Spheria

by Cody Leet

  Frankie raised the tablet over his head and zoomed the view out until the entire cave ceiling was on the screen. Then he froze the position once more and activated the camera. “I need a nice texture for the ceiling. I think I can get most of it in one shot, then it’ll look completely seamless.” Frankie wandered around the area some more, aiming the camera at different things, but didn’t find anything that satisfied him. Eventually, they found an open yellow door that led into a storage room. Frankie was trying to get an image off the door when they heard footsteps approaching.

  “Shit,” whispered Frankie and he darted into the room. Min did as well. They stood there listening as the footsteps grew louder.

  “Is it a guard?” Min murmured.

  “Probably.”

  “Do you think he saw us?”

  “I hope not. Now hush.”

  They stood as still as possible. Min could literally feel her heart beat in her chest. Not that they’d be in super trouble anyway, but the adrenalin rush of being where they weren’t supposed to be was ramping up her system. The footsteps stopped. As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, the room became visible. It was covered on every wall and the ceiling with rolls of pink fiberglass insulation. This meant it was probably not intended for storage but would become some kind of an office. In the corner was a set of work lights on a tripod, currently turned off.

  “You think he’s gone?” she whispered.

  “Not sure,” Frankie replied in a hushed voice. “I didn’t hear the footsteps leave.”

  Suddenly, they were blinded by bright light as the work light came on. “You there,” said a loud voice from the door. “What’re you doing here?” A security guard stood in the doorway, looking stern, and blocking their exit. Oh great, Min thought, just what we need, a rent-a-cop with an attitude.

  “I’m taking some photos for a project we’re working on,” answered Frankie. As he answered, he hid the tablet behind his back. Although it might reinforce his statement, it technically wasn’t a camera.

  The guard squinted and scanned them up and down. “This area is a construction zone and is for employees only.”

  “We work at the Health Center, so we’re employees. Are we good?” It was a lame attempt by Frankie. The guard obviously meant ‘construction crew’ rather than ‘employees.’

  “Not quite. It’s for workers only.” So that confirmed it.

  Changing tactics, Frankie replied with, “Can you make an exception for us? We won’t be long.”

  “I get what you're saying, but you can’t remain here. You need to leave immediately.”

  “Why?”

  “Regulations require it for your safety. You don’t even have any protection on.”

  “Like a hard hat? C’mon, nothing is going to fall on us right now.”

  “There’s plenty that can fall. Things aren't fully secured yet.” The guard glanced at the insulation in the ceiling. It didn’t look like it was going anywhere.

  “Is there a time when we can come back?”

  “You can come back when it’s done.”

  “Okay then, thank you,” Frankie breathed. He decided it was better to leave than make a scene, especially since they were blatantly in violation of the rules.

  The guard stepped to the side so they could exit. Frankie and Min left and rushed up the cement incline beneath the crisscross of girders. Frankie took a look at his tablet and realized it was still filming textures and displaying them on the cave ceiling in real time. Worse, a flashing indicator showed something he never expected to see. “Shit,” he exclaimed. He quickly took a photo of the cement floor and hit the ‘Paint’ icon, locking that image in place.

  Chapter 28 - Streets of Gold

  "Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Jonathan Swift

  Sa∙ma stumbled into the Colony. He wandered to the center, lost in a daze. An assortment of Drones swerved around him, not wanting to run into him. He sat on the edge of the celebratory staging, staring toward the mountains.

  “You alright?” asked Ti∙ni, who was too new to have developed a proper respect for, or fear of, the higher castes.

  Sa∙ma turned to face her but said nothing. A few other three-legged Drones stopped as well, and in an instant, Sa∙ma had an audience. He scanned the crowd. The Drones gathered before him looked expectantly, as if he’d come to impart some knowledge upon them. Indeed, this is something that Lumen Masters were known to do from time to time.

  A few Drones sat down, and he took this as a sign that he needed to share his experience. He began.

  “The Colony is at full capacity. The last remaining hive, which could hold five of you Drones, was given to Fa∙ro. We need to increase our dwellings before the next breeding season. We Workers spread into the wilderness in search of more building material. I headed toward the mountains but was blocked by the river. Something compelled me to follow it, and I moved deeper into the wilderness, forgetting my original intent.

  “I noticed something different, or rather felt it, ahead. Not just ahead, but below the ground.”

  “Below the ground?” repeated Ti∙ni, in a hushed tone of wonderment.

  “Indeed. I could feel it getting stronger and stronger. I could see it there, shapes changing beneath the ground. Then I found it on the side of a hill – a hole. A large hole… the entrance to a cave.”

  “Mmmm,” said several of the Drones in unison as they fidgeted. Caves were a fantasy to most of them, although quite real to the Workers.

  “I entered the cave. But it was unlike any cave I’d ever been in.”

  “How so?” asked Po∙ni, forgetting her manners. Ti∙ni stood next to her admiringly.

  “It wasn't a room. It was a tunnel. It sloped down, and I descended. It got dark fast, but I could see a light ahead. After quite a while, the tunnel ended, and a large room appeared. At least I think it was a room, although it was more like a maze interwoven tunnels. Scattered about were glowing protrusions, emitting a faint green light. I’m not sure what they were. They almost seemed like a plant.

  “I tapped one with my foot, and it seemed brittle. I hit it, and the tip broke off, and a beam shone out from it, sending light down a passage. I followed the light until it ended on the side of a wall. I smashed another of the plants, and a new beam of light emerged in a new direction. And so I followed the beams, making new ones when each one ended. I could feel I was getting closer to the thing that drew me forward.

  “Suddenly, I no longer needed a beam. I stumbled upon a room bright as the Source. It was a perfect octagon, and the ceiling was pure yellow. It was not rock like the previous caverns and wasn’t like any material I’d ever seen. I could only assume it was from out of our world.”

  The Drones began talking among themselves. This experience was way beyond their comprehension, and they tried to make sense of it to each other.

  “Then I saw it,” said Sa∙ma.

  The Drones immediately fell silent, watching him with rapt attention.

  “The ceiling of the room… changed. I could see… movement. Blurry shifting patterns until it went entirely… violet!”

  “Violet?” they all repeated, astonished.

  “Yes. There I was, looking through a window into the Qubessence. I was gazing into the world of the gods. And every surface, every single object, was an energy crystal. In such a place, there would never be a need to forage or hunt ever again.”

  More whispers spread through the crowd. Sa∙ma noticed the gathering of Drones had grown as he relayed his experience.

  “And I know this to be true,” he said, “because a god spoke to me.”

  Ti∙ni couldn’t control her excitement. “What did it say?”

  #

  “What’re you doing here?” asked the voice from beyond the ceiling. It echoed throughout the chamber.

  Sa∙ma wasn’t prepared to address a god, although it wouldn’t be the first time. He apologized and relayed the truth, as he had done before. “I sensed so
mething and followed it.”

  “This area is a construction zone,” said the voice, “and is for employees only.”

  Employees? That was a word Sa∙ma had never heard before. He had no idea what it meant. He did understand the first part. “Construction zone?” he asked. “Are you saying that this cave is being built right now?”

  “Not quite. It’s for Workers only.”

  “I’m a Worker,” explained Sa∙ma, realizing the stupidity in trying to explain anything to a god. He tried to recover by adding, “I guide all the Workers.”

  “I get what you're saying,” responded the god, “but you can’t remain here. You need to leave immediately.”

  “Understood. I'm going now.” He turned to exit the room.

  “Regulations require it for your safety. You don’t even have any protection on.”

  Sa∙ma stopped. Apparently, the god wasn't finished with him. “What do you mean by protection?” He looked around the barren cave. “What can harm me here?”

  “There’s plenty that can fall. Things aren't fully secured yet.”

  Sa∙ma looked upwards into the billowing violet Qubessence. He imagined a piece of that breaking off, falling through into the room, and crushing him. The irony of being killed by a giant life crystal made him uneasy. He didn’t want his life to be extinguished that abruptly. “Okay, I'm leaving.”

  This time, he moved quickly into the passage and found the light beam that would guide him out.

  “You can come back when it’s done,” said the god.

  “Thank you, supreme one,” he responded. But instead of heading down the tunnel, his curiosity got the better of him. He peeked into the room and stared at the ceiling. What he saw then was beyond description.

  #

  “What did you see? What did you see?” squealed Ti∙ni.

  But Sa∙ma knew she wouldn’t understand. None of them would. He barely did. He could still see it in his mind. For a brief moment, the Qubessence shifted and changed. The billowing violet walls were replaced with straight red beams. They connected in a zigzag pattern, forming flat but open geometrical surfaces. They established a structure larger than the materials present. This structure clicked in his mind, and he immediately understood the elegance of its strength. It was incredible: a glimpse of arcane knowledge not meant for him to see. He felt a combination of shame and bewilderment. He was still in shock even after having relayed his story.

  “What did you see?” chimed in Po∙ni. “Yea what did you see?” said others, eager to hear the mysteries of their universe.

  Sa∙ma declared, “How to make larger and stronger structures than anything we’ve ever built before.”

  “Most interesting,” came a voice from behind Sa∙ma.

  The Drones cowered, then scattered among the hives.

  Sa∙ma slowly turned around. Fa∙ro was standing behind him. “Take me to this cave,” he demanded. “Now!”

  Chapter 29 - The Deleted File

  "What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it." - Walter Scott

  INTERN’S LOG BY OLIVIA HOLLAND

  5/30: First day on the job. Everyone seems very nice. My boss Max is a little intense, but the rest of the staff seems normal. Everyone is super dedicated to this project, and I'm happy to be part of the team. It appears that they’ll have me doing a statistical analysis of data all summer, but it’s better than working at McDonald’s. Since this is my first “real job” I've decided to keep this work journal, and this is the first entry. I’ll try to update it weekly when things aren't too busy.

  6/02: Loser! That’s what he is. I’m sitting here preparing a nonlinear regression on a data set Max sent me, and I get an email from Randy. The bastard broke up with me! I get that the long distance thing wasn't working, but that’s spineless. Six years of emotional investment down the drain. His loss. I need to drag Ashley out for a drink tonight. Maybe I can head home sick. I don’t feel like working right now.

  6/03: Oh my head! I can’t believe it’s like my fourth day, and I’m at work hungover. I hope nobody can tell, although it’s hard to act awake. Max was way too cheerful when he arrived, and I tried to be pleasant as much I could, which was hard. He seems a bit nervous around me, which is cute. Eventually, he's going to realize I've not produced anything meaningful, and with days like this… ugh. Luckily I don’t have any deadlines yet, so I’m just going to browse the web today rather than look at spreadsheets. My eyes just can’t take it.

  6/09: Okay, so I’m over Randy. Finally, I think. I've at least stopped dwelling on it while at work. Ashley has been great. We hang out every night now, and it’s been a real help. I think we’re much closer roommates now, which is great since my family is in Boston. Our relationship helps me get through the evenings. At work, I've found that I can get lost in data and have no room for outside thoughts to creep in. I meditate on this a lot. It’s been therapeutic, and I’m enjoying it. Ashley would call me a nerd. Maybe she's right.

  6/14: Really, I need to take back what I wrote last time. I think I'm losing my vision, or going cross-eyed, or both. There is so much data from this project; it’s unfathomable. It’s amazing how much is produced. And they’re only key level metrics, not every piece of data from the simulation, which would be incomprehensible. Speaking of that, sometimes I feel like I'm that guy on the Matrix that can look at the green numbers flowing down the screen and see a world there. I even installed a Matrix screen saver that looks like that. I crack myself up.

  6/16: 6 past one isn't late. I got back from my lunch break, and Lee was standing near my desk. I asked him what’s up, and he said he liked my screen saver. He said it’s a nice reminder about how science fiction foreshadows reality. What if we are a simulation, and Spheria is a simulation in a simulation? What if the Polyans evolved sufficiently to run their own simulation? What if we could have simulations of simulations of simulations and it went to infinity? My head hurts thinking about it. It’s crazy working with all these people who are way smarter than me.

  6/24: Curious. Now and then I notice some strange glitch, some unusual piece of data in the sea of numbers. It’s not something that I've been able to correlate into a meaningful trend, at least not yet. I mentioned this to Max, and he said it’s probably just some random noise in the system and that I should ignore drastic outliers. This comment seems a little odd to me coming from someone who is so much of a perfectionist.

  7/04: Only one here working on Independence day. :( Ashley says I need to get a new boyfriend. I think she's right. Work is fun, but it’s not contributing to my social life at all. If I didn’t enjoy crunching numbers so much, I'd never have worked so many consecutive days even forgetting there was a weekend in there somewhere. But I’m not unique. Most of the team is here on weekends. I’m it today, though. It’s lonely and eerie also. I swear there are new electronic noises I've never heard before. A ghost in the machine?

  7/08: Datasets are my life! I was analyzing yet another, and I noticed more noise. But I swear I've seen this before. I did some digging through old datasets, and I found two more with the same sequence. Something is off here. If it was noise, the probability of this happening more than once, according to my calculations, is 0.0006 percent. Spock would be proud of me. My only explanation is there is some kind of data “leak” from another system into the metrics accumulator. But that shouldn’t be possible. The Spheria Project has its own isolated network for the specific purpose of preventing contamination, and hackers.

  7/09: Eccentricities abound in these files. Yet, there is some organization to their randomness. It’s as if there is a very low level of data bleed, and at a consistent rate. It only appears when sampling the data at a certain scale. The odd thing is I think I started to make sense of the noise, like there are actually patterns within it.

  7/10: 2. That’s the number of days I've been focused on inve
stigating this… noise? Dana and Max both asked for updates, and I had to tell them my machine was too slow, and Excel kept crashing, which was perfectly believable. Dana said if I see anything unusual, she wanted to be the first to know, even before I tell Max. Her manner made me suspicious, as if she knew something but wasn't letting on. I wonder if she thinks Max is doing something inappropriate.

  7/14: 4 days with no progress. I had to get some real work done this last week, so I finally got a breather. I'm going to spend the remainder of the day digging into these anomalies. Wish me luck. Right, now I’m talking to myself.

  7/15: 6 more pages of numbers and Eureka! I found a pattern in the data. Nothing complete, but I figured out how to decrypt the data into human readable form. It’s definitely not random noise. In fact, it has got to be bleed from some other system. Time to wear my hacker hat. I have enough information to follow the white rabbit down the hole.

  7/17: 5 more hours of digging and I’m in! Maybe I should have minded my own business. If the records I found aren’t fake, then I might be in a serious breach of national security. I need to tell someone at once, but I don’t know who to tell first. I know Dana would want to know first, but I think I should tell Max. I don’t know who to trust. In case something happens to me, I hacked their password database and added my own. Wow! is the passcode. Ashley, keep this safe and give this to the police if I disappear.