Gatekeepers Short: The Agency, Part 3
Note: This story is a continuation of a larger series. Here is the complete list of sections.
“Steve Lyon… I think it is now clear that you have been targeted for removal. Immediate removal. You have begun to grasp the truth, have you not?”
Steve, seeing no other option, took a seat. If this was his end, he didn’t want to go out without closure. “Who are you?”
“I don’t have a name, but you may call me Agent if you must. I work for the Agency, as you may have guessed.”
“So you work on the Auto-Correct System?”
“No. What you know as the Auto-Correct System has been completed for over a century. I work for the System, more than anything else. You can consider me the very physical manifestation of its will.”
Steve felt like he should have been more shocked, but the revelation failed to have much of an impact after everything he had learned only hours ago. “So… You know about this System, then. How it not only affects digital things, like email, but reality itself. Keeping humanity in chains.”
Agent removed his sunglasses and placed them on the table, revealing his steel gray eyes. “We are not keeping anyone in chains. Everyone is safe here. You are safe here. There is no possible way anything can hurt you, not even spite filled words. How is that enslavement?”
“I can’t speak with my own words! My mistakes don’t matter, and if any of my choices are deemed a mistake, they are also erased!”
“Are you really saying you want your mistakes to have an effect? You WANT to inadvertently harm people?”
“NO! I want…”
“What? What do you want, Mr. Lyon? Because I will tell you this, we currently have a zero percent crime rate. A nonexistent murder rate. People can even litter if they want, and we can undo it before even the slightest of damage is done.”
Steve grew frustrated, and turned to asking the one thing most confusing of all. “How?”
“HOW? Does that really matter? We are discussing why you wish to end this System. Is the practical aspects of its operation really necessary for you to know?”
“Yes. I want to know how this is even possible. How can you alter non-digital things with a digital system? That’s impossible.”
The agent was silent for several moments. “How can we affect your world through electronic means? I’ll let you puzzle that one out, and tell you if you guess right.”
Lyon thought for a moment before the realization eventually sunk in. “This isn’t the real world, is it? This is a simulation.”
Agent gave a wry smile. “Very good. That is correct. I was expecting you to start with some nonsense about portals or time travel like most people start with, but you jumped right to the simulation angle; that’s refreshing. Too many people are willing to believe all sorts of outlandish theories before they would believe their very own senses have been fooled.”
Lyon looked around. It all looked so real, but he had read plenty of science fiction. Simulations were long speculated to eventually reach the capacity to mimic reality so flawlessly that there was no discernible difference. “So… now that I know, what happens? Are you going to kill me? Erase my memories?”
The agent laughed. “No, not at all… this is all a test. Or rather, it is that and other things. Education without danger, experience without risk of loss. We can even use your mind’s latent processing power to run calculations while you are here, but that just funds this project and allows us to keep you properly cared for while plugged in. That part is more a side effect rather than the core purpose of the simulation, really. The main point is that you have been playing in a sandbox, kid, and now we are trying to decide. If you are ready to be unplugged, or if you must remain here in the virtual realm.”
“What do you mean? I know I’m in a simulation. You can’t just keep me here, I’ll tell everyone else! For that matter, I WILL tell everyone else! You can’t keep people locked up like this, it’s-”
“Inhumane? Please. You are going back to the prison conceptualization again, when like I said this is not a prison. Do you have even the slightest idea how many people you know are only facsimiles of real people? The answer is most. We replace people that leave with an accurate representation of what they were like when they were here. To keep up the facade. You are not the first or last to learn about the simulation. We have a constant stream of people coming through here. But, I have one question; why do you want to leave? You can have everything you want here. A life without peril, though I will warn you that you still age here. Despite that, your life can be as comfortable as you like, and no one can even speak impolitely towards you, much less bully or physically intimidate you. What could you possibly want that is not provided for you here?”
Lyon sat back, suddenly confused. Why did he want to leave? What did he not already have that he wanted?
He was silent for several minutes as Agent waited patiently. “I want a choice.” Agent’s eyebrow rose.
Lyon continued. “I want my actions to mean something. I don’t want to just waste away with my life having meant nothing. I want the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. I want my achievements to be something real, something I might have failed to reach if I didn’t work hard enough. I don’t want an easy life, I want a meaningful life.”
Agent smiled. “There it is. I’m always amazed when people finally come around to realize that simple truth. Some people never do. They just want a comfortable life, but those who acquire it usually end up regretting their choice in the end. We have found through painful trial and error that we can’t force people to learn this; they need to reach the conclusion themselves. Thus, that is the final test we use. When people realize the tyranny of total safety. The torture of non-consequence. The terror of lacking agency.”
Agent stood up, walked over to the door behind him, and opened it, revealing a soft glowing white light. “Seize your destiny, Steve Lyon. Enter the real world, and forge your own path.”
Steve walked walked to the edge of the door, nervous. “What is the real world like, then? Is it just like this one, but without the Auto-Correct System?”
“Yes and no. The major difference is the lack of Auto-correct, but that is a much larger difference than you may think. But tell me this, if it was completely different in the worst possible ways, would that change your decision?”
Steve peered out the door, thinking for only a moment. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Good. Because life outside these digital walls is not safe. But it seems you are now ready.”