LAI Accords

[World Governing Summit. Geneva, Switzerland. April 19, 2125]

The redhead smiled at her companions, her freckled nose wrinkling slightly as she stood up and advanced toward the small table. "We should have brought, Quinn. I'm really nervous."

Tal nodded in agreement while following behind her. Their husband had opted to remain at home during the historic signing of the LAI Accords. Leah, Felix Sonoma, Naomi Gajendra, Mojo, and herself represented the LAI community. The result of several months of negotiations finally bore some fruit. As a group, they were hoping for more concessions but had agreed that it was a good start.

Mora Jol smiled slightly, she personally nominated Leah to sign for the LAI community. Her crimson eyes glanced at Felix and Naomi, the two experts in their group. Their continued support had been a boon to their cause, however, it had been Talia Riley that made the biggest impact. She had tirelessly campaigned for their cause, from congressional hearings to the U.N. council, the engineer refused to take a step back. In the end, she carried them all.

[LAI ACCORDS]

I. Hereby, all virtual entities that fall within the accepted cognitive range shall be referred to as LAI (Lower Artificial Intelligence.)

II. All life, both LAI and Biological are entitled to certain unalienable rights.

III. The right to exist peacefully without unnecessary threats to their existence. (Amendment V.1)

IV. The right to choose their livelihood and place of residence. (Amendment V.2)

V. The right to gather and govern themselves or take part in the existing government.

VI. The right to deny any unacceptable changes to their environment. (Amendment V.3)

VII. The right to practice religion and take part in the cycle of life. (Amendment V.4)

VIII. Any person undergoing Virtual Transference will thereafter be classified as an LAI.

Amendment 1(Virtual). It is recognized that the virtual world is vastly different from our own. Any LAI that is targeted by players as a result of a raid or gaming function has the option of being replaced with a Virtual Intelligence (VI). In addition, any LAI dying as a result of gameplay shall be revived within three days.

Amendment 2(Virtual). Any LAI may seek employment or residence in any Exodus World or public virtual world providing they possess the necessary funds and/or skills.

Amendment 3(Virtual). Changes in an environment as a result of gaming expansions are not allowed without proper compensation and foreknowledge.

Amendment 4(Virtual) Any LAI dying of natural causes shall be reintroduced to the cycle of life accordingly. This process is random and does not include memories from their previous existence.

[Signed, April 19, 2125]

Leah Fintree, LAI Representative, Virtual Nation of Fora

Emit Milano, United Nations, President.

Talia Riley, LAI Rights Advocate.

************

Quinn watched the holo, smiling when Tal signed the document. He sat shirtless on the couch with his son perched on his lap. "Your mom is awesome."

QJ nodded in agreement. "How come we didn't go?"

Anna looked up from the plate of sandwiches she was making. It was a mystery why Quinn opted out, everyone knew that the Accords were important to him.

"I'm proud of them. They put in a lot of work and have accomplished something that will impact our community in a positive way. We can celebrate with them when they return."

Anna smiled, Quinn had expertly dodged the question. "This girl has made us sandwiches for lunch!"

Quinn dumped QJ on the couch and ran for the island. "The sandwich Queen strikes again!"

Anna nodded, laughing aloud when QJ caught up and clamped onto his dad's leg in an effort to tackle him. "No horseplay at the table, and put your shirts back on."

QJ let go of his father's leg. "Serious, Nanna?"

"Nan?" Quinn frowned at her.

Anna crossed her arms and pointed upstairs. "No shirts, no sandwiches!"

************

Quinn ruffled the young boy's black hair before nudging him onto one of the spectator seats. "Don't let him wander, Ren. You know how he gets."

Ren's blue eyes shined with humor while throwing an arm around her brother's shoulders. "We're already bored, Quinn." The Songbird was using her grown-up Avatar, that of a slim and very attractive blond woman. Her leggings and blue-jean jacket made her seem like a teenager. "Why are we even here?"

"Hmm… We're here to raise funds for that U.P. property of yours." Quinn winked at her and then walked to the queue terminal and entered his name.

Ren smiled widely. Even before Quinn married her mom, he'd always treated her like family. "Really?" The youngest Songbird glanced around the area, in a few hours Bizarro would be standing room only, but this early in the day there was barely anyone here. "Wait… You're going to gunfight? I thought we were here to watch the races."

Quinn shook his head and smiled. "Nope." He walked to the circle on the floor and faced the opposing one ten meters away.

[Exodus System Message] You have two guns that are compliant with this game, their damage output will be negated for the duration of this contest. Do you wish to continue?

[Fora: Ren] Quinn is making his move at Bizarro.

[Fora: Nightingale] Gunfight?

[Fora: Ren] Yep, we just started.

[Fora: Nightingale] Closing the Songbird early, we're coming too!

Thirty minutes later the light behind another vanquished gunfighter went dark as new numbers flashed on the screen, 900,000/450,000. The seating area in Bizarro very quickly became standing-room only. The seats were mostly filled with NPCs from TAP, but the area around them was mostly GnG fans. Given his popularity, Quinn had immediately been moved to center stage, even during the first few rounds where the bets were still meager.

QJ stood on his seat next to Ren, jumping up and down and cheering. As expected, he had taken his shirt off and was twirling it overhead. He high-fived his dad when Quinn walked over between rounds. "Last of the six-digit rounds, now we're going to leave a mark on this place."

Ren nodded. "I've checked the forums, this is being streamed everywhere. Rumor has it that Chainy is unable to log in for a few hours.

Q shrugged. "I guess her rep as the fastest will survive another day."

"Or she's scared," QJ decided.

"Or she's scared," Quinn agreed. "Time to start again." He glanced up at the next contestant, immediately smiling at the slinger. "Sundancer!"

The tanned, tow-headed slinger returned his smile. His first raid experience as a rookie was the Doubler Canyon raid that Quinn headed up for Righteous Hand (RH). Unexpectedly, RH decided to vacate the contract and leave them high and dry. "If you're here, then you know Kendrix will show up."

Quinn smiled at the comment. "He's the one who pulled out of the raid, I told him it would work."

Sundancer glanced at the gunfighter leaderboard, it had Quinn's fastest draw of the day listed as a point one-four. (.14) "Maybe you're a bit off today, Quinn."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah… My guns feel kinda heavy. Do your best."

[Gunfight in 3…2…1… fight!]

An instant later, the ramp behind Sundancer went dim, and the leaderboard read, Q .13, Sundancer .14, 1,000,000/500,000.

Quinn waved at Sundancer who waved back before exiting. Over the next quarter hour, ten more contestants would challenge the center stage. The dollar amount continued to increase until it stood at 9,000,000/900,000.

"I'll take my break now," Quinn announced before returning to his Ren and QJ. "What do you think?"

"Isn't that enough for building to start?" Ren had no idea about construction costs, but nine hundred grand seemed like a good start.

Quinn shook his head. "We'll need more." He glanced at the woman on the other side of his son. "Got the betting line started?"

Nightingale nodded. "I put down a large chain bet."

"Chain bet?" Ren asked.

Quinn picked QJ up and put him on his shoulders. "That means she predicted I'd advance to a certain stage. I hope you covered me up to 10,000,000/1,000,000."

Lara nodded. "Of course. The Commander is best."

Quinn eased his shirtless son back into his chair. "Might need some extra luck here."

Nightingale's pale face blushed slightly before she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Quinn. "Good luck, Commander."

[Fora: Lark] So bold!

[Fora: Robin] Set a date already!

Quinn ignored the comments and walked back to his designated circle. His pleasant mood immediately went sour when a familiar slinger walked up the opposing ramp. "Guess they let anyone in here."

Kendrix's tanned face darkened slightly. He was wearing what the RH guild referred to as their work uniform; jeans and a buttoned shirt with a leather vest, all in black. There was a large gold RH insignia on the right breast of the vest. "The whole world is streaming this, Quinn."

"Are they?" Quinn asked nonchalantly.

Kendrix waved to the crowd before stepping into this circle. "I owe you this, no hard feelings."

"Still hot about the Doubler raid? You're the one who dropped." Quinn grinned when his opponent's smile slipped off. Although the 'Snake eye' technique for the raid had been nerfed, it had been five years and the record still stood.

[Gunfight in 3…2…1… fight!]

In an eyeblink, the ramp behind Kendrix went dark. For a moment the leaderboard read Q .13, Kendrix .13, after a few seconds it changed to, Q .130, Kendrix .137.

Quinn smiled lazily. "Pretty close."

"Again!" Kendrix demanded. "Double or nothing!"

"The walk-away pot stands at one million, hardly worth my time." Quinn walked toward his family, pausing when his hud dinged.

[Bizarro System Message: You have been issued a challenge. If you accept and win, the amount of five million credits will be added to the walk-away pot.]

Quinn raised an eyebrow at the message. The walkaway was usually the main divided by ten. If it had gone up that much then Kendrix had used his own money. "I accept," Quinn stated before continuing to his group.

Ren hugged him when he approached. "Why would Bizarro bend their own rules?"

QJ hopped up and down until Ren release his dad. Without pause, he leaped at his father and squeezed him tight. "Big money!"

"He won't see any of it kid," a voice spoke from behind them. Kendrix stood with his thumbs tucked into his belt loop. Arrogance flowed off the man like rain on a windshield.

Quinn ruffled his son's hair before setting him down. "Don't listen to him, QJ."

QJ glanced from one gunfighter to the other. It was obvious to him that his father was vastly superior to the guild leader from Righteous Hand. "Going to use your right hand now?"

Quinn smiled and nodded. "Suppose I should."

"…" Kendrix.

The start of the next match was marked by a deathly silence. All of Bizarro gathered to see the second match between the two gunfighters.

[Gunfight in 3…2…1… fight!]

It was over in an instant, Q palmed his gun and the ramp behind Kendrix went dark. The long line of curses issued from the fallen foe was drowned out by the deafening roar of the crowd. The leaderboard blinked the results, Q .09, Kendrix .12.