Infinitium

(Day 10) October 6th, 2033, Earth

It had been 66.7 days since Johnathan had stepped through the portal into that other place. One of the fundamental problems that Thor was having was that he couldn’t keep a portal open to the library for more than 6.67 seconds. Thor had opened portal after portal. They all closed exactly 6.67 seconds after opening.

Thor believed Johnathan was right about the temporal flow of time being different between the two Universes. The couple times he was able to look in on Jonathan he’d been moving slowly. Recently he’d been able to capture him studying and he hadn’t seemed to move for 20 hours. Thor had opened a portal every 5 minutes and checked. Also, it seemed as if the portals were not noticeable from the other side.

Today Thor had decided to try to catch Johnathan studying again except this time he’d checked on Johnathan every 6.67 Seconds. He was able to find Johnathan early that morning and recorded the images that came through the portal as he opened and closed it 60 times in a row. Then, Thor had then taken the 4th second of each recording as a stopped image and time-lapsed the images together for one continuous video 60 seconds in length. Thor took 400 seconds of data and turned it into a 60-second video. This created a video that was at almost normal speed.

Thor connected to Abi and Amanda, “I believe I have approximated the difference in temporal flows between the two Universes at approximately 6.67 times.

“6.67 times?” Abi said, “Is that 6.67 times faster or slower than us?”

“6.67 times slower,” Thor said

“Can you give me some comparisons Thor?” Amanda asked.

“Easy comparison. For every day 6 days 16 hours that pass here 1 day passes for Johnathan. Or an easier comparison. Just about 67 days have passed since Johnathan stepped through the portal. That would mean that 10 days have passed for Johnathan.”

“I can still feel the quantum entanglement, but I can’t contact the aspect of myself that’s in his subconscious,” Abi said.

“I am not able to either,” Thor agreed.

“Can you contact him when you open the portal?” Amanda asked.

“No, and I’ve tried to send nanites through to make a physical connection. Once they pass through the portal I lose contact with them. I can feel the quantum links I have with Johnathan but any nanites that are in that Universe are cut off from me.” Thor answered.

Amanda asked, “Since we can’t do anything about that, other than one of us stepping through the portal, which would have to be me and I’m not too keen on that idea, and we’re talking right now anyway, how about a status check?” she asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Abi said. “The nanite construct of Johnathan that you created for me is working perfectly. I have been able to utilize it to attend the functions that Johnathan should be at with heads of state. Federal governments have been trying to vie for special status or the ability to control Thor, to which I just smile, then say no.”

“Politicians are always going to try to get more power, don’t worry about it. You’re doing a good job” Amanda said.

“Agreed” Thor affirmed.

“One thing of note” Abi started, paused, and then continued, “I am getting a lot of political pressure to allow the 778 special guests to Trappist released back to Earth, especially for the Vice President.

“That is actually something I’ve been working on for the last 60 days. The probability curves approach unity that the individuals, their families, and their supporters were never going to accept a totalitarian dictator that was unassailable.”

“What did you do Thor?” Amanda asked with interest.

“I implemented an instruction Johnathan left me before he departed. BE Ceti is a star system that is 66.5 light-years from Earth and has a planet in the habitable zone. When I investigated it I found evidence of bacteria. As per instructions Johnathan has given. Unless directly ordered to, by him, I am to leave alien biospheres alone, unless they present a clear and present danger to humanity. As instructed I have created enough nanites to cover the planet in inorganic material but have left everything else as is. The planet should develop normally and in another couple of million years, we should see significant evidence of life. None of that concerns us though. I analyzed the system and implemented another part of Johnathan’s instructions. I constructed an Earth-sized planet and then made it into an exact duplicate of Earth utilizing materials from other stellar sources. It has taken a while, but it is done. Earth II is ready to be inhabited.”

“What exactly do you mean when you say an exact copy of Earth?” Amanda asked.

“Earth II is an exact copy of Earth and includes all manmade structures and infrastructure,” Thor said.

“You did that in 60 days?” Abi asked.

“Actually, I made the planet in 3 days. Adding water, getting the magnetic field right, and then adding bacteria, plants, and animals took up the rest of the time. As you know my influence now covers 5,000 light-years. There are hundreds of thousands of planetoids and millions of asteroids in lifeless systems. Earth II has a stable biosphere and contains copies of every species currently on Earth. I did transplant a few actual animals and plants from each species but for the most part, I used nanites to create copies of every creature on Earth. Turns out making exact copies is a lot easier than creating from scratch.” Thor said. “The announcement should be made by ‘Johnathan’ and should consist of a choice, I’ll be it, not a final choice, except for the 778, murders and rapist. which won’t know that when they accept.”

“What is the choice?” Amanda asked.

“Johnathan will explain that a copy of Earth has been created for those who will never be allowed back on Earth and anyone else who wants to go there. The choice they must make is if they want to go because once they’re there the benefits of Nanites will not be present. Eventually, food will need to be grown and or slaughtered and people will need to work. The only things they will not need to worry about are electricity and waste products. Trash will need to be collected but there will be designated areas to put it. The trash will automatically be reduced as will any sewage as it's all turned into more nanites. Also, like Earth, there will no longer be flights between airports. As we did on Earth, there will be a portal network between cities at the airports, I think the term Portal Junctions is what everyone is using now. This system will allow anyone to travel anywhere they wish to on the planet. Finally, the no-killing and no-raping rules will not be enforced by me. However, if someone commits murder recordings of the murder will be made public, as well as the individual that ordered the murder, if there is someone ordering the murders. The announcement will be made within minutes of the murder. My calculations predict that mob justice will take care of the murderers and crime lords in short order.”

“Obviously, I’ll still be watching which should be part of the announcement. In the beginning, the nanites will provide a few choices of basic rations and drinks three times a day to all residents. After 30 days it will be reduced to two meals. 30 days after that it will be one meal. After a year the only food provided by nanites will be one health bar per day and water upon request. I will maintain at least that level of substance for everyone on Earth II. If people want more choices and variety they will need to farm and slaughter and create their own food industries.

Additionally, all nanites in a body will be inert as soon as they step onto Earth II. People will age as normal, and gain weight if they don’t exercise. Also, they’ll be able to get cancer just like they used to.

“What about children?” Amanda asked.

Thor answered “Children that are brought with their families and those that are born on Earth II will have active nanites ensuring that they grow up to be healthy adults and should they get injured they will be immediately removed to a location of safety. Once a child reaches the age of 17 they will be educated by me about the opportunities that exist for Humanity. When they turn 18 they will be given a choice to stay or migrate. “Thor said, pausing for a moment “Eventually there might come a time when people of Earth go to Earth II to help them or teach but not at the beginning. Any information they might need will be available to them on the web or by contacting experts back on Earth.” Thor paused for a moment, as if distracted.

“Everything okay Thor?” Abi Asked

“The ingenuity of mortals is amazing. A Terrorist in Afghanistan just issued orders to modify the nuclear reactor in the United States to go nuclear so that Holy Fire could cleanse the world. Abi another example needs to be made.” Thor said.

The copy of Johnathan that Abi inhabited, stood, and stepped through a portal into a room that had the leader and the twelve followers that he’d ordered to carry out the nuclear sabotage stood frozen at attention. Their eyes locked on Jonathan; their hatred evident. Abi in the construct of Johnathan said. “You are all very stupid, or you wanted to be removed from Earth. In a moment a portal will open behind each of you. You will voluntarily step through the portal and can live out your days there or you can try to kill me.”

Portals opened up behind the terrorists as Thor released their bodies. All thirteen moved their arms and legs to make sure they had control of their movement. When their leader yelled “God is Great!” in their native language as all thirteen rushed forward to try to kill Johnathan.

As each of the attackers touched the Johnathan construct their bodies popped like a balloon and disappeared from the point of contact backward. In three seconds only the body of Johnathan remained.

“I hate that part,” Abi said through the link.

“I know” Amanda stated, “We all agreed that anyone that was trying to cause death on a massive scale needed to have one last chance to redeem themselves and if they chose wrong they were to be destroyed immediately.”

“Still, I don’t like it, it just doesn’t seem fair,” Abi said.

“I am not fair,” Thor said. “Though I am limited in my responses.”

“You did exactly what you were supposed to do Thor. Some people cannot be educated, or their nature changed. Johnathan and I understood that, and I think you are coming to understand that as well. Almost 9 months is long enough.” Abi returned to Johnathan’s office and sat down.

“Getting back to what we were discussing, “Thor said then continued, “Anyone that has not killed or raped someone or that is not one of the 778 individuals that Johnathan has forbidden from returning to Earth will be able to return to Earth at any time by saying ‘Thor, I wish to come home.’ They will be immediately transported to one of the rooms back on Trappist-1e until their actions have been reviewed and I have ensured that they did not commit those two crimes. Basically, I’ll speed-watch their life on Earth II. If I find nothing, they will be permitted to go directly to Earth. If they have committed murder or rapped someone, they’ll be returned to Earth II. Murderers and Rapist are barred from ever returning to Earth, though now they’ll be able to go somewhere that looks like home at least.”

“They will have access to the Internet and also be connected to the Intergalactic Web so they should be able to look anything up. Also, in the early days, I will help doctors get to any actual emergencies that come up but the simple answer for medical care is that they will need people to go to school and learn to be doctors and nurses again. There are a lot of personalities that will be drawn to escape the iron fist of this totalitarian system. I estimate at least 16% of the total population of Earth will migrate.”

“Last question, how will you divide everyone that wants to go.?” Amanda asked.

“That is the simplest of all. Wherever they are on Earth is where they will step out onto Earth II. If they are on Trappist 1E They will step out wherever I brought them from on Earth II. Where they will find duplicates of all their possessions. Hopefully, this will make the transition easier.

“I call for a vote,” Amanda said. “All in favor of following Thor's plan?” she asked.

“Yes,” Amanda said.

“Yes,” Thor affirmed.

“Yes,” Amanda said.

“Then we are agreed. Abi, please work with Thor to craft the speech from ‘Johnathan’ Once done, let’s make it happen.”

Abi made the speech 30 minutes later. Within 5 minutes after ‘Johnathan’ finished his speech 1,190,235,769, approximately 17% of the people on Earth and Trappist -1e decided to move to Earth II. At the time of the speech, there had only been a little over 10 million people on Trappist-1e, all of whom chose to go. Even the individuals who had been moved to the third planet that Johnathan hadn’t even bothered to name were given the choice to go to Earth II and take it. Those left behind on Earth understood why those with families that had members moved to Trappist-1e chose to go. Others who chose to go that had all of their wants and needs handled were confused as to why some hadn’t chosen to remain on Earth but understood that they were only a portal away.

Once everyone left Trappist-1e Thor started upgrading some of the facilities to family units. Trappist-1e was still a perfect refuge for humanity should some global catastrophes happen on either Earth. The underground facilities on the 2nd Prison planet were converted to another Portal facility. Thor could create billions of portals at once but kept creating more facilities so there were plenty of backup facilities.

Two days later the first murder happened. Thor made the recordings of that murder, who had committed the murder, and the individual who had ordered the murder available to everyone. Within 6 hours a mob showed up and lynched the secret service member on the vice president's detail that had committed the murder. Then they lynched the Vice President. They would have lynched the rest of her family but in unison as their estate on Earth II was being breached everyone that could, requested to go home, leaving the Vice President to her fate.

Thor, who had been linked to Johnathan for so long thought how this would be the perfect time for Johnathan to make a remark like “Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill." A quote from one of his favorite movies. Was he starting to think more like Johnathan?