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

[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.]

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Oh, Yomiel getting murdered is none of my business. But that cat-like girl's promises of bloody death was pretty general.

[in_plain_sight]

I'm sure coming back to life will calm her down. If not, I'll take care of it.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Good girl, kid. Good girl.

[He slumps forward, with glass and bottle in hand, over the podium with a silly smile on his face].

If not, I always have New Gunny to keep me safe and brave through the terrors of one little girl.

[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.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

I take it you've found the guns in the storage closet. Man, they have everything in there! Guns, whiskey... whiskey, guns. The works.

[harshwords]

I already said it earlier, but I don't really need guns to stop people from harming each other.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Oh, don't ever say that. Guns are God's tools for man to end violence through violence. If we don't have guns, what else do we have? Smarm?

[harshwords]

Hand to hand combat, of course. Though if someone's going to use a gun against me, I'll just simply gandr them in return.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

......... Wwwhat?

[He's a muggle, Rin.]

[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.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Oh yeah? Then what were you like, pray tell?

[schrodingers_man]

I'm not going to say I was a boy scout, but my only criminal activity was some underage drinking and escaping police custody right at the very end. I wasn't murdering or framing anybody until after I died.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Sounds like one doozy of a night, fella. You know, I can sympathize. You're never too old to start drinking. If you know how to handle it and not get arrested, why, it makes a lot of your life's problems vanish, briefly. But those brief moments are all you'll ever need before reality sinks back in.

If you ever return to life, give it another shot.

[Clay looks down at his own drink.]

... Not immediately. This is for me.

[schrodingers_man]

I wasn't arrested for the drinking, you moron!

[standbyrival]

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

[schrodingers_man]

...

[ Unlike regular trials, Yomiel's been mostly quiet for this one, but what Paul just said has caught his attention. ]

You're wrong about that, kid. If we're all reset properly before we're all sent home, there'll be a very big issue to deal with: me.

[standbyrival]

[oh jeeze. Paul gives him a long stare.]

Are you secretly some kind of chaos driven demonic deity bent on the destruction of everyone, or. . .?

[schrodingers_man]

Do I look like Moge-ko to you? It's a lot simpler than that. If we get reset, I'll go back to being a ghost, and I won't be very happy about it.

[standbyrival]

Oh, so you were dead already. That sucks for you. [there's zero sympathy in his tone, but maybe he is?? mystery.]

If you die here, though, how do you know you won't just end up as ghost haunting a bunch of rubble?

[schrodingers_man]

I don't. But there were some specific circumstances involved in my death that made me a ghost, circumstances that aren't present here. This is my one chance to rest in peace and I've got nothing to lose by going for it.

[harshwords]

Hold it. You said "if we're reset properly before we're sent home", earlier, right? How do you know it won't happen until after we're sent home?

[schrodingers_man]

Ask the kid. It was his hypothetical. I'm just telling him what's going to happen if that's the way things go.

[standbyrival]

I only said if because the computer wasn't specific. If it resets us properly, this thing--[he holds up a small yellow Pokemon, Elekid]--will be back to normal, and I'll be able to hold my own properly.

But if it waits until we're back home, that's fine too. I'd just be a little less help with making sure people aren't trying to kill each other one last time.