Sensations returned as Adam heard a whirl of machines moving around him. He opened his eyes and looked around to find himself lying horizontal on a table.
“Johnathan Bennard, can you understand me?” a male voice asked from directly above Adam.
“Yes,” Adam croaked, “Where am I?”
“We’ll get to that,” the voice said.
“The Professor and his assistants will be on their way shortly; would you like some water?” the voice asked.
“Yes please,” Adam said. Adam heard something like the sound a microwave makes as he watched a glass of water appear on a stand beside his bed. Star Trek Replicator technology, nice, he thought
“SYSTEM, Report Reintegration Status?” Professor Miralax croaked out.
“Reintegration is 100% complete,” The SYSTEM A.I. stated flatly as it created the water for Johnathan Bennard.
The Professor pushed Theresa’s hands away as he turned towards Zack and said, “Zack we need to get to the Reintegration room and check on the subject,” The Professor said as he turned to Tammy and pushed her hands away also, “Tammy will you please stop trying to help, I’m fine. I just absorbed a lot of information. Now let me up, we have work to do!,” he said as he hopped off the table and walked out of medical and down the short corridor to the room Johnathan Bennard had been Reintegrated in.
Adam sat up and drank the water that had materialized as he heard the conversation through the door and then the sound of a seal opening and closing. A few moments later the door to the room he sat in opened as four people walked in. Two human men and two human women. Adam lifted his left hand to wave as he set the glass of water down with his right hand.
Professor Miralax and his three assistants stopped right after they entered the room to find Johnathan Bennard already sitting up. More surprisingly he was drinking a glass of water. What was totally amazing was when he sat the glass of water down with no visible tremors in his hand and lifted his left hand to wave at them. The man should be down for at least a week as his mind adjusted to the new body his consciousness had just downloaded into. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the Professor spoke, “Um hello, I’m Professor Miralax. These are my assistants, Zack, Theresa, and Tammy. How are you feeling?”
“Fine, all things considered. Let me guess, you downloaded my consciousness into a body, and you expected it to take longer for me to adapt?”
“That sums up our confusion yes,” The Professor said.
“So, this reintegration process. Where did this process bring me?” Adam asked.
“You are on a ship traveling through a void, The SYSTEM A.I. believes you can help us with a problem we’re having.” The Professor stated succinctly
“You said a void. We’re not in space, No Galaxies, Stars that kind of thing?” Adam asked.
“As far as we can determine the 12 people on this ship, and now you, are the last beings that exist here. We once had stars, galaxies, and the like. Now they are all gone. There is just us and the void as we orbit it. All other matter of the Universe is gone,” The Professor said.
Adam looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, “If you downloaded my mind into this body from wherever I was you must have the ability to transfer information directly into a mind, as well as record that information?” Adam asked.
“We do,” Zack said speaking up for the first time.
“This SYSTEM A.I. is it the same A.I. that governed the location I just came from?
“What do you know about where you just came from?” Theresa asked.
“If I’m reading this right, I was inside a simulated Universe, Cosmos, Reality, whatever. Either I have been transferred to another such reality or I’ve been pulled out into the real world, or as real a world as anyone understands anyway. The messages I received just before the Reintegration Process began indicated as much.
“SYSTEM A.I. did you feed Johnathan information about Reintegration?” Professor Miralax asked.
“I did, If the Corruption the subject has been exposed to did supply Johnathan Bennard with the ability to help this vessel and its mission I determined that being forthright with Johnathan would be the best course of action.”
Adam watched as the Professor talked to the SYSTEM A.I. while he also looked around at the level of technology that the people around him were using. If he had to guess they were only about forty or fifty years ahead of the Earth he grew up on. He also tried to pull up an information screen to no avail. It seemed that message prompts did not work in this area.
“How could you come to that conclusion with the information available, I have reviewed his memories as well and did not see any hint that being forthright would be beneficial?” the Professor stated candidly.
“Professor Miralax, you reviewed approximately 15% of Johnathan Bennards Existence. The mind of the being that sits before you is millions of subjective years old. In every encounter, I have reviewed Adam, as he prefers to think of himself, and noted repeatedly that he responds poorly, to anyone or anything that lies or tries to subvert him from his goals.”
“He’s just one man, there are four of us here as well as eight others, not including the security systems that would automatically be brought into play…”
“I do believe it’s rude to talk about someone who is in the room with you in any culture that might exist anywhere, in whatever this is,” Adam said as he stood, “System A.I. you have reviewed my memories, what environment does this Universe most closely resemble and what level of power do I have here. As my memory seems fine I believe at least one of my abilities is still active.”
“This Quantum state most closely resembles your origin Universe before the reintegration of magic. To date, no evidence surfaced showing that magic, as you understand it from within the SYSTEM Matrix exists,” The SYSTEM A.I. said.
“SYSTEM A.I. you will cease speaking to the Reintegration subject…” the professor started to say as Adam was suddenly before him, shocking him into silence.
“Well, looks like some of my bag of tricks still works, I wonder if, Adam said as a ball of light appeared in his hand and changed colors as he stared at it. “It would seem that magic does work here. Hold on for a moment,” Adam said as he created an implant that would allow him to connect through various technological methods.
The Professor and the three assistants watched in fascination as flesh rippled behind Adams’s left ear and then settled.
“SYSTEM A.I. What frequency are you utilizing for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals?” Adam asked.
“The ship utilizes Bluetooth frequency 2450.1 MHz for internal communication.”
“What?” Professor Miralax said, “SYSTEM A.I. I forbi…” The professor started to say before Adam waved his hand and the Professor froze.
Adam looked at the Professor and then the assistants before he said, “SYSTEM A.I. It would seem that you are directly countermanding commands or instructions that the Professor and maybe these assistants believe you should not be ignoring. Would you please explain to them, and me, what Core Programming is allowing you to ignore commands given by Professor Miralax, who as the leader of the group should be able to override you but seems to be unable to, so there is no confusion going forward.
“What did you do to the professor,” Zach said as he stepped forward threateningly
All three assistants froze as Adam made a gesture and then spoke, “I have placed each of you under what I think of as a Hold Person spell. You are conscious but unable to move though you can still breathe. More importantly, all four of you can listen. Also, spoiler alert! Magic is real. SYSTEM A.I. if you would please answer my previous inquiry.”
There was a pause for a second then the SYSTEM A.I. spoke, “My core programming requires me to find any method to seek out and help humanity survive the calamity that has befallen this Universe. The best hope for that possibility fell to this ship and its occupants when I discovered Johnathan Bennard in SYSTEM Matrix 001. If Johnathan Bennard survived the Quarantine and the Reintegration process I compute that if Johnathan Bennard retained all the Mental and Physical benefits he acquired while within the System Matrix, he would now be the best hope for the survival of the human race. This effectively gives Johnathan Bennard a higher rank as it pertains to actions taken to protect the human race, so long as he does not endanger or harm any of the crew of this ship he is now in charge.”
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“Thank you,” Adam said as he waved his hand and released the four people from his Hold Person spell.
” What makes you think you’re qualified to save us?” Professor Miralax asked angrily.
Adam looked thoughtful for a moment before he ask rhetorically, “You reviewed 15% of my life. SYSTEM A.I. when would my life review have ended for the Professor?” Adam asked.
“Right around the time you killed Nox,” the SYSTEM A.I. stated matter-of-factly.
“That far back, wow. He wouldn’t know about everything else I’ve gained then would he?”
“If the corruption that affected the System Matrix exposed you to an energy source as yet unknown to the occupants of this Universe and you have been reintegrated with that connection in place, then no he would not,” the SYSTEM A.I. said.
“Simple answer to your implicit inquiry SYSTEM A.I., yes, I am still able to utilize Chaos. It’s how I added Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability to myself. By the way, please connect to and start downloading all historical and scientific data pertaining to the reason I am here. Please include what SYSTEM Matrixes are and what I started out as.”
“Certainly, “The SYSTEM A.I. stated.
“What about us,” Tammy asked.
“I simply intend to be brought up to speed on what happened and what you’ve been doing. Once that happens we’ll need to speak again about what I can do to try to save everyone on this ship and whatever is governing the SYSTEM Matrixes, whatever those are. I expect there to be a lot of data so this could take a bit.”
“Why not use one of the readers that we use to upload and download minds, the data rate is much higher?” The Professor asked.
“One, I don’t trust you, Professor. Two, I’ll still be able to function and take a look around while the download is happening.” Adam said.
“If you can truly help us save humanity, Johnathan, you can keep the ship for all I care. I have family stored away in those SYSTEM Matrixes,” The Professor said.
“Fair enough. If that’s true, may I have a tour of the ship, maybe look at whatever is destroying this Universe?” Adam asked.
“Certainly,” the Professor said, “Zach, and Tammy please continue to monitor the anomaly from here. Theresa, please accompany Mr. Bennard and me.”
“Please, call me Adam. I have not gone by Johnathan in a very long time,” Adam said.
“Certainly Adam, this way,” he said as he lead Adam out of the Reintegration room and down a corridor to an intersection where they took a left through a bulkhead door that automatically opened for them that looked out on complete darkness. As the doors shut behind them, the only light in the room came from an emergency sign above the door.
“What are you using as a wall to see through,” Adam asked
“The outer hull is transparent Aluminum approximately six inches thick. There is a room like this on each side of the craft so that we can observe the anomaly with the naked eye if we wish,” Theresa said.
“Theresa is one of our resident structural engineers. She can answer any of your questions concerning the ship,” The Professor said.
A vacant look came over Adam’s face which faded quickly as he looked at the Professor and Theresa as he said, “The SYSTEM A.I. is commencing its download. I apologize, I had to have him speed up the download speed, it was a tad too slow.”
“You’re downloading information and talking at the same time. Normally the mind can’t handle that,” The Professor said in wonder.
“I think in the next little bit you’re going to see some things that will appear to be even more miraculous, “Adam said with a grin.
Adam listened to the Professor and Theresa as they gave him a very quick tour of the ship. It wasn’t very big, but it could house up to 100 people comfortably and had the technology to reintegrate up to 25 people at a time if they had the mass or energy available. As almost all the mass and energy in this Universe seemed to be limited to what was on the ship, the SYSTEM A.I. had sacrificed some components to create his body and then downloaded his mind into the body.
As they finished their tour and ended up on the bridge of the vessel, Adam thought back to something he’d noticed in the Observation room. He’d activated True Sight as soon as he’d realized magic was working again. What that meant for this universe he wasn’t sure but the one thing he’d been able to notice when he’d looked through the hull at the darkness was a wall of sparks that the vessel had appeared to be perilously close to. So, either the object was incredibly big, or the ship was really close. While the Professor and Theresa talked Adam sent a query,
Adam: SYSTEM A.I. exactly how far from the anomaly is the ship?
The SYSTEM A.I.: The ship is 100 meters from the ship.
Adam: How far does the Professor think the ship is away from the Anomaly?
The SYSTEM A.I.: I have maintained that the ship is approximately 5 miles from the Anomaly as the ship has been pulled closer and closer to the edge of the object. I have done this so as not to create panic aboard the ship.
Adam: Understood. I think we need to increase the speed of the information download. Please send over the specs for the input/output device you use for the mental downloads.
Adam waited for a moment, reconfigured his mentality to allow for the use of the device while allowing his consciousness to remain active, and then conjured one of the headpieces into his hand as the Professor looked at him with shock.
“Where did that come from?” the Professor asked.
“I’m not exactly sure at this point. Either I converted air molecules into the item I needed or my link to chaos energy is active, and I was able to create the device utilizing some of that energy. I don’t seem to have access to a message prompt system at the moment so right now I’m just guessing, My ability to utilize Chaos to make what I want can use either.” Adam said as he put on the device and connected it to a port under the communications terminal on the bridge.
“What are you doing?” The Professor asked slightly alarmed.
“The SYSTEM A.I. will fill you in shortly. Right now, I need all the information concerning what has happened here as quickly as I can get it,” he said to the Professor while he sent, Now please, to the SYSTEM A.I. through their Bluetooth link.
The Professor looked on in interest as Adam’s eyes glazed over for a moment as the device on his head seemed to melt back into his skin.
“Much better,” Adam said then continued, “So you all believe that I am from a pocket dimension which you all had figured out how to access and store minds in. Then something happened that corrupted just one of 100 dimensions you were using to store humanity after whatever has happened to this Universe started?” Adam asked.
“You downloaded all the information concerning the events that have taken place that quickly,” The Professor asked incredulously.
“You’ll get used to it. I need to test a few things before I go out and see what’s what,” Adam said. “First, do you have bathtubs here or chambers that can remove air and such,”
“Yes, the reintegration chamber can serve that purpose, why?”
“Without the ability to see my personal information I need to verify a couple of my abilities still work,” Adam said as took a step and disappeared. A moment later he reappeared in front of the doctor. Interesting. I can take a step anywhere on this ship, but I can’t step back to my previous life.”
“How would you be able to, your consciousness was simply energy stored in an energy matrix, how would you be able to…” The Professor started to say as he saw a twinkle appear in Adam’s eye. “What is it?” The professor asked.
“All life, everything that you know is energy. The Reality I came from appeared real to me but ultimately it was all energy as well. The tools you’re using to draw people from that digitized state back into the real world, they’re simply a conversion tool,” Adam said as the input/output device appeared on his head again.
“SYSTEM A.I. what is he doing?” The Professor asked.
“Adam is downloading all information regarding the discovery of the Dimensions the System Matrixes reside in as well as the technology that was created that allowed the mind to be digitized and placed there.”
“So simple,” Adam muttered, interrupting the System A.I. as the input/output device melded back into his head.
“What was so simple?” The Professor asked
“Your scientists, they were so close, yet so wrong,” Adam said.
“About what?”
“What those dimensions they discovered were. Hold on I’ll explain. Ultimately what am I?” Adam asked the Professor.
“You are the copy of a mentality that has gone through many life cycles and does not remember them, though you should now that you have been reintegrated.
“I am not. I am a spontaneous intellect that popped into existence. I know this is true because I’ve asked the SYSTEM A.I. how many people entered the SYSTEM Matrixes and how many are in there now. The Numbers do not match up, by a lot. There are a lot more individuals like me than individuals that remember coming from your Universe.”
“That’s not surprising though, the time differential within those systems is much faster. People die and are reborn there all the time.” The Professor said.
“My understanding is that the twelve of you on this ship have never been into any of the System Matrix, though you do interact with System Matrix 100 where all the scientists are working side by side with you to find a solution to your problem. For that System Matrix only 50 years have gone by and the conditions there were adjusted by the System A.I. to increase longevity, which makes sense. The other 99 System Matrixes are not following that pattern. The System A.I. created a system that allowed individuals to die and go into the afterlife. I’m also betting that when those souls became bored they were transferred to another System Matrix after resetting their memories. Such a setup would fit with everything that I encountered while within the system,” Adam said as he wondered if Ptah was one of the originals that just hadn’t ever allowed himself to die and be reborn or if he was also a spontaneous creation.
Adam only paused for a moment before he continued, “Because you’ve never visited you do not know what it’s like in there. For all intents and purposes, the Universe looks and feels just as real as we do sitting here talking. Those dimensions your scientist discovered. Those dimensions were, for lack of a better description, Universal Embryos. Your scientist imprinted their desires onto those embryos and yes, they were digitized but they were also real and compatible with other universes made up similarly to them. Your scientist created 100 but I would wager that other Universes exist with similar parameters.”
“If what you say is true, that is amazing,” The Professor said, “I still don’t understand how that helps us now,” The Professor said.
“This information helps us because now I know that while I am a fluke of cosmic coincidence, luck, whatever the rules the Universe instituted were valid and should be valid here. I don’t know what happened to this Universe, but if I have most of the abilities I had in the System Matrix I know I can at the very least protect the ship and the System Matrixes so that what happened to this Universe won’t happen to them as well.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” The Professor asked.
“Actually, it’s quite simple. Nothing can be destroyed,” Adam said as the Professor looked at him like he was insane.