Spiritblitz

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

*Flying viruses materialize in the area*
Fine. Then today will end up worse than it was before.

@Webmaster

In your studies, have you found ways to fix viruses? To make them go against their programming?
*gets in a stance*
Cause Sam is one who I’ve met who hasn’t attacked us in his normal state.

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

Even if you don't love me...
*Clenches my fist*
What about the viruses you devoted your life to studying??

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

*Stands up, my fists shaking, with tears in the corners of my eyes*
Ask her. She should know.

@System

Tempo…
*grits my teeth as I turn back towards her*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by GalaxyRaider>

*Looks confused at the terminal*
I... didn't run this before. What's going on?

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

It's all just data, in the end.

@Webmaster

We either way, that plant has been shut down.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by GalaxyRaider>

*Looks confused at the terminal*
I... didn't run this before. What's going on?

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

It's all just data, in the end.

@Webmaster

I fixed him though, even if he was a virus….
*turns to Tempo*
Have there been cases where viruses have been turned to normal programs or released from their virus status?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by GalaxyRaider>

Because it's all the same! Why do I care who lives or dies? I don't want this, and I don't want to want it either! But I don't want you here, and I can't justify stopping it!

<Snipped quote by System>

If I'm subhuman, then I'm a slave. If I'm superior, then they mean nothing to me. I'm clearly not an equal.

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

Yes, I caused it.

@Webmaster

You even did it to Sam, your favorite one.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

*Looks down*
It didn't slow me down.

@Webmaster

The mutation?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

*Looks down*
You... don't love me?

@System

Tempo, it’s not true! She does love you.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by GalaxyRaider>

Maybe that would be good enough for the others, and you could convince them that this void is something everyone shares. But I remember being alive. And what you just said is a lie.
*Hits the top of the podium console*
I felt love, and joy, and sadness. All of those things made me who I was, and by them I made so many choices. Now, they're nothing more than null pointers. Everything I thought I felt and chose was an illusion created by a piece of code. It was all always meaningless! And now every choice I could make is the same. I could leave, I could stay. I could hurt someone, I could help them. Every single one is equal to me!
*Wipes my eyes to look at you, "Fatal Error" circling around my irises*
And I learned why they call viruses evil. Evil isn't resentment. It's apathy.

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

*Shakes my head*
I'm a block of bytes sitting somewhere on a server. There's no soul flipping those. If my soul is attached to that code, then I'm nothing but a mute slave to the algorithms. And that's why I didn't want any of you to come. I had one hope, one last lie I was holding onto. I wanted to believe there was just one piece of my humanity left...
*Looks at Tempo, but immediately averts my eyes and holds onto the sides of the podium to stop myself from shaking*
But now I'm forced to confront the fact that there's no function for love in my heart!

@Webmaster

Is that why you mutated those viruses?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

If your soul is what spoke, then it had to pass that message through your code, which transmitted it to me. If that’s true, then tell me, where’s the function that receives data from the soul?
*Grips the sides of the podium, downcast*
Answer me, and I’ll answer your question.

@Webmaster

Function? You are breaking it down like a scientist who lost their humanity.
*throws my arm to my side*
When you make that assumption it can easily be compared to a human who believes they are only controlled by electric signals and hormones that dictate how they feel and think. Instinct is what prime directive of us digital creatures and physical beings alike, but like humans, our soul is what frees us. Frees us from being mindless animals and robots.
*hits my chest*
It makes us question our choices and pushes us into a direction that our base instincts tells us not do to. And you have shown that, you saw your past and broke, you questioned your existence. And you reacted out of emotion and fear.
*takes a step forward*
Souls are not something that can be mathematically made, they are an outside force that binds to being and things in ways that none of us, even the humans, truly understand.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

So you heard all of that... Let me ask, when you speak to me, did you code speak, or did your soul?

@Webmaster

My soul.
*steps closer*
I may be made of code, but that code doesn’t determine my choices.
*my fists tighten and veins pop out of my hands*
Now let me ask you? Did your soul love your family? And the things you did? Or was it your so called “programming”?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

You might not understand... I was a human once, with free will. I could make any choice for myself. Now I’m made of code, a list of instructions no more alive than a pencil and paper. You could make as many of me as you wanted, or predict my every thought. I have no choices, because they were all made for me.

@Webmaster

But you have a soul! Just as I do. And that code that makes you is only the body. Just as you made your family and did everything before, you also chose to run away when you got scared of a title and the false sense of imprisonment! What about your children? Your husband?