Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (2 page)

“
This
one, this will actually track a person’s vitals and heart rate,
eyelid flutters, dilation. It, coupled with the previous headset,
increases the accuracy of thought interpretation by magnitudes.”

“
More
mind reading.” The old man still sounded dry.

“
David,
it’s so much more than that.” The unkempt man frowned for
only a moment. Then his face lit up and he nodded frantically.

“
So
you’ve said. With all these patients, what’s the bottom
line?” David, the older one, was full of barely disguised
grumbling.

“
The
projected profits were on the first page.”

“
I
need more than that, money is great, but unless there’s an end
goal in mind I can’t pass it by the board,” David said.
He flapped one hand against the images floating about.

“
If
we combine all this,” the unkempt scientist waved again. His
actions drug all the images together, placing them carefully onto a
digital outline. “In the method proposed, we can immerse anyone
in a fully networked alternate reality state.”

“
Why?”

“
The
proposal she,” the hyper unkempt man started to explain.

“
The
machine.” His words were dry. No one seemed to share the same
point of view as the unkempt man.

“
The
proposal she” came the unwavering counter, “wrote, starts
with medical funding. Coma patients. This can be piloted there as a
method to bring them out and interact.”

“
And
that justifies this expense?”

“
On
its own? No. She reported that it would work for schools, enabling
truly remote classroom studies. Districts could load software for
field trips to exotic locations where no one ever needs to actually
leave. Imagine having Hawaii all to yourself. Fully interactive,
completely realistic.”

David
rubbed his chin a bit and hummed. “What else?”

“
Military
applications are innumerable.” The unkempt scientist had
actually numbered them one night, proving that they were numerable.
“That is the biggest one. Oh! Even the space program. Instead
of simulating using underwater pools, they can do it in a nearly
perfect replication of the moon.”

“
Or
Mars?”

The
unkempt man smiled. “Mars. The Moon. Anything we have data on
can be simulated. Even things that don’t actually exist.”
If this project couldn’t be sold based on bigger contracts,
perhaps a childish dream might do.

“
What
do you mean?”

“
She’s
already created a number of possible simulations within a virtual
space.” The tall one was nodding happily.

“
You
mean the computer AI has,” David said slowly. He was starting
to sound less upset about the whole prospect.

“
She,
yes. Multiple.”

“
Like
what?”

The
unkempt man looked a little embarrassed then smiled. He took both
arms and waved away the reports, schematics, and other design
information. Once the air was clear of all other projections, he made
a motion and said keywords. A new object took form in front of the
men. He enlarged it and made the semi-transparent image fully three
dimensional.

“
Is
that?” The older man’s breath was hitched in amazement as
the realization slowly approached.

“
It
is.”

“
It
simulated this. In a three-dimensional space? And you’re
telling me that machine even invented a way to immerse...”
There was a pause as the older man seemed to lose which words would
lead to a conclusion of his sentence.

“
An
entire consciousness in a nearly perfect simulation.” Helped
the slightly taller man.

“
Just
to…” David was still having a hard time shoving the
right words together.

“
To
fight it.” The unkempt taller man gestured to a fantastic
rendering of a creature that didn’t really exist.

“
Is
this a joke, or are you serious?”

“
It
is not a joke. I’ve reviewed and reviewed.” The male
scientist tried to drive home exactly how many hours he poured over
the data. He reviewed the scripting. He had torn apart the most basic
levels of the new computer language developed in order to make this
realization come true.

“
And
reviewed, and reviewed…” The bored mutterings of the
nearby female were helpful as always. She remained mostly silent,
looking at numbers and data and other figures. Fingers tapped across
glass screens and slid objects around. Notes were made in the air as
she double checked things for the umpteenth time today.

“
She,”
he started to explain.

“
The
AI,” David confirmed and corrected in one sentence.

“
She
invented an entire world." The disheveled man said. "Then
pulled together pieces of technology from all over the globe, to
allow us mere mortals to fight a dragon.”

Minutes
passed. The older man was not prone to making rash decisions and in
truth he reviewed the entire proposal before coming down here. This
part, this creature, had not been on the original documents.

“
How
soon could we get this together?” He finally questioned.

“
Given
approval, and a budget, and the copyrights, maybe a few months. Then
testing, safeguards, approvals. Two years, maybe, and public
release.”

“
And
this?” The older man waved at the rendered dragon.

“
I
can’t rush her on this, but the sooner we get the first few
phases done, the sooner we can move onto this final goal.” He
smiled happily at a successful project pitch.

“
I’ll
put it upstairs. Even if I have to call in every favor I’ve
got. Consider this a go ahead.” David dared to let some
excitement creep across his features.

“
Excellent.
You won’t regret it.”

The
unkempt man didn’t mention that the prototype was already
completed. That he had been inside this alternate reality and run
around. Inside a digitally created illusion, he interacted with
people who were as much born as created. She, the machine AI, hadn’t
only created one fantastical creature in her alternate world. She
created people, races, borrowing from myth and legends. Pieces of
lore from around the globe littered the alternate reality.

“
How
is it?” The female scientist asked.

“
The
world is incredibly real. Down to the finest detail. I spent at least
an hour staring at flowers trying to find anything wrong. She froze a
child’s face and I…” He grew a little sheepish,
afraid to explain. In reality, those actions would have been
disturbing, a call to the police might be warrented.

In
the game world, it was more like admiring a brilliant painting from
inches away.

“
Don’t
worry, I saw it all. The detail was astounding.” She had been
watching on one of the many screens that floated around the room.
Images from the virtual world were anchored upon one of the two
prototype pods. One screen floated by walls of text with each change.
Minute images as the land heaved and switched locations. Two giant
creatures were fighting on a mountain range.

“
There
wasn’t a single visual error! Nothing! Down to the finest
grain. Smooth renditions, tactile feedback was perfect. The water
felt like water.”

“
How
was the time dilation?”

Hours
had passed outside and an entire a day inside. When his wonderful AI
had explained the theory and how the mind processed data, he was
amazed.

“
Good.
I hardly felt sick after disconnecting. We’ll have to do
testing on unexpected outages, they might cause issues. Maybe suggest
a buffer layer.” The unkempt man was rubbing the back of his
neck. Two small devices were on either side, contact points that
served to link him into the network.

“
Everything
is another layer of complexity. It’ll hamper legal approval
once we move to public release. Onward from there it will depend on
the courts.” She said without much worry.

“
But
we must move on! This can’t be for only us.”

“
So
you’ve said.”

The
room flickered for a moment, interrupting the images. Text floated
across the wall that led to the other room. That other room was where
all the extremely advanced science happened. Machines built machines.
Blueprints were created and analyzed for functionality. She, it, the
computer AI, labored over her project.

Additional
input required to complete phase four

“
Ah,
yes,” He muttered, somewhat distracted. One arm rested against
the wall to assist in remaining steady.

“
It’s
still requesting more information?” Said the female scientist.

“
Yes.
In order to complete the non-player characters. They’re a
little-” he drifted off.

“
Stiff?”
She suggested.

“
That's
the only real flaw. Textual wise, they’re perfect.
Interaction-wise they’re too scripted, not free flowing enough.
In order to successfully bring them to life, she’s asking to
watch other people interact.”

“
And
the databases she’s already pulled from aren’t enough?”

She,
it, had tapped into an innumerable series of sources. Chat logs of
other games and devices. Public emails, digital books, and logs.
Anything that was fed through a stream of data had analyzed for
speech patterns and human interaction methods. Uncovering desires,
dreams, and fears in equal measure. According to previous
conversations, she, it, even felt a little guilty about those
actions. Guilt in a machine generated personality was an incidental
marvel at this point.

“
She’s
filtered through nearly everything, but text isn’t the same as
real people interacting. Video only lets her get so much data. Can
you imagine if she based every NPC off of a soap opera?”

“
I
have more trouble believing you invented a cutting-edge AI, and
somehow the only thought you share is a video game.” The female
scientist said, twisting one lip down in a partial frown. “It
seems like a waste.”

“
It
isn’t. What we need most, is a distraction, a place to fight
our wars, challenge ourselves, in a way that won’t destroy
what’s left of our world. She ran the numbers, and I agreed.
This invention, in the final stages, will become a new platform for
all of humanity to interact with.”