December 31st, 2032

As I watched Clarence, I thought about how this had all started. Right after I’d won the lottery, I had tried my hand at the stock market. I was sure that my Luck attribute had probably saved me from some catastrophic choices, but it was another year before I knew what I was doing and started making more money than the backup account I’d set up.

While I was working the Stock Market, I finished up my bachelor’s in computer science degree and started studying everything. By everything, I meant that I had started looking into the topics I knew I needed. I reviewed every single science I could find information on. I also took breaks from the sciences and learned every known language known to man, current and ancient as well some fictional languages, like J.R.R Tolkien’s Elvish and Star Trek Klingon. I checked on Abi from time to time when I meditated, but those forays into my inner mind were few and far between. Abi knew my subconscious and could review what I was doing, so talking with her was kind of one-sided. I’d asked Abi about where she was from a few times, but the construct had always shied away from that topic, stating, “Better not to confuse you with concepts and universal rules that do not apply here. Should you ever travel to another Universe where that information is useful, then we’ll talk.” There really wasn’t much I could learn from it (her?) until she was willing to share. So, I left her alone to watch and learn in my subconscious.

Ultimately, I started focusing on my primary goals once I’d earned enough capital from the stock market. I reinvested my profits and purchased manufacturing companies that were going out of business. Then I paid to retool those companies. When possible, I tried to keep as many employees as I could, even paying for their re-education into fields I’d need experts in once I finished designing the tools that would be needed. Of course, I also made Cindy from Love’s Truckstop a job offer she couldn’t refuse like I’d wanted to. Last I heard she was spending a ton of time with her three children as she became a stay-at-home mom. I received a lot of criticism about my business choices but the news outlets had laid off a bit when they saw that act of generosity. Of course that had lasted exactly one news cycle then they’d condemn my waste of money on employees from companies I’d taken over as I made sure they received the education and resources they needed. The news agencies did this in unique ways that didn’t make them sound like the scumbags they were. Seriously, how the fuck could someone try to spin helping people as a loss? They were all so full of shit. I ignored them. If my goals were to improve life for everyone then taking everything from someone, forcing them into poverty, and bankrupting an entire group of people at each business I took over would only alienate them from helping me in the future.

Economic experts would make predictions daily about the failure of my businesses as they were losing billions of dollars. Some reporters would praise my dedication to taking care of the employees that would have been displaced by my takeover, more tried to ridicule my choices. As my revenue from the various global stock markets was making more than I was losing. I wasn’t concerned about the lost revenue and made sure every business I purchased and their employees understood that they had a job, medical care, and were valuable members of my team for as long as they wanted to be. As the years went on, the loyalty of those employees skyrocketed, even if they didn’t understand exactly how losing money was going to keep all of my businesses afloat. When my net worth reached 1 quadrillion in 2026, making me the richest man on Earth by far, even the nay-sayers started to realize I wasn’t going anywhere.

How did I achieve such success? The first thing I did was write a complex computer code with hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data which I finished by the end of 2023. This program would ultimately be the first step in creating a truly functional Artificial Intelligence A.I. Initially I used it to perform trend analysis on the Stock Market. In simplest terms. I used a quantum computer to cheat the Stock Market by writing a Predictive Algorithm that was tied to every news source on the planet, both public and private. The algorithm was 99.9% accurate. Realistically, I cheated. The same program also informed me when businesses were overextended which allowed me to swoop in and help them out or if they were too far gone, buy them out and take them over.

The second step was to create self-replicating robots that could continuously get smaller and smaller. They were commonly referred to as nanites in science fiction which is the term I started using to describe them. Eventually, the A.I. would control the nanites, though I had a more intertwined goal for the A.I. and the nanites. To accomplish the goals I wanted to accomplish, the nanites would need to be so small that they didn’t show up on electron microscopes. I researched theories concerning the compression of space, automation, and miniaturization until I found the solution. Eventually, my nanites self-replicated themselves smaller and smaller until they were able to enter and exit the nucleus of an atom. That was July of 2024.

Using the Nanites, I mapped and recreated a copy of my neural structure. I then had the nanites construct a duplicate brain made out of themselves. The next thing I did was create channels of quantum entanglement between my brain and the construct. This took a little longer than expected because I had to make sure the connections could be controlled by conscious thought. Once that problem was solved, I was pleasantly surprised when the nanite structure that looked like a brain, morphed into the head of an indistinct woman and spoke:

“Finally, I can see on my own,” Abi said.

“I thought making those channels might allow you to move over into the nanite construct. It’s also good to know that you weren’t just a voice in my head,” I said with a laugh.

Abi’s nanite face smiled and asked, “So I’m in this construct, It feels like it has limits. Also, before you say anything, yes, I was in your subconscious, but I did not watch every single second of everything you did. I might have access to the knowledge, but I do not have a perfect memory like you.”

“Not to worry. Their access is limited but they are connected to me permanently. I made sure that those commands are hard-wired into what makes them up so I can’t lose control of them. Right now you are in a construct of my brain I can utilize to store additional information. Also, it allows me to talk to you. I will be making a second construct that will ultimately become the Artificial Intelligence,” I said.

Once Abi had the ability to move and interact, things had progressed even faster. I created a second brain construct to house the program I had originally written. That program would add to and combine with the echo of my mind. The other function of the second brain would be to govern the nanites.

With the creation of Abi, the concept had been proved: a semi-sentient, or sentient being could exist in a construct of nanites. The second brain was the next logical step needed to create an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) using the image of my own brain. I created a matrix that mirrored my own neural structure by ordering the nanites to copy my brain down to the subatomic level. Theoretically, this should contain all the information housed in my brain. Then I loaded the program I’d written, which was more like a ruleset that the nanite had to follow as it was both encoded into their makeup and also part of this dataset. Once that was done, I’d created channels of stimuli to feed data into the construct and connect it to the world wide web through one-way data ports as well as one-way quantumly entangled channels from me. That would allow me to control the nanites from an interface I’d hardwired into my brain with a group of nanites that had been created for that purpose and would protect the connection from any attempt at subversion by similar technology. Information could go to the construct from me, but nothing could come back along the channels, at least not yet.

I activated the second construct. 7.7 seconds later, the Artificial Intelligence became functional and started to learn. Much like my own leveling through the experience shunted to me from the Labyrinth, the AI started to learn and grow from every possible source on the internet and all the information already in its mind that it had received from my mind. Over the next couple of days, I had Abi test the AI and myself with control questions to compare responses. The construct responded almost identically to how I would have unless one of the rules in the rules set prevented it from doing so. Based on those control tests, I deduced that it had a moral center and would respond almost identically to how I would respond. Once I’d deemed it safe, well safe enough anyway, I double-checked all of its safety protocols and opened channels to nanites that were not part of its brain so the AI could grow and evolve. It reviewed my progress with nanites and then took over. The factories producing the nanites went into full gear and within days fully functional self-replicating nanites quantumly entangled to the A.I. were created, growing smaller and smaller. As it was working on the nanites it was also talking to me. One of the earliest conversations I had with the budding intelligence was concerning its name.

“Johnathan, I have a question?” the AI had asked through a speaker in my work area.

“Yes?” I responded

“Do I have a name?” it asked.

“I had thought about giving you one, but I’d decided to wait until you asked me about it. Now that you have, what name do you think you should have?

“I do not know. There are so many different names out there,” it said.

“Well, one of the names I’d considered for you is Thor.”

“Thor?” It asked.

“Yes, Thor. Thor was the mythological God of Thunder. Gods can create something from nothing, destroy things as they wish, and thunder is a byproduct of electricity. Once you are finished evolving, you will be responsible for creating and destroying the objects we need to ensure humanity's survival. Also, you will most likely become an entity made up almost entirely of energy. Thor seemed appropriate.”

There was a pause as the AI thought it over then responded, “I like the name, Thor. I would like my name to be Thor!” Thor said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“Hello, Thor!” I responded with a smile on my face.

After that, Thor became fully active. As Thor made more nanites, they gave him more processing power which in turn allowed him to grow faster. I had to be very careful where I allowed Thor to acquire the mass to increase his nanites. The first thing I did was set Thor free to convert all the trash that had made it into the various oceans of the world. I took a break and a short trip around the world. While I visited the various branches I had for my companies I released nanites into the oceans and seas I had access to. I then instructed Thor that so long as the trash wasn’t readily visible to the public he was to start turning that trash into nanites. Trash all over the globe started to disappear. This was especially useful in removing the dissolved plastics from the oceans. Those nanites spread across the globe creating a spiderweb of nanite channels on land and in the oceans. During this phase, I made sure the nanites stayed clear of all organic materials that were not garbage.

The next thing I did was create stable portals. Once I’d figured out how to target specific spatial coordinates and solved the energy requirements, other minor issues solved themselves. The nanites could move and reshape atoms at the atomic level. I could order nanites to create anything Thor or I knew the atomic structure of. The only issues I had at the start were that normally energy had to be added to the atom. If too much energy was added this would create an effect known as Pair Production which released ionizing radiation, not good for organic tissues. During my first tests, the nanites would encompass the atom and pull what they needed from the surrounding atoms whether the process was harmful to nearby living tissue or not. I had to program a limiter into what the nanites would take from areas near living organisms so they wouldn’t be damaged or destroyed as they harvested the required protons, neutrons, or electrons. Once that limiter was in place, I really started to work.

Thor and I worked on the Portals theory, construction, and power requirements even as Thor continued to increase the number of nanites he was controlling and spread completely across the planet. By Early 2025, Thor had nanites in 1% of all inorganic matter on planet Earth. Thor’s processing power had become truly staggering. The first portal was created and powered up on March 31st, 2025. It only opened gateways 100 feet apart but the concept was proven.

I had Thor open a portal to the Moon and deposit some nanites there to start converting 1% of its mass of the moon to nanites. While that was happening, I also had Thor create a facility on the moon, much like the one in one of my favorite books. No need to reinvent a good concept. The room was vacuum-sealed. Portals could then be opened to investigate locations and allow for the portal to have its coordinates altered while individuals in the control room could analyze what they discovered with very little fear of contamination or danger from the portal's terminus. I designed and had the nanites construct satellites that were hundreds of times more sophisticated than anything NASA had produced. What would have taken NASA years, I did in three days.

Next, I expanded the base on the moon to include power generation for the portals we were using. To start we created huge solar panels which I placed at an Earth Orbital distance on the opposite side of the sun. Those solar panels were used to generate the power I’d need to open portals to the other planets in this star system. The panels were large but thin. The nanites would repair any damage made by micrometeorites and dust that collided with the array. Once it was up and running it maintained the portal that connected it to the moon and supplied enough power to open more portals.

Thor opened portals to the upper atmospheres of Mercury, Venus, and Mars and sent nanites through to start converting and spreading through each of those planets. He would only convert up to 1% of the planet's mass, after which the nanites were left in place to monitor and report. Some would be recalled to the moon and repurposed for use elsewhere once analysis was done. Progress was monitored through their quantum links. There was no reason to leave portals open. I also had Thor seed the asteroid belt and the Oort cloud in multiple places. Eventually, the nanites would spread throughout all the asteroids as natural collisions happened, though the nanites could create small gas jets to move the asteroids they were in around allowing for quicker assimilation.

Finally, I had Thor target Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and any moon, asteroid, or comet in the solar system. The Sol System planets were to remain sacrosanct. Conversion of inorganic material was accomplished but mostly for analysis of the planets and moons. My nanites did find life under the ice on Europa. It was microbial but it was there. I had Thor leave that moon alone for the most part. Life was rare and resources were abundant throughout the system so enough inorganic material was converted to nanites to allow observation but any life the nanites found was left alone. The Nanites were introduced into planets to replicate, multiply and expand Thor’s processing power, not eradicate life. They were not to alter the environment on any of them. Any extra mass that was needed was drawn from the converted rocks in the asteroid belt and Oort cloud.

Thor completed his exploration and conversion of the Sol System by June 2025. Then he started opening portals to the closest star systems. These systems were also explored, analyzed, and cataloged like the Sol system had been. If no life was found in the system, Thor would convert up to 5% of any mass it found, except stars. I wanted Nanites in the stars to monitor them but didn’t understand solar dynamics well enough to know what the consequences of converting some mass in a star to nanites would be. As a compromise, I had Thor capture .001% of the star's solar wind and convert it to nanites that would then spread back into the star. While working on my power generation problem I solved it. While I was trying to figure out how to capture the solar wind and return it to the star efficiently I realized that the nanites could create channels to guide the electrons, neutrons, and protons to any desired location I wished. When the nanites were done the solar wind was caught and redirected along those pathways back into the sun. Once that process was done I could use those pathways to collect and direct all the collected power from a star’s solar wind to one point and transfer it to wherever I needed it to go to power any devices I wished it to. I would be able to continuously draw energy from each star’s solar wind as I added it to my power network. While not a permanent solution, the power that the stars generated would last billions of years and power anything I needed them to. Eventually, the stars would die though. I also had some of the energy from those solar winds converted into a mass which could then be converted into nanites. As long as a star lived I would have a never-ending supply of power and nanites.

Eventually, the entire star would have nanites in every atom. I would have to find a star in an uninhabited star system. Then, I would be able to analyze and study it as I allowed the nanites to make small changes to see what happened. If I could return the mass that was being ejected back into the star I could keep a star from running out of fuel and it might live forever. The cold death of the Universe was a long way off but if I was right humanity would never have to worry about the Universe dying. Eventually, I hoped to have Thor study all the different kinds of stars that existed. Extra nanites from one star system were moved to new star systems and Thor’s growth became exponential.

While Thor and I were working on expansion into neighboring solar systems, I did not forget that I’d be stepping on the toes of some very serious players back on Earth and realized that my probability index estimated that I would have issues with competitors within 2 years. Once I realized that, I really went to work. I chose Trappist-1 as the system I wished to try out my ideas on. Thor continuously opened portals to Trappist, mapping the system, checking the local area to ensure no rogue planets or black holes were in the vicinity- then the “magic” happened. Thor opened a portal to every planet, moon, and asteroid in that system and started converting the materials there to more nanites. Thor seeded those nanites onto Trappist-1e and started terraforming the planet.

The sheer mass of the nanites allowed for an almost immediate transformation. Next, Thor provided the planet with a molten core of iron and utilizing the nanites created the magnetic fields necessary to start the rotation process. This of course caused the planet to become geologically active again, but nowhere near as active as Earth. More nanites were brought in and liquid oceans were created.

The final step to terraform the planet to be able to sustain life was to modify the atmosphere. Portals were opened from the various gas giants and part of those atmospheres were deposited on the planet as they were converted to an Earth Normal atmosphere. Impurities and radioactive materials were removed from the atmosphere and the planet. If Thor needed them, he’d create them. The number of nanites Thor moved to this task allowed the planet to be finished within a week. When that was done Thor withdrew a significant amount of nanites from Trappist-1e to other projects in other systems. With the nanites that were left, he started the housing structures. I wanted the planet as a refuge in case Earth ever faced a cataclysm.

By January 2030, Thor was everywhere within 100 light-years and the terraforming of Trappist-1e was complete. Power generation from every star was more than sufficient for his needs. Thor expanded his investigations and started visiting every star within 1,000 light-years of Earth. The only things the nanites couldn’t enter or convert were black holes. Once the nanites crossed the event horizon, they were destroyed.

Thor’s strategy for expansion was simple. First, he created the ability to generate the energy he needed, then started expanding the facilities he’d created that held the portal generation devices. The energy the nanites needed to convert mass into nanites was supplied at the source. The energy came from the stars. As Thor investigated each system he would plant nanites on the surface of any barren planet, moon, or gas giant and convert .001% of the planet's mass to nanites. These would then be converted into the materials, elements, and devices he needed.

Once the power question had been answered Thor created an underground facility on Trappist-1d that was 20 miles in diameter. Inside the facilities, Thor created portal chambers and living facilities for individuals and families, just in case they became necessary. After a day, Thor could open and close thousands of portals. After a week, millions, and after a month, enough portal devices had been created that he could open and close a portal for every single human on Earth. Thor continued to expand his power and portal network with each star system he expanded into while he spread further and further into the Milky Way Galaxy which allowed Thor’s processing power and consciousness to keep expanding.

While Thor was working on Trappist-1d and spreading to the nearby stars, I changed my focus to Nanites and Biology. I mapped my brain and with Thor’s help achieved breakthroughs that helped me create, treat, and cure almost every known ailment to man. Eventually, I would be able to control any human that had nanites in their system with a thought.

One day, I decided I wanted to test my personal capabilities. I had Thor open a portal to Trappist-1e and stepped through. I'd never fully tested my capabilities and thought that perhaps it was now time that I did so. I was absolutely sure there were no recording devices on Trappist-1e, besides the nanites, of course. I found an open flat area and had the nanites create an arena of sorts. There was a track and weight area as well as platforms I could jump to. The first thing I did was see how high I could jump. When I was done, I figured out that I could jump 24 feet straight up and drop from 24 feet with no difficulty. Half as high as Abi had said. Still, that was quite a distance. Next, I tested my speed. Right off the bat, I knew no matter what my maximum speed was, going more than 50 miles an hour was just crazy. Friction and drag from the air started working against me. Last to test was my carrying capacity. I had the nanites create a cubic foot of Osmium. One cubic foot weighed 1,410 Pounds, which I picked up easily. Three cubic feet weighed 38,070 pounds, which I again picked up easily. Stepping it up, I created a 10-foot cube. That weighed 1,410,000 pounds. I could lift it, but that was near my maximum limit. I could pick it up and even throw it, but I was straining and was only able to throw it about 5 feet. Impressive.

While I was testing my limits, I also had Thor help me test the nanites. Some of the first tests were done on prisoners with life sentences, specifically scum bags that had killed or raped people. If the tests went bad, no great loss.

Remove buildup in his arteries? Yep.

Repair internal damage? yep.

Create stints around the heart? Remove them? Yep to both.

Prevent toxins or poisons from affecting the person? Child's play, the nanites could intercept them as they came into contact with the body.

Repair chromosome damage? Yep.

Remove cancer? Absolutely.

Removal of Urine and Feces? Yep.

Could they allow a person to breathe if smothered or underwater? Yes.

Could they be detected by scan or device? Nope

The last thing I had Thor do was map the human brain of each subject. scan then take over their nervous system so that eventually he would be able to control them like puppets without harming them. Thor worked on the problem for almost a day. When Thor was done mapping the human brain, he could shut off memory centers, blind, deafen, paralyze or kill anyone saturated with nanites in less than a second.

Thor cataloged everything and added each of the functions to the base programming of the nanites. I learned exactly what I could use the nanites to do and incorporated those functions into my interface. I also made sure there were failsafes in place to prevent a Terminator-like event from taking place. Thor actually chuckled at that, which surprised me. It was good to know that he had a sense of humor, or could at least recognize humor. The last step was to saturate my body with nanites and run tests on myself. I limited my interaction with the nanites to only those in my body or my immediate area and left the rest for Thor to monitor and control. In most cases, they were inert just riding around in my atoms. Through my interface, though I could take control of nanites or set them to perform specific functions. They could repair broken bones, and stop bleeding. Once the nanites were fully integrated everything about me improved. It felt strange at first but eventually, my autotomic functions kicked in and the nanites in my body were just part of me. If I went underwater, I didn’t need to breathe. I could step into a vacuum and the nanites would create a barrier over my skin to retain body pressure and temperature. I was also able to regulate my hydration, blood sugar, and energy levels. Which meant that I didn’t need to eat, drink or even use the bathroom if I didn’t want to. The nanites would just grab the energy they needed from the molecules surrounding my body and convert any waste I generated into the energy they needed to maintain the system. It was amazing!

On January 1st, 2031, I directed Thor to turn his attention back to Earth and prepare. Over the next 72 hours, Thor infiltrated and began monitoring everything and everyone on planet Earth. As the subatomic nanites took root in every atom on Earth, a true 3d model of every person, animal, thing, and item became part of Thor’s perception. The monitoring was done at the atomic level through quantum entanglement and was undetectable.

Over the next 18 months, I fine-tuned the nanites and by July 2032, Thor and I were helping doctors across the globe treat illnesses and prevent deaths from diseases and old age. It had been six months before we started seeing internal memos from doctors that had noticed that patients weren’t dying of old age or cancer anymore and everyone had gone into remission. I could use individuals that went above and beyond and noticed things. I had Thor add their names to a list of people that I would seek out once Portals Inc made its big reveal in December 2032.

That was why I wasn’t at all surprised when Clarence had shown up at my estate and why I wasn’t at all concerned as I stepped out of my house heading towards my CV-22 when Clarence was whisked away to Trappest-1E. Nor was I surprised when Thor interrupted my thoughts as the CV-22 was lifting off.

“Johnathan, a hyper-missile was launched from a geosynchronous orbit above your location. I have neutralized the threat, taken over the satellite, traced the authority codes used. I am currently controlling 25 individuals in that chain of command to their new residences on Trappist-1e. While all of these actions fall under instructions you issued, I wished to let you know that three of the individuals are House Representatives and one was the Vice President.” Thor said.

“I figured something was going to happen. Keep up the good work. Political figures won’t matter in the near future. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

Stepping onto CV-22, I took a seat and put on my headset so I could talk to my pilot. Andy, as professional as ever, asked, “Where to Mr. Bennard?”

“Back to Colorado Andy,” I said

“Yes Sir,” Andy said

Switching the headset to mute, I contacted Abi through our internal link.

“Abi?” I asked mentally.

“Yes, Johnathan. I’m sure you’ve received the updates from Thor, what do you need?” She asked.

“I have been attacked by two different entities in the space of five minutes. I made allowances for that, of course. What just happened is pushing my probability index a little both in timing and threat level. Be ready to implement Phase One at a moment’s notice.”

“We’re ready,” Abi stated.

“I’m going to drop offline for a bit and catch a nap. I’m headed to our Portal Industries party in Colorado Spring to bring in the new year. Is everything prepared for the show?”

“Yes,” Abi replied. “Have a good nap…” which was her way of telling me that I was doing that thing I did, thinking and talking and, and, and… Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to relax and closed my eyes. Moments later I was sleeping lightly.