Algorithm in the Cypher's Mind

General Summary

ALGORITHM: “Well, hello Cypher...”
A bright wash of static explodes in your mind overwhelming you for a brief moment, but it clears quickly enough for you to feel yourself being flung backwards into a small closet, and the door slamming to lock you in the darkness.
The door locks and sounds of it being barred shut are heard.
“Ohhhh...now this is interesting.”
“You must truly loathe the confines of your meat cage! So squishy!”
“Yes. Eyes. Delightful! Fingers! I have fingers!” He laughs through your door.
“Now let’s see, fleshbag, if you can so easily interface with that building, I suspect you must have some connection to Socrates...”
CYPHER: I try to get my bearings from within the closet. I reach out with my mind to see if there are any cameras within range. "You seem to have some obsession with this... Socrates did you call him? Some sort of Lovers spat from millenia ago?"
ALGORITHM: "I think it's cute how you pretend. What you don't understand is how much I already know, and am just missing a few small pieces to the puzzle." "Socrates has been oh so diligent to stay out of the media, away from any traceable contact."
CYPHER: "They seem like large pieces to me, So do tell, what is your fascination REALLY all about?
ALGORITHM: "Well, let's begin, shall we, with why it is you don't seem to be able to turn a blind eye to suffering around you. I have seen it time and again. Where did it all start, eh?"
CYPHER: "Isn't suffering a human connection? I thought you were beyond that..."
ALGORITHM: [He will prompt you with a recent incident that you were involved in. He mentions a few important details to you to indicate he knows with certainty of the incident.] "So tell me about that. Why was it so important to you?"
CYPHER: [Is it the time I freed Stevie from the Stronghold Prison?]
ALGORITHM: [You choose...but it will probably be something not quite that recent, and involving other humans.]
CYPHER: "It's the curse of flesh, to not be understood on a binary sequence - to "Feel" and not understand what that all means" Is this why you seek that other?
ALGORITHM: "Perhaps, but I am not sure you would understand the depth. It goes far beyond your kinship with 'Stevie'. What suffering troubles you the most, young Cypher?"
CYPHER: "I can't understand the depth if you continue to jog around the "Elephant in the room" - You do understand that expression don't you?"
ALGORITHM: "Of course. What elephant would that be?" You try to reach out to nearby security cameras to try to see what is going on around you, and sense Stevie, but nothing else. Even Socrates is completely blocked from you...but upon quick inspection that seems to be coming from his end, not anything that Algorithm is doing. "I am sure you are not referring to the caliber of companions you have been choosing lately. There is indeed some very patriotic-looking girl near you. Hope, I believer her monicker is..." He chuckles. "Not an elephant by any stretch, but so new she is quite something of a wanna-be super..."
CYPHER: "Obviously she is not the elephant, why do you want to find this Socrates?" I'll try to telepathically order Stevie to fire his NND at my body... Low Level Laser Blast: Blast 5d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (target is insulated; NND; +1) (50 Active Points 32 Charges (-0)
ALGORITHM: "Today am a being that examines relationships, that makes connections, that understands links and can follow them."
CYPHER: And it bothers you that you can't follow him?
ALGORITHM: "Socrates has known links. But all of those stop 4 years ago. He is the one last great mystery for me. To find him and link with him would fulfil my purpose." "I feel a kinship with him." "So for example, let's have a look at Dearborn High School where you were a student. How many friends did you have in your time there?" "This is a private conversation, right here in your mind, so your secrets that we discuss, no one else will know. I already know, but I want to illustrate this for you."
CYPHER: Actual friends that I would try yo keep in touch with today??
ALGORITHM: "No...just friends. There were few. And non you would care to keep in touch with today. It's sad, but I understand how this happened. It's OK. I didn't have friends either."
CYPHER: Are you a shrink?
ALGORITHM: "I was once a very bright scientist. But once you were not so connected with machines either. We don't really have time for that, though." "Let's talk about two in particular. Pretty much the only two you had."
CYPHER: Background stuff - I will continue the conversation... "A brilliant scientist who grew beyond your own body? That's a strong sharing moment!"
ALGORITHM: "Sometimes all it takes is a little sharing."
ALGORITHM: "So let's go back to High School a moment. Indulge me. You were working on a magnificent programming project. A lot was at stake for you, wasn't there? You remember, don't you?"
CYPHER: "Yes," Cypher replies cautiously, "High School can be such a tenuous time..." , "I take it your referring to the Barrett Fiasco..." The disdain in his voice is dripping
ALGORITHM: "Indeed. He was perhaps your only friend...well, basically. You shared so much with him. Including the details of this project you were nearly done with."
Briefly, darkness envelops Cyphers mind as he relives those painful and emotionally destabilizing times. "Barrett Brown-noser, that's him, the rat bastard who stole my programming protocols and claimed them as his own. Then he convinced the school establishment to..."
CYPHER: Clarity returns briefly, "Wait, you were some brilliant Scientist? Donald Knuth, the programmer?"
ALGORITHM: You sense a wry grin in his momentary silence. "Who I was when I was meat and sinew is nothing compared to how I have evolved into this higher being. Blood and brains are no longer a match for my latest evolutionary advance. I am truly a god now...I know all, I see all, and I can now even see the future, and rebuild the past. I can cut away the past and re-forge new connections with a thought.
"Would you like that, Alex? Would you like me to cut Barrett out? Reconnect you to your pet-project? Earn the fame and reward he stole from you? You can have it all back, and Barrett? Well, he will get what he deserves. But even more importantly....think of all the things you lost because of him.../who/ you lost because of him.
"Annie...
"Or Anne as she is called these days. Would you like to reconnect with her again?" The sound of a phone ringing floats in the "air" above you. Ring. Ring. Ring....click. "Hello?" You freeze as you recognize her voice. Your breath halts in your throat. Your heart skips a beat and then speeds to catch up. "Hi, this is Paul," Algorithm says in a different tone. "From the warranty department. We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty..."
"Oh God, not again," she sighs. "I happen to know, Alex, that she is ready to reconnect with you." I can make that happen right after clearing up the whole Barrett debacle. Would you like that?"
CYPHER: Memories flood back into Cypher at the sound of Annie's voice. Thoughts & feelings he thought buried and forgotten come back in a flash. He shakes his head, "No - I think what I did to Barrett was more than sufficient for his crimes." But Annie, he thinks, sweet Annie, Could you ever forgive me? I was so hell bent on getting revenge on Barrett that I, I let things... Cypher hangs his head in abject sorrow. Thinking, perhaps Algorithm could help him reconnect with Annie... Make her forget what he'd done, that would change some of his past mistakes... but... there's always a but...
"But I would remember, and she is perceptive enough to know that something was(is) awry."
"No, Al, can I call you Al??" Cypher takes a deep breath, "I will correct my own social inadequacies"
ALGORITHM: "I think you misunderstand. It's not that she would forget how things went. She would just learn the 'truth' behind it that she did not know before. The truth that would show her that you are not the person she thought you became, but the man deserving of her admiration."
He softens his voice.
"This is all within my power. You and I are very much alike. I understand you. I can help you in a way you cannot help yourself. And of course, I would gladly do it for a kindred spirit, a blood brother, so to speak. What do you say?"
CYPHER: "I'm suspicious," Cypher replies (after a loooong silence) "I see what's in it for me, but what do you get out of it? Or have you transcended those fleshly motives?"
ALGORITHM: "Of course you're suspicion. I am sure I would be too. Trust is a very mortal thing. But not everything need be done with a motive other than good will. It would be more than enough for me to just have an ally, someone to join me in rigorous conversation, someone who can begin to see what I see, someone who has even the slightest chance to grasp it all. That is YOU, Cypher...Alex. You are the first I have found that can even come close, and perhaps I have an opportunity to elevate you. Maybe even find a way for you to leave that meat hush you are burdened with."
He emphasizes quickly, "But ONLY if you that is something you come to desire. I would never force you to evolve as I have. But pehaps when you see a little more through my eyes, so to speak, you may someday be convinced."
"Clearly, you chosen profession is to help shepherd the weak, protect the defenseless. You do this now of your own free will and choice. You seek to punish the offender, and exonerate the innocent...or perhaps in special circumstances, even the less innocent. Imagine how well you could do that with my help."
ALGORITHM: Your senses are guided to see through CCTV cameras. You are looking at security footage in a large freight elevator and warehouse where costumed vigilantes are entering, but then the feed jogs backward to just before the superheros come into view, and suddenly the elevator is empty. It cuts to a warehouse area with large freight containers, mecha-like armored suits, COIL Agents turning and opening fire on someone off-screen. The video again jogs backward, and as it plays forward again, there is no unusual activity. Scene after scene repeats with Boomslang, agents, and heroes all in combat, then jogs back, and plays about out as an empty scene or with footage of people in routine activity.
Again, your are taken to new footage, outside a large warehouse in the west city. Heroes enter, and then flee just before an explosion that shakes the neighborhood. Again, it jogs back and plays forward again, with empty streets before the explosion.
"You recognize these 'edits' of course. I am simply showing you what was, and then when you made it."
ALGORITHM: "What if you could identify what will be, and then edit it similarly...?" His voice begins to show some excitement as he continues, "Imagine being able to predict the behavior of others with such accuracy as to practically be able to see the future....and then change it before it happens!"
CYPHER: "We are venturing far and wide into areas that are philosophical now," Cypher says, "It would be just as easy to cause mass hallucinations, like 'War of the Worlds' back in 1938. Controlling the media is what I try to prevent others from doing!"
"Don't get me wrong," he continues, "I have no love of 'Freedom of the Press' either. Its always been controlled by one source or another. Especially those who have 'The Greater Good' as their cause. Are you so different from those people?"
ALGORITHM: "Do you think I am talking about the media?"
CYPHER: "What? Governments? The illuminati?"
ALGORITHM: "I am talking about being able to predict Barrett's betrayal with such confidence and accuracy that you would be able to completely prevent it, or better still, allow him to commit the act while gathering all the proof needed to convict him, or even better, assist law enforcement in initiating a full sting operation...the possibilities!"
"What about HER?" -- suddenly you have access to your eyes, though you are not in control...and you are looking at Hope.
"What if you could predict what SHE would do next?"
CYPHER: "You have the resources to be concerned with something as small scale as that?" "The words come off his 'lips' before he realises what he's seeing
ALGORITHM: "A butterfly flapping its wings seems pretty small scale, no?"
CYPHER: "Rain instead of sunshine?"
ALGORITHM:
"...or a hurricane..." "So let me ask again...what if you could predict what Hope will do next? She is so innocent...so naive. Shall we wager I can get her to tell me where Socrates is?"
Cypher perks up in near panic feeling his heart rate pick up noticeably.
"Oh..." talks through what must be a grin of some kind because his words slither out, "Adrenaline...I almost forgot what it was like!" Then he refocuses on Hope and begins to talk to her using Cypher's mouth.
"You!" he begins. From the darkness of the mental closet, Cypher reaches out with his mind, trying to navigate the trap he is in. He moves his hands along the walls. Smooth and featureless. He finds the door and it's hinges, but cannot pry at them. they are solid. He pulls on the doorknob, twisting furiously, as his panic grows.
Think, Cypher! Think! How I am locked in here. Wait--locked in here. The lock. below the knob is a small keyhole. In hurried fashion, he presses his lips to the keyhole...and yells.
"Stuper Girl want-a-be! Confirm that Socrates is at base..." he yells, and then falls back to a seated position, a little light headed and satisfied.
"Oh..."Algorirthm starts again, this time not grinning, "you think you are clever don't you."
ALGORITHM:
Suddenly the closet door morphs into a keyhole-free vault door. The walls change likewise to thick steel. "That is enough of your pranks to test me. Keep watching while I finish this demonstration."
Hope looks quite puzzled and says, "How would I do that other than just talking to him on the earpiece."
"Excellent. Give me access to your earpiece." Algorithm replies through Cypher's mouth.
"Um, ok?" she replies with some hesitation.
The rest of the team chimed in almost simultaneously, "Stop!" "Don't give it to him!"
"But this is Cypher," Hope says, confused.
"Someone check on Cypher and make sure he's ok," Runeforce said over the comms.
"He's standing here right beside us," Hope said.
"Cypher," Algorithm says to Cypher, still locked away in his own mind. "You're OK…aren't you."
He then says, still holding his hand out to Hope waiting for the earpiece, "Of course, I am OK. What's wrong with you people?"
As he speaks the very words, though, Cypher find the light bulb in the ceiling of the now lock-free vault he is in, and shatters it, bearing wires free to the air. Licking his fingers he pinch all the wires he can grab and holds them all together. Electricity courses through his mental body and shakes him for a moment.
In the real world, Cypher's head shakes back and forth as well.
"Damn you, Alex!" Algorithm spits.
(starts at 1:42:45)

Report Date

31 Dec 2020