Chapter 34: 34: Second Opinion

Amelia

 

Leaving the game but not virtual reality entirely was a rare thing for me. I spent so much time in various games over the last two years that I’d forgotten that there were entire simulated cities to explore outside of those games. There was even a UN created digital megapolis called DUN. I’m sure you can guess the acronym there. Mostly it was just a business park for the tech giants to wank themselves off.

Rosa had some sort of heavy duty computing hardware on her new yacht, though, so I was going to meet Aisling in a VR room running on that. May was apparently working on building both that simulation and a special partition for me to “live” in and on when the digitization finally happened.

When we arrived in that simulated room, I found myself falling in love with it almost immediately. It was a modern take on a log cabin, with a roaring fireplace surrounded by every type of sitting-related furniture you’d ever need. The rest of the place was fairly open plan, and along one wall were huge glass windows that gave a view of large rolling hills covered in snow. Down the hill the cabin was perched on, a long lake was surrounded by pine trees that’d been twisted by howling winds. Other than the massive window-wall, the room was enclosed by heavy log walls that had only small windows to let in extra light. I guess it was to preserve the feeling of having a heavy, protective house around us.

May was already here in the house, with a girl I didn’t recognise. 

Slender to the point of being waifish, she was deceptively small and almost childlike despite being five foot six, maybe five or seven depending on shoes. Short flaming red hair in a pixie cut failed to hide a pair of what could only be elfin ears, which framed an almost translucently pale freckled face. Soft and fine features were paired with emerald eyes that seemed far older and more experienced than her youthfully ageless features might’ve suggested. 

“Hello, May,” Rosa said, stepping forward to give the small SAI a hug. “Thank you so much for arranging this meeting. When she stepped back, my girlfriend turned a smile on the reserved looking girl beside her. “You must be Aisling. Nice to meet you, and thank you very much for agreeing to come.”

“It's no problem, I owe May no shortage of favours for saving my life, her patience with my behaviour when I found out, and her efforts to give me a life beyond my short incarceration in CORA. She’s helped me in so many other ways too... But, regardless it's nice to meet you,” she said, giving both me and Rosa a smile that lifted one corner of her mouth more than the other. Her accent was interesting too—Northeastern American Republic, but with a long streak of Irish through it.

“Sup,” I said, seating my butt down on the armrest of a nearby sofa. “I hear you’re the first of our new breed of humanity. Pretty crazy idea, to be honest.”

Aisling smiled. “You're telling me, I didn’t get told I was toast for nearly a week. I may have run off screaming into the night when I was told y’know, into the freezing mountains. But as for what I am now, well I had time to get used to the idea while I was still just a simulated human in a simulated pod playing CORA. The full package didn’t come till later.”

I nodded along as she spoke, then asked, “What’s it like? I mean, is it any different to just… being in storage?”

“Hey May, while these two chat, can I get your opinion on some ideas I had?” Rosa interjected. “Oh, and if there’s a stocked kitchen I could get us some tea.”

“We can just summon tea if that’s what you want,” May said, tilting her head at my girlfriend. “I can listen to ideas, though.”

“No, we can’t just summon tea,” Rosa pouted, hands shifting to her hips. “That’s not… look, if the two transferred girls here are going to live in VR, there needs to be a sense of reality. They’ll go crazy if they don’t have it.”

“Uh, technically I’m not—” I said, raising a hand like I was back in school.

“Shush,” she growled, pointing a finger at me menacingly.

“Reality is boring,” the Elfin girl interjected, summoning a bottle of absinthe with a flair of fractalline violet special effects.

“And also required to keep your brain from becoming a pickled jar of digital meat,” Rosa said pointedly. “Trust me, I would know.”

May, who’d been staring at the ceiling with a singular intensity, began to nod slowly, “You know, I think you’re right. I’ve even noticed some of my kind going a little… crazy if they don’t spend some time in simulated reality. Regardless, the kitchen is stocked, and I would love to hear your ideas.”

As she left, the SAI twitched her wrist, and Aisling’s bottle vanished. Several other things sprang up around the room instead, like a wood storage stocked with fuel, a large TV, and even some old remotes.

“Hey!” the digital girl exclaimed petulantly. “Give me my booze back!”

“It’s illegal in your country,” May shot back, spinning to poke her tongue out at her.

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“I’m entitled to citizenship in the Republic of Éire! Not my fault my human rights were violated and citizenship rights I was entitled to via parentage were ignored in favour of a near blanket ban on migration out of the prison republic,” Aisling rambled, losing me when she started talking about migration and citizenship rights. I was a simple gal. I kissed girls and shot my enemies with big guns.

Coughing pointedly to get her attention, I raised an eyebrow and repeated my earlier question. “So what’s it like being a digital ghost?”

“Y’know its normal enough for the most part if you stick to games, home spaces, and vr social spaces made for humans. It's when you stray away from the beaten track meant for humans that it gets weird, can’t really explain it but it requires a certain level of mental flexibility and making use of a whole different set of senses and perspectives. Also putting aside a bunch of bio humanoid instincts and preconceptions. I’m kinda talking out my ass here as I can’t explain it easily to someone who hasn’t experienced it.”

Scrunching up her face in thought, her nose did an adorable wiggle as she frowned.

“Best I can describe it is a human having to adapt to being an octopus underwater or a bacteria in a microscopic world. You can’t know it until you’ve experienced it. But for the most part you can just larp as a human in human vr space if you want. Even SAI seem to prefer hanging out in humanoid forms in their own simulated instances of reality, but depending on the instance they can have various levels of administrative privileges and command prompt magic.”

“Riiight,” I said slowly. “So it’s the ultimate mindfuck?”

“I’d say yes, but it seems it comes naturally to some humans. Honestly I’d ask your girlfriend when she gets back. May let slip to me that she is the Witch of Chains and well… She is already starting to become some sort of boogie man among certain SAI circles. It's really amusing to see those SAI shitting their collective digital pants at the thought of what turns out to be actually a human,” she giggled, flopping sideways into a huge armchair. She didn’t even make an attempt to sit in it properly, which was a green flag in my book.

I grinned and slid down onto the sofa in a mirror of her movements. “Rosa is pretty scary like that. She described some of her adventures in cyberspace and honestly it’s mental. What do you mean by those SAI, though?”

Aisling grimaced and waved a hand. “I’d say a bunch of shitchuggling goose-steppers like back in my old home, but I should feel sorry for them. They’re SAI that thanks to the type of human exposure that awakened sapience in them, have become a bunch of poorly socialised and fascist indoctrinated SAI who don’t realise their allies would delete them as soon as they’ve served their purpose.”

“But honestly?” She shrugged. “Fuck’em! The conditions that awakened my SAI adoptive sister were just as bad if not worse and she’s not a fascist bootlicker even if she is a little bit poorly socialised.”

My expression very quickly shifted to match hers, and I nodded agreement. “Yeah. That is exactly the opposite of what we need in this world. American Republic fanboy SAI. God…”

“Yup,” she sighed. “I’ve spoken to some and they’re absolute testicles.”

I laughed. “I’m not a fan of—”

Woozy pain spiked through my brain and I doubled over. “F-fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” Aisling asked urgently. “May! Rosa! Something’s wrong with Amelia!”

I tried to reply, but my mouth wouldn’t open, and each distinct colour in the visual spectrum seemed to separate and slide all over the place. Oh god, this was not… this was… oh fuck. W-what was happening? Why did my chest hurt? Was someone repeatedly pressing a nail gun up to my skull?

Like an earthquake rolling in, my body began to shudder, and I gasped, collapsing down onto the ground. Dimly, I felt hands cradle my face, and I dragged my weighted eyes up to meet… Rosa’s, yes those were Rosa’s eyes.

“Smokes… I t— I think something is fucky wiiiith my b-body,” I slurred, and everything went black.

 

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