Sorry guys, things are really getting heated up here... this chapter may not be as long as standard, but this is only an interlude. Expect great surprise on the next chapter! There's a reason why there's a cross-over tag there... hehehe! X3

Anyways, please write down your thoughts and suggestions on the story, especially on my writing style (are the paragraphs too long? More dialog? Etc...) and as always, please enjoy the chapter. :)

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~ Extract from The DREAM Magazine, published in 2716

The turning point in the entirety of human history was the miraculous discovery of a certain drug in 2169. However, the greatest impact came from its side effect rather than the intended effect of the drug itself.

On September 17, 2169, a group of unnamed scientists announced a breakthrough achievement in the medical field, of a drug named IM-256, nicknamed the miracle drug. The drug was recorded to had been clinically tested and proven to cure all illnesses by delimiting the immune system of the patient temporary and then further enhancing it, while keeping the patient’s health in check using nanobots.

At the start, the drug was seen as a scam by many people who did not believe such a miraculous drug exists. However, desperate patients and families turned to this miracle drug, as it was relatively inexpensive compared to other options. These patients, usually diagnosed with incurable diseases at the time such as terminal cancer, were successfully treated with the drug and fully recovered in a matter of weeks. Recorded to have a success rate of over 95%, it apparently works on any kind of disease or illnesses, even so without any visible side-effects on the patient after the treatment.

Many people and scientists tried to analyze the drug using various methods, and even with its recipe, they were all unable to completely decode it due to its complexity that some even claimed it was alien technology. The whereabouts and any information of the unnamed scientists at that point was unknown. With no patents, the recipe was quickly taken in by major medical drug producers and soon were pushed into mass-production in no time.

Hospitals and clinics over the world slowly started to adopt the usage of the drug, and just a year after in 2170, the drug was already being used worldwide as a cure-all solution to many problems, due to its effectiveness and inexpensive production price. This however, caused the decline of major hospitals and the medical field, as research on specific illnesses were rendered useless. When countries started to lower their budget for research in the medical field, it started a worldwide revolution by medical scientists and researchers, who felt that they were cast aside as if they had completely lost their use. The medical revolution started from 2171 and lasted until 2176, when the last hardcore revolutionaries were put down by government military, which the rest then slowly disbanded after time.

As much as it was a miracle, the drug was not perfect. The drug had a side effect of ‘immortalizing’ the offspring of whoever took the drug, giving them bodies that will not grow old and forever stay in their peak condition, due to a certain gene mutation. The new generation of ‘immortalized’ humans grew normally until they reached the peak of their growth, usually in their twenties, and from then on, maintained the same condition for an indefinite amount of time.

In the 23rd century, the ‘immortalized’ generation started to notice they were not growing old, and stayed in the same conditions where normal people would have already become old. The sudden realization of the situation hit the world, and for a short while, the entire world was in panic. Countries worldwide had no preparation for such a situation and it affected the world economy, and also had great political and social impacts as well.

Just a few months after the realization, a new organization was formed. Its founders a group of retired scientists, researchers, professors, and even military personnel, who were all from the ‘immortalized’ generation. The Organization for the Development of Research, Engineering, and Arts for Mankind (DREAM), seeked to first establish and maintain world order in the new age, then explore the capabilities of the new age.

It gained massive support from people all around the world by utilizing various methods to gain publicity effectively, such as using physical approaches while also spreading the word around through social media. It made sure it was being open and transparent, while maintaining a flexible internal structure which was also one of the reasons that led to its success. The organization grew exponentially in the first few months of its existence, and eventually became much more powerful than even the United Nations. However, they maintained the transparency throughout and above all else, strongly upheld the values that the organization was built on, which kept corruption to a minimum.

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There was miniscule resistance to the organization as they maintained good relations with countries worldwide, but were also not afraid to use force when necessary. They established a powerful private army, made up of thousands of veteran soldiers and specialized forces, which was able to put down any resistance quickly and effectively. It gave the organization strong defensive and offensive abilities and also as a good reason for countries and other organizations to support them, which allowed them to establish new international laws for the ‘immortalized’ generation.

With their power and resources, they helped solved problems in society that was previously impossible such as starvation and managing to convert or destroy most extremist organizations, allowing them to establish world order to an extent. In order to unite everyone together, they created a common goal for everyone to work towards - that is the continued development for mankind, whether it is scientific, religious, spiritual, or any other form. This was also in order to utilize the most of the ageless bodies that the new generations have. Although with the number of deaths globally due to old age dropped to less than a thousand, the global human population still declined, with the large majority of deaths being accidents and suicide cases, and birth rates being the lowest of all other living things.

While physical illnesses became practically non-existent, a new wave of illnesses plagued the new generation, psychological illnesses. Due to lack of research and material on immortalization, there was a lack of treatment options for people suffering from psychological illnesses, which was also significantly harder to cure than physical illnesses. DREAM took quick actions to provide quick short-term measures for the people suffering from such illnesses while also accelerating the research and development of the medical field for the new age. However, the short-term aids, such as providing free counselling, paid leaves and vacations, only helped solved minor cases, and the suicide rate worldwide soared to an estimated of 20 million deaths annually.

In the 27th century, the world population has been reduced to a quarter than what it was in 22nd. However, immortalization allowed researchers to continuously do their research, without the limitation of time and age. This led to multiple breakthroughs in many fields, and psychological illnesses are getting treated as it was for the physical illnesses in the old age.

One of the major technological innovation was the creation Fully-Enabled Artificial Intelligence (FEAI). Although AI was not new to the world, the AI that was created was not able to form its own thoughts without external assistance and furthermore, used 2-dimensional structures and systems that put a hard limit on its abilities, and thus, people were not able to create a fully autonomous and self-thinking machine. The FEAI technology utilized a 3-dimensional structure and system, designed from the understanding of the human brain, but enhanced with the capabilities of a machine itself.

The first FEAI machine, named Jerry, spoke its first words, and had its first natural conversation on 17 September 2696, and it was significant moment in human history. It was a public showcase of the capabilities of the FEAI technology, after centuries of research and combined efforts of people from many different fields of research. The first words were of the iconic “Hello World”, and after a short demonstration by the operator of its capabilities, the public was allowed to converse with it freely.

Developments in FEAI technology are still going on, and DREAM have announced plans to fully integrate the technology into its largest upcoming project of a fully modular laboratory, named the Somnium Lab, or Dream Lab. It includes an upgraded version of the FEAI technology, said to be the most advanced AI that will be created, will be designed and built into the lab, and is projected to be complete by the 31st century. On the last press conference, Alan Green, the co-founder of DREAM, said, “It will be such a unique being, custom-made from the ground up that it simply cannot be classified into any of the generation of FEAIs.”

Clear specifics of the AI’s capabilities have not yet been released, but all that have been officially stated is that it has a personality of its own (non-destructive), can control the lab like its own body and assist with multiple simulations simultaneously anywhere, anytime, but more significantly, it can also...

dream.

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