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.