Madison Rye Progress

Another older Post-Self story I dusted off and cleaned up a bit to put up on the extras section of the site. I'm technically posting this during meeting so...go me? :P This was originally written for a call for submissions from Friends Journal, which is why it's very Quaker but I had like...two days to write it, so it was kinda garbage and didn't make it in. Editing helped, but I can still see room for improvement. All the same, enjoy~

Ioan Bălan — 2309

Ioan Bălan, despite all attempts to keep emself from sinking into the depths of whatever ey was studying, always managed to find emself mired in details ey could not hope to escape. They twined and twisted around eir wrists, tripped em up about the ankles, and tugged em ever deeper into the fractal complications of whatever topic ey decided would be the subject of eir next work.

I dusted off a few of the old Post-Self stories, going alllll the way back to the very first of them, "Assignment". It's...kinda rough, but I wanted to at least get it posted, both here and on the site under the "extras" section. Enjoy!

Ioan Bălan --- 2273

The sensation of an instance merging state back with em would never not make Ioan Bălan#tracker uneasy. It wasn't the differences in experiences, those were to be anticipated, so much as the tiny changes in identity that resulted. Having to internalize a slightly different version of yourself was too close to experiencing a doppelgänger, something so alike and yet with subtle shifts in worldview.

Or perhaps hanging with a sib, fresh home from a semester abroad.

Ioan#tracker had never been abroad, had no siblings. Just new memories.

And yet there was the merge request, waiting. Ey set aside eir work --- a simple bit of nothing for a news organization that really didn't matter but nonetheless offered some reputation --- and sat back to deal with the squirming, greasy feeling of the merger.

Captcha puzzle that's just the entirety of Myst (1993)

Captcha puzzle that's just the eclipse puzzle from the Witness (2016)

Captcha puzzle that's just seeking the name in Fallen London (2009).

Captcha puzzle that's just coming to terms with one's fate as depicted between Kate and The Pattern in Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2016)

Captcha puzzle that's just The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary (1992) by MECC on CD-ROM.

Captcha puzzle that's just the flow of prophecy climbing up through the years, winter upon winter upon winter, compelling the future to do its bidding. The prophet is only a pipe that sounds when the past demands it...

Nevi'im, book three of the Post-Self cycle (2022)

Echoes of Grace singing, memories and emotions, clashed with the doctor's words.

Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image
Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage...

"I know you've signed the waivers, but I need a verbal confirmation," she was saying. "Do you understand the procedure?"

Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore,
Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l'aurore...

Sylvie nodded. It was strange not to feel her hair, always so frizzy and buoyant, not following the motion a scant second too late.

"I'm sorry, Sylvie, it needs to be a verbal confirmation. The uploading process will be fatal and irreversible. There is some risk, about one and a half percent, that it won't work." The doctor paused and picked up a pen. She added, "Won't work after the point where your body will have died, that is. Do you understand?"

A swallow, dry, and another nod. "What will happen in that case?"

"Your family will receive a payout of ten million francs CFA. Your body will not be available for a burial, unfortunately." The doctor looked strangely abashed. "The results of the process are...ah, not pretty."

"Après un rêve", a story by yours truly, will be appearing in Clade: A Post-Self Anthology, out August 1!