A Wonderful World

Judgement

I was shaken awake. My head jerked up to see the cold stare. He had jet black hair, streaked with tufts of white. There was nothing pleasant in his eyes, and it was obvious he was not in a happy state. He had pronounced dark pigments under his eyes cracked white-pink lips. I involuntarily struggled only to realize I was still tethered by my seatbelt.

"Oh, what are humans doing here??" he asked.

He sounded angry.

"Oh, we're here to help you figure out the energy crisis." I said, quite pleased with my ingenuity.

"Oh no, this is not good." he muttered to himself. "Not good, NOT GOOD."

I unbuckled my seatbelt and suddenly he yelled.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE."

I stayed so still I didn't breathe. Ruby was stirring from the loud noise. I wanted to warn her but didn't dare move a muscle. Like slow-motion I saw Ruby stretch her arms and yawn. I moved my eyeballs to look at the man and he was staring at Ruby like a hawk. As their eyes met, she jumped and yelped only to be held back by the seatbelt.

"You, boy put back on your seatbelt." he said.

I buckled my seatbelt. This was the genius that created this self-sufficient world. The man that found a way to automate even humans. He removed the need for law enforcement, healthcare, and virtually all workers. He was scary.

"My name is ZhongYuan." he started. "I was a hostage in the silicon war. I was the lead researcher of the Futr Technologies that was surpassing all of the competition in the virtual reality business. We just wanted to make an escape world for those that lost the ability to live normally."Both Ruby and I remained silent as he was explaining.

"After the war was over," ZhongYuan continued, "within months the Chinese government decided to use our technology on the new universe Andromeda. Another company was working on Dark Energy harvesting to activate wormholes. It was an unbelievable success, and the Dark Space Adventure headset was mass-produced."

I nodded my head as he was saying all this, and Ruby followed suit. Still, we both said nothing.He continued. "I was the one that came up with the class systems. The original plan to was use the mind-control software for everyone one the planet. That way there would never be a need for human-created conflicts like war or crime. This planet was to be used to store the excess humans from Earth, to serve as a backup plan when Earth's atmosphere would finally give up. I at least wanted some hope of humanity so I created the entry level class. They were subjugated to rural lifestyles but they would still have their free will."

He paced around for a few seconds.

"Why did you two really come here?" he asked.

Ruby remained silent, and I answered. "We really did come to address the energy crisis. Specifically the windmills in the entry level city. Why can't they also use the electricity?"

Zhongyuan made an unpleasant noise. "So it was a mistake to give them free will. Giving the entry level more technology would just open up the inevitable quality of humans to own everything. They will create more tools, more automation, and more war. They won't stop until they find another universe to take over!"

"Then.." I said. "what are we going to do with the people that want the change? We came here from our own free will, what will stop others from doing that too?"

"I'm still baffled how you got here." Zhongyuan said. "I've input multiple layers to prevent major uprisings. Besides if anyone managed to make it to the upper city, they would succumb to the mind control software. Even after that, they wouldn't be able to find this place underground. I can't figure it out."

"I came here when I was 25 years old." I responded.

"Aha!" cried Zhongyuan. "Of course! That is the only way this could have happened. You skipped the registration phase that hid the software download into your headset."

Zhongyuan reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. I stared at the muzzle and couldn't move. Time was slowing down.

He cocked the gun. "Then you are the exception. If you are gone, then this planet can go on forever."

A bead of sweat was visible on Zhongyuan's temple. He looked uncomfortable holding a gun. "I was sent here alone to create this planet's infrastructure. As thanks for being the leader of the software that made this possible, I was sent to an unknown universe. I had to establish a base, resource extraction, and robot automation. I've been a hostage to this grasp of humanity all of my life. Please say a prayer for me."

Zhongyuan pointed the gun under his own jaw towards his head and pulled the trigger. The shot reverberated in the cavern with a loud boom, coupled with Ruby's shriek and my gasp of surprise. Ruby quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and clung onto me. I embraced her and we just sat in silence as the gunshot echoed over and over. I wished peace to the genius.