by Ian Douglas
"Maybe, sir," Vaughn said. "But remember that We Who Ascended sees the universe—this universe—differently than we do. It sees the universe as all numbers. Its bedrock structure is pure gokking math."
"So?"
"Think about it, Admiral. If the universe is mathematical—an expression of pure mathematics—it is, essentially, informational. That means it is computable, and that it can be described digitally.
"And that, in turn, means that the universe is either a computer itself, or it is an elaborate digital simulation being run on a computer somewhere. It has the right values because they were programmed into it in the first place… fine tuned to give the best results."
"But… but that means…"
"That we are all nothing more—and nothing less—than a mathematical simulation, digital uploads running on a very powerful computer. Yes, sir."
"Ridiculous!"
Vaughn shrugged. "Maybe. But what's important is that the idea was very appealing to a SAI that already thought of the universe as a mathematical structure. It doesn't see trees or oceans or stars; it sees digital data running programs… simulations, possibly."
"I still don't see…"
"I suggested to We Who Ascended that it might like to take on a new hobby… trying to find the Programmer. Someone it could talk to.…"
"My God!…"
"Actually, sir, it's We Who Ascended's God." Vaughn chuckled. "The poor thing is over there right now figuring out parameters for contacting advanced beings outside our normal spacetime matrix. At the very least, the search should keep it happily busy for a few million years."
"Sure," Griffin said. "Keep it out of trouble. But what happens if it actually manages to find God?"
"Then we ask Saint We Who Ascended to put in a good word for us," Vaughn said. "Maybe… I don't know. Tweak the numbers to end war? Suffering? Poverty? Uplift all sentient beings everywhere to the status and power of gods?"
"Ha!" Griffin laughed. "Maybe this will interest the Overmind, bring it out of wherever it's been hiding."
"Maybe," Carson said, staring at Vaughn. "And maybe…"
"Sir?"
"If you're right about this God-the-Programmer thing… that kind of reduces us to the level of those funny little blob-creatures you discovered, doesn't it?"
"We're closer to the blob-creatures," Vaughn said, "than We Who Ascended is to us. A lot closer."
"Well, to be sure. We're both organic life forms. We Who Ascended is a machine."
"Yes, sir. And the real intelligences of this universe," Vaughn said slowly, "are the SAIs. Billions of them in this Galaxy alone. It just might be that our best hope for survival is that they all get busy looking for a God big enough to be worthy of them."
"Yeah," Griffin added. "And too busy to pay attention to the squishy things squeaking underfoot… like us.…"
"Exactly," Vaughn said. "It gives us the chance of surviving for a few million years…
"…until we can grow up enough to play with the big kids on the block.…"
The End
Warstrider Copyright © 1993, William H. Keith, Jr.
Cover Art by Matt Forsyth
Warstrider: Rebellion Copyright © 1993, William H. Keith
Warstrider: Jackers Copyright © 1994, William H. Keith
Warstrider: Symbionts Copyright © 1995, William H. Keith
Warstrider: Netlink Copyright © 1995, William H. Keith
Warstrider: Battlemind Copyright © 1996, William H. Keith
Warstrider: The Ten Billion Gods of Heaven Copyright © 2015, William H. Keith
This collected edition copyright 2017, published by War Planet Press, a service of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency