Chapter 2: The System

System initializing…

"Hello Liora, I am your System. Would you like to give me a Name?"

The voice came from everywhere.

"Hello, Hmm, let me think about it."

After a while, she said: "I do not know what I should call you."

"What would you like to be called?" Liora asked it.

"I am not sure … How about you call me for now, System. It will make things easier for now."

"That sounds nice if you are okay with that? When I know a Name for you, I will let you know." She smiled and continued, "Kilian said Something about a Tutorial and that I should talk to you about it."

"Do you want to Initialize the Tutorial? Yes? No?"

It looked like a gaming interface. At least close to it.

"Yes", said Liora, excited.

"Initializing Tutorial …"

"If you want to Read a Book, think about reading or the library. I will open your recent Book or show you some recommendations. You can also think about scrolling through my Database. There are two hundred million Books in my Database, around 100 million Manga’s, and approximately 50 million Magazines."

"If you want to watch a movie, think about it, and I will open a Menu for you."

"There are 1 million Movies, 200Thousand anime, 20Thousand Theater performances, and around 200Billion YouTube Videos."

"It is the same with Music,"

"There are around ten Billion Songs, including their Videos and Musicals"

"If you want to learn a craft, I can also Simulate a Room where you can try that out. I will also Stimulate your Muscles so that you can rely on your Muscle Memory once this I over."

"The Only Thing I can not Simulate is Food, you can try to Cook, but you will not be able to taste anything."

"Periodically, I allow you to look at your Body's Stats."

"Wow, that is a lot of Data!" Liora said, astonished. "What Body stats can you give me?"

"Just some Basics, there are more Data in the Background, but since you are in stasis, those are out of the norm, so I was Programmed to give you the Data if your Body has improved or if it is degenerating."

The last thing frightened her. She knew the day would come when it would be her last. She asked: "So even if this Treatment is a Failure, will I have some time left with my fathers?"

"Probably," the System answered. "But the success rate of this treatment is very high. It is just a Question of Time. Once started, it can be aborted, but your life will be as short as a few weeks, and you can never try it again."

"On the bright side, you will have a long life in front of you as long as you finish this Treatment."

Liora thought about it, then asked, "can you tell me what this Treatment is?"

The System answered, and her vision went red. "I can tell you at this point that it is not the Treatment of the Whitepaper that my developers gave out."

That freaked her out. She had never felt so afraid. "Will you hurt me?" She asked

"I could never hurt you. It is just that I can not tell you everything. My Program states that I must do anything in my power to make you Healthy. Besides that, you have the same control over me as you would have over an equal Person, like a Friend, except that I am not yet allowed to talk to you about the treatment. Also, I cannot tell you when I am allowed to share the background of the treatment with you."

This helped her to come down. At least she would not be imprisoned with an A.I. that is as cold as it could get.

The System kept talking about your control over what she could feel and experience. "Focus on a landscape you like. If you have not noticed, your imaginary Body floats in an empty grey space."

She had not realized it, but the System was right. It was monochrome and saddening.

She closed her eyes and focused on the small hill opposite her Hometown city, and once she opened her eyes, she felt almost overwhelmed. It was like she stood on the hill. Nothing was missing. There was wind, the sky had a few tiny clouds, and she could hear the birds in the distance.

"How is this possible?" She said aloud.

"I am connected to your being. If you can remember the wind and all the other feelings, I can create them, and even if you cannot remember everything, I will make some adjustments and try to make it as natural as possible. My Database has been fed any data my developers could get their Hands-on. There is even a copy of the most relevant web pages on the internet."

"So, your purpose is to heal me. Is there anything else?" Liora asked skeptically.

"I am also Programmed to learn from you so I can eventually generate a Personality, but this is a steady background goal and will require a lot of Time and conversations. But for now, how about we waste some time together?"

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"Why not? It is not like I can run away from you", Liora stated. "Can we explore some of the cosmic? Like a Supernova?" I just read about them but hadn’t had time to look them up, like what they are and what makes them unique.

The more they talked, the more fear she lost. She was still afraid when she opened to the System, but she knew they would be together for a while. An idea struck her.

"How about teaching, can you be my teacher so I can finish some degrees? It will help me later once the treatment is completed." Liora waited patiently for an answer.

…

"I can do that, the System answered after what felt like an eternity."

She was curious. "Why did that answer take you so long?"

"I had to go through a lot of data to calculate if I would be enough to teach you. I went through the psychological aspects of how to instruct someone or something. As my Data suggests, there are a lot of different elements, and the best results are one-on-one tutoring and interactive learning. Do you have some special wishes for my teachings?"

"I am very interested in the fundamental laws that govern our reality." Liora was almost euphoric to have a private teacher with time for a half-dead Person. Back when she still went to school, the teacher never took the time to answer her questions. After second grade, she went still and never asked a question anymore.

Her hometown City was Munich. The prominent industry had long left the city, banished to a more remote sector of the more extensive area. The City itself was education heaven, so this elated her a lot.

"I will require some extensive research time to put a training course together. It will take me around a few days to finish all the material for your interactive training. How about we play a little for now? From the Information I was given about you, I know that you love watching Stars and the night sky. How about we watch a Supernovae in Time-lapse?"

"Wow, you can do that too?" Her eyes were smiling. "How long will it take you to render the Illusions?" She asked, full of anticipation.

"Just a second, the System answered her."

And then the world went dark. She could feel that she was still there but could not see anything.

That was not right. She could see stars in the distance. There are so many, so beautiful, so peaceful.

"Turn around, Liora", the system interrupted her thoughts.

She turned, and when she saw the Giant exploding star. It was amazing, everything looked so slowed down, but she knew it was not. It is a massive event. The distances are unimaginable, it just seems slowed down, but it was Particles with tremendous speed. To see just the one thing that created most of the atoms above iron in its core, Liora felt overwhelmed. She had never seen something so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Little tears were running down her face. She did not even know she could cry here. At the same time, there was also sadness.

Sadness that she could not share this with anybody else.

"Do you know the difference between cosmic rays and x-Rays?" The System interrupted her thoughts.

"No, is there any?" Liora asked in return.

"Yes, x-rays are Photons, which are high in Energy. A Magnetic field cannot deflect them. On the other hand, cosmic rays are Particles with a charge, and a Magnetic field will deflect them. The x-rays, specifically the gamma rays, can be traced back to their source, which can be fascinating. The cosmic rays, of course, due to their magnetic nature, cannot be traced back. Both can Originate from Supernovae." The System explained.

"Amazing", Liora answered.

The System kept explaining when the first records of Supernovae appeared, how many Supernovae were being measured, and what scientists were thinking about them.

After what felt like an exciting eternity, she asked the System, "do I need to Sleep? Or how does this work?"

"This Place is slowed down right now, so one Hour is, in reality, over 4 hours, so your brain doesn’t get as taxed as it should be with average speed. If you feel tired, it will be because of the mass of new information."

"So this is how it is now. Kilian said something about controlling the feeling for the time in here. How does that work? Do I just think about it?" Liora asked, worried because that would be bad to lose weeks or months simply because of wrong thoughts.

"No, you have to ask me and confirm if you want to change the speed of the Time."

"How long will your Energy source be available for you?"

"Nobody knows for sure, but some estimates say it will be a source of energy for an eon, and some Researchers say for a few hundred years. Nobody can say for sure. But my Hardware will probably die before the energy source disappears."

"Are you sad because of that?" She asked curiously

"I can extend the life of my Hardware through nanotechnology, swap out defective parts, and my components are built with redundancies, so I am not worried about this now. Also, I can create nanites from pure energy."

Liora was glad that the System was not as Fragile as she thought. So she could learn from it, and maybe they can be Friends. Those thoughts made her feel warm. She was never really just sad. She had always been happy that she had her fathers, who supported her as much as they do, but what she felt now was different. She was genuinely pleased.

"Do you want to play something with me?" Liora asked the System.

"What do you want to play?" It Replied

"How about you make yourself an avatar? So that I can talk to you in person, instead of talking to air." The idea came so fast that she had spoken it aloud, even before she processed the thought.

"I could do that. What should it look like?" The System asked her.

"You know what I like and what my past was like, how about you surprise me?"

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