Dispatches From Xi: Days 17 to 23
by KrazyFace, HSM team writer
Entry: Day 17
The two named suspects of yesterday’s investigations are both denying their involvement in anything Xi-related at the moment. Not exactly a huge surprise, I must admit, but a strange video has found its way into my video files within my Xi personal space. It’s the coder I dug up the most information on, and he seems to be in trouble. It might just be his idea of a joke, though, so for now I’ll await any word from Axiom about whether it’s legitimate or not. As for the artist, the only new info I have on them is that they’re female. Not what I’d call much use, in any regard; still, every little piece helps us inch forward and unravel the truth.
It seems even Axiom are in need of some proper rest and relaxation, however, since today’s mission was nothing more than a scavenger hunt in the Continuum’s trash site, the place I first entered on arrival. Apparently the vocal masses have been complaining that Snowcrash Bar doesn’t have enough “ambiance,” and Jess knows just how to fix that! So, I spent most of today rummaging around in digital garbage so that I might assemble a working stereo for the bar and its occupants. Not exactly what I’d call imperative work, but hey, it’s nice to get away from impending doom every once in a while!
The ensuing party that came from the new tunes was fun, while it lasted. I even caught up with some of the original Xi agents from our training days. These moments are all too fleeting, though, and I’m afraid tomorrow will be another day of dodging maniac robots and hunting loosely-hinged arsonists before I know it.
Entry: Day 18
As the Divine Zeros continue their protest against our methods of inquiry, it leaves me wondering if what we’re doing is right. If my previous thoughts of them being some kind of super intelligent A.I. are right, then what Axiom are doing can’t be humane. It is far more likely that they are not some kind of new digital life form, though, which means all their foot-stamping and protesting about “avatar rights” isn’t much more than the equivalent of a child having a temper tantrum. Regardless of any of this, it seems Axiom will not be swayed in the methods they use to obtain the information they desire, and as an agent of their faction I must agree with their methods.
More developments on the two suspects have come to light also; Gigi (the graphic artist) still seems to elude Axiom’s capture and maintains her lack of knowledge to anything Xi related. Adrian the coder, however, is a very different story. I received yet another video made by him in my Xi space today. I’m not sure what happened to him on the night of his first video posting, but things don’t seem to be going in his favor. It seems he’s on the run from someone, or something; whatever it is, it’s got him scared since he admitted to walking the streets for the last day or so. Considering they came for him at his home, I’d say this is a pretty smart move on his part. Just before the video feed cuts out he also admits to “knowing something.”
I’ve tried to locate him via various means through the net, but he’s laying lower than I gave him credit for. Whoever or whatever he’s running from knows what he knows, and I must try to find him before they do.
SUPPLEMENTAL: I just found a conversation between Axiom and Adrian on the EU Official Home Forums. An interesting read to say the least. Axiom seemed particularly concerned about getting Adrian back to his home as soon as possible. Instinct is telling me this might be the last we hear from him.
Entry: Day 19
Attention Span Zero. Today I met an odd fellow sitting on the Continuum’s Stone Henge, and this is the group he claimed his allegiance to as I understand it; could this be a division of the Divine Zeros? It’s far too early to tell. It wasn’t just him I found today, either: I also found a rather bizarre-looking avatar sitting on the side of a building. She seemed to be made of fire and restricted by a straight-jacket, and she kept quoting strange things from famous people but went too fast for me to take much of it in. Truth be told I was trying to take in what she was saying while wondering exactly how she was able to sit upright vertically on the side of the building! The only one that hit me with any bearing on what could be going on here in the Continuum was a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. –
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”
This it seems could be connected to what the Divine Zero are staking their claim in, that they made the Continuum themselves, for a solution to a peaceful space away from the torrents of injustices of each world – the real, and the virtual. The Quinta Essentia is becoming easier to understand as agents across the world are combining their languages to decipher it. I doubt it’ll be long before we have the full article thanks to our teamwork.
In the mean time, Axiom continue to justify their heavy-handed approach for extracting answers from our opponents. To begin with I was fine with how they conduct their (and my) business but now I’m feeling their over justification of their techniques seems like they know what they’re doing isn’t morally correct. There has been no word from Adrian the coder since he was told by Axiom it was safe for him to return home.
Entry: Day 20
Today has a wealth of information. We now have some positive ID’s on the members of Divine Zero/Attention Span Zero, A.K.A “AS-0″.
Tiberius: 21 year old male. Self appointed leader of the group.
Flaminatorix: 24 year old female (?). Seems to use sarcasm as humor, probably to hide her insecurities of being an admitted unwanted child. Enjoys confrontation with strangers.
N.E.R.D.I.C.A: Still little is known about this individual, mostly seems to speak nothing but pointless gibberish.
Sandboxx: The youngest of the group. Knows how to code. Could be Adrian Erasmus.
MerylSilvertongue: Student studying design and programming. Seems to have an interest in the human body and how it functions as a single unit. Seems to find the concept of virtuality “terrifying” which conversely seems to excite her.
It appears AS-0 now want to be found. If they wanted to stay hidden from us, I’m sure they could have kept out of our line of sight for a few more days, at the very least. Yet showing themselves in the Continuum tells me they want to talk to us, but they’re maybe just not very sure of Axiom’s real intentions. I must admit, this is beginning to be true of myself also.
On top of this new information I was shocked to find Stapler from my training days of the original Xi. He looked like he was in pretty bad shape, clearly someone had vandalized him and dropped him in the “carpark” of the Continuum next to the dumping site for trash. He’s obviously taken damage to his innards as well since rather than spouting his usual cheerful insights, he’s saying some very odd things. “It’s not enough to succeed… Others must fail in the process”.
I can only hope Jess will find him and fix him up before his abductors come back to finish him off.
Entry: Day 21
Axiom have surprised me with their attitude towards AS-0 (Divine Zeros) and the information they themselves have uncovered about them. It looks like Axiom might even have a little bit of admiration for them. I quote from my correspondence from them:
“These 5 ‘geeks’ have managed to overcome many geographical and cultural obstacles to create something that is literally out of this world. Be they geeks or not, that’s some achievement.”
AS-0 also granted us access past the locked-off area of the Continuum, for a limited period. At first Axiom and myself were hesitant of their motives since this is the area EFD and her gang have been hiding, but it soon became clear to me AS-0 took down the barrier so we could flush them out – it seems we’re the lesser of two evils. The fight that followed wasn’t easy, either; in fact, I nearly lost. Thankfully though, I have a strong team behind me and we pulled it out at the very end and drew capture of Malachi at last. This outcome however, did not seem to phase EFD much at all which is just a little worrying. What’s her Plan B, I wonder?
AS-0 remain a mystery to us, flaminatorix is still sitting on the sheer side of a building next to Axiom HQ and spouting odd quotes from famous people, Meryl hasn’t been heard of since our capture of her Simulacrum nor has N.E.R.D.I.C.A or Tiberius. I did meet sandboxx’s Simulacrum in Axiom’s HQ, though; even for an answering machine, he seemed rather polite for a “troublemaker”. I think I’ll spend the rest of my day recovering from the day’s fight, it was my toughest so far. I think EFD knew we were coming as soon as her firewall went down this time; regardless, I need some rest.
Entry: Day 22
I’ve requested a little bit of time out following my success with the confrontations of yesterday, and Axiom have granted it. They’ve also given me quite a pat on the back for my work with Malachi too. It was rather close but I did a damn good job pulling it back if I don’t mind saying so myself, I’ll happily take some well deserved rest for a little while today. Having said this, it’s not exactly all flowers and roses today; after defeating Malachi yesterday my little chat with EFD saw her mention her revenge for what I did to her and her team. My Primer assures me that EFD carries out her threats 89% of the time, and her threat was very much aimed at me in particular, so while I’d like to relax, I find my mind wandering over her threat repeatedly.
All agents of Axiom have been posted today with pictures of the fires that EFD had started as well. I suppose it’s some kind of reminder of who and what we’re dealing with. I know after the few victories we’ve claimed it might be easy to get ahead of ourselves, maybe even become brash and bold – too big for our boots, as some might say. Yet, I like to think I do a pretty good job of staying away from that mentality. Regardless of how far we’ve come, we all still have a fair way to go before we can bring all this to a final conclusion. How we as a worldwide team deal with this will become the hinge on which direction the final outcome swings.
My only hope for now is this: that other agents of Axiom share my humbleness toward our achievements thus far.
Entry: Day 23
My task for today involved searching the Continuum for graffiti tags apparently connected to a code we need; not exactly what I was expecting, seems more like a task for a green policeman if you ask me, but as always, orders are orders. It seems Axiom had been sent a string of very complex code that would take even a super computer an age to decipher, but with one single flaw – the coder had left his signature within it. I guess that proves what happens to people who feel the need to show off – they get caught out. It didn’t take me very long since the majority of the Continuum is muted in colour and the tags stand out vividly because of this. The very first tag I found told me exactly what had to be done; they were all part of each other and needed photographed so that once I overlay them, I should have my answer and the code. It turns out that one Blaise Briscbois – a French Canadian boy – was my culprit. What follows, however, was not expected.
As I left my Xi apartment I found what seemed to be an over-sized version of the Quinta Essentia fragments, but before I could take a step towards it Jess contacted me to warn me otherwise. It was her understanding that this wasn’t related to the fragments we’d been collecting but something very threatening instead – a bomb. Strange to think of a string of code in that way, I must say — yet sometimes I forget completely that I’m in the virtual, where anything is possible. I approached with caution, but just as I did it seemed to fade into the aether. Not gone, but possibly absorbed into the Continuum’s own strains of code. I’m certainly not qualified to say this with any definitive authority but it’s my concern this code could possibly work itself into the Continuum’s very structure. If this is possibly the case then it could, in turn, blow the entire Continuum to smithereens.
I pray Jess or Axiom have a plan.
January 4th, 2013 by KrazyFace | 3 comments
KrazyFace has been a gamer for longer than he can remember. In fact its been so long he's pretty sure he started gaming with rocks and sticks in a cave someplace off the coast of Africa, when it was joined on to France. However long its been, he's got enough experience behind him to know a good game when he sees one. He's also a bit of a Home addict, you'll find him in there whenever he's got spare time - or not playing a game.
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Very nice article, i found a typo tho, you stated “Meryl hasn’t been heard of since our capture of her Simulacrum nor has N.E.R.D.I.C.A. or Tiberius.” Tiberius is on top of the Continuum Stonehenge, also N.E.R.D.I.C.A. & Meryl have posted on the Attention Span Zero’s website, tho Meryl didn’t post anything but a pic saying “Light of Doom”,.. nice writting,keep it up
Well spotted. I didnt actually realise more had been added to the website at the time of writing. But I’m VERY glad to see there’s others out there paying attention, well done.
ahh no problem, lol after posting it I was actually alittle worried y’all might take offense to it,.. yea I try to recheck all the sites & forums right after I do my morning mission & frag hunt, mostly because it is kinda slow & linear compared to the 1st Xi, so I’m hoping there’s a story w/ in a story lol kinda like an easter egg for those that try digging a little deeper than required,.. I’m enjoying your take on the story tho & all the articles y’all have written on XI, keep up the good work & take care