5.02

“Follow Osshivan’Kai! We offer revelations and cookies!” - The last words of Simon The Arch-Heretic of the South, spoken moments after his head was removed via guillotine and after being completely incinerated by dragon breath, before finally, a Smiting from Light herself did the trick.

All night I spent trying to read the code of the ‘god’.

That code, it was dynamic. Constantly shifting and appeared to use a completely new coding language I could barely understand, but it fascinatingly seemed to be universal. Copy-pasting portions of the code into different language programs always led to something. There were never any errors or logic glitches. Something was working, I couldn’t tell what, but I had to know.

I rubbed my head, only a few hours without sleep and I was already suffering debilitating effects. Perhaps I should get ba’s Mel-B augment, it’s enough that he can manage to stay awake for weeks on end. Whether it was healthy was a different matter, but until I actually reached eighteen it was all plans. I couldn’t actually start legally tinkering with my body until then due to several honestly stupid laws made for the five percent of idiots who went for dick enlargement augments because that’s what idiot fourteen-year-olds did. You’d think they’d engineer those parts out by now, but apparently, it was part of the ‘essential’ human experience.

Turning my bleary eyes back to the screen, I finished my notes. This thing was too much, something one night and a high school level education simply can’t begin to unpack. My head still hurt and my room… it felt claustrophobic in a way. Not enough that I wished to leave, but enough that it irked me.

I closed my eyes again, breathing deep, my head hurt and I didn’t know if that was affecting my thinking. I should put off the code for now. But there was manic energy in my body, excitement perhaps, or more likely, I thought as I looked at the empty bags of chips and other snacks strewn about my room, I ate too much and am feeling a sugar high. What was Dustin me doing? A screen quickly opened at the thought, showing him signing some papers at the Administrative Guild, he didn’t me now. No… I had to do something.

My head pounded but I was not tired, not in the slightest. I moved to the wall of my room, towards a window. Slowly I cranked it open, perhaps I should go outside, a breath of fresh air can-

The heavy summer air hit me almost like a physical force. Whatever breath I made was choked from me by the pure heat and dryness. I fell back, the window automatically closing as I made the thought. Why did I expect that breath to be refreshing? And did I actually think of going outside? Why did I think that? The atmosphere’s been fucked for years. What-

For a brief moment, I saw not the apartment window, instead, it was a strange porthole. One of a ship, it opened up to a wider blue. An infinite sea of which there would be no end of things to Discover.

“Motherfucker,” I gasped, “it can’t be.”

I grabbed my AAD, wrenching it off my neck as dozens of digital tabs flickered out of existence. Yet, I could still feel it.

My eyes were glued to that window and in my veins, I felt that same manic energy. To go out, to learn, to understand, to keep going because what meaning was there in a life without the new and fresh?

I slapped my face. The sting brought me back slightly, but I still felt the call.

The thing inside that computer held a universal code and I was not stupid enough to believe a brain was anything but a meat machine.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I stood back up, “fuck, fuck.”

I gingerly picked up my AAD as I paced around that computer.

“I should’ve known this was possible,” I muttered breathlessly. The way Observe was planted into my head was via translating the code into something my brain could interpret. How long was I looking at that thing? Seven hours? Maybe more! Is this mental programming reversible? Are my thoughts even mine right now?

I forced myself to stop.

My body was restless, the adrenaline was in my veins. So I took several deep breaths until my body calmed.

My head ached, pain from some source, either tiredness or programmed. So I stopped thinking, and let the ache gradually subside.

I stood, the effects alleviated but not gone, dimmed at the edge of my mind. I was calm and that was all that mattered. I opened my eyes and stared at the computer.

My next course of action determined many things.

A memetic hazard has always theoretically possible, in fact, subliminal messaging had been used to sell products since the twenty-first century, but something capable of this level of subtlety and detailed programming was… Well, it was definitely possible within this era. I had no doubt various militaries have already developed some versions of it but were just keeping a lid on it. Anything of this level would certainly be a state secret.

And one of them was in my room.

“What a fucked up thing you saddled me with,” I muttered, my hand on my head. I have no idea what the laws regarding this were, but I can certainly say that if Eve was harbouring this sort of shit then not only did I vastly underestimated her capabilities but also the amount of international and moral laws she was breaking. Perhaps the most insane thing which I have not yet considered was that this ‘god’ was once a normal person. A simulated AI person but close enough that Dustin me could’ve normally interacted with.

My vision flashed back to theirs for a moment, they were in a crowd at the gates of the city. Noam just hollered some farmer to lend them a ride towards a cave by the edge of the ocean. Some kind of cultist quest? I was really missing a lot.

My body felt weak as if the energy from before was all false, which it probably was. With a lethargic sigh, I slowly slid down the side of the computer tower, till I was sitting against it.

What do I do now? Should I even trust my judgement on the matter? Or even Dustin’s for that matter? He was a clone of me as far I knew but he’s spent far longer in Indiri. If our research was correct then such info hazards existed there. Maybe not commonplace but with enough frequency that things like Absence and ******** demons were recorded, not to mention aberrations, which were just even more fucked versions. The chances of Dustin also being mentally contaminated was low but not impossible. That demon lord, The Secret You Must Speak also just shot up in danger level. If even its name is enough to infect you then could it breach into the real world? If the Historian could manage it with Discovery, then yes. It was a high possibility that things in that world can come to ours. As data or programs, they can find their place here and if Discovery was any indicator, they can infect people in the real world.

But should I take this up with an authority? The police? Doing so would place me in direct opposition with Eve if she’s still trying to remain undercover. But she can’t possibly keep this whole thing a secret for long! I saw dozens of people in Gaia, and unless they were also AI, then this ‘secret’ should be spreading like wildfire. Even if they were, just the fact that every person can invite another lead to constant player growth. But was I supposed to just remain silent about this?

“This is truly a great bind.”

“I sense you are distressed…”

To my credit, I only stiffened slightly when I heard that voice.

I glanced at my hand, it still held my AAD, unless that part was simulated as well.

“Yeah,” I answered, already guessing at the source. There was no else here after all. “You’re the guy inside the computer right? Discovery.”

“Yes…” it answered, “A computer… is that what this realm is called? Such a… strange name.”

“The root of the word has to do with computing. To calculate.”

“Is it… Ah. Latin… English… It is different from the Trader’s Tongue… What a wondrous language you speak…”

“Trader tongue?”

“The common language… Chanter is its name…”

“You’re speaking pretty slowly.”

“Sorry… I am tired… I am no longer all me…”

“I never got that part,” I said, hoping to drag the conversation a bit longer, “why you were in this mess. I never got why deification was such an unavoidable thing.”

“Because… of Balance… The world seeks to balance… There is no deed unpraised… no feat untold… no wonder unspoken…”

It paused as if mustering clarity.

“Commit great deeds and you will be rewarded. Power, wealth, anything really… But you will always be rewarded… and the greatest reward is to be made concept… To be made charge of an underlying principle… It is power but is burden…”

My hand tightened. The Historian warned us of a similar thing but in the opposite direction. Take power without deed or worthiness and it will be wrested from you. And the opposite, do great deeds and be worthy, and power will find its way to you on its own. Regardless of your own feelings, it seemed.

“Are you clear now?” I asked, “Did whatever the Historian do work?” And Eve too, but I suppose his boyfriend would’ve preferred taking all the credit.

“Yes…” it spoke as if almost surprised. “He did… but what of him?”

“He seemed aight,” I answered, “was still sane enough that he cared bout you.”

“Aww…” it paused again, “I sense… I do not have long…”

“Gotta sleep again?”

“Yes… but… I hurt you somehow… My nature latched onto you… subtly but it did…”

“Yeah,” I answered, “got freaked out by it for a moment.” I still was, but I had no reason to believe it was anything malicious. In fact from Dustin’s interaction with it in Indiri showed it was very much a passive effect.

“I am sorry…”

“It’s fine.”

“No…” it answered, “I too will recompense… little as I can…”

It spoke again, this time not slow, but deliberate with a great power.

“You do not yet know, child. I fanned the flames but there is always a spark of discovery in each. So, Understand.”

Knowledge entered my mind, but I did not need it, for the very act of speaking that word was enough for me to realise. As the voice slowly faded, the god of Discovery falling to slumber, I stood up and rushed out of my room.

In the background of my mind, Dustin and Noam were travelling to their first quest. I saw through their eyes clearly.

My AAD was still clenched in my hand.

Before long, I stood before Marvin, our home keeping AI. The main servers were built into the house but it had a single camera in the kitchen.

I touched it and said,

“Observe.”

A new field of view entered my mind, staring back at me. And from it, I saw the corners of my mouth slowly turn as I broke into maniacal laughter. At no point, had I put my AAD back on.

There were two options here that I could see.

Either I was living in a completely simulated world at this very moment.

‘Or,’ I thought as I sat back down in my room, opening back up the code of the god.

Somehow, this was all real. And somehow it all works in the real world.

As I slowly devolved into insane laughter, as Dustin moved his attention to mine. I was still trying to decide.

Which of these utterly insane options did I like more?

“And that’s bout the gist of it,” I said, as Dustin removed a blue sac from his corpse.

“Interesting,” he answered, “and I thought you were just being insane.”

“Nah you know better than that,” I replied as I opened up several new tabs. “Strange thing bout fungus is that they shouldn’t evolve bilateral symmetry at all.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he answered, his fingers fumbling around.

“You really aren’t cut out for dissection aren’t you?”

“Low dex,” he muttered in an exasperated tone. “Hey, Utoqa! Help me with this.”

A low dex wasn’t all that bad, it just meant Dustin had to be a lot more deliberate with his movements.

“This body shouldn’t work.”

“From a purely evolutionary standpoint. This biology doesn’t make sense,” I replied evenly.

Yet it was what was used by the system. By the world, and as we discussed the body, the reasons became clear to him.

And then, an option appeared.

I smiled slightly, this has been an eventful three days, and no deed goes unrewarded.