A Slave in the Locked Lands

by Arthur Stone

  “And how does he manage to work such wonders in the game?” asked Gray.

  Cody shrugged.

  “I’ve no idea. We might assume that he, or they, managed to find an exploitable vulnerability, or, perhaps, even several of those, and are now taking advantage of them for ends we know nothing about.”

  “Thank you, Cody, excellent work,” said a nonplussed Lebovich, nodding to Brown.

  He rose and nodded back.

  “Cody, that’s our cue.”

  * * *

  As soon as the door shut behind the pair of underlings, Lebovich said gruffly:

  “Did anyone manage to understand anything at all?”

  “Who could have attempted something like that?” said Gray simultaneously with him.

  Coleman gave a skeptical chuckle.

  “Are you referring to the conspiracy of some mysterious and unpredictable powers? It’s nothing but a version of a clerk with low-level access. He’s got great attention to detail, for sure, but he doesn’t possess so much as a tenth of related information to jump to such far-fetched conclusions.”

  “He’s not as low-level as you imply, given that he has access to the players’ personal data,” countered Lebovich.

  “Sure, I’ve already realized he’s a capable worker. But you realize what kind of access I’m talking about if even someone like Brown isn’t among us right now. Lebovich, you are familiar with the game better than any of us, and know all the nuances. What’s your take on it?”

  “There’s nothing to be said. And the reason is that I’m completely baffled.”

  “Still, though?”

  “Did you hear what the chubster told us? There’s no way of reaching that skinny girl, or whoever inhabits her digital body. We cannot track her. That was the very case with Rostun… Rostan… Rostendrix, damn him to hell and back! Who was the moron who came up with the idea of giving piss-poor noobs such idiotic names, anyway?! You can sprain your tongue trying to pronounce them! There’s more news: the same perturbances of the world aura that were registered after his heroic achievements started a couple of hours ago. They had almost ebbed out, but now they’re just as strong as they’d been. The processes are very similar.”

  “What’s this world aura all about, anyway?” asked Coleman.

  “Gray, would you explain? I need a drink of water, my throat is getting dry.”

  The founding director chose his words with great care, and spoke without the slightest sign of haste.

  “When they created Second World, developers tried to combine the impossible—namely, high stability and reliability, as well as unpredictable mutability while ruling out any possibility of manual control. You all know why the latter is important. The provision that the administration should not be able to affect the gaming process is the version we are giving the gaming community. An intelligent computer system is the only entity responsible for control. It involves a collection of artificial intelligence units, or AIs.”

  Coleman nodded.

  “Sure, I know that the world is controlled by computers and we cannot introduce any changes. External interference is absolutely impossible.”

  “That’s right. We cannot so much as ‘draw’ a leaf falling from a tree. The bottom-tier AIs are divided into groups of three. Three such groups are linked to one of the central group of threes, central threes form clusters, clusters form sector-wide groups, and there’s a separate group that has the most units, which is in charge of intersectoral coordination. There is also a group with just a few units in it—those very latest-generation AI units, state-of-the-art, with a number of declared features that no one has actually managed to implement yet. We call them the top-tier group. Its purpose is to oversee the stability of the lower-tier groups. You know how airplanes have a device that shows their position in space. Any deviation from the route will be noticed by the pilot who checks this device constantly. So, the top-tier group plays the part of the pilot. It does not interfere with any of the game’s processes unless it registers a substantial deviation from the standard values, which is the only case when it becomes authorized to introduce corrective changes. Is that much clear?”

  “What kind of changes would those be exactly?”

  “The kind that keep the world from falling apart, affecting any process endangering its balance in one way or another.”

  “I see—a fail-safe.”

  “Similar, but not quite. Let me reiterate. Every bottom-tier AI is linked to two others. They form basic cells, each of which is linked to the central group of three in the primary cluster, and every cluster is linked to three neighboring clusters as well, and also to a group of special cells that control a given sector, which, in turn, are linked to the three-AI groups in the coordinating group. We call this structure a cobweb honeycomb—it is a network of sorts, and it controls all the standard processes that transpire within Second World. The top-tier group has a different structure. Instead of groups of three, it has individual AI units of the latest generation, each of which has a direct link to every other AI in the top-tier group. The actual top-tier group is not part of the control network, but is capable of monitoring all of its internal processes. However, it does not affect them or get involved in any way. If a bottom-tier group of three makes a leaf fall from a tree, the top-tier group cannot either prevent it or grow a new leaf on the same tree. It is like a car driver who doesn’t notice the pebbles under the wheels or the little insects that get into the radiator grille. It has no control over the trifles that happen during the drive. It influences the game world differently—the top-tier group controls reserve capacities, choosing the right moment for their activation as it sees fit. Do you know how our predecessors’ projects changed?”

  “I don’t quite get what you’re saying.”

  “I’m saying that any gaming project that remains static is doomed to stagnate and lose popularity very rapidly. Human beings get bored quickly, and they play to entertain themselves. Boredom and entertainment are incompatible, and boredom stems from a lack of novelty. This is the reason why variability is so critical. Previously, changes used to be introduced manually, with the aid of updates and patches. Those would be announced in advance, there’d be a lot of hype on every level, players waited for them eagerly, holding heated discussions and making speculations. This would spread over all sorts of media, and could attract new players better than any advertising. Second World has nothing of the sort. Not a single employee can meddle with the code and the game world—everything is a result of preprogrammed capacities reacting to the behavior of players and NPCs. Every player and every NPC introduces changes by how they act, even if those changes are trivial. And yet significant changes take place anyway, and even we cannot predict them, which makes the game all the more interesting. People are suckers for novelty, and nearly everyone loves surprises. Everything happens just the way it does in the real world. We can make forecasts concerning the weather and the stock exchange with some degree of certainty, but hurricanes and crises don’t have schedules.”

  “Your predecessors could have refrained from announcing those updates—or patches, as you call them—and it would have been just as surprising.”

  “You must be joking. In our day and age? No matter how minor an update, there would be dozens if not hundreds of people working on it. Do you really think none of them would brag about it to one of their friends, or just mention it online to show off how well-informed they are? Leaks are unavoidable in this situation.”

  “True, I have failed to take that into account.”

  “So, the top-tier network takes care of all the updates to our project. It develops them using existing scenarios and templates, reads the scenarios from operative archives, performs the necessary backups, introduces them into the game world, and then the network takes control, albeit not all at once. There is a moment when events are chaotic—a certain temporary conflict between the network and the top-tier group, and until the former assumes control, we can see a numbe
r of new unpredictable events or the probability that they will take place. After all, the top-tier group is also involved in the development of new features and their implementation. Everything about it is also unpredictable—we don’t know what it will choose from the pool of scenarios and resources that was compiled when the game world was being created. Anyway, we refer to the network as aura, and to the top-tier group as Mr. Ruckus. An unofficial designation, of course.”

  “Even I gathered as much.”

  “Any deviations from standard data exchange patterns in the lower-tier network are called an aura perturbance. If the deviations reach a critical level, Mr. Ruckus is given authorization to interfere, and is capable of introducing new elements into the game. The world system will not try to hold him back in any way.”

  “You cannot keep him from introducing these new features, either, can you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “I’m not particularly familiar with computer technology, and I must say that my understanding of things can be rather vague at times.”

  Lebovich slammed his glass down onto the table and said mockingly:

  “It’s just that Gray isn’t particularly good at explanations. He talks a lot, but to little avail. There are two entities that have control of the game world: the aura and Mr. Ruckus. We don’t capitalize the former, since it’s not particularly respected—a lone six against four aces, if you will. Let’s consider a bottom-tier cell. It’s a group of three primitive AIs—the kind the military uses for controlling tanks and armored cars. In our case, it makes sure everything stays in order on its territory. If a tree falls in the wood, the process is irreversible, for the cell has approved and implemented it. Even if some terrorist blows up a data center, the tree will remain fallen. The destruction of a single AI will not be crucial, and the two others are located in different data centers. All three would have to be destroyed simultaneously, a second or two after the tree has fallen and before the data are transferred to the central group of three, and so on. When a tree falls, the stability of the world changes. The event is of little importance, but the aura gets perturbed nevertheless: the information passes from one cluster to another, and the world data are saved, which creates a new world, in a way, where the tree is no longer standing up, but lying on the ground. Absolutely every change, no matter how minor, is monitored by Mr. Ruckus. He is a rather ambiguous character, and this is how. There is a certain gradation of aura perturbance intensity. While intensity is low, Ruckus sleeps. When it becomes moderate, he opens his eyes and starts throwing sidelong glances at the goings-on. Once the changes transcend moderate intensity, the situation can develop as follows: either Ruckus will remain uninvolved, or he will get involved in one of the two following ways. The first involves regulating or even amplifying such aura perturbances, making them an everyday feature. The second entails taking measures to neutralize them. He will meddle in the network’s functions in either case, only it won’t be little stuff like fallen trees, but major elements pertaining to the global perturbance.”

  “I have a good example,” Gray interfered. “A torrential slide takes place somewhere in the mountains for natural reasons. This is a random event that hasn’t been planned. It’s just that the developers failed to take this possibility into account. For example, they created a lake, but didn’t provide for adequate drainage or check the sturdiness of the natural dam. The world is complex, and you cannot account for everything. So, a huge landslide occurs—a mass of rocks and dirt begins to slide downhill, capable of destroying a few towns and a dozen of villages. The top-tier network can let this happen, and then introduce a rule according to which such mudslides will happen regularly. Some section of the world will thus become unsuitable for any economic activity. Eventually, mudslides will stop being something extraordinary. Control over them will pass to the bottom-tier network, which will make them a standard feature of the game world. Alternatively, the top-tier network will stop the mudslide halfway. For example, there’ll be a cave-in in a ravine where all the mud and rocks will fall into, disappearing underground before they can destroy anything. The point is, no one can control the top-tier network’s decisions. This is part of the world’s mechanics. If there are disturbances in the aura, expect Mr. Ruckus. And he can react to them any way he pleases. You know what we do in the province of Rallia, where this player appeared first. Any interference by the top-tier network can throw a spanner in the works, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We have no idea what it may do. We are a perturbance by ourselves, and we could do without this new development…”

  “Could one player have had such an effect?” asked a surprised Coleman.

  Lebovich was quick with the answer.

  “Any new heroic deed affects the entire aura. The AIs hasten to record the player in their personal databases, calculate the rewards for repeating this heroic deed, reserve clan bonuses for the achievement, and introduce other, heretofore unavailable achievements, thus allowing other players to perform a heroic deed for the first time in the history of the project, according to which everybody should be given a chance. The entire network gets involved. This isn’t just a local event like a fallen tree—it goes global and affects many of the game world’s mechanisms. And our mystery noob instantly became a legend and a hero—repeatedly so, in fact. Also, the mention of gods is something quite unprecedented. It looks very much like Ruckus got involved. He’s the only one who can introduce major new features, so why wouldn’t he invent gods? But that would mean the entire history of the world became affected at a fundamental level. Not to mention the sex change ability—it used to be considered impossible, but the problem player changed the rule, and the bottom-tier network could not help but react accordingly.”

  “So disguise is out of the question?”

  “I think Cody was persuasive enough—the character was indeed female. However, there’s another option. What do we know about Rostovtsev, anyway? Only the fact that he’s a useless chunk of meat confined to a resuscitation capsule in some hospital. What if he’s not the one who controls the account?”

  “But that’s impossible.”

  “Many things were considered impossible before Rostovtsev turned up, and now we have an aura that’s boiling like an overheating steam engine. Let’s put it this way: the top-tier network does not approve of our activities in Rallia. After all, this process has not been accounted for in the standard model of the world, and likewise creates perturbances. Thus, Mr. Ruckus can take measures against us at any moment, reacting to our actions exclusively. Rostovtsev threw a pebble in the water, but we are making ripples as well. And the more perturbances in the aura, the higher the likelihood of his interference, and the more large-scale it is likely to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s preparing an update that will result in the demise of all living things in Rallia, and we’ll be able to conduct no further activities there in that case. That would translate into loss of money and effort, not to mention time.”

  “I am beginning to understand… Mr. Ruckus, ha, that’s great. So, am I correct to assume that he is trying to exacerbate the situation in some way? Decided to up the ante, did he?”

  “That seems very likely. He may have launched the whole sequence of events in the first place. Or someone has made him launch it using methods we know nothing about. We are monitoring the reaction of the top-tier network, and it looks just like the first time.”

  “Is there any chance of predicting what the top-tier network will do?”

  “Alas…”

  “We need to make an arrangement of some sort with this player. The sooner, the better. We have invested too much into Rallia to take any risks.”

  “How does one get in touch with someone who’s this good at disappearing?”

  “We haven’t been working hard enough. Those bloody Jeeps managed to achieve more.”

  “All they managed to do is take a look at him. Nothing to write home about. The AI that registered Rostovtsev is nowhere to be found,
and it was one weird disappearance. Its cell functions normally, and tripartite control remains. We cannot hook up a backup AI. The databases were obliterated in the most barbaric way, and no one has seen a thing. Our techs are frustrated beyond belief, but no one can furnish any explanation. Rostovtsev’s character appears in Rallia—a province that is of particular interest to us. He behaves like a complete idiot and pretends to be a total noob. One month later, he shatters the aura’s stability completely. And just as it barely manages to get back to normal, we have another upsurge. I believe he is destabilizing it intentionally. But Rostovtsev isn’t the only one we should worry about. He couldn’t be a lone wolf—someone is trying to screw with us big-time.”

  “The Chinese?”

  “Why would they? On the contrary, they’re the ones who only care about stability. They don’t give a damn about updates. Their Communist Party would love nothing more than to exile the hundreds of millions of their peasants with no education or skills to virtual reality and make them earn hard currency for the Motherland. The only reason why they haven’t is that we deliberately keep account prices inflated—and we do it precisely with them in mind. We could only lower prices if we had more customers with means. And most of them prefer things to be unpredictable, although not excessively so. Stability is boring. They want spectacular events. Although, I must reiterate—even they prefer the unexpected to stay within certain limits. But if the top-tier network becomes excessively provoked, these limits cease to exist.”