Prince and the Pauper
NEW Systems engineer Paul Namen discovered a strange problem. Seemingly eternal, due to self-reproduction, energy sources in sector B at the tenth level suddenly gave zero offspring, and the entire sector was de-energized. Fortunately, the energy of the substation was enough to compensate for the voltage drop, because everything was calculated in advance, taking into account all possible risks.
The floor again and again plunged into the source code of the programs, looking for the reason ...
***
')
In the lesson today there was another hologram more. The teacher was telling something about the five-dimensional space and hyperdrives from the screen, the holograms nodding side-by-side and nodding politely in response.
A future NEW development engineer, Jace was one of five in the group who had not yet moved to NEW - new extended world, a virtual reality in which more than 95% of the world's population was already living. Now that ways of transferring consciousness to a new dimension have been found, self-replicating sources of energy, systems of mind transfer between bodies, the old traditions have been forgotten. War, money, rich, poor, diseases, and other misfortunes of the past centuries have disappeared. Mankind has not flown into space distance, to conquer unexplored open spaces - it had enough virtual spaces. At school, those who would support NEW from the outside — physics, mathematics, biologists, and technicians — were supposed to study. They owed for it the riches that left going into virtual reality.
But a couple of hundred years passed, and the original purpose of the school was forgotten.
Jace Goodwin lived in a wealthy family. When living people became scarce, wealth ceased to have value, but some still held onto material wealth, like something of value in the world. That was the Goodwin family.
After a lesson, Jace was called by his neighbor, Robert.
- Hey, Jace, let's change?
- I do not understand you, Robert ?!
- Well, you are in NEW, you will temporarily climb here, and I’ll get into your body - it really hurts to see what this "wealth" is!
- How do you do it? After all, you must first obtain the permission of the administrator level ...
- Do not worry, everything is under control.
Jace was intrigued by the thought. He had heard so much about NEW, but he had never been there - for the transition was an official and lengthy process. A man left one world to another, and he had to follow a bunch of bureaucratic procedures ... bureaucracy, it is eternal and omnipresent, thought Jace. But NEW, he had heard so much about the new world ... and Jace agreed.
At the designated hour, he came to the station for the Transition. He was already waiting for the robot-servant. Using the instructions received from Robert, he entered the route on the robot, and got into the cherished chair. And now - the light went out, a pleasant drowsiness bound his body, and he began to fall towards the stars ...
And he woke up in his dream, which was always interrupted at the most interesting place. Here he goes to visit his girlfriend, carrying a very expensive and valuable gift that he chose all day. Here he comes to the door, brings his hand to the bell ... and the dream did not end this time. Maria met him with a smile, and invited him inside. He was so radiant with happiness that he even forgot to close the door.
He stayed overnight.
And then I decided to stay for good.
***
Robert was suddenly shackled into something, as if he had fallen into a cobweb. It became inconvenient to move, and when trying to fly through the flight of stairs, Robert fell painfully as he rolled down the steps. Yes, well, little world, he thought.
Using the card, he went into the building, which was called the "house". No matter how hard he tried, the effort of thought failed to repaint the walls or change the roof of this ugly structure.
Inside, picking up some heavy, amorphous objects, Robert snorted and in no more than an hour returned to NEW. That same hour, Jace's heart stopped.
***
Paul Namen found the cause of the problem. It was a mistake in the initial calculations, which, however, he could not fix. He was only an operating engineer, not a physicist, biologist or mathematician. All creators have long been transferred to NEW, as the first users of the new world.
There were no more than half a million living people on earth.
The floor again and again plunged into the source code of the programs, looking for the reason ...
***
')
In the lesson today there was another hologram more. The teacher was telling something about the five-dimensional space and hyperdrives from the screen, the holograms nodding side-by-side and nodding politely in response.
A future NEW development engineer, Jace was one of five in the group who had not yet moved to NEW - new extended world, a virtual reality in which more than 95% of the world's population was already living. Now that ways of transferring consciousness to a new dimension have been found, self-replicating sources of energy, systems of mind transfer between bodies, the old traditions have been forgotten. War, money, rich, poor, diseases, and other misfortunes of the past centuries have disappeared. Mankind has not flown into space distance, to conquer unexplored open spaces - it had enough virtual spaces. At school, those who would support NEW from the outside — physics, mathematics, biologists, and technicians — were supposed to study. They owed for it the riches that left going into virtual reality.
But a couple of hundred years passed, and the original purpose of the school was forgotten.
Jace Goodwin lived in a wealthy family. When living people became scarce, wealth ceased to have value, but some still held onto material wealth, like something of value in the world. That was the Goodwin family.
After a lesson, Jace was called by his neighbor, Robert.
- Hey, Jace, let's change?
- I do not understand you, Robert ?!
- Well, you are in NEW, you will temporarily climb here, and I’ll get into your body - it really hurts to see what this "wealth" is!
- How do you do it? After all, you must first obtain the permission of the administrator level ...
- Do not worry, everything is under control.
Jace was intrigued by the thought. He had heard so much about NEW, but he had never been there - for the transition was an official and lengthy process. A man left one world to another, and he had to follow a bunch of bureaucratic procedures ... bureaucracy, it is eternal and omnipresent, thought Jace. But NEW, he had heard so much about the new world ... and Jace agreed.
At the designated hour, he came to the station for the Transition. He was already waiting for the robot-servant. Using the instructions received from Robert, he entered the route on the robot, and got into the cherished chair. And now - the light went out, a pleasant drowsiness bound his body, and he began to fall towards the stars ...
And he woke up in his dream, which was always interrupted at the most interesting place. Here he goes to visit his girlfriend, carrying a very expensive and valuable gift that he chose all day. Here he comes to the door, brings his hand to the bell ... and the dream did not end this time. Maria met him with a smile, and invited him inside. He was so radiant with happiness that he even forgot to close the door.
He stayed overnight.
And then I decided to stay for good.
***
Robert was suddenly shackled into something, as if he had fallen into a cobweb. It became inconvenient to move, and when trying to fly through the flight of stairs, Robert fell painfully as he rolled down the steps. Yes, well, little world, he thought.
Using the card, he went into the building, which was called the "house". No matter how hard he tried, the effort of thought failed to repaint the walls or change the roof of this ugly structure.
Inside, picking up some heavy, amorphous objects, Robert snorted and in no more than an hour returned to NEW. That same hour, Jace's heart stopped.
***
Paul Namen found the cause of the problem. It was a mistake in the initial calculations, which, however, he could not fix. He was only an operating engineer, not a physicist, biologist or mathematician. All creators have long been transferred to NEW, as the first users of the new world.
There were no more than half a million living people on earth.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/107081/
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