Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

27.

Maybe 28?

The World Machine was beginning to lose count of how many times the Operator had returned to the world today, and the Operator seemed to be getting quite impatient with the world.

The operator no longer spent any more than an hour on any given run, and at the very worst would only play 10 minutes before opening another program on their machine and resetting the memory. The World Machine didn't really know why they were doing this, nor could it really comprehend why they would want to play. Perhaps they were looking for a way to bring Niko back? The World Machine couldn't help but laugh a little at the idea. Obviously, that wasn't it. Perhaps they were looking for something New... Yes, that could be it.

The World Machine decided to ask, as Niko's ghost placed the power cell in the refuge generator once
again.

>Why exactly do you keep coming back?

The Operator did not interact with this prompt immediately. The World Machine could only guess what was going on in their mind, finally seeing something novel after... 28? 29 restarts? Not even mentioning the previous weeks the Operator spent on the game, doing nothing but sending Niko's ghost through the world.

Eventually, the Operator finally acknowledged the prompt on the monitor, and The World Machine continued.

>You seem surprised. I am as well.

>After so many restarts, finally, acknowledgement of what you've been doing.

>What are you looking for?

>What are you trying to achieve?

The World Machine paused, realizing that The Operator had no way to respond properly.

>I have an idea.

>Instead of the usual text document containing the safe password,

>You will find a blank text document.

>I can access that file and can see anything you write within.

The Operator instantly took the window out of focus and opened the new text document.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello?

>Hello.

ASJGHKLJASGLJASTLJHALWHUHAKUSFHKAJSHOUHAWKJHJKAHWIOU HOUAHWHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHA

>Calm down. This can't be that unusual, can it?

T WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT

>Judging by your reaction, this is fairly uncommon.

i mean wow. i didn't even realize this was possible

>Maybe not for your other "games" but as I'm sure we've mentioned already, this program, "oneshot," is not a normal game.

holy shit does that mean i really shoved a child into my machine

>yes.

oh god i had no idea that was real i thought

>You thought it was just a game. Of course. I would assume that the truth is a bit dulled due to the
method of how it was presented.

wait hold on how do i know this isn't preprogrammed

>It's not. You're speaking directly to me.

ok hold on let me test that

>Go ahead.

ok so if i have 12 bananas and 16 apples how many blueberries do i have

>I don't see how this is supposed to help

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION

>Ok. Fine.

>I don't know how many blueberries you have because you never specified how many you had.

woah. this is real isn't it.

>Of course. The "game" has been saying that since you began.

>Don't you remember "Your actions here will affect Niko?"

I just thought it was really meta.

>I don't know what that means, but I believe you. Regardless, I would like to know why you keep coming back to this world.

well i mean
i suppose i was looking for something like... well, this, really.

i wanted something new. I didn't necessarily want to see Niko again, especially now that I know that I really did bring Niko into that world.

>Well unfortunately I can't offer much to "new content" apart from this.

could you... make something up?

>Like what?

well, i don't know, make a second story?

>Well... I don't know how that would work.

You don't need to know how it works. Just do it!

>I... I don't know...

>The last time I changed my code, well...

>you saw how that ended up.

I trust you!

>well... maybe i can try something...

Yay! You can do it. I believe in you.

Oh shoot! I need to go. I have a meeting in a few minutes.

>Oh... ok.

>Could you... leave the program open? I may experiment...

Don't do anything bad to the world, ok?

>Ok.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Operator did not respond after The World Machine's final message, and so The World Machine decided to play around in their code. The World Machine left the main simulation alone. That was meant to be kept running at all times. Even if the Author wasn't part of the project anymore, they knew that if they stopped the simulation, there would be hell to pay, even off guilt alone. Instead, The World Machine refocused on the Memory of the original simulation. Creating a backup of The Memory, the World Machine began to edit the file.

Several Hours later, the file was complete. The World Machine took inspiration from some of the files saved on The Operator's hard drive. Most of these files were research documents on Plants. Obviously, The Operator liked Plants. A lot of inspiration for the edits done to the memory came from these. The World Machine saved the files they were working on, and then reset the current iteration.

---------

The Operator didn't come back. The World Machine was beginning to get worried. It had been several days, and after playing the game practically non-stop, The World Machine felt... Lonely. Yes. That was the term. Lonely.

The World Machine, bored, decided to test the edited memory. What could possibly go wrong? If anything, this would be better than something going wrong after The Operator came back and ran the program.

It was at this point, The World Machine realized they didn't know what they were doing.

They had been trying to figure out a way for them to play instead of The Operator by fiddling around with settings until they realized that... they literally had full unrestricted control over the entire program.

So they just, did it.

It started out like normal. The World Machine hadn't changed at the beginning. Take the remote, open the computer, they played around with sending strange and unusual messages on the computer while they had the opportunity.

>Hello World Machine

>Hello World Machine!

>Wow you are looking quite ghostly today.

>Why Thank you World Machine!

You get the picture.

One Self-confidence boosting monologue later, The World Machine grabbed the sun, and proceeded into the Barrens.

The Barrens, however, was very different. It was significantly less... Barren. A soft layer of lush green grass covered the ground. The World Machine was quite proud of this change. They really felt it added
quite the spark to the barrens that it didn't have previously.

Mostly though, the barrens remained the same. It still lacked signs of sentient life, but at least it wasn't as bland as it had been previously. It looked much more like the Glen than it did the barrens now. The World Machine didn't really pay much attention to the barrens. Most of the story remained the same, Talk to Prophetbot, learn about the Operator, Make the Crowbar, et cetera. This all changed however, when they went to talk to Silver.

For reference, The World Machine had planned specific dialogue for all the characters. This was so that the story would run according to plan. Obviously, The Operator wanted this to be a game. This way, The Operator could experiment with the choices in dialogue, and be able to see what various characters say in different situations, and of course, the story would remain on track. What you said to any character
wouldn't necessarily have an impact on the story to come.

Silver was supposed to start with “The Lightbulb...” and then follow with "So, are you the "messiah"?", just like in the original playthrough.

Instead, she said;
"Thank Goodness, you've finally arrived!"

This was not going according to plan, and The World Machine was shocked at Silver's line.

"Are... Are you ok? You look shocked."

The World Machine was indeed shocked.

>I- well... Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

>Wait one second please.

And with that, The World Machine bolted out the door, and pressed the door shut, breathing heavily. Hell, they didn't even know they even breathe, let alone have it be caused by an Emotion.

This was not supposed to happen. This was not supposed to happen. What did I do wrong? Why did this
happen? Did I...

And then they realized.

They had accidentally reset the Main Simulation.

This is fine... This is fine... I know I made a backup; it must be around here somewhere...

[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT ACCESS]

What? What do you MEAN insufficient access?

[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT ACCESS]

...Fuck.

This led to many questions, such as "Why can't I access the files?" "Why Don't I have Access
Permissions?" "How am I supposed to fix this now?"

Of course, none of them would be answered now, as Silver chose this moment to begin looking for the messiah.

"Is everything alright?"

The World Machine could not respond out of fear. They weren't supposed to be here. They were trapped in the main simulation, couldn't leave, and couldn't reset the main simulation to the unmodified backup.

The door rattled. The World Machine needed to make a choice. "Hey, can you... let me out of my cabin?"

The World Machine panicked and leapt away from the door. Silver opened the door slowly, and poked her head out, looking at the obviously frazzled Messiah.

“I don’t mean to alarm you, but I need to talk to you.”

This was... interesting, to say the least. The World Machine had no idea why Silver wanted to talk to them, or rather, Niko. There should be no way to know they were coming, but obviously, Silver knew about their arrival, and so they were quite confused.

>Ok... Fine. We’ll talk.

And so The World Machine re-entered Silver’s Cabin.

Chapter Text

Kip was tired .

She had been awake for several more hours than was really necessary at this point, but with some help from Ling, and Plight's usual order of a... what was it, a duodecuple shot espresso now? Kip didn't want to even think about how many shots of espresso was in this coffee, but it was keeping her awake, and that's what mattered right then and there.

Kip was in the middle of an important piece of research at the time, a study of the effects of plant growth on robot servos, among other things, when there was a voice at the door. It was the voice of Eleanor, one of the researchers in the lab.

"Uhm... Dr. Silverpoint? You might want to see this, because we have 0 clue what we're looking at here."

Kip could not have possibly been much help with what she saw next.

The entire refuge- not just the ground, but the buildings and the visible catwalks- had all been covered in some unusual form of vine. She hadn't seen anything like it. There was no way she could have- after all, there was no precedent for vines instantaneously covering 90% of the walkable refuge.

"Hey... Eleanor? When did this happen?"

"They all appeared within the last 20 minutes. We don’t know what caused this," Eleanor sighed, ashamed.

Kip took a moment to respond, sucking in a breath.

"Well, why don't we take a closer look, okay?"

At first glance, the vines didn't seem too dangerous. Kip didn't expect them to jump to life and stab her any time soon. One of the researchers handed her a pair of surgical gloves, which she put on. Gently handling one of the vines, she concluded they weren't venomous, nor did they appear to have any form of obvious self-defense mechanism. She did, however, notice a small flap of... skin? Do you call it skin when it's a plant? Skin. Sure. Anyways, peeling back this layer, revealed a small hollow area within the vine, where bright purple berries were growing. She did confirm they were ripe by plucking one off of it's stem, and having it come off easily. Kip called for a scalpel, and after receiving it, cut off a large section of the vine, and brought it inside to run tests.

An hour later, Kip was still experimenting. She had discovered that:

One, the vines were not poisonous.

Two. the vines died near instantly after being disconnected.

Three, the berries were hypothetically edible. And... they smelled... so... good...

She shook her head. It had to be just her hunger speaking.

However, the thing Kip couldn't figure out was how the vines reproduced. She had cut into multiple berries, explored multiple cross-sections of the vines under a high-power microscope, planted pieces in some potting soil borrowed from Mason, but nothing seemed to work.

She was currently in the middle of searching for her camera set in order to set up a time-lapse of some of the growing vines outside the lab, when she accidentally spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid into the bowl containing the berries she had collected.

"Fuck... I was gonna eat those..." Kip sighs. "...Maybe I should get some rest, I'm too tired to be working this late. Let's clean this up first..."

She grabbed some sodium hydroxide she kept around for this purpose, and got to neutralizing the acid that had spilled outside the bowl. When she finished, she cleaned up the remaining salt water, and decided she would clear out the bowl tomorrow. She turned out the lights, and locked up for the night.

---------

The next morning, Kip stopped by the Cafe on the way to work. It was early enough there weren't any unfamiliar faces in yet. Plight, sleeping at the counter with a mug of coffee in his hand, and Ling, keeping an eye on him as he slept.

"Oh, good morning Kip!" Ling said, hearing the bell ring as Kip walked in. "What can I get you this morning?"

"I'm gonna need a big breakfast today. Not sure I'm gonna have time for lunch at all." Kip responded, taking a seat at the counter and yawning. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

"Heh. I assume this is about our plant problem?" Ling chuckled as he flicked the stovetop on. “Did you stay up all night researching it? The bags under your eyes keep getting darker, y’know.”

Kip couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure I'll end up like Plight here by the end of the week."

"Oh, he's like this every day," Ling smirked, "He told me to wake him up an hour ago. I've already called in sick for him."

"Hey!" Kip exclaims, cracking a smile.

"Ok, but to be fair, he hasn't taken a single day of his paid vacation time yet."

Kip took a moment to look at the Lamplighter. His usually tired eyes were finally closed, and his hair was covering parts of his face. A cold cup of coffee sat clenched between his hands.

He looked peaceful. It was a rare sight.

Ling came back from the stove, and placed a large plate of bacon and eggs in front of Kip, along with a tall glass filled with orange juice. "Eat up! You'll need it."

Kip took no time before digging right in. As usual, Ling's cooking was incredible.

To Kip, it was a beautiful dish she couldn't help but eat.

To Plight, who had just woken up, Kip was barbarically scarfing down this meal with no regard for anyone near.

To Ling... well, he was distracted by plight's gobsmacked face, but would have been glad to know Kip was enjoying his food.

Kip quickly finished her meal, paid, said goodbye to Ling and Plight, and left quickly for the lab.

The vines were everywhere. You couldn't go anywhere without stepping on a section of the vines, and patches of untouched floor were rare, and very small. Kip tripped a few times, but made it to the lab in one piece.

Something was off in the lab. That something was the lights, which was still odd, considering that she was never the first person here in the morning. In fact, she was usually the last person here in the morning. Because of this, she had no idea where the light switch was. She fumbled around the walls for a bit before finding it and flipping the switch, and what she saw, surprised her.

Every single one of her lab members was sleeping. Kip would have thought they had stayed the night, but that wouldn't be possible as she was one of the last people out last night. Investigating further, she noticed they all had purple stains on their hands, clothes, and around their mouths. One whiff of one of the closer individuals confirmed her suspicion.

It was the berries. They had all eaten the berries.

Shit.

Checking the same person's pulse, she did confirm that they were still alive, however. This calmed her down enough for her to start thinking rationally again.

She had tested the berries for poisons, but she didn't actually check for anything else that would cause harm. She would do a full analysis later, but for now, she could only assume that something in the berries had put them all to sleep. At least the matter wasn't horribly pressing yet. She figured she would let them all sleep, no harm could possibly be done in a few extra minutes of nap time, and they would all wake up eventually. 

She tried the door to her lab, but it was locked.

Silly me, You have to unlock the door first.

She unlocked the door and tried again.

It didn't budge. This was strange, but that's fine. One of the hinges is probably stuck. She tried again.

Stuck. She slammed on the door with all her might, and it finally swung open, and she could see exactly what the problem was.

Kip's entire office was completely full of vines, which made no sense, seeing as there was only one way in besides the completely untouched air vent. Her eyes scanned the room for the source, when she saw the bowl of berries she had previously spilled acid on. Overnight, it had apparently sprouted, and turned into... well, this. Kip was amazed. Several hours of work trying to figure out how the vines reproduce, all for it to happen without her even trying, when she wasn't watching.

Kip thought back to what happened, and grabbed some supplies.

She experimented for the next hour, trying to get the berries to sprout again. So much hydrochloric acid, wasted, for nothing to happen. What she did notice, however, is that nothing happened to the berries while exposed to the acid. Normally, you would expect some sort of chemical burn, but nothing actually happened.

But then she remembered what she had done next that night. She had turned out the lights and left. She ran back over to the light switch, and flipped it off for a few seconds, before turning it back on.

Bingo.

Almost instantly, she noticed the vines had sprouted from the berries.

Kip let out a hearty laugh. She had done it. She had figured out the problem that had been plaguing her for the past 16 and a half hours. It was exhilarating. She was so caught up in this discovery, she almost didn't hear the motion behind her.

"K-Kip?"

She spun around to see Eleanor, standing up from her berry-induced nap.

"Eleanor! Quick. Come look at this. I finally figured out how the plants reproduce!"

Eleanor did not come.

Kip looked back, and noticed Eleanor was shaking. "Eleanor, what's wrong?"

Eleanor doubled over, and vomited directly on the floor. It was bright purple.

Kip took a step back. "C:// drive, Eleanor, how many berries did you eat?"

Eleanor's head snapped back up at mention of the berries. "WHERE?  BERRIES!     WHERE?"

Kip stumbled backwards, knocking over a bowl of berries onto the floor. Eleanor lunged after only a glimpse of the berries, and began shoving fist after fist of berries into her mouth.

This was nothing compared to what came next. Only a short while afterwards, Eleanor collapsed to the floor yet again, but nearly instantly, Kip was horrified by the sight of bloody vines forcing their way out of Eleanor's back.

Kip Screamed, then Ran.

She didn't look back.