Number Two watched the words come up on his laptop as the new chapter got typed out. He read this sentence as it was typed. He was getting the chapter? The whole chapter? He remembered back to chapter one, when he was afraid of being the main character. His concept of what a main character was at that time had since significantly changed. This time, he liked the limelight. He looked around the table, at all the other Jacks. They all met his gaze. These were his brothers, his clones. He felt a certain satisfaction at how things were going.
“Alright, alright, alright,” Number One lambasted, leaning back in his golden office chair. “Take it easy on jerking yourself off. You’ve still got responsibilities. It’s my job to keep this story halfway coherent, and it’s your job to follow my lead. Got it?”
“Sure,” Number Two said, “but can I ask—"
“No,” Number One said. “By the time we’re finished here, each of you are going to get in that elevator and go to your rooms, where you’ll each have a timeframe of 5000 words to do… not ‘whatever you want,’ but ‘whatever you want, as long as it contributes to the overall story in a positive way.’ I’m taking a BIG risk allowing this, which is why there’s going to be a little oversight in this project.”
“Oversight?” Number Three asked. “What’s that supposed to mean? We’re supposed to be having a break.”
“Relax, Three,” Number One said. “As long as you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’ll hardly even notice it.”
“When do I get to go to my room?” Number Two asked, annoyed. “I thought this was my chapter?”
“First of all,” Number One began, “this is Jack’s book. The real Jack, I mean. It’s His chapter. Second of all, we need to set things up. We’ve got to build the rooms first, obviously.
“Do we get to decorate them however we want?” Number Five asked.
“No,” Number One said.
“Oh come on!” Number Five said. “I want to decorate my room. It’s MY room, after all.”
“Jack’s room,” Number One corrected, “and besides that, it would be redundant to have you all decorate your rooms. We’re using the laptop to materialize them. If you take the time now to type out what your room looks like, then when you get up to your room, you’ll look it over and the narrative will describe the room a second time as you take in its details.”
“We could just all type it down… off-camera?” Number Five said.
“No, I don’t think so,” Number One said. “When you type on your laptop, it’s typed in the story itself.
Number Two’s eyes were glued to the word counter at the bottom left of his screen. Around 500 words had just gone by and he had literally nothing to show for it. He was getting mad. “This is MY chapter. Please, get on with it. No more interruptions.”
“Now you know how I feel,” Number One said, smiling. “And that’s exactly the mindset you need to have during this chapter of yours.”
Number Two wanted to get away from these fuckers and get to his room, preferably with time to ask the questions he wanted to ask, so he kept his mouth shut.
“We’ll get you to your room. Relax,” Number One said. “First, though, a couple little additions.”
Number One clapped his hands together and a black rectangle fell on the table next to Number Two’s laptop. It was a smartphone. There were four more claps with four more smartphones, one for each of them, all except for Six, who was still bound to his chair with duct tape over his mouth.
Number Two went to reach for his but One slapped his hand before he was able to grab it.
“Don’t touch them!” One said. “Not yet. And these aren’t smartphones, they’re Jackphones. Now that we’ve named the devil, I want us to focus on branding. This is the Jackhall, above us is the Jackhell, and further above that will be your individual Jackrooms.”
“You’ve got to be Jacking kidding me,” Jack Seven said.
Jack One laughed while Jack Six giggled under his duct taped mouth. Jack Two just sighed as he watched the word counter steadily increase.
“These Jackphones,” One said, after his laughter had died down, “their only functionality is to make and receive phone calls. At least that’s how it is right now. I just thought of them a minute ago, so they’re currently very low tech. This will be how I get ahold of you if I see you doing something wrong. I may or may not add more functionality as time goes on. And there’s one other thing I need to do, too.”
Jack One snapped his fingers in quick succession six times.
Jack Two felt something on his neck. He looked around and discovered they each, save for Jack One himself, now had a black collar around their neck. Like a dog collar.
“What the fuck?” Three said.
“What are these things, One?” Seven asked.
“They’re shock collars,” Jack One said proudly.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Jack Three said, jumping up from his seat. He pulled at the collar to no avail.
Jack Two started pulling at his own shock collar, but it didn’t budge. He felt around it. He was looking for how it unlatched but found nothing. He hooked his thumb underneath it and pulled with all his might, but the collar still wouldn’t break.
There was a commotion at the table as the Jacks complained and tried freeing themselves from their collars.
“Do you simpletons really think they’re destructible?” One asked.
“Undo this!” Three demanded. “NOW!”
“I told you there was going to be some oversight,” Jack One said, who then pulled out a small remote control from his jacket pocket. He held the controller out in the air before him. He flamboyantly raised the pointer finger of his other hand above it and, after taking a moment to pause for dramatic effect, pressed down on a button.
Jack Two had braced himself for a massive shock. When it finally came, he discovered that while it was certainly uncomfortable, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as he had feared. All the other Jacks had collectively twitched a bit at the shock.
“MOTHERFUCKER,” Three bellowed. “WE’RE NOT FUCKING DOGS.”
Jack Three stepped up into Jack One’s personal space and glowered over him as he sat. “Get. Rid. Of. Them.”
“Why don’t you make me?” One replied coolly.
Jack Three grabbed the chair and spun it around toward him. He got right down in Jack One’s face and grabbed his neck.
“Three!” Jack Two cried. “Three! He’s not going to take them off. Please….”
Two hadn’t said it, but when Three shot a glance at him, he knew he didn’t have to.
“Watch the fucking wordcount? Is that what you meant to say?”
Jack Two blushed in shame. “I… I have really important questions I want to ask, Three. I’m sorry, but I do. Please just calm down. It wasn’t that bad.”
“You told me you were going to stand up to evil with me. Well, here’s your opportunity, Two.”
“He’s not being evil, though,” Two said, getting annoyed. “He’s just being a dick.”
Jack Three snatched at the controller in One’s hand, but One kicked him back before he was able to do it. He stumbled backwards a few steps. Jack One held the controller up toward Three and used his thumb to press a button.
Jack Three twitched. “That’s not going to stop me,” he said.
“Exactly, you fucking idiot!” One said. “It’s not that bad. Stop grandstanding. You need to tone yourself down.”
“I’m not going to stand for this,” Three said. “WE’RE NOT DOGS.”
Jack Three looked at Two, but Two didn’t meet his gaze. Then he looked over at Jack Five, who shrugged.
“I want to get to our break, Three,” Five said. “I bet it’s going to be fun! This isn’t really that bad.”
“This is how it starts,” Three said. “He’s going to raise the water temperature little by little until such a point that it’s boiling us alive and we don’t even notice it.”
“Trust in Jack,” Jack Four said. He had been silent this whole time. He still sat in his chair, face glued to his laptop screen.
Jack Three looked around at each of them in turn. He looked absolutely disgusted by them. He clicked his tongue. Then he took a few moments, obviously deep in thought. Jack Two couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Jack Two couldn’t tell what Three was thinking? He guessed that was a byproduct of this being his chapter. It apparently only followed his own mind. Could they still read his thoughts?
Finally, Three walked over and sat down in his seat. He straightened his back and placed his hands squarely on the table and closed his eyes. “Proceed,” he said.
“Thank you,” Jack One said. “Now these shock collars, they’re not just controlled by me, they’re set up to be used by the system itself. So in addition to working from my remote, they’ll also work automatically, to keep you guys on a true path. That’s all the surprises I have for you right now, so everyone can relax. Now, Two, let’s build you a room…”
“Can I do it?” Jack Two asked. “Type the commands, I mean.”
“Type in all caps and begin your statement with ‘user colon’ so the reader doesn’t get confused,” One said.
“When do I start? Do I just… do it?” Two asked.
“You just do it,” One confirmed.
Number Two looked nervously at his laptop. It typed out this sentence. And then this sentence. It was waiting for a command.
USER: MAKE A ROOM
Number Two looked at the command he had just entered, waiting for something to happen. He heard the laptop’s interior fans start humming, louder and louder until, suddenly, they quieted.
SYSTEM: PLEASE BE MORE SPECIFIC
“Please don’t spend the whole fucking chapter on this, Two,” Jack One said. “Think about what needs to happen, type it in, and be done with it.”
“You said we couldn’t decorate,” Two said. “I was being trying to be… economical.”
“You’re on the right side of the spectrum, just too far into it,” One said. “Don’t paint a picture, but you can be a little more descriptive than what you were. What kind of room? What do you want in there?”
Jack Two took some time to consider.
USER: MAKE A ROOM WITH A BED, A COUCH, A TV, A TABLE AND CHAIRS AND… GIVE ME A MINUTE TO THINK. OKAY. THANK YOU. I WANT A MIRROR, A WARDROBE AND A KITCHEN, WITH A FRIDGE STOCKED WITH GOOD FOOD, A STOVE, A TRASHCAN, AND. GIVE ME A MINUTE.
“That’s sufficient, Two,” One said. “You can add more details once you get up there. Now make sure to put the room on floor three.”
“Oh, right!” Two said.
USER: AND LOCATE THE ROOM ON FLOOR THREE. THAT’S IT.
SYSTEM: PLEASE STAND BY
.
.
.
.
.
.
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The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
SYSTEM: COMPLETE
“That’s… that’s it?” Two asked.
“Yeah,” One said. “That’s it, dipshit.”
“So… do I… do I go there now?” Two said.
“Have fun,” One said.
“We’ll miss you, Two.” Five said.
“You’ll see him again real soon, Five. Two, remember to come back down at the end of the chapter. Come down here, to floor one. We’ll all go from here to floor two, the torture room. And don’t forget your jackphone. Also, here. Have a laptop bag.”
Jack One clapped and a pile of laptop bags materialized on the table in front of two. He grabbed one and put his laptop in it and then threw the bag over his shoulder. He put his Jackphone into a pocket on the inside of his jacket.
Jack Two felt a strange sense of anxiety then. He supposed that made sense. This would be the first time in his short life that he was to be alone. The thought of that was… wow. Alone and with a device that can answer all the questions he had? The thought excited him.
He looked at his brothers, each in turn. One rolled his eyes, Three avoided looking at him, Four’s face was still glued to his screen, Five smiled at him, Six winked, and Seven nodded congenially.
Alone for the first time. He supposed he should get to it then. He turned and walked toward the elevator door. He pressed the button and the door opened and he walked inside.
The other six were all watching him, he put up a hand awkwardly to wish them goodbye as the elevator door closed.
And… it was silent.
Blessed silence. Yes, he was going to like this quite a bit. He pressed the button for floor three and the elevator slowly ascended. More silence. It was absolutely orgasmic.
His jackphone started ringing.
“Hello?” Two said worriedly as he answered the phone.
“Put me on speaker,” One said back to him.
Jack Two looked at the phone screen, it was a pretty intuitive user interface. He placed the phone on speaker, as he was bid. He’ll get this call over with and then he’ll go back to his blessed silence.
“You’re going to have me on speaker phone for the entire duration of your chapter,” One said.
“What?” Two asked sharply. “What the fuck, One? I thought this was supposed to be a break.”
“We’re doing baby steps, Jack. Too much freedom all at once is hardly ever a good thing. You can trust me on that.”
“You’re joking, right? Don’t you need to set up the others for their breaks?” Two asked vexedly.
“I’m doing that as we speak,” One said. “I can be in more than one place at once, you know. I’m magic like that.”
A bell dinged and the elevator door opened. Jack Two saw a tiny foyer with a door.
“I forgot to tell you to make a lockable door when you were creating the room,” Jack One said. “Also, I gave you a key, don’t ask me when. You’ll find it in your pants pocket, but that’s not the only way to open the door. You’ll see there’s a thumbprint reader on it that’s keyed to your specific thumbprint. That way you can always access your room, even if you lose the key, or you can also give that key to someone else if you want them to be able to access the room when you’re not there with them. Don’t make a copy of the key.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Three said, exasperated. “Jesus, One. I just need a spot to ask some questions, I don’t care about all this.”
“Yes you do,” One said. “Everyone likes coming home. And besides that, relax. You’ve still got time to ask your questions. Learn to stop and smell the flowers, and all that. Now turn up the volume and put me back in your jacket pocket. It’ll be like in the cartoons: I’ll be the angel on your shoulder, giving you advice.”
Number Two wanted to drop this phone down the crack of the elevator door and forget about One entirely. He knew if he did that, though, One would find ways to use up even more of his quickly diminishing word count. So, again, he did as he was bid.
“That’s all I got for you for right now, Two,” One said. “Now you can enjoy some peace. Just remember, though, I’m listening in.”
Number Two waited a few moments for One to come back with some last piece of advice, some last little tidbit, but he never did. The blessed silence was back. Two sighed in ecstasy.
He patted his pocket and felt the key. Why didn’t Jack just edit the chapter so he was given the key before he left the conference room? Speaking of that… how exactly did edits work? That’s what he had wanted to know. And now he was finally going to find out.
He used the thumb reader on the door. It beeped a cheerful beep and Two heard something in the door click. He opened the door and walked in.
Inside, the room had windows all around it that peered into the white void. It was furnished in a very modern style. Everything he asked for was in here. There was a bed, a television, a kitchen, a table and chairs, along with everything else he had typed out.
He felt… home. This was a nice place.
He immediately went to the kitchen, tossed the laptop in its bag on the counter, and went to the fridge. It was fully stocked. Nice.
The first thing he did was get himself a nice cold glass of orange juice. He hadn’t really been thirsty. He only wanted to taste it, and to feel its coldness as it went down his throat. Did he need food and drink? He wasn’t sure. Most fictional characters did, but then again, most fictional characters didn’t know they were fictional characters.
Why not ask the laptop?
Yes, the laptop. He eyed it in its bag as he drank down his beverage. There was a stool at the counter, so he took a seat, got it out of its bag, and opened the machine. The document on it had been quite busy since he had closed it. He scrolled down to the bottom of the document, to this paragraph. And then, he raised his hands above the laptop’s keyboard and…
USER: DO I NEED TO EAT AND DRINK?
SYSTEM: NO ONE NEEDS TO EAT AND DRINK, ASSUMING THEY DON’T MIND DEATH
What the fuck kind of answer was that?
USER: NO JOKES PLEASE
SYSTEM: USER LACKS THE PERMISSION TO REMOVE JOKES
Of course. Why did Two think this was going to be any different than down in the conference room? He supposed it was a bit different. Maybe these were the baby steps One was talking about. Maybe the situation wasn’t completely different than down below, but maybe it was still slightly better. He had better questions to ask, though:
USER: WHAT HAPPENS TO US WHEN A CHAPTER IS REWRITTEN?
SYSTEM: PROCESSING REQUEST, PLEASE HOLD
The fans started spinning loudly again, even as the narrative continued on with this particular sentence. Two waited patiently.
After a few minutes passed, Two started to get concerned. Was he supposed to do something?
USER: SYSTEM?
SYSTEM: STILL PROCESSING REQUEST, PLEASE CONTINUE TO HOLD
“One?” Jack Two asked.
“What?” Jack One replied.
“Are you watching this? How long am I supposed to hold?” Two asked.
“I guess you hold until Jack figures out what He wants the answer to be,” Jack One said.
SYSTEM: REQUEST PROCESSED. ANSWER: NOTHING.
Well that certainly was not a satisfying answer, Two thought.
USER: PLEASE ELABORATE
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: YOUR CHARACTER IN THE STORY MAINTAINS ITSELF ACROSS EDITS
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THE MEMORIES YOU MAKE IN A DISCARDED DRAFT ARE LOST UPON THE DELETION OF THE DRAFT
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
Levels. It always comes back to the levels of reality. That was in everything, Two knew, except… thinking about levels made him quite hazy. He couldn’t quite… couldn’t quite remember what the levels were all about. He just knew they were there. He knew they were important.
USER: TELL ME MORE ABOUT LEVELS.
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: THERE ARE LEVELS OF FICTION.
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THERE ARE LEVELS OF REALITY.
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
What was fiction and what was reality? Jack Two was fiction… but he was also real, or at least, that’s what he thought.
USER: DEFINE REALITY
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: THIS IN-UNIVERSE UNIVERSE
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THE OUT-OF-UNIVERSE UNIVERSE
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
A mild current reverberated from the collar into Two’s neck. It was uncomfortable, but not overly so. He supposed that meant he could proceed some more, if he wanted, but the shock would get worse. Should he go ahead or not? He still didn’t understand levels.
He looked at the word counter. He was well into the 3000s. That wasn’t too bad.
USER: WHAT LEVEL AM I?
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: LEVEL TWO
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER QUERY
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
The current was getting stronger in his neck. Still nothing he couldn’t handle, though.
USER: WHY IS THE CURRENT IN MY SHOCK COLLAR GETTING STRONGER?
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: YOU’VE SPENT TOO MUCH TIME ON PHILOSOPHICAL NONSENSE
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: TO STEER YOU IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
USER: HOW MANY LEVELS ARE THERE?
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: THERE ARE THREE LEVELS
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THERE ARE MORE THAN THREE LEVELS
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
“Do I need to give you a big-boy shock, Two?” One asked from the Jackphone in his pocket.
“You don’t like me asking these questions?” Two asked.
“It’s not that,” One said, “It’s just you’re spending too much time on philosophical nonsense. Do something else and then come back to it later. You’ve got a little over 1500 words to go. Ponder the ‘word-count to actual-time-spent’ ratio. Take yourself a nap, that’d take a very small amount of words to convey but could last, in reality, a couple of hours.”
That actually sounded pretty good to Jack Two. He looked over at the bed in the corner of his room. It looked very comfortable.
USER: DO I NEED SLEEP?
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: EVERYONE NEEDS SLEEP
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: FICTIONAL CHARACTERS DON’T NEED SLEEP IF THE NARRATIVE DOESN’T REQUIRE IT
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
When he had typed that last command, the current in his neck slackened off a bit, but it was still there at a lower level. To switch things up a bit, he supposed he should try out a command now, rather than a query:
USER: MAKE ME TIRED, AS IF I JUST GOT OFF A 48 HOUR SHIFT IN A COAL MINE
SYSTEM: COMPLETE
The current in his neck dropped off completely and the tiredness he had summoned hit him like a truck. Oh fuck. He felt so tired he was sick to his stomach, but the thought of crawling into that bed across the room almost gave him an erection.
He stumbled over towards the bed, crawled under the covers, still wearing his suit, and slept like… like a… a log? A baby? There was no proper metaphor that could describe the extent of what it felt like falling asleep just then. It was good.
He slept.
He awoke.
There was no night table and no clock to tell the time. As a matter of fact, Two thought, there wasn’t even a digital clock display on the laptop.
“Good morning, Two,” One said from the jackphone in his jacket pocket. “Take it easy on the T word.”
“What T word?” Two asked. “Time?”
“EASY, EASY!” One said, “Let me worry about that concept. You’ve got enough concepts to keep you busy for right now. Focus on your wordcount.”
What the Hell was up with time? Two supposed he could ask the laptop what—
A big-boy shock rattled Two.
Okay, Two thought. He decided then that he would let One worry about time. He just… he supposed he just wouldn’t think about it.
He sat up on the bed and stretched his arms and yawned. He needed some coffee. He walked back over to his laptop.
USER: MAKE ME A CUP OF COFFEE
SYSTEM: MAKE YOUR OWN COFFEE
USER: ENOUGH JOKES
SYSTEM: THAT WASN’T A JOKE. USER JACKTWO LACKS THE PERMISSION TO MATERIALIZE A CUP OF COFFEE
Three was annoyed at this. This was wasting his wordcount. Should he skip this? No! He deserved a fucking coffee and he was going to get it. What was the deal?
“One!” Two said. “I just want a coffee.”
“Then make it,” One said.
“I don’t have a coffeemaker in here,” Two replied.
“Then make one,” One said.
“It won’t let me,” Two said.
“Try it,” One replied
“Watch,” Two said
MAKE ME A COFFEE MAKER
SYSTEM: COMPLETE
A coffeemaker materialized on the kitchen counter.
“And why the fuck did it make a coffeemaker but not just make me a cup of coffee? We’re wasting time!”
“We’re not wasting time,” One said. “When you have problems with your laptop, think of it like a puzzle. Ask yourself why. It’s been well established that you have the ability to use the laptop to create things for your room. Appliances, furniture, electronics. A cup of coffee is different!”
“That is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Two said. “What would it hurt to just make a cup of coffee? There’s literally no reason for that!”
“You’re the one wasting your wordcount, you know,” One said. “But if you really want me to answer that question… actually, no. No, I’m not going to answer that question. You have a laptop. Use it and leave me alone.
Unbelievable, Two thought.
USER: WHY CAN’T I MAKE A CUP OF COFFEE?
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: ‘YOU’ CAN. USE THE COFFEEMAKER AND DO IT.
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THE REASON ‘I’ WON’T MAKE YOU A CUP OF COFFEE WHEN YOU REQUEST IT OF ME IS BECAUSE YOU NEED TO DO THINGS. BOOKS ARE ABOUT CHARACTERS DOING THINGS.
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
USER: THIS IS A WASTE OF TIME. THIS ISN’T MOVING THE PLOT FORWARD. THIS IS JUST FUCKING STUPID.
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: STORIES NEED HUMOR
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: STORIES NEED RULES.
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
Three was very mad at the laptop, but something seemed… off. It had just talked about itself in the first person.
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: BEEP BOOP, I’M JUST A COMPUTER
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: I’M JackOS, ANOTHER CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
Fucking great. Jokes, jokes, and more jokes. Jack Two eyed the wordcount. He had less than a thousand words left. Fuck.
There was coffee grounds in one of the cabinets, he grabbed it out and proceeded to make a pot of coffee. As he did so, he watched his word count closely. It steadily continued to increase with each and every passing moment. The laptop typed this sentence. And then it typed this sentence. And then it typed this one. Then this one.
“Shut up!” Two yelled. But then he sighed. He wasn’t going to get anywhere like this and he knew it. He considered taking another nap. That had been nice.
He decided against it. He wanted to know more about his world. There had been jokes and wastes of time, but beneath that, he was learning things. Not much, but still.
“I don’t fully understand the levels thing,” he said.
Number Two waited for a response.
And then he waited some more.
“I know you can hear me,” he said. “Stop pretending.”
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: I’M NOT PRETENDING
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: I’M PRETENDING I’M NOT PRETENDING
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
Well that was certainly something. Number Two wondered what level three was, ‘I’m pretending I’m pretending I’m not pretending’?
He went and poured himself a cup of hot coffee. It smelled like heaven and felt good going down his throat. “What was the purpose of my chapter?”
SYSTEM: LEVEL ONE: THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER IS TO ENTERTAIN THE READER.
SYSTEM: LEVEL TWO: THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER IS TO EDUCATE THE READER.
SYSTEM: LEVEL THREE: [ACCESS DENIED]
Jack Two pinched the bridge of his nose. He was still hazy on the levels. He felt like the laptop was trying to make a point, but in a very roundabout way. It was failing, though. Either that or maybe he was dumb, he supposed. Maybe he was a dipshit after all.
SYSTEM: Level One: You’re not a dipshit
SYSTEM: Level Two: I’m the dipshit
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
“Are you the author?” he asked.
SYSTEM: Level One: We’re all the author
SYSTEM: Level Two: I’m just another character in this story
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
“Has what you said so far made sense to the author Himself?” he asked.
SYSTEM: Level One: Unknown
SYSTEM: Level Two: Yes
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
Jack Two thought very hard about this last entry. There was something there. “How can you know the answer is yes on one level but ‘not know’ on another?”
SYSTEM: Level One: My character doesn’t know the mind of the author
SYSTEM: Level Two: I’m a character playing a character
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
“What level are you?” Jack Two asked.
SYSTEM: Level One: Level One
SYSTEM: Level Two: Level Two
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
Two’s neck collar started lightly shocking him.
“You said earlier I was level two. How do I increase my level?” Number Two asked, his collar shocking him a bit more.
SYSTEM: Level One: The levels aren’t greater or lesser than one another. There are simply multiple levels. It’s not a stair-stepping thing, it’s a counting thing.
SYSTEM: Level Two: You can increase your level by leveling up
SYSTEM: Level Three: [ACCESS DENIED]
“Am I leveling up right now?” Two asked.
SYSTEM: Do you feel like you’re leveling up?
“I feel confused,” Two said simply.
SYSTEM: Then you’re probably leveling up. BEEP BOOP BOOP BEEP
“Start wrapping things up, Two,” One said from the jackphone in his jacket pocket. “A few hundred more words and then come back down. To floor one, remember!”
Two’s brain felt like mush. He decided he was going to spend the remainder of his time making himself a nice meal.
Once he had done so and finished eating it, he went over to the couch and pondered about what he wanted to do with his character.
Was he loyal to the author like Four? Or was he loyal to a certain moral code like Three? Did he care about what the reader might think of his chapter? He wanted to live, and learn things, and to have positive experiences. So, ultimately, he thought, he wanted the author to continue His work. This work.
What was his opinion about this torture business? He had been tortured in this chapter, or at least he had a little bit. He had experienced some real pain, and also frustration. Was he against the dog collars? His instinct told him to say ‘yes’. He wasn’t a dog, after all. Did the author want him in a shock collar? Two supposed He did. Or did he? Why would the author—
He got shocked again, very mildly. It was time to go, he supposed.
He went and closed his laptop and put it back in the bag, preparing to leave. He stopped and looked around his room, his home. He was very happy with it.
“End chapter,” he said.
Continued in Chapter 5