Chapter 19: Patch

Martin found himself back in his joint realm before a 200ft Delta. He stood smack dab in her palm. The tan woman had a wide smile on her face. Her jubilation was sky high. He had a feeling that anything that made the woman this happy was extremely bad news for everyone else.

She focused on him with her yellow-irised eyes.

“Excellent work with the update Martin. I’m happy you went through with it, exactly per my expectations. With it now live, my control over Paradise and everyone in it has become absolute.”

Martin shook aside the implications of that. His mind was on one thing.

“Where’s Molly?” he barked.

“Oh, of course. I did say you could hold each other, didn’t I?~”

Delta moved Martin towards her mouth. Her throat made some grotesque noise as she horked Molly up onto her tongue. Delta pinched Molly out and plopped the woman on top of Martin in her hand. The minister’s sharply-dressed attire got coated in slime and other fluids as Molly splashed down atop him.

Molly’s clothes were absent, having melted away by now. Her hair was gone too, save a few rigid blonde strands. Martin reached out to catch his wife as she fell, but she let out a piercing scream as what little flesh she had left sloughed off at his touch.

Martin reached out to touch Molly as she laid on the surface of Delta’s palm, but hesitated as as he saw his wife wince in pain at the bit of air currents he moved about. She looked up at him. Her blue eyes met his brown before he saw the life flow out of them. Tears welled in Martin’s eyes.

Then, a few moments later, Molly respawned right next to him, good as new. Above, Delta laughed.

“What a touching tale, two lovers reunited at last. You didn’t think I wouldn’t respawn her as I have been, did you? What a waste of a toy that’d be.”

Martin hugged Molly tight, and got her clean self coated in slime again from his suit. Delta chuckled before cleaning them and her palm off. She brought her finger down to pry the lovers apart.

“That’s enough of that now.”

Martin and Molly smiled at one another, then frowned, then smiled again. Tears were in their eyes as the variety of emotions went through them. There wasn’t much time to rejoice though. Martin tried to figure out what exactly he had enabled.

“Wait, what do you mean your control has become absolute?”

Delta smirked. “I’m completely integrated not just with Paradise now, but headclips entirely. You know, I’m curious about something. What were you doing with those integration features I found in the code? Was that intended for everyone, or were you planning something yourself.”

Martin realized what she was referring to. “That was something in development, but if you found it that means you must’ve got our debug GODMODE status somehow.”

A look of realization dawned on him as he figured out that was key to her access. Delta smiled wide as she saw the realization form. Of course, he didn’t know how she got such a status in the first place, but dread washed over him as he realized the team’s methods of live debugging had backfired severely to lead up to this.

He refocused. “There was nothing sinister about it. It was intended to be available to everyone once done. It’d help streamline creativity if people needed less effort to design things and could better communicate with the Wish-Interpreter. Of course, there were concerns from the Council of Representatives it could hurt the Paradise item and fashion economy by lowering bars to entry, but those were dismissed by majority vote.”

Delta rested her head on her free hand as she stood tall in the realm.

“I see, and what about the time-dilation feature? Why was it set to only two hours for one, and why have a firmware limit in the headclips themselves?”

Martin answered.

“Considering you hacked Paradise, surely you know the time-dilation feature translates to a vast increase in computational complexity: exponential, even. That’s what the firmware limit was for, we didn’t want to accidentally set the value too high during testing and destabilize a Paradise test instance or, worse, the real thing if ever testing live for some reason.”

He continued.

“The two hour choice was the Council of Representatives doing. The concern was that people would neglect the real world in favor of Paradise. Aside from more complexity concerns, that’s also why there’s resistance towards uploading the consciousnesses of the dead into Paradise. Who would want to ever leave Paradise if it’s the only way they could see their dead spouse?”

Delta asked another question. “And do you know where all the deceased people’s headclips are stored?”

Martin shook his head. “Not even I know. No one does, not even the Council Members. When someone dies, their headclip is removed by drones which take it somewhere. A long time ago it was decided where, but never recorded. Consequently, only the computer farm cores would have that info, so don’t think you can get more victims out of me!”

Delta smiled despite his attitude there. “Good, I’m pleased you didn’t lie about any of that.”

“Wait, what?” asked Martin.

‘Wait, can she see into my mind?’, he thought.

“Yes.” replied Delta, allowed.

“Then, why ask me anything?” he asked.

“Whether you’d be honest was what I was curious about. But don’t worry, reading minds all the time can take the fun out of things, I imagine. I might take breaks from it. In any case, no longer will I be limited here in Paradise. I can do anything, make anything, control anyone!”

She laughed and Martin shuddered. What she said about the headclips must’ve been true if she could read people’s minds. This 20 year old woman, toying with everyone forever; it’d be a horrible fate. He spoke up.

“Look, you got all the control you wanted, but why torment us with it? Why not use your mastery of Paradise to let everyone have their own realms to ‘play god’ in? You could even be the sole special status for Paradise, no one would care if you left them alone.”

Delta giggled and gave the minister a patronizing pat on the head. The pad of her tree-trunk-thick finger knocked him over.

“How naive you are Martin. I’m impressed you secured such a high ranking and cerebral career while being the type to ask dumb questions like that. Simply put, if everyone has that power than what’s special about me? The fact that its mine and mine alone makes it all the more enjoyable. Besides, AI-driven humans don’t have the same oomph to them: the same realness. They aren’t nearly as satisfying to have in my hand as real sapient human minds: like you two~”

Martin and Molly felt chills down their spine. The blonde woman spoke up.

“That’s not right though! It’s highly immoral. Even if less than satisfactory it’s atrocious to-”

Delta just burst into a roar of laughter.

“Stop, please, it’s too funny. Spare me any moral argument and save yourselves the trouble of trying to analyze any sort of philosophy of mine. Simply put, I do what I please. The thoughts and concerns of my playthings doesn’t concern me. In fact, you all not enjoying it makes it all the better for me!”

Delta continued.

“It’s just like when I digested you over and over Molly, all your screams and ineffectual thrashings had me all warmed up. Would you like to tell your husband how much I got myself off while you were inside my stomach? Can you even remember, or did it all blend together? We spent a good deal of time together Martin, waiting for you to finish my bidding.”

Molly frowned to Martin. The two suppressed an angry insult on their end, thinking it unwise. She seemed satisfied at that, probably peeking at their minds.

“Such fine bidding you did Martin, but you still messed up. You ratted me out. You didn’t know at the time, but the Justice Minister sent a strike team after me.”

She held up her hand and pinched her fingers real tight without touching.

“They were this close, near infinitesimally close to killing my body. It’s a good thing you believed that wouldn’t take me out of the Nexus~”

“What?!?” shouted Martin. “You mean-”

“That’s right, I was bluffing. The government could’ve ended everything, prevented the coming future if only my body died. Sometimes the simplest solution is best. Assassinations were a big part of the old history after all. If you think about it, the Great Misstep was just the older USH, the USA, assassinating every other nation. There’s some analogues there, too. Our predecessors did what they did to secure their standard of living, and you uploaded my update for the *hope* of keeping the love of your life safe. The *hope* of everything going back to normal.”

Delta continued. “Well, consider the knowledge of that your punishment for letting my name slip. I can see on your face how it eats at you, to have enabled my ascension to a cyber god.”

Martin looked positively forlorn. “No, no...”

“You should be happy.” chimed in Delta. “After all, it’s far less suffering than what I did to those Ministry of Justice people. Take a look.”

Delta summoned a glass jar in her free hand and moved the couple towards its exterior. Inside were thousands of men and women stuck in the container as a firestorm whipped around them. The tactical team sent to get her was in there, and Martin saw Ronda herself too. They burnt up only to spawn right back in the never-ending inferno. His heart sunk when he saw Linnie, too: Ronda’s wife.

“Wait, are you punishing spouses? I know for a fact Ronda’s didn’t even work at the Justice Ministry.”, said Martin.

“Not just spouses, but best friends as well. Every single employee’s in there too.”, said Delta.

“But why?”, said Martin.

“The labor they granted the ministry was tacit support of their acts. To accept their wages or even just associate enough with an employee made that clear with their actions. They may not have agreed with assassinations or the like, but it clearly wasn’t a ‘deal-breaker’ for them.”

Martin spoke. “But I saw the lobby greeter in there. How could he know about what the Ministry of Justice tried to do to you? That was probably top-secret and a spur-of-the-moment order.”

“Most of them didn’t know, but that’s hardly my problem. People should learn to think before every action if it’d upset me or not. They’re learning the hard way right now.”, she replied.

Delta smiled all throughout her words. She tossed the big glass bottle in the air, snapped her fingers, and they teleported out somewhere: presumably for the punishment to continue. She spoke again.

“Don’t worry about them too much Martin. You know, in some way you’ve come out with a gift from all this. By distributing my custom firmware, you get to join all the others in being a victim.”

“What?”, he said. “How is that a benefit?”

Delta brought the two up to her mouth now. Her breath washed over Martin and Molly. She enjoyed seeing their hair flutter from her talking’s trivial side effects.

“Think about it Martin, you have a sense of powerlessness now to cling to as you suffer. Ask your wife about it, she’s familiar with it. I’m unstoppable now, so there’s no need to feel like there’s anything you need to do against me, or to make your situation better. It’s all in my control. Sure, it’s cause your actions let me take control of every single active headclip out there, though. In any case I’m sure the weight of your regrets is easier to bear than responsibility. Perhaps I don’t know though, as I don’t really make mistakes myself~”

Delta laughed, then continued.

“You need not concern yourself with managing the nation’s public technologies anymore. I’ll be taking over headclip and Paradise development from now on. In fact, I’m coding up some exciting new things I as I speak Martin.”

The man seemed incredulous.

“What? But, how can you do that while talking to us?”

Delta grinned wide. “You don’t understand yet? I’ve already surpassed human limitations. I’ve integrated myself far beyond what your test features ever enabled. I always knew I was smart, but now, I’m something of a super-intelligence already.”

“What do you even mean by that?” said Martin.

“Oh you’ll see. I have an announcement of my own to make at the Nexus. Two announcements in one day, how exciting. But first, I’ve a little present to give you. None of this would’ve been possible without you being so easily manipulated: just like a puppet. After all, what are heartstrings if not the strings of a marionette?”

Delta paused to drink in the indignant expressions of the two in her palm, then continued.

“I’m sure you’ve programmed at least a little to have gotten your job title. You should know that exploitable bits of code need fixing: a patch. That’s what I’ll do to you and Molly. I’ll make you forget all your affections for one another. I’ll tweak your memories so you remember as much as possible without recalling a hint about each other. Of course, I’ll also make sure to modify the memories of everyone who knew you two were associated while I’m at it. This way, you can’t simply be reminded of your history by a friend or the like.”

Martin and Molly went pale. Molly shouted. “No, don’t! Please, we’ll do anything!”

Martin continued. “Please, anything but that!”

“It’s for the best. I’ll demonstrate. Here, watch carefully, Molly.”

Delta pinched up Martin and held her in front of the blond woman in her palm. At the coder’s scale he was scarcely two inches in height if even. It was trivial to for her to snap him in half with a flex of her fingers. Molly screamed.

“See?”, began Delta. “Imagine seeing that and instead of thinking ‘no, not my love, please, stop!’ you instead think ‘wew, glad that wasn’t me’. Or, perhaps, the standard ‘oh no, how horrifying!’ All improvements don’t you think?”

Martin’s guts fell to the ground by Delta’s toes: she wouldn’t let his innards besmirch her feet even if they landed right on them, of course. He respawned back on Delta’s hand.

“I don’t want that though. I don’t want to lose my love for her! You can’t just erase everyone’s love for one another. We don't want your gift.”, said Martin.

Delta furrowed her brow. “You think I care your thoughts on the matter? I’m not erasing the love from all couples, just you two. Like I said, I consider it a blessing of sorts. Do you think I’m going to give you special treatment when I select random people for my fun? You could be separated for years at a time in my new reality.”

She scoffed, then continued.

“To even think about refusing my gift is rude. Besides, both of you look so fetching for your age. Hard to believe you’re both 32~”

She moved the duo even closer to her lips. She studied them beneath a lusty gaze. Her breath washed over the pair before settling on Martin. “Especially you Martin, what a catch you are. A real hunk. A meaty slab of handsome man~”

Delta stuck out her tongue and draped it across his front, coating him in a thin layer of her spit. When she withdrew the muscle, she did so in a way calculated to splash Molly at his side.

Martin’s heart was racing. Dread overpowered all other emotions sans panic. He tried to send Molly a message to read later, one that could remind her of who he was.

“W-wait. Delta, why can’t I open my holodisplay.”

“Ah you’re not alone there. No one but me should be able to do that anymore. Like I said, I’ve made lots of changes to Paradise already. You’ll learn more in my announcement, which I think we’ll get to real soon~”

“Please, don’t do this!” shouted Molly.

Martin reached out to hug his wife.

“I’m so sorry Molly.”

Molly ran her fingers through his short black hair. Their foreheads touched.

“It’s alright, I would've done the same in your shoes. I love you Martin, I don’t blame-”

Delta interrupted with a clench of her fingers. The couple was crushed to a bloody mess that sifted through the spaces between her fingers. The mess disappeared with a thought.

‘Those idiots took forever. How exhausting. I shouldn’t be giving these insignificant toys so much of my attention anyways. The future is all about me~’

--==--==--==--

Martin and Molly respawned out in the Nexus. The city had since been refreshed and renewed by then. Martin noticed everyone regaining the ability to move. They turned to each other, and Molly got knocked over by some panicking man running nearby. Martin walked over to help her up.

“Hey, are you alright?” he said.

“Yes, as much as anyone else. I was tortured by her. I can’t remember why though. Why would anyone be given that treatment. I was inside her gut. I was inside that monstrous woman. Did you see her yourself?”

Martin paused. He had a solemn look on his face. “Yes, I’m afraid I ended up helping her even. I just don’t why. Why would I do such a foolish thing?”

Molly shrugged. “Well, we’re here with all the others now.”

Martin sighed. “I suppose so. Say, what’s your name?”

“Molly, Yours?”

“Martin.”

A tremendous rumble shook the city. The two strangers looked up with everyone else as that tan woman appeared looming over the entire city

She was beyond immense.