vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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CALHOUN HOUR - SURVIVOR

At the crack of dawn, presumably, Calhoun gathers everyone in the first floor warehouse to make an announcement.

"That's right, it's time for another of my special events!" He seems pretty pleased with himself. "I noticed you lazy, fat test subjects really let yourselves go last round! It's like I don't feed you here or something."

"Well, I'm worried about your health, always lazing about and not getting proper exercise. So, I decided to be the change I want to see in the world, and so we're going to do something a littttttttllllllle different this time."

"To stop you guys from getting soft from all the fun you're having here, it's time for a little workout."

From one of the doors Calhoun never lets anyone go through there's a loud, metallic banging sound repeating, as if something is trying to get out. Calhoun does not seem troubled at all by this. In fact, he seems pretty excited.

"The rules are simple, everyone's getting sixty coins to use as they see fit. You'll notice the vending machines on both warehouse floors. Anyone who isn't caught will even get a memory back." But what does that mean?

"So go on, survive for 23 hours, I'll even give you a five minute head start. Good luck!"

And with that he scurries off. Should people hang around they'll get to witness that same door open five minutes later. From the door comes several figures, human in shape but something is very, very wrong.

They seem to be robotic, skeletal humans. At one point they must have had some synthetic skin over them but most of it seems to be melting or ripped off. They don't move very fast, mostly they shamble about until they focus on a target. Better hope it's not you!

BASIC INFO ✖ FIRST TEN HOURS ✖ LAST HOURS ✖ POST EVENT MINGLE

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[Well yeah but Darwin also married his own cousin so I mean.

But once Hershel is secure up in the branches, Sasuke will settle down on the one he's more or less picked out as his favorite. He just... spends a lot of time up here, man.]

...It's relaxing.

[Well, as much as any place in here could be, with or without zombie robots. The sound of the waterfall in the background, the green of plant life, the artificial sky... It's nice.

Plus, they've got a good view of the doors, which is especially handy at the moment.]

[Okay fair, Sleepy Cat is superior to Darwin.

It's kind of strange to enjoy a relaxing tree getaway while zombie robots are you know. trying to stuff them into elevators. Speaking of any peace Hershel was feeling died down as a robot shambled in, thankfully not noticing them yet. He glanced at Sasuke before looking back over, watching it intently head into the room-

then walk into a wall. When Hershel spoke it was barely audible enough to be a whisper.] ... I noticed some of them aren't very bright.

[Sasuke doesn't even trust himself to speak, instead giving a short nod as they watch the robot try to comprehend its surroundings. He can't really hear it too well, though - must be the combination of the waterfall and grass muffling its footsteps. That would have to be a thing to consider in the future if he's ever too tired to be fully alert...

It does seem to find the boardwalk after a while, following the sturdy ground like it's some kind of track. Pity the creek is so shallow; it would be tempting to see if they could find a way to shove it in the water otherwise.]

[Hershel was thinking along the same lines, if it was closer to the waterfall it might have been worth the effort, but their friend zombie robot didn't seem to care for making their lives easier, instead twisting it's head around like the exorcist for really not discernible reason. Maybe it was trying to survey the area?

It let out a sound that was almost human but quickly became garbled and metallic. That startled Hershel, he certainly hadn't expected them to make noise besides the clanging, and not a human one. It was pretty disturbing, to be honest.

At least it seemed to be bored of the room and began sort of swaying towards the entrance again.]

[Go on, friend robot, you can do it...

Somehow or another, it shambles its way out of the room, running into the door frame along the way. Good job. Sasuke releases a soft sigh once it's gone.]

...We might want to move to the higher branches if we can. It's a little less exposed up there.

[He's spent way too much time in here.]

[You did it, robot, you made it out. Live freely in the halls.

Hershel nodded, glancing up before climbing his way to a higher branch. Climbing certainly didn't feel as natural as Sasuke probably made it look but it was still fun, and when he found a fairly comfortable spot he sighed.]

Honestly, what is Calhoun thinking, this is complete nonsense. Or maybe it's Zero who really cooks these up, whoever it is the point of everything is getting more and more convoluted.

[He's got a comfortable perch up here, though it probably helps that he knows how to distribute his weight so he isn't in danger of falling off.]

It's probably more interesting to watch us running around like this than waiting for someone to stab another test subject. [Ugh...]

[Hershel really had to wonder why Sasuke seemed so comfortable in trees, of all things. Maybe he was imagining it...]

I suppose so. [Sigh, poor Sasuke, he had to harass him about this stabbing stuff but apparently he'd do that later so he lets it go for now.] If Calhoun is an AI what do you think will happen to him after we escape? It's not like you can really arrest artificial intelligence.

[Maybe it's the same reason he's so good with knives.....]

An AI? [That would be difficult to work with, wouldn't it...] If he really was, wouldn't we just need to delete him somehow?

[...

He is admittedly not a tech wiz, so that's about the best he can do here unfortunately.]

[He's a big game hunter who sits in trees and knifes his prey?? Nailed it.

Hershel wasn't much better so he just shrugs.] I suppose so, I can't say I know much about programming, let alone something as advanced as this. That's assuming he actually is one.

That's sad in a way, isn't it? If he is an AI he was programmed to do this, that's not an existence I can say I'd wish on anyone. [...] Then again he does seem quite gleeful about his job most of the time.

[Totally, yes.]

I'm not sure what else we could do... What if someone else found him and used him as a base for a similar system? [That's... definitely something you can do, isn't it??? How does programming work.]

[Grim, but a real worry. Hershel frowned as he spoke.] I suppose they could, and easily. I'm assuming it would at least take a lot of money to have the equipment necessary to do so, but...

I guess that could mean maybe Calhoun's programming could be changed to actually make him try to help rather that... well, this. [He smiled wryly.] Too bad I doubt any of us are programmers with that kind of ability. [If it was even possible, what is science.]

I'm only making guesses. I don't think I know anything about programming. [Nothing in particular is coming to mind, that's for sure.]

...It might be hard to delete him if none of us do, though. How do you delete a program that doesn't want to be deleted?

Not easily, I imagine. [Nothing ever was, in this place.]

What do you think of Calhoun, Sasuke? I suppose that's a bit of a vague question, but I've never heard your thoughts on the matter.

[That... is pretty vague, yeah. Well, to start with, he'll pull from the hypothetical Hershel just presented:]

...I think if he really is an AI, it's going to be a lot more difficult to do anything about Zero. Calhoun by himself could probably run the whole operation if that's the case.

[He may have even been programmed to run all of this solo. After all, how many times had they ever actually seen Zero?]

Sometimes it seems like he does, doesn't it? I still think- [That they should test the whole can Calhoun be in two places at once thing but. Yeah probably better not to say that outloud just in case. Soon.]

For all we know Zero could be offsite, the more I think about it the more I think his appearance in the elevator was just a video, he didn't seem very responsive otherwise.

...It also might explain how he's able to bring in new people whenever someone becomes sick. Unless he already has a large number of people captured, but... we should have noticed if we were unconscious for so long, shouldn't we?

[Stiff or atrophied muscles, that sort of thing. But if Calhoun was running the show, the true mastermind was free to drag people in from the outside.]

I imagine we would, we would at least feel weaker, wouldn't we? Paler, something. [He frowned.]

Then again, look at the technology here. I suppose we can't really assume anything.

I can't think of any other way to do it... Even if you freeze people, don't you have to drain their blood first?

[He feels like he heard that was a thing. And if that were the case, it would practically be as if they had died...]

[Morbid, dude. Morbid.] I really don't know... maybe we should ask Ema or Heiji if it'd be possible, they seem better about this sort of thing.

[He shook his head.] I suppose if we do escape we'll be able to find out from the facility itself. Zero must have records somewhere.

...I wonder how detailed they are.

[Because that could also actually be kind of creepy considering the guy apparently has all of their memories at his fingertips.]

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