On a spring day that could be best described as dreary, a young man sat slouched before his laptop. Around him was a house, barely large enough to be considered so. It was more of a cabin, really. If one were to fly over this position in space and look down, they would see a red roof crowning a hill, and a driveway snaking out into the dense woods that stretched for miles around. The man was well and truly isolated.

And he was not happy about it.

He had been sitting there with an assignment open on his screen for a solid hour, but had made no progress. With a groan, Chris shut his laptop and extricated himself from the office chair. He made his way to the bathroom to do the necessaries, and after washing his hands, he found himself staring into the mirror. Tired eyes framed by messy, dark hair stared back. As he scratched at the stubble lining his jaw, he regretted his decision not to shave. After a moment, Chris forced himself out of the bathroom and immediately found himself pacing the kitchen as he mentally bemoaned his fate.

It was early. Well, it was noon, but for spring break that was early.

He was here, in the cabin, for two reasons. One, he needed the money, and two, it was a favor for his uncle. He was here and desperately bored because he had finished all the books he owned, and his spoiled child of an ADHD brain wouldn’t let him do anything but read. Normally, when he was stuck like this, he would reset himself by talking to one of his friends, but they were all busy on their own spring breaks. He was deep in the throes of a fixation, and had been for a solid week.

So far this week, he had finished The Martian, and Good Omens, and the Hitchhikers Guide, books 1-4, as he held no truck with Mostly Harmless. As he paced, he was considering reading through the entirety of Super Powereds. Again.

Chris knew that he had no actual reason to be upset, but knowing that didn’t help. Eventually, he gave up his pacing and set about fixing himself a coffee. The cabin was remarkably well furnished, kitted out with all the best high-end fixtures and appliances. Uncle Bill had money, which was why he could afford to pay a nephew to drive up and check on his rarely used Wisconsin house.

Yesterday had been spent surveying the cabin top to bottom. That, and reading. All the plumbing and electrical still worked, all the appliances turned on, nothing looked out of place. That left him with a solid week left of spring break. Maybe he would head back to college tomorrow, despite the fact that his roommates would still be gone. Despite that the cabin was much nicer than his house. Who could say? The world was his oyster.

Chris picked up his mug when the fancy espresso machine finished its whirring and took a sip. He then grimaced in appreciation the way only a true caffeine addict can.

“Yeah, that’ll- “

BOOM……

And promptly almost dropped the mug.

After the hollow boom finished rolling through the cabin from the direction of his driveway, Chris’s mind found itself spieling through possibilities. Was that an earthquake? A meteor? A thermonuclear device, detonating underground? Surprisingly, there was no follow up. No sound of cracking trees, or rumbling earth. Just… silence.

Stunned, Chris walked to the front door and looked out the window. There, resting on the driveway, about a hundred feet from his house, was a rock. It sat there, about the height of his waist, slate gray, with smattering of cracks on its surface and a vaguely round shape. It looked almost aggressively normal, apart from the fact that it was in his driveway and hadn’t been there yesterday. Even knowing this, Chris almost wanted to dismiss it.

He looked it up and down. Up at the incredibly unobtrusive rock, down at the distinct lack of cracks in the driveway underneath it. His face began to warm as some of the tiredness fell away.

Maybe this spring break wouldn’t be so boring after all.

****

After a few minutes of pacing around the rock, examining it from every angle, Chris gave up on this line of inquiry. For all he could tell, this appeared to be a completely normal rock. He even tried throwing a pebble at it to see what would happen. Of course, it made the sort of click sound you would expect from a pebble hitting a larger rock. Hell, it even smelled rocky.

Sight, Sound and Smell eliminated, that only left two other senses. He slowly reached his hand toward the rock before hesitating, and drawing back.

Shaking his head at his own foolishness, he chided himself. “Don’t be stupid” he muttered, before slapping his palm down on the rock.

Then everything went black.

****

Around the world, the same story played out with minor differences five different times.

The Student, the Dreamer, the Researcher, the Grifter, and the Guardian all heard the boom, found the rock, and succumbed to temptation.

And in each of their heads, a voice rang out in the universal language of thought.

System Initializing…

****

When the sun began to droop below the horizon, Chris awoke to a splitting headache. He sat up, startling the squirrel that was sniffing him into running away into the forest. He slowly opened his eyes, before narrowing them accusingly at the rock which was sitting not two feet to his left, innocently.

As his eyes acclimated to the fading light of day, the headache began to ebb, almost as if being drawn off somewhere. It took only a few seconds for the mysterious headache to vanish completely, gone like it had never existed in the first place. It was then that Chris got his second great shock of the day.

Congratulations, Christopher. A voice echoed in his head, speaking in no discernable language, imparting pure concepts. You are one of the first five chosen in this world. I am sure that you have many questions.

Chris’s mind spun and reeled, and he proceeded to list through every swear he knew, as a sort of self-diagnostic. All the while, Chris stared slack jawed at the rock, his mind firing in a million different directions until the voice eventually pulled him from his musings.

I am afraid that you will need to speak out loud in order for me to hear you, Chris.

“Al-alright,” he said, pulling himself together. “What just happened? Who are you? Am I the protagonist in a sci-fi novel now?” He pulled himself up short from asking any of the other million questions that were tearing around in his mind, and his jaw shut, with an audible click.

I appreciate your restraint, Christopher. I will answer your questions in the order they were posed. Firstly, the system is being initialized on your planet. The grand implications of this, you do not need to be immediately concerned with, as the process is long and will span over five hundred years. If you were referring to your brief period of unconsciousness, I am afraid that was my doing. I needed to scan your knowledge and physiology to properly adapt the system to function with humans. As compensation for the invasion of privacy, I will be personally assisting you for a short time to help your acclimation.

Chris felt vaguely violated as he parsed the explanation. Over the course of the persons… systems… things? What should he refer to the voice as? He resolved to ask that next. Over the course of the voice’s response, the knowledge reverberating around in his head resolved from languageless concepts into a soft and feminine voice speaking English. While the information being imparted became less detailed, it did help put his mind at ease, which he supposed was probably the point.

Secondly, I am the consciousness whose purpose is to integrate this sector into the system. If it helps for you to consider me an AI, then please do so. If you are looking for a name to refer to me as, Sarah will suffice.

It was as if Sarah was in his head. He suppressed a shudder as he remembered that she was, for an undetermined amount of time.

Thirdly, I do not believe that you are the protagonist in any sort of novel, but it is impossible to rule out the possibility, as a being inside a created universe could not perceive its creator.

Chris had to fight down a smirk at that. At least Sarah had a sense of humor.

“So, what is the system? At least, as much as I need to be immediately concerned with”, he added sardonically. Chris didn’t enjoy being withheld information. It was a trait that had put him at odds with authority figures all throughout his short life.

The system is, at its core, an effort towards bringing all sentient species up to the level of being able to stand on par with the civilized universe. As it pertains to you, the system will allow you to grow beyond the wildest dreams of the human race, to perform feats of-

“Can I get superpowers?” Chris interrupted. His eyes had a glint in them normally only seen when engrossed in a novel, or in fierce competition. Now, the glint was sharper than it had ever been, and he stared down the rock with a stony focus.

There was a pause.

Yes, you can get superpowers.

And so, Chris was hooked. He needed no more convincing, no more knowledge of what he was getting into before he signed on the dotted line. Sarah continued to speak, but he was already lost in the possibilities.

He could get superpowers.

****

Chris? Again, I am afraid you need to speak aloud for me to hear you. Sarah intoned, with perhaps just a hint of sarcasm, pulling Chris from his reverie.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I zoned out for a second there”. He paused, frowning. “Is there anything else I need to know before we get started? This all seems a bit too good to be true.” Another pause. “Also, why me?”

There was a silent moment before Sarah responded. Chris was about to speak again when Sarah’s voice echoed through his head once more.

I am afraid I have not made myself clear. You have already been integrated into the system. To confirm, please reflect on your current status.

Chris mentally recalculated a bit before trying his hardest to think about himself. As soon as he started that train of thought, a piece of information slotted into his mind. Too specific and artificial to be a thought of his own making, this could only be a status screen.

Status

Ongoing Effects: Neurotransmitter Imbalance, Caffeine Addiction

Shifts: Intelligent Design 0/20

Skills: None

Have you found your status?

Chris blinked. “I have it, but it seems a little… bare. Where are my stats? Why don’t I have any skills?”

Stats? Ah, I understand. From your role playing games and novels. While qualities such as Strength and Intelligence can be improved through the system, there is no easy way to determine your standing in relation to others. There is no standardized metric for Strength.

Mildly disappointing. Half of the fun of RPG’s is watching the numbers go up.

As for your skills, the system has yet to assess your competencies. As you demonstrate and improve your skills, the system will assess your base state and improvement to assign you reward points, which can be used to effectively buy improvements from the system.

“So, if you get points from improving your skills, could you become the strongest man in the world by getting really good at macramé?”

Theoretically, yes.

Chris suppressed a snort. This system seemed rife with possibilities for abuse, and he couldn’t wait for the opportunity to try and game it.

Later, he would chide himself for thinking it could possibly be that easy.

In practice it is a good deal more difficult than that, but your theory is sound. I believe you also asked “Why me?” Completely random chance, I’m afraid. There is nothing that makes you more suitable to be a forerunner of the system than any other human. I suggest that you make the most of it.

Gaze hardening, Chris let out a bark of a laugh.

“Alright, let’s get started.”