Singularity Soon

6. A starting rumble

The transition from a depressive to a manic state can be a slow process, like riding a swelling wave just out of sight of the shore. The horizon seems to move further out.

Rajiv thought he heard a click, and woke up. Bright sunlight glowed through his curtains. He'd forgotten which room he had fallen asleep in, didn't even know if it was morning or afternoon. Not sure what year it was for a moment.

He'd dreamt he'd gone on an incredible adventure with a group of intelligent and attractive friends he'd only just met. They were affiliated with the local university or regional tech belt. A diverse but talented team, mostly college aged young adults. There was also an old guy who somehow looked like a Cyberpunk character. They had rented a type of warehouse on the main street (the building had started as a Scientology church), where different members showed up to discuss developments. It was like being in a sitcom or a movie in real life (he was their designated NEET member).

The world was going to change beyond imagination, and the group had to do many things in a short time. They traveled around the area to perform complex tasks, some involving philosophical problems of sentience and pain, while meeting increasingly strange characters. Incomprehensible interventions where software made him do ultra complex things. They involved strange mental experiments, with Rajiv acting like an interface. He was told he'd been selected for certain obedience skills, as discovered through an online videogame. He understood his instructions came from a supercomputer far far far above his level.

At one confrontation, there was a row of stopped police cars, sirens blaring and lights flashing like some stroboscopic orchestra. A lieutenant shouted at the cops to turn off their sirens and they did. In the sudden silence he shouted "Thank You!" Rajiv couldn't remember what it was about.

All their adventures seemed to happen during one long day, though it had to have been several weeks. On those occasions when Rajiv returned home, the world he knew before seemed unreal and incredibly bland. His house looked like a cheap movie set created by someone else. Familiar streets appeared rendered in strange ways.

One member of this group of friends was a female graduate student he barely interacted with, but had developed a massive crush on; in fact his worst crush ever. The only way something might happen between them would be if she sought him out, but that hardly seemed possible. Also, she was significantly younger and taller than him. It didn't matter. They were together somehow, bound by destiny. Normally, he would have gotten in trouble by acting inappropriately.

He had never felt more alive, like being on a drug too awesome to exist. A new sensation he hadn't known was possible, an entirely new color. There was no limit to possible feelings.

Rajiv stared at the ceiling like a fresh corpse. It wasn't real of course, only a dream. There was no such thing as a super friend group.

But something unreal WAS happening. He felt as if he was at the start of an immense runway. Not sure if he had an engine, he was still pushing with his feet.

Like most people, Rajiv had assumed there was no higher effective power than the government, but he'd been wrong. An extraordinary group of researchers was performing mind experiments that seemed impossible, including on HIS mind. All perfectly voluntary, maybe even legal. Finally, he could remember some details.