Chapter 015 - A New Path? Part 1

[Karla]: “Oh you are here newbie, you sure took your time maybe it was because you two had a rough night last night eh?”

[Karga]: “What do you say, newbie, are you feeling refreshed after spending the night in the same room as Alice, eh newbie?”

Alice and Cyan could only go red at the teasing of Karga and Karla commentaries as they tried to reply at the same time.

[Cyan]: “We just slept in the same room and nothing more”

[Alice]: “That’s right we were just tired of running on the track”

[Karla]: “Aren’t you two adorable, however you should be mindful of your surroundings you know? Even though it is not forbidden there are people here that would create problems for you, you know?”

[Boss]: “…”

[Karla]: “See even Boss agrees with me, anyway, now that the newbie is here we can start, right Alice that video where did you get it from?”

Of course, she was talking about the video Alice had already shown to Cyan yesterday after arriving at the Tower, as to why Karla was asking about it, it was because Alice has sent it to Boss yesterday using her phone and he has watched it together with Karla and Karga.

[Alice]: “My dad is an army official that have access to it, he gave it to me before coming here, and he thought that it may help Players if they know what’s going on back on earth”

Karla nodded, she has studied the video last night after Boss passed it to her, it was very well recorded video and not something an amateur could record with their phones being so close to the action, it also showed the dead body of the monster dog at the end of the video and where the bullets had hit it like if trying to document it for later researches, that’s why she could easily believe in Alice words.

[Karla]: “So pretty much we can assume that it is around 90% to 95% real”

A long silence spread around to the table, even though Alice and Cyan knew the video was 100% real, hearing this from someone else make them realize they were actually hoping for it to be a fake, that video was something that no one wanted to believe in or at least they didn’t openly dare to, this was a kind of monster that you could only see in movie theaters and video games, shown to its full splendor, everyone would be excused if they did not believe it at first, making Karla comment even heavier, still, it was something they have to get off of the way first.

Boss spoke at this time.

[Boss]: “Train and you may survive”

This was a full head on warning to Alice and Cyan, if they didn’t want to die they need to take the training on the Tower very seriously and not like a school field trip, they both nodded at the same time, neither of the two was taking this as a vacation either way, they could understand the severity of the situation, Alice by abandoning her parents and Cyan by getting a warning from his own self and the price of almost dying that he had to pay for it.

Seeing the expression in the two kids faces Boss nodded, Karla and Karga understood what that meant as Boss was giving his ok for the kids, if they wanted to keep living then they need to grow stronger and for that, they need someone to help them.

[Karga]: “Are you sure about this Boss? They are just kids you know”

[Karla]: “Weren’t you that wanted to talk with them first?”

Before they could continue arguing, they were interrupted by Boss signaling the end of the argument.

[Boss]: “Karla make the offer”

Karla let out a sigh while Boss stood up from his chair and left the area through the elevator, his role here was over and now it was time for Karla to take charge of the conversation.

[Karla]: “Alright are you two hungry? Let’s order something to eat and talk for a little bit”

Karla ordered 4 plates of the specialty of the day together with 8 side dishes and 4 drinks, this was all paid from her own pocket as a show of goodwill, it was also as repayment for Alice video, Karla herself have to admit that it was a far more important information than she initially had thought of, it was something worth paying 10.000 Credits for it and they got it for free, she wasn’t expecting such high quality and detail at all.

After a few minutes an orchestra of robots brought the food to the table as they moved in a synchronized dance of programmatic wonder, after leaving the food over the table the robots left, however neither Alice nor Cyan touched the food on the table, first, they both knew that this food should cost around 700 Credits for each one, and they were very well aware that they would have to run a lot in Floor 5 to get that amount of Credits in a day, after all, they only managed to get around ~300 Credits each on yesterday training, and the second reason was that even though this food would no doubt fill up their bellies there was not free food on the world and it should come with a price which they still didn’t know.

Seeing that the kids were not eating or talking Karla moved into starting the conversation.

[Karla]: “Alright listen up Alice and newbie”

[Cyan]: “My name is Cyan”

Cyan could not help but reclaim his lost name.

[Karla]: “Whatever you say, Newbie”

When Cyan was about to argue back again Alice stopped him with a jog, getting into a fight right now would not solve anything, those two were here for a reason and Alice was curious what the offer was, for now, it was better for Alice and Cyan to be calm and collected and hear what they have to say, Cyan let out of his anger with a sigh as he understood Alice train of thoughts.

Karla then smiled and nodded with her head.

[Karla]: “That’s better, if you can’t take that level of provocation you will have a bad time in the future, now I want you two to listen what I have to say, as you know we are from the GP and even though we are in friendly terms with you two not everyone inside the Tower is also going to be the same, so I want to be clear here the Tower is not a happy place where you two could play couples for a few days, I hope you two can understand this fact first before moving on”

Cyan wanted to retort they weren’t a couple nor they were playing to be one either, but Alice jogs him again and makes him remain in silence and nod with his head indicating he understood.

Alice in the other hand took a breath and asked something she wanted to know first.

[Alice]: “Miss Karla do you know what’s going on back in the earth?”

Even though Alice and Cyan both knew that something was going on and that it involves that monster dog, they didn’t know much about the whole picture, Karla from the GP should know a lot more than they do.

[Karla]: “Aren’t you full of manners Alice, that’s why I like you a lot, I will answer your questions but not now and not for free either, for now, the food is starting to get cold so we should start eating first, now as repayment for the video you had sent us Boss had asked me to invite you two something to eat for today as a thank you, after you two finish you two may leave the table without getting any new information or you may choose to remain sitting in which case you will have your answers, but in exchange you two will have to join us at the GP, this is a package deal two for the price of one, you may start now”

Alice and Cyan looked at each other, getting the food as repayment for the video it was a good offer for Alice, after all, she had already sent it to Boss yesterday so instead of getting nothing at all, a payment of 1.400 Credits was a lot more, on the other hand, Cyan didn’t say anything because this was all of Alice reward it was her video after all, in which case Cyan would still have to pay her back later on if she accepts it.

After having come with a decision Alice started to eat the food in silence while Cyan imitated her also eating in silence, they both were trying to come to a decision if obtaining more information in exchange for joining the GP was worth it.

On the other hand Karla that was sitting in front of them smile, this was what she exactly wanted, for them to think in the possibility of joining the GP and for them to evaluated the cons and pros of doing so while they were eating so when the moment comes when they have to make a decision they are not caught unprepared, after all, Boss had already told her to make the offer, however how to proceed about this was all up to her and the decision of joining or not was up to the kids. Karga in the other hand was happily eating his food without interrupting his sister work that would only make her angry, he would help her here and there and nothing more.

As no one was talking they ended the food pretty fast because they didn’t have to stop to talk, and after the robots had taken all the plates from out the table the conversation could continue once again.

Seeing that neither Alice nor Cyan had any intentions of leaving the table Karla then could start making with their offer.

[Karla]: “Alright…”

However, before Karla could continue Alice interrupted her.

[Alice]: “Miss Karla there are some things that I want to know first before you continue if you allow me to ask”

Karla nodded with her head.

Alice took a breath.

[Alice]: “What the benefices of joining the GP are?”

Alice was full of questions already and Karla have not even started talking yet, of course, Alice would ask that first Karla thought in her head.

[Karla]: “There are many small benefices but there are three main ones you should consider, you already know the first but I will recount all of them anyway, first, we will share all the information we know and that it is not available by just asking [Midas] and we also agree to share the information that we may find in the future, second, we will protect you two inside the Tower from harm and from other Players that may cause it, and third,…”

Before Karla could continue with the third benefice she was interrupted by Cyan question.

[Cyan]: “It isn’t [Midas] already stopping Players from hurting or killing each other inside the Tower?”

Karla could only shake her head, that why she though Cyan was a gen 3 Player newbie, and as she started to explain the reason Alice and Cyan expressions started to grow stiff.

[Karla]: “[Midas] only sends a penalty in Credits for harming other Players and the amount of Credits depends of the degree of offence, however this does not prevent the offense from ever happening at all and it is just a penalty after the harm has already be done, even so if you don’t have the Credits to pay up the penalty when you go into negative numbers then you have 4 hours to earn enough Credits to go back over zero, or you would be removed as a Player and expelled out from the Tower”

Karla continues with her explanation.

[Karla]: “That means a Player that has a lot of Credits could still harm you however she or he wants until it almost run out of Credits and still remain as Player at the end of the day, and if you want to fight back, then you will need Credits to do the same exact thing as the other Player did and because rewarding a Player for being hurt from another Player would open another can of worms, you don’t get any Credits as compensation from the penalty the other Player had to pay, that’s because restricting a Player movement like putting them inside a small cell is also taken as an offense and it punishes the Player that did it”

Karla gave a moment for Alice and Cyan to take in the information as she delivered her final pitch.

[Karla]: “Inside the Tower, you two can’t do anything to fight back and that’s because you two don’t have the strength for that, unless you have the Credits and the strength to fight back you two are pretty much left defenseless, don’t you think that’s unfair? See why the second benefice is very important to have?”

Karla let out a sigh as she watched the expression of the two kids morphing while she was giving her explanation.

Alice and Cyan face pale as their expression went from shock into horror, that’s right, they haven’t thought about that, the only thing that would get an instant Player suspension would be killing another Player, but even so, that would be after they were dead so what was the point? This penalty system could not even prevent the smallest of crimes like robbing other people’s food from the table, nor it would give you any Credits in compensation because that would make Players go around the Tower and cause trouble for everybody only to get punch and get Credits as compensation… this great system has a horrible flaw on it that they haven’t thought about.

[Karla]: “Don’t tell me you thought [Midas] was a perfect or something like that just because it is a computer?”

Alice and Cyan could not give a response to that question, so Karla continues with her explanation.

[Karla]: “Listen up kids, the way a machine thinks is very heartless and cold, it lacks all kind of emotions, and this it is pretty much a license for Player to do horrible things to other Players inside the Tower if they are willing enough and they have the Credits for it, and this is just my conjectures but I think this is just a consequence of [Midas] of flawed core program”

[Cyan]: “Miss Karla you know what the core program of [Midas] is?”

Karla let out a sigh.

[Karla]: “I don’t but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a guess, whatever it is a restriction was put in place so [Midas] can’t hurt a Player, the problem is that hurting a Player is not define as causing pain to a Player but preventing from developing further, so it can’t kill nor imprison a Player because that would hurt his develop and even taking away their Credits should be impossible for [Midas], but it was put in place taking account human behavior and because giving free reins over the Tower to the Players would cause more Players to no to develop in the long run, that’s why I think [Midas] flaw is its lacks of human emotions, it can’t distinguish between good or evil and only sees numbers, you understand now newbie?”

Cyan could not help to try to remember when was that he started thinking that a machine didn’t have a flaw in it, maybe the flaw itself came from the program main goal and not it sets of rules, or maybe it wasn’t a flaw in the eyes of [Midas] creator and it was something created with that intent.

In the other hand Alice could not help wanting to ask another question, even though everything that Karla has said made a lot of sense for her, there was still the need for proof, as she raised her hand Karla looked at her.

[Karla]: “Yes Alice?”

[Alice]: “Miss Karla do you have any proof of this conjecture?”

Karla smile to Alice question.

[Karla]: “My evidence its base on earth situation, one of [Midas] purposes is for the creation, training, and assistance of Players, and not humans, a human can become a Player but that doesn’t mean another living organism can’t, and the objective of the Players is also unknown and asking [Midas] wouldn’t get you an answer, however, we can guess that after a Player is created and trained they are to be sent back to earth to fight against these things right?”

Karla pointed out the still image of the monster dog that her phone screen was showing.

[Karla]: “However nothing is forcing the Player to do that because [Midas] can’t force a Player to do anything at all, and that’s why each Player has to individually [accept] on their own if they wish to come to the Tower, because [Midas] could not force them even when it already has the control over almost every system back on earth and could force the humans to do anything [Midas] wanted, and because of that we can also presume that the Credit penalty would not be enforced back on earth either”

Alice nodded as she understood what part of that means, it pretty much means that [Midas] has almost no power over human behavior and the strongest evidence for that it’s in her own phone in the form of text message.

Seeing that the kids didn’t have any more question Karla moved to ask them to join them once again.

[Karla]: “In conclusion [Midas] is not here to help us and it is just following instructions to achieve its own unknown goal, that’s all the evidence that I have at this moment, you may choose not to believe it but that’s up you, for now, we have already sidetracked of the main conversation already, so can I take that you two will join us?”

Alice and Cyan looked to each other, the GP was offering them protection and it seems they were in the need for it, however, they could not accept just yet, there were two topics they still need to talk about.

[Cyan]: “First can you tell us what the third benefice is?”