Chapter Two


    Damien returned his awareness to his body and opened his eyes feeling a newfound determination to survive. He felt a degree of growth in emotional maturity, which made him realize how much of his previous idiosyncrasies had been directly related to his emotional immaturity. With this realization came strength, purpose, and motivation.


    Damien felt spiritually rejuvenated and encouraged by this progress, even if it was only the first step, and only equivalent to opening the door. That door was still a significant milestone, which signaled the start of his spiritual journey. Refocused and determined, he was eager to dive back into what he was now thinking of as his inner void.


    No longer feeling overly timid and with a sense of eager anticipation to explore this strange and uncharted frontier. He couldn’t help bursting into laughter as he recited...,


    “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!”


    Ok, Damien admitted, he may not have made as much progress in eliminating his inner child as he first thought, but maybe that was for the best. Humor was also a key essential ingredient in human psychology.


    Damien first considered all the new discoveries his impromptu excursion to the outer rim of the star system had revealed. For starters, the temple he was inside of is located at the base of an enormous volcano which centers an island, the size of Australia back on earth. The volcano is actively spewing a continuous plume of smoke, which means an eruption could have happened or could happen at any time. The island is tropical, with an uninterrupted, densely overgrown rainforest canopy. He did detect civilian population centers splattered across the island with his senses.


    The planet was a moon of a much larger planet, which resembled Saturn with her rings. The surface of the moon had many island archipelagos, but no large land masses or continents. The ocean was teaming with life, some so massive it put the largest dinosaur on Earth to shame. As for the rest of the star system, his awareness had become too hazy by that point, that he could only make out, a dozen or so planetoids of any significance, along with three core suns of various size and color.


    Damien’s timetable and perspective needed to change drastically. He simply didn’t have time to waste and needed to get as far away from this hell mouth as possible. He needed to reconstruct his body, and swiftly. His hope lay with “the Force”, and he needed to trust the Force to guide him to salvation.


    Damien was once again floating in his inner void, this time however his state of being was calm and open. While sitting in a metaphorical lotus position within the void, he was attempting to push his awareness outwards, hoping to at least be able to define the shape, size, and boundary of this strange space within him.


    However, all his attempts failed spectacularly as he simply felt absolutely no connection to the space around him. That wasn’t exactly true, he felt “the Force” all around him, along with a hazy sense of this place. This led him to think of this place less as an actual void and more of an empty canvas, metaphorically speaking of course. In a way he could never explain, he sensed that this space was waiting, that it wanted to be something, that it needed his input, to be able to make that change from nothing into something. The only problem was he had no idea how to, or even what he was supposed to input.


    During the process of wracking his brain for ideas, he began to consider what he personally would want this space to be. For an overall concept, he decided on a simulation, just like “The Matrix”, where he had full administrative authority over the content of the simulation. For the environment, he wanted an exact copy of his home back on Earth, which he had painstakingly designed to be a fully functioning modernized replica of the “Wayne Manor” from “the Batman” comics. He also wanted his “Bat Cave” fully functioning private laboratory he had excavated and built underneath his home.


    It wasn’t until he came out of his mussing that he realized the entire space around him was no longer an empty void. Instead, he was floating like a ghost in the center of the living room, of his home back on Earth. However, from the view through the window, he could still see the familiar emptiness of the void in the background.


    “How is this possible?”


    Damien’s shock was immediately interrupted by a voice he was all too familiar with, and one he never expected to hear again. This voice belonged to his “Interactive Artificial Intelligence Assistant” that he had spent nearly twenty years building and trying to perfect. For a model to base the AI’s personality matrix on, he selected, “Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred”, from “The Dark Knight” movie franchise, played by “Michael Cain” ....,


    “Excuse me Sir. Do you require assistance?”


    “Alfred., is that really you?”


    “Sorry Sir. I’m afraid I do not understand your inquiry. Would you please try to rephrase your question and ask again.”


    “Alfred, disregard this line of questioning.”


    “Very good Sir. Will there be anything else Sir.”


    “Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.”


    “Very good Sir.”


    Damien set aside the craziness of the situation and began to systematically explore his house. What he found was a fully intact replica, according to his memories. The Laboratory beneath his home was even fully equipped just the way he last saw it.


    Wanting to test a theory, he visualized himself as a virtual avatar. For inspiration, he pictured himself as “Parzival” from “Ready Player One”. His floating awareness solidified and morphed into a perfect 3D rendering of “Parzival”. It was truly amazing, his avatar had perfect tactile sensory perception.


    Grinning like the geek he was, Damien wanted to try a new approach and walked to a cleared section of the laboratory wall. He visualized the interior of an I-Max theater, and the wall shifted and expanded outward, the floor spread and sank forming stadium seating. Where once stood a straight wall, now opened out into a full-size commercial theater.


    Damien’s vision for the theater was to create a virtual CIC “Combat Information Center” for his physical body, that was fully interactive via input from his real body’s five senses, “Sight”, “Sound”, “Taste”, “Smell”, and “Touch”. He divided the stadium seating area into five partitions around the outer perimeter, with a single core partition.


    For “Sight” he converted the large, curved “I-max" screen into a “Smart Digital Display Screen”, which broadcasted a video feed from his physical body’s sight picture in real time. He designated and customized one of the partitioned off sections of seating, for a visual analysis editing, and formatting suite. Damien created a virtual assistant, a dedicated NPC “Non-Player-Character" bot analyst, specifically designed to gather, catalogue, and analyze the incoming visual data. As a model template for the NPC, he chose a computer-generated female analyst, which he could customize later.


    Damien repeated the process for “Sound”, “Taste”, “Smell”, and “Touch”, assigning each their own dedicated NPC bot analyst, specifically specialized for their designated sense. For the sixth, and core section of seating, he designated it as “Brain”, this area would act as the coordinator for the entire CIC system.


    The only thing left to do was to integrate the CIC into the “HIVE OS” platform. “HIVE Interconnected virtual Entity”, was “Winters Technologies” signature proprietary operating system platform.


    Damien took the concept of a “hive mind” and brought it into the cyber world. With it, he constructed a virtual hive operating system, which incorporated all the computational power of each device connected into the system, into a solitary virtual entity. This allowed each program running on the system to be efficiently optimized with the full support of the entire computational power of the “HIVE”.


    However, it was only after being paired with an AI “artificial intelligence” that the HIVE OS platform became an absolute monster in the areas of efficient computational analysis and data processing speed. The HIVE OS platform soon became an instrumental keystone, and foundation for “Winters technologies” ....,


    “Alfred, run a scan for all devices within your detection range, that are not connected to our HIVE OS platform, and display the list in the holo-tank.”


    “Very good Sir, my scan is completed. I detected seventy-two devices that are unconnected to the HIVE OS platform. Here is a list of these devices. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, assimilate all devices listed into the HIVE OS platform.”


    “Very good Sir, I have assimilated all devices into the HIVE OS platform. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, recover the file “Tactical UAV UI HUD” from the archive, then upload and install it into device “Brain”. I want to use it as our foundational platform, to build out the UI HUD “User Interface” “Heads Up Display” for our CIC.”


    “Very good Sir. I have located the file and have uploaded it. I now wait for your command to run file, Sir.”


    “Alfred, run file.”


    “Very good Sir. The file is now active. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    Damien looked up at the large, curved display screen that was still showing black, due to his eyes being shut in meditation. However, there was now a familiar neon green UI overlaying the blacked-out sight picture, which he easily recognized as the “Heads-up-display" designed by “Winters Technologies” for their UAV “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle” platform....,


    “Alfred. Begin propagating “Brain” with the telemetry data from “Sight” “Sound” “Taste” “Smell” and “Touch”. Go ahead and take possession of “Brain” to correlate the data and support the “Tactical UAV UI HUD” platform in real-time. Let’s rename it as “CIC UI HUD”.


    “Very good Sir. I have seen to those changes. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.”


    “Very good Sir.”


    Damien transitioned from what he now considers his “Mind Palace” returning to his physical body and the outside world. Opening his eyes, he let out a long turbid breath, as he contemplated the ramifications of this new ability. This was without a doubt a “Force” granted trait or talent. It was also the opportunity he needed to not only survive but to flourish. This opened so many possibilities.


    Damien looked around the inside of the old temple with new eyes, as the interactive HUD system, actively operating within his sight picture, performing a real-time analysis of his environment. It would still take time for him to develop the UI into an efficient aid, but even as great of a development this was, it still didn’t help towards his immediate survival.


    Damien simply didn’t have the luxury of time to slowly advance through the Jedi school of thoughts in order. To survive he needed more advanced skills like “Telekinesis” and “Alter environment”. He simply couldn''t sit around waiting to starve to death or for the volcano to erupt. If he was going to survive, he needed to take some risks. He also realized he may need to explore more aggressive ideals, even crossover to “the dark side” for fast solutions.


    Damien considered all the research, the grants from his company had funded over the years. Part of his job as CEO had been to review and decide whether to continue the funding. What he had first assumed would be tedious and a time sink, had instead turned into one of his more enjoyable duties.


    Damien witnessed countless groundbreaking advances in all fields of science and technology. He also had the privilege to observe those groundbreaking advancements step by step along the way. It directly provided him with a uniquely broader viewpoint than others in his own fields. It allowed him to leap far ahead of his competitors and revolutionize both of his fields, computer science and robotics.


    However, there was still plenty of untapped potential accumulated in all that research. For starters, Damien wanted to research the possibility of directly manipulating matter via “the Force”. According to Earth’s classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic particles, and in everyday as well as scientific usage, matter generally includes atoms and anything made up of them, and any particles (or combination of particles) that act as if they have both rest mass and volume.


    However, it does not include massless particles such as photons, or other energy phenomena or waves such as light or heat. Matter exists in various states (also known as phases). These include classical everyday phases such as solid, liquid, and gas – for example water exists as ice, liquid water, and gaseous steam – but other states are possible, including plasma, Bose-Einstein condensates, fermionic condensates, and quark–gluon plasma.


    Usually, atoms can be imagined as a nucleus of protons and neutrons, and a surrounding "cloud" of orbiting electrons which "take up space". However, this is only somewhat correct because subatomic particles and their properties are governed by their quantum nature, which means they do not act as everyday objects appear to act – they can act like waves as well as particles, and they do not have well-defined sizes or positions. In the Standard Model of particle physics, matter is not a fundamental concept because the elementary constituents of atoms are quantum entities which do not have an inherent "size" or "volume" in any everyday sense of the word.


    Due to the exclusion principle and other fundamental interactions, some "point particles" known as fermions (quarks, leptons), and many composites and atoms, are effectively forced to keep a distance from other particles under everyday conditions; this creates the property of matter which appears to us as matter taking up space.


    Damien could sense through “the Force” that this ability wasn’t only feasible but that it would directly bring him into the temptation of “the dark side of the Force”. He wasn’t particularly surprised seeing as “the dark side of the Force” was all about need, desire, and greed. He understood the difference between being guided by “the Force” and being directly manipulated by “the Force”.


    Damien was used to weighing the risk versus the reward. It was something all scientific researchers constantly had to face in their efforts to advance science. There have always been many morally ambiguous hypothetical scenarios, in which morality would only matter if they succeeded. Damien also considered the concept of balance, and the true nature of “the Force”, which was duality of light and dark. Damien’s nature was directly reflected in the silver Kyber crystal he was now gazing into.


    “I am neutrality”


    To distract himself from the fear he felt towards the dark side. Damien began toying around with the idea of developing synthesized diamond scale epidermis armor, to protect himself from blaster bolts and lightsaber blades. Unlike natural diamonds, a synthetic diamond is produced in a controlled technological process. Synthetic diamonds are composed of the same material as naturally formed diamonds, pure carbon crystallized in an isotropic 3D form, sharing identical chemical and physical properties. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Damien just so happens to be sitting at a literal carbon generating fountain, which is perfectly conducive for high pressure high temperature diamond (HPHT) and CVD diamond production methods. (high-pressure high-temperature and chemical vapor deposition, respectively). There is also a third method in which nanometer-sized diamond grains are created in a detonation of carbon-containing explosives, known as detonation synthesis.


    Damien particularly liked the versatility of synthetic diamonds. The properties of synthetic diamonds depend directly on the manufacturing process. Some have properties such as hardness, thermal conductivity and electron mobility that are superior to those of most naturally formed diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are used in abrasives, in cutting and polishing tools, and in heat sinks. Various colors can be produced, ranging from clear white, yellow, brown, blue, green, and orange.


    Damien was intimately familiar with their electronic applications and even funded many grants researching synthetic diamond integration and development, such as high-power switches at power stations, high-frequency field-effect transistors, light-emitting diodes, and synthetic diamond detectors of ultraviolet (UV) light or high-energy particles.


    Due to its unique combination of thermal and chemical stability, low thermal expansion and high optical transparency in a wide spectral range, synthetic diamond is becoming the most popular material for optical windows in high-power CO2 lasers and gyrotrons.


    Besides diamonds, Damien also wanted to research into the feasibility of synthesizing Kyber crystals, while also looking into possible liquid Kyber crystal applications. Many interesting ideas were buzzing around in his head, making his future endeavors full of exciting possibilities. Now he just needed to devote his time to research and development.


    Fortunately, Damien found time inside his “Mind Palace” held little meaning, as he was separated from all physical ailments and restraints, like hunger or exhaustion. He did, however, make sure to monitor his physical body’s condition and security. With no day/night cycles Damien smoothly entered a fugue like state of uninterrupted research, progressing smoothly through developing his new body’s cybernetic metamorphous.


    Damien marveled at his light speed progression, inside this strange magical virtual environment. All restraints that once hampered his progressions were nonexistent, as his prototype cybernetic body design was fully interactive down to the microscopic scale. His entire design was based around a single fundamental concept, “survivability”, it was the motivating factor guiding him. It took him roughly thirty-six hours of uninterrupted research and development, to complete his body’s systematic redesign process. For now, he was running the design through countless efficiency and durability simulation tests, allowing trial and error to perfect it.


    However, Damien’s physical body condition was close to deteriorating past a point of no return. He simply could no longer delay the actual reconstruction of his body. Nor did he have a reason too other than his own fear. In truth, most of the technology he utilized in his design was pure theoretical if not downright science fiction back on Earth. He couldn’t explain his strange singular desire that bordered on an obsessive compulsion to create something truly marvelous and wondrous.


    One of Damien’s biggest hurtles had arrived at the integration point between biological and technological systems. Nothing so extensive had ever been attempted back on Earth, leaving him in uncharted territory. As was his tendency, he looked to science fiction for inspiration and found it in “Robo-Cop”. He minimized and isolated his vital organic life systems, as much as possible, and then designed a “Force” attuned robotic prosthetic body around it.


    Damien figured only a madman would eagerly proceed with such an overly ambitious and ridiculously dangerous endeavor. So, he was hesitating on the final push and knew it. He also knew moving his body from the temple to the volcano at the center of the island was going to be a nightmarish slog.


    During his experiments with “Force telekinesis”, he found inspiration from, “Marvel’s Super villain”: “Dr. Otto Octavius”, who used four robotic mechanical arms to move around with. Damien created his own “Force Technique” utilizing four “Force” constructed arms, which operated under the same fundamental principles.


    Damien eventually managed to reach the summit of the volcano, and he arrived mostly unscathed. However, as a scientist by nature, he found it difficult to stay focused in such an alien environment. Flora and fauna are two distinct components of a natural environment that play a vital role in the balance and sustainability of ecosystems. Flora refers to the plant life found in a particular region, while fauna refers to the animal life. Both flora and fauna are interconnected and coexist in harmony, contributing to the overall biodiversity of this planet.


    Danien decided to begin creating a virtual database for the planet, starting with creating a virtual 3D topographical holo-globe inside his “Mind Palace”. He also included a virtual catalogue of the flora, by constructing a virtual rendering, along with a chemical analysis of each species of plant. Inside his “Mind Palace” Damien created a virtual assistant, a dedicated NPC “Non-Player-Character" bot analyst, specifically designed to gather and compile information on this planet. As a template model for the NPC, he chose “Genevieve”, a CIA “Central Intelligence Agency” female analyst, which his mother had once set him up with for a blind date. His mother had questionable taste, Genevieve was insanely attractive, extremely smart, but also terrifyingly scary. Thus, he was too intimidated by her to call her after that initial date.


    However, this is all beside the point, and off topic. The point of which is that Damien did discover fresh water, and many sources of much needed calories, along the way. He also managed to poison himself repeatedly, however, after meditating and utilizing “Curato salva” for some time now, he managed to gain a rather in-depth acuity into “The Jedi” self-heal ability restoring his body to its peak state repeatedly.


    After arriving at the summit, Damien found the heat and billowing smoke suffocating. Locating a relatively flat surface, he let his exhausted body collapse and retreated into his “Mind Palace” where he ran through the entire procedural plan one last time....,


    “The first stage” required Damien to use “the Force” to draw in and absorb the carbon molecules produced by the volcano. These molecules would then be further broken down into electrons, neutrons, and protons. These particles would then be reconfigured according to the material needs.


    “The second stage” required Damien to use the absorbed particles to construct a protective isolation barrier to safeguard his vital organs. The barrier consisted of a hermetically sealed nano-fiber weave membrane, which surrounds the organ cavity.


    Then Damien would systematically remove all organs and biomass that was designated as non-essential, while also installing the required cybernetic alterations this removal process would necessitate. These systems included installations such as, “Cybernetic HIVE temperature management interface”, “Cybernetic HIVE biological management interface”, “Cybernetic HIVE life-support interface”, and “Cybernetic HIVE waste management interface”.


    “The third stage” required Damien to construct a protective isolation barrier, to safeguard the brain and spinal cord. This barrier has all the same features as the other one, with the addition of a “Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface”, and “Cybernetic HIVE telecommunication interface”, woven within it.


    “The fourth stage” required Damien to reduce the circulatory system, blood volume, and bone and bone marrow down to the required amounts specified to accommodate the future upkeep and maintenance of the remaining vital organs, sensory organs, and brain.


    “The fifth stage” required Damien to replace each bone one at a time. His starting point was the top of the skull. The process started with Damien breaking down each existing cell, while simultaneously replacing them with a new micro-octagon synthesized diamond. This not only greatly enhanced the structural integrity but also opened the door to automation of control surfaces via micro-robotic systematic sequencing.


    He got the concept from another of “Marvel’s” Super villains, this time he took inspiration from “Mystique’s” shapeshifting ability.  He hoped by utilizing micro-robotics via computer modeling, he’d be able to adjust the structural surface area of the skeleton, allowing him to “theoretically” mimic the shapeshifting ability.


    Each micro diamond acted as a cell, fusing together to form a crystalline matrix. The new synthetic medium was 3D printed via “Force matter manipulation” in accordance with a prepared 3D computer model. Each piece of his new skeletal structure had been rigorously designed down to each interconnecting control surface.


    To better attune Damien’s new body to “the Force”, his design incorporates LKC, synthesized “liquid Kyber crystal” like bone marrow within the diamond skeleton. He also designed a “Cybernetic HIVE synthetic LKC “liquid Kyber crystal” circulatory feeder system”, which once activated would “theoretically” saturate and pressurize his body.


    This also led him to maybe his most favorite conceptual design, which was inspired by “Marvel’s” Hero “the Wolverine”, instead of retractable metal claws, he instead engineered each of his hands into a lightsaber. Instead of a single long blade, his design divided the power between three focus crystals, which he implanted three emitters between the knuckles of each hand. Activation and focusing were all automated, via digitized computer control software programs.


    For a cybernetic nervous system, Damien’s design incorporated a microprocessor photo-signal coupling interface built into each vertebrate module. This would enable the “HIVE system” to directly tap into the spinal cord. Each processor is tagged by an Identity designation, allowing the “Cybernetic HIVE nerve signal interface” to take over the transmitting nerve signals throughout the body via synthetic nerves made of microscopic fiber optic cables. Theoretically enhancing his reaction speed via speed of light transmission, at least in theory.


    To power his cybernetic prosthesis, Damien revisited his ARC “Atmosphere Reactor Containment” power core generation system. First, he combed over every square micron of the experimental prototype in his “Mind Palace”, where he discovered numerous existing weak points. He went on to not only perfect his design, but to miniaturize it into a “golf ball” size “Cybernetic HIVE ARC power generating core”.


    “The sixth stage”, focused on Damien’s mobility and motor functions. He found it unfortunate that he couldn’t devise a feasible design, to emulate the “Marvel Hero” “Iron Man’s” flight system. Earth’s tech tree simply couldn’t sustain prolonged flight operations. Fortunately, he was now within the “Star Wars” universe and had no doubt of finding suitable tech to remedy the issue.


    This still left Damien the need to design a suitable design for bi-pedal automation. Fortunately, he had plenty of experience with it, he first began by redeveloping his synthetic tendon. Damien had originally designed it based purely on Earth tech, but now he had access to “Force Abilities” and his “Mind Palace” virtual environment.


    Damien ended up synthesizing a carbon nano-fiber, elastic micro-weave, reflex band. For a synthetic muscle, his design utilized a carbon nano-tube reactive fiber. This material could be designed to react to an electrical charge, whether it be to contract or expand. Furthermore, the tubes could be bundled allowing for precise situational tuning. Making it a perfect candidate for mimicking muscle functions. Each crystalline bone-structure, synthetic muscle, and artificial tendon, were designed with fusion reactive attachment contact surfaces.


    Damien had no desire for his design to appear overly mechanical or droidish, like “General Grievous”, so he designed a three-layer synthetic human-like skin system, which combined numerous technologies. The base layer was designed to be a synthetic carbon-based nano-foam, shock resistant membrane. The middle layer, he took inspiration from “the Predator” movies and developed a LKC “Liquid Kyber Crystal” Pixel Micro-Dot flexible segmented display paneling. For the outer most layer, he developed a transparent synthetic diamond micro-octagon epidermis scale-mail, for personal armor.


    For a synthetic hair system, Damien once again took inspiration from “the Predator” movie and developed a multi-sensory nanofiber synthetic hair system. Unfortunately, he had to eighty-six the dreadlock form, due to foreseeable future incompatibility issues with space suit helmets. However, he did his best to encapsulate their function, each synthetic hair was made of a carbon-based nanometer tube outer insulator shell, with a micro-sensory filament core. Each hair, directly interfaced into the “Cybernetic HIVE neural net”.


    Damien finished reading through the last of the compiled data and closed his eyes, to center his thoughts. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified about this whole process, it was completely insane to even consider it. He also debated safer alternatives, with less invasive designs. He damn well understood himself better than anyone and could recognize his timid nature rearing its cowardly head.


    Fear or not, he didn’t have a choice if he wanted to do more than just survive, he needed all the advantages this design allocated to him. This gambit would either succeed and he would live a life worth living, or it would fail, and he would reincarnate losing everything that made him, Damien Winters from Earth.


    There was also the small matter of stepping over the threshold and touching “the dark side of the Force”. If he failed to resist the temptation of darkness, it would allow the dark side to dominate his future actions. This was his true gamble, was the price of altering the face of reality, and opposing the will of “the light side of the Force” worth this risk?


    Damien knew to tap into the power of “the dark side of the Force” was to indulge in raw emotions such as passion, anger, vengeance, and hatred. The dark side was greed, the fear of change, and the inability to let go. By holding on to things, one became angry and hateful, which in turn led to suffering. Those who were unable to conquer their dark side were devoured by it....,


    “Alfred, construct a holographic 3D rendering of my current physical body,”


    “Very good Sir the rendering has been completed. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.”


    “Very good Sir.”


    Damien focused on the hologram and willed it to synchronize with his physical body. He could feel the change take place as an intangible link between him, his physical body, and the hologram formed. He then proceeded to shut out all sensations coming from his physical body, until it was nothing more than an inanimate object. Satisfied, he no longer hesitated and jumped off the metaphorical cliff....,


    When Damien resurfaced from his meditation, the physical aspect of his transformation had been completed. This left him with only the cybernetic software installations needing to be completed. However, he needed to first fend off the issue of his psyche having been exposed to “the dark side of the Force”. As expected, this ability to manipulate matter via “the Force” was enthralling to an addictive degree. This created an opening for the insidious temptations of “the dark side” to penetrate freely into his psyche.


    At first Damien did not try to fight off or reject “the dark side”, instead he wanted to take this opportunity to try and understand its nature for himself. Damien allowed his negative emotions to wash through him, letting himself feel and experience such raw desire and selfishness, greed and possessiveness, lust for unlimited power, desperation for more security. He could finally truly understand the true nature of “the dark side”, it was fear, the fear of loss, the fear of change, the fear of the unknown. Only by letting himself succumb to that fear, would he be consumed by “the dark side”.


    Damien now completely understood why Anakin Skywalker acted so irrational and extreme. Rationality and logic simply have no place in the face of overly stimulated emotions, especially if they are being fueled by fear and “the dark side”.


    Damien tried to escape into his “Mind Palace” but only found the same metaphorical forest fire of raging emotions. Damien, gritted in frustration, while trying to get a handle on his excited emotions. It was only then he was struck with a insane, but potentially brilliant thought. Not wasting any time, he began drawing in all of his understanding of “the dark side of the Force”, only he wasn’t trying to suppress it, but to concentrate and compress it into a single focus point.


    Then he took control of the entire “Mind Palace” space, and envisioned a center axis point, where he created a “Gravity Nexis”.  At which, he placed the concentrated “dark side” core and ignited it turning it into a virtual “dark sun”. To ensure balance, he repeated the process only this time he utilized all his understanding of “the light side of the force” creating a “light sun”. Once installed as the counter measure to the “dark sun”, a perfectly balanced and stable binary system was established. Almost immediately, he could feel his psyche stabilizing.


    In the meantime, Damien’s physical body had undergone a complete metamorphosis. Fortunately, his physical body was currently in an inert state, which effectively mitigated the overall damage “the dark side” could achieve. In the meantime, he had to rely on the “Force” alone to keep his remaining biological functions operating, leaving him little time to waste. He quickly got back to work....,


    “Alfred, display all cybernetic systems, along with their status”


    “Very good Sir, all cybernetic systems, along with their status have been displayed. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, begin cybernetic software uploads, and manage the installations.”


    “Very good Sir...., estimated time of completion...., 72.37 hours. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to your housekeeping duties.”


    “Very good Sir.”


    Damien couldn’t help but take a moment to marvel at the sheer audacity of his ambition, and revel in the perspective future potential. This design was pure science fiction back on Earth and would never have been allowed to exist. Hell, even AI on Earth was so tightly regulated, out of fear and paranoia, to the point of barely being useful. If he had to be perfectly honest with himself, he was more than happy to leave Earth behind. “The Galaxy” was free in the same way as America was back when she was raw and untamed, with infinite possibilities.


    Snapping out of his revelry, Damien got back to work. When he first started in robotics, he along with all the others in the field dreamed of creating a fully functioning AI driven android. One that could mimic the organic nature of humanity. However, he quickly learned the sad truth, that even the most advanced robot was slow, dumb, and clumsy. That their dream of an android was just that, a dream with no foreseeable path to achieving it.


    It took Damien decades of relentless experimentation and computer modeling to discover the key to unlocking the doorway to smart interactive robotics. His discovery came from merging three pieces, the human “mind”, the robot’s “memory core” and “Virtual reality simulation”. To do this, Damien invented his “Adaptive-learning coding program” a two-step background interface software that coded the interaction between “the memory core” and the “Simulation” as the simulation played out in real-time.


    The first step was inspired by the movie “Pacific Rim”, instead of synchronizing two human minds, Damien synchronized a human mind with a robot’s memory core.


    The second step was inspired by the concept of the movie, “the Matrix”. Damien established a hardline link via a VR pod, connecting the synchronized pair, the virtual reality simulation, and the “adaptive-learning coding program” software.


    Damien’s aspiration was to organically teach the robot, just like a human learns in real life. Only he would be utilizing a virtual reality simulated scenario, which he could tailor to requirements. For example, to teach the robot to walk, he created a very basic scenario, of a toddler’s process of learning to walk. Just like any video game, the toddler became “the main character”, with the synchronized pair acting as “the player”. The entire experience was coded into the “Memory core” as the scenario played out in real-time.


    This singular discovery completely revolutionized the field of robotics and ushered in a new age of smart robots to the world. It also nearly destroyed the world in the process, but that’s a different story.


    Damien’s meditation, was interrupted by Alfred alerting him to the completion of the software installation....,


    “Alfred, connect remotely to “Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface”, use it to synchronize my human mind, and the “Cybernetic HIVE memory core matrix”. Once I’m paired, prepare to “Link” me into “The way of Shadow”, virtual reality simulation via the “Mind Palace” VR pod.


    “Very good Sir. I have established remote control of the “Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface”; The synchronization process has been completed; I have uploaded “The way of shadow” into the “Mind Palace” VR pod and have prepared a new “Link” for you to access at your pleasure. Will there be anything else Sir?”


    “Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to your housekeeping duties.”


    “Very good Sir.”