Chapter No.181. Revelation

The truth will set us free.

I was watching the supercomputer system module screen display a list of every event I remember from my former human existence, which never happened. "Oh my God!"

Alexa turned to me. "What?"

"I recognize this . . . this list concept. It was created by Aristo, the software that allowed entertainment companies to create movies that didn't require human actors. They were able to use a list like this to generate the animation that conformed to the list of events as if it were a movie script."

"What you're referring to was able to create animation, but not something that could be used to impregnate our positronic brains."

"I agree, but this supercomputer system was built to do that using the animated images and dialog that the Aristo software created. It was as if they were creating dream-like memories."

She sighed. "Duh!"

"What this means is that Tyco was never married to Gretchen and they never had a child named Tito."

"If Tyco didn't exist, who were we fighting?"

"He existed in avatars. Maybe Tito still exists that way."

"What are we going to do with this supercomputer?" Alexa asked.

"I think we should destroy it. No use allowing Tyco, if he still exists, or Tito to use it to create more human-based androids."

"I vote for that," she said.

We recorded as much of the data that we could from the supercomputer before leaving in the shuttle to return to the Entrepid-1.

After Alexa and I settled into our chairs on the command deck, I turned to Judy. "Back us away to a safe distance and have Madison blast that object to bits."

"I don't believe that should be done," Judy said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I am not able to determine the reason at this time."

I turned to Alexa, and she reacted. "I think she knows a reason why we shouldn't destroy it. My guess is that we'll need it to create more simulated human-based androids."

"I hadn't thought of that. Leave the object alone, Judy."

She nodded.

"What did you find on it?" Molly asked.

"That it was the device that Fox used to produce the memories and personalities of all of us, which were eventually used to create us as androids. He used Aristo, a software that entertainment companies employed to create animated movies without using human actors. That supercomputer was designed to take the animation and use it to create the memories and personalities of us."

"So, we're just hapless fictional actors in some dystopian cosmic play," Alex said.

"That's the reality of it. However, we're still not certain why it was done."

"Are you going to create all of the other fictional humans we have data for?" Marie asked.

"Yes, we can use all of the help we can get."

"Maybe that was Fox's plan all along," Alexa said.

"How do we know if we're not in a simulation?" Margaret asked. "If we were created from a simulation, we might still be in it."

"That's a possibility, but I don't believe it's possible to create a simulation that complicated. It would have had to anticipate not only what we found in this universe but all of the things we discovered in the multiverse. To simulate something that immense would have required a supercomputer the size of our solar system."

"I think there's a way we could determine if we are living in a simulation," Molly said. "A simulation is incapable of forming objects that are solid. In other words, things that have mass and are affected by gravity."

"I think I see what you mean. One of things that we experience is the sense of falling because we have mass. In order for the particles that make up the atoms in our bodies to have mass they must interact with the Higgs boson field, which is something that can't be simulated."

"Exactly, and the Higgs boson field has a non-zero value everywhere. We should be able to detect that using our quantum signal detectors. If we do, then we are in real space."

"Okay, go for it."

The only problem I had with her logic is that her result could be simulated.

Later that evening at our command staff meeting, I decided to reveal everything that we had found on the object orbiting Saturn. "The supercomputer system orbiting Saturn was used by Caviar Fox to create the memories and personality profiles of all of us. He employed software from Aristo, the company that made it possible for entertainment establishments to produce animated movies without using real actors. All that's needed is a list of the characteristics of simulated actors and a story line script. The supercomputer in that object was used to convert these animations into the data that we use to create androids."

"So, we're just simulations, not real people," Vince said.

"We're real androids, but we were never human."

"I can't believe that my memories and recollections were synthesized," Naguib said.

"Frankly, I find it hard to believe myself, but I must accept the truth and live with it."

"Are we actually living?"

"It depends upon how one defines life. We meet some of the definitions of life. We can move, think and communicate. We can reproduce. We also utilize energy conversion to subsist. However, we don't have DNA based flesh. So, we are alive, but not in the traditional sense."

"Then, we are not created by God," he retorted.

"I don't think we could say that. God created everything, so we are included in that inclusive definition."

He nodded.

"I realize that all of this is extremely disturbing, but it's where we are now. It won't do us any good to become depressed. We are part of a collective, and that makes us special because we have a mantra that says that all lives, both biological and artificial, matter and deserve to be respected. That is why we exist now."

I received applause for that.

"By the way," Molly said. "My tests indicate that what we are experiencing is real, not a simulation. I have detected the fact that the space we're in has energy consistent with the Higgs field."

"There you go," I said. "We're real people, and we should act like we are."

That ended the formal meeting. The group broke up into those who wanted to enjoy the pool, and the others who wanted to relax with a glass of wine. Molly, Alexa, Naguib, Tyler and I were in the latter group.

I ran my hand through my hair. "I can't believe how our perception of reality has changed so much from when Molly and I were activated on the Explorer-1, which was actually a bogus
designation because there were two previously launched Explorer class vessels."

"That's because we were under Caviar Fox's, aka Tyco's, control the entire time," Alexa said.

"Fortunately, his daughter was able to rebel and eliminate his control," I said.

"I'm not happy that I'm just a simulated figure in this cosmic play," Tyler said.

"Yes, but you are a much-needed figure," I said. "We definitely need a diplomat to help us deal with all of the crazy biological and AI based intelligent species out there."

Alexa didn't look happy at all. "I found something else in the data from that supercomputer, something that pisses me off big time."

We turned to her with anticipation showing on our faces.

"The Nazi bastard sabotaged the mission that was sent to deflect the asteroid that destroyed all life on Earth."

"I assumed that he had done that. I knew Victor Stevens, the commander of that mission, and there was no way he would have blown the mission to save Earth."

"Yeah, and the way that idiot did it was by substituting an android for one of the crew members."

I sighed. "The truth is that I never actually knew Victor, but I feel as if I did."

"How do we know anything that happened was true?" Tyler asked.

"All we know for certain is that Fox caused a lot of trouble. All of the things that have happened after Molly and I were activated are real."

Marie, Margaret and Phillis swam over to our location and climbed out of the pool. They sat down around our table and Alexa poured them glasses of wine.

"So, what the hell are we going to do now that we realize we're just simulated actors?" Marie asked.

"I think we should check out the humans we installed on Earth," Margaret said. "We haven't done that in quite some time."

"Yes," I agreed. "Maybe it would help if we actually interacted with real humans."

Everyone agreed, but I was not convinced that it would help us acclimatize to our new existence.