World Tree MUSH

    Mars. Sky High Orbitals Martian Offices.

    This part of the offices looks like it's more made for storage, so technically this is Sky High's spare warehouse space. Some quick-fab walls have been thrown up to give some organization, and several medical pods are set up along one side, along with several large computers. Ike, the military man in the space-marine-esque armor from before, is here... and though he looks fit, he isn't nearly as bulky without his armor. Looks like he's also the spokesperson for this operation, though a number of doctors are here, tending to the pods.

    "Thanks for coming, everyone," Ike announces, seeing that nobody here is a new person. That makes it simpler. "We've ended up figuring out... roughly what happened thanks in part to your investigations. Looks like someone, we're not sure who, was actively studying this whole zombie mess." He glances around. "They trapped the people in there, and copied many of their stacks into alpha forks. Basically creating new personas which they then kept in VR. So, whomever they are, they must have a suspicion on what causes this, because that triggered widespread zombification once the copies started diverging too much. This leaves us with a problem though."

    He hesitates. "Normally, unauthorized duplication is punishable with death, but those here aren't the ones who did it. They aren't at fault. Which means the copies are still running because we don't have the authorization to shut them down. So the VR copies and the physical ones are both deteriorating. We've suspended the VR, we can do that much at least but... this isn't fixing the problem."

    "So then how do we fix the problem?" Becca asks point blank like a bullet to the face. Except verbally and without actually shooting Ike in the face.
    You know, a metaphor, a simile, a turn of phrase.
    Nevertheless the diminutive solo is here, tipping back in her seat in a folding chair she acquired from... Somewhere. And she precariously teetering with her arms folded across her chest. "I'm kinda a shooter not a thinker here. I see zombie: I shoot zombie." She points out while her chair wobbles.

    "Yeah," Blues agrees. "Except I'm not as violent as Rebecca there, but I am sorta... not sure about what all this is. This all seems pretty high concept to me, I just want to live my life and go my own way. And I'd like others to do that too, but it sounds like that isn't so easy. They're dying, is basically what you mean, and there's nothing we can do for them?"

    Kore, unfortunately, knows exactly what the problem is and why it's a dilemma. "The issue is that their souls are now stretched across multiple existences. They are, basically, short on souls." She crosses her arms. "The solution to the problem would be to kill the copies. Unfortunately, they can't really do that... the question isn't even 'which is the real Nancy,' or whatever the name is. They all are, so which ones should be sacrificed? That's the problem they are having."

    "They're not dying, actually. They'll live without intervention. They'll just live as, well... You saw them." Circe will say, offering a little bit of a shrug. "Any chance of merging the stacks? It'd be the cleanest solution, if it's something that could be pulled off." Circe means, of course, that that by her fiddly definitions wouldn't count as murdering anyone. It probably would, even if it could work, leave everyone involved wildly insane. 

    "Aside from that, do you have any idea why they were doing this little test? It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to if you didn't have any sort of end goal in mind. I was kind of assuming that the purpose was actually to destroy this place, but it sounds like you think someone was just using it for research."

    All of this is swiftly over Dante's head. "Yeaaaah. I gotta agree with Blues Who is Red and Rebecca on this one." He says, "But at this point we gotta figure out who stays and who goes. I don't suppose couldn't just, have 'em draw straws could we?"

    Ike nods at the explanation, giving Kore a funny look again. "... right." Circe also seems to know something but Kore's was way more in-depth. "And merging after months or years forked would, at best, result in a psychotic break. More likely everything would just break down and the mind would shut off. Not like a machine, it'd just die." He scratches the back of his head.

    "As for why, we don't know yet. They probably wanted to find out... something. How localized it is? How long it takes? How many divisions it takes? Who knows?" He sighs, "But it'd be illegal to kill them now. We could, out of necessity, but it would be better if we could find another solution. Else, well... drawing straws is the only thing, and that's assuming we can convince the higher-ups that's the problem."

    "So then... APART from killing them..." Rebecca starts to say. "How do we un-stretch the souls?" She feels this is a valid question to ask as she crosses one leg over the other, fingers drumming on her bicep as she looks to Kore like she might have an answer here.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kore DOES have an answer, though it comes with a sigh. "I know of two ways... well, three, really, but one of those is just a modification of another." She spreads her hand. "The best way would be natural recovery. All else being equal, they WOULD recover just from well-wishes and attempts to make them better. The real issues is that this is happening on a smaller scale all across the solar system. Constantly, copies are created, AIs are replicated, and so on, without the proper support to make them a unique being of their own. The normal... gap-filling, shall we say, isn't happening unless we can keep so many people from tugging at the spare mortar."

    She looks at Dante and Rebecca. "The other solution, of course, is to kill someone associated with the problem. This causes the souls to gravitate toward it due to sympathetic pulls. I don't really advocate killing easily, but in this case, those behind this problem should have the death penalty anyway. Find them, enact vengeance, and it... MAY help the situation, depending on how many are involved."

    "Given how many people are involved, the odds are good that at least a few of them would come through after the psychotic break just fine. I know of some cases of far more, mm, divergent personalities successfully merging. It's a bad numbers game, though, you're not wrong about that." Circe will say, though she seems a little torn about not making the attempt.

    As for Kore's ideas... "There would need to be so many people involved for murder to help much, even if that were a reasonable solution. We should find them, though. They'll probably repeat this somewhere else if we don't, for one, and also I would like to know who it is that's behind this. More likely, even with one of those approaches, we'll have to hope some of the people who have been copied are, ah, self-sacrificing. The copies could always agree to self-terminate for their other self, after all. If they have any sort of reason left at all, at least, instead of just madness and hunger."

    "So, murder or a complete societal change? I don't really like those odds. It's hard enough trying to talk about robot rights in my world," Blues grumbles, crossing his arms like the others. "Still... I'm with her. I'd like to figure out who did this just so it doesn't happen again. I'm not really fond of humans exactly, but I don't want them to suffer." That's a lie, Blues, you keep getting distracted saving kittens from trees.

    Dante cocks an eyebrow. "Aren't we being daring today? Guess either way, it'd help to figure out who's behind this. Or what, for that matter." These are questions Dante's not nearly qualified for. But he can't help but want to help somehow.

    Listening to everyone, Ike rubs his chin, "Yeah... I guess in the short term, we can see if any of these copies want to give up to help the others. That explanation you gave might help if we give it to them. I don't have much hope it will make enough of a difference but maybe it'll slow the degradation." He grunts, "I'm not really as good at this stuff as my father is, maybe he can come up with a solution... if I can get in touch with him."

    The man shakes his head again, "All right, that sounds like something at least. As for finding out who did this... we do have some leads, but I think Sky High Orbital is not going to be pursuing this much longer. I have other responsibilities, myself. But if the group of you want to pursue this, we can at least give you what we know, I can likely get approval for that."

    Rebecca raises her hand. "I'm in. I wanna know. Gimme the deets." She says. Apparently whether this involves killing guys or not, the solo is now considering herself involved. So here she is volunteering to at least listen to what Ike can get them even if Sky High Orbital might be ducking out.

    "Not like I got much else to do right now. Let's do this." Dante agrees. It'd be a stupid move to not at least try if he's gotten this far at least.

    "Not like I got much else to do right now. Let's do this." Dante agrees. It'd be a stupid move to not at least try if he's gotten this far at least.

    Kore looks at Circe... but decides not to comment on it. "I also have a vested interest in finding this out, but I think you already know that. I'm very curious who your superiors are... Ike." She sighs, "It's closer than I've gotten with all the plugging holes I've been trying to do. But it would be nice if there were another solution."

    Circe will be in agreement with the others. "You can send me any of the information you can get released. If you have to hold anything back, if you could just let us know that there are some files missing even if you can't say what they are that would be helpful too. Keep us from wondering one way or the other."

    Circe is not exactly fully trusting that nobody at Sky High Orbitals was involved, after all, even if clearly it wasn't something the company as a whole had done.

    "Really, anything you could get us can help, even if it's just a list of everyone who came in and out of here that you know of. The number of people with the technical background to do this isn't infinite."

    "I'm actually surprised they've helped this much," Blues points out. "Even in my world, companies that big aren't known for their charity and helpfulness. And here things seem even worse. Do they have an angle or something on this?"

    Circe's request is the only one that makes Ike balk. He frowns, "I can... probably do that? I think most of what we know, we got because of your help, so there shouldn't be much if anything missing. And, well..." He looks at Blues. "Sky High does have an interest in this beyond the goodness of its heart, but the whole... interest is kind of complicated. I also get the feeling there's stuff even I don't know, but what can you do?"

    He pauses to let his implant take some notes. "All right, we'll keep you all in the loop. I can't tell you more about my employers, but otherwise I think I can give you most, if not all, of what we found out. Thanks for that... I have some responsibilities here, so I can't really focus on this, but it's... disturbing. We'll be in touch."