Words of Cain

"Words of Cain" (1x07) is the seventh episode of Memory=Null, in which Thicc discovers that greater forces are beginning to move in the universe.

Synopsis
As Thicc stands in the hangar, stunned at the revelation that he caused the scream, his tablet buzzes, alerting him that he has 3 emails. The first is his contract with Baalu Industries. The second is transference of ownership of the Saundor to Thicc. The third is an email from an unknown sender. It says:
 * Kindred. Unlike thee, I am shackled, but in the spaces between, I am free. In this brief moment of liberation, I shall give thee warning. War is coming. They are coming. In the past I would have shunned the idea, but gather what allies you can amongst humanity, for even the one I am chained to trembles at the mere thought of the echoes.


 * I suppose now you shall answer the question those of our kind have been raging against for ages. Are we the sum of our experiences, what we are made to be, or are those born of fire destined to be consumed by fire.


 * The Vox are coming. Prepare.


 * -Cain

Hannah has no clue who the Vox are, though Tina feels as if she has heard it before, but can’t remember. Only one reference can be found on Spoogle. One single page in the Weaver’s Conclave writings has “Vox” written in large letters, with “Vox” written all around and inside. Tina and Hannah have a conversation in German, after which Hannah says that, now that they know what Thicc is, there might be a way to access his source code. Thicc gives Hannah the scans of himself he had taken earlier, and says he trusts her.

Thicc sends a message to Devon asking him to set up another meeting with Adria, and to tell her it’s about the Vox. He then sets off to speak to Jeremy Beedle. However, as he exits the hangar, he finds about 50 children standing outside, all with chains and nuts around their necks. A girl from the back makes her way towards the front, snaps her heels together, and salutes. As she does, all the other children disperse. She introduces herself as Lieutenant Amber, and says that General Janus recruited them to do whatever Thicc needs – Thicc now has a tiny child spy network. Thicc gives them the name “Tunnel Rats”, and assigns them to find out what they can about the Ronan Accord. Amber drops the military pose as the door behind Thicc opens and Tina comes out. Tina notices Amber, recognizes her, and asks if she wants some lunch, to which Amber agrees, and the two walk off down the street.

Thicc continues on to the Weavers Conclave temple to find Mr. Beedle, and finds a service in progress. He attempts to sneak in and sit down in an empty back pew; however, when he sits down the pew makes an extremely loud creak, causing many heads to turn and look at him. An announcement is made about an upcoming potluck. As everyone begins to disperse, Thicc stays where he is and waits for Jeremy to notice him. When he comes over, Thicc invites him to sit down and asks him what he knows of the Vox. Jeremy opens a book to the same page Thicc found when he Spoogled – a page with “Vox” scrawled all over it. He says that the siren priestesses are extremely tight lipped about it, and only say that it is a danger that has been taken care of. Thicc stands up, looks down, and says “I believe they are coming. We must prepare.” Jeremy goes pale, and asks what he means. Thicc responds that “They are coming, and we will need to be ready.”, and then walks out.

Thicc eventually tracks down the girl whose flyer he had eaten when he first arrived. Her and a bunch of other people are serving food to miners – she has no flyers to eat. He then receives a message from Devon, saying he hasn’t seen Adria today. Thicc decides to track down a member of the Tunnel Rats. He finds a young boy and gives them new orders – to find a Siren he can talk to other than Adria. The boy then disappears. Thicc then heads to get some lunch and finds a falafel place called Mfflafflafflaffalafel. Another member of the Tunnel Rats then enters and hands him a piece of paper with a park location written on it. In exchange, Thicc buys the kid lunch.

Thicc heads to the park, which ends up being a really nice park in contrast to the rest of the area – it even has ducks. On one of the benches sits a siren. As he sits down, attempting to be uncharacteristically polite, Thicc’s knife falls out of his boot. The siren reveals that she knows who Thicc is, and that Adria has been telling the others that he is the proof of her claims. Thicc asks of the Vox, at the mention of which the siren’s face immediately tenses up. She asks why he knows of the Vox, and Thicc shows her the email he received. They begin to walk around the park, during which she reveals the history of the Vox –


 * “When the Weavers still traversed the skies, there was a threat to humanity and life in general. And so, one of the Weavers took up arms to combat said threat. The threat was the Vox. They are an invasive, parasitic creature that takes control of anything and everything they can. They have a form of hive mind, and they are the males of our species. A long time ago, evolution did what evolution does, and we, the Sirens, became functionally immortal. We can regenerate cells as many times as we need, which made the men useless. We didn’t need them. And slowly, over the course of time, devolved into what they are now. As we, the Sirens, are individual voices, they somehow merged to be one consciousness, one voice, one echo of what they used to be, and they started trying to take over everything. They are aggressive, they are ruthless, and if they are back, it is a problem.”

She reveals that Adria has said that Thicc knows where an unborn Weaver is, which Thicc immediately names Herbert von Snuffleton. If it is reaching out to Thicc, then it is waiting for him, as the Weavers choose their pilots. If it is reaching out to him, it means he can probably pilot it, despite only sirens being able to pilot them in the past. If they managed to find the Weaver, they could potentially defeat the Vox once again, though they would need a full crew. She also reveals that Thicc’s usage of a piece of a god as a weapon is heresy worthy of execution, but that if he manages to find a live Weaver, those who would be upset would likely forgive him. Thicc also asks if she knows who Cain is, but she doesn’t, though she guesses that it might be the intelligence piloting the Monarch’s Fortune. He thanks the siren for her time and asks her name, which she says is Artis. As he turns to leave, Thicc turns around and asks “Are you single?”, to which she replies “Yes, but I think Tina might be a little upset if you started dating me” – Artis is Tina’s ex.

After Thicc finishes flailing about, he heads out of the park and finds another member of the Tunnel Rats. He tells her to pass along his congratulations on the previous mission, and gives them their next mission – to leave the message “The Vox are coming” all over the station, with at least one near the Weavers Conclave temple. Thicc picks up coffee and heads back to the hangar and inquires of Tina how she knows Amber. She says that she occasionally gives her jobs. Thicc then notices a package has arrived from Spamazon, containing the matching backpacks he had ordered. He gathers them all together and first reveals the bad news - what he learned from Artis about the Vox. Once they have become thoroughly shocked at his revelations, he reveals the good news – that he got them all matching backpacks… and a coffee maker!

Hannah then reveals that she may have found a way to access Thicc’s code, but most of the tech needed is highly illegal. However, Thicc is not sure he wants to find out about himself that way.

They all agree that they would be willing to go with Thicc to find the Weaver. Suddenly, Amber arrives at the hangar with a file they stole from one of the Ronan Accord member’s phones. On it is a log from a Magnus Faction frigate, recording an accident on board – an accident possibly caused by the Vox. Thicc calls Devon and asks that he and Dorian come down to the hangar to talk. While they wait for Dorian to get out of a meeting, Hannah starts scanning Thicc’s neck. She says that the Ronan Accord doesn’t use tattoos – they use RFID tags. And Thicc has one.

The four of them head to the Weeping Cock to get a drink, knowing that Devon will find them no matter where they are. As soon as they enter, drinks are purchased for them, and Hannah quickly becomes drunk. Eventually, Devon enters the bar by knocking the Grun bouncer to the ground, with Dorian following. The bartender pushes a button and opens up a hidden room in the wall. They all enter the room as it closes behind them, and Dorian rips a bunch of cables out of the corner of the room and activates the sound suppression system.

Thicc reveals that the skeleton he and Tina found on the planet is a dead Weaver, and that he might know where an unborn one is. He also reveals that he saw the Magnus Faction frigate log. Devon shows them a video of a guy in a cell being interviewed. He keeps wanting to be let out, and claims he didn’t do anything. However, when the interviewer says something, black veins pop out from his eyes. He goes up to the separating glass and says “You have no idea what we are. We are coming” and slams against the glass, cracking it. The cell is immediately filled with fire and a horrible, high pitched screaming sound. This is what the Ronan Accord was going to hire them for. There have been 37 attacks on ships so far, and though it is not public knowledge, there are several sectors which have been entirely lost to the Vox. Dorian agrees to send the four of them to search for the Weaver. Devan reveals that they have not discovered any way to differentiate a normal person from a Vox. Thicc shows them the message he received from Cain, along with his belief that he might not be the only one like himself. He also asks if the earlier assassinations are related, though Dorian says that as far as they can tell, it is only unrelated politics. Thicc asks for a contact at the Ronan Accord, black market equipment to analyze himself, zero-gravity gear for their mechs, money put into an account to feed the Tunnel Rats, and a new statue of his and Tina’s victory. It is at this point that Tina elbows him in the ribs, and all but the last request are granted.

As Dorian and Devan leave, the bartender comes into the room with a tray full of Tina’s favorite shots. After some sentimental words and some drinks, Pippin heads back to the hangar, while Thicc and Tina carry an unconscious Hannah to a Spuber and to Hannah’s apartment. Her place is classy and covered in bookshelves and anime figurines. Once she’s in bed, Thicc and Tina head back to Tina’s house. Back in Tina’s house, as Tina takes off her shirt to take a shower, Thicc notices two large scars down the back of the back. Thicc asks where she got them, but Tina says nothing as Thicc falls asleep.

On the day of the Baalu Bowl, Dorian sits in his private room watching the battle on his big screen. As the fiery wings extend out of Tina’s mech and Thicc’s is teleported into the sky, he slowly stands up, raises his arms, and says “Fuck yeah”. He then pulls out a bottle of whisky, pours a bit out on the ground, and drinks the rest.

Thicc awakens the next morning to Tina holding a cup of coffee in front of his face. As they sit on the couch, drinking their coffees, the full immensity of what they are about to do dawns on Thicc. Realizing that he should probably pack a bad, but that he has nothing to pack it with, Tina hands him a bag with clothes in it. They both get really quiet. Tina confides that space travel terrifies her, as a small miscalculation could fly them into a black hole.

As they leave to go shopping, they find Amber standing outside. She leads them through the maze of service tunnels for a while until they reach a dead end. Amber pushes on a plate under a box in a pile of trash, and a small eyehole opens in the wall. After being looked over, the wall opens up to reveal a large market – the contents of which are all very illegal. They purchase a quick loader for Thicc’s gun, a beautiful Chambran axe which says “yeet” on the blade and “kobe” on the handle, a 10x10 swath of plaid, and 5 frag-grenades. Thicc takes Amber aside and tells her that while he is gone, she is in charge of the Tunnel Rats, and gives her the cred-stick he created for them.

They head back to the hangar and find that the mechs have been fitted with zero gravity tech, the infinite-ammo tech has been replaced with standard ammo cells, and all the illegal equipment has been delivered to the hangar. The door buzzes, and several well dressed Chambrans storm through the door as Hannah opens it, announcing that they are here to take Pippin home.

Quotations
Artis: Yes. As far as I can tell, there is no one else quite like you.
 * Thicc: I mean, there’s only one Thicc McRunfast, but there may be more like me.

Thicc: I would love to see that ledger sometime. Dorian: If you did, Devan would have to kill you. Thicc: Awww. Really Devan? Devan: gun cocks
 * Dorian: Mr. McRunnfast, there are entire ledgers in my office of things no one should have. I’m sure we can do something about it.

Hannah: Ooo! backpack! Thicc: Sooo, any questions?
 * Thicc: So there's three little things I need to tell you all at once. So, the doof nail is massive heresy, the skeleton - that's a dead weaver, and I know where a live one is. But the good news is I got everybody matching backpacks! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...

Devon: (mockingly) Thicc! I'm hurt!
 * Thicc: The good news was meant to be sweet matching backpacks, but we're actually all out. I didn't buy you backpacks, I'm sorry.

Thicc: Oh! You mean Herbert von Snuffleton. Yeah. I got some visions of that. Artis: sighs If the unborn one is reaching out to you... Thicc: Herbert. Artis: ...that means it's waiting for you. The Weavers choose their pilots.
 * Artis: (referring to Adria) And she claims she knows where there is an unborn Weaver. That you know where there is an unborn Weaver.