The AI that came to “help” after the mean ball left was even worse than I imagined it would be.
“Hi Jon M or whatever. I’m designed to be personalized to just you so they made my personality based on someone close to you, Cindy Locke. Whatever.” The new ball said to me unenthusiastically.
This was right after I asked for help while I was still staring at the new unlock screen. It’s like the day couldn’t get any worse on top of the aliens ruining my life. I almost wanted to let the beach just drown me at that point.
“As in my recent ex-girlfriend Cindy? Incredible. These aliens are playing chess,” I told it.
“Haha so witty,” it replied sounding almost exactly like my ex's monotone voice.
This was going to be great. Cindy and I didn't have the best relationship near the end and I wondered just how much this AI took from her.
“Can you um, help me unlock what I need to unlock?” I asked the AI. “Or at least explain what I need to do?”
“Oh so NOW you need help,” Cindybot replied in monotone still.
“Help Jesus,” I cried while shaking my head. It was getting to be too much to deal with.
“You’re not even religious Jon you can’t say that shit,” cindybot retorted.
“Just….please help me unlock this menu thing and help me figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. I really want to find my parents. Please,” I begged the small floating robot like I haven’t begged anyone since actual Cindy. It still seemed to work.
“Fine. I hate when you get like that. Let me unlock the rules and the reward thing,” it replied and started to spin.
The AI bot pulsed blue for a few seconds and afterwards I seemed to be in control somehow of the screens now. It was like I could interact with the disembodied panels with my mind whereas before it was cutoff. I was able to see the upgrade screen and this time it let me select "help".
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Help:
You have two upgrades available:
Control: Take over a person’s will completely. They submit fully to you. Length depends on level of skill, natural talent, and practice.
Reflect: Peer into a person’s mind. What you will gain is random at first and grows as you master this skill.
Accept upgrades: Yes/No
I read over everything twice and couldn’t really believe it. This is what those ships could do? This was like magic to us, what kind of chance do we really have? Not only that, how fucked up was it to mess with our minds? Don’t get so discouraged I told myself. I clicked “yes” with my mind and clicked on the next screen as the ‘upgrades’ said installing. Installing where was kind of concerning but I didn’t fight with those demons just yet. One mountain at a time. The next screen read the rules of the challenge.
The Legion’s Challenge Step 1:
One challenger must fully Control or diminish your controller’s legion by twenty percent in the next 30 days. At the end of your 30th day if you have successfully accomplished this task you will move on to step 2.
Warning: Another controller’s legion may still attack you. You will not gain anything towards this step by attacking or controlling them. You will have map markers signaling your own controllers legion so you may easily identify them.
Note: The Legion’s Challenge is now being controlled by an independent third party to ensure fairness due to recent lawsuits.
Below all of that I saw someone named Rijohe and a 100,000/100,000 tally next to the name. I guessed that was the “controller” the interface was referring to. There was a countdown as well but it was already showing 0:00. 100,000 people? Twenty percent of that? Was this a joke? I had a lot of questions and it was going to take a miracle to get this AI to respond to anything important.
“Hey so-,” I started to ask. Before I could finish I started noticing the people counter going down. A lot. It was followed by some screaming in the distance. The AI gave an exaggerated sigh in Cindy's voice.
“I guess it started already or whateverrr,” Cindybot sounded annoyed and hurried off.
“Where are you going don’t just leave!” I yelled after it and ran.
****
Rijohe
"It's just starting and the Tom one has already created a small legion. Impossible," the AI Bot told him while pouring over the feeds. "We have to bring this to the commander. There is no way this isn't interference."
Rijohe agreed but he didn't wish to lose favor with her. If he lost any standing here it could reflect poorly on his family back home, which was the last thing they needed.
"Let's bring it to her but we need to give her something. What can we do about the dumb one?" he asked his AI. He wanted to walk the dumb one into the ocean as soon as possible.
The bot swirled blue while it processed and replied "I hindered his AI as much as I legally could per the new lawsuit, but besides that first burst of resistance the projections don't show much from him. Tom however is different. And yet, the records of the last challenge are so old we're not told what to expect. The last time anyone even resisted Legion they became a part of the intergalactic government,"
Rijohe grimaced even though he knew what the AI spoke was true. The technology back then was ancient and they could barely access those records.
"Calapo" Rijohe cursed while his symbiote flared momentarily. "I'll just have to go to the commander then and hope she's in a good mood. This isn't going to go well."