(The Labyrinth, January 15th,2037, Day 379)

While I detailed everything I’d learned to the Labyrinth, a priority alert came from that part of myself that I still thought of as Thor.

Warning: Robert “Bob” Norton from Universe ..001 information update exceeds expected parameters!

I focused on that part of myself that was receiving the information while I continued to talk to The Labyrinth, “And then I found myself...”.

I examined the data and realized that it was an informational dump from the mind of Robert, or Bob as he thought of himself. All of his sensory input and mental thoughts as well as all accessed memories at the same time. I reviewed the reason for the memory dump and noted that the nanites had recorded that the information stored in his mind appeared to be increasing exponentially. When the information in his mind had reached 10 times normal the nanites had started copying everything in his mind to try to find out what was going on and I was alerted. It was an insane amount of data to go through, so I started at the beginning.

Bob, as it turned out, was just an ordinary guy from Grand Forks North Dakota. His father had retired from the Air Force Base just as he was finishing High School and had decided to just stay in the area. They had a nice house; it was relatively safe and with the Air Force base there and his father was able to go right back to work after he’d finished his active-duty service. Bob had finished high school and then started going to college but had dropped out after two years because he just didn’t see the point, then The Cultivation happened. Bob had been one of the lucky few I’d been able to get into a safe area before any serious monster spawns had happened. In fact, the entire city of Grand Forks had gone pretty much unscathed. The closest monster spawn had been over 100 miles away. That’s when the memories I was reviewing went weird.

Bob, getting something to eat and talking with a woman named Jessica… then his surroundings changed.

Now Bob, watched as Jessica was eaten by something he couldn’t even see just as he felt something pounce on him and force him to the ground… then his surroundings changed again.

Bob, running from a being that was at least 30 feet high that was swinging a tree like a club… and they changed again, and again, and again.

I watched scene after scene until I came to the end of the memory file as a new memory was loaded. Variations on the same theme. Bob, either in or out of the safe zone, getting killed, looking around, or just chilling. But the scenes kept on getting added.

I skipped to the end of Bob’s memory file and sure enough, he was enjoying himself with Jessica as they went through the training the Syndicate was giving. I backtracked his memories and tried to figure out what was going on. Bob was born and lived to the point that the cultivation started then alternate histories of the year he was on Earth during the Cultivation were being added one after the other. Almost like…

I went back to the very beginning of the Cultivation and reviewed his memories of checking out his Personal Interface for the first time and found the answer. Bob had two very Unique and synergistic abilities.

Quantum Anchor: The creature with this ability is Anchored in the reality in which they reside. Whether the timeline is changed or not. A creature with this ability is born, whether by the same parents or not, then lives the exact same life up until the point of the change and will continue to live their life until the natural time of their death. Luck, Fate, and Whatever Gods you believe in had dictated that you will exist from your Birth to your Death. Unfortunately, this does not help anyone around you. The Universe itself bends to the normal course of your lifespan.

That first ability was weird, why would that ability even exist, then I read the second ability.

Quantum Memory: Throughout reality, there are those that travel through time and mess with things that they should not. Creatures with this ability remember every single timeline that comes into existence and is ended. If time is tampered with too much during their life span, well, the human mind can only hold so many lifetimes of information before it overloads or just shuts down.

Holy hell, Bob was a Universal Fuse. The Universe, Cosmos, whatever was using individuals like Bob to act as some sort of fuse. When they received too much information they’d die. As I’d been looking over Bob’s various lives another lifetime of memories had been added. Now that I knew what to look for I reviewed each lifetime’s memories and discovered that there were very slight variations between Bob’s birth and The Cultivation, and he was indeed born to various parents. So, this ability was tied to his soul. No matter which body the soul went into he always had the same two abilities. Quantum Memory therefore must be very much the same. No matter what happened his soul would remember.

This line of thought also begged the question, where were the souls coming from. I’d thought that the souls were forming from scratch and that the willpower of a sentient mind was what created a soul but now I had evidence that souls were entering bodies from somewhere else. Was it one or the other, or was it a combination of both? Could souls develop on their own and also come into this cosmos looking for a vessel. Then I thought about myself. I wasn’t from this cosmos. My soul, as I understood it was either a copy or the continuation of a soul that had existed elsewhere and been either copied or transported to this Cosmos. Also, while I might have the level of a God, I still remembered having a mother and a father which meant I wasn’t really a divine or deity, just a man with delusions of grandeur who had, if not cheated, been helped to cheat the system for progression in my original Universe and this one.

I hadn’t been this honest with myself in a long time. I was trying to do what was right and for the most part fair, but I kept running into complications. This latest revelation though, I hadn’t done this which meant that someone or something else had. Why would an individual be given such abilities? In the short term, they would do nothing for the person that had those abilities. Sure, he’d remember his previous lives but that wouldn’t stop the timelines from being altered. As had been shown, tampering had been going on for quite some time, and Bob had just come into existence… or had there been others.

I opened up my Cosmic Access Interface and performed a search for the abilities Quantum Anchor and Quantum Memory as well as how many times they’d been granted in this cosmos and was surprised when I received the following Prompt

ERROR, neither ability Quantum Anchor nor Quantum Memory exist within the Cosmic Database.

ERROR, one individual currently within this cosmos contains both of these abilities. Attempting to self-correct

ERROR NOTED, a ticket has been created for review by the Administrator.

Okay, so my first idea was correct, someone or something else had brought Bob into this Cosmos with those specific abilities. As the Cosmos had not been coded for those abilities that meant they came from somewhere else. Following this logic tree to its conclusion I realized that the only way for the entity that had put Bob here to know what was going on was for Bob’s soul to pass through The Eye where that Information would eventually end up.

But what did this information do for me right now? I refocused on my conversation with the Labyrinth

“…and then I teleported here.”

“That, is some story, and you have no idea who or what talked with you while you were in that other place?” The Labyrinth asked.

“None, though something has come up and I need to go review some new data. Is there a way that I can contact you? I do not believe I’ll be able to teleport into your Cosmos without your express permission, will I?” I asked.

“You would be correct. I control all access to and from myself.” The Labyrinth paused for a moment then said, “I have a gift for you. It has a one-time use. When you wish to speak with me again just use it. If I need to speak with you again I’ll have Beaezul contact you through the Syndicate.” The Labyrinth said as a gold ring appeared hovering a foot in front of me.

I reached out and grabbed the ring,

Congratulations! You have found a Ring of Teleporting, Destination Fixed, charges: 1. This when put on will teleport the wearer to a predetermined location.

“Thank you,” I said to the Labyrinth. “If you would be so kind as to provide me with a portal, I’d be most appreciative.

A portal opened behind me, “The Portal behind you leads to Beaezul’s office on the Triton Moon in your Earth System in your Cosmos. From there you should be able to go wherever else you need to. It was nice to finally meet you,“ The Labyrinth said

“And you as well. If we should meet again I hope we can sit down, you do have a form that can interact with biological beings don’t you?” I asked

“I do, she was otherwise occupied currently. Rest assured, when we meet again I’ll make sure to bring her along.”

“How will I know her?” I asked.

“She, I, refer to us as Eve in that form, short for Evelyn of course. She changes her form as needed but is always female. Currently, she is overseeing a specific region of mine and preparing the denizens there for an incursion from adventures from a dungeon that just recently connected to me. The idiots on the other side of the Dungeon believe that they will be able to break into the Labyrinth and loot and steal all of my riches. They are bringing an Army. Those that come for adventure, find that, treasure, and more. Those that come into me trying to conquer or try to use me as a route to conquer others find that things usually don’t go very well for them. She is focusing on that for now,” The Labyrinth said.

“I look forward to meeting her someday, by your leave?” I asked questionly.

“My leave is given, good day Adam”

Bowing slightly, I turned and stepped through the portal which closed immediately behind me. Beaezul had not followed me. I teleported to my estate in the Dyson Sphere and made my way to my bedroom. I took a long hot shower and thought about everything I’d learned. Running quadrillions of possible scenarios through the extended network of my mind. I tried to find a probability curve that made sense and no matter how I looked at the situation I still found could not figure out exactly what Bob had to do with anything. He was important, there was no doubt about that. The problem I had was that I couldn’t figure out how. Too many unknown variables keep popping up. If his soul was sent here, where was it from? Or was it from some other time? If he was doomed to die when his mind absorbed too many lifetimes of information what would happen then? I didn’t know for sure what would happen, but I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a good thing.

I stepped out of the show, made my way over to my bed, and laid down to rest. I would sleep for a bit and then readdress this issue after I’d given my subconscious a chance to look at the problem. I’d been running full tilt ever since I’d first talked with Abi. I missed her and everyone else from my original Universe. I’d been alone for so long. Granted, I did get to see Adaline now and then, but it wasn’t the same as when we’d been in my Place of Power. Even then, there’d been this transitory feeling to the relationship with everything that had been going on. Life was much simpler back then.

I settled back on my bed, made myself comfortable, and closed my eyes. I knew it was going to take a long time for my mind to settle so resorted to a trick I learned while I was in college. I thought of myself sitting in an empty theater. One of the old ones with curtains that reached down from the ceiling. I was sitting in a chair with no one around that had very soft seats. In my mind’s eye, the curtains drew back and with my considerable willpower, I tried to keep the screen blank. The professor that taught me this trick said that it is incredibly hard for your mind to stop thinking and that our subconscious is so much more than our conscious, “As you try consciously keep the screen in your mind blank, your subconscious will try to fill it. When your conscious loses the battle, and it will, you’ll be fast asleep.” That memory was the last before the part of myself that monitored the nanites noted that my biological body was in fact, fast asleep.