Sure enough, a ghostly arrow also appeared in my field of vision, directing me to continue toward the exit. I followed it. What else could I do?
The arrow directed me to the gazebo-like structure in the middle of the courtyard. I found Stratos sitting on the top of the three steps leading up to its platform, gazing around at the few people milling about and looking very much like a child watching a colony of ants scurry around after poking a stick into their nest.
“Hello, Daniel,” they said when I got to the bottom of the steps, gesturing for me to take a seat beside them. “So?” they said after I got settled.
“So this is real,” I said, halfway between a question and a statement. “But how?”
“In my time on Earth studying humans I came across a line in one of your books that I think answers your question. Any sufficiently advanced technology—”
“—is indistinguishable from magic,” I recited.
“You know it?”
“Of course I do. I’ll wager every single person you brought here knows that quotation. It’s kind of famous.”
“Good. That will make things much simpler.”
“You’re an alien then.”
Stratos smirked. “How rude! I could say the same to you.”
“You know what I mean, you’re not from Earth.” Stratos shook their head. “Then how come you look like...oh, duh. That’s not your real body either.” They shook their head again, smiling.
“My natural body is relatively close to this, though. In all the most important ways, at least. The species who share a similar form tend to stick together. You’d call us humanoid.”
“How many alien species are there?”
“You needn’t worry about that, for now,” said Stratos.
“What do I need to worry about, then?”
Stratos smirked again. “I am so glad I met you, Daniel. I do love the way you think.”
“You aren’t answering my questions,” I said.
“See?” they said. “You possess a clarity most of your kind lack.”
It was my turn to smirk. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“Let me qualify: in certain areas you have a mental clarity that lets you see things most humans miss. In other ways, you seem to be just as obtuse as the rest of you, if not moreso.”
“I guess that’s fair,” I said.
“If I choose to evade certain questions, it is because you are either not ready for the answer, or else the answer would only cause you needless concern.”
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“So in other words it’s for my own good. How patronizing.”
“Excellent choice of words. There are also some questions I will not answer because it would ruin the fun.”
“Whose fun would it ruin, exactly? Yours or mine?”
A shrug was the only response I got.
“Let me guess,” I said, “telling me whose fun it would ruin would be ruining the fun, right?”
Another shrug.
“Are there any questions you will answer?”
“Ask and we shall see.”
“Okay then, let’s start with this: just how advanced is your technology?”
“A few months ago, none of this was here. It was a barren world. Billions of years ago the spark of life ignited here but for whatever reason that spark failed to catch and the embryonic life died out before it could evolve. It happens. But that only meant it was the perfect place to play the game. I got in on it quite cheap, which is good, because building all this was not inexpensive.”
I looked around. “All this in a few months, huh?” I said.
“What you can see here is just the tip of the icecube. You won’t fully appreciate what I am saying until you get to explore around.”
“I gotta ask, why do all this?”
“For the game, of course.”
“That’s not an answer,” I said.
“It is the best one you are going to get.”
“But I don’t even know what the game is.”
“Have you considered that perhaps that’s part of the game?
I took a few deep breaths to stave of the fury I could feel building inside me. I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere with the current line of questioning, and decided to change tack.
“This body,” I said, running my hand down my arm, “it really isn’t mine.”
“It is,” Stratos said. “It is just not the same body you were in yesterday. There was no point in physically moving that body here, we would still have had to re-engineer it to be suitable for the game. Such a hassle. No, it was much better to leave your old bodies there and cast your consciousnesses here inside new bodies better suited for the challenges ahead.”
“I don’t feel different,” I said.
Stratos nodded, smug. “You do not look, smell, sound, or taste any different either. On the outside it is the same, although we did repair certain defects. Free of charge.” They smiled. “But on the inside, this new body has the potential to be far superior in every practical way.”
“How so?”
“I shall try to dumb it down for you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I mean no insult, just stating facts. The technology involved may as well be magic as far as your understanding of the underlying science goes.”
“Am I an android?”
“No. Androids have robotic interiors and humanoid exteriors.“
“Cyborg?”
“Closer, but not quite.”
“Then what?”
“More like a clone. The body you now inhabit is fundamentally human, grown from your very own human DNA with the same chemical composition, the same organic functions.”
“But?” I prompted.
“But with one key addition — an enhancement, really — what you would call nanotechnology, although in this case it would be more accurate to call it nanobiotechnology. Your body is filled with miniscule bionic factories that can do wondrous things. In fact, this whole world is permeated with them. You will see.”
“How do they work?”
Stratos sighed. “You are persistent. System, that is how they work.”
I looked closely at Stratos. Their expression didn’t reveal much, but I had the distinct impression that they didn’t actually know how the nanotech worked either.
They stood abruptly, skipped lightly down the steps, and began striding into the courtyard. I took it as an unspoken invitation for me to follow.