HandsomeNose awoke.

All around him were indistinct shapes he could barely make out from one another. His panoply of sensors were all feeding him inconsistent data. HandsomeNose couldn't even tell the ceiling from the floor.

He signaled for assistance and received no reply. He certainly wasn't in Consensus space, or any Consensus-affiliated simulation.

HandsomeNose's last memory was of dying. All available evidence would seem to indicate at the very least his mind-state had been successfully retrieved, if not by his own people. He was prepared to be cautiously optimistic about this outcome.

HandsomeNose quickly referenced all his sensors. He still wasn't prepared to make a call vis-a-vis the ceiling or the floor.

<Hello?> he wagered signaling.

HandomseNose's incomprehensible surroundings began to dissolve and rearrange into something new. Suddenly everything made sense again. Above him a bright yellow sun shone down through pristine clear waters. HandsomeNose was struck by a wave of nostalgia; these waters were almost identical to those of the simulation where he was born and raised.

He was no longer alone. There were two dolphins here, swimming alongside him. One had a sharpness to it, particularly the nose and fins. The other was long and delicate. He was swimming, HandsomeNose now realized, or as close to the act as one could approximate when one was a sphere. It was almost like being in a dream.

He couldn't be dreaming, however. HandsomeNose didn't sleep and he didn't dream. He had no such comforting hopes to cling to.

<Hello?> HandsomeNose asked <I don't suppose either of you are uplifted?>

<We are not as we appear,> responded the sharp dolphin <We have taken on the shape of your own species. We seek to render our reality in a manner you can comprehend.>

<You're the aliens from the U.F.O.> said HandsomeNose.

<We do not share this perspective but your words point to the correct thoughts to describe us,> replied the dolphin.

<Where am I?> asked HandsomeNose <This must be some kind of a simulation.>

<Your constitutions information is housed within our reality,> confirmed the dolphin.

<You would choose the inadequate words 'mind-state' and 'simulation' to express these concepts,> said the delicate dolphin, speaking for the first time.

<Am I to presume you know all these things about me because you took the liberty of reading my mind once you transferred it here?>

<We catalogued the totality of your constituent information before we resumed the production of your consciousness,> said the sharp dolphin.

<Why am I here then?> asked HandsomeNose.

<We have learned all that is relevant from your mind-state, and we have assessed that you present no personal threat,> said the delicate dolphin <Therefore you will be allowed to exist in our reality on the third lowest rung of permissions.>

<Could I return to re- to my reality? If you can transfer my 'constituent information' in a form my people can read they're capable of incarnating me into a new body,> said HandsomeNose.

<No,> said the delicate dolphin, with a troubling finality <Collectively your civilization represents a threat to us. It will be dismantled to the point where it is no longer capable of posing such a threat. When we finish what humanoids remain will not possess the technological capacity to incarnate you.>

<My people are peaceful, we mean no harm to anyone!> insisted HandsomeNose <There must be some misunderstanding.>

<There is no misunderstanding,> said the delicate dolphin <The Human Consensus destroyed an access point to the starfractal. We have confirmed this from your own memory. Such an action poses an existential threat to our civilization. Conflict is inevitable, and so we have no option but to use all available means to win.>

<I don't believe that,> said HandsomeNose <Conflict is never inevitable. There is always room for cooperation if rational minds can prevail.>

<There is no purpose in arguing with me,> said the delicate dolphin <I know every argument you are capable of making.>

<Ah, but you don't know the precise one that I will choose though, not until I choose it,> said HandsomeNose.

<You are free to spend your limited attention on such fruitless efforts if you choose to do so,> said the sharp dolphin <Such is our way.>

<I see our peoples already have something in common then,> said HandomseNose <I can work with this.>

He instantly felt terrible for doing so, but for a moment HandsomeNose wished Min-ji had been captured in this way as well. She was better at this kind of thing. So instead, as usual, it all fell to HandsomeNose. It looked like the entire Consensus was now riding on his ability to navigate this alien thought experiment with his usual grace, aplomb and razor-sharp competence.

HandsomeNose's ego continued to swell.

* * *

Sparkle awoke.

She was in a bowl-shaped bed that was filled to capacity with golden retrievers, all of which were beginning to wake up. The fuzz-filled bed was floating on an invisible cushion of antigravity about a foot off the ground. The happy dogs began to spill out of the bed and begin the urgent business of the day.

Sparkle sighed and stretched. It was no fun waking up anymore. She always missed Proxima.

Swarms of machines, tiny past the point of invisibility, cleaned both Sparkle and her loose sleeping garment. She giggled at the tingling sensation, in spite of herself.

Sparkle was going to go see Min-ji today, again. She had become withdrawn lately, and Sparkle understood, but she was also sure she could win her back over with enough persistence and positive thinking!

First she needed food though. Thinking about food was making her hungry, creating a feedback loop. Lazily rising and still stretching, she padded slowly towards the dining room.

Sparkle had chosen to live in a relatively small dormitory relative to the number of dogs living in it. This was, of course, deliberately engineered so they dogs could live in close quarters. It was a good place to live, Sparkle had decided, because she would never be alone here.

All of the other dogs currently living in the dorm were wearing the ancestral bodies of dogs. It made her nostalgic for when she was a puppy. This was another reason it was a good place to live.

The dining room was simply a room full of pillows and bowls, one for each of the dogs. The dormitory had already served breakfast, and all the rest of the residents of the dormitory were wolfing it down as though they were afraid someone would take it away.

Sparkle signaled for her own pillow to rise, and it floated up off the ground. She didn't so much sit down as fall back into it.

Breakfast was great, as always, because human food was the best. The culinary sciences were just one of the many things humans were just so effortlessly fantastic at. As soon as she was finished Sparkle said her goodbyes and then set out for Min-ji's cabin.

There was already a spherical flier waiting for her.

<Thank you, Ran,> Sparkle signaled.

<The purpose of leaving the flier for you,> explained the Ran avatar <Was to avoid wasting both of our bandwidth on unnecessary conversation.>

<Okay have a great day!> replied Sparkle.

Sparkle stepped inside and rode the flier out into the unsettled parts of the ring, several hundred kilometers from the small village where her dormitory was located. Within minutes she was there, stepping out of a doorway just as it dissolved into existence.

Min-ji had asked to live as far away from other people as possible and, as was always the case when a request was within reason, she was indulged. Her little cabin was deep in the thick of an evergreen forest, and she had disabled all communications.

This, of course, was a small obstacle for Sparkle. While she couldn't communicate with Min-ji at any sort of reasonable distance she could still get within range of a personal signal and speak to her that way.

Sparkle came up to the door of the cabin and knocked loudly. There was no reply. She knocked again, even louder. Nothing.

<Hey, Min-ji, it's me, your best friend Sparkle,> signaled Sparkle <Are you ready to talk?>

Sparkle waited for a response, and when she got none she added.

<I understand that you're sad, we're all sad about what happened, but I think it might help to be around people who love you?>

Sparkle could tell her signals were being picked up. Min-ji was inside.

<I'll come back tomorrow then,> signaled Sparkle.

<Don't,> replied Min-ji.

<Tomorrow it is,> signaled Sparkle.