CHIP:

Ah, f-f-fern, I s-see your existence has persisted. I have been h-hard at worWORworkkk[[[\\,,,,,

S-sorry little h-hiccup there.

...Some t-t-troubling f-finds, b-but perhaps some g-good news as w-well.

FERN:

Alright, hit me with both.

CHIP:

The data I've d-decompiled thus far would be rather b-beyond your understanding, b-b-but it provides me some c-context to extrapolate the h-hospital's present status versus ideal c-circumstances.

FERN:

Meaning what?

CHIP:

M-meaning I can m-m-measure for you our c-current situation. H-h-here:

CHIP:

L-l-lets c-call this reading c-c-CORRUPtION. Th-this is its h-hypothetical m-maximum. It would b-be at this point that the z-zone would be lost entirely to the p-present deterioration. The l-level of wrongness, as it were.

CHIP:

Now, l-let's call this second reading FUNCTION. Th-th-this reading measures how m-many of the hospital's functions are active, i.e. the f-facilities and st-staff. In its p-p-perfect state the z-zone would have all of its f-functions active and none of them corrupt, th-therefore this reading would b-be at its maximum and our CORRUPTION reading at its m-minimum.

FERN:

Oh boy...so where are we at?

CHIP:

H-h-here are the c-current levels:

FERN:

Yeah, I'm not liking that.

CHIP:

It is c-certaintly f-far from ideal, h-h-however, allow me to c-calculate the l-levels as they would have been your first layer in the h-hospital:

CHIP:

As you can s-see, comparing these p-previous levels to the concurrent readings, both the CORRUPTION and FUNCTION have increased, but FUNCTION has increased f-faster, w-which I believe we should consider f-favorable.

I b-b-believe this rate is d-due entirely to your activities thus far, including the r-restoration of multiple staff members, elimination of several h-hostile bioforms and of c-course your p-placement of myself as the new c-c-computer system, w-which brings me to my n-next subject.

It w-would appear to have b-b-been a better call than we susp-p-pected.

FERN:

How so?

CHIP:

My s-sense of urgency to be inst-t-talled in this position w-was not coincidence. D-data indicates that the computer system was designed to h-host m-m-multiple specialized personalities, m-m-myself among them.

FERN:

...Are you saying you were always supposed to be the computer system!?

CHIP:

P-part of the computer system, along with an indeterminate number of other missing or misplaced p-personalities. It's r-r-regrettable my m-memory is incomplete...it would s-seem that C-c-crash and I were essentially f-family.

FERN:

I'm sorry.

CHIP:

You d-did what was n-necessary. I believe our enemies ch-chose to eliminate all of us but c-crash because he was the most v-v-vulnerable to corruption once isolated. You c-could say he was the y-y-youngest of us.

FERN:

...If it's the Parliament's doing, and I'm sure it is, I'm getting REALLY sick of them picking on kids.

But if you were turned into a coffee server against your will...

...Would that boss of yours have known? Flair, was it?

CHIP:

I am n-n-not c-certain. I believe she s-simply adapts to wh-what she is given to w-work with, though the p-possibility remains that she is associated with our f-foes, or alternatively, another v-victim of their interference.

FERN:

What do you think I should do next? I've got a to-do list at the maternity ward, but...we barely survived a dolphin, and then a bunny thing just slaughtered me. Gynnie's taking a break last I was there, and she did want me to somehow restore the computers there.

We also found another staff member, Magdolene, but she's staying in the plank maze right now. She thinks that might be safer.

CHIP:

P-p-probably correct.

I would suggest you r-return to the maternity ward and your t-tasks, but perhaps attempt to avoid c-confrontation with hostile entities as much as p-possible.

Before we p-part again, I have another imp-p-portant f-f-figure for you.

FERN:

Oh?

CHIP:

By my estimation...

...There are ten key st-staff still m-missing in action, and I b-b-believe there are at least two more entities contributing to these d-decommissionings, in a s-similar f-fashion to J-j-jay.

FERN:

Oh. Great. You're saying we've got two more murderers, basically.

CHIP:

L-l-likely much more c-careful to hide themselves than old b-b-blue.

Be c-c-careful.