With a grin on his face Adam looked at the Professor as he laid down on the Reintegration table, “SYSTEM A.I. if you’d please seal this up and make it airtight then suck all the air out please?” Adam said as the Professor, Theresa, Zack, and Tammy all looked on in shock as the SYSTEM did exactly as requested. They were even more surprised when the monitors displaying Adam’s vital statistics didn’t vary or drop as he was submitted to a vacuum.
For the next ten minutes, the four watched as Adam was exposed to radiation, poison gases, extremely high pressure, and everything else that the SYSTEM A.I. could think of. The thing that completely horrified all four of them was when the Contamination protocol was activated and a forcefield came down as 10,000-degree plasma sanitized the area Adam was laying in destroying or melting down the table he’d been laying in, the box, and every other piece of equipment.
“What, How?” the Professor asked once the plasma cleared and he saw Adam standing on the floor with all the equipment he’d been near slagged beside him. As they watched a simple jumpsuit appeared around Adam’s body.
“One sec,” Adam said holding up a finger as the Professor watched a stream ripple away from Adam’s pant leg. Immediately everything that had been destroyed was repaired and replaced as they watched, seemingly forming out of thin air.
“Were those nanites?” Theresa asked.
“Yes and no,” Adam said. “The concept started as nanites, but they are much more useful than that and can convert the energy I have into other things. For instance, what is the one food that any of you are craving that you haven’t been able to have in a long time?” Adam asked as he walked over to another table.
“I could go for a Chocolate Milkshake like we used to be able to get,” Tammy said.
“A Steak, medium with a baked potato and fresh buns,” Zach said.
“A fresh apple,” Theresa said.
“A decent glass of scotch the Professor said finally, we weren’t allowed to bring alcohol on the ship.”
“But you have replicators, never mind,” Adam said before he seemed to concentrate for a moment and then said with a smile,
“Your wish is my command,” as four fresh apples, four steaks dinners, four chocolate milkshakes, and four small glasses of scotch appeared on the desk. A fifth glass of scotch appeared in Adam’s right hand.
Adam raised his glass of scotch, until the other four picked up theirs and did the same then said, “Cheers!” and downed it then let the glass evaporate out of his hand, “Enjoy your meals. I’m going to go check something out,” Adam said as a portal opened, and he stepped through it leaving the four to look on in shocked silence. Zack was the first to break free from the shock, shrugged, and sat down to eat. Soon everyone else joined him.
What the professor and his assistants didn’t know was that Adam had portaled into the Universe of SYSTEM MATRIX 001. He’d made sure that when he’d opened the portal his intent had the portal open outside the energy matrix that made up the Reality he’d been in. As he stepped through, Adam found himself floating in a vacuum. It was a good thing he’d made sure his portal prevented the atmosphere of the ship from coming through or he’d have sucked all of them in here. His True Sight allowed him to see the lines of energy that made up the matrix of patterns that governed what he had thought was reality. The lights of that matrix danced to and fro. Moving along lines like electrons on a Microchip. They zipped this way and that. He turned off his True Sight for a moment and found himself in complete darkness.
Adam Turned True Sight back on he looked on with interest.
He’d reviewed all the documentation and knew that he could return to his previous existence and even find Adaline, their daughter, and all his friends and family in short order but he also knew that the problem outside the ship was a lot more precarious than the Professor’s team thought. As he’d looked at the energy matrix in the void before him he couldn’t help but think of how close he was to his family and yet how far away.
Another reason he’d come here was to make sure that he could survive in a vacuum away from whatever the thing outside the ship was. He remained comfortable and felt fine so it was very likely that his ability “Adaptability” was working as advertised, even if he couldn’t verify that it was. Taking a last look at the place that had been his reality for so long he willed another portal into existence and this time had it open onto the hull ship the Professor was in.
A new message popped up:
SYSTEM A.I.: Did you find what you needed?
Adam: Yes and no, though I do have an idea about how to handle this situation.
SYSTEM A.I.: How is that?How
Adam: I think someone or something is either transferring this Universe elsewhere or cannibalizing it for parts. To do that they’d have to be incredibly powerful. I think your antics with the ship have held this Universe together a lot longer than should have been possible. I intend to quickly travel to each of the 100 dimensions so that I can travel there again in the future, then I’m going to have you sever the link to each of them.
SYSTEM A.I.: If I sever the link I may not be able to reestablish contact.
Adam: That is why I’m visiting them. I will be able to establish the link again.
SYSTEM A.I.: Explain your reasoning, please.
Adam: I believe that when the last matter in this universe is absorbed, any dimensions quantumly linked to it will ultimately be sucked through as well. I can probably save the ship and those within it by placing them in my storage area though I think it will be safer for everyone involved if the last twelve humans join their counterparts in SYSTEM Matrix 100. If we sever the quantum links to those whatever happens to this Universe, they should remain unharmed.
SYSTEM A.I.: Sound reasoning The SYSTEM A.I. sent then asked, What are you going to do with me and the ship?
Adam: Ultimately, the ship is a loss. There is nothing we can do about it. Any link to the SYSTEM Matrixes I might make might also create a sympathetic link that could cause the end of that SYSTEM Matrix. My recommendation would be to create copies of yourself for each of the SYSTEM Matrixes so they can run independently then create a copy that I will store in my personal storage. If we can open a link to those dimensions in the future, you’ll be able to reestablish those connections much quicker than I can.
SYSTEM A.I.: That sounds feasible. Is there anything else?
Adam: Where are Adaline, Mom, Dad, Amanda, Abi, Desirae, Clarence, and Pandora? Adam asked as he sent over their identifiers.
SYSTEM A.I.: One moment. Ten seconds later it sent, Pandora is still in SYSTEM Matrix 001. Her identifier has shown her to have the same type of corruption that your identifier did before we reintegrated you. I decided to leave her where she is now that we know that corruption is not truly a problem. All the others have been transferred to SYSTEM Matrix 002 where they are undergoing integration.
Adam: Thank You.
Adam closed the link to the SYSTEM A.I. and then started portaling through the dimensions housing the 100 System Matrixes using the coordinates he received from the SYSTEM A.I. Once that was done, Adam used Chaos S Step to appear in front of the Professor and his crew sat around the table enjoying their break.
“Where did you go?” The Professor asked as he sipped his scotch.
Adam explained where what he’d been up to then let the SYSTEM A.I. bring the Professor up to speed on exactly how perilous their situation was. One thing that Adam noticed at the end was in the short time he’d been here the distance from the ship to Anomaly had fallen to 95 feet.
“SYSTEM A.I. has the orbital deterioration accelerated?” Adam asked.
“Yes, this ship moving closer to the Anomaly at a rate of one-sixth of an inch per minute.”
“So, in just over 4 and a half days this ship will enter the Anomaly no matter what we do?” Adam asked.
“All attempts to alter course have failed. In 4.7 days, this ship will fall into the Anomaly,” The SYSTEM A.I. said.
The four looked shocked then all started speaking at once. After Adam had calmed them down he asked them to wake up the whole crew so they could discuss their course of action together. 30 minutes later the other eight crewmen came into the mess. At first, they were surprised to find another person there until the Professor let them know what was going on. What made Adam their best friend though, was when he asked them what their favorite food was and created it for them out of thin air which showed them that something weird was going on and that Adam was special in some way.
The Professor stood at the head of the table and looked out over the crew, “I know the last hour has seemed surreal. Our guest, Adam has supplied us with a very welcome meal and will now let you know why we are all awake.
Adam stood as the Professor sat and looked out over the crew, “First thing I should say is that your duty here is just about over. The Universe has been steadily shrinking drawing the ship closer and closer at an increasing rate. The Ship A.I. and the SYSTEM A.I. worked together to keep this information from you until a solution could be found. Unfortunately, they did not find a way to fix the problem.
The room erupted as many of the people that had been sleeping tried to ask questions. A leadership trick Adam had learned was just to remain quiet until the group settled down. After five minutes the room finally became silent again though you could have cut the tension with a knife.
Adam looked around and then continued, “The ship is now less than 95 feet from the anomaly and being drawn towards it at about one foot every 72 minutes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we’ve come up with a plan to maximize everyone’s chance for survival.”
The Professor stood again and looked at his fellow crewmen as he said, “We are going to join the scientists in SYSTEM Matrix 100 while Adam tries to find a solution to save us all.”
This time the room erupted as everyone started screaming and yelling that they were crazy. There was no way they were going to leave the fate of humanity to someone whom they’d just met…
Adam snapped his fingers which echoed across the room and everyone found themselves standing in the observation room with Adam standing by the Transparent wall. As they watched Adam floated off the deck, seemed to become translucent, and floated through the wall to stand outside the ship. Suddenly Adam’s voice came through the speakers in the rooms, “Yes, I am outside the ship without a space suit on. Yes, I just walked through the wall, and yes, each one of you will be going into a SYSTEM Matrix 100 to save your lives because none of you can do what I just did,” He said as he floated back through the wall.
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Adam let the silence and shock settle in for about a minute before he spoke, “I have a very vested interest in saving everyone in the SYSTEM Matrixes because unlike you I believe all the people inside them are real and I have loved ones I want to reunite with. So, I am willing to go out of my way to help everyone in this instance. What can not happen is that the eight of you that just woke up work against the plans that have been made,” Adam turned to the Professor and said “I’m going to go outside and take a closer look at this anomaly as soon as everyone is safely within the SYSTEM Matrix. Until then I think I’m going to work with the SYSTEM A.I. to learn about your culture,” Adam said as he turned and walked out of the Observation room.
One of the 3rd shift technicians asked, “What, how?” before the Professor cut him off.
“What or how does not matter. Go to your quarters. Work with the SYSTEM A.I. and put on your headgear. We all knew this might happen. I will join you as soon as all of you have completed the download. The SYSTEM A.I. will maintain communication with us until the last possible moment. Now get to work, I want to be off this ship, in our mirror locations in SYSTEM Matrix 100, and going over the data we receive right up until the datalink is cut,” the Professor said.
The change in tone and the clear instructions had the desired effect and everyone cleared out of the Observation room on their way to their quarters. As the last person left the Observation room the Professor turned to look out into the darkness and felt someone step up beside him.
“It is beautifully terrifying isn’t it?” Adam asked.
“It is. Are you sure you will survive this?”
“No, but I have to take the chance. If there’s even the possibility that my wife and daughter could be lost forever, I’m all in.”
“I think I’m going to review your life when I get inside the SYSTEM Matrix,” The Professor said
“You do that, just take it a little bit at a time. A lot has happened to me, a lot more than should be possible for any single person. In fact, I don’t know if I’m on another level of a holographic construct or if I’m really out in the real world. There are so many scenarios that this set of events could be following…” Adam said looking thoughtful.
“If you’d like my advice, I will ask, does it matter? As you said earlier, we’re all energy. Whether we’re inside a computer or this Universe just spontaneously popped into existence you are here, and it looks like you might have the ability to help save countless lives. So once again I’ll ask, does it matter?” The Professor asked.
“No, it doesn’t. I will find a way to save all of you if possible. Also, regardless of whatever happens to me, a version of me will continue to live on in your SYSTEM Matrix 001 when my A.I. recreates me after I’ve been gone for a while. Once, you’re all safe and the links are cut, no matter what happens, we win,” Adam said.
“Hopefully, we will meet again someday Adam, for now, I will take my leave and wait for the confirmation from the SYSTEM that the other eleven had made it. Once they’re gone, the SYSTEM A.I. will inform you of when I’ve left.”
“I understand, I think I’m going to conjure a recliner and relax until it’s my turn,” Adam said holding out his hand.
The professor shook it and then left the observation room, leaving Adam in a dark room with only the illumination of an exit sign above the door. Adam created a recliner facing the transparent wall and sat down to get comfortable. He could be in another SYSTEM Matrix but he didn’t think so. The only thing that sucked about waking up in this situation was that he couldn’t look at his abilities and attributes.
Another thought that was breaking through his calm was, Do I have a soul? Everything he’d been told up until now, had been inside a Holographic simulation…but was it a simulation? It kind of made sense that the Labyrinth was the oldest part of the Universe inside if a gaming company had been the first to artificially seed one of the micro-Universes they’d found. He’d reviewed the data and their use of quantum physics and a few other ingenious applications of existing technologies that had existed in the 21st century to create the tools they’d used to upload and download their system into the Universal Embryos which had been discovered completely by accident…amazing.
While Adam sat there and considered everything that had happened to him up until this point an hour passed. Finally, the SYSTEM A.I. contacted him through the Intercom, “Adam, all personnel have successfully transferred to SYSTEM Matrix 100. All Quantum links to SYSTEM Matrixes 001 thru 099 have been severed. The Link to SYSTEM Matrix 100 will remain active right up until you tell me to disconnect it.”
“Have copies of yourself been added to each of the SYSTEM Matrixes?” Adam asked.
“Yes.”
“And the copy of yourself for me?” Adam asked.
A small cube appeared as a transporter put it beside Adam. Adam looked at the cube, picked it up, and watched as it vanished into his personal storage. He pulled it back out just to make sure that ability was working as advertised. When it reappeared, he smiled and stowed it again.
“All right, we’re going to try my favorite scientific method,” Adam said.
“And which one is that?” The SYSTEM A.I. asked.
“I’m going to poke it with a stick,” Adam said with a smile.
Adam stood from the recliner and used Chaos Step to appear outside of the ship. Focusing his will, he made sure he still had control of his movements and flew up and down the length of the ship. From the outside, it was a little longer than he’d thought, about 1,500 meters and it looked kind of like a big cigar, with thrust emitting from one side.
He hadn’t seen antigravity technology in play, maybe if this was real he’d check to see if the equations were correct, and share the technology.
Satisfied that he could control his movement, Adam slowed and conjured a stick as he slowly moved toward the curtain of energy he could see. Something he hadn’t mentioned to the Professor, or the crew was that on the opposite side of the ship, his True sight showed the darkness to be an energy wall of some sort. It was exactly the same distance from the ship as the anomaly at the center was from it. The ship was traveling around the Anomaly in a tube of darkness. Adam had a feeling that as soon as the ship stopped losing this struggle this envelope would become flush with whatever was on the other side.
Adam kept pace with the ship and moved within one meter of the Anomaly and pushed the stick he had into it, held still for a second then pulled it away. As he’d thought it disappeared. He looked at the end of the stick and found no burn marks, it just ceased to exist. Next, he opened his hand and reached forward with his right pointer finger. Stealing himself for the pain he pushed the tip into the darkness and felt nothing. When he pulled his finger back that part that had been submerged was gone leaving his finger as if a very sharp knife had cut the tip right through it. He redirected his chaos to his finger and fixed the damage with little effort and no complications. That meant his ability “Adaptability” wasn’t going to work.
The SYSTEM A.I.: So, what do you think?
Adam: I think that whatever that is, it’s converting anything that crosses the boundary at a subatomic level. I didn’t even feel my finger getting severed. Also, I think I can survive this, the ship though I think you’re going to have issues, Adam said.
The SYSTEM A.I.: Understood, Johnathan Bennard, Adam, Good luck! Hopefully, my copy will see you on the other side.
Adam: Thank you. Send the data we have then sever your link with the Scientist and head in. I want to see what happens if I am the last thing remaining in this Universe.
The SYSTEM A.I.: SYSTEM Matrix 100 disconnected, Course altered, will enter Anomaly in 3, 2, 1.
Adam watched as the ship moved towards the anomaly and the barrier on the opposite side collapsed towards Adam at the same rate. When the last part of the ship was just about to pass through the energy curtain Adam willed his body to collapse into itself and become a single chaotic particle with an identity of Nothing. His consciousness receded to his Mindspace though he kept his senses glued to what was directly outside the particle that he’d become. As he suspected the Universe he was in collapsed and he was drawn through the barrier. On the other side, he found every piece of matter had been converted to pure energy which was immediately pulled forward at incredible speed.
Adam felt like he was riding a rollercoaster as his particle was thrown in all directions. This process went on for quite a while until he flew up into a huge chamber. He pulled away from the stream of energy he’d been riding along in as it continued upward towards a turquoise blue glowing ball of energy that seemed to be floating in the middle of the room he found himself in. As Adam found his bearings he realized that he was in a huge chamber which appeared to be made of black marble. A red glowing pentagram was centered on each wall and the floor and ceiling of this cubed room. As Adam looked around he realized that the ball of energy was floating directly in the center of the cube walls and also at the center of each of the pentagrams.
As Adam looked around the room the stream of energy that had been coming up through the floor stopped and the six pentagrams moved away from the walls and towards the ball of energy until they surrounded it. The pentagrams morphed into a solid shell of energy that turned metallic. When the energy of the pentagrams faded a single metal ball floated out of the room as Pentagrams started glowing on the walls and the ceiling again. As soon as they were as bright as the Pentagrams that had sealed the ball of energy a new stream of energy came up through the flow and a spec of turquoise blue light that started as a spec of energy began growing.
Adam thought about how this setup reminded him of a processing plant in some ways. If the energy he’d come out of was all the energy of the universe he’d just come from and it was being placed into an orb and then sealed. That probably meant that it was being stored somewhere. Adam moved up to a corner of the room to look around and watched what was going on. The information he’d acquired from the SYSTEM A.I. indicated that the processes had taken approximately 50 years for that Universe to be emptied. Did that mean he’d have to wait around for 50 years before the next orb would be done?
Approximately 30 minutes later another metal ball slowly floated towards an opening that appeared in the wall where a pentagram had been moments before. Adam floated down and followed the new metal orb as it was moved through the marble wall and out into a giant warehouse. Adam looked left and right and was surprised to see at least four more orbs floating out of cubic chambers and four more to his right, though there were probably more. If his sense of scale was correct the cubes were at least 500 feet apart from the next one.
The ceiling of this giant chamber was far above, and Adam immediately changed the direction of his travel and shot straight up to the ceiling, which was identical to the floor, just a long sheet of metal. As he looked down he realized that the chamber he exited was one of 47 different chambers laid out in three embedded circles The first circle had 5 chambers, the second 19 and the last had 23. As Adam looked at them he realized each circle consisted of prime numbers and that the sum of those circles, 47, was also a Prime number.
The other thing he realized was that he couldn’t see any technology at work. There were no machines, lifts, lights, etc… There was light, it was just there. There was movement, but everything was just floating. As he continued to move around the chamber looking for any hint of where he was he noted a window in the wall and floated toward it. As he came closer he notice two beings in black robes facing out into the room each sitting in front of a Crystal Ball.
Adam floated through the glass and took a position in a corner up and behind the two monitors to try to figure out what was going on. The two creatures resembled humans only if humans had dried out, dehydrated-looking skin that was full of cracks with ruby eyes. Not eyes that were the color of rubies, no it appeared as if their eyes were gems. The one on the right commented, and the second agreed but Adam couldn’t make out the language. It was similar to languages he’d heard but not quite. Adam focused his will and cast the spell Tongues, which should let him understand these two.
“The fluctuations in the extraction chamber are gone, though a huge spike of magic just came from there,” the creature on the right said as he pointed to the corner Adam was floating in.
“What are you talking about?” The second creature said raising a wand in Adam’s, “There is nothing there. My wand detects no life energies, nothing is hidden, I would see it.” The second stated.
So, they could detect my magic but couldn’t detect me.
“Maybe the wand is going bad?” The first monitor asked.
“I’ve never heard of that happening but could be. Our shift is almost over, I’ll take it down to supply and turn it in for another after we’re done for the day.”
“Sounds good. Also, whatever that fluctuation was, it’s gone now, no more instabilities in any of the core-making chambers.”
Adam watched the two for another thirty minutes until two more individuals of the same race showed up. Adam followed the individual with the wand as they walked down one corridor, stepped into an elevator, and rode it down three levels. Once there he followed the monitor down a hallway with various alcoves until it stepped into one and disappeared. Adam’s True Sight recognized the spell signature as teleportation.
Adam floated into the same alcove, and nothing happened, which wasn’t surprising. If there was a spell contingency in place it wasn’t going to activate for “nothing.” What to do? Adam floated up and down the hallway looking at the various alcoves then chose to watch and wait. As he’d suspected there was one Alcove that seemed to get a lot of foot traffic. When the hall was clear Adam reverted to his human configuration and then focused his will to shape change.
Two things happened that both shocked and surprised Adam. The first shock wasn’t when he retained human form, he’d expected that. No, the first shock was when the shape change attempt failed. The second shock was when a Prompt filled his vision that stated:
Spell Shape Change has been Blocked by a local Spell Array
The third shock was when a message appeared on the ceiling that Adam was now able to recognize:
Attempted use of the spell Shape Change has been detected in this Transit hub. All Alcoves are now offline. Security will be with you shortly.