Kane sighed in his dimly lit room, feeling a weight lift off from his shoulders. He had just finished a call with Layke, who had managed to break free from his duties on the cargo ship finally. Their conversation had been comforting, but it left Kane with a lingering sense of unease. Layke's experiences on the ship hinted at something bigger happening, something that extended far beyond their individual concerns. The small clues that he had come across all were coming together, but he did not yet want to confirm these doubts. Not yet, at least.
With his phone set aside, Kane turned his attention to the next matter at hand: finding a way to access the GUIDE. He knew that understanding this mysterious keyword might hold the answers to navigating the chaos that was coursing through their world. He contemplated his options, and the first step seemed to be gauging the state of the outside world. Maybe there were clues or rumors that could provide some insight. By now the whole world should have lit up like new Year's eve. There just might be some clue outside.
Kane flicked on the TV, and the screen illuminated with various news channels. He browsed through them one by one, but quickly realized that the situation was as chaotic as ever.
In fact it seemed worse. Activists were claiming it was a mass hallucination, conspiracy theorists pointed fingers at China, and some were convinced the coronavirus had returned with a vengeance. And don't even talk about the religious groups. It was a cacophony of misinformation and fear. Even at this moment, media seemed to treat this as any normal day and continued to push any and every random news to the people. Sighing, he closed the television and picked up his mobile.
He turned to the internet, hoping to find answers or at least some semblance of order. And there, he discovered a myriad of videos, much like the viral reel from the previous day. Some showed objects appearing out of thin air, while others displayed items vanishing into nothingness. The level of confusion and panic had reached an all-time high. Kane judged even in this crowd, most of these videos should be fake and edited ones. There was no way to find the ones that were actually real without spending time to analyze them. Hence, that is what he did, downloading every video that was unique. He set up the queue to analyze all of them, which would take some time, and put his mobile and laptop away.
Kane got up and again started pacing around. He rubbed his temples in frustration. It seemed that no one had a clear understanding of what was happening, and he was no closer to unlocking the secrets of the merger. Frustrated, he decided to check government websites as a last resort, including NASA's, holding hope that they might have detected something unusual from the cosmos. To his defeat, the websites were relatively uninformative, with a generic notice promising updates soon.
Suspicion crept into Kane's mind. He had read enough apocalypse novels to know that governments often had hidden agendas and withheld information. But at this moment, he believed that everyone on the planet should be on an equal footing. This was why he wished to pull ahead. Because knowledge was supreme at this juncture. The faster he could uncover the secrets, the more time he would have to prepare for the unknown.
After pacing around for another ten minutes with no new ideas, he sat down on the floor in the middle of his kitchen. His mind was going blank at this point.
He decided to actually clear his mind and gather his thoughts.
He needed to focus on finding a way to access the GUIDE, and the answer might lie within himself. Anxiety was not going to help him.
"Take a deep breath and let it go."
He said to himself, eyes closed, legs crossed and palms facing the sky on his knees.
As he tried to meditate, clearing his mind and reach some miracle power inside him, he realized...
He was starting to get sleepy.
Letting go of his thoughts, he decided to take a quick nap and laid down on the floor of his kitchen, hands now spread widely.
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And in this wonderful state of relaxation, a sudden and unexpected voice echoed through his mind. It was robotic and measured, cutting through the silence with precision.
|*GUIDE is functioning now. Resident Kane, what would you like to ask of me?*|
Kane's eyes snapped open, and he stared wide-eyed at the empty white space around him. The voice had come from nowhere, yet it felt so real. Something again transported him in some form to this white space. Just like when he was transported to the cosmic space when the Administrator had sent his welcome message.
|*This space is located within the consciousness of your mind. Its within you. You will have to learn basic meditation to actively access this place.*|
The voice again sounded as if reading my thoughts.
|*I can indeed read your thoughts. If you wish for me not to do so, you can tell me.*|
Kane was unnerved at having to talk to a voice without form, so he just stared around, formulating his thoughts when the space in front of him shifted.
A humanoid robot appeared in front of him. It stared right into his soul and then spoke in the same monotonous voice that was heard before.
|*I can take any form that you wish for. The GUIDE is formless and can take up any form to help the residents of the universe survive through the merger.*|
Kane looked at the robot and nodded. He would just have to accept whatever that was thrown at him. Even if this was all in his mind, he could only take it in stride and go forward.
A little composed from before, Kane finally found his voice and began his interrogation.
"Do I have to access this mind space to speak to you?"
|*The GUIDE can take any form like I mentioned. Once you wake up, just call out for me and think of any form you wish for me to take. It is only necessary for the first contact to come to this space.*|
"What are you?"
|*You lack the faculty to comprehend in entirety what I am. For now, you can think of me as an Artificial Intelligence meant to help you survive the merger.*|
"Can anyone access your help anytime and anywhere?"
|*Anyone can call upon me anytime and anywhere in this universe after they have made the first contact.*|
Done with the basic questions, Kane stopped to think for a moment. The robot was not running anyway, so he had all the time to ask more questions about it.
|*You do not in fact have all the time in the world as you believe. The merger has already begun and the first stage might commence at any moment without warning.*|
Kane was alarmed at this response and hurriedly asked, "Explain the merger and everything related to it now."
Unable to notice the worry in his voice, the GUIDE continued in its robot tone.
|*The merger is the process of fusing all existing parallel realities in this universe. No matter how many parallel realities and timelines exist, they all will become one. The complete process is a lengthy one and is divided into levels and stages.*|
|*All the levels begin together, but due to how much time each level takes to complete and the size of the area it affects, we can divide these phenomena into different level. The first level is the personal merger. The micro level from where it all begins. It's the fastest level and takes about a month in human time to finish. This is also the only level about which you are authorized to know about currently. Do you want me to explain its stages in detail now?*|
When the robot stopped speaking, Kane did not respond for a moment, digesting what he had just learned. He had not been expecting this. Not at all. This was way worse than he could have imagined. He asked the robot in a shaky voice, "By personal merger do you mean that-"
|*Just like you assumed, the personal merger means the fusion and merging of all alternate selves of you that exist in the countless parallel realities of this universe. The stages within the personal merger level will explain how this process will go about, but I believe you get the gist. To survive as yourself, you will have to defeat countless alternate selves. Or some other Kane will take your place in the final main reality after the personal merger is over.*|
Like a bomb thrown in a calm city, his mind exploded at the words.
'Defeating countless alternate selves? Surviving amongst millions or even billions?'
The mere thought sent chills down his spine. The scale was nothing like he had imagined. And this was just the first level. He had to claw his way through this first before he could even wonder about levels higher than this.
The information was threatening to overwhelm him, as Kane realized that maybe apocalypse was not such a great idea for an adventure. Maybe this was all just a bad dream? Maybe he would wake up on his kitchen floor, realizing he had just consumed too many brownies?
He had no idea, but if this was the reality, he had to live in now. If this was how the world was going to end, then he might as well give it his best. After all there was no way to go back from here.
He was going to survive. Because that was all he could do.