The Core: The Dark Enemy

5. Holding the world in the palm of my hand

I was standing on the deck of my "space yacht" that I had envisioned and created back when I considered myself a Trillionaire, only to find out later the reality behind the Tela currency.

"What are we here for?" I asked as I looked around, smiling as I remembered my beginnings with Tutor and George.

"Well, "here" as you put it, is now an actual place," Meditati said as she took in my startled expression. "Ha ha, no, it isn't as big as you think it should be. We had it made to specifications, just no larger than an M&M candy. It is also made from obsidian cr so that it can't be seen clearly by anyone on your planet. If they did record it, they would just see it as a dead pixel or a photograph artifact."

"And whose idea was this?" I asked as I wandered around to look through the full-length windows into my bedroom. I knew the answer to my question the moment that I spied the nightstand beside the bed.

"Actually, it was Tutor's idea. I guess she just wanted to create everything that you envisioned or something." Meditati said as I gazed at the small bundle of letters that Tutor had written me while I had been a prisoner of Magus the 2nd.

I glanced back over at Meditati, only to find her at the railing of the ship and gazing out over the earth.

"It is such a tiny planet when you look at it from up here." She said as I made my way to stand by the railing to get a view as well. As I peered down at the earth I couldn't agree more. When you were there, down on the streets and amongst the people, everything seemed so much greater than you.

Like you were a speck of dust in a machine. Why a speck of dust? Because even a cog had a purpose and an ability to affect the machine in some way. A speck of dust wasn't even considered.

"Ok, onto the task that I have set before myself," Meditati said as she turned toward me with intensity. "Look, first, I am going to need you to give me access to your feelings before we begin this, or at least, let me be truthful and say that I "want" access to your feelings. I don't really need it but it will help me to gauge what you are thinking and to set certain scenarios up. I am not interested, honestly, in what you choose to do as it affects your planet, I just want to understand you more and how you have changed. Call it an unpredictably modified human case study."

"You want to influence and read my emotions?"

"Yes, both while the simulations are running."

I looked at her for a few seconds, bouncing the decision back and forth before agreeing and letting her have access to how I was feeling. I even left a little window open so that she could see my thoughts if I felt that I wanted to share them with her about something specific. I had toyed with the idea of simply denying her request, just because I wasn't interested in her studying me but after a couple of seconds, I just figured that I didn't really care. Maybe her insights might help me understand more about myself as well.

"Thank you." She said as she leaned against the railing on one elbow, resting her head on her open hand.

"All I ask is that you don't destroy me when this is all over. You can stop it at any point or skip ahead if you don't want to partake in the lessons that I am trying to teach. I won't pull any punches, Kevin, this will be a true test of who you are in all of this."

"In all of this?" I asked as I looked back down at the earth.

"Yup, enjoy the trip." She said as I felt a surge of power build up around her. She was drawing massive amounts of processing...

I didn't get to finish the thought before I was standing on a mountaintop.

As I took in my surroundings, I immediately understood that something was wrong. My feelings were inflated, almost as though I was standing on top of the world. It did indeed look that way except for the clear reason as to why I must be feeling this way.