The Laptop - Ch.49 - Last Thursday (Patreon)

** content warning: discussion of subject matter which may disturb sensitive readers **

"Like any science-based realm that's achieved a basic level of understanding," Annie began, "The people of Earth-742 are taught that humanity evolved on their world some fifty to a hundred thousand years ago. It should be obvious to you by now that that simply isn't true."

She sat back in her chair and sipped her strange blue wine as she continued, "The timing is close enough, give or take a few tens of thousands of years, but the name of the world isn't. From what I've been able to determine, humanity actually arose on a world named Enðedd."

"That's spelled E-N-Eth-E-D-D and I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Enn-thedd by the way," she added. "Not that it matters, but most of the world names you'll encounter are based on the same sorts of ideas. Ground, earth, dirt, land, home. It varies from realm to realm and there's different languages or interpretations, but they all boil down to the same thing."

After that little diversion she got back on topic, "Anyways you'd probably recognize some details about Enðedd, especially its history. Think of it as being what your world might be like, some five hundred years into the future."

Chelsea interrupted with a frown, "That could go a lot of different ways. Are we talking about a good happy positive future where we solve all our problems? Or just the same bullshit we have now, but with another five centuries of technology to fuck things up even more?"

"The latter I'm afraid," Annie replied with a sigh. She had another deep gulp of her blue wine then elaborated, "Your world is home to what, almost eight billion people now?"

Frank shook his head, "Pretty sure it's more than that. I remember reading that the eight billion milestone was passed a couple years ago."

Annie nodded, "Alright then. You know the population has been increasing, and that rate of increase has itself been increasing. Now imagine what another few centuries would bring? Or don't imagine, I can tell you. The Enðeddian population was approaching four hundred billion at its peak. The planet itself was only slightly larger than your Earth, and its resources were utterly and completely stripped."

"With their technology they were able to spread outwards a little," she continued, although her voice got quieter as she described what sounded like another grim sci-fi future. "They attempted to colonize other worlds in their solar system. There were two planets in the habitable zone, and four moons. The colonies were never able to achieve self-sufficiency, but they did strip those planets of all their resources as well. In the end the population were relying on a small fleet of massive space-based floating factory farm ships, to try and feed the enormous population."

I frowned, "This sounds pretty awful. And I can't help wondering, what does it have to do with us?"

"I'm getting there," Annie replied. "Although you all might want another drink or two along the way."

"Way ahead of you," Frank commented as he opened his last can of beer.

Chelsea made a face, but she got up and opened a few more of the cherry vodka coolers, then topped up her glass along with mine and Gwen's. And while she was doing that, our bard resumed her tale.

Annie still sounded kind of sad as she talked, "Enðedd's tech was pretty impressive, but they never figured out interstellar travel. And they never came up with a practical solution to their huge population problem. For at least a century they knew they were going to run out of resources, they knew the whole thing was destined to collapse. The only question was whether or not they'd be able to salvage anything at all."

"Their most popular belief system precluded any thought of birth control," she added, "Which was what got them into that problem in the first place. And anyways it would have been far too little and much too late by that point. The actual solution, when it came, was nothing like any of their pundits or leaders expected. It was actually the games industry that saved them."

I frowned, "Huh? How?"

Annie drained the last of her wine then set the empty glass down before continuing her story, "Virtual reality. Originally it was designed for games and entertainment. Full-dive VR pods, where people could play games and visit simulated worlds. Fantasy worlds, science-fiction worlds, the future, the past. They could go on dungeon crawls or blast space aliens. Or just enjoy a week or two on an untouched pristine tropical island beach, with bright blue skies, fresh air, clean ocean water, and no crowds."

My eyes widened as I started to realize where she was going with this. And from the looks on my girlfriends' faces I could tell they were beginning to understand as well.

Meanwhile Annie went on, "Initially it was just a diversion. A brief respite from the unending doom and gloom of existence in the final stage of their civilization. Then there was another technological breakthrough. Instead of full-dive VR pods, they figured out how to permanently digitize sentient beings. Rather than visiting VR as a temporary vacation, people were able to emigrate there permanently."

"At first it was merely an option," she stated. "An attractive one I imagine, to some people at least. Instead of a limited lifespan in an overpopulated world where money was scarce, where food and personal space were all at a massive premium, you could choose to live forever in your choice of digital realm, where you could have almost anything you wanted in a post-scarcity simulation."

Her voice became a little quieter and a lot more serious as she continued, "As time passed, digitization went from being something only the boldest or most deperate would try, to being actively encouraged by those in power. Politicians, scientists, world leaders, they all started promoting it as a viable alternative to their current existence on a dying world."

Annie sighed, "When their resources finally ran out and their biospheres began to collapse, digitization gradually became mandatory. I don't know if that was a legal issue, like if courts were ordering it? Or if it got to the point where people had to choose between digitization or starvation. All I know for sure is in the end, the biological population count plummeted while the digitization count skyrocketed. Until the time came when there was literally no-one left alive outside. The entire population was digitized."

She stopped there, and for the next minute or two we were all quiet. Me, my girlfriends, even Frank, all of us seemed to be lost in our thoughts as we processed everything we'd just learned.

Gwen spoke up first, "So what happened? I can guess you're going to say our world is part of this system, but that doesn't make sense. Like if it was designed as a VR gaming system, how come we don't know we're in a digital game system? How'd we end up with a shitty bigoted late-stage capitalism world, instead of literally anything better?"

"You're right," Annie replied. "It started out as entertainment, like games or something similar to movies or TV? Where you could experience the action first-hand, instead of on a screen. And like the computer or console games on your world, no matter how immersive they are you always know you're playing a game. If your character dies you just restore a back-up. Or spawn a new one. Or start a new game. Except somewhere around the time digitization became mandatory, or not long after that, a decision was made."

My eyes widened as my mind started racing, but Annie kept talking before I could ask my next question.

She stated softly, "Since there was no longer any way to log off, that information was gradually phased out. I don't know the details, I don't know for sure how it was implemented, but people just forgot. They forgot about Enðedd, that they'd been digitized, that there was anything other than the realms in which they now lived. Earth-742 became the real world for everyone living there. Just like the people on Daearen believe this world is real."

"So how long has it been?" Gwen interrupted in a quiet, uneasy voice. "When were all these realms set up?"

Annie shook her head, "I don't know for sure, and not all realms are the same age. Some are newer than others. I'm pretty sure your home realm is one of the originals though. Which means it's been running for approximately a thousand years."

That made me frown, "Hold on. We have recorded history going back way further than that. Like the Romans were two thousand years ago, Ancient Greece was three thousand. Ancient Egypt and the pyramids go back even further than that. They even have cave paintings and stone-age stuff that dates back tens of thousands of years. So how can our world be only a thousand years old?"

To my surprise it was Chelsea who answered. The little catgirl shrugged, "It's kind of like Last Thursdayism?"

"Huh?" Gwen asked, although I had the exact same reaction.

Chels elaborated, "That's another thing I learned about when I was dating that guy? It wasn't meant to be a serious belief system, but it was like, what if all of creation only happened last Thursday? And all your memories were created at that time, all the archaeology and all of history was created then too? We'd have no way to know, no way to test it, no way to prove or disprove it."

"I think it was meant to be a parody of biblical creationism?" she added with another shrug. "Like some people take it literally, they believe the world is only six thousand years old? That stuff like geology or the fossil record was all created in situ by their god for some reason? So like, if you believe that then why not believe the world was created as-is last Thursday?"

I stared at my girlfriends for another second or two before looking back at Annie again. "Is Chelsea right? Like all that past history was just part of the program or something?"

The bard sighed, "I don't have all the answers ok? Some of this is speculation. But I believe Earth-742 began as one of a few dozen historical recreations. That's why your world is the way it is, because it was at least partially based on Enðedd's past. So its operating parameters would have been set to follow a similar trajectory as the original homeworld."

"As for why," she continued, "I'm pretty sure worlds like yours were meant for study, like for practical archeology? Places where scientists could go and experience those times in history themselves. They may have also been destinations for 'historical vacations' where visitors could pretend to be part of some old-time population."

It took another few seconds for that to sink in. Then I finally asked the question that struck me earlier, "So if we're all living in a simulation, what happens when we die? You compared it to a video game earlier, you said when characters die we just reload from a save. Or start a new game. Is that what happens to people when they die for real?"

Chelsea's ears folded back as she realized what I was getting at. Her tail flicked back and forth and she looked at me with wide eyes. "You're thinking about our moms. That they might still be out there somewhere?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "If all this is based on a game simulation then maybe they just respawned somewhere else."

Both of us turned to stare at Annie again, while the half-elf let out another long deep sigh.

"Yes and no," she answered quietly. "They would have been reborn into other lives. But neither of them would remember their lives with you, any more than you remember who or what you were before you were born on Earth-742. They'd both be children again, living new lives, with new families, and probably on different realms."

I couldn't help asking, "But could we find them? And could we... Is there a way to restore them?"

Annie grimaced as she shook her head, then shrugged. "Maybe? It's possible. But I don't know if it's safe, or wise. And it might not be good for them. It definitely wouldn't be nice for their new families. Those new lives would have to end, so you could restore them to the lives they lost on your realm."

"Fuck," Chelsea sighed. Her ears drooped to either side while she ended up hugging her tail to her chest. Then Gwen slipped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah," I nodded slowly. Then I suggested, "Maybe it'd be enough if we could find them? Just to know they're ok? Like, if they're happy and healthy and have good lives now?"

The little catgirl frowned, then she nodded too. "Yeah. That might help."

It took me another half minute or so to let go of those thoughts. Then I turned my attention back to Annie again and asked, "So you said the population was almost four hundred billion at one point? Is that how many people are digitized? If there's eight billion of them on our world, how many more simulated worlds are there?"

The bard nodded, "All good questions. And I actually have hard answers for those. First up, the system has a firm limit of four thousand and ninety-six simulated realms, but there's only three thousand three hundred and seven active right now. As for population, the system was designed to hold a maximum of about five hundred billion digitized sentients, although it never got anywhere near that number."

"The absolute maximum population count peaked at three hundred and sixty-four billion, six hundred and fifty-three million, three hundred and eighty-eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy-two individuals," she recited the large number from memory. "That was immediately after the last of the biological population was digitized, roughly a thousand years ago. Since then the number has gone down, we've lost just under ten billion souls in the last millennium."

I frowned, "Lost how? I thought you just said when people die they're just reborn on another realm?"

"What about births?" Chelsea added. "Or wait, are you saying there's no new souls? No way to get new digitized people into the system?"

Annie nodded, "You're both correct. Normally when a digitized individual dies they get respawned into a new birth somewhere else. And no Chelsea, there are no new individuals. There's nobody left to digitize, so it should be a zero-sum game. But it's not. The digital population has shrank by about two point two percent over the last thousand years. It's definitely a concern, but it's a very slow decline. And we have more pressing matters we need to address first."

"Like what?" I asked. "And what do you mean 'we'?"

She looked me in the eyes and nodded, "By 'we' I mean you and me, Lisa. And your girlfriends, and my boyfriend, if they're willing to pitch in and help out."

"And in terms of more pressing concerns," she continued, "I'm referring to realms like your Earth-742. It's a late-stage capitalist hell-hole, and it's only getting worse. Inequality, bigotry, hate, fear, poverty, and starvation are all huge problems. And worse, those issues have become part of the realm's standard operating parameters."

Annie grimaced as she shook her head, "If nothing changes then that realm's probably going to self-destruct sometime soon. You've got huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons, and the people in control of those things are either unstable, idiotic, or narcissistic. Or a combination of all three."

"The only silver lining is if they do set the whole thing off," she added grimly. "At least those eight billion souls will all get a fresh start in better realms."