I felt a knock on my mental door that I usually closed when I needed to let the biological part of myself get some rest. With a thought, I opened that mental door to find myself looking back at me.

“Adam it’s time to wake up?” the other me said.

With that one sentence, I remembered where I was, and what I’d been doing before I laid down and realized that I’d keep my Thor Aspect integrated when I laid down. I’d been so mentally drained that I’d forgotten to separate him from myself. Having realized my error, I released my Thor Aspect from myself.

I thought that would get your attention. -Thor

How long was I out? It feels like I’ve been out for a bit. Why can’t I concentrate? I haven’t felt like this since high school. Why do I still feel tired? I must have overslept. Why didn’t you wake me up? -Adam

Whoa there Adam. Take a breath. First, I did try to wake you up, you were out. Remember, when you bring us together, you control the body. When I’m part of you, I can only contact you through our subconscious and even that isn’t easy because a lot of me becomes tied up in you. It’s one of the reasons you recreated me remember, so you could let the analytical part of you continue working while the meat puppet part could do other things. Even so, I was able to separate myself and run within our subconscious. Is that an indicator that at some deep dark level you are nothing but a workaholic? Getting off Track. While you were out, I was still able to go through the first manifestations that we absorbed. We only separated the new data out to the Cosmic Crunchers, as I started referring to them. -Thor

Cosmic Crunchers (CC)? That’s rich, but I like it. So, what did you, I mean, what did we learn? -Adam

I would like to review the information that comes back after this next recall before I say. Besides, you’re me, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. -Thor

“Fine, go ahead and start reviewing what our CCs discovered during our first recall. By the way, how long were we out? -Adam

“Not too long, it’s been a week since you laid your head down. While your mind is resilient, and you do have a lot of mental willpower, even you need to rest after focusing for so long. Once I realized that was what was going on I just left you alone and retreated into your mindspace and reviewed what I could from our memories. -Thor

Mindspace? -Adam

You know, that point when your conscious mind just starts to become unconscious. I’m sure your recall Abi discussing this with you when you first met. I just started referring to it as a mindspace because soul space has its own definition and meaning. I had to bring the various parts of myself together from our subconscious and then move back to that point between our conscious and subconscious. -Adam

I thought about that for a minute, then focused inward. As I did so I realized that this was incredibly easy to do, and I found my Thor Aspect standing in an office room full of terminals that were cycling data at a tremendous rate

“Welcome to My Mind,” Thor said

“Ha, ha, very funny,” I replied because we both knew we were thinking of the song on the Intermix, Phaze Two, Album The Process. Another phrase in that song came to mind; “I never meant to harm anyone” if you could define a techno track as a song. Why had that lyric popped into my mind? My perfect memory always ensured that the information I needed would be at my fingertips as I desired it. Yet, I could not think of a reason I needed to hear those two phrases right now. Something to come back to.

“Where did that thought come from Adam?” Thor asked.

“You asked the question,” I responded

“You know what I meant, why would our mind bring that to our attention?” Thor asked

“I don’t know, but I’ve learned to trust our instincts. Now that we’ve both experienced something neither of us expected maybe we should pay attention?” I asked.

“Agreed, I’ll keep an eye out”

“Good, now what did you find while I was napping?”, I asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I just reviewed more of the first 15% we recovered. No surprises, just more worlds where your manifestations were either killed or just living a normal life with minimal impact. There were more captures than deaths which was a promising sign. Also, a very small amount were the live-and-let-live scenarios. The manifestations were doing just fine until we recalled them. Additionally, I also Identified every other world that had a high probability of containing an evil Johnathan. I’ve also Identified every Cosmos where a Johnathan was not present as well as every Cosmos where we were told the Johnathan there was killed or died of ‘natural’ causes. Of course, without verification, there is no way to be sure.

“Anything that might prove to be an issue?” I asked.

“No, everything looks about normal for your original Cosmos and the level limits that exist here.”

“Okay, get to work on reviewing what our CCs have been sorting. I’m going to pop back to full consciousness, take a shower, then get something to eat. I’ll check in with you in about an hour, maybe two.” I dropped out of mindspace and stood up. I had my nanites remove my clothing and then stepped into the shower. Sure, I didn’t need to take one, my nanites kept me completely clean, but I needed the feeling of hot water running over my head and down my body to set my mind at ease. Something was bothering me at a fundamental level, I was sure of it, I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

As I stood in the hot stream of water I reviewed. My subconscious didn’t normally provide me with random data. Usually, there was a reason behind anything brought to my attention. If I thought something like, I want to build nanites from scratch, my mind would bring forth the information I needed, as I needed it. As I completed each step in the process, more information would be made available. All of the information on how to create nanites didn’t just flood my thoughts at all times. Information I needed, when I needed it, was the only information brought forth. So, what had happened to change how my ability worked? Had it changed? I checked my Personal Information and no, that Soul Ability read exactly the same.

“Perfect Memory” - Like Photographic Memory except for all five senses with an automatic recall of desired information.

I stood in the shower thinking for about 30 minutes while I relaxed, then stepped out. I had the nanites dry and dress me then headed down to the kitchen where I had the nanites create a steak dinner for me. I hadn’t eaten in 5 years. I was going to enjoy this. I thought about everything I’d learned since being born into the Universe of the Vrax. I had some thoughts, but I didn’t want to jinx them by mentioning them, even to myself. So, I ate my steak, savored the artificial flavors and textures my nanites had created and enjoyed my meal. Once I was done I cleaned the dining room, went to sit down in my day room, and picked a random movie to watch to give Thor a little more time to review the data we’d acquired. “The 13th Floor” started playing on the screen and I watched as the main character realized he was just a construct in an artificial reality. Odd that I’d randomly picked that movie to watch?

An hour and forty-five minutes later, I sat through the credits, I contacted Thor.

Figure things out? -Adam

I’ve been done for a bit, and with the amount of processing power available collecting and correlating data didn’t take long at all. -Thor

So? -Adam

First, a large percentage, almost 80%, of those recalled did not have nanites and your manifestations found themselves on your Earth at any time after your return from being flung into the far future by that Vizier fellow that had tricked Tasha into handing you that ring that tossed you through time -Thor

What about all the Cosmos where I appeared in preindustrial settings?” -Adam

Each and every one of those planets was not Earth. Your manifestation was among other Humans, but the manifestation was not on Earth. One thing I can add with certainty. You can determine, with a high probability of success, exactly how you will react in a countless number of social, governmental, environmental, and romantic settings. -Thor

“I bet; how much longer do you need before we can do the second recall? -Adam

“We’re linked to the CCs, I would suggest that we don’t integrate again. It’s probably a good idea to leave part of us aware of what’s going on around us. -Thor

Sounds good! I’m going to initiate the second recall in 3,2,1…

I sent the batch command to recall all the new level 100 manifestations and watched as Thor went to work. Thor absorbed, sorted, and archived information from each Cosmos effortlessly. While opening and maintaining four portals at the same time initially killed my total mana, knocking out 80% right off the top, I was able to get back to full Mana in short order. The upkeep to maintain the portals was far less than my mana regeneration rate. Since the portals remained open, Thor and I remained quantumly linked to an insane number of nanites which provided us with a lot of extra processing power.

As the new information came in and Thor sorted and retrieved the specific information I’d requested from the Cosmic Interface of the manifestation he was reviewing. I reviewed that data and started working to decipher the cosmic identifier as well as check for embedded commands within the personal and cosmic identifiers. Reviewing coding was normally such a boring and tedious task.

What I discovered was anything but boring. Within 30 seconds I found what I thought must exist. A pattern, hidden with the Cosmic Identifier and the personal identifiers of every Cosmos and being within that Cosmos. With such a large sample size and access to the processing size of four Cosmos plus myself, it was child’s play to decipher the coding that was utilized. As soon as I knew the coding, I was able to enter my personal interface, bypass the security protocols that were present, and the secondary and tertiary security measures that would report such incursions to someone or something I had yet to encounter. There was a string of code as part of those Security measures I’d never seen before.

In terms of encoding, gaining access was extremely hard and required a knowledge of the Personal interface to know exactly what each entry and request needed. Once passed the encoding and security measures access became incredibly user-friendly with help menus and even a limited assistant program that helped the user. Nothing like a true AI or person, more like an Alexa or Google Assistant. I pulled up my personal information and reviewed it. The first thing I did was review my Soul abilities. I knew they’d changed when they’d been moved to soul abilities. I wanted to see what the coding for those abilities looked like.

I couldn’t view that coding. I could view the coding for all of my other attributes, even Karmic Luck. I could even modify them by up to 10% up or down with an expenditure of Karmic Luck. The one attribute I couldn’t adjust was Karmic Luck, that attribute was locked. I could see it; I could see the number which now read “9.999E +99…” Which I took to mean effectively infinite. I even went back into the log and reviewed the two commands I’d given for mass manifestations. Even the amount of Karmic Luck expended hadn’t altered my karmic luck by one digit.

While I was ripping apart my own personal identifier I was also able to determine my original Cosmic Identifier. How Cosmic Identifiers worked and the sequence that temporally locked me. Everything I discovered seemed confusing until I discerned how the Cosmic Identifier was tied to individuals. Not manifestations but copies of individuals that appeared in multiple Cosmos and the Universes within those Cosmos. The manifestation tag was placed at the end. What I decided to call the Soul Identifier was near the front of my personal identifier. My identifier had a 002 at the end of that sequence. Did that mean I was the 2nd?

I queried the help function for personal Identifiers

Describe Specific information sought, multiple topics exist concerning Cosmic Personal Identifiers

I chose “Cosmic Personal Identifier Numbering system.”

Cosmic Personal Identifiers contain a lot of information concerning persons or beings identified. As a Cosmic Branch Forms a copy of individuals receives an additional unique code to designate that they are not the original. When the first Cosmic Branch forms the first Cosmos adds a 001 to all individual identifiers to ensure each being is unique. No duplicate identifiers are allowed.

Define Cosmic Branch, I thought

A Cosmic Branch is a point in the Cosmic Timeline when an action has been taken that diverts the course of that Cosmos. The new Cosmos is created out of Primal Chaos. Those within the original Cosmos or any additional cosmos created have no idea what has happened. Within a Cosmos, Universal Branches can also be formed as minor changes cause new Branches to form. What constitutes the creation of a Cosmic or Universal Branch is determined by System Code.

Progress. It seemed that the zero point that Thor had found was most likely the origin of the Cosmic Branch. The time when that Cosmic Branch started differing from the Cosmos it was copied from. The identifier for myself identified me as the second version, or from the second Cosmos. Hold on. I manifested a copy of myself to the Cosmos Adaline was in with the sole purpose of checking the Cosmic Identifier. I gave the manifestation 30 seconds then called him back and reviewed his memories personally. The cosmic indicator for that Cosmos was the 4th. Using only the Cosmic Identifier I tried to Manifest into the 3rd Cosmos. That Cosmos still existed, and my manifestation was sent but it was immediately destroyed, and the soul shard returned. As I reviewed the memory the manifestation had started to solidify and then been bombarded by an energy type that I’d never run across before. It had saturated and destroyed the nanites and the manifestation through the soul shard had made it back okay. Cosmos 3e seemed to be off-limits. If I had traveled through time and not just created new branches, what had just happened made sense.

I reviewed what I knew, and an idea popped into my mind based on the last season of the show Continuum. Sure, it was science fiction, but the facts fit the evidence I’d acquired so far. There was only one way to check and see if I was right. I needed to visualize Cosmos 3 before I traveled back in time to destroy Nox and then manifest into it and watch what happened. To do that I needed to unlock the time travel restriction on myself. Of course, if I was right that major changes to a Cosmos were significantly more damaging than I’d first thought. If that were true I’d have to do whatever I could to fix this problem and get reality back on track. Not a lot of humility in that thought, but if I could fix the problems I was discovering, I would.

I pulled up my personal interface and went to work bypassing everything using the information I’d discovered. I could not modify my soul abilities. The coding concerning those abilities was hard locked and I knew any attempt to modify them would set off an alarm and send someone or something calling for me. I didn’t want to mess with who, or whatever, that might be. I was able to modify my personal identifier and unlock the temporal lockout on myself. I paused for a moment and took a deep breath to give anyone that might be responding to my system code edit a chance to respond but nothing happened. Once I was done, I noted that I didn’t feel any different. How to test.

A portal popped into existence, a copy of me stepped out, pointed at me, and said, “Travel back in time to this time stamp now!”

I willed my intent to travel back in time to that moment, cast the spell, and materialized next to a copy of me then said, “Travel back in time to this time stamp now!”

The other me opened a portal, stepped through and the portal closed. I was once again by myself. That had worked. How the hell had that worked? Eat your hearts out, Bill and Ted. Obviously, I could travel through time in the Place between Places. With that test out of the way, I focused my will on Cosmos 4 where Adaline was, and tried to scroll back in time to a point before I left. Sure, enough the shadow structures of a point in the past materialized around me and I could step through by Crossing into the Cosmos if I wished. I willed myself to do so to see if anything about the Prompts had changed to find out that yes, yes they had.

You have focused on a point in the past of targeted Cosmos. If you chose to cross over to that point a new Cosmic Branch will be created. Would you like to create a new Cosmic Branch now?

I thought “No” So I could travel into the past within a Cosmos if I could visualize it. With that test done I thought of the moment I’d killed Nox in Cosmos 3 and the scene came into focus around me. This time I chose to manifest a level 1,000 version of myself into the Universe at that time stamp and sent him through. My mana dropped by 50%. It seemed that traveling through time, even as a manifestation had an additional cost. Also, as soon as I released the manifestation I received a ping from Thor

Adam, the manifestation you just sent has returned. You need to review this. -Thor

Send it through. -Adam

I started reviewing my manifestation and living through the manifestations life. It wasn’t good. Within a year giant ribbons of energy appeared across the sky. My manifestation traveled to one of the ribbons and performed tests by trying to send nanites into the rift, they were annihilated. As the years went by the ribbons became larger and larger and long before there was ever an Earth the energy flooded the planet Earth and the Cosmos was, I wasn’t really sure what had happened, but I was sure that at that point Cosmos 3 was no longer habitable to life.

It would seem that I was correct. If a temporal change was significant enough Reality would branch and instead of both branches continuing to grow alongside each other one was cauterized or stopped as the other continued to grow. I had effectively rewritten the fates of a plethora of Universes within Cosmos 3 when I’d jumped back in time. That action had led to the Syndicate and the ending of the Syndicate…I checked Cosmos 5. Sure, enough in the current moment, there was nothing for me to bring up or manifest into. Then I had a thought I set into my personal interface. Display a visual representation of Cosmos and related branches.

Administration Function: Display Cosmos Timeline and Branch Overlay Accepted.

Within my mind’s eye, a three-dimensional map that I was zoomed in on filled my mind’s eye. I was looking at a node, a glowing sphere. A line of energy went off to the left and a line of energy went off to the right and entered another node. From that node, two lines went off at roughly a 90-degree angle to each other to two more nodes which had one or two lines of energy that went off from them respectively. I willed my point of view to back away from the diagram and I fell away showcasing a tapestry of nodes and lines. As I zoomed out I realized that the node I had started looking at wasn’t even the starting node.

Eventually, I found the very first node. It was at the center of a 360-degree sphere. A number of energy lines left the node in all directions and nodes began branching from there. The node I had started at was towards the outer edge. Another thing I noted, some of the areas were colored differently. There were green nodes, yellow nodes, and red nodes. The connecting lines were all a very light blue. In addition, some areas of the diagram were shaded differently. I noticed this because the area of the node I’d started at was in an orange region which started one node to the left of the node I began at and included every branch and node that led off to the right. A few other regions were colored as well. None of them were connected at any point to the orange area my starting node was in. In fact, one of the red areas was on the other side of the sphere from my node’s location.

Was that all? I willed the point of view to zoom out and once at the maximum zoom I tried to will the point of view out further and found myself looking at a sphere amongst other spheres. I tried to zoom out further. Until the image I was looking at seemed to flip to a side view and I noted that I was now looking at a diagram that seemed to be composed of layers, kind of like a layered cake. All of the spheres I’d just seen existed on one layer. There were layers above and below the layer those spheres existed on. This was going to take a little bit to get used to.