Project Infinix
XVI — Gaia 4.0
1. Epsilon
- Ed plugs the pen drive in a laptop, opens its executable file, and it asks for biometric authentication. Ed is handed over a few biometric devices like a fingerprint reader and a retinal scanner, but nothing seems to work.
- Ed has a moment of thought.
Ed
- “Mind over body”…
- “There’s so much it can unlock”…
- It doesn’t want biometric data from my body.
- I must connect it to my mind.
- Michael tells Ed he can’t be put into a connection pod.
- Ed doesn’t want a pod; he asks for an amethyst.
- Lisa builds a circuit between an amethyst crystal and the pen drive.
- Ed holds onto the crystal.
- The computer shuts down and there’s a blackout in the office.
- The laptop starts booting up to a command line.
- Epsilon branch 1.0.
- They’re crafting their own bodies.
- They’re plugging our own minds.
- We thought it could not go beyond software.
- The threat goes beyond nuclear.
- The Tsar Bomba was not the biggest weapon of the Russians.
- But the test site is the same.
- The lights are back up.
- Some files appear, containing data regarding some works on Project Infinix.
2. Third Parties
- It is revealed that Project Infinix is being funded by Russia’s government and that there might be something in a nuclear testing ground in Siberia, more precisely, the one where the Tsar Bomba was detonated during the Cold War, the Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site.
3—5
- Lisa and Michael fly to Siberia, and they find a hidden underground facility that is seemingly abandoned, but they find records regarding harnessing Nyx Energy on Earth.
- They discover that the facility contains the Epsilon data center.
6. What Becomes of It
- Ed boots up the pen drive again, trying to find something new.
- Out of nowhere, a command line window shows up.
???
- It has been quite the dream, hasn’t it?
Ed
- Founder?
The Founder?
- Y-yes…
- I mean… not yet.
- What year are we, really?
- Oh, I see…
- So that’s what becomes of it…
Ed
- Are you alive?
The Founder?
- Am I?
- Well, that depends. I have to do some tuning.
- I hope so, though.
- Let’s stick to the plan, shall we?
Ed
- What plan?
The Founder?
- I’ll let you know, once the time comes.
- A-and… there we go.
- I think that’s all I need.
- Stay tuned, dreamer.
- The computer shuts down. Ed isn’t able to get anything else from the program.
7—11
- In another visit to the Epsilon data center, Lisa and Michael suspect that someone is lurking around and they spot some electric bolts being shot somewhere.
- When Lisa finally finds the lurker, it seems to be a man with a surgical gown.
- The lurker recognizes Lisa and calls her “Artemis”. Then he charges electric bolts from his hands, hitting and injuring her badly, before being rescued by Michael and taken out of there.
- She passes out while being carried by Michael.
- Lisa is hospitalized.
- The GCC wonders how Nyx abilities were cast on Earth, defying all laws of nature, biology, and physics.
12. Caged Bird
Lisa's flashback
- Lisa is seen as a small child at her school, usually playing alone, sometimes admiring snakes, seeing one attacking a bird eating seeds on the floor.
Lisa
- Life is just cruel.
- She’s approached by some kids who start bullying her, until she eventually throws some punches to the face of two of them, knocking them out.
- She seems to have been observed by some Overseer.
- Lisa is called by the principal, and she is put in a detention room, supervised by the Overseer, who’s admired by how fierce she is.
- The Overseer, presented as Musca, takes Lisa and places her in a facility, where she becomes a target of experiments.
- In this facility, “Für Elise” by Beethoven is played in the background, and Lisa notices an exotic bird-of-paradise in a cage.
- It’s revealed that Lisa used to be a test subject in a group of twelve children, where she was injected with Nyx Energy, giving her enhanced abilities.
- This is why Lisa has always strongly opposed Project Infinix, and probably why she’s been having nightmares about Nyx Bugs.
13. Anti-System
- At Infinix, a civil war breaks out after the word is spread out that Infinix is not a real world, forming two sides:
- Anti-system - this side opposes the system’s control and dependence; believes Nyx Energy should stop being produced and Nyx Cell’s should be shutdown.
- Branded with the Ø symbol.
- Supported by non-Miners and Project Sigma graduates, including Bohr.
- Ideology is similar to Lupus’s.
- Nyx supporters - this side accepts their own reality, and they should keep the system running.
- Branded with the ∞ symbol.
- Supported by Gabi, Kika, the Stranded, and most of Ed’s friends except those from Radon Guild.
- The administrators are also supporters, secretly.
- Anti-system - this side opposes the system’s control and dependence; believes Nyx Energy should stop being produced and Nyx Cell’s should be shutdown.
14—20
- Isaac and Johnny are introduced as Syrox and Jeco’s friends, but Isaac is an anti-system Broadcast Miner, and Johnny is a Nyx supporter.
Isaac
Broadcast Miner eta#3cb2d9ff @Anti-system
Johnny
Nyx Miner iota#97a0e5f4 @Nyx supporter Vela
Vela is a southern constellation that represents the sails of the mythological ship Argo Navis, the vessel used by Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. In astronomy, Vela is one of the three constellations formed from the breakup of Argo Navis (alongside Carina and Puppis). It is notable for containing bright stars and deep-sky objects, including the Vela Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris of a massive stellar explosion.
Hydrus
Hydrus is a small southern constellation introduced in the late 16th century by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Its name means “the male water snake,” distinguishing it from the larger constellation Hydra. In astronomy, Hydrus lies near the south celestial pole and contains mostly faint stars, with no bright prominent features, but it is part of the group of constellations that map the southern polar sky.
- The Anti-system supporters, including non-Miners equipped with conventional weapons, invade the control centers on most planets to suppress Nyx abilities.
- Bohr leads the invasion of one of the planets, and Gabi and Kika try to confront him.
- One of the invaders tries to kill Kika but Bohr stands in the line of fire to protect her.
- Bohr is killed, while apologizing for everything.
- Gabi meets one of the administrators for the first time, and she disagrees with their goals once revealed to her.
- Theo visits Lisa while she’s recovering.
- Theo accompanies Michael at another visit to the Russian facility, where the electric subject manages to escape, and Michael spots lots of capsules with unconscious people inside them.
21. Out of Bounds
- The electric subject starts wandering in Russian civilization, naked and lost, until he reaches a house with an old couple who shelter him.
- The subject fires a lightning bolt, not with violent intent, but the couple is killed and the house destroyed, revealing that Nyx abilities are brutal in the real world.
- The subject is eventually shot and killed by the Russian military.
- He seems to have a Δ tattoo.
22—23
- GCC suspects that an army of Nyx-abled soldiers is being prepared and wonders if that was the true goal of Project Infinix.
- Russian troops are sent to the facility (probably because they found out about the escaped subject) but they vanish somehow after getting inside.
- GCC foresees that the Nyx soldiers might launch a large-scale offensive.
- A nuclear bomb is dropped at the facility by the Russians, but it’s counterattacked by a large flying warship carrying dozens of Nyx soldiers, with others flying alongside it.
- The warship starts attacking military bases in Siberia and taking control of the region.
24. Spoilers of War
- Rui is in the 1600’s, where the Age of Gunpowder is emerging.
Rui
- Is this what the Founder has built upon?
Kronos
- You can’t build a neural network without training it with a ground truth.