Caelus again. You guys want to hear something funny? Me too.

Loop 8 Year 11 Day 1

Ten years have passed since the start of this loop. Everything is going fine. Sadly, the power I can get out of the atom splitting device isn’t nearly equal to the power it takes to keep the EM fields up. I got stuck! It was the only time I’ve ever gotten stuck on something since the loops started.

I look over my camera monitors every month or so. I see a large collective of slavers take over most of the city. It is a little sad to see the nice people of this city be enslaved. None of Chelsea’s friends or family are here though. Chelsea herself isn’t here either. So, I don’t really feel that bad. It’s an apocalypse after all.

With the huge amount of slavers, it is only a matter of time before some of my cameras or robots are discovered. I have upgraded the robots into series by this point. There are three series of robots. Each one is specialized to a task.

There is the Guardians. These are the ones with the most weapons, and heaviest armor. They can take a single direct hit by a Denel-Mechem NTW-20. That is, or at least was, the world’s most powerful sniper rifle. Every part of their bodies is covered in a special version of a bulletproof fabric. I invented it after several months of intense study.

It uses the same woven fabric concept as typical bulletproof fabric, but is made of much thicker heavier material. The robots can hold much heavier weights than humans can. They were basically weak versions of tanks.

The second kind of robot is the Miner. They come equipped with a dozen types of drills, and two guns. They are specifically made to be able to tunnel, excavate, and mine. They are less sturdy than the Guardians, but are still high quality.

They can borrow up to hundred feet a day. I usually have them making new spaces for rooms to be in the future. They have a large amount storage capacity, and even come installed with a beacon array. All of the Miners know where all of the others are.

The last type is my favorite. They are called the Crafters. They are the most numerous, and have the most divergent sub-types. The biggest type is the Builders. The Builders are in charge of building new rooms in the areas the Miners dig out.

There is also the Makers. They make the materials used by the rest of the base. They are in charge of smelting any ore found by the Miners, and turning it into the needed materials. They are equipped with the highest amount of various tools of all of the robots. Finally is the Programmers. As silly as it sounds, they are in charge of creating AI.

I programmed them to do tests on any programs I randomly create. They point out the various points it failed or excelled at. After that I can just upgrade the program as needed. The Programmers can instantly test tens of thousands of possibilities of the program I make, in a second.

These upgrades took me about five years to make. It was mostly the massive amount of stress testing and reprogramming I had to do. The Programmers themselves took an entire year to make. Creating the new parts took a large chunk of time as well. When I got the Makers working, the process sped up considerably.

Obviously, all the robots are connected to their own super-computers. With each branch having its own massive resource, they are capable of amazing feats. The Programmers especially benefit. They can run much more complex programs due to the super-computer.

I keep trying to find ways to harvest the energy released from the atom, but I am getting nowhere. I refuse to give up though. I seem to be able to fully concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. Many times, I must be interrupted to realize I should eat. The Makers are actually very good at cooking.

After separating the diverse types of robots, I decided to fully concentrate on my attempts at forcing the energy of the atom to bend to my will. I refuse to give up the potential power I have before me.

Loop 8 Year 11 Day 247

I am just now putting the finishing touches on my latest and greatest invention. Using the technology of the EM fields, I actually create a gun about the size of a pistol. The pistol releases a wave of electrons that form a field. The field works the same way as the EM field that shields the exploding atom.

Basically, if the gun has fuel, electricity powered by the sun, it will maintain the field. The field doesn’t do any physical harm, but will block all wireless waves from coming or going inside the field. The field from the gun has a six-foot diameter. Not huge, but it would at least stop a walky-talky or something like that from working. Only temporarily though.

Thus, my robots scavenge usable electronics without too much blood shed. I only use this method occasionally though. The result is always the death of at least one person. The person always has something I really need for my research though. They will just come back if I have the next loop anyway.

After the gun releases the field, it can create another one in about 12 hours of sunlight. The light is enough to keep the field up until nightfall though. With the battery capacity of the gun, it can hold out for an hour after no sunlight is available. The field can be changed to an intense, instant, shock. Much like a high powered Taser.

Loop 8 Year 11 Day 337

At this point I give up on trying to get the energy. I know I can do it, but I realized I don’t have the parts required. I need some very exotic pieces to craft what I need. It’s basically a mega-powerful massive super-conductor. I can’t even figure out how to make it without the appropriate parts.

On a more positive note, the AI I have been trying to make is getting closer to being done. The AI has passed the turning test. A test to see if AI can think ahead, sort of. I have set programming to have its own super-computer. I only have enough materials to build that fifth one, but it’s worth it.

With the AI running all the time, and downloading as much data from the remnants of the internet as it can, it is quickly realizing its own true potential. I can’t wait until it asks some sort of existential question. That is when I will know it is truly self-aware.

Loop 8 Year 12 Day 300

My AI still has not asked the question of its purpose. I cannot figure out why. By all accounts it seems to be self-aware. It can communicate through the speaker system, has created a figure for itself on the televisions, even occasionally takes command of one of the robots to better communicate with me.

Besides the speaker, I didn’t command any of this. It might be that all of the ‘ideas’ come from that time though. I told it to communicate through the speakers to let me better understand and relate to it. The super-computer might have extrapolated this data and decided that the TV’s and robots were fair game. But ‘deciding’ is for things that have a consciousness!

I still haven’t figured out the way to get the energy. I’ve all but run out of ways to try to test taking the energy out. It seems I really will need that superconductor.

Loop 8 Year 12 Day 356

This is the end of the twelfth year I have been in this loop. I am giving up on the research. For real this time. I keep telling myself to give up, but something keeps pulling me back to it. I don’t know why. I feel like it may give me a clue as to why I am like this.

Oh yeah!

Yesterday I was attacked by the slavers. It seems that after more than five years these guys forgot what I was capable of. The supercomputer in charge of the cameras constantly sends any data that might be of interest to the other four supercomputers. This includes figures approaching the cameras, or my base.

As soon as the slavers saw the sign I had the robots put out, they laughed. It said ‘Dangerous Keep Out’. They didn’t seem to care. As soon as they stepped too close, the militant supercomputer sprung the trap. The enhanced turrets fired off hundreds of rounds a second. Flames danced on the skin of those close to the turrets. Radioactive waste was even spewed on some of the members close to the door.

Just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse, the robots spewed forth from the inside of the base. In seconds, the group of dozens of slavers was reduced to nothingness. I let one of them go though. That way I could experience at least another five years of peace.

I am thinking of starting a bartering system with the nearby inhabitants. I have two robots planting cameras in areas that were too far for me to place them before the bombs. My supercomputer can see for about a thousand miles at this point. The only thing that would be better is if I had a satellite in the sky.

Loop 8 Year 13 Day 47

Today a group of zombies attacked. It didn’t last long, but they seemed to know exactly where the door was. They looked familiar. I knew who they looked like, but I refused to accept it. It was just someone that looked identical to Chelsea and her family.

Loop 8 Year 14 Day 146

Today I learn something. It is terrible. I have been losing my temper recently. I haven’t even been trying to do anything that would normally make one lose one’s temper. Today I noticed my skin aging in a certain area.

I’ve finally caught the disease. I don’t know how it happened. I always disinfect every incoming robot. My entire base is basically a clean-room. Not even a spec of dirt can be seen outside of the farm area. I have the robots check, but the strain of virus isn’t present in any place but my body.

I decide to see if this will kill me. Of course, I’m scared of dying, but I have this thirst for answers recently. It could be because of this. I hole myself up in a room I have the Makers build. Not even they can break out.

Loop 8 Year 14 Day 179

It has been a month since I’ve gotten the disease. At first I could feel myself occasionally slipping into unconsciousness, only to find out I had seemingly turned into a zombie. The video cameras I had set up would replay when they heard the phrase, ‘what happened here?’.

As time went on, I felt myself slipping more and more. Each time would last longer than the last. At this point I would only have consciousness for a few hours before an entire day of zombie life.

Loop 8 Year 14 Day 209

I can feel that today is the last day I will be sane. I have no idea what is going to happen when I fully turn into a zombie, but it can’t be good. I wonder if it will carry on into the next loop?

Loop 9 Year Day 1

Obviously not. I slam my hand down on the table, angry that I STILL have to go through this. Chelsea’s dad looks at me worried, and I act like it was nothing. I apologize and sigh as I start the entire process over again. I plan to win the lottery then play the stock market until I have enough money. It shouldn’t take that long.

Loop 9 Year 1 Day 64

Instead of hiring people to build my base, I built a factory that produced the robots. It took me a month and a half to build, but it is done now.

The factory is right on top of the area the base is going to be. I will have the robots tear the factory down after enough of them are built. By using the robots, I save a LOT of money. I have enough materials to build about a thousand of each type of robot. That’s given that I build the original sized base though. I had even more improvements to put into it.

Loop 9 Year 1 Day 71

It only took my bots a week to build what it took the humans several months to do. They are so much more efficient. The food storage and creation area is smaller, but has a more refined amount of food. The food I put here was based on the daily consumption and requests of the last loop. I still had a huge amount of farmland though.

The munitions factory was scaled down a bit, and the free area was used for a factory to produce the stun gun/EM field pistols. They were by far the most efficient weapon. I spent the last 30 days actually making modifications to the battery housing system, and the battery itself. I’ve also added in a dial to change the voltage of the Taser function.

There are several factories in my base. The basic factories are: gunpowder and gunpowder based weapons factory; EM field weapons factory; Robot factory (all kinds); food factory; and material factory; there are even factories to make paper whenever a tree from the food factory starts to decay. Books are not going to die out if I’m here.

I make the gaming room bigger, but separate it into ten different gaming rooms. That way people feel like they have more privacy. One of the main complaints of the last loop, was the lack of privacy in anywhere but their rooms.

I make ten supercomputers this time. Each one is governing something important. One is for each of the three types of robot. The Programmers actually get their own as well. Two are watching over the extensive security network. One for the inside of the base (the residents don’t know) and one for the outside. One is working independently to make AI. One is hacking every computer and server it can until the bombs drop. It is the biggest one. It must hold the most data after all. The last one is the one that will hopefully evolve into AI. I memorized the coding of my last AI before shutting myself up in the room in the last loop.

After programming that coding, I hand it over to the Programmers. The one that will hopefully become AI is tasked with keeping my research going. It is fully equipped to do so. I made sure of that in the last loop.

Loop 9 Year 1 Day 365

My base is far better than it has ever been before at this point. I have convinced even the people that wanted to leave of the dangers of the outside world. I continue to stress the danger in minute ways. Today is the day the bombs drop. I intentionally take the radioactive materials and spread it around the only entrance the other residence know about. For the next few decades they will experience radiation poisoning if they try to leave.

It’s kind of messed up to do, but I have no choice. I’m trying to save as many people as possible, but if they run away at the first sign of peace then I’ve failed.

I stay with the group and watch in sadness as the bombs I predicted fall from the sky. Many places are hit, but most of the city above our town escapes the damage thanks to the faulty bomb. Through my personal cameras I watch the bomb that night.

The bomb did explode, but it exploded in the air, far sooner than it should have. I was just thankful it didn’t turn out to fully work. My first bunker would have been wiped out otherwise.

The Programmers are hard at work, as are all the other robots. With everything working full speed, I simply choose to relax on this Loop. The AI is watching the atomic splitting room closely. It runs thousands of simulations a second on how to optimize the energy extraction. Hopefully it will find something I missed, but I doubt it.