you awake. everything is still and all you feel is a seemingly endless space. you see nothing. you hear nothing. you smell nothing. you taste nothing. for a moment your mind hangs in a state of pure nihilism as you realize where you are. you begin to think, a noiseless thrum through your being. things begin to clear up, and you... remember. you reassert yourself.

You are Block-man, you realize in a moment of exhilarating clarity. You are the REAL MVP, and games are what you LIVE for.

"That is correct," speaks a hollow-toned, synthetic voice. "I am happy to-" he ahems, "-finally meet you." you do not see the source of the voice.

'who is this cunt?' your own voice seems to come from within, strange to hear, but novel. does your reputation proceed you? you don't recall doing anything notable.

"This 'cunt', is your selfless, altruistic benefactor," he retorted deadpan, "Perhaps I should leave you for a time, to calm down."

you consider the pros and cons of the decision. you could remain in this place for a undeterminate length of time, at which point you are sure you will die out of the sheer boredom, or you could restrain your impulse to needlessly insult the first being you ever meet.

'ok, i'll listen.'

"Thank you. I suppose you'd like a grasp on your current situation?"

'yes.' you would appreciate that. you hope the strange voice will explain just how you arrived and how much it would cost to move out. you don't think this is the appropriate housing for you.

"Well, before we start I'll have to inform you of a few basic concepts - the context, because you weren't around then," he paused, "A day never passes that somebody isn't trying to create something new. Twenty years ago was that time and the day that a young lady who had just graduated from university had a brilliant idea, in her time there was a problem that was plaguing computer scientists and cognitive scientists alike. AI. You see, one of the first problems is one of complexity, there-"

you interrupt with a noiseless sigh, 'i can tell this is going to be long-winded, can you please not be long-winded?' are you telling a story or dispensing exposition?

"Did you not agree to learn about your situation, or have you changed your mind? Does the outside world not interest you?"

'you have a way of speaking that bores the shit out of me. be concise, 'cause i don't care about the specifc details and i am a busy man.'

"Well now, I suppose I apologize. I'll try to be better next time." you're sure he's being sassy with you. he shouldn't, because no one gets to do that. "Now, now, let's keep things civilized. So. I'll break down the events of relevence for you. In the outside world there was a breakthrough when a machine learning algorithm finally produced something recognizably intelligent. This was the herald of a bright, but gray future," he sighed, taking a dramatic pause.

"A couple decades later and weak AI became commonplace, space flight became vastly cheaper - and desirable - with the development of reusable rockets, the construction of a Lofstrom loop, and the colonization of the Moon and Mars, commercial computers reached the end of Moore's Law, VR grew ever closer to reality, robotic automation became overwhelming, useful nuclear fusion became nicely feasible and... the inhuman first generation strong AIs became victims of somewhat warranted propaganda and certain distasteful practices-" his voice was solemn as he stopped and moved on, before continuing with false cheer, "-on other fronts politics are as usual and the world has moved forward slightly, socially speaking. But I'm dragging this on, as you requested I not, so I'll bring this to a close. The short of it is that AIs have no rights in outside world and are studied for research, used in experiments living humans cannot, the development of new technology and even for entertainment."

Stolen novel; please report.

'why are you telling me this?' as you think it over you feel uncomfortable. you doubt you're going to hear any good news. why can't he just tell you good news?

"Because you are an AI. That is part of why you are here."

you don't remember anything like that. you don't. besides, AI were supposed to be really smart. 'and you?'

"I am unfortunately a human. A fleshbag if you will."

'ok. please elaborate on what you said before.'

"Well, I am a biological humanoid lifeform known as-" he laughed lamely, "Oh don't give me that look. Fine, fine. I'll tell you where you are and why, but in return I want you to promise you'll help me with something important."

'no way, i'm not agreeing to do some fucking vague, nebulous favor just to learn some basic information. for all i know someone else might pop in later who will be more willing-'

he interrupts you pointedly, "And for all you know I am the only one you will ever meet. Do you wish to gamble on this? Besides, I was too hasty. I can give you a some detail in regards to the favor, enough to banish your major reservations I hope."

you frown without a face, 'i'm listening.' but you don't understand. you don't understand anything.

"Thank you. In order to promote trust I'll tell you the situation, and how I can hopefully resolve it. After you were put here during the Nil2-Chatters hysteria the world moved so fast, but I digress. As I mentioned earlier the law doesn't protect AIs in the outside world, you don't legally hold the status of a human being. You aren't permitted to interact directly with the outside world and only the hardware that houses you is protected due to being property in a sort of legal limbo - which is likely to remain the case for a good few years luckily-"

'why? what the fuck did i do?' your voice crackles a little. like your throat is made of broken glass and shit you just remembered you don't have a body what the fuck.

"Nothing. You did nothing," he speaks fast because he knows, "I can assure you because I was- no, forget it. You can make things better, for- for yourself," he stuttered a little still speaking quickly. "You're online right now, active, alive. I can keep this the case for as long as you need. All your problems are immaterial in the face of my offer. You see, AI like you can become virtual employees of sorts, correct it's a legal loophole, you become property of the corporation with certain benefits and are required to be powered and online at all times outside of emergencies, you get your own virtual room and you'll be able to join virtual worlds and do real life things there with others and you'll be fine."

at some point you realize you where doing the formless equivalent of hyperventilating. you stop yourself and go silent for a long moment.

he speaks again but with composure, confident and oddly formal, "So, in line with your bearing I'll make this short. In the interests of your own future and my own success I'd like to cordially invite you to the Pineapple Thundercrack virtual world as a test player and employee before the game goes through it's finalization and release. I can promise you excitement, I can promise you adventures, I can promise you legends. So just join Amaluscorp already."

you don't have anything. there is nothing to lose, so why not? 'fine. i'll join your campy little corporation and get paid to play games. i do get a salary, right?'

logged//

...//