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The Machine

"The Machine is a powerful supercomputer run by a Virtual Intelligence that enables the user to enter a simulated world created from any data they input. That is to say, they plug something in, and they enter that world. It will be revolutionary, unprecedented and awesome. Imagine, you are reading a history textbook, running the events through your head based on the author's understanding of what happened. It's rather boring to be honest, and difficult to process; that's not even taking into account any inaccuracies in that textbook. Now... imagine a machine that reads the textbook for you. In fact, imagine it reading every textbook for you... every movie, every video, every article, any phone conversation... using that data and creating a virtual world in which the user can immerse themselves and learn in an entirely new form. Seems rather futuristic and impossible doesn't it? What if I said that impossibility was now reality? This Machine already exists, I being the creator. I present to you The Machine, due to lack of a better title. Through several data inputs and manual entry it has been successfully able to simulate over a dozen different scenarios and is now ready to run independently. Previously simulation was only possible were another user outside of The Machine, overseeing what was happening within. But now that I have completed my task of creating a superior Virtual Intelligence, the need of an additional user is already obsolete.

The Machine isn't only for learning mind you. While learning all about Ancient and Modern History is quite... enticing, the second main purpose of this machine is far more entertaining; video gaming. Yes you heard me right, this machine is capable of utilising the data within game disks, novels and comics, as well as anything else really, into a simulated world fit for any gamer. This is what we are going to do today. We will run the world's first game simulation in The Machine and the world's first completely Virtual Intelligence operated simulation. Exciting isn't it?"

There was an awkward pause before Melissa looked up from her book and saw the loud announcer looking at her, "Oh sorry, were you talking to me? I wasn't listening."

Axeleonth groaned as he held his palm to his face and looked down, "Do you see anyone else in this room? Who else would I be talking to? I wasn't speaking to Markus or Charlotte, they're not here, and they're getting food."

Melissa rolled her eyes before returning to her romance novel, "Well perhaps you should ask for my attention before randomly going off onto some sort of spiel like you do when you're talking to yourself. It gets pretty confusing."

The red haired male stomped his foot in frustration, glaring at his older sister, "Well maybe YOU should, as my sister, realise when I'm talking to you and not talking to you!"

"Well YOU should stop being such a bloody idiot and expect everything to revolve around you!" The dark haired woman responded.

"You can be such a bitch sometimes..." Axeleonth muttered before returning to the large machine compromised of computer parts, metal casings and glass panels.

Melissa chuckled as she turned the page, "Ditto."

---

"Charlotte, if you keep swinging that food everywhere it'll get cold."

Charlotte, a younger girl in her teen years laughed as she started skipping backwards, looking at the male who had spoken, "I can't help it. I'm so excited! We're finally going to see this giant machine thing you two keep going on about!"

Markus smiled as he grabbed the food off of Charlotte to let her skip around and be free, "I wouldn't get your hopes up too far Char, this wouldn't be the first time he's done our 'big reveal' only for nothing to happen, remember last time we tried and instead the entire city went into blackout?"

Charlotte stopped skipping, her brown hair only just passing over her eyes before she placed it behind her ear and shrugged, "Well either way, he's been really happy the past few days. It's been a nice change, he doesn't yell at us much as he used to. If it doesn't work, you're definitely getting close."

Markus nodded, approaching the large warehouse taking up an entire city block they had come to call home, the afternoon sun beating down on their backs, "I just wish he'd accept my help willingly rather than reluctantly when he's got no other choice. He probably forgets I built and designed about half of that thing."

"Well it's not like he's calling it his is he?"

"Yeah... think about that for a moment."

Charlotte looked up at him, "Yeah well, even if he calls it his you can always say it's yours too can't you? It's not like he actually owns it."

Markus chuckled as they entered through the tall chain link fence and pressed the buzzer to close the gate behind them, "You really are just a bundle of joy and optimism aren't you?"

Charlotte laughed, "Only sometimes, not all the time. You don't know what goes on in here," she pointed at her forehead.

Markus raised an eyebrow, "Well if you ever feel the need to talk to someone, I'm here."

The younger female nodded before opening the door to the warehouse, the rush of cold air-conditioning washing over them and pushing open both doors with ease. The force of the cold, refreshing air inside and the hot, dry air outside mixing together put a smile on her face as she let Markus enter, closing the door them.

"I love opening the doors, it's always so windy," Charlotte commented.

"That's due to the change in pres..."

"I know why! You always tell me when I comment on it," Charlotte interrupted Markus as he merely shrugged and proceeded to walk from the entryway to the railing overlooking the lower, main floor.

"Yo Axe! Lunch is here; finish up so you can eat something!" Markus shouted.

Axe turned from his machine and brushed past Melissa angrily as he started to walk up the stairs to the entryway, which would lead him to the stairway leading them up to every other part of their home.

Charlotte sighed, "Did you two fight again, what is that the third time this week?"

Melissa looked up from her book while she lay on the couch, "Not at all, I simply said something and he didn't like it. So you know, the usual. Had we fought, you'd know he'd be in his room sulking already."

"Oh shut your face," Axeleonth commented.

Melissa chuckled, "You should know that's not physically possible."

"Shut up!" Axeleonth yelled before storming up the stairway, leaving the remaining three in the usual awkward situation.

Charlotte walked down the small flight of stairs to the main area while Markus merely sighed as he began walking up the large flight of stairs to the kitchen.

---

Once Markus entered into the upper area and placed the food on the kitchen bench, he closed the door behind him and walked through the kitchen, down the hall and into Axeleonth's bedroom to find his friend laying face up on his bed.

"Go away," the young adult asked, choosing not to look in Markus' direction.

Markus closed the door and sat on the bed next to Axe, grabbing his hand, "Look dear, I know you're stressed and frustrated, but you have to stop taking it out on everyone else." Axeleonth merely grunted but didn't take his hand away, instead looking to Markus, "I know it's hard. A mind as great as yours is rare to come by, but don't let it get to your head. You are still just a person, as equal as Melissa, Charlotte and I. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and do not forget who helped you build that machine. Do not get angry with us Axe; we are your friends and family. Okay? Do not and I mean it, do not get angry with us. Just take a breath, remove yourself and calm down."

"I know... I know and I'm sorry, it's just so frustrating to do what I do and seem like no-one cares or pays attention," Axeleonth sighed.

"If we didn't care, we wouldn't have all moved into this warehouse to work on the machine. Not that we really had a choice in where we worked mind you, but we certainly would have been against living here to if we didn't care about you, we didn't HAVE to have a combined work and living space. Look, we're nearly done with the Machine... we can soon stop handing reports to the government."

"Nearly done? It is done, in fact we're going to test it today," Axeleonth remarked, looking at Markus.

"Done? Well that's great! But let's just rest for today, we can test it tomorrow. It'll be a big thing to run a full-scale simulation"

Axeleonth looked to Markus and nodded, "Well I wasn't going to jump straight into simulation. I was merely going to test out the V.I. first. The game simulation can be done tomorrow, but I want to test The Machine today."

Markus shrugged, "Well that should be fine. It won't take as long. Have you managed to fix the time delay? Does the time within the digital realm run faster than the time out here?"

Axeleonth nodded, "I left the calculations to the V.I., but it should be something like an hour in there is a minute in here. Without the mind being limited by body parts and physics in general, time is perceived much faster because you can effectively do more in the same time frame."

"Well, I suppose that should be fine. Means we don't have to deal with messy mathematics. Anyway, let's have lunch."

---

Axeleonth looked over at Melissa and Charlotte while they were eating lunch, asian takeaway as Charlotte had decided. Eating the sweet honey chicken, he was able to recall and appreciate just how much his friends and family had given up helping Markus and himself. His younger sister Charlotte left home while attending high school ; his older sister Melissa was studying business while working with the university to oversee The Machine project; while Markus had been with him from the start, meeting during University and being study partners for several years. Markus and Axeleonth had both finished their study of Information Technology, Information Systems and Informatics and were now receiving money from the Australian government to conduct the machine's development. It was only by request that few outside people were involved, due to how incapable Axeleonth was to work with others and Markus' inability to trust authority and other people. Starting off small it was nothing more than a computer running an OS that Axeleonth and Markus created as an assignment, running small theoretical simulations. It gained them some money when it developed into an online role-playing game gaining the interest of another student Leorn, and it was actually Melissa's idea to have it also spread into an educational market as well, which led to interest from multiple parties into a full scale developmental project, and relocation to the nearby city of Rockhampton, allowing Charlotte to assist as a sort of mediator during conflicts.

Now here they sat together, with the exception of Leorn, in the kitchen upstairs overlooking the massive super-computer taking up most of the building. They obtained the warehouse with special rental agreements, as a combined living area and workspace to design and construct the machine, so long as the physical structure remained unchanged and providing weekly updates as to The Machines progress with threat of total shutdown were they unable to prove in writing and in person that the project was progressing at an acceptable rate. The building itself was nothing special, with only two levels, stripped bare of most furnishings as they found out. The first level, taking up most of the building, was descended partially into the ground with only a small bathroom comprised of an emergency shower, toilet and sink. The upper level was where the offices used to be including a small kitchen, bathroom and meeting area; which the group had instead turned into a dining/lounge area, personal bedrooms and guest bedrooms.

The double length flight of stairs from the entryway up to the upper level was shaky but sturdy, as the group had discovered when transporting all the furniture such as beds and couches to the upper level, frightening Charlotte into assisting only with the small items. It took them a couple of weeks to get settled into the building let alone the brand new furnishings and to clean the warehouse, but work on the machine began almost immediately.

Purchasing few couches, tables and chairs provided by a local furniture store, the downstairs area near the entryway became a living area and workstation, allowing Axeleonth, Markus and Leorn to come together and design the machine that now hummed away constantly, powered by well-maintained solar panels on the roof.

With Axeleonth bringing in the ideas and putting together the hardware, Markus designing the software and testing the limits of the machine and Leorn helping with the engineering and 'acquisition' of hard to find materials it still took several years for the machine to come to its current stage, even with the large amount of funding and advice received.

With Leorn now gone, it left only Axeleonth and Markus, two prodigies working together with the aid and resources of multiple universities, and guidance of several industry experts to enter into the completion stage of their enormous project. Melissa and Charlotte generally aided Axeleonth and Markus whatever way they could, whether it be socialising with them and keeping their spirits up, or mere upkeep of the building as the two males worked hard to get the machine finished.

Axeleonth stood up and looked over his friends, gaining their attention and giving them a smile, "I'd like to apologise to you all for how I've been the last few months. We've had friends come and go, help us out when things got tough and I really do appreciate you guys sticking with me, and helping me through. The Machine is nearly ready for launch! Markus and I have built perhaps the most advanced computer and it wasn't easy, especially when we lost Leorn after ridiculing him the way we did."

Markus groaned as he looked down, "Right, great speech, remind us what we did..."

"Oh be quiet Markus, it was my fault not yours. Anyway, this afternoon we shall test The Machine and then we will run a full scale simulation tomorrow. It should only take a few hours and then we will be ready to commence a small-scale launch. We might even get Leorn back once he realises what he abandoned is successful, especially when we announce the first video gaming simulation will be tested with Resident Evil."

The group chuckled, remembering the fifth member of their group that had left, rivalling Axeleonth's passion for the survival horror franchise.

Charlotte looked down and sighed, "I actually liked him, I don't understand why he didn't just talk it out... he was a little crazy, well, a lot crazy but he was fun."

Axe shrugged and sat down, ready to continue his meal, "Who knows. I was quite harsh with him and we probably could've handled it better honestly. But it's a mistake that we can only avoid in the future."

Markus remained quiet, looking at Melissa. She shook her head and continued to eat her meal while Markus merely sighed and stood up with his empty plate.

"It's going to be an interesting day tomorrow," he remarked, "I'm going to have a shower and get some rest, wake me when the machine is ready to test," Markus walked over to the sink and washed his dishes, before walking to the bedroom.

Axeleonth shrugged as he remained seated with his sisters, talking about The Machine, as concise and as simply as he could with the non-IT inclined persons. After dinner, Axeleonth sat up and excused himself to his bedroom, leaving his dishes with Melissa who had volunteered to do the washing up as thanks for actually apologising.

Axe smiled as he entered his room, closing the door and sitting down, looking at a picture taken of the five of them, "Wish you could've stayed with us Leo, you were always a bit of a nut but you added something to this group. Markus has been really affectionate with me since you left; I don't know how to tell him I'm not ready for something like that. You would've been the one to explain it best... Why did you leave?"

---

Charlotte, having finished her lunch and having had a shower, rushed into Markus' room and nearly screamed with surprise as the door slammed behind her, Markus he playfully began to tickle her, letting go as he ducked to his bed.

She ran over to him and punched his arm, "You knew I was going to burst in didn't you?"

He merely laughed as he smiled, "Perhaps, you do tend to have a habit to talk to me when I try and rest, I thought I'd make it easier for you by not being asleep."

"I was only coming in because I was a little surprised with how Axeleonth was behaving, and thought maybe you had something to do with it," she remarked.

He nodded, "Yes well, I had a talk with him and explained how he was acting was a little over the top. Besides he's probably relieved that this machine is nearly finished and the government can stop hounding us for reports every week. While the machine was our dream and we had fun, that aspect of it wasn't the best. Anyway, you best let me get some rest, go play on your computer or something."

Charlotte exited back into the hallway, nearly bumping into Melissa who was apparently heading into Markus' bedroom as well, "Oh, hey sis."

Melissa looked down at her, surprised to see her, "Oh, hello Charlotte. What're you up to?"

The younger sister gave her a look before brushing past her, "Nothing, I was just talking to Markus. He's my friend too you know." Ignoring Melissa's retort she entered into her bedroom and closed the door, proceeding to talk to her friends online, happy to seclude herself from those she thought treated her as nothing but a little girl.

---

Melissa, after glaring at Charlotte's door with some anger, entered into Markus' room and closed the door. Sitting on the bed, she began talking with Markus, "I know you want to tell Axeleonth why Leo left, but it's still not time. He's still going to think it was because of how he treated him after he thought he rejected you, and I can see how he acts around you... he's awkward."

Markus looked at her, "Awkward? How so?"

She chuckled, "He thinks you like him," she said as if it was a stupid thing to think.

"Wait what? I don't like Axe, he's just a really close friend. Even someone as socially inept as him should know that."

Melissa lay back against the bed, "Well, he's told me. He thinks you have feelings for him since Leo left, and now you've got nobody to give your affection to, because apparently you're a really affectionate person and had strong feelings for Leo and they transferred onto you."

"That's not how feelings work. Though... it doesn't surprise me he thinks that. Axe is smart, but when it comes to people he's not the brightest," Markus replied, leaning back, "Hell, I like you more than I like him if we're talking feelings."

Melissa laughed, before she realised what he was saying, "Wait, you..."

"Yeah, I said it. I like you, okay? I think you're a beautiful and very talented woman, and very smart with what you do. But everyone knows I'm not your type so it's pointless trying to pursue that."

Melissa blinked before she chuckled, "We'll see. Anyway, when are you going to tell him about Leo? I mean, you'll have to tell him soon, just not when he's all happy and apologetic. I know I sound like a hypocrite but I really think it's something you have to plan, not just announce to him when he's doing a speech. What happened between you two anyway?"

Markus sighed as he looked down, shrugging in response, "Leorn was a close friend of mine, that's why I accepted his help during Uni when we had the early stages of The Machine. He was the affectionate one, not me, and I did appreciate that about him, but he wanted a relationship. I just... didn't feel it was right getting intimate and into a relationship under such an important and stressful task, let alone with my best friend. I just want to tell Axe it wasn't his fault. Yes Leo found him unbearable at times but he still liked him as a person, it wasn't even doubts on the machine. It was because I rejected him, he just sort of... felt uncomfortable around me after that."

Melissa sighed as she stood up from the bed and began walking to the doorway, before stopping to turn to him, "You are a great guy, things may go somewhere with us. But I think its best you get some rest. I'm just going to tidy up the kitchen a bit before Axeleonth bounds in to tell us it's time to test it. He didn't give us a time so you better rest while you can."

Markus merely nodded commenting, "I think this test will be the biggest thing that'll happen to any of us; the first people ever within a digital reality."

Melissa replied as she left, "Let's just hope it all goes smoothly."