having been wrapped up in his own internal dialogue.
Yes, D_Light replied.
The Divine Authority has found you guilty of the crime with which you are charged. Your status is hereby updated from “suspected demon” to “demon.”
“Impossible!” D_Light sputtered the word out loud involuntarily. He suddenly felt dizzy, his chest tightened, and a high-pitched ringing sounded in his ears. Lily, upon hearing the unexpected exclamation, peered back at him, but D_Light did not return her gaze to read her expression. Suddenly, she no longer mattered to him. He was alone with his fear.
There has been a mistake! Review the evidence again! he commanded to the voice in his head.
It is inadvisable for you to dispute this verdict unless you have additional evidence. Please stand by for important information that will help you improve your service to the Divine Authority.
The voice took an infinitesimal pause before continuing. Please be advised that under Rule #3398439 the Divine Authority is unable to use information contained within an archive that is voluntarily submitted from a defendant for purposes other than those expressly stated by the defendant.
D_Light knew about this rule. It was in place to encourage defendants to submit their archives-a most convenient form of evidence-to the Authority. Before this rule went into effect, defendants were afraid to submit archives because, in addition to ascertaining the guilt or innocence of the charged crime, the archive could also be used to detect additional crimes or locate the defendant. Now archives were off-limits for all uses except those explicitly given by the defendant.
D_Light’s mind raced. Further evidence? He’d given them a deep copy of his archive. There could be no better evidence of his intentions! No harm had been done. The archive of him outwitting them had to be very valuable, and he was ready to hand over the archive and the demon. What had he done? I am a loyal citizen, a model player! How could they not see this? he thought feverishly.
It’s a bug, thought D_Light. A bug in their legal protocols. That must be it! Outrageous!
Smorgeous, sensing his master’s distress, gently asked if he would like a downer. D_Light, agitated, declined. He needed all of his wits about him right now.
D_Light had a sudden revelation. There is one way to fix it, he thought. D_Light had fixed system bugs in the Divine Authority’s software before, although never software related to divine law. It was not something one did every day; indeed, few programmers ever did it once. However, being such an obvious bug, certainly he would get access and change his status back.
He sent an order to his familiar. Smorgeous, patch me into the Divine Authority Protocol Association. And give me both visual and audio.
Smorgeous opened a blink. A user interface for the DAPA appeared in his mind, semitransparent and superimposed over his vision such that he could still see where he was going, more or less. He was still trailing behind Lily.
A chrome number eight, fallen on its side, the mathematical symbol for infinity and the official banner of the Divine Authority, showed momentarily while D_Light’s credentials were approved.
D_Light, player #49937593, status “demon,” how can the Divine Authority be of service?
I wish to correct an error, D_Light responded.
The Divine Authority appreciates your time in remedying the matter; however, due to the possible security ramifications of your request, you are required to submit to a deep scan to confirm your intention is in the best interest of the OverSoul. Would you like to learn more about deep scanning?
No, D_Light responded. He had undergone deep scanning before. He knew what to expect.
Very well, if you are not familiar with the terms and conditions of deep scanning, please review them now. At this, D_Light was given the option of a textual or visual blink of the terms and conditions. As he always did, D_Light agreed to the terms without reviewing them.
In response, the neutral voice continued. Thank you. Do you agree to a deep scan at this time?
Yes.
D_Light saw a graphical progress bar constantly apprising him of how much time he could expect the scan to continue. As the scan commenced, he felt tingling that came and went in various parts of his body-in his hands, his lower back, his neck, the calves of his legs. He heard sounds, soft but distinct, humming that was replaced with a high-pitched whine. He heard voices whispering and muttering: “For the neospore we give thanks…why is your flavor…what is not what it cannot be…” The voices merged together. Some of them sounded like they came from him, some from people he knew, most from people he did not recognize, but this did not matter, as it all was nonsense anyway. He knew enough about brain scans to know that you could never predict what you would feel and perceive as your brain was being probed.
What precisely the scan was looking for was unknown. Information from the Cloud was hazy at best, with only general guidance from the Divine Authority itself such as, “Only a pure heart may access the Inner Divinity,” or “Let pure love guide you.”
Of course, the Cloud forums were chock-full of speculation about what these cryptic hymns meant. There were even a few players who, upon successfully passing through the deep scan, later attempted to upload a deep archive of their deed such that they and others could analyze the successful brain patterns. However, according to the terms of use, which no one ever read, you gave the Authority permission to intercept your live streaming archive before it could be written to memory or streamed up to the Cloud. It was like temporary digital amnesia, where the only recollections were what the unaided organic brain could retain, which, like all native brain memories, were vague and of little analytical value.
Finally, after a few more muscle spasms and minor hallucinations, an error box appeared in D_Light’s consciousness and a voice stated, You are unworthy of access at this time.
Having taken advanced security training, D_Light knew better. He replied, Being a demon does not bar me from accessing the code base.
The voice responded as another box opened. Correct. Under Rule #8939543, no one will be denied access to the code base or protocol databases due to profile status, past or present.
D_Light was dumbfounded. Then why in the hell don’t you give me access? he shouted in his mind.
You are unworthy of access at this time.
Unworthy! It was as though the monotone was taunting him.
Is it because I am upset? Is that why I don’t get permission?
You are unworthy of access at this time, the voice repeated.
D_Light tried several more questions in an attempt to understand what the problem was, but the voice merely answered him with the same “unworthy” statement.
While frustrated and furious, D_Light at least understood the Authority’s repeated, opaque answer. It was all about hackers. For someone trying to maliciously hack into a system, it was best to give him or her as little information as possible. If a hacker knew why they were being blocked, they would be better able to work around the issue.
After a second failed attempt to pass the deep scan, the DAPA forcibly terminated the blink and D_Light could not log back in. Again, this was a security measure to inconvenience hackers. He knew that he would not be allowed to log back in for twenty-four hours. It was at this point that a cold realization came to him. Soul, I’m a demon and I can’t fix it! What the hell do I do now?
D_Light was so exhausted from the physical and mental demands he had recently endured that he found himself unable to truly panic, or even to despair. For as long as he could remember, he had worked every waking moment to be the best player he could be so that one day he would become one of the chosen ones, one of the immortals. He worked hard to escape the endless darkness that waited at the end of every loser’s life. Now the dream he had held all this time was in peril, perhaps gone.
He let out a low wail. His eyes swelled, and he felt the formation of involuntary tears. A lump formed in his throat that made him swallow hard, as though he was stifling the uprising of a terrible internal monster. It was all so terrifying, sensations not experienced since he was a child. Sensations he had hoped to forget.
D_Light stopped dead in his tracks. There were people around, but he didn’t care. Lily may have been staring at him, but he wasn’t sure and it didn’t matter. He did not look directly at her. Warm, runny snot started dripping from his nose. “Aghhh!” he cried out and quickly sniffed it back up. Then, without a thought to where he was going, he started running down the nearest side tunnel. He ran as fast as his already exhausted muscles
