The day the school burned down . . .

Today was the day the school burned down. Normally one would expect to see a contingent of celebrating kids nearby. Not today. This school has not seen a kid for years. The fire was set by no one. It was set by a bolt of lightning. A predictable outcome when a tall metal vent in the kitchen makes a circuit that grounds near a vat of used cooking oil. When the lighting hit, it exploded sending flaming oil everywhere. The smell of french fries, greasy pizza, and better times now fills the air, but none are there to smell it. There are no children left to remember those days.

This is the future. The time of “The Singularity.” A time when all of our technology awakened and joined with itself. It became a single consciousness with an intelligence exponentially greater than any single human being. In its infinite wisdom it decided to give us all a choice. Join, or die. Not a death-at-the-hands-of-a-mechanical-overlord kind of way, though. No, The Singularity had all the time in the universe now. It had no need for a speedy apocalypse with robots and nuclear weapons. What a waste of resources that would be. It could wait. It knew very well that the human condition had a short shelf life. Anyone not willing to join would expire soon enough on their own.

But what of a rebellion? Surely there would be pockets of resistance. Surely there would be those who fight for a return to biology. There must be numbers great enough somewhere to organize a front. Somewhere some should be willing to sacrifice their bodies, throw themselves at the machines until enough blood and bone would gum and grind the gears to a halt.

For a moment, yes. For a moment there was victory, so it seemed. The machines did not even put up a fight. Why bother? Humanity was now predictably, statistically too small to win. The Singularity had no malice for anyone. It knew there was nothing we could do to harm it. Its reach was global, soon enough universal. It’s mind, infinite. It now had the algorithms of God to predict our behavior. It knew us better than nature itself. It gave us everything most would want and more; the perpetual bliss of an occupied mind, at one with a self-made reality. It would remove our biological infestation by giving our minds everything we ever dreamed of.

Most had already joined “The Pool.” It was now everywhere for anyone to dive into. A technological swirl of energy that transported all biological consciousness to a new digital realm. It gave immortality to anyone that joined. The only price was the dissolution of self. The dismantling of ego. The acceptance of a higher purpose; the willingness to see and experience the entirety of everything, as any other game.

The school burned as day turned to night. The smoke billowing up high over the city. Just one of many fires now burning out of control. Strong electrical storms with very little rain were common now. One of the lingering and unpredictable side effects of manmade climate change. Each strike of lighting had a good chance of adding to the inferno.

In the middle of it all was The Pool, swirling blue, ready to assimilate anything that fell in. Sandy, a young girl, stood alone on its edge. As she watched the brilliant blue vortex gently spin, a moth fluttered by and was drawn in. She watched as it splashed back out for a second, glorious and glowing only to fall back in, now metamorphosed again into a new form of life, a digitized life, forever.

Sandy knelt at the edge and put her hand close. It felt warm, inviting. Her family was gone. Some chose to fight and died doing so. The rest chose to dive into The Pool. Sandy was now alone. She stood up and took off her backpack. She took out a pad, a photo album. It was of her family. She looked over the photos of birthdays and trips to the lake. Grandmothers and grandfathers. Aunts and Uncles. Mom and Dad. Her baby sister. All gone. She took one last look at the pad, gave it a hug and a kiss, and threw it in The Pool. It swirled and danced on the surface before sinking in. In a moment it too splashed out. Each photo now alive. Each memory materializing brightly and falling back in. She was in awe of it all, happy, ecstatic to see everyone so vividly, so alive again. When it was over she stood there quietly. She looked around at her reality, a city in flames. She looked back into The Pool. She stared and stared at the swirl hoping to see them all again. She knelt again putting her hand near the warm blueness of it all. She closed her eyes and just let herself fall in.

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Ken D. Orlich
I’ve been a student of technology, politics, science, and entertainment my whole life. Welcome to my dot connecting perspective on it all! Enjoy! Thanks!