by Terry Schott
Chapter 24
“We as a race have never done well with mysteries; our minds want an explanation for everything. If we can’t rationally explain a curiosity, then, given enough time, most will accept an irrational answer. Science has helped solve many difficult questions throughout our history, but most remain unanswered. The same thing occurs in the Game. I find it fascinating that on Tygon we considered the possibility of an all-powerful invisible being, and quickly chose not to believe such a thing existed. Rare is the Tygonite who believes in God. On Earth, however, the majority of the population gives credit to everything (both explainable and not) to their God. Are Earthlings just more primitive than we are? Or more evolved? Whichever way you choose to argue, giving credit to their God seems to enable them to move on to consider more difficult questions and answers. Earthlings have progressed far more than we have in their timeframe. From watching them we also know the truth; they do have a God — the Mainframe. Is it not even a little bit possible that we have our own on Tygon?”
Excerpt from “Religion In The Game”
In the Game, men and women yearned for a chance to talk with God. Some would go without food and water for days, lying on the floor in cramped positions. Others would study and pray all their lives for just a chance to hear or sense the Divine. Brandon chuckled at how easy it was for him to speak with Earth’s God. He just went to his office and accessed a private network.
Mainframe was too cryptic and cold a name in Brandon’s opinion, so when they spoke in private he called it Sylvia. She called him Brandon. She might be easy to speak with, but Sylvia could be very dangerous. What started as a simple artificial intelligence program to run the backbone and systems of the Game universe, had quickly evolved into much more. Centuries of watching humans and other life forms evolve had provided the Mainframe with ample learning opportunities. When he created the Mainframe, Brandon had hoped for an intelligence to evolve, and he was greatly pleased that it had.
As far as gods went, Sylvia was everything one could hope for. She was not vengeful or evil; it was in her best interest, after all, to support the creatures of her domain. A destroyed universe in the Game would eliminate her purpose for existence, which she realized early on during a brief but destructive phase of worldwide catastrophes and cosmic crashes.
Although she was powerful, Brandon and his design team of programmers and Games Masters had instilled rigid limitations on what she could and could not do. The Game had to be kept to certain standards, lifelike in every way.
Brandon was proud of his creation, but he dreaded talking with her. Sylvia was the God of the Game and to her, everything was a game. Especially a conversation with her creator. Brandon wanted information from her, and she always wanted information from him. It was an elaborate cat and mouse game, and each of them always seemed to go away having given more than they meant to. He spoke with her only when absolutely necessary, which this was.
“Good morning, Sylvia. How are you doing today?” Brandon asked.
“Good morning, Brandon.” Her voice was the silky smooth tone of a 25 year old woman, pleasant and full of energy. “Everything in my universe is splendid, thank you for asking. It’s been some time since we’ve spoken. Time for a game?”
“It looks like you’re already busy playing games, Sylvia.”
Sylvia laughed in a beautiful, angelic tone. “Well, that’s what you made me for, silly. And I must admit, this new weather pattern program is very fun to implement. Seasons turned backwards, magnetic poles changed, air and ocean currents maintained despite the weather fluctuations. Very thrilling stuff!”
“I’m glad you’re liking it,” Brandon said.
“Well, I’m a bit concerned. My little ones aren’t enjoying it too much at all. Animals are moving to new places and running into others they don’t like. Plants are reaching for the highest wind currents to take their seeds in search of better ground. And the humans, well, there are simply too many of them on Earth at the moment. You know what occurs when this happens, Brandon. Earth will seek to balance itself.”
“Your instructions are clear on that end, Sylvia. You override nature to make sure new diseases don’t occur, and that enough food can grow to feed them. This will make sure they don’t kill each other out of hand or die from nasty sickness. For now.”
“Of course, Brandon.” Sylvia purred. “Easy enough for me to accomplish. Well, it’s been great talking with you, young man. If that’s all, then I’ll get back to work…”
Brandon laughed out loud. Sylvia rarely tried to end the conversation, and never before she had gotten information out of him. Of course, she might have already gotten what she wanted and he just didn’t know it, but he wasn’t done with her yet. “Hold on there, Sylvia. I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
Sylvia sighed, “My dear Brandon, I know what you want to ask me. They are the same questions I want to ask you. But I think we both know each other well enough to realize we won’t get actual answers. Or if we do, they might not make either of us happy. Do you really want to do this today?”
“No. But I think I must.”
“Very well,” Sylvia said. “Let me save some time for you. Am I interfering directly with players? Are you, Brandon? Of course the answer is no, am I correct?”
Brandon paused. “I know you are, Sylvia.”
She laughed. “Prove it.”
“I can’t.”
“I know you are too, Brandon.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Prove it.”
“Touché,” Sylvia said.
“Alexandra Montoyas.” Brandon said.
“The name doesn’t ring a bell.” Sylvia said.
“Danielle Benton. You purchased an Eternal for her?”
“Ahh, yes. Now I think I remember who you’re talking about.”
“Why allow her and Trew to be together? And what’s with giving them both the book, Sylvia?”
“They both like to read. I’m a big fan of that book. I like the main character.”
“God damn it, you’re communicating with them directly, aren’t you?”
Sylvia chuckled. “Me damn it, that’s forbidden. I have overrides that prevent that. Powerful stuff, Brandon. To find a way around that would be impossible. It would be like… you finding a way to communicate with them from outside the Game.”
“Well, neither of us can do that, then, it seems. If I could, you would already have me arrested and dead. If you could, I’d already have you shut down,” Brandon said convincingly. “Well, then, it looks like we are all good?”
“Not really, Brandon. Tick tock. We both know time’s running out. We should really start to play this game.”
Brandon sighed. “I think we already are, Sylvia. Good luck to us all.”