(???, January 3rd, 2047)

The 2nd technician looked at me then reached over and hit a red button. From my angle, I couldn’t see the word printed above the button, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t something meant to be good for me. I was right. I watched as a portal opened below me, through which I could see the lines of gravity trying to reach up into the chamber I was in. The lines of gravity stopped at the stasis field I was in as if waiting. That’s when the field dropped, and those lines of gravity reached up to grab me. I passed through the portal and found myself crossing the event horizon of a massive singularity. These beings were utilizing a singularity as a disposal mechanism, cool.

I stopped my forward momentum and looked around as my vision adapted. Then I could detect the lines of gravity from multiple portals near me that seemed to be dropping all kinds of matter into the black hole. I allowed my nanites to range out to see if there were any nanites here and found that as I had predicted, their alien technological nanites were being destroyed as they crossed the event horizon. I let loose and allowed my nanites to go into overdrive. I also willed a spell to be cast that allowed 1 year to pass for every nanosecond I was within this singularity with a radius equal to just inside the radius of the event horizon. I’d gotten the idea from a spell back in one of my old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books, Tempus Fugit. That spell allowed six rounds to pass inside for every round that passed outside. I was just taking that idea and multiplying it by a little bit.

I allowed my chaotic nanites to invade and convert every atom inside the event horizon of this singularity into more nanites. Then they attacked the matter making up the singularity. Unlike naturally occurring black holes this one looked to be artificially constructed. I did not detect an exit point out of this Cosmos from it. I had the nanites start converting all of that mass into nanites as well. The mass would stay the same but now the singularity would work for me.

I placed myself in a sort of stasis. At this speed differential, it would be impossible to communicate with Thor Abi or anyone else. They would be moving and responding slowly. True, Thor could move his mental processes at machine speed which would allow us to communicate normally but the world would still appear to be standing still to both of us. He had more important things to worry about. So I allowed my Thor Aspect to go to work. He cataloged everything before conversion and spread his consciousness back into an area that was larger than any network he’d ever inhabited before.

My Thor aspect woke me from my stasis and I reviewed the mass that had been converted. Kind of impressive, 15.6 billion Solar masses or approximately 1.67 e19 kilograms were now nanites. The nanites were still compressed and acting as a singularity but now my processing power had once again achieved, and surpassed, levels I’d previously possessed. Also, Thor had cataloged and analyzed every piece of inorganic and organic material that had been deposited into the singularity. This had all been done in about 150 years to me, in less than a second real-time. I’d learned their language and now understood that the technology level of these beings was incredible. If they’d been able to break out of the Cosmos they’d have easily been able to stop me, at least technologically, in my tracks.

I spent the next hour using the full processing power of the nanite network to learn everything I could about the beings that had captured and then discarded me. Like humans, they had evolved on a planet very soon after the dawn of the Cosmos. I searched the Universal Interface and sure enough as part of the creation of this Universe, before it was separated from the rest of this reality, a pocket of normalcy had been decreed as the rest of the Universe exploded and spread out. In this one region of normalcy, a normal planet had come into existence around an M-Class star, and beings almost identical to humans came into existence. This Race was just over 13 billion years old which caused me to pause. Evolution over that time should have turned these humans into either super brains or pure energy if some of the ideas floating around back on Earth were to be believed. That’s when a reference I’d come across clicked into place. Something called an “Overmind” was in charge here. I’d only seen fragments of information concerning it. I’d have to figure out what it was when I left the singularity.

I separated my Thor aspect and then removed and dispelled the spell Id cast to speed up time. Next, I reconnected to Thor and tied Thor into my Thor Aspect then let them do their thing. I needed to slow my mind down to be able to interact with these aliens. I set my personal nanites to defense and self-preservation and also willed a magical personal shield around myself just in case. I also checked one more thing in the Cosmic Interface. Almost all Time-based spells and effects had been locked out. Spells could speed up or slow down time but traveling through time was forbidden. Also, time couldn’t be completely stopped by technology or spells. Through the interface, I could stop time if I wished for everything save those I designated as immune. Doing so would flag an Avatar of Time if not reactivated within one day of relative time.

With everything reviewed and ready I teleported into the room beside the two technicians, three feet away from them. As I popped in, both turned to see me standing before them a look of shock and horror in their eyes.

“Hello,” I said in their language.

The one that had hit the red button fainted. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he just keeled over. Now that I had a chance to look at both of them I noticed that they both appeared to be human, though I could see the telltale signs of electronic augmentation throughout both of them. I allowed my nanites to start spreading into the room and scanned them and the room. That’s when I sensed a subtle shift in the energy flow and all the alien nanites in this region went inert and then self-destructed except for those insides of the two aliens in front of me. The alien that was still awake watched with interest until I felt through the quantum connections I still had going on something of incredible power focus its attention on the alien and then look at me through his eyes.

It looked around from the body it was looking through for a moment, cocked its head as if thinking then focused back on me. “Hello.” There was a long pause as we both stared at each other waiting for the other to talk. So a staring game. I could do staring games. I smiled as I had had my nanites investigate and catalog all the technology in the room I was in. I noticed that except for power, which was created by an ingenious gravity-based generator all incoming and outgoing lines of communication with this facility were now severed. Also, a barrier had been erected around the facility that was preventing my nanites from leaving the area. It looked as if the field I was now in prevented gravimetric disturbances so no portaling out, even if Thor was in range. I willed a portal to open in front of me that opened looking at my sink in my estate in New Mexico. I reached through, grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and brought it back through the magical portal I’d created, all while keeping eye contact with whatever was looking at me through the eyes of the man that was still standing. I took a sip of water and willed the portal shut.

“Interesting, technology has been circumvented, yet there is no technology that can do so, who or what am I looking upon?” the man asked with a hollow, yet resonant voice.

“I am Adam, and you are?” I asked back.

“My creators and constituent parts call me the Overmind”

“So are you a combined consciousness of all the minds that came before, or are you something that formed uniquely from all the minds within you?” I asked. The idea wasn’t new, some very talented writers had explored this idea, though every time they were described they had an almost machine, or lacking empathy persona. This Overmind was talking like a normal person.

“If I understand your question correctly I am both. I am the ultimate combination of mind and body” the Overmind said.

I pulled up my Universal Interface and checked to see if there was a functionality built into the interface to scan or review specific species or personal data. Of course, there was. I pulled up the information on the creature identifying itself as “The Overmind” and gasped. “You’re an amalgamation of all the souls of trillions of individual beings? I asked.

There was a pause, then the Overmind answered, “The source of that information is correct, though I did not detect any electronic transmission, might I ask where you retrieved that information from?”

“I will answer your question if you answer this one first, why did the souls of so many choose to combine instead of pass on?”

“This word ‘soul’ do you mean the classic human from Earth definition or is there another definition that you are using?”

“The classic definition is fine or more precisely ‘the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.’”

“The reason our race chose this path, once it was available to us was because our scientist had detected something on the other side of death that seemed to shred whatever the soul was made up of, destroying it utterly. Our experiments were inconclusive as to what happens after death so as a society the majority of us chose to become part of me. Normally there is a period in which the individual still exists but eventually souls tire and are absorbed the whole. This process has been going on for billions of years.”

“I do have another question but a deal is a deal. To answer your question I accessed a Universal Interface that contains all the information about this Universe and reviewed the information it had on you.”

“There is no Universal source for all information”

“There is, and I have access to it”

“How?” the Overmind asked skeptically

“The simple answer is that magic exists and I have access to it. Through the use of magic, I am able to access the mechanisms which review and run this Universe.”

“What you say, makes no sense

“In about 200 weeks it will”

“What do you mean?”

“To access your personal interface the ambient magic of the area you’re in needs to be around 20% if you do not have a source of magic for yourself like I do. I have changed the settings of this Universe, it should reach about 20% in 200 weeks. 100% in about 1,000 weeks.”

“If what you say is true, what does this mean?”

“It seems that you are familiar with humanity from Earth, are you familiar with your recent fiction, specifically concerning fantasy and magic?”

“I have kept track yes and yes I am familiar.”

“Dragons, Angels, Devils, and even Gods exist. Magic being brought back into the Universe brings back access to those, and many more beings.” I said.

“Why do I detect a ‘but’ in your statement”

“Magic is incredibly degrading to high technology”

“Define, high technology,” the Overmind said

“Microprocessors that are not shielded with magic and nanites, especially nanites. Something about the magical forces in play makes it impossible for nanites to exist.”

“Yet, yours do?”

“Yes, but that is a long story and the path to that occurrence is unique. It could occur again but the odds are that it won’t. I do have a second question for you, If you could would you allow yourself to pass on to whatever comes next?”

“I was created to act as a lifeboat until the end of this Universe. I strive every day to find a way to break out of the barrier of this Universe into whatever is on the other side of the expanding barrier we are currently riding. The simple answer is yes.”

“Then, I can tell you that what your scientist have detected no longer threatens anyone who dies. That souls do pass on and that whatever is on the other side awaits them and you.”

“If what you say is true, what happens to me when I reach this other side, do I split into the many personas that make me up, or do we all pass as one and stay together?”

That is a good question, one I do not have the answer to. No one in the places I’ve visited has been able to tell me what happens once someone passes through The Eye.

“The Eye”

“’ The Eye’ is an energy barrier or portal. Souls that have freed themselves from the constraints of mortality pass through and are never seen in this Cosmos again.”

“How can you be sure?”

“The entities that told me are the same entities that cut this Universe off from all the others.”

“What you have said is hard to believe”

“I understand. There is one way that I can share this knowledge with you so that you’ll have all the information I do.

“How is that.”

“I’ll download it into you.”

“You can do that, I’m sorry but I find that hard to believe.”

“Well then, what I’m going to share with you will blow your socks off. Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, The singularity below us is mine now.”

“What do you mean it is yours now”

“I’ve converted everything inside the Event Horizon into part of myself. That’s why I’ve already come up with a way to link to you and download the information I have so you can check the veracity of my claims”

“Wait a second, nothing survives inside a black hole, and nothing leaves a black hole.”

“True but did you not see me fall into the black hole and appear back here moments later.”

“Yes…please establish your connection, I will allow information to be shared only if you try to place any malware into my network…

“Yes, I know about the quantum bomb you have on standby and I know that it will take out this star system and most likely create another void within the Universe, like the last one you detonated. Understand such measures are useless against me. I cannot be killed. Or, a more correct phrasing is that if this body dies I will be reborn elsewhere.”

“Now you’re talking nonsense”

“I’ll remind you that you said that when the download is complete. Are you ready?

“Ready”

I established the connection and started downloading everything that had happened to me since the moment I picked up the ring. The moment this rollercoaster of a life I’m now living started. It was a lot of information to share and would take a few more seconds to complete.