by J. H. Boldt
In the game a second person was added. The woman, now a man in the game was very old. On her next birthday she would be two hundred and sixty-four. Picture the candles on that cake. The new person was a woman, she was only twenty-three. She chose to be herself in the game. That was a rare occurrence. Most people prefer to be someone else. She arrived in the game just before sunset. The two of them noticed each other across a pond, they stood there looking at each other. They were both quite pleased. They could not be more pleased if they had chosen characters for each other. The man waded across the pond to meet his partner. The programmer watched as they walked toward the field of grass. It was the programmer's job to maintain the game, he kept a close eye on temperature and humidity. He could make it rain to water the plants. The world of the game was in his hands.
In the real world. Matter was getting hard to find. Dharma the name of the space harvest company, had become a world leader, they were the ones doing the best in the stock market. They were second only to Naan Technologies. Dharma had stripped the asteroid belt. They were now retrieving planets. The harvest had to take place outside our solar system. They did not want to interrupt our orbit. Every rock they took required lengthy calculation as to the effect it would have on planet earth. They had been removing space debris for five decades now, the night sky had not changed.
On the second morning of the game the man and woman woke up in the soft grass. A sense of joy came over them. The world in the game was the most perfect existence that would ever be. The two of them knew it and they smiled. She called him Man and he called her Woman. This was cumbersome to say the least. They sat cross legged across from each other in the grass, they tried different names. They both knew it was a game and imaginary. She called him figment. He did not like that name. She said “in the real world we were made of atoms” as a joke she called him Atom. He liked that and it stuck. She had shown up before sunset, the obvious name was Eve. Short for evening. They spent that day eating fruit and playing in the perfect sunshine. The programmer could hear only laughter coming from the game.
Back on earth, shortly after the discovery of a new junction known as Naan a war broke out. People using the power of Nann were able to think their enemy to death. A telepathic connection to a thinking computer, a computer with telepathic power. Had allowed us to improve our own health, we had even solved the aging problem. It wasn't a far leap to imagine we could use the same technology to destroy someone else. By the time Naan was being used worldwide war was out of the question. There had not been a war for almost a century.
Another player signed up for the game. It was a young man, he was not a kind person. He had malice in his heart. The Naan computer would help each player chose a character, only if they wanted. The computer suggested he should be a serpent. He left his body in the locker room and entered the game. He slithered in the grass watching Atom and Eve, they were unaware of his presence. He hung from a tree as they were eating fruit.
The days of building things with a wrench were gone. The important part of making something was the idea. The Naan computer could take a simple idea, just a need and turn it into a spectacular invention. Machines had made other machines that did all the work. Mankind did nothing but think. Dharma spacecraft got better every day. The new ships were disposable. By the time one would return something better had already been made. Technology was measured in seconds, not years. Over a century ago mankind had achieved light speed. On that day there were parades in the street. It was a monumental achievement. It had been shown that nothing could go faster than light, they had math formulas to prove it, people in the twenty-third century really got a kick out of that one. When people look back, they still laugh. The first rocket to exceed the speed of light did it on accident. It was estimated that it would take all its energy to achieve light speed. At full throttle it did light speed plus one mile an hour. The Dharma ships are equipped with a horn, they use it to get light to move over so they can go around. The matter hauling trucks go so fast that on occasion they return with a full load before they've left.
Atom and Eve were still enjoying the game. They were far away from the old world. They had found love and it was perfect. Perfect is the union of two, as they enjoyed the splendor of the day and each other they were unaware that a third party had already been added. So long as the snake did not talk Atom and Eve assumed he was one of the animals programed into the game. On the sixth day Atom stepped on the serpent's tale. It was an accident, but the serpent cried out. I will not use the language he did. His cover was blown. Atom and Eve were embarrassed, the snake had seen them nude. The more they recalled the events he had watched the more ashamed they were. They scurried to cover themselves with leaves. Paradise was no longer theirs.
Dharma had found a way to quench stars. Their newest ship was so large it could swallow whole solar systems. Like a trash compactor it could squeeze many stars with planets into one load. Like doing a jigsaw puzzle, it starts out hard. Digging thru the box to find corner pieces takes a while. It gets easier with each piece you place. Putting in the last piece is a no brainer. Cleaning up the universe was kinda the same.
As time went past more and more people were entering the game. Not all of them chose to be men or women. The weren't just animals either. Someone chose the head and torso of a man with the lower half being a goat. There was a man with the head of a bird. One woman had snakes for hair. The game was getting interesting. The programmer was constantly creating new lands. He was in charge of monitoring the bodies in the lockers as well. Before the first year of the game was up, the third person, or the snake's body standing in a locker died. This was a condition the programmer had not considered. The snake in the game was doing fine. Should the programmer tell him he died. He could have a bird whisper the news in his ear. It might ruin the game for him. He might want a refund. The decision was to let it ride, he would find out someday. The expense of the game was maintaining the bodies, the game could be made less expensive if the players were willing to give up their bodies. The programmer ran an ad. Suddenly the game was flooded with new players.
On earth the Naan computer, that is the game had become a satellite. It was larger than the earth. The Dharma pilots described it as looking like a jellyfish. It was almost clear, just a big gelatinous mass floating in space. A large percent of the population now lived in it. It had taken on an intelligence of its own.
The people in the game had become simple farmers. They built homes from mud and straw. It was easier to trade goods, some people had grain others had wine. If they shared, everyone was happy. Atom and Eve were going to have a baby. She was showing, it would be a joyous occasion. Eve went into labor, she gave birth to twin boys. They were not people, they were characters in a video game. The game adding characters had not been programed into the Naan. The game was taking control, it was thinking for itself. The boys were identical twins. Their brains were on the same frequency. They were born with telepathic capabilities and could communicate with each other. This made them special, it was a good thing. Them knowing each other's thoughts, would turn out to be a bad thing.
Over time more children were born, they were told stories of the earth and the old world. The game was the only life they had known. For them the game was the world. People were moving, the game was a large world. It was programed with mountains and oceans. There were forests and deserts. Some people entering the game had chosen to be large animals. They were reptiles, some were four legged and some stood erect. They fought with each other, they were a threat to the people. Some people fought them, some moved away. At the beginning the game was filled with complications, situations that didn't work. It took time for the game to smooth out. The large reptiles eventually died off.
A child born in the game became a shepherd. He had heard the stories of the old world from his parents. As he watched his flock from a hilltop. He would write the stories. The pages told of great cities, he wrote about the beginning of the game. Most of all his story to
ld of the programmer who designed the game. The book he wrote was filled with stories designed to make the reader think. To make them see the difference between good and evil. As the book was copied, as the stories were retold. Certain words got changed. Whole stories were left out. As the years passed, the book became hard to read and hard to understand. People who read it put their own meaning into it. That meaning changed with every generation.
The simple life of farmers and shepherds turned into cities. In time the people elected a king. The exchange of goods and services no longer worked. A gold coin with the image of the king stamped on it was used for trade. The first king was a good man, he wanted only the best for his people. By designing coins he thought he had found a way to ensure everyone was fed and happy. It only spawned greed. As he grew older, he realized that one day he would be gone. He had a gold statue of himself made so the people could remember him. The people began to worship the idol he had made.
The game was designed to be easy, it was intended to be a vacation from the real world. The people in the game are only thoughts. They exist only as electrons passing through junctions. They are all connected. They are nothing more than information. The goal of the game is to find food, water, and love. The game is easy because there is more than enough to go around. In the game there is a body of people and yourself. You are one of the people. There is only one thing. The one thing is love. The people need you and you need them. Adding an idol creates a triangle. The people, the idol and you, that's three. If you worship the idol and it worships you, the people are soon forgotten. People need to feel they are important, that they matter. That their existence has a meaning. That someone cares. They need love almost more than food. To give their love to an idol, to anything other than people, will starve the game and it will die.
The programmer had created the game, he made the sky and the ground. He made the rivers and the oceans, the forests and the deserts. They were nothing but keystrokes on a computer. It's a scenario. He had no control over the players in the game. He had designed it to be fun, something people could enjoy. The players were changing the rules in a way that would end it. The programmer could not correct the problem from his station. He would have to enter the game.
As he walked with the players, he spread the message of love. He told people to take care of each other. His visit corrected the game for awhile. Decades after he left he became the idol. People focused on him instead of each other. In trying to fix the problem he had created a new one. The new problem was bigger than the last.
Dharma had collected all the matter in the known universe. On earth the night sky was dark. The earth had become nothing but a control station for the game. All people were now in the game, even the crew from Dharma. The programmer was an old man. Even with Naan technology he could not prevent aging. He had lived for thousands of years, now he had white hair and a long white beard. He knew his forever would come to an end, he left his information in the station as an autopilot. And then he passed away. He full well knew that over time the setting he had so carefully watched would decay. The actions of the players would change the game and one day the world he had created would be cold and lonely.
The people in the game made tools, they used them for farming. Using tools made life easier. The people had more food. For as great as the new inventions were with every good comes a bad. That was a rule that would never change. The new tools could be used for farming, they could also be used for killing. The people wondered why the programmer wasn't taking care of them. They began to blame each other. This turned into a war. The field that once grew food and provided life was now a battlefield. People were dying. The world they live in is a gelatinous mass. They are only thoughts passing thru an artificial brain floating in space. They are the same thought. Each person provides love, each person needs love. When one person kills another, he is cutting himself off from the thing he needs most. The war made a small black spot in an otherwise clear material. The great mass of Naan floating in space now had cancer. That cancer was unstoppable. It grew with every act of hate. Over the centuries the machines of war improved. Once the people learned to manipulate matter and energy, a bomb was created. That bomb was capable of destroying the game. At first people were afraid of it, the fear brought peace. The killing slowed down. People were starting to understand the need of love. Once the bomb was created, it was too late. Why the bomb was used makes no difference. Why it was used is a question with no right answer. Someone, a single man pushed a button. It was all over in a matter of moments. There was no one left to mark that day on the calendar.
In space the now black gelatinous mass. The computer that contained all information. A thinking process that had become aware, and was all knowing. Blew up.
The debris from the explosion expanded outward in all directions. There was nothing but dust and gas. The debris traveled for billions of years. As the heat from the explosion cooled, the dust became spheres. On one of the spheres chemicals collected to form water. In another billion years small single celled organisms appeared. They were alive and multiplied.