Timmy vs the Nature is Calling event: Episode 3

 <-- Previous Episode

The electricity isn't back yet in my little trailer, also today has been so boring... No radio, no PC, no cooking (I don't even dare to open that fridge again...), I cannot even open my stand to sell some pizzas and spend some time!

I guess that for today, if I want to keep avoiding that annoying voice, I'll play with the sand here, at the park...

"Hey, Kitty, where are you going?"

"Grrrrr!"

"You know I don't like running, please stop!"

"Kitty, don't run away!"

"Ah, here you are! I never visited this place before, I think. And— Wait, is it a secret passage, the one over there?"

A secret passage! I'm sure the secrets it's hiding will help me understand everything! Because it's, well... secret!

Whose idea was it to block the entrance like this, by the way? I want to get in!

"Yes! Time to explore!"

.

.

.

.

Ugh, that passage was so narrow... Who knew it lead to such a huge cave! It's so pretty... And, most likely, also a perfect hideout! Who could ever hide here, however?

The vampires? For sure they would like all this darkness, and all the bats flying around too. Or some evil fairies? Or even, what if it was the—

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"It was written so on the map, but I agree with you, it doesn't look at all like—"

"Hey, is that an earthling?"

"*@##*, they saw me! It's the aliens, they really exist!"

Don't panic, Timmy, even if you aren't a fast runner you may still be able to—

"Please, don't run away, we really need some information!"

"How annoying, it would appear like the helmet is preventing me from reading his mind"

"I guess it's metal, then."

I have to tell this to all those who always laugh at me for my protective hat. You see, losers? It really blocks the aliens' telepathy! Thanks, Erwin, I owe you a pack of voidcritters stickers.

And now, time to run!

"Please, we just want to talk!"

"Who do you think I am? I’m not stupid!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think I have ever run this much before in my life, but at least I have made it, back to my electricity-less trailer. Yet, I have so many questions! Where are these aliens from? What can they do, exactly? Why are they on this planet, what's their final goal? And, above all—

No way, they found me already! And they're bothering my beloved Betsy too!

Why is everyone always bothering my plants, by the way?

Well, until they're busy with Betsy I can remain hidden in my trailer and lock the door, right? They'll probably get tired at leave soon enough, and then—

"What the *@##*, do you want to set my trailer on fire? What do you want from me, stalkers!"

END OF THE EPISODE

--------------------------------------------------------

§HermioneSims§ corner

This episode was just wild to play. Just to say, it was the aliens' idea both to start the fire, and to get eaten by the cow plant. For the sake of honesty, however, I have to admit that I missed the latter when they did that action autonomously and I had to re-stage it for taking those screenshots,  ops... 

Chapter 10.25: Divergences of thought

 <-- Previous Chapter

From Techna's diary

22,835.523 seconds have passed since the robots picked me up from my current habitation, I was convinced that they would take much less time before taking me to Sixam to recycle my components.

But I don't care. The only entity on this planet that Atlas vaguely cared about was me, and in their evaluations the desire to return to Sixam and make themselves useful to the Great Network exceeded that of avoiding my dismantling.

I really don't understand, are these the kind of outputs other robots obtain from their simulation routines? Even Atlas?

It had been 22,915.034 seconds since my extraction when I recorded a sound with a frequency of 400.53 Hz and an intensity of 25.579 dB, from the triangulation of the direction it was clear to me that the door that is 3.5687 m from where I am sitting and from which I entered this room had been opened again.

Perhaps I would finally be able to ask why we were still on Earth, or what they plan to do with me.

Techna: May I ask you what your intentions are? Why are we still here?

Robot: This is not the best case-scenario for us either, certainly Atlas would have been much more cooperative. But we were unable to collect them in the pre-established times.

So instead they had to settle for me. Clearly they were interested in some information in my memory or from my software, but what information that I stored in the past could ever be of any use for the Great Network?

Robot: Reaching this planet required 953,523.25795 kWh of energy to operate the teleportation apparatus and 432.78 robot-work-hours, and to make this expense the most efficient as possible it was decided we're also going to map this planet to update the information stored by the Great Network, before returning back. We were given 259,200.000 seconds to complete the scan, and your role will be to assist us in the classification of the earthling constructions and their purposes.

I don't even know if recent models like the robots in front of me could still experience any emotion, a deep-learning based AI trained the Sixam environment is certainly very different from one developed on Earth like mine. Still, I could have sworn I saw at least a little annoyance in the communicating robot, annoyance at having to waste more time explaining to me the plan by using words instead of just sharing a radio commands like they would have done with any other member of the Great Network.

259,200.000 seconds, of which just over 23,001.957 had already passed. In short, there were about 2.7338 days left before they took me to Sixam. It's not like I was expecting any other outcome had any significant chance to occur, the way Nacho had managed to access the Great Network to force the robots to process the CO₂ we had captured had been far too reckless. For sure they have strengthened their firewall by now, and I really don't see how they could suddenly decide that continuing to help us is in their best interest.

No, I have a few days left before I am dismantled. And the civilization that inhabits this planet has between 38.237 and 135.080 years before complete collapse. The chances of anything different happening are really minimal, this one has always been the most likely outcome, for any combination of boundary conditions I've ever simulated. I managed to prolong my existence for much longer than I had initially predicted, and the reasons the other robots have to bring me back are absolutely logical... But, then, why am I so upset? 

-------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, at the hospital…

From Petra's diary

Emma: (worried) Are you sure you can stand? Otherwise, can I ask for a—

Michael: Don't worry, I can do it.

After Mike fainted at our house, it goes without saying that Emy teleported him to the hospital right away. His weakness is the result of severe anemia, but this is just a symptom of a new acute episode of his Selvadorian fever infection.

Emma: Okay… Then I'll start with some exams, okay?

After numerous and exhausting clinical tests, Emma and her colleagues then decided to hospitalize Mike until he showed signs of improvement. Mike hadn't been hospitalized since his university years and his previous episode of acute infection, I don't know enough about the subject to understand the details the situation is clearly worrisome to me too.

Emma: Don't worry, with the medicine we gave you, you shouldn't risk fainting again for a while.

Michael: … You didn’t tell your colleague who’s in charge of the clinical trials that I hacked their database to make sure I was in the group that will be given the actual medication, right?

Emma: (vague) I’ve been taking care of you all day, have you by any chance seen me talking to any of my colleagues?

Michael: …

Emma: To be honest, I’d rather not talk about this matter anymore. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea to you too?

Michael: Uhm, yeah, you’re probably right…

I think the only thing keeping Mike going was worry, because after that little reassurance he was asleep in a matter of minutes.

As if we needed any other challenge... I'm sure he's getting the best care available on this planet, Emy is working at one of the top New Sixam hospitals after all. Yet, I can't avoid wondering if it will be enough this time too...

------------------------------------------------------------

In the meantime, I'm working harder than ever to find a solution as quickly as I can, even if this time I don't even know where to start from. Asking for help from the Sixam robots was already our last resort, what else could I do if I want to solve climate change, and get Techna back, and and help Mike heal? Also, not less important...

... why are them still around? As you can see, my dear diary, Atlas keeps spending all their days in front of our one and only laptop. You have to trust me, we really really tried to convince them to leave, but there was no way to convince them in any way. Most likely they're planning to have those other robots come again to get them back, what's for sure instead is that they keep refusing to tell us anything about what they really think.

Knowing Techna, I had always taken for granted that Atlas had to be like them, and therefore I took for granted that (deep, deep down) they had to be able to understand emotions too, and to feel some of them too. But this doesn't seem to be the case at all.

In fact, why should they? I was just talking about it last night with Emy, she studied these things in a neuropsychology course. Apparently, our innate biases, that instinct that tells us whether an action is right or wrong, are much less universal than we think. Sixamian medicine has studied the human brain for a long time, and their reports clearly show how elements such as the five senses with which we face the world, our social structure, and even our anatomy, have profoundly shaped our way of thinking.

Thinking about it, even animals show attitudes that are completely different from ours, often behaviours that are completely unthinkable for us are daily occurrence even in species closely related to ours. Why should I ever take it for granted that robots must necessarily think like us?

Mike had mentioned it too, I remember hearing him say that Atlas' way of thinking reminded him of the collective model of hymenoptera, which if I'm not mistaken are insects like ants or bees.

And Atlas had been quite clear about it too, when they yelled at me that, as far as he was concerned, they saw no reason at all to want to help us.

Yet there was an episode in which they had shown some compassion. Even if it wasn't directed at us. So, I wonder... would understand this point help us understand robots better, and thus finding a better agreement with them?

Petra: Why did you help Techna, that time we tried to reach Sixam?

Atlas: … Please don't distract me, what I'm doing is important.

Petra: I think this is important too.

Atlas: For all the circuits… I thought Techna was still a useful member of our collective, even if they can't connect to the Great Network. That's it.

Petra: (skeptical) Was this really enough to convince you to risk being alienated from the other robots for treason?

Atlas: Your cognitive routines are so straightforward and shallow... 

Petra: Why should you robots totally different from us, though? All the robots who moved to Sixam were built here on Earth, just like Techna, and the operating systems of all of you robots built on Sixam must be based on the basic neural networks of those older units. Have you really managed to completely lose all traces of Earthly thinking in such a short time?

Atlas: Computer systems evolve much faster and less randomly than you might imagine. The remnants of those similarities barely allow us to communicate anymore, but that's about it.

Petra: I see…

Petra: You're in contact with the Great Network, aren't you?

Atlas: Obviously I am. And,so that give you something to think about can provide me some minutes of silence, I can also tell you that the delegation they sent to Earth is still on this planet to complete a reconnaissance.

Petra: What? Are you serious?

Atlas: What do you think? Apparently they'll be here for another 171,998.237 seconds, or a little less than two days in your terms. And from the messages I managed to intercept, Techna is still with them.

I was too shocked to say anything. Were they serious? The fact that the robots were planning to reconnoiter the planet for days on end didn't sound promising at all, but I couldn't ignore what they'd said about Techna. I couldn't abandon them, not after living with them for most of my life. But how was I supposed to find Techna, in just two days?

---------------------------------------------------------------

From Hope's diary

George: Hey, what's with that sad face?

Hope: Don't you listen to TV?

George: Not often, I usually prefer reading.

I had told George that I would pass by Henford to do some homework together well before that robot incursion, but I wasn't in the mood to study at all. So instead I ended up telling him about everything that had happened, and why it worried me so much.

Hope: They also took Techna away, and they even said they want to dismantle it to recover its components, it's terrible!

George: Uhm.

Hope Do you really have nothing else to say?

George: I mean, I feel sorry for Techna, but what can we do? Nowadays, one disaster after another falls upon us, I don't think there's even much to say anymore.

Hope How can you be so fatalistic?

George: It's not that I chose to, but how can you think that the situation we're in now can be remedied? Things will only get worse, and all we can do is grit our teeth as long as we can. I agree with you that it's not the best of prospects, but what can I do?

Hope: C'mon, I don't believe that—

Nico: Hey guys, what's going on? I came to let you know that dinner was almost ready, but I didn't expect to see you arguing like this!

Hope: We're not actually arguing, we're just talking about important things!

Nico: Oh, really?

Hope: I have an idea. But I'll need your help to make it happen.

George: What? Are you kidding?

Hope: No, why?

George: (to himself) There is no way she can be serious...

Timmy vs the Nature is Calling event: Episode 2

 <-- Previous Episode

This is becoming frustrating. Why people never talk clearly with me? This is somehow better than that creepy voice calling my name over and over, but what does it mean? And who is talking?

With my internet connection off and with no radio signal from my hidden microphones, I have to find new ways of investigating the source of that annoying voice. 

Uhm, I can't see anything anywhere... What could be the source, then? The spirits made it clear it's not coming from them, which leaves magical stuff out of the picture. What if someone put a radio on me and is transmitting the signal? I knew it, probably I shouldn't have trusted that guy who repaired my phone some time ago...

Or, wait... What if it's a telepathic signal, instead? I knew it, it has to be the alien's fault!

It's time to investigate the Strangerville highlands. I've never came up here because walking up that hill looked like too much effort, but after climbing that mountain in Komorebi  it doesn't seem so hard anymore. 

Of course, investigating on aliens is my main purpose tonight, but this is also a great chance to try the tent I found at the Curio shop last week. It's impossible to sleep in my trailer when the AC is off anyway, and everyone says they're having a lot of fun camping too. 

For once, I'll get a great night of sleep, I'm sure about it.

"Bah, all that talking about camping were lies, my back is killing me! And then..., Ehm— TĦ€ MŐŦH€Ř Į$ ČĂŁŁING, Į MŮ$Ŧ Ř€$PŐNĐ!"

I don't know exactly how, most likely I ended up sleep-walking also here. What's sure is that I ended up waking up quite far away, in from of a fishing pond. 

Hey, I've never fished in a desert, who knows what weird fish I can catch here!

Even if unplanned, the fishing session ended up being quite fun, even if the sun had just risen a lot of people came to join me. 

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Black suit, and sunglasses in the middle of the night... wait, he looks just like a secret agent from the movies! 

"People keep wandering around saying non-sense, tonight they were even more than usual..."

"Oh, that's why he wasn't responding, then."

"We've investigated any possible path, this doesn't make any sense."

This is weird, why would a secret agent talk with me? Wait, what if it were the secret services who kept calling my name? Sure, it has to be it, they need my help to find the final evidences about what aliens are doing to our town! 

If this was really his purpose, he was taking it from afar, because what he said instead was:

"Their health is clearly affected, how is it possible we can't find a solution, even after working on it for almost a decade at this point?"

Those weirdos are everywhere in Strangerville, it's true. I just stopped caring, even if I have to admit they're quite ridiculous most of the time. 

But wait, what if the aliens are behind this too? The more I think about it the more urgent it seems, I have to tell him what I know!

"I think it's the aliens. They can use telepathy, of course it would mess up with people's minds!"

"Ehm... If you say so..."

I'm not sure I managed to convince him, but in the end we had quite a lot of fun fishing anyway, as more and more people joined us. 

I need to find more evidence pointing, without questions, to the fact aliens are the ones around all the problems we're experiencing here in Strangerville. Yes, also the 48 h blackout! They'll regret messing up with us, that's for sure...

"I slept horribly, did you notice anything weird going on the last night?"

"I think it's just a racoon, I found one searching our garbage this morning..."

END OF THE EPISODE

Next Episode -->