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When the simulation began almost immediately after every beta tester came back to reality in a mess, some of them were crying, the strong-willed ones were dazed and their gaze unfocused, others passed out directly, they've experimented death and rebirth.
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" the voice of the general came from the glass behind the smoker's zone, the test was supposed to last at least a couple of hours thanks to the high-intensity mode but in less than 2 seconds at most ended with all the testers in a mess, he rushed to help the soldiers too because he can't stand watching his men in this situation, beta testers or not they're under his responsibility after all, medics and soldiers were helping the poor testers and transferring them to the medical wing of the base that got crowded in no time.
The control room was in a mess too.
"LIRYA GIVE A REPORT OF WHAT HAPPENED AND THE FOOTAGE OF THE LAST THINGS THESE MEN SAW!" Yelled Santiago while reading over the logs searching for anything suspicious, the footage was downloaded and it started playing in the background.
"Everything worked fine, this even was in the beta version of the map, the design section wouldn't make an error like this" Juliet and Moises were reading the changelog from the beta version searching for a bug in the early stages of the map "there wasn't something so disastrous in the very beginning, the most fatal bug was in the mountains and it wasn't this.... well, I even don't know how to classify this mess".
"Everything was normal until the private activated the EXO…" Santiago started to analyze the data from that specific moment and hastily found what he was searching…someone or something changed the parameters and have rewritten the code of the EXO, the AR goggles and toggled off the Pain reducers.
"Lirya…who made this change?" he couldn't understand who wanted to basically destroying 25 perfectly fine soldiers, he wasn't there but he knew the scene would be a complete disaster similar to the early stages of the VR application.
<…>
"Lirya, with my authority I command you to say who made those changes" Santiago said in a solemn tone, Juliet and Moises were paying attention too.
<…>
Before he could say something the General entered the room, his uniform had some vomit but he didn't care at the moment.
"I DEMAND and explanation of what happened before I kick the 3 of you out of the VR Program."
"It was-"
"Our mistake" Moises talked before Santiago and cutting him off "Lirya had a glitch that didn't let her correct the bug, and the capsules malfunctioned because of this, breaking the safety checks and injuring the soldiers in the process, sir."
"It was a really stupid mistake from our part, sir." Juliet was looking at the floor; she didn't like what they were doing but she'll do it again if necessary.
"We'll try to purge the AI and Debug her after we Debug the scenario manually, sir." Santiago added at last, the General stared at them for a couple of seconds and sighed.
"You have until Saturday to fix it, at Monday we need to send it to the higher-ups, don't disappoint me" The general left, he was still angry but it was ultimately a software error, he knew something was bad with that AI.
There was silence in the control room, the 3 technicians didn't know how to handle the sudden rebellion from their AI, Juliet broke the silence slamming the desk with her palm.
"FUCK!" she yelled and stared at the monitor "WHY?! JUST WHY?!"
"Stop Juliet…we are angry as well but we'll get nowhere shouting like that" Moises tried to pat her back but she slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch me!" she glared at him and before something major happened Santiago stood in the middle of them.
"Calm down Juliet, I'll take Lirya with me and analyze what happened ok? Just calm a little, if you need time alone you can leave and come back tomorrow" Santiago tried to soothe her a little and patted her shoulders a couple of times when she was a little more relaxed.
"It's just…agh, things were going so well and Lirya did this…I'm sorry Moises, I shouldn't have reacted that way" she apologized and gave him a short hug.
"Don't worry, things like this often happens and I know we are still friends" Moises patted her back and messed with her hair a little, "just explain everything to Ricardo, ok?"
"I'll do it…" Juliet smiled and left the control room.
"Lirya, tell me why did you do it" Santiago said to the microphone.
<…>
"There are easier ways than ruining our weekends, you know?" Santiago lose his cool for a second but calmed down "and yes, I love you Lirya, how could I not love our best work? Just never, and I emphasize, NEVER, do something like this ever again.
<…>
"I'll take her home and study her a little, I need to understand why she behaved so…violently." Santiago powered down the PC and started to remove the screws with a screwdriver they have in case of emergency.
"Maybe I could help, it's too much for you alone" Moises cleaned the coffee machine and threw to the trash the remnants of the coffee beans.
"No, it's ok" Santiago took the HDD were Lirya was saved.
"I insist, if you don't let me I'll go anyway."
There was silence in the room while the two stared at each other.
"Fine…" Santiago yielded first after a full minute.
The two best friends exited the complex after informing to their superiors why they were leaving so soon and chatted a little to alleviate the heavy atmosphere, feeling a little better about everything that happened and reminiscing about their school days.
--- // --- // ---
Before she was disconnected the AI processed the conversation and reached a conclusion.