The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (11 page)

“
Control, are we to forgo the normal archiving
procedures when dealing with an overflow?”

“
That is correct, we have received new
instructions from Prime 2 to either maintain or decrease current
levels for Earth. We are not to increase, nor store low grade field
programs until otherwise instructed.”

“
Acknowledged. Control we are
showing 98,035 field programs from the Earth date upload 11.16.2039
who either meet or fall below the 31% success rate. What would you
like me to do?”

“
Are you reporting that we are
showing another loss?”

“
Yes, Control.”

“
Purge all 98,035 field programs and create
9,000 base programs for the newborns for Earth date
11.17.2039.”

“
This will leave us short 624 base programs
for the newborns arriving on Earth date

11.17.2039.”

“
I am aware of this, now follow
orders.”

Acknowledge Control. 9,000 base programs created and
merged with the 218,208 field programs awaiting download for Earth
date 11.17.2039.

“
Good work, bad numbers, after you have
completed your report you are finished for the day, see you
tomorrow.”

“
Thank you, Control.”

“
Where am I?” asked Spencer as he looked
around, noticing he was in an autumnal forest. There was a small
log cabin in a nearby field filled with llamas grazing. “That looks
like my uncle’s cabin, the one I used to go to every summer when I
was a boy,” said Spencer to himself as he walked towards the cabin
and noticed a white birch off to his left. “No, that can’t be,” as
Spencer examined a large branch coming off to the right and quickly
recognized a figure eight. “I carved that. I remember carving that
one summer when I was waiting for my uncle to get back from the
store. Where the heck am I?” demanded Spencer. “This isn’t right.
The last thing I remember was saving a woman and now I’m at my
uncle’s cabin in Vermont.”

As Spencer approached the cabin,
he kept seeing landmark after landmark that sparked all sorts of
fond memories. Upon his arrival, Spencer reached out and tried to
open the front door, but found it locked. After a little thought,
he recalled where there was a spare key. Spencer quickly ran around
and found the small metal box with four number dials on the front.
Spencer thought, “Now what was that combination? Ah, yes, 1974, the
year my uncle was born,” showing gratefulness that this was a weak
combination.

After he retrieved the key,
Spencer ran back around to the front of the cabin and successfully
opened the door. As he entered, he noticed the cabin was exactly as
he remembered it. Tongue and groove pine on the walls, two
skylights that allowed light to pour into the kitchen, a spiral
wooden staircase leading up to the loft, a cast iron woodstove in
the living room, and even the old rundown tan leather
couch.

While Spencer walked towards the kitchen, the front
door closed and a high-pitched noise pierced his ears. Spencer
quickly dropped to his knees and covered both his ears with his
hands. Once the noise stopped Spencer stood up and noticed the
cabin started fading in and out, so he ran to the front door,
finding it was no longer there. Spencer turned around and noticed a
human silhouette standing in the middle of the kitchen.

“
Who are you? What’s going on,”
Spencer yelled. The silhouette started increasingly focusing itself
until it turned into what he determined to be a male figure that
stood a little taller than himself. This figure wore black faded
jeans with a necklace half tucked into his white button down shirt.
As this figure walked out from the kitchen, Spencer noticed this
man was not wearing any socks or shoes. The sides of his blond hair
were shaved, but the top was spiked up approximately three quarters
of an inch. He had deep-set eyes, a narrow face, and dark
skin.

“
Welcome,” said the stranger.

“
Welcome...where am I? Who are you? What the
heck is going on?” replied a displaced Spencer.

“
I am sorry for the sharp pitched noise, that
was a minor malfunction,” said the stranger.

“
Minor malfunction, that’s the
least of my worries. Who are you and where am I?”

“
This is never easy, so I will just cut right
to the chase. You are dead; you died after a vehicle struck you,
while crossing a roadway on Earth. My name is Telmar and I am here
to guide you.”

“
Dead! Are you for real? Where am I? If I’m
dead, why am I at my uncle’s cabin? Is this a joke? Is Reece in on
this? Did he plug me into something, making me imagine all of
this?

“
No, this is real,” advised Telmar.

“
So what is this, heaven? Am I going to be
judged?” asked Spencer.

“
This is not heaven and yes you will be
getting judged. If you have a seat on the couch, I will explain
everything to you,” directed Telmar.

“
No, I’d rather stand,” barked
Spencer.

“
No, you will sit and listen,
this is not the time to be defiant,” as Telmar explained in a calm
and collective tone.

As Spencer realized this was
probably not the time to argue, he humbly replied, “Sorry, I didn’t
mean to be rude – this is just a lot to process.”

“
No need to apologize, just please have a
seat.”

Spencer walked over, sat on the couch, and noticed
it was just as he remembered it when he was alive. Telmar took hold
of a wooden stool, pulled it up next to Spencer, looked over to the
woodstove, and lit it with a nod of his head.

“
That’s impressive,” replied
Spencer.

“
Thank you; however, it was not
me,” replied Telmar now with a stern presence.

“
Ok, can you at least explain to me what is
happening?”

“
There are two ways I can make you understand.
I can either sit here and tell it to you verbally, or I can simply
have it downloaded to your program.”

“
What program? I don’t have a program,” said
Spencer.

“
Pick one; we are on a time schedule,” noted
Telmar.

Concerned with the options given, Spencer quickly
concluded he had very few choices, “Ok, I’ll take the download,
whatever that means,” as Spencer replied nervously.

“
Excellent, I always find the download to be
the easiest way to proceed.”

Telmar looked up gave another
nod, and within a microsecond, Spencer realized who he was, as he
repeated out loud: “I, Spencer Cade, am a computerized piece of
software that has partaken in 163 lives on Earth. For each life I
live, I gain additional experience towards the following
attributes; intelligence, strength, charisma, perception,
forgiveness, understanding, and acceptance. After one of my lives
is complete, my consciousness uploads to this planet called Tureis,
where my past life is calculated, broken down into attributes, and
ranked. Until I meet the requirements to move on, the memories of
my past lives are archived, erased from my field program, and
downloaded to a new humanoid body located on Earth. It takes on
average 211 lives for one’s field program to completely mature. If
surpassed its complete deletion will occur. Once my field program
has evolved to its proper level, a merger will occur with other
successful field programs similar to mine. After this merger is
completed, a new Tureissian is born after it is downloaded into a
humanoid body, and introduced into the general population of this
planet. At this point in my development, my designee as a field
program would change to a citizen of Tureis. The goal of this
planet is to create humanoids that are perfect in everyway
imaginable. Earth is one of seven planets in the galaxy that act as
a training ground to improve individual field programs. I have now
reached a level where my seven attributes will be judged and a
decision will be made. Do I live the life I have been striving for,
or do I go back to Earth in an attempt to continue my quest for
perfection?”

Spencer looked up at Telmar and
asked, “How could you have ever convinced me of that verbally, in
such a way that I would’ve truly comprehended?”

“
It would have been difficult, that is why I
was glad you chose the way you did,” advised Telmar.

“
Well, I guess I owe Jade those PIC upgrades,”
Spencer thought.

As Telmar finished watching
Spencer process this new information he said, “Before you ask, I
too am a program, just of a different caliber. My role is to guide
you through the process while your existence is here in these data
banks.”

“
Are you saying I’m simply data?”

“
Yes, your consciousness is made up of 1s and
0s.”

Still trying to grasp this new
concept, Spencer followed up with, “How is it I can understand what
you are saying? I’m sure your alien culture doesn’t speak
English.”

“
We speak many languages, nevertheless when we
encounter new arrivals we address them in the language they are
most familiar with.”

“
Oh, I see,” as Spencer sat there
in utter amazement. “I remember so many past lives, but the only
one that I feel connected to is the last one I just lived,
why?”

“
You are currently experiencing feelings?”
Telmar asked surprisingly.

“
Yeah, why? Is that bad?”

Telmar paused for a moment to conjure up an
untruthful response and said, “No, that is perfectly normal,
feelings are very difficult to control. Safe guards have been put
into place so field programs in transitions will only experience
feelings from their most recent life experience.”

“
Ok,” replied Spencer who trusted
in Telmar’s false statement. So what am I called.”

“
What do you want to be called,” replied
Telmar.

“
I guess Spencer. That’s my name isn't
it?”

“
That is your most current Earth name assigned
to you it would only be reasonable to keep it. Prime 2 has assigned
you the designation of
01000101010000110011011001001100001100010011011000110011010011110011011100110000001101110011010000100000
which is binary code for, EC6L163O7074.”

“
What in the world does EC6L163O7074 translate
to?” asked Spencer who was still having difficulties comprehending
his current situation.

“
E stands for ‘Earth.’ C
for what ‘class’ your planet falls into, in this case sixth
class, which can change for better or for worse.
The L stands for ‘life’ followed by a number indicating how many
lives you have lived. In your case that would be one hundred and
sixty three. Next and most important is what level of success you
fall into, for you it is O for ‘optimize,’ and the number which
follows indicates your personal identification number, 7074 which
is permanently assigned,” explained Telmar.

“
How many planets are there?” asked
Spencer.

“
We have seeded nineteen planets;
however, we are only harvesting from seven.

“
Seriously, there’s that many planets with
life like me?”

Telmar simply replied, “Yes.”

“
How many classes of planets are
there?”

“
They are seven, seventh class being the
lowest. Depending on how many field programs graduate and get
scheduled for a merger, the class of the planet can
change.”

“
Sounds like Earth isn’t doing so well,” said
Spencer.

“
Not necessarily, Earth is one of the
unpredictable planets that tend to fluctuate. Earth has been rated
a first class planet at times, as well as a seventh class planet,
and everything in between.”

“
Is that normal?” asked Spencer.

“
No, as planets evolve as a whole, they tend
to improve the uploads of their field programs. It is rare that a
planet, such as Earth, jumps classes as much as it
does.”

“
Well, I guess we’re unique,”
said Spencer who was trying to be funny.

“
Your planet is definitely unique.
Unfortunately, your planet is also unstable and does not always
produce the quality level we need in our field programs. Recently,
we have been purging field programs and replacing them with base
programs.”

“
Purging - you mean killing?”

“
That is also a valid term, but we only purge
them when these undesirable field programs do not meet our
standards,” explained Telmar.

“
That’s wrong, who are you to
judge?”

Telmar matter-of-factly responded, “We are the
creators.”

“
I don’t care who you are, it’s
wrong!”

“
Well, then, we must agree to disagree,” said
Telmar.

“
For now,” replied Spencer now
showing signs of frustration. “So tell me about base
programs.”

“
Think of base programs as brand
new seeds. In order for us to keep our numbers, we create a base or
new program that has never experienced a life. We use them to
replace a field program that either has merged with our society or
a field program who did not meet our high standards and became
deleted.”

“
I can’t believe this,” muttered
Spencer.

Telmar, attempting to change the tone of the
conversation, “Enough negative, on the positive side, some of our
best programs have come from Earth.”