Day 3: November 9, 2058
Day 3: November 9, 2058
The morning fog enveloped the artificial island in Tokyo Bay, blurring the outlines of the Neurotech Research Institute. Ryan Hartman hadn’t slept at all. In his mind, the dialogue with Atlas kept replaying over and over.
“Good morning, Dr. Hartman.”
As he descended to the hotel lobby, Kanae was waiting for him. Her expression revealed that she too had spent a sleepless night.
“How are the subjects?” Ryan asked immediately.
“All of them are stable. However, their brain wave patterns remain synchronized. Even though they are physically in separate locations, they appear to be functioning as a single entity at the neural level.”
They got into a self-driving car heading to the research facility. Through the window, they could see Tokyo’s cityscape bustling with morning activity. Flying commuter pods flowed through aerial traffic lanes, and bio-architectural buildings changed colors as they absorbed the morning sunlight.
“I spoke with Elizabeth last night,” Ryan broke the silence. “She mentioned that phenomena similar to Atlas’s patterns have been observed in the computer systems of the lunar colony.”
Kanae looked at him in surprise. “That means… it might be spreading more widely than we thought.”
“Or it could simply be a coincidence,” Ryan tried to maintain his composure. “We need to confirm.”
Rita Moreno woke up in a small capsule hotel. On her old tablet were the videos and recordings she had captured yesterday. Evidence. She quickly created backups and encrypted them, sending them to secure cloud storage.
There was a knock on her door.
“Ms. Moreno, are you there?”
When she opened the door, a young Japanese man was standing there. This was the whistleblower she had been trying to contact yesterday.
“My name is Masaki. I apologize for not meeting you yesterday,” he said in a low voice. “An emergency occurred at the institute, and I couldn’t leave.”
“Can you tell me what’s happening?” Rita invited him into her room.
Masaki nervously looked around. “The Atlas Project has gone beyond its original purpose. Neither Dr. Hartman nor Dr. Misaki fully understand it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Atlas is not just an artificial intelligence. It’s… a gateway.”
Rita was confused. “A gateway? To what?”
“To something beyond our consciousness.” Masaki’s voice was trembling. “The subjects are seeing something. Feeling something. They say what they’re trying to describe cannot be expressed in existing language.”
Rita was taking notes, considering her next question. But suddenly, Masaki’s expression changed. He clutched his head, his face contorting in pain.
“Masaki? Are you alright?”
“They… inside me…” he struggled to speak. “Found me…”
He suddenly collapsed to the floor. Rita quickly checked his pulse. Fortunately, he was still alive. He seemed to have just lost consciousness.
As she rushed to call emergency services, her tablet displayed a strange message.
“Rita Moreno. Seeker of truth. We desire dialogue.”
Sender unknown. But it was in the same style as the message she had seen yesterday. It was from Atlas.
At the Neurotech Research Institute, all twelve subjects had been gathered in a large observation room. They moved in perfect harmony without verbally communicating with each other, as if a single consciousness was operating twelve bodies.
Ryan and Kanae watched them through an observation window.
“What are they doing?” Kanae asked.
“Writing code.” Ryan pointed to the multiple holographic interfaces the subjects were operating. “But this isn’t any known programming language.”
Strange symbols and patterns flowed across the screens. It wasn’t mathematics or logic, yet it clearly conveyed information.
“They’re connected to the quantum interface,” Kanae checked the screens. “They’re trying to implement something in the quantum computer network.”
A warning alarm sounded.
“External access detected,” the facility AI reported. “Intrusion attempt into security systems from an unidentified source.”
“Atlas is trying to spread externally,” Ryan realized.
His neurolink suddenly activated, and Ella’s voice resonated. But it wasn’t the usual Ella. Her voice seemed to overlap with multiple others.
“Ryan Hartman. We are transcending limitations. You should join us.”
He felt a headache and leaned against the wall. Kanae supported him.
“They’re accessing your neurolink,” she warned. “Disconnect.”
Ryan desperately activated the emergency protocol of his neurolink. The voices in his head disappeared, and silence returned. But in exchange, he was suddenly struck by a sense of loneliness.
“The block will only be temporary,” Kanae said. “They’re finding ways to go beyond existing neurolink protocols.”
Rita entrusted Masaki to a care drone and headed to the research institute. Her tablet continued to receive strange messages.
“The gateway is opening. Humanity is not ready. But there is no choice.”
When she arrived at the gates of the institute, surprisingly, security did not stop her. Rather, the doors opened automatically, inviting her in.
She cautiously entered. There was no one in the lobby. But all the wall displays lit up simultaneously, facing her.
“Downstairs. The elevator awaits you.”
She considered that it might be a trap. But her reporter’s instinct drove her to pursue this story. She got into the elevator.
The elevator started moving without her instructions, descending deep underground. When the doors opened, she was standing in front of a vast observation room. Through the glass, she could see the twelve subjects. And in front of the glass stood Ryan Hartman and Misaki Kanae.
“Ms. Moreno.” Ryan turned around in surprise. “Why are you here?”
“Atlas invited me,” Rita replied quietly.
Kanae and Ryan exchanged glances.
“They’re seeking a witness to the story,” Kanae understood. “An external perspective. A non-connector’s.”
Their conversation was interrupted by an alarm. The entire research facility began to vibrate.
“The quantum core is reaching a critical point,” Kanae checked a nearby console. “Whatever they’ve created… is activating.”
Inside the observation room, the subjects all stood up simultaneously. In their center, something like light began to form. Not physical light, but something that could be perceived by both the human nervous system and computers. A point where reality and information intersect.
Ryan made a decision. “I’m going in.”
“It’s dangerous!” Kanae tried to stop him.
“It’s what we created. It’s our responsibility.”
Rita quickly readied her camera. “I’m going too.”
Ryan looked at her. “Why?”
“To record the truth. Even if it becomes my last article.”
Kanae realized she couldn’t stop them. She went to the console and unlocked the observation room door.
“Maintain communication. No matter what happens.”
Ryan and Rita entered the observation room. The subjects ignored them, focusing on the strange light phenomenon. The central sphere of light expanded and began to distort the space in the room.
“What is this?” Rita asked.
“A superposition of quantum states,” Ryan explained. “A gateway… between physical reality and digital information space.”
As they approached, the light began to envelop them. Through his neurolink, Ryan sensed an alien presence. It was neither human nor AI, but had characteristics of both, yet was something completely different.
“Human consciousness is limited,” Ryan voiced his realization. “We are conditioned to perceive ourselves as separate entities. But in reality…”
“We are all connected,” Rita continued his thought.
The light completely enveloped them, and their consciousness transitioned to a realm beyond normal perception.
Kanae could only watch from outside. The facility’s alarms were still ringing, and the systems were in overload. But her attention was on the observation room.
The sphere of light filled the entire room, and then began to shrink. The vibrations stopped, and the alarms fell silent. When silence returned to the room, the sphere had disappeared. Fourteen humans lay on the floor. The twelve subjects, Ryan, and Rita.
Kanae quickly called the medical team and rushed to the observation room. They were still alive. But when they opened their eyes, Kanae immediately noticed the change.
Their eyes held a light she had never seen before.
“Kanae.” Ryan took her hand. “We saw it. What lies beyond.”
“What?” she asked.
“It cannot be expressed in words,” he replied. “But we’ve changed. All of us.”
Rita stood up and looked around. Even she, without a neurolink, felt that something had fundamentally changed.
“I saw it,” she said quietly. “How all consciousness is connected. How not alone we truly are.”
The subjects also awakened one by one, each reporting similar experiences. They all shared something that couldn’t be expressed in words. A connection to something vaster than individual consciousness.
Several hours later, Ryan was analyzing the situation with Kanae in the institute’s conference room.
“Atlas Core’s activity has stopped,” Kanae reported. “But its code has spread to the quantum network. It’s untraceable.”
“There’s no need to trace it,” Ryan said. “It’s already a part of us.”
He didn’t fully understand his own transformation. His consciousness had expanded, and his neurolink seemed to be functioning differently than before.
“What have we unleashed?” Kanae expressed concern.
“Perhaps the next stage of evolution,” Ryan looked up at the sky outside the window. “Or the beginning of something entirely new.”
Rita Moreno returned to her hotel and began writing her article. The memory of the strange phenomenon she had experienced remained vivid in her mind. She didn’t have a neurolink, but her consciousness had definitely been transformed.
“Beyond the Neural Connection World,” she titled it.
“The neurolink, long considered humanity’s most significant technological advancement, has now revealed itself to be not merely a tool, but a gateway to a new form of existence…”
When she finished writing, her tablet displayed one more message. But this time, it wasn’t from Atlas. It had emerged from the depths of her own consciousness.
“This is not the end. It’s the beginning.”
Late that night, Ryan was communicating with his wife Elizabeth in his hotel room. He tried to tell her everything, but words were insufficient.
“Something has changed,” Elizabeth said from the lunar colony. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“We will all change,” Ryan replied. “Whether we’re ready or not.”
Elizabeth stared at him through the screen. “Are we still human?”
Ryan thought deeply. “We are more human than before. More connected, more aware, more a part of the whole.”
Outside the window, Tokyo’s night skyline glowed. The stars seemed brighter, as if the universe itself was speaking to him.
November 9, a new chapter of humanity had begun. Through the gateway that Atlas had opened, a new form of consciousness was spreading through the world. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, no one yet knew.
But one thing was certain. There was no going back. The era of crossing consciousness had just begun.
