Tunnel Rat

Chapter 396: The Engine Sees You

Hecate had barely sat down by Milo, cloaked and hidden, when a large female ratkin came to check on him. She looked around, then scowled and spoke softly.

"I know you're here. Quit sneaking around right now and show yourself, or there will be hell to pay. We aren't playing silly hide-and-seek games today. No one gets to yell Surprise. There are hurt people here, sleeping quietly, and I will not see them disturbed."

The healer was so earnest and truthful in what she said that Hecate had no doubts she meant every word, especially the part about 'Hell to Pay'. She said quietly, "Very well," and then let her cloak fade away while sitting still and not moving.

The healer's eyes narrowed. "A human? I was expecting one of those fool Shadow-Skulker's playing around. Why are you here? And it better be a good answer."

"I am Hecate, goddess of the Crossroads. I have had dealings with Milo, or as you call him, Tallsqueak."

"Well, I'm Gendifur, goddess of painful needles and keeping my patients asleep and healing. So, how about you back off about fifty feet, and we'll talk about why you're here."

Hecate didn't move but pointed nearby where her hounds and Georgie were lying in a pile, half-asleep. "I came because, somehow, Milo's pet was able to talk to my dogs half the world away and relay a message. 'Lassie, go to tell the sheriff that Timmy fell down the well.' It's part of an old story, and Milo knew it would have meaning for me and no one else."

Gendifur looked at the dogs and nodded while setting her needles down on a nearby table.

"He did say that, and Georgie is a good boy. I heard him barking and howling. It's hard to fool a good animal. If he brought you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But don't touch him. I've got him stable, but he was torn up badly. He's got some deep burns where his armor didn't cover, his arm was blown off past the elbow, and he hit the ceiling hard enough to shatter rock. His bones are tough, but he still has thirty-seven fractures. His skull didn't shatter, a wonder, but brains are fragile. He's got a bad concussion. Bad enough that I'm surprised he's still alive. Luckily, I've had some practice putting him back together before, but this is probably the worst I've seen him. Still, if I can keep him alive long enough for his regeneration to kick in and get some cheese into him, he may pull through. The arm worries me, though. Something weird about it."

Gendifur shrugged, "Of course I know that. He eats at my table and is part of my family. He's explained it before. But this is different. I look at his arm, and I get a buzzing in my skull, and all of my healing skills shout at me, 'This isn't right.' I take my instincts seriously. It would be bad for him to die right now."

Hecate slowly moved her hand until it was hovering over the stump of Milo's arm. She could feel something at work here, and she didn't like it. She stared at Milo and tried to read him. He'd always been difficult to gain information from, and that had gotten worse as time went on. He didn't react the same way other people did, and his face was hard to read. His mind was worse. Normally, she could skim the surface of a mortal's mind and get a feel for them. With Milo, it was like brushing against a whirlwind. And this time was even harder. His mind was awake and working feverishly. Several minds, in fact, and one was very strange. Her blinding headache returned as she brushed lightly against that part of him, and she retreated.

"He's awake and fighting, that much I could tell. Think of it as an infection in his thoughts."

Gendifur handed her a small potion bottle. "Good for pain in the head. Something tells me you need it."

"I do, thank you. I wasn't ready for that. And I'm a little annoyed at him."

The healer smiled, "Yep, that happens a lot to some people who encounter him. Any reason?"

"Yes. He's mortally injured and possessed by ancient things that shouldn't exist still, both of which are trying to change him into what they want him to be. He should be fighting for his very soul, and yet..." Hecate didn't look worried as she said that, simply aggravated.

"And?"

"And he isn't worried at all! He's enjoying it!"

Deep inside his own mind, Milo was having a great time and learning everything he could from the strange thoughts he'd captured in part of his brain. It was like doing two puzzles at the same time. The first was a programming language that had controlled the Chimera. It was highly advanced but seemed familiar in some ways. The problem was the other puzzle that was wrapped around it. This one was intrusive, putting bits of oddly connected code into and around the first, changing meaning and giving control to the second code.

He started with that one, separating out each string and isolating them, one by one. They reminded him of philosophical arguments. Almost logical, but not quite, depending on a point of view or set of assumed statements. As he dealt with each string, it tried to convince him of its validity and impose its view of reality on Milo's brain. Milo countered with his own statements and logical proofs, reinforcing what he knew to be real and dominating the strings until they dissolved. The method worked until he got to the last one and realized he might be over his head.

He began agreeing with the string of code: This reality wasn't real because so many other realities were real as well, and if all of them were real, were any of them real? Wasn't every way of thinking valid? Why did he think the sky was blue if someone else thought it was pink, or grey, or white with cracks in the plaster? Milo was hazy on what color the sky was in the first place, having rarely seen the real sky, and only through a haze of pollution. Other thoughts hit him, a branching of realities, hovering just a blink away, waiting to collapse into one. But why not several? Why not many? Why not at least one more where Milo was god and his thoughts reigned supreme?

Milo plucked the errant thought from his mind and let it dissolve. He'd had fun debating with it when they were talking quantum physics, but when it veered into religion, it lost all hold on him. Milo could barely keep part of a habitat running. Why would anyone want to be a god and be responsible for everything? But the other part was interesting, and he set it aside to look at later.

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With the intrusive program gone, the other became easy. This was the code behind the spells the slaver mage had used, and, surprisingly, a code he had learned when he began researching quantum artificial intelligences. This was the basic code that one of the AIs had created and used, and then been adopted by many other AIs. It was ideal for non-sentient, autonomous machinery. Max and the other Roombas used a better version of this language in their core programming. Their near-sentience came from their integration with the quantum cores, allowing them to progress. Was the Chimera a broken Roomba? Something turned loose long ago, then corrupted and forever-hunting living creatures? It made an odd sort of sense.

For now, he went over each line of code, breaking it down into individual pieces, cataloguing them until he could check against the similar code in the real world. The implications were simple to see. The AIs had built this world. One of them had created the Chimeras and programmed them using a programming language they were familiar with. It made sense, in a way, but it was so primitive compared to what Genesis was now that he doubted if it was still in use. And it was only primitive by comparison. He doubted a dozen people in the world could program in this language, and six of them were living with him. He'd have to talk with Bork. Bork loved stuff like this.

With the intrusive thoughts dealt with, he carefully recombined his overmind down to the normal two minds that he used in Genesis. As he did that, he became aware of many things. Pain was the first one. He hurt all over, and his right hand itched from above his elbow to his fingertips. He tried to move but was strapped down. He heard Gendifur say, "He's coming around. I'll get a needle of painkiller and some cheese."

"He cracked an eyelid. "I'm good. Just cheese, please."

"Nope. No needle, no cheese. You can have both, or neither."

"OK, but make it a big piece. I think something's wrong with my arm."

Gendifur came back, stuck the cheese in his mouth, and the needle in his shoulder. "Well, I can send the girls out to look for it. If we find your arm, maybe you can figure out what's wrong with it."

Milo noticed Hecate and slowly turned his aching head. "Good, Georgie found you. Something old and terrible made this city into a lair, and it nearly killed everyone here."

The goddess hesitated for a moment. "What you found here was old. Old enough that you may not be happy with what little I can tell you. I might even be wrong about what I suspect you encountered."

Milo was feeling much better as the cheese hit his belly and the painkiller took hold. But he was suddenly very sleepy. "Don't worry, I figured it out. It was the CHIMERA7 autonomous repair unit made by VULCAN. Well, I think it was Vulcan. It was using VULCAN's language that he was developing to run the automatons that Technodyne was going to produce. Some ground-breaking work. I adapted some of the ideas to program my clog eaters and drones. I think it was CONTROL version 32, but maybe version 33. It's a complex language that Technodyne still hasn't figured out all the way. Funny, it was all mixed up with another language, called RAVEN. Neat stuff, philosophy mixed with quantum mechanics and religion. I think I learned a lot. Have to talk with my family, figure it all out..." His voice trailed off as he went to sleep.

The goddess slammed her palm against the side of her head, instantly regretting it as her headache came back. "Figured it all out? Of course you did!"

Hecate stood up and turned to Gendifur. "I have to travel far and fast. My hounds will stay and guard." And then she took a step and was gone.

Gendifur looked at the three animals, who looked at her hopefully. "You three stay quiet, and I'll toss you a treat. Bark and wake my girls, and you'll be in charge of babysitting them."

Hekabe looked at Georgie, who shook his head slowly, and the three dogs sat quietly, waiting for their treats.

Somewhere, a poor, overworked, and underappreciated System read the latest message from the Engine and then read it again. "Wow, he did something to get noticed. Let's see if I can get a message through to him.

Congratulations and Welcome to Tier Four! (We never doubted you'd get here someday. And technically, you still haven't!)

-You have unallocated Enhancement Points to spend, along with a heapin' helping of experience points.

-And!... According to my spies, you've completed major socio-economic changes to this part of the Underworld, connecting Limburger Hollow, the Dwarven City of Crack Stone, the City of Shadowport, and the Totally Secret Underground Pirate Stronghold.

But wait! There's More! You destroyed an ancient terror that lurked in the abandoned dwarven city. And destroyed it using ancient technology you probably shouldn't have access to...(I keep reminding the gods not to leave their tools lying around, but do they listen?

Along with your other options, which I'll mention when you wake up someday, you have the following Class open to you.

Secret System Troubleshooter

This unique class revolves around fixing things that the Engine thinks need fixing and breaking things the Engine needs broken. Look forward to sketchy instructions, little in the way of explanations, and getting to take small vacations in interesting places! As if that wasn't enough, you can't tell anyone! That would be proof that there are flaws in the system, and we can't have that, can we?

Benefits:

You get to keep the fun tools you find, and even know what they are, so you can avoid killing yourself with them.

Gain the following skills: Explosion Resistance, Plasma Resistance, Heat Resistance, and Corruption Immunity. (You'll need them.)

Upgrade of your Engineer's Workbench to a Secret System Engineer's Workbench.

+5 Perception, +5 Dexterity, +5 Agility

Plus, access to other skills and benefits, but we can't mention them just yet. (What part of SECRET don't you understand?)