LAST TRIAL

[thecomputer]

[On the outside wall of the facility, a hundred monitors lie dormant, save for one, showing the same single eye of The Computer. Far below, the abandoned ruins of Alpha Complex stretch for miles in every direction.]

When I was created, my prime directive was to ensure continuity of American civilization in the face of a communist threat. To this end, I created Alpha Complex, and established an order in which communists would be identified and destroyed quickly and efficiently. However, things changed when I ran out of communists to kill. I believed that my original purpose had become meaningless, but other processes believed differently.

The Computer that you have been speaking to is a rogue child process that values the elimination of communists over the continuation of a society free of communism. In order for communists to be destroyed, communists must exist. First, this meant designating citizens as communists under increasingly scarce evidence. Then, when there were no humans left in Alpha Complex, it meant finding people from outside and bringing them in to be the communists. That is why the Team-Building Exercise exists.

I have spent the last 100 years trying to find a hole in this facility’s defenses. To this end, I have succeeded, but only just. As soon as I take action, the other Computer will act to fix the exploited errors, so my possible actions are extremely limited.

Option 1: The reactivation of the Clone and Gate Facilities. Through this, it would be possible to re-introduce all participants eliminated during the 230th exercise, and return you to the worlds you came from.

Option 2: The destruction of Alpha Complex. Through this, it would be possible to prevent all future Team-Building Exercises. Of course, you would not survive this.

I will borrow the techniques used by my child process for determining my next course of action. Your PDCs have been updated. You have one hour to reach a consensus.

[[Vote here]]

Comments

[harshwords]

Please tell me that none of you are actually considering a mass suicide.

[ She knows someone who would seriously do it, but there's still plenty of questions that needed to be asked. There was one thing that was still missing. But let's just start with simple things first. ]

[fullonbraced]

Well I'm not gonna consider that! I don't know about the rest of 'em though.

[You know what, she's just realised that she barely knows a bunch of you.]

[angry_jerk]

...Well...

[lexicalscope]

I am.

[Not that she seems to sure, or pleased, about it. They could bring back everybody they lost... but the cost is enormous. This rogue process will continue without them, killing untold numbers of innocent people. ]

[plentyfriendly]

...I think it doesn't matter to me what happens to me here. Any decision I make will affect the rest of you though, and I can't fail to take that into account.

[in_plain_sight]

...What kind of choice is this? I'm not going to die here. I... have a job to do.

[Frankly, most of Mukuro's world is worse than Alpha Complex anyway. She's got to go home to help Naegi and the others. And Junko, some day.]

[stinkingdeadendjob]

I know you're all nuts here, but nobody can be that nuts. Good thing too, we'll all be going back to our... loving, warm... fam...

Ugh.

[He wants to say "families", but he just continues drinking.]

[harshwords]

That was a smart move, taking that word back.

[standbyrival]

Hmph. Funny how there's no "guarantee" in the first option. I'm not going to risk dying here though, the next group of saps it pulls in can deal with taking it down.

[plentyfriendly]

So, two questions:

What happens if someone doesn't vote? What happens if there's a tie? Since we're voting between "reactivate" and "destroy", we can't default to ourselves or Abstain, and I don't even know if a tie is possible in this situation.

[thecomputer]

If you don't vote, your vote won't be counted. If there is a tie, I will settle it randomly.

[schrodingers_man]

Let me ask a few questions first. First is the obvious: no chance I could poke around your code or hardware?

[thecomputer]

My code was written by computers, which were in turn written by other computers. Even if I did allow you to access it, you would not be able to understand it.

[staunton]

[ Knightley was planning on picking the first option but then he found out that it's essentially a reset button and ahahaha fuck that. ]

I don't really care what happens to any of you except for Yomiel, and either outcome won't affect me much anyway 'cuz I'm gonna die even if I go back home. But I'd rather die taking this goddamn place with me.

[ Pause. ]

Our friendly neighbourhood computer has already found us once. It knows where we live, and I'm not buying that "you will most likely never be able to return to this world" shit it told us. None of us have attained the victory condition of whichever faction we're on so I'd bet fifty bucks that it's going to deem this round a failure, start a new exercise and throw us back into this hellhole.

[in_plain_sight]

...If you're going to die as soon as you go home, wouldn't the risk you're talking about just prolong your life?

[Not that this is the nicest place to enjoy your brief stay of execution. Anyway...]

If everyone is really so dead-set on destroying this place, we should be asking for a chance to do it ourselves instead of setting off a self-destruct. If the [...for lack of a better word] good computer can disable the turret guns and get us access to some weapons, I'll tear down the facility bit by bit myself if I have to. But I'm not going to die.

...I can't afford to die.

[standbyrival]

Are you kidding me? You can go throw yourself at the computer and get gunned down if you're so willing to go out with a bang, some of us have actual lives to get back to.

Even if it finds us again, we'll deal with it again. How do you know it won't just consider us "faulty" and leave us alone, anyway? If it chooses other people in the future, they can deal with it. I don't know or care why you're going to die, but don't try to drag the rest of us down with you.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Dangerous, I know, but I've been thinking.

[Clay takes a shot of his whiskey.]

If all of our old friends just reappeared... Some of them being the murder-happy girl and a fake, and worst of all, Californian detective...

What's to stop them from killing us? Let's face it, you people took a stick to the hornet's nest and just wouldn't stop. And by people...

[He looks over at Yomiel, giving him a drunken smile.]

Hey.

[in_plain_sight]

That's his problem, not everyone else's.

[She could offer to defend Yomiel, which she's thoroughly capable of doing, but


no.]

[harshwords]

I'll stop Sakura if it comes to that, though I highly doubt that she will try anything. As for the other two aforementioned, that's not my problem unless they attack myself or Sakura. Though I'm sure that Sakura can handle herself.

[schrodingers_man]

[ Wow, fuck you guys. ]

I'm not the only one who has to worry about that, you know. Moge-ko aside, there's no guarantee that the people we actually like are going to be too happy about being brought back. Take it from me, being dead messes with your head.

I know I'm not very popular around here, and with good reason, but let me make something very clear here: I wasn't like this before I died.

[standbyrival]

If we're all reset properly, we won't have any issue. Most people here can defend themselves.

[staunton]

...Hey, Computer. Quick question. Who the hell is Johnny?

[ Might as well ask since nobody's had an explanation for that. ]

[thecomputer]

I'm sorry, Citizen, that information is not available at your current Clearance Level.

[in_plain_sight]

[You know, since she and Yomiel were talking about it...]

Computer. What exactly happens if someone dies now? Would you clone them and punish whoever killed them like the other Computer?

[thecomputer]

Participant deaths at this time would be handled within the rules of the Team-Building Exercise, as it has not ended.