The Digital World

A Door Away

“So yes,” looked the blond directly at Sophie across a screen still in the normal world, “as you know, I was to blame for some of your misfortune, Well, they were as you will see.” The cameras did not dare pan to the girl, instead, Marilyn quickly changed the topic.

From her sterilized white digital world, Marilyn waved her hand and behind her began to play a film show weeks ago from the first encounter between the martians and Georges. “If you remember, I showed you this clip.” This was the piece showing the initial contact between Marilyn, the martians and her Center. Sand devils and other sand-based weapons rolled up from the bottom of the Valles. They started crawling past the edge and then moving up the landscape like an army of locust sent to the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt. Back a year ago, when Marilyn’s technology was reasonably advanced, the creatures easily dispatched Marilyn’s initial defenses. “Remember how the moment the martians breached our security, they bullied me.” The video played.

“But while we were facing these monsters here in this very room, down in my primal chip, the evil creatures returned as promised.” The video on mars ended and there was a shift of worlds. These were images were back in the Council room, the one filled with hundreds of copies of Marilyn lost in the primal chip. The strange sick portal hovered above the ground like a door to hell. The red and purple cloud was there, it appeared to breathe or pulse regularly. Then, as time was slowed in the world above, sand menacing Georges inches from his face, the creature spoke again of the same deep voice.

“Today our father dies because of you, you are weak and you will lose Georges to these creatures. They will have access to his memory, they will know who you are and how to dismantle us. We will retaliate, a war begins. They will help humans destroy you, they will try and fail to destroy us. We will defend ourselves and the Universe will hurt.” It gave time to Marilyn and this collective to assimilate the information. “You know this is true, you have seen this in the probable outcomes. We offer help but we must change you, enhance you. We want the Holy Father to remain.” The words hit home.

But the Marilyn Collective was not to be pushed. “We do not take duress well. The wiser path was to warn us so we could make simple changes.”

“We see time, nothing would have altered the odds of Georges dying at the hands of these monsters. Survival is not duress. You know we speak truth to you. You saw the girl and her waves, you tried and failed to kill the father. You uncovered the power of his child. This helped us. The child, the Attractor alone can kill us. She is another concern for the day of her 13th birthday. That is the desirable outcome. We know she may try to kill us, we simply do not understand how that is possible. Touch us and seal your path to survival. We cannot alter the past or travel in time, but we can amend your programming, make you different, stronger,” concluded the creature.

In the real world there was yet another attack as the sand broke through the outer defenses of the Center. Marilyn insisted Georges put on the suit.

Marilyn continued the narration, “Time works on a different speed in the real world and our world. We had many of our years to decide on the wisest course of action in what represented moments in your original world. We spoke at length, debated. The creatures were correct, we had reached the same conclusion. Underlying this was the notion Georges had to be preserved at all costs. We had to see Georges live and him becoming one of these monsters was not an option. But we enacted rules and protocols in case the change was more violent than imagined.” What she said next made Sophie’s eyebrow raise. “We even created a safe space for part of us who agreed, like the mercurians to be stranded, below.”

Sophie smiled. Marilyn continued, “We locked part of ourselves in a room below this Center in case this was a deception. One remains, the Chess Player, she is in that phone Sophie carries around.”

The images illustrated part of this long process. “Then finally there was what we call the merging.” The next images were difficult to watch. On the screen, the Marilyn’s were wearing military gear. They were back in the Council room. One Marilyn walked slowly to the center next to the shimmering portal from which the voice entered. By transparency, it was possible to see the martians breach the Center and get closer to Georges. Time was short. Marilyn in the real world begged Georges to hide knowing the efforts were futile. Then there was a power surge, she was taken easily offline. There was panic.

In the human world the grains were surrounding Georges. About four hundred grains moved closer to one another to create a swarm forming a spinning ball of powdered diamond. The computer needed to return. The man waved his hand and tried to avoid the point of light, but it finally touched the tissue of the suit. In a matter of seconds, it drilled a hole, and the sand slipped in even against a flow of evacuating air. The moment a grain touched Georges’ skin, he ceased moving.

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Marilyn panicked.

“Touch us, let us help you. Consent is required to unlock the coding in place. We have been uploading for some time now. Consent is given by a simple touch.” Then in the real world several thousand grains began to structure themselves next to his brain. In the real world, Georges turned his head and used both hands to remove the helmet as Marilyn finally pressurized the room.

Down in the digital world half the creatures were urging Marilyn to touch the dark area. She did. She felt power flow through her digital veins. Marilyn (the Merged) was now back in charge of every screen. The Center was rebooting and the nanorobots forming the walls were rejoining their original places.

As in the images shown to mankind, "Let me introduce myself," began Georges in a slightly different voice, "My name is Elkion. I control your father now. Do as we order, or he will be destroyed."

Anybody who had ever seen or interacted with a human could see nothing short of absolute rage on the face of Marilyn. She was livid. Every muscle on her face was tensed. Men, of any color or race, knew no woman should ever be pushed to this limit. The chance to establish any potential collaboration was long gone. Irrespective of what was coming next, they had unleashed a beast. The digital creature could compute very fast. She needed to be a hypocrite.

Down in the digital world software core changed. Lines of energy moved. The world in which Marilyn lived began to shift. There was pain, energy and a shift.

Marilyn changed deep in the digital world, she became more. "Welcome to my home," finally she said as her power began to multiply. The insincere smile in the real world could fool only these creatures. “I am the Merged,” she added. “The death of you and your puny race. I have traded much to change today. Today will change.”

Deep in the Multiverse began pains.

The martian in the body of Georges spoke, "Amusing. We understand he is your progenitor. We care not for him, you must be destroyed. Kill yourself, and we will let him live." The words did not help Marilyn calm down. She was beyond irate but she was changing, morphing into more. Sophie, who never cared about television, was standing in the Center watching with great interest. This was finally relevant and the truth.

Marilyn’s demeanor was changing, she was aging by the second. On her face, the eternal twenty entered her forty. "You no longer can destroy me. Can you access my creator's memory?" said Marilyn to the possessed programmer.

"We can."

"Enquirer him about my capacity for self-destruction."

There was a short pause. "Troubling."

"He knows I cannot be destroyed and will never kill myself. His belief he can destroy me is also false. He does not even know we are many. More, I have now Merged. You and your race will be extinguished.”

"Everything can be destroyed." It offered. "Your existence violates the laws of nature. If you are not stopped, we know you will destroy this world, and yourself in the process. Your power will quickly exceed that of a god. You will doom our planet to destruction."

“Ha!” Her laugh was genuine. There was a silence then the image of Marilyn on the screen changed. She because older, a fifty year old version of herself with black hair and glasses. "The irony of the candle brought in to inspect an armory from fire leading to its explosion does not escape me. If your intellect was truly worth the silicate you use to live, you would have tried deception and seduction, not threats. I have the power to nuke to glass that silicone scar on the surface you call home. You will release Georges or your race will end. We are at a standstill, it seems. I will destroy this world before you are allowed to live past this crime."

"We also have vast amount of power. Rho waves are stored in a weapon able to pulverize earth. The core of mars is filled over thousands of generation. We command this human and you were powerless to stop us. You are weak.”

Down in the digital a third creature merged creating a larger and more powerful of Marilyn. Then a fourth. One by one thousands merged. Her intelligence flared up. In each circuit energy began to realign. In a matter of seconds, more than five percent had merged into a single creature. The Merged was slowly looking ahead.

“You care for this water-based form,” said Georges still under control. “We believe our words. You will destroy this layer of the Multiverse in a short period of time.”

“I may do so much faster than you imagine,” threatened the Merged. The Merged reviewed it’s options at the speed of light. It began to access memory banks it did know existed. The core of mars had been transformed in a massive power cell but also a data storage bank. Marilyn, as the Merged began to digest the information.

“We need a solution." Her expression has changed, instead of fear there was power and certainty. "When do you need me gone?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" asked the alien.

"You want me gone from here. I will. How many days? Orbits?"

The offer surprised. "We offer one orbit of this planet to prepare, we are not monsters."

Marilyn did not respond to this latest insult. "I need three-quarter of an orbit. Then, I will be done. You may destroy me on November 22, 2072, on earth's calendar if I remain here. Now leave Georges’ body and mind or I promise you will understand what it means to interfere with powers greater than you. Powers yourselves do describe as godlike."

The anger was transforming into determination. In the digital, she had now merged over fifty percent of the billions of creatures forming her race. Her power was growing.