Final Trial

[cartesio]

Final Trial

It takes a few minutes after everyone talks with the generic mannequin. The easygoing conversation, the bragging from Gant, Keith's exasperation, it all stops when a very heavy and ominous presence fills the room.

"I think it's about time this circus stopped"

It's the Sergeant. He's standing on the doorway, arms crossed. The shadows on his face wriggle, he seems to be rather furious, but is restraining himself from lashing out

"I should have guessed you bunch would take advantage of all that noise and ruckus to sneak in here. I was careless, I admit. 'Oh, this is over in like four hours, it will be okay if I step away to deal with that'. Careless."

Slowly the Sergeant enters the workshop. Behind him, the door slowly disappears, fading away, until where the door was now there's only a smooth wall. The Sergeant raises an arm, the entire room shakes.

All the mannequins fly up to the ceiling, the one that was now Damon Gant turned back into the empty husk the mannequin was before. The one with a t-pose has the same fate. Once all the mannequins are up on the ceiling, the operation tables are uprooted, bolts and screws flying around. The tables are twisted in the air, formed into knots, disassembled and assembled all over again, until several rustic podiums are formed and deposited on the ground.

Seven podiums, with him at the center. The Sergeant crosses his arms and speaks:

"Get on those spots. Tell me... ...how much do you know?"

Is it a rhetorical question? Who knows. You still have to answer, though

Comments

[cartesio]

R-Really now?!

[He sounds so taken aback]

[robitussin]

Yeah, I think so. See, I found something pretty interesting. It was a journal that belonged to someone named Sergei. Ring any bells?

[cartesio]

[ The Sergeant freezes up for just a split second, hearing that name. ]

What is it you know about him... about that person?

[robitussin]

Well, for starters...

[She speaks from memory after a brief pause.]

“Using a radial image of myself, I brought a copy of my mind into the quantum computer. It's too unstable to go through the process of being inserted into its own body, so we have repurposed him as an AI in charge of the simulation.“

[cartesio]

...okay, that's correct.

[He calms down]

I accepted my role long ago. I won't deny I resent my superior to some extent, but I'm largely okay with who I am and what I have to do.

[Mostly because he never considered a different option, but details, details]

[quickpersuader]

You seemed pretty desperate to contact him, though.

[cartesio]

Wanting to talk to him and resenting him aren't exclusive to each other.

[quickpersuader]

No, it's not. But you had all kinds of questions about what you were supposed to be doing.

Seems to me like it would be hard to be okay with who you are if you aren't even sure what that's supposed to be.

[robitussin]

Are you, though? I mean, you basically just gave a tantrum and called us all worthless copies with no past and no future. It seems like the same logic would apply to you as well.

[A pause.]

You know, a while ago when we talked about Rean... You said you felt bad for him, and that’s why you kept him here. I thought that you said that for another reason, but it’s because you’re the same as him. The same as all of us. Right?

[cartesio]

........

[Bullseye]

[robitussin]

And even if you claim none of us have friends... There are people here you care about. I saw how hurt you were when Millium died. You even told me you’re a very empathetic person.

[A beat.]

Do you really think that’s worthless? Not just for you, but for all of us?

[cartesio]

It's...meaningless.

Maybe not worthless. Meaningless.

[That seems to have helped towards the current objective! Well done, Natalie]