ic Operation Ares

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"This is a secure system," the Lion simply replies, as he slowly stands up from behind the bar. "It contains proprietary data." 

 

He looks after the Scarecrow, still visible moving through the streets outside. 

 

"We all follow our function. But what can you do? I simple find the needed files."

[Supercape]

Haven

 

Haven contemplated the words. The problem of free will. Everything, arguably, followed their function. Was anyone truly free from the universal law of causality?

 

He pressed his fingertips together, contemplating the problem. 

 

"Secure data. And you find the files. So tell me, can you find secure files? Is this a... conflict for you?"

 

Whilst distateful, the thought crossed Havens mind - could he free the Lion from its programming? Should he?

 

Or even change the Lion? Did he have the justification for changing a sentience? And what was sentience, anyway? Was he, a computer programme himself, sentient?

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The bartender that is a lion, but not quite as brave as a lion, looks at Haven.

 

"I can find where anything is, and point you in the right direction, but..." the bartender looks away, seemingly ashamed of himself, "I am limited by my paremeters. I'm scared what will happen, if the Scarecrows find me."

 

In other words, limitations to the program. Some that might be circumvented, if one were to alter those parameters.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"Do you... wish to be altered?"

 

It was an ethically perilous thing, to change the nature of a thing. 

 

If ones natures is changed, how is that different from killing the old version?

 

A conundrum without answer. Because everyone changed all the time, it was the nature of life. But 'twas a matter of degree. 

 

The only answer was to make sure it was done with consent. 

 

"I may be able to ... remove that limitation if you will let me?" he proposed. "But it must be your choice..."

 

Whatever choice is... what is the nature of Free Will?

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The lion looks at Haven, obviously confused by the question that is being asked.

 

"Good sir, I might appear be real in this world that we share, but I am a program. I am not an artificial intelligence. I am, as I was made, nothing more, nothing less. I do not have wants and desires. I simply fulfil my mission."

 

It looks away.

 

"I am what I am, until something changes my state and makes me something else. If you are an user, then I cannot decide what you will do."

 

It seems that it won't be quite as easy to be given consent or resistance as Haven would have hoped, and he will have to grapple with the moral implications on his own.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"That makes things... less complicated..." said Haven, pondering what the line between program and intelligence was. Was it hubris? Maybe all intelligence was - was an extremely complex program. 

 

But - it was consent, of sorts. Assent, rather than consent. 

 

Or am I just deluding myself?

 

At a certain point, thoughtfulness became paralysis, and there was no room for paralysis, not in this place. 

 

"Well then, lets see what we have..." he muttered, not entirely content with his decision, but decisive nonetheless. 

 

He reached out with his cyber hand, to connect to the cyber Lion... and 

 

Delve...

 

...What files were hidden? And how can I get them?

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Perhaps Haven is deluding himself. He had held a conversation with the Lion. He had hidden from the Scarecrows with it. Perhaps it is something more than what it says, perhaps it is something more than what he believes. Perhaps he is crossing a line that will lead further into darkness...

 

Or perhaps he is merely editing a program.

 

That is a thought that he will have to grapple with on his own.

 

The Lion tenses as Haven reaches out. Haven delves into the program, further into the system, and it speaks.

 

"All files related to the Ultio Project remains secured on the Red Planet above. Suit schematics, power source and target analysis. The only way to access the Red Planet is through the Wizard in the Emerald Tower."

 

An image flashes before Haven's eyes for a moment. A man dressed in an all black suit, sitting in an Emerald Throne. His appearance is uncannily close that that of Max Mars.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

Haven had been around Emerald City (in both meat and cyberspace) to recognise Max Mars. His silicon memory systems didn't let him forget much. 

 

Mars. Red Planet. 

 

It made sense. 

 

Whatever else was going on, somebody - the architect of this world - sure had a sense for the symbolic. Haven approved. 

 

"The Emerald Tower. The Wizard... hmmm...."

 

A moment of reflection. 

 

"That must be in this cyberspace. The Emerald Tower?"

 

He looked back to the Lion. "Where is that? And who is the Wizard?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Max Mars is, if anything, a narcicist and a egomaniac. Even in a cyber space like this, that no one should realistically see, he would have to put his mark on it.

 

"Center of the city, of course," the Lion responds, as if it is the most obvious answer ever. "The Wizard's the admin, y'know. The guy with all the power. He's a user with full priviledges. He can do anything in here."

 

At least it sounds like Haven knows where to go from here.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"The Centre. Of course. Max Mars, the man who makes the universe revolve around him."

 

Haven felt a pang; was this oversight of human psychology because he was no more a human? Or was he always so blunted of insight? Milo Mikano spent more time in front of a computer screen than a person. Psychology was not his forte. 

 

Never mind. Haven was who he was now. 

 

"Thankyou," he said, with a touch of sorrow. Max Mars was soaking this place with a blanket of fear. If these programs actually felt fear. 

 

He went of the bar, got his bearings. The Centre was where he needed to be, and that was where he headed. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Emerald City stands gleaming around Haven. He moves through it like a man would through any other city in the world, with purpose towards the tower in the center. It is not real, of course. None of this is. It is all data, all an abstraction, a cyber world that he sees and interprets.

 

Or maybe it is real.

 

Maybe all of this is a world that Max Mars created to protect his secrets, a living breathing place, to ensure that he would have an ever evolving and reactive defense?

 

Or maybe it is all just zeroes and ones.

 

Whatever the case, Haven finds himself a the Emerald Tower in the center of the Emerald City, with a large gate. Above, the great red planet looms.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"Follow the yellow brick road," said Haven, looking up. 

 

HIs flesh and brain were artificial, but echoed from biological life. The mannerisms, the pulse, was still there. And right now, his hands flexed, unflexed, and flexed. He did not, could not sweat, and yet his hands felt sweaty. He had no heartbeat, and yet he felt a drumming in his neck. 

 

"Max Mars. I am coming for you. In this world, and maybe in the..."

 

He was about to say real world, but what was that? Quantum mechanics might just say all there is, is information. So what made a simulation more, or less real than any other? All worlds were worlds of information. 

 

"...the other one," he concluded. 

 

It was best not to drown in the concept. 

 

Haven made judgement that Max Mars already knew he was coming. He probably knew Haven was right outside. So best to stride straight into through the front doors...

 

...and get ready to Jack out if the simulation got too hot!

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The gate opens as Haven approaches. A large, empty hall beckons before him. His steps echo as he steps on what seems to be ancient emerald stone.

 

If nothing else, then everything follows the theme.

 

And up ahead, as he approaches, Haven sees it, a large emerald head that floats in the middle of the emerald hall. It is transparent, easily seen through. Despite the color, it is clearly meant to be Max Mars himself, who regards Haven with a frown.

 

"WHO DARES DISTURB THE GREAT AND POWERFUL WIZARD!?"

 

It's voice booms through the hall, threatening to knock Haven off his virtual feet.

 

Yes, everything does indeed stick close to the theme.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

Despite every effort to steel his digital nerves, Haven took a step back, buffeted by the booming voice. He paused, took breath (not that he needed air), straightened his ties and reorientated himself. 

 

Max Mars. The Wizard of Oz. 

 

Haven had never read the book, or watched the film, but he knew the story. Oz was no magician - he was a fraud. A masterful, clever, ingenious fraud. But no wizard. 

 

Still, this was the world of the digital. 

 

"Haven," he said. "You may have heard of me. You may have heard of Milo Mikano. And you are Max Mars."

 

He brought his fingers together. 

 

"I have heard wind that you are trading something dangerous. Something you shouldn't be trading at all."

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The giant head gives pause. It's expression changes with blinks. It looks annoyed. There is no fluid movements, the image simply changes, like someone flipping rapidly through channels on a screen.

 

 

"YOU ARE LISTED IN OUR DATABASE. AN UNDESIRABLE. BENEATH NOTICE."

 

The expression becomes somewhat concerned, then back to the smug confidence that Haven saw when he walked in.

 

"WHY WOULD YOU KNOW? TO WHAT ENDS DO YOU SEEK THIS KNOWLEDGE?"

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"Undesirable. A compliment. I am in good company. Poets, dreamers, rebels."

 

The echo of human nervous systems made his fingers itch, as if they were sweaty, tremulous. But he forced them still. It was not easy. He cast his mind back to the obscure conversations he had had when he entered cyberspace. 

 

Who is the villain?

 

Well that was the question. Layers upon layers of question. 

 

"Ultio 2.0" he started, pausing. The best blade was the truth- it might slice through the fog of lies. 

 

"Its a weapon. A dangerous weapon. A weapon of tyrants. And MaxMars is selling it."

 

He strode a couple more fluid steps forward. 

 

"I am here to investigate. And, if necessary, to stop. Now tell me, what are you here for?"