The Fight for The Real World

June 23, 2024. Time-12:30 a.m. (midnight).

It was a beautiful night. The full moon filled the sky with a beautiful white light. Walter, a 25 year old, was looking outside the window, gazing into the amazing night sky. “ I will savor this scene for my entire life in heaven”, he thought. He took out his pen and a notepad, and scribbled some lines. It was going to be his last poem. He wanted this to be as lovely and romantic as possible, a poem which will help all the people on earth ease their sadness and grief, and look into the positives of life and beauty of mother earth that were taken for granted.

He was an average blogger, with a small number of 20-30 people eagerly waiting for his posts. Writing stories and poems was his favorite pastime, after his work in an electric power plant. He had his fair share of happy and sad times.

When he started blogging, initially it was all about expressing his thoughts. But slowly the thought of views got over him. The views were really less, which was making him frustrated. He shared his posts on his Instagram stories, and checked again and again about who viewed them and who didn’t. The ratio was always staggering, 120 views on his IG story, 6 views on his blog. He thought, “Am I doing something wrong, is my writing so bad?”. But slowly, he came to an understanding. “ No one cares what you do. No one ever has time for reading.” He reflected on his own behavior, and came to a conclusion. He had also done the same. He had ignored many of the posts of his own friends, because most of the times he was not interested in the type of content they make, or was too lazy to give them a read or view it. He imagined their frustration when this type of thing happened to them.

It was his moment of enlightenment. He had already forgotten the purpose of why he started writing. And he clicked on the restart button of his blog and started again, a journey of words so beautiful and enticing that some people started recognizing his work. This was a month ago.

His thoughts slowly faded to the present situation. He sat in front of his laptop and started writing. He won’t be able to sleep the whole night, that he was sure. Neither were the 10 billion people on earth going to sleep…

Time- 2:00 a.m.

Walter completed writing his poem. He posted it on his blog and in his IG story. He swapped through the stories of his other friends. Some have posted their own videos asking people for forgiveness if they had done any harm to others. Some were posting their photos from childhood till today as a highlight of their perfect, happy life. Some were holding live prayers that some miracle will happen and they will all be saved. Some were posting their last poems, stories, reels, link to their YouTube videos, etc. He looked at some of them, closed the app. He stood up and walked towards the front room of his house, opened the door and went outside. Many people were standing outside, some taking photos with their families and friends, others sitting together and talking, looking out from the windows of their houses, video calling their families staying far away to tell a final goodbye.

Walter took out his phone and video called his mom and dad and his sis. They didn’t say a word to each other for 5 minutes. They wanted to look thoroughly at each other for one last time. “ I don’t know what to say, but I love you all and will always love you until my very last breath.” Tears strolled down their faces. “ We love you both. And will always love you”, his dad said, who broke down after saying those words. “ You will always be my two little naughty kids”, his mom said, crying uncontrollably. “ Okay let’s say goodbye with a smile!” his sister said, fighting her tears and smiling. “ Goodbye!”, all of them bade farewell, cheerfully.

Time- 2:30 a.m.

The video suddenly halted. The internet has been shut down. People started gathering their phones near a tree at the center of the society. Walter was roaming here and there talking to his neighbors and people living in his society. Suddenly, a loud voice came. “ Wendy, will you marry me?”. Everyone turned towards a small tree in the garden of the society. Tears of joy strolled down Wendy’s eyes. “ Of course!”. People started clapping. “At last he confessed”, someone said. “ Let’s have a wedding ceremony now!”. People got ready. Everyone surrounded the couple.  Rob put a ring in Wendy’s finger. Applause and flowers started showering upon them. Rob and Wendy kissed each other. The head of the society exclaimed, “ Let’s make some food and have a party!” All the people of the society went to their houses and brought food items and drinks. Walter went near Wendy, “ Rob is a virgin, you know.” Rob overheard it, and blushed. “ You are such a cutie pie”, Wendy pulled Rob’s cheeks. Both started moving towards Rob’s house. Walter said, “ Come here again in an hour. Let’s eat and drink together.”

Time- 3:30 a.m.

The preparations were almost done. Wendy and Rob returned too. Everyone started eating and drinking. The society became lively. “ Walter writes poem. Make him recite!” a voice came from the gathering. Walter was getting ready to flee, but was pulled by everyone towards the Center Stage. “Walter! Walter!” Everyone shouted. Walter had no option. “ Wait a minute. I will bring it.” He went to his house, took the page on which he had written the poem, and ran towards the gathering. Excitement glowed in each and everyone’s eyes. Walter opened his mouth and started reciting…

“And that’s it!” Walter looked towards the audience. Almost everyone was in tears. They were tears of love.

After sometime, everyone started hugging each other. Some started lying on the ground, looking at the night sky which had almost turned into a bright red color.

Time- 5:00 a.m.   

The asteroid fell. Dust and smoke everywhere. Strong breeze was blowing due to the impact. A huge blast. Everything was obliterated. Walter started losing his sight, and the next instant he felt as if he was falling into absolute nothingness…

Unknown date. Unknown time

Walter opened his eyes. He was sure he reached heaven. He was able to see the earth, almost as debris. But the problem was he was looking towards the earth from the outside, from the space! He tried to move, but couldn’t. He observed his surroundings. He was inside a blue sphere, and was floating with some other blue spheres nearby. Some people in some kind of spacesuit were collecting the spheres and pushing them into a hole in space. When it was his turn, he couldn’t believe his eyes! “Rob! Wendy!” he tried to shout. But to no avail. His voice couldn’t be heard outside.

And the next thing he saw was yellow light all around him. The light was so bright that he couldn’t see anything.

He opened his eyes. He was floating, yet again, in space. A spacecraft started sucking in the blue spheres. In front of him, to his astonishment, was a another blue sphere, a big blue sphere with green patches all around. The Earth! He pinched himself, but what he saw didn’t fade away. He got sucked into the spacecraft.

He heard some voices.

“ Who told him to destroy that earth in the first place.”

“ It was reasonable for him. Otherwise our customers will leave this game and look for the other one. We were already losing some customers due to the defective pieces on this earth, and the other one was not being used much. So it was the best choice.”

“ I think this would be for the better…”

The sound started fading. But he was already in shock. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Are we living in a simulation?” the very thought made him sick. Before he could grasp the situation, the blue sphere disappeared, and he started falling into nothingness again.

Suddenly, a hand emerged from the nothingness. “ Let’s return to our home!”. There was no mistake, it was her hand, his very own Samantha. He held her hand tight, and she started pulling him towards her…

Walter opened his eyes, and looked here and there. Wendy and Rob were near him. His parents, his neighbors, many people he knew. Samantha was holding his hands. His hands were wet with her tears. Everyone around him were in tears. “Where am I?”,  he asked. No answers. A nurse entered the room and asked everyone to go out of the room. Only one person was allowed to stay. Everyone went outside. The doctor entered the room, and asked Walter some questions. He didn’t have any answers. “ It will take some time for him to recover his memory. Nurse, make arrangements for the therapy right away.” “Sure sir”, she said, and walked out of the room in a hurry. “ Someone must stay with him all the time. It is a time when a person needs utmost care” the doctor said. “ I will stay with him”, Samantha said, her face showing determination.

The therapy started. He started learning how to walk, talk and eat, and other basic functions. He started regaining his hazy memory. In a few weeks he was aware who he was, what happened and how he landed here. He was working in an electric power company and also wrote short stories. He was hit by a car, and got a severe injury on his head. And then he fell into coma for a week.

Almost recovered, Walter met his parents, his friends, and everyone who was waiting outside the hospital for his return. He hugged his parents and his sister. He looked at Samantha, who was still in tears of joy. He kissed her lips, and hugged her tightly.

Rob asked Wendy, “ Are you sure you have erased his memory and put the memory of the defunct Walter into his?”  

“Yes, I have. Those fools don’t know where to talk. Our whole game might have been under threat because of them.”

“ Anyways we needed to replace his memory, so it’s fine.”

“Hmm”

“Have you placed our copies on this earth?”

“Yes. What a lazy fool you are. Not doing anything, just having fun”

Rob smiled. They entered a warp, and vanished in thin air.

Years passed. Walter became an ardent supporter of the simulation theory. " We are living in a simulation game". He would always say. He was now a well-renowned writer in the science fiction genre, and got famous for his novel based on the simulation theory.

" It's still not the right time, and we are still not strong enough to keep up with their advanced technology. But I am sure the day will come, when your competition will lead to such new heights that you will upgrade us, the human beings, your creation. It will make us stronger and stronger. That will be the time we will fight for our freedom. And you will be helpless."

"Anyways, Thanks to a certain someone for not completely removing my previous memory completely, and also to help me reconcile with Samantha. The Samantha whose body was never found on the other earth. Even a small speck that is left out can help us completely revive the memory or help us imagine what would have happened. And I am not the only one. There are other people."

"Underestimating your own creation will cost your kind dearly. You all must pay for making us your puppets. There will be consequences."

These were the last words of Walter, to a magazine outlet to whom he talked to moments before he died.

It was a small incident, but a grave one. The theory's acceptance grew far and wide. Earth's were destroyed, humans were upgraded to fight the other simulation company. Both of them went to extreme tech until users reported that they were not able to control the characters of the game. It was the start, the start of a revolution, the Resistance. Both companies were surprised how this could happen even if those humans have no memories of their previous lives. The rival company was just a rip-off of the main company. But had grown into a company that was of equal importance as the main one. Investigations revealed that there was a speck of memory always left behind by some workers intentionally, which has now led them into an impending doom.

Rob and Wendy, who had just retired from work, were shot dead. "Mention not, Walter" Wendy said. All others who were with them were killed. They thought of the entire struggle they endured to keep their plan under wraps. If they had spoken, their whole plan would have been exposed. They were under strict surveillance during work. But there were loop holes in the system, and spots where they could gather and discuss their plans. The system was getting old, so it was easy to find them. After all, the owners and many employees were electronic humans, barring a few humans, whom they kept for their own maintenance and for the maintenance of the game. Even the users were electronic humans.

It was over. The Resistance was beyond control. Both the companies, were destroyed. The people of the final simulated earth from both the companies came into the real world. It was the start, the start of a new world for them, a world of freedom, their long lost freedom...