It seemed that I had had my wish come true. I was now somewhere else and basically in the heart of the mystery that I had witnessed so long ago. I felt my heart flare in panic as I thought about my family and life that was ever so slowly moving on without me. The panic started to fade after just a couple of moments and I started to feel a bit normal again.

“Ok, what the actual heck is happening? Tutor, why do I feel so calm and normal about all of this?” I asked as I turned my head to look at her, finding her leaning back in the chair and seemingly engrossed in a romance novel.

She glanced at me around the side of the book and answered my question with another question before explaining. “You know that feeling that you have when you do anything new? Like going to school the first day, having everyone stare at you as you walk to your desk and sit down, or even the fear of a new job or getting up on stage to speak in front of people? Well, the system understands this feeling and knows that there is always a calm that comes after it, let's say an “Acceptance stage”. The system is helping you get to the acceptance stage faster so that you can be more rational and make better and wiser choices. Your human fight or flight response is outdated and the system is letting you have time to pick and choose what you want.” She said as she bookmarked her page and swiped at something in the air.

A menu appeared before my eyes like you would see on a Settings menu on a computer. An option was highlighted in yellow for me to find it faster and it had both a selection on/off box as well as a slider bar to pick the level of intensity I wanted to experience. It was labeled as “Fight or Flight response”.

“So what would have just happened if this was off or lowered in value?” I asked as I started to read over the list of options to mess with that were presented to me.

“Oh? Well, you would have curled up into a ball and cried for a while before becoming inconsolable for the next couple of days. After which you would feel down and have mood shifts up and down until you got used to your new beginning here.” She said as her expression seemed to become one of disdain. “For all that you seem to understand the value of time, your species seems to take a lot of it to get over things and to deal with events that are harmful instead of getting right back up and figuring out the best way forward.” She said as she floated data in front of me.

Pages and pages flew rapidly in front of me displaying average recovery times for different events. Some of the events like “loss of a loved one” had years to infinity displayed next to them. It showed that someone's love of life could be lost forever with different situations. I understood that I didn’t have time to mope and to get lost in despair like that if I was going to be able to find my way home sometime soon. My family wasn’t lost to me and I shouldn’t even think of this in such a manner. I should instead think of it like going to college or on an adventure to invest in myself with this amazing opportunity that I was given.

“That brings me to another question, Tutor. How long have I been here compared to my time back on Earth? I mean… you said it was just a little after 4 pm a few minutes ago…” I trailed off as I waited for her answer.

She looked at me and smiled before answering “Ah, I feel the change in you, the need to get up and to get into things.” She said as she pretended to consider something for a moment. I say pretend because I already figured that she was modifying her behavior to fit what I was used to… and that I could change that as well if I needed so that she would just answer every question like a computer… but I wasn’t going to do that. I didn’t want to turn into a robot or a jerk after all this was done.

“The short way of thinking about it is that for every hour that passes back in the real world… you will have experienced 41.6666666667 years of time here. Or rather 42 years roughly if you want to round up to have an easy way of thinking about it. It just goes to show you that it truly is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

“But… what!?!” I sputtered as she continued.

“You know how computers in your time can do incredible and amazing calculations in a fraction of a second? Well, the easiest way for you to understand how this can be is to just understand that the CORE is so so so so so so soooo much more than anything that your computers ever could be and hence we can live at speeds in VR at this rate.”

“No, I mean, you tossed a wrench in my thought process with that Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy reference. I wasn’t expecting humor from you.” I said with a chuckle. “And yes, I get the concept that we can exist in an accelerated state since all my thoughts and actions are within a super ultra computer… but 42 years though?” I asked as I thought of aging to 62 within this place if it took me an hour of real time to get home.

Tutor rolled her eyes as the thought went through my mind. “That is incorrect in part… your body can’t age and hence your mind won't deteriorate. Yes, you will grow in experience and capabilities far beyond a 20 year old on Earth but it won't include all of the body aches and pains you just imagined. Your mind is part of the CORE system now so some of the aging things that you feared would happen will never happen now.”

“Is that what Joe or Hxerdinand meant when he said he needed a “human decompression session”?”. I asked as I sat up and moved to the edge of the chair, getting ready to get up.

“Yes…. sort of. CORE citizens tend to take a period of time to catch up to life in the CORE and to re-sync with who they want to be and how they want to think. It is a time for them to push ideals that they choose to disregard away and to keep what they want to keep at the forefront of their personalities.” She said as she got up as well. “Not every memory is useful or needed. Like political views, sports events, and what famous people say.”

“So… can we remake this place, my VR place, to be something better, more like a home I would want to live in?” I said as I looked at the disjointed way it was laid out, some recliners, a wall of endless bookshelves, and a walled apartment a little distance away. “Certainly, you can create and shape this place to be anything that you want. In addition the access that Xa purchased for you will allow you to have any number of assistants like myself that you require.”

“Why would I need more than one assistant?”

“To keep your mind used to dealing with other people. You can customize each assistant to have a different tone or personality trait.”

“Hmmm… I will think about it. I don’t see the point yet, I don’t want to have an argumentative person who I have to deal with all the time, I simply detest people who create drama for no reason. Believe me, I have experienced enough people like that growing up. However… it would be fun to have assistants who were devoted to learning about different things that I yet don’t understand. That way I can give them an area that I want to improve in or learn about and I can set them loose until such a time as they are ready to teach me what they have learned.” I said as I thought about what I could use extra Tutors for.

“That… could be advantageous…” She said after a short pause.

“Glad you agree.” I said with a smile as I turned to look around and started to mumble to myself. “So… the sky's the limit with what I can imagine. I can basically make anything that I can think of. The thing is though… what do I want? Do I want to recreate my home town, my room, and my home to live in? Or… should I treat this as a base of operations… my secret lair to work out of like Bruce Banner?” Different images flashed through my mind’s eye and I chuckled as I decided to feel out each iteration in turn.

I thought about my home town, it’s surrounding countryside, and everything and when the prompt came up if I wanted to create it all from memory and real life I clicked “yes” with the limit of it all taking a little amount of time versus instantaneously appearing. True to how I wanted it my front lawn, home, and city started to be drawn from the ground around me. The other things that I created vanished while my old living space and life grew around me in less than a minute's time. I looked up the narrow concrete path to the front door of my parents house and around at the house next door to the right where my grandparents lived. It made me a little sad knowing that all of this was fake and a reminder to what I left behind.

“Hmmm… lets save all that for later, I can come visit this if I need to feel at home. Right now is time to make my place. My dream place that I can thrive and grow and create in.” I said as I imagined a massive city like New York city around me. I chose to be standing in one of the apartments walled by glass windows many many stories up with an amazing view of the city around me.

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“Wow…” I said as I imagined the apartment to be the richest that I could imagine. The system even offered me a rolodex of famous and wealthy real life apartments to choose from. I chose one and grinned from ear to ear at how lavishly luxurious it all looked. I walked up to the glass wall and looked down, pushing the simulation to start and for the city to come alive. Cars off in the distance started to move, traffic came alive, and tiny little dots that were people started to move around and to live their lives.

“How about this Tutor, what if each month I lived in a new capital city. Can this replay what happened starting from one month ago up until now?” I asked as I thought of how cool it would be to live all over the place, to get a feel for each town as long as I wanted.

“Yes, however a month wouldn’t be very long, you would spend most of the time walking around looking at the sights for the first few days. Also, you could either pick to be invisible and to let everything play out as it did this past month or you could make the system include you in the simulation, interactions and everything. I caution you though if you do that, you will just be speaking to simulations and it will not truely be real. Like a video game.” She said as my mind tried to fully grasp all the ways that having a real to life simulation could mess me up, making me develop relationships with people that only existed in this virtual space. I didn’t want to get lost like that and I knew that I would need to talk to real people often.

“Is there a way for me to meet real people? Outside of this place and around the Core?” I asked.

“Yes…” Came the first unsure reply that I had heard out of Tutors mouth.

“Yes, what?” I asked her with narrowed eyes. “What was wrong with that question?” I turned to look at Tutor who was standing a little bit behind me next to a large table.

“Nothing was wrong with the question, it is just that you are, or might be unsuited at this present time to exit your VR guest home location. Yes, I estimate that it would produce a lot of cr for you, it would be like releasing a unicorn into the streets of India. Can you even try to imagine what that would do for just a moment? Firstly, a unicorn is not an Indian mythical creature, this will cause your appearance to be an oddity and it will lead everything that you do to be recorded and distributed through CORES to everyone, to every citizen. You are not a Citizen yet, and are still a Guest and protected by the system in a different manner than Citizens are. Your location and home are secret from only the most powerful. Xa was notified because there was a conflict in you being here because of her and Hxerdinand was the direct upload link. As for the rest, you only exist as a remote channel to witness. In fact, your viewer count has already passed eighteen trillion.”

“What?” I asked as my mind simply could not comprehend what she was saying. “Eighteen trillion? Then how am I not a cr billionaire right now?” I asked

“Because after you nearly cut yourself in half the system put a limiter on you so that the audience wont pay you to harm yourself. You actually received a little over a million CR for that just from IO and the number has gone up substantially since then. The 380 was the system rounding it down from the end result of 38 million down to 380. Xa also pushed for the system to block that kind of interaction with you and Hxerdinand seconded her when they understood what it could do to you. You are unique, and Xa and Hxerdinand wish for you to prosper and succeed. Yes, your encounter with the table was unique, no one had ever done that before, but the system will not let you profit from self harm or stupidity. This is the way of the Cores regardless of the IO it gains. The Citizens don’t wish you harm as well, they are mostly just curious and observant.”

“So why did the number stop at 38 million then?”

“That was a cutoff number once the system projected interest in you to spread through the systems. It was at 38 million the moment it happened.”

I just stared off into space for a few moments, thinking about my life as a tv show. “Hmmm…. Let's just forget about that ok. I don’t want to get lost thinking about what other people think about me in all this. My life would suck if it was always at the whims of watchers… millions and trillions of watchers….” I said as it still blew my mind. Yup, that was something I wanted to have nothing to do with. “Is there a way that I can hide my IO and gain money from other means?”

“I believe you misunderstand what IO is, Kevin. It is not everyone watching you, per say, it is people’s systems observing you and adding the results to their experience library. Think of it as if it is the observance of new or as of yet untried knowledge. So your cutting yourself in half was something no one had yet to try, without filters, or pain regulators on. You can make cr by exploring new systems or finding out things about new life. Basically, anything that improves or is new knowledge. Don’t be dismayed and think that everything has already been tried yet as well, I already know that you are different from all other citizens simply by how far my programming has taken me from the system standards. Teachers are already copying my subroutines and studying how different I am from normal AI and speaking about it in studies.”

“Look, I think I am going to go for a little walk, Tutor. I just need to get out. My brain feels stuffed, or at least it should if I was in my own body.” I said as I looked down at my perfect copy of my real body. “I just need to get out to think about things. To clear my head.” I said as I walked over to the front door. Next to the wall was a coat rack and I imagined my favorite zip up hoodie hanging from it. When it appeared I pulled it on and opened the door, I just wanted to walk and I really didn’t care where it was, even in New York, a city that I had never been to.

The front door led to a short hallway with an elevator down at the end. It seemed that my floor had at least 3 other occupants capable of living in the massive apartments. I wondered for a second what they would be like, whose place I had taken over in real life.

The elevator dinged and soon I found myself down on the first floor and walking out of the tall building that I lived in.

It was amazing.

There were people everywhere walking to their destinations. It was such a busy city. For a moment I forgot that it was all a recording of New York starting a month ago, I just got lost in the sights, smells, and sounds. There was steam billowing up from the ground a block away so I went on a walk to see why. I had heard about New York and how they heated parts of the city with steam boilers to offer low cost heating to clients and restaurants. It was just something to see it for yourself, masterful engineers of old who designed ways to provide heating to such a huge city scape. I also wanted to just wander and to see how incredibly busy this place was. The people were…. different. They acted differently than the people from my small hometown acted. I got lost for a while in New York. It was only later when the sun was starting to go down that I came to my senses.

I was sitting on a park bench watching the lights come on and the people slowly start to stream away back to their homes as the night approached. I had bought a subway sandwich and several bottles of water from a local shop sitting next to me. I knew the food wasn’t real, but that didn’t bother me so much. It was these new realizations that kept popping up with every action that I did here that surprised me and made me inspect it like a new bizarre treasure. The fact that I didn’t need to eat here, and yet I could eat whatever I wanted at any time that I wanted without regret or regard to the consequences.

The night was slowly approaching and there were still people out late enjoying the day. There were beggars, a lady folding up her easel off in the distance, and even a guy with his dog out for a walk near the edge of the grass. My investigation of New York’s steam system hadn’t impressed me in the beginning until I had cheated and decided to use my interface to see through the ground and to have the system trace the pipes throughout the city. It was then that my eyes were opened and I was truly amazed at how vast the system of heating was here. It must have taken so many people to build and run those lines everywhere. I had wandered around after that, changing my vision to include or remove different aspects of the city so I could see how everything was put together. Telephone and power lines ran everywhere and it all had a certain system to it. Everything had a system to it, built around the people living their lives in this huge city. I ended up sitting on a park bench hours and hours later in the fading light.

“This really isn’t a dream, is it Tutor?” I asked out loud, knowing Tutor could hear me. I heard a soft set of high heels stride to the other end of the bench and felt her sit down. “No Kevin, it is not.”

“What should I do Tutor? I feel…. lost.” I said as I stared off into the distance, the sounds of cars honking in the distance as an offset to the peaceful environment of the softly swaying trees.

“Tutors have a limited range of guidance that they can offer Kevin. We were made this way to limit us from creating cookie cutter citizen children. They are all allowed to do what they want and to learn how they choose… which oddly enough in the end kind of creates cookie cutter citizens regardless.” She said as we both just sat there together. I heard a shuffling sound off a little behind me and smelled the person approaching even before he got within 15 feet of us.

“I think I know what this is.” I said as I got up and took a few feet away from the bench and turned around to watch what would happen in this simulation. Sure enough, the man reeking of booze and other smells was making his way to his home, the park bench we had just been sitting on. I kinda figured it was his because of the little pile of littered beer bottles I had seen tucked under one corner. I stood there and watched as he sat down on the bench and stared off into the distance with an expression that might have looked like my own. He looked lost.

“So this happened a month ago?” I asked as we both stood there and watched as the man prepared for bed. First he went to a nearby tree and watered it before going back to his bench/bed and laying across it, trying to get comfortable. I walked over and set down the sandwich and water bottles next to him so he could find them in the morning. I knew this wasn’t real but if it were I wish I could have done that for the man.