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[Knight Otu]

"... possibly."

Keep up and lookout.

[Nikitian]

(( And I can't imagine the threat the UWM was facing that had to be so dire to do this - that is, I know it (supposedly), but still cannot conceive all the details, all the desperation. Oh well. Maurice can. ))
This is a memory.
They are being forcibly removed from painful diverse existence into blissful unity. Yet the unity they are being forged into is responsible for preservation of countless other lives.
Should I be merciful and suggest removing this memory even if it isn't the troubling one?.. No. This memory - this ultimate painful crucible of their future self - must be protected instead, for it is their last and greatest link to their previous human selves.
I sincerely hope that it is not the troublesome hard memory we are instructed to remove.
Keep watching.

[piecewise]

(( And I can't imagine the threat the UWM was facing that had to be so dire to do this - that is, I know it (supposedly), but still cannot conceive all the details, all the desperation. Oh well. Maurice can. ))
This is a memory.
They are being forcibly removed from painful diverse existence into blissful unity. Yet the unity they are being forged into is responsible for preservation of countless other lives.
Should I be merciful and suggest removing this memory even if it isn't the troubling one?.. No. This memory - this ultimate painful crucible of their future self - must be protected instead, for it is their last and greatest link to their previous human selves.
I sincerely hope that it is not the troublesome hard memory we are instructed to remove.
Keep watching.

Do you work for Seele?

Is this the problem? The ghost ship is afraid... of what? Becoming one identity instead of many?

Jim continues to watch and wait.

The dome shrinks ever tighter, bodies being forced into each other and slowly losing their boundaries. It's unclear how much time is passing as this happens, though there is a vague sense that some of the individuals are holding out hope based on time. A feeling of expectation that soon this will end. As it crushes in even tighter, the bodies begin to pool, like raindrops on glass, forming larger beings that swallowed up the smaller ones around them. Strange feelings, inhuman feelings to which you have no name, leak from these pooled consciousnesses. Those few that remain individuals continue to scream but...you can feel an acceptance in it. An acknowledgement of inevitability.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim moves to fit into the space remaining (if necessary) and continues to watch, bailing only if it looks like he'll have to come into contact with the multitude of bodies.

[Caellath]

Keep following the floating head and stay aware for any sign of blob or any evolved form of they may have developed after being tricked so many times.

[Knight Otu]

"Where did those blobs get to? It's unnerving that they seem to have just... wandered off."

Follow, keep a lookout, and think - what might the blobs be up to? Are they setting a trap?

[Caellath]

"Yeah, I also noticed it. Just too convenient to be true." Milno answers, alert to any sign of traps as well.

[piecewise]

Jim moves to fit into the space remaining (if necessary) and continues to watch, bailing only if it looks like he'll have to come into contact with the multitude of bodies.

The next moments, or perhaps it's an eternity, are spent watching the bodies crush ever inward, subsumed into one another until finally a whole is born. It shines with a sort of radiance, a solidity that the individuals lacked. Somehow, it seems far greater then the sum of it's parts, and yet, far lesser as well. In any case, it seems wholly adapted for this existence.

"Where did those blobs get to? It's unnerving that they seem to have just... wandered off."

Follow, keep a lookout, and think - what might the blobs be up to? Are they setting a trap?

Keep following the floating head and stay aware for any sign of blob or any evolved form of they may have developed after being tricked so many times.

As the three members of the guard team follow, the memory darts  over a low field of poppy flowers growing in the hulk of a crashed shuttle. They're about to follow it when a blob seems to melt right out of the ground. It drifts off and away, but now that expanse looks more like a mine field then a peaceful meadow. 

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim waits for a bit longer to see if the memory will loop.

[Nikitian]

(( ... ... That's the question, isn't it?))
Study the new entity. Why is it lesser than sum of its parts? What made it greater? Does it seem capable of feelings, of pain, of ingenuity and creativity the humankind is renowned for?
Also focus on the radiance and solidity. Does it feel sound and right (even very right, perhaps), or shallow, unnatural and somehow (unexplainably, perhaps) wrong? Consider it.

Keep watching the memory until it loops.

[piecewise]

(( ... ... That's the question, isn't it?))
Study the new entity. Why is it lesser than sum of its parts? What made it greater? Does it seem capable of feelings, of pain, of ingenuity and creativity the humankind is renowned for?
Also focus on the radiance and solidity. Does it feel sound and right (even very right, perhaps), or shallow, unnatural and somehow (unexplainably, perhaps) wrong? Consider it.

Keep watching the memory until it loops.

The lesser is that it seems strangely simpler then the others. Or perhaps it has depths you can't quite fathom. But the feeling you get from it is that of the mind of a child: its thinking is very monochromatic, very focused with little consideration for outside things. Greater in it's sheer size and power. Standing near it feels like standing in a windtunnel, being buffered by waves of thought and emotion so over powering that it's hard to distinguish them from your own.

You're not sure how it feels...it just feels...beyond you.


The memory begins to loop.

[Caellath]

"Blob minefield. Why don't they just give up?" Milno says gruffly.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Jim exited the memory to report in.

"This memory is a joint one - it's all the separate personalities joining into one. Not sure if it's the problem or not, but I would say not. If we were to eliminate the memory of them joining, we would probably cause a lot of confusion as they try to figure out why they used to be so many people but are now only one."

[Nikitian]

Exit the memory.

Same here. In the end, the newly created Ghostship's mind seemed content with its new existance. Not the most likely candidate for causing the cognitive loop, at least on its own.
I also wonder, if the blobs are part of its thinking process, a defence mechanism, wouldn't the cognitive loop itself be visible as well? Like... something strange happening near the troublesome memory.
I would imagine that such intense thinking process, while centered around the problematic hard memory, would also continually branch out to try new approaches at solving the problem, if the Ghostship's way of thinking is similar to human.

[Pancaek]

"oh dear, a minefield. Almost makes you wish there were child soldiers around to clear it out."

Stay with the group, unless ordered differently by Jim