//------------------------------// // #15 Sigma // Story: The Rift // by Colors //------------------------------// I The little ‘o’ on her flank with the strange hook at its top glowed in a pale silver light, just like it always did. Most ponies had no idea what it represented, just as they had no idea about set theory, group theory, command theory, or pretty much anything else Sigma was working on. Right now, her eyes were half-closed, her brow furrowed in concentration as nothing visible whatsoever happened in front of her. Then there came a knock from the door. Sigma stood up. She walked over to the door and opened. “Hey! Do you remember me?” “Um,” Sigma replied after a second. “Yes.” “Err,” Gold Star made. “Cool. Okay, can I come in?” Once again, Sigma took a few seconds to consider the question before she replied. “Is what you’re actually asking whether I’m okay with you coming in?” Gold Star grinned. “Exactly!” When Sigma didn’t respond, her smile flickered a bit. “Err... I’d like to talk to you. It’s important.” “Um. I am okay with you coming in,” Sigma said. “Please try not to use coded language.” “Sure! I’ll try.” Sigma nodded, allowing her former neighbour to step into her apartment. “Okay,” Gold Star said, taking a breath. “Can you promise not to tell this to anyone?” “If you say ‘this,’ do you mean-” “What I’m going to tell you.” “And if you say ‘can,’ do you mean ‘will’?’“ “Yeah.” “Um. I don’t think I will.” “No?” “Um,” Sigma made. She didn’t know what to make of that question, if it had even been one. “Why not?” “Um, promising that would prohibit me from doing it, but, um, it might be that telling someone is clearly the right thing to do.” “It won’t be like that. I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s just something most ponies don’t react well to. They’re just... biased. But telling anypony wouldn’t be the right thing to do.” “Um,” Sigma said after a few moments, “I think it’s unlikely that my judgement will be significantly affected by a common bias.” “You’re right. Okay. Listen. One of my friends is a changeling. I found out today. But I don’t think she’s evil. Can you believe that?” II “Um,” Sigma made. “The ethical thing to do as a changeling, besides working on reforming the hive, is probably to live peacefully among ponies. So what you say seems plausible.” “You’re the best!” Gold Star beamed, but it only lasted a second. “She... she told me changelings don’t age, but... but that at one point just die without warning. She said... that you always have a sixty year life expectancy, but... but every day might be the one... the one where...” She gulped, leaving the sentence unfinished. “Did you know that?” Sigma nodded. “... wait, you did?” Sigma nodded. “How?” “Um. I don’t want to tell you that.” “Oh. Okay. But it is true?” “Very likely.” “That’s so terrible!” Gold Star bit her lip. “Don’t you think so, too?” “I do.” “... really?” “Yes,” Sigma said, “I think death is extremely bad and decreasing control and predictability is also bad. Both of those make the way changelings die really terrible.” Gold Star nodded. “C... can you do anything about it? I... I don’t want her... to... to... to die! I don’t want her to die! She could die tomorrow! And... and... she’s such a nice pony... changeling... so kind... and... and she always has to hide. Isn’t there anything we could do... you could do... to help her? I know how... uhm... I know that you can do... things.” “Um,” Sigma said. “Um. Um. I think I can probably help her with both problems, but I won’t.” Gold Star gasped. “What? Why?” “Um. Well. Um. I think there is, a, um, a rift in the gargantuan sphere that surrounds all celestial bodies in about a nine-hundred-and-fifty-billion mile radius around Equestria. If you, um, found out that your friend is a changeling in the last two days, there is an eighty-five percent chance that the rift caused it. It also does a lot of other things. Some of them are probably very good but on the whole it’s a really bad thing. Right now my utility function prioritizes closing it so far above all other things that any action which would decrease the probability of doing so, and helping your friend would do that because it would take effort, is something I won’t do.” III “...” Sigma shifted around uncomfortably, unsure whether what she had said had somehow been socially unfitting. “How long will you take to close the rift?” Gold Star asked cautiously. “Um, I think if the rift is still there then there is a fifty percent probability that, um, three quarters of the population is dead within a month, and, um, a ninety-seven percent probability that three quarters are dead within two months. And, um, I use this as an objective prediction, but more generally you could say that the universe will drown in chaos. So, um, conditionally on the world not effectively ending, the rift will be closed in two months at most, but probably a lot sooner.” “Wait,” Gold Star said. “Wait. Is this really happening? Did you not forget some giant, err, some, I don’t know, some thing that really changes what you said? Like, a reason why the world would not end anyway?” “No,” Sigma said, “I’m very confident that what I said is directionally accurate.” “C...c...” Gold Star swallowed. “That’s... that’s... that’s... very... that’s... that’s a lot to take... I... I didn’t expect you to tell me about the apocalypse. Uh, SIgma, you... you didn’t think this would happen before, did you? Ever?” “No.” “Can I help? Can I do anything? Does Celestia know? Why isn’t anyone doing anything?” “Um. You can help. You can do something. I think Celestia doesn’t know but might know eventually. I think no-one except me is doing anything because no-one knows. That is if you don’t count the probably billions of ponies living on other planes or planets. Some of them might know too, but if I am correct about what I think, then they can’t do anything.” “Why aren’t you telling Celestia?” “Um,” Sigma said. “I think that would decrease the odds of closing the rift.” “Why?” “I don’t want to tell you that.” “What... what can I do?” “Um. I still have to spend time buying food and sometimes stop working. Buying food for me and doing a few small things would increase the amount of time I have to prepare. That would increase the odds of the rift getting closed.” For a few seconds, Gold Star stared at her like she had said something particularly unusual. “If I do all that;” she said eventually, “will you help my friend afterwards, if the world doesn’t get destroyed?” “Yes,” Sigma said immediately, “I swear I will try to help her, if the rift is closed and you helped me do it.”