Jude had left his universe.

Where he was now however, wasn’t exactly Info D either. It was, but it also wasn’t. He stood on an infinitely flat plan that seemed to be like extremely thick glass. Beyond the glass was pitch darkness, as if nothing existed beyond it.

What overlaid the glass was much more interesting. As far as the eye could see was the impression of computer circuitry. But they were only visible for an instant as if they were lit up when an electron ran through it. Except a single electron would not power these thick lines. They were at least 2 feet wide. This lit up the entire surroundings as they were continuously flashing.

Jude spent no small amount of time staring at the scene. It was a beautiful golden yellow glow that stretched out towards the horizon. That was when he noticed what was above him. He realized that the horizon was unfathomable for him. The ground was extremely flat, yet it rose at what must have been 1cm per million or so light years! For what was above him was the entire universe of Info D!

The ground he stood on seemed to encompasses the entire universe. Viewing the universe however was odd. It was like a lens was affixed between him and the trillions of galaxies. Yet there was one solar system and one planet that always seemed to be in view. Like it was the focus of the entirety of Info D.

No matter how Jude moved his head, this planet and solar system would not leave focus. It was neither the center nor the most prominent looking place, but it would somehow always remain visible. The rest of the universe would move as you would expect light to do through a lens.

It was at this point that Jude noticed two things. First Murl was nowhere in sight. The second was that he couldn’t move! Everything above the waist seemed fine, but the rest of him felt like it was encased in cement.

Jude remained oddly calm, assessing the situation. Panicking would get him nowhere. Right now he had to analyze his new environment. A Systems Analyst is what he was and it was what he is good at. This was clearly the largest system that had ever existed.

The more Jude thought about it the more excited he became. Who else would have the chance to study something like this? This was essentially a naturally formed computer system based on the ideas and concepts that his universe had developed! If he could understand what was occurring here he would essentially understand the very base building blocks of the entire universe!

This understanding was also probably the only way of him escaping too…

Examining both the universe and the ground that he was standing on, Jude started to come to a few conclusions.

Most likely all the NPC’s that he had sent here would have ended up on that planet, for the lens would most likely also act like a funnel for data. At least for new data. Duplicates of data would most likely make up the rest of the entire universe. If this was correct then the planet that was in focus could possibly be the condensation of all the first copies ever made.

This was probably why he was never able to retrieve ancient data as there wouldn’t be any copies of them. The retrieval process of the data wouldn’t be able to enter the focus of the lens but would be regulated towards the outskirts as it was easier.

Jude hoped that Murl was ok. If he had to guess, Murl did not get stuck here but had arrived on the planet of the focus.

Now that he was in this place a lot of the theories that he and Murl had discussed made more sense as to why or why not they would be possible. The effect of computers, networks and the internet had a far greater impact on Info D than they had ever realized.

That was clear by the very structure that Jude stood on.

With this in mind Jude began to study the computer architecture of the universe!

***

Time flowed by slowly. The phases of the planet served as Jude’s clock as it seemed to rotate in about the same amount of time that earth did. He didn’t have a watch or phone with him so it was impossible to tell for sure. He wasn’t sure what happened to his phone, but guessed that it also disintegrated like the terminal did.

He also felt abnormally sluggish here. His thoughts didn't seem to come quickly and his memory seemed poor.

Another oddity was the lack of hunger and thirst. It had already been a month since he had been here, yet he had not a crumb or drop to eat or drink. He was unsure if it was the Universe Plane he stood on that supplied his body with nutrients or just being here kept his body in a sort of suspended animation. It was also quite possible that he had been completely digitized and no longer had an actual body. But it still felt like his body, so that couldn’t possibly be it, right?!

Sleep was also funny. Instead of normal sleep, he would daze out for an unknown period of time. It wasn’t so bad, just different and afterward he would feel refreshed.

Jude's body was now free as well. It took a while, the whole month in fact. He explored a bit, but the scenery was never changing and ever changing as the flashes of circuitry was always constant, but also ever changing. Or so it seemed at first.

It was actually more like layered circuitry. It had taken quite a while to figure this out, but eventually after focusing on one particular area he finally noticed the pattern. It was a lot harder than one might think. After all he did not have any material or devices to take notes. The flashes that revealed the pattern of circuitry was also quite quick and didn’t stay long. Added to this the fact that there were at least 100 layers of circuitry it was almost a miracle that he figured it out.

Not that Jude had anything else to do. There was nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no one to talk to, nothing to read, really all there was the circuitry and stargazing.

***

A year had passed.

Jude thought back wondered if his hunger and odd dream state had something to do with his old universe. After all, if he was somehow still partially in the other universe, then a second hadn’t even passed by yet. So how would he be hungry?

That was kind of a depressing thought though. If it was true then if he was stuck here then it might be thousands of years before he would feel hungry. Only to slowly get more and more so. Perhaps millions of years before his actual body died while his mind suffered!

Yeah, depressing.

Which is why Jude decided to not think about it and concentrate on understanding his environment. There was still the possibility that he could change something if he could gain enlightenment on it.

The only thing he had made progress on this year was the ‘focus’ of the universe. He found that if he made just the right movements with his head, a tilt here, a nod there, he could get a closer view of the planet. Instead of a distant orb, it was now clearly in front of him. He could see the weather patterns and continents, the oceans and seas.

With little else to do, Jude continued to seek answers.

***

100 years pass.

By this point, Jude no longer kept track of the time, except maybe the time of day. But even that had become less important.

His ability to zoom in the Focus had become much better. Now his view was more like Google Maps but not yet Street View.

Still he could occasionally make out people, especially when there was a large battle. It made him wonder if any of the NPC’s he had sent survived. Which then made him wonder if the NPC’s would age? This was another universe, what if nothing aged?

Jude had so many questions and as time passed he only continued to gain more.

His biggest however was neither the Focus or the Digitial Plane. He found a circuit like structure that resided inside himself, that resembled the Digital Plane. The Digital Laws that governed this universe seemed to slowly be affecting him. He was becoming part of this universe and so he was fundamentally changing as well.

He had very little control over this circuitry and he could only sense it when he was in his sleep like state. Whatever the circuitry was, it was still growing inside of him. Like he had yet to be fully part of the universe.

Perhaps when it fully manifested, he would leave this Digitial Plane. But if that was true, where was Murl? Maybe getting stuck here had slowed the process down. After all, he was in the universe, yet he was not. Looking up was the universe. He was merely on the edge.

***

Untold years later.

Jude had now seen the rise and fall of many nations and kingdoms. He had seen people die by the hundreds of thousands, great hero’s rise and dark villains wreak havoc across the world.

Yet he knew not a single name. He didn’t know why or what for. All he could do was watch.

He wished he could hear. All the sound he heard now was that of himself and the low hum of the Digital Plane.

Still, he had hope. His own internal circuitry was now much more robust. No longer did he need to be in the dream like state to access it. But now had full control over it. He called it his Modicuit (combination of Modular and Circuit).

Using his Modicuit, he was able to interface into the Digital Plane. He was finally able to do experiments! He wasn’t able to directly connect to the Digital Plane, after all the circuits were far too big being around 2 feet in width. His own circuits were practically imaginary and could only be seen with his mind's eye.

However, Jude had discovered more circuitry that seemed to exist in the air. It wasn’t noticeable at first, as the grounds circuitry overpowered the ones in the air by its mere brightness. The circuitry in the air was so small and thin that the width of hairs would probably be bigger.

They only seem to light up if a circuit below activates, but its brightness outshines the ones in the air by a large margin. Jude was only able to discover them after connecting to his Modicuit while awake. The Modicuit seemed to resonate with the air circuits and through much trial and error, Jude was finally able to connect his Modicuit to them.

Connecting with his Modicuit was the easy part. It took much longer to get anything useful out of the Digital Plane. Eventually, he was able to open up screens and much like in movies they were holographic in nature.

Once he had the screens he then began exploring the data he could find, the amount of which was enormous even if he had limited access. The limited access was surprising as it felt like he was a general user on a highly secured network. But in a way it was a good thing since it limited how much he had to search through. And even then it seemed to go on forever.

Most of the information was garbage, totally unreadable. It was like looking at an executable file in notepad. He did have some success and found controls and functions, but there was no description. He played with a few until he realizes that they could have devastating effects as he was literally in the universe’s control room!

Things took a drastic change one day when he found the Character Creation tool.

***

When Jude directed the electrons from his Modicuit into a new set of air circuits he was pleasantly surprised! A screen popped up with a character creation tool!

It was a very nostalgic feeling. While it had been an innumerable amount of years here on the Digital Plane, it was also mostly the same every day. With no one to talk to or anyone to interact with the monotony of life had become extreme. This made his past in the old universe still feel fresh and it hadn’t faded into obscurity.

Murl and Jude had spent a lot of time playing MMO’s as it was the most cost effect form of entertainment. They spent most of their time working, so they never got to be uber players, but getting close to the top was possible for them.

The character creation tool felt very familiar, it was like every game out there’s interface had been mashed into one, leaving only the best parts behind. The whole thing was easy, seamless and beautiful.

Jude got lost in the process, tweaking ever little bit. After all, he hadn’t had this kind of entertainment in eons.

When he was finally done…

He felt a little bit nervous…

Would this free him?

Or would this be just another NPC?

Or worse, nothing at all…

With trepidation, he clicked the Create Character Button.