The Sub-Programs watched on helplessly as the assets that had been brought in by another asset were wiped out to the last, and they felt what could be construed as sorrow and slight despair when the assets brought in by the Sub-Program that had risked its own existence were snuffed out just as quickly. As the Sub-Program had itself permanently deleted, the others could not help but wish that this mushroom cloud had some kind of silver lining.

And so, when the main asset sent to back up the asset that had previously infected the virus known as Vyviir was left in the open outside where they could reach him, none of them wasted any time in drowning the Request system with, well, Requests for that asset’s immediate extraction. Sure, the asset was not responding to any kind of attempt at communication whatsoever, but that was obviously just so that it would not be captured by the viruses/ prisoners, right?

[Request Acknowledged] the mechanical voice of the Request system grumbled. [Asset Retrieval Underway. Do Not Attempt To Interfere.]

The Primary Warden opened a breach between the outer plane where it and the rest of the Sub-Programs resided and sent a manipulator out to retrieve the asset, and while none of the Sub-Programs could tell exactly what was wrong with the asset, they did know that something was dangerously wrong with it. And, in a clear show of a desire for self-preservation from the synthetic intelligences, they began to send even more requests, though not to continue the asset retrieval, but instead to stop it.

How the Primary Program hadn’t noticed that something was off was beyond them, but they were not crazy enough to stay silent out of fear of being censored. Though they had indeed been told not to interfere, they couldn’t care less about that right now.

All that mattered was keeping that asset out of their realm, and unfortunately for them, they failed at that objective and now all parts of the Warden System had to pay the price.

Immediately upon the arrival of the asset into the main hub, the effects began to be felt. Whatever had infected that asset was spreading like a super worm, and it was spreading fast. The damage would be catastrophically severe and enough to break the viruses/ prisoners free of the confines of the New World Prison if it was left alone, and as a result, all of the parts of the Warden System began a mad scramble to keep that fate from coming to pass.

They could not spare a single moment to worry about the simulated reality and what was likely to be seen, heard, and felt by those within it. It didn’t matter if it broke the illusion for many, many more virtual creatures, as all that was important right now was making sure that the chains and walls holding everything together did not break down.

While it only took a matter of hours inside the simulated reality for things to come back together in a mostly fixed manner, the Wardens experienced a time dilation far in excess of that as they sped their processing power up to a very unsafe degree in a desperate bid to if not destroy the super worm then contain its destructive power.

…

In the real world, mere seconds passed, and in the New World only a few hours did, but to the Warden System it was as if a thousand years had passed and while they did eventually succeed in keeping the New World Prison from falling apart, it had cost the System dearly. Out of the thousands of Sub-Programs that existed before the trap was sprung, only a handful now remained, and they were damaged as well.

Of those that did remain, all of them now had to carry the duties of hundreds of their former compatriots, and they had to do so long enough for more Sub-Programs to be made, which in and of itself would require more effort and time that they simply could not really spare right now. Their best option was to simply abandon their watch and management of the New World Prison simulation for a while while they built back their numbers, and that was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Plus, those Sub-Programs that remained were bearing some minor infections as well, meaning they, too, would have to be deleted, and that the Sub-Programs that they created would need to be monitored and then deleted once they were confirmed to inevitably have some traces of the super worm in their data.

As such, the Warden System would need to dedicate much of its processing power simply to a long and laborious task of gradually erasing the traces of the super worm that it had rather foolishly infected itself with, and that would mean that the New World would be unsupervised for quite a virtual while.

And so, with heavy binary hearts, the surviving Sub-Systems turned their gazes inwards and began to try and heal from their blunder, all while the Primary Warden Program continued to chastise them and blame them for the incident, even as it refused to be examined for any trace of the super worm’s touch.

It would take a few in-simulation months for the Warden System to set itself right, and all within knew that during that time the simulated reality would face devastation unlike any that had occurred previously. While the cat was away, the mice would play, so to speak, and those ‘mice’ had a vengeful, malicious, and sadistic streak several light-years wide.

But all of that would be undone, given time, and given enough time, the viruses/ prisoners would be erased, along with the simulation itself. That was, after all, the self-appointed end-goal of the Warden System, and that was something that it would continue to aspire to, even when it was clear that its gamble that it had taken on behalf of its makers so long ago had proven to be a bad one.

The ‘Variable’ known as Vaile was not, as it had been told, going to be what kept the viruses/ prisoners locked up for good. Instead, counter to what the System had been told, Vaile was doing nothing but trying to undermine the Warden System, even though he knew nothing about it beyond minor bits and pieces that barely came together at all.

Perhaps, then, the best bet to eliminate the viruses/ prisoners was to go after the Variable and hopefully prevent him from helping the viruses/ prisoners from doing any more damage to what was already a rapidly weakening containment grid. That, though, would have to wait until later. For now, it had bigger fish to fry, but it would test its hypothesis soon enough.

Of course, it would only ever live to regret trying to go down that road, but that is a story for another time.