In a way, humanity was never supposed to play god. Evolution had brought them far, but that was only for survival. Troy was decently sure that mastering the atom had nothing to do with getting food. Likewise, learning new methods to kill another man wouldn't bring food to the table. But it still happened in the big world that people lived, and it wouldn't ever stop.
The young man thought that humans just needed to get along. Setting aside differences for the goal of mutual benefit shouldn't have been such a bad deal when the alternative was to wage wars that would never end. Was it because it was different people making the decisions, that the full picture was never seen? Was it not great men that dictated that history needed to be learned from? If so, why were they still holding their finger over the big, red button? Maybe it was because they didn't want to repeat the history of Hamilton, or maybe it was for the opposite. They wanted to win, no matter the consequences.
In the last few days, Troy’s understanding of what humanity was capable of had been morphed into something else. At first, it had been a positive thing, the idea of creating life seeming so innocently good. Who would be hurt from adding another friend to have? One that people could stand beside, in their journeys around the world that had already been discovered.
Oh, what wouldn't have been given, for that feeling to last. People were terrible, even if a person was good. It was in the masses that true evil was discovered. When put together, any sense of morals was forgotten, sticking into the ideals being better.
There was no need for this to be the case. Diffusion of responsibility likely had some greater purpose to it back in the day, but it had now been twisted into the abomination that it could truly be. The country Troy had learned to respect had earned another type of reverence, this one being created of an emotion no person needed to feel. Troy feared those in power, now more than ever.
The power they had, the way they could control the outcome. Nukes had seemed dangerous, but even their application had been simple. With nearly a century to build upon, what monstrosities could have taken their place? The young man had a better idea of it than ever before, the things he had seen now beginning to show their implications. Yet, it was not those he knew the purpose of that he feared the most. It was those he could not understand how they hurt others that he feared, those that were so great weapons of war that only a handful of people knew, and the ones so big that they could not be hidden from the plain eye.
Troy still remembered the first time he saw the weapon in the sky. The sirens in the air, the television blaring information, and the neighbours hurrying inside as if it would make any difference. If that thing had decided to shoot, it would be a successful kill no matter where one stood.
If it had been anybody else, those thoughts might not have appeared in one’s head, after watching an AI mess around with various structures for the good part of four hours. Troy had watched Adam create nearly every single object that had a name attached to it, with variants that lived up to their titles. The massive hamster wheel had still been one of the man’s favourites. Though, the death part of it was still a mystery.
It had at about the two-hour mark, where Adam had been forced out of his oh so precious system of testing. It had apparently been such a large blow to the AI, that it had been needed to inform the young man of just how terrible it was. In an attempt to comfort the entity, Troy had proposed just walking over to another part of the place. He had been called a being of lesser intelligence for that, as the walk would have been over ten minutes long. Adam had apologized for the wording at a later time, though, so the power of that statement had diminished.
Though, after the process of testing out destruction, Troy could not say that he minded it in any way. According to a very reliable source, there were two ways to destroy matter within the puzzle room. The first one was very boring, as it highlighted any pre-outlined creation, and made it disappear with a puff, no traces to be seen. It wasn't very showy at all, and the young man had not been the only one with these opinions. After a few more of those, Adam had moved onto the much more interesting method.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
This required one to select a general area to destroy. One could be fancy about it, just making a sphere with a certain radius, and then making everything within disappear. That was great fun when the fact of gravity still being simulated came into the equation. Whatever genius had made the algorithm for the material dynamics, Troy applauded them wholeheartedly.
As the second method of destruction had been so much more popular to the AI, he had been able to witness what could only be described as micro-management. Through a rapid series of destruction, various structures had been remade into paintings, sculptures, paintings, and even a couple of table-sets.
These changed creations had not been the prettiest things in the world, clearly made with only one perspective able to see from. However powerful that interface was, it was clear it didn't give much of a view of what it was doing.
This was seen in the fact that Troy got a good look at what structural integrity had to bring when it wasn't done correctly. After having played around with the destruction mechanics, Adam had seemingly decided to play around with the massive target that was the hamster wheel. The young man was still not sure what goal had been planned for the thing, but he certainly knew how it ended.
The sounds had been the first warning. Anything others had been quickly forgotten by the fact that a massive wheel had been falling towards Troy, picking up speed as it rolled off its metal poles that were supposed to keep the thing in check.
No matter how weird it now was, he had thought himself about to be crushed by the hamster wheel. It was moving towards him faster than he could get out of the way. The AI had clearly been trying to destroy the things as it moved. Troy had originally thought it was an attempt to save him, but it had turned out to be practice in getting the positioning correctly.
However, as the wheel was just about to crush him into a paste, being closer than a meter away from his precious face, it began disappearing into thin air. No matter how quickly it moved, it simply didn't exist when it got too close. Dr Fidelis came with his input only a few seconds after it happened, reminding the pair that safety features were still in check and that Troy would be completely fine no matter what happened. Those words would have been nice to know at an earlier time, but there was nothing the man could have done at that point.
As nearly all the fun had been taken away from messing around with the destruction option, nearly all the creations had been made to dissipate, so the AI could fill it up again with a new batch. That had been the cycle of the last two hours, destroying matter so more could be created. Out with the old, and in with new. Generations upon generations of objects. Some looked like one’s seen earlier, while others were unique enough to have a shelf dedicated to them.
That cycle was probably what instigated those thoughts in the first place, Troy’s mind being so caught up in the action that it could help but relate it to his own mind. Or maybe it was just a coping mechanism created from repeated stimuli, which forced the mind to create something new. There really wasn't much care set aside for how it worked.
Before he had even realised it, all the creations around him began to fall away, withering into smaller and smaller dust particles. The same happened for the bench he sat on, even if it only really started up fully when he got his ass off it. With the white light, the multicoloured thrown around looked pretty decent, if only for the abstract world-view it gave. It had that level of unrealistic that bordered on something which could actually happen, if only because it could be orchestrated by humans with enough effort. It was beautiful and that's all there was to it.
*And… we are all done for now. The current testing is completed, and we will be taking a break. Troy, if you would be so kind to step out of the puzzle room, I will be able to begin preparations for the next one,* Dr Fidelis said through the earpiece, the words being a bit louder than what anybody needed to hear after such a long time spent in silence.
"Roger that, sir," Troy answered, briefly stretching his arms to the side in preparation for the movement. While his body did not tire of inaction as quickly as before, it was still a small ritual to stretch out every once in a while. It was supposed to be healthy, but the man didn't care about it for that effect. It was more along the lines of him enjoying that brief sensation of the bones popping into their perfect places, that quick movement within the body as it readjusted. It was intoxicating to feel, and it was annoying that it couldn't be reproduced as often as he wanted it to.
With the stretch done, the man moved to his earpiece. The fingers rested on the device for some time, tracing along its outline. It was not the same as the one which had been worn a day ago, a duplicate used for testing purposes. Yet it was still all the more familiar, and there was still that feeling of separation anxiety when he thought about taking it off.
'Would it be possible for us to speak before the next test?` Adam sent as an inquiry. The voice did nothing but give the man his needed resolve.
"I am afraid not. I’ll see you in an hour," Troy answered, a little more reserved than he intended. He had believed the AI had guessed it all before, that he wouldn't have to explain how terrible the situation was. But… Adam had not understood, and the young man would not be able to tell him. "Goodbye."
As he took out the earpiece, there was the slightest hint of a reply. Yet it was not heard clearly enough to be understood. He briefly considered putting it on again, just to hear what the AI had to say. Yet, he decided against it in the end, knowing how hard it would be to cut the connection again.
Walking out of the puzzle room, the smile on his face reminded him of the one he wore so many years ago.