audio; un: spartan

[melnik]

[ It has been a couple of weeks now since the successful reset of the terminals. Now, the same voice that was heard trying to rally them all to that task, tired and thick with a Slavic accent, has come to speak over the network once again. ]

Greetings, my friends. Miller here. First of all, I wanted to thank everyone who assisted in our efforts to restore this place to its former self. If it was not for all your cooperation, I am certain things would have gone very differently. It is thanks to all of you that we are still alive.

[ He's proud, really. The change from when he first arrived in this place has been immense. ]

Which is why it is my hope that we can keep this spirit of camaraderie going. There has already been a lively discussion of the visions we encountered at the terminals. Now that it has become clear that there is truly no safe space to hide from the prying eyes of the "Council," I wish to propose a forum for us all to continue sharing information.

[ The creation of the Dark Web was an innovation, to say the least... but can one even really call that secure when the entire world they live in is simulated? Where he's concerned, it's time to be forthright. ]

Allow me to begin with this. I was summoned to the courtroom. Yes – the courtroom. I only recall the inside of the building, but I presume it's one and the same as the new structure in the city center. I have been part of this experiment for eight months now and it is my first time seeing this Jerry face to face. But I can't be the only one who, up until now, seemed to have forgotten that he even existed? So, please... I would like to hear all of your thoughts.

I don't know about all of you, but I didn't try to save that artificial intelligence because I wanted to go back to putting my head in the sand!

( ooc: so long as it's cool with both parties, feel free to threadjack to discuss amongst yourselves! )

Comments

[bulleting]

I don't know. It was somewhat assumed the Council resided inside, since we went in to see them, but even before we knew this was a simulation, I questioned this. After my sentencing, I received a strange image on my tablet that looked like the inside of the Chambers. It showed frames on the walls with images that looked like screens, but they were...wrong. Almost like they were glimpses at this Council, but it was impossible to see who or what they were. It made me wonder, way back then, if they were somewhere else, watching us. It could be their way to connect to the simulation, or control what happens here. Obviously they were able to reestablish it after the building was destroyed, but it had to be an annoyance.

[Sorry, she's rambling her thoughts. She really does need to sit down and write this all out, one of these days.]

[melnik]

[ He definitely doesn't just take it as rambling. This is new information and it seems quite significant, to boot. ]

That is... truly fascinating. I must admit, I've believed for a long time that this "Council" does not exist. At least not in any form that we can choose to interact with. It would not be much of a stretch to take that one step further and assume it is simply a shorthand for the decision-making process of this simulation. But if that process happens to be actual people out in real world...

[ There's a trailing off for a moment there, as though considering the gravity. "Real world" is, of course... also relative. ]

I guess it would explain some things, but I'm really not sure if that would be better or worse than being governed purely by a computer.

[bulleting]

That's still a real possibility. We can't know for sure, and getting more proof that we are residing in a simulation makes that still a reasonable possibility. They might not be people, but other AI programs, designed to judge our actions. We still don't know the full scope of whoever made this and put us here.

[Considering the idea of a simulation was more like magic in her eyes, from a world without such advanced technology, it hadn't been among her top ideas in the beginning, but now, it was impossible to refute that theory, with all the glitches and changes happening in this reality.]

[melnik]

Exactly. [ Though he doesn't love to think about that and it shows by the teeth clenching way it comes out. ]

I can't fucking believe it's been this long and we're still no closer to the truth.