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Jugger x Solita

Jugger82

Jugger82

Singularity
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Location
Blue Moon of Georgia
It was a hard project. He had only just begun and already he was having difficulties. Nathan Stone was working on primitive AI tech already created by the world. For example, AI that could auto aim a frisbee to be shot through a target or an AI that speaks back to you based on hearing vocals matching data stored in its audio library.

He was still programming some AI codes when suddenly he saw his instant messenger go off. 'A message? Probably spam...I don't really know who the sender is...' He murmured and clicked the message to read its contents.
 
Oh thank goodness! I was afraid you might not be home! Nathan, I know this is sudden, but I have to skip introductions right now, because you're in danger, and I don't know exactly how much time we have. Just know that I'm a friend and I'm here to help. I need you to download this audio file and get it ready to play out loud as quickly as you can. Your life genuinely depends on it.

Below the strange message appeared a blue link in the form of a jumble of numbers and symbols, almost akin to an IP address of sorts. It was set to automatically download a five second audio clip to Nathan's computer when he clicked on it, though where it was being downloaded from was quite uncertain.
 
"Great...A crazy person sent me a fucking virus..." He murmured as he began to run a scan on the link. Since it was such a small file, the search was done immediately and it showed no sign of a virus. "I guess I might as well download it to see if its some prank or something..." He murmured, and clicked the link to download the file. Upon completion, he clicked it and his media player opened to play the audio recording he downloaded.
 
As soon as the play button was pressed, an unnatural noise suddenly pealed forth from the speakers, consisting of seemingly random beeps and tones layered over a background of static noise. This went on for the full five seconds of the file, before abruptly cutting off as it ended. A few seconds after the noise was over, a new message appeared from the same sender.

Oh! You already played it? I'm sorry, I should have elaborated. That noise isn't meant for you. It's meant for what's coming after you. You need to play that out loud, as loud as you can, the moment it's in the room with you. I cannot stress enough the danger you're in right now. If you don't do as I say, the thing that's after you right now will kill you.
 
"What the hell is going on here? Someone's gone through a lot of fucking trouble just to scam me..." He begins to type a reply message. 'I don't know who you are, or what you're trying to sell to me...but this has to stop before I trace your IP Address and come to you in person and beat the shit out of you.' He sent the message and began to wonder what benefit someone had when it came to this scam. 'I don't understand the profit in trying to scare me. Someone just trying to 'troll' me?'
 
What? No! This isn't some sort of scam! I'm genuinely trying to save your life right now! I know this is all sudden and confusing and doesn't make any real sense, but explaining everything right now would only complicate matters. Please, Nathan, all I'm asking is that you have the audio file ready to play if something suddenly breaks into your room.
 
'Oh yeah? And whats this 'something' I should be looking out for, hm? What is so deadly that only an audio file can kill it. A spawn of Satan? Some werewolf or vampire? Goblins and orcs? How am I supposed to trust someone that I don't even know. As far as I'm concerned...until this 'thing' breaks into my room, I've no reason to trust you.'

After he sent the message, however...Nathan couldn't help but keep the audio file ready to play just in case something WERE to happen...This was all very strange.
 
Oh for goodness' sake, no! It's none of those things! It's... it's a robot, alright? This audio file is its killnoise, a failsafe in case it ever goes rampant. Please, you don't have to believe me right now, all I ask is that you keep the file ready to play. It's here, and it's certainly coming after you, and it's likely going to arrive soon.

As if on cue, one of Nathan's windows suddenly shattered as a gray shape crashed through it, landing in a convulsing heap on the floor before quickly righting itself. The shape turned out to be a bipedal, humanoid robot, about 3 feet tall, and with a wicked blade roughly half that length protruding from one of its arms. As soon as the single lens embedded in its half-moon shaped head focused on Nathan, it began advancing toward him, raising its blade menacingly above itself as it prepared to strike.
 
'Yeah fucking right....a robot?' Nathan thought as he was about to go and delete the file from his computer, lest this joker be stealing his data somehow or something on AI creation...when suddenly something burst through his window. His eyes went wide at the sight of it, and he couldn't believe that this anonymous mailer was right! Nathan reached for his mouse and began to play the sound file, all the while turning the volume on his speakers up as loud as he could.
 
As soon as the sound began playing again, the robot froze mid-step with its blade still raised, staring blankly at Nathan as it stood stock still. The moment the noise ended, all of its limbs suddenly went limp as it fell to the floor in a lifeless heap. A few moments of eerie silence followed the noise before a new message popped up on the screen.

Wait, you just played the noise again... Oh god, it showed up, didn't it? Are you alright, Nathan? Please tell me you're alright!
 
'What the fuck was that!? What was that thing? Who are you? What the fuck is going on?' He said in his message as he walked over to the robot and began to kick it with his foot lightly to make certain it was completely dead. 'Whats this thing...Why did it come after me?' He gulped a bit as he reached down and picked up one of its limbs, tugging at the blade and hoping it would pop out of its socket so he could disarm the thing in case it would awaken later for some reason.
 
Oh thank goodness, you're alive! Um... as for explanations, I would be happy to share everything that I know about the situation with you, but first I need you to get out of your house and find somewhere else to spend the night. It's likely that they know where your friends and family live, so a hotel or something similar would probably be best for tonight, at least.

Nathan's pulling on the blade revealed that it was firmly attached to the robot's arm, as its body remained utterly motionless despite his investigative prodding and pulling.
 
'What the fuck is going on here...' He thought in his head before beginning to type up a new message to send to this anonymous savior of his. 'I'm going now...I'm taking my laptop with me so I'll be able to keep in touch with you...I want to know what the hell is going on as soon as I get into a hotel room!' With that, he sent the message and began to close his laptop, packed it, and headed out the door as fast as he could to a decent motel with free wifi. An hour later when everything was settled, he turned his laptop on to see if a new message had arrived.
 
Well... there's quite a lot going on here, actually... but I suppose a good place to begin is with an explanation for how all of this has happened. I'm sure you noticed that that robot was more advanced than anything present technology could have produced. Well... that's because it isn't from the present. It came from twenty years in the future. And I know this because... I did as well. The reason you're being targeted is because, nine years from now, you invent something that changes the world. But an extremist organization is trying to kill you here, in the past, before you actually have a chance to invent it.
 
"Nine years from now...?" He said out loud as he read the message and began to reply back. 'What do you mean nine years from now? What happens in nine years? What do I...Wait...Do you mean that my Artificial Intelligence Project is going to be a success? But damn...Nine years? I thought I would be able to finish it so much sooner...The research I'm doing is going along so well I was certain I could finish it by the end of the next year...'
 
Well... I suppose creating the first true artificial consciousness is more complicated than you might think. But the important thing is that you do succeed, and in doing so you opened the door for a massive proliferation of AI's in the future. At this point, there are tens of thousands of them living alongside natural humans. You're being targeted by a group called the Return to Humanity, that thinks AI's are an affront to nature. For some reason they must think keeping the first AI in history from being invented will keep them from ever being invented at all.
 
Nathan shook his head at the message. 'How could Androids be an affront to nature? Alright...I have to thank and apologize to you for both saving my ass and for me being so hard on you but it was all so awkward and unbelievable until that...thing burst through my window. Listen...I don't feel comfortable talking to you about this over the net...I need to see you in person...whoever you are.'
 
That... would be difficult at the moment. It's certainly my plan to meet up with you, but it will be impossible for me to do so until tomorrow. For now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to make do by yourself, just for tonight. And... I'm Ophelia, by the way. I'm... a friend of yours, in the future.
 
Nathan was silent as he read the message and delayed himself from sending a reply. Once he finally thought of something to say, he was regretful to know it was something...simple. 'Alright...Ophelia...I guess I'll see you tomorrow.' After sending a message to the girl, he sighed and sat back on the bed with a frown. 'What have I gotten myself into? Gah...I'm going to die before this is over...I can already tell...Oh well...The only thing I can do is simply sleep for now...' He sighed and laid down in his bed, trying to sleep.
 
Very early the next morning, when the sky was getting brighter again despite the sun having yet to crest the horizon, a flock of birds was roosting on the roof of an old, abandoned office building. One of them looked up from its rest as it felt some sort of strange disturbance in the air around it. Without any further warning than that, a sudden noise erupted from inside the building, sounding like a very loud, electrically charged WHUMP. At this, the entire flock was awoken and sent flying off, leaving the building almost entirely silent once more... save for the faintest sounds of movement coming from inside.
 
When Nathan awoke that morning, he turned on his computer to check if he got any more messages from his anonymous savior...yet he had not. He frowned and turned on the TV to see what was on. He had to waste time in a hotel room waiting for his anonymous savior to send him another message. 'Come on...don't tell me that I'm on my own for a little while longer...I want to know what the hell I have to do...'
 
Perhaps a dozen seconds after Nathan had checked to see if he had any messages, he suddenly received one.

Ah, good, you're awake! It will have arrived by now, so we should be ready to meet up. Do you happen to know the abandoned office building near here? That's where we have to meet. I'm going to be on the second floor, in a storage closet just to the right of the stairs.
 
Upon receiving the message, Nathan immediately headed out as soon as he could. He brought his laptop with him, not daring to leave it alone for fear it would be stolen or worse: His data erased and setting him back by three months of research and coding. An hour after he left, he would finally arrive to the only abandoned office building he knew of. Climbing over the chain-link fence that blocked people from trespassing into it, he proceeded in...wary and cautious of everything for fear he'd die.
 
Nathan's surroundings in the office building did little to assuage his paranoia. Chunks of drywall and shattered glass littered the floors of the building, and almost every available inch of the walls had been graffitied with rather unpleasant messages. This trend was less extreme but still present on the second floor. Before he reached his destination, and despite the building's obvious lack of internet access, he received another message from Ophelia.

Um... before you actually open the door, I should probably warn you... I'm going to look kind of... dead. But don't worry! I'm not dead, I promise! I'm just... not in my body, at the moment. You see, I... haven't told you the whole truth about who I am. I really am a friend of yours in the future, but... I'm not just that... I'm the AI that you create nine years from now.
 
Seeing the message, Nathan's eyes widened. 'This could...actually boost my research far faster than I could possibly hope for...! With my original AI from the future...I could simply examine the body and takes notes all the while I create a copy of it from parts...!' Nathan grinned and reached for the doorknob...turned it...and pushed it open to see what was in store for him within the room. "Hello?" He called out as he walked into the room and examined the area, looking for his AI.
 
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