Deeper into the Matrix [IC] Options

[Gilga]

Star comments, "Mother controls the shield and can take it down, she asked you to rescue me in return but somehow things aggravated. Do you really want to face her again? It wasn't easy taking you out of there."

[Thanee]

"If that is the only way to save all those people and get the shield down, then we have to try. Do you think the little break might have helped get her anger down? Maybe this time I should go alone. I'm a bit more... calm."

[Volker]

[ Spoiler ]

Perception roll Perception: 12d6t5 5

"Drek", bnc mutters. "Förböveln, I didn't see that coming. Yah, you better talk to her alone. Ain't there a way to carefully ease them out of the simulation? Like, dunno, prod them in real life so they become again aware of their real self, tell them that their world is going to drek, but hey, it's only a sim and they can live happily every after in the real world or something? I mean, the spell allows them, us, to focus on both worlds, so they always have one to fall back. Few people have the luxury of more than one world to live in."
bnc tries to carry some hope in her voice, but fails utterly. If it were that easy, Star would have said so.

***

In the real word, bnc almost mechanically sets upon also aiding the wounded. She is quite the medic herself, and doing something she knows well is calming her. She waits for the drake's response, trying not to talk to important people as long as Nova is doing her job.

[Gilga]

Star says "I suspect she'll offer you the same deal as before. Save me, and she takes down the shield and let the Drake have her precious control back. How you managed to both reject her deal and choose to rescue me is an enigma to me."

[Thanee]

"Well, we can be a little chaotic. But, for the record, I did not reject her deal. I chose to escape along the route you offered, after things got heated. If I had seen a chance to reason with her at that point, I would have stayed. The negotiations were interrupted. Happy to continue were we left off, before things got out of hand."

[Volker]

"Yeah, I got it. Or, maybe, you could explain one more time how I blundered the interrogation. Or why don't you tell Star how exactly our conversation with its mom went. Or, hey, you could mention, just in passing, how I offended this slitch of AI. You pick, really."

[Gilga]

Star says, "Don't look at it like that; I am not sure she was offended at all... She is an AI - not a human - and an AI skilled with the human condition and can usually get humans to do her bidding one way or the other. You wanted to rescue me on your own volition - just tell her she won. If she has emotions, it would nullify her anger, and if she doesn't... then she does not need your approval."

With that, Star retakes you to the computer room where you can climb (or, in Nova's case, extend your legs) through the hole in the floor created by Star. You interrupt the two programs on a game of Go. None of them seem particularly worried that you arrive. The woman looks at you and Star with a confused smile. "Why are you back here?" she asks in a voice that mimics Star's neutral digital-assistant kind of voice.

[Thanee]

"I came back to finish our earlier negotiations. Unfortunately, things got ... interrupted there," Nova explains.

"You want your son rescued, removed from this isolated place, and set free. I am willing to do that."

"In return, I want, what you offered. Lower the shield and erase it completely, and give the Drake the control back, that she needs. My friend and I must be removed from this simulation without harm, so we can leave and bring your son to a place from where he can enter the Matrix. That is what you want, right? Can we come to an agreement here?"

[Volker]

bnc stays behind, making sure she does not "interrupt the negotiations" again.

[Gilga]

The woman hesitates for a moment, perhaps several milliseconds, and then says, "Alright, the shield will be down as soon as you connect my prodigy to an external matrix server. Anything else?" The man gives you a stern look and then returns to the game, moving the pieces with inhuman speed - and without bothering to reach and touch them. Whatever the consequences for breaking the simulation rules, these two do not seem concerned at all.

[Volker]

@Nova "Fry. We done here?"

[Thanee]

"Just, so I got it all right here. We do need the Drake to get detached from the simulation, right? So, that will be the first step for the two of us. Once that is done we will go down to the server and get your prodigy transfered to a device. Then we can leave. When we are out of the facility, we will connect the device to the Matrix to set your prodigy free. And once we did that, you will honor your promise and lower the shield and keep it that way. Will you know when the time is right? Or do we have to tell you somehow?"

[Gilga]

"You need her consent, and she would not be happy to release an AI." Said the woman playing chess. "She is in a bad position though, I think it would pass. Family matters most..."

[Gilga]

The Drake lady is cooperative, apparently her hands are tied with the recent aggressive behavior by the AI and she has had enough to compromise she agrees to release Star after a brief software check which Star allows - and noticing that the AI is not a matrix hazard she lets you take it out - hardly believing that the AI would let go its grip. The shield goes down as agreed and with it the worse of the unusual astral storm.

You are free to go, the awakened should feel better now that a magictech device is not sipping their essence away and everyone comes out scared out of it. Money is a bit sparse as compensation, because Fox disappears. Any matrix searches, or assets are all transferred to other entities and you feel ripped off - and a bit curious as to weather he was dealt with or went underground.

You do not get a lot of visitors in the monastery, and Anna gradually recovers. About two weeks after the events you get a platinum credstick by a drone - "Thanks for saving my niece, I hope your friend is doing fine". Schwarzkopf is also fine as much as you can see because he is back in the university a few days after your visit to his facility. No threats of attacks arrive and you hope that the dragon does not have grudge for you, you still have a bunch of powerful vampires after you but for the time being you feel that they'll eventually lower their guard and stop actively looking for you leaving it with a reward - then you can probably skip town and go somewhere safer or risk it, but that is another story.


The end.