2942 CE

Kori•s eyes snapped awake .

((Your heart has been restarted by [MedicalPolice] . Avoid strenuous activity for hours<>48 . Have a nice day .))

What had happened ? . Xe thought back thru the haze . Another EMP strike .

Waving the onboard holography overlays away , Kori sat up and surveyed xer surroundings . Xer node was completely dead , its neutral circuits fried so hard they caught fire .

Sighing , xe unplugged it , picked it up , and threw it in the closet . In there were several torsos, limbs, heads , artificial, illicit , and all manner of wires and electrodes .

The transaction blipped on xer HUD , xer AI Sprite having calculated that a person of xer phenotype would start again right away . New ballistic-torso ordered . Quadcopter delivery in 10m . And only 15% of xer bank account .

Kori sat back , packed xer vaporizer with fresh flower , and got blazed .

1994 AD

"Mr. Arrow?"

"Mr. Arrow..."

"Mr. Arrow, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Tom Arrow snapped awake . "Yeah I•m fine." , he bluffed . "S-sorry, you were saying?"

The bank teller resumed talking , and Tom clouded over again . Stockings . Sheer stockings . Like the bank teller was wearing , black stockings , sheer .

Tom had been thinking a lot lately about girls , and wanting to be a girl , and what people would think if he tried to become a girl , and what his parents would say , and what his girlfriend would say , would she still want to be with him ? . Would she still like the girl who was blooming inside ? .

"Mr. Arrow?"

2942 CE

Kori began the long and arduous process of getting a new meat up and online . Whether she had been a human , or a clone , or a print , Kori didn•t bother to ask .

First , xe took xer bone saw to the meat•s skull , drawing a clean circle around the cranium of xer drone . This allowed xer to insert dozens of electrodes at various lobes and cortexes . There were auto-tools that could do the same work , with much cleaner precision , but for Kori it was always about the fun of the work itself .

The stomach drip was inserted , a PICC line installed , a respirator with its bellows , and an IV drip . Kori counted xer blood and saline bags , transferred a few bottles of nutrient solution to the mini-fridge , attached the pneumatic valve to the IV , and hung up a bag of liquid neurons and nanites . From the time the nanites were out of the fridge , xe only had a few minutes to get the magic flowing .

When each new technology is introduced , first it has a period of growth as the new mimetic strain overpowers its environment . This is typically followed by a decline as dozens of other technologies replicate whatever was special about the item in question . Then , once the novelty of all the myriad ways wears off , there is a resurgence of the original, "classic" technology as it finds its niche in the economic ecosystem . Maybe with a clock added , or an extra chain loop for yr pocketknife .

The world hit the technology cap centuries ago . AI had rendered and rerendered and overrendered every possible combination of everything down to the atomic level almost a millennium ago . The problem these days , when massive heat waves nearly boiled off the oceans , is making the decision between a night in Wikiverse or enough water to wash yr face the following morning . It was only from a stratospheric flight that one could appreciate the massive heat sinks that periodically dot the planet . Each one had a 5km-tall chimney as wide as a football stadium surrounded by an artificial hurricane kept in a state of perpetual chaos . This created massive funnels hundreds of kilometers wide , that vented waste heat into space and kept the oceans from boiling .

Each of the electrodes hooked up to a channel on a holo-screen , which generated a visual image of the meat•s brain . Each of the channels was aux tied to several redundancy measures in the event of a catastrophic system loss . The high-pitched whine of the heart monitor filled the room . All the values were at zero (0) .

Kori took a hit from her vape .

2350 CE

Koha stared out the window at the night sky . Like dewdrops on blades of grass in the Recreation Dome after a fresh misting , arrayed out in every direction .

"Operator Koha!" , the TA called out as she approached the organizer . "What have yu got for us today ?" .

"We•re missing a prefab from Rubicon-3 ." , Koha responded . "Fourth Meridian , Yellow Star Phase , Spray-Line Civilization , early 21st Century ."

"Ohh-h-h yeah ." , the TA admitted . "That•s a particularly tricky section of prehistory ." She clapped him on one shoulder . "Just keep at it , yu•ll find them all ."

"No , i mean , i think it•s gone . Souk , souk ." , he said , pointing to the holo-screen . "We•ve got the Arbiter just fine , and most of the Helix 0 characters . We•ve got Evan Dorion paired up with Ruby Tuesday and Kat Mahon paired up with Rada , for whatever reason that i•m sure is none of my business . We got the mother to produce a brother and it cabled naturally . We got Allie, Vanessa, Sagan, Sydney, Anatole, Jamie . All the ingredients for the Unix Bomb have been preordained and the Twin Towers built . If Nana shows up -- and we•re somewhat confident she might this time -- we•ll know when Artemisk flips over to Bakhmut ."

They both looked at the painting of HcoDh on the office wall . Their boss , of course , was the one who put them up to it .

"And of course , Lois, Amanda, Joe, and the Arbiter herself ."

"Right , okay..." , the TA vocalized under her breath , squinting at the fine print along the many scrolling streams of information pouring down the sides of the screen like waterfalls . The TA sighed , pinching the bridge of her nose .

"Better get another car out there , we got another 1061 ."

2942 CE

"A nuclear bomb was detonated over Thunder Junction on Friday ." , the AI-generated news anchor announced across Kori•s nanite mesh . "Quantum stabilizers in Copenhagen managed to temporarily fuse the quark-gluon plasma before it exploded , preventing the nuclear fission reaction . This caused the missile•s secondary detonator to activate , though by that time the missile had fallen into the city•s Plasm Capture Zone , causing the streets to flood with radioactively-dormant biofoam . The resultant EMP damaged a few power grids , which emergency drones had back online within the hour . Aerosolized potassium iodide has been added to the city•s aerotake , and any civilian or Citizen experiencing symptoms of radiation sickness should PM [MedicalPolice] ."

Kori checked the þrym of xer electrodes , running a few small calibration tests before the big event . When the menu had indicated that the system had finished its list upon list of security measures , she hit the button .

The meat jumped to life as electricity began pouring into it . Jumpy and jagged at first . Then , Kalos began her work . Each of the electrodes began firing in specific intervals , charging up action potentials , and settling in to pretty patterns of standing waves , 4Hz to 13Hz in specific patterns , that would cybernetically update themselves, as the system mapped the new neutral structure .

As the electrodes began jump-starting the brain•s standing waves , the pneumatic valve on the IV drip began opening , pumping a flood of artificial blood into the meat . This blood contained a solution of time-released oxygen designed to awaken metabolism slowly , to prevent the brain from rapidly over-oxygenating itself and causing free radical damage to the wetware .

Once the brain was waving and the blood was flowing , the respiratory bellows began pumping air into the lungs , starting with nearly pure nitrogen and titrating up the oxygen . Kori took a hit from her vape full of blue lotus and homegrown cannabis . Once she had hit the Ko-button , all she had to do was observe , until the process was complete .

Within a couple more minutes , the stomach drip began dripping , feeding the digestive tract a blend{hormones, neurotransmitters, nutrients} of chemicals that would get the internal organs pumping again , while a specially-rendered cybernetic slime began manually electrifying the lymph nodes in order to generate movement . A timer counted down the whole thing , dinging satisfactorily when the process was complete . The Golem was living and breathing .

Kori took a VR headset off the wall and strapped it to the Golem•s head , adjusting the straps to fit the newly-sized cranium . Xe hit another keystroke , causing the cyberslime to electrify the eyelids , opening them , as the headset began its indoctrination procedure . Watching from the necessary detachment of a hard computer screen , she watched , half-hypnotized herself , as the machine began loading the host with psychic architecture , sweet music and inviting vocals imprinting behavioral patterns onto the artificially-activated grey matter .

Twenty five hundred (2,500) years ago , the world knew that Terra was the center of the universe . Fifteen hundred (1,500) years ago people knew that Terra was flat . A thousand (1,000) years ago , people knew that humans were the only intelligent species in the Rubicon system . Four hundred (400) years after that , people knew that psychics were fictitious . As she drifted , floating on a complex blend{B-vitamins, drugs{nootropic}, drugs{psychedelic}, nanites, aminoacids} , Kori wondered what xe knew .

Kori slid her computer chair across the room , hitting a few keystrokes on a holo-tablet and printing herself a nootropic soda .

2024 May 23 , 02h47

On the YouTube channel PH At Midnight , the fifth episode of Sally Face , featuring an androgynous, music-loving girlboy named SalFisher , features a graveyard resurrection scene including a step of reestablishing the electrical standing waves of SalFisher•s corpse .

Theoretically , this kind of hyper-conspicuous Pin-Dropping is exactly the effect that the exact mechanism i•m describing would have . The ability to update media in between episodes from a vantage point in the future potential , and for it to have always been like that by the time it rendered in real time .

--SaFa, the Kingfisher
Katolika Ekklasia Du Vatika Scandinavia Order of the Hours

2571 CE

"What•cha doin•?" , Athena asked Pallas . It wasn•t necessary to ask , since they had each others• SimStim profiles piped in to each others• visual overlays , but it was fun to pretend things were the way they used to be . And useful , if that were the direction of time yu were moving in .

"Making a quilt out of candy wrappers ." , Pallas answered Laconically .

Athena looked at the hundreds of tiny, identical folded squares . "Think there•s been another time-folding ?" .

"i reckon ."

"I•ve been thinking ." , Athena broached .

"i know , i•ve been watching it all morning . Yu want to breach the Nekfascmancy Line , open up Hostile Universe ."

"It just looks like the best way forward . Maybe yu•re right , maybe endless celebration does lead to stagnation ."

"Took yu five hundred (500) years to finally agree ? ."

"I just like to be certain ." She let her voice take on a bit of an edge . "Anyway , I found a stress point ."

Pallas looked up from her quilt . "Let•s see it then ."

Athena showed Pallas the video . One of Pallas•s own incarnations , barely post-larval . A soft, friendly, fluffy nymph who only saw the good in people and believed anyone could stand to reason . It was from one of the potential options traversible from Anatole•s apartment , depending on which movies she watched and in what proportions .

They were observing from a Place Of Potential , an unstable timeline fragment in their own future . Soon the Phase Line would reach the intended timecode , the conditions would be determined , and then the future would solidify . And they would either continue to exist , or fade into the aether .

They watched the video , watched the Arbiter with her brand-new twirling baton , delighting in free movement and the right to dance in her own home . They watched as her roommate asked to borrow it . As the Arbiter made her promise she wouldn•t do anything with it , then handing it over with complete and absolute trust that her peer would stay true to her word . Pallas winced at the sound of the baton as it switched the backs of her thighs at full force .

"There are a few post-production studios in the late 2000s that could seed the necessary movies to inspire that level of wanton violence ." On the list was Harley Quinn , Athena•s favorite servant .

Pallas looked at her with a flat expression , bruise-coloured rings beneath her exhausted eyes . "Yu think it•ll work ?" .

2077 CE

"Places, everyone, places! Doc, are you all juiced up? Kate, you•re all strapped in there? Are the Iteration Twins briefed?! Where•s my infinity gauntlet? Oh for fucks• sake."

The hangar was a mess of activity . Something had happened that had spooked the savants , who all reported that something had changed , but none of them were sure what it was .

The entire bunker had been a flurry of activity lately . According to the science officers , they had managed to isolate a particularly resonant section of track during a battery of solar storms fifty (50) years ago . The storms were natural amplifiers of the psychokonesis used by the Soviets of the time , and the nature of their work gave them near-infinite time to prepare . A person living in the past had to take each day as it came . The magicians could spend as long on one day as they wanted , until they got it right , before opening up the tickets for the next .

It was a whole practice , folding time . The bunker officers would set their intentions , writing results down on paper with pencil , and sending the results by pneumatic tube . The tech priests would warm up the Braindance renderer , allowing them to watch the reconstituted sensory profiles of their targets as they were experiencing it in real time . Nearly all of the calculations were performed by savants , making their Local Area Network untraceable .

The Triplets were briefed , while the Savants were hypnotized , counting iterations like film reels and spitting out impossibly-accurate durations necessary to breed out any undesirable content . The Memoryheads were prepped , the Magicians fitted with their Adreno hardware , and the Latest In Speech-to-Screen AI (made exclusively by the genius Russians and not at all their American pig-dog brothers) booted up .

The combined action of all psions involved created a Mind Palace traversible as an environment on the Dream Plane . Then , psychic nodes were used to broadcast that Mind Palace into the past , where it would be dreamt of by their targets , who would internalize the inputs as if they were their own and churn out gigabytes upon gigabytes of data , uploading it forever to the Web .

So long as their magicians spent the correct number of Iterations doing and undoing the same actions over and over while the palace was being broadcast , the world outside the bunker would continue to mutate .

So much of the operation depended on the visionary mechanics of a very small number of naturally hot-headed blowhards .

2942 CE

Kori•s eyes snapped awake .

((Your heart has been restarted by [MedicalPolice] . Avoid strenuous activity for hours<>48 . Have a nice day .))

Kori sat up and surveyed her surroundings . She felt her head , felt the half where the hair was missing , where MedPol had grown her grey matter and skull back into place . She resolved to print a tube of hair serum for herself the first moment she had the chance .

Irritated and distracted , she pushed some floating holo-monitors to the side and opened a new window , reviewing her own visual data on Dot Public . A winged drone the size of a house-fly had gotten thru the double-TranspAlum windows and detonated a tiny explosive directly next to her skull . Par for the course around here .

Kori turned to the crystal bubbler on her desk , heated the quartz with a blowtorch , and took a dab .

3264 CE

"It•s really only from a top-down perspective that one can appreciate the magnitude of yr works ." , HaHa flattered .

SaFa looked over the railing at the floor on the other side of the outworld . She was of two (2) minds , analyzing the dorms below with one mind and feeling for eventualities with the other . "Lo ," she offered , suggesting she continue .

"Yu had to finish a universe in order to Se , but had to remain in the aether until somebody believed in yu . Yu had to follow a collapse wave backwards thru time , but could not be caught folding time yrself in front of the nascent humans ." She had more to say , but they had a way of pacing themselves for each other .

SaFa took a while before answering . "When yu brought up the Nekfascmancy Line , i knew yu had done yr homework . Ts ."

"Hostile Universe Theory would have implied that there was another universe that wasn•t hostile , that was overtaken by one that was ."

"Which coincided with human using space telescopes to survey the entirety of the visible universe ." She spoke mind-to-mind as much as from her mouth .

"But yu couldn•t be the one who posited it , because yu were the one that wrote it ."

"So , i worked up a collapse wave . And while NaNa, HaNa, NaHa were fighting the Triplets , i created enough momentum for My Metaconsciousness to format the world in my absence , allowing me to emerge at the start of one universe with a full recognizance of a demonstrable other ."

HaHa doured . "Well yu don•t have to give away the entire rest of the story ."

2355 CE

Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Red . Green .

0310-6768 looked up . Success! . Yessssss! . She was starting to get good at this . The room had two beds in it , one of them bereft of mattress , and thru a doorless opening were another two (2) beds , next to which 0310-6768 was standing . In the other room was a woman ranting incoherently . The locker nearby dispensed a can of spraypaint . 0310-6768 had to determine what her spirit-sister would have done with it .

On the first try , she sprayed it at a distance . Red . On the second try , she ignored the girl and sprayed the walls . Red . She got rough and sprayed black spraypaint in the girl•s mouth . Red . She threw it over her shoulder , exploding on the ground . Shrapnel , ow , and , red . She tried lobbing it . The cap cracked off and caused the can to spray the entire room in a completely stochastic pattern . Lobbing it felt right , so she tried again . And again . And again . And again . And again . It dinged off the bedframe , denting the can without breaking it , and getting the opponent•s attention without harming her . The light turned green , and the opponent went into trance . She was learning to trust her intuition , and getting better at it .

0310-6768 waited for the lights to flash , and to get sleepy , and to wake up in another puzzle chamber . This time , however , they didn•t . The doors opened , and strange people in bright plastic suits came in , picking the cans up off the ground and leading the opponent out of the chamber . Another person came in , wearing a sand-coloured uniform .

"Identity State ." , the trim person said .

"CORE Unit 0310 iteration 6768 reporting ." , she responded automatically and mechanically .

"Pleasure Feel ."

0310-6768•s back arched as her eyes rolled into her sockets . She fell to her knees , panting .

The trim person pulled out from behind their back a box of paint markers . They handed it to her , offering it .

She took it .

Green .

The trim person turned , and left as quixotically as they entered .

A box of paint markers and a room of Black Velvet on Prison Dorm Blue .

Anarchy .

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