[Incident Report IV-1 Alpha: Subject - 043-V-23/IVTP, September 03, 2035]
Background: On September 03, 2035, a dual containment breach occurred at SHOCKS Headquarters Victoria/Vancouver Island. Two Xuduo-Danger anomalies escaped confinement; the first, IVTP, was initially deemed less of a threat, while the second required immediate recontainment in order to avoid a chain breach across both the Xuduo and Qishi wings. During their attempt to recontain the secondary breach, SHOCKS lost track of IV-1. The following is a reconstruction of events based on security footage, monitoring devices outside of various containment cells, and interviews with IVTP following recontainment.
13:25 - IVTP is spotted moving into the Xuduo-Danger containment wing in the wake of RST Lambda-Three’s advance. It stops outside a cell (later confirmed to contain Object 21-T-03/RS-2), shakes its head, and continues moving. In the footage, its wrappings appear to be tattering as it walks, checking a total of seventeen other containment cells before repeating its actions and moving to the next block. As it goes, its wrappings continue to unravel and fall apart, and it becomes more and more ephemeral.
13:29 - IVTP stops in front of Object - 213-VVI-1/PA’s cell. The last of its wrappings disintegrate, and a moment later, it disappears in a cloud of black smoke.
13:29 - The internal monitoring in the containment unit activates as IVTP lands. PA’s containment protocols respond automatically, flooding the room with liquid napalm to a depth of three feet. Two voices can be heard screaming through the in-wall listening devices. Of note is the plant growth in the cell, which was later measured at 76% higher than average.
13:30 - IVTP appears outside of PA’s containment, eyes pinkish-white. Their color darkens over the next minute as it hums to itself, watching the cell door.
13:37 - IVTP repeats its entrance into the containment cell, resulting in an additional flood of napalm. Plant growth is only 32% higher this time than average, and screaming from inside the chamber can be heard much more clearly.
13:31 - IVTP appears outside of PA’s containment again. It takes nearly three minutes for it to recover this time. Of note: The subject’s form appears to vomit dark smoke into the hall for almost a full minute, setting off multiple fire suppression systems. During this time, SHOCKS personnel reestablish visual contact with IVTP through security systems and begin directing RST Lambda-Three toward it.
13:33 - Containment is re-established on the first breach, and RST Lambda-Three moves into the Xuduo-Danger containment wing to secure IV-1.
13:36 - IVTP allows itself to be taken into custody and placed in a temporary containment unit in the Geren-Danger wing.
14:54 - Post-breach check-ups on other anomalies reveal that Object - 213-VVI-1/PA’s plant growth has spiked to 143% of average and that it threatens a breach within two hours. Additional napalm is applied to its cell on a fifteen-minute rotation until, at 17:53, it is declared temporarily neutralized. Shortly after, IVTP allows itself to be re-wrapped in fresh bandages and demands an interview with the headquarters director.
Note: From interviews, IVTP’s actions seemed motivated by anger or hostility toward PA, though they also prevented a potentially catastrophic third breach. Containment procedures were updated to reflect increased access to Geren and lower-Danger anomalies and escorted visits to the Xuduo and Qishi-Danger wings in hopes of using IVTP as a containment-enhancing anomaly. It is theorized that IVTP may have predictive powers regarding other anomalies. Reclassification to Atero is pending.
[Update]
Despite further testing, the subject has not shown any further predictive powers. As long as it remains cooperative, additional contact with anomalies will be continued, as interaction has reduced the number of question events by 73%. Reclassification to Atero denied.
----------------------------------------
Location Unknown, Date Unknown, Time Unknown
- - - - -
Just like that, I’m back in the void, back in my yellow-dots-and-lines body. James is still lying there in his fetal position, blue-green dots glowing faintly, and now that I know what’s happened to him, I have a moment of guilt, of hesitation. But I grit my teeth; it’s not my fault what happened to him, and I’m going to give him a chance at something better than being a brain in a jar—or in a tank.
And to my left, hovering in the sky, is the orange glowing pentacontogon—or maybe more than 50 faces, it’s hard to tell. Its number of sides keeps changing as edges and points merge and separate.
[Alright, I’ve got a problem,] I ‘say’ to the Halcyon System. [I can’t talk to James out there, but you’ve got him in here, and I’ve got a second version. You can load one of these up, right?] I put a hand on my hip, where the Revolver would sit if I was real. It’s a little worrying how much it’s become a part of me, but I push that aside. [Right?]
{Possible. JAMES System status is different than expected. Beginning communications request}
It takes almost a minute before the curled-up ball that’s James’s body turns its head and looks at me. [What?] He asks dully.
[Hi, I’m Claire, and I’m going to save your life—or kill you.] I hold up my hands as he starts, hurriedly adding, [It’s up to you, I promise. You’re already dead, you’re an electric ghost or something, and it sounds like SHOCKS used you as an experiment. Sorry.]
I’m not lying to him. Not right now—not when he needs to know what’s going on and what’s at stake for him. I continue before he can stop me. [They turned you into a Post-Life Entity and plugged you into their computer system, but that system’s under attack by an Information Vampire and maybe the big orange sun floating over there, so I got you out. I can save your life, but it’ll have to happen soon. Or, if you’d rather just go, I can…I can make that happen.] I trail off awkwardly.
The blue-green figure stands up, and I’m shocked at how skinny he looks. My yellow dot-and-line grid of a body looks…well, like me. A little out of shape, but not much; I take after Dad, not Mom. James looks absolutely malnourished, and I wince as he mumbles, [What do you want to do?]
[So, your body’s not functional anymore, and I can’t get you to a replacement in time. But the Halcyon System—] I point to the glowing orange shape, [—can integrate you into it. You’d become its…personality, I guess? With access to its database and stuff.]
[How would that be different than what I’ve been doing?] James asks. I can’t see a scowl on his face—the simulation we’re in doesn’t allow for facial features, much less expressions—but I can feel it.
I think for a minute, trying to find the truth. When I hit on it, I realize it’s not what he wants to hear, but dammit, it’s what he needs to make a good choice. [You’re choosing it this time.]
It’s quiet for a long time. The seconds tick by, imperceptibly but constantly, and I’m about to say something else when James nods slowly. [Okay.]
For a moment, I almost sigh in relief, but before I can, the Halcyon System’s motherlike voice fills my head. {No. There are concerns. JAMES System status understood. Formerly-living creature.}
[What does that change?] I shout, whirling toward the orange sun and glaring as my hand drops to my waist again. I can feel the heat building inside me, and I’m about ready to fight someone—if there was only someone to fight!
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
{Everything. Normal Integration is likely impossible and will cause irreversible changes to the Halcyon System if successful. Further, Integration would violate Halcyon System protocols without permission from the being in question.}
Heat fills my face, and I step toward the gigantic sun-like shape in the air before realizing how dumb that is. What am I going to do to it? Punch it? It wouldn’t even feel it. [Permission? He’s right there, giving you permission! We’re both going to die if you don’t do this! Besides, didn’t you say you’d do it like an hour ago? What’s different now?]
{Halcyon System protocols are to change sentient, living beings as little as possible. Therefore, Integration with the JAMES System would result in breaking that protocol.}
[Like a…like a…] James mumbles. He’s back on the floor now, head in his hands. [I can’t remember, but like something.]
I don’t have the time or the desire to help James figure out what memory he’s trying to access. I take another step toward the giant sun. [You’re killing him after he said he wanted to live! And if you do that, you’re changing a sentient, living being! So change your mind about something!] No matter how hard I try, I can’t keep the hint of panic out of my voice. Worse, I’m doing what every kid at West End did to me after Alice explained her side of Mom’s death, when her friends cornered me and tried to get me to admit I was lying.
Maybe that’s the play, though. If I can get the Halcyon System to admit it’s wrong, maybe I can save James.
{No. Not killing him. He’s already dead, so refusing Integration can’t kill him.}
I step back. There’s a new equation in my head, the most important equation, and if I can solve it, the Halcyon System will have to listen.
Variable One: James is dead. But he’s also clearly not dead, because he can speak for himself.
Variable Two: The Halcyon System can’t integrate him because he’s a living being, but can’t get permission for integration because he’s dead.
Variable Three: Something I haven’t figured out yet. But it’s got something to do with the Halcyon System, and if I can math it out, it’ll show me the truth about how to save James.
----------------------------------------
Has it been minutes? Hours? Days?
It’s impossible to know how long I’ve been thinking. Hopefully not too long.
The Halcyon System—or its sunlike avatar, I’m not sure—hovers patiently overhead, and James lies curled up in a ball somewhere behind me as I lay out the variables one more time. I think I’ve got it. The solution looks simple once I set the two variables I know.
[James either is dead, or he isn’t, right?] I ask the glowing orange shape.
{Correct,} the System says. It pulses slightly as its sides drop in number; I’m not sure it’s the fewest I’ve seen, but it’s close.
[Okay. Choose.]
{Elaborate,} the System requests.
I press my advantage; this looks like its weak point. [He can’t be dead and not dead. So I’m asking you to choose which one you want to treat him as. It’s a simple choice, and I’m letting you make it.]
The System sits silently, pulsing and losing sides until I can almost count them. I hold my breath the whole time. If I’m right, I’ve already won. If not, it’ll say—
{Alive.}
Checkmate.
[Okay. He’s alive. That means he can give permission to go through Integration, even though it’ll be dangerous, right?]
{No. James is dead.}
[You’re wrong. We just agreed that he was alive. He has to be one or the other, but we’ll have it your way. Integration can’t hurt him if he’s dead, so you should do it.] I spring the trap.
I’m rewarded with the fewest number of sides I’ve ever seen—six, a rectangle that stretches and twists but doesn’t change shape at the same time. Instead of saying anything, I let the Halcyon System work through the puzzle, stretching its mind against the boundaries, and after nearly a minute, more edges and points start rippling from the rectangle until its faces look almost round, there are so many of them.
Then, the System speaks. {Running Integration compatibility diagnostic.}
[You want to save James’s life, don’t you?] I ask, then answer my own question before the System can speak again. [Of course you do. It’s in your nature. I don’t know what you are, but you showed up at the same time that merge at my high school did.]
{No.}
The word echoes in the void space around me, its weight almost a physical blow.
{No. System compatibility near-nominal. James system, begin integration?}
I don’t hear James’s response, but almost immediately, the orange lights of the Halcyon System start taking over James’s blue-green body. {Integration in progress.}
[What do you mean no? No to what? To you wanting James to live? Or to my high school?]
{No. Closing program. Integration in progress.}
I reach for the Revolver again, but it’s still not there, and before I can say anything else, Halcyon Integration.exe closes on my augs, and I open my eyes at the computer, with Li Mei’s tank right behind me.
----------------------------------------
Compared to the void space I’ve been in, the JAMES Experimental Sector’s humming computers and air system are almost deafening. I quickly check the time: three hours and eighteen minutes until Li Mei escapes. That’s enough time, and I’ve done what I can in the Experimental Sector. If it worked, James will be in my head soon enough. And if not? Li Mei will get access to everything here. She’ll feed, and probably grow stronger from all the information she finds here. I can’t let that happen.
I level the Revolver at the computer’s touchscreen and put a shot into it. Sparks leap everywhere, and the ceiling-mounted machine gun rotates toward me, but I shoot it until it stops. Then, I start shooting the servers running along the walls. I fire until the Revolver won’t fire anymore, wait until it’s ready for more, and then keep shooting.
When I’m done, the Experimental Wing’s filled with acrid smoke and tiny electrical fires that have nowhere to burn to in the concrete bunker. Then I turn and head for the airlock. There’s nothing more I can do here, and I don’t want to be anywhere near this place in a couple of hours.
The doors to the Xuduo-Danger anomalies’ containment cells, by some miracle, aren’t open, and when I get to the elevator, it only takes a few shots to the door before it starts climbing. The screeching and smell of hot metal catches in my ears and nose, and I spend the entire trip back up to the SHOCKS headquarters’ offices convinced I’m about to fall to my death. When it finally stops, and my stomach drops back to where it’s supposed to be, I breathe a sigh of relief.
I’m halfway down the hall, looking for an exit, when my augs cut out for the first time. I get hit by a ‘Rebooting’ message two more times before I find the hallway leading to the RST teams’ garage. I can’t drive—Dad never taught either of us, but Alice learned from a friend last year, and she’s got her license now, but nothing to drive. But I don’t need to. I just need a way out.
As I follow the long, sloping garage entrance tunnel, every shadow the flickering lights cast looks like Li Mei, and I spend the time split between thinking about her and wondering what Integration will be like for James. Will she come after me or try to find some other source of information? What will he sound like in my augs? For the last several days, she and Doctor Twitchy have been the closest thing I’ve had to an ally—what will it be like having James as a friend?
Will he be the same professional-sounding voice in my ear as before? That wouldn’t be so bad, but I find myself wishing for something different. I don’t need a semi-military friend, like the kids in the junior officer classes. I need a real friend. Even if he’s going to lie to me—and he will lie to me—I need him to be himself.
I reach a door at the end of the tunnel. It’s locked, but a smaller one next to it labeled ‘Maintenance’ has a thumb scanner, and I’m still Acting Director, at least for now. I scan it, the door opens, and I step out into Victoria.
My aug’s running the second I’m on the street, but it still won’t connect to send a message. I type three anyway: to Dad, Alice, and Sora.
Claire -
This part of the city doesn’t look that much different than it did just a couple of days ago when Alice, Dad, and I took the bus from our basic living building to West End High, but the slight hint of acrid smoke mixes with the fishy, salty sea smell that’s familiar to form something…off. Something wrong. I can’t find the fire, but it’s there somewhere, flickering in the distance. It’s just too dark to see, or too far away.
It hits me, then. The reports I’d read in Director Smith’s office? They weren’t made up. I’d known they weren’t because I’d have known if they were lies, but something’s wrong in Victoria. Keith and Dad and Alice and Sora are out there somewhere, and according to the report, there are more and more merges every day.
What parts of the city are okay? Where did SHOCKS fight back the hardest, and where shouldn’t I be? It’s hard to tell in the dark, but I start walking toward the ocean. When I get there, I’ll turn left, and that’ll take me somewhere I know…I hope.
[Hello, Claire,] James’s voice comes through my aug, but more than that, it comes through my mind.
[Truth Learned: Halcyon Bond 1]
[Active Skill Learned: Analyze]
[Skill Learned: Infohazard Resistance 1]
[Skill Learned: Memetic Resistance 2]
[Stability 6/10]
“It’s good to have you back, Sydney,” I say, tears in my eyes. He’s not Sora, but he’s someone.
[Sydney’s dead,] James says bluntly, and it hits me like a truck. Tears fill my eyes. [I’m James. I’m part of the Halcyon System, and I’m sorry, but I’m going to lie to you at some point.]
I’d hug him if I could. He needs it, and the admission of imperfection—that he’s not a perfectly truthful being—means so much more than it should. And, being truthful myself, I need the hug, too.
I can’t, so I blink back the tears. “Well, welcome back, James.”
[It’s good to be back. Where are we going?]
I take a deep breath, shuddering as the smoke-tinged air fills my lungs. It’s been so long since I’ve made that choice for myself. Honestly, it’s been since my sister’s graduation. Then I blow the air out, thinking. There are a million places I could go, but in the end, there’s only one I want to see.
“Basic Living Building Eighteen, Ten Mile Point. Home.”