Chronicles of Consciousness

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Morning, 0630 hours. I peer through my tiny window, gazing longingly at the blue planet below. The rising sun paints a majestic panorama—a view exclusive to us. Most would think we're blessed with this view, but it's a reminder of our state, imprisoned in space.

Knock, knock.

"Hey, man, are you having breakfast?" Charlie, my ever-vigilant friend, checks in on me. Lately, I've been neglecting food. Most mornings, I settle for a protein shake from my favorite blue mug.

"On my way, brother."

Dining Hall.

"Enjoy your cereal," the cafeteria lady always greets with a warm smile. "Word has it; she finds solace in the Virtual Life Simulator, delving into the past lives of the affluent." Charlie whispers as I reject the cereal, "I prefer the war stories; they're more exciting, you know?" As we make our way to the table, I notice Charlie's crush arriving.

"Here comes Amy." He's yet to summon the courage to ask her out, but in a place where options are limited, who could blame him?

"Hey, losers," she utters with a hint of melancholy. The coldness of space might be getting to her. "Ready for work in space?"

"Whatever we can do for the better future of mankind," I reply, trying to keep things positive in our small social circle. We work in the Agricultural Team, cultivating and managing the space colony's food sources, likely grown in controlled environments with limited resources. It's essential work, developing sustainable and efficient farming techniques in the confined spaces of the spacecraft. "You sound a little down today," I venture, sensing something amiss as Charlie hesitates. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just saw this past life last night of this girl being bullied at school. It was so sad," Amy confesses, her usual carefree demeanor replaced by somber reflection. It's an unusual sight, and I can't help but feel the weight of the Virtual Life Simulator's influence on our emotions.

"I understand how you feel," Charlie adds. "I saw this past life of a guy that died during WW1. It was so sad because I thought he was going to make it, but he turned left instead of right and BAM, he died. If only he had turned right." He says with heavy words.

I must confess that my form of entertainment is more straightforward, stable stories. Sometimes I see the past lives of politicians and public figures to see how we failed humanity by making selfish decisions.

"Well, it's in the past," Charlie added, trying to relieve the somber atmosphere. "We sure are building a better future. I heard that the probes are detecting less contamination on Earth each year. Maybe in 5 more years, we can go back." I tried not to laugh at his comment. We all know that it's impossible to go back any time more than 10 years. We return our empty trays and went directly to the Agricultural area to start working.

Within every passing hour and star, there was an exciting moment to go back to my room and see a new past life in the VLS. This time I decided to see Amy's suggestion about that girl being bullied. This is something you don't get to see in space, so I was very attracted to it. Before going to sleep and using the VLS, there is a process to be done first. I already rented out the memory from the archives and uploaded it into the machine, but for a human being to experience the past life at its maximum, we had to be laying down in the machine in a form of trance where the system will sync with our bodies through waves that undergo neural synchronization and mental conditioning. This way, every aspect of the life that we are watching, we will sense every touch, taste every food, and feel every emotion.

Now, each past life has a different time length. For every 10 years, it will be equivalent to 30 minutes of a trance. Most of the time, I only see past lives of people over 70 years old. But this girl only lived until 15 years, so I might have time to enjoy another story. It is also important to mention that we cannot pause, rewind, or stop a projection once it has started; this could affect our neuro system by interfering with our brain functions. Therefore, we don't confuse ourselves with the deceased person once we are done with the projection.