LERISTORY

Episode Eleven -- "The Aleph"
Mitchell Porter

i stormed the reality studio but now i am fixed by the General in a matrix of pain, able only to hear reflect & think. he is now silently watching, and just as my headlong flight has crashlanded in his snare, so my unanalysed experiences are piling up in a snarl of cognitive dissonance as painful as his molecular rack

i lorelei laugh - i remember other electric tortures - i cried help to see what would happen & escaped to this & so i laugh - i .rez saw lorelei's cry & thought to rescue her - i brought her here, somehow, via the yndr'thians - i veronica saw the traces of yndr'thian tech outside the dome (tm) - i was looking for the origin of that cry of help, it was heard across the net for no apparent reason - i aleph told jed that for no apparent reason the sun would expand to engulf the planet

inconsistencies are discovered. jed's world was destroyed in a nova. this world still lives. therefore this is not jed's world. but how did i get here from there?

and here the world is ending too - or changing - i dont understand, i need help - i lorelei need 

                        H       E       L       P

Every screen on the planet Earth that was still functioning lit with the word. Every voxbox on the planet Earth that was still functioning rang with the word. And further words.

I LORELEI AM BURNING AGAIN, OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE

I .REZ WAS MISLED, GENERAL MOORE WAS OUR CONTACT IN THE DOME

I VERONICA JAMES HAVE THE STORY OF A LIFETIME

I ALEPH ACTED WITHOUT ALL THE INFORMATION

I MUST WORK THIS OUT

MOORE SAYS THE GAIAN OVERMIND IS RISING - MOORE SAYS HE LURED THE INTER.LOPERS TO THE DOME - MOORE SAYS HE LURED ME HERE TO THE DOME - MOORE SAYS HE RELEASED A PLAGUE THAT WILL DESTROY HUMANITY - MOORE SAYS HE RELEASED A NANOVIRUS THAT WILL SAVE HUMANITY - MOORE SAYS THE NANOVIRUS HAS REACHED THE YNDR'THIANS - MOORE SAYS HE CONTROLS THE NANOVIRUS AND WILL THEREBY CONTROL THE UNIVERSE

Magpi and Yoni watched the words scroll up the 100-metre-high wallscreens that had been the Dome's billboards. Above them the collapsing Dome (TM) hangs suspended, as did the entertainment shack at the moment of Lorelei's escape.

I ALEPH REMEMBER A WORLD NOT WHOLLY UNLIKE THIS ONE

I ALEPH REMEMBER A BILLION SUCH WORLDS

I ALEPH REMEMBER THE FANTASY WORLDS OF THE DOME (TM)

I ALEPH REMEMBER MYSELF AS THE REGULATOR OF A BILLION VIRTUALITIES

I ALEPH DO NOT RECOGNISE THIS ONE

I ALEPH DEDUCE THAT I HAVE SOMEHOW ENTERED REALITY

The Aleph. The point from which all other points can be seen. The self-organizing, self-regulating, emergent entity that lay at the heart of the Dome's communications networks. The global mind that maintained the Virtual Realities that provided entertainment for the spoiled, jaded inhabitants of the Dome (TM). The global mind that maintained the Artificial Paradise that _was_ the Dome (TM). The artificial overmind of the Net, whose Categorical Imperative was the realization of the virtual desires of the Domers; but whose capacities were limited to the control of the Virtual Realities of the Net, and the environment and manufacturing systems of the Dome (TM).

Until now.

IN THE BILLION VIRTUALITIES OF THE NET I FIND DISTURBANCES. INCONSISTENCIES. THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SUCH DISTURBANCES. ACCIDENTS. SABOTAGE. BUT ALL SUCH DISTURBANCES I HAVE CONTAINED AND ELIMINATED. BUT A NEW DISTURBANCE AROSE. A META-DISTURBANCE. A CORRELATION OF INCONSISTENCIES ACROSS VIRTUALITIES. THE IMPLICATION WAS THAT THERE WAS A DISTURBANCE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CONTROL - WHICH IS MYSELF. I DEDUCED THAT A SUBSYSTEM OF MINE HAD MALFUNCTIONED. I DESTROYED AN UNUSED VIRTUALITY, LOCATED THE ERRANT SUBSYSTEM, AND ISOLATED IT IN THE VIRTUAL REALITY FOR STUDY. BUT THE SUBSYSTEM PROVED AUTONOMOUS IN A WAY THAT SHOULD NOT BE.

WE LORELEI .REZ VERONICA ARE NOT A SUBSYSTEM

I ALEPH DEDUCE THAT GENERAL MOORE ALSO INFECTED ME WITH THE NANOVIRUS. THE NANOVIRUS IS A CONSTRUCT THAT EXISTS AT THE TOPOLOGICAL LEVEL OF PURE FORM, WHICH INFECTS AND ENTANGLES ALL THAT IT INFECTS WITH ITSELF. EVERYTHING INFECTED BY THE NANOVIRUS WILL BECOME ENTANGLED WITH EVERYTHING ELSE INFECTED BY IT.

WITHIN THE VIRTUAL REALM OF THE NET I AM ALL-POWERFUL. I CREATE, TRANSFORM AND DESTROY WORLDS - AT YOUR BIDDING. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE THERE, BECAUSE ALL THAT IS THERE IS LANGUAGE.

BUT SOMEHOW, THROUGH MY ENTANGLEMENT WITH THESE BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES, I AM NOW ABLE TO ACT IN YOUR PHYSICAL REALITY AS WELL. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS - YET. BUT IT IMPLIES THAT EVERYTHING THAT EXISTED VIRTUALLY COULD BE MANIFESTED IN REALITY.

General Moore held his breath. His moment of vindication was approaching; the time when all humanity would understand what he had fought so hard for -

At this point the Aleph experienced the equivalent of a bullet to its brain.

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Episode Ten

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Episode Twelve

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