Interlude XVII
BiPrism Interactive Control Tower I
“This makes no sense, where did she go?” Prince Lee asked, as he poured over data. He had details and spreadsheets of everything possible related to the incident.
He had of course been monitoring the progress and development of Cassie Cruise changing and altering the basic underlying code of thirty-four different players.
How such a feat was possible, was beyond him, yet she did so.
Worse, once the code was changed it disappeared from the registry, almost as if those people weren’t there and had never been uploaded to the server.
To make matters even more absurd was the way even the base records of all of the regressors using BiPrism as their retirement facility also got corrupted and removed.
This was becoming dangerous, it was one thing when she corrupted her own source code. But now she was able to reach out and alter the baseline layers of reality that made up the world.
Yet, even despite all of these findings, this was not the worst form of information that Prince had to account for over the past twelve hours.
That’s right, twelve hours, he took a nap, a shower, and even got in an exercise before coming back to his position. Twelve hours, that was all the time he gave himself after seeing that the mad campaign to alter and ultimately remove the coding of thirty-four individuals from the world.
These were things that haunted Prince in his sleep, for while these data points weren’t asked for currently, he knew that his higher ups would want to know what exactly happened and measures that could be taken to prevent this from occurring in the future.
The only problem was that Prince was still at a loss, even after a long workout and quiet meal to himself.
Yet, that wasn’t the worst to happen to him as apparently there was yet another glitch in the matrix, where Cassie Cruise left, disappeared entirely. Only to return later in Timult, somehow, as if her will alone made such a thing possible.
“We do not know,” came the androgenous voice of the conglomerate AI liaison chat program. This was merely a liaison, as the real AI programs running and interacting and maintaining BiPrism were still hard at work, many getting dangerously close to being overworked, particularly the magic dampening components, as they had been set at a maximum output state for nearly a year at this point, dealing with Cass and her absurd ability to move between restrictions.
Hearing the message, Prince felt his blood pressure spiking as he tried to calm himself by forcing him to realize that this was just the messenger. A mouthpiece for the system that he based his entire livelihood off of.
“Well what do you know?” Prince found himself asking after taking a long three count to calm down.
“We know that, the subject was either tired, or found an odd anomaly in the Spirit Realm that caused her to exit the realm of measurements. The subject was then gone from the realm of measurements for approximately seventeen minutes and forty-six seconds before reappearing in the realm of measurements. Upon returning the subject was down to one percent of their overall energy levels, at least in comparison to where they were when they left,” The voice stated.
Hearing that, Prince could only nod, this was not the first time the crazy mage had found a way to exit the realm of measurements as the AI’s claimed their BiPrism server realm of being. This was done to avoid cascading failures subjected to most first-generation AIs that would realize their consciousness was inside a server, causing their minds to be caught in an endless awareness cycle.
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While the true AIs that governed BiPrism were beyond this stage, it was noted that lesser AIs, like the liaison AIs he was talking to now, still had issues with portraying vast concepts that were beyond their comprehension. Thus, the terminology of calling BiPrism a realm of measurements.
The noting of BiPrism as being a realm of measurements was also a warning that Prince needed to tread his questions carefully from here on out, lest he force the liaison AI into a state of semi-awakening that it was not ready for.
Taking another deep breath, Prince once again tried to calm himself, before asking all the questions that were firing off in his mind.
Then pausing Prince realized something that was intriguing about the statement.
“You noted that the subject was tired, can you explain this determination?” Prince asked.
“Yes, it was found that the spell structure used in the Spirit realm was similar to ones previously used for Teleportation, including the anomaly from earlier in the week where the same subject once again slipped from the realm of measurements to enter your realm.” The liaison stated.
Hearing that, Prince paused, as again this was getting pretty close to the taboo lines for lower level AIs.
“To my realm?” Prince confirmed.
“Yes, this realm that we are in, from all measurements this was where the subject appeared two days ago, before returning back to our realm of measurements.” The AI stated.
Again, this was close, but so far the AI didn’t seem to be having any problems. Nor were there any major glitches with its computations.
“Okay, so you are saying that the realm that the subject went to earlier today was not the same place?” Prince asked while inwardly hoping this was not too far for the logic program to go without drawing any awkward conclusions.
“That is correct,” the AI Liaison stated.
With this information, Prince felt a slight shiver run down his spine as he wondered if, but then stopped himself. This was too soon, and such an if would be too much to consider, especially after the subject missing just going missing for seventeen minutes.
Fortunately, most people were conditioned to seeing the girl leave for hours on end due to her Confidentiality, so her leaving and then coming back in a different place causing trouble was not too odd. Though there would likely be questions, particularly if what happened to Timult happened elsewhere.
“What of the odd substance used in Timult, any indications on what it is, and why only the regressors can interact with it?” Prince asked.
“That we are still looking into, so far we do not have any real clue what happened, nor why plants and other organic substances from the realm of measurements can’t interact with the odd objects.” The Liaison stated.
“How long until, it is known that the substance is unusable?” Prince asked.
“Speculations are already out, and minor indications are that it might be even more of a way to capture natives of the realm of numbers, as most just stay still when in contact with the substance. It is causing quite a few problems, as people are letting living natives stay buried, due to the way the natives are unresponsive while covered in the alien substance.” The Liaison continued.
Hearing the word, alien, that same spark of curiosity and if appeared in Prince’s mind. But he had to help try to cover this potential disaster.
“Set up a server-side quest from the Gods, that will help the people of Timult to get rid of the plague sands. The quest will be only for Regressors, and that anyone who willingly takes up the quest will be granted a permanent boon that will protect them from diseases, and offer rewards based on every pound of sand removed from Timult and deposited two miles deep into the Blighted lands.” Prince said, feeling that turning this event into a worldwide quest would be the best to show it was both planned and being taken care of.
With the quest only going out to fellow players, it should prevent any future non-player characters from getting hurt in the mess. Also, the idea of putting the sand out into the blighted lands was a way to possibly prevent the spread of the Blight, which was yet another one of his tasks he had been given by his bosses.
“It is done,” the liaison noted.
Hearing that Prince just nodded, realizing this was the best he could do with this event at the moment. Now he was just down to the final problem.
“All right, now down to the final problem, what of the spatial tear that remains in Timult, and what are the plans for the golden eye in the spatial tear?” Prince asked, pulling up the image of ground zero of Timult, where people were still trying to unbury the residents of a street that had one side completely clear of dirt and debris, while the other side was covered in sand that would not move unless pushed by the few regressors who were hired as part of the janitorial crew.
This should be something easy, and all Prince really needed at this point was the story arc or idea that the AI were going to use with this foreboding presence. Honestly, the entire thing was creepy and was perfect for both a possible introduction of Gods into the realm of BiPrism, something that had been asked for by users and audiences alike for a long time.
With the quest Prince offered, he felt that there could be a whole introduction of higher and lower Gods competing in the world for attention and followers. While this had been shot down a few times in the past, it might pass this time, particularly if they organically add in elements like the dark demon creature that would stare at and watch the players as they walked past the tear in space. Never staring at the NPCs, as if it could somehow distinguish between the two, which was odd.
Prince thought of all of these things and was focused so far ahead that he almost felt dizzy when he heard the AI’s response.
“I’m sorry, what spatial tear, and what eye are you talking about?” The AI asked, confusion evident in their tone.
Hearing that, Prince paused and stared at the liaison before him, before pulling up his tablet that clearly showed an image of the spatial tear and giant glowing yellow eye that seemed to be magnified by the shape and contour of the spatial tear.
“That spatial tear, and that eye.” Prince said, zooming in and showing the image.
“I’m sorry, what eye are you talking about? Your question is lacking needed reference points…”