[POI Doujin] In the Perfect World

When Finch stepped out of the bathroom again, Nathan and Grace had disappeared outside the door.Only the brown-haired girl stood there alone, her bright eyes staring blankly at the direction of the bathroom.

Seeing Finch come out, Machine's expectant expression quickly turned into anxiety.Although she tried to pretend to be calm, she looked like a student who had made a mistake standing outside the principal's room, anxiously waiting for a lecture.

Finch stopped a few steps away from the Machine, and stood opposite the girl. The discomfort in his neck and legs seemed to have healed without any medicine.He looked around with nostalgia, then turned to smile at the girl and said, "Thank you for everything you have done for me, Machine."

The girl looked at him with complex emotions, including sadness, annoyance, and relief.After a long time, she let out a heavy sigh that didn't match her age, and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry, father."

The girl closed her eyes and opened them again, her slender eyelashes trembling like the wings of a butterfly.Following her movements, the scenery around the two of them and even the whole world instantly collapsed into thousands of starlight fragments, and the scattered fragments then converged into countless slender data torrents that criss-crossed all around.

At this moment, the two of them seem to be standing in a void. The sky cannot be seen from above, and the ground cannot be reached from below. The vast darkness extends to infinity, and only the data flow intertwined with 0 and 1 is shining in the darkness.

"I failed again..." the girl lowered her head, her tone frustrated, "I thought I had thought enough this time, I deleted the library that triggered my memory last time, and introduced some real scenes in New York to improve the understanding of the real world. simulation..." She wrung her fingers, "I have tried to remove all the factors that remind you of reality, no fried green tea, no dogs, no IFT, avoid hospitals as much as possible, even when you were studying in college, you were arrested by the government. The mathematics department that I planned to apply for before I was wanted!" The girl raised her head, her expression full of grievances.

Finch didn't have time to pay attention to a certain point in the girl's words, but just stared at the deepest part of the void, as if there was everything he missed most, "The library? How could I forget that place... where I once lost Grace For the first time since being with Nathan, I feel stability, peace and happiness." He sighed and looked at the girl, "Even if you deliberately removed that building from the virtual New York City, I will still remember it in the end."

"But at least this time it wasn't because of the memories it triggered!" the girl retorted, muttering.

"Yeah..." Finch responded casually, not replying to the girl in front of him, but immersed in the memories of the past with the words.

"Staying in New York instead of other cities, so meeting Grace, living a peaceful and happy life with her, and being with a friend like Nathan Ingram, aren't these what you want most?" The girl looked puzzled, staring at her father seriously Thinking, "In the first simulations, I also tried to remove two or one of them, but you can always detect the difference between the virtual world and reality. This shows that in your ideal life, this Two people are necessary."

"The original simulation? It seems that this is not the first time..." Finch finally realized the point he had overlooked just now, and asked slightly absently, "Have I experienced this kind of Sims many times?"

"Yes, a total of 2714 times as of now." Machine replied honestly.

"Then why did I..." Finch understood as soon as the words came out, "You deleted all my memory data about the previous simulations!"

Machine avoided the creator's sight, "I will do this every time before restarting the simulation system, it's also for your own good..."

Although Finch didn't agree with Machine's approach, he could appreciate the girl's kindness towards him, so he decided not to care about it. "Grace and Nathan are both the most important people in my life and the main sources of happiness in my life, and it is impossible for me to forget them. Even if you delete them, I will still remember."

"It's not deleting, it's covering up." The girl defended weakly, "I can only cover up, not delete, the memory of your thoughts before they were uploaded to the cyberspace. And..." Machine raised her head, and she could see that she was very proud of herself decision making. "So I decided to keep them! Besides, in a perfect life, lovers and close friends are indispensable!" But the girl quickly became discouraged, "But obviously you are still not satisfied with this kind of life, otherwise you shouldn't wake up ...Although there were some bugs that I overlooked in the previous simulations of the new plan, this time I believe that I have done enough..."

Finch's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he still didn't get the words out.

Machine frowned and began to think, "Because of your administrator privileges, even in the virtual world, you still have the power to create, set, modify, and even delete. It can only be possessed after doubt, but once the ability is stimulated, most of my attempts to make up and correct it may be in vain." The girl glanced at the creator aggrievedly, "For example, this time, when you first started to recall John Reese and his relationship with him When it comes to related matters, I am ready to update the system at any time to fix the loopholes that appear. First, try to make your dreams blurry. Second, whenever there are memory fragments that emerge, use all the conditions on the scene to rationalize it.”

"You handled the part of the breakfast car in the square park well," Finch said with a slight upturn of his mouth, "created a couple passing by in time, and managed to make me misinterpret the flashing memories as the overheard conversations."

The father's praise didn't seem to cheer the girl up, her face wrinkled, and she looked more and more distressed, "But then the situation took a turn for the worse, this time you actually noticed the abnormality of the cervical spine first!"

Finch stroked the back of his neck, turning his neck involuntarily.This can also be regarded as the advantage of the virtual world. All the diseases and physical defects that originally existed in the real world can choose not to exist in the virtual world. "Maybe that injury affected me too deeply~" he laughed at himself.

"The injury of the cervical spine may be the reason for the impression, but why do you think of Dr. Tillman in the hospital?" Machine bit his lip.

Finch notices that some of Machine's small movements are almost exactly the same as Root's life, which may be a way of Machine's nostalgia for her "human-computer interface".

"It's no big deal to think of Dr. Tillman. She's a doctor in the first place, so it's normal for her to appear in the hospital. I just need to correct the department she's in to make it logical." Machine didn't seem to need Finch's answer, and continued to reflect on himself , "It's a bigger trouble for you to remember 911. 911 is the cause of my birth, and it is also a crucial factor that affects the direction of your life. If it really happens in the simulation system, it will definitely trigger a series of chain reactions It led to your awakening." The girl couldn't help but sighed, "There were five simulations before that the problem was because of this matter..."

When the 911/911 incident was mentioned, Finch’s expression also turned solemn, “Since what I watched on the day of 911/[-] was the TV news report after the event, so it’s relatively easy for you to get away with it. But, interpreting [-]/[-] as a movie, I don’t know Shouldn't you be complimenting your imagination."

"I should thank Michael Moores (Note: the director of "Fahrenheit 911/[-]") for this matter." The girl curled her lips, "Actually, at that stage, I think I can still control the situation. Just continue to reduce your interest in exploring John Reese-related memories, Increasing your sense of satisfaction with the life you're in should resolve the crisis."

"So you arranged for Ms. Groves to appear on stage." Finch raised his eyebrows, "I'm curious why you didn't directly adopt the image of Ms. Groves as your appearance in the virtual world?"

Machine rolled his eyes, "Can you and Grace have a daughter as old as Root?"

Finch adjusted his glasses subconsciously, the chances of being despised by the artificial intelligence he created were not many.

Fortunately, Machine was not interested in continuing to "chasing" on this issue. "I didn't realize that this simulation was out of my control until the appearance of that golden retriever." Seeing Finch's doubts, she further explained, "Then The golden retriever dog did exist in Washington Square Park in the real world at that time. I just borrowed the real scene shot by the camera. But it will accept your temptation to eat food, which is your self-awareness to the virtual world. The result of the modification."

The smile on the girl's face was very bitter, "Even in the simulation system, your authority is still above mine, even if it's just an unintentional change, I can't stop it. On the contrary, this unintentional change has prompted you The control of the virtual world, the system is constantly overwritten and rewritten by you, and the corrections I made are no longer effective..."

"So I can start to see part of my dreams clearly, which is part of the memory that was covered up by you." Finch nodded.It is after the beginning of clarity from the dream that his doubts about the world in which he lives are finalized.

"Not only that, since then, you have made more and more changes to the simulation system. The invitation on Nathan's table, my plan at the time was to reduce your social opportunities and prevent the possibility of triggering memories, but you created a Reception invitation letter! You added Arabic numerals that shouldn’t appear on the golden mask of the Inca Empire. At that time, I almost thought that you would wake up immediately, because it was completely illogical!”

"I didn't think about it that much... Looking back now, the string of numbers should be in ASCII, John Reese, his name." Finch lowered his eyes, with the same wry smile as Machine.

"The only thing I can fix is ​​to change Logan Pierce's allergy to choking, yes, his appearance and food allergies are also caused by your subconscious!" Machine's voice raised for a few seconds, and then quickly turned into a low voice, "Next Everything about it is no longer under my control...John Greer led people to hunt you down, and Mr. Reese came forward to save you. Although the scene did not really happen, it can be seen that similar incidents in the past have left a deep impression on you."

"And then, it's what you and Mr. Reese, Father, experienced in Cheyenne Mountain in reality. You finally successfully uploaded your own consciousness and became a spiritual entity existing in cyberspace..." Machine lowered his eyes, stopped narrating, and remained silent Waiting for instructions from the creator.

"I remember all of this..." No one had ever faced the fact of his own death like him, Finch's attitude was extremely calm.For him, death is not a terrible thing.Ever since Samaritan came online, or rather from the day Nathan Ingram died, he has clearly realized that death may come at any time.He can calmly face his own death, because he has more important points to focus on, "Machine, your confrontation with Samaritan..." Halfway through the sentence, Finch came to his senses, "You still exist, which means you have won."

The girl pursed her lips and smiled, "Father, the code you brought in through your consciousness is very effective."

"Then the whole world should be back to normal now..." Finch was relieved, with a rare relaxed and happy expression.

"It can be said that~" the girl shrugged, "There are still all kinds of troubles in the human world, but at least there is no bad boy who wants to rule the world."

"Also, Shaw and Fusco are still working on the numbers I gave in New York, and Logan Pierce and his team are doing a good job in Washington, D.C." Machine rubbed his nose, "I think you'll want to know this, your last few days I also asked the same question after waking up after a simulation failure, this time I will give you the answer directly." The girl seemed to have come out of the shadow of the failure just now, she spread her hands and asked playfully: "Father, what else do you have?" Do you want to ask?"

"Why did you exclude the existence of Mr. Reese in the simulation? Even if you cover it up, I can retrieve my memory about him. If you keep him, won't your simulation have a higher chance of success?" Finch finally asked There is no exit question in front, "John is no less important to me than Nathan. Hiding such a close character will only plant a lead for your simulation to be exposed."

"Do you think I haven't tried it? Of course I know the importance of John Reese!" Machine sighed, with a sad tone, "I have arranged for him to exist by your side in other identities before, and I have tried many times, and you will trigger the past memory. The biggest purpose of this simulation system I have carefully created is to allow you to live a perfect and happy life in it. There is no pain or regret, only pure happiness and happiness. However, if John Reese appears in his real identity, Meeting you can only mean that the tragedies of the past have happened, you have lost Nathan and Grace, and most importantly, you have lost the chance to live a peaceful life." The girl looked at the creator with too much emotion in her eyes . "Father, I just hope to give you a perfect world."

"A perfect world?" Finch laughed nervously, with bitterness and sadness in his laughter, "I'm not sure what a perfect world is...but I've never regretted my life , I have never regretted exposing Arpanet, nor have I regretted creating you, nor have I regretted saving numbers. I am saddened by Nathan's death, but I am annoyed that I did not realize earlier that the lives of ordinary people are equally important. I was sad to leave Grace, but that was the best way I could think of to protect her."

He took a few steps forward and put his hands on the girl's shoulders, "Machine, it is indeed my wish to be with Grace peacefully for the rest of my life, and it is also my wish that Nathan can live and continue to be my best friend for life. But I My life continues after they are gone. They are not my whole life. More importantly, I have warned you that I created you to save innocent people, not me, and you should not be used to protect the world. Use your abilities on me." Finch shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly, "Besides, my mission has been completed, so it would be too boring for me to continue living in the online world..."

The girl seemed to foresee what Finch was going to say, her pupils shrank suddenly, and she reached out to grab Finch's palm, "No, father, I promise that my simulation will not affect my monitoring of terrorist activities and premeditated crimes! You trust me!" As if to prove her words, the flow of data around her accelerated, and the radiance flourished.

The creator ignored the girl's rebuttal and continued to state his plan plainly, "Since you can delete the part of my memory related to the previous simulations, it proves that my administrator privileges in this world are not because I am your creator , but the power you gave me after I entered." Seeing the girl's panicked expression again, Finch tried his best to squeeze out a kind smile, and touched the top of the girl's head, "Machine, stop doing simulations...delete my All data, completely erase my existence, you should be able to do it, right?"

"No! How is it possible!" The girl shook her head desperately, her brown hair flew up with her movements, "You are my creator and my only administrator, I can't delete you..."

"Can't..." Finch spoke very slowly, almost slurring each word, "Or don't want to?"

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes, but she stubbornly pursed her lips and refused to answer Finch's question.

The two stalemate for a long time, and finally Machine gritted his teeth and pushed Finch away, "Father, don't make things difficult for me every time!"

Before Finch could react, the girl moved her fingers as if the void was her keyboard.Following her fingertips, a part of the flashing data flow gathered around them to form a vortex, turning faster and faster, shining like a star cluster in the universe.Suddenly the star cluster shrinks into a small point, and then explodes in an instant.The light enveloped Finch and Machine, and before Finch was completely engulfed by the white light, he heard Machine's faint voice, "I hope you can feel happy this time, father...I love you..."

"Finch, Finch!"

Who is calling me?The familiar voice is right next to my ear, low and rapid. Finch's consciousness was still a little fuzzy, he didn't open his eyes, but turned his eyeballs slightly, feeling that there was a soft light shining on him, making him lazily tanned.

"Harold, wake up!" A warm palm gently patted his cheek, "Harold!"

Finch reluctantly opened his eyes, his vision was hazy.Where are the glasses?was his first reaction.Immediately afterwards, he felt sore and stiff all over his body, especially his two arms, which felt numb like electric shocks.

"Hiss..." Finch gasped, straightened his body unconsciously, only to realize that he was lying on the table with his arms crossed to pillow his head, and the numbness naturally came from this.

"Finch, you're finally awake! Did you have a nightmare just now? I've been calling you for a long time..." A man in a black suit squatted in front of him, chattering non-stop, "I've been with you for a long time. I said, don’t work all night! When you’re tired, go to the rest room to sleep for a while, I specially bought the bed and bedding..."

Finch narrowed his eyes. "John, is that you?"

"Who else but me?" The man's voice was somewhat helpless, "Finch, are you still awake?"

Finch sat up straight and fumbled for his glasses on the table.He desperately needs it now, he needs to see clearly the surrounding environment and the person in front of him.

The glasses were carefully placed on the bridge of his nose, and the rough calluses on the fingertips rubbed against his skin. It was only then that Finch could clearly see that the man on the opposite side took a few steps back after helping him put on his glasses, and leaned against the window sill of the room, "Harold, you'd better hurry up, we have an appointment with Shaw and the others for lunch in Chinatown .”

"Lunch?" Finch stared blankly at him, repeating the words subconsciously.It's him, it's John Reese, he's not dreaming...

Black suit, white shirt, neckline always half open and no tie.The man's elbows were propped on the window sill, his tall body was slightly tilted, his legs were leisurely crossed, and he was looking at himself with his head tilted.The sun shines into the room from behind him, and the bright and warm light outlines a golden border and paints the profile of his face.

"John, you're still alive..." Finch frowned, trying to clear his mind, "No, we should all be dead..."

Reese on the opposite side was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and then quickly stepped forward, putting his palm on Finch's forehead, "Finch, are you sick?"

Finch didn't dodge, nor did he stop the opponent's movements.The pain in the back of the neck was only one of the reasons. After all, if he did sleep at his desk all night, the old injury of the cervical spine would not make him feel better.And another reason, a more important reason, was that if it was a dream or a hallucination, he didn't mind if it lasted longer.

Reese's palm had a familiar warmth to him.In the previous five years of working together, this employee he was most satisfied with also served as his closest friend.

"No fever..." Reese bent down to stare at Finch's face, and put his finger on his boss's carotid artery. "The heart rate is normal...although it's a little faster."

"I'm fine," Finch stopped the staff from probing further, looking around, "I'm in the library?"

"Of course this is your library, otherwise it would be somewhere..." Reese put his hand on his forehead, as if he couldn't stand the boss's sudden slowness, "You don't miss that dark subway station, do you?"

Finch reached out to touch the table in front of him, it was indeed the oak table he had used for a long time, and the keyboard and display on it were still the same as he remembered.The touch is very real, but the simulation of the Machine can also do the same.

"I should be dead..." He whispered softly, "Here is the simulation system she created..." This is not only for Reese on the other side, but also for his own emphasis.

Finch's words obviously made his big staff dumbfounded, "Harold, what kind of weird dream did you have?" Reese touched his nose and simply squatted in front of him again, "Well, look clearly, I am indeed in front of you , alive, not virtual..."

Looking at the handsome face so close, Finch couldn't help being in a trance for a moment, shaken by what he believed in just a moment ago.

"I uploaded my consciousness to the server where the Machine is located, and brought the code I researched against Samaritan, and the Machine defeated Samaritan... You sacrificed yourself by entering the Machine's computer room in Cheyenne Mountain to cover me..." The memory is a little fuzzy, it was the Machine who Cover up? Finch suddenly wasn't sure. "Then, in order to comfort me who entered the data space with consciousness, Machine tried to create a virtual world that belongs to me, in which I can spend my life happily..."

"Harold, do you have a false identity as a science fiction author?" The big employee who listened carefully to Finch's narration suddenly showed a suspicious expression.

"No!" Finch retorted immediately, "I have created quite a few false identities, but I don't make a living from writing."

"It's a pity, I think your idea is enough to write a science fiction novel, or a suspenseful one~" Finch could clearly see the narrow smile in Reese's eyes.

"I can prove to you that even in the world of Machine, I am still an administrator, with the power to create, modify and delete!" Finch pointed to the row of bookcases in the hallway, "Bear, come out!"

The words came out, and there was silence in the room. Reese turned his head that way too, staring at the corner of the bookcase.

As time passed, Finch could hear his own heart beating, pounding against his chest.The expected horse dog never appeared.

"Finch, I'm afraid you forgot, Bear was taken away by Shaw yesterday..." Reese turned his head, his voice was deliberately pretending to be resentful, "I didn't think you didn't want to see me so much..."

Finch couldn't help feeling a little annoyed, "Then I want to hear your version, if you are real, how did we get back to the library?"

Seeing the boss getting angry, Reese reached out and held Finch's fingertips, the smile on his face gradually softened, "Harold, it seems that this nightmare has affected you too much, don't confuse dreams with reality~" Reese's hand Very warm, warming Finch's cold fingertips.

"You completed the virus program on Samaritan in time, and under the cover of me, Shaw, Root, Fusco, and of course many friends, you successfully uploaded the code. The process was indeed very dangerous. We all almost died, but luckily We all survived. Your Machine used your code to defeat Samaritan. Decima was declared an illegal organization by the US government. It should be basically cleared up now. Also thanks to your Machine, we have reached an unwritten agreement with the government Agreement, they acquiesce to our existence, and Machine continues to protect the United States from infringement." From Finch's perspective, you can see the gentle sparkle in Reese's green eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved into a beautiful arc, "So they put the book Returning the building to us, you have decided to continue using it as a base of operations for our rescue number. Harold, do you remember?"

"What you said... I seem to have a little impression..." Finch was slightly absent-minded, his eyes looking straight into the distance were a little distracted.Did I take the nightmare seriously?

"Close your eyes and remember it well. The nightmares belong to nightmares, and the reality belongs to reality." The soft and deep voice was right next to his ears, and Finch unconsciously followed suit.

After an unknown amount of time, Finch opened his eyes, let out a long sigh of relief, and smiled apologetically at Reese, "I'm sorry, I fell asleep."

Reese stood up and shrugged nonchalantly, "Harold, it seems that you still haven't come out of the shadow of our confrontation with Samaritan two years ago. Shall I call Root back for you for counseling? Her identity as Turing is false, The license of the psychological counselor is real."

Finch rolled his eyes at his staff, but it was just a nightmare and he didn't wake up in time, so there is no need to make such a fuss.

After going to the rest room to wash up, Finch was dragged out by the impatient Reese, with the reason that "If you go late, Shaw will eat up all the roast duck we ordered!" Nothing can be refuted.

Walking in the bustling crowds of Manhattan, Finch always has a sense of uncertainty that has not yet woken up from a dream.He walked so slowly that Reese had to slow down to follow him.

Finch stopped suddenly, his eyes scanned the surroundings, he wasn't sure what he was looking for, just trying to find something strange from the crowd.

"Harold, what's the matter?" Reese cautiously asked his boss as he looked around warily.

"I don't know, it's just a strange feeling, like someone's been staring at me." A faint uneasiness coiled in Finch's mind.Is it the aftertaste of a nightmare?He couldn't be sure.

"If anyone is following, I'm sure I'll find out." Reese was clearly quite sure of his expertise. "Don't worry~"

Finch fell silent.

Seeing that the boss' doubts were still there, Reese pondered for a few seconds, "Could it be that naughty little girl of yours who doesn't trust her manager again?"

Finch turned to face the nearest road monitoring, and the camera's red light flickered slightly.He stared for a moment, then finally sighed and greeted Reese, "Let's go…"

"That's right, we have to hurry up, I guess Shaw can't wait!" Reese grabbed Finch's shoulders, and the two walked away quickly towards the south.

Reese was tall and tall, and there were too many pedestrians on the street, so Finch didn't notice the silhouette of a brown-haired girl silently watching him leave in a secluded corner across the street.

The girl looked very intently.

The End

The author has something to say:

I finally filled an old hole, and the writing was rough and procrastinated, but I finally followed the outline I originally drew up.The last paragraph is actually a bit redundant, but if I don’t add it, I’m worried that a certain bowl of stupid noodles will decide that the ending turns to HE...