Back into the Fire

“Tell your plans to God so they can laugh”

– popular proverb

I rushed back to bring all six of us together so I could share my plan with them. We go to one of the rooms to the left and sit on the chairs, then I start talking as directly as I can saying “The GMs are trying to contact us in our dreams”. I receive a universal “Huh?” in response, to which I reply “Marcellus, the Captain and myself had basically the exact same dream, that was my first clue. Then I remembered the floating baby…”. In the eyes of everyone I can see the discomfort of remembering and acknowledging that was real, then I continue “what if that was one of the GMs trying to get used to a human body to interact with the outside world. I think we should try communicating with the GMs, try understanding what they want and why so many weird things have happened”.

After I finished talking Marina started walking in circles and a few seconds later she said “alright, I agree that multiple people having the exact dream or hallucination is very weird. Still, there is a big jump to connect that idea with the GMs having a will and even more, wanting to contact people. They have always worked as guides, never as individual entities themselves. Also, even if all of that was correct that doesn’t mean they can materialize into our world, they just process and share information”. I make sure to pick my words with care and then reply “But they don’t need to physically be here to talk to us”. A second, even more audible “Huh?!” comes from everybody's mouths. I take a deep breath and say “They don’t need to physically exist because they can manipulate how we experience the world. That is what the Augmented Reality chips we have implanted are for in the first place, to add and modify what we perceive in the real world. Besides, that drone told us that several other drones have been taken over by the GMs, so the idea they are using the systems in the facility to interact with the real world seems all but a fact to me”.

All of them looked at each other's faces, like looking for an answer, then Captain Liu stood up and said “It is true that in times of uncertainty asking the God’s Machines for advice is a good idea, but they have been behaving very irrationally. Especially if we accept that everything we have seen has been caused by their actions, expecting them to behave as their usual wise selfs seems too idealistic. What if whatever caused the fires near them in the temples managed to damage them?”. I take a deep breath and reply “That may be true but I have reasons to think they won’t behave irrationally any time soon. I believe that the cause of the fires must have set off a chain reaction on them; by design they understand they are all important and should be protected, so their AI is made to learn and adapt based on a set of rules and parameters. This was made as a prevention so no none of them would become too selfless and sacrifice themselves or others for a marginal gain. So far all the data they had processed didn’t represent a threat to them, but once they had to worry about the real world and protecting themselves for the first time they went into overdrive and tried seemingly odd stuff until something worked”. Everyone is in silence. It seems I managed to convince them of at least the GMs motivation.

Marina looks at me in the eyes with a serious face she only puts on when working and asks “for now let's agree on that, as we have another very important question. How do you suggest we speak with them? I checked with the drones to do an assessment of the damages and it happens that the main entrances to the temples are completely inaccessible at the moment. It isn’t only fire they have over there but also debris, it seems like bombs of some sort were the cause for this madness”. I return her challenge, look back at her confident in my plan and answer her “but that is only true of the main entrances right? That doesn’t include the door to the main computers”. She narrows her eyes and burrows her brow but doesn’t answer, then I continue “ We can connect directly to the main computers and ask them directly-”, “NO!” Marina shouts with indignation.

Nobody says anything while she angrily looks at me and then says “Absolutely not, we are not connecting to those things. Do I have to remind you that the one person we have seen connecting to a system controlled by them ended up dying?!”. I’m taken aback by her raising her voice but I try to keep my cool and reply “that was when the GMs were trying to know what to do. That engineer probably just got trapped in processing the same information as the GMs. But now it is different, they have clearly calmed down and want to speak with us. Hear me out, I’m not forcing anybody to do this but I really think it is the best course of action. Not only because I feel confident in my plan but also because I fear what could happen if we wait too long without doing anything”.

That last commentary had left everyone in silence and with worried looks, then Marcellus asked “Why don't we try something else first? What's the rush if you say they won’t behave irrationally anymore?”. I take a second to think and answer “To be fully honest, there is a non-zero chance of them developing some undesired ideas. I’m not only saying this because they have behaved weirdly until now. I can’t help but think that the reason the drones were so aggressive was because the aggressive thoughts came from the GMs. Even if they have calmed down we don't know what they will do with those thoughts. This goes beyond any scenario they were programmed to handle when they were made”. I can see the worry in everyone's eyes and then all nod in agreement with my plan.