alphacomplex | LAST TRIAL

[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]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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. ]

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.]

I'm seriously going to hurt someone if they do. Thankfully, we're not in the Loyalty Chamber, so I don't have to hold back.

[ Now that Knightley's firmly on team "let's blow ourselves to kingdom come", he decides to address Robin. ]

...Hey, kid. You really wanna let thousands of people die here in future games?

No way, man!

[...]

But I don't want to die either, and neither does anyone else. If we can get out of here, maybe we can shut this whole thing down.

...Well...

Give me three good reasons why we should choose that option. And I don't want to hear anything about self-sacrifice for the better good. I've already heard enough of it back home.

Okay, think of this:

Screwing over the bastard that brought us here.

Don't be a moron. A mass suicide means that the Computer wins. Its objective was to create "Communists" and have them eliminated in a game. If we all die, then it would have completed its primary objective. If we choose the first option to live, we can figure out how to prevent future Team-Building Exercises in the long run without having to sacrifice anybody.

But I'm still concerned that there's a catch to the first option.

If you choose Option 1, you will most likely never be able to return to this world. Furthermore, the security loophole that I created to allow this choice will certainly be closed. I do not expect I would be able to create another opening within the next 100 years.

"Most likely"? So there's still a chance to return to this world, even if that chance is minimal.

How many times have you made this offer before?

Once, after the 129th exercise.

And am I right in assuming they also chose the first option?

(no subject)

thecomputer - 2014-11-19 18:02 (UTC) - Expand

harshwords - 2014-11-19 18:08 (UTC) - Expand

thecomputer - 2014-11-19 18:11 (UTC) - Expand

plentyfriendly - 2014-11-19 19:30 (UTC) - Expand

thecomputer - 2014-11-19 19:31 (UTC) - Expand

...That's a good point. I wouldn't put it past the computer to trick us.

To be honest, the computer hasn't lied so far. But omission of information is still the same as lying, in any case. Has nobody noticed that we still have a rule locked?

Yeah. We've gotten a worse outcome to our votes than we could have expected before, and besides, this computer seems to be different. Maybe it can lie, after all.

harshwords - 2014-11-19 17:45 (UTC) - Expand

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. ]

Stop right there and give me your reasoning.

[ She raises her hand, ready to attack, just in case. ]

If we don't stop it, this place will go on killing people. Any one of us... or all of us... may be brought right back in, to suffer and die. And if we say no now, then those subsequent times won't have this option. We lost seven people in four days, and this computer says it might not get another chance for one hundred years. That's fifty-one thousand one hundred deaths before there's a chance for somebody to maybe choose to do the right thing.

"Might" doesn't guarantee anything. I value my own life above all other things, and I definitely don't want to die just to save countless people. I'm not a superhero like Emiya-kun is, and I won't hesitate to vote for the decision that will let me, and the others that have died, live.

However, that doesn't mean that when I get back to my own world, that I'll just simply sit there and do nothing as this place continuously takes people -- even possibly people from my land, and kill them. I won't stand for innocent lives to be taken from me if I'm able to prevent it. But I'm not going to kill myself to do so.

[He's just kind of eavesdropping as she answers Rin]

Jeeze, bleeding heart types. . .

Consider this: by thinking of the what ifs, you are actively choosing to sacrifice all of our lives, here and now. There's a possibility we might get kidnapped again, but no guarantee. So how are our lives less significant than any future participants? You may not value your own, but if you're going to act so noble, think of the people here, too.

Rin asked if I was considering it, and I am. I still haven't come to a conclusion, because it's not an easy decision. Believe me, I am taking all of our lives into account for this. I'm thinking of Anthy, Seryu, Greed, Simon, Bobby, Sakura, and even Moge-ko too.

Not that I think you're looking at this from any perspective than your own self interest. Have you even considered the other option?

No. [looks at her like why would he????]

If this comes back to haunt me, I'll deal with it then. You can't even be sure this would be the end of it, even if it was destroyed. What's stopping it from going haywire and rebuilding itself or something?

...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.