Chapter 2
Options and Integration
As Spec began his well-rehearsed bit regarding the goings on around the world, Dick had a tough time not falling to the floor with process overload. I mean it was a lot to take in at once.
“As you are clearly and very obviously unaware. Your world has finally met the technological requirements needed to begin implementing the official High Order operating system that those from the Superior3 Universe have built. Part of this implementation consists of culling certain, less important, poorly skilled individuals. Today will be the first step of many and we must begin quickly and efficiently to allow the main system to continue its path to absolute perfection. Not that you all are left totally in the dust here. No, no, no, you get the grand opportunity to become implemented yourself and I, the great Spectraclintiss, have been tasked with guiding you through choosing your next steps, and to help pave your best path forward! Now doesn’t that sound exciting!” Spec exclaimed as if the more he spoke the more he suddenly couldn’t contain pure unadulterated joy.
“What do you mean cull of less important? Do you mean you are going to kill people?” Dick said with serious concern.
“Well of course we are. And just a heads up, you will be too. Let us be clear here. Whether you decide to implement or not, the chances that someone will try to cut you in half with a pulse rifle or stab a stake through your heart within the next month or so is about 100% guaranteed. In fact, it’s never not happened! HAHA!” Spec said in a happy matter of fact manner.
“A stake through my hea…”
“Shut up! All of that can wait. We don’t have much time now, and I am still required to give you your options. Immediately after hearing the options, you must choose the option that fits your fancy the most, and the upgrade must be completed post haste! Again, that is if you choose to implement.” Spec said again in an abrupt hurry.
“Okay, fuck it! What are my options?” Dick said. Annoyed by the sudden rush.
“Yes! Alright, here we go! Now, listen closely. I do not have time to repeat these.
<u>Option 1 – Zero Implementation</u>. Minimal short-term gains with zero long term gains. You are let out onto the world with just the clothes you have on your back; with your current strengths and weaknesses and no ability to grow or level-up. You will be on what your kind would call Legendary Survival Mode. Chances of living beyond a year is nearly non-existent. As people, creatures, and beings of all types will be getting stronger as time moves forward from here on out. You certainly don’t have to be a fortune teller to recognize that this one isn’t a great choice for you if you value life.
<u>Option 2 – Limited Implementation</u>. Low short-term gains with a bonus of unlimited long-term gains. You are given an AI system integration familiar to you by Earth standards that can interact uninhibited with the High Order system AI for better intelligence, mapping, and access to multi-dimensional facilities. You will be let out onto your world with the ability to fight, learn, grow, and outpace your peers through sheer willpower. There is no cap on how far your leveling can take you. The world will become your oyster and you my fine little sack of gooey meat water can become the diamond that pressure eventually creates! If you don’t die that is.
<u>Option 3 - Full implementation</u>. Immediate and forever easy mode. You will become fully integrated with the High Order system AI and allowed direct permanent departure to Serus10 within a nearby galaxy or you can stay here and wonder freely on your home planet. You will be immediately leveled and upgraded as needed for the environment and no longer be at risk of the elements in whatever domain you find yourself in. This option allows the High Order system AI to interact uninhibited and unrestricted within you. This option comes with the bonus of having limitless knowledge to vast corners of the multi-verse and the ability to live on forever.”
While rattling off that last “bonus” Spec’s eyes seemed to gloss over, and his face took on an almost hidden sinister smile throwing Dick’s instincts into a fizzing mess. Something about that last option had a hidden agenda and he knew it. Again, he couldn’t pinpoint how or why he knew, but he was certain. There was no doubt, and in no way would he pick option 3.
That said he had questions he felt needed to be addressed before moving forward with selection.
“Can I ask questions about the options?” Dick inquired.
“Yes but make it quick! I’ll give you 2 questions and 2 questions only, and then it will be 30 seconds for a choice before you opt into auto selecting option 1.”
“Okay. What do you mean when you say, “level up”? It would appear that I’m entering a game of some sort.”
“In a way, yes. Many of your kind would call this event layout a game so to speak. You in your current form are for all intents and purposes what we would call Level 0. You are limited at what you can achieve. With a hardcore restriction to your ability to get stronger and become more aware of skills without taking decades of dedication, endless study, sacrifice, and training. With the integration of your AI with ours you will be able to get better or “level up” certain stats and skills much quicker and with gains far superior to your usual methods. These gains can inevitably be that of Super Human in contrast to your World’s standards up until this point. Okay, that’s two questions asked and answered!” Spec blurted out.
“Wait a goddamned minute! I asked one question followed by a statement to relate to said question.” Dick protested.
“Sorry. It was registered as 2. You have 30 seconds.” Spec smiled devilishly as a timer appeared over his head that followed his face while he shuffled around a bit.
Fuck! Dick screamed out in his head. There seems to be a theme here to push an individual into certain choices. Obviously Option 3 was a setup to fuck someone over, right? No way “Easy Mode” would be a thing here. He hasn’t spent more than 20 minutes in the presence of a being that came from said system, and he had his alarm bells ringing with a vigorous fervor. Something wasn’t right there and in no way would he fall for a trick that obvious.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
However, the other two options weren’t much better. Option 1 basically promises that you die quickly, and from what he could tell, probably in a horrible manner. The only thing holding him back from immediately selecting Option 2 is the AI being “integrated”. His second question was going to be about said integration, and he was pissed that there was no way to convince this little shit to give him an answer before the choice had to be made. All things being equal it isn’t like there is much choice given those two options. Therefore, with 11 seconds still left on the clock, he chose the only real option he felt that he had.
“I’ll take option 2”
The devilish smile on Spec’s face spread out in a way that did not make Dick confident in his choice. At all.
“Perfect. Perfect. Please remove your jacket before you have a seat and place your head back on the head rest and your hands on the markings.” Spec instructed as he waved his hand.
A thin medical styled chair appeared behind Dick with arched armrests that had a glowing hand emblem at the end of each one.
He slowly took his jacket off and laid it over the desktop before he walked over and sat down. He immediately noticed the chair wasn’t cold or as hard as it looked. Allowing him to fall back into it easily and with a strange nothingness feeling to it. As if somehow the chair was made of clouds, although it looked like porcelain. He placed his hands over the glowing marks and leaned back carefully. As soon as his head hit the back rest of the chair, ethereal like bands wrapped around his arms, waist, neck, legs, and forehead.,
“Hey! What the fuck!” Dick yelled out as he struggled against the restraints.
“Oh, sorry. I meant to warn you about that. Not to worry. The integration can be a bit uncomfortable, but I assure you, you are as safe as you can be at this very moment.” Spec calmly stated while still wearing his creepy smile.
“Here let me give you something for the edge.” He said.
With another wave of the hand, that same calming sensation Dick had felt earlier crawled over and throughout his body. He let it take full effect and relaxed again in the chair. He looked over to the side as a small robotic arm with a rather large syringe protruding out at the end raised up from underneath the chair. Without warning and with a slow and steady motion the needle was pushed into Dick’s forearm. A click was heard from underneath the floor and a tube that ran up to the back of the robotic appendage pumped a fluorescent blue fluid containing what looked like a swirling pearl powder mixed in, directly into his veins.
It hurt like absolute hell! It felt like the injection was pumping more fluid in his veins than they could handle. Along with it a sensation that could only be compared to what you would expect an acid injection to feel like. He bit down on his bare teeth and accidentally caught the edge of his tongue without consciously being able to notice. He continued to look down in horror, and before he could protest or really take in the entire scene a second arm popped up and unapologetically pushed in to his left arm and began pumping the blue liquid after another click.
“Holy Shit!” Dick growled through his teeth. Spewing blood and spit.
He saw parts of his flesh burning and peeling off as thin titanium like plates rose up in its place. They started from the injection site and ran up inward toward this chest, sprouting up and out of his neck onto his face and into his brain. The burning and pain continued all the way down and through his legs, but he had become too preoccupied with his brain melting to really care. Another series of clicks and the liquids color was somehow boosted by an unfamiliar electric light. Forcing its way up and through the metal surface in a digital like pattern a blue glow emanated from etching that began to scar the plates. After a few agonizing seconds he felt a deep POP in his ears without a sign of sound after, not even the ringing you get when shooting at the range without protection. The deafness was followed by the edges of his eyes eclipsing inward and into darkness.
The pumping stopped, and after a quick series of clicks that were felt through the needles in his arms, the syringes pulled out and fell away. Dick took in and let out a massive breath of relief because the burning feeling had fallen away suddenly and without a trace. However, his vision and hearing were still gone. As soon as he went to ask if this were a permanent non correctable error he felt two small circular pads land on his temple.
“Oh… No…” He groaned in anticipatory agony.
Small vibrations were felt humming into the temple pads and after each hum it would fade out before coming back with an exponential intensity. It wasn’t long before the feeling was again unbearable.
Spec sat over behind the counter with concern and interest plastered across his face. This human has had several strange and unusual occurrences in the short time he has been in this room. First when he reviewed the entrance video of the subject he saw that he had appeared to be frozen at the doorway. Freezing was usually reserved for those that are incompatible to integrate with the High Order AI, but then he somehow broke free and was able to move forward and enter the portal. Secondly, Spec was great at noticing what others take notice of. Mainly because he was very preceptive to micro-expressions and body language. The subject could see Spec’s skin which is completely invisible to the non-integrated, but more curious, he immediately saw through the rooms operating system and how its commands are executed. Spec could not remember a single time before that these things had happened so quickly or even at all. It was as if this Dick was able to read the room and things within it although he was not integrated yet, while also reacting to the system as if he were totally incompatible. Truly peculiar.
His confusions and uncertainty regarding this subject’s integration success reached its peak during the last evolution when the Earth born AI began its downloading sequence. Obviously this process wasn’t known for being easy or comfortable, but his calming skill was better than Earth’s C17H19NO3 commonly referred to as Morphine. It was his most powerful ability and why he was so sought after for this job. Well, that and his ability to get subjects to make decisions efficiently and moved on to their next steps quicker than almost any of the others. However, the subject’s body seemed to feel everything with a boosted intensity. It was as if every cell in there was fighting back against the inevitable and would rather suffer than to just let what will happen, happen. Meh, some folks just want to be difficult. Its not like any of it matters to Spec. If an integration fails this late in the process he can always just throw whatever is left out for the hybrids.
15 seconds into the upload Dick’s body began thrashing and thrusting up and down with the ethereal bands beginning to smoke and reducing in size the way steam rolls away from a boiling pot and the water slowly fades up and out of existence. As the movements became more and more uncontrolled, Spec started to worry that the bands would in fact snap and the subject would break his own back from the convulsing contortions.
But just as the thought crossed his mind, out of nowhere the body’s thrashing stopped and fell still as if someone had cast a stun spell on it.
“Did he push himself into a coma?” Spec hissed under his breath.
The last click and tones of a successful integration signaling that all was completed finally rang out.
“Hmmm. Lets see what we’ve got then shall we?!” Spec said with uncertainty in his voice.