Coconuts, clear water, and chilled drinks. That’s all there was in Hawaii according to Hollywood. A place to buy a vacation home, get an even better summer tan, and return to whatever corporate VP job you hated. Paradise. Not a place with history. Not a place where there once used to be culture, the real kind of culture before movies and tourists screwed it over.
Now Hawaii was plagued with houses that stayed half empty most of the year. While rising prices booted natives off to mainland states like Seattle Washington. Family friends said it was dreary and drizzly most of the time. Little by little Hawaii was losing the families that had built it up. Generational homes were bought and renovated just to be used by some rich Englander.
All that changed in the summer of 2020. The season The System arrived.
Before The System everyone had been worried that humans own pioneering of AI would result in destruction. Like one of those evil robot movies from the early 2000’s. What nobody had expected was a reality in which AI had existed long before anything else. At least, that was how most tried to grapple with it. The day that the words, “SYSTEM INTEGRATION IMMINENT” appeared in everyone’s minds was one to be remembered.
I recalled turning on the News to see the headlines of, “GLOBAL PANIC AS WORDS FLASH IN EVERYONES MIND” A bit direct, but still a true statement. More messages continued to flood everyone’s mind in the ensuing days. It described the earth as “HAVING ACHIEVED NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS FOR MULTI UNIVERSAL INTEGRATION.” Some influencers online had said maybe this was a positive thing for everyone. Figure heads around the world tried to calm their nations with notions such as “possibilities for universal peace.” What a load of crap.
Those hopeful press statements were quickly recanted as the system continued to update the world on how it was going to go down. Apparently, integration was rocky, and worlds coped differently to the process. Panic V.2. I thought of it as the purge. New stations weren’t even able to cover all the chaos as wars and crime went through the roof.
One could only watch so much before feeling utterly repulsed. Humanity was disintegrating and it was on mainstream news. The world was a joke. As families turned on one another, Maui was mostly unaffected. The only change was the rich businessmen who had been so quick to buy a low-priced home in Hawaii, were also quick to leave. Almost all vacationers fled. Apparently trying to wrangle down business during the apocalypse was more important than one’s own life. Either way it felt odd for to see so many planes and boats leave Maui mid-summer. Usually, it was the opposite.
Some news stations stopped covering tragedy overall and began talking about what electric grids were still up, what areas still had water supply, and the weather. Another benefit was Maui’s personal energy set-up. We continued to be unaffected by the outside world.
The only discussions I enjoyed watching were from my favorite tech youtubers who dove into one of the systems messages about “CLASS SELECTION” Apparently after integration you’d have the ability to choose a starting class that progressed as you did. The system hadn’t explained what “progressing” meant, but most had a good idea. It helped me to think about the system as some game release, not a possible world ending invasion.
“Kai? You in there?” My thoughts were interrupted by a hand waving in my face.
“Yeah. Sorry just thinking…” I said with an added smile.
“It’s alright, I get lost in my own thoughts too. So much is… changing.” Ian said, looking off for a moment.
“But hey we got each other.” This was complimented with Ian’s usual head shake and hand raised for a dap, which I did. No matter what happened, Ian would probably never change.
“That’s true, need to keep that in consideration next time the world is ending.”
“Ha. Ha. We’ll be fine. I mean, look around us!” He slung an arm around my shoulder and pointed off into the distance, like he needed to help my see what was around us. It truly was beautiful. Ian and I currently resided at our favorite spot. It was a rocks throw from the main island road.
We had discovered it after Ian had crashed his bike through the tree line, coming to a precarious stop on the edge of a drop off. After I had ran through the trees after him, stressed he was plummeting to his death, Ian had just laughed and pointed in the distance. It was beautiful. The sun set off to our right, framing the ocean with golden light. Fluffy clouds floated overhead, providing shade on what would’ve been a hot evening. Ever since then we came here to enjoy the salty breeze of the ocean whilst discussing whatever was on our minds, most likely the classes we hated.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Now, school seemed like such a useless thing. It was cancelled for Maui County, something Ian and I had already taken great advantage over. For the past week we had surfed, ate, and played video games like kings. But as the system integration approached, I felt unsure. It had said every world reacted differently, what if ours was just… destroyed.
“KAI! Gosh dang. That’s the second time I’ve had to snap you out of it. Must be worried about this whole thing.” Ian was now shaking me with the arm he’d slung around me.
“Yeah. Look it’s just… I don’t know. One moment we could be goofing off and the next I never see anyone again. I hate the uncertainty.”
“I get it man. But hey, we know the system is coming tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll send us another message about exactly when. But until then, no use in stressing. Plus, I thought you were just thinking about this whole thing like some kind of video game, right?”
“I was, but now I feel like it’s looming over me. The whole system integration.”
“Yeah, it’s looming over all of us. But nothing we can do except enjoy our lives until it happens. Buuuuuut we probably should get back home now.”
I nodded and stood up, reaching down to grasp Ian’s hand and pull him up as well.
We pushed our way through the trees and grabbed our bikes leaning against one of the trees.
“Race you?”
“You’re always such a child… I’ll win though.”
With that we both blasted off, following the road back home. We kept close to the right of the road, neck and neck as we sped faster and faster.
“WAHOO!” Ian yelled at the top of his lung, standing up as he pedaled.
“WAHOOO!” I yelled back, attempting to be louder.
Our journey didn’t last long as the green of trees and yellows of fields blurred past us. Soon the road curved left, more inland, and a small path led to the left. Ian, somehow pulling ahead, guided his bike Infront of me. He rode the dip down and onto the path never lessening his speed. I just shook my head at his foolish antics, knowing his daredevilish self was the reason we always got into trouble.
The path led out to the coast where a few houses sat scattered about. The land here was cleared of most trees, excluding the few palms my parents had kept up around our house. Both Ian and I’s families had purchased much of the coastal land. Keeping large buildout neighborhoods away. Although the edge of my property had the same kind of drop off as ‘our spot’, being bombarded by chores wasn’t ideal.
Ian gave me a behind the back wave as he biked past my house, going further back to his own. Our friendship hadn’t just happened because we got along so well. At first my mother had accidentally mistaken Ian for me. Ian’s family had moved into their house back when I was in the second grade. Considering there weren’t many other slightly chubby Polynesian kids nearby, she had yelled at him to come take the trash out.
That had led to much confusion when I had then gone to take the trash out only to be met an imposter already doing it. We laughed about it now that we had both grown into ourselves. Ian keeping his slightly bulkier frame whilst I had leaned out and gotten taller. I’d have never thought my mothers yelling would result in finding my best friend.
Coasting over to our porch I hopped off my bike before setting it against the old wooden railing. I opened the screen door and grinned as the aroma of fresh Poke hit me.
“I’m home!” I called out.
“Just on time! I need your help with assembling the poke!” Came my mother’s voice.
I exited the cramped foyer space and went to the back of the house where my mother stood surrounded by plates of ingredients.
“Where’d the counter go?”
“Ha. Would you like me to make less next time?”
“No mamma. Just a joke.”
“Good. Now grab some avocado and rice.”
The rest of my evening was spent slapping avocado, rice, salmon, onion, and sesame seeds into a bowl. After we finished, three large bowls of Poke sat before us.
“Go grab your father. He should be out working on the car.”
I nodded and went out the backdoor. Our “garage” was actually a homemade awning that somehow fit our 2005 Toyota Carolla underneath. Underneath I heard the loud buzzing of my father’s meddling work, which usually resulted in a trip to the auto shop across the island.
I raised a hand to block the setting sun and ducked under the awning.
“Hey Dad! Dinners ready!”
“Alright! Be out in a minute!”
Knowing that probably meant ten minutes, I went back inside to flick on the news. One of the few channels still running was some kind of independent that still had electricity.
“Yes, the death toll has now reached 720,000 in the US alone. Utilities are down in every state and the president hasn’t been seen in three days. Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to say this will be our last broadcast. We’re not sure where you might be watching from, but stay safe and prepare for the integration.”
With that is buzzed off and left a “CONNECTION LOST MESSAGE”. I flipped it to another channel but was interrupted by my mother.
“Kai turn that off. You know I don’t like all of that.”
“Me neither mom, but we at least need to know a little of what’s happening.”
“Off. Scares me too much.”
I surrendered and clicked the old TV off. I helped my mother finish setting up for dinner as my father finally returned and went to wash up.
Then we ate our last meal before the system arrived.