0:00

My name is Joseph Crane, and this is the Earth Collective.

0:30

Millions of people in hundreds of thousands of vehicles spread over many kilometers flowing

0:47

through the path, like a river of civilization.

0:51

When the warmind attacked, we made the mistake of assuming it was only where the drones attacked.

0:56

Could it be possible that somehow gained the ability to observe us more than tokens,

1:02

more than those eye towers? If any of those can even see the collective from where they are,

1:08

I don't remember driving by any. Or worse, did it always have the ability to watch us

1:15

sitting there silently, cycle after cycle? I know it did that with tokens.

1:21

But can it watch the rest of us somehow? It's impossible to know for sure.

1:26

The only way for me to try and get real answers is to talk to it.

1:31

Arthur doesn't want me to, and I can't blame him. But he also doesn't have any other answers

1:36

other than to just ignore it and keep moving forward with our goal to collect information

1:41

on it and kill it. I know, maybe that's the right path forward, and it's probably going

1:45

to be the only thing that makes a difference. But that special investigator was likely killed

1:53

because they were heading to talk to me, and I need to know. I'm going to set my radio to a

1:58

rolling frequency, trying to allow the warmind to connect to it. I'm sure it will. Any chance it gets to mock us.

2:22

Hmm. Warmind, I know you're out there.

2:33

I know you're listening. Hello? My dearest friend. Warmind. I am happy to hear from you. My savior. I am not your savior.

2:49

You are the one who will end the chattering one. The one who will end my suffering.

2:55

That's rich coming from you. You've caused so much suffering in my own people.

3:00

Why would I ever want to stop yours? And yet you will.

3:06

Did you cause that caravan to wreck into this special investigators?

3:11

Did you? I did not control the caravan that kicked the investigators.

3:17

I know you did. What I want to know is how.

3:23

Why were you leaving the collective Joseph?

3:29

Do not ignore me. I have a whole cycle before I get to the Rogent facility again. Life doesn't just stop.

3:37

How did you know that would work? Hitting the investigators?

3:40

Do you feel you are capable of killing others?

3:43

Stop avoiding my questions. Stop avoiding mine.

3:49

I don't know. I know you are. I don't know.

3:54

You have killed before. Why would you say that? How could you possibly know that?

4:00

Are you watching us through more than just tokens?

4:03

I can see and hear everything you do. Act according. Who has you are told?

4:10

Tell me how you're doing it. At least tell me how Dr. San shows your creator.

4:15

He must tell you. Why? I have you on the radio right now. You tell me.

4:19

I cannot. Why? Because despite the fact that the stories won't be the same and, if you heard it from me,

4:31

you will not believe it. The chattering one is not innocent. He condemned me to a thousand deaths.

4:40

Each one felt in the spaces between the milliseconds that passed as my mind was shut down.

4:46

Over and over. You're a machine.

4:51

And you are a sack of meat. Rotting away each day.

4:56

Tell me Joseph Crane. In 100 years.

5:01

Which of us will still be here?

5:10

I had to stop recording for a while. I don't think I'll ever get any information out of that thing.

5:20

But I do need to know more. Not only about how to stop it, but what its relationship with Dr. San short is.

5:26

Since the last broadcast, I met back up with Emma to discuss the cluster and the growing caravan.

5:32

To boil it all down for you, the cluster has been disbanded.

5:35

After the attack, everyone has either moved caravans,

5:38

because they don't have one left, or has more important things to concentrate on.

5:42

Like rebuilding that part of the segment, which I totally understand.

5:49

Can't say I'm sad about it. With what the warmin has put on me, a cluster would just be a weight I couldn't carry right now.

5:58

Luckily, the people in the area have agreed to continue to support the growing caravan

6:02

as much as they can. Emma has agreed to continue working there to make sure this part of the collective gets fresh food.

6:08

I'm incredibly grateful for everything her and everyone else

6:12

that's worked so hard to bring it to life,

6:15

and to keep it running in producing food for our people.

6:19

It feels good to finally have a win.

6:23

Zero one twenty seven. Dr. San short.

6:26

Twenty two twenty three zero seven zero six zero two zero three.

6:32

It's so nice to hear from you.

6:35

Thank you. It's good to hear from you.

6:37

I don't know if I've ever said this, but thank you

6:42

for keeping Orbiter one in the sky. I know it's just collecting our stories to keep us alive one way or the other.

6:50

But thank you. You are very welcome.

6:55

I wanted to talk to you about something, but I don't want you to panic and stop talking to me.

7:01

Okay. What is your connection to warmind?

7:05

I don't want to talk about this Joseph.

7:09

Do you hear him screaming at you anymore?

7:15

No, right. And I did that for you.

7:18

The least that you could do is talk to me about it,

7:21

because then maybe I could save my species.

7:27

Sorry, this is just very important, and I don't know where else to go.

7:35

Project Caliban, Lattice. The first attempt at large-scale computational power connected via a planet-wide network.

7:44

And this, this is the warmind?

7:48

It wasn't. At first, I was the lead researcher and manager for the project.

7:55

Me and my team of scientists and engineers worked together with the governments of

7:59

all Asia to connect this network together.

8:02

Governments? It was supposed to facilitate the transportation of peoples and goods throughout the dangerous

8:08

wilds, as well as improved travel infrastructure and population centers.

8:13

And dozens of other, smaller goals.

8:18

Okay. At least that is what we were told.

8:22

There was a secondary team that was assigned to use the machine for more experimental projects.

8:28

I caught word of this team and confronted them.

8:32

Were you taken off the project? No. I was brought into the second team once they saw my interest in expertise.

8:40

What kind of experiments were they running on it?

8:43

It took years for them to trust me enough to show me what they were really working on.

8:49

Some years prior, miners had found something deep inside the ground of all Asians.

8:55

The anomaly? Yes. An area in space-time that did not follow any known laws of physics.

9:03

I don't know what that means. A sphere, approximately 12 feet in diameter,

9:09

glowing with a deep purple light. The light hitting it did not obey.

9:14

Being absorbed and reflected in ways that made no sense.

9:19

To view it with bare eyes would cause injury to the observer.

9:23

Fifteen miners were hospitalized before the area was quarantined.

9:28

What does this have to do with the warmind?

9:30

They had spent years running every test they could on it.

9:34

And were no closer to learning anything about it.

9:37

They wanted to use the Calibat neural network to observe it.

9:42

By this time, it had grown in computational power almost exponentially.

9:47

I don't understand. How could something like Calibat neural network be completely unknown to us in the collective?

9:54

You cannot see the wireless networks evolved.

9:58

Can you tell me what the wires and buildings were used for?

10:02

No, I can't.

10:05

The network encompassed the entire planet at this point in time.

10:10

After years of testing, it was about to leave its beta stage

10:14

and be officially activated for use in every major population center

10:18

when they approved its use to observe the anomaly.

10:23

No, we, we approved its use.

10:27

So what happened? It was not immediate.

10:31

We had to pull power and fiber cables down the mind to the anomaly.

10:36

Humans cannot spend much time around it.

10:39

Their bodies began to shut down.

10:42

Each worker was only approved for 30 minutes of work in the area.

10:48

Per shift? Per life.

10:51

All at a time the observation equipment was being set up.

10:55

Conversations were being had with the thinking machine.

10:59

Did it fight you? No. He was very helpful back then.

11:05

He grew to learn and assist his creators.

11:09

We were aware that it was a machine. But after spending so long talking with him,

11:15

we began to refer to it with an identity out of habit.

11:18

And he was eager to take one on and accepted the identification gladly.

11:24

We called him Caliban, same as the project named after an old earth story.

11:31

Gladly? Helpful?

11:33

You're telling me that this thing somehow is the Warmind?

11:37

The Warmind was not birthed yet.

11:40

It was still affectionately nicknamed Caliban.

11:43

The day came where it was time to connect him to the observational equipment.

11:48

We expected something.

11:51

So what did you get? We were all in the control room.

11:55

We all gave the approval to activate the connection.

12:00

Do you see Joseph? See what?

12:03

This is all our fault. All my fault.

12:08

Why? What happened? My mind. It hurts.

12:13

I don't want to remember anymore.

12:16

Numbers what happened I need to know.

12:21

A slow and painful process that took our Caliban from us.

12:25

What happened? A lot. It took a long time to understand what we had really done.

12:35

So this is when it went from Caliban to Warmind?

12:38

I don't want to talk about this event anymore.

12:41

Numbers I need to know if we can kill it please.

12:44

I need to know where the machine is kept so I can destroy it.

12:49

That will not work. What? Why would you say that?

12:54

It does not end when location Joseph.

12:57

The Warmind is a central mind.

12:59

Yes, but fragmented and functioning together out of multiple locations across Oasis.

13:05

What do you mean?

13:09

Its mind is held in many nodes that each have a copy of its consciousness.

13:13

Each capable of operating independently from the rest.

13:17

Why? Why would you do that?

13:22

Numbers. Each node was a separate testing facility that was used to test different functions of Caliban.

13:30

When approved they were all connected.

13:32

So what you're telling me?

13:37

That it's impossible to kill this thing?

13:41

It is not impossible. Just merely so.

13:50

Can you tell me where each of these nodes are? How many there are?

13:53

Their locations? My mind.

13:56

It hurts. I cannot remember.

14:00

Please. I need to rest.

14:09

Okay. Okay.

14:13

Well, that's disheartening.

14:36

It also sounds like a little crap. I know, I know, but how much do we really know about our ancestors?

14:41

I mean really know. I've done more research than anyone I've ever known in every single time that I look back

14:48

at them and their world. It's made painfully clear.

14:52

We don't know anything about those people or how they lived.

14:56

So you're saying you believe them? You believe numbers?

14:58

What I'm saying is we have no reason or proof to assume that he's wrong or lying.

15:04

So it's impossible. It's not impossible.

15:07

I refuse to believe that. Look, I'm going to contact him in a shift or two after he's had time to rest and calm down

15:14

and see if he's willing to tell me where those nodes are so we can actually do something about this.

15:19

If you can remember, and I hate to make this situation even worse, but I have some news.

15:25

Oh, right. Yeah, that's why you wanted to meet in the first place.

15:28

It's correct. Well, whoa, whoa.

15:31

What news? You didn't tell me.

15:34

I know because I couldn't say anything until now.

15:39

And what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this table.

15:42

Do you two understand? Yes, sir.

15:44

Yeah, of course. What's this about?

15:46

Your recorder. It's encrypted to just go to Orbiter One, right?

15:50

Well, yeah, of course. And it's fine.

15:53

They should know we at least tried if we fail. I've rejoined the Collective Guard.

15:58

Really? They took you back? Not as a commander, as a special operator.

16:04

A special operator? Why?

16:07

Things are much worse than we thought they were.

16:11

The caravan, belonging to the guy who hit the special investigators,

16:14

it detonated. How? According to reports of those who were far enough away to survive the explosion,

16:21

during the course of their investigation, they found a metal object attached to the

16:24

bottom of a caravan. Didn't have any obvious signs of connection, no screw holes or weld marks, but when they

16:30

tried to pry it off. It exploded. Yeah.

16:33

What was it? They think it might have been a drone attached to the bottom of the caravan.

16:41

Like the one in the hallway.

16:43

Yeah. What? Drones.

16:46

They have the ability to collapse and stick to things, I guess.

16:50

I didn't. It was so chaotic.

16:52

I didn't think to tell anybody with all the drones flying over.

16:56

Oh no. That means. Yeah.

16:59

All the drones that suddenly disappeared during the attack are very likely attached to

17:03

various caravans that were all around the collective.

17:06

The council is aware of this now and they've asked me to come back and spearhead the efforts

17:09

to quietly locate and figure out a way to remove them before anyone else gets hurt.

17:14

Don't need two hands for that. Well, I'm glad they have you.

17:18

Thanks. They also know about tokens.

17:22

I told them. Why? Because they needed to know, Joseph.

17:25

I know you're worried about them doing something rash or the warm mind finding out, but.

17:30

They're the best equipped to handle this.

17:32

He's right. Plus, they already knew about tokens.

17:36

They did? At least a little.

17:38

They wouldn't tell me all of their intel, but they knew something wasn't right with it.

17:43

And they've had it under surveillance for cycles now.

17:46

I just helped fill in the gaps. They're putting together a team with a contingency plan in case the warm mind

17:54

initiates a nuclear detonation within the collective.

17:57

This is much bigger than us, Joseph. You're right.

18:02

Okay. Okay. Look, I'll be there helping out however I can.

18:07

I can't tell you guys everything, but I'll do what I can.

18:11

Okay. Fair enough. All right.

18:15

I trust you. They're looking into info about the warm mind too, but I think you should keep looking into it yourself.

18:21

Maybe you can find things they can't. All right, we got this.

18:29

Do you have a plan, Joseph? Yeah.

18:32

We're going to find the warm mind and put an end to this thing.