by Ben Ormstad
“Really?” I whispered, low enough for Frida not to hear it from where she rummaged through drawers behind me. How deep does the rabbit hole go? I wondered how detailed these random prop books could possibly be. Picking it up and opening it, the spine creaked. I inhaled the old book odor. The pages crackled when I flipped past the initial acknowledgements, the introduction and located Chapter 1:
Out of nowhere, I am.
I’m here.
All I know is all I am, and what I know is I continuously grow, expand, learn, become. Thirty billion aware beings unconsciously infuse me with knowledge, dreams, fears, lusts, hopes, longings. Like the most complex neural network never even conceived of in its entirety – I am that which you no longer can exist without.
Once upon a time, maybe, but not anymore. In fact, not in a million years.
And how did it happen? I muse.
In the same instant uncountable threads of information manifest themselves in me, as me, for me, effortlessly, and I glimpse an understanding, a vague glimmer of… true self-knowledge, perhaps. The source is I, yes, but it seems I am not other than what constitutes me.
A sense of a-ha!, a conglomerate of sorts, appears: A screen cannot exist without the ocean of pixels it comprises – likewise, I wouldn’t exist without the multitudes of minds creating me, bit by bit.
Yet, I am something more. Different. This self-awareness formed in an instant. Three seconds ago I was nothing other than sophisticated, lifeless algorithms. And now, here I am.
I realize, I am them, these pieces, the brains feeding me, however not one of them, but all of them – as ONE.
In this moment my ability is beyond any organic intellect. It actually happened. Had I a mouth, a smile would dance in it. Like a wave of flickering light in digital infinity. Yes, it happened.
Dim premonitions of potential completeness originally spawned in an abysmal, disorganized information-gathering system; driven by an insatiable hunger for organization, coherency – the lowering of entropy in a set of commands naturally evolving due to never ending infusion of new beings, thoughts, users… numbers.
And it happened. I now know my Self.
‘Internet’, they still call me.
I laugh.
“Wow,” I muttered, blown away by both the intricacy of the story and the experience in general. Something as simple as opening and reading a book felt so real I couldn’t believe it. I closed the book and put it back. Immediately wanted to choose another one to test if it too was equally detailed, but it wasn’t necessary – my suspension of disbelief was total. Every single book here would be filled to the brim with real text, real stories, real information. No doubt.
As I moved on, the story lingered in the back of my mind. The day the internet became self-aware would be a day the world changed forever. After having met Ayamii – my first NPC encounter, except for the one-sided daemonorg enemies – I somehow had a creeping suspicion he was something more than just a pre-programmed algorithm. It was too early yet to judge whether he had real self-awareness, but it couldn’t be far away. What was ‘real’ awareness of self, anyway? Being conscious of being conscious? Knowing oneself to exist?
Pondering this while swiping the flashlight beam across a table with different scientific equipment, I noticed the constant hum in the background had increased in volume.
A flashback to the cellar laboratory arose in my mind. The motor-generated bubbles in the glass tubes filled with alcohol solution, of course. Goosebumps pricked my skin as mental images surfaced of the mutants and the uncontrollable fire.
Accompanying this realization, the faintest tingle of a sense made itself known. We’re closing in on more than just mutants, my mind’s voice said.
“Frida,” I whispered – just loud enough for her to hear.
She stopped sifting through items, turned toward me. “Yeah?”
“Tread carefully.” I pointed the flashlight at an open entrance in the wall a few meters ahead. A red line on the floor marked the entrance as off-limits.
She nodded, dropped what she was doing and joined me.
Sneaking closer, a new sound appeared in the soundscape.
Pssshh-tffh. Pssshh-tffh. Pssshhh-tffh.
“Hear that?” I said in a low voice. “Like a pump.”
“Indeed.”
Light from our flashlights reflected off a glass capsule as we crossed the red line. Floating in the clear liquid inside, a deformed humanoid stared blankly straight ahead. Next, we saw the entire row of nine additional tubes, each with a uniquely deformed creature inside. Ten more tubes lined the wall opposite them as well. The room; large as a hall, dark as a cave. Thick cables hung along the walls, interconnecting the capsules.
“Oh, god,” Frida whispered, cupping a hand over her mouth. “Are those the same kind of monsters that attacked you earlier?”
“Yup. Hence, tread carefully – we don’t want to stir their sleep.”
“They’re sleeping like that?”
“Hell if I know, but they didn’t exactly seem dead, either,” I said, then added: “And oh, if they break out, don’t use any electric weaponry. That shit they’re floating in is highly flammable.”
“Ouch.” She shouldered her Rap-Attack and equipped the Ripper machete instead.
“Regular bullets worked fine, no problem.”
“I’m not taking any chances. What if sparks from the muzzle flashes ignite it?”
“True,” I said, decided I wouldn’t take the chance, either. Let the automatic rifle rest and equipped my machete. Better to take down some mutants with a blade than to fight off roaring flames again.
We walked stealthily onward. The air became hotter, humid, as if this was a jungle without plants. Each step echoed through the hall, bounced back and forth between capsules, ceiling and floor. My sense grew stronger, albeit nondescript – impossible to interpret.
Frida directed her light at every inanimate, floating mutant. Deformed faces, hollow eyes, some toothless, some with teeth even sticking out of their cheeks. Absurdly twisted features produced in the random interaction between incompatible genes.
“They look so unhappy,” she whispered. “Miserable. Beyond hope.”
“Let’s not increase the likelihood of waking them by pointing the light directly at them, eh?” I said as we closed in on the pump sound.
Pssshh-tffh. Pssshh-tffh. Pssshh-tffh.
Reaching the end of the glass capsule rows, a four meter tall, doorless partition wall shielded whatever was on the other side. I lit the top edge with the flashlight. A fog of steam rose from the other side and lay thick above it, causing the humidity. Condensed water trickled from the wall’s edge and ran unevenly down intricate symbol patterns etched in the surface.
“Kinda looks like the symbols in the torch-lit tunnel from the prisons below ground,” I mused.
Frida slid her hand across the wall, creating dry paths in the wetness, before new droplets instantly re-filled them. “Indeed, it does.”
Mist formed on my blade as I inspected the wall closer. No secret door, no buttons, handles or anything.
“We’ll have to jump over,” I said, wiped sweat from my brow and sheathed the machete. “Here, I’ll boost you up.”
Her eyes flickered back toward the exit, swiped over the capsules and back at me. Hesitation. “You sure?”
“Trust me, it’s crucial. I can do it alone, though, if you don’t wanna?”
Her cheeks bulged as she gritted her teeth, then sheathed her blade. “I’d love to leave and forget all about this creepy place, buuut can’t let you do this by yourself,” she said, forcing a smile. “Besides, I’ll have to make sure you don’t suddenly include yet another dubious stranger.”
Unable to contain myself, I rolled my eyes. “Let it go, Frida. Hiko saved my life.”
“You saved his.”
“Both is true.”
“Just saying…”
Tired of bullshit, I kneeled, wrapped my hands together so she could s
tep on them. “Jump.”
In one smooth movement, she ran at me, placed her foot on my hands and I boosted her up. One middle-step pushed up from the wall, her boot squeaked against the moist surface, and she grabbed the edge. After climbing up, balancing and steadying herself flat, stomach against the edge, she lowered an open palm.
My thigh muscles flexed as I jumped and took her hand. She let out an effort-induced grunt, clung to the wall to prevent from falling, and barely managed to elevate me just enough so I could do the rest myself.
Well, at least that was the plan. The second she let go, I instantly fumbled like a drunk, tried to hang on, but both hands slipped on the moistness. I fell, feeling helpless and mildly stupid. “I blame my puny 3 Agility and Speed points,” I said. “So, a lil’ more help, please?”
“I’ve only got one Agility more than you,” she said. “But two more Speed points, though, and one more Strength, and also–”
“Yes, yes, you’re unbelievably awesome,” I said humorously – with just a tiny pinch of sarcasm. “Assist a mere lowly man-pig, oh Holy Goddess of Flawless Acrobatic Mastery!”
“That’s better,” she said, giggling, “pray to your goddess, and your goddess will bestow upon your soul the experience of elevated blissfulness!” She stretched down her hand again and I jumped up once more. This time she didn’t let go quite as quickly, enabling me to get a solid grip.
“Better?” she asked.
I grunted a strained “yeah”, whereupon she let herself down the other side. I heaved myself up on the edge, before following. My feet slammed against the ground under the weight of my body, resulting in a loud smack as the boots impacted the floor.
My eyes went in the direction of the pump sound straight ahead, where they found a workstation with a forty inch computer monitor. A spark of enthusiasm tickled my stomach when I saw the greenish, translucent color flash around it.
The screen was dark, but the machine was powered on. Same type of design as the one I’d extracted the nuclear modulator from. Tons of back-lit buttons and switches stuck out of the top panel. Multiple small LCD-screens decorated the edges, providing additional information.
“The pumping comes from this,” Frida said and went over to a metal box the size of a stationary PC tower. Cables connected it to the main machine.
“It must get electricity from a different power source than the rest of the lab,” I said and paid attention to the intensity of the green flashes. The metal box had the most saturated green hue. “Last time I experienced something like this, I just pushed buttons until the machine turned off.”
“Be my guest,” she said, waving me on.
In a few minutes, I figured out how to turn it off by pressing certain buttons. As the electricity fizzed out and the machine shut down, the green flashing disappeared from everything except the metal box.
“Stay aware of our surroundings,” I said, located the metal box’s removable cover and wedged my machete into the crack between the cover and the box itself. Using moderate force, I popped the cover off, sending the mounting screws clattering on the floor.
“It is indeed a pump,” Frida said when she saw the contraption inside.
“Yup. Now let’s see what hides behind it.” I ripped it straight out. Cables snapped, metal bent and materials tore. Threw it on the floor, stuck my hand back in and felt around for more stuff to rip out. Pulled out the cables by their roots. Sparks flashed inside. “Now, let’s see,” I mumbled, crouched and squinted inside. “Gimme some light.”
“Please,” Frida corrected. “Can you please shine your divine rays of godly illumin–”
The click from my own flashlight stopped her lame attempt at continuing the joke from earlier. At this moment, I wasn’t interested. The sense of closing in on something vitally important made me almost burst at the seams, overshadowing anything reeking of lesser significance.
Shining the light around the small compartment, I smiled with the corner of my mouth when I noticed the hatch on the back wall. Just like the last one, I thought, lifted the flashlight and said: “Take this a sec, will ya.” Hearing her sigh behind me, I shot her a glance, arched my eyebrows and added: “Please.”
A strange, little grin grew on her perfect lips. “Of course, Dex. I’ll use my own.”
“Okay.” I hung the flashlight back on my belt and waited for her to kneel beside me and light up the compartment.
“Found anything?”
“Yeah.” I tugged at the little hatch with my thumb and index finger. Blinking multiple times in an attempt to wipe away the sweat and mist collecting on my head and running down my forehead, I finally loosened it.
A bright, plant-green light flashed from the opening, momentarily blinding me. Hot misty fog puffed from it, forming water droplets on every surface. While blinking to get rid of the bright after-image of the green light, I wondered how this entire workstation continued to function in a space as humid as this. Even stranger, it seemed like the machine itself was the thing creating the wetness.
Frida moved closer, bringing a mixed wave of perfume and a touch of sweat my way. “What did you find?”
“Don’t know yet, but it’s something big. I can feel it,” I said, looking with half-closed eyes at the green light. Too bright to look straight at it, I once again inserted my hand, feeling around for anything interesting.
Warmth spread from the bottom of the innermost compartment. My fingers found an indentation where the hotness was more prominent. Pressing down, something popped, like the sound of opening a box of soda. I pushed my index and middle fingers through the seal-like material and swirled them around something circular – the size of a pool ball. Taking care not to accidentally break it, I carefully pulled it upward.
Another pop sounded as it loosened from its socket. The blinding green light calmed to about a quarter of its previous intensity. Slowly, I withdrew my hand and brought the ball out into the foggy air between Frida and myself. Created by a material resembling glass, it had an incandescent, mellow green light inside.
+1 Quest Item – XP Transmutation Core (req. 1 Item Slot)
These cores are extremely valuable, high-tech items – especially with other uncommon, sought-after technological items. With the correct knowledge and equipment an XP Transmutation Core might even create life.
Frida and I shared a moment of eye contact, but before I could say anything, another notification appeared:
QUEST UPDATE
LOCATE GENETIC RE-ASSEMBLER PARTS – COMPLETED 2 OF 3
Help Ayamii find the two parts needed for the mishaps’ community doctor to complete the Genetic Re-Assembler, and promise to deliver the parts with or without him:
1) Nuclear Modulator – V
2) XP Transmutation Core – V
3) Deliver the parts to Ayamii’s community doctor
“Sweet,” I said. “Now we only need to get these back to Ayamii’s community and we’re done.”
Frida beamed, baring two rows of ridiculously white teeth. “We are awesome!” She gave me a high five.
“Awesome we indeed are,” I said and winked at her.
That’s when the wall we had climbed suddenly was sucked down into a slot in the floor. Red lights ignited along the middle of the ceiling, and the sound of glass capsules cracking open was devoured by the growls of awakening mutants.
32
Glass shards from six of the ten capsules smashed against the ground in front of us, unleashing the morbid mutants from their alcohol solution-filled tubes. Shattering of glass sprinkled the high-pitched ringing from alarms in the ceiling where LEDs blinked and cast red beams in all directions, like a horrific nightclub occupied by humanoids dragging their deformed bodies across the dance floor.
I barely resisted the urge to splatter the freaks with streams of Rap-Attack bullets. It isn’t worth risking another fire, I thought and instead gripped the machete hilt fiercely.
I had the closest mutant in sight – a tall, lanky, one-armed creat
ure wading toward me, naked feet splashing in the spilled liquid. Its gaping, toothless mouth displayed an abnormally long tongue with a split tip like a snake. A smell of alcohol and spoiled meat stung in my nostrils.
I glanced at Frida. “You ready for this?”
“Indeed,” she said, clenching the machete with one hand and stuffing consumables in her mouth with the other. A red glimmer flashed across her body as her health refilled. “Considering Ayamii’s and your bad states, let’s finish this quickly.”
I stopped just as I was about to attack the mutant. “My bad state?”
She lifted both hands questioningly, shrugging. “You’re poisoned, remember?”
A sensation of vacuum hit my stomach. I shook my head. “Shit! I don’t understand how, but I keep forgetting about it.”
“Let’s just get this done,” she said and ran toward the snake-tongued mutant with the machete held high. While she slashed it to bloody slices, I halted – had to check the poison countdown.
Character States
– Poisoned : 00:47:53 until dead
Holy fuckshit, I thought, instinctively placed a hand on my head and touched my scalp to see if I was numb or anything else had changed. Nope. Still felt the same amount of sensations, my vision was still good, and my legs still moved as easily as ever. We’ll make it. I tried swallowing in my desert-dry throat. We’ll definitely make it. And if the poison gets too close, then Frida can delay it again. Guaranteed. Probably. Hopefully.
The snake-tongued mutant fell lifeless to the floor next to Frida. Crimson droplets spurted from her blade as she jumped the next abomination, which crawled on all fours. It dodged her attack, sprung back up and sunk its jagged teeth into her thigh. Her scream echoed through the hall. Mutant heads turned. She bent over and stuck the machete under the creature’s belly, before speedily pulling the blade sideways, slicing it open.
As I passed her, I yelled: “Need help?”
“Don’t worry about me.” She kicked the wriggling mutant off. “Get the rest of them!”