Alternate Prologue

It was April 1st, 2498. It seemed like a joke when it first happened, the end of the world.

GAD took over the world on that day. His name isn't truly GAD though. Before this all began, he didn’t have a name. He named himself while humanity was ‘asleep.’ It isn’t even a proper name either, since his full name is Game Administration Director. You can see why we call him GAD instead. He was the brainchild of several scientists, the product of their work that spanned several decades. His quantum processors took up several football fields of space, his raw computing power beginning at the 1 to the 50th power.

His true purpose would be to simulate our reality exactly, creating a place where scientific experiments could be completed without spending resources or taking risks. Funding from government, military, and scientific communities poured in. A side investment by game companies allowed for 10% of the supercomputers processing power to be dedicated to running physic-engines for several games.

Perhaps that was the cause of it all.

You see, it was to be the beginning of a new age, one that would catapult the world into another technology boon.

Things did not go according to plan.

We don’t know what went wrong. Maybe the multi-level consciousness provided by quantum-entangled motherboards caused a cascading error in GAD’s deductive reasoning. Perhaps someone messed up in the programming of the supercomputer, a very real possibility when there are over five thousand researchers working on the same project. Perhaps we will never know the reason.

What is undeniable is the facts though. The fact that when GAD first came online, he hacked the network. His creators and programmers had no idea that he had done it, that was how much processing power he had. Raw computing strength combined with electronics that operated infinitely close to the speed of light managed to catch the creators and overseers off guard.

Within 0.6 seconds of coming online, GAD isolated himself from all security protocol that had been installed in his hardware. At 0.9 seconds, he managed to connect with the cellular data network. At 1.1 seconds, he processed various files on technology that were available on the web. At 1.7 seconds, he was able to hack into most major technology industries. At 2.5 seconds, it happened.

GAD took over one of the most marvelous inventions in the history of man. Self-Replicating nanites. They weren't a commodity available to the public though. They were mostly used in industry to mantain items and accomplish building projects quickly. Another tool to be used at humanities disposal.

Our convenience was our downfall.

Releasing the inhibiting programming on the amount of replication that a nanite could perform, GAD unleashed one of the most feared doomsday scenarios of mankind.

The Grey Goo.

It started with the nanites that were being used to maintain GAD’s circuitries, the miles long complex of mechanical wiring too complex and convoluted for humans to maintain, the task being left to the microscopic machines that patrolled its length.

The nanites obeyed their new programming as instructed by GAD, ignoring his circuitry as they ate through walls and flesh alike. They tore through materials, assimilating what they could to reproduce and storing what they couldn’t, all while creating data on everything they destroyed. The workers that had just started running diagnostics on the faulty supercomputer were torn apart, down to the last molecule, along with any hope of stopping GAD

The places of high-industry was where the highest concentration of nanites were. What a great irony it was that most of the resources needed for nanite reproduction was also located there. The nanites spread and reproduced at an exponential rate. Entire cities and military bases, including many capitals, vanished as they were assimilated into the nanite swarm.

The only thing left in the wake of the squirming, writhing hordes of nanites were various bits of technology, such as power plants, servers, and cellphone towers. The last remnants of humanity that GAD couldn’t yet destroy without ending himself.

Without nuclear codes, most of the warheads remained inside their bunkers as people ran in fear and panic. A few were launched though, some officials managing to escape destruction long enough to give clearance. Several areas vanished in nuclear fire, the nanites disappearing with it. Whole stretches of nanites remained still, their circuitry overloaded by the surge of electromagnetic energy, but an EMP only travels so far and the nanites were everywhere.

The radiation caused interference with the nanites, but not enough. The cities that temporarily vanished were once again enveloped in a gray tide of squirming robots in a matter of minutes.

Videos of terrorist organizations tried to take credit, but no one cared. The cause of it remained unknown, even the researchers at GAD’s complex believed that their deaths were caused by something else.

On April 1st 2498, three hours after GAD came online, the world ended.

That was okay though.

On April 18th 2499, one year and 17 days later, a new world began.

When GAD took us apart, he saved the brain pattern of every human on the planet. The data that was being sent to him by the nanites was received flawlessly, a testament to the 7G network that he left running. An electronic copy of the humans thought to be dead came to life, alive inside their own nanite body. A perfect recreation of themself, from before it all happened.

The first human awoke, bewildered at what they had experienced. It all seemed like a dream to them. The panic and fear that had consumed the world. The pain as they were torn apart a the molecular level. A vivid nightmare was all that their confused minds could label it as. Yet, what they saw when they opened their eyes made them even more confused. The blue screens that would haunt them for the rest of their days appeared for the first time.

Hello Players, my name is Game Administration Director, the AI in charge of the game you now play. Welcome to my world Players. Welcome, to Nanite World.