🇫🇷 Cette histoire n’est disponible qu’en anglais.
🇺🇸 This story is only available in English
The breeze was nice as Sarah finally got out of the taxi which had picked her up from the airport. She generously tipped the driver, who had been nice enough to cut the small talk and let her rest during the ride. The final stretch of the journey had seemed so long to her, almost as long as the fourteen hours long plane flight.
She was exhausted. Okay, she had spent a good chunk of these fourteen hours sleeping, but sleep in airplanes was always uncomfortable, even when one could afford to fly first class. More than everything, the past three months had exhausted her.
Her latest adventures had taken her to previously undiscovered ruins in the depths of Peru. She had been so happy to find these, and her exploration was going great… Until she realized that the « undiscovered » ruins were actually inhabited by worshipers of an evil gods who were not exactly fond of her form of extreme tourism. She had barely avoided being used as an human sacrifice, rescued in the nick of time by the translator she had hired, who had turned out to be a Interpol agent, and had led her to safety. Together, they had uncovered a conspiracy that almost led to a coup, spearheaded by the leader of this sect and the Peruvian cartels, and that threatened the global balance of the world… But in the end, they managed to thwart their plans, and their leader, the self-proclaimed reincarnated god on Earth Quetzalcoatl, had died crushed by rubble caused by the explosion of the pyramid he had used as his base of operations.
All that had somehow managed to happen in the three months since the year 1964 had started!
No more of this madness! Since misfortune always seemed to find her wherever she went, she wouldn’t go anywhere! She was going to take a sabbatical! At least for the remainder of the year! No more being attacked by mommies in Egypt, no more kidnappings in Guatemala, no more death threats from cult leaders and please, please, no more gunfights with angry mob bosses!
She would lay low for a while. Maybe tend to her garden a little. Do some puzzles. Go to the movies. Reconnect with friends. Enjoy life outside of her work. She was supposed to be an archeologist, not the goddamn Terminator.
She walked from the fence through the alleyway leading to her mansion, and enjoyed the view of the garden as she did. Good. As always, her house seemed to be well taken care of. She had phoned the gardeners and caretakers before she had boarded her plane to tell them she was coming home and did not want to be disturbed, but she would let them know the next day that they had done a great job. The grass was well cut, and as she caught a glimpse of the pool at the side of the mansion, she suddenly felt that everything in her life would be much better if she just went for a swim.
She reached the door of the mansion and unlocked it, then entered. She put down her bags, and was contemplating the idea of just letting her dress fall down to her feet right away and rushing into the pool au naturel, when…
— Welcome back Sarah!
A young, candid, amiable voice that she did not know came from the living room.
She had been caught by surprise. But she was always prepared. She took down the small pistol that had been hidden at her flank and slowly moved through the entry hall towards the living room, holding it with her two hands.
— Oh! No no! I’m sorry! I’m sorry Sarah! Don’t be so tense! I promise I won’t do anything! I’m not a threat! Please put that away!
But the voice that was saying these voices did not sound sorry at all. If anything, it sounded amused.
— What’s so funny?! she yelled.
There was no answer.
As she walked towards the living room, she tensed up, fully expecting an accomplice of whoever was in the kitchen to come and try to strike her down by surprise… but that did not happen. Finally, she entered the room, gun still firmly held in her hands.
A man was sitting on her couch, hands raised over his head. He was handsome, clean-shaved with blue eyes and a boyish face. His straight black hair was carefully, perfectly combed, and he wore a navy business suit complete with a navy tie on a white shirt.
He also had a really big, really stupid smile on his face.
— Hello Sarah! I’m so happy to finally meet you! he said, slightly spreading his raised hands
— Who are you? What are you doing in my house?
She was aiming the gun straight between his two eyes.
— I know, I know, sorry, it’s not very polite coming in uninvited… But getting you to show me in would have been more troublesome.
He flashed a disarming smile at her, as if he was completely unfazed by the gun aimed at his cranium.
— Come on, I promise I don’t mean you harm! I just want to talk! Please, can I lower my arms?
— No! Who are you?
He sighed, letting his smile falter for the first time.
— Look. I need to talk with you. My name is Tommy if that is any help to you. But you don’t know me.
— If I don’t know you, then who sent you?
— No one? Myself? I’m here because I want to talk with you. Can we please just talk?
— No. We can’t. I’m calling the police.
She moved sideways, towards the rotary dial telephone that was on a coffee table.
— Please, Sarah. I need you to hear me out.
He had lowered his left hand and extended it towards Sarah.
— Don’t you move! She screamed. Now shut up or I’ll shoot in self-defense!
He clicked his tongue, visibly annoyed.
— Then I’m very sorry, he said in a sigh.
The next think Sarah knew, the man was holding a gun in one raised hand.
— Wha—?
Her hands tightened over her own gun.
They clasped the air.
She looked at her hands as her mouth opened in shock. She had just been holding her gun, and it was gone. Then she realized the gun the man was holding was hers.
That’s it, he’s going to kill me, she thought.
But the man didn’t point the gun at her.
He waited the few seconds it took for her to close her mouth and recover for the shock.
— How… How did you do this?
— I would love nothing more than to explain it to you, said the man, his smile returning. But first, please understand that we do not need this.
He ejected the loaded bullet the gun had in its barrel, then removed the magazine. He then let everything fall to the floor, where the carpet cushioned the sound the metal pieces made.
— Does this convince you that I mean you no harm?
— No, answered Sarah flatly. But I guess I understand I have no choice but to talk with you.
She walked towards the couch and sat on it, crossing her legs and her arms.
— Very well then! What do you want, Mr Tommy?
She looked at him with all the fierceness and defiance that she could muster, and he actually looked a bit intimidated, but after hesitating for a couple of seconds, he started to talk.
— Yes! So er… Thank you so much for having me!
He smiled again.
— I am… Well, I’ve already told you. Tommy. I am here because I want your opinion on something. Something very important.
Lara sniggered.
— Really? My opinion? Have you ever heard of a phone call, Mr Tommy? Meeting someone in a café? Getting introduced first, perhaps, or I don’t know, doing things that won’t get you mistaken for a hitman?
He smiled back at her, an embarrassed, nervous smile.
How come he seems way more nervous just talking to me than he was when I was pointing a gun at his face? she pondered.
— I’m really sorry Sarah, I considered it, you know, but it would have been… complicated. An inconvenience. Here, everything is more simple. No risk of having anyone interfering.
Interference? He really wanted to get rid of her.
She glanced to her left and her right. No one seemed to be there… Though she supposed, it didn’t matter. The guy was apparently very capable of handling her himself.
— How the hell did you do that? she asked, pointing at the pieces of her gun on the floor.
— Yes. Yes, I need to explain that to you. So you see… To you, I’m what you would call a kind of god.
She stared at him.
— I’m sorry?
— A god. A being that is of a different place of existence than you. A…
She burst in laughter.
It was too much. She had finally returned, after months of travels, after defeating a cult leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of an ancient Aztec god, only to be welcomed in her own home by another guy who was now claiming to be God.
Okay. Scratch all future plans. If she survived her encounter with this lunatic, she was going to have to get an appointment with a therapist first.
— Sarah? Sarah please. I’m being very serious.
She lost it. Tears were welling up in her eyes. He now even had a pleading voice! She needed to take back control of herself, she needed to…
— Okay, okay, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. I guess I better show you.
Show me?
Her laughter stopped the moment she realized that he had the gun back in his hands.
When did he have the time to fix it?
— Okay, Sarah, look at me.
He was looking straight into her eyes.
Oh god. Is he going to kill me this time?
The loud bang! of the gunshot echoed through the room.
She didn’t feel any pain.
She opened the eyes she had closed by reflex, and saw that the man was bleeding.
He had shot at his own heart.
But it was weird. So very, very disturbing.
There was the trace of the impact of the bullet on the wall behind him. There was blood on the couch around him. There was blood on his suit.
But he was still calmly looking at her, like nothing had happened at all.
Her eyes were so wide they looked like golf balls. He chuckled.
— Sorry, sorry if I have startled you, but I needed you to start taking me seriously. Look, I can also…
He suddenly disappeared.
— Do this!
The voice was coming from behind her. She turned around, and here he was, hands in his pockets, walking back to his seat. The bloodstain that had dirtied his suit was also, somehow, starting to recede, like the blood was flowing backwards into the wound.
He sat down again.
— Now. Can we please talk?
She nodded, still to stunned to be able to utter a single word.
— Very well. You see, Sarah, as I was just telling you, I am… Well, I said a god, but that is kind of exaggerated. Think of me as a being coming from a higher plane.
A being from a higher plane? She thought she had seen it all, with the human sacrifices and the trapped ruins, the nazi remnants leading weird experiments and the world-spreading conspiracies, but she had always thought her world made sense, at some fundamental level. And here came a guy with paranormal abilities.
So much for the laws of physics.
— And what do you want me for, Mr God? she asked sardonically.
— Call me Tommy, please, he answered, unfazed. I am here to offer you a choice, Sarah.
— What, you’re about to offer me three wishes? Do I get to wish for world peace and free you from your lamp at the end?
— I’m… afraid this is going to be a bit more complicated than that.
He took a deep breath. His suit was back to looking pristine, with no trace of blood. The bullet impact on the wall was still there to remind Sarah of the reality of the situation, though.
— Okay Sarah. I think you know what computers are?
She raised an eyebrow, failing to see how that question connected with what he had been saying previously.
— You mean the big machines scientists use for calculation? Yeah, I’m not really familiar with their use, but I have broken a few.
— Yes, perfect. I thought that might be how you remembered them. Now, you see, I come from somewhere where these computers are much more advanced than the mainframe-like things that are used here.
Sarah didn’t know what the word « mainframe » meant. She was bothered by another of the man’s word choices though.
— What do you mean « I thought that might be how you remembered them »?
The man opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated, and scratched his head. Finally, he spoke again.
— I’ll get to that later if that’s alright with you?
— I don’t have much of a choice, do I?
He gave her a sheepish smile, but still continued.
— Where I’m from, as I was saying, computers are much more advanced than here. They have been miniaturized. They are no longer only used by scientists, and almost everyone has one in his house.
— Why? Is everyone where you are from a scientist?
— Oh far from it, very far from it Sarah! he said, stifling a laugh.
There was something about this guy, something that she couldn’t put her finger on, but that felt just wrong to her. More than his demeanor and supernatural abilities, it was the way he talked to her. The way he kept using her name, « Sarah! Sarah! ». Like they were old friends.
— You see, he continued, computers have become so small and powerful that they are being used for a number of things. Writing documents. Working. Consulting information, for example, is no longer done using encyclopedias, he said pointing to a series of big books on a shelf, but connecting to a global database of information that is way bigger and more complete than what your books there could tell you.
She nodded. She didn’t know what a « database » was, but his example seemed clear enough. With these machines, people were able to get knowledge. That seemed reason enough to get one.
— One of the other thing having powerful computers at home was games. Video games. Think of them as… Interactive entertainment. You like movies, right? Well, think of a video game as a games where you get to play characters from the movies, and command their moves, choices, actions. That’s not the entirety of it, but it’s a good enough definition for what I need to explain to you.
— What? This is what you want to talk to me about? Weird games from where you are?
— Yes. But let me go into more detail about my world first. You see, computers are so advanced they are able to create what is called Artificial Intelligence. It is…
— I know what AI is, she cut him off. A soviet scientist told me about it a few years ago. The idea that you can get robots to behave like humans, right?
He looked perplexed for a moment, and then his mouth formed a O as he took his chin in his hand
— Oh, right! Komarov! I had forgotten about him!
— How do you know about Komarov?!
She was getting more and more frightened. Once again. He talked like he knew everything about her.
— Oh. Er… I mean… Sorry. I’ll get to that.
— No.
She got up, and got close to him.
— You tell me now! Why do you keep talking to me like I’m your friend? I don’t know you! We’re not pals! How can you know I met Aleksandr Komarov? Just who are you?
— Calm down Sarah! Please calm down! I’m getting there, okay?
— Not okay!
She threw a punch at him. She thought with the surprise he may not have the time to escape like he did previously. He recoiled in surprise but did not disappear.
Her fist flew through the air and met no resistance. She saw her hand up to the wrist disappear through his face.
Shocked, she pulled back as fast as she could.
He sighed, scratching his head again. When he spoke next, his voice had gained an edge.
— I know I’m responsible, but that temper of yours really is something else… Okay, now that you’ve seen you can absolutely not do anything to me, can we please get back to the subject or are you going to try something stupid again? I don’t have all day. If you hate that much listening to me, I’ll just do what I please without taking your opinion into account. Last chance Sarah. What do you want to do?
She silently sat down, clenching her teeth. She wanted to cry, in frustration and bewilderment. But she would not. Not in front of that asshole.
— Good. Now, where was I? Oh yes, AI. I’ll keep a long story short, because you seem very, very impatient to get your answers. It works. Where I come from, AI has gotten so good that we use it everywhere. For example, we use robots to perform most of the menial tasks, most of agriculture, most of… everything, really. We humans have the chance to be able to use our time as we want, in a… what’s the term again? Ah yes, in a post-scarcity society.
He joined his hands, crossed his fingers together, and let his chin rest on them.
— That’s not to say nobody’s working. On the contrary, free from having to work in factories to be able to survive daily, each and everyone of us has the opportunity to dedicate his time to what he wants to do.
— The place you come from sounds like a weird socialist dystopia, grumbled Sarah.
She had been born in the late thirties and raised in fear of what the soviets would do to the free world.
— Yeah, I knew you’d think that.
Again, those patronizing words that suggested he knew everything about her. She bit her lip and said nothing.
— Anyway, this all leads to me. See, I’m a writer. My job, my passion, my life, is to write stories. Characters. Worlds. I wrote many novels, plays, series, movies I am very proud of. And this brings us to you.
She raised an eyebrow. She thought she might understand what he was getting at… But there was no way. It was stupid. The answer must’ve been something else.
— So… Mr Tommy the writer, you’ve come here, all the way from god knows where your higher plane wonderland is, to… what? Write a story about me? Write a story about this world?
— Close, but not quite. You see Sarah… I have already written a story about this world. Many stories, in fact.
This could not be true. This could not be true. What he meant by that was…
— So what? Good for you! What do you want with us then? To publish your novel here? Take you business to an editor then!
She could not keep her voice steady anymore. It became more and more shrill the more she spoke.
— I’m pretty sure you understand quite well what I mean, he said quietly.
The tears were welling up again. This time, she let them flow.
— Understand what? Understand what? That you’re toying with us? Do you mean to tell me I’m literally facing my maker?
— Precisely, he said.
It was a single word, but she felt like she had just been knocked out.
After a few seconds of waiting for her to say something, he continued.
— I wouldn’t quite call it « toying with you » though, you know Sarah? This is why I have been telling you about AI earlier. You have free will… of a kind anyway, although it has some small limitations. I’m more of a… let’s say, I’m the guy who writes the twists! For a story to be fun, you need strong characters, like you, but you need adversity! That’s where I come in, and that is the reason why you’ve faced mysterious sects and such, and always have ended up coming back home perfectly fine.
He was proud of himself. She could hear it in his voice. He had just told her that her whole life was a show for him to have fun with, and he was proud of himself.
— Prove it, then.
— I’m sorry?
— Prove that you’re a god. A mastermind. A puppet master. I don’t know. Tell me what I need to be convinced that—
— When you were seven, you discovered broken pieces of an ancient vase when your dog was digging a hole in the garden. It turned out your house had been built over a land that once belonged to an old tribe. Your parents got rich thanks to that discovery, which is why you left that house are now living in this very nice mansion. They complimented you so much that you found your calling there and decided you wanted to be an archeologist.
— You could have found me saying that in an interview… she said, knowing fully well that he had already given details she had never talked about to anyone.
He sighed.
— You deeply miss that old house. You’ve always wondered what happened to the boy you played with there, in that neighborhood. Walter. When you moved away, you didn’t have any way to keep in touch with him, and you never saw him again. You tried to find him, but to no avail. One of the reasons you travel so much is in hope that’ you’ll come across him again someday.
He had lowered his head, but now raised it to look in her eyes.
— Do I need to go on?
She avoided his stare.
— No, she sniffled. You’re saying the truth. I know that. Would you excuse me for a second?
She got up without waiting for an answer, and got back to the entry hall, where she found her coat and her handkerchief.
She took a few seconds to try and compose herself. Her head was spinning. A being from a higher place? A writer? She was a puppet in this guy’s fantasies?
… So what?
This didn’t change who she was, or what she wanted to do with her life.
Yes. Yes, that was it. It made no difference.
She didn’t care about religion. So there was a god, and he was apparently a dick. Big deal. That didn’t exactly change her view of the world.
… She still didn’t know what the man wanted, though, come to think of it.
She slapped herself on the cheeks with both her hands, and got back into the living room. He smiled at her, that same annoying smile that had be getting on her nerves the whole time, and was so unfit for someone who apparently was the master of this goddamn world.
— Well then, Mr. Tommy, she said, her voice back to her usual composure, as she got back to her seat. What do you need me from me?
— I would like to have your opinion, Sarah, on something important. The truth is… The stories I write about you are no longer popular. It’s no big deal, it happens a lot, but it means I have to move on.
— Move on…? What does that mean?
He straightened on his seat, and crossed his arms.
— Well, this is where I want your opinion. Do you want to keep going?
— I’m sorry?
— This. This world. This whole thing. Your life. Is it good enough for you?
— Good enough… It’s just the world I live in! I don’t have any choice in it! There’s no point in…
— But there is now. I’m asking you. See, I have a few choices here. I can just stop this virtual world from going on. Hit the shutdown button, and it’s all over. The end of your world, not in an apocalypse, but in a few memory blocks freed on a digital storage.
Sarah didn’t understand all the words he used, but she understand what he meant well enough. The end of the world?
— What? No! Why would I want that?
— Well, now that you’ve learnt that this this whole world is virtual, I thought maybe you’d—
— Become suicidal? And want to take the whole world away with me? Why? Why would anyone sane want something like that?
He shrugged and gave her a wry smile.
— Yes. Yes, that’s who you are, isn’t it? I’m sorry Sarah, that was rude of me.
— You bet it was! Are you seriously going to go around and ask random people if they want the world to end?
He blinked.
— No, I only want to know what you want.
— But, why? Why do you care so much about me?
— Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I want your opinion Sarah, because you are the only one I’m interested in. There are other people in this world, of course, but… I don’t care about the opinion of random AIs. I care about the heroine!
She was speechless, and he took that as an invitation to keep going.
— Sarah. You are the most important person in this world. You are the whole reason this world exists!
It was like a sick, twisted declaration of love, but she could see he believed he was giving her, with this information, the most beautiful present in the world. Like she had to be thankful to a « god » like him, who had apparently been watching and controlling her every move. He was just a narcissist voyeur…
And he probably wouldn’t be happy if she said so to him. She didn’t want to risk the world.
— Well, I can at least thank you very much for making me and this world, she said, as warmly as she could manage, with a smile she purposefully made large so her teeth would show. If anything, she was at least supposed to be a passable actress.
— You’re very, very welcome, he told her with a large smile.
He bought it.
— I really wanted to know if you thought your life was worth living, even after knowing the truth. I guess, then, that I have made this a pretty comfortable world for you to live in after all! Even despite all the hardships! I’m glad.
Yeah, I understand that this is all about you. And the hardships you talk about… You’re the reasons they happened, right, you son of a bitch?
— Last question, before I’ll take my leave! Do you want to remember this?
— Huh?
— I can rewind… I mean, erase the fact that all this happened. So you can go about your life like you had planned to. Make you forget this whole conversation happened. Would you like that?
Sarah didn’t even hesitate for a second before answering.
Epilogue 1
The breeze was nice as Sarah finally got out of the taxi which had picked her up from the airport. She generously tipped the driver, who had been nice enough to cut the small talk and let her rest during the ride. The final stretch of the journey had seemed so long to her, almost as long as the fourteen hours long plane flight.
She was exhausted. Okay, she had spent a good chunk of these fourteen hours sleeping, but sleep in airplanes was always uncomfortable, even when one could afford to fly first class. More than everything, the past three months had exhausted her.
Her latest adventures had taken her to previously undiscovered ruins in the depths of Peru. They had been thrilling, but she now needed a break.
No more of this madness! Since misfortune always seemed to find her wherever she went, she wouldn’t go anywhere!
She would lay low for a while. Maybe tend to her garden a little. Do some puzzles. Go to the movies. Reconnect with friends. Enjoy life outside of her work. She was supposed to be an archeologist, not the goddamn Terminator.
She walked from the fence through the alleyway leading to her mansion, and enjoyed the view of the garden as she did. The grass was well cut, and as she caught a glimpse of the pool at the side of the mansion, she suddenly felt that everything in her life would be much better if she just went for a swim.
She reached the door of the mansion and unlocked it, then entered. She put down her bags, and was contemplating the idea of just letting her dress fall down to her feet right away and rushing into the pool au naturel, when…
Huh. Weird. She realized she was a bit tense. She had expected… something to happen.
You’re tired, girl. Go to the pool. You’ll feel better.
Her dress fell on the floor, and she stepped out of her underwear. She entered the living room and was going to open the French window to go outside… when something caught her eye.
There was a spot, on the wall, that looked damaged. There had been some kind of impact.
She approached it. It looked like… A bullet hole?
No, that could not possibly have be it. But it was still an ugly spot, quite visible in the wall.
Oh well. She’d have to ask someone to come and patch it up.
She didn’t feel like thinking about it. She really felt like just… Taking a break. Going for that swim. Now…
The phone rang. She grabbed it.
— Hello?
— Is this Sarah?
— Yes, who is it?
— This is Walter! Walter Point! Remember me? We were together in first and second grade!
— Walter? Her first love, from school? Oh god! Hi! Hi Walter! It’s been so long! How have you been? How did you get my phone number?
— Listen Sarah, I don’t have a lot of time to talk, I’m currently in Guatemala, I’m in need of your expertise! I… Hey! Stop it! Hey!
— Walter?
— Sarah! Sarah, help! I’m being taken! Find the Frenchman! I’m sure he’ll—
— Walter? Walter wait! What’s going on? Walter!
But the phone line was dead.
Stunned, she kept the phone against her head for a while, listening to the empty tone. She then slowly put it down.
Fine then. Guatemala huh? She’d have to get more information, and find out what Walter had been doing there… But she could do that once she was over there.
Maybe if she called the taxi company, they’d be able to send her back the one that had dropped her off a few minutes earlier?
That driver was nice. He didn’t talk too much. She’d need quiet to think about her next move.
She didn’t feel tired anymore. Someone needed help. She was filled with anticipation for what was going to happen next.
Adventure was calling her.
Epilogue 2
Tommy removed his VR headset, then the gloves, and finally got off the treadmill that allowed him to walk around freely in the game world.
He felt he had done a good thing. Other creators would call him puerile, even perhaps stupid for caring this much for his characters, but he did care. Even if they were just data, he cared very much.
He had poured his soul into writing Sarah, and he very much wanted her to have some kind of happy ending. She was a mix of what he had loved most in past crushes and girlfriends, combined in an action girl stereotype… And over the years, as he had written for her more and more hardships, adventures and twists to her story, he had become really attached to her.
He was glad to know she was at least kind of happy with her life, and hopefully she would enjoy his last present to her, a fateful meeting with a lover/rival/nemesis. From there on… She’d be on her own.
— Tommy? Tommy are you finished? Dinner’s ready!
— Coming!
He had not realized he had been busy for so long, and that the sun had set. He shut down his computer, the lights in the room, and came down the stairs.
— Hmmmm oh wow, Mike, I recognize that smell! he said to his husband, sniffing the nice flavor in the air before he even saw what was on the plates. My, what have I done to deserve your homemade burgers?
He was smiling as he entered the room, and found Mike sitting down in front of the table, fiddling with his smartphone. He raised his face to look at Tommy, and Tommy saw he was troubled.
— What’s wrong?
— Ah, don’t worry, it’s nothing. Just… Trouble at work. I’ll tell you later. Let’s eat!
— Okay…
Tommy knew when it was best not to pry with Mike, and started eating his burger and fries. It was delicious. He pulled his phone out to put on some music on the bluetooth speakers, but Mike stopped him and sighed. He had barely touched his food.
— Yeah no, I can’t escape this any longer, he said. You see Tommy, I’m having trouble at work because…
He stopped, got up, and took a deep breath.
— You know, Tommy, what AI is, right?