>Excerpt: Private Correspondence

Contemporaneous, but largely irrelevant. You read it over regardless. When was the last time you encountered something so mundane?

[RECORDED BROADCAST : 1528.033 ] PRIVATE Six Feathers Marked By Stars, A Veil—Thirteen Shells

SFMBS: Veil? You weren't at the meeting this week. Did something happen?

AVTS: Did Nine Seeds not relay my message to you?
AVTS: Both of the bridges were closed for some kind of emergency maintenance today. It was ridiculously short notice too — traffic was awful.

SFMBS: What? Really?

AVTS: Really. They were obviously trying to get everyone off so they could close up, but it was going slowly to say the least.
AVTS: I took one look at the mess, turned around, and went home.
AVTS: The whole city's been in low-functioning mode for about four hours now. Apparently it started while I was on the way out, so I didn't even realize until I reached the bridge.
AVTS: I would have tried to project in, but we've got that whole ordinance about bandwidth restrictions during shutdown, so...

SFMBS: I had heard something about that, but I hadn't realized they had actually closed the bridge! And they're limiting the network, too?

AVTS: Yeah, it's all sort of hushed right now, but it seems like something more serious might have happened with the iterator. Drone calling's been on the fritz all day, and the Pebbles consultation service is offline. I also heard the Congregation of Lesser Enlightenment's open house night got interrupted or something?
AVTS: Jade said he'll be working late tonight, too, which is never a good sign.

SFMBS: Hah. I suppose that's the incompetence I'd expect from the Houses that gave us one-hundred-and-six cycles' construction work for an apostatic eyesore!
SFMBS: I suppose if it keeps up you could always come move back onto Luna with the rest of us~

AVTS: Like I'd want to live out the rest of my life next to your House of old windbags!
AVTS: I'd be hurrying on to enlightenment as fast as the guardians could take me XP
AVTS: Besides, I heard you were having issues too?

SFMBS: We did have a very brief interruption in city services earlier today, but it's resolved now.
SFMBS: ... I don't suppose it was at the same time as your bridge problem?

AVTS: I mean, I left my block about 030, and I got to the bridge half past 031...

SFMBS: ... hmm. That's actually quite close.
SFMBS: You don't think it was connected, do you?

AVTS: Could be. Especially if they needed to close the bridge.
AVTS: Hey, let's look at it this way — at least I didn't come across and get stuck on your side!

SFMBS: You would be welcome to stay the night at my block if it came to it, Veil. You know that.

AVTS: Wow, sounds a lot like an invitation of [U.].

SFMBS: No!!
SFMBS: You Metropolis types, always so crass. Perhaps my House was right about your lack of enlightenment. ;)

AVTS: Oh, called crass by a stuffy old Moon-hugger? However shall I ever cope?!

SFMBS: XD
SFMBS: But really, it would have been fine. You might have enjoyed the night over here on Luna! (My relatives aside.)
SFMBS: I know it might not be up to your high modern standards, but we do have most of the usual amenities over here.

AVTS: Haha, I know.
AVTS: Maybe next time I'll brave the traffic just for you!
AVTS: I'm sure they'll reopen the bridges soon, though — I mean, it's not like they're going to keep you all cut off forever.

SFMBS: I do hope not.
SFMBS: I like to think we're self-sufficient, but I am not so convinced as to stake my carnal suffering on it.

AVTS: Hopefully it'll be over in time for next week's meeting.
AVTS: See you then?

SFMBS: If you can make it, then yes, I will see you then!

>COURT RECORDS — DECLASSIFIED: Decrypted Correspondence Between Fifteen Jade Beads—Three-Spoked Wheel and Gold Leaves Upon White Ash

An annotation to the file identifies these as members of a hacker group dubbed 'U-5'. Participant 'R' is Fifteen Jade Beads, and 'W' is Gold Leaves.

PRIVATE BROADCAST [ENCRYPTED] Anonymous Participant (R), Anonymous Participant (W)

R: W.
R: W, what the [↊] did you DO?

W: What do you mean, what did I do?
W: It worked, didn't it?

R: You said it would put the power out for ten minutes, not... have you even looked outside today?
R: Gotten some fresh air? Metaphorically?

W: No. I've been a very good and dutiful citizen practicing some guided meditation on my day off, instead of suspiciously glancing out the window like I expect the world to fall apart at any moment.
W: Why?
W: Wait. Why would looking outside matter here?

R: City functions have been disrupted for four hours and counting, W.

W: WHAT?

R: I don't know what you did, but it's getting more than a little attention.
R: Word among the tech department is that the iterator himself has succumbed to a... oh, how did M put it?
R: "Inexplicable fit of madness"?

W: I assure you I did not program anything that should have caused that.

R: You're joking, right?

W: I am not!
W: What does this "fit of madness" even entail?

R: I don't know. The details are too classified to even leak that far.
R: All I really know is that something dramatic happened, and they're attributing it to the attack now for lack of a better cause.
R: ...
R: How do you feel about us taking credit for that, by the way?
R: You know people will assume.

W: If I had intended it, I would be quite proud of myself.
W: As it is...

R: I'll rephrase:
R: How do you feel about a potential interested party believing we're capable of something like this?

W: ...
W: I believe this would have been within our capabilities if attempted, so I think it will be alright.
W: Actually, I'm more concerned about the attention this has gotten.
W: The investigation for a "fit of madness" will be far more rigorous than for a brief service outage.
W: I am sure you've already realized that.

R: Trust me, I know. It's intense over here.
R: You would not believe how many close calls I've had today.
R: Even S will hardly tell me anything~
R: ...
R: ... you're really, absolutely sure nothing you did should have caused any unexpected behavior from the iterator?
R: You can't even guess what might have happened?

W: No.
W: Unless something else happened internally, and the crash and reboot just happened to trigger it...
W: But as far as I know, there's no good reason this should have happened.

>Report: Assessment Of Five Pebbles' Mental State, Post-Reboot

...

Assessor: Light Scattered on Glinting Shards, House of Braids (Primary Technician)

Basic orientation test: Pass (99%)

Semantic comprehension test: Pass (100%)

Recall test: Acceptable (82%)

Behavioral/Reactivity test: see notes

Iterator shows persistent heightened Levels of overall Stress but no further Misbehavior. Activity has returned to within expected Parameters.

Five Pebbles appears to be Recovering from his initial fit of Delusion with only brief and momentary Relapses. He is clearly Uncomfortable with the Situation, but believes himself Functional, and is able to pass standard Cognitive and Orientation Testing with little to no Issue. Despite his ill Mood, his Progress is Promising.

Emotional volatility is High and may be a Concern, but appears to be Decreasing toward an acceptable Margin of Variance. Some lingering Abnormalities associated with the Delusions and memory Disturbances have been Detected in subconscious Emotional Responses (see full Behavioral/Reactivity testing Log for Details), but I am Optimistic as to their Chances of Amelioration with Time and sufficient Defragmentation or wiping as Needed.

Likelihood of a necessary Rollback is Low, but further Assessment and Contagion Testing will be Needed before restoring normal Activity Privileges.

As Primary and Senior Technician with past Experience in Regards to this individual Iterator, I (Light Scattered on Glinting Shards, of House of Braids, Count of no living blocks, Counselor of 2, Duke of 1, member of the Physiological Department of the Metropolitan Council of the Iterator, Humble Servant of the Metropolital Technical Covenant) see no Further Areas of serious Psychological Concern not otherwise Reported and Identified in Testing.

As per our Illustrious Protocols, I (Light Scattered on Glinting Shards, of House of Braids, Count of no living blocks, Counselor of 2, Duke of 1, member of the Physiological Department of the Metropolitan Council of the Iterator, Humble Servant of the Metropolitan Technical Covenant) agree that I will not make Efforts to fully Reactivate Five Pebbles without Cosigned Approval of a Member of the Metropolitan Council of the Iterator's Psychological Department.