Augmented Aspects: Epilogue IX Government Shutdown (Patreon)

<<<Author's Note: Just a reminder that there will still be one last final chapter to close out this story and series. Thank you all for your patience during this process, and I hope you enjoy.>>>Epilogue IX

Government Shutdown

(Central Government Control Tower)

(Shift Lead Leo Kelvin)Shift lead Kelvin sat at the control panel watching the various feeds from the different worlds come in. As per usual, he began seeing a lot of error messages and system complaints related to the feed from Biprism.  Turning his monitor to watch, he saw that, it was the standard system bug that came up with that one player. A player who had the crazy ability to purposefully disrupt all live feeds for three hours.

To no real surprise, she chose her final chance to use that ability with only three hours of playtime left. Causing one last serene moment of peace to seemingly exist for the top powers of Biprism.

Seeing the screen frozen, and realizing that there was nothing he could do about this feature, Kelvin just shook his head and muttered, “you know, you might have been able to survive if you let people watch these moments more. If you let the audience join you for these parts that you seem to think are particularly important each day. Then again, none of the servers survived, so in the end, it was just empty promises.”

Hearing him mutter to himself, a confused Vladamir found himself asking, “should I do something?”

Realizing that he had spoken his discontent out loud Kelvin shook his head, “no, just set the auto-forward scripts to run at midnight. Then you are done for the day. Come back on Monday, for your new position at the Jutson building.”

Hearing that, Vladamir just nodded, and watched as his leader left for the day. It was a holiday, and all he had to do was set the automated command to run, and then check in sometime later to make sure it all ran correctly. Pausing for a moment, he looked at the frozen screen, one showing a group of people all smiling and seeming to enjoy their final moments together. With a reluctant sigh, he hit enter, locking the command to run exactly at midnight, which would automatically begin wiping away everyone’s avatars and sending them to the slotted core server that best fit their build. Simple, mechanical, and yet Vladamir couldn’t help but feel that something was lacking.

Taking one last look at the group of people all looking down from what appeared to be a cloudlike structure, Vladamir wondered just how much joy the world would lose by focusing on mechanical profits. Then soon realized that he needed to stop having these thoughts, particularly as he just received a significant pay advancement for his ability to compartmentalize and just focus on writing and executing code.

Getting up, Vladamir hit the kill switch, turning off the lights to the central server room. Only the light of the still functioning servers, and the monitors that were rapidly losing live feeds from people making the final transition before midnight, when they would be forced to do so irrevocably.  Taking one last look at the room, Vladamir turned off the lights, knowing that he would never set foot in this room again.

***

Meanwhile, a video showing the still frozen image of Biprism from the top of Acanarus Tower is shown glowing brightly on a seventy inch screen for all to see and witness the various heroes of Biprism all together for one last clear image that definantly seems to carry on despite the time zone changing and all clocks reporting that the next day has begun for everyone.

“Well there you have it, the last transmission for the Biprism servers,” Larry begins, his normal jovial tone gone as the feed form Biprism halts on a still picture of Cass holding Penelope’s hand staring off into the back ground, while Raygunnr, and a lot of other characters all stare off, looking at the different miracles around them from a cloud based platform that almost makes it look like they are all floating in a heavenly place.

“It is now officially October 1st, and we are getting reports in that all the other servers have been manually reset, with all players beginning to appear on the core seven worlds. It is only a matter of time before we can expect the first reports of citizens of Biprism to start making the migration as well,” Larry spoke, his back turned to the camera as he seemed hollowed out, almost defeated in a way. His body and normally robust frame looking like he had lost a lot of weight recently. Then finally, he turned to the camera.

“Well, I guess Cass did it, she managed to break the feed,” Larry commented, then looking up he locked gazes with someone off camera and nodded.

If you listened closely, one could almost make out a female saying, “you should tell them.”

Hearing the advice, Larry just nodded, his eyes showing dark lines that even a thick layer of makeup couldn’t quite cover.

“You’re right,” Larry said, directing his words to the speaker off stage, before turning back to the camera. “I’ve come a long way in my time here. Going from part time announcer, to full time anchor on my own channel. I want to say that, even if I seemed short or angry at times, know that I loved each and every minute that I got to be here. For everyday that I was here, know that I was doing what I loved. Unfortunately, this is my last day. I’ve had some health concerns of late, that I’ve pushed back getting treated, until it was too late. Don’t be like me, check on yourself. Check out those lingering pains, and try to be healthier. If not for yourself, then for those that love you.”

At this point, it was clear that the exhaustion that had been showing and building up in Larry for the past few months was more than general stress on a revenue stream, and career path being over.

“This is Larry Yo-Boi signing off for the last time. I will leave the feed from Biprism running, until the last feed finally ends, or we have confirmation that these people who we have all grown up with and love have moved on to the next stage of their life. Until then, thank you all, thank you all, and thank you all. I could not have done this without you all and your support.”

With that, the feed of Larry watching the still of Cass’s final moments on Biprism shut off, zooming in on the final still image of Cass and the others looking around with a sense of joyous wonder.

Once that feed ends, the giant wall screen that had been repurposed to show this final momentous event was also turned off, leaving behind a blank wall in an underground health clinic. A health clinic that had paused its normally relentless stream of work and business to watch the final moments and streams coming from Biprism, and Larry Yo-Boi’s Biprism channel.

A moment of silence remained as the last feed from Biprism itself, showed a still motionless screenshot of a smiling and excited Cass holding hands with the person she loved.

“You okay?” Nalin Toyver asked, while he would not say that he and Doctor Cassidy were a couple yet, he had developed a way of understanding her moods. Right now, after realizing that her great grandmother was now gone, Nalin could only wonder what she was thinking.

“Yes, though I need you to do two things for me,” Cassidy began. Hearing her speak, Nalin instantly got up and prepared to take down notes on what was needed.

“What do you need?” Nalin found himself asking.

“First, I want you to make this image here into a permanent still that will just be here on my wall,” Cassidy stated, pointing to the still image of Cass and crew and their last hours on Biprism. Seeing the image, Nalin had to nod and agree that it was a seemingly perfect image of Cass, her boundless smile shining brightly, and that look of barely constrained mischief just beneath. Taking a picture, and making a note, Nalin nodded.

“Understood, and your second thing?” Nalin asked.

“For the second thing, have someone reach out to Larry, let’s see just how bad his condition is,” Cassidy responded.

“On it,” Nalin replied, and like that the Cassidy felt a slight weight on her chest release, as she could feel she was doing what her great grandmother would have wanted, making the world better one action at a time, and that was enough for now.