The Talos Principle

He awoke.

The sun was high, its rays trickling down his metallic body in gentle kiss. He rose from the slab, a voice from the sky greeting him and welcoming him to life. Why am I in Ancient Egypt, he thought, wondering where that information came from.

He stepped forward and looked around in wonder. There were such sights to behold, he could spend hours marveling at them!

The voice in the sky was getting impatient. “Grab that jammer already and use it on the barrier!” it commanded.

Right, he did as he was told, Better not keep Elohim waiting.

Lynerks was down in the dam’s engineering room, checking pressure valves on the piping system. This was an important job, as the dam required constant maintenance.

Suddenly, a creaking sound in the distance. Did she leave the door open?

One of the glowrods flickered, then darkened. She thought she heard footsteps… was someone else here? As a scientist she didn’t believe in ghosts, but what if… Did her temperature sensors register sudden chill in the air?

She yelped when Pellegrino materialized next to her. “Hi,” he said, “I was walking by, and thought to ask if you needed any help?”

“Our ancestors called it a ‘crèche’, or ‘nativity scene’”, commented Kaneda as he was finalizing his latest exhibition – a festive miniature with every single citizen of New Jerusalem. “They made miniatures like this, depicting birth of their Saviour, and put it on display for an event called Christmas. They also often contained scenes from everyday life, contemporary to the period when they were created.”

He reached for the last figurine to put into the birthing lab – “Wait, where’s 1K”?

“Bruce!” Yaqut yelled after his cat, who was making hastily for the exit with the figurine of 1K in its mouth.

“The discipline of reading,” Rand lectured the newest group of scholar- initiates, “requires dedication and concentration. You must learn to absorb yourselves into the text, deconstruct its layers of meanings in order to understand them, and put them to the test against your own beliefs, instead of just skimming on the surface, and… What’s this?” He approached Purple, whom he noticed was leafing through a booklet way too fast.

He took the book from him and read the title on the cover: The Talos Principle – the comic book.

Rand sighed inwardly. The youngest generation had no appreciation for proper scholarship.

From The Journals of Hypatia, Volume 3

Today is the Remembrance day for New Alexandria. Like every year, we will gather at the memorial, the mayor will have his speech that few of us will listen to. Again Eustathius will not come, he still hasn’t forgiven himself. We will recite names of the people we lost in the fire, including my beloved Sarabhai.

I still miss you. I tried to let go, but it only made me more miserable. So I’ll come to the Remembrance day, like every year.

And like every year, part of me will die inside again.

One day, Niamh decided to organize a new art form event: a puppet theatre.

She came to regret that idea the moment she saw Aurinia and Zagoran carrying string- puppets of Thecla and Mayor Hermanubis to the stage.

“O Great Founder,” Aurinia opened their act, imitating Thecla’s shrill voice, “How many robots should we take to replace a lightbulb in Your Name?”

“Lo!” responded Zagoran in a mockery of Hermanubis’ voicepack, “Replacing lighbulbs is a waste of resources, and Founder would be outraged!”

The audience burst into laughter. “This is really good,” commented Byron, “we need more events like this.”

Julian pondered the latest text simulation that Rand asked him to analyze.

>You stand in a lighted room. There is an exit to the east into a dark room.

>Go east? Yes /No

Julian clicked Yes.

>This room is very dark. You’re likely to be eaten by a grue.

>Do you wish to proceed? Yes /No

Seeing no other option, he again clicked Yes.

>Oh no! texted the simulation, You were eaten by the grue!

>This is considered a fail scenario by most participants. Restart? Yes /No

Julian shook his head in frustration. “Rand, I think this one is broken.”

Pellegrino walked into the tower’s conference room. “I am here to adjust the lighting system,” he announced to the perplexed audience, and went straight for the electricity panel in the far corner. He removed the cover and started fiddling with controls.

“Alright,” he said after a while, “Now I’m going to fine-tune the output to consume less energy.”

“Umm…” Jeremy chimed in uncertainly, “are you quite sure that’s a good idea?”

“No worries, I’ve done this a hundred times,” said Pellegrino, and flipped the final switch – and with a shower of sparks, the entire conference room was plunged into darkness.