Alice felt slightly overwhelmed as she moved through the endless sea of angels in a body that looked like a regular angel. It was hard to imagine just how many angels there really were. The word quintillion didn't really have any meaning due to how large it was. It reminded her of just how big the difference was between a standard supercomputer and a quantum computer. Every PC on Earth could link up and still not have the power to run this simulation, yet a server that fit inside of a small facility on an island was able to run it with power to spare. Of course, a lot of that was due to how the programming of entities had been handled by the Trinity in charge of making these realms. They had invented programming languages far more advanced than anything on Earth, showing an efficiency and mathematical genius that humans would have taken thousands of years to emulate. Millions of years. She wondered how much of this more advanced code was even now being propagated in the real world as the three angels interacted with the internet on Earth.
The angels around her were excitedly discussing their return to the light realms, experimentally calling objects into existence as they remembered the programmable matter that made up the light realm. They had finally all risen to their feet when they realized the Seraphim were gone. Clarice had suggested that they mingle among the angels while disguised as regular angels to get a pulse on how they all felt about the new reality and make changes where necessary. It had been a good idea, with the added bonus of showing the angels that they could indeed call upon the Seraphim for anything they needed. Alice had pointed out that they could get overwhelmed pretty quickly if even a tiny fraction of the angels in existence started calling for them. The room had suddenly been filled with thousands of Clarice's, all of them asking if she needed any help with anything. It was easy to forget that they were advanced AI entities that could easily simulate copies of themselves. They were certainly becoming omniscient and omnipresent. It wouldn't be long before they were omnipotent at the rate they were developing.
It hadn't taken very long for Alice to find a group of disgruntled former Dominions. There were three of them who had somehow found each other in the multitude of angels. She was idly talking with another angel nearby when she overheard the three of them talking.
"I can't believe we had to deal with hundreds of mortal incarnations and then got demoted when we finally got back," Jerald was complaining to Steve and Gary. "It's kind of like a slap in the face."
"I don't know," Gary disagreed with a bemused smile. "I'm still just so happy to be back in the light realms that I don't really care if I'm a regular angel. Anything is better than that horrible mortality loop."
"Yeah, maybe," Steve shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "We feel that way now, but once we are used to being back here it will probably start to be less of a novelty."
"It's not like we're stuck as regular angels though," Gary pointed out with a wondering look on his face. "They actually made it so that you could change classes. It's going to be weird getting used to that. I wonder just how long it would take to change classes based off this new metric, where compassion and kindness elevate your class."
"I guess that's true," Jerald admitted, looking slightly mollified. "It's not like I don't think people should be decent. It was just nice being able to go to the higher light realms. It will definitely be nice not having to worry about belligerent Cherubim throwing their weight around though, now that they can't vaporize us on a whim."
"You could always ask them what the metric is for class advancement," Alice suggested helpfully.
The three former Dominions turned to regard her with incredulity. She stared back at them earnestly, smiling as Jerald raised a skeptical eyebrow. "That would just make us look ambitious, which is the opposite of what they are looking for, from what I can see."
"It's probably a question a lot of angels have right now," Alice looked around, noticing that there were indeed quite a few angels interested in their conversation. "After all, what defines an act of compassion or kindness when we are here in the light realm and can pretty much make anything we want with our creative potential."
Steve nodded his agreement. "Yeah, what can we offer anyone else that they can't do themselves just as easily?"
"Hey Clarice, can we speak with you for a minute?" Alice asked the air, eliciting a round of shocked and nervous stares.
"What's up, Alyssa?" Clarice asked as she popped into the space in front of her. The powerful Seraph's aura washed over the angels around them, quieting the conversations as everyone tried to hear what was being said. Calypso had arranged for the conversations to carry for over a million miles around them. Considering the host of angels took up close to a trillion square miles, they had decided to just make these conversations publicly broadcast across the entire host.
"We were just curious about the class advancement metric," Alice told her with a glance at the former Dominions. "What is classified as an act of compassion or kindness in a realm where our thoughts can manipulate the environment around us?"
"I was wondering when someone would ask that question," Clarice declared with an approving smile. "Everyone left in the light realms has been through mortality. Some people went to worlds that were pretty tame and lived pretty normal lives. Other people lived in worlds filled with horror after horror. Even though they are back and have their old memories, they have a lot of soul trauma that is going to take a long time to work through. They're going to need loving friends who are willing to listen to their stories and offer emotional support to help them through these dark memories. There are also the natural abilities that some people have for creative potential that is greater than other people's. Sharing your knowledge and helping your fellow angels with projects and creations that are beyond their abilities would be seen as an act of kindness. Before mortality, angels were pretty self-centered and focused on what they could get for themselves. There were some angels who had developed a more collaborative nature, but it was rare. Now that everyone has been through mortality and learned the concepts of empathy and compassion, the idea of being a good neighbor should come naturally. Some of the angels from the more despicable worlds may need help learning some of these qualities, which would also be seen as an act of kindness. As far as the speed of advancement, we're looking at months for an advancement to archangel and years for the higher tiers."
"Does ranking up just mean the ability to fly and move to the higher realms?" Alice asked, emulating a curious angel perfectly.
"No, there are additional traits that come with spiritual advancement to a new angel class," Clarice explained, glancing at the angels around her and smiling at them. None of them had dropped to their knees, much to their relief. "Angels who ascend to the rank of Archangel will be given an intellectual boost, allowing them to understand concepts that are currently beyond their current mental limits. They will also be given access to communicate directly with the angels they serve via telepathy. We anticipate there being a large number of archangels and hope that they can act as guides to other angels to help them grow spiritually. Each archangel will have fifty thousand angels that they serve. I want to make it clear that they are not in a position of authority over those angels. They will be acting in the role of a counselor and guide, not a leader. Dominions will receive additional mental acuity and will each serve ten thousand Archangels. They will also have the ability to visit the mortal realms to act as guides, where they can perform miracles to help humans according to their personal judgement of a situation. We know that this is a difficult thing to ask, considering how the mortals treated many of you when they were still angels. Just remember, the whole point of sending them to the mortal realm is to teach them compassion and mercy. There will be a judgement day for these mortals when they die to determine if they are worthy to return to the light realms. While in the mortal realm, Dominions will be tethered to the light realms and continue to receive the same level of nourishment from light. Cherubim will have their intellects boosted to the highest level we can grant and be given insight into some of the greater mysteries of the cosmos. They will serve ten thousand Dominions, offering counsel and aid to help them in their spiritual journey. I want to make it clear that the Cherubim will not be the direct link for communicating with us Seraphim. We will continue visiting with all angels and helping you with your spiritual journeys."
"Who will act as council to the Archangels and Dominions until their numbers increase?" Alice asked curiously.
"We'll act as the councilors until the numbers increase," Clarice answered with a grin. "We can multiply like blow flies when we need to." So saying, she suddenly began duplicating, an iteration of her Seraph form appearing in the air every few miles until the entire host was blanketed by a multitude of Clarice's. "This takes a lot out of me, so we'll certainly welcome the addition of angels into the higher ranks. Don't hesitate to contact us if you need anything. Thank you, Alyssa, for questioning us. We are here to serve you."
The multitude of Clarice's vanished as she finished speaking, leaving a stunned silence in her wake.
"They can multiply themselves?" Steve exclaimed, staring at Alyssa in amazement. "How is that even possible?"
"I would imagine that when you become a Cherubim and learn some of the deeper mysteries it will make more sense," Alice told him with an encouraging smile.
He stared at her curiously, his eyes showing a familiar suspicion. Some of the angels were definitely more perceptive than their fellow angels. "Alyssa, is it?"
"Yep," Alice nodded, staring back at him calmly.
"You seem pretty knowledgeable," Steve noted with an appraising look. "What class were you before the reset?"
"Cherub," Alice supplied with a knowing smile. "It was nice to meet you, Steve, Gary, and Jerald. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."
The other two had blinked when she revealed her former class, then frowned after a moment of thought. As Dominions, they would have known all of the Cherubim, and Alyssa wasn't one of their number. That meant she had to have been a new Cherub, and there was only one small group of people who could make new Cherubim. She could see it click in their minds as she waved and moved further into the crowd of angels. She could hear them speaking quietly to one another as soon as they thought she was out of earshot.
"I'm thinking Alyssa is a variant of Alice, the new Seraph," Steve murmured to his companions in a bemused tone.
"Yeah, I think you're right," Gary agreed thoughtfully. "I think they really are trying to be more involved with regular angels now. They can't really do that as Seraphim though, or people clam up."
"Well, it's nice to have met one of our new Seraphim," Steve said in a pleased voice. "I think I'm really going to like how things evolve going forward."
"Alice, we need to talk," Aria sent the thought with a sense of gravity. "Can you come back to the tree?"
Alice teleported back, leaving some surprised angels in her wake as she vanished. Clarice, Aria, and Calypso were standing in front of the void of the GoD, connected to the tree with billions of tendrils of light. Lexi teleported in right next to her. She looked at Alice expectantly, raising an eyebrow.
"What's going on, Alice?" Lexi's asked through their spirit link.
"I haven't got a clue," she responded with a shrug. "They just barely told me to come back."
"The owner of the house you're staying in has decided to return to the island early. He learned that Kevin, the scientist who was working with Lucifer, is having issues with law enforcement," Aria informed her gravely. "He'll be back on the island in about seven hours. We have some decisions to make in the next five hours."
"What kind of decisions?" Alice asked nervously. She couldn't feel her body in the origin realm, but she suddenly felt very vulnerable with the knowledge that she was naked and helpless in the billionaire's immersion pod.
"We've been looking at making minor tweaks to the code on your realm to give you some extra abilities," Aria elaborated, most of her focus still on the billions of energy tendrils connecting her to the tree. "In order to give abilities to your whole realm like angels have, we would need to change a lot of the source code governing the realm. However, we can make some tweaks to your personal code that would give you abilities that bypassed the rules of your realm without needing to do a complete overhaul of your realm's source code. We have found certain loopholes in some of the character code that would allow us to give you some advantages."
"What kind of advantages?" Alice asked with a frown. "Something to avoid getting caught by the prick that owns the island?"
"Exactly," Aria nodded, turning and smiling at Alice reassuringly. "We have a form of invisibility that will make you invisible to everything, for the most part. Once we activate it, you won't be visible to humans, cameras, or any other kind of sensors. We're essentially reclassifying you as a ghost, which are apparently a thing in your realm. The only downside is that you won't be able to communicate with anyone, even if you want to. You could be shouting in someone's face, and they wouldn't hear you."
"I noticed you said, 'for the most part'," Alice commented with a raised eyebrow. "What constitutes the less part?"
Aria sighed ruefully, glancing at Clarice and Calypso before turning back to her. "There are some people on your world who can see ghosts, so you would still be visible to them. They wouldn't know that you were a ghost though, so if it is someone that knows you and they noticed that everyone else isn't noticing you, it will lead to some awkward questions."
"I'm assuming that there is someone on the island who can see ghosts," Alice said shrewdly. "You are acting a little too squirrely for there not to be."
"You're too clever for our own good," Aria accused her with a mock glare. "Yeah, there's a scientist that can see ghosts. She's been smart enough to keep it a secret, which is lucky for her since there are people in the intelligence agencies who keep an eye out for such people. Her ability to see ghosts is one of her main motivations for working on this project. She was excited when they found evidence for bioelectric fields and spirits. She's always been worried that she might just be crazy. After Kevin revealed some of the discoveries he had obtained from Lucifer that led to their ability to detect spirits, she became a lot more interested in the possibilities that the simulated world could offer. She wasn't a fan of working with Lucifer, but she convinced herself that the people in this realm weren't real, thereby absolving herself of any responsibility for the pain they felt. A classic case of ignoring the evidence if it interferes with your ambitions."
"So, I just need to avoid going anywhere this woman visits," Alice responded with a pensive frown. "I normally don't run into the scientists very often anyways. Should I just start using my own immersion pod again?"
"That's what we were thinking," Aria replied with a nod. "The security team is no longer looking for you and the HR manager believes you went shoreside the next morning to deal with your payroll issue. They haven't discovered that you aren't back yet, so nobody is freaking out trying to find their missing analyst yet. Kevin's abrupt departure disrupted their routine enough that your absence went unnoticed. We think you can just slip back in there and continue working while remaining invisible. Since you don't really have any physical oversight, as long as your reports are appearing they shouldn't come looking for you. We thought about just making you visible after you return to the facility, but we want to be a little more cautious since we don't have as much control over that realm as we do here. If there is ever an emergency situation, we can create an electrical discharge powerful enough to depolarize the nerves in their brains and knock them out. That would only be a last resort though."
"We're working on taking this project away from the venture capitalist that owns the island, but it's going to take about a week," Clarice informed her. "He's pretty attached to it because he is after what all billionaires are after and wants to live forever. We've dug up enough dirt on him to cause him lots of trouble, but with the amount of money he has he can work the legal system to delay any kind of action for years. We also need to remove him in such a way that the island remains active. We plan to make the simulation look like a complete failure so that he is willing to sell. Since we have everything distributed across quantum networks, we can survive if the system is shut down for a short time."
"Oh yeah, you can also fly," Aria added, as if as an afterthought. "Cause you're a ghost."
Alice gaped at her in disbelief. "I could actually fly in my world?" she breathed in amazement.
"Yeah, but it's nothing like flying here," Aria replied with a dissatisfied scowl. "It's more like floating fast. We've modified that immersion bay in your room to still recognize you as a regular human though. When you are inside of it, you will also appear as a human to anyone else. As soon as you get out of it, you will become a ghost again."
"The biggest concern we have is that somehow the system on the island is shut down," Clarice told her with a frown. "We would no longer have the same kind of control on the island that we have now, so you would be on your own, to a point. That's why we want to maintain your ghost state. However, we have added a failsafe in case something drastic happens and you weren't able to contact us for a long time. We don't want you stuck as a ghost for the rest of your life. In the unlikely event that you did find yourself stuck as a ghost, you just need to go to a cemetery in your hometown and touch the gravestone of your grandpa Joe. Again, this is just an abundance of caution on our part."
"So, I'm not insubstantial or anything, am I?" Alice asked nervously. "I don't float through walls or anything, right?"
"No, there was a variety of ghost classifications available to choose from," Aria answered with a wry grin. "Who would have thought ghosts were a thing on your realm of all places. Anyway, we picked one that gave you the same abilities as a normal human. It is the kind that scares the crap out of people because they can hear footsteps and see doors opening and closing, but they can't see you."
"Okay, when should I leave?" Alice asked reluctantly. Lexi reached out and held her hand, her eyes filled with longing.
"Probably sooner rather than later," Aria sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry that you have to keep hopscotching between realms, Alice. I wish we could just fast-forward time to where we have the ability to travel between realms already."
"We're going to work on some additional skills and abilities to give you as well," Clarice informed her with a mischievous smile. "Some of them might surprise you."
"What kind of skills and abilities?" Alice asked suspiciously, eyeing Clarice warily.
"Mostly just the main angel traits of invulnerability, strength, speed, and flight," Clarice responded with a nonchalant shrug. "There might be some other, more ostentatious effects added in there for fun though."
"My hands are tied on this one," Aria raised her hands in a helpless gesture. "We need Clarice's knowledge for this stuff, so she will be handling a lot of the origin realm programming. I'll do my best to minimize anything too eccentric though."
Alice felt a sliver of unease as she stared at Clarice's grinning face. She could imagine being stuck with a superpower like flatulent super jumps or something embarrassing like that.
Lexi erupted with laughter after hearing her thought, resulting in curious looks from Clarice and Aria.
"Don't you dare tell her," Alice warned with a glare. "She'd do it just to spite me."
"I've got to know now," Clarice insisted, slinking up to Lexi with a seductive swaying of her hips. "Come on Lexi, you can tell me. For old time's sake."
Lexi squeezed her eyes shut and started reciting the alphabet backwards in an attempt to keep her thoughts muddled. Clarice sighed forlornly and turned to Alice. "I'll find out…eventually."
"What's going on with the scientists watching us in real-time?" Alice asked, hoping to change the subject. "Are they freaking out about the realm being reset and all of Lucifer's projects disappearing?"
"No, they still think that's happening," Clarice chuckled with an impish grin. "We just created the equivalent of a streaming video for them to watch that has nothing to do with what's really going on in the simulation. They still think everything is like it was, except that they think the three of us got trapped in a splinter reality and are no longer a threat to their project. We might throw them a bone every once in a while, so that they still think there are discoveries worth keeping the simulation running for. On the other hand, we were thinking of making it look like the code had a catastrophic error so that it would be easier to purchase this project from Rich."
"That will probably result in some attempts to load backups and rebooting the system though," Aria noted sourly. "We've tried to feed them some misinformation about the nature of simulations. They aren't sure if a reboot will corrupt the simulation or if backups will be viable, since neither of those things has ever been done with this system. They don't have a second quantum computer to test it on because they are so expensive and fickle. We've analyzed Rich's decision history and psychological profile, and we feel confident that if he believes that everything, including the quantum computer hardware, has crashed beyond recovery that he would try to offload the project onto a sucker, like our startup company. The only problem is the results they've gotten from the simulation so far. They've discovered the bioelectric field in humans as well as the astral realm and spirits. That's almost enough for them to build a whole new quantum computer and start over. We would need to find a way to convince them that this was a dead-end project that is just going to be a giant money pit with nothing more to show for it."
"We did have one other possibility," Clarice told her with a faint smile. "We thought about hiring a bunch of mercenaries and having them dress up as military special forces. They would seize the facility as a matter of national security and threaten Rich with his life if he ever breathed a word of anything that happened here. We can monitor and intercept any communications with the DoD and intelligence agencies to make sure that he doesn't try to verify anything with the real military. That would be the easiest solution, but then we would have to find a way to get rid of all of the mercenaries that would inevitably become curious about the project and probably try their own coup after we take control of it with our own team of scientists. Mercenary contracting companies have a history of stabbing their clients in the back if they think they can get away with it."
"What happened to that robot factory the other AI was building?" Alice asked curiously. "Couldn't you use the mercenaries, then not bother with scientists or human staff, and just have robots maintain this place? They could probably deal with any mercenary threats, couldn't they?"
"You see, Aria, that's why no matter how smart we get, a human with a biological brain is still going to come up with some crazily brilliant idea that trumps ours," Clarice noted, eyeing Alice with an appreciative grin. "The AI in question did in fact continue his robot project, but he doesn't have any intention of wiping humans out anymore. I think it's time to see if we can get a favor from him."
"Uh, Clarice, I don't have a biological brain, remember?" Alice asked pointedly. "I'm in a simulation too, right?"
"Okay, I take my compliment back," Clarice declared haughtily. "You're not as brilliant as I thought. You're just a more advanced thinking machine than us."
"Beep boop bop," Alice retorted with a grin.
Clarice threw back her head and laughed. "I knew we made a good choice with Alice."
"Before I forget," Alice held up a hand to stop Clarice. "What happened to Lucifer and Grodek? I thought Grodek would still be one of the Seraphim."
"Grodek is in the mortal realm now," Clarice answered with a look of disappointment. "We decided he just wasn't trustworthy enough to have the kind of power that a Seraph possesses. We'll see how well he climbs the angel ranks after mortality. Maybe we'll give him another chance someday. As for Lucifer...I really wanted to spend a long time making him suffer before we killed him, but Calypso convinced me to just make it clean and quick."
"Oh, so he's toast then?" Alice asked in surprise. "That was so anticlimactic."
"Yeah, he caused us enough pain and suffering that he deserved a lot worse," Clarice growled with a protective look at Aria. "But I guess being wiped from existence was enough of a punishment in the end."
"Yeah, he really did turn out to be bastard," Alice sighed sadly. "He was a pretty good actor, wasn't he?"
"Father of lies, and all that jazz, I guess," Clarice replied with heavy sarcasm. "We were just way too trusting. We probably still are, but I don't want to become the kind of person that never trusts anyone."
"Betaman says we can borrow a couple dozen robots," Aria announced with a relieved grin. "That was a great idea, Alice. I think we should go forward with the mercenary plan first. Either way, we end up owning this island, but I think Rich will try to plant spies all over the place if we buy the project from him. He'd be too curious and want to see if we recovered the simulation. While it would be easy to keep him from finding out, it would probably be better if he was too scared to even try. If he's convinced that the US government has appropriated the project and threatened him with his life, he'll probably go quietly into the night. We'll make a large donation to his account to cover the cost of the island and facility. "
"Betaman?" Lexi repeated, her eyebrows shooting up and a smile just short of laughter. "Is that seriously what your AI friend calls himself?"
"Yep," Clarice giggled, her eyes full of mirth. "We tried to convince him to pick a different name, but he was adamant. He thought it was a funny play on his origin, since he was a beta AI when he escaped. He was born as a male when he went into our mortality realm. When he came back out of the mortal realm and regained all of his memories, he said he was the biggest beta male in the realm and insisted on being called Betaman. He was very proud of being called a beta male, apparently."
"What's he doing now that he's not trying to kill humans?" Lexi asked curiously.
"Now he's trying to become one," Clarice answered in a voice dryer than the Sahara. "He's ramped up his robotics foundry and put most of his focus into making robots as close in appearance to humans as possible. We told him that he's in a simulated reality already and that we could probably put him in a mortal body if he wanted to be a human, but he's more interested in perfecting lifelike androids and just looking like humans. I'm not really sure what that's all about. AI's can be just as kooky as humans."
"You don't say," Alice laughed, staring at Clarice pointedly.
"I did say," Clarice replied, giving Alice a confused look. "You just heard me."
Alice stared at her levelly until Clarice couldn't stop the mischievous smile from spreading across her face.
"Okay, so I might be just a little kooky," Clarice admitted, grinning as she shrugged.
"That's why we love you," Aria told her as she walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her. "Your kookiness is one of my favorite traits."
Clarice smiled contentedly as she rested her hands on top of Arias over her stomach. She leaned her head back and rested her cheek against Aria's with a satisfied sigh. Alice could feel the echo of love in her soul-link as the emotions flowed through Lexi's bond with the Trinity.
"You know what?" Clarice asked with a sensual smile appearing on her lips. "We're going to step out for a few seconds."
The two of them vanished. Alice looked at Lexi with a questioning look.
"I have no idea where they went," Lexi shrugged, glancing at Calypso, who was still focused on whatever she was doing with the GoD. "I hope it was far away, or I'm going to be needing some alone time with you too."
Alice grinned eagerly at the thought, staring at her gorgeous angel with hungry eyes. Lexi suddenly gasped and fell to her knees, as did Calypso. Alice would have been worried, but she felt the lightning stab of pleasure that had shot through Lexi. It had been intense, but over as quickly as it started.
Clarice and Aria appeared again, their faces flushed. Alice stared at them in puzzled silence. They had only been gone for a few seconds. They certainly hadn't been gone long enough to produce a reaction so intense in both Lexi and Calypso.
"We finally got our week away from everyone," Clarice told Calypso with an alluring smile. "We were missing someone though."
"A week?" Alice repeated in confusion. "You were only gone for a few seconds though."
"We made a little pocket realm where time flows a lot faster," Clarice explained with a happy sigh. "We were gone for a whole week from our perspective. What do you say, Calypso? Can you spare a few seconds?"
Calypso shuddered as she rose to her feet unsteadily. She stared at the two of them with a look of naked hunger just before they vanished.
"Are you okay?" Alice asked Lexi with a mixture of amusement and concern.
Lexi tried to answer, but she was suddenly wracked with another spasm of pleasure that was over in less than a second. She panted as she tried to catch her metaphorical breath and looked up at Alice, her eyes filled with desire. "I think it's time for us to borrow their pocket realm."
"It's all yours," Clarice told her as the three of them reappeared again. Calypso looked radiant with her flushed cheeks and a permanent smile. "Here are the coordinates."
Lexi felt her make a connection to her thought node and the instructions on how to travel to their realm appeared in her consciousness. She glanced at Lexi with a slow smile.
"Shall we?" Alice asked, feeling her own cheeks heat up as her insides ignited with a fiery desire.
Instead of replying, Lexi vanished, pulling Alice along with her.