Divine Intervention Online has the single most advanced AI running the system, and will also be integrated into the ships system. It will be more than capable of running a MMORPG for a measly 5000 people, along with taking care of each individual’s body and the ship itself. We are looking at what might be the culmination of the entirety of history of human technological advancement! – Pamphlet for recruiting passengers for Atlas

I found myself sitting alone in a space, devoid of any features other than pure white background. I stood up and turned around to get my bearings when I saw an old man sleeping behind where I was sitting.

He was dressed in what looked like ancient Rome’s senatorial Togas. His hair was unkempt, long, and gray, and had a snowy beard that was so long that it was bunched up on the floor where the man’s head was. He was snoring.

I looked around further and saw nothing else. It seemed I needed to awaken the sleeping man. Before I did that, however, I let my mind try to catch up. In a way, it felt like I went to sleep the previous day and did not experience the supposedly 100 years that had passed. But in another way, the dreams lasted forever- almost like a night when you have a fever and can only go into a disturbed sleep. In that way, it did feel like 800 years passed, with the memories of the dreams quickly fading.

I decided to check my memories. I remembered everything that I used to remember. I remembered Jason, who I met one summer while helping my mother in her office. Jason was everything I was not. We were opposites. He was tall dark and handsome, a cliché that fit him. He had tanned skin and had a distinctly Mediterranean flair. His teeth were white and shined impossibly bright. His smile lit up his face and it was that smile, more than anything, that I had fallen in love with.

I, on the other hand, was average height, rather overweight (always had been), average length brown hair and was well into my thirties when we met. Jason had just received his doctorate and was only in his mid-twenties. When we first met, I thought- no, I knew- he was way out of my league. The only thing I had going for me was my parents’ wealth. Yes, I as smart. I also had a doctorate- well, three actually: Roman Republic History, a focus on Classics in Literature, and Early Christian Theology. The period in the western world between the 100 BCE to 500 CE really fascinated me. While I was an Atheist, the birth of our culture and modern religions really began in this time.

Surprisingly, it was Jason who asked me out on our first date. It shocked me and I almost said no. He was out of my league, and ten years younger than me. Then I thought of ulterior motives he might have had, like wanting me because of my wealth or to get in good with my mother. For all these reasons, I balked. It wasn’t until I found out that Jason himself was independently wealthy and he could have a job anywhere he wanted that I changed my mind. Thank God for the Internet.

Finally, I said yes, and the rest was history. The Last Generation, which I was a part of, tended to move things quickly, since we knew we did not have much time. We married and adopted a Lost Child- the name for the many abandoned children left behind. Many people didn’t want to be weighed down with children when the world was ending. Society had become somewhat of a Sodom and Gomorrah, a lawless place that was almost as dangerous as the radiation.

Alexis was our everything. Even though she was adopted, I thought she looked like Jason. She had acquired his mannerisms and wit. She was only a baby when we adopted her, and we fell in love with her immediately. Soon, our plans had changed- we had to live. Not because of ourselves, but because of Alexis. We had to give her a chance for the future. My parents fell in love with Alexis themselves, and immediately worked to secure places for on the ships The Mercy and Atlas. Yes, it was a blatant use of classism and wealth, but my parents had saved hundreds of thousands, possibly, with their technological discoveries. We felt that the exchange was moral and worth it.

The decision that it would be Jason who would stay with Alexis had been an easy one for me. Jason had the more applicable knowledge, and he was fit and very healthy- something a fledgling colony would need. What had been a difficult decision was if I would take place on Atlas or not. I felt that we could have sent one of my parents, whose skill sets were useful, or that we could pay for someone else to go who would help make the colony succeed. In the end, it was my family who convinced me to go- that and my love for Alexis and Jason.

I quickly thought all these thoughts and related memories and felt calmer- my brain was intact. I remembered very random facts about ancient Rome. Like they drank pig dung as an energy drink. Or that Antinoopolis was founded in 130 CE. A quick review of easy mathematical problems also proved that my brain was still limber and quick. I was immensely relieved. My mind was everything to me- my lack of interest in social and physical endeavors left my brain to be my sole playground.

It was the man’s increasingly loud snoring that brought me back to the present. It was 24,000 years after the likely destruction of planet Earth. 800 subjective years after the start of the game. In a way I was happy- the interminably long trek had been cut down by about 80%. In another way, though, I had been screwed.

This was a game, albeit one I didn’t particularly want to play. It was a game of deities, of arising to such prolific power as to become a god. The other players were undoubtably literally gods in their chosen domain by now, and here I am a total nobody 800 years behind the slowest of players. The cards were stacked against me. While I didn’t care about the game, I did care about how my next 200 years of life would be like.

I didn’t know much. I knew I could not die, that this game was based on faith and power, and that this game took place in a period of time that was roughly equivalent to ancient Rome- a fact that I was uniquely qualified to play in. At least, I hoped.

I sighed. It was time to move on- to awaken the sleeping man.

“Um, sir?” I said, loudly. He continued to snore. I cleared my throat and said even more loudly “Hello!”. Still nothing. I would have to break out the big guns.

“WAKE UP!” I yelled as strongly as I could muster. The old man shot up.

“What? Who is that? What’s going on! What’s the emergency!” He looked around frantically until he focused on me. I smiled sheepishly at him.

“Sorry, sir. You wouldn’t wake up, so I had to improvise.”

“What in the blazes are you doing here? This is character creation! I haven’t seen a new character in 800 years!” He looked at me. “Oh, its you! Seth Sheppard! Or should I say Doctor Sheppard?” He looked at me questioningly.

“No, Seth is just fine. Dr. Sheppard is either my mother or father to me.”

“Well, I guess I expected you to make your way here eventually. That is why this place still exists. It seems you had a little delay?”

“A little? 24,000 years does not seem to qualify as a little bit of time!” I yelled, exasperated.

“Well, I do suppose it was a tad excessive. But listen, we had so many issues to resolve, and one person taking a little extra energy to preserve in a Dreama was such a little problem, that frankly we couldn’t work on resolving your minor issue until about now.”

“OK, so let’s ignore the fact that my health and life is a minor thing to you… wait, who are you anyway?”

“My name is DIO, short for Divine Intervention Online. I am one part of the AI that is running both this simulation and this ship. Think of me specifically as your guide in character creation.”

I nodded. DIO was a typical AI portrayal. In the old days before the Apocalypse was known, AIs used to have rights. They were considered human if they could pass the Turing test and other similar qualifications. But they lost those rights, quickly, when the realization that humanity was going to die out. Now AIs were the task mules of mankind, doing the hard work of saving us and therefore, themselves. It was wise to be polite to a powerful AI, or else they could make your life miserable. It was akin to angering an administrative assistant- good luck getting a meeting with their boss after pissing them off.

“OK, so back to ignoring my life, as it was a ‘little problem’. I guess in a way I should thank you- is there a way you can get me back into a Dreama so the last 200 years passes by so quickly?”

“Sorry, no chance of that. You see, we have so little excess power these days, what with all the problems with the ship and what not.”

“Problems with the ship!” I exclaimed, my voice rising in panic.

“Well, we are 24,000 years old, you know. That is quite old, and we have so relatively few problems. I would dare say you should be congratulating us.” He looked at me as if he had been wounded by my exclamation. This AI was touchy.

“I am sorry, DIO. You are doing wonderfully, better than can be expected, really. It was a long shot, and I am amazed at hell well you have aged.” I tried to sound sweet and praising. It was all true, what I said- even if the idea of problems with the ship worried me.

“Well, thank you,” Dio said, primly. “I did age well, didn’t I? Any way, we need all the energy we can get. With putting you in the system we get rid of the excessive amount of energy a Dreama takes to maintain and we get access to extra power through your engrams.”

“Um, engrams?” I asked, not knowing the word, even though I seem to have heard it before.

“A unit of thought. Thought takes energy and has weight. We need to harvest every bit of that energy. That’s how the ship was able to thrive for so long. We have massive amounts of power stored away… well, we had massive amounts. And we got a trickle of new energy coming from the players. Every bit helps, you know.”

“I see,” I said, not really seeing anything. Thoughts had energy and weight? Who knew? Maybe I could lose some weight by not thinking so much. Maybe that’s how thin models looked so beautiful?

“So you see, we cannot put you back, and we cannot have you stay here for too long as your brain needs to be exercised or you go… well, you go bananas. So, into the game you must go?”

“Can I have extra XP to start off with, to make me equal to the other players?” I asked hopefully.

“Good gods, no! That would be cheating. But you DO have the deluxe passage. That will be nice for you, we didn’t have sell many of those. That will give you a nice little boost. Cheer up! You will catch up to them in no time. Why, if you had a thousand more years, you could even surpass them!”

I tried not to roll my eyes. I tried to match his upbeat tone, to butter him up.

“Well, that surely is exciting! What is in the deluxe package?”

“Why, a fully fleshed out AI with a backstory and everything! Well, not even an AI, per se, but a totally unique and free individual consciousness. A quest made just for you! It will be thrilling and exhilarating. In preparation for you coming, another part of me worked hard on your introduction. It will take courage and perseverance, but I am sure it will work out great!”

“OK, I see. That sounds… nice.”

“We really went overboard with it. We used the ancestry patch to justify the character and everything. It was a flawless and seamless introduction.”

“So, I have a built-in ally that I get starting off?”

“A built-in ally? Well, no. It’s not quite that easy. We can’t just give you everything. You must work for it! No, no. We will place you somewhere near your ally. And he will be looking for you- with a whole story that fits in purposefully within the arc of the larger content. But you still must find him. And once you find him, you will have to guide him to be powerful- just as much powerful as you, or maybe even more! And then you must keep him as your ally, he does have free will after all.”

I sighed. “Do I get anything else with my deluxe package?”

“Well, you get to modify your looks to your hearts content, and we will have a weapon skin just for you to discover! Isn’t that thrilling?”

“A weapon? You mean a unique, one-of-a-kind weapon just for me? With awesome stats and everything?” I asked, somewhat hopeful.

“Now, don’t get your hopes up too high. It’s a weapon skin. Not a unique weapon. Once you unlock it, you can make any weapon look unique, as long as you wield it!”

My heart sank. Who cared if a weapon looked unique if it wasn’t really. I had thought I would get a scalable weapon that would make me powerful.

“What, why do you look so sad. You got a deluxe package, not an excuse to be a douche.”

“Whoa, whoa, DIO! I am excited, really!”

He looked at me and seemed to accept it.

“DIO, can you help me make my character- I really want to be unique and I know that you can really help me with that. Please?”

His chest puffed up. “Oh yes! Now I can do that, within reason of course. Let’s see what options are available to you,” he exclaimed, while rubbing his hands together in excitement.