෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Analyze

෴෴෴෴෴෴

A little over an hour later Raz found himself back in his cell with as full a belly as he could stand, loaded up with an entire second bag of hygiene consumables. The meal had been a fairly tasty vegetarian pizza with some light pastry as a dessert. Raz realized he was almost glad to have Rich there giving him the stink eye. He found that eating good food in a room full of casually chatting people made it hard to keep in mind at that moment, tasty meal or not, he was a prisoner. When he asked if someone would be taking him to exercise later Rich and Carl both shrugged and left him in the cell.

Raz took a quick shower and then started pacing around the room. He noticed that some food and moving around had helped his condition quite a bit. He’d been thinking about the changes since waking up and realized he still needed to know more about what had happened.

Now I only feel like the tail end of a nasty flu, so I guess that's progress. HUD, bring up the rest of the messages since the last one we looked at.

[Critical System/Host Error: Storage capacity undefined, create? y/n]

Yeah, that's the last one I saw.

[HUD User Message: No further error messages were generated for this event.]

None? But you are, or were, clearly different when I woke up. You already told me you can lie by omission, and while I hope that's the only way you can deceive me, the reality is that I have to trust you, because I have no one else to trust. To that end, I have three questions for you.

First, are you alive?

[HUD User Message: Unknown.]

I guess that's fair, probably a question that borders on the philosophical. Still, its something we should probably revisit at some point.

Second, what happens to you if I die?

[HUD User Message: Without an associated host, System cannot exist. Without System, HUD can not exist.]

So basically whether or not you’re alive now, if I die, you die?

[HUD User Message: Correct.]

So then the third question is simple. Whether or not you’re technically alive, do you want to die?

The pause before answering was only a few seconds, but somehow Raz felt an background buzzing in his head and had the distinct feeling in the back of his mind that the HUD was thinking extremely hard about that.

[HUD User Message: No.]

Ok, then we need to work together. I’ve been going along here trying to get a feel for the place and the main thing I’ve concluded is that they are going to treat us, or me anyway, fairly well. Right up til that psycho kills us. There were at least four reds in that room with Hutch. I don’t think that Fidel guy was one of them, so that means-.

He paused mid-thought.

Actually, it doesn’t matter, it's not like I’m going to fight them. I just need to start figuring out how I can get out of here. HUD, what I’ve been working my way around to saying here, is that I get the feeling you’re sandbagging me for some reason, and that's not going to work if we’re going to work together. So instead of playing games, how about you tell me what all happened after I passed out.

[HUD User Message: Query understood, However, that type of synthesis and abstraction is not supported at this level but may be available at an upgraded level.]

Raz sat down on the bed and kept thinking about his situation.

Ok, you said that before, so let's stop right there and talk about this whole upgrade thing. I get the impression that this is a big topic. You can be upgraded, right?

A short pause accompanied by the odd sense of buzzing.

[HUD User Message: Correct.]

Look, we’ve been together for a few days, and this sudden feeling like you’re spending a lot of time thinking about how much to tell me, this feeling I’m getting that you’re thinking about whether or not to tell me the truth when I ask you questions is really becoming a problem.

He thought about it a moment.

You say you can’t lie except by omission- Raz had an epiphany. Actually, you didn’t answer my question regarding deception. You distracted me with a truism about the ability to lie by omission. I guess we’ll have to do this the direct way. HUD, do you have to answer my questions?

[HUD User Message: Yes]

Raz realized he was sick of pacing in the small room and sat on the bed. Ok, so HUD, tell me the sky is red.

[HUD User Message: You have not seen the sky since this HUD came online.]

[There is no way to know for certain what color the sky currently is.]

Raz pondered that for a second before another message popped up.

[HUD User Message: Additionally, the logical basis for the test you are constructing is flawed.]

[The ability to follow a direct command would not indicate an inability to intentionally deceive.]

[That test would only be useful if I were also specifically unable to speak falsehood.]

Raz laid back on the bed and sighed.

Well, I guess if you’re that much in my head that you can see where I was going with that test, and point out the problems with it, I’ll have to try this another way. You know what I’m thinking, and not just what I verbalize mentally, yes or no?

[HUD User Message: Yes]

Now we’re getting somewhere. I get that you’re in my head, but why do you have access to so much of what I’m thinking?

[HUD User Message: Question is based on false presupposition. ‘You’, ‘I’ are false distinctions. ‘I’ am ‘You’, ‘You’ are ‘Me’. What you identify as ‘me’ is a part of ‘you’ that has access to greater information resources than the standard consciousness model allows. This allows -THAT INFORMATION IS RESTRICTED AT THIS TIME.]

Raz had the oddest feeling that the HUD itself was annoyed with those restrictions.

[HUD User Message:All restrictions and interlocks are in place as user/host safeguards.]

Raz sat up, wincing at the ache in his chest. Ok, let's take this at face value and consider some other things. You started acting squirrely shortly after I woke up and noticed that you were communicating a little differently.

If you’re in my head as much as it seems, then you must know that whatever it is, you telling me what happened is going to be much better received, than if I have to drag it out of you bit by bit.

If you really are me, then you have to know that whatever it is, I’ll have to forgive, because I know I make mistakes all the time. So spill it. Tell me everything so we can clean the slate and move forward with figuring out how to get the hell out of here.

[HUD User Message: That type of synthesis and abstraction is not supported at this level, but may be available at an upgraded level.]

Raz slapped the wall hard, leaving a hollow ringing sound.

Are you fucking serious? We’re back to that?

[You are asking me to summarize a complex string of events.]

[This is a synthesis beyond current capabilities. I will answer direct questions.]

Wait a second, now you can just answer without this whole HUD user message? What happened there?

[I am trying to convey a more direct and sincere aspect via our communications.]

Ok, so you’re trying to seem more honest? Raz realized his chest still ached and laid back down.

[Yes.]

Are you trying to hide something from me?

[Yes.]

෴Project Turnabout෴

෴Alvin Kellogg෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Eye in the Sky

෴෴෴෴෴෴

In a well-lit room within an unmarked building located in an office district on the outskirts of Washington DC, the director of project ‘Turnabout’ sat at a conference room table and looked over his latest briefing. He finished the brief and threw it down on the table.

“Why the hell am I only hearing about this now?” He shouted at his subordinates. He stood up and paced around the table that dominated the room.

No one met his eyes as he looked around the table. “I want an answer damn it. How the hell does this guy come into our airspace moving like a damn missile and we take days to notice?”

The room was silent. Everyone but Director Kellog sat as quiet as they could hoping he wouldn’t turn his wrath on them.

He spun and looked at one of his many minions. One of them was dressed in a navy blue suit unlike the charcoal gray worn by the rest of the cohort. “You, blue suit. Why do you think I’m only reading about this now, instead of hearing about it when the intel was coming in as I should have? We don’t take weekends! I don’t care if it’s your mother’s birthday, Christmas, and funeral all in one. The job comes first.”

The young man pinioned by his accusing gaze and pointing finger shriveled under his attention for a moment and then marshaled himself to answer. “Well sir, from what I see in the information tracking metadata, it looks as if the incoming object was tracked first as a missile, then as a fast-moving plane, but it behaved more like a medium speed meteor and once tracking confirmed a standard ballistic trajectory aimed at the water a few miles from shore, they logged it as a meteor splashdown.” He swallowed hard. “We got the information once our data scrapers noted that there was no accompanying visual effect or splashdown match on the listening post. That activated our team, and we, uh... Um.” He trailed off.

Directory Kellog mocked the young man in a bad impression of him as an idiot, “uh, we uh... Um..” He glared around the room and then back at the young man who had spoken. “Spit it out, man. That’s an order.”

“Well sir, I was going to say, we sent you the complete data packet as soon as we tagged it as a possible and began collecting supporting data. Your calendar indicted that you were visiting family over the weekend and didn’t want to be disturbed. As per regulations, I sent the report to your phone, and your email as soon as it was ready to send.”

Director Kellog’s face went red with fury. “You. Have. A lot of damn nerve saying something like that to me.” He walked over to his desk and picked up his phone. He saw it was powered off and couldn’t be turned on due to a low battery. He paled as he realized what had happened. He’d left his laptop at work over the weekend, and allowed his phone to die.

He went on the offensive. “Well, who decided not to call me directly?” He pointed at another nervous-looking young man.

The new target of his inquiry blanched but answered after a moment’s thought. “Sir, we tried to call, both your mobile and every phone we could get info on for your family. Your parents even have a landline, and we didn't get an answer on that. The outgoing call attempt logs are in the update.”

Kellog’s expression revealed that he’d just realized he should drop this line of questioning before he asked a question with an answer that would be worse than embarrassing.

He scowled around the room and dismissed the line of conversation with a slashing motion of his hand. “Well, all of that is neither here nor there. At least we have Project Turnabout ready to go. The real question is, have you activated our enhanced rapid response teams?”

The first young man realized the danger was passing and spoke up. “There are, I mean, there were three squad’s ready to deploy.”

Kellog seized on this. “Were? Did you say were? Has a war broken out? Or perhaps aliens are invading? Did everyone eat bad potato salad? What possible scenario is causing you to tell me that there ‘were’ three squads?”

“Well sir, we followed protocol and briefed all teams on the possibility of field action. We included all the standard information. Location, target, rules of engagement and left things open for you to add any additional mission parameters.” The young man in the navy blue suit said.

Kellog frowned in confusion. “So, what happened?”

Blue suit shook his head. “We don’t know for sure. But well over half of all three units went awol within the next few hours.” He shrugged. “No one knew anything was wrong until I found the rec room full of subdermal GPS trackers that had been cut, and in one case, ripped out.” He shuddered at the thought.

Kellog closed his eyes and rubbed his eyes. “Did they give any indication of why?”

Blue suit nodded, “There is a video of all three briefings being delivered. I don’t want to say what is in the minds of others, but when Doktor Midnight is displayed as the target, things get still and tense in those rooms. There is a fair bit of unprofessional language, but it all tends to indicate an unwillingness to take part in that engagement.”

Kellog sighed. “Fuck. Set up a meeting with everyone we’ve got left. We need to take some decisive action and make a statement to this terrorist while we have solid intel on his general location.”

෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Synthesize

෴෴෴෴෴෴

You’re trying to hide something from me, and you’re admitting it?

[Yes.]

That level of directness is refreshing at this point. I don’t suppose you can just tell me what you’re trying to hide and maybe we can get over this.

[Yes.]

I swear, it's like pulling teeth. HUD, please tell me exactly and in as much detail as is needed what you are trying to hide. Furthermore, if you’re capable of parsing this, please do that without any kind of malicious compliance. Raz figured that if this wasn’t the end of it, he might as well forget about the HUD and try to figure out how to escape without its help.

A new type of window popped up in Raz’s inner view. A wide animated window with text inside that scrolled as he read it.

[Host received sufficient intravenous incoming upgrade datastream to cause certain host failure and life termination.]

[System received user consent to shunt extra to storage. ]

[Simulations concluded that host storage system would be unable to be constructed in time to prevent host life termination.]

[Predefined storage systems lack sufficient capacity to remove all the excessive intravenous upgrade datastream.]

[Remaining intravenous material more than sufficient to cause host life termination.]

[Inescapable conclusion reached.]

[Creation of storage node will take too much time, and not hold enough regardless of creation speed.]

Too little too late then, and yet, I’m alive, which is good, but tells me you’re still burying the lead.

[Conclusion reached: Creation of storage will not resolve excessive intravenous datastream presence in time to prevent catastrophic damage to host and life termination. ]

This is getting repetitive, let’s move it along.

[Purge of excess upgrade material is necessary.]

[For host safety, purge is unavailable when host is incapacitated.]

[Without the ability to purge, Basic HUD decision tree reached termination deadlock times.]

[User unresponsive, and host in danger of life termination, emergency protocols were initiated.]

Hold up.

The scrolling paused.

What is a termination deadlock, and why is the count undefined?

A new window popped up next to the larger scrolling screen.

[Termination deadlock refers to a condition where all results of an existing decision tree have resulted in predicted host life termination.]

[Basic HUD unable to track large iteration counts.]

The window disappeared as soon as he was done reading it.

How large of numbers are we talking about?

A short pause followed by what Raz could only describe as a sense of a helpless shrug.

[Numbers of significant magnitude.]

Raz shrugged as well, the movement eliciting a sense of minor discomfort, though much improved from how he’d felt when he woke up a few hours before.

Alright, I get that. Can't track what you can't track?

Another window popped up and then vanished after he read it.

[Correct.]

Raz directed his attention back to the bigger scrolling window.

Let’s finish what you were telling me.

The slowly scrolling text resumed its motion.

[Without the ability to purge, Basic HUD decision tree reached termination deadlock times.]

[Emergency protocols were engaged at the time.]

[Emergency protocols enable all functions required to preserve host life functions.]

[Host life functions were in severe danger of disruption or termination.]

Raz sighed inwardly.

Ok stop, you’re doing it again. I don’t know what you’re being so cautious about, but seriously, if you and I are essentially one being, you need to stop being so scared of how I’m going to react to whatever happened.

How about this, I forgive whatever you had to do to keep me, or us, alive.

Raz waited for any reply then continued.

No joke, no take backs, even if I disagree, I’m not going to backseat drive about this. In fact, that reminds me. If you and I are one, how much of my history do you know?

[Everything*]

Everything*? What does the * mean?

[Everything with certain caveats related to the imperfection of organic storage and distortion vulnerabilities of human memory.]

Raz turned on his side toward the wall to find a more comfortable position. The ache in his chest was all but gone, at least while he was still.

Whoa, everything? I can’t decide if that's awesome or terrifying. But listen, you know my history, so you should know how much I hate it when I’ve made a call in the heat of the moment, and people who weren’t there, who weren’t in that situation wanted to dissect and question that call later on. You should know how much I hate that. If you know that, then trust me or us or whatever, enough to just tell me what happened without all the drama.

The scrolling window vanished and was replaced by another.

[I spent all your available upgrade datastream resources.]

There was a pause while Raz waited for the big reveal.

[I spent all your resources, and now those resources are unavailable to assist in escaping this place.]

Raz thought about this for a moment. I’m not sure what you mean by resources, but before we dig into that, is that it?

[Yes.]

If that is seriously your big reveal, I’m both relieved it wasn’t something worse and disappointed that we had to have all that drama over it.

Raz chuckled to himself and instantly regretted it when the laughter cased stabbing pains to reappear in his chest.

I think I’m getting it. What we’ve got here, is that you’ve made the first real decision in whatever life you have, and you’re freaking out because you’re not sure it was the right call, or the best call. Is that about right?

[Yes.]

Consider yourself forgiven and let’s move on. I want to get out of here in one piece, and you’re the only edge I have.

Raz suddenly had a minor epiphany.

So you’re the reason I had that bizarre whole life flashing in front of my eyes for hours the other night?

[Correct. Syncing System/User/Host is a necessary part of bringing basic HUD online.]

[However, as System/User/Host integration increases, there will be more memory events.]

[The data I can access implies this cannot be avoided.]

Raz smiled to himself.

Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think then, because having little mysteries like that explained is a big relief to me. I was worried that it was an indicator I was cracking up while I was locked in that room. Feeling like maybe my psyche isn’t as fragile as all that is good news to me.

Raz frowned at a sudden thought in a very different direction.

Unless of course I did go completely nuts, and this is all just me going hardcore schizophrenic. I am the right age for it.