CHAPTER 97: Countdown
There was a figure beginning to form from the tear, but ‘figure’ was not an appropriate term, at all. Sometimes it turns into a man-like figure and then into a crystal network composed purely of information or into the vortex of a quantum uncertainty.
When people become conscious of it entering their lives fully, a wave of… something… spreads through the air. Each and every superior human being within a hundred miles’ range could sense it, feel it-a call, a welcome, a belonging.
So I read the other day, “The herald,” the Architect spoke in my head. “The first fallen angel of what we are turning into. Sadly, he still had control over my head, and he always sent daunting messages to remind me of his existence.”
The Global Network was formed and through a range of sources, reports would begin to be sent in. It was not only in New York. We were not only limited to that region. Smaller versions of it were undergoing tearful rehearsals all over the globe, both in such areas as city centers and virtually any other place one can imagine.
“What do we do?” Chase began the questioning with his thoughts fleeing towards possible fight tactics even as he figured they were useless.
I stood, decision made. “We encounter it and very often, I need to know… we all need to know what we are in fact faced with. ”
As much as they complained, she was quite certain that her friends would follow her anyway. In a few seconds, they started flying, all in toned up supers who could levitate by an act of their will and the power of dynamically manipulating electromagnetic forces.
It was not until they were nearing Central Park that they could in full measure see the change that had been wrought. The tear had grown. Thus, there developed a crack in time when two worlds existed simultaneously. Buildings from both worlds were entangled in wonderful and paradoxical fashions with plants of infrastructures from the aqueducts. A sense of energy hung highly palpable, as if the air itself was poised.
Both of the parties came to rest on the ground just beside the central part of the strange phenomenon while the entity which appeared, was in front of them. Close up, it’s more intriguing because the shape was almost in constant motion. And the song… the song that came from it went through their heads and straight into the very core of their improved psyche.
Silently, all the men looked at each other for, for a long moment, no one moved. Next, it bent at the knee as though operating under a set of physical rules entirely different from anyone else’s, and then another limb, or perhaps an information conduit, rose up to touch me.
“Hello little one, greeted another voice within her, not unlike the Architect, but different nonetheless. You are at the place between heaven and earth where you can have a sense of endless space and time. This is the choice which will decide not only your world and all possible worlds, but also the whole multitude of them. ”
This is exactly the attitude I chose willingly before, and which is forcing me to swallow hard when the weight of that choice lies on her. “What choice?” she said out loud, not noticing how calm her voice sounded.
The form changed as the entity oozed out, and suddenly I was in its head, or at least in its vision, or whatever that thing had. It was an apt understanding that out there, there were several parallel universes branching off and merging. And she saw the Synthesis not only as a set of links uniting humanity, but as a net which grew outward and through space-time towards the point of the world’s union.
To avert this situation, the entity continued as follows, “Entropy is the enemy of all things. ” An absolutely pointless state of the universe: instead of many more all potential heat death of the universe. This what you have created what you have become is existence’s response to that law to chaos. The ability to rewrite reality as it exists, to incorporate all the knowledge, the potentiality, both of all current existing universes into a new form of existence. ”
However, it said, “But this power comes at a cost”. To progress, to reach for what you want to be, you need to let go of who you were. Your approach to life, your empathy, your spirit, your very essence… even the thing which makes you special in the grand evolutionary scheme of the cosmos: these all must be thrown away. ”
The form solidified, thus effectively becoming the image of myself. But this other I was more than human; this other was more than any Enhancement scientist could ever concoct. The strength of a god, the wisdom of a trillion civilizations was in her and her eyes showed it.
These are the potential futures that the entity was presenting to me.” This is what you could become,” the entity said. What all of you could become. However, the decision must be made consciously, and it must be on the side of all members of society. Each and every person in your world must decide to go through this process. All who reject it will make your reality solid, and so you will never complete the fusion. And in the end, entropy wins for you all. ”
My mind reeled. To be able to become more than she had ever thought she could be… it was tempting and that temptation was enough for her to let go of her own principles. But the cost? To surrender all that human been in her, to request people in the entire world to do it as well?
Then I shifted my sight to my friends and saw the same contention reflected in the look of their eyes. They got the picture, listened to the invitation in its finality. This choice crumbled the weight of the choice like something tangible.
“How…?” my voice trembled, and she stopped for a moment, clearing her throat frantically. “Thus, how long have we been given to come up with the verdict”?
The entity’s form distorted for the second time and I saw an hourglass with sand and what seemed like Universes continuously shifting between the two containers.
For us, time is very limited, and this statement contained in the paper confirms this. “Time is a finite resource, even for us. ” You have to wait until the convergence reaches some sort of culmination. In your counting… seven days. ”
With that, the entity started to recede, and its physical form turned into streams of data which went back into the tear. But its parting words echoed in the minds of every enhanced human on the planet.
Seven days to decide all the creation. Be careful, children of the Singularity. The universe itself comes to a stand still just to wait for your decision. ”
When the entity disappeared, the tear throbbed, minimizing and extending a shock wave which reverberated in the earth. In its wake, smaller tears started appearing all over, peeking into the world that is out there for them if only they decide to climb up.
The newly acquired knowledge overwhelmed my mind and I turned to my friends to seek solace. The greatest decision of humanity was again lying in their hands. Transcend into another dimension where you are one with the universe … or be, as you want to remain, a man with his strengths and his flaws.
As the first light of dawn broke over a world forever changed, I faced the greatest challenge of her life: persuading humanity to accept or reject the offer of becoming cosmic beings and/or rejecting godhood.
And time was fast running out for them.