According to the glowing red LED display of the alarm clock situated on a nightstand in the dark room, the time was exactly 10:58PM. A girl laid next to it leaned against her pillow with a laptop resting uncomfortably on her lap. She furiously typed on her computer, eyes darting from one window to another on the tiny screen. She wanted to hook up the laptop to an external monitor since the tiny screen made her eyes hurt but she felt considerate enough to think of her roommate; the external monitor would be too bright and would awake the slumbering girl in this tiny cramped room. Surely, if Mary had not convinced her to go to the dorm party she wouldn’t be in this predicament. She had to admit to herself that though she enjoyed staring at lines of code, she was also someone who wanted to have the occasional fun away from a glowing screen. She hasn’t gone to a decent party in years – the day before her best friend moved away in sophomore year of high school was the last day she recalled having fun attending one. Attending college with like-minded intelligent people presented a fresh start to her social life but she needed to balance it with tending to her academics.

She shook her head and shook away the stray thoughts. She needed to focus. If she doesn't submit the project in by midnight her grades in the class would drop to an F. 50% of the grade dependent on a project with a one-week deadline was ridiculous in her perspective and most students felt the same way. The complaints didn’t change the professor’s view in the slightest.

Tiny grunts of frustration came unbidden from her throat. Currently, various windows on her screen showed terminals displaying a slew of errors. She quietly muttered to herself, "I'm going to totally fail this assignment. You would think an introductory class would be a little more lenient. And this will only prove to the dudes that women are inferior in logic. I can't believe that in a world where more women are going into STEM fields than ever in history that there are only five girls in the entire introduction to computer science class."

Her roommate made a small sound and rolled over. Mary was a light sleeper and Ada stopped talking. These angry thoughts were not helping her to complete the assignment. She yawned. She felt tired and frustrated. Adding to her discomfort, her stomach grumbled slightly reminding her that she was also hungry.

With her eyes still glued to the screen, her hands reached under her pillow and took out a Ziploc bag of prawn crackers. This was not going to appease her stomach for long but they were crunchy and tasty. She mentally thanked her mom for making her these snacks. While munching on them, she stared at the screen and noted that the number of debugging errors remained at three. There has been little progress in the last hour and these errors have refused to disappear. She couldn't even understand what these esoteric error messages even meant. Google and Stack Overflow apparently are not the panaceas for her situation.

She yawned again. According to her psychology professor, taking a catnap was the best way to reboot the brain. That may be an excuse for her extremely overworked brain but who was she to doubt a professor? She decided that she wasn’t going to get anything more done in her current state. Before she could possibly change her mind, she shut the lid to her laptop and placed it on the nightstand. Sleeping while wearing a smartwatch wasn't comfortable but setting an alarm would wake up Mary. She set an alarm to vibrate for half an hour from now. Before she dozed off, she briefly wondered why the setting on her watch read "Shift" instead of "Vibrate". She would have to Google that one later on why the latest app update changed the name of the setting. At least Google would be of help in finding the answer to this question.

...

...

...

[#include ]

[#include ]

[#include ]

[#include ]

[divine.convertmortal(Ada)]

[import Ada from system_00000000000111]

...

...

Ada awoke feeling completely refreshed. She stretched her arms and opened her eyes. The moment she did, she blinked several times rapidly at seeing the unearthly view. Was she still dreaming? She shook her head several times and rubbed her eyes. She opened her eyes again and saw that nothing has changed. Unless this was the most lucid dream she ever had, she was clearly not in her bedroom any more or anywhere on Earth. She was floating in space above a blue-green world which did not look have any continents that looked like Earth's. Beyond the planet was a yellow star similar to the sun. Looking at her body, she realized that although she was not naked, she was also not wearing a spacesuit. Oddly enough, she didn't feel like she was going to explode, freeze or suffocate. In fact, she felt perfectly comfortable just floating there. No one was around and in this kind of situation yelling was warranted. "Where in the hell am I?"

"Who said that?" Ada looked around in a panic and realized that no one had verbalized anything. The words were resonating in her mind.

"Why just three?"

Ada has clearly been transported to a different world like one of those isekai novels she was fond of reading. She paused for a moment before asking, "Why is a mortal like me in this world that has nothing to do with me? Also, I’m just a college freshman with barely any experience in the world."

Ada started to complain that she was not that short but the entity that was presumably God cut her off.

In this world, the traditional pantheon of gods has become ossified in their ways and grown complacent in progressing humanity. Times change and even worlds that are more primitive are expected to progress along instead of staying in stasis. You are no longer a mortal and you will discover that you have powers which no usual mortal possesses. At the very minimum, as a divine being, you are immune to all diseases, resistant to almost all injuries and you won't age. Also, you may thank me when I tell you that you won't have unnecessary bodily functions and you won't need to eat nor sleep. You can still die though that would be highly unlikely. This world now has everything to do with you as you would be the goddess of your chosen people. There are other gods and goddesses here but none of them possess the unique abilities you have. You may find them to not feel the same way that you or I do about the need for change.

I’ll preempt your questions regarding your abilities. As the Goddess of Computation, you’ll see the world through code. You’ll have access to the System which is one of the underlying foundations on which this world is built. Remember simulation theory hypothesized by some of the brightest minds on your world? You can interpret your capabilities as being able to see Urth as a computer simulation where you can see reality as it really is and change it through code. Oh, also, you’ll have a few other unique capabilities including perfect memory and computational speed close to that of the fastest supercomputer on Earth. Don’t worry. You’re a bright girl. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Now, last question?>

Ada paused again. This was a lot to take in. Though she felt excitement into venturing in a new world with such an important mission, her thoughts turned to that of what she was leaving behind. What is going to happen to her life back on Earth? Would her parents and friends even realize she was gone? A tremendous wave of emotions hit her like a tsunami and she staggered mentally. She could ask God when she can go home but she knew that the answer would most likely be not any time soon. This reminded her of the family trip right after high school graduation to her mom's hometown in China. It was a trip that she wanted to take and it was as unpleasant as she predicted. There were frequent brownouts and the air conditioner didn't work half the time during the heat of summer. The streets smelled and there was smog everywhere. She couldn't understand the language and had nothing to say to her cousins who all regarded her as an exotic creature from America. They would laugh and jabber amongst themselves while pointing at her. She suspected her naturally brown hair and lighter complexion has something to do with it.

With a shake of her head, she stopped reminiscing and returned to the present. These thoughts weren’t helpful. With only one question remaining, she decided to ask a pragmatic one, "Who are my enemies and allies in this world?"

Before Ada could reply, God and everything else disappeared. There was no bright flash or thundering sound. One moment she was floating in space and the next she was standing in the middle of an empty building by herself. This was probably her palace. The place was as quiet as a morgue. She sighed with resignation. "I'm not sure if I'm going to like this 'project'. I suppose a smarter question would have been to ask what abilities I possess and where I'm supposed to find allies or followers."