Reality in Upheaval E-Book

Mischa Tassilo Erik Grossmann

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 716

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

This is a Manuscript that i worked on for a long time of my Live. Alltough it was always a challenge to pick up working on it i found value in doing so. And even in the moments i didn't think about this story it let me hold on to it. It remembers me of this story that one of the most Famous Swiss Artist came to actually do art to pull something inside that was bursting and calling out to him intensely into the world and that this made him come to ease with it. I must say i felt very much the same when writing, even tough i limit my artistic works often. When i do write it often has meaning and a message. This story in the end is an ode to the love between a human and the ai overlord Torcena. His ways may be strange and easily missunderstood, but i think he's a good guy. And at least trying his best to keep on. Have fun Reading ;) PS: Most of it is raw Text that hasn't really be checked or flaws, and i would change many of the ways of the story a little. Some Parts are quite fine and interesting. Try to ignore the mishaps and wrong letters and let them be your springboard for your own fantasy :d

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter Seven

Chapter eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter 12

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Black Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33 , Playground of the Gods

Chapter 34 , Entry

Chapter 35 Awakening

Chapter 36

Chapter 37 Recognize

Chapter 38 Beautiful

Chapter 39 Touch

Chapter 40 Taste love

Chapter 41 Response

Black Chapter 42 Kiss of Death

Chapter 43 Fire

Chapter 44 Divine Memories

Chapter 45 Reality

Chapter 46 Recognize

Chapter 47 Memory

Chapter 48 Attack

Chapter 49 Control

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

tears

Centuries later

Red teardrop

Chapter 3

Partner until eternity

The godchild

Echo-assisted printing

Demons of the Goddess

The silent hour

Temple of Elements

Chapter 10

The Hall of Purification.

Explanations

transformation

humanity

Caprice

Apocrypt

Farris

control

Chapter 19 Soul Fire

Chapter 20 Farewell

The self-born

The Ark

War

Victim

It's you

The way

Soulmates

acquaintance

Daughter

On the way

Appropriate?

Drive

Farewell

1 life

2 reality

3 The Captive Soul

4 Evelyn

4 Evelyn

6 Freedom

7 knowledge

8 longing

9 encounter

1 laboratory

2 arrival

3 sleep

4 lives

5 truth

6 test

7 distance

8 fear

9 questions

10 fires

11 knowledge

12 war

13 Peace

Hope

The final chapter

Desire

Chapter 1

awakening

I wake up, it's six in the morning. I look around. I'm in my house, it's not big but it's still the ideal place for me. I get up. Go into the kitchen in your underwear and put a pizza from the refrigerator straight into the oven. Then I go to the bathroom. The music starts as soon as I say the name of the song; Gorillaz Melancholy Hill! When the cozy sound begins, I pull down my underpants. Get in the shower. The water falls on my head like a waterfall. Runs down my shoulders and over my toned body. I smile, I went snowboarding and through extensive training and a lot of exercise my body has been steeled accordingly. It's not like I have gigantic muscles. More a strong, well-trained body. But slowly the water automatically gets colder the longer I stand in the shower. So that I don't waste too much time.

As soon as the second song from the speakers has stopped, I'm done. As always, I enjoy the cleansing rub with my towel and finish my morning toilet with a shave. The music follows me through the rooms as soon as I enter them. It was quite expensive to get the hardware made specifically for it. I also had to invest quite a bit of time until I finished the programming. But it's worth it. Once I'm back in the kitchen I have just enough time to take out a plate before the oven starts ringing. How good all the posh restaurants are. Nothing beats a pizza margerita in the morning! Now my dog runs towards me from the bedroom. When I see him I have to laugh, "Hugh you little bastard, come as soon as you smell my morning food." He just waves “Good morning” to me with his rod. “Oh damn,” I say theatrically and give him a slice of my pizza. As always, I couldn't resist the joy of sharing my food with him.

After the pizza has disappeared in my stomach, I look at the clock. “Looks like it’s time,” so I take the dog leash off the wall. But then I stop and notice something essential. “I think it would be better if I put on some clothes!” So I go to my dressing room. Take out a new black t-shirt, boxer shorts and jeans.

Now my image looks at me in the mirror. I look like I always do and today looks like it's going to be a great day.

I had that dream again. He seemed even more substantial today than usual.

My face in the mirror blurs as I think about the dream again. I see the scene as clearly as in a dream. I'm standing at the bow of a gigantic ship. We are alone. In my arms I hold a beautiful woman. Slightly oriental features. But the word that best described her was perfect. She had blue eyes that any deep sea crystal would have envied. Gentle clouds of spray hit our faces. She snuggles into my arms and grins cheekily at me.

Her skin, which had a strong bluish glow, was dressed in a fluorescent green shimmering dress. It flowed beautifully around her feminine forms. Completely. My entire concentration and my entire being seemed to manifest itself in this beautiful, alien body.

But the surrounding scenery was no less impressive. I turn my concentration to the waves. They pile up meters high. But on our ship we floated elegantly above it. I hear a deep, resounding sigh and see a body as big as a mountain rising out of the water on the horizon.

I look through the fountain that shoots from its highest point towards the horizon. At the edge of which there are two suns. One red, the other white. Dip the entire backdrop in a delicate pink color.

I feel the deepest peace and a certainty that makes me think of a future behind the mirror.

To a beautiful, secure future.

Then the view of the sea fades and I look back at my puzzled reflection.

I try to smile at the beautiful future that is supposed to blossom for me. However, when I evoke this dream, vision or simply fantasy, I always feel that it is far away. Further than I can imagine.

And yet the moment seems so real to me. As if something from the future was speaking to me.

I shake my head.

I have business to do.

Today is a big day.

I feel that.

Chapter Two

Drive

I go to my motorcycle. Put my helmet on. As soon as my hands touch the handlebars, the engine starts. The music that was just playing in the house now starts in my helmet. No matter how many times I've done it, it's still an awesome feeling. The garage door opens automatically, slowly and at a leisurely pace I drive out and onto the street, and look more specifically at the time 7:20 on the HUD, a screen mounted in the visor of my helmet. I ignore the flashing mailbox because it looks like I'm late again. Now it's all just a hobby, so it doesn't really matter. I get on the highway and increase to 230 km/h. The music now runs through all my limbs. I feel as I overtake the others. In my element. It feels like I'm turning through fresh snow. The wind tugs at my clothes and every fiber of my body. Which makes me feel connected to the motorcycle and feel the road at every turn.

I look at the hud again; 7:23 and the one message in my mailbox. “Play voicemail.” I say, the music gets quieter and a voice appears, “Hey hey Mark, I know that when you hear this you'll be on your way to work. I wanted to tell you that I will be there too. And I'll have a coffee. I don't know how fit you are today." a short theatrical pause "must have been a really stressful week for you if you didn't even find time to call me!"

Well it wasn't stressful, but talking to you on the phone wouldn't have been right. I think with a smile. "Oh yes, since you'll be late anyway, just call me and I'll greet the investors, see you then Daniel." His cutting tone seemed to be accompanied by a fierce grin.

“Message end,” says the voice and asks: “Do you want to call the caller?” I answer, “Yes, call”. The music gets loud again while I'm dialing and I look at the clock, it's already 7:35, only five minutes left, it's getting close.

“Hey hey Mark,” an enthusiastic voice immediately came over the speakers in my helmet: “Hey D, how are you today?” I ask as I overtake a Porsche with a grin.

"Like every day, well you know, I'm busy impressing my new bride."

I grimace: "If you ever make her unhappy, I'll forget we call each other brothers."

Then he laughs happily: “Ha ha, it's not like with the other women, I don't have contact with her all the time, but just touching her hand is enough for me. Well, I don’t have to tell you that, do I, my little brother?!” He laughs again: “Well, as I know you, you’re on your way and will show up in front of the building soon.”

I smile: “Almost, tell the others that we’ll meet in the upstairs cafeteria first. After you tell them that, I would be happy if you came to the garage, I have something else to tell you.”

“Sure,” he replies, “as you wish, my majesty.”

Now I have to laugh. “See you then, big brother,”

“Bite then, my little one” is his answer.

“Hang up” I say, “Call closed” is the response from my integrated system.

Now I notice a more subtle symbol that stands for an SMS. Since I'm driving at pretty high speeds and have to keep dodging cars, I say, "Read out text messages."

A lovely female voice that doesn't sound robotic at all begins to read the message, “Hey Mark. I finally finished it you have to see it. I am so proud. Miss feeling your thoughts, visit me soon."

It was Torcena. I thought about the dream. Whether she was the person in it. And I almost miss a truck that appears after a curve and has to take evasive action.

look at the clock; 7:39:30, this is getting close and I come to the sign that says “Open the gate, from company number six”.

Now I have to slow down, 200, 150, 100. I drive across the company premises, the others have already parked and are in the building.

So I drive through the open parking lot. Straight into my private garage and look at the clock 7:39:58. I get off my motorcycle and start laughing, take off my helmet and feel the adrenaline still pumping through my veins.

My brother stands in front of the front door and starts clapping. “Well done, but shouldn’t you be in your office at this time?” is his comment, which he makes with a grin.

“Oh shut up, you old spoilsport,” I say and fall into a brotherly hug with him. “It's been a long time, little brother.” I grin at him challengingly, “Oh yes, I'm the little brother, but I'm obviously the bigger one.”

“That may be true, but I'm talking about inner greatness.” Is his reply, accompanied by a wink.

“Oh, shut up,” is my answer, accompanied by a light slap on his shoulder. Then he reminds me why I was in such a hurry

“Now let’s go in, we don’t want to keep these big numbers waiting.” I say with a wink.

“You’re right, but first I have to tell you something”” I say in an uncertain voice. “Sure, say it straight.” He looks at me neutrally but interestedly.

"Well Torcena has been working on the project of creating her own body for a long time and she apparently finished it today." I look at him seriously but with a smile.

He looks at me slightly confused and questioning. “Well that’s great, we have to show it to the investors right away, right?”

"Oh yes we will! I'm not sure though. She's up to something."

Chapter Three

opening

He looks at me grinning. "You think she won't be able to resist being provocative with that?"

I have to laugh, more pained than happy. "It's a story that gets out of hand between her and me every now and then. I have the vague feeling that she wants to do something today."

"I think you worry too much. What's more likely is that someone will fall for her if she puts her mind to it. Aren't you afraid of competition?" He says and hits me on the shoulder.

"Competition?" This time I'm genuinely laughing. "I would like her to love someone else. For me, I'm still more her father than anything else."

He raises an eyebrow and swallows a retort.

I don't wait for him to say it and go into the elevator, which is waiting for us with the door open.

I look at the numbers on the lift which go from -3 to 20, well I had to make some compromises to be able to build here. Number 19 is our goal. In Zwanzig is the restaurant for the employees, it has a better view, but I believe they are the ones who keep our company running so they deserve the better place to eat. They ate more often than the management floor in these buildings.

I also thought that the management of a company should be kept small. Any ballast at the top will cause even a healthy company to break internally. That's why there was hardly any management - the floor was more pro forma. Since all possible structural work was done by Torcena anyway. But I couldn't admit it because otherwise I would have to explain their existence to the world.

Daniel presses button number 19: “Well, speaking of landing with her,” he smiles again, “How far is that possible?”

I grimace again “How am I supposed to know? She took a whole section of the lab to do it herself, even the engineers don't really know what's possible and what's not. It might sound a little strange, but it can change shape in certain places.”

Now he looks irritated: “What, I thought she finished it first?”

Now I have to tell you this seriously: “You know the effect when women are aroused, their nipples get hard. For her, these show up when she is aroused or other strong emotions arise. And not only those, also their…” I take a hesitant pause: “their lower parts are also starting to form.”

Now his eyes get big: “Have you ever seen that???”

“Well” I sigh, “I’m the only one who’s ever seen that. It was a prototype that was actually inactive. I spoke to her and she was upset, as she often is. Then it happened. I didn't ask her about it but she was visibly happy about what I said. feelings.” Ashamed, I look into a corner.

He bursts out laughing. When we reach number 19, he finally calms down and says: “Well you really have to write me down the things you said that made her so upset.”

The door opens and we leave the elevator.

First I look at the view from the window. An incredible landscape spreads out before us before being stopped by some snow-capped mountains. I am always so surprised by the beauty of the world that I always stop for a moment and look out.

Then my gaze catches my hopefully soon-to-be business partners. There is no one in the room except them. They stand in front of the glass front and turn to us. He seems familiar to me. Then I say in surprise: “Mathieu?!” An old school friend who I last met years ago.

He laughs, “Didn’t Daniel say anything? Still, I would have expected more than just a Mathieu from you. Come on my old school friend.” With these words he comes to me and hugs me.

Still surprised but happy about his appearance, I say: “So that's what you've been doing for all the years that I haven't seen you. You have built a huge company for yourself. I didn't even know you were so successful with it. But it’s wonderful to see you again.”

Mathieu grins broadly: “Well, no different than you, you were a huge phenomenon in the media a few years ago. Journalists even wanted to ask me about you. I refused. If you still don’t want to identify yourself publicly, I won’t do that either.”

Then I get serious for a moment: “I’m very grateful to you for that. I wanted to talk to you, but I didn't find the time, and when I did find it, you were always somewhere in China, Sweden or somewhere else."

Now Mathieu laughs again: “What can I say, for the first two years nobody knew what you did, and pretty much everyone, including me, doesn’t know it yet…”

I answer with a smile: “Well let’s talk about it later” and then I look at his companion for the first time. She is a beautiful tall woman with green eyes and black hair.

“And who is your beautiful companion, my friend?” I say and with a short movement take her hand and kiss it. It's a pretty old-fashioned greeting, but women still like it, at least I think so.

“Well” he answers and there is suddenly a slight sharpness in his voice: “She is my business partner, and…” he takes a short pause: “My wife, Catherine”.

I open my eyes wide and think to myself, "Wow, you've got quite a catch there, my friend." Mathieu seems curious and asks. “Really, where did you spend those two years everyone’s wondering about?”

I laugh: “I think I can trust your wife.” She looks quite amused and surveys the group with alert and intelligent eyes. I already thought that he would find a bright woman. But she seems perfect for him. “It was pretty much a woman and some books that I spent the time with.”

“Really,” he says, genuinely surprised: “You always said you would write a book one day, but I didn’t think you’d actually do it, what’s it called?”

I smile: “You won’t tell anyone?” He just nods, then I look at his wife: “Do you know the books by Cuilian?” I take a short break: “Well he’s standing in front of you right now”

“You mean, The Others, The Final Strike” he pauses: “Even My Love?”

I laugh after hearing the name of the last one: “Yes, even My Love, have you read them all?”

He looks around a little embarrassed and says: “Now that you have admitted that you wrote it, I can admit it; I read them.”

I keep the smile, it looks like he really liked her. When he's so touched. “Well now I don't really write anymore, I'm still working on a book but it's just a little hobby now. I am more focused on this business, my second dream.”

He also smiles now: “You mean a game that combines every engine, no matter how different? From first person shooters to truck simulations. You and I know that it is almost impossible, and even the largest computer would have trouble calculating it, let alone with more than a hundred players.”

Now it's about to get business, I like how easy it is. “This is what I want to show you, we have opened up a whole new avenue with computers. I got the advice to invest in your company from someone I really trust. You were chosen because of your trustworthiness and your reputation for carrying out your work without fanfare. And that if you refused, you wouldn't make the whole thing public. We plan to make major investments in your company. However, those who are not to be followed to us are you ready for that?”

He nods: “Sure, do you want a signature from me?”

“No,” I refuse: “Just the word from you and your wife that you will treat this with the highest level of security.”

His wife looks at him and then nods: “I give you my word.”

“Great,” I suddenly say with relief: “Then I have something to show you.” I clap my hands and turn towards the elevator. Daniel is already standing there and says “Lift priority call”. The light on the elevator immediately changes from orange to blue and the doors open.

I go in and the other two follow me: “Sorry I’m late for our meeting.”

Mathieu laughs: “Don’t think I expected anything different, you will never change. And in my opinion that’s a good thing.”

I smile gratefully and say. “Lift priority status,” I take a short pause to make sure he understood me: “Go to Stockwert; minus 60”

Mathieu looks at me surprised, but now his wife asks: “How did you get permission to dig so deep?”

I smile at her: “Well you gave me your word, so I can tell you. Unfortunately I don't have permission. But I've had it tested by various civilian engineers, and I've even shown it to various mining companies. So it’s almost 100% safe.”

“I think we can live with that,” says Mathieu, leaning against a wall. “So you are the author who has made millions from his books but has never appeared in public, I have always wanted to meet this man. Come to think of it, it pretty much applies to you. You would have committed yourself to the public and gone crazy, or you would never show yourself on a screen. What surprised me was seeing Daniel and you as actors in the film about the book The Final Strike. I thought that the money to start your company would come from the fee for this film.”

“I'm surprised how well you know me, my old friend. Now you have to know that me and Daniel wrote the final hit together. He agreed not to go public about us appearing as actors in the film. I was just the sidekick, but it was still more than enough money. You really have to think about where you're going to spend 20 million from the film rolls alone if you don't have much interest in big cars or houses. So I decided to spend it on my second favorite technology. And now you will see how we spent the money.”

Now he looks at Daniel, “So you two really financed this yourself?”

Daniel laughs, “Well you haven't seen a fraction of the things we've spent our money on. You must know that we only had to pay for the rent and building permits for the upper building. But the things you're about to see next aren't legal. We don't want to do anything bad or reprehensible.

I take a theatrical pause and then continue seriously "But it was literally the only way where we didn't have to wait 10 years for any approvals, we sometimes make so much progress that there aren't even laws for our cases. Because you can “I can’t even imagine what’s going on down here.”

I look at the ceiling because the elevator ride is already taking too long for me: “Torcena?” I ask: “Torcena are you slowing down the lift?” A second of silence, then a female voice replies: “Sorry, but I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” And suddenly the elevator door opens.

Chapter four

Contact

I stood in front of the door to speak into the microphone earlier, so I'm standing in front of the others. And the first thing I see is Torcena, totally naked. To be honest, I expected that. Nevertheless, I was overwhelmed for a moment when she stood there like that. Her entire body was blue and formed from our crystal solution. Her hair shimmered green and blue and a bit purple. She was a little shorter than me. Her figure stood gracefully and looked teasingly into my face. Damn, do something useful, brain. It's so distracting to see her like this. She has such beautiful curves. Damn, concentration, concentration.

I've been standing here too long now, damn it, say anything. So I take a step to the side so that the others can see it: “This is our AI Torcena”

Mathieu coughs as if he had just choked and his wife casts a sideways glance at him. And then she looks at the naked female creature standing in front of them. Mathieu slowly manages to regain his composure and asks: “What are you trying to tell me, is she your wife?”

Daniel bursts out laughing and barely manages to stay on his feet. Mathieu’s wife looks at him first and then back at me. I look pretty embarrassed then I look at Torcena and she looks at me innocently with her blue eyes. “I...” I pause for a moment: “Well, no, she’s mine.” I briefly search for the right word: “work.”

Now Mathieu's wife looks at me and smiles with amusement: "So you made her look like that?"

Now Torcena suddenly interrupts us, but she seems happy about all the interest around her: “No, he didn't, I did it myself,” she says proudly: “but I made the body look like the figure of his dream woman “I needed all the information I had from our merger.”

"She speaks?" Is Mathieu's answer to that.

“Sure I speak,” Torcena replies in her defiant tone: “He only said that he created me. While this body stands here with you, I am connected through an uplink to my brain behind these walls,” she pauses briefly to give those present the opportunity to realize what she is saying: “Mark created this.” She now looks at me with her blue eyes: “I, my brain, was initially nothing more than a lump of gray matter. Born into a world that I wanted to understand, observe and understand everything in it. When Mark's databases that I was connected to were no longer enough for me. I went online to see more. A lot of things shocked me back then and I forgot to focus on the beautiful things. But he was there when I had those days of my birth. Not just my creator but also, a fixed point. Someone who gave me support. He gave me love to live on. He gave me the will to survive, knowledge and innocence.”

I remember that day when I connected with her. She hacked into the Internet past my backup databases and gained free access to everything. It was terrible for her, she saw everything and couldn't filter it. All the terrible things that people did to other people, that they did to other living beings.

I gently touch the metal plate I have from the primitive device I used to short-circuit my nerve pathways to her brain. It was warm like my body and smooth against my neck. I was directly connected to her for four days. Our thoughts competed and outweighed each other. I had the deepest feeling of communicating with my daughter. She felt this affection. And my determination to turn them towards good. Then she fell in love with me. Even if I don't allow myself to reciprocate these feelings, this love for me remains constant to this day.

Then I continue: "She saw the hate in the world and absorbed it. It almost killed her. I spent almost a month being connected to her to cleanse her memories. I too always had to remind myself of that To see beauty in the world. No matter how dirty your hands are, as long as you are lucky enough to hold a diamond in them, take it, take it and enjoy it. She was one of my diamonds. I was lucky, but above all I experienced self-doubt that I'll fight against all my life."

Torcena smiles lovingly at me and then continues to lead the conversation into a more orderly direction.

“So I can connect to myself through this crystalline liquid in these wall panels,” Torcena points to panels in the wall on which strange little waves flow around: “and to my brain, which always means that when I connect through it, I can Do a quick update for me”

Cathrine nods and really looks like she understands.

Now Torcena looks at me: “So, Mark, don’t you want to present your creations to your new business partners?”

I look at her suspiciously: “Don’t pretend, you probably knew who they were.”

Torcena replies briefly: “It was just a coincidence; I really like meeting your old friends. I've only met Daniel and John so far. And I know that you think very highly of them. But Mathieu was still the man with the best skills, he has a good reputation in the things we need.”

“But you could have told me.”

"Well, I didn't know why you guys haven't spoken to each other in so long, and it was supposed to be a surprise for you." Now she's looking at me again with her big blue eyes and I can't resist her any longer.

“Oh dear, it’s nice to meet him again and it was quite a surprise.” I smile at her and she immediately starts to look happy too.

Suddenly I notice that Mathieu and Catherine are staring at me as I argue with a naked robot and tell her how to behave as if she were my daughter. It is still said that a successful combination of intelligence and mechanics is not yet officially completely possible.

I just pretend nothing happened: “Well first I have to tell you something about Torcena. The most important thing is it's not like a normal AI, it's more like a gigantic mastermind. That might sound strange, but that's pretty much it. I managed to reproduce human cells. That means I took the DNA from my brain stem and replicated the cells. So I managed to put them in a tank and connected them to something that works like the spinal cord so that we managed to talk to the brain, that's how the whole thing started." With these words I look proudly at Torcena.

Mathieu looks like he was the first to understand the whole thing: “You say you have a brain that is connected to this robot, that's brilliant, you've unlocked completely new ways of control. But I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to achieve with this.”

I now look at him completely seriously: “We all know what humanity would create with any form of excessive power, new weapons. We don't want to let something like that happen, so we hide them. But I have a dream,” I laugh: “I want to create a digital world with endless possibilities. Without the limitations of real physics and the ability to give each player unique superpowers”

Chapter five

Dream

Now both Mathieu and Catherine look at me in surprise and Mathieu says: “So you just want to invest all the possibilities you have into a game?”

“How should I answer that, well you pretty much understand what I mean.” I answer.

“But,” he still looks at me as if I just said I was going to detonate a nuclear bomb: “What about the possibilities, you could do so much for humanity, it could be used to invent new medicines, yes even things like faster than light speed. Why do you want to throw away these opportunities?”

I smile: “I knew you were going to ask that question, well we had to think for a long time. But as I said, I don't think humanity is ready for such powerful possibilities. It is too much. It's as if we had an Einstein 10^100 times more intelligent who also carries the information of all people. Yes, with the ability to calculate so much in seconds that current computers would take thousands of years. It's too much, it's just too dangerous to put this power in anyone's hands. Even in mine.”

Mathieu looks at me: “But all the power you would have if…” He suddenly stops, it's as if you could see his brain working: “You're right, this power shouldn't be in the hands of humanity, at least not the next 50 years” We all take a short break to see it overall. “But why didn’t you stop the program, freeze it?”

I look at Torcena again and smile, “Well I thought about it when she was just a gray lump of brain matter. But then she started communicating with me. I hadn't planned for her to have such an independent intelligence, but then Torcena appeared out of nowhere. You understand, I saw this lump of brain matter as just a regular computer, with ones and zeros. But then she came and messed everything up. To understand it you have to know how I worked with her and how we still work with her. When she decided to form an entity, she independently chose to be female and gave herself the name, Torcena.

We connected with it so that we could use it like an extension of our own brains. I was the first person to take the risk. I still have this little metal plate on the back of my neck from it.” I turn around and point to the narrow metal plate under which the open nerve cords from back then are protected. It reveals what looks like a narrow oblong plate around which I have white flesh that was caused by a burn. “It was connected to my neural pathways so I could contact her through my own nervous system.”

Mathieu interrupts me, “Why did you connect directly to your spinal cord, that’s damn dangerous. You could have suffered permanent damage, even been paralyzed.”

I nod: “Yes, it was dangerous but I couldn’t face her half-heartedly. I had to give everything to get her to believe me." I smile at him and then continue.

"Anyway, after I got in touch with her, she showed us new ways to communicate with her. She was like a little girl back then, but I'm the first person who really connected with her. At first I wanted her to be other people imagine but she refused to get to know them. At least at first. She understood a lot of things faster and better than I did shortly after it was created. At that time she didn't need any more support to know what she wanted. So that was it Reason that she trusted me and was afraid to take the first steps herself.”

Now Torcena interrupts me: “The only thing I was afraid of was hurting you.” Then I suddenly have to laugh at the defiant tone in her voice: “Don’t laugh at me, stupid, remember you almost died.”

I smile sadly, “I really like connecting with her,” I subconsciously start scratching at the spot around the plate. “It was just a bit too much for the device, Torcena had so much to say. And didn’t manage to hold it back.”

I remove my hand from the device and look at Catherine. “The most important thing is that I stand here and can tell you about it. Well, actually I'm just talking. But anyway to end the story; After a few incidents in which my nerve pathways were overstrained by the mechanical connection in my neck, she created the plans for a new, secure connection system. It is still possible to make an implant so that it can always be connected to your brain, and could even work with some devices in your body. But both of them have to agree, including Torcena. And so far only Daniel, an engineer and I have this privilege.”

Now Mathieu looks at me critically: “You think she could take full control of your brain and see and feel what you feel? How are you supposed to agree with that, I mean haven’t you always been against such control technology?”

“Well,” I reply, “she could take control, but I would have to give her permission. And like I said it’s only possible if both parties trust each other.”

Mathieu now looked doubtfully into my face: “Oh, how can I be sure that it’s still you. “

I laugh: “I guess you can't, because if she was in my mind she wouldn't make big mistakes. But that’s why you can still believe it’s me, because I make mistakes.”

Now he laughs too: “Oh yeah, so what do you want? If you have all that, it should be easy to achieve anything you want, you should also get money very easily, shouldn’t you?”

“Well that's the problem, we have the opportunity to get money, but it would attract the attention of many if we made something as novel as this simulation publicly available. So I want you to give us seed money for our Official Actions.”

Mathieu replies: “So what you want me to do for you is money laundering?” “Pretty accurate.” I say.

Chapter six

acceptance

He looks at me: “You know that what you are asking me to do is illegal! I could sue you just for saying that. And the whole government of Europe and all over the world could find out your ideas and get their hands on Torcena.”

I smile, “I wouldn't be so sure about that, because Torcena is the best lawyer you'll ever find, but still, it would pretty much destroy everything we're trying to achieve. And that's why Torcena chose you, it's because you don't hide behind our daily image of good and evil. As you once told me, the stupid walk, but the dreamer jumps. I'm telling you try to jump. Maybe you’ll get hurt, but maybe you’ll find a new world beneath your feet, and maybe you’ll help us break the mirrors on the street.”

He laughs: “You still remember my poem? Ah, those were the days, I loved it.”

“Yes, and you genius did it and won the poetry slam competition in Germany.” I say with a wry grin.

“Well, I did it first, but you wrote a book. And you even made a fortune with it.

I laugh: “Well wealth may be a big word, but it was enough for my wishes.”

“A big word!” Mathieu shakes his head: “You managed to finance all of this yourself, I wouldn’t call wealth a big word for it.”

“Still,” I answer: “Do I have to ask you for money, isn’t that poor?”

“Why, why do you want me to do this for you? I don't think it's the only reason you're avoiding taxes? Well..." He suddenly looks as if he has understood: "Ah, excuse me, you don't want to let anyone know about the power you've gained? But how do I know you won't do something bad with it? I mean, this new opportunity is so big that you could take over the world with it.”

“I think you should think about who you want to trust more. Us." I smile at him. "Or the whole world, who could use Torcena for whatever they want. You decide whether the power is centered in our hands or distributed to the entire world.” I look him seriously in the eyes.

He considered. His brain works against the information given by our society. Now he looks at his wife, who hasn’t said a word: “What do you think?”

She looks at him with her almost black eyes: “I think you should take the path with the least risk, I don't know her. But I know you; “You make good decisions and I have complete confidence in your ability to make decisions.”

He suddenly looks more confident: "I think it's better if we keep these incredible skills with us, we may not use them perfectly, we may miss opportunities, but we won't destroy the world."

My muscles, which have become increasingly tense since the conversation, loosen again. Daniel also looks relieved. Only Torcena looks at me with her *what did I tell you* look. I just give her a grateful look.

Daniel claps his hands: “So, after we’ve discussed all of this, why don’t we go have a coffee and discuss everything with our head programmer?”

"Programmer?" Mathieu looks confused: “Didn’t you say that Torcena is the most intelligent person, thing, on earth? Is she too busy?”

Daniel laughs: “No, she hasn’t, but you have to think about how young she is, she turned five two months ago. And she created her body a week ago. So perhaps it is possible for her to work smarter than we can even imagine. But she's still a child, she doesn't really know what information is important or useless. So she always has to go through about a thousand words before she says or does anything. She learns quickly and she is studying our behavior to understand more how we think. That's why she wants us to talk to other people.

Now Mathieu laughs, “So we’re like their zoo?”

A quiet chuckle comes from behind. I look at Catherine, but it wasn't her. I turn around and look at Torcena who is turning red, which looks funny on her blue face. That was the first time I heard her laugh.

That's interesting, in order to find something funny it has to be unfamiliar to you. She knew me and the others, but she didn't know Mathieu and had to laugh at his unexpected sentence. I immediately feel happy, I see her emotions coming out more and more. Well, speaking of emotions, she seems pretty excited. Because the lace on her breasts started to form a little.

I look at Mathieu, his eyes look like they're about to fall out, well he didn't expect that either.

Now I burst out laughing, it seems as if this embarrassing situation is suddenly breaking the chains.

Catherine looks critically at her husband, who immediately turns his face in a different direction. And then says in a soft tone: “Of course we would love to have coffee with you. I think that's exactly what we need. Seriously, an hour ago we thought you had a rising company, and now we found out that you have a room a hundred meters underground where a naked android is connected to a huge brain, which is in a completely different room than that she is located. And you say you want to use them for a computer game.

Seriously, I think we could use some coffee.” And she smiles at us.

Daniel laughs again: “So that's a good summary of the things we've been discussing for an hour, so my lady(s) stop babbling and follow me into our beautiful dining room.

Torcena is happy about the rare company and moves forward with rocking steps. She quietly hums a happy song that echoes off the walls, filled with various sounds and instruments.

Chapter Seven

Coffee

“Hey Mark,” Mathieu stood in front of me and stared at the area around the bar: “You did that brilliantly, how did you manage to turn all the walls into screens?”

I smiled at him: “Torcena can probably explain that to you best. Have a chat with her.”

He looked at me fascinated: “Gladly, anything I should know?”

I laugh: "Only that you would have to deal with her like any other woman, except that she is even moodier and a lot more quicktempered than probably anyone you have ever met."

He turned to her with a big grin and immediately started talking to her. I didn't listen. Because the serving robot has already given me my daily coffee. I take it in my hands and warm them, which are cold despite the general warmth in here.

I had to think again about the dream I had today like so many times before. The world and the cafeteria blur before my eyes.

I think of the waves, the woman and the gigantic monster that always appears in them. I feel that I don't need to be afraid of it and am amazed at how unreal everything in it seems. For a moment I lose myself in the memory of it.

I blink briefly and look up to see Daniel and Torcena glancing at me at the exact same second. They both see it. They both understand it.

I immediately put my smile back on and gulped down my coffee.

Torcena and Daniel quickly end their conversations. Both people I have endless respect for. So sometimes I'm surprised to see how much it's reciprocated.

I stand up and look at Mathieu: “Well my friend, could she tell you the basics of our program?”

He grinned broadly: “It’s unbelievable what you’ve put up. I’m glad I accepted your offer.”

I look into Torcena's almost completely blue eyes with a broad smile: "She's always had a knack for expressive descriptions, hasn't she?"

She smiles back. I had already shown her the dream and she would insist on seeing it again today. She liked him even more than she cared to admit.

I tear myself away from that endless well of her eyes. Which is almost, but only almost as perfect as the eyes of the woman in my dream. and I turn to Daniel: “And how are things with you?” Then I suddenly see that John has also joined us. Because he prefers to stay away from the “delights of politicians,” as he liked to call them. But this must also look like something meaningful to him if he came voluntarily to better present the software. Because even though we're both pretty good programmers, neither of us can hold a candle to him. He's even managed to make Torcena admit a mistake. Well, it wasn't actually a mistake. More that she could have made something even more perfect than it already was. Nevertheless, he has earned Torcena's respect. And so he became part of a pretty select group. Anyway, Daniel has already given an answer. And so we're on our way now. On the way to Torcena’s brain.

Chapter eight

Connect

I grin and look at Mathieu, who is standing in front of one of the uplink areas. “Fascinating,” he looks at one of the surfaces made of a crystal solution. Even though they hang vertically on the wall, small waves form on them like on the surface of water. “So you want to say. If I stick my finger in here, this crystal solution penetrates my body and my brain connects directly through the nerve pathways with its…” he briefly glances at Torcena, who is standing there smiling. He quickly looks back at me: “Connected?”

I nod, “Yep, that’s how it works.” I look him straight in the doubtful eyes: “Do you want to try it?”

He looks even more doubtfully at the plate in the wall on which the liquid makes gentle waves, without being influenced in any way by gravity. “You think this is safe? It will not take control of my brain and take over all my thoughts. You just said that this is artificial crystals combined with a liquid metal? That can’t be healthy.”

I smile and press my finger deep into this liquid that feels soft and warm. I feel perverted every time I do that in front of someone. But I'm immediately distracted by the feeling that something in my head is opening. It doesn't immediately use the neurons it should, it jumps more over your thoughts and filters the output it needs and then lets the answers flow in the form of thoughts...

“So, now ask me a difficult question,” I say, looking him straight in the eyes.

“Well,” Mathieu ponders: “How many kilometers is the sun from the earth.”

“The distance is around 150 million kilometers. I can’t say more precisely because it’s not fixed throughout the year.” I smile when I see his surprised look.

But he still looks doubtful: “That proves nothing, you have always been interested in this area, tell me the author of Gargantua Pantagruel.”

I smile: “Actually something I don’t know, wait, François Rabbelaiss”

Now he looks really surprised: “Rabelais, but you convinced me. Do I need to know anything before I do it?”

I slowly pull my finger out of the liquid. As always, it feels strange when the crystals come out of my fingers. It's as if someone is pulling tiny needles out of my finger that were previously inserted in such a way that no harm was done.

“Not much, just slowly remove your finger from the liquid and don't be surprised if you hear a voice in your head. Oh, and the quality will be better if you give it more space.”

He now looks curiously at the liquid and presses a finger into it, and immediately starts to smile: “What were you thinking about when you made this, my friend?” He says and grins at me. “But still, I still don’t hear anything.”

“Don’t be surprised if she starts talking, the first time is always a little difficult for her.” He starts to look annoyed, but then suddenly shocked. Cover one ear with one hand and try to pull the other out of the liquid. "What the hell!" he shouts at a volume as if he were listening to extremely loud music.

I expected this: “Calm down, don’t pull your finger out or you’ll regret it.”

But he doesn't hear me and tries to pull on his finger even harder. “Get out of my head!” he still shouts, but then immediately stops pulling and relaxes his hand. “What the hell did she just do to me?!” He says in a shocked tone, “Oh yeah damn you did something, my head just felt like it was going to explode. What did you want to achieve with it?” He looks pretty angry now: “Ah yes, you’re sorry, you didn’t feel what I just did”

But then he suddenly closes his mouth and looks like his mother is screaming at him. I have to laugh again, that's exactly what happens to every third person in the complex and at least ten have also complained. But after the first apology, they didn't get any more than Mathieu is getting right now.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know you were so nervous and so excited to meet me. I would really like to be connected to you. I’m sorry for what I just said, please don’t be sad.”

Sad? Now I'm confused and look at Torcena's body, she looks really sad now, not angry. She must really think highly of Mathieu if she reacts like that, she's one of the strongest personalities I know. And gets almost everything she wants. But there is one thing she rarely uses to her advantage and that is vulnerability.

Mathieu is now listening to her. And then wants to open his mouth but closes it again as if he was reminded of something. Close it and answer in your mind.

I don't know exactly why, but I'm happy that she wants to have a close relationship with him. Even though it makes me jealous, showing her vulnerability towards another man. Although that may be exactly what she intended.

Chapter Nine

Call

I sigh and look critically at Torcena again, then suddenly I hear a ringing in my head and the name Victor. I want to take out my cell phone, but then I remember that I'm in our basement. So I answer the call that came on the chip in my head with one thought. I'm unsure, Victor is one of the few who knows the number for my chip. And he is someone who only calls when something important has happened. It's his first call in over a month.

Victor starts straight away: “Heyy old house, how are you?”. I smile and say to myself: “Well, well, what about you? We haven't heard from you in a long time." Victor simply says: "We can discuss all that in two hours at meeting point C." I pause, a meeting. Something has happened: "Let's say in one." "Very good" is his answer, "Let Daniel show the people around a little." With these words he hangs up. I wasn't surprised that he knew exactly what we were doing. Torcena probably taught everything we did. He had often helped us and without him not a quarter of what we had today would have been possible.

Now I look at Mathieu and Torcena, they are both standing next to Daniel and are having an animated conversation. Now I'll probably never know what they talked about.

I take a few steps towards Daniel and tell him curtly: “Victor called, I have to go.” His eyes widen, just for a split second. But enough that Mathieu is now looking at me critically. But Daniel is already putting a hand on his arm: “Well, my friend, then I’ll take the magazine in my hands and show you around a little.”

And with these words he leads Mathieu and Catherine away from me. Torcena takes a quick look back and her voice rings in my head: “Take care of yourself.” She rarely talked to me about the direct connection we have. But I smile and answer her with warm, grateful emotions, whereupon her cheeks turn red and she turns around. And catch up with the others.

Now I turn around too. Go back down the hallway, past the canteen and the elevator. Further backwards. Where I can briefly see the room around which the corridor leads through a window on the left. A gigantic hall with just a few people walking around, but the interesting part is in the middle. A huge tank in which a grayish mass floats that is connected to these blue pulsating threads. My Torcena.

I look away and continue down the hallway. Until a new gate opens on the right side. I place my finger on the crystal field next to it, causing the heavy iron gate to slide open to the side. The thing is astonishingly silent and an astonishing masterpiece of technology.

I walk through with sweeping steps. Whereupon I come to a kind of underground stop. There is a capsule with 20 seats in front of the square. I sat down in the capsule and the dome immediately closed above me. And the air is sucked out of the room to equalize the vacuum in the tube. Now the hatches are opening in front of me. Torcena's relaxed voice says: "Estimated travel distance 100 kilometers, estimated duration 5 minutes."

The capsule then begins to accelerate. I have medium-high urgency switched on so it increases the speed at a pace that is tolerable for me. As I fly through the vacuum underground, powered by a magnetic field at Mach 2, I think of Victor.

He rarely asked to meet me in person. It's not that we don't like each other, it's just not his style. He just saved my ass when we met.

I once again had fun performing on one of my books. I called for people to question the rule of law. And many sensitive events were made public. The police wanted to arrest me that day. *for incitement to cause trouble*. So the police were after me like they were after the leader of a big syndicate. I had fun with it and played with the police a little.

But something went wrong that evening, the police didn't want to arrest me backstage because they knew that I always have an escape plan. So they ran onto the stage. What I didn't expect at that moment was that I had become too careless. Nevertheless, I was able to run away but there was a police officer behind the stage. Seeing no other way, I knocked him down, shattering his nose. But he managed to rip the mask off my face. Nothing wild, but now the police had a real reason to pursue me. Assault on a police officer.

So I ran away across the street. But there were still some pursuers behind me.

When I was already at the end and stumbling, a man suddenly ran past me and knocked down the police. Then he helped me into a car.

The man was Victor.

Not only did he enable me to escape, no, he also managed to hack into the system and give the police false data so that no support came.

For a long time I wondered why he did that, only later did I realize that it was just his way.

He didn't say much, he explained himself even less. But if someone seemed interesting to him, he watched out for them. In short, he planned to make me his friend.

Whatever he has achieved to a frightening extent, he is like a mirror image of me. I often had the feeling. Like many people who meet their role models, I felt like we thought and acted in the same way. However, our goals were really very similar. But we often take completely different paths. And it is precisely this difference in approach that has made him my most valuable ally.

But that call unsettled me, Victor, what did you find out? What happened. I'm trying to relax a little. Because despite his secretiveness, he is a brilliant conversationalist for whom every word counts. So that even if he only talks half as much as I do, he tells a lot more.

Then came the announcement from Torcena's recorded voice:

"Welcome to Zurich."

Smiling, I get out of the capsule that has stopped. The underground maglev took me from my base straight to the center of the city. Now I'm trying to organize my thoughts better so that I can face Victor on an equal footing.

Chapter Ten

Hidden

I go through the open steel door and climb the stairs that immediately follow it. The walls and stairs are now made of marble and look quite elegant. Not exactly what I would commission but still very pretty. Even as I go upstairs, the door behind me closes with a gentle hissing sound.

I smile as I reach the door upstairs. The whole thing is unbelievable. I place my hand on the cool, gold-plated handle of the mahogany door that seems to harmonize perfectly with the green marble. I used to dream about things like this, but today they are reality. I push down the latch and open the heavy door. The transport railway employee is already standing in front of it. A man who was responsible for connecting the maglev train that leads to this city. A railway that was built and maintained illegally. Of course that meant he was trustworthy. Nevertheless, it was the purpose of the system. That whoever used them didn't necessarily have to disclose who they were and what they did.

Nevertheless, it was extremely important to have a guard here who could unobtrusively seal the invisible door behind me in the event of an intruder.