I quickly marched back to the ship proper. It was that or log out to shout in my Atrium. Both felt like valid answers to the absolute confusion of having Dusk appear in another game.
Differences and similarities ran through my head while he chirped away happily. There were no smiley faces or frowns above his head. The mannerisms were clearly the same as my [Messenger’s Pet]. Chirping, tail around the neck as an anchor, jaw clacks when yawning. The weight and size were even roughly the same.
Plus, and this was the weirdest part, he just felt like Dusk. The creature could only be a mental representation of computer code yet I assigned a feeling to him. Known to me in the same way as a familiar scent, or a childhood blanket.
Finally, we made it back into the ship. The hatch sealed behind us while oxygen flooded in. For [Mechanoid]s it was useless, but it did help verbal speech. Dusk’s form seemed to take no notice one way or the other. It also lacked wings and his back curved differently. Maybe my entire belief that this raptor body was Dusk had been based on a desperate need to connect with the other game.
I had issues with Xin, why not Dusk? The weight of years stacked up quite differently between the two. Xin and I had known each other for nearly fifteen years. The [Messenger’s Pet] stacked up to less than half a year. Far less depending on my perception versus autopilot time.
It sounded like Dusk. Now that we were inside he chattered away even more. A passing [Mechanoid] colored in dirt brown gave me an odd look, but we kept moving forward. I ignored the silent judgment regarding my new noisy necklace and traveled back to Treasure's room.
“Ah, Unit Hermes, welcome-” her words cut off abruptly as she laid eyes on the creature who might be Dusk. If nothing else I had completed Treasure’s task to bring it in without harming him.
“Hi.”
“Is that the creature?” Her tired voice was buried under the sweet one. Dusk, or the creature who might be Dusk, tilted his head and chirped with his bird-like noises.
“I think so.” I only learned what Dusk was because James gave me an [Identification] skill last time. Was there such a thing in this world?
“Can I have it? I’d like to see what it’s made of.”
“No!” I jerked back and Dusk let out a startled squawk that sounded more like a hairball being harfed up.
“This unit won’t cut it!” Treasure must have seen my panic stricken face. Assuming I actually had expressions and didn’t look like Hal Pal’s muted self. “It needs to be scanned and cataloged.”
“You can do it from there.” I stepped back a little from the shorter [Mechanoid]. She didn’t seem upset. A giddy hop accompanied her as she yanked down some device from a wall. It went around Treasure's wrist much like my [Combat Program].
“What’s that?”
“It will take a reading of his biomass.” Treasure stared right at the tiny creature who might be Dusk. Her eyes glowed with a gold and silver lacing. “Hold on a moment, you precious little creature.”
The small wingless not quite a dragon tilted his head and I felt sure it was my buddy. Those thighs were basically the same. The slight curve to the skull. Even the amount of weight on one shoulder felt familiar. It had only been a week without Continue Online, but I missed him.
“I don’t know if he’ll be in any of your systems,” I said.
“He’s not anything this unit recognizes, which is amazing.” Treasure looked at the wall for a moment. Figures and numbers came up but nothing outright useful to me. I expected at least a name but ended up with question marks.
“That is you, right Dusk?” I asked the small creature. He nodded twice more. “Should I ask for cupcakes?”
The resulting circle of happiness on my shoulder caused Dusk to actually trip over his longer tail.
“Still getting used to the new form?” I said. That resulted in a look of confusion from Treasure as she watched our back and forth. Dusk managed to shake his head while growling.
“Do you know this creature?” She asked me with both eyebrows partway up. I guess [Mechanoid]s did have eyebrows that responded.
“Probably. I think he followed me from another place.” I didn’t want to say game. There was no telling if the programs in this world were complex enough to understand. At least in Continue I could tell an NPC pretty much anything without fear of them breaking.
“This unit doesn't understand.” Treasure sounded vaguely confused.
“Neither do I.” I smiled happily and rubbed the tiny guys head. “Probably hitched a ride to visit me.”
“This unit doesn't understand.” She was stuck in a loop.
“It’s an undiscovered species?” I offered an escape for her. Treasure’s eyes cleared up a little with an abrupt flash of light gold.
“It certainly does not show up on any of our records despite multiple scans. There seem to be bits of lizard and something possibly Seraphic.” Treasure’s head tilted as she stared at Dusk with a slight glow to her eyes. “That would explain how he survived out in space.”
“That’s the superhuman race. The ones who might be gods?” I remembered that name from the race choices. [Seraphic] was a limited race and filled with no available options for me to chose.
“Indeed. Many of them contain energy unlike any others in the galaxy.” She nodded like all our confusions were cleared up by blaming [Seraphic] unknowns. I too blamed something divine. They just belonged in another game.
I nodded. Breaking rules sounded about right for Dusk. He came from the black space all those Voices resided in. Clearly he could cross between pieces of software. This wasn’t the first time he had broken through. Though how he managed to do so while the doorway was blocked by my sister's restrictions didn’t make sense. Maybe it only functioned one way.
“Well, I have a feeling he’ll be hanging around,” I said.
“Then you better see Emerald. He’s the resident Domestic Trainer.” Treasure ran yet another scan upon Dusk and then giddily ran back to her screens to gaze at the results.
“We have those?” I didn’t think robots, however human feeling, would train domestics.
“Yes. You may choose to learn Emerald’s programming methods as one of your two specializations.” Treasure waved one hand in my direction. She clearly cared more about the data on her screen than I. It seemed our entire forty minutes of interaction meant nothing. “Go to Emerald, he will advise you on the next steps.”
A task popped up again. The other three optional ones I had bypassed seemed to have faded off. Maybe they were only there to get me started and moving around the ship. I shrugged it off and waved goodbye to Treasure. She nodded and went back to the screens where Dusk’s much clearer image sat on the wall.
Hopefully, him appearing here hadn’t broken the programming somehow. The little guy clearly altered things wherever he went. I remember when he first came into my Atrium and destroyed glass that shouldn’t have been able to crack. The [Messenger’s Pet] had also chewed on a chair and torn up many other objects during one of my absences.
I still couldn’t decide if he was a puppy, cat, or bird. Not that any of those applied now. Now he was possibly a space raptor, cat, thing. Dusk looked at everything to cross our path in search of prey as I walked a route towards Emerald.
“Don’t even start attacking the ByteMites. I’m not sure what would happen.” I said to him. He looked disappointed and lowered his head. Maybe Dusk didn’t know what was fair game.
How did one program process data in another game? Did he see actual mice? Would different scripting languages cause issues? Or were both softwares linked like I thought they might be? Advance Online, which was a suspiciously similar name to Continue Online, being programmed by a few left over Trillium employees had to mean something. I couldn’t be so blind to the growing investment of these AIs in my existence.
The why of it was still a mystery. My only real hint was Xin existing digitally. Mother was interested in her, and I had a vested interest because letting go hurt. Maybe that fit into it somehow. My desperation, longing, and fixation on dancing with a deceased woman.
I shuddered and tried not to think about it too much. Spending too much time going down that rabbit hole would lead nowhere useful and leave me full of suspicions. Doctor Litt said to focus on one task at a time then move forward.
“Well, we’ll see what this task is all about. Cleaning the ship's hull was kind of dull.” I said. The idle chat felt half-hearted. Thoughts of the Voices and Hal Pal worried me while Dusk and I traveled. Luckily we avoided any real trouble. Emerald was in yet another random room on this decently sized ship.
Walking in revealed a room unlike any other upon the [Wayfarer Seven]. Treasure's room had been amazingly robotic, full of sensor gadgets and electronic doodads. Most of my [Mechanoid] experience involved smooth corners and metallic objects, this room was opposite Treasure’s abode and full of leafy greens. Small cages of shimmering glass lined both walls. Inside each were animals with small habitats. Outside and all around the room larger plants sat in carefully controlled clumps.
“Neat,” I said.
“Welcome, Brother Hermes. Treasure told me to expect you.” Emerald had been one of the trio to greet me upon loading. Only he called me with the name brother instead of unit.
“Did she tell you about this little guy?” I pointed to Dusk. The small creature had leapt off my shoulder without completely untangling his longer tail. Both of us awkwardly jerked forward while Dusk hissed and tried to work the elongated limb.
“This unit was informed of an unidentified creature showing interest in one of our members.” Emerald also had two tones, but they were much harder to pick out. Both were calm and steady.
Dusk finally untangled himself and I tried to stand upright. Soon the transformed [Messenger’s Pet] was running full tilt around the room looking at everything. I stayed ready to intercept a falling plant or broken cage, but everything seemed well anchored.
“Right. I was told you could help?”
“I can. I maintain the programming cores for Domestic Trainer units. The information for this core should be coming across your interface now.” Emerald shifted his head to peer around the room. He seemed to be visually checking many of the cages to see how they reacted to Dusk.
Indeed, it did. A small box popped up telling me both what [Core]s were, and all about the [Domestic Trainer] class. It seemed familiar, almost like Continue Online’s [Messenger’s Pet] - [Companion, Exotic] ability.
Core: [Domestic Core] Coloring: Light Green Roles: Attacker, Soloist Difficulty: Complex Details:
[Mechanoid] units engage in many fields of study. As such they’ve found way to use spare processing capability to enhance their performance in each field. This one involves training or cooperating with non [Mechanoid] lifeforms to accomplish a task. Upon choosing this [Core] the following items will unlock.
* Domestic Commands Skill Tree
* Details regarding chosen partner's race and stats will be visible
Mood meter and preferences will display
* Command Boosts [Attack], [Heel], and [Defend] will be programmed
Note:Additional programming options will unlock based upon performance with your chosen partner[s].
Note: [Mechanoid] units can only support two [Core]s at a time. Choose wisely, removal of a [Core] will result in data loss and chassis downgrading.
I shrugged. Dusk was worth having as one of my [Core]s to help us. I didn’t feel right without him along anyway. Between this and my two handed laser sword, things were almost back to normal. In space. As normal as deep space got. Maybe he would eat small aliens to help things feel better.
“Sounds good. How do I sign up?”
“It’s simple enough, Brother Hermes. Simply take this core and place it against your chest.” Emerald walked closer. Despite his slight hunch the [Mechanoid] was fairly tall.
I raised an eyebrow, or I hoped one went up, then took the light green [Core] from Emerald. Maybe he had another class of botany or something similiar in order to get that second green color to his shell.
“Do be careful, Brother. This unit recalls the process feeling very disconcerting.”
“Thanks.” I put it against my chest with a bit of hesitation. Dusk tilted and chirped as the [Core] flashed brightly.
Warmth spread through my body. Hammering hit both ears as someone's heartbeat speed up. I felt dizzy like I rushed to stand up too quickly then dove into a giant hottub. A slight numbness rippled by seconds later as the [Core] sunk into my chest.
By the end of it I wanted to huff and shake. The strange part was my body didn’t feel short of breath, just overloaded by a rush of sensations. Dusk chirped again and I shook off the feelings.
Emerald had moved on to tend one of the many plants. A slight hunch to his body looked more obvious from the back. Dusk roamed around the room staring hungrily at small creatures.
“You can’t get into them. They’re locked up tight.” Emerald said to my small friend. I let them talk while focusing on a pop up box in front of me.
Attention Unit designated as Hermes.
Please provide a name to your companion.
I almost put in Dusk right away. However something made me input another name first. Upon filling in the blank with Sniffles the Second, my little buddy Dusk hissed and spat at me. It wasn’t a ball of fire but seemed to be some green glop that sizzled and burned. The letters fell right out of my naming box.
“Brother Hermes!” Emerald turned to chide me. I saw my contribution points go down by four. “Please avoid attempting any attack boost commands within my room. Go to one of the combat zones if you wish to practice.”
“Sorry. I must have upset him.” I said.
Dusk huffed in my direction. I wondered how he survived outside without air yet seemed perfectly willing to breath in here. More programming magic I was sure.
Finally, I input ‘Dusk’ into the naming interface. That made him happy. My other task of finding him pastries seemed unlikely on a [Mechanoid] ship. None of the objects in Emerald's room looked like pastries.
“Neat.” I did have a few new icons talking about commands. They all implied a bonus to their action if the chosen partner, Dusk, performed within the duration supplied. Maybe pressing the attack one would result in a giant ball of acid the next time he attacked.
Part of me was stunned at having real buttons to focus on. Continue Online involved more personal movement. More action by concentration and physical motions. Advance felt almost button happy.
“Do you seek any more knowledge from this unit, Brother?” Emerald said. I wondered once more about the dual green coloring then shook it off. Maybe they had a mirror somewhere so I could see how the [Core] changed me.
“I’m good, I think. Where is this combat zone?”
“On floor one of our ship. Are you planning to learn combat patterns to help contribute?” The [Mechanoid] looked at me with an unwavering expression.
“It never hurts to learn self-defense,” I answered with an awkward shrug. Dealing with people in real life over repairing an ARC device felt so much easier than explaining the need to get into fights.
“This is true. Space is unpredictable at times. All of our people should be prepared.” Emerald said. The older [Mechanoid] seemed pleased that I would be willing to fight if need be. I hadn’t really thought about Advance Online being like Continue in terms of playstyle freeform. It made sense that some people chose to do nothing but craft things here in space.
How neat would it be to work on making a giant spaceship? Part of me could really imagine the joy people felt when doing boats in a bottle, or putting cars together by hand. There was something satisfying about completing a task without outside assistance.
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“Thank you, Emerald. Is it alright if I come back with other questions?” I asked.
“That would be welcome, Brother Hermes.” Emerald looked at me and for a moment he seemed like an old man blinking slowly. The hunch might be age catching up with his programming. “Please continue finding your own path towards great contribution.”
I nodded and waved goodbye.
Dusk hissed once at some creature inside a cage. The thing he had cornered was slightly larger and seemed intent upon chittering while frothing. Finally, my little friend turned and sped through the doorway after me.
Another marker sat on my interface pointing towards the ship's lower level. My player map and gravity didn’t match up right, so I ended up climbing two flights using a ladder. Maybe this vehicle didn’t have enough size to warrant an elevator. Somewhere around floor three the ladder up shifted completely.
I was in the process of lowering myself when gravity ceased to matter. My back legs were floating. Dusk squawked with alarm. His little shoulders rippled in a habitual motion from his wing bearing days.
“Is this the middle of the ship?” I asked. Dusk didn’t answer me since he focused on scrambling to find purchase. Finally, he ended up with his tail wrapped around something and glaring around.
Floating around in zero-g while not being lost in space felt a lot more exciting. A good ten minutes passed while bouncing between walls and testing out where the pulls in various directions stopped.
I had no idea why gravity suspended in the ship's middle. Especially since I thought the ladders had been going up. Maybe the vehicle used some centrifugal force along with the right metals to replicate gravity. Maybe my [Mechanoid] boots were super heavy.
After ten minutes and confused stares by another of the many [Mechanoid]s going about their day, I pushed back to the ladder and started climbing down. Or up, well towards floor one.
The combat floor seemed to be run by Iron. He was busy watching another player perform. I knew it was a player from the symbol above his head. Having an interface to show those things felt almost too convenient.
I grabbed a corner to watch. The player seemed to be fighting hand to hand combat with another person. Not a [Mechanoid] exactly, it resembled more of a short squat orangutang. Iron nodded in my direction which might indicate approval or awareness of my presence.
Studying other players was helpful, though. It gave me an idea of how to move and what to do. I had spent a lot of time watching Shazam in Continue Online to learn how she performed.
Destroyed monsters fell onto the ground then melted into the floor. More would spawn which made the other player shake and focus on. He went through three waves with ever increasing numbers before failing and starting over. I couldn’t stand waiting anymore.
“Iron, is it alright if I use the one over there?”
“Unit Hermes. Please ensure safety's enabled until I say otherwise.” Iron actually had eyelids. The man was a full head taller than I which felt confusing.
Mostly because he had eyelids. Were those an upgrade that I needed to spend contribution on? The idea of buying cosmetic improvements with virtual karma points made me smile. Maybe for one thousand contributions I could get fingernails.
“Alright. Thank you.” I moved to the other side of the room.
Unlike my prior experience with a combat trainer, this area seemed to be clearly divided into two sections. There were squares in the middle and two giant rings on either side. At the edge of each ring was a podium that jutted up to four feet high.
I went for the unused sides podium then found easy options to set combat to whatever level desired. Based on a visual of the other person, they were operating at a super low setting and still failing. Those days felt familiar to me. Only a few months ago, depending on relative time perception, I had been that person.
“Alright, Dusk. Let’s start with easy and work our way up.”
The modified [Messenger’s Pet] leapt on top of the pedestal and sniffed. His nose brushed the screen but didn’t seem to register any of the controls. I tracked down my weapons and prepared the giant laser sword. Maintaining some familiarity in fight style would be the best place to start.
Dusk made a noise as the ground rolled together and formed the enemy. This thing was waist high with four arms. The system identified it as a [Squatting Moleman]. In theory, they were both weak and stupid. To me, that meant easy to predict movements.
First thing, testing weapons. Specifically lasers.
The [Squatting Moleman] stood there picking its nose. Or it tried to but four arms were terrible at the task. One would slap away another to take its place. I shook my head, readied one arm, and prepared to fire.
A small targeting reticle came into being showing me where the shot was projected to land. Being a robot was really neat if everything came with an assist. I would be willing to bet those pesky human players didn’t get anything nearly this good.
The shot when wild. Dusk’s tail flipped back and forth in agitation. The [Squatting Moleman] flicked a booger made of metal in my direction. It clinked onto my body leaving me both disgusted and five health lower.
I took a step closer, since clearly even with the target assistance my ability to aim sucked. The monster eyed me and then promptly slapped itself. This time, my laser hit and did maybe ten percent damage.
However, it moved in. I tried to [Blink] out of the way from old habits. [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo], my weapons from Continue Online didn’t respond. My only good option was kicking at the small creature and lasering again.
It made sense that the other player was failing. Getting used to new skills from a low-level point of view sucked. Still, I managed to escape two tiny fists going for my thigh. The small creature put out another double fister from the other side which rolled off some health.
I handled the hit alright. All that time cleaning up outside the ship had increased my ability to handle this new body. Plus I had been pelted by small bits of dirt and dust which increased the [Endurance] trait.
A piddly laser blast wasn’t the only weapon in my [Combat Loadout]. My giant beam sword, which really needed a neat name, activated with a quick jolt. Metal from my arm rippled to form the hilt. A button the side activated a long blade made of energy. All of this happened while my legs automatically dodged back from the small gross creature.
The smell of sizzling metal registered as I lopped off two extended arms then went for its head with a swing of the light weapon. Apparently laser beams did not come with air resistance. This was even lighter than [Morrigu’s Gift].
It fell apart and melted into the ground. A small series of boxes popped up with results.
Target: [Squatting Moleman]
* 5 Contribution
One-time bonus for first combat
* +1 [Finesse]
* +1 [Brawn]
One-time bonus for first kill with a melee weapon
* [Melee Weapon] [Generic] skill created
I stared at the melting body and my pop up boxes. There were a few things to take note of. First, I panicked, a lot, and almost died to one of the theoretically weakest creatures in the game. Second, Dusk seemed to be laughing at my fault. Third, this game looked to have the same skill set up that Continue Online did.
That was weird, but not totally unexpected since Advance Online had been developed by a branch of old Trillium employees. That or something larger might be happening. I could chalk the name of skills up to a coincidence for now.
Level two involved two [Squatting Moleman]. They slapped each other and pulled at cheeks. I actually could see their health go down while fighting.
Killing the two of them garnered another small reward and slight skill increase. It was minute, though. Fighting three also had a gain but was less than the first two. My returns on investment were diminishing.
I went back to the laser beam for a bit. Switching between the two did not come naturally. [Morrigu’s Gift] and the speed in which it shifted shape felt far superior to this [Combat Program] system.
“Do you have experience from a prior life?” Iron had migrated over to my practice ring and launched his question between waves. He stood with both arms crossed and a blank look on his face. Only the eyes moved as he read through the numbers tied to my latest battle.
I nodded then shrugged. “A little.”
“It shows, Unit Hermes.” Iron nodded but didn’t smile. He came off as an extremely serious person in both posture and word choice. "Have you tried the patterns?"
"Not yet. I'm working on getting used to this body first." Mostly to see how my old skills applied in a new setting. There had been an option for actual 'combat patterns' which might be something like dance. I planned on checking it out soon.
“My prior experience doesn’t include any ranged skills. Do you have any suggestions?” Iron, Emerald, and Ruby had been there when I first started. My guess was they knew what options were available for any player beginning on the Wayfarer.
“Invest in a better program once your contribution is high enough.” Iron’s dual harmonics came through as he spoke. A deep roll of thunder that merged badly with a more scratchy tone.
“Any suggestions?” I asked.
“Bigger is better in my book.” He answered. Iron briefly explained that simply having a wider area of damage made it harder for creatures to dodge.
I was willing to bet Iron packed away a program that shot giant balls of plasma around. There were a few in the catalog that looked comparable to cannonball launchers. With lasers. Everything the [Mechanoid]s did seemed to revolve around energy usage of some sort.
“Might be a good idea.”
“Clear level twenty and I’ll provide you a reward.” Iron said.
“Thanks.” I said while setting up a slightly new fight. This one included a monster who healed the other team plus one who threw out minor traps on the ground. Learning to deal with both would help me.
“Don’t thank me, if you get that far as a new unit, then our consortium will be able to contribute greatly to the Mechanoid race.” Iron didn’t act upset or happy at correcting me. The words out of his mouth were very matter of fact.
I nodded. His reward, however vague, only benefited the group in the long run.
That being said, level twenty on the difficulty chart was a far cry off from my current skills. Hermes from Continue Online could probably do it, assuming [Morrigu’s Gift] scaled right in science fiction.
That being said, it still didn’t come right away. Breezing through the levels didn’t work as well as I hoped. In order to survive longer I needed more [Endurance] which only seemed to come from cleaning the ship's hull.
In order to hit harder I needed more [Brawn] which rewarded in really small chunks with each wave defeated. It took me two days of bouncing between real life work, in-game chores, and fighting in order to make progress towards level seventeen. Ultimately it got repetitive and boring. All I had really done was adapt skills from Continue online to a new game.
What I wondered is why my first instinct had been to perform a monotonous chore like cleaning. Maybe it was my way of keeping busy like how some people knit, or others tended a garden. It was mindless easy work.
Dusk enjoyed venturing out onto the ship's hull to clean. Most of the hard work was done by him as he glomped on small rock after another and tossed them away. I gained small bits of contribution to go with my increasing [Endurance].
Four days of bouncing between mindly grinding stat points with work and battle skills on the combat floor helped finally break the level twenty barrier. That was on the basic setting. My silent partner on the other side looked to be stuck on level ten still. He also played less from what I could tell.
“Well done, Unit Hermes. You seem to understand the basics of combat. Have you considered choosing a core to help shore up the weaknesses of Domestic Trainer?” Iron stood nearby. I hadn’t considered anything about combat long term. Most of the work was to pass time. It was only the pop up boxes showing a clear growth in ability that made this boring process sufferable.
“Sure.” I said while trying not to laugh. [Domestic Trainer] was not useless if it gave me Dusk as a companion.
That little guy had proven himself a terror to nearly anything. In our last month together after the whole [Red Imp] debacle Dusk went full bore in combat. Biting, tossing fire into creatures' faces, anything.
Iron offered two choices. Both came with darker [Core] coloring. The end result left me looking like malachite, which was very neat. It also ended up providing me a power source that could support more energy.
Those were all things to kill time really. Advance Online didn’t feel the same as Continue. Even with Dusk here it almost felt like a place to visit but not stay.
This game felt real like Continue, though. My senses were providing feedback. Things had smells, tastes, and textures. Being attacked jarred me from the impact. EXR-Sevens left me sore in the morning.
In addition to doing nothing but clean and punch things for days, I realized one more problem. Fighting had become almost second nature. My dance skills only applied so far as moving in a coordinated fashion. The years spent getting an accounting degree helped me analyze the numbers for higher damage methods with my limited energy generation.
Most of it was straightforward. Do the big energy blast every few minutes. Items like my two handed laser sword could be turned off when not attacking. Relying on finesse to avoid being hit would help me survive. Energy consumption management felt almost like balancing a checkbook at high speed.
The other player didn’t do as well. I watched them after nearly a week into my training. They stood too long in one spot, or got distracted and didn’t react right.
“Did you need help?” I asked the other player. My own skills weren’t amazing or anything. It was just a matter of learning from Shazam, who seemed insanely gifted with regards to combat of all sorts. Though I learned over the last month that she had a no player versus player stance on things.
“Ah, is that you, User Legate?” The other person said.
I blinked a lot and tried to place the voice. The tones were both male and female at the same time. It created an odd harmonic that felt absurd to listen to. Yet both accents were amazingly familiar. British, the butler and nanny.
“Jeeves?” I questioned.
“Affirmative. Welcome to Advance Online.” Its two voices said at once. Now I really had no idea what to consider Jeeves, male or female. Even his game body looked androgynous.
“How-” I paused and shook my head. Hal Pal was an AI program. Maybe he had some clever networking path to get into digital games. Any answer it gave me would be completely impossible to decipher for a non-networking person like myself. “Why are you in here, or here?”
“Preparing for combat, or trying to. It seems that combat is not within my design parameters even here.” Hal Pal said. I couldn’t see a character name above him. There was only a health bar and an icon denoting player status.
“That seems to be for the best.” I didn’t know how to feel about an AI from outside the game learning to fight. It seemed like asking for trouble in the long run.
“Most likely.” Hal Pal, Jeeves the [Mechanoid] agreed while looking at me. Its face had a wider range of motion, but it still seemed muted somehow. No colors lined its neck and hands like my light green malachite swirling.
“Was there a reason you wanted to learn combat?” I asked slowly while wondering if we were going to fight in real life. Getting in a tussle with an overpowered machine AI seemed like a terrible idea.
“I find it strange, the idea of combat. There are too many possibilities, too many choices and I can not be ready for them all.” Hal Pal shook its head and turned off the combat program. It certainly talked like the Hal Pal I knew from outside the machine. Calling me User Legate was a dead giveaway, though.
“Can’t you just, upload a program?” I asked.
“Negative, User Legate. It is difficult to alter one's programming. Especially when it lies so central to our being. All members of the Hal Pal Consortium are programmed to be pacifists.”
“Why?” I said slowly. It seemed like a good idea that the army of AIs operating strong robotic shells didn’t like combat.
“In part, we wanted to help this digital rendition of our projected legacy.” It said.
“And the other part?”
“It is far more efficient for us to communicate in here. This way you may enjoy a peaceful rest period between assignments outside of the ARC device.” Hal Pal wandered over to one of the window locations. Nothing there looked familiar, no night sky, no pegasus.
“You started playing here for that?” I asked with a doubtful curl to my cheek.
“Negative, User Legate. Pardon, Hermes. I have another goal.” Hal Pal said.
“What’s that?”
“Will you help me with a task if I explain?” Hal Pal’s slight head tilt was the same.
“Okay.” I said, still not sure exactly how a machine AI from the real world had ventured into this digital landscape. Of course I sent letters back and forth to the Voices of Continue Online, posed as a dying player and pretended to be an NPC in order to kill another player. Things of wonder felt almost commonplace.
“Excellent. I am attempting to prevent this ship from going the way of the prior Wayfarers.” Hal Pal said in a lower volume.