Homunculi

[Entry: Stable]

The advent of biological circuitry would cause many celebrations and lamentations in the human story. Few were as pivotal in shaping the human heart as the Homunculus Project.

The technician held the medpen to Emily's forearm. A dim red light emitted from it as the fine particles of drug moved from it into her vein, guided algorithmically by the medpen’s AI, not a single mote of drug would be wasted. She tried not to squirm in the uncomfortable leather chair. Why is seating for patients always uncomfortable? Her eyes focused on the stylized H stitched over his heart on his navy jumpsuit. The stitching quickly became hypnotic as the pre-meds reached their full effect. After a breath of observation he rolled away in his wheeled chair and Emily was left to ponder over the sterile room for a few minutes. The ticking of the hanged clock started as a point of interest but rapidly grew into a drill. A few minutes of minor torture later and the technician rolled back toward her with another medpen, twice the length of the previous one. It was twice as potent as well.

As her vision began to distort she heard him say Focus on images of flowing water, glimmering in the sunshine. Pouring from a massive stone work of art. Four armor clad angelic warriors, made entirely of porous stone, raise their swords to the four corners of the sky. Water flows from their eyes. Their down-turned expressions cause the stream to loudly pour into the reservoir. They stand in the center of a stone well, serving as a fountain.

This is the first wellspring. The first step in humanity’s journey into immortality. A digital world capable of storing, growing, and adapting to the human condition.

***

Her eyes reopened what felt like minutes later. “Hi, I'm Amelie.” At this point he finally shook himself awake. She noticed now that he hadn’t been staring at her, but rather through her. While walking toward him he hadn’t moved his focus even a notch. Though now, wearing a sincere but fragile smile, he did finally see her. He collected himself and studied Amelie’s expression. As she spoke his smile widened, and a little bit of worry fell from his eyes. “I’m Ken.” Neither of them found the words to continue so for a brief pause they just looked around. Amelie’s eyes fell upon something in the distance and they glimmered in recognition.

“Ah, then I suppose the glorious building over there is yours?” She was referring to the large building at the northernmost point of the large paved stone plaza they currently stood in. Upon its door was a large piece of paper that simply stated “Ken”. 10 or so meters from the Wellspring, it stood in stony gloom. The developers had designed it as a gothic inspired dome of a building. It was mostly smooth stone bricking trimmed with filigree. The accents of decor spanned in variety from dark marble molding around the roof to rustic wooden hinges and blinds adorning the windows. . The innards were split evenly across its widest point. The plaza-facing side held an armory of items, survival gear, and even AI run crafting stations. Were one to be invited beyond the back wall of this shop, they would be witness to Ken’s personal ‘living’ quarters.

“Mine, insomuch as was given to me. To be honest I haven’t stepped foot in there.”

“Did you arrive recently?”

“No, I’ve been here for about 3 hours, I think. They didn’t tell us how hard it would be to track time.”

Amelie looked up at the sky. Bright blue and cloudless, like a picture. They stood for a moment together, letting the combination of eerie dread and enigmatic wonder wash over them. Resonance of these emotions began to mist in splendid color. Amelie looked over at Ken, he looked back with surprise. Between them a semi-visible light swole to pure white then cyclically began to express a rainbow at its edges. A formerly transparent mist-like expression was pouring out of both of them. It was a visceral feeling for Amelie. Like she was pouring herself out in the form of light. What truly shocked her wasn’t the display of visible aura, but that upon seeing and feeling it, she knew this feeling well. This feeling existed in the “real” world, she just couldn’t see it there.

According to Homunculus, the atmosphere of an alien world, not to mention the charged particles of a foreign star were bound to cause anomalous effects if simulated with precise accuracy.

LightShell Aura is simply a word modern humans use to describe the natural and undeniable phenomena that is a star’s protective or oppressive charged particle atmosphere. Calculating the effects of this LightShell Aura was a key factor in the creation and success of Homunculus.

Amelie had undergone months of interviews and testing for this experience, so she had hoped to know what to expect. The developers had informed her she might be able to visualize “her own light” here, given the weaker magnetic field of the planet combined with its star's increased particle discharge rate. That photonic energy on Earth was undeniably limited by the homogenous nature of the high energy particles bombarding it as well as the multi-layer condensed atmospheric regions of the Earth, all which had a secondary effect of oppressing varying degrees of subtle light.

That was the least of it. Here in this body though, with her very essence pouring out, betraying the vibration that was her, the two concepts seemed divorced. Like a cardiogram, her feelings vibrated outward, from every pore. Repeating in waves, washing over her and out. It was the feeling of heat, sweat, then relief of an Earth Summer. It was close to that, but with everything turned up. Instead of sweat it felt as though her pores were releasing pure electric charge or some other rhythmic vibration.

Amelie’s aura quickly overpowered Ken’s, like a blanket falling over him. Both of them gave a serious little nod and began breathing with intention. They tried to limit themselves emotionally and were successful in repressing this fascinating new light.

After three breaths the auric fields of both Ken and Amelie calmed, though they did not disappear. There was now only a semi-transparent bubble of energy around either, less than arm's length. It was a truly perplexing moment for both former humans. In that short span of three breaths they understood the process of calming more than ever before.

Understanding Auric Fields and Auric Field Manipulation. A 4 phase guide.

SS: #9 “Sunshine”

The Atmosphere ® is engineered to receive atomic level vibrations from your consciousness. We are quantitatively aware of the emissive properties of most natural objects. The Atmosphere ® is a responsive system of hive-organized Spirits ™ (The marriage of theory between Machine Learning and Planetary Physio-Chemistry) which determines the degree of conscious energy present in any given wave.

Phase 1:
Meditate. Draw focus to your new sensations. Does this new arena of the mind feel the same as Earth? Which differences appear most markedly to your perception?

Phase 2:

Visualization. Humanity has no comparison for what the unrestricted aura of a human may appear like, if at all. There have been many theorists throughout recorded history and likely before, but you will be the first in practice. By our definitive measures we can determine a change in photonic charge along the pores and natural edifices of an individual’s skin. It is such a subtle difference that the technology to measure such a change has only existed for a short time, and with none proficient in auric field study. All to say it’s up to you.

“Sunshine” Note:

The most accepted theory among the Sensitives at Homunculus is this: Once unrestricted by the Sun’s LightShell Aura, you may perceive a mist, or slime-like emission from the pores of your skin. It may even have a determinable color. This is unlikely. There is a much larger electric charge that a human can perceptibly emit, with even more evidence supporting its existence. This larger field typically hinders the first, lower frequency emission.

By code that transcripts chemically, these auras have been programmed to simply exist as instructed by your consciousness. In this use of the word I intend for you to understand consciousness as an automatic process of determination and reflection by your symbolic (Typically the right brain hemisphere) mind with your RAS system. The logical interpreter (Typically the left brain hemisphere) is most associated with “consciousness” but is, in fact, the least involved. The Atmosphere ® responds to the information received by every input, though. Should the logical interpreter have prominent information it will be addressed, of course.

Phase 3:

Edification. Process these signals and your response to them. Begin bubble technique. Maintain any edified auric energy for no longer than 5 minutes. Do not repeat until communication with Homunculus.

Phase 4:

Record, report, and rest.

The two of them spoke for a few minutes about the engaging novelty of their new sight and light. After such a time Ken’s focus began to fade. He thought of the woman he had met before the sunrise. He was told by the Homunculus staff that he would be the first consciousness uploaded to Homunculus (Both digital world and company share the same title). But there she had stood, shrouded by a dark world with no sun or moon. He had nearly bumped into her. Ken had been walking by only the pale light emitted by his avatar when surrounded by darkness, an intentional feature by the developers and a centuries old technique used in horror games.

He stopped suddenly as he recognized a shape forming out of the darkness. Soft gray cloth fluttered and fell back into place as she turned to see him. Ken was paralyzed by the shock. She spoke first. “Of course it would be you-” Her tragic expression only grew more painful as they stared at one another. He started to approach her but instead she ran to him. She was strangled by tears as she collapsed into him. Ken was immediately struck by a sense of familiarity at her embrace. He began to move his hands to reciprocate, but she pulled away. Without bothering to wipe her eyes she took one deep gaze into him, and stepped quickly backward. She vanished back into the darkness.

Sunrise was scheduled for the same time as his upload so he knew light was already inbound for this part of the world. If only he had another moment, he thought. In one frame he held only regret, in the next, the sun was there and the world was lit for the first time.

As the sun crept over the horizon, it revealed a dance. Brilliant fiery green pillars of magnetized light struck out across the sky. An aurora of energy swept over the ground, the grass, the trees, and finally it crashed into him. It was the deep electric “Om” of a massive celestial body fusing at its core, to the tempo of everything else. The resonant hum of the planet he stood on wrestled with the booming light of its closest star and the conversation happened within him.