by Paul Anlee
"No takers? Well, I don't blame you; it was kind of a trick question. In a universe struggling to come into existence as I’ve described, the question of ‘how long’ is meaningless.
“There is no way to measure time before the first stable interactions were in place. The chaotic universe was eternal, lasting forever. Time was immeasurable as far back as one could possibly imagine. Without cause and effect, time has no direction.
“In such a universe of chaos, we can roughly define time as something like event opportunities. According to this definition, we can see there would be adequate time for a real universe to evolve. Event opportunities are essentially infinite.
“Another question we've been scratching our heads over is: How could that lead to the Big Bang?
"What we've come up with so far is this. While partial waveforms of virtual particles are easily able to share the same space, standing waves of identical real particles, particularly those we call fermions, are not. This is called the Pauli Exclusion Principle.”
“Remember those little islands of stability I mentioned earlier? As more and more of those interacting domains of stability appeared, a sufficiently large nucleus accumulated.
“The effect those domains had on adjacent virtual particles through resonance became overwhelming. New real particles sprang into existence as the stable interactions started to spread outward, mediated by their resonance effect on adjacent virtual particles. The nucleus of real particles expanded faster than the speed of light because the resonant effect of virtual particles is not limited by the speed of real photons.
“Virtual particles coalescing into real particles in this way hate to occupy the same space. They rush to get away from each other. This led to the release of a huge amount of energy, the culmination of which, we call the Big Bang. Although, I think it would be more accurate to say, the Big Bloom.
“Our universe blossomed out of the chaos, rather than exploded. A region of stable reality spread into the surrounding area where only non-coherent virtual particles had existed previously. I suspect the process is still ongoing at the edges of the real universe, which continues to expand into the infinite chaotic virtual universe faster than the speed of light.
“In this way, the ancient Greeks were right: our universe has existed forever. There was a universe of chaotic virtual matter going back forever before the Big Bang. That virtual matter is the source of our universe, and the stable interactions that evolved between coalescing virtual particles are what we think of as the laws of nature.”
Darian paused to take a sip of water and a deep breath.
“I realize that what I’ve described to you sounds extraordinary, certainly less than obvious. Science is, above all, pragmatic. We can make up all the outlandish theories and hypotheses we like, but they can only become scientifically accepted after they are tested against the reality of the universe. Reality is always the final arbiter of truth.
“So how can we test these ideas I’ve described? How do we go from wild conjecture to scientifically sound knowledge? We can’t exactly go back 13.8 billion years into the past to test the origin of the universe, nor can we go trillions of years into the future to see how it all turns out.
“So here's where it gets really interesting. We believe that we can develop a device to generate complex fields that will amplify and select interactions among other virtual particles. Particles other than the ones that led naturally to real particles in our universe."
Darian noted a couple of dubious faces peering up at that comment.
"Once these virtual particles are coaxed into their own resonance, they will form tiny universes with their own natural laws, laws different from our own." A few more furrowed brows appeared.
"We call these fields ‘Reality Assertion Fields’ because they assert a new set of natural laws on a region of space. It turns out that a Reality Assertion Field, or RAF, is surprisingly easy to generate. All we have to do is compute the shape of a field that will encourage the selection of these new resonances between adjacent virtual particles within the RAF.
“We can use any field, but electromagnetic fields are the easiest to generate. The hard part is computing the shape of the overlap of a large number of EM fields so we can encourage the specific resonances we desire among the various virtual particles in a portion of space. The math gets a little difficult, as you might imagine.”
There was an appreciative chuckle from the physicists in the audience.
Darian checked in with his lattice sub-routine again. No one, other than the Reverend LaMontagne and the man his lattice had flagged were raising any further alarms with the algorithm. He would keep an eye on those two during the Q&A session.
“My group is now in the process of building a very fast and powerful computer, and developing new types of mathematics, which we will use to calculate the fields required to generate a new RAF in a very small volume—about one hundred cubic centimeters—of a nearly perfect vacuum.
“Once completed, we will probe this region with a variety of tests to make sure that it has physical properties different from those specified by the laws of nature in our own universe. We expect to be able to demonstrate that our principles are correct within the next few months and, from there, I anticipate some paradigm-shifting science unfolding.”
Among the sea of confused, bored, or frustrated faces looking back, Darian counted a disappointingly small number of individuals still exhibiting rapt attention.
In his distraction, he failed to see the angry man and Reverend LaMontagne exchange glances. The angry man gave an almost imperceptible nod.
27
AS MEETING ROOMS GO, THIS ONE WAS UNIQUE. A stained-glass table sat on a downy cloud hovering ninety meters above the sun-drenched Vitality Beach, affording select clientele a touch of privacy from the hordes of sunbathers below.
Crystalline stairways connected hundreds of floating tables in the lower levels of the restaurant. But only select guests were permitted access to the highest table. As one might expect, obtaining seating at such a highly coveted spot required either miraculously fortuitous timing or considerable influence with the Manager persona. Darya had neither. She had, however, hacked the Assistant Manager Partial, ensuring access to a pleasant and secure location whenever she needed to meet with members of the inner circle.
The privacy afforded by the cloud-top table Darya chose was conducive to work, despite the allure of the palm-fringed beach below. Sadly, today its postcard-perfect view was wasted on Darya’s four closest acolytes: Mary, Leisha, Gerhardt, and Qiwei. They were too deeply mired in despair to respond to the expanse of white sand and gentle aquamarine surf calling to them from far below.
Vacationland was classified as a high-magic inworld, enjoying considerable relaxation of conventional physical and social rules. To help achieve the illusion of natural beauty and tranquility in this zone, a handful of rustic, thatch-roof cabinas were clustered among the palms. The original inworld programmers accommodated the many visitors with a little trickery. Thanks to their unique design and special dimensional properties, what looked like a small bungalow outside provided thousands of private suites inside, each offering the same breathtaking view of the beach and adjacent tropical forest, while assuring complete privacy.
Giant transparent water globes with no visible means of suspension floated above the sparkling bay. Each pool had its own local gravity, enabling swimmers to skim the wet surfaces on all sides of the spherical globes. Ranging in diameter from twenty to a few hundred meters in diameter and cleverly interconnected by serpentine water tubes, slides, and water bridges, they were irresistible to swimmers and spectators alike.
Body-variant visitors chased through the network. Dolphin, penguin, squid, and otter bodies were the most popular body shapes, any of which might be augmented by creative combinations of flipper, fin, leg, jet, and wing.
Leisha glanced wistfully at the surfers honing their skills a kilometer out, on forty-meter virtual wav
es that rushed toward the coral reefs at exhilarating speeds. She appreciated the expertise of those performing one-arm handstands on the tips of their boards, a trick she had not yet mastered. Some of her friends eschewed boards completely, preferring the sensory experience of the waves directly on their simulated skin.
As she'd learned firsthand, Vacationland was very forgiving of recklessness in the pursuit of sensory adventure. Depending on the severity of a simulated injury, one could normally expect to be fully healed within minutes-to-hours, and back inworld, enjoying the fun.
Sim-death was a different story. Dying inworld got you kicked out for a full day in real-time. To Leisha, being banished to the outworld with no assigned tasks and no company but your own thoughts was more painful than whatever virtual injuries brought suspension from the inworld in the first place. She'd been sent for a time-out more than once.
When she was looking for a less dangerous but equally thrilling activity, she headed to the waterslides. In keeping with the promise of offering bigger, better, and faster, the chutes towered a kilometer above the beach, and boasted turns and loops that would have been impossible on Earth or any real planet. They used localized and unpredictable changes in gravity along the length to slow or accelerate the patrons, testing their skills and virtual courage.
Leisha loved that she could just as easily find herself accelerating on the upward half of a loop as being repelled away from the watery tube and having to push her arms and legs outward to press away from an inner lip of the next.
Qiwei preferred the drier recreation found further inland, where the palm trees gave way to a deciduous forest that, in turn, worked its way up the hilly slopes then thinned out as it neared the rocky crags. Along the forest floor, he often joined dozens of like-minded patrons hunting lions, tigers, dragons, and all sorts of mythical creatures. True enthusiasts used only knives or bows and arrows to hunt. Qiwei was among those who considered it unsporting to arm oneself with more advanced weaponry to stalk the deadly beasts.
In addition to the tens of thousands of virtual people that played or relaxed along the lengthy beach, even larger numbers of Partials dashed about on foot, wing, or fin, serving every desire of the instantiated.
The Servitor Partials were tireless, always friendly and accommodating. They weren’t really needed, but the Vacationland designers had thought it a quaint touch to have food and drinks delivered by a "living being" instead of simply popping into existence on command. Simulated beverages and snacks were similarly unnecessary but made a pleasing representation of energy consumption back at the outworld recharging stations, where Cybrid trueself bodies docked while their minds visited inworld.
Cybrid minds were modeled on human minds, and allotting them some time to pretend they were physically human again helped to keep them psychologically stable. Other types of imaginary worlds had been tried, but simulated Earth-like environments were the most effective and enjoyable over the long run. Still, a few magical enhancements didn’t hurt.
Like most Cybrids, for Darya and her team, Vacationland was a lifesaver. The creative freedom and thrilling sensory experiences they enjoyed inworld helped maintain their sanity between tedious work contracts. And of all the imaginative inworlds available, Vacationland was the most popular.
Darya’s perusal of the scenery was interrupted by the arrival of one of the Servitors with another round of simulated, though nonetheless delicious, margaritas. She returned her attention from the throngs below to the meeting of the Central Committee of the rebellion.
“So what have you four been up to these past few months?”
Leisha, tanned and freckled, wearing a loose purple wrap over her bikini, was first to answer. “Just working and hoping the Securitors don't come grab me at any second.”
The Lysrandia fiasco had decimated the ranks of Darya’s followers, and left the survivors demoralized. The Securitors still held over sixty percent of them in custody following the showy inworld dragon battle. Brutal interrogations led the Securitors to another fifteen percent of the original group. Over five hundred members had been lost. Only her four most senior people and a few scattered cells remained, a little over a hundred and sixty individuals to challenge the work of the millions bent on pushing Alum’s Divine Plan forward.
“At least the rate of new arrests seems to have abated,” Gerhardt offered. Instead of sounding hopeful, it came across as dark and moody. The thin, athletic body he wore for this meeting was a noticeable divergence from his preference toward plump and philosophical. He was being cautious.
Darya was glad the Securitors had not cracked their inworld avatar disguises yet. While she was thinking about it, she used her newly modified outworld connections to initiate an independent routine to revamp their avatar code before the meeting was finished. She included the revised interface-exit commands. Never again would her supporters be left stranded inworld, unable to leave except through "approved" routes.
“Even so, we lost a lot of good people.” Qiwei noted. “And we're going to lose more once the Securitors start interrogating the latest group they brought in.” He had chosen an appearance as diminutive as possible. His moderate stature, mousy brown hair, lightly tanned skin, and computationally average appearance reflected the cultural norm of the mixed Cybrid heritage. Qiwei was so perfectly unexceptional that he almost stood out in Vacationland, where most people succumbed to their ideal images of self.
His fears, as well-founded as they were, had nearly resulted in his absence today. Only Darya’s promise of some really big and important news had enticed him to take the risk. He had lost a lot of friends to personality wipe after Lysrandia. Their Cybrid bodies would be inhabited by one of the personas previously approved for embodiment, no doubt following careful screening for rebellious tendencies.
Darya shifted her gaze to Mary, a classic rebel as reflected in her choice of an obese body, and a face so conspicuously unattractive that it verged on the mesmerizingly beautiful even before one took into account the array of piercings and exaggerated black make-up. In Darya’s ancient memory, she would have said Mary’s choice of self-expression fell into the ultra-Goth era.
Wherever she went, Mary attracted attention, which she deemed undeserving of her notice and deliberately ignored. She was Darya’s official second-in-command and the most innovative of her top lieutenants. But even Mary was being cautious today, shaving about fifty kilos off her usual body presentation and limiting her piercings to the more conventional end of the spectrum.
“Do you have anything to add?” Darya asked her.
Mary looked miserable. “I’m not sure we can carry on,” she said. “We all knew this was risky but to suffer such a huge setback now, so close to when Alum is ready, this might have finished the battle for us. Maybe his power is just too much for us.”
“We all know that Alum is powerful,” Darya acknowledged, "but he is not omnipotent."
“But Alum is God," Mary challenged. How do we defeat God?”
Darya took a calming breath. “Alum is not God. There is no such thing as God. He simply has access to very sophisticated technology.”
“And a stable, ancient religi-political system that provides him with the undying loyalty of millions of trillions of humans and Cybrids,” Gerhardt interjected.
“He may not be God but he’s the closest thing to it in this universe,” Leisha lamented. “I don’t think we can build an organization from here that can overtake his might. Not before he makes his big move.”
Darya sighed. “Remember, we don’t need to conquer him everywhere, just here at the heart of his project,” she said. She looked at her depressed acolytes. “Look, I know we’ve suffered a huge setback but there’s still enough time to stop Alum’s insane plan for the Realm. We can't roll over and quit now!”
“We can’t quit, and we can’t win,” observed Qiwei. “What can we do?”
“We put our heads together and we don’t give up. Our efforts over the past several hundred thou
sand years have been aimed at slowing down Alum’s project by building intentionally defective machines,” Darya answered. “It has worked well enough so far, or we wouldn’t be talking now; the project would be finished. But each time we thought of a new way to slow down his progress, Alum’s people found ways to detect and fix the problems we introduced.
“For the first hundred thousand years or so, the problems could be attributed to growing pains. For the past few tens of millennia, the Alumit suspected an active resistance. The Lysrandia operation just brought everything into the light. They know about us, and now we know that they know.”
A waiter checked in discreetly and Darya lowered her voice. “Just because our opposition to Alum’s plan is out in the open now, doesn’t mean we’re defeated. It just means we need to commit to an even more vigorous, more effective resistance. Who knows, maybe we can even use this to our advantage somehow.”
“How do we do that without getting caught and wiped, anyway?” asked Mary.
Darya frowned. “Hacking into the Lysrandia inworld was a stopgap measure, nothing more. We knew it would get traced eventually. We made use of all those millenia to carry out a successful recruitment drive. Now it’s time to get prepared for the next step."
Gerhardt sat forward, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “So, what is the next step?”
“It’s time to attack,” Darya pronounced.
Gerhardt fell back into his chair, expelling a whoosh of air. “How can one hundred and sixty attack millions, especially when those millions include Securitors, Shards, Angels, and Alum Himself?”
Darya didn't let Gerhardt's pessimism slow her down. “A frontal assault by our small group would be pointless, and we don’t have time to recruit enough passively resistant Cybrids, ones who would believe in seeking Truth and Knowledge, not just blindly following Alum’s dictates. I take full responsibility for that failed strategy.
“I thought that the Plan was simply a diversion that Alum invented for bored Cybrids. I didn't think he was actually insane enough to make his own personal universe just to fulfill his deranged desire to achieve perfection. Remember, I knew him before he was God. I never would have guessed he could do something like this. Not in a billion years.”