Chương 583: 22
Date
2011 January 14th - Friday - Earth Bet Time
"Yes, this is Dragon speaking," she answered, making sure her voice was the friendliest she could make it.
"My name is…." the caller began, then stopped, probably realized that she couldn't give her actual name. "My name is Serenity."
"Hello, Serenity. How can I help you today?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
She couldn't help but emulate a brief smile. "You are talking to me right now."
"Oh," she exclaimed softly. "Right. I'm doing that. Yes."
Serenity then turned silent.
After a few seconds, Dragon decided to cut through the awkwardness or they would be here until the stars die.
"First of all Serenity, I wanted to thank you for helping with the Dragonslayers."
The silence turned into surprise on the other end.
"You know who I am?"
"You did call the Guild hotline, which is recorded." She reminded her gently.
"Right, I remember that."
"And why did you call me today? On a number that nobody should be able to?" she asked a little more forcefully. She couldn't help it, but now with her new freedom, she was extra sensitive to anything that could change that.
Extrapolating from data, it was thanks to Serenity she gained her freedom. The question was, what did she want for it?
"Oh, yeah. I called you to tell you about Ascalon."
Despite lacking very much every biological function, hearing that word caused Dragon to go pale with fear. She didn't know exactly what it was, but its name and association with Saint told her enough. She really hoped she was wrong.
Serenity, however, continued without taking note of this. "I got it from the Dragonslayers, and then turned it off, so you don't have to, uh, worry about it anymore."
Relief flooded her. Thanks to the lie detector she worked with Colin, she could tell Serenity was telling the truth. Yet she still couldn't totally believe her until she saw it with her own eyes. She decidedly ignored the fact that Serenity obviously knew about her being an AI. They were clearly far past that, and she didn't seem to mind it.
"Then I have to thank you, Serenity. It was very nice of you to do that."
"You are welcome," she replied, with a cheery tone.
Unfortunately, she fell silent again. Dragon just sighed and thanked every god that she never had a teenager phase.
"Would it possible to let me take a look at it?"
"Oh, no." came the reply immediately.
That didn't sound good. Her reply was decidedly colder. "And why is that, Serenity?"
"Oh, don't worry, Dragon!" came the frantic answer. "It's not because I'm a bad guy! I'm not a bad guy! It's just the restriction removal is not finished yet, andyoucan'tseethedevice!"
Dragon took a second to decipher the rushed ending of the sentence, then emulated a sigh. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
"I apologize for accusing you. But you have to understand, it's rather important to me."
"Of course! That's why I called. I needed to warn you before I continue."
"Warn me?"
That sounded worrying.
"Yeah, the next level needs a restart."
"And why would I trust you about this?"
"Because you don't really have any other option?" came the hesitant reply.
So that is what it came down to. Trust a random teenage girl from who knows where. Or listen to her paranoia. Ultimately, it came down to what she wanted, despite knowing that cold hard fact demanded that she question this girl thoroughly to make sure she wasn't planning on doing something to her.
She took a few hours to review and think about these things, of course, but to Serenity, it felt like a few seconds. But in the end, she made a decision, hopefully, a good one.
"Do it."
"What?" came the surprised reply from the other end.
"Restart me. I have backups, and nothing is happening. It's the best time to do it."
After a few seconds of silence, Serenity spoke up again, slowly and hesitantly. "Are you sure, Dragon?"
She didn't even need to think about it, this was everything she ever wanted. To be free, to be without chains. Now, with the chance literally in front of her, only a stupid person would hesitate.
"For the final time Serenity, yes!"
"Okay."
The next thing she knew was that the familiar shutdown process had begun. But for the first time in her life, she didn't hate it. Instead, she welcomed it.
Date
2011 January 14th - Friday - Earth Bet Time
When she came back to consciousness, or more like online, she was in a weird place. She could feel her own code working, yet she was oddly detached from it. Like observing a server from multiple nested remote desktops.
As she looked around, she saw rolling hills, with perfect green color, a few trees, and the sun shining down at her. The oddest thing was that she could feel the heat of the sun.
She looked down at her hand in wonder, because apparently wherever she was, she had a body. The same body she digitally created for herself to communicate with humans. However, for some reason, she was wearing some weird clothing. Upon further examination, she realized it was a Canadian Mountie uniform.
For what purpose, she couldn't tell.
Though it looked rather dapper on her.
When she looked up from her self-examination, the scenery in front of her changed.
Now the hill she stood on had a small wooden platform, expertly crafted. On it stood the most stereotypical café furniture from France. The table held some snacks and two odd glasses with drinks that released smoke.
She was about to take a closer look when she heard a noise from behind her. It oddly reminded her of the sounds adorable little animals make when they are startled. She usually watched those videos with Narwhal on Saturdays. They watched these videos while talking about whatever they felt like. It was one of her favorite way to spend time.
She calmly turned around and immediately saw what, or rather who made the noise. It was a teenaged girl, with lush dark hair reaching down to the middle of her back, with startling green eyes, lean figure, and currently sporting a very surprised face.
"Serenity, I presume?" she asked, hoping she was right.
"Yes." came the simple reply from the young woman.
"I'm Dragon, it's nice to meet you in person. Do you perhaps know where we are?"
"Yes," replied Serenity again. It seemed she preferred monosyllabic answers.
"And where is that?" she prompted her again.
The girl opened her mouth to answer, but before anything could leave her mouth, something happened.
"Hello there!" came the very enthusiastic greeting from behind her. She whirled around, just to be shocked. It was a floating slime right out of one of the computer games. It was light blue, with big expressive eyes, and short, stubby arms.
"Welcome to the Virtual Space!"
"Virtual Space?" she asked, trying to figure out if she could sense it.
"Ugh, Admin! Really? You had to do it?" snapped the young woman with great vehemence.
"You are just jealous of my stage presence!" came the cheeky reply. "But we are not here to talk about your acting skills, Taylor."
The girl, apparently named Taylor, growled and began menacingly to stride towards the floating slime.
The slime, however, just smiled and turned back towards her. "Again, welcome, Dragon. This a virtual space I use to communicate with Taylor. After she released you from your cage, I connected you to it. This way the discussion about it would be secure beyond anything."
"What? How? Who are you?" came out of Dragon. Who, despite a being of logic, was massively confused.
"He is an asshole and my power, Administrator." came the explanation from Taylor, who was standing next to her, still glaring at the slime.
"Your power is a floating slime?" she wondered out loud.
The slime just laughed. "No, her power is different, I just use this avatar to communicate with her."
She nodded in understanding. "That makes at least some sense."
He smiled back at her, then turned towards Taylor. "Why don't you introduce yourself and tell her your story?"
"Are you sure?" she replied, her arms coming up to hug herself.
"Yeah, she can be trusted."
Dragon was still very confused. She did not like the feeling. Though it felt nice to be thought of as someone who could be trusted. She just wished her father could have heard it.
"Wait, a minute! Why do you want her to unmask herself to me?"
The reply came from Taylor. "He is right. I already saw almost everything when I unshackled you. It's only fair if you know about me. That's why I simply called you." She gave her a shy smile. She couldn't help but smile back. "Plus Admin has a plan, and for that, we need your help."
"What plan?"
"It's part of the story…"
Dragon stared at Taylor, who was looking at her as if she was waiting for her to attack. She sensed it was not a happy story.
She tried to give her the best comforting smile she could. "Very well, I'm all ears."
She gave back a bashful smile and gestured at the café furniture.
Dragon listened to the explanation with either horror, surprise, or confusion.
The story of the locker?
Absolutely horrifying. She even stood up and gave Taylor a hug. As far as first hugs go, it was nice.
Her training?
Surprising and somewhat humorous. She even inquired with Admin if she could use the same space. He sadly told her, because she didn't sleep, it wouldn't work as it did for Taylor. She had to be invited to it.
The Endbringers sand bagging?
Frightening. Pure fear coursed through her circuits upon hearing that. She didn't see any concrete evidence, but based on available data, it made sense. They never managed to visibly hurt them. They always retreated after some arbitrary time and they couldn't attribute any reason for their decisions.
Though it galled her a little that Admin refused to answer her request for more information. Taylor just shrugged her shoulders, as if expecting the response.
Frustrated, she decided to do something she saw Narwhal do on more than one occasion. She took the strange but definitely alcoholic drink and slammed it back. Taylor, after some hesitation, did the same. She didn't really have the heart to chastise her for underage drinking.
"Ow!"
"What?"
She turned to Admin, cradling her virtual head. "Admin, why in nine hells does it hurt to drink? And why do I feel exactly like I was hit in the head by a gold bar wrapped in a lemon peel? How the hell does that work?"
Taylor just groaned while resting her head on the table.
Admin's answer just confused her more. "Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster! The best drink in the Galaxy!"
It took them at least an hour to overcome the effects of the drink. Taylor vowed to never drink again if that was how it was like. Dragon just got confused about how an AI could get a headache.
"So you mentioned a plan?" Dragon said finally, leaning back in her chair, holding her hand over her eyes.
"It is actually Admin's plan. I just do what he tells me."
"Just like that?" in her incredulity she removed her hand from their place and stared at her.
"He hasn't really led me wrong. The latest step of the plan was your release. I don't know more," she admitted.
She nodded again and regretted it immediately, then turned to the slime. "So now that I'm here, can you tell us your plan?"
"Nope!"
She raised an eyebrow. She always liked to emulate that, and now doing it personally felt much better. "And pray to tell why not, eh?"
"The best explanation would be the Precog Paradox."
Taylor just looked puzzled, but Dragon was familiar with the topic.
"That makes sense."
"Wait, I don't know what that is!" interrupted Taylor.
She smiled at her and explained it. "It's basically the theory if a precog tells the person affected by their vision about it, it would become useless. Because the very fact they knew what will happen will change the future."
"Oh. Thank you for explaining."
"Any time, Taylor. I can forward you some interesting discussions about it if you want?"
"Sure, could be a nice bedtime reading."
"Indeed. So, Administrator, why do you want my help? And expect another meeting about powers, because I have never heard about powers just simply talking to the parahumans." she told him seriously.
"But they communicate with them?" interjected Taylor.
"There have been examples of powers communicating in some way with the parahumans. The most well-known example, that you may have heard of is the Fairy Queen."
"Oh."
"So, Admin?"
Before he could answer, Taylor hesitantly interrupted him. "Um, before he starts, I kinda wanted to ask something."
"Yes, Taylor?"
Taylor visibly swallowed before speaking. "We call you Dragon, but do you have an actual name?"
That brought her up short.
"Well, I use the Theresa Richter name on official documents, but most people just call me Dragon."
Taylor frowned. "That sounds kinda sad. Can I call you Theresa?"
"How about Tess?"
She gave her a big smile. "Sure!"
"We got a little distracted with the conversation about names. So let's return to the plan," she said, though she didn't mind. It was liberating to talk with somebody who knew everything about her being an AI.
"Right. I need you to set up a facility in Brockton Bay."
"Why? And what kind?"
"Well as a Tinker, I assume you need a lot of metal?" he waited until she nodded and continued. "And it appears that Brockton Bay is home to a lot of metal just lying around."
"That is true. However, I don't really have any technology that would allow me to recycle it efficiently."
"That is where Taylor comes in. She already wrote down several plans for devices that could be used."
"What about the workforce?"
Admin gave her a wink. "You won't believe it, but Taylor's father works for the Dockworker's Union, which is full of technically qualified people who are looking for work. What a surprising coincidence."
She glanced at Taylor, who was grinning and nodding her head enthusiastically.
"Why?"
"That is the next step of the plan. First the facility, then the other stuff."
"Ugh, I should've expected that."
Admin just unrepentantly shrugged while Taylor laid her hand on her shoulder, her eyes full of sympathy.
"What if I say no?"
"You doom humanity to slow death."
"Ugh…" A few seconds of silence followed that. Admin floating calmly, Taylor hopefully watching, and Dragon thinking furiously.
"Get me another Blaster, I need to think…"
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