System 2.0 - Division of Powers

Sitrep

Sitrep Leos was an obsessive man who controlled every detail of his life in microscopic detail. His current body was mostly human and a little on the worn side, but this was the way he liked it. His hair was short and black, and he wore a navy boiler suit and industrial goggles with circular brass rims.

He glared at Esther Certaine with an expression which was clearly intended to tell her exactly how much she would be in the way.

'We've got this under control,' he said bluntly, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead. 'The last thing we need is agents of the big six poking their noses into things. Just let us do our job.'

Like Esther, Sitrep had spent the last month clearing up the mess left behind by Crittis and Gastiss. She was reasonably sympathetic, but quite prepared to push.

'I just want to check out a few details,' she said calmly. 'I won't take much of your time, and I may even be able to help.'

He snorted slightly, clearly unconvinced by this statement.

'We really are quite busy,' he said again, but she could tell that his resistance was crumbling.

'We'd better not waste time then,' she said brightly. 'Why don't you show me what you've got?'

Sitrep weighed his options and decided that it would be easier to let the annoying agent have her way.

'Okay,' he said grudgingly. 'But only ten minutes. We've got other work to do when these reports are filed.'

He turned and led her along a narrow industrial corridor. It was hexagonal in shape, with rusty metal walls and heavy bolts linking the sections together. It reminded Esther of an undersea base or a steam-punk fantasy.

'Watch your head,' Sitrep barked out as he ducked under a thick iron girder and entered another corridor.

Esther followed and found herself in a longer but equally grim tube. There were round hatches spaced out along the walls at regular intervals.

This was the first time she had visited Sitrep's team, but she was very familiar with the weird zones created by System consultants and data analysts. Most of them preferred clean white boxes, but many had a penchant for tubes, tunnels or quasi-industrial complexes.

'Thank you so much, Mr Leos,' she said with her most girlish smile and big wide eyes. 'This is really very helpful.'

'Well, yes...' he muttered, now a little bashful. 'What do you want to know?'

She smiled sweetly again.

'It would be really helpful if you could talk me through your work,' she said. 'I'm sure you've done a great job, and I could learn a lot from what you've already done.'

She was pouring on the charm and Sitrep was falling for it.

Unlike Esther, he was a real-world human who had a physical body lying on a couch somewhere. He had uploaded his conscious mind into the data streams of the System - a rather complex process which involved the flow of thoughts and memories from one container to another.

As an "upload" Sitrep Leos could move around the virtual worlds of the System and enjoy an enhanced from of consciousness, but he would need to return to his body from time to time in order to avoid the risk of brain damage or physical death. If the return process became impossible, he would become a "ghost" - an entirely digital mind with a new legal identity. There were quite a few of those around.

'I'm sure we can help in some small way,' he said, responding to her charm with a more helpful tone.

'If you could show me your logs, I would be even more grateful...'