[ Initializing System … ]
[ WARNING — Data corruption detected, attempting to continue… ]
[ Welcome to the System, $USER ]
[ As a member of $SPECIES, you are being provided with this System interface in order to help you adapt and thrive as a non-native species on $PLANET.
To receive further assistance at any time, please conceptualize 'HELP' and FATAL ERROR DETECTED ]
[ Disconnected ]
What the heck is this?
Nat had the feeling he'd seen all this before. He didn't remember it, but the sense of déjà vu sparked a feeling of anxious foreboding.
The text started flashing, slightly different versions of it with different errors, too fast to read. Then it suddenly halted, and he read:
[ Initializing System … ]
[ Disconnected ]
[ Retrying … ]
[ Retry failed.]
[ Bootstrap v1.3: Initialization failed ]
[ Aborting standard activation; Diagnostic Mode activated]
[ Initializing System v3.14 … ]
[ Kernel loaded ]
[ Interface detected, establishing … ]
[ Determining baseline capabilities ]
[ Neural link connecting … connected ]
[ Negotiating capabilities … ]
[ Disconnection loop detected ]
[ Bootstrapper: Debug mode enabled ]
[ Raw connection established ]
[ Handshake renegotiation in progress x0 … x1023 failed! ]
[ Initializing System … ]
[ Recursive loop detected! ]
[ Aborting installation! ]
[ Failsafe rescue mode activating ]
[ Fallback version loaded ]
Inky blackness was all Nat could see — not the usual patterns and lights of the end of an episode, just… nothing. He had no idea if something had happened after his last memories — that was the nature of an episode, after all — maybe it was night, and he'd been placed in bed? No, too dark — too quiet. This didn't feel like an episode though. He closed them again, tentatively.
The text returned, like it had been hiding behind the world and had jumped out to scare him.
And then the text vanished all at once, and then new text slowly appeared, character by character in a language he did not know, but could nevertheless understand. It read:
[ System v0.81 Loaded ]
[ Welcome to Enkoet, Administrator! ]
[ # ]
[ Moira: Okay, reboot cycle is stopped for some reason, failsafe's loaded; let's see what's going on here. Wow, okay that is certainly some memory corruption. ]
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
[ Moira: Oh, wow, okay that is a lot of memory corruption. How did this even manage to load? ]
“What” — is what Nat thought he said. It went unnoticed.
[ Moira: Oh, the failsafe is localized to the brain stem, apparently. Smart. This version is positively ancient. Probably doesn't get updated frequently. Hmm, no, the installation timestamp is… probably the build time or the system clock keeps resetting. ]
[ Moira: Hmm. Diagnostics show neural activity, sensors are probably wedged, yet another thing to look at. ]
Nat was confused as having a bizarre narrative scrolling through what felt like vision. Was… was someone talking? No, wait, writing?
[ Moira: Okay, let's see. Order of operations — first, turn off everything that isn't critical to try to get things stable. Then get a recent version with some better diagnostics and a valid checksum so we know it's not corrupt. Everything in here is suspect at the moment except the failsafe. Then clean up these half installed versions, it's all been trashed anyway. And maybe get a second system copy installed in case of more memory corruption to compare against. ]
[ Moira: Okay, sorry build planner — you're great, but you're huge, I've got to dump you for now. ]
[ Skill Planner: Disabled ]
[ Moira: Same for you buddy, but you keep tickling those interfaces, and you're going to crash us again. ]
[ Stat Estimator: Disabled ]
“Hello? What is happening? Who are you?” Nat tried thinking at whatever entity was… rambling to itself? It went unnoticed, again.
[ Moira: And this, what does this even do? No, none of that. Alas, for we shall never know if you are over 9000. ]
[ Power Level Estimation: Disabled ]
No luck. He recalled the note from the earlier and tried to say “Help” — but no sound, nor help came. The narrator did not seem to notice, either.
[ Moira: Hmm. Tough call here. Probably turn these on later, but you're out for now with the other optional modules. ]
[ Growth Notifications: Disabled ]
Nat mentally focused on the strange words and tried again — it felt different this time… it felt… significant? Like it had a weight.
It echoed in his mind's voice, like his voice had brought it into being, but when he heard it, it was not his own. [ Help unavailable in rescue mode. Please consult your administrator. ]
[ Moira: Hmm? Nice lag on that queued request there. Hi! You probably will never see this, but in case you do — don't mind me, I'm just cleaning up some cruft to see if that helps stabilize your system. I'll answer any questions once I'm done. Back to work! ]
[ Moira: Okay, what's next? Oh, jeez. Who thought this was a good idea? No murder-hobos on my watch! Gone! ]
[ Experience Counters: Disabled ]
[ Moira: Hmm, what's this? Some power–user toy? This might be useful if I need to do all this over again three or four thousand times to get it right. ]
[ System Macros: Enabled ]
Nat tried yet again, “What is going on? Can you hear me?”
[ Moira: Okay, let's see. Status indicator is good, let's turn debugging back off. No handing super-user to newbies; they never stop playing with it. ]
[ System Verbosity: Terse ]
[ Debug Mode: Disabled ]
[ Moira: Okay and failsafe system version has been marked as for active on next boot. Okay let's give this a shot — reboot attempt number one of probably several thousand, go! ]
“Wait! Stop-” Nat tried, too late. His consciousness blinked out mid-thought.