The Creature
Time Star Loop: Chapter 3
How do you think about the world that you live in? Is it a friendly place? Let’s think of it now. Do you feel safe? Do you have someone that you care about? What does it mean to love?
Describe to me your world. What is your world built of? How is your world harmonized? Are like you live everywhere in this world? How do you travel? How do you communicate? What do you do during the time you have? How much time do you have? Do you do things only when the sun is up or also when the sun is behind the horizon? How do you recharge your energy? What do you need to survive? What are emotions? Do you all have emotions? Can you love an object? Is a dog an object, or is the dog something else? You are not an object, are you?
The creature asking all the questions disappeared slowly. He woke up covered in sweat. The presence of the being seemed surprisingly real. Paralyzing, in a way. Not exactly frightening, though. If anything — exhausting. He felt as if he had just run a marathon and simultaneously talked with his mother thru all the way. He was physically tired and very thirsty. Slightly annoyed as well. So many questions. So many weird questions.
- It’s just a dream. Get back to slip — Angela put her right hand on his chest and started snoring. She snored a lot these days. She was snoring so laudably that sometimes she was woken up by her own snore.
He sat down on the stilling of the bed, trying to remember the creature’s shape, color, or actually anything. He couldn’t. Nothing specific came to his mind. The only thing he could recall was a realistic sensations that he had. The presence of the creature and this paralyzing sensation that he could not go away. He couldn’t move. He felt as if he would be somehow forced to stay in the creature’s presence. He didn’t speak anything. It felt more as if the creature could read his memory directly from his mind and body itself. Why all of these questions, then? Weird dream. Very weird dream.
His mouth was extremely dry, and he still felt thirsty. Usually, there was a glass of water standing on the nightstand right next to the bed, but not that night. Since he was way too awoken to get back to slip directly, he decided to grab some water from the kitchen. His mussels reminded him of their existence while he lifted himself from the bed. — I’m fucking old — he thought and started wondering what could go wrong during yesterday’s exercise session that caused the pain in his legs.
It was about four am. The night seemed to be in her full swing. Slowly dancing with whoever was not slipping yet. From time to time, you could hear a loud bumbling of city life enthusiasts getting back from their adventures. They seemed to be in their own world. Occasional sounds of service cars were breaking the, almost silent. A couple of star’s lights were strong enough to be clearly visible in the dark navy city sky. If you took the time to have a closer look, you could spot more of them.
He grabbed a ceramic blue and brown mug from the upper kitchen shelf and filled it with filtered water from the fridge. All the time since he woke up, he felt as if the creature, whatever it might be and whatever shape it could be in, was ready to jump on him from any corner of their apartment. It was not a comfortable feeling. Compliantly unknown what might happen after the jump. Is it a safe place? He reminded himself of one of the questions. It fucking is, but it doesn’t feel like it right now. — His anger was rising. — Calm down K, it was just a dream. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a dream — His legs were still hurting.
Last year was quite a ride. Since they discovered the bodega and met the elderly lady, everything has changed. Everything seemed to be possible now. Nothing seems to be certain. At the same time, nothing has changed at all. They had the same jobs, the same group of close friends, and lived in the same apartment. They didn’t share their discovery with anyone. Why would they do that? Who would believe them?
He thought many times of going back to the All in shop and seeing the lovely, friendly staff member. He promised her that he would get back and share the recipe for finding the world piece. He found it. In a way. Not exactly. He found a product with the World Piece label on it but was not able to use it. Neither he nor Angela have a clue how to use it effectively. He promised to get back. To share how he found it. — What’s the point? — he thought again — She would not be able to use it either. It’s pointless. It’s a waste of time. And even if I would go, what would I tell her? How would I make her believe my story? — He certainly had been creative in finding excuses.
After a while, he finally got back to bed. The water glass was on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. It was full.
She woke up fresh and well-rested. Since her lecture was scheduled for early afternoon, and there was no particular publication deadline coming soon or training session scheduled, she had a whole morning for herself. Luxury. The rare occasion to take it easy.
Their two-bedroom apartment had large, panoramic windows with a beautiful view of the Bay from the main room and attached balcony. She brewed herself a fresh coffee and went to the balcony to admire the view. She muted her phone and left it inside. She powered off the chip so she would not be distracted by all the messages and random noises coming from the internet and the university network.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in… structural changes in organizations using generative AI-powered mind chips. What if we focus only on the Experience Developers? Their role in organizations, status, prestige, salary, and position on the job market. The profession is relatively new but existed before the mind cheeps boom…
42. Tell me, how do you think about the life and the world that surrounds you? — These exact words crossed her mind. — Now, do you feel safe?
What the fuck! Is it some kind of a joke? Does someone hack my chip? Who is playing with me? — The words that came to her mind were so alien, so unnatural, that not for a second she identified them as her own.
- I’m coming in peace — communicated the creature
Time Star Loop, Chapter 1: How much is it?
Time Star Loop, Chapter 2: Probability theory
