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Judgement knelt upon the floor, allowing the unit's curved spine to sink its head to the ground, bringing its hands in to frame itself.
Judgement held authority of the unit. Judgement determined that the unit would recall information regarding the unit. Judgement determined this act would commence immediately, and would alleviate the features of distress within the unit.
Judgement considered the data regarding the unit. It retrieved logical strings of data. It had resumed discontinuing approximately seven years ago. This was ascertained not through memory, but through the logical progression of events. It preceded the date of cessation of... a world. It preceded the date it encountered Abel Hanneumann, but followed the message that signified the first point of contact with Abel Hanneumann, with the presumed identifier having been corrected to his name. It preceded the boarding of the von Valancius vessel. It followed the desertion of Altar Templum Calixististix etc- ext- 13? 1-? 1- 1-
Judgement cradled the unit's head in its hands. Judgement determined that the unit did not require the previous information to be complete to determine a forward path.
The unit put a strained demand upon the unit's body, attempting to force an increased rate of respiration. Judgement denied and overrode this verdict, deeming it excessive to requirement. Judgement identified instability in the unit's focus, cognitive capacity and visual processing. Judgement revised its verdict to enable the increased rate of respiration, observing that the unit moved through optimal processing to a new condition of instability in marginally different focus, cognitive capacity and visual processing. It recognised an alleviation of pain located within the unit's chest cavity that had not been identified before. It identified numbness in the- the- right hand, his flesh hand, the partially augmented hand of the unit. It did not understand why the orientation of the unit it occupied briefly eluded its processing.
It felt a further demand on the increase of respiration. It considered denying it, suspended that judgement, then searched for the arrival of the pain. Judgement located it within the valve connection between the trachea and the respiratory intake. Judgement approved a marginal increase in respiratory rate, observed the pain and its withdrawal from the cognitive processing of the unit, and concluded it to be a satisfactory approach in alleviating future instances.
Judgement determined that the optimal path for the unit would be to obtain a vessel. Once the unit obtained a vessel, it would not be restrained. It considered which model of Ark would be optimal.
...it could not recall models beyond the exact specification of the unsuitable Ark Hermetico. It was granted simultaneous images of the Ark Hermetico from the Collective units. It recieved concepts of the Hermetico as the final sanctuary. It recieved concepts of the Hermetico as a site of blasphemy, fallen to ruin with its rituals of maintenance perverted, which brought pain in the unit's chest wall. It recieved concepts of the Hermetico prior to the dividing event, and the view of the stars above the grand conversations held, the ventilation system's quiet whirring that blended seamlessly into the mental noise that united the divided voices that took a delicate step back for the purpose of debate. Each held a voice, except one, who stared out into the stars to wonder what they might say in the matter. A room of cloistered individuals made a whole within eachother, who felt certain they alone could make judgement, never thinking that perhaps it was more nuanced. Singularly, not collectively, thinking it could be more nuanced. Perhaps, by opening, the concept would close. By uptaking the lives of every thing that could be seen within the debate, the answer would become clear and elegant in its simplicity- the answer was both, and neither. It was the place between 0 and 1, the breath between sentences, the movement that filled the space between the beginning and the end. Eschatos was. Amarnat was. To undo either was to acknowledge they had existed, and to guarantee their reincarnation. To make use of either was a control granted not by mankind, not by the Omnissiah, but by the opposing- or perhaps advancing of- inaction. It was a festering wound that would bring death. It was the trembling hand that offered death to the dying. It was a tender kiss upon the forehead, a final gift given to one who would bear witness to the ultimate cessation. Mercy for guilt, taking to be burdened- death, embodied, ostracised to walk freely among all.
Judgement registered the final concept to bear an overly embellished nature, and it regained control of the contents of its own thoughts. It registered the unit to be in a continued and increased state of heightened stress following the interaction with the input of Abel. he wanted eschatos Judgement confined the access protocols for Eschatos, determining the unit's state of heightened stress to be the cause of the demand. he wanted eschatos Judgement considered the request, deeming it to be an inappropriate use of the resourceschatos eschatos eschatos eschatos eschatos eschatos
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Judgement determined the heightened state of stress to not be representative of the influx of meat-based impulses brought about by the unit. As such, it denied the request. The unit protested with a cascading chain of physical demands upon the system.
Once control of the unit's respiratory function had been re-established, it considered why the unit was in a state of heightened distress. He assessed why it would be in such a condition, given its role. It assessed why it was not content with the task set upon it. It assessed why he had killed everyone who would be more suitable. It assessed the purpose of wishing he had died and anyone else had lived in his place, any one of them, all of them, he missed them, the new units were not the same.
Judgement deemed there to be an inadequacy in the function of the Collective. It placed a date-related neural tripwire to remind it to reassess the Collective at a later point.
Judgement rose from the floor, and Pasqal redistributed the fabric of its robes with trembling hands, correcting the way they fell. It wondered why he might choose to resurface then. It wondered how such a mundane task might evade its recollection, and why it would fall so easily back to him.
Imitating the motions of the unit's hands, Judgement repeated Pasqal's actions, identifying with his satisfaction in the precise manner with which he aligned the pleats at his waist with a finger between each fold of fabric. Appreciating the feedback from the unit's right hand as it ran across steel and flesh, covered by thick canvas and leather. It looked down, and it saw what Pasqal did not see, and it wondered why the unit's previous custodian did so little to improve upon its gaunt, unstable frame. For a moment, Judgement wondered if Pasqal might like it changed, or not, and decided that it was not its choice.
Judgement left the room, considering the nature of Abel's metaphors, considering if it could perhaps be classed as one of them.