Jcb112
patreon
Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 112/?]
🕑 Added 2024-09-04 01:02:28 +0000 UTC97 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. Signal Station. Administration Wing. Bunker HQ.
Evina
“What would you like to know specifically, Evina?” Addie responded earnestly, which despite being aggravating, was completely fair for it to ask.
My question was, quite honestly, vague.
But then again, it was a big question that needed answering.
Because ultimately, it was the last big question that would help to tie this grand conspiracy together.
“Alright.” I began with a deep sigh. “Tell me about the people who were behind this bunker, as well as its protocols, its experiments, and anything and everything else related to it.” I tried my best to expand on my earlier question.
My line of questioning prompted practically every other server in the room to rev up all at once, before finally, I was given an answer.
After about a good minute of waiting in a literal sauna, of course, courtesy of the heat generated by the electronics.
“This bunker is one of many, built by the Federal Republic of Truvalis, under direct orders from the Department of War, in conjunction with the International Congress of Nations. Funding was a multilateral effort, from the two aforementioned bodies, in addition to multiple private and unnamed sources.” The AI began, prompting me to blink my eyes rapidly as both shock and disbelief struck me to my core.
“For reference, Lysara—” I managed out, as I felt my first iteration more or less taking the reins of this conversation. “—the Federal Republic of Truvalis is… or rather, was the nation that more or less controlled this continent. Meanwhile, the International Congress of Nations i-, was, an international forum for peace and discussion and whatever. It never had any power, never did anything really. So the fact that my country’s department of war, and the ICN were working together on a tangible, physical project, with private backing. That’s…” I trailed off, prompting Lysara to finish my thoughts for me.
“Inconceivable, I’d imagine.” He offered.
“Yes.” I nodded.
Addie continued soon after this, after another bout of silence paired with the revving of computers.
“The reconstruction protocols to be conducted by the chosen one, were drafted and outlined by the International Congress of Nations’ Chancellor-Secretary, and were localized to each bunker across Truvalis. The names of those involved in this endeavor will be displayed on screen now.” I quickly turned towards the screen, which now displayed a literal town’s worth of names directly tied to this whole conspiracy. “And as for the experiments—” Addie paused, just as I was about to narrow my eyes at the ‘masterminds’ behind this aspect of the conspiracy.
Several click click clicks were heard from deep within the servers, as it felt as if Addie was struggling to find data about this particular aspect of its history.
“—apologies. The specific names of those responsible for the drafting of the experiments were left intentionally blank. Although there remains one document tied to the experiments that is signed, that being the issuing-directive which acted as the final order for the implementation of the experiments in the first place.” The AI switched the main monitor to reveal a simple document, with what seemed to be an attached folder with every single detail of the experiment sequestered within it. A lone name however was present on the bottom right hand corner of that document, complete with a signature and seal that was immediately recognizable, and one that Addie read out loud too. “I can only ascertain that the experiment directives were submitted to the bunker, on the direct orders of the Director of the Space Resources Management Agency’s incumbent director.”
My eyes narrowed at this, prompting me to once more turn towards Lysara. “A lack of any felinor names attached to the experiment outline itself, sans for the directive ordering for its implementation into this project. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yes.” The alien nodded. “The outline was directly the interloper’s doing, with this felinor civil servant acting as its conduit or puppet, submitting the experiment on its behalf.”
“Yeah.” I acknowledged. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Addie seemed to finally go silent at that point, prompting me to finally tackle the massive reveals head on.
“I think we can safely say that the moon base was also a part of this grander conspiracy then.” I admitted via intercom towards both Vir and Lysara, against what would have been my ‘better judgment’, if it wasn’t for all of the undeniable evidence in front of me. “With the literal guy in charge of the international agency coordinating the space program being in cahoots with the interloper? The moon base is without a doubt a cover for some weird attempt at meeting the big boss.”
“Indeed.” Lysara nodded. “Perhaps the initial operations were done without knowledge of the interloper, but its influence grew the closer they got to it, forcing it to increase its grip on them. Or perhaps, it was all planned from the beginning.”
“Regardless of how things transpired, the outcome is the same — this grand conspiracy led to the construction of these bunkers, and more than likely, triggered the war that resulted in the sorry state we’re currently in.” I quickly added with a seething hiss. “The mastermind behind all of this, being the interloper.”
“I am, however, still on the fence about everyone being involved, Evina.” Lysara cautioned. “It could possibly well have been a matter of improper planning by the interloper. Perhaps it had another, grander plan, but perhaps your people got closer to the truth, thus initiating a ‘plan b’ where it could minimize extraneous variables. Perhaps it was a battle for control, with clearly defined lines between those inducted and brainwashed, and those loyal to your people and governments.”
“It ultimately doesn’t matter, Lysara.” I shot back. “All that matters is that this fricking monster is still out there. And we’ll have to deal with it sooner rather than later.”
“Of that I am in agreement, Evina.” The alien nodded once more. “And on that note, I suggest we move into finalizing our operations here.” Lysara turned towards Addie ominously, eliciting a few nervous ticks from the AI.
=====
101 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. Signal Station. Administration Wing. Bunker HQ.
Evina
Four hours.
That’s how long it took to finally dissect each and every piece of intel there was to extract from Addie.
Though most of that time was more or less spent cross referencing its spoken admissions of truth, with the recorded instances of actions and records directly from its servers, so as to gauge what Vir referred to as its Fidelity and Reliability index, as well as itsTruth to Fabrication ratio.
Surprisingly, despite the first blatant lies from when we first entered the facility… Addie had remained surprisingly upfront on just about everything else.
Sure, there were instances where it took a bit of time to pry the truth from it, but following these hiccups, the answers and replies we got were easily verified and corroborated by the hard-records.
Anything and everything from the purpose of the facility, through to its knowledge on my own place within this whole… experiment, to even all it knew about its ‘benefactors’ and the conspiracies surrounding it — it managed to answer everything to the best of its abilities.
Though I had to keep myself and my emotions in check whenever the topic veered too far into objectifying both me, and Eslan’s place in the ‘grand scheme of things’.
Nevertheless, we got our answers as to Addie’s reliability relatively ‘quickly’.
Simply put, whilst weak and pathetic, Addie was at least amenable to cooperation… which was much more than we could say about its sibling in the deep dark.
A being that I hoped would prove to be too unreliable, if only to provide a reason for us to terminate it, which I would happily carry out…
This hope proved to slowly bear fruit, slowly being the operative word here, as its interrogation and conversation went on for far longer and with far greater hoops and bounds than Addie’s.
To put it into polite terms, it seemed to viscerally enjoy messing with Vir, even if he wasn’t buying any of its crap.
However, this cover soon fell apart as time started waning its resolve.
Whilst appearing logical and straightforward at face value, especially when taking into consideration its first interactions with Vir, its colors quickly began to show as the hours went on.
Each passing interaction, and each passing hour, seemed to chip away at its calm and apathetic exterior. In fact, the more time passed, the more it seemed to grow erratic and malicious.
Objectively speaking, its Fidelity and Reliability index, as well as its Truth to Fabrication ratio, showed results that were night and day to Addie.
If anything, the beast was proving to be more of the monster I’d imagined it to be.
And ultimately, the time finally came for us to regain our bearings, gather our findings, and decide once and for all what the next course of action would be.
“Right.” I began, taking a moment to make sure that I was in intercom mode. “That… was eye opening.” I offered with a huff.
“Indeed.” Lysara nodded. “So it would seem as if the reconstruction efforts did have an ulterior motive as well.”
“A skewed effort to rebuild everything in order to make a mad dash for the moon, and presumably, the interloper by extension.” I acknowledged with a groan, stretching out in the process. “It was fricking planning for us to rebuild just to become its puppets again…” I exhaled with a hiss, taking a moment to regard the sum total of the plans now on screen in all of its digital glory. “So what now?”
“I would recommend a debrief on everything we’ve uncovered.” Lysara began. “However… given the circumstances—” He paused, before highlighting both Addie and the cyberbeast in both of our picture-in-picture HUDs. “—we ought to take care of the obvious points of contention prior to taking full stock of the situation.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yup, I guess we do need to decide on the fate of the two administrators. However, on that note, there’s also the fate of a third party that might need to be addressed here.” I spoke ominously, prompting a quirk of Lysara’s brow ridge.
“Go on?”
“I’ve been thinking, Lysara… given the nature of these bunkers, especially considering what they were built for… there’s a chance we could repurpose them. The reconstruction plans, the facilities, and most importantly — the resources, we could redirect all of them towards actually helping to rebuild civilization.” I offered, garnering an inquisitive look from the alien. “Now, I know I’ve talked a lot about my apathy for civilization, but given everything we know now? Let’s just say I'm not entirely convinced we’re completely to blame for all of this.” I gestured back out the door. “Which is to say, maybe, just maybe… I have some renewed hope that my people deserve a proper second chance.” I paused, rubbing the back of my head in the process. “I’m definitely going to be teased by Eslan for this, considering how deadset I was on my apathy for the world but… at this point, I might just eat my words if it means that we could help a society that might actually deserve helping.”
The alien took a moment to take stock of my offer, before turning towards Addie, then back towards me. “The third party being everyone else then, I see. That is a noble endeavor, Evina. In fact, this could be an excellent means of rehabilitating Addie. Given it was designed to aid in this sort of work, this would be the excellent opportunity to see a positive change through.”
That offer sent a shiver up my spine, but nevertheless, I gave my tentative nod of approval. “If you promise to like, reprogram it a bit, I guess.” I shrugged.
“Rehabilitation would involve the removal of all of the protocol limiters and directive imprinting that’s shackling it, yes.” Lysara acknowledged.
“Alright, well, in that case, I guess we’ll hammer out the details later.”
“Which leaves us with two final matters to address.” The alien continued. “The fate of the cyberbeast, and the final confrontation with the interloper.”
Comments
Dennis Hornsby
Tftc
