“… and on Sunday,” Marcie smiled. “I want to give crafters something to do too. Maybe a wedding, or a ball?” She offered her half-formed ideas to the pink-haired girl that was helping her set her server up. Jessie nodded. They sat in Marcie’s living room. Jessie and her friend, a shorter, green-haired girl.
“You’re wanting to run these events every week, right?” Jessie asked. She did most of the talking. Marcie got the impression the second girl was tagging along with her friend. Any time she left the room, her two guests immediately took up chatting and giggling. Marcie nodded to answer Jessie’s question.
“Okay, that might be a little overkill, but you can change it later. And since you’re repeating them so often, we can make them less repetitive by changing them up. Wedding one week, a ball the next, and maybe a fair or farmer’s market to fill out the rest of the month. I recommend changing up the rest of the server events too.” Jessie said.
“Remember, you have the whole world. Mad Scientist Monday doesn’t have to take place in the same location every week. You can ask the AlterNet to randomize any variables from week to week,” Rana added a helpful note. Also… we need to talk about Wednesday,” she said. Jessie nodded.
“Ms. Sharp doesn’t want anything related to ‘aliens’…,” Jessie added air-quotes with her explanation. “in the AlterNet. So, your alien invasion is a no-go.”
“Oh… really?” Marcie was surprised. It was a feeling she had the chance to practice often lately. Her life changed completely once she took control of her Earth. That was the first step in learning about a completely new universe that she had no idea existed. “Why?” Marcie asked.
“Because aliens don’t exist,” Rana said. Marcie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.
“Then, what difference does it make?” she asked.
“Because, Ms. Sharp doesn’t want them to exist,” Jessie replied. Rana nodded as if what Jessie said made perfect sense. It didn’t.
“Okay, this is what I’m hearing, and I don’t get it,” Marcie said. “Ms. Sharp doesn’t want anyone in the AlterNet to talk about aliens, because they don’t exist. And she’s doing this so that .. they won’t exist?” Both girls nodded. “How does that work?”
“You’ve done some research on your own, have you heard of an Estrella named Andromeda?” Jessie asked. Marcie shook her head.
“What about the Calavera, Wonder?” Rana asked.
“Yes! She’s on CyberRiot, right?” Marcie asked. Rana nodded.
“Does anything else stand out about her?” Jessie asked.
“She’s a nano-swarm A.I.?” Marcie shrugged.
“That’s right. So is Andromeda. She joined CyberRiot too, and they have another A.I. Unique Soul named Metro. When Dana Sharp released the first AlterNet, centuries ago, -“
“Centuries?” Marcie interrupted. Jessie nodded.
“It’s not like she doesn’t have a thousand Muertes on her payroll; she’s not dying, like ever,” Rana giggled and Jessie joined in.
“When the first version released, we thought only humans and animals could be Uniques. Now, we have three sentient A.I. Unique Souls on one roller derby team. The AlterNet has a way of making things happen. I mean, it’s common knowledge that the AlterNet spreads to other universes on its own for the most part.”
“What does that have to do with aliens?” Marcie asked. “Are there alien Unique Souls?” Jessie shrugged.
“Ms. Sharp is trying to keep the AlterNet from thinking we want aliens. Because if it thinks we want aliens, it will create aliens. And for the most part, humanity has done a pretty good job of coming up with aliens that are good at killing us. They’d almost definitely be Unique Souls.”
“So… no aliens on Wednesday. Got it. Any other ideas?” Marcie asked.
“Yeah,” Jessie smiled. “Don’t decide right now. Leave it as a free day where you can try out different ideas. Don’t rush the decision like you did your server name,” Jessie giggled at Marcie. Rana and Marcie also smiled at the joke.
After Marcie’s first meeting with Unique Souls, she was left unhappy with the name she’d chosen for her Earth. ‘Marcie’s Test’ was meant to be a placeholder name. After researching everything she could, thanks to the node itself, she learned about the Star Academy. They cataloged all Earths they came across, and Marcie could change the name of her Earth with them. She was surprised when the meeting turned out to be with a pair of teenage girls. But, they certainly knew what they were talking about and had been pleasant the whole time.
It turned from a short conversation about changing the name to a full explanation about the fact that she now had complete control over her Earth. She wanted to make it interesting, and they certainly helped her with that.
“Well, I think we got all the broad-strokes ironed out, and the AlterNet will handle the rest. Did you decide on a server name yet?” Jessie asked. Marcie nodded.
“Marciegeddon.”
