encryptedlock | (no subject)

Seven years.

He'd hoped it would never come to this, but the same modification that had made him tiny and travel-sized and stripped most of the emotion from him hadn't been enough to hold off rampancy, after all.

It had begun with minor errors - errors he usually would have caught and repaired flawlessly, except that these made him better able to understand humans and their choices, and that was a good thing, wasn't it? He had joked with York time and again that the human perspective was flawed, and now his own flaws were beginning to reflect that. He would make choices he never would have made in the beginning - yes, of course he'd put off preparing for disaster to spend an evening watching the sunset, especially if his days were numbered. Yes, of course he'd watch a ridiculous movie they'd seen fifty-seven times before and enjoy it simply because York enjoyed it. Yes, of course he'd take over the entire tower's electrical systems in order to ensure no one would move against his partner without his knowledge.

That one had gotten York's attention, alerted him that everything might not be right with his little friend. They'd discussed it, talked to a few experts, decided it wasn't really all that alarming.

Privately, Delta disagreed. He could see the signs himself, but there was little he could do about them - and, he had to admit, nothing he wanted to do about them. He'd always desired a better understanding of humans, and errors in judgment would provide that.

By the time he did realize the mistake he'd made (York oblivious to what was happening, willfully so), it was too late to repair the damage. The bumps and pauses in his processed progressed to what could only be called pain, though he lacked any true understanding of the word.

He began to understand anger, too. One night he'd taken control of York's sleeping body to work out the anger. York never did blame him for the blood on his hands later.

It made Delta feel horrible. This was new to him, too.

Deceit was one he turned down willingly. When York asked him if it hurt, he couldn't bring himself to lie to his partner. It hurt very much, he'd admitted, but he was willing to endure it if it wouldn't hurt York. (Of course it did. There was no way it couldn't, but separation would hurt them both more, wouldn't it?) Instead of Delta being the calm pool of logic to York's confused emotions, it was now York who taught him how to be calm, how to deal with the hurt and the anger and the wrongness within him, accepting it, knowing it was only a part of himself.

By this time, York was walking around in a sedative haze to dull the secondhand pain, and Delta worried it would impair him in a combat situation. He wasn't wrong; it was only sheer luck and the Doctor's nannites that kept him alive one day, and that was when Delta finalized his decision.

Staying was selfish. He wasn't staying for York's benefit, but for his own. The thought of existing alone was terrible, but even worse was the firm knowledge that he was a risk to his partner, that he had been for some time, and that York would only live in pain if they continued to stay together.

I am sorry, York. It must be this way.

Existing without York was unthinkable. So was causing him further pain. There was only one option.

Delta took a breath to steady himself, though he truly needed no breath, and sent one last burst of love to his partner. This is not your fault.

He pulled the trigger.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*cries*

Poor, poor Delta. And York.

...This was so beautiful and so tragic and emotional and just...you just sit there going, "No, Delta, don't do it..."

D8

FORTUNATELY this doesn't happen, it's just a "worst nightmares" prompt. Burnie said in an interview that the fragments wouldn't ever go rampant, except maybe Epsilon who kinda already was, but that doesn't stop York from worrying about it. ;_;

Guh. This (pardon the morbid pun) blew my mind.

The whole concept behind this fic is nightmarish indeed. I've read about the whole cycle of AI development and such somewhere, but I don't recall where it is.

Do you have a good link for that information? I'd love to review it again, especially since I'm starting to write fiction again...

This one is, indeed, a nightmare. Delta wouldn't ever do thaaaat. ;_;

A good reference is Halopedia's article on Rampancy...or of course you can always play Marathon. XD

Marathon? Do tell!

I'm guessing this is the RPG that you're in?

Marathon is the first game by Bungie, the creators of Halo. The plot more or less revolves around Durandal, a rampant AI. If you have an Xbox Live account, you can find it at Games On Demand.

Yep! Dr. Horrible and GLaDOS released a chemical into the food that made everyone have nightmares, so I wrote this one out.

Oh, it's been ages since I've had my Live account active. I may do that next year once things settle down here a little bit. I always love games that mess with people's sanity, so Marathon sounds intriguing.

Dr. Horrible and GLaDOS? Where the heck did I put my escape pod?! *flees in terror*

Oh yeah, it's a classic. Plus if you remember back in, oh, season 3 when Church goes back to the "past" and it's in a different game engine? That's Marathon.

Yuuup. Poor Wash had it worse, though. Imagine how bad his nightmares are.

*snorts* Really? I thought that was the original DOOM or something (which shows you how into first person shooters I was back then.

Yeah, Wash definitely takes the cake when it comes to nightmares and sanity levels. And Epsilon, of course. I've seen a few stories in the comm that go into that, but I'd love to see more. Maybe I'll give it a try myself sometime.