Creatrix

Chapter 22 - Manipulation

Richard’s character was in Accra. He was watching the blacksmiths as they worked, feeling the heat from the furnace as they pumped the bellows. If they put their hands in the fire, they would lose health points, but not experience any pain. Although the game could arouse a myriad of feelings and sensations, it would not stimulate the pain receptors in the body. The sensations experienced in the game were largely imagined, and while our human brain could easily engage with Creation to create pleasurable results, it would not allow the real experience of physical pain. The innate response that we all have to move away from pain would make it impossible. 

As if proving this point, Richard let his hand hover in the blaze for a few seconds. He lost a few health points, but felt nothing. Kali had arrived; she saw him and called from across the street. He left the workshop and walked over to her.

‘Hey Kali, How’s things?’ he said.

‘Hello Guthix, Tern said you might come.’ She said. ‘Things have been a bit strange to tell you the truth. I’ve been doing some research into the game.’ Kali trusted Guthix and didn't mind talking to him; he'd helped her crack codes in the past and helped her break down the NPC programming - so she was happy to tell him more. 

‘Remember when I told you about Somasync, that I thought they were trying to control people? Well, I really think they are.’ Kali tried to explain. ‘We found this player; he didn’t regenerate, but he died, stayed in the game. We couldn’t talk to him or anything; his character was just hanging in this tree. Dead. He’s not been back since.’

‘Hanging in a tree? How could that happen? You sure he was a player?’ Guthix asked.

‘Yeah, I knew him, in the game anyway – not in real life. He fought one of the Grimoalds alone, and obviously lost the fight.’ She said.

‘Didn’t he get Game Over?’

‘No. There are these things they call entities, I saw them.’ Kali said. ‘I think they had something to do with it.’

‘Entities? There are no such creatures.’

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought, but they are here and they kept him in the game. Apparently they create fear and feed off it. I did a search for them and they showed up in the database as ‘thought-based entities’, but the information just isn’t there anymore; I haven’t been able to find anything out about them since. It’s most likely a secret programme that Somasync are running.’

‘No, Somasync wouldn’t do that! Have you got any proof?’ Guthix asked.

 ‘About these entities? Well yeah.’ Kali took out the scrying bowl she had created. ‘But we should wait for Tern.’

‘I should think so too! You wouldn’t want to start the fun without me.’ Tern said. He had just turned the corner, laughing; they hadn’t seen him coming. ‘So, what’s this all about then?’ he asked.

‘I want to show you something.’ Kali said. ‘We should go inside, I don’t want anyone else to see this.’ She turned and put her hand over the door. The seal of Mowhan shimmered magenta and drifted to the floor like glitter. She opened the door and they went inside. Kali knelt down by the hearth and placed the bowl on the floor. 

‘Okay, Stay here. I’ll be right back.’ She said, and then disappeared from view. Back in her flat, Tanya reached for the keyboard. Her heart was racing.

[Sector4;datastreamlog]

[player:Dolhran\12.8]

[14.7.15\11.00]

[getdatastream] 

She closed her eyes, focused on the Lightcrystal, and reappeared in Creation. Both Guthix and Tern were looking at her.

‘Look into the bowl,’ she told them. ‘Try to see the images in it. Just watch.’

Kali didn’t want to see the scene played out again, so instead she watched their reactions. Tern’s expression changed from mild curiosity to shock, to fear, to pure horror. And as Dolhran’s screams of terror rang out from the bowl, he got up, went outside and threw up. Richard was staggered, Tern was actually being sick; somehow his mind had created enough emotional intensity to actualize the experience of being physically sick.

‘This isn’t right.’ He said.

‘Damn right it isn’t!’ Tern shouted as he came back in. ‘How did you make this thing? Did that really happen to him Kali? What are you doing, trying to mess with our heads?’

‘I’m not messing Tern, it did happen, just like that – I retrieved the background territory and bio data feedback from when he died, and wrote a programme to transfer it into images; this is what I got.’ She told him. 

‘That was sick, man. Was it like a movie or something, or is he dead? I mean in the real world?’ Tern asked.

‘No I don’t think he’s dead. There’s this fourteen-year-old kid who’s gone crazy; the story was on the news, and I think it’s him,’ she said. Tern was scared; he felt dizzy and was losing his grip on the game. At the edge of the illusion, between Creation and reality, the shadowy entities felt his fear and drew in closer. 

‘I can’t deal with this.’ He said, and unable to imagine the pain of what might happen next, his consciousness tripped out of the game. Guthix appeared calm.

‘What do you think caused this?’ He asked Kali.

‘I think Somasync are using Creation to do experiments into human consciousness. They must have written this programme that taps into your fear, makes you think you can’t get out of the game; and that’s what made this kid go crazy. I think he really experienced the pain of dying.’ Kali didn’t care if it sounded insane to talk like this, it was so important that someone understood the implications of this before it was too late. 

‘When I found the entities in the database, it said that, ‘sentient ones’ create them. I searched for them, and I saw an image of myself. If Somasync have a real image of who I am, taken out of my sub-conscious mind, and they can recreate that image in my thoughts. If they can do that, then they can manipulate what any of us think and feel, and everything what we do.’

‘That’s outrageous,’ Guthix said. ‘I mean, I agree that there is something freaky happening here, but Somasync couldn’t do that! They have to work to strict rules and safety guidelines; that’s why there are so many regulators. They monitor all aspects of the game.’

‘Yeah, but you don’t know whether they are running secret programmes, do you? Sending people into danger, just to see what happens, to see how they respond.’ Kali reasoned. Richard felt a pang of guilt; that is exactly what he had asked Karen to do, to send some players after a Grimoald, knowing that it was risky. 

‘What are you going to do about this? Guthix asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘I guess I could contact Media Control, or Somasync.’ She replied.

‘Look, I know someone who works at Somasync; I will ask if he can find out anything.’ He told her. ‘Hold tight for a couple of days; it could just be a bug, in which case, you should just report it as a fault, and they will sort it out. If it is a secret programme and they are trying to manipulate people, you wouldn’t want them knowing you’re onto them would you?’

‘No, you’re right,’ Kali said. ‘So when will you be able to talk to your friend?’

‘Give me a couple of days and I will get back to you ok?’ he said. ‘Give me your e-mail, then I can contact you outside the game if I find out anything.’ He needed to buy some time, to give him a chance to see what was really going on behind the scenes at Somasync. Kali was happy to have his support, and gave him her details before leaving Creation.