“Look at it this way, Aes,” Darla suggested. “While there's life, there's hope.”
“Didn't you hear what I said?” he moaned. “I'm already dead!”
“Then who am I talking to? Whatever happened, you're still here, at least for now. Try to keep an open mind while we figure this out.”
A bell sounded in her mind. You have a message from Farker, a voice pitched for her ears alone told her. He's available now and wants to talk to you as soon as you are finished here.
Acknowledged, she thought back. “Aes, someone is calling me. I have to go, but I'll be back in a few minutes. Will you sit tight and not do anything until I get back?”
“I will abide,” he agreed. “Somehow.”
“Great. Back in a jiff,” she said, and logged out to her main menu. “Okay,” she told the bed, “connect me to Farker.”
Farker's face (or was it? she reminded herself. For all she knew it was just another avatar. But it had his voice, at least.) appeared in her sensorium. “Sorry about the phone tag, but I had to be at a signing for the new Realm we included today, the Realm of Egypt.”
“You said that in your recorded message,” she told him. “Funny thing about that. When I was talking to that centaur earlier, he said I'd be going to Egypt soon. How could he have known that? ROE wasn't even part of PanGames at the time.”
He stared at her. “Yes,” he agreed finally. “It is odd. Were you talking to him again just now?”
“Not really,” she said. “He was here when I logged in but he left while I was talking to Asklepios. Farker, we need to have a serious talk about Aes. His roleplay is so believable it's scary. That man has problems.”
His face froze. “You have no idea,” Farker told her.
“I have a favor to ask,” she said, before he could distract her. “Can you look up his Player account for me? I know you can't disclose customer information to third parties. I'm not asking that...but could you find out if he's in a psych ward or something? I don't mean to pry, but he needs some counseling. And you were right to be cautious about the centaur. He seemed nice, all right, but he is feeding into Aes's anxieties and if he is a therapist, he ought to be fired.”
“I can't do that,” he said, his expression odd. “Because Aes is not a Player.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Looks to me like he's got a serious gaming addiction. He's been playing so hard that he's forgotten that he even is playing! And it's messing with his mind. I've seen my share of Randoms, and he's something else. You have to log him out or something, Farker, until he can get his head straight.”
The image of Farker held up a hand. “Stop!” he said. “Please stop and listen to me for a moment. I already ran a trace. Believe me when I tell you this: Aes is not a Player. He has no gaming account with PanGames. Until yesterday he was a NPC.”
Darla listened, feeling like her head would explode. Aes was a Non Playing Character? “Don't give that crap!” she flared. “He's as real as you and me. You think I don't know the difference between an AI and a real personality? You ever program a simulation to cry like a baby?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I've worked on some of the simulations the psychology students work with.”
“The ELIZAs?” she sneered. “Give me a fokking break! They are trash no matter how fast the computer gets. As if! I'm not talking about some 'tell me more about your mother' bullshit. The man wept openly in front of me at the thought of being trapped in your game. He's in the grip of a terror that's close to crushing him. YOU stop, and listen to ME! He is this close to a complete nervous breakdown.” She paused. “And PanGames is this close to a killer lawsuit. If you're so far up your computer's ass that you don't care about a fellow human's feelings, then do you care about financial ruin?”
He was silent for a moment. “Young lady,” he said, speaking slowly and calmly, “I care about both. And I do not appreciate being called a liar. I am well aware of the legal and financial implications of psychological harm to paying customers.” Now it was his turn to pause for effect. “Before you erupt again, let me explain something. I am not some customer service punching bag you can vent at. I am the Chief Information Officer at PanGames. And the reason that I know that Aesculapius is only a program is...I wrote him myself!”
What in the hells? she thought. “That's just crazy. You don't even have his name right. It's Asklepios.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Aesculapius is the Latinized form of his Greek name. One of the most famous healers of all time. The Romans adopted him from the Greeks in 291 BC during an epidemic. Ovid mentions him in his final Metamorphosis. Supposedly, he was killed by Zeus for bringing Hippolytus back to life. Son of Coronis, a princess of Thessaly, he was raised on Mount Pelion by the centaur Cheiron.”
Darla realized that her mouth was open. She closed it. “You wrote him?” The virtual space seemed to be spinning around her. She felt dizzy.
“I wasn't always CIO of PanGames. I started out here as a developer, or 'programmer' as some of us still called ourselves, back in 2032. Realm of Legends was the first hypercomputer MMO that PanGames released. I did all the NPCs for Hellas, using AI templates and adding the speech files and the back story databases. It wasn't easy, since I had to learn some Greek first.” He gave her a grim smile. “So you see, I know all about Aes. What I do not know is how a NPC like Cheiron can go autonomous and hide from me. Or how a perfectly good NPC like Aes can go autonomous and be so convincing that I get trolled by a customer.”
Darla felt like an idiot. “I am sorry,” she said. “Sorry I lost my temper like that. I wasn't trolling you, but I apologize for what I said. I'm still trying to process what you just told me. What do you mean, 'go autonomous'? Are you saying what I think you're saying? That a piece of code is developing free will? He is completely convincing, Farker. It'd be a slam dunk for him to pass a Turing test. Have you spoken with him lately?”
“No. I've no intention of scaring him away like I did Cheiron. We both know it's impossible, but I'm not going to say boo! to him until I figure out what happened to his code. At first I thought someone had hacked PanGames, but no one hacks a hypercomputer. For some reason, these NPCs trust you more than me. Can you do me a favor and keep him stable until I figure something out?”
Of course I can, she thought. But don't act eager. “I can,” she acknowledged. “But why me? Why not a therapist...or a programmer?”
“Because he might need a little of both,” he replied. “A therapist would treat him like a nut case and make him crazy if he isn't already. A programmer, on the other hand, would ignore his 'feelings' and treat him like some kind of robot. Right now what Aes needs is someone who can listen like a friend, while analyzing problems like an engineer.”
“I'll do it,” she agreed. “In fact, I have to get back to Aes. I was so worried about him, I ducked out to call you back and yell at you. I really am sorry about that, Farker. I don't usually act this way.”
He smiled at her. “Don't worry about it. I like people who stand up for their friends. And you have no idea how gratifying it is to see someone so passionate about something I wrote. Usually all I hear is complaints and demands. It's refreshing to meet someone who gives a damn about something other than themselves. Aes is in good hands. Give him whatever help you can.”
The connection terminated.
And I will, believe me, Darla thought. But first I'm gonna go downstairs and grab one of Manny's beers, before I have a nervous breakdown. Or maybe two.
Chapter 18: Aes: Aes joins a Team