Kyle led Ethan behind the ‘Rat Shack’. It was one of the last vendor booths, and beyond that the meadow opened up. They came to an unkept ballfield that didn’t look like it had been played on for many years. Kyle kept walking North past the ball diamond, and towards a treed area. Even in the outskirts there were people, but most seemed different. They were dressed in civilian clothes, but had a purpose to what they were doing. They had a military bearing about them. Ethan noticed some people, like he and Kyle, passed freely beyond a certain point, while others were warded off. Seeing this level of organization, Ethan felt he had landed right in the thick of things. Right where he expected to find himself at the beginning of a quest. There was some form of resistance at work here.

Kyle kept going until they came to a place deep in the wooded area. More people, but these ones were obviously guards.

“Bill sent him,” Kyle said to one of them.

Without a word, a number of people grouped together and started moving rocks and potted native plants away from a grove area. Others spread out to ensure prying eyes didn’t see the operation. In moments, a stone stairway into the earth opened up, leading to a passageway.

“You can wait for Bill in there,” Kyle said.

Ethan nodded, and made his way in. By the time he was down to floor level, the entrance door had been swung shut, and he was alone in what looked more like a jail than the heart of an underground organization. He looked around. He was in a sparse room that felt like a tomb. There was lighting. Not much, but sufficient. It was a fairly large room, with walls built of old red bricks, but well constructed. The bricks were closely cemented together and made up the ceiling as well as the walls. The floor felt a little sloped and was chiseled from preexisting rock. Maybe he was in a part of an old sewer system?

Ethan looked around. Although none too inviting and certainly not comfortable, there was an old wooden table, chairs, a hotplate, kettle and a few cups. A few books sat on a shelf, and some rolled up maps on a small table below them. Ethan sat down and waited.

It wasn’t long before Bill showed up.

“You have me in a jail?” Ethan asked as soon as Bill, who was alone came down the stairs.

“It’s just a place we bring strangers until we have a better idea of who we’re dealing with”.

“But you know me Bill. I used to hang out with Raven and Bubba. I became one of the 12 warriors and fought the Dark Angel with your brothers Dan and Jim. You were guarding the Grendel and disappeared. No-one knew what happened to you”.

“Half of what you’re telling me makes no sense,” Bill said. “And the rest you could have picked up on your travels. Did you think you’d trick me into believing we were acquaintances just because you know a few things about me? Right now, I’m not buying your story, but I’m more interested in how you disabled those two robots? Tell me about that, then we'll talk about old times”.

Ethan took a closer look at Bill. Something was off. Bill definitely did not recognize him, and with Bill, if he didn’t know you, he didn’t share. Ethan would have to tell him everything about the quest if he hoped to get his cooperation.

“Alright, Bill,” he said. “I was able to disable those robots, because I understand their mechanics. The two ways I know you can disable older robots is by hypnotizing them, or simply with the manual shutoff. Both are features in place to ensure humans are always in control of robots. You hypnotize them by staring directly into their optical receiver and then jerking your head forward slightly, like you’re about to head butt them. The quick action monetarily confuses their processors, and if you tell them to sleep they default to that command. It basically works the same way as when you hypnotize a human by unexpectedly jerking them slightly off-balance while telling them to sleep. You are placing the person or robot into a state of confusion, where they grab onto your suggestion for lack of a better response.

“You can also physically turn off a robot which is what I did with the one that was holding me. All you have to do is apply pressure under the robot’s chin which will disconnect its circuit and turn it off. The head can flip back and rest on the robot’s shoulders which exposes ports where you can run diagnostics or add programs. I was surprised to see you use sim cards,” Ethan said, throwing the one he had taken from the robot on the table in a gesture of camaraderie.

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Bill looked at the sim card, not saying a thing, as was his way. He wanted as much information as he could get before he acted on anything. As mentioned, Ethan knew this about him, and obliged. He knew no matter how outlandish his story was, Bill would listen to all of it, before he judged it.

“The reason I know about the robots is because I come from a future world. It’s very much like this one. Our two worlds were one not long ago, and share much of the same history. Enough, that we had the same types of robots your world has now. It looks to me like the design and mechanics of your robots are one of the last things our world left behind before we parted ways.

“It’s like this,” Ethan continued, after thinking things over for a moment. “Everything in nature is a duality. It only has two options. It can proceed along its trajectory as it has been following, or it can decide it doesn’t like where it's headed and veer off to the potential found in the alternative outcome. All things have this potential and all things do this. They follow the trajectory of their momentum, unless interrupted. This is how we create new reality; by interrupting what already is.

“It looks to me, the world I come from is the opposite or alternative to yours. Your world continued without creating a new reality at a critical time in history. When our worlds were one, we reached a tipping point. My world chose the new potential that appeared at that time. Your world ignored it and maintained the status quo. The New World became one of bountiful life. Your world continued getting worse, past a point where it can no longer get better. Everything supporting life in your world will only get worse until all life dies off’.

“You’re saying we’re living on a dying planet”?

“I’m saying you’re living on a planet where civilization will die off. The planet will find its balance once you’re gone”.

“I don’t believe that,” Bill pronounced. “Where there’s life, there’s hope”.

“Maybe, but your world has passed an evolutionary marker. There are a lot of things you had that are no longer available to you. You’re starting from a whole new reality, but like anything, your new world does have the potential of duality. It can get better or worse depending on your choices. Maybe that’s why I’m here. To help you recognize your alternative reality”.

“You don’t know why you're here”?

“No. I’m on a quest. In the New World, we travel back in time to fix things. Usually things about ourselves, but this time is different”.

“So you’re saying you lived here at one time?” Bill asked.

“No. That’s what’s different. I think this world came out of the last world I created. Actually, I’m starting to think both worlds I created, but I know you from my last quest”.

Even with his renowned poker face, Bill was starting to look confused.

“You’ll have to forgive me Bill, but I’m just now working through this myself. Have you heard about the Many Worlds Theory”?

Bill nodded he was familiar with the theory.

“Well, in the New World, we know we live in many worlds. It’s essential to our survival. We live in an infinite amount of worlds, and we continuously create new ones so there is something beyond the end when we reach the limit of infinity. For infinity to continue, there must be something new that lies beyond the last second of infinity. With each new world we produce more space and time, which is what is needed to sustain eternal life. Infinity is always one more unit of space and time ahead of the static one we’re existing in the present.

“When I go on a quest, I create an entire new world. It’s an AI generated simulation, but absolutely real in respect to creating space and time. It will also continue long after I leave, reaching one outcome after another until it dies off completely or regains its balance.

“Are you trying to tell me I’m nothing? I’m not even alive”?

“Absolutely not. Here you are an AI creation, but you are alive and connected to your soul. The real you is likely living somewhere with me in the New World. All of us have billions of re-creations of ourselves, some created by ourselves and some by others. We all create new worlds in the New World. It’s what we do. You are very likely living in a world of your own creation right now, where I may feature as one of your simulations”.

“Well, that’s nice to know,” Bill said. “But I hope you realize we are no closer to me believing a single word you’ve said. You’re from the future. I’m a simulation? I don’t feel I’m a simulation”.

“Okay. I get that,” Ethan replied. “I wonder if I tell you about my last quest, we can maybe understand what’s going on here a little better. If my story has anything to do with your reality, maybe we can at least come to a working relationship.