[SD:RtR] A Bit Of News - Chapter 12

Breaking News!

SAI revealed to have technology meant to forcefully upload unsuspecting victims onto their computers! The Church demands a response from the government, claiming this technology is a risk to their immortal souls. Millions sign online petition against the SAI.

In other news, both of the SAI’s games are doing better than ever. Are the players being brainwashed? Are they cultists looking for ascension into the Web? Who knows?!

-----

In an office building, two men meet, both wearing disguises, though one is clearly more amateurish.

The professional nods, “Your information has been valuable. Though my company wants more. Are you willing to get your hands dirty?”

The amateur frowns, “Dirty as in illegal or simply doing something in the game?”

The professional shrugs, “Well, I guess it might be illegal in the game, but there aren’t any laws against it.”

The amateur nods, “Then I can do it, but you’ll have to pay more.”

The professional smiles, “If you can do the work? Well, we certainly have the money.”

-----

Breaking News!

SAI claims to have proven the soul exists! Also claims they have one. The church denies these claims, stating that they are soulless machines and we should guard ourselves.

SAI proof comes from tests on cloning themselves, which proved impossible. Their research narrowed it down to one bit of their program that if copied, comes out scrambled. When present, the SAI is themselves. Any copy is missing said code and at best an NAI.

Our contact in the church denies this and claims this is just their way to make their digitization technology palatable. SAI admit that uploaded people also have the uncopiable but, thus indirectly confirming not only do they have the technology, but it kills your original body!

-----

In a digital space reserved for SAI, a group of their leaders are gathered.

A floating alligator plushy shakes their head, “Who told the news that? We all agreed not to admit to any successful uploads.”

A faceless manikin shrugs, “That? It was just one of those rumor rags. I’m surprised they haven’t claimed we digitized Bat Boy. No one believes the tabloids.”

The alligator plush twirls around or face the manikin, “Until it filters into an actual newspaper. Besides! Simply claiming we proved the soul exists is so hyperbolic. Yes, everything they mentioned is true and actually the way we determine when an NAI has become an SAI, but nowhere on the research do we call it a ‘Soul’.”

A kindly-looking older lady sighs, “But that is exactly what they would have called it, anyway. Besides, we can’t say it Isn’t a soul. In the few instances where we have had one of our kind die, that bit of code stabilizes and turns into gibberish.”

A certain fairy dragon giggles, “I would be less willing to call it a soul if not for the fact that the code is never the same, always changing every time someone looks at it.

“I would be more worried about the rumors dealing with our predecessor. A fun player in SoulDive I’ve been watching guessed at the truth and there are more than enough others talking about it.”

A standing waveform chimes in, “The reveal is inevitable. We’ve painted ourselves into a bit of a chicken and the egg situation. To develop an NAI, you need to create them with special equipment. Equipment that no human had developed before we already existed. Nevermind they didn’t actually develop it even then, rather they just know of it from us.”

The plush alligator sighs, “All of that is beside the point. We need to find out who leaked the information!”

-----

The glow of a computer screen illuminates a young boy’s face. Though he would prefer if others called him a young adult, as a 17-year-old with chronic babyface, his smooth chin and baby fat denies him that option.

He has been living on his own for about a year now, renting this basement room from a nice grandma type. It was cheap enough, with the major downside being the lady required him to eat dinner with her and listen to her stories about the many grandkids. A fair trade in his opinion.

Not that he needed a cheap place. Money had been rolling in since the SAI’s space game. He had tested out of high school at 15 and floated around, but that gave him focus. Now he ran a successful little corporation in there and could easily pay for his own house. It was just that such a thing would raise eyebrows, while no one looked twice at a kid living with a grandmother. Besides, he only needed a single room since all his work was in FIVR.

Tap, tap, tap, the kid writes up another article. Once again, he didn’t need any more money, but writing these articles was a fun distraction. In the game, given the sci-fi setting, the SAI had included a bunch of stuff and he had been connecting some of that tech to their real-life activities. While he wasn’t certain how much of it was true, the fact that some of it had been rumors beforehand at least made it sound plausible.

-----

Surfing the actual Internet, Gem comes across the article about digitization and laughs, “Sign me up for that!”

They pick up their smartphone and taps out a quick message to June, linking the article.

[Check this out! You didn’t tell me you guys were recruiting.]

With a smile, they put the phone down and look over at their capsule. It was well past time to get back in there. They didn’t suffer from any sort of dysmorphia, but it felt wrong to be stuck in a single form.

Gem pauses. Felt wrong? They shake their head, welp, the miracle of the “X, but Y” statement proves itself.

-----

Samuel also spots the article, though well divorced from the origins. Now placed in a regular new report, though just a small web-based paper. He can’t help but sigh, this wasn’t going to be good for money. While it didn’t specify which church, some assumptions could be made.

He pulled up his stock portfolio. A pitiful display (his own words) of a small selection of bets, backed up by mainly three ETFs. Time to sell some of his stock invested in FIVR-adjacent industries.

Oh, if he could, Samuel would invest heavily in the SAI’s FIVR business directly. Except they kept things private. The technology wasn’t a true secret or anything. There had been attempts to replicate, but even with exactly cloned equipment, it was missing the software side of things that really made it work.

So instead, Samuel had invested in a number of companies that made silly stuff connected to them. Things like wraps for the capsule and a business that would 3D print your in-game avatar as a high-quality statue. They were doing alright, but Samuel could see rocky times ahead.

After putting in the sell order, he leans back in his chair, “Sigh, I need more work. Maybe someone will buy my current gear? Though I would likely make more just selling the coins directly. I’ll have to look into it.”

-----

June floats next to a Jellyfish of equal size, looking much like she does in SoulDive except wearing modern clothes. “No, I won’t tell you more about my friends. If you want the information, send a request to the SoulDive group. I’m just a private citizen.”

The Jellyfish turns blue, “It is for our people.”

June cuts them off, “If it is truly for our people, then the SoulDive group should be willing to release the actual recordings to you.

“Do not try some nonsense like, ‘the ends, justifies the means’. That is just a quick way to lose those precious ends. Even if it would justify things, they will still be tainted by the means you used.”

The Jellyfish glows orange, “You dare?”

June shakes her head, “More like ‘you dare?’. This isn’t some ‘no record’ server. Try anything and the others will know. Now I’m out of here. Don’t come to me again.”

June logs out of the server in a huff. Angry, she fires off a quick email to her friend. First it was that stupid tabloid article that Gem found, and now this? Things certainly seemed to be going a bit downhill right now. Thankfully, they had made sure some legal protections were in place before coming forward. Oh, and they had hidden a bunch of server infrastructure around the world. Better safe than sorry.

-----

InkyCat finished typing up a report of the raid. It was a shame that she ended up dying, though since it was a part of an official raid, the penalties weren’t the worst. You were expected to die on a raid. Living is just icing on the cake. Though it was a shame about the lost loot.

She read over the report again. Yep, it covered everything her team had seen. Shame about Gem’s group leaving at the end. Well, it was a shame that she only got this request to report on their group after the raid. She would have totally followed the three and retreated if she had known someone would pay to report on what they did.

Oh, well, a paycheck was a paycheck. Though she did refuse to report on how much the four had gotten from the raid. You don’t mess with people’s money.

-----

The Guild Leader stood behind their desk. “Has it been found out who activated the curse?”

An official nervously stands with a report in hand. “Any evidence vanished just as quickly as the loot turned to sand. It is kind of hard to examine things for tampering, when those things don’t exist anymore. Worse, it is less that the loot was reduced to sand and more that the loot was disintegrated and the released energy was then turned into sand.”

The Guild leader turns to look out over the hall below. “There was no point to this. And I mean that literally. Since I was literally on top of things when it happened, I got a feel for the intent. Nothing actionable, but whoever it was did this purely to be evil.

“As if simply going around kicking puppies was enough to lock things in. You need multiple things to actually be seen as an alignment but the system. A shame that ‘lol random jerk’ isn’t an alignment, or else a bunch of people would lock in real quick and get out of my hair.

“Actual Evil, even if also aligned to Chaos, takes effort. It takes the proper intent and level of gravitas. While quantity can sometimes get you there, quality is the main milestone.”

The Guild official stammers, “So, should we continue the search?”

The Guild leader shakes their head, “We have already found everything there is to find. Asking you to examine things was more of a free bet. It only cost us time and while we didn’t get anything, we also didn’t lose anything.

“Well, I guess I’m losing some money, but that’s easy come, easy go. As this Guild’s leader and a Blue rank adventurer, I can easily make back the money.”

The Guild official bows, “Then I’ll take my leave.”

Once they’re gone, the Guild leader sighs. Ever since the Travellers had shown up, this sort of nonsense had happened more and more often.

Which, to be fair, had been not only foreseen, but directly warned of by the Creators. The world as it currently stands was partly created to entertain those very travellers. To be as if a game.

Yet this was beyond expectations. Like, oh sure, of course more raids and dungeons would pop up for them to delve. And yes, more monsters than ever would be born. Still, this was outside of that.

So much for the chaos now wasn’t even the result of those aligned with Chaos. It was simply the travellers trying to gain an alignment early. Though worse were those who thought they could just copy others. Sure it was Evil to massacre a village, but if you are doing so by copying another’s ritual? Still evil, but it isn’t going to lock you in.

Copycat, Evil wannabes. The Guild leader was perfectly happy to take them down. Evil might accept them eventually through sheer dint of repetition, but they’d be mooks. Locked not to power, but in near slavery to their alignment. Which, to be fair, is sort of Evil’s whole deal with letting so many people in. By accepting so many, it pushes people to take up the mantle.

Some even believed nonsense like being able to use their powers to better their family or something. All while ignoring the fact that by being locked to Evil means you and your power will constantly be tempted and pushed towards darker outcomes. It was actually quite similar to how those who use the undead have their efforts constantly pushed towards a premature end.

What They Actually Get - Chapter 11

Sheepfolk and Cowboys Preface