“Seriously, after every goddamn fight,” he muttered, exhausted after writing the final prompt. His past self had barely managed to defeat the creature in the purple ring. Truth be told, he had only won back then by pure luck. If not for his sensory system going into fight-or-flight mode, instinctively allowing him to precisely monitor and evade the sword strikes, he would have ended up as a neatly arranged set of dismembered body parts.
He stepped back as he watched his masterpiece stay in place in the EM space:
> Stage 1 - 0.576%
After doing this seven times over the course of several hours, while he may not be the Da Vinci of the EM space, he wasn’t that bad.
He admired his work for a moment, then sighed. “At least it’s done,” he said to himself. The EM space around him shimmered, acknowledging the completion of the task. He watched as his past self, slowly, from a dizzy state, completely passed out. And after that, finally, the EM space shattered.
“Fourth trial: Take 2, THE END. Director and producer: unknown. Editor, set designer, lead actor, and everything else: yours truly,” he grinned. “Wait, should I roll the credits in EM space? Nah, too much work. Not quite there yet.”
It didn’t take long for the scenery around him to change once again. The physical room had stayed the same, but in the EM space, it had shrunk considerably. He was back to the fifth trial, where the tutorials for his new sensory system had begun.
He gazed at his past self. Luckily, he saw him already moving to a button, with a confident look in his eyes. That meant he did not have to wait long. And he was proven correct as his past self pressed a button. The issue was, the sphere on the other side of the wall was not in the correct place.
“Here we go again,” he sighed as he moved closer to it.
He then gave it a push, but it did not react. An attraction force? He used his sword as a waveguide, increasing the magnetic force acting on the sphere. He also used resonance and constructive interference to enhance the effect.
The sphere moved, but very slowly. Then it started oscillating in space. The attraction force is long-range?
“Fuck,” he cursed.
Not discouraged and already used to it, he simply walked forward, keeping the magnetic force contact and then pushing the sphere by sticking the point of the sword close to it, acting exactly like opposite magnets.
He continued until the sphere was in the right place. As if a switch had been flipped, the sphere stabilized in that position. But… the scene was still frozen.
He gazed at the wall. “Well, of course, that’s what I’m here for, the manual labor… wait, manual or mental?” he suddenly laughed as the random idea came to his mind. “I mean, I’m moving a wall, so that’s manual labor by all accounts, right? But I’m doing it with my mind, so it should be... mental labor?”
His laughter echoed in the empty room, a strange mix of amusement and frustration. “Mental labor, manual labor… what’s the difference at this point?” he muttered to himself, the absurdity of his situation becoming increasingly clear.
“And what about the hourly fee? It should change, right? I mean, mental labor’s got to be worth more,” he chuckled, the sound verging on hysteria.
“Alright, wall,” he said, addressing the unresponsive surface, “let’s see what else you’ve got for me.” He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. The room remained silent, the EM space unchanging.
***
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This was the third time already. Each time he pushed the wall back and moved the sphere to its correct place. He noticed the distance from the sphere to its accurate position was getting bigger, and so was the attraction force, but nothing he couldn't handle. He was just getting annoyed doing it over and over, all while his stomach was empty and his mouth dry.
“Okay, sphere, time for your guided tour to your new home,” he muttered, nudging the sphere along. “You know, this is starting to feel like babysitting.”
The sphere resisted, oscillating in space. He gritted his teeth, pushing it with the point of his sword, using every bit of his EM manipulation skills. “Come on, you stubborn piece of junk. Move! I’m not getting paid enough for this.”
As he pushed the sphere into place, he couldn’t help but grumble, “Mental labor or manual labor? Who cares? Both suck when you’re starving and thirsty.” He laughed, but the sound was tinged with frustration.
Finally, the sphere clicked into its position, and the EM space shimmered slightly. But the scene remained frozen. He sighed, wiping sweat from his brow. “Figures. Can’t even get a thank you.”
He turned to face the wall again. “Here we go again.”
***
“So I’m supposed to assemble these three plates into a floating triangle, all while countering the attraction force on each one? It couldn’t have been easier, could it?” he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
He set to work, his hunger and thirst gnawing at him. Balancing the plates in mid-air required constant adjustments to the EM fields. “Alright, plates, let’s see if we can make this work without me losing my sanity.”
Each plate wobbled as he manipulated them, and he had to focus intensely to keep them from toppling. “You, stay there. And you, a little to the left. Perfect. Now, let’s make a nice triangle,” he muttered, his voice tinged with exasperation.
The plates hovered, requiring minute adjustments. “You know, this would be so much easier if I had a couple of extra hands. Or maybe an EM-powered butler. Yeah, that’d be nice. Someone to do all this balancing while I kick back with a drink.”
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the plates formed a perfect triangle. He stepped back, admiring his work through the haze of hunger and thirst. “Not bad,” he muttered. “I’m like the Michelangelo of EM space sculptures. Wait, I am technically the first ever EM sculptor, then that means… I am the best EM sculptor in human history!” he started madly laughing, but then a frown appeared on his face. “Wait a second, but then… that also means I am the worst EM sculptor in history… okay, I prefer the first version, let’s leave that one on paper.”
He sighed and, with what little energy he had left, moved the wall back, almost by instinct. He no longer needed to do many calculations or focus intensely; the motions had become second nature. After he moved the wall, he fell flat on the floor and looked back. The scene shattered, but there at the end was his neatly served dinner.
Before getting too happy, he looked up. “Could’ve used a different uniform, though,” he sighed, noticing his tattered and sweat-soaked clothes. With a weary chuckle, he calmly walked to the food.
image [https://i.imgur.com/EPU265m.png]
> August 2, 2024 - Headquarters of the United Nations, New York, US
“I already said my part, Elena. The decision is yours,” a voice said on the other side of the phone.
A silence came over the line until Elena spoke again a couple of seconds later. “I have not been granted the authority to do this.”
“And yet you are calling me to ask for advice. And I say, if it’s not you, then who? The tables have changed with this new information. We are starting to understand what The Tower is about, why it is a challenge for humanity. Now, the card was presented, we must give an answer. We MUST make a move, Elena.”
Elena sighed. “You want me to change the speech, what, a couple of hours before, just like that? This concerns humanity, we can arrange for another speech later after we gather—”
“We don’t have time,” the voice interrupted. “If there is something we absolutely don’t have, it is time. No money in the world, no amount of weapons or technology can give us more time, but you, Secretary-General, you can. We are not talking about an election, or a war between two countries, we are talking about the fate of humanity as a whole. And you have a responsibility with that. Not with the US, not with the EU, not with any country in the world. You have a responsibility to mankind.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Alright,” she said, her voice steadying. “I’ll make the changes. But this is going to cause a lot of backlash. You understand that?”
“I do,” the voice replied. “But you’re doing the right thing. The world will understand in time.”