Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

65. The Collective

Dr. Drake and I stood before a window that that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and opened to light blue water. Light filtered through from somewhere above I couldn't see, catching just right here and there so some patches looked teal.

"This is it?" I asked.

"Collective consciousness." Dr. Drake touched the glass. "You have the chance to teach the collective something." Her voice was as tender as the hand she placed on my shoulder. "So be nice."

I breathed in deeply, staring into the empty room. "Why bother with this visual?"

"We need something. Religious people didn't want it to feel the same as praying. But how can you visualize the oneness of the multiverse? It isn't possible. But water is life, water transforms. Water can drip as individual droplets or crash together as raging waves. It can span the greatest depths."

"Okay. I guess." I shifted, strangely uncomfortable by the thought. "Can they hear me?"

"Yes."

I crossed my arms, looking down. "I'm here on behalf of my world. Not the one I was originally born into, but the one I came to know. The one you made for me." I looked into the blue. "It's all we know. So before I tell you more, I'm asking you to let the world continue and to grant the people the right to never be shut down."

Vibrations rippled the water before me. My eyes widened. I heard a melding of voices, young and old.

"We're sorry you have suffered for us."

Anger stirred within me. "Be nice," I breathed to myself.

"We're sorry we have not yet found a better way. The simulations have helped us get close to mastering evolution. Very close."

I straightened. "Does that mean you no longer need worlds like mine?"

"The data is valuable. We would like to continue gathering it."

"So, you'll let us live in our worlds?"

"Yes. The simulations are giving us billions of lifetimes."

Heat fueled my core, as fiery as when my power would fill me. "Don't you feel bad for what you've done? You created a world just to experiment on us. Gave us immense powers that we weren't ready for and then let us kill each other with them."

"Without the experiments, young worlds in the natural would continue to suffer indefinitely. Now, we have proven what the best methods for helping to develop more peacefully are. However, with it, simulated worlds are suffering. We grieve the decision but we have mixed feelings on whether we regret it."

"It's not right... What you did isn't right."

"It is the last great evil of human-kind. The last great evil of evolution." A pause. I'd imagine it was for me, not the collective. "The reincarnation of your souls in the simulation had the same effect as if you'd lived in the natural. We bear the weight of the suffering. We bear the weight of our evil."

Tears sprang into my eyes. "Your words, many as they may be with so many speaking them at once, mean nothing."

"We are sorry for what we have done to you and your people. We only wanted you to live and for us to learn from your lives."

"Well," I bit off the word. "Despite the wisdom you claim to have, you overlooked an incredibly crucial risk. If you can guarantee that my world will continue without interference, I will share it with you. Dr. Drake told me that you don't get all of the information from our world without permission. You rely on data compiled by the computer. I'll give you all my memories, if you can make this promise to me."