Kenshou of Solopsism (excerpt)

Kenshou of Solopsism

-xi: Unseen-

Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more – more unseen forms become manifest to him. Jalal ad-Din Rumi

In this world, there is the level of the seen, the unseen and then the world which stretches beyond the scope and the imagination of the eyes. Mankind, in its ever expanding search to find meaning in life, has desired to create contact in new lands yet to be explored. It reached out to new continents, and then, attempted to conquer space. Inwards to the atom and outwards to the stars, man explores and masters in an endless, elusive quest.

Even if he were to reach the worlds of the unseen, would he understand? Would he still feel as though his soul stands alone?

Landing in the world of blues, greens, grays, blacks and whites – the lines which spread to infinity – calm eyes watch the data streams run crazily up and down. These numbers of zeroes and ones rise up to an unseen sky forming windowless blocks of information. Buildings, sky scrapers – some as impenetrable as stone, others as translucent as gel. Experience taught one about the intricacies of penetration – of plumbing the crusts of some, the gel of others to reach the hidden information inevitably inside. Before him, it all gave way – eventually – and so, he carried the keys to the most valuable treasure.

Everyone knows it: Information, is all.

But he must walk this shadow world to find the truth he sought and his only guideline – his only clues – were the half-formed images shared with that other mind linked to him in such a way that no amount of machinery could explain. A paradox even for the most well-ordered mind, indeed.

He surveyed the land around him, the heavily ingrained habit of a soldier and hunter. But nothing had changed from the last time – at least, no important alterations leaped to the eye.

As usual, he stood alone. No one had penetrated this land in such a way before. For many, the absolute silence, the lack of any living thing and the alien nature of this existence would be daunting.

But this is far from my first exploration, he assured the other. It was an empty land then… as it is now…
You have come here before?
Yes.
Why?
It was an experiment – which I let them believe had failed… but it became an escape during those long moments of boredom – and pain – during the… operations and such-like…
You were lucky.
Luck had nothing to do with it – ability did.

Then he moved forward – walking would not adequately describe the movement one can make through this world of information. Rather, one flowed with the streams, or flew through the strands. Standing on the horizontal flat pieces of data which represented the earth – as though the satellites were mirrors of data, the world stretched before them, limited only by the amount of information Samurai could access.
And you are King…
Hardly.

The DataCity gave away to barren lands – information relayed through the powerful sensors of cameras, satellites and other images harvested in by the second. The land was not so heavily populated here – spotted by large farm-factories and greenhouses – and then the sea coast drew close. It was a formless black, unpredictable even for most data – and beyond it – lay nothingness.

For a moment, he stood there on the edge of the impenetrable void, gazing into the darkness – until, with a little thought, he gathered enough information.

What is this? The Other asked.
The Sea, he replied. That which is unforeseeable – data here has no meaning. Such is the changeability of the waves.
How will you span it? Can you span it?
With the mind, of course, was the simple reply. Here, data is all.

At that, from within his own formless (yet formed) body – and from without – data swirled into new byte-streams. New extensions into the dataworld. Widening from silver threads outward – increasing in width – as though a bridge, the data rose up. A foot, then another, were set on the first steps upward – confidently as though riding air was an easy feat.

Incredible!
Indeed?
Something out of nothing!
Such is the power of creativity, was the dry response.
I didn’t think you were skilled in creation.
But of course, how else may a person solve problems as they arise? Only creativity may aid one in surmounting the insurmountable.
I don’t know if it’s just being here – but you sound more insufferable in here than usual!

Samurai did not respond. Focus was now needed to maintain this bridge. As the bridge reached out, the slender figure of the data explorer also rose. But even as the kilometers sped past them, the void revealed nothing, giving naught from its depths.

The bridge now a slender line seemed almost fairy like, giving off a faint glow which resonated with things far below in the depths.
There’s something in the sea! Look! See! There and there!

A pause, then, as Samurai turned to look into the abysses of the dark. And sure enough, the glimmers which had caught his peripheral vision was indeed glancing off of faint edges of glowing data far below. In the ocean. It was not living, nor was it in operation. Rather, it was the indifferent eyes of the world’s machine observers which had caught these still solid unshakeable facts.
The ocean floor, more than likely, he said.
But doesn’t it look strange to you? Do you remember these – these are ships – from… my time… I recognize them!

Samurai cocked his head.
The data is insufficient to fully identify these objects as ships or anything like that. In some of the more securely locked information blocks of the government, perhaps, we can find the truth – but I doubt it. Still, let us draw closer so that I might be able to record the existence of this underwater object… it does not resemble a ship that I am familiar with. And underneath it, looks more like an older styled group of buildings.

After a while, they drew further up and out in hopes of finding the land which Hime had called home. But there was nothing to be found. Nothing revealed itself to the eye of data.

Samurai shook his head.
Whatever we seek is not to be found here.

The bridge began to retract then, pulling back like a hand to the safety of the main data streams. There was an awful sensation then in the link between them. It could not find voice or shape in that world of zeroes and ones – but it faded, that unsettling sensation. When it finally disappeared, he found himself alone.

Before he closed his eyes to terminate his own data tether, Samurai cast one look around his silent refuge. He was – as he had been before – alone.

—-

This is an excerpt from a novel I’ve been working on for some time.

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