Breaking the reality

The diner hummed with quiet conversation as Zoran leaned forward across the table, his eyes gleaming in the soft light of Godrov K2's sun. Across from him, Lina sipped her coffee, one eyebrow arched in skeptical amusement.

"I see you clearly just don't understand," Zoran said, his voice low and patient despite the frustration simmering beneath the surface.

Lina set down her cup with a small clink. "Then explain this to me like… mm… it's year 2000."

A smirk tugged at Zoran's lips. "Okay, imagine that you need to travel to another system…" He paused as Lina let out an exaggerated gasp.

"To another system?!" Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

Zoran rolled his eyes but chuckled. "Yeah! To another system!"

Lina burst into laughter, shaking her head. "Alright, go on then," she said, wiping at the corner of her eye. "I'm listening."

"Okay, so…" Zoran leaned back in his seat, collecting his thoughts. "You're flying to another system and the issue is it takes like 100 years or so. You don't really want to wait it out until you arrive. Also, most likely during your time people actually lived around 70 or 75 years… yeah, we sorted that out, but still… flying for 100 years is a bit boring activity…"

"Boring?" Lina cut in, her voice dripping with mock offense. "How did you solve that?!"

Zoran gave her an exasperated look before sighing and continuing. "No, seriously… we solved that by putting you into a world simulator. Essentially, you're in a deep sleep, but your brain is rewired to engage with the simulator."

Lina's brow furrowed. "Wait… I thought we freeze people in such cases?"

A small smile played on Zoran's lips as he shook his head. "No! People tried cryogenics, and for minor things like a few months it's okay, but after a year or two your brain literally turns into mush…" He took a sip of beer before continuing. "It's possible to keep your body in the perfect state across 100 years of flight, just really hard — any flare or physical disruption and you're gone."

Lina leaned forward slightly, her interest piqued despite herself. "Huh…"

"Another option that people tried is actually putting you into deep sleep," Zoran continued, his voice taking on a darker tone. "They even tested it on humans… well, it didn't go so well." Another sip of beer. "Your brain starts to **** at some point and there was this guy who literally turned into a vegetable after spending just one year in that state."

Lina's face paled slightly as she absorbed the information.

Zoran's expression softened. "So what people came up with is dropping you into a special state… it's like, you're dreaming but at the same time your body and brain are fully active; it's just your brain gets temporarily disconnected from your body and connected to the simulator."

"Simulator? Like virtual world simulator?" Lina asked, her curiosity now fully engaged.

"Exactly! For 100 years, you basically remain in an infinite dream of living another life… maybe even multiple ones." Zoran's eyes shone with excitement as he leaned closer.

"And what this person did… you said he broke something?" Lina nodded slowly, hanging onto every word.

"I'm actually not sure who this person was," Zoran admitted, his brow furrowing slightly. "Maybe it was a woman even… but that's the point… they didn't break anything." He took another sip of beer before continuing in a hushed tone. "In this simulation thing there is a god mode… it's like for controlling the state of the simulation there's this special protocol that can help you influence the simulation in some ways."

Zoran's voice rose with excitement as he spoke, his hands gesturing animatedly. "There was a testing command that you needed to produce to activate this god mode for debugging purposes… and the main thing is how it's activated!"

He nearly shouted those last words before catching himself and lowering his voice again.

"There's a special wave signature that you need to produce with your brain," Zoran explained, his eyes wide. "Usually people are specially trained for at least days to generate it with special trainers… and even given that, they use this in an environment where they know they're inside the simulation… so…"

"Wait… they actually activated it accidentally?" Lina interrupted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Exactly!" Zoran's grin was infectious. "His brain literally got trained to use this protocol… the guy is not even that smart!"

Lina let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Wow, okay, now I get it."

Zoran nodded enthusiastically before continuing. "They even simulate the time point where there's no mention of such simulation, just to make it safe." Lina tilted her head in confusion. "Well, to be honest, I don't understand why not activating god mode for everyone? Living in a god simulator sounds cool…"

Zoran shook his head vehemently. "No, well, it is cool and all… but not for 100 years." He paused before adding, "And besides, what's the point of god mode if everybody in the simulator has one?"

Lina frowned slightly as she considered this. "Wait a second, is it a collective simulation or just a personal one?"

Zoran's expression darkened as he leaned back in his seat. "The issue was in that case that the simulation was collective with additional simulated population… just imagine… millions of people getting stuck with some weirdo who literally can control anything and everything…"

Lina's face paled at the thought, her fingers tightening around her coffee cup.

"And that's not all…" Zoran continued, his voice dropping to a near whisper. "The simulator — to ensure safety — is sometimes able to influence your mind… well… for example, to make sure you won't wake up or start controlling your body again accidentally." He paused, letting the weight of those words settle over them both.

"The scariest part of the story…" Zoran's eyes met Lina's, his gaze intense. "This person actually found a way to exploit even that…"

"Holy shit," she breathed, her fingers trembling as she reached for her coffee cup again. "Okay… I get it

The story that was told here actually happened. On migration vessel 'KX-2768 — long distance modification, registration number #2f9a37e05af1 by Maltese Trade Federation®' that transported humans to another systems to settle on new planets.

The transported subject — that is, a human — accidentally or not turned on the 'God Mode'. There were around 23 million people onboard including human staff. The incident happened in 184 years before arrival and wasn't noticed until they arrived.