by G. Adler
Maya starts to breathe faster and faster. “Omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg….”
“What is it, Byte? Talk to me!” I cry.
“D... d… d... didn’t you hear that? Technically, we don’t exist right now.”
“What?”
“It’s true, Ghost. We seem to be between states of being. DANE can do whatever he wants with us right now. Even scatter our matter into subatomic particles.” Joo-Eun states with a shaking voice.
“Scatter our matter… that’s funny!”
“Not now, Bartender.”
“Really? There’s a better time for a laugh than now?”
digitization process commencing.
A tiny itch begins in the middle of my back. I try to twist this way and that, but without a body, the movement is futile. It spreads over my back and legs and soon thereafter my arms and head. The intensity of the feeling escalates and becomes a dull pain that travels from the base of my back all the way up to my neck. I clench my eyes tight and try to ignore the sensation but it is no use. When I open them, I almost scream in fright. From out of nowhere I can see a tiny spark on the underside of my foot. I then hear each of the gang calling out.
“What the fuck?”
“Owwie!”
“This is very unpleasant!”
“Stay strong. Stay tough!”
“We can do this, guys! Shut out the pain! Focus on one another!”
A collective scream fills my head and I can’t help but join in. The tiny spark becomes white hot against my skin, sending a searing sensation through my body. It builds in power until it explodes in a fireball of pain. Streaks of white light shoot through every nerve in my body, lighting them up under my skin like a Christmas tree.
“Guys, even I can’t take much more of this!” Tyrese calls.
“H… h… hang on, Tank!” I reply.
My head swims and my neck tenses. Every muscle in my body clenches at the same time, like I am having a full body seizure of some kind. My bones ache and bend within my body under the strain until I feel like they will snap. My breathing becomes quick and labored. The streaks finally reach my head and I feel the River of Hell coming out my eyes. Intense flashes of light streak out of my pupils until I fall to the ground in a heap. I suddenly feel chilled to the bone. This time, when I reach for my face, my hand wipes away a thick layer of sweat that seems to be covering my entire body.
Every muscle in my body is still tensed like I am having the worst cramp ever. I try my best not to move, as every breath is agonizing. Slowly but surely I feel my body relax. I take slightly larger gulps of air each time until I can finally breathe normally.
“G… g… g… guys, you ok… k… kay?” I stammer.
“I’m f… f… f…. r… eezing my nuts off at the moment, but given what Maya did to them, it might actually be helping! Brrrrrrr! See, this is why I never exercise!” Ethan whimpers.
“I’m here Hayden but the girls are out cold!” Tyrese says in alarm.
I turn my head and watch Tyrese crawl over and wrap his body around a chattering Joo-Eun. I ooze along on my elbows and pull Maya as close as I can. Her tiny frame nuzzles against my body and sends pleasant warmth throughout my chest. I pull her in even closer and hear a faint, “Mmmmmmmmmmm,” escape her lips. Slowly but surely she opens her eyes. She looks up and her eyes go wide. Her body stiffens and she says, “H… H… Hayden?”
“I’m here, Maya.”
“I… I… I’m s… s… so c… c… cold…”
“I know Maya. It’s going to be okay. Just give it a few minutes…”
“Okay.”
The five of us slowly inch our way towards one another until all of us are nuzzled close. The extra heat blocks the cool breeze and Maya immediately relaxes.
“Mmmm… that feels so good. Can I just stay in here forever?”
Before I can answer her, Ethan says, “Sure, if you want Ghost to look like he’s pregnant.”
“Don’t sweat it, Byte. I can carry you in one of those infant backpack things that you wear over your chest.”
She groans appreciatively and says, “Tempting. I’ll let you know.”
“Is everyone else all right?” I ask.
They each take a moment to check themselves over. Ethan pats his body from top to bottom and finishes with his groin before giving me the thumbs up. Tyrese is checking over Joo-Eun almost as meticulously as she is examining him. Ultimately, they both shrug and nod their heads slowly.
“I know how you feel.” I commiserate.
I feel Maya’s muscles slacken further and I pull her in with renewed strength. From deep within my chest I hear, “Wh… wh… where are we?”
“That, dear Byte, is a good question.”
I tear my gaze away from Maya and look around for the first time.
I squint my eyes multiple times and even open and close them repeatedly. My heartbeat quickens and all color drains from my face. I start to hyperventilate and all I can manage is, “Where the fuck are we?”
Ethan scrambles to his knees and says, “From the looks of it, the concrete jungle.”
I can only nod in reply.
The entire world seems to be one giant heap of grey. Most of the buildings are solid rectangular skyscrapers without a single visible window. They seem to be grouped in clusters around massive pyramids that extend up into the sky. The only discernible feature, other than the flat grey, is the spiral of metal going around each building. The smaller, rectangular structures have a dreamcatcher-like structure on the roof. Every now and again, a spider web of energy builds up within it. I stare in awe as the pale white light grows brighter and brighter. Eventually, each energy web discharges into the pyramid nearby, sending the white light racing up to the top. I follow it as far as I can, but the apexes of the pyramids are hidden in the heavy grey cloud cover. Moments after the burst, there is a crackling sound as branches of electricity spread throughout the sky like some kind of energy tree.
Maya swallows hard and grips my hand.
“I do NOT like those messed up candy canes! They would look way cuter and A LOT more less scary if they were purple and pink.”
Joo-Eun gets to her knees and wheezes. She barely gets in a few breaths before she whispers, “More less scary?”
“Are you serious, Joo-Eun? You just regained consciousness and that’s what you say first? Now is not grammar time, Guts!”
I get to my feet slowly and survey our environment. The night sky begins to fall and I breathe a sigh of relief. I look at Maya and manage a weak smile.
“Penny for your probably very cute thoughts.”
“I was just thinking how comforting it is to see the stars in the sky. Even though I have no idea where we are, there is something constant that I can rely on.”
“Uhm, Hayden?”
“Joo-Eun, you don’t have to raise your hand.”
“I hate to do this to you, but those are not the constellations for our time of year. In fact, the stars that you are seeing have never been seen from Earth except through the Hubble Telescope.”
“WHAT?”
I look at the faces of my friends and I bite down hard on my lip to stop it from quivering. My hands tighten into fists and I take two deep breaths.
“Guys, let’s just stay as calm as we can. We’re together, alive, and material… yes?”
Ethan pinches Tyrese’s ass and smiles. He then gives me the thumbs up and motions for me to proceed.
“We all heard that creepy computer voice.” I look over at Maya, who is twisting her hair around her finger and avoiding my eyes at all costs. Her lips quiver as she tries to apply her lip gloss. I walk over to her and say, “Maya?”
She holds the shimmering brush like it is a weapon of some kind and points it at my chest.
“Don’t ask me, Hayden.”
>
“Don’t do it, dude. She put a taser in her mascara once!” Ethan warns.
I take the lip gloss from her fingers and apply it liberally to my own lips. I then reach out and grab her around her waist while bringing her tiny face up to mine. I press my lips against hers while making sure to cover every inch. After a few moments, I put her down and say, “Better?”
“Mmmmmmmmuch! B… b… but I’m still freaking out, Ghost!”
“We all are, Maya.”
Everyone nods. Even Ethan is quiet in his agreement.
“Okay Maya, you are the expert here. You heard that voice… is it possible?”
“Th… th… th… there have been some theoretical studies done, but the actual process of turning matter into digital information is millennia away! This is Star Trek transporter technology with a good dose of The Matrix for a swirl of color.”
“And if you were DANE?”
She stares down at the ground but nods her head slowly. “But the amounts of power required would be massive.”
“How massive?”
Maya looks at me with a quivering lip and her eyes go wide with fright. “Even I have no idea. The complexity of the process is staggering. I couldn’t even begin to guess. You might as well ask me how much computing power God had when He created the world!”
“Okay, then we have to assume that he would need to tap into every power source on the planet…”
Tyrese comes up behind me and asks, “What’s the thought, Ghost?”
“I’m just wondering what’s happening to our homes.”
The others go tensely quiet and Tyrese whispers to me, “None of that helps us.”
I grab him by the collar of his t-shirt, look him straight in the eye and say, “No, but if what we heard is correct, then we are in DANE’s world right now. Even if this is a digital… ‘whatever’… we have to treat it as real. But this is HIS world, which means he’s not going to risk anything happening to it. I just shudder to think about what DANE is doing ‘topside.’”
My anger and frustration get the better of me and I push Tyrese away from me gruffly. Tyrese’s eyes flash but Ethan gets between us before anything else happens.
“Whoa, boys. Hold it right there. Let the Bartender mix you guys something to…”
Tyrese steps towards me with his eyes glaring. His face is a mix of understanding but also concern. “I get where your head is at, Ghost. But the stupid truth is that this is OUR fault. Whatever happens to us here or the rest of our world will be a shame and responsibility that we all carry.”
The others swallow hard and Maya starts to cry.
I grab Tyrese around his neck and say, “Then at least we will carry it together.”
“Here, here!” Ethan says and drinks down something from inside his jacket.
I look at Ethan and say, “How do you have that stuff?”
“My chemies? I never go anywhere without a basic set of stuff. Not since I was twelve.”
I look at Maya crookedly and say, “Do you have your lipstick computer?”
She reaches into her pocket and jerks back her hand as if something bit her. She then reaches in once more and pulls out the sparkling tube. Before she can say a word, Ethan also holds up Matilda with a look of total shock on his face.
“Now go ahead and explain THAT!”
Joo-Eun steps forward and touches the battery. She then walks over to Tyrese and pulls him down to eye level. She studies his face meticulously and with intense concentration. She then stares off into space for a second and says, “I think I might be able to help with that, and Tyrese is the key.”
All of our jaws drop. She blushes and says, “Tyrese has a collection of thirty-four freckles just under his right eye.”
We all giggle as Joo-Eun turns a new shade of crimson.
“So should I pinch his ass again for being cute? What’s your point Guts?”
“My point is that they are now on his left.”
The comical manner stops immediately and we all rush over to Tank. I pull his face down so that even Maya can get a look.
I swallow hard. We all turn and stare at her.
“If DANE scanned our brains, he may have used our self-image to construct our appearances. Tyrese looks at himself in the mirror the most because of all of his working out, so his image would be clearest.”
Ethan smiles and winks at her.
“I dunno, Guts. I think your image of him might be just as vivid! Byte, help me out on this one.”
“Shut up, Ethan!” Maya chastises with a smirk on her face.
I’m pretty sure that I see a quick wink pass between the girls but I let it slide.
“So because Maya takes her lipstick computer with her everywhere, it would automatically appear with her… and Matilda for Ethan, even though we blew it up earlier… but that would mean…”
I reach into my pocket and sure enough I find my phone. Even the pictures I took this evening are still there.
I scroll through a few of the pictures and gasp as I get to the last few. My hands start to shake and my knees go weak. I drop to a sitting position hard. I can taste my heart in my throat.
“Hayden, what is it?”
“I got about twenty shots of the lab as DANE zapped us. They are only images but they are pretty gruesome. I don’t think you guys want to see these.”
Joo-Eun comes over and puts her hand on my shoulder. “Why, Hayden. What is it?”
“You don’t want to know, Guts.”
“Show me. Like Tyrese said, we carry nothing alone.”
I scroll through the pictures, showing parts of our bodies looking stiff as boards while others are a blur due to the violent tremors we experienced. The most disturbing shots are the ones when a blue beam seems to be coming from every wall and hitting each of us in the face. In subsequent pictures, each of us is slowly losing body parts as they are converted to thin webs of white energy. The last shot is one of Tyrese. He is nothing more than a hand and one eye floating suspended in blue light.
Joo-Eun pushes the camera away. “I wish I hadn’t looked.” She walks over to Tyrese and weeps against his chest. He wraps his arms around her and shakes his head.
“I’m tossing these!” I select them all as a group and am about to push the button when Joo-Eun rushes over, screaming, “NOOOO!”
She knocks the camera from my hand and sends it into the air. Tyrese does a somersault in the air and catches it against his chest just before it hits the ground.
“Nice touchdown, Tank.” Ethan notes.
Joo-Eun snags the phone from his hand and clicks on the first picture.
“Joo-Eun, don’t do this to yourself.”
She taps a few keys and then slides the camera to me. “I’m not.”
I look at the screen. She has zoomed in on a panel in the lab that is giving a percentage of power remaining. It is at ninety-nine percent.
“Great, so DANE is fully charged. The fucking Energizer bunny on steroids! So what?”
She grabs the phone from my hand and pushes a few more buttons. She then pushes it back to me and says, “That’s what.”
She has advanced to the last picture, which happens to have the same screen. “Okay he’s down to twelve. He must be tired. I feel much better, Guts. Thanks.”
“Sarcasm notwithstanding, think, Hayden. DANE is part organic, so he has the same evolutionary drives as a human being. Say what you will, but it was programmed by a man and there are aspects of ourselves that we infuse into the things we touch.”
“Is that science or a bit of Zen peeking through?”
“A bit of both. But that’s not the point, Hayden. DANE is still part human.”
Maya stomps her foot as her eyes go wide.
“Joo-Eun is right. It shows that as DANE uses its abilities, it draws enormous amounts o
f power to the point where it has to monitor its power drain. Its first goal would be to obtain a stable power source.”
Ethan steps forward, cradling the digital version of Matilda.
“I’m not giving her up again for anybody. I finally got her back! Besides, you already said that the amount of power was Godlike! Aughh…this hurts my head. It might as well be calculus!”
Joo-Eun and Maya look at one another and gasp at the same time.
“It couldn’t have, could it, Joo-Eun. Even it would require parallel circuits that are connected to…” Maya’s eyes go wide and she covers her mouth.
“That’s right, Maya. It’s us. We must be it. Five dummy terminals. And why not? If you take away all other stimuli…”
“But it will just keep growing…”
Both of them scream at once. Joo-Eun dares to whisper the final word.
“Infinity.”
Ethan, Tyrese, and I stare at one another and stare at the girls in silence.
Joo-Eun swallows hard and says, “This is only a theory, but based on what we know from your pictures we are REALLY here. Not just a digital version of ourselves but in the flesh. We ARE here. DANE has created a paradox: a place that is both real and artificial. He generated the artificial world digitally but he filled it with five elements from the real one. That situation cannot exist.”
We stare at her blankly. Maya takes a stab at it.
“Remember how you used to divide by zero on the calculator and you got ‘error.’ Do you remember why?”
The three of us look at one another. Ethan finally says, “Yeah…we know, but why don’t you tell us so we make sure YOU know!”
Maya just rolls her eyes. “If you divide by a fraction, the number gets larger. The smaller the fraction, the bigger the result. Dividing by zero gives you a number so massive, it is a bit much for a dollar store calculator.”
“How much bigger?”
“Like Joo-Eun said, infinite.”
Tyrese slowly nods his head.
“I’m with you, Byte. But wouldn’t that create some kind of crazy situation that would tear the worlds apart?”
“Yes, unless DANE has found a way to harness that energy. A battery works by creating a polarity of positive to negative. The movement of particles along the path generates current.”