"Compromised? Compromised how?"
Arthur Savage had been called into the military base by the team of scientists that were heading the virtual-reality simulation project, often referred to as "VRS" by the project staff. Arthur was currently sitting in one of the technology centers; which was dedicated to storing and analyzing the data received from the various simulation participants. He'd gotten a call from one of the project supervisors requesting that report to the base as soon as possible. Sitting in front of nearly two dozen computer monitors, Arthur was having doubts about how "urgent" this matter really was.
A senior analyst with straight, black hair slicked back into a bun and tortoiseshell glasses cued a short slideshow up on the monitors.
"The simulation gathers information from the participants prior to the start; memories, patterns, relationships, and so on. The data is gathered through brainwaves and signals brought in by a series of electrodes that each participant is hooked up to."
She paused, changing the slide.
"Essentially, the simulation forms a symbiotic bond with the participants- the code is directly influenced by each participant to create the most realistic simulation possible, but, this also gives the participant agency to change the outcome of the scenario."
The slide changed again, pulling up a clip of the simulation. Arthur squinted up at the screen.
"Is that me?"
The analyst nodded.
"In constructing the theoretical protocols for the simulation, we felt that it would be best if the students were instructed to report to a familiar authority figure- in this case, their head teacher. They were instructed by an emergency bulletin to report to the school for extraction by the military… however, that was the code we had constructed prior to the slight hiccup we encountered as a result of one of your students."
Arthur looked up at the screen, watching as four of the six students he'd volunteer for the project burst through the doors of the school, covered in blood. He watched himself stand, have a short conversation with Steph North, and open the door to let the students into the hallway. Just before the clip ended, a glitch permeated the screen- and Arthur lost sight of both the students and his virtual doppelganger.
"Is that it? I was called down her to watch a glitch in a video feed?" He started to get to his feet, but the analyst continued her slideshow; switching to another video clip- which showed Arthur locking the students in a room full of zombies, taking his time as he walked around to speak to the students before producing a whistle and clearly provoking the zombies in order to lure them towards the students. The four students took off running, and the video clip ended there.
Arthur sat there, completely taken aback by what he'd seen. It wasn't every day you watched yourself attempt to murder four of your school's best students. Albeit, it was a virtually-simulated doppelganger, Arthur knew that. But that fact didn't make the experience any less jarring.
Sensing his confusion, the analyst clarified.
"The simulation was slated to end once all the students completed their respective personal goals. However, one particular student's reaction to being unable to achieve her goal and, we hypothesize, being placed in close proximity to you, Mr. Savage, triggered an extreme chemical reaction in her brain that not only caused a drastic spike in all of her vital functions but was powerful enough to alter the code of the simulation and all computer-generated non-player characters."
"I don't think I'm following…"
Reggie the Tech Advisor, who was sitting in the front row, put an elbow over the back of his chair and turned to look back at Arthur.
"You might want to work on your people skills, mate- 'cause one of your students is scared of you enough that she convinced herself and the program that you were willing and capable of murdering her and her classmates."
He raised his hands over his head, turning back to face the front of the room.
"No judgement, but the kind of signals we were getting don't just come out of nowhere."
"I can assure you I would never-"
Arthur was interrupted by Dr. Dawson, who cleared his throat.
"It's of little importance how possible the scenario that your student concocted is, what matters is that the entire simulation will go off the rails unless someone does something. As it stands, the "Arthur Savage" we created virtually is hell-bent on hunting down and killing all five of the students-"
"-Five? No, there were six-"
"One of the students ended up terminating his place in the simulation after he sacrificed himself to protect the lives of his classmates. As of right now, there are five students still participating."
Arthur sat in his chair, processing the heavy amount of information that had just been communicated to him. A virtual copy of himself was wreaking havoc in the simulation because one of his students was convinced that he had a death wish for her. Another one of his students had essentially decided to offer himself up for dead in order to help his classmates survive. He'd only seen four students on the monitor- but from what he'd seen he knew that Johnathan Pine was nowhere to be seen. He also hadn't seen Lisa Snow, and he didn't want to think of where she had ended up. What he wanted to know was which one of his students had caused the glitch in the program- and more importantly, why in the bloody hell any of his students would believe that he would try to murder them.
The supervisors of the project had continued on, but Arthur hadn't been listening.
"-So, Mr. Savage, I believe it would be in our best interest for you to enter the simulation so we can terminate as much of the defective code as possible. The simulation has already gone on for longer than expected, and we're still unsure as to the long-term effects participating in this experiment will have on the students."
A beat.
"…You want me to what?"
"He wasn't listening." Reggie scoffed, as the head analyst adjusted her glasses to regard Arthur.
"We want you to enter the simulation, Mr. Savage."