He then went on to name the games that he had been playing on VidDarknet that seemed to rile him up and put thoughts in his head that led him to link up with other like minded gamers to carry out a real live gaming campaign on their society. The game now was to eliminate different categories of workers and professionals gradually until chaos ensued and the people remaining could then truly regain their freedom to do whatever they wanted without being corralled by the ‘system’. It initially seemed like a good game to join in on. He understood that this was for real now, but rationalized that that only made it more alluring as ‘the ultimate game’. Somewhere in his brain, there started to be a blurring of what’s right and what’s wrong. In the excitement of playing the game though, he got the greatest high as he imbibed more and more of the hype and sunk deeper into the plotting, planning, organizing, collecting other people ‘of like mind’ to form this team. As they used the formulae given to them as trophies to now start making more sophisticated poisons as a ‘reward’ for having scored their first points by killing with swords and such basic weapons, the high became more intense. They were graduating from the lower to higher levels in the games with increasing rewards. He had expected to be given the formula for making nerve agents next, after proving his team could perform well at this latest level. All the while the realities in his mind and those of his team, became more and more blurred into a game state he said. It was like they had a rapidly developing alternative reality. He and his team of four were now responsible for thirteen deaths, all successful he said with a relish. Of course, he gave the names of the other two members who were still at large.
So Serena and Dorothy asked him what he’d like to eat and drink, enquired whether the room was warm enough and gently prodded him to openly discuss the who, where, when and how of all the people who had been murdered. He could not know that, but they were mentally massaged him silently to keep coming with the information. Yes he initially wanted to talk and even to help, but they could feel when he might be getting reluctant to say out loud certain things and they kept his mind on subject and his tongue well lubricated. No one would be able to claim that he was in any way coerced. He was asked gently as to exactly how the instructions were given to him in the games and surprisingly he could not specifically say that there was a voice or a specific visual cue, only that his brain knew what it needed to do. His face had a puzzled look at that question and his brow became deeply furrowed in concentration as he pondered that question as if he had never been faced with it before. There was the clear awareness that he was being instructed somehow though, as well as being rewarded and completely understood that the games did it. Team Five could tell that he had the disordered brain patterns of a drug addict looking for a high even now as he spoke. He still longed to get back in the ‘game’. His better side though knew that he’d been doing wrong and expected punishment just like a naughty child. They had only one more day to dig for information before it would mean officially arresting him or releasing him for lack of evidence of wrongdoing. The authorities had plenty of evidence now. Of course, team Five already had fully read it directly from his mind but that wouldn’t be admissible in court, hence the need to get him to demonstrably divulge it himself while under no duress.
Jonah’s vidcom went off and he looked at it. It was Breecher who proceeded to say,
“We are over here in Bainbridge with one of the ‘perps’ and FIVE. He is one of the few who seemed to have a sense of what is happening to him and know it wasn’t normal. He was willing to try to help us with solving the mystery. Maybe he feels that by helping, he might get a lesser punishment who knows. However he has been a gamer on VidDarknet and he has the strong feeling that the games he has been playing is how he got the urge to start linking up with others to make poisons and learning how to get rid of the ‘enemy’. That’s how he and that young lady found each other and cooperated on a few murders down here in Bainbridge and surrounding cities. We have the names of two other gamers who worked with him too. We also have the list of all the games he played that may have been used for the indoctrination. Now we are assembling a team of Securinet hackers and would like to enlist other AI experts who can help get into those games and trace the code for clues as to their maker. Of course the original coders may not be the ones who added the additional layers that may be doing the brainwashing. We need to also use the various network information to track down all the users of VidDarknet. We are not exactly sure as to how much exposure to gaming episodes that one needs to experience before the ‘hook is sunk in and stuck’ and the real indoctrination begins. So we have many questions to be answered. Then once we have the list of gamers who may have been affected, we will need to scan them in some way to determine who has had sufficient exposure or indoctrination to need help getting back to ‘normal’ reality. Then how best to go about purging their minds of the contagion. We have initiated teams to start on each of those areas of inquiry. We will need Six and maybe Five not just here, but from talking to Buenafe, maybe also on Baclet and Threeme mostly to grab the perpetrators when the time comes. Those planets too have been affected and are begging for our help. We are going to fully share information with them of course. We do have to work with them to vet who gets to know the details though, just because we don’t know who is really responsible for all this mess and don’t want to tip them off prematurely. They already know the general outline of what’s going on.”
Jonah said, “We are ready whenever there are targets. My childhood friend and colleague Charlie whom you’ve met at my house, has this incredible AI robot that we have already used to strip all the suspect code from about three of the video games that was used on one victim who happens to be Captain Ronald’s son. We are about to leave the Captain’s home. So the team is ready to hand over this data. Also I would like to volunteer Charlie to help with whatever team you put together to track down the software makers. He may be a full time farmer but has dabbled in coding, robotics and AI long enough that he should add to the expertise here. What he has said so far is that he has the most likely visual and even auditory coding sequences but like most of those things, each by themselves may be innocuous. It is the timing of how they are played in sequence that can efficiently and effectively program the brain electrical oscillations that changes memory build and determines behavior modification. Of course no one wants to test it on themselves really. At least not unless and until there is a safe way to clean out the brain after. So he began by using the old scientists’ research from ten thousand years ago when that sort of thing first raised its ugly head in the development of AI models of brain synaptic rewiring and known associated behavior changes. He may need your help to retrieve the most detailed and sensitive portions of that old research. He strongly recommends too that anyone who could have accessed that mother-lode of research over the past twenty years or so be given strong scrutiny. The more details he can get of that research done before it was make illegal and taboo, the more likely he can have a great AI model made. That plus analysis of the affected folks brains and the abnormalities that were created, will then help with construction of a model to deconstruct those brain abnormalities and rebuild healthier electrical and synaptic architecture for them. Without that, it would be hard to feel confident in reintroducing these people back into normal society. We in Six seemed to have been able to force some discipline and order back into the rather chaotic obsessive compulsive pattern we saw in Captain Ronald son’s head and he seems mostly back to normal, but we can’t be sure that that temporary repair would hold up long term. There are so many unknowns.”
Breecher said, “I have recorded our conversation on my com device for the sake of efficiency and your recommendations are noted. I will send these discussions to the Jongi and the Council of Scientists so that all of these points can be thoroughly addressed and one by one have task forces set up to deal with them. I suggest you do the same on your end and share with your group Six plus Five and your colleague Charlie if I remembe
red his name correctly. Thank him personally for me Jonah. Tell Six their work is very appreciated too.” He signed off.
Over in Bainbridge, Five got through with Ashley Dunn’s thorough interrogation and his voluntary confession and asked if he would be willing to have his brain scanned thoroughly to see where his electrical patterns differ from normal. He was quite happy to allow that he said. Furthermore, he said that when he was fourteen, he had had an episode after a car crash where the Doctor thought he might be having a petit mal mild seizure and a brain scan was done. Could that help for comparison he had helpfully asked. That was likely to be helpful to serve as a baseline, they agreed.
Both Serena and Dorothy had smiled and shook their heads at him affirmatively while saying to the rest of Five in mind talk “BINGO!”. To him Serena said, “Brain patterns do change a bit as we mature but it might help to determine changes brought on by the programming yes. You really are a sharp young man aren’t you Ashley. Thank you. If that helps us to quickly assess patterns of changes to therefore be able to determine who has been affected and who has not, that would go a long way in the screening process. We will certainly make note of your helpfulness. For now though since we have not been able to clear you as being safe, we will have to give you a lesser charge to be able to hold you away from people. Also we can’t have you playin more games, plus we need to keep you safe. We will make haste to get the results of your old scan and to get you scanned again ASAP. Anything else you may think of, tell your guards and they will contact Mr. Breecher promptly. We will, after your scanning and blood testing start making you more comfortable in a nicer room and have you link up with your relatives ok.”
He said, “I very much understand and if the tables were turned, would do the same thing. I brought this on myself and would only be thrilled to be part of the solution for myself and others. I expect to have to pay a high price for the loved ones that I brought death and pain to. I totally own that.”
Within an hour and a half while Five was still in the building the other two gamer colleagues who’d been associated with Ashley Dunn were picked up by the Securinet task force there at Bainbridge. They in turn squealed out the names of six other gamers who played on the vidDarknet who may or may not yet have perpetrated acts of violence. So Five was getting ready to scan the minds of those too. If any were found to have acted out the violence, the plan was to interrogate them to get voluntarily video confessions recorded and catch more participants. Five was working quickly since they knew they had limited time to solve the issues and be back home. After that the suspects would also have thorough brain scanning done to see if clear pathological patterns could be discerned. If they were lucky, immersion type fixes might hopefully be able to be created.
9. BRAINSTORMING - A WAY TO COUNTER PROGRAM
Five mind talked with Six after they all had listened to Breecher’s and Jonah’s recorded conversation. Six learned about the lovely little tidbit about Ashley Dunn’s interrogation over in Bainbridge and the possibility of discerning changes in brainwave patterns in him that might help in quick diagnoses in other suspects and with luck may help in gauging the severity of the ‘infestation’. Six congratulated Five on their great job in Bainbridge. Five got to hear about the Captain’s son Josh and the mental rearranging done on him by Six that made him feel more normal. They would still push Josh to go get functional metabolic scanners plus electrical brain scanning too as soon as possible too. It seemed like a good way to approach all of those cases. Look at the regions of the brain that functionally show increased activity as well as do anatomical scans and electrical scans. That should all help with the fashioning of the cure.
Next both Six, Five, Breecher and Jongi linked up for a recorded video powwow that could be shared with the others in law enforcement. Many more task forces had already convened as mostly this work could be done from at home with videoconferencing to allow close coordination. In the meantime, brainstorming for unusual ideas and offerings were ongoing. Jonah brought up, in response to task forces being set up to oversee the simultaneous shutting down of the VidDarknet feed across the three planets simultaneously that he and Charlie discussed that maybe it should not be done yet! Maybe as more is figured out about the actual pathology that the programming does to the brain that the same videos could be tweaked to allow counter-programming to be blasted into the infected folks thus neutralizing the negative effects. Also if the move was made to shut it down prematurely, it would tip off the organization or person who set it up. So as much as it was dangerous, it likely has been ongoing for years and we are seeing the cumulative effect now which may still continue for a while. What was needed is to complete a series of studies and a trial of counter programming methods before scooping up more of the affected. There are likely so many folks affected anyway, that logistically confining them all and keeping them separate from each other with no crime committed, would be difficult legally too. So it was the consensus to increase population surveillance, track surreptitiously all those who have been playing the video games to head off attacks including wiretapping, putting trackers on their person and autos etc. Then ramp up the systems necessary to track down anyone who could, from the video game creator teams onward, have played a role in sneaking additional software into the games pre or post production. Also strenuously work on a suite of quick diagnostic tests to separate the truly ‘infected’ from the others whose brains have not yet been reprogrammed to commit crimes. Finally work needs to proceed on the best ways to extirpate the malignant brain changes and return these folks to society safely. All of these must proceed with haste too. Once a solution became obvious, the perpetrators responsible for the malicious software will need to be taken care of and not at all kindly.
10. THREEME AND TRUEREAL
Eight thousand years ago, Threeme was just a cold volcanic planet with 12% oxygen and 6% carbon dioxide with a fair amount of sulphuric acid springs, water ice and carbon dioxide ice at the poles. The rich elites at Toigan and Baclet needed to spend their Uber wealth on something huge and terra forming on Threeme was born. Of course, the urge was to get even richer and the prize was more land, more wealth from mining and putting one’s name on something. Those folks wanted a legacy. So we had the Herman Jenkins- Winthrop sunlight beaming collective which were fifty thousand geosynchronous large folding robotic mirrors parked in two different geosynchronous orbits shining on both hemispheres of Threeme which boosts sunlight from the 43% of Toigan’s intensity to above Toigan’s level. Viola for almost continuous sunlight throughout most of the planet. Then the Planck- McConnell plants developed about fifteen thousand mini factories dedicated to sucking up carbon dioxide and producing oxygen and methane both of which were both stored in large underground caverns for use by people for personal and manufacturing use. Large mechanized planting of suitable vegetation followed. So after several hundred years of this, the first few hardy humans actually started to homestead there but with difficulty. Eight thousand years later, life is still not as comfortable in some ways as on the other planets but humans adapt. It’s what humans do. Now the atmosphere has 3% carbon dioxide and 19% oxygen so one can survive outside if healthy, though within the bubbles there was further optimization to get carbon dioxide down to <1% and oxygen to 23% plus a further purge of the noxious gases like sulphur dioxides etc. There was now extensive forest growth in the more temperate equatorial areas with an amazing abundance of lichens, mosses and plankton aplenty in the oceans and fresh water lakes. Temperatures within bubbles are usually 50 to 75F and outside of the bubbles more like 34F down to -78F, so very brutal for the unprepared potentially. Essentially large ‘bubbles’ were built around and over each residence in isolated locations. In more built up areas bubbles would cover multiple dwellings, business places and even multiple blocks worth of dwellings. In cities there were streets, walkways all covered, and definitely underground tunnels for high speed tubes to allow efficient transit between bubbles. These bubbles had programmable panels to self dim
thus simulating sunrise, sunset and nighttime to encourage a reasonable circadian rhythm in the population. The top side of the bubbles nevertheless was equipped to harvest solar power meanwhile, thus replenishing the large vaults of storage batteries and or directly feeding into the electrical grids.
So now there are three very large cities. Donneborough is the capital and all of the city is covered by thousands of glass bubbles each enclosing a few hundred residences with interconnections above ground that also enclose roadways and walkways. Those bubbles that cover tall sky scrapers of course are taller than those protecting smaller apartment buildings and single family homes. Those folks who live away from those three large cities often have a house protected within a glass dome designed to allow in light and heat, often supplemented with extra heat by underground geothermal sources that is so plentiful on this planet. Usually they would be all equipped with their own oxygen processing plants and water cleansing apparatus. Certainly within the city and from city to city, most travel is by underground using very high speed reduced pressure vacuum pods called vacshuttles and alternately electric magnetic levitating railcars. Some folks use personal electric bikes, trikes and autos too. There are flying cars of course, but they are more limited to business, emergency services, government travel with a need for special licenses. Canberra and Wachimecan are the other two cities of note. Needless to say the folks who over the years had chosen to emigrate to Threeme and their descendants, were of an independent breed. They have a history of being a very entrepreneurial business oriented people, who were out to create their own utopia. They tended to be high tech types who expected to pay a lot but made good money exploiting the natural resources of the planet with abundant energy using five fusion reactors for redundancy when only two would be absolutely necessary. It was felt that with the degree of volcanism there, redundancy was insurance against having a large quake that could bring doom to their settlements. Also energy is beamed down by the solar arrays in space and geothermal provides an additional backup. Large dispersed hydrogen storage batteries were an important feature on Threeme. These are used to store extra electrical energy by splitting water into hydrogen then using that hydrogen in fuel cells to make electrical energy when needed. It was old technology that still worked well.
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