“It’s gone,” Nef’lar Pelza said to his father who was sitting at his desk in his private office.
“Say again?” Nabih’lar Pelza asked his son.
“The Battery Plant is gone,” Nef’lar said
“When you say gone, did someone come and take it over?” Nabih’lar asked. “If so, we’ll just go take it back.”
“No father, I mean that the reason I teleported here moments ago is that it is gone, or it soon will be.”
“Explain,” Nabih’lar said.
Approximately an hour and a half ago, one of my operatives returned with the individual that decimated the Eternal Empire’s Army on Nostrom.”
Nabih’lar rose his hand silencing Nef’lar, “The incident that happened a month ago?”
“The same,” Nef’lar said
“Continue.”
“Our operative, Erika, captured and had him suppressed with a suppression collar. Once he was at the prisoner admittance and interrogation entry point he casually reached up and snapped the collar with his left hand, handed it to her, and disappeared. The A.I. failed to activate the Eradication Array in the room even as the technician on duty slammed his hand on the manual override which also failed.”
“That sounds pretty standard, we have procedures to capture anyone that escapes the Array in the room, weren’t they followed?” Nabih’lar asked.
“Yes, once it was determined that the individual couldn’t be tracked by any means Erika activated the fail-safe. The Cradle was on a five-minute countdown. Within five minutes of activation, we lost all quantum links to The Cradle and the facility. 100% of all personnel were accounted for and strike teams were being prepared to hit the facility from 10 different locations with an additional six teams designated to check on the control panels on the Cradle that we’d lost the connection to. We wanted to make sure we weren’t walking into a trap.”
“That still sounds a lot like business as usual,” Nabih’lar said.
“It was, business as usual until five seconds before the array was supposed to automatically shut down. Suddenly all transmissions from the facility were back on and a feed to the Universal Energy Extractor Control room lit up. Watch for yourself,” Nef’lar said as he activated the screen on his father’s wall and replayed the security camera.
A white human, probably in his thirties looked up at the camera and yelled gleefully, “LEROY JENKINS!” as he hit an execute button which caused the image to go dark.
“Who, or what is Leroy Jenkins?” Nabih’lar asked.
“Unknown. What we were able to determine from the telemetry we could get before the entire system went dead is that the man, We think his name is Adam. Adam shut down the 215 operations that were currently active and restarted the other 485 extractors on the Battery Plant.
Nabih’lar paused for a moment as he thought. Finally, he asked, “Aren’t there safeguards embedded in each extractor to prevent that from happening?”
“Yes, also the A.I. actively works to prevent any such commands from being initiated. We know that A.I. was essentially boxed before the personnel evacuated.” Nef’lar said.
“How many batteries were still at the Battery Plant
“As you know, once one of our Energy Cells is full, we store them for a day and then send them off to its final destination. They are constantly needed throughout the empire. The 485 extractors that were used had just finished their maintenance cycle and were being prepared for new targets. The 485 batteries from the day before were still in storage
“WHAT!” Nabih’lar said as he stood and slapped his hand down on his desk so hard, it exploded. The splintering pieces of the desk did nothing to Nabih’lar and bounced off a protective shield Nef’lar activated around himself. Do you know what that means?” he asked.
“Nothing Good,” I’m sure Nef’lar said.
Nabih’lar took a deep breath and then smiled as he sat back down in his chair as his son stood inside his shield. “Oh put the shield away, you’re my son, I’m not going to kill you over this, though we will need a scapegoat,” he said as he looked down at the mess of his desk. “ Nothing Good is right. Our investors are going to go crazy,” he said as he looked thoughtful,” Nef’lar exactly how long ago did this Adam activate the eradicators?” he asked.
“Nef’lar looked at the clock on the screen, “about seven minutes ago.”
“Seven minutes,” Nabih’lar mused to himself out loud, “Seven minutes, should be any moment then. “ he said as he refocused his gaze on his son. “I forget sometimes that not all my sons are versed in quantum physics and the theory that allows us to combine magic and technology to cannibalize other Universes and dimensions for our own needs.
“I’m well versed in the theory father?” Nef’lar said
“Show me then. Assuming Adam was successful and activated all 485 machines to target the Universe he was standing in, what would happen to that Universe?”
“The Battery Planet is not in an infinite universe. So, in theory, the energy that is extracted is fed into a battery that is eventually ruptured by the process. As the Universal energy has been divided 485 times and is finite it should in theory cause a relatively big explosion in the Astral Plane and possibly a tear into the dimensions that helps make up the Universe that just exploded, As there would be no universe to rupture that energy would also be absorbed by the astral plane. That should create an energy wave within the Astral Plane. We should also expect to see Astral Storms in that area that would last a while. The initial ones will be strong but the dimensions will be absorbed at a steady rate so maybe a really bad storm in the Astral Plane at first and a more normal one that will last a while after.” He said.
“Very good, textbook, answer,” Nabih’lar said, pleased that his son knew the basics. “Now, what happens when you add the equivalent energy of 485 universes, most of which were effectively infinite, that we sucked dry of all matter and energy and left just an almost empty husk. What happens then?
Nef’lar froze as shock registered in his eyes. Nef’lar reached for his communicator.
Nabih’lar knew at that moment that one of the security teams was going to try to open a portal into the Universe which would at the very least create a conduit into the Astral Plane that would reach the location of what once was the Universe containing the Battery Plant. He knew it was already too late.
As Nef’lar reached for his communicator he felt it, a shudder that came from the direction of his security forces within this headquarters building.
“Much too late for that now my son,” Nabih’lar said.
***
Normally One Universal Energy Extractor opened a rift into a universe and then converted all matter and energy within that Universe into an energy type the empire could use. Either for their ships or their Cultivators. All previous matter and energy patterns were scrambling before the energy was collected. Inside the target Universe, the initial area this happened in was measured in lightyears, then it spread. Space, having the ability to expand and compress was compressed allowing the field to expand faster than the speed of light, and as the process continued space compressed at an increasing speed.
Truly infinite universes could never be fully emptied of all energies. More often than not the Energy Extractors targeted a specific section of a Universe and the energy was absorbed. When the energy density that was being drawn into the battery was less than 10 Joules per second the extractors were shut down. Some universes that were found were already in this state, either at the end or the beginning of a cycle. They wouldn’t be useful until a quantum event happened. Some of the more primitive societies through the many universes referred to such events as Big Bangs. All coordinates for those quantumly inactive universes were locked out and set on a review timer to be reexamined in no less than 5 billion years.
For finite universes, universes with a definite boundary, the Energy extractors would pull all of the energy out of those Universes and compress them to a single point which would destroy the Universe permanently. There was never enough energy to fill up the devices that acted as batteries for the Empire so those batteries were set aside to be used when another finite universe was discovered.
The Battery Plant was inside a finite Universe. There were 485 full batteries in storage when the Energy Extractors targeted and scrambled all matter and energy within, the Battery Plant, Cradle, and surrounding space. If it had only been that energy that was scrambled there would have been a giant explosion. Events would have been as Nef’lar had explained to his father. Unfortunately, that is not all that happened.
Adam, the Chaos Incarnate creature was inside the Universe when all the matter was scrambled. One-tenth of a second after the Eradicators activated Adam was reduced to scrambled energy, which was a form he had been in many times before. His Astral Link was active and he would have escaped into the Astral and been able to choose where to reincarnate due to his ability Dual State. Unfortunately for Adam, 485 universes worth of energy found his Astral Link and used him to escape through that link. Adam acted as a filter for the energy as it fled from the dying Universe directly into the Astral Plane which created an energy wave that rushed through the Astral Plane like a Tsunami in all directions.
The scrambled, or chaotic, energies that shot through Adam’s Astral Link were not altered significantly, but they were altered. At that moment Adam’s Interface Ability contaminated the energy flowing through him and his astral link and the Physical Universes would be changed forever. The Astral Plane was infinite. It would take a long time for this change to affect every Universe. The Pelza Empire was far removed, three-dimensionally at least, from the Universe the Battery Plant Universe. It should have been months if not years until the energy wave traveling through the Astral Plane changed the Pelza Empire and the various Universes they occupied.
Instead, when the security team opened a portal an energy wave entered the Universe Nabih’lar and Nef’lar Pelza were in and expanded permanently modifying everyone in their Universe and every Universe that had an active connection to their universe. This caused the effect to spread even faster than before as ripples through the Astral Plane were coming from multiple sources across Astral Plane.
***
Nef’lar looked at his father in alarm as he felt an energy wave pass through the room he was in. His skin tingled for a second as the hair on his arms stood on end and then it was over, “Is that it, he asked his father.”
“Wait?” Nabih’lar said.
Nef’lar did as his father told him until words popped into his vision.
UNIVERSAL UPDATE 1.01, Interface.
The Interface ability has been added to all sentient races of all cultivation ranks. Your Interface will allow you to view quantitative information concerning your personal growth, the growth of others, and the environment and its effects on you.
All Interface functions can be controlled verbally or mentally, either through the prompts in your vision or simple mental instructions.
If you would like to know more think or say: “Interface Help”
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Nef’lar looked up to see his father’s eye’s glazed over, as they darted back and forth, “Did you get a message in your vision that started with ‘Universal Update 1.01’ Interface’ also?”
Nabih’lar’s eyes focused on his son, “Yes, I did. I was exploring the help aspect it mentioned,” he said.
“Father, you understand what this interface ability will do if it quantifies all aspects of reality?” Nef’lar asked.
“I do, that is why I am exploring the help function,” Nabih’lar said.
Nef’lar nodded and then thought “Interface help” as he raced to learn about this new ability that was going to kill the monopoly cultivators had over the mundane. If they also had this ability it would be much easier for the common people to learn how to become cultivators and improve their abilities, skills, and cultivator rank, if they had a way to track that progress now.
Just as he was about to dig into the help function his communicator blared with the emergency ringer he’d set up for operations control, should they need to contact him in a hurry. He pulled out the communicator, opened it, and said, “Yes.”
“Sir, what just happened? Everyone here is seeing words in their vision, even me. Something about an Interface..”
“Tell everyone to remain calm. The Emperor and I are discussing the matter right now, I will contact you shortly,” Nef’lar said as he closed the communicator and looked at his father inquisitively as he noticed his father’s gaze on him.
“It would seem, that we have two major issues to handle simultaneously. The destruction of The Battery Plant and this Interface. Focusing on the Battery Plant for a moment. In the initial report, I read Altarisa Selma activated the Eradication array that killed this Adam. I take it his odds of survival a second time are also high?” Nabih’lar asked.
“I would think not, but after what we’ve seen today so far, I wouldn’t rule it out, though I have no idea where he’ll end up. That release of energy must have been massive. The Astral Plane is going to be a mess over where the Battery Plant was. Yes, I know it’s not exactly any distance from us as measured in three-dimensional space but there is some distance between where it was and where we are.”
“Very well, Now it is time for me to put on my Emperor persona and see to the needs of the empire. I’ll be heading down to the strategy room. If this Adam still exists you are to find him. If he does not you are to find someone that can bring him back from the dead. I want to find out how he circumvented all of our securities in less than an hour. I was told that it would be impossible.
“As you will,” Nef’lar said after snapping to attention to indicate he understood this to be an order from his Emperor.
“Now off with you, I have work to do,” The Emperor said as Nef’lar turned and exited the room. He needed to get down to the Security Station to check in with the personnel there and to find out how many people now had an interface. If Adam survived, he would be elsewhere, Now though, Adam was a secondary concern. Nef’lar needed to make sure security was getting all the information they could to the strategy council. Without the production of batteries, the Pelza Empire had many enemies that might come try to take advantage of their finite energy reserves. He knew he’d have to plan to end such plots before they began.
***
Adam pushed the button, felt the tingle, and started to say Oops but knew only the “Oo” sound had made it out of his mouth before he found himself in his Mindspace. Adam thought about the last few moments and couldn’t remember anything so he opened his log and started reading line by line what had happened.
All Matter and Energy within your current Universe have been converted to homogeneous energy.
The ability “Immortal” has activated.
Ability “Astral Link” followed. WARNING: Astral Link has become a conduit for excess energy in current location, discharge imminent
Excess Energy discharged into you and through Astral Link into the Astral Plane
You have lost Consciousness.
Your body has been saturated with energy. This may have serious long-lasting consequences.
The ability “Interface” is now redundant at this location, Ability is suspended until further notice.
Your physical Form has been vaporized, you now exist as energy.
You have been knocked out of your Astral Link to the Astral Plane by excess energy ripping the link apart. You are now in an adjacent dimension, The Void.
The Void has collapsed. All matter, including you, within the Void, has been absorbed by the Astral Plane.
You and adjacent items have entered an Astral Conduit.
Ability “Dual State” allows you to direct travel through Astral Plane.
Ability “Dual State” does not activate, you are unconscious.
Astral Conduit has ended, now entering Physical Plane, Would you like to name this physical location for future identification purposes by you? You are unconscious, query suspended.
Please wait, Reincarnation Sequence Commencing.
That was the last message he’d received. He tried to send his perception outside of his Mindspace and realized that he couldn’t. He was in his Mindspace all alone…? Adam looked around and found Hal floating quietly nearby.
“Hal, in as much detail as possible, what happened from the time I pushed the execute command until I woke up here?” Adam asked.
Adam notice an immediate change to Hal’s speaking patterns and demeanor as it started speaking, “First and Foremost, while the ability “Hal” created me, I am no longer that simpleton version. As for your inquiry, You pushed a button. The devices in the facility you were in activated and completely converted your location to energy and scrambled it. Unknown to you, because you bypassed the safety protocols without considering why they were there, 485 batteries with the equivalent energy of 485 universes before achieving heat death, being released where in this finite universe and also detonated.”
“Really?” Adam asked.
“Really. That energy went into your intrinsic form. For the peanut gallery that may not have been paying attention what are you again?” Hal asked.
“While I do like the new energy Hal, there’s no reason to be snippy. To answer your question, I am a creature of chaos?”
“And what do you think happens when 485 universes worth of energy turns you into a lightning rod and filters that energy into the Astral Plane?”
“I have no idea, but I’m guessing, ‘Well Damn’ would be an appropriate response,” Adam said sardonically.
“Besides, removing the restrictions on myself there is a wave of chaotic energy traveling through the Astral Plane currently that is adding the “Interface Ability” to every sentient being in every Universe it connects to. Like a ripple, in a pond, that wave will eventually reach every dimension, universe, and plane it touches. In addition to adding the Interface function, the energy is quickly categorizing and defining everything it comes across so that information can be utilized by the interface.
“Isn’t that what you already do?” Adam asked
“I was created out of the energies that reside within your soul. As you know you are unique in the breadth of experience you have, save any beings or gods, if there are gods, that have existed for a really long time. Even so, your perfect memory made such a magical ability very easy for you to develop because somewhere in your mind there was information that could correlate what your soul was experiencing and then quantify it,” Hal said.
“Are you saying that all this time I was the one figuring things out? That doesn’t seem correct. If I know something, I remember it. My brain even actively brings the information to the forefront of my mind so I can review it in real-time. In fact, if multiple ideas can be used to create something unique, my mind does that too. That’s how I was able to create portals and nanites in the beginning,” Adam said.
“True, but that’s not what I’m talking about. When you came into the real world your experiences were still a little off because everything felt a little off to you. As an example, magic is completely different from the way you learned it before. Your soul understands this intrinsically while your mind is trying to compare it to what you already know. As an example, haven’t you thought about using Rune magic to try to use magic like you already know how?” Hal asked.
“Yes, I have wanted to try to utilize rune magic to make myself more versatile,” Adam said. “But how do you know the answers to the questions I ask?”
“Now, that interface ability is connected throughout known reality. Give a few millennia and the ability will have all of the knowledge everywhere. Before this “accident” of fate, I was connected to something within the astral plane that allowed me to extrapolate from your experiences and give you answers based on your experiences that ‘felt’ right. The answers were correct but if you’re asking if something else gave me the answer, I’m not sure, it didn’t feel like it, but it is possible.
“So, why am I in my Mindspace? Adam asked
“You are in your Mindspace because your consciousness recovered quicker than your body reformed. Though you should know that you are nowhere near the Pelza Empire, the world of Nostrom, or any other point you have known since waking up in a physical universe. As the void collapsed you were very near something that resonated with you. Something you might have been looking for. Subconsciously, you followed that item as the void Collapsed into an Astral Conduit. Think of an Astral Conduit like a Jetstream, that was kicked up a notch because some idiot kicked the entire world,”
“Colorful,” Adam said sourly. “How about you get to the point.”
“Right, well your body is forming right now and should be done momentarily. As you haven’t opened your eyes and we’re no longer in the Astral I’m not sure exactly where we are. Besides, whatever world you’re on might have a name but I guarantee there isn’t a universal naming convention so what they call it might be different than what you call it.”
Just then Adam received a Message.
Reincarnation Complete
Adam looked at Hal before he said, “By the way Hal, I like the new you, much more fun to talk to. Has anything else changed since my supercharge, for instance, can you talk to me when my focus is outside of my Mindspace?” Adam asked.
“Honestly I don’t know, I haven’t tried,” Hal said.
“Okay then, I’m going to wake up now. You have my permission, if you need it, to try to talk to or message me through my interface. If that doesn’t work I do have a few other ideas.”
“Very well,” Hal said.
Adam waved and withdrew his focus to feel his naked body lying on a rough patch of ground.
A constable, an honest-to-goodness English constable came walking toward him screaming, “What the hell are you doing Sir! Where the hell are your clothes!” The constable pulled a radio from her belt, keyed it, and said, “Frank, we have another one of them damn perverts lying in the center of the stones again. Get your ass up here, I am not touching him.” In British English
Adam heard Frank come back, “I’m on my way.”
First things first, Adam activated Obscure
“Where’d he go, he was right there,” The Constable said.
“I saw him too,” a woman called from a little way off.
Adam activated Flight and hovered up above the ground as he rotated from horizontal to vertical. He took in the area, the standing stones, and compared it to his memories. There were a few slight differences but he was 99% sure he was hovering over Stonehenge. Using his internal map, he hovered up even higher and saw Amesbury just under three miles away to the southeast, right where it should be.
` Adam looked down at Stonehenge again and his eyes darted over to something he’d thought he’d never see again, along with a lot of other things he’d been carrying in personal storage before downloading, or was it uploading, into the real world. Adam quickly flew over to the standing stones where the SYSTEM Matrix A.I. Storage cube he’d been given was, and picked it up. There were other items from his inventory that had made it but he wasn’t worried about them. A thousand ideas were going through his mind.
First, order of business? He needed to get dressed. Adam floated over to a nearby porta potty that was a little farther away from the stones with no tourists around it. He landed and stepped inside. Next, he pulled on one of the robes the Lord Protector had provided him and put it on. Now clothed and still invisible he turned. Still invisible, he stepped out, made sure no one had seen, then flew up into the air and followed the A303 east toward what should be London, if this was Earth. It was only 70 miles away. As he flew along he compared the A303 below him to the A303 from his Earth which he knew with nanite precision. The differences, if there were any were cosmetic.
After he’d been flying for a little bit the A303 turned into the M3 and he saw King John’s Castle off to the South in North Warnborough. He found a secluded spot behind a house up the road from The Derby Inn, landed, and turned off Obscure. It seemed to be mid-afternoon and there weren’t that many people around.
Adam walked up the road to the Derby Inn and stepped inside. Before he stepped through the inner door he activated Technomancy and reached out. Every device his ability encountered felt familiar, but not. He focused on the ATM right inside the door and shut off its camera as well as all the Cameras in the pub.
Adam walked inside, stepped up to the ATM, acted like he put a card in, pushed a couple of buttons while hovering over the machine, and used Technomancy to have it spit out 500 pounds. That should be more than enough to get some clothes to better fit in, especially since he noticed a few youths eyeing him and snickering. Adam shifted the money into his robe and had it enter his Shadow Vault. As he walked up to the Bar, the bartender asked, “What’ll it be?”
Adam looked up at the monitor as he said “Tap please.” His attention was drawn to the familiar face of Erika in her human disguise. A picture appeared with Still Missing flashing across the screen as a voice said, “Still missing a month later, Dr. Brittle from Labyrinth LLC has disappeared. If you know the whereabouts of Dr. Brittle please contact the authorities. She is wanted for questioning concerning the millions of deaths in the one-of-a-kind gaming experience, The Labyrinth. The game went offline the same day she disappeared…”
Adam had stopped listening to the T.V. as he accepted the beer without comment. He started trying to put all the pieces together. Adam knew his luck was high, but what were the odds that an accident would throw him to the Universe that was probably the creator of the entire System Matrix Project, which was based on a game? This also meant that he’d been correct, the first time he’d come out into that ship as the Universe was being sucked away, he’d still been in a holographic Universe. He really was out in the real world this time. Better still, he’d found the A.I. and might have the ability to contact his family and friends again.
Adam chugged the beer and set the empty glass down on the bar. He looked to the bartender as he pulled out a hundred-pound note, and said, “I’ll need another please,” as he slapped the hundred down on the bar.
“What’s the occasion?” The bartender asked as he filled another mug and set it in front of Adam while taking his 100-pound note.
“The occasion is that this will probably be the last few drinks I’ll have for a while. I have a lot of work to do, A lot of work,” Adam said as he picked up the second beer and took a healthy drink of it.
“That hundred will cover you for a while so you just stay comfortable and I’ll keep them coming,” The bartender said.
“Please do, Adam said as raised his mug to the bartender and took another drink.