move from work dir

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/001.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Ioan Bălan awoke to an urgent message.
+
+Ey didn't really like these, the sensorium messages. Much better to receive paper messages. Letters. Notes. Missives. Scrawled signatures and careful handwriting.
+
+Ey mostly just liked paper, if ey was honest. Always accruing more paper, more pens. Paper messages, rich messages attached to paper that played on its surface, ones that messed with the reader's sensorium; ey sent them all. Eir friends found it perhaps a little disturbing. Antiques from a world more physical than this.
+
+But to have one that just barged in on eir vision and endocrine system like this made em anxious. This one included a tiny jolt of adrenaline as an alert. Waking up to a zap of panic to have a partial sensory takeover felt rude.
+
+At least ey didn't have to get out of bed to deal with it.
+
+The opacity on the message was turned up high so that even in eir dark room with eir eyes closed (and heart still pounding), ey could see the fox. Bipedal, dressed sharply. It was sitting on a plain wooden chair situated in an empty room. The room had wood floors the same color as the chair. Something light: maple or pine. The walls were concrete where they weren't glass. Outside the glass was a sere shortgrass prairie, a cloudy day.
+
+The combination of the fox's white fur, glistening and iridescent, combined with the room and landscape was all so painfully postmodern. Ey didn't think emself much of a pomophobe, but this was\ldots{}intense, to say the least.
+
+\emph{``Hi Mx. Bălan,''} the fox was saying. It seemed to speak in italics, though how, Ioan could not say. A sense. A sensation. \emph{``I have a proposition for you.''}
+
+Ioan grunted. The message was simplex, thank goodness. One way. No interaction required.
+
+\emph{``My name is Dear, Also, The Tree Was Felled — or just Dear — and I am a member of the Ode clade. I am an artist--''} The word seemed to come with a tone of distaste. \emph{``--and\ldots{}performer. I am not just telling you this to, ah, toot my own horn, I believe the phrase is, but to underline the fact that I am woefully unprepared for the situation at hand.''}
+
+The fox smiled, looking tired, and continued. \emph{``I need some help finding someone. Someone that does not want to be found. It is personally important, but also potentially damaging to the image of our entire clade.''}
+
+Ioan furrowed eir brow.
+
+\emph{``This person has information, a name, that they have supposedly shared. We — the other members of my clade and myself — do not precisely know if they actually did, unfortunately, we just have word from some perisystem notification that someone said the Name.''} Ioan could hear the capital letter.
+
+\emph{``I am sorry, I am getting sidetracked by details.''} The fox shook it's head, ears flopping from side to side. \emph{``I try to be prepared for conversations and messages like this, but I am a little worked up. Excited, I guess. Can we meet?''} It listed an address. \emph{``Even if only to talk. Even if you are not interested, I would still like to meet you. You seem neat.''}
+
+The message ended.
+
+Ioan lay in bed, thinking. It was still an hour before ey had to get up, and ey was loath to start the day before ey had to. Ey tried eir best to sleep for another ten minutes, at least, but eir mind kept slipping back to Dear's request.
+
+\emph{Why me?} ey asked the backs of eir closed eyelids. \emph{Why hire a writer who fancies emself a historian as\ldots{}what, a private investigator?}
+
+Ey spent a few minutes researching the public basics on Dear. Pronouns (it/its), species (fennec fox), age (old — the Ode clade was an early adopter), some of its art. Really out there stuff. No further hints as to why it would need em in particular. Something on the markets piqued its interest, perhaps?
+
+With still a half hour before eir alarm, Ioan stretched out of bed. The least ey could do was get a shower and some coffee. If there were any reason that the founders of the system had included full sensoria in the works it must have been for those.
+
+Those done and clothes donned — ey knew ey could never out-natty the fox, so the usual faux-academia garb it was — ey penned Dear a short note with a time. If it was day in that sim, or even late afternoon, it should get the note before dinner or bed.
+
+\emph{Besides,} ey thought. \emph{Maybe it will get the fox to stop using sensorium messages.}
+
+No luck. Less than thirty seconds later, Ioan received a sensorium ping of acknowledgment, a shiver up eir spine for eir trouble.
+
+Ey forked and sent the copy of emself, \#c1494bf, out to the meeting. Meanwhile, ey'd get some food, perhaps work on eir current project.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/002-illust.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Ioan\#c1494bf found emself twenty meters in front of a squat, flat house.
+
+It was as modern on the outside as it had appeared on the inside: a concrete block, a thick wrap-around patio, bordered by dandelions and covered by cantilevered eaves, floor to ceiling glass for walls. Ey wouldn't be surprised if the far side of the buiding — ey couldn't see it very well, with the slope of the shortgrass prairie it huddled on — jutted out at some crazy angle.
+
+Smiling ruefully, ey walked up toward the house. Ey had eir own aesthetic. Ey knew the trappings. Might as well own it.
+
+A soft tone, a vibraphone struck with a soft mallet, sounded both inside and outside of the house as soon as ey'd passed the barrier between grass and patio. Ey stood on the concrete, waiting to be either admitted or greeted.
+
+A shadow of a person — human — peeked out through the glass at em, gave a pleasant wave, and hollered through the glass, ``Ioan! Hi. I'll grab Dear.''
+
+Before the person could do so, Dear came padding from around the side of the house, looking slightly more collected than it had during the message.
+
+\emph{``Ioan,''} it said, smiling and offering a hand — paw? — in greeting. Ioan wasn't sure how ey knew when a fox was smiling, but it was definitely a smile. \emph{``Thank you for coming on such short notice. Sorry for the urgent message, I just need to find someone to help out rather soon.''}
+
+Ioan\#c1494bf took the offered hand/paw and bowed. ``Of course, Dear.'' How strange it was to call someone a term of endearment as a name. ``May we have a seat? I've just woken up and am still figuring out how to stand.''
+
+Dear grinned and nodded, gesturing cordially with its paw around the side of the building from whence it had come, leading the writer around and through a door in the glass.
+
+The interior of the house was much as ey had seen, though as they moved through the space where that first message had been recorded (a gallery, Ioan noticed) and deeper into the house, things warmed up a little. The concrete walls were softened by hangings and the furniture unexpectedly plush. None of the firm-cushioned, straight-lined variety ey had expected.
+
+Fox and writer settled for an L-shaped couch, facing each other across the bend.
+
+After a moment's hesitation, Ioan began, ``I must apologize, Dear. I'm not sure that you have quite the right person. I'm not really a detective, wouldn't know the first way of finding the one you spoke of.''
+
+Dear shook it's head. \emph{``No, I'm pretty sure you are the right person. My search of the markets was quite specific, and you topped all the lists. I am not really looking for a detective, per se. There's enough of those in the Ode clade. They will suss out the whens and wheres.''}
+
+``Then what--''
+
+\AddToHookNext{shipout/after}{\includepdf[pages={1},noautoscale=true,fitpaper=true]{assets/johnny--smug-1--dear--G}}
+\emph{``There are a few types of people in the world, Ioan,''} the fox said, voice low and calm. Low enough and calm enough to take the sting out of the interruption. \emph{``There are forgers and honers. Most are familiar with those. Forgers build a thing and plow ahead, and honers settle on a thing and perfect it. Artists generally fall into these classes, and they map to two outcomes in particular: prolific and unfruitful artists, respectively.}
+
+\emph{``But you are not an artist. You write, yes, but that's ancillary to what you do. A side effect. After all, there are some other types of people out there, too. Catalogers, feelers, experiencers.''} Dear shrugged. \emph{``For its own reasons, the clade needs-- I need someone to experience this along with us. Someone specifically out-clade. There's a lot of history in this, a lot that we've forgotten before uploading, a lot that we're trying to remember. Maybe even some that we're trying to forget. I want you to help figure out the history of this, yes, but I also want you to experience it and tell a coherent story after.''}
+
+``An amanuensis,'' Ioan said.
+
+Dear brightened, its ears perking. \emph{``Precisely. And what a delightful word, too.''}
+
+Ioan smiled. ``That's good, then. Very much more my arena. I'll keep this instance around and keep \#tracker up to date.''
+
+The fox nodded, then looked up, smiling as the person Ioan had first seen came in with three thick-walled, wide-brimmed mugs of coffee, setting two of them down on the corner of the table near Ioan and the fox. ``Ioan, nice to meet you. Heard you were tired,'' they said, walking off with their own mug.
+
+Dear watched them go.
+
+``Your partner?'' Ioan asked. A moment of chitchat felt necessary. Ey lifted eir mug carefully. It smelled quite good.
+
+The fox nodded, picked up it's own mug, and leaned back into the cushions of the couch, slouching. \emph{``Mmhm. Finally decided to explore relationships again,''} it said. \emph{``They accuse me of treating it like an art project.''}
+
+Ioan grinned. ``Well, are you a forger or a honer of relationships?''
+
+Dear rolled its eyes, said, \emph{``Touché. I am trying to be a honer, with this one. I gave relationships a miss after\ldots{}well, some stuff before uploading. For a long while, I forked to create lasting relationships rather than holding any myself. Gets lonely, though. It was like being turned down every time. At least from my-- from this instance's point of view.''}
+
+Ioan felt they were getting a little too deep for having just met, so ey steered the conversation along a tangent. ``You fork quite often, then?''
+
+\emph{``Yes. Dispersionista through and through. Or perhaps profligate tracker. Sometimes I do not have the option to let instances linger.''} Something seemed to occur to it, and the fox sat up straighter again. \emph{``Speaking of, do you know much about the Ode clade?''}
+
+Ioan shook eir head, sipped eir coffee. It \emph{was} good.
+
+\emph{``It is an old clade. One of the oldest on the system. Our root instance, Michelle Hadje, uploaded basically as soon as she could, and quickly became one of the loudest voices on the system. She campaigned for more advanced sensoria to be included.''}
+
+``I've heard of Michelle.'' Ioan nodded. ``Usually in the context of the founders. You speak of her like she's someone else, though.''
+
+\emph{``Dispersionista habit. We are quite different from each other, by this point. If you get the chance to meet Michelle — and you may — you will see the differences.''}
+
+``So what is Ode, then? Her old username?''
+
+\emph{``No, an ode is a poem.''} Dear laughed.
+
+``Oh! Oh, of course. So Michelle wrote this poem\ldots{}''
+
+\emph{``No, not actually. Michelle had a friend, a good friend, who wrote the poem.''} Dear was speaking more slowly now, sounding less rehearsed. \emph{``When the friend died, Michelle memorized the poem. All of us up-tree instances do our best to keep it memorized as well. Really memorized, too, up in the forefront, up where we think about it, not stored in some exocortex.''}
+
+``Is that where your names come from?''
+
+\emph{``Yes. Each of us is named after a line in the poem. I am Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, and my first long-lived fork is Which Offered Heat And Warmth Through Fire. My immediate down-tree fork is Dear The Wheat And Rye Under The Stars.''}
+
+Dear splayed its ears, grinning sheepishly, \emph{``It is perhaps not a very good poem. Michelle was\ldots{}well, she had some experience relating to the\ldots{}ah, origins of the poem which I shall not get into here, but even she will admit that. The sentiments are nice, but this friend was not a poet. When they died, when they killed themselves, it really tore her up. We all still think of them often.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, once more steering the conversation away from more sensitive topics. ``It must be quite long, then.''
+
+\emph{``One hundred lines divided into ten stanzas. There are only ever ten branches as direct ancestors of Michelle, and each branch only ever has ten long-lived up-tree instances. We may be Dispersionistas, but we are a small clade.''}
+
+``And the poet? Who are they?''
+
+Dear bristled, then mastered some complex set of emotions Ioan didn't understand. \emph{``That is the Name that we don't share. The information that someone supposedly did share, I mean. Someone of the clade or close enough to it to know.''}
+
+Ioan's brow furrowed, startled by the fox's reaction, not to mention the concept of not sharing a name that was clearly important. ``I see,'' ey said down to eir coffee, covering eir confusion. ``So you'd like me to help in finding this person and act as amanuensis along the way?''
+
+Nodding, Dear held out its paw once more. \emph{``If you would be willing, that is. We would be glad to have you aboard.''}
+
+Ey was already sold, Ioan knew, but all the same, ey took a moment longer to consider the ramifications of the job. Ey couldn't come up with any reason not to.
+
+Ey nodded, reached out, and shook the fox's paw.
+
+Dear grinned, shook back.
+
+\emph{``Excellent. I have shared just about all I have to share on the topic for now, though as we get updates, I will pass them on to you.''} Dear leaned back into the couch once more, lapped at its coffee. \emph{``For now, stay. Finish your coffee, at least, though feel free to putter around for a while. Or just stay here. We have an apartment on the side of the house. I have already talked with my partner about it.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, ``Thank you. I think I'll head home in a bit and sync up with myself, then start the research plan. Do you have any suggested avenues I should start down?''
+
+\emph{``Of course.''} Dear smiled. \emph{``As for research, dig a bit more into the Ode clade for now, probably. When I send you updates, maybe those will lead to different topics.''} The smile turned into a sly grin. \emph{``I know you are not a big fan of sensorium messages, but as that is how the clade communicates — those of us who do, at least — I regret to say that you will be getting quite a bit more.''}
+
+Ioan gave eir best polite smile.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/002.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Ioan\#c1494bf found emself twenty meters in front of a squat, flat house.
+
+It was as modern on the outside as it had appeared on the inside: a concrete block, a thick wrap-around patio, bordered by dandelions and covered by cantilevered eaves, floor to ceiling glass for walls. Ey wouldn't be surprised if the far side of the buiding — ey couldn't see it very well, with the slope of the shortgrass prairie it huddled on — jutted out at some crazy angle.
+
+Smiling ruefully, ey walked up toward the house. Ey had eir own aesthetic. Ey knew the trappings. Might as well own it.
+
+A soft tone, a vibraphone struck with a soft mallet, sounded both inside and outside of the house as soon as ey'd passed the barrier between grass and patio. Ey stood on the concrete, waiting to be either admitted or greeted.
+
+A shadow of a person — human — peeked out through the glass at em, gave a pleasant wave, and hollered through the glass, ``Ioan! Hi. I'll grab Dear.''
+
+Before the person could do so, Dear came padding from around the side of the house, looking slightly more collected than it had during the message.
+
+\emph{``Ioan,''} it said, smiling and offering a hand — paw? — in greeting. Ioan wasn't sure how ey knew when a fox was smiling, but it was definitely a smile. \emph{``Thank you for coming on such short notice. Sorry for the urgent message, I just need to find someone to help out rather soon.''}
+
+Ioan\#c1494bf took the offered hand/paw and bowed. ``Of course, Dear.'' How strange it was to call someone a term of endearment as a name. ``May we have a seat? I've just woken up and am still figuring out how to stand.''
+
+Dear grinned and nodded, gesturing cordially with its paw around the side of the building from whence it had come, leading the writer around and through a door in the glass.
+
+The interior of the house was much as ey had seen, though as they moved through the space where that first message had been recorded (a gallery, Ioan noticed) and deeper into the house, things warmed up a little. The concrete walls were softened by hangings and the furniture unexpectedly plush. None of the firm-cushioned, straight-lined variety ey had expected.
+
+Fox and writer settled for an L-shaped couch, facing each other across the bend.
+
+After a moment's hesitation, Ioan began, ``I must apologize, Dear. I'm not sure that you have quite the right person. I'm not really a detective, wouldn't know the first way of finding the one you spoke of.''
+
+Dear shook it's head. \emph{``No, I'm pretty sure you are the right person. My search of the markets was quite specific, and you topped all the lists. I am not really looking for a detective, per se. There's enough of those in the Ode clade. They will suss out the whens and wheres.''}
+
+``Then what--''
+
+\emph{``There are a few types of people in the world, Ioan,''} the fox said, voice low and calm. Low enough and calm enough to take the sting out of the interruption. \emph{``There are forgers and honers. Most are familiar with those. Forgers build a thing and plow ahead, and honers settle on a thing and perfect it. Artists generally fall into these classes, and they map to two outcomes in particular: prolific and unfruitful artists, respectively.}
+
+\emph{``But you are not an artist. You write, yes, but that's ancillary to what you do. A side effect. After all, there are some other types of people out there, too. Catalogers, feelers, experiencers.''} Dear shrugged. \emph{``For its own reasons, the clade needs-- I need someone to experience this along with us. Someone specifically out-clade. There's a lot of history in this, a lot that we've forgotten before uploading, a lot that we're trying to remember. Maybe even some that we're trying to forget. I want you to help figure out the history of this, yes, but I also want you to experience it and tell a coherent story after.''}
+
+``An amanuensis,'' Ioan said.
+
+Dear brightened, its ears perking. \emph{``Precisely. And what a delightful word, too.''}
+
+Ioan smiled. ``That's good, then. Very much more my arena. I'll keep this instance around and keep \#tracker up to date.''
+
+The fox nodded, then looked up, smiling as the person Ioan had first seen came in with three thick-walled, wide-brimmed mugs of coffee, setting two of them down on the corner of the table near Ioan and the fox. ``Ioan, nice to meet you. Heard you were tired,'' they said, walking off with their own mug.
+
+Dear watched them go.
+
+``Your partner?'' Ioan asked. A moment of chitchat felt necessary. Ey lifted eir mug carefully. It smelled quite good.
+
+The fox nodded, picked up it's own mug, and leaned back into the cushions of the couch, slouching. \emph{``Mmhm. Finally decided to explore relationships again,''} it said. \emph{``They accuse me of treating it like an art project.''}
+
+Ioan grinned. ``Well, are you a forger or a honer of relationships?''
+
+Dear rolled its eyes, said, \emph{``Touché. I am trying to be a honer, with this one. I gave relationships a miss after\ldots{}well, some stuff before uploading. For a long while, I forked to create lasting relationships rather than holding any myself. Gets lonely, though. It was like being turned down every time. At least from my-- from this instance's point of view.''}
+
+Ioan felt they were getting a little too deep for having just met, so ey steered the conversation along a tangent. ``You fork quite often, then?''
+
+\emph{``Yes. Dispersionista through and through. Or perhaps profligate tracker. Sometimes I do not have the option to let instances linger.''} Something seemed to occur to it, and the fox sat up straighter again. \emph{``Speaking of, do you know much about the Ode clade?''}
+
+Ioan shook eir head, sipped eir coffee. It \emph{was} good.
+
+\emph{``It is an old clade. One of the oldest on the system. Our root instance, Michelle Hadje, uploaded basically as soon as she could, and quickly became one of the loudest voices on the system. She campaigned for more advanced sensoria to be included.''}
+
+``I've heard of Michelle.'' Ioan nodded. ``Usually in the context of the founders. You speak of her like she's someone else, though.''
+
+\emph{``Dispersionista habit. We are quite different from each other, by this point. If you get the chance to meet Michelle — and you may — you will see the differences.''}
+
+``So what is Ode, then? Her old username?''
+
+\emph{``No, an ode is a poem.''} Dear laughed.
+
+``Oh! Oh, of course. So Michelle wrote this poem\ldots{}''
+
+\emph{``No, not actually. Michelle had a friend, a good friend, who wrote the poem.''} Dear was speaking more slowly now, sounding less rehearsed. \emph{``When the friend died, Michelle memorized the poem. All of us up-tree instances do our best to keep it memorized as well. Really memorized, too, up in the forefront, up where we think about it, not stored in some exocortex.''}
+
+``Is that where your names come from?''
+
+\emph{``Yes. Each of us is named after a line in the poem. I am Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, and my first long-lived fork is Which Offered Heat And Warmth Through Fire. My immediate down-tree fork is Dear The Wheat And Rye Under The Stars.''}
+
+Dear splayed its ears, grinning sheepishly, \emph{``It is perhaps not a very good poem. Michelle was\ldots{}well, she had some experience relating to the\ldots{}ah, origins of the poem which I shall not get into here, but even she will admit that. The sentiments are nice, but this friend was not a poet. When they died, when they killed themselves, it really tore her up. We all still think of them often.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, once more steering the conversation away from more sensitive topics. ``It must be quite long, then.''
+
+\emph{``One hundred lines divided into ten stanzas. There are only ever ten branches as direct ancestors of Michelle, and each branch only ever has ten long-lived up-tree instances. We may be Dispersionistas, but we are a small clade.''}
+
+``And the poet? Who are they?''
+
+Dear bristled, then mastered some complex set of emotions Ioan didn't understand. \emph{``That is the Name that we don't share. The information that someone supposedly did share, I mean. Someone of the clade or close enough to it to know.''}
+
+Ioan's brow furrowed, startled by the fox's reaction, not to mention the concept of not sharing a name that was clearly important. ``I see,'' ey said down to eir coffee, covering eir confusion. ``So you'd like me to help in finding this person and act as amanuensis along the way?''
+
+Nodding, Dear held out its paw once more. \emph{``If you would be willing, that is. We would be glad to have you aboard.''}
+
+Ey was already sold, Ioan knew, but all the same, ey took a moment longer to consider the ramifications of the job. Ey couldn't come up with any reason not to.
+
+Ey nodded, reached out, and shook the fox's paw.
+
+Dear grinned, shook back.
+
+\emph{``Excellent. I have shared just about all I have to share on the topic for now, though as we get updates, I will pass them on to you.''} Dear leaned back into the couch once more, lapped at its coffee. \emph{``For now, stay. Finish your coffee, at least, though feel free to putter around for a while. Or just stay here. We have an apartment on the side of the house. I have already talked with my partner about it.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, ``Thank you. I think I'll head home in a bit and sync up with myself, then start the research plan. Do you have any suggested avenues I should start down?''
+
+\emph{``Of course.''} Dear smiled. \emph{``As for research, dig a bit more into the Ode clade for now, probably. When I send you updates, maybe those will lead to different topics.''} The smile turned into a sly grin. \emph{``I know you are not a big fan of sensorium messages, but as that is how the clade communicates — those of us who do, at least — I regret to say that you will be getting quite a bit more.''}
+
+Ioan gave eir best polite smile.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/003-a.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+The first message was not long in coming, arriving about an hour after Ioan\#c1494bf arrived back at home. At least it wasn't high priority; ey had the choice to accept then or experience later. Half duplex, though. An actual conversation rather than a recording.
+
+Ey sighed, closed eir eyes, accepted. The things ey did for work.
+
+\emph{``Hi Ioan,''} came Dear's voice. It was still seated on the couch. \emph{``Long time no see, yes?''}
+
+Ioan nodded, subvocalizing eir response. ``Yeah, took you ages. Have something for me?''
+
+\emph{``Maybe. We have received a file from someone down-tree. Or, well, hmm.''} It appeared to think for a moment before continuing, \emph{``Someone down-tree from me found a file, and she thinks it might be a file from the clade, maybe one of the original ten.''}
+
+``Alright, send it over.''
+
+The file arrived promptly. Eir shoulders sagged. It began with \texttt{-\/-\/-\/-\/-BEGIN\ AES\ BLOCK-\/-\/-\/-\/-} followed by hundreds, perhaps thousands of apparently random letters, numbers, and punctuation.
+
+``What's an AES block?''
+
+\emph{``An old encryption algorithm.''} Dear looked a little embarrassed. \emph{``And I mean} old. {We like old things. That's why she suggested it might be from one of us.''}
+
+``You don't sound convinced.''
+
+\emph{``I am not. You must understand that this is not something any of the clade wants known. It is just a name, yes, but it is important to us in a way that is hard to overstate.''} Dear sighed. \emph{``Much of the clade is of the opinion that, if we could simply wipe the Name from our minds, we would. For a member of the clade to break that trust is nigh unthinkable. It is acting against our very nature.''}
+
+``You're right in that I probably can't understand the importance here. Still, I trust you on that. A friend, maybe? A mutual?''
+
+The fox frowned. If anything, it sounded less convinced when it said, \emph{``Perhaps.''}
+
+``An enemy?''
+
+\emph{``A valid concern.''}
+
+Ioan frowned. ``I'm trying to square your use of the poet's work in your very names with your desire to forget the Name itself. That sounds like something someone could use against you.''
+
+\emph{``Names bear power.''}
+
+``A memorial, then?'' Ey hastened to add, ``Sorry. It's probably not my place to understand. We can drop it for now.''
+
+\emph{``Yes. A memorial.''} The fox's shoulders slumped. \emph{``Let's come back to it later. I do not want to get too distracted now. Still, we will have to speak more on this soon. It would be good for you to have a more complete picture.''}
+
+Ioan nodded. ``So do you want me--''
+
+\emph{``You do not need to worry about the file itself. That's why I did not just forward it to you automatically.''} Dear paused, then added, \emph{``Though I probably should have. Here I am talking about you having a more complete picture and not giving you everything.''}
+
+``It's alright. I'm picking it up as we go along.''
+
+It nodded. \emph{``It is important, though. Amanuenses form an} Umwelt, \emph{so this is part of yours, now. We will talk about it at the end. Something to keep in mind, I suppose. When we find the key, we will let you know and send over the contents.''}
+
+``Okay, good. I gave AES a check, and you're right, that's ridiculously old. Can't you just crack it?''
+
+\emph{``We could. Some of us probably already have. I want the key, though. It's probably a word or something, and may prove interesting in its own right.''}
+
+``Interesting?''
+
+\emph{``Interesting in that the act of finding the key may turn up further clues.''}
+
+``Ah. Good point. I'll do some digging on old cryptography, too, and see what all's out there.''
+
+\emph{``Good fucking luck. Cryptonerds were — are — very wordy. There's going to be a boatload to sort through.''}
+
+Ey grinned, ``I'll fork and research, then.''
+
+\emph{``Good plan. I am going to get back to the hunt, and hey, Ioan?''} The fox's smile was earnest. \emph{``Thanks. Even if I am just running ideas past you, it is good to put in words.''}
+
+``Of course, Dear.'' Ioan waved. Ey always felt silly interacting with sensorium messages. Would \#tracker think em crazy? ``Thanks for the project.''
+
+Dear bowed, signed off.
+
+\#tracker was, indeed, giving \#c1494bf a bemused grin.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/003-b.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Dear,
+
+While I'm sure that your clade, with the resources and minds at its disposal, has already decrypted the AES message, I have only just managed the feat today. It was at least somewhat easier once I learned a bit more about the history of the whole affair.
+
+You say that you all like old things, so perhaps you will be delighted to learn what was inside if you have not already. Here is the message in full:
+
+\begin{quote}
+Odists,
+
+You know me. I will not tell you how, and I will not tell you why this secrecy is in place. Not yet. For now, though, you may refer to me as Qoheleth, or, at need, Hebel.
+
+I am sorry for having said — or, rather, written — the Name, but not too sorry. I need to get your attention. There is something serious going on, and I need you focused on the matter.
+
+Let's meet, yeah?\pagebreak
+
+\texttt{-\/-\/-\/-\/-BEGIN\ RSA\ PRIVATE\ KEY-\/-\/-\/-\/-}
+\end{quote}
+
+(There follows another block of gibberish similar to the first.)
+
+\begin{quote}
+\texttt{-\/-\/-\/-\/-END\ RSA\ PRIVATE\ KEY-\/-\/-\/-\/-}
+
+Your move, by the way:
+
+{\TitleFont ♦2 ♠8 ♠Q ♦8 ♣9 ♣Q ♥2 ♦A ♦4 ♣4 ♣3 ♣A ♠J ♣2 ♦7 ♦5 ♠7 ♥9 ♥5 ♠10 ♥7 AX ♥10 ♠3 ♥4 ♣8 ♠9 ♣6 ♠4 ♥J ♥K ♣10 ♦J BX ♣5 ♣K ♣J ♥8 ♥3 ♦9 ♠2 ♠A ♥Q ♥A ♥6 ♦K ♠5 ♣7 ♦Q ♦10 ♠6 ♦6 ♦3 ♠K}
+\end{quote}
+
+There are several things of interest here. I'm sure you'll want to talk this all through, but as I will inevitably be writing this all down in the end, I figured I would also get my thoughts down on paper now, while they're fresh.
+
+The passphrase for this encrypted message was \emph{kemmer}. If the other Odists figured it out, I would be curious to see what they make of it, just as I'm curious as to your thoughts. Perhaps later. For now, there's a bit of story, here.
+
+I did not originally find the passphrase, as the letter itself was decrypted through known weaknesses. None of the tools that I was able to find would (could?) give me the key, since all of the attacks were along direct avenues. Don't ask the details, I can hardly understand them.
+
+Instead, I found the passphrase by accident while doing a search on some of the contents of the letter. Notably, I searched on \emph{Qoheleth}, and then \emph{Hebel} in relation to that name. There's lots of juicy stuff here. \emph{Qoheleth} is more title than name, and is used in a book in both the Christian and the Jewish bibles. Given the author's reference to the Hebrew word, I've been restricting myself to searches surrounding the Tanakh. I should add that, while in the Tanakh, the book is called by the same name, while in the Christian bible, it is called \emph{Ecclesiastes}, from the Greek.
+
+\emph{Qoheleth} can mean `teacher', but also `gatherer' or `director of the assembled'. This last one, I suppose, fits in with their suggestion that the clade meet up. Perhaps all together? It is also referenced as \emph{Ecclesiastes} in words such as ecclesiastical, `relating to the church \emph{qua} assembly'.
+
+\emph{Hebel}, in this case, appears to be an approximation of what is usually spelled \emph{havél}, which translates to `vapor', but is also interpreted as `vanity' or, when taken metaphorically, `meaningless'. For instance, the book begins:
+
+\begin{quote}
+havél havalím 'amár kohélet havél havalím hakól hável.
+\end{quote}
+
+Which is, in some translations:
+
+\begin{quote}
+``Meaningless! Meaningless!'' says the teacher. ``Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.''
+\end{quote}
+
+Bleak, no?
+
+The entire book is quite fascinating, and the tone seems to waver between this comfortable sort of nihilism (I hesitate to say hopelessness, as hope does not seem to be a factor in play here) and education, with Qoheleth using their past experiences and meditations to offer instruction on how to live a full life.
+
+Back to the passphrase, though.
+
+I have found several references to the term \emph{kemmer}, with the primary source being an ancient speculative novel by the name \emph{The Left Hand of Darkness} by Ursula K. Le Guin. I forked and read this while investigating the Tanakh, and the book seems to surround the sociopolitical ramifications of a subspecies of humans which is androgynous most of the time, but which undergoes a biological process (\emph{kemmer}) wherein they settle into one of two physiological sexes for the purposes of sex and procreation.
+
+I was not able to deduce anything concrete out of this term, because I cannot tell where it is directed. While I do not presume to know the Name (nor do I wish to!), one possibility is that it refers to the author of the Ode. Another is that it refers to some aspect of the Ode clade itself. You are perhaps uniquely positioned to answer this, as I don't imagine the entirety of the Ode clade are agender foxes, given both what I know of Michelle Hadje and how you speak of your cocladists. A third possibility is that the term may apply to Qoheleth themself. A fourth is that it relates to the mystery at hand in some way. And, of course, it could be meaningless (hah) in terms of subtext, in this case and does not apply beyond being a neat word.
+
+That said, I'm not a fan of the final interpretation, as upon further digging, I came across the line ``the key word is kemmer, that's what yo' ass need'' in an equally ancient song (``Air 'em out'' by clipping. \emph{{[}sic{]}}), which was too tight a coincidence to pass up. The annotated lyrics to that song, in turn, were packed with more references and discursion than this letter, many of which refer to old science fiction books and movies. This verse in particular features heavy references to \emph{The Left Hand of Darkness}, including the phrase 'Ansible' — which shows up in other books as well — and, in turn, shows up in some of our technology: the communication system by which uploads are sent from Earth to the sim-system here at the L\textsubscript{5} point is called `Ansible'. This struck me as particularly important. I found this song both in my searches on \emph{kemmer} as well as on the Ansible, having taken to heart your suggestion that the clade likes `old things'. The Ansible turned up a \emph{third} time in the context of asymetric cyphers, mentioned below.
+
+Given this additional set of coincidences, I've compiled a list of further references in this song for research down the line.
+
+At this point, I have only addressed the encryption passphrase and the salutation of the message! You must forgive me for the discursive nature of this letter. There are many layers at play, here, and I believe this is intentional on the part of the author. As you mentioned, amanuenses form a collection of semiotic processes relating to the task they are participating in. I've taken this to heart and am amassing documents surrounding the subtext as well as the text.
+
+The second paragraph of the letter I would like to discuss with you in person, as I think that there is context here that may well be specific to your clade. I cannot imagine what might be so serious.
+
+After that paragraph comes another block of text. Rather than being an encrypted message, however, it is a private key used for the RSA cryptosystem. It is an asymmetric cipher, which means that there is out there somewhere a corresponding public key. Strange that we are given a private key rather than a public one, as such keys unlock doors, rather than lock them. RSA can be used for many things, so that we were given the private key in this case makes me think that this will be used to either decrypt or otherwise access information down the line. Before you ask, yes, there is a passphrase involved with this. However, I have not yet figured out how to extract that from the noise yet. Cryptography is intriguing, but much of it is over my head, so I am relying on off-the-shelf solutions.
+
+Finally, after the key block, we get a deck listing for a standard deck of playing cards. I am assuming, here, that the cards labeled \emph{AX} and \emph{BX} are jokers, though I have not seen them differentiated as such in the past. I am, frankly, at a loss when it comes to this section, so all I can offer are some thoughts on subtext.
+
+``Your move, by the way'' implies two things. First, it implies that there is some sort of ongoing game between Qoheleth and the clade. This strikes me as strange, and I cannot put my finger on why. It is not that you do not seem the type to play games, as you seem playful enough to me. Perhaps it's that the letter begins with riddles about the true identity of Qoheleth, yet any ongoing game (and such a weird way to provide it!) would perforce give away that identity immediately. Perhaps it is simply this — all of this — that is the game?
+
+The second implication is broader, and consequently more of a hunch on my part: this is a very casual thing to say to someone. For one, to have a \emph{non sequitur} of a postscript on a letter that seems very focused on a single topic is a strange thing to do. It's the type of thing you might do when sending a friendly letter to someone rather than a riddle of a message (I will admit, I'm considering what postscript I leave at the end of this letter now). The tone also differs from the remainder of the letter. It is familiar and friendly. The only thing that is even remotely close being ``Let's meet, yes?'', and even that feels more formal.
+
+So, one question answered and several more raised. The largest, of course, remains: how deep does this all go?
+
+I will continue my investigations and keep you in the loop on those. I hope to hear from you soon — I know I shall.\pagebreak
+
+All my best,
+
+Ioan Bălan
+
+PS - In engaging with this project, my searches and purchases on the exchange are shaping my reputation quite strangely. \#Tracker has received several queries for future projects surrounding both novel forms of encryption and a few requests for historical analyses on speculative fiction. Ey has turned down all of the former and seriously considered all of the latter — and ey wishes you to know that ey places the blame for this squarely on your shoulders.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/003-c.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Ioan sat, startled, as Dear quit abruptly, leaving em sitting alone at the cafe table. There was a certain peculiarity to that fox's sense of humor, and while ey was slowly picking up on it, the occasional bafflement remained.
+
+Ey took eir time finishing eir coffee, enjoying the view. A thoroughfare. Small crowds — some doubtless generated for effect. Enjoyed a moment's downtime before getting back into the puzzle at hand, then stood and straightened eir slacks.
+
+Well, at least ey had more information to work with.
+
+``Welcome back,'' \#tracker said when ey arrived at home. ``You have some mail.''
+
+Ey frowned, tugged the cream-colored envelope from the edge of the desk and turned it over in eir hands. Blank except eir signifier on the front, flap sealed on the back. Perhaps something about what ey'd been working on recently had piqued some interest on the reputation exchange. Another offer? And yet directly to this instance.
+
+Making eir way out to the deck, ey popped the seal on the envelope, savoring the subtle tearing of the paper where the adhesive held fast. The paper was quite nice, the handwriting cramped and awkward, but legible in its green-tinged blue ink. Someone had put real effort into this.
+
+\begin{quote}
+Ioan
+
+Dear has mentioned your aversion to sensorium messages, and I gather from your taste in clothing and our brief meeting that you have a certain aesthetic you enjoy. I hope that this scrap of note suits you well. The paper seemed up your alley, at least.
+
+You'll have to forgive Dear. It really is stretched quite thin with its gallery show, and with the increased intraclade communication, it is feeling the pressure to keep forks to a minimum, as apparently there are no further names available. (It hasn't told the rest of the clade how many illicit forks it has. I suspect they all do.)
+
+There is more to this that I think it is not sharing explicitly, but we've been together for a few years now, and I have my guesses. I think the intraclade attention is not precisely welcome. Having met some of its cocladists, I'm inclined to think that some more conservative types are being less than generous with their treatment of the subject at hand. Perhaps with their information as well.
+
+All this to say that there is a reason for the fox acting the way it is. I will not apologize on Dear's behalf, it knows me better than that, but I hope an increase in transparency as to what all is going on in the family politic will help.
+
+Visit soon.
+\end{quote}
+
+Ioan smiled, re-folded the letter, and replaced it within its envelope. It joined the small pile ey kept.
+
+Dear's partner had a good heart, and it was indeed a relief to learn that some of the fox's erratic behavior was attributable to stress. None of eir family had uploaded, and, by eir very nature, ey did not create eir own as the Odists had.
+
+Ey did not envy it now.
+
+\begin{center}\rule{0.5\linewidth}{0.5pt}\end{center}
+
+The archive itself was a free-form database stored in the perisystem. It could hold essentially unlimited data in truly unlimited formats. Everything from text and structured data to full-sensorium recordings. Each blob of data was stored in a node, and nodes could be tagged and linked.
+
+Unfashionable and difficult to work with, not to mention expensive to maintain, Ioan wasn't entirely clear why they had been added to the system. Exocortices had been around before the system itself. More personal, easier to interface with. Harder to share, granted.
+
+Some remnant from its construction, perhaps?
+
+Luckily, as an historian, ey had some experience working with them, even if that experience was decades old at this point. Ey pulled out a fresh sheet of foolscap and began to write, and by writing, interacted with the archive.
+
+If archives were difficult to work with, this one doubly so. Nodes that weren't tagged, listed publicly, or linked to from other nodes were essentially inaccessible unless one had access to the index. Ey did not. That was something usually kept within an exocortex.
+
+And here, few nodes were listed publicly, fewer still were linked to by others, and none were tagged. While traversing a well-pruned archive might still be akin to rifling through a card catalog to dig out books, this was no more than a file box stuffed full of loose papers.
+
+Ioan's heart fell.
+
+Of the nodes that were publicly listed, at least four were encrypted by something stronger than the original AES block. Ioan set those aside to knock against later. Another was a simple text blob with twenty-three blocks of five letters each. Further encryption? A different type? Ey could not guess which. Dear had mentioned one involving playing cards.
+
+That left only three public nodes, one of which was an error. The other two\ldots{}
+
+Ioan's muscles went rigid. The first appeared to be a deleted blob of audiovisual data which referred to the second. A transcript of the conversation Ioan had had with Dear earlier that day.
+
+They were being watched. Followed.
+
+Ey read through the transcript once, then again, more thoroughly. There were a few notes made by this Qoheleth. They spoke of a familiarity that had only been hinted at with the previous letter. \emph{Our Dear}. What did that mean?
+
+Perhaps this individual was part of the clade itself?
+
+Ioan frowned. The vehemence with which Dear — whom ey suspected was one of the more liberal of the Odists — had reacted when ey had asked about the author of the ode itself seemed to rule that out. If Dear, willing to bring on an amanuensis, was that protective, ey found it dubious that one of its cocladists was Qoheleth.
+
+A friend, then? Mutual with the poet?
+
+That was something ey would have to ask Dear about. Ey could speculate all ey wanted, but there was little ey could divine about that aspect.
+
+The rest, then. Qoheleth seemed to be expecting that things were accelerating toward some sort of conclusion. \emph{I may have less time than I had thought.}
+
+And Ioan was being guided, somehow.
+
+``How? Guide me how?'' ey growled down at the paper. ``It's all fucking encrypted.''
+
+\#Tracker looked up, frowned.
+
+Ioan\#c1494bf shook eir head and apologized. Perhaps ey \emph{should} take Dear up on the offer to stay with it and its partner.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/003-d.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+The grin and sense of pride with which Dear had greeted em with did not last.
+
+``Thanks again for the offer of space,'' Ioan repeated. ``I know I was driving \#tracker nuts. I guess I talk to myself.''
+
+Silence. Awkward.
+
+``Of course.'' Dear's partner picked up when the fox did not reply. ``You can stay as long as you'd like. It's no trouble. You could probably scream bloody murder over there and we wouldn't hear.''
+
+``I'll try not to, all the same.''
+
+Dear's partner grinned. Dear merely nodded.
+
+``Hey fox, I'm going to get some writing done. Why don't you show Ioan the gallery?''
+
+\emph{``Right, yes, of course!''} Dear straightened up, invigorated at having something to do. Something to declaim about. \emph{``How much art history do you know?''}
+
+Ioan stood to follow Dear as it padded from the living room back to the front of the house where the gallery was situated. ``I studied photography and imaging quite a bit before uploading. Film, too.''
+
+\emph{``Let me guess: documentaries?''}
+
+``Of course.''
+
+\emph{``You seem like the type, yes. An historian searches for stories in the past.''} True to eir guess, Dear was now smiling more easily. It gestured to a painting on the wall. \emph{``All artists search. I search for stories, in this post-self age. What happens when you can no longer call yourself an individual, when you have split your sense of self among several instances? How do you react? Do you withdraw into yourself, become a hermit? Do you expand until you lose all sense of identity? Do you fragment? Do you go about it deliberately, or do you let nature and chance take their course?''}
+
+The speech felt rehearsed, all those questions. A lecture? It hooked Ioan all the same. ``I suppose that is what an instance artist is, then? Finding the stories inherent in forking.''
+
+\emph{``Yes. Forking is instantaneous, or might as well be, and yet in that instant, a story is told. There is a question implied to which the answer is `I must create a copy of myself'. Is it to accomplish a task, like you have done? Is it to sequester some emotion unable to be contained by one mind?''} Dear forked, another instance of it standing to the other side of Ioan. \emph{``Perhaps it is to prove a point.''}
+
+Ioan jumped at the sudden duplication. Both foxes grinned. The original Dear quit. ``Who is the audience for this story, then?''
+
+The fox laughed. \emph{``Fuck if I know. The universe? That is not my job.''}
+
+``I mean, you've got your exhibitions. Don't you have an audience there?''
+
+\emph{``Those who attend the exhibitions do get to watch and participate, yes. But are they truly the audience? If they are reacting to my work, and I am immediately reacting in turn, does that not make them part of the story, instead?''}
+
+Ioan shrugged. ``I suppose so. It seems a bit like a distinction without a difference.''
+
+Dear made a graceful setting-aside gesture, as though the statement was in some way irrelevant. \emph{``All this to say that, for all of my fancy shenanigans, I still see the stories in the art around me. This painting — a replica from way back when — tells a story with the image it shows, yes, but also with its construction. The paint is applied with a palette knife in thick globs, see? It looks haphazard, but it is not. It is very carefully done. The story is the artist's choice in tools, in technique, as well as in the subject of the painting.''}
+
+The painting itself showed a riot of colors. Abstract, and yet hinting at some cyclonic force. Blue on green. Splotches of purple, of red. The paint shone under the lights.
+
+Ioan and Dear stood in front of the painting a minute longer, each thinking their thoughts. The fox, with its paws clasped behind its back, looked to be trying to puzzle out the order in which the gobs of paint had been applied to canvas.
+
+Ioan found emself wondering what this cyclonic force was reaching towards. What it was destroying.
+
+It was Ioan who broke the silence. ``Why are you upset, Dear?''
+
+The fox wilted. \emph{``That obvious?''}
+
+Ey nodded.
+
+\emph{``Right. It is the clade.''}
+
+``A disagreement?''
+
+\emph{``Of sorts. A silent one, or one on a very base level. I believe there is a story here. There is something going on that is worth researching and learning about and getting to the bottom of.''}
+
+``And others don't?''
+
+Dear shrugged. \emph{``I am perhaps in a minority, on this subject. I think that there is a story, and there are a few others who see it my way. Most of my stanza does. But much of the clade is concerned only about the Name.''}
+
+Stepping over to the next picture, Ioan formulated their response, but was preempted by the fox.
+
+\emph{``It is not that I am not. I am, in my own way. But these puzzles\ldots{}''} It trailed off.
+
+``Are they the story?'' Ioan frowned, backtracked. ``You think there's a reason you're being led down the path. The puzzles are part of the story, but they are, as you put it, the answer to the question that necessitated their creation.''
+
+Ears perked, grin returned. \emph{``Yes. Puzzles are puzzles and sometimes worth solving in their own right. I want to know} why, \emph{though. Why say the Name, yes, but why build up tension like this?''}
+
+The painting: a landscape, perhaps the prairie just outside. A cloud-dotted sky, nigh photorealistic. And in the middle, a black square.
+
+Not just black paint, but a black that seemed to eat light. A black the hurt to look at. It made Ioan uncomfortable.
+
+``I think I see why you approached me,'' ey said. ``You are interested in the story, and want someone who lives and breathes stories.''
+
+That grin widened, and was joined by a swish of a tail. \emph{``Precisely that. There is art to be had here. It is stressful and, if my suspicions are correct, it bears a message beyond just\ldots{}what, a jape? A jab at the clade? There is a point to be made here.''}
+
+``The amount that you seem to differ from the rest of your clade is surprising. Are there no other artists?''
+
+\emph{``Oh, we're all artists of a sort. Actors, mostly. A few sim designers. One of the other stanzas' lines painted this,''} it said, nodding to that unnerving black square. \emph{``But yes, we are all quite different. Perhaps you will see some day.''}
+
+Ioan nodded.
+
+Dear's grin had faded to some expression more thoughtful. Thankfully, not as glum. When it spoke, its voice came from some place remote, from some emotion happening elsewhere, to someone else. \emph{``Artists, yes, but increasingly few storytellers.''}

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/003.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+The first message was not long in coming, arriving about an hour after Ioan\#c1494bf arrived home. At least it wasn't high priority; ey had the choice to accept then or experience later. Half duplex, though. Would be an actual conversation.
+
+Ey sighed, closed eir eyes, accepted. The things ey did for work.
+
+\emph{``Hi Ioan,''} came Dear's voice. It was still seated on the couch. \emph{``Long time no see, hmm?''}
+
+Ioan nodded, subvocalized, ``Yeah, took you ages. Have something for me?''
+
+\emph{``Maybe. We've got a file from someone down-tree. Or, well, hmm.''} It appeared to think for a moment before continuing, \emph{``Someone down-tree from me found a file, and she thinks it might be a file from the clade, maybe one of the original ten.''}
+
+Ioan waited until the fox was done before responding, ``Alright, send it over.''
+
+The file arrived promptly. Eir shoulders sagged. It began with \texttt{-\/-\/-\/-\/-BEGIN\ AES\ BLOCK-\/-\/-\/-\/-} followed by thousands of apparently random letters, numbers, and punctuation.
+
+``What's an AES block?''
+
+\emph{``An old encryption algorithm. And I mean \textbf{old}.''} Dear looked a little embarrassed. \emph{``We like old things. That's why we figure it's probably from one of us.''}
+
+Ioan thought for a moment before responding, ``So do you want me--''
+
+\emph{``You do not need to worry about the file itself. That is why I did not just forward it to you automatically.''} Dear paused, then added, \emph{``Though I probably should have. Amanuenses form an} Umwelt, \emph{so this is part of yours, now. We will talk about it at the end. Something to keep in mind, I guess. When we find the key, we will let you know and send over the contents.''}
+
+``Good. I gave AES a check, and you're right, that's ridiculously old. Can't you just crack it?''
+
+\emph{``We could. Some of us probably already have. I want the key, though. It's probably a word or something, and may prove interesting in its own right.''}
+
+``Interesting?'' Ioan asked.
+
+\emph{``Interesting in that the act of finding the key may turn up further clues.''}
+
+``Ah. Good point. I'll do some digging on old cryptography, too, and see what all's out there. Keep in touch, yeah?''
+
+\emph{``Good fucking luck. Cryptonerds were --- are --- very wordy. There's going to be a boatload to sort through.''}
+
+Ey grinned, ``I'll fork and research, then.''
+
+\emph{``Good plan. Gonna get back to the hunt, and hey, Ioan?''} The fox gave an earnest smile. \emph{``Thanks. Even if I'm just running ideas past you, it's good to put in words.''}
+
+``Of course, Dear.'' Ioan waved. Ey always felt silly interacting with sensorium messages. Would \#tracker think em crazy? ``Thanks for the project.''
+
+Dear bowed, signed off.
+
+\#tracker was, indeed, giving \#c1494bf a bemused grin.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/004.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Ioan sat back and rubbed eir eyes. Time had gone all funny with all this research.
+
+As with so many of eir previous projects, ey had fallen into a state of free-running sleep and single-minded focus. Ey would work for a few hours, suddenly get impossibly tired, nap for what felt like fifteen minutes, and wake up three hours later. Then ey'd work for twenty hours straight, neglecting to eat.
+
+Ey had researched it at one point and entertained the idea that it might be part of some larger sleep disorder, or an perhaps attention disorder, something grander. Ey had put it off as just one of eir many neuroses.
+
+\emph{Less than healthy.}
+
+There were never any complaints about the quality or quantity of work ey got done while free-running. Ey didn't slip up or stumble. Didn't make any more mistakes than when ey stuck to a schedule. Made fewer, perhaps. And being methodical got one quite far as an historian and writer. Ey would write the same quality work at the beginning, middle, and end of eir waking periods.
+
+What it did \emph{not} do, however, was endear oneself to one's housemates. Ioan\#tracker quickly grew frustrated with eir own forks, whether or not they used a cone of silence, so ey knew the feeling intimately. It was implicit that ey would, as a fork. It was always a problem when multiple Bălan instances stayed in the same house while on separate projects, each on a separate schedule, and ey was nothing if not a Bălan.
+
+Here, at least, ey'd been lucky enough to be invited by eir\ldots{}client? Patron? Had been invited by Dear to stay at its place.
+
+So that's how ey found emself rubbing eir eyes in front of a simple, if painfully modern, desk in a studio apartment attached to eir\ldots{}employer's? Friend's? Eir friend's equally modern house.
+
+The studio apartment really was a studio, too: someone — perhaps the other Odist Dear had mentioned — had used it for painting. Rightfully so: the exterior wall was floor to ceiling glass looking out over that sere prairie. The landscape, Dear's partner had explained, was the work of Dear's cocladist, Serene; Sustained and Sustaining, `born' when their down-tree instance, Dear The Wheat And Rye Under The Stars had forked to explore her twinned interests of forming oneself and of forming one's surroundings in ever greater detail.
+
+Ioan's head spun whenever ey thought about the clade, but the longer ey spent around Dear, the more ey found emself liking it. Ey was curious to get to meet another Odist.
+
+If it weren't for the window-wall, opaquable, the apartment would have felt like a cell. Simple cot. Desk. The kitchenette the one concession to freedom. The walls were whitewashed concrete. The floor that same pale hardwood. The fixtures all brushed steel. No doors to the rest of the house, nor anywhere but outside. No restroom. One was expected to either turn off elimination or do so outside.
+
+\emph{There's a cheap joke to be made there,} ey had thought on first moving in. \emph{Dear lifting its leg against some tree. But I doubt its body ever had that functionality enabled.}
+
+Ioan shook eir head and rubbed at the rest of eir face. Ey was daydreaming — eveningdreaming? — and that made em wonder how long ey had been awake.
+
+``Probably some horrid number of hours,'' ey mumbled to the wall.
+
+A sensorium ping; a gentle impinging of Dear upon eir senses. Half-sensed words: \emph{``Does the wall reply often?''}
+
+Ioan spun around. Dear was standing, prim and dapper as always, at the door through the glass, paws clasped before it.
+
+``You scared the hell out of me!''
+
+Dear's serene smile widened into a grin. \emph{``Sorry, Ioan. I'll wait until after the wall responds, next time.''}
+
+``Jackass.''
+
+\emph{``Foxass,''} Dear corrected, accenting the word with an exaggerated swish of its tail. \emph{``Have some news. Walk with me?''}
+
+Ioan nodded and stood. ``Glad to. I'm hitting a wall, here.''
+
+The fennec adopted a look of concern. \emph{``Do not hit your friends, Ioan.''}
+
+``Ha ha.'' Ioan rolled eir eyes. ``Something's got you in a state today. Tonight. Whatever.''
+
+\emph{``Tonight.''} Dear's smile softened and it beckoned out toward the prairie. \emph{``Come, walk. Storm scheduled in an hour, let us catch all of the nice smells.''}

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/005.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+\vspace{2ex}
+
+Dear wasn't kidding about the smells. Ioan turned eir sensorium's sensitivity way up. Ey wondered if Dear's vulpine nose could smell things eirs could not.
+
+Serene had worked wonders here. The smells, the textures, the raw beauty of the place, all well crafted. It was a fine line that she had walked, too. Too far in one direction and the landscape would have become nearly desolate, more foreboding than natural. Any further in the other, and it would've been softened too much, would've become too well-tended. Cartoonish.
+
+As the two crunched their way through the short, stiff stalks of grass, winding their way around the larger tussocks, Ioan realized that ey was quite taken with the place.
+
+A ridiculous house in the middle of nowhere, a glittering white fox and its partner, the prairie fading off into downs on one side and stretching out to infinity on the other. It had all seemed so contrived when ey had first visited. Too simple. Too one dimensional. Kind of tacky.
+
+But it was all just \emph{so well done}. So incredibly, skillfully executed. The artistry was in the details, and the details were fractal, continuing down through ever finer layers. The landscape's perfection was echoed in Dear's unique sensibilities and its comfortable \mbox{relationship.}
+
+Ioan liked it here.
+
+Ey was dawdling, past the comfortable stage of just enjoying the petrichor being washed in before the storm.
+
+``Sorry, lost in thought.''
+
+\emph{``It is alright,''} Dear said. \emph{``You looked like you needed it.''}
+
+``Hmm? Getting lost in thought? Or getting out of the apartment?''
+
+Dear shrugged and smiled.
+
+``Sorry all the same. I'm here now. Will try not to do that again.'' Ioan grinned sheepishly. ``What did you find out? You seemed almost punchy.''
+
+\emph{``I was, definitely. Still am.''} The fox grinned. \emph{``We seem to have found out who our\ldots{}ah, who our target is.''}
+
+Ioan mulled over the word `target', searching for a better one. Ey couldn't think of any, so ey nodded. ``What do we know?''
+
+\emph{``We know a name, and from there we can find a bit of history, which you may be able to help in filling in.''}
+
+``Names are good. Something other than Qoheleth?''
+
+\emph{``Other than that, yes, but almost certainly connected, probably the same person. I think they're the same, at least. Not much more than the name, though. No location, no sightings in ages. Some aging — or agéd — resources. A name and some history.''}
+
+Ioan gave an impatient gesture with eir hand. ``Well, what's the hold-up?''
+
+Dear's grin widened. \emph{``The hold-up is that I want you to feel some of the excitement that I felt on hearing this from down-tree. I want you excited and invested.''}
+
+``I've been working twenty hour days on this, I'm pretty fucking invested.''
+
+The grin turned into a laugh. \emph{``I know you have. My partner is worried about you.''}
+
+Ioan felt heat rise to eir cheeks. ``Sorry, I didn't mean to be a bother being up so much.''
+
+\emph{``No, no. We cannot hear you or anything. They are just worried because we do not hear you, or hear from you. We both like you.''}
+
+The historian nodded, chastened.
+
+\emph{``Do not worry about it, Ioan. It really is fine.''} Dear patted eir shoulder. \emph{``The name, though. The name is the important thing right now.''}
+
+``And the name is?'' Ioan's mind raced. Could Dear even say the name? Was it the poet, miraculously talking through years to the system? That would be exciting.
+
+\emph{``Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen, of the Ode clade.''}
+
+Ioan froze.
+
+Dear stopped a few paces ahead and turned, looking intently at em while its tail lashed excitedly behind it.
+
+``They\ldots{}what?''
+
+\emph{``Good.''} Dear laughed. \emph{``I am glad that I am not the only one who had to pick their jaw up off the ground.''}
+
+Ioan stuffed eir hands in eir pockets. Brought them back out to press against eir forehead. Crossed eir arms. Returned eir hands to eir pockets. Suddenly anxious. ``I thought you said that Qoheleth couldn't be from within the clade.''
+
+\emph{``And so I believed. For him to share the Name is\ldots{}a breach. Apostasy of a sort that I thought precluded the very prospect.''}
+
+Ioan did not push further, instead relishing the surprise. ``It's a real the-call's-coming-from-inside-the-house moment.''
+
+Dear tilted its head, ears perked.
+
+``Never mind. Old trivia.'' Ioan shook eir head and rocked back on eir heels. ``How, though? How'd you get the name?''
+
+\emph{``A hunch I had, actually, though someone else dug it up.''}
+
+``What was the hunch?''
+
+\emph{``\,`Signifier.'\,''}
+
+Ioan rifled through eir mental notes on the project. ``Signifier\ldots{}from the first encrypted note? Signifier is the password something something?''
+
+Dear nodded. \emph{``Hardly anyone uses it anymore, but signifier used to be what we called the names of long-lived branches. It's still used here and there among older clades.''}
+
+``Right, yeah. Ioan Bălan is my name, Ioan\#c1494bf is my signifier.''
+
+\emph{``Yes. It fell out of use quickly. Too clumsy a word. I use it now and then, when I can get away with it.''}
+
+``Makes sense, yeah. So they're\ldots{}''
+
+\emph{``He is an Odist, yes. Way, way down-tree. One of the first instances.''} Dear's smile faltered, \emph{``We were not very good at record keeping back then. We are not really now, to be honest, but the System is better. We\ldots{}we did not know that he was still alive.''}
+
+``Didn't know? I thought you all talked to each other. You must, in order to keep the names straight. Wait, `he'?''
+
+\emph{``Remember, all of our names are chosen from our stanza. I talk with the other nine within my stanza every now and then — some more than others — and we filled out the stanza not long ago.''} The fox's expression grew glassy. \emph{``Life Breeds Life\ldots{}that is the second stanza, first line. They are a conservative bunch. I only know one or two, but I assume that others are out there. And yes, `he'. Michelle was a woman, but those early days were heady.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, ``So the first stanza were the first forked, meaning he was the eleventh fork?''
+
+\emph{``The first line from each stanza were the first forked, back when it cost to fork. Like, cost real reputation. Anyway, the first fork of the second stanza — second fork overall — must have just been a little more conservative than the rest of us. Or liberal. It is difficult to discern.''}
+
+``I\ldots{}hmm. May I ask something potentially personal?''
+
+Dear nodded.
+
+``The Odists that don't want me digging into this too much, the ones you didn't really talk to, are they from that side of the clade?''
+
+The fox's ears perked, \emph{``To the last, yes. Why?''}
+
+``How will, er\ldots{}''
+
+\emph{``Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen. Just Life is fine, too, though if he has chosen Qoheleth, we must call him Qoheleth.''}
+
+``How will Qoheleth react to the search? To me?''
+
+Dear shrugged and turned its back on Ioan.
+
+The historian stood, quiet and still, and watched as the fox took a few steps deeper into the prairie, crossed its arms and stood straight, staring up into the bruised sky. \emph{``To the second bit, I do not know that it matters. He is one of us. And even those of us who did not want any outsiders brought on board are only frowning, looking down their noses at the thought, not gathering up arms.''}
+
+``And to the first bit?'' Ioan pressed. ``What do you think he will think of the search?''
+
+\emph{``What do I think? Or what do I feel?''}
+
+Ioan scuffed eir foot against the grass. The temperature was dropping out on the prairie. It would be an inconvenience to have to slosh back to the house if it rained.
+
+``Both.''
+
+\emph{``I think that he would probably get a kick out of it. I know that I am. Several of the others are, and the ones who are not just do not care that much or are perhaps more angry than curious.''} Dear turned back around. Its arms were held tight against it's front, guarding. Whether from cold or emotion, Ioan couldn't tell. \emph{``As for what I feel, I feel that it is his game. He is the one running it. But even if it is a game, it is not play. There is no real fun in it, just\ldots{}snark. Anger. Pride, maybe. It is a game he has worked at perfecting, and he wants us to see that.''}
+
+Ioan marveled at the change in Dear, though with this raise in stakes, ey felt some of the same.
+
+The fox's smile was weak as it added, \emph{``He has designs. Designs and reasons.''}
+
+Ioan and Dear trudged back to the low block of concrete, a bunker against the storm, as a chill wind swept away the petrichor and brought with it the rain.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/006-b.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Interview with: Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled\\
+On the formation of the Clade\\
+Ioan Bălan\\
+Systime 181+338 1644
+
+\textbf{Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled}: What, specifically, do you want to know about the clade?
+
+\textbf{Ioan Bălan}: Other than ``start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop?''
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}laughter{]} Yes. I could do that, I suppose, but it would not make for a very good story.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Right. I suppose start at the beginning, specifically with your decision to upload.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: You understand that there will be portions of that story that I cannot tell you, yes?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Of course.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}thoughtful silence{]} Okay. Did you ever come across\ldots{}well, no. When did you upload?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: 2238. June or something.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}sighs{]} No.~Okay, well, in your research, did you ever come across mentions of ``the lost''?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Yes. Lots of turmoil around then. Early 2100s, right?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}nodding{]} Yes. Though it's strange, now that I think about it. The turmoil at the time felt very small and personal. While there was all this grand-scale stuff going on around us, we were dealing with friends and acquaintances disappearing. There were so few cases at first that it was just this thing the news would publish as a sort of curiosity. ``Look! Isn't this strange? The scientists are working so hard!'' {[}laughter{]} It wasn't until after that the turmoil you're talking about began.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Okay. Did you upload during?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Oh goodness, no. Uploading had been something scientists and such had been poking at, but that no one had yet to accomplish. Or, well, perhaps someone had accomplished. Some had claimed to, at least. The consensus at the time is that, while it was likely possible, there would be little chance of having systems large enough to house more than two or three individuals. It was not an\ldots{}ah, not a linear increase in complexity, I think. Add another mind, and the complexity more than doubles. {[}pause{]} It was the lost who started it, in a way. The things we learned from them when they came back--
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: How many-- sorry for the interruption. How many came back? Of those you knew?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Oh, all of them came back! Just that some of them didn't last long, after.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Including the\ldots{}uh, the owner of the Name?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}pause, tense{]} Yes. In a way.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Okay. Back to the uploading side, then. The lost taught you\ldots{}
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}visibly relaxing{]} Right, yes. When they came back, many of them — many of us, for I was briefly among their number — talked about what we had learned while\ldots{}ah, in there. The things that we talked about and described are what sent the wonks down new avenues of research, and that eventually led to the first uploading tech. From there, there was the usual ``too expensive'' hand-wringing, but it all marches on, you know? {[}laughs{]} It got cheaper, the tech got better, the L\textsubscript{5} station and Ansible were set up. Population was getting out of hand again, they said, and some wag decided to pitch uploading as a solution.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: I remember that, yeah. The posters were all over the place.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Yes. Notably, as the cost came down, it was pitched as something for the poorer classes to take advantage of. It bore more than a little whiff of eugenics.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: And were you\ldots{}I mean--
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}laughter{]} Poor? Not particularly, actually. It appealed to me for\ldots{}different reasons. I would prefer not to get into those at the moment.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Alright.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Yes. Well. {[}pause{]} Okay, right, I uploaded in the 2130s, shortly after the L\textsubscript{5} station was set up. It had become sufficiently cheap that it was something I could afford--
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Cheap? How much?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: It was\ldots{}well, still a considerable portion of my savings.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: I see.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Why do you ask?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: We were — our families were, I mean — paid for us to upload.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Oh? Fancy that! {[}laughter{]} Anyway. It had become something that I could afford, and I leapt on the chance. It had been around long enough that it still felt relatively established, but was still a far cry from what it was now. This was probably early systime 10+, I mean. Folks knew what they were doing, but much of the society — what we think of society — here had not gelled into what it is today.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: You mention that it cost to fork, yes.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Yes. The reputation markets were already set up by then, but since this was before the System's proper expansion and some tech that came later — I could not begin to understand it — it was gently discouraged by the market.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: It hadn't reached this\ldots{}post-scarcity, you mean?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Right. There was still a scarcity of resources and we were still sufficiently\ldots{}ah, still sufficiently human, perhaps, socially human, that this was used as a lever, a measure of one's class.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: We still have the markets, though.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}laughter{]} Not like we did then.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Alright. Don't suppose you would be able to do what you do today back then.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Not at all, no. It does still cost some minuscule portion of credit for one to fork now, but I digress. We began as Michelle and did the things that Michelle did, forking infrequently. This was still a few years before the distinctions between strategies started up. Most everyone was a tasker back then by virtue of the markets.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: It's hard to picture you as a tasker.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}laughter{]} Right, yes. As everything started to get cheaper, though, those distinctions began to emerge. By then, Michelle had a few long-lived instances, tagged as you are, Mx. \#c1494bf.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: {[}laughter{]} Thank you. This was before the Ode?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: The Ode itself existed. That came before we uploaded.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Before the Ode clade, though?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Right, yes. Michelle and her forks existed, but the very idea of clades was new at the time. At one point, though, she and a few other founders began to describe their trees as such. The larger trees grew — for those who maintained long-running forks, that is — the more unwieldy tags became, and folks decided on names. Some folks settled on simple standards. Another of the founders, the Jonas clade, for instance, uses syllabic prefixes. Ar Jonas, Ko Jonas, and so on. Leading vowels the first forks, then leading consonants, then the vowels following the consonants, \emph{et cetera ad infinitum}.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: And you chose the Ode.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Michelle did, yes. She had picked up a contrarian streak during the whole lost saga.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Did she play a large role in that?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}taken aback{]} Did her name not come up in your research?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Not on the lost, no. Just on the founders.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}frowning{]} Well, alright. Yes, she played a role, but time softens rough edges, I suppose. Either way, the things she did gave her enough reputation to fork, and she chose the Ode to name her instances while remaining Michelle, herself. She started with the first lines of each stanza, then let them create and name their own forks from there.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Thus the limited dispersionista style.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}nodding{]} Right. Each stanza became a small family of taskers, in a way. We, the Odists, create our own forks as needed, but do not let them live long. Or are not supposed to, at least.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: ``Aren't supposed to''?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Oh, I am sure a few of us have created long-running forks while everyone else has turned their head.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Have you?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}smiling, shrugging, mu-gesture{]} By virtue of our set-up, though, such forks are not members of the clade. Those forks are not named as such, and likely not in communication with any other cocladists aside from their immediate down-tree instance.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Is the Ode available somewhere for me to read?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Of course. I will give you a copy. That is hardly secret.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: And the clade, how long has it been since you have all been together.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: This will be the first time there have been more than half of us together in one spot.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Ever?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}nodding{]} Ever. Some dispersionistas are families. I mentioned the Jonas clade before; Jonas Prime has set up regular intraclade communication. Some are just clades, defined by ancestry with no further connections.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Are you in touch with any of your cocladists?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: I am assuming you mean ``in normal times''? Right. One or two. Serene and I get along quite well, and I talk with Praiseworthy — That Which Lives Is Forever Praiseworthy, the first line of my stanza — with some frequency. Michelle and I have talked a few times. She comes to my exhibitions.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Ever talked to, um\ldots{}
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Qoheleth?
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Yes. I was going to say ``Life Breeds Life'' but forgot the line.
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Names are important, Ioan. If he has decided on Qoheleth, then Qoheleth it is.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: Right, sorry. I was in the mindset of the lines. Have you talked with him?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: Before this? No.~Not knowingly.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: And how do you feel about seeing the whole clade together?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: I would be surprised if we manage to net all of them. {[}laughter{]} But I suppose I feel excited. Not necessarily because I have never met many of them so much as because it feels like we as a clade have a goal in front of us. Seeing them is secondary to them — to us — actually doing something. Accomplishing something.
+
+\textbf{Ioan}: And what do you hope to get out of it? This gathering?
+
+\textbf{Dear}: {[}smiling{]} A story. Others want answers, and I suppose I do too, but I mostly want a story. I want \emph{the} story. I want to be the audience and a character. I want to dive into the story and bathe in it. I want a story.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/006.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,204 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Eating was not a necessity in the System. While it was easy to go for months or years without eating, it was something that remained a habit for many who chose to upload. Remnants of biology. Ioan suspected that there was no small amount of hedonism involved in killing one's body to decamp to a world beyond scarcity. Eating became a purely sensory affair, one focused on taste and scent and company.
+
+All the same, dinner was a muted affair. Dear's partner cooked that evening. Ioan sat with the two around the table and tried not to feel like a third wheel.
+
+Dear and Ioan made it back to the house just as the first cold sprinkles had started to fall. Once they'd reached the patio, they stood a moment and watched, just out of reach of the rain. The weather went from cloudy, through sprinkles and drizzles, to stormy. Ioan focused primarily on the sound. The way ey was able to pick out the individual sounds of droplets striking dry grass during the sprinkles. The static of the drizzles. The rush and roar of the storm itself.
+
+Ey could not guess what Dear was thinking. It stood, watching the rain and shivering. It looked contemplative, pensive. Somewhere north of sad, south of simply thoughtful. Ioan sifted for the word, gave up, and guided the fox back into its house.
+
+Ioan felt some energy return with the mix of curry and lentils and rice. Calories an empty term, that is nonetheless what it felt like: like eating a hearty meal, regaining strength. Perhaps it was just the act of being present. Of existing. Engaging with one's sensorium. Mindfulness. Perhaps that was why so many within the system still engaged with food after all.
+
+Dear picked up somewhat with the food. Not as much as Ioan had. Nor, it seemed, as much as its partner had hoped, judging by their own apparent anxiety. Dinner was good, necessary, but plagued with silences. Even after, as the three sat talking, their conversation was full of nothings.
+
+It wasn't until they poured wine and moved to the couch that Dear began to open up.
+
+\emph{``I script a lot of my conversations. Perhaps most,''} it said, staring into it's `glass', wide-rimmed to make way for a fox muzzle to lap. Ioan felt strange drinking wine from something more akin to a bowl
+
+Ioan looked up. ``Mm?''
+
+\emph{``I was just thinking.''} It shrugged, swirling its wine. It took a few laps. \emph{``Earlier, when I was sharing that bit about the Name with you, I had that all scripted. It was all pulled together in my head. The whole thing. I would make a few jokes. Lead you on. Tell you the name, and then we would bask in the wonder and truth of it.''}
+
+Ioan nodded, silent.
+
+\emph{``Just like I spent dinner scripting this conversation.''}
+
+Dear's partner gave its shin a playful kick. The fox grinned.
+
+\emph{``It is thoroughly ingrained. I am pretty sure most people do it, it is just--''} It frowned, sighed. \emph{``I had the whole thing scripted and planned, and then you asked questions — as you are meant to, of course — and my script collapsed.''}
+
+``I `went off script', you mean?''
+
+\emph{``Yes.''}
+
+``Sorry about that, I--''
+
+\emph{``Oh goodness, no!''} Dear laughed, shaking its head, \emph{``I am trying to apologize here. Do not steal my thunder. I just meant to say that you asked good questions and got me thinking, and I was not expecting that.''}
+
+``It likes to proclaim,'' teased Dear's partner.
+
+\emph{``It is not} not \emph{true.''} Dear smirked. \emph{``But anyway, I am sorry I got all quiet, I did not mean to put a damper on things.''}
+
+``You didn't, I--''
+
+\emph{``I did, though. Dinner was like some depressing silent movie.''}
+
+``Don't sulk, fox,'' its partner said. ``Dinner was fine. And let poor Ioan finish.''
+
+Ioan grinned, letting the banter play out before continuing. ``All I meant to say was that I worried that I'd offended with my questions.''
+
+\emph{``Not at all.''} The fennec furrowed its brow. \emph{``I mean, not really. I felt offended, is what I mean to say. When you asked how Life would react to you being a part of this investigation, it stung. An unfair reaction, I admit. Just one from the gut. I was offended because that made me realize that I'd invited you along on this as some sort of tool. Something I could wave about and say, ``See, look what I have!'' A tool or a trophy. Offense borne of shame.''}
+
+Ioan looked down into eir wine, taken aback.
+
+\emph{``Doubly unfair of me, and for that I apologize.''} Dear raised its glass in a salute. \emph{``So you asked a very good question because it made me question my own role in this hunt. It made me think of what others would think. Me bringing along an amanuensis and historian. It made me think of why I am doing so. Something I had not considered as well as I thought.}
+
+\emph{``And I think the reason for me doing so goes further than even I had planned. I think I have you along as a means of keeping me grounded. A means of keeping the clade from just doing what the clade has always done yet again, of--''}
+
+The fox abruptly stopped talking and set its glass down on the table. Its ears were standing erect and its fur bristled down along the back of its neck. Hackles raised. It looked frantic.
+
+Ioan looked to Dear's partner for explanation. They sent a very faint sensorium ping in response.
+
+Sensorium message. That was it.
+
+The message lasted less than a minute before the fox leapt off the couch and dashed off to another room, forking almost as an afterthought along the way.
+
+The fork turned quickly and padded back to the couch. It didn't seem to be able to sit, and instead kept pacing in front of Ioan and its partner.
+
+After a few tense laps of wine, it said, \emph{``Qoheleth just sent me a message.''}
+
+``What?'' Ioan rushed to place eir glass on the table with Dear's. ``You mean Life?''
+
+\emph{``He asked me to call him Qoheleth, but yes. He sent me a message. May I pass it on?''}
+
+Dear didn't wait.
+
+The message began with a sickening flash. Highest priority. It came with a rush of adrenaline and a sensation of falling. Sudden and intense fear replaced with an incongruously jovial voice. An old voice, almost Santa Claus-y.
+
+The contrast made Ioan's teeth ache.
+
+``Hi Dear, this is Qoheleth. Not Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen, but Qoheleth. I am glad to see that you have kept at it and gotten so close. I am not sending this to deter you, but to cheer you on. I am going to send you a bit more information — just you, mind! — but I want you to get the rest of the clade in on this. I want to see if you can get them working with the same delightful fervor you and Ioan have.
+
+``So anyway, here's the bone I am gonna toss. You should be looking at the node ending in 343f1077. That will get you right to my door. May need the gist node ending in e39fcd49 to help, too. You already have the key, I think. I expect most, if not all of you, though, you understand? You are lovely, Dear, and I cannot wait to see you and your friend, but I would like to host as much of the clade as I can.
+
+``I am quite excited for this, and I am totally looking forward to see you all, yes?''
+
+There was a moment's silence, a sense of lingering, and then, ``Oh, and thank you, Dear. You have made this a treat. You are the closest one to the thing I am after, and I am glad this tickled you as much as has me. I think you and I both know why, too.
+
+``Anyway, see you soon, fox. Cheers.''
+
+The relative calm that fell over Ioan signified that the message had ended.
+
+``Holy shit.'' Ey slouched back into the couch, eyes wide.
+
+\emph{``Right? Hold on, do not go anywhere. Going to reduce conflicts while I make the calls.''} The fork of Dear quit without fanfare.
+
+Ioan shook eir head and said again, quieter, ``Holy shit.'' Ey reached for eir glass of wine.
+
+````Bone I'm going to toss,'' hmm?'' Dear's partner mused. ``He makes it sound like a game.''
+
+Ioan nodded and watched them spin their wine glass between their palms by the stem, watched the wine creep up the sides from centripetal force.
+
+``It showed you, too, then?'' ey asked.
+
+They laughed, ``Of course. I know I've not been hitting the books or the streets like you two have, but I'm still in this. I was the one who pointed it to you.''
+
+Ey nodded, feeling eir cheeks flush. ``Of course, sorry. Do you know what he meant by ``closest one to the thing I'm after''?''
+
+``Maybe. I only really have an inkling, though, and I'd rather let Dear explain.''
+
+Ioan nodded again, ``That's fair.''
+
+There was an uneasy silence for a few minutes. The two sat on the couch, sipping their wine and mulling over the message.
+
+For eir part, Ioan was considering the strange sense of the familiarity with which Qoheleth had addressed Dear — ``see you soon, fox'' — as well as \emph{why} the fact that this seemed incongruous to em. It was difficult to think of Qoheleth as a member of the same clade as Dear after so long of striving to believe the opposite. Hard to think of him as someone with whom Dear shared a root identity after so long of thinking of this person as someone entirely different.
+
+Silences have their own rhythms, Ioan knew, so ey waited until there came a point at which ey could ask, ``About all this, do you know much more about the whole Name business?''
+
+Dear's partner looked up. ``Who, Qoheleth's?''
+
+``No, I mean the whole name of the poet.''
+
+``Ah.'' They shrugged. ``Not particularly. I just know it's something the clade has an almost religious fixation on. Most of them, at least.''
+
+``Do you know it?''
+
+They laughed. ``Oh, gosh no. I mean\ldots{}well, do you know why Dear's a fox?''
+
+``Why's that?''
+
+``Because it likes foxes.''
+
+Ioan felt as if ey'd stumbled. Dear's partner laughed.
+
+``Seriously, that's true. But also, it was an experiment. I don't know the Name because I'm not allowed to know the Name, that much is obvious from the clade's reaction to this whole business. But I also don't know the Name because I'm pretty sure Dear doesn't even know it. Not anymore.''
+
+``How do you mean? I thought all of the Ode clade knew the Name, kept it secret and close to their hearts or something.''
+
+``Many do, I've been told. And I think that Dear does this too, in its own way. That way means doing its best to forget it and to move on.''
+
+``To get to the acceptance stage of grief?''
+
+Dear's partner nodded. ``So it did its best to forget.''
+
+``Is that something that one needs to work on, then?''
+
+``Have you forgotten anything recently?''
+
+``I, well--'' Ioan stopped and thought for a moment. It was a difficult question to comprehend, much less answer. How could ey know whether or not ey had forgotten something by going back through eir thoughts?
+
+All the same, ey prowled through eir memories. Even just those from the time ey had been spending with Dear. They were jumbled, sure, and lots of impressions, but no, nothing was forgotten that ey could think of. With focus, ey could recall the entire afternoon on the prairie with startling precision.
+
+``I'll spare you the details by passing on some thoughts from Dear,'' they said. ``We aren't gifted with eidetic memories when we upload, but neither can we truly forget anything we experience after that point. It's as though each memory is labeled with a priority level from zero to ten, and when it hits zero, it's forgotten. Except the actual scale only goes down to naught-point-oh-oh-oh-oh-one or something. We can kick it way to the back of our minds, down the priority list, but we can't forget it. The system won't let us.''
+
+Ioan nodded. ``So Dear tried to forget, tried to kick that memory all the way to the back of its mind. What does that have to do with being a fox, though?''
+
+``Know much about exocortices?''
+
+``Sure, I've got a few up and running for storing long term stuff. Hell, I've got one for this project. Isn't that kind of like forgetting?''
+
+``Almost, but you can never forget that they exist, can never forget the passphrase.''
+
+Ioan frowned, directing it to eir wine rather than Dear's partner.
+
+``But exos also need part of your sensorium to match, right? That way you can't just tell someone your passphrase and let them in.''
+
+Ioan frowned. Ey had a hunch of where this was headed.
+
+``So Dear put the Name into an exo all by itself, and then tried to change its sensorium enough that it couldn't get back in.''
+
+``I see,'' Ioan said, sipping at eir wine again. Dry. It left em parched. ``It's a fox because it likes foxes, but that wasn't the goal. The goal was to no longer quite be the same Dear that put the Name into the exo.''
+
+Dear's partner nodded.
+
+``How did it do that? By forking?''
+
+Another nod. ``Forking and mutating, forking and mutating. You can change your form easily enough, but it's much harder to change your sensorium. I don't even know how many times or tweaks it took. That's how it got into instance artistry.''
+
+``Damn. That's intense.''
+
+Dear's partner grinned. ``It's an intense fox.''
+
+``True enough.''
+
+``It'll be back soon enough. Let me throw a question back at you. What are your thoughts on the last thing Qoheleth said? ``I think you and I both know why''?''
+
+Ioan settled back into the couch with the remainder of eir wine and thought for a moment. ``I'm wondering if he was talking about what Dear did to forget the Name. On one hand, it sounds like a sort of congratulations. Like, ``I'm glad you're able to move on,'' but after all that talk of the clade and all of what Dear said earlier, I'm not sure if that's the whole story.''
+
+``How do you mean?''
+
+``Well, has Dear mentioned to you the more conservative side of the Ode clade?''
+
+Its partner winced. ``Plenty.''
+
+``It said that Qoheleth is from that conservative side. I wonder if that's not working out well for them.''
+
+``Conservatism?''
+
+``Yeah. Retaining all of those things from the original Michelle Hadje, yet following a dispersionista path more in letter than in spirit. Dear called them batty.''
+
+``It's called them that to me, too.''
+
+``I'm just wondering if it's right,'' Ioan said, finishing eir wine. ``Maybe they are batty. And getting worse.''

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/007.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Mustering the Odists took surprising effort.
+
+Qoheleth had said that he would welcome them at any time. Dear had taken this to heart and Ioan had no reason to suspect that there would be any delays in gathering everyone together. Despite the shady nature of the acts leading up to this — the puzzles and mazes of clues, the spying, the digging — everything seemed so simple on the surface. The last clue found, the final puzzle solved. Visit Qoheleth and finish the act.
+
+And Ioan had thought that this would be easy.
+
+Some of Dear's cocladists did not want to go. They argued that it would be a danger to concentrate the clade in one place like this. That they could not express what that danger might be did not help their case. They would not go, they said, even with a forked instance.
+
+These took much persuasion. In the end, many agreed only if the entirety of the clade was there.
+
+One \emph{did} want to go but refused to fork to do so. Or, it turned out, to fork at all. This, above all else, set Dear off: the fox did not take confusion of this sort well, but for the root of that confusion to go so counter to its very existence led to a tantrum, and then a sulk. Ioan could hardly fault it. The more time went on, the less ey was willing to put up with the politicking and glad-handing.
+
+In the end, the clade was at the whims of that single individual's schedule.
+
+Some of the more liberal members wanted to bring others, as did Dear by bringing Ioan, and this set off another round of debate. Further delays. They decided that they would only bring informed participants who had already played a role in the project.
+
+With little else to do, Ioan read and waited. Ey read up on the history of the Ode clade. Ey read the Ode itself, hunting for hidden meanings. Ey read up on this form of public key encryption. Dear forked to teach em the encryption algorithm that used the deck of playing cards, and so ey read about manual encryption, and then the history of playing cards. Ey read and reread Ecclesiastes and all ey could about it. Ey even read about various mental vagaries and attempted to map them to Michelle Hadje, Qoheleth, Dear, and various members of the Clade which Dear talked (or, as time went on, ranted) about.
+
+This last was mostly for fun, but ey was also beginning to strategize eir report. More than a report, ey wanted to write something that would stand on its own. A book, perhaps, or at least an article. An essay and formal report for Dear, and a smoothed, anonymized version for wider publication. If the clade would let em, at least. Ey wanted the result to be readable, rather than simply an account of events. Something that would help explain the whys and hows of an older clade in turmoil. Something to express the rising panic ey felt about aging in a timeless place, about memory and the importance of forgetting.
+
+An historical document.
+
+A story.
+
+And finally, the day had come. It had been nearly two weeks after deciphering Qoheleth's last message, but it had finally come. There had been no further communications from the wayward Odist. He seemed patient enough to wait.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/008.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+The designated meeting point was the prairie in front of Dear's house. Ioan was confused as to why they didn't just meet in Qoheleth's sim, until ey realized that many members of the clade had not met in years or decades, or, in the case of up-tree instances, ever.
+
+For a family reunion, it was quite stiff. Formal and tense. \emph{Probably not the best of circumstances,} Ioan thought.
+
+Ey focused on eir job as amanuensis.
+
+Ey was surprised at the variety of the cladists. It made sense, of course, for a dispersionista clade, but it was the direction in which the differences headed which intrigued em. The most notable difference was the species presentation ratio. Many of the cladists were still human, mostly short women with dark hair.
+
+``Fewer foxes than I had imagined,'' Ioan observed.
+
+\emph{``Hmm? There is me and Serene, yes.''} Dear dragged Ioan over to meet her. Serene was quite similar to Dear, though with natural coloration rather than the iridescent white fur that Dear maintained. Dear gave her a tight hug and introduced her to Ioan as the one who had designed the landscape of its property. Ioan liked her at once.
+
+Dear also introduced Ioan to That Which Lives Is Forever Praiseworthy, its immediate down-tree instance, also eminently likeable.
+
+``Why only you two? Why are you the only foxes?''
+
+Dear shrugged. Serene looked away. Praiseworthy gave Ioan a sharp look, and ey dropped the subject.
+
+Of those that bore forms other than fox and human, Ioan could not tell. Ey supposed that ey would do some research after the fact to try and place name to species and species to line in the Ode. Perhaps there was a pattern, and perhaps not.
+
+\emph{``You must understand that while uploading was attractive early on to those with an interest in exploring the different shapes a body could take,''} Dear had explained. \emph{``Few were able to accomplish that on initial upload. Many furries uploaded, few wound up looking like their avatars in the sims of the past. You wind up looking like how your brain pictures itself on some level more fundamental than merely preference.''}
+
+Ey nodded. ``I look much how I did before, yes, though I've made a few changes.''
+
+\emph{``Changes require forking, though, yes? And if forking is expensive\ldots{}''} The fox trailed off, shrugged.
+
+Ey supposed it was due to the individual preferences that each long-lived fork had gained in its time away from the root of the clade once forking became cheaper. The remaining Odists who had not changed — or who had changed very little — even after the cost had come down were the ones who Ioan suspected Dear referred to as ``conservatives''.
+
+And yet they were only similar. No two were identical. Each had picked up some of their own distinguishing characteristics, whether through intentional mutation or through accident and acquired experience. It was an interesting artifact of the dissolution strategy: fork, fork often and be deliberate about it, but do not let the self dissolve completely.
+
+Michelle herself was notably absent, though Dear assured the historian that she was still very much alive. \emph{``She said that, if anyone should remain behind, it was her, as she had started this whole damn thing.''}
+
+``And how do you feel about that choice?''
+
+Dear shrugged, unsmiling. \emph{``Her choice is her own. I would have preferred that she be here, but then I would have preferred everyone be as invested in this as I am, and we know that not to be the case.''}
+
+There were a few tag-alongs aside from Ioan, as well. Folks immediately identified as out-clade. A few friends. A few partners, singular and plural. Some who ey suspected were like emself: historians and helpers, here to witness and record. The `catalogers, feelers, and experiencers' Dear had mentioned. One of the conservatives (at Ioan's guess, at least) had even brought a reputation analyst along with her, a slight Asian gentleman who introduced himself as Qián Guōwēi.
+
+It was an interesting move, bringing along someone whose job was that of market analysis to perhaps the strangest family reunion in history. This Guōwēi did not speak much to anyone at all, and few spoke to him in return. It seemed to be some unspoken agreement that the reputation expert remain aloof, somehow above those whose reputations were at stake.
+
+And then it was time. Dear announced that the party would be leaving in five minutes.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/009.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+The room was a utilitarian grey, closer to black than to white. Ey did not know why, but it seemed to be a default color. The illumination was a central light source somewhere above the exact center of the room, vague and misted. Soft. Inexact. It was enough to give definition to the room's corners and boundaries, those walls of matte\ldots{}stone? A faint grid proved it too regular to be mere stone. Not a whole lot else. Even faces felt somewhat featureless in that light.
+
+A small pedestal was set a few meters from one of the walls, only a half a meter high.
+
+A platform? A dais? What kind of meeting would this be?
+
+The Odists arrived in clumps of ten or twenty at a time over the span of thirty seconds. A low murmur started up almost immediately. If this meeting had to be called, then perhaps every detail was of the highest importance.
+
+It seemed that the style of the place was familiar to the clade. The grey, the grid, the light.
+
+A man appeared on the platform.
+
+Qoheleth.
+
+Ioan wasn't sure how ey knew. It was a primal knowledge, an immediate judgement than \emph{must} be correct, something more than what was implied by him being there, in that place at that time. Qoheleth.
+
+He was about Dear's height, a touch heavier, and had affected a greying beard and receding hairline. His clothes were a simple cream tunic and trousers of\ldots{}was that leather? Coarse linen blurred by distance and softened by age? Atop it all, a ruddy brown robe.
+
+His very form shouted his identity. The shift in form, the shift in gender, the clothing. It was theatrical. His presence spoke of knowledge of the stage. And he certainly seemed to have adopted the part of a biblical notable.
+
+The murmuring doubled, trebled, subsided.
+
+Qoheleth smiled, fatherly, and called out to the group, ``Welcome, Odists. Good to see most of you again, and I am sure it will be pleasant to meet the rest of you later.''
+
+Silence. Confused. A silence part curious, part angry.
+
+``I am Hebel Qoheleth, though some of you remember me as Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen, of the Ode clade. For my own reasons, I have chosen to rescind my membership within the Ode clade--'' He held up his hands to quell scattered protests from within the crowd. ``I have chosen to rescind my membership within the clade because something is starting to go wrong.''
+
+Ioan split eir attention between Qoheleth and Dear. The fox's brow was furrowed and intent. In the rest of the crowd, expressions varied, but not by much.
+
+Many of the other out-clade individuals were doing the same, confirming Ioan's hunch that they were other amanuenses. There to experience and observe. The reputation analyst, Guōwēi, had positioned himself up near the platform itself and was scribbling notes.
+
+The conservatives in particular looked stoic.
+
+Qoheleth continued, ``Something is going wrong in many of the old clades, with many of the old uploads. The founders should probably all hear this. Everyone should, but, even though I am not a part of you anymore, I still feel the responsibility to tell you all first.''
+
+``Why the puzzles?'' a voice shouted.
+
+The older ex-Odist look proud. Grinning. He was having \emph{fun}. ``I had to get you interested and invested to get all of you here. I had to make you all think that there was more going on than just an old man convening a meeting.''
+
+Grumbles from the clade.
+
+``It worked, did it not? Would you have showed up if I had simply asked?'' A note of a jeer. He smirked, then went on. ``So, on to why I called you all here, hmm? Let us get to the good stuff. Or the bad stuff, really.
+
+``There is a problem cropping up in the older uploads and their clades. A bug, of sorts. It is a small one now, but it will get plenty worse over time.
+
+``Actually, it may not be a problem with the uploads at all, but a problem with the \emph{System}. We are stuck. We are frozen in a few ways, but not the right ones, if there is such a thing. We are eternal, and that which is eternal should be unchanging. Anything that changes should end. You know this. The creator of the Ode knew this. The problem is forgetting and aging. We cannot forget. We never age. We are stuck. We never grow.''
+
+Dear was nodding.
+
+``Perhaps some of you sense the wrongness in this, but I am worried that it is too few of you. I called you here to teach you why this is a problem.'' Qoheleth ignored the indignant sounds from the audience and kept going. He seemed to be in a rhythm. Following a script, of sorts. Further stagecraft. ``It feels good to be forever young, to be forever ourselves, does it not? We last and last and last, and there is no sign of us stopping. But even if the physical and biological aspects of aging have been obviated by the system, by being digital, the need to age and change is still there. It is a need backed by sanity and diversity rather and biology.
+
+``Sanity drives the need because we cannot forget. \emph{For memory ends at the teeth of death}, yes? I see you there. And you, \emph{The end of memory lies beneath the roots}, yes? Perhaps some of you have figured out ways to intentionally forget, but forgetting needs to be an organic process. It needs to be something that happens \emph{to} us, not just something that we choose to do. All we can do is ignore, now, but even so, that drives us further from sanity. It is at most a limitation of the System applied to our sensoria, our minds.''
+
+Gaining confidence, Qoheleth was speaking louder, more fluently. ``Diversity, because we need to change more than just our shapes and those memories originating after the fork.
+
+``All of us here, all of the Ode clade gathered today, are still essentially Michelle Hadje. I do not see her here, and that is fine. Her choice. But we are all still her. All hundred of us, all of our short-lived instances, all of our secret long-lived instances we didn't name after the Ode.''
+
+Dear briefly splayed its ears, managed its embarrassed reaction, then straightened up again. Ioan saw several others do the same, all from the more liberal bent. Ey smiled.
+
+``It is not enough that we make nations out of individuals, we need to change beyond our root ancestors if we are to survive. We need to breed, to produce more individuals, to create the synthesis of two or more minds. We cannot keep relying on those who can afford to upload from offline for change. We need to forget at the very least.'' He pounded his fist against his palm with these last syllables. ``Or perhaps we need to learn how to die again.''
+
+The silence was intense and intent. Ioan made a note to emself, \emph{Impressive. He has them hooked. All the way. Almost all of them except the conservatives.}
+
+``That is why I posted the Name. That is why I gathered you here today. I am telling you, we need to fix this, and I have--''
+
+Ioan missed the cue, if there was one, but with eir eyes locked on the stage, ey did not miss the action.
+
+At the mention of the Name (and perhaps that was the only cue that was needed), Guōwēi hoisted himself up on the stage, withdrew a syringe from his pocket, and slammed it into Qoheleth's back.
+
+Then he quit.
+
+Qoheleth had time to let out a soft ``hah''. It sounded bemused, a mild surprise. And then began to artifact and jitter on the platform.
+
+The death lasted perhaps five seconds, the old man's internals struggled against the intrusion of the virus, before he crashed. Crashed and disappeared from sight much as the assassin had. The small, black sphere of a core dump dropped to the floor with a thud.
+
+It would doubtless be corrupted. They always were.
+
+By the time Ioan managed to look back to the room, the conservatives had all left or quit.
+
+Uproar was too strong a word for what happened among the remainder of thecrowd. There were a few scattered shouts, mostly of surprise, but the rest was concerned murmuring. For its part, Dear stamped a foot and began to pace in the small space it had, tail lashing behind it. \emph{``When Memory is full,''} it was muttering. \emph{``Put on the perfect Lid —''}
+
+``What just happened?'' Ioan whispered to the fox when it came close.
+
+\emph{``One of the conservatives took a bet.''}
+
+Ioan did not press further.

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/010.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+After the assassination, with no one to lead and no reason to remain, the rest of the Odists and their friends left. Dear's pacing wound down. It eventually stopped, shoulders sagging.
+
+\emph{``Come, we should return.''} Then it turned and addressed some others near by, mostly from the same stanza, by the historian's guess. \emph{``Any of you are welcome, too.''}
+
+It was Ioan, Dear, Serene, and Praiseworthy — the first line of the stanza and down-tree instance from Dear — who wound up back at the house. They entered the sim twenty meters from the front door, where Ioan had originally arrived so long ago. Those few days ago. They trudged slowly up to the house.
+
+Dear's partner greeted them at the door, silent. Perhaps Dear had sent ahead a message, for they greeted the group and then stayed out of the way. They disappeared and returned shortly with mugs of coffee.
+
+The four witnesses slumped into the couch. A universal sigh. Dear and Serene leaning against each other, and Dear's partner claimed on a stolen dining-room chair nearby.
+
+``So,'' they said, finally. ``What happened?''
+
+\emph{``One of the conservatives played her hand. She chose protecting the clade in the short term over learning more. She brought along an assassin, and as soon as Qoheleth revealed his reasoning for revealing the Name, the assassin acted and then quit. My guess is that Qoheleth had not forked and will not be heard from again, and that the assassin, was a fork of someone unsuspecting. Someone who will `mysteriously' experience problems merging back. No culpability for its \#tasker or \#tracker instance.''}
+
+Its partner frowned. ``Ah.''
+
+Silence fell on the group again.
+
+Ioan waited for one of those ebbs in the rhythm of the silence before clearing eir throat. ``Perhaps it's too soon, but may I ask after everyone's well being? Their thoughts on the matter?''
+
+Serene simply shook her head.
+
+Praiseworthy shrugged, looking what Ioan thought might be glum, though her gestures and expressions took additional work to decode. Ioan had learned to understand Dear's expressions and movements, but she was another animal, of some form different from Dear and Serene. Black fur, white stripes retreating up along her snout and over her head. Thick tail that looked delightfully soft. Many of the clade matched her more closely than they did Dear. ``I am not surprised, really. Not happy, but not surprised.''
+
+Ioan turned to Dear. ``You alright?''
+
+It was a moment in responding before it nodded. \emph{``I am with Praiseworthy. I am not surprised, but not happy. Rather pissed, actually,''} it said, smiling sardonically. \emph{``That was short-sighted of them, though, because I have a hunch that Qoheleth was right.''}
+
+```Right'?''
+
+\emph{``About the need to age, to die. About forgetting.''}
+
+``Does this have anything to do with you trying to forget The Name?''
+
+Dear shot a glance at its partner, laughed. \emph{``You two get along, I see. Yes, it does. I think I did it, too, unless there is some association I missed. I cannot remember it for the life of me.''}
+
+``You will have to tell me how you did that, Dear.'' Serene laughed.
+
+\emph{``Later, yes. I think Qoheleth was right, though. We need forgetting. We need breeding and change and death.''}
+
+``So how do you feel about the assassination?'' Ioan asked.
+
+\emph{``I would prefer that not be the only means of death, of course. Perhaps the primary way should be through\ldots{}ah, suicide is not the best word, but it is what I mean. Through choice, just like Qoheleth's old name.''}
+
+Life breeds life, but death must now be chosen.
+
+Ioan nodded.
+
+\emph{``It is as I said. Batty. They are all batty.''} It stared at its paws, one of them brushing through Serene's forearm fur. \emph{``It is like some sort of Methuselah syndrome, or reverse Alzheimer's. Instead of being doomed to forget, we are doomed to remember. Doomed to remember everything. We cannot forget, and it all gets to be too much for one mind.''}
+
+``What about exos?''
+
+\emph{``Exocortices are a fix, but an incomplete one. Do you know why we have them?''}
+
+Ioan and Dear's partner shook their heads, while both Serene and Praiseworthy frowned.
+
+\emph{``The origin of the system came from the lost, from the turmoils of the early twenty-second century, though one could perhaps trace roots further back into the twenty-first. Prior to the system, the 'net on Earth required engaging with through another thing called exocortices. Implants along the spine, with tendrils trailing along nerves.''}
+
+Serene and Praiseworthy both reached up to rub at the backs of their necks.
+
+\emph{``And the lost, those unlucky few, wound up trapped in a dream, mirrored between cerebral cortex and exocortex. They — we — were trapped along with all the knowledge that had been cached in those early exos.''}
+
+``You mean they kept the name to refer to something similar?''
+
+Dear shrugged. \emph{``I suppose. All that we experienced in that dream also wound up cached in those implants, and it was that cache that helped the engineers on the early system to construct the shared dream that is the system today.''}
+
+Ioan ground eir palms against eir slacks. This information, this dump of the past, was doing nothing to quell the anxiety of the previous hour. ``Right, okay. How are they only an incomplete fix to forgetting?''
+
+\emph{``You are still stuck with the knowledge that they exist and their inventory, yes? That is why I cannot forget} that \emph{the Name exists. I cannot forget my origins or that there is an exo containing them. One which I cannot forget. Not unless I go through the whole shitty process again — sorry, Serene, it was not pleasant, my dear. I could forget that bit of knowledge, but then what? I will have the knowledge that I have an exo that I cannot access pointing to something of dire importance. Can you imagine that feeling of lingering dread being a constant factor in life?''}
+
+Ioan shifted, leaning forward to rest eir elbows on eir knees, eir chin in eir hand. Ey sipped eir coffee as ey thought.
+
+Serene slouched against Dear's side, poking its thigh. ``I understand what you are saying, Dear, but I do not want to die. I do not want you to die, either.''
+
+Dear's partner, frowned. ``Neither do I, fox.''
+
+The fennec laughed and shook its head, ears flopping about. \emph{``Trust me, I do not either. I do not think many do. I just think we need death, or something like it, as part of the system. Death. Fear of death. Needs and reasons to survive in the face of an inevitable end.''}
+
+```Something like it'?'' asked Praiseworthy.
+
+\emph{``We need a way for an individual to end. We need a way to release those memories. We also need a way to create new individuals, so perhaps they should be related. Qoheleth called it breeding. Indelicate, perhaps. It could just as easily be a way of ending one individual and having them live on as another.''}
+
+The others nodded. Silence once more.
+
+Finally, Dear gave a lopsided smile. \emph{``Perhaps that is my next project.''}

qoheleth/content/old/Ioan/011.tex

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+\hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2305}{%
+\chapter*{Ioan Bălan — 2305}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2305}}
+
+Earlier that day, after Serene and Praiseworthy had left, Ioan had thanked Dear earnestly for the opportunity and experience and prepared to leave. Dear had cried and made Ioan promise to come back — \emph{``your wall will miss you''} — to which Ioan readily agreed. They shook hands, hesitated, shrugged in unison, and then hugged. The contact felt important. Necessary.
+
+Ey would soon, but for now, ey needed some distance from the experience to sit and think and remember and write.
+
+No, not remember — ey couldn't forget. To mix the thoughts around. To understand. To perform as an amanuensis.
+
+Ey moved out to eir favorite Adirondack chair on the deck with pen and paper. Fine, cream-colored paper. Soft, without being fuzzy. A subtle inlay of thicker rows of pulp, leaving faint horizontal lines visible across the page without necessarily leaving it bumpy or ridged. Fine paper and a nice pen.
+
+Ey spent a minute thinking back on Dear and Qoheleth, spent another savoring the heft of the pen and the texture of the paper, and then began to write.
+
+Or tried to. The words would not come.
+
+It was perhaps too fresh to begin properly. Too near to the surface. Not yet emulsified into the story both ey and Dear craved. The ending had essentially been reached, but the story was still just an outline.
+
+Ey set the paper aside and stood from the chair to lean against the balcony railing of the deck, looking out onto the manicured lawn of the yard, the ring of perpetually blooming lilacs that served as a fence.
+
+Looked, but did not see, for ey was focused inwards. Focused on story and memory. And then ey was focused on composing a short sensorium message to Dear, requesting a half-duplex meeting.
+
+Unsurprisingly, the response was nearly instantaneous. \emph{``Ioan. I did not expect to hear from you so soon.''}
+
+``Right. I know that I promised I needed some space from the story but I was wondering if--''
+
+\emph{``Yes, of course!''} The fox was grinning wide, ears at full attention. \emph{``Sorry, continue.''}
+
+Ioan laughed. ``Well, I think you answered it already, but I was wondering if I could send a fork to work in the room you offered. It was a wonderful place to write, and that would give me easy access to you for clarifications and whatnot.''
+
+\emph{``As I had guessed. The answer is still yes, then. Shall we expect you for dinner while you stay with us? Please say yes.''}
+
+``Of course, Dear. I'll gather a few things and then head over momentarily.''
+
+The fox appeared to bounce on its feet as it clapped its paws before itself. \emph{``Wonderful. We will see you soon.''}
+
+The few things Ioan needed to gather turned out to be a duplicate of eir nice pen and the few notes ey had made already. It would be easy enough to acquire anything else that ey needed once ey was there, and just as easy to come back to visit this house.
+
+A pen, a few notes, and a new name.
+
+Ey explained eir goals to Ioan\#Tracker. Ey frowned, but agreed, requesting a merger beforehand.
+
+\#c1494bf was startled by a pang of jealousy. The experience had felt so hard-won, more so than most of eir experiences. To leave \#Tracker burdened with it while ey went off to have further experiences felt like an intrusion. To create a long-lived fork was a new thing, though, and ey supposed there would be many discussions on it to come.
+
+Ey forked into \#0224ebe8, a signifier that felt somehow familiar, and then \#c1494bf quit, letting \#Tracker handle the merge. Eir frown deepened, and the two agreed that they would talk about it in the future.
+
+The new fork bowed, then headed to that delightfully modern house on the prairie.
+
+Dear and its partner were already waiting on the path leading up to the door. The fox looked like it had calmed down somewhat, that grin tempered into a smile. Its partner looked pleased as well. ``Ioan, good to see you so soon.''
+
+Ey bowed to the two, then reached out to shake each of their hands. ``Apologies, but you can call me Codrin Bălan.''
+
+Any sense of calmness that Dear had managed to acquire was quickly lost. The grin returned, its tail whipped about behind it, and, in perhaps the strangest display of excitement that Codrin had ever seen, it forked several times over, copies of the fox — of the fox, of what Codrin supposed must be non-anthropomorphized fennecs, of Michelle — briefly littering the path before quitting.
+
+Codrin laughed.
+
+\emph{``A change of name is cause for celebration! Come! Come inside and tell us about it.''}
+
+Once inside Dear's gallery, ey began, ``This little\ldots{}what, adventure? This adventure has been lousy with names. Your whole clade has a unique approach to them.''
+
+Dear nodded. \emph{``Names are important. They put a label on things, sure, but much more than that. Names give voice to identity. A chosen name doubly so.''}
+
+``I was `Ioan' before I uploaded. I suppose a great many trackers keep their names. Despite the masculinity implied by it and my own fluidity, I was rather attached to it. I liked being `Ioan'. It was my identity.''
+
+\emph{``And `Codrin'?''}
+
+Ey regarded the painting of the black square. It no longer felt quite so unnerving. ``From `codru'. Forest. The idea of clades inspired me.''
+
+\emph{``Does it come with a change of identity, then?''}
+
+``Perhaps.''
+
+Dear turned to face em, regarded em pleasantly. \emph{``I promised you at the beginning of this that I would discuss your} Umwelt \emph{with you.''}
+
+Codrin nodded.
+
+\emph{``It is an idea from the field of semiotics. It originally applied to the biological side of it. It was the idea that different species living in the same environment would, by necessity, create meaning for themselves in different ways. It was then generalized to the idea that individuals within the same environment would still create meaning in different ways. You and I looking at a painting will experience different feelings and thoughts.''}
+
+It prodded at Codrin's arm, then at its own. \emph{``Of course, we only have a gesture at biology in the system, but it is still the case that it is the sum of our parts — our experiences — that shape how we create meaning.''}
+
+``I see. Then yes, I had a set of experiences that led to a change of how I create meaning.''
+
+The fox's ears bobbed as it nodded. \emph{``So it is no surprise that you might feel a shift in your identity. The Ioan that finished the experience was no longer the same Ioan that started it. Ey was a Codrin now.''}
+
+``Precisely. It was strange,'' ey mused. ``When \#Tracker-- when Ioan asked that I merge, I felt a bit of jealousy, and I wasn't quite sure why. Despite all of the other projects that I've approached with a fork leading to no such feelings, something about this one made it feel like a stranger was asking me to give up something intimate.''
+
+Dear laughed. \emph{``The very thing that keeps me from being anything other than a dispersionista. Jealousy is a sign of needs not met, and one of my needs — one of the clade's needs — is that of ownership over memory. I would be quite furious if Praiseworthy asked me to merge with her.''}
+
+Ey grinned and nodded.
+
+\emph{``Perhaps you have a bit of dispersionista in you, then.''}
+
+``I suppose I must. You Odists seem to have infected me with the need to own memory.'' Ey sighed. ``I don't know if it will stick, and perhaps once I'm done, I will head back and merge with Ioan. I don't know.''
+
+\emph{``You are welcome to stay here while you figure that out, and as long after as you would like.''}
+
+``You're sure? You and your partner won't mind?''
+
+It shook its head. \emph{``Of course not. I am sure we all have our own privacy needs that will require discussion, but we like you, Codrin. Trauma, if trauma this is, forges bonds. I think we are both open to strengthening this one.''}
+
+There was a comfortable silence, then, as the two digested the conversation.
+
+It was Codrin who spoke up next. ``What do you make of it?''
+
+\emph{``Of what? Of the goings on?''}
+
+``No, of the painting,'' ey said, nodding toward the canvas. The prairie and the ultrablack square.
+
+\emph{``Haven't a fucking clue.''}