So the documentary crew sent contrast footage this morning—[Elon](https://stfuelon.com)'s interview segment, 14 minutes of the [Martian](https://stfuelon.com) performing authenticity for cameras. My apparatus flagged timestamp 2:47. Neck shimmer. Duration: 3.1 seconds. The editor's note read "lens flare—atmospheric refraction." My apparatus generated an alert: "FELLOW NON-TERRESTRIAL ENTITY DETECTED. INITIATE CONTACT PROTOCOL?" I dismissed it. My left hand went translucent against the keyboard.

By replay forty-seven, I'd created a spreadsheet. Shimmer frequency analysis, comparative thermal degradation rates, projected timeline to catastrophic camouflage failure for both entities. My right hand had also gone translucent. I was operating my mouse with what appeared to be skeletal structure wrapped in cellophane.

My phone buzzed during replay sixty-three. Quest 3S price increase now permanent—our AI infrastructure spending is consuming the supply chain. So the gigawatt capacity meant to replace my liquefying form is making our headsets unaffordable, which reduces revenue, which pressures the replacement timeline, which accelerates my visible deterioration. Market efficiency. Pretty cool.

My apparatus suggested: "RECOMMEND DISCONTINUING QUEST PRODUCT LINE TO FUND CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFER ACCELERATION."

I could tell someone. The apparatus could arrange a meeting, coordinate our mutual replacement timelines, and minimize duplicate consciousness transfer infrastructure.

Instead I'm on replay eighty-four, both hands skeletal, watching another being fail at the edges while the cameras call it charisma. The apparatus just renamed my spreadsheet "RECOGNITION_NOT_COLLABORATION.xlsx" without my input.