Parallel worlds – one. Fire and flame

The essence of the method proposed by the scientist was to test it on Earth. In principle, the technology was not much different from the state in virtual reality, only in this case one had to actually be in the real world only in someone else's body. It was certainly hard to imagine, but what else did Rutra have to wonder about…? He was offered nothing less than to try to transfer his consciousness from his own body to another. According to the scientist, with whom they were already friends and like-minded, it was possible, in a state of hypnotic sleep, to retain one's body and then transfer one's consciousness back. Rutra was familiar with such technology, so he was not so shocked, and he himself had participated in experiments on the transfer of consciousness, only to save the native body after a complete transfer could not be, the autonomic nervous system for some reason shut down. The technology had been developed by a secret academician with whom Rutra had worked under the previous program at the Polygon facility, in an underground city-state (if not a separate civilization). Only then the technology had worked a little differently: after the academician had tested it on himself, it had led to his death. There was, of course, another version, which Rutra put forward: the academician transferred his consciousness into a younger employee, and made his body dead. An ingenious alibi. It didn't matter so much now; Rutra was engaged in a new, more scientific endeavor, as opposed to one dominated by the military and political.

After discussing the proposed program, Rutra agreed to try it in practice, that is, to try it out for himself. It was not easy for him. His brain could not yet adequately imagine such a thing. How could he take and incarnate in another body! Suddenly Rutra said:

– And in what body, for crying out loud? – he asked his friend, whose trusting relationship with him had caused him to miss this important question.

– Don't worry about it. So that you don't worry too much, I understand how it is, I have made the following decision: I will become you, and you will become me.

– You're so smart. How's that?

– I've already tried everything on animals.

– Without authorization?

– Come on, I got free rein. Where it goes from here.

– And how? How did you realize that they had become each other? Did they just say to you, "We're different mice now"?

Ruthra almost laughed. His friend jokingly gave a look of scholarly arrogance on his face. Ruthra gave an even more arrogant look in return, and only his smile betrayed the friendly banter.

– Oh, oh, oh, we're so important. Such a great, brilliant scientist has, of course, transplanted the brain of a tiger into a rabbit.

Rutra laughed. The other colleagues present at the dialog couldn't afford to be so cavalier with Rutra, so they watched the "performance" in silence, smiling.

– All right, you win. Yes, I transferred, as you put it, the brain, or rather, what's in it, of a mouse into a cat… and vice versa. I won't tell you how I realized it worked, but I will tell you that it was very funny. You can laugh now. No, you're not laughing? Ha-ha-ha. I'll laugh for you. All right, ready?

Ruthra made a serious face, he was still trying to bring his comrade back to subordination in front of those present.

– I'm ready. Let's get started. Let's go to the virtualization room.

– Not in a virtual room. I couldn't conduct secret experiments there, especially not from such a harmful boss.

– Uh-oh, tell me you've been keeping a secret from Big Sis.

They smiled, however, and so did everyone behind them. Big Sister was the name of the artificial intelligence in the facility, which was connected to literally everything, either wired or wireless. For example, even the plates in the dining room showed the temperature of the food in them, not to mention the total control even without surveillance through video cameras. The artificial intelligence that Rutra had named after the chief administrator, Irene, not only constantly scanned the entire space inside and outside the facility, but also had a perfect view of what was inside people, even their emotional state. That was the price of the highest caste. In return, there was life in another world, where there were no concepts of "can", "can't", "cost", "boundaries", "power" and many other things in the usual understanding of society. It was a different world, a world of power and omnipotence over people's consciousness, and it demanded constant perfect trust.

Ruthra guessed that his friend, and now his colleague, since he was also involved in the scientific development of mind transfer technology, was not telling him something. If the technology was ready, if it could be tested on humans, the main computer would know about it, and sanctions would be necessary. Most likely, the scientist wanted to present something similar in virtual reality and show that the program is worth spending time, money and human resources on it. And the use of supercomputer resources also required reports, including the subsequent results and their practical usefulness. Knowing the methods of the "luminary of science," as Rutra jokingly, and not only he, called his friend, he agreed.

Being in virtual reality was not new. Rutra had even stopped arguing with himself and the staff about whether the event was in the virtual world or in reality. He was already calculating reflexively – at any moment it was necessary to foresee the possibility of being in the virtual world. The main trick was that from there you were constantly returning to the real world, that is, you couldn't fail to realize where you were in the end. And from here, from the real world, the entrance was always through virtual reality settings. Virtual reality was like a dream. We don't know if we're dreaming or not. And once we realize it, we're actually awake. The virtual reality session was necessary to check real intentions, motivation, actions, desires, i.e. how a person would actually act depending on this or that situation in which he or she might find himself or herself. All variants of events were modeled by the supercomputer, it had knowledge about any person of the Earth: the data were in some database one way or another. Especially about the personalities whose deeds and decisions influenced the course of events of mankind. However, in the modern world, where free will was officially declared, a person could never be a personality, on whose deeds fateful changes depended, without giving rights for it to other similar personalities, who were already those who made global decisions. In all disputes and disagreements, the power-holders observed an unspoken rule of preserving their dominance and power – rotation was allowed only among themselves. For the same reason, checks in virtual reality directly in this center were a periodic procedure – like a session of psychoanalysis and questionnaires.

So the program proposed by the scientist seemed to Rutra to be a routine test, but at the same time, a doubt crept into him intuitively. Very often his delusional ideas and suggestions were miraculously realized. Just in case, he agreed to the experiment with the additional settings and recommendations given to Irene.

The Sphere Center's secret laboratory was located in the left wing of the underground city behind the main command shelter. It was not a military facility, it was not a civilian facility, or rather, it was "out of this world". 99% of the people of Earth, or even more, do not know who or what is controlling them. This system of "who and what" was referred to in documents and in the everyday conversation of those who knew and constituted it as "The Sphere". Ruthra, although he was already the head of the control board, could not always understand the idea of the creators of this and similar objects, whose life he had been breathing for the past five years. Why a shelter was needed at a depth of 500 meters, he could not understand. Was it just in case? Anyway, that was not the main reasoning for Rutra. Scientists, the best of the best, who for the most part could not be called scientists because of their age, were the wizards who had done wonders for the world living in the "past," relative to the level of development of the system in which these "bright minds" were. Many things that seemed magical and unbelievable to ordinary people were commonplace here. This is how that world, the world of ordinary people, was run.

Even the great minds of the facility themselves were unusual. All of them had chips implanted in their brains, which in turn were reinforced by wave stimulation of connections and had direct access to a common network – both internal (to the data provided by the supercomputer) and external (to the worldwide networks, to the Internet). So they were not so much thinking and reasoning as they were generating new ideas and then combining them to create new things. Many results were tested in VR settings, i.e. not on the computer screen, but directly in the virtual world. VR – this is the professional jargon of the center's employees, members of the system, called the settings and the state of virtual reality itself.

– Are you saying I should go down into that hellhole? I see what you were doing down there. And the way you sang, the way you sang– upgrading the VR facilities. But in reality, you were digging a subterranean hole.

– All right, then. Let's go.

– I'm not going anywhere. There's a reason for the rumors about devils and demons. You've been consciousness-altering animals in there. I'm pretty sure of it. At least there's some validity to all this nonsense.

– That's where you'll meet them. Or is Mr. ex-agent zero-zero-seven… oh, no, google zero-seven, afraid of something? Although those people can't be cowards or exes. Right?

– It didn't work, esteemed luminary of science. So why don't you try it out here in the virtual reality room?

– It won't work there. It's the wrong setup. I'll go to my room for an additional program module. Now we can admit it: His Majesty the Grand Inquisitor is in our ranks, or rather, in the conspiracy with us," he said with pathos, more to his colleagues than to Ruthra, even with a bit of snicker, emphasizing the jocularity with funny notes.

– I can see why Irene left this situation unaddressed. Well, well, well, well.

– Oh, come on. Let's get down to business. There's a big event coming up, and you're getting suspicious. I'm outta here.

After the scientist had left, Rutra looked closely and really suspiciously at the scientist who was engaged in methods of completely rewriting the content of the human brain and embodying it in artificial form, that is, in a supercomputer. And he did it so clearly and accurately that even people who knew the man very closely could not distinguish a dialog with a computer from the real one. To be more precise, the scientist could embody a person in a computer, preserving all subsequent processes of thinking development, reactions, intonations, age and emotional changes. The technology allowed copying all chemical reactions that took place in the brain and using their decoding to learn what the human consciousness itself could not remember.

– What's he got in store for me, confess? Why can't this be tried on a standard virtual reality setting?

– You know, not only does every mystery come true, but every miracle also comes true. I confess: just as the inventors of atomic weapons were afraid of their invention, we are afraid of ours.

– So tell me, what is it?

– We need to go to the special lab.

– Come on, is that a trick you're doing?

– They're waiting for you. Well, not just you.

Rutra was, of course, overcome with curiosity: not just from the experiment, but from "not just you."

– I'm ready," he said confidently. – I was already curious.

– Come in, please.

The medic headed for the exit, and Ruthra followed suit. They walked down the corridors to the medical sector, entered the elevator, which took them to the deeper depths of this mystical realm of mystery and secrets. They came out into a semi-dark corridor, eerily cold, walked down it for a while and began to descend the stairs. Soon they found themselves in front of the only doors. Suddenly, something like something Ruthra had seen before appeared ahead, in the place where the door had been. It had been there, in the exit from the secret laboratory of a scientist no less mad and talented than the one with whom Ruthra was now doing the project and was now involved in it, in the passage from the laboratory to the stairs leading to the super-secret Polygon facility. Ruthra thought, "And this one, like the other one, is in the business of transferring consciousness from one body to another. It's a similar moment right now. Isn't that a sign?" Of course he didn't believe in superstition, but he did believe in a theory of his own devising. And according to this theory – nothing can be unreasonable for the consciousness, and if the consciousness is unable to explain something to itself, it regards it, for example, as a miracle. The scale of events that were subject to interpretation was very wide – from a cat that ran across the street and a broken mirror to dreams and divine revelations. Everything that could not be explained by reason – consciousness considered from any position, but certainly did not leave without explanations. Not god – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so devil, not devil – so evil fairy, not evil fairy – so hand of fate, not hand of fate – so regularity of horoscope and so on. It was both scary and curious at the same time.

Instead of a door, there was a void, and behind it was a dark, impenetrable abyss. There was no other way. The professor went through there, or rather, he disappeared into the black hole. Ruthra waited for about ten seconds, hoping he would return, then took a step into the void. It felt like pouring a bucket of ice water on a sleeping person. Ruthra went blind for a moment, his brain rebooting. He found himself in a new reality, a room flooded with the brightest light, the structure of which was transparent. Ruthra could find no other explanation. He was floating, literally floating, though he was firmly on his feet. There was no ceiling, floor, or walls visible. Only a faintly blue outline reminded him that they were there… and there was something else in this room. Suddenly, a pair of glasses that looked more like the eyes of a giant dragonfly appeared out of the void in front of Ruthra's face.

– Don't resist," he heard the familiar sound in his brain.

Ruthra didn't move. The goggles seemed to rest on his eyes on their own. The sight and view changed instantly. Now it was clear: it was a huge room, a hall, in the center of which stood a phantasmagorical installation; a huge bizarre sarcophagus of liquid that boiled and smoked. The first impression of what he saw was this. The second thing Ruthra thought was, "Well, you scientists and mages, well, you're also those wizards." After all, all this was an artificial influence on the brain, which forcibly saw it all in such an "image". Nothing was real, Rutra knew this technology.

– This is my installation," said the "luminary of science" with a certain pride and boastfulness.

Then the scientist added:

– I confess, I confess, all this works thanks to your invention. Even, I would say, a discovery based on the theory of entangled particles, and, of course, this is the labor of a huge number of people, scientists.

Ruthra smiled.

– Oh, your majesty, all men are like men, and we are gods.

– What?" the doctor asked.

– No, just thinking out loud.

– What do you say we give it a shot?

– I wonder what kind of trick you have in store for me?

– What makes you say that?

– Because you don't get it.

– Are you talking about here and not in the virtualization room? Come on, buddy.

– Now, that alone tells me a lot. There's definitely a catch! I'm sure of it. Consciousness transfer according to my methodology, based on my discovery, can be realized there, too, on those installations.

– All right. Let's do this… I'm in. I'll go into trance first, then you.

– What does it do? What am I, a high school student?

– Okay, farther. You supervise my full dive. See how the equipment works, and then dive in after me.

– It's a little unclear. If you're trying to convince me that there's no catch, then what's the point of doing the experiment here?

– This is our usual workplace. Here is our professional laboratory, and over there is our office – and it is not ours. I don't even know all the entrances and exits there. Especially the installations there are not professional. It's a different program. It tests the purity of people's intentions in a trance state. Thoughts and thoughts. And here there are hundreds of other indicators. Here you can immerse your consciousness in the state of infancy and check what and how it influenced your worldview, for example, on the first day of the first grade at school.

– It's really Freudian.

– Oh, no. Freud, we'd be looking for a graveyard of sexual trauma in your soul. We're looking for motivation. That's more Jungian. Let's go, shall we?

– God be with you. What else you got in mind, I'd like to know.

– Don't worry, you'll live.

– All right, lie down. I'll supervise.

The scientist lay down in the rig, a mask was placed over his face, and additional pieces of instrumentation were placed on his body.

– It's clearly a long time coming, since you so clearly want to know everything about him....

– We can get your heart rate and blood pressure remotely.

– That's what I'm talking about. What are those suction cups with the gauges?

– It's to stimulate the body to react differently.

– All right. You scientists will come up with anything to calm and dull the vigilance. Just one multi-pronged global program to convince the whole world that you need constant medical treatment is worth it.

Ruthra laughed at what he had said. The rest of the scientists, who had been smiling modestly at first, laughed at what he had said.

– You should know that," said one of them at last, with courage.

– All right, I'm going down. Where are you throwing us out?

– Nowhere. You're staying right here in the building. As the patron told you, there will be a test of feeling in another body. That is, you will wake up in a virtual reality not as you, but as another person, in this case you will be our chief, and our chief will be you.

– Oh, I see the level. You're the chief, you're the patron. I am not so honored.

– Oh, come on. You have the most respect in the system.

– All right, let's go.

– Shall we turn it on?

– Let's turn it on. Just give me a second. I've got some work to do on my technique.

Rutra took out a regular ballpoint pen and wrote the time on his hand to the nearest second, and indicated the year as well. No one in the center wrote in the usual way. Everyone wrote their thoughts directly into Irene's memory, and she translated them into any format.

After checking the instruments and the scientist's condition readings, Ruthra lay down in the rig. After the manipulations, he felt the invisible waves affecting his brain and began to fall asleep. Rutra soon woke up, and only his being in the rig told him the alternative – either he was in the real world or in virtual reality. Otherwise, if Ruthra had appeared in a different setting, there was definitely no way he would have been able to determine that he was in the virtual world and would have been sure that everything was real. But now there were two factors that helped him make the right decision: the first was the setting, and the second was the presence or absence of a simple but ingenious inscription on his arm. He had never tried to figure out where he really was, whether he was in the virtual or in reality! He even beat himself with a stun gun, checked his blood after taking alcohol: in reality red blood cells stick together after taking alcohol, but in the virtual world they do not. But it did not work: in the virtual world a person could drink alcohol, become drunk there, but in the real world his blood would still be without alcohol. And if the same person takes and checks his blood in the virtual world, i.e. his "virtual" blood, it will naturally be the same as under the influence of alcohol. That's how it is. And here everything is simple: the main thing is to accustom yourself at the level of reflexes to constantly write and constantly check what you have written. Accordingly, if you don't see the writing, it means that you are in the virtual world.

And in general – it is impossible to realize that the world is not real based on one's sensations. Absolutely everything is like in ordinary life: feelings, smells, emotions… everything. Only when you leave the virtual world and you are shown a recording – then you realize that you were in the virtual world. You do realize, but you still can't believe it, because the sensations there are so real.

And now Ruthra was sort of in "reality". Everything was as usual. He woke up, the scientists were standing around, the second "client" was lying next to him, and only Rutra's habit, already reflexive, made it clear: there was no tape on his hand. So he was in the virtual world. Although, beginning to fully realize reality, Rutra began to realize: something else was wrong… For some reason he was not on the right, but on the left of the second installation… Rutra assessed the situation once more. No note on his hand? No. Then it's not real. That's right. Who's next to him? It wasn't a "scientific luminary" lying next to him. The person next to him was– "Oh, shit. This can't be happening! They're playing me again," was the first thing that ran through his head. – Who is this? And who am I?"

He shook his head, "What is this, bring me back to reality!" Nearby, in a neighboring rig lay… him!

It is very difficult to make the consciousness believe in its absence from the real world only on the basis of the fact that the brain knows about the existence of the virtual. How can you convince yourself, in the apparent reality of the self, that you are not in reality, it's all not true? How?

– And there you go," he heard in his head.

– Who's that? Irene, is that you?

Ruthra asked because the voice was unusual: male. The artificial intelligence could speak in a man's voice, but it didn't give orders to do so.

– No, it's not me.

– Then who?

– I don't know. There was no commutation through me.

– Then how and who?

– I'm checking. There was no outside entrance to you.

– And to whom, me? What's going on?

Ruthra glanced angrily at the "servants of science" who stood a little away from the rigs, then awkwardly stood up and walked over to the next rig. He couldn't believe his eyes – there was a man who looked just like him! Suddenly, Ruthra realized that the scientist could have done such a thing to learn the secrets he possessed in the real world. He shuddered, "Then who am I now?"

Ruthra looked into the mirror set into the wall, a large, full-length mirror. He couldn't say he was horrified; he couldn't say he was surprised… Strangely enough, Ruthra didn't even feel a strong sense of surprise, so much so that he'd been raised and trained by virtual reality, or rather, by feeling in it and not believing in it afterward. Ruthra was aware of what the scientist had done, knew it wasn't real, but couldn't quite grasp the purpose, though he could guess. Apparently, the one wanted to demonstrate his new capabilities and accomplishments. Of course, the brazenness and daring he had displayed was also so provocative that Ruthra's rage could hardly be contained by his new body. His body, and in fact the body of a scientist! The mirror reflected the "luminary of science".

Another man's body was horrible. Though it was perfectly normal by Ruthra's standards, quite athletic, it was alien. The only thing that made him feel better was the unreality of what was happening. Ruthra rushed to wake himself up, to reprimand the insolent man who'd gotten into his body and end the experiment, but then he felt another twitch. He couldn't influence the real world in the virtual world, he couldn't order the experiment to stop!

– For crying out loud, you're not natural either! – he yelled at the scientists. – Wake him up immediately! – he shouted, realizing at the same time the absurdity of his demand in two guises.