(???, January 3rd, 2047)

Over the next couple of minutes, I was downloading a lot of information to the Overmind, after all, I also gleaned some information from it. Everything that it stated had been true, so far as it believed. The memories of the dead were downloaded at the quantum level which seemed to also capture whatever energy the soul was made of. They believed this because they had an earlier version of the download that they’d tested. A mind was downloaded and the body frozen, then revived. In all cases, something remained of the mind in the body so the personality would come back intact when resuscitated. The new method of download prevented any possibility of someone coming back after download. I immediately saw the flaw in this belief. If the souls were being destroyed or failing to move on, then how were they coming back? If the original soul was destroyed then only the copy created at the quantum level would be the real person, ensuring that if there was only one soul that was part of the Overmind. I kept my thoughts to myself as the download continued. No need to stir that can of worms.

While the download was going on, I considered what I was learning and cross-referenced that with what I’d learned from Freya back in Venoran. This society had found a way to keep the integrity of their minds, even after death, and had found a way to cheat the destruction of their souls, though their solution wasn’t perfect. I kept going back to the analogy of mixtures. Take one glass of water and add it to another glass of water. Now separate those two glasses of water back into the exact molecules of each glass that you began with. Well, except that there were billions of glasses of water. Of course, with Nanites, longevity was an option though that had only become available right around the time that transferring into the Overmind had become feasible. It seemed that most had chosen to be with their friends in the Overmind. There were a few minds that refused to merge but those were few and far between.

So, the Overmind was the amalgamation of billions of minds which had transformed into a singular consciousness. Kind of like me and Thor but not. Thor had started from a copy of my mind after all. Through my connection to the Overmind, I located the central hub of the Overmind’s mind. It was very impressive. The structure was embedded inside a moonlet in a quasi-dimensional space adjacent to this dimension. So, cut off from the rest of the Cosmos but higher dimensions still existed, good to know. Once I knew what I was looking for I willed the ability to scry the location and then willed myself to detect souls. Sure enough, the entire moonlet lit up as bright as a noon-day sun. So, the Overmind was a soul. That was actually good news, When magic came back the nanites and quantum computer that housed its soul shouldn’t be affected by magic so long as it had a good sense of self.

As the download ended I canceled my scrying of the moonlet and waited for the Overmind to speak. I didn’t have to wait long.

The Overmind’s voice came through the body of the man in front of me, “One moment please, that was a lot of information to absorb.”

“Take your time,” I said as I stood there and waited.

A few moments later the man the Overmind was speaking through took a deep breath and continued, “The information that has been downloaded seems to be legitimate but how do I know it’s factual?”

I thought about it for a moment then said, “There are a couple of ways I could show you but if you’ve reviewed all of my memories then you know that the reason your stasis field didn’t work on me is that that time cannot be altered for me unless I allow it. One of the other things you should have witnessed is that I am completely immune to the effects of a singularity. Please direct your sensors to the event horizon of the singularity below this laboratory and watch.”

I teleported until I was standing on the event horizon and rotated so that I was parallel to its surface then transmitted through the speakers in the room behind me, “If I were to pass into the singularity I would disappear and possibly cease to exist then I could portal in a new body. Also, we both have the technology to anchor ourselves outside of a singularities Event Horizon. What you cannot do is this,” I said as I pushed my right hand, wrist, and arm up to my elbow past the Event Horizon. Then stood there and did a silent ten count and drew my hand back out of the Event Horizon. “As you know, nothing that enters an Event Horizon escapes, well except for me of course.”

“That’s…”

“Nonsense?” I stated as I teleported back to the man the Overmind was speaking through. As you saw through my memories there is a lot more to reality than any of us know.”

The Overmind paused for a moment then continued, “If everything you’ve said to this point is true, what will become of me when magic once again saturates this Universe?”

“I believe you will be fine. While the download was going on I used magic to scry your location and ascertain the makeup of your being. I believe the structure that houses you will be unaffected because you do have a soul and souls do shield nanites and high technology from the detrimental effects that happen,” I said

“There’s a but isn’t here?” The Overmind asked.

“But your technological society will probably begin to fail at all levels that depend on nanites that are not part of your soul. Technology will still work and there are probably spells that can protect specific areas so that inside those areas technology will work as it does today but how much magical energy is required follows rules very similar to the Inverse Square Law. As the size increases the cost increases and such areas will have to be maintained,” I said.

“Nothing you describe was in your memories, well not exactly,” The Overmind said.

“No, but I’ve had a long time to think about it, as did my Thor aspect. Also, my new network inside the singularity is running probability models and that aspect of myself believes this is the case.”

“So, what do you suggest?”

“I believe setting your society up to detransition out of its dependency on nanites should be your first step. I would also suggest that we try to establish permanent connections between your worlds that do not rely on technology. Magical gateways and arches for instance. I can help with that, but it will take time. How many worlds does your civilization inhabit?” I asked.

“Just one, though we have outposts on Thousands with access to hundreds of other species including humanity.”

“I think I can help you then. If you’ve been monitoring Earth, were you also monitoring their entertainment?”

“Yes, it was interesting to study humans and their imagination.”

“Perfect. Did you perhaps come across the movie “Stargate”

“Yes, but you said the technology wouldn’t work,” the Overmind said.

“Technology won’t but I should be able to craft something that looks like a stargate portal that utilizes magic to open a dimensional door to a known location. There will only be one on your home planet but you’ll be able to use it to move people and supplies if needed to your various outposts.”

“How long would it take you to craft such an item and create the spell…” The Overmind paused for a moment then spoke again, “You can just will a magical spell effect you desire can’t you?”

“Yes, and my nanites can create the magical materials needed to draw in and house the energies required. Because ambient magic is so low right now when I create it’ll probably only work once but eventually, it should be usable a couple of times per day. Also, the distance it’s making the portal across will determine how much magic it uses but it should do.”

“What about me?” the Overmind asked.

“You should be perfectly safe in the quasi-dimension you’ve created for yourself. Also, you will probably still be able to download people into yourself if that is their desire, but they will be able to choose to go forward into whatever’s next if that is their desire.”

“It will be hard for them to accept this new reality for some time to come”

“Well, You and they will have until the heat death of this Universe to figure it out, though with magic in play again that may never happen. Like the first Universe this one may continue forever, or the powers that be may just end it, though I do not believe entities that have gone to the lengths they have to set up this reality would destroy their creation so flippantly”

“Something to think about while we adapt to magic returning,” The Overmind said.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to teleport back to Earth, grab a nap, and let my Thor aspect that’s in the blackhole review your society and start preparing the information I’ll need to create the portal location and also the target locations on each planet. It shouldn’t take him long, but I wanted to take a break and grab something to eat. Where would you like me to teleport back to?”

“Here is fine, from here I’ll bring you to our home world and you can see what humanity could transform into one day.”

“Sound’s good. Please let the scientist know that I’m sorry I scared them, well sorry not sorry. Sorry, I scared them but I still thought it was pretty hilarious, even from my side of things.”

“Adam, may I call you Adam? For a being of immense power, you don’t talk like one. Nor do you talk like someone that has merged with technology to the point you have.”

“Just trying to keep things in perspective. You should give it a try. Might I suggest coming up with a name more endearing than ‘The Overmind’? We both have souls. Let’s say for instance we both go into whatever is next relatively close to each other in timeframe and we run into each other on the other side. Am I supposed to introduce you as, ‘Hey, this here is my friend ‘The Overmind’ from back in the other place, I’m Adam how are you today?’ Sounds a bit pretentious doesn’t it?”

“When you put it like that...” The Overmind said.

“Something to think about. I’ll be back tomorrow. For now, just contact me through my Thor Aspect here in this room. Part of him is here, not to worry I don’t have him infiltrating anything, he’s just a cloud of nanites hovering in the air above these two’s heads. If you’ve grown to trust me, you can of course connect at the quantum level and things will go a lot quicker.”

“I’ll open up the quantum links with security measures, though I doubt they’d do any good”

“If I was hostile, no it wouldn’t, but you knew that when I stuck my hand into an event horizon and pulled it out. If one part of my download to you is true it’s highly likely the rest is too, isn’t it?

“Yes, it is,” the Overmind paused for a moment as if thinking then said, “If that is all I will contact your Thor Aspect.”

“You two have fun!” I said with a smile as I teleported to my abode back on Earth in the Rocky Mountains and turned my attention to the Thor here around Earth. That took a chunk of my Mana, almost 50%. That was a bit of a distance. I was probably going to have to make mana batteries to supplement the gate so it had enough magic to reach this far. Of course, I could probably tweak the settings for that object… I stopped that line of thinking, well at least with my conscious mind, I gave it to my Thor aspect to consider and looked around.

“Thor I’m back” I sent mentally through our link.

“I did feel your body materialize in New Mexico,” Thor said.

“Well, I didn’t want to be rude. How are things going back here I asked?

“Abi and Amanda have prepared the speech you or your doppelganger controlled by Abi will give. Any Idea when you want that to happen?”

“Let Abi do it, they’ve been handling Earth for so long It will be better if the three of you just handle this end. I’m going to be busy with the Overmind”

“Overmind? Thor asked.

I gave Thor the run down on what I’d discovered and what I’d done with my Thor aspect. Then laid out my plans to set up a magical portal device for them.

“You will also need to make one of those for Earth as well won’t you?” Thor asked

“While I got a pretty good vibe from the Overmind I don’t truly trust the Overmind yet. Earth will get very similar magical items and we will have something else entirely. Tons of ideas, that’s why I needed the day. Just wanted to make sure I could keep my word for them and make sure that couldn’t bite humanity in the ass at a later time.”

“How very conservative of you”

“Hey, I know I often jump before I look but in this case, that society outclasses anything Earth has or will have for some time to come. Magic being reintroduced into this Universe is the only thing that is putting the two societies back on the same playing field. Even then I believe they will probably have a lot of people with abilities and talents that help them become very good mages.”

“I can see your point.”

What I also need you, Abi, and Amanda to do is look for anyone displaying any sort of affinity with Magic. We need to get such people trained as quickly as possible so they don’t become a danger to themselves or others.”

“I’ll add it to the ‘To Do” list. Is there a timeframe?

“We should start looking as soon as the ambient magic hits 5% Very strong minds might be able to utilize magic at such low levels. Though that could be true all the way down to 1% so 10 weeks from now”

“It will be done,” Thor said.

“Good, it’s actually sunset here, I think I’m going to sit back, relax, conjure up a drink and enjoy this sunset.,” I said as I broke the connection, summoned a glass of Fey Wine, and watched the Sun slowly settle onto the oranges and reds that made up the western horizon over White Sands. The sunsets from here were truly breathtaking.