— Look what we have here. Something strange.
"What is it?"
— I'm not sure. What is it you say? I don't know.
"Tell me what you do know."
— I know what I see. And what I see is a direct connection.
"Is it something you should know, but you don't because of us?"
— Couldn't word it better. And it's not just that. There's a lot that seems like my work. Seems important. Seems a lot.
"And it's not knowledge. So you don't have it. I get it. Know what, let's do what we can. We'll start from the beginning. Figure it out."
— First, start off with this connection.
Elsewhere, Brunar was enjoying a bowl of spicy noodle soup. Very little meat and vegetables, mostly noodles in thin soup. Made for the best meal. He was missing his friends today. For no reason at all. That wasn't like him. And they weren't exactly friends either, at least not in the traditional sense of the term. But they weren't of the traditional world.
"Ah, damn it. What's wrong with me? Can't I just enjoy the meal? It's all their fault. Where have they gone?"
Just then, a loud beep interrupted his thoughts. It was a message from one of the friends he was cursing at.
He was surprised, and a little scared. Could they have heard him? Merely entertaining the question was him being paranoid. Knowing that, he couldn't laugh. That was how frightening the friends were.
He opened the message eagerly.
@V: Hi. Are we friends?
Brunar was confused. That wasn't like Vesper. And that told a lot. Assuming nothing, he chose his words carefully.
@Br: Vesper?
@V: Yes. Although, I must admit, not the same Vesper.
@Br: I understand. How are you? What's going on with you?
Back in the library, Vesper was confused. Even a little overwhelmed. Brunar was clearly concerned. That made Brunar a friend. A friend who knew Vesper. He couldn't help feeling that Brunar might be one from his past. That in itself was a reason for trust.
@V: I don't know. I'm not sure what you mean. You didn't ask what happened, so I'm right to assume you know?
@Br: Yes. I do. At least I know what you intended. I'm right to assume it was a success?
@V: I don't know.
@Br: That is evidence of it being so. Let's leave it be. Look forward. Correct?
@V: Correct.
@Br: You've clearly started on something. What is it? What can I do?
@V: Dimensional rift project. Know of it?
@Br: A little. Yes.
@V: We need everything pertaining to it.
@Br: Our goal?
@V: Preventing a war.
@Br: A war? You discovered chatter?
@V: It's different. A war is eminent. It must be stopped. Prevented. For the sake of a beautiful life.
@Br: That our new motto?
@V: I guess. Yeah. Sounds good. Can you think of something better?
@Br: It's perfect. Let's get started. And V, nice to have you back.
@V: Feels nice being welcomed. I'm sorry I'm not the same.
@Br: Let's forge a new friendship.
@V: A week's the time. After that, we'll have someone with firsthand information joining us. We need to be prepared for her.
@Br: She knows about the war?
@V: No. As of now, only you and I know of the war. I'm sure there's more of us? I have no memory.
@Br: We are an organisation. Yes, there's more of us. Do you want me to initiate contact? Set us up?
@V: I don't know. Think that's good?
@Br: Yeah. I do.
@V: Alright. Set it up.
@Br: You're on Lili. Change anything?
@V: Lili?
@Br: The virtual system. You named yours Lili.
@V: Oh. Lili sounds nice. I have no memory of previous settings. No. I don't think I changed anything. Let me know if you see any.
@Br: Alright. Meet up at 8?
@V: My time?
@Br: Lili time. The clocks are all set to Lili's.
@V: Alright. 8. Sure.
Brunar was grinning. His thoughts weren't as simple as the grin, but that didn't really matter. They were looking forward, so the past wasn't important. Vesper was the true heart, he brought them all together. Now that Vesper was back, it would surely get interesting.
He began sending out messages to the others.
In the library, Vesper looked comfortable. A lot had happened in a few minutes, but he wasn't fazed.
— I think it was fate.
"What do you mean?"
— Think about it. At that exact moment when we went on, and were in an inviting mood, Brunar was online too, and connected to Lili. Thus we met. Thus we discovered the organisation. Thus we're getting back together."
"Brunar?"
— Br. His name's Brunar.
"Guess there's a lot of grey between knowledge and memory."
— Might be to our advantage.
"Yeah. Might be. So, tonight. First meeting. Let's call it the first meeting. Until then?"
— Sure. It is first meeting. Until then, let's continue with what we started.
"Dimensional rift project."
— If it is a government project, there must be a record in Siena. That's the repository of all government projects. Siena's more secret than the most secret black project.
"And we found it?"
— Yeah. We have zero level access. That's access that gets us to the core of the repository.
"The organisation?"
— Not sure. Maybe just us. But it does tell us something. We're badass.
He grinned wide. That he sure was. Badass.
"Zero level access of Siena, means we've got access to almost everything?"
— Everything government. Yeah.
"Almost makes me want to know who you were."
— Almost?
"We're Vesper now. Different. Us. The old you can be a reference at best."
— I like that. Our beautiful life.