The data transfer continued throughout the rest of the day and into the night. Finally, around 5am, the flow of data, and the subsequent sorting of the information was complete. Stretching as I stood up from my chair I went within my mental library to find the answer to the question that had been bugging me, ‘are my memories real?’

First let’s start off with today’s date of which is 2523, ‘God damn almost 500 years since the date of my death.’ I guess the best place to start off would be birth certificates so search Scott Dirkwood birthdate 1992. Nothing came back to me which was kind of weird but I just shrugged it off and searched for my death certificate and came up with another blank.

I tried everything from credit cards to my driver license but I still couldn’t find anything. ‘Why can’t I find any information from this time period.’ Surprisingly my proto brain spat out any answer from the history section.

History Annuls:

The Minute War, as it was later called by its survivors, was the culmination of religious tension, overpopulation, at a high of 37 billion people, and the numerous governments, each with their own laws and bureaucracy, fighting for supremacy over increasingly scarcer resources. No one is quite sure why the first missiles were launched but it is known that the Federation was the first to launch their missiles. Other countries soon retaliated or launched at their enemies hoping to take advantage of the chaos. Mushroom clouds could be seen all around the globe that day as close to 60% of the population burned in Nuclear fire. They may have been the lucky ones as the years that followed billions starved to death in their new radioactive environment. It took nearly 100 years following the War for humanity to get back on track with the formation of a uniform government called United Gaia.

‘Well that explains the lack of records but it doesn’t answer my question. I’ll put that on hold for a sec and try to find out who Vahlen and Dave are.’

Vahlen:

Coming from a line of talented biologists and doctors, Vahlen continues on their legacy, after graduating from the prestigious Oxford academy at the young age of 18 with a degree in Astrobiology. Following her graduation Vahlen was instrumental to the identification of microbes found within the solar system and adapting them to suit human needs. She has since then started working on the ambitious project of a sentient AI under Dr. Dave Zhul at the age of 22 and is continuing to work on it till this day.

Dave:

As soon as I try to search for Dave’s information a hand waving its finger back and forth appeared in front of me. It also came with an annoying audio that repeats itself, “You’ll have to do better than that.”

‘Fuck you Dave.’

One thing did catch my interest in Vahlen’s profile. It was the part about microbes found outside of Gaia. In my time mankind hadn’t gone beyond the moon but now it seems they’re exploring the solar system. The knowledge caused me to feel pride for humanity, as even with our setbacks we strove to move forward, reaching for that which is just beyond our grasp but never giving up.

Beginning in 2450 once again man set foot upon the moon and, as if a switch had been flipped, explored ever outward, eventually reaching the two other rocky worlds as well as the many moons of the two gas giants. That’s where humanities advance faltered for the distant between the stars was simply too vast for our current engines.

I looked a little deeper into whether we have the means of faster than light travel. ‘I mean it is the future after all and Dave said I would be traveling between stars so, there it is.’

The first warp drive tests had begun six years ago and while successful in the fact that the ship went faster than light(FTL) it inevitably came out the other end either partially or completely destroyed. Shifting through the records of the partially destroyed ships it was determined that within the warp bubble there were pieces of space that didn’t fold correctly, therefore creating a metaphorical speed bump that broke the warp bubble and caused the engine to explode.

For years scientists attempted to solve the problem with more and more sophisticated AI that could correct any errors caused by these anomalies. The AIs were somewhat successful in the fact that sometimes they could make a successful warp(around 10%). The problem lay with the fact that AIs were only programs and anything outside of that programing had to be addressed by a human, but when the ships hit these speed bumps they had to immediately make adjustments and humans simply couldn’t keep up.

I guess that’s where I come in then as I could compensate for the anomalies and make my own decisions thereby making the warp technology viable for human exploration. ‘I guess I’ll be a pioneer and go where no man—er, machine has gone before. Okay so I have around 3 hours before everyone comes back which means I should probably start to run simulations of steering within the warp bubble. I mean even if all my memories are false why would I waste this chance at a second life because I was too lazy to practice my job?’

During the 3 hours I’ve run thousands of practice simulations and while I started off a little ruff(molten slag time after time) I think near the end that I’ve gotten better with a 99% success rate. Of course these are only simulations from potentially corrupt data but what’s life without risk.

‘Actually I should look up the person who made the warp drive possible. I need to thank them for the chance to explore the universe.’ The man that actually produced a working equation on how to fold space and furthermore created a working prototype within two years of this miraculous event was no other Dr. Dave Zhul at the age of 14.

‘Never mind I won’t thank him but damn, he was 14 when he did that. Someone just walked in the room, guess it’s time for a new day. Maybe I’ll be able to fly a ship today.’

With that thought I appeared outside ready for a new day.