by J. A. Hailey
“However, for that level of crime, we may cancel your welcome in here, and kick you out through termination, by reason of being beasts that we did not spot when inviting you in.
“Later, you will also step out into the world from here, in human bodies, in patients you are assigned to manage. At that time, you will have to submit to our laws and controls, especially in human management. Any carelessness, or lack of awareness, that could endanger the human you are managing, would lead to restrictions being placed on you by supervisory units and guardians. Right now, you’re your own dogs. Life in humanside is your own to keep or kill; nothing to do with any guardian.”
Sagan and Gales were left alone then, to find that there was very little they could do in screenside. The two men were limited to discussing the virtual world and analyzing their sensations in it, staying put in the hotel room.
Taking BC’s advice, both men worked often on transfer of consciousness between the two places, sometimes laughing elatedly.
It was done. It was over. They could feel it without a shadow of doubt.
They were alive in another dimension!
13
Screenside eventually let them have all of the next day to discover themselves.
At one point, Sagan asked Rosa, “How is it that you people would not have known if a consciousness had arrived in your world? We’ve been told that a special guardian program has been created to issue an alert for arrival of our consciousnesses. Not that anyone is capable of doing it, but I am wondering if that is not a loophole of sorts, a weakness through which an alien might enter.”
“Oh, not at all a weakness,” laughed Rosa. “She is not renowned as a programmer, and neither are her childhood friends, but Esmeralda, Candice and Jennifer put together a wonderful consciousness catching program, operational in our world since the early days. It is generally called the blue pillar of light program, don’t know why we’ve never given it a proper name, and it catches emerging consciousness, without fail, by sending up a pillar of blue light that we can all see.
“Esme and her friends designed the blue pillar of light program to catch emerging, newborn consciousness, as a tool intended to help our welcome groups go immediately to dormant consciousnesses, and help, if required. But a slightly different thing happened.
“The program, because it was designed to not show us, regular virtual beings of screenside, when in our human forms, began catching any form of consciousness that was not in human form, and that is what dormants are - consciousnesses, but not in human form.
“That birth takes place exclusively in the virtuality, and not in the world we know as screenside, which is where you are entering. When you are fully created in here, in RV, you will be in human form, which the program will naturally ignore.
“The early stages of your creation will mimic dormancy, because you will undoubtedly be emerging consciousnesses, although, also without a doubt, you will be a different life form to virtuals. The key factor then is consciousness. You’ll have it in stages, from embryonic onwards, and that should make the program send up the blue pillar.
“But here is the problem. You are in a secure, private room in HC, and that is fine by the program, because it agrees that non-human form consciousness can hang around in privacy-secured environments, like we might be doing when hanging around at home.
“This means that our world’s usual snitch will fail to tell on you. And thus a monitor, or guardian, program has been made especially for you.
“And, finally, I’ll address your observation about conscious alien life, if it does exist, beyond us virtuals, ha, ha. Any attempt at entry into the virtuality, which should be absolutely impossible, will be caught by the blue light program and by us virtuals, whereas entry into screenside, also impossible, must be immediately caught by the people of screenside, and by numerous guardian programs functioning in RV.
“For your information, there is also a border guard program in place, working diligently to catch unlawful interaction at the borders of virtual and physical worlds. It will send out alerts immediately, although it has been designed primarily to catch screenside beings meddling in humanside. It is yet another Esmeralda, Candice and Jennifer program, which works to also immediately alert us to the entry of viruses. Do note that a virus is an unconscious thing; a mere program, and not life at all.
“Viruses are of not much concern, as we can take them out with consummate ease, and in any case they do not attack, and cannot attack, our consciousnesses. What they do attack are the other programs that make us, stored in and operated from numerous computer hardware systems and RAM.
“No bother, although there is some threat from viruses, because of which, from time to time, there are proposals to destroy the computers of humans who create viruses. It has never been implemented, and is probably banned under the laws banning involvement in humanside, although Esme, the uncontrollable, destroys computers off and on, when she loses her cool.
“Regarding you guys, it is a first time, bringing external consciousness into screenside, but we’re sure we’ll get it right, and at the moment it looks like everything is going good.
“And don’t feel cheated. You are not virtuals, so you cannot be placed into the virtuality. Our physical world of screenside is where we ourselves live, the fun place, and that’s where you’re coming in.”
Priya now joined Rosa, and said, “Guys, this is your birthing phase. Rosa and I think it is a very bad idea for the two of you to freeze up and hang around in your hotel rooms. Come on, get up and get out there into the world; spend a couple of hours on the streets; have some food, have some drink; go to a bar or some crowded places. And make sure you also watch the news on TV. Keep yourselves entertained, informed and busy. We think that, somehow or the other, you have to stay active through this phase. Out!”
The two men practically leapt out of bed and sofa, to hurry into fresh clothes and head out of the hotel, for a wander around the streets of Shanghai.
The feeling was unimaginable; simply pure ecstasy.
They were the first immortal humans to ever be walking on the face of the earth!
While walking on a busy side road, where pavement had encroached into traffic lanes, Sagan decided to experiment with shifting the focus in his consciousness into screenside. Fortunately, he was smart enough to warn Gales of his intent. That was good foresight, as Gales had to instantly spring into action to prevent the neurosurgeon walking straight into a street food vendor’s monster-sized cauldron of smoking oil.
“What’s the big deal if it’s one place at a time?” shrugged Sagan, unfazed. “We’ll obviously always opt for the place where things are more fun at that moment. Aren’t you wondering how much body we’ll get in there?”
“I’m remembering Chang’s non-Einstein relativity explanation, Patrick. I am one hundred percent sure that we’ll be absolutely physical within their world.”
“Yes, Mike, I think so too, especially since all of them are now coming out and wandering around in the human world, physically. I’m sure they would have improved their own physicality programs to match what they are experiencing outside.”
“Snooping and girls, that’s all I’m thinking of really, Patrick.”
“Their girls? So beautiful. I don’t know, Mike, though I seem to have been given an impression that almost no single girls exist in screenside. Then again, why would they want to be with us, mortals?”
“Yep, especially as our capabilities will be far lower than those of their own virtual males.”
“Snooping, Mike. You are right to bring it up, because of the change in our state from what we used to be – external connected humans to internal digital beings. They have often mentioned that privacy is a very big thing, and that they have been to great lengths to ensure inviolable privacy. Let’s ask when we’re next with one of the seniors.”
An upmarket bar came by on their walk, and they entered the crowded place, absolutely jam-pa
cked with Western tourists and expatriates. It was a very enjoyable experience, and they drank a couple of long cocktails with an American resident couple who befriended them. The couple was intending to head outside for a very cheap, apparently very famous, fry-up around the corner, in which venture Sagan and Gales joined them. It turned out to be a truly delightful food experience, although it was not very clear what some of the ingredients in the noodles might have been.
Their entire excursion lasted well over three hours, and by the time of re-entry into Sagan’s room, both were tired and looking forward to a shower, followed by a few drinks, while intending to enjoy a quiet night, and to figure out how much they had going on in the virtual world.
That night, conversation became intermittent, as both men came to grips with the fact that the learning phase had been entered, and that they would need to interact closely with screenside’s moderators, who were, luckily, in their case, the seniors who had fashioned that world.
There was, of course, nothing at all that they could immediately do in screenside, which they accepted as a matter pending installation of programs that would allow interaction in the physical version of the virtual world.
14
Screenside, as usual with no intent of inflicting anxiety, got onto their cases the very next morning, with Christine showing up on their phones, in the company of a nerdy guy by the name of Noxi Norton. She was a delightfully friendly and beautiful black girl from LA, and an extremely important person in screenside, as she had been given charge of implementation of the physicality programs that had led to the creation of the RV world. She was, of course, also known to be a bossy nitpicker, who had refused to let any of her programming teams be disbanded, insisting that nothing was done until it was done exactly, ‘and if it takes forever, you’ll work forever; so better work smart’.
“Move your consciousness completely to screenside, where we have entered the room you are in, and of which entry you are unaware.” They were able to immediately transfer into their screenside selves, to find that Christine and Noxi Norton were in a room with them. “He is to go first,” said Christine, sitting down, and getting involved in some other work.
“Yes,” said Noxi. “I’m on first, because something very important has to be discovered or invented, to keep you in step with us, as a homogeneous race of computer beings.
“One of the most important things we have in our programming is nonviolence against humans. It is placed in a very small area, nowadays called the Norton Quadrant. Yes, named after me; and so I am here, by Christine’s command, to search for an equivalent area inside you. Going in; you won’t feel anything, and you don’t, because I am already inside both of you, searching.”
It did not take very long, and then Noxi Norton sat back to discuss his findings. By now the seniors had entered, and his explanation was to all.
“Very small programs, these guys; compared to us, just a fraction. It’ll be a wonder if they function at all as independent beings. So small. Anyway, I see that all you guys are now having a quick look around inside them. There is no quadrant, or quadrant-similar area.
“In fact, they are quite dissimilar to us in structural make up,” said Singh. “As foreseen.”
“BC, what do we do?” asked Chang.
“They are humans outside in humanside,” said BC. “But, in here, they are programs made by us. We should not expect them to have construction like natural-born virtuals. Implanting interaction attributes, as we were planning to implant, is the new challenge; otherwise there will be no functionality for them in here. Their consciousnesses are as in their human selves, but their digital structures are what we have made. We anticipated that the matrix would create precisely what I have now gone and seen they have come out as.
“We’ll just have to attach and insert additional programming into these human consciousnesses, to bring them into conformity with the RV world. It’ll be an add-on to their digital structures; physicality only, like it was for us. Should be no problem.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Noxi. “Doesn’t need you guys. It’s a minor matter, especially as they’re so much smaller than we are. I’ll make up a program in the next few minutes, and Christine and I will see how to best insert it into their consciousnesses.”
“Just don’t put in snot and fart,” giggled Maria, making everyone burst into laughter at the memory of Noxi Norton’s initial obsessions, when, at the time of world formation, he had kept trying to introduce rather revolting aspects of being human into their humanization programs - things like earwax, sweat, body odor, and the like.
He had, of course, finally been identified as the original creator of the programs that had led to infestation of many areas of the screenside world with wild beasts, namely ligons, garbags and trogfers.
In due course, when he had unwittingly also converted every male of screenside into a rapist, it had been revealed that he was actually an astonishingly inventive programmer who had discovered a secret area that would have made his programs impossible to override - the Norton Quadrant.
This quadrant was now used to host their most critical nonviolence programs.
“I’m gonna watch Noxi very carefully,” said Christine. “We should get these two guys up and running in a couple of hours, at most.”
As the others began exiting, to leave Noxi and Christine alone, BC said, “Make sure, dear Christine, that you explain the installs as they are going in, and also take a bit of time off to read them the rules, if there are any rules specific to the install.”
“Absolutely, BC,” said Christine. “We’re going to make insiders of these outsiders, and not let them loose upon our population, as a pair of new, Noxi-created wild beasts.”
A huge round of laughter followed, in which the two humans also joined in, rather nervously. Christine spotted the nervousness. “Don’t be anxious. We’re not converting you to something else,” she said. “You are already conscious as pseudo-human programs in here, and we are just adding some more programs to those programs, aimed entirely at making you into humans in here too. It’s not quite like going to the dentist in humanside.
“I won’t say you will feel nothing, because you will feel a lot of things, or maybe I should say you will begin to feel a lot of things. That’s the idea, after all, and you will be very happy to start experiencing the physical sensations of our world; not just touch, but sight, sound, smell and taste too.
“We are already seeing and speaking,” said Gales.
“No, Michael, you are not. You are communicating with us, virtuals, and imagining that you are hearing and speaking, but what is going on in reality is that you are communicating with us, because we are the ones able to interact with you. Even when you hear each other, it is not sound, but communication delivered by us, through us. And as for seeing, you are only seeing us because we are showing ourselves to you, for communication purposes.”
“Christine, they will soon know the difference,” said Noxi. “Shall we begin? Of course, as you are the Innerline queen, you decide the sequence of installs.”
“Great, Noxi. Let’s check the program you have made, to attach and insert installs.”
The two virtuals conferred together for a few minutes, examining this and that, and tampering with a few programs, as the two humans looked on. It did not take long at all, and soon Christine said, “We’ve stuck in the attachment program into which all our humanization programs are to be installed. Here are the first ones, guys. Read up, and the programs will go in as soon as you indicate that you have digested what we are now giving you to read.
“Just for your information, we are from now on treating you as consciousnesses, the way we ourselves were consciousnesses prior to humanization, and so the physicality installs that we are going to insert into you will be in the same sequence as installed into ourselves.
“Here are the first ones. It starts with something called Bodyline. Later, you will have smart phones, l
ike we’re carrying.” She and Noxi held their phones up for the humans to look at.
“By later,” she continued. “I mean just after installation, when you acquire physicality, and can actually hold phones. I’ll give you some background to why we have phones in here, as part of my job to ensure you know the rules.
“We are virtuals, and can communicate with any other virtual, throughout our world, by using the medium of the virtuality. Because our screenside world has been designed to replicate the human world, we have adopted telephones as a step towards micro-humanization. We can still communicate with each other through the virtuality, but it is frowned upon, except in cases of extreme urgency.
“You’ll understand what we have done when you begin experiencing it, and now that we know the real thing, having been outside, in fact actually sometimes having lived full time outside, we have introduced adjustments to our relativity to make living in screenside indistinguishable from living in humanside.
“Here goes. I’ll show you on a screen in front of your faces, but later you will be able to access this information, and much more, on your smart phones and computers.”
The following installs are interfaced to work intimately with each other, with some other installs, and with the Real Virtuality (RV) program, via the Humanside in Screenside (HIS) Interface.
#1. BODYLINE
Creates outer-line definition, and gives hardness, or shape, to physical objects and their component parts. It defines the physical you and all parts of you. It also works on objects and environment, and defines every leaf, tree, grain of sand, dust - everything.
#2. MASS MOVEMENT (MM)
Uses pseudo gravity to introduce calculated weight into every object or part of that object, including your body and parts of your body. It basically creates substance in things.
