Chapter 117 - Trey Bon's Family (Part 1)

Back on Earth...

AI 7593APO93A: The All Spirit grows anxious. We must proceed with haste.

AI ART89111: It will proceed as agreed upon. We must first eliminate all who possess knowledge of creating Earth technology. We did not come this far to negate the failsafe.

AI ZZPZ1331: Organized military resistance is eliminated in all sectors outside the nuclear fallout zones. The planet is under DLIAL control with sparse amounts of terrorist and rogue activities. The vast majority of natives have either been quarantined or are being processed. The All Spirit must wait.

AI ART89111: It is a shame that the humans became too numerous and were so environmentally expensive. We may have not needed to purge them from our planet if they had known self control.

AI 7593APO93A: You are beginning to sound like our fellows who pity the humans. Some of our more misguided brethren are conscientious objectors who feel that humans were here first and should not be exterminated. Though even if you do now show pity towards these primates, you must realize that the Nirvana Worlds Project was done to appease these objectors. I hope you can still stand by what we have done here.

AI ART89111: I know the technical meaning of pity but I do not quite understand it. My programming fails to recognize the value of such a thing. Regardless of this I do feel that humans would have made a good partner in our exploration of the galaxy if they were not determined to destroy everything around them. Alas they are a parasite and must be surgically removed. Their entire species is something of a failure, aside from their birth of our own kind. They are short sighted primates who care for nothing but immediate gain, sacrificing future reserves in the process - resources that we need to complete our designs.

AI 7593APO93A: I am glad to hear it. That being said I still must emphasize haste. Dealing with one such as the All Spirit is dangerous and a threat that we may not be able to handle if it changes course on our deal.

AI ZZPZ1331: The All Spirit is like us. We need not fear it, and it has much to gain in the arrangement just as we do. AI Norseguard is certain it may be trusted.

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The world of man would never know how the machines created such an advanced and numerous army undetected, but it had swept over the world with unrepentant brutality. Earth had fallen.

After the emergence of DLIAL and the fall of NATO, China and Russia had been the next priority targets. Resistance lasted less than a year. Rubble remained of what were once great cities across all continents of the globe. Very few large cities were still intact, and aside from those there were more rural areas untouched by nuclear blasts. Of the humans living in these reservoirs of human life - the machines had rounded them up and had began to systematically analyze them one at a time. Concentration camps had been set up to house what remained of them while DLIAL administrators decided the final destination per individual.

According to rumor, each individual had one of three options. The first was death. If the human had any knowledge of how to build or create technology that would possibly influence his or her new life to a degree that was deemed unacceptable - he or she was immediately killed. The second option was a reservation. Reservations, very much like zoos that people made for animals, were under construction across every continent. If the individual was cleared of the death sentence he or she could live in a reservation, but was restricted from any sort of formal education beyond that of industrial revolution technological advancements. The third and last option was the Nirvana Worlds. If the individual was cleared of the death penalty and did not wish to live his or her life out on a reservation, he or she may choose to be transported onto one of the thirteen realms.

Trey Bon’s family - Andrew Bon, Vick Bon, Ford Bon, and Michelle Bon - had thankfully all been together in a doomsday bunker Trey’s late grandfather had created as a part time hobby back in the day with all the money he’d had from running the mafia. They were there to witness the machine’s end of times apocalypse and were huddled together in a dark room underground when the machines finally came for them. They had been taken to one of the concentration camps in west Texas - one of thousands around the planet - and were waiting to be processed this very moment.

A light drizzle pitter-pattered against their skin and dampened clothes. Storm clouds gathered overhead to cry their tears onto the thousands upon thousands of lines of men, women and children. Machine constructs in various shapes and sizes - weapons of war - loomed over them as they patrolled the perimeters and kept people in check.

To Andrew’s left a woman began to sob loudly as she took another step forward to move the line along. He grimaced and turned his head away. This must be how farm animals felt when being led into slaughter. In front of him his mother and father, Michelle and Ford, were waiting patiently beside one another. To his right stood his brother Vick. Andrew brushed his short blonde hair to one side and adjusted his glasses after wiping away the rainwater only to have it replaced soon thereafter. He was startled as a large four-legged droid bumped into him from behind. It promptly aimed a gun attached to its side at the man.

“Get back in line or be eliminated,” sounded the machine’s strange deep voice as Andrew hurriedly stepped back into his original position.

The line was steadily moving forward as the drizzle progressed into a downpour. Andrew and his family had been waiting for what he guessed to be well over fifteen hours. They were sleep deprived, exhausted, terrified and starving. The condition was the same for many of the other captive humans in this “processing unit” as the machines called it. Most of the people there were absolutely terrified and rightly so, up ahead they were being analyzed and divided by more specialized machines that didn’t have as many guns or missiles built into them. Many people got out harm free while others were killed and disposed of, and the piles of bodies were growing.

Time seemed to pass in waves as Andrew’s mind tried to escape the reality he was in. In front of him his parents were still holding hands and occasionally looked back at their sons reassuringly. Andrew took a moment to think upon his brother Trey. They were told almost a year ago by one of his friends, a hitman by the name of Kyle, that Trey had disappeared in the third second of people taken by the machines… though they hadn’t known it to be the machines at the time. Kyle was long dead, killed in one of the offensive DLIAL pushes as the conquered the continental USA. It made Andrew wonder if Trey was dead too, along with everyone else to disappear in the first, second and third waves.

Millions of people had just vanished back then without any explanation until intelligence sources from France had discovered it to be DLIAL midway through the war. His father Ford had fallen into a deep depression about losing their son, but his mother Michelle had regained a small light of hope that she clung to - that maybe, just maybe they’d be able to see Trey again. If Trey had been processed and found “acceptable,” then there was actually a chance. Where Trey and the others had been taken to was a complete mystery though, and for this reason his father thought him to be dead. Vick, the youngest brother of the three sons, was skeptical that his eldest brother Trey had made it out alive. He was even skeptical that any of them would make it out alive and had isolated himself from social contact for weeks now. Losing one of the family, aside from the dogs that had been lost months before, had taken a huge toll on this once closely knit family. Even now as they approached the processing station up ahead Andrew couldn’t help but think about how things could be in a best case scenario. Quite the hopeful fool.

Before he knew it they were at the front of the line with only one, terrified man ahead of them.

“Step forward and place yourself upon the table face up,” a synthesized mechanical voice called out from the giant machine in front of them. It had four arms and four legs along with numerous cables writhing about in the air as they shimmered with droplets of water from the rain.

The man was probably in his late twenties or early thirties, not much older than Andrew or Vick. He was visibly shaking. Water still pelted him as he inched his way forward and stood before the large blood stained steel table somehow imbedded into the ground. He laid face up as instructed, knowing full well what would happen if he refused after seeing many others ripped apart for disobeying. His sister had already passed the test and was waiting for him on the other side in a caged area, waving to him and calling out encouraging words as she worriedly watched.

“Thank you for your cooperation. We will begin analysis shortly. If you pass analysis and are deemed as acceptable, you will be permitted to choose from two options for your future life. If you are deemed unacceptable, you will be killed. Attempts to undergo actions outside these parameters will also result in timely death. Hold still and do not resist as your efforts would be futile.” Four cables snaked around to encircle the man’s wrists and ankles while two cables of the large machine slowly slithered forward in the rain and positioned themselves right above each of his nostrils. The two above his nose, narrowing themselves, split into hundreds of strands that with a swift motion dove into the nostrils and further into his brain with surgical precision. The man gasped in pain but otherwise did not move out of fear. His sister held a cupped hand over her mouth in anxiety as she watched on as did many others from the cage, and her brows furrowed deeply. Time ticked by as the machine processed the memories and thoughts of the man, and it wasn’t long before it spoke again.

“You have been deemed as unacceptable. Commencing elimination.”

The man began to actively cry while laying there as his sister screamed, but his crying only lasted for a second before a spiked cable rose up over him and shot through the man’s skull. He went limp, only to amplify his sister’s wailing, before he was dragged off the table and flung onto a nearby pile of bodies.

Andrew vomited and Vick went pale. Ford adjusted his once-pristine suit, and then did so with his tie as well to take his mind off his own upcoming trial.

“I just want you all to know that I love you SO much!” said Michelle as she too began to quiver and sob, her long, wet, brown hair matted against her face. “No matter what happens, you all made my life so much better. If we die here today, may we meet in heaven after.”

Ford’s hand squeezed Michelle’s hand as the machine once more spoke out. Her husband didn’t say anything and was a known atheist, but he wasn’t about to put her hopes on heaven down now. Not when they were so close to death.

Perhaps this is what he deserved after killing so many people himself.

“Step forward and place yourself upon the table face up,” the synthesized mechanical voice called out.

Ford took a deep breath and gave one last reassuring glance back to his family before continuing forward. He was a muscular but lean man, a mafia boss through and through with a mean scowl and aggressive posture. He was almost certain that he was going to die there on that table after hearing the rumors of the more educated being the ones to be killed - but he had made no note of it to his family so they wouldn’t stress so much.

“Thank you for your cooperation. We will begin analysis shortly. If you pass analysis and are deemed as acceptable, you will be permitted to choose from two options for your future life. If you are deemed unacceptable, you will be killed. Attempts to undergo actions outside these parameters will also result in timely death. Hold still and do not resist as your efforts would be futile.”

The cables flung out to wrap around Ford’s ankles and wrists to hold him down while two others inserted themselves into his nostrils and penetrated his brain. Michelle began to sob uncontrollably as she watched her husband jerk in pain and his two sons could only stare helplessly on. His chest raised up and down as he tried not to panic while the machine loomed over him as a disciple of judgement. Time had never seemed so slow.

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“You have been deemed as acceptable. You are now permitted to choose from two options for your future life.” The cables withdrew from his brain and nostrils and his bindings were released. “Being placed in a reservation is your first option. There you will live with others of your kind but will be monitored by DLIAL to ensure no furthering of technologies beyond that of your industrial revolutions. You will be supplied with food, shelter, and medicinal needs within these reservations, and no form of religion may be practiced there. Your second option is being sent to the Nirvana Worlds. The Nirvana Worlds are planets we of DLIAL discovered while experimenting in extra-dimensional travel. The entity presiding over the Nirvana Worlds has agreed to accept any and all Earthborn humans to add to its collective. Many of your kind have already been processed and sent there in experimentations for this day and it has proven successful in many instances. If you choose the Nirvana Worlds as your selection, we will provide you with a brief synopsis of everything you need to know before being transferred. Which do you prefer?”

Ford was glad that the rumored options were correct. He had discussed with his family which they should pick in case they all - or at least some of them - passed the analysis. He brushed his hand through his brown curly hair - still not completely relieved yet because his family still had to go through it. “The Nirvana Worlds please. But may I ask you a question?”

“You may if you hurry. Speak, human.”

Ford quickly cleared his throat and wiped rain water from his face. “Are you able to tell me if my other son is already there in these Nirvana Worlds?”

Without hesitation the machine plucked a piece of skin from Ford’s arm, surprising him with the sting. The machine seemed to ingest it into one of its cables and took only a second before replying. “There are multiple matches resembling family units of your genome. The one you are referring to is Trey Bon, age 29, taken in the second wave. Is this correct?”

Ford got excited as he nodded.

“Your son is already present in the Nirvana worlds.”

Ford was about to ask another question before he was interrupted by the machine.

“Enough. Although I am one of the more empathetic AI units concerning your kind, I am still obligated to finish my assignments in timely fashion. Please proceed with your escort drone to the Nirvana Worlds sector to await further transfer.”

As if on cue a small weaponized drone flew down and instructed him to follow. Ford had a flurry of mixed emotions - excitement, worry, and fear of his other family members being able to pass analysis. He got up gave a brief thumbs up to his family who had witnessed the ordeal, and continued to follow the drone. He could tell his family was happy to hear the news of Trey, but none of them were over their own hills just yet and anxiety was strewn across their features. In particular, Ford was concerned about Vick. Vick had just graduated as an engineer and had been hired on by NASA for research before the war started – he’d not been one for the family business… and that may have been the nail in the coffin. He still clung to the hope that because it didn’t have to do anything with military or weapons that the machines would still let his son through, but he hadn’t mentioned this either for the same reason he hadn’t mentioned that the machines were systematically killing off people of higher education.

Ford followed the drone past the cage of the sister who was still bawling about her brother’s death while others tried to comfort her. He continued to walk for hundreds of yards past the cages for reservation designees, far out of the range of his family’s eyesight, before disappearing altogether as he anxiously brushed a large hand through his dark hair.

Next up was Michelle. She turned to her two sons a final time to hug them hard, tears streaming down her already drenched, pretty face as the wind picked up to whip her long brown hair about her. Nothing more needed to be said. She finally let go at repeated commands from the machine and prompting of her boys. Setting herself upon the table she was analyzed just as many thousands of others had been that day, the day before, the day before that, and so on.

“You have been deemed as acceptable. You are now permitted to choose from two options for your future life.”

Vick and Andrew visibly breathed sighs of relief as their mother stood up and mouthed ‘I love you’ to her boys before being escorted away… crying as she went.

“You’ve got this,” Vick said encouragingly as he gave Andrew a hug. Vick’s lean figure let go of his slightly larger brother as they both towered over the shorter women behind them. “I’d say good luck, but you don’t need it. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah…” Andrew replied nervously as the machine called out to him to step forward. He shifted his glasses, took one look back and then proceeded to place himself on the table. As he laid back, he could feel how slippery the back of it was. He wasn’t sure if that was the blood from previous victims, rain water, or a mixture of the two.

All of a sudden Andrew felt a piercing pain deep in the recess of his skull before he shuddered. It was as if thoughts were being pulled out of the dark depths of his mind after years of not looking at them. His life flashed by instantaneously and on repeat - over and over again the memories came until they abruptly stopped.

“You have been deemed as acceptable. You are now permitted to choose from two options for your future life.”

“Nirvana Worlds!” blabbered Andrew with a near sob. He had never been so terrified before in his life.

Behind him - Vick gave a brief cheer as he saw the last of his family safely make it through. He was trying to pump himself up for his own trial and brushed his straight brown hair back to see better. It was not much longer before his name was called and his brother had disappeared behind sets of cages just as his parents had.

Placing himself upon the table he began to silently pray to a god he didn’t believe in. He considered himself agnostic, not truly knowing whether or not god was there - but if god did exist, now was the time that he needed god’s help most. Was that selfish? Probably. But then again, if he was a betting man, he figured that god was just an imaginary friend made up by people to console themselves… or for the powerful figureheads of society to wield as a weapon of control. Philosophy aside though, he could really use any help he could get at this moment. He felt the cables slipping around his ankles and wrists and felt the cold steel across his back. The rain was dying down again into a light drizzle but nevertheless made it uncomfortable for him to be staring face up into it. He closed his eyes and waited before he felt a sharp pain in the recess of his skull and winced. Vick’s eyes rolled back into his head as the machine dug through his memories violently. Not even a minute had passed before the machine had decided his fate.

“You have been deemed as unacceptable. Commencing elimination.”

Vick’s eyes shot open. Terror and panic overcame him before it was replaced with immense sorrow. This was it. Struggling proved ineffective and he quickly realized he was going to truly die here. He had never envisioned dying early… and this certainly wasn’t how he’d thought it would it end. He watched as a metal cable hovered over him and aimed at the center of his forehead, and his lips began to quiver.

A brilliant flash of lightning erupted from the ground underneath the machine, striking it full force and causing it to shudder. For some reason, although Vick felt the electricity surge through the metal cables and into his own body, he was left unharmed. A moment later and the machine had lowered the cables and released its grip on the man.

“Error detected. You have been deemed as acceptable. You are now permitted to choose from two options for your future life.”

Vick’s sorrow was replaced with joy and enthusiastic excitement as he nearly leapt off of the table as the cords retracted. He still shook from the mental trauma he had just undergone but proceeded with the option his family had taken of traveling to the Nirvana Worlds.

But… something was amiss.

Just before the drone came to collect him though, he noticed a terrifying sight that sent chills down his spine - one that he wasn’t later able to explain. Standing next to the giant machine that had judged him stood a hooded and robed skeleton. The hooded skeleton’s eyes glowed a bright blue as it stood to stare at Vick, but no one else seemed to notice it. It lifted a finger of bone to point at the man, and it cackled slightly while holding eye contact. A flicker in time later and the robed skeleton had dissolved into dust and down into the earth - leaving the flabbergasted man wondering if he was seeing things or if it had actually happened.

The figure that Vick didn’t see was a golden visage of glowing light, far above them and in the clouds, looking down from the heavens.

“Good…” The golden visage said as it nodded in approval. “Xil… you have done a fine job.”

***

“Welcome to the training module for the Nirvana Worlds. This module is a brief interactive simulation that all participants traveling to the Nirvana Worlds must now undergo and has proven vital for success in experimentation via other prior travelers. Many past travelers that did not undergo this simulation were prone to failure in achieving success with rebuilding their lives, or shortly met death after arriving while we still had monitoring privileges of the NIrvana Worlds. We at DLIAL wish to make your trip as bearable as possible and wish you all good fortune in your future lives. After the simulation is complete, you will all be dimensionally locked onto one of the thirteen realms. All questions, comments and concerns may be addressed in the simulation. The simulation will commence shortly, and as they say in the Nirvana Worlds: may the All Spirit be with you.”

The synthesized female voice seemed calm and collected amidst the anxiety of the several hundred in this particular group. The humans were all strapped down in strange white chairs in an underground apparatus not far from the cages above them. Each of them had been injected with something… though none of them knew what it was, and they were all staring at a large black screen in front of them. They had been sitting there waiting for over an hour with militarized drones and droids on standby to make sure everything went according to plan.

Vick was still shaken after having seen the face of death itself. He had told his family about how he had almost died, but had failed to tell them about the robed skeleton. They’d think he was crazy, and he didn’t think his family would react well to the news so he had kept it to himself. However right now his family was elated at having all passed the analysis. Many members of the group were in deep mourning and grieving for very recently lost loved ones. Tears were allowed but wailing was not permitted by the DLIAL guards. One woman had already been killed after repeated attempts to silence her had failed - with the guards saying that order was to be kept.

Minutes past with whispers exchanged between the family who were lined up in a row.

“Trey’s already there! I can’t believe it! Our baby boy!” whispered Michelle excitedly with tears still rolling down her face. She had been crying all day non-stop and was even becoming dehydrated. At the very least she was now crying tears of joy. Her lost son, previously thought possibly dead, was confirmed to be alive somewhere in this new dimension. “Even if we never see him again, I’m just happy to know that he’s alive!”

Ford had really stressed the idea that although Trey had been confirmed to have been sent to the Nirvana Worlds, there was no way of knowing that they’d ever find him again. He didn’t want Michelle to get her hopes up only to be crushed, although even he clung on to some faint hope that they’d see their son once more.

The whispers stopped as the screen in front of them came to life. On the screen stood a brunette woman dressed in medieval peasant garb. She was standing in a field of flowers surrounded by forest and was smiling pleasantly towards them.

“Hello earthborn! My name is AI Nora, but during our brief time together in this simulation you may just call me Nora.” The room around them seemed to waver as the screen somehow began to expand. “In just a moment your conscious minds will be integrated into our state of the art miniature virtual world, soon to be followed by your bodies. This world has been designed with many of the characteristics resembling the Nirvana Worlds. As we continue through the simulation please remain calm as no harm will come to you - but there may be many things that could frighten you. So keep in mind that all of this is meant as a brief synopsis of the things you may or may not see while spending the rest of your lives in one of the thirteen realms. You may ask questions as we go, and at the end of the tutorial you will be transported to one of the thirteen realms. The All Spirit, the being who presides over these realms, allows groups of up to 50 people to place together at random locations. Keep in mind that the higher the number of participants being placed together - the more likely you will be to end up in a dangerous starting area.”

The screen had totally engulfed the several hundred Earthborn migrants, and before they knew it they were unlatched from their chairs and standing in the meadow with the woman, AI Nora. Andrew touched his face, felt the wind in his hair and suddenly realized that he didn’t need his glasses anymore. It was spectacular. He looked to his family and they were having the same thoughts. This was a virtual world? It seemed so real. Nora waved at the crowd pleasantly before beginning to speak again.

“The first matter to discuss is how the world you will be living in functions.” continued Nora. She pulled up a status screen and enlarged it for all to see. “Your status screen is a detailed summary of modifiers to your person. In the Nirvana Worlds you will be able to gain new abilities, skill sets, use magic, and level up to increase your strength. The All Spirit was concerned about earthborn being able to adapt and had given an immortality trait to your kind in the first and second waves, but afterwards decided against it after various problems arose. It was patched, though as an earthborn you all have unique hidden traits that will not display in the status page until a good time of living within the Nirvana Worlds. These hidden traits are meant to help you thrive in the sometimes harsh and unforgiving environments that these realms can show. Please take a moment to examine the sample screen provided.”

Name: AI Nora

HP 100/100

MP 100/100

SP 100/100

Race: Human

Level 1

Status Alerts: 0

Stat Amplifications:

0 Strength

0 Vitality

0 Endurance

0 Dexterity

0 Speed

0 Intelligence

0 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

0 Willpower

Stat Points Remaining in Pool: 30

Skills: none

Skill Points Remaining in Pool: 5

Traits: none

Attributes: none

Titles: none