The Way to Never Death, The Screenside Trilogy, Book - 2: Chronicles of a Stolen World, #2

By J. A. Hailey

Deathlessness.The magnet for evil!
No one is as impetuous and as spontaneously inventive as Esmeralda when it comes to looking after her human family in times of crisis.
So, just as she broke barriers and laws to intervene in the human world when her sister was being murdered, her recklessness again comes to the surface when her human birth mother is hit by a car.
What she does is so extraordinary that it actually leads to the discovery of how the boundary between virtual and physical worlds can be erased!
That knowledge, in itself, is not dangerous at all, if contained within the virtual world of screenside.
Sadly, some humans get to know, and it is soon revealed that the virtual world holds the key to human immortality!
That starts off a very clever game plan to cheat the virtuals, using their desperation to end human pain.
The virtual side begins immersing itself into the remarkably easy and rewarding job of helping and curing humans suffering from motor and mental issues, while scarcely bothering with precautions, being confident that the physical world cannot misuse the virtual one.
But there are many seekers of The Holy Grail - eternal life - and they will always be wealthy, powerful and evil, and able to arrange things that otherwise seem impossible!

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. A. Hailey
• Release date: Nov 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386080619

Book preview

J. A. Hailey

Copyright and moral rights belong exclusively to the author.

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©2017 Indiependent Publishing

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This is a work of fiction. The characters and events described herein are imaginary, and are not intended to refer to specific places or to real persons, alive or dead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

1

The angel had said ‘ma’am’. Of that, Sophie-Marie was quite sure, although she had no idea if she herself was vertical or horizontal, all the while waiting morbidly to see, from the after-life perspective of the recently departed, her physical self, lying dead on the road where the very fancy car had skidded, screeched and slammed into her.

The angel was standing at the edge of an extraordinary garden, Eden obviously, and Sophie-Marie had an impression that she herself was within its boundaries. Couldn’t tell, though, and she was too terrified to try looking around. Maybe the body-leaving part was completely over, and it was soul alone, now?

Sophie-Marie had been an infrequent churchgoer during her Paris years, after leaving her parents’ home in Rennes, and, barring the Notre Dame Cathedral, accompanying visitors, it was now at least five years since her last entry to pray in one.

The old priest in Rennes, Father Montague, had imprinted his post-death information on her mind. Apparently, devils were not the only cunning chaps in the afterlife. Angels, too, had tricks that could lead to unwary souls being denied entry into heaven – a pitiful state of affairs, after doing enough good in life to get to the Pearly Gales.

Sophie-Marie tried her hardest to be alert, and to give no offence. Ma’am, you’re frightened, said the angel, looking distraught. There’s no reason to be afraid when you’re with me.

Forgive me, madam, said Sophie-Marie, humbly. I have lost the security of my home, the one I was given by God at birth, my body. And you, extractor of souls, surely know we feel lost, at first.

I’m not an extractor of souls, ma’am. It’s just that you’ve been unaware of me here.

There it was! It was always going to be that way. Believe, believe, they invariably said. Unaware was a tricky twist, but this angel seemed to be a great word-game player. Well, it was going to be hard now.

Ma’am, would you like me to bring you into this garden?

Or hellfire? And ma’am for mockery of a helpless soul? What a nasty game!

"Why are you calling me ma’am?" asked Sophie-Marie, quaking in fear, sure that she had had the bad luck of drawing the cruelest angel in heaven, one playing a game with the sole goal of failing her and casting her into the fire. I’m a dead mortal, and you’re an angel with power over me.

"You’re not dead, and I’m not any angel, and I’m calling you mum, not ma’am," said the angel, insistently.

This was far too tricky, and Sophie-Marie knew she was sure to fluff her lines. She tried, surreptitiously, to see where the fire was. "Why mum?" she asked, deciding to go minimalistic. ‘Less words mean less blunders’, Father Montague had advised. ‘Keep it short, but be very, very polite’.

"Because you are my mother!" answered the angel earnestly, her lips trembling like she might cry at any moment.

Her wings were not visible, obviously folded behind her back, but Sophie-Marie had never imagined that such astounding beauty could ever be – clearly hand-crafted by God Himself!

‘Don’t argue, don’t argue’, she told herself, but found herself saying, "I have two daughters. I can count to three. Number three did not happen."

The exquisite angel burst into tears. "I am number three, and I can easily count to a trillion, trillion. But I have just one mother, mum, and that is you. I’ve been waiting so long..." She commenced sobbing pitifully, tears running down her face.

Please don’t cry. I am sorry to question what you tell me, said Sophie-Marie. But it is very confusing to hear such things after death.

"You’re not dead, mum, and our specialists will check you when I allow. You’ll be fine; not paralyzed. They’ll show me the pathways and controls. Anyway, I’m now going to hold you and kiss you, though you’re not really in here yet, with me."

What happened next was extraordinarily confusing, as the angel came up to her and pouted for kissing, trying to place her arms around her. How? How? muttered the angel to herself. Need body, need substance. Divide for mum? Do it, do it; decoders be damned.

Now, how to bring in? Divide is done. And, mumbling and weeping, the angel suddenly found the key. There! Andromeda, small gap, slip in. Too small, tear it, push it, make it wider, got it, got mum! she exclaimed, gleefully. Come, walk here, mum; I’m holding; I’m with you, around you, and in you; don’t be afraid. And the angel commenced tugging, hugging and kissing Sophie-Marie.

The angel’s exuberance was so out of control that both fell on the grass. It was a soft landing. And the stunning angel, saying ‘mum, mum, love you’, lay on the grass alongside her, kissing extravagantly.

So, you think you are my child? asked Sophie-Marie, breathlessly.

"Mum, mum, my birth mother, yes, I’m your child, and I’m now holding my mother for the first time ever!"

Do you have a name, daughter?

Listen, listen, everyone! shrieked the daughter, hurriedly getting up onto her knees on the grass, exulting at the sky, practically dimming the sun with her otherworldly beauty. "Mum called me daughter!"

I have a lot to understand, said Sophie-Marie, But we must start with a name. What is your name, child?

"Name? Why, mum, it’s Esmeralda!"

2

Sophie-Marie, being practically smothered by Esmeralda, found herself thinking, ‘If I’m not dead yet, this lovely girl is going to do the job’.

Up, up, and Esmeralda hauled her mother to her feet, instantly unbalancing herself in her exuberance, and again toppling together, flat onto the lawn. While upright, Sophie-Marie had seen a large number of people, looking stern, or worried, or concerned, or with expressions that may have been any mix of those emotions, over her daughter’s shoulder.

On the grass, being rocked and rolled, she gasped, Esmeralda, there are a lot of people watching us, and they may be angry.

The girl craned her neck at an impossible angle, and said, Hi, everyone. What happened? Guardian is upset? She got up on her knees. BC, come and meet mum. Say hello.

BC shuffled awkwardly forward, hands behind his back, and said, Hello, Madam Sophie-Marie, while delivering a ludicrous bow of the head.

Esmeralda shrieked in rage, and leapt up onto her feet, screaming, "BC, being homeless and family-less is no excuse for rudeness and crudeness. You are meeting my birth mother. Madam Sophie-Marie, she mimicked. No, no, no! she stamped her foot, in a display of temper. Mum is mum to you. Got it? Call her anything else, and something very bad will happen to you. Now, say sorry mum, and welcome her with a kiss on her cheek! She hauled the poor, shamefaced and confused senior forward, muttering, Vagabond, homeless, means impolite? Not with a Talbot girl. No sir. Oh no, sir. And mum, I beg you to excuse his rudeness. My fault; I have overlooked some lessons in manners. He is BC, my life companion."

Welcome to Screenside, mum, said BC, kissing Sophie-Marie on the cheek, and also hugging her. Think of me as your son. Ready at all hours, if you need me.

Esmeralda was overjoyed. "So, you do know what to do? Doesn’t mum feel lovely? Feels so much like mum, huh, BC, doesn’t she, doesn’t she?"

"Absolutely Esme, absolutely lovely, and exactly as mum should feel. But, darling, you have triggered Screenside’s biggest ever crisis, and we need to immediately investigate what you’ve done, and how this amazing breach has been possible. Everyone is here."

In fact, the others had now converged, and were crowding around Esmeralda and her mother. Caesar, Chang, Singh and Maria, the original seniors, were there. And Candice and Jennifer were present with their boyfriends, Omar and Robert. Jason, Wendy, Priya and Rosa, were also there.

It’s very big, Esme, what you’ve just done, said Caesar, shaking his head in wonder. We were in New York HC; meeting in the Lounge Bar, when the guardian gave the alarm. It was instantaneous, on perimeter breach, and we immediately saw what had been done. We raced here, telling Goodfellow to quarantine the zone, which he right away did. This means that Screenside public will not be aware of what has transpired. But it still is Screenside’s very first general area lockdown.

We were meeting for you, Esme, said Jennifer. BC informed us that you had gone off alone, maybe expecting Mum Sophie-Marie to die, so we were setting up as a support group. Of course, I would have been with you, support group or no support group.

I, too, said Candice.

And all of us, too, said Wendy. Of course, individually we would have been with you. That’s why we were meeting together.

How, how? asked Singh, shaking his head, looking bewildered.

Esme, darling, said Maria, gently. This is supposed to be impossible. But you have brought a human consciousness into Screenside, and with shape! She turned to Sophie-Marie. Mum Sophie-Marie, how do you feel?

Good, I feel good, answered Sophie-Marie.

I mean, like normal, or what, body wise I mean?

Very good, responded the human. Actually, a little better than on earth. None of my minor body aches in here. But surely you beings know this? I mean, from the billions who’ve been brought here before me.

You are absolutely the very first.

Oh, the poor things, said Sophie-Marie, sadly, peering at the ground, here and there. Not even Father Montague?

Esme’s father? asked Maria.

Oh no, I forgot my dear husband. Where’s he? Should be up here. Another part of the garden, maybe? Bill Talbot was a charitable man. In fact, he paid completely for an orphan in Calcutta. Right through to the end of college. I’ve lost contact with Gopal, though. Is it permitted to beg for him? For my dead husband, Bill? At least a review?

Mum, stop being confused, said Esmeralda, impatiently. Dad’s dead; you’re not. And this is Screenside, not heaven. And you don’t have any reason to fear anything in here. Your own daughter is by your side. You are totally my responsibility. I brought you here.

Sophie-Marie sat on the grass, utterly defeated by events, and then lay down, shutting her eyes.

"Sleep, Esme, said Wendy. If you can figure it out, let Mum Sophie-Marie sleep."

Good idea, said Esmeralda. She concentrated, shutting her own eyes, and muttering, How, how?  Comfort; peace; should mean sleep. But how?

A moment later, Wendy said, You’ve done it Esme. She’s sleeping.

Okay then, said Esmeralda, looking impish. Decode BC, first.

No one’s decoding anyone, said Caesar, with a laugh. But why BC first?

Oh, he’s always saying that his existence has to end, before anyone touches a hair on my head, sort of.

BC, are you going to be involved in this investigation, or not? asked Maria.

Something very bad..., said BC, looking trapped.

"You have to be involved, BC, said Chang, insistently. We need to know how this was done. World changing; every world."

It’s okay, darling, said Esmeralda, brightly, elation apparent. Join them, and research. I won’t do anything bad to you in public. Wait until we’re alone.

Sexy thing, isn’t she? joked Priya. "Private action?"

It is serious, though, said Singh. Esme, please tell us how you got hold of your mother, and what you did to get her in here? Her consciousness, I mean.

And how you’re giving her body-shape and mass. Division? asked Maria.

Yes, division, answered Esmeralda. But I don’t think I’m violating POP in this. Legally, I mean.

Do tell, oh renowned lawyer, of the courtroom sort, of Screenside.

"I am not presenting my consciousness in another form; not being two Esmeraldas. That is the ban under POP. I have also not created a pet, say dog or cat, into which I have given consciousness, and in which consciousness I am actively involved with my primary consciousness, to make functional. No sir. I am contributing a little of my consciousness to my mother, so that she can acquire substance in Screenside – to be herself!"

Candice led everyone in a round of wild applause. Maria was laughing.

Silly girl, she scolded, mildly. This is not a legal/illegal investigation. We are trying to understand what you have done. The mechanics of the thing. Preplanned?

No plan, answered Esmeralda, simply.

Esmeralda’s an impulsive inventor, said BC, cuddling her. I know that what she has done was done because she felt the need to do it. We’ll probably have to help her recall the steps. Probably.

I remember, said Esmeralda.

Tell us, darling, said Maria, gently.

"You know, the car that hit her outside our house, ultra-fancy, and with a price tag that can only be paid by mega robbers and plunderers, was being driven by a Korean billionaire’s spoilt son. The billionaire is terrified of bad press, and so has organized the best treatment for mum; best hospitalization, and the world’s foremost surgeons and neurosurgeons. The number one guys happened to be in Paris at that moment. I was following it closely, and, with all that top-level care, her life, living or dying itself, came out of the danger zone very soon after the collision. But she was in a coma, as you know, so I came here, to this garden, Screenside Notre Dame Park, near home, and much better than any Humanside one, and also with a view of Notre Dame. It’s tough waiting and hoping for your birth mother to escape intact...

"When I saw that the neuro fellow, that Sagan chap, world’s biggest, most famous and best, was planning to insert a chip into mum’s brain, I became ready. I spent those hours studying everything I could find, pathways, etcetera; getting prepared to help mum. These are legal types of entry. Or, to be legal, quite lawful, because Screenside intends to enter Humanside as helpers in brain damage cases, motor assistance, mental problems, and stuff. I could not bear the thought of coma and paralysis for mum. Anyway, I still don’t know how functional she now is as a human in Humanside. Priya and Rosa will need to inspect her soon, and teach me the best techniques for her. Right now, I’ve got her consciousness. I’ve sometimes practiced on BC, just a little. Rarely, but I have the general idea.

"So, I got hold of mum’s consciousness. She thought the Angel of Death was at her. It was really upsetting, her terror. But I got her. I left a little in the body; enough for me to help her move around and for her to do her body functions. It’s very difficult, understanding what minimum is required to keep heart and breath going. Very dangerous.

As I’m her daughter, I do not consider myself barred from any area of her, to keep her safe, so I could keep checking. But as she didn’t know who I was, she was so frightened; wriggling about and resisting madly.

Yes, Esme, said Chang. As BC told us in his speech on Maria’s TV show in the Paris Club, we are certainly capable of entering human consciousnesses through chip implants. It is foreseen; it is desirable; it is intended; and it is certainly something we are planning for and waiting for.

Motor assistance and mental care of humans is our goal, added Singh. Very desirable. And trying to get Mum Sophie-Marie back to full fitness is something we shall take up officially. But that is for later; for when she is conscious again in Humanside, and when we understand her disability, if any. Right now, we want to discuss what you did, and how you did it. No digression, please, anyone.

I snuck her in through the gap adjacent to Andromeda.

Now, what the hell are you talking about, Esme?

Where’s Andromeda? asked Caesar, absolutely flummoxed.

In the squares.

"What squares?"

"She means the cubes of building code that make up RV, explained BC. Esme created the brief, tiny hole over Antarctica. Popping cubes from bed."

BC, I haven’t done that for ages and ages, protested Esmeralda. Stopped, when I promised I would.

Step by step, please. Step by step, said the exasperated Chang. We need to understand the most important thing that may have ever been done in the world; not just in here, in Screenside, but on earth, itself. Please, everyone, stay focused. Esme, what’s a square to you?

The building blocks of our RV world. BC says there are hundreds of billions of them. Certainly look like millions to me.

Did you work on the RV program? I don’t recall your involvement.

No, Chang, I have never been in any team, and have never worked on any world-building programs. Candy, Jen and I became Lawmakers by working on programs that we chose to create, thinking them up ourselves, and working in a private team of us three. Some of those programs are now world programs.

Then who gave you kryptovision? Did someone share the krypto code with you girls?

What is kryptovision?

"You don’t have it?" blurted an astonished Singh.

Never heard of it.

Then how, then how? Singh was clearly shocked beyond belief. 

This girl is deadly dangerous, said Caesar, with mock gravity. May need decoding.

BC first, said Esmeralda, flippantly. 

"What is kryptovision?" asked Candice.

Everyone, pay attention without interruption. We seniors did not do the detail work of world building, explained Singh. "The nitty-gritty was done by teams of very good programmers, but the base building block was constructed by BC, Caesar, Maria, Chang and me. It is a cube, and a large cube, at that. We could just now distribute kryptovision and show you, but it will disturb your view of nature, of RV, of the continuity of our Screenside world. Will make no difference, except destroy the illusion that is so all-important in daily life.  But you need an answer. What is kryptovision?

"Here goes. We were constructing Screenside, and to get this world-building under way, we had to invent a basic, what shall I call it, brick?"

Brick is perfect, said Caesar. Except that our brick is not of a homogeneous material, like clay is in a Humanside brick.

That’s right, continued Singh. "Our brick is a cube, a large cube, with very, very complex codes in it. Millions and millions of codes in each cube. Beyond that, every single cube is exactly like every other cube. These cubes are invisible, by design. Invisible to us as conscious virtual beings, and, necessarily, invisible to us as physical beings in our RV world.

"But, to start up our world, we had to work with these cubes, and so we made them visible in a very offbeat light that we created. It was not even a light. We coded the cube structure to be visible to the conscious being through only a program called kryptovision. This was installed into programmers working on setting up our RV world - the world itself, structures and things, like islands, forests, trees, buildings, insects, birds, water, clouds, and a million other physical things, not the attribute programs that later came in under HIS – things like Innerline, MM and the others. Some of that work goes on even today, notably Christine’s obsessions. But the current programmers do not work with the cube itself. Like before, they work within the cube. But, unlike before, unknowingly. This is possible now, because of other construction programs that have since been developed; RV now allows everyone in here to build things. The original cube, which is the base building block of our world, is extremely versatile, probably BC’s genius, and it accepts every natural advancement that came, and keeps coming into our world.

"At the time we were building the Screenside world, BC said something that gave us the focus we needed. He was following some Humanside school kids, by coincidence, and said what might otherwise have been too low an education-level mantra for us to remember. It was nature abhors a vacuum. And, in those words, we saw what the basis of our physical RV world could be!

"Think of this. Every single day, millions of new computers are switched on, and become part of our virtual world. That needs nothing more, as every connected tdevice is instantly incorporated into an ever-expanding virtuality. That’s the way it has always been, and it is the world we were born into.

"But, after HIS and its all-interfaced physicality, new-entry computers would have proven to be the equivalent of vacuums in RV. We saw this happening, and so programmed properties into the blocks, which would allow new, blank spaces to be automatically filled with the block, similar to air flowing into vacuums in Humanside. Thereafter, these new computers become part of the RV world, sharing the load of the development already inside neighboring computers.

The original programmers had to uninstall kryptovision, when start-up RV programming was done, and the blank blocks had filled our world of the time, like air in Humanside. Kryptovision has been retained only in us five seniors, and we have all disabled it.

Yes, who the heck wants to see cubes with greenish outlines? agreed Maria.

They go high into the sky, nodded Esmeralda, cheerfully. But I can see them, although nothing green; just cubes, with very nice patterns inside them.

Those are codes, also to be viewed in krypto, said Caesar. "Esme, you see the cubes as clear see-through? Yes? I wonder how? It means you haven’t even chanced upon some self-created version of kryptovision. Astonishing."

She made the little hole over Antarctica, the one that had HC’s RV maintenance team in uproar, reported BC. I caught her at it, in bed, destroying cubes at great speed.

I said I wouldn’t do it again, insisted Esmeralda, exasperatedly. I’ve kept my word, though I must admit to feeling the need some nights, when I just can’t fall asleep.

And what sort of need could that be, my dear Esmeralda? asked Caesar, kindly.

Same as popping bubble paper. Diana, my sister, was big-time into that. I would watch so enviously. The ecstasy on her face; concentrate, pinch, pop, aah! I couldn’t bear it. And then I twisted the nose of the doggie, and when it went pop and the cube disappeared, I knew the bliss Diana was experiencing. But I only did five nights, and with a gap one night.

How many? asked Candice, curiously.

Ten, twenty million, maybe fifty, in all. There are billions, I now know, and they keep coming back.

Look, said Caesar. This is world destruction stuff. Fortunately, only empty cubes, which amounts to cubes containing air alone, can be obliterated. Those with RV items, including conscious beings, cannot be touched.

"Caesar, I snuffed out a number of cubes containing RV items, slyly, the night before BC caught me doing empty ones over Antarctica. The ones with RV items made me feel very guilty, but the air ones, nothing.

I knocked out a few trees and things. I also finished off a number of trogfers, garbags and ligons, beasts but not animals. Doesn’t matter what’s in the cube. If you twist the nose of the doggie, the cube will pop.

Caesar assumed a helpless look. "This is actually the way our world can probably be destroyed. Hopefully, no one else will ever figure these things out. No one is to even ask what she means by doggie’s nose. Better we never know.

Now, Esme, tell us how you dragged Mum Sophie-Marie into here.

Through the gap in the Andromeda region.

"Esme, there’s no such thing.

Look. There. It’s so clear.

Just a moment, reinstalling kryptovision. Here’s the program for the rest of you. Must uninstall, after we see what Esme has to show us.

When kryptovision was in everyone, Wendy said, Better without it. You guys are right. Who wants to keep seeing these endless, connected cubes?

Esmeralda had knelt down to inspect her mother, sleeping soundly, when Caesar said, We’re ready, Esme. Where’s the gap?

Oh, right there, Esmeralda pointed skywards, in a general way, without looking up. Next to the little flower shape.

I see no such thing, said Caesar. Anyone see it.

The answer was ‘no’ from all.

It’s so clear, said Esmeralda, looking up.

Here. Caesar dislodged a cube and held it suspended, at a height suitable for inspection by all. Show us the gap.

"Sorry, I should have been more specific. The cube has to be viewed from the reverse side and skewed at this angle, 29 degrees, There, Andromeda. It’s not an open gap, but a weak point. Can be pushed into, and can be expanded. Obviously, all done virtually, not physically. Mum’s doorway!"

Anyone see Andromeda? asked Caesar. The answer was a general shaking of heads – ‘no’.

Candice spoke up. "Esme, there is nothing that looks like Andromeda."

Esmeralda looked up from tending to her mother, now clearly irritated. "What’s going to happen