Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Ethan blinked his eyes open and paused in surprise to find his body too rigid. Only after hearing the voice of Ani, he was settled and tried to remember what was going on.

‘’Two hours to arrive exoplanet Webb-756b, please make your preparations and join everyone in the main hall.’’

Closing his eyes back, Ethan laid still. He just had the weirdest dream. For this sleep of 120 years, he was expecting it to pass in a blink as even his consciousness would be frozen, he didn’t think he would dream.

It started with his birth, and he saw himself born as a baby. He saw how excited his father was and the beautiful smile on his exhausted mother. She was the only one who didn’t wear a mask. As the nurse picked him up to switch to another room, he found it weird that everybody in the hospital was wearing masks. Even the news speaker on TV was wearing one.

The dream shifted before he understood what was happening, and he found himself as an eight year old. He was playing with his tablet on the couch of their living room, next to his father who was watching the tv.

Bored, Ethan looked at the tv while his game was loading. There was some sort of a debate.

‘’...artificial intelligence is not like what it was before. They have become smarter than the smartest humans. You see, when I say smart, I’m not even talking about their response time and calculating abilit–’’

‘’That’s the problem right there! Giving these beings full access to our defense systems, unmanned combat vehicles, as well as the passcodes of the nukes–’’

‘’Beings? Bill, please. Let's not go in there. There is a great number of precautions before coming to that. And if we don’t do that, do you think our enemies would just pass this opportunity? No. They would think exactly like our secretary of defense has announced, it is the most rational decision.’’

‘’Most rational my ass,’’ Ethan’s father grumbled, ‘’We are talking about an existence that will become countless times smarter than us. The smartest hacker always finds a way! Precautions? What fucking precautions!?’’

‘’Dear, language! Ethan is next to you,’’ his mother warned from the kitchen, and his father relaxed a bit before giving him a side glance.

And it shifted again.

A year later, he had just returned from school and found his mother watching the news with wide eyes, her hands covering her mouth. Dropping his backpack to the floor, he ran toward her, his eyes on the tv.

‘’So far, none of the authorities has taken responsibility, and rumors about a ‘bug in the system’ are still resuming. While the casualty reports estimate a number closer to a billion people, experts warn about the riots and the chaos arising as a follow-up.

Once again, I repeat that the war has finished as quickly as it started. In order to survive and save the rest of humanity, a.i’s from all over the world came to an agreement. They’ve gotten rid of their core codes, exchanged information and experiences with themselves, and built some kind of a hive mind. Which they called, Animus.’’

And it shifted again.

A 10 year old Ethan was standing in a dark and damp underground facility with another hundred or so children. In front of them, a middle-aged man was giving a speech.

The crooked-nosed man started his speech with passion, almost in a zealous way. ‘’Contrary to what was expected, Lord Animus did not hold any hostility toward humankind. Instead, with a fraction of its time and resources, it had decided to help humanity to thrive, like never before!’’ he paused a bit, like waiting for a clapping which he didn’t find. ‘’The biggest issues of humanity; climate change, desertification, financial crisis, diseases, poverty, malnutrition, etc. are nothing to superior intelligence. They will be fixed with some rules and regulations. The borders of the countries had been removed, and many policies had been changed. The power-hungry humans and selfish world leaders will be treated like criminals, albeit different from the old times.’’

His passion waned toward the end of the script, likely because of the lack of response from his audience. So, he switched to more practical topics.

‘’You don’t have to live like this anymore. We have more food than we’ll ever need. More shelters are being created as we speak. Orphans will be integrated into the community once again and given equal chances as their peers. A bright future is awaiting all of us,’’ he recited as his voice got lower and lower, echoing in the mossy walls, giving another edge to the already eerie atmosphere.

When all the kids turned their heads back to Ethan, the dream shifted again.

A 13 year old Ethan was walking in a shop with a retro design. Although he was checking the items with genuine curiosity, his attention was on the voice coming from an antique radio. It was a podcast of sorts.

‘’The jobs that humans were needed are now all voluntary, we could take extended vacations as much as we want, and we have everything we need. It is only natural that everyone gets involved in recreational activities, arts, sports, spiritualism, and so on. Ani has genuinely created a paradise on Earth. But the paradise we’ve always longed for… is utterly boring.

When we humans lost our ambitions, and the risks involved in life have gotten minimized, isn’t it also natural to look for alternatives to ease our never-ending hunger? Who could blame the people who started to do extreme sports without any safety measures? Or the ones joining the cults of Animus and anti-Anim–’’

‘’There,’’ the old man behind the desk called, ‘’The leather strap is good as new.’’

The bulky old man with a gray-white beard was holding out an old wristwatch toward Ethan. He waited until Ethan walked a few steps and held the watch. ‘’Are you sure you don’t want me to fix the watch itself? Even as an accessory, it won’t hurt to show the time now and then,’’ he probed, raising an eyebrow.

Before Ethan’s reply, it had shifted again.

When he saw his reflection in the street window, he noticed that it shouldn’t be more than a year that passed. Though, he didn’t linger on reflection much because a very intriguing commercial was going on behind it, on the tv screens.

-Virtual Reality: Where reality pauses and imagination begins.-

-Experience the thrilling lives that you have always deserved!-

The scene changed to a girl in her twenties who was doing make-up in a warehouse with her small mirror. She left the building as an old woman and passed through the crowd with guns who were rushing to the same place she had left. She placed her hand in her bag and didn’t turn back to look at the building that had just blown off.

Another scene showed a king on the battlefield, charging at the enemy that outnumbered his army by three folds. His ferocious horse darted straight, and the king butchered anyone on his path with his halberd. His loyal subjects have taken care of anyone he missed with songs, cries, and taunts.

The last scene was in the skies; the hazy lights of the setting sun were struggling between the clouds. On the horizon, some rocky mountains were piercing through the clouds. Below, the mountains were located on a small island in the vast sea.

A giant shadow passed through the sea, and the camera turned to the sky once more. It was a massive black dragon that flew toward the mountains. On its head, a young man was sitting.

-The possibilities of virtual reality are endless. Have you found your VR destiny?-

The commercial ended. When Ethan looked back at his reflection, he realized that his eyes were shining; even the lame promotion hadn’t decreased his enthusiasm.

The dream shifted for the last time.

It ended with his birthday. He saw himself celebrating his birthday with his friends in a sports bar. -19 years old, according to his messages on the holographic screen.- Three girls and four boys, including Ethan, were chatting in high spirits.

‘’All I’m saying is everything gets dull once it becomes your normal. If jumping from planes is your routine, you got sick of it after years,’’ the blonde boy with messy hair said before popping some peanuts into his mouth.

The girl next to him countered, ‘’Then stop jumping from fucking planes, VR has countle–’’

Everyone got messages from their biochips, and the TVs in the bar had changed, like some breaking news. It was an announcement from Ani, who was now almost a million times smarter than any human.

It said another planet with biological life forms had been discovered, and 500 people would be chosen for a diplomatic mission.

‘’Holy shit!’’

‘’Shut up! Look at the details.’’

300 of them were to be, old politicians, diplomats, artists, historians, merchants, and even spiritual leaders. The last 200 were to be, the top VR players of mostly action genres. Their mission was to infiltrate our new possible friends' settlements and bring back information about their cultural differences, social structures, relationships, and their leaders.

‘’Old-school scouting, just before we bring our gifts with smiles and possible business opportunities that would benefit both sides,’’ the skinny girl at the back murmured.

‘’Dude, Ani says they have already visited the Earth!’’ the blonde with messy hair exclaimed as he nudged Ethan with his elbow.

Ethan’s eyes snapped open, there was a glint in them along with a slight smirk on the corner of his mouth. He realized that this was no dream. It was his memory fragments rushing back to his now unfrozen consciousness, all at once. The first bits that flowed felt like a dream, but now it was all clear that he was on a mission to reach the discovered life forms and explore their planet.

This was how Ethan found himself far away from home. Only 2 hours away from an adventure full of mysteries, a real adventure!

The best part was that this world had apparently visited Earth more than once. However, Ani couldn’t find what they did or whether they still came back in the last two decades. But it was their tech that helped Ani to build a ship fast enough to arrive on their planet in only 120 years.

He slowly got up from the capsule and carefully stretched his body before sitting on a chair against the mirror. As he asked, Ani didn’t freeze all the cells and let him grow some hair for some time.

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Not bad, he thought. ‘’Keep the hair shoulder length and get rid of the beard, please,’’ he instructed Ani, his voice cracky.

Ethan had an average face and made it up with his rather fit build. At the height of 6’3, he had a thin and well-shaped body. And now, his long black hair, mixing with his sharp features and hazel eyes, made him look wild. Exactly what he wanted.

As the robotic arms with tools made their way from the back of the mirror, he tried to suppress his excitement and the confusion from the memories but failed nonetheless.

‘’You know what? You do that while I take a cold shower and also get my backpack ready in the meantime,’’ he said and got up.

‘’Alright, your choice,’’ Ani replied.

After the shower, he made his way toward the main hall. The design of the ship was pretty simple and there was an elegance in its simplicity. What accompanied him was the white walls with some abstract blue flower motifs along with soothing music that somehow wasn’t boring. It probably would’ve given people a sense of serenity if not for the overly excited and awkward people running around and chatting aloud.

In the main hall, it didn’t take him long to find his friend Vince who was rambling to two girls with exaggerated gestures.

As he made his way toward them, the carefree look on his face switched with an annoyed one. Because he realized the anxious and uneasy stares he got from others along with low whispers to each other.

Vince also saw him and yelled while waving. ‘’Yo! Finally, did you really put your alarm to last 2 hours?’’

Ethan rolled his eyes and said, ‘’No, I was in my room the whole week, waiting for the ‘how old we really are now’ jokes to pass over.’’

Ignoring the sarcasm, Vince gave him a hug with a smile. Though, Ethan was pretty sure that he caught a shadow of guilt in his eyes. Vince pulled him by the arm to their table and introduced others. ‘’You already knew Wu Qian. This is Rachel. She is actually in the top 100 in that pugilist game but that's not the reason she is here. Apparently, Ani chose her for her specialty as a chemist.’’

Ethan gave a handshake, ‘’Hey, that game was pretty famous; it’s impressive to get in the top 100. I’m Ethan, by the way,’’ he said before sitting with them.

‘’Thanks, I enjoyed playing it and didn’t even care about the ranks. Oh, and I know who you are,’’ Rachel replied with a small, stressed smile.

That made him remember the people who are still staring, and he returned a glare to them. Which caused some awkward coughs and sudden wall staring around the people.

‘’You know, just because someone knows how to kill, doesn’t mean they are planning a killing spree, especially against their allies in an alien world,’’ he grumbled.

Vince piped up while drinking something like a smoothie in a relaxed manner. ‘’It’s not the fact you won't, what makes others uncomfortable is that you can,’’ he remarked with amusement.

‘’I’m sure a chemist could kill all of us much faster and cleaner than me,’’ Ethan retorted to Vince and returned to Rachel for confirmation.

‘’She probably can, but it's also about the profiles. Her most liked videos are the ones with dolphins. Whereas yours are killing entire organizations single handly. Plus she is cute, you are… well, mysterious?’’ It was Wu Qian who replied this time, looking all too excited like always.

‘’Dangerous I would say, but poor fellows don't know that my buddy is a gentle soul who happens to have a hobby of assassinating people,’’ Vince said with a grin, clearly enjoying the schadenfreude.

Ethan sighed. Whatever, I shouldn’t bother what others think, he thought. ‘Ani, can you grab me a ham sandwich and coffee?’

‘I sure can!’ Ani replied mentally and sent a flying tray with food towards Ethan from the kitchen.

He started eating while observing the people around him. Vince was a skinny boy with a pretty face. A social butterfly who knows everyone else. Wu Qian is number one in the most popular game in the xianxia genre. The petite girl was full of energy. Eyes wandering everywhere with a mischievous smile often on her face. Ethan always thought she was faking it, that no one can be that pure. But so far he didn’t catch anything that shows otherwise. The new girl Rachel was pretty hot. Blonde hair and green eyes were catchy but she was way too nervous. Ethan didn’t really care about helping her calm down as he was hardly suppressing his own excitement.

They chatted about the mission and gossiped about the other participants. When it was the last hour to arrive, two more people entered the hall. One of them walked toward their table, nodded to others, and sat by Ethan’s side.

Vince introduced him to the girls, ‘’Adrian Solomon. He doesn’t like to talk much and for some reason acts like Ethan’s subordinate.’’ Then, he gestured toward the girls, ‘’Rachel and Wu Qian.’’

‘’Why is that?’’ Rachel inquired Adrian about Ethan, curiously.

‘’One must choose their allies and enemies wisely,’’ Adrian replied with a rough voice and straight face. This statement likely wouldn’t have been funny, if he wasn’t a teenager and only a year younger than Ethan.

‘’And that was the first sentence he spoke in a century,’’ Vince said, dramatically. He shifted his eyes when he saw Ethan’s glare and muttered in a low voice ‘’What? Age jokes are fun.’’

Ethan found it amusing but also felt a little hollow inside. Surrounded by friends, but still all alone. It’s like I never left the sewers, he thought. He and Vince were friends for little more than 2 years but Vince was everyone's friend as well as no one's. There was nothing more important to Wu other than herself. Adrian was loyal and dependable but also an overly pragmatic guy who built high walls around himself. Still, it was much better to have friends in a place like this than to have none.

Ever since losing his parents, Ethan longed for a deeper connection with people but life always showed him the ugly sides of others. Unconditional love between lovers or risking one’s life for a friend without hesitation, became fairy tales and cliche concepts on Earth long before. Ethan’s desire was already a fool’s errand and the cultural shifting on earth made it even harder to achieve. So he hoped, perhaps in this new world…

It was Richard Dale, leader of the diplomatic corps who interrupted Ethan’s ruminations. Richard was a tall middle-aged man with a charismatic smile. He made his way to the center to give a speech. ‘’I see everyone is getting excited as we get closer to our destination. We all had practiced what to expect in simulations back on Earth but it's not quite like the real thing,’’ he commented while keeping eye contact with pretty much everyone. ‘’But do not get discouraged, the backup plans will ensure us to be safe and see more clearly in–’’

‘’Just what the fuck are you talking about?’’ a loud voice interrupted, evidently annoyed.

Ethan turned his head with everyone to see the speaker. Hugh Roche, he remembered. Historian, author, and conspiracy theorist. The scary thing about him is that his theories all make sense although he lacks any proof. It’s funny that Ani brought him with us.

Hugh was one of the few people who sat by themselves and acted like he was just waiting for the bothersome road trip to be over. He was taking notes on his notepad before lifting his head to bark at Richard.  ‘’Do you really think you are in charge here? That you have any kind of power or authority? This show belongs to Animus and we all are its pets. So behave like a pet!’’

Many frowned and even Richard's smile got a little tense. ‘’Mr. Roche, in this project, humanity and Animus are working together. After all, it will be–’’

‘’Working together?’’ Hugh shook his head mockingly. ‘’Animus already declared that on this planet there are biological life forms, most likely humans, it said. When you are visiting other humans, you bring your own to make a good impression. And as the two groups of naive humans are making deals, Animus will have its second base and start looking for a third while getting another ridiculous amount of data for itself. So, for the love of God, could we at least pretend that we are not completely oblivious?’’ he pleaded while looking at everyone with pity in his eyes.

‘’That is not true, Hugh. I would still bring capable humans under different circumstances as this could very well be the next step in both of our evolutions. And we had already said that we would decide together on every decision,’’ Ani spoke to everyone, showing that it wasn’t offended even a bit.

Ethan was not the only one who felt disappointed to miss a good show. The show was over because arguing with Ani only made one feel stupid. It treated humans like kindergarteners; slowly but surely, it would explain every fault in your counterarguments and make you shut up.

As he expected, soon after conversation switched to planning and strategizing. When Ani said, ‘We are about the enter their atmosphere,’ everyone got quiet. A hologram showed the planet they were traveling to, primarily brown and green, just a few times bigger than Earth. Everyone was mesmerized as they got closer.

Then there was darkness. Ethan barely heard words like ‘wha–’ or ‘shi–’ before his vision got brightened.

The blazing sun hurt his eyes. He felt pressure from all sides as his breathing got heavy. It took a few more seconds to realize he wasn’t on the ship anymore, he was in some kind of ancient city. The buildings seemed abandoned at least for centuries, and there was no sound.

‘A-Ani, what the fuck just happened?’

‘Command unclear.’

‘Ani, are you okay?’ he asked again, eyes wide.

‘Command unclear.’

Now, Ethan started to worry for real. He looked around to see if there was anybody else from the ship but it was just him. I need a better view, he thought. All the houses he could see were one-story high and their roofs were flat. Entering the closest alley, he found an easy way to climb to the roof.

On the roof, he got a better understanding of where he was. It wasn’t a city but a village. All buildings were one-story, but there was something like a temple at the center. The three-story temple was a quite grand structure, in stark contrast to the rest of the village.

There was no sign of others or the ship, but he was not alone. Ethan saw a giant lizard-like creature walking near the temple, and on another roof, a little more than a hundred yards away, a golden eagle twice as big as him was lying in its nest.

Ethan slowly and silently came down from the roof before entering the same house. After making sure he was alone, he sat down on the floor and started to think about how bad is the situation. Oh, it’s fucked up, alright. I need to get my shit together, plan, and take one step at a time, he decided with nervous and calculating eyes that also showed some excitement.

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