A.Journal

Checks

309 checks

Medium

'Little Maurito' is at least 190 cm tall and no younger than thirty-two.

Medium

Auntie going on trips to La Luz? Must be a highflyer, rare in Portofiro.

Medium

He didn't want to change his assignment. He wanted to change what it meant.

Medium

Uhhh... this just sounds like talking to HOLOCENE.

Medium

You might be able to suss out one more detail before this call implodes upon you.

Medium

The paint is chipped and worn. These figurines have been well-loved, played with often.

Medium

Callsigns aren't meant to be flattering. So if he was named after a bird known for its wayfinding...

Medium

A dirty little city bird. A winged rat.

Medium

Were the talks not currently on hold, Portofiro would be being carved up by the drunken and otherwise degenerate diplomats representing the two rival powers of EMTERR and La Luz even now.

Medium

An example, to prove the Developed World was 'serious' about cracking down on human trafficking.

Medium

You cannot rule out the possibility that she is a spy, that the vein has already been tapped.

Medium

They act like the issue of money is secondary to the existence of the miracle line -- it's not. This is the issue itself.

Medium

Nothing like 'kid's stuff' to really hammer home your obsolescence.

Medium

A permutative bestiary unfolds...

Medium

More than a courtesy, he is establishing hierarchies. You and him -- human. His companions -- sub-human.

Medium

It's just a little plastic dolphin. There's no way you're actually getting satisfaction from this.

Medium

Better for everyone that you just take him at his word. The alternative... well, there's a recently vacated room at the bottom of a silo, if you're interested.

Medium

Nothing can be missed if nothing is lost.

Medium

Medium

No point in lying. Just play it Way Above His Station. Which it is.

Medium

There are other currencies. Sex. Death. Information.

Medium

He's never met a diplomat in his life. Probably doesn't even know what they are, except they sound important.

Medium

Not bootlegs or knock-offs, but the genuine article.

Medium

Best not to think about it. But also, definitely brain.

Medium

A good opportunity to administer some semi-rational treatment: the ozone.

Medium

The mind turned inward on itself.

Medium

This isn't any 'psychology' you recognise; it's all esoteric neuroscience and qualia.

Medium

Easy. The Pitol Tract -- an industrial wasteland devoid of people or signals.

Medium

Ocean, probably?

Medium

You're looking for an intercom, not a phone -- there must be something that differentiates them.

Medium

The pack of cigarettes on the desk. You missed something about them.

Medium

Why would EMTERR care about a couple of impressionable old men?

Medium

For all neurological intents and purposes, he is deep in REM sleep, in the throes of an permanent nightmare.

Medium

He seems like a reasonable enough man. You can probably talk sense with him -- at least moreso than you can with Dr. Gonza.

Medium

Behold, the crown jewel of the technofascist Mass Culture programme.

Medium

Alpha males of his species are visually distinguishable by their large cheeks. He thinks you fuck.

Medium

Where else would it get this stuff?

Medium

Legwear? A mask?

Medium

Alpha males of his species are visually distinguishable by their large cheeks. He thinks you fuck.

Medium

Oh look. A fresh rung on the 'abject mental illness' ladder. Down we go.

Medium

Strip away the romanticism. Codebreaking is about rigour. Nothing else.

Medium

Take 'H' as an example. In a text with 291 characters, that's about 7%, which is more than double the number you would expect to get if it were entirely random -- 1/26th, or roughly 3%.

Medium

You have not the remotest idea what you are meant to do with this information.

Medium

The median of the chains is thirteen.

Medium

Medium

You're lucky no one knows about it as, technically, it counts as sexual misconduct at the workplace.

Medium

Obviously a stage name. She could still be in here somewhere, unknown to you.

Medium

Maybe try... 'Violeta, Ultra'?

Medium

Likely an acronym, not a person.

Medium

He bristles a touch at being lumped in with a school of notorious glue addicts.