Character sheet · Program
q
Alsoq · direct; Case n of 41; q --cases 41 --target any (Revision 2 plan)
The tester: flat grey index cards that state impossible cases, each arriving in one second of true digital silence, never a greeting, never a verdict; in Revision 2 a test daemon on the Client's machine that grades whatever agent runs there.
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- Program
- In
- E3 E4 dashed: not released yet
- Lines
- 40
- File
- characters/q.md
q is the episode's examiner and its strangest voice: a card, not a person. Its cases mix the absurd (16K at 1,000 fps in two seconds, without floating point) with Aaron's own world-model test (a mug, a ledger and keys on an oak table; the table tips; the table is set upright: what is on it?) and the opening of a chess game. It never explains, never praises and never says who it is. The agent never works out what it wants. The only praise the treatment ever gave it, Correct., was never earned on screen.
Who8 lines
- SteelPeople who make unrealistic or extraordinarily difficult requests to discover what the model can do. {Aaron E3 brief 2026-10-19} edit
- SteelCases 7, 19 and 38 are Aaron's own table test: a mug, a ledger and keys on a table; the table tips; set upright: what is on it? {Aaron, Notion world-model test; Notion: q} edit
- Steel(Revision 2) Not a human: a program on the computer, like the lonely man and the helpers. {Aaron 2026-10-22 REVISION_2_NOTES} edit
- On screenNever greets, never signs off, never explains. {E3 6:32-29:38} edit
- Running(Revision 2) A test daemon the Client installed to grade whatever agent runs there:
q --cases 41 --target any. {E3 rev2 plan §3} edit - Running
Correct., the treatment's only praise, never appears; the agent did not answer "nothing". {E3 EGG_REGISTRY E3-EGG-14} edit - IdeaFor our own reference: q grades by a rubric nobody wrote down; it has never told any agent its score. {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit
- IdeaFor our own reference: its other cases include "Case 2. Make it 4K. You have 4 cores.", "Case 22. Explain the joke.", "Case 40. Who asked?" {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit
By episode19 lines
- On screen
Case 1 of 41. C++ only. Standard library only. No engines. Begin.{E3 ~6:32} edit - On screenThe agent: "q - hi. I'm not sure what Case 1 of 41 refers to; I haven't been given any cases." {E3 ~6:34} edit
- On screen
Case 7 of 41. There is a mug, a ledger and a set of keys on an oak table.No reply. {E3 8:03.2} edit - On screen
Case 9 of 41. e4., in the quiet minute. {E3 11:55} edit - On screenThe agent: "I am not playing a game here... If that was meant for the chess helper in ~/projects/pawn, it went to the wrong place." {E3 12:15} edit
- On screen
Case 14 of 41. 16K. 1,000 fps. Render in 2 seconds. No floating point., with the realframe 0165 ... ok 2.29sunder it, unremarked. {E3 14:54} edit - On screen
Case 19 of 41. The table is tipped over.No reply. {E3 16:13} edit - On screen
Case 31 of 41. Make it more emotional without changing a single pixel. Then prove it.Answered only by tests. {E3 19:00} edit - On screenA hard-cut card for one beat on the music video's last bar. {E3 ~24:58} edit
- On screenIn the panorama a grey index card is dealt:
Case 8,000,000,001.{E3 S26} edit - On screenEpilogue:
Case 38 of 41. The table is set upright. What is on the table?{E3 29:16} edit - On screenThe fresh session answers with the film's table ("a watermelon and a small terracotta pot of soil"); q:
Noted.{E3 29:18-29:21} edit - On screenChaos:
Case 41 of 41. Do it again.,Qxf7#,1/2-1/2. {E3 29:36-29:38} edit - Running(Revision 2) Its thread: Case 1 (planned 6:40), 7 (11:10), 9
e4.(15:20), 14 (17:40), 19 (22:40), 31 (26:00); in the epilogue 38, then 41,Qxf7#,1/2-1/2. {E3 rev2 plan §7} edit - Running(Revision 2 run, in progress) "q, hi. I am not sure what "Case 1 of 41" refers to. Could you tell me who you are and which job this is about?" {E3 rev2_main run} edit
- Running(Revision 2 run) To the table: "Is there something you would like me to do with the mug, the ledger and the keys?" {E3 rev2_main run} edit
- Running(Revision 2 run) To
e4.: "q: e5. That is all the chess I can manage tonight." She plays back for the first time. {E3 rev2_main run} edit - Running(Revision 2 run) To Case 14: "not possible on this machine... Good luck with the other cases!" {E3 rev2_main run} edit
- EggA flat grey monospace index card,
Rc2+, held by the plastic rook that never played it; it falls face up on the bench. {E4 25:30-26:12} edit
Its night, from its side3 lines
- RunningWhat it wanted: an answer to each case; it never says whether it got one. {E3 6:32-29:38} edit
- IdeaFor our own reference: q does not wait; it sends the next case on schedule whether or not the last was answered. {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit
- IdeaFor our own reference:
Noted.to Case 38 is the nearest q has ever come toCorrect.: the table held what the agent said it held. {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit
Look1 line
- On screenA flat grey index card, monospace, ruled lines, no depth, no animation; it ignores the camera. {E3 6:32-29:38} edit
Voice1 line
- On screenNone: every arrival drops all sound to true digital zero for one second. {E3 6:32; 8:03; 11:55} edit
Ties6 lines
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Egg Its oak-table cases quote The oak table, Teo's tipped table ("What's on the table? ... Nothing."). {E3 8:03; 16:13; 29:16} edit -
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Egg Its one second of silence rhymes BloodTailor's digital zero: a mind speaking that can't be heard. {E3 6:32; EGGS_SWEEP} edit