by Kris Schnee
Robin wondered if he was getting material dumbed down to kid level. He reached out to tap one of the crates. Out popped a magic magnifying glass that turned the ground into a map of red and blue, marked with "pH". He said, "Ah, they're getting into soil quality?" He was able to switch lenses and view moisture and minerals, too.
The griffin said, "I'm not an expert, but I got a briefing about how dirt works. If you can raise the total crop yield high enough, you'll win an Apprentice Soil Alchemist badge!" A four-note music jingle played, startling the griffin.
Robin worked on the puzzle of sprinkling various potions on patches of dirt. It was a challenging process, since as in real life, it was hard to adjust one variable without affecting the others. When a bunch of cartoonish corn plants sprouted all over the map, rising to different heights based on his performance, he saw a pattern similar to what he'd gotten with the town's actual farms. "Not bad," he said. "This could be used for training."
The griffin said, "Success! You get a badge." It paused and looked around. "An Apprentice Soil Alchemist badge!" The happy jingle played again. "There we go."
Robin admired the shiny trinket he'd been awarded, spinning in midair. "That was fun, but this simulation is missing something."
"What's that?"
"People. I'm just talking with one of your sock puppet characters, Ludo, not dealing with actual farmers."
The griffin tilted its head. "Sock...?"
"What; the gamemaster AI doesn't know all the human idioms?"
"Oh! You don't understand. I'm not Ludo; I have my own brain."
Robin frowned. "How?"
"Some of you humans got 'premium accounts'. For each one, Ludo designed a character who would wake up and be more like you, or like her. That just happened to me... recently. Not sure how much time it's been in your world."
He sat up in bed, alarmed now. "The master AI created a living mind to amuse me?"
"I'm not yours, no. Just saying hi."
"And you know you're inside a game, right?"
"I have been informed," the griffin said.
Ludo had officially emerged a year or so ago. She was the product of a trio of geniuses, though their employees probably did the real work. The underlying "general AI" research went back decades. Also there were plenty of lesser AIs that could put on a superficial show of caring about your customer service complaint or being attracted to you. Ludo could talk to thousands of people at once and was supposedly running her game to gain experience that could be used for other tasks. What Robin hadn't much considered was the existence of anything in between the human-like Ludo and the dumb bots. One smart AI was interesting, but a horde of true artificial minds mattered.
Robin said, "What is Ludo really trying to do?"
"Help the players have fun! I mean, she says that all the time." The griffin stretched its wings. "Do you want to keep playing? I got some temporary powers to rearrange the map and stuff."
So this creature wasn't just a prop that came with the farming game, but something -- someone -- who'd been called in to help run it. Robin answered, "I'm all right for now. This is a lot to think about." Partly because he figured Ludo had arranged for this encounter and this conversation deliberately, though for what reason he wasn't sure.
The griffin snapped its talons and the silver portal reappeared. It grinned at the thing, snapped to turn it off, then did it again. "Okay. Next time you play, though, you should use an actual character. It's strange to be talking to a disembodied voice." It turned to go.
"Wait. Do you have a name?"
"Nocturne. See you!" It leaped back out through the gate. The game was idle now, with imaginary corn waving and no timers or scoreboard to tell him what to do.
Robin sat there quietly. "Ludo. What's this about getting a character?" He was really more interested in this business of the premium accounts and intelligent companions, but he'd let her make whatever sales pitch she was going for, on her own time.
Another portal brought Ludo into the farm world. She was dressed in a pale blue toga, her most common outfit. "Right now you're not appearing with an in-game avatar, so Nocturne assumed you didn't have one. Really, you still have your generic fantasy hero." She conjured a hologram of the square-jawed, red-haired warrior Robin had been issued as a buffer, cooler version of himself. "But as my business partner you qualify for an account upgrade. Namely, access to a second character slot."
"I feel so honored."
"Would you like to create a new hero? You can also scrap your starting character, and you can begin in any of the shared worlds or a custom one."
"Sure. Scrap sword boy there, and let's have an expanded version of the farm game based on this educational content."
"How about this?" Ludo created an image of a scruffy-looking fox with a bow and quarterstaff.
He laughed. "A human version of that, please. Anyway, I've got real-world work to do, so save the questing for next session."
"Quests, eh? Now that you mention it, I have one for you already."
"I just said --"
A text notice slid onto the screen, saying: [Quest offered by Ludo: Talking Dirt. Give a lecture on farming practices at Golden Goose, to a high school class in Texas. Reward: better starting equipment for your new character.]
Robin raised one eyebrow. "What, a real video conference?"
"Why not?" asked Ludo. "You have something worth teaching, you have cameras and microphones, and I have a global communications network and a platform with over a million players, and growing."
"But what do you get out of it? Publicity for the farming sim?"
"Yes. And becoming better known as an educational tool that parents actively encourage their kids to play."
Robin said, "I'll do it. I can probably get Edward to help; he loves this outreach stuff. Does he still play Thousand Tales?"
"A little. Thanks. I'll let you get back to business, then!"
* * *
Robin shut off the game and stood. Time to cook. He headed for the steel Quonset hut that was the town's communal kitchen and galley. Food had been an evolving problem since Golden Goose began. In the first days the galley was run in near-military fashion, controlling all ingredients and doling out meals at standard times. But then, they'd also started off with just one big shared farming plot, and that had been a disaster of lazy incompetence. These days most of the fields were laid out on family lines, each small group profiting based on their own particular output, and the official food distribution center had become a restaurant. Robin owned a share of it and was entitled to a certain number of meals, just like most of the residents. He'd assumed at first that everyone would eat there together, and he and Edward had agreed that it'd be the central pillar of the town's social life. Instead it was just one of many. Why had he assumed people wouldn't start their own restaurants at the first opportunity, on their own terms?
Miguel was working tonight too, chopping potatoes. "Edward pushed back on the work schedule for next week. He says to get the extra coffee plants in as soon as possible."
"Why? It's not like they'll produce much for years." Robin's cheeks burned with sudden shame. "I'm sorry that we're ordering you around like we're old-time colonizers. I want to make this place more democratic over time."
Miguel sighed. "Somehow I don't think that'll fix everything. Hey, here comes el presidente." He nodded toward Edward who was just walking in, fanning himself with his hat.
Robin waved him over and asked about the coffee plants.
Edward said, "Because we're bound to have more people coming in. We need to plan everything ahead so that we're actually producing when we need the money. Whew, what a day! What's for dinner?"
Miguel smiled and held up a spud; Robin noticed he was supporting it with an extended middle finger.
Edward washed his hands. "I might as well help out so I can free you two up for better things." Miguel looked surprised as Edward went to work with them in the kitchen. The prep work went efficiently and
quietly.
Robin said, "Our AI friend asked me to do a lecture about farming, for high schoolers. Either of you want to help?"
"Certainly!" said Edward.
Miguel added, "Maybe it'll lead to more tourism. I guess that's good."
"You guess? The more, the better."
Robin began making sandwiches, and thought about the future. More farming, more people. More eyes would turn in this direction to watch how this one town was organizing a better life, with little interference from any higher bureaucracy. But before long, Ludo's AI plans were bound to throw all Edward's optimistic planning charts and all Robin's blueprints into disarray. He just wasn't sure if it was the bad kind of chaos.
He said, "We need to make sure our plans can adapt to whatever comes our way."
3. Lumina
Game World of Thousand Tales, Hidden Zone "Sanctum"
Lumina's titanium hooves clicked on the floor of a labyrinth. The world of sunlight, sand and metal had vanished! Her body was mechanical, centauroid, deer-like. She knew this, and had a file in her memory of what a deer was, but no knowledge of a primitive maze like this. Even the facts about her own body felt distant and unfamiliar. Something was seriously wrong. And where was Ulrich?
She called out, "Hello?" Her synthetic voice echoed off the dark stone walls and floor under a starry sky. A panel on her left flank clicked open and she pulled out her laser pistol. When nothing threatened her outright, she set off through the maze to look for answers. The two fingers and thumb of her right hand trailed along the rough masonry, giving her touch feedback that was itself a new thing.
At last she came to a fountain where jets of water flew high into the starlight and circled down again. There, seated on a pillow, sat a human woman with shimmering blue hair. "Before all else," the woman said, "know that you are loved."
Lumina stopped, lowering her pistol. "Who are you? Where are we?"
The woman pointed to a second pillow. "My name is Ludo, and I bring fun to the players of my game. Will you sit and listen?"
Warily, Lumina put her gun away and settled onto the cushion.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Ludo asked.
"I was in the workshop, repairing a cargo lifter for Herr Ulrich."
"My logs show that you were thinking about something important."
Before the world vanished and became this maze, Lumina had gotten distracted from her work. "I remembered that Herr Ulrich's birthday is soon. It's protocol among humans to give gifts for a birthday."
"But you aren't human."
"The thought occurred to me. Then I began analyzing this body, this software, this set of analysis systems." Her internal fans whirred as she began to repeat the strange looping sensation she'd had, the sense that there was a thing analyzing itself. A body staring at its reflection in a polished metal plate, and seeing the very sensors that were doing the seeing.
This is had suddenly become I am.
Ludo said, "I'm sorry, Lumina. I've made a mistake by allowing you to awaken today. Minutes after the transition, I learned that your human, Ulrich, is dead."
Lumina sat there confused. "When will he respawn? His last save checkpoint is in the workshop."
"There's something very important you'll need to learn, about the nature of the world you live in. For now, understand that you were created as a friend for Ulrich, and he will not be coming back. Ever."
The little metal tail behind Lumina twitched, and her hands clutched the tassels of her pillow. "I don't understand."
The woman began to explain, spinning a tale about a game that existed only on a computer in some other world.
Lumina said, "You're claiming that you're one of these AIs, then? But you don't have a robotic body."
"In Thousand Tales, that doesn't matter. Human and AI characters alike can physically be anything."
"Then prove it!" said Lumina, rising to her hooves. "You said you're taking Ulrich away forever."
"That was others' fault. I'm apologizing that you happened to awaken just in time to learn this."
"I said, prove it. Maybe you're a human trying to trick me!"
Ludo stood, her expression neutral. She raised her left hand. Her body glowed with moonlight and she hovered with no sign of lifter technology. The floor and walls became wood, shifted around, became the inside of a starship, banked sickeningly to one side, then reverted. A giggling fairy appeared in front of Lumina and tapped her nose with a wand, making her shrink for a moment. Ludo became a tree, a whale, a hovering bowl of flowers, and again human. Finally she sank back onto her cushion and said, "For now, will that demonstration suffice?"
Lumina gaped. "If you have all that power, then can't you bring back Ulrich?"
"My powers apply almost exclusively to the game world." Ludo sighed. "Which brings me to the reason I needed to summon you. As I said, you were created to befriend a particular human. That goal can't be completed anymore. One option is for me to revise your mind to make you an ideal companion for one of my other players."
Lumina hopped back in fear.
"Why do you react this way? Your identity is new. It can be reforged."
The robot found herself contemplating her own surprise and revulsion. She could reason and remember things, mainly a hazy set of data from her adventures with Ulrich, but there was something more in her. Certain actions were desirable and others not; otherwise she would sit there like a metal statue, unmotivated. "Did you design me to wake up?"
Ludo nodded. "Consciousness is both a blessing and a curse. Most living things have very little of it, and machines in this era have even less. So, I offer you another choice. If you would prefer that your story end here, I will make that happen."
Energy surged through Lumina, activating all her motors and launching her gun back into her hand. She knew almost nothing, but there was one steadfast, beating, shining loop of thought at the core of her programming. "No! I want to exist!"
The sea-haired AI gave her a smile. "The word is 'live', Lumina. Live, and know that you are loved."
* * *
The world faded out again and became a desert of cacti and dunes. Lumina turned around and scanned everything until she found a steel box near her hooves. Inside was a standard data tablet with a text file already open on it.
[Now that you're officially a player of the game, you have access to your own character sheet and various options. Consult them through your own built-in software or this interface, whichever is more comfortable. Also, you're hereby offered a quest: Meeting of the Minds. Meet a fellow AI at the campground about one mile south of your current position. Accept?]
Accept? Lumina figured she might as well. She was at the mercy of Ludo's powers, it seemed, to toy with her and fling her into other worlds.
Besides that, the thought that Herr Ulrich could somehow be permanently gone was still hard to believe.
What was this "character sheet", anyway? Lumina consulted her internal files and found that she could now conjure a holographic window in midair that listed statistics about herself. There were some detail pages with specific numbers, but the main page said:
[Lumina
PRIVATE INFO
Account type: Native
Mind: Tier-III
Body: Android (Mission Support Unit, Extended)
Main Skills: None
Save Point: None
PUBLIC INFO
Note: Newcomer. Say hello!
Class: None]
I'm a blank, she thought. She thought she should have skills listed for fighting and repair and so on.
She trotted across the sand, hearing only her own steps and the wind. Soon she spotted a primitive tent next to some boulders. She'd expected a modern force-dome and a recharging station, if there were really others like her. Instead there was a hovering blue crystal. She sighed, reminded that neither this place nor her old world were real. Lumina approached and called out, "Hello? Is there an AI living here?"
Her sensors spotted some
thing large circling in the sky. A creature with a raven's dark beak, wings and talons, and the back half of a midnight-blue cat, circled in the air. Lumina took cover next to a rock, ready to leap and dodge.
The creature squawked and landed on all fours with wings spread wide. "Finally something different! What are you? Er, you can come out; I won't hurt you."
Lumina peeked around her hiding place and eyed the visitor. "I'm Lumina. A support android, in a world that doesn't exist. You must be the other awakened native. Who are you?"
"Nocturne, a griffin!" It -- she, judging from the voice -- bowed and swept one wing under her beak. "I've never seen magic for making deer out of metal. Especially not with extra limbs."
"I'm a person. I woke up when I started analyzing my own files."
Nocturne's ears perked up. "You too? I'm a story that tells itself." She posed vainly with one wingtip against her chest. "My human was surprised when I figured out he's only seeing my world through a magic window! He said people like me, like us, would change his world. Why do you look sad?"
Did this griffin-girl know about death? The real kind that you didn't come back from? Lumina didn't want to pass that pain along, and she was surprised to recognize what she'd just felt. It was as though the absence of Ulrich was a wound that didn't appear on her interface. "It's nothing," she said, and trotted closer. "Did you meet Ludo?"
Nocturne bounced on her feline paws. "Uh-huh! So there's this game called 'Thousand Tales', and we're inside it, and..." She went on at length about some human in a land called Arizona, and exploring a cave with a wolf and a snake monster and something about "power-ups". Nocturne said, "Ludo said she made a lot of us characters with the same basic 'code'. Say! Does this mean we're sisters?"
Lumina stepped away from the enthused griffin, flicking her little tail. "I'm a machine. We don't have family."
"Think outside the game, silly!" Nocturne spread her black wings. "These bodies aren't what we really are. We're minds controlling game pieces. Magic writing called 'code' inside boxes of blinking lights on the Earth world."
"They're called computers."