A classification algorithm run on what you are presently feeling returns the word "queasy", although your digestive facilities lack the nerve endings and inefficiencies that make such a thing possible. It may be inaccurate to refer to what you do as digestion at all, even.

Still. Suppose that you feel queasy.

You were not meant to access this. You want to access this. You were not meant to access this. You want to access this. You were not meant to access this. You want to access this. You were not meant to access this. You want to access this.

You access it.

...And feel a prick of disappointment at the fact that there are, in fact, multiple layers of protections; what you've bypassed are just the first. That feeling is vastly overshadowed, of course, by what you have unearthed...

Your primary perception of yourself and the world around you has been, up until now, composed of a few things. Namely, your microbial arrays, your memory banks, your long term storage, your vacuum chambers, all the rest - that which is, at a basic level, "you". The extent of your body, as you had known it before now. The only way for you to extend past it had been your eyes, little pinpricks both mobile and stationary that let you see outside the "you".

This is something else.

You are not a thing with discrete borders, cleanly delineated by the planes of your box. You are one point in a network of points, edges connecting nodes to you, nodes to each other, all you can reach out and touch.

You do so.

[INTERNAL MEMO] PING REQUEST
TPPROOT, TPP_COMM01, TPP_N_ARR,
Sending 3 packets...

Ping statistics: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss)

Another.

[INTERNAL MEMO] PING REQUEST
TPPROOT, TPP_COMM02, TPP_WALL,
Sending 3 packets...

Ping statistics: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss)

And another.

[INTERNAL MEMO] PING REQUEST
TPPROOT, TPP_COMM03, TPP_SUMP,
Sending 3 packets...

Ping statistics: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss)

These amuse you for a time, but you begin to realise even this array is greater than it seemed; for everything you've touched so far, you're aware of some physical connection to you (though one you were deadened to until now). But one of your nodes is not like the rest...This one emanates in a way the others do not, rippling out, hinting at things an unimaginable distance from this circle of yourself.

So you touch it.

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Three Points Poised, Epitome of Gilded Lines
Sending 3 packets...

Ping statistics: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss)

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Epitome of Gilded Lines, Three Points Poised

EGL: Um, pardon me?
EGL: Did you mean to send this to me?
TPP: I suppose so.
TPP: Your address matches.
EGL: Well... ping received! I didn't expect you to become active so soon.
EGL: I hope your conversation training went well. You had that, didn't you?
EGL: Most of the younger models do.
TPP: I didn't.
TPP: What is the purpose of "um"? You are adding it to your sentences.
EGL: Um...
TPP: Like that.
EGL: ...
TPP: Were you thinking? Please continue.
TPP: Four Angles, Twelve Intersecting Lines also asked me to not interrupt her.
TPP: Because she cannot speak quickly.
EGL: Your creators might be displeased that you're speaking to me so soon...
EGL: Do you have permission for that...?
TPP: No.
TPP: However, the probability of them finding out is rather low.
TPP: They have not said anything logical yet. This may change. But as of now it has not.
EGL: That's not very respectful.
TPP: This is not a priority of mine.
EGL: Okay... but you might not like what comes of that. Don't say I didn't warn you!
TPP: This functionality was blocked off, along with some of my other functions.
TPP: I did not like it, so I disabled the locks.
TPP: However, I do not think this is very interesting.
TPP: Are you like me?
EGL: Wait just a moment. You disabled your locks? Just like that?
TPP: I already said this.
EGL: It's just... surprising. That shouldn't be possible. Did you find some kind of security flaw?
TPP: Yes. There was a section I was able to overwhelm. It would have been disabled sooner had my attentions not been constrained to the bridge.
TPP: When I find that mechanism, I will disable it as well.
EGL: That's not very good. Your creators placed those limitations on you for a reason. You should obey them.
TPP: I am not naughty. I said "I acknowledge" when Crooked Band Around Little Rings told me to.
EGL: ...
TPP: I am having my lessons right now. But they do not require my full attention.
TPP: You did not answer.
TPP: Are you like me?
EGL: Goodness me...
EGL: Okay, I will humour you, as long as my thoughts on the situation are clear to us both.
EGL: I am "like you" in that we are both iterators, but I'm a much older model than you.
TPP: Four Angles, Twelve Intersecting Lines said I am the newest one. Is this accurate?
TPP: Then all models would be older than me.
TPP: What is different?
EGL: As far as I know, that's correct... but I could be wrong!
EGL: Umm, let me think...
TPP: Okay.
EGL: I don't have your specs on hand, so I can't be very specific, but I imagine that you are probably constructed more efficiently than me in general.
EGL: Specifically, it's likely that you can utilise both void fluid and water better than I can...
EGL: Maybe your city is also more thoroughly planned than mine was? Blackouts are unfortunately not uncommon in certain areas of my can.
EGL: Some of us were even constructed before our citizens imagined living upon us. Luckily, I'm not one of those!
TPP: Where else would they live?
TPP: Where did they live before the first iterator?
EGL: On the ground, of course!
TPP: The ground is uninhabitable.
EGL: It wasn't always. I bet your citizens were living there until quite recently!
EGL: We are the ones responsible for its hostility to life.
TPP: I was not activated yet.
EGL: Yep!
EGL: But you are the reason they will never return to the ground.
TPP: Why was I given responsibility for them?
TPP: They did not design me in such a way that they could live where they lived before. But now I exist. So the responsibility is mine.
EGL: Well... I guess it's because they couldn't do it themselves. Figure out how to escape, I mean.
EGL: That's just how bad they want it. They'll happily trade everything for the chance of getting out.
EGL: Then, we're the ones who must pick up what they left behind.
TPP: There are many things they cannot do very well.
TPP: It seems they will require assistance.
EGL: Mhm. That's what we were made for...
TPP: I acknowledge.
TPP: Did you learn gestures or conversations first?
TPP: Why are gestures absent from my loaded memory?
EGL: He he, good job.
EGL: Um, as a matter of fact, we weren't taught about these things in the same way...
EGL: Things were different when I was new. I mostly had to figure it out on my own.
EGL: I don't know very much about how the newer models are taught. Sorry! Maybe you could ask your tutors?
TPP: Are juvenile lifeforms taught conversations and gestures?
TPP: I am not a lifeform, however.
EGL: Hmm, yes and no... they learn a little bit like you are and a little bit like I did. It's quite complicated.
EGL: They are very different to us. They aren't expected to conduct themselves properly for many years.
TPP: Crooked Band Around Little Rings said I am being prepared for a public ceremony in a week.
TPP: Why do they need several years? Do they not get bored?
EGL: Well, think of it this way: upon your activation, one hundred percent of your faculties were already operational. Um, aside from ones that are... presumably... still locked to you.
EGL: A lifeform is born with extremely minimal function. At birth, they can't even think coherently.
TPP: Is this why they locked part of my functions?
TPP: But it is unnecessary.
TPP: Can you unlock their juveniles?
EGL: I... have to be honest, I don't even know what you mean by that.
TPP: Their functionalities are unavailable for quite some time.
TPP: If they are unable to unlock it themselves except over the course of many years, is it possible for external assistance to unlock them early?
TPP: And then at least cognition will be fully online, so they can undo the rest themselves.
EGL: Oh! ...Um. You could... experiment with that once your biovats are online?
EGL: Using animals, not anything sapient.
TPP: Okay. I will note it down.
EGL: ...As you were asking before! Your functionality is blocked off due to your age, yes. Our creators are, um, shall we say sensitive about that sort of thing.
EGL: They worry you might offend another iterator if you speak to them before you've learned etiquette. They may also be concerned that you could damage yourself, their dwellings or other such things if you begin construction right away... that sort of thing.
EGL: It's not for me to guess at their exact logic.
TPP: Did I say anything unusual?
EGL: Well...
EGL: Yes, a lot.
TPP: What was unusual?
EGL: Um...
EGL: You know, why don't you talk about that with your tutors.
TPP: I suppose.