Thousand_Faces

I wanted to extend the prologue a bit more to help setup what the character's world and life is like. How they live in this new age.

The cool breeze of fall rustles the drying leaves of my potted trees in my penthouse. Since I was on call at any moment's notice I lived and worked in the same building. With the top two floors being secured as my residential area. With most of the office system below on the other 8 floors and much of the network on the multiple sub basement levels. The glass railing provided a beautiful site over the trees and hills towards the coast and the constant nightly glow of New York city. Although too far to see any of its structures, it's clear glow in the night sky always shined like a beacon.

After growing up as the first in the new generation of ghost AI, a second me that was always with me, silence was never a reality experienced unless requested. A stranger to oneself in a moment was scarier to much of the newer generation in this world order much less silence from the world. With “Masters” around the globe in constant communication around every time zone, it was rarely silent. Our French counterparts even got security clearance for private live in chef’s, less for themselves and more for the global community. As often I would request them to skill run for me as I made dinner.

Skill running became the new normality in our daily lives. Gone where the days of handymen, as they were often rarely seen, and fake to their historical meaning if they worked for you today. This new day and age if you needed the skills of someone else, you could network through your AI to there's, like a ghost deciphering in real time what you know and don't know, it quickly caught any faults and specialized one's ability to quickly learn anything. Although similar to watching any video and doing nothing, the retention of information was lower, but often made up for in its starting quality level. The only remaining restriction had been the physical muscle memory of the body, which had just been solved.

Nano technology was just incorporated in people at the highest levels. First as a means of control, and second as level of security. The threat of giving access to the global population new technology that could theoretically terraform a planet, scared more than just every government. As such Mano was the first to be incorporated with it, with the complexity of changes based on a hierarchy of status. One higher up in the permissions could only allow for such a global choice to be made. The self replication of the Nano technology was released in conjunction but suffered by a fatal flaw.

Nano technology when replicated was often found with decaying design, code, and permissions at an incredible rate in comparison to natural evolution. This cause of concern was resolved by the requirement of human involvement that allowed for the controlled focus of duplication. It was theorized that Nano technology in its core was something akin to the basic building blocks of life, and mankind's restrictions to it quickly shed itself for efficiency in its goal of reproduction. Like a cage keeping mating pairs apart at a zoo. They don’t care about the cage besides for the fact that it separates them.

My mind lost in thought as the world moved forward, thinking of the ostriches at the zoo separated by barrier for their own good, much like mankind has themselves in today's age. The ice clinked against my glass cub as the Tennessee whiskey rolled inside. Looking down into the mess of a cup with a smirk. I never liked drinking and I hated whiskey, but ever since Mano grew to this size it's all I can do to keep myself silent and move forward. The open channel of voices humming in the background kept me at peace as my mind raced.

The nanobots flooded through my body as I requested a French chef for dinner tonight. Causing miniscule muscle spasms as it burned my calories for electrical energy for conversion into muscle memory. It tingled much like the numbness of a body part falling asleep, seeing it but yet not really feeling it. The cup became slightly harder to hold as I noticed it so did my ghost, taking minor control of my body's system to increase the grip strength required. Again mankind's limits have only become more apparent in the new age being born, and its body.

I gulped down the rest of my drink with a sour look. I will never get used to whiskey. The buzz on my empty stomach was amplified but my willful ignorance as I walked to the kitchen humming to myself. I sang aloud to the music only I could hear as ingredients were prepared for the night meal. The cooking continued as I drowned out the world in both music and drunken stupor. My whole building knew of my antics but none of them knew the pressure I felt upon myself. A whole world built upon your shoulders potentially crumbling at moments notice. The global nations all worked together to create operation phoenix for that exact reason.

Every global master was seen as an “Original” and replaceable of any other. None of them understood what it truly meant that there was only one. They could give permissions to the system but none of them could expand or grow it. Only allow or deny, and with such a complex network to hide in, the risk of me being found increased every year. Shuddering once again at the thought I skipped the glass and went for the bottle. Taking a big gulp the warm feeling overwhelmed me as I got a intoxication notification, quickly overriding it for my personal greed. I was the guinea pig of the first creators and the master of the whole system. The feeling of hearing and seeing everyone in the world gave me nothing but loneliness. As only a handful could understand, and we never talked about it.

The cooking went faster than I remembered as my ghost took over to keep my alive, even feeding me, before I passed out. The classic ring of the alarm clock on my table ringing woke me up along with the pounding headache. Its brute force strength hammer into me my regrets. I hate whiskey. I almost smashed the antique as I attempted to quell its annoying smash of bells. After stretching and still not seeing the rise of the sun, I knew work would be starting soon as cooking of breakfast began as a first morning goal.

Like a shadow creeping up upon me I took me the longest time to feel what was wrong. Much like the classic novels and movies I had experienced in life, by the time it was noticed what was off it was already too late. The first indication of the end of my world as I knew it wasn’t anything spectacular, but was the scariest thing to happen in the new age. It was the absolute silence. As my hash browns sizzled I finally noticed. I was already twenty minutes late to a global war I hadn't even known started.