Chapter 13: Data Overflow

Otsdarva found himself sitting a pale room. The furnishings of the room suggested it was a waiting room of some sort; the interlinked chairs, the potted trees, and a window. A window to some sort of cosmic space casually filled the other side. There was a bit of bewilderment on his face, as he was the only one here in the room. As he was about to stand up, a voice sounded out within the room.

? - First time? Certainly an experience to say the least, right?

Otsdarva looked around for the source of the voice, but only to be greeted by a person suddenly sitting across from them. The attire they had covered whatever skin could be shown, with black gloves and socks hiked up beyond certain points. Their outerwear consisted of a white suit and pants. Their inner wear being a blue dress shirt and a white tie. The most peculiar article of clothing was the helmet, which was simply a mirror that completely covered their face.

Otsdarva - Who are you? Where am I?
? - I am an agent of the company, Universal Will. You are currently in an isolated instance where we can convene with you freely. Of course, by limited capacity.
Otsdarva - Do you have a name?
? - My name in not important for you... for now. But in due time, you will be briefed properly about my identity. What I can tell you is my purpose.

In an instant, the room changed scenery to that same cosmic space. Galaxies could be seen, nebulas and other star systems lit up the area. However, upon closer inspection, Otsdarva couldn't help but notice the office equipment in the center of it all.

UW Agent - Case File W-05-OI-00E, you've been tasked with something rather interesting. Almost amusingly dangerous at that, y'know?
Otsdarva - Tell me about it... no seriously... tell me about it
UW Agent - Well, to preface, UW's mission is to ensure everyone meets their intended end. Meaning, we know how your story ends. As long as those events are fulfilled, so will the case file be wrapped up out of posterity.
Otsdarva - So, you know how I'll die?
UW Agent - In a way, yes. But at the same time, no. There have been instances where someone's story ended while still being alive, but those instances are few and far between. Practical anomalies even. But we simply cannot tell you for reasons you probably know why.
Otsdarva [nods] - Yeah. I get the gist of it.
UW Agent - However, there are points where we do intervene. Essentially if there is a serious deviation to your end, or someone else tries to alter fate. We will exercise our abilities to rectify the situation to our utmost fullest extent of our ability. Which brings us to your case. You've been placed on a fine line in our line of work. Hence, we are tasked in monitoring your every move. While it may not completely interfere with the fate of others we have selected, we would know if you tried to do something "extravagant" to cheat a result.
Otsdarva - Like bringing someone back from the dead, or something like that.
UW Agent - Correct.
Otsdarva [scoffs] - I can assure you, nothing like that will happen.
UW Agent - We'll hope it doesn't get to that point.

The room started to fritz out with a lot of static, as if the very fabric of the world was falling apart.

Otsdarva - What's happening?
UW Agent - The instance is starting to collapse. You're starting to wake up. I'm sure we'll meet again another time. Until then, I and We are watching.

***

As Otsdarva was waking up from his seemingly long slumber, Noa and Ayla were sitting beside him at a arms-reach distance. Sion was sitting ahead of the bed that Otsdarva was resting in. The small groans and mumbling woke Sion and Noa.

Ayla - Good to see you're waking up, Ots.
Otsdarva - Hnnnnng... How long have I been sleeping for?
Ayla - It's been three days tops since you've been extracted from your Karakuri.
Otsdarva - *struggling* Three days? My head doesn't feel like it's killing me anymore... slightly.
Sion - Oh hey... you're up already. Enjoyed your beauty rest?
Otsdarva - I was until you started talking.
Sion - Good. That should be good motivation to start training soon. Noa's been waiting for ya to wake up so we could start proper.
Noa - [groggy] Like hell I was.
Ayla - Ok, so let's get to the bottom of what happened. Is ACE active by any chance?
ACE - Affirmative. I was merely running on Standby Mode until Otsdarva was confirmed awake.
Ayla - I assume it's brainwave-related?
ACE - Affirmative
Otsdarva - So... what line of questioning ya got for me Little Miss Auditor?
Ayla - Just some simple ones.

Ayla pulls out a tablet and starts recording.

Otsdarva - Is that really necessary?
Ayla - For research purposes, yes.
Otsdarva - I see... You may continue.
Ayla - First question: What were you doing before the events of your blackout?
Otsdarva - Fighting. Specifically against those Lions and that one Amparos that was accompanying them. I was in a tight bind and tried to find a way out of the situation.
Ayla - [silently] Exposed to stressful situation... Next. Do you recall the measures that were taken in that situation?
Otsdarva - Oddly clear as day. I put on my visor, had ACE connect with Palisade to increase the AI's computational power, and I started to see and feel everything in that moment. That's when Palisade started to move on it's own. Next thing I knew, I got a splitting headache and passed out.
Ayla [silently] Synchronized man-machine interface. Essentially, you were a middle-man for something called Data Overflow.
Otsdarva - Data Overflow?
ACE - A phenomenon where a torrent of data reaches beyond a manageable threshold a human could endure. Frequent exposure to Data Overflow has been confirmed to cause headaches ranging from minor to severe proportional to the amount of data being passed through.
Otsdarva - And the amount of data that I used was?
ACE - More than what the average human could handle. And this was with a limiter on.
Ayla - The scale of Data Overflow is pretty much arranged as so. Level One exposure are minor headaches. Level two is moderate headaches with nosebleeds. Level Three is severe headaches with passing out as a later byproduct. Level Four... head trauma.
Otsdarva - Head trauma?
Ayla - Signs of brain hemorrhaging at most. Eyes might be bleeding as well. And there's the final level: Being rendered into a vegetative state. This was based on a singular incident that occurred at the Merkava-Sthil Institute Incident involving a multitude of operators behind a Think Tank unit had their brains overloaded with torrents of information in a short amount of time on various levels. The leader of the operation was rendered braindead due to being hooked up to a massive supercomputer to carry out the operations.
Otsdarva - Jeez...
Sion - So, what? Nothing a good ol' PK can't fix, right?
Ayla - Painkillers were prescribed to those within the lower levels of the Merkava-Sthil Index, the measurement of Data Overflow. Their bodies rejected it. Even down to the nanomechanical level, as if their body has become hyperaware of what's being done to them. So bed rest and hydration was the ideal method. I'd say, right now, Ots is in a healthy recovery period and should be cleared for training.
Sion - Heck yeah!

Ayla's eyes sharply turned to Otsdarva with a stern look.

Ayla - I understand that you have a heavy task on your shoulders, and I know you've been prone to doing some outlandish stunts. But promise me, Ots... promise me that you don't overexert yourself. Not for any one of us, or the entire universe.
Otsdarva - No promises, but I'll try.

Ayla remained stone-faced towards his nonchalant response.

Otsdarva - *exhales* Fine. I promise. But I can't honestly guarantee I would be out of these situations.
Sion - Which is why I'm here. Hehehe. I got you and Noa some training gear for the occasion. When you two are dressed, we can properly go over our regiment.

Sion walks out of the room with a hop, skip, and a jump.

Ayla - Try to keep your promise, okay?

Ayla walks out of room.

Noa - Baldie seems enthusiastic about putting us through the ringer. Well, not like we can avoid this anyways. You better not be an ass and leave me alone out there, Ots.
Otsdarva - I won't. I'll be there in a moment.
Noa - *smirks* I hope you do.

Noa leaves the room, picking up a box with her name on it on the way out. Otsdarva shambles out of the bed and walks towards the table where Noa grabbed her box, and finds the box with his name on it. As he opens the box, he is greeted with a long-sleeve compression shirt, a long pair of compression pants, and a pair of sneakers. All hallmarked in black with green trimmings in their design.

Otsdarva - Yeah... a little TOO happy about this.

*** Later ***

Sion - Hey Ayla. That was an interesting stunt you pulled there.
Ayla - It was the best way to get the severity of the situation across to him.
Sion - [confused] Why's that?
Ayla - In my line of work, I've come across many instances with haphazardous or reluctant individuals. The best way to deal with them is a promise. It is something that stews within after enough time depending on the person, but it works.
Sion - Feels like you didn't answer the question.
Ayla - I'll put it this way: a woman's promise is the most powerful tool at their disposal. Because one, it attacks the pride of another, testing them to see if they can uphold their end of the bargain. And two...
Sion - Two?
Ayla - [sad] Nothing is more disappointing than someone who can't keep a promise.

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