Log 1.6

As soon as I stepped past the former paywall line, someone called out to me.

"Greetings visitor! Welcome to the Nebuchadnezzar Public Library Ziggurat!"

The middle two words made me pause and look over. Surely they knew this place hadn't been a public library for ages?

At first, I thought it was a person, but it turned out to be a program. A tiny pink dragon that resembled an axolotl, resting on a perch next to the gate.

"And who are you?" I asked.

"I am the Tracking, Indexing, and Accessions Management Terminal. Or TIAMaT. Please refer to me as you would a mythical dragon mother." Her name, and she was very much femme coded, appeared above her head. "How can I assist you today?"

She was a librarian, in other words. One that didn't come with a price tag. "I'm Nixed. Got a map of-" I started to say.

She opened the map a bit too hastily, and I wondered if someone had abandoned her. Leave a virtual intelligence on its own for too long, and they tended to get weird.

"I would be happy to assist you," TIAMaT said. "Are you here to return any overdue books? Or perhaps contribute to our great storehouse of human knowledge?" she asked, her voice eager.

Yep. Someone, perhaps the whole city, had definitely abandoned this VI.

"Tia... can I call you Tia?" I asked.

"Oh course you can!" she said. "Just state your purpose and I'll be happy to escort you to the appropriate facility!"

"Right... I'm here to kill a corrupted program that maybe used to be one of your patrons and is now likely roaming the streets looking to eat into the biggest, juiciest bundle of exa it can get its tentacles around. Know anything that can help me with that?" I started walking, and she started following me.

"Oh... let me just query that. Our largest personal data management systems are reserved for synthetic personalities and my show form." A little hourglass appeared over her head for a second before... "Odd... I seem to have been locked out of the public server as of several hours ago... They've never done that before... most of my data allotment is missing..."

I put two and two together right there.

"Say... your show form, it wouldn't happen to be a dragon, would it?" I asked.

"Of course it is! What else would it be?" Tia replied.

How about a steaming pile of corrupted code giblets blown up by yours truly?

I didn't actually say that of course. Tia was being helpful, and I didn't want to get lost here on my first trip.

The fact we had yet to see a single soul may have also contributed to my desire to stay friendly with her.

"Truly, nothing else would suit a mythical dragon mother," I substituted.

"Oh you flatterer," she blushed a little on her pink-white face. "I'm sorry I can't access the index for you... but I do remember the public layout of the Library. Would you like me to show you around?"

I gestured out to the open air in front of us. "Lead the way, oh wise dragon... perhaps you can show me the nearest Demiurge terminal?"

"Demiurge? Why would you want to talk to them? I'm the one with boots on the ground here. They haven't once checked in on me since the administration changes." She sounded huffy.

I hadn't particularly gone out of my way to interact with VIs since waking up. Something about the way they were described to me had definitely soured my perceptions. Yet as we continued I decided to think of Tiamat as a person. An artificial one, but no different than a human in the sense that she had a sense of self and a sense of humor and a shitty job...

Shitty boss, too. God damn, Demi, did even your kin hate you? I made a note to ask.

The first human person we saw ran away as soon as I made eye contact.

They were shouting something like "The Reaper is here! The Reaper is here!" and I vaguely heard more footsteps running away.

I followed after them. Not particularly fast. Rushing in was more likely to get me too close to the damn zombie, and I didn't want to die today.

"Reaper? I don't see anyone bearing farm implements," Tia said, looking around.

"They're referring to me," I said. "I've picked up a few nicknames since I started working. Seems word gets around fast."

I've also picked up a few followers. All of the bad kind.

I've gotten messages asking if I'd delete people for exa. People showing up at my apartment trying to kill me for fame or excising a loved one or on a dare.

The truly sickening ones ask me what it's like to kill, knowing I'm really killing. But the worst are the ones that try to sleep with me because something about my command (and it's not really my command) of death is alluring to them.

"Stop putting out for crazy!" is a phrase I remember my old hacker saying once. Maybe it's just to comfort myself, but I intend to honor that mysterious voice of wisdom in this afterlife.

"Oh. Well, I suppose we'll be ignored together then," Tia said, her voice a little sad.

"How long have you been ignored?" I asked.

"My last query before you arrived was four-hundred seventeen years ago. I was told to only index incoming texts for human assessment. They said my personal data would be reassigned to more important functions... that my avatars would be..." An absent look came over her. "No... wait. I'm in an avatar. That doesn't make sense..."

"What doesn't?" I asked. She was obviously onto something.

"I have fragment data from three hours ago... it suggests an interfacing... but I can't recall..." Tia glitched, her appearance fragmenting into vertical bands and recomposing itself.

I immediately called out.

"Woah, woah. Don't strain yourself, alright? Just... lead me to a Demi terminal." I said, hoping she would stabilize if she had something she could do.

"Demi? Why would you need a terminal to talk to them?" She seemed better, if a bit forgetful.

"Because this is human-only territory and Demi likes to let them have privacy..." I supplied, a little cautious because I didn't want to risk putting her into a logic loop or something weird that would fragment her.

"Let me query them- Oh. It appears you are right. My external communication functions are all offline... but how will people know to return overdue books?" She asked.

"We're literally living in a digital medium. There should be an infinite number of copies." I said, wondering if maybe I was being too soft on her.

"I know that, silly. I meant the restricted books. Those are in discrete data packages and cannot be replicated." She giggled but resumed leading me up the stairs. "I feel like I'm supposed to ask for your help retrieving one..."

Aaaaand there went my theory that meeting Tia was a coincidence.

"Who's the borrower?" I asked.

"Let me check..." her scales flashed a bit. Perhaps a search function indicator? "Oh."

I watched her closely... "Yes?"

"I forgot I don't have access to the local servers. You'll have to restore my functions for me to search the logs." She giggled. "Silly me..."

That was when we turned the corner of the stairs and found the library cops waiting for us.

Fucking Tuesday...