The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Saturday, July 12, 2127

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No one in the history of Tamerlane Pryce’s afterlife construct had been assigned Level 11, white. He agreed with the other Designers that people living in the real world would not be ready to learn the truth about what happened to organic entities after death until at least the 25th century. Of course, Mateo already having experience keeping secrets meant that Pryce didn’t think this one case would be a problem. Mateo was already living on the fringes, and no one would notice his resurrection, because they didn’t know about him in the first place. Other time travelers wouldn’t be suspicious either, because they were used to crisscrossing each other’s timelines.

This came with both perks, and downsides. Mateo’s new body would be in perfect condition, and resistant to disease, which Tamerlane called the pristine edge all resurrected people would have. He also maintained a permanent remote connection to the afterlife, so he would be able to communicate with his friends while he worked to figure out how to get them all out too. There was a catch, though. He was fully capable of dying yet again, and if that happened, he would lose his Level 11 privileges, and have to start over. Honestly, this was a crapshoot when it came to Pryce’s warped mind. He may make Mateo spin the death wheel again. He might just send him back down to Earth, and maybe even sever his connection to his friends—which he might do at any time anyway. If Mateo ever returned, Pryce could also just cut his losses, and delete his code permanently, so there was nothing anyone could do. If he wanted to save Leona, Ellie, Sanaa, J.B., and Angela, he needed to be smart. He needed help. He needed Jupiter Fury.

Mateo didn’t know how to contact Jupiter, and he didn’t want to speak with The Delegator again. He had kind of burned that bridge, so he had to find some other way. Holly Blue had a special phone number to call her, but there was no way he was smart enough to remember all fifty-two digits. Dr. Malloy Hammer had a phone number too, and while it was a lot easier to remember, he never knew it, so that still wasn’t helpful. Someone on Tribulation Island, or anywhere else on Dardius, would be more than happy to help, but there was no way to get to them. He still didn’t know where the Earth Nexus replica was, so if he wanted to travel the intergalactic void, he would have to go to Egypt. Well, that wasn’t impossible, but Pryce didn’t bother to give him a new identity, so catching a flight would be problematic. In his mind, there was only one solution to his isolation, and it was kind of fitting, because it was starting to become a real useful trick these days, albeit for a different reason every time.

It always seemed to be the truth to them that the powers that be didn’t want him dead. It was also true that they appeared to ignore this concern when he had to save J.B.’s life. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe they were only seemingly all-powerful, but millions of years ago on Dardius was actually out of their purview. It wasn’t the craziest hypothesis that they might try to save his life if something were to place it in danger. And hey, if this didn’t work, he knew exactly where he was going to go after death, and it wasn’t all bad. He chose to not call Leona about his decision, because she would probably try to talk him out of it, and be stressful about not necessarily being able to. He took the elevator to the platform of the Kansas City arcology, walked to the edge, climbed over the barrier they erected to stop this sort of thing from happening, and swung himself over.

He fell down and down and down, until a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his body, and teleported him to safety. It was Paige Turner, who was these days filling in for Savior of Earth, Xearea Voss. “Sup,” she said simply.

“Sup,” he echoed.

“Are you from the future?”

“I am.” He paused a moment. “Looks like you’re still here. Feel any dry mouth?”

“Nope, I think the PTB want us to talk for a moment. What’s on your mind?”

“I was hoping to contact Jupiter Fury.”

“Fury? Not Rosa?”

Mateo rolled his head side to side. “Rosa would do, yeah, sure. Can you help?”

“I don’t have my powers anymore,” Paige said. She patted her pockets. “I don’t have any photos anyway. If you flung yourself over the edge just talk to me, I’m afraid you wasted your time. Arcadia and Memphis have me on a tight leash.”

“Well, it was a longshot, I guess.”

Paige frowned at him. “I’m not really part of the choosing one network right now. I really only have one name for you. It might not work; I’ve never tried it. Some choosers have special ways of contacting them, and this guy has one of those ways. He’s, like, a time god, or something. Reaching out to him might be a little...uncomfortable for you, what with you being Catholic.”

“I’m not Catholic anymore.”

“Well, you might have lapsed...”

“No, The Superintendent took away my faith completely, I’m surprised you remember. The only reason I do is because I borrowed Nerakali’s memory manipulation powers.”

“Oh. Then you’ll probably be fine. You have to pray, like he’s an angel. You pray to him hard enough, he may come, and hopefully agree to hook you up with the network.” She started smacking her lips. “I’m about to leave. Real quick, his name is Vendakaiel.” And with that, she was gone, off to save someone’s life who actually deserved it.

Vendakaiel. Hm. Okay, well, this should be relatively easy. Mateo went over to the nearest tree, and got down on his knees. He closed his eyes, and held his palms together, like a silly cartoon. Then he got all the cynicism and skepticism out of his system, so he could genuinely pray to this regular man who probably liked having people believe he was some kind of time god. He only had to concentrate for a few minutes before he felt himself being pulled away. He opened his eyes, and saw the tree before him stretch taller and taller, as if made of elastic. Everything else around him was doing the same, as he was sliding alongside them. This was a form of transportation he had not yet experienced. It looked scary, but it felt great. When it was over, he was still on his knees, now in a flowery garden. It was a very relaxing place to be, and immediately made him feel calm and stress-free.

“I am Vendakaiel,” came a voice behind him.

Mateo smiled dumbly, and turned around slowly. “I’m Mateo Matic. It is a pleasure to meet you, sir.” He could see a figure before him, but couldn’t really make it out. There was something very wrong—or right, depending on your definition—with the way his brain was processing information.

“Likewise. I have heard great things about you.”

“Where are we?”

“The Garden Dimension,” Vendakaiel explained. “It is where I live.”

Mateo looked around some more. “Oh, I’ve been here before.”

“Yes, it was just over a decade ago. I remember The Conservator asking The Horticulturalists’ permission to visit.”

Mateo breathed deeply. “Is there opium in the air, like that one show with the magician who got his stuff touchers chopped off? I can’t remember the name.”

“Actually, yes, where do you think they got the idea? It’s only in this one section, though. I use it to make people feel at ease, so they do not tremble at my appearance.”

“I am not so easily disturbed,” Mateo promised. “Could we go somewhere without recreational drugs?”

“As you wish.” Vendakaiel spirited them away to another part of the Garden.

It took Mateo a few minutes for his head to clear, but that was probably faster than it would have been had he taken the drugs directly. He could see the time god fully now. It was a monster. Mateo had never seen it before, but Leona had, and he could recall her memories of the event. He just needed to think harder for a moment. What did they call it again? “You’re a speedstriker.”

“Very good,” Vendakaiel said with a bow.

“You can teleport?” he questioned.

“Eh, that’s not really the right word to use. What I do involves a lot more running. When you called to me, I had to come get you, not just snap my fingers, and make you appear.”

“I see. Well, I appreciate it. Wait, I was to understand that time monsters didn’t have agency. They weren’t conscious, just glitches.”

“I’m evolved. Some human scientists trapped me, studied me, and finally, taught me. I am profoundly grateful to them for the gift of slowness. I didn’t realize how much better it is to not be in constant motion.”

Mateo nodded understandingly. “I was hoping you could help me find someone I lost track of. His name is Jupiter Fury?”

“Yes, I know the name. You’ll have to give me a second, so I can go find him. I found him.”

“Ah, that’s great.”

“I’ll take you to him, but I require something in return.”

“Naturally.” Hopefully, if it was something he couldn’t pay, Vendakaiel wouldn’t force him to pay, but just send him back to Earth empty handed.

“I need blood.”

“Oh, no.”

“It is the only thing that slows me down. The drugs help, but there’s nothing better than human blood. I don’t kill, or drink it; I inject it, like a normal person.”

“Yeah, that’s normal.”

“Look, if you can’t do it, I won’t make ya. I was just under the impression you needed my help, so...”

“You can have some of my blood, okay?”

“No can do. If I transfuse the blood of a salmon or chooser, I take on their properties. I have no interest in skipping time. It has to be a regular human.”

Mateo let out a short growl. “Ugh. Fine. I will find a blood bag when I’m on Earth. Jupiter himself will be able to help me with that too, so it’ll be a win-win.”

The creature might have been smiling, but it didn’t have very human facial features. “You better deliver, because if you don’t, you’re gonna find out just how fast I am.”

“I understand.”

The scenery stretched again, and transplanted him right in front of Jupiter Fury. “Miss me?”

“I did,” Jupiter said sincerely. “You died.”

“I’m back,” Mateo said.

“For good?”

Mateo chuckled. “Is anything in this universe good?”

Jupiter smiled softly, and nodded in agreeance. “Report.”

And so Mateo went about telling him the story of how he died, where he went after it happened, and what his wife and friends were doing without him. He didn’t know if Jupiter himself would be able to help, but perhaps the virtual construct was like another reality, and there was a way to break into it without Pryce knowing about it. After the story, though, Jupiter didn’t think that was the case. The most likely explanation was that the simulations were being run on a massive network of computers, which were orbiting together in a massive collection, around some star. This star was probably located very far away so as not to allow the Earthans to discover it too soon. He would have to take some time to think of their options, which was a really good sign, because it meant Jupiter was truly interested in helping.

While he was waiting on that, he went into the other room alone, so he could form his technopsychic connection to the afterlife. Leona answered the call, which prompted him to appear before her like a hologram. Except this was all virtual, so he could interact with the things around him just as much as she could. It was all just ones and zeros. Leona called them avatars. “How have you been this last year?”

She held up both of her wrists, where he could see a Cassidy cuff on each. “Pryce wrote the code for them. We’re all on the Bearimy-Matic pattern, just like we were before. I’ve only been here a day.”

He wasn’t sure whether to be upset about that, or not. At first, he didn’t think it should make a difference, but then he decided it might be for the best. Mateo was in the main sequence now, and Pryce heavily implied that he managed to encode his original pattern into the new body. If true, he and Leona would be separated through space, but at least not through time. “I’m going to get you out. I’m working on it as we speak.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Leona said. “Angela doesn’t deserve this. If you can only rescue one of us, let it be her. The rest of us are fine.”

“If I rescue her, he’ll punish you,” Mateo reasoned. “Everyone is getting out.”

“Okay.” Leona didn’t just not want to argue. She seemed to agree.

“Now.” He smiled reassuringly. “How about a tour?”

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Glisnia: Dynastis (Part IX)

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Hogarth didn’t know where she was, or who this...entity before her was, but she always tried to follow Leona’s Rules of Time Travel. Rule Number Five seemed pertinent right now, treat everyone you meet with respect, as they may unexpectedly return. “My name is Hogarth Pudeyonavic. I’m not sure what’s happening here. I scanned a book that I...”

“Created with your mind?” Aitchai finished for her.

“Yes.”

“That code delivered you to me. How can I be of assistance?”

“We’re not sure of all the details, but we believe we tapped into an alternate reality, and accidentally...merged our two together? The alternate sun is bleeding into our reality, but it’s small right now, at least from our dimensional perspective.”

The man tilted his head back in thought. “Hm. Interesting.”

“Have you seen anything like this before?”

“I’ve seen overlaid realities before, yes, of course. I’ve never heard of your specific case, though. It is quite interesting. Is it growing?”

“Yes, we believe as it slowly pulls itself into our reality, it’s adopting our dimensions.”

“Quite right, except I don’t imagine it’s from an alternate reality. I believe you’ve reached another universe; one that is—to dumb it down, with apologies—smaller than yours. Did you see colors as it was first emerging?”

“I was not there. They called me in to help. One of them is indeed from a different universe. He has the power to enhance other people’s power, and he was trying to use it to help one of our people access other realities. It’s this whole thing.”

Aitchai shook his head dismissively, but still respectfully. “I don’t need to hear anything about it. Just give me a second.” And then his stood there for a moment, unmoving. “Okay, you’re good.”

“Really? It was that easy?”

“For me, anyway.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m everything.”

“Like...literally, err...?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I was a man once.” He raised his arms outward at a ninety-degree angle, lifted his shoulders, and looked down at his chest. “I looked like this. My name was Dyne Dyne Pala Pala. A few of us encountered a temporal anomaly, and it made us all immortal. We each have our own thing, though. My version is...unusual, and my essence ultimately became integrated with the fabric of time and space, for every universe in the infinite. I’m everything now. I’m really just the energy that pervades all matter. You’re talking to a high concentration of it, in a form that just makes it easier for us to communicate.” He shook his hands like he was warming up to play the piano. “I don’t normally have hands anymore, though.”

“Do you interfere a lot?”

“I’m not sure I would say a lot, as I’ve lost all concept of scale, but I suppose about as much as I feel is necessary. There are some points in spacetime that need my attention, as do some people. You are one of those people. I needed there to be a book in your world, or rather your world needed it. Most universes are just...normal. They don’t have time travel, or anything. Closest they might get are relativistic speeds. For the few with special needs, I monitor more closely.”

“Why me?”

He smiled, though as a holographic projection of a boundless metaconsciousness, it was just for show. “I don’t talk to many people, and they all ask that. The answer is...no particular reason. You’re random.” He seemed worried that sounded offensive.

“Whew, what a relief,” Hogarth said. “Now I don’t feel so pressured. Whatever I do, it’s what I’m meant to do, right? I don’t have some specific purpose or destiny that I’ve been missing.”

“No, you’re just part of the puzzle. You’re a brighter part, I would say—you stand out more—but you still fit just as snuggly in the tapestry of reality as anyone else.”

“But I have been given the chance to talk with you directly, which is rare?”

“Indeed. You’re a puzzle piece that I picked up and inspected, to stay with the metaphor.”

“Does this have to be a one-time thing?”

“It’s not a one-time thing, but it’s not a whenever you can’t find your car keys kind of thing either. Your universe has car keys right?”

“Not anymore,” she responded. “Well, don’t worry, I won’t bug you too much.”

I’m always with you, though,” Aitchai added, “as cheesy as that may sound: in the sun’s rays, in the hum of electrical lines, in the cold of winter; that’s me. I am the energy that keeps all things moving. At least, I’m the conscious element of these natural processes.”

She nodded again. “Thank you for your help with this. Are you gonna warn me about messing with things I don’t understand?”

He shook his holographic head. “Nope. I trust you.”

“I appreciate your support.”

And with that, he was gone, and Hogarth was back in the training room.

Everyone else was still staring at the space where the miniature sun used to be, the rest of the group having entered the room at some point. Now everything was fine, and they were confused. The ones here when she left were standing a little farther from the epicenter of the problem than they were before, indicating that it had grown while she was talking with Aitchai. It took them a second to realize she was back.

“How long have you been gone?” Hilde asked.

Their friends walked over to hear better.

“A few minutes, I guess. Why, do I look older?” Hogarth joked.

“No, it’s just that it’s fixed,” Holly Blue pointed out. “Did it only take you a few minutes to get your answer, and correct the issue?”

“I met someone who fixed it,” Hogarth began to explain. “It only took him a second or two. We spent the rest of the time talking.”

“Who was this person?” Holly Blue was concerned.

“He called himself the Aitchai. Crimson, I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Crimson started, but then said, “no. Why? Should I have?”

“He’s, like...the god of the bulkverse, so I guess I assumed you had at least heard the name at some point in your travels.”

“No, ‘fraid not,” Crimson replied.

“How do you know he was who he said he was?” Holly Blue posed.

“How do you know I am who I say I am?” Hogarth volleyed. “We never really know anything. I choose to believe. He did fix the sun. It was from another brane, by the way, not an alternate reality.”

Jupiter slapped Ambrose on the shoulder, somewhat affectionately, but also a little to roughly. “You boosted my power a lot more than you knew you could. You need to be more careful, brother.”

Ambrose nodded his head, horrified. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Well, it’s all right now, we got it fixed,” Hogarth reminded them.

“How can we be sure it won’t happen again?” Holly Blue was about ready to scrap the whole project.

“You mean how can you ever trust me again,” Ambrose corrected.

“I was jokin’ with you, man,” Jupiter assured him. “It takes two to Tango.”

“He’s right,” Lenkida said. “We need safeguards, and contingencies, and simulations. You have all been going through this really quickly, but this has always been a long-term project. We have plenty of resources to keep us busy for the next several years. Figure out how you’re gonna do what you need to do before you start trying to do it.”

Hogarth looked over at her lab partner. “Holly Blue. Don’t.”

“What?” Holly Blue asked. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re about to suggest we give up, and I’m telling you, don’t suggest that.”

Holly Blue breathed in deeply, then released it all from her lungs at once. “I need to go before I say something we both regret.” She reached over to her wrist, and activated her teleporter, disappearing in a flash of lightning that was only there for effect.

“I’ll talk to her,” Crimson said as it prepared to teleport as well.

“Wait,” Hogarth stopped it. “Take her to Declan. She doesn’t wanna be here anymore, and this is my responsibility.”

Crimson tipped an imaginary cap. “As you wish.” It exploported away. Was that a good word for it, exploportation?

There was silence for a few moments.

“Ethesh,” Hogarth began. “I could do with a technician.”

“At your service,” he replied.

The two of them walked out of the room, and headed for the lab. There was a moment during this that gave her pause. This whole facility operated on wireless energy. Solar radiation was absorbed by the conversion panels on the outer layers, and delivered everywhere else. Every entity that required electricity to survive got it from broadcast nodes that the engineers installed at strategic locations. It didn’t matter where a mech or transhuman went, there was always a node nearby to supply them with power, and the signals generally overlapped with each other, so there was no loss of constant recharge, even though everyone was equipped with a backup battery. There were a few spots, however, with no overlap. They were simply oversights that no one had bothered to correct, but again, that was fine, because constant supply was a luxury, not a necessity. The threshold separating the training room and the hallways was one such of these spots, and when Hogarth crossed it, she could feel it. It was only for a second, but her sensory detectors were sensitive enough to register it. Normally, she would move on, and not give it any thought, but now she noticed it.

“What is it?” Ethesh asked her.

“That’s the Aitchai.”

“Your magical god friend?” he questioned.

She looked around like a paranoid wallaby. “He’s everywhere,” she whispered.

Ethetsh looked around too, but only with his eyes. “Are you seeing him right now? Is he telling you to do things?”

“Everything is always everywhere, and right here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s all connected.”

“Do I need to get a doctor?”

“Energy. Matter. Matter. Energy.”

“You’re really starting to freak me out, and I don’t freak out easily. I once met Ludwig van Beethoven backstage in Gandren Hall...in the past.”

“We’re thinking about this all wrong. We don’t need an altreal siphon. The time siphon will do just fine, as long as we use it correctly. Just a few molecules from everywhere, it’s all connected. Crimson Clover!” she shouted at medium volume.

Crimson exploported in. “Holly Blue has agreed to go meet Declan, but she has to get ready first. What do you need?”

“I need my body back,” Hogarth demanded.

“I can’t take her to Declan’s universe unless I keep it. I promise to return it immediately afterwards.”

“Don’t worry about Holly Blue right now. I can finish the matrioshka body.” She grabbed it by her shoulders, and forcefully swapped their consciousnesses.

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Microstory 1485: Turn of the Century

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Before the Mage Protectorate fell to the war with the monsters, a special committee formed to plan a huge celebration for the turn of the century. The year 2100 was meant to signify a fresh start for the people of Durus, and a more meaningful shift than one might assume. Other than a few stragglers, plus ageless Ecrin Cabral, there weren’t a whole lot of people left on the planet who also once lived on Earth. Some of them didn’t have any recollection of it, because they were too young when the Deathfall sent them all to the rogue world. Despite all the wondrous things that the mages could do, and all the protective measures they took against the monsters, life was hard on Durus, and life expectancy was lower than it was on Earth. Medicinal treatments, and medical resources, did not accompany time powers, so if someone got sick enough, there was a significant chance that they would ultimately die from it. So the 22nd century was very important to these people, and it was a major disappointment when it just sort of stopped mattering. The Protectorate was destroyed in 2090, and though the phallocratic Republic formed in plenty of time to maintain schedule, the government was not interested in carrying it through. They just felt it was too much work to make sure women weren’t treated equally, and to coordinate all that supervision, so they let it go, and moved on with their oppressive and joyless regime. A lot had changed by the time the 23rd century approached, and of course, people wanted to actually do something to observe the occasion. A new committee formed, and this time, they weren’t going to let anything stop them from recognizing everything they had been through, and expressing hope for everything they were yet to do.

There was just one problem. When this new party planning committee started getting to work in 2195, someone pointed out that they had just done a huge celebration for the Bicentennial fifteen years ago. That wasn’t really a problem on its own, but that thing was a rager—a week-long rager. Most agreed that this would somehow have to be bigger and better in every way. But what did that mean? Two weeks long? Faster rides? More impressive time power modifications? That was what the committee was for, and why they needed five years to plan it. All of that was exactly what they did, except that the official events would only last for eleven days, rather than the full two weeks. There were multiple groups of people who were allowed to go back in time, so they could enjoy all the celebration had to offer without concern for scheduling conflicts. They added other features, like Air Gap competitions, which was a game the source mages made up that involved running towards the objective while separating one’s opponents from it by manipulating dimensional space. People today were doing it with time tech. It was huge, and fun, and dangerous. The day pass team only had five people on it, but others were trained, so they could fill in as needed. For these two weeks, everyone was called up to be at the ready to save people’s lives before they were placed in danger. Like the Bicentennial before it, it was a hugely successful extravaganza, and everyone had a really great time. Once it was done, though, they had to put it behind them, because the time was quickly coming upon them when their little wayward planet would finally reach its goal in the Ophiuchi system. Playtime was over, and they had a lot of work to do.

Microstory 1484: Necter of the Gods

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The universe is but one in a sea of infinite others. Each is called a brane, and is swimming around a sort of hyperdimensional metaspace known as the bulk. Do not confuse these with alternate realities. Any similarity between two branes only occurs because one was modeled upon the other. Some of them are natural, but some are conceived in the minds of people. The latter can last indefinitely, or collapse quickly, and are usually created through dreams, or fictional storytelling. An example of the former, on the other hand, will not resemble any other. It may have humans in it, or it may not. Its physical laws may feel familiar, but that will be coincidence, not because of some inherent interversal connection. No matter what, each universe is independent, through both time and space. And it is extremely difficult to travel between them. Interversal travel has only been invented twice in the entire histories of the entire bulkverse, and every means of travel beyond it has been based on that original technology. Because these branes do not operate on the same timeline, there really isn’t any such thing as the first, but one did inspire the pursuit of the other. They called it The Crossover, and the biggest reason the one group of people who encountered it were capable of replicating its function was because they were immortals who were billions of years old. They called their version the Nexus Network. It started out as a way to jump between systems in a galaxy, before expanding to other galaxies, and eventually all over the universe. Once the process was fully automated, and left to conquer the cosmos, its inventors decided they needed a new challenge. They chose interversal travel as that challenge, and proceeded to spend millions of years working on the problem. That was how difficult it was.

Getting out of one’s current brane was the easy part, but navigating the bulkverse, and finding somewhere to land was all but impossible. The best computer in any universe is usually not anywhere near good enough to make the necessary calculations. Once those calculations are made, however, the system that utilizes the data doesn’t have to be very large, or even all that complex. After all that time figuring out how to travel to other universes, this small group of immortals had to come to terms with the fact that their latest challenge was over, and they had nothing more to do with the rest of their eternal lives. There was talk about building more systems in these other universes, but they weren’t sure that it would be worth it. Their home universe had quadrillions of people in it, spread across many galaxies, and they needed a way to reach each other quickly and conveniently. In these other branes they visited, the population was always a lot lower. They expanded within their galaxy, and into neighboring galaxies, in some cases, but their levels never reached a meaningful fraction of the number the immortals were used to. Even further down the timeline, they seemed to be doing okay with their own technological advances. Still, there were a few cases where the group’s means of instantaneous intergalactic travel would be quite useful. In salmonverse, they didn’t build a full network, but they constructed a handful of them in strategic locations. One of them was Durus. The Durune were aware of temporal manipulation, and psychic abilities, and even a hint of other branes, so they were deemed worthy of being connected to this very small network of replica Nexa. It was constructed in secret at some point, and discovered in 2195. But they weren’t allowed to go anywhere yet.

Microstory 1483: Time Tech Rises

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For five years, the best of the best scientists and engineers buckled down on research in order to figure out how to translate all useful paramount powers to technology, or even implant them in other people. They didn’t want to try that second thing too much, though. They were not transhumanists, at least not most of the Durune. Some of the Earthans who came during the Deathspring already had technological upgrades on their bodies, and this actually helped further the research. But the main purpose was to give people what they needed to live their lives. Everyone on Earth had clothes and ways of communicating with each other, and they had access to these conveniences pretty much all the time. The existence of people with powers had always hindered some of that progress on Durus, though of course, it wasn’t the only reason. They were cut off from civilization, and doing what they could with fewer resources, so that slowed it down too. Now that the government was stable, and society was thriving, it was time to make comparable—or maybe even superior—technology to what people had now back on the homeworld. Around 2190, they started coming out with a line of products that people would use as needed. They rated them according to a ubiquity scale that they came up with. Everyone would have a teleportation wristband, which would allow them to jump to any point in space on the surface of the planet. In order to protect privacy, and ensure safety, though, some locations were blocks from some people. They could set up something called a spatial lock, which was like the teleporting equivalent to a door lock. If one were not authorized to be in a particular area, they could not jump there. People’s homes, bank vaults, doctors offices; all these required their own spatial locks, which were regulated and protected by a governmental body.

Other advances had less ubiquity. They came up with something called speed school, which would place students in time bubbles that moved faster than the time outside. Someone could learn a skill or topic at about the same speed as they would in the regular dimension, but once they stepped back out, very little time would have passed for everyone else, which allowed any education program to be greatly reduced in terms of total time taken. People were given agelessness pils, and transdimensional living spaces, if they wanted it. Different people wanted, and needed, different things, but the technologies were there to let everyone survive and be happy, without worrying about a lot of the inconveniences of yesteryear. There was one particular invention that had a lot more trouble coming through. They called it the day pass. It would allow a user to travel back in time one entire day, but not physically. This was consciousness transference, so people would be able to start their day over again. This had such a low ubiquity rating, that it was generally just treated as a zero. Only a select few people would be given this privilege, and only for certain reasons. Life was still dangerous, and the day pass allowed a small team to fix problems that happened; people’s deaths, and other accidents, namely. Scientists and law enforcement worked together, and lobbied the government to give them permission to use this new technology. Time travel was illegal, so it wasn’t easy, but they did finally get their day pass. World leadership had some conditions, though. In fact, they had rules and regulations about all these inventions, but that was okay, because no one wanted them to result in chaos. This was only the beginning.

Microstory 1482: President From Earth

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Things were pretty bad after the Deathspring sent a bunch of people from Earth to Durus. The Durune didn’t want them there, and the Earthans didn’t want to be there. Two seemingly contradictory things were happening at the same time, which sort of fed into each other. Durus was trying to get rid of all the misogynistic laws of the past, and become a more just society, but they were struggling to accomplish that with all these refugees here. So they treated those refugees poorly, and didn’t really give them that much thought. They tucked them away in isolated camps, and got to work on rebuilding their government from the ground up. It was years before they started listening to the people who were trying to explain to them that the Earthans would be able to help them do that. After all, they had just come from a world of equality and fairness, so maybe they had a few pointers? Well, it took some time, and a military state, but society eventually figured it out. Some of the Earthans went back home with the Elizabeth Warren interstellar ship, along with a few Durune who wanted to start new lives, but for everyone left, there didn’t appear to be much chance of further rescue, so the best thing to do for the Earthans was to dig in, and get used to the here and now, instead of dwelling on what might have been. That got easier over the course of the next two decades as policy adapted to the diverse population. One major thing to further this philosophy came in 2185, when the first person to have been born on Earth was elected as president of the Democratic Republic of Durus. They were long past the elitism and bigotry that formed in 2161, but it was still a huge step for the original Durune. On the other side, the Earthans had mostly accepted this as their new home, and that was impressive as well. Everyone was a native now. As for the new president himself, things were a little rough. Earth had moved so far beyond a standard representative democracy by then that he had some trouble understanding that Durus was not technologically advanced enough for a comparable system. He had to make a lot of mistakes, and reach some compromises, and he only lasted one term, but it was a decent start.

Microstory 1481: Time Tech

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As the first generation of paramounts was coming into their own, people figured that disparity was unavoidable. They could treat non-powered people with respect, and give them all the same rights, but at the end of the day, there was a difference between them, and it was noticeable. When an individual introduced themselves as one way or the other, people made judgments about them; again, not necessarily borne of bigotry, or anything like that, but there was no denying there was a difference. By the mid-2180s, some people were feeling this more than others. They were more sensitive to the nuances of social interactions. They weren’t worried a war was brewing, or that the paramounts would form some sort of caste system, but they realized the distinction was outside of everyone’s control. One could be born with time powers, or without, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. Not since the source mages disappeared in 2090 was there anyone who could give other people abilities. Even when they did exist, they chose who was worthy, and who wasn’t. Whether their criteria were fair or reasonable was irrelevant; they controlled everything, and if someone didn’t like it, they would just have to suffer through. This was no longer the Mage Protectorate, however. It was a new era, under a new democratic government, and they couldn’t use the past as the foundation of a better future just because it was prosperous and peaceful. Progress was about making things different, and always being receptive to new ideas. Thanks for the Deathspring, people from Earth had come with new skills, and a longer history. Technology had improved so much since Springfield became trapped on Durus, and maybe that could help level the playing field. The people in a new movement didn’t want to start giving everyone their own powers, but make those powers obsolete. Instead of contacting a teleporter for transportation, for instance, they could just activate a transportation device. If they wanted water, they could simply open a filter portal to their location. Hell, filter portals could replace water bottles and breathing tanks altogether, and allow anyone to go anywhere they wanted, and always have everything they needed to survive. There were lots of applications for time technology, and if given the permission and resources, this group knew that they could make real change in the world. Fortunately, they were supported by the new president of the Democratic Republic, who did not merely sympathize with their cause, but believed in it completely herself. They had already done things like this before, like with the emergency teleporters, and when they placed the Capitol building in another dimension. So it was obviously possible, they just needed to expand the research, and make this kind of technology as ubiquitous as the family car in the 21st century. They had a long road ahead of them, persuading the public to be on their side, and convincing the government to give them the resources they needed to accomplish their goals, and this would only be the beginning.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Thursday, July 11, 2126

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Mateo sat on the edge of the stage, and watched the presentation from there. Their moderator was a woman by the name of Angela Walton. She was no angel, though. She died centuries ago, and was recently promoted to Level 8, Counselor Class. She went over the levels, so the people under her care would understand that life didn’t end after the end of life, as she said it. As Mateo already knew, everyone here was dead. They had, in fact, all died on the same day. Most of them were living in the Primitivist Circles, but others were from the North Korean Isolate. It was harder to die anywhere else, though in 2126, still not impossible. This was not the real afterlife, if such a place even existed. The Designers created a virtual simulation in order to allow almost everyone to survive their death by being uploaded into the construct. They did this covertly by altering the brain structure of every human being, beginning thousands of years ago. Everyone was a cylon, reborn after death, on a Riverworld.

There were eleven levels, like membership tiers for some kind of product or service. There was a Level 0, but it wasn’t really part of the others. If you were a Level 0 Oblivion, it meant that your identity code was permanently deleted, and you really were dead. This was reserved for the worst of the worst, like Hitler, Franco, and cops who kill innocent black people; those who the Designers determined could never learn to change their ways. Level 1 Iced members were not much better off, but there was hope for them. Their code remained intact, but dormant, so they could be reactivated later, but only at the pleasure of those in power. Level 2 Statics were isolated as well, but still conscious. They persisted within the confines of a dark room. They could sleep, and ask to be set free, but there was nothing to stimulate their minds. There was a debate whether it was worse to be Level 1, or Level 2. Level 3 Hock members were prisoners, kept locked up in what looked like an actual prison. They could interact with other prisoners, and visitors, and they could work towards freedom. People came out of hock all the time, and joined the ranks of normal society.

Most people awakened as Level 4 Limited. They were free to move about public environments, but they were limited as to what they could do with what they could see, and they were not provided with their own homes. Privacy was reserved for Level 5 and above. Level 5 Basic was kind of like living in base reality. Everyone started out with a basic home to call their own, but they could upgrade to more luxury by contributing to afterlife society in some positive way. If an individual contributed enough, they could be bumped up to Level 6 Plus, and this would give them the ability to ask for many amenities, but not absolutely anything they wanted. If they wanted unlimited requests, they had to be promoted to Level 7 Elite. Think Janet from The Good Place. Level 8 Architectural allowed members to design and build their own structures within a preexisting world, while Level 9 World-Builder allowed them to create entirely new worlds. Level 10 Unrestricted was the highest possible within the simulation. A Level 10 could do pretty much anything they wanted: create worlds, destroy them; delete other people’s code, promote them, demote them. As one might imagine, this was incredibly rare, and reserved predominantly for the Designers themselves. Level 11 Resurrected wasn’t just rare, it was nonexistent. No one had ever been returned to base reality in a new body, yet.

Angela never did say who these Designers were, but it seemed obvious. This was exactly what Trinity, Thor, and Abigail were working on when Ellie left them. They must have gone back in time and realized their goals without her. Or they wait until Ellie is done with all this sometime in her personal future, and include her in their plans, just like they were meant to. That didn’t explain where they went when they disappeared from the Parallel Tribulation Island. Welp, they were about to find some answers either way. Mateo was standing in front of the Head Designer’s door, waiting for him to be ready to talk. Leona was there too, along with Sanaa, Ellie, and J.B. They hadn’t gotten a chance to catch up with each other, but there would be plenty of time to do that. They were dead now after all.

As they stood there, the double doors before them cracked open, but not in the way they expected. The doors stayed together, and spun around like a Scooby Doo castle. The floor turned with it, and swept them to the other side. Trinity wasn’t the one in the room, though.

“Pryce,” Leona snarled.

Ellie and Sanaa looked none too happy either. Mateo never met the guy. When he was on Bida, Pryce was always somewhere else, and their paths never crossed. He was a bad person, though, according to stories, so Mateo knew to agree with their revulsion.

“Welcome, my nonlinear friends,” Tamerlane said with literal open arms. “You have fought hard to get here, and you shall be rewarded.”

“What did you do?” Leona questioned.

“Leona,” Mateo urged, “Rule Number Fifteen.”

“Mister Matic, I’m hurt,” Tamerlane said. “I am not an antagonist, I am your friend.”

“What..did..you..do?” Leona repeated.

“Well. I suppose we can do away with the niceties. It’s true, I’m an antagonist, at least from your perspective. But bear in mind that, from my side, you’re the bad guys here.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong,” Ellie argued.

“Okay, fine, you’re more of a mere nuisance.”

“I won’t ask a third time,” Leona stated.

“My daughter and her friends had a great idea. Save everyone’s life, and bring them here. It’s quite a beautiful thought. Now, I know what you’re thinking.” Pryce shrunk into an exaggerated sarcastic face. “You must have twisted it, and corrupted it, and now everyone’s miserable!” He returned to his own side of the argument. “No, I didn’t do that at all. I followed their design pretty closely. I made some tweaks, and it’s evolved over time, but for the most part, this is what they had in mind.”

“Then where are they?” Sanaa asked.

“Hell if I know,” Pryce answered, and it kind of sounded like the truth. “The Norse god and my daughter ran off together. Trini opened a photo, and disappeared. She never came back. I’ve had to do this all on my own.”

“You managed to get yourself in charge of the entire human race,” Leona began. “How inconvenient for you.”

“I’m nothing if not resilient.”

“Like a cockroach.”

“An honorable creature. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Pryce was really enjoying himself. “You notice that you’re all wearing black?”

They were. Angela said this was the color of unassignment. They had not been classified yet. The rest of the people at orientation had woken up wearing yellow.

Pryce grew more serious as he sat down in his mogulchair. “If you keep that on, you’ll eventually be deleted. Black is the color of oblivion. You will experience the true death. If you want any other color, you gotta come through me. Now, if you’re ready to go into the great unknown, you can keep ‘em on. You’ll last at least a day, maybe a bit more; enough to say your goodbyes. But if you wanna keep livin’, I suggest you get the fuck on your knees.” Rule Number Fifteen really did apply here. “I’m sorry, did you think that was a metaphor? Get on your knees!”

He was the one with the power here, so they all did as he asked.

“You too.”

Angela didn’t know she was a part of this, but she conceded quickly.

“Great,” Pryce continued. “I have a rule here, something which the other Designers didn’t think to include. Time travelers get special treatment. I like people like you. I think it’s amazing. If you had powers before you died, you’re automatically assigned Level 7; the Elite, at the very least, but usually higher. If I really like you, I may even make you Level 10. Wouldn’t that be wild? For people I don’t like, they spin the wheel.” He reached under his simulated desk, and pulled out a simulated tri-fold display board. In the center was a wheel. On this wheel were twelve wedges. They were not of equal size, however. The black wedge was the largest, and between that and violet was barely a sliver of white. White was the color of resurrection. Typical. Mateo had not yet learned all of the colors, but given enough time, he could probably surmise which were which. The larger the wedge, the lower the level. There was more of a chance of spinning something bad.

“This is sick,” Angela protested. “This wasn’t in training.”

“You didn’t need to know about this in training, and just for your outburst, you’re gonna spin the wheel too!”

“I’m Level 8,” she pressed.

“For the second outburst, now you only get to spin once. I was gonna give you two chances to land on a high wedge, but now you’ve lost it. If you say one more goddamn thing, I’ll spin for you, and I’ll warn ya, my hand prefers blue.”

Angela shut her mouth.

Mateo felt responsible for getting her, and everyone else, into this mess. “Sir, could I propose something?”

“Let me guess.” Pryce smirked. “You’ll take blue or red as long as everyone else gets pink.”

“I was thinking they could get white?” Mateo hoped that wouldn’t piss him off.

“Ha!” Pryce exclaimed. “No one gets white. I mean...if someone here spins, and lands on white, I will honor that, but...no one gets white.”

“Then I’ll accept pink.”

“Oh.” He bobbed his head mockingly. This guy hardly knew how to be sincere and forthcoming. “Oh. Oh. He’ll take pink. Please, sir, could I have some more pink?” He went back to his regular face. “Everyone spins. Ladies spin twice, because I like tits. Understood?”

They were just going to have to move past his crude remark. He was too powerful here, perhaps the most powerful enemy they had ever faced. Mateo looked over at Leona, who looked back at him. They were gonna get separated again. Even death would give them no peace.

Pryce had everyone stand up again, so they could start spinning. They would all spin once, and then the women would go back for round two. He even did end up deciding to allow Angela a second spin. However, instead of taking the better of the two, she would have to risk the second one being worse than the first. Or she could skip it, and go with what she had. She got red, which was the color of Hock, and even though that was scary and humiliating for her, she couldn’t take the chance that the next spin would be black. Her shirt immediately turned red, handcuffs appeared around her wrists, and she disappeared with a whimper. Ellie got Plus indigo on the first spin, and Oblivion black on the second, so her assignment reverted to the first. That was good, she would be free, and have her own really nice place to live. Sanaa spun Limited yellow on the first try, and refused to spin again, because she was a rebel.

Leona and J.B. both spun Basic green. They too would have places to live, though not as fancy as Ellie’s. And Mateo? He spun white. Before he could try to negotiate for his friends, Pryce snapped his fingers, and whisked Mateo away, so he could receive his new body.

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