TEXT | sender: [ unknown ]

[spectates]

[ around noon on friday, all tablet screens go dark at the same time, no matter what characters are doing. then, after a moment, the following text appears: ]

UPDATES INSTALLING.................
INITIALIZING.................
RESTARTING NOW.

[ as promised, screens return to normal. however, a new message appears on the network for all to see ]

SECURITY ACCESS UPDATED
ADDING INFORMATION POINTS
ADDING INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURES DETECTED
HARD RESET IS REQUIRED

→CLICK TO EXPAND INSTRUCTIONS

→Access EXPIATION'S five manual terminals
→Input code: 2467362925315
→Initialize reset simultaneously at all terminals.
→SYSTEM RESET will restore all functions to BASIC OPERATING PARAMETERS. Extraneous data and information updates will be DELETED.
→Terminal access points shown below.

[ all tablet maps are updated to include several different location pins. users will notice that there are more pins than the number of terminals, and that they don't seem to be terribly specific about exact locations. users will also note that the pins sometimes seem to fade and flicker, as if they might disappear... ]

Security clearances acquired.
Access granted.
Terminals online and accessible.

System failure is imminent. Due to perpetual lack of upkeep, I am unable to maintain systems at optimal levels.
Chosen of Expiation, I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you.
Save yourselves.

I do not wish to d̶̺̀i̸̘̋e̶͍͝
But I wish for you to live
I̷
p̸l̷e̵a̸s̷e̸
l̴̪̗̈́̉̓̌i̶͕̹̹̿̈́̈̚v̴͓̽͑͆̚ḙ̴͍̋͘

ERROR: user offline

[ the AI will not respond to this message, and the ERROR: USER OFFLINE message appears if anyone attempts to message it. however, the network chat remains active. chosen can use this space to ICly discuss ideas and strategies, to have discussions about the best way to move forward, or even to have arguments over whose ideas they think are better. ideas generated here will be added to the event poll when the event goes up, and can impact the future of the game! have at it, go wild, and have fun! ]

Comments

[mightymorphin]

I don't mind leaving the program running if it'll help us leave. But if this AI isn't interested in getting us out of here, we're just handing the keys to a new jailer.

If we can pull the plug fast enough, then we just have to weather whatever happens. We'll come out of it on the other side.

[laserguy]

I don't think the AI's even capable of helping us out right now. It's barely able to keep this place stable.

...We can probably get answers once it's stable again. Especially if we stop it from dying in some way; it mentioned that it doesn't want to.

[mightymorphin]

I don't know how many answers it can give us in the first place. It's part of the simulation, too. Even if it's growing from it somehow, that doesn't guarantee it can peek out of the curtain.

If there's a way to get out of here and keep the AI going, I'm all for it. It can have the whole program if it wants. But we don't belong here.

[laserguy]

It still seems like a better bet on making it grow and help us rather than banking on the chance that we don't die if we break this whole world. There's a lot of people's lives on the line.

[He also can't help but wonder what happens to his friends that are dead back home and everything, but. One thing at a time. He knows that Kotone wouldn't want him to stop trying to do the right thing on her behalf, but it also involves more than just her...]

How would you even crash this program anyway?

[mightymorphin]

What happened to make everyone think that we'll die if we try to leave?? Seriously! No one's given me a real answer to that one yet.

Well ideally we could use access to the terminals to either find a shut-off command or introduce some code that'll crash it.

[laserguy]

Dude you talked about destroying this place while we're still in it in order to have a chance to leave. That's probably where everyone is getting that impression.

The terminals are tied to the AI, right? [MAN being from the 80s sucks sometimes!! Not like Scott has a full understanding of all this stuff.] So, the plan is either to shut down the AI and hope the world breaks or kill it?

[mightymorphin]

... You know what it means to crash a program, right? It's shutting it down unexpectedly. I don't think we can do that without those terminals the AI revealed for us. Going around tearing up the landscape isn't going to do anything the glitches aren't already doing.

Think of it this way: the AI is a part of the simulation. The terminals must tap into the simulation itself. What the AI wants us to do is to restart the thing, and I would rather turn it off.

And like I said, there might be some other way to eject us but keep the program running, so the AI can stay in here without us. I'm not eager to kill it, but we need to get out of here.

[laserguy]

Shutting down the place we currently live in sounds pretty much the same thing as destroying it.

I still don't like this idea, Morph. I'm not following through with this. [...] I'd rather look for a possible option to help the AI while making sure this place doesn't turn worse. It sounds like it's on our side, or wants to be.

[mightymorphin]

So? It's not real. I know you've lived here for a long time, but this whole city is just code in a machine.

Helping the AI now doesn't mean the glitches won't start coming back later. We don't even know how much it might be able to control this place! And in the meantime, whatever experiment we're in is going to keep running.

[laserguy]

It's real enough that we're still affected by what happens here.

[He briefly wonders what their Scott would say about this, but he's still Scott Summers too, right? He wants to stick to what he wants to do.] It'll still give us extra time instead of risking everything on 'we might not die along with this world.'

[...] I'm going to ask the STEM Club their thoughts.

[mightymorphin]

Yeah, we're affected by glitches that can only happen because we're inside of a computer. We're affected by mass brainwashing that would be a lot more difficult outside of a computer. The AI might be able to stabilize things, but that doesn't mean none of it will happen again.

Do whatever you think is best, Scott. [The part gone unspoken is that Morph is going to do the same.]

un: user010102

[computation]

I think I'm in the STEM club and I say we help it back up its memory and then reset it.

Want to help?

[laserguy]

[She thinks she's in the STEM club?? Okay... but more importantly--]

I want to help.

[This is the option he's wanted, right? Possibly find a way to help the AI and reset this world. He's gonna listen to what she may have.] Are we meeting somewhere?

[computation]

[ She kind of hacked her way in and invited herself. But hey, she has a real invitation from Peter now, so it's official. ]

Not yet but we're working on a plan!

I'll put you on the list. We'll be in touch when we're ready to move out.

[laserguy]

[He's feeling a little more optimistic but also.]

Dude it would be nice to know some details or ideas about what you got planned before we move into action.

[computation]

Oh, you want an explanation?

[ Look, not everyone needs an explanation to operate. Those are her favorite kind of accomplices. But Root respects someone else who, like her, needs to know at least the picture of the plan. ]

Okay. We're going to make a back up, I'll do a little look around to make sure everything's kosher, and then we'll let her decide which parts she wants to restore after the reset.

[laserguy]

[Oh! That was easy. He half-expected for her to not really answer, but this is nice. Okay... a back up, he knows what that is, and huh, are they already calling the AI thing 'her?' Sure, fine, Scott has no real opinion about that.]

So, we're hoping that we can find a way to talk to her at the terminals and hope that she's at least stable enough to decide those things? I know you're still working the details out, but is there anything I should prepare? Or a way I can help?

[computation]

[ Root wasn't planning on moving to female pronouns for the AI already, but she's not going to be upstaged by anyone else (Ragna) getting to it first!! Anyway, Scott immediately adapts to it and has very thoughtful questions.

He is instantly slated in the "reasonable and precocious teen boy" category with Shinji. ]

I know we have a way to talk to her at the terminals, and I'll make sure she's stable enough to be making decisions for herself before I do the restore.

You could do some scouting around the locations on the map she provided. Not all of them will be correct, but we'll need to travel fast once we're ready to move.

un: user010102

[computation]

It's kind of cute how confident you are that where you come from qualifies as real and this doesn't.

Cute and deeply flawed.

[mightymorphin]

Sorry, are you used to crazy weather like meteors appearing and blinking out of existence, or the locals walking through walls and being unable to hold a conversation? Because this place was a hell of a lot more stable when I got here!

Where I'm from, when the laws of physics are broken it's because someone's using a superpower or some strange tech. You know, there's a source for it that's possible to find?

[computation]

Your argument is that your experienced reality has been seamless, therefore that qualifies as real?

[mightymorphin]

Fine, you want me to put it another way? 'We are in a computer, so something has to exist outside of the computer.'

This isn't about philosophy! This is our lives I'm talking about here.

[computation]

I fundamentally disagree that talking about philosophy is distinct from talking about lives. But it must be nice to feel so certain.

[mightymorphin]

At least I'm not a condescending asshole that wants a philosophical debate while we're trying to make life-changing decisions. Go start a book club somewhere else.

[computation]

True, a book club might actually discuss things instead of serving as a real time representation of confirmation bias.