➤The ✭ Perfect ✫ World ➧➧➤

[Okami Ameras]

I looked down at daddy, and he glanced up at me.

You did a good job making that forest outside daddy!

Glad you approve kiddo. Here, let me show you my research...

Lukas wandered away with me on his shoulders, leaving just Eva, Odessa, and Isabella. Odessa looked around, and Isabella noticed the noticeable lack of work. She cleared her throat.

*ahem* BACK TO WORK! She shouted at a surprising volume for such a little woman.

Everyone went back to work.

Isabella then turned back to Eva and Odessa.

Odessa, before you return to your duties, please show Eva to a room. We can give her a tour of the HQ when it's not so stormy, and when it's not quite so cramped in here.

Odessa nodded.

Yes mother.

Isabella headed back to the jeep, and Odessa nodded to Eva before leading the way to one of tunnels that branched off from the main cave.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

Eva followed after Odessa, eager to be out of the workers' way. She was careful to memorize which tunnel they were entering, in case she were forced to find her way back alone. She liked this place; it was more friendly in atmosphere, hospitable. It seemed safer, too. West was more militarized, and really showcased the hardship of this torn world. Northwest was a break from it all.
"Is the whole place like that lab? This is worlds different from West. It almost doesn't feel like the outside world is a dead wasteland..." She grimaced.  

[omgIisonfiyah]

"Well, I heard about Nemesis going berserk and trying to off someone without authorization. Know anything about that?" Virgil asked simply, loving juicy news, especially with the Caretakers.  

[Okami Ameras]

Odessa smiled.

We try to make it so. We work to make it so it's no longer a dead wasteland. Lukas, our dad, is the one who managed to get all of those plants to grow on the surface. Mom, Isabella, a mechanic, as you can see. She also works with rock, soil, and metal to figure out how to get the radiation out of the ground without a super lengthy process. Their work made it safe to grow food in Northeast and Southeast. Thanks to them, the farms have grown immensely and they can distribute more food among the Factions. A few years ago, supplies were so tight that it was a meal a day. Some of the other factions wasn't so lucky.

Odessa nodded.

I myself am a tech specialist. I came up with the modern microchips that West uses. I'm currently working on a way to get in and out of the VR that creates an avatar for the user. Up until now, if someone get killed with or without a microchip in there, they're dead. I think I've come up with a way that if you get killed in the VR you simply get ejected.

Odessa gave a sly smile. It'd allow for Resistance members to be bolder, at least when fighting Guardians and Caretakers within the system. It's still a prototype tho. There's still a few things needed to be tested.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

"Ah," Raowan nodded, "Yes... I analyzed the unit's data after the fact. It was odd, to say the least." He rubbed the back of his head, "I'm unsure of the trigger, but Nemesis somehow managed to deviate from the logical algorithms, forgoing efficiency and orders for personal desires. Almost as if the AI developed emotions and a soul. I've only ever seen all but small hints of this phenomena in Genesis, as he occasionally escapes directives involving human death. But we have enough safeguards installed in his pathways that I doubt such a thing could repeat itself."
He glanced out of the tall window, watching the two Caretakers fixing the void off in the distance, "They're currently trying to recreate the Nemesis AI. Adding more safeguards and stricter rules this time, of course. They're also switching from the portable unit to a stationary server, something that can be shut down manually if the need arises. I'm not yet sure whether this plan is beneficial or detrimental to us... If she defies the coding again, god knows what could come of it."

• • •

Eva listened, and tried to imagine each of these situations in her head. The forest being expanded, chasing away the grayness. The world a few years ago, how tough it must have been. Odessa's last statement was what intrigued her; the ability to separate oneself from the virtual existence. Her eyes were wide with wonder, "Wow...this place is responsible for lots of important developments. Do the other factions ever fight over your resources and inventions?"  

[Okami Ameras]

Odessa paused for a moment, rubbing her chin.

I... I don't know. They don't attack us directly in any case. We're too valuable, and they know it. Each Faction has it's part to play. I would hope that they don't fight amongst each other because of us. It's also why we're set so far away from the VR system. We don't want the caretakers coming and ruining everything. And if they do come...

Odessa laughed. It sounded kind of wicked as the woman contemplated the horrific nightmare that this place would present to an army of robots... or any army, for that matter.

Everyone here has been trained in combat. One form of long range, one form of melee. They'd find themselves on unfamiliar turf, with unpredictable humans that work very well as a team... If I was a caretaker faced with that I'd scurry right back to the VR fields.  

[CrypticCat]

[[ I know I'm probably bugging you guys but does anyone have any suggestions on how I should jump in with Abe? XD should I start in the real world or the VR? ]]

 

[omgIisonfiyah]

"Well that sounds like a big problem, I'd think that should Nemesis go berserk again, you would want to make it so it can't alter things in here in order to give it an unfair advantage, that way it makes it easier for us or one of the other Caretakers to disable or Derezz it." Virgil said thoughtfully. Knowing how hard it would be to take on a Caretaker alone, with two or three people there it was possible until it changed something, but not impossible, but one on one was more like a death sentence.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

"Well, knowing how greedy people are, I wouldn't doubt the possibility..." Eva said in a saddened tone, suddenly thinking of the commercialism in the VR. How ruthlessly competitive people were in the workplace for money and recognition. She hated that side of humanity, and to a degree, had also fallen to temptation. Her mood picked up slightly with the second half of the conversation, "Then...if all of your members are trained, this faction could also double as an army if the need arose, right? I mean, I doubt anything will happen, but..."  

[Okami Ameras]

((Oo, like your avi. Eva in armor, perhaps? ~runs off to make Scarlet in armor~ What do you think?))

Odessa nodded.

Yes, we can be an army if need be. A damn good one too, I would like to believe. But nobody really knows or believes that. They see tech come from us. They see ways to remove radiation from soil, they see ways to heal animals and humans, and to make plants grow quickly and strong. Hell, we've even got to work on manipulating the weather!

She smirked.

They don't want to believe that this place houses a small army trained just as well as old U.S. Marines. And a few units of those men fought and held an archipelago of islands from an entire Japanese army, including kamakazi bombers and shock troops and all that stuff.

Odessa had a slightly amused smirk on her face now.

We train the body, and the mind. We train our people to work effectively as a team, as well as alone. We train our people to get the full use out of our bodies, and our most important tool we have. She tapped her temple.

She paused.

OY! YEW! Odessa! Came the male voice of someone with a very thick Scottish accent.

Odessa turned and looked back, to see a very short, bald, scruffy, but frail looking man approach at a run. He wore a too large lab coat that he couldn't seem to fill(which dragged behind him) and most of what he was wearing was obscured by a very large and oddly shiny beard.

She looked down at him.

Minion 47?

The scruffy little man glared at her.

Sorry, dad's rubbing off on me. What's up Muffin?

Oone o' West's peyple goot intae th' cooding o' the Vrr. Weh thin' he'z goona mess wit' th' cooding!

Odessa stopped in her tracks.

Is the man a programmer?

Weh doon't knoo. Why weh came tae find ye.

Odessa turned and ran down the hall, suddenly swearing very loudly. The short little man followed on her heels.

If he messes with the wrong code not only will the world break but everyone will be trapped in computer generated oblivion!  

[Hiddochi wolf]

((Thank you. ^_^ Yeah, I was trying to get an idea of what kinda thing she'd create for herself in the VR later on. She's not gonna be a damsel in distress for too much longer... ninja And awesome! biggrin ))



Eva found herself enticed by that idea, of one's own body being the greatest weapon. She was about to say something, but then the small man came, and Odessa was led away. She started to follow, but stopped in her tracks. It occurred to her who it probably was in the programming.
She calmly sat down against the cavern wall, pouring all of her focus into the microchip. It felt heavy in her head, until all weight was lifted in the transition.

• • •

She heard voices and TV static. One of the voices was Raowan;
"The only problem with removing its administrative rights is the AI's own purpose... The whole reason they exist is to correct anomalies in the programming, and how else would Nemesis be able to achieve such without the right to edit?"
Eva winced at the robot's name. She opened her eyes to find herself in the living room, and Raowan out in the foyer with another guardian. She stood up silently, trying not to attract their attention. How would she sneak out, if they were near the closest door? Eva crouched down behind the sofa, concentrated. She would need to use the microchip, somehow. She remembered early that morning, when Genesis was there, when she felt herself sinking downward. She needed to replicate that.
The furniture began to rise, or rather, she began to fall through the floor. Eva panicked at first, almost canceling the action, but realized that she'd succeeded in the replication. She sunk just low enough to be in between the first floor and the basement, keeping up the intangibility long enough to crawl out of the mansion's boundaries. She rose again, a small distance away from the house, hidden behind a spherical shrub. Eva looked up to the pitch-black sky, to the shrinking gray void with the two glowing Caretakers. That was where she needed to go.

• • •

The beta layer was seemingly infinite. Nothing but gray emptiness and flowing data streams. Devon had created himself a computer terminal, and typed feverishly to decipher the 5,000,000 digit code. Occasionally he would glance over to a human-shaped glowing recess in the wall, where data streams were flowing into and gradually solidifying as the being's body. It was the recreation of Nemesis, being coded by people outside of the virtual world. He didn't have much time; in a few hours, the AI would be complete.  

[Okami Ameras]

(( Why do you think Scarlet offered to take Eva to Northwest? They can... offer such training. Also... There is a part of Northwest that has been studying armor, and not that ugly Kevlar stuff RL too. I know they could make something like what the girls are wearing on our avi's. They really could be called an army, With weapon smithing, Armor crafting, weapons training and martial combat combined, ontop of all the biological restoration.))

Odessa looked back. Eva wasn't following? Good. She ran faster.

A moment later she darted into the VR room, stripping off her clothing. This revealed that underneath her clothing was the black VR suit. She grabbed her helmet and stuffed into onto her head, before running into the room.

Around her, the yellow lines faded and the black dissolved. She was standing in the field, below the grey void. Vanished into a ghostly intangible state, rising upward carefully. She needed to slip past... sneakily.

She didn't think the Caretakers would understand her goal.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

Eva saw a brief glimpse of someone ahead, before they vanished altogether. She didn't dwell on the thought, however, and started to run. She focused on the microchip again, feeling for it with her conscience. The scenery suddenly sped up around her into a colorless blur, until she halted, exiting warp. She had stopped not quite underneath the hole, but close enough. When she looked up, Metamorphosis was already descending upon her, armed with a blade. The robot slashed, Eva's arms shot up in defense, and a pinkish-purple barrier blocked off the attack just in time. She fell back onto the ground in surprise, then rolled off to the side to avoid another attack. Meta halted suddenly, her head whipped back in the direction of the void. She had sensed something.
As the robot leapt back into the air toward the unseen intruder, Eva tried to shape her barrier into something else. It shifted, transferring to her arm, then extended into something reminiscent of a whip. She lashed out, hooking it around the robot's bladed arm, then used all of her minuscule strength to throw the enemy into a hillside. Eva took the chance to jump upward, then entered warp in mid-air. She shot straight up, the world a blur until her eyes briefly met with Genesis's. He did not appear hostile, yet not friendly, either. Just...disappointed. Soon, even he left her sight, as she passed through the void.


Devon whipped around to face the new arrival, readied for a battle. It started as just a gray blob, then refined into Eva's details. She fell to her knees on the floor, eyes wide as she stared at the man, "You would not believe what I just did..."
He relaxed immediately, "Eva~! You came~!" He chimed out happily, "Annnnd...I'm guessing it has something to do with those 'bots out there. Yeah, they're not nice. I tried to hack 'em earlier, but apparently they're running on a separate server. Sneaky bastards..."  

[Okami Ameras]

A second later, Odessa formed into the Void as well, having more easily snuck past the caretakers. (thanks to Eva's distraction)

She floated in the void, looking around at the grey emptiness. Her eyes fell on Devon and Eva.

So... you're the one who managed to get past the Caretakers. She floated over to the terminal he had been using. Her golden eyes in the VR weren't hostile, but her expression said that at the moment it was all business. May I ask, right off the bat... do you know what you're doing?  

[Hiddochi wolf]

Devon grew serious as Odessa arrived. He nodded, "Yes, I figured out the pattern months ago. Each new set begins with a multiple of 53, keeps increasing, then goes inverse every 100,000th digit. After 5 million numbers, it should unlock... that's when I can eject the PAs and shut it down. My only problem is time..." He gestured over to the forming robot, "That thing's gonna be done in the matter of an hour or two, and I'm only on the 877,956th digit. Can't delete it, either — I've tried."

Eva walked over to the glowing mass, curiosity piqued as the lines of numbers shaped into its armor. She examined her own hand, 'Is this really all we are? Hardened rows of text?' Her eyes fell upon the machine's semi-formed chestplate, where the word 'NEMESIS' was being etched. Something flared inside of her, a combination of disgust and hatred. Her scar burned as if freshly carved.