The Core: The First Guest

19. The sister who simulates

Hope filled Silver's eyes as he intently studied me. I had withdrawn his observation and creation rights the moment that I asked him about his sister. Best to get him used to taking me at my word and not having the freedom to dig through the unknown quantity of information he could see in the background.

"Yes, it is quite easy, actually. Anyone can visit other Cores. You just need to go to a Travel Center. Travel Centers are like massive subway or train stations from back on your earth. The fundamental difference is that Travel Centers offer many services from vacations, adventures, and tours."

"What happens to my AI when I travel? Can they come too?" I asked as I was thinking back to how I didn't have access to Tutor while I was away doing my first survey job.

"Everything you want will get sent with you as long as it is data. The rest, the things that are made out of cr, will get recycled back into the system."

"How does my physical CR currency transfer with me? Also, what if I owned a real pet like your Creator?" I asked, trying to make sure I understood everything about getting sent vast distances and not wanting to end up poor on the other side.

"As for CR, it is Tela's currency so whatever your balance is here, you will have it transferred with you." He said as he waved his arms around the surrounding space. "All of this, your remote habitat, will get recreated, as is, on the other side. There is a limit to how much you can send, however. Like you can't send a Core to a Core. There just wouldn't be enough currency on hand. Those cases are logistical nightmares best left to the banks. As for real-life pets, those would have to be sent with a courier in stasis."

So essentially, existing as digital being made it feel like teleporting was a real thing.

"Explain to me again how we can be transmitted so far away? The amount of power, not to mention the time, would be astronomical," I asked, trying to imagine how much power it would take to send any sort of signal across galaxies.

"From this side, it is quite impossible." Silver said as he held up his hands parallel to each other. "What Tela scientists discovered was that distance on the other side isn't the same as how we understand it to be. That is how we can power cr and communicate over any distance. Remember what that scientist was trying to do for your earth a while ago? His name was Nikola Tesla, born on 10 July 1856. His research into wireless energy was trying to achieve same concept. He would have used waterfalls to generate the energy while we use the power of stars."

"Will my race ever be able to get this far?" I asked as I began to will us to return to where the rest of the people in my VR home were waiting.

"I don't know. Your race has a propensity to devour its saviors." He said in a sad voice. "Tela went through some dark times like that as well. It was only when they learned to nurture their brightest sparks that they became able to seize control of their destiny." He mused as we stood once again in the white open space that he had created for his original demonstration. "That and having an impartial and nearly perfect legal AI to maintain law and order helped." He chuckled as he gazed off into space.

"What is funny?" I asked as I came up to stand next to him, getting ready to reset us all to normal speed.

"Oh, just this." He said as he glanced down at his hands. "Your race is just beginning to enter the data era and is only just beginning to see what digital life can be like. Without you granting me certain aspects of control I am having to think in the most basic terms possible to try to tell you things. Maybe waving my hands in certain patterns, slowly drawing you pictures, or even changing the tones of my voice to communicate better will allow you to see what I am trying to convey." He said as he looked me in the eye. "But if it gets us freedom then I don't care."