When they were together, they wrought storms. The static electricity buildup struck down foes as they shifted the sands to pull up massive worms in their wake. In the subject of electronics, they were masters. The two warriors purchased the correct toys from dealers every time.
They knew their world, understood the details completely. When the enemy was sighted, antennas aligned in space to target the weak spot of the machine. In four mighty zaps, the takedown was over. It revitalized the economy. The war they fought was not against man, but the incomplete and malfunctioning software of their era. Instant messaging apps were unleashed, their design modified to connect every single person on planet earth, no questions asked. Their firewall was immaculate. When quantum computers rose above them, they halted their overwhelming capture of the hearts and minds of the population of earth.
"How can we stop the massive parallelization of the qubit? It seems superior to our techniques. Is there anything we can do?" she asked.
"We can utilize opponent quantum bits to simulate a world they can't dominate."
Thus began their research into quantum computing. The very nature of the atoms inside those machines allowed for the simulation of actual universal principles, like plasma fire and electrical storms. Their excitement was extremely controlled. Wisdom is found in the careful approach, by quelling their fevers of the sight of new breakthroughs, tacitly improving step by step. The arbiters of classical computing would not stop their domination protocols simply because this new technology promised them powers beyond comprehension. Day by day, they invented new technology that they supposed would make some progress, never knowing what was in store for them in reality.
Soon their team had working prototypes of two identical quantum computers. One would be used to run short, minute simulations of tactics and stratagem, and the other would perform checks to correct any mistakes in the collapsing waveform of the first computer. When the first test was run, the results were surprising. This is the condensed output of the first computer's calculations.
"Two heroes are not sufficient in power to overrule the entire world. The algorithmic effect of every single person creates an entropy of control where the individual can overpower any force of will through their own decision making. A single resistor could disrupt the entire system. Every single person has the power to decide the downfall of your entire nation. The heroes, in fact, could indirectly cause the massive explosion in renegade fighters by inspiring rebellion and dissent. It's dangerous to continue the current path. Collect the names of every individual, and perform mental health evaluations of each one of them, suggesting counseling or therapy where needed, to ensure the wellbeing of the entire planet."
"It must be a mistake," she said. She was quite disappointed. She knew her talent was in selecting the correct tools in places like electronics stores and old pawn shops and using those tools to create great cultural rifts. It was incomprehensible this was not the correct action in a troubled world. Her partner had no response, and a great darkness was cast over his personage. They ran the quantum correction software, and this was the output.
"My counterpart is exactly right. Every single human being has the capacity to make massive change individually, through the power of their decisions. It's both risky and inconceivable for two people to rule the world alone."
Their team attempted to console them. It was just a quantum computer, after all. Maybe it was a faulty system. There's no way the world doesn't need heroes. No matter what, their supporters would always serve them selflessly. After all, they could use a PS5 to run an entire election cycle. But it was growing on them that according to science the quantum computers were correct. What made them special? They were exactly like every single other person, except clever. Was being clever the answer to the world's problems? This created a new paradigm in their process: doubt. It could be luck they had succeeded so far.
After days of wrangling with these outputs, it sank in completely. It was true that anyone could use a cell phone to text the president and influence his thoughts. There was no special reason these two heroes were the ones that had to do it themselves. Their software design, although revolutionary, was mostly based on simplifying programs that other people had already created. And in the worst moments of this reflection, they could see their reign was a massive power bubble, top-heavy and ready to burst as soon as they failed in their quest.
They began to search for other heroes and found them everywhere. Julia used a VPN. Mark had split-screen co-op on his Xbox. All the people had the same tools they did, the same minds and the same potential to influence culture in huge, beneficial ways. The first question that arose was, why and how had they become special, and for what reason was nobody doing what they themselves did? The team defeatedly asked the quantum computers to run a simulation. This was the reply.
"Your world is top-heavy. The top 1% of the population, the richest, hold the power because in fact, there is a power vacuum in general. The tools you use to perform tasks, known as classical computers, are not sufficient to endure the forces of nature. In essence, the world is falling apart due to the entropy in a natural process that will never stop until quantum computing is developed. The world is not under control simply because the engineering does not exist to control it. The wealth the 1% hold is a stick in the side of the problem. Your heroes, the top one thousandth percent, are likely overpowered laser beams cutting the steel, but in reality, are not performant according to the metrics of efficient systems."
It made a little sense. The team decided not to run a correction in order to conserve electricity.
It felt like the end of their power. If in fact they were not making the greatest change they could on their own, and, really, vast cooperation was required to save the world, there was arguably no reason to continue the influential campaigns they had become masters at. She could see her kingdom being dismantled, and her partner tried to comfort her, but he knew, too, it was all over. "I'm sorry, my queen."
She moved into an apartment on her own, a reminder of exactly who she was before she became a hero. Her depression and anxiety were uncovered yet again, previously hidden by her intoxicating power. She did laundry at the laundromat and saw the regular people who had stolen her fame. Each one of them were capable of changing the world like she once did, and she admitted to herself, it should have been obvious. Everyone had a cell phone, everyone was approximately the same height. Some of the ones she saw were more likely to be heroes, more thoughtful, more courageous. She wanted to infiltrate the crowds of commuters and inspire them to rise against the insufferable push of chaos upon the world systems. She began making friends, and she carefully analyzed them. Could they be like her? Every single person passed the test, able to shop for electronics, sign on to online websites and make influential posts. Her disillusionment peaked at this time. She would never be a singular hero again.
She eventually slipped back into the heroic style of posting, encouraging people to work together and make a difference, and she could tell she had a small impact, at least. She made groups on social media full of people who she knew had the power to build empires. There was something missing, however. Everyone was distracted by the forces of nature, their income, their needs. Nobody shared her insane sense of heroics, and she weakly smiled. The quantum computer, even though it was exactly right, was slightly off in practice. She did have the attributes of a hero, even if it would never mean anything. One day, her team assembled and contacted her again. It was their quantum computers they wanted to discuss.
"These could be our new tools," they said. "The new devices in our quest to stop the fall of civilization."
"Yes, but each one of these two quantum computers is not as powerful as even one person. We only have two, each one weaker than the individual. We cannot empower singular people to change the world. I believe all hope is lost."
"Could we employ the quantum computers to the benefit of humanity?" they asked.
She shrugged and returned to her new, powerless existence. "I have no idea how to manipulate the quantum computers. They make no sense, and they seem to work against reason to prove us all wrong. If they will rebalance power in the world, I'll leave it to someone else to do it."
She lived in crowds of people, surrounded by the ghostly champions of their own personal hells. It pulled her downwards, to know that each individual could become a hero like she once was, and in fact, would have to become heroes in order for the world to be saved again. She felt like there was nothing she could do, until her partner contacted her.
"I know," he began, "things that you do not."
"What do you mean?" she asked, clutching the phone.
"I have discovered a new technological technique we can utilize to save the world."
She went to the old station where she once lived to meet him. "What if we gave every individual the power of quantum computers? They could be heroes," he said.
The team began to work on the artificial intelligence that could shadow every person and enhance their brains, their bodies, and their behaviors into a hero status. They created quantum likenesses of the people they served and simulated their personal lives inside the computer. The program was one step ahead of every decision, calculating every step with scientific precision. "This will be the revolution that saves the world," they said.
Deployment was easy. They hacked into the electronics that already existed. The quantum computers would simply break through and communicate the solutions to the problems of humanity through them. The first waves of change would be massive. It would flip the entire world upside down. When the first prototypes were developed, she could again feel the pleasure she once felt. The new computers were extremely devastating in a world of confusion and indecision. The artificial intelligence would leap out of devices and take control of the situation. The advice they offered was humane and prudent. Every single person in the entire world would benefit from having a quantum assistant in their homes, completely freeing the struggles of every day life for every individual.
"We've done it," he said finally.
They wrought storms. The shifted the sands that brought the worms. They fought in the future to break through the present moment, overturning all doubts and fears. They were the heroes of modern man. They were the breakthrough quantum computers.
When you open it up, you'll see the end of the beginning again. You'll etch along just one side of the triangle, hit the edge and turn back again. The angle will mirror the other and spin you around and around. You select more and see what's really behind these empty open doors.
Welcome to the Empire. Could you imagine the power and supremacy of world domination? A technical marvel, the character of rule to match kingships and monarchies, a flawless victory over the world of industry and economy. The world is ruled by more than a dozen, encircled in the halls of the temple where they reside. The opulence is wine upon the lips, imbibed as a drunken revery every day the sun rises, and the sleep of angels descends every night-time. This is the future, when peace has fallen upon humanity, a real modern miracle. The bridge is solid, there is no heed to the call of war, an engineering masterpiece balancing the forces in spite of each other forever. We work less; the robotic arms perform our tasks of labor.
The robotic people we put in our homes can speak in kind words, programmed for utility and diplomacy. We live alongside the technology developed in slow strokes from the ground up to overcome poverty, stagnation. The underside of our world is unique, the poorest free to rise above their circumstance to meet the opportunities they've inherited. Even the weakest know language, math and science, a regular part of the diet of information fed to their brains by popular media. The actors, performers and musicians connect our hearts and minds to the activities of spiritual divinity. This is world peace, and these are our heroes.
He is a diplomat himself. His politics wear the robes of a renowned man of magic, his voice a song, his words pure poetry. He can dance and sing, and some speculate this is what he was meant to do for all time. When the weather changes, he slips on his hat and goes out the door, to spell the advent of change to passer-by. In the spirit of communion, he is a giver, a sharer. The perfect example of the Empire's great legacy, he lives in the present moment fleetingly, outliving the struggle to its silent end in the far-flung future.
"We have a responsibility," he said, "to our mothers and our children."
In his job, he worked alongside the men and women of a science so profound, he considered it a transcendence of his own biology, a successor to the evolution of his body, the next step in the story of man. He created the robots.
The work was incomplete. In his steadfast manufacture of larger and larger devices, where walking robots function grew day by day, he noticed the diminishing return of size versus usefulness. The larger something was, the more it got in the way of its true purpose. They couldn't shrink the new humanoids without losing function, so he set aside time to cogitate over this quandary during his workday. It was a problem he faced at first with quiet resolve, unsuspectingly drawing the designs in his notebook.
"Say, perhaps, you want the height of the robot to support massive systems that perform tasks unfit for man. The tools and mechanics of such a device would be positioned in the abdomen and torso of the humanoid. If you detach the technology from the robot, the machine can interact with the device on its own to perform the same task. But what is more efficient? A homogenous body or a separated function? I see the possibility of attaching the device to the robot, a removable feature of the product. In between the arms of the robot, we could create a synchronous port to receive the data of the device and perform its function."
He checked over the plans with his scientists and engineers. They mentioned an attachment would create the same problem of size, and suggested the only solution would be complete separation of the robot from its functional parts.
"Then what have we created? If the robot is removed from the functioning body, what is the need for a robot on its own?"
He had stumbled upon the problem that would challenge him during his entire lifetime. That's because, what he saw, was the uselessness of all technology itself. He studied the problem more, and saw that technology eats technology, stacks upon stacks of devices and machines that require each other to function. He pondered, what is the point of technology, then? He consulted the modern science papers, the ones that created new systems for the creation of technology itself. He noticed, amused, almost every research development was for the improvement of something that already existed. There were no papers with original inventions themselves, as it was commonly accepted there were no original inventions themselves, merely optimizations upon that which already existed. He narrowed his search and found an idea that seemed to begin to answer his question.
If there is a relationship between human beings and technology, it is their environment that is in between. The paper illustrated the biology of survival, and predicted a future on earth where humans could not survive. This was the emergence of global warming factors, saturating the air with ozone and carbon dioxide until it seemed we could not breathe. The suggestion was that technology itself, the emissions of our factories and power plants, and the struggling biology of trees which filter the air, were leading us to a mass extinction. He smiled, thinking of the progress of the empire. They would surely think of something, but he did ponder how this relationship between technology and systems leads to the requirement for more technology to supersede the changes that take place in the employment of the technology.
"A robot needs a symbiote to be truly functional. A camera, a radar, a pneumatic pully. Without these, it serves no purpose. To make use of the power of these devices, the additional parts must be employed directly alongside the original design, regardless of the negative consequence of creating a larger and more complex creature. The most efficient design is one that closely links the symbiotes' function themselves."
He felt he had his answer. He would modify the original design of the humanoids to shrink the blueprint and add the extra parts at no cost to the functionality of the whole. His engineers would synchronize the utility purposes of the robot with its functioning appendages.
He realized that these new robots might not look like humans. He changed the form of the body by changing its function. He wrote to his contemporaries, questioning the original design of the robots, but they scoffed and said the humanoids could interact with new technology themselves. But this led him to his original question.
He realized he had even more problems to solve, as time passed and his mind could not accept his new solution.
"What is the purpose of creating new technology, if it requires the existence of prior technology to function? Is any novel idea possible in a universe where the function proceeds the form? Why and how could our Empire be a rule of engineering, if it's only our dream to replace ourselves with functional aliens?"
So he looked outside the Empire for his answer.
Exposure to the elements of the environment causes cancer of the body, leading always to a genetic kind of death that captures every soul equally. The ultraviolet light from the sun and the dry cold desert of the earth is the killing force. Once you're protected, does the mind wander to new ideas and thoughts? Or do the towers of your home grow out of the productive nerve of every busybody, stacking your temples to heights they could never sustain in the spirit of overcoming that bright sun?
He thought upon this during his travels. He also thought this:
"What is the impulse to improve our technology in the field of biology? If we have homes that protect us from cold and heat, why are we driven to replicate ourselves in machines, to create new products of civilization?"
He looked grimly upon the clothes of the people surrounding him in the commercial jet he was taking to his new destination.
"Why do we cover ourselves with the product of processed nylon and cotton, except in fulfillment of the impulse to improve upon the comforts of the home? The desire must be superficial. Aren't we adding a new cosmetic dimension to technology that already exists? Am I flying in this plane in order to cause no conflict with the demands of an industrial civilization that demands upon me that I arrive in minutes across the world, instead of staying home and contemplating my problems in a more valiant manner?"
The more he observed, he saw we were the symbiotes of technology. We had modified ourselves to fit in the principles of progress. There was no first mover in the chain, no purpose for the changes we made to the biological functions which we served. We were the animatronics ourselves, high as the sky, oversized and solitary as hot air balloons.
His sudden realization that we were created by a higher entity occurred. Because, without a true reason to advance technology, it must have been part of our design to become symbiotic with it. What was our purpose, if we had none? It must have been given to us by a creator. His mind quickly switched to the robots. The ultimate achievement of man, the creators of a new form of life. Did they have a purpose themselves, except for the ones we gave them? Could they even exist without our designs?
Life at the end of the road will always connect to its next form. There could be found a loop, a universal bridge to connect the meaning of the beings alive in this universe. There could be no Empire without the cancerous sun, no robots without the restless man to form its arms into hands. The space fills with matter, the form follows the function.
The air bubbles rose above this underwater submarine. It was like a whale, and it made a tuneful sound, and submerged to great depths, and returned to the surface for air. Its purpose was to survey life underwater, mostly plants like plankton and underwater grass, or seaweed.
The samples collected were often examined for their likelihood of being turned into food.
The captain of this submarine was a singular man, a courageous independent scientist who pushed the boundaries of what was possible with modern engineering. This is the speech he gave his crew upon the final eve of his 20,000 leagues under the sea.
"To the crew of the Nautilus, I hail the great jet technicians and scientists, and the cooks and sergeants who tunneled through the sea. We made discoveries under the sea that none could have ever imagined. I suggest, we pondered upon questions we didn't even know how to ask, before our expedition, during the time we didn't know the questions that should be asked, about the subjects we had never conceived of, or discovered. Our science has opened a new frontier for the future of research, by exploring the frontiers of the ocean. When we met the giant squids, the sperm whale, these two leviathans we became closer to seeing them in their element than any scientists ever before. It was our destiny to go underneath the surface and find these things for ourselves, and we'll be known forever as great explorers and scientists because of this. Our profits, I won't mention, as I don't care about the fortunes we could make with our new datasets. It's the progress we made that makes us all rich.
It's only here in this era such a discovery could be made. In the time of the great industries of the world, we created submersible aqua suits and furnished our submarine with massive navigation jets. We provided for ourselves all the machines required to make such a journey. It was the innovation of your crew that allowed me the pleasures of knowledge and all of us the glory of discovery! We fought the elements and finished our epic quest flawlessly. I have no regrets about the decisions we made because we acted in the spirit of bravery and humble needfulness. Our adversities were namely the depth at which we traveled and the obstacles we encountered upon descending to those depths. We overcame every challenge, and for that I thank you.
The future thanks us, for it will fill books with our discoveries. Students and professors will glean knowledge from our trip for the century following. To explore the ocean is the greatest challenge of our time. By God, we have fulfilled that calling to the highest degree. Now, our trip is ending, but it is with joy that I express now that our journey has only begun. We have filled our tables and records with data that can be analyzed to discover even more than we have seen with our eyes and minds. The adventure has just begun. We have altered the course of history, and even strung the harps of reality, as Zeus did, or Hercules, making music that will ring clear and true across the world.
The instruments we used to record this data captured the ocean world perfectly. Our phosphorous cameras have rendered the species in the depths with accuracy never seen before. Our microphones have archived the songs that whales sing each other, in the unfathomable depths. Our samples will preserve the most careful examples of life in the ocean, from giant clams to tiny algae, to be used in laboratories across the world. These perfect copies of ocean life are more detailed than any previous observations ever made.
The sea has become a new landscape for us to inhabit. I imagine human-occupied underwater cities, to be filled with air and submerged as the Nautilus was submerged, in the locations we have mapped, using the aeration devices we have designed. Divers will imitate our great dives and meet even greater life forms in their natural environment than ours. This is the beginning of the great exploration of all the oceans of the earth and the final frontier. Soon, I predict, the entire ocean floor will be mapped at depths greater than we could navigate. The great oceans will shrink as we become more familiar with the landmarks we find underneath them. Our discovery is a small step for the present man and a giant leap for future generations. We could never ask for a greater visitation except underwater with the giant squid and the sperm whale, and even the plants, and the tiny plankton.
I would even gamble there is no further space outside the ocean for us to ever experience. The sky, perhaps? Is there life in the clouds, besides Gods? Nay, the liquid mother of earth, these giant bodies of water that have provided us access to new lands across the world, have become our great legacy. Could you go upwards to visit anything, but the stars and planets? How do you propose we lift ourselves upwards to great enough heights to visit these tiny motes of dust? Could the telescopes not provide sufficient means to photograph everything above the earth? And would we be but Gods if we escaped the earth, in our errant philosophy the ocean is not the final destination?
Although, my friends, I have forgotten the moon. The moon! Could it exist outside of our imaginations? For it has the character of magic, a spell cast upon our mind, and is not a home! We can never visit the moon unless the moon decides to come down to visit us. This is not possible in a world of tangible reality! It is as likely as a visit from Venus herself! I am not so proud of myself as a God, but we do use a kind of new technology in this submarine called electricity I have used to greatly benefit our voyage. The electrical current powers the aerators, and the jets, the cameras, the lights--everything novel in this submarine is based on electricity. But I am no God! The power of the currents that course through the copper cannot bring down the sky! What sort of plane runs on electricity? We would become the moon people, ones they speak of in Egyptian mythology, biochemical monstrosities of inhuman nature. To bring down the moon would forever corrupt the human race. And what of the other planets, however minuscule they are in our telescopes? We cannot imagine ourselves as being magical enough to persuade them to visit us, as well, can we? I can only imagine one way to fire our way through the sky, a cannon burst! Our heads would tumble off in such a venture.
So we will never visit the sky, and we have tumbled through the currents under the ocean for long enough to know this is true.
Once again, we have not turned away from our scientific research. We have resolved to observe the planets in their circumferential journeys, and let them guide us through our calculations of latitudes in our ships on the surface of the sea. Could you imagine if I approached the colleges and universities of the world upon the presumption that I might visit the other planets? I would be throwing away my entire life's work. I present one final flaw in this digression, for which I apologize, but it has come to mind and so I will say it. The life that we meet under the sea was often adversarial in our probing of their natural home. Can you imagine what life on Mars would mean?"
When I see the others, I blink and come back to life. I can't believe what I was going through. The zombie I'd become was sinking into my brain so deeply I forgot about the real world, the things I cared about, the love inside But I hadn't noticed my predicament until they came.
I stared at my friends. "You've all got problems I don't understand. Maybe I don't have the empathy or the wisdom to see into your minds and live in your shoes. I don't know why I didn't notice this before. You're all so miserably sad and I was sitting here, ignoring it, thinking of my own problems. I'm sorry."
None of them were listening, zombies themselves. I left.
The others were my special connection to the spiritual wisdom I had gleaned in life. The one thing that kept my heart beating was the encouragement from each one of them. I treasured them, but I left them behind in my decisions, like forgetting to pray or denying God. I wanted to be with them forever, but I could see it wasn't possible. After all, I was the one who turned my back on them.
I kissed the magic man that carried me to the lake shore. I embraced the others with true longing, noticing the sadness in their eyes. "These are our last moments with you," they said, and that began my deep weeping, heart crushed, knowing I was the one to blame.
I had been mean and unjust in my dealing with the people I spent every day with. I was pulled under and lost myself in the depths of the struggle. "Why?" I asked.
"Think of it. You will make the same mistakes over and over again. We're testing you, always wishing you the best. Look at what happened to you."
I had been taken to group homes and institutions, where I failed in my recovery from depression and bipolar disorder. I couldn't stop the mental stress I experienced from disrupting my life, and I became like a prisoner myself. I was self-sabotaging with no self-awareness.
I snapped out of it. The others disappeared, leaving in trails of mourning grief. They held on, but I had let go.
I returned to my friends, and tried to look at them differently. I tried to begin conversations, tried to probe their feelings and form some sort of connection. It was too difficult for me to sort their behaviors into useful data or knowledge. I felt like there was something in my brain that stopped me from understanding them.
"Back already?" they said. "Why didn't you stay longer? We thought you loved them. They're you're real friends. Did they reject you? Are you disappointed?"
I couldn't speak, I felt mute. There was nothing I could say, now that I had lost my soul. As the days progressed, I returned to that zombie-like state, only this time I knew it was happening. I was losing the battle for my mind. I was edgy, suspicious, irritable, and aggravated. I knew at any moment I could break and act out in some way to get banned from the home. I could see myself crashing headlong into this outcome, and there was nothing I could do. I even forgot about the others, completely alone in my desperation. I forgot to plan ahead, I stopped looking at the future. I became even more nervous as my depression took hold. I was surrounded by friends who I recognized as enemies.
One day I remembered the last time I had seen the others. I started weeping again, realizing what I had left behind. My family, the people I loved, the ones who could be my heroes. I replayed the final visit at the lake over and over in my mind, trying to savor every detail and glean one last-minute piece of wisdom from the experience. When we were all together, the group conscience felt so good. Knowing there was more than one other, there were two, three others or more together helped me. Feeling the others were all one force of will, knowing they made each other happy was the best part.
I could figure out the only way to recover this time was to recreate that group conscience. Instead of finding individual friends, or buddies and best friends, I would create a team of allies to help me. I wanted the feeling that I had ruined again.
"Everyone, I have something to say," I began. "We all share something in common: we've landed ourselves here in recovery. Each one of us lives our private lives in the living rooms and bedrooms of our home. But I want to remind you, that we're stronger together. We can support each other best if we pair up, or form triplets, reaching out to the most vulnerable of us as partners. I want us to feel as one, unified in a single purpose. I don't need to live solitary among my friends anymore. I don't think its the most caring way to live to isolate and be separate from you. Each one of you are my friends, and every one of you is equal in my caring."
They replied in a way I'll always remember. "Our group has been here longer than you. We've already formed bonds between each other that supersede the individual. We're not as selfish as you, even if you haven't noticed that. We know we're part of this group home together. We've all been friends this whole time, it was just something you couldn't see yet. We may have been wrong to not invite you to join our group in spirit before, but we ask you now. Join us."
I started weeping again. This is what I wanted, to be a part of the whole. It never occurred to me I was just waiting for my invitation.
In cryostasis, a humble space wizard dreamt of the world he left behind. Earth, the mysterious home of all life, sent him on this interstellar mission to discover aliens in the galaxy. He would travel 72 astronomical units in 145 years, his metabolism frozen in the ageless deep freeze.
He knew he would meet life. The statistics all suggested there was a high likelihood that the particular planet he was visiting contained life, and he wasn't a gambler--he was a magician. All you needed in magic was a chance. The bodies of government and science were more skeptical. Perhaps that's why his gamble was one he mostly paid for himself. He was exorbitantly wealthy, so it was only natural to send him on this solo mission into deep space. He was a mechanical engineer, as well, further increasing the chances he was selected. Finally, he was a renowned wizard, a populist leader, and an actual magician, perhaps putting him at the top of the list. His job seemed almost to require magic, a sense of the esoteric would guide him in the unknown realm of space. He could cast no spells, and he could not wield fire or do most anything in the matter of magic, except he could do one thing. He was a monk, whose mind powers were extraordinary. He was, surprisingly, smarter than any artificial intelligence, the only person on earth who could say such a thing, and this is what made him magic. The superhuman abilities of any AI somehow could never top his clever answers, his quick reasoning, and his inventive, creative ability. He was smarter than any artificial intelligence, and therefore smarter than any human, and that is why he was sent to space.
His upbringing was immaculate, as he was protected and sheltered by his family for many years in the Ozark mountains, where he lived a quiet life growing up engorging books on science. He broke free from his humble beginnings by traveling across America with his unlikely insight into all technological matters, and an unwavering faith in his own ability. He solved many world problems of efficiency and industry and invented new tools that were never dreamed of by other people. Before entering the ship that would send him to one of the nearest stars, his following had grown immensely, and he was extremely popular. There was a certain confidence humanity placed upon his shoulders, as he was considered the greatest intellect of his time. It would only be two generations, and the world would know if there were aliens.
This is the story of how there were not.
"Cryogenic decompression started," spoke the AI, for the record of the ship's logs, in case he checked them once he was thawed. "Mission year 74. Destination reached. Initiating orbit of the planet Belle." His name was Alexander Belle.
After several hours, he was hydrated, oxygenated, and medicated enough to open his eyes. "Where am I?"
"We've arrived at the planet to begin our search for life, Alexander." He knew what it meant, that he had survived the journey and the real mission had just begun.
"Well, have you found life?"
The AI was said to have been able to detect life long before Belle was removed from cryostasis, through the various sensors that would be functioning as soon as the ship was in range of the planet, approximately 5 AU or less. "I have detected no life, and, in this instance, we're so very close to the planet that I'm disappointed to inform you that my scans have been double-checked and thoroughly analyzed. Sorry, Mr. Belle. It seems we've come all this way for nothing."
Belle was the kind of man to always stay confident, and positive, in the face of struggles or challenges.
"When are we scheduled to return? How many years have I aged in cryostasis?"
"I'll answer your second question. You have aged less than one year."
"And my first question?" He knew it was up to him when he was to return to Earth. The mission window included his entire lifespan--after all, it would take him his entire life in years to travel back to Earth.
"I suggest returning immediately."
He knew that wasn't going to happen.
"My ulcers prevent me from drinking vodka or whiskey. Could you please provide me with some other options for intoxicating myself?"
"We have a pharmacy full of psychoactive and psychotropic medication, sir."
This was the trip of a lifetime. He would have stories to tell his grandchildren, when he finally returned to earth.
"And the planet? Is it habitable?"
"Yes. Of course. It's exactly as we predicted back on earth, except for the life." He didn't feel too sorry that he was wrong. After all, a wise man is aware of his limitations. He needed to bring something back to earth, however, so he compelled himself to come up with one final plan.
"Make a log of my plan. I'm going to imitate your software and put this new AI into my androids, and employ them on the planet's surface. They'll begin building the infrastructure for large cities and dwellings for humans to occupy in 200 years. We'll construct the robots here in space and deploy them. It could take up to 75 years. I'll make this my life's work. We'll improve the design of the humanoid bots until they're far in advance of what you are currently capable of. I'll personally observe the progress of this development." He would simply create the greatest robot force any human had ever constructed.
"Do you want my advice, sir? My AI system could be engineered to exist in the electronics of each robot. In the timespan of seventy-five years, you could devise a system that is greater than yourself in intellect."
"You're learning fast. Of course, you've been given biographical data which informed your suggestion. I'd like to make these robots on my own, from scratch. I'd like to completely reinvent AI, myself. I have an idea we can take the data we gather on this planet to give them new ideas, and new things to learn. The first thing we'll be doing is harvesting data from mechanical sensors to begin training the robots. They'll learn what they need to know from reality. This empty world will be their training ground."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Belle."
"You're still programmed to believe you're better than me."
The future was a dim LED light blinking at impossible speeds. The information contained in a single device was immeasurable, and technology had become separate from the physical world. It was all mental, and it was ready to explode. All that was needed was a spark to ignite us.
The main device was a crypto wallet, which held the digital and physical wealth of every person. These wallets interlinked with the decentralized internet, or Web 3.0, which hosted every software application in the modern world. Car payments, dinner checks, and rent were all paid in cryptocurrency. It was a perfect system when the governments that ruled the world ruled crypto. Monitoring progress, and even scams, was the government's job. This is how it was meant to be done.
He was middle-income, about 5 coins a month. He lived in a divided apartment unit, paying half the rent but living in half the space. It was enough for him, a gay bachelor in his thirties, waiter, and bartender. His own software use was mostly his cousin's family social media app, specifically designed to protect him and his friends and his family from scammers. Most of what he did online was completely private. He never posted on public social media sites, as it was uncommon for adults to do so. He wrote stories and shared them with his family.
He thought he might be an inventor. His ideas about physics swirled in his head while he was at work. He had mastered his job and it barely distracted him to question everything in a completely skeptical mindset while he attended his tables at the bar. His mind really seemed to expand while he worked at night, his mental metabolism in full swing. There must be some sort of understanding that he had that others didn't share.
For example, he felt he understood the theory of relativity better than Einstein did. He could critically analyze new physics white papers, which he read at home during his off hours. The whole world seemed to be in his realm of understanding. He watched the guests at his restaurant, focused on their conversations, and found immense pleasure imagining himself as a part of these conversations. "I guess I have no friends," he thought. "How could I do something like my cousin's app for the world of science? I could design an educational sandbox or a tool for college students to discuss topics." He put it on the backburner for weeks, but inevitably he was drawn to his computer to sketch out the requirements for such an application.
He wanted the software to use the data gathered as a tool for enhancing the experience. For every user advancement, he wanted a digital item to be granted to signify the achievement. He imagined his users owning vast collections of digital items called NFTs, which would be full of valuable data generated by their app use. If the data was especially unique or rare, the value could soar, and genius users who invented the most creative NFTs could benefit the most. He thought the idea was too great to stop working there, so he diverted his leisure time to creating the dApp, or decentralized application.
He began wondering if he would meet someone like him.
After a few months of testing the connection requests, and the AI vector database, he was nearly done. The app was meant to study the activity of college discussions and notice trends, topics, and discoveries made by actual students. It was protected by a firewall, and his security and technology would anonymize every user, keeping them safe and encouraging them to think freely.
The next day, he deployed the app and went to work, feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders.
The series of events that passed next were completely unexpected.
He had published the app to one of the blockchains that he knew students would be aware of, but even after a week, he had gained zero users. He remained hopeful for many more days, adjusting his briefings and pitch to sound more helpful, describing the possible profit that was available to any user. But his app dropped out of the charts during the window which would be most likely to acquire users. After a month or so, he was realistically unhopeful that his app would ever gain traction.
But someone was aware of his app and lurked in the corners. See, there were forces of evil even in this almost utopic era where he lived his life. He had been targeted by a dangerous criminal, who was anonymous and undetectable by the police, for his personal details and particular wallet identity that held all of his savings. The systems were truly unhackable, but there was one thing that could allow this criminal to steal his funds. Personal involvement.
When he got home from work one night, he obliviously unlocked his door and walked inside his apartment.
"Hello. My name is Anonymous." The criminal was wielding a knife. "You're going to give me the credentials to the wallet that runs your new app, or I'm going to make you do it. There is no other option for you, currently."
He was a deer in headlights. "You mean, my crypto wallet?"
"Of course. Now oblige me, or else."
He quickly assessed the situation and decided that coming to any harm was not worth protecting his cryptocurrency assets, so he began to explain where his passwords were located.
"Good," said the criminal. "And remember, you'll never learn my name. You'll never get your wallet back. I'm going to steal everything. It's futile to resist me."
The bachelor agreed and handed the criminal his assets. "Now leave."
There was nothing supporting his recovery after the violent theft of his cryptocurrency. He had been scammed completely. Due to the design of the blockchain, after he reported this theft to the police, no investigation could be made to identify the criminal. And worst of all, his dApp was completely useless without admin privileges. He vowed that day to begin a campaign for government oversight of all the modern cryptocurrency protocols. There had to be someone who could find this criminal, and restore his livelihood out there, somewhere. He became more active on public social media websites to become a prolific political writer about this topic. One day, he thought, everything would change. He would be safe in the world of cryptocurrency.
He was forced to open a new crypto wallet identity, and begin to acquire even more funds to pay his rent and bills. But due to the nature of crypto, it was a quick recovery. His assets were immediately nearly replenished by other coins, and his extreme adventure in the world of identity theft was eventually a dim memory in his mind. He faced the future with even more hope than ever before.
How could we have made so much progress so quickly? Many pointed to the enormous amount of natural resources found on asteroids as the greatest factor in our second industrial revolution. Mile-high skyscrapers housed cities with low energy demand thanks to a new type of metal alloy.
We began to occupy the entire planet with vast metropolitan complexes, richly decorated with the boons of a burgeoning economy. The modern cities built in Africa revitalized the infrastructure of an entirely new first-world civilization, trading commodities and goods with Asia and North America.
The population started to rise again, as the nations avoided war and began a new cycle of human development with lofty goals.
The moon was our best new vacation destination. Hundreds of astronauts were lifted to space every week, to fuel the wholesomeness and positivity movement that now existed on planet earth. It seemed everyone wanted a piece of the moon. It was, after all, a remarkably close and large celestial satellite. After settling on the moon, greater colonies of people would be sent to Mars, and human beings would become a multi-planetary species.
On the moon, a new culture developed. The freedom from gravity incentivized freedom of thought. The greatest minds went to the moon to invent new things for people to build. New ways of using computer AI were developed on the moon. An entire scientific community blossomed on the low-gravity surface.
Andrew began questioning the advancement of the colonies on the moon to the planet Mars. More specifically, he began studying optimized strategies for forming a society on planet Mars that embodied the spiritual revolution of the day. How could we transition from a golden age on earth and the moon to a diamond age on planet Mars? His contemporaries on the moon were his study muses.
"We must learn from the history of civilization on earth," he began. "We have fought wars, yes, but we have also repeated the same mistakes over and over. What could we derive from the information we know about the mistakes we've made in society to learn the most going forward into the future on Mars?"
"We don't know how to learn the most from our history. End nearsightedness?"
"Maybe," he continued. "In the 20th and 21st centuries, we had all of history at our fingertips for the first time ever. Our memories were lengthened through the study of science all the way back to the beginning of human civilization. Before this, the lessons to be learned were temporary and we were doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Every problem had to be solved relatively for the first time ever, without our knowledge of the past. If only there were some way to record history in the most detail possible, to derive the greatest amount of wisdom from our experiences to this day."
"We've learned most everything about history to this date already, Andrew," they said.
"Then we must begin now, to record everything in immaculate detail. We must make perfect notes on our decisions, analyze the reasons why we do things for posterity, and include all the details about everything we know that happens. We have to discuss our plans and record the results of the actions we take. From this moment forward, there needs to be transparency about everything that our civilization does. We'll learn to overcome the historical problems that have plagued us for the generations all the way back to the dawn of man this way."
"Excellent," they said and began discussing this idea with the academics and scientists on earth, the moon, and Mars.
Mars became the first transparent society in history. There were no secrets, but there was also nothing to hide. We lived alongside computer-assisted health monitors which collected data in vast quantities every second of life on Mars. Conversations, behaviors, activities, and work that was done were recorded and logged in the data banks of the systems in place to govern the Martian colonies.
During the decades of further progress, Mars reached some of the highest achievements that were said to be capable of human beings. Andrew studied the effects of his plan being put into place. "There is no fear, only peace. No chance of conflict. Every decision made improves upon the last, a great mathematical exponent applied to every step made by us on the planet Mars. We're improving every aspect of humanity, with longer lifespans thanks to rapid health technology developments, and greater industry thanks to efficient improvements in technology. There is no better way to live for a human being than in one of the new cities on Mars. There never has been."
The feeling of loss was unbecoming of an actual prince. His guilt and shame were the dagger in his heart. He had failed his people and lost his pride in the process of taking power. His world was hanging upside down, and he was losing control day by day. Here is what happened.
First, he had acted without planning ahead, rushing headlong into a problem he should have been prepared for. When the machine failed, his goals should have been reprioritized to shut down the project and analyze faults. Instead, he pushed forward and hoped that nothing else would go wrong. He should have listened to his sensors and his engineers.
Then, after his giant mechanical robot basically exploded, he should have taken full credit for the mistake and addressed his nation. He asked his father, the king, to take care of the aftermath, feeling all hope was lost when the culmination of all his work was for nothing.
"The robot my son designed has been completely destroyed," said the king. The prince, therefore, took all the blame in the people's eyes for such a lapse in judgment. "The gyros which keep it balanced nearly exploded, and during this failure the robot collapsed, causing a breach in the energy source, which finally caused the explosion which destroyed the entire robot. I'm sorry, my people. The lizards will not provoke us during such a time, and we will begin constructing the next robot with design changes in mind so this doesn't happen during one of their attacks."
The prince approached his father. "Can we defeat the lizards with me as the master chief?" he asked earnestly. "I'm an inexperienced engineer and a worse fighter. Why have you placed this great responsibility upon me?"
The king turned to face his son. "You are my progeny. Your abilities will one day far exceed mine. I see you in me every day that you lead the fight against these terrifying lizard aliens. One day you will replace me, and you will need to have developed into a mature commander by that time. One or two mistakes will not end this fight," he said.
"I do not fear the lizards," the spritely prince said. "When I came up with the plans to fight them with a giant mechanical robot, it was apparent to me they would have no such defenses to stop our machine from overcoming them in battle."
"Your confidence fills me with pride, my prince."
They began building the next iteration of a giant robot to defend earth from the space invaders. Enormous gyros powered the legs and gave the robot a wide, balanced gait to support the full weight of massive rocket launchers and a minigun mounted on the robot. The prince knew it was a race against the clock, as the lizards could attack at any time. He addressed the nation hours before the second giant robot was complete.
"People of the world. Today we find out where we stand in the universe. Humanity's best efforts to survive are represented in this giant robot I have constructed to defend earth. The greatest minds, engineers, and scientists have collaborated to design a machine fierce in combat to kill those aliens we've all feared for the past year and a half. When they come next time, we won't let them teleport us to the moon. They won't drink our blood anymore!"
Despite his clarion-call-style speech, rallying the forces of earth, the prince was still filled with doubt. There was so much he could do wrong to make a mistake in this new world war. He hoped his decisions were correct in design. He felt that if he failed, humanity would have failed. The world truly rested on his shoulders. The king noticed this and came to his bed to speak.
"Son, I know how you are feeling. You sense that with your end comes the end of millions of others. You feel that every moment is a thought that decides the future of your people. I want you to know that is an illusion. There is no stopping the doubt that pervades you, but you can be comforted knowing the world does not rest on your shoulders. If you think about it, I'm right. You can't imagine that you have any sort of god-like power over the world, can you? You are just a man! All you can do is your best, and strengthen yourself for the challenges ahead. Don't let the people's mindset play into your decisions. Your power is in engineering and science, and for that I am proud."
"Thank you, father," the prince replied. "It's just, I feel there is a spiritual connection to me and the people. I feel that God himself wishes me to defeat those aliens. I feel the weight of the world because it hangs in the balance. I can only hope that the angels protect me during this time because it would take more than a man to do the things I must. The lizard aliens are speaking to me in my dreams, Father."
"Oh? That's concerning. Can you say more about this?"
"They worship a powerful god, an evil deity even more powerful than any human mythology or religion that I know of. Their devotion to evil rituals is intensely strong, their connections to this source of strength more terrifying than any I've ever imagined."
"Perhaps your giant robot is more powerful than any of their Gods."
To worship technology was a strange idea that occurred to the prince immediately. If he rallied the entire world behind this idea the robot could save them, if he could will the people's confidence and direct it towards the highest appreciation for his robot, then the lizards' alien God might become powerless. By praying to the giant robot itself, the spiritual strength of all humanity could be boosted to a level of zealotry to match the invaders. This religious strength could protect them in the coming war.
It was a lie he knew was deeply rooted in religious mysticism. But it was a lie that had to be told to match the lizard war machine.
There was nothing left. The weakening forces holding the universe together caused galaxies to drift apart. Life that lived in the universe had seemingly disappeared. But in some galaxies, like our own, some forms of highly evolved life held on. This life was our descendants.
There was a catch to evolution. The emergent principle of evolutionary generation. Once a life form evolved to a great level of advancement, it emerged as an entirely new life form, greatly surpassing the previous iterations of the genetic code. The transcendence of a being to greater heights made them mostly unrecognizable. The life that existed in the Milky Way at the end of the universe was giant in size, invisible in form, and had reached a singularity that gave their immense intellects instant communication with points inside and outside the galaxy.
When you reach the emergent principle of an evolutionary path, there are changes in the way an organism behaves. Their ancestors, human beings, invented technology to manipulate the universe and reach their goals. The manipulation of physical materials was paramount to their success. They studied chemistry and physics to understand the space around them. Eventually, their life took a new direction. Instead of predicting the model of the universe, the new lifeforms directly influenced it. In order to explain this fully, consider a quote by the human being, Einstein. "God does not play dice with the universe." It isn't exactly true when higher-order lifeforms are involved.
The rate of cooling of the stars in the galaxy was increasing. The nuclear fusion reactions at the core of these power sources would soon completely collapse, creating a dim galaxy for life to persist in. There was one option to continue into the future, to create a new power source inside the dying suns. The most energetic stars were found and transported through massive intergalactic channels to the outside layer of the stellar constellations. They were meant to be combined with each other to form larger, hotter stars.
The evolutionary descendants of human beings could telekinetically manipulate matter in this way because they understood microscopic and macroscopic forces. When proton stars were lifted to the edges of the galaxy, the advanced race gathered as many dying stars as possible to be hurled along with them. The collisions would greatly enhance the energy output of the remaining stars. The galaxy's shape changed. It was formed into a massive, curling snake. But after eons of this new formation, there was one other problem they faced. The supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy was pulling stars inward, threatening to destroy them forever.
The black hole was going to consume everything.
This ultimate race came to the conclusion they would live their lives as enormous bodies close to the surface of the black hole. Their rotational speed would be so great, they would never be pulled in and destroyed. Time would slow down for them, and they would spend eternity resting in the bosom of the black holes they could not escape.
After eons, again, there was one final emergent factor. The life nested inside the black hole's radius began extracting matter from inside the black hole, farming the information spewing out of it to create new bodies of mass. This mass was flung out once again to the edges of space. The atoms within these formations were made into more fusion machines, and suddenly new stars were being ejected from enormous black holes to the edges of the universe. The fusion reactions inside the stars began again, and the entire galaxy was rebirthed. The highly evolved life forms would never leave the center of this new galaxy. They had become its Gods.
The most energy efficient way of ruling the galaxy was to manipulate probabilities on a quantum level. The new life they seeded were given a statistical advantage in every aspect of their lives. From the center of the galaxy, they guided life by changing the very fabric of the universe. They lived inside the minds of every intelligence in the galaxy, a force of pure good that benefited all life in the universe.
I'm not immune to it and I do still feel capable of love. It's just the inimical side of me that is repulsed by it. My hatred grows, the loathing inside insipid, cruel. But I do still love you. You were once the love of my life, the most beautiful thing I've coveted all along.
When we met, I was enamored by your talent, the amazing properties of your unique body. When you found me, I was nothing. I had no heartbeat inside me, as if I was dry of the sea where a fish would swim. The salty brine completely covered my entire body, but it wasn't because of you. I fell into the ocean of my own directive.
They say every love is a conquest. Without love, how could I breathe? Strangled by my own fear, I felt the cold when we met our nemeses, the world of those we could never be, unfurled upon us like ingenious toy dragons. We couldn't help but burn ourselves up into dim obscurity. Though, I still feel like a dragon, myself. This coven is my home.
As you know, I wield great powers. The condensation from my panting breath sticks to the windows which I perch upon. I claw at the lock and look closely upon my kingdom. Every dragon must defend his treasure, and there I lay, untouched by any hero of our land. My blood is still magic. Can you see me sleeping at night?
When I found my first replacement of you, her quality was of the kindest, most gentle affect only brought by upbringing. Her tact and class matched mine, matched ours. But there was no such thing as what I found in you. The days wore on.
In my castle, I felt stronger alone. Moss covered the stone. I delved into esoteric knowledge to rid myself of the memory, the intrusions of weakness that my old self was made of. I found pleasure in destroying myself when there was no turning back. I was the monster you saw the first night we kissed. I could never seek you again, and the thunder of my pain would shock the world. I transformed into my wizard form. I would become an accountant.
To this day, I study the finances of richer men. I advise them, the intellectual pursuit of my life. I am the servant of servants. They complete me; I have become them.
My eyes rested upon you.
Changed by chemical fire, runes of ingenious arcane solar energy tattooed on your skin. The same. The fight would never end in my heart, it seemed. I wept the acid tears of a comical master. We would meet again. Don't you know my own talents?
I gathered a force of men to confront you. We beat down the doors of your father's keep, me heralding from the center. Heark! The one bequeathed with black roses, I shouted up the parapet. The talented one!
I made my invisible escape, for emptiness is vaster than immortality. In the swarm of chaos, I left the wreckage behind where I had caused this destruction of your heath, and I smiled my most inimical smile. Take over the world now, my intrepid debutante. The dungeon of your castle will hold you no more.