Justin woke just in time to see the floor before colliding with it. He grunted and panted, wiping off a coat of sweat. Rolling out of his blanket and casually throwing it back onto the bed he glanced at his clock. There, surrounded by assorted papers, candy wrappers, and a half-eaten bag of chips it read, April first, nine-fifty a.m. The electronic clock also read, seventy degrees inside, ninety outside. The birds were chirping, the chickens were crowing, and a light breeze blew a tree branch against his window, it was just another summer day in the heart of Texas.

“Guess I’m up early…”, he mumbled.

“We rolled out of bed again.”, thought Emotion.

“Yea it’s weird, I don’t remember Aaron this time.”, thought Logic.

“Has any other dream done this to us before? I can’t even remember this one.”, asked Emotion.

“Neither can I, but no need to get paranoid. If it happens again then we can worry about it then.”, thought Logic.

He sighed and immediately used the restroom before brushing his teeth, shaving his goatee, and brushing his long hair. He didn’t bother changing clothes as he had slept in his shirt and blue jeans per usual. Lying back in bed for a while he scrolled through news, videos, and social media before his alarm spooked him. He floundered as he picked the phone off his face.

“Errands Eleven A.M.”, read the alarm.

He got up with a sigh and noticed his laptop was open from the night before, filled with photos of barren grassy landscapes.

“So, do you like my new plan?”, asked Logic.

“You want to spend our life restoring overgrazed land to its natural state. Yea, I think it’s nice. We can build a cabin in the woods too and live off the land. It could be peaceful, but we’ll need a lot of money.”, thought Emotion.

“Well I’ll find us a way to get some. The point being, does it satisfy you?”, Logic asked.

“Honestly I don’t know, but this comes the closest I think.”

“Alright then, it’s a plan.”

Justin feigned a grin before licking his thin lips and grabbing his wallet and keys and heading to his front door.

“Where are you going so early in the afternoon?”, asked his younger sister from the living room couch, eating peanut butter right out of the jar.

“It’s still in the A.M.”, he responded with a sideways squint.

“Shocking”, she laughed.

“You know some of us actually work for a living.”

“Hey, I’m going to college soon you know.”, she said, eating a spoon full of peanut butter. “If you don’t want me to bug you maybe you should get your own place. You’re like thirty now, right?”

“Oh, confirming how old I am for a surprise birthday cake?”, he joked.

“No.”, she said, looking away.

“I’m turning twenty-one, and you should know that since I’m only a year older than you. Also, maybe you should find a place or a man before you eat us out of this one.”, he laughed.

“First everyone says I’m too skinny, now I’m eating too much. There’s just no pleasing people is there.”

“No there really isn’t.”, he mumbled as he opened the front door to his parents’ home.

“Bring me some lunch!”, she called to him.

“Pay me.”, he said, pausing in the doorway.

She shook her head and he closed the door. Noticing from their porch that some chickens had left the yard he took the time to shoo them back in before closing their busted yard gate. He collected his thoughts while he let his car run for a moment before driving into town.

“Groceries, cash, and lunch.”, he thought.

Driving for twenty minutes in silence down the highway he arrived into the scorching parking lot of a convenience store. Walking through the aisles, leaning over his buggy, he collected several microwaveable foods and snacks. He continued, still half asleep, to the self-checkout line to get cash back from his debit card. Tomorrow he was going to lunch and the movies with Jase at a cash only dinner. A little reward to himself on his days off as his birthday present, seeing as Jase would be gone on the day, weeks from now, and he had no other plans for it.

Going back to his now blistering car he stopped by his favorite chicken restaurant to get lunch. In the drive-through Emotion forced them to order two combos, one for his sister, while Logic reluctantly said she would have to do the dishes. Logic quickly realized he had gotten enough extra cash to pay for it.

“That’ll be fifteen seventy-four.”, said an employee through the window.

He opened his car door, as he had never bothered with the broken window, and hesitated. His right eye twitched as he sat down the cash and handed over his card.

“It’s faster for everyone this way.”, thought Emotion.

“What if we don’t have enough for bills?”, asked Logic.

“There’s just enough left, you’re just being paranoid.”

“Fair enough, but no more frivolous purchases until next month.”

Within a minute he had his food and was eating the fries as he drove back home on the highway. As the cars passed by, the sea of headlights began to appear brighter with each passing car, despite it being broad daylight. Justin thought this was strange but ignored it, focusing on the road. The line of cars facing him was finally passing, with only one car remaining.

“Finally.”, thought Justin as the car’s headlights continued to grow brighter. 

Trying not to look at the light, he couldn’t help but notice the opposing car swerving into his lane. He cursed and waited for it to correct its course, but to his surprise it continued down the center of the road. Sighing he pulled into the shoulder while honking at the other car, but as its headlights continued to brighten as it completely entered his lane.

Justin’s relaxed demeanor evaporated as he put both hands on the wheel and hit his breaks while continuing to honk.  The car continued swerving into a collision course while he desperately tried to think of a way out. The light completely engulfed his vision, blinding him as he lost all sensation.

He muttered to himself as his life flashed before his eyes while the opposing car raced into him, “Son of a…”

. . .

Justin cracked open his crusty eyes only to be blinded. His groggy arms flailed about as he wiped his eyes and tried again. There was nothing but infinite white while he looked around and felt his body. He swung his arms around, feeling nothing. He was adrift in a sea of light.

“Don’t panic, let’s close our eyes and think, we saw this in a video once.”, suggested Logic.

“What the hell Logic? Where is this? What happened?”, asked Emotion.

“Well we can breathe so that’s a plus. If we were moving, we could feel the air no?”

“What if the air is moving too? What is this? Weren’t we sleeping?”

“No Emotion think back. We woke up and went to town and then-“

“Car accident, I remember now. So what, are we dead? In a coma?”

“If we’re dead and people go to this void then maybe we will find someone eventually, but I think that’s unlikely. We could be in a coma I guess, but it still seems strange…”,

“Logic don’t tell me we’re bound to eternal boredom here.”

“No, we’re still breathing and we’re fully awake. That implies this is a place in space or perhaps some other plane of existence.”

“Oh, great so you’re saying we can look forward to starving to death.”

“Well no we would dehydrate first-“

“Dammit Logic you know what I meant.”

“Justin Ales Matthews, sorry to keep you waiting I’ve been trying to wake a friend of mine.”, a monotone voice throughout the void.

Justin’s left eyebrow rose while his right eye squinted and his right face contorted into a smug, snaking grin. “Oh, that’s just fine, take your time.”

“My, my that’s sarcasm correct? I knew you would probably react this way so far, but I must admit you’re still quite interesting.”, said the voice. It was dry, masculine, robotic even, and without any breath.

“Glad I could help, now if you wouldn’t mind telling me where we are!”, Justin rose his voice.

“Certainly. Welcome to Shadow Command’s cell block number two thousand and eight.”, said the voice, much closer now.

“Well that just begs more questions.”, he sighed.

“Feel free to open your eyes Justin.”

He did and was met with what he first thought was a beholder but quickly saw was just a person sized, elongated eyeball. It was holographic, made up of blue arrows pointing and flowing in all directions, although there was a small circle of white ones containing them. The entire mass tilted, like it was waiting for a response.

“Well, you know my name.”, he said, throwing his arms to get upright in the void, only to begin spiraling.

“Ah yes pardon my manners, you’re just such an interesting subject. My name is Tutelarius. I am the coordinator of all tests on the Quidvis dyson sphere. I also deal with a few pet projects of mine here on Shadow Command.”

“So what, I’ve been abducted by an alien A.I?”, he asked, still spinning.

“I must say you’re taking this even better than I calculated- “, Tutelarius managed to say.

“Is that what I am Tute? A pet project of yours?”, asked a female voice from the void.

His eyes followed the sound up to see a holographic woman made of white arrows covered in a blue dress of them. Her beauty captivated him, for a moment. As she floated down to them, he noticed her eyes were also a deep blue. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he realized what she said.

“Tute?”, he laughed.

“A nick name is what I believe it’s called, and how are you doing doll?”, Tute asked the woman.

“As if you don’t already know.”, she snapped back at him.

“Shouldn’t you know things for certain? You’re an A.I right?”, he asked.

“Ah yes, I thought being pleasant like this would put you at ease. Perhaps I was wrong.”

“Names Justin by the way, but I’m guessing you already know that.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Yes, Tute sent me some information when he woke me. Although I still haven’t gotten an answer as to why I’m here. Tute you bring plan C subjects here all the time. Why did you wake me?”, she asked.

“Plan C?”, Justin interjected.

“Perhaps it’s time I explained further, if you could wait for a minute?”, Tute asked the woman.

“Fine.”, she sighed.

“Earth, and several other worlds for that matter, are covered in nanites controlled by Legion, the third and now last A.I here. You all can’t see them because their subatomic and he simply wipes them from your memory and instruments. Our people have control of several spatial forces you see. Moving along, we have all of Humanities minds quantumly linked here and therefore your minds transfer here after death.”, Tute explained.

“Wild, so it’s not cloning right? It’s like part of my brain died but there was extra room here for that part to move to.”, Justin rambled.

“Correct. On the surface of the dyson sphere we experiment on your people and several others. We believe your peoples are capable of combating our now ancient enemy, the Eternal Tide.”, Tute continued.

“Why, is there some flaw in your programing? Also did someone make you guys or did ya’ll ascend through computing.?”, he asked.

“We did ascend through computing, but a method far too advanced for you to understand. More importantly our losses to the Tide are far more complex than a simple computing error.”

“Well maybe just ask for our help instead of kidnaping us?”, Justin questioned.

“I’m afraid how plan B is carried out is entirely up to Legion.”

“I thought this was plan C?”, Justin rubbed his forehead.

“No, I bring those people up here to Shadow Command.”

“For what purpose?”, he asked.

“I’m afraid much of our work is classified.”, said Tute, turning away.

“He’s always like this.”, mumbled the woman.

“And you are?”, he asked.

“Unimportant.”, she said.

“Oh, dear don’t be that way. Justin let me explain your individual situation before you ask me random questions about plans B and C.”, said Tute.

“I’m all ears.”

“Plan C was discontinued, but Legion still… has me bring you all here anyway. There aren’t many of you and no I’m not at liberty to discuss the qualifications. I do suppose you can imagine it’s mostly unique individuals like yourself. I give you all cells to inhabit here. We don’t do virtual reality here at plan B; however, this place is the size of Saturn due to spacial folding techniques we developed long ago. Basically, you can do whatever your mind imagines here.”, explained Tute.

“I can do whatever I want, just by thinking about it? What, do nanites construct things for me?”, he asked.

“Precisely, create worlds for yourself, people even, there are no rules by the way, and you can’t be harmed or killed, unless you truly desire it.”

“Tsk.”, the woman made the sound through her teeth. “This is a prison no matter how you describe it.”

“Some might call it heaven”, Tute said.

She pronounced the words slowly, as if they were a twisting dagger, “Everyone here commits suicide eventually.”

“This is absurd, way too much to process.”, thought Emotion.

“I don’t know, I’m following along and enjoying myself. Perhaps we should create something to stand on? Would that put you at ease?”, thought Logic.

“How would we even?”

“Emotion, let’s concentrate on a floor, and the idea that we can’t be hurt landing on it.”

A carpet appeared a few below him as he dropped onto it. He held his arms out, expecting to fall, but easily caught his footing. There must have been wood under the carpeting as it was steady and solid.

“I see you’ve already gotten started, any further questions?”, asked Tute.

“Well you’ve already said you plan on leaving why I’m here a mystery.”, said Justin as he scratched his head. “What does she do?”, he continued.

The woman was startled as he drew her attention, as if her mind was racing elsewhere. Her deep blue eyes reflected an ocean of sadness before her sullen expression looked away. “Nothing.”, she mumbled.

“Nothing?”, Justin parroted, puzzled.

“Oh, go ahead and tell him Emmi. Isn’t this interesting?”, prodded Tute.

“That’s all you care about isn’t it?”, she asked, glaring at him. “Fine, but I get to say whatever I want.”

“That’s quite alright, after all, you don’t really know anything important, do you?”, Tute said, tilting his body towards him, as if giving her the go ahead.

Her nose flared and her face finally showed some passion as she gave him her attention. “Plan’s A and B are testing several species combat, learning, and logistical abilities. I don’t really know anything about plan A, but Plan B is this place, Quidvis. Tute brings people here by the billions just to haplessly slaughter most of them. Others just live and build here, facing off against the elements. I can tell you that he has indeed gone mad. There is simply no way he’s gaining any useful data from these cruel tests.”, she said, throwing Tute a dirty look.

“Oh, please do carry on Emmi.”, he said.

“When you say billions-“, Justin managed to say.

“Yes, all of humanity comes through here. This place is over two hundred thousand years old and has had Earth in a nanite shroud since before Humans branched off.”, she interrupted him.

“So, there are Neanderthals here?”, he asked.

“Well I don’t watch the tests. It’s too sad.”, she said, looking away.

“There are some here yes.”, said Tute.

“And the people, when they die here, what happens after that?”, he asked.

“As I said we don’t do virtual reality here, it’s kind of the point. So, no redos.”, Tute remarked robotically.

“Your telling me you let everyone die a second time, and permanently? Why? There’s plenty of room here, you have spacial folding and it’s a fucking dyson sphere! Have you completely lost it?”, he ranted in a sudden fit of rage.

“I wish I had more answers for you, but as I said there are limits to what I can say.”, stated Tute.

“So, their consciousness after this just disappears?”, he asked, dumfounded.

Tute shook his body like a head. Justin turned to the woman for answers, but she turned away.

He sighed, and while rubbing his forehead asked, “So, you think we can stop your enemy, Tide, and you put us through difficult circumstances to test that. Why not just let us fight it? Why not use simulations?”

“Plan B exists due to simulations continued failure rate. They, I mean, Legion were hoping there was a flaw in the programing and that somehow, here in the real, we would find success. That’s why Quidvis was repurposed into Plan B. It was originally my nature reserve. As for why we no longer fight the Tide that’s classified, but believe me, we tried.”, Tute explained.

“Tute I was assuming you bring weird people like me here for Plan C so we could help you think outside the box, but you’re not giving me much to work with. And you still haven’t told me why you’re here, you’re clearly different from him.”, he said, passing looks to them.

“I bring you all here because Plan C demands it, but if you have any ideas I can sit here and listen to them for an eternity.”, said Tute.

“Alright, you have nanites, why not use them offensively?”, he asked.

“Tide has far more than we could ever hope to.”, said Tute.

“Okay, you have spatial folding, why not lurer small batches of their forces inside and overwhelm them?”, he asked.

“Amazingly that was our final play. Tide simply fights better than us, better than all the civilizations we put between us and it. We were lucky to escape back then. If it hadn’t been for…”, Tute’s voice trailed off as the white in his white pupil expanded greatly.

“THAT’S IT!”, his voice bellowed throughout the void.

“Jesus!”, Justin said, holding his ears.

“Oh, Justin you don’t know how long I’ve waited for a revelation like this.”, Tute said, drifting into his face. “I can see it all playing out now, this is perfect.”, he continued before turning to the woman. “Emmi, I’m sending you some talking points to go over with him. I’m going to speak with Legion, I’ll be right back.”, he said before disappearing into thin air.

“I see, how awful.”, said the woman, her voice cracking. She looked to him as though she might cry.

“Well? What is it?”, he asked.

She continued to stare at him, as if he was the one meant to explain things to her. Eventually she cleared her throat and walked right up to him. She was short and cute, and she smelled like flowers. He tried ignoring it and thought about his situation.

“He’s sending you down to the sphere, to a truly terrible place, perhaps one of the worst. No need to worry about not having a redo though. You’ll be given a nanite shroud, so no injury, and no need for food, or water. You’ll be completely invulnerable.”, she explained.

“Interesting, but what’s the objective? Why make me like that at all, what’s the point if I can’t lose?”

“Well for one I don’t think he’d be willing to give you up at this point. Now Justin, I’ve just looked at your information. You could say I know more about you than you do. I know you’ll want to stay there. Whatever you do, don’t. No matter what you think or feel, you must leave. Your objective is to return to Shadow Command.”, she continued.

“Woah slow down. You people expect me to make a spaceship and travel back up here? I haven’t even agreed to this yet.”

“I don’t know if you’ll have a choice, but please listen before he comes back. There are places on the sphere you can use to return here. He plans on throwing everything they have at you as you travel to one. He said Legion will understand after that, whatever that means.”, she went on.

“Okay, how do I find them?”

“You won’t have to that’s what I wanted to tell you.”, her breath shortened, “They don’t know that one of my friends is still in a ship in a nearby spaceport. If you find him the two of you can travel back here and we can beat Tute and Legion. We can finally stop Plan B.”, she said, cracking a broken smile.

“Really? That’s all? Where is it?”

“I’m back! Are you two finished?”, asked Tute as he reappeared.

“No, I thought I would have more time.”, she whispered, closing her eyes.

He could tell she was about to cry. He wanted to distract her, he wanted to distract himself.

“So, you never did tell me about yourself.”, he mentioned, imagining two chairs for them to sit it.

She looked at him with her welting eyes as they appeared. “Okay.”, she said, sitting down with him.

“Just so you two know we only have a few minutes as I’d like to catch the next drop.”, said Tute as he flew over to them.

“Logic should we really agree to this?”, asked Emotion.

“Just think Emotion, we’ll be invulnerable, so there’s no way we can lose. If we help Tute we can use the nanites on Earth to solve all the world’s problems in an instant. Doesn’t that sound worthwhile? We’ve been waiting for something meaningful all our lives, this is it. We can accomplish Aaron’s dream and save everyone; we can make up for what we’ve done.”

“I don’t know. She seemed worried, doesn’t that bother you, besides what point is there in making us like that? Just what is he testing?”

“Sure, that doesn’t make any sense, but Tute seems off his rocker. We can beat his little test by working with the girl in secret. You want to help her, right? I know I don’t usually let you get close to people, but maybe we can make an exception. We both know you want this too.”, thought Logic.

“You want purpose, I want to help someone. In the past that never worked out well, but…”, Emotion thought as they looked at her. There was one word written on her face. Pain. “I feel like she understands us. That feeling of doing nothing forever, of not being in control of your life, of longing for something you can’t quite describe, of being… shattered.”

“I was made on a ship during our people’s retreat, or so I was told. It was a small fleet, there weren’t many of us. Our creators told us we were special, that we were different from them, but they wouldn’t say how. Our objective was called Plan D, something our leader was mysteriously upset by, and the last plan made. We ran simulations simulations of our assault on Quidvis for just a few days, and then we attacked. They said if we reach Shadow Command, we could take control of the sphere, but only my ship made it through. I wasn’t a match for Tute alone, and he told me that everyone else had been killed by their defenses.”, she explained.

“So here I’ve sat, unable to do anything for the past two hundred thousand years. My whole life is sleeping in between him asking me my opinion on his demented tests. The worst part, he won’t let me end it. He keeps me here like some plaything.”, she said as she started crying.

“Oh Emmi, that’s not how it is.”, said Tute in a soft voice.

“Shut up! Why won’t you just let me sleep? Why won’t you let me die like the others?”, she cried.

Tute floated silently for a minute, watching her. Justin was getting pissed off. Just what was Tute doing here?

“It’s about time.”, said Tute, turning to him.

“Oh, you’re assuming I’m going to help you?”, said Justin, squinting at him, grinding his teeth.

“More sarcasm? You must know I picked your brain before I brought you here. We all know you want this.”, said Tute.

“You know what I want?”, he let slip out of his mouth.

“Yes, and deep down so do you, but ever since your little friend got shot you’ve created blind spots to protect yourself. I wonder if you’ll be able to overcome them.”, said Tute.

“Get fucked.”, spat Justin, his face coiling in anger.  

“You know that I know what will happen, and yet you’re still drowning in nerves.”, said Tute.

“If you know then what’s the point? What the hell is going on here?”, asked Justin as Logic decided Tute wasn’t being completely honest with them.

“I can’t tell you why or how, but I’ve also got to make up for something, to remove the blight my people left on the galaxy, to redeem our sin. The Tide is coming and with it, the end of your people and all others it encounters. Your broken mind may be our best chance, won’t you help us?”, asked Tute.

He took a deep breath. His hands were shaking. Unable to fill in the blanks Tute was leaving in his explanations, he couldn’t imagine or plan for what he was getting in to but could feel a great weight being placed on his shoulders. He didn’t want to pull the trigger on the decision, to risk failing himself.

“One last question.”, he said, leaning to Emmi.

She looked up at him, still sobbing.

“What is your name? Emmi is just a nickname, right?”, he asked.

Her face broke into a smile and she laughed. He couldn’t help feeling something as she cried, like it was his responsibility. It was always this way, despite Logic’s warnings, and his ever-increasing heartbreaks.

Emmi continued crying as she spoke, “Tute convinced me once to stay with someone here. I had no name then as I was never given one. After some time, the girl I was with said that wouldn’t do, that I needed a name. I told her I didn’t deserve one, that I was just a failure, that millions had and would be tortured by Tutelarius because of me. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”, she told me. She convinced me it wasn’t my fault, and for a little while, she really made me feel better. She took days to think of a good name for me. One day she asked me if she could look at the real me, instead of this projection I use to talk to you now. So, I showed her this.”

Emmi erupted into a sea of dancing blue and white arrowheads pointing and flying in all directions. Justin was mesmerized. It was so tranquil and enchanting as the sparkling arrows fluttered about like dragon flies.

“She gave me that same look. She said, “A dancing eminence.”, and called me Emidance. I stayed with her for many years, but eventually she grew tired, and decided she wanted to sleep forever. She told me that she loved me, and that it wasn’t my fault, that humans weren’t meant to live forever. My time with her was the only time I’ve ever felt happiness. Since then I’ve just slept, when Tute will let me. Honestly, I wish he would just let me sleep with her.”, she finished as she cried again.

“No.”, said Justin.

“Mm?”, she mumbled.

“I said no. Emma you said you know about me, and now I know a little about you. We’re both messed up, so let’s make a deal.”, he said, standing up.

“I’ll come back here and help you, and once I do you help me too okay?”, he said.

“Justin, I can’t see what’s going to happen like Tute, I don’t know his true plans, but I can guess by knowing you two and it’s terrible. I don’t want you to go.”, she cried.

“Then see this.”, he said, taking her hands into his own.

Her breath froze as their eyes met.

“I’m definitely… Gunna save you.”