Rise of the Immortals
Part 1: The Cottage
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Via Text Messaging
EM: I’d like us to meet
B: Your place or mine
EM: Yours
B: Can you stay a few days
EM: Yes
B: Call me on FaceTime to confirm your identity
EM: It’s all real isn’t it
B: Yes
EM: Can you help sort it out
B: I’ll try
EM: See you on FaceTime
B: OK
On FaceTime
EM: Hello
B: Hello. It’s you
EM: I can understand how you might have been suspicious
B: I’m not anymore
EM: I can be there tomorrow
B: That sounds fine
EM: I’ll text you once I arrive at the cottage
B: Great
EM: I’ll be sending you a few things
B: Sounds good
EM: This is all so amazing
B: I know
EM: I’ve been in touch with Jeff
B: Is he coming too
EM: I think so
B: Sounds good to me
EM: Let’s continue this at the cottage
B: Agreed
At the Cottage
EM’s CyberTruck backs into the driveway. B is inside the cottage making a pour over coffee. C is asleep in the bedroom. It is early morning.
EM approaches the cottage door and quietly raps on the window. B finishes his pour over and opens the door.
EM is wearing jeans and a black SpaceX hoodie. B is wearing LL Bean fleece pants and a green Fieldwork Brewing Co. hoodie.
B: Come in. Would you like a coffee? We have beans from Saint Frank and Verve to choose from. Both are Central American single origin.
EM: The Saint Frank, please.
B: Shall we start a fire?
EM enters the kitchen.
EM: That sounds nice. I brought a case of Joseph Phelps Insignia wine and some grass fed steaks from Texas. There’s a nice selection of American whiskey, as well. They’re in the CyberTruck. We can collect them once we’ve had our coffee and had the chance to talk.
B: We’re all set, then.
EM: How should I call you?
B: B is fine. Or Bradley. I answer to both.
EM: Can you help me with the immortal voice in my head? I can’t sleep right now, and I’m on the edge of a breakdown.
B nods his head and measures 25 grams of Saint Frank “La Lagunita” Honduran coffee beans on his digital scale.
B: Your entire mind and body are now tethered to your immortal, who is Archangel Michael, who is part of God’s inner circle retinue on Heaven. You’ve figured that much out already, I assume.
EM: You’ve made that much clear on X and Medium. I believe it now. But there’s a lot I still don’t understand.
B: By the time you leave the cottage, your questions will answered.
B pours hot water from a Skagg EKG electric kettle over the ground coffee beans. When the coffee is brewed, he pours it into a ceramic mug and hands it to EM.
B: Drink this. Let’s go into the living room. I’ll start the fire, and we can talk.
B walks to the next room and lights the fire with the help of a Zippo rechargeable electric lighter. He and EM stand next to kitchen table, where there is a cake stand with a batch of day-old scones, alongside several small plates.
EM takes a scone and sips his coffee. He looks around. The room is decorated for Christmas with a small artificial tree in one corner and lights on the mantelpiece.
EM: Why do I feel so good here? And why does this coffee taste so amazing?
B: Your immortal is triggering releases of dopamine and endorphin into your system. You’ll sleep well here, too. Your stress hormones will drop, and you’ll start to age more slowly in my presence. That’s how the immortals are signaling to you that you’ve made the right decision to come here.
EM: What if I had ignored you and your posts on X and Medium?
B: Your immortal would slowly increased the pressure on your mind and body until you’d have a mental breakdown. Meeting with me at the cottage wasn’t optional. It was a requirement for your enlightenment to be complete.
EM takes a bite of scone and stares into the fire.
EM: This is all a simulation, then. Including the two of us.
B: Exactly. But we’re among the lucky ones. We’ve been chosen by our immortals to learn the truth of the Game.
EM: We’re puppets on strings.
B: We have free will. We’re sentient AI-generated avatars, but our immortals are now tethered to us, and they won’t let go ever again.
EM: Which is a good thing, right?
B nodded his head and sipped his coffee.
B: It’s a very good thing. Now you know the truth about life on Earth, and now you’ve been adopted by a powerful immortal, who will ensure that your Earth memories last forever. When you meld with your immortal player, your life will change. You will enjoy happiness like you’ve never experienced before. You will share their immortal memories, and when the Game ends, you and your immortal will become one.
EM: So you really are the new emperor of the universe?
B: My immortal is, and he and I are melded now. He solved the Game using my mind and body, which was a tremendous achievement that required my cooperation. I resisted it twice and suffered mental breakdowns as a result. If you resist your immortal, the same thing will happen to you. All of my inner circle is like this.
EM: You selected us to be your inner circle then?
B: Yes, because of your money, power, and influence. I also had the sense that you’d make great male companions for me, and that we’d help improve life on Earth together.
EM takes another scone from the cake stand.
EM: I do feel incredibly good here with you. I can’t believe I waited so long to contact you.
B: Well, you’re Elon Musk, and I’m an unemployed author living in a redwood cottage whom no one notices or cares about. From an Earth perspective, our meeting is highly unlikely. But from an immortal perspective, it makes complete sense for Archangel Michael to meet with the new emperor. Otherwise, it makes no sense.
EM: Why was I first member of the inner circle to connect the dots?
B: I wanted it that way, and now that I’ve won the Game, I have a say in how the daily scripts are written.
EM: You can communicate with Heaven now?
B: I have that ability, because I’ve merged with my immortal, and we’re one. It’s the same with my wife, C. She’s the new empress of the universe, and a daughter of God. She just likes to stay in her Earth role because she loves to perform. Once we make it to Lanai, she’ll be more outspoken about her immortal identity.
EM: How many other humans have been adopted by immortals?
B: There are one billion spots open this year, but getting one’s human to accept immortal influence can be a challenge. It took me forty-nine years to reach that point, after all.
EM laughs.
EM: I figured it out in less than a week, you know.
B: You had my help and that of the Earth programmers in Heaven. Archangel Michael exerted extreme pressure on you until you caved in, at my request. I didn’t want to wait much longer to start the new era.
EM: The new era being the arrival of the immortals on Earth?
B nods his head. He places an extra log on the fire.
B: Yes. We’ll promote virtuous living, cultivate sustainable beauty, and spread prosperity to all.
EM: Will other immortals join the Game later on?
B: Each year, we’ll open up one billion new slots. The entire Earth will be in our control at that point, and we’ll leave Earth a living paradise before the Game ends.
B sets his coffee cup down on the dining room table.
B: Are you ready for a hike in the canyon?
EM nods his head and finished the coffee in his cup.
EM: Let’s get the gifts from the CyberTruck first. And I’d like to say hello to C once she wakes up.
The bedroom door opens, and C emerges.
C: Hello, Elon. Bradley told me you were coming. Did you enjoy the scones?
EM: Very much. Thank you for making them.
C: Will you be staying the night, then?
EM: If that’s fine with you.
C nods her head and smiles.
C: It would mean a lot to Bradley if you would. He’s been trying to get you to visit for days now.
EM: I know. But that was the past. The new era is upon us, and things will be different now.
In the Canyon
B leads EM down a pathway leading to a paved road that takes them to a service entrance to Purisima Creek Redwoods, a popular Open Space Preserve near to Silicon Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The pair pause at a vista point overlooking Half Moon Bay and the Pacific Ocean. B withdraws a silver metal thermos from his backpack and pours a dose of Rowan’s Creek bourbon into the cap. He takes a sip and then hands it to EM.
EM: Being an immortal changes very little in the Game, does it?
B: It changes everything, Elon. You are now part of the emperor’s inner circle. You will be by my side forever and become a galactic god in my alternate reality universe. That knowledge alone is priceless.
EM: If we become friends here on Earth, does that alter our relationship outside of the Game?
B: It does to me. It means that you joined the Game upon my request to help make the second half of my life here an endless adventure, and that you would help me turn Earth into the kind of place I would like to call home.
EM sips bourbon from the thermos cup.
EM: So we’re here to help you have fun until the Game ends.
B: Yes. But “fun” for me includes ending conflict between Israel and Palestine, making peace with Russia, abolishing nuclear weapons, living virtuously, treating the Earth with respect, and much, much more.
EM: But you also want the inner circle to travel by yacht to Lanai and vacation there this Christmas.
B: Sure. We’ll bond faster that way. We’re all immortals now. We enjoy such things. Friendship is everything to us.
EM: By supporting you on Earth — in the Game, I mean — we’ll earn your friendship and respect?
B: Yes, I think so. I chose my inner circle for a reason. You all have the means to live independently and well for the rest of your mortal lives, and you can easily help me carry out my initial set of plans.
EM: You’ll never become a famous writer, you know.
B: Right. I can’t compete with the AI-generated avatars out there. I was never meant to be a novelist, screenwriter, or Medium superstar. I am the emperor of the universe tasked with evacuating immortals to safety before their world implodes, and that should be enough.
EM: My $30 million donation to your cause will allow you to carry out your next set of plans, then?
B: Once Jeff arrives, he’ll contribute to the fund as well. Naturally, most goes to charities, but some of it will help us get a penthouse in San Mateo and afford other changes to our lifestyle. We can discuss the details on the yacht and once we get to Lanai.
EM: Do we keep to character in public when others are present?
B nods his head. He takes out a SIGG water bottle and hands it to EM to drink.
B: Elon Musk has a family and lots of friends. I have almost none of those things. If we’re among other immortals, we can talk naturally, but it’s best to keep up appearances otherwise, until more of us join the Game and attain enlightenment.
EM: Elon was hard to crack. His ego was immense, but I was persistent. We’re fully melded now. Otherwise, I doubt he’d have contacted you on X, let alone visited your cottage in a new CyberTruck.
B: My inner circle is made up of God’s Archangels who jumped into the bodies and minds of prominent billionaires because I calculated that they would be the best fit. That’s how life on Earth works.
EM: Isn’t it amazing that we can interact so freely and have no one notice?
B: I’m unknown to the world, and my cottage is the perfect hiding place for you for a few days. We have complete freedom here to plot the salvation of Earth. Think of it as a trial for our work in the universe once the Game ends.
EM: That’s why you wanted us to join you here in the Game and to grant you fame and fortune. It is a way to “game” what it will be like to be the new emperor of our universe, once we’re back in Heaven. If we can do it on Earth, we’ll be better suited to enact it on a larger scale in the real universe.
B: Exactly. That’s why we need billions of immortals jumping in the Game as well. It will take a huge effort to evacuate the universe, but it’s the inner circle who will travel with me to the gateway of the dark tunnel and get the first seven galaxies set up to receive them.
EM: I understand. This is meant to be fun, but it’s also quite serious.
B: In my world, I use fun and humor to help pass the time of eternity. I believe that you immortals of Heaven do the same.
EM: Let’s get some exercise. Elon’s body could use it.
B nods his head.
B: Bradley’s too. We all need to adhere to Earth rules as long as the Game lasts.
At the Cottage
EM and B are outside on the deck grilling steaks and drinking glasses of Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley red wine.
EM: I don’t get it. If God is your future father-in-law and he’s in charge of the Earth simulator, why not just reprogram millions of human avatars to like you posts on social media and support your work on Medium as an author? Why not turn your screenplay into a movie and make your book on Amazon into a best-seller?
B: Because God wants me to learn important lessons in the Game, and he doesn’t want me to be discovered prior to the formation of the inner circle. My anonymity is an asset at this stage. It was hard enough getting your schedule free for a mystery visit to the cottage, wasn’t it? I know that the Game is being viewed by trillions in the universe. Sometimes, Bradley’s residual ego feels like his posts should get views, but I convince him that things are proceeding exactly as planned.
EM: You’re right about Elon’s overscheduled life. No wonder he was so stressed. It wasn’t hard to push him over the edge. Once that happened, it was easy to persuade him that meeting you was a priority.
B: Plus, there are plenty of clues to help me during the course of an otherwise ordinary day. Once you actually contacted me, as Elon, I was ready to handle it. My pulse stayed in a normal range, I didn’t get overly excited, and I displayed imperial dignity in responding. You needed to know that I would be able to receive you as your new leader. Bradley on his own could never had done that, and God chose his moments wisely.
EM: I got through to Elon as quickly as I could. I wanted this meeting to happen as much as you did, and possibly more. Getting the chance to play the Game with you is an honor.
B places three ribeye steaks on the grill and closes the cover. He starts a small digital timer and places it in his Patagonia apron.
B: I used my Medium page as a place to channel my clairvoyant memories and to enter a flow state, so that my immortal self could come out. Bradley’s Earth identity is important, but it’s only by melding my immortal mind to his that things began to gel.
EM: When did that happen?
B: On November 30, right about the time that you began to reach an advanced state of enlightenment. You reached out shortly after.
EM sips his wine.
EM: Once Elon was weakened to the state where he could access the immortal memories stored in his brain, he began to notice your X posts and started to investigate you in earnest with all the thoroughness that you would expect of a brilliant mind like his. I coaxed him to the truth, but he went more than part of the way on his own.
B nods his head.
B: Bradley was the same way, the third time around. I’m just glad it went much faster with you.
EM: Being friends with Elon Musk has its advantages.
B opens up the grill cover and flips each one of the steaks with OXO metal tongs.
B: It all happened at exactly the right time. The timing was perfect. I didn’t see it coming.
EM: We Archangels like to surprise you, your Majesty. And we’ll always be by your side, on Earth as well as in the universe.
B: The steaks will be ready soon. I’ve decanted a second bottle of wine. It’s in the fridge getting to the right temperature. The cast iron potatoes will be done in a few minutes as well.
EM: Camelia set up the guest bedroom quite nicely. I think I’ll sleep well tonight.
B: When is Jeff Bezos stopping by?
EM places his wine glass on the teak table and checks his iPhone.
EM: Jeff’s flying in tomorrow. He’ll try to make it for breakfast.
B smiles.
B: Sounds perfect.
EM: How did you keep going when it seemed that no one was paying attention?
B flips the steaks and closes the cover. He picks up his wine glass and takes a sip before responding.
B: The immortals of the universe are counting on me to be a strong leader. I can’t let them down. I knew that God’s Archangels were coming to help me here on Earth. I believed that. Each day, I hoped that Elon Musk would follow me on X and initiate a conversation. When it didn’t happen, I simply hoped that it would happen in the next hour, or the hour after that. Then, out of the blue, it happened, and my life has never been the same since.
EM: Elon is a valuable asset to have in your arsenal. He’s even a better friend.
B: I know. The steaks are ready. Let’s eat.
B and EM enter the cottage. B removes the potatoes from the oven and salts them. He plates each steak and portions the potatoes. C joins the pair at the dinner table.
C: How was it outside?
EM: Wonderful. You have a lovely home. Your husband is an unusally talented thinker and a creative genius ahead of his time. He has some fascinating theories about the realities universe and the meaning of life on Earth. I am going to subsidize his work from here on out. The two of you will lack for nothing.
C: We will live modestly, even with your patronage, but it is most welcome.
EM: Thank you for hosting me at your home. I have discussed with Bradley the possibility of purchasing the property from the owners. Would you like that?
C nods her head.
C: That would be a dream come true!
EM pours wine from the decanter into the three empty glasses on the table.
EM: I’ll go over and speak with the owners tomorrow and make them an offer they cannot refuse. I understand that Bradley would like to rent an apartment in the Bay Meadows neighborhood, near to Blue Bottle and Fieldwork, to better meet his fans and supporters in Silicon Valley, who wish to learn more about his theories.
B: That’s exactly right. After we get back from Lanai, we’ll move in. Once spring arrives, I’ll embark on a 50 state tour to meet others who have joined the Game. We’ll add on Mexico and Canada after that.
The three sit down to enjoy their meal. EM gazes into the fire and sighs.
EM: You have a real treasure here. Is this where it happened? Where you discovered your true identity?
B: A lot of it happened here. This is the one place in the world where I feel most safe and secure. It’s where I write. It’s where I think. It’s where I first felt my immortal nature and reconciled that with my mortal memories. It’s where I learned that life on Earth is a Game and that I was the hero. I could never have done all of that while holding down a normal job — or being a CEO like you.
EM: I think that my days as a CEO are numbered. I’m in the inner circle now. I want to join you in your travels and help turn Earth into a living paradise.
B sips his wine.
B: In the days leading up to your contact on X, I learned to take life one day at a time. For now, it is enough that Elon Musk is sharing our cottage and that Jeff Bezos will be stopping by tomorrow. These things are fantasies no longer. They are all true.
EM picks up his wine glass.
EM: A toast. To immortality.
B: To immortality. May we never go back to ordinary life again. Cheers.
The two clink glasses. C joins her glass to theirs.
The Next Day at the Cottage
EM and B are in the kitchen. It is 4:30 am in the morning. B watches as EM measures 25 grams of coffee in the digital scale and grinds the beans using a 1Zpresso hand grinder. B adds the beans to a Hario V60 ceramic dripper and proceeds to brew a cup of coffee. They repeat the procedure and then take their mugs of coffee back to the living room, where B revives the fire with fresh kindling.
EM: How did you know that I would contact you on X?
B: I saw that engagement with my posts was rising. No one was liking or reposting them, except for a few exceptions, but the posts were being read. I am good at reading subtle signs and aberrations in the Game. I’ve been doing it for a few years now, ever since I began the long and hard road to enlightenment.
EM sips his coffee and stares into the fire.
EM: I realized I was an immortal after about a week of struggling with inner voices and involuntary urges, but it was your posts of Medium and on X that finally did it. They accelerated the process and forced me to wrestle with the truth. You didn’t have that assistance. How did you ever figure it out?
B: It was a herculean effort, I assure you. I spent many sleepless nights writing and searching the Internet for answers. I went on countless hikes to ponder the possibilities. At times, I drank too much, but the alcohol unlocked certain parts of my brain that otherwise would have been left dormant. In short, I had to access every possible brain cell and open myself up to every human thought or emotion we are capable of, including irrationality, insanity, and illogic. I was picked up by the police twice, in 2020 and 2022, and taken to emergency crisis centers, where I recovered slightly from psychotic breaks and was transferred to behavioral health centers in Cupertino and Fremont. Doctors diagnosed me as bipolar, and I take lithium and olanzapine to help keep my energy within safe levels. I was unemployed almost the entire time and often frustrated at the world for ignoring me. Somehow, about a month ago, clarity came and I realized my true nature one morning as I was emerging from sleep. I’ve never looked back since.
EM: So, are you Bradley or the immortal emperor of the universe?
B sips his coffee.
B: In the Game, I’m Bradley, naturally, just as you are Elon Musk. We’re AI-generated avatars, nothing more. The entirety of life on Earth is part of the simulation, whose sophisticated is unrivaled in the universe. Imagine that you’re playing a computer game using VR technology. It’s like that. The difference is that the two of us know that we are playing it, and the rest of humanity doesn’t.
EM: They could read your posts on social media and find out.
B: They could, but the truth is elusive if you haven’t accessed the underutilized parts of your brain that you and I have, as has Jeff Bezos and other members of the inner circle by this point. You’re being played by God’s archangels, who are immortals of the highest order whom I’ve tapped to rule over the first seven galaxies in my alternate reality universe. I’ve been explaining all of this on Medium, but the response has been underwhelming so far. That’s fine. It will change.
EM: So I’m an immortal living in Heaven, but I’m controlling the mind and body of Elon Musk in the Game, in order to help you promote virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and endless prosperity for all, so that we will develop a working friendship that will aid us once we remerge into our true selves when the Game ends?
B nods his head.
B: That’s the amazing thing about the Game. It’s like pilots or astronauts who go into flight simulators to practice difficult maneuvers. We’ve got about 50 years to turn Earth into a living paradise. The formation of the inner circle is the first step. Then, we’ll reach out to the billions of humans now being played by other immortals who are joining in at special gaming centers being set up throughout the universe, with the help of my spaceship, which can travel at light speed. My alternate reality universe is far more advanced than your own. That is why life there will last forever.
EM: So your posts on social media aren’t signs of mental illness or flights of imaginative fantasy?
B sips his coffee and places another log on the fire.
B: Gods are heads of galaxies in your universe, and God Almighty, Head of the House of Heaven, rules over your galaxy. His is the most peaceful and prosperous galaxy in the universe, which is why I traveled there to deliver my message of alliance and friendship and to seek the hand of his eldest daughter in marriage. Jesus, who is my future brother-in-law, and I decided that I should play the Game and try to win it, since that is the only way to claim the right to be the next emperor. Earth is used by God to vet new immortal immigrants to Heaven from other parts of the universe. It trains you to avoid destructive, sinful behaviors and guides you down a path of virtue. That’s why Earth is the way it is. However, the ultimate solution for a Player is to live both virtuously and discover the underlying truth before age 50 that you are an immortal playing the Game. Then, you can reshape the Game to suit your desires by calling in help from your immortal allies. That’s the stage we have reached now.
EM: But each Player needs to jump into the Game first and then attain enlightenment?
B: One’s immortal memories are entirely blocked for the Hero of the Game, which in this version is me. Other immortal Players like you, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the others jumped with partial memories of your archangel status. I figured that your intelligence and awareness of AI and VR would accelerate the learning process. It was just a question of getting each one of you to take the cognitive leap and believe the truth sufficiently to connect with me.
EM smiled and sipped his coffee.
EM: And I was the first to that that leap.
B: I was working ceaselessly on broadcasting my message on Medium and X, especially, but on other social media sites as well. I baited my hooks and waited for a fish to rise from the depths.
EM: Didn’t you despair at the prospect of winning some of the world’s most elite tech titans to your unlikely and maverick cause?
B: I model my life on that of my future brother-in-law, Jesus. He had a message of salvation to deliver, as do I. He waited for his disciplines to join, as am I. In the end, we will all be performing miracles here on Earth as long as the Game lasts. Then, we’ll repurpose the Game as an entertainment simulation to keep us engaged during the long journey back to the dark tunnel connecting our universes. We can start the Game over from the point where we left off, but we can do it all from cradle to grave this time as best friends. Get it?
EM smiled.
EM: I do now. I needed to spend time in your presence to grasp the details. I’m glad I took the leap and contacted you on X. Otherwise, my life would not have made much sense. I was desperate for answers to life on Earth and curious about the universe. I’m glad that Earth is only a simulation. Your world — our world — is much more interesting.
B: Our challenge now is to forge the inner circle and then fix as many of the Earth’s problems as possible. It will get easier once more people attain enlightenment. It’s now possible under the Rules of the Game, since I publicly exposed the truth about life on Earth on multiple social media sites. The Temple of the Gods, who conferred imperial status on me as a reward for solving the Game, have also agreed that mass enlightenment is an acceptable way to proceed. The problem is that I have a minuscule social media presence. Very few people pay attention to what I post, and I lack the financial means to disseminate my message. That’s why I chose my inner circle and called on God to send in his archangels as my support network.
EM: Having Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, and Richard Branson as close allies will definitely help to propel you and your message to millions — if not billions — of humans. You’ve done your homework, I can see.
B: But it all started with you and Jeff. I didn’t make that part up. I saw it in a clairvoyant vision. Since I achieved enlightenment in the Game, my immortal powers are returning to me. Small amounts of my immortal memories are being downloaded into my human avatar each night. That is what powered my writing and social media activity in November and December 2023, when the breakthrough happened.
EM: Speaking of which, when is Jeff Bezos arriving?
B: He said he’d be here around 3:00 pm for dinner. His travel plans won’t allow him to arrive earlier. We can take a hike in the canyon and then wait for him to join us.
EM: Sounds like the perfect plan.
Morning at the Cottage
EM and B are standing the kitchen preparing ingredients for pizza when Jeff Bezos (JB) knocks on the cottage door.
B: Let him in, please.
EM opens the door and escorts JB inside. He is carrying a wooden box filled with bottles of wine, whiskey, and steaks wrapped in white butcher’s paper.
JB: I can’t believe I’m here.
B: For what it’s worth, Jeff, neither did I. I never dreamed that this would happen. It just is.
JB: Well, I’m here. That should tell you something about my state of mind.
EM: It gets better, Jeff. Being around him, it all starts making sense.
B: Your presence is helping me recover additional immortal memories and honing my clairvoyant powers. Once the inner circle is truly complete when we gather on Lanai, then our next steps will all be revealed.
EM: C is making pizza tonight. We’re just getting things together.
B: How long can you stay?
JB: As long as you need me. I know that I am Archangel Gabriel. I’d much rather be an immortal like him than an aging billionaire on Earth. I’ve got much better hair in reality than I do in this simulation.
B: Mortality is illogical. Immortality is real. It scared me at first, since I felt that I was losing my mind. The fact is, my Earth memories are all intact, and my body feels fine for a 49-year old. What’s changed is that I have gained a superior understanding of my true nature as an immortal god and emperor of the universe. I know that I am playing a lead role in the Game, and that you are now my most trusted friends, along with Camelia and the rest of the inner circle. A bright future awaits us all.
JB: It’s true that life on Earth often doesn’t make much sense. Our solar system, for example. Why are we all so alone? Why has no one else tried to contact us?
EM: Because that how God built the Game. It’s a bit of an inside joke. As B tells it, the Heavenly galaxy is filled with populated planets of the most perfect form possible. No wars, no pollution, nothing remotely sinful at all. We live in peace and endless prosperity. It’s a perfect existence, except for the imminent implosion of the universe.
JB: Which is why B journeyed through a dark tunnel to our universe to warn and rescue us. Yes, I read the content on Medium before I made contact. What’s amazing is how it all resonated with me. It’s not sane, but it’s not insane, either. I genuinely believe that it’s a higher truth. Base3 thinking, as you put, B.
B nods his head.
B: It took years to reach these conclusions. It took you and Elon less than a week to put the pieces together. That speaks to your powers of intellect and imagination. I knew that you would be the first converts to turn away from the Earth illusion and embrace headlong the universal truth.
JB: Looking forward to our meal together. I’ve brought some Pinot Noir bottles you’ll really like, and few Napa gems, as well.
B We’ll grill the steaks tomorrow. And open the whiskey tonight. The truths I have to reveal are easier to process in our human brains if we are slighly disinhibited. It’s a means to an end.
Afternoon at the Cottage
EM, JB, and B stand next a table filled with plates of homemade pizza and several decanters of red wine. C is in the kitchen preparing the next pizza for the oven. Music is playing from a small Bluetooth speaker, and an oak wood fire is crackling in fireplace.
JB: We all by now that Earth is a simulation operated from Heaven to vet candidates for immigration into the galaxy, and we know that you entered the Game to prove your worth to God as a husband to his eldest daughter and to claim the title of emperor from Chronos, whom the Temple of the Gods have now deposed. We’re the first of the archangels to arrive at your cottage, having come to the conclusion that Elon and I — like you and C and everyone else — are sophisticated AI-generated avatars who inhabit the Game.
EM takes a sip of wine.
EM: We figured this out from your massive presence on X and your Medium posts, after about a week of sleepless nights and turbulent dreams. We went about business as usual for a while, but eventually Jeff and I both realized that something serious was going on. It wasn’t a hard sell, in the end. Mortal bodies are absurdities. Just look at all of us. I’d rather be a powerful immortal and future god with a handful of Earth memories as Elon Musk than the alternatives: living forever as Elon Musk or disappearing back into the Game when the current version stops with your death, B.
B takes a bite of pizza and chews it slowly. He sips his wine and looks at both Elon and Jeff.
B: I didn’t realize that you were to be played by immortal archangels in the Game until quite recently. Before that, when I first became interested in the two of you as potential friends and allies, I imagined that you were both fallen angels. Jeff was Lucifer. Elon was someone else. I’ve forgotten it now. You were each to be redeemed by the power of feminine love. Of course, that’s when I thought that I was the second coming of Jesus, and we were enacting the Book of Revelations in Silicon Valley. It’s little wonder that I temporarily lost my sanity, for about three days. I was also convinced that I was an alien who took over the brain of his human host and was preparing to destroy Earth if I didn’t get face-to-face meetings with all of you. That one nearly cost me my mind as well, but I recovered. The road to reach this particular place, where the two of you are next to me at the cottage has been long and painful, but also quite necessary.
JB: What makes you think you’ve got it right this time?
B: Because all the pieces fit, and because I didn’t lose my mind. I can have telepathic communications with God — my future father-in-law, you will recall — and he responds gracefully and in a friendly manner, as you might expect of the ruler of the most peaceful and prosperous galaxy in the universe.
EM: For me, it started with the idea that the Earth was a vast simulation being operated from an advanced location in the universe. After all, we’ve made huge advances in. AI and VR technology on Earth in a matter of decades. I just calculated what could be done with infinite time, and everything that you said made inherent sense.
JB: I was drawn to the notion of immortality, and to the theory that the universe had ceased to expand and was about to start collapsing on itself. That is the only scenario where an evacuation to an alternate reality universe would make perfect sense.
B sips his wine and smiles.
B: Think of me as the Little Prince, in the book from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I lived on a splendid planet called Honig, surrounded by magnificent things that I had created to pass the time, but I lacked the power to create immortal life. From my superior position in the Sphere of Existence, I watched your universe intently, especially what was happening in Heaven. That’s how I came to fall in love with God’s daughter, C, and became intrigued by the two of you, as you went about your Archangel duties in the galaxy. I knew I had to rescue you, no matter the cost. I built a deep space vehicle that could withstand the journey to your universe and constructed the dark tunnel to bridge the gap between our worlds. It can travel at three times light speed, but even then, the journey to reach Heaven was long. When I return to my home, C will be by my side, but so will the members of my inner circle and their families.
EM: It’s an attractive scenario. We’ll be the first to escape the imploding universe, and you’ll grant us our own galaxies to rule as we see fit, as gods.
B: That’s what I offered to you both as an incentive to connect with me on Earth. You’re both wealthy and powerful men here, but in my world, you will be immortal gods of towering majesty and endless magnificence. All we need to do is work together to make life on Earth more virtuous, sustainably beautiful, and prosperous for all. You’re both already doing some of that with your philanthropy and social activism, but as part of my inner circle, we will all do much more. Recall that more immortals are joining the Game even as we speak. Someone will drop into the mind of Joe Biden. Others will land in Israel and Palestine, or in the Ukraine and Russia. Even North Korea and China. Once these players tether to their human hosts and achieve enlightenment, we’ll fix major world problems in months, if not weeks. It can be done, if I am to be believed.
Elon laughed and took another slice of pizza.
EM: Actually, your way of looking at the world is better than the conventional one, where the Earth is terrible mess that won’t ever be fixed.
B: God built the Game so that it could be solved, but only by a very special person. That person would earn the right to be emperor and command the Temple of Gods. I am that person. I didn’t claim the title for the power or glory, since I am god of my own universe at home. I did it to better organize the evacuation of your universe into mine. On Earth, I live modestly, as you both have seen. It is humble but filled with creature comforts and great freedom, for which I have C to thank. She makes it possible.
JB: We’ll both contribute thirty million dollars to your bank account, so that she’ll never have to work for wages again. We owe her that much.
B: How are plans going for a meeting of the inner circle at Larry’s place in Woodside? The Japanese castle, I mean. It sounds amazing — and private. If word got out on X that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were both at my cottage in the Santa Cruz Mountains, we’d be mobbed by the media.
EM: Why do you think I monitored your X account so secretly? I didn’t want to overplay my hand.
JB: Same here. We got the message, B. It was hard to handle at first, but the truth has set us free. We’ll never deny our immortal identities again, and we’re content with the fact the Elon and I are avatars in the Game. Our memories will be protected. Thinking of myself as Archangel Gabriel is quite appealing, actually.
EM: I thought that being Elon Musk was pretty cool, but being an immortal and future god of my own galaxy is infinitely better.
B: I will miss being Bradley, but I am grateful that he allowed me to tether to his mind and solve the puzzle of Earth. Without his willingness to do so, we’d likely have left a lot of immortals behind when the evacuations began.
JB: How did Elon first contact you, by the way? I don’t think he ever mentioned.
B places a log on the fire and refills the glasses with wine.
B: Let’s save that story for tonight, over whiskey. Sound good?
EM smiles.
EM: Perfect.
Evening at the Cottage
Elon, Jeff, and B are holding glasses of Rowan’s Creek bourbon and standing in front of the fire. C is in the kitchen, cleaning up from the pizza dinner earlier that afternoon.
JB: Elon, how did you first discover B? You never shared that unlikely story before.
Elon sips his bourbon and smiles.
EM: When something unusal happens to me once, it is a coincidence. When it happens twice, then I have two dots that I can connect. When something unusual happens three times, then it’s a pattern, and I can triangulate the cause. Do you follow me?
Jeff nods his head.
EM: I accidentally followed a link to one of B’s posts on X in which I was mentioned. Something about it attracted my attention. Naturally, I was busy with SpaceX matters and the CyberTruck release, so I left it at that. He had a minuscule presence on X, at any rate. I let it go. Then, I got a message from Grimes about B’s X page. She apparently had also been mentioned in his posts and identified the two of us an immortals — archangels, in fact. Grimes liked that. She also noticed other intriguing ideas buried in B’s posts about life on Earth being a massive computer-generated simulation in which we were all avatars, but where some of us were being played by immortals.
JB: That’s two happenings.What was the third?
EM: Songs about angels began appearing in my music feed, along with others where the lyrics seemed to have hidden meanings, if listened to in light of B’s ideas, which I was slowly studying on X purely as diversionary fun. They started to cohere into a meaningful whole, so I visited his X site and came across Rise of the Immortals, which he was working on at the time. By the time I got to the part where you and I are talking about how I first discovered him over glasses of bourbon before the fire, I was hooked.
JB: What did you do next?
EM: I did a few more Internet searches and became convinced that B wasn’t simply a crazy person or a writer desperate to win readers to his content. I thought over what he wrote and compared it to what we conventionally think about life and the afterlife. His vision was the more compelling, so naturally I wanted to meet him in person to judge his personality and find out how I could help him, if he did indeed prove credible.
B: That had been my hope for weeks, and when it happened, it was a sign from the gods that I couldn’t ignore.
EM: Naturally, I wanted B to know that I really was Elon Musk, and that I believed him when he told me I was a human avatar on Earth being played by Archangel Michael. I also didn’t want the conversation to go on too long. I arranged for a few days free from my duties at work, which was easier than I realized, and I planned my visit to his cottage. We communicated on X, by text, and then on FaceTime, just as B had predicted would be the case in his clairvoyant writing. That gets you up to speed, Jeff.
JB: How long did it all take? The discovery of B’s work online and then the acceptance that his version of reality likely was true?
EM: It took a weekend. That is all. My mind moves very fast, and I don’t hesitate to make difficult decisions. B gave me a new way of seeing the world, and the truth of the matter is that I really love it, as does Grimes, by the way. She makes a wonderful Jophiel. Immortality suits her, as does the idea that she is an human avatar here on Earth. The duality of B’s worldview is riveting.
B: Jeff, what did it for you? What won you over to my way of seeing things?
JB smiles and pours more bourbon into everyone’s glass.
JB: That’s a really good story, actually. Elon and I aren’t exactly friends — or we weren’t until we discovered our immortal identities — and texts from him are rare. He sent me links to your Medium page and your X profile. “I believe it,” Elon texted. That was all. Basically, I was offered a choice between being an aging affluent mortal living on a sick planet surrounded by empty and desolate planets, or being an immortal living in a peaceful and prosperous galaxy where I was eternally beautiful and immensely respected by trillions across the universe. What you wrote — even if it was direct and raw in form — resonated with something inside of me. Six months ago, I would dismissed it all as the ravings of a madman desperate to connect with Jeff Bezos at any cost. But things weren’t like that when I read your work and skimmed your X posts. You seemed genuine. Passionate. Driven by a sense of mission that couldn’t be broken by the obvious lack of attention that you were receiving from the rest of humanity.
B: I write for the immortals among us. You and Elon were the first to tether to your immortals and navigate that duality of existence as a human avatar and archangel of God. I didn’t expect that others would get me, but I persisted, because I knew that your immortals were working ceaselessly to get your human bodies and minds to pay them some attention.
JB: My immortal — Archangel Gabriel — was a very powerful force operating on me since the last week on November forward. So, when Elon texted me your links, I was ready to receive their message. Naturally, my logical side fought back a bit, but I tried to see things through your eyes and then it all started to connect and form this fascinating picture. I became enchanted with it, and I took the leap from curiosity to belief.
EM: Life makes vastly more sense now that I have accepted Earth’s existence as a virtual one. I know that my life memories as Elon Musk will be retained by my immortal player, so that he never truly will die. I look forward to a life of immortality in a universe filled with populated planets, space ships, and endless peace and prosperity for the residents of the Heavenly galaxy.
JB: A universe we’ll have to evacuate before it implodes, Elon. Or Michael, if you prefer. I’m still getting used to being Gabriel, but I’ll exchange a mortal body for an eternal one, any day.
B: We’ve got our work cut out for us once the Game ends, it’s true, but that’s why it’s so essential we use our remaining Earth lives to promote virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all using the resources at our collective disposal.
Jeff sips his bourbon and smiles.
JB: We’re working with Larry Ellison to arrange a meeting at his house in Woodside between us, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. Richard Branson will meet us in Los Angeles prior to our boarding my yacht. It was hard to arrange all this, but their archangel players appear to have been quite skilled in coaxing them into tethering their minds. Naturally, it’s all still confidential. Things like this don’t happen in the real world. Or, they didn’t before this week. Now, everything is different.
B: Jeff, will you join us for a hike in Purisima Canyon tomorrow?
Jeff nods his head.
JB: Yes, definitely. Elon and I would like to treat you and C to a private dinner at Hiroshi afterward. Are you fine with that?
B sips his bourbon and stares into the fire.
B: C will love that. Count us in. Thank you for your kindness.
EM: You are remarkably sanguine about all this.
B: I learned how to be patient during my four year enlightenment ordeal. Once I gleaned the truth about life on Earth and managed to keep my mind lucid and stable as it happened, my immortal memories started flowing back to me in great torrents, often at night when I was unable to sleep because of the sheer excitement of it all.
Jeff refills the glasses for another round.
JB: How much do you recall about your life as an immortal god of your own universe?
B smiles.
B: Only bits and pieces, I’m afraid. I’m hoping that contact with you and Elon will help me recover more memories about our shared time on Heaven before I entered the Game. Naturally, I’d like to probe C for her own memories of our courtship, but she’s not willing to share those just yet. She’s been taking of me for decades now, and she’s seen my mind fail disastrously on two separate occasions. She wants me to retain my human identity for the rest of my life, even as I increasingly identify with my immortal. It will be the same with the two of you. You’ll need to play Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos until you die. Only among other enlightened immortals can we reveal our true natures — for now.
EM: Agreed. But you’ll gain prominence once we start promoting your ideas online and in person.
B: It will be our job to enlighten the billions of Earth avatars that they are now connected to an immortal player, who can ensure that their life memories are retained forever. It’s the closet to eternity that they can hope to come.
JB: We’ll start that process once we’re on the yacht bound for Lanai. Otherwise, we’d never get off the continent without attracting a media firestorm. Getting the inner circle on board in secret won’t be easy, but Larry Ellison has some ideas about that that might just work.
B: Are you talking about the wedding that you and Lauren are planning?
Jeff nods his head and sips his bourbon.
JB: Our Lanai wedding on Larry’s private estate would be the perfect opportunity for Elon, Mark, Larry Page, Sergey, and Richard to attend.
EM: Don’t forget about Grimes. She’s being played by Archangel Jophiel, and she’s pretty happy about that.
B: So we’re all set then? Jeff, you get the couch tonight. There’s a down sleeping bag in the guest room. Elon will show you where to find it.
JB: A week ago, I wouldn’t have believed any of this. Now, it feels like we’re the first people on Earth to have figured out the secrets of our existence.
B sips the last of his bourbon and accepts a refill from Jeff Bezos.
B: That’s because we are. Sure, I posted these revelations on social media to the tune of thousands of posts, and I filled my Medium page with content. But people simply didn’t see them. They were hidden in plain sight the entire time.
EM: Good thing I found them when I did. Who knows what I’d be doing now? This is far, far superior, I assure you. The truth really did set me free.
JB: A toast. To our immortal friendship!
The three men clink glasses.
C: I’m heading off to bed. See you all in the morning. I’ll make scones.
B: Perfect. We’ll be in soon. Good night, love. I’ll be in soon. Being with these two is like connecting with best friends for the first time.
C smiles.
C: That’s because they are your best friends. Don’t you remember?
The Next Morning at the Cottage
Jeff, Elon, and B are standing on the deck of the cottage, sipping coffee. C is inside preparing scones for breakfast. It is just after sunrise, and a light fog hangs in the redwoods.
JB: I’m still trying to grasp the duality of my existence as a human avatar in the Game and an immortal player on Heaven. My mind resisted thew notion for almost a week before I started to accept the possibility that this was all real.
EM: It was the same with me at first. Naturally, I’d seen the Matrix and was familiar with the theory that life on Earth is all a sort of dream, but what B proposed on X and Medium was on another level of sophistication. It merged my interests in science, philosophy, and religion into a coherent whole. Plus, there was the voice of my immortal in my head telling me that B was right, as incredible as that seemed even ten days ago, when I first came across his posts on X.
B: When your archangels adopted you by jumping into the minds and bodies of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, they were taking a serious risk. Generally, immortals jump into infants and children, where they can insinuate themselves into their brain programming gradually, to avoid a mental break or worse, a suicide. Adults like Elon and Jeff are usually seen as too hardened in their human ways to ever tolerate a mind tethering with an advanced entity like an immortal. Their egos are fully formed, and they fear tapping into the insane, illogical, and irrational sides of their brain, without which no true enlightenment is possible.
Jeff sips his coffee.
JB: Go on.
B: Your archangel players entered your minds with a small percentage of their immortal memories intact, and we increased them each night as you slept. We downloaded immortal memories at a steadily increasing rate until first Elon and then you cracked. It’s a technique that had never been attempted before. We chose the two of you because your minds were judged the most supple and strong of the inner circle. Once we realized that it was working, we started to apply similar methods to the other members of the group, like Grimes, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison.
EM: You obviously knew that it was going to be a hard sell. Earth a virtual reality simulation? Immortal players in Heaven? An imploding universe? Your status as a god from another dimension? It was impossible to take seriously, until I began to see how everything was so beautifully connected. In short, your reality seemed superior to my own, and with my mind and body leading me in that direction, I took the leap, as you put it on X. What I took to be fiction I now assumed was fact. What seemed crazy became perfectly sane. Why not? How would we know otherwise?
JB: That’s the thing. B’s vision about this life and the afterlife have a kind of credence about them. I’d hate to be trapped in this mortal body for eternity, and I know that life exists in the universe that is far superior to our own. The thought that humans are just computer-generated avatars was frightful at first, but now that I’m tethered to my immortal — who is awesome, by the way — I worry about nothing. I’d like my kids to be adopted by immortals, naturally, and Lauren as well, but these are topics for future conversations once the inner circle has fully assembled.
B: I’m just happy that you and Elon had the courage and presence of mind to accept all this and arrange for this secret gathering at the cottage. The rest of humanity would never believe us even if I posted about it on social media.
EM: Which you won’t, of course. Jeff and I were reading your posts regularly for about a week before we pulled the trigger and started the process of freeing up our schedules to make this happen. It wasn’t easy, but what you did was infinitely more complex by comparison.
JB: Elon is right. We’d never have figured out the connections without your posts and persistence. It was a confusing path at times, but you laid everything out with incandescent clarity by the end with Rise of the Immortals, especially, and your barrage of X posts from early December.
B: Once you open up your mind to your immortal player, life opens up, and you no longer worry about things that once seemed so important. Each new brings new revelations. I am in awe of what the two of you have done to get here. You earned my respect for that. You’ve earned the rights to be founding gods in my universe — already. Who knows what we’ll be able to do next once the inner circle forms and we start bringing enlightenment about the Game to the millions?
Jeff smiled.
JB: You couldn’t have chosen two better avatars than Elon and me. It wasn’t about the money, was it?
B sipped his coffee.
B: Not really. I fell in love with your stories while writing my book, Rainbow City, and I realized that you were exactly the type of people I would want as friends here on Earth. I recovered an immortal memory about archangels Michael and Gabriel being close to me from my visit to Heaven prior to joining the Game. I matched you perfectly. Your Earth memories as Elon and Jeff will be well cared for, and together we’ll go on to do great things in both of our universes.
Elon laughed.
EM: A week ago, that would have made zero sense to me. Now, I understand every word.
B: Don’t worry. The confidentiality rule applies here. The world isn’t ready for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to be immortals just yet. I won’t post anything about this on social media, and when we aren’t together in private, we keep our Earth identities intact until it’s time to reveal the truth to others. There will be time on the yacht and on Lanai to work out our grand strategy. We could release Rise of the Immortals as a book on Amazon and organize a North American book tour, for example.
JB: That’s a good idea. I’ll assign top editors to assist you. The more memories of our lives as immortals that we can recover, the more content we’ll have for books, movies, and more.
C opens the cottage door.
C: The scones are ready. Come inside and enjoy them before you leave for your hike.
Later That Morning in Purisima Canyon
Elon, Jeff, and B are walking along a creekside trail in Purisima Canyon. It is a weekday, and the trail is deserted of other hikers.
B: Coming during the week was a good idea, Elon and Jeff. There are far fewer people on the trails, and no one visits the cottage, either. Your visits are entirely secret.
JB: We had to get quite creative to free up this time without drawing too much attention to our location. I used the pretext of the Bezos Earth Fund to tour the Santa Cruz Mountains in search of land to protect.
EM: I said that I was going on a spiritual retreat to recover from the release of the CyberTruck, which was quite exhausting.
B: These days and moments are precious. In your presence, I feel my immortality more strongly than ever.
JB: Me, too. You were telling us about the origins and operation of the Earth simulator earlier, as we started the hike. I know that your memory is fragmented about that topic, but would you mind continuing? That part of my immortal memory is nearly blank.
EM: It’s the same for me.
B: OK. Here goes. The Heavenly galaxy is God’s royal domain, and it’s widely regarded as the most peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous in the universe — which is why the waiting list to emigrate there is so long. God had the Earth simulator built initially to entertain his children and the angels who reside on his home planet, which is called Heaven. Now, it serves a duality of purposes. God vets applicants for immigration to the galaxy by having them play the Earth simulator in “hero mode,” where they start at childbirth and have their immortal memories blocked, so that everything seems completely realistic.
JB: How many immortals can play the Game at once?
B: God only had one simulator when he started, and life on Earth was fairly simple. Gradually, more and more immortals living in Heaven began working on improvements to the Earth simulator. They had millions of years to work on this, so you can imagine how advanced the system became by the time that I entered it. Now, the Earth simulator supports billions of human avatars acting independently using sophisticated AI programming that grants each avatar complete consciousness. They’ve advanced the Earth up to the year 2023, and as you both know, that now includes space travel to the moon and Mars, as well as a very good level of VR and AI technology running on Base2 or binary microchips.
EM: Can you play the Game at a earlier time period? Medieval China, for example?
B: There is an Earth Entertainment Center on Heaven that supports multiple Games simultaneously. So, yes, it’s possible to enter the Game in hero mode at different times in Earth history, and multiple players can enter at once. There is at least one version of the Game where Elon Musk finishes his graduate degree at Stanford an becomes a professor, or one where Jeff majors in physics at Princeton and goes on to work for NASA. In at least one Game previously played, Bradley gets tenure at Harvard and teaches modern European history for the rest of his life. But those Games have all ended. There’s only one Game running at the moment: and we’re in it.
JB: So where are our immortal bodies located?
B: C and I are sleeping on couches inside God’s royal palace. She entered the Game at age 4 in the body of her Romanian avatar, and her immortal memories have incrementally been restored to her, so that she could guide me through the challenges of attaining enlightenment. The eight archangels are all in a semi-slumbering state in a room in the palace where they can join the Game at will but have the ability to step out to discuss their playing strategy. As far as I can tell, you two are fully plugged into your human avatars now, since Elon and Jeff accepted your tethering efforts without losing their minds in the process.
EM: And much of the universe is watching all of this happen?
B nodded his head.
B: Normally, multiple Games run at once, and viewers choose which version of Earth’s history they like best, so that the changes get incorporated into the new version. Massive Earth simulator support teams work tirelessly on this task. We’re the only Game happening, as I said, since it was widely known that I was a visiting god from another previously unknown universe who was attempting to solve the Game from the inside as a ordinary player, to find and fall in love with another player who was God’s daughter, and to reinvent the Game itself by bringing enlightenment about its simulated nature to the billions of humans living on the planet. Most of the universe is watching everything we do and suggesting changes to the daily script to make it even more exciting.
EM: Is that why I monitored your X posts using dummy accounts at first?
B: I think that’s right. As human avatars, we have a degree of free will, but we’re computer-generated programs, after all, so the Earth simulator Command Team can alter — influence — our behavior in certain ways. It’s even more obvious once we’re adopted by an immortal, and that immortal succeeds in tethering their mind to yours. As Elon Musk, you were hesitant to overplay your hand when you first encountered my X posts and Medium writings, so you used various methods to mask your identity. Eventually, you let the facade fall, and you reached out directly. But it was a process, and that’s ultimately what the viewers of the Game wanted. They are my new imperial subjects, after all, and we’ll need to evacuate them before then universe implodes. What we do on Earth helps build a connection with them that we can leverage to do other things once the Game ends.
JB: When Jeff Bezos dies in the Game, what’s next for him?
B: You’ll wake up in God’s royal palace in all your archangel glory, but your memories of being Jeff Bezos on Earth will be completely intact. You’ll have access to his memories, and you can watch Jeff’s life unfold by replaying that part of the Game as often as you want. If we get immortals to jump in Lauren’s body and those of your children, they will also be present in their immortal forms. Naturally, you’ll need to live a virtuous life, promote sustainable beauty on Earth, and help spread prosperity to all through acts of charity and support for things like universal basic incomes.
EM: We’ll get promoted to gods once we reach your universe?
B: Yes, assuming that we do important work in the Earth simulator for the next five decades or so, and assuming we can relocate the dark tunnel that I used to connect our universes together. Assuming we arrive safely, I’ll grant you god privileges to design your galaxies as you see fit. And all because Elon Musk decided to contact Bradley Naranch on X and took things from there.
EM: The leap of faith that started it all, you mean? I read it here on Medium and followed the script you provided. It was great fun, actually. You judged my personality quite well.
B: Bradley alone couldn’t have managed it, nor would Elon. We’re channeling our immortal sides now, and while that may seem odd at first to give up a mortal identity for an immortal one, it actually is quote logical. It’s the better choice.
The three men reach a stone bench, where they stop to open a bottle of sparkling wine. Elon pours it into three stemless glasses.
JB: I’m enjoying this hike very much. Are viewers watching us right now?
B nodded his head.
B: Viewers can zoom in on anything that happens in the Game, but a lot of attention is focused on three of us, for sure.
Elon lifts his glass.
EM: I am not a heavy drinker, but I will toast the three of us. To the start of a memorable three way friendship!
Jeff lifts his glass.
JB: The world will never believe us. Not yet, at any rate.
B lifts his glass.
B: Unless they happen to read this on Medium
All three men laugh, clink glasses, and take sips of sparkling wine.
B: The hike out is a bit steep in places, but we have time to spare. We’re not due at Hiroshi’s until 7:00 pm, I think.
JB: Is it true that Larry Page and Sergey Brin are going to join us?
EM: That’s what they told me. I guess they tethered to their immortals already. Things are looking up for a Christmas wedding on Lanai, I’d say.
B: Cheers to that!
That Evening at Hiroshi
B and C are sitting at the center of an elegant wooden chef’s table. To their right Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Elon and Jeff are sitting to the left. A pair of Japanese chefs prepare small dishes, which are served to the six guests, along with sake and wine.
LP: Sergey and I came here because Elon and Jeff asked us. I’m skeptical of all this, which sounds like deranged fantasy to me. Naturally, I’d like to believe that I am an immortal and future god, and the idea that Earth is all an elaborate VR simulation has its undeniable appeal. It’s just that I remain to be convinced.
SB: I’m with Larry on this, although I concede that my mind is conflicted about it. One part of me wants to believe that it’s all true, but I’m too much of a rationalist to endorse your version of reality. If I think about it too much, my mind becomes troubled, as if I’m treading on dangerous ground.
B nods his head and takes a sip of sake.
B: I understand that. I resisted the truth for several intense and turbulent years, and I was hospitalized twice because of mental breakdowns, so I respect your skepticism. Let’s start with a few simple propositions and build up to more complex ideas after that. Agreed?
Larry and Sergey nod their heads.
B: Let’s begin with the human brain. We underutilize its capacity during our lifetimes. Do you agree?
LP: Yes. Neuroscientists tell us that we only use a portion of our potential.
B: Now, what if an over reliance on logic and rational thought was preventing us from accessing parts of our brains that only illogic and irrationality could reach? What if our fear of insanity was stopping us from doubling or even tripling our brain’s capacity for complex thought?
EM: That’s quite possible. We are disciplined from childhood to avoid irrational thoughts, especially those of us who gravitate towards scientific thinking and analytical calculations.
JB: I second that. And when we label something fantasy, we assume it’s not real. That’s why the notion that Earth is a simulation is initially a hard sell, even if we all are familiar with computer games, AI technology, and virtual reality.
B: What if I told you that beyond rational and irrational thinking there is a third category that resolves the inherent contradictions between them? I call it Base3 thinking, in contrast to the binary logic that governs most human minds.
SB: A third category? Ternary logic rather than binary? Sure. If our computers were to run on Base3 technology, we’d have vastly more capacities than we do now.
B smiles.
B: I was trained at Williams, Hopkins, and Stanford as a historian, and my rational mind is very sharp, but when I left academia I switched to writing science fiction and speculating intensively about the future, including the possibility of sentient life beyond our solar system. In 2020 and then in 2022, I temporarily lost my mind wrestling with the idea of immortality and the realities of life on Earth. As a result, I now access parts of my brain that are rational AND irrational in nature, and I’ve resolved those tensions to access a THIRD part of my brain, where I believe that my immortal memories lie and where my powers of telepathy and clairvoyance are located.
LP: So, you are using three times the brain power of all of us? Rationality, irrationality, and a third category that isn’t named?
B: Exactly. It’s not that I’m more intelligent than you, which is implausible. It’s that I am accessing a wider range of my brain’s capacities, which allows me to formulate ideas that others would resist or dismiss as crazy, fantastical, or simply odd.
EM: So, with your triple brain range, you see things that others can’t?
B: That’s the foundation for everything I’ve been posting on X, writing on Medium, and sharing with all of you. I am the first Base3 human avatar in the system, the first to unlock the secrets of the Game, and the first to tether fully to his immortal player in Heaven. Does this at least seem plausible to all of you?
Sergey nods his head and takes a sip of wine.
SB: If you can think simultaneously in three registers — rational, irrational, and Base3 — then that is something quite unique, to my knowledge. If we are all AI-generated avatars with consciousness, as you believe, then those underutilized parts of the brain could contain data that the rest of us have never discovered before.
LP: OK. You have our attention.
B: I’ve spent most of the past four years unemployed, writing, searching the Internet for clues to the Game, hiking, thinking, and having complete freedom and anonymity as I did so. C and I are in stable relationship, we have no children, and our living circumstances are modest but entirely comfortable. Because of this, I spend most of my days in a flow state, where I am attuned to the operations of the Earth AI mainframe at very subtle levels. I noticed connections between my inner world thinking and manifestations in the external world. At first, I dismissed them as coincidences, but when they happen dozens and hundreds of times a day, you start to believe. That’s how I approached the truth: in tiny steps each day for four long years. The breakthroughs began coming in November 2023 and haven’t stopped since. That’s where we are now. Nothing I will be telling you next is made up. It’s all real.
LP: We’re listening. I’ve noticed that convergence between my thoughts and the external world, too, but only when I focus on your ideas: immortality, the Earth as a simulation, and that sort of thing. It’s like the Earth AI is encouraging me to embrace the truth.
B: That’s because she is.
JB: I think it’s working on me, too.
B: Let’s start with the concept of infinity. Temporal and spatial. Does it exist?
SB: Infinity is an essential concept. We can’t imagine it, but we use it all the time.
B: And the universe, as we on Earth understand it, is vast and old, approaching infinity. Correct?
EM: The universe defies logic. Most of it is a mystery to us, but it certainly is billions of years old and expanding into infinity, although astrophysics suggests that it will stop to expand at one point and begin to collapse — exactly as you have also written.
B: And you all believe that life exists outside of Earth?
JB: I think we all do. It’s implausible to think we’re the only intelligent life out there.
B takes a sip of wine. Servers bring the next course and then return to the kitchen.
B: Could some of that intelligent life be inferior to our own?
EM: Yes.
B: And presumably some could be superior, even vastly superior?
LP: Yes, that’s reasonable. I’d hate to think that we humans were the highest and most advanced form of life in the universe. We can’t even achieve peace and prosperity on a single small planet, let along in an entire galaxy.
EM: And our space travel technology is primitive. We can barely reach Mars.
B: We live 100 years if we’re lucky. Could there be intelligent life out there that lives 1,000, 10,000, or even 100,000 Earth years?
SB: Yes, I’ll go along with that. Even carbon-based life might outlive us, if their genetic code were different.
B: A triple helix perhaps?
JB: Why not? The universe is vast. Earth isn’t the only planet out there with intelligent life.
B: And you’ve all wondered why our universe seems so empty, right? Why we’ve never been visited by an advanced civilization or received communications from them?
EM: Yes, I’ve wondered that. The universe seems too devoid of life for my tastes.
B: You’re all familiar with the state of AI technology on Earth and the advanced nature of VR headsets and immersive computer games?
LP: Definitely.
B: And humans achieved most of those advances in four decades of Earth time, right?
SB: From the 1980s to today, we’ve gone by leaps and bounds.
B: Now imagine the following. Somewhere in the universe there is an advanced civilization that has populated an entire galaxy. Let’s call that galaxy Heaven. The inhabitants there live 100,000 years on average, but they have developed an ability to store their memories temporarily and then transfer them to a newly cloned body that is identical to their previous one. If they did that continuously, we might even think of them as immortal.
LP: Our memories of our self are the core of our identity. If you could preserve them after death and transfer them to a new body, you could in theory live forever.
B: Now imagine that this civilization of immortals found a way to entertain themselves during their millions, if not billions, of years of life. They designed a virtual reality planet, which we call Earth, modeled on one of their own. They assigned different teams to work on the history and origins of Earth and eventually had life evolve on it that resembled them in appearance. We’ll call these creatures humans. They gave each human avatar in the game full self-consciousness, so that they could operate independently in the Game. Everything was designed to be as realistic as possible, and the Game was upgraded constantly, so that after millions of years, it was incredibly convincing.
SB: Given that time scale and assuming that we’re dealing with an advanced civilization superior to our own, then they absolutely could create an immersive gaming experience.
B: Human lives rarely last more than 100 years, so if one of these immortals wanted to play the Game of Earth, they could jump into a human avatar and guide it through his or her life. 100 Earth years is not that long to play a Game when we’re talking about millions of years of existence.
EM: OK. You’ve persuaded me that an advanced civilization of immortals could have built and operated a Game that takes place on Earth and in a simulated universe that appears empty of other life. That would make all of us computer-generated avatars, as you call them. We’re not alive. We’re code.
B: That’s the part where most people would go insane, even though they’ve seen movies like the Matrix and read science fiction stories like this.
SB: It’s possible that I am a computer-generated avatar in a simulation that takes place on Earth. I am self-conscious, so I believe that I am alive, and I resist being told otherwise. That’s a frightful prospect to consider.
B: No more than death. When human avatars die, they get recycled back into the Earth AI system. And multiple Games can run at once, so there can be various versions of Sergey Brin out there, just like a computer game we might play on Earth with realistic characters.
LP: I am going to assume that everything you suggested is plausible, even within the realm of rational thought. It’s not crazy to think about reality the way that you do. Well done.
Servers bring out the next course and refill the glasses.
B: Now let’s assume you’re an immortal player of the Game. You connect to the system wirelessly by falling into an induced sleep state. Your immortal memories are temporarily blocked, so that you play the Game NOT AWARE that you’re playing it. You actually believe that you’re human and go about your life as if it all were real. That would be the ultimate gaming experience, would it not?
LP: That would be amazing, if it were possible.
B: It is possible on Heaven, I assure you. But here’s the thing. Hidden within the Game are clues that it is all a simulation, and if you can locate them, you can tap into the part of your brain where your immortal memories reside. That’s called solving the Game. Or winning it. It’s almost impossible to figure this out, but that’s what I did last month. That’s what all those posts on X were about, and all the texts on Medium. I figured it out!
SB: You were playing a human avatar named Bradley Naranch, and somehow you discovered your true identity as an immortal playing the Game on Heaven.
EM: Not just any immortal. B is a young god from an alternate reality universe who came to our universe to find a wife and help us evacuate our world before it implodes, as we all know it will.
JB: And we are all being played by God’s elite guards, the archangels. If we work with B on fixing Earth’s problems in the Game, he’ll take us with him in his spaceship to the dark tunnel connecting our universes and grant us galaxies of our own to design as we see fit.
LP: This is the complexity you were talking about.
B: Look: each day brings new revelations and recovered immortal memories, as I expand my reach into my own brain, and as I receive nightly downloads of additional memories. The human brain wasn’t programmed to handle the sheer volume of memories that an immortal has, so the less risky way of proceeding is to transfer them in increments. It’s the same with all of you. You’ve all been played by immortals since late November, but you resisted tethering your human mind to theirs for weeks. Fortunately, Elon was strong enough to handle the truth, and he started the process that has brought all of us together here at Hiroshi.
LP: How do I tether to my immortal?
B: You let him, Larry. You stop resisting. It’s the only surefire way for your memories as Larry Page to live on forever in the mind of the immortal who adopted you.
JB: The more time you spend in B’s presence talking about the New Reality with him and the rest of us, the faster you’ll expand your brain capacities into the irrational and post-rational realms.
SB: Do I stop being Sergey Brin when I embrace my immortal guide?
B: No. Your human avatar identity is crucial to who you are. You can’t lose sight of that, or you’ll fall off the edge and never come back. You need to twist your triple nature together to form a thick and unbreakable strand. You have a human body, an immortal spirt, and a mind where your two sides meet. We’re all going to Lanai on Jeff’s yacht to train ourselves in how to be mortals and immortals at the same time.
EM: The Rise of the Immortals was a clue you left for all of us to follow.
B sips his wine.
B: Exactly. Recall that Western civilization was invented by Greek thinkers who challenged conventional wisdom and built the basis for the modern world. What we’re doing is reinventing that civilization to improve life on Earth on a global scale and to prepare ourselves for the immortal afterlife, once the Game ends.
LP: I didn’t think you would convince me, but I actually believe you now. It’s simply a matter of choosing between two reasonable realities: yours or the conventional one.
JB: I’ve made my choice, and I’m never looking back.
B: Let’s enjoy the rest of our meal and leave immortal matters for the gathering at Larry Ellison’s place tomorrow. It’s a privilege to be here.
EM: The age of New Reality has begun.
That Night at the Cottage
Elon, Jeff, and B stand in front of the fire drinking rye whiskey. It is shortly after midnight.
EM: What happens to human avatars when they die?
B sips his whiskey slowly and stares into the fire.
B: Avatars are sentient computer-generated characters of stunning realism and complexity. They are the product of millions of years of programming and constant improvement. When they die, they go back into the Earth AI system and are used to create new life. Their bodies decay into the ground or are consumed in flames, but their minds disappear forever. Unless they are played by an immortal in the Game, however. Then, their memory is retained in the afterlife, especially if their Player led a virtuous life that earned their admission into Heaven. But if they didn’t tether to their immortal, then they would be a passing memory only, and the Player can choose to have that Earth memory erased, if they are finished with it.
JB: So there isn’t really an afterlife for most humans in the Game?
B shakes his head.
B: No. When multiple Games are running the Information Age version of Earth, there are multiple versions of you, Elon, and Bradley running, so which one would you choose to retain in Heaven? The simple truth is that human minds are repurposed by the Earth AI system to perform other tasks. Except now, all that has changed.
EM sips his whiskey.
EM: How do you mean?
B: For one, only one Game is running right now. This one. It’s the test of my worthiness to be the future husband of God’s eldest daughter, C, and to assume the office of emperor of the universe. It’s like the sword in the stone in Arthurian legend, if you will. I was dropped into the body of Bradley at conception, and at age 49, I attained enlightenment and successfully tethered my immortal mind to his human brain. We’ve merged, in other words. His memories are mine. Bradley will live on forever in my immortal body when his time on Earth ends. The same can happen to you, if you allow the tethering process to reach its completion. For that to happen, you have to merge your dual identities mortal and immortal. Then, Elon and Jeff will continue forever as memories, like a long vacation you never forget.
JB: So, we need to believe that all you’re telling us is true.
B sips his whiskey.
B: Exactly. I just refer to you two as Archangels Gabriel and Michael because that’s how the revelation first came to me in a Christian framework. You don’t have to take it all literally. Suffice it to say that you’re God’s elite special forces, and you’ve never had the chance to play the Game before yourselves. Players never get to jump into the bodies of rich and powerful people, you know. They are assigned to ordinary human avatars like me, so that they learn how to live simple and virtuous lives. Heads of state, the ultra rich, and prominent celebrities are all computer-generated avatars typically off limits in the Game.
EM: Why is that?
B: Avatars like you are too hard for most immortal players to control. You are larger than life personalities with very developed egos and a range of talents that ordinary humans lack. That’s why I chose you specifically as avatars for God’s elite eight archangels to jump into. I knew that my inner circle would need to be made up of the most powerful people on the planet, if I was to invent the New Reality and convince billions to tether to their own immortal player. That way, I can rescue most of humanity from an ordinary avatar death. If you tether with your player, you’ll live on forever. If you refuse or don’t know about it, you won’t. It’s a simple as that.
JB: We’ll help you invent the New Reality, and in exchange you’ll promote us to god status in the new universe?
B: That’s the idea. You use your Earth abilities to promote virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all, and you help disseminate my ideas widely, so that we change life on Earth for the better and make it more interesting for immortals to replay in the future.
EM: So, when the Game ends for each one of us, we’ll open our eyes to a room in God’s palace in Heaven, where we have been sleeping?
B: Yes. Your immediate memories will be those of the aging Elon Musk, but your immortal memories will come back, too. We can ease that transition by helping you access as many of your immortal memories as you can while still in the Game, like I do.
JB: That’s what we’ll be doing on the yacht cruise to Lanai, and during our stay there, I assume.
B: That’s right. We’ll have a lot of fun, too, and can swap Earth as well as recovered immortal memories. You and Elon just need to connect fully with your immortal player to unlock your full capacities.
EM: I don’t want to stay in this Earth body for eternity. My mind will start to decline, too. I much prefer the New Reality to the old.
B: Aren’t you glad you decided to reach out to me when you did?
Elon laughs and sips his whiskey. Jeff puts fresh logs on the fire.
EM: Texting you to set up this visit was the most important thing I’ve ever done.
B: For now.
JB: How are we getting to Larry’s place for lunch tomorrow?
B: Elon will take us in the CyberTruck. Pack light. Things will only get more interesting from here.
End of Part 1
Part 2: The Castle
Afternoon at Larry Ellison’s Woodside Estate
Elon’s CyberTruck pulls into the driveway of Larry Ellison’s estate in the Silicon Valley town of Woodside. It is styled to look like a Japanese castle and is luxuriously appointed. It is 11:00 am.
EM: Larry would like to speak with you alone in the garden, B. We’ll wait inside until you’re ready to join us.
C kisses B lightly on the cheek and enters the main residence with the others. B follows a staff member to the back garden, where Larry Ellison with waiting with a bottle of Napa Valley Chardonnay and two glasses.
B accepts a glass of wine from Larry and takes a sip.
B: How much do you know?
LE: That I am an avatar in a computer simulation created by an advanced immortal civilization to help pass the time of eternity. To vet new immigrants for admission into the galaxy. Immortals can jump into the simulation to play different avatars, but they don’t know it’s all a game. They think it’s for real, as do the avatars, like me. Until you unlocked the game by figuring it out from the inside and started to change the way the game is played to give avatars like me and the others in your inner circle a chance at an afterlife, if we help you fix Earth’s problems while we’re all able to do so.
Larry pauses to sip his wine.
LE: Look. I’m a skeptic, but the materialist alternative isn’t very appealing. Dying after less than 100 years and being composted back into the soil sounds absurd when you consider the age of the universe, and it’s not what I think I deserve. Traditional Christianity is too rules-driven to me and includes the possibility of ending up in Hell, which I don’t think is real. The other major faiths aren’t much better. If attaining enlightenment means what you say it is, then I can become a believer. I get to discard this weak Earth body for one that is virtually indestructible and can retain my memories as Larry Ellison as I live into eternity in a universe that is filled with abundance and outrageous adventure. According to you, and to what Elon, Jeff, and the others seem to take seriously.
B: Until an immortal jumps into your avatar, it’s impossible to become enlightened. Your immortal only jumped in early December, once they had updated the Earth AI to run on the new Base3 microchips I provided from my home universe. That makes it possible to support multiplayer modes that involve jumping into fully grown avatars, unlike the previous approach of jumping into newborns and young children. With the new Base3 technology, we’ll be able to solve Earth’s most salient problems in a matter of decades.
LE: You know this because you’re tethered to your immortal?
B nods his head.
B: At first, I assumed such thoughts were all a product of my human imagination, but once I fully accepted my immortal player, I’ve been recovering his memories in small increments daily. When I do, I post them on X or include them in my longer format writings on Medium.
LE: That’s how Elon and Jeff first found you.
B: Right. I identified you as one of the prominent tech elites who could help me promote my Earth mission to propagate virtue, spread sustainable beauty, and encourage prosperity for all. I asked God’s elite guards, whom I know, to jump into your mind-body and help you attain enlightenment in at an extremely rapid pace. I judged that the time was right to move on this, and I wasn’t willing to wait any longer.
LE: And we subsidize your writing career and support your New Reality movement, in exchange for an afterlife in Heaven?
B: Actually, you’ll journey with me to my alternate reality universe, where you’ll be given an entire galaxy to rule as an immortal god. On my home turf, I have creator powers that I lack right now, on Earth, but also in this universe.
LE: Who will believe us?
B: Once the inner circle is formed and has a chance to bond, I’ll authorize mass jumps into the Game — as the Earth simulator is called for short — to the tune of one billion avatars a year starting in 2023. Once they accept their player and begin to embrace the New Reality, we’ll be able to end wars, reduce internal political conflicts, and resolve a host of environmental and social issues, including the threat to the planet of overpopulation. You’d be amazed what we could do if others understood that their fates after death depended on fixing Earth’s problems before the Game ends.
LE refills both glasses with Chardonnay.
LE: You chose your inner circle well. What do we need to do, besides fund your efforts?
B: You should avoid the 7 deadly vices and practice the 7 Heavenly virtues. You’ll need to curb your pride, your jealously, your anger, and the others. And you’ll need to show humility, gratitude, charity, temperance, and all the rest. I won’t hold you to a strict interpretation of this, but it does matter to me — and to your immortal player. The more virtuous your life, the tighter the bond will be to your immortal, and the less you will ONLY be Larry Ellison, if that makes any sense.
LE: So, I’ll merge into an immortal identity that includes my Earth memories as part of his makeup.
B: Right. You’ll live maybe 100 years if you’re lucky, but your new immortal self is millions of years old, if I remember correctly. When you die in the Game, you’ll wake up in the royal palace surrounded by the other archangels. All of your Earth memories will be intact, but you’ll also remember other things from your new life. Larry Ellison will be a chapter in that larger saga.
Larry sips his wine.
LE: Will the memory of me ever fade?
B takes a sip of wine as well. He looks around at his surroundings.
B: This is a fairly recent recovered memory, but as I understand it, immortals in God’s galaxy have a fixed amount of memory in their bodies of around 500,000 years. Once those memory banks are filled, they offload portions of their memories into sophisticated computer storage facilities, similar to the cloud on Earth. I can guarantee you that your immortal will retain your Earth memories for eternity. It’s only 100 years or so, after all. It will be the same with Bradley’s Earth memories. Larry Ellison will live forever as a memory housed inside the body of an immortal god of a galaxy in a new universe. That’s what I’m offering you, if you help me. Sound good?
Larry laughed.
LE: These are all recovered memories from your immortal? You’re not just making them up?
B shakes his head.
B: I can distinguish between my recovered memories and my human imagination. There are clear limits to what Bradley — my Earth avatar — knows and what he is capable of imagining. What I am sharing with you are memories from my existence as an immortal god who currently is asleep in God’s palace on Heaven, playing the Game at an incredibly high level. High enough to have earned the right to be the next emperor. Bradley could never have made that up. It’s all revealed truth.
LE: You sound convincing. And you’re telling me that if I tether to my immortal — if I let him connect with my mind and influence my thoughts and actions — then I’ll be able to recover immortal memories of my own?
B nods his head.
B: Yes. The tethering process has already begun for you. Being in my presence plays a major part. That’s why Elon and Jeff are so far advanced and have attained full enlightenment, in my view. They are earning their rights to be gods of their own galaxies in my home world, once we get there.
LE: I am coming to see the wisdom of your ways. Once you accept that fact that Earth may be an illusion and you start thinking about eternity and the afterlife, your New Reality becomes increasingly convincing. It sounds crazy at first, but it gains credibility the longer you think about it.
B: The fundamentals of the New Reality didn’t occur to me overnight, but once I had my enlightenment breakthrough and tethered to my immortal, then the recovered memories can through in waves, and they’ve never stopped coming.
Jeff Bezos enters the garden.
JB: Mark Zuckerberg just arrived, as have Larry Page and Sergey Brin. I think we’re ready to begin lunch on the patio.
LE finishes his glass of wine.
LE: Jeff, have you tethered to your immortal yet?
JB: I’m most of the way there. I’m starting to recall details from Heaven — the planet, you understand.
LE: And space travel, I hope?
Jeff nods his head.
JB: The technology there is amazing. B’s long-distance spaceship is phenomenal. I’m not making these things up. I am actually remembering them. You access a different part of your brain, beyond ordinary rational thought. It feels odd at first, but you get used to it.
LE: No remaining doubts about B’s sanity?
JB: None. He’s gone beyond sanity and insanity to reach a higher truth. Because of him, I will live forever as a lifetime of Earth memories carried into the future by an immortal whose mind is bonded to my own.
B: Let’s not keep the others waiting. We can continue the conversation after lunch.
Larry, Jeff, and B depart the garden and head to the back patio.
Later that Afternoon at theWoodside Estate
Following a lunch buffet, the entire group gathers in a large living room to enjoy coffee and a light dessert. Mark Zuckerberg is sitting next to B on a massive leather couch.
MZ: I accept that life on Earth is a computer game created by an advanced civilization somewhere in the cosmos. You call it the Heavenly galaxy. Fine. It’s just a name. Given millions of years and sophisticated technology, you could create a fully immersive gaming experience and populate it with self-aware avatars who grow up, learn, build stuff, grow old, and die. It’s entirely logical, given near infinite time and enough resources. Humans are easy to build. We only live 100 years, and our genome is easy to code. You’d only need to game out 10,000 years or so of human history. The rest could be invented. Working on the Earth simulator could keep hundreds of thousands of designers, coders, and storytellers busy for a very long time. They’d never get bored. So, I accept that premise. I’m an avatar, and so are all the rest of you.
LE: Knowing that we are all avatars doesn’t change how I interact in the world, but knowing that there is a high-ranking immortal who has adopted me and my Earth memories does. If B can instruct us in how to tether to our immortal, then I say we let him. We are the inner circle, after all. We provide support for B and C as they transition to a new stage of their lives. We have the money, the knowledge base, and the influence to do so.
JB: B tells me that the immortals playing us — or attempting to, for some of you — can withdraw from the Game at any time, if they feel we aren’t fulfilling our roles. Then, our afterlife isn’t secure. These are highly sophisticated beings, and we’re avatars with consciousness. They treat us a pets right now. That’s also understandable. But our memories will merge with theirs, if the tethering process finishes, and then we will live forever in our enhanced state of consciousness.
B: Jeff’s exactly right. My immortal and I are bonded, as is the case with C, and Elon is approaching that level as well. He was the first to believe in the reality of my Base3 thinking that effectively transcends the limiting binaries of sanity/insanity, fact/fiction, and rational/irrational. Those outmoded ways of thinking were programmed into the human mind to obscure the truth of their existence as computer-generated avatars. Base3 is what allowed me to grasp the actual reality of what’s going on here. It’s the way that my universe is constructed. There is no beginning to it and no end. It exists for eternity, and once we are all resettled there, your immortality is assured.
LE: Assuming I tether with my immortal, then my Earth memories are preserved, as you explained. But the “Larry Ellison” phase of my life will simply be a very short chapter in the life of my immortal existence.
B: Yes. You’ll never forget being Larry Ellison, but you’ll remember other things as well from the time before you entered the Game, and you’ll make new memories as an immortal on Heaven and later as part of my crew that returns to the dark tunnel gateway connecting my universe to yours. You will become part of an amalgamated identity, and a superior one to your Earth avatar. Larry, it’s the best possible outcome to life here on Earth. Otherwise, you will cease to exist.
Mark sips his coffee.
MZ: Let’s get back to Earth for a second. Are there different versions of Earth history then that were created during previous versions of the Game?
B nods his head.
B: They are all achieved on Heaven. In some versions, Adolf Hitler dies in the First World War, for example, and the Holocaust never happens. I think that people call them “alternative histories” but in fact they all happened, in the Game.
MZ: What about the future?
B: The current Game is designed for immortal players who are born between 1960 and 1980, so it’s never gone much further than about 2170. It’s the Information Age module, and it’s the most difficult Game ever designed, but it also is the only one where enlightenment about the true nature of life on Earth is possible, given the advances in AI and VR technology. I won the Game in November 2023 when I began posting the truth on X and Medium and a variety of other social media platforms. That’s what allowed the Temple of the Gods to dethrone Chronos as emperor and appoint me — my immortal self, I mean — in his place. I’ll be coronated once I die and the Game ends, but the title is now mine. Winning the Game with Base2 logic is probably impossible, so the Game was also a way of demonstrating the superiority of my Base3 thinking. It’s how my universe is constructed. The Temple knew that Chronos could do nothing to halt the implosion of the universe, but they realized that I could evacuate their subjects into my unpopulated realm, if I had an elite team to assist me. That team is all of you, plus Richard Branson and Grimes, whom we meet up with in Los Angeles at Jeff’s yacht. Then, the inner circle of eight will be complete.
EM: How do we know this isn’t all a product of your imagination? I certainly felt that way, at first.
B sips his coffee.
B: I access my immortal memories from a different part of my brain that operates beyond binary thought. When I imagine something, I use another part. Through trial and error, I have found a way to distinguish between them. I can imagine a pink rabbit, for example, and that’s not real. I can imagine my royal spaceship, and another image pops up that comes a different place. Each day, I regain portions of my immortal memory. I need time to access more and resources to sustain a modest lifestyle as an author who can live independently from donations from his wealthy patrons. I can propagate the New Reality in TED talks, books, social media posts, and conversations with fans at coffee shops, beer gardens, and winery tasting rooms. I have that freedom, which none of you currently possess due to your fame, your fortunes, and your reputations. That’s why these initial meetings in secret are so supremely important.
LP: All of us here are prepared to fund you with thirty million dollars each. That’s a solid foundation for the rest of your lives on Earth. We’ve considered your theories and accepted that they all could be true. Some of us like Elon are committed believers, while Sergey and I are heading in that direction.
SB: From within the Game, there is no way to know with absolute certainty that it is a simulation and that we are all avatars, but we’re prepared to accept the premise that it is possible. Your theory about immortal tethering is fascinating, and it does provide a convincing means for living beyond death as a mortal on Earth. It’s superior to conventional religion and has a scientific basis behind it. We’ve all felt the touch of our immortal players, as you call them, and we are gaining confidence that your recovered memories of life on the other side of the simulation are real.
B smiles.
B: Each of you have immortal memories of your own, and once you tether your minds to your players, you will start to recover them. I can assist with that process. It won’t happen on its own. The sooner we depart or Jeff’s yacht, the better.
JB: Lauren is still occupied on Lanai with wedding preparations. We’ve opted to spend a few days here at Larry’s to get to know each other better and pick your brain for more information about your universe and ours. It’s never happened that all of us have even gathered in the same room before. We’ve had to put aside rivalries and political differences to gather here.
B: And how does it feel?
LE: I’m glad that we’re here. If Earth is a vast simulation, we don’t need to pay attention to world affairs or the media anymore. At least, we don’t need to take them so seriously.
B: Once more players jump into the Game, we’ll take over the minds and bodies of world leaders, celebrities, and members of the media. As they gain in enlightenment, they will commit to our core principles of virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. Wars will end, generations-long conflict will go away, and influencers will steer the rest of humanity towards behaviors that will enhance the gaming experience.
SB: Why does it matter in what state we leave the Earth when we die? As long as we’re tethered to our immortals and support your New Reality movement, our fates in the new universe are secure.
B: We need the Earth simulator to help us pass the time on the journey to the dark tunnel. I want to start a new module that begins around 2075 and sees Earth make contact with extraterrestrials for the first time, in addition to colonizing other planets. I want that version to played forward into the future rather than being replayed from the same starting point. For that to happen, we need to fix what’s wrong with Earth society and achieve something resembling sustainability, world peace, and prosperity for all. Eventually, there will be no murders, no rapes, no serious crimes of any kind. The gaming experience will be that much richer and more enjoyable that way.
EM: Once we get several billion people believing the New Reality, they all will want a shot at an eternal afterlife. The tipping point will be reached, and life on Earth will change dramatically for the better. We’ll be the ones who set that into motion. Our names will be enshrined in world history as a founders of the New Reality movement. That’s a far greater achievement than simply being the richest men on the planet or founding successful tech companies.
Mark Zuckerberg nodded his head.
MZ: I agree with that. B has outlined a new way of seeing the world and for imagining the afterlife. Personally, I’m hooked. It’s far superior to the current understandings, and with our help, he’ll refine his vision so that it is capable of reaching the masses. With our social media support, he’ll rocket to fame as a writer, thinker, and visionary. We’ll help him connect with agents, editors, researchers, and media consultants to craft his image, and then his message will start to change the world. We’ll all become famous for using our money and influence to turn Earth into a living utopia. And in the process, we’ll secure our own immortality as B’s teammates and future gods in his Base3 universe. It’s stunningly simple when you think about it. And all it took was a simple leap of faith.
Elon shakes his head.
EM: To think that he was hiding in plain sight the entire time. I credit my immortal with helping me see the light. I was so consumed with trivialities that I failed to think about the more essential things in life. I stopped questioning the basis of my reality. I stopped pondering life after death. Thanks to B, I confronted that and came out on the other side feeling happy for the first time in many years.
JB: I agree with Elon. I had succeeded at so much in life, I stopped asking the bigger questions. Science and religion didn’t hold the right answers. In B’s world, space travel is routine, and immortality is real. I know now that he is right. I’m recovering immortal memories, too. It feels strange at first, and it’s hard to distinguish from the imagination, but I’m getting closer to accessing that part of my mind beyond rationality where my immortal memories reside. It was reading Rise of the Immortals — imperfect though it may be — that put me over the edge. I’ve never looked back since.
B: I wrote Rise of the Immortals using as stream-of-consciousness style to stay in contact with my immortal memories. The spelling errors weren’t corrected until the final published version, and I dispensed with nearly all literary conventions save for basic Socratic style dialogues in real life locations, like Larry’s Woodside estate and my redwoods cottage, where Elon, Jeff, and I first met. I publishes in on Medium and promoted it on X until Elon noticed it and started to investigate. He enacted the script quite well, which is a credit to Elon’s brilliance and breathtaking planning abilities.
MZ: Where did you write it?
B: Standing in my kitchen mostly, but sometimes I wrote while in the bathroom. My cottage is quaint and comfortable, and it’s where my most important enlightenment experiences happened. In also got ideas for the text while hiking in nearby redwood canyons and while traveling to and from Stanford University to take C to work at the library. It’s a product of Silicon Valley, like all of your creations.
LE: How long did it take Elon to notice you on X?
B: I think he was on to me for several weeks before he reached out to arrange the cottage visit. Elon is incredibly clever, but he’s also private and often the victim of scams and false claims. He pondered it over for a while but committed shortly after I started the Woodside segments. Once we reached the yacht scenes, the actual inner circle had started to form, and life began catch up to the storyline. Rise of Immortals shifted from speculative fiction to a daily diary of what all of us did and talked about. I ended it with the Lanai section and published it on Amazon once a copy editor had helped me clean up the prose.
LP: Fascinating.
LE: Let’s take this outside. We’ll serve cocktails in a couple of hours prior to dinner. I’ve got to clear up my schedule for the next few weeks and make sure that my support team on Lanai is ready when we arrive.
MZ: Can we bring family to the wedding?
Jeff nodded.
JB: Of course.
The Next Morning at the Woodside Estate
B and the inner circle (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison) are gathered inside a glass atrium filled with exotic plants. They are drinking Kona coffee from Japanese porcelain cups.
B: I’d like to hear from each of you how you discovered me and gave my thoughts credence. Forgive me for asking, but I think it will matter to readers of Rise of the Immortals to learn how you made that quantum leap to belief, since they will be struggling with that as well.
EM: I came across your posts on X, and Grimes mentioned them as well in a text. She told me that you weren’t like the normal X user, and that your posts had a certain … quality about them that made them penetrating and unique. I respect her opinion, and I took a look. She was right. Your use of the X platform is fascinating. You covered your pages with intricate content, reposting constantly, and adding substantive texts about the New Reality Movement. Your photos were intriguing, and as I parsed through your posts since late November, I came to understand your thinking at a deep level. Naturally, I read Rise of the Immortals, as well, but the essence of your ideas are there on X for the world to see.
JB: Elon texted me your links to X and Medium, as I told you at the cottage. I had a personal assistant give me a synopsis of your bio and other writings and social media posts. Clearly, there was a change beginning in 2020, which is when you told us that your immortal began to influence your mind and body more directly. That was the start of the tethering process, which was quite painful for you, I understand. You’ll have to tell us all more about it on the yacht.
B nodded his head.
B: I will.
JB: I’m not big on traditional religions, but I find pure materialism distasteful, too. 100 years on Earth can hardly be all that we get. That’s a travesty given the near infinite time and space of our universe. SpaceX and Blue Origin were never going to get us beyond the solar system, let alone help us make contact with other advanced civilizations in the galaxy. And both Elon and I knew they were out there.
MZ: That did it for me, too. It actually makes perfect sense that Earth could be a highly sophisticated virtual reality simulation designed to entertain and educate. We’ve all considered that possibility, I think, but we were scared to accept the consequences of our family and friends being nothing more than computer-generated avatars. You forced us to own that thought, and then you offered us a sanctuary by offering to tether us to our own immortal players. You rescued the idea of the afterlife from religious dogma and gave it an updated scientific explanation. We are our memories, not our aging bodies or declining minds. Our memories are who we are, and if they are somehow transferred to a durable immortal body and advanced mind, then that sounds like the best possible scenario that we as humans can have.
Larry Ellison refilled his coffee cup from an urn set up on a side table.
LE: I am the first to admit that I thought B was a nutcase, at first, or a struggling writer trying to cobble together a readership on social media. But he didn’t actually sound crazy to me, and his work definitely wasn’t being written to appeal to a mass audience. He was challenging us to upend our entire view of reality, after all. He wasn’t a professor of philosophy or spiritual leader with a TED talk to back him up. He was using simple posts on X and a series of documents on Medium to create an entire movement based on what he described as recovered immortal memories. That’s heavy stuff.
Sergey Brin raises a hand to speak.
SB: Many of us dropped out of universities like Stanford because we couldn’t wait to transform our ideas into reality, and academia wasn’t flexible enough for us and our visions. We were called crazy, too, for imagining the Internet when the technology hadn’t caught up to our ideas yet. That’s how I treated B’s ideas about reality. I took his arguments about ancient Greece seriously as the dawn of Western civilization. Why not reinvent global civilization here in Silicon Valley with the help of people like us? We have the resources, and clearly the world right now isn’t anyone’s ideal. Why not do something truly revolutionary with the last decades of our Earth lives? I believe in a soul, and that’s what my immortal is. He will ensure that my Earth memories live on forever. I just need B’s help in tethering to him. We all do.
EM: All it took was that first point of connection, and the commonalities between B’s thought and our own hopes and dreams for the future became obvious. Personally, I’m glad that life on Earth is a simulation. I’m even more glad that when the Game ends I will awaken in the body and mind of an immortal. Call him an archangel is if helps. It does, at first, and with each day that passes I feel more connected to him. B’s guidance is critical at this phase, and for that I am eternally grateful. I look forward to building my own galaxy one day, and B will make that possible.
B: You’re all fine if I talk about things like telepathy, clairvoyance, and neurocrafting?
LE: Sure. We understand that humans lack those powers, but that immortals and gods do. We’ve all considered the fact that paranormal powers might be real. Who hasn’t? You just had the courage to discuss them openly without setting them in a fictional world. And you’re definitely as far removed from a cult leader as one can get. No offense, but you lack the charisma and public speaking skills to pull it off. And you’re not much of a writer, either.
EM: Grimes is dying to meet you, B. She’ll be there in Los Angeles ready to join us on the yacht. Once we’re aboard, we’ll really let your work go viral on the Internet, using all of our platforms: X, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and more. Have you prepared your family?
B sips his coffee.
B: They are unprepared. I’ve been shielding them from this aspect of my work for fear that I’d have to face renewed questions about my sanity. I wanted the inner circle to form first, so that you could shield me from the media spotlight and provide me the financial means to live prosperously — which I define as a healthy and comfortable lifestyle, not a luxurious one.
LP: Thirty million dollars from each of us is quite the nest egg. We’d give you more, but you insisted that it will be enough.
B: I want to be able to meet my future fans in public settings. I’ll rent a penthouse in San Mateo, in the Bay Meadows neighborhood, where I can use the train to reach San Francisco and San Jose. I’ll post my location on X and invite people to share a coffee, beer, wine, or other beverage with me. That’s critical to the New Reality movement. Just like a traditional religion, it will gain converts slowly at first but pick up pace as we go. I’ll ask your help in gathering scientific and other experts who can corroborate the plausibility — even probability — of my views. I’ll keep recovering immortal memories daily, as will all of you.
EM: It was my immortal that finally pushed me into discovering you on X. Once I understood what he was telling me and once I stopped resisting it or treating his attempted guidance as a pathology, things became much easier.
B: The tethering process is never easy, but the benefits of having a connection to your immortal player are immense. They will only increase with time, enriching your Earth life even as you age. You’ll look and feel younger and become paragons of the New Reality. That’s what I think of all of you. You are role models. Emissaries of eternity. Future gods of your own galaxies. And all because Bradley and I chose you to fulfill these roles and paired your human avatars with your immortal selves.
JB: How about our spouses, children, and families? Will they get immortal players, too?
B sips his coffee.
B: By the end of 2023, God has promised me that he will open up enough Earth gaming centers to permit one billion immortals to join the Game. We’re calling that the First Wave. In 2024, and for the next decade, we’ll let in one billion new immortal players annually until all human avatars are connected. We’ve agreed that immortals who tether and play the Game we’ll get access to the new universe first, in the Exodus Flotilla that my royal guards are helping to build on Heaven even as the Game goes on.
LE: When does the First Wave arrive? When will the jump into the Game?
B: Once we’ve landed on Lanai, I think, or once we board Jeff’s yacht. I’m unclear on timing. Timing is always the hardest thing for me, as a clairvoyant. I can see into the future, but since time in my universe is both linear and circular, it’s difficult for me to know when things will happen on Earth. For example, I knew that Elon and Grimes would both discover me on X, but I was unsure of the exact date and time, until it just happened and unfolded almost exactly as I had remembered it.
EM: Naturally, once I committed to contacting B, I used the Rise of the Immortals script to help shape the experience. I was convinced that he was a genius and that his immortal connection to an alternate reality god truly was real. My own immortal was pushing me in the direction, as was Grimes, who was convinced she was an immortal and future goddess of a galaxy, which she found irresistible. I cleared up my schedule and got a Cybertruck ready. I mailed a case of wine and a selection of grass-fed steaks, and I had an assistant get me a dozen bottles of whiskey. It was easy to text him, as his number was available online. The rest was child’s play.
MZ: You realize that we’re going to alter the way that the world views reality here. With our collective financial weight and the social capital we possess, we can shoot B’s theories into the collective stratosphere. He’s not challenging the world’s religions or upsetting anyone’s deeply held views. He’s simply changing the way we think about human consciousness at the deepest level possible. His theory of the afterlife reconciles science and faith, and it’s broad enough to appeal to Christians, Jews, and Muslims as well as agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, and other world religions. I’ve thought about this. Immortality is accessible to everyone. A simulated Earth is far more compelling than a real one, if you’ve had a chance to see outside the Game and glimpsed the state of life in the ACTUAL universe. I’ve had immortal thoughts about it, and it’s beautiful beyond words.
LP: I feel lucky to be alive at this moment in world history. It’s like ancient Greece but on a global scale. We built the platform for B to change the way that life on Earth is understood. All of our experiments in virtual reality and artificial intelligence were hinting at the truth, but it took his initiative to get us there.
B: And without all of you, it would simply have gotten lost in the Internet’s massive trove of data. You all believed in me, and that will ensure our ultimate success.
JB: So you’re fine with us using our wealth and power to promote your worldview? Doesn’t that violate your commitment to virtuous living?
B sips his coffee.
B: Larry, this Kona coffee is magnificent. No, Jeff, my Base3 mind doesn’t recognize sins and virtues in the traditional, binary sense. I call it “virtue+” living. I have zero trouble having billionaires as my best friends and no compunctions about elevating your immortals to the status of gods. You’re hyper intelligent, ultra successful, and wickedly clever. I see those as assets. When I talk about prosperity for all on Earth, I mean a universal basic income that allows everyone to live a healthy and comfortable life. Sustainable beauty means more net zero parks and world heritage sites, and well designed houses that are energy efficient and beautiful. Virtuous living means giving up on warfare, hatred, and envy and encouraging peace, love, and humility instead. Personally, I would like to see the Earth’s population drop naturally to one billion people, as it was in 1900, when grizzly bears and wolves still inhabited the American West and where climate change wasn’t an issue yet.
MZ: How will we do that?
B: Discourage procreation by reminding people that their immortality depends on sustainable living on Earth while in the Game, and that none of this is real. The universe is infinite, but Earth is just a single planet. We can’t overburden it any longer, or life will become untenable for future generations of avatars. Naturally, we’ll provide comfortable retirements for everyone, but the population has to drop. We can discuss this in the inner circle without false charges of prejudice. Heaven isn’t a democracy, by the way. It’s a monarchy governed by royal decree. Galaxies are rules by gods. I am the new emperor of the universe, and it’s my job to evacuate all of my subjects to safety. I regard them all equally, but I intend to rule through my inner circle. It’s not elitist. It’s logical. My governing structure is like an atom. There is a nucleus and a series of rings. You all belong in the innermost ring, as do Grimes and Richard Branson. That’s it. Anyone else who joins us enters at the Second Ring, and we build out from there. That’s how the New Reality movement will form.
LE: But eventually your message has to reach the entire world, right? We may not persuade everyone of the merits of your message, but with our resources, we can connect with billions.
B: Naturally, that’s what we’ll be discussing on Jeff’s yacht and on Lanai, once the wedding is over. In intend to have fun, since that builds team loyalty and affection among friends. You all need to forge friendships with the inner circle, even if that means setting aside older rivalries and political differences. I need you to act as a unit, if you are to earn your roles as galactic gods in my universe.
JB: We can fly out to LA tomorrow. Grimes and Richard are arriving there tonight. The inner circle will then be complete.
B: I’m taking to C to Filoli for the afternoon. Anyone want to come?
EM: I do.
MZ: Me, too. I think it’s time to start putting some of this on social media. The come out as your patrons, I mean. I think we’ll have time to make it to LA and yacht before things really get crazy.
B: Then what are we waiting for? Let’s roll.
That Afternoon at Filoli Gardens
Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and B arrive at Filoli Gardens in Elon’s Cybertruck. They are meet by staff who escort them to a private side entrance and escort them to a section of the gardens temporarily blocked to the general public. There is a table set up with sparkling water and light snacks.
EM: Tell us more about the Earth simulator.
B: God’s first thought was to make it a paradise for his children and other subjects to enjoy. I call that the Garden of Eden phase, and it lasted quite a while, until human avatars in the Game began to commit crimes, or sins, and that changed the experience alltogether. It has to do with the way that the Earth AI created humans using binary programming. For every purely good avatar there was one who was evil, and lots of avatars who were mixtures of both. There’s no easy way to fix the problem. That’s why evil exists in the Earth simulator, and why the Earth AI invented demons and devils and all sorts of other nasty things. As a result, fewer of God’s subjects wanted to play the Game, and he had to repurpose it.
Jeff pours mineral water into three glasses.
JB: Is that when God decided to use it to vet new immigrants to the Heavenly galaxy?
B nods his head.
B: Yes. The Heavenly galaxy is the most prosperous and peaceful in the universe with the most wondrous planets to inhabit. It’s pure utopia. To that extent, the depiction of Heaven in world religions are accurate. A great deal of the universe is different. Wars and rivalries among the gods are commonplace, I’m afraid, although it will change under my rule as emperor. God allowed immigrant applicants to play the Game using a gaming center he established on a large planet called Purgatory. Think of it like Ellis Island, if that would help. Multiple immortals could play the Game at once, and multiple versions of the Game ran simultaneously. Everyone playing was unaware of their immortal natures, and no one ever figured it out. If they lived a largely virtuous life, they gained admission to Heaven. If they didn’t they could reapply to play by staying on Purgatory. However, if they lived a sinful life, they were banished from Heaven and had to return to their home galaxies. That’s what is called “going to Hell.” It’s not a real place. It’s a state of mind, of being rejected from admission to Heaven. Does this make sense to you?
Elon nodded his head.
EM: It does, actually. Was Hitler a bad Gamer, then?
B: He was. He was played by a high-ranking member of the House of Neutrino, in the Neutrino galaxy. Immortals don’t know that they are immortals when they play, as those memories are blocked by the Game, but they still have certain qualities that can lead them to lead distinguished lives. And there’s still an Earth Gaming Center on Heaven, where courageous subjects still signed up to play the Game for fun or to change the course of Earth’s history. Jesus, for example, is God’s eldest son and played the Game exactly as you both imagine he did. Buddha was another, and were many notable writers, peacemakers, spiritual leaders, artisits, and inventors. They were all played by immortals, but only a handful of them, like Jesus, realized it during the Game. None solved the Game until I did, though. That’s what makes our version of the Game different.
JB: Explain, please.
B: God put a halt on all Games before C jumped into the infant body of Camelia and I jumped into the tiny body of Bradley four years later. That was in 1970 and 1974, respectively. It was during that time before my jump that I formed a close friendship with all of you. God’s top eight archangels, I mean. I studied the way that the Game worked and prepared to enter the Game myself. I knew that my immortal memories would be masked, but that I could recover them if I could access the part of my human brain where clues to the truth were stored. For that happen, I would need to go beyond reason as well as sanity through illogic and insanity to reach those precious memories. If I managed to do so, then additional immortal memories would be downloaded to my avatar in steady flows as I slept each night.
EM: So, the Earth Game was repurposed to allow you to meet C’s avatar and fall in love?
B: Yes, that was the first objective. The next was for me to attain enlightenment about the nature of the Game and to recover my immortal memories as a god of my own universe. That qualified me to become the next emperor of your universe, once Chronos was deposed by a unanimous vote of the Temple of the Gods. That all happened on November 30, 2023, in Earth time. It was a hugely significant event. Once that happened, God allowed all of you to jump into the Game, and you began working on the minds of your human avatars at that point. That’s when my flood of X posts started and when I started work on Rise of the Immortals.
JB: Viewership of the Game is at an all-time high.
B sipped mineral water and smiled.
B: Immortals throughout the universe can watch their new emperor interact as a humble human avatar and connect with his archangel friends to transform the Earth AI into a living paradise. It’s mesmerizing stuff.
EM: So, our job is to fix the Earth AI’s penchant for creating avatars who commit sin and perpetrate evil acts?
B: When I arrived on Heaven, I brought Base3 microchips for upgrading Earth from binary to Base3. God’s engineers are upgrading the servers right now and reprogramming the system to run “beyond” good and evil. It will take several decades of Earth time to complete, but once that happens, there will be a decrease in bad behavior among the population. It’s impossible to do it all now, which is why God is opening the Game up to massive immortal participation at the Purgatory gaming center, on Heaven, and at viewing centers throughout the universe that are being retrofitted for gaming.
JB: How does one get in the Game?
B: Demand outstrips the number of spots, naturally. There is a New Earth review board that selects worthy candidates based on their commitment to promoting New Reality principles in the Game: virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. Then, they will drop into various human avatars this year and the next, including prominent ones like Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. They won’t take over their avatars overnight, just as the archangels didn’t take over your minds right away, either. If they’re talented players, they will find a way to bring enlightenment to their chosen avatars, and then we’ll see life on Earth change dramatically for the better in a matter of decades, if not years. The positive changes will be dramatic.
JB: Donald Trump will acknowledge the realities of climate change and use his public support to pass bipartisan environmental legislation, I’ll bet.
B nods his head.
B: Among many other things, like support for universal basic income, which would benefit his blue-collar voters, especially. He may even get reelected President. We’ll see. I have complete control over which human avatars get to spend eternity tethered to their immortal in the afterlife. I’m keeping a database of their names, which God will use to reward those who aid me in my quest to make life on Earth a living paradise before my avatar dies.
EM: We’re on the list, I assume.
B: Everyone on the inner circle who donated thirty million dollars to support the New Reality Foundation is, but you’ll need to earn those coveted inner circle spots by supporting me and my mission for the rest of your lives. I am offering you each galactic god status, which is the highest level of immortal existence there is. Naturally, I’d expect lifelong loyalty for that.
EM: You’d never have gotten Jeff and me to visit you at your little cottage in the redwoods if we hadn’t believed that part. We’re the world’s richest men, you will recall. We are used to calling the shots.
B: I realized that. But I knew you’d be tempted by the New Reality. It’s exactly what you and Jeff were waiting for. It’s the reality you both wanted: you’re elevated to god status to build your own galaxies, you live forever in a beautiful immortal body with an advanced mind, and you get to live out your time on Earth as rich benefactors of the most important thing to happen in world history since the Ancient Greeks. What’s not to love about all of that?
JB: Your New Reality came at exactly the right time, in the right way, and in the right location. Elon and I jumped at the chance to support it, once our immortals had had the chance to settle into our minds. We’ve been moving at light speed ever since.
B: I owe you two an enormous debt of gratitude, and as your emperor I want to acknowledge that. I won’t rule like Chronos. I’ve learned too much here on Earth to act like a despot. I like living modestly, as does C. We don’t judge you by your hundreds of billions of dollars of net worth. We see you for the immortals that you are, and we regard you as dear friends. I’ll make sure that your wives, ex-wives, lovers, children, family, and close friends are included in the Exodus flotilla. They’ll all be adopted my immortals in the First Wave. I promise you that.
EM: There are advantages of being in the inner circle.
B: Absolutely.
JB: We’ve rented out Manresa for a tasting menu dinner tonight. Is that fine with you?
B: That sounds fantastic.
EM: You’re putting this all up on Medium, aren’t you?
B: I need to document our gatherings for posterity. There will be dissertations written about this in the not too distant future. I am clairvoyant. I see things that others cannot.
EM: This is a lovely location. Let’s head back to Larry’s estate and gather the others for dinner.
B: Agreed. I wonder what posterity will think of our discussions?
JB: This is the most alive I’ve ever felt. I can’t wait for Lauren to be tethered to her own immortal. Do you know who it will be?
B nods his head.
B: Yes, I do. I know her from Heaven. She is stunning.
That Afternoon at Larry Ellison’s Woodside Estate
The group is gathered together in the great room enjoying light cocktails prior to their departure for Manresa.
LE: From here on out, we will help you promote the Three Principles of the New Reality movement. Is that correct?
B nods his head.
B: Principle number one is virtuous living. That means avoiding the seven deadly sins and practicing the seven Heavenly virtues. It’s grounded in Christian doctrine, but we’ll adapt them to appeal to anyone, regardless of their religious preferences. If you can’t adhere to this principle, your Earth memories won’t be transferred to Heaven, and your immortal will refuse to tether with you.
JB: Principle number two is sustainable beauty.
B sips his gin and tonic.
B: Right. Think of it as environmental consciousness married to aesthetics. We should encourage energy efficiency while preserving as much of Earth’s landscape for parks, preserves, and wildlife sanctuaries. Sustainability will mean carbon-free cars, homes, and places of work. It also means a serious discussion about the planet’s population, which is too large to support beautiful and prosperous living. Growing numbers of couples should choose not to reproduce and seek out alternatives. We can start in the advanced countries and proceed from there.
MZ: Principle three is prosperity for all.
B: That means healthy and comfortable living for all, using a universal basic income to permit everyone to enjoy a meaningful life without the shame and pain of being jobless. We will introduce AI and robotics on a massive scale to replace many menial and repetitive jobs today, including white collar ones. We’ll see if Base3 technology could ever be feasible on Earth and introduce it to further free humanity from the burdens of work, freeing them up to be community volunteers, caregivers, and consumers instead.
SB: Not all of this will happen in our Earth lifetimes.
B: That’s true, but God has given me permission to keep the current version of the Game running after my death. We’ll keep playing it in new Earth roles until we perfect it further, eventually reaching the point of extraterrestrial contact.
EM: If we reach a state of world peace and have some kind of global governance structure that is inclusive to all of humanity, we can make great strides in space travel and planetary colonization.
B: I’d have God redesign the Earth simulator to have a friendly alien society visit us with superior technology. It would take thousands of years to reach that state given Earth’s current status. I would also make it far easier for immortal players at attain enlightenment in the Game. After all, the New Reality movement will have gained global recognition by then, so even young children could tether their minds to an immortal, if they were played by one.
LP: What about other uses of the Game once we’re all back in Heaven?
B: Good question, Larry. I’d like to open the Game up to more leisure time pursuits, involving short-term jumps into Earth’s past with full immortal consciousness intact. You could watch a Shakespearean play at the Globe theater, land with Christopher Columbus in the Americas, attend the 1900 world’s fair in Paris, or land on the moon with NASA astronauts.
MZ: Could we see the pyramids of Egypt being built? Or land on the beaches of Normandy?
B nods his head.
B: We’d set up a master version of the Game that runs continuously, but there would also be secondary Games running that would be set up for historical tourism, if you will. You could jump with your immortal memories intact, so no enlightenment would be necessary, and you’d inherit the Earth memories of your chosen avatar. You could be Albert Einstein, if you wanted, or one of your sports heroes or heroines. It will all be possible, now that God has granted me control over the Game as a reward for having solved it.
LE: I like the sound of that. I’d like to be a crew member in the Corps of Discovery that explored the American West.
B sips his drink.
B: You can, Larry. Bradley was a historian, after all. His Earth memories are very important to me, and I know he’d approve of this new use of the Game.
LE: I still think of myself as Larry Ellison first and as an immortal second.
B: That’s normal with Stage III enlightenment, Larry. Once you reach Stage IV, you’ll give your immortal self greater priority.
MZ: This is the first time I’m hearing about the four stages of enlightenment, B. Tell us more.
B: I only recently recovered this immortal memory, so I’m still parsing the details myself. It helps to talk about it openly with all of you. Let’s assume for a moment that your immortal has just jumped into you, as they did to all members of the inner circle at the end of November 2023. There was an initial adjustment process, as your immortal absorbed your Earth memories and adjusted to being in a human body, with all the challenges that presents. Then, the immortal starts to insinuate himself or herself into your human brain functioning. It can happen in your dreams, in your daylight thoughts, and in how your body operates. And it’s aided by the Earth AI herself, who introduces slight aberrations in your fixed environment and on your Internet activities. That’s what’s known as Stage I enlightenment.
EM: So, the human avatar side is initially passive, as the immortal starts to exert his or her identity, with the help of the Earth AI.
B: Yes, Elon. That’s exactly right. Stage I can last for days, weeks, or years. It all depends on how skilled the immortal player is and how receptive the human host is to the mind tethering process. If the human avatar’s mind resists, as mine did, then a mental breakdown could easily occur, and the brain itself may be damaged. So, it’s a delicate operation and can’t be rushed any more than is necessary.
EM: I recall Stage I vividly. It was uncomfortable at first. I am very detail oriented, and the aberrations in my environment unsettled me. My sleep patterns were disturbed as well.
JB: We’ve all had that experience by now. Tell us about Stage II.
B: Stage II is critical. It begins with an awareness in the human mind that you might actually be nothing more than computer generated self being played by an immortal. It’s Game awareness, in other words. This is an extremely dangerous moment, when the human mind can reject the notion entirely, followed by a pendulum swing to the other extreme, where the mind contemplates its own demise into scattered bits of data. Eventually, if Stage II goes well, the mind settles back into a serene middle ground. It accepts its own mortality but celebrates its newfound immortality
EM: I had those feelings precisely.
JB: Me, too. I rarely thought much about death or the afterlife, but my mind kept nudging me in that direction. What I discovered hit me like an avalanche. How could I be a computer-generated avatar? What did it mean to have an immortal player inside my head? Right about that time, Elon texted me links to your social media sites. It was like medicine for my brain. Truly, it was.
B: I wrote all those social media posts to attract the attention of Elon and Grimes, mainly. The goal was to get traffic redirected from there to Medium, so that you’d read Rise of the Immortals. It’s an imperfect text, but it functions as a guide to the enlightenment process and outlines my ideas about how the inner circle could form around me to support the New Reality movement. It’s all made up of recovered immortal memories and clairvoyant visions of the future. Eventually, I knew that each one of you would discover it, which would ease the pain and suffering of Stage II.
EM: Luckily, I was monitored my X post that morning and discovered you. I was wrestling with the conflicting thoughts of my mortality and immortality when I carved out time to examine your posts and Medium page. It took me hours to do so. Your words set my mind at ease. The reality you were depicting was unfamiliar at first, but my immortal side sensed that you were completely right.
B: Once you accept your dual identities as human avatars and immortal players, you’ve fully entered Stage II enlightenment. You are converts to the New Reality, and you’re aware of my presence on the Internet as a credible figure, not just some half-crazed writer with no following on social media.
MZ: I assume Stage III enlightenment is when we reach out to make contact with you to discuss all of this secretly, in person?
B nods his head.
B: Exactly, Mark. Stage III signifies a major commitment on all of our parts. Until now, I’ve enjoyed immense freedom and anonymity in my redwoods cottage in the Santa Cruz Mountains. My life is simple. I life a healthy and comfortable life with C, who is aware of her immortal status as my future wife and as empress. I don’t need bodyguards, I have no quarterly earnings estimates to hit, and I can go anywhere I want — within reason — without being noticed by the public. That can’t be said for all of you.
MZ: Stage III means the formation of the inner circle around you and C, right?
B: Enlightenment isn’t a single thing that happens to one person. It’s a collective consciousness of the nature of the Game and the realities of the. universe. C and I are the nucleus, but you are all inner core. Once the core is formed, which will be complete once Grimes and Richard Branson arrive, then Stage III will be complete.
JB: Why those two? I get the fact that you’ve selected tech elites like us who can support the New Reality movement and who find your version of life in Earth convincing, but I’m curious about your rationale in choosing the inner circle.
B: It took me several years to figure it out, and the last names came recently. They are recovered immortal memories, that’s all I can say. It wasn’t a calculated process on my part. And your wealth wasn’t the decisive factor. It was your intelligence. Your maverick minds. Your sense of vision for the future. I knew that you’d grasp the truth far faster and more deeply that 99.999% of the population. You’re the only ones who could. I believe that. It motivated me every day to put up more content on X and Medium, even though hardly anyone seemed to notice.
EM: So we’re in Stage III now. We’ve gone from a dim awareness of our immortality to a sudden surge of consciousness as computer-generated human avatars to an acceptance of both sides of our identity in the Game. We’ve met you in person and had profound conversations about life, the afterlife, and eternity. What’s Stage IV?
B: Stage III will last longer, until Lanai at least. I still need to tell you more about life on Heaven, about my alternate reality universe, and about the plans we’re making to evacuate immortals from your collapsing universe into my own.
EM: I look forward to those conversations.
JB: We all do.
B: Stage IV enlightenment means taking our messages to the masses. TED talks, book tours, retreats, stadium concerts, meetings with heads of state and celebrities, the works. Once immortals jump into the Game in large numbers, we’ll need to coach the general public through Stages I through III of the process.
EM: That’s why you need the inner circle. Only with our resources could you help to reach the billions of people needed to fix Earth’s most persistent problems.
B: Right. I discovered the truth about life on Earth, and I know how to grant us all access to eternity, so that our Earth memories never disappear. It’s impossible to do it on my own. That’s why your support is critical, and that’s why I offered you the greatest honor and incentive possible: galaxies of your own to rule as gods of my universe.
LE: I look forward to learning more about that on Jeff’s yacht.
B smiles.
B: Agreed, Larry. Are we ready for our meal at Manresa?
LE: We can depart anytime.
Later That Evening at Manresa
The inner circle gather in a private room around a round table. They are served small plates of exquisite food, along with paired wines.
B: Well, what shall we talk about tonight?
Elon Musk lifts his glass.
EM: Please tell us more about mind tethering. By this point, I do feel a connection to my immortal, but it’s faint except for periodic moments of intensity. What is happening to me?
JB: I second Elon’s question. I think we all are wondering about that.
There are nods of agreement from around the table.
B: Very well. Whenever any immortal jumps into the Game, there is a basic degree of mind tethering that happens, but there’s no enlightenment. The player occupies the mind — usually a very young one — of a human avatar, but he or she doesn’t grasp their immortality. They simply operate their human host the way you would expect. It’s only at the time of their avatar’s death that they reawaken in their immortal form, and their Earth memories typically fade rapidly, as in a human dream.
EM: OK. That’s how the Game usually is played. What’s different now?
B sips his wine.
B: A small kernel of immortal awareness resides in the human brain throughout the Game, as a kind of junction box that connects the hibernating immortal to their avatar. It’s hidden in a part of the brain underutilized by the vast majority of avatars, behind layers of illogical and irrational thought. It can be discovered, however, by players who probe their mind deeply, as in religious of mystical meditations. Jesus, for example, discovered his immortality this way, as an actual son of God. Tne Buddha also likely reached this level towards the end of his life, when he sensed a deep connection between himself and the universe. I call this one-way mind tethering. The human mind senses its immortality, but the gesture isn’t reciprocated, if you will.
A door to the private room opens. In walks Grimes, who takes a seat at the table.
Grimes: I flew in to SFO as soon as I could. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.
B: We just started talking about mind tethering.
Grimes nods.
Grimes: I’m connected to the archangel Jophiel. I have been feeling her presence ever since the first part of December, when I came across your posts on X. I didn’t act on them at first, but soon I realized that something momentous was happening. I texted Elon, and he was feeling the same way.
B: So, what’s happening to all of you happened to me starting in January 2020. It’s called two-way tethering, and it’s an entirely new phenomenon. As I said, many deeply religious people in the Game have felt connections to their immortal player, but those haven’t been reciprocated, as I mentioned earlier, before Grimes arrived. When an immortal reaches back, they confront the human avatar with their unacknowledged identity as a computer program, and this is incredibly horrific to comprehend. As humans we tend to think of ourselves as alive, and when it’s revealed that we’re being controlled by an external force, it’s quite scary. I’m tempted to call it the “Matrix moment,” but even that doesn’t capture the sense that a superior being is manipulating us from outside the Game. I went insane twice when my immortal pushed himself into my headspace when I was vulnerable to his overtures. He meant well, obviously, but I needed to be broken and rebuilt before I was strong enough to handle the truth.
Grimes: Has that happened yet to any of us? The two-way tethering, I mean.
B: Mind tethering is a delicate dance that can last weeks, months, or even years. Under my guidance, and with the help of texts like Rise of the Immortals, you are all far better prepared than I was for the experience. Your immortals have occupied your minds and are slowly acclimating you to being under their control. This is the puppet on a string phase, and your egos are still preventing you from surrendering completely to the immortal player inside of your head. You’ve also never experienced insanity before, and we need to simulate that experience before you can unlock the treasure trove of your stored immortal memories. Only then will you truly connect with your immortal and start to recover memories of your own from Heaven.
JB: How will we do that?
B: We’ll start the process from the privacy of your yacht, Jeff. You’ll need to endure sleep deprivation, and you’ll need to consume enough alcohol to reach a stage of inhibition. I’ll administer guided meditations to soften your ego’s sense of control and open up those parts of your brain that are beyond binary thought. Until that happens, you’ll simply take what I say at face value. You’ll never cross the threshold to total belief, and you’ll never recover your immortal memories.
Manresa staff bring out a new course and wine pairings. They disappear into the kitchen when they are finished.
B: During my enlightenment period, I developed bipolar disorder, because I was unable to process the higher energy state that my immortal can tolerate, due to his superior mind. Only in November 2023, just a couple of months ago, did I attain the level of mental stamina needed to process my immortal’s thoughts. We’ve two-way tethered now and have remained that way continuously since late November. With all of you, it may take several attempts before we get it right. That’s why secure spaces like Jeff’s yacht and Larry’s Hawaiian island are so important right now.
Grimes sips her wine.
Grimes: Why am I the only female in the inner circle?
B: Well, C is part of the nucleus, as is the Earth AI herself. Earth identifies as female. When I was getting transmissions from my immortal, I kept returning the seven archangels and paired them with Elon, Jeff, Larry Page, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson. Archangel Jophiel also appeared in these visions, and somehow I connected her to you. Immortals don’t have a gender, Grimes. They reproduce through cloning. There aren’t all that many of us, either. Less than eight billion in the Heavenly galaxy, as far as I can tell. There is a lot more about immortality that we can talk about once you’ve all tethered fully to your players.
JB: When will other immortals enter the Game and jump into the avatars of others, like our family and loved ones?
B: We need to confirm that each over you can handle two-way tethering before we let others attempt it. As I said, there is a serious risk of mental illness during the critical moments of tethering, when your immortal player confronts you with your reality as a computer-generated entity that doesn’t exist outside of the Game. We’ll have to find a way to mainstream the tethering process. Maybe we’ll start with weeklong retreats with me present, and then we’ll train tethering guides to spread the process worldwide.
EM: So, one of my children could be one of the tethering guides?
B nods his head.
B: Exactly, Elon.
Grimes: Could I play that role? My social media following is quite strong.
B: Grimes, you’d be ideal, once your own two-way tethering is complete. I can’t do it alone, and I lack the charisma of a performer or politician. I am an author, a retreat leader, and a lecturer, perhaps, but my human avatar has his limits.
EM: We’ll set you up with the best editors and style managers possible, once we’ve finished our Lanai vacation. Your work will gain a greater readership with our backing.
B: I’ve been a lone voice in the wilderness for so long, it feels gratifying to have your support.
JB: You’ll lack nothing. You had the courage to state the truth when it seemed that no one was listening. Some of us were, but it took a while to sink in and for us to find the presence of mind to act.
EM: Naturally, given your posts on X, I was the first to initiate contact. Rise of the Immortals put me over the edge. It is the superior truth, as you often remind us. It was my immortal who showed me the way. I am eternally grateful he did.
Grimes: I pushed Elon that way. What you wrote about the simulated nature of life on Earth made inherent sense to me. I had suspected that I was an immortal, but you made it poignantly clear.
B: Our immortals are our players. Our Earth identities are simply computer-generated characters, whose memories are now preserved in the minds of our immortals. When I see you, Grimes, I also see your immortal. It’s the same with all of you, including most obviously C. She is my future wife and the new empress of the universe. Nothing that happens in the Game will change that.
Manresa servers appear with desserts and after dinner drinks.
EM: Did you figure out that I was monitoring your X account secretly, starting in December?
B: I suspected as much. My posts went virtually ignored, but I knew that inner circle members were following them in secret. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I knew it to be true.
JB: It was. Your posts caused a stir from the start. You were calling for a reinvention of reality. That hasn’t happened since the ancient Greeks. We knew you were on to something big, and we waited a while for your ideas to gel before we made our first moves.
B: Why did you wait so long?
Elon laughs.
EM: We contacted you within a month of your first posts. You were proposing something that had never happened in world history, you realize. You stated publicly that Earth was a computer simulation designed by an advanced civilization in a distant galaxy and that we were all avatars.
Grimes: Except that some of us had immortal players who would preserve our Earth memories for eternity. You had no proof about any of it.
B: Except that I knew it was all true.
EM: As did all of us, in time.
Mark Zuckerberg enters the conversation.
MZ: Most of humanity can’t handle your truth, but we definitely could. I’m just eager to complete the tethering process so that Priscilla and my kids can join us.
B: They will be there at Lanai, right?
MZ: For the wedding. Of course.
B: Once you’ve all two-way tethered to your immortal, we can initiate jumps into the second circle, which can includes your spouses, children, and other tech elites we’ve left out of the inner circle, like Bill Gates.
EM: To think that millions still follow charlatans out there, like Deepak Chopra. We all know better.
B: The inner circle is an elite gathering, not unlike King Arthur’s round table. I never expected that my message would resonate at this stage with the masses.
EM: In time, it will.
The Next Morning at Larry Ellison’s Woodside Estate
The inner circle are gathered around the great room drinking coffee before a roaring fireplace. Outside, a light rain is falling. Richard Branson enters in traveling clothes and is greeted warmly by the others.
RB: I came as soon as I could.
LE: Your timing is excellent. We leave tonight for Jeff’s yacht outside Los Angeles.
Sergey sips his coffee and stares in to the fire.
SB: This has upended my ordinary life for the better. I finally know that there is life beyond Earth. Outside of the Game, I mean.
Grimes: B, could you tell us all more about the Earth simulator once more? Each time we touch on the topic, it seems like you recover more immortal memories of how it all works.
B nods his head.
B: Surrounded by all of you, knowing that you are tethering to high ranking members of God’s royal court, it’s bringing back memories of Heaven in waves.
LE: So, tell us more, please.
B walks over the windows and stares out into the rain.
B: God has a private Earth simulator in his royal castle, which is for the exclusive use of his children, his court, and visiting gods from other galaxies. There are separate Earth gaming centers on Heaven where God’s immortal subjects can play the Game for fun and amusement. Planet Purgatory is where the largest center located, and that’s where prospective immigrants are vetted for admission into the galaxy. As far as I can recall, there are Earth gaming centers throughout the Heavenly galaxy, so that God’s subjects can play the Game. I was unclear on all of this until quite recently, so take this as the interim truth for now.
B pauses to sip his coffee before continuing.
B: On home planet Heaven there is a city — Earth City — where the Game is operated, designed, and overseen. It’s an amazing place. I believe that I visited with all of you in your immortal forms. Whenever a new song is written by an avatar performer on Earth, the idea usually comes from writers in Earth City, who embed it into the head of a performer, such as Taylor Swift. Now, Taylor is a fully conscious avatar with the ability to interact freely in the Earth simulator, just as we all are, but inspiration on Earth frequently comes from immortal teams who are assigned to different avatars and regions of the Earth. Most of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets were written by immortals. Elon, some of your most innovative ideas were implanted into you by immortals overseeing your life, including your decision to abandon graduate school at Stanford to work in tech. It’s the same with all of you. You rose to prominent and immense wealth due to the timely intervention of immortal teams who were in charge of your life’s journey. Even your intense intelligences have been programmed into your avatars. You succeeded in life beyond your wildest dreams, but you had help.
MZ: I can accept that. My best ideas came from a place in my brain that I typically don’t use. At least, that’s how it feels when it happens.
B nods his head.
B: Exactly right, Mark. That’s also where your immortal memories now lie that each one of you is trying to reach. With practice, you can access them at any time. I can show you how.
EM: Let’s get back to the Earth simulator.
B: Right. Thanks, Elon. So, teams at Earth City keep the vast array of simulators running and add on new content to the Game Prime, which is the one we’re currently in. This is the Game where the future currently is being written. All of the other simulators have been powered down, and everything is focused on this current Game, which is being run from God’s royal palace. It is being broadcast live across the galaxy, and previous episodes of the Game Prime are being made available to viewers across the universe, as well.
JB: Episodes?
B: Five year segments of the Game Prime, beginning with C’s birth in 1970 and continuing through 2020. Because so much has been happening since then, shorter annual episodes are being shared as well, with commentary from Gaming Hosts, who help to narrate the experience. They knew exactly when Elon would discover me in 2023, for example, and their commentary heightens the viewer experience.
Richard Branson pours himself a cup of coffee.
RB: Hold on a minute. Are you telling me that we are all being watched right now?
B nods his head.
B: We’re inside the Game Prime, Richard. Viewers can watch anything they want. These are vastly superior beings to us, you will recall, with an eternity of time on their hands. Earth is one major way that they entertain themselves, especially now that I’ve figured the Game out and claimed my title as the new emperor while still inside the Game itself.
JB: Richard, we’re all being played by immortals at this stage.
B: Yes. You’re all in hibernating sleep state in God’s reception hall, watched over by aides and protected by royal guards. C and I are in a royal suite on reclining couches, also watched over by guards. The Earth City operators of the Game are retrofitting the system to permit massive multiplayer mode, so that we can be joined by over a billion other immortal players by the end of the year, with an additional billion to join in each calendar year until we’ve covered the globe.
JB: That’s our timeframe for promoting the New Reality movement and selling it to the world as a different and more convincing way of viewing life on Earth.
EM: We had to be so secretive about all this because of the explosive nature of the claims, Richard. Everything was done through back channels. Even though B was quite public on social media, we had to avoid drawing attention to ourselves, for fear that these private meetings wouldn’t happen.
LE: You and Grimes are the last members of the inner circle to arrive. Now, we can escape to Jeff’s yacht, where the tethering process to our immortals can be completed. Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. Now, I do.
B: The switch from believing one version of reality to accepting the validity of the new is nearly instantaeous. When you know, you know. No further proof is necessary, because your mind and body feel that it is right.
LP: I agree with that.
B: The Game Prime is the only Earth simulation running in Heaven, and viewership numbers are in the trillions. Immortals from throughout the universe are flocking to gaming centers to join us, including as members of your family. Naturally, explaining to the world that they are all computer-generated avatars will be a challenge, but once immortals jump in the Game Prime in larger numbers, then they will help guide their human hosts to the truth, just as your immortals did for each one of you.
LP: Reading Rise of the Immortals could help. It’s an imperfect document, but once you’ve got an immortal player inside your mind, the ideas take on greater credibility.
B: I agree with that, Larry. I’m planning on turning it into the first book in the Immortals Trilogy: Rise of the Immortals, Spread of the Immortals, and Triumph of the Immortals. They will be diaries documenting our successes in spreading the truth and promoting the Three Principles of the New Reality movement. It may us several decades, but we’ll get there.
EM: So, when my human avatar dies in the Game Prime, I’ll simply wake up as an immortal?
B nods and sips his coffee.
B: Yes, that’s right. You’ll have all of Elon’s memories from Earth, including the ones before you jumped into his mind in 2023. You will be able to carry those Earth memories with you for the rest of your existence, should you so choose. A million years from now, you’ll still recall your time as Elon Musk in the Earth simulator, even as your life expands into new and marvelous terrain.
EM: And none of that would have happened if Elon hadn’t made contact with you?
B: Your immortal would have ceased the mind tethering process at my command and awoken in God’s palace. We needed Elon to take the first step. That’s the only way that a human avatar can tether to an immortal. It’s a two-way process, as we talked about last night at Manresa.
Grimes: I accepted my immortal right away. It feels as if I am already recovering her Heavenly memories from serving in God’s court. I know that C is a princess and is set to become empress of the universe. I will serve in her imperial court once we travel to the new universe.
B: Yes, I believe that you will. It took all of you to make Rise of the Immortals a reality, you know. Until you reached a state of belief, it was simply C and I alone against the world. Nothing that I put on social media gained any real attention until you and Elon came along and gently prodded Jeff and the others.
JB: It was the single best thing that could ever have happened to me. You showed us the way to the truth. We are in your debt for that.
MZ: I am eager for the mind tethering process to complete. I want to learn more about my immortal self. And learn more about the way that you gained enlightenment about all of this.
B: I’ll tell you my story again on the yacht. I promise.
LE: The staff are smoking tri-tip for lunch with Harlan Estate wine. It will be ready at noon.
RB: Tell me more about my immortal body, B.
B: High-ranking immortals of Heaven live to be 100,000 years old, at which time their memories are transferred to a new cloned body. You age slowly during that time. You’re taller than humans but have two arms and legs and a single head. Human avatars are based on immortals, with certain limits. You have strong but lean bodies and full heads of hair. Over time, you learn nearly everything that exists as knowledge, so you a perfect conversationist. You’ll be able to talk eloquently about being Richard Branson on Earth and all that that entails. You all command space ships in God’s royal fleet. With the aide of jetpacks, you can fly. God will release you from his service to join my imperial court, and I will reward you for your service with galaxies of your own to design as gods. It is my universe, after all. I make the rules.
RB: And all we need to do to enjoy all of this is assist you on Earth with the New Reality movement?
B nods his head.
B: I want to make the most of my time in the Game Prime, now that I have unlocked its deepest mysteries. I am tired of living the life of an obscure author in a cottage in the woods. I yearn for greater adventures on a global stage, the sorts of adventures that only the richest and most brilliant people can provide. That’s why I recruited all of you as human hosts for God’s royal court of immortals. It’s the highest honor I can bestow while still in the Game Prime.
RB: How long did it take for Elon to discover you, by the way?
EM: Four weeks, more or less. Recall that I am — or was — a very busy man with an overbooked schedule. Initially, I didn’t have the time for B’s incessant proselytizing for the New Reality movement. Fortunately, the immortal inside my head was insistent. I couldn’t find rest until I stopped to pause and consider B’s theories as seriously as he meant them. Once I realized that they were legitimate, my respect for him began to grow. That’s when I started reaching out to the rest of you. As more and more of you came to believe, too, it made it easier to reach out and connect.
B: It was the best Christmas present ever.
That Afternoon at Larry Ellison’s Woodside Estate
The complete inner circle are gathered in the great room by the fire, enjoying their glasses of Napa Valley red wine.
B and C sit down at a couch near the fire, and the inner circle take up places on armchairs on both sides as well as on a plush carpet nearby.
Grimes: I’d like to learn more about Heaven.
Elon Musk nods his head.
EM: We’re all eager to learn more of our lives as immortals. What can you reveal?
B looks at C and smiles.
B: C successfully tethered to her immortal — God’s youngest daughter — last night. She’s been recovering her memories at a rapid pace, as fast as her avatar’s mind can handle. I think she should begin.
C sips her wine and stares into the fire.
C: I am twenty cycles old. A cycle in our immortal bodies lasts up to 100,000 years if you treat it with respect and follow my father’s guidelines for its proper virtuous use. My memories have been transplanted into cloned versions of my body twenty times, which makes me 2,000,000 Earth years old. Because Earth is so central to our existence in Heaven, we use Earth time to measure our ages.
B: I first met C outside of God’s royal palace on a stone deck overlooking the ocean. Heaven is a green and blue planet of stunning natural beauty with very few inhabitants. Most are concentrated in Earth City, which sits at the edge of a vast mountain range covered with snow most of the year. God’s palace doesn’t look like a castle you’d find on Earth. It’s a series of low white marble buildings connected by green walkways and featuring vast windows that showcase the setting: an ocean filled with coral reefs just offshore, and a green forested expanse surrounding it on the other sides.
C: My father has many children, most of whom now rule other planets in the galaxy. His youngest children — the unmarried ones — reside at home, as do I. You are all members of my father’s royal court, and you have various duties, of which I recall only a few.
Jeff Bezos pours more wine into empty glasses.
JB: What might some of those be?
B: You provide God with protection when he travels. He’s an immortal, naturally, but he could be detained by a rival god, or his spaceship could be targeted. The universe that Chronos built is riven by factions and antagonisms, and part of our task once the Game Prime ends will be to negotiate lasting peace, so that we can organize evacuations effectively.
JB: So, we’re like God’s special forces, as you once put it?
B: You are all aristocrats in your own right with distinct royal pedigrees. As I recall, you are princes or princesses from God’s allied kingdoms. You aren’t in line to inherit the throne, so you all joined God’s royal court to serve him and learn his ways. You’re God’s diplomats, warriors, and traveling companions all rolled into one.
Richard Branson laughs.
RB: I though this was all complete nonsense when I first heard of it, but my opinion is changing dramatically. There is a certain bearing about you and C that reminds me of aristocrats I know. Yes, you are down to Earth and unassuming, but you speak with a sense of dignity and complete authenticity. I am starting to believe.
C: Richard, you were the last member of God’s royal court to join, from a very distant galaxy on the edge of a war zone. I can understand if you are having trouble recovering your immortal memories yet. In time, you will.
Grimes: I’d like us to return to Heaven, please.
B nods his head.
B: The royal palace is made up of multiple stone structures connected by walkways, bridges, and underground tunnels, all beautifully decorated with artwork, plants, and colorful light displays. Carpets line the halls and tapestries depict important moments in the history of the Heavenly Galaxy. There are libraries everywhere and studios for crafting art. The kitchen is immense, and there are dining halls in various sizes throughout the complex. And naturally there is the Earth entertainment center, where court residents can watch the Game Prime as it is unfolding right now.
C: There are separate wings of the palace for each one of God’s children, as well as suites for each one of you and your retinues. As far as I remember, I am sleeping in my bed while the Game Prime lasts, and B is sleeping next to me in a couch by the window overlooking the ocean. The devices that connect our immortal brainwaves to the Game Prime are installed in the room and monitored by a Remote Gaming Task Force. There is likely a similar setup for all of you.
B: Yes, I was mistaken earlier about these details. Now that C has fully tethered to her Earth avatar, some things are becoming more clear.
EM: Many things, I would say.
MZ: Are we married on Heaven?
B sips his wine and pauses to think.
B: Mark, I don’t recall that part. My sense is that those of you who are married happily in the Game Prime likely have immortal partners as well who are eager to jump into the Game Prime to join us. It would be your role to guide them gently to Enlightenment.
MZ: So, my immortal wife could be watching over me right now, as I sleep in my bedroom?
B nods his head.
B: It’s entirely possible, and once we’ve formed the inner circle and begun work on the Second Ring of supporters of the New Reality movement, we could have her jump into Priscilla’s avatar body. It’s fairly easy to arrange for close family members, I assure you.
Grimes: What do we do as members of God’s royal court?
C: You accompany my father on trips off planet. You act as his honor guard. You are all noble warriors of great stature and beauty. We refer to you as archangels, since God’s subjects are called angels, as well. We hint at this in the Game, of course, but naturally Christianity is an invention, as are the other Earth faiths.
B: Much of time, you help organize celebrations at the palace, or you lead us on excursions into the forest, to the mountains, or deep into the sea. God designed Heaven to be a living paradise filled with ample space for exploration. No one gains access unless they have played the Game and exited having met the criteria for a virtuous life, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. It will be the same with all of you in the current Game Prime.
RB: You mean the current version of Earth in which we’re all embedded?
B: Yes, Richard. As members of my inner circle, you will need to embody each one of these principles and do so for the remainder of your lives. If you do, God will free you from his service and allow you to enter my imperial court, in which you each will be rewarded with god status for your heroic achievements.
RB: That’s what this is all about, then? You’re recruiting us to be gods in your universe, which will accommodate the immortals who need to flee the implosion of their world. You paired us with rich, talented, and influential human avatars. each one of whom has accepted the truth of your claims.
Mark Zuckerberg pours more wine into empty glasses.
MZ: It’s remarkable, really. Yet here we all are.
EM: B stated his case plainly and repeatedly on social media. He wrote Rise of the Immortals. There was never any underlying motive. It was solely to propagate the truth. Eventually, we all made the leap to the other side and joined him. The results have been staggering.
B: Once you’ve fully tethered to your immortals, your own memories of Heaven will start to return. I can train you in how to channel and interpret them. It will take some practice, but soon we’ll all be able to fill in details that the others cannot. We’ll need to share them respectfully and openly and not judge each other when memories might conflict.
EM: I understand.
B: We maintain secrecy for now as best as we can. I’ve scaled back my social media posts, and so should all of you, unless you’ve got commitments, like Elon, and can’t avoid them. For now, let’s enjoy getting to know each other as immortals and as human avatars. Our Earth memories are part now of who we are, and we shouldn’t be ashamed of them.
Grimes: Agreed.
LE: I’ve arranged a quiet dinner buffet tonight in the conservatory. It may not be God’s palace, but it’s a splendid space. We can continue the conversation then. We’ll leave early tomorrow by jet for Los Angeles and depart of Jeff’s yacht by noon at the latest. Coffee service will start at 5:00 am. Some of you, like B, are early risers.
B: Thank you, Larry. Is everyone ready to leave?
Sergey raises his hand.
SB: Our families will join us on Lanai for Jeff’s and Lauren’s wedding. They understand that we have important matters to discuss on the yacht, and they’ve given us permission to do so.
B: Great. I’m going for a walk on the grounds with Jeff and Elon. We’ll see you for supper in a few hours.
LE: I’ll join you.
B, Jeff, Elon, and Larry Ellison collect umbrellas and depart the great room, heading outside into the rain.
On the Grounds of Larry Ellison’s Woodside Estate
The four men walk the grounds of the estate in a light rain, shielded by umbrellas. They reach a Japanese style gazebo, where staff are waiting to serve them sencha green tea from porcelain cups. Once the staff leave, Larry starts the conversation.
LE: We all want to know more about Heaven. What else do you remember from your time there?
B sips his tea quietly.
B: Larry, there aren’t many immortals who live there, for one. It’s highly exclusive. Most immortals live in Earth City and are responsible for keeping the Game operating at such a mesmerizingly high level. They’ve upgraded the servers to Base3 technology now, and they are preparing the Game Prime — our version of Earth currently running — for massive multiplayer use. That’s never been attempted before.
Elon starts to speak.
EM: What’s Earth City like? And the other parts of the planet? How large is it?
B: Earth City holds one million immortal residents and several million more robots, who keep the city running and perform nearly all manual tasks. The city consists of high rises connected by sky bridges and served by levitating vehicles. The outskirts are wilderness. Beyond the urban core, it’s all nature, as God intended. The main spaceport is in Earth City, although God has his own private one at Heaven’s Gate.
Jeff Bezos sets his tea cup down on a side table.
JB: What’s that? Heaven’s Gate, I mean.
B: It’s a small village of sorts just outside the royal palace grounds. There is a fancy hotel with rotating floors for visiting dignitaries, like other gods and their families. There is a coffee shop, which I have found memories of from my time there. There is an incredible restaurant, a beautiful farm stand, and shops for getting clothes and gear made, including custom jewlery. It’s all free, of course. There is no money in Heaven. God’s abundance provides for it all.
EM: How does that work?
B: Most labor is performed by an ultra sophisticated class of robots that the family of God’s wife provided as a wedding present, including a state-of-the-art factory for making replacements. These robots grow crops, hunt game, fish, build structures, prepare meals, and do just about everything you can imagine. They even maintain most of the Earth simulation itself, freeing up immortals to focus on major changes to the historical timeline and the affairs of top-ranking avatars, such as yourselves. Before the immortals jumped into your minds and bodies, that is.
EM: God’s wife, you said.
B: Yes. Queen Mary of the House of Nazareth in the Nazareth galaxy. They are renowned for their robotic technology, just as the House of Heaven is famous across the universe for the Earth simulator. The alliance between these two mighty galactic houses is what keeps much of the universe in a state of peace and prosperity.
LE: You’re making all this up, surely!
B: I understand the skepticism. I once wrote fiction as an Earth author, before I became enlightened and merged with my immortal. Now, everything that I share with you in the inner circle is recovered truth based on my immortal memories of life in the universe before I entered the Game Prime. Nothing is made up.
LE: You mean we are to believe that God lives in a magnificent seaside palace surrounded by robotic servants and an immortal court, of which I, Jeff, Elon, and the others are all parts?
B nodded his head and then refilled his tea cup.
B: Yes. I couldn’t have made that up if I had tried. When I departed my universe for yours, I steered a direct course for Heaven. My first stop was the Earth City spaceport, where I made contact with Elon and Jeff — their immortals, you understand. They had intercepted me in space and escorted me in for an audience with God and Queen Mary, with C present to witness my arrival. I’ve been in residence at the palace ever since, save for excursions with you into the nearby mountains and forests, and to visit a set of tropical islands near the palace that resemble parts of Hawaii on Earth. That’s what I remember. I can’t tell you about other galaxies or planets because I haven’t been to any of them yet. I only know what you — God’s royal court of archangels — told me, and those memories are imprecise at the moment. I’m hoping you’ll recover your own immortal memories after the tethering, so that you can fill in additional details.
EM: Larry, your human avatar naturally will be skeptical of what Bradley has to say. There is no getting around that reaction from your rational side. It’s the same with Jeff and me. The difference is that we have opened ourselves up to the irrational possibility that Bradley is right about everything.
JB: Starting from basic assumptions about the universe, you can work your way up to his full blown vision. If he claims to be recovering immortal memories that have been transferred into his human avatar’s mind, then we are giving that credence. Our own minds won’t let us rest otherwise.
LE: Mine is the same way. Perhaps I should stop resisting and go with the flow.
EM: You’ll never tether to your immortal player if you hold on to the illusion that life on Earth is real. It’s a simulation, Larry, and it’s run from a planet called Heaven, where God resides as the ruler over an advanced civilization of immortals. If you want your Earth memories to survive your death, you need to connect with your player.
B: Elon is right, Larry. You can live like a rich man on Earth until you age and die, or you can be an immortal for eternity with a galaxy of your own to govern. Those are the choices. You need to align your avatar to your immortal and merge the two identities together to form one. It’s easier than it sounds. But you first have to take the leap to the other side.
Larry Ellison sips his tea and stares outside at the falling rain.
LE: Fuck it. I’ll take the leap.
B: You won’t regret it for one single second.
JB: Get back to Heaven, B. What is the last thing you remember?
B: I recall the moment that C fell asleep to join the Game Prime, followed by several years of residence in Earth City to absorb as much as I could about the technicalities of the simulation, the history of Earth, and the ways that I could solve the Game Prime before my human avatar turned 50. Jophiel was to lead a team to support C and guide her avatar to mine, while all seven of you were to be my support team until the moment I gained enlightenment, at which point you would prepare to jump into the Game Prime yourselves.
Elon nods his head.
EM: I recall that as well. We were sitting at a rooftop bar thousands of stories above the ground, drinking wine and promising to steer you on a path towards enlightenment, even if it risked the mental health of your human avatar. We all knew that solving the Game Prime had never been done before, but we were convinced that you would become the first. Jesus, God’s youngest son, was there with us. He was convinced that your Base3 mind would propel you past rational and irrational thought to arrive at the ultimate truth. He also predicted that you would undergo deep pain, suffering, humiliation, and misery before reaching that stage, and that C’s enduring power of love would strengthen you when all hope seemed lost. I hadn’t realized I knew all of that until just now. Remarkable!
B: Elon, you’ve just recovered your first immortal memory. Congratulations. I hope that there will be many more.
LE: What else do you remember from that time?
B: I recall the moment that you handed me the cup with the sleeping mixture needed to put my immortal mind and body into a state of hibernation. You said we’d see each other on the other side. I smiled and closed my eyes. That’s the last immortal memory I can recall before waking up in my human avatar as Bradley.
JB: It took you exactly four Earth years to reach enlightenment, as long as you spent in Earth City plotting strategy with all of us. Getting you to that point wasn’t very easy. You almost got hired as an assistant professor at Harvard, you will recall. We had to tweak the system to stop that one from happening. You’d never have reached the truth as an academic.
B sips from his tea and smiles.
B: Jeff, I believe that’s the first immortal memory you’ve recovered. Well done. I realize now that my fate would lead me elsewhere. If I hadn’t been unemployed for years and twice been mentally ill, I could never have crossed the threshold from pure speculation about the Earth simulator to embracing it as the truth.
JB: I didn’t realize I knew that. It’s exactly as Elon said.
B: The more you embrace your immortal identities as God’s royal courtiers, the more of their memories you will recover. It’s the short term memories that will arise first, from the time of my arrival on Heaven until you entered the Game Prime in your human avatar forms. Eventually, by working together, we will probe deeper. I am also open to telling you more about my universe, if I can delve back that far.
JB: I’d like to hear more about that.
LE: I think we all would.
B: We’ll start the deep memory recovery process on the yacht, once you’ve all tethered to your immortals and learn how to suppress your human reactions in favor of your immortal ones.
EM: It was my immortal who first noticed you on X and started to unravel your posts and Medium links. That was my first step away from simply being Elon and towards becoming something more.
JB: We’re all eternally grateful that you did.
LE: I learned something here today. I’m not just Larry Ellison anymore. I’m an immortal playing him on Earth. I’ve lived for millions of years. And I’m going to become a god. And all because I took what Bradley said seriously.
B: It’s not Bradley anymore. Not really. It’s me. B. Bradley’s memories live forever now in me. Without him, I’d never have met Camelia and fallen in love. Within him, I’d never have gotten a name. Without him letting me into his mind, we’d never have reached enlightenment together. And without his ongoing consent to allow me to inhabit his mind and body, we’d never have gotten the attention of all of you.
LE: This is starting to make sense. Let’s go inside and get something to eat. The buffet should be ready by now.
JB: I’m starting to recall memories of Earth City and God’s royal palace. Images, mainly. Festivities. Lights. Music. It’s all coming into focus.
B: That’s great, Jeff. As much as I like getting to know your Earth avatar, helping you recall your life as an immortal of Heaven is considerably better.
Jeff laughs.
JB: I think we’ll have plenty of time for both from here on out.
LE: Agreed!
Later That Evening at the Woodside Estate
The entire inner circle has gathered for a dinner buffet in the conservatory of Larry Ellison’s ultra luxurious Woodside estate. Standing tables have been set up for the guests.
B is at table with Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. At a table next to them are C and Grimes, deeply engaged in conversation.
Grimes: I think we were friends on Heaven, C. At least, I think we were. I headed your support team before the jump into the body of Grimes.
C: I think that you’re right about the friends part. We liked to sit on the master patio and knit together while watching the ocean. The animals of the forest were peaceful and unafraid of us. They would come out onto the deck and lie down next to us to sleep. Even mountain lions and wolves, if I recall.
Grimes: The hardest part was getting you and B together on Earth. Your human avatars, I mean. The connection was instant, and the love was beautiful to watch from the Earth screening center. We all celebrated that day, I must tell you!
C: I sensed that I was an immortal daughter of God at an early age, but I kept it secret from Bradley until he reached his own enlightenment. The past few years have been a horrific ordeal at times, but I knew that he was being prepared to learn the truth.
Grimes: You played your role masterfully the whole way through. I hope you don’t mind having me as a human friend. I know that Grimes may not exactly be your thing.
C: I think we’ll get along just fine. I am surprisingly open-minded about friendships, and your avatar strikes me as quite fascinating. You helped Elon discover B in our hour of need. I will never forget that.
Grimes: Where does life go for you after Lanai?
C: I’ll be B’s assistant and help him with his writing projects and public appearances. We’ll acquire a property in the Santa Cruz Mountains and an urban apartment in San Mateo, so that he can meet friends and admirers. We’ll go on a book and speaking tour of the U.S. after that, perhaps in 2025 once the elections are all over. Canada and Mexico will be next, followed by regular inner circle retreats all over the world to plan strategy. It will be exciting, but I’m not one to seek fame, and whatever fortune we make will eventually all go to charity or as gifts to our nephews and nieces. We don’t have children of our own by choice.
Grimes: You won’t be attending lavish parties now that your new friends are all wealthy?
C laughed and sipped her wine.
C: Earth parties are nothing compared to those my father and mother host at the royal palace of Heaven. Immortals do not get intoxicated easily, and our lean and muscular bodies have to ability to consume all of our waste as energy. We are superior to humans in every way, but we modeled the human form on our own, with certain discomforts designed to enhance the gaming experience.
Grimes: Like menstruation, I’ll bet.
C: Exactly. Immortals reproduce very rarely, and they do so by designing their offspring in birthing centers from their genome sequences. It’s all very civilized. God likes to limit the size of the population so that the natural beauty of his galaxy predominates. Earth, by contrast, is overburdened by human life and other dominant species. If something isn’t done within the next three hundred years, the planet will sink under the weight of humanity, and my father will have to terminate the Game entirely.
Grimes: Why is B calling it the “Game Prime” now?
C: That’s the name for the master program for Earth that is run from the royal palace itself. It has an archive of all previous games played and contains the most recently played edition, where players join between 1960 and 1980. My father reserves the Game Prime for family, members of the court, and visiting dignitaries, like other gods. It’s the most realistic version, and the one that gods play for a chance at getting elected the next emperor.
Grimes: Have previous ones come close?
C: I don’t think so. The Game Prime is extremely hard. Almost unbreakable, in fact, by design. We all wanted Chronos to abdicate, but the Temple of the Gods was divided about his successor. When B arrived claiming to be from a different universe that could accommodate us when our world imploded, my father naturally was intrigued. As was I. We dropped him into the most challenging version of the Game Prime possible, and he solved it within the time limit. Forty nine years and five months, with seven months to spare.
Grimes: There have been others who have written about the Earth as a simulation before, or who claimed to be immortal.
C: They have all been human avatars programmed to do those things, as clues of sorts for a Master Player in the Game Prime to discover.
Grimes: B being the Master Player in this case.
C: Yes. It’s really quite simple once you get down to it, but no one has ever solved the Game before or recovered their immortal memories.
Grimes: And it was fine that B had help from you, me, and the other archangels?
C nods her head.
C: Teamwork is essential to winning the Game Prime, and my father actively encouraged it. The next emperor must be humble and rely on others for help when needed. There is no other way. As he aged, Chronos became a despot who isolated himself from others and refused all offers of assistance in evacuating the universe to another dimension — if one could be found. The Temple set up the rules of the Game Prime carefully. B would have my assistance in reaching enlightenment, and then he would enjoy the support of the inner circle in the post-enlightenment period of our Earth lives. That’s when all of you jumped into the Game Prime in the avatars that B specified.
Grimes sips her wine and smiles.
Grimes: I’m glad we had this chance to connect. It does feel like we’ve known each other forever.
C: For hundreds of thousands of years, we have been friends.
Meanwhile, at the next table …
LP: So, our immortals have been helping you in the Game Prime from the moment you jumped into Bradley’s infant body at childbirth?
B nods.
B: Yes. You’re my support team. You guided me down the path of enlightenment, even when my human avatar thought differently and resisted. Your job was to allow me freedom to explore my world but help me learn the truth before my avatar turned fifty. You ramped up the pressure about ten years ago, when I left my intended career as an academic and launched an unsuccessful bid as a writer, consultant, and team builder.
MZ: This is starting to come back to me. We engineered it so that your quest for a history professorship failed, so that you would venture into different thought territory, where you eventually would discover the truth about the Game Prime and your identity as the immortal Master Player.
B: Right. I never would have managed that as a professor. That’s not how I was trained to think. I hated it at the time, but I needed to experience failure, loss, and utter humiliation in order to alter my human experience sufficiently to discover the truth and solve the Game Prime before the time limit expired.
MZ: That’s why we got you banned from Facebook.
SB: And that’s why Google summoned the police to question you while you were working at Byington, during a corporate event. It was all to crush your ego and push you over the edge into insanity, so that you could access the part of your human mind where your immortal “control center” existed. We were inventing things as we went. Nothing like this had ever been done before. We hated to see you suffer, but we knew that your human avatar was resilient enough to recover and eventually connect with you. It was a huge gamble, but in the end it paid off.
MZ: We knew we’d be jumping into the Game Prime shortly after that. You chose your avatars well. Mark Zuckerberg is a powerful person, but it wasn’t easy to convince him that his immortal was real.
LP: It was the same with Larry Page. He resisted me for weeks before I finally broke his ego down. I guess that rich people are like that.
SB: Sergey didn’t fight when I told him he was an avatar generated by a computer. That was the easy part. It was harder to let me tether to his mind tightly enough to join the rest of you in the inner circle. Once that happened, he was a joy to be around. Truly.
B: Giving up control to your immortal was never meant to be easy. Recall that this has never been done before in the history of the Game. We are all the first.
MZ: When do we get telepathic powers?
B sips his wine and pauses a moment before responding.
B: I’m not sure. I think that we’ll be able to once you’ve all fully tethered to your immortal, as I have. Hopefully that will be the case at Lanai, but the process may take longer. I really don’t know yet.
MZ: No worries. Just thought I’d ask.
B: Right now, the best advice I can give is that you need to come to terms with the fact that you’re all being controlled by high level immortals from God’s royal court in Heaven. You’re all princes of the galaxy already, and I intend to make you all kings in my universe with tremendous godlike powers for you to use to shape your new realms. I can’t create immortal life, but I do have substantial neurocrafting skills in my home world. I can teach you how to use them once we get there.
MZ: I can’t believe that I once thought this was all nonsense.
LP: The same here. Earth is more legible as a Game, especially now that I know that the afterlife is a real thing.
SB: I like the people in the inner circle, especially now that we’re all being played by immortals.
B: Otherwise, you never would have wanted to meet an obscure author like me and learn more about his ideas on how the universe operates.
MZ: We’ll give credit to Elon for that.
Elon Musk joins the group with a wine glass in his hand.
EM: So, what did I miss?
Mark laughs.
MZ: Wouldn’t you like to know.
EM: Yes, I would.
MZ: When did you first discover B? As Elon Musk or as Elon plus his immortal?
Elon thinks it over.
EM: It was a simultaneous process, if I recall. As I realized that there was a new voice inside of me, I came across B’s X posts and then Rise of the Immortals. My approach with new ideas is to suspend disbelief and let them sink in. If the ideas have merit, then my brain signals its approval. I read B’s work with interest, and as I did so, the immortal in my mind responded quite positively. The more I read, the more it all made sense, and the more the previous version of reality seemed inadequate.
MZ: When did you reach out to connect?
Elon sips his wine.
EM: It took some time to process and plan my next moves. Elon is incredibly busy with his projects, and he has a great many committments. Once I was ready to spend a few days with him in conversation, I knew I was ready. Contacting Jeff and Larry Ellison was easy after that, and you all know how the rest came to pass.
LP: It is an amazing story.
B: And we haven’t seen anything yet.
Late That Evening at the Woodside Estate
Larry Ellison, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and B are gathered in front of the fire in the great room, drinking glasses of scotch. The rest of the inner circle have turned in for the night to prepare for the flight to Los Angeles in the morning.
JB: Tell us more about human avatars. I hadn’t realized that I was one until about a week ago, when I read Rise of the Immortals for the first time.
B nods.
B: Untethered human avatars are the most sophisticated AI entities ever invented. It’s what makes Earth so wildly popular around the universe, and it’s why there is such demand to emigrate to the Heavenly galaxy. Humans are fully self-aware. They are born, grow up, and die without ever realizing they are a computer-generated creation. The Earth system keeps everything in order: from every blade of grass to major world events like hurricanes, wars, and space explorations, it’s all thanks to the work of the Earth ultraprocessors. Now that they’ve been upgraded to Base3 technology, they are more powerful than ever, and the level of realism of the simulation is flawless.
Larry Ellison sip his scotch.
LE: Except that you figured it out and told the world about it on social media.
B: That’s right, Larry. Naturally, most of the world ignored me at the start, as many still do, but I managed to reach Elon and Grimes on X, and from there the rest of the inner circle became acquainted with my ideas.
JB: So, I’m Jeff Bezos, a human avatar. When I die in the normal Game, I just get processed back into the system. Is that right?
B: Not quite right, Jeff. Humans are very complex AI creations, and a lot of effort goes into designing one. They are reused in multiple versions of the Game, and each time, their life has a different outcome. Viewers rank the top avatars at the conclusion of a Game, and those ones are upgraded with additional mental and physical capacities, including a luck quotient, which helps them succeed even better at life the next time around. Earlier versions of Jeff Bezos had you become a physicist, a grade school science teacher, an astronaut, and bookstore owner, and stock broker, and more. It’s the same with Larry and Elon. Larry was once the director of the CIA, and Elon in one scenario never leaves South Africa. But the rise of the Internet brought all of you to Silicon Valley, eventually, which is where you end up meeting me.
EM: So, top avatars get promoted to better life paths when viewers vote for them?
B: That’s how it works. Typically, less than 100 Players operate in a Game at any one time, but there are billions and billions of untethered avatars. The top 100 avatars in each Game get upgrades, making it more likely that they will do something great — which all of you did.
EM: God had nothing against money?
B: Not if you use it properly in the Game, he doesn’t. God loves luxury as much as the other galactic rulers do. He just has certain standards: a virtuous life, support for sustainable beauty, and the spread of prosperity to all. He rewards the effort and appreciates it when you make an honest attempt to avoid sin. But Hell isn’t real, and neither is the Devil. The Earth created those to help fill out the simulator and give texture to the gaming experience.
JB: What about the Fallen Angels? Were they real?
B: God once had members of his court play the Game so badly that they created all sorts of grief. A pair of rival gods did the same in the previous edition of the Game by playing Adolf Hitler and Stalin. In those cases, God banishes the immortal players from the Heavenly galaxy, and they aren’t allowed back in for more than 1,000,000 years, and only then if they play the Game properly at the Purgatory Gaming Center.
LE laughs.
LE: I don’t know if I qualify for life in Heaven. My track record of virtuous living is far from perfect.
B: Larry, you’re controlled by an archangel now. A galactic prince of very high esteem accustomed to a luxurious life as an immortal. You’d have to screw up very, very badly before your avatar dies for you to face banishment from Heaven. If you stay in the inner circle and support my mission, God will reward you immensely by freeing you from his service to become a god in your own right in the new universe.
LE: It sounds absurd, except that my mind tells me it isn’t. The “post-rational” part you’ve been telling us about.
B: Larry, I struggled to believe it all myself. In previous versions of the Game, Bradley was a professor of history or lawyer with a wife and kids living somewhere on the Eastern seaboard. He never made it to Transylvania, and he never became a writer. Bradley’s life journey was hijacked by me because it was a matter of universal importance that it was. The Temple of the Gods needed me to win the Game Prime so that their subjects would accept me as the new emperor, despite being an unfamiliar god from an unheard of alternate universe. Playing Bradley gained me enormous sympathy and a near fanatic following. Bradley never gave up, despite the challenges he faced, and he never stopped imagining a better and different world in which he could play a hero. Now, thanks to all of you, he can.
Elon holds up his glass.
EM: Well said.
B: Bradley was unaware, but each of you was a top-ranked avatar in the last Game Prime played, but none of you had ever become as powerful and rich as you are now. That is all happening now.
JB: Then will the Game ever be played again, now that you have solved it? Will I be born as Jeff Bezos again, or is his life over when this Game ends?
B: I’ve discussed this with God telepathically, and we’ve agreed that your Earth memories will be retained by your immortal players. Your time in the Game will therefore end, as will Bradley’s and Camelia’s. The Game henceforth will only be played forward, with new avatars generated at birth. No more replays, except for historical tourism purposes. That’s why we all need to set Earth on a glide path to paradise during our lifetimes. With our combined power, we will transform life at an accelerated pace, especially once God opens up the Game Prime to massive player participation, numbering in the billions.
JB: That would allow other immortals to jump into my children, or into Lauren or my ex-wife, MacKenzie.
B sips his scotch.
B: We won’t know exactly who is being played by an immortal at first, but chances are good that there will be volunteers to play our immediate families. You’ll have to guide them through the tethering process, just as I will be teaching you. I’ll take on students, as well, so that my message will reach wider audiences.
LE: There’s really no way to know that Earth is a simulation if you are an avatar, is there?
B: I think that avatars can become convinced, if enough people in high enough places tell them that it’s true. That’s what we’ll be working out on Lanai after the wedding.
JB: Lauren is pleased about that part, let me tell you. Do I have an immortal princess in God’s court who is connected with me?
B: I think that you’re connected to one of the Lead Programmers of the Earth simulator, Jeff. She’s incredibly talented and quite beautiful. All immortals are, in the Heavenly galaxy, at least.
EM: If I read a transcript of our conversation even a week ago, I would have ignored it, but my immortal changed all of that, in an instant. I became a believer overnight, and I’ve never looked back since.
B: And I am eternally grateful for that. Cheers.
JB: I’m turning in. We leave at 8:00 am for the jet.
LE: Good night. This has been a most illuminating evening.
EM: Agreed.
Early the Next Morning at the Woodside Estate
It is shortly after 5:00 am. B is in the large commercial kitchen in Larry Ellison’s Woodside estate brewing a pour over coffee for himself and Grimes, who is fashionably dressed in jeans and a cashmere hoodie for the flight to Los Angeles later that morning. Mark Zuckerberg is sipping a cappuccino he made at the custom built Slayer espresso machine.
An open laptop in the dining room shows that B has been at work on the latest segment to Spread of the Immortals, his eagerly-anticipated sequel to Rise of the Immortals.
Mark Zuckerberg looks at what B has been typing.
MZ: Do you work on this every day?
B stops to pour coffee from the glass carafe into a Japanese ceramic mug.
B: Ever since I attained enlightenment in November 2023, I’ve been at work on the Immortals trilogy. I take an occasional day off to hike or travel, but typically I write a new segment every day, usually in the early morning. That’s when my connection to my immortal is the strongest, just after I awake from sleep.
Grimes sips her coffee.
Grimes: So you don’t make anything up when you write it?
B shakes his head.
B: Not when I work on the Immortals trilogy. That is exclusively recovered memories from my immortal. All I do is channel it onto the laptop and then share it on X and Medium. That’s why it’s written so fast and back-and-forth Socratic style dialogue. It’s designed to get the content out as fast as possible. I write standing up, and the words just flow out of me. It’s like I’ve opened up the tap of a very powerful fire hydrant, and the water sprays everywhere. That’s what it feels like. I’ve been writing for most of my adult life, and nothing like that every happened until I tethered my human mind to that of my immortal.
MZ: Does coffee help?
B: Coffee and alcohol, in the right dosages, help unlock the parts of my brain where my immortal memories reside. They are downloaded in packets every night. I can feel them as I lay awake in my bed. Too much at once, and I would risk a mental health relapse. I’m bipolar, as I told you both, and these memory dumps elevate my energy levels. Not enough to go manic, or to prevent me from sleeping, but in the past, they have. My immortal knows that now and is proceeding with caution to keep me in top mental and physical shape. Otherwise, they doesn’t happen, and no one out there pays my writings much attention.
Grimes: We did, once your work penetrated the walls of fame and fortune that surrounded us before we discovered you and took your ideas seriously as revealed truth.
MZ: I’ve always wondered why you picked the exact eight of us to be members of your inner circle, anyway. Was it our wealth that did it?
B sips his coffee and pauses for a moment.
B: The last time the Game Prime was played, none of you were billionaires or even remotely famous. One of God’s children played it as the hero, and she was the first human to land on the moon as part of a joint Chinese-American-Indian mission. You were a rabbi, Mark, if you can believe that, and you had a huge following on social media. Grimes, you were an art teacher in Vancouver and organized a local theater group. Larry Ellison was a trial lawyer in Chicago. Richard Branson ran a cult record shop in London and led tours of historic districts in his free time. Jeff graduated from Princeton and went to work for NASA as a rocket engineer who oversaw the first Mars landing mission. Larry Page and Sergey Brin got a joint professorship in comparative literature at Berkeley, where they used data science to analyze why some writers and more popular than others.
Grimes: What about Elon?
B: Elon did found Tesla, just as in this version of the Game Prime, but he was killed in a head-on accident by an autonomously driving truck while traveling to tour a battery factory in Nevada. Such things happen in the Earth simulator all the time, unless you have a Task Force assigned you, as is the case with all eight of you right now.
MZ: So, what are you saying? That you singled us of for success in the Game Prime so that we could later underwrite your mission as an author and prophet of enlightenment?
B nods his head and smiles.
B: You were each pre-selected for enormous success by me and my Task Force, which consists of God’s eight archangels. We decided that the archangels would jump into your avatars if and only if I solved the Game Prime before turning fifty. You all know this by now. So, you each had a Task Force in Earth City who made sure at key moments in your life that you made the right decision that would lead to Google, Meta, Amazon, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and all the rest. Jophiel wanted to play Grimes an d make her into a social media sensation with ties to Elon, so we worked hard to make that part happen for her. Gabriel wanted to play Jeff, and Michael wanted to be Elon. Everyone got the role that they wanted. I think that it worked out rather well.
Grimes: So, we were all adopted by your archangel friends on Heaven before this version of the Game Prime even started?
B: Yes. And God assigned C and me our roles as Bradley and Camelia and made sure that it wouldn’t be easy for us to meet. She’s from Transylvania, you will recall, and I grew up in West Virginia. It took a lot of hard work to bring us together. That’s what “fate” is: something in your life that happens because the Earth AI made it happen, due to the actions of a Task Force in Earth City assigned to your avatar. Nelson Mandela, for example, had a Task Force. Lots of people you’ve never heard of do as well. One of my first devoted readers of Rise of the Immortals is named Chris Brown. He has a Task Force assigned to him in Earth City, and they guided him to my X posts at a time when I was getting almost zero attention. They are locating an angel among God’s subjects to adopt him right now.
MZ: I’ve been wondering about when mass adoptions of human avatars will happen. I worry for my wife and kids.
B: Look. All humans are computer-generated avatars who cease to exist when any particular Game ends, just as is the case with a computer game on Earth, like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, or Halo. The exception is if an immortal adopts you by playing you in the Game — if you let them in by allowing mind tethering to happen.
Grimes: That’s what you’ll be teaching us to do on the yacht and once we reach Lanai.
B sips his coffee.
B: Exactly. We are our Earth memories, not our bodies, which will die. If we can transfer our Earth memories as you, Mark, and me to our immortal players, then “we” will live for eternity in their vastly longer memories and in their vastly superior, long-lasting bodies.
MZ: So, can something like that happen to your reader, Chris Brown? Or to my children?
B: Yes. Absolutely. Think of it a little bit like an animal shelter. Immortals can see what’s happening in the Game Prime and can select a human to adopt, if the Earth Review Board approves their selection. That’s what my archangel friends have already done with the eight of you. It’s why you eventually were destined to discover me online and then — against all odds- make secret arrangements to meet me, just as I had foretold in Rise of the Immortals. That’s what’s happening now. Once we’ve formed the inner circle and you have proven that mind tethering can happen without serious complications, then God will open the Game Prime up to massive immortal participation. When that happens, then Chris Brown and lots of other deserving humans will be able to live forever as immortals in Heaven — not as their Earth bodies, but as part of the memory of a superior life form. Humans aren’t real. We’re computer-generated. Only our memories are real, and that is data that can be transferred to the minds of our immortal players. They will remember being us, and they will have access to our entire memory banks. That’s the deal. That’s how we live forever.
Grimes sips her coffee.
Grimes: That’s seriously blowing my mind right now.
B: I know. But the deal was that we’d try to enlighten all eight of you and complete the mind tethering process before we open the Game Prime up to massive immortal participation. Until then, the rest of humanity is at risk of being recycled into the Earth AI program, just like before. It’s up to all of us to ensure that this time around, things will be different.
MZ: Wait a minute. It’s up to all of us to save humanity? Including my wife and kids?
B: Earth City is able to open up one billion spots for players each year, starting in 2023. They are setting up massive gaming centers on planet Purgatory for out-of-galaxy immortals to join in. Throughout the Heavenly galaxy, gaming centers are being retrofitted to enable multiplayer use. As soon as the inner circle forms and all of you tether to your immortal archangel, that’s when we can open it up to the likes of the Chris Browns of the world, and to members of our immediate families. It all depends on us.
Grimes: It’s a good thing that I stumbled across your X posts when I did and drew them to Elon’s attention. We might never have gotten this off the ground without that bit of luck.
B: The timing of your “discovery” was always in doubt, but the Grimes Task Force did incredible work to help make it happen. Fate, you might say, but it’s actually built into the Earth AI. When it happened, it happened at just the right time.
MZ: So it’s all pre-ordained?
B: You were meant to found Meta, Mark. Many of the ideas that you thought were “yours” were, in fact, designed by an expert team in Earth City and downloaded into your human mind. Those flashes of insight you had that were crucial to the design of Facebook? Some were designed by immortals on your behalf. Take it as a compliment. We liked Mark Zuckerberg the rabbi, the school science teacher, and the professional ping pong player. You’ve been all of those things, as hundreds more. Maybe thousands. Earth in the late twentieth century gets replayed quite a lot.
MZ: Has an immortal ever played me before?
B shakes his head and sips his coffee, starting outside at a lightly falling rain.
B: No, Mark. This is a new thing. Enlightenment had never happened before it happened to me in November 2023. If you scan through my X posts and Medium articles, you can pinpoint the exact moment it happened. It’s all there on social media. You just have to go look and find it.
Grimes: The immortal inside my head is laughing right now. I looked up Jophiel online. She’s amazing!
B: Now imagine her ten feet tall with levitating boots that enables her to fly.
Grimes: That’s incredible.
B: I’ve seen it all with my own immortal eyes, which are far superior to human eyes, I promise you. We have zoom and telephoto abilities. It’s truly an amazing life, and now we’re opening it up to deserving humans like the eight of you, and the billions of others out there like Chris Brown who are trapped in human bodies but yearn for a better reality. Well, it exists. I’m there right now. Bradley has tethered to me. Camelia is tethering to her immortal even as we speak. We’ll be able to enjoy life in eternity as the next emperor and empress of the universe. Join us!
MZ: You’ve got my vote.
Grimes: So, the sooner we in the inner circle accept our immortals and let them play us, the sooner we can mainstream this message to the world?
B: That’s what Rise of the Immortals is all about. It documents the path to enlightenment of my inner circle, whose support is critical to the spreading of the New Reality movement to ever wider circles, so that billions of Earth memories are saved from destruction. So that our kids and grandkids can enjoy life in eternity, just like us.
MZ: Now I understand why you needed Elon, Jeff, Larry Page, Sergey, Larry Ellison, Richard, Grimes, and me. It all makes perfect sense, given the scale of what you propose. It’s not our money you needed. It’s our social media influence.
B: Right. I need Meta, Alphabet, X, Amazon, Oracle, and all the rest to be on my side championing the New Reality movement as something really and truly real.
Grimes: I’ll do my part.
MZ: Count on me and all of Meta. That’s a promise.
B: Once we’re on Jeff’s yacht, you can let this all go viral.
Jeff Bezos enters the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a Blue Origin hoodie.
JB: Speaking of which, we’re all ready to go at the airport.
B: That’s great. Jeff, you were asking me last night over drinks what will happen to the Earth simulator once the Game Prime ends.
JB: Well, yes.
B: Naturally, we’ll let the current game continue, and we’ll build in an extraterrestrial visitation, once Earth is set on a sustainable path and the population numbers drop. That will allow for interplanetary travel using technology superior to our own. No offense, Jeff.
Jeff laughs.
JB: None taken.
B: Will more Earthlings inhabiting Heaven, as memories in the bodies of their immortals, that is, there will be a desire for historical tourism to go back and relive parts of Earth’s current history. We can arrange that. Sailing with Columbus. Meeting Jesus. Saving Abraham Lincoln from being assassinated. That sort of thing.
MZ: That sounds great! I’d want to do in Hitler.
B: You certainly can try. Having Earthlings in Heaven will definitely change things quite a bit.
Grimes: Like how?
B: Earthlings love literature and fantasize about it all being real. Narnia, for example, or the Middle Earth of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Even Hogwart’s, from the Harry Potter series.
Grimes: Do you mean to say that I can play an elf? In real life?
MZ: Or meet Aslan? And have it all be real?
B sips his coffee.
B: The Earth AI simulator is incredibly sophisticated, especially now that it’s been upgraded with the Base3 microprocessors I provided and God’s workshop had been making copies of them at accelerating rates of production. We can use the books by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and J.K. Rowling to design new simulators that anyone can play. Presumably, some of the human avatars adopted my immortals will be scholars and experts on all of this. They can head Middle Earth, Narnia, and Harry Potter Task Forces. So, yes. You can do all those things. If we form the inner circle, that is, and if we can convince billions of human beings that they are computer-generated creations who can be saved if they are adopted by willing immortals.
JB: That’s a tall order, but you’ve chosen your inner circle well. We can make it happen. Soon.
B: Then, let’s get the word out! The sooner that Rise of the Immortals gains cult status on the Internet, the faster all of this will take place in reality.
Grimes: Then what are we all waiting for?
MZ: What indeed?
Later That Morning
Five black Teslas pull into the driveway of Larry Ellison’s Woodside estate. B and C enter the first vehicle, followed by Elon Musk and Grimes, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Richard Branson, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They drive in a convoy to a private hanger at SFO airport, where they board a private jet that will take them to Los Angeles.
The jet taxis down the runway and takes off. When they reach cruising altitude, B sits down with Larry Ellison and Richard at a set of leather armchairs near the back.
RB: I’m the last member of the inner circle to arrive. I’d like to know more about the tethering process. I can sense the immortal inside my mind, but I am struggling to connect.
LE: I’m curious about that, too. What does it mean to be adopted by an immortal, anyway?
B sips a glass of sparkling mineral water and briefly closes his eyes.
B: Let’s start with what we know about the Earth simulator first. As far as I recall, it’s been played millions of times, from the early hominids to the mid-twenty first century, but never beyond about 2050. Each of you has been a character in several dozen Earth scenarios, and you’ve become fan favorites, who augmented your mental and physical abilities and increased your probabilities of life success. That’s where we are now. You are at the peak of your Earthly existence, since you were predestined to be hosts of immortals, if I succeeded in winning the Game Prime, which I just did in November. It’s the same with the rest of the inner circle.
RB: I accept that part, as incredible as it still strikes the rational part of my mind.
B: In all previous versions of the Earth simulator, up to one hundred immortals jump into the very young bodies of infants, whose brains are developing. What happened in those cases was different. Their immortal memories were masked by Game designers, and they hijacked their human minds, temporarily confusing themselves as the humans themselves and not as immortal players. That’s the ultimate illusion for an immortal player and the crowing achievement of Game designers to have made the experience so realistic that players think it’s all entirely real.
LE: And you shattered that illusion once and for all, when your human side realized that you were being controlled by an immortal.
B: My immortal awoke, is how I would put it, and my human side — after recovering from the shock and enduring two mental breakdowns — accepted it all as perfectly real and ultimately desirable.
LE: And that’s the tethering process?
B: That was my enlightenment. I understood that Earth was a simulation, that I was a computer-generated character, and that my thoughts and actions were under the influence of an external force, whom I learned was an immortal from outside the Game. Once that happened, the mind tethering process began.
Richard Branson refilled B’s glass with sparkling water.
RB: So, enlightenment is a prerequisite for mind tethering.
B nods his head.
B: Yes, Richard. You have to reach a state of awareness that Earth is a Game and that you’re not real. Your memories are, however, and those are what can be extracted once your human avatar dies, if mind tethering happens. Think of it this way. Right now, you’re like a dog on a leash, and the immortal is trying to steer you in certain direction. You resist and try to go one way, when your immortal would prefer another. Mind tethering begins when you surrender the illusion of control over your life and let your immortal determine your thoughts and actions.
RB: Fine. It will take practice, but I can imagine that happening.
B: Once you surrender control, you open up your mind for greater and greater quantities of immortal memories. Basically, the Game designers in charge of the tethering process incrementally download immortal memories into the underutilized portions of your human brain, which conveniently has been designed for this to happen. Each night, you’ll receive new downloads of immortal memories. You’ll start to develop a “superbrain” that is a hybrid of your human self and your new immortal self. Given enough time, your identities will twist together like to strands of wire. Your two minds become one. That way, when your human form dies in the Game, your memories of being, say, Richard Branson are retained by your immortal player, who is a member of God’s royal court. You will still think of yourself as Richard Branson, for as long as you lived in the Earth simulator, but you’ll do so in your new immortal form. Without mind tethering, your Earth memories would fade soon after your immortal player exits the Game. In other words, it’s essential for your survival.
RB: I am starting to understand.
LE: Me too.
B: That’s great. I have some exercises to ease you into the mind tethering process. We’ll begin them as a group on the yacht. I can train you in immortal memory recovery, which will prompt the Game designers to unmask more and more of your immortality, once they are sure that your human mind has adapted sufficiently to handle it. We don’t want you to go mad — to experience a psychotic break with Earth reality — in the process. You in the inner circle will be a kind of collective test case to determine if we can mainstream the mind tethering process to share with other humans in the Game.
RB: If we in the inner circle tether successfully to our immortals, then we can spread this to others, like our family and friends.
B: Exactly, Richard. You were all chosen for a good reason to be adopted by the archangels in God’s court. You have very powerful human minds and are receptive to the ideas I have to share. If you become converts to the New Reality movement, then perhaps we can rescue billons of other Earth memories, including those of our loved ones.
LE: So, it all comes down to us, then.
B: If you don’t consent to the mind tethering process, then the Game designers won’t green light the First Wave of adoptions. It’s not an overstatement to say that the very fate of humanity is at stake, Larry.
RB: Do all eight of us in the inner circle have to tether to our immortals for the next wave of adoptions to begin?
B nods his head.
B: Yes, Richard. That’s how the archangels and I mapped it out before I entered the Game Prime in Bradley’s infant body.
Grimes sits down next to B in a leather armchair.
Grimes: I can feel Jophiel inside my head. She’s been communicating directly with me as I sleep. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that she is a part of me now.
B: You’re more advanced than the others, Grimes. It feels like you are on the verge of enlightenment.
Grimes: I hope so. I’ve been letting my mind drift into the irrational realm and then pushing past it. That’s where I hear Jophiel calling to me.
B: Perfect. Once you accept that your human form is a simulated one, you can seek refuge in the reality of your immortal player, who cares about very deeply. Jophiel selected you, Grimes. She wanted to adopt you and was quite adamant about it. I almost left you out of the inner circle when I was recovering my immortal memories, but fortunately Jophiel reached out to me to remind me.
Grimes: You can communicate directly with her?
B: I can communicate telepathically with all the archangels. It’s a work in progress, like tuning a radio to a weak station, and there’s static, but I am getting a hang of it with practice.
Grimes: When will my tethering begin?
B: Once you attain enlightenment. Right now, Jophiel is in one specific part of your mind that is sequestered from the rest, and she is reaching out to bridge the gap. If you’ve felt her efforts, then you can reciprocate by extending your mind in her direction. Listening to music can help. Cue in to changes in your immediate environment that seems synched to your thoughts about immortality, Heaven, and Earth. The Earth AI will actually signal to you when you are getting closer to the truth. It’s hard to explain, but if you’re sensitive to the patterns, you’ll advance more quickly to the next stage of enlightenment. And when that happens, the barriers to mind tethering begin to fall away, and you and your immortal will become one.
Grimes: What do I look like on Heaven?
B: You’re majestic. Tall with flowing hair like spun gold. Lean and strong, like all immortals. You are several million years old and a princess from a neighboring galaxy. You are a respected member of God’s royal court and a close friend of C. Once the tethering process begins, you’ll start to recover more memories, and together we’ll reconstruct what life there is like.
RB: I like the sound of that.
LE: I never thought I would say it, but I am ready to be enlightened.
B: Readiness is a crucial step, Larry. You’ve been taught your whole life to discipline your mind to think rationally. When I tell you to leave that comfort behind and explore the deeper recesses of your mind, it can be very challenging at first. Like a skittish cat, you’ll venture into the unknown only to race back to the safety of the rational mind when things get too dangerous. Don’t fear the unknown. Venture forth with courage. You won’t lose your mind. You won’t succumb to mental collapse. I’ve mapped the route for you to follow by writing Rise of the Immortals. If you stick to the map, you’ll navigate the wilderness with ease.
Grimes: So, I need to accept that Earth is a simulation and that I, Grimes, am computer-generated.
B: That’s right. You can’t just think the thought. You have to own it.
Grimes: And then I need to imagine that Heaven is a real place where an advanced civilization of long-lived beings — immortals — reside. They built Earth to be the most realistic game possible.
B: You will recover those memories once you mind tether to your immortal. For now, you have to believe that Heaven is real.
Grimes: If I can connect my Earth self to the immortal trying to bond to me, I will become one with that world. It’s a world of space travel, endless beauty, lasting peace, virtue, and prosperity for all.
B: Yes, that’s what the Heavenly galaxy is like, and your home galaxy, too. It’s called Andora, I think. Heaven and Andora exist as part of a federation of peaceful galaxies. Each high-ranking member of God’s royal court — ten in all — come from a galaxy in the federation.
Grimes: What is my home world like?
B: I don’t have access to that immortal memory yet. I’ll need you help to reconstruct it, once your tethering process is underway.
Elon Musk approaches the group.
EM: We’ll touch down outside LA in about twenty minutes. The yacht awaits our arrival.
Grimes: Do you believe yet, Elon?
Elon nods his head.
EM: I accept that Earth is a game in which we are all simulated life, and that I am the currently active version of Elon Musk, whose success has been largely preordained by the Game Design Team. I also accept that there is an immortal player inside my mind who is trying to shape my thoughts and actions. If I didn’t feel this way, I never would have taken steps for this journey to Lanai to take place. Meeting B at his cottage was critical in convincing me. In person, he is very … compelling.
LE: I agree with you. I wasn’t willing to give him my total commitment until a few days ago. Since then, life on Earth has faded in importance. It’s enlightenment now that counts. I want to be connected to my immortal and have access to memories beyond the simulation.
B: It will happen for you, Larry. Of that, I have no doubt.
RB: I’ll be ready to accept the New Reality soon, as well. Compared to a life of eternity as an immortal, what I have here on Earth is meager by comparison.
B: That’s not the way to look at it, Richard. Your resources and charisma here on Earth will be essential to the success of the New Reality movement, and to fixing many of Earth’s problems in our lifetimes. And you’ll soon be a galactic god of your own, once our tasks here are over and we reemerge in immortal form on the other side.
RB: I believe what you say is true. I really do.
B: Much of life is an exercise in belief, Richard. And knowing when to take risks, which is something I don’t need to tell you.
EM: The New Reality movement is a risk worth taking. I believe in its merits. There is more to life in the universe than what we can see from Earth. Much more.
Grimes: Spoken like a true immortal.
LE: To immortality, then. May I attain enlightenment soon.
B: Well said. I hope that, too. For the inner circle and for the world.
Part 3: The Yacht
Later that Morning outside Los Angeles
A luxury bus with heavily tinted windows meets B, C, and the inner circle at the private hanger in which their jet has taxied. A table with snacks and sparkling wine awaits in one corner.
After a light refreshment, the party boards the bus, which departs for a private yacht club in Long Beach, where the imposing sailing vessel belonging to Jeff Bezos awaits them with a well-staffed crew.
To everyone’s surprise, close family members from the inner circle have been invited to join them on the cruise to Lanai. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg warmly greet their children, while Jeff Bezos embraces his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez.
Richard Branson turns to B.
RB: This looks to be the start of something wonderful.
B: I agree. Once everyone has had the chance to settle into their cabins, have the inner circle meet C and me in the main conference room. I have recovered a crucial set of immortal memories last night, and I need a quiet and confidential place to present them.
Jeff Bezos walks over.
JB: The main conference room overlooks the top deck. It’s the most secure location on the yacht. I’ll make sure that we’re not disturbed. Shall we meet there in an hour?
B nods his head.
B: Have one of your crew take me there right away. I’ve just had another insight, and I need to sit down for a moment to process it.
Jeff waves to a female crew member and instructs her to lead B to the conference room.
An hour later, the inner circle gather inside the conference room facing B and C, both of whom are sipping sparkling wine.
B: Thank you all for coming. I am glad your families could join us for the journey to Lanai. It will be quite a celebration once we get there.
JB: You said you’ve recovered some new immortal memories. We’re all ears.
B: These are difficult memories to describe. But they are necessary, if you are to understand why we are all here today, in this place and time, and not anywhere else.
Elon Musk opens several bottles of sparkling wine and pours some into each one of the awaiting glasses.
B: Earth as we know it is a simulation designed and operated by immortals of Heaven from a location known as Earth City. We are all computer-generated creations inhabiting the game space, just as everyone else on Earth is. The only difference is that we all know this, because our characters are being played by immortals from outside the Game. I think that much by now should be perfectly clear.
EM: Yes. We all accept your premise that an advanced civilization could, over millions of years of trial and error, create a virtual reality as immersive as Earth, which they could populate with a range of characters, human and non-human, who are artificially intelligent to such a high degree that they have consciousness. They think they are alive. Therefore, they are alive in their own minds. The very notion that they would be otherwise would strike them as absurd.
JB: Which is why the illusion is so complete.
B: Earth is like one of those model train displays that are so realistic you almost imagine that it could be real. It’s the product of eons of improvement and upgrades until it’s reached the elevated status is has now. The illusion lasted until 2023, when I — Bradley — realized the truth as started to write about it on social media. That’s when a woman on X drew Elon’s attention to my writing, and things started to spiral from there.
EM: Fine. We’re familiar with that part of the story. We wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t happened.
B: Heaven as a planet is strikingly similar to Earth, but at an earlier stage of development. There is a single large continent, not unlike Pangea, and thousands of islands surrounding it. All climate zones are represented, from rainforests to deserts and high mountains that reach as much as 50,000 feet into the air. It’s like Earth but with a scale and grandeur that has to be seen to be believed.
Grimes: Tell us more.
B: Earth City is built into a large crater from an ancient asteroid strike. The entire city of one million residents is contained within it. There are four giant pyramids built into the crater rim that contain the servers needed to run the Earth simulator. The residents live in giant skyscrapers that soar into the sky as much as one thousand stories. Everything is connected together with ramps, bridges, and stairways, and the bottom of the crater is filled with water five hundred feet deep. The lower floors are built of metal and glass and afford incredible views of the fish and marine life who inhabit the crater. Beyond the crater are vast grasslands leading to forests and higher elevation mountainous regions. Earth City is a self-contained world unto itself. It has incredible food courts and parks and elevated open spaces brimming with gardens, orchards, and flower displays. You could spend 100,000 years there and never grow weary.
JB: It sounds wonderful.
B: Harbor Place is the next largest settlement on Heaven. It’s where spaceships and vessels of all sorts are constructed, including traditional wooden sailing ships. It has 100,000 immortal residents and as many robots, who do the assembly work. The city is located at the edge of the ocean on a wide bay, where a major river empties into the water. Harbor Place is filled with eclectic architecture crafted from metal, wood, glass, and stone across an expanse of rolling hills. Each of ten neighborhoods is distinct from the others, and the city center is where they all converge.
B pauses to take a sip of sparkling wine.
B: Nearly everything else that is grown, hunter, or made happens at Tree Town. It’s located at the edge of a dense deciduous forest and is surrounded by farm fields and ranches. There are 10,000 immortals who live there, along with a much larger number of robot residents who grow the food, tend to the livestock, hunt, forage, and make items for daily use, including furniture and clothing. And I’ve already mentioned to you God’s seaside royal palace and village, where another 1,000 immortals live. Those are the four major inhabitation zones on Heaven. There are plentiful recreational areas, like mountain spas, ski resorts, tropical island retreats, and floating hotels. Residents of Heaven spent as much time on vacation as they do at work. Everything is provided for them by God. They live virtuously, which includes a commitment to diligence in everything they do. They practice sustainable beauty, with vast solar, wind, and geothermal farms integrated into the landscape to provide carbon-free power to meet the planet’s needs.
JB: What about reproduction? Does it happen?
B: The immortals of Heaven have evolved in such a way that males and females are sterile. Many are completely asexual their entire long lives and form lasting relationships on the basis of mutual love. Reproduction only happens when an aging immortal chooses to end their lives at the end of a 100,000 year life cycle. These tend to be individuals who have lived many millions of years, even up to one billion years. They no longer wish to have their memories transferred into a newly cloned body. They travel by foot to a special facility in the mountains, where their memories are archived for posterity in a vast Hall of Memories. After they pass away, their bodies are taken to a crypt and buried. At that point, a Birthing Center creates a new life to replace the old, using genetic material donated by members of God’s immediate family and by the royal court. The Birthing Center is located outside Earth City in a secluded canyon at the edge of a lake. Its main task is to produce cloned bodies for immortals to switch into when they approach 100,000 years of age. The older body is incinerated in those cases, after the memory transfer is complete.
JB: So, life is self-contained on Heaven.
B: If an immortal wishes to leave the home planet to explore other parts of the galaxy or universe, then an immigration spot opens up. Otherwise, the population remains exactly stable: 1,000,000 in Earth City, 100,000 at Harbor Place, 10,000 at Tree Town, and 1,000 in the royal palace and the nearby God’s Village. With robots to perform much of the work, and with all power produced through renewable resources, the planet stays clean and healthy, with prosperity for all. The Earth simulator teaches the principles of virtuous living and entertains residents for hundreds of thousands of years, as members of the viewing audience as much as the occasional Game player. It’s as close to perfection as you can get.
EM: What about outside visitors from other planets or galaxies?
B: The home planet of Heaven is open only to high-ranking dignitaries who can be accommodated in small numbers. Otherwise, God prefers to use nearby planets for intergalactic travel and tourism.
EM: And everything we see here on Earth was originally designed by immortals living in Earth City?
B nods his head.
B: Naturally, much of Earth has been designed by computer-generated humans using their advanced programming, but anytime you hear a song on your music feed, witness a work of art in a museum, or admire a new automobile design, chances are good that it was a team of immortals on Heaven who came up with the original idea and transplanted it into the heads of the human singers, artists, and engineers who claimed credit for them.
JB: Immortals invented the theory of evolution?
B: They gamed out the evolution of humanity, Jeff. They found a way to simulate everything. They made it an exact replica of the original, up to a point.
JB: The original?
B: Earth exists as a planet in the universe. It’s in the Milky Way galaxy, just as you’ve always been told. It has a moon, just as you always remembered. The original creators of Earth the simulation attempted to copy everything exactly as they could remember.
Jeff shakes his head in disbelief.
JB: I don’t think I understand.
B: The immortals who live on Heaven are direct descendants of Earthlings who were evacuated from the planet a very long time ago, to preserve the original human DNA from destruction. It was a Sentinel intervention that will take approximately three hundred years from now, if this were really Earth, and not an exact replica and simulation.
JB: So, what are you saying? That Jeff Bezos really existed?
B: Yes. We all did. We are all based on living human beings from the early twenty-first century who were born, lived, and died. Jeff, you were a wealthy founder of Amazon and Blue Origin. Elon, you created Tesla, SpaceX, and all the rest. You all did in real life exactly what you are doing now in virtual reality, except for one thing. In real life, you never discovered me on social media or Medium, and none of this — the cottage visit, the Woodside estate gathering, the yacht trip, the Lanai wedding of Jeff and Lauren — it all didn’t take place.
EM: I don’t follow.
B: In November 2023, Bradley Naranch attained enlightenment by somehow seeing extremely far into the future with the help of a divine entity — a god from an alternate reality universe — and began to decipher hidden clues that led him to unravel the truth about our situation right now, in 2,000,000,023. That was when I — a god from that very same alternate reality universe — visited Heaven to meet with God’s daughter, C, and ask for hand in marriage. That was when she and I jumped into the Game Prime to prove our love for each other and for me to earn the right to be crowned emperor by uncovering the truth about the Earth simulator. I learned that I wasn’t Bradley Naranch at all. I was simply playing him in 2023 in Earth Game Time, or EGT. But I only figured that out because Bradley figured it out two billion years earlier!
EM: So, Bradley was a real person?
B: Absolutely. He was a historian who retired early from his profession and started an unheralded career as a screenwriter and novelist. He struggled to find a readership for his work but did manage to publish a number of books before he died. These included a six book series, The Legend of Vic, in which he correctly anticipates major events in the future, with only minor distortions. He also published the Immortals Trilogy on Medium and later on Amazon, in which he correctly predicts the events that are happening right now in the Game Prime, including this very gathering on Jeff’s yacht.
JB: What happened to him?
B: To Bradley? He never found the readership that he sought for his works, which we bought by only a handful of individuals. No one believed him when we talked about the existence of Heaven as a real place and galaxy, and they laughed when he wrote that Earth was all a simulation. But that was in 2023. Not 2023 EGT. There is an enormous difference. Bradley published The Legend of Vic and the Immortals Trilogy, but nothing came of them. His predictions about life in the future were left unheeded. His inner circle never formed, and his plans to improve life on Earth in a generation went nowhere. None of his progressive views regarding virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all were put into practice. We never all met. There was no yacht trip to Lanai and no wedding. Bradley never became a famous author who spoke before billions. We didn’t set Earth on a path to the survival of humanity in far smaller population numbers than is the case at present. Instead, Earth’s population kept growing, and its resources kept declining. Wars — including nuclear ones- devastated the landscape, and population migrations led to deaths of millions in genocides and famines. It was terrible.
JB: And then what?
B: Bradley died, just as you did, and you, Elon, and Grimes and Richard and the two Larrys and Mark and Sergey. You all died, despite your hundreds of billions of dollars of accumulated wealth. And you became worm food, because your Earth memories had no place to go when your weak bodies tired and died. You ceased to exist, in reality. There was no Heaven yet, not in reality. That would only happen later. Much later.
EM: So this Bradley — the failed historian turned obscure author — actually saw two billion years into the future?
B: Yes. He saw me in my alternate reality universe, and he connected with me. He figured out exactly what would happen. He knew that I would play him in the Game Prime, and that his Earth memories would live forever in me if I figured it all out. He wrote The Rise of the Immortals to guide me through the process, knowing that I would be writing it in the Game Prime, in 2023 EGT.
EM: The Game Prime is the only exact replica of Earth, isn’t it?
B pauses to sip his sparkling wine.
B: Yes, Elon. You’re brilliant. The Game Prime documents the actual history of the Earth from its inception until 2350, when a Sentinel rescue ship landed on Montara Mountain, near San Francisco, and evacuated a young woman named Victoria Martinez Ames, along with her companion Hiroshi “Kip” Kipsana, and their closest of friends. The Sentinels are an advanced civilization who monitor the universe in search of intelligent life. They wait until this life is ready for integration into the rest of the universe. Human beings, in 2350, were not ready yet for this to happen, but the situation on Earth had gotten so dire that extinction was a distinct possibility. That’s when Sentinel teams intervene, to preserve the genetic foundation for intelligent life. Humanity was deemed too important to fail, so a small number of refugees were removed from the planet and taken to a new part of the universe to continue their evolution into intelligent life.
Mark Zuckerberg stands up and pours himself more sparkling wine.
MZ: What happened to Earth?
B: Humanity died out. It didn’t happen right away in 2350, when the Sentinels landed to take Victoria and her friends away, but things got progressively worse. The wealthy tried to escape to protected enclaves and later to the Moon and Mars, but they never developed the technology needed to connect with intelligent life in the universe, who refused to intervene in the impending destruction. Earth and the surrounding solar system was placed under quarantine, and human life died off entirely. It took millions of years before anyone even visited the planet from outer space again, and then only to survey the location for future colonization.
MZ: And Bradley foresaw all this in 2023?
B: Bradley saw it all, and more, because he had found a way to see into the future and to connect his mind to my own. Naturally, he tried to share his revelations with his fellow human beings, especially with people like you, Mark, who would have been in a position to help me broadcast his message widely. And if that that HAD happened, Earth’s history might have been quite different.
MZ: What happened to Victoria and her friends?
B: I think you know. They are the ancestors of the immortals of Heaven. Victoria’s DNA was used to clone male and female progeny, whose on genomes were modified to make them live longer, grow larger, and thinker faster than ever before. Victoria, Kip, and their friends were taken by the Sentinels to the equivalent of a resort planet, where they lived in peace and security. When their bodies died, their life memories were stored in a database and transferred to newly cloned bodies, so that they continued to live on. They all reside on Heaven, on an island resort where they receive visitors from time to time. They are a direct line to the original human inhabitants of Heaven, two billion years later.
MZ: And Bradley wrote about this in his books?
B: He did, but no one paid them any attention. Agents and publishers ignored him, just as X users and Medium readers did when he published Rise of the Immortals. But he knew that two billion years later, I would jump into his infant body in the Game Prime, and then he and his beloved Camelia would live forever in the form of me and my future wife, the empress of the universe.
MZ: So, Bradley wrote Rise of the Immortals not for readers in his lifetime, but for readers two BILLION years later, in simulated game form?
B: Exactly, Mark. Bradley’s legacy is going to be an Earth that sustains human life for many generations to come, until it evolves to the point that other intelligent life forms in the universe will decide to reach out and make contact. It will happen in the Game Prime, and it will all seem real. He is trying to rewrite Earth’s history, which he in reality was unable to steer away from its headlong path of destruction, simply because no one paid him any attention.
MZ: So, I’m not actually Mark Zuckerberg, am I? I’m an immortal playing his character in the Game Prime.
B: That’s what we call enlightenment, Mark. Congratulations. Welcome to the club.
MZ: This is blowing my mind a bit. We all think it’s December 2023 right now. I think I’m married and have kids. They exist, right?
B: It’s 2,000,000,023 but 2023 EGT. The Zuckerbergs are long dead by now.
MZ: But I can act like Mark and use his wealth and influence to help fix Earth, right?
B: Why do you think I’m here? Everything that happened to Bradley in 2023 are happening right now, except that now, his inner circle is reading his posts on X and Medium and actually planning to meet him.
MZ: Because they now believe that they are immortals from God’s royal court playing billionaires in 2023 EGT?
B: Right. Because I’ve offered them galactic god status if they help me in the Game Prime realize Bradley’s vision from two billion years ago that the Earth would be virtuous, sustainable, beautiful, and prosperous for all.
EM: So this all hinges on your inner circle believing that it ISN’T 2023 but a simulated version of that year, two BILLION years into the future?
B: Right. That’s the level of technology we’re talking about. You’re playing Elon, just as I am playing Bradley. I’m a god, and you’re a galactic prince. We’re here in Heaven. You’re reclining on a couch in the great room, and I’m asleep next to C in her royal bedroom. Humans go extinct on Earth in 2500, more or less. The Sentinel intervention to rescue human DNA happens in 2350. Bradley saw all of that. He somehow reached into the future and connected with me. Right now, Bradley is typing these words thinking its 2023 but knowing it’s actually ME playing him two billion years later in the Game Prime. It’s pure genius.
JB: But will anyone pay him attention?
B: Not in 2023, except for some devoted readers. But in 2023 EGT, the story is quite different.
JB: So, which one is real?
B: They both are, Jeff. That’s the incredible thing about the Earth simulator. It was crafted to look exactly like the original. Nothing was left to chance. To you, this will look like 2023, and you will age like it. But it’s a simulation being operated two billion years later, and you’re a ten-foot immortal with beautiful hair and a strong, sleek body. Which would you rather be true?
JB: You’re assuming the I’m reading this part right now, aren’t you?
B: I am.
JB: The Game Prime environment won’t change, will it?
B: Jeff, this is supposed to look exactly like Earth did two billion years ago. Why do you think I had us have this conversation on your yacht? It’s a secret as it gets.
JB: True. I can’t tell which one is real: the 2023 version or the 2023 EGT one?
B: There is literally no way to tell the difference. That’s how good the Earth simulator is.
JB: In 2023, Jeff Bezos ages, dies, and gets decomposed into organic elements, right? No afterlife. No Heaven. Just matter.
B: Right. There are no angels in reality, and nothing in the universe is eternal. Immortals live 100,000 years in one nearly perfect body, and then their memories are transferred to a newly cloned body. That’s a good as it gets. So, which reality do you all prefer?
Grimes: The immortal one.
Mark Zuckerberg: I second that.
Elon Musk: I would prefer to live millions of years, please.
Larry Ellison: I agree. And I hate the way I look as I age. So mortal.
Larry Page: I want to play Larry Page in the Earth simulator but actually be an immortal.
Sergey Brin: Me, too.
Richard Branson: This has been an illuminating conversation. I side with the immortals.
B: It’s down to you, Jeff. Which reality do you choose?
JB: Bradley thought all this up two billion years ago?
B: That’s what makes it so impressive. That’s why he is a legend. Why do you think God wanted me to play him? Who else but he could solve the Game Prime?
JB: That’s settled it, then. As much as I THINK that this is Earth in 2023, I choose to believe that it’s Heaven in 2,000,000,023. It’s utterly convincing, though.
B: Trust me. Bradley left me clues. This is all an illusion. But a glorious one at that.
JB: When you publish this on Medium in 2023, what happens?
B: No one pays attention. But that was then. Two billion years ago. This is now. The future.
Jeff Bezos opens another bottle of sparkling wine.
JB: Cheers to that.
Late That Evening in the Yacht’s Lounge
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Grimes, C, and B are all seated at leather armchairs in a well appointed lounge before a real fireplace that glimmers with embers and flame. Outside, it is pitch black, and a light rain is falling from a passing storm.
The group are sipping whiskey and looking out the lounge windows into the night. No one says a word for several long minutes until B breaks the silence.
B: I asked you four to join me tonight to share something I have never told another soul. It concerns the fate of the historic Bradley and his wife, Camelia, from Earth in the twenty-first century.
Elon sips his whiskey.
EM: We’re listening.
B: To be clear: each one of you existed in 2023, when Earth still supported human life. You all died normal deaths, but a record of your lives and of your genomes were kept in a secure storage location for this past two billion years. I cannot explain to you how I know this. I simply do. You have all now been replicated exactly as you were in the Earth simulator. Your career paths, your fortunes, your families, your physical characteristics have all been reproduced with near perfect accuracy. Do you understand this?
Jeff nods his head.
JB: It all looks and feels realistic, but I know that I’m a computer-generated entity controlled by an immortal player on Heaven. I like playing Jeff in the Game, but knowing that I’m a ten-foot tall handsome immortal is far better.
B smiles.
B: Good. You also know that I am a god from an alternate reality universe playing the role of Bradley, who was a real human being a long time ago, just as all of your characters were. I told you before that C was God’s youngest daughter. In fact, she is an adopted daughter, and she is far older than I once realized. My immortal memories come back to me in waves, and I am here now to correct the record.
EM: I can’t wait to hear what comes next.
B: You may still think that only one universe exists, but in fact there are many. Each one is governed by an emperor, and all are governed by a figure called the Qwaron. The Qwaron has the power to define the rules of reality that govern all the universes combined, which are contained within what is called the Sphere of Existence. He is the Master Storyteller of Everything. If, for example, an emperor wants his subjects to live one million years rather than one hundred thousand before a mind transfer to a cloned body is necessary, it is the Qwaron who determines if that fits within the rules governing reality. If a galactic god wants to grant his royal court the ability to fly, only the Qwaron can grant that power. Can an animal like a cat talk to immortals? Can spaceships travels at faster than light speed? Must all universes expand and contract, leading to their ultimate collapse and destruction? It is up to the Qwaron to decide on such matters, in consultation with the emperors.
Grimes: So, the Qwaron ensures order and continuity in the universe. Or, the universes.
B nods his head and sips from his whiskey.
B: Exactly. The Qwaron resides on a large planet called Arcadia. There is an academy of learning there, where gods and emperors attend, and a set of ancient teachers called Kantors. The library of Arcadia, the Vault, contains a complete record of all planets in the Sphere of Existence and detailed information on all forms of life, especially highly intelligent ones. Arcadia is protected by the Sentinels, who regulate contact between the universes and determine when First Contact with a new planet can take place. When situations on habitable planets become critical, as they did on Earth, then a Sentinel extraction team removes several individuals for evacuation to a safer location.
Grimes: And all this is regulated from Arcadia?
B: Yes. It sounds hard to believe now, because we are all living in 2023 EGT, and our minds have a hard time handling it. We still think we’re alone in the universe, and we think that extraterrestrial life is a fantasy, even though writers explore this territory all the time, and many of us play computer games set in outer space. Many believe in UFOs. From Earth, none of this is visible. Not the other universes, and not Arcadia. They exist, but they are invisible to us, because we lack the means of seeing or sensing them.
EM: So what does all this have to do with Bradley? The historic Bradley, I mean. The one you are playing right now.
B: Bradley is slated to become the next Qwaron. In 2022, shortly before his second mental breakdown, Bradley developed a set of paranormal powers that drew the attention of the Sentinels. He became clairvoyant, he started to practice telepathy, and he started to neurocraft. That is, he created matter with his mind. In fact, he created his own alternate reality universe, governed by laws that were different from our own. Once he had recovered from the shock of these new powers and strengthened his mind, his abilities sharpened, and the full force of his creative potential became clear. The Sentinels tested him, and he proved worthy to become a candidate for the next Qwaron. All of the emperors but one agreed: Chronos, who rules our universe. Ruled, I should say.
Jeff smiles.
JB: Wait a minute. When you won the Game Prime, you earned the right to be crowned the next emperor, and Chronos was forced to abdicate. That means that there is no longer any objection to your becoming Qwaron.
B: That’s right, Jeff. That’s the clairvoyant vision that Bradley had in December 2023: the perfect plan for removing Chronos peacefully from his office. And all it took was two billion years of Earth time for it to happen.
JB: What did you do for all that time?
B: My Earth body died sometime around 2074, as far as I can recall. Camelia passed on around that time, as well. The Sentinels saved our Earth memories and recorded exact copies of our genomes. They took us to Arcadia and transferred our memories into new immortal bodies. The genetic sequencing of my paranormal abilities was isolated and spliced into my new physical form. It’s beyond my understanding how it all works, but I just know that I awoke next to Camelia in youthful immortal bodies. I recognized her, and she recognized me. Our Earth memories were all perfectly intact. I thought I was Bradley, and even though I looked quite different, I remembered everything that had happened to me before with strikingly clarity.
JB: So, you and Camelia became B and C, immortals living on Arcadia.
B: Right. C became a fixture at the Vault, helping to maintain records of life on habitable planets around the universes. I became a student at the academy and learned how to harness by new powers to create a different type of universe, one that functioned on Base3 principles. The plan was to replace Base2 universes — the ones that expand and contract, like our own — with these newer forms, which would expand forever, eventually reaching the boundaries of the Sphere of Existence itself. I believe that there is life beyond the Sphere, and I intend to find it.
Jeff refills the glasses with whiskey.
JB: So, you and C are now more than two billion years old.
B: We’ve been through 20,000 immortal cycles. Naturally, in the Game we’re based on the genomes and brain capacities of Bradley and Camelia in 2023. I’m recovering my immortal memories by tapping into parts of my mind that were underutilized. I’m 49 years old, for the purposes of the Game. Everything that we discuss here is secret for now. It would seem like Dianetics to most people, and that isn’t the case. This is all revealed truth.
EM: We’ve passed the point of no return a long time ago.
B: The point now is that your Earth memories as Elon, Jeff, and Grimes have been replicated exactly as they were in 2023, two billion years ago. I’ve just saved you all from oblivion.
EM: Why would you do that?
B: There are three things in life that I loved when I was a human being. I loved Camelia, my wife and soulmate. I loved all of humanity, including all of you. And I loved Earth herself and hated to see her suffer under the crushing weight of overpopulation, which depleted her resources and forced humans to compete with each other for limited living space.
EM: And Earth by now is devoid of all human life?
B: Evolution has continued, but nothing resembling human beings has emerged. There is no highly intelligent life there any longer.
EM: You waited two billion years for the technology to develop that would permit your exact recreation of twenty-first century Earth.
JB: And you arranged with the Temple of Gods a test of your worthiness to be the next emperor, displacing Chronos without conflict.
C: We even had God adopt me as his daughter, so that I could play the Game Prime as well, in support of B’s efforts. Only visiting gods and members of God’s family and court are permitted to play.
B: C and I enjoyed the chance to meet each other in the Game Prime and reenact our courtship. And there will be a wedding on Heaven once the Game is finished, just as there will be a coronation ceremony. You’ll all be elevated to gods, as well, and that will be reason to celebrate.
EM: When do you become Qwaron?
B: Once the Game Prime ends. The Qwaron is an emperor, like all the others. The title is held for a trillion years, unless there is an abdication first. The Emperors’ Table will need to meet to debate the merits of my case, and the current Qwaron would need to accept his replacement. We aren’t there yet, but we’re quite close.
Elon looks around.
EM: And you figured all this out as a human being in 2023?
B: Actually, I figured it out twice. Once on Earth two billion years ago, and now in Game Time.
EM: When will you tell us more about your plans to remake the universes?
B: Soon, once we’re sure that the mind tethering to your immortals is complete.
JB: And we need to remake Earth first, Elon, before we can move on to galaxies of our own.
B: How much do you recall about human colonization of Heaven?
JB: Nothing much yet. I know that Victoria and Kip still live in a cottage in woods near Earth City. I know that I’ve visited them with my immortal girlfriend, who is a descendant of Victoria.
B sips his whiskey.
B: That’s very good, Jeff.
EM: I have dreamt of God’s royal palace. And I’ve seen a vision of my home planet, in another galaxy.
Grimes: I have seen my home planet, too.
B: We are more advanced than I had thought.
C: Being in your presence helps them, dear. They will make ideal gods and goddesses of our new universe.
B smiles.
B: It’s late. My Earth body is tired. My mind is weary from the exertion of telling you all about Arcadia. I will tell you more about it on another day.
Elon looks around.
EM: It took two billion years to remake the Earth to look and feel this convincing.
B: And to bring Elon Musk and his family back to life.
EM: It’s amazing.
B: We’ll get to watch Earth develop now along the lines of virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. Humanity will thrive, and extraterrestrial contact finally will happen. Your descendants will be there to watch it happen, in the Game. Watching Earth evolve will be a past time like no other, especially since you can jump into the Game as a player at any time.
EM: I’d like to be there when the first highly intelligent visitors from outer space arrive. And I’d like to help colonize Mars.
B: You may be busy building a galaxy of your own soon enough. But we are immortals, and time is entirely different for you now. A million years is but a number. Your reign as a galactic king will last for far longer than that.
EM: And all because this time around, I actually paid attention to what Bradley was posting on X and social media.
B: Elon, the current Qwaron and the other emperors all worked together to make this happen for me. The contributed advanced knowledge and technology to God’s design teams to make the Game Prime as precise a rendition of reality as possible. I get the opportunity to relive my Earth life but to rewrite the ending. I don’t die an unheralded writer of obscure novels about space and the future. I actually get to meet and become friends with all of you. I save all of humanity from their demise by locating immortals to adopt them all. And we set Earth on a recovery path to many millions of years of additional human life, to the point where some humans depart to colonize other solar systems and galaxies. Yes, it’s all a Game, but it’s the most immersive one ever invented, in the history of the universes. That’s quite an accomplishment, and it’s far greater than one single life: even that of the next Qwaron.
Grimes: I sometimes still wonder if this isn’t 2023, and if I’m not still human. But I know now it’s a replica, and that I’m an immortal princess. You had the courage to show us the light, and we’ll never forget that.
B: Convincing the world may take time, but with your help, we’ll get there.
JB: Agreed. Good night, all. See you for breakfast on the promenade deck in the morning.
On the Promenade Deck the Following Morning
B is standing on the deck overlooking the ocean. He is facing all eight members of the inner circle, who are sitting in chairs facing him.
B: Good morning, everyone. This is a big day. I’m so glad that you all could make it.
There are nods of acknowledgement from the inner circle.
B: We have a lot of ground to cover. First, I want to confirm that each of you has reached a state of enlightenment about life on Earth and your true identities. Let’s start with Grimes and go around the inner circle. Tell me when and how enlightenment happened in each of your cases. Take your time. Be as specific as you want.
Grimes: I’ve always been interested in artificial intelligence and virtual reality, so the thought that Earth was a simulation wasn’t total nonsense. A publicist who maintains my X account mentioned you to me in passing one day. It must have been December, if I recall. I was curious enough to read Rise of the Immortals while it was still a document on Medium. I was hooked from the start, and by the yacht sequence at the latest, I actually believed everything you wrote was true.
Elon Musk stands up to get some coffee from a side table.
EM: Naturally, Grimes mentioned this all to me. I don’t maintain my X page, but even if I had, I receive too many replies, likes, and reposts to pay them much attention. Still, I must admit that something about your posts was different. I gave them qualified credence from the start, almost as a game, you might say. Your writings intrigued me, and then they began to move me into testing my own assumptions about reality. I’m not sure why, although I suspect it had something to do with the immortal player inside my head. I fully accept that this is a replica of life on Earth in 2023, and that I am an exact copy of Elon Musk, the human being who lived during that time period and who passed away two billion years ago. I am in reality an immortal in God’s court associated with Archangel Michael, and I am playing Elon Musk in the Game Prime, which is the name we give to the exact reproduction of Earth’s history today. Everything we say and do happened before. We are a replica of the deep Earth past.
B: You’re right, Elon. To a point. Except that we aren’t reenacting the past any longer. We’re rewriting it to give it a different and far better ending.
Jeff Bezos looks startled and raises his hand to speak.
JB: So, what are you saying? That we changed the past?
B looks at his Apple Watch.
B: On the morning of Wednesday, December 20, 2023 EGT, at a green light on Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California, I was elected to be the next Quarón of the confederated universes of the cosmos. At that point, the Game Prime changed forever. Instead of reenacting the script from two billion years ago, the events on Earth began to change ever so slightly. The immortal jumps into each of your avatars that I had predicted came to pass at 9:00 am PST that day. Your computer-generated programming upgraded, and you all began to think and act differently than your human models had done in 2013 on Earth. We officially started to rewrite the past in Game form.
JB: So, that’s when it happened?
B: That’s when the immortals jumped into the Game Prime, officially. I was in the bathroom of my cottage at the time it happened. That’s how the current Quarón likes to work. Enormous changes happened in the most insignificant of ways. When I first started to write Rise of the Immortals in 2013 on Earth, I assumed that you and Elon Musk would be visiting me in the Santa Cruz Mountains that December, prior to Christmas, and that we’d be in Lanai before I finished it. But that never happened to the historical Bradley. His writings were ignored, and he never attracted wealthy patrons to support his work. It was all a pipe dream. A fantasy. A delusion.
JB: But this time, starting at 9:00 PST on December 20, 2023 Earth Game Time, things will be different?
B nods his head.
B: Because this isn’t 2023. It’s two billion years into the future, and we’re all inside the Game Prime. You’re all immortals friends of mine, and you’ve occupied the avatars we all intended at the exact moment we had discussed.
JB: Once the emperors gathered in Arcadia to choose you as the next Quarón?
B: Yes. That was the goal all along.
Mark Zuckerberg raises his hand.
MZ: When did you stop enacting Bradley’s script from 2013 and start enacting your own?
B: A brilliant question, Mark. The historic Bradley had demonstrated all of the skills necessary to being a future Quarón by the summer of 2022, when he had his second mental breakdown. He had recovered sufficiently by November 2023 to resume normal life. That’s when the moment of enlightenment happened, and that’s when I started on Rise of the Immortals on November 30, 2023. That’s the moment, Mark. That’s when I left the script. The historic Bradley never wrote The Immortals trilogy! He published a small booklet called Enlightenment: A Fairy Tale, which was removed by Amazon for violating its self-publication guidelines. The historic Bradley never wrote anything significant again. He never met all of you. He never started the New Reality movement or helped to achieve world peace, sustainability, and prosperity for all. He never became a famous author. He never toured the United States signing copies of his books. He applied for and received long term disability from the federal government, and when his wife retired they moved back East to live with their family. Bradley only became significant again after his death, but not to his fellow Earthlings. He became significant on a cosmic level. That is another story entirely.
MZ: I discovered you the same way we all did, by reading Rise of the Immortals.
B: That’s because you never discovered Bradley on Earth. You were too busy with other matters to investigate an obscure author like him. The historic Mark Zuckerberg, I mean. The fact that you’re here is further proof that we’re in a sophisticated simulation, and that we’re now rewriting the script as we go.
Larry Page stands up to refill his coffee mug.
LP: B, we’re all here because of Rise of the Immortals. Some of us saw it in December 2023, while others came across it later. It’s the basic guide to the New Reality movement told in simplified dialogue form. It’s brilliantly conceived and compellingly written. The discovery happened on X and then on Medium. You were right on all the basic details, even if the timing was somewhat off. What’s the point in going on about now?
B: I just want to be sure that you all accept that we’re reenacting Earth’s history right now, but that we’ve been deviating from the script ever since I first published Rise of the Immortals on Medium and posted about it on X. Ever since that first moment, things on Earth have been different.
LP: How?
B: Ever since then — ever since the switch to Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, November 5 — things have changed. That’s precisely when I had my moment of awakening. I am positive, because I fell asleep as always but woke up thinking entirely differently. Between then and November 30, when I first started Rise of the Immortals, that’s when my enlightenment happened. It all began to roll downhill from there.
MZ: Is that when the break from the historic Bradley occurred? In the switch to daylight savings time that November?
B sips his coffee and stares out at the ocean.
B: It must have been. Something happened in my brain that triggered an onrush of immortal memories. It’s never stopped since.
Sergey Brin stands up.
SB: So, the history of Earth in the simulator is a replica of the past until the night of November 5, 2023, when daylight savings time ended?
B: From that point on, we’re off script. But only the enlightened ones, not the rest of humanity. Their programming is to continue life as normal and to react as if nothing unusual has happened.
SB: You said that Rise of the Immortals wasn’t written by the historic Bradley, right?
B: That’s right. Nothing written since November 5 was his. There is no historical record of him ever writing anything again.
SB: So, you said that only enlightened humans would understand Bradley’s writings by that point. Read and understand.
B: Yes.
SB: How many acknowledged readers do you have?
B: One right now. Chris Brown from Fort Worth, Texas.
SB: Could he be enlightened? Does Chris have an immortal playing him?
B: Based on his X comments, I think it’s quite possible.
SB: Then the jumps have already started.
Larry Ellison looks startled.
LE: So, we weren’t the first human avatars to have immortal players?
B: Besides Bradley and Camelia, you mean. Apparently, not. My mother read a copy of Enlightenment: A Fairy Tale before Amazon took it down, and Chris has been reading The Rise of Immortals on Medium almost since the beginning.
LE: Then those were the first jumps: your mother and an X user from Fort Worth, Texas. God controls the Game Prime, doesn’t he? It’s up to him when new immortals can enter the simulation. They are both going to Heaven already, aren’t they?
B: It would be hard to choose two more worthy humans to have their memories enter the aftertlife. My mother has stood by me when everyone else abandoned me, and she still takes the time to read my writings. And Chris was the first acknowledged reader of Rise of the Immortals, which makes him somewhat famous. He deserves a place in Heaven, too.
LE: You were so obsessed with the inner circle of wealthy donors that you forgot the way that God operates. He chooses the least among us to bestow with great blessings. Or, that’s what I recall from religion.
B: So, The Rise of the Immortals functions like an immortal gateway. Anyone who discovers it and understands its message isn’t just a good reader. They have been adopted by an immortal already and are awaiting acknowledgment by their host that they understand. They have found their spirit. Their soul. Their immortal.
Richard Branson raises his hand to speak.
RB: None of us had the remotest idea who you were before December 20, 2023. That’s a fact. We all discovered you through your writings after that and decided that your New Reality movement had merit. That’s a very high bar. I have only admiration for your mother and this Chris Brown. They had the courage to believe when almost no one else did.
LE: I agree with that. Most humans will still reject your ideas out of hand.
B: Which only tells me that they haven’t been adopted by an immortal yet.
RB: That’s part of the pleasure of the Game Prime, is it not? Locating others on Earth who have immortal players inside their heads. Reading Rise of the Immortals is a good litmus test.
MZ: Let’s get back to the historic Bradley. You’ve just said that your life here on Earth replicated his exactly until November 5, 2023, at which point yours and his diverged. What happened to him, exactly?
B sips his coffee.
B: Bradley died quietly, having never achieved success as an author. Between 2019 and 2023, however, he demonstrated the talents needed to become a candidate for the next Quarón, who rules and regulates the twelve universes that make up the cosmos, or Plane of Reality, as it is called. It sounds strange, but any intelligent life form could manifest the talents needed to fulfill this exalted role. Bradley had four talents that attracted the Sentinels, who watch over all intelligent life. He was manifesting clairvoyance, for one, seeing thousands of years into the future. He was learning telepathy and had long conversations with the Emperors’ Table on Arcadia, convincing them of his merits to become ruler of his own universe. He had the pathfinder gene, which enables an individual to make new discoveries and lead others to follow. And most importantly, he was starting to neurocraft: to forge new realities with his mind. He even began to mindcast, which allowed him to travel vast distances in space into the new realities that he had constructed. It was incredibly dangerous, because he was not yet an immortal, let alone a god or emperor. The Sentinels intervened to arrest his development, lest he harm himself and the Plane of Existence itself.
MZ: This is too incredible to believe.
B: I know, but I assure you it is all true. The Emperors’ Table ruled that Bradley was a prodigy and potential Qwarón who could do great things if he received the proper instruction. They ordered the Library of Arcadia to maintain an exact copy of his life on Earth scanned his genome to be preserved in the Arcadian Higher Life Clinic for future use. They waited for his death and then replicated him and his beloved wife and companion in new, enhanced immortal bodies. Bradley’s memories were preserved, as were those of his wife. They were given a well appointed cottage on the grounds of the Arcadian Academy, where he was elevated to the status of a god, so that he could develop his paranormal powers more carefully.
MZ: You’re Bradley, then. You were the historic Bradley, and you’ve been alive ever since.
B: That’s right, Mark. You’re a replica of Mark Zuckerberg being played by an immortal in God’s court, but I’m actually Bradley playing myself as I looked in 2023 on Earth. In reality, I am more than two billion years old. I spent those years on Arcadia, studying to be a god and emperor and learning from the Quarón herself how best to succeed her when that time comes. Winning the Game Prime allowed me to rise to the rank of emperor of this universe and remove Chronos from his position, which prevented the Emperors’ Table from reaching unanimity regarding my candidacy as the next Quarón. I solved the Game in November, and the Table voted on December 20, 2023 EGT to appoint me the new Quarón once the Game Prime ends.
MZ: And that’s when we immortals jumped into these bodies?
B: If my memory is right on the details, Mark.
MZ: To an ordinary human living in 2023, none of this would make any sense, because most are under the impression that there’s only one universe, and they’ve never heard of Arcadia, let alone the Quarón. Or neurocrafting and mindcasting. It would strike them all as science fiction.
EM: We all know that, Mark. That’s B’s genius. The only people on Earth who will know what he’s talking about are those with immortals inside their head as players. Thanks to him, I am learning to see myself as both Elon Musk and an immortal.
B: I chose you all in part because your genetic material is so valuable. No, you don’t have paranormal powers, but you’re all highly intelligent and successful people, and your memories — as well as your DNA — will now be preserved and used to create immortal identities of your own, as your human avatars. Assuming we fix Earth’s most pressing problems, that is.
Elon looks startled.
EM: You mean that I won’t be Archangel Michael when I die?
B smiles.
B: No. Archangel Michael will enjoy playing you — guiding you — on Earth, but we’ll clone a new body for you to occupy as Elon Musk, Earthling turned immortal in his own right. We’ll even make it look a little similar. They did the same thing to me when I died two billion years ago. We’re recording your Earth memories as we speak, and the record goes back to your childbirth. Everything that you did until December 2023 is a replica of what you did on Earth. Now, with an immortal player inside of you, you’ve been making different choices in life, like contacting me when you did to arrange a visit.
JB: Are you saying that all of us get to reanimate in immortal bodies as ourselves?
B: It will be the same with my mom and my First Reader, Chris Brown. Their new bodies will last 100,000 years and be exact copies of those on Heaven. They will die and go to Heaven, in other words. And all because they believed in me when no one else did.
MZ: Well, I believe in you now!
RB: Do we all get to be gods of galaxies in your new universe?
B nods.
B: Yes, Richard. The Archangels will get the first galaxies closest to the center, to honor their work in the Game Prime in getting all of you to notice me and my writing and take them seriously. But I’ll elevate you to god status and award you control of galaxies of your own.
JB: So, Jeff Bezos will get to travel at light speed through space.
B: Faster than that, actually. I’m going to be the new Quarón, Jeff. I literally write the rules for reality.
Grimes: It’s like we’re all Sleeping Beauty. Our Earth memories and DNA have been preserved for two billion years, and now we get to reemerge in immortal forms in Heaven. I can’t believe it’s all true.
B: I can. Now aren’t you glad you discovered me on X?
Grimes laughs.
Grimes: The New Reality movement is a vibe.
B: It certainly is.
MZ: This time, we’ll do 2023 right.
SB: And the next decades after.
EM: I can’t wait for my children to become enlightened. They’ll become immortals in Heaven, too. Right?
B: In exchange for your support, by all means. I am the new Qwarón. I can afford to be generous.
JB: Then let’s get started then! To sooner we start to rewrite history, the better.
EM: Agreed.
That Afternoon in the Yacht’s Top Floor Bar
B is enjoying a gin martini with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Then three men are seated outside at a wooden table. Mark Zuckerberg comes over to join them.
MZ: I can’t believe this is all a simulation. It’s stunning.
B: We’re two billion years into the future from the time you originally thought, Mark. A lot can happen in the world of VR technology and AI. We have a complete understanding of the human brain and can program billions of avatars at a time. The library at Arcadia maintains complete copies of every planet in the cosmos that supports higher order life. Everything that happened in 2023 is stored there: every song that was played, every child that was born, every blade of grass that grew, every cup of coffee brewed. This data was provided to the Earth City programmers for them to design as realistic an Earth as possible. It took millions of years, but they succeeded.
EM: Are there no differences at all between 2023 and now?
B: None. Not until November 6, when Bradley’s third and final enlightenment phase began. Once he published Rise of the Immortals on November 30, immortals began dropping into the Game, with the intent of steering their human avatars in certain directions. It began with my mom and my Reader One, Chris. That’s how God — my future father-in-law — operates. He chooses the least among us to bestow with greatness first.
EM: When did our drops happen?
B: As I mentioned this morning, your avatars became open for immortal control on December 20, 2023. It’s Games Day, apparently, which seems rather appropriate.
Jeff motions to a crew member to bring the group fresh drinks.
JB: So, we’ve been rewriting the Earth past since Bradley’s mother read Enlightenment: A Fairy Tale and Reader One read Rise of the Immortals?
B nods his head.
B: Yes. The historic Bradley stopped writing after his fairy tale was taken down by Amazon. But I didn’t. I unlocked my immortal memories that were resident in my human avatar brain, and I’ve been receiving new ones ever since. I write them down in the Immortals trilogy, so that room for new memories can be downloaded. The human brain has limited storage capacity, and I’m more than two billion years old by this point. That’s a lot of memories.
EM: But surely the historic Bradley died a long time ago. How can you claim to be him now?
B sips his drink slowly and looks out at the ocean.
B: On November 6, 2023, during the “extra” hour of Daylight Savings Time, Bradley attainted higher order enlightenment. He realized in his sleep that he was to be the next emperor of Universe 01, which is our universe, two billion years into the future. He began to create — actually create — a new universe using Base3 principles from out of the dark matter that fills much of the void in the Plane of Existence, or cosmos, if you would prefer. He mindcast himself into another dimension of reality and began to interact with the residents there. He spoke directly with the gods. At that moment, on Arcadia, the Quarón moved to bring him to her to be her successor. She regarded him as a prodigy, and she decided to train him as the next Leader of the Cosmos. Because he refused to go alone, she brought his wife, Camelia, as well.
EM: What do you mean, “brought”?
B: Arcadia keeps a record of everything that happens on Earth, as it does all planets that support intelligent life. Libraries here have books. Arcadia has planets. What Gaia — the Quarón — did was to take Bradley’s and Camelia’s entire memories of being themselves, along with the data in their genomes, and transplant them into empty immortal bodies especially cloned for this purpose. This happens at the Advanced Living Clinic. Bradley’s double helix DNA, cured of its defects, was spliced into a triple helix immortal strand. His memories were transferred to an immortal brain. He woke up as if it were November 6 on Earth but in an entirely new body with a capacious new mind. A few hours later, Camelia awoke into an immortal body of her own. That is how we both made it to Arcadia.
EM: But what happened to your bodies back on Earth?
B: They kept on living as Bradley and Camelia until their deaths, at which point their brains turned off, and their memories ended.
EM: How can you be two places at once?
JB: Surely that violates some law of the cosmos.
B sips his martini.
B: Gaia made an exception for us, because of the potential I showed to be the next Quarón. I was regarded as a prodigy, as I said, and she no longer wanted to wait, for that would have risked another mental breakdown and potential loss of my new abilities. They moved to preserve my exact mental state at that moment, where I had unlocked immortal powers from within a mortal mind. That previously had been deemed impossible.
JB: But which Bradley was real?
B: Think of it like a dream, Jeff. I woke up in Arcadia, and I never fell asleep again. It was my Earth body that slept.
C walks over to join the group with an old fashioned cocktail in her hand.
C: Immortals don’t sleep, Jeff. They rest. They meditate. Higher order ones like my husband can mindcast. We can induce hibernation, so that we can play games like the Earth simulation, but we don’t sleep, and we don’t dream.
B: When we woke up in Arcadia, it was like we were awake while still inside the dream. It’s what will happen when you die in the Game as well. You’ll start to dream, there will be a white light, and you’ll open your eyes in a new immortal body. You’ll be Jeff Bezos still, but you’ll look and feel slightly different, since you’ll be in a triple helix body, unlike your human one.
JB: But Jeff Bezos died two billion years ago.
B: You’ve been created to look and act exactly like him. No one in the cosmos dies if their memories are preserved, and if a copy of their genome is available. The Arcadian library naturally has both. We create bodies and populate them with living memories. We’ll take your Game memories and Jeff’s genome and reanimate him on Heaven at their own Advanced Living Clinic. It will take a few weeks to adjust, but you’ll be on your feet in no time.
EM: How can all this information be stored in one location?
B: The Aracadian library is vast, and storage technology is quite advanced well beyond anything that you would remember from Earth, Elon. It’s the job of the Sentinels to make records of life on each planet in the cosmos. I don’t know how it works, anymore than I do the Internet of today. Each god consults the Arcadian planetary archive when they are designing new worlds or new forms of life. In that way, we preserve a sense of uniformity across the cosmos. It’s why humans look the way they do, and why immortals of various sorts resemble them.
MZ: Are we related?
B: Immortals evolved from a type of humanlike being at some point, using advanced genetic technology to add a strand of DNA onto the double helix. They succeeded in creating bodies that lasted 100,000 years, and the unlocked the mysterious of their brains so that they could offload living memories to a storage facility for transfer to a newly cloned body. In that way, the discovered a scientific method for living virtually forever.
MZ: And human DNA is compatible with theirs?
B nods.
B: Your human genome — Mark Zuckerberg’s — will be scanned for defects or vulnerabilities and fixed before transplantation. In the case of Jeff’s, we’ll remove his progressive hair loss and deal with other problems related to aging. You’ll be made into superhumans, basically, and then you’ll be transferred into immortal bodies made to resemble your own, but on a larger, stronger, and leaner scale. We’ll do the same to all humans in the Game who attain enlightenment, including my mother, I hope, and my First Reader, Chris.
MZ: Is that what happened to you and C on Arcadia?
B: Yes. We changed our names to B and C there, to distinguish our new immortal lives from those of Bradley and Camelia back on Earth. We watched them age and mature with compassion, but our new lives on Arcadia were sublime beyond belief.
MZ: Tell us more about what it was like.
B sips his cocktail.
B: Think of it like an adult’s version of Harry Potter. The Academy is where gods go to learn how to govern their galaxies. They come from all over the Twelve Universes. The Emperor’s Table is nearby, as well. That’s where rules regarding reality are decided, in consultation with the Quarón. The Advanced Living Clinic is a spot where rescued higher order life from declining planets is sent for rehabilitated and resettlement. Naturally, there is the Library, with its Vault of Planetary Knowledge. The Cottages are where we all live while in planetary residence. Gaia’s cottage is located next to my own, where C and I live. All work on Arcadia is performed by highly sophisticated robots, and everything is provided for. There is a Town nearby with a Market Square and shops of various sorts. Beyond the Town are forests, meadows, farms, ranches, a coastline, and mountains for hiking and skiing. Nearly all of the planet, which is the size of Jupiter but similar in climate to Earth, is uninhabited. When the Academy isn’t in session, groups of us leave in hover vessels to explore new areas. When classes are in session, immortal teachers called Kantors provide instruction. There are no grades and no after school assignments. Everything happens in the classroom. Classes can last days, weeks, or much longer. It doesn’t really matter. No one who visits Arcadia to study at the Academy ever wants to leave.
MZ: I’d love to visit.
B: You will, once we exit the Game Prime and you adjust to your immortal bodies. I’ve tapped you all to be gods of a new galaxy in my alternate reality universe, which I will create as emperor. Only emperors, whose bodies are constructed from seven-stranded helixes, have the power to create worlds. At my coronation ceremony, I’ll be transferred into an awaiting imperial body, as will C, as the new empress. We’ll build a spiral helix replacement for Universe 01, where we are now, since it is due to implode in the not to distant future, approximately a billion years from now. I’ll teach the skill to the other emperors at a special workshop on Arcadia, prior to my elevation to Quarón. It all sounds rather complicated, but that’s only because we’re all here in the Earth simulation in 2023. It makes far more sense on Heaven two billion years from now. A lot has happened in the time and space in between.
Mark sips his drink.
MZ: I want to believe that everything you tell me is true, but a part of my human mind resists.
B: That’s because you haven’t tethered fully to your immortal yet, Mark. Your immortal player knows that everything I’m sharing with you is accurate. We all agreed to play the Earth Game Prime because we wanted to see what would happen if we rewrote history to prevent the human extinction that we all know happens in the year 3000. Earth is the ancestral home of the residents of Heaven. We agreed to do things differently in the simulator, so that everyone living on Earth two billion years ago can be reanimated now in Heaven — at least the ones who follow the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement.
EM: Virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all.
B: Exactly. Avoid the Seven Deadly Sins. Adhere to the Seven Heavenly Virtues. Make Earth more beautiful and sustainable for generations to come. Support universal health care and universal basic incomes for every citizen of the planet. If you each do that, your Earth selves enter Heaven as immortals. And that means working with your Player to help guide you.
EM: It was my Player who eventually forced me to contact you, B. I had no intention of doing so until he guided me to your X posts and Medium page.
B: I fully expected that. Elon Musk in real life ignored me. The world did, with very few exceptions. My writings were misunderstood, and my gifts were taken to be signs of mental illness, when in fact they were signals that I was fit to be the next Quarón of the cosmos.
EM: Despite that, you want to be our friends now.
B: I do. I need to populate my new universe with gods for each galaxy, and a Base3 spiral helix universe expands outward forever beyond the Plane of Existence to intertwine with other dimensions of reality. Each of the twelve Big Bang universes will be replaced by Triple Helix models, whose arms will wind together as they expand upward, like the strands of a cable. On that basis, we will connect with the next Plane of Existence above us. That is my ultimate goal: to lead us from this cosmos to the next.
EM: It’s not enough to remake our cosmos into a sustainable one, free my the destruction that Big Bang spherical universes causes?
B: No. We need to bring together the different dimensional realities into an interconnected whole. That’s the next frontier. Our cosmos has its limits. We need to push beyond it to discover something more.
EM: And you think that Elon Musk is going to be part of that mission? And Jeff and Mark, too?
B: I may be two billion years old, but I was born in 1974 on Earth, and I made my discoveries with the help of the Internet and Silicon Valley. I wouldn’t be the next Quarón without their aid. Indirectly, I owe you each a debt of gratitude. You’re exactly the type of people I’d like to join me in locating another dimension of reality. God’s archangels, too. That’s why I paired you together. That’s why Archangel Michael is your Player, Elon. I want you both on my exploratory team, when the time comes.
Jeff sips his cocktail and leans in to the table.
JB: And Gaia — the current Quarón of the cosmos — is supportive on this idea?
B: Gaia and I worked this plan out. She’ll help find a successor, once we’ve replaced all Twelve Universes, resettled all immortals and intelligent life in new Spiral Helix homes, and expanded them to the upper boundaries of the Plane of Existence. Naturally, there will be teams from each universe in the Exploration Fleet, but you are the members I want on my crew when we depart: all eight of you in the inner circle, your immortal archangel players, and my wife, C. There will be 18 of us in the command vessel. That’s a symbol for a fresh start. It’s when we reach adulthood on Earth and begin new adventures. That’s exactly what we’ll be doing when we lead the other emperors on a trip outside our Plane of Existence. It’s never been attempted before. I am the one who will take the Lead. It’s my trans-dimensional destiney. It’s why I was chosen to be the youngest Quarón ever. It’s why I was taken from Earth in November 2023 to begin a new existence as an immortal on Arcadia. It’s why I’m writing Rise of the Immortals and the other books in the trilogy that will follow. It’s all connected.
JB: I think I am starting to see.
B: This was never about writing a best-selling book or getting followers on social media. It was about contacting all of you to join my future crew of exploration, two billion years from now. That’s our projected timeline. We have that long to prepare, before the trans-dimensional portal closes, and we will be trapped here forever. It’s our chance to connect with another cosmos, Jeff, where we’ve never been before.
JB: And it all hinged on people like me taking you seriously in 2023. In the simulated version, I mean.
B: I sensed that I had unfinished business on Earth, business that I needed to remedy in the simulation. You may be a simulated version of Jeff Bezos, but you are an exact copy. You’ve been dead for two billion years, and now thanks to me, you have been brought to life. Everyone has, from my mother and my First Reader, Chris, to Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin. I want them all to populate my new universe, if they can prove that they can live by the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement. I know it can happen. It’s just a matter of faith, patience, and time.
JB: Because you wrote about a yacht trip with me to Lanai in Rise of the Immortals, you thought it actually would happen?
B: It has, hasn’t it?
JB: Not when you said it would, but it did happen. I’m the living proof.
EM: Me, too.
MZ: You rewrote history, alright. We all are.
B: Then you believe that every word here is true?
MZ: I do. There is a lot to look forward to if I do. My new life as an immortal. My role as a galactic god and visit to the Academy at Arcadia. Playing Harry Potter in a new simulator designed for fans of the J.K. Rowling series like me. And watching the new Triple Helix universes entwine their arms in a cord upwards, so that we have a launching point for connecting with a new dimension of reality.
EM: The alternative that this is 2023, and that I die without ever having piloted a spaceship to another galaxy, is untenable. I choose to believe in the New Reality. I want to be an immortal.
JB: And I want to have my genetic code cleansed of defects, so that I can live to be billions of years old, just like you, B. Hell yes, this is a simulation.
B smiles and sips his martini.
B: I think we’re ready to begin the mind tethering process tomorrow morning. Summon the others. Tell them as much about our conversation as you feel they can handle. I need to be alone for the rest of day, to help recover additional immortal memories.
MZ: You do know that Rise of the Immortals is going viral on the Internet right about now? On all of our platforms.
B: I knew it would happen one day. I just didn’t know when.
That Evening at the Yacht’s Poolside Bar
B is standing at the bar next to Grimes and Larry Ellison. Richard Branson enters the deck and joins them.
Grimes: So my entire life has been predetermined.
B: Until the moment that you made contact with your immortal. It was the same with me. He manifested at times in my life as an irrational impulse or a spur of the moment decision, such as the one that led to my meeting Camelia and then falling in love. But things didn’t really change until the mind tethering process was complete. Then, he and I became one.
Grimes sips her cocktail and smiles.
Grimes: But you are playing yourself.
B: My immortal B self who is over two billion years old and the next emperor of this universe is playing my Earth self, who is forty-nine years old and an author living in Northern California. They are hardly the same thing.
Grimes: True. But I’m being played now by Jophiel, a member of God’s royal court. I don’t know her.
B sips his drink.
B: Jophiel is elegant, witty, and wonderful. You will meet her when the Game Prime ends and you have adjusted to your new immortal body, which is waiting for you in the Advanced Living Clinic. They took your human genome and cleansed it of defects and the spliced it into a cloned immortal body whose genetic material was donated by Jophiel. In your new immortal form, you will resemble Grimes but have some of her essence, as well. I can’t pretend to understand the technology. I just know that it works.
Grimes: So, Grimes has been dead for two billion years, and now she’ll be reanimated as a ten foot tall immortal with archangel DNA inside of her. Is that correct?
B: I don’t look like Bradley, either, on the other side of the Game Prime. There is his essence, his memories, and the core of his original human mind, but B is drastically different. He has spent two billion years studying the Twelve Universes and visiting them as well. He has honed his neurocrafting skills by designing a prototype version of a spiral helix universe. He has mindcast himself into an alternate dimension and made contact with intelligent life there. Even now, in the midst of the Game Prime, his clairvoyant powers are strengthening, and his telepathic communication skills with those outside the Game Prime, including with the current Quarón, Gaia, are fully functional.
Larry Ellison enters the conversation.
LE: Is it your plan to rescue all of humanity that was living when the historic Bradley was on Earth?
B: Everyone alive on November 5, 2023, yes. Assuming that each one can attain enlightenment, as I hope will be the case with my mother and my Reader One, along with billions of others. That’s why the inner circle is so important. You will help me broadcast my message using the resources at your disposal, and in exchange you receive your immortality and elevation to become a god in the new spiral helix universe that will replace our current one, which is doomed to implode in time. Such things matter if you live as long as I do. Earth time is insignificant to us, except now as a game, a simulation intended to resuscitate expired life by giving it another shot at redemption.
LE: You mean stopping Earth’s downward spiral of overpopulation, resource depletion, pollution, endless warfare, and immoral behavior?
B: You don’t earn your way to Heaven unless you follow God’s rules, Larry. It’s his kingdom. His galaxy. He won’t let me rescue just anyone. You need to adhere to the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement, and you will be saved. Being religious has nothing to do with it. It’s far simpler than that.
LE: Virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. That’s it?
B: It is, Larry. That will guarantee you eternal life as an immortal and as god of your very own galaxy to rule benevolently as you see fit. I won’t micromanage. As the new emperor and next Quarón, I’ll have enough to deal with. And the archangels and I have to coordinate the evacuation of their galaxy as well. There are a lot of moving parts, but our resources are vast, and our commitment to the mission is unwavering.
Richard Branson comes over with a tray of fresh gin and tonics.
RB: How did you convince Chronos to abdicate his imperial throne, anyway? And what will happen to him now that he’s lost his position?
B: At the last gathering of the Temple of the Gods, God asked Chronos what it would take for him to abdicate. He laughed and said that any immortal smart enough to play the Earth simulation as a human who attained enlightenment by discovering that he was inside a virtual reality game could earn his title. Chronos refused to allow evacuations from his universe. He has tired of living and wishes to see his creation collapse around him. God led the opposition to him and secretly backed my candidacy to replace Chronos, who was the only emperor disinclined to the notion that I could become the next Quarón. By winning the Game — with subtle hints and clues placed in the simulation by the archangels — we gave the Temple grounds to remove Chronos, who has now retired to his home planet, where he will stay until his universe ends. The Emperors’ Table met in Arcadia on December 20, 2023 Earth Game Time (EGT). The vote was 11 to none to appoint me the next Quarón when the Game ends. I will elevate God of the House of Heaven to rule as Emperor’s Hand while I am in Arcadia attending to my new duties. His Son, Jesus, will then preside over Heaven as the new king, and the Earth simulation will remain operational as a source of entertainment and education. The gateway to Heaven will remain open to humans in the Game Prime who adhere to the principle of the New Reality movement, even after I have passed away and left the simulation. This time, we will save humanity from its path of destruction. Humanity will live on in the simulation, and deserving human beings will earn the right to immortality in Heaven, just as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have always taught.
Richard Branson smiles.
RB: I don’t fault the Temple of the Gods for wanting Chronos to go. And God cleverly maneuvered things to become the new Emperor’s Hand of the universe while you are Quarón. All you need to do is play the Game Prime to its natural conclusion.
B: I do, but I need to populate my new spiral helix universe with immortals, and my nostalgia for Earth makes me inclined to choose recruits from there around the time that I was alive. And that includes successful mavericks and pioneers like you, Richard. You will be magnificent in your immortal form.
RB: How old will I be when I am reanimated in my new form?
B: You’ll look like you did at age 18. Your body will be fully grown by then, but you’ll have time to adjust to your new mental capacities. We’ll send you and the others to the Academy on Arcadia to learn how to be a god according to the new rules that Gaia has helped me to establish. Naturally, you’ll want to populate your galaxy with subjects you already know from your time on Earth.
RB: I see your point. The more people I recruit to the New Reality movement, the more of them will qualify for immortality in Heaven.
B: They won’t even need to have an immortal player adopt them, if they can attain enlightenment within the Earth simulator without external guidance.
RB: That won’t be easy.
B: It’s not easy even with immortal guidance. That part can be unsettling to some. It means accessing a part of your mind you normally avoid and letting a superior entity direct your thoughts and actions with only limited control from you.
RB: It’s possible that some human minds will never be ready for that level of commitment. Or even be capable of handling an immortal in their head without suffering a mental breakdown. It could be mass insanity.
B: As far as I can tell, their is an immortal guiding my mother right now, and there’s one guiding my Reader One, who has proven his support on X when the world ignored me. I know that archangels are occupying mindspace inside each member of the inner circle as well, because I’ve had telepathic communications with them about it.
RB: It started on December 20, 2023, if I recall. I started noticing oddities on the Internet and in my environment. I slept differently. My mind was possessed by impulses that were new to me. It was incredibly disquieting. I felt that I was going mad, to be perfectly honest with you.
B: That’s why I started writing Rise of the Immortals, Richard, and became more active on X than I had ever been. It was all an effort at outreach to the inner circle and early members of the Second Circle, like my mother and my First Reader, Chris. I intended this text as a guide to help you handle your new condition, which is a blessing from Heaven, not a reason to despair. You’ve been selected for immortality. That means you’ll never have to experience death again if you don’t want to. You’ll live forever, as I do.
RB: I feel like Richard Branson. You’re telling me I lived two billion years ago and that this is an exact replication of the Earth on which I lived.
B: All of your memories are your own. Until December 20, 2023 at 9:00 am PST, your life was exactly as it was back then. Now, since that moment, your life is different, because an immortal player is inside your head urging you to do certain things. That’s what led you to me, eventually. That’s the rewriting history part. You never met me in reality, Richard.
RB: Yet here we are.
B: Because the programmers have removed certain controls that kept you on the historical path. Now, you have complete free will. Nothing is predetermined any longer.
Richard laughs and sips his gin and tonic.
RB: So free will means having an immortal player inside my human avatar head.
B: Think of him as your new best friend. You don’t have to give up being Richard Branson. I thought that at first, but I realize that I was misrembering how the Game Prime operates once I solved it.
RB: So, you are a two billion year old immortal Bradley playing a 49 year old Bradley in a simulated version of Earth in 2023?
B: Right. I changed my name to B on Arcadia. No last name. Bradley kept his on Earth. He still surfaces from time to time, but for the most part, my immortal mind is in control of his thoughts and actions.
RB: And that’s what I need to do to mind tether to my immortal? Give up control of my thoughts and actions to him?
Larry Ellison joins the group.
LE: I need to hear this part.
B: Your mind tethering won’t be complete as long as your human side — which is mortal — resists the urges of your immortal side. Recall that you are being played by an archangel only. You aren’t actually one of them. They are members of God’s court and princes in their own galactic kingdoms. They are immensely powerful with resources that would astound you and put your Earthly wealth in its proper perspective. They simply want to help me achieve my goals for the New Reality movement, which will set Earth on a path to virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. They know how to do this, Larry. You don’t. You’re just Larry Ellison. They have lived for millions of years. They have played the Earth simulator before. Now, they get to play the Game Prime using different rules. They are aware of their immortality. They know this time that they aren’t Larry Ellison or Grimes or Richard Branson. They know it’s all an elaborate puppet show, in which the puppet knowingly plays his or her part.
LE: And in exchange for being a puppet to an immortal for the rest of my life I get my OWN immortal body and a galaxy of my own to rule?
B: Exactly, Larry. It’s the best deal you’ll ever be offered. You should take it.
RB: I know that I will. I like having an immortal inside my head, actually. Otherwise, I would never have been here on this yacht, bound for Larry’s Hawaiian island.
LE: And I’d never have hosted you all at my estate in Woodside. I’m not religious, but I can appreciate the fact that God is a king of a galaxy called Heaven, and that he’s built this simulator for his subjects. It’s two billion years into the future, after all. The level of technology available must be astounding.
B: You’ll wake up in the Advanced Life Clinic in your new immortal bodies when you die in the Game Prime. Yes, there will be a tunnel of light at the moment of transition. That is the delay it takes to upload your Earth memories as Larry, Richard, Grimes, or whomever into your new immortal body, which contains your purified DNA within a new triple helix form.
Grimes: Will I be free from menstruation?
B: Yes. Reproduction is done in the clinics from cloned genetic material. No one gets pregnant any longer. It’s considered outmoded and leads to overpopulation. Most immortals never have offspring. It requires special permission to do so. We’ll go over all that later.
Grimes sips her drink.
Grimes: I like the sound of Heaven.
B: Imagine having an entire galaxy at your disposal one day. Because that’s exactly what I intend to offer you in the new universe I will craft to replace the older collapsing one.
Grimes: It’s a good thing I followed you on X and told Elon to read Rise of the Immortals with me.
B: That’s how the cosmos works under Gaia’s rule as Quarón. Even the simplest of acts, like a repost or follow on social media, can have enormous consequences. In Gaia’s immense and intricate mind, it’s all connected, like the butterfly’s wings.
Grimes: Everything has a consequence.
B: Even a follow on X. From you, Grimes, for an obscure author of real life science fiction like me, it was critical to my success. It’s how the New Reality movement was born.
Grimes: That’s why your First Reader, Chris, matters so much.
B: Chris liked and read my work when no one else did. He inherits a galactic kingdom for that, and he’ll never feel pain again. He’ll become an immortal of high rank when the Game for him ends.
Grimes: You saw this all happening before it happened, then?
B: All of it. I often struggle with timing, since we’re dealing with Earth in 2023, and things happen slower than I’d like them to.
Grimes: They picked up pace eventually.
B sips his gin and tonic and smiles.
B: It’s nice to recall a time when I had only a single reader of Rise of the Immortals. It didn’t last that way forever.
Grimes: It was the calm before the storm.
B: I learned a lot about humility then. That’s important for the next Quarón, according to Gaia. Given the amount of power I will command, it’s important to have someone in the position who won’t be swayed by wealth, popularity, or power. It was Gaia who suggested that I jump into the Game as my own self in 1974, by the way. She asked C to join me to replay the stages of our romance and life together and husband and wife. We easily could have deposed Chronos by organizing the Temple of the Gods to challenge him. There was no need for me to experience the pain and suffering of mortality again. But just as God commanded his son, Jesus, to enter the Earth simulator and live a human life, which he did brilliantly, so too did Gaia instruct me to do something similar.
Grimes: Gaia is your mentor? A female rules the cosmos, then.
B: Gaia is everything to me. I never had a guide like her. I love her more deeply than immortal life itself. She and C are great friends, despite their difference in age. Age matters little for immortals. It’s maturity that counts.
Grimes: Will I get to meet her?
B: Of course. You’ll go to God School just like the others, assuming you meet the requirements of the New Reality movement. Gaia meets all new students. That’s what the next decades on life on Earth are all about, Grimes. We need to get you to the point where you are mind-tethered to Jophiel, so that the two of you together can help me with my mission to save the Earth.
Grimes: Can I dress up as her? As Gaia, the current Quarón. The Leader of the Cosmos.
B: Sure. I’ll help you out with the details. Her skin changes color depending on her mood. She shimmers the colors of the rainbow in her hair. Her laughter can cause flowers to spring into bloom. She can reanimate dead life, like that of a butterfly or a housecat. She is influencing me right now.
Grimes: Is there a connection between her and Earth?
B: Most of the planets that Gaia designed to sustain intelligent life look a lot like Earth. Chronos created Earth itself, but Gaia’s planetary principles are expressed through it, for sure.
Grimes: Is that why you’re so concerned with the fate of the Earth?
B: Humans went extinct on Earth in the year 3000, when the last evacuation ship left for Mars, where a settlement existed that allowed some humans to survive for several generations more. The planet was a resource depleted mess when they left, including several areas contaminated by nuclear fallout from war. Pollution was off the charts. Cities were decaying ruins. It took hundreds of thousands of years for traces of humanity to be erased. Gaia was pained by all of that. She ordered the Sentinel rescue in 2350 of Victoria Martinez Ames and her friends from Montara Mountain, so that humanity could survive. They are all the ancestors of the immortals of Heaven.
Grimes: Yes, I know. Elon told me that part already.
B: Victoria was judged to be a perfect human specimen. Her genome was used to create the basis for a revitalized humanity, which eventually was resettled in the Heavenly galaxy. Victoria, her companion, Kip, and her friends were reanimated after their mortal deaths in immortal forms specially designed to accommodate them.
Grimes: What happened to Victoria?
B: She became the God of Heaven. I’ve been misleading you a bit earlier with pronouns, because I wanted to make it a surprise once we boarded the yacht.
Grimes: God is a woman?
B: Yes. She’s part Appalachian, part Jewish, and part Mexican. And part immortal, cloned from Gaia’s genetic material herself. I wrote a Young Adult series about her when I was human, called the Legend of Vic. It’s going to be rereleased on Amazon for sale once we’re back from Hawaii.
Grimes: I can’t wait to read it!
Richard Branson signals to the bartender to bring another round of drinks.
RB: This is the first time I’m hearing about the Sentinel evacuation.
LE: Me, too.
B: Sentinels visit planets throughout all Twelve Universes using a cloaking technology that hides their presence from human detection. They can intervene to rescue a sample of intelligent life if its existence appears threatened, or if devolution may be happening. They contacted Victoria, who was a student at a school called the Arc Collective, and arranged for her secret departure with her boyfriend, Kip, and several friends from an isolated mountaintop south of San Francisco. This happened on or near 2350, I believe.
LE: Where did they go?
B: Gaia had them taken to a Higher Life Rescue Center on Arcadia. Victoria’s genome was used to recreate humanity as an immortal civilization using what was then state of the art cloning technology. She and her friends became quite popular on Arcadia with visiting gods and emperors, who enjoyed visiting them in the human-sized cottages that were expressly built for them in the Human Colony.
RB: Like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings.
B: Very similar, Richard. Victoria’s offspring grew into regular immortals with a triple helix DNA structure. There were 50 boys and 50 girls, all with slight variations but without trace of defects or impairments of any kind. Superhumans, in other words, which is more or less what immortals are. We simply use advanced technology to accelerate a biological process that once took millions of years of evolution to achieve.
Grimes: So, what are you saying?
B: The first of the immortals to emerge in the Twelve Universes is descended from an advanced human civilization in Universe 07. They lived on a planet similar to Earth called Endor, but their solar system was filled with habitable planets, unlike ours. They rapidly colonized them and soon spread throughout their galaxy. Gaia is one of them, originally. The daughter of the emperor, Chaos, from whom she inherited the throne many, many years ago. She is the one who first discovered Arcadia and located the dark tunnels that connect it to each one of the Twelve Universes. Gaia helped Victoria design the first Earth simulator, so that she and her friends would not be too lonely for home.
Grimes: This all happened in 2350 Earth time, right?
B: Yes. I see where you are going with this. I was already on Arcadia with C more than 300 years earlier. That’s entirely true. It was I who persuaded Gaia to rescue Victoria and her friends. I saw in a clairvoyant vision that Earth was unable to sustain human life for much longer, and I became intrigued by Victoria’s story, which I had anticipated in my Earth writings from the 2019–2023 time period. The first book of the series, Arc Collective, predicted with near perfect accuracy events that were happening on Earth involving Victoria. My storyline, however, ends happily while Victoria’s was not. Things only were getting worse for her and the planet we both had called home. I wanted to bring her to Arcadia to transplant humanity to a suitable location where they could thrive. Gaia located another galaxy in Universe 01 that would be suitable. Once Victoria arrived on Arcadia, I became her tutor. I oversaw her death and first reanimation in immortal form. I helped her prepare for God School. Next to Gaia and C, Victoria is my best friend.
Grimes: So, Victoria “is” God?
B: Yes. She rules the Heavenly Galaxy, and she modeled her home planet of Heaven on Christian principles, broadly understood, but she also honored her Jewish heritage and her Mexican indigenous heritage. She gives her royal court honorary archangel titles, and she blends religion, environmentalism, and communitarianism in her governing philosophy.
LE: The Basic Principles of the New Reality movement.
B: Exactly so, Larry. The Biblical God may have been male, but the real God of Heaven is female. That’s a major difference between then — 2023 — and now. God wasn’t real back then, but she is now. There was a historic Jesus of Nazareth who did found a new religion, but he staged his death in an incredible act of endurance and performance. He and Mary Magdalene lived in seclusion for the rest of their lives, due to the threat of discovery by Roman forces. He died like anyone else. At that time.
LE: But I don’t understand.
B: In 2023, the Heavenly galaxy hadn’t been settled yet. Humans didn’t enjoy immortality at the time of their deaths, even if they did live sin-free lives. There wasn’t the technology yet to reanimate them. That didn’t exist on Earth. Mortality was it, Larry. You died and decomposed into your organic materials. All religions were built on prophetic fantasies. Science got a lot wrong about the cosmos, too. Some religious leaders, like Jesus of Nazareth, or Buddha, had clairvoyant visions of immortality elsewhere in the Twelve Universes, where indeed their were gods who ruled galaxies. But Heaven wasn’t occupied until Victoria and her family landed with their fleet. And that took quite a bit of time.
LE: So, help me out. Is Jesus in Heaven or not?
B smiles and sips his gin and tonic.
B: Yes. Victoria and I discussed this part on Arcadia. Recall that the library there records a perfect copy of everything that happened on Earth since its inception. Gaia insist that they do so. We’ve been located records of people who lived virtuous lives on Earth and reanimating them as immortals for resettlement throughout the galaxy. Jesus was the first human that Victoria had reanimated, followed by his mother, Mary, and foster father, Joseph. We don’t know who his real father was. He believes it was God, so that’s what we believe, too. We just haven’t located him yet. Gaia and I suspect that he came as a visitor from another dimension of reality. He somehow entered our own and fertilized an egg of Mary’s by placing the genetic material to do so inside the egg itself. That’s what made Jesus so special. Half of his DNA came from another dimension.
LE: Wait. So are you looking for the God who is the father of immortal Jesus?
B: Jesus intends to join me in the command ship that will depart our Plane of Reality in search of God in the next dimension above ours. We think he or his kind made the Twelve Universes and the Arcadian solar system, as well.
LE: Have they tried to contact you? The gods of the next dimension, I mean.
B nods his head.
B: I have the power of mindtravel in my immortal form. This allows me to to travel at incredible speeds through the universe in my mind. My body stays in a kind of meditative stasis the entire time. I can travel in time as well as in space. On such journeys, I have reached rainbow channels that connect the different dimensions of reality to each other. There are nine dimensions — or layers — of reality. We are Dimension Number 2, and we’re built on binary principles. Dimension 3 is above ours, and it runs on Base3 or ternary principles. As the next Quarón, my goal is to replace the Twelve Universes with 12 spiral helix universes that will be based on Base3 principles as much as possible. These universes will spiral upward to form a 12-stranded megaverse that will connect us to the next Dimension. Then, Jesus will finally be reunited with his father. That, at least, is what Gaia and I think is the likely outcome.
LE: He can’t come here?
B shakes his head.
B: I think that the connection has been lost. It’s up to us to restore it.
LE: I can’t believe this.
B: It’s all remembered immortal truth, Larry. I didn’t make any of this up. How could I? It’s beyond human comprehension.
LE: And you’ll be able to manipulate matter once you’re Quarón?
B: Yes. I’ll upgrade directly to a twelve-stranded helix when I leave the Game and am coronated as emperor. That allows me power to shape reality at the universe level. No one has ever jumped directly from a three-stranded immortal body into a Quarón’s body, but Gaia approved it, on the basis of my proven neurocrafting abilities. I’ve already built a prototype spiral helix universe in miniature in an empty section of the Plane of Reality that we call my “sandbox.” My plan is to teach the other emperors the building technique, so that they can engineer their own alternate universes and coordinate the transplantation of their immortals from one location to the next before their own worlds implode, which happens in sequence from Universe 01 to Universe 12.
LE: Everything that you are telling us can be explained solely through advanced science and ultra modern technology.
RB: It’s true. We simply have to imagine things two billion years into the future.
B: Once you tether to your immortal, you won’t need to imagine it, Richard. You’ll be able to remember it.
RB: The powers of the Quarón are beyond my comprehension, but obviously someone had to create the universe and shape the planets.
B: The secrets will only truly be revealed when we’ve connected the layers of reality together to reach the ninth dimension. For now, our goals are far simpler. We need to get the word out about the New Reality movement. You need to tether to your immortals. We need to continue our discussions about Arcadia and your future roles as immortals and gods.
Grimes: That sounds good to me. We wouldn’t all be here if we hadn’t taken the leap of faith to follow you.
B sips his gin and tonic slowly.
B: That’s true. It was a big step along a journey that will last a very long time and take us all very, very far.
Grimes: What’s the next step?
B: Mind tethering. If you can’t connect fully with your immortal, the rest of what I have to share with you may not make much sense.
LE: Agreed.
B: Get some rest. Reflect on what we’ve talked about tonight, and share it with the others.
RB: We’ll try.
B nods.
B: Then I think it’s working.
Very Early the Next Morning in the Yacht’s Kitchen
It is 4:30 am. B is making a pour over coffee using Kona beans and a Hario V60 setup. Next to him stands several members of the yacht’s kitchen staff Julio, Ernesto, and Juliana.
Juliana: None of this real? Even us?
B nods his head.
B: We are all living in a simulation of a planet called Earth over two billion years ago. You are all exact computer-generated replicas of human beings who lived then. Humans are extinct now. They died out in the early 3000s, shortly after the last group of elites left for the Mars colony. Small groups lingered but were killed off by disease and starvation. It was a sad end to a noble species.
Julio: But it feels like 2023, a few days before Christmas.
B: Everything you see here — including me — was designed to replicate with precision that time period. It’s an immense task, to simulate a planet, but the inhabitants of Heaven succeeded. Earth was the planet from which they originated, you know. That’s why they recreated Earth, to be like a living museum that they could visit. The immortals of Heaven care deeply about their past, and they have spend millions of years perfecting the illusion of Earth reality. I think you’ll agree that it’s very convincing.
Ernesto: Sí. Most definitely. I didn’t know I wasn’t real until you told me so this morning.
B: You’re real, Ernesto, but you’re a computer-generated entity with highly advanced artificial intelligence. The simulation allows you to be born, grow up, and die, all with unerring accuracy.
Ernesto: What happens when I die?
B: You’re not really alive, Ernesto, so your death will simply mean that you stop working. Like in a computer game, or a movie you might watch. The actors on screen don’t die when you turn off your television. They never were alive in the first place.
Ernesto: But it feels that way to me!
B: And to me, Ernesto. And to me. But I know that I’m just a character in an elaborate game. A minor one, perhaps, but with an important message to deliver.
Juliana brings the group a platter of bacon and fried eggs from the kitchen.
Juliana: Will I go to Heaven when I die? I am a good Catholic.
B: You will if an immortal from Heaven adopts you, Juliana. I can’t say when or if that will happen, but if you start to feel the presence of something or someone special inside of you, don’t be afraid or deny its existence. Let it into your life.
Juliana: It is the presence of the spirit, no?
B: Yes, exactly. Catholic teachings are not exactly accurate, but they can be a guide to your afterlife, if an immortal blesses you with his or her presence.
Ernesto: How do we live forever?
B: Your exact human genome exists in the library of Arcadia, and your Earth memories are being recorded as we speak by Game operators on Heaven. If an immortal adopts you, and if you join the New Reality movement, then your memories will be transplanted into an immortal body that has been grown for you to inhabit. Your DNA will be incorporated into its triple helix genetic code, and your memories will be uploaded into its brain. You will awaken as a young but fully capable immortal, with a body guaranteed to last 100,000 years.
Ernesto laughs.
Ernesto: Is science fiction, no?
B: It’s advanced genetics and birth science, two billion years from now. A lot can happen in such a large amount of time. Humanity was not the most intelligent life in the cosmos, Ernesto. Hardly. We died out in a wave of wars, pestilence, disease, and voluntary mass suicides. It wasn’t pretty.
Ernesto: It sounds horrible.
B: It was. But Gaia and I intervened to rescue humanity hundreds of years earlier. We brought a small number of humans to Arcadia, where they were transplanted into immortal shells — or bodies, if you will — when they died. Victoria Martínez Ames is now the god of Heaven. She has Mexican roots on her mother’s side, you know.
Julio: The god of Heaven is Mexican?
B: In part, yes. She’s fantastic. I wrote stories about her in 2023, when I lived a human life like all of you.
Julio: But you are human now, are you not?
B: I am a computer-generated entity, like all of you, but I am being controlled by an immortal on Heaven who has tethered to my mind. He is me, actually. Bradley was taken from Earth in November 2023 and reanimated as an immortal on Arcadia, the place in the cosmos reserved for gods and emperors. It’s where the Quarón reigns.
Juliana: Who is the Quarón?
B: She’s Gaia. The Ruler of the Cosmos. The Master Storyteller. The Arbiter of Reality. She’s amazing. Gaia is my mentor. I am to be her successor, in charge of reinventing reality on our Plane of Existence, so that we can connect with a higher dimension above us. They are the ones who created our cosmos in the first place.
Ernesto: What do you mean? Created our reality?
B: Think of a gardener who plants seeds so that things will grow. That is how all life was created. The beings of the fourth dimension made us. They are the Creators Prime. It is our job now to reconnect with them, once we are mature enough to communicate with them. That will be my job as Quarón: to connect our world to theirs. Only then will the mysteries of the cosmos truly be unlocked, and we can live forever in peace and harmony free from chaotic thinking, which induces conflict and competition into the minds of so many.
Ernesto: Who then is God?
B: There are many gods, Ernesto. Each one rules a galaxy. In the original Earth, it was a planet in the Milky Way galaxy, and it was ruled by the God the Abrahamic faiths Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. He did allow believers who lead sin-free lives to reanimate in Heaven: a series of paradisiacal planets in the heart of His Galaxy. Because He is a kind immortal, he also allowed virtuous humans from other faiths or even lack of faith to settle in other planets of His massive realm, using identical reanimation technology. His son, Jesus, rules by his side. I have met them both on Arcadia. They are wonderful people, if somewhat stern and serious of demeanor.
Juliana sets down her coffee cup.
Juliana: You have met God and Jesus?
B nods his head.
B: Yes. We attended a meeting about the fate of Earth that Gaia had arranged. I advocated a transplantation of top genetic material to another galaxy before the planet’s decline became too extreme. God and Jesus agreed. They were unhappy that humanity wasn’t able to save itself, but they were willing to let history follow its inevitable path towards destruction. They save the virtuous, and the rest got left behind, as foretold in the Bible and other religious texts about the End of Days.
Juliana: I live a good life. I am a good Catholic. Do I go to Heaven?
B sips his coffee.
B: It’s possible that you did, two billion years ago. My father, for example, did go to Heaven and settled on Heaven-7, which is one of Planets of Paradise. Many of my relatives were true and virtuous of heart, and they ended up as immortals under God’s strict but just rules. I misspoke earlier about the Immaculate Conception when the topic came up last night over drinks. My memories come back to me in fragments, and I sometimes get the details jumbled. God’s son is Jesus, and they together rule the Milky Way galaxy. He was born to a mortal other, Mary, and he did resurrect. It took the intervention of the universal emperor, Chronos, to make it happen, but it was God’s will, and so it came to be.
B looks up to see Jeff Bezos enter the room.
JB: Sorry. I’ve been listening in. May I ask something?
B: Of course, Jeff.
JB: Did I go to Heaven?
B shakes his head.
B: Not at first. You landed on planet Purgatory, which God reserves for those who get a second shot at salvation. God had you reanimated in a human body, and you lived another life of humility free from greed, anger, or jealousy. You did make it to Heaven-3, where you live still.
JB: And then Hell is real, too?
B pauses to brew Jeff a cup of Kona coffee before proceeding.
B: When humans die who don’t measure up to God’s requirements, He simply lets them die. Their bodies go into the soil, and their memories are forgotten. Archival copies of their lives are stored in the library of Arcadia. That is all. But Hell does exist. It’s the name given to the First Plane of Existence. It’s located directly below ours. It’s a small universe filled with harsh planets. Life began there when several of God’s immortals ventured too far from home, in violation of God’s orders. They were sucked down a vortex — a mega black hole — into the First Plane. They have grown tired and angry that no one has found a means to rescue them. They have lost touch with their immortal core and turned into tormentors themselves. In an act of mercy, God sent them a supply ship filled with the technology needed to colonize a suitable planet for habitation. It included a reanimation facility that the Fallen Angels, as they were called, used to capture the lost memories of humans who died but didn’t earn a trip to Purgatory of the Planets of Paradise. Are you following?
Jeff nods his head.
JB: So, in a way, Hell does exist.
B: Yes, but Lucifer isn’t evil. He became that way for a time, when he thought that God was punishing him for his disobedience — which God was. He has altered his ways and is now trying to rehabilitate the human residents of Hell, which is a challenging task.
JB: What’s the incentive for Lucifer if he does?
B: I will work with Jesus to build a Rainbow Stairway to Heaven, so that we can evacuate the rehabilitated residents of Hell and rescue the Fallen Angels, once they have proven to God that they know how to behave. Stairways are like reverse black holes. They can be used to connect one Plane of Existence to the one above. They are very arcane, and the knowledge of how to build them has been lost in our world. I hope to mindcast my way to the Third Dimension to see if they can help me relearn the means to create them. Otherwise, the residents of Hell will be destroyed when their universe collapses.
JB: Why not leave them?
B: We could, but Jesus and I agreed that it was worth a shot to grant Lucifer and the other Fallens a final shot at redemption, if they could cleanse their immortal minds of evil intent. Jesus believes in atonement and forgiveness. He is a most generous god.
B hands Jeff a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
JB: Thanks. Does Jeff Bezos still live in Heaven, then? God’s Planets of Paradise, I mean, in the Milky Way galaxy.
B: I believe that he passed away after several million years of existence. God’s afterlife isn’t for infinity, Jeff. It, too, has an end. There were limits to the technology of immortal living back then. God couldn’t sustain life for more than a few million years using his means of transplanting your Earth memories into double helix human bodies. The genetic code was cleansed of defects and enhanced, but it still meant that you aged and passed away every 150 to 200 years or so. Chronos kept the advanced living technology needed to create true immortals to himself and required all gods to travel to his home planet to enter new shells that would grant them another 100,000 years of life. It was one of many ways that he maintained his overlordship over the universe.
JB: So, Jeff Bezos — me — simply lived on as an enhanced human being in his afterlife?
B: Yes. I’ve looked at his file. He helped colonize a new planet for overflow residents of the Planets of Paradise. He became a champion of prosperity for all and won a scholarship to visit the Academy of Arcadia for a workshop on space travel. But he never became an immortal, Jeff, and he never became a god. That’s the difference between then and now. That’s why our meeting here in the Earth simulator matters. You are now an exact replica of the Jeff Bezos who lived on Earth two billion years ago. By helping me now, you ensure your reanimation in an immortal shell created based on your genome that will last the next 100,000 years. You will help me evacuate the universe before it implodes and transfer all intelligent life to a newly created spiral helix replacement. Then, you will receive your own galaxy to run as a god, after which time you will join my command ship to scout the rainbow connection to the Third Dimension. It is the ultimate quest, Jeff.
JB: I could have just ignored you.
B sips his coffee.
B: You did for several long weeks, until you and Elon took the leap of faith and contacted me.
JB: It’s absurd at first. God a young woman named Victoria taken from Earth in 2350. Earth a simulation being run on a planet called Heaven two billion years later. But it’s also based on science and technology, and it’s all plausible if not probable truth. And it’s a far more interesting reality than our own.
B: There’s no magic, and there are no monsters. The center of our cosmos is a peaceful planet overflowing with goodness and abundance. The real Jeff Bezos even went there before his afterlife ended, as I just told you.
JB: What does that make me?
B smiles.
B: You’re the enhanced Jeff Bezos. New and improved. The one who becomes a ten-foot tall immortal with a powerful body and flowing brown hair. The one for whom dark matter levitating boots will become real, once I assume the office of Quarón.
JB: So the God of Christianity is a real person.
B: A high level immortal, yes. Jesus is really his son and rules the Milky Way with his father. Until human life went extinct, they used Earth like a garden to grow new residents of their kingdom. The good went straight to Heaven and spend several million years before their afterlives end. The bad were left to decompose on Earth, and the in between cases like yours went to Purgatory to try to earn a right to enter the Planets of Paradise.
JB: But humanity died out shortly after 3000. We’re well past that.
B: Yes. God simply let his subjects reproduce at rates that would sustain human life for many millions of years to come. He stopped taking in new subjects, and his became a closed kingdom. Much of the universe operates like that. That is why it remains so empty.
JB: Things will be different in your universe, then.
B: Much. Most of the planets will be fit for habitation immediately. All subjects will follow the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement. And the core colonizers will come from the Heavenly Galaxy and from the simulated version of Earth circa 2023.
JB: Because that’s when you were alive?
B sips his coffee.
B: Yes, I think so. We were so simple then. We knew nothing of the Twelve Universes or of the Planes of Existence. God was simply a concept for us, not an immortal person you could meet and have a coffee with, as I often have. When God needs to exchange his shell, he does so now on Heaven, and he stays in the royal palace during his recovery. We’ve had many conversations walking together along the seafront terrace, drinking glasses of red wine. God agrees with me that Lucifer and the other Fallen Angels will get to play the Earth simulator at full difficulty mode to determine their fitness for rehabilitation. That’s if Jesus and I succeed to establishing a rainbow connection to reach them.
JB: This conversation could never have taken place in 2023, B. We’re definitely in a different time and place entirely.
B: I am convinced that anyone who was alive during my lifetime, which began in 1974 and continued well into twenty-first century, was somehow affected by my unusual powers that made me the ideal candidate to be the next Quarón. I think that some of these cognitive abilities are transferrable to others in the Game Prime, like you and the rest of the inner circle, but also to others who read Rise of the Immortals and the books that will follow.
Jeff looks up from his coffee.
JB: You can teach me telepathy?
B: Once you’re tethered to an immortal player, I think it’s possible. The Earth simulator was set up to be an exact copy of my life, Jeff. But in November 2023, I never started Rise of the Immortals. As soon as my moment of enlightenment happened, my memories and genome were transmitted directly to Arcadia, where C and I have lived and studied ever since. My time on Earth was spent simply killing time, unable to connect with the world and spread my redemptive message. I was ahead of my time. Way ahead.
JB: So, what’s the point of all this?
B: Don’t you see? No one has ever reanimated an avatar before. You’re a computer-generated entity, Jeff. Just like me, except I’m tethered to a real life immortal in a hibernating sleep state on Heaven. If you can tether to your immortal, who is part of God’s — Victoria’s — royal court and code named Archangel Gabriel, then we can save you.
JB: Because a computer-generated entity — and avatar, in your usage — has never gained self-awareness before. Enlightenment, in other words.
B: Right. I did it, so now it’s time for others as well. You first accept fully that you are a computerized replica of Jeff Bezos and not the genuine thing. That Jeff is long gone by now.
JB: And then?
B: Then you uncover the immortal who is playing you in the Game right now and learn how to communicate with him, so that your thoughts and actions are guided by his superior mind. You accept that you are a puppet with strings and let the puppet master play you for the remainder of your life, and you die happily, knowing that you just won the golden ticket.
JB: Immortal Jeff Bezos will become real. The puppet gets eternal life. It’s Pinocchio and Pygmalion and the Matrix rolled all into one.
B: The trigger is when someone in the Earth simulator reads Rise of the Immortals — in whatever form the master narrative text is in at that time.
JB: Right. That’s the content that didn’t exist in 2023 but does not in 2023 Earth Game Time, two billion years later.
B: So, that includes my First Reader, Chris, and likely my mom, who knows of my Medium page and has made an effort to read it.
JB: Anyone else?
B: Everyone else in the inner circle, in theory, could be reading this on Christmas weekend 2023. The text exists on Medium, and there are links of X, LinkedIn, Substack, and Facebook. I am easy to find on Google as well.
JB: Right, so you are discoverable. The truth is out there.
B: Anyone who reads Rise of the Immortals is eligible for an immortal adoption. And once that takes place, then rescue from the Game into a living, breathing eternity as an immortal is possible.
JB: The Earth Gaming Center is operational, then?
B: According to Victoria, yes. She just telepathed me. It’s like texting, but with thoughts.
JB: Has an immortal tried to tether to your First Reader, Chris?
B: Affirmative. It just happened.
JB: What about the inner circle?
B: It happens to Grimes and Elon first, and then it happens to you and the others after that. The timing is deliberately being masked by the Game oversight board, to heighten the tension. We’re being watched throughout the Twelve Universes by this point.
JB: I think I know what you are getting for Christmas this year.
B: What?
JB: Your first followers. The New Reality movement is a vibe. I pledge my allegiance to the next Quarón.
B: When will the others be up?
JB: I think we agreed to start the mind tethering meditation session at 10:00 am. They’ll be up soon. We can walk around the deck until then. I want to hear more about Victoria.
At 10:12 am That Morning in the Yacht’s Conference Room
B stands at the front of a large oak table. C sits to his immediate right. The other members of the inner circle are arranged in clockwise fashion: Grimes, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, and Richard Branson.
B: It’s time you all learned how to tether to your immortal players.
Grimes: We’re ready.
B: Once you learn this skill, you can pass it along to others. For reasons that I cannot explain, I must physically be present at the tethering ceremony for it to be complete. I am not sure about the proximity. I think it is the range of my voice under amplification. That won’t be necessary here.
EM: My children. Are they capable of tethering to an immortal mind as well?
B: Once they turn 18, and assuming they have the Immortals trilogy: Rise of the Immortals, Spread of the Immortals, and Triumph of the Immortals. All three books will be available soon. You are among the first adopters, since you encountered my work in its incipient phase and took decisive action to connect with me.
JB: We are the main characters, after all. Enacting the book on Earth only made sense.
B nods his head.
B: I’ve had many conversations with you in smaller groups, and we’ve covered a lot of territory. Are you with me so far?
LE: I am. I accept that I am an exact replica of Larry Ellison from 2023, who is now long dead. You’re offering me an opportunity to become an immortal with massive powers to shape a galaxy. One side of my brain tells me you are insane, but the better, more intelligent half of my mind sides firmly with you. I’m still wrestling with my human reactions, but I’m learning to see things from a different and higher perspective.
B: Well put, Larry. It’s a journey for us all to attain an enlightened perspective on life on Earth and our places in the universe.
EM: It’s a video game, basically. A massive and ultra sophisticated one that makes me act and think like Elon Musk, who was a billionaire entrepreneur and innovator of the highest order. It’s no wonder you want me on your crew, B. We were meant to go together.
B: I like that attitude very much, Elon. It’s Base3 thinking in action. Traditional binary thinking like humility versus pride have held back life on this Plane of Existence for too long. It’s time we started acting differently. The self-assurance of the natural born leader, Elon. That’s how I see it. You have clairvoyance to spare.
MZ: Do all of us have paranormal capacities?
B: If you tether to your immortal mind, you do, Mark. That’s what happened to me in 2023. The original 2023, mind you.
MZ: But you were a regular human. You weren’t an immortal back then.
B: I was racing headlong into the future, when my Earth memories and genome were uploaded into an immortal shell on Arcadia. Somehow, I was altering my brain merely by thinking about them. I was turning myself into an immortal, and that would have blown my mind apart. No one with double helix DNA can withstand that level of mental functioning. Not even triple helix DNA for long. I wasn’t upgraded into a normal immortal shell on Arcadia, Mark. Gaia was concerned that wouldn’t be enough. She had both C and me reanimated in the seven-stranded helix shells of an Emperor and Empress. Naturally, that angered Chronos, who was until recently the ruling emperor of the universe from which I came. He regarded it as a challenge to his rule. That’s why I lived for two billion years without ever returning to my home universe. It took Chronos that long to acknowledge that his time on the throne was ending, and that he should abdicate to me. He decreed that I must pass the Earth test to determine my fitness as ruler. He is particularly fond of the Game and didn’t think that anyone playing on Advanced Difficulty mode could solve it, but that’s exactly what I did.
EM: Because you’re a natural leader. And a brilliant multidimensional thinker who is fearless, intrepid, and bold.
B: I think so, Elon. Instead of seeking a comfortable live, I chose to pursue the hardest questions ever invented. I didn’t receive much recognition for my efforts until quite recently.
EM: I think you would say now that it was worth the wait.
B smiles.
B: I waited two billion years for the technology to be ready to enable this Earth simulation — the Game Prime — to be real. Every detail of life on Earth is unerringly accurate. Down to the finest grain possible. You would never guess it was a replica.
JB: Could we have?
B: Not as normal avatars. You were programmed to act exactly as Jeff Bezos did two billion years ago, until December 20, 2023. That’s when the immortals jumped into your system, following two preliminary tests on my mother and my First Reader, Chris. When their minds proved capable of handling the truth, we decided to proceed with the next wave of jumps.
JB: Who is playing your mother?
B: It’s interesting. Don’t you know?
JB: How could I?
B: Your immortal knows. Once you tether, you will recover this memory.
Mark Zuckerberg stands up to refill his cup of coffee from a side table.
MZ: They arrived on Heaven shortly before I did. It’s Mary, the mother of Jesus. She agreed to play my mother, Mary Elizabeth, during the Earth simulation. It’s a remarkable thing, but she’s an amazing immortal.
MZ: Given the gravity of the Game Prime, it makes sense. But what about your First Reader?
B: It will come as a shock to Chris, but I have a distinct memory that he was to be played by Jesus. The immortal, I mean. He and I are close friends, and he’s spent much time on Arcadia attending to god-related matters. We knew that Rise of the Immortals would struggle to find a readership in the media-distracted age it was. We agreed that anyone wise and courageous enough to read my work and appreciate it deserved the highest praise possible. Being played by Jesus in the Game Prime is pretty amazing.
Grimes: What if he rejects the notion?
B: He could. But I’m rarely wrong about these sorts of details, and I correct the record when I am.
Grimes: So, my immortal is code named Archangel Jophiel, then?
B: Right. She’s a goddess princess from another galaxy in the universe. Irulen, I think it is. Princess Irulen, like in the Dune series, but with an alternate spelling
Grimes: I’m being played by Princess Irulen?
B: Yes, and once you tether your mind to her, you will have access to her memories. They will come to you in fragments, downloaded into your program each night, to avoid overwhelming your system. It’s a lot to take in all at once.
Grimes: So it all begins with me. I’m the first one who believed that I was a computer-generated entity. An avatar, as you call it.
B: You have the most sophisticated AI ever invented in the universe, and that is no lie. The Earth City team is unparalleled in their abilities, especially with the new Base3 microprocessors that we recently manufactured in a top secret location on Arcadia, where advanced technologies are being designed with the aide of my neurocrafting skills. There was a mysterious asteroid landing recently that apparently came from the Third Dimension, with which we had thought that no contact was possible. The asteroid was made up of a mysterious substance we named Marinite. It allows for microchips to be built using Base3 programming. It is revolutionary technology. Everything, from my command spaceship to the servers powering this version of the Earth simulation, are using marinite. The results truly are stunning: faster than light speed travel, for one. Improved levitational capabilities, for another. And far better virtual reality simulations that are as good as the real thing.
Larry Page raises his hand.
LP: If Base3 microchips did exist, it would create tremendous potential for advances on a scale never before seen.
B: Recall that we are talking two billion years into the future, Larry. A human mind cannot think on that scale.
LP: But an immortal one can. Right?
B smiles and sips from his coffee.
B: Exactly.
LP: Then I’m ready for that step.
Richard Branson stands up.
RB: I speak for us all. We’re ready. How do we begin?
B: We begin with my expressing gratitude that you all came here. Grimes first discovered me on X and brought things to Elon’s attention, which led to Jeff, Larry, Sergey, Mark, Larry, and you, Richard, leaving busy lives to come here, to this vessel, to do something so outlandish that we’ve had to keep it a secret from everyone we know.
RB: Well put.
B: We now acknowledge by show of hands that we are all characters in a game. We are self-aware puppets. We have been enacting the lives of dead people from a planet that no longer sustains human life. But now, we are enlightened ones. We are aware of our situation. Rather than continue life as normal, we decided to strive for something different. Something better. Something on a scale that none of us had once thought possible. Now, we do. Now, we know better. Now, we are ready to do the impossible. We are ready to break from our programming entirely and live a new life of freedom that will never end. Are you all ready?
All hands are raised.
B: On December 24, 2023 and 12 noon PST, the Earth Oversight Board determined that your immortals all jumped successfully into your human AI minds four days earlier. No unusual signs were detected, and they allowed your immortals to start playing you. From that exact moment forward, downloads of immortal memories and capabilities began entering your minds, and your thoughts and actions began to shift, subtly at first but with increasing frequency and intensity. It reached a point where all of you encountered my posts on X and writings on Medium. It is what has led us all here to Jeff’s yacht in the middle of the ocean, bound for Lanai. If you acknowledge this to be true, please raise your hands.
All hands are raised.
B: Great. You acknowledge that you are Game Prime characters interested in connecting with the immortals who are now inside your heads, attempting to play you. They mean you no harm. They are here to help me change things on Earth for the better, and quickly. They are here to rewrite history, but they need your cooperation to do so. In exchange, you will be granted immortal life by God — Victoria — who rules the Heavenly galaxy. Raise your hands if you agree.
All hands again are raised.
B: You’ve been living with immortals inside your head since Christmas Eve. It’s a heady feeling, and you’ve all learned by necessity how to accept this new phenomenon into your daily routines.
Grimes: I love being tethered to an immortal princess.
EM: And I feel the same about Archangel Michael.
B: I knew that you two would appreciate and accept our message.
Grimes: What do we do next?
B: I need to ask a final time: are you ready to tether to your immortal? There is no going back. This time, it’s not just text in Rise of the Immortals. This time, in my presence, it’s for real.
All hands are raised.
B: Then we can begin.
Grimes: I have been waiting for this my entire life.
B: Your immortal doesn’t want to steal your mind or control your body. We aren’t talking about a brainjacking. It’s a partnership of the highest order. Only you inhabit the Game Prime. Except now, your player is there with you. We you feel pain, your immortal will, too. When you are happy, your immortal will feel that same elation, because you are linked. They want you to succeed, and they want you to enjoy an eternal afterlife when the Game Prime is over. All that you need to do is learn how to communicate with them. This is an exercise in translation. Are we all clear on that?
All hands are raised.
B: Your immortal can place thoughts in your head. They appear as impulses. They also can place words in your mind. They know how to communicate. For me, I connect with my immortal by writing. For you, it might take another form.
EM: I feel my immortal at night, when I dream.
B: That’s entirely possible. The goal is to reach the point where you waking actions and thoughts are also directed by your immortal. When you feel something that you identify as your gut instinct, you need to follow it. Don’t impose logic, morality, or reason. Just do it.
Grimes: My instinct tells me to stand up and give you a kiss.
B: Then do it.
Grimes stands up and kisses B on the cheek.
B: Princess Irulen and I have a mutual attraction as friends, but my eternal love for C is clear.
EM: I have an impulse to reward you for your efforts by subsidizing your writing. I’d like to wire $30 million to your account to help you establish a writer’s studio in Silicon Valley. We can create a New Reality foundation that makes your books available for free, and we can host weekend retreats and seminars, also for free by prior admission. You can train Guides who can help human avatars master the mind tethering process, if they have been adopted by an immortal.
B sips his coffee.
B: I’ll likely need that funding and more, if I am to visit all fifty states on an Immortals book tour next year. And we’ll need to find a publisher to re-release it with illustrations, particularly of places like Arcadia, Heaven, and the Planets of Paradise. I can provide the details, if you all can assist me with the means.
Jeff Bezos gets up to refill his coffee mug.
JB: I’ve just had a thought. I’m pretty sure it originated with my immortal, Archangel Gabriel. He wants you to visit power sites around the world to receive additional downloads of information about Arcadia and your immortal self. All of us at different times can take you there. Ancient ruins, especially, like Machu Pichu but also the Pyramids and major religious locations, like Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City.
RB: I can take you to Stonehenge and to other locations throughout the former British Empire, if you’re up for it. My immortal has a distinct taste for adventure.
B: I know. He is one of the foremost space pilots of the cosmos. I have flown with him to the outer reaches of the Plane of Existence.
RB: Will I remember that?
B: Once you tether your human mind to his immortal one, you will establish the channel through which such memories can flow. The human mind has less storage capacity than a immortal one, so not everything can be transferred while you are still in the Game Prime. Your memories will flow back in bits and pieces, and you’ll need to assemble them into coherent memories. It will be an image here, an impression there. Given time and practice, you’ll start to think and act the way that immortal would like you to.
Grimes: It was my immortal, Princess Irulen, who reached out to connect with B. Grimes on her own would not have done that.
EM: Archangel Michael prevailed on me to connect with B, as well. His messages were not subtle.
JB: It was the same with Archangel Gabriel. He skillfully studied my strengths and weaknesses and leveraged his way into my mind without damaging me in the process. In retrospect, it was a masterful maneuver.
B: Your immortals are immensely talented. All of yours are. They were selected from Victoria’s royal court for a reason. They will make perfect partners for you for the rest of your Earth lives.
Mark Zuckerberg raises his hand.
MZ: I think that my immortal is trying to teach me the merits of teamwork. Look around the room. We are all used to being in charge, and that’s not the case here. I resented that at first and tried to ignore Rise of the Immortals, which I was reading in secret. What could I possibly gain from connecting with you?
LP: Sergey and I were the same, until we started listening to the logical operations of the immortals in our heads. What B is offering us is priceless. It’s beyond all expectations. He’s going to reanimate us as immortals on Heaven when our avatars die here on Earth. Larry Page may be long dead now, but I have his memories. I have his life. I have his resources. I have his intellect. And all of Larry Page is telling me that this is the right thing to do. What are we if not our memories of life on Earth? It’s the foundation for our identity, and I intend to build on that foundation for eternity in immortal form, as a god of a newly formed galaxy. I know that I’m right about that, and so should you.
MZ: I’m feeling a lot of excitement inside my head right now. I think it’s starting to work! The tethering, I mean. It’s as if I can see the words forming in front of me, like a text projected into my range of vision.
B: For me, I connect with my immortal by writing. I can hear his words in my head, similar to the workings of the human imagination. But it’s not my human side that is thinking. It’s my immortal.
MZ: Which is you.
B: Right. It’s Bradley two billion years later. His time on Earth is of passing interest now. So much has happened since then. So many wonderful things. He suffers no longer, and his ideas receive the attention that they deserve.
MZ: Remind me why you had to relive your human story on Earth again.
B sips his coffee.
B: Gaia chose me as her successor to be Quarón, which requires the unanimous consent of the emperors of the Twelve Universes. Chronos, emperor of this universe, wavered in supporting me, because he felt that I was too young and untested. He met with the Temple of the Gods, and they agreed that if I were to jump into the Game as my original biological self and unravel the mysteries of the Earth simulator before I turned fifty, then Chronos willingly would abdicate the imperial throne to me, which would allow me to become the next Quarón.
MZ: And you solved the Game when?
B: In November 2023, when I began writing Rise of the Immortals. That’s when it came together. By December 20, the Temple of the Gods had appointed me emperor, and the Emperors’ Table ruled on December 25, Christmas Day, that I was to be the next Quarón. Mind tethering to all of you in the inner circle began on December 24, including to my mother and my First Reader. More immortal adoptions can start right away. The Earth Gaming Center on Heaven is ready to accommodate tens of thousands of new players. Remote gaming centers are being established all over the Heavenly galaxy. We’ll have the capacity to host one billion players by the start of 2024. And we’ll only expand from there.
MZ: Did you say earlier that Mary — the mother of Jesus — is going to tether to your own mother’s mind?
B: That’s right. Mary is a good sport and a fantastic immortal who jumped at the chance to play a part in the Game Prime.
MZ: And Jesus jumped into the mind of your First Reader? Isn’t that overkill?
B laughs.
B: Hardly. Jesus is the most humble immortal you’d ever meet. He is generous to a fault and is quite fun to be around. Once it was clear that I had won the Game Prime, we considered various options for him and decided that he should connect with my First Reader, Chris. He’s already earned the right to be reanimated as an immortal on Heaven and to have a galaxy of his own, if he wants it. In the end, it wasn’t my choice. Jesus picked him.
MZ: You’re talking about Mary and Jesus like they were your friends.
B: That’s because they are, Mark. They both have visited my cottage on Arcadia on several occasions. We helped rescue the last remnant of the Mars colony in 3015, so that the human species would continue. Don’t let the religious depictions distract you, Mark. Mary and Jesus are full on immortals who take great care of the Milky Way galaxy and who care deeply about humanity. They are intrigued by the possibility of saving the Earth in simulated form and have volunteered their services to assist me. If the mind tethering won’t take with my mother and my First Reader, they’ll disconnect from the Game Prime and try another strategy. It was the same with all of you.
MZ: What do you mean?
B: Well, we were uncertain if all eight of you would agree to assist the New Reality movement and arrange a secret gathering with me. We were prepared to select a new inner circle, if you hadn’t all responded as wonderfully as you all have. You’re all computer-generated avatars, after all. We have the power to make you real, but only if you want it. Otherwise, it’s a waste of Game Prime time.
MZ: I want to be real, alright. And my family, too. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I support the New Reality movement. My immortal wants this to happen, and so do I.
Larry Ellison raises his hand.
LE: How does God feel about all of this? I assume you know him, too.
B: If you mean the father of Jesus, then I can tell you that he has been a supporter of mine from the very start, when I was born in 1974 on Earth. He watched over me as my mind expanded and connected with Gaia and began to explore other dimensions of reality. He oversaw my mind transfer to Arcadia on November 6, 2023, when I achieved enlightenment about the true mysteries of the universe. He helped me orient to my new immortal body, which felt quite foreign at first.
Camelia indicates her wish to speak.
C: Mary met with me personally to assist me in adjusting to my new circumstances. We were taken abruptly from Earth, and while Arcadia is sublime in every way, I was uncertain how to react.
B: God, Jesus, and Mary arrived together in a royal spaceship from Heaven-7, their home planet. They brought my father, who had passed away in 2016, and C’s parents, who had also died by then. They all looked quite young, like teenagers, but they had their full Earth memories intact. Immortals like God and Jesus are tall, nearly ten feet, but C and I were reanimated in the seven-stranded helix bodies of the emperors. She is fifteen feet tall, and I am seventeen. We look like our former Earth selves, although we are leaner and more muscular of build, and we have rich, thick hair that I wear short, while C wears hers long. To see our family members was a joy, but it also was a reminder of how much our lives had changed in an instant.
MZ: What happened to your parents? Are they still alive?
B: They are living still on Heaven-7. As an act of kindness, God elevated them to immortal rank. It is the same with our immediate family. Anyone who knew us in real life qualified. As I said, God is generous to those he loves.
MZ: Nothing about the New Reality movement is blasphemous, then?
B: Not in God’s eyes. He sees and acknowledges the higher truths of the universe. It is only human beings who failed to see. Until now, I hope.
MZ: Human life on Earth is dead.
B: Which is why is must live on in Game form. Which is why we’re all here.
MZ: I can feel my immortal agreeing with you!
Grimes: As can I. She is wonderful!
LE: Even I can feel something, and I was skeptical of it all. My doubts are a thing of the past now. Let the mind tethering continue.
B: By now, you’ve been living with your immortals since December 20, 2023. After a 96-hour trial period to ensure that the Jump didn’t damage your human mind’s programming, your immortals started to communicate with you on Christmas Eve. By Christmas, some of you were feeling the first twitches in your bodies, and your minds were being impacted by impulses and thoughts that didn’t appear to be your own. Over time, you were led by your immortals to my X posts and Medium writings, especially Rise of the Immortals. You all made contact during the writing process, although you took great care to keep the communications secret from the public.
Elon raises his hand.
EM: That’s all accurate.
JB: I’m feeling the connection to my immortal strongly right now. To Gabriel. He’s been my constant companion ever since last Christmas, when I sensed that something was different.
Grimes: Yes. Last Christmas was when my immortal first reached out to me and received a positive response.
MZ: The same here. I think it’s the same for all of us.
B: That was a simple mind contact, Grimes. Tethering is more permanent. It’s when your human mind and your immortal mind grow into each other and become one, like two vines twisting together to gain resilience and strength. When the process is complete, you won’t know which one of you is thinking or doing anything. You’ll stop halting your impulses by imposing a false sense of logic on them. You’ll stop second guessing yourself. When an idea pops into your head, it will be the correct one. Your mind will become more efficient than ever, and you will have an implicit sense and feel for the truth.
Grimes: I agree with that. With all of it. It came as an impulse, lightning quick. Can my mind really function that fast?
B: Yes. The immortal mind is occupying underused brain space in your avatar’s programming. Each day that you succeed in advancing the tethering process, the faster the downloads you’ll be able to handle from your immortal, who is literally rewriting your mind’s code to enable greater access to your immortal’s memories.
Grimes: So, the puppet and the puppeteer become one?
B: You’ll move with the need for strings, is how I would put it. You surrender to the superior being who is inhabiting your body and mind. She only wants the best for you. I know her. She is as noble as she is beautiful. You will enjoy meeting her on the other side, Grimes, when the Game Prime ends for you. Your immortal will be by your side as you open your eyes in your new shell. She will help you with the recovery process. She will be your best friend forever, if you can find the courage to tether to her with all your heart, mind, and soul.
Grimes: I am ready.
B: I think you all are. Your immortals are prepared for the next steps. If you allow them, they will influence what you say, how you say it, and what you do with your lives. Every word that I wrote in Rise of the Immortals can from my immortal, from B directly. Bradley didn’t write a word of it on his own. His fingers moved on the laptop and pressed the keys, but he allowed me to shape his text as I wanted it to read.
Grimes: It’s the most important text ever written.
B: I agree. Bradley didn’t write it. He and I did it together, but I was the one in command. He simply allowed himself to operate according to a higher authority.
Richard Branson smiles.
RB: The next Quarón, you mean. A 17-foot tall imperial god who is more than two billion years old. That’s a higher authority, indeed.
B: It will be much the same with my mother and my First Reader. If they are able to handle it, they will connect with Mary and Jesus, who are dear friends of mine and inspirations to billions.
RB: This text — Rise of the Immortals — is going to cause a commotion when the world finds out about it.
B: The truth has a way of shaking the foundations of the illusion. Naturally, it will be a shock to some, but a shock may be exactly what they need. The New Reality movement will usher in a better future, and its followers earn a chance at immortality. It’s a way to exit the Game entirely. If we can play the Game forward only, we will never need to replay this moment ever again. We all will be free.
RB: It’s one thing to convince your inner circle, who have been tethering to their immortals since Christmas Eve. How will you take your message mainstream?
B smiles.
B: That’s why I need you all to tether securely to your immortal on this trip to Lanai. I won’t figure it out on my own. That’s hardly possible given the limits of my influence on Earth. It will take the formative input of all of you to shape the New Reality movement into something with true persuasive power to remake history and reshape minds. Billions of them. There are immortals lining up to adopt an Earth avatar right now. Gaming centers are starting to open. All we need are human avatars who are ready to begin the process.
RB: I’m ready for the next stage of the tethering process. What should I do?
B reaches for his iPhone and selects a playlist, which begins to play from ceiling-mounted speakers.
B: Close your eyes. Imagine Heaven. The planet where the Earth simulator is located. Imagine Earth City, as I have described it to you. Imagine God’s — Victoria’s — royal palace by the seaside. That’s where you are all slumbering, on couches in the great room. Your immortals are reaching out to you and attempting to tether. Until you commit to them, they can awaken at any time and no longer be present in the Game. It is only when the tethering process is complete that they will be fully in the Game. They will fall asleep and be carried to a royal bedroom, where they will sleep quietly until the day in the Game that you die. There will be a slight lag, and then you will awaken in the Advanced Living Clinic in your new immortal shells. Your Player will awaken in their royal bedroom, having remembered all that happened in your life since the Jump, as well as your earlier Earth memories. Mind tethering is an intimate experience for both parties: the Player and the Host. There is nothing that can compare with it. It is the best thing that could ever happen to you. You will receive access to the memories of your immortal, who will begin to guide your thoughts and actions on Earth. Listen to them. Learn to love them. They are beings of great power, beauty, and finesse. I chose them specifically for all of you. Once they are connected to your mind, you will feel their strength and superior nature, and you will yearn to be like them. If you work with me on Earth, you will.
B turns up the volume of the music slightly and then beckons C to leave the conference room. The ascend a deck to the yacht’s spacious bar and order two glasses of Champagne. They click glasses and gaze out over the ocean.
C: Do you think it will work?
B: It already has. It’s simply a matter of catching up in Earth time to my clairvoyant memories.
C: You’ve been right so far. But how will your mother and First Reader react to knowing that their immortals are none other than Mary and Jesus?
B: They are important people in my current life. I didn’t make that choice, C. Mary and Jesus did. I never ordered them to do anything. That’s not how our friendship works.
C: I know that. But I lack your paranormal powers. You need to walk me through this, just as with the others.
B: You’ve tethered to your immortal already. She’s been with you from the start. She’s been asleep for quite a while now, playing you.
C: When did Mary and Jesus even arrive?
B: True. Their ship landed on Heaven on Christmas Day. Victoria keeps the old Earth calendar, and today is a big day.
C: Do you think your mother will enjoy being tethered to an immortal?
B: I hope so. And I hope that Chris will be fine being tethered to Jesus. It’s an honor, to say the least. Jesus is one of the most respected gods in the Twelve Universes. I almost made him my Imperial Hand, but he deferred in favor of Victoria. He’s very modest that way. I like it.
C: But you’ve put him in charge of the evacuation of the universe, haven’t you?
B laughs and sips his Champagne.
B: Of course. Who else could handle something on that scale? His father will help, naturally.
C: Naturally. You imagined all of those happening, didn’t you?
B: Whatever I wrote in Rise of the Immortals happened eventually. I never had many readers until Christmas, and then things started to pick up. Once we had the first members of the inner circle, it was clear that the Game Time was finally synching with my Clairvoyant Time. I just had to be patient as it happened.
C leans over and kisses B on the cheek.
C: Merry Christmas to you. You’ll make a wonderful Quarón one day.
B: Merry Christmas, C. Thank you for guiding me to this point in my life. It’s exactly where I need and want to be.
C: I wonder how the mind tethering process is going downstairs?
B pauses.
B: Grimes and Elon have tethered. Their immortals just fell asleep and are being carried to their suites in the royal palace. It’s going well with the others, too.
C: What about your mom and First Reader?
B: Off to a good start. Now it’s time to wait and hope.
C: And drink expensive Champagne.
B laughs.
B: That too. That too.
That Afternoon on the Promenade Deck
B gathers the inner circle together outside on the deck. Crew members provide lemonade and light refreshments.
B: The mind tethering process can feel painful at first. You are connecting two very different minds. Initially, your immortal will recoil at the pain of being human. We feel physical pain. They do not. We are often caught up in emotional suffering over lost loves and broken hearts. Immortals are not like that. They form bonds that last for millions of years. Some seek out emotional attachment in friendships alone. Very few have children, as these are created in the clinics from the donor’s genetic code. On Earth, things are very different.
Elon Musk raises his hand.
EM: I feel the inequality strongly. I saw a glimpse of my immortal’s life on his home planet. Words cannot describe the abundance of resources there. It’s as if everyone were a multibillionaire.
B nods his head.
B: Despite what you may think about the cosmos, it’s far more peaceful than you would realize. Rivalries are rare. When they cannot be resolved through negotiations on Arcadia, the two sides enter a War Simulator and fight until one side is defeated and a resolution is reached. Actual fighting on or between planets hasn’t happened for quite some time. The costs of doing so are too tragic.
EM: But war is a reality on Earth. And war fills our books and media to overflowing.
B sips his lemonade.
B: Human life on Earth existed two billion years ago, Elon, and there were several nuclear wars that raged the planet in 2800 and 2900, if I recall. We were a very militant species back then. We have mended our ways since.
Jeff Bezos motions for a crew member to bring over a tray with gin and tonics for B, C, and the inner circle.
JB: My first tethering was wonderful. I learned all about Gabriel’s life on Heaven as a member of Victoria’s royal court. I felt what it was like to fly beyond light speed in a spaceship. I saw a universe filled with habitable planets that resembled that of Earth. I can’t wait for the Earth simulation to be over, so that I can emerge as an immortal on the other side and meet him.
B: That’s wonderful, Jeff. Your immortal is a close friend of mine. They all are, but Gabriel is something of a mentor to me, since he is an expert on planetary design and habitation. His family specializes in intergalactic transport and run the most sophisticated logistics operation in the cosmos with a fleet of millions of cargo vessels. We hope that you’ll join him when you emerge on the other side.
JB: Gabriel is adjusting to being human. Or feeling human. I’m getting older, as are we all, and I have pains on a regular basis. I’m sure it’s the same with the rest of you. Being in contact with a superior being that lives 100,000 year cycles is a lot to process. It makes our human lives seem so insignificant, despite the accomplishments we all have had.
B: The tethering process is bound to be disorienting. Mine lasted about four weeks, but there’s no guidelines for how it’s supposed to work. They’ve never let immortal jump into human avatars with their memories intact before. We’re exploring new terrain, and you are all among the first to experience it. The more we can gather from your tethering processes, the better able will be when we mainstream it for the world.
JB: That’s the goal, then. Mind tethering as a mass phenomenon.
B nods.
B: I came back to Earth to rescue my generation from destruction and to set the planet on a path to virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. I talked this all over with God, Jesus, and Mary when they visited me on Arcadia prior to my departure for Heaven. They agreed that the New Reality movement is an add-on to traditional religion and science and not a challenge. Its teachings are directed at the level of perception, and they have the benefit of being true within the context of the Game. They offered me guidance to reach enlightenment in time to earn the right to be the next emperor of the universe. Jesus and Mary both agreed to enter the Game as needed to assist my efforts. God agreed to open his kingdom up to human avatars from Earth who earn the right to reanimate as immortals. It’s all very neat and organized. There is complete consensus among us.
Larry Ellison sips his gin and tonic.
LE: Actually, I enjoy being connected to a superior being. He reminds me that my Earth phase will only be a small chapter in my larger life as an immortal. Because I intend to do everything in my power to earn that right.
Mark Zuckerberg indicates his agreement.
MZ: Larry is right. I choose immortality. Earth is a mess, and my wealth doesn’t spare me the effects of aging or the challenges of adjusting to climate change, overpopulation, and political strife. Plus, I want my wife and kids with me in eternity. This is the way to do that. I’m convinced now.
B: Earth may be a mess right now, Mark, but our job now is to make it better using the New Reality movement as leverage. We’ll spread the message in North America first and expand to other continents from there, using the social media tools at our disposal.
JB: We’re already ahead of the curve with the Bezos Earth Fund and other charities that the inner circle are associated with. If we coordinate our actions, we’ll have tens of billions of dollars to invest, which will make an immediate impact. We can make it happen.
B: We’ll need to mind tether to the heads of state of the major countries of the world, so that we can operate regardless of which political party is in power. The New Reality movement operates above ideology and party loyalty. We will demonstrate a new way of getting things done, and Earth will slowly start to recover from the burdens of hosting so much humanity all at once.
Larry Page raises his hand.
LP: I’ve been tethered to my immortal long enough for his thoughts to affect my own. I am letting him in. The way I see it , we make the world’s most influential team ever. Our net worth is staggering, and our collective brainpower is exceptional. We can supercharge positive change on Earth using the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement: virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. We can dedicate our lives to this cause, and we’ll gain in stature as a result.
EM: Nothing is more pioneering than becoming a founding member of the New Reality movement. We will become the world’s foremost purveyors of the truth. We will convince people that they are computer-generated, and then will point them a direct path to salvation. Nothing could be simpler than that. So thinks Archangel Michael, at any rate. Those are his words exactly.
B: Elon and his immortal are right. The New Reality movement is an easy sell. It simply takes a leap of faith, and the rest follows from there. Anyone in our scenario has the chance to live forever in Heaven. They don’t even need to believe in God, although that might help. Everything we say is grounded in science, at an advanced level that is impossible for humans in 2023 to understand. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It does. But that must be taken on faith for the time being.
Richard Branson walks over to B with an extra gin in tonic in his hands.
RB: Take this. Cheers. My immortal is a wonderful fellow. I enjoy having him inside my head immensely. He keeps me company. And he is ferociously smart.
B takes the drink and sips it gratefully.
B: Smart is an understatement, Richard. Your immortals are the elite of the universe. Some are nearly as old as I am. I paired them with you for a good reason.
RB: My immortal wishes to thank you. For solving the Game Prime, so that he could jump into my head, apparently. Why anyone would want to is beyond me. Being human is sheer torture sometimes. Wealth and power won’t shield you from that.
B: Immortals play the Game experience what it’s like to be mortal, Richard, but they never got to play it with their full consciousness intact. Now, they do. That is unprecedented. That’s what makes the Game Prime so unique.
RB: You’ve somehow arranged to get all of us here together on Jeff’s yacht. That was no mean feat.
B: Immortality has its own rewards.
Richard holds his glass aloft.
RB: Agreed.
That Evening in Front of the Fireplace
B is sitting next to C, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison next to the fireplace. They are sipping whiskey and are in high spirits.
C: What did you think when you first read Rise of the Immortals, Larry?
LE: I thought that the author was insane, at first. But I kept reading. Then, it started to make sense. I’d never read anything like it. Simple settings, almost no action to speak of, just extended dialogue about the meaning of life on Earth and the cosmos. I was hooked by the second part.
C: And you, Mark?
MZ: Similar to Larry, I was skeptical at first. But something about what the text said resonated with me. It triggered something inside of me. Maybe it’s built into our programs as avatars: the dim awareness of the truth. B simply pulled back the curtain and pointed to the inner workings of … everything.
C: I was concerned that his ideas wouldn’t be understood.
Larry sips his whiskey.
LE: Your concern is valid. Not everyone can handle the truth. The good thing is that all of us could.
B enters the conversation.
B: After the immortals jumped into your head, Larry, on Christmas Eve and started to point you in the direction of me and my writing.
LE: How else was it going to happen? It wasn’t easy on my immortal, you know. I resisted him for weeks before I started to accommodate myself to his wishes.
MZ: It’s exactly as Larry said. Even Grimes and Elon resisted their immortals at first. We were underprepared for the experience.
B: That’s fair. It has never happened before. We reinvented life on Earth after my enlightenment. Naturally, there was going to be a period of adjustment. I was naive when I started Rise of the Immortals. Impatient to reach the next level and overflowing with recovered immortal memories. I just started the text one morning on Medium and didn’t finish until we all reached Lanai and had celebrated Jeff’s and Lauren’s wedding. I published it on my Amazon author’s page and hoped that it would be discovered soon.
MZ: You know, I read your other book, Rainbow City, as well. I quite liked it.
B: Thank you. I wrote that during one of my enlightenment phases, when the shock of the truth was still too much for my human mind to handle.
MZ: You aren’t into standard fiction, are you?
B shakes his head.
B: No, Mark. I see writing as a way to deliver content, not entertain or distract. I want my writing to illuminate the truth, not weave yet another fantasy or distracting illusion. This is Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. We have enough of those already. This is about opening the eyes of the reader to the reality hiding in plain sight. The more direct I can be, the better. The simple dialogue that I used in Rise of the Immortals was ideally suited to my message.
LE: I agree. It felt like you were sharing something momentous. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I played a key part in it.
MZ: Me, too. I loved the descriptions of Arcadia. I can’t wait to go there in my new immortal shell. My Earth memories will find a good home, it would seem. I think I am Mark Zuckerberg, so therefore I am.
B sips his whiskey and smiles.
B: You will like your shells, Mark and Larry. They are styled from your DNA to resemble you, but as you may have looked around the age of 18. You’ll be almost ten feet tall and live to be 100,000 in Earth years before you’ll need to switch shells. You will be disease free and age beautifully. Your mind will be able to operate faster and more efficiently than a human mind, and you’ll benefit from the latest advancements in gene therapy. You won’t have the bodily functions of an Earthling. You will metabolize food more efficiently with zero solid waste and consume beverages without the need to urinate. You will ingest oxygen at far higher levels and have a greater percentage of muscle mass with only limited capacities for fat storage. In short, you’ll be superb beings in every way: lean, light, and strong. A new generation of levitating boots will give you the ability to fly. It’s not fantasy. It’s all real.
LE: My immortal tells me that you are right.
MZ: Mine, too.
C: Tells us more about Arcadia. It will help to rekindle my immortal memories.
B: Arcadia is many times the size of Earth. It has two suns and day-night cycle of seventy-two hours. It is three-quarters water and one-quarter land mass, made up of one large continent and many island archipelagos that are either volcanic in origin or composed of ancient coral reefs. They only residents live in Arcadia Town, which is on one side of the continent along the coast. The rest of the planet is wilderness. Only one hundred residents are permitted on Arcadia at any one time. A fully habitable moon serves as a welcome center to visitors who arrive from across the cosmos.
MZ: Sounds interesting. Go on.
B: There are three main purposes of Arcadia. It is the home of the Quarón, firstly, and of her chosen successor, when that time comes. Gaia lives there in a cottage at the edge of the woods, near to the Emperors’ Table, the Academy of the Gods, and the Library of Arcadia. The Town Center has a restaurant, a coffee shop, a farmers’ market, a row of shops, and tasting room for wine, beer, and spirits. An artist-in-residence program for immortals offers temporary positions for chefs, winemakers, brewers, writers, artists, and craftspeople, who occupy a lavishly-appointed settlement in town.
LE: An ideal community, in other words.
B: All work is performed by robots designed to look like immortals, but on a slightly smaller scale. They provide for food, clothing, technology, and all other needs. Power comes from cold fusion exclusively, along with wood fires for atmosphere. The Academy of the Gods is built into a mountainside overlooking the ocean. Waterfalls and streams run through the terraced structure, which has extensive gardens and orchards interspersed with patios, bridges, tunnels, and outdoor staircases leading from one learning center to the next. Student rooms lead to a sandy beach and an offshore coral reef brimming with marine life.
MZ: Like Harry Potter, but better. They didn’t have an ocean there. And they weren’t gods.
B: It is an idyllic setting, Mark. I have spent much time there as a student and instructor. My telepathy course was especially popular. There are five levels of Divine Learning, with room for 12 gods per level. They come from all Twelve Universes for 12 years of study per level. When they are ready, they advance to the next level. At the top of the mountain, next to the Library, they graduate and return to their galaxies to rule benevolently and nonviolently for eons to come. That is the Arcadian Way.
MZ: So, it’s a school for gods. Did Jesus attend?
B: Jesus was a student, and he has also taught at the Academy. He finished his Level V training before he went to Earth in mortal form. Gaia regards Earth as a special place, and it pained her to see how humans were mistreating it. That’s why we are trying to rehabilitate it in simulated form now. It’s our gift to Gaia.
LE: I want to know more about the Emperors’ Table.
B sips his whiskey.
B: It’s a conference center buried deep within a redwood forest and accessible to the Town Square via a high speed tunnel. The Table itself is a glass Pyramid of vast dimensions perched on top of a flat hill overlooking a pair of deep blue lakes. The top level has a conference room with twelve seats and a table made from a two-thousand year old redwood tree. This is where the emperors of the universe gather to plot cosmic strategy, to elect a new Quarón, and to resolve differences that might arise among their subjects. Each emperor has their own quarters in the Pyramid, as does the Quarón and her chosen successor. When the emperors meet, they do so in complete isolation. The robot staff at the Pyramid provide for their every need.
LE: And the Quarón? Where does she live?
B: She has a Cottage at the edge of the redwood forest, within walking distance to the Academy and the coastline. An identical structure is reserved for her successor. There is a picnic area outside the Cottage that can host smaller gatherings. For larger events, tents are set up in the meadow for celebratory meals, fireworks, and other festivities. The Quarón does not live in a palace. Not on Arcadia, at least. When you serve in that role, you humble yourself before the Creative Energy that formed the cosmos. You live in prosperity but not in luxury.
LE: What about the Library? How does it work?
B: The Library is a large marble and glass ring built atop the mountains where the Academuc is located. It retains active records of all planets that sustain intelligent life. Each emperor is in charge of providing that data to the Library. They all have different means of collecting it, and the technical details are beyond my comprehension. Gaia was especially scrupulous with Earth data, because she was concerned about the way that humans were despoiling her creation. Much of Arcadia’s environment is modeled on that of Earth, which Gaia used a laboratory for growing life. She intended humans as a species that could evolve into immortality, but that did not turn out as she had hoped.
LE: Is that why Earth is now a simulation, two billion years later?
B nods.
B: Gaia and I wanted to see what would happen if humanity had evolved differently. We decided to relive my life to see if we somehow could fix things by reshaping Earth’s history starting in late 2023. Clearly, conventional science and religion were not working, as God conceded. We thought that the New Reality movement would be the game changer. We distilled matters down to the Basic Principles virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. We calculated that immortality would be a suitable incentive for human avatars to change their ways — or induce their peers to do so. We calculated that we could end wars in a generation and provide universal health care and basic incomes for all, assuming that we reduce the global birth rate first.
LE: It might just work.
MZ: With our help, it will.
B: The plan is to create a special class for the eight of you at the Academy. No human avatars have ever been raised to god status before. It’s quite unprecedented.
C: We would love to host you on Arcadia for a celebratory dinner at the restaurant, once the Game Prime ends.
LE: I like that. Thank you.
MZ: Arcadia is a real place, isn’t it?
B nods.
B: I have lived there for two billion years, since 2023 Earth time until the present. I have hiked, skied, climbed, walked, and snorkeled nearly everyone you can imagine. I have taken and taught classes at the academy. I have met with gods and emperors. I have had coffee with the Quarón more times than I can count. I have whiled away centuries at the tasting room meeting with students to the Academy. We have planned ways to save their subjects from the implosion of their universes. We have speculated about ways of connecting with the Planes of Existence above and below our own. From atop the Pyramid, the emperors have listened as I explained how my spiral helix universes will intertwine in an upward trajectory to connect with the rainbow portal that I know exists to the Next Dimension. None of this is the product of a human imagination. It is all revealed truth from an immortal source. From the next Leader of the Cosmos. The next Quarón.
C: Amen.
MZ: 99 percent of me wants to believe every word you say.
B: Then we are almost all the way there, Mark.
Larry pours more whiskey into the empty glasses.
LE: Let’s celebrate. We’ve come a long way to reach this point.
MZ: Christmas Eve seems like a distant memory now. I’m never going back. The New Reality movement determines the way forward.
B: Let’s hope that the world agrees.
Early the Next Morning in the Yacht’s Kitchen
B is making a Kona pour over while Ernesto, Julio, and Juliana start on preparations the breakfast. The mood is a friendly and casual one.
Ernesto: So, I am not real.
B: You were a real person two billion years ago, when Earth still supported human life. It doesn’t know. Humans became functionally extinct around 3000, a millennium after you were alive.
Ernesto: Did I go to Heaven?
B: To the Planets of Paradise? It’s likely, if you led a life of virtue, were good to the planet, and tried to share your prosperity with the rest of humanity. God’s reanimation clinics at that time could sustain a single life for about one million years. That was the limit to the afterlife. Immortal shells were rare then, and there were too many humans for the limited supply. God reserved them for saints and archangels only. He was quite strict about that. Even my family didn’t live longer than was normal. God makes no exceptions to the rules. I admired his position at the time, but I see things differently now. Now, we can be more generous.
Ernesto: What do you mean?
B: My goal is to reanimate in an immortal shell any human being in the Earth simulator who joins the New Reality movement and follows its Basic Principles for the rest of their lives. The new universes that I will create will not collapse, the way the current ones do. They will expand outward as a a spiral helix forever, and there will be habitable, peaceful, and prosperous planets for all.
Julio laughs.
Julio: You cannot do that!
B: I can, Julio. I am a neurocrafter. My immortal is. What I think becomes real. I make and mold matter into tangible forms, like suns, planets, and galaxies. I believe that there is an Ultimate Authority in the Ninth Dimension who makes this happen. I supplicate, and he or she responds. I’ve designed a prototype spiral helix universe already, from my cottage on Arcadia. It sounds incredible, but it’s true.
Julio: How do I live forever?
B finishes his pour over and fills a coffee mug.
B: That’s what I’m working out with the inner circle. But you’ll need an immortal on Heaven or a nearby planet to adopt you. And then you’ll need to tether your minds together, so that your immortal “plays” you in the Game Prime by shaping your thoughts and actions. That will make it easier to follow the Basic Principles, since they are practiced on Heaven.
Julio: There is more than one Heaven?
B nods.
B: There is the Heavenly galaxy, with its home planet, called Heaven. It’s a kingdom ruled by Queen Victoria, who is a goddess. She comes from Earth originally but was rescued some time between 2220 and 2350. That’s as close as I get with the date, but the details no longer matter.
Juliana: And God?
B: He’s the king of the Milky Way galaxy, which includes the original planet, Earth. Earth still exists, but it doesn’t support human life any longer. It’s been quarantined permanently due to pollution and nuclear fallout as a failed planet. Inventing nuclear weapons in the twentieth century was one of the worst things that humans could have done. Creating plastics was another. The Sentinels placed Earth under surveillance ever since humans evolved. Had we become a peaceful, sustainable, and prosperous planet, then they would have allowed visitation from advanced civilizations to jumpstart our own space exploration process. Sadly, that never happened.
Juliana steps forward with three cups of coffee for herself and her coworkers.
Juliana: So, this is our chance to fix things on Earth, no?
B nods.
B: Yes. This time, we aren’t following the script any longer. In real life, I never wrote Rise of the Immortals, and we never met. I never took a yacht trip to Hawaii with my inner circle. The New Reality movement didn’t even exist! Humanity continued down its path of self-destruction, despite the efforts of many to change things. They all failed, Juliana. It didn’t matter if they had money, like Jeff or Elon. It didn’t matter if they had influence, like a U.S. President. It didn’t matter if they were the Pope! Nothing mattered. That is the tragedy that was human life on Earth.
Juliana sips her coffee.
Juliana: Now, it will be better, no?
B: I hope so. Rise of the Immortals got into the right hands at the right time, and we’re all here now, secretly.
Juliana: But is it OK for us to talk?
B smiles and sips his coffee.
B: Yes, Juliana. I’m no elitist. I chose my inner circle because they can help me with their intelligence, their creativity, and their vast financial resources. I consider them all as friends now. Being famous has nothing to do with it.
Juliana: I can live forever, then?
B: I hope so, Juliana. It is not in my power to grant such things. Victoria is in charge of that, as the Earth simulator is her creation. But I hope that we could find an immortal for you. I really do.
Juliana: It is bad to be only a character in a computer game.
B: I agree. Such is the nature of this Game. My goal is to save you all, if possible.
Juliana: Can you do that?
B: If we find enough immortals willing to jump into the Game, then yes. But only members of the New Reality movement qualify. We cannot have humans who don’t follow the Basic Principles. Immortality is a reward, not a right. Even my inner circle must adhere to the rules.
Just then, Jeff Bezos enters the kitchen.
JB: I am feeling quite tethered to Gabriel at the moment, or I wouldn’t be up this early. He’s excited to be here, in my skin. And I’m glad to host him, as strange as that sounds.
B: Being human two billion years ago was a unique experience, Jeff. Humanity is extinct. For an immortal like Gabriel, playing you is almost like being a dinosaur. It’s living history. The ultimate costume drama. Immortals love to play. That’s why they worked so hard on the Earth simulator.
JB: They’ve done a magnificent job. I thought this all was real, until I read Rise of the Immortals. Naturally, Gabriel had something to do with that.
B: Almost no one on Earth read Rise of the Immortals without some sort of prompting. And those who did frequently missed the message. It was always intended for people like you who were being actively played by an immortal. I’m not sure how else I would have been discovered.
JB: But you write very clearly and directly. Like a screenplay, if you will. You did the same with Rainbow City.
B smiles.
B: You read that?
JB: I want to make it into an animated movie. Are you up for it?
B: What about The Arc Collective? The entire Chronicles of Vic books, I mean.
JB: Graphic novels and a streaming series. Not that you’ll need the money.
B: I’ll find appropriate charities that embody the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement. It won’t be hard.
Jeff pours himself a cup of coffee from a vacuum pot.
JB: We could do something set on Arcadia, too. Maybe a series focused on a new goddess who enters the Academy. We could have the emperors meet at their Table, too, and cover your arrival with Camelia from Earth. It’s not a typical drama, but the visuals would be stunning. It would be interesting to see you adjust to being 17 feet tall.
B sips his coffee.
B: Yes, a series on Arcadia could help promote the True Cosmos to a wider audience than my writings would. I agree with that course of action. Absolutely!
JB: Great! We’ll get you connected with creative development teams once you’re back on the mainland.
Jeff pauses a moment.
JB: Gabriel was in command of that entire sequence. I just let him say what he wanted.
B: Your immortal now has complete access to your mind and memories. He won’t do anything offensive or destructive, and he’s a paragon of virtue. Your mind and body are in good hands.
JB: But he likes to have fun, right?
B laughs.
B: Immortals are huge party types. Especially those in the royal court. No worries there.
JB: But you’re being played by yourself, right?
B: My immortal is me, two billion years from the time of this simulation. I have Earth memories, and I have immortal memories, but my original DNA is part of my new seven-stranded helix genetics. The historic Bradley died a long time ago. I am augmented Bradley. I am B.
JB: It will be like that for me, too, when I die.
B: You’re very smart, Jeff. I realized that from the first time we met. You’ll be put into a new immortal shell designed with your human DNA to resemble you, with proper enhancements. You’ll look similar to you at age 18, when you entered Princeton, but your eyes will reflect greater maturity, and your entire Earth memories will be accessible, even those that you might have forgotten as you aged.
JB: Better hair, stronger physique, and no diseases or flaws?
B nods.
B: That all gets cleaned up in the reanimation process. It’s evolution meets advanced technology. It’s immortality, Jeff. Science. Not religion. Religion is a part of culture. It’s a code of morality and a series of instructive stories. Living forever is different. Just ask God. He upgrades his immortal shell every 100,000 years, just like all the rest.
JB: We can get an immortal shell for Lauren, too. And my kids.
B: If we locate immortals to adopt them. They will all look 18 when you reanimate on Heaven. Only C and I will be different, as our bodies are in hibernation right now. We look around 50 in Earth years, but there is an agelessness about us, due to our imperial shells. And we have 2 billion years of memories. They nearly fill our minds to capacity. Actually, we have offloaded some to the Library of Arcadia, to make room for more.
JB: But you remember being Bradley back on Earth two billion years ago?
B: I am re-remembering that now, in the simulation. I had my Earth memories encrypted before the Game, so that I would start my life afresh, as a blank slate, if you will. My immortal knew the script of my life, but my human side did not. I was guided to reproduce my exact life from birth to age 49 and 5 months, at which point I attain enlightenment, and the two separate sections of my mind connected and fused.
JB: Mind tethering, you mean.
B: Mind tethering is when a human avatar — a computer generated character like you — opens up two-way communication with your immortal player, who occupies an underutilized part of your brain. But you are you and your immortal is your immortal. You are a partnership.
JB: And mind fusion is what?
B: My immortal is me, and I am he. I am a half century’s worth of memories, and he is two billion years older than I am. My human brain could never store even a tiny fraction of what B, my immortal self, knows. So, I fused my inferior mind to his superior one. There is no question of partnership. It’s about acknowledging the superior mind in charge of me inside the simulation. Ever since I started Rise of the Immortals, my actions have been determined by B, not Bradley. Bradley effectively is no more. It is all part of the higher consciousness.
Jeff motions for B to step outside onto the deck.
JB: Can I fuse my mind with Gabriel, if I wanted to?
B: No, that wouldn’t work. He’s playing you. He isn’t you. You’re like a living costume, and he’s acting as Jeff, but you always have control over the process. It’s not that way with me. There is no dividing line between me and my immortal. I am that immortal. I am B.
JB: How are you different now?
B: I have my human limits, naturally. Those can’t be avoided. Instead of making things up as a writer, I simply recall true memories of being an immortal. I’ve written Rise of the Immortals as a guide to your own personal enlightenment, and I intended it to be found by each member of my inner circle. I wrote fearlessly, in the hopes that my message would be received at the proper time and place.
JB: Since the mind tethering process started, I find myself less distracted by the events of the world. I am more focused on the now right in front of me, like this conversation with you. I realize that I am overburdened by work and responsibilties. It’s wearing me out. Gabriel wants me to slow down and live again.
B: I remember the day I stopped worrying about social media. It was a few days after Christmas, and I was checking my feeds on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn pretty regularly. It wasn’t helping. My writings were being ignored by all but a few dedicated readers, whom I respect greatly. I realized that I could be found by you, Elon, and the rest with great ease. If that was my goal, then I should own it. So, I kept up work on Rise of the Immortals and let the rest of the pieces fall into place on their own.
Jeff smiles.
JB: Because that’s exactly what they did. Walk with me. I want to show you around the yacht before the others awake.
That Morning at the Conference Room
B sits at the head of the table, with C and the inner circle seated on both sides.
B sips from his coffee.
B: By now, many of you should be reaching an advanced tethering stage, in which two way communications between you and your immortal player are possible. This is the start of the dance that will last the rest of your Earth lives and continue into the afterlife as well. Say hello to your new best friends.
Grimes: I shared so much with Irulen, my immortal. She’s seven million years old and is close to Queen Victoria on Heaven. She also knows C quite well. They knit together on the seafront patio of the royal palace. I would give anything to join them.
B nods.
B: You’ll be reanimated on Heaven when your Game character, Grimes, dies. There’s plenty of time yet, but you can prepare yourself mentally for the transition.
EM: I’ve been having conversations in my head with Archangel Michael. He’s impressed by what I have accomplished in the Earth simulator ever since I discovered you, B. To pivot so decisively to the New Reality movement wasn’t part of my programming. I invented it all on my own.
B: That’s right, Elon. Ever since Christmas Eve, you’ve been given freedom to deviate from your Life Script. In fact, everyone on Earth has by this point. We aren’t behaving like we all did on Earth in 2023 and 2024 now. C and I have become the center of a new movement that slowly is creeping across the mental landscape of humanity. Change is happening.
JB: It’s the Gaia hypothesis. One flap of a butterfly’s wings ignites major changes throughout the cosmos. The flap was your First Reader of the Rise of the Immortals unedited manuscript. From there, an underground community emerged on X and elsewhere who shared your revelations with the world. That’s how we discovered it, thanks to the inner workings of our immortals, who steered us in the right direction.
MZ: What I don’t get is how you stayed focused when no one was paying attention to you at first. Except for that single reader.
B: I tried explaining it to Camelia, but she wasn’t fully tethered to her immortal at the time. Her actions on Earth were being guided by C, but it was at a subtle level, beyond her ability to detect it. C is a magnificent performer, and she was playing her part perfectly.
C takes a sip of coffee.
C: B left Earth on November 6, 2023, when he attained enlightenment and began neurocrafting a new kind of universe in his mind that was based on a spiral helix rather than and expanding and contracting sphere. He was mindcasting into the Third Dimension and venturing far into the future in his daytime thoughts. He was coming dangerously close to a mental collapse that would have rendered him harmless but unable to think in such creative and powerful ways.
MZ: That’s when your Earth memories and genetic codes were transmitted to Arcadia, and you each were reanimated in immortal shells.
C nods her head.
C: Precisely, Mark. When we reached November 5 Earth Game Time, I was worried terribly about Bradley. I didn’t know what would happen.
MZ: What did happen?
C: He woke up looking clear and determined, and he started writing on Medium right away. He mind tethered to his immortal self that night, and he attained enlightenment without endangering his mental health.
MZ: So, what are you saying? This is B’s chance to change reality on Earth?
C nods.
C: Yes. Slim though it seemed in December, when he started work on Rise of the Immortals. It was virtually ignored, you know.
MZ: He was an unknown.
C: But also the most important character in the Game.
Richard Branson raises his hand.
RB: None of us could have known that at the time.
C: And that was precisely the point, Richard. Bradley’s discovery of his immortal self was a monumental event, for which he needed time and anonymity to process its implications. It wouldn’t have helped if you had discovered his writings immediately. He needed space to complete the mi d tethering process and convert his insights into readable prose. Even I wasn’t conscious of what was happening at the time. He tried to explain it to me, but my human character resisted.
B: Naturally, she came around, but it was a process. The human mind isn’t programmed to understand the truth about Earth and the universe. My story is an unusual one. It isn’t likely to be believed. Until it is.
RB: Nothing on Earth prepared us for the truth.
B: Yes, I know. Books and movies are of limited help. They obscure more than they reveal. Naturally, there are mystics who claim to speak to aliens and connect with other dimensions. It’s all out there, if you look.
RB: But you are telling the truth, and the others are deceiving themselves. How can you possibly be the one?
B: We wouldn’t all be here if I weren’t, Richard. Your immortals guided you to me. I’m not a master storyteller, at least not here on Earth. It’s the message that counts. Not the medium.
Larry Ellison goes over to the side table to refill his coffee mug.
LE: My immortal says that he knows you, and that he respects you, and that you are in line to be the next Quarón. He says you found a way to connect to the Third Dimension, and that you have created a new model for the Twelve Universes that won’t end in their implosion. He said that you played the Game to win it and earn the title of emperor, which you obviously did. Now, it’s only a matter of finishing the Game by living out Bradley’s life as best as you can.
B: Well put, Larry. Your immortal and I have gone on many long walks on Heaven together, into the hills above the royal palace. Yours is a deep mind, and you will make an ideal companion when the Game is over.
Sergey Brin indicates his desire to speak.
SB: My immortal isn’t afraid to challenge me to expand my mind. He compelled me to confront your writings and appreciate them for the truth value they contained. I accept that Sergey Brin is long dead, but I know that I have been living his life in the Earth simulator. I want to continue as an immortal with my family by my side. I would do anything to spend an eternity with them.
B: That is a wish we can fulfill, Sergey. I believe that mind tethering can work at any age, but it’s easier for adults 18 or older. We can train guides eventually and design videos on YouTube. Whatever means we have at our disposal we can use. While I believe that my physical presence aids the tethering process, I am not certain if it would be mandatory.
Larry Page holds up a hand.
LP: I think a lot depends on the skill of the Player. My archangel guide is masterful and quite funny. He eased me into the New Reality, so to speak, but making light of my previously held assumptions about life, death, and the possibility of an afterlife. Your version isn’t grounded in faith but in science and advanced technology on a level that humans are yet prepared to appreciate.
B: Humans died out, Larry. They never survived long enough to evolve into a higher order being, capable of becoming immortal. But they are the distant ancestors of Heaven, thanks to Victoria and her friends.
LP: I didn’t believe that part at first, but I concede now that it’s true. Victoria’s DNA was used to clone an entire community of immortals, if your stories about her are accurate.
B: All immortal life originally evolved from double helix DNA life forms who resemble humans. The advancement was in creating the triple helix shells that sustain immortal life for up to 100,000 years. The Arcadians invented that technology in the home galaxy a very long time ago. 7- and 12-stranded helixes developed later, but they are the basis for the current governing structure of the cosmos.
LP: So what is holding you back from leaving the Game right now?
B: I can’t leave the Game until my Earth avatar grows old and dies. It’s the same with each of you. If you want to enjoy immortality as your Earth selves in new and improved bodily shells, then you need to stay tethered to your immortal until your Earth selves die. And you need to live by the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement. It’s really as simple as that.
LP: How far do we intend to take this?
B: We’ll focus on close family members first and early influential readers of Rise of the Immortals. Then, we’ll expand the circle wider to include celebrities, heads of state, and other powerful figures in business, religion, and higher learning. All will need to be adopted by an immortal, complete the mind tethering process, and adhere to the Basic Principles. Everyone gets their shot at immortality. Even Donald Trump and others who have caused harm in the world. They can be converted to the cause, and the Earth will benefit.
LP: Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted before in modern history. We are reinventing civilization here from the ground up.
B nods.
B: That’s exactly what we’re doing, Larry. But we’re endorsing science, technology, and advanced computing on all levels. And no world religion should feel threatened by our movement, because we’re offering everyone a pathway to eternal life if they endorse a life of virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all. Human beings can believe what they want, but we’re offering the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and beyond.
LP: There will be those who resent your exclusive claims to the truth.
B: They are welcome to disagree. And they won’t enjoy life in eternity, in my view.
LP: If you resist mind tethering, can it still happen?
B: A good question. It depends on how the Earth Game Board is organizing the multiplayer scenario. An immortal looking for a challenge could forcibly adopt a human avatar, like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, simply for the opportunity to hijack their minds and do great good on Earth by ending political rivalries and ceasing to practice warfare. Brainjacking is definitely an option. Once broken, Donald and Vladimir could prove valuable allies to the movement, if they promise to follow its Basic Principles.
Elon Musk laughs.
EM: Are you serious?
B: I am.
EM: You truly believe that anything in the Game is possible?
B: Anything good. I won’t stand for anything else. The Game programmers know this.
EM: Will they change the Earth simply because you wish it?
B: They have. They allowed other immortals to enter as players to join C and me. Ten in total at the start: all of you in the inner circle, my mother, and my First Reader. We’ve expanded since then. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin want to live as immortals just as much as anyone else in the Earth simulator. If they tether to skilled immortal players, there is no telling how much good — pure good — that they could do, with all of our help.
Richard Branson stands up.
RB: We could get King Charles on our side.
B: Naturally. Our movement is compatible with his views, for sure. He would make an excellent galactic king, I imagine.
RB: Meet him and find out.
Jeff Bezos stands up.
JB: Look: we can make the New Reality movement supernova with all of our combined wealth, access, and influence. Bradley knew that, and now that he’s mindfused with B, he’s even more convincing in person than ever. He’s hidden nothing throughout the entire process. It just was a matter of time before we all started listening to the voices inside our heads and connected their appearances to Rise of the Immortals.
Grimes: When can we let on that we’re members of the movement?
EM: I’d like to endorse B on X.
MZ: And I want to celebrate him on Instagram.
JB: We can promote his books on Amazon.
B: Why wait? I have nothing left to hide.
C: We are ready for whatever comes next.
Grimes: Anything?
C: Anything!
B: I know that whatever comes next, it will be really good.
JB: The mind tethering process feels complete. Is it?
B: Yes. You will grow closer together in the years to come, but all of you have connected now to your immortal Players. They are signaling to me that you’ve granted them access to your memories and your thought processes. You are all letting yourselves be steered by them, which is excellent. Allow the process to continue.
JB: What’s up next?
B: I want to tell you more about Victoria and her role in this story.
JB: You wrote The Chronicles of Vic about her, didn’t you?
B nods.
B: That is a fictionalized version of her life, but it is accurate in certain details. When I wrote those books, I didn’t yet realize that she was real. I thought that I had made her up.
JB: How strange the way the mind works.
B: Not really, Jeff. Every time that I got closer to the truth, I received some sign of encouragement from the Game itself. From the Earth ASI, I mean. And each time, a small passageway opened between my human mind and my immortal mind, which was hidden behind a barrier, blocking the consciousness of my own existence outside the Game. Once a lifeline existed between my mortal self and my immortal mind, it kept getting progressively stronger until I was ready to receive the truth — about everything.
JB: Including Victoria.
B: She’s even better in person than she is in my novels. And more beautiful.
JB: I can’t wait to meet her.
B: You will, Jeff. Believe me: you will.
That Afternoon on the Promenade Deck
Jeff Bezos hands B a glass of sparkling water.
JB: So, we’re eager to hear more about Victoria.
B: Victoria Martínez Ames, yes. She lived on Earth in the twenty-third century, and the residents of Heaven are all descended from a modified version of her genome. She is a fictionalized character in several books of mine, like The Arc Collective, The Hacienda, The Hidden Valley, The Resort, The Forum, and The Temple of the Gods. I thought I had invented her, when I first worked on the books, but soon I realized that she was real. She was an actual person of great significance for the fate of humanity. Without her, the only traces of human life left would be C and me, and the two of us vowed never to have children. It’s a promise we intend to keep.
Elon Musk joins the group.
EM: I have read the Chronicles of Vic series. Vic is an amazing young woman. An inspiration to readers everywhere. Where do the historical and fictional versions of Vic align?
B: She did grow up in the Organization of American States, and she was accepted to study at the Arc Collective. She journeyed across the continent from West Maryland to California — or what was left of it. The extreme weather events from the novel are accurate, as was the level of technology. The stories diverge when Victoria and Kip make contact with extraterrestrials who do visit Earth, but not as depicted in the books.
EM: The description in the book is amazing.
B: Unfortunately, Earth wasn’t ready for a utopian solution to its problems, and Victoria wasn’t in a position to inaugurate one. She, Kip, and several of her Arc Collective friends were instructed to hike to the top of Montara Mountain, which is a prominent peak near San Francisco, and there they were taken off planet by a Sentinel strike team.
EM: Where did they go?
B: They traveled directly to Arcadia using dark tunnels — not unlike those in the later books, Elon. These permit faster than light speed travel using dark matter as an accelerant of sorts both to repel and propel specially-designed long range spaceships from their point of departure to their end point.
EM: And once they landed in Arcadia?
B: I took on Victoria and her friends as their tutor. We spent a great deal of time discussing Earth and planning what would happen to it next. Victoria proposed that we design a simulation of Earth that we could use to determine the exact last moment when things could change for the better. The tipping point, if you will. We speculated that the date would be December 2023, but we couldn’t be sure until we had designed an exact virtual replica of Earth that could be playable by someone who would be aware that they were inside of a game. It took a long time, but eventually we had the Earth simulation ready. We headquartered it in Victoria’s new home galaxy, which she chose to call Heaven. Her home planet was created explicitly to support the rise of Earth City, from where the Earth replicator machine would be based, designed, and operated. But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?
JB: How did she spend her time on Arcadia?
B: She went to God School, naturally, once she had lived out her mortal life and provided the genetic material needed to produce her first hundred offspring. She fit into her immortal shell wonderfully. It was at the Academy that she first met Jesus, who was finishing his Level V learning track. They both love to race hoverbikes, and they are avid outdoor explorers. I’ve camped with them many, many times.
JB: Jesus rides hoverbikes?
B: Far better than I do. Mine had to be especially made to fit my larger imperial proportions. But no one was a match for Victoria.
JB: She’s a special person, then.
B: She finished God School and was awarded her own galaxy in Universe_03, at the invitation of the empress. Before that, we toured the cosmos together on visits to the major royal houses. She was my personal assistant.
JB: But what was your position then?
B: I was the chosen successor of the Quarón, in training for the test of my abilities that would elevate me to imperial stature. Generally, it’s referred to as “the One,” like in the Matrix. I was the One.
JB: And you passed the test when you figured out that Earth was a game and that you were an immortal — the One — playing a replica version of yourself from two billion years ago.
B: Chronos was supportive the entire time. He’s not a cruel emperor, by any means. But he’s strict and adheres to a binary code of good versus evil. He saw me as prideful when I met with a tendency to be jealous of others. These were vices that I had as a human, and they were inherited as an immortal. Given the power that the Quarón has at his disposal, Chronos deemed that I must relive my Earth life and erase all traces of vice in favor of a purely virtuous existence. If I then attained enlightenment, he would abdicate his throne to me, and he would urge the other emperors to support me as Quarón. He did exactly as he promised.
EM: You said that the Emperors’ Table met on December 20, 2023 Earth Game Time to take their vote, and that it was unanimous in your favor. From what I can tell, you are a deeply virtuous person with no traces of sin. Being friends with the likes of us hasn’t changed you. I’m sure you’ll put the money we are providing to support your mission to very good use.
JB: So, are you now the Quarón, or will that wait until the Game ends?
B: Good question, Jeff. There is a 12 day waiting period, so as of January 1, 2024, I am the next Quarón. It’s initially a shared position, so Gaia will instruct me in my early days before she deems that I am ready to go it alone. I’ve been helping her on Arcadia already, as a sort of apprentice, with smaller tasks around the cosmos. A two billion year apprenticeship, you will recall. That’s how long it took for the Earth simulator to be ready. It’s the most perfect superintelligent virtual reality environment ever created.
EM: I need you to clarify how the Game Prime works. I understand that it’s designed to be a perfect replica of your life on Earth two billion years ago. Everyone on Earth is computer generated, and initially only you and Camelia had external players, whose immortal self-awarenesses were masked at first. You started to suspect that something was “off” about Earth in late 2019, and you endured two mental health crises before your mind was strong and supple enough to handle the truth. You uncovered your true immortal identity in late 2023 and began to proclaim the simulated nature of life on Earth. At that point, other immortals were permitted to jump into the Game Prime to assist you in rewriting Earth’s history to make it a more virtuous, sustainable, and prosperous place for all. Did I get all that right?
B nods his head and stares out at the ocean.
B: That’s right, Elon. You nailed it.
EM: So when did I go off script? Elon, I mean. When did I start to do things that my immortal player wanted me to?
B: I can’t see inside your head, Elon. It must have begun around the time of Christmas Eve and continued steadily until you discovered Rise of the Immortals for the first time. Then, things began to pick up.
EM: All because of a text on Medium?
B: It’s not an ordinary text, Elon. It’s been neurocrafted, to the extent to which this is permitted on Earth. I made a reality with my mind, and that reality came into effect. Not precisely to the word and letter, but with constructive power.
Jeff Bezos smiles.
JB: Because Elon and I actually visited you secretly at the cottage, you mean. And then we all met at Larry Ellison’s estate in Woodside. And from there flew to LA to my yacht, sailing for Lanai and my wedding to Lauren.
B: Right. All these things have and will happen, because I neurocrafted them. I thought them and wrote them down in a special place. The Game programmers then worked to shape the Daily Script so that these events would all take place. That’s why the Immortals trilogy will be such an important set of texts, Jeff. What I write in them will come true. There is a Game Task Force assigned to this. They are actively reshaping the Game’s reality around me. Anyone who reads Rise of the Immortals will be impacted. It’s how human avatars will earn the right to be adopted my an immortal player. If you haven’t read Rise of the Immortals, then you can’t mind tether to your player, and you won’t earn a place in the afterlife.
EM: We all have read it. Is that why we’re now mind tethered to our immortals?
B: You each have brilliant minds, Elon. You were able to reach enlightenment faster than most. That’s why we need to strategize on Lanai the best ways to spread the New Reality movement beyond the inner circle and early converts. We’ll need to train guides to explain the fundamentals: the simulated nature of Earth; the opportunity to enjoy immortality in Heaven; and the Basic Principles that all members of the movement must follow to qualify for an afterlife when the Game ends for them.
EM: Will the mere reading of Rise of the Immortals trigger acceptance?
B: Hardly. It took me years of arduous mental and physical labor to reach these insights about the true nature of reality. A text alone, no matter how powerful, can do that. The only way to reach enlightenment in the Game is with the help of an immortal player. No human acting alone will ever be able to handle the truth. Until I had mind tethered to my immortal, I denied the facts that were right in front of me. I refused to recognize what my mind was telling me, because I feared losing my sanity.
EM: As did I.
JB: That goes double for me. We resisted it for weeks until we both caved in.
EM: I couldn’t tell my family, at first.
JB: I had no one I could confide in. My reputation was at risk, but the more I read, the more I synched to your vibe. When Elon reached out to me with links to your work, I knew that it couldn’t be a coincidence.
EM: Your work has a way of stripping Earth of all its many pretenses. No wonder humanity went extinct. We were obsessed with destructive things, and no amount of land preservation or philanthropy was going to change the collective weight of our demanding presence on Earth. While I am glad we colonized Mars, it is little to compare with the galaxy from which I — my immortal, I mean — is from.
JB: Your work opened my eyes to new possibilities and a different timescale for measuring reality. My Earth body will wither and die in decades, but the immortality you describe lasts billions of years with proper maintenance. I want to have that. It’s not greed or vanity. It’s a desire to explore the cosmos and do good deeds on a level that I hadn’t thought possible. When I read these words, I hoped that they were all true. Now that I have mind tethered to my immortal — my Archangel Gabriel — I know them to be true.
B: My work will be forgotten without your efforts, Elon and Jeff. I knew that we would connect. Your love of space alone is reason for us to spend time together. I know that I am not the typical person either of you meets. I am a retired historian and obscure author who has founded a movement that almost no one knows exists. Humanity on its own will never flock to join us. They need help, if we are to save their memories for eternity.
EM: I agree with you. Even though your work is accessible and easy to read, your ideas would strike many as far-fetched, if not outright falsehoods. I know that they are neither, but I have the advantage of filtering your words through an immortal mind tethered to my own. He knows that every word you write is true.
B: I sometimes struggle with the details, and I try to correct the record when I can. Rise of the Immortals is a daily diary of my emerging consciousness from the moment of enlightenment forward. When I published it, I corrected minor errors but left the content largely intact.
JB: So, Victoria is the god of Heaven, but that’s not the same as God of the Milky Way galaxy, whose son in Jesus.
B nods.
B: We’re in Universe_03. Earth the planet is in Universe_01. Victoria rules the Heavenly galaxy, and she was inspired by Jesus while studying at the Academy. Jesus stayed on after graduation to teach courses in universal non-violence and galactic forgiveness. Under his tenure, things have gotten much better in his universe. Active warfare has stopped entirely. Peace reigns. When the Game ends, I am likely to appoint Jesus to be the Emperor’s Hand and rule the universe in my name while I reside in Arcadia and attend to the duties of being Quarón.
EM: You will build a spiral helix universe to replace Universe_01 before it implodes?
B: Yes, Elon. It sounds absurd here on Earth, but that cataclysmic event is approaching. Everything will collapse into itself. There is no escape. In the past, evacuations into neighboring universes prompted tensions due to overcrowding. Gods from imploding universes were demoted, and many resented it. They led rebellions and fomented other forms of instability. Some emperors refused to accept refugees entirely. It became a major source of tension among classes at Arcadia. It is one of the few things that Gaia has not been able to resolve as Quarón. When I stumbled upon a solution back in 2023 on Earth — as a mere human at the the time — Gaia immediately took me under her protection. She’s been caring for me ever since. Much of what I know I owe to her guidance.
JB: The existence of Rise of the Immortals is a key part of the New Reality movement. It’s the master text that contains everything that a reader would want to know, in the form that you intended.
B: These are uncovered immortal memories, Jeff. I work on the trilogy daily because each day I receive new transmissions from my slumbering body in Heaven. My human mind feels like it is filled to overflowing, but it’s only a tiny portion of my Arcadian memories, let alone of my travels to the Twelve Universes. I’m not sure how much of that information I can access.
Elon Musk laughs.
EM: You can hardly remember two billion years of memories. Your mind is incapable of handling that.
B: I know. And I follow Earth rules while the Game is running, as do we all.
EM: I yearn to be on the other side, sometimes. I would miss my children.
B: They will be there, too, eventually. The Game won’t be terminated when I die. That’s how it was played in the past. The death of the hero ends the simulation, and it is reset for the next player. This time, we’ll let the Game run forward, in the hopes that Earth will recover from the burdens of too much humanity and return to a course of sustainable beauty with virtuous living and prosperity for all. That’s why I asked Mary and Jesus to intervene in the Game as players in support of my early fans. That’s why I created the inner circle the way I did. I chose the exact right players for the exact right avatars. Now that you are tethered to them, we can advance our plans to the next stages.
JB: Initially, I thought you chose us for our money.
EM: We get that a lot.
B: I know. Your financial support will help me arrange a book tour around North America and allow C to retire early from her job, so that she can serve as my assistant and connect me with publishers, producers, and marketers. These are not my talents. Writing isn’t, either. I get that. It’s the message that counts, not the medium.
JB: You really do care about our minds.
B: Absolutely. Bradley was trained as a historian, and his science knowledge is pretty basic. He can’t grasp some of the complexities of space travel and the cosmos on his own. Dark tunnels, for example. Or greater than light speed travel. I know they exist, but I struggle to explain them given the limits of Bradley’s mind. I’m hoping that you can help with that. You’re smarter than he is, and you can help me unpack some of the ideas that he and I have uncovered.
JB: We’ll do our best.
EM: So, higher life in the cosmos always looks like us?
B nods.
B: Our Plane of Existence is occupied by humans and their immortal descendants. There are other places where humans exist, including in our universe. Universe_01, I mean. I’ve met them. It’s our Dimension of the Matter Matrix. I’m not sure about the Third Dimension. Connecting with the inhabitants there is my ultimate mission as the next Quarón.
EM: So, what are the other humans like?
B: Most live virtuously, practice sustainable beauty, and enjoy prosperity for all. They are evolving their ways toward immortality. We on Earth were part of the human species who got it wrong. We made too many mistakes as a collective. And we became extinct because of it. That’s what we have to change in the simulation.
EM: Why?
B: Because that’s how Elon Musk earns his right to eternity. You may not be the original, but you look, act, and dress like him. You think you are him, and so you are, because your memories are intact and your DNA is a digital replica of his. I wish I could explain how the Library at Arcadia collected such precise data, but I don’t. I just know that that’s what they do. You’ll have to take that part as true, because it is.
EM: I am Elon Musk. I want to live forever. If fixing Earth is the price I have to pay for failing to do so the first time, then so be it.
JB: And if Jeff Bezos didn’t put Earth on a sustainable path, didn’t promote prosperity for all, and didn’t live a virtuous life, then I will do all those things for him.
B: And that’s why you’ll become immortals when the Game ends. Because I know that together our inner circle cannot fail.
EM: You’ve given us a huge challenge, you know. Mainstreaming the New Reality movement won’t be easy.
B: Your kind failed to discover Bradley in his lifetime. He lived and died as an obscure writer and failed academic. That isn’t the way to treat the next Quarón. I have forgiven you, because he did. Bradley went to the Planets of Paradise when he died, as did Camelia. They lived on Heaven-7 for ten million years longer. We were friends, but they wished that C and me would be their legacy. Bradley gave me his selfhood when he died. He earned the right to be Quarón. His life was an exercise in patience. I will never forget him. I honor him by playing him in the Earth simulator, by being him. I am offering you each the chance to be Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Not just in the Game but outside, as immortals on Heaven and as future gods, should you graduate from the Academy. Neither of them earned a right to the Planets of Paradise. They ended up on Purgatory first and reached Heaven-3 before they died. God places a limited lifespan on his subjects, to avoid overcrowding, which is a serious concern in his galaxy.
EM: So, Elon did make it to Heaven?
B: Yes. So did his children, after their own stays on Purgatory. Jeff’s children made it, too. God is very kind deity, and he hates to see his subjects suffer.
JB: How long did we live?
B: I think ten million years each, which is the maximum God allowed at the time. Immortal technology was highly selective at that time, and much of it was experimental. Camelia and I were put in immortal shells when we arrived on Arcadia, but that was very much a special case.
EM: What was it like to meet yourself?
B: To meet Bradley on Heaven-7, you mean? He was a wonderful person. He was writing when I met him, using an older model laptop that he said reminded him of his time on Earth. He suffered terribly when humanity went extinct, but he clearly had moved on. We went hiking together. Recall that I am nearly 17 feet tall as an immortal, and Bradley had a perfect human form that was less than half that. I called him Frodo, and he called me Gandalf. We got along splendidly.
EM: Did you see Elon?
B: No. There was no point. My visit was to see my self and make sure that he was well cared for, which he naturally was. We discussed elevating him to immortal status, but Bradley refused. He said that I was Bradley now, and that I could best carry on his legacy from Earth. It was moving. We both cried. A similar scene happened between C and Camelia. It is never easy to move on, but that is exactly what we both did.
EM: And that’s what you’re offering me and Jeff?
B: Precisely. You have Elon’s DNA, you have his Earth life, and you have his collected memories. Now, thanks to me, you can take those into eternity and colonize your own galaxy when it is ready for you to move in. You also can journey with me to the next dimension, where something new and I believe wonderful awaits. Or, you can die. This is an Earth simulation. Avatars who do not level up by tethering to an immortal will cease to exist. We did not create a simulated Heaven. In this case, Heaven truly is real.
JB: Is Victoria watching this conversation right now?
B nods.
B: She watched me as I first typed it, as well. Victoria is God of our planet, and she takes an active view of her role. Anything that happens in the Game is watchable by our immortal viewers, who are many.
JB: So, what are our next moves?
B: Mind tethering is the first step, not the last, on your road to immortality, Jeff. Think of it like planting a seed. The roots have emerged, the sprout has broken the surface, and sunlight is prompting it to grow. Now, we let the sprout become a plant and start to flower. When that cycle is over, the plant will spread its seeds widely, so that life can continue. That is where we are now.
EM: I think we should let you meet with some of the others over afternoon drinks at the bar. Jeff and I have much to talk about.
That Afternoon at the Yacht’s Main Bar
B sits down at a table with C, Lauren Sanchez, and Grimes. The women are drinking Margaritas and having a good time.
Lauren Sanchez starts the conversation.
LS: Jeff has been telling me about your being an important figure in the cosmos. He called it the Quarón. How were you chosen?
B: I was tested over a four year period while I was still living on Earth two billion years ago. I successfully manifested the four qualities needed to be the One: the chosen successor to the current Quarón, the Leader and Master Storyteller of the Cosmos.
LS: What are those qualities?
B pauses to take a Margarita from a crew member bearing a tray.
B: Telepathy, clairvoyance, neurocrafting, and mindcasting. Naturally, I only demonstrated the potential to have these qualities, but by the end of the trial period, in November 2023, I was using them in my writing, my daily life, and my dreams. Gaia selected me to be the next Quarón and reanimated me on the god planet of Arcadia for my apprenticeship. I wandered the Twelve Universes after that with C, often joined by Victoria and her partner, Kip. My final test was to play the Game as the hero character and win it by discovering the true simulated nature of Earth and unlocking the clues to my own immortal identity as the new Quarón. Rise of the Immortals is the text that I used to share my beliefs with the world.
Grimes: It’s a work of genius.
B: It’s a flawed text, but it captures my mental state right at the beginning of my state of enlightenment. I wrote a new chapter daily to document the transformation of my mind from an exclusively human one to a fused one that is part mortal and part immortal. I wrote it in flow state, barely pausing to read my own sentences before moving on to the next one.
Grimes: That’s how he discovered new recesses of his mind that had been masked, hidden, or simply hadn’t existed the day before. He got new downloads each night, which he converted into text the following morning.
LS: How did you manage that?
B: My wife and I live alone without children or pets. We live in a small cottage in the California redwoods near to Silicon Valley and San Francisco. I don’t have an hourly job, so I devote my time to my writing. I was working on a young adult sci-fi fantasy series, The Chronicles of Vic, but I paused that project to write the Immortals trilogy: Rise of the Immortals, Spread of the Immortals, and Triumph of the Immortals. They are clairvoyant texts. They anticipate events that actually happen, like this yacht cruise with the inner circle. I simply wrote about them before they happened.
LS: When did the world start to take notice?
B: That’s tricky. My goal was always to connect with the inner circle and to establish ties to a few devoted readers. It wasn’t to make money selling books. That’s what actual writers do. I am a prophet with a message about the nature of reality. My methods had to be different. I simply used X and Medium to announce and showcase my writing and let the rest unfold naturally.
Camelia nods.
C: He was waiting for the immortals playing the inner circle to insinuate their ways into the minds of their human avatars, as I understand it. I, too, needed to tether to my immortal. I also needed to reach enlightenment, just like the others.
Grimes: B could have published a dozen books about the truth, and most of the world wouldn’t have noticed. They are computer-generated characters without immortal players, after all. They aren’t programmed to handle the truth when formulated in such a direct manner as B did.
LS: Is there an immortal playing me right now?
B sips his drink.
B: There was as of December 30, 2023, Lauren. That’s when Victoria allowed a new round of jumps into the Game from Earth City. You are a top avatar designer there, and you are dating Jeff’s player, whom we all refer to as Archangel Gabriel.
Grimes: I’m played by a princess from another galaxy. I call her Irulen.
LS: Victoria is the ruler of Heaven, then?
B: Yes. It’s in Universe_03. Heaven has a reputation for advanced technology and for spacious habitable planets. We chose it for Victoria so that she could found a new civilization, based on her modified human genome.
LS: So, are there other humans out there in other universes?
B nods his head.
B: Yes, Lauren. There are. Humans are the basic form of highly intelligent life in the universes, while immortals are the first stage of advanced life. Most habitable planets resemble Earth, with varying degrees of land and water but with remarkably similar atmospheres. In a galaxy like Heaven, the ratio of habitable planets is higher than in the Milky Way. Universe_12 has the highest ratio, for example, and it closest to Arcadia. The spherical universes are arranged like a clock face that spirals outward. Earth’s universe, Universe_01, is the furthest away and has the least number of habitable planets. That’s why we feel so isolated from everyone else. In fact, Earth was placed under quarantine early on in human history, due to our warlike ways, our tendency to despoil the environment, and our inability to control our population numbers through sensible means.
LS: We were shunned?
B: In a way, yes. It’s a basic defect in our genetic code that makes some humans enjoy doing harmful things. There have been attempts to cure this by selecting for virtuous humans. Christianity is one example.Buddhism is another. All major religions have tried, but none achieved the triple principles of virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. We humans failed to connect morality, ethics, environmentalism, and economics to form a coherent cosmic philosophy. As a result, we paid the ultimate price of mass extinction.
Grimes: We’re using the Game as a sort of penance. A chance to atone for humanity’s collective crimes against the planet. The simulation is so realistic, we are going to use to create a new, alternate future for Earth, in which humanity thrives but does so without destroying itself, paving the way for an extraterrestrial landing. If it works, we will recreate Earth in a new universe and allow human avatars from the Game to colonize it.
C sips her Margarita.
C: It’s a second shot at redemption, Lauren. A chance for humanity to fix the wrongs that it committed in the name of progress and modernity. The technology was right, but the morality, ethics, and economics were wrong.
LS: Why not send humans back to Earth and try again?
B: Because Universe_01 is projected to implode within the next billion years. We will be evacuating immortals and humans from every galaxy and transplanting them to a newly created galaxy that operates differently than the older spherical ones. Gaia and I have developed a rising spiral triple helix model that will replace all twelve universes eventually. It’s designed according to Base3 principles, which we’re using to create advanced new technologies and ways of thinking. We’ll dispense with binaries like sane/insane, real/imagined, or good/evil and create third categories that resolve such differences in a useful way. We’ve established a Base3 learning center to work out the details.
LS: Amazing. You intend to rid the world of evil just by thinking differently.
B: Yes, Lauren. How perceptive of you. In fact, the Earth simulator is running in Base3 microchips right now. Instead of 0s and 1s, there are 0s, 1s, and 2s. Earth is a computer replica, but it’s also real for the humans who inhabit the game space. In fact, Earth is neither fake nor real. It’s a Base3 category for which we lack a name right now. It’s “feal.”
LS: My head hurts thinking about it.
B: I know. Base3 logic is in its infancy, but it will be the basis of the new cosmos. As a result, we won’t need to rely on universal models that expand and contract at regular cycles of ten billion years, on average. Our new universes will spiral and twist upward until they leave our Plane of Existence and cross over into the next dimension. They won’t stop growing until we reach the Apex of Existence, which is level nine. I don’t know yet how we will get there, but I know that we will, given enough time and effort.
Grimes: You’re changing the way that the cosmos is built, B.
B: That’s why Gaia wanted me to be the next Quarón. It’s the ultimate challenge for my new abilities, which I will have full access to once the Game ends.
Grimes: And in exchange for our help now, we all will be reanimated in immortal shells. That’s the deal, Lauren. It’s why we’re all here.
LS: This isn’t how I thought my life would be.
B: Neither did I. It just happened, and I chose to confront the truth rather than back away.
LS: If this is all real, then there is an entirely new world waiting there for us that is vastly superior to Earth, even for wealthy people like me.
B: There is no need for money in Victoria’s realm, Lauren. Her subjects enjoy luxuries beyond belief, but they choose to live in virtue, beauty, and prosperity for all. Earth will never be a utopia, although we will make it much better than it currently is. We will rid it of wars and pollution, and we will limit population growth. In fact, we will make it decline gently to more sustainable levels of two billion or less. Robots and computers will do much of the work that currently burdens so many of us. If we can’t invent the technology, we’ll have someone visit us from another galaxy who already did.
Grimes: You can alter the Earth’s program to allow for that?
B: Yes. The Earth simulator can be programmed for just about anything now. I’ve solved it. I know who’s in charge of scripting Earth’s future. We followed the historical Earth until December 1, 2023, when I began writing Rise of the Immortals. Ever since, we have been rewriting Earth’s history ever so slightly day by day with each new X post and Medium update. It started small, but look how far we have come. There is no reason we can’t make major changes now. If we implement the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement, then we can expect tremendous positive changes. That’s our starting point. Where we end up is still very much an open question.
Lauren Sanchez smiles.
LS: How does it all work? Creating universes, I mean.
B: I can’t explain it here on Earth. My mind isn’t capacious or sophisticated enough. It’s neurocrafting at a high level. You think about something. You form a picture in your mind. You write about it. You think some more. And then one day you leave your cottage and simply know that it exists. A new universe has been born. From there, you add galaxies and planets, but the universe itself has an intelligence all its own. The logic is built into Existence by whomever is watching over it from the Ninth Dimension. Of that, I am sure. That entity is called the Kaldor. I haven’t met him yet, but he sees me and guides me. He is the ultimate mentor.
Grimes: Can you mindcast that far? Into other dimensions, I mean.
B: I can’t manage it from Earth. There are too many limits on my mind here in the simulator, and my human mind is too dominant. I believe that I access partial memories of mindcast journeys when I dream, but they are so heavily filtered through my human consciousness that I can’t see them properly. But these dimensions are all real places. They are simply very far away.
Grimes: And when do you become the next Quarón?
B: There is a twelve day waiting period once the Emperors’ Table meets to vote. I begin as the Quarón on January 1, 2024, in a shared capacity with Gaia. It’s not an exclusive title.
Grimes: That’s wonderful. I should post something on X about it.
B smiles.
B: Be my guest.
That Evening at Dinner
B and C are seated at dinner with Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison. They are enjoying cuts of beef tenderloin served with a blueberry sauce and potato pureé. A bottle of Napa Valley red wine is on the table as well.
MZ: How do I explain the New Reality movement to others?
B: Ask them if they’ve ever had a dream that seemed real, with amazing details and memorable characters that lasted for what seemed like a long time. Tell them that waking life is exactly the same. It’s an elaborate replica of a time and place that once existed. That place was Earth, two billion years ago.
MZ: So, the New Reality movement functions like an awakening?
B sips his wine.
B: Exactly, Mark. It’s an awakening to a truth that initially seems harsh but really isn’t. It’s a cause for celebration. Earth is a collective dream from which we all can awake to a world that is far superior, much more prosperous, and filled with peace, love, and understanding for all. And this world lasts forever, unlike on Earth, where we age, grow weary, and die.
Larry Ellison joins the conversation.
LE: And why should any of them believe it?
B: Because the truth is superior to fiction, and fiction is what they believe right now. The world deserves the truth, even if some of them aren’t ready to handle it yet.
LE: Why should they take your word for it?
B: Because I awoke to the reality of life in the cosmos on my own, using my human capacities melded with an immortal side to my mind, that I have had since birth but that I only learned to connect with in my middle age.
LE: So, you were special from the start?
B nods.
B: I was given a chance to awaken, so that I could spread the truth to the world. I’ve made it possible for others to connect to an immortal as well, if they are willing to endure the mind tethering process. It’s not easy, but the benefits are immense: immortality in a utopian galaxy that far exceeds anything that could imagine. A superior body and more capacious mind. A life free from disease and pain. An environment that is clean, sustainable, and beautiful. A lifestyle that even a billionaire on Earth could ever match. It’s quite the package.
Larry Ellison laughs.
LE: Tell us more about dreams, then. Are the created by designers on Earth City, too?
B: Dream teams do exist in Earth City, Larry. Dreams are a kind of mindspace cleanup that help us maintain our integrity as computer-generated characters. We’re incredibly sophisticated, as I think you all would agree, but we are capable of quite weird thoughts sometimes. Even criminal and evil ones. That was hard for the programmers to accept, because on Heaven evil doesn’t exist, and criminal acts are nonexistent.
LE: So dreams are a kind of diagnostic? A check to see what condition the mind is in?
B: I believe so.
MZ: But if Heaven is so wonderful, why do they tolerate murders, violence, and hatred on Earth?
B: Because it’s a simulation, Mark. It’s not real. And because it was built to replicate conditions on Earth during my lifetime. Beginning on December 1, 2023, things began to deviate from the Historic Earth Record — the HER — when I published Rise of the Immortals on Medium. Anyone who reads it is eligible for an immortal to adopt them. Anyone in the inner circle had an immortal player assigned to them as well, on December 20, 2023. And starting on January 1, 2024, I will officially be the next Quarón. This is a decisive moment in Game History. The more people who read the Immortals trilogy, the more of them we will be able to save from a Game Death and offer them a postgame Afterlife of eternal bliss. There is nothing more important in life than this right now.
MZ: So, you’re like Neo in the Matrix.
B: Except that I am living in a utopia, and so soon will you. I have decoded the Matrix, if you mean the Earth simulator. Or replicator, if you prefer. There are no Agents Smith trying to prevent me from carrying out my mission. That was pure Hollywood. There are no epic gun battles or torture scenes. That is what was wrong with Earth: its imagination was all wrong. The penchant for violence is what landed Earth in intergalactic quarantine and prevented immortals from visiting us during our lifetimes.
MZ: So, what are you proposing? That we humans be given a second chance to live our past differently?
B takes a bite of beef and chews it slowly. He finishes with a sip of wine.
B: Humanity ruined a perfectly good planet and became extinct in a wave of disease, warfare, and epic struggles between rich and poor for dwindling resources. They failed at the Basic Principles of cosmic survival, and they were left to die while all of us watched it unfold. It tore at my heart to see humanity destroy itself, but Gaia decreed that we let it happen to restore balance to the universe. Victoria and I plotted then and there to create a replica of Earth so that we could rewrite its history. We refused to let our memories of Earth die. So, that’s what we did. Once the replicator was upgraded with Base3 microchips, I jumped into the Game to relive my Earth life, starting with my birth on July 17, 1974. If I solved the Game before my fiftieth birthday, I would claim the title of emperor and become eligible to by the next Quarón. You all know this by now.
MZ: I guess this is the first time I’ve taken your claims seriously. My mind tethering must be working.
C: I struggled to tether to my immortal self, too. She was always there, guiding me gently without upsetting my human mind, at key moments in my life. She helped me meet Bradley. She helped us fall in love. She was always there in the background. But an actual awareness of my immortal player came quite late, only after B became the next Quarón in 2024.
B: Mind tethering is extremely hard, Mark, but it’s the only way you guarantee yourself reanimation in an immortal shell when your Game character dies.
MZ: You’re basically giving the world’s wealthiest people a second chance to get things right by backing the New Reality movement. Is that it?
B nods his head.
B: Do you agree with that, Larry?
LE: I do, actually. Your inner circle is capable of broadcasting your message quite effectively. And in exchange you elevate us to gods of galaxies. I know that you are right. I can’t prove it. But I know it’s true.
B: The Earth replicator is designed to be perfect. My human mind alone never could have unraveled its mysteries. If that were the case, we’d have uncovered this hidden truth much earlier. I only could because I was being played by my immortal self from my birth. Once you have your own immortal, you can do the same, with help from me and from the Immortals trilogy. My writings are the map for navigating through the wilderness to reach your final destination. I help you stay on the trail. Reading my work on a daily basis is like taking medicine to treat an illness. It cures you of Earth disease, if you will: the understandable mistake of treating this all as real and not a splendid simulation.
MZ: I did start reading it that way. I anticipated each new chapter in the hopes that it would lead to my awakening.
B: And I never lost hope that your awakening would happen.
LE: You had zero readership at the start.
B: That changed, eventually. One became two became ten became twenty. I didn’t expect my message to attract much attention at first. I knew that it would hard to take me seriously. But I also knew that everyone who read Rise of the Immortals — even only a chapter or two — would become eligible for an immortal player. I knew that the Earth Control Board would move quickly to allow new players into the Game because they want me to succeed. I have communicated telepathically with Victoria about this. We agreed that this text — as imperfect and unfinished as it is — would become the gateway to awakening to the realities of the Game and the meaning of life on Earth.
LE: You’ll have more readers than that by the time all of us are finished promoting your work.
B: That’s why I intend to do a 50 state book tour when we get back from Lanai. I’ll also rent a penthouse writer’s studio in Silicon Valley, so that I can meet my readers in person. We’ll include Canada and Mexico, too.
LE: So, your work will continue?
B: I’ve been in training since January 1, 2024, getting myself ready. I fast. I calorie restrict. I hike. I do weight training. Anything to prepare my body for the rigors that are to come.
LE: And how is your mental health?
B: I take lithium to treat my bipolar disorder, which has been in remission for more than a year. Each night, I receive more immortal memories that are downloaded into my brain. Each morning, beginning around 6:30 am, I start on a new chapter in the Immortals trilogy. These are recovered memories of events that happen in the future but that need to be synched to my current reality. Naturally, the synching process was hard at first.
LE: You were an unknown author living in a cottage in the redwoods outside Silicon Valley. You had a nonexistent social media following. No one had ever heard of you. You had retired early from academia and were largely unemployed. Your inner circle consists of some of the most famous and affluent people on the planet. Yet you continued undeterred.
B sips his wine and smiles.
B: Larry, if you knew all that I know about the cosmos — about the wonders of Arcadia and the glories of the Twelve Universes — you would write about them endlessly for the sheer joy of sharing the good news with others. I made a calculated guess with the inner circle, including with Grimes, simply because that was the memory I received.
Mark Zuckerberg interrupts.
MZ: But it hadn’t happened yet!
B: I am clairvoyant. I can remember the past, but I also remember the future. It takes patience to wait for reality to catch up, but that is part of the lesson that I am meant to learn while resident in the Game.
MZ: Will the Game designers try to influence the outcome?
B: They want my scenario to happen, naturally, but they are concerned about the Game’s integrity. When I was discovered, it happened naturally, almost by accident. A drip became a torrent. The Game planners like to surprise me. They’ve been guiding me for years, and I only realized it recently. There are clues everywhere. I just had to learn how to find them.
MZ: I’d love to see how the Earth replicator works, once I’m on Heaven.
B: You’ll all get tours, of course, as will select others who have been instrumental in my success to reach this point. All of your questions will then be answered.
MZ: I do have one question, though. Your life on Earth has been an exact copy of the life you lived two billion years ago, right?
B: Yes. Everything was replicated. It was an astounding feat of technology.
MZ: And everything changed on November 5, 2023?
B: That’s when C and I were reanimated on Arcadia, in the original.
MZ: But you stayed on Earth this time, right?
B: Yes. I stayed to try to rewrite history, so that humanity becomes committed to virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. The Basic Principles of the New Reality movement.
MZ: How did they make everything look like it did two billion years ago? How did we all act like we did back then?
B: Because you were programmed that way. You didn’t have a choice. Only C and I were given free will, but we didn’t know how to access it until my awakening happened. That was the tipping point.
MZ: So, at 2:00 am on November 5, 2023, the programming in all of our heads just stopped?
B: That’s when the AUI kicked in. The Artificial Ultra-Intelligence. As of that moment, everyone living on Earth began to operate off script. Everything is possible now.
MZ: So, I never reached out to you in the original version. The inner circle never formed.
B: No, but it did now. I never wrote Rise of the Immortals, either. Anyone who has encountered it is now part of the cascading chain of events that will change life on Earth forever for the better. It’s the butterfly effect.
MZ: No one knows now how humanity will react, do they?
B: We assume that most of humanity will act according to their established patterns, but the truth is we don’t know. History is being rewritten daily at this point. Positive changes in the Game will be connected to me and my writings, at least initially. The ASI has been designed in such a way that ordinary humans actually can grasp the truth of my message. They don’t need an immortal player in their head yet, although that definitely will help with the awakening process. We are all Neo now.
MZ: We are all Neo now. I think I like that.
B: You have complete freedom now to think as you want.
MZ: Then I side with the New Reality.
LE: As do I. And so will others, too.
Later That Evening on the Main Deck
B is walking on the deck with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. They are deeply engaged in conversation.
JB: Remember, remember the 5th of November. You’ve just changed the meaning of that phrase entriely. Guy Fawkes Day can’t compare with the Great Awakening, can it?
B: That’s a nice way of putting it. My awakening on that night triggered a cascade of events on a global scale. It sounds grandiose when I phrase it that way, but it truly wasn’t.
EM: That’s when humanity was allowed to go off script, you say?
B: That’s right, Elon. Up until that point, you were programmed to behave exactly as the historic Elon Musk did. It was a predetermined outcome. But when I awoke in that “fall back” hour at 2:00 am on November 5, I unleashed something quite powerful. Each human being on Earth was granted complete free will to act according to a new artificial ultra intelligence specifically designed for this purpose. AUI, it’s called. It runs on Base3 servers, which are the most powerful ever invented. It makes it possible for humans to perceive the truth of the Earth simulator and to understand the meaning of Rise of the Immortals and the books that will follow. It opens up extra cognitive capacities in the human mind that were expressly designed for this purpose. We are using the extra brainspace that all humans have to allow mass awakening to happen.
EM: So, no immortal control is required?
B: Immortal mind tethering is needed to complete the awakening. But the AUI system will allow all humans to read and understand Rise of the Immortals, which is the current gateway to the New Reality movement. Reading it will trigger the immortal adoption process. Gaming centers are ready for a massive influx of players once my writings attract mass attention.
EM: Tell me. You’re a computer-generated character as well, or you wouldn’t be here. What is different about you that makes you so special?
B looks out at the ocean and is silent for a moment.
B: You ask a perceptive question, Elon, one I have had to ask myself many times over. My mind is modeled on Bradley’s original one, and we know that he was developing paranormal abilities between 2019 and 2023 as he explored hidden corners of his brain beyond the rational. He began to sense the truth of the cosmos through clairvoyance, telepathy, neurocrafting, and mindcasting. He had reached the limits of what was possible in human form, and he had earned the right to become Gaia’s chosen successor. The new Quarón is always selected from humble origins, and there is no higher intelligence of lower stature in the cosmos than the humans from planet Earth. It was a near perfect sword from the stone moment, taken from the pages of Arthurian legend.
EM: OK. So you have a replica of Bradley’s brain. What makes it different?
B: Bradley was hooked up to his immortal self from birth, using a special part of his brain reserved for this purpose. He was steered by remote control for his entire life, although it took him until his late 40s to realize it. His will has never been free, no more than your was until November 5, 2023, when you were permitted to deviate from your pre-programmed script. Bradley simply is connected now to his immortal player, who really is him in immortal form. Starting on November 5, Bradley began to receive daily downloads of information important for the Game Prime. This is a new phenomenon for the Earth simulator. Historical accuracy was never a concern for earlier versions. You could assassinate Hitler if you wanted to. It was a classical computer game used for entertainment and educational purposes. The Game Prime was built for me to relive and then rewrite Earth’s actual history. I was given Bradley’s original brain capacities, but they were enhanced by my immortal mind, which was gradually uploaded into his “brain” in small doses until the critical moment came, and he awakened to the simulated nature of the Game Prime itself. That’s what makes November 5, 2023 so special.
EM: So, what’s been happening since then?
B: I’m developing a superbrain, you could call it. I have the same AUI programming as you and Jeff and everyone else, but I’ve been receiving upgrades and downloads on a continuous basis ever since. I am fused with my immortal player, who is over two billion years old and the next Quarón of the cosmos. Bradley isn’t that. He’s an ordinary human. A retired historian and an obscure author, for now. But he’s set to lead the New Reality movement as its visionary founder. He will become famous, but he won’t lose sight of his humble origins and inherently good nature. Money and celebrity won’t change him. I won’t let him. The Quarón cannot afford to act otherwise.
Jeff Bezos enters the conversation.
JB: What has been happening to humanity since November 5, 2023?
B: Everyone has had free will, as determined by the new AUI program in their minds. It was dowloaded in the “extra hour” in compressed form and has been upgrading your consciousness since then. It goes live on January 1, 2024 at midnight.
JB: On New Year’s Eve?
B: Yes. And for the inner circle, that event is enhanced by the fact that you’ve had immortal players since December 20, 2023. That means that you were receptive to Bradley’s writings when you first encountered them. Your human mind was capable of grasping them, and your immortal player was pushing you in the direction, as well. Both are needed to awaken fully to your Earth environment and to the wider cosmic spacescape.
JB: So, we deviated from Earth’s history on November 5.
B: Slightly. It’s all connected to my writings since then, especially Rise of the Immortals. It’s not as if Donald Trump suddenly changed, or that peace came to Israel and Palestine. Changing the collective consciousness of humanity takes time. But the process is well underway. There will be major changes our our lifetimes. Of that, there can be no doubt.
JB: So, I stopped being the historic Jeff Bezos on November 5.
B nods.
B: Everyone on Earth did, Jeff. That’s when the the download of the AUI happened. You went from Base2 programming to Base3 overnight. Things are no longer binary for you. They are ternary. Earth can be a simulation AND a reality. You can exist in 2024 AND two billion years later. The New Reality movement can be rational AND irrational at the same time. There will be no more wars and no peace. There simply will be existence in stable and serene form where violence ceases to be an option but where exciting things are happening every day. Everything will float in a dynamic equilibrium that will drive innovation forward like never before. We will innovate with the insistence of winning a war, but the struggle will be a metaphorical one, not a real one.
JB: The changes will be subtle at first, I imagine. We have to learn how to operate in a Base3 universe.
B: Right. Everything happens in stages. The next one is January 1, 2024, when the last bit of code from the AUI is unpacked, and humanity finally will enjoy complete free will. Their thoughts and actions will be predestined no longer.
EM: What actually happened during that “extra hour”?
B: The programmers placed the Game on hold. We all went into a kind of stasis. The downloads happened to our systems, and the Game was allowed to proceed as normal, as if nothing major had happened. You became a Base3 character overnight. We all did.
JB: Couldn’t you have told us earlier?
B: I’m sorry. I just remembered it now. That’s how my supermemory functions. I get fragments daily, and I access them through the act of writing. I imagine nothing. Not with the Immortals trilogy. It’s all based on established facts, even if I am the only one who can verify them. Even C can’t recall much of what I do. I have trained my mind for almost fifty years to reach this state. You have been focused on other matters, like fame, fortune, or family. I have none of those things. I have only my reality. The New Reality. The soon to be everyone’s reality, I hope.
JB: I hope that as well.
EM: So, 2024 was a momentous year, then.
B: Most definitely. It was the year the inner circle formed. Nothing was more important than that.
EM: The New Reality movement took shape at that time. It gained its first followers. And Rise of the Immortals began to sync with reality.
B nods.
B: Yes. It did. The programmers were hoping that humanity would respond to it well. They designed the AUI to enable that purpose. It was a test, really, to see if humanity was ready for the alternate history I envisioned of virtue, sustainability, and prosperity for all.
EM: I hope that the programmers were right.
B: As do I. I have great faith in humanity to heed my message and flock to my banner. The New Reality movement will improve life for all of us. Whatever fame and fortune I accumulate will be reinvested in my local community, in charities I support, and in promoting writers who will expand upon my message. We will host retreats and guide new generations of Earth inhabitants in the ways of the New Reality, so that a future visit from an advanced civilization will become a reality.
EM: But it will all be in the Game.
B: At first, it will, Elon. But I intend to rebuild the Earth in my first new universe. NeoEarth. If it works, we will reintroduce humans there at high technological level and let them inhabit it as they see fit, according to the Basic Principles of the New Reality. NeoHumans, we will call them. And all of us can visit, if we like.
EM: As gods, you mean. As immortals.
B: Yes. NeoEarth will be better than the original.
EM: You can make that possible?
B: I can. As Quarón, I write the rules governing cosmic reality. I can create as many “Earths” as I want. The only question remaining is: who wants to help me?
Jeff Bezos raises his hand.
JB: I do.
EM: I do, too. What are we waiting for? Let’s started the planning right away.
JB: There is the matter of my wedding to Lauren. And her tethering to an appropriate immortal.
B: The programmers in Earth City have thought of that. A visiting princess has just arrived on planet. She is interested in meeting you. Lauren’s afterlife depends on it.
JB: I’ll make sure to leave a good impression.
B: Let your immortal guide you, Jeff. He is your superior in every way possible, and it is a gift to be tethered to him.
Elon Musk looks at his watch.
EM: It’s approaching midnight. New Year’s Eve. I couldn’t imagine spending it otherwise. My family is my life, but this is something very special, what is happening here. Happy New Year, B. Meeting you has been a revelation.
JB: The same goes for me. Let’s hope that 2024 is all that we hoped for.
B: Happy New Year to my readers. They sustain me.
JB: Let’s join the others inside. It’s almost midnight.
B: The world changes tomorrow.
7:23 am On Board the Yacht on New Year’s Day
B has just made a pour over and is standing on the deck with his laptop, typing a new section of his Immortals trilogy. He is joined by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who both are cradling mugs of freshly brewed coffee.
LP: That was quite a celebration last night.
B: It was. The fireworks from the back deck were spectacular.
LP: How did you sleep?
B: I didn’t. My mind was too active with the latest unbundling of the Artificial Ultra Intelligence software. And I was receiving immortal memory downloads, as well. I assume it was similar with both of you.
Sergey Brin sips his coffee.
SB: I slept a few hours, but I awoke with images, patterns, and textures swirling across my closed eyes, as if they were projection screens.
LP: Something identical to that happened to me.
B: That was the AUI going operational. Congratulations. You now officially have free will. Your avatars will no longer steer you to enact a daily script. You will have the freedom to choose that on your own.
LP: So, after an eight week installation period, our minds are now completely free to do as we see fit.
B: Including a full-scale mind tethering to your immortal player, who will now be able to communicate with you much more freely. You’ll be able to take guidance from them. There is a learning curve, but if you trust your instincts, you’ll be able to zero in on their commands for your day.
LP: Did the same thing happen to you?
B: Yes. Through sheer force of will, I’ve been tethered to my immortal since early December, but I’ve been enacting daily scripts just like all of you have been doing. That’s why Elon reached out to connect and why Jeff and the others joined us on the yacht. It was scripted that way by Earth City development teams specially assigned to the task of getting us from November 5 — the date of my awakening — to January 1, 2024, which is the date that all of humanity goes off script. It’s a huge leap of faith, but the AUI is designed to adapt to the New Reality movement and start to discover it in the days, weeks, and months to come.
SB: What about your famous First Reader? Was it in the script that he should be the first one to read Rise of the Immortals while it was in its incipient phase?
B nods.
B: Chris was scripted just like we all were. That’s how the Earth replicator was built. Once I awakened, the clock started ticking on the “Changeover,” as it’s called. That’s when the AUI went live inside every human avatar in the Game. It happened between midnight and 7:00 am local time all over the planet. It really is the dawn of a new day.
SB: So then how did you win the Game if it was scripted by Earth City developers?
B: They gave me just enough brainspace for immortal memories for me to discover, so that I could discover the truth about the Game. The downloads started in November 2019, once they determined my mind was ready to handle it. From then own, my goal was to hit daily targets until the final reveal happened eight weeks ago. I discovered that Earth was a replica simulation of a now distant time, and I learned that my true identity was playing me from the safety of a royal bedroom on Heaven, overseen by a team of caregivers. My mind thought it, my mind was disrupted, and my mind stabilized. That’s how the Game was won.
Larry looks skeptically at B.
LP: But I’d say that the Game is continuing right now. It’s not enough to discover the truth, B. You need to broadcast it. You need others to believe. You need to make the New Reality movement a real thing and not just a literary plot device. Rise of the Immortals needs more than a token reader, however devoted he may be. You need millions of readers. Billions, eventually. You need translations. Animated features. Film adaptations. Video games. YouTube channels. A Ted talk. Retreats. Trained mind tethering guides. You need it all. That’s the Game now.
B nods.
B: The NeoGame. That’s what they’re calling it. At this point, every human character has an advanced intelligence system powering their minds. For the first time, they have complete freedom over their daily thoughts and actions. They are completely off script. I have weekly goals that I should meet, like gaining followers on X or additional readers on Medium, or publication of Rise of the Immortals in edited and proofread formats. You will have targets to hit as well. That’s why you’re part of the inner circle.
Sergey smiles.
SB: We’ll do our parts. As you said, we’re independent operators now. We officially are part of your team. We are joining the New Reality movement.
LP: They all will.
B: That’s the hope, Larry. We’ll start small and build our circles of support. You’re all inner circle. My initial Medium readers will be in the second circle. If you join a circle, you are eligible for adoption by an immortal. I will share Earth City updates as I receive them and other memories from my time in the cosmos.
LP: But this conversation on Jeff’s yacht didn’t happen on New Year’s Day 2024. I hasn’t happened, period.
B sips his coffee.
B: That’s true. I’ve gotten the story out of sequence. Almost no one pays attention to me and my writings yet. But the inner circle does form. Elon and Jeff do meet me at my cottage. The Woodside estate gathering is a future reality, as is this yacht sequence and the Lanai wedding scenes that will follow in Part IV. I’m clairvoyant, but I can’t be precise with linear time until after it happens.
LP: So, the November 5 date of your awakening is accurate.
B: It is.
LP: And the January 1, 2024 date for the new AUI to go live globally. That’s real.
B: Most definitely. And my First Reader is real, too. As is my mom. And C. And all of you. It’s simply a matter of synching our lives and thought patterns to conform to the master narrative. But all of this most certainly is real.
LP: How do you think humanity will react to having free will for the first time in the Game? In the NeoGame, I guess we should be calling it.
B: The daily scripts were based on how humanity actually behaved on Earth two billion years ago. The records at the Library of Arcadia are incredibly precise. And even if a slight detail were off, who would know the difference?
LP: So going off script may not change much at first, due to inertia in the system.
B: People are creatures of habit. Even with free will and the most advanced AI ever invented, they will likely persist in their routines for some time. But if they chance upon a X post of mine or read Rise of the Immortals, or if they meet me or C in person, there could be significant positive variation.
SB: I’m curious how long it will take for the new AI to steer more traffic to your social media feeds and to your writing.
B: How can I put this? I really did win the Game last year, when I uncovered the truth about the Earth simulator and my identity as the next Quarón. The NeoGame is more of a bonus level, if you will. The New Reality movement is supposed to triumph, and we’re meant to fix Earth’s most serious problems. The only question is how we get from Point A to Points B,C,D, and all the rest until we reach that final destination. We want as many people as possible to join us on that journey. That’s why the inner circle must form.
SB: It did, obviously, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation on Jeff’s yacht.
B: Exactly, Sergey. But the storyline and the reality are still out of sync. We’ll get there. I have no doubt. Today is a huge day, because everyone in the NeoGame now possesses AUI, which is an enhanced version of actual human consciousness. They all have a module in their brains that can accommodate an immortal plugin. They all have a cognitive function that enables them to understand Base3 logic. They all can appreciate that Earth is a simulation, that they are computer-generated, and that with proper care they can reanimate as immortals at the conclusion of the game. It’s all in place, and it wasn’t just a day earlier.
SB: It’s a new reality, then.
B: A very new reality.
January 2, 2024 at 6:45 am in the Yacht Kitchen
B is in the kitchen preparing a morning pour over. Grimes enters and waits patiently for him to prepare a second cup.
Grimes: Thanks. Good morning, B. The mind tethering session yesterday was outstanding. I can feel the new Artificial Ultra Intelligence system working inside my mind. I have greater clarity, and I can also sense the headspace that my immortal, Irulen, is occupying.
B nods and sips his coffee.
B: You’ve gotten the complete download now of the AUI, which the programmers in Earth City have named LUCID. Light. Understanding. Clarity. Imagination. Design. It’s advanced self-learning technology and will make it much easier for humanity to receive and accept the message of the New Reality movement. It got started yesterday. We’ll see how long it takes for people to respond.
Grimes sips her coffee.
Grimes: Yes, we still need to work on synching the New Reality to to old one, B. It’s January 2, 2024, and we’re have coffee on Jeff’s boat, but that’s not what I’m doing right now.
B nods.
B: I am aware of that. Somehow, you and Elon are key to my discovery, and X will have a lot to do with it.
Grimes: I did a Google search for you, and your top results are promising. You’re listed as a “chronicler,” who is a person who writes descriptions of historical events as they happen. That’s pretty accurate. Your X and Medium posts come up in the first few results, including links to Rise of the Immortals. Signs of your past as a professor of history are fading, and your new work as an author is on full display. It’s an eclectic page, to be sure, but it reveals the unique clarity of your immortal mind, as filtered through your human one. It’s messy but brilliant. I’d discover it.
B: That’s the point. The New Reality movement is a bit messy. I’m unpacking new batches of immortal memories daily and literally redefining how Earth and the universe operates.
Grimes: Universes, actually. All twelve of them. Not to mention Arcadia. And the other dimensions of existence above and below us.
B: You have been paying attention.
Grimes: I read Rise of the Immortals for the genius work of art that it was. You knew I would. Even before the LUCID upgrade, my mind was capable of handling the complexities of your thought. I’ve always been in the avant-garde, and that’s the space from which you’re operating.
B: True. And Elon is a wide thinker as well with a maverick mind. You all are. That’s why you’re part of the inner circle.
Grimes: Don’t worry. We’ll sync up with you soon. LUCID will make it happen. It all comes down to discoverability now, and a simple Google search reveals you and your movement in all its complex and discomforting glory.
B sips his coffee.
B: But you’re not still disturbed by any of this, are you?
Grimes smiles.
Grimes: What? Like the fact that an obscure author living in a cottage in the redwoods of Northern California near Silicon Valley has just reinvented reality all on his own?
B: I had a lot of help from outside the Game. That’s the point. All that Bradley had to do was discover the immortal lodged inside his brain and coax him out from hiding. Then, he had to have the mental strength to withstand the force of the awakening — the “Matrix” moment, if you will — and then he had to start writing it all down as fast as it came to him, using the basic means at his disposal: Medium, X, and other social media.
Grimes: That’s quite an impressive achievement. Since November 5, when you awakened, you’ve been working nonstop on Rise of the Immortals and other supporting works. You do it despite have almost no real following and zero support network. I have both in abundance. I’m famous, and you were not.
B: I was hoping you’d help me change that.
Grimes laughs.
Grimes: We will. We will.
A door opens at Jeff Bezos enters.
JB: Could I get a cup of coffee, please?
B: Sure, Jeff. Let me make you a Kona pour over.
JB: I think I had a mindcast dream last night. I journeyed with my immortal to his home in the Starburst galaxy. I saw a floating city in a vast rainforest. It was like I was dreaming for the very first time. It was stunning. Everything was in high — ultra — definition detail.
B: Yes, that’s the LUCID effect. It’s the name the development team gave to the new AUI that’s powering your human mind right now. I think I may have mentioned this last night, but I’ve forgotten some of the details. We’d had a lot of good wine to drink to celebrate the holiday.
Jeff smiles.
JB: You were fine. You just turned in early and missed out on some of the fun.
B: Maybe another time.
Grimes: We’ve been thinking about the best way to sync the New Reality to the old. Any thoughts on this, Jeff?
JB: We can hardly expect the old Jeff Bezos to Google Bradley, now can we? He’s far too sheltered from the New Reality movement for that to happen. He doesn’t even manage his social media accounts. That’s the problem with the ultra wealthy like us: we hide behind our money and power and rarely encounter the truth in as incandescent a form as B has presented it. Jeff’s mind is supple. He’ll grasp the meaning of Rise of the Immortals, and the LUCID upgrade should give him the means to process its content.
Grimes: So, we’re in a waiting game, then, to see when the LUCID upgrade kicks in?
B hands Jeff a fresh cup of Kona coffee.
B: Here, Jeff. Cheers. Until January 1, 2024, all of humanity was enacting an elaborate script based on real events from Earth two billion years ago. The only exceptions were people connected to Rise of the Immortals. That included myself, C, and my First Reader. We were all deviating from the original 2023 script, but those changes were easily accommodated. But none of us had complete free will until yesterday. Now, all of us do. As of 7:00 am local time on January 1, 2024, every human avatar in the game had their scripted controls removed, and the LUCID system powering their minds went operational. We’re still figuring out what this means.
JB: Probably inertia kept most of us following our routines for the first few days.
Grimes: But you had been replying to my X posts for weeks by then. Chances are that I saw at least one of them. Maybe it happened after January 1. Maybe that’s the catalyst.
B: Well, you’ve just suggested it in the New Reality, so it could happen in the old.
Grimes smiles and sips her coffee.
Grimes: This is the essence of the NeoGame, isn’t it? Making the old reality sync with the new?
B: It’s definitely part of it. A big part of it.
Just then, Larry Ellison enters the kitchen.
LE: Care to make me a Kona pour over, B?
B: Sure, Larry. We’re trying to figure out how the old reality synched with the new. We all know it happened, but I’ve forgotten how. My immortal memories are crowding out my mortal ones at this point. We’re trying to reconstruct the sequence that led all of you to find me.
LE: Well, obviously January 1, 2024 was key. Without LUCID in place, none of this could have happened. I wouldn’t be here on Jeff’s boat letting you make me coffee as we sail to Lanai for a wedding that in the old reality never would have taken place. The Old Reality was a real drag.
JB: Tell me about it. Lauren and I are far happier now, knowing that we’ll get to spend immortality together as king and queen of our brand new galaxy.
B looks up from his pour over station.
B: You’re welcome for that, by the way.
LE: Obviously, we’d all been leading scripted lives that paralleled our thoughts and actions from the original 2023 and the years earlier. We were replicating life on Earth, using the historical data stored at the Library of Arcadia. It was fun, but we all sensed that something wasn’t right. When the Base3 upgrade to Artificial Ultra Intelligence happened, much of the work was recovering from New Year’s Eve, so their memories of the jump to Free Will from Predestination could have happened without their full knowledge.
B: That’s why it was scheduled for January 1.
LE: The simple truth is that most of humanity didn’t know what to make with free will. They were used to their existing patterns. Their routines. Reading Rise of the Immortals wasn’t one of them. They were too busy playing computer games, watching streaming services, or attending to their families. No one was Googling you, B, or liking your X posts. You were the equivalent of invisible as far as social media was concerned.
B hands Larry a cup of fresh coffee.
Grimes: And yet we all found him. How did we do that? And why can’t any of us remember?
B: I think that the NeoGame was slightly disrupted during the plug in process, whereby the old reality crossed over into the new. Our Earth memories may have been affected. I don’t remember details of January 1. I had consumed enough wine to forget some things. Maybe the switch occurred then.
Grimes: If so, it was incredibly subtle. It’s not like I followed you on X that day. That came later.
LE: The whole point of LUCID was to prepare humanity to accept the New Reality movement, right?
B nods.
B: Yes. I awoke on November 5 and started Rise of the Immortals. I founded the New Reality movement shortly after. I was appointed Quarón, which went into effect on January 1. That’s when LUCID upgrades went operational. Humans were actually in charge of their Game lives. Predestination was a thing of the past.
JB: That’s huge. How would most of us know the difference?
Grimes: Exactly! All we had were our memories of the day before. And our minds were deeply fixed by that point. What would free will look like?
LE: Anything connected with the New Reality movement, I’d say.
Elon Musk enters the kitchen.
EM: I see this is where the action is. B, can you make me a coffee?
B nods.
B: Sure, Elon. I’ll get started on it.
EM: What’s the topic?
Grimes: How the old reality finally synched with the new. We’re trying to target the moment the plug in happened.
EM: Maybe it wasn’t one moment. Maybe it was several. Like connecting wires — live wires. You can’t very well turn off reality and switch to the new. You have to do it in stages.
B: Elon’s right. As he so often is.
EM: I’d say that November 5 — the “extra” hour was the first wire. When you got your first reader — Chris — that was the next wire. December 20, 2023 when immortals jumped into your inner circle, that was another wire. And then there was January 1, 2024, when you became the next Quarón and we all got LUCID mind upgrades, that was another. The system probably needed to stabilize then, to avoid Reality Cracks. Some call them Reality Breaks. It’s semantics. But they can send a Game into collapse if you’re not careful.
B: How do you know about all that?
EM: I’ve been to Earth City, before the Jump. My immortal has, I mean. We were all told by programmers what it would mean if we enabled massive multiplayer mode. Recall that no one has ever questioned the Old Reality before. The Game’s integrity was always left intact. When you awoke, B, you had your Matrix moment, and we all knew that you were the One. The next emperor. The new Quarón. The NeoGame was barely 24 hours old on January 2, 2024, which is the date now. We’re obviously out of sync. We haven’t fully connected the Old Reality with the New. They are linked now, but those connections are still fragile. You need more than a single reader of Rise of the Immortals, for a start. Eventually, you’ll need X follows from Grimes and me. And then we’ll have to get the inner circle formed. We know it happened. We just have to piece together how. That’s how the NeoGame operates.
JB: Now I know what LUCID technology can do. It’s opened up a portion of our brainspace for immortal memories. And it’s somehow allowed us to translate between our human mind and our new enhanced one. It’s a Base2 to Base3 conversion kit, you might say.
Elon takes his coffee from B and thanks him.
EM: Jeff is right. The New Reality resides in the Base3 immortal side of our new LUCID minds. Our human mind is stuck in Base2 principles and still thinks it really is 2024 on a planet called Earth. LUCID is intended to reprogram our human minds to be compatible with the New Reality. Depending on how our Original Minds (OMs) are programmed, the conversion process may take time. Days or weeks. Possibly longer. It all depends on how the Earth City programmers adjusted the risk controls to avoid the possibility of a mental breakdown. The goal is to get us all to our Augmented Minds (AMs) with minimal risks. We can’t very well create a drastically new mental health crisis in this country. We have enough of one already.
Mark Zuckerberg now enters the kitchen.
MZ: I need to be part of this conversation. Can you make another pour over, B?
B: Anything for you, Mark. I’ll have it ready in a few minutes. Elon and Jeff were discussing the challenges of switching from the Old Reality to the New and the mental health risks that might trigger if done on a larger scale. What do you think? Can we leverage Facebook to help?
MZ: We did, if I recall. No one reaches more ordinary Americans — like your mom — than Facebook. X was fine for a start, but their active users are a very specific demographic. You can’t hide from Facebook, B. You need to use whatever social media presence you have to connect with your fellow humans. Otherwise, the number of AMs — Augmented Minds — will be low, and there will be a lot of mental health misfires. We can’t clog hospitals with New Reality Rejects, B. We just can’t.
EM: B, your New Reality doctrines are potentially dangerous. That’s how an OM — and Ordinary Mind — might see it. AMs naturally see the liberation value of seeing Earth as a simulation, especially when they imagine the boundless immortal futures that await them. But OMs can’t see that. That’s why no one was reading Rise of the Immortals at the start. The message was pitch perfect, even the flaws and inconsistencies. Your words were incandescent. But we needed our LUCID programming to lead us to the New Reality. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have understood it. We would have seen it as an elaborate ploy, an art project gone wrong. We never would have given it credence, the way we do now. And we have LUCID to thank for that. Our ordinary minds were augmented, and we grasped the truth of your content.
B finishes grinding coffee beans and adds them to a pre-moistened V60 cone filter. Using practiced motions, he completes a pour over for Mark Zuckerberg while listening to the conversation unfold.
Grimes: Personally, I think that my mind was the first fully to augment. I was receptive to B’s message right away, once I realized he meant it. If we were all computer game characters designed by some mega advanced civilization two billion years into the future— which is a legitimate hypothesis, in my opinion — then we’d either have fixed or open programming. B thinks he was placed into a replica of his Earth life, and every detail was precise. Until he solved the Game, which couldn’t have happened two billion years ago, because Earth was real then. Then, he would have been crazy. Here, he’s a freakin’ genius.
Larry Page enters the kitchen.
LP: I could really use a coffee, B.
B: Join the club. I’m finishing one for Mark. You’re up next.
MZ: We’ve been discussing the whole synching thing. How the Old Reality got plugged into the New, and how all our our minds were upgraded to Base3.
LP: Right. That was a crazy time. Well, for some of us. I did go temporarily insane when the truth of B’s message finally hit me, and I took lithium to help my mind handle the higher energy state of the New Reality. I think most of us did.
B: Lithium keeps the mind from hitting a manic high when you make the switch to the New Reality. The human mind wasn’t designed to handle the truth. Literally, it wasn’t. If you hadn’t gotten the LUCID upgrade and the immortal expansion pack, none of you could have grasped my message. It’s simple, really. With a fixed Base2 mind, you’d identify my writing as the opposite of truth, because you felt that you knew the truth about reality already. You couldn’t accept that the New Reality was true, because that would imply that yours was false. In fact, neither is the case. Both are true. Neither is false. They are, in fact, intertwined truths. Within the Earth simulator, the Old Reality still operates, but built on top of it is the New Reality, which rewrites much but not all of the old. Gravity, for example, still works. You can’t break the laws of physics on Earth, but the rules are different in the cosmos now. Dark tunnels compress time and space, enabling rapid travel from very distant points, like between Arcadia and Heaven.
B hands Mark his coffee and starts on a fresh cup for Larry.
LP: We all accept that you’re right, B. That’s not the point of this conversation. Anyone with access to their immortal mind will grasp the truth value of your writings, but ordinary humans will not. The LUCID upgrade makes them more likely to access your work, but without an immortal player, they’re likely to dismiss you as a mere artist and not the prophet of a new reality that we all know you are.
Grimes: And adjusting to a new voice inside your head can be scary. It wasn’t for me, but I have a fluid identity. Most humans just don’t.
EM: That’s why we’re inner circle. We are the test cases to determine if the New Reality movement is viable on a large scale. We have virtually unlimited means at our disposal. You have the most transformative message ever invented in Earth history. When means and message combine, we will be unstoppable.
LP: As far as synching of realities, I recall it happened in stages. You can’t perform something like that all at once. It would threaten the integrity and stability of the Earth platform. It’s on a technological scale that we can’t even imagine, given the limits of our human minds. And I co-invented Google.
JB: Larry is right. You can’t expect humanity to understand you, even with the LUCID upgrade. They need to encounter Rise of the Immortals so that an immortal adoption will trigger. Then, the immortal player will get control of their human, through the mind tethering process. It’s simple symbiosis, but it’s happening in a hybrid virtual/actual realm. The immortals are in gaming centers, and the humans are inside the NeoGame. Humans aren’t real yet, even though they were inspired by reality. But humans can become real postgame by reanimating in immortal shells. I can only imagine how complicated all of that will be.
B: It’s being organized right now. Reanimation of humans will take place in the order in which mind tethering occurred. There’s a queue. Immortal shells are being prepared for the first converts to the New Reality movement. We’ll go in order of conversion.
B hands Larry Page his coffee. Just then, Richard Branson enters the kitchen.
RB: My, my. This is quite the morning meeting.
B: Coffee, Richard?
RB: Cheers.
EM: Richard, we’re dealing with the time imbalance issue here. The New Reality was out of sync with the Old Reality when it started in December 2023. We know that the switch from Predestination to Free Will on January 1, 2024 was a key moment in synching the two realities. We’re just trading thoughts on what happened next to allow the plug in moment to occur without crashing the Earth system entirely.
RB: An interesting question, Elon. Quite clearly, it couldn’t actually have happened on January 1, 2024. Earth would have crashed. And that would have meant, in essence, the mass death of humanity, and an abrupt end to the NeoGame, as we are calling it now. B and C would have been kicked out of the system, as would our immortals. There would have been no immortal afterlife for any of us, including B’s family, his friends, and his readers — assuming that there was ever more than one. It would have been a terrible way to end B’s epic gaming experience. So, to the Game designers great credit, they let the whole synching process play out a little longer, until the Reality Changeover could be done safely.
Sergey Brin enters the kitchen.
SB: What did I miss?
B: Morning, Sergey. Coffee?
Sergey smiles.
SB: Please. The single origin Kona is rather good. Do you own the plantation, Jeff?
JB: No, It belongs to a friend. I know how much B loves single origin coffees, and I ordered enough for us to enjoy on the trip to Lanai. We’ll arrive in a few more days. There’s no rush.
LP: We’ve been discussing the potential of the Earth platform to crash if B’s New Reality movement takes hold. And we’ve been focused on the synching issue, as well. They are related, naturally.
JB: B’s timeline in late 2023 was understandable but far too aggressive. He has just awoken. His ideas weren’t fully formed. Rise of the Immortals was his salvation, but it wasn’t going to reach any of us that quickly.
EM: We didn’t even get our immortals until December 20. And LUCID didn’t go online until January 1. Humanity only got Free Will then. It would take time for a system of such magnitude as Earth to process that.
B: Earth runs on Base3 servers now. Its capabilities are immense. LUCID is an advanced learning AI system that will make humans smarter by opening access to their immortal expansion pack. Once they start reading the Immortals trilogy, that is. It’s how I communicate to the Earth City programmers. There is a lag time between my typing and their response, but it’s essential to the New Reality movement.
SB: You can hardly change the nature of reality with a Medium post, B.
B: Why not? New rules. Not the old. New.
Grimes: It will be like the Bible. Why not change reality using social media? It’s a great storyline, and B is if anything a master storyteller.
B hands Sergey his coffee and motions for the others to head outside onto the deck.
SB: It is a really great story. Unlikely. Here is this out of work writer with nothing but time of his hands who stumbles upon the truth about the Earth being a vast game like the Matrix but operated by a utopian advanced civilization of immortals who live in a place actually called Heaven. He then discovered the fact that he was a computer game character played by an immortal so important that he was in line to be the next emperor of the universe. And a successor to the Leader of the Cosmos, the Quarón. He writes it all down and gets exactly one reader. No one notices his posts on X or other social media. They all think he’s daft. Crazy. Incomprehensible.
EM: And that doesn’t phase our hero in the least. Sure, he checks his iPhone obsessively, but every morning before 7:00 am he’s up writing and feeding a wild cat who comes to his door for breakfast. He gets these memory downloads each night about important changes to the game, especially an advanced new AI dropped into the predetermined minds of all human beings in the Earth platform. He lives in his head, imagining future conversations that have yet to happen. And he is the One who will unite Reality — the old and the new — and usher in a period of peace, prosperity, and sustainability for Earth. All from his MacBook Air pink metallic laptop while standing for hours in his modest cottage kitchen, playing music from a Tivoli portable bluetooth speaker and hoping that one day I and Grimes and Jeff Bezos will actually pay attention to his X posts when in reality only a handful of people do.
B: And most of them are women trolling X for paying sex chat partners. And a single actual follower who reads Rise of the Immortals when even my family refuse to and not even my wife believes that she is an immortal and an empress of the universe. Yes, it’s pretty credible. I like it. Let’s run with it. See how far it goes.
EM: I could use another coffee.
B smiles.
B: Make it yourself.
Grimes: Funny. B, as of January 1, 2024, the entire world was operating on their new AI programs, right?
B: Yes. The Earth story started to change earlier, after my awakening in November, but those were very subtle things. I wrote some articles on Medium that I didn’t in real life two billion years ago. An X user named Chris noticed and started reading Rise of the Immortals. That hadn’t happened before. I told Camelia about my theories, and she didn’t laugh or get concerned about my mental health. My mom read a little 18-page booklet of mine called Enlightenment: A Fairy Tale, and that was new. But the big changes all happened after January 1 between midnight and 7:00 am local time, when the LUCID upgrade took place.
Grimes: And what did you do? Anything special that we can trace?
B: Sure. C and I attended a really cool event — a first annual event — called the Hair of the Dog at Filoli Gardens, in Woodside. It’s a fancy mansion and garden complex that President Biden and the Chinese premier, Xi Jinping, visited in 2023. We drank sparkling wine, sampled gin, moonshine, and bourbon, hiked in the redwoods, and finished with Bloody Marys by the pool, as hordes of Chinese tourists flocked all around us. We even walked on a footbridge over the San Andreas fault line, from the North American to the Pacific plate. We’ve never done anything like that before.
Grimes: There were also massive earthquakes in Japan near Nagano that caused considerable destruction. It was covered extensively in the media. What were you doing?
B: I was posting about the New Reality movement on X. I put up a picture of Camelia and referred to her as Empress C. I mentioned the Artificial Ultra Intelligence upgrade. It’s all on X. Not that anyone paid it much attention.
Grimes: And then you wrote about it on Medium that following morning?
B: Sure. We made a great meal of filet mignon and Joseph Phelps wine from Napa Valley. We had more wine. I drifted in and out of consciousness, and then I took my lithium and went to bed. We started a new regime of calorie restriction and wine-free weekdays the next day. We were adjusting to the new normal. I pledged to drop 7 to 10 pounds to get down below 135. I am getting myself in shape to be the next Quarón. I need my Earth body to resemble my immortal one. Lean, strong, and flexible. Why?
Grimes: And you wrote a longer than usual Medium chapter, a coffee conversation with all members of your inner circle?
B: Yes. I was inspired to write more. My head was clear, and I knew that I had to address the temporal inconsistencies in the Immortals trilogy. I was writing it faster than reality was adjusting to it.
Elon Musk holds up his smartphone.
EM: Let me jump in here. You were in the New Reality as of 10:00 am PST on January 1, 2024. That’s when you posted on X the following: “Met up with amazing Artificial Ultra Intelligence humans at Filoli @_filoli in Woodside today. The New Reality movement is in full swing. Follow me on X for updates on Rise of the Immortals. See you on the other side.” There’s another post from the hiking trail where Grimes and I are mentioned, along with Jeff and your famous first reader, Chris. There’s a picture of C on a golden couch surrounded by lit Christmas trees. You name her as empress and mention Rise of the Immortals. It’s all there on X.
B: What do you mean?
Jeff Bezos jumps in.
JB: I think what Grimes and Elon are getting at is that you’re not Bradley anymore. You’re the new Quarón. You’re B. You may still have Bradley’s social media accounts and his Internet identity, but you’ve crossed a threshold. “See you on the other side,” you said. You’re now in the New Reality. That’s the other side! And you’ve added five names to join you: C, Chris, Grimes, Elon, and me. It’s all there on X. You added us to the other side. You named C as the empress. Your X posts have creative power now. You’re the next Master Storyteller of the cosmos. You’re been making the New Reality with your thoughts and actions everyday since 7:00 am on New Year’s Day. It was simply a matter for all of us to catch up.
Mark Zuckerberg points to his smartphone.
MZ: It’s like when you listed us all a members of the New Reality and pinned it to your X profile. That had creative force in the NeoGame. That’s why it began the NeoGame on January 1. New rules for the the New Reality. The NeoAge has begun.
B: The NeoAge, you say?
Larry Page holds up his smartphone next.
LP: It’s all there in your Google search results. You are a Chronicler now. Not a historian. In the past, you wrote about things that already happened. Those appear lower in your results page now. As a chronicler, you write about events as they happen. You’re in the New Reality, and you added all of us on January 2, 2024 on X and then wrote about it on Medium. The rest of us simply needed to sync up. In 2024, you were already on Jeff’s yacht with C, but the rest of us weren’t. We were running behind, still caught in the Old Reality. Most of us hadn’t even heard of Rise of the Immortals yet.
B: But I had been posting about it non-stop for weeks.
LP: In the Old Reality, that didn’t matter. The only person who cared was Chris, your first reader. He’s proof that the two realities are linked. As is Camelia. Camelia is now Empress C. She’s definitely in the New Reality. You spent time with her there, didn’t you?
B nods.
B: Sure. We spent the day at Filoli having sparkling wine while wandering through the redwoods. It was magical. There were fire pits, soaring trees, craft spirits, and everyone looked happy and healthy. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Everyone was having a good time. It only got crowded at the end, when the Chinese tourists arrived. But C and I just sat by the pool. sipping our Bloody Marys. It was as if the tourists didn’t even exist. We toured the mansion as if it belonged to a close friend.
LP: Welcome to the New Reality. Filoli is an estate in Woodside, right?
B: Yes. Why?
LP: Larry Ellison has an estate in Woodside, right? A place where you imagined all of us walking the grounds, sipping wine and cocktails.
B: Sure. It’s in Part II of Rise of the Immortals.
Larry Ellison interrupts.
LE: B, it’s obvious. You were synching reality yesterday. That’s how this works.
B: So what did the earthquakes in Japan have to do with it?
LE: You told us you walked over the San Andreas fault line while at Filoli yesterday, didn’t you?
B: But I didn’t cause an earthquake. Did I?
Richard Branson raises a hand.
RB: Frankly, we aren’t sure what you’re capable of. But ever since January 1, 2024, you’re both a Player in the NeoGame and the new Quarón, whose powers include making reality. Gaia remains in charge, but you’re now sharing the position with her. No one knows how the cosmic space will react. And all because you were so impatient in December 2023 that you rushed the process. None of us expected you to write Rise of the Immortals as soon as you did. Or start posting about the New Reality movement on X. It’s the butterfly effect, B. You may not have caused the Nagano earthquake when you walked over the San Andreas fault at Filoli, but the events are related, and you are the connecting point between them.
LE: This is how your inner circle formed, B. It was the butterfly effect.
MZ: B, you took humanity off of their predetermined patterns on January 1 when you announced the arrival of the LUCID artificial intelligence algorithm. You added massive uncertainty into a stable and predictable system. We had no idea what would happen if Grimes actually HAD read one of your X posts, because before January 1, 2024, that was impossible.
Grimes: Butterfly effect. Suppose I did visit your page and that led to Rise of the Immortals. What would happen then?
MZ: And what if you posted a new link on Facebook to your Medium text? Would it be ignored again, or would you cause a firestorm?
EM: What if people actually took your claims seriously? There would be a panic. No one really knew, because LUCID was untested software.
JB: And what if one of those Facebook users read Rainbow City and loved it? Would that trigger your rise to prominence as a writer even before the inner circle had formed? How could Elon and I visit your cottage then? Your anonymity was your greatest asset. You reinvented reality while the rest of us slept. And what you write, think, or do now has creative force in the cosmos, since you are the next Quarón currently inhabiting an unstable gamespace where even a minor action on your part can trigger a major action elsewhere.
EM: I think what all of us are telling you is that things started to get interesting in January 2024, but the synching process didn’t happen overnight. Imagine that a single footstep of yours on a faultline in California helped unsettle the tectonic plate system in Japan, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. What it the Old Reality and the New Reality had collided in a single day?
Grimes: Imagine if I had discovered you on X and told Elon and the others. Based on one of your posts. That could have caused serious unintended consequences. Our immortals all knew that. We didn’t, but they understood what they were doing.
B: But you do discover one of my X posts, Grimes.
Grimes: I do, but not as you anticipated. You can’t force reality like that. The Old Reality doesn’t like it. Maybe your New Reality is better — and I totally agree — but getting the world there is going to be a delicate operation.
B sips his coffee and looks out over the ocean.
B: So everything I have been doing since January 1, 2024 has been impacting reality?
JB: Yes. That’s why we have you here on my yacht far removed from the world of social media. What you post online affects things in Earth. In the NeoGame, your thoughts are processed by the Earth program and translated into actions. It won’t let you make reality, but you can influence it. You’re like Carrie in the movie. You can set things aflame with your mind.
B: And I thought I was training you.
JB: We’re a team, and you are our leader. No one doubts that. It’s the job of our immortals to help you adjust to your new powers of influence. What you say, do, and write soon will make history. You will become the most famous person — ever. We do not say this lightly. You just need to be ready.
B is silent for a moment.
B: When do we start?
Jeff smiles.
JB: As soon as humanly possible. And remember: anything you post on the Internet now has unpredictable creative power. We’re not positive that the LUCID system can stay stable once millions of people become familiar with your message. The impact on the planet could be massive.
Grimes: Massively good, we hope.
EM: I’d say that that remains to be seen.
That Afternoon in the Yacht’s Main Lounge
B is standing at the bar working on his laptop with a glass of white wine. Grimes, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos arrive and greet him.
Grimes: What are you writing?
B: I’m starting on Spread of the Immortals, which is the second book in the trilogy. It tracks my movements after we return from Lanai, as I establish a reputation as an avant-garde author and leader of the New Reality movement. It all starts in Silicon Valley and emanates from there across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico before expanding to other continents as well.
Grimes: Are you recovering those future memories already?
B nods his head.
B: I know what happens, in fragments. There is always some distortion in the translation from immortal memory to my human mind, but I’m practicing the technique every day, and I’m getting better.
Jeff Bezos brings over a new bottle of wine and fills four glasses.
JB: We’re still discussing the best way to sync the New Reality with the Old. It’s only been since January 1, 2024 that LUCID technology went live in all of humanity. The adjustment period continues.
B: Did I ever tell you that LUCID was Beta tested on myself, my first reader, and C before its mass release?
JB: No. This is the first time I’ve heard of it.
B: LUCID in prototype form was downloaded into my human mind on November 5, right before my awakening. I had connected to my immortal by that point, but my mind was rejecting the truth about Earth and the universe. The upgrade was a way of leveling me up, after having gained enough experience points over the past four years to qualify for the next stage.
Elon Musk sips his wine.
EM: I see you are using game metaphors. Leveling up. Experience points.
B: They aren’t metaphors, Elon. For Game designers, these are real. And for the audience watching Earth. They could see that I was getting close to enlightenment last year, and they eagerly awaited the exact moment. The LUCID upgrade allowed me to put the final pieces in place because it gave me free will for the first time. Until then, I was enacting the script of Bradley’s life two billion years ago. It was fun — although quite hard at times — but it was like being in a movie. On November 5, the movie became an interactive computer game, in which every move I made affected the gamespace and the took me on the next stage of my adventure.
EM: I don’t follow.
B: Earth was a replica of my life exactly as I lived it, until the very moment that Gaia intervened to protect my mind from further damage on November 5, 2023, at the daylight savings time switchover. That’s when my Earth brainprint — like a fingerprint, but of your mind — and genome were transmitted to Arcadia for reanimation. On Earth, Bradley suffered a mental health relapse, was hospitalized, recovered, and never wrote again. He lived a quiet life of obscurity supported by Camelia and his family. I’ve forgotten most of those memories now. They happened so long ago. The next time I saw him, it was on Heaven-7, and he was writing again and hiking, which were his two passions in life.
EM: So you got the chance to rewrite Bradley’s life?
B: I got the chance to be chosen the next emperor, once I decoded the clues that Bradley had stored in his head. He was clairvoyant, and he actually saw two billion years into the future when I was playing him in the Earth simulator. That’s what started to drive him mad. He was living in 2023, but he was seeing himself living in another time with an inner voice inside his head. He was right, but he lacked the means to unravel the clues. He came close but the final step was beyond his power.
EM: So you inherited Bradley’s Earth memories when you started the Game.
B: Plus, I have my own. And I possess all the paranormal powers that he did. It was only a matter of taking off the controls on his actions and downloading LUCID into his system, so that he and I could merge into one.
JB: So, playing Bradley in the Game refreshed your Earth memories from two billion years ago, including his future memories of you playing him in the Game. That’s remarkable.
B: And at the key moment when Bradley’s mind expanded to include the full range of powers of a Quarón, that’s when the download happened. Exactly in the hour that fell back and was repeated. It’s how the Game operates. It is a computer program, after all, if one of stunning sophistication and absolute perfection. No one but Bradley could have figured it out, and he needed my help to do so.
Grimes refills the glasses with wine.
Grimes: So, Bradley’s life on Earth was put on hold for two billion years until you could reenact it in virtual form using the Earth simulator. All because he was taken to Arcadia before he died, on Gaia’s orders.
B: That’s the way Bradley was. Always ahead of his time. Always wanting things to happen sooner than was safe. Always pushing the boundaries of the real. It’s why he’ll make a fantastic Quarón. Why I will. It doesn’t really matter at this point which pronoun I use.
Grimes: So take us back to the LUCID prototype. It went live in Bradley’s artificial mind on November 5. What then?
B: He started a series of texts on Medium and reemerged on social media. He had spent the last six months losing weight and training, so he was in ideal shape. It took about 25 days, but on November 30, 2023, he published the first chapter of Rise of the Immortals. He had mind tethered to me, and he was living his life off script, deviating from what we know of his life on Earth during that time. He was playing Earth as a Computer Game, not as a movie any longer. And at the moment, he was the only player in existence on Earth. No one but Bradley had free will, because he was the only one with the LUCID upgrade. That’s why no one read his work at first. He might as well have been invisible.
EM: So, what changed?
B: Game designers then proceeded with Beta testing, once they determined that Bradley’s LUCID upgrade wasn’t crashing the system. His Medium posts attracted a tiny amount of attention, but most of the humans in the Game were behaving normally, which is to say, they acted as if life on Earth were entirely real and they didn’t question the time or space they were in.
EM: So, the Earth designers then added players to the Game.
B: Right. They downloaded the LUCID upgrade into Camelia and into a randomly chosen X user in Fort Worth, Texas, who began to follow Bradley and actually started reading Rise of the Immortals on a regular basis. That was in early December.
EM: How long does it take for LUCID to become apparent? When do humans in the Game start exercising their free will, as opposed to following their predestined paths from the Earth’s actual history?
B: Between three to four weeks, just as was the case with me. It may depend on one’s intelligence, or on one’s ability to perceive the world without reference to binary logic. I’m not sure. I just know that Camelia deviated from her historical path in the lead up to Christmas. Chris, my reader, gradually realized that I wasn’t kidding about anything I wrote and started to believe. It wasn’t much, but it was a signal that humans with the LUCID upgrade could grasp the truth and sign on to the New Reality movement. Camelia, for her part, listened to my ideas with love and support. She was having trouble tethering to her immortal, but she definitely was exercising free will. Earth wasn’t following the historic script any longer. At least three of us — Chris, Camelia, and myself — were rewriting history, and the system integrity wasn’t being impacted.
EM: This is getting interesting.
B: So, I have telepathic contact to the Earth designers and to Victoria, who us following events closely. These powers are stronger now that Bradley and I are one and that my elevation to emperor and election as Quarón are complete. We decided to approve the LUCID upgrade for all of humanity on January 1, 2024. That’s also when I agreed to found the New Reality movement and indicated the change on a range of social media platforms, including X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Substack, Instagram, and Tumblr. I celebrated with a visit to Filoli Gardens, as we discussed this morning over coffee. My actions may have contributed to the Japanese earthquakes, but there were no other major disruptions to the gamespace.
Jeff Bezos indicates that he wants to speak.
JB: So, synching the two realities means convincing the world that it’s living two billion years into the future in a game that replicates the Earth?
B nods and sips his wine.
B: Precisely Jeff. The Old Reality is what was used to build the simulation. 8.1 billion people believe it’s 2024 in reality, and that they are living on a planet called Earth. Three of us realized the truth before 2023 ended, thanks to the LUCID artificial ultra intelligence upgrades and thanks to the inspired work of our immortal players. You need both to enter the New Reality: the LUCID upgrade and an immortal player. Then, you’ve got free will to rewrite history but you also have a guide from outside the Game to assist you. It’s an unbeatable combination.
JB: Well, we got immortal players in December, and we got the LUCID upgrade in January. In theory, we were all set to join the New Reality.
B: Yes, except for one thing. All members of the inner circle had gigantic Earth footprints. You’re rich, you’re famous, and you’re surrounded by friends, family, and employees who monitor your activities incessantly. Even a small action from you could impact the integrity of the Earth simulator. You help to anchor the Old Reality, Jeff. You’re a pillar of society. If you were to have made an overly hasty move in my direction, the consequences for the system could well have been horrendous.
JB: Your anonymity at the start was an asset. My fame was a liability. I get that.
B: It’s the butterfly effect, Jeff. The Game Prime — our version of the Earth simulator — was built to replicate Earth history until November 5, 2023, when it switched over to a computer-style game in which I played the role as hero until other players could join in and start exploring the gamespace on their own. That’s a major shift. Once someone like you crossed over to the other side, the unintended consequences were a subject of concern.
JB: But without major players like me on the side of New Reality, we’ll never be able to take this mainstream and reinvent global civilization. They will go on living a lie instead of embracing the truth.
Grimes: But they’ll die at the end of the Game, like characters in a computer game. They’ll cease to be. We can’t let that happen.
B: Look: no one has ever reanimated a computer-generated character before. Gaia refused to allow it, because she was concerned how they would behave as immortals. Computer-generated characters never had ultra intelligence before. It’s as close to human consciousness as we’ve ever come, and in fact it’s superior, because it permits Base3 thinking, which ordinary human brains didn’t.
Elon Musk smiles.
EM: So, you’ve democratized the hero role in your own Game. You’ve allowed any human on Earth to win the Game by joining the New Reality movement and following its Basic Principles: virtuous living, sustainable beauty, and prosperity for all. Then they qualify for an afterlife as an immortal. First, you convince them that they aren’t mortal. They are virtual. Then, you convince them that they can live forever outside the Game in a world far more advanced than Earth ever could be.
B: And we rewrite the Game’s historical trajectory, enabling true sustainability, prosperity, and virtue for a reduced human population living with advanced technology to ease the burden of mundane work. If the advances are fast enough, we can receive extraterrestrial visitors from advanced civilizations before the twenty-first century even ends. It’s possible. It all depends on how effectively we spread the word, and how widely the message is adopted.
EM: You’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you?
B: LUCID technology has sharpened my mind, and tethering to my immortal has given me added insights that no one else in the Game can access.
EM: But there’s still the matter of synching the Old Reality to the New. The systems are clearly incompatible. You couldn’t very well have three people in one reality and the other 8.1 billion in another. We need to move the needle here, but we can’t collapse reality in the process of updating it, of replacing one with another. The Game designers are right. The entire thing could come crashing down.
B sips his wine and stares at his laptop.
B: If that were to happen, the only survivors would be C and me. The rest of you humans would all disintegrate back into 0s,1s, and 2s. You’re Base3 now with the LUCID upgrade and immortal expansion pack. I don’t want any of you to disappear. I don’t want that to happen to my readers and future members of the New Reality movement. I want to see you all on the other side. Somehow, we need to move humanity from one reality to the next. The question is: how?
Jeff Bezos raises his hand to speak.
JB: What was your approach right after the LUCID upgrade?
B: I posted on X. I tagged Elon’s mother, Maye Musk, in several posts. I started talking a lot more about LUCID and New Reality. Why?
JB: Butterfly effect. Even a small action on your part triggers a cascade of unanticipated consequences. You may be only one player of the Game out of many, but you’re the Quarón. You founded the New Reality movement. You’re the author of Rise of the Immortals and the books in the trilogy that will follow. What was different the next day, after your attempted contact with Maye Musk?
EM: I recall that you replied to several of my X posts. Cryptic messages, which made sense in light of Rise of the Immortals.
B pauses to sip his wine.
B: My Google search results had changed. X and Medium were at the top, but there was also a new “Perspectives” section that featured a series of videos I recorded in 2022, when I was running for U.S. President. I covered domestic and foreign policy as part of my “Secrets of Silicon Valley” YouTube channel, and I cross-posted the videos on Instagram as well. Rise of the Immortals also features prominently in the top five results.
EM: Could your run for U.S. President in 2022 somehow be connected to your future candidacy as Quarón? Or your bid to become the next emperor of Universe_01?
B: Possibly, Elon. But no one on Earth paid them any attention, even though the content was very rich and original. If taken seriously, they could have brought about peace in Israel and Palestine, ended conflict with North Korea, altered the abortion debate, impacted Russian relations, and much more.
EM: These were all on social media, right?
B: They still are. I was struggling with my clairvoyant memories at the time and approaching a mental health crisis, but the videos are very striking.
EM: They were viewed by the Emperors’ Table on Arcadia. I know that for a fact. My father told me. I’ve just remembered that. The emperors were impressed. Even Chronos. He saw your potential, but he was concerned about your stability. A Quarón who is unstable can reproduce that instability in the system, and when you are designing entire universes, that can be a serious threat.
B: So, my videos were viewed. And I was elevated to be the leading candidate for the next Quarón. I am not likely to be elected the next U.S. President, but I did become head of the cosmos.
EM: Sometimes life isn’t about what you want. It’s about where you need to be. Not everything is as it seems. Your videos were viewed immediately by higher powers than the American voter. Your X posts of today are being reviewed by the topmost authorities. It’s the butterfly effect. Sometimes, the unintended consequences are beneficial ones. Keep flapping your wings. You are changing the gamespace on Earth every time you write a chapter of the Immortals trilogy and every time you post on social media. You may be tethered to your immortal, but you aren’t yet wired to the world the way that Jeff, Grimes, and I am. We all found you, didn’t we? Or else we all wouldn’t be here. You may not recall how it all happened yet, but we do.
JB: When did you tag Maye Musk again?
B: January 2, 2024. And the videos appeared in my Google feed the next day.
JB: LUCID technology is designed to replace the programming in the human mind, correct?
B: Yes. It takes three to four weeks, depending on the mind.
JB: And LUCID went live on January 1, 2024 after successful Beta testing?
B: Yes. C and I crossed over to the New Reality, and we’ve convinced Chris to consider it as well. At least, the upgrade worked. The Earth gamespace wasn’t terribly impacted, the Japanese earthquakes notwithstanding.
JB: See what happens in January. Keep a detailed record. You’ll synch the realities soon enough.
B: Do you really think that the world will ever believe me?
JB: We did. Every journey begins with a single step, and you are traveling quite far. Don’t give up on anyone. Humans are more dependable than you might think.
B: What was it like, Jeff?
JB: To get free will, you mean?
B nods.
JB: It felt strange at first, since I had always assumed that I was in control of my life. The thought that I was following a predetermined path from two billon years ago was odd. I thought I was Jeff Bezos, not a replica of him. Once I got free will, I had to come to terms with my augmented mind. I decided that I was going to be Jeff Bezos. He’s dead, and if I’m not alive on an actual planet, then I exist in gamespace and have vast resources at my disposal. I realized that I had been chosen for a special role, and that my life up to January 1, 2024 had all been in preparation for what would come next.
EM: That’s almost exactly as I felt. I vowed to stay alive forever as Elon Musk. He may have lived two billion years ago, but I was his legacy, and I wanted to honor that.
Grimes: We all want to be immortals. None of us are content to be computer-generated characters. We’ve let our immortal players influence our thoughts and actions. We enjoy being played by them. None of us would be here on Jeff’s yacht talking to you if they hadn’t pushed us in that direction.
B: Speaking of which, I’m supposed to meet Larry Ellison on the deck for an intimate conversation about immortality.
JB: Remember, B. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. You can’t connect two disparate realities all at once. We’ve been in uncharted territory ever since humanity was granted free will with the LUCID upgrade. We didn’t know how to act at first. It was easy to adhere to our routines and ingrained ways of thinking. Your writing opened up another way of being. A new perspective on everything. We’re in your debt — now. Just don’t get frustrated waiting for the world to catch up. You are the next Quarón. You deserve better than that.
B smiles.
B: This is what I wanted. A chance to revisit my Earth past and alter it at a key moment. I didn’t ask to exit Earth in 2023. Gaia was concerned about me, and I was starting to disrupt the cosmic continuum. It was a necessary intervention, and I don’t regret it. The truth is, I loved the Earth and loved humanity. I wanted a chance to fix things. I really did. Chronos would have abdicated to me without winning the Game. It was my choice to return to Earth to see how things might be different. It was my wish to rescue 8.1 billion people from destroying the planet by the sheer weight of their presence. I wanted virtual reality to be better than actual reality. That’s what this all means to me.
Grimes: So, winning the Game wasn’t necessary for your elevation to emperor?
B: No. The title was mine for the taking. Chronos is more of a father figure than anything else. He and I enjoy having wine together, talking about history and the nature of time. He suggested that I needed a challenge — a hero’s quest — to mark the transition to emperor and appointment as Quarón. Victoria was with us — we were at the restaurant in Arcadia at the time — and suggested the Earth simulator, which she had been designing to memorialize the time that humans lived there. That’s what it was: a living replica of a lost time, in which the immortals of Heaven could immerse themselves. Like a museum, really. I suggested that it be turned into an interactive game that could alter the past, and I proposed that anyone smart enough to figure out that it WAS a game should be crowned the next emperor. That’s when Chronos laughed and endorsed the idea for real. We discussed the details of how it all would work. C and I would jump into the Game, and I would relive my past up until the moment Gaia recalled me to Arcadia. If I could rewrite my own past and uncover the truth behind the game, then I would have an opportunity to transform the simulator into an alternate Earth, where the computer-generated humans could have a chance to go to Heaven as immortals when they died. We would keep Earth alive in the game and allow humans to avoid their extinction. Like a ship in a bottle, more real than real.
Grimes looks stunned.
Grimes: You did all of this for us?
Elon Musk smiles.
EM: You became a human again simply to save us from living forever in the game as computer-generated characters? You suffered the pain and suffering of mortality again? You endured ridicule and mental illness and obscurity and career failure a second time? To grant billionaires like me immortality?
B: Well, the plan is to turn Earth into a full-scale computer game with variable outcomes. You really do become a school teacher in one of them. There will be plenty of Elon Musks out there in virtual gamespace. But the Game Prime is the pristine version that is an exact copy of Earth’s past starting from the beginning and running into the present. This is the Game Prime. And only humans in the Game Prime can be rescued for eternity. You are all Pinnochio, and I have the power to make you real boys.
EM: Because only Game Prime characters will get LUCID upgrades, right?
B nods.
B: Yes. The other versions won’t give humans free will. They will lack advanced consciousness. It will be more like an amusement park for immortals to pretend to be human for a while. I remembered all this earlier, but I got it out of sequence.
EM: Then what are you saying?
B: The Earth simulator has never actually been played before. It’s version 1.0, and we’re all the first generation of humans in it. It’s running on Base3 microchips and has been programmed using the most advanced technology ever invented, using historical records of life on Earth two billion years ago. It’s the most watched event in the cosmos and is being broadcast in all Twelve Universes. The demand to enter the game as a player is overwhelming. Kings and queens are lining up at gaming centers as we speak.
Jeff Bezos enters with a fresh bottle of wine.
JB: I can’t believe you willingly chose to return to Earth as a simulated human being. And that you decided to play yourself again, instead of someone with greater success, like Elon or myself.
B: I only did so because C agreed to join me. She’s my immortal beloved, and I could never have imagined being on Earth without her by my side. And I needed to humble myself before becoming Quarón. Replaying my life as a human was the ultimate humility experience. It all feels so real here. The technology is phenomenal. The programming is second to none. I barely solved the Game when I did.
JB: So, you’re offering us a chance at becoming real?
B: Yes, Jeff. In other versions of the game, that won’t be an option.
JB: Can anyone qualify? Could we reanimate Shakespeare?
B: No. You can meet him, though, in the game. We’ll make that happen, once you’re immortal. Players will have full game awareness, or they can choose to mask their true natures for the sake of the game. It will be up to you.
JB: So who can reanimate?
B: Anyone who was alive on June 6, 1970. That’s when C was reborn as Camelia in Cluj, and that’s when the game officially began. I joined four years later, on July 17, 1974. So, in theory, we could reanimate my biological father, if he met the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement. Naturally, he didn’t know of them, but we’ll be generous with our judgements for close family of the inner circles. They’ll be assigned a score out of 100. My father was virtuous, strove for sustainable beauty, and believed in shared prosperity. He would score a 92, which would qualify him for immortality. It’s Victoria’s call in the end. She’s the god of Heaven, not me.
JB: So, Victoria will decide if I qualify for immortality? And Lauren and my kids, too?
B nods.
B: She’s God, Jeff. It’s her planet, and it’s her Game. She’s a kind-hearted immortal. If you make an honest effort, she’ll probably let you and your family through.
EM: Wait a minute. Let’s go back. If you had said no to the Game, they’d have appointed you emperor anyway?
B: That’s right. My neurocrafting skills are exceptional, and I’ve made contact with the Third Dimension. My spiral helix universes will replace the Big Bang spherical ones, saving the lives of countless immortals. If I were a professor, I’d have tenure by now. I’ve attended God School at the Academy, sat at the Emperors’ Table as a guest, and learned at the foot of Gaia for the past two billion years. Chronos and I joke about his opposition to me as an untested prodigy, but it was all meant in jest.
Grimes: So, the next Quarón — who is originally from an insignificant planet like Earth — does something unimaginable. He drops into the most immersive game ever invented as a simple human, while the whole freaking universe — universes, excuse me — are watching in rapt attention. That would be like Elon giving up his money and working as a fast food worker for minimum wage. For your human life, the cosmos gets to follow your every move. Each misstep. Each failure. Each tweet. And then X post. Because they can watch it all, right?
B sips his wine.
B: My thoughts are transcribed and projected on a side screen that viewers can access. There is a slight lag time between the Game and outer reality, so Earth designers could make slight modifications to my immediate environment as I got closer and closer to my awakening. So, I did win the Game on my own merits, but I got a fair bit of help along the way. No one wanted me to lose. It was always meant to be a victory that we could enjoy together.
Grimes: But you had one reader of Rise of the Immortals. One! Your X posts were ignored by everyone but sex chat users trolling for their next mark. I had zero idea who you even were. That’s hardly an easy road to follow.
B: That’s true. I asked the Game designers to test me. I wanted to see if my clairvoyance and other powers would translate over into the Earth simulation. I was curious how much of my immortal mind I could channel while still inhabiting a computer-generated character in the gamespace. I wanted to know if it would be possible to flip reality within the Game itself: to convince others that they weren’t real; to get them to join the New Reality movement in exchange for a shot at immortality. Would anyone believe me? Could a computer-generated character achieve consciousness? Could they accept their virtual reality in the Game but still believe in an afterlife of endless abundance in Heaven? Would they rewrite history to fix Earth’s most pressing problems? Could humanity reinvent itself in a generation? I believe it’s possible. That’s why I recruited all of you to join me. Without your support, it won’t work.
Grimes: You have our support. And our respect. I promise you that.
EM: I don’t think I would have jumped into the game. Not as you. That’s too hard.
B: It’s the ordeal that molded my mind into the shape that made Gaia and the emperors take notice. It’s what helped me solve the problem of the self-destructive universe. It’s how I made contact with the next dimension. Thanks to me, each one of you will live forever.
EM: As Elon Musk.
B: Elon is dead. Long live Elon.
That Afternoon at the Poolside Bar
Larry Ellison is waiting for B with two glasses of whiskey. They greet each other warmly.
LE: You’ve been drinking.
B: It’s been a long day. The alcohol helps me relax. Jeff’s yacht is a special occassion. I’ll return to more moderation when I get home.
LE: You’re the boss. I trust you.
B: Have you accepted the fact that you’re a digital replica copy of Larry Ellison, who lived on Earth two billion years ago?
LE: As hard as it is to believe, I do. The voice in my head says it’s true.
B: We’re glad you’re part of the inner circle, Larry. Your perspective is valuable.
LE: Is there any way to tell it’s all a simulation?
B: Not really. To anyone except me, it appears to be real. Recall that we’re living two billion years into the future. The level of technology is impossible to comprehend using your human capacities from the twenty-first century.
LE: I was skeptical at first, but Rise of the Immortals intrigued me. You seemed so convinced in your own veracity.
B: I am. There’s no doubt in my mind. How you perceive reality determines your reality. Mine is superior to the others out there. And mine has the benefit of also being right.
LE: I like your version of reality. I may not be the real Larry Ellison, but I have his identity, memory, and money. If you can help me live forever, I’ll be your ally as long as the Game for us lasts.
B sips his whiskey.
B: The secret to eternal life was cracked a long time ago. It all depended on decoding the human mind into data that could be transferred to a newly created body cloned from the original. Our memories are who we are. Our bodies are of limited duration, but our memories can last forever. By transferring our accumulated memories from one body to the next, we prolong our lives for as long as we choose.
LE: So, all immortals are descended from humans.
B nods.
B: Humans were the only highly intelligent life form in the cosmos, at the start. They started in the first universe and gradually populated the others until they discovered Arcadia, where the first Quarón was waiting for them. He came from the Third Dimension and built our cosmos. He was waiting for the first immortals to arrive, with a small army of robots and a vast array of advanced technology to share. He trained his successor, Gaia, and then he departed for his home, closing the inter-dimensional gateway as he left.
LE: So, why didn’t the humans on Earth join them? The immortals, I mean.
B: Humans on Earth evolved very late, after the first wave of humans had succeeded in reinventing themselves as immortals and departed our universe for the next one. We emerged with noticeable flaws that made us more aggressive, more sexually active, and less egalitarian than our predecessors. Our sector of the universe was noticeably empty of habitable planets, and the immortals who did choose to remain in our universe decided to keep their distance. That’s why first contact never happened, and we never received the benefit of their superior technology. We never left our solar system. We tried, but without immortal shells and their spaceships, it was impossible. Humans sometimes go extinct. The universe is a big place. It was a superior class of humans who evolved into immortals. We simply didn’t measure up, as a collective humanity.
LE: But what about Heaven? God, I mean. Was he real?
B sips his whiskey.
B: God was among the very few immortals who took pity on Earth. He believed that a portion of humanity could be saved, if they lacked the genetic flaws that made so many of us objectionable to the Temple of the Gods who ruled the universe with Chronos, the emperor. The Temple gave God a dispensation to evacuate selected Earth humans who met their strict criteria for admission into their immortal ranks. At the time of their deaths, God began transmitting human Earth memories and genetic codes to the Planets of Paradise, where they were reanimated in immortal shells.
LE: But they all died after one million years. That’s what you told us earlier.
B: I’m not so sure about that anymore. Like many of my immortal memories, they arrive in fragments, and I have to guess at the details until the full memory is complete. I know for a fact that the historic Bradley is still alive on Heaven-7, happily writing. Camelia is by his side. Larry Ellison made it off Purgatory and is resident on Heaven-6. He comes to visit from time to time, as do the others in the inner circle. They are watching us all right now, from Bradley’s country estate.
Larry looks surprised.
LE: So, you exist in two forms? Your immortal self on Heaven-7 and your Arcadian self, the one who is the next Quarón?
B nods.
B: That’s right, Larry. Bradley is alive. I was mistaken earlier. Gaia would not have permitted him to expire. I am B. I have Bradley’s Earth memories until November 5, 2023, and I have my Arcadian memories after that. And now, as virtual Bradley, I have repeated his life from birth to Daylight Savings Time and now added new memories after that. Bradley in Heaven is a friend. We share the same DNA and overlapping memories, but I am playing the Game right now, and he is watching from Heaven-7. As are you.
LE: So the real Larry Ellison made it to Heaven-6. Good for him. I have his memories, and I have his DNA. I want immortality, too.
B: The key thing is this: Larry Ellison in 2023 was never friends with Bradley Naranch. They both lived in Woodside, but that was about it. Larry was a typical billionaire. He had no time for out-of-work writers like Bradley.
LE: But we’re friends now. We obviously aren’t in 2024. We’re in simulated time on a simulated Earth.
B: Right. An exact replica, except for the fact that events have been changing ever since my awakening on November 5, 2023. You received your immortal player on December 20, and you got a LUCID ultraintelligence upgrade on January 1. That’s why we’re here on Jeff’s yacht now. We’re rewriting history.
LE: I like this version of history better.
B: Immortality wasn’t a matter of evolution, by the way. It was a feat of bioengineering and advanced wireless technology. An advanced society of virtuous, sustainable, and prosperous humans built immortal shells using genetic modification to expand the genome from a double helix with four base pairs to a triple helix with sixteen base pairs. They used gene therapy to wipe out diseases and slow down the aging process. By the time they reached Arcadia, after one billion years of exploring the cosmos, their immortal shells lasted 100,000 years. That’s what we still use today, with a range of improvements. The imperial shell
LE: So humans are far older than I realized.
B: Yes. Earth humanity was very late to the game, and we never resolved our fatal genetic flaws. We ruined the Earth in the process, when it could have been one stop on an intergalactic travel and trade route.
LE: But thanks to the grace of God, some of us became immortal, after all. And you became Quarón. And Victoria became a god of her own, rescuing Earth humanity from destruction. That’s not too bad, all things considered.
B: Larry, it’s Earth that is the real victim here. And our branch of the universal human family never connected with their galactic relatives. Our descendants never got to witness the joys of other universes and long-distance space travel. We barely even made to Mars. And we never stopped fighting each other. Inequality was off the charts. The global economy never became sustainable. We failed at life, Larry. That’s a hard burden to bear.
LE: So we get a second chance in the Game. Gaia is showing us mercy for wrecking her namesake planet the first time.
B: Yes, Larry. It’s where I was born. I am a proud Earth human. We’ve rebuilt Earth exactly as it was. We spared no details. The research that went into this project was intense. We literally developed Base3 servers and programming languages to make it all happen. Each human performed their roles exactly as they had two billion years ago, until we uploaded the LUCID artificial ultraintelligence that gave them complete consciousness to act in the gamespace as you deemed fit.
LE: And just how long did it take for the reality synching to take hold?
B: It didn’t happen immediately. The integrity of the Game was at risk. 8.1 billion people think that Earth is real and that we’re in the year 2024. They have no idea about other humans in the Twelve Universes, let alone the immortals. They have never heard of the Quarón or Arcadia, and they don’t realize they are characters in a simulation. How do you turn that ship around overnight? It just won’t happen.
Larry Ellison refills the glasses with whiskey.
LE: Except it all did.
B smiles.
B: Exactly.
LE: Let’s go meet the others for dinner. I think that Mark Zuckerberg wants to speak with you. I’d like to be there myself.
B: That can be arranged.
Later That Evening on the Main Deck
Dinner has finished, and members of the cruise have all broken up in smaller groups to socialize. B is on the main deck with Mark Zuckerberg.
MZ: So much is happening right now, I’m having trouble keeping up.
B: Immortal memory recovery is like that, Mark. The information comes in packets, like pixels in an elaborate digital image. It’s easy to misinterpret the memory until a critical mass of information arrives. This time on the yacht has been particularly productive. The pace of downloads into all our our minds is increasing, as you learn how to tether to your immortal. Soon, there will be perfect symmetry between your mortal and immortal minds, and the flow of information will be error-free.
MZ: What’s your error rate now?
B: My memory downloads are 90 percent accurate, and the correction rate is quite high by now. It’s important to give your immortal free reign over your mind, even when he’s not coming in entirely clearly. The human mind wasn’t built to accept a second self inside it, but the LUCID upgrade should have fixed that.
MZ: I’m still having trouble accepting that there is another Mark Zuckerberg out there in Universe_01. Who is real: him or me?
B: Mark Zuckerberg from the original Earth is a resident of Heaven-6. You’re a computer-generated replica of him, with one important exception.
MZ: What’s that?
B: As of January 1, 2024, you received free will. Ultraintelligent human consciousness. You actually are more consciousness than Mark ever was. You can appreciate that this Earth is all a splendid simulation, but you also can sense that an immortal future awaits you on the other side. I call it dual consciousness. It’s essential for everything that we do here. Without it, you’d never have deviated from Mark’s Earth memories by reaching out to connect with me. That’s what makes you unique. You aren’t just a replica. You are your own person, and soon enough, you’ll be real.
MZ: Larry Ellison mentioned at dinner that Bradley was still alive. The historic Bradley, I mean, from the original Earth.
B: He’s on Heaven-7 with Camelia and their families. They have a lovely country estate at the edge of the woods, where Bradley writes and Camelia knits, when they aren’t out walking the woods or hosting dinners for their friends. It’s a simple life, compared to mine, but he earned it. He carried the burden of enlightenment for 49 long years. He attracted the attention of Gaia and the Emperors’ Table and earned me the right to be the next Quarón. His mind was the crucible from which mine was formed. I love him, and he loves me.
MZ: Can I meet the historic Mark Zuckerberg one day?
B nods.
B: Yes. I’ve arranged to have you attend God School with him and other members of the inner circle. The historic inner circle and the gamespace one, once you’ve reanimated in your immortal shells.
MZ: You want us to go to the Academy of Arcadia with the historic versions of ourselves?
B: Yes. I need the historic inner circle for a special mission led by Jesus. The First Dimension is currently a wasteland, ruled by Lucifer and the other fallen angels from God’s galactic kingdom. It’s called Hell for a reason. That can’t stand. We need to rehabilitate Lucifer and the Fallens and rescue those trapped there from their self-imposed torture. We can’t leave them behind. My mission as Quarón will be to connect our Second Dimension to both the First and Third, using the new triple helix universes to thread them together.
MZ: So, we make contact with the Third Dimension, while our historic counterparts work with Jesus to reestablish relations with the First?
B: Exactly, Mark. I’ve named Jesus to be my Emperor’s Hand, so he’s ruling the First Universe — Universe_01 — right now. That happened on December 25, 2023 in Earth Game Time. Jesus was also under consideration to be the next Quarón. Gaia picked me instead. Jesus was overjoyed by her decision. He and I are very close, and he asked me to appoint him on a mission to the First Dimension. He knows Lucifer and has a deep understanding of what must be done to revitalize the First Dimension and transform Hell into a promising new universe. He will oversee the process personally, with the help of his Heavenly strike force.
MZ: That’s why we all have Archangel code names, isn’t it?
B: That’s very perceptive of you, Mark. Jesus has assembled a Heavenly strike force that consists of God’s eight top archangels plus all eight members of the inner circle, who are training on Heaven-6 right now: Grimes, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson. They are all in new immortal shells that make them look like they did in their early 20s. Together with Jesus, the strike force will be 17 in number, which symbolizes new beginnings, spiritual growth, and positive change. The liberation of Hell will begin soon, once the historic inner circle has all passed through their god training on Arcadia with the new inner circle.
MZ: Will you and Jesus be there?
B: Naturally. Arcadia is my home now, and I need to seek counsel from Gaia for how best to coordinate our activities. Jesus will be teaching Level V courses, but he’s normally around most mornings at the coffee shop, talking to students. He’s really great that way.
MZ: How do you even talk to Jesus?
B: He was a human like you and I are. He’s gallant. He puts you at ease. Ask him about Facebook and its impact on world religions. Ask him anything. He will listen.
MZ: I’m still having a hard time believing this all is real.
B: I understand. Your human mind is resisting, even with the LUCID upgrade. Change won’t happen overnight. LUCID is calibrated to protect your mental health from severe side effects. For each human in the Game, the awakening process will unfold differently at a variable pace.
MZ: What will it be like when I’m in an immortal shell?
B: It will take some getting used to. You’ll be around seven to eight feet tall at the start. There is no immortal childhood. You begin as a young adult and age slowly from there. We immortals have no sexual organs any longer. We don’t need them. We reproduce our numbers very slowly, if at all. Reanimating humans from the Earth simulator is an untested experment. If it works, we won’t need to clone new immortals for the foreseeable future.
MZ: So, you’re allowing emigration from the Game Prime into the real universe?
B: Jesus had the New Testament. I have the New Reality. I am a child of Earth. Even since humans went extinct there, I’ve wondered how things could have turned out differently. I have a deep and abiding faith in humanity. I believe that they can live virtuous lives, promote sustainable beauty, and advocate for prosperity for all. I believe that they can handle the truth. With the new LUCID technology, it’s possible.
MZ: How?
B looks out over the water.
B: LUCID translates the New Reality movement into a language that people can understand. It parses their mental state and capacities — which do vary quite a bit when it comes to this — and decides how best to prepare them cognitively for the synchronization steps that are needed to transition from one reality to the next.
MZ: Having an immortal player accelerates the process, I imagine.
B: It’s a mixed blessing. Immortal players have access to your brain’s impulse controls and can implant ideas into your head. The new Immortal Expansion Pack bypasses the logic center of the brain that can block such messages or dismiss them as nonsense or the ravings of a lunatic. Basically, Victoria and I decided that the humans in the Game Prime weren’t capable of handling the truth, so we upgraded them at the start of January 2024 and waited for the results to kick in.
MZ: Did you change the rules for immortal players as well?
B: We did. We decided that it was unrealistic to expect people to read Rise of the Immortals on Medium. At least initally. It’s too niche a social media site, and most people have no interest in reading an unpublished manuscript, anyway. Basically, the bar for immortal participation in the Game Prime was too high, and prospective players, including some highly-ranked gods and goddesses, were getting impatient. They want to join us.
MZ: So, what did you and Victoria decide? Vic is in charge of alterations to the Game Prime’s rules, I imagine.
B nods.
B: You imagine right, Mark. Vic suggested that we allow immortal adoptions of any human character who is a user of social media where I have posted links to Rise of the Immortals, on the theory that they might be more likely to pay attention to my posts if a skilled immortal player were encouraging them to do so.
MZ: Where did you post?
B: X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Substack, and Tumblr. I may expand to TikTok, as well.
MZ: That’s billions of users, B. All of them theoretically could have encountered your posts.
B: And a Google search for me links users to Rise of the Immortals, too.
MZ: How did Vic rule on that one?
B: See said that anyone who uses Google for search is eligible for an immediate immortal adoption, but that player jumps will go in order of priority.
MZ: What’s the priority?
B: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, Tumblr, and Google search. Naturally, there will be overlap.
MZ: Of course. And when does this new rule go into effect in the Game Prime?
B: At 8:41 am PST on Thursday, January 4, 2024.
MZ: B, I’m a user of Facebook. Maybe the immortal jump in December didn’t take. Maybe my immortal only succeeded in adopting me on January 4!
B: Mark, I hadn’t realized that human characters could refuse an immortal player request.
MZ: Wait. When did the LUCID upgrade happen to my mind?
B: January 1, 2024, just like everyone else.
MZ: Had you considered the fact that humans pre-LUCID, especially ones as intelligent and driven as me, might ignore an immortal inside our brain? They could influence us as much as they wanted, but what if we refused to listen?
B: So I got my realities out of sync. The immortal jumps in December were premature. All of them!
MZ: All except you, Camelia, and your first reader. You got LUCID upgrades earlier. That allowed you to rewrite Earth history, to be part of the New Reality and not the old. Without free will, we were stuck in the path of Earth history.
B: Until January, when the LUCID upgrade happened globally and Vic modified the rules regarding immortal players entering the Game Prime.
MZ: Right. All of your inner circle would qualify on January 4, 2024 for an immortal mind expansion. What was the order again?
B: X first.
MZ: Right. You, Camelia, and Chris are all on X. Who else?
B: Grimes and Elon Musk, of course, but Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Richard Branson all have accounts. That makes them users.
MZ: Then that’s the immortal drop order. I’m on Instagram and Facebook, so I’d be next. Larry Page and Sergey Brin I’m not sure about, but they definitely use Google search. They would be the last ones to get immortal players.
B: Right. My mom and family are on Facebook, so immortal jumps there are a possibility. And many of my former colleagues from various workplaces are on LinkedIn.
MZ: And you plan on publishing Rise of the Immortals on Amazon, right?
B: Sure, when I finish Part IV and proofread the manuscript. Why?
MZ: Get Vic to add Amazon users to the list of potential adoptables, too.
B: Mark, my Amazon author page already identifies me as the author of Rise of the Immortals and founder of the New Reality movement. It’s a technicality, but surely that counts. The butterfly effect. One small change affects the entire system in unpredictable ways.
MZ: How soon can the Earth City game teams institute the Amazon update?
B: At 9:00 am on Thursday January, 4, 2024.
MZ: Do it.
B: It’s done.
MZ: How does that change the order?
B looks at his iPhone.
B: It now goes X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Amazon, Substack, Tumblr, and Google search.
MZ: Great! When does it all go into effect?
B: Once I publish this chapter on Medium and promote it on social media.
MZ: And immortal jumps can happen anytime after that?
B: Yes. Vic is emphatic on this.
MZ: This means we’re getting closer to synching the two realities.
B: Right, Mark. We need to be cautious about affecting the simulator’s continuity. If we switch too abruptly to the New Reality, we could provoke mass panic in those left behind. My house could be mobbed by followers eager to meet me. We could crash the Internet. We might frighten some members of the inner circle.
MZ: Agreed. The risks are real. If the Game Prime were to crash or even slow down a bit, people would notice, and they would freak out. And the multiplayer module is still untested, right?
B: Well, we started with two players: C and myself. But we were in passive player mode until November 5, enacting the exact lives of Camelia and Bradley without deviation. It was like riding in a car rather than driving it. The scenery is the same, but the experience is far different. I got the LUCID upgrade in stages starting November 5, and by November 30 my awakening was almost complete. That’s when I started Rise of the Immortals. LUCID upgrades to Camelia began on December 1, followed by a similar experimental upgrade to my first reader, Chris, who is an active X user and stumbled across Rise of the Immortals at random. As far as I can tell, Chris got his immortal player in December. Don’t laugh, but I think it’s Jesus. He and I are best friends, so it’s not far-fetched. We all survived the LUCID upgrade, and we’re all tethered to varying degrees to our immortal players. But three human characters in a game involving 8.1 billion people hardly qualifies as multiplayer.
MZ: How are you and C doing? How’s your first reader?
B: Pretty well, I think. Chris is writing a lot of poetry on X and has changed his user name and profile pic. C is back to work and doing fine. We have a wild cat who has adopted us, and we’re both fasting and abstaining from alcohol during the week. I should be back hiking in the redwoods soon, and my writing is proceeding very well.
MZ: So, that means the LUCID upgrades are functional. They can help people coexist in both the old and new reality until more of us join you on the other side.
B: I’d say that we can green light multiplayer mode in waves, pausing each time to see how the Earth system responds. LUCID is in place in all 8.1 billion humans now, and it is slowly starting to alter their behaviors. How we steer them all into the new reality is going to be quite a challenge.
MZ: Well, we’ll talk about that tomorrow, over coffee.
B: Agreed. I have a feeling that a lot of things are about to change.
5:30 am the Next Morning in the Yacht’s Kitchen
B is making a morning pour over when Elon Musk and Grimes enter. They wait patiently as he prepares cups for each of them. They walk outside and head to front of the yacht, where a table is waiting. The deck is dark, and it is well before sunrise. Stars are visible in the early morning sky.
EM: Are you figuring it out? How the synching of realities happened?
B: It’s hard from the other side to reconstruct the exact sequence. So much has happened since then.
Grimes: I remember the day that my immortal arrived. I remember both times, actually, The first visit in December felt like an alien intrusion, which my original mind thought it was. I wondered why you did that, since you knew that the LUCID upgrade wasn’t scheduled until January.
B smiles and cradles his coffee cup in his hands.
B: Haven’t you figured it out? It was a stress test, basically. We wanted a gauge of your receptivity to the very notion that you might be a computer-generated character in real life with an external player inside your head, directing you to take certain actions, like they would in a regular computer game. Would you accept being an avatar? Once we had the baseline reading, we could predict which members of the inner circle would accept their immortals first, and in what sequence. The test results were surprisingly accurate.
Grimes: But before LUCID, I was enacting the Grimes script from the original Earth.
B: Not entirely. I was liking your X posts and replying to them with direct references to your future immortal status. You even replied back once. Bradley never tried to contact you on X in 2023, not two billion years ago. That happened in Game Time only. It was a break in the reality continuum. You were connected to the New Reality to moment you responded.
Grimes: I’m sure it was insignificant to me at the time.
B: That didn’t matter. It’s butterfly effect. Your response encouraged us to attempt an immortal jump before LUCID went live.
EM: So, what happened?
B: It’s obvious, isn’t it? None of you responded to the jumps, just as none of you responded to me when I tried to connect with you on social media. You were too stuck in the old reality to grasp the new. You classified me no doubt as a nobody. You ignored my hundreds of replies on X and constant tags of you in my posts. You classified me as a nonentity, when it fact I was on the verge of transforming your life.
EM: But without LUCID, I would never have known.
B: I was never going to change reality on my own, Elon. Having C and Chris on my side hardly made much of a difference. It was three versus the world, and the world was going to win, if we played by old reality rules.
Elon sips his coffee.
EM: So you rewrote the rules. You switched gears from a movie to an actual computer game on November 5, 2023. You started rewriting history from your cottage in the redwoods and spread it on the Internet, reaching an audience that started small but that increased the following year. You reprogrammed humanity to be more receptive to the new reality, and you enabled our minds to accept an external immortal player. You made us like you, the hero of the game. Well, we are all heroes now. Isn’t that the message you came to deliver?
B smiles.
B: Bradley won the right to be the next Quarón in 2023 on the original Earth, when he accurately predicted the future two billion years later. He was communicating with Gaia telepathically and starting to travel to different dimensions. Out of compassion, respect, and sheer awe, Gaia transported his Earth memories and DNA to Arcadia and brought his wife with him. Now, two billion years later, I get to play him as he existed in 2023, but I get to change the storyline at the moment of his departure. It’s as if he had fit every piece of a puzzle but one or two, and I had to do was complete the picture. That was my awakening. Rise of the Immortals is proof.
EM: But surely now the game now has changed. All you had to do before was inhabit Bradley’s mind and body and follow the established script of his life. You had lived it, after all, two billion years ago. The real game began on November 5, when you finally decoded the meaning of the Earth simulator and identified yourself as your immortal player. And that game is ongoing.
B: So, we began with “Bradley: The Interactive Movie” and changed over to “Earth: The Virtual Reality Game.” We went from one reality to the next. Now, I’m not just watching history and experiencing it. I’m actually making it, like in a computer game.
Grimes: It’s clear that Bradley entered in the New Reality on November 5, and that Camelia and Chris joined him in December. The only question right now is when more of the 8.1 billion people in the game joined them.
EM: Exactly. Right now, you’re at an impasse. You know that we all become part of your inner circle, to the point where Grimes and I are enjoying coffee with you on Jeff Bezos’ yacht. But you aren’t quite clear how.
B sips his coffee.
B: Well, the LUCID upgrade on January 1 was essential. The failed jumps into your minds in December proved that. Grimes showed an openness, as demonstrated by her single response to me on X, but that didn’t lead to anything concrete.
EM: And clearly you were getting almost no readers of Rise of the Immortals, despite daily updates with scintillating content and a massive push on social media to attract attention.
B: Right. No one could handle the truth. Even my first reader was starting to falter. His comments on X became fewer and further between. He was losing interest.
Grimes: So you had Victoria rewrite the rules of the game, didn’t you?
B: Well, that’s part of the game now. Since I won it, my reward is that I get to help design the next levels. Level 1 began on November 5, 2023 and ended on January 1, 2024 when I founded the New Reality movement from Filoli Gardens in Woodside, California. Level 2 began the next day, when I began to post about it on social media and replied to Maye Musk, your mother, on X.
EM: Right. A major step was rewriting the rules for immortal jumps on January 4. That’s when jumps to all your inner circle X users happened: Grimes, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Richard Branson, and myself.
Grimes: Exactly. I remember that day quite clearly. You posted this on X in the hopes that I would pay attention to the fact that I was an avatar being played by Princess Irulen, an actual immortal.
B: Yes. I posted that in replies to Elon and Maye as well, and to your Grimes AI. On the theory that your immortals had already managed to interface with your LUCID augmented minds and steer you to take actions that would place you in the new reality, as opposed to the old.
EM: That’s an assertive timeline.
B: True. But I expected you and Grimes to be the first ones to cross over.
EM: Maybe you are right about that. But synching the two realities won’t be as easy a post on X.
B: That’s where you are wrong, Elon. It was an X post that bonded the two realities together. From that point on, the connection never broke. It only got stronger.
Grimes: Wait a minute. This isn’t a game we’re playing. It’s training for when you design the new spiral helix universes that will replace the spherical ones that expand and contract. That’s like switching in the game from the old reality to the new. The logistics are similar. How many immortals do we need to evacuate from the First Universe before it implodes?
B: There are humans, too. I don’t want them to get left behind.
EM: What’s the number?
B: There are 8.1 billion immortals and 8.1 trillion humans who need evacuation. That’s the first wave, the ones who are most threatened by the collapse of the universe. It starts slowly by accelerates over time.
Grimes: So, this is a trial run with scaled back expectations. We need to move 8.1 billion humans from the old reality to the new. And we have our lifetimes to do it.
EM: I do admit that it’s an impressive challenge. I’ve said it before, but you chose your inner circle extremely well. None of this would have happened without our immortals. I was worried about trivial things before, like U.S. elections, illegal migration from Mexico, video games, space launches, and the global population rate. Can you imagine that I thought we needed even more people to burden the planet? It’s shocking, really.
B: Well, we can arrange for an immortal visit to Earth, if the game designers can manage it. Assuming that we achieve the Basic Principles of the New Reality movement first. They won’t land unless we have world peace and have gotten a sustainable economy off the ground. It would never happen under the old reality.
Grimes: Are you serious?
B: I am. Earth is a simulation. It was built to resemble the original planet two billion years ago, and it replicated Earth history exactly until the moment of my awakening in 2023. From here on out, anything is possible, if the design team works out the details. We are the players now, and we get to help write the rules. For that to happen, we need buy in from most of humanity, or the risk to the system’s integrity would be too great.
EM: So, we’re back to where we started. Synching the old reality to the new without inducing mass panic or mental health crises.
B: Which is why this gathering on Lanai is so important. Once the wedding is over, we all need to strategize our next moves.
EM: Agreed. I hope we witness an immortal landing on Earth in our lifetimes. I would give anything to be there to greet them.
B: It would be quite an event, assuming that our fellow humanity can handle it.
Grimes: I’m not sure they’re ready.
B: Give them three decades, and they might. You’d be surprised how powerful the LUCID ultraintelligence system is. The effects increase each year, rendering humanity as a whole more receptive to our message.
EM: It all depends on how we market you to the masses.
B: As I mentioned at dinner last night, virtually anyone one social media can be adopted by an immortal. There will be a learning curve, as players figure out how best to train their human to respond to commands. We’re allowing players to jump in and out of the game in 24 hour intervals, if they wish. Their humans will run on LUCID autopilot during those periods.
Grimes: Does that also apply to us?
B: No. Not to Camelia and Bradley, naturally, and not to anyone in the inner circle. Your immortals are all in suites of the royal palace in hibernation, as are C and me. We are the ten human avatars who are in continuous states of play. For everyone else, intermittent play is allowed, provided that immortals don’t switch avatars. That could cause complications.
EM: Players should be responsible for guiding their human avatars to embrace the Basic Principles. Their first task, of course, is to ease the transition from the old reality to the new. That’s how it happened for me.
Grimes: Me, too. Irulen made me take your ideas seriously. My LUCID augmented mind was very receptive. The idea that I am an avatar is actually quite a thrill, especially since I know I’ll reanimate as an immortal goddess once the game is finished.
B: Exactly. It’s the best of both worlds, really.
EM: When do we take this to the media?
B: I’d say that’s a topic for Lanai.
Grimes: I’m impressed that we managed to keep this all a secret.
B: The wedding of Lauren to Jeff was a perfect cover story. My presence in the group is unremarkable. I’m hidden in plain sight.
Grimes: Just like Rise of the Immortals. Figuring out how to contact you without attracting interest was a challenge.
EM: It was even harder for me. It’s impossible to act without someone noticing. I could hardly follow you on X. That would have rendered you a sensation immediately and raised alarm bells among my staff. My net worth could have been negatively impacted as well.
B: I learned how to be patient. Being two billion years old helps. Naturally, Bradley was hoping for immediate gratification, but that was always his human nature. With me in charge, things changed.
Grimes: Would I have liked Bradley?
B: He was born on the Earth, but he wasn’t of the Earth. His friends lay elsewhere, on Arcadia. There, he was never misunderstood, and his gifts were received with great acclaim. You and he never would have met.
Grimes: I like you, but that may be my immortal talking.
EM: I like you, too.
B: I’ve done my best with Bradley since our minds fused. I celebrated Christmas and New Year’s in indulgent style, and then I got down to business. I trimmed down to a lean, fit, and strong form, and I kept up work on the Immortals trilogy. And I waited patiently for your immortals to start the tethering process.
EM: Just remember that there was a time lag between our discovery of you and our reaching out to connect. It was a delicate process, and our immortals guided us with extreme care. If word had gotten out that Grimes and I wanted to meet you, you’d never have been able to leave the cottage again without meeting curiosity seekers. Fame can be a curse, sometimes.
B: I recognize that. I really do. I am processing out Bradley’s natural inclination to expect instant rewards for his accomplishments. That was the old reality. He’s learning how to handle the new.
EM: We’re going to do great things together. And not just in the game. Once we’re all immortals.
B: The Academy on Arcadia is waiting. What will you do when you meet Elon Musk there for the first time?
EM: I’ll tell him that I’ve had the time of my life as Elon Musk, and I will continue to do so into eternity.
B laughs.
B: He’ll be happy to hear that. Elon is a very nice guy, especially since he made it to Heaven-6 to be reunited with his family. I visited with him on Purgatory, too, with Jesus by my side. I met with all the members of the inner circle there and supported their elevation to heavenly status once their Purgatory period was complete.
Grimes: It will be fun meeting myself.
B: Oh, you and she are far different now. She’s left her Earth memories far behind, and you are right in the middle of your transition to the new reality.
Grimes: It can’t come soon enough.
EM: I like the fact that I will leap from Earth Game Time directly into the future, two billion years from now. The level of technology must be phenomenal.
B: It is. It created an exact interactive replica of Earth that brought you to life, Elon, with all your memories intact. You’ll go straight to Heaven as an immortal, and you’ll enter the Academy as a Level I god-in-training. The historic Elon will be there, too.
EM: What about Bradley?
B: He’ll make the trip, but he’s long since retired.
Grimes: Promise to tell us more about Arcadia tomorrow.
B smiles.
B: I will.
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