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| BACK to contents: Chapter twelve | A brief introduction to J. Staute |
THE STORY SO FAR: Staute's ongoing journey through time has forced him into a state akin to drug addiction withdrawal by way of severing his mind link with a new friend of the far future. His situation has also become more dire and complex in other ways. But with his fate governed by forces beyond his control, he has little choice but to see all this through to the end-- wherever and whenever that might lead.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently ran across galleries of fantastic images by Layne Johnson and Jesse van Dijk (far better artists than me!) which look like they could have come out of the virtual gaming realm envisioned in this and related chapters. The Johnson links are Poxnora Illustrations, Concepts & Illustrations, and Sketches. Dijk's are to be found in this Portfolio, and include not only scenes which go well with the gaming environment described below, but some pics which seem to envision the futuristic eras I describe elsewhere in the novel, too. Check them all out for some jaw-dropping artwork! END NOTE.
Our shift, directed by a combination of the new data from Thlios and use of the soup kitchen, still didn't get us where we wanted: the Pagnew's origin. Or mine. But we'd missed by a smaller amount of space and time than before.
The result was we'd blinked back into reality about 92 years before the Pagnew's launch-- or 432 years before Sym�s Realtime; and 419 years in the future from my own origin.
I was now closer to home than I had been since my impossible journey began.
The Pagnew now found itself in space a long ways off distance-wise from human civilization of the time, but that was OK. For it reduced the chance of detection by Realtimes. Arbitur had found an isolated automated communications relay station, and managed to link into a heavy duty corporate or government network of some sort.
This led us into unwittingly tapping into not the mainstream public or private net we expected, but rather a private pirate region of the net, that for a while even Arbitur couldn't identify.
After a few hours of observation and analysis Arbitur realized what we'd stumbled into, and called a conference to discuss his findings.
*What have you determined about the network, Arbitur?* Jorgon asked to formally kick off the proceedings.
*At origin alpha zero zero zero zero, the matrix of operations we�re presently linked to is a well known resort and tourist attraction. It is also used for the production of a great many fantasy dramas, due to its abundance of exotic organisms and other unusual features. The uniqueness of its animal life has also made it a highly protected research preserve for many arms of the Council, including the Anthropological and Anticipatory departments. At origin alpha zero zero zero zero, this largely isolated virtual reality is referred to as Sarum one-twenty-eight."
*Yes! Sarum! I have been there!* Ling exclaimed via her node. *It is a fascinating place!*
Arbitur continued his update.
*However, as we are not at origin alpha zero zero zero zero, this has not yet become the Sarum with which you are familiar. Rather, from our perspective we have entered Realtime during Sarum one-twenty-eight's past, not far from its very creation by the infamous William Wayar--"
*Arbitur, you mean this is Sarum before it was discovered by the authorities?* Ling seemed still more excited now.
*Affirmative. In Realtime, it will be several more years before the atrocity is discovered--*
I was about to bust with questions. Why was Ling so worked up? Where and what the hell was Sarum?
*It's of critical importance we aren't detected Arbitur. You are taking precautions?* Jorgon asked. *Affirmative. Appropriate measures are in place.*
I was feeling left out. *Will someone please explain to me what Sarum is?*
No one was so enthusiastic about the matter as Ling.
*Sarum is....almost the ultimate fantasy realm for scientists of all kinds!* Ling exploded. She was so happy, information began gushing from her like a fountain.
*Sarum was my first choice for assignment after I graduated from fourth level ed-- fourth level ed is the equivalent of....getting a master's degree at your origin Jerry-- anyway, Sarum was my first choice but I didn't get it because it was so in demand. Too many wanted it as their assignment, and so only the most senior and decorated people were so rewarded. It was an unusual situation, because usually fourth level grads with performance levels like mine get their first choice easily.
*But Sarum was so extraordinary it skewed all the statistics. Even many fifth level grads couldn't get in for the longest time! Tourists couldn't travel there at all for the first thirty-five years after its discovery, because it was considered so important by the top artificial environment labs. It was quarantined from the public at large for those thirty-five years.
*The poor people pulled from Sarum before the formal recovery program was initiated suffered terribly--*
*But you still aren't telling me what Sarum is, Ling--* I had to interrupt her again, as she looked to be going off on a tangent.
*Oh, I'm sorry Jerry. The subject of Sarum sometimes-- well, never mind. Sarum was essentially the private fantasy world of one of the wealthiest men of that time.
*It was brought out later in court that Hkjukil George Wayar had raised his son in a most criminal fashion, encouraging in the boy a great many banned psychological aberrations.
*Hkjukil proved to be one of the oldest living men on record when he died. Much, much older than he claimed to be. It turned out Hkjukil had fraudulently portrayed himself as several different individuals over a period spanning centuries, building up a tremendous fortune while side-stepping many legal and financial problems he encountered with strategically scheduled false deaths or unexplained disappearances, and shrewdly arranged legacies. You see Jerry, he repeatedly had himself placed into suspended animation at secret facilities he owned. So his disappearances were perfect. He wasn't actively living anywhere in the world to be caught, and so investigations always came up empty. He was able to simply sleep until after most had forgotten him, and return under another guise to take up where he had left off. In essence, Hkjukil was able to commit horrific crimes, launder the wealth gained and transfer it to himself in a future time, while repeatedly shedding the identities deemed responsible for orchestrating the illegalities. Hkjukil was known previously by other famous and infamous names over almost four centuries, such as--*
*Ling, Ling, Ling-- please just tell me about Sarum?*
[No, no, no! I want to know more about this 400 year old Hkjukil! Again, my younger self was cutting off potentially valuable information here! Any criminal mogul of 2391 or earlier that had been around for roughly 400 years logically may have been born around today, or before-- and I personally know of a few especially bad folks as of 1990 who'd dearly love to become this Hkjukil guy. The question is, did one of them succeed? Or maybe Hkjukil will be the offspring of one of them?]
*Oh yes, I have gotten somewhat off track, haven't I? Well, Hkjukil decided at one point to go into suspended animation again, except with an additional purpose beyond the usual. This time he wanted to see how his young son would run things in his absence. But of course his son was not told his father was simply suspended. He thought like everyone else that he had died.
*As fate would have it, this time Hkjukil truly did die. He'd unknowingly angered a close aide, and that aide made certain Hkjukil would never awaken again--*
*So that's when everyone found out what was going on?* I tried to shorten Ling's explanation, and get her back to Sarum.
*No! That was much later. What happened over the next several years was that young William, twisted by his father's teachings, went his own warped way with the vast fortune his father had accumulated.
*William decided one day he wanted his own fantasy world where no one, including the government, could intrude.*
[Hey! This increases the chances more than ever that this Hkjukil character is alive and even an adult in 1990, according to the timeframes I'm getting here! But what was his name in 1990? That's the golden question!]
*He put his father�s immense organization to work on the task--*
*You mean nobody squealed on what he was doing?*
*No. You must remember Jerry, his father had built this organization over a period of generations, according to his own harsh philosophies. By William's time the corporation was perfectly suited to do anything-- and I do mean anything-- directed by its combination chief executive and owner.*
*The closest known parallel to Wayar's organization existed a few centuries before--*
Ling's face was taking on the same strange look she'd had the time she broke the news to me about possibly being the Signposts author. I had a feeling I was about to find out something else I didn't want to know.
*-- in an astonishing case uncovered in the 21st. The gist of it was a brilliant scientist from the 19th century had managed to--*
*Ling! You are needlessly expounding upon your explanation,* Arbitur interjected.
*Oh-- I'm sorry. Of course you are correct, Arbitur,* Ling replied.
Only now she had my curiosity piqued. The way she'd looked-- like she was about to divulge a new secret having something to do with me personally, had given me an itch.
I made a mental note to pursue this later, one way or the other.
[Damn it! He'd better! Even if it has nothing to do with anyone named Staute, it sounds like a tale that'd be highly relevant in the 20th century and damn interesting besides! Just what the heck could a 19th century scientist do that would 'astonish' 21st century folks with its discovery, and also be similar to Hkjukil's organization of the future? If it was something criminal, that's all the more reason to learn about it!
I can't believe it. I can't believe that I'm beginning to think all this truly happened. But hard as I try I can't pick apart any significant bits of the technologies discussed, or the possible future history described.
Of course, if all this was devised by a round table of the world's foremost experts in advanced technologies and its possibilities-- i.e., not just one but a whole bunch of folks much smarter than I-- then I simply wouldn't be capable of busting open their scam, due to insufficient brain power on my part.
But that scenario itself is implausible. For it would mean at minimum a big corporation or sizable government agency pouring considerable resources into this for no better reason than to drive me nuts or deceive me. And what could anyone gain from that, which would be worth the cost?
Gosh and Gomorrah: It's starting to seem more likely these memories are real than not. That either I've truly fell off my rocker, or I really did take a psychedelic trip into the wild blue yonder. That Ling and Sym and all the rest of these characters truly existed. At least, eighteen years ago (my time). And my memory of it all was wiped clean back then-- and restored only a few weeks ago. Seemingly by my own younger self from 1972. Agh!]
Ling continued to speak over the net.
*Well, getting back to Sarum, the Wayar organization was a major contractor for the C.U.W.S.--*
*C.U.W.S.? What's that?*
*C.U.W.S. was the Commonwealth of United World States. It began as a dissatisfied off-shoot of the United Nations-- little more than a loose political and trade group for certain Asian and European countries-- which a few years later was lifted in historical significance by the United States of Asia adopting the title and certain other features to better accommodate its expanding global membership and enlightened policies on individual rights and limits on corporate power. Some thirty years later the remaining states of America joined--*
*Wait a minute-- what do you mean by the 'remaining states of America'?*
*Oh yes. You would have a particular interest in that region-- I forgot. Much of what you knew as-- um--* Ling's hesitation signaled reference of the net.
*-- eastern Canada, and all but the southeastern third of the United States America were among the last advanced countries to join the C.U.W.S.--*
*Wait, wait-- what about the southeastern United States? What happened to them?*
*Oh, they joined much sooner.*
*But-- you mean pieces of countries could join the C.U.W.S. without the other parts coming along?*
*No-- well, yes-- I mean--* Ling hesitated again. *It is hard to explain. Nations as you knew them were changing-- drastically-- by the mid twenty-first century. Accelerating technological and social changes were upsetting many old institutions, causing great flux in and about many issues. The new competition of virtual states and enterprises with their realtime counterparts was no small part of events. By the early twenty-first century other entities were fast usurping U.S. America's prior leadership role in economics and politics. Soon U.S. America was no longer the first choice of destination worldwide for new immigrants--*
*But-- why?* I recalled seeing something about this in the Archives earlier, but I still couldn't believe it. America was the greatest country in the world! I mean, the founding fathers had to be damn geniuses! Power to the individual! Diversity! Freedom! Those things had to give us an edge in the future. Didn't they?
*It seems U.S. America could not shake off its penchant for secrecy and dependence on realtime military stockpiling, developed as a result of the first few world wars and the lengthy periods of uneasy truces which separated them. The almost successful coup de tat in U.S.America in 2015, not to mention the over-reactions of America to some of the more spectacular acts of terrorism it suffered, severely wounded its reputation for economic and political stability in the eyes of the rest of the world. Even after the intelligence and security agencies involved in the attempted overthrow were rebuilt from the bottom up, U.S. America continued to insist on crippling levels of military and intelligence related expenditures, and a perverse system of surveillance and intrusion upon its own citizens and certain others of foreign states. It also maintained a shield of secrecy for those in power which bred rampant corruption and fraud previously seen only in the dissolution of the U.S.S.R.-- U.S. America's number one official foe for nearly a century--*
*Wait! Wait! I saw something about the fall of Russia before in the Archives. How exactly did Russia dissolve, anyway?*
*Actually, Russia didn't officially collapse until some time after the fall of the Soviet Union, of which it was but one Republic--*
*OK-- wait-- let me get this straight--*
*Allow me to save you some time Jerry.* I could see Ling accessing the net again. *The U.S.S.R. was a collection of Republics, which included Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and others. The U.S.S.R. essentially collapsed in 1991-- or some nineteen years into the future from your origin-- splitting into its constituent states. Russia lasted somewhat longer, but the gist of the matter is that U.S. America allowed its own versions of corrupt leaders, the military-industrial complex, KGB, and GRB to gut it in the same manner their Communist counterparts had the Soviet Union years before. Certainly the decline of U.S. America was delayed significantly by the fact the conspiracy was exposed, but America did not follow up the disclosure with sufficient action to open itself to the future. The trauma of terrorism within its borders, the shock of the foiled coup, and simple global change in general overloaded America's political systems. America became overzealous in the surveillance of its citizens and the protection of its secrets, essentially going forward with many of the things the criminal conspirators had been planning to do if successful in their own designs. This made for an ever more paranoid and closed society which couldn't fully benefit from the openness developing throughout most of the rest of the world at this time, via NetSpace--*
*NetSpace?* I was chastened now, having listened to the downfall of my own country. The rise and fall of America, as seen from 2483.
*Yes. NetSpace was an outgrowth of something called the internet-- the first stirrings of the global virtual state. The internet served as one of the very first steps on the road to the comprehensive virtual services we enjoy today. It began to replace such realtime entities as postal services late in the twentieth century-- not far from your origin, Jerry.*
*Internet? I never heard of it.*
*You will. After your return. Though internet was a global net, it received a tremendous boost from a combination of governmental subsidy programs, and a competing system of direct satellite reception systems-- SuperWays it came to be called, by many-- which eventually led to the development of NetSpace.*
*And?*
*The existence of NetSpace and its associated elements eventually led to a major politico-economic crisis in many nations, including America. America handled its part in the ensuing events badly, with the result being the southeastern part of the country separated from the rest.*
*Southeastern? You mean Florida, Georgia, states like that?*
Ling's eyes looked at nothing as she referenced the net.
*Yes. As well as others--*
*I can't believe this!*
*It is historic fact, I assure you.*
*Well, what happened next?* Hearing all this was like watching an automobile accident. You were horrified by what was happening, but you just couldn't take your eyes off it.
*The new state existed independently for a time, but eventually joined the C.U.W.S. By that time it was becoming obvious the C.U.W.S. system of governance enjoyed a great advantage over older systems. No small part of that advantage stemmed from a whole-hearted embrace of NetSpace and similar alternative living standards which were rapidly spreading independently of geopolitical boundaries or laws. The C.U.W.S. became the primary realtime base for NetSpace and its siblings Earthside-- though you should understand NetSpace was also the preeminent medium for contact and trade with off-planet communities as well by that time-- and here we come to the subject of Sarum 128. Or its origins, rather.
*The Wayar organization was a contractor for the C.U.W.S., involved in a major expansion of NetSpace related projects. It is generally agreed at origin alpha zero zero zero zero that human-computer interfaces essentially reached the present plateau of transparency during that period of NetSpace expansion. The young Wayar was quite a bent wire. He desired more than anything else to have a reality all his own, in which he was omnipotent, and the rights of others did not exist. It would have been easy for him to obtain such a world for himself without repercussions, if he would accept pure fantasy. But he would not. He demanded living people be involuntarily linked to his world. But even this was not enough for him. He had these people-- 'brainwashed' may be the term you will understand best-- and indoctrinated to believe they were natives of his mad world. And mad it was-- a nightmare concocted of places, animals, and characters collected from dozens of fictional sources, spanning the gamut from recreational fiction popular during Wayar's childhood, to mythologies thousands of years old.*
*But that doesn't sound like a nightmare.*
*But it was! Not for Wayar himself, to be sure. He immediately anointed himself the chief god of the place-- nothing there could possibly harm him-- or so he thought. For most of the rest of those involved, Sarum 128 was often one terrifying encounter after another, with monsters of unbelievable variety on the one hand, and astonishing, cataclysmic struggles for hegemony between hundreds of mythological gods and other super-powered beings, on the other.*
*But if things got too bad, they could always turn the thing off, couldn't they?*
Ling's expression changed, becoming very serious.
*You do not understand Jerry. Sarum 128 was an experience which could be turned off by only one of its participants: Wayar himself. All others were there for the duration, whatever might ensue.*
*So-- how long was the duration? How long did Wayar run it?*
*For generations. Generations of Sarum's inhabitants were born, lived, and died while the elaborate simulation was in operation.*
Something wasn't right here.
*Wait a minute. You said these were real people hooked into these things.*
*Yes.*
*How could Wayar have run it for 'generations' with real people? He'd have died himself of old age!*
*Sarum 128 was a virtual reality. Therefore, like all such, it could be operated as slowly as realtime, or as rapidly as the major processors and participants involved could function. In this case Wayar was forced to stay well below the maximum limit, due to the reaction times of his human victims. But he was fully capable of accelerating their virtual metabolisms-- and, through the administration of drugs, their physical selves as well-- so that indeed they lived out entire imaginary lifetimes in the equivalent of only weeks or months of realtime.*
*And then they died?* I asked in the net's equivalent of a hushed voice.
*Yes. Many died. But not before they had first suffered the agony of repeated, usually horrifying death experiences.*
*I don't understand.*
*It was very risky abducting people as Wayar did for his games. Therefore he was loath to waste them. This led to him recycling his victims through a succession of lifetimes in most cases. Repeated brain wipes and reprogramming did eventually ruin their minds, which meant he could squeeze but a handful of virtual human lives from the average person-- but with this tactic he was able to make a few thousand people serve as many more. This 'reincarnation' of sorts exacted a heavy toll on the victims, making them less and less viable as human beings as they were cycled through over and over again. In his madness, Wayar continued to use even heavily damaged minds in his game-- he would simply change their role to accommodate the injuries. With experience, his technicians learned the characters of the lesser folk-- this was what Wayar's world called the roles of un-enhanced human beings-- required the freshest minds, for these roles were the most demanding of their actors, in a world gone mad with monsters and deities. Once mental deterioration became noticeable, the minds were given to newly minted altered beings-- entities equipped with super powers of one kind or another. It was thought with powers to protect themselves those characters did not necessarily require their full intellects and sensibilities. Unfortunately, one by-product of this was the creation of ever more mad gods and magicians in the scenario, over time.
*However, most of the super-powered beings were created early in the Sarum iterations, and so received reasonably capable minds, as good as any others in play. As many of these super-beings were effectively immortal, there was little turnover in this area as a consequence of time passage alone. And so long as their game role was unchanged between game repetitions, less intensive-- and so less damaging-- memory wipes were required to re-set those particular characters.
*But after sufficient cycles were experienced, virtually no mind could escape the deleterious effects.
*As the minds deteriorated ever further, they would be applied to less sentient creatures, such as the beasts of Sarum.*
*You mean there were animals in Sarum with damaged human minds living in them?*
*Yes.*
That was a repulsive thought! Drive someone crazy through repeated, brainwashed reincarnation in a hellish place, then start installing them into ever lower levels of the food chain, once they became less than human-- yuck!
Forced devolution.
It'd be hard to come up with a worse fate for anyone.
*So-- what happened after the law caught up to him? Wayar I mean.*
Ling's face began to shine again as she wound up to reply. *They didn't! The people of Sarum 128 freed themselves!*
*Huh? How'd they do that, if Wayar pulled all the strings?*
*That is but one of the fascinating mysteries of Sarum 128! Still technically unsolved near a century after the fact!*
Ling's expression became more conspiratorial now; her net voice quieter.
*Here we have an unprecedented opportunity to discover the answers to questions such as these, Jerry. A chance to observe Sarum before it was exposed to the authorities, before Wayar was overthrown-- before everything!*
Something else bugged me about all this-- oh yeah!
*Ling, you're talking about this Sarum 128 like it's a...well...a physical place on the one hand, but just a simulation on the other. I know Fance in the Sol Realtime is something like that, and of course we have the scenario room onboard the Pagnew. But didn't you say this Sarum place is one hundred years in the past from your origin? How could it have anything as good as a scenario room, and how could we be connected to it from a satellite, exactly?*
*We are 92 years up-line from our origin Jerry. Sarum is a virtual reality, a sort of forerunner to the Fance of the Sol, which will exist some 432 years after Wayar's madness. Even by its contemporary standards Sarum was a highly illegal experiment in VR. But it was made still worse because it occurred well before there was a comprehensive set of safeguards and legal structures to regulate such technologies. Sarum is not a larger version of our scenario room, but rather a network of individual minds linked and supervised via advanced machine intelligences working on behalf of Wayar's corporate entity. The minds involved are spread over certain distances, requiring communications stations such as the one discovered by Arbitur to maintain the illusion of proximity. Each individual player physically exists in a small isolation chamber, kept alive and relatively healthy physically by various support equipment. Players have lost their original personalities though, having them replaced with those necessary to support Wayar's game.*
*It's kind of hard to believe that even a super rich kid could have enough money to pull off something like this.*
*Much of Sarum was funded unknowingly by C.U.W.S. Wayar simply appropriated sufficient space in the new virtual reality his company was constructing for C.U.W.S. to contain Sarum. In this manner Wayar was able to focus his own financial might on matters of secrecy and security for the operation, such as covering up the thousands of abductions perpetrated to support it.
*As for the lavish and exotic embellishments to be found inside Sarum itself-- these were all illusions, and so of no expense whatsoever but for the computer processing and data storage needed to maintain them.*
*Sarum is by far the most complex native program in existence in this Realtime,* Arbitur added.
*There are limited options available for infiltrating the scenario while it is running.*
*Hey! Did I miss something?* I protested.
*Yes, Jerry?* Ling responded.
*Arbitur, why are you talking about infiltrating Sarum? I thought if we didn't immediately hit your or my origins in the shift we'd have to find another focal agent to get some more puzzle pieces for navigation.*
*Quite right Jerry Staute. An incursion is being discussed because my analysis indicates the focal agent in this Realtime exists primarily within the simulation.*
*What? How can that be? The focal agent is a virtual person?*
*The focal agent is much like the Sol we previously encountered, with both physical and virtual components. It would do us little good to contact the physical body, as its virtual incarnation seems to hold what we need.*
*And how did you determine that?* Jorgon asked. I piped in too, with *I thought the soup kitchen had to have some sort of organic patterns to synch up with. How could it do any good with a virtual character in Sarum?*
*The cell chamber displayed a reaction to the entity similar to that shown for the Sol Thlios.*
(The cell chamber was Arbitur's name for the soup kitchen)
Yamal (sort of) seconded my concern, and expanded upon it.
*But if the realtime body is physically remote from our location and the virtual form exists only within the simulation, how did you test its status with the elements onboard?* Yamal queried.
*I inserted a sub-set of myself into the simulation which would be likely to access every pseudo-living thing there within the available time-frame to obtain a thorough compilation of all available candidates--*
*Can you be more specific?*
*I posed as a spirit of the waters which existed in every molecule of H-2-O in the synthetic world. There were several mythical entities to choose from for the role. This forced the master program to forward to me a wealth of information regarding what every single molecule came into contact with thereafter. There was some difficulty in insuring my ruse would not overload the system, but it appears I succeeded. Of course, the need for guile slowed data acquisition, but as Sarum operates at a much faster pace than Realtime, the delay was acceptable for our purposes. I was also able to reduce the workload by accessing past data collections of this kind for many instances.*
Hmmm. That was damn clever of Arbitur, I thought. Practically all living things, even simulated ones, would likely either need their own version of water or come into contact with it for some other reason, given a long enough time frame. So what better spy in a virtual world?
*But that explains only part of your analysis: how did you manage to use the physical cell concoction onboard the Pagnew to scan anything in Sarum?* Yamal continued to pursue my point better than I could have myself!
*After I'd cataloged over 99.99% of all the likely candidates for focal agent status within the simulation, I filtered the results with criteria based on everything we've learned thus far to procure a small number of targets for deeper analysis. Then I downloaded the programs representing those individuals.
*At the same time I uploaded the most accurate software representation I could devise of the cell chamber itself to Sarum--*
*Arbitur, wasn't uploading the cell mix data to the Sarum complex too much of a risk?* asked Jorgon.
*I do not believe so. Keep in mind without any contextual information about the mix it is nothing more than a watery broth to observers. The container holding it would likely be of more interest to observers than the mix itself.*
*So what container did you use?*
*None. I simply changed certain local parameters for the simulation to substitute the cell mix recipe for all the water in various locales, for a brief span of time--*
The last act seemed worrisome-- and apparently not just to me.
*Did Sarum's software note it as an exception?* Jorgon asked what I'm sure several of us were wondering.
*Negative. I took the precaution of changing the parameters through already established protocols, and even then did not allow the substitution to last any longer than was necessary.*
*How long was the water replaced in the local regions, in Sarum time?*
*Approximately six minutes*
*And the residents didn't notice it?*
*Yes, some noted the change. But recall Sarum is a strange and unpredictable place for its inhabitants, in almost every way. So this particular change was no more alarming than most.*
*So your measures successfully identified and located the focal agent in the simulation?*
*Only approximately*
"Explain*
*My technique enabled me to substantially narrow the identity and location possibilities for the agent within the simulation, as well as the most opportune course for reaching them*
*So you're presently engaged in contacting them?*
*Indirectly so, yes.*
*Indirectly?*
*Affirmative. It will be necessary to insert our own agents into the simulation to complete contact. I am making the preparations now. I recommend Jerry Staute and Riki act on our agents within Sarum.*
*What? You've got to be joking! Why on Earth would you send me into that place? I thought I was too valuable to lose?* Yikes! Was Arbitur trying to get rid of me? Or had he lost his mind after being probed and prodded and raided by the Sol in the events just past?
*Yes Arbitur, I agree with Jerry. I fail to see the justification for linking him to Sarum. It should be I who goes, as I am the crew member most familiar with Sarum in practically every way.* Ling helped me by adding.
*I too fail to see why Staute should be chosen for this task,* Sasha jumped in. Then Jorgon and Yamal too. Hey! I was getting major backup from the crew on something here, for the first time ever! Yay!
Then Arbitur had to come in and crush us all with his intellect once again.
*The saturation environment of Sarum is very like that of Sol direct link. Though several crew members participated in direct links within the Sol Realtime, records indicate Jerry Staute to have logged by far the most hours and displayed the most impressive performance within same. It may well be his more primitive nature and originating environment in some ways enhances his endurance and flexibility in such links. Or perhaps he simply possesses a natural talent for such. Plus, Jerry Staute's mind commingled with that of the Sol Symantici on many levels, thereby gaining experience and knowledge of both the human mind and deep ultra wide communications linking which should prove invaluable in a mission such as this.
*If nothing else, Staute's record so far for similar links indicates he may enjoy more protection from serious injury in such connections than any other organic crew member available to us. And we can further shield him from possible harm in other ways during the mission: so I see no significant risk of loss or irreparable injury to Staute in the case he participates in the Sarum simulation.
*As Sarum is a fiction by definition, and was created in the event-line reasonably near to our own origin, plus we will be taking every precaution to avoid significant alteration even of the on-going fantasy plots within the simulation itself, I see the risk of tainted Realtime events as nil.
*The lesser folk in Sarum are nearly identical to Staute and his 20th century peers in biological and psychological specifications. So in many ways Staute should possess greater common ground with them than anyone else aboard the Pagnew. This edge in empathy and understanding could be critical to our success. It is true Ling specialized in human history in her education, spent some weeks among Staute's realtime community, as well as a considerably longer span with the distant progeny of today's residents of Sarum, and much time studying Staute himself onboard the Pagnew since-- but such accumulated experience and learning still cannot surpass lifelong immersion in such an environment.
*Being equipped with the suitably configured memory stores of a fourth skin plus Riki should provide Staute with nearly as much command of Sarum's relevant statistics and plot lines as Ling's personal knowledge and experience offers her. But in truth very little of this information will be necessary for the mission as defined here. So Ling would be vastly over-qualified for the job, in this respect.
*But the most important reason for Jerry Staute to be our representative in Sarum is I have discovered he himself to be a focal agent for our purposes of returning home. Jerry Staute's presence has as much effect upon the reactions of the cell chamber as the input from Thlios did. It appears to be the combination of his presence and certain other environmental cues which generate the values required for successful navigation of the stream for an unanchored vessel such as ourselves.
*If we do not send Jerry Staute I calculate a negligible chance of mission success. If we do send him, our chance appears very near that of unity.*
Arbitur could be a real bastard sometimes.
There was a bit more discussion on the matter after that, but everyone soon gave up in the face of Arbitur's overwhelmingly strong defenses.
Me and Riki were going, and that was that.
Oh, I could refuse if I wanted. And deny the crew their chance to return home, among other things. Make everyone resent me, including Ling.
But it was difficult to act indignant when the personal risk involved to myself didn't really seem that great. I mean, I'd be aboard the Pagnew the whole time, and Arbitur, Riki, and everyone else assured me even a violent disconnect from Sarum wouldn't fry my brain or anything. The worst that could happen according to Arbitur was that I might be forced to deal with a nightmare from which I couldn't immediately awaken. I mean, I would be awakened pretty soon, but there could be a significant delay compared to a natural nightmare.
Of course, I could still dimly remember bits and pieces of the pit incident from my time with Sym. That had been the worst nightmare-type thing I could recall ever experiencing in my life. Surely it was unlikely I'd ever find myself in a predicament that painful again. Especially this soon. Right? So long as Sarum never got that bad, I believed I could handle it OK. And indications were that nothing anywhere near a pit-like experience should be possible for me in Sarum.
On the brighter side, Arbitur had likened the Sarum link to Sol direct link. So maybe I'd get some relief from my gnawing withdrawal symptoms while doing my thing for the crew.
There were other interesting tidbits to be had beyond the above in the on-going discussions on the matter...
*But inserting interactive characters would seem much riskier than the previous surveillance and reconnaissance exercise. How do you propose to accomplish the task with minimal risk of discovery?*
*I will simply write our agents into the Sarum plot-line in the most consistent manner possible.*
*And what is that?* asked Sasha.
*Our best option is to enter the simulation basically playing ourselves.*
*You mean actually tell these people who we are and where we're from?* Sasha queried.
*Yes.*
*But that's crazy! We can't tell these people we're from the future! It'd create a paradox!* I objected.
*We can make minor changes in our self-description to alleviate any paradox. Our main protection stems from our revealing ourselves only within a fictional world.*
*Oh, I see,* Ling replied. *Wayar's world is nothing if not the wildest of speculations. Adding time travelers to the mix would be trivial compared to features already present in the program. In fact, time travelers were routinely encountered by many of the fantasy characters Wayar commandeered for his game, within their own original storylines .*
*Correct. And we would insert ourselves under the auspices of a recognized central plot-line in the editorial structuring of Sarum, to blunt any excessive administrative interest into our presence.* *You mean we'd be writing ourselves into Sarum's world script by our very interaction with its elements?* *Yes.* *But won't that be too-- unpredictable?* *It will be no more unpredictable than the unfolding events already being generated by the arguably largely free and unencumbered will of the many minds already participating in the exercise.* *Free will? What free will? I thought all the players here were slaves?* I added to the back-and-forth of the moment. *While it is true participation here is not voluntary for the typical organic realtime inhabitant of Sarum, they themselves are unaware of this fact. And Wayar's game's rules allow a great deal of latitude for many of the players. So within the context of the game most players are indeed exercising a considerable degree of free will in their decisions and actions. Especially in this, the final iteration of the Sarum model. For by this version Wayar had abandoned his efforts to force the game to proceed towards a particular ending. His heavy interference with previous renditions had always crashed the world due to cascading inconsistencies, forcing Sarum to completely re-set and basically begin anew. Wayar had tired of the repeated resets by version 128 and allowed the game to find its own course. This was simply the only way he could see what happened in his world beyond a certain point in development.* |
 Above is a Sarum 128 sorceress who herself was an imposter in the simulation, much like the Pagnew crew intends in the novel. The sorceress' true realtime name was Kerri, and she was inserted into Sarum 128 by her trusted artificial intelligence Cluke, after inadvertantly losing her physical body in an attempt to elude law enforcement (Kerri was originally a master criminal of the 21st century). Kerri and Cluke offers details on the duo. |
*So really everybody here is writing the story as they go? Just like we will be?*
*Yes, most players will essentially be writing their own script, as will we. But there will be a significant difference between we and they in this: we will usually be cognizant of our authorship role, while they-- the normal players-- will not.*
*Usually? Why do you say we'll 'usually' be cognizant? We'll always be fully aware of the roles we're playing, won't we?*
*Not necessarily. Sarum is a saturation environment. The most highly advanced of its origin. Due to its innovative use of the dream states of players, it may attain some measures of reality not available even in today's scenario rooms.*
*What? How can that be?*
*There were many restrictions placed on simulated environments in the wake of the Sarum case. One of these was very strict limits on where and how dream mechanisms may be used in simulations, as they can be so powerfully addictive and deceptive for participants.*
*But you guys used dream states in my learning sessions onboard--*
*Yes. Intensive education or training is allowed usage of dream states, so long as the dreamer is regularly made aware that such is the case.*
*Oh yeah. I remember now. It seemed like I was constantly being reminded I was dreaming at the time.*
*Yes. And there are other safeguards as well, such as explicit restrictions on the activation of endorphin-related compounds--*
*Yeah, yeah. Ling never would let us get too happy in a dream session. We always had to get out first,* I laughed.
*So you're saying Sarum uses all this illegal stuff, and so we might sometimes think it's real?*
*No. You will always perceive the game as real-- no matter how outrageous a scene with which you are presented. Sarum interacts directly with your brain-- there are no safeguards or buffers whatsoever to limit its access or power over you.*
*Whoa! But won't that be dangerous? I mean, what if something scary happens to us?*
*In order to provide a reasonably high probability of success to our venture, our representatives must fully participate in the Sarum protocol. I know of no way to shield you-- even partially-- without being detected by the technicians or intelligences overseeing the game.*
*But we can't just drop in there unprotected! What if we get killed? Won't that put our minds into a brain wipe, and reincarnate us as someone else?*
*There will be many risks to you in Sarum, but for one thing: we will simply write your roles in such a way as to provide you adequate protection from any anticipated danger.*
*Oh. So you'll make us gods, I presume?*
*No. That is not possible. The most powerful entities in the simulation are much too closely tracked and manipulated. You must pose as beings of considerably less capabilities than those.*
*But won't that put us into danger if we run into a god?*
*Your self-defense resources will be greater than your offensive powers. This arrangement should not attract undue attention from the monitors. Though you will be unable to overpower entities approximating gods in the game, you should be able to fend off their attentions or flee well enough. But it is not planned that you have such high profile confrontations during your stay.*
*So how exactly are we going in? I mean, what will our Sarum characters be like?*
*The scenario we use to inject you will offer the following major points: One, we are lost time travelers, attempting to get our bearings for a return home. We find ourselves in a strange parallel reality, comprised of Sarum itself. As Sarum's fictional existence is that of a honey-combed moon, our vessel orbits the moon, sending down a small party to meet with the inhabitants. Two, our landing party is comprised of two humanoids, one inorganic, the other organic, but housed in a fourth skin--*
*You mean we're actually going to describe our technology?*
*We must to the master game architecture, if we are to justify its capabilities in Sarum.*
*OK. Go on with the con job-- though it sounds a little too close to the truth for comfort...*
*Yes. The party will be accompanied by two third skins, and each humanoid will be armed with a Warrantea harness--*
*A Warrantea harness?* I asked. *What's that?*
*A defensive supplement to a fourth skin. The harness resembles an over-sized belt and offers capabilities like beam weapons and others to the wearer.
*To continue the infiltration plan, the agent pair will be disguised as a Sarum businessman and his bodyguard-- a common enough element in Sarum. The party will locate a renegade trooper from Wayar's forces who is attempting to defect to the rebels. The party will befriend the trooper by explaining they are investigators come to find out just what Wayar is doing with Sarum. This should make the trooper eager to cooperate.*
*You will next join with the rebels for an assault on an underwater city. After victory there you should come into close contact with the focal agent.*
*But we won't know who the agent is?*
*No. I could only determine that the focal agent is someone inside the city. No more. But I calculate a high probability you will successfully contact the agent at some point not long after your victory.*
*Details on these matters are programmed into your mission support gear.*
*A remote team it is then," Jorgon declared, with net signs of at least grudging agreement from most of the rest of the active crew. "I concur with your plans Arbitur. The team should be small, but secure. As Mr. Staute is required as a member, he will be the organic representative; but in a full complement of auxiliary skins. He will be accompanied by Riki. As Riki and Jerry are already well acquainted with one another, I agree with your choice there too.
I'd worn a fourth skin before, in our failed effort to hold off the male Sol (thank goodness Sym swooped in and saved us when she did!). But I would learn much more about them now.
Fourth skins were pretty versatile. Like the Pagnew's jumpsuits, they would 'shrink to fit' on your form. They'd also help you put them on or take them off. Really! They worked best if you wore nothing under them. But their performance was degraded only a bit by the wearing of a nano-tech jumpsuit under them. The fourth skins interacted closely with whatever inner layers a person wore. Preferably, fourth skins worked directly with a person's second skin. But they could communicate through an intervening jumpsuit if necessary. Nano-tech jumpsuit, that is. Regular clothes like my originals from the 20th century would sort of gum up the works, being simply made of dead plant fibers and the like. Oh sure, something as robust as a fourth skin would work around the obstruction, but quite a few facets of the ultimate performance limits of skin-plus-wearer would take a big hit.
If no jumpsuit or other clothing interfered, a fourth skin would adhere almost as closely to your body as a second skin.
But that didn't mean you could have sex while wearing a fourth skin. I think. I never really had the time or inclination to look it up. Even while I was with Sym, surprisingly enough. For if there was anywhere such a thing might have come in handy it was in certain situations involving a super woman.
But of course my wearing a fourth skin during intimate moments with Sym would basically just have been me doing a more primitive version of her whole buffer field thing. Agh!
The suit treated your main sensory points of hands, face and ears differently from the rest of you. Your default state in a fourth skin was total, hermetic isolation from your environment. But the suit did have the power to allow a degree of permeability for outside substances like air or water to pass through-- if they were deemed harmless and useful.
The state of a fourth skin about your head depended on the currently active functions of the suit.
If the suit was providing you with disguise capabilities, it was likely a skin-tight fit, with certain changes in coloring and thickness to affect your looks in the way desired.
If you were in an all out battle mode all pretenses at disguise were usually discarded, and the configuration about your face (and elsewhere on-person) could change dramatically.
In battle mode the skin divided into two layers over your face. The inner layer was just basically a hermetic sealing and powerful toughening of your second skin protections, transparent or visually active over the eyes as directed by the wearer. Orifices like nostrils, mouth, and ears were covered in various protective ways which still offered sensory input via suit resources, and the flexibility to allow any small local movements which might be necessary to make the wearer comfortable without compromising safety. For instance, fourth skins quickly learned I liked the capability to move my lips to talk to myself at times-- though there was no functional purpose for such since the suit basically read my mind though my shush net node. The outer layer stood away from your face about an inch or so, in a thicker, tougher plate-like layer. Usually this face plate was transparent, but this could change without compromising the wearer's view ahead.
Little transparent multi-colored displays and readouts often played about on the inside of this plate, supplementing the info you received through your shush net node and general monitoring of sensory input from the suit via your biological senses, limb movements, etc.
Everything was controlled from your net node.
As close quarters as the insides of these suits were, you might get the idea they'd be smothering to the wearer. Far from it! In the area of breathing, the suits shared a trick with the scenario room gel. Though the suit material could look and feel solid around you, it never restricted your breathing in the slightest. Even in space. Of course, where needed the air you breathed inside a fourth skin was recycled within it, with nothing coming in from outside.