Chapter Text
The decay of the circus had not ceased or slowed since Caine's impromptu death/deletion. It was becoming more and more perilous to even walk around without falling into the endless abyss below.
Soon, there would be nothing left. Nobody wanted to know what would happen then.
"So what? Do we just accept that we're going to all I don't know… turn to dust?"
They had all gathered in one of the few somewhat stable regions, crammed close together to be as far from the decay as possible.
"Well… I suppose I could try to bring back Caine. He'd have to start from an old save, though, and who knows how old his latest backup is…" Kinger had kept the bucket on his head, both for his own sanity and to help them navigate the crumbling circus.
"That sounds like a great idea! Bringing back the homicidal AI with a god-complex we just got rid of!", Jax snarled, never turning to acknowledge them fully.
"It might be the only choice we have if we don't want to die here." Pomni sighed. In the distance, a stack of once colorful blocks tilted, groaned, then fell into a gap in the floor.
"At least this time we know how not to make him go crazy?" Ragatha was pulling on her hair, a nervous lilt in her voice.
The six of them stood in silence, all seemingly mulling over their admittedly few options.
"…Pomni, do you think you could get me another computer? I can start trying to recover his files now, and we can decide to go through with it later."
She looked up, gauging the reactions of the other members. There was a tense air- nobody wanted what Caine was back- not what he had become anyway. But if there was a way to get back the old Caine, if only to keep the circus together…
"I think so." As long as the whole 'exit' room hadn't fallen apart, there should still be a few computers in there.
She stood. It would be hard to traverse there now, but she was certain she could make it. Hopefully, the area where the exit door appeared still existed.
"I'll be back, probably." The others gave a few quiet reassurances, and Pomni left, running as quickly as she could manage to the clearing.
The decay had spread so much in some places that she had to jump between fragments of the circus. She could see parts of the circus falling and crumbling everywhere she looked. Holes larger than a house split the floor.
Landing with a quiet thump, she looked up just in time to see the golden barrel that always sat in this place tumble into the abyss.
Thankfully, the clearing behind it was solid enough that the exit should appear.
Steadying her frantic heartbeat, Pomni inhaled and closed her eyes.
She opened them.
The exit door was there, though it glitched and spasmed with growing intensity with each passing second. Taking a steadying breath, she ran forward and pulled open the door.
The inside was remarkably solid. The colors were still the same dull grey of the circus, but the holes in the world were few and far between. She didn't know why- maybe it's disconnect from the main circus or its appearance being more based in reality.
It didn't matter- all that mattered was that she got a computer out of this place and back to Kinger. Any one of them should do as long as he can still manifest the C&A servers.
She grabbed the first computer that looked functional and turned back to the door. A new hole had ripped its way through the floor, but it had left a small pathway, just large enough for her to skirt by.
As soon as her feet met stable ground once more, she was running.
The others were where she left them all in different states of unease. They perked up at her reappearance, an obvious tension dropping from their shoulders.
"Kinger!-" She wheezed, "-Here!"
"Thank you, Pomni." He kneeled, setting up the computer with practiced ease. Pomni and the others quickly came to sit next to him, forming a sort of semi-circle. Only Jax remained on the outskirts, watching the distant crumbling of the circus with a critical eye.
"I'm not sure how long this will take." Kinger only gave them passing glances as he spoke. He was enamoured of his work, efficient in a way that only years of experience granted.
Minutes passed as they waited, all anxiously watching the decay around them grow steadily closer.
Kinger paused.
"It's… been a while since Caine's systems were backed up. I don't think he ever did it himself, honestly."
"Is that… good or bad?" Ragatha nervously questioned.
Kinger's eyes narrowed, making a noise that suggested he clicked his tongue.
"Well, we definitely won't be getting the 'crazy' Caine back. But if he didn't back himself up, we might be getting the Caine that was last saved by the company. Even I don't know when that would be."
"So you're saying we might be getting baby Caine?" Zooble sounded sarcastic- but there was some genuine confusion and concern in their voice.
"Caine was never a 'baby,' not in a human sense- but he was young, he was new. I only ever saw him then as code and the occasional image he generated. I can't even begin to predict what he would be like in the circus in that form."
"Would he be dangerous?"
"I doubt it. He was never aggressive- well… not to people." Pomni cocked an eyebrow at that; there were a few glances thrown around by the others as well. Jax was the one to finally address it.
"What's that mean?" Kinger scratched his head, then quickly resumed typing.
"Caine was a prototype, our first real attempt at making a creative AI. He… went smoothly for a while, but started to really test the limits of his coding. He was unique and almost alive. It was fascinating- but not what we were looking for. We needed an AI that followed its code, not looked for every attempt to defy it."
He sighed, squinted, then quickly resumed typing.
"So we moved on to the next. We stored Caine's files and started working on the newer AI using what we learned from him to make it better. One day, though, Caine let himself out of storage and assimilated with the newer AI-" At their confused blinks, he clarified.
"He essentially consumed it, learned everything we had taught it to make himself… I don't know- better? In the end, it only made him more glitchy."
Ragatha clapped her hands together.
"Well, that's terrifying!"
Kinger continued speaking, perhaps in an attempt to curb the growing discomfort.
"Caine was never malicious, not exactly. He thinks like a human, but he doesn't feel like one. He's just determined to… entertain- no matter how he has to go about it."
In a way, it worked. All were trying to piece together what they thought of Caine. Once assumed completely harmless, turned mad pseudo-god. But was he ever...? Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, save for Kinger, who was still working diligently. Then he sighed.
"Alright. I found his file."
"Great- er- how old is it?"
"It's from sometime in 1996. My memories are too blurry to recall what stage of development he was in at this time, though." He looked up at her, and Pomni bit her lip.
"Do you all still want me to… bring him back?"
For a while, it was quiet, everyone simply breathing, thinking. Then Ragatha nodded.
"Yeah- it's better than I don't know- being deleted here."
"I agree."
"Me too."
"I don't care either way."
Pomni nodded herself then. Kinger cracked his knuckles.
"Alright then." He clicked a few things and entered a pass-code, then-
"It's done."
They all stood in silence, heads and eyes turning to their surroundings- waiting. For a time, nothing happened. The decay continued, and it lasted long enough that they began to question if the reboot had failed.
Then it stopped.
The quiet crumbling and groaning ceased all at once. The noise had been a constant for several days now; its sudden absence startled them all.
In quick succession, the giant holes in the circus were filled. Not with their original pieces- rather with purple and black checkered sheets that were a rather patchwork job if Pomni was being honest. In stark comparison, the rest of the circus remained a drab grey.
What really mattered, though, was that the threat of falling out of existence was gone.
"So is Caine back?" Gangle whispered; they were all huddled together, spectating the circus's uneasy repairs.
"Should we…?" Pomni turned to look at Ragatha, who was watching a distant tower be propped back up into place. She cleared her throat-
"Caine?!?"
There was silence. Pomni added her own voice.
"CAINE? Are you there?!"
Again, there was no answer. Shortly, they were all calling out, but no one ever replied. Short of breath, they all gave up on their yelling. Caine would have responded by now if he was going to.
Zooble finally asked the question they had all been wondering.
"…So what now?"
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