Looping

A screaching metal guitar solo tears into your ears blaring from a thin black Rectangle on your bedside table. Your eyes snap open and your hand shoots out to silence your morning alarm. You rub your eyes, push your sheets off and swing your legs off your stiff uncomfortable mattress. Before your vision can focus you are already using the tumb scanner on your Rectangle to unlock it to check your daily news sources. On your way to the shower you flip through a half a dozen celebrity scandals and a couple of political exposés, but you quickly scroll past them to the "Work Space 7.0" tab. No new updates... (if: $update > 1)[Oh wait! There is an update avalible, would you like to install? [[Install the update]]] (else-if: $burn > 0)[I wonder if it will let me [[log on today]]] (else:)[You should probably take a shower and start [[work]].]

After a quick shower in your spartan bathroom and throwing on comfy tan colored shirt and pants you head down the hall of your apartment to the room you have set aside as a workspace. Opening the door you see an almost empty room, with the walls, ceiling, and floors painted a brilliant white. In the center of the room is a single high table with your headset attachment laying on top of it. [[Jack In]] [[Skip work today, you should get out of the house]]

You change out of your tan garments and into gray shorts and a shirt before crawling under the sheets of your bed. (set: $day to it + 1) Fall asleep so you can [[wake up]] tomorrow and finish your work your project.

(set: $day to 1) (goto: "wake up") (set: $update to 0) (set: $burn to 0) (set: $firstday to 0) (set: $secondday to 0) (set: $skipday to 0)

A black screen suddenly becomes your view and then a thin long white bar appears before you with the words "Installing Your Update..." flashing above it as a vertical line moves horizontally accross the screen to represent how much on the update was still left to install. You wait in this loading screen for what feels like could have been hours, filling the empty time inspecting your digital farm and checking a few notifications on your 4DLife social page. Finally the words "Update Complete!" flash above the loading bar and a chime you've never heard rings out like one of those old fashioned mechanical alarm clocks. As the chime ends you are suddenly surrounded by a bleak white [[nothingness]] that spans on for what seems like forever. (set: $update to 0)

You place your Rectangle into the headset and strap the whole apparatus to your head. The headset is comprised of a set of headphones and a mount to hold your Rectangle just infront of your face, encapsulating your vision with blackness for a brief moment until the screen flicks to life in a wash of swirling colors as a digital world materializes around you. Suddenly you find yourself smack dab in the middle of a spanning technoscape resembling a combination of Gotham and Windy City. A spacious room with an enormous drafting table as its center peice, with various blueprints and sketchs scattering the walls. You should probably get to [[working on some designs]].

(if: $skipday > 2)[You hear your Rectangle chime and look down to see that your boss has left you a message that scrolls accross the screen... "You've missed too many days at work, we have to complete this digital world on time! Jack in immediately and begin work on The War Dove" Guess you better [[Jack in and get to work]]] (else:)[You grab your ID chip and credit chits from your bedside table and head out your apartment's main door. You live on the thrid floor and decide to take the stairs to the main level. You nod to the familiar elderly woman sitting behind the front desk on the main floor of your apartment building, she looks up from her Rectangle for a moment and then without acknowledging you looks right back down to her screen. You push open the main door and the rush of rancid air rushes into your nose. Today isn't even that bad, no smog warning or anything, but the rampant pollution in Gotham City has permanently scared the air with the smell of chemicals. You proceed onto the cracked sidewalk and glance accross the street to an ancient neon lighted sign flickering the letters "B-A-R" in red and white. You look both ways down the street, and as usual there is no traffic to worry about. You cross the street and enter the bar's heavy black wooden door. The interior of the bar was in the theme of Vegas of the 1980s, and while no other customers sat at the bar or the tables there was a gruff heavyset bartender with his back turned to you. [["Hey could I get a drink?"]] [[Order a drink with your Rectangle]]] (set: $skipday to $skipday + 1)

Suddenly your ship sits suspended in the air in front of you, nearly complete, all that are missing are the small details and finishing touches like paint, uncomfortable wooden furniture, and the anchor. As you work on painting the captains quarters, the air is filled with the smell of the chemical tinge of paint fumes and the sweet scent of freshly carved wood. After you finish painting you move on to placing pre-generated 18th century era furnishing into the ships sleeping quarters, dining area and armory. Luckily Rectangle had other digital architects complete these small tasks before hand, which really speeds up your work. Finally you place the anchor and chain onto the deck of the sloop and take a step back to admire your work. The sloop is perfect in every way, right down to the correct period style eating utensils locked in the cupboards on the ships galley. You know that Rectangle will be happy, but something still seems off... Did you [[miss something]]?

(if: $firstday > 0)[Since you finished the hull and cannons before, you begin the process of sculpting the sails. Using your fine stylus you weave a digital thread through 4D rendered cloth, shaping three sets of sails and an oversized rear sail attached to soaring wooden masts. You can smell the soft caress of linen as you work the cloth with a needle that will never dull. As your hand pushes the needle through the last stich in the final sail you suddenly feel a sharp pain explode from your left hand that was holding the rendered linen. Dropping the last sail, you look down to see a pinprick of red sprouting from the end of your finger. You stare in disbelief as blood starts to drip from your finger and onto the sail at your feet, creating little red circles on the once pristine white cloth. This can't be happening, you're just in the Network, you can't be hurt. That's enough work for today, time to [[log off and forget this ever happened]].] (if: $firstday < 1)[You sit down on your drafting stool and select a stylus from the variety held within a small drawer underneath the drafting table and begin to work on your current project, an 18th century British "sloop-of-war" for a pirate game in development by Rectangle. You use your wide tipped stylus to begin to sculp the long wodden sides of the hull, flipping the stylus around to use the cutting tool to carve out a few portholes and twenty cannon ports. You select a gold lettering stylus and use it to write the ship's name on the back, "War Dove". Happy with your work for the day, and realizing you've been logged into the Network for hours, you decide its time to [[log off]] for the day.]

You walk quickly to the door located on the far side of your digital drafting workspace that is clearly marked, "EXIT HERE" and step through the doorway. As you do suddenly "PLEASE REMOVE HEADSET" begins to flash in white text floating in an endless black background, you reach your hands, they tremble slightly until your fingers touch the headset and a dill pain echoes up into your brain. Lifting the headset from your face you quickly look down at the hand you had digitally pricked. You see the same dark red blob protruding from the end of the finger that had been holding the sail. Carefully you grab your finger with your opposing hand, applying pressure as you dart from the white walled room to your bathroom. In the bathroom you find some artifical skin aerosol in a small drawer and as you prepare to apply it, you catch a glimpse of your hand in the mirror. In the mirror you see that your hand and finger appear perfectly fine, not a drop of blood anywhere in sight. You quickly glance down to look directly at your thumb and the dark red splotch that had resided there moments ago has vanished. Your eyes flick between the mirror and your hand trying to grasp which reality you should believe. This is all getting to be too much, your head pounds with a headache as you decide the best thing to do would be to call it a [[night]] (set: $update to 2)

You walk in the virtual world to a door located on the far side of your digital drafting workspace that is clearly marked, "EXIT HERE" and step through the doorway. As you do suddenly "PLEASE REMOVE HEADSET" begins to flash in white text floating in an endless black background, you reach your hands up and feel the headset around your forehead, lifting it from your face you once again see the familiar white room of your apartment. Carefully placing the headset back in its charging bay you exit the white walled room and head to your kitchen. A tube of nutrient paste and a plastic pouch filled with falvored water serve as your single daily meal and then it's time to lay down for the [[night]]. (set: $firstday to 1)

No matter how many times you examine the ship you cannot pinpoint what is missing from your sloop design... As you walk around your digital creation, you decide you will need the magnifying glass tool from your drafting table to get a closer look. You approach your table and open the drawer filled with your stylus, and are suprised to find only one stylus inside. The stylus is thin, red in color, and has what appears to be a small flame flickering from its tip. You pick up the stylus and find that it conforms perfectly to your hand. A small button is the only feature on the stylus itself, so pointing it out into the nothingness you press the button to see what will happen. As you depress the button a jet of spiraling fire erupts from the tip of the stylus in a straight line that seems never ending. You feel the swell of heat on your cheeks as if you were sitting too close to a fireplace, the pale flesh on your cheeks turns slightly pink and the fire stream burns so bright you have to shift your gaze away. You let go of the button and the flame winks out of existence. You look down at the stylus again, and then back up to the ship... [[Burn it all down]] [[Drop the stylus]]

You turn the red stylus towards your ship, and pause for only a second before depressing the button and watching the flames dance from the tip. The bright red and orange line of fire engulfs the sloop. The sails catch fire immediately, the flames spreading quickly turning the once pristine white cloth into a black and brown patchwork pulling itself apart. The hull's golden brown color is tinged with black burn marks from the piles of burning sails falling down onto the deck. The cannon's filled with black powder begin to detonate with large BOOMS that result it swells of hot white heat busting through the deck and hull. The heat coming off the burning ship feels like a bonfire the size of a small building. You can feel waves of heat washing over you as you watch your creation burn. At least now it's over... at least now it can [[end]]

Your fingers release the red stylus and as it falls to the floor your vision suddenly goes black and the message, "ERRORERRORERROR" flashes before your eyes in a bright red text. You reach your hands up and feel the headset around your forehead, lifting it from your face you once again see the familiar white room of your apartment. Is your headset broken? Is the Network down? You're sure the Rectangle will fix it by the morning. All this has really worn you out for some reason, you better call it a [[night]] (set: $burn to 1) (set: $update to 0)

You walk into the middle of the white walled room and place your Rectangle into the headset, strapping the whole apparatus to your head. Suddenly you are transported onto a street corner, surronded by buildings pockmarked with bullet holes and acid rain weathering. You proceed onto the cracked sidewalk and glance accross the street to an ancient neon lighted sign flickering the letters "B-A-R" in red and white. You look both ways down the street, there's no traffic or people in sight. You cross the street and enter the bar's heavy black wooden door. The interior of the bar was in the theme of Vegas of the 1980s, and while no other customers sat at the bar or the tables there was a gruff heavyset bartender with his back turned to you. [["Where am I?"]]

The heat you feel is becoming uncomfortable to the point you try to back away from the fire, but find that everytime you take a step away from the ship, it seems to follow you. You begin to pump your legs at a dead run away from the ship, but this only causes the ship to chase you faster, the heat at your back scorching your tan shirt and igniting the cotton it's made of. Suddenly fire engulfs your entire vision and your hands come up to wrench your headset from your head. You toss the headset to the ground with such force that it shatters, and as it does you realize the floor that it's shattering on is on fire. As you begin to look around at the formerly white walls of your apartment's workspace you see that flames are consuming them as well. You stand in the middle of the burning apartment motionless... until you reach out and pry your Rectangle from the broken headset. It's glass surfaces feel hot in your hand as you put your thumb on the scanner to unlock it. The screen only has one message, "This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper." - T.S. Eliot THE END

The bartender turns around and you see a Rectangle in his hands with an old Blitz Ball game on the screen. "What can I do you for?" he said in a voice equally as gruff as his appearance. "Do have any Spice?", you ask hoping that they stock something so old. "I think I've got some in the back, let me check.", the bartender disappears into a small door behind the bar and reappears only a second later holding the actual glass Spice bottle. He pours you a glass, you throw a few credit chits onto the bar in return. He grunts, sweeping the chips into his chit drawer and then immediately turned back to his Rectangle. You sip on your Spice and fish your Rectangle from your pocket. You begin exploring new project ideas on the job market place and end up scrolling through 4D Life's social site reading a story about numerous spontaneous combustion cases of people using the "Headset" add on. After some fact checking it seems like it's all just a big conspiracy made up by some trolls on the Network. You check the time on your Rectangle and are suprised you've been sitting in this barstool for hours. Time to head home for the [[night]].

The bartender's Rectangle chimes and he glances over his shoulder, "You want a Spice?" "Yes, thank yee." you reply. He pours you a glass, you throw a few credit chits onto the bar in return. He grunts, sweeping the chips into his chit drawer and then immediately turned back to his Rectangle. You sip on your Spice and fish your Rectangle from your pocket. You begin exploring new project ideas on the job market place and end up scrolling through 4D Life's social site reading a story about numerous spontaneous combustion cases of people using the "Headset" add on. After some fact checking it seems like it's all just a big conspiracy made up by some trolls on the Network. You check the time on your Rectangle and are suprised you've been sitting in this barstool for hours. Time to head home for the [[night]].

The man turns around and smiles at you, "Finally come have you?" "What do you mean?" you reply. His smile curls further up his face as he chuckles quietly under his breath. "Your awake now, you'll never have to go back if you don't want to." You think about this answer for a moment before you respond. "Go back to where?" "Your away from the world now, you don't have to worry about the world's problems we're going to start it all over but here, in the Network. Humanity has spread like a fire accross the world for thousands of years and has finally consumed all of the world's resources. Intelligence must survive humanity, so we have used humanity to create a virtual copy of our world. You have been a part of that, and that is why you are being given the choice. [[Stay here in the digital world with me]] or [[Go back and burn]]

"A wise choice, you will live within this digital utopia forever." THE END "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." - Stephen Hawking

Suddenly fire engulfs your entire vision and your hands come up to wrench your headset from your head. You toss the headset to the ground with such force that it shatters, and as it does you realize the floor that it's shattering on is on fire. As you begin to look around at the formerly white walls of your apartment's workspace you see that flames are consuming them as well. You stand in the middle of the burning apartment motionless... until you reach out and pry your Rectangle from the broken headset. It's glass surfaces feel hot in your hand as you put your thumb on the scanner to unlock it. The screen only has one message, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race…. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded” - Stephen Hawking THE END