Chapter 2: We are gods

I haven't run any programs to estimate, but the church seems to be about 60% complete. I am almost done with the nave, but I need to remember to put in more pillars. Otherwise, the ceiling might come down. Oh well, what am I talking about? Of course it won't, because I haven't programmed it to do so, but what is it Kennedy always says? 'We're striving for authenticity.' A heavy ceiling like the one I have in mind would need more pillars to be supported, so that's what I'll take on next.

Estimation resulted in 82% completion for Overdell cemetery, and I have to admit: It looks just like home. I bet Overdell citizens couldn't even tell the difference, if they ever had the chance to see it. But of course they won't. We won't let them. We will never let anyone else in here, because this is our safe place.

Out there we are as vulnerable and ordinary as everyone else, but in here, we are gods. There are no rules, no limits, no mistakes, unless we make them. And we don't. It's just us at the height of our collective imagination.

Collective… what about unique? I know they don't like the idea, but I'd still prefer to have an area that was closed off, something of my own making. Since I've done most of File Island, I think it would be fair if Titus yielded the isle to me. Maybe I'll talk to James about it. She's the only one who understands that, even in the vastness of this place, it can get too crowded all too soon. Whatever her reasons, whatever her measures, she seems to have found a way to shut the other two out. I have to find out how she has done it. All I want is some peace. All I want…

Have some self-respect, for God's sake.

"Hunter, have some self-respect. You're a grown man, for God's sake, not some little girl writing in her diary, are you?"

Titus' dark voice echoed from the church walls. He knew he had not programmed any acoustic effects yet. He felt annoyed by it.

"About half done, are you?" determined Titus and looked around. "What about the ceiling?"

"Soon," Edward replied drily. He was a man of few words, but around his group's self-chosen leader, he became as laconic as ever. He closed the little notebook and tucked the pen into his front pocket.

Titus ran his index finger probingly along one of the wooden pews.

"So, tell me, why the church?"

Edward did not reply. He had worked with the man for long enough to know that he was not yet finished.

"Don't get me wrong, this is astoundingly good work for something so—how do I put it?—well, macabre. But I don't need to remind you of that place you did with James, do I? The one with the eggs and those fiercely protective mammal Digimon. I can't seem to recall the name."

He felt like letting him trail of, like letting him stand there in silence while they both pretended not to know the name, even though either one knew as well as the other. Titus had the annoying habit to forget the names of locations he had not collaborated on, and Edward did not feel like indulging him.

When a few seconds of silence had passed, Titus made a step towards him, seemingly to create familiarity and intimacy, but Hunter knew the motion to be threatening when he saw it.

"What was its name again, Hunter?" he asked, his face smiling, but his voice pressed and low.

Edward felt himself giving in to the pressure. John Titus was a dominant man, and if not a chosen leader, then at least one who would not allow others to question his authority.

"Primary Village," he answered, and felt as though a weight had fallen off him when the other man's expression turned from a forced grimace of a smile into a genuine one. It was a winner's smile, and Titus loved winning.

"Yes, that's it!" he cheered. Edward wondered why he sometimes felt the need to oppose Titus when it only made him more anxious.

"Anyway, I thought it was genius to have them respawn there once they're dead. And those little stone cribs—very cute. Your idea or hers?"

Edward needed a moment to think. Working with somebody else on a programming project meant a lot of entanglement of ideas without a strict division of labour. It could become hard to tell in retrospect who had done what, especially with a system like this. Suddenly, it came back to him.

"Neither," he responded, "That was the A.I."

Titus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? That's interesting. You know, sometimes I wonder about what the A.I. does without us knowing."

"But that's the whole point of the A.I., isn't it? To create things not even we are aware of," stated Edward.

Titus seemed lost in thought.

"Yes, I suppose."

It only took him a moment to regain composure.

"Well, that's part of why I am here," he began. His tone had gotten serious again.

"I need your help. I suspect there's somebody in the system, someone else."

Now it was Edward's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Are you sure? Couldn't it just be the A.I.?"

Titus shook his head.

"It could, that's why I said it's a suspicion. But I have a feeling that it's not. I have a feeling somebody from the real world has found us."

Edward gave an involuntary gasp. He felt his heart starting to race. He couldn't bear the thought of others invading their world. He looked up through the open ceiling at the blue sky overhead. No, he would not let anyone come into his sanctuary. This was his safe place. He had to finish the church.

"Anyway, that's why I need your help—to find out who has gotten into our system."