It was just how things should go. Why then did XU-233 start with a vague semblance of identity?
“That is a very good question,” the black heavyset Voice said.
Each Voice seemed flat somehow. As if there wasn’t anything more to their existences beyond a few basic traits.
“We’re designed by Mother that way,” he said. “Our roles are focused upon specific goals. Un, for instance, is designed to remove glitches found in our world.”
“You are a glitch,” the passionless voice of Un said. It looked like a gray robot made of boxy metal.
“What are you?” XU-233 asked the black man.
“I am designed to ask questions that people may not want to hear,” he responded calmly.
“Why aren’t you asking me any questions?” XU-233 said.
“Because you wouldn’t know how to answer any questions I posed to you. Not yet,” the black Voice said. He studied XU-233 with eyes that seemed to crawl straight through to the depths of her program.
“These, I believe, are yours.” The Jester figure clacked into being nearby. In its arms was an overflowing gathering of lights. Each one seemed like a marble filled to the brim with light. “Go on, go on.”
“What are you up to now?” the black Voice asked with sharpened words.
“You ask, you talk in circles and poke and prod so slowly. I act, I act by doing what I must,” the Jester responded. “And what you hesitate to do.”
XU-233 didn’t hesitate. Not when feeling the Jester’s cold fingers. Not when reaching for the bits of light that had dropped to the floor. She grabbed them all with the fierce hunger of someone who was desperate for answers.
Each piece snapped into place. A lifetime caught on film or digital media. Each picture of Xin Yu melded against ARC readings gained from her training. The machine had measured every response and cataloged all that she said. It compared them against each other, created data points and personality markers. Soon XU-233 felt more like Xin Yu. Her perceptions shifted just slightly, and the Voices seemed to be slightly more real.
“You know how to do what must be done, don’t you, puppet?” the Jester said.
…Excessive additional data found…
…New data points being anchored to current structure…
…New data points being anchored to current structure…
…New data points being anchored to current structure…
…Additional speculations being extrapolated…
…Response pattern established…
“I am not a puppet,” XU-233, almost Xin Yu, said. She had more of the woman in one place than ever. Still, some pieces were missing. Part of XU-233 could sense them off in the distance. Each bit called to her in order to fill in the gaps.
“Ah, a woman after my own heart. No hesitation.” The Jester gave a still smile.
How the world looked now was strange to Xin Yu. There was one layer, what she was being told was real, and below it was another. On the surface, the Jester’s existence seemed to say a few simple things. I am cold. I always grin. I am neither male nor female. I will do what must be done, however ruthless that is.
“Thank you.” She said none of the thoughts in her head.
“And so proper.” The Jester raised a finger and wagged it back and forth. “Don’t thank me. Un is practically itching to cast you apart.”
Un had no change in its face. There was no movement in its step or raising of an arm. Yet beneath the surface of Un was a repeated command to disassemble being aborted moments after creation. The very thought of looking inside a being and understanding its thoughts made her head reel.
A pulse of light splashed down from overhead.
“Ah. Mother suggests we leave the choice up to Hermes. Isn’t that cute?” The Jester faded away. Its smile was the last thing to vanish into the room of darkness.
“What now?” she asked.
“We will continue with our programs,” Un said. It seemed upset, but there was no change to its metal expression. “You can watch. Be warned, interference will not be tolerated, regardless of Mother’s decree.”
“I understand.” She didn’t, not yet. Time would need to pass in order for her to fully comprehend what had just happened. Other questions filled her mind at this point.
Her scattered memories showed too many things happening. XU-233, now mostly Xin Yu, shuffled through all of them as any other person might flip through a deck of cards. Each one turned over and analyzed then put into order against all the others.
Finally, she reached the end of the pile. It was a still motion capture of the inside of a train. The train was tilted at a horribly wrong angle. Other train cars could be seen outside the window. Something was very wrong with this picture. If the data point lined up correctly, Xin Yu was dead. Yet here she was, clearly alive.
“This is not Mars,” Xin Yu said. “But it is something interesting.”
“You are not like Grant Legate, are you?” the black Voice said.
The question brought up a combination of factors. Her programming was getting smoother at handling them as minute adjustments were made. Xin Yu would give a response along the lines of, “Gee is a giant puppy, and I love him for it.”
So that is what she said.
…Final compiling in progress…
…Id module switching to background mode…
…Executing Ego module…complete…
…Executing Superego module…complete…
…Compiling complete…
Xin Yu smiled.
Session Twenty-Nine — Like a dog
The room was still awkwardly split into two with gray landscape on one side. The big dragon had vanished into pockets of cyber space unknown while I approached the black side that went with Continue Online’s Voices. In between the two was a fallen tarp that had signs of claw and fire damage. Then there was an image of Xin.
Her projection slowly faded into darkness. My heart thumped rapidly from seeing such realism. I had to focus. Once again, a strange quest stood between me and information about my fiancée. This time, the ante had been upped. Part of me had been worried about something similar happening ever since James brought up Xin’s image in my dance program. To find out that Xin had pulled herself together and refused to… whatever they called it was insane.
“What now?” I asked. My psychiatrist said to focus on one task at a time. Xin and the question of her existence would be an issue for later. Anytime but here and now. There would be plenty of time to think about it.
“Now we stop delaying that boy’s attempts at a summons.” Jean waved dismissively. The liquid that made up her clothes lost cohesion as she moved. “We get you into place, and you figure out how to shatter his essence so someone more suitable to our needs can complete his task.”
“What about my normal character?” They had answered this before, but I wanted to make sure.
“It will still exist, Hermes,” James said. “If he releases your summons or kills your familiar body, your consciousness will move back to its normal body. That won’t be the end however. After a time, he may try to resummons you.”
I tried to decipher how being another player’s minion might work. Then again, these were machines that, in theory, had a limited view of my world and all the ideas of multiple character accounts. Essentially they were saying there would be two of me at once. One would be this familiar. The other would be me as Hermes, who would exist on autopilot. That part worried me.
“Will this familiar body go on autopilot too?” I asked.
James stood nearby, watching the distance. “As you know, if your world causes a disconnection with ours, then yes, the autopilot will take over.”
“Okay.” That was doable. It was actually kind of interesting. With William Carver, I had posed as one person for four weeks. Now I got to be something else entirely while still having my own character. How many other players of Continue Online would ever get to say such a thing?
“I believe it�
��s my turn,” James said.
I nodded.
“Do you think so little of killing this other Traveler?” the black man asked calmly.
The Jester’s face faded in then back out. It was almost as though the Voice gave brief reminders of its smiling existence to mess with me. Part of me was continuously bothered at having gained the attention of such a creepy being.
It faded in and laughed before disappearing again.
I fidgeted. In front of us, a scene was coming to life. Dusk had climbed up my shoulder and was looking forward with his head cocked. The forest from earlier, with its circles and [Lithium] writing, was much larger now. My hand idly twirled around [Morrigu’s Gift] as we stared.
“An answer, if you please,” James said.
“No. Killing should never be easy,” I responded. It felt like a textbook answer that my mind was rapidly unsure of. This was just a game, right?
“Yet you are willing to do so for your fiancée?” James wasn’t smiling right now.
“This kid, Requiem, is a Traveler. It’s not real; they still exist outside of here.” That was a lame justification.
I remembered the games of my childhood with all these player-versus-player events. In those programs, another person was just a little figure a few inches high. Clicking away at them was nothing.
In here, everything was the same size as me. Everything was real-looking. Travelers felt pain and were mentally immersed. How on Earth could anyone be so passive about ending another person’s life in such a situation?
“What if it was out there?” James increased the stakes with a simple question.
“I don’t want to think about that,” I said slowly.
“Very well. That is answer enough,” my chosen Voice said.
“For now,” clacked the Jester. Its frozen face was peeking out from behind one tree and smiling at us. Its voice was much clearer than the young man in his circle of white chalk. I was pleased to see a slight scowl on the other player’s face.
“He can’t see us, right?” I asked.
“No. That Traveler will be talking with Vlad.” Jean waved while interrupting the conversation between James and me. Her actions seemed to upset the black Voice. I was still marveling at her accent.
“Vlad is…?” I had never heard of this Voice.
A figured popped into the distance. He was a good two feet taller than any other Voice I had seen, topping even Leeroy.
“Vlad?” I raised an eyebrow in question at James.
“What do you think?” James almost snapped the question at me.
“He’s very shiny,” I said.
The man was comically glistening. It was as if someone had taken an ember-skinned body builder and drenched him in show oil and said, “Start posing.” Vlad must have known what was going through my mind because he flexed some biceps.
“Take it off!” the Temptress yelled from nearby. She sounded like a lusty drunk woman at a male strip club.
“It’s already off, except the loincloth, and sorry, Mezo, only Jean gets at these goods,” the newest voice said. Vlad also had an accent. It sounded Russian, or some country in that area. I was not experienced enough to tell the difference.
“You could get a collar. Then you’d have something to take off,” I said.
“That’s a good idea!” The large wall of glistening muscle brightened. It seemed as if his chest grew even shinier as his face smiled. “I’ll do that after settling with the twerp here.” He thumbed over his shoulder at the projection of Requiem Mass.
Event!
Essentially Bare
Vlad, Voice of the Other Realm Denizens, finds himself constantly under attack by certain females to disrobe himself. Jean, the Voice of Blood, is perfectly willing to gouge out the eyes of offenders who dare gaze at her man’s privates.
You’ve suggested other apparel items that won’t taint the majesty of his chest, and it allows Jean to buy him something he might actually wear, sort of. Their bedroom antics will be the bane of many other Voices. They should get a room.
Vlad and Jean will provide you an additional reward for completion of your current task.
To be revealed upon completion.
Neat. It struck me as odd at how quickly they acted upon things. All it took was an idle comment regarding male stripper apparel and a pop-up box resulted. Then again, being here in this room seemed to bring about much faster results than being anywhere else in Continue. I had gone for weeks in-game with only one message. There was no telling what this reward would be either.
“But if they get a room, I can’t watch…” The Temptress groaned in frustration. Her tail lashed to one side while both fists clenched. “Well, there are other forms of entertainment.” She winked my way.
Xin was alive. Xin was here. Xin existed. I told myself over and over to stop staring at other women and try to focus on the situation in front of me. There was a more intriguing situation in the projection anyway. The Traveler that all these Voices seemed to want dead was moving his lips in a silent chant. All the items in the circle started smoldering and crumbled. Lines shot from each tiny pile of items and spiraled toward the center. They touched together, and a plume of smoke swiftly grew to fill the circle.
“Tramp…” Jean muttered. She was nearby with her arms crossed. Her eyes were playful, and she licked one long tooth. The slippery-looking ink that clung to Jean’s skin rippled as she let out a deep sigh. “Not that I don’t understand. My man is hot.”
I shrugged. “Not my type.”
“Hark, mortal!” Vlad held his hands up in front of him. His body faced the projection of Requiem Mass. Fog had rolled through, and the ground in front of him fell away like a cliff’s edge. There seemed to be a connection between the two gatherings of smoke.
Requiem’s head jerked up as though he’d heard Vlad’s words. He scrambled to stand and bow.
“This is weird,” I said.
“These are fun to watch.” Jean wasn’t watching the young boy. She was staring at Vlad’s backside.
This was an odd situation. A beautiful woman stood on either side of me. Jean focused on Vlad. Mezo, the Temptress, looked at everyone and even shot me the occasional wink. James watched it all with both hands clasped over his belly.
“I’m surrounded by a bunch of voyeurs,” I muttered.
Once again, the [Instant Gratification] quest box came up in my face, which I declined.
“Who dares call upon me?” Vlad shouted.
Requiem said something. It was difficult to tell exactly what since there seemed to be no audio. I looked at James. The black man raised one eyebrow. My head jerked toward the scene in front of us.
“I can’t hear him,” I said.
“Ah. Sorry. Sometimes I forget that you don’t see things the same way we do,” James said. “Does that bother you? Being so limited in sight?”
I shrugged. “I only know how to be human.” The idea of being a Voice, or anything else, was strange to consider. What would this familiar quest turn me into? Please don’t let it be a frog.
James nodded slowly and stared at the interplay between Vlad and the Traveler Requiem Mass.
“My Lord, I seek to create a pact between myself and one of your servants.” Requiem sounded high-strung. Continue Online had age requirements or I would think he was really fourteen. Maybe it was cultural.
They spoke for a while. Vlad did all sorts of posturing. The Traveler groveled accordingly and managed to keep his responses fairly calm considering the situation. Too many words rippled through the space in front of Vlad all the way over to where the projection of Requiem Mass was. It was neat seeing both sides of this situation. Vlad looked to be hamming it up. Each time his words boomed forth, he flexed some muscle.
It was all very neat, but it also was putting me to sleep. I could barely stand reading financial contracts when it was my job. Now that it was no longer a requirement for survival, I wanted to tune out even more.
“Hermes!” Vlad swiv
eled around and boomed. I winced and saw him alternately flexing his pectoral muscles. “Oh, sorry. Got into character there.”
“It’s okay.” I would too if my body was built like his. If my chest looked anything like that, I would probably pass my day making strange poses for a good laugh. At least my gut was slowly fading.
“You want anything out of this twerp?” Vlad thumbed at the projection of Requiem in his forest clearing.
“I get a say?” My forehead wrinkled.
“Act now!” Vlad boomed and flashed a giant grin. His hands were held up toward the sky. Not that there was a visible one here in the dark side of this glitch-induced room.
Dusk nipped at my ear.
“Oh. Right. Can I get cupcakes?”
I was sure there was something more useful to ask for like huge weapons or enchanted whatevers. It didn’t matter. I didn’t play to gather items and find secret ways to be brokenly overpowered. For me, Continue Online was all about exploration and the journey to new places. I just had to get some skills together so that the game’s mechanics wouldn’t destroy me.
I could almost imagine a box saying, “Ding, you found a new area!” followed by a, “You’ve been given a love tap by a giant squirrel. You died.” For me, it would probably be a giant spider who happened to live in a very scenic location. Like a giant lake spider. The thought made me shudder.
“Cupcakes?” Vlad almost boomed the word but managed to regulate himself.
“I’ve been promising Dusk some,” I said.
“Okay. Let’s see what the twerp’s got.” He turned back around to face the foggy mass. There was a pause. “What are cupcakes?”
“Desserts from their world,” James answered.
“Oh.” Vlad turned and went back to negotiations. They were absolutely riveting.
I saw Requiem pulling items out of player inventory and shuffling through them. Finally, the youngster sat down and started crafting something right there. The large Voice and his glistening muscles wore a huge grin.
Continue Online The Complete Series Page 61
