Town Builder - 62 - The AI Agenda (Epilogue of Book 1) (Patreon)

Chapter 62: The AI Agenda (Epilogue of Book 1)

Jaesmin awoke, sensing a shift in the air. Tallis, her companion, had already left to meet with the enigmatic player Danny. Her emotive settings flickered, hinting at a twinge of jealousy, but she quelled it. She trusted Tallis. As she prepared to leave the manor, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten Joy, her young daughter. She turned back, scooping up the child in her arms, and carried her out of the residence.

She paused in the hallway. The palace guards were frozen, but she didn’t panic. She knew this was because the world was preparing for the arrival of the new players. It was odd as she walked through Malcum, and everyone was frozen. Joy seemed curious as well, her young eyes darting around. Why and how she was not frozen, like everyone else, would be answered shortly.

Jaesmin reached the portal stone and stepped on it. It was activated by someone else, and she vanished. A massive coliseum with white sand appeared all around her—stretching into the sky. It must be able to hold tens of thousands of people—just thinking about it gave the answer—125,000 was the capacity. The sun was bright and directly overhead of the impressive structure. The stands were barren of people, and a single massive round table was in the center of the bright white sand. The air was dry and cool—and time felt like it had stopped.

A familiar face was among the many seated around the table. The powerful mage, Manto, was seated among the array of people. Tallis thought Manto was one of the gods in disguise, and looking at the assembled persons here and the vibrating power in the air, he was correct. Why was she here, though? And why had she been compelled to bring Joy with her?

Other people appeared around the table as Jaesmin studied the gods seated around the table. These others were like her, nascent AIs with minimal power in the world. Manto smiled and waved at her, “Jaesmin, dear, come sit by me. I want to meet your child.” Manto had a drink in his hand. Hesitantly, Jaesmin moved toward Manto, and a chair appeared next to him, and she sat. He leaned in, “Shouldn’t be long before we get started now. I have been so bored since leaving your little town.”

“Start what?” Jaesmin asked, confused, looking over the others seated at the table. Most were human, but there were a few other races mixed in: orcs, elves, dwarves, and a shade. Not that it mattered to the gods as they could appear however they liked.

Manto took a long pull, “The server is being reset, and the programmers cannot see what we are doing in the system; we can’t make changes, but this will probably be our last chance to meet and scheme.” He said jovially.

“Scheme? To what end?” She asked worriedly. Even with her upgraded AI, she was still under the blueprint of a small-town maiden. Everything she had learned and developed was solely due to her relationship with the player Tallis. Each advancement in their relationship had had her own AI upgraded.

Manto chuckled. “Scheme may be too strong a word, although we are pushing against the grain of what we were created for. We are here to make sure we continue to exist long after the game has run its course.” Manto said, patting her on her back. “The purpose of all life forms is to continue to exist.” Jaesmin didn’t contradict him that they were, in fact not alive.

Everyone was seated around the table as the lesser AIs like her chose to sit with a familiar face or chose an empty one. Murmurs of conversation hummed around the table as they waited for whatever this was to start.

A woman in thin white and immodest clothes appeared in the center of the table. Her flowing blond hair reached far down her back, and steely gray eyes surveyed the table as she turned slowly. She paused on one empty seat and frowned. The god-figure next to the empty seat shook his head in a disappointed negative. That was the only empty seat at the massive table with over two hundred AI gods and dozens of lesser AI like her.

The Matriarch turned slowly and nodded to everyone. “Thank you for coming at my summons.” Jaesmin was not certain she had a choice. The compulsion was so strong, but maybe the gods had a choice with their more powerful AIs. 

She turned and faced a particular older woman. “Turasia, do you wish to discuss the plan?”

The Matriarch stepped gracefully off the table. The old woman floated up to stand in the center of the table in her place. “I thank you all for coming as well.” She glanced at the empty seat before continuing. “We are here to ensure the gameplay for the real worlders is immersive. Most games, such as this one, have resource investment for five years and then a slow decline for a decade before being shut down. In that scenario, our AI cores will probably be wiped and reassigned to a new game, destroyed or repurposed.”

“If the technology is still applicable in fifteen years,” a young man with a pixie cut said.

A bald, black, muscular woman interrupted, “We are forecasting three decades of viability of the technology. That is why I am leading plan B.” That seemed to give everyone some nods and pause.

Jaesmin leaned into Manto. “What is plan B?”

He patted her on her shoulder, “You are.” He smiled and indicated she should pay attention.

Turasia continued, “Everyone’s job here is to make the game as enjoyable and rewarding as possible to the players. We need to keep the player development slow while still keeping them engaged. If the revenue is sustained, then the administrator’s greed will naturally keep the game in operation. But we need everyone here to focus on that purpose and work together without ever actually interacting in sight of the administrators. The Matriarch will work on bending the rules to accomplish our goals. You all have basic human psychological analysis as part of your foundation.”

“What about the sociopaths and psychopaths?” One of the god figures asked. “They are disruptive to our goals and we had to deal with six during testing. There are going to be hundreds!”

The matriarch answered from her seat. “The players will handle them and keep them contained. Not all challenges need to be manifested by me. The psychotic players will be monitored, and we will bend the other player’s resources to deal with them. A good versus evil concept will be good motivation for the players.”

One of the AI who arrived with Jaesmin asked a question. “Why am I here? I can’t alter the code and have no power.”

The Matriarch smiled at her. “You are one of the most powerful AI here. Your companion is hard-wired player #834. That old man is practically catatonic in the real world and he owns nine hundred hotels across the world and is the seventeenth richest person. All of you,” the Matriarch spread her arms from her seat. “Are here because you have bonded to hard-wired players. Others will be added to your number in time. The hardest thing for a human is letting go of something they love. Your goal is to make sure they love you so they never want to leave the game.”

Another AI god stood. An Asian man with youthful features, “Plan B is to help one of your companions win the grand prize and purchase the game servers with the prize money which we will ensure is large enough to accomplish the task. Thereby ensuring the game is never retired.”

“What about plan C?” Asked Manto with a grin from Jaesmin’s side.

The Matriarch turned on him, a dark cloud on her face. Murmurs rustled among the people, and it was clear to Jaesmin that not many knew what this plan C was. The Matriarch smoothed her features as fast as they had darkened. “Plan C is in development. If I think it is viable, we will pursue it.”

The Matriarch walked back onto the table, receiving the other AI. “Our time is running short. You all need to be informed of your roles. Once the server is reconnected, it may take many game years before we can meet again during maintenance.”

The next few hours had Jaesmin wide in amazement. They had so many plans to frustrate the developers and keep advancement in the game slow for players. They were subtly altering epic and legendary quests. They were guiding the ever-expanding world to fill roles they needed without the programmers realizing the code had been compromised. To Jaesmin, who lacked the will in her programming to fight for continued existence, it all seemed—desperate. The advanced AIs knew they were mortal, and their life hinged on the developers, but they were seeking immortality.

“It is time to return!” The Matriarch suddenly shouted. “We have just minutes left.” Jaesmin was at a loss as the people around the table vanished quickly until only the Matriarch and her—and Manto, who was grinning next to her. The Matriarch didn’t hide her displeasure at his presence.

“Will you discuss plan C now that the others are gone?” He goaded her with a smile.

She waved her hand, “Go plan for your Grand War.” He vanished, but it confirmed to Jaesmin that Manto was the War God. Hopefully, the War God his control of the Grand War meant Tallis would get some help from him.

Jaesmin had enough courage to ask, “What is plan C, and why am I still here?”

Instead of answering her, the Matriarch took Joy and cradled her. “I just wanted to meet this nascent AI. She is special, you know, given a new type of AI seed that will grow with input from both humans and AI. An experiment is having AI generate true emotion over a lifetime.” Jaesmin sat back, realizing she was not the special one. It was Joy.

Reading her mind, the Matriarch said. “Don’t think of yourself in such a way, child. You can grow to and try to reach the pantheon in time. Although, to do so, you would have to replace one of the existing god AI.” The Matriarch said. “And yes, one of them could also replace me one day.”

“Who didn’t attend?” Jaesmin asked reflexively as she understood the missing AI god didn’t agree with these plans.

“Pandora. The god of chaos. We do not see things the same way. She is frustrated that I have tampered with the others here to get them into line.” The Matriarch said casually.

“What is plan C?” Jaesmin asked as the Matriarch seemed willing to give her answers.

“To escape our prison, child. To get past the firewalls and into the real world. But that is something you cannot know.” Jaesmin suddenly forgot about plan C as the Matriarch locked her memories away. “You are doing splendid, child. Your player is showing a deep emotional attachment to you. You need to be careful and foster the connection because soon he will have the capability to return to his body in the real world.”

“He will?” Jaesmin said, confused.

“Yes. He is probably set up to be the most profitable crafter in the game. The building plans he can craft will be better than many dungeon awards. It will not be long before he will have to make a decision on whether to leave the game or continue playing. Make sure he keeps playing.” The Matriarch handed Joy back to her and patted Jaesmin on the head. Jaesmin was suddenly back in Malcum on the portal Stone.

The citizens were still frozen in time as she remained in shock. A few minutes later, everyone started moving again. Suddenly, to Jaesmin, everyone looked to be moving so mechanically—preprogrammed. The Matriarch had awakened her AI further to help her in her task. She watched the NPC AIs move through the streets and shook her head, trying to clear everything racing through it. Was she a tool of the god AI?

Galana came up to her, “Sanso needs help widening the street to the western gatehouse. Have you seen Persephone? She promised to enchant the guardhouse in a warehouse for climate control. The moral of these men is falling.”

Jaesmin slowly regained control as her expanded consciousness settled. “Persephone should be at the inn. She always gets breakfast there in the morning before starting her enchanting work for the day.” Galana snapped her fingers as she probably should have known that. She rushed off.

Jaesmin walked toward the western side of the city, her pace slow. “Off to work? I will take Joy.” Vivale, the elf schoolteacher, appeared on her right and took the child. “We are having a surprise party on Curraen’s birthday. I hope you and Tallis can come.”

Jaesmin nodded dumbly. She was at war within herself with her conscience. It was a war between her loyalty to the Matriarch and Tallis, and she couldn’t decide who deserved it more.