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?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The giant head stares. It is processing an answer.

 

"ULTIO 2.0." 

 

It pauses.

 

"IS IN THE DATABASE. A PROFITABLE ENDEAVOUR, BUT THE PRICE LEAVES LITTLE ROOM FOR EXPANSION."

 

The expression shifts. Annoyance.

 

"I AM HERE TO STOP UNDESIRABLES FROM ACCESSING RESTRICTED DATA."

 

The door closes.

 

Haven is alone. 

 

The giant head smiles.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

"I see..." said Haven. "You aren't Max Mars, are you? You are an artificial intelligence, or maybe just a program."

 

He paced, circling the giant green head. 

 

"The question then. Who built you? Who programmed you? From whence do you come?"

 

Was this - thing - a creation of Max Mars? And to who did its loyalties lie, if anyone? The thing seemed powerful, but limited, operating within specific parameters, although... had it decided to operate outside those parameters, take initiative?

 

"You are here to stop unauthorised data access, and yet you seem to be doing more than that. Vast landscapes of Oz. Why the need?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS THIS DATA."

 

It seems that, as much as Haven would like to know, a simple question will not be enough.

 

The face shifts again. A smug smile. Haven hears a sound that he has heard before. A rustling of straw.

 

Gates open around them, revealing Scarecrows, their bodies twisted into a mockery of their once humanoid form.

 

"BEGINNING PURGE OF ILLEGAL ACCESS."

[Supercape]

Haven

 

It was coming to a fight, Haven knew. 

 

He had an moment of lament; this whole confrontation had an element of nobility about it, like a duel of old. A meeting of wills and a meeting of steel. He had a poetic image in his head - the slow drawing of a sword, the nod of respect to the opponent. 

 

Instead, there was no sword, and no singular foe. A bunch of scarecrows. 

 

They did not scare him. 

 

He clenched his fists, now crackling with livid orange sparks. His eyes glowed the same colour, under a furrowed brow. 

 

"Well then... it seems I must make myself authorised!"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The giant green face shifts to a look of surprise and confusion. Once more, it looks more than just a simulation, like something that might actually be alive.

 

"THAT IS... NOT HOW THIS WORKS. THAT IS NOT HOW ANYTHING WORKS. WHY WOULD IT WORK LIKE THAT?"

 

It sounds utterly confused by the development.

 

"YOU CANNOT BRUTE FORCE THROUGH AN ENCRYPTION IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE KEY."

 

The Scarecrows move forward. Shambling, rolling, shifting and twisting with audible cracks and noises where, if they were real, Haven would believe to be bones breaking with their every movement. They head towards him, a mass of digital straws.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

The crackling and sparks died down - not gone, but sleepy, like the glow of fire embers. 

 

"Then I need the Key," said Haven, level. He was still unsure about the head, an uncertainty that furrowed his brow and tightened his lips. What was it? It seemed both human and inhuman. 

 

Like me?

 

"Tell me then, oh Oz. How do I get the Key?"

 

It was a blunt approach, but maybe you needed a hammer now and again, when the scalpel was not sufficient. After all, how was the gordian knot untangled? with the stroke of a sword. 

 

"Perhaps blunt force can provide the key?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The floating head appears surprised by the bluntness.

 

"WHY WOULD I GIVE YOU THE KEY? YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED. NOT AUTHORIZED!"

 

The voice almost screams out the last end.

 

Not human, and yet inhuman. Perhaps there is something in that thought that Haven can use?

 

Or perhaps in the blunt force, as the Scarecrows swarm about him now, moving in and reaching out to tear him limb from digital limb.

[Supercape]

Haven

 

Haven was in no mood to be torn apart, even digitally. He dropped to a crouch, defensive, ready to explode into bursts of digital lightning. 

 

But. 

 

Violence was merely one tool, and not always the best one. There was something about this green floating head that spoke of vulnerability. It seemed to be both emotional and logical, with all the deficits of both. Why? Maybe that was another question, but right now, he had to break the head, and the scarecrows it (presumably) controlled. 

 

"You give the key to the authorised."

 

"The authorised have the key."

 

"Which came first?"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The head stares. Max Mars that is not Max Mars appears utterly confused for a moment.

 

The Scarecrows pause.

 

"THE... WHAT..."

 

The face does not know what to do. 

 

"M-M-MARS. MARS CAME FIRST. MARS MADE ALL. I AM... M-M-M-MARS. MARZ. I... HAVE. AUTHORITY? I CAN... CANNOT?"

 

The face begins to glitch. Switching rapidly between expressions.

 

And then, in a flash of light, it disappears. The Scarecrows fall down around Haven.

 

The path to the red planet above stands clear.