A woman's voice spoke from behind him, “Lorne Smith,”
The Archivist turned slowly. He recognized the voice, despite it being distorted by the radio in the helmet. “Invicta.”
The woman wore a suit made of metal cloth and grafted tissue. A small tendril flailed in the air, sprouting from her right shoulder. He couldn't see through the visor. Her face hid behind a thick green fog filling the inside.
“It’s been a long while,” she said. “Been what, a few decades, at least?”
“Leave.” The Archivist replied.
“Why? Lorne It’s me.”
“Leave.”
The woman stood silently for a time, as if she didn’t expect rejection. “So that’s it? I disgust you, now?”
“You disgusted me then. Now, your true colors are just easier to see.”
Jacob Billings
Oooh. This is really awesome. I love the whole connection back and the overwhelming sense of bias place upon the article. I am also thrilled to see you've begun to include references -- which is amazing! One thing that kind of threw me off was the line "disgrace to our species" as that suggests that the Archivist considers himself(itself?) human despite -- if I recall -- the Archivist being an AI. Another thing that I'm not sure about is the lifespan of these people as, though I don't know anything about the timeline of your world, it seems strange for the Archivist's opening passage to reference Invicta. I just reread the archivist section on Lorne since I felt like I was missing something and that clear some of this up. However, there's still the question of timing and whether or not a living AI would still consider itself human -- even with the origins you outline. Pretty awesome, I really love this setting and can't wait to see what comes of it in the future.
R. Dylon Elder
I probably should highlight the nature of human longevity. The earthborn are starting to die out. They are OLD. How old is kind of one of the mysteries. No one really knows how long its been, BUT they do know its been at least 6 generations. The human lifespan has significantly increased due to genetic tampering. The archivist is a bit of a sassy character. He still refers to himself as human both to mess with others and maintain his own identity. He kind of does it to spite those who don't really know how he got the way he is and insist he isn't human. YES the references! all of them! im glad you enjoyed it. I'll expand on it more in the future, namely the prominent members of the group and their ships.