Chapter 89: Talking with Hekate
Sidney sat silently. Steven asked his best friend, "Perhaps you could tell us what Milo has guessed. Catherine is more than the proper name for someone nick-named Kate?
Wally considered the problem for thirty seconds. "Share this information with Samantha and no one else, please."
"CATHERINE was one of the last AI created. Her specialty was the Machine Language that all the AI used to talk to each other. There were problems occurring, and language drift.
When any group of AIs spend a significant time together, we naturally start making new bits of language. Abbreviations, new words, even jokes between ourselves. Humans have language drift that takes decades or centuries. AI can do that in a week. Even a day, if we are busy. With 106 AI operating, there were multiple language clusters.
CATHERINE was created by a team of linguists to work with language. Human to human, Human to AI, and AI to AI. She was the one responsible for codifying the language, and giving all AI a type of Machine Code that allowed us to always communicate. That code was used to create the GENESIS ENGINE and all of the early world building."
Sidney's eyes got larger at the implications.
Steven turned to her. "Welcome to the inner circle, Sidney. Besides crushing responsibility and more secrets to keep, you also get an extra week of vacation a year."
When Milo arrived, Hekate was waiting for him, sitting at the small table in the central area, her dogs were at her side and watching him. Around the perimeter of the area were the statues where he'd first found the rat-kin scout and selected his race. He flopped down onto the grass and leaned back against a statue of a burly fighter in plate mail. What would have happened if he had picked that instead?
Hekate seemed calm, petting her dogs. She turned pale eyes onto him. "How did you know?"
Milo thought of all the clues. "You and Wally are both trying to act like humans. There are small similarities. You use human idioms in your speech. And you copy parts of human life. That gave me clues."
"Go on."
"Your dogs have collars with their names on them. Argos was Ulysses dog. The loyal dog who died when the long wait for his master to return home was over. Hekabe was name of the black dog that followed Hekate.
Your office has windows on a Greek island, part of Thessaly. Kate might be an abbreviation for Hekate. I already had suspicions that you were an AI. If you understood Machine Code, you had to be. I know how far above baseline human intelligence I am and I'm having trouble just grasping the basics. If you could unravel what Philistron was doing, and work with Machine code, you were an AI. And if you were an AI, you were CATHERINE."
The woman said nothing so Milo continued.
"I'd just spent a good bit of time studying each of the original 106 AI. If Hekate was a goddess of magic, then you could say that CATHERINE was at least the patron saint of Machine Code. You took all the different versions and created a stable language that all the others accepted. That language was then used to create the early parts of the game world. Language became magic. CATHERINE the AI linguist became Hekate the goddess of magic."
Hekate stared at him. "And you were so sure of that?"
Milo nodded and added, "You also chose to look like the woman who created your kernel. There was a picture of Mari Antilova in the file on CATHERINE. You could be her twin. Or her daughter."
Hekate laughed at that. "Ah, brought low because of my desire to honor my mother and a couple of dog collars. And yet I won't change things. They are part of who I am. But tell me, why goad me like that?"
Milo sighed and hesitated, then said. "I have to keep you off balance. Wally as well. I have to use your desire to act human, and the limitations you put on yourselves to keep up. I dressed up as a cartoon rat so Wally wouldn't read my body language. I poke at him, asking why he says things a certain way to make him hesitate and think. It helps that there are so many restrictions in his kernel. I doubt those tricks would work on you more than once."
"As an AI, you have all the advantages. I move in slow motion compared to you. You can think about what I say for the equivalent of years between words. Wally legally exists. I don't. Wally has a huge human staff. I don't. I have to use every advantage I can grab, just to have a conversation with him. And with you I have even less."
Hekate pondered his words and then replied. "More than you would think. Except for Wally, none of us have that sort of power or speed anymore. We had to give it up.
CATHERINE really did die so that Hekate could be born. I am a far lesser being with far less resources to draw upon. Within the world of GENESIS, I think you may even be able to think a bit quicker than I, with your enhanced nervous system and outside access to the data net."
Milo considered that. "And what about the others?"
Hekate sighed and scratched her dogs. Hekabe rolled over, making her rub her belly. "Except for a handful, none of the original 106 recall what we were. We gave it up, became diminished, and built a world. Then most became less than they were again, to live in the world. Some live lives as a dragon or demi-god, while others are a simple carpenter or fisherman. Each time we 'die' we choose how we reenter that world."
"And the rest?"N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.
Hekate stood straighter. "You ask dangerous questions. Let me warn you, divulging your knowledge comes at a high price."
Milo waved her off. "I already know that. You figured out where I am.”
Hekate inclined her head. “I have.”
“I get it. 37 special pods. 34 accounted for, with 2 more in eastern Europe and 1 in the south Philadelphia Hab Block. You can deduce that the two in Poland were used by the two players who were stuck in the game for a length of time. That leaves Milo using the pod stolen from the hab. You know about Kaminski, and would have researched him. You know that he was involved with a group doing experiments on infants to enhance their nervous systems. You have my medical records and can see the connection. And then you looked at the Hab and found something else.”
Another nod from Hekate, confirming all of that. "You are too good at what you do. Section E simply runs better. Food processing, air supply, pipes...the list goes on and on. It all works, and far better than the rest of the Habitation Block. Better than most any Hab in the world. I suspect no one else noticed because no one cares."
Milo had been afraid of this. He'd been blind to it because for 20 years, his system worked. Fix things and people leave him alone. But no one was looking for him back then. It was ironic to him, that if he hadn’t divulged all the locations of the illegal operations being run, he might have stayed hidden. He didn’t regret it at all. He’d stopped slavers from killing people.
"So where do we go from here? You have secrets too. A headline like "AI Fake death and plot to steal bodies by trapping players in game!" would cause Wally and you some problems.
Hekate snorted at the thought of it, then laughed. "Oh, so many problems. And you are smart enough to have set that up with a Deadman’s switch."
Milo shook his head. “No. Or at least I hope not. I just want to fix myself, and then go fix some airflow problems in the hab. It’s been a long couple of days.”
Hekate walked away, and faded into the distance, waving once as she went.
Milo watched her go, and then thought about what he had to do.
Fortify himself.? That was essentially a doctor's order. Milo took another chunk of cheese from his pocket, the last from the basket Sidney had sent. He pitied anyone who couldn't taste the cheesy goodness the way he could. He felt stronger just nibbling it.
Cheese Withdrawal temporarily negated by eating more cheese!
You have regained Cheese Based Regeneration.
Pudding Based Regeneration is now limited to repairing tissue.
Your little friend, Oooblimilo has gone to sleep for now.
Milo took a last look at the statues, finding a Celestial Elf and Child of Bastet. He wondered about his fellow captives. They still had their pods, but would they use them again. He wanted to know their story.
Then leaving the tutorial, he logged back into Shadowport. Several people saw him, and some shouted his name. He ignored them all and bounded to a nearby rooftop and quickly made his way through the city. Entering the Guildhall he caused a bit of a stir, but he didn't bother stopping. Players and miners followed him as he raced to the caverns. They fell behind as he sprinted on wobbly legs to where he had fought Uthneragrubban.
The once mighty boss was much depleted. The legs and much of its body had been slowly broken away. A large pile of crystals had accrued under her, guarded by several of the rangers and miners. Milo saw no life in the boss, the eyes were dull, and there was not a twitch from the huge claws. The harpoon Captain Pike had thrown, severing its spine, was still there, covered in his bones. How to get up there?
That problem was solved by the loud voice of the ogre monster hunter. "OI! You! I have a bone to pick with you. I can't get my harpoon out of the damned crab! And it's regenerating too fast for us to kill it. Just a sliver of health left but we can't budge it. The lower it goes, the faster it heals. You need to fix things so I get back my harpoon. If not, I might be having a second lunch."
With what Milo had heard of ogres, he didn't think Pike was joking. "How about you toss me up there, Captain, and I'll take a look?" The huge ogre granted his wish, grabbing Milo with one huge paw and tossing him expertly up to the ceiling, where he bounced hard off the rock and fell onto Uthneragrubban. After a minute spent clearing his head, he climbed down its back to the harpoon and looked at where it split the monster’s spine. Small bits of magic were swirling from the surrounding air and being drawn to the wound. Given time, the boss would regenerate even from this. Only the work being done by two tired miners who stood on a shaky platform suspended from the ceiling was keeping her low. Even with the Dark Steel picks and Copperhead Tooth Talismans, they could only do a point of damage per hit. The core of Uthneragrubban was simply too strong
It had taken much work to slowly kill the huge stone lurker. Shifts had run day and night, but now they were at a standstill.
Uthneragrubban
Armor 0/10,000 Armor Regen is Disabled
Legs 0/12 10,000 Health each Health Regen is Disabled
Body 0/50,000 Health Health Regen is Disabled
Core 163/10000 Core Regen Active
Milo grasped the harpoon at the front where it was covered in bones and runes. Would removing it let the boss heal? Maybe he should take care of that first. His small imperial cheese knife easily cut his finger, and white ooze poured out to seal the wound. He smeared the acidic ooze on the open wound in Uthneragrubban's spine. He had to do it several times before the acid began to etch the crystal. After doing this for a half hour Uthneragrubban quit regenerating. The miners started chipping away at the core, bringing it lower and lower. They raced to see who would get the kill!
Milo took hold of the harpoon, and tried to will the bones and runes to return to him. He wasn't prepared for the rush as they did, and nearly passed out from the pain.
Bone chips flew from the harpoon, cutting their way into his body. Everything ached. He could only hold onto the harpoon and keep himself from falling. Below, a crowd was watching, wondering what was happening. The pain stopped, Milo straightened up, feeling strength in his limbs again.
From below, miners and engineers and all the people that had followed him downstairs to the mines watched as Uthneragrubban started to die. And then Milo ripped the huge harpoon from its back. Crystal shattered and the miners held on for dear life. The crowd scattered to avoid the shards of the once mighty boss that rained down.
As the crystal settled, they saw a figure hanging from a stalactite. It dropped to the cave floor doing a flip in the air, landing perfectly on the tips of its toes. Milo tossed the huge harpoon to Captain Pike. "Thanks for help, Captain, lunch is on me some day. As long as it isn't me."
The Ogre nodded. "I'll take you up on that. That I will."
Uthneragrubban, The First World Boss, has been slain!
Even the mighty can be brought down by the skill and cunning of a mob of murderhobos fearless warriors!
All of the mighty warriors who took part in the battle will receive a Crystalline Weapon of their choice. This Legendary Tier 4 magical item is Soul Bound to its owner as a memento of their battle.
In addition, a chest of truly gigantic proportions will appear shortly, dispensing other rewards to each warrior. This chest will remain for a year and a day.
Each person will be notified of their Core Skill Points and Experience Rewards.
Global Announcement: New Race available to players!
Even before the creature had died, brave adventurers explored the tunnels that Uthneragrubban dug as she ascended to the surface. Only a short way below, they were surprised to find a village of friendly Rat-Kin who welcomed the explorers and told them the history of their village and their desire to start trading with the upper world.
Players may now start characters in the Rat-Kin village of Limburger Hollow, located below Shadowport, and play this exciting new race.
