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 Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:10 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 5:12 pm
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"Alright, man. Thanks." Devon replied to Dante, then hesitantly tore himself away from the terminal. He wanted to listen, but time was running thin. If Caretakers really were there, Chris's chance of survival may have just dropped 50%. He felt along his pockets and belt for everything as he walked, satisfied when he detected many explosives and a pistol. By the time he got back to the entrance, nearly everyone and everything had been moved outside.
There were about a dozen vehicles parked atop the sand-less dunes, most of them possessing similar size and shape to refurbished military tanks and trucks. The treads had been ripped off and replaced by huge tires, gun shafts were replaced by a larger passenger capacity and driver's station. People were already piling inside, with a few trying to coordinate how many should be divided between each vehicle. Devon climbed into the back of one of the trucks, prepared to act as defense if they were to be pursued. He watched as the three Northerners entered their suits, as the giant machines revved to life. He had only been a child when the war destroyed everything, but the sight of those suits reminded him of the glory this world once held. A deep sorrow lurked inside when he realized it would never quite be the same again.
The truck began to pull forward, and the familiar hills of West sunk away. It was a sensation shared by many in their faction at the time; the feeling of finality, of losing everything. In their hearts, they knew this would be their end. Devon felt it the worst, having been the only one to know of the Caretakers' involvement. He'd come to terms with his own mortality long ago, but that made it no easier when actually faced by a death sentence. He slumped back against the metal frame, eyes cast to the grey-but-sunny sky. She jumped into his thoughts then, the broken woman he'd met a few days prior. Eva. There was something odd about her, and he couldn't quite identify it. Not like the Northwesterners, not like the Caretakers, not like anything he'd ever seen. Just...different.
"Please don't do this." Eva's voice rang out in his head, a sort of plea. "They'll all die at this rate, if what Scarlet sees is true. Chris, Devon, all of them..."
• • •
It took her by surprise when Devon replied, "We have to, Eva. They took one of ours, and who knows what they'll do next."
Eva looked all around her, even stood up to search, but saw no signs of the man. What Devon had heard in his head were just mere thoughts of hers, not direct communication. The panic and anger swelled up inside, and it was by accident that Eva verbally responded, "But it's not worth the sacrifice!"
She glanced up at the others in the lab, all of whom were now staring at her. The woman's face flushed a vibrant red, and tears formed at the edges of her eyes. She sobbed once involuntarily, then dashed off back into the cavern they'd come from.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:02 pm
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Eva already had Lukas's attention when she spoke mentally to Devon... Several other more powerful and sensitive Northwesterners had heard it too. The verbal outburst just confirmed his suspicions.
He looked to Isabella.
{You think...?}
{It is possible for someone to unlock their abilities without the full training... or even any training at all. Before the war the idea of such abilities was repressed by social programming... There's not much of that now.}
{Should we try and train her at least?}
{I don't know if we can... trust her. Not in the 'she means us harm' sense, but... she doesn't seem to think much before she acts, yes? Defiantly a wind type.}
The two thought about this.
{She will have a part to play in the coming conflict. Even if she doesn't pick up the sword or shield.} I finally piped in weakly.
He looked down at me.
{How do you know that?}
{I just... do.}
{If you know that in your heart to be true, my daughter... so will you.}
{But I'm... 12...}
{We will all have our parts to play upon this stage. The ones who are seen are simply the ones who are given... or take the biggest roles... But roles or not, we must prepare. Offer her training. If she wishes it, we will set up lessons. Scarlet, I wish for you to accompany her if she accepts. But YOU Scarlet need to train, even if she doesn't accept. Rest and heal, my daughter, for we do not have much time and your training will be rigorus.}
Lukas lifted me up and held me out to Isabella. She held me close and turned, walking away, heading at a slower pace back to the cavern Eva and I shared. Her gentle pace rocked me back and forth, and the sound of her heartbeat lulled me to sleep.
~~~
Isabella strode into the cavern, pausing a moment to observe before heading tot he bathroom. She stepped inside and gently woke the dozing scarlet, telling the girl to bathe.
She then retreated from the bathroom, looking around for Eva.
~~~
Lukas then looked back to the screen. His face was grim and set.
If North or West needs our aid... we will gladly offer it.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:55 pm
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She was tucked into the small corner between counters in the kitchen, curled up as tightly as was physically possible, head leaned against the cavern wall. Her face was still reddened and damp with tears. Every part of her ached in some way. Her muscles, her wounds, her scar, her mind, her heart... They throbbed with the pain of being broken. She could imagine the fault lines in her flesh, the empty black void of missing pieces. The largest void would be her face, with not just that dreaded scar but two sullen eyes. She felt like the mirror she'd shattered in the simulation.
Eva heard Isabella enter with Scarlet. She wiped away the moisture, her hand settled on the X. It would always haunt her, would always be there. But to her... it validated her existence. As if the robot's blade had slashed not through flesh, but her own disillusionment. Now, no matter where she turned, the world was bleak and grey and lifeless. Every new discovery, every new face, everything brought pain. She was tired of hurting. Eva's hand reached around on the counter above her blindly, and closed around the handle of a knife. She pulled it down to her, examined her reflection on the blade. Even to the naked eye, it was clear how distraught she was inside.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:18 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:33 pm
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Eva sighed. She set down the blade, but never stopped staring at her reflection. She watched how every muscle moved, how the shadows cast over her face. The strangest face to her had been her own, as it kept changing every time she saw it. The first time, it was odd due to the realness. Now, it was odd because of the emotion that contorted it.
She knew she couldn't hide the truth for long, and spoke to Isabella as if she'd already told her, "The voices? Last night. I heard him right before I fell asleep. I thought I'd imagined it... No, I hoped it was my imagination." She shook her head, "I can't take this. I wanted the truth, and the truth is too much for me..."
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:09 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:07 pm
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Eva pulled herself up into standing, squeezed through the tiny opening. She wobbled over to the bottom bunk and sat down, rubbing her forehead sorely. "I just...I don't know what to trust, to believe anymore." She started, "...He betrayed me, he let this happen. Raowan said that he had his reasons, and that he'd come back for me, but I just... I can't trust him. But I want to." She sniffled, but held back the tears this time. She still avoided Isabella's gaze, "I thought this world would get better. I thought all the factions were peaceful...and now this happens. And the Caretakers — aren't they supposedly helpful? How can they help while they kill thousands? Nemesis and Genesis... I heard Mr. Ameras mention them developing souls. I didn't think such things were possible." She closed her eyes, swallowed the sore lump in her throat, "I've had these images flash in my head, and I don't know what they are. Memories, I think. But I had one of a storm, and Odessa said it hadn't stormed since the war. I can't tell which ones are real, nor really of what they are. I can't trust my own mind. I can't trust the people I once had. I can't trust this goddamn existence." Eva finally looked to the woman, shaking her head, "Is the simulation really all that evil, if it saves people from this insanity? Is it evil for them to want us to live in absolute bliss?"
She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to hold in all the misery. Her whole body shook, "I don't k-know my family. I don't know a-anyone. I d-don't even know myself. I-I'm scared of what I am or c-could b-become... I feel myself f-falling a-apart at the seams, and I don't k-know how to stop. I'm tired of hurting."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:47 am
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Isabella sat down on the bunk next to Eva, thinking about what the girl had said. She didn't look directly at Eva. Isabella opened her mouth for a second, closed it, opened it again, before finally settling on a train of thought. She needs something to comfort her... The woman thought.
W-well... This Rowan betrayed you, yes? What, exactly, did he do? Why did he do it?
She squeezed her eyes in thought.
As for all of the factions being peaceful... it is... difficult for humans to truly get along. There will be always those who seek wealth, or power, or pleasure... and not care about who they trample in their way of getting it. Others will find problems with the way others do things-- and desire to 'put them on the right path' even if it means that they go to violence to do so. We, Northwest, have managed to teach our members to find, at the very least... Satisfaction. We do not prevent them from being a smith... or a warrior, a toymaker, or a cook, or even a cartoonist! We let them do what what makes them happy. What sings to them.
She then paused, thinking.
And... some people can't handle living a lie. She shook her head.
The Caretaker's violence is partly the revolutionaries fault. Back when the war ended, the world was desolate, when there was no revolutionaries, no factions... No nothing. They tried to rebuild society; what was left of the world's governments. They did. But they were... too corrupt. They couldn't do it. They didn't want to invest the time to help, not even to roll up their sleeves to build a house.
They turned to technology for the solution. They made the Simulation-- they made it to be perfect. Then they ordered everyone to line up in the fields and accept the serum they used to insert the survivors into the simulation.
But there had been others. Others who were trying to build society on their own-- by using what they were given, what they had... what was left. They resented their work being stopped because others were too lazy to help. Others couldn't handle the tech-- people like us Northwesterners find it extremely uncomfortable, and thus we seek to leave it. Even some of those with talents that haven't been trained in the mystic arts will still find the simulation's reality to feel wrong, unreal, and will seek to find what is... or break what isn't. Scarlet, even with her memories erased, sought what was real. Odessa knew what was real and what wasn't; she was able to handle it.
Perhaps if they had given the people a choice; stay in the real world, or live in the simulation... perhaps there wouldn't be the revolutionaries. There would just be people, doing what people do. But they didn't. And thus the revolutionaries were created, and they attacked the caretakers, destroyed them. And thus they had to program the Caretakers how to fight... How to kill.
She then thought about what Eva had said.
A storm... are you sure Odessa said it hasn't stormed? She might have said it hadn't rained since the war... that is true... But the watchers have noticed whirlwinds and tornadoes in the distance. But the recent Rainstorm is the first in three decades.
As for robots developing souls... I suppose that's one way of putting it... Not entirely the best way of saying it tho. It is impossible to create, or develop a soul. If robots could do it, then they could mass produce them, and all robots would have souls. Even ourselves, us humans... we cannot make souls. We... accept them. But... maybe... just maybe... it's possible for a robot to become a vessel capable of holding one. But... if a robot doesn't have a soul, it cannot truly understand something given to all creatures that do have souls... free will. Heh... Infact... some humans don't understand that concept.
Isabella scratched her head.
The simulation, on it's own, isn't... evil. It is what it is, the way a computer is what it is, the way our clothes are what they are, the way a knife is what it is. You cannot fault it for being what it is-- a virtual reality.
But...
If we spent our entire lives in there, inactive, how would humanity continue? Everyone would slowly die off, one by one, and with no one, um.... copulating, where would more humans come from? We would all slowly die, until all that is left is the machines that maintained us.
She stopped and chewed on the inside of her lip.
You are... 20, yes? You are younger then the simulation then... about 5 years... your parents must have lived here in the real world then. I don't trust that they'd put you in the care of your real family if that's the case...
She rubbed her forehead.
I can't say the pain will go away. For some it never does. Some however... grow used to it... ignore it... push through it... we, Northwestenrs... we accept the pain. If you want me too, I can take some of the pain for you. The physical pain, at least. The wounds of the mind and heart are the hardest to cope with... And the hardest to take. But it would be less for you to deal with.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:28 pm
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"The security system was triggered by a few Corrupted — they managed to slip into the programming gap made earlier by Nemesis." Genesis explained to Raowan, again sitting across from the guardian at their usual meeting place, "One was deciphering the code, and it was another's destructive action that led to the actual lock-down. We still have not mended the anomaly in its entirety, but have successfully terminated approximately 53 Corrupted since the activation."
Raowan nodded once, but didn't seem the least bit satisfied. He glanced up to the crowds, watched as a woman was being escorted down an alleyway by a Caretaker. Her fate would be death, and most everyone knew it by now, but it was the Caretakers' obligation not to upset the public. The guardian averted his eyes as a fresh wave of nausea swept over him, "Genesis... where's Eva?"
The AI tilted his head, gave a smile of optimism, "Ah, Raowan... you've asked the single question I don't yet know the answer to. I'm sure she's fine. Probably needed some time to herself, to think everything through."
He hated this answer. It was a mixture of panic and anger that filled his voice, "Bullshit. You know damn well where she is. You have to."
All emotion drained from the AI's face, and those grey eyes rested heavily upon the guardian's. All humanity abandoned this being, leaving behind just the empty shell that it was, "Your own hands took part in my creation, Raowan. You know that I cannot lie, and most importantly, that I cannot kill her. It would be against the system's well being for us to terminate her. Not even Nemesis could, for it is even in her best interest to maintain Eva's life. It is for all of us." Genesis saw the pain crawl into the man's face, and looked away. "I am sorry it had to happen this way, I really am. I will know of her location when the time is right. It won't be immediately, but soon..."
• • •
Eva had heard every word, but chose not to respond. She glared ahead at the opposite wall, letting her pain and frustration focus on something inanimate. The last thing she needed would be for Isabella to hate her. As the feeling seeped away from her, she ceased crying and shaking altogether. Numbness. This sensation was something she'd never felt in the simulation, but grew so accustomed to in the recent days. Eva spoke with a dull voice, "I just... I want to belong somewhere. Anywhere." She let out a rueful chuckle, "This whole time I've felt so out of place, so isolated. Like this world never intended for me to live. But I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the pain, the conflict, the confusion."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 7:30 pm
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Isabella looked to Eva.
They are things us all must be burdened at some point. If you wish... we can help you, or at least try. Even if your place is not among us, we will try and help you find your place.
The door to the bathroom opened, and I stumbled out in a bathrobe, looking slightly stronger then before.
H-Hi Eva. H-Hi Ma.
I shuffled over to the top bunk, and I grabbed the blanket and pillow off of them. I pulled them down with a yank then sent me falling onto my butt, covering me with the blanket. Isabella chuckled. I moved around under the blanket for a moment, before getting up, not bothering to remove it from my head, I dragged the pillow over to a certain spot on the cavern floor. The floor was moist here, and I lied down the blanket and the pillow before lying down on my back on the ground, my body straight, arms out, and feet out... looking almost like a cross. I breathed in deeply, and the cool stone felt comforting. I felt the energy flow through me, if not revitalizing me, at least letting the pain from the seeing ebb away.
Isabella smiled at this.
Mother Earth heals those who ask for healing.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:09 pm
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:35 pm
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Isabella opened her mouth to respond... and paused. She looked confused, as she tried to sort out what Eva meant.
Killing...? Um... The woman stumbled over her words for a moment, before settling on a train of thought. We do get individuals who come from other factions or the VR who wish to learn our arts for violence... to kill. But these people... their motivations are rage, revenge, insanity... generally, not content at all. And, while it is true, if one is skilled enough in their path, it could be very well used for taking lives. But it's not meant to fight. The art of motion is... motion. It is not a martial art, not a style of combat. If used against another, it becomes not a blow but a push. To push your enemy away from you. Those who try to use our ways for violence do not... live long. Usually by their own actions. Out Mysticism teaches us to become content with what we have. Not taking things from others, like others lives. I don't think we've ever had someone content to kill.
Isabella gulped, and rubbed her chin for a moment.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:07 pm
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Eva could see the discomfort in Isabella's expression, "No, no. I'm not like that." She clarified, "At least... I don't think I am. I barely know myself anymore. I just wondered, because it doesn't seem so 'human' to lack greed." She mused. It made sense in her mind; mysticism or not, the basic biological tendencies generally override, and these people were more in-tune with their instincts. People were selfish entities.
She stood up to get a new glass of water, took a few steps forward, then fell over. Eva hadn't even been aware of this until she hit the floor, and found she couldn't move her limbs. She tried to speak, but also failed at that motion. Yet she was perfectly conscious. Something kept flashing at the back of her mind... Numbers. Green numbers. Five, one, three, nine, twenty-one... They continued to scroll faster, until Eva couldn't even recognize them anymore.
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