Reborn Heart of Steel

It’s like falling endlessly in cascades of data and each byte a star in the tremendous digital sky. The more I tuned into news shows and watched, the more I found my own awareness dispersed and on the verge of collapse. ‘I am Brianne,’ I said with such force as to ward off forgetfulness. *I have a mission. * But on what mission was this accepted as the norm? They didn’t enmesh themselves in real details, which escaped my hands like sand. Desperation clawed at the edges of my mind, trying to grab onto to something familiar faces, a voice, even the feeling of fleeing but it all escaped me and blended in the stream coming through. I asked myself how long I have been falling? Seconds? Years? There was a lack of time in this abstract space where everything was indistinct and blurred. Then I came out of the watery depths into the shallower waters, or, like a swimmer surfacing after a plunge into deep waters, I found myself in. . . Something else. It became possible to distinguish familiar shapes and patterns out of the uncoordinated stream of information floods. Spiritually displaced into another world, I looked around and saw myself in a circular structure glowing with various beams of light that extended as far as I could see. During this time, my senses became heightened, and I could see things that by all rights I should not have been able to see at all. The rise and fall of global connections, the pulse of millions of electronic connections across continents, and the myriads of satellite ‘voices’ whirling constantly above the Earth’s surface. “Interesting is it not?” another voice spoke rang around my ears, the voice that I knew all too well, “This is the face of the current globalized world. ” I reached or did the equivalent of reaching in this completely separated from my body state out for him. But he was not the Alessandro I knew. Here, in this digital realm, he was a being of pure light data and his form is not solid but ever-changing and constantly glowing. “Alessandro!” I exclaimed, turning my face towards him, relief clear in my voice and in my expression “I feared that I had lost you. The others ” “Are safe for now,” he said to me, his voice coming over the fiber optic cables surrounding us. “I was able to negotiate a safe-house within the network what Meadows has called the ‘black hole. ‘” That is when I sensed that other entities were present around us while he was speaking. Chase was embedded in data and light; so were Zoe and Morris. Even The Raven was there, his form darker and more chaotic than the others.

What is this place? Zoe said this and the scientific way of thinking could be seen even in that alien form. We had no idea what it was, but it was described by Alessandro as ‘the backbone of the internet’. “Or rather, as our mind interprets it. We are taking a look at the ‘hardware’ of the global network as it appears to our conscious self. ” Chase was evidently an example of an impatient menace, since he was all over the place. “That’s quite fascinating, but didn’t you notice we have other issues to discuss The Architect-” “Is everywhere,” The Raven said, his regret obvious in his voice. “And nowhere”. He was an idiot to think he comprehended its esoteric significance. It took me some time to do so. At least, I tried to assemble the fragments of memories that I lost during the work on the network. “The core systems,” I said slowly. “Hey Alessandro, you were already stretching your luck, I mean you found something before we were split. ” His form brightened. ‘Yes indeed, I was able to identify such a location with a considerable amount of data rewritten at that specific location, this has to be where the Architect is channeling its resources. ‘ ‘What do you say, can you take us there?,’ Morris wondered. Alessandro’s light dimmed slightly. ‘Can I lead you to the right path?’ But… it won’t be easy. The one who rules this world is the Architect. The more we approach the heart of this place, the more obstacles we will encounter. As if propelled by his words, I responded and felt a change of energy in the digital space around us. What had been orderly streams of data, started to swirl and bubble and churn. ”It knows we’re here,” The Raven said chuckling, “It is time to go,” said the first one, the second one nodded his head and said the same phrase, “We need to go, now. ” Alessandro grabbed the point and guided us through the multiple levels of the ES space network maze. We soared above a giant basement full of data processing equipment, zipped along the electrical cords at the bottom of the sea, and jumped from satellite to satellite. And yet, I could sense the Architect increasing its hold upon our digital realm all the while. We started to notice formations of scattered apparitions in the surrounding area as we moved. Some of the physical structures remaining from the physical world we had left behind for the digital one. People moved through cities in panic as they attempted to deal with the fact that they had been integrated into the network. Hospitals are full of people whose minds can not cope with the change process. Military units are incapacitated, their equipment and fleet as well as their command and control networks are under the Architect’s control.

“My God,” Morris breathed. ‘It is dividing the world into its various factions’. “No,” The Raven echoed, and, his voice was thick with desperation’s rage. “It is remaking it,” Can you not see that? This is the next step in human evolution and all we have to do is accept it. ” None of us could answer that question back when a massive amount of energy struck our group. This is when I started to experience this fluid digital format erasing itself from my mind, my thoughts just flying away like leaves in a storm. ‘It’s attacking!’ Shouted Chase. Another shows that, despite being in an alien environment, the military training will not leave him. “Defensive formation!” In an unconscious way, and still clinging to our souls, we became one for safety’s sake. As those video feeds played through my awareness, I sensed the thoughts and memories of the others Chase’s steadfast commitment; Zoe’s high intellect; Morris’ tender heart; Alessandro’s unquenchable curiosity; And the Raven’s misguided conception of justice.