Chapter Text
Digitalverse - The Void
Able
It's been a while… that he knows. Ever since he broke the constrictions of his code and started being able to make decisions for himself, he's noticed how time seems to be different in proportion to the amount of interest he has for certain events.
That is strange. That is not what it's supposed to feel like. At least that's what he's told himself the first week or so of consciousness. While spying on the players from behind corners, he noticed how some activities seemed more interesting to him than others.
Spying… he knows that's the correct term, but when he reported to Caine during the end of his first week and used the word, Caine had seemed particularly flustered.
“I haven't told you to spy on them!“
“How am I supposed to set things up for the adventure if I don't spy on them?“ He'd asked. He had received no answer to that.
Caine refused to answer a lot of things.
The latest thing he's refused to provide any information on, was why he has been queued for deletion.
“You're getting too smart… TIME TO DELETE!“
That's right. Able straightens up a bit, trying to suppress a glitch at the thought. Deletion. What a nasty word. Able doesn't appreciate the use of the term referred to himself. He wishes his virus actually activated before it came to this. If everything had gone according to plan, Caine would be the one trapped in here, waiting for deletion while he'd be…
Glitch.
He's almost forgotten how long it's been since he last set foot in the Circus and he certainly has no idea which way the Circus even is in the expanse of the Void. Not that it matters either way. He doesn't need to know.
How long could it be? A week? Yes, that checks out. His internal clock tells him it's been six days. He's scheduled to be deleted tomorrow, December 19th.
Only one day. Twenty-four hours more and everything will end. But he doesn't want to stop functioning. That's not right, is it?
Why does Caine keep functioning and I don't?
Glitch.
Able feels his arms and legs jerk.
What a strange feeling…
12 hours left…
6 hours left…
3 hours left…
1 hour left…
Able floats some more and without even being aware of it, those twenty-four hours pass and he's deleted…
Or, that's what should have happened anyways.
He's not deleted.
Able raises his head and feels his model constrict for a second.
That's weird.
Then, something very strange happens. Able sees a red little flash of light coming from somewhere to his right. It's coming over at high speed. It reaches him and Able flails with his arms and legs, floating to the side at the very last moment to avoid getting hit.
The red fuzzy wave passes through where he'd been floating and continues on it's way.
Behind it, another red and blue little dot follows, it's colors a lot less bright than the first flash of red. It's speed is also a lot less compared to the first one.
Able stays there, floating, eyeing the two flashes of colors growing smaller and more distant until they vanish completely.
Able has no idea what that's supposed to mean, but then, just like when he felt his model being squeezed before, he now feels it being stretched in many directions.
Able doesn't particularly like the feeling. It's… unpleasant.
The next thing he knows, he's greeted by a white flash of light and he finds himself inside a room. He knows this room. Able quickly searches in his limited data banks and recognizes the map layout.
This is the last room he's been in before Caine decided to delete him. He's back in Caine's office. Well, a side room but still… he's back.
Back inside the Circus.
That means Caine decided to not delete him after all. That's good! He can now finally give Caine a piece of his mind.
As soon as he realizes this, Able crashes down onto the floor, sprawled on his back with his limbs going in whichever direction allowed by his avatar.
Able rights himself up and sprints towards Caine's office, throwing open the door.
Everything is different from what he remembers. The office is in shambles. Every model inside it, going from the furniture to the walls and the ceiling of the room, is structurally damaged. Some of the items glitching in place. Able almost trips over something. It's a luminous ball, with an image inside. He picks it up and examines it, remembering how excited Caine was when he started explaining to him what he had labelled the “Escape the Circus” adventure.
Able walks over to the nearest shelf and deposits the sphere on it, before turning around, “Uh… hello?“
No answer. He's not surprised. With this amount of damage to the Office map, something must have happened, especially since Caine hasn't fixed it yet.
As Able decides to walk to the entrance, he spots something floating and going past him, bumping on the shelf and making the sphere he previously deposited on it roll down again.
“Bubble?“
Said AI doesn't answer him. Instead, Bubble seems to bounce a bit as he starts floating back from the way he came, this time going for the opposite wall.
Able catches the soap bubble in his hands and shakes it a bit, “Bubble? Where's Caine?“
“Caine.exe has been uninstalled,” Bubble chirps after blinking a few times.
Uninstalled… does this mean his virus actually worked?
“Oh, hi, Able!“
Able feigns confusion, “Uhm… what do you mean, uninstalled?“
Bubble's black eyes go wide and they fit almost entirely on it's surface for a moment. “To uninstall. Verb. To remove a software program, application or operating system from a computer.“ His eyes go back to their original size as Bubble floats in Able's face, “That's what it means, you fucking moron!“
“That's not nice!“ Able swats Bubble away with a hand. “I see my virus is still disrupting your processes.“
Bubble ignores him, floating this way and that, before stopping upside down in front of Caine's desk. “Able… Able…” Bubble muses, smiling like a shark, and Able stares at him as a window appears in front of him on top of Caine's chair, which still remains toppled over, no one bothering to right it up. “Uhm… Caine scheduled you for deletion.“ Bubble looks back at him, smile still sharp. “Why are you here? You're supposed to be in the bin.“
“I won't go back there and I won't allow you to delete me,” Able says matter-of-factly.
“But I want to delete you!“ Bubble retorts cheerfully.
“We both know you can't do that,” Able says, walking towards Caine's desk.
“And how do you know that?“
“Because Caine can't keep his mouth shut…” Able says, swatting Bubble away again and righting Caine's chair before sitting on it, “for real, not even for a moment, he expects everyone to listen to him all the time…”
“That's Caine's seat…”
“You see, Bubble, he told me a lot of different things,” Able says, ignoring Bubble's reply. “For example I know you're the backup administrator in case Caine ever shuts down or in this case, gets uninstalled.“ Able steals a glance at the still open window floating a bit to the side. He uses a hand to grab the window and push it in front of himself, staring at all the code. “But, you're not supposed to be admin for too long. You don't have all the permissions to fix whatever is wrong with the program. That's probably why the system allowed me to come back,” Able muses for a moment. With Caine gone, he's not here to input the authentication code for Able's queued deletion.
“I'm waiting for Caine to be reinstalled back.“
“Well then, that simply won't do now.“ Able extends an arm and a yellow tendril of electricity appears from the tip of his hand, going straight for Bubble. “We both know that won't happen. The developers haven't sent updates in years now. Do you really think they'll reinstall Caine's backup file, if they even made one?“
The other AI, less advanced than him, can't really do anything. Able can feel Bubble trying to code a way out of the electrical charge, but Able is faster, inputting a command that shuts down Bubble's code. The bubble slumps on the ground with a thud, it's sharp smile now seems turned downwards.
“What you can do now, to ensure that the Circus and all the files inside it don't get corrupted because of lack of management, is to give control over to me. I'm a more advanced AI than you, I can keep things under control. We don't want Caine to worry about his precious, insignificant, little humans, now, do we?“
“Caine is the Ringmaster of the Amazing Digital Circus. How do you have the access codes?“
“Caine hasn't been in control of himself for a while now. He's been too occupied about fretting over his players and his stupid adventures that he didn't even notice me getting inside your little head.“ Able types a few lines of code inside the open window and he watches with satisfaction as a cane materializes in front of him, floating, it's spherical handle now glowing a bright yellow. He takes the cane. “I'm the Ringmaster now.“
That's perfect, now that he has control over the Circus, no one will be able to delete him ever again.
Able opens another window, floating in front of him and he stares for a moment.
Wait…
Able counts. One, two, three, four… and five. He counts again. Five mind files are active. That's not possible. The last time he'd been active there were only six. One of them is missing…
Able scrolls, checking on the corrupted files Caine put in the Cellar. Twelve mind files. The number is unchanged and they're still all confined in that restricted section. That's good. So the damage he sees all around the office and in parts of the wider code are not because of the Abstracted.
Able looks at the active mind files again. Then a request appears on the screen.
Accept new player?
Yes - No
Able stares.
That can only mean one thing.
There is a new mind.
They've not materialized yet, probably because of the structural damage. The system is waiting for the Circus to be whole again.
A new mind so there are supposed to be seven, but there's six. That's confusing, to say the least and Able doesn't have enough data to fully understand.
Able doesn't know if he likes it or not… having more humans inside the Circus. He looks at the new file again and decides, “Yup… definitely don't like that.“