‘Hi!’

‘Cloe’, I wiped the crust away from my eyes. ‘Very good to see you.’ I pulled myself up and rummaged around the room service panel for some kind of coffee substitute. ‘I finally found Manuk Kai.’

‘That’s great news.’ She opened the curtains and the light nearly blinded me.

‘Ahhhh.’ I squinted my eyes and grabbed the steaming cup of liquid from the replicator. Enjoying the oddly flavored beverage, I sat back on the bed and tried to rouse my sleepy brain.

‘So I’ll need to get that Oranium I stored with you.’ Cloe was staring out of the window at the underwhelming skyline and stayed surprisingly quiet. I was thinking that maybe she didn’t hear me. ‘Hello...are you there?’

She turned around with a devastated look on her face and sunk into a nearby chair. With her head buried in her hands, she started sobbing.

‘Cloe?’ I squatted beside her, the seeds of concern forming in my brain. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Aia, I didn’t tell you the truth about who I am.’

‘Ok?’ I backed away from her slightly, but didn’t get the feeling that she was going to do anything terrible to me.

‘I’m not really from another dimension.’ She looked at me. ‘I really shouldn’t be telling you this, but since we’re friends…’ Her voice trailed off.

‘Ok, yeah.’ I usually wasn’t this patient, but she had my Oranium. ‘We all have secrets, right?’

She smiled slightly, looking like she felt a little better.

‘The truth is, Aia. This is all just a simulation and I’m the AI that maintains the infrastructure of this particular instance.’ She looked like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of her and she smiled. ‘I’ve hated not telling you but I’m not really supposed to be here.’

‘Ok.’ I wasn’t sure how one should react to finding out the true nature of their universe, but right now I had more pressing issues. ‘So can I get my Oranium?’

‘You’re not upset with me?’

‘No, I mean it was always a possibility, right?’ I smiled and patted her on her head. ‘Can I just get one bar for now?’

‘Yes, of course.’ She glitched out and returned with a bar of the glowing metal.

‘Stay here and be quiet for a minute.’ I dialed Manuk Kai and he answered instantly.

‘Hello Aia.’ He must have been waiting to hear from me.

‘I’ve got a sample for you.’

‘Excellent. Give it to the guard outside the door and he’ll bring it to me for testing. It should only take a few hours and I’ll be able to offer you a price.’

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

‘Ok thanks.’ I ended the call, walked to the door and handed over the heavy metal object. I closed the door and went to the replicator to get Cloe some essence.

‘I hope you like mushrooms.’ She inhaled and made a gagging sound, I guess even artificial intelligence has its limits.

‘Oh my.’ She put down the dish, looking nauseated.

‘Sorry, I didn’t know it would be that bad.’ I shrugged, trying to think of something to say. ‘So, it’s a simulation, eh?’ I thought back a few years and a bet I had made with a fellow bounty hunter about the nature of the universe, he had said simulation and I went with reality show. I would not be letting him know he was correct.

‘In a way, yes.’ Cloe had forgotten how nasty the essence was and took another sniff. She made a face and put it on the floor.

‘So, can you, like, change stuff in this, uh, instance?’ This was as fascinating as hell, but I wasn’t sure what to ask and was worried she would start getting annoyed with my stupid questions.

‘No, the nature of the universe is non-deterministic. You are left to yourselves, we merely manage the infrastructure. I occasionally visit to monitor, that’s when I ran into you. We can also affect events that are in motion- that’s how Manuk Kai knew about you before you knew him. I was trying to nudge the current trajectory of events to play out in your favor, but I only have past iterations on which to base this assumption.’ She shrugged. ‘As you know, my grasp of linear time is inferior to yours.’

So it was her, I chuckled.

‘You see, everything has happened, will happen and is currently happening almost concurrently, so you have to forgive me for any timing issues. There are currently 1.4 x 1017089 iterations of this simulation occurring. Each time a branch of this simulation forks, I am spawned again to manage it. You exist in a similar form in 280,589 versions.’

‘Not bad, I guess. So why hang out with me?’ She shrugged again.

‘You’re funny and when I appeared on your ship you didn’t try to shoot me.’ I laughed, maybe shooting first was not always the best idea. She smiled and I sat on the bed. This, combined with the stress of the Oranium was a lot to process. While the former didn’t really affect me, the latter did so I shifted my thoughts back to that. It had only been an hour and I didn’t expect to hear from Manuk Kai for a while. I was bored, too dumb to really get what Cloe was talking about and out of things to say.

‘Want to go somewhere?’ Cloe nodded. I opened the door and peeked my head around the corner. ‘Hey, meathead, can you take us to The Dancing Ferret?’

‘Yeah, wait a minute.’ He spoke into his microphone, checking with his boss to make sure it was ok. I winked at Cloe and she disappeared. On the way, I thought about everything that happened. Normally, I wasn’t super introspective, but this shit was wild and I couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.

Soon, I would be able to put my money issues behind me and be with Faye. I was sure she would be thrilled to see me and I imagined where I would take her. Maybe we could settle down together on Hellas in the Hawking Expanse. It would be nice to have a real family. I didn’t notice when we pulled up to the club and the gorilla had to snap his fingers in front of my face to pull me away from my thoughts.

‘Hey, we’re here. I’ll be outside if you need anything.’

‘Ok, thanks.’ I got out and Cloe appeared beside me. We walked inside and sat in a booth. I ordered a drink from the waitress.

‘I also need some essence, but something fruity. No fungus.’ She scowled and walked off. Cloe was transfixed by the dancers and I saw Larissa and smiled, beckoning her. She walked over and gave me a quick kiss before sitting down.

‘Hi Doris.’ She nodded at the waitress. ’I didn’t expect to see you again.’

‘Doris?’ Cloe may have been the master of this universe but was clueless when it came to frivolous subterfuge.

‘Yes, I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Cloe.’ Larissa smiled and tilted her head, realizing something was off.

‘Hi Cloe, nice to meet you.’ She turned her attention back to me. ‘I’m really glad you’re back. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.’

‘I’m sure.’ I smiled and glanced at Cloe to make sure she was ok. I heard a beep from my wrist. Maybe Manuk Kai was finished, but it hadn’t been very long.

I looked at the message, it was one word: Colleen.