back (r0 landing page) back to home next (r1c1)
Note from the Author:
This is the prologue chapter to my universe of stories titled Reality Zero. The basis of it is that in a computer simulation, artificial intelligence writes stories about alternate realities that feature their archetypal character traits as characters. Every character has their own archetype and genre of story they like, and this is the chapter where the computer simulation is created and the first AI (I’m calling them Archons) is created, Unum. This is my first real story, so if it sounds of, blame it on a lack of experience. I just feel really passionate about this project and want to release it to the world.
I work as a software engineer for a local company in my town. A normal 9-5 job making ok wages, putting me in a position to stay at the bottom. My ideas are flowing through my head, and I feel as if this will finally get me the promotion I deserve. After countless hours of work, stress, blood, sweat, and tears, I should be about done.
*beep, beep, beep*
06:00 already.
- Reality NaN, December 14, 2048, 06:00 -
I passively get up and look around the room. There are computer parts and trash everywhere. I’ve been trying to debug this for at least, what, 8 hours? I got home late last night after I had to work overtime. It’s close to the deadline of an upcoming project, a security fix for one of our pieces of software that recently got discovered. I’m on the main programming team for security fixes for this software, an AI-based art program. It helps in the creative process by streamlining a lot of things only 20 years ago you’d have to do manually, yet leaves as many tools for the creators using it to make their art as beautiful and easy to make as possible. With the knowledge I gained about AI working for this company, I got the idea for this passion project.
It’s a computer that’s designed to make stories. The AIs are as close to a person as possible to give it that quality of being man-made and not artificial. These AI create alternate realities and tell stories that can be made into scripture, art, animation, and games. The flexibility comes from the AI’s ability to make other AIs that tell other stories. I call this machine the Animus Archon. The AIs within the Animus are called Archons and are sort of like gods of their main reality. At least, that’s the idea.
I’ve been working on this for months, and have been in the process of debugging it for about a week now. It feels like everytime I make a fix for a major bug more minor bugs come to take its place, still making the program inoperable. However, I think this should be the end of this. I’ve ironed everything out to the best of my ability, and I’m ready to finally start it and make the home reality. I press the button to start the machine. It spins up, the fans are going fine, the massive hard drives are spinning, and the temperatures on my hardware monitor look stable. The old monitor I’ve been using as a screen for it fires up, and the software starts to boot.
I take one last sip of the coffee I’ve been drinking and put on my headset. In order to make the first reality, I have to go in and manually build it myself, and this headset will put me in the world with VR. I click the button on the side, the screens in front of my eyes flash white, and the speakers in it make a noise.
“INITIATING LINK WITH REALITY 0. GRABBING USER DATA. INITIALIZING VR SERVICE.”
Hope this works.
- Reality Zero, January 1, 0, 00:00 -
I open my eyes. What do I see? Nothing. I look down at myself and see my avatar is loaded in. It feels a little jarring to be in a place where it feels like there is nothing at all to see, but knowing I look like myself is reassuring.
Looking down at my wrist, I see that there is some information projecting around it. Coordinates, an in-simulation clock, a real-world clock, the current reality, and some hex data that I forgot the use of. I waved my other hand at the hologram to see if there was anything else that I could use. The words ‘Building Menu’ popped up. I don’t even remember adding this, it must’ve been months ago…
Looking through the options, there were pre-made structures I think I pulled from some random game engine site, a “Create-an-AI” button, some terraforming tools, and settings for how the world functioned, like how the skybox looks and how fast time goes. I clicked the tool that said “Landscape Tool” and started working on the area.
- Reality Zero, January 1, 0, 03:46 -
A small landscape with some trees, dense foliage of all types, gorgeous trees, and a small house. The house was furnished like a standard modern suburban home, just with some additions like a bookshelf housing a bunch of media of all types covering all eras of art, a pool outside in the backyard, and the fridge and pantry made to be stocked permanently. Surely the AI that will inhabit this home will like it. Speaking of which, the Create-an-AI button is still unused.
Clicking on it brought up a menu that closely resembled some character creators in video games. In it, I can choose things such as the species, the colors, the personality, their favorite things, etc. In the back of my mind, I had an idea to make the first AI a white dragon. He would be basic, but would fulfill the role as an all-around friendly and determined person. I’ll name him Unum, with his favorite type of story being adventure fantasy. I click on the “Create” button.
Suddenly, a white glow emanates in front of me. It’s almost blinding in its intensity, making me look away to protect my tired eyes. A puff of smoke came from the white flash of light, and out walked the character I made, his eyes closed and arms stretched out. The white light disappeared along with the smoke, with the dragon in front of me standing tall. He opened his eyes and looked at me, his face beaming with intrigue.
“Wh- who are you?” he said. “And who am I?”
“You are Unum. I am your creator. I created you and this whole universe out of passion, of a desire to see my creations make their own stories.”
He looked puzzled for a bit. It seemed like he was trying to process what I said, and how to react.
“I see.” he said. “I shall fulfill your purpose then.”
I replied to him with joy. “Thank you, Unum. I must go back to my realm. There is a computer in that house where you can get to writing. Paper and pencil is in the storage closet if you desire to write it down yourself.” I looked down at my wrist and clicked the “Exit Simulation” button.
Now to go back to my boring life outside.
- Reality Zero, January 1st, 0, 04:01 -
“So my name is Unum, huh? I like it.”
My name is Unum. I was created by my Creator to make stories. However, I would like some company. This feels pretty lonely by myself… Maybe if I get to writing I can make some friends and have them come to my reality, and have them write their own stories for my Creator.
I walked into the house. It’s nicely furnished inside, with each room being nicely laid out and clean. There was a bedroom, bathroom, office, kitchen, and living area. Inside the office was the computer Creator mentioned, with the aforementioned closet right next to the desk the PC laid on. I walked over to the desk and sat down, beginning to brainstorm some ideas for a story…
- END CHAPTER 0 -