Gisele Doppel

"Stand by"

"Recorded summarization tw3nt33jn2Ist, of the event on subject KrVo1A, the subjects mind is recovering faster than expected, his spirit is still a bit shaken, he is suffering from phantom member syndrome and gets a shaken for a couple of seconds after getting back to his senses."

"As you can see in the video, the more work and medical attention he does by himself his mindset is adjusted accordingly and therefore, his trust on the suggestions, tests and information on the smartwall has increased; thanks to the suggestions given by one of our patrons in regards as to how he must do simple tasks, we expect KrVo1A to find a form of normalcy fast, now is when our training in how to be ambidextrous proves its value more clearly on his mental recovery."

"He has willingly reduced his use of pain killers, therefore we had no need to dispense any placebo to keep the subject away from an addiction; his reasoning safe keeping, after a few accidental hits we recommended him the use of medication for the pain, which he is been ignoring little by little to get back into his routine without the numbing sensation, as you can see in the clips."

"He is trying to keep a sense of normalcy, wakes up before the sun, eats by the window on the first floor while reading on his personal device; moving on a few hour later after completing some tests, to go into land to collect resources listed on his device, eating lunch, and painting, his murals has been growing, through them we have described to him how the world works and what is beyond his home."

"Afterwards getting back to his reading during his exercises and physical therapy; as usual before dinner he goes through his lessons; his favorite subjects being art and reading; as always we are nurturing his predilections, he is still going through decision making of the mind, and animal behavior, more specific birds of prey, and thinkers during conflicts, Aurelius and Frankl, the names omitted to avoid any attachment."

"Getting back to the main point, it was confirmed, the event was an actual accident, not a self-harm event; we went through every recording and scan from pre, during and post the event and nothing has shown that the subject intended for it to happened, in the videos you can see the subject collecting water from the lake of the roof of the abbey; we checked the gear a week before it showed no signs of weakness nor potential danger above the normal."

"The best guess of the team is that a bird tried to make a nest there and caused some damage on the tool and not the rope landing on the subjects forearm; the cameras outside are only on when there is movement in front of them, we are currently working on a grid around the land, it should also help us make choices in advance, before any of the subjects."

"DISCLAIMER; in the next series of videos you will see blood, hear screams, and see a young person in agony, if it the visual aid is of no use to you, I suggest you moving to the penultimate link of the videos."

– I arranged a station over there for you to work… – Gisele meant the other side of the office; her office, a minimalistic white room with no windows, only screen walls showing her the world outside.

Clearly Thy's sister was not in the mood to deal with him, but the rules of the facility said that either Gisele or Armand had to be present whenever somebody else went through the files of the research, no matter if those were protected by several cameras, firewalls, the AI of the especial studies building, and all of that in single connection to the satellite turbine connected all the way into space where Armand had placed a supercomputer able to deal with this kind of work, leaving the in land supercomputer to deal with the work of the country.

Thy was happy to follow the rules, and took advantage of them since it provided a place where he could talk with his sister, something that had been increasingly harder to do, ever since her need to go through every video of their upbringing had turned into a decision to continue the study with its limitations and a new set of rules placed by the Doppel family, which mainly included consent, and secondly freedom.

– And good morning to you too sis.

– Yes, yes; to you too… – ever since she got out into the world she had worried herself about the why, once she found out she and her brothers and sisters were the answer to that question Gisele still went searching for every piece of evidence she could gather, once she had in her hands some of the earlier data of a number of failed subjects and hypothesis of the study, then her world showed her how right they were.

Right at that moment, she had been going through a series of videos Armand was able to procure through a connection, mostly about Thy.

– …So, looking at my greatest hits? You should go through my potty training or how I learnt the ABC, and the two hours videos of me looking at the sunset would make a great screen saver… how many times have you watched this video?

– Not many; it is slightly new, I'm still trying to decode the rest of the information, I just got some of your scans, and general charts, the brain scans are going to take me… awhile…

– Hi, yeah, it was rhetorical, thank you for making eye contact, when was the last time you got out of the building? Or the control room for that matter? Or even stepped out of your office? Beds are more comfortable than couches; Should I ask if you have eaten today, and if you have had your eyedrops?

– No, you only need to do your work… over there, I can take care of me – Gisele always disliked Thy playful demeanor when they had work to do; now, she hated how little he cared about the work of this level; not to mention how dismissive he was about the study they were part of; he had said it on multiple occasions, how those times were over, and that the people working on them had taken what they wanted from him, as he had. Which was the same reason why Gisele looked at him, it was odd of him to mention those videos, but it was the correct move to get her eyes away from the screen.

– Okay, okay, thanks for lending me a station in your home-office sis… okay! backing away… lower the daggers… see…? I'm working! Okay you! Give me the statistics of the Northwestern team! Begin with Olivia Annealth! aka Liv.n'.lt.liV! aka the new girl! aka Armand's new target! Work so far! scans and examinations! And her day to day impressions… good, good, now give me the last day scans during the immersions on the left, the game feed on the right and the live feed in the middle screen… aaand play… she seems to be in control of the Asian routes, interesting, the East India Company… Edd is on the West… that ought to be troublesome for him I bet; And KL is on the main land working on the in land trade… they have their goals… not much re-does so good communication…

"Close open com. no, no; I know you are right…"

– Lower the volume on the game feed, increase the one on Olivia's live feed a bit more… there we go.

"…I know it was the trade with other countries, it was the root of it all and yada, yada; all I'm saying is that it wasn't all just about money or armies… yes, art of course, you are disregarding its use to quickly, and you are forgetting it was actual evidence of events, the only way people had to see other places…"

"…yes, I'm referring to actually see them… but also books are important, science, you need to read ahead a bit, Japan took some knowledge from them… yeah, I might be, all I'm saying is that you need to check the list of art we need to reach before moving further into the story, or we will have to start again from the moment we found the sealog…"

– She'd got a point… lower the game volume a bit more…

– Could you lower yours? And put on some headphones… – Gisele knew Thy was trying to distract her, or rather trying to annoy her, Thy knew her well, he knows that Gisele tends to get away from noisy people and big crowds, she even hated sharing a meal with her own brothers and sisters, given the hearing hypersensitivity she developed after leaving home when she was fifteen.

But she knew her brother as well, she knew what he wanted, and so she also put on her earphones and kept on working, after asking him for some silence.

But Thy wasn't done yet, he wanted her sister to leave her station for a while, he knew she had everything under control, that she loved her peace and quiet, and that she prefers the simplicity of her day to day life, which also included the intake of the plain nutrition packages from Armand's food delivery service, hence, Thy was going to keep acting up until Gisele took a moment away from her office designed as a living quarters space for her on the lower section of the deep learning facilities of the tower.

Thy was going to ignore her request, so he started to walk around the room talking to the mine frame of the facility, while he used his hand, or rather his prosthetic arm to point, and his flesh arm to direct the course of his investigation; being loud in another form all over the office – She's got a point… it is a visual world… stress is at minimal, breath steady, no tension… eyes a bit reddened, any problem sleeping? No… still she could use some more sleep, perhaps this are her limits… or just as all of us, she is just excited about the next day still nervous and all… now show me the REM cycle of the other team members… Edd is fine as well, his brain is more adept to make the game work, he is as fast as a thought; KL still struggles with the speed and rambles at times… I see no problems with their brain activity… why am I here? Okay, let's see her play for a bit. – Thy kept talking loudly, pacing around the office exaggerating his walk and hand gestures; then he moved the video to the main screenwall, right in front of Gisele, as he sat under her desk, resting his back on it to watch Olivia's character, Johan, put the naval fleet in order for a long trip to Java.

She battled some corsairs… she dodge some brits war ships… but basically she only needed to give orders so far, taking a close look at the movement of the NPCs, and her character, if she needed to correct a move or a position, she would influence any character to obtain the result the company wanted, if she couldn't then she would direct the other character, as a way to double check the other team work, avoiding the need to reset the chapter.

Olivia's resume said she had created towns filled with NPCs of her making, at a basic level given that those games were nothing like this one, where she was in control of a whole country she was co-directing; while surrounded by dozens of experts taking a close looked at her work, her brain activity and bodily functions; meanwhile, a team of engineers, programmers and even Armand at some point helped with the rig functionality, given it consisted of a set of chairs placed in the middle of the spherical room under Deep Learning facilities of the tower; as they looked at the walls of the room that displayed the game in real time to help them steer the virtual reality through the events of the real world throughout the ages; all by mere thought, which meant, trying to avoid any distractions, and stress.

They could walk around the room, or sit elsewhere, run and even eat with the scanners on while the character did the same, they could control the movement speed of the day and the story; paused it at will; reset a whole chapter if they didn't reach the story goals as it was described in the history books,

So far Olivia had been able to keep her cool and wits to perform as a seasoned director, taking her time to adjust her train of thought to control her character for over a month, Edd had taught her how he did it, and at times both of them were moving their hands as if they were using a control; hand gesturing to tell the game when they were moving or giving orders; and when they needed time to think their hands stopped moving, were crossed, or put to their side while the character did the same and waited; creating an imaginary division between their conscious and subconscious mind; unlike KL who still needed to use his smart thimbles to move the character, and being vocal about what he wanted his character to do, reserving his thoughts for himself, or as he called them, his money making.

– Watch it on your work station? I know what you want, and what you are trying to do… I need to finish this, this is more important than catching up, I promised you I'm fine. – Gisele let a pen fall on Thy's head to get her brother's attention up to her, once she took off an earphone.

– Good to know sis, but I'm also here to work, why don't we talk while we are at it? I will try to be quiet. – As for Thy, once he looked at her sister, he saw a panel he could use to make notes and be loud again.

– Seriously with the typing now? Stop putting on a show and just say what you need to say… as long as it isn't about Lilies' birthday, I don't know if I can…

– …you don't know if you can move away from that screen for a few hours? Are you serious right now? Dumb question, you are so serious always, but you can be serious about other things too, like trying to be with the girls on their birthday. But if I'm honest, that and this work thing is just an excuse to check up on you, outside your comfort zone, where you can't distract yourself with work; after all, I already know why Armand wanted me to take a closer look at this team…

– I do too, she has some sparks of brilliance, not many, but good ones, like this one… M1na? Show me show me Olivia's videos from two weeks ago… this is the one…

"…come on, stop trying to be perfect, even if we had their journal, a secret diary, or words from people who knew them, those are just glimpses we lack the substance, that is the work they need from us, the context, the raw context…"

– Yes of course…

– Nothing we haven't thought of…

– …and yet she caught on it in just two months, right? One month of tests, training and scans; and one month of work… that is something interesting…

– She is still too simple minded, she talks a lot… the brain scans look promising, but they divert mid-thought…

– Oh she second guess herself… that is something, most of the people here are a bunch of know it all… for example KL scans, when he knows he is right his brain lights up Like a bonfire, but most of the time the flame remains ignited, like my brain or yours I bet… show me Olivia's… see, multiple links and paths, that's not bad, we might even be the simple minded of the bunch, we only have room for what we know, Olivia's train of thought is more like a subway station in a city filled with millions different thoughts… oh… I've got an idea.

– What?... Really? You are going to make her play blindfolded… – Gisele knew that smile on her brother's face from miles away; he loved to make a point by playing games, and every single time those brought interesting outcomes; he simply loved being unexpected.

– This time we might get a different outcome; she is more suited for it… see? Her older sister is blind, that should also help her out…

– Yeah, or her train of thought could be just a small bird on fire moving all over the city burning the place down aimlessly trying to ignite a city full of random ideas; she might not even be able to burn her own brain with those thoughts, you will only get her stressed out of her mind and we will have to get her out of the dome and put KL into working overtime…

– He would love that; but I stand by it, I want to say Olivia has potential, but at the same time I already feel she has reached it… I cannot put my finger on it, but I'm sure she will show us what she is capable of, here and now, perhaps not on the scans or the way she states the obvious, but she will. – Thy had been taking glimpse at the way Gisele reacted when he spoke about Olivia's possibilities and potentials, he believed in those, but they had also brought her attention, she had put her work aside to see what Thy was referring to, for her, Olivia just got the job by posing a threat to the project, and not like the rest of the workers who were the best at their field, some even graduated from the tower; Gisele only thought that Armand was being cautious, he wanted her in the project to find out the truth, after all, her heart rate, and her brain were being watched while she remained under the dome, she should not be able to hide anything from him, nor from Gisele; and yet, she wasn't able to find any threat, nor even an use for her as the rest of the participants did, Olivia needed a lot of help to actually do her work, she was always asking how to do simple tasks, and double checking the work of the actual experts, despite the fact Olivia nearly begged to be part of the project; but now Gisele's own brother was defending her, and even praised her for being a commoner with a lot of luck.

– As long as she does the job I don't care if she has potential, or if she is a threat…

– You also think she is a threat?

– Her brain scans don't lie, the reason she is second guessing might have to do with an act, she goes left to right thinking of words to say, while also trying not to get the spotlight…

– I actually did not detect any ill intent from her when I interviewed her two months ago, nor when I put her through the tests, she remained cool the entire time, kept eye contact during the controlled questions and told me all about how she found out about the project, and told me about her goals without second guessing, it all checked out. If you ask me, she is exactly as she present herself anywhere, she is at, I saw some of her videos… but why did you just jump from simple minded to a spy?

– You, maybe she is able to fool you… but not the rig, we will see… for instance, look at our Renaissance team…

– Benny, Phil and Brin, right? What of them?

– Look at Brin scans, and heartbeat when she talks through any of the Borgia's shoes… M1na, give me Brin's files, open 'my evidence'… play that one.

– Wow, she lights up… she knows what she is doing, and where to place her armies, this not only knowledge, or syncing up, she has done things of that sort… display Brin and Olivia's brain scan and heart rate on the central screen wall, add the game run through to our desk screen… let's see… during a battle… I need the same conditions…

– …M1na, run the Banda conquest for Olivia, at x2 speed; same thing with Brin and Faenza battle; those have similar outcomes…

– …interesting, Olivia holds back again, she knows what she needs to do, she solves it in one try, like Brin on her end… here comes the carnage… show me their faces. That is stress, heart rate elevated… some tears, as expected… genuine tears from Olivia… Brin did not hold back, not even while exhibiting the remains; what am I doing here?... I should be sending Brin to a psych evaluation; Brin has seen this before, right?

– Right… and not on TV nor in photos, but in real life, perhaps not the whole poisoning nor the killing, but she has seen death… now look at betrayal… pause the recordings M1na, display the Orsini's event, six hours frames on repeat…

– …now that is a path straight to jail, evil and hell, she has done things to others… but that blink over there, she is remembering something, she has betrayed herself too, those are stress levels on the amygdala, and there it goes into the hippocampus a deep dive into memory lane, we have a cold fire… why am I seeing this now? I could've helped. – Thy said as he stood up to give her sister the impression of seriousness.

– There was no reason to get you involved, we are managing it, Brin is being watched twenty-four seven, with some other subjects that had shown signs of feeble moral standards, we have found at least other two, so, we are also looking at their interactions, so far there has been none; and before you ask, we are only looking, their privacy is intact, outside of this building… as for you, you only need to do your work, deal with the first impressions, and keep an eye on the new recruits.

– Well now I'm second guessing my work too… how did I not see this during Brin's interview? I need to check my notes…

– We have seen the interviews and conversations, you weren't wrong, per se, your questions did show some traits of trauma, Brin came here with her parents to work on the other cities power issues, her mom worked on the zoning of the cities… she was there when Armand and Castillo tried to move to fast into the cities near the borderlines… – Gisele says as she moved the files of her suspects to the center of the screenwall.

– Oh, I remember that, but she said she wasn't there when they took her mom, she was… ten if I remember correctly, did she lie?

– No, her personal device says she was at school at the time, they activated the GPS to reassure her dad…

– I will look into it… what about those others red flags? Can you send me the names?

– Of course I can, but this is not on you… you chose the right people for the job… one has PTSD, he is a former soldier, expert in communications.

– Jack, I remember him, I detected some anxiety and a deep fear of not being able to have his phone nearby… I think I said it on the report… 'the candidate's rooted fear of not being there when the phone rang might distract him from performing, but his understanding of historic warfare, coms and his long list of achievements during his time in the army is what we need when we reach the eighteenth century…'

– Good memory, nearly got it right… the other one Junha…

– …wrong crowds looking for a fresh start… he was being honest, I'm sure of it… I was the witness of his interview, watching through the screen… long family line of traders from all around Asia, but was cut off after he tried to connect with the Norther business of his country, ended up over sharing, but was not indicted, nor even pursued as a spy… he was… – Thy had developed a good memory when it came to faces, using them to pin point any moment, where, what and how they interacted, to then jogging his memory further when needed to remember tones of voices, sounds, or smells.

– …he wasn't dumb, the scans showed the pathway of a black-market seller… he proved it while working on the Silk Road… but then another path ignited… remorse, and guilt…

– …that is a fairly new path, it is connecting to the memory, family then moves deep into studies… those were family teachings…

– See? We have it under control, Armand has a plan if we ever see anything suspicious… you only need to do your work, you can trust me with the rest, the premise of your work is finding the right person for the job, not to do a background check… but perhaps you should be a scout, instead of letting Armand throw a digital fishhook to get new talent, or you should check on that fishhook yourself and see if it is starting to show dementia…

– I guess so, it could be fun… the scouting part, not the whole dealing with fake people… for some reason I don't feel bad for those three mistakes, am I wrong?

– Not really, some people learn how to hide trauma, or bad intentions from their faces as time passes when they ignore it or convince themselves it was not their fault, Jack is still in therapy, trying to pass through... but Brin and Junha are different cases, they fit into a box where people think it is either justified, allowed, or even other's problems when they act up on their impulses and not with a clear headed mind.

– That makes sense... do you mind if I do a background check on them? I'm gonna do the same with Olivia, after speaking with her next week.

– No, it could show something different if we see the evidence upfront instead of getting the digital information.

– Cool… okay, now I will get back to work…

– Thy! Move to your station!

– I can't hear you… see? I'm wearing earphones… – Thy said with a grin as he remained seated on top of Gisele's desk, as he cleaned the screenwall and displayed Olivia's videos of her work on the virtual reality game.