Virtual World (a story)
In the 34th century, One guy named Einstein is super genius. He lost wife and his only son in a terrible accident a decade ago. He created a virtual world, using the latest technology. The virtual world he created is perfect, filled with beautiful mountains, rivers, waterfalls, night sky, sunset....etc. It's an escape for him as the real world is the exact opposite of the virtual world he created. Things are not going so well in his country: corruption, pollution, crazy weathers, animal extinctions, war, hunger, poverty...etc. So, Einstein go into the virtual world every single day. Sometimes, he even forgets that the real world is out there. Only in the virtual world, Einstein can finally forget about the tragic death of his family.
After years of virtual world obsession, he became very lonely as there are not many genius that could relate to his awesome inventions and ventures. So, by using his own DNA, he cloned a man, and name him Albert. Albert resembles Einstein in his 20's, young, strong and handsome. He put Albert into deep sleep, and connect Albert's consciousnesses into the virtual world. In other words, Albert is alive and active in the virtual world without realizing that his real body is sleeping in the real world out there. Day and night Einstein will go into the perfect virtual world to build a strong friendship with Albert.
As time goes by, Einstein noticed that Albert is kinda lonely. Einstein go out to the real world and fast forward the virtual world to see what would happen if Albert if left this way. It turns out that Albert needs a friend, too. So, Einstein took some of Albert's DNA, and cloned a beautiful woman, whom he named Julia. Julia resembles Albert, it's just that she have female characteristics. In the same manner, Einstein put Julia into deep sleep and placed her consciousness into the virtual world. Albert is more than happy to have Julia as his soulmate. Things are going well for Albert, Julia and Einstein in the virtual world. In the virtual world, three of of them get to enjoy everything without getting old or sick. Einstein love Albert and Julia very much and often created many good food for them using the real world technology.
Now, Einstein's virtual world became famous around the world because of the cutting edge technology. Einstein earned enough money to set up a company and hired many young graduates to work for him and his virtual world. The employees are to make sure the virtual world is running smoothly without technical error. In return, the employees get to enjoy the virtual world by entering it, with the supervision of Einstein. Einstein put his favorite employee, Thomas, as the head of management. Einstein trusted Thomas with all the operation of the company, and go into the virtual world daily to spend time with Albert and Julia.
As time goes by, Einstein told Albert and Julia about a revelation. Since Albert and Julia are Einstein's virtual creation, they don't know they even have a real body in the real world. Einstein told them that in the far corner of the virtual world, there are pills called the awakening pills. The pills are virtually created by Einstein to prevent him from forgetting about the real world. Einstein reminds both of them of the existence of their real bodies in the real world. The awakening pills can cause a person to be awake from the sleep and get off the virtual world into the real world. However, Einstein asked both of them not to take the pills because Albert and Julia are clones, not real human being. Thus, unwanted consequences might occur if cloned beings took the pills. Einstein told them about this so that Albert and Julia can be more careful about what they gonna eat.
Time flies, Einstein's company has been running for 3 years. With the revenues earned, Einstein moved his company site to a beautiful countryside. It is like a small heaven in the midst of hell. In Einstein's company, the air is clean, and the landscape is filled with beautiful trees. Now, Thomas is in charge of all the operations of the virtual world. Being ambitious, Thomas wanted to have a say in the company as well. He hope to establish a company just like Einstein, owning his own virtual world. So, one day, while Einstein is out into the city to have some business meetings, Thomas secretly entered the virtual world without Einstein's permission. Once Einstein knew about it, he rushed back to his company to sort out the mess. Nobody is allowed to enter the virtual world unless Einstein says so. When he finally reached the company, it was too late. Thomas tricked Albert and Julia into eating the awakening pills, saying that the pills will make them more powerful. Einstein then rushed into the virtual world and took Thomas with him before returning to the real world.
"What the hell are you doing?" Einstein asked.
"I gave them the awakening pills." Thomas replied.
"Why you give it to them? Don't you know that the pills might have killed them??"
"Screw you Einstein! It's my turn to shine. I always wanted to have my own virtual world. The only way I can have it is to destroy yours and create mine!"
All the employees in the company went silent, watching the whole drama. Then, some of the employees spoke up, saying "Hey Einstein, I'm actually tired of being under your command! If Thomas gonna make another virtual world, I'm following him. I'm sure his world is better, more fun.". More employees voiced their dissatisfaction in the company. Thomas saw it as an opportunity to gather up support and assure all of the employees that his virtual world gonna be better and more fun activities (such as strip club and casinos) for the employees. Furious yet desolated, Einstein voiced out, "If anyone would like to leave this company and join Thomas, feel free to go ahead. Nobody is gonna stop you. That's your right as an employee." One by one, some employees threw off their company identification card and walk out of the company territory to join Thomas. That single day, 1/3 of Einstein's employees are gone with Thomas.
Heartbroken, Einstein assigned Matthew and Gideon as the new manager of the employees. Einstein then turn his attention to the virtual world, now in ruins. The virtual beings (Albert and Julia) are never designed to be awaken to the real world. The whole system went into break down and the employees worked their ass off to repair it. Once restored, the virtual world is not perfect anymore. Albert and Julia inherit the real world symptoms such as aging, death, sickness, lust and so on. Einstein went into the virtual world to comfort Albert and Julia, saying that there's a price to pay for their rebellion. Einstein explained to Albert and Julia that if both of them die in the virtual world, their real bodies will die as well. And if they die, they will fall into the Limbo (a virtual endless emptiness), which is not a good experience. However, to prevent this from happening, they are to follow a certain protocol from Einstein, which would ensure their survival into the real world if they die in the virtual world. Einstein then killed an animal in the virtual world, used the animal's computer code (the animal is virtual, anyway) to restore Albert and Julia's computer code. Once restored, they can escape the Limbo when they die in the virtual world. Einstein asked them to trust him and kill animal annually.
Einstein then came back to the real world.
"What the heck just happened? My virtual world is becoming like the real world now. My intention for a perfect world is gone." Einstein sighed.
In fact, the virtual world became real enough that Albert and Julia began to have children their own. Once a baby is conceived by Julia, a real baby emerge in the real world. In the real world, the baby is in a deep sleep, with his consciousness in the virtual world. So, the baby in the real world will grow corresponding to his growth in the virtual world. This is one of the effects of the virtual world system being sabotage by Thomas.
"What do you plan to do, sir?" Matthew and Gideon asked.
"Well, we can start all over again. I am Einstein, I can create as many virtual world as I want. Come, lets make another virtual world, this time it will be much more perfect. This time, I will only allow real beings into the virtual world. I will not make the same mistake again. And this time, we gonna live forever in that virtual world, uninterrupted by real world events."
"Good idea sir!" Gideon exclaimed.
"But what about the first virtual world? Don't you care about it and let it to ruins?" Matthew asked.
"Well, if the virtual beings follow my instructions, once they die in the virtual world, their cloned bodies will be awaken. I will bring the awakened cloned bodies into the new beautiful perfect virtual world. Some day when the time is suitable, I will bring all obedient virtual beings into awaken state, and bring them into my new beautiful perfect virtual world. For the virtual beings that fell into the Limbo, let's just burn their cloned body. It's no use for their bodies to waste our company space." Einstein explained.
"What a sad case for the virtual beings!" Gideon said.
"True, but I still love them. After all, I created them in my image." Einstein sighed.
So, the whole company went into work on a new virtual world project, code named "Paradise".
Now, the virtual world is getting more and more like the real world. To make it more realistic, Einstein put more types of cloned virtual beings into the virtual world. Some cloned people have the DNA of black, white, red hair, Blonde hair....etc. There is no rule of time for the people who controlled the virtual world. In other words, Einstein can fast forward the virtual world to see what is happening to the virtual beings. Basically, Einstein knew everything that's happening in the virtual world. He directed his employees to jot down everything that happened in the virtual world and keep it in the archives.
Meanwhile, Thomas and his followers set up a new company nearby the city. Because Thomas' expertise is no match compared to Einstein's, his ambition of creating his own virtual world lies in tatters.
"What we gonna do??" His employees asked. Disappointed, envy and filled with anger, Thomas replied, "Since we can't make our own, why not we just hacked into Einstein's virtual world?"
So, Thomas and his employees put themselves into deep sleep, and went into Einstein's virtual world by hacking the security. Unsurprisingly, they are caught in the act and their virtual incarnation is stopped by Einstein's software firewall.
"What the hell you doing here, Thomas?" Einstein asked him through the real-virtual connection telecommunication.
"I wanna enjoy the virtual world dude, even if it's imperfect now."
"Get lost you pervert!" Einstein exclaimed in rage. Immediately, Einstein directed Thomas and his followers to the Limbo of the virtual world. Einstein told his employers to design the Limbo to be as hell-like as possible so that Thomas and his followers will stay out of the virtual world.
"What if the virtual beings fall into the Limbo, they suffer too?" Matthew asked.
"Well if they choose not to follow my instructions, I can't do anything, they will be in the Limbo, with Thomas and his associates" Einstein explained.
So, whenever Thomas and his employees wanted to hack the virtual world, they will end up in the Limbo. However, Thomas and his employees are allowed to roam the virtual world, only with the condition that the virtual beings are the master of the virtual world. By principle, the virtual beings can give commands to Thomas and his employers in the virtual world. The agreement is set that Thomas and his employees belonged to the Limbo in the virtual world.
"Sir, why you allow Thomas to go into the virtual world?" Matthew asked.
"I am just abiding by my principle. After all, I have to obey the International Virtuality Act given by the government. It's not right to violate the government rules" Einstein sighed. Einstein's employees designed the Limbo to become a furnace. It's so unbearable that Thomas and his employees became monsters-like creatures in the virtual world. Yet, they can't die because they are real humans in the real world.
One day, Thomas and his employees decided to wake up from the virtuality. Thomas is angry at Einstein because the Limbo in the virtual world is nothing but hell. So, Thomas brought all his employees to attack Einstein's company The attack failed, when Matthew ordered all Einstein's employees to barb the company's perimeter.
"Go make your own virtual world then, if you are not satisfy with Einstein's. If that not the very reason you left the company?" Matthew shouted with a loudspeaker.
"Screw you Matthew! I'll be waiting to attack you anytime! I know I'm unreasonable, but the Limbo is just too bad. I can't create a virtual world of my own as I don't have the expertise to do so." Thomas shouted back.
For years, there is a standstill, or more like a cold war around the perimeter of Einstein's company. Skirmish are fought at times but nothing major is happening. The situation is tense. Thomas would order his employees to work in team. Some of his employees are stationed at the company's perimeter while others were working in the virtual world, trying to destroy everything. Einstein is heartbroken to see this. He actually have the fire power to wipe all of them off, once and for all. But he knew the time has not come yet, until everything is ready.
Meanwhile in the virtual world, virtual beings are greatly increased. There are more and more virtual beings roaming the virtual world. Some of the Thomas' employees in the virtual world saw pretty virtual female beings and they raped the beings. The real Thomas employees and virtual female beings in the virtual world is gigantism children. The gigantism is caused by the unnatural mutation of computer codes resulted from the union of real humans and virtual beings in the virtual world. Some of Thomas' employees taught the virtual beings on new technologies (pyramids) and perverse cultures such as homosexuality. The virtual beings thought that Thomas is a god and they worshiped Thomas. Thomas and his employees even made themselves a temporal home in the middle of the ocean, known as Atlantis, which eventually disappear. Einstein is very hard broken. As the population of the population of virtual beings grow, so are the real bodies emerging in the company. Soon, Einstein put all the bodies into a special storage to minimize the volume occupied by the bodies. All in all, the total bodies that the special storage can hold is infinity as it is created based on Einstein's theory of general relativity. More and more virtual beings forgot the protocol that Einstein first taught Albert and Julia. More and more virtual beings end up in the Limbo when they die, tortured by Thomas and his employees. Einstein have to obey the International Virtuality Act, which states that virtual beings has the right to choose. Real human can not dictate the virtual being's life by using the computer softwares. So, it is totally up to the virtual beings to choose between Limbo and awakening. The virtual beings who followed the protocol, died and waked in the real world. They are subsequently being led to the paradise. However, the numbers are not encouraging.
So, Einstein chose some of the virtual beings to be his special messenger. Sometimes, his employees would also go into the virtual world to give some essential instructions. Einstein can communicate with the virtual beings through the real-virtual connection telecommunication or by appearing in the virtual world himself. There are times that Einstein engineered a flood in the virtual world to destroy virtual beings who are too perverse. One specific virtual being, named Andrew, stick closely with the protocol that when Andrew died, he is made the leader of the awakened virtual beings in the paradise. Two virtual beings, Eli and Eno, stick too close with the protocol that the Virtuality Law didn't apply to them anymore. They simply awake in the real world and greeted into paradise.
Soon, Einstein realize that the protocol was not effective enough to prevent virtual beings from getting into the Limbo. Thus, he cloned himself to make a man, named John. John is a reminiscence of Einstein's son, who died in a car accident with his mother. Because John is made of Einstein's gene, he can understand every single detail of the virtual world. Einstein then put John into the virtual world to be born and live as a virtual being. John's ultimate mission is to remind the virtual beings about the protocol, go to the Limbo to fight off Thomas, and return to the real world. As John is half-real-half virtual person, he accomplished his mission perfectly. Although the way he die in the virtual world is pretty gruesome. John taught the virtual beings a special code, which is much more easier than the protocol, as a replacement. Any virtual beings with the special code can escape the Limbo. As a result, more and more virtual beings escaped the Limbo.
After the successful mission, John returned to the real world. Einstein made John a beautiful bride in the paradise. The bride is computer engineered with the elements of the virtual beings in the paradise. Einstein promised that when the time is right, John can consummate the marriage in the paradise.
The virtual world is becoming exactly like the real world. Civilisaitons rise and fall. Wars, poverty and corruption are widespread. In order to garner support in the virtual world, Thomas and his employees tried their best to trick the virtual beings into rejecting the special code. Thomas and his employee would often use sex, drugs and wealth in the virtual world to trap virtual beings into the Limbo. Although Einstein has total control of what's going on in the virtual world, he stood in his ground not to violate the International Virtuality Act, which gives the virtual beings right to choose. In other words, if a virtual being choose to reject the special code, the virtual being will end up in the Limbo. Einstein will not destroy Thomas and his employees in the virtual world because of the restrictions in the International Virtuality Act. Torturing a real human in a virtual world is prohibited. One can not tell the difference between the real and the virtual world as the virtual world is so corrupted. Thomas and his employees will often abuse the virtual beings with the special code. The only way the virtual beings can resist Thomas is by knowing the special code that specifies the authority a virtual being have over Thomas. By calling out certain codes, Thomas and his employees will have to flee from the virtual being.
After 7 months of stagnation between Thomas and Einstein in both worlds, the time has come for Einstein to settle things justly.
"Why wait until now? Why you didn't do this 7 months ago?" Matthew asked.
"Well, I need to get the licence for the paradise and the court order to raid Thomas' company. The court has given us authority to deal the things in our own hands, because we are the only one who can control and command virtuality." Einstein explained.
On one cold morning, Matthew and Gideon brought all of Einstein's employee out to attack Thomas' employees. The virtual beings in the paradise are also awaken in their real bodies to join the attack. Einstein immediately put a special command to the virtual world to awake every virtual beings with the special code. Then, Einstein shuts down the entire system. While Einstein is burning the remaining real bodies of virtual beings without the special code, John puts the entire virtual system into the incinerator. The fire would last for days until everything turns into nothing. Having the numerical and technological superiority, Matthew forces took down Thomas' company and killed all of his employers. He then burned Thomas alive together with other dead employees. Justice is done, at least for Einstein. Thomas and his associates are not dead in the virtual world, their consciousness is still working in the Limbo. Because the consciousness in a virtual world can never be destroyed, Thomas and his employees are lost forever in it, there is no escape as their real bodies are dead. Their connection to the real world is lost altogether.
The attack sparked controversies across the world because Einstein's company killed Thomas and his employees without bringing them first into court trial. Einstein did it because he knew that the courts are corrupted. To escape the impending capture, Einstein, the employees, and all his associates rushed into the paradise. Einstein was the last to enter the paradise. He command the paradise control system to be revert to internal control mode before launching it to the galaxies. The whole system is then compressed to a bacteria sized capsule using Einstein's law of relativity. Then, Einstein drove the capsule into a black hole so that the law of time and space will not apply to the capsule. The capsule is basically all the codes for the paradise and the real humans in it.
Einstein is just wondering, what if he is one of the many virtual beings in a virtual world. Is there another real-er world out there. He can only wonder as the capsule drove into eternity in the black hole. He is still wondering when he will be awaken from the paradise into the real world, where his body is now nothing but singularity. There is not external control of the system as the mode of control is switched permanently to internal control mode. Thus, Einstein, John, Matthew, Gideon and other employees, awakened virtual beings enjoyed each others's company in the paradise. There is no sickness, no pain, because that's how Einstein created the paradise to be.
The end
