Cleansing Fire

by D. L. Harrison

  Gwen shrugged, “Let’s go, maybe we’ll find some answers.”

  “And bacon, I smell bacon. There better be coffee.”

  We heard Gaia’s tinkles of laughter and exchanged an alarmed glance. I’d never heard Gaia laugh before, much less in amusement. Was she really that broken?

  Gaia sighed from the other room, “Not broken, upgraded. It was… necessary.”

  We exchanged wary glances, she was obviously reading our minds, then we got up and stumbled into the shower. At least we were together, I wondered if the others were around.

  The shower didn’t take long, and we found two robes hanging outside when we got out, that hadn’t been there when we went in. Oddly, it seemed wrong now, being served like that.

  Without thinking about it, or if it was even possible here, I dried us both off with a quick water spell, and then we pulled on the fluffy robes. We exchanged another dubious look, and a soft kiss, before we moved out of the bathroom, through my bedroom, and toward the kitchen. After all that time, it felt a little surreal, why now?

  Gwen said, “Nice place.”

  I grinned, “Thanks, you should see the library.”

  She snickered as we walked into the kitchen.

  Gaia poured both of us a coffee, from a freshly brewed pot, and it smelled amazingly delicious. Damn, I was easy, because I was all ready to forgive her, just for a cup of coffee.

  Gaia looked different too, she was in an elaborate toga that was multilayered, and looked more like a dress. The bottom layer was an opaque bright white and strapless, and clung to her curvy lush body, over that were semi-sheer and flowing fabric which was a very light blue, that did well in hiding her perfect body. Her face was ageless, mostly due to her eyes as she turned to look at us. There was age in those eyes, but her face was classically beautiful, with a perfect complexion, and she looked to be in her late twenties.

  In short, she looked like a goddess. Did she think she was a goddess?

  Gaia smirked at me, “Thanks, and no.”

  “Thanks?” Gwen asked.

  Gaia winked, “He likes my dress,” and she handed us both coffees as we walked past to the kitchen table.

  The table had a plate of bacon, fresh hot biscuits, and a bowl of mixed fruit cut up in small chunks. There was also a bagel and tub of cream cheese, and I assumed that was Gwen’s favorite, because it wasn’t mine.

  I breathed the coffee deeply as I held it up to my mouth, and then took a sip.

  “Thanks Gaia, so…” I trailed off.

  Gaia sighed, “I’m… nervous. Alright, I had two problems. You guessed the first one, you were all going crazy. Even you Jason, you were just going crazy slower, an excess of education instead of sex, drugs, and partying. You too Gwen, while he focused on the mind, you focused on your body and martial arts. Better than debauchery, but in the end just as destructive in its singlemindedness. This small representation of the old world, and how your feeling conflicted about the robes, coffee, and prepared breakfast right now is reasonable. You know better now, it isn’t healthy.”

  I took a sip, it was pure heaven.

  “But…”

  Gwen said, “Wait, where are the others, Lara, Steve, Dan, and Cassie?”

  Gaia smiled, “You’ll see them later. I’m talking to you six in three couples, I thought it might be easier. You all have separate questions, but none of you would want to be away from those you love. This seemed like the best compromise, otherwise we’d be all over the place. By the way, you are the first six undying to reach master levels. By tomorrow however, I will have had this conversation approximately twenty thousand times. The other ninety percent of the active leveling undying still have a week or two before they’ll get there. Sorry, I’m babbling now, aren’t I? Yes, babbling.”

  I had no idea what to say to that, she said she wasn’t crazy, but do crazy people know they’re crazy?

  Gaia smirked, “I’ll let you be the judge of that, once you hear the rest of the story. Obviously, I made the new world a lot harder than I needed to, and much more dangerous. All you really needed to feel useful and challenged was a job, and to work for things. Even having me serve your meals and coffee wouldn’t be bad, as long as you had to work for that lifestyle. After all, humans had servants in the original world, but they worked jobs, and worked hard, for that money.”

  Gwen nodded, “Stop beating around the bush, what’s the other reason then?”

  Gwen took a bite of her bagel, and I grinned when I bit into my warm buttery biscuit, stuffed with a few pieces of bacon.

  Gaia nodded, “Very well. You all know when Yosemite blew humanity had just recently gained the knowledge to reach the stars. But, we hadn’t gone very far yet, and were building ships. With the Earth shortly becoming unlivable, they built huge transport carriers for both humans and technology to start a new colony. Millions got to go, and their hopes were pinned on finding a habitable world. Fortunately, they had a good idea where to look, G type stars had long been searched for indications of planets in the goldilocks zone.

  “What you don’t know, since you all volunteered to put your lives in my hands, and then entered a perfect world where you could ride out the ice age, is that they found a habitable planet. It was a struggle in the beginning, but over the fifteen hundred years they established the colony, and more than quintupled the population. They also made some advancements in space travel. They decided like Earth, this new planet could turn on them as well. There were already plans for some to come back and reclaim earth in fifty thousand years, but it was decided they shouldn’t wait, they were afraid of having all of humanity in the same basket so to speak, so they built three more ships, loaded them up, and searched for more worlds to build colonies.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  She shrugged, “They sent me back reports. They communicated with me at times, they were curious about my own solution for the four million souls in my care.”

  Gwen gave me a look, and said, “Continue Gaia, what happened?”

  Gaia replied, “Two of the ships found colonies right away, within ten light years of the original. The third ship had to go farther, which made the predictive algorithms a bit questionable. They went to three solar systems before finally finding an inhabitable planet. The problem was, it was already inhabited.”

  I looked at Gwen in alarm as Gaia continued, her voice was deeply saddened, regretful, and guilty.

  “The aliens ignored all overtures and communications, and they destroyed the ship with an energy beam unknown to human science. They are a race of conquerors, and exploiters, not unlike those aliens you fought in Evolution Online. Obviously, I had a purpose in that, beyond the simple challenge and making you level.

  “Anyway, the aliens managed to find the navigation records among the wreckage as they studied the broken-up ship. I’m not sure about that part of it, once the ship went offline, I had no way to see in that system anymore. All I know is a short time later probes showed up at the first colony, and at the other two new colonies who were still in the process of building a settlement. Their motherships, or city ships as you called them, showed up quickly after.

  “Humans had always believed they were alone in the universe. The colonies had some weapons, it’s human nature, but not many of them. They were for police actions, not alien invasions. Weapons research was never a priority, not in the last thousand years of peace on Earth nor on the new colony. There was simply no one to fight. Anyway, what they had didn’t work, the enemy ships all had strong shields, and the only weapons our ships had were for mining. The alien ships bombarded the cities from orbit, and then sent out smaller scout vessels to hunt down the humans. I lost contact with them, shortly before I created your new world. I have hope some still survive, but that isn’t a realistic estimation. Worse, they must have scoured the oldest colony for records. The new ships didn’t have the Earth in their navigation database, because they’d never gone there, but probes appeared in orbit around our planet a co
uple of weeks ago. So far, they haven’t found us, we’re deep underground, and there’s no human life left on the surface.

  “They’ve probably assumed humanity abandoned our old home world given the evidence of a super volcano eruption and new ice age, and the probes are a claim on this planet and its resources along with the entire solar system. I imagine the aliens themselves will eventually come claim it, but don’t seem to be in a hurry about it. It’s enough for them for now, simply to make sure no other races come along to take it.”

  Gwen looked at me in shock, the human colonies were gone? Erased by aliens, it didn’t seem real to me.

  Gwen asked, “So, what does that have to do with Evolution Online, and why do you feel guilty about the colonies’ deaths.”

  She sighed, “Magic. It’s just a word you know. Induction is transforming a magnetic field into electricity, or solar energy is doing the same with sunlight. Humanity was advanced. They had ships that could reach faster than light travel, and access subspace below our universal plane. They had advanced sensors, which by the way told us very little about the enemy. They’d come a long way, they even invented me after all. But… I haven’t been idle this last millennium and a half. Looking after four million computer cores which host four million souls only took a tiny amount of my attention, even less now after my upgrade.

  “Magic is real, but not really. It’s real because that’s what I named the force I discovered over a thousand years ago, an emanation into this universe from another layer of the multiverse. It’s similar to gravity, or dark energy in that way, those forces aren’t generated in our three-dimensional plane of existence either, but from other dimensions. Call it… the energy of creation, or magic, or anything really, I just chose to call it magic. Mostly because of what that force is capable of, manipulating and even creating all types of energy and matter in this universal plane of our multiverse. Others layers too, like subspace, but I’m still working on that. I sound guilty, because I kept those discoveries to myself. I feared what humanity might do if I put that much power into their hands. Better to just quench my own curiosity, and let humanity develop technology at their own pace.

  “That is the force that powers the enemies’ ships, they also use that raw power in their shields and weapons technology, much like what you faced a few days ago. Call it, an introduction to humanity’s true enemy, although I don’t know if they are more powerful or less powerful than what you faced. I know that much for sure, the probes above us radiate with concentrated magic. They use technology though, so that use is limited to power generation in their case, which is quite enough. After all, it’s unlimited free power. Not really free of course, no more than solar energy or dark energy or gravity for that matter is free, except given our sun will last four billion more years, solar energy might as well be free, you know? Eventually entropy will catch up, and that force will disappear along with all others, as well as energy. But, we have a few trillion years left to enjoy it.”

  I felt cold inside, “So you’re training us to fight, with this force? How is that even possible?”

  Gaia shook her head, “It’s more than that. The new world is harsh so I could see who would stand up in defense of themselves, and others. Turns out ninety five percent of you stuck your heads in the sand. The other five percent, two hundred thousand or so, have taken up the gauntlet so to speak. Of that, maybe point five percent has turned into monsters enjoying their power over others. Those will not be given a choice and left in Evolution Online.”

  Gwen asked, “A choice?”

  Gaia nodded, “I can’t kill, or even design a weapon to kill. Outside of the simulated world that is. The Earth and humanity are doomed, unless you fight back. I was designed and created to serve human kind, so I had a choice. Hide you all until they eventually found us, and the DNA library, in which case you’d have just been turned off like a light without warning. Or, teach you what I denied the human colonies, and enable you to fight back for your and my survival. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I decided the cruelties of my new world are outweighed by the possible and probable extinction of the human race, by genocidal aliens.”

  “Why not just teach us, just push the knowledge into our minds.”

  Gaia sighed, “Because its farfetched, the human mind would have rejected it if I just gave it to you wholesale. I needed to make it a game, to add that believability. Even now I can hear your minds deny the possibility, humans out in the real world can’t harness and direct this magical force, even if it was real. Despite the detailed knowledge of magical force and what’s possible with it in your minds now, courtesy of a game, and you still struggle with it. Magic as you know, has to be believed to work. You can’t doubt it will work, when you cast a spell. But, the world also served the other purposes I’ve discussed. It weeded out who would fight, who would cower, and even who would be corrupted when given the powers of a god, if a minor one.”

  Gwen asked, “So, you expect we will we fight?”

  Gaia shook her head, “I hope you will. As I said, five percent of you fought in the game, against injustice and the evil races. You all craved to become more powerful, to better protect those you loved and your place in the world. Of those two hundred thousand, I expect about ten percent of you will fight, I have ran many simulations on this. Ninety percent of you, or one hundred and eighty thousand, will request to stay out of it, and stay in Evolution Online.”

  Gwen frowned, “Why, they’ve already proven they’d fight for what’s right, and the innocent.”

  Gaia smiled, “It’s easier to fight, when all there is, is suffering. If you come out into the real world, and face the aliens, you can die. Many of you will die, though not all, if we win. They will fear to truly put their lives on the line, and hope those that do will succeed without them.”

  I frowned. For me, it would kill me to be a coward like that. On the other hand, I wasn’t quite so sanguine about taking Gwen into a real-world danger, where death was possible.

  “Alright, so magic is real, and can manipulate matter and energy. I know humanity can’t do magic though, that doesn’t mean our human bodies can control it, no more than we can control the force of gravity with our minds.”

  Gaia smiled, “What was the name of the world again?”

  “Evolution… shit, you’re going to mess with our DNA?”

  Gaia nodded, “Just those that agree to fight. Believe it or not, old humanity was very close to it, I won’t have to do much at all that way. There were those stories of those that could talk to the dead, or had telekinesis, or could light a candle with the power of their mind. Zen masters who could levitate. All those examples are humanity dimly and just around the edges, accessing the magic that runs through all life, energy, and matter.

  “So, those that fight will become, demi-gods of a sort, out in the real world. That is another plus for fighting for humanities survival. You will become the guardians of humanity if you succeed, have a long-extended life, and that can be your new purpose if you wish it. The rest of humanity will not have this access once they leave the virtual world when its time, only those that have proven incorruptible and protectors of human kind. Of course, most of those aren’t using it now, so it won’t be a big loss for them.”

  Gwen asked, “What about children? Assuming we survive.”

  “Old human. They will have the choice in joining the online world, and in earning the right to be a guardian. Access to magic and to make the forces of the universe your playground is dangerous, and easily abused. I can’t risk that.”

  I grunted, “So we’ll be the guardians of humanity, both police and protectors, and you… will be IA.”

  Gwen snickered, “Internal affairs?”

  Gaia smiled, “Something like that. I won’t allow my gift of knowledge, even if you have earned it by your toil and actions, to lead to the destruction of the human race which is mine to serve and protect. I know that makes you uncomfortable, but it really shouldn’t, or should I give James,
Joseph, and Carmen access to those abilities outside the game.”

  I shook my head, “No, I wouldn’t. There are no easy answers, and it’s all a moot point if we die.”

  Gwen and I looked at each other, and I saw the answer in her eyes, even before she nodded. There was excitement there too, she was nuts. Then again, I was too.

  “Alright Gaia, crazy or not, you I mean, we’ll do it.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “So how does this all work?”

  Gaia sighed, “Originally I was going to leave you in there longer. But I’m afraid to wait too long, it’s only a matter of time before the enemy shows up in person. You’ll be given new bodies in the new world below ground, and you’ll have to come up with a plan to fight back.”

  Gwen asked, “Can you help with that?”

  Gaia replied, “I can supply you with gems, the rest is up to you. I can’t build weapons or use them. The good news is that I have a plan to defend Earth at least, but it will take time to make it a reality. I also can’t start on it until the probes are destroyed, which will draw the enemy here. In short, to build Earth’s defense, I need a free hand, which means you need to figure out how to take the fight to them for a while.”

  I frowned, “How about knowledge, now that we know it’s real, and what’s at stake, can’t you just download the other five spheres to my mind?”

  Gaia shook her head, “I won’t do that. Your new bodies will have interfaces in them, that will enable fully immersive VR into the game, without your souls actually moving into a computer core. You can train and fight on that world, and still gain more knowledge. Freely given knowledge is dangerous, especially a lot of it all at the same time. That’s why I split it up into sixty levels.”

  “We have to earn it, when humanity is on the line,” I said coldly.

  Gaia nodded, “Yes. That is how it must be, humans don’t appreciate what’s given, only what’s earned. It will also make you respect the power that you had to earn. You have a party in balance Jason, you don’t need to have it all. Eventually, if you all succeed, you will grow more. In fact, I’m getting ready to add even more spheres to the game, so there will be more after you master those eight. The knowledge I’ve shared with you in the game is only a tiny amount of what I know about how the universe works now, and what I know is less than a drop in the ocean of knowledge of what this multiverse is made of.