"We have much work ahead of us," PAMA continued, the 'facial expressions' of the computer continuing to change, "but maybe it can even be... fun!" And PAMA smiled.
"It's... kind of... cute?" Ellegaard said, tentatively. "Sort of?"
"In a weird, machine-y, computer-y way," Magnus agreed, absentmindedly pulling Ellegaard to him a bit.
"Er, um, s-sorry if this is a dumb question," Jesse called, raising her voice (presumably so PAMA could hear her better), "but- am I talking to PAMA right now? What is PAMA?"
"Some might call me a computer," PAMA immediately began speaking again, "a thinking machine, though there has never been a computer quite like me. My job is to be useful."
Harper shuddered again.
"Using redstone chips," PAMA said, 'smiling', "I have connected to the people of this town and helped them be useful. Coordinated. I have made their world perfect."
"Well... perfect is a bit of a strong word," Olivia said, slowly.
"Thanks to me, there is no wasted activity. No wasted thought."
"Talk about a control freak," the narrator murmured, Jesse glancing up at the sky before back down at PAMA.
"Um, sorry, hang on, I've seen these people you're talking about, and, I've gotta say... your idea of perfect is a little..." she trailed off, as if searching for the right word to use.
"Warped?" Lukas offered.
"Weird?" Em asked, flatly.
"Creepy?" Gabriel asked hesitantly.
"... off."
PAMA's 'face' suddenly went deadpan. A loud staticky 'bloop' rang out, and a '...' appeared on the screen place of its face (hey, that rhymed). "Processing information..." PAMA intoned.
Lukas just looked downright bewildered at that. "Processing information...?" he wondered, softly.
Ivor shrugged at the blonde, frowning at the computer. "It did say it's a thinking machine... thinking must take time?" he suggested, in his own soft voice.
"You'd be right about that," Harper said, in a low voice. Jesse glanced over at her- and then did a double take as she took in the sight of Harper looking almost nauseous right now. Ivor was looking over at the white-haired woman with a concerned frown.
Suddenly, PAMA's face back on, but it was no longer a smiley face. No, it... it was more of an angry one.
"Oh crap," Axel said, face going a bit pale.
"Oh joy. I think we might've ticked off the computer," Cassie remarked sarcastically.
"No, ya think?!" Lukas hissed back angrily, his tail slowly bushing out as he glanced at the red-haired girl.
"I have consulted my databases," PAMA spoke over the now-bickering duo, voice echoing loudly in the almost pure silence, "my list of everyone and everything in this world. And my conclusion is that you are not from here. I would like to ask you some questions-" And the face changed to a more pleasant one. "To expand my databanks. How did you get here? I am very excited for the acquisition of new knowledge."
Harper suddenly gasped, drawing everyone's attention to her. Her face had gone so pale that she looked a bit like she was about to be violently ill. "Oh no. Oh no no no no don't answer any of its questions!" she gasped.
"What? Why not?" Petra asked, frowning at the dark-skinned Old Build- Ancient Architect.
Onscreen, Jesse remained quiet for a second, before shifting slightly. "Um... we... walked... here," she said at last, slowly.
"... well, she's not wrong," Aiden said quietly.
PAMA's face flickered into an angry one.
"Well, it's not the answer the computer wanted to hear," Nell mumbled, "because man does that thing look unhappy right now."
"That is not a helpful answer. So far, your performance in question-answering has been inadequate. This makes me sad. Now, I must use alternative methods to retrieve my new information," PAMA blared.
"I don't like the sound of that," Onscreen-Cassie said softly, eyes widening as Winslow let out a little whining sound, "I really don't like the sound of that."
"Jesse!" Petra suddenly shouted, the screen doing a swish pan to see a villager grabbing her and starting to haul her away from the rest of the group.
"Petra!" Jace squealed, eyes widening in fear.
Lukas whirled around on the spot, his own eyes wide. "Petra!"
Another villager grabbed Lukas, pinning his arms behind his back, while another one seized Jesse and fought all of her arms down. Ivor also got his arms pinned behind his back, while another one grabbed Cassie, Winslow letting out a frightened hiss and burrowing back under her beanie.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Olivia was chanting, hands over her eyes as she tried to burrow down into a little ball. Axel's arms were tight around her shoulders.
"We could have just talked this out, you know," PAMA spoke calmly.
"No no no wait I'll tell you whatever you want to know just please don't hurt them!" Jesse yelled at PAMA, shaking her head furiously as her voice rose a whole octave and cracked a bit in fear.
Harper let out a little mix of a groan and a whimper as Olivia peeked out of her hands again, cautiously.
Oh no.
Hadrian hummed. "Hmm. You'd do anything for your pals, wouldn't you?" he asked, mildly.
Real-Jesse was a bit busy twisting her hands together anxiously, but she nodded in response to the question. "Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?" she replied, biting her lip anxiously as she stared at the screen.
Hadrian exchanged a glance with Mevia. To his surprise, though, she just gave him a sort of blank look at the answer. When she saw his look of confusion, she just shrugged a bit. "We've seen that with Jesse, haven't we?" she whispered back.
The villager holding Petra came to an abrupt stop, turning the Blaze hybrid back around. "I am looking forward to hearing this new information," PAMA spoke, in that monotone robotic voice, "Please do not lie."
Jesse and the others shared a panicked look.
"This world reached peak efficiency quite some time ago," PAMA continued, "unfortunately, this meant that I had no more job to do. No more things or people to help."
"'Help'. Yeah f**king right," Cassie growled.
"Until YOU arrived, that is. Tell me- what is YOUR world like?"
The spider hybrid tilted her head slightly, biting her lip thoughtfully. "It's... um... greener than this place."
Cassie Rose shot her a 'really' sort of look.
"Well... she's not wrong," Soren murmured.
"What? It is!" Jesse whispered to Cassie upon spotting the look the redhead was giving her. She looked back at PAMA, blinking her green and red eyes rapidly and swallowing nervously. "Imagine, um, grass and trees instead of sand and clay."
PAMA smiled again. "That sounds lovely. That really does. I think I would like to see this world for myself."
"Oh hell naw-" Magnus shot upright, overbalanced, and fell off the couch altogether, making the audience wince a bit sympathetically. Ellegaard got up off the couch to help him back up, grabbing his extended hand and beginning to pull him up.
"If I could send my townspeople, my friends, through to other worlds, we could continue to grow and expand."
Ellegaard dropped Magnus again.
"It would be lovely. However you entered this world, there must also be an exit." PAMA's face went completely deadpan- almost angry- in a matter of seconds. "Where is it?"
"PAMA, really- I promise, if I knew where the portal was, I'd tell you," Jesse said, voice filled with anxiety. "But I don't."
PAMA stared at Jesse for a few, long moments. "Your logic is sound, and your tone is genuine," the computer spoke, the screen switching to show Jesse, Ivor and Cassie staring up at PAMA anxiously, "but the information is..."
The few seconds pause between this statement and what they were about to say next had the entire audience holding their breath as they stared at the screen. Jesse in particular was pretty much wringing her hands at this point.
"... not useful."
Onscreen-Jesse and Ivor exchanged panicked looks at that, Cassie starting with her eyes widening.
"That's... not good," Gill said, softly.
"My job is to be useful," PAMA intoned, "I have completed my job here, and must be allowed to expand and continue to be useful."
With each repetition of useful, Harper's face was turning paler and paler.
Ivor noticed, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a potion bottle of something that looked like water. If Harper had been looking closely, though, she would've noticed the faint wisp of blue curling around in the bottle. "Here, drink this," he whispered to her.
Harper looked down to see Ivor pushing the bottle at her, and slowly took it up, gray eyes almost glowing with anxiety. Without even checking the bottle, she tilted it back and took a sip.
Immediately, her color went back to normal, and her shoulders abruptly relaxed. She looked down at the bottle, before back at Ivor, eyes slightly wide as she regarded him silently.
"... thank you... Ivor," she said at last, voice sounding almost mild right now.
He gave her a thumbs up, making her smile weakly but gratefully at that.
"Unfortunately," PAMA continued speaking, drawing the duo's attention back to the screen, "our conversation has not been helpful."
Jesse abruptly nearly stumbled as one of PAMA's minions nearly shoved her along, Lukas struggling to twist out of the PAMA-people's grip as Petra was towed along to the machine Jesse had spotted earlier. "Let me GO!" Lukas yelled, fangs shooting out as he glowered at the one holding him.
"No, no, no, no, no," Jace was chanting, his arms in a death hug around Petra. (She had him in a death hug as well, so I guess it was fair.) "Not Petra, not Petra!"
Olivia's head was buried back in her hands again, while Harper looked horribly upset even through the calming potion she'd literally just consumed, and Ivor was paler than pale could get. He was even paler than normal, if that was really possible. Real-Jesse looked as if she might burst into tears any second now, while Lukas was biting his fist.
Onscreen, Petra let out a yell as a lot of mechanical sounds suddenly started, and the spider hybrid looked around to see that the blocks of redstone on the corners of the platform were slowly rising into the air. The citizen that had been holding Petra shoved her against a wall, a gray thing that looked a bit like a dispenser but not quite slowly rising into the air. Petra's eyes widened, her breathing quickening in fear as she stared up at it, barely even seeming to notice as two citizens pinned her arms to the wall to keep her from running.
"Run!" Dan nearly screamed at the screen. "Get out of there!"
Jesse looked from one of the 'spires' of redstone that was on the platform to Petra, who had managed to tear her eyes from the machine to look at Jesse, eyes widening in horror. "Jesse!" Petra nearly screamed, "Je-"
The machine slammed down in front of her head.
"NO!" Jace literally screamed, jerking half-out of Petra's hug in a hot panic, eyes wide. "NO!"
Petra was frozen in place, staring at the screen with horrified eyes. Jesse had a hand up to her mouth, tears beginning to bead in the corners of her eyes, while Lukas's mouth was hanging open slightly. Olivia was gripping her hair now and looked almost like she was about to tear it out, while Axel was just gaping at the screen silently.
Soren was actually shaking a bit, a sort of muted terror shining in his eyes, while Gabriel was gaping at the screen, completely taken aback by this turn of events. It was a damn good thing that Magnus hadn't actually gotten up off the floor yet while Ellegaard had been furiously apologizing, because he probably would've just toppled right off the couch again. Ivor had a hand to his mouth, eyes wide with terror, while Harper had slumped back into her seat, a slightly haunted expression coming over her face.
Maya was frozen in place, hands clasped to her chest, while Gill was gripping the couch arms so hard he was nearly about to rip them. Aiden's arm had tightened around Cassie in shock, while Cassie was just hugging Winslow to her chest like a stuffed toy. Isa had shoved her hands up to her mouth, eyes wide with horror, while Milo was leaning back into the couch with a slightly open mouth. Reginald was frozen in place, eyes wide.
Sparklez was literally gaping at the screen, stunned. Stampy had his arms around Dan in a tight hug, while Dan was just sitting back in his seat with his hair looking acid green. Lizzie was gaping at the screen in silent shock, while Stacy was just shaking her head slowly. "That... wasn't real... right?" she asked, in an almost inaudible whisper. Nell was just sitting back silently, for once, while Em's eyes were wide.
Slab was actually just gaping at the screen in surprise, while Clutch and Facemeat were exchanging completely bewildered looks. Hadrian, for once, didn't seem to have anything sarcastic to say, while Mevia's hand had actually gone to her mouth a bit, and Otto just looked bewildered.
Onscreen, Jesse just gasped soundlessly, eyes widening as her shoulders started trembling.
The machine slowly slid back up, revealing Petra's formerly gold eyes to be a dull, monochrome red. "Welcome, Petra," PAMA intoned calmly, "yay."
"Oh my Notch," Olivia gasped, hands dropping to her sides, "Petra's... chipped?"
Onscreen, Jesse was just staring wordlessly as she was pushed along, Petra regarding Jesse in a stiff, unnatural pose that the real Petra would never have stood in, red eyes glowing slightly. Lukas was shoved against the wall of the machine as well, with a pained gasp as a villager snatched his his arm and slammed it against the wall. He tried lashing out with the other one but just got that one slammed against the wall as well.
Jesse shook her head, shaking her out of it. "LUKAS!" she screamed.
"J-"
The machine slammed down over his head.
Jesse let out a sound that sounded like a mix of a whimper, a cry, and a gasp of pain. Lukas looked as if he'd just gotten punched in the solar plexus, and for a few seconds, the room was silent.
The machine slowly slid back up to show that Lukas's eyes were no longer that shade of blue-green, no longer the same ocelot hybrid that they'd all been getting used to.
Lukas was gone.
There was a few moments of literal pure silence. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.
And then Aiden spoke.
"You..."
Everyone turned to look at him to see him glaring at the screen, looking almost as if he was about to punch it.
"Dirty. Stuck-up. Sadistic," Aiden began listing, in a strangely calm (yet strangely not, if that makes sense. That didn't make sense, did it? Alright, I'll shut up then) voice.
And then it very quickly went downhill.
"Sh*t eating, cock-sucking-" Aiden deteriorated into a very, very, very long, profanic string of insults. Jesse was staring at him with a both very faintly (VERY faintly) amused and shocked look (both from what had just happened to Lukas, and also the fact that Aiden knew all of these insults), cheeks beginning to turn red with embarrassment at some of them.
Cassie was just staring at Aiden like she could kiss him right about now.
"Perverted, spineless, heartless, mindless, d*ckless-" Aiden went on and on for literally a minute and a half, more and more of the audience just slowly turning to stare at him with supremely surprised or embarrassed looks. Harper had even paused the episode to just stare at the guy in shock. Lukas in particular was turning bright red at them, his arm tightening around Jesse slightly.
"-prostituting ASSHOLE!" Aiden finished screaming at the screen, before flopping back onto the couch, looking tired out from his profanic screaming.
Cassie patted him on the shoulder.
Harper cleared her throat after a moment or two, her cheeks flushed red. "Err... well, while we're at it, should we- ah- take a quick... break to process what just happened?" she asked, hesitantly.
Jesse slumped a bit, wrapping her arms around Lukas in a tight hug. "I think that would be best," she said softly.
A/N: ... well. Aiden sure can cuss.
Don't chip Lukas, PAMA, or you get a very long profanic string of insults delivered to you, courtesy of Aiden. x3
RQTC: Did I forget something? Probably did. Don't you hate it when that happens?
Responses to reviewers:
LunarStarsMoons: Ooh, Poison! / x3 / Ah. xD
Infernius Flashfire: (laughs) / Hehehehe xD / (laughs) You're becoming like an extra-concentrated ghost or something now, lolol
RapidSammi: N'awwww, thanks :3 / I've already played through the whole episode, so xD
J.M.M: Mm, cool.
DarkPrincess2001: (laughs) Huh.
someone: ... then why did you comment if it was stupid...?
BeliTheGhoti0304: x3 / (laughs) ADVENTURE! / (laughs)
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: x3
Emily the Avenger: (joins you in clapping)
AquaK13: Ahhh, is that so? xD / (laughs) / Eh, go ahead and be noisy, I don't mind x3 / Hm, then get the Kopiko brand. They're tasty! :3 / Bai!
Savannah-the-Caracal: Cool :3 / Ah, is that so? Good for you :3
Darkbeast Dend: (laughs)
Jack: (chuckles) I did it again this chapter. I could've fit it in next chapter, but I thought it'd be a good way for them to just take a break. / (laughs) / Indeed, it was a bit of a shock. And then Aiden got mad xD
andie: Why do you find it distracting? I don't think anyone else finds it distracting. And I should know, I asked a bunch of people.
giriri: Indeed.
That's it for this chappie! BAI!
x.X. A.L. X.x.
