Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

The simulation went blurry and the sound garbled, the sights and sounds becoming a cacophonic barrage. Aya’s head spun at the sudden shift.

“Ai, stop.”

The simulation disappeared around her, and Aya blinked several times to reorient herself in the EtherSpace.

Wondering what had happened, she studied the files. From the 23:10 timestamp on, their sizes grew by nearly a million times, yet none showed any sign of actual tampering.

“Ai, parse the data streams on camera one.”

In a millionth of a second, the fox spirit pulled a single string out of the mess.

“Ai, what’s the rest of the data?”

Six hundred thousand and seventy-two exact copies of the same file, all echoing within a hundred thousandth of a second of each other.

While that might be a clever way to alter a file, it would’ve been far easier just to delete it. One of her hacker friends would’ve planted a virus to delete all copies. Perhaps this was a compilation error? “Ai, besides intentional tampering, what could cause this?”

Unknown.

“Ai, extract a single stream from each of the cameras, recompile the simulation, and play back.”

In a thousandth of a second, Ai had finished the task and the simulation restarted.

When the air shimmered, Aya ordered a pause.

“Ai, what is that distortion?”

Unknown.

“Ai, zoom in on the distortion until I tell you to stop.”

The shimmering air grew larger in the simulation, stopping at tangled threads of light.

“Ai, continue zooming in.”

At maximum resolution.

The surveillance cameras in the temple were too basic to pick up much more than video and audio. Had they been Peacekeeper cameras, they would’ve picked up electromagnetic wavelengths at much higher resolution.

Peacekeeper cameras… “Ai, upload data from my uniform camera from five minutes ago and display.”

The temple scene disappeared, replaced by a two-dimensional view of the coffee shop. She was at the counter with Siena and Kentaro.

“Ai, play.”

The scene played forward with them ordering, up until she’d suggested to Aya that she put on some clothes. The air shimmered.

“Ai, pause.”

The image froze.

The shimmering air looked similar to that at the temple, though not exactly the same.

“Ai, analyze all electromagnetic data and report.”

The anomaly is consistent with an aperture into a parallel timespace.

Was that what had happened in the temple?

“Ai, what would be the effect of that aperture on the cameras at Higashi Honganji?”

Running scenarios… It would likely cause data distortions.

“Ai, return to the temple simulation and resume.”

The temple simulation filled in her EtherSpace. A squat human figure emerged from the shimmering air, dressed in ancient robes and wearing wooden sandals and a ridiculously wide straw hat.  His boyish face and pudgy stature made him look adorable.

“Honorable Sir,” he called. It extended what looked to be a wooden platter with a white cube on it. “Would you like some tofu?”

What was tofu? “Ai, search for Tofu.”

An image of a spongy white block appeared next to Aya in the simulation, along with a description.  Apparently, it was made from calcium and something called a soybean. It was eaten throughout what was Asia, and then spread to the rest of the world during the Age of Greed.  Apparently, some religious sects forbade eating meat, so their adherents ate tofu instead; then later, health gurus touted it across the globe.

So where had this boy come from, and what was he doing with tofu?

Takashi froze in place and turned around. Setting an open hand on his chest, he bowed his head. “Greetings, may I help you?”

The boy came closer, plate of tofu in hand. “For you, on this rainy evening.”

Takashi eyed it. “What is it?”

“Food.  Here.” The boy proffered the tofu again.

Takashi waved his hands back and forth. “It’s late—”

The boy flipped the plate, sending the tofu up into a gentle arc. Takashi tracked its path with wide eyes.

Then, the boy leaped at the man, his delicate little hands transforming into enormous fists. His mouth opened wider than it should have, exposing long, sharp teeth.

Aya would’ve screamed in the real world.

Takashi didn’t have time to. The monster rained a barrage of punches, knocking him back until he fell to the ground. It leaped onto him and yanked his limbs into odd angles. Takashi did cry out then, until one more blow to his head silenced him. When he lay there unmoving, the creature sank its teeth into his body, right below the navel.  Its mouth rent cloth and flesh. It pulled back, bringing intestines with it. Blood ran down its jaws as it let out a cackle.

Had she been in the real world, Aya would’ve vomited.

Leaving Takashi in a pool of his own innards, it returned to the shimmering air, stepped into the hole, and disappeared.

Aya jacked out, and found herself panting more from shock than from her pitiful lungs.  Her heart raced, going along with the disorientation all hackers suffered from the shift in time.

Siena came up and sat down beside her, two cups of tea in hand. “What’s the matter? It looks like you’ve seen a demon.”

“I might have.” Aya shuddered.

“What are you talking about?” Kentaro plopped down in the seat across from them, a drink in one hand and a platter with three plates of nutritional cubes in the other.

“The murder last night. I just saw footage.” Aya took as deep a breath as she could, only to cough up thin mucous.

“How could you, when the Peacekeepers couldn’t?” Kentaro asked.

“First, who is to say they couldn’t, and the government isn’t just feeding us a lie?”

Kentaro scuffed his foot in a circle on the floor. “If there’s a first, what’s the second?”

“Second, even if they couldn’t, it doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“Go on,” Siena said.

Satisfied Kentaro was cowed, Aya continued. “A monster that looked like a boy from ancient