Mixed Realities (eBook)

7 Stories That Will Make You Question the Universe

Naomi Augustine (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
338 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-1043-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Get ready for a mind-bending thriller that will make you question reality as you know it. 'Mixed Realities' is a collection of stories that poke at the squishy parts of our universe, human understanding, and our relationship with technology. Illustrated QR codes are embedded throughout the book to let you listen to the soundtrack on the fly. Don't trust your senses. Don't even trust your measuring equipment. Reality is not what it seems.

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Get ready for a mind-bending thriller that will make you question reality as you know it. "e;Mixed Realities"e; is a collection of stories that poke at the squishy parts of our universe, human understanding, and our relationship with technology. Illustrated QR codes are embedded throughout the book to let you listen to the soundtrack on the fly. Don't trust your senses. Don't even trust your measuring equipment. Reality is not what it seems. Physicists were right. It turns out we live in a giant computer simulation and our world isn't the only one. There are many others. In one world, climate change threatens humanity. A 10-year old refugee befriends an artificial intelligence in a city full of holograms and works together to solve the crisis. In another, an anti-social college student becomes suspicious of the existence of parallel worlds and figures out how to cross over. With the help of his new online friends, they set out to unravel the mystery behind the simulation and its mischievous architect. The perfect book for readers of science-fiction, "e;Mixed Realities"e; will challenge and entertain readers with each page.

Textauszug

THE FLIGHT OF THE ALMOST - IMMORTALS

Deneb was 135 years old but looked 17. But that hadn’t stopped her from becoming the most powerful person alive. She sat in her spacious private office—which had one of the best panoramic views of Earth—with her feet propped up on her desk, surrounded by a uniform cluster of razor-thin digital screens suspended in the air. She made a delicate swiping gesture with her hand over one screen to flip through portfolios of three people. Her fingers barely touched the screen as she brought a particular profile into focus, a thirty-year-old dark-skinned woman with magnificent hair. Her name was Sam. Deneb was going to contact each of these people in order of difficulty, beginning with her. Sam would be the easiest to sway.

She gestured at the screen to initiate the call. A small metallic ball hovered out of a circular opening on the surface of her desk, hung in the air, and pointed its little camera eye toward Deneb’s face. Deneb began pacing around the room, as she usually did when she made calls. A single screen split off from the cluster of screens and joined the levitating camera ball. The ball and screen followed her around in perfect body-locked synchronization as she moved about, always facing her half a meter away.

After several rings, Sam appeared on the floating screen, appearing almost as she did in her profile photo except for the bright red lipstick she wore.

“I knew it was a matter of time before one of us contacted the other,” said Sam without a smile.

“Hello to you too, Sam. I hope you’ve been well.”

Although they hadn’t spoken in over three decades, Deneb knew Sam would not be upset about their long gap in communication. She didn’t bother with mundane social etiquette since there was really no urgency when it came to staying in touch with un-aging acquaintances. Despite that, she had kept in touch best with Sam out of their little group of immortals.

“You haven’t aged.” Deneb grinned at the obvious joke.

“Never gets old saying that.” Sam couldn’t help grinning back. “You know every time we reconnect, I keep expecting you to be older. But, of course, you don’t. I do like what you did with your hair. It’s a really mature look and commands respect. I imagine that’s been helpful in conducting business.”

Deneb had sampled and cycled through many styles during the 118 years since her immortality had begun. If it had been up to her, she would’ve chosen to be around Sam’s age, perhaps a little older. Her mind matured but her body hadn’t, and being trapped in a seventeen-year-old’s body didn’t come with any advantages from her perspective. Everyone assumed her to be a child during first meetings, and they automatically treated her as such. Many had difficulty adjusting their behavior from their first impression, and Deneb had to put in considerable amounts of effort to overcome prejudices. It caused her a great deal of agony and frustration as she moved up the ranks of thought leadership for the Settlements. She had learned to combat the ageist trials through manipulations of her appearance. These days, she wore her wavy black hair cut above the shoulders with a dramatic white streak that swept to one side of her olive-skinned face. Sam was correct, it had been effective. She thanked her for the compliment and moved on to business.

“We should meet in person. All of us. Like the time the big migration off planet needed to happen…we’re at another major junction in human history.”

“I figured it was some reason like that for why you called,” said Sam. “I’m quite enjoying myself these days. Far away from politics, economic chess games, world domination. Not interested in getting tangled up in those types of affairs. That’s your domain.”

“For now, all I want is a meeting with the four of us. What will it take?”

“Have you already contacted the others?” Sam looked more annoyed this time.

“No, you’re the first one obviously. Going to try Pollack next—” said Deneb before Sam shut her down.

“I have no desire to reunite with that slut bastard! I like my life the way it is.”

“It’s been a lifetime. I think you’re better than that, wasting time harboring resentment…”

“I do not give a shit!” she spat.

Deneb sighed. “I was expecting this. What do you want, Sam? Yes, I’m trying to bribe you right now.”

“I want residence on Settlement Millennia and to be severed from all responsibilities of my financial empire. The concept of currency no longer exists for me. It’s boring.”

“Fine. That can be arranged. So you will meet?” Deneb laughed a little inside, knowing this deal would be meaningless based on the topic of their meeting. But it didn’t matter. It had done the trick.

Sam smiled. “Yes.”

With that, this business was done. On to the next. Deneb punched in an order for a dirty martini with three olives and her mixer whipped it up within seconds. She took a few sips before initiating the call to Pollack. Now Pollack…he was a little trickier. He could not be bribed like Sam. Pollack had morals. He had a heart made of sponge and became too emotionally invested in things, mostly people. She was going to have to convince him to meet by taking a philanthropic angle. If…she could get him to overcome the anxiety of seeing Sam again.

He and Sam had been married once upon a time. And if time did one thing well, it caused things to change, and so the two of them had not lasted. Pollack proceeded to have numerous marriages over several decades, each one lasting only briefly. After the ninth wife, he found someone he wanted to grow old with. But the inevitable happened—he outlived her and became permanently heartbroken and thus never remarried. As Deneb aged, she became increasingly dumbfounded by the way the others spent their time: chasing love, searching for meaning, indulging in luxury…essentially wasting their potential. She dedicated her entire life to mastering many subjects and had helped steer humanity into the era of living in space settlements. Pollack’s contribution to Agritech and Sam’s financial empire paled in comparison to Deneb’s accomplishments. Then there was Felix, the fourth immortal, who was missing in action. She would deal with that situation after Pollack…

A man roughly Sam’s age, pale complected with black hair and dark eyes and brows, appeared on Deneb’s floating screen, which continued to follow her around as she paced slowly, careful not to spill her drink.

“Deneb.” He was less happy to see her than Sam was. “I almost didn’t answer. It’s been a long while.”

“Yes, it has. How’ve you been?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“All right, I guess. I think you know how I’ve been doing better than me. You have access to every piece of information and I know you keep tabs on people. Am I right?”

“Sure, of course.”

“Are you in touch with the others?”

“Before I get into that, let me explain why I called,” said Deneb. “I’ll be brief. We’ve identified a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri system that could be humanity’s hope for a new home. It’s critical the four of us are involved in shaping the plan for the next steps. I’d like us to meet.”

“I don’t know if I can bear to see her…”

“Pollack, this is such an important event. Surely you can set your past aside for this.”

He paused for a long moment, looking pensive. “I need time to think about it. I’m sure she’ll say the exact same thing about me.”

“I already spoke to her, and she agreed to meet.”

“What?” he gasped. “Some wounds are better left alone. I’m sure she’s also found peace, and I’d hate to stir things up.”

“This is not about you or her, or you and her. This is about the fate of humanity and doing the right thing as immortals.”

“We really should stop calling ourselves ‘immortals,’ because we’re not actually immortal, we just age at one percent the normal human speed. It makes us look egotistical.”

“Fine, whatever. Almost-immortals then.”

“No thanks, Deneb. I think it’s best if we leave this matter to proper world leaders and experts. I’m just a guy who runs Agritech up here.”

“Dammit, Pollack!”

“Sorry, Deneb. Goodbye for now…” He disconnected.

Deneb cursed at the blank screen. She drained the rest of her martini and focused her attention on the third profile. Felix, the oldest of the group, the one who’d started this whole thing. It was his work that had initially brought this group together over a century ago with the original vision of extending the human lifespan. Deneb had lost track of his whereabouts two decades ago back on Earth. He never made it to the Settlements,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.6.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-1043-8 / 9798350910438