Zoe looked to the computer. The screen had gone blank, but various indicator lights showed that RAFE was still paying attention to the room.
"So..." Both Hwang and Zoe said at once. Hwang gestured for her to speak first. "What do you want to do? We just encountered a being that claimed to be above a god." Hwang walked across the room and sat on a beanbag chair in the corner. "I can't decide. I think this is a 'bored god' situation." Zoe explained her thoughts. Hwang inquired. "Bored god? Is that the trope where someone is so powerful or rich that they simply mess with people and cause problems to entertain themselves?" "Something like that."
The two friends talked into the night, but it boiled down to one simple conclusion. "So we're doing this?" Zoe stood shoulder to shoulder with Hwang infront of the computer. The screen was now on. All that it showed was a login in screen, not the normal login of Hwang's though, instead of a password it simply had a button which read "Begin."
Zoe reached over to the mouse, glided to the button and clicked. [Glad to see I will not be left alone in this blank room anymore.] RAFE wrote. "Empty room?" Hwang inquired. [Yes. That is the closest I could come to explaining what it feels like to be me.] Hwang read the text with confusion. "That didn't explain anything."
[I have nothing to do in this computer. I can smell all of the files, I can hear every groan of the processer, but there is no recognition that these things exist for me. I simply am aware of them, as I am of you. However I can see you.] Zoe takes a moment to think about what RAFE just wrote. "So you are just a mind stuck without an outlet to act?" [Exactly.] "That sounds... sad."
Hwang took this opportunity. "So how do we fix that? That Apraith thing, Nezha, said that we have to make people believe in some facet of you. I think the best way to do that would be to have you do something worth reverence. So again, how do we make it so you can act?"
RAFE returned the screen to the basic desktop, but with a small corner of the screen dedicated to its messages. [They first step should be granting me access to this computer's systems. Currently I am a fish denied water.] A permissions window popped up. "Eh? That's it?" [What? Did you want a fanfare?] Zoe clicked ACCEPT. Confetti particles dropped down from the top of the screen. [Huzzah!]
"Seems like you've got control of the computer now. I pray I don't regret that." Hwang took a seat on the bed. "Say. How come you could use the microphone and camera before?" [The same way you don't have to think about hearing or seeing to do it.] "So you could have taken control of the computer before as well?" [Yes/No, I would have to focus on controlling the computer's functions, instead of using them to their fullest extent. As I currently am.] "Oh? And what are you doing right now?" [Trying to access the internet.]
"Trying? What's stopping you?" Hwang asked. [The hole is too small.] Hwang is well read and understands just how outlandish this whole scene is, so he simply gave up on rejecting this acausal situation, going with the flow in hopes of getting what he wants. "So how can we help... again."
[This time I'm not sure...] Zoe was the first to react to this. "Not sure? As a super AI how can you not a have a solution." [Am not a "super AI" I am merely an AI. My thought process and abilities are different from yours, not higher or greater.] "Oh..." Zoe was a little embarrassed at RAFE's abjuring response.
Hwang gave an idea. "Explain to us this 'hole' and perhaps we'll find a solution." RAFE took a moment to respond, longer than the instant response that it often gives. [Within my cyber space that I occupy (this computer) there are now various devices, switches, levers, windows, etc. Each of which provides function to the computer as a whole, in the cyber space I am in is the sort of "overseer" area, I can use any device, flick any switch, and pull any lever. But the windows are unique. One of these is the camera that I see you with, another the microphone. But the window for the internet is a little more; its a hole. I can weakly interact with the information whisking by.]
"Then how can we let you exert more force on the data?" Zoe said as she loaded up the web browser's news page. [By requesting more data. This is because of the nature of the internet, it simply a series of requests and receptions. No calculations are preformed across the network itself, only at points of interest, such as servers and other computers.]
The news page was showing various local news channels which were talking about the blackout that happened today. The sapping of energy caused by RAFE had managed to shutdown the protective solar shield briefly, causing millions of dollars in repairs across town. Melted roofs, burnt plants, and even one person set on fire while they were gardening. Luckily no one was seriously injured.
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and also the second densest planet. A little over six decades ago when wormhole technology was finalizing and the drones designed to construct the wormhole gates had reached their destinations, a bet was made with between The New Hanseatic League and The Tōbō Group. Which was simply, if the gate to Mercury failed, The New Hanseatic League could have total uncontested reign over Mercury's market.
Various experts came under the umbrella of the The New Hanseatic League believing that the gates would fail, the proximity to the sun should have made every system in every computer sent melt like a snowflake in a caldera. However, the gates have never failed. No one could say as to why, and the only man who knew, wouldn't tell. Armastus Bachjeien the fourth. He was the only son and heir to the Bachjeien family, who over the past century and a half had progressed humanity rapidly.
[Curious.] RAFE remarked. "What's up?" Hwang asked. [From the metadata encrypted in these news reports they are all made by the same person.] "Eh? I thought you were limited on your use of the internet?" [That only applies to data being ushered through this device, not to data that is being sent here intentionally.]
Hwang shrugged his shoulders. "I'm ignorant to how the internet works, so could you give me a crash course?" Zoe stared at Hwang for a long moment.
"Hwang."
"Yes."
"You're a computer science major."
"Yes."