Mu talks me into stabbing her with it. Or before I accidentally stab myself with it.
I look around the birthing chamber room, but all I see are closed passages, bumps on the central column, and glowing blue fluid in rivulets and streams on the floor.

...And I just realised that Psi is gone. No idea where she went, either.

>>936323
She lies, murders, and betrays. She is unfit to hold the responsibility of creating life. Her behavior is in fact, the best argument there is against full control over the design and creation of life-- it can be misused by ill intent. What's stopping her from creating beings made to do nothing but kill? How long would her fight against the Vessel and its Agents have to last before she stooped that low? Regardless, this wouldn't make her obsolete, we're not making servitor creatures here. This is to create the next line of Agents. The Vesselmind considers even rogue agents to be necessary, as our orders are to contain and control them, not destroy them. Does that change how she sees things?

>death from pregnancy, slow and painful death
What percentage of pregnancies end in the death of the mother in these creatures? Has she done any real research or is she just guessing? How many different creatures did she study? Can that even be applied to Agents, whose bodies have been designed by an intelligence? The Vesselmind intended this all along, so it would make sense to design the bodies to easily survive the process. Aren't there Agents with roles associated with medical care, anyway?

Ask how long the coma lasts. If it's longer than a couple of days we'll just have to keep her at toxin-point as we move to a safer location, and get her restrained once we have access to the needed tools. Also obviously she should be sterilized using your own toxin. She doesn't want anything to do with the process anyway.

Tell Mu that she clearly has a desire to breed, the proof being in the fact that she responded to stimulation just a bit ago.

Since she's convinced that pregnancy would kill her, ask her if she'd like to breed without the fear of getting pregnant. Tell her that you have an ability to sterilize her. However, to apply sterilization, tell her that you'd need to breed with her.

Hopefully Psi took advantage of Mu's distraction to flee somewhere safe or hide somewhere in here, possibly by climbing the column. Though, it's likely Mu locked all the exits as a precaution to keep you from escaping and to keep out Vesselmind loyal servitors or Agents. Keep that in mind if you try to leave. Anyway, play back in your mind where your and Mu's vision was and estimate where Psi could have gone without notice. Also use your Agent bio-resonance signature sense to get a rough idea where Psi could be, since she'd probably be the nearest non-Mu signature.

Attempting to keep Mu under control by threat of using the coma toxin filled cowry shell on her would very likely not work since you'd have to get real close to her to use it. She knows she can flee if you try and she knows the ins and outs of Vessel much, much more than you so she will lose you. And even if you did get close enough, she'll fight you tooth and nail to prevent you from using it. With your non-existent fighting skill, it's rather likely you'd either end up stabbed or drop the shell.

Keeping Mu at bay with the threat of the coma toxin may work for now, but she might start getting the idea that the chance of neutralizing you is worth the risk to herself and make a run at yanking it back and sticking you with it. Or she might figure retreat to make a different attempt on you later would make more sense. But in case of the former, you ought to be ready to disable the shell. Perhaps you could just stab it deep into a fleshy part of the wall or floor. Even if the coma toxin would effect the Vesselmind, it's concentrated and dosed for one your size and would not have a effect on a creature as big as it. Still, point the shell at the wall or floor, move like you're gonna stick it in and see how Mu reacts. If she doesn't, stop at the last second and say that you don't know what this would do to Vessel, so you're gonna exercise caution, then ask her what it'd do. If she does react, stop and ask her what it'd do to Vessel. You'll have to figure out another way to dispose of the shell in that case. Maybe just chucking it across the chamber or into a deeper part of the blue goo and fleeing before Mu can get it back would work.

Ask her how often and in what common ways pregnancy harmed or killed the lesser creatures that she's observed. Has she asked herself if perhaps there was a reason for that by design for those specific creatures? Or if their self-reproductive design could be improved? Or how about asking why they even have the means of sexual reproduction in their designs at all? In what ways would building them from the ground up and gestating 'em in growth chambers be worse or better? And then, what makes Mu think that female Agents would suffer the same fate as creatures of a wholly different design? Especially when the Vesselmind's orders were for you to impregnate the loyal Agents. Would not making them suffer, to see their fellows die, at the whim of the Vesselmind greatly risk them turning against the Vesselmind? Also, it does not make sense for the Vesselmind to seriously risk killing a loyal Agent to birth a Agent that'll grow up into unknown loyalty.

Mu said she should be the one responsible for the design of a new generation of Agents, so why hasn't she done that with the assistance of the other rogue Agents? Can she not get the materials and make the means to do so in secret? Put her resources and energy into creating more rogue Agents of better design to advance her cause rather than getting in the way of the Vesselmind using a way of creating Agents she said is inferior. Why stop your opposition from doing something detrimental to themselves?

And also, what is so wrong with a species being capable of sexual reproduction? Done right it does offer the freedom of self-perpetuation without outside growth chambers which may or may not be under the control of others. And it'd be invaluable in situations where there aren't growth chambers and the means to craft a being to put in 'em. Just what does it take to build all the facilities to craft and grow a Agent level being, anyway? What specialized knowledge and materials does it require? What happens if the knowledge is lost or hoarded by a few? A few, or one, who'll decide by their own flawed criteria what will that species be.

Ask her, since she finds becoming pregnant so abhorrent, if she's made and administered her own sterilizer toxin to herself. And how about the rest of the rogue Agents? Say that if she did, then she would have done you a favor by already completing half your mission. Tell her that your mission is not only to impregnate loyal Agents but to sterilize disloyal Agents, and that the means to do so was built in to you. However, you're unsure how to go about sterilizing a Agent, since your memory implantation was interrupted (pointedly look at Mu.) If Mu hasn't already sterilized herself, then ask her why and say you'd be glad to do it for her. And if it requires mating to do so and you mess up and impregnate her, then you assume she has means she's crafted herself to abort a pregnancy, right? That was what she planning to use on Psi, right?

Grouse that if Vesselmind had fully explained the reasons behind it wanting to breed its Agents instead of being all need-to-know then perhaps Mu wouldn't be out to get you. As is, none of us know if there are valid reasons or if Vesselmind is going crazy or senile or just doing it out of boredom. Because if it's invalid or crazy reasons, then you'd break from the Vesselmind's direction and go against it. Ask Mu how much she would like to hold the threat of a coma toxin injection against Vesselmind's brain and make it tell her and everyone everything she and us would want to know, with no lies or omissions.

You can rub against those bumps on the pillar until a door opens, they're probably like control panels on the ship.

>I will not be lectured by a creature made to rub a tube inside the bodies of others!
Know that you have every right to be angry about about the insinuation that fulfilling your mission means you don't care about your fellow Agents. Maybe you want to interact with the people you mate with beyond the start of the process, and you would be a terrible and unproductive father if you didn't care for those carrying your young.
You can swear to her here and now that you will at least care about your fellow Agents, rogue or not, even beyond the parameters of your mission. It doesn't matter if she won't believe you; it's more for yourself so that you don't eventually turn out like her, so defined yet isolated by her mission it's almost sad.
Obsolescence doesn't seem that bad if you know your knowledge and experience can be passed down or preserved. And if the Vesselmind rejects you, you can figure out what to do from there.

>I just realised that Psi is gone
You can call out to her psychically, right? She can't be too far.

This thing about dying to reproduce makes no sense. Look at these hands, these are tool-using hands. You can speak to each other, transmit information. All of that is built towards gaining and using complex skills. Learning skills takes a lot of time and investment. What benefit or use could there be in wasting everything an individual's built up by killing them to start all over? Why would any lifeform ever develop that kills one of its parents to reproduce? Adding in death by general attrition, any such lifeform would be doomed to extinction.

Hell, look at your own chest. Those are made for feeding your offspring. How can you do that if you're dead? You're clearly designed to survive the birth of your offspring. Maybe for some creature that produces huge amounts of children at a time the death of one of the parents would be fine, but that's a different creature. How many births of your own species have you seen?

1/3 Omega 2019/06/19(Wed)15:41 No. 936433 ID: f0a059
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>send message to Psi
~Psi, are you alright?~
~Yes,~ says Psi. ~I have to go now. I am sorry. I did not know what I was agreeing to. I must speak with Rho immediately.~
~I did not know either!~
~I do not blame you, Omega, but please do not follow me.~
~Psi?~

She does not respond. I can tell she is there, and that she is leaving, but her channels are closed to me now.

I feel an unfamiliar pang of guilt and loss, and it does not do much to improve my mood. I growl at Mu.

I point the cowry shell at Mu in a threatening manner, but I take deep breaths. I will not act in anger alone. I am an Agent, I am mind and might combined.
Breathe.
Feel the Vesselmind. Calm. Focus. Attune.
I close my eyes and when I reopen them, I feel clearer. More lucid.
Mu is not willing to come any closer.

>bumps on the pillar
I have no idea how to work them if they are controls, and I do not want to risk doing something like accidentally venting myself to some other part of the Vessel less habitable for Agents.

>abuse of power
~You are demonstrating exactly your lack of suitability for this position.~ I squeeze more of my anger down the telepathic channels I have into Mu.
~I won't trust your judgement, breeder polyp!~
~How long are you prepared to create new life to aid you in your rogue mission? How many lives are you prepared to create and destroy to accomplish... what even is your goal?~
~I just told you!~
~Is that all? So let us say you succeed, and I sleep for eternity. What of your contempt for the Vesselmind? The other Agents cannot abide this, surely.~

~I am not alone in my dissent, polyp.~ Mu keeps her eyes on the shell I'm holding. ~The Vessel is not all powerful. It is no god, it is not even a ruler of any domain but its own insides. And even then, its influence is not all pervasive!~
I did not think of the Vesselmind as a deity to start with, but I am now slightly concerned Mu may be sick. The Vesselmind is a collective consciousness that we are both part of and that is part of us. To reject the Vesselmind in such a manner is almost like starting to believe your own hand is rebelling against you. This is troubling.
~I can feel your concern and I don't need it,~ snaps Mu. ~Consider where your knowledge of what the Vesselmind is and does came from, if you have the intelligence required for critical thought.~

2/3 Omega 2019/06/19(Wed)15:42 No. 936434 ID: f0a059
File 156098413059.png - (67.16KB , 800x600 , v-21.png )

>her theory is all wrong
~Mu, one other question. How many of these creatures did you see die?~
~Enough to know.~
~Very well, this line of questioning will go nowhere. A different question. Why would your biology include those...~ Words and concepts come to me as I try to remember, my memory expanding and flooding out into the collective subconscious knowledge of the Vesselmind. ~Why would you have those breasts, feeding glands for young, if you were intended to die? Is your faith in your own body so weak? Did you tamper with your own body? What would make you think lesser creatures are ever an adequate reflection on the weaknesses and sicknesses of Agents?~

Mu looks to the floor, mouth closed, annoyed. ~I am right.~
~I do have the intelligence for critical thinking, Mu, and I have doubts about the consistency and veracity of your conclusions.~
~They wasted brain mass on something with your purpose,~ she says, making more rumbling noises. ~Everything that makes you valuable to the Vesselmind is hanging between your legs and everything else is secondary. You won't last long as a loyal drone. Now, give me back that shell.~
~No.~
~I won't inject you with it.~

I find that, with the nuances of our communication peeling open as more of our genuine emotion bleeds through, she is not trying to deceive me. She is still annoyed by (and slightly afraid of) me, but it seems standing my ground and trying to reason with her has earned me some amount of respect.

>is she sterile
~Before I hand this back to you I suppose I have another question.~ I wince at the spike of irritation Mu expresses. ~Why did you not already sterilise yourself?~
~I was not willing to test a toxin on myself, Omega, I am not self-destructive.~
~You are also doing me a great disservice by assuming my concern begins and ends at the start of the process.~ I think back to my briefing. Yes, my mission parameters were merely to start things, but that cannot be all. ~I am going to oversee the entire process.~ Words and concepts flit into my mind. ~Insemination, conception, the many stages of pregnancy, birth, care for the newborn next generation, I will be overseeing it all.~
~You think you can supervise an untested process across two dozen creatures you have never met before, having only just learned to walk less than a spin ago?~
~I will do my best. It is all I can offer.~

Mu looks at me, and I feel like it is another disapproving look, but then rolls her head back and makes a strange rolling rumble-groan. ~Your naivete is dangerous! You are going to get someone killed, either way. Fine. I came here to do one thing and I failed. Keep in mind what has happened here. I have been active for two decades, I had an elaborate plan, and I tried my best. I failed. It will happen to you too. I am going to go back to designing better defenses now. Goodbye. Come near me with mating intentions and I'll bite your organs off.~
~Wait, what about your shell?~
~Don't scratch yourself with it. Consider it a birthday gift.~
~What?~
~I came here expecting a relentless, unthinking brute, an avatar of singleminded masculinity, not a wide-eyed idealist. Not sure why I was even concerned, you'll get yourself killed soon enough.~

Mu gives me a slow wave, turns, and walks to leave.

I, uh.

Huh.

3/3 MAP Omega 2019/06/19(Wed)15:42 No. 936435 ID: f0a059
File 156098414960.png - (28.80KB , 800x600 , v-22.png )

I close my eyes and reach out to the presences around me.
I am not entirely aware of the layout of the Vessel, but I do know there are four quadrants around a central hub.
The hub is a wide open space that allows traversal between quadrants.
The starboard quadrant is the biomass shaping quadrant, where I currently am, containing birthing chambers, servitor storage, and presumably other things.
The port quadrant is the habitat quadrant, where ocean, trench and island habitats are set up to study species found in those areas, as well as a more tightly guarded Outsider study facility.
The stern quadrant is the organic maintenance quadrant, which houses most of the Vessel's more vital organs, as well as various facilities for the health and function of Agents. We do not have permanent quarters but the closest equivalents would be here.
The bow quadrant is the neural nexus quadrant, where the neural nexus of the Vesselmind is situated, as well as various systems to allow integrating Agent biology more directly into the Vessel for control over its many systems in times of crisis.

I can also only sense some Agent signatures with enough clarity to detect locations. I know the signatures for Psi and Mu but the others, while different, I do not have existing memory or recognition of.
Some signatures feel stronger, and others feel... off. Not in how Mu was off, but like they're almost completely different.

...am I going to be stuck carrying this shell with me the entire time.

Mu still has a channel open to me as if she's expecting me to say something.

>>936435
Ask Mu why some Agents feel so different. Are they mutants?

You know, this wole "Our mates might die" thing is concerning. The Doubt Mu has sewn in us will persist if they are not immediately rectified.

The agent in stern is probably there or a reason. I bet if we wanted answers, she'd be more knowledgeable than most.

Even if that assumption proves incorrect, surely the agent assigned to critical maintenance is loyal, and therefore a proper breeding candidate, yes?

>>936438
Guess the only solution is to learn how the facilities work so we can use it as an infirmary. If the Vesselmind can grow agents, there is no reason why it couldn't repair agents as needed.

--

Maybe ask Mu if she can make an antidote so we don't have to mate every three days or risk severe consequences. This way we would have no foreseeable reason to force ourselves on anyone ever.

Mu may not be as rogue as she may seem. She may just be horrified of the birthing process. She may be willing to help us learn how the facilities work if we explain our desire to prevent any deaths rather than cause them. This may also move Mu back into the Vesselmind's good graces.

She also seems like the most interesting to debate.

Tell Mu you're curious why she'd leave a channel open to her. With the level of contempt she seemed to have for you, you'd think she wouldn't want to hear another word from you. Ask her what she was expecting leaving a channel open. And as long as she's listening, say you did not expect your confrontation to end that way. You thought it'd go way worse. You have a feeling you ought pay heed to those thoughts a lot going forward, considering what Mu said. It's gonna get harder.

As for the shell, in the immediate term hold on to it with both hands and keep it pointed away from you and anyone else. In the short term find something to wrap it in or a portable container to put it in. And in the long term find someone trustworthy who can use it to develop a anti-toxin or inoculation against the coma toxin. Failing that, find a way to safely dispose of it. Because having a way to effectively kill a Agent in mind and not body is way too dangerous to have around. Someone will get it in 'em and you can't have that.

Poke around the starboard quadrant for something to make the shell safe to carry. It'll also give you the opportunity to investigate the strange feeling Agent in this quadrant and see for yourself what's up with her.

>>936437
Omega's bioresonance signature sense might not be known to Mu, or even a completely new capability, so letting on that he can sense Agents anywhere on Vessel wouldn't be a good idea. And besides that, Mu may not answer truthfully or just tell him to see for himself. And considering how the trustworthiness of what anyone on Vessel says will have to be taken with a grain of salt, Omega ought to just see what is up with these odd Agents himself rather than trust another's account.

>>936435
"Your initial attempt at sabotage left me in a condition where I will die if I go more than three days without mating.
If the process may be harmful to other agents then having me forced to continually start it is something neither of us wants.
If you were to develop a cure for your own poison then there would be nothing forcing me to pursue mating.
If you meant what you said, then you are responsible for fixing the problem you created."

It does appear Mu is right when she says the Vessel is no god; it a mere body whose organs are conscious enough to form a community, and with that comes politics.

I know you may want to focus on your (expanded) mission, but it may help to follow some guidelines:
-Pay attention to how open people are with you from now on, even when you are open. Naivete is acting without understanding the difference between those who will respect you and those who will exploit you.
-Be wary if one part of the body seems to easily speak for the whole. As Mu demonstrates, it's a mental trap that could be common among yourselves and extremely worrying should they decide to overthrow the collective Vesselmind.
-Be open minded about the people you meet, even Rogues and Outsiders (i.e. the people with different sigs). They can be helpful assets to everyone in and of the Vessel.

Mu is like the immune system to the body that is the Vesselmind. As overzealous as she is, she will clearly protect anyone she cares about. Ask if there's anything here she does care about.
And tell her if she wants to be sterilized, your chamber is open. Or double down on your naivety by reassuring her of her loyalty, if not faith, to the Vessel.

>>936435
....Wait so everyone's in contact with one another more or less, and we're all supposed to be manifestations of the larger whole.

Ask Vesselmind if it's been feeling emotionally unwell lately. That might explain why so many of its agents are going berzerk recently.

While you have Mu's attention, ask her where's the nearest place you could get something to safely wrap or contain this shell before someone gets accidentally poked with it.

>>936495
But Omega won't just die if he goes more than three days without mating with a fertile Agent. According to the Vesselmind the toxin would cause him to die years sooner than he ought to, but suffering and impairment would come on much more quickly. And if he comes in contact with the blood of a any Agent of the Vesselmind's design it'd have the same reset effect as mating. So don't lie to Mu about this. Tell her what was told by the Vesselmind in full, with the stipulation that you haven't actually experienced the symptoms yet so can't say if this is true in whole or part. You'll have to try waiting three days without Agent mating or blood to check.

>>936489
>She also seems like the most interesting to debate.
Yeah, say that you liked arguing with her. You enjoyed the intellectual stimulation and would be alright with continuing doing so at some point, if she's okay with that.

>>936505
>Outsiders (i.e. the people with different sigs)
I highly doubt the Agents with the strange bioresonance signatures are Outsiders. Outsiders I figure from what was in the opening post of this quest that they are people from outside Vessel who are members of the native population of this planet.

Tell Mu you love her and blow her some psychic kisses.

Then make your way towards Stern quadrant.

1/3 Omega 2019/06/20(Thu)14:26 No. 936564 ID: f0a059
File 156106598354.png - (60.49KB , 800x600 , v-23.png )

>ask about weirdness in bioresonance signatures
I start to form the question, before I recall that my briefing (which I remember in more detailed chunks now) mentioned that this ability was one of two granted to me, with swiftness of learning being the other. I do not know if this meant it was an exclusive trait, but I suddenly feel openly volunteering this information to a rogue Agent could have dire ramifications.
Even if she does seem like she could be convinced otherwise. I am new, I do not know exactly what "rogue" is as a state beyond working against the Vesselmind's benefit. Is it a disease? Is it simply being mislead by introspection gone awry? Is there some other cause? It seems sad to me to be afraid and angry towards an intrinsic part of yourself and others.
Perhaps I should not dwell upon it too long. Maybe that is how it starts.

>ask Mu about what she cares about
~Mu?~
~What?~ She sounds annoyed, but keeps the channel open.
~You are a passionate individual with strong convictions. What has value to you? What do you care about?~

I am met with a sudden rush of confusion and the general sense I have asked a question Mu did not have an answer prepared for. She fills the silence in the channel with a murky mix of emotion, annoyance, sadness, pride, concern, love. Love. That is an interesting one. I do not think I have felt that one myself.

~I want to improve myself and others. I want to design servitors so powerful we won't ever need to fear the outside world again. I want to see my creations flourish without my constant supervision or revisions, I want them to function like elegant extensions of myself. I want to keep this place safe. The Agents, we're a family, I love them all, and I'm prepared to do things I otherwise wouldn't to keep them going. I'm an Agent, I'm prepared to kill for that. The Vesselmind, you, anything that might be a threat.~
~A... family?~
~We were all born by the Vessel, we might as well all be sisters.~
~Does that make me your brother?~
~...I suppose it does, but...~
~Wait.~ I pause and do some quick searching among the distributed consciousness of the Vesselmind for facts on population genetics. ~If we're related that makes my entire mission very, very poorly planned.~

Mu goes from lost in herself to slightly disgusted immediately. ~Well, congratulations on finding one more reason I don't want you trying to make me pregnant.~
~We cannot have the same genetics as each other, we have vastly different morphologies!~ And capabilities, I think but do not reveal just yet.
~But they have to be similar enough, else breeding would be impossible. And I know the Vesselmind is lacking in many areas, but it wouldn't devise an impossible mission knowingly. Well, Agent genetics are not my field of expertise, if that hasn't become obvious yet. Rho would be a better ask there, she's a dedicated Agent maintenance specialist.~

2/3 Omega 2019/06/20(Thu)14:26 No. 936565 ID: f0a059
File 156106599463.png - (127.58KB , 800x600 , v-24.png )

With enough focus, I can see Mu in my mind's eye, and it makes talking to her despite obstacles a lot less difficult.

>cure for toxin
~You are a lot more approachable at a distance,~ I say.
~You can't hurt me in any serious way when we're rooms away,~ says Mu. ~Get too close and I'm still going to bite you.~
~Understood,~ I say. ~If you no longer hate me for factors beyond my control, can you cure the toxin you infected me with? It has to be fought off by mating with other Agents, for whatever biochemical reason that is.~
~Direct flesh contact was supposed to cause harm, not fix it! Well, I suppose if you are worth letting live, you are worth keeping alive. I will work on a countermeasure. I did not expect to need one. Until then... I suppose you already have a treatment known to you, which happens to be your mission as well.~
~You were trying to incapacitate me to stop me from doing that, though!~
~I'm not an idiot, Omega, I know you're going to try and do it anyway. I am planning alternate solutions that do not require harming you or any other Agent. I will let you know when I have an antitoxin ready. If your symptoms get particularly dire, tell me and tell Rho. Rho is... currently not aware I even did this. She will not be happy, but if the situation is an emergency, we can work together.~
~Rho is who Psi said she was going to see.~
~It is not an unwise idea, if you've already sealed her fate.~
~I did not mean any harm!~
~Perhaps you will think more clearly about the consequences of your actions in future.~
~I could say the same to you! I still need to figure out a way to carry this shell without risking accidentally sending myself into a coma!~
~It wouldn't be permanent, the toxin will only cause about two or three days of unconsciousness until your body clears it.~
~Two or three days is how long I have before that other toxin you made would have its fullest effect!~
~Oh. Don't scratch yourself with it, then.~ She senses my frustration spike by a couple orders of magnitude. ~More helpfully, if you do, tell me immediately and where you are. I will take responsibility if you actually come to harm from my actions. ...Further harm.~

>offer sterility toxin
~I have a sterility toxin myself, designed to be administered to females that want to absolutely definitely opt out of this process.~ I am a terrible liar. Mu realises I'm hiding something immediately from my tiny trickle of guilt into the channel.
~It was to prevent certain Agents from breeding, wasn't it?~
~Maybe?~
~...Omega, you need to work on withholding information better than that. Still, I am aware of your mission, if you forgot that.~
~I bring it up,~ I say, trying to drag the conversation back to the original topic, ~to offer it to you.~
~No,~ says Mu immediately. ~I don't know what else it's designed to do. Also, I don't want to be impaired.~
~I thought you were terrified of getting pregnant?~
~I also don't want to break my arms but I haven't severed them to prevent that! Let me think about your offer.~
~Just let me know.~
~Your polite and cordial offer is welcome but...~ Mu exhales so loudly I can somehow see and hear it across a psychic link. That or she's somehow sighing complex emotions directly into me. ~I need to think. I am talking to Rho right now, maybe I am wrong about a lot of things.~

Mu pauses, and adds ~Be safe,~ before her channel closes off to me. I need to figure out some way to request channels open, I can't talk to Mu or Psi right now.

I wander towards the room with the strange signature.

3/3 Omega 2019/06/20(Thu)14:26 No. 936566 ID: f0a059
File 156106600483.png - (176.21KB , 800x600 , v-25.png )

I enter what I realise is a servitor storage chamber, where the walkable area is mostly designed for Agent inspection and mass dispersal of the servitors here. I see rows and rows of inert creatures, sometimes twitching, blood supplies interwoven into the Vessel's own systems.

My dim awareness of the Vessel's history tells me of a time when these creatures were mass-spawned for a battle that ended in a desperate retreat about five years ago, and the supposed deaths of less than half a dozen Agents. Many of them since were discovered not to be dead, but captive, and we are in a state now where the enemy is insurmountable and the intricate plans to rescue the lost Agents have fallen further and further down the priority list.

The soldier servitors are kept on standby in case we need them again, but no more have been spawned. We cannot hope to win a battle against the Outsiders.
Or, well. This is what the Vesselmind consensus was at the time. I'm far from a military genius.

I place the shell on a hard cartilaginous surface where I see an assortment of other strange shell and carapace based weaponry. It seems like an odd assortment of trinkets, but I somehow know and understand that these objects are all dangerous if not approached correctly. Not that it matters. I do not intend to fight anything any time soon.

I keep walking.

...I found the source of the bioresonance signature but it doesn't seem available. Not even basic existence verification channels open. It appears tangled in the body of a sluggishly moving soldier servitor and-- all I know is that it is not an Agent.

Not an Agent--

Outsider. My pulse races and I tense. Primal instincts, deep urges from the depths of my brain tell me to kill it, make it cease, make it dead. Break it end it. Threat. Threat.
I do not act on these urges right away, but I know I am in great danger now, and the fight-or-flight response is urging me to pick an option.

It looks at me, and yells out a complex series of sounds I don't understand.
It looks more terrified of me than the servitor currently keeping it pinned.
The soldier servitor is waiting for me to do something as it blindly fumbles to try and stay upright.

KILL THE INTRUDER. Their throat appears unprotected- attempt to bite it or constrict it using your hands. Do not stop until the INTRUDER has ceased respiration.

Disable its left arm first- it's the only part of it that seems to have equipment.

Kill it, study it, and create antibodies for it. If Outsiders are intruding on the vessel again, this one is a harbinger for many more.

>>936566
Then BOTH signatures are Outsiders. Why only two though? If they're attacking wouldn't they have done so in force?
First thought is this is a captive. Second thought is a spy who bit off more than he can chew.

...the other Outsider is in the same room as an Agent. Is that still the case? Has the signature moved? It's quite possible the other Agents have the situation under control.

Tell the servitor to keep the Outsider restrained, then escape for now and rush towards the central room, ask those Agents there why there's an Outsider in the soldier servitor room.

>>936566
Good news, you don’t have to worry about accidentally poking yourself with Mu’s shell anymore! Because you’re going to use it on this Outsider! It won’t be able to harm you if it’s in a coma!

Once you’ve incapacitated it with the shell, finish it off!

Okay calm down jeez.

Look at its wounds. Those are claw marks. The soldier servitor has no claws(what weapons are those? Piercing tentacles?), and seems to be almost incapable of fighting anyway. This is an Outsider which has been beaten up by Agents and then NOT killed. If you kill it, the other Agents will be angry at you.

an Outsider huh. do not kill just yet as taking it in alive may yield a better award as you can learn and get more info from their kind and see how much of a threat they really are to you and the others.

first restrain/capture it by either knocking it unconscious or keep it awake long but unable to flee from/attack you long enough as you try to learn it language.

It seems to be more or less disabled already. Without our intervention, the servitor would probably finish it off. What to do...

The port quadrant holds the Outsider study facility. I propose that we transport the Outsider there.
Alive, that is. I think that if we tried to knock it out, we could kill it. We have no idea how much force to use, so that's a problem.

So first of all, try to command the servitor to keep the Outsider pinned down until you get close. Once you're there, you should take over in restraining it while commanding the servitor to attack the items the Outsider is wearing. By removing all of its gear, it should pose little threat thereafter, and would be much safer to transport.

During, or after all of this, you should try to search your memory of any info about the Outsiders. What has the Vesselmind learned about them so far? I do think that this is an excellent time to use our fast-learning ability.

So after the Outsider is disarmed, you should release the Outsider and command the servitor to stand by. Of course, don't let the Outsider leave the chamber. Move around the Outsider to observe it, try to communicate with it, touch it, etc. Once our curiosity is sated, do some handholding to move it to the Outsider study facility.

>>936566
It's clearly damaged, or its artificial casings are broken. Either way we now have a critical intelligence asset. Do not break it.

If it dies, we lose all possible chance of gathering information safely. If it lives, we can potentially arrange for the reacquisition of lost agents. Attempt telepathic contact. If that fails, poke it. Repeatedly. In the face.

>>936593
Seconding.

We should message someone and try to alert the Vesselmind. They might want to study or assimilate the Outsider.

Use that coma inducing toxin. Let the others figure out what to do with it.

Direct the soldier to restrain it.
The sound's it's making are how it communicates.

Outsider is clearly terrified. It probably has lost any will to harm, but could still act unpredictably and violently in an attempt to save it's life.

It shouldn't be here. You must learn it's purpose for coming here.

Perhaps if you made physical contact with it, you could sense it's thoughts.

Do not approach until the soldier has it properly restrained.

Oh derp I didn't read the description of the map. This Outsider should definitely be taken to the study facility. It might be an escapee...

Grab those primal instincts and fight-or-flight response and throw 'em overboard 'cause you're a Agent, not some dumb soldier servitor. Your strength is your wits, so focus! You need mental clarity right now!

Pull together every memory of general Outsider knowledge you have that would be pertinent to this situation and go over it. What are their physical capabilities? Sensory capabilities? Technological capabilities? What known weapons and gear do they have? What are their means of communication? Previous Outsider infiltration and the results thereof. Use it to estimate the risks here.

This Outsider somehow got aboard Vessel without raising a alarm. Most likely it had some means of masking itself from Vessel's senses which failed, allowing you to sense its bioresonance signature. Considering the recent damage to its suit, that was most likely how it was masked. You say recent because the Vesselmind nor any Agent or other entity of Vessel has sensed this Outsider's signature and investigated before you did or raised a alarm. It's fairly likely that backup is already on the way, but don't count on that. Now, how did its suit get damaged?

Considering the soldier servitor is operating sluggishly, a possible theory is that this Outsider drugged the servitor while it was dormant. Whether this was to attempt to remove it from Vessel for study, as part of a prelude to a attack or some other reason is unknown. This was only partially effective as the servitor woke up when the drug was administered and attacked the Outsider.

The possibility of sense masked Outsiders infiltrating Vessel also raises the possibility this Outsider is not alone but a member of a pair or team of infiltrators. Do a visual sweep of this chamber for any signs of other Outsiders, keep on auditory alert and continually check your bioresonance signature sense. Also note any Outsider gear or pieces of its suit you see and their location. That will help figure out what happened here.

All things considered, the best course of action would be to capture this Outsider for interrogation and study. You will need assistance in this. Open every channel you can and call out for help, yelling that there is a intruder here. If you've got some memory of how to hit Vessel's intruder alert telepathic "button," or even just a general alert, hit it now. If you get a response, then maintain position monitoring the Outsider from a distance until assistance arrives.

If you can open a channel to the weakened soldier servitor, do so and request its status and order it forward to attempt to pin down the Outsider. Likewise, if you can mentally link with the dormant soldier servitors in this chamber, do so and wake them up. Have them block the exits, scout the chamber for other Outsiders and encircle this Outsider. The encirclement will then pile on and pin the Outsider down, whereupon you can strip and restrain it.

However, if you are not able to call for assistance from the rest of Vessel and unable to command the soldier servitors, then the safest course of action would be to sprint to the nearest Agent to report this. Then they can put Vessel on high alert and call for a team equipped to capture a Outsider to back you up. But before you leave, hurry and grab any equipment the Outsider dropped you can see. You don't know if any of it is a weapon or other hazard the Outsider could use against the capture team, so best remove it so the Outsider can't use it. And if the Outsider leaves this chamber, it can still be tracked by its bioresonance signature, so it can't hide anywhere on Vessel.

>>936571
>Then BOTH signatures are Outsiders. Why only two though? If they're attacking wouldn't they have done so in force?
The port quadrant contains the tightly guarded Outsider study facility, so most likely the Outsider signature in the port quadrant is a captive contained in that facility.

>>936572
>Good news, you don’t have to worry about accidentally poking yourself with Mu’s shell anymore! Because you’re going to use it on this Outsider!
No! The coma toxin is designed to work on Agents, not Outsiders. It could be ineffective on Outsiders, fatal or have some other unwanted effect. So no using Agent coma toxin on Outsiders. Only use known effective pharmacological means of incapacitating Outsiders.

You do want to hide your ability to detect, discern, and track biosigs, right? Screaming immediately (and irrationally) across your network would also dissuade anyone to think this meeting is more than chance. You were just looking for this Rho, right?

Rationally, you're too valuable an asset to risk your assets in combat. But if you're curious, you could try to subdue the creature. If it's already subdued, and it looks pretty subdued now, you can point them in the direction to the "habitats", or wait for someone from there.

Also, try to look for the context or meaning of their sounds there. It's probably how they communicate. For example: If they make any repeated sounds here, it's probably along the lines of "no".

>>936566
Order the servitor to stand down, and attempt to vocally ask the outsider why it is here.
This could be an intelligence asset. The Vesselmind is likely correct that a conflict would not be survivable, so the best course of action is to ensure the outsiders understand that a fight would be bloody and costly for both sides, and neither side would gain anything from it.
You can learn quickly. Learn how to communicate.

Take cover. Check for a soldier servitor more suited for live capture, awaken it and sic it on the outsider.

1/3 Omega 2019/06/21(Fri)16:29 No. 936699 ID: f0a059
File 156115975814.png - (28.57KB , 800x600 , v-26.png )

>kill
>don't kill
>KILL
>DON'T KILL
>KILL
>DON'T KILL

One of these actions is reversible. The other is not. I will refrain from killing this creature. For now.
I reach out to the soldier servitor.
~Status.~
The servitor is in a dreamlike state, sluggish, unable to respond coherently to me. I piece together the shreds of what little lucidity it has.
It appears to have been woken by its blood connection to the Vessel being unexpectedly severed, which explains its sorry state.
Typically, the waking process involves a surge of adrenal hormones and counteragents for the metabolic suppression hormones keeping the servitors on standby, requiring very few resources to sustain.
This servitor was forcibly awakened and is trying to function while pumped full of chemicals trying to keep it asleep.

And yet, in this severely weakened state, it appears to be suppressing this intruder.

Either this intruder is not the threat I initially appraised it as, or this is a ploy to lure me into a trap. Survival necessitates I take the latter assumption.

It is still making noises at me and quivering. I wave the servitor away, as it is more of a threat to itself in its present state than anything. I reach into some of the other sleeping soldier servitors and command them to wake properly. The closest confirms, in a deeper dream state, but I feel it jolt in awareness as blood surges into its cortical cluster. I feel a cascade of surges as more awaken.
It takes some time to wake a stored servitor properly without causing undue damage to its circulatory system, so until one of them awakes fully, I will make sure the intruder goes nowhere.

I walk towards it, and address it on local broadcast, as it has no channels for me to focus on.
~Identify, intruder.~
It stares up at me and makes more noises I do not understand.
My next burst is accompanied by a guttural growl as my patience wears thing. ~IDENTIFY, INTRUDER.~
It flinches and covers its broken shell with its free arm.

My growl turns into a low, rumbling roar as I bare my teeth. ~IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR PERISH.~ My violent instincts start to resurface. I am an Agent. Natural killer. Immune response to Vessel threats. Seize it, break it, kill it, rip its life out-- no, instinct is useless if allowed to surpass intellect. I must focus.

It curls up into a ball away from me, like a confused servitor.

Well, I tried to talk to it. It does not appear to have the capacity for communication on a level I can bring myself down to understand.
I might as well be trying to talk to a fish.

2/3 Omega 2019/06/21(Fri)16:29 No. 936700 ID: f0a059
File 156115977056.png - (27.09KB , 800x600 , v-27.png )

I reach out to the Vesselmind to ask for assistance in trying to understand the sounds of Outsiders, but, just as Phi found, no answers seem to be coming if I address the Vesselmind.
I instead try to recall any experiences we have had with Outsiders, only to be met with a brief flurry of images I cannot understand.
My choices are either silence or too much information for me to process meaningfully. Great.

>make physical contact
I am dubious that sullying myself by touching something from outside the Vessel is a wise idea.
But perhaps if I did it properly...

I grab for the Outsider's ruined head shell, and try to rip it away. They make more noises, louder and quicker, and tense up.
I grip it with both hands and try to pull it away harder, and they flail while screaming and start frantically trying to pull my arms away, but their arm strength seems significantly lesser to my own.
I hear something crack and the shell comes away. The intruder makes a very loud scream. I throw the pieces of the shell to one side. It appears to have bleeding scratches from where the shell attached.

I move my head closer to its head and stare into its eyes, grabbing its head and keeping it held tightly while it just breathes faster and faster, making noises I still can't comprehend.

I touch my forehead to its forehead and shove my skull forcibly against its skull. It's difficult to do, the length of its snout makes angling my head harder. ~IDENTIFY, IDENTIFY, LISTEN TO ME AND IDENTIFY!!~

For all my psychic volume, not a single thing seems to be transferring--

3/3 Omega 2019/06/21(Fri)16:29 No. 936701 ID: f0a059
File 156115978957.png - (231.30KB , 800x600 , v-28.png )

One of the soldier servitors darts around me and lashes its tongue out to make contact with the intruder's head.
It tersely informs me that a relay is being established.

~<outsider thought translation in progress> [TRANSLATION ERROR] [TRANSLATION ERROR] [FEAR] [FEAR] [FEAR] [PANIC] [NOT WANTED] [LOSS OF PROPERTY] [PROPERTY DAMAGE] [MORTAL FEAR] [MORTAL FEAR]~
~Identify,~ I say through the newly opened channel.

The Outsider's eyes widen and it stares in awe or horror up at me, shaking.
~[COMPREHENSION] [CONFUSION] [CONFUSION] [TERROR] [FEAR] [RECOGNITION] [FEAR] [FEAR] [MINOR PAIN] [FEAR]~
~Identify.~
~[UNDERSTANDING]~ The creature makes more of those useless mouth sounds.
~Tell me your name through this channel.~
~[CONFUSION]~ More sounds. ~[CONFUSION] [CONFUSION] [FEAR]~

Truly, the telepathic relay is a marvel of bioengineering, the use of which knows no bounds in its applicability and success rate.

>>936701
Tell it you're very unimpressed by its inferior psychic capabilities.
Start asking yes/no questions, tell it to nod for yes and shake its head for no.
Here's some:
Did it wake the servitor? Did other Agents cause the wounds on its body? Are there more intruders? It can hold up a number of fingers to indicate how many. Was it previously held prisoner and escaped? If not, did an Agent leave it here?

Once questioning is over, tell it you are going to bring it to the holding facility here.

The creature has identified itself; its type communicates thoughts and ideas through verbal mouth sounds. They likely cannot even speak through telepathic means like you can, and that any comprehensible information has been relayed is a miracle in itself. Is there any way to reduce its fear? Can you safely give it means to communicate with you properly?

Also, if there is any trap, this creature is nothing more than bait. It is wounded, terrified, and mewling. It will be more useful to seek information from the infiltrator than to kill it.

>>936701
It seems to understand somewhat better than communicate. You could try 'yes/no' answers while it gets used to having a Servitor up its brain. Just establish an effective method of communicating the yes and no, such as holding up limbs or thinking certain thoughts.

First of all "I don't understand your mouth-speech, so cease squealing. Intent must be communicated clearly. Failing that, we resort to simpler means," seems like a good line.

*Ask where it came from (have it point in the direction)
*Ask whether there were others of its kind with it
*Ask whether it woke the Servitors.
*Ask whether it was harmed by the Servitor - if not, ask whether it was harmed by something like yourself (could be a clue to the location of another Agent)
*Ask whether it needs any medical assistance
*Ask it to pantomime what it is here for
*Ask whether it is here to seek harm to the vessel or anything in it

The INTRUDER is clearly too primitive to communicate properly. Make a soldier kill it.

Order him to think about his job and function.
Once enough soldiers are awake, physically carry him to the outsider study section.

Tell it to stop and think or you're going to bite its big snout off.

>>936701
Pet the intruder's head until it calms down

Hey, don't knock the servitor for not having a better telepathic relay system. It was built to be a soldier, not a interrogator or translator. Give it a pat on the head and tell it it did good taking the initiative creating a relay to the Outsider for you.

The Outsider obviously does not have any telepathic ability on its own, instead communicating via sound; A method you have no understanding of. It can understand you, but does not know how to speak over the relay. This will make getting any nuanced or detailed info out of the Outsider much harder. But on the bright side, it has zero experience hiding its emotions or thoughts over a telepathic channel so it will not be able to lie to you. Likewise, it will not be able to detect if you are lying. Oh, and it'll probably also give you a bit of warning in case the Outsider is gonna try anything rash so you can stop it before it does.

Make sure you restrain at least one of the Outsider's wrists, just in case it gets the idea it's situation is hopeless and tries to end its own life (like slitting its own throat or wrists with a shard of its shell or attacking you or a soldier servitor) rather than face whatever fate awaits it on Vessel. Also in case it tries to rip the soldier servitor's tongue away from its head.

Order one or two soldier servitors to sweep this chamber for any more Outsiders or signs that other Outsiders were here. They're also to collect any loose Outsider gear, materials or anything else obviously non-Vessel made, pile it next to the exit and guard it until it is retrieved by a Agent.

First off, tell the Outsider that it will live, unharmed, and be placed in confined living quarters on Vessel if it is non-hostile, compliant and answers truthfully to the utmost of its ability. Ask if it understands; Nod its head for yes, shake it for no. Hopefully that'll give it some hope and start to wind down the Outsider's fear so you can get some coherent info from it.

Tell the Outsider you do not understand its communication sounds. Say you use telepathy to communicate, which is being relayed by the servitor linked to its head. Tell the Outsider to instead try and form the words of its response in its mind so they go over the telepathic relay. For when that fails, tell the Outsider we will fallback to head nodding for yes, head shaking for no, pointing, fingers for numbers and general hand gestures.

1. Ask the Outsider what its name and function/job is. Do not expect you'll be able to get a answer via telepathy so pass over this if you don't miraculously get one.
2. Ask if it came aboard Vessel alone. If not alone, then how many others came aboard with it?
3. Ask if it is armed or has anything potentially hazardous to you on its person. If it's not armed, was it armed when it came aboard. If others came with it, then were they armed? If it was armed, ask it to point towards what its weapons were.
4. Ask if there are any Outsiders aboard Vessel that did not come aboard with it that it knows of. (This is to check if it knows of the Outsider already in captivity on Vessel.)
5. Ask if it cut this soldier servitor's umbilical (point towards the sluggish servitor to make clear what a soldier servitor is.) If so, was that action taken with the intention to kill or disable the servitor before it activated? Was it done so on the belief the servitor would remain dormant? Was it done with the intent to remove the servitor from Vessel for study? Was cutting every dormant soldier servitor's umbilical its intent? Was what it attempted to do part of the prelude to a imminent Outsider attack or boarding attempt? (Killing the Vessel defenses they know of before boarding would make sense.)
6. Ask it to point to what inflicted the injuries upon itself. (Almost certainly the soldier servitor, but still a good idea to check.)
7. Ask it to point to generally where it came aboard Vessel. (You'll get the Outsider to lead you to there, but not right too it, before you bring it to the Outsider study facility.)
8. Ask if there are any other Outsiders waiting for its return once it was done here. If so, ask if they're expecting it within more or less of a quarter, half or whole day.
9. Ask it to point to what means it used to get aboard undetected.
10. Ask how big a threat do the Outsiders consider Vessel and its inhabitants. Are they going to continue attacking Vessel until they are successful in destroying us? Is there any possible way to end hostilities?

Once you're done with questioning the Outsider for now, tell it we're leaving and to get to its feet and put its arms behind its back. You'll keep the relaying servitor linked to the Outsider, so you'll have to hold the Outsider's wrists together behind its back with one hand from the side while you walk. Order the remaining active soldier servitors with no orders to act as your escort.

>>936710
No, we will not be killing this Outsider. Besides potential for further intel extraction, Omega doesn't know how hard it is to get a live Outsider onto Vessel. Vesselmind or a Agent may need one for study or testing. One thing Omega knows they could definitely use a Outsider for is designing a better telepathic relay.

Good. Good. This is going somewhere.
Have Patience.
The outsiders body has it's own chemicals it must process through before it can become fully coherent, much like the soldier servitor. Except in this case, it must come down from an exceedingly panicked state.

With an exception of the soldier maintaining the relay, have all others soldiers slowly step away from the outsider. Give it some breathing room. You as well. Speak with it with less force for now.

Ask it a number of simple, meaningless questions until it's comfortable with the interface. Then properly interrogate it.

Also ask the Outsider if it was aided in getting aboard Vessel by anyone on Vessel. Anyone from Vessel? (The captured Agents?) What about being aided in general? Did the Outsider get intel on Vessel from one on or from Vessel?

Additionally, ask if the Outsiders are tracking Vessel's location. If so, is it intermittently or continually?

Try to get the Outsider to slow down its communication. The translation could catch mental images better so you could can associate those to the right noises. Understanding their language could prove useful, especially if they assume you don't.

Once you're done interrogating him, you can show him two choices: stay (in the Port) or go (outside). And hope he makes the smart choice.

Its headgear came off. Good. Remove the rest of the gear as well.

1/3 Omega 2019/06/22(Sat)17:01 No. 936812 ID: f0a059
File 156124811211.png - (259.02KB , 800x600 , v-29.png )

>pet intruder
No. If I make physical contact with it again I do not know if I can stop myself from craving its immediate destruction.

>other soldiers
I keep the other soldier servitors awake but order them to keep distance and not to interfere without my explicit permission.
I also tell them to guard the exits to this chamber and find any and all traces of Outsider artifacts and gather them in one location.
They are made to follow orders, and they follow them well. They scatter without a noise and get to work, taking a wide berth around the intruder.

>communication through sound
What a useless medium. What if you cannot make the sounds? I do not think I can make sounds like that. My airways allow for expressive sounds, yes, but not these complex polytimbral sequences.
What if you are in a situation where you cannot make the sounds? If I started applying pressure to this Outsider's throat they would no longer be able to communicate.
What an incredible design flaw.

~I am incredibly unimpressed by your psychic capabilities,~ I tell it, via the servitor.
~[CONFUSION] [UNCERTAINTY] [MILD ANNOYANCE]~
~I do not know what the noises you are making mean, but I believe they are some form of communication attempt. As the noises do not hold any meaning to me, we will need to resort to more primitive methods of communication. Hold up your left arm for yes, and your right arm for no. You do understand these concepts of 'left', 'right', 'yes' and 'no', surely?~

The Outsider takes a few seconds to process the admittedly more complicated message, and shakily raises its left arm.
I nod in approval. ~Just to verify, did you understand my instructions?~
The intruder raises their left arm a little higher. ~[FEAR] [UNCERTAINTY] [EXCITEMENT] [UNDERSTANDING] [UNDERSTANDING] [MILD RELIEF]~

>questions
I elect to skip asking for name and function as this primitive method of communication will not allow for such nuances.
~Did you come here alone?~
Left arm. Yes. ~[ANXIETY] [GUILT] [FEAR] [FEAR]~
~Are you certain you came here alone?~
Yes. ~[FRUSTRATION] [FRUSTRATION DIRECTED TO SELF] [REGRET] [ANXIETY]~
~Did you wake the servitor?~
~[CONFUSION]~
~Did you wake up the entity that attacked you?~ I suppose the relay is not so flawless from me to them either.
The creature makes a shrugging motion that I suppose I can interpret as not knowing.
~Was it awake when you came in?~
Unknown.
~Did you damage anything when you arrived to this chamber?~
The intruder immediately swings their right arm upwards. ~[PANIC] [FEAR] [FEAR]~
~If the servitor was not awake when you arrived in this chamber, and you did not cause damage to anything, what woke up the servitor?~
Another panicked shrug.
~Please point in the direction you came from.~
The intruder looks around and shrugs again. ~[EMBARASSMENT] [CONFUSION] [LOSS OF LOCATION] [OUTSIDE] [TRANSLATION ERROR]~
~Were you harmed by the servitors?~
The Outsider looks at their various scratches and scrapes and looks like it is thinking. It slowly raises its right arm. No.
~Were you harmed by something like me?~
The Outsider nods. ~[SUDDEN RECOLLECTION] [EMBARASSMENT]~ Then it raises its left arm. ~[RELIEF]~
~That nodding gesture. Does that also mean yes to you? If it provides less cognitive friction, use that gesture instead.~
They nod, start raising their left arm, then lower it again and nod more enthusiastically.

I am feeling a lot less bloodthirsty as my ability to communicate with this creature grows. I suppose my instincts towards foreign bodies are not so strong when I can understand them.
Still, this presents an opportunity for further understanding and study. It is not my task but I know there will be an Agent whose task it is, so I will move this Outsider there.

~You are very compliant. If you remain compliant, you will remain unharmed and will now be relocated to the Outsider chamber onboard the Vessel. Stand up.~
The Outsider stands, and slowly reaches at the back of its head and hesitantly pokes the servitor's tongue making contact with its head. ~[CONCERN] [ANXIETY]~
~The relay is necessary for us to speak.~
They look down to the floor, and slowly nod. ~[UNDERSTANDING] [UNHAPPINESS] [SURRENDER]~
~Put your arms behind your back.~
It complies. I make sure to restrain its arms, and order some soldier servitors to walk with me.

2/3 Omega 2019/06/22(Sat)17:02 No. 936813 ID: f0a059
File 156124812613.png - (246.04KB , 800x600 , v-30.png )

No sooner do I start reaching the passage between the biomass shaping quadrant and the hub when one of the much stronger bioresonance signatures comes increasingly closer.
Before long, I am met with another Agent, whose bioresonance and psychic emanations are much, much stronger than my own.
She is taller than me. My head is at her chest level.

~Omega,~ she says. ~You are not designated nor designed for this task. Release this Outsider immediately and return to breeding duty.~
~This is a simple task,~ I tell her. The Outsider seems to recognise this Agent and immediately tenses up. I hear nothing but panic and fear through the relay.

She stares me down. With a thought, the soldier servitor forming the relay snaps its tongue back into its head. From behind the Outsider, I do not see any marks or signs of trauma in the back of its head, which leaves me unclear how the impromptu relay was formed.
With another thought, the soldier servitors fall back from me and fall into a formation behind this Agent.

~I do not believe I asked you a question, Omega.~
~You are not in charge. Agents are all equal in authority. Only the Vesselmind's directives take higher precedence. I know this.~

The Outsider is thrown to the floor by the soldier servitors and they start ripping to shreds whatever external carapace layers it still has on it, while it begins screaming and writhing around trying to escape to no avail.

The Agent, who I know to be Delta, walks closer to me, rage bubbling.

~There is no force but the Vesselmind that will give me instructions on how things work here,~ she says, getting closer.
I start feeling a little afraid. ~This is something we all know, I know you know this, we are connected, what are you talking about?~ She doesn't feel rogue like Mu was, but her sense of presence is threatening to overwhelm my sense of self. I feel like I'm being psychically squeezed in some way.
~You were made to impregnate Agents, Omega. Get back to your function. I was made to handle unexpected situations, not you. Have you spent almost a full hundred orbits in active service without resorting to sleep even once? Of course not. You are not even one orbit alive. Get out of my presence, freshborn. I am Delta, and I do not take orders from Agents.~

The panicked howls of the Outsider after my explicit promise of keeping them unharmed boils my own blood. ~I promised the Outsider they would not be harmed if they remained compliant. You have violated the trust I worked to establish.~
~Trust? Outsider?!~ Delta rumbles at me. ~You naive freshborn, get out of my sight before I--~ She pauses. ~Have you experienced conflict with another Agent before, Omega?~
~Yes.~
~Which Agent?~
I immediately feel a sudden sense that naming Mu is perhaps not going to be a good idea. If Delta is not rogue, it will not lead to good things for Mu, and I feel like Mu has enough potential to be redeemed that I do not want to risk subjecting her to whatever this overbearing, aggressive Agent wants. If Delta is rogue, I suspect she might drag Mu further away from the Vesselmind.
~I do not recall.~
~You are lying, Omega.~ Delta lunges forth and--

3/3 Omega 2019/06/22(Sat)17:02 No. 936814 ID: f0a059
File 156124813710.png - (11.75KB , 800x600 , v-31.png )

Her teeth are around my throat.
This is not-- this is not even-- an Agent cannot kill another Agent, this would severely harm every other part of the Vesselmind--
Her teeth are around my throat.

~Tell me who it was, Omega.~
~You are sick! Defective!~
~I will not hesitate to end your life if you do not tell me who it was.~
~You cannot do this!! You would feel the backlash the strongest!! It would destroy you!!~
~Do you know how many rogue Agents I have killed before, Omega?~
~I am not rogue! I am not rogue!!~
~Stop protecting rogue Agents and befriending Outsiders, and I might even begin to believe you when you say that. Now, who was it?~
~There's still a chance she can be--~
~There is no redemption for rogue Agents, Omega!~ Her teeth start to sink in. I feel blood trickling from skin punctures. Adrenaline means I feel no pain, but I can still feel my blood running down my neck.
~Mu!~ I cannot stop myself from divulging this information as much as I try to resist. I hate myself right now. ~Mu. It was Mu.~
I really hate myself. I have betrayed the trust now not only of this Outsider but now Mu as well. I... I already felt ill from the sudden panic, but now I feel more ill.

~Mu is rogue, then.~ Delta only slightly releases her bite. ~And return to your function immediately, before I judge you to be rogue as well, Omega.~
~I am loyal to the Vesselmind,~ I say. ~I am not subordinate to other Agents, and I do not believe any one of us can be the sole judge of--~
~Make yourself useful,~ she says, ~and start performing your function. Tell me how it works. I do not understand the process fully but I believe it is mostly conducted past the initiation stage by body processes that do not require conscious input. I should at least make use of you before you are found to be terminally rogue.~

I... I do not know how to even put adequate discrete concepts to the complex cloud of negative emotions I am feeling right now.

~Well?~ Delta releases my neck and stands up fully. ~Do it.~

Communicate that carrying out your directive while under duress is difficult. You WILL comply, but the situation must be de-escalated first.

The biological functions which govern your reproductive capacities have a lower priority than your fight/flight survival functions. You'll need to be calmer/less frightened to move forward with her request.

You... want to mate? Right here? In front of the Outsider? But we would be showing our hand, and our genitals, to them. They must not learn the secret of reproduction, lest their numbers climb a thousandfold!

You're trying to protect Mu in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons, idiot. Tell Delta you have orders from the Vessel to contain and control rogues, and to explicitly NOT destroy them. Why do your orders conflict with hers? Is she killing rogues on her own volition? Or is she lying about having killed them, to intimidate you?
As for her, tell her you have defenses against rogues forcing themselves on you. If she tries that, you will consider her to be a rogue, since apparently the definition is arbitrary enough she can use it as a threat to get her way. You will defend yourself, and sterilize her.

Forget redemption, then. She is powerful and wise. Surely she can spare two minutes to teach a new Agent why killing rogues is better than containing them, in direct contradiction of the Vesselmind's orders.

Defusing the situation is needed if we are even going to attempt to "show her". Let her know that you can't do so together under a hostile situation. Also, she's cute and you should tell her so. Maybe it'll throw her off enough to calm the situation.

>>936814
Fuck no.

Delta is corrupted. There is no way the Vesselmind planned for this to happen like this. If we die, we die. Regardless of the reality of Mu's status, our current state does not automatically mean Mu is rogue, which Delta seems to be implying.

If we die, then the Vesselmind will simply create another in our place. We are ultimately of no importance at this stage. The Outsider, and even more so than that, a corrupt agent twisting the system into their own sick idea of what it should be, is. Delta is outdated and broken and we can't succumb to their tyranny.

--

Idk, try punching her in the snout, that works with sharks.

Psych analysis: It seems Delta is under orders, or has interpreted her orders as such, to be the sole entity who has to terminate rogue agents. Her lack of inhibitions in carrying out her extrajudicial* duties can be attributed to the sustained mental damage and the self-referenced sleep deprivation. Since she is appearing to fail to assess the collateral damage to the rest of the Vesselmind, she may be need to delay handling rogue Agents, until she corrects the latter issue, at least.

Unfortunately, you are not a technician** and even if you are you lack the authority or expertise to be listened to. You do have the liberty of both providing a demonstration of your mission and administering treatment at the same time.

For the sake of yourself, Mu, and the long term health of the Vesselmind, you need to rock her world.

* You really do need to form some sort of tribunal, committee, or consensus to properly deal with rogues. Even if termination is warranted, however unlikely, the trauma can at least be prepared for, instead sudden if done impromptu as Delta would.
** or a lawyer.

It don't work like that you crazy fish lady.

You're wounded, panicking and in bad situation. All that counts against getting in the proper mindset for breeding. She's not going to get anything from you. Try leaving to get your wounds cleaned up. Tell her you'll seek her out when you're ready to breed. What you're actually going to do is try and find Mu. Warn her.

So this is the kind of thing Mu was very likely thinking of when she said all that stuff about how you'll get yourself killed. Probably why she let you keep the coma toxin cowry shell too; It was for self-defense. Or, more likely, she thought you'd coma poke Delta or another threat to Mu as you flailed about as they killed you. And then you left the shell behind, you bloody fool. It would have been so valuable to have now.

Slap down all your urges to engage in diplomacy, rational discussion, argument, explanation, sharing too much info, and especially back talking. You do not attempt to talk down a angry giant Agent that's utterly sure of her authority and power when she's a hair's breadth from ripping your throat out if you don't comply. She expects you to do your function, and only your function, as she knows it. And she only knows what Psi knows, which is just the breeding part.

Delta does not know your full function and mission; To sterilize rogue Agents. And the definition of a rogue Agent is one that has strayed too far from the Vesselmind's values, which fits Delta to a T. You'll sterilize Delta, eventually. When it won't get you killed because your feelings are a open book to Delta, she'll demand to know what you did to her and you can't lie for shit.

You'll have attempt to mate with Delta, even though it goes against your mission for the moment. You can't carry out your mission if you're dead and Delta will kill you if you don't try to breed her. Even if you successfully do so, there'll still be some time to find a way to end her pregnancy before she gives birth and then sterilize her.

Tell Delta she'll need to lay on her back and spread her legs for you to mate with her. Once you're both in position, focus visually and tactility on what's below her neck to try and get your arousal up. Alto try rubbing your genitals, (gently) rubbing her nipples and genitals and asking her to gently touch or rub your genitals. Try remembering how it felt to mate with Psi to attempt to mentally block out some of Delta's psychic aura. Keep going even if things aren't working, letting your feelings of rising frustration and fear flow freely to Delta. And in that case, eventually say it's a combination of being so soon since you bred Psi and your fear response being continually triggered keeping you from being able to mate. The latter suppresses your mating capability because during mating both parties are in a vulnerable position, thus it should preferably be done in a safe location and when both parties feel safe.

And for future reference, do you even know how to apply your sterilization ability? Is it via sex and indistinguishable from normal mating to the female or is it by some other way?

>>936814
Tell her you can’t. You’ve already bred with Psi and you need to rest before you’re able to breed again. You didn’t want to sit idle and do nothing during your “resting period” so you wanted to explore. That’s when you found the Outsider and were in the middle of delivering it to where it’s supposed to be taken.

Also, tell Delta that Psi probably thinks that she’s going to die because Mu told her that you breeding with other Agents will kill them. You are unsure if that is true or not, the Vesselmind isn’t answering you when you try to ask it.

>>936865
Maybe the best wat to prevent Delta from killing Mu is to claim that you need her alive so that she can cure you? After all, you’ve still got her poison in your system and it’ll kill you in 3 days, so Mu needs to be kept alive to cure you.

Delta doesn’t exactly need to know that you can temporarily fix yourself by having sex. Telling her that will probably result in her telling you to just do that and she’ll see no reason to keep Mu alive.

>>936814
Do you still have that coma-shell?

>>936899
He put it on the weapon shelf. If Delta doesn't come to her senses we may wind up running off and grabbing it to use on her.

Honestly, she could use the rest.

>return to breeding duty
Wait a minute. How did she immediately know what your duty was? Psi certainly didn't know in the beginning. Also, Psi said she was going to Rho, not Delta, so she didn't tell Delta. Something doesn't add up.

Something tells me that she wants to breed with you more than anything, even though she's playing cool. But let's see if we can confirm this. See how she reacts.
Ask her why she wants you to breed with her. Does she know that the process can bring a lot of pleasure? Does she know it involves you stimulating her insides?

After that, tell her that, sure, you'll breed her, if she allows you the recuperation you need to make it happen. Explain that for the process to work best, the two of you should be in a comfortable location, which the current place isn't, and that you need to not be hungry, as you currently are.

>>936814
Prepare to fulfill directives. Then sedate her temporarily. For three days. She is homicidally psychotic.

>>937016
Omega is not gonna be able to sedate Delta now 'cause he left the coma toxin shell on a weapon storage shelf as he was walking to the soldier servitor storage earlier. (Like a bloody idiot.)

Hmm...
Delta has could either be rogue or loyal at this point. We don't know if rogues work together or if each have their own machinations at this point.

She's clearly Damaged, but given her displayed capabilities, she's likely prime breeding material.

Yes I agree the jury isn't out on Delta quite yet. If she's lying about having killed rogues then she's fine, and was bluffing with the neck bite. She appears to be very good at intimidation, so perhaps she has practice in it.

1/2 Omega 2019/06/24(Mon)13:22 No. 937101 ID: f0a059
File 156140773923.png - (177.21KB , 800x600 , v-32.png )

>application of sterilisation ability
I... I have no clue. That is some vital information to be missing. I must speak with the Vesselmind as soon as I can, but trying to contact it now is proving fruitless.

>can't perform like this
~I cannot just do it as instructed.~

I stand with my legs further apart and point at my groin. ~I do not quite understand how it works fully but I require an erection first, and, while I am still not sure what that entails, I do know stress and fear do not lead to it happening.~
~So you cannot perform the one thing you were born to do,~ says Delta dismissively.
~I can! There is more nuance to this than you think! We need a more secure area, this place is too exposed and the screams of that Outsider are distracting me.~
~This area should suffice and the Outsider should not be a factor.~

Delta orders the servitors to keep the Outsider quiet by clamping its jaws closed and restraining it more tightly. I turn away feeling an odd amount of sympathy for a foreign body in the Vessel.

>ask her about killing versus containing
~The Vesselmind itself told me to contain rogues, not kill them! Are you acting against the Vesselmind's will?!~
~Focus on the task at hand,~ says Delta, anger bubbling again. ~You might not be rogue, but you are convincing me that you are defective, and defective parts get recycled.~
~I cannot focus on the task with your constant references to killing me! Even just constantly berating me would make this much more difficult, but I am afraid to get close to you!~
~Is closeness required?~
~Yes!!~

Delta moves close enough to me that, due to our relative heights, my snout goes straight between her breasts.
While I feel like this might be something intriguing to experiment with my first thought is of trying to avoid asphyxiation.

~Not like that!~
~You are wasting my time, Omega! Tell me what I have to do to get this process over!~
~Why are you in such a hurry to do this now?!~
~I need to drop this Outsider off at the proper containment facility, if you must know.~
~Then do that first? It seems like that might be a proper order of things.~
~I do what I want, Omega, when I want. You are here, this breeding project is not going to ever go away apparently, so I am going to get this over with as fast as I can so it no longer applies to me.~

~Lie on your back and spread your legs,~ I say, trying to sound calm and authoritative while Delta glares at me.
~No.~
~This is the process--~
~No, I am not putting myself in such a vulnerable position next to an enemy.~
~What exactly do you think 'this process' entails?~ I ask in exasperation.
~You inject fluid into my womb. This should not take all the hassle it's taking.~
~That is... not quite accurate. I need my penis to be erect, then I need to put it into your vagina, and then there needs to be sufficient stimulation so that that part you mentioned happens.~ I need to reference the collective for what a womb is.
~My what?~
~Vagina.~
~No. Unacceptable. I am not allowing anything to enter my body.~
~You wanted to--~
~I want to make use of you so I can freely throw you out of my way if I ever see you again!!~

This is... incredibly frustrating. She is also angry and frustrated and I can feel all too well she cannot even understand why she is the biggest obstacle to her own stated desires here.

2/2 Omega 2019/06/24(Mon)13:22 No. 937102 ID: f0a059
File 156140775993.png - (54.64KB , 800x600 , v-33.png )

~So let me understand what you are asking me for, Delta,~ I say, my irritation starting to bleed through my communication. ~You want me to mate with you, at your request, an action that will require the insertion of my reproductive organs into yours, and you do not want to allow said insertion.~
~Yes.~
~This is impossible. You are asking me to do something and also not do the same thing at the same time. I cannot comply with a contradiction.~
~I will put my reproductive organs into yours,~ says Delta, not even pausing.
~How?~
~I do not know but this is the only way I am permitting this.~
~The geometry does not make sense!~

I try to think of how to explain it when I notice her baring her teeth at me angrily and then, out of nowhere, inspiration strikes. Either the Vesselmind is feeding me oddly specific information or I might have just come to an independent realisation. No, I think... I think I did come up with this idea. Did I? I do not know but the feeling of pieces falling into place... my heart races.
~Wait. No. You are thinking about this wrong, Delta. Perhaps I am too. It is not about me putting my organs into your organs. It is you consuming my organs with yours.~
~What?~
I lie down on the floor and spread my legs. From this angle I see more of Delta's genitals than before and this coupled with the sudden rush of realisation (and this new angle of her breasts) is enough for my blood to pump freely into my penis, as it lazily swells out and bulges out of me. Apparently, it is not so difficult to get into the right mentality, but then again, I was born for this.

Delta watches my organ pulsing with confusion. ~Is this 'erection'?~
~Yes. Now, to mate, you must figure out a way to get my penis,~ I point just to make sure Delta knows what I am talking about, ~into your vaginal canal.~
~Canal?~ Delta looks less angry but still irritated. ~What does irrigation have to do with this? I thought it goes into the womb?~
~I am trying to be specific. And I still do not know what a womb is or where it would be. Regardless, do you understand now?~

Delta looks at me, slowly gets onto the ground with her thighs parted, above me, and lowers herself down, and--
and is so dry and unyielding that as her labia brush me I wince. If she tries to get any lower it is going to be painful for both of us.
Yet she seems so unfamiliar with the concept of arousal that I have no idea what to tell her.

For future reference, the "womb" is an internal gestational chamber located in the abdomen. It is connected to the vaginal passage via a muscular sphincter known as a "cervix", which is usually closed tightly so as to only permit the transfer of gamete-containing fluid from a male source (in this case, you) to a female's womb.

Once gestation is completed (a process which can take the better part of a year), the cervix will dilate open to permit the gestated young to exit through the vaginal passage.

In addition, the womb is connected to one or more internal organs known as "ovaries", which store and release the female gametes.

>>937102
Well she does seem loyal in the end, but fanatically so, and absolutely obsessed with being dominant. Her dominant streak may be the key to her successful breeding.
Tell her there is lubrication required before further penetration. She should wait for a moment and let you touch her so that her body can produce it. Or perhaps she would prefer to pin you down so you can't do anything to threaten her, and thoroughly examine your penis first? Examination like that seemed to help Psi.
Play up the fact that you are completely at her mercy, and no threat to her. You are committed to the task she is asking of you, and you will answer any questions she has about it.

Oh God going in dry. One of you start rubbing her clit (the sensitive bump that Psi mentioned) to get something going on down there. Going too quick without proper buildup, will lead to pain and unenjoyable sex.

Tell her that the process can't continue if there is pain on either side. So the two of you need to figure out how to get her aroused first.

Hmm, her boobs look much better from this angle... you should massage them. Tell her that it's important that she relaxes and that this
will help her.

Then pull out and try to get your fingers inside her. Get some of her juices over both her and your junk. That should allow you to at least proceed... tell her that she should move extremely slowly; slow enough that there's no pain.

wait wait wait. She needs to want this with more than her head. If she keeps giving you shit tell her to quit trying to prove herself and do it properly.

You need to keep her talking about what associations this act reminds her of, to get an idea about what arouses her. And you can play along with that. She could be aroused by more unconventional means, or from females instead.

In any case, you're may need a trip to maintenance after this.

Okay, from this experience you can tell that a female instinctual mating response such as Psi had is not triggered just from seeing or feeling your erect penis or by being penetrated. There has to be a mental component. Probably a psychic part too, since the feelings and pleasure of mating with Psi ran both ways along your telepathic channels. So, that means you need to adjust your attitude and behavior to better mesh with Delta's psyche.

Delta is extremely dominating, but that seems to stem from a very strong desire to keep things in control for the good of Vessel. Everything and everyone ought to be in its place, executing its function and following protocol. Stray outside the margins and she'll knock that thing or person back into line. Stray too far and she'll destroy that person or thing as a threat to Vessel.

Based on this, you ought to think, behave and speak in a submissive way so she will respond better. Avoid touching her, even in small ways, without asking her if you may first and explaining why. For when she does not permit you to touch her, then you will need to get her to touch herself. Tell her what you'll be doing before you do anything. Keep telling her what to do unless she asks you what to do to a minimum. Try to guide her to asking you what to do by asking her what it feels like or if she has questions. And tell her that you'll answer any and all questions she has about mating or breeding and how to do so.

Now, ask Delta if starting to slip her vagina over your penis felt painful to her, since it felt painful to you. Say that it should feel good and not painful to either of you. Tell her that lubrication is needed, since mating to completion requires sliding her vagina down and up your penis, without pain for you, repeatedly and rhythmically to stimulate you to release your semen into her. The rhythmic rubbing of your penis and her vagina and clitoris, the sensitive bump to the front of her vagina of similar but condensed structure to your penis, together should also produce a rising intensely pleasurable feeling for both parties until your release, if done right. Additional external tactile stimulation of these parts during mating intercourse may help mating along and increase the intensity of this feeling, if done right.

Say that Psi produced lubrication on her own from her vagina right before and during mating with her, so Delta ought to be able to as well. You just need to figure out what stimulation will work with Delta to elicit a similar response. Ask Delta if she would allow you to place your hands on her in certain locations and tactilely stimulate her to attempt to get this response from her. You will tell her exactly what you will be doing and why before you do and you ask that she tell you what it feels like and if you should change it or stop. If she does not consent then you will need to ask her to attempt to do the stimulation herself.

If she agrees, start by reaching up and cupping her breasts, feeling them over and rubbing or gently squeezing her nipples. Then reach one hand down to to gently brush her clitoris and rub her labia. Suggest that she could try leaning forward or back at different angles to find a better feeling position for the both of you. Especially for when she starts moving herself up and down your penis, unless she'd rather you take control and trust. (Also, the thought of her leaning so far forward your head is nestled between her breasts while mating has appeal, if not for the suffocation risk. Makes you wish you had a breathing hole in your head like Psi or Delta do. Maybe you could breathe through the gill slits in your neck instead? Hm, her leaning forward just enough so they fill your vision would otherwise suffice.)

Also ask her to have patience and give feedback while you figure this out. You've only mated once before, so this is all very new to you. Complete, candid feedback will help you become better at your breeding function.

And there is one way to play to Delta's dominance and lubricate your penis before insertion too: She can put it in her mouth and run her tongue all over it. Having her very sharp teeth so close to your very sensitive organ will put her very much in control of you. Suggesting she do this would be such a submissive act that it'd have to please her dominant attitude.

And since you are lacking in accurate anatomical and operational knowledge and terminology for your the other Agents' sexual reproductive systems, here is a basic rundown in case Delta or another Agent wants to know more: The uterus, or womb, is akin to a miniaturized growth chamber and located at the interior far end of the vagina. The two are connected by a "valve" called the cervix designed to allow only semen in and let offspring out via the vagina once they are mature enough. The uterus is also connected to two ovaries. Those organs release a egg (or, sometimes, eggs) into the uterus to be fertilized by the male's sperm contained in the semen. The egg contains half the genome of the female, the sperm half the male's genome and fertilization combines them to form a complete genome zygote which then implants into the uterus lining to slowly grow into a new offspring.

Now for the anatomy of the male side: The sperm is created in your two testicles, which are contained in the skin sack called a scrotum under your penis' sheath. The testicles' operation is sensitive to temperature, which is why they need to be external. The sperm is combined with semen, a carrier fluid generated by multiple small organs and glands, and released by ejaculation after suitable stimulation.

1/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:27 No. 938297 ID: f0a059
File 156234403528.png - (17.78KB , 800x600 , v-34.png )

~Stop! Delta! We cannot continue like this! It will hurt both of us!~
~If that is how the process goes, so be it--~
~No! No, it should not hurt! There needs to be more lubrication, you need to be aroused!~
~I feel very awake, Delta. Your concepts make no sense to me.~

I reach up and start rubbing at her nipples. She stares at me in complete confusion before she slams my arms down to my sides.

> be submissive
Wait.

~Okay! I submit. I am under your complete control, Delta, I will do whatever you ask.~
~Do not give me further orders,~ she says, with a growling undercurrent to her voice.
~Tell me what you want me to do,~ I say, as simply and meekly as I can manage in a direct telepathic communication.

She pauses. She tries to force me into her and stops and looks at my pained, apprehensive expression.
~...You were born for my use,~ she says, almost in a mutter. ~You are nothing but a living breeding tool.~
I feel some contradictory element of doubt in her talk, but something about the words she's passing to me consciously is lighting a fire inside her. ~I own you, Omega. Tell me. Who owns you?~
~You do.~
Her nipples are a little more erect than they were earlier. I feel some growing warmth in her groin.
~Yes. I do. I am in charge of you. You are my tool. You are my possession. I own you. You are mine. You are nothing next to me.~

She jerks her hips down and, even with the lubrication, it is abrupt and a little painful. I wince and groan. She stares at me.
~Yes.~ She doesn't hide her own pain, and the feedback from the intensity echoes between us before our natural dampeners wind it down. Feedback loops of empathic emotion and sensation could threaten to destroy us, and we have natural failsafes built into us to prevent an ever cascading psychic explosion.
I wish I could turn it off while mating, somehow.

I try to thrust upwards but am met with her thrusting downwards with stronger force.
~I am in charge, here, Omega. You are the lowest and weakest of all Agents.~ She pushes my penis surprisingly deeply into her, and rubs her what I know now to be a clitoris against my body. I don't know how she is even able to do this.
~Now.~ She spreads her legs and starts leaning on my pelvis. She reaches down, rubbing her clitoris with one hand and-- she has my testicles in the other. Oh no. ~I can feel your sudden apprehension, Omega. Inject the fluid into me now, so I can get back to work--~
~Wait! Wait, what are you doing?~
~This is where it comes from, yes? I am going to apply pressure to coax the fluid into myself.~
~That-- please do not do that, that is not how it works, I--~

She smiles threateningly at me and I feel a slight grip around organs I suddenly am acutely aware of the sensitivity thereof. ~Then I suggest you figure out how it works fast,~ and before I can react she starts thrusting her hips into me with a terrifying ferocity, both hands on her clitoris as she breathes faster and moans louder and--

2/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:27 No. 938298 ID: f0a059
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Nothing so sophisticated as words comes out of me over the link, but inarticulate screaming symbolic concepts of overwhelming pleasure.
Delta bites my shoulder as I feel her fight to suppress a similar scream, not in telepathy, which I feel like an avalanche of concepts descending upon my battered psyche, but from her actual lungs.

I am now grateful that I cannot turn off the feedback dampener for mating, because if I did I might have just allowed for us to mindwipe each other.

It is odd, but, despite Delta being more initially more clueless than Phi, she did things so much more intensely.

Delta abruptly pulls herself off me throws herself backwards, trying to orient her hips upwards. ~I did not think of the angles! I did not think of the angles, this could have been for nothing!~
~What?~
~If it leaks out this was a waste of time!~
~That... that is a bleak way of viewing things, but also you do not need all of the fluid inside you to become pregnant.~
~I do not know if I was supposed to feel what I felt. I... I need to visit Rho.~
~It is probably fine.~

3/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:27 No. 938299 ID: f0a059
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I suddenly notice, pleasant sense of peace dissipating into anxious panic, that the Outsider is trying to escape. I watch him sprint away as I lie splayed out on the floor and dart up to my feet.

~OMEGA!!~ Delta stands up herself and glares at me. ~No, do not pursue the intruder. You are the reason they escaped. It is on your head.~
~What? Why?!~
~I was about to render them insensible for further processing. We need to extract all the information from them we can.~
~I was going to interrogate it!~
~Can you even speak to an Outsider, Omega?~
~...not well, but--~
~We have Agents trained in their communications. Do not second guess me or the other Agents again like this.~
~Could you have explained your intentions before you tried to bite my throat out?!~

Delta stares at me. I feel like she has closed our channel before I realise the channel is still there. She is just completely silent on it.

~We are done here, Omega. You have fulfilled your function as it relates to me. Continue with your assigned directive.~
~Do I... do I have any value to you other than--~
~Did you think my words earlier were false? I do not lie. You are the lowest and weakest of all Agents. Your value to me begins and ends with the mating act. If you were not an Agent I would kill you now for the enjoyment of it. Go. Out of my sight, breeder male.~

I feel less anger than I expect and more like I just had something torn out of me.

~The longer you linger here, the less efficient you are at performing your function. Get moving, Omega.~

I want to say something defiant but I just feel shaky and ill. I can feel my eyes watering. ~You are a heartless bloodthirsty whale, Delta.~
She can feel my emotional turmoil, and it looks like it pains her.

~In time, you will understand why,~ she says, before looking away from me and walking away. Just before she closes the channel, I feel a leaking of immediate regret and remorse.

It does not make me feel any better.

4/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:28 No. 938300 ID: f0a059
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I...

I guess I'll go after the nearest biosignature I don't immediately recognise. It is my mission, after all. Focus on the mission, Omega.

There are two nearby, one on the strange fleshy lump above the mouth of the Vessel, and one... closer by. I approach this one.

I get closer and immediately recognise an Agent with what looks like the mark of psi on her head, so presumably this is Phi. However, she isn't alone.
I do not recognise what the creatures near her are but their biosignatures blend into the background. They are hard to pick out by bioresonance but I can see them. They are not Outsiders. I suppose these are the remnants of former periods of creation the Vesselmind told me about.

Phi is just standing silently with her arms by her sides, as one of the odd textured creatures near her is giving some kind of impassioned speech.
This time, however, I understand the words being said. Unsure how, I do not recall learning the language.

"Stand aside."
Phi keeps standing defiantly. She does not seem to even be aware of the fact I am nearby.
"You are interrupting our way of life--"
~Your way of life,~ I hear Phi say, not on an opened channel but in a burst transmission, ~is of little concern to me.~
"This is our home--"
~Your home is the island that has been set aside for you, and I am rapidly running out of patience for your kind. I have explained this to so many of you over and over again. Do you not share information in any capacity? The rest of the Vessel is off limits for your kind.~
"A breeder has escaped and we need all the breeders we can find, we are facing extinction!"
~That is not my duty to care about.~

While I watch and listen, I query the collective consciousness to see what Phi's directives are. I get only vague answers relating to assisting and commanding resource gathering servitors, as well as some form of border patrol around the central island-lump, which I am watching right now.

"Forget it," says one of the other creatures. "It might be a guardian of the vessel but it has the same shape of a breeder. There is no reasoning with them."
~If you do not turn back to your designated area, you will have one survivor, broken, bleeding and limping back to tell the others what happens when you ignore the will of an Agent of the Vessel.~

5/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:28 No. 938301 ID: f0a059
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"Pah! A feeble breeder thinks she can fight us? I'd like to see her try--"

The other creatures immediately grab and clamp the beak of the one issuing a challenge while their leader stands in front of them, bowing their head deferrently.

"Ignore him, honoured guardian. He is a new recruit. But if you loathe our presence away from the island, you must capture the escaped breeder before she can go too far."
~I am entirely capable of dragging them back myself. You do not need to search for them. Turn back.~

"Talons off me!" The creature breaks away from their fellows. "I will not be talked down to by any breeder!! Your place is on your back with your thighs wide!!" It runs at Phi.

6/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:29 No. 938302 ID: f0a059
File 156234415923.png - (23.00KB , 800x600 , v-39.png )

Phi does not even blink before she pulls back and punches the upstart remnant so hard in the head I can almost feel something crack.
It falls back and goes down without further noise.

7/7 Omega 2019/07/05(Fri)09:29 No. 938303 ID: f0a059
File 156234418522.png - (49.84KB , 800x600 , v-40.png )

The leader of the group looks a mixture of outraged and horrified, but bows its head again. "Thank you, honoured guardian. We will depart now."
One of them scoops up their downed comrade and the group hastily leaves.

~And that, freshborn, is how you take care of these things around here,~ says Phi, a channel open to me specifically. ~Any reason you are here? I cannot place your name or mission.~

~There is an Agent on the island,~ is the first thing I for some reason decide to tell her. Why.
~Yes, Eta. Her role is to make sure the island ecosystem is functional. If I see her, I am going to have a long talk with her about why she did not step in and stop this remnant tribe from spiralling out of control like it has. 'Breeders'. Such contempt they have for their own species on such arbitrary features.~

Phi turns to look at me and looks a little surprised. ~A... male Agent?~
~Yes?~
~What is your function?~
~Breeder.~

Phi stares at me incredulously.

~Wow. Alright. Let me just take a few seconds to process that.~
~What?~
~We have the capacity with the biotechnology of the Vessel to birth servitors to our own designs, entire new Agents and entire new species with complete precision, and we are now going a few dozen steps back and smushing our bodies together until new bodies burst out of ours to be weak and helpless and nothing but a drain on resource and time for orbits upon orbits?~

I shrug, not sure what to say.

~The Vesselmind is losing it,~ says Phi, rubbing her melon. ~Have you noticed we cannot even contact it anymore? I wonder if it has finally entered whatever counts for senility for giant vessel organisms. Anyway, was there a specific reason you came to me?~

>>938303
Yes, we have the tools to make whatever is required. For any purpose.
The Agents that will be born from this process will not have a preset purpose. No strict guidelines to follow unerringly and single-mindedly. They will be free. The Vesselmind is giving us this, as its final gift, because it is deteriorating. It is not immortal; nothing is.

As for why you came to her, it is to fulfill your purpose. Does she wish to do it now? Or should you find another? Perhaps Rho, so that she may get some personal experience with the process that people keep bothering her about?

Think about her arguments for a bit. If what she says is correct, it would be hard to argue against. However, there is one argument that comes to mind.

Evolution. Tell her that evolution is a slow and gradual process. Being able to design our species may be possible, but making large changes like that isn't necessarily a good thing - it carries great risk. The larger the change, the higher the chance of unpredictable outcome, and if something goes wrong, it may lead to extinction.

Also, custom design can only take you so far. While it allows you to create great diversity, evolution is what leads to perfection. Vesselmind knows this.
Ask her if she would consider creating perfection with you.

Technology nothing, we don't have the Vesselmind's knowledge or wisdom and we aren't owed consultation before it makes decisions.

Anyway, you were created to reproduce with loyalist agents and not with rouge agents. So unless she needs to knock someone else's block off or has some other reason to delay, you'd like to fulfill your purpose.

You're not feeling tired or sore or anything, are you?

You could bring up the idea of the collective of the Vesselmind taking over its central authority. If it were self-aware enough about its own terminal condition of senility, the rational response would be to have concerns about succession.

But given your time with Delta, you should probably lay into Phi for her hypocrisy and stand up for yourself. Even as a Breeder, you're still a person. You deserve respect, dammit.

Also, in theory, the colony would trust you better than any other Agent, irrational as it is. Wryly think about expanding your breeding parameters to the Remnants before you think about how both enforcing directives and expressing contempt in fulfilling them is irrational in of itself. No wondering then why one of them would run away. You'll want to help.
But, as Delta said, this is outside your function. /s

>>938303
Literally our job is to bang. Because of sabotage by Rogue Agents, we must breed continually or literally die. Alternately we can bathe in the blood of agents. Breeding is considered preferable.

>>938344
No dammit, rogue Agents are to be controlled and contained, not eliminated. The most pressing reason to leave them alive is that we cannot find new workers for the jobs that the rogue Agents would vacate.

Speaking of not killing Agents, ask if Delta really has been killing rogues, and if it's possible to stop her from killing Mu.

Tell Phi that the short reason you came to her is to perform your breeding duty with her, otherwise you'll be killed by Delta. The longer reason is she's just the first Agent you came across after Delta had you do your duty with her (roughly, with no build up, in the middle of a hallway,) before and after which she made abundantly clear that if you keep doing things outside your assigned duty she'd kill you; Gesture at Delta's bite marks on you while you speak to emphasize this.

You want to cultivate more usefulness to Vessel than being a mobile sperm dispenser, since once you've done your duty it'll be a long time before you're needed again and you'd rather not be a drain. But Delta's locked it in her mind that breeding can be your only valid function, so here we are. ...Feels sorta like the sexual inverse of that remnant tribe's attitude. Heh. Ain't that just bloody greeeeat... Delta'll probably want to lock you in a cell 'till you're needed to impregnate the Agents again, just so you don't do anything outside your assigned function. That or keep you locked up and bring 'em to you. Ah, but you've digressed. Getting back on track.

Tell Phi if she has her own duties or other reasons to postpone mating, you'll come back later. However, it better be a valid reason in Delta's eyes, since if it's otherwise and she finds out she'll come down on the both of us for not fulfilling our Vesselmind-given duty.

Let her know that when you two mate, you think you can take your time and Delta won't come down on you for it. So, you both can find somewhere comfortable to do it, work out the best positions for it, go slow and talk through it. ...Actually, you could take that time to talk with her about other stuff and ask her questions. Doesn't have to get back to Delta that you were "multitasking," now does it?

It seems like the remnant tribe... Is there a better name for 'em? Islanders? Anyway. It seems like they're much more receptive to speaking with males than females, correct? Well, you could help Phi and Eta with the remnant tribe, if not for the threat of Delta hanging over your head. As is, you're afraid you can't.

As for why the Vesselmind now calls for sexual reproduction of Agents, you can only speculate as to its reasons. But it had to have been some part of the Vesselmind's plans for quite awhile, since every Agent it made up to you was female and also, presumably, fully capable of sexual reproduction. Otherwise it would have made all the Agents neuter. And whatever plan this was part of had to have been in the works for at least a century, since Delta has been alive for about that long and she's definitely female. The Vesselmind was more responsive and back then, right? Hadn't "lost its marbles" yet? So choosing to make Agents capable of sexual reproduction is unlikely to be from it becoming "senile."

The question then becomes, why pull the trigger on making a male Agent now with the mission to breed with the (loyal) female Agents? Is there some important, rational reason by the Vesselmind or is it irrational? Or is it as simple as the Vesselmind doing a test that its design of the Agents' reproductive systems will work and produce viable offspring able to reproduce correctly as well? If it's that last one, then damn, is it way late to be doing that test. That's one that should have been done way early.

One reason that comes to mind to even have the ability for Agents to reproduce sexually is as a backup in case the Vessel's biotech facilities are not available. So under what circumstances would that happen? Obviously if Vessel is destroyed but the Agents escape. What about if Vesselmind goes away? If it goes completely "senile?" Is it so tied into the biotech development, fabrication and gestation systems that they wouldn't function without it? But if it's not vital to those systems' function, then how tough is it to recreate and operate those means of reproduction? What resources would be needed to build new growth chambers separate or part of Vessel?

Another possible reason for Agents to be capable of sexual reproduction is just to see if any offspring with novel, valuable traits come out of the randomness of it that can be reincorporated into biotech reproduction. Ones that none of us, including the Vesslemind, thought of. After all, what we can develop with biotech is, as with everything, limited by what we don't know we don't know.

We're here to preform our breeding duty, prevent the breeding of rouge agents and pretty much anything else to help. Doing anything other than the first task will likely have Delta retaliate.. again.

Oh, and also ask Phi in what ways and over how long the Vesselmind has seemingly declined. If and how has it become less responsive or unresponsive, given less or vague direction or information, given incorrect information, forgotten things or gave irrational or detrimental directives.

Also tell her that the reply to your query of the collective consciousness of what her directives are was vague. Dunno if that's related to the issues y'all have been having with the Vesselmind, but ask her what her directives are and what she's been doing and if and how much they've expanded or diverged.

And you may as well also ask what's with this remnant tribe and the island in here. Who are they and where'd they come from and why are they here. Why is there this island in here and what is its purpose?

>>938303
~I believe it is an attempt to work around sabotage. Rogue agents have crippled the vesselminds ability to produce new agents, and I bear harm from their sabotage. There will be no more agents. The vesselmind has also suffered damage to its ability to communicate, and informed me that only a direct physical link is functional- and only in areas where it has not been cut off, at that.
The vesselmind could be senile, but it seems more likely that it is simply desperate.

Or, more concisely, what the absolute fuck have you all been doing? Of the four other agents I have met, one was proudly rogue, and another was psychotic to the point where they delighted in the idea of murdering agents. What is going on here? Why is everything proverbially on fire, and why is nobody doing anything about it?~

If the Vesselmind is as broken as you suggest due to the creation of a breeder, it broke a long, long time ago as all Agents that you have seen thus far appears to have been made with the ability to procreate.

Or, this is in fact a planned fallback option whose intent was always to preserve the Vessel by bypassing the need for the growth chambers. Perhaps in event those chambers were damaged, or as is the case now, sabotaged.

You are new and a social creature. Your intent is to meet the others and learn your way around the vessel. Breeding is sort of a long-term project, you don't have to jump into it immediately with every agent you meet.

Maybe we shouldn't be getting all the loyal Agents pregnant at the same time. Their movements and combat abilities will be hindered if they've all got big bloated bellies full of babies.

And with all the loyal Agents being hindered in this way, the rouge Agents will take advantage of the situation and take over everything!

Unless the Vesselmind did something to speed things up and the pregnancies only take a few days or something like that.

1/2 Omega 2019/07/07(Sun)16:06 No. 938500 ID: f0a059
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>maybe making everyone pregnant at the same time is a bad idea
It must happen. Biological and existential imperatives demand it. Huh. Why does my pulse quicken and my breath deepen when I think this? Just the thought alone is as if preparing to mate with another Agent.

>vesselmind is dying
Impossible. Even if the entire neural quadrant were to suddenly die away, the fact remains that the Vesselmind remains at least partially composed of the mind of every Agent. If we all died out abruptly, perhaps it would be possible.
That being said, there is a difference between being existent and being sapient. It could be possible that the consciousness of the Vesselmind that is not directly an Agent consciousness could perish, but that would leave us leaderless... I do not want to think about this further. If it did happen, everything would collapse.

>why breed
~Have you considered evolution?~
~Sexual recombination is far too slow a process to produce any real outcomes that the Vesselmind could not replicate itself on a faster timescale. Do you think the Vessel has even existed for millions of years? I know it has existed for at least a hundred and fifty orbits, but I do not think it is quite that old.~
~Random mutation?~
~Again achieved faster and in parallel by modifying designs piecemeal randomly in growth chambers.~
~Lack of dependence on the growth chambers. Survival beyond the death of the Vessel.~
~If the Vessel dies, we will die with it. That is not even an ideological thing. Our biology is supported by the Vessel. We are all symbiotes.~
~Would the next generation of Agents be so tied to it?~
~Indirectly, yes! If the Vessel dies, the Agents die, if the Agents die, anything depending on them for protection and development dies too. This entire idea is ridiculous!~
~And who are we to question the Vesselmind's motives?~
Phi pauses and rubs her head again. ~You are correct. I do worry it is straying from its own path, but I do not know all of the things it knows.~

>decline of vesselmind
~While we are on the topic, however,~ I say, ~how fast and how thoroughly has the Vesselmind declined?~
~Ever since Psi was born it has been less quick to respond to things, and now very recently it is refusing to respond to any queries without just giving broad awareness. It almost feels like it is hiding something from its own Agents, but why would it do so?~
~Perhaps it is related to the rogue Agents.~
~...rogue Agents? What rogue Agents?~
~Agents who are rebelling against the Vesselmind.~
~I do not think that is possible.~

I decide to not press the issue further while mentally categorising Phi as a possible rogue.

>hypocrisy
~Back to an earlier point, after you just pointed out the hypocrisy of the way the remnants treated their own kind, you were quick to point out how ridiculous my existence is.~
~What? No? I am sorry, I was simply surprised, I do not think you are inherently worth less because you are male. Admittedly I have had a rather dim view of males as of late, but you are an Agent, not some broken remnants.~
~Why do you view males poorly?~
~I do not wish to discuss it,~ she says, annoyed, but I can tell not with me.

2/2 Omega 2019/07/07(Sun)16:06 No. 938501 ID: f0a059
File 156254077874.png - (20.92KB , 800x600 , v-42.png )

>duty
I roll my head up to show my wounds from Delta. ~The Agent Delta attacked me for not fulfiling my duty. If you are not currently busy, let us breed.~
~This right here is why I view males poorly,~ says Phi. ~Apparently your entire sex is focused on breeding when it comes to individuals of a different sex and nothing more.~
~I nearly had my throat torn out by Delta for not immediately trying to breed with her and I have not been alive for very long. I am worried she is going to return and kill me if I do not attempt to procreate with every new Agent I meet as soon as I meet them.~
~Delta is a little deranged,~ says Phi. ~If she actually significantly wounded anyone, Beta would be the first one to tear out any organs she did not need for the purpose of staying alive.~
~The fact she is not lethally harmful does not change the fact she physically and emotionally injured me,~ I blurt out, perhaps too readily.

Phi looks at me again. ~Emotionally?~
~She kept saying all I was was useful for breeding and nothing more.~
~Delta said that?~
~Yes.~
~Well, that is familiar rhetoric. And furiously disappointing to be coming from an Agent.~

I suddenly realise tears are flowing down my face. Perhaps I was more affected than I thought I was. Phi's expression softens.

~Omega, I can feel that.~
~I just want to do what I was made to do and be someone and something useful, not a failure to the Vessel and the Vesselmind. Before I was even born some of the Agents tried and succeeded in sabotaging my creation.~ I am venting and bleeding more and more emotion than I want to. ~Every Agent I have come across so far has treated me as a broken machine part and now you too are considering me a useless breeding machine.~
~Do you actually want to breed, Omega?~
~My function is to--~
~No, let me ask the question again. Do you want to breed? Not does the Vesselmind want you to breed. Do you, Omega--~
~Yes. No. Yes. It is complicated. Not now. In general, yes. If I do not I will die. Three days. I do not know. I have to mate or I might die and I will be a failure and Delta will kill me. Mu wanted me dead.~ I cannot keep secrets under duress. This is another bad property for an Agent to have, I believe. ~Not dead. Stillborn. A failure to even live. I have not met even half of the other Agents and most of them want me dead or crippled or comatose or sterilised or something. What did I do, Phi? Why is everyone else like this?~

Phi stares at me, mouth opening and closing a little. ~You are different, Omega.~
~What does that mean?~
~It has been many orbits since Psi was born, the former youngest of the Agents. You are a different thing to Agents that have come before and you have a purpose not every Agent will understand. You threaten the way things are.~
~By existing?!~
~Yes. It is not your fault. Delta is the worst. Delta has been operational without sleep for too long. We have tried to convince her the damage she is doing to herself but she considers us all beneath her. She considers the idea of not maintaining constant vigilance an affront to not just the Vesselmind but all within it.~

I grab my head, tears still streaming from it. ~Maybe it would have been better if I had not been born.~
~The Vesselmind made you for a reason. I have come to learn, or at least I think I have, that the original directive is never just what the Vesselmind wants from its Agents. Else it would have just designed and produced servitors to come and... do whatever it is to us. You have a deeper purpose, Omega, I just know it.~
~What purpose?~
~You need to find it.~

Phi gives me a hug and, emotional wreckage that I am, I find myself responding emotionally well to her comforting embrace, while biologically I feel pulsing and swelling as my genitals emerge and lengthen, brushing against Phi's inner thighs.

~Biomechanical response,~ I abruptly blurt out. ~I cannot control that.~
Phi nods. ~This situation is not even remotely arousing to me so I am going to ignore that.~
~What is arousing to you?~
~I have no idea, the idea of sexual intimacy has always felt sort of disgusting to me after all the things I have seen the male avian remnants do to their females. I will reluctantly go along with your more immediate purpose if it will make you feel better, however, but you better have a plan for what you want to do to me. One that I can agree with.~

I... On the one hand, my function, on the other, I do not know, for some reason even with the physical arousal I do not... I do not feel like I want to keep doing this.

>>938501
>Delta is actually sleep deprived
Well let's fix that. We can force her to sleep for a few days with Mu's most recent weapon.

>Phi doesn't think rogue agents are possible
Perhaps it was due to the way you defined it. It's not that they're rebelling, it's that they're knowingly acting against what the Vesselmind has decided. Imagine 10 creatures deciding between red and blue. 7 of them want red, 3 of them want blue. Those 3 aren't rogues just for wanting blue, but if one of those 3 tries to force the choice to go their way they'd be rogue. Rogues are those that put their own ideals and reasoning ahead of the group's directives and choices. In this definition, Delta might be considered rogue since she believes she is above the group, but she also believes she's upholding the group's choices, so it's very mixed. Mu is definitely considered rogue since she's knowingly acting directly against the group's choices, but she thinks she's doing it to protect the group. It's a kind of twisted loyalty, which is probably the only way rogues are possible in the situation.

>don't really want to fuck right now
Do it later then. We have established clearly that your purpose is not time-sensitive. Also we have a more time-sensitive task at hand-- subduing Delta. It occurs to me that your secret ability is especially useful for keeping track of the movements of Agents. You can easily ambush Delta, especially if you have the aid of one or more other Agents.

Go retrieve the weapon, find Rho and Psi, ask for their help giving Delta some sleep before she murders Mu.

Since neither of you actually want to, and it probably wouldn't actually help your emotional state anyway, say no

No. But, Maybe we could just stay. Like this. For a little while. Maybe sit.

>>938503
if we drug delta like that we could measure our lifespan in moments after she wakes up

>>938501
You know what, lets keep talking about our feelings instead. Lets talk about how we talked to Mu and how we weren't what she expected and how we may have changed her mind on things. Talk about the outsider we found and were trying to interrogate until Delta came and abused us for trying and how she wanted to kill it. Talk about everything.

>>938501
Maybe just cuddle? You were emotionally abused and sexually assaulted by a vicious elder, after being poisoned by an incompetent and homicidal elder. You could use some relaxation without the adrenaline high that comes from mating.

>>938513
Not if we have the support of the majority of the other Agents. Then it's basically the same as following the orders of the Vesselmind. ...we should go get the support of the majority of the other Agents. We'll have to talk to everyone and take a vote. Just gotta make sure while we're doing that, Delta doesn't murder anyone.
While we're at it we should take a vote on what policy to take regarding rogues going forwards.

We should get Psi's vote on both right now. Force Delta to go the fuck to sleep? Kill rogues or just keep them under control?

Mating has a mental and emotional component as much as a base physical one. To push yourself to go through it when you are not in the right mental and emotional state will, at best, mean it will not be as good as it could have been. At worst, if you're forced like with Delta, it'll be psychologically damaging. You won't ask Phi to mate when she doesn't feel like doing so, and you won't force yourself to mate when you don't feel it. You need to make a good emotional and mental connection before the physical one. Perhaps such is needed much more for Agents than other species due to your telepathy.

Tell Phi that you aren't in the right mental and emotional to mate right now, and even if you were you have no idea how to get her into the right mental and emotional state. You won't ask her to mate when she doesn't feel like it. You won't do even a bit of what... What Delta did. You can put off mating to whenever. For now, you just want to keep hugging.

Ask Phi if she'd keep sharing a hug with you. To hug and nuzzle and talk. Er, you just need to adjust your penis to a less intrusive position for her during this. Back up a bit, reach down and point it upward so it'll be between you two. ...That's not much better, is it? Ah, well, it's just gonna be in the way while you embrace. So be it.

Tell Phi that your first time mating was with Psi and you feel you owe her a apology for it. It was right after you were born, when she came into your birthing chamber. She was confused and ignorant about what mating even was and overwhelmed by the alien feelings and physical responses she had. You were running half on raw instinct and neither of you knew what it meant or what the consequences would be. Right after Mu told her what mating would mean for her, she ran off to speak with Rho and cut channels with you. You just feel Psi deserved better.

Ask Phi if the Agents have tried communicating with the Vesselmind via more intrusive ways? You remember it told you to seek out its ganglia if you had need to speak with it. (At the very least you'd want to connect with it to ask how to use your sterilization ability.)

It's unfair to just dump out your mental baggage on Phi. Perhaps she could unburden herself to you as well. Let out her feelings and fears and troubles and issues. ..Hm, perhaps one of your purposes is to help with the mental health of other Agents. There hasn't been any dedicated means of psychological aid for them before, right? Ask what the general mood has been on Vessel and among the Agents recently and over time. Are there other Agents who've become deranged similar to Delta or are heading that way?

Ask if and how the other Agents have tried to get Delta to sleep and if they've considered more direct means to force her to for her own good and the good of all of us. Does Phi feel that it's gotten to that point yet? If so, tell her that Mu made a coma toxin that'd put you under for two or three days as a backup to contain you which could be used on Delta. But then what happens after Delta wakes up? Is she gonna go on a rampage against those who were in on the plan to drug her? Is it just gonna make things worse to force her to sleep in such a way?

>Why does my pulse quicken and my breath deepen when I think this? Just the thought alone is as if preparing to mate with another Agent.
You've just discovered what mentally sexually arouses you. Makes total sense it'd be impregnating female Agents and then them being pregnant, given your purpose. Well, now you can fantasize about all that when you're going to mate to really get yourself going.

>>938520
>We should get Psi's vote on both right now.
You mean Phi, right?

>>938501
~I met a rogue agent. They intentionally damaged the vesselmind's ability to produce agents. It was not the first time they damaged the vesselmind. They seek to destroy it, and spoke as if they had others working with them.
We can not live without the vesselmind, but if we were able to reproduce and then protect the offspring until they were able to act on their own, then they would be able to survive even the destruction of the vesselmind.
It is also possible that our design has proven unreliable, and the vesselmind wishes for us to have a sustainable population before replacing us as he did those others.~

~For now, we must determine if breeding is safe and effective. The rogue scared Phi by asserting the birthing process is painful and deadly. She needs reassurance, and to be monitored through the course of the reproductive cycle. Can you assist me in helping her?~

You could ask if Phi could give you a tour of the ship or around the habitats She should know where the quiet parts are), if she can spare the time. Inquire about what she likes and find some form of entertainment, before you mate.
At least, talk about any crew you haven't met yet.

>deeper purpose
As you said to Mu, to extend your parameters means your purpose would be to become a proper dad somehow. So far, this looks like it would involve maintaining the emotional and physical well-being of and relations between Agents, especially Rogues, in order to care for the aftermath of breeding, pregnancy and childcare. This would also mean cultivating an environment for the children's physical, mental and social development.
The why seems right, but the how is difficult.

>>938503
Do keep in mind, Mu is currently in her weapons lab and knows Delta better than you. I would be surprised if she wouldn't be able to, in not likely prepared to, defend herself. May have saw your "betrayal" coming even.

Ask how the attack and capture of the less than half dozen Agents five years ago effected Vessel, Vesselmind and the remaining Agents. You're all connected in a telepathic mesh, so having pieces ripped out like that must have hurt. What has been the psychological toll on all of them?

And before Omega it was twenty years since the last Agent, Psi, was born, so have there been other Agent deaths or losses in that time? Have our numbers been falling over time? How long does it take to grow a new Agent in a growth chamber? Have there not been new Agents born to replace the lost ones due to it taking a long time to grow them or for some other reason?

>>938572
Spoiler text exists, you know.

>>938533
>you mean Phi?
Right.

You have support from at least one other agent. You don't need to accept Delta's threats. See if you can get information from Phi about the societies living in the vessel, and then see if you can do something about Delta

It seems the best solution to the Delta situation would be to have a second Delta. That is, another Agent with Delta's functions and capability so that Delta could feel that she could safely sleep because another can take up her position of vigilance. Frankly, it seems like a serious oversight that the Vesselmind didn't create two Deltas, or even three, so they could rest in turn. Having such a single point of failure seems like a major mistake. ...Ah, but it's too late now. We're not gonna get a Agent that could take up Delta's duties, and it's doubtful Delta would accept any current Agent temporarily taking up her duties. ...Maybe we could convince her to show and teach another Agent or two what she does, so that if by some fluke she's incapacitated, Vessel won't be completely without one who could do Delta's functions.

...actually, isn't Omega especially suited to working security, with the way his secret ability works?

>>938676
Yes, it would be great for security. Trouble is, he can't use it as a reason he should be part of Vessel's security because it'd lose a fair chunk of its effectiveness if the Agents knew about it. And Omega wouldn't have much reason right now to be on security besides his ability to sense bioresonance signatures.

...Wait a second. Omega sensed two of those odd bioresonance signatures that turned out to be Outsider signatures. Figured the second one was in Outsider containment, given it's general location. But what if it wasn't in containment and just happened to be in the same general area as Outsider containment?

Omega better check his bioresonance sense for the location of Outsider signatures and ask Phi if they've got any Outsiders in containment, 'cause if they don't then there's a second one loose on Vessel.

>>938700
It wouldn't lose its effectiveness if the other Agents knew about it. We're hiding it right now because Omega doesn't know the current state of things and it might make him even more of a target.

No, for some reason preforming my duty out of mutual obligation feels wrong, somehow. This is fine.

Maybe... I'll look for that runaway outsider?

You know, Psi was so overwhelmed that she didn't want any extra attention, and Delta just wanted it over with. We've had an interest in exploring our partner's body. Ask if she'll consent to let you fondle her breasts.

Stay like this for a few seconds longer, then thank her for her shoulder and leave.

Can we just sit in seclusion and embrace each other for a bit longer? The erection will fade with time, but the comfort will stay.

1/2 Omega 2020/05/05(Tue)16:37 No. 965210 ID: 21ac91
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>don't breed
>just cuddle
~I cannot do it,~ I say, tearing up again. ~If I cannot convince myself, I will never be able to convince you. And I feel like I may have already doomed Phi. Mu told her that birthing is dangerous and lethal. I do not know if it is or not. I didn't know I was going to harm anyone. I just wanted to perform my function.~
Phi hugs me more tightly. ~It is fine. I am not concerned. Delta has other things to worry about. And as for birthing, I have never seen it happen for an Agent before. Only... less well designed beings. I can see how it could be lethal, but if the Vesselmind wills this, and I know you believe it to be the truth, this must have been planned for.~

We stay hugging for a while, and the arousal fades. I don't need to say anything, she can feel my need. I'm not hiding it well. Then, we sit on the warm floor together.

2/2 Omega 2020/05/05(Tue)16:38 No. 965211 ID: 21ac91
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>let it all out
>ask Phi for more information
~The first Agent I mated with was Psi. I ran on instinct. I feel guilty that I might have tricked her into it without her full awareness of the consequences.~
~As I said, this is apparently the will of the Vesselmind. And the will of the Vesselmind is the will of the Agents is the will of the Vesselmind. If she wanted information, surely she could have asked the Vesselmind.~ She pauses. ~Oh. This happened recently, didn't it. Well, that's a problem. Well, nothing a visit to Rho can't clear up. Rho is very good at what she does.~
~I just feel she deserved more information first.~
~We all make mistakes. Especially the first time we do something. None of us are beyond error. Even the Vesselmind can make mistakes.~ She pauses again. ~Usually on a timescale beyond our immediate understanding, though. And typically relating to prediction of the behaviour of things outside the Vessel. A collective ignorance, that.~
~The Vesselmind makes mistakes?~
~Agents make mistakes. Agents inform the Vesselmind. The Vesselmind acts on erroneous information. Do you understand a little better now?~
Okay. Phi might be a rogue.
~I can hear you thinking that. Stop it. This whole idea of 'rogues' is artificial. We can't disobey the Vesselmind or harm it any more than we could harm ourselves or each other--~
I pointedly tap at the bite marks from Delta and frown. She falters, and her link is full of half-formed thoughts and concepts before she regains coherency.

She looks away from me, to the walls. ~Fine. Fine, I'll stop pretending. I resent the term rogue, and I further resent the idea that it's a state requiring at best forcible correction and at worst being treated as some contagious disease requiring drastic amputation or sterilization. I'm not rogue, incidentally, by the commonly used criteria for rogues, but I'm not hiding my sympathies. Some of us have had to deal with psychologically taxing tasks without the proper support for extended periods of time.~
~What are the criteria for being rogue?~
~Being closed off from the Vesselmind, which is a moot point as everyone seems to be closed off from the Vesselmind at the moment. Ignoring the wishes of the Vesselmind, which, again, we can't correct our behaviour without instruction. Considering the Vesselmind to be a slavemaster instead of a connecting consciousness, which, I have to admit, is the one aspect of the rogue definition that troubles me. It strikes me as neurotic. Hating that your arm is your arm. That sort of disconnect. The Vessel is a part of our environment and sustains our bodies. The Vesselmind is a part of our environment and sustains our minds. If it were to disappear, we may all die from the psychic shock of losing such a part of ourselves.~
~So you consider yourself not rogue because of these criteria?~
~Yes.~ She looks at me, annoyed. ~Don't listen to Delta. Well, do, but take her words lightly. She's suspected me of being a rogue Agent for a long time, but I do my work well.~
~What is it you do, anyway?~

I can feel her mood improve significantly as she recalls a bewildering set of memories and symbolic concepts.
~I oversee the diver servitors as they collect resources vital for the Vessel's functioning. Food, mostly, most of it goes into the digesting pools, but the good stuff, that goes to Kappa. That, and various samples for analysis and further understanding of the oceans of the world. There's still so many things to learn about the oceans of this world, but that's not my department. I get requests from Sigma for specific examples of specific biomes, and anything I find that's clearly not of natural origin, I give to Zeta. Same for Outsider remains. I don't usually tend to find living Outsiders in my work. The few that successfully get in don't tend to come in via the mouth of the Vessel.~
~That sounds... a little tedious.~
~If I ever get bored I just link myself directly to a diver servitor and control it manually.~
She pauses, closes her eyes, and something slides up behind her, standing tall as she blearily opens her eyes again.
~It's only really boring when we're in a desert, which we're in at the moment. Hypoxic. Not enough life in the water to sustain an ecosystem. I end up having to look for something else to do.~

>more than one Delta
~Why is Delta so overworked? Why aren't there other Agents to take her role?~
~There are. Delta is one of the five Primes. They're the largest of us and most powerful.~
~Then why is--~
~Let me finish. Two of them, Alpha and Gamma, are captives outside the Vessel, prisoners of civilisations we can't attack to free them. Epsilon spends her time in the pilot umbilical, locked into contemplation and learning, acting as a research director while connected to the neural mesh of the Vesselmind. That just leaves Beta and Delta.~
~So what about Beta?~
~More erratic in her schedule than Delta. We don't even see her half the time. When we do, she never has time to spare to talk to us, she's always on a mission. So, worse than Delta.~
~This seems... bad.~
~I'm not sure why the Vesselmind hasn't triggered the spawning of a new Prime yet. Maybe it doesn't think the situation is dire enough yet.~
~With two prisoners?~
~It has access to more information than I do as an individual.~

>fun
~What do you do for fun?~
~Well, hijack servitors, sometimes I pay a visit to Eta on her island in downtime, other than that, there's been a few times I've swum out of the Vessel myself. Sometimes I look at the sky. The sky outside is different, Omega. Sometimes it's bright. Sometimes it's dark. Sometimes it's wet, sometimes it's not. Dark and wet is best. Points of light covered by a sheet of sky material, as drops fall and run over your body into the ocean. If only the ocean had less salt, it'd be perfect.~

>wait is that Outsider signature in containment actually contained
I decide not to ask about this, it might raise more awkward questions about why I'd know that. There's other Agents on the Vessel and I don't need to risk annoying anyone else if that's their task.

I have some more time to spare at the time. ...was there anything else I forgot to ask or that I could follow up with?

>>965211
Her definition fits for Mu, almost solely due to the last criteria. Still, we need a better one since literally every Agent currently meets the first criterion, and could be meeting the second criterion without even wishing to.
How's this for a currently-actionable definition of "rogue"-- An Agent that takes action, either drastic or significant long-term, that cannot be reasonably interpreted as following the will of the Vesselmind either in general or in regards to specific orders, or through purposeful inaction irreversibly fails to fulfill their purpose.
This still fits Mu, since she acted directly against the Vesselmind, in a drastic way, by attempting to put you in a coma and poisoning the Vessel itself to attempt to prevent your birth. Her reasons for doing this were horribly misinformed, but she crossed a line she should never have crossed. A non-rogue Agent in her position could have threatened you with the coma weapon to keep you from breeding with/endangering everyone, but would not have poisoned the Vessel.

I am concerned. Phi is acting suspiciously in regards to the Vesselmind. Discounting the possibility that rogues are even a thing, disrespecting it as if it's a separate entity while claiming it's a combined consciousness, being super evasive on the subject in general... I do not think she is a good target for breeding. Maybe later, once we have a better idea of what she might be doing. Also, once we have a better handle on how to administer sterilization.

I think we should go see Rho right now, since the situation here seems to revolve around her. Ask for directions.

>>965211
Locate Rho. Hope loudly that the contained intruder is actually contained and not actively hostile or dead.

Also, point out that, philosophically, one could consider the Vesselmind to be a 'slavedriver' in that one cannot refuse its commands due to biological hardwiring, thus in essence lamenting a lack of greater self control.

Delta's still a bitch for psychologically and physically abusing a newborn.

>>965211
If we can make it through this week, ask her to take you with her to see the outside. You know that the Vessel is only so big. There's more out there.

Thinking deep down.. maybe the Vessel is preparing the next generation to live on past it. Maybe the spawn you make won't need the link you have to the Vessel. Don't let anyone hear you think that.

1/3 Omega 2020/08/14(Fri)15:28 No. 974506 ID: 7b2f07
File 159744413135.png - (56.95KB , 800x600 , v-45.png )

>next generation
The Vessel is not showing signs of physical decline that I recognise. I also don't think it would be in the Vessel's interests to have Agents not tied to it. If the Vessel were to perish, it simply would no longer have a use for Agents anymore.

>Phi's acting suspiciously
I try to hide my suspicions, but she does seem to be hiding a lot of her thoughts and opinions for a supposed loyalist.
I'll put her lower on the priority list for breeding, I suppose.

>ask about the outside
~If I'm still alive in a few days, maybe we can see the sky together.~
Phi opens and closes her mouth a few times, before smiling. ~I'd like that.~

>thoughts about the Vesselmind
~I suppose, in a sense, given the Vesselmind is a part of us, the desire to refuse its commands might be a desire for greater self-control,~ I tell her. I know I feel like I've been driven by my libido a lot since my birth. It's not a foreign concept to me.
Phi looks off to the side again, nodding slowly. She doesn't respond over the channel immediately, taking a pause to organise her thoughts. ~It could also be a disagreement with the wider consensus,~ she says, almost in a conspirational whisper, before she pulls her arms around herself and closes her legs. The servitor behind her curls around her more tightly, before it pauses, stretches, and slides off. A command by Phi, I assume.
~You feel incredibly uncomfortable to even have such a thought,~ I point out.
Phi doesn't respond to that at all.

>seek Rho
~Everything about my mission suggests I need to speak to Rho. Do you know where she is?~
Phi remains curled up. ~Stern quadrant, Agent maintenance. You'll know how to find her if you head that direction. If you bump into Tau, please don't think ill of her based on what she says. She loves us all, and I think something went wrong in her gestation. That thing I said about neurotic rejection of the Vesselmind? She has that severely. But all she wants to do is help make us all healthier, and she doesn't let her own doubts interfere with that.~
~So you're saying Tau is rogue.~
~You're better than that, Omega, you've just shown it to me. You know this isn't a dry or wet dichotomy. Please, use your brain before you start putting fellow Agents into categories justifying things we shouldn't be doing to each other.~ She pauses. ~That is the quickest way to end up becoming like Delta.~
~I am nothing like Delta.~
~Keep your mind open and it will stay that way. I wish you the best in your mission.~
~Thank you. Yours as well. Be safe.~

I stand up and walk towards the stern of the Vessel, my sense of direction attuning itself to the various subtle markers strewn throughout.
I feel uneasy. I can't draw a conclusion as to whether Phi is a rogue Agent or not, and after the kindness she just showed me earlier I don't want to consider her rogue. I also understand her concerns, but I have to wonder if she is even fully aware of what Mu did to the Vessel. Did to me. I feel like she may just not understand how dangerous a rogue Agent can be.

~...Omega?~
~Yes?~
~If you need me again, let me know.~ I realise she isn't cutting her channel like so many of the other Agents I've met. ~Let me know when you're near the island again and I'll come visit you if I'm onboard.~
~I shall.~

2/3 Omega 2020/08/14(Fri)15:29 No. 974507 ID: 7b2f07
File 159744415660.png - (98.34KB , 800x600 , v-46.png )

I walk further towards the Vessel's stern quadrant, skirting around the numerous digestion pools. I understand the reason so many are dotted around the central hub is to act as passive defence. The ones used by the divers are only a small fraction of the total count.
In theory, invading Outsiders trying to charge from the mouth of the Vessel would be less aware of the pools' presence, and likelier to fall into them. It does, however, make traversing a straight line a little more difficult.
I wonder to myself if an Agent has ever fallen into the digestion pools here. If the answer is no, I definitely don't want to be the first.

I keep walking, a little unnerved, into the linking passage between the hub and this quadrant.
I sense another Agent approaching me. I stop walking, and decide to wait for whoever it is.

~Hold it,~ says the Agent, a new channel opened and a new voice coming through. I know this to be Tau. ~You. Male. (Male? Male?! Too soon!!) Omega? (Has to be.) Omega. State your mission and intent. (Confirm the mission parameters. It might not be too late.)~ Her channel is like the others, yet I keep hearing snippets of her voice at a lower intensity bubbling through. I hadn't even thought about how I hide some of my thoughts from conversation, but I don't even think she knows she's telling me so much.
~My intent is that I am looking for Rho. I need to talk to her about my mission. It's a sensitive matter.~
~Rho's busy. (Cannot allow him near Rho. It'll disrupt everything.) As such, I'm now acting as a first responder in the event of a medical emergency. If you need urgent medical assistance I can provide it. (Please just need medical assistance.)~
~No, I need knowledge. The Vesselmind is not responding and I have not found any means to contact it more directly.~
Tau hesitates. ~(They're noticing. They're noticing. She won't like this.) Stay there.~

The Agent I'm speaking to comes out of a passage in the side. Only now do I realise I hadn't felt her bioresonance signature until she just emerged from the wall membrane. She looks over to me and walks over. I try to pretend I don't hear her leaking thoughts I'm sure she doesn't want me to know.

~Arms by your sides, chest out, head up. (Make this freshborn know his place before he starts asking questions.)~
I act confused, but I comply.
She looks at me with clarity of purpose. ~Superficially healthy, but more examination is required for certainty... (Stall. Stall stall stall stall.)~

I consider trying to explain more insistently that I'm not here for medical assistance.
Knowing she's purposefully trying to get in my way does make me consider less diplomatic approaches, such as just ignoring her and continuing deeper into the Agent maintenance chambers. Possibly forcing her aside if she tries to stop me.

She stares directly into my eyes. ~Hold. I can feel your doubt about my intentions, Omega. (He knows he knows he KNOWS.) It is neither welcomed nor required. If you have something you wish to challenge me about, do so. (Greater muscle mass but moves without precision. Knowledge of anatomical weaknesses in Agents must be inferior to mine. Outcome of physical conflict still uncertain, either way will attract attention. Delta might investigate. Delta will make things complicated. Don't need a second scar.) I don't have time nor patience to drag you to diagnostics. Well?~

3/3 Omega 2020/08/14(Fri)15:29 No. 974508 ID: 7b2f07
File 159744417650.png - (95.88KB , 800x600 , v-47.png )

She's openly (well, unintentionally openly) planning to attack me. Goading me into a first strike, perhaps, even, so she'll look justified and I'll look to be at fault. I don't think I could have found a more rogue Agent example. I think I hate this! I think I really, really hate this--

Ghnn!! The realisation spikes feelings of anger, revulsion and instinctual hatred towards things that threaten the stability of the Vessel. Towards rogue Agents, specifically. Not as strong as the desire to kill the intruder from before, but strong. Strong enough that Tau takes a step back, wincing.

This surge of emotion inspires a sudden revelation on how to administer the sterilising toxin. Sudden throbbing feelings in my jaws reveal the answer: a bite. A bite that sinks into the flesh and allows these swelling toxin glands to release their contents into the victim's body. But it needs to go into the abdomen, and... can I even bite an Agent's abdomen, let alone unnoticed? Doubtful. Good. Not the best design work. I was sort of hoping it was delivered by sexual contact. Or literally anything less violent and less obvious.

Tau looks confused as I experience, and she experiences by proxy, the weird sensation of blood and fluid rushing to an organ I didn't realise I had moments ago. What an oddly familiar sensation. Granted, despite yet more strange biological urges manifesting in less than convenient circumstances, I feel in control. I also feel jumping to trying to wrap my teeth around her sides is a poor plan.

Only now do I realise, after reacting to the emotional surge and the unexpected taste of toxin in my mouth, I probably look like I'm about to kill.
Part of me wants to follow through, which I keep pulling back. If I could avoid killing an intruder, I can overcome this.

~(He's about to attack! I fucked up! He's going to kill me! I need to be on guard!!)~ Tau tries her best to look mildly annoyed, as I feel her panic escalate. If I don't try to descalate immediately, I can tell by her leaking intent and tense body language she's about to fight or flee, and I can't rely on her choosing flee. ...If I'm going to attack her, though, now or never.

>>974508
Wait. Her punishment can wait until we have Delta to help restrain her. This is dangerous terrain and could result in an accidental death. Also you are inexperienced in combat; she might win the fight. It's not like she can force you to impregnate her anyway, so there's no harm in delaying administering the toxin. I suspect she would not want to be impregnated anyway since she's genetically flawed.

Tell her to get out of your way. You don't have time for this.

Don't attack her but force your way past her. Don't let her stall you any longer.

>>974508
Spin on your heel and storm off. You should not engage this way. We have bigger factors to worry about like your self preservation. She doesn't want you to go that way but she won't engage either. Once you've cooled off, maybe you could see about running right past her.

>>974508
Just yell at her to stop being a jerk, you were born today and you've been either attacked by your own kin trying to assassinate you, or in one case emotionally and physically abused by a supposedly non-rogue Agent.

You are both miserable and irritable right now. Try asking her to go soak her head in one of the digestion pools if she's so excited about hurting people.

>>974537
Visibly restrain yourself, state this, and demand she step aside. No more stalling, her behavior is screaming suspicion at you. You don't want to hurt any other agents, you just want to know what's going on.

Turn around and, while facing away from her, apologize to her. Tell her that, among other things, you were assaulted by Delta just a short while ago, so you're a bit on the edge. And actually you should have these wounds checked out, so you'd agree if she could have a closer look at you... in diagnostics.

The reasoning is, well, think about what Phi said. About you becoming Delta. About not thinking ill of Tau. It's likely that what Tau is thinking isn't actually something she'd act on. Who knows, maybe other agents thought the same when they first saw you, only that you don't know about it.

So the fact that you can hear her is actually very useful to you, because it's the first Agent that you can read clearly like this. It means that, if you simply talk to her long enough, she would slowly reveal everything, like why she doesn't want you to visit Rho, what you'd be disrupting, etc.

This means that you need to stall as well and hold back on her. You're not actually in any hurry to get to Rho - you certainly took your time with Phi, so letting Tau take you to diagnostics isn't actually bad. If anything was to happen, it should happen there, and not here, where Delta could come walking by at any time.

>snippets of her voice
Being so transparent... I wonder if other agents get to hear her like this as well. If they do, wouldn't they figure out she's rouge as well?

>abdomen
Well, there is one hole leading to the abdomen that you know of. Your teeth cannot go there, but your tongue certainly could heh. Think about how that might feel. Of course, the current situation isn't the best for that and it will have to wait.

1/3 Omega 2020/10/01(Thu)16:43 No. 977716 ID: 912101
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>do not attack
>turn around and face away from her
>demand she step aside
I refuse to attack her, my muscles tensing as I suppress my fight-or-flight instincts. I turn away from her, still seething.
~I was attacked by Delta earlier,~ I say. ~I am in no mood for further aggression or challenges. It has been,~ I pause, and consult the ambient simple information coursing through the veins of the Vessel. ~Less than a complete day since my emergence, and I have endured enough for this day cycle.~ I turn my head towards her slightly, and gesture to the scratches on my neck. ~I just need to talk to Rho.~

She looks at me, still tense. Her internal thoughts continue dripping into the air. ~(Delta attacked him? Is he rogue?? No, reaction in line with loyalists, could be ruse?)~
She folds her arms. ~Rho is, as I have said previously, not available to talk to. (Stall.)~

I fight back another shuddering impulse to lunge at her. ~Very well. I will come back later.~ I swallow the sudden surge of toxin that floods my mouth, trembling in rage and unspent aggression.

I turn and start walking away from her.

~(He's going? He's going. He's going, good, now just watch him leave, make sure he doesn't try to get past me.)~

...ah, that was going to be my next move and she's already anticipating it.
I slow to a standstill and stare upwards at the ceiling of this passage.

~(He's stopping. What is he doing. He was just leaving. Okay, if he's about to sprint then I need to--)~

I sprint as fast as my legs can manage, probably the first actual sprint I've tried, and try to just move past her.

~Wait! Stop! Stop immediately! Rho is busy! Rho is busy!! GET BACK HERE!!~

I keep sprinting and hear Tau start running after me. I hope she can't outrun me.

...I have no idea where Rho is and the Agent signatures in this area are confusing and indistinct, so I decide to charge straight down the corridor.

2/3 Omega 2020/10/01(Thu)16:43 No. 977717 ID: 912101
File 160159581683.png - (63.29KB , 800x600 , v-49.png )

I wait for a valve door to open while I hear Tau running after me. ~Omega, you are forbidden from entering that room! (That's not even where Rho is! You brainless idiot! Oh, this is bad this is bad, why did he have to go that way?!)~
~I just need to talk to Rho!~
~Rho isn't through here! Rho is in diagnosis, this isn't diagnosis, this is treatment, if you don't stop you're going to barge into a room full of delicate machinery treating sick and injured servitors and Agents, and possibly kill them! Stop! (He has to believe that! He has to!)~

I walk through the valve door and find a room full of pulsating pods, some the size of an Agent, some much smaller, and lots of tiny eye-sized pods around the ceiling migrating between clusters across draped tubes.

I notice a pod the size of an Agent that's cast aside, empty and badly damaged. Almost like something tore it apart from the inside. It looks like it must have happened fairly recently, there's a lot of leaking fluids and torn veins that look fresh and not dried out.

3/3 Omega 2020/10/01(Thu)16:44 No. 977718 ID: 912101
File 160159584432.png - (55.11KB , 800x600 , v-50.png )

I-- someone just got close to me and is touching me and I did not feel a bioresonance signature at all.

I feel them let me go and back up, and I turn around to face the figure, ready to attack again. The sour tang of toxin drips into my mouth.

They stare into me.

~So, you are Omega, then.~ The Agent tilts their head, bleeding a strange sense of casual dismissal mixed with trepidation, mixed with existential threat/terror, rivalry. Unsure, confusing mix of emotions, all muddied. No, misinterpretation. No, no bioresonance signature, no, signature there, distinct, fuzzy, simultaneous, confusing. Headache.

~Fuck,~ says Tau. ~Fuck, you were not supposed to... Sampi! Sampi, your orders were to stay hidden!~
~They were,~ says the Agent whose name I cannot immediately know as with the others. They are an Agent, they must be, but it's an incomplete picture, things are wrong, this is wrong, this is all very wrong, outsider? No, not outsider. I'm thinking more than I want to, my instinct is to kill, something is too wrong about this.
~Why didn't you hide?!~
~I did. No one specified for how long, did they?~ The Agent - male?? - tilts (his?!) head the other way. ~This is Omega? I am Sampi.~
~Sampi, shut up and do not tell Omega anything!!~
~I will take these orders into consideration,~ says the Agent? Sampi?, a hole in the world, not just a silence but an anti-sound, the more I focus on him the less I know. He projects the air of someone who feels above anyone and anything else.

He's just watching me. I feel like he's staring inside my body. Sometimes he tilts his head a different way.

~So that's your mission,~ he says, specifically to me, on a direct channel I do not recall opening. ~Interesting.~
~Who are you? What are you?~
~Sampi. Agent. Just like you.~
~(Okay okay this is salvageable this is salvageable Omega has no idea what he can do or what his mission is,)~ leaks Tau as she stands off to the side.

~What is your mission?~ I say on the private channel he opened to me, that I keep trying to close and he keeps finding a way to reopen.
~I was asked very politely not to reveal such things, but...~ I feel a shiver run down my spine. It feels like something crawling through my nerves. ~Yes, very similar, yet not quite.~
~Stop it. Whatever you're doing is making it harder to think.~
~Mhm. I see no reason to stop.~
~Please stop?~
~Hm. No.~ He smiles again. ~You took longer to bake, yet you're already two ahead. Mhm. Yes. Is Tau within the parameters of your mission, Omega?~

>>977718
Flee. These are both rogues, but you can't fight two at once to sterilize or kill either of them. You must report this to the other Agents, then hunt them down in greater numbers so they can be captured and sterilized. Sampi may need to be killed or put in a coma, since he seems to be some kind of mental threat.

Sampi seems dangerous. Leave quickly and continue to try to find Rho. Tau will surely follow and you can seek Rho out by going wherever Tau doesn't want you to go the most.

>>977719
Usurper. This guy has a mission to breed more rogues. Your antithesis. You are entirely within your right to tear him apart.

Unless..
We can come to an understanding?

>>977730
...actually that's an interesting thought. If he's able to screen himself from the Vesselmind... maybe the Rogues can breed their own separate population, and live apart. Like, ACTUALLY apart though, they can't live on the Vessel where they could continue to harm the Vesselmind.

Is he an Agent made by other Agents instead of the Vesselmind? Smug OP asshole.

Punch him in the face, "Is this a good enough reason to stop?!". Grab hold of his neck, tell Tau that if she comes near you you'll rip his throat out, start demanding answers; what is he, what is his mission, was he made by the Vesselmind, does he want to have the threesome with Tau, is he a threat to the Vessel, WATS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?

>>977718
An enemy fabrication designed for the same task as you.

Tell him that EVERYONE HAS BEEN SO MEAN TO YOU TODAY AND IT IS THE WORST. Almost all of the girls are just SO MEAN.

This obvious Rogue Agent clearly has had it easy in comparison.

Hmm, a threesome wouldn't be bad, but how could Sampi guarantee that Tau would be impregnated by you and not him?

>>977718
Rouge agent must be killed his sack clearly sticks out ready for a bite

>>978712

Not viable. You'd have to lower your head toward his torso, that's a combat move that is much too telegraphed and slow. Attacks from the arms should go to face and upper torso, kicks toward lower part of body if we are instigating violence.

Are we instigating violence? Perhaps something to disrupt his concentration and this effect he's having on us. Attacks to the head? Painful joint locks?

>>977718
well twist neck and ripping off giant hanging ballsack is a viable attack

1/2 Omega 2020/12/08(Tue)16:28 No. 983110 ID: a979d8
File 160747373702.png - (61.30KB , 800x600 , v-51.png )

>usurper
>rogue breeder
>Agent made by other Agents
That has to be it. That's why there's another male Agent. How this happened I have no understanding of, but it's an affront to the Vesselmind and to me personally.
>threesome
No. I can't risk this rogue element impregnating an Agent. Mission failure risk too high.
>complain to rogue Agent
I doubt an actively antagonistic rogue will be sympathetic.
>rogue Agents living independently of the Vesselmind
Impermissable.
An Agent is the culmination of the biotechnological secrets known to the Vesselmind and the Vesselmind alone. The Outsiders cannot be allowed such opportunities to learn how our bodies and systems function.
This is also assuming that rogue Agents do not exploit their deep understanding and predetermined links with the Vesselmind to cause harm. A hostile rogue Agent presents a greater threat to the Vesselmind than any Outsider ever could.
The only options for resolving rogue Agents are reintegration, through whatever means, or rendering them unable to interfere with the workings of the Vessel any further.

>your antithesis
>entirely within your right to tear him apart
>seems dangerous
>punch him in the face
>grab hold of his neck
I swing towards his face almost like a reflex action, so disgusted and angered am I at everything this incarnation of error represents.

He quickly dodges me as though he saw it coming a minute ago. ~This was your plan, hm.~
I realise that, despite having basic combat training burned into my neurology before I even first opened my eyes, my combat experience is lacking.
I dive to the ground with the momentum of my failed attack, rolling and launching back up to my feet.

Sampi watches me again, and Tau is circling around us. ~(This is close to the worst situation imaginable, if Sampi is severely injured everything is over, and if Omega is severely injured questions will be asked. Omega must be repelled somehow! I have to intervene, but I can't match Omega in direct strength. Demonstrably clumsy, raw power-- redirect, use momentum against him. Watch for opportunity.)~

Sampi looks to Tau and smiles again, silent.

I charge at Sampi and feint to the left at the last moment. He still dodges me effortlessly, smiling while looking half-asleep.
I spin to smack my tail into him and he steps back a few times, just barely out of my range.
~Are you going to keep uselessly trying to injure me, Omega--~

I lunge at him before letting him finish that thought, and grab him by the shoulders. He's strong, but I'm stronger. He tenses up and I feel a barely suppressed surge of fear resonate within him.
He closes his eyes and sighs, still grinning, but trembling, sweat beading over his head.
~There. You have me. Now what are you going to do?~ He tilts his head towards Tau, who is watching me like a predator waiting for the ideal time to strike their prey.

With the minor psychic echoes I feel around my back and shoulders as I keep a firm grip, I'm suddenly acutely aware that any pain I inflict on him is likely something that I'll experience from the resulting psychic backlash. While I try to think of what to do, I prepare myself for Sampi tearing himself away from my grip and trying to attack.

2/2 Omega 2020/12/08(Tue)16:29 No. 983111 ID: a979d8
File 160747376250.png - (100.72KB , 800x600 , v-52.png )

What I don't expect is Sampi pushing himself forward towards me until our chests push against each other, and then angling his hips so that our gonads press into one another. He grabs my lower back as he squishes his testicles against mine.

~What?~ It's all I can think to ask.
~I'm closing the circuit as tightly as I can. The closer in proximity we are, the stronger psychic pain backlash we'll experience. Your only options are to let me go and back away, or hold onto me but do nothing. I'm holding both of our reproductive capabilities hostage until you let me go. You understand, yes?~

I'm mostly surprised and overwhelmed by this unexpected action. And more than a little alarmed given the sensitive areas involved.

And then I realise there's some extra forces at play, as the contact causes some swelling and hardening of other vital reproductive organs, now pressing into each other. My primal urges to enact violence on the enemies of the Vessel and breed with female Agents are starting to mingle in ways that are bizarre and novel to me, as I envision trying to somehow force this male rival to waste his gametes before he has a chance to use them, rubbing up against him until he's forced to release while being careful not to do the same. Something completely irrational, as I know sperm is quick to replenish, but...

Sampi stares into my eyes more and the previously unsettling gaze is now making me feel a deep fear that I'm now losing a psychological battle I didn't know I was in. I want to look away, but something deep and primal screams at me not to back down from the issued challenge, to lock eyes and stare back.

~You didn't answer my question before, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to impregnate Tau before you can either way,~ says Sampi, continuing to slowly push his genitals against mine.
~You've asked her already?~
~Nothing in my mission definition mentions anything about whether the female Agents have to be willing.~
~You disgust me,~ I snarl, conflicting emotions and sensations of hate, fear, threat-repulsion and unfocused lust kneading my psyche into uncomfortable shapes. ~Agents are not objects for you to use as you please.~
~We are enemies,~ he says, pushing his penis against mine, as the tension between us, sexual and otherwise, builds to painful and terrifying heights. ~Would you be lecturing me like this if I was a female and a valid target, instead of male and a biological threat to your own objectives of insemination? Or would you have already started trying to breed with me?~
I decide not to tell him what my mission says to do to rogue females, but I start wondering if my intent to go through with the forced sterilisation of rogues against their will does make me a hypocrite.

I feel warm slick fluids between us as our lubricants ooze and run down our organs. We maintain a tight grip on each other, in a stalemate. I did not realise I could also be aroused by a male Agent as I could by a female, which I hadn't really thought about, given I thought I was the only male. It would be more appreciated if it was not this particular male Agent, a threat to my mission, the safety of the Vessel, and, I guess, to my status as the sole male Agent. I realise jealousy is at least part of my anger here, but it doesn't change things. This is a rogue Agent, an opponent, an active threat. And now I feel some strange lurching primal fear of inadequacy, as I feel his large testicles pressing into mine, that he might be more fertile and virile than me. I feel like I've already lost in some way.

I suddenly remember Sampi is not the only threat and look around for Tau, and see her staring at the two of us while slowly rubbing her crotch. When she notices me looking at her, she immediately stops, looking incredibly embarrassed. ~I-- uh. (Okay this is fucked up but the two of them are apparently now fighting over me, I don't think I've ever felt anything this intense and charged before, even if it is kind of messed up that I'm a prize here, but I've not had this sort of praise from anyone else even if it is this weird, oh Vesselmind I have no idea how to feel about this and it's weirdly condescending but also incredibly erotic and how am I supposed to feel about this this is weird and strange and I like it but I don't like it and I can't make up my mind and and--)~

I tune out Tau's ongoing mistaken thought stream for the sake of avoiding it overrunning me. Sampi seems incredibly confident and in control for someone who's continuing to push his sex organs up against mine in a desperate gambit. I feel like I need to break away from this situation as it's clearly a deadlock and nothing can happen from here, but how, and while avoiding injury...

>>983111
>but I start wondering if my intent to go through with the forced sterilisation of rogues against their will does make me a hypocrite.
Absolutely not. It is an important part of your mission and *must* be done to *every* rogue female. Your mission to impregnate females does not require you to impregnate every non-rogue female. You can get consent there. Also the sterilization process is simple. A single bite, over in an instant. Mating is an extended process that an unwilling female will have to endure, likely in a violent fashion, while they are treated as nothing more than an object to be used for pleasure. It is far more traumatic and demeaning than your bite. At worst they will feel harshly punished for actions they feel were justified.

>what do?
Grapple him further. He's smaller than you, so you could try carrying him to the others. Tau may try to stop you, but backlash should be enough of a deterrent to allow you to keep going.
Alternatively you could fuck him in the ass to establish dominance, and if he lets down his guard enough for a good grapple and pin you could consider biting him to sterilize him, eliminating the threat of rogue reproduction. In fact, if he can be sterilized, he could serve as a way for females to feel the pleasure of sex without fear of reproduction. A useful role.

This is how you win, first grab his hips. Then kiss him as you grind your dick against his until orgasm.

Fuck his ass, assert dominance

Fuck his ass, assert dominance

And order tau to sit on his face so he can put his tongue to better use

Oh, I realized that my suggestion is somewhat hypocritical if he doesn't want to get fucked in the ass, so let's give him an out: you won't do it if he gives up and allows himself and Tau to be sterilized. Though maybe he'd still want dick rubbings, he doesn't seem to be objecting to that, and it could make a decent contest of sexual endurance.

>>983111
Pain doesn't need to be the sole motivator in a deadlock. It's a good one, but not your only tool. You're stronger and heavier, use that.
Don't give him leverage, but open his stance up with a shift of yours. Get your knee inside his legs and make him bend. A quick knock won't hurt but it will make him buckle. As he's off-balance, he won't have the equal footing to counter your size and force. It's downhill for him as you force him down to the floor. Restrain him from there.

Or ya know, bite him. Give him the same gift Delta gave you on your introduction to domination since his hands are tied and you're already familiar to the pain. Plus venom. Don't forget that.

>>983111
Clearly you must show off how adaptable you are, go on and play this lewd domination game of his, it will make for good training later against any possible other rogues either way...definitely play to win though.

Try to goad Tau into losing control and giving you an edge by flipping Sampi's tail up

>>983111
fuck his ass, make him humble!
Or maybe we could be friends? Make out with him.

But seriously remind him that, while yes hurting him will hurt us , that pain is temporary, so if we were to rip his throat out with our teeth we would only have to deal with the pain until he dies.

So he has two options; either he and tau can both submit to sterilization and then we can all have some fun or we kill him and then deal with tau.
Tell him this while making out. You know to distract him. and to show him we were serious about having fun

>deadlock
Hmm. Technically you could break away and report the problem to other agents. Delta would be able to handle him but, it would probably be too much for you to deal with Delta again so soon, so other options should be considered here first.

Now, given the problem of feedback, you two can't really hurt each other. Alternatively, if you tried to make him orgasm, it would likely cause you to orgasm as well due to feedback, even if your efforts were entirely one-sided. At least so far there's no evidence that you could make someone orgasm without achieving the same yourself. Therefore, trying to dominate him would likely not solve the deadlock.

Hmm, what other options are there? The Omega-Sampi pairing won't work. But there are two other pairings. Omega-Tau and Sampi-Tau. Either of these could work. For instance, if Sampi for some reason let you near Tau, you could impregnate or sterilize her. But he already said that he would impregnate her before you, so I don't think he would simply agree to let you near her. The Sampi-Tau pairing... if you let them do it with each other, you could stand back far enough for the feedback to not affect you too much, but then she would get impregnated, which you already said that you don't want to risk.

>the two of them are fighting over me
I feel that this is an important clue here, but I'm not certain what to do with it. I'm assuming that (unless I'm dumb and some other clue flew over my head) the clue implies that you could make some sort of a deal with the two, to use their competitiveness for your benefit, but the problem is that you don't know what Tau's goals are. Why would she be fighting with Sampi over you? Without knowing that, it's hard to guess what she'd agree to. Anyway, what kind of a deal could you make?
Well, the deal would probably involve some sort of a competition (sexual or otherwise) between the two of them, and the prize would probably be you, since they're fighting over you.
So for instance, we could make a deal where the terms would be that two of them would try to get each other to orgasm without impregnation (with you watching), and the winner then gets to have his way with you. Of course, there's plenty of options for trickery here, but what's important is that the end result would be that both of them would be disabled and safe to sterilize, assuming that the orgasm knocks them both out at the same time. But even if it doesn't, the situation would still be a lot more favorable, instead of the current 1v2, it would be 1v1, with the other party very close to the edge and easy to finish off. An obvious problem here is getting them to agree to such a thing. You'd probably need to allow them to tie you up or something, which would not sit well with you. But who knows.

I'm probably overthinking this and the obvious solution to the current situation is simply to look for a weak point, touching Sampi all over his body until you find something that gets a good reaction. Maybe doing so would disrupt his feedback-giving ability. Or perhaps he's simply unable to provide any at the height of the orgasm.

>>983111
SUPLEX

Wait I've got a better idea! Push him to the floor and ride his dick till he cums then keep going, he'll either surrender to get us to stop or he'll end up too exhausted to fight back when we sterilize him and he won't have any semen to impregnate Tau cause all of it will be in us and we can't get pregante. It's the ultimate power move!

Is there a reason we havent called Delta over and had her reduce both of them to constituent proteins?

Also kiss him and give him a shot of venom.

Push yourself even closer to Sampi and grab his ass with both hands... Then suddenly bend your knees, haul him up off the ground and carry him outta here as fast as you can to Rho.

>>983326
What if we do this we push the male to the floor ride his dick and fuck the female ontop this way we are not wasting our genetic material while he is

>>983111
You need to up your confidence. Assert dominance. Push back against him.
"Why must we be enemies?"
The second he begins to respond, SLAP YOUR HANDS ON HIS ASSCHEEKS
If he's surprised by this, push him down onto the ground and sit on top of him (not on his dick, his chest) to immobilize him!
Regardless of whether that works, say
"I am not here to attack you or Tau. That is not part of my mission."
if possible begin stroking Sampi's cock, then look to Tau
"Do you have lustful feelings for each other?"

If they do, make them an offer: You can sterilize them, and then leave them alone, not telling anyone of Sampi. Part of your mission is to sterilize rogues - not report them to Delta. They can have each other, and you can continue on your way.

In the end, I'd say sterilizing Sampi is much more important than sterilizing Tau. A female rogue agent can't impregnate other female agents.

Can someone do a recap of this whole story into a few subjects?