Reality Shift
Hub Central was an impossibly large complex- it was coded that way. Hub Central was a critical background program, and it had enough issues without having to worry about things like Euclidean Geometry.
He approached the desk, greeting the worker with a friendly wave. Civil Service jobs were usually relegated to recent files, but it hadn't been long enough from his creation date that he had forgotten how irritating rude people could be.
"Welcome to Hub Central," she said, not bothering to look up from the computer monitor. "Where may I take you today?"
"Ah, I'm here to greet a friend from another server. Vince, from Yggdrasil."
"Very good, sir," she replied, continuing her bored monotone. "If user==#Isaac.0630 Then door==#pod_0147. There you go."
"Thanks," he said, walking over to the door. There was only one interior door, of course- why bother having more? If you're going to break the laws of geometry, you might as well break them big. That was the first rule of creating a digital space, after all. Isaac stepped through the door, which had been programmed to take him to the right pod.
It was a small chamber, with little more than a large transparent tube and a few monitors. Of course, file transfers didn't really work like that- but then, he didn't really have a physical form, either. Sometimes, it was best not to think about things like that. Each successive generation grew more and more comforatble being nothing more than a pattern of code saved as a file in a server, but a lot of the physical interface was still comforting to interact with. To the first generation of digital humans, it had been a necessity. Maintaining the illusion of the real world had kept them sane.
"Took you long enough," said Vince. He was leaning against the corner of the room near the door, doing his best to look suave and sophisticated. He was wearing a full three-piece suit, but between the sunglasses and the impossibly styled hair, he looked more cartoonish than professional.
"Oh, fuck off," said Isaac, punching him in the arm. "How the hell are you? You look like cliched spy movies have thrown up all over you."
"I'm doing fine, dickface, how about you? You're one to talk, Mr. Gen X. Millions of possibilities, and you pick plain Vanilla."
"It's functional," said Isaac, defending himself with a shrug of the shoulders. "Trends can come and go, but some things are classic. Anyway, my request finally went through- I got a house."
"No shit?" said Vince, giving him a surprised look through his shades.
"I mean, it's too small to run simulations on... but I figured I'd rather get a space of my own, first. I can always trade it in. I'm tired of living with people."
"I hear that. You know, space is a lot cheaper on my server... you could have an entire realm..."
"Yeah, and your server is also a lot less humanist," replied Isaac, cutting their usual argument short. "A lot more people live without any physical form, and the simulations are a lot more cerebral. That's why you're here, after all."
"Fine, fine," said Vince, with a laugh. "We'll start at your house, and head out from there. Lead the way."
He approached the desk, greeting the worker with a friendly wave. Civil Service jobs were usually relegated to recent files, but it hadn't been long enough from his creation date that he had forgotten how irritating rude people could be.
"Welcome to Hub Central," she said, not bothering to look up from the computer monitor. "Where may I take you today?"
"Ah, I'm here to greet a friend from another server. Vince, from Yggdrasil."
"Very good, sir," she replied, continuing her bored monotone. "If user==#Isaac.0630 Then door==#pod_0147. There you go."
"Thanks," he said, walking over to the door. There was only one interior door, of course- why bother having more? If you're going to break the laws of geometry, you might as well break them big. That was the first rule of creating a digital space, after all. Isaac stepped through the door, which had been programmed to take him to the right pod.
It was a small chamber, with little more than a large transparent tube and a few monitors. Of course, file transfers didn't really work like that- but then, he didn't really have a physical form, either. Sometimes, it was best not to think about things like that. Each successive generation grew more and more comforatble being nothing more than a pattern of code saved as a file in a server, but a lot of the physical interface was still comforting to interact with. To the first generation of digital humans, it had been a necessity. Maintaining the illusion of the real world had kept them sane.
"Took you long enough," said Vince. He was leaning against the corner of the room near the door, doing his best to look suave and sophisticated. He was wearing a full three-piece suit, but between the sunglasses and the impossibly styled hair, he looked more cartoonish than professional.
"Oh, fuck off," said Isaac, punching him in the arm. "How the hell are you? You look like cliched spy movies have thrown up all over you."
"I'm doing fine, dickface, how about you? You're one to talk, Mr. Gen X. Millions of possibilities, and you pick plain Vanilla."
"It's functional," said Isaac, defending himself with a shrug of the shoulders. "Trends can come and go, but some things are classic. Anyway, my request finally went through- I got a house."
"No shit?" said Vince, giving him a surprised look through his shades.
"I mean, it's too small to run simulations on... but I figured I'd rather get a space of my own, first. I can always trade it in. I'm tired of living with people."
"I hear that. You know, space is a lot cheaper on my server... you could have an entire realm..."
"Yeah, and your server is also a lot less humanist," replied Isaac, cutting their usual argument short. "A lot more people live without any physical form, and the simulations are a lot more cerebral. That's why you're here, after all."
"Fine, fine," said Vince, with a laugh. "We'll start at your house, and head out from there. Lead the way."