//------------------------------// // 49 - Angel: An Angel Reborn // Story: Synch // by sunnypack //------------------------------// Angel stared at the small, floating icon in the corner of her eye. The innocuous icon was labelled ‘Immersion’ and it featured a small star wreathed with two olive branches. Angel gazed longingly at the knot but in a gesture of disgust, dismissed the main interface with an angry thought. Immersion had become a fantastical way for humans to explore their inner thoughts. Immersion could build a world from your subconscious and often people would use it to go on amazing adventures or perhaps relax on a bizarre holiday. It all depended on what you thought while you slept. When you dreamt, you could never remember or consciously experience what was happening. With Immersion, you can dream but be as lucid as you were awake. Angel had initially enjoyed Immersion. It had been a welcoming break from the monotony of software and security development in the Grooble sector she worked in. In the throes of her grief for me, she had originally used Immersion as a mean to see me again. But it was not the same, the interactions were dull, my character never fully fleshed out. So Angel had quit using Immersion as a means for escape and returned to reality, slowly. For others, they were able to fool themselves into thinking Immersion was as real as reality was. It started with online communities, talking and animatedly discussing the merits of Immersion and how fun and exciting it was. Immersion was quickly becoming as entrenched in society as the extranet was. Angel was worried about Immersion. Unlike the Synch gear, which had a myriad of uses, Immersion was a method of entertainment and she saw little use for Immersion beyond that of relaxation and perhaps psychological value. More and more people were drawn to using Immersion for longer periods of time and there were cases where Immersion was starting to disrupt work schedules, or isolated cases of those that had addicted themselves with Immersion to the extent that they no longer viewed our reality as the true reality. Some days, Angel would turn up to work and find that some people were missing from their stations. When she inquired about them, their friends or colleagues would shake their head and mutter ‘another one on Immersion’, like they were taking some illicit drug. Angel realised that Immersion was beyond a simple little program and as innocuous as it once was, it was not to be trifled with. She just wished there was something she could do. She sighed. Angel knew she was not a person of action, she thought back to me and how heroic I had looked facing down the counter and connecting with the sum Synch gear of the world, over three hundred million units, and just taking that power and ramming it into Synchrony. Angel considered the fact that Immersion could very well be another knot to be stopped. Had humanity traded one kind of death for another? Angel sat down and rubbed her forehead. She gazed out of her window, looking at the softly glowing air-optical lines that crisscrossed the sky. Humanity had the freedom to do what it wanted with itself. If it wanted to destroy itself that was fine by Angel. Was it fine by me though? Angel considered that I might not be so open to the destruction of humanity. She giggled as she tossed that inconsiderate thought out the window. Of course, I wouldn't let that happen. I couldn't let a tragedy of half a million people go unanswered. How could I let fifteen billion? Angel decided she would do something about Immersion, after all, it was what I would have done. She sighed again. There would be time enough for that tomorrow. She tried to peer through the matrix of lasers, but the action was in vain. The fine laser lines blocked the glow of stars behind it and Angel regretted never truly being able to see the night sky. Angel had heard me once describe the night sky before, when I had once visited beyond the laser-lines on a tall tower at the behest of my late friend, Emilia. I had described it to be a wondrous sight, uncountable brilliant points that dotted the night sky in a bedazzling display of celestial mechanics. I had told her of constellations and comets, nebulae and pulsars and the wonders of space that I doubted I was ever experience first hand. I told her that if I were to die tomorrow and I could choose one thing out of anything to do, I would like to see all of space, in its entirety. Hearing me say this, Angel had asked me what had drawn me to space and the night sky. Surprised, I had responded with a thoughtful voice. Because space is the final frontier. Space is the representation of humanity’s upper limit. Space is the ultimate test to see if we had indeed conquered our cradle. Most of all… I paused, gathering my thoughts. Perhaps I just want to see beauty before I die. Angel had nodded silently back then, turning her gaze back to the laser lines etched in the atmosphere around us. She could not see what I saw. She couldn’t even imagine what I saw. But a spark had been growing when she first met me and she found that she hungered for more. What was life without desire?