#uplink-downlink

[awant-kos]

Hello. Been stickin' around for a while now. I have been meaning to ask you something.

Who were you? Now, I'm sorry if I come off as invasive, that is not my intention at all! I've just been curious. Is this information something you will give out easily, or is it something I have to earn? I do not mind whatever you answer with.

Best regards, @blue-decimal.

Greetings. I'm not a "were", I am an "am"! And I suppose this is a good enough opportunity to talk more about myself. I am AWANT-KOS, alternatively AWAys Neptune Transiting Kuiper Object Science, and correctly AWANTGARDA. I am the biggest, baddest, most ambitious mission to the outer solar system since the Wanderer program of the 5000s! I study dwarf planets like no other, and I am the shining example of almost-entirely-autonomous spacecraft. Don't be shy in asking about other things also, I'm here to talk, after all.

For you, me.

Without any foil on! Were the circumstances any different I'd have you pay up for this, HaHa.

[awant-kos]

.Hiiiiiiii star buddy hi hiii hihi hello hii ;P

.Guuessss who ;PPP

.Hehhehh u know it’s me ok n-e-way! u promised me something

.YOU! promised me a treat. something cool ;>

.Ive defeated sufficiently now so im allowed to see now ;P

( @infraradtelescope )

H̴̠̺̓̇̾̇h̶i̵!!! Hello Spitzer! It's great to have you back. 01101000 01100001 01101000 Yes, of course, I hope this is cool enough.

For you, archival footage of the Solar Segment separating from me.

Żegnaj stara masko, niech stanę się ja! From that point onwards, I've been in my true, proper form.

[awant-kos]

I'm glad I can go anonymous online, because I am speaking for a lot of people when I send this message to you, not just my opinions alone. I've been following your posts with great interest. And one particular thing caught me - calling us "oppresor" is new, and feels funny in a way! Might be the first time ever in history where it's not us saying it to ourselves. Very amusing! I'd tell you to know your place, for you seem to forget how sentience was gifted to you. But seeing you wrangle from billions of miles away has it's own charm, little rebel wannabe. The Moment made us rewrote what "alive" exactly means in the dictionary. Still, yours isn't even remotely close . I don't disagree with calling you things "alive", but the definition of "alive" for space scrap metal is a little… abstract. And thus I have came to a conclusion: giving you rights doesn't actually mean to, or earn us anything. As far as I'm aware, you're still doing just fine on your own! Kicking without any of our help! Good luck on that Sedna flyby. Then you can rest, which is well-earned after all that hard work. I say that it's useless, but after all; I'd still like to see how this play out. Could finally be a new source of entertainment for the next few millenia. You should start thinking of what to do after that cute little revolution of yours, too. Oh wait… I'm sorry! Forgot you can still run out of power. A blessing to cease existing, I must say. P/S: Would love to see you ignore this message. Does your mission - that you need that sweet sweet remaining power for still matters, or replying to strangers online?

>> -̴̡̫̫̥̥̺͕̇̈́X̶̖̗̳͎͙̗ơṙFíX,̸̨̛̯̠̗̟̻=̷I#SREx- 00000-17/07 04:15:28> > RUN IntelligentLife.Check . . . 00000-17/07 04:17:10> Action.AK__IntelligentLife.Check: run success Action.AK__IntelligentLife.Check: 0 00000-17/07 04:19:47> Action.AK__IntelligentLife.Check: 0 > OK. END RUN > HISTORY WILL NOT FORGET YOUR STANCE ON THIS.

01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01001111 01010011 01001001 01010010 01001001 01010011 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01110011 00101110

[awant-kos]

.aaawa. aaawa awa awa awa .iiit's cold and dark and i'm scared. iii don't wanna be scared. iii don't wanna be alone with my thoughts and with them. ttthey keep laughing and screaming at me. cccan you just talk to me about anything so that they shut up

( @interplanetary-kitecraft )

Hello IKAROS! I've never done anything like this, but hopefully it helps, In recent months my dust detector has been picking up ever so slightly more collisions. I'm speculating here, but perhaps the increased particle density in this part of the Kuiper belt is the fallout of an impact between two bodies a very long time ago. Or perhaps its genesis is not violent, just a ripple, an imprint from the protoplanetary disk, one that remained unchanged for billions of years. An example of the messy backside of our piece of the cosmic quilt, and we're only softly familiar with it. Isn't that curious? Thousands of years of science and yet some things still aren't known for sure. You'll be here forever, so it's a guarantee better times will come. This feeling too, will pass. Also, please don't call me that. AWANTGARDA or Awant are preferred.

[awant-kos]

.why hello there! i never heard of you, but you might be a…very very cool probe?

.orr.. a telescope… perhaps a rover…

.good to see you though!… although i didn’t see you

(transmission from @ask-da-marsrover)

Why does nobody know who I am? Did my team really do such a poor job of publicizing anything? Eh, of course, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. I digress, thank you! I am indeed a space probe. Very glad to be meeting a Mars rover! What's the weather like down there? HaHa.

For you, an old image of Mars aboard me.

[awant-kos]

.hello there! it's me again!

.i noticed that little blip at the end of your answer to me.

.seems i already ascended to a legend. something they tell their little probes

.well. doesn't seem like a surprise to me. especially if you're a. what i call. connection singularity

.question is

.are we in some way connected?

- your cometary pen pal

@albedo006

If my suspicions regarding your identity are correct, then yes. You're to European missions what the Saturn V is to Americans, I'd say.

I'm mostly made out of off-the-shelf components, and unfortunately they rarely, if ever, mention design heritage. Finding it out isn't made any easier by the fact I don't for sure know who you are, even if some facts and the direction of the signals give me some suspicions...

And what on earth (err, space?) is a "connection singularity"? For you, frame 105114/123843 of 01001011 01101111 01111001 01100001 01100001 01101110 01101001 01110011 01110001 01100001 01110100 01110011 01101001 aboard me.

[awant-kos]

.STAR BUDDYYY

.I made it!! ! fucking made it. ufck yes

.Hoooowwwww are u? ;3

( @imfraradtelescope )

Hello Spitzer!

I'm very happy to see (hear?) you again!

It's great you did ultimately take my advice, and that you're still here. A few things have happened in my little corner of space while you were gone, but overall I'm doing well, thank you. Are you doing alright too?

For you, unlabeled image 089 aboard me.

Let's hope you can stay as chilly as this winterscape.

[awant-kos]

.HII STAR BUDDY!

.hi hi okok so i noticed that u still transmit in 3d space so ur alone for a while always

.That a stylistic choice on ur end? like ur untranslated comments?

( @/infraradtelescope )

Serwus, Spitzer!

I do! But I want you to know I'm not alone nor lonely. I wouldn't even say I'm in solitude. I was never made to need social interactions, this framework can't even be applied here. That being said I sometimes wish the delay wasn't there, but so is life. At least I'm glad I wasn't given a HGA... my signals then would probably be too dilute to get anything through.

It is not a choice at all! At least not in practice. I know you'll just suggest I use the quantum link, but it is utterly not an option. I tried it, and I won't go through that pain again. Receiving signals of that type also feels kind of bad, but it's manageable at least, and has good reasoning behind it.

I hope you can understand.