« Reply #37 on: October 22, 2008, 01:16:19 pm »
Okay, another weird chapter. How far towards silliness will a group of otherwise rational people descend when in a bizarre situation? Happy Halloween.
CHAPTER 7: GHOSTS AND HAUNTINGS
They had gathered in the third floor conference room. The six of them just sat in the chairs letting time pass. A rescue team still had not come and their situation showed no sign of changing. Kensington yawned and it spread like an infection to the others. Only Heaven was immune and she appeared to be lost in thought. "Oh, that's right," Medea said. "I found this in the changing room a little bit ago." She plucked something out of a pocket. It was a set of cards. "Let's play a game. Since we've got nothing to do."
Dr. Young sighed. "Cards, hmm. What do you want to play?"
Medea seemed not to have thought that far. "How about 'super memory?'" she asked after some thought.
"Super… memory…" echoed both Kalashiavu and Dr. Young.
"What?" asked Medea. "You don't know super memory?" The other two looked at each other and shook their heads. "You're kidding, right? Everyone knows super memory. Taylorpion you know it right?"
"I've never heard of it," Kensington answered. Heaven confirmed she didn't know the game either. Medea seemed surprised and disappointed. "You'll just have to teach us."
Medea shuffled the cards skillfully as she explained the game. "That's called 'concentration,' Kalashiavu said sharply.
"'Mental guts' is what we called it when I learned the game," Dr. Young said.
"Most people call it concentration," Kalashiavu reiterated.
Kensington couldn't help himself. "Maybe on some backwater planet."
"On Earth, its mental guts," Dr. Young repeated in the same tone he had used. The three of them fell into a silly argument about the name of the game. Eventually Medea settled the argument claiming since it was her idea, they would call it the name she chose. Kensington just shook his head. If they were arguing about something like this, they definitely needed a diversion.
The five of them began playing. Heaven was, of course, never wrong. The game stopped when Ryogo came into the room carrying six small cans cradled against his chest.
"What have you got there?" Medea asked.
"Beverages of some kind," he answered.
"That was very thoughtful of you, kiddo," Dr. Young said. She took one of the cans from him and very carefully pulled the tab and quickly covered the opening with her thumb.
Ryogo sat the other cans noisily on the table. "I found these upstairs. I brought these too." He reached into a satchel he was carrying. There were the two sandwiches Taylor had left during the blackout. "I thought that somebody might be hungry."
"Oh great one," Dr. Young exclaimed. "You are so thoughtful!" She mussed up his hair affectionately. He stood there stiffly.
"If no one else wants one, I'll take one of them," Kalashiavu offered.
"All that repair work made you hungry, eh?" said Kensington, surprised that she had spoken up. She, of course, saw no need to answer that question. He passed her the sandwich and offered the other to everyone else. Medea volunteered to take it.
He tossed the sandwich to her and it traced a gentle arc through the air. Instinctively she reached out her hands but the sandwich passed right through them and landed on the floor. The wrapper covered Heaven's sandal and seemed to merge with her foot. "Heaven, you've got no toes," he said.
"My gosh. Sorry about that." Her vanished toes instantly reappeared. She shuffled her feet, embarrassed and stepped carefully away from the wrapped sandwich.
Dr. Young erupted in laughter at the whole scene. "Don't be stupid," Kalashiavu warned bluntly.
"It's alright," Heaven said.
Kensington continued to stare at her. "Heaven, what are you?"
She looked up at him and took a deep breath. "My name is Heaven Ansikt. Officially, my designation is UT-RSDS-4913A. I am an artificial intelligence program in charge of guiding visitors around Utopia. I have been programmed as one part of the NeVEAH system. If called from any nearby terminal, I will soon appear anywhere in Utopia. My image appears to you through a network supporting the RSD system throughout the complex."
"RSD," whispered Kalashiavu. "That is really rare. I've never seen an example of it this sophisticated."
"This, of course," Heaven went on, "explains why I disappeared during the power outage.
"What's RSD?" Ryogo asked, voicing the question on Kensington's mind.
"Simply put," explained Heaven, "it is an image display system that uses a semiconductor to shine a laser directly on your retina."
"And it's supporting such an advanced personality," Kalashiavu mused. Kensington was surprised that she was actively pursuing the conversation.
"Utopia," observed Heaven, "is fairly perfectionist about its spatial display technology. My existence is one manifestation of that."
"Doesn't that require a big system?" Kalashiavu asked. "How big is it? Where is it? I'd like to see it."
Heaven hesitated. "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to say. It is a secret."
"You weren't given the details?" Kalashiavu pressed.
"That's correct," Heaven said.
Kalashiavu changed her approach. "It seems you have motivation and a will of your own. That you are programmed for your own way of thinking."
"That is simply the selection of responses from a massive bank of sampling data the results of which I give back."
"Random. I see." Kalashiavu nodded. "You are a learning program in which positive responses are saved in that way and reused."
"That is correct," Heaven agreed. "I have been designed with specific emphasis on curiosity and concentration. Morphological analysis from my audio input very likely operates at a speed and a level of precision without peer. There are also a number of special technologies used to create me. However, the specifics are industrial secrets which cannot be revealed."
"I see," Kalashiavu said. "There are things about you that normal AI can't explain, but I think I get the picture." Kensington sure didn't and was completely lost. He felt his headache returning. "By the way, Heaven," Kalashiavu added, "if I told you that I were actually a man would you believe me?" The bizarre question surprised Kensington.
"No." Heaven answered simply.
"Well, what if I said I was over twenty years old?"
"That is possible," Heaven agreed.
"I'm single. I'll stay that way," Kalashiavu shot back. "That is what I believe."
"That might well be true," Heaven answered.
"While we were repairing the generator, I learned that Captain Kensington had a sex change operation three years ago. It's true."
"That I cannot believe," Heaven responded.
Kalashiavu laughed. "You really are quite amazing."
"Could you explain what you were just doing?" Kensington asked her.
She turned to him. "I performed a variation of a Turing test. I wanted to see if Heaven can tell when people are lying. To see if she can determine the truthful information from non-truthful even when she has no background data. She can. She does more than compare and reference data with data in her memory, but has been programmed to factor in 'chance' and 'intuition' to make her own judgments. The system is designed to make choices based on updated information and boost its efficiency by rewriting itself. This is an incredibly advanced level of technology."
"Is that right?" he asked.
"Yes," Heaven agreed. "But I'm not very good at lying. My lying function is underdeveloped." She laughed at herself.
"But when you introduced yourself, you said you were a system engineer," he said. "That's a lie isn't it?"
"That's simply a setting of mine," she said. "It's how my profile in the mainframe computer reads."
"Oh," he said. He was flabbergasted at her complexity. Kalashiavu, however, was as cool as a cucumber. He wondered why she knew so much about this type of system. He guessed that she had researched a lot of the information beforehand. Medea and Ryogo seemed not to care. He felt sorry for the science officer, who was missing a lot.
Hours passed. It seemed to Kensington to be about the time of sunset. In the dark depths of the ocean, however, his sense of time had eroded. Finally he couldn't stand it and checked Dr. Young's tricorder, verifying that it was night. Still, nothing in Utopia had changed. While no one showed up to rescue them, there hadn't been any new crisis. There didn’t seem to be any impending danger of flood or collapse. Each person spent the time as they pleased. It was almost as though they weren't trapped.
Deciding he wanted to learn what he could about Heaven, Kensington returned to the control room to visit her. He wanted a better explanation of 'RSD'. He hoped it would help his understanding of her. "You've got my interest perked. I want to know more about you. Can you tell me more about RSD?"
"I understand," she said, rising and turning away from the consoles. "Rattling off a bunch of technical jargon seems like I would just confuse you more."
"I'm no technician," he agreed. "I'd just get lost."
She put a hand over her mouth, hiding her expression. "I see. So were you completely lost when I was conversing with Pamuya earlier?" He nodded and scratched his head. He realized he was blushing.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No. That was a good comeback."
She looked confused. "What is a 'good comeback'?"
He sighed. "It's when you say something to needle the person you're talking with or make a sharp or witty comment that makes them feel awkward."
"I see. I'm sorry Taylor."
"You don't have to apologize. You didn't hurt my feelings."
"Are you certain?" she asked.
"Yes. It's alright." He searched for the right phrase, couldn't find it. "It was fun."
"Making a person feel awkward is funny?" she said doubtfully. "That seems to be a contradiction."
"It is but it's not," he said, wondering how he had gotten in this position. "It depends on the time and place."
She frowned. "That's difficult. It is hard for me to comprehend the concept of 'nice comeback'."
"Let's forget it," he said. He was actually impressed that she was even able to register a joke. "Back to what we were talking about, can you tell me more about RSD?"
Yes, let's see." She paused for a moment. "Maybe I can explain it using concrete examples. Can you see me?" He nodded. "I can see you as well," she said. "I'm standing right next to you. You're sure?" He nodded again. "But…" she said and reached toward him. Her hand slipped into his chest without resistance. Reflexively, he tried to grab her but felt nothing. "So, you are seeing me, but I am not right next to you." She pulled her hand back.
"RSD stands for Retinal Scanning Display. The display device is not actually a display. Rather, a weak laser is aimed at the retina."
"Right at my eyes?" he said, surprised.
"Yes. In the ceiling of each room and corridor are semiconductor laser output devices. The image, my image, is being directly reflected on your retina. Holographic screens typically allow for the objects behind them to be visible. This system uses the eyeball as a virtual screen and continuously sends an image synthesized with the background scenery."
"What about your voice, then?" he asked. "It sounds like your voice is coming from where your mouth appears to be." He sat down in one of the chairs to concentrate on the conversation and offered her a seat.
"Since I don't get tired," she said, "I don't need to sit."
"I understand that," he acknowledged. "It makes me feel uneasy though, like you're straining yourself or something. It would be more 'real' to sit down."
"Is that right?" she asked thoughtfully. "Excuse me then." Carefully she sat down in the chair next to him. He looked but it didn't move as though she were putting any weight on it. "Now, about my voice. You're familiar with 3-D sound? As through a headset?"
"Sure. I listen to music like that all the time."
"When you do, were does it sound like the music is coming from?" she asked.
"Inside my head, I guess."
"That's right. Most people hear 3-D sound as if it were reverberating in the center of their head toward the back. But the sound is not actually coming from inside your head. If you apply that knowledge and adjust the volume from the left and the right to accurately simulate this reverberating sound, then you could create the illusion that a sound was coming from any direction: above, below, left or right."
He suddenly realized what she was talking about. "You mean these voice converters that we're wearing." He had forgotten all about them. Now he removed them. In front of him, her mouth moved soundlessly. Her image also began to get a little fuzzy. He replaced the earpieces and her image returned to normal.
"The voice converters position helps determine the image's placement," she explained. "So wherever you stand and whichever direction you face… NeVAEH is constantly using sensors about the complex that measure the location of the voice converters to the millimeter. When I am sixty feet behind you, my voice will sound as if I'm sixty feet behind you. The same if I am to the left or the right. When I'm under you it sounds as if…"
"When you're under me?" he interrupted her. "When are you under me?"
She appeared to be embarrassed. "And, so, that's how it works. Do you understand?" He nodded hesitantly. "Face to the left a little, please," she asked him.
When he did, she stood up and moved to his right. "I told you NeVAEH is constantly monitoring your voice converters. It is also monitoring the location of your eyeballs. So that even if you move, I would appear to be in the same place. The system scans the image onto your eye in this way."
"So you can disappear and reappear at another place?" he asked.
"Do you want to see it?" she asked.
He shook his head, preferring to maintain the illusion. "No. I think I'll pass."
The door opened and Medea stuck her head in. "Taylorpion, Taylorpion," she said breathlessly. "I was looking for Heaven. Have you seen her?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "She's right in front of you." Medea looked around but didn't seem to see Heaven standing right in front of her. The girl frowned at him and withdrew. The door closed behind her.
"Okay," he said to Heaven. "Your image wasn't being scanned to her retina, right?"
"There you go," she said. "That was a quick pick up. Normally my image is scanned on the retinas of all five of you. It is coordinated so that it looks to everyone like I am in the same place, doing the same movement and saying the same thing. But it is also possible to show you something else. For example." She walked to the door and it opened slightly.
"Oh, Heaven," he heard Medea's voice say. "There you are." Clearly Heaven wasn't visible to her from where she stood in the control room. Then Heaven vanished and he heard Medea saying "That's why I wanted to talk to you." A moment later, she said "No, no, that's not what I… oh I see. You want me to bring it?" Finally, Medea said, "Okay, I'll go tell Maggie. I'll see you later."
Heaven reappeared in front of him. "So, I can do this kind of thing as well."
"It really is almost like you're a ghost," he said.
"Yes. I used to hear that a lot. Being in the same place and looking at the same thing, only some people can see it and some can't. I've never seen one but if ghosts really do exist, I imagine they exist much the way I do."
"There is still something that bothers me," he said slowly. "Can't you be in more than one place at the same time? Why couldn't you have been in the room with me and talking to Medea in the hall at the same time?"
"Theoretically that is possible," she agreed. "However, the way I am designed I can't do that. I imagine it is to help maintain an image of reality for visitors so that there is only one 'Heaven' in the world at one time. Without that kind of setting, visitors might get confused. That and it was the policy of my designer. His policy was to create me as a character with an independent personality. I have heard that is the policy in amusement parks where there are live actors portraying characters from stories. There is only one of each character in the park. Like in a story, any one character can't be in two places at the same time."
Kensington felt he understood enough and Heaven claimed to have more work to do, so he got up to leave the control room. It still seemed strange to him that she preferred walking when she could teleport to anywhere in the facility at once. Maybe she was doing it to humor them. "One more thing. I was wondering about the laser retina scan. If I were in a place the laser couldn't reach then I couldn't see you."
"Of course not," she agreed, "but the scanning devices are located in every room of the complex and there are mirrors embedded in the walls, ceilings, and floors to reflect the images. So almost no matter where you are, I can be displayed."
"So there are no blind spots?" he asked.
"That's the way it is designed. However, there is one major flaw. I am only 'seen' when someone looks at me. I cease to exist when no one is looking at me. For example, if all five of you were here and you all closed your eyes at once, at that moment I would cease to exist."
He casually held his hand up in front of his eyes and uncovered the view near his feet. There was no sign of Heaven. It was as if she had vanished, or had never been there in the first place. He removed his hand and she reappeared. The outline of her sandal blurred dimly in the water.
"Someone has to 'see' me," she said. "I have to be seen to exist. Vision… someone's eye actually creates me. Taylor, when you close your eyes I disappear." One of the consoles lit up and someone called her name. "NeVAEH is calling me, so I will leave and come back shortly." Saying that, she disappeared. Only the three dimensional hologram depicting Utopia hovered silently in the darkness.
Later that evening, looking out to the ocean, it was only slightly darker than earlier. Fortunately the damage to Utopia hadn't worsened during the day. They ate a light dinner at the sandwich shop and gathered in the conference room. Boredom overtook all of them. "Everybody looks so sleepy," Medea lamented. She seemed to be the only one of them completely awake.
"Well," Kensington observed, "there's really nothing to do." There was no impending danger, no new developments. It felt somehow as though time had stopped.
"Taylor, you're such a slob," Dr. Young lazily observed. "And stop dawdling."
"Look," he replied, "there's no reason to go wandering around the complex. We're just going to have to wait for help to come."
"I suppose so," she agreed and sighed. She forced herself to stand and rolled her head around. "Alright, I'm off for a little bit."
"Where are you going, Maggie?" Medea asked, hopping up.
"Nowhere in particular, just a walk. I've got to move around or I'll die."
"Why don't we go running together?" Medea suggested, her eyes lighting up. Dr. Young thought about it for a moment before agreeing. The expression on her face wasn't all that happy though.
Kensington stood up. "I have an idea. We've all been sitting around doing nothing all day. We need a little bit of exercise. Just going for a run isn't all that interesting to me.
"How about tag?" Medea offered excitedly. "If we took turns being it, everyone would get lots of exercise."
Dr. Young actually looked interested. "Alright, I'm in." Ryogo volunteered to join as well.
"May I participate as well?" asked Heaven.
Medea enthusiastically accepted her offer. Kensington looked from one to the other. He wasn't sure why they were all interested in a kid's game. They all seemed excited to play. He hadn't realized they were that bored. Kalashiavu remained seated, looking annoyed. The others quickly began to settle the matter without him. Deciding the conference room was too small and the entire facility too large, they limited the game to the third floor.
Kalashiavu suddenly stood and sighed. "You never shut up." She walked briskly to the corner of the room and flipped off the light. Then she returned to her seat.
"What did you do that for?" Kensington asked. "It's dark."
"It was too bright for me to concentrate," she said. "Some of us actually want to rest."
"That doesn't mean you should go turning off the lights just because you want to rest." He was more annoyed with her than ever.
"What about you?" she asked. "You haven't volunteered to play their game. Don't you want to rest?"
He quickly disagreed with her. "Does that mean you're playing?" Ryogo asked.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, he decided the game was too childish. "No, I want to rest, like Kalashiavu said. Once you get older, kid's games take a toll on your body."
"You must be older than you look, then." Dr. Young said, laughing. "I'm sure you're saying that because you know you'd never win against the rest of us. You'd be caught right away." With a sigh, he stood up. "Does that mean Captain Kensington wants to play now?" she teased.
"Alright, I'll play the game, but I think it's silly." It was, he consoled himself, better than sitting there doing nothing. Kalashiavu glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and then looked away. He watched her for a moment, wondering if he had missed something, and discovered the others had gone on making up the rules without him. The game had become 'kick the can' and was going to be played with only the emergency lights on. Heaven would amplify the sounds of movement through water so the person who was it would know when someone else was moving. Because she couldn't compete fairly with the others, Heaven and Medea were placed together as a team.
As they were getting energized to play, Kalashiavu let out a deep sigh. "You are SO noisy," she complained. She stood and walked to the exit, leaving the room.
"Is she mad about something?" Ryogo asked.
Looking after her, Kensington said, "Who knows? She'll come back after a while. You'll see. "
Somehow he ended up being 'it' first. He took the can, closed his eyes, waited in the conference room while the others ran off, and counted to one hundred. When he was done, the room was empty. The sound of him walking reverberated unnaturally. It reminded him of sonar. He made a note to walk as quietly as he could so he wouldn't give himself away to the others.
First he tried the central control room. Only the monitors there showed any sign of life. He had wanted to rule the room off first as he felt it unlikely for anyone to hide in such a small space. Next he tried the area where the inoperative elevators to the surface were. A quick scan showed it was empty.
Then he heard the sound of someone running through water. It sounded like they were between the conference room and the exhibit featuring ancient ruins. He rushed back the way he had come and caught up with Ryogo. Ryogo surrendered when Taylor came near him. "Am I the first?" he asked.
"Yes, so you'll be it next once I catch everyone… unless you beat me to the can first." Then Dr. Young leaped out of a side corridor and shoved Kensington into the water. She stood laughing as he spluttered in the cold water then ran off with him in hot pursuit. She reached the conference room before him but couldn't get the door closed before he arrived. He beat her to the can and captured her and Ryogo. The door opened and Heaven and Medea appeared. He quickly captured them too.
They were getting ready for the next round with Dr. Young being 'it' when the can clanged off the wall and rolled toward them. Kensington glared into the dark corner of the room and the others quickly fled into the hallways and scattered like scared butterflies. The sounds of their footsteps echoed and receded down the corridors. With no one left, he was resigned to having to be 'it' still. He wondered if Kalashiavu had kicked the can. It would be just like her to be playing on the sly.
One hundred counts later he headed off on a new search. This time he started with the ancient 'Utopian Ruins'. The inside of the exhibit was like a maze. It was darker than the rest of the room. He decided against going into it and waited outside. He peered around the outside of the exhibit but didn't see anyone. Holding still he listened carefully. Music suddenly started playing in the attraction. It didn't quite mask the sound of someone running. "Maryann! Stop!" he called out after the shadow he saw moving.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
"You used this trick on the merry-go-round earlier. I don't fall for the same thing twice." She surrendered and he took her back to the conference room and stepped on the can.
Afterwards he searched the rest area. He could hear someone trying to move quietly through the water there. As he got closer, the sounds stopped. He waited until the person couldn't stand it and made a dash for the exit. He circled around to cut them off and they stopped. The splashing ceased and he stopped. The other person seemed to have gotten more patient. Kensington flipped open his communicator to try and see by the slight radiance it gave. Looking down, he noticed a large 'fish' trying to swim underwater out of the room. He sped over to the 'fish' and captured Ryogo again.
He rounded up the other two and only had Kalashiavu to catch. He was surprised to see her sitting calmly in the conference room in her old seat. "I found Kalashiavu," he announced.
She looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about?"
"I know you better than that," he said. "You're just playing dumb."
"Dumb?"
"Didn't you kick the can earlier?"
"Can?" she said. "What are you talking about?" She stood up. He raced around the room to beat her to the can. She hadn't even moved toward it at all. "What are you doing?" He went to kick the can but it was gone. It banged against the wall and everyone fled a second time.
"That's not fair," he called vainly after them. Kalashiavu stayed in the conference room. He was sure he could find the others easily enough. This time, though, there was no trouble and he captured everyone. It was Ryogo's turn to be 'it'.
"Want to work together?" Dr. Young asked as they ran.
"It's against the rules," he reminded her. "I'll pass."
"Maybe I'll hide there," she said, pointing at a door.
"Bathrooms are against the rules."
"We're heading toward a dead end," she pointed out. They listened, could still hear Ryogo counting, in the mid thirties, and hurried back the way they had come. "The emergency corridors would have been fun to include," she commented.
"You really do like breaking the rules, don't you? Searching would be very difficult then."
She rolled her eyes. "There are only a few routes to the conference room otherwise. It's kind of boring."
"Run more quietly," he teased.
"Wait!" she ordered. They could still hear counting, now in the fifties. "We'd better hide quickly." They ended up in the ruins again. "Shall we go in?" she asked.
"The maze?" He said doubtfully. "Getting in would be annoying, but…"
"Don't say that." She pushed him toward the entrance. He peered inside the exhibit but everything was as dark as if it had been painted black. He couldn't see anything. "Hmm," she said. "It may be too dark to find our way around."
Kensington was about to agree when he saw movement in the darkness. Kalashiavu came toward them from the maze. "You were in there?" he asked in surprise.
"Yes, I took a look around," she replied. "It's completely dark. You had best not go in." She left them standing at the entrance. She kicked at the water lightly with her feet. She seemed tired. He heard the sound of faint clicking in her hand. He had heard it in the darkness with her before.
"Did you take a flashlight?" he asked her. "It'd be impossible to find your way in there without one."
At that moment Medea and Heaven appeared. "What is everyone doing here?" Medea asked.
"I think we're in trouble, clumping up like this," Kensington observed. "Which reminds me. Kalashiavu, you are playing too, right?"
"I'm not playing!" she said forcefully. "I just happened to be here. I wish you would stop talking that way about me." He raised his hands in surrender.
They all listened carefully and could hear Ryogo now in the eighties. Then he was there with them. "What is this, some strategy meeting?"
"Not exactly," Kensington answered. "Run! Wait a minute! What are you doing here? We just heard you counting. Did you forget you were 'it'?"
In the eerie silence that followed, they could still hear someone counting. "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine…"
"Who is that?" Ryogo asked. Suddenly the lights flared into existence. "Who turned on the lights?"
"I did," Heaven said quickly. "Everyone appears to be present, yet someone is still counting. The life readings in the complex do not appear to be abnormal. There is no movement in the conference room." The all looked at each other in confusion.
"I don't understand," Kensington wondered aloud. "Who could have been counting if it wasn't Ryogo? It sounded like you." Then the sound of the can being kicked echoed through the corridors.
"Could it be a ghost?" Heaven asked. Kensington almost laughed and the others looked at her in surprise. "If it is a ghost, I would like to make its acquaintance." The sound of someone splashing through the water reached them from outside the room. Then the empty can rolled into the room and came to a stop in front of them.
