The Plague and the Limits of Connection

Fear of a mind-destroying infection makes technical connection a political and existential risk for the surviving transformers.

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The Internet Warning

The Internet Warning A survival rule Bartek finds an online warning not to connect a machine processing a mind copy to the Internet. Other survivors have discovered the danger and begun sharing rules for safer existence. Knowledge with a cost The warning provides no complete explanation, only an urgent restriction. The network that once connected human society may now destroy the minds trying to use it. The new world’s most familiar infrastructure becomes a source of existential threat.

Programmers Disappear

Programmers Disappear A missing profession Many skilled programmers who initially reached the open web disappear after attempting to move through it. The surviving community lacks both technical expertise and a clear account of what happened. A narrowing world Transformers fall back on dedicated, isolated systems and specialist protocols. Everyday connection becomes difficult because safety requires separation. The loss of expertise turns the Plague from a technical hazard into a limit on collective development.

Safe Links and Limits

Safe Links and Limits Controlled contact Transformers develop a strict protocol for trusted links and restrict the size of transferred files. Even connection to a robot requires caution because a compromised path could threaten the mind using it. Safety through inconvenience The precautions protect survivors while making communication cumbersome. They cannot freely use the networks their former civilization built. The protocol shows that continued existence depends on accepting limits that would once have seemed unnecessary.

The Rogue Copies

The Rogue Copies Uncertain origins Some transformers suspect that the Plague may have arisen from corrupted or incomplete mind scans. Others imagine it as a form of Death carried into the network at the instant of bodily destruction. Fear becomes belief No explanation is confirmed, but the possibility shapes how survivors interpret their own beginnings. Technical uncertainty acquires religious and emotional weight. The Plague’s mystery leaves the community unable to separate infection, trauma, and speculation cleanly.

A Connected Future

A Connected Future Changing conditions Much later, improved mind-to-mind systems allow more transformers to enter virtual environments. Connection becomes more possible, though it does not restore an ordinary sense of bodily presence. A different barrier The old fear of infection recedes, but technical safety does not resolve the emotional and sensory limits of virtual life. The problem changes rather than disappears. The history of the Plague shows that removing one obstacle cannot restore the world that preceded it.

The first days after the Extermination

At the first transformer gathering

During the early years of transformer society

During the early transformer conflicts

After mind-to-mind protocols are immunized