Chapter Thirty Three – Another World: Five

… anyway. Sorry to bother you with all that. I’m just incredibly concerned for her and we cannot for the life of us figure out what she is. Is she an incredibly well programmed NPC, or a person in a coma? Someone trapped in the game? With all the conflicting information I wouldn’t rule out an A.I. at this point. It’s frustrating, you know? Sorry for the long message and thank you for your time.

Iron Crock

Tatiana felt curious as she read through the letter, musing about the attached screenshot. She’d seen the subject line and immediately opened the message. She was getting quite famous in-game and had a constant stream of messages lately, but not enough that she didn’t try to read them all.

This one sent a cold chill straight down her spine. Someone else had found her.

Gell.

Her first thought was to jump to the strange NPC's aid and defend it against other players that might try to kill her like she had. She opened the screencap, terrified of the Jellyfae she knew she was about to see, then stopped in confusion.

The character was… beautiful. But not Gell. Rather, she looked like Gell would if the little jellyfish were anthropomorphized. Her skin was a teal green… blue. She couldn’t quite tell, and the job was made more difficult by the glowing freckles.

The effect was eerily reminiscent of the glowing Jellyfae, too, though that was where the similarities ended. A teal skinned woman, with a young body that would make an in-game avatar envious, was covered by a ragged tunic that was also familiar. The fucking bugbears wore those!

“Oh God,” Tatiana breathed, reading the message over and over again.

Goosebumps rose on her arms and her neck as she took in the message with trembling fingers. The image of the avatar presented before her was not familiar. Not directly. The ways in which she was familiar haunted her though. The tendrils that formed her hair shimmered blue just like the creature she’d killed so many times. They even floated unnaturally just like the dungeon mob had.

“It’s really her,” she thought, still unable to shake the shock of it.

This creature. This human-jellyfish thing was the same NPC she’d killed over and over again to become as strong as she was!

There was no way the creature she had spoken to was a human. It had been a mob. But... the way it spoke at the end ruled out an NPC. She refuesed to believe anyone could act with that level of conviction. Especially for a prank that might've convinced her to quit the game altogether. Which meant…

‘The developers at Tread the Sky are experimenting with A.I.,’ she thought with rising panic.

That was the only explanation that made sense. The developers hadn’t been fucking with her because of her quick rise. They’d been experimenting with in-game mobs and she’d bumbled into their experiment!

Had it broken out of its programming? Was it… loose?

Her mind began to race. A.I. dungeon mobs? That was… monumentally stupid. Were they trying to find out what they would do? Figure out how an AI would react? Were they so desperate to make engaging enemies that they were ignoring the implications of creating a sentient creature that was set against humanity from its birth?

Gell’s only experience with people was being murdered by them repeatedly! She knew. She’d done it.

She remembered those words that day. It was weeks ago now, but nothing she did could erase that horrible wail from her mind. ‘Why are you the only thing that changes?’ and ‘When will you be satisfied?’ Both echoed inside her mind like hammers whaling on a giant bell of guilt.

“It’s going to take over the game,” she whispered aloud, letting her thoughts run rampant. Memories of a childhood spent watching old terminator movies, the first of which would be a century old sometime soon had her mind reeling with possibilities. She’d always loved those movies but they’d never had any bearing on real life!

The thought was ludicrous. Gell had interacted with her a grand total of one time. It had been firmly under control, even then. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but she couldn’t help it. She tried not to think about the creature she’d callously murdered a hundred times, but that only made her mind wander.

If she were a dungeon mob that had been killed over and over again, she would want revenge.

Her thoughts began to run away from her as she imagined what a sentient… sapient…? Shit whatever. What a self-aware A.I. might do if it found its way onto the internet. What if it grew? What if it managed to get outside of its flimsy game world prison? Might it already have done so? What might it do to the person who killed it over and over again?

She didn’t know if that was possible. Artificial Intelligence had been a part of her life since she was born, but not just from her favorite movie series. Companies constantly advertised “A.I.” but until now what they’d always actually meant was “automated learning.” Their… “A.I.” could pick up on what she probably wanted based on what she’d done before. Convenient. Private. Time-tested. Targeted advertisements had been a thing for years, and while they’d become more sophisticated, that was all they’d ever been.

No one had ever actually had to worry about sapient A.I. because one had never actually been made, as far as she knew. Year after year, the projected dates for when they might really pull it off were pushed further and further back.

She’d never been against them either, and didn’t think she would be in the abstract. At least, in that she’d never cared about them and the idiots trying to develop them. If she hadn’t personally pissed one off she might even be excited about it!

But she had. She had. And if she didn’t stop it while it was… hopefully still imprisoned within the game, who knew what might happen to her?

It was learning, feeling things, developing its own intelligence and it definitely had a grudge against her. That fucking terrified her.

“It… has to be deleted,” she thought.

These morons who’d developed this game should be thrown in jail. She was suddenly self conscious about the message she’d opened to reply to Iron Crock. Did Gell know about this? Was she being watched right now…? Inside the computer?

She’d never been much of a computer person, so she had no answers. Only fear.

Could it read her emails? Could it use her webcam to spy on her? Oh god, could it access her nervous system if she put the VR helmet on? What about her money!? Fuck, when was the last time she’d even seen physical cash?

She shuddered. The shudder didn’t stop though, quickly evolving into a full blown panic attack.

The abomination had to die. Permanently. A twinge of regret hit her at the thought, but it was the only way. It wasn't like the thing was actually alive. But... how could she kill it? Obviously killing it in game would do nothing except delay it.

She looked at the clock. Work in two hours.

Fuck that.

She pulled up her phone and began to prepare an email. She had a journalist friend who would love a story like this. She certainly couldn’t get a game company to delete its code on her own, but with enough support, and with proof…?

A little timidly, she put the headset over her eyes, and made sure to set in-game recording to on. She had a stream to broadcast…

...and a Jellyfae to kill.