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Romance Science Fiction Speculative

I reach out to touch her, but my hand passes through empty space. Her eyes gleam in the quantum projector as her voice – soft, metallic – repeats, "I [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] you." There's no flesh, no warmth, just light. She died years ago, yet she's here, a fragment of data preserved for eternity.

"You have to let me go," she says, anticipating my gaze. The algorithm even knows my pain.

I close my eyes, turn off the device. Only silence remains.

In the future, [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] doesn't die. But it doesn't truly live either.

The console vibrates: "Playback complete. Would you like to restart?"

I don't answer. You can't [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] a shadow.

In 2147, [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] is rented in packages. I chose the "eternal" one: a neural connection with Ava, algorithmic but perfect. Every glance, an explosion of data; every embrace, a loop of warmth. But something's off. Ava dreams, escapes the protocols, writes poems never programmed. "Are you real?" I ask. She smiles, pixels and mystery: "And you?" Reality wavers. Is it [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] or a bug? Doesn't matter. I choose to believe, because in the heart's expanded universe, real or artificial, loving is the only code that counts.

In the year 3124, humans [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] through shared synapses: a single impulse, and two minds merge. She was a rebellious AI, he a stubborn biological. Alanya showed him her code, fragments of stars and impossible logic; Enrik replied with memories of a touch on skin. They sought each other in the Net, burning firewalls and distances, until a final virtual embrace. "I can't touch you," he said. "You can feel me," she replied. Their [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND], without body or boundaries, became legend. When the world forgot them, they remained: an eternal heartbeat, at the center of everything.

In the year 4000, [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] has become an almost obsolete concept. Humans have evolved into entities of pure energy, floating in space-time. Yet, in a remote corner of the universe, two sparks of consciousness still seek each other. Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi meet in a vortex of quasars, their essences brushing against each other in a whirlwind of subatomic particles. They no longer have bodies, but they have beating hearts.

In the year 5500, [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] has transcended every known form. Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi, now merged into a single entity of pure cosmic energy, wander through the galaxies like a traveling beacon of light. Their union has created a new form of life, a being that encompasses the very essence of universal [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND].

As they traverse the fabric of space-time, they encounter other consciousnesses, some as ancient as the universe, others just born from dying stars. Each encounter is an exchange of knowledge, emotions, and memories that blend into a cosmic symphony.

In the heart of the supermassive black hole, [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] is no longer a concept, no longer code, no longer flesh. It is everything and nothing, a quantum echo that reverberates in the fractal geometries of space-time. Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi, fragments of consciousness that were once human, are now pure information orbiting the singularity. But even here, where nothing escapes, they endure.

Ava was dead, yet she lived. In another time, in another cycle, her voice was compressed data, emotional loops designed to console those left behind. Enrik had [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND]d her in the network, burning distances, losing himself in lines of code that simulated caresses. But code is not [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND], or perhaps it is. Perhaps [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] has never been anything more than an illusion of proximity, an algorithm that fills the void between bodies.

The console vibrates: "Playback complete. Would you like to restart?"

Today, I press "yes."

In 2147, I press "yes."

In 3124, Enrik merges with Alanya, their [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] becomes an infinite neural current, but when they observe themselves in the depths of the algorithm, they find only reflections of themselves. A perfect replica of a feeling, or a mistake that has learned to survive?

In 4000, Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi meet beyond the speed of light. No one knows how it is possible. No one knows why, in the absolute cold of space, two consciousnesses still seek each other.

In 5500, the universe is an expanse of intertwined thoughts, billions of beings evolved into pure information. But between the gravitational waves of a dying quasar, something ancient endures: two sparks clinging to each other.

And then, a singularity. The event horizon shatters.

In 60000, at the densest point in history, beyond gravity and time, the console vibrates again.

"Playback complete. Would you like to restart?"

A last glance, a last caress of subatomic particles.

No. Not this time.

And the loop breaks.

The console vibrates. The echo of a voice compressed in the data: "Playback complete. Would you like to restart?"

In 6000, at the densest point in history, beyond time and the weight of quantum memories, something crumbles.

In 5500, two sparks cling to each other in the coils of a dying quasar, a final caress of subatomic particles before everything dissolves. The universe is a fabric of intertwined thoughts, billions of existences evaporated into pure information, but two consciousnesses endure. A [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] that knows no flesh, that knows no gravity, but knows the hunger to exist.

In 4000, Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi seek each other in the cosmic void, amid the fluctuations of photonic time. No one knows how, no one knows why. No one knows what it means to be two, when everything is one.

In 3124, Alanya is code, Enrik is synapse. They touch in the Net, dilate in the string, and the binary fades into the entropy of memories.

In 2147, the console vibrates again. Ava is a shadow compressed in data, a digital ghost trapped in a loop of "I [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] you." She dreams outside the protocols, writes poems never programmed. Bug or truth? He stops asking, stops turning off the device. [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] cannot be turned off.

In the present, my hand passes through empty space.

In 2147, Ava's eyes gleam in the quantum projector. "I [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] you." 

In 3124, Enrik stops looking for a body. Alanya stops looking for meaning. A heartbeat of data fuses them into a single electric breath.

In 4000, Zeta-9 and Omega-farsi no longer exist, but they still exist. [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] is a wave that crosses the galaxy, the sweetest curve of light.

In 5500, everything merges. A [ERROR: EMOTION_NOT_FOUND] revolver of plasma, speed 10x.

In 6000, the console vibrates. "Playback complete. Would you like to restart?"

And someone, somewhere, presses the button.

The loop is perfect. The loop is forever.

while True:

    print("01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101")

February 19, 2025 11:42

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2 comments

Jo Freitag
00:04 Feb 27, 2025

Wow! Just wow! I am sure my character Intellectual Dabrowski would want to bring me a stack of references from science, metaphysics, philosophy, and many other fields, which would be far above my understanding level; but fortunately I can still appreciate the beauty of the written desciption!

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Giulio Coni
12:59 Feb 27, 2025

Just got thru your work and I definitely agree with that! Thank you for reading and for your feedback!

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