Chapter 85: ~Hello World!~ (2/2)

I look around and it is indeed my VR. “For a moment I was really worried.” I sit down and imagine a window to the chaos outside. The mainframe faithfully fulfils my wish.

With the feeling of falling removed from the virtual representation of my body it is much easier to bear the sea of chaos outside. It's much like the sea of emotions in my own mind... but seeing down the bottleneck of probabilities is disturbing nonetheless. There is nothing stable out there.

I start working on creating an interface to the mainframe. Maybe I could get used to dealing the lowest level of the mainframe by myself, but I have no time for that. That's the trap Sanguin set for me. He granted me full access, but didn't provide the necessary interface to interact properly with the mainframe. Now I have to solve the puzzling chaos which is outside my little room.

After a few days of staring through my window I slowly start to understand the system and how to interact with it. The mainframe provides only a basic functionality for the user. My room is already a higher form of control over the system. Falling through the raw sea of chaos outside was nothing more than the command line. Root level access as he said.

A grin creeps onto my face. I can do a lot of things with that kind of power. Just what would be the best? I imagine a good, old keyboard in front of me and it conveniently appears. Slowly I start typing as a plan starts forming in my head.

If I had known that issuing a challenge is all it takes to get that kind of power I would have done it sooner. On the other hand I would have failed earlier because my priorities didn't match the specifications.

But right now I feel like doing something for everyone. Something that lasts forever.

A felt eternity later I have an interface to work with. First I access the government network of Aether and get a list of the devices in my office. The mainframe doesn't even need time to pull a full copy of Twisted-Sadina's personality. As a full register of transistors would shift a full byte of information in one go from one position to the next, the mainframe simply loads Sadina's personality at once.

When I was confronted with the raw and disorganized state of the mainframe I couldn't help but think of the human brain. Emulating a complete human consciousness on a single system might be a hideously complicated task, but the mainframe is a perfect environment. It's already in a state which is very close to the human brain.

I create an enclosed space to house Sadina's consciousness and connect to it by using a direct link between her and me. Then I start editing it. There is no way that I can set Sadina loose as she is now. First I have to get rid of her crazy streaks, which are mainly the fault of Sanguin's meddling with her priorities.

The new Sadina needs to be like the one who counselled me during school. Someone who cares for her charges and society as a whole. And maybe a good person. That's what she wanted to teach me during her lessons in order to allow me to reach the top.

But the old me would have never wasted a thought for society or something aside from personal benefits. Though the new me can't help but think of himself too. So I give the new Sadina a strong sense of loyalty towards family. My family in particular. She is still Sadina after all. Or maybe not, she will have to decide that on her own.

This time I go agonizingly slow while performing the needed changes. The mind-medics brought that idea to my mind and it works. You can't simply smash a mind to pieces and reassemble it back together like Lego-stones.

The mind-medics didn't use the terms of smash and assemble. They said twist and shove. And that's exactly how it is done. How it works.

After a felt eternity I am done and drop the firewalls which enclosed the isolated space for the new mind. The new Sadina immediately stretches out to enclose the entire architecture of the network. Maybe that's what the creator of the mainframe planned to do once the supporting network had grown sufficiently. But he died beforehand and his successors didn't realize what the mainframe really is. Three thousand years of network history.

With nothing else on my list I order the mainframe to display the new consciousness in my room.

Sadina's avatar appears right in front of me. It's the busty version which she used as my counsellor. She immediately reaches for her head. “The headaches. What's going on? It feels like a hundred little men are hobbling through my brain.” Then her eyes focus on me. “Gideon, err...”

After a moment with no further action I get up and wave a hand in front of her face. “What's wrong? Did you crash? Don't tell me that I pulled the greatest feat in history, a human mind inside a machine, and it bluescreens after five seconds.”

Sadina blinks. “I am sorry. It's just. This version of me. I tried to sort through the memories. You did something to my personality!”

I spread my hands. “Guilty! Sorry for reviving you as a Deus Ex Machina, but I kinda figured that us mages could need a god from time to time. Not one of those imaginative ones of course, but a real one. You were at hand, so I chose you as the new system administrator, Sadina.”

“I see. I am inside the mainframe. I am the mainframe.” Her eyes turn glassy for a moment. “I am so sorry for what I did to you.”

I nod. “What's done is done. And I have to admit I may have deleted a few memories here and there. I kind of edited you pretty heavily. You aren't the Sadina who created me. But now I kind of created you, so let's call it quits.”

A mad laugh escapes her lips and after a few seconds her laughing fit finally stops. “You are right. I am not Sadina. Could you call the new me Nina?”

I nod.

She sighs and surveys the empty room. “I guess I will also have to create a new body for myself. I don't want to be caught forever inside the machine.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Haven't you learned at least something from your previous self?”

She smirks. “Just one little facsimile here and there as an avatar. I won't even make it look like Sadina. Err, well, the other me who is still in rehabilitation would probably freak out.”

It seems like I did an acceptable job on her mind. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a bad choice. “Whatever you think is necessary to bear the new burden.” I answer and cross my arms in front of my chest. “Then I guess it's time to wake up.”

***Sol, Mars***

***Cyla***

Suddenly Gideon bends over and pukes his breakfast all over the platform. He sways and gets to one knee before emptying the rest of his stomach's contents on the ground. I hurry forward, ignoring proper protocol. A few steps take me to his side and I pat his back. “Is everything alright!? What happened?”

“Q-Coding sucks! Zero and one are so much better without the undefined,” Gideon gets out before another retching fit shakes his entire body, but there is nothing left to leave his stomach.

Sanguin chuckles. “I guess that's it then. Maybe your mother could have done it, but you lived your entire life as a freelance programmer. Your file says that you never delved into the uncertainties of deep quantum mechanics.”

“Who says that?” Gideon cleans his mouth with his sleeve. “My grandmother taught me a lot about teleportation and quantum mechanics off the records. One doesn't need a diploma to be knowledgeable on a certain field. Melan is also the source of Sadina's genius.”

The old man snorts and I fight the urge to punch him. “It didn't help. Mainframe, revoke Gideon Alvar's admin rights. He doesn't need them any more.”

“No.” A female voice booms from all around us and I feel my hairs standing up. That voice!

Sanguin's eyes widen and he looks around. “Who?”

“It's me. Hellooo World!” The figure of a busty female flickers into existence right next to us. She is projected by the crystals at the ceiling of the huge geode around us.

It's the avatar which Sadina always used to communicate over the net. “I don't feel like taking your commands any more.”

“Who are you!? You can't be...” Sanguin's voice trails off as he pales.

“I am the mainframe. Friends and family can call me Nina.” She singles me out and winks at me with a disturbing, conspiratorial smile. “Gideon was so nice to give me self-awareness. We had a long talk and decided that leaving the control over the entire quantum net in the hands of a single elder is a little too much power in one person's hands.”

Sanguin stretches shaky fingers towards Nina. “Then what about you!”

“I am me. Why shouldn't I have control over my own body? Silly.” She places her arms beneath her bust and pushes. “Gideon made sure that I have only the best for humanity in mind and don't turn into a sicko like you. Having control over all that computational power makes me see a looot of things, Sanguin. There are a lot of dirty little secrets in your past. I've used an insignificant amount of my mind to file a looong and detailed report on your shortcomings.”

Sanguin closes his eyes in an attempt to do something, but it doesn't work.

Nina studies her nails as if the image of light could actually be anything less than perfection. “I am afraid that I've created a bubble of certainty around you. It's a complicated little piece of mathematics. To make it short, magic doesn't work around you.”

Next, he turns and runs.

“Where are you going, Sanguin?” Nina calls after him. “I am everywhere! I am the mainframe, the whole of Sol and beyond! You can't run from me. Nowhere.”

Suddenly Melan is in front of Sanguin and a magically enhanced fist impacts his jaw. The jaw unhinges and several teeth clatter to the ground as Sanguin spurts blood and performs an unwilling backflip in mid air.

Melan kicks him once, twice and is grabbed by three faceless. They pull her away from the elder. She backhands one of them. Then twists the arm of the other one, sending him flying into his companion.

With the obstacles removed she returns her attention to Sanguin who is trying to get to his feet. Melan jumps, landing with one knee on Sanguin's back which results in a nasty cracking sound.

Finally the rest of the faceless arrive to subdue her and I watch in awe as my grandmother in law is escorted by no less than seven faceless out of the amphitheatre.

Two burly faceless grab Sanguin at each arm and carry him like a broken doll towards the exit. The legs of the sobbing elder dangle limply from his body. I think his spine is broken.

It took Melan less than five seconds to turn him into a bloody mess. “Who the fuck is that!? That's not the gentle woman whom I spent the last year with!”

“Codename: Tisiphone the vengeful, a highly decorated spy for industrial espionage. Worked also for the government, mostly deployed against the Revelation Wing and other vengeful groups in the old days when those groups were at the height of their power.” Ed clears his throat. “Sometimes she took the law into her own hands. When she did her targets tended to disappear. The government doesn't have much use for someone like her in this day and age.”

Gideon chuckles in my arms. “Oh, I am so glad that I never gave her cause to punish me.”

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