Chapter 6: A Whole New World

  I flipped back to the Matter and Energy tab.

  I couldn’t help but speak aloud to Orpheus behind me… after all, what was the point of having a great idea if you had nobody to tell it to?

  I opened up the Material Creation screen while I spoke.

  “So Orpheus, handling a closed universe is mainly a matter of information looping, right? I saw there were expensive options to have the universe boundaries handle that… but what if nothing ever reaches the boundaries? Even if it isn’t expanded, if we fill up the entire boundary with a solid object, like a wall, nothing will ever reach the boundary. Right?”

  That was my original idea anyway.

  Despite my excited words, Orpheus didn’t react at all. She just hovered there, watching me.

  Well, that was disappointing.

  I guess even without hormones, I really wanted to impress the girl.

  Was she even paying attention?

  I rephrased my statement. “Would placing a solid barrier at the boundaries of a closed universe prevent information looping?”

  This time the golden fairy responded.

  “Yes. That is a valid way to prevent information looping. However, one must take care in a closed universe that the material used does not reflect too much and can absorb the energy needed. It is not a common solution, but I can confirm that it has been done before.”

  I paused. “Successfully?”

  Orpheus bobbed again. “Yes. It is possible to have a successful universe with that solution.”

  I knew she wouldn’t provide actual statistics, so I didn’t ask for those. Instead, I got back to shaping my world.

  My world.

  It was weird to think of it that way. Did I really possess it? That seemed a dangerous route to walk down. Better if I called myself a steward, or a referee, or something. Orpheus had been very clear that the people of the universe would have free will. I had to remind myself that this would be their home, not mine.

  That meandering thought made me wonder how other Administrators handled it. I almost asked Orpheus about that, but decided that even if she would give me the answer, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it.

  I shook the darkening thoughts from my head and resumed my work, hoping to get a reaction from Orpheus.

  I continued my narration. “Since the universe is a torus, I’m just going to fill it with a hollow cylinder that almost matches the universe boundaries. I’ll make the crust about, oh, 100 kilometers thick. I’m going to have to change some of the physical laws just a little, but I think it should be fine if the interface does corrections like it has been.”

  This time Orpheus did respond, but once again without any particular interest.

  “Your interface will make adjustments to some degree. It should inform you if there is some issue that requires your attention. Your task is to design; handling all the delicate balance issues is as automated as possible. This is one reason why creating new physics and materials without any basis is so difficult. Your interface requires at least some knowledge of how various materials and energies interact before it can start taking corrective measures.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  That made sense, I thought.

  I did wonder if there was some sort of manual mode, but I knew I wasn’t ready for that. Since the gravity setting had been perpendicular earlier, I didn’t need to rotate the cylinder – which was probably a good thing, given its mass.

  A series of notifications about gravity and material stress popped up, but they were mostly informative, and I just had to approve adjustments.

  The inner radius of the cylinder was a little less than the radius of the universe’s torus, which allowed me to finish off my trick.

  I sheathed the entire structure in my new material, which I had dubbed Magicite. Some of its properties still needed tuning, but it would be key to the final step in building the physical world. Now that it existed, I could set the gravity setting to use magicite instead of lead.

  Essentially this would mean everyone could walk along the inside of the torus, with gravity pulling them toward the outer edge. That way, they could look up toward the center, where gravity was nullified by the tube’s sides all being equidistant to one another. Anyone going through the middle of the torus would be weightless.

  My universe would have a single planet, making ‘World’ truly interchangeable between planet and universe.

  “So what I’m doing,” I said, “is occluding any incoming light and other information with matter. In the event of energy buildup, I’m going to do an energy conversion to something that steadily loses to entropy. The Magicite won’t just convert it… it will steadily build up inside the base layer.”

  I looked back and grinned. “And then I can use that, when enough has built up, to expand the torus of matter after doing an expansion of the universe. That way I only have to pay for matter creation once. That should work, right?”

  Orpheus regarded me silently while floating there. This time, I finally caught on to what was feeling off. She wasn’t just staring, she was thinking – or processing. Now that I saw it, it had the distinct feeling of her turning the solution over in her head.

  She spoke again, in that monotone voice. “This sort of solution has been tried before. It does have complications, but with careful tending and automation, it can succeed.”

  I laughed. “Thanks for the words of encouragement. You know, this would be a lot easier if you would ask me questions – like how I intend to handle common problems or something. It’s a lot harder to flirt with a girl if I don’t know what she’s thinking and you’re just spitting out facts.”

  This time Orpheus paused, and for once I heard some emotion in her voice – a small chuckle – before she spoke again, now with some inflection.

  “I’m mostly here to give you answers to questions that can’t be easily answered in your interface. Much like you will have a non?interference clause with your universe, I am not supposed to interfere with you. That can inhibit your creativity. While I am here, I will point out if you are about to make a fatal mistake. However, I can’t spot all such mistakes.”

  She went quiet and floated closer, then smiled.

  “I should also disabuse you of the notion of flirting with a girl. I have been a High Administrator for a very long time, but even before that my species did not have gender as you know it. You are picturing me this way because this is what your mind expected to encounter in this situation. I am not your friend or companion. I am your superior… and at best, an ally.”

  That made me pause, and I made an awkward shuffle with my feet. If I were still flesh and blood, I would probably be blushing right now… but fortunately, my embarrassment was muted.

  I wasn’t sure what to feel about that. All my emotions were less intense now, but the fact that I didn’t have any glands or biology to produce them made me wonder if they were simulated or artificial. No. Best not to think about that. Down that road lies madness.

  I feel real, I thought. What was that famous quote? “I think, therefore I am.” Maybe I wasn’t the person I was before, but I was a person now… and that’s what I had to focus on.

  “I see,” I said aloud to Orpheus. “Well, even so, I hope you don’t mind if I continue to narrate a little, even if I’ve been friendzoned hard.”

  The fairy bobbed once more. “If it helps you in your task, then I encourage it. What I said may have come out harshly. While I don’t consider you a friend, I do wish for your success. Is that satisfactory?”

  I shrugged and gave a faint smile of my own. “It’s good enough.”

  I turned back to my interface and noticed that I now had several screens open at once. I’d really thrown myself into this work.

  While I couldn’t remember most of my actual life, I did remember reading a lot of articles and books about various topics. I get the feeling my previous self liked to throw himself into a problem.

  Still, I should probably take a break soon. But not yet. I wanted to get the basics down now.

  I clapped my hands together and was satisfied when they actually made the proper sound.

  “All right,” I said. “Now let’s sculpt some interesting terrain.”