The Sapporo Outbreak (18 page)

Placing her tiny hand on the podgy forearm of the man to her left, Sakura continued, "I would like to introduce you to Doctor Becker, the Director of Virtualisation.

Skinner turned to the others, and noticed with relief that they too seemed baffled.

"I will place you in Doctor Becker's able hands as he guides you through the process, and will return in ...", pause, "... forty five minutes."

Without waiting for any acknowledgement from the group, their beautiful Japanese hostess floated past them and quickly down the same corridor they had entered from.
 

The group turned expectedly to the round doctor, who slowly looked directly at each of them in turn. Santos watched as the doctor seemed to observe, to
inspect
his visitors and instantly recognised the trait. She did the same thing. She sensed right away that Doctor Becker was interested, no -
fascinated
, by people.

His examination complete, the doctor cleared his throat, and in a voice far removed from his bearded bulk, he gently lisped.

"Welcome. Welcome. Thank you for visiting me here in the lab. I'm always so grateful for the company. They don't let oddballs like me roam around too much." He raised his hand to the side of his mouth and in a stage whisper continued, "They're worried my good looks will distract everyone from the game."
 

Initially unsure how to react, Santos was the first to let out a little giggle (Skinner's heart raced - it was so ... feminine). Harper guffawed, and even Hill seemed to visibly relax.

The doctor beamed at them all. Once again Santos noticed that through the smiles the doctor had continued to observe his guests keenly.
 

Becker cleared his throat.

"Dear very important people," he theatrically waved a hand to indicate the small group standing in front of him. "Today I'm going to show you how we create life."

Becker paused, leaving his well-rehearsed opening line to ripen.

"Can I first ask, who has experienced an earlier version of the iSight 3 game?" Becker watched as the entire group nodded and muttered that they had.

"Excellent. Excellent. Right - then my first advice is... to forget that completely."

Another pause. Santos smiled at the doctor - he was a natural showman.

"What you're about to see is the birth of a new character - as human in behaviour, moods, desires and wishes as you or I. You will see how we first determine the sort of character we need to insert into the game. You will then see how we generate the people, and ensure they behave in the way we expect.

Finally, for my last trick, you will watch as the new character we create interacts with real and virtual players from around the world. And no one can tell that they are only 3 minutes old!"

Santos smiled, touched Skinner on the elbow and leaned in. "This guy certainly knows how to work a crowd."

Skinner nodded toward a captivated Harper and Hill. "Yeah - and I think he's got his first two groupies."

Becker continued. "So - what do we actually do in this room? Well - this is where we generate some of the virtual lives, the
people
, who inhabit iSight 3. Human players mix with these virtual players, interacting, role playing, discovering new worlds or playing out scenes of their choosing. Our virtual people look, feel and react as humans. And they're not all chiselled hunks like me."

Becker smiled at his own joke, and no one could resist smiling along with him.

"No, they're bank clerks, policeman, petty criminals, soldiers, busy mums, rebellious teenagers. They're all in there. They are what ensures the iSight experience is as lifelike as possible. I presume by now you've all met Jo?"

Becker scanned the group to uniform nods.

"Well, Jo's sometimes a little shy about his age. Let's ask him" and with that Becker looked toward the giant screen, which flicked to black and walking toward the group from the screen appeared Jo. He stopped a few feet short of Santos - seemingly standing shoulder to shoulder with the doctor.

Becker turned to Jo. "Thank you for coming Jo, I believe you've already met our guests."
 

Jo turned his head to Becker. "Yes you awesome sex machine, I have."

The group grinned while Santos snorted, much to Becker's delight.

Becker leaned forward with a twinkle in his eye. "You know Doctor Santos, I do like Jo. I feel he really gets me!"

Becker leaned back again. "Now Jo, can you tell me how old you are, what and where you studied?"

"Certainly Doctor Becker, I am twenty seven years old. I studied the collected works of Doctor Becker at the University of Sapporo."

Santos burst out laughing again, struck by an attack of the giggles.

"Wonderful Jo, I'm sure you excelled in your studies."

Jo smiled warmly back at the doctor.

"Now if you don't mind, I wonder if you could leave us?"

"Certainly Doctor Becker," and with that Jo faded from the screen, replaced by more swirling lines and shapes.

"You know, I've been sorely tempted to have him do a jig whenever he leaves. But I feel that might be a little undignified for the poor man."

Becker's face lit up with delight.

"Jo, your first and so far your best iSight 3 friend, is exactly seven hours old. We created him this morning as a large batch of new assistant personalities. I don't know why - but he's my favourite one today..."

Becker rubbed his hands together.

"Now - who wants to create life?"
   

#

Midday Thursday, Level Four VR Lab, Sapporo (Minus 3 Hours)

Santos watched in fascination as the cartoonish doctor transformed into the world's preeminent expert in artificial life. Becker's vaudevillian character melted away, he straightened, stiffened and his tone - despite the prominent lisp - took on an edge.
 

"Please turn your attention to the wall behind me," Becker flicked his right index finger toward the screen while his left hand swirled and swiped in the air.

The group turned from Becker to face the enormous video wall while Becker whispered a stream of impenetrable instructions into the ether. Almost immediately, the ever-shifting circles, lines and numbers crowding the screen disappeared.

Icons representing social media sites, advertiser databases, loyalty cards, email and mobile phone records floated in three dimensions just a few feet ahead of the group. In the middle of these icons floated a slowly spinning cube. Thin glowing lines resembling shiny silver ropes linked every icon to the cube. The shining silver ropes began pulsing inward toward the cube, accelerating the cube's spinning animation. After several seconds, the animation stopped and the words "Background acquired" appeared. Hill glanced at Harper, Skinner and Santos, his face betraying a rising sense of concern.
 

Hill, clearly confused and concerned by what was unfolding, interrupted Becker.

"Excuse me Doctor, but what exactly are we seeing here?"

Becker seemed delighted by the question.

"Ah right, sorry. I do this so often I'm afraid even I take some things for granted. You will of course have noticed the people working away at the benches as you first entered the lab?"

"Yes, of course" Hill responded, his frustration still evident.

Ignoring Hill's tone (although Santos noticed how the doctor's eyes had briefly narrowed, scrutinising the young lawyer), Becker continued.

"Well then, the team on the benches are acquiring personalities from social networks around the world to use as the baseline for our new characters."

There was an awkward pause while the doctor's words sunk in.

Skinner responded first.
 

"Excuse me Doctor, but are you saying that you are stealing the personal information of others to create these pretend characters?"

Becker's eyes narrowed once again, although his tone remained light.

"Stealing? No, not at all Mr...", Becker's eyes flickered slightly,

 
"...I'm sorry ...
Professor
Skinner. Our team uses a system which extracts patterns from public profiles. Information such as their education and work experience, the kind of music, clothes, entertainment they like, the range of friends and their likes and dislikes, shopping and spending patterns. Lifestyle choices. Those sort of things. Then sophisticated algorithms blend that information roll that up with thousands of others to create a unique profile - a realistic - but certainly not a copied - life."

Skinner looked sceptically at the doctor, who breezily continued.

"Actually Professor, I have to thank you. Your advice and guidance has helped guide our work in creating the most intriguing characters in our new world. Our criminal fraternity." Becker chuckled to himself.

The intended compliment had quite the opposite effect. Skinner flushed, his stomach lurched. The thought that he may have used his expertise in criminal behaviour to somehow form
better
criminals made him feel sick. He felt
guilty
.
 

Hill half-raised his hand then suddenly jerked it back to his side, relieved no one had noticed. His voice wavered slightly as he said, "Doctor Becker, just how accurate a representation of a real world can possibly be created by a game, even one as sophisticated as this?"

Before Becker could respond, Santos added, "Exactly. Can there possibly be
real
love in this digital world? Hate? Do good people do bad things in this manufactured world of yours?"

Taken aback by the questions, Becker's comical facade slipped for a moment as he responded, a sharp edge to his voice.

"While I understand your concerns - and perhaps your doubts - I can assure you they are ill founded. The iSight 3 population is matched almost exactly to complex statistical models including age, gender, crime and punishment. For that I have to thank you Doctor Santos," Becker nodded curtly in her direction, "and you Professor Skinner." Again a curt nod followed.

"We have accurately simulated, tested and refined the human condition to a point at which most people simply cannot tell the difference. Indeed, some of our most popular game worlds - those rife with crime and the underworld - are so realistic in great part due to the work of you and your colleague."

Santos glanced at Skinner, deeply uneasy with Becker's praise. Until today, they had believed their work with WhiteStar to be largely academic. Their efforts had been focused on finding the right balance between emulating a reasonably credible criminal mind and ensuring the game-playing audience didn't feel too threatened. They'd been given enormous budgets, and the promise that they could publish any research findings arising from their work.

Skinner's mind flashed through all the information, profiling and crime scene insights that he'd shared with WhiteStar. He suddenly felt very uneasy. If they really had managed to translate everything Santos and Skinner had recommended into the digital world, then he shuddered to think what the online 'games' would feel like.

As Becker continued a spirited defence of the world he'd created, Skinner reached out and grabbed Santos hand, leaning in toward her. "Eva, something's definitely not right here. We need to chat about this as soon as we can wrap this show-and-tell up. I'm beginning to think I've seen enough."

Santos saw the concern wash over Skinner. Over the last eighteen months, she'd grown to know him well, to
feel
strongly about him. He was generally pretty laid back. Efficient. Smart. Calm. It suddenly dawned on her that she had never seen him lose his temper.
How is that even possible?
Santos thought,
I get angry if the shower takes too long to heat up in the morning
.

Santos squeezed his hand - she could see he liked her touch - and whispered, "I tell you what Professor, how about after this, you pop into my quarters and you don't leave until we've figured all this out?"

Skinner's eyes widened, and he turned to look the beautiful Doctor Santos in the eyes. His concern evaporated, and a broad smile crossed his face.

"You know Eva, out of all the wild things I've heard today, that's definitely the one I like the best. It's a deal. Now let's get this thing over with."

Santos and Skinner turned back to Becker, and reluctantly their hands fell apart. Skinner found himself grinning inanely at the doctor. Despite the chaotic last-minute dash and the 'through the looking glass' experience, he was really starting to enjoy this trip.

Becker beamed at the group, as behind him the floating icons disappeared, leaving a single 3D cube spinning in space a few feet in front of the group. As they watched red, blue, green, yellow and then orange cylindrical shapes popped into view around the cube while the words
behavioural traits and responses
appeared in a bubble below. Silver ropes of light stretched out to connect the cylinders to the cube and the silver ropes started pulsing, each at different speeds and intensities. Within seconds the animation stopped and the floating text changed to read "Behavioural responses and social traits acquired".
 

With a now familiar 'pop', the pulsing cube disappeared, replaced by the outline of a human form. Santos squinted. It looked like a child, or a small female perhaps? As they watched, the outline sharpened, more detail emerged. It was as if an invisible artist was painting on fast forward. Less than a minute later, the group were looking agog as a pretty young Japanese woman floated in front of them. She blinked slowly and smiled demurely back at them. She was wearing chic designer glasses and a dark jacket and skirt. Hill gazed, dumbfounded by what he'd just seen. She actually looked a little like one of the paralegals back in his San Francisco office.
 

The words
In-Game Character Assigned
appeared above the smiling woman, and the screen snapped back to the same baffling combination of circles, lines and numbers they'd first observed.
 

Becker turned from the screen, beaming with pride and anticipation.