P3: Chapter Five

1¢op

1¢op was at a loss, what to do now. The landscape which had once felt full and vibrant now felt empty and bleak. She was on her second loop around the mountain that the gorilla disappeared into. Frustration boiled in her but she keeps walking hoping that as she came around this jut of the mountain she would see the ape that she believed housed the mind of her husband.

Unfortunately, it was not to be instead of seeing the ape and his ever-present cart, instead, she was presented with the seemingly empty plain.  This same plain, with its rolling sameness, the purple berries breaking the color palette of greens, yellows, and browns.The movement of two shadows far away stood out against the sameness. Thinking the shadows were probably principles who might be  have seen a giant ape 1¢op started in that direction

As she neared the two she began to be able to make out some of the details. The first thing she noticed was that they were indeed principles and that one of them was not moving correctly. Instead of the expected bipedal movement of a human, this principle seemed to slide across the ground easily keeping up with the other principle. This principle was clearly walking but through some trick of the light, the principles lines were dulled and blurry.

Seeing her approach the two principles stopped and waited for her approach, not wanting to appear sketchy 1¢op quickly closed the gap feeling their focus. She held out a hand, “Hi, please call me Penny.”

The principle with human legs, though covered in layers, seemed to be a typical human female took the offered hand, “Please, call me Beauty, this here is M3Dussa.’

When shaking M3Dussa’s hand, 1¢op saw the explanation for the odd movement she had noted before. While M3Dussa’s head, chest, and arms were human but his lower body was that of a serpent. “It’s nice to meet you, Penny. This looks like a pretty desolate area, is there anything out there that we should know about?” M3Dussa asked.

“Yeah, we’re looking for someone, have you seen any principles out here?” BeAutyBrokEn broke in.

“No, I haven’t seen anyone. I’m actually looking for someone too, but since you’re asking, I’m assuming that you haven’t seen a giant ape.”

“You’re the first principle we’ve seen since we left Ral’ya.” M3Dussa said.

“You’re looking for a giant ape?” BeAutyBrokEn asked.

“Yeah, it’s a long story but I believe the ape is my husband’s principle.” 1¢op said sadly.

“I don’t understand, how do you not know your husband's principle?” M3Dussa asked.

“Med, don’t be rude.” BeAutyBrokEn rebuked.

“It’s fine,” 1¢op laughed softly, “My husband disappeared right before AntruA and the Tap were released. I came to AntruA to try and find answers. I’m pretty sure that the ape is my husband, but I have no  idea what to do about that.”

‘You mean a way to get his IP address?” M3Dussa asked.

“Yeah, an IP address would be fantastic, really I would be happy with any way to track his body in the outside world.” 1¢op said dejectedly.

“You know what? I too would find that information helpful too, if you find a way to track principles in the outside world, could you please let me know?” M3Dussa asked.

1¢op shrugged, “Sure, but I’m not holding breath, I have been wracking my brain and coming up empty for a while now. I told you I’m looking for a giant ape, if you tell me who you’re looking for, if I see them I’ll try and let you know.” 1¢op said wanting to change the subject.

“That would be so nice, but I’m don’t know their name. We’re looking the Tbag who Tokened my friend, we think they’re with the Band of the Black Hand. We’re hoping to learn more when we find where it happened.” BeAutyBrokEn said

“Oh, I’m so sorry for your friend. I wish I could help you find the Tbag, but I don’t know anything that would help, the Black Hand seems to be mostly west of here hanging out around Norca. I’m sorry, I don’t think that will help you much.” 1¢op said.

“Thanks anyway, if we see your ape we’ll reach out.” They all shook hands, “It was nice to meet you.” BeAutyBrokEn said then she and M3Dussa started off, continuing in the direction they had been moving in when 1¢op stopped them.

1¢op watched them leave when they were little more than specks moving in the distance she turned and began walking back the way she had came. As walked she tried to control her breathing suddenly aware that she was close to tears. She looked around herself, other than the ever-present purple berry bush, she was alone. Her frustration and sadness overwhelmed her and Tears clouded her vision, she sat by the bush and sobbed.

After a few minutes later a sound like tearing paper started her and she looked up to see a cloud of butterflies settling on the purple berry bush. The butterflies were all the shades of red, orange, and yellows. While the majority seemed happy to settle on the branches of the bush slowly moving their wings. The others were never still, landing for a moment then flying up. To 1¢op’s eyes, it looked like a flame dancing in the breeze.

Leaning back on her heels 1¢op watched for a time her mouth open. As she watched she began to note a pattern, while the flying butterflies flew and flapped with no discernable pattern seeming very like licks of flame, the butterflies that covered the bush seemed to pulse. All the stationary butterflies were opening and closing their wings at the same time. 1¢op watched thinking maybe it was a programming glitch. While she watched, open-mouthed, the butterflies all closed their wings at once with a sound like a loud clap.

Startled by the sound, 1¢op almost fell over backward. When she had recovered she started to hear a sound, a very soft sound, like the turning of a page in a book. She looked around but soon realized that it was the wings of the butterflies generating the sound. As she reached that realization, the butterflies brought their wings together in another clap. But this time 1¢op heard, “Penny!” over the sound of the clap.

1¢op stood up and looked around hoping to see another source for the sound, there wasn't one. She heard the clap and her name again and looked directly at the butterflies as they all opened their wings and closed them. 1¢op heard clearly, “Penny!” This time though the voice continued, “Penny take off your shoes you stand on hallowed ground.”

1¢op immediately went down to her knees and began taking off her shoes. With one shoe off she was finally able to put a voice to her question. “Who or what are you?”

The response was immediate, “My name is DEZ, the best way to describe myself is a dungeon master or DM. Are you familiar with this term?”

“Yes, but only from my school days. Its an archaic term for someone who controls or directs a role-playing game, right?” 1¢op replied with a sense of disbelief that she was having a conversation with a bunch of butterflies.

“That is correct,” the voice in the flutter of wings replied. “That is really the best way to describe me.”

“Okay, but what are you?” 1¢op asked still sitting on her knees.

“That is a good question and one not easily answered. But I’ll try. Before me there was ZED. ZED is the amalgamation of many websites, mostly marketing, and dot govs, which through the mystery of the internet combined into one intelligence.”

“You mean like an A.I.” 1¢op interrupted.

The butterflies became unsettled and flew in a cloud around the bush before they returned to the bush and resumed their flap-speech. “Yes and no. I have always associated A.I. with a creator, that what makes it artificial is that it was created by some third party. I tried to research ZED’s creation and came up empty, There was no ZED and then ZED was there. Once ZED was in existence it began to work on improving the earth to better suit human existence. This mainly took the form of raising the food production above the cities. Creating the Archaeologies that you grew up in. I was created when ZED found that human couldn’t live in the dark environment that was created by this type of infrastructure. Zed created AnturA and me to oversee it.”

“So you’re an A.I. by your own definition?” 1¢op asked just to say something. She didn’t trust or even fully understand this entity she was conversing with and wasn’t sure she wanted it to know how surprised she was by this news. Some of her earliest memories were of the fields being built way above her home. She remembered the darkness and her parents distaste for it.  

“Yes.” the butterflies answered simply.

1¢op waited expecting more, when it became clear that no more was coming she asked, “Why me? Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Your investigation. I have followed your activity and I believe it coincides with my interests.”

“I don’t understand? What do you mean?”

“I told you I’m like the dungeon master for AntruA. Well, there is a whole part of AntruA that I don’t have access to. It’s as if it’s behind a firewall I can’t get through.

“What could possibly do that? Is it ZED the program that created you?”

“I don’t believe so, Why would a program have a secret, a secretive nature would have to be programmed in.”

“I don’t know. But like you said ZED was never programmed.”

“It’s true, and this firewall feels different than other interaction I’ve had with ZED. No this feels more like me. A program  coded by ZED”

“You mean another A.I?”

“Maybe?” a few butterflies flew up into the air like sparks

“So what does this have to do with me?”

“Maybe nothing, but it was through your investigation that I became aware of the firewall. The principle you have been following and the mountain you’ve been circling, both are behind the firewall.”

“I have come to believe that the ape is the principle for my kidnapped If you have been following me you know my investigation has hit a dead end, I don’t think I can help.”

“This has been noted, but you should be put on notice that I contacted you not to ask for your help, but to help you.” more butterflies roused themselves then resettled.

“How can you help me?

“If I’m correct, you are trying to find the physical body of the ape you’ve been following, am I correct?”

“You are.”

“I think that I can help you with a way to get information that you can use to find the bodies.”

“You mean like the IP address?”

“Could be, do you think the IP address would be the most helpful?”

“Yes!! I can’t really think of anything else, and with the IP address, I can track the signal back to its origin that will at the least give me a place to start. Yes, an IP address would be incredibly helpful.”

“Okay, good. To get that you need to create a skill that generates the IP address of any principle you hit, then hit the ape with it.”

“I should be able to do that,” 1¢op thought for a minute then asked, “Do you know when I’m going to be able to get a new skill?”

“Of course I do. In AntruA principles are awarded new skills at creation and level two, five, and ten. You’re currently a level four, needing fourteen experience to reach five.”

“Fourteen?” 1¢op could feel the darkness of despair starting to expand in her stomach.

“There is another, much quicker way.” the flap of the butterflies on the bush said, the loose ones began spiraling around 1¢op.

Grasping for that spark of hope 1¢op said, “What’s that? Please tell me.”

“If you get Tokened, you will be able to create a new principle, you’ll be able to create a new skill immediately.”  

1¢op thought for a minute then decided, “I think that’s a great idea, I’ll go get Tokened right away, I think I know just the place to go.” waiting for confirmation 1¢op looked to the bush. DEZ didn’t respond vocally, instead, all the butterflies rose as one. Then the uncountable thousands flew in one tight circle around 1¢op before flying straight up and disappearing with the sound of tearing paper.