《Infinity Loop》


 The First Time

    Hi, my name is Caelus. At least that¡¯s what I will be going by in this book. You see this is the forty third time I¡¯ve written this book. This is the twenty third time I¡¯ve tried to get it published. And the third time I¡¯ve used an alias.


    I used to write it with my own name, but I learned that it would only cause trouble.  I also used to care about those around me, but that died down long ago.


    I¡¯m 24, and I¡¯m fairly intelligent. That might be because of the Z1N1 though. You know when some people say we only use ten percent of our brain? Well they are fucking stupid.


    We consciously use about 40% of our brains at all times. The other 60% goes to things like breathing and pumping our hearts. I should know, I¡¯ve studied human neurology for a long time.


    Let¡¯s start by going back to the first time. Or, maybe about a year before. That¡¯s when it REALLY started, although no one knew about it then. You should be warned though. This is more like a diary of past events.


    Some things will be skewed, as most things are, through the lens of perceptions. When I was angry things seemed more annoying. When I was sad, things seemed more dramatic.


    This is a true recounting of all of the major, I like to call them Infinity Loops. There were times when I interviewed other people, but it doesn¡¯t matter. They never existed anyway.


    Back when I was 23, I was just an ordinary guy. I had a less than perfect upbringing, but I was happy with my life. I was attending college, and paying for it myself.


    I worked four days a week at a job that didn¡¯t really matter to society, but I was happy with it. I got money, and had a lot of work friends. Most of the people there were really nice.


    This story isn¡¯t about that though. This story starts, as it always does, on 6/24/2015.


    I was browsing the internet. I did that a lot back then. I don¡¯t really remember what I was looking up, probably reading something online or looking at online comics. I wrote back then, but I only published online.


    My girlfriend got sick the day before, so she was basically out the entire day. We sat around watching some series on my game console. It was that night that I noticed I had started coughing. I worked in a grocery store at the time. I may have spread my ¡®cold¡¯ around a bit but it doesn¡¯t matter.


    Spreading the disease was probably a blessing to about one in thousand. To the other 999, well they were going to die anyway.


    A few weeks went by and my girlfriend and I got over our ¡®colds¡¯.


    Our daily lives continued as if nothing had changed. For the most part it was true. Everything was the same as always. For about six months that is. That¡¯s when the world started to notice the ¡®Irregulars¡¯.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    That¡¯s what they are called most of the time anyway. A few times they were called ¡®Demi-Humans¡¯, but those were only the bleakest times.


    The irregulars were categorized as such because of their irregular changes. They tended to become more prone to violence, more aggressive. They grew more powerful than any human would be capable of. Their skin aged rapidly. Decades were added on in only weeks. They stopped the aging after a few weeks, but seeing violent, powerful, old people was scary as hell.


    There were only a few secluded cases, and the government took care to stop the disease from ¡®spreading¡¯. Little did they know it had spread six months before.


    After four months of battling the disease, the president went into hiding. Not that it did him any good. The entire world was falling apart. Military patrolled the streets of big cities, impromptu militia walked the roads of smaller towns. All to keep the Irregulars at bay.


    I was lucky. I lived in a city. A city with a nicely armed military force.


    I¡¯m not going to lie and say I was brave through the entire ordeal. Sure, at first I pushed the issue to the side, but then it got bigger. Bigger and bigger it grew. Until finally, my city was invaded by its ¡®first¡¯ irregular.


    Of course, the military took care of it. But that was only the start. More cases started popping up. Every day new people would change into the elderly death machines. It became a habit just to kill all old people on sight.


    I lost my job a week after the first incident in my city. Not that money mattered anyway. People had taken to looting and killing to make it by. The only reason we were safe, was that my girlfriend¡¯s family had a few weapons, and I was a bit of an apocalypse survival type.


    They were nice enough to let me live with them as the end approached. The family was her, her mom and dad, her sister, her sister¡¯s baby, and her sister¡¯s three dogs. The disease didn¡¯t seem to affect any being except for humans.


    Her baby was almost 2 now. I love kids. Always have. I just love to hold and hug cute little babies.  Animals are the same. Anything cute and cuddly was lovable.


    I digress.


    I wasn¡¯t really close to my family, part of the ¡®less than perfect upbringing¡¯. Anyway, with her family I weathered what I took to calling zombies. I called them that mostly because of the impeccable timing of ¡®Nuclear Fallout IV¡¯.


    We slowly began to get on each other¡¯s nerves. Anger escalated within every family unit. This one was no different. I was lucky enough to pick one that didn¡¯t want to kill each other. They didn¡¯t even kick me out.


    The last day was horrible. It was the single scariest day I¡¯d ever experienced. The entire last month we were watching the news almost non-stop. The last week had several bombings. Supposedly they were the government trying to stop the break out.


    It was bullshit. Everyone knew the disease had infected all humans. The only thing that we had left was to wait to turn.


    The last day. It was insane. It was something out of a nightmare. The news reported people showing strange signs of something akin to the ¡®supernatural¡¯. They seemed to possess some other-worldly powers. No two powers were exactly the same.


    None of us believed it. It was just some kind of hopeful joke to play on the unsuspecting masses. Then came the reports of the bombs.


    The bombs were straight out of a sci-fi novel. They didn¡¯t explode, or implode. They didn¡¯t seem to do anything. Every time one of the bombs was shown, it just disappeared. Just like all the matter around it.


    The entire family was rapt with attention. Hanging on everything the news caster said. Suddenly the news show turned to static.


    I was the only one that seemed to notice what was going on. I hugged my girlfriend, tightly. I just wanted to hold her one last time. I couldn¡¯t hold back my scream as I saw the walls turn to particles. Suddenly I was engulfed in darkness.


    For an eternity I raged against the darkness. I cried and screamed. It wasn¡¯t fair that I had to die! It wasn¡¯t fair!


    ¡°IT¡¯S NOT FAIR!¡±

 Loop 2

    Hi, my name is Caelus. At least that¡¯s what I will be going by in this book. I¡¯ll be using aliases for everyone in my book.


    I¡¯ve decided to try something new for this book. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve tried something new. I already can guess how this is going to turn out, but I¡¯ll try it anyway.


    This book is a chronical of all the things I¡¯ve found most important or interesting about my life. In the first chapter I wrote about my first life. That was the turning point. That was the last ¡®good life¡¯ I¡¯ve ever had.


    Loop 2 Day 1


    ¡°IT¡¯S NOT FAIR!¡± Metal clangs against the floor. I look around. The darkness is gone. The unending darkness is gone!


    Where am I? Is this heaven? Is this hell? ¡°Caelus? Are you ok?¡± I look around. I¡¯m in my girlfriend¡¯s house. What am I doing here? Why am I not dead? Why am I in my girlfriend¡¯s house?


    I turn around. ¡°Mr. Smith!¡± I run over to him. He¡¯s confused. Why is he confused? We just escaped death! Why was he not excited about this?


    I hug him when I reach him. ¡°Ok Caelus?¡± He pats my back. Why is he confused about me hugging him? We¡¯d gotten so close over the last year.


    He seems like he wants to pull away. I let him. I ask him, ¡°Just a question, but did the world recently come to an end?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? *Haha*¡± I just smile and nod.


    I walk upstairs. I¡¯m a bit dazed. I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on. Why did he not know about the end of the world?


    When I get upstairs, Chelsea looks at me. ¡°Where are the sandwiches?¡±  I hug her. I hold on until she asks, ¡°Hey, what''s going on? Is something wrong?¡±


    I can¡¯t help it. I start to cry. I don¡¯t know what happened, but it didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t happen! I don¡¯t know why, but the world isn¡¯t over!


    Loop 2 Day 14


    I am spending every day I can with Chelsea¡¯s family. We go out with them almost every day, even though we didn¡¯t before.


    I go to work five days a week now. It helps pays for the excessive amount of spending I¡¯m doing lately. I love the amount of time I get to spend with them.


    I had a small break down today. It was depressing actually. I saw an angry old person. They were shouting at a young child, and the kid was crying.


    I almost hit the old guy, but got a hold of myself before I made it all the way to where he was.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Loop 2 Day 34


    I don¡¯t know why, but the world seems better. I¡¯m researching everything I can. It seems like none of the things I remember have actually happened.


    I don¡¯t know why the world has been undone. I just know I¡¯m given extra time to be with my loved ones. It seems as though I can understand things easier now. Learning has started to happen naturally.


    My learning curve seems unnaturally high recently. I¡¯m looking into bombs that can level cities without an explosion.


    Nothing I¡¯m finding is exactly the same as what I saw on the news show in the other life.


    Loop 2 Day 62


    I¡¯m starting to doubt that the other life ever really happened. The ¡®other life¡¯ as I¡¯ve taken to calling it is easy to ignore. I think on it all the time, but it is easy to ignore now.


    After being here for two months I have accepted the fact that the other life didn¡¯t happen.


    Loop 2 Day 84


    I can¡¯t believe what I realized the other day. I have hyperthymesia. It means I have the ability to perfectly recall anything by just thinking about it for an instant.


    Every bit of research I¡¯ve done I am able to bring up in my mind. I randomly looked up winning lotto numbers of the past several weeks, and I can recall them days later.


    Loop 2 Day 165


    We are all sitting around the T.V. We are watching the news. Her dad likes to watch the news. It came on. That same newscast from the other life.


    A clean-cut gentleman walks into the room on the newscast. He hands the newscasters a paper. The news caster looks like he just heard a joke.


    ¡°Folks, it appears that we have confirmed reports of, angry old people?¡±


    He looks around as if someone is talking to him.


    My eyes are swimming. It¡¯s happening again! It¡¯s the same newscast! The caster starts again.


    ¡°It appears that the rapidly aging phenomenon has come with some serious alterations. The aging people have become stronger, and more aggressive. We were advised to warn all viewers to avoid anyone that has been aging rapidly, or appears more aggressive than usual.¡±


    I stare at the screen, dumbfounded.


    ¡°We need to run. NOW!¡±


    Loop 2 Day 204


    I am headed to a nut house today. Chelsea¡¯s family are sending me. For the past few days I was trying convince them that the world was ending.


    They say they are sending me to get better. They say I¡¯ll thank them when I¡¯m out. Why won¡¯t they believe me!? We will all be dead when I ¡®get out¡¯! It all started a few weeks ago.


    So here I am. I am going to a psyche ward. I am raging against the people holding onto me. I¡¯m trying to get free. To get to somewhere safe. They won¡¯t let me go.


    I know what is going to happen. I know how this is going to play out. The nut houses and hospitals are the first to get hit by the plague! Why won¡¯t anyone listen to me.


    Loop 2 day 300


    The military will have been mobilized by now. People will be dragged off the street by now. Some people in here have turned. Guards in full riot armor were stationed here for several weeks.


    They are passing me while dragging another aging monster away. They show no expression beneath their visors. I try to tell them about the bombs.


    Everyone ignores me now. No one believes me. All of my predictions are coming true, yet they all think I¡¯m crazy. How can people be so stupid? My perfect memory is almost wasted in here. Every day is the same as the last.


    I feel like I¡¯m going crazy. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I¡¯ve been in here the entire time. Who else remembers what is going to happen? No one.


    Only a crazy person would believe the can see the future. Or that they have already lived it.


    Loop 2 Day 365


    The bombs are going to fall today. I haven¡¯t eaten in what seems like weeks. I stay up all night thinking about the impending doom. I keep wishing that someone will stop it.


    They let us watch the news today. It iss sad. It happens just as I remember it happening in the other life. I wish I could do this all again. I know that no one gets a second chance. It¡¯s selfish that I¡¯m wishing for a third.


    I could do it so much better next time though.


    A familiar scene takes place. I watch as the world slows down to a crawl. The walls suddenly turned to particles. Everything around me floats and dissipates.


    I feel nothing as my atoms are torn apart. I am dead.


    Loop 3 Day 1


    I¡¯m back¡­ again¡­

 Loop 3 Day 1-138

    Hi, my name is Caelus. At least that¡¯s what I will be going by in this book. I¡¯ll be using aliases for everyone in my book.


    For the past few lifetimes I have been doing research on my curse. I¡¯ve come to a lot of conclusions. This time I think I found a way out. I have decided to list all the major points in my lifetimes. I want to leave something behind when I¡¯m gone.


    Loop 3 Day 1


    I¡¯m back¡­ again¡­ I am getting another chance. I¡¯m getting another chance! I know what is going to happen. I know I dropped the knife last time. Before my mind fully leaves the darkness, I grip my hand.


    I¡¯m making sandwiches. I take in the smell of the room around me. It smells like home. It smells like love. I hate this place.


    These are the people that forced me into that place. These are the people that died because they wouldn¡¯t believe what I was saying.


    I had thought a lot about it, a lot. They probably didn¡¯t believe me because of the way I told the story. If I had remained calm instead of getting so angry when they didn¡¯t listen, maybe they¡¯d have heard me out.


    I make the sandwiches. I run up the stairs and happily hand the delicious sandwich to Chelsea. She smiles at me as she eats.


    I decide on a plan in moments. I remember everything that has happened in my previous two lives. I smile pleasantly at Chelsea.


    My plan is simple.


    I tell Chelsea about the future. Of course she didn¡¯t believe me. ¡°I can prove it though.¡±


    Loop 3 Day 2


    I am at a gas station. I am buying a lottery ticket. The numbers I am going to pick will be the winning numbers. Why wouldn¡¯t I pick those if I knew them?


    I also buy a few snacks to share with Chelsea.


    When I get back I show her the tickets. I tell her everyone of them is going to be a winner. She doesn¡¯t believe me, but she will.


    Loop 3 Day 8


    I¡¯m going to Austin today. The numbers they announced were identical to mine. Imagine that. I am driving with my girlfriend to get the money.


    She is unsure about what will happen to our relationship once I have the money. I have a plan for it. I¡¯ve been making plans for the past year.


    She believes me now. I knew she would. I am taking her with me to go to get the money from the Mega Million. It was worth over a hundred million at this point.


    When we get there it is a huge deal about receiving the money.


    Loop 3 Day 10


    We are back in Denton. Kelsey and I decide not to tell her parents about me. We look around a bit today. We find several potential housing locations, and decide to discuss it later.


    The housing locations were each able to overlook a wide area, and could be burrowed under. The plots of land were each several acres at least. We make sure to only choose from the largest and most stable plots. The plots are only a few miles away from where we live.


    We will be within driving distance no matter which one we choose.


    Loop 3 Day 11


    Today we pick the land we wanted. We pick a field about 1280 acres. That¡¯s about two miles by one mile. We decide that should be more than enough for our plans.


    I call up several contractors, and file all the needed paperwork. The contractors tell me they will be out within a few days to inspect the land.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The promise of extra pay entices them to come tomorrow. Greasing palms even speeds up the paperwork process.


    We go around buying most of the requirements that the bunker would need for extremely lengthy stays underground.


    We also buy enough gasoline to drown an elephant. If the other lives have shown me anything, it was that gasoline is the world¡¯s greatest commodity once the terrors began.


    Loop 3 Day 24


    Today I started working on one of  the massive amounts of machines I will need. I looked up every bit of required info online, or in engineering books.


    My perfect memory seems to be the most useful tool I have during life.


    The machines cost over a million dollars just for the parts. I still buy them.


    I also start watching the stock market. This will provide intellectual growth, and a means of making money if I repeat the loop again due to failure.


    Winning the lottery is only feasible once. If I do it twice people will start asking questions. I don¡¯t want that.


    Loop 3 Day 138


    It has been 6 months since they began building my structure. Being made of reinforced steel, and being a hundred feet below ground, made it take a bit longer than I wanted.


    A few hours after they finish, I have the moving crew bring in the massive amount things I¡¯ve bought over the months. I show them the areas where I plan to put everything.


    They are done in about twelve hours. I pay each of them an extra five thousand dollars for staying so late. They seem upset at the overtime, until the extra money entices their better moods.


    I look around my underground complex. I have one hundred and fifty total rooms. One hundred rooms are bunkrooms. Each room has twenty-five sets of bunk beds. Each bunk bed has three bunks.


    I walk into the exercise room. I look at the bicycle generators. I check the wires connecting the bikes to the industrial sized battery. I examine the bench press stations, treadmills, and all other work out equipment. I don¡¯t find anything wrong with them, so I continue on.


    I walk to the matted dojo. It is about a tenth of the size of the entire complex. There are various training weapons, and even a small shooting range.


    While I¡¯m looking at the shooting range, which is up to my standards, I go examine the gunpowder factory.


    Smokeless gunpowder is made by causing a specific chemical reaction using nitrocellulose as a main component. I examine the lab that will make the smokeless powder, and find no faults.


    Black powder can easily be made at home, but is only useful for old time rifles and low-grade bombs. I am proud that I already have a factory making enough powder to defend myself, and my friends.


    I examine the ordering station. There is a room connecting the shooting range to the factories. The room is surrounded by bulletproof glass, and comes equipped with a gas mask.


    I look up. The sleeping gas vents are prepared and seem to be in working order. The massive array of weapons put me back a bit, but I still have several million dollars.


    The casing factory is the smallest. It¡¯s almost cramped. There is enough room for four people to work making casings for the bullets constantly.


    The only way in the bulletproof room is using a retinal and voice scanner. Both keyed to me obviously. As I look at the weapons in their stocks, I notice that I may have bought too many.


    I have enough weapons for a hundred people to each have one, and I will still have a few backups. The amount of ammo I count is ridiculous. I am happy to have a high offensive capability.


    I don¡¯t know where the bombs will drop, but someone else might make it through. I am ready if they do.


    The relaxation room is the second biggest room in the complex. It can easily house over five hundred people at once. There are enough forms of entertainment to keep a large amount of people happy.


    I even have a dozen large flat screens spread out around the room. There are enough durable chairs and tables to have meals with everyone that can fit in this room.


    The televisions can flip around to be protected by ten inches of steel in case of riots or rowdiness. I continue on in my inspection.


    A quarter of the complex is taken up by various levels of plants. All of the plants are edible, and the only way to get to them is through me. There are all kinds of plants already growing. Various squashes, and vegetables. Many different fruit trees. Potatoes are being grown in abundance


    The light comes from the very expensive ¡®Faux-Sunlight Bulb¡¯. Basically the bulb gives off the same type of energy as the sun. This lets all of the plants grow as if they were outside.


    All of the vents go through here. That way the carbon dioxide gets turned into fresh oxygen. The used water and fecal matter are used to fertilize the plants, after being treated.


    After a pleasant look at the massive greenhouses I¡¯ve built, I take a look at the water reclamation facility. This area uses various types of algae and moss to purify the water. It is what NASA would have used in their space colonization program.


    The moss and algae are stripped away each week, and blended up. The blended product is used to further fertilize the plants.


    The amount of food grown here will be able to keep a colony of one thousand people fed. I only take a brief glance at the dehydrating facility. That will only be used if there is a surplus of food one year.


    There is a small, 100 cubic feet, room filled with canned goods. Those will hold us over if there is a problem with the food stuffs. In the back of the room is a freezer where seeds are kept. Also in case something happens with the crops.


    I go through the rest of the rooms, checking to make sure everything is perfect. There are a few things that I decide to buy later, but for now it is perfect.


    Every bit of the factories, farms and everything else, is almost fully automated. All I need to do is find someone else to also learn about the machines.


    I have enough spare parts to rebuild every machine I¡¯ve made, twice. I made sure to have a self sufficient facility to live in.


    Now all I had to do is convince those that I know didn¡¯t turn to join me. I¡¯ll start with my girlfriend¡¯s family.

 Loop 3 Day 148-365

    Hi, my name is Caelus. I¡¯ve lived for far longer than I should have. The longest span of time humans can hope for, is a hundred fifty at best.


    This diary is just a small collection of my earliest, or most important, memories.


    Loop 3 Day 148


    I am going over the cameras I had Chelsea plant. They are all over the city we live in, and the surrounding area. They are all in good places, but I tell her that a few of them need adjusting.


    She is being super sweet by helping me do something I know she doesn''t believe in. The fact that she is helping me further proves her love and care for me.


    I don¡¯t have any other work for her at the moment. The cameras are going to show us the exact level of destruction the bombs cause. If any of them stay online, I am going to check the area around them.


    With the underground base fully operational, I decide to go collect about thirty other people. The people will be used to repopulate after the bombs drop.


    I understand that my base can hold many tens of times that, but at this point I still fear if others would try to take my base over.


    I go to the store I work in. I try to convince a few of my co-workers about what will happen in the next few days.


    None of them really believe me, except this creepy guy I don¡¯t want to join me. As the conversations continue, I start to lose interest in keeping them alive. I persevere though. I tell them some of the bigger info that I remember.


    My plan is to build up cred in order to make them come with me later. I plant the seed of thought into their heads, and leave. I make sure to stop and talk to a lot of people on my back home.


    I have been collecting materials for the past few days. I knew I would need a lot of resources. I already have oil and the tools to create gunpowder.


    Chelsea and I convince her family to visit my underground bunker. The trip through every part of the building took hours to complete. I do not show them the gunpowder factory, nor the shooting range. They seem to feel awkward at best.


    I don¡¯t ask them to move in, at least not yet. After the attacks start, and the military takes over, then I¡¯ll ask. For now, this is a fun little place to be. I do ¡®jokingly¡¯ tell them that if channel x were to show a quickly aging, aggressive and powerful being, then we could all stay here.


    I add in enough details to let them be able to figure it out when they see it on television. I¡¯ve seen the newscast twice now after all.


    I decide that it would be best to remodel part of the large common room, as a nursery. That way future generations will be able to play safely.


    Chelsea and I talk about our future plans. We decide to go exploring after the bombs drop. If any cameras are still working that is. She seems reluctant, but willing.


    I go to several places, and finally find a place that sells hazmat suits. As I enter the used military gear store, I buy the entire stock. There are 100 variously sized suits. Some even for children. Although I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be having children leave the underground base.


    I also get a Geiger counter. That way I am going to be able to see if the bombs that are going to be dropped are radioactive. I don¡¯t know if they are.


    I start researching what could cause such an effect. Particles coming apart doesn¡¯t sound like a nuke.


    Loop 3 Day 165


    For the past week I¡¯ve looked into bombs that would dissipate particles. And many bombs produce the huge flash of light. I decide to do more research into it tomorrow.


    Today is the day of the first news broadcast. Today they tell the world about the start of the outbreak.


    As always, we are watching the news channel when it is announced.


    A clean-cut gentleman walks into the room on the newscast. He hands the newscasters a paper. The news caster looks like he just heard a joke.


    ¡°Folks, it appears that we have confirmed reports of, angry old people?¡±


    He looks around as if someone is talking to him.


    My eyes are swimming. It¡¯s happening again! It¡¯s the same newscast! The caster starts again.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°It appears that the rapidly aging phenomenon has come with some serious alterations. The aging people have become stronger, and more aggressive. We were advised to warn all viewers to avoid anyone that has been aging rapidly, or appears more aggressive than usual.¡±


    Chelsea¡¯s mom and dad look at me, stupefied.


    This was the exact newscast that I had told them would happen. Down to the clothes and expressions used.


    They still don¡¯t believe me. Why the hell don¡¯t they believe me!? They think I¡¯m pulling some sort of prank. I like to joke a lot so I understand.


    I am pissed that I have more work to do to convince them. If I try telling them I¡¯m from the future I might be sent to the nut house again.


    I calm myself down, and return with Chelsea. We discuss how to make her family believe me. Freaking out definitely won¡¯t help. She seems to think I can just go to the past anytime I want.


    I explain that I have to die to do that, and it only happened twice. I doubt it would happen again. I have this sinking feeling that this is my last chance.


    Loop 3 Day 200


    I paid men to build a secret tunnel. It wasn¡¯t big, or well made, but it would do the job. My research about the bombs led me to one conclusion.


    It has to be some sort of Anti-Matter bomb. I don¡¯t know how someone managed to make that, or who made it, but that was the only solution that made sense to me.


    Loop 3 Day 240


    For the past few months I¡¯ve been telling Chelsea¡¯s family about future events. Joking around about being from the future.


    Today I convince Chelsea¡¯s family I¡¯m from the future. I remember that a company building was broken into in the past loops. After telling them this, and giving them the casualty numbers, they finally believe me.


    Although Chelsea¡¯s sister, Susan, thinks I am a horrible person for not helping the people out. I don¡¯t mind though, I know they will be safe at least.


    Things are horrible now. Constant attacks by the aging demons. The military has begun to walk the streets, although they are not enforcing martial law yet. That will come in about a month.


    They want their family in the surrounding cities to come as well, but I say no. For one, half of that family turns even before the bombs, secondly they will not prove helpful in the post-bomb society I am building.


    Of course I explain it in a totally unrelated way, saying that they will all turn and try to kill us. Luckily it isn¡¯t difficult for me to keep track of large amount of lies, not with my level of memory.


    I am still able to recall everything that has happened in loop 2 and this loop. It is astounding. I can even relive moments completely, if I want to.


    The worst part about it is I remember the bad parts too. Everything has a price.


    I invite many people into my little barrier housing. Thirty women, and twenty men. I know that I need at least twenty women and fifteen men to sustain a genetically diverse breeding population.


    They are hard to convince, so I begin to lie. I tell them I lead an organization that is focused on defeating the ¡®Irregulars¡¯. I make a contract for them to sign, and make it seem very official.


    When I let the people in, I drove them to the secret tunnel entrance, blindfolded the entire time of course, and led them through the maze.


    Some people try to convince me to let their families in. When I refuse, some turn to violence. I force those ones out.


    I tell the remaining ones, ¡°This is the reason there are so many of you. If you think you can overpower me¡­ Well good luck getting the food harvested, or getting guns and ammo.¡±


    I use the fear of starvation and not having protection to keep them in line. I assign work loads.


    Most people are on cleaning and maintenance duty. They will make sure the living area in my building remain livable.


    A four person team is assigned to checking mechanical equipment. Of course the only have access to tools or areas if I give permission.


    The rest of the people are put to work doing various needed activities. Such as weapons practice, manning the weapons cage, preparing food, etc.


    I hole myself up in the only room with a computer. The common room has game systems and televisions, they don¡¯t need computers as well.


    The computer room is separated from the other parts of the building. It can only be accessed by a long hallway that only I have access to. It has several screens which watch every part of my bunker.


    I do not tell the new people about the cameras positioned everywhere. I made sure to put the cameras in extremely hard to reach areas, and to make them indistinguishable. All of them were behind something like a two way mirror.


    The difference is that it isn¡¯t a mirror, but a two way wall. One side looks like a wall, the other side looks transparent.


    Loop 3 Day 364


    I give everyone a day off of the duty charts. Tomorrow is a big day. We are all together as it approaches.


    The bombs drop tomorrow. I hope we survive. If not, this will all be for nothing. I gather everyone around.


    Some I put in confinement. They want to rush out and be with their families. They will feel resentment towards me, but as long as we all live it will be fine.


    We are watching the news. Everyone tries to ignore the faint cries of anguish from the confinement area. It works for short amounts of time.


    Everyone is rapt with attention. I feel a tingling in my skin. Maybe a sign that I¡¯ve changed the future enough for us to live.


    Loop 3 Day 365


    Today the bombs are dropping. The frantic cries of those in confinement have died out. They probably are accepting the reality of the situation.


    The news reported people showing strange signs of something akin to the ¡®supernatural¡¯. They seemed to posses some other-worldly powers. No two powers were exactly the same.


    None of us believed it. Then came the reports of the bombs.


    The bombs were straight out of a sci-fi novel. They didn¡¯t explode, or implode. They didn¡¯t seem to do anything. Every time one of the bombs was shown, it just disappeared. Just like all of the matter around it.


    Suddenly the news show turned to static. We felt a rumbling in the ground. The entire bunker began to shake violently.


    Did I mess up? Are we going to die anyway?


    After a few seconds the shaking stops.


    We are still alive! We haven¡¯t died!


    I check the cameras that Chelsea placed. A few of them haven¡¯t been destroyed! This kept getting better and better.


    I gather a few people that are good shots, we grab protective gear including the hazmat suits, and head outside.


    We need to see if the counter reacts. If it doesn¡¯t then my theory about anti-matter just makes even more sense.


    I open the door that can only be opened by me, and we are outside.

 Loop 3 Day 365 - Loop 4 Day 1

    Hi, Caelus again. If you have read this far, then you know I have traveled back in time twice now. This is the third life I¡¯ve been given. In my last entry I spoke about what happened up until the bombs dropped. This entry will tell of my life after the bombs.


    Loop 3 Day 365


    The people with me are the hunters of my group. They are in charge of bringing back meat, if there is any left.


    The meat is used to supplement the extensive fruit and vegetable farm I have. That way I don¡¯t need to set aside any room for the animals.


    We look around. It looks like the bomb almost hit my bunker. A clean gouge is dug around the area. It looks as if someone took an ice cream scoop, and scooped the landscape up.


    The scoops are everywhere. From my location I can see three different cities. Two of which are now completely scooped out.


    For some reason, the city of we used to live in was partially spared. Something should be noted. Although not to the degree of Seattle, it is full of hills. In fact, the city itself is on one large hill.


    Most of the buildings are scooped, but only the ones on the bottom of the hill are gone completely. Of course Chelsea¡¯s home is towards the bottom.


    ¡°So it was all just a matter of luck?¡± I mumble to myself.  The radiation detector doesn¡¯t go off at all. I come to the conclusion that they really weren¡¯t radioactive.


    I tell the group to switch gear. They all comply. We change into our bullet proof clothing, and protection gear. The gear basically makes us look like we belong to the marines. Although, there is really only two people that have been in the military in my base.


    The group looks at me, seeking a task. ¡°Alright guys and gals; today we are going to do a bit of recon around this area.¡± I point to about half the group. ¡°You all are in charge of protecting the entrance of the base.¡±


    I gesture to the other half. ¡°You will follow me, and we are going to see how bad the damage is. All of you should remember: I installed cameras everywhere around here, before the bombs dropped. I will be reviewing them when I get back.


    We need a recon/collection team leader. Whoever does the best over the course of the next few days will be promoted to that position. It doesn¡¯t come with any perks, but you will be able to issue guns and ammo.


    Whoever gets that rank will be keyed into the system to let you open the gun area at will.¡±


    I was giving one person control, and a limited amount of power. That way they think I¡¯m not the only one in charge. What I don¡¯t tell them is that I still have override abilities, and can shut them out of the system at any time.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be doing the same for the maintenance crew, and the civilians. You all are allowed to spread word of this when we get back to base.¡±


    I take half the group, five people, and start the recon. The base is about an hour walk from any other building. I decide to try to obtain a car with bulletproof glass and tires. Had I known this much of the world would be left, I¡¯d already have one.


    Our group is outfitted well though.


    I make the group walk slightly slower than needed, so that we can keep careful watch. We reach the first building in an hour and fifteen minutes. Three of the group scan inside the building, while the rest of us wait.


    Most of the buildings have long since been raided for food or supplies, but something useful might be left. I hear shouting. Damnit! I told them to keep their voices down!The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I signal the others to follow me into the building. We quietly sneak in. The building used to be a Walgreens. Most of the supplies are gone, and there are absolutely no medicines left. The only things left are the cheap make up, and beauty supplies.


    Inside I see a group of three people arguing with my group. The three people, and my group all have guns drawn. I signal for the stealth group to surround them.


    The other group is composed of one male, one female child, and a pregnant woman. Oh no. Crap! We can¡¯t be doing this to a family!


    We have several signals to let each other know what to do, or if there is danger. I pull out my whistle, and blow a quick note, then a long note.


    My group starts to slowly back away. The man shoots the ground in front of their feet. ¡°Hey! I didn¡¯t say you could move. Stop walking!¡± The group stops walking. I blow two quick whistles.


    Frowning, I unsheathe my laser guided 10mm. I announce my presence by walking in. ¡°Now hold on.¡± I try to calm the people down. My gun is drawn, but I don¡¯t think I could actually use it. I had never shot a person before.


    ¡°Look, we were just looking for supplies. We don¡¯t want trouble.¡±


    The man sneers. ¡°You don¡¯t look military, but your gear is way too good to be regular folks. You all must have a place to stay.¡± The man sneers. ¡°How about you lead us to it? Eh? Then leave it.¡±


    ¡°Sir we can¡¯t do that. I built that place myself. We have a large group of people depending on us.¡±


    ¡°Well, my family are more important. Can¡¯t you see? The whole world has gone to hell! It¡¯s survival of the fittest at this point!¡± His tone implies he thinks he is better than us.


    He points his gun at me. ¡°Now. Tell me where to find you base or die.¡± The little girl is crying. The pregnant woman looks scared for her life. All these people want to do is live. Maybe I should let them in?


    My stealth team makes it behind the group. In one swift motion the three each incapacitate one of the people. The girl is lifted off the floor, the pregnant woman is restrained with cuffs. The actual marine in the group hits the man¡¯s hand, making him drop his gun. He then punches the man in the throat, and the man falls down.


    The group looks at me. The marine asks, ¡°So what do we do with them?¡±


    I know I have to seem strong, but I can¡¯t just leave a helpless family here. The woman is awake, as is the little girl, but they will probably starve soon. I don¡¯t know if I can trust the man though.


    I walk up to the little girl. ¡°So, what exactly is your name.¡± She sneers at me. Fire leaps from her fingers. ¡°DIE!¡± She shouts as she throws the strands of fire at my face.


    It burns! It burns! I try to stifle it, but a scream escapes my lips. ¡°AHHH!¡± I catch a glimpse of the girl. She is smiling, her head hanging listlessly to the side.


    The marine shouts something, and the others smother my face. After a moment, I am released. I am too shocked to say anything.


    The marine walks over to me. ¡°Listen you¡¯re suffering from deep burns. We have to get you back to the doctor on base. This is going to hurt, but I am going to put some of this on your face.¡±


    The others restrain me. I start fighting against them. I don¡¯t want any more pain! It hurts!


    He smears some sort of cream on my face. NO! MAKE IT STOP! It burns, worse than the fire! He injects something into my arm. After a few moments of the worst pain I¡¯ve ever felt, I pass out.


    Loop 3 Day 366


    I wake up in the medical ward. I look around. The doctor is looking at me. ¡°So your finally awake.¡± She has a soothing voice. ¡°The others say a little girl threw fire at you. What really happened?¡±


    I tell her the entire story. ¡°So they were telling the truth? Or this is all some mass hysteria.¡±


    Apparently that girl had something that could throw fire. She must have sacrificed her hand when the flames went around it.


    ¡°What happened to the family?¡±


    The doctor looks at the ground. She points to a corner of the room.


    I see two people. One is the little girl, the other is the pregnant lady. I get unsteadily to my feet. I walk over to the people.


    The girl has a gaping hole in the side of her head. I back away quickly. I fall down as I try to unsee the image.


    ¡°What happened to her!?¡± I demand in a shaky voice.


    The doctor looks crestfallen. ¡°The men said she was using some sort of fire to attack you and them. They had to kill her to stop her. The woman tried to protect her. ¡­¡±


    My eyes go wide. They killed them!? How could they kill a little girl? ¡°Where is Chad?¡± Chad is the marine I took with me.


    The doctor hesitates. I glare at her.


    ¡°Where is he!?¡±


    The doctor says, ¡°He is in the holding area. He is interrogating the prisoner.¡±


    I storm out of the room, on my way to have a little chat with Chad. It is NOT OK to kill children!


    When I get there, I see him beating up the man that threatened to shoot me.


    ¡°What are you doing!? You are not allowed to kill kids! What the hell is going through your mind!? So help me God!¡±


    A loud noise interrupts me. My chest burns. I look down. I see a hole in my chest.


    I look at Chad. ¡°Shut the fuck up. That girl was a hindrance. Same as you. I¡¯m the only one that deserves to rule.¡±


    Everything goes black.


    I am in the black space for an eternity. If I ever get the chance, I¡¯m going to fuck Chad over.


    As the days and years pass in the black space I think only of revenge on Chad.


    Loop 4 Day 1


    I¡¯m back again.

 Loop 4 Day 1 - Loop 7 Year 3 Day 300

    Hi, Caelus again. If you have read this far, then you know I have traveled back in time three times now. At this point I realized something. I have started to feel less inclined to society.


    Loop 4 Day 1


    I¡¯ve been chosen by god. That¡¯s the only explanation! If He didn¡¯t want me to come back so often there is no way I would.


    When I figure this out everything becomes clear. God has given me a chance to have a perfect life. To have a perfect life I have to kill Chad.


    Chad is a bad person. He deserves to die.


    I buy a single gun, and ammo. I already know where Chad is. All I do is a bit of research on his daily habits.


    I buy these with my friend, since I don¡¯t want to wait for the gun license.


    Loop 4 Day 5


    I am at Chad¡¯s house. I break through the back window, and hide by the door. Chad volunteers at a homeless shelter today. After that he should come back here.


    He has a dog, but I put it to sleep with some chloroform.


    Four hours of waiting, then he is here. As soon as he opens the door, I shoot. Two people scream. One is Chad, I don¡¯t know the other.


    Chad bursts past the door, unharmed. He grabs me. I feel a tight pressure on my neck


    Loop 5 Day 1


    He killed me, AGAIN! This time I¡¯m not fucking around. He doesn¡¯t deserve to live! He doesn¡¯t even deserve a clean death!


    My anger is boundless. I control myself, but barely. I go buy a gun again.


    I buy a full-on arsenal of weapons. A machete, a shotgun, an AK, even several grenades. I make a new plan for killing Chad.


    I spend a while on making the plan, and come up with something I think will work.


    Loop 5 Day 4


    Tonight, I set up the traps while Chad is asleep. I set up his car with two grenades, one to detonate when he opens his car door, the other to go off when his rear right tire turns once.


    I place a claymore on his front door, covered by a box that looks like UPS. I also add a bit of C4 to it. Just for that little extra pop.


    I pour several gallons of gasoline on and around his house, and let it soak into the wood and dirt. I put his dog to sleep by throwing it a chloroform soaked piece of steak. After that I take it away, and let it out of my car.


    I come back to Chad¡¯s house. I prepare myself for the long night ahead. I am set to detonate the C4 as soon as something seems like it¡¯s going to go wrong.


    Loop 5 Day 5


    Chad wakes up, and leaves his house at 8 am. As soon as he opens the door, the claymore goes off. I press the button, and the C4 explodes.


    The noise could easily be heard all around.


    The gas soaked area easily catches fire. I run up to the house as his neighbors come out to see what the sound was. Chad looks dead, but I make sure of it.


    Two shotgun shells to the face, as well as a machete through the heart prove to be too much for him. I spit on him to show him he shouldn¡¯t have messed with me.


    Loop 5 Day 6


    The cops are after me. I don¡¯t know how they found out it was me, but they did. I am currently hiding in the area I bought during the third loop. I stole enough provisions to keep me going for a while.


    I have to find a source of food if I want to keep going forever.


    Loop 5 Day 20


    I ran out of food four days ago. If I leave I am afraid the cops will find me.


    Loop 5 Day 23


    I leave because I am starving. I go to a convenience store to steal food, but the cops are already there. They see my gun, and shoot on sight.


    Loop 6 Day 1


    While I was in the dark place I had a lot of time to think. Killing Chad wasn¡¯t necessary. Sure, he did kill me twice, and a little girl once, but those timelines no longer existed.


    I sigh as I plan a new course of action. I decide to not think of Chad anymore. I plan on ignoring his request to join my underground sanctuary.


    I tell Chelsea that I am from the future. She doesn¡¯t believe me, understandably. I decide to just buy the tickets first next time.


    She doesn¡¯t want me to buy the lotto tickets, but I do anyway. She doesn¡¯t know I buy them.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Loop 6 Day 8


    All of the lottery tickets are winners. When I show them to Chelsea she believes me, at least a little. We are on our way to Austin again.


    Since I already know which cameras from the other loop made it, I make new areas for Chelsea to put them.


    Loop 6 Day 10


    I explain to Chelsea that we already went over which places to buy. She still wants to look. As if it would change anything.


    I agree to look to satisfy her. If this loop fails as well, I¡¯m just going to leave her out of the loop altogether. It¡¯s understandable that she wants to be a part of the process, but the process is already complete.


    Loop 6 Day 142


    For some reason, the builders were slower this time. They seemed to make a lot more mistakes than they did before.


    Even the promise of money can¡¯t fix stupidity. Still, they are done months ahead of schedule. Money does work wonders. Although it can¡¯t buy happiness. That¡¯s not what I want to buy anyway.


    The building is built the exact same, with a few more security measures installed. I would not have a repeat of the Chad incidence. I also had the tunnel built from the beginning, as well as increasing the size and quality of the training centers.


    I also go over the information that the cameras are providing. They are in much more obscure places. Places that the other set of cameras didn¡¯t reach. The reason we didn¡¯t make more in loop 3 was that they would be too noticeable.


    Loop 6 Day 150


    I go to work and invite everyone into my complex. I take them on a sort of tour of the facility. They are mostly impressed.


    I obviously quit work at this point. The only reason I kept going was to keep up the relationships with everyone.


    I convince the people that I really want to come, that they can stay here if something bad happened in the future.


    Even if it did make me seem weird, it was worth it.


    Loop 6 Day 165


    Today the announce the weird outbreak.


    I wait for it, but it doesn¡¯t come. Did I break the cycle!? Finally! No more dying and forced return!


    I throw a party that only Chelsea understands. She no longer believes that I¡¯m from the future, but that doesn¡¯t matter! I am just happy there is no apocalypse.


    Loop 6 Day 166


    It was only delayed by one day. It was basically the same report, but one day later.


    It¡¯s time to get to work, before everything turns to shit.


    Loop 6 Day 240


    I¡¯ve convinced Chelsea¡¯s family that they need to come with me. The outbreak seems worse this time. It started a day later, but was much worse.


    I seal the doors. All the families of the people I want safe are here. I could have included their indirect families, and their friends, but it would be too much risk.


    I didn¡¯t send out any invites to other people, just the eighty people I had now would be almost too much to handle.


    Loop 6 Day 365


    The bombs drop today, but I¡¯ve already briefed everyone on the situation. I¡¯m from the future, and what they need to do.


    Over the past four months I¡¯ve had people training in the fields I posted them to. It is frustrating to see people learning so slowly. I almost want to kill them myself.


    When the bombs drop everyone is stunned. Not me though. I am on my super-computer, learning how to build better computers actually. I only now thought of it, but if I failed this time it would be good to have that info.


    My research leads me to some interesting theories on the construction of automated robotic mobile attack drones. ARMAD for short. They are used to combat the growing evil old people situation.


    Loop 6 Year 2 Day 1


    I don¡¯t tell anyone about us being able to leave. I decide that would just cause problems like last time.


    Loop 6 Year 2 Day 200


    I¡¯ve been only going out for food and the necessary things lately. Today something happens.


    I leave my station after hearing a commotion. I stop as I stare in amazement at the scene before me. One person has turned completely metal, and is attacking everyone around.


    I always carry my 10 mm. I shoot at him, hitting him in the head. The bullet bounces off, and ricochets. It hits someone else, and the metal person, Jake, turns towards me.


    With a roar Jake attacks me. All of my knowledge about the situation above ground was for nothing. I am hit by one of Jake¡¯s fists.


    I see my headless body spinning rapidly. Oh, that¡¯s just my head.


    Loop 7 Year 1 Day 1


    No more. I am not going to help anyone anymore. It¡¯s all about me. I don¡¯t even care if people are saved. I¡¯ve been doing this enough.


    I still win the lottery.


    Loop 7 Year 1 Day 165


    Today they do the announcement, but I don¡¯t watch it. I am almost done making my own homemade supercomputer. It runs at 1 petaflops.


    To make a long story short, it was in competition with the highest levels of supercomputers out there. It¡¯s not as good as the best one, but I couldn¡¯t even afford the material to make one better than this.


    I get most of the basic programing directly from the internet. The ¡®computer nodes¡¯ can communicate with each other, and are able to simultaneously process a problem.


    Loop 7 Year 1 Day 365


    I¡¯ve been doing nothing but study this entire time. My underground bunker is still as big as the first time I built it.


    My food processor is now run by an automatic harvesting/preparing/serving system. It cost a bit more, but now I don¡¯t need other people.


    With my computer running 24/7 I can run simulations that would otherwise be beyond me. I have to work on my programing skills to make it able to do anything though.


    I am constantly working on making, and fixing, programs to install on my supercomputer. I can make it at least do large scale simulations.


    Loop 7 Year 2 Day 200


    Today, last loop, is the day Jake turned insane and metal. My learning curve is insanely high. I am now capable of programing a supercomputer that can hack into most systems.


    To be fair they are not manned by people right now though.


    I start to wonder, what is causing these people to gain powers. Is my ability to jump to the past tied to that? I have no idea.


    But I have enough time to figure it out.


    Loop 7 Year 2 Day 240


    I decide to check out the outside world. With no real way to defend myself against metal people, I just hope bullets still work.


    The land still looks scooped out. There are a few groups of people roaming around though. There are many staggering, old angry people.


    One of them sees me. It is about a hundred feet away. How does it notice me from that far? It starts to run towards me, attracting the attention of all of its neighbors.


    My shots are carefully lined up. Each bullet hits its target. Each bullet downs one of the incredibly fast zombie dudes.


    The bullets attract the attention of people though. That¡¯s not good. I climb back into the tunnel, but an arm reaches through it to get me.


    I slice it off with my machete. It flops to the floor, I am sure there is screaming on the other side of the super thick, sound proof door.


    Going out is dangerous. I need a better plan.


    Loop 7 Year 3 Day 300


    I have spent over a year working on this project. By using the items for repairing my base, I¡¯ve finally created something thought possible only in sci-fi.


    Before me stands a six foot, twelve hundred pounds, fully autonomous fighting robot.


    The reason it took me so long to figure it out, was that I had to make the weapons systems.


    The robot is powered by an electric battery. The battery is charged by a miniature windmill like structure, a high-purity solar panel, and can directly absorb energy from batteries and lightning strikes.


    It can move through water, and doesn¡¯t rust. It has a sensor system as well. It is connected to the supercomputer, which uses its inputs to decide if the person is on the approved to live list. I am the only one on that list.


    The weapons are my favorite part. It can shoot lasers that cut through a solid inch of non-polished steel. It has four rockets, and various guns with ammo to match.


    The storage is part of the robot. Whenever new ammo is used, the weapons that are where the arms should be, can change. It can come into the base, and automatically reload all its ammo when half of one kind is depleted. It also has a large amount of C4 installed. If anything happens to it, then it will self-destruct.


    It is nothing short of a masterpiece. It would be even better if I had proper parts. Due to all the times I¡¯ve taken the thing apart, and put it back together with some improvement, I can make one of these in about a week and a half.


    If I had the materials. That is the first mission I program into the robot. Gather a specific list of items for use on its brethren. The camera installed behind one-way see through armor, allows me to watch the mission unfold.

 Loop 7 Year 3 Day 306 - Loop 8 Year 6 Day 173

    Props to Lasiefo for getting me pumped to write this again! I kinda lost my motivation after some rather rude comments directed at me.


    Hi. Caelus here. I had a bit of health problems between the last chapter and this one. I thought I was going to die and start over, but it was alright. Let¡¯s get back to it.


    Loop 7 Year 3 Day 306


    The robot I built has had a few problems in the field. You can¡¯t test for everything I guess. Even though I made sure to stress check each part of the robot, one of the joints was destroyed. It was shot out by a sniper.


    The robot starts targeting the person, but I have it leave via remote control. I don¡¯t need to kill off random people just trying to keep their families alive. I need to find a way to survive for as long as possible.


    The robot took a total of five days to find four of the required parts. They were better than nothing though. I decide to send the return command. It would take a while for it to come back though. It had spent most of those five days traveling.


    Loop 7 Year 3 Day 323


    My robot meets with a very unfortunate accident on the fourth day coming home. One of the, for lack of a better term, natives, decides that pouring a vat of nuclear waste right on the poor bot¡¯s body is funny. Of course, I have the means of removing the radiation from the robot, but it would take at least 20 years. That is a long time to wait for some simple parts.


    Instead I have the robot scout the area too far to be in range of my cameras. After a few weeks, I decide to just let the robot roam free. Any information it receives will be sent to me anyway.


    There isn¡¯t much more that I do that loop. I look at all the stock market rises and falls of the last few decades, including the time that led up to the bombs dropping. It¡¯s all very technical stuff, but I somehow seem to understand it well after only a bit of studying. It¡¯s helpful to have such a good memory.


    After a few months of trying to scavenge enough materials from my bunker, I decide I must go collect some from the outside world. One robot is worth a lot in terms of fighting power and scouting ability.


    I go to the munitions factory in my base, and collect an assortment of weaponry and bullet proof clothing. On top of that I have some incendiaries, and a bit of food and water. Just in case I must stay out there for a while.


    I find a mostly hidden hardware store. My robot staked this place out for about a day. No one went in or out of it. After I go in I notice a large portion of the products are missing. No surprise there. I take what I can, but when I go to leave I can only sigh.


    Outside of the door are about a dozen different people. They are all carrying various forms of weapons. The biggest problem was the fact that two of them had flamethrowers. Bulletproof clothing does nothing against flames.


    I sigh again. The people take aim and shoot at me. Of course, the bullet proof clothing protects every part of me. Except for my eyes. One of the bullets just ¡®happened¡¯ to land in my eye. What luck right?


    Loop 8 Day 1


    Here I am making the same sandwiches again. I start questioning myself. Is this really all in my head? Less than a decade has passed in total since the first ¡®loop¡¯. I could just be crazy. Maybe I¡¯m still at the hospital from the second ¡®loop¡¯.


    That would be sad, yet oddly funny. I finish making the sandwiches and just chill with Chelsea. I decide to start the process of telling her family again. This time I know most of how to do it. I will just have to prove to them that I can ¡®see the future¡­¡¯.


    I write down all the major events that will happen in the next few weeks. After I do that, I have them go with me while I buy all the lotto tickets.


    Loop 8 Day 6


    When they announce the winning numbers for each one, I show them that each one perfectly wins. I play the stock market a bit, and show them that I can perfectly ¡®predict¡¯ which one will increase the most each day.


    Chelsea still wants to go around and look at all the possible housing locations. If she is going to be like this every time, I might just tell her after I build the damn thing. The people I hire to build my shelter are each promised ten thousand dollars in addition to their regular pay. That is as long as they finish this entire thing in three months.


    I go about buying a large amount of materials that I hadn¡¯t bought in the last loop. Most of it being the necessary things to build more robots. I also buy enough things to practice making some new types of weapons. Relying on gunpowder won¡¯t do.


    Loop 8 Day 102


    Today Chelsea¡¯s family and close friends move in. I allow some other people that are close to her to move in as well. I even fly my friends from across America over to live here with me. There is a couple of them I don¡¯t really trust, but I will just try to be more open minded.


    After everyone is in the bunker, I close it off. I go about showing everyone each part of the building, and then lock myself in my room for about a month. They can¡¯t leave, but they were already told that. During that month, I only allow my closest friend, and Chelsea into my room. I still need to talk to people sometimes.


    Loop 8 Day 139


    I finally finish with my work with the robots. I can piece together a single robot in only a week now. It is a bit better than what it was before.


    I show my masterpieces to the group assembled before me. They are in awe. There are four outstanding robots before them. Obviously everyone here is on the do not kill list.


    Of course, some people want to leave after realizing they were all trapped here, but since everything I¡¯ve said so far has been 100% accurate, only two of them leave. I told them they can¡¯t come back, but they left anyway.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I know they are going to try to get back in at some point, but I had already prepared to ignore their desperate pleas. I would have to show these guys that I meant business, lest I invite another Chad incident.


    As it is I have changed my bunker a lot. There is still a huge food and munitions production area, but now the defense has increased a nice bit. I¡¯ve installed several turrets around the perimeter of my base. The turrets are based on a technology derived from the weapons system of the robots.


    Each turret has at least four types of weapons, depending on where they are located. They can easily switch between the types, and refill their ammo through a large conveyor belt system that links directly to the munitions factory. I even have one near the very entrance that takes nuclear waste, and shoots it.


    That is the only new weapon I design in this time. It has a small compartment of nuclear waste, part of the molten salt core nuclear reactor I built in my base this time. It takes the waste, and sends a super high current wind through a nozzle. A small amount of waste gets shot out of the lead nozzle, and can hit anything within a shotgun blast radius.


    How cool is that!? A gun that shoots nuclear radiation? I obviously called it the Radiation Gun. I equipped it on only one of the robots. If it somehow messes up their systems I don¡¯t want all four to go down at the same time.


    I send them out into the wasteland to obtain more materials. The massive amount of vegetables and fruits can¡¯t cut it forever. My people will eventually want meat. Hell, I want meat.


    Loop 8 Day 300


    I spend a lot of time with the group in my base. There is occasionally a burst of anger, but we have a way of settling that. Whenever an argument breaks out, I simple confine both parties to their respective rooms. Of course, the adults don¡¯t always want to listen to me, but with my six constantly patrolling robots, they don¡¯t have much choice.


    Obviously, I spent six weeks making robots. The gear I bought before the bombs was enough to make at least a hundred. It takes up quite a bit of room, but that was also one of the changes I made.


    For the past two and a half months I have been just playing around with the people here. We mostly have fun. I do a bit of research and building here and there though.


    My main area of research, currently, is a large assembly line. It isn¡¯t too hard to make a giant thing to construct things for you, but I¡¯m wanting it to build me more robots. That way I can spend as much time as I want with Chelsea.


    No one comes near our base after the incident.


    The incident happened a few months ago, about a month after I let the two people leave. They tried to come back, just like I thought they would. But instead of begging to be let in, they had a horde of angry people trying to break in!


    I had my turrets turned off so I didn¡¯t kill them, but when they shouted that all we had to do was kill me and they would only enslave the other occupants, I decided enough was enough. The cameras took hundreds of pictures in a second, and caught the faces of almost all of the raiders.


    I activated the full force of the turrets, and robots. First the turrets came up from the ground, and began pulverizing the entire mass of people. There weren¡¯t any elderly or children, so I had only a little bit of guilt from killing them.


    After that they started running away. I had my turrets and cameras around the area track them, and sent the robots to mop them up. The ones I let escape must have told others, because no one else even came close to getting near my base after that.


    Of course, the group in the base started to act differently towards me after that. Once again I found myself alone most of the time. Bored and lonely, I decided to throw myself into my work.


    The things I build this loop would go on to help me for hundreds of loops in the future. Using the information I could get, I studied up on nuclear energy and nuclear physics.


    I had basically just copied the blue prints for the molten salt reactor core. It was a great idea to do though. Usually water is heated by uranium breaking down. The uranium creates a massive amount of heat, and that heat turns the water into steam.


    The problem arises when there is no more water. In that case the heat doesn¡¯t dissipate, and causes the nuclear energy chain to go wild. That is called a meltdown. It also is called a massive explosion.


    To fix this some guys started a company called Transatomic (Real company Real idea). They decided to try out heating salt instead of water. The uranium causes the salt to melt, but salt doesn¡¯t give off ¡®steam¡¯ at that low of a temperature.


    The molten salt goes into a chamber with water, and heats the water. The salt then goes back into the nuclear reactor to get more heat. So even if the water all goes away, the heated salt will just slowly cycle through taking away the heat. This reduces the chance of a meltdown dramatically.


    I took this idea, and a few others, and started to make what I thought was the single best method of energy creation ever made. My idea was very much ahead of its time.


    Loop 8 Year 4 Day 104


    Everyone decides to leave today. Even Chelsea. I understand though. Being cooped up in here for so long would drive any sane person mad. Maybe I really am crazy. Maybe that¡¯s why I haven¡¯t gone crazy already.


    Over the past few months more and more people have decided to leave. It¡¯s not surprising that the final group decided to go. With the security of my base there was no way they could know the horrors of the outside world.


    I let them go, and instruct fourteen of my robots to guard them. I tell the group they can¡¯t come back once they leave. I outfit them all with provisions, weapons and armors. They are like a military force at this point. I give them several special devices I have made as a byproduct of my research.


    I am sad to see them go, but over the past years I have lost most of my attachment to them. I still love Chelsea, but I know she has to be with the rest of her family and friends. If there is a next loop I plan on making sure that I stress the horrible conditions of the outside world.


    Loop 8 Year 4 Day 228


    I have studied the effects and mitigation possibilities of nuclear reactions for a while now. With my memory, I can easily go from one test to a different one with no loss of thought. It is very helpful. I have created a very interesting piece of work.


    It is a thick viscous liquid. It is technically liquid, but it isn¡¯t runny like water. It flows very slowly, and takes a long time to take the shape of a container.


    The most special thing about this liquid is its ability to mitigate heat. It can absorb an insane amount of heat before becoming warm. I put it into a furnace I made to test it, and it was still cool to the touch after a half hour inside.


    After many tests, I decide to go on to the next phase of my plan.


    Loop 8 Year 6 Day 173


    I finally figure out the EM field. The Electro-Magnetic field works on a similar basis as the EMP. The EMP sends out an electric signal that causes the electrons within circuitry to go haywire. That obviously ruins whatever they were a part of.


    I build up a faraday cage, something that stops radio waves and things like EMPs from getting out. Inside there I spend a long time researching on the uses of the EMP. Instead of wiping out electronics, I plan to utilize them in a special way.


    I create a large machine, about twice as large as a full-grown man. Inside that machine is a vacuum, empty space. Inside that vacuum is a single atom. That atom is surrounded by electrical waves on all sides. Those waves are the controlling factors.


    Basically, what happens is this. I split the atom. Normally this causes the atom to lash out at all atoms around it, creating a nuclear blast. The electronic waves surrounding this atom are made to stop it.


    Of course, I make enough of my special liquid to cover this entire contraption. That way even if something goes wrong I shouldn¡¯t have to be too worried about it. This is the sixteenth test for the EM field. The first fifteen ended up in abject failure.


    At least the liquid proved its worth. Even when the atom exploded, the several hundreds of gallons of liquid merely boiled and turned into steam. Two hundred gallons were turned into steam, but quickly reverted into liquid form.


    It was almost as if the liquid just refused to be hot. It was the best way to guard against something like this. It seems as if the liquid enjoyed destroying the nuclear reaction trying to take place.


    On this, the sixteenth, try, I finally manage to succeed! The atom inside the machine does explode, but it has to for me to get the energy I need.


    The electrons start to go wild, but the 43 layers of magnetic fields I put in the machine made the reaction stay inside a relatively small space. The reaction keeps going though. The electrons refused to calm down. That was exactly what I wanted.


    Now the last thing to do is figure out how long the atom will stay in this state, and find a safe method of pulling energy out of it without ruining the 43 layers of shielding.

 Loop 8 Year 11 Day 1 - Loop 9 Year 1 Day 365

    Caelus again. You guys want to hear something funny? Me too.


    Loop 8 Year 11 Day 1


    Ten years have passed since the start of this loop. Everything is going fine. Sadly, the power I can get out of the atom splitting device isn¡¯t nearly equal to the power it takes to keep the EM fields up. I got stuck! It was the only time I¡¯ve ever gotten stuck on something since the loops started.


    I look over my camera monitors every month or so. I see a large collective of slavers take over most of the city. It is a little sad to see the nice people of this city be enslaved. None of Chelsea¡¯s friends or family are here though. Chelsea herself isn¡¯t here either. So, I don¡¯t really feel that bad. It¡¯s an apocalypse after all.


    With the huge amount of slavers, it is only a matter of time before some of my cameras or robots are discovered. I have upgraded the robots into series by this point. There are three series of robots. Each one is specialized to a task.


    There is the Guardians. These are the ones with the most weapons, and heaviest armor. They can take a single direct hit by a Denel-Mechem NTW-20. That is, or at least was, the world¡¯s most powerful sniper rifle. Every part of their bodies is covered in a special version of a bulletproof fabric. I invented it after several months of intense study.


    It uses the same woven fabric concept as typical bulletproof fabric, but is made of much thicker heavier material. The robots can hold much heavier weights than humans can. They were basically weak versions of tanks.


    The second kind of robot is the Miner. They come equipped with a dozen types of drills, and two guns. They are specifically made to be able to tunnel, excavate, and mine. They are less sturdy than the Guardians, but are still high quality.


    They can borrow up to hundred feet a day. I usually have them making new spaces for rooms to be in the future. They have a large amount storage capacity, and even come installed with a beacon array. All of the Miners know where all of the others are.


    The last type is my favorite. They are called the Crafters. They are the most numerous, and have the most divergent sub-types. The biggest type is the Builders. The Builders are in charge of building new rooms in the areas the Miners dig out.


    There is also the Makers. They make the materials used by the rest of the base. They are in charge of smelting any ore found by the Miners, and turning it into the needed materials. They are equipped with the highest amount of various tools of all of the robots. Finally is the Programmers. As silly as it sounds, they are in charge of creating AI.


    I programmed them to do tests on any programs I randomly create. They point out the various points it failed or excelled at. After that I can just upgrade the program as needed. The Programmers can instantly test tens of thousands of possibilities of the program I make, in a second.


    These upgrades took me about five years to make. It was mostly the massive amount of stress testing and reprogramming I had to do. The Programmers themselves took an entire year to make. Creating the new parts took a large chunk of time as well. When I got the Makers working, the process sped up considerably.


    Obviously, all the robots are connected to their own super-computers. With each branch having its own massive resource, they are capable of amazing feats. The Programmers especially benefit. They can run much more complex programs due to the super-computer.


    I keep trying to find ways to harvest the energy released from the atom, but I am getting nowhere. I refuse to give up though. I seem to be able to fully concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. Many times, I must be interrupted to realize I should eat. The Makers are actually very good at cooking.


    After separating the diverse types of robots, I decided to fully concentrate on my attempts at forcing the energy of the atom to bend to my will. I refuse to give up the potential power I have before me.


    Loop 8 Year 11 Day 247


    I am just now putting the finishing touches on my latest and greatest invention. Using the technology of the EM fields, I actually create a gun about the size of a pistol. The pistol releases a wave of electrons that form a field. The field works the same way as the EM field that shields the exploding atom.


    Basically, if the gun has fuel, electricity powered by the sun, it will maintain the field. The field doesn¡¯t do any physical harm, but will block all wireless waves from coming or going inside the field. The field from the gun has a six-foot diameter. Not huge, but it would at least stop a walky-talky or something like that from working. Only temporarily though.


    Thus, my robots scavenge usable electronics without too much blood shed. I only use this method occasionally though. The result is always the death of at least one person. The person always has something I really need for my research though. They will just come back if I have the next loop anyway.


    After the gun releases the field, it can create another one in about 12 hours of sunlight. The light is enough to keep the field up until nightfall though. With the battery capacity of the gun, it can hold out for an hour after no sunlight is available. The field can be changed to an intense, instant, shock. Much like a high powered Taser.


    Loop 8 Year 11 Day 337


    At this point I give up on trying to get the energy. I know I can do it, but I realized I don¡¯t have the parts required. I need some very exotic pieces to craft what I need. It¡¯s basically a mega-powerful massive super-conductor. I can¡¯t even figure out how to make it without the appropriate parts.


    On a more positive note, the AI I have been trying to make is getting closer to being done. The AI has passed the turning test. A test to see if AI can think ahead, sort of. I have set programming to have its own super-computer. I only have enough materials to build that fifth one, but it¡¯s worth it.


    With the AI running all the time, and downloading as much data from the remnants of the internet as it can, it is quickly realizing its own true potential. I can¡¯t wait until it asks some sort of existential question. That is when I will know it is truly self-aware.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Loop 8 Year 12 Day 300


    My AI still has not asked the question of its purpose. I cannot figure out why. By all accounts it seems to be self-aware. It can communicate through the speaker system, has created a figure for itself on the televisions, even occasionally takes command of one of the robots to better communicate with me.


    Besides the speaker, I didn¡¯t command any of this. It might be that all of the ¡®ideas¡¯ come from that time though. I told it to communicate through the speakers to let me better understand and relate to it. The super-computer might have extrapolated this data and decided that the TV¡¯s and robots were fair game. But ¡®deciding¡¯ is for things that have a consciousness!


    I still haven¡¯t figured out the way to get the energy. I¡¯ve all but run out of ways to try to test taking the energy out. It seems I really will need that superconductor.


    Loop 8 Year 12 Day 356


    This is the end of the twelfth year I have been in this loop. I am giving up on the research. For real this time. I keep telling myself to give up, but something keeps pulling me back to it. I don¡¯t know why. I feel like it may give me a clue as to why I am like this.


    Oh yeah!


    Yesterday I was attacked by the slavers. It seems that after more than five years these guys forgot what I was capable of. The supercomputer in charge of the cameras constantly sends any data that might be of interest to the other four supercomputers. This includes figures approaching the cameras, or my base.


    As soon as the slavers saw the sign I had the robots put out, they laughed. It said ¡®Dangerous Keep Out¡¯. They didn¡¯t seem to care. As soon as they stepped too close, the militant supercomputer sprung the trap. The enhanced turrets fired off hundreds of rounds a second. Flames danced on the skin of those close to the turrets. Radioactive waste was even spewed on some of the members close to the door.


    Just when they thought it couldn¡¯t get any worse, the robots spewed forth from the inside of the base. In seconds, the group of dozens of slavers was reduced to nothingness. I let one of them go though. That way I could experience at least another five years of peace.


    I am thinking of starting a bartering system with the nearby inhabitants. I have two robots planting cameras in areas that were too far for me to place them before the bombs. My supercomputer can see for about a thousand miles at this point. The only thing that would be better is if I had a satellite in the sky.


    Loop 8 Year 13 Day 47


    Today a group of zombies attacked. It didn¡¯t last long, but they seemed to know exactly where the door was. They looked familiar. I knew who they looked like, but I refused to accept it. It was just someone that looked identical to Chelsea and her family.


    Loop 8 Year 14 Day 146


    Today I learn something. It is terrible. I have been losing my temper recently. I haven¡¯t even been trying to do anything that would normally make one lose one¡¯s temper. Today I noticed my skin aging in a certain area.


    I¡¯ve finally caught the disease. I don¡¯t know how it happened. I always disinfect every incoming robot. My entire base is basically a clean-room. Not even a spec of dirt can be seen outside of the farm area. I have the robots check, but the strain of virus isn¡¯t present in any place but my body.


    I decide to see if this will kill me. Of course, I¡¯m scared of dying, but I have this thirst for answers recently. It could be because of this. I hole myself up in a room I have the Makers build. Not even they can break out.


    Loop 8 Year 14 Day 179


    It has been a month since I¡¯ve gotten the disease. At first I could feel myself occasionally slipping into unconsciousness, only to find out I had seemingly turned into a zombie. The video cameras I had set up would replay when they heard the phrase, ¡®what happened here?¡¯.


    As time went on, I felt myself slipping more and more. Each time would last longer than the last. At this point I would only have consciousness for a few hours before an entire day of zombie life.


    Loop 8 Year 14 Day 209


    I can feel that today is the last day I will be sane. I have no idea what is going to happen when I fully turn into a zombie, but it can¡¯t be good. I wonder if it will carry on into the next loop?


    Loop 9 Year Day 1


    Obviously not. I slam my hand down on the table, angry that I STILL have to go through this. Chelsea¡¯s dad looks at me worried, and I act like it was nothing. I apologize and sigh as I start the entire process over again. I plan to win the lottery then play the stock market until I have enough money. It shouldn¡¯t take that long.


    Loop 9 Year 1 Day 64


    Instead of hiring people to build my base, I built a factory that produced the robots. It took me a month and a half to build, but it is done now.


    The factory is right on top of the area the base is going to be. I will have the robots tear the factory down after enough of them are built. By using the robots, I save a LOT of money. I have enough materials to build about a thousand of each type of robot. That¡¯s given that I build the original sized base though. I had even more improvements to put into it.


    Loop 9 Year 1 Day 71


    It only took my bots a week to build what it took the humans several months to do. They are so much more efficient. The food storage and creation area is smaller, but has a more refined amount of food. The food I put here was based on the daily consumption and requests of the last loop. I still had a huge amount of farmland though.


    The munitions factory was scaled down a bit, and the free area was used for a factory to produce the stun gun/EM field pistols. They were by far the most efficient weapon. I spent the last 30 days actually making modifications to the battery housing system, and the battery itself. I¡¯ve also added in a dial to change the voltage of the Taser function.


    There are several factories in my base. The basic factories are: gunpowder and gunpowder based weapons factory; EM field weapons factory; Robot factory (all kinds); food factory; and material factory; there are even factories to make paper whenever a tree from the food factory starts to decay. Books are not going to die out if I¡¯m here.


    I make the gaming room bigger, but separate it into ten different gaming rooms. That way people feel like they have more privacy. One of the main complaints of the last loop, was the lack of privacy in anywhere but their rooms.


    I make ten supercomputers this time. Each one is governing something important. One is for each of the three types of robot. The Programmers actually get their own as well. Two are watching over the extensive security network. One for the inside of the base (the residents don¡¯t know) and one for the outside. One is working independently to make AI. One is hacking every computer and server it can until the bombs drop. It is the biggest one. It must hold the most data after all. The last one is the one that will hopefully evolve into AI. I memorized the coding of my last AI before shutting myself up in the room in the last loop.


    After programming that coding, I hand it over to the Programmers. The one that will hopefully become AI is tasked with keeping my research going. It is fully equipped to do so. I made sure of that in the last loop.


    Loop 9 Year 1 Day 365


    My base is far better than it has ever been before at this point. I have convinced even the people that wanted to leave of the dangers of the outside world. I continue to stress the danger in minute ways. Today is the day the bombs drop. I intentionally take the radioactive materials and spread it around the only entrance the other residence know about. For the next few decades they will experience radiation poisoning if they try to leave.


    It¡¯s kind of messed up to do, but I have no choice. I¡¯m trying to save as many people as possible, but if they run away at the first sign of peace then I¡¯ve failed.


    I stay with the group and watch in sadness as the bombs I predicted fall from the sky. Many places are hit, but most of the city above our town escapes the damage thanks to the faulty bomb. Through my personal cameras I watch the bomb that night.


    The bomb did explode, but it exploded in the air, far sooner than it should have. I was just thankful it didn¡¯t turn out to fully work. My first bunker would have been wiped out otherwise.


    The Programmers are hard at work, as are all the other robots. With everything working full speed, I simply choose to relax on this Loop. The AI is watching the atomic splitting room closely. It runs thousands of simulations a second on how to optimize the energy extraction. Hopefully it will find something I missed, but I doubt it.

 Loop 9 Year 9 Day 1 - Loop 9 Year 14 Day 65

    Loop 9 Year 2 Day 1


    Today is the day after the bombs dropped. My mental age is at the point of almost being twice as old as my physical age. I am currently lamenting with Chelsea. She is sad about not being able to save her entire family. To be honest though, the part of her family I didn¡¯t save would just cause the group a lot of problems.


    I decide to spend most of my time with the group I saved. There are 46 of us. 20 men, and 26 women. That includes her sister¡¯s baby girl though. With our numbers, we can hold a viable population. We have more than the required minimum to stop the level of inbreeding that would cause genetic disorders.


    I set out a birth plan, and hide it. Chelsea has told me before that she would hate it if I were in power. It makes sense though. People in power almost always abuse it. In this situation, I am in complete power. Even though I hold the power over their lives, I make sure to downplay the entire situation.


    I decide to start a voting system for the food. I made sure that it was ¡®someone else¡¯s idea¡¯ though. We all put in our votes, and the correct food is prepared. We also start a form of government. We all cast our votes as to who should be in charge of the base. I am elected lead engineer. Over half the group wants me to be president, but I decline the offer. I want to appear as powerless as possible.


    My friend Brandon is elected president. I let him know about most of the systems. Including the outside monitoring system. I show him the room with the supercomputer that harvests that data. The other supercomputers, including the monitor system for inside the base, are all past a secret doorway in my unlivable room.


    He asks for the codes to the robots, but all I give him are the basic commands. There are two levels of control in the robots. One is ¡®Obvious Control¡¯. Obvious Control lets whoever is the leader of the bunker give commands to the robots.


    The second level is ¡®Shadow Control¡¯. Shadow Control lets me give commands to the robots as long as it follows a certain key phrase. I had already programmed about a hundred phrases. He also asks to have control over the room touch pads. The touch pads are actually handprint scanners. At the same time as your hand is scanned there is a retina scan, and voice authorization scan.


    Each person only needs to put their hand on the pad, look at the hole, and speak. He doesn¡¯t completely trust me. He has me try to open each door. Although I did make it so I could go in any room, I didn¡¯t just make it where I had to speak. I have to say a particular phrase.


    After he is satisfied he goes about his duties of controlling the, what he decided to call, vault. Chelsea and I snuggle in her room. Several rooms are empty, and can only be opened by new people registering their hand/voice/eye prints. One of the empty rooms is keyed to me. I also have a regular room. Everyone gets one bedroom, even if they decide to share it with a spouse they have their own.


    I have two other rooms though. One is just the science room. At least everyone in the vault thinks so. It is the true control room. If I wanted to, I could control every system from here. Even though Brandon can only give commands to the robots in person, I can give them commands remotely.


    Loop 9 Year 5 Day 265


    The last four and a half years have been nice. Chelsea and I only have to work short shifts a few times a week. Her job is to maintain the food farming area. Although it sounds hard, one of the first things Brandon ordered me to do was increase the abilities of the food harvesting robots. He thought that too much food went to waste. I told him I cannot reprogram any of the robots, so I had to build a few new ones. The improvements he told me to add where actually very sensible. I¡¯ll be adding them in my next loop.


    He still doesn¡¯t understand that I made the food factory to support a hundred people for a thousand years. The sustainability is insane. Even if we had two-hundred people, we could still live easily for a couple of hundred years. On top of that the fecal matter keeps nutrients incoming. Though they don¡¯t accept using the bodies of the dead to increase the amount of resources the farm can produce.


    Chelsea¡¯s job requires no effort at this point. She just goes there once or twice a week. The only real reason she goes is to placate the other vault-dwellers. If she didn¡¯t go at all we would have a problem. They would start to resent her.


    We try to have a baby at least once or twice a month. It seems I can¡¯t have children¡­ That¡¯s very depressing. How do I know it¡¯s not her? Well I talk about it to one of the girls that didn¡¯t want to pair up with any of the guys. There are a few people that don¡¯t want to have a relationship. Anyway, I talk to her and convince her to take a sperm sample from me. She takes the sample once a month. We continue to do this, with Chelsea¡¯s permission, for about a year.


    At this point I am practically sure I cannot have any children. It¡¯s sad, but it¡¯s not all bad. At least I have Chelsea.


    Loop 9 Year 9 Day 1


    Today is Election Day. This is the third Election Day we have had. Brandon is still the president. There is no term limit. He has started to go a bit crazy though. He obviously rigs the nightly votes for food. And has started controlling when and how people can spend their free time. I suspect that the vault will get rid of him this time.


    Loop 9 Year 9 Day 2


    I killed Brandon today. He lost the rigged Election yesterday. It was obvious that he had rigged it. There was enough votes for everyone to have voted twice. He won by a little over half. We took that as a sign that he needed to be changed out for a new president.


    With his loss, he goes crazy. He grabs Chelsea and threatens to kill her if I don¡¯t make it so he is the president again. Of course, I glare at the group, and pull out one of the guns from the munitions factory. Since only military are supposed to have them, the group must do what I say. The military are in training at this time.


    As soon as he gets off the pedestal, he walks back to the president¡¯s room. He throws Chelsea to the side, and goes to grab a gun on his table. I shoot him in the back of his head.


    That night I cry myself to sleep. I had to do it, but I¡¯ve never actually killed one of my own friends before. Even if two terms of absolute power has made him go crazy, I still wish I had another option.


    That night Chelsea comforts me until the morning. I decide to put it behind me, and bury my guilty feelings.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Loop 9 Year 9 Day 15


    I get arrested today. Having a gun outside of the military is a capital offense. At least it would have been if I made it so there was no capital offense punishment. Instead I am punished as all other mis-doers are. I am sent outside and must bring back a list of supplies that the vault needs. If I can¡¯t find them all, I have to spend the next year in isolation doing manual labor that is harmful to the robot¡¯s sensitive circuits.


    Many of the people here are close friends of mine. They stick up for me telling the new president Taylor that it is unfair for me to be punished for something that saved many lives. He doesn¡¯t listen.


    The AI has been growing this entire time. It¡¯s not true AI yet, but it is close. It can make basic decisions based on past instructions. That is a major step in the right direction. The AI will manipulate the videos that the president will see. It will look like I find these items in random abandoned areas.


    In reality, I had the robots near me change their patrols and help me find them. It was very quick. It only took 12 hours. When I come back the people are pleasantly surprised. The president looks like he just realized someone put dog shit on his porch.


    I hand the items to him. He accepts them, and takes them to the president¡¯s room. I go to the ¡®research lab¡¯. I watch as he intentionally breaks one of the pieces. He smiles and brings the parts to the game room section. He announces that I brought a broken piece, and must therefore still receive the punishment.


    I am already there obviously. I sigh and ask him if he has gone over all of the renovation details on his desk from a couple of weeks ago. Of course, after one week he had to swear he had read over everything and agreed.


    The paper mentioned the ¡®renovations¡¯ I made to the president¡¯s office. Including a camera that can be brought up by anyone by saying the words ¡®Show me the Presidential Money!¡¯.


    He looks angrily at me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t read anything like that!¡± he yells. I watched him not read any of it though. So, I had a robot put that particular piece of paper in there.


    When I say the words, it is too late though. His action of breaking the piece of hardware are being played on every television. I frown at him.


    ¡°It looks to me like you just tried to put the blame on me for something you did. Under article 4 section 3-a of our bylaws, as created by Brandon and the council, the president can¡¯t lie. If the president tells any lie at all then the president shall face the highest level of punishment available.¡± The bylaws were created during the first year that Brandon was president.


    He starts to stutter out a response, but I continue. ¡°Furthermore, you are to be stripped of all of your power, and cannot be elected to any decision-making post for the remainder of your time here.¡±


    Some of the people here are his relatives, and try to stick up for him, but I refuse to budge. Just as he forced me to leave the vault, I force him. The council has one of his family members in it, but the votes are five against one. If they bend the rules for Taylor, then they will have to bend the rules for everyone else.


    Loop 9 Year 9 Day 20


    The group watches as the ex-president gets killed by slavers. He finds the slavers by accident, and agrees to lead them here in exchange for his life. The videos don¡¯t have audio, but it is obvious what he is doing. Especially since he uses a lot of hand gestures. As soon as they get here, to the radioactive front door, they kill him.


    I say nothing, and go back to my research. As I head back the turrets kick in, and slaughter the entire group of slavers. They had no chance from the beginning. I decide to study every detail of atomic energy and atomic physics that the hacking computer has in storage.


    Loop 9 Year 12 Day 15


    I finally make a breakthrough in obtaining energy from the atom! During the past three years I invented a very powerful battery. The acid it uses is specially made by me. I don¡¯t have enough material to make a lot of it, but the battery can produce as much charge as a typical nuclear reactor.


    Using the super-heat-resistant liquid, I could actually pull a lot of electrical energy out of one charge of a battery. The chemical compounds are very complicated, but the chemicals are the same as a normal battery. The only difference is that the liquid added to the battery, in addition to an extremely small amount of uranium, cause a massive amount of electric discharge when used. The limiting factor is the uranium. Sadly, I couldn¡¯t get very much uranium before the bombs fell. It¡¯s a deadly substance after all. If I had a secret underground base with robots, and a lot of uranium, the government would think I¡¯m building nukes!


    I have the robots dismantle the nuclear reactor though. The uranium I bought from the black-market is enough to make a large amount of these batteries. The batteries are also easily rechargeable. All they need is a simple 1 volt reverse charge, and they began to rewind the chemical process completely. After 24 hours, they can be used again.


    Only I knew about the reactor, so no one questioned it. The energy we get from these batteries vastly outstrips the molten salt core reactor. The parts are used to create another robot, a personal assistant for me. The rest is used in experiments on the effects of the uranium/HRL combination. HRL being my Heat Resistant Liquid.


    I have the AI computer study the effect of uranium mixing with my HRL. This was all done about a year ago. Since then I¡¯ve been trying my best to find a way to utilize this liquid with the electronic field generator.


    Today was the day it finally happened! The past few days I¡¯ve been getting a ton of information on the uranium/HRL combo. The last one threw me into a stupor.


    I reconfigure my EFG, electronic field generator. Instead of using outside energy to pour the fields around the atom, I use batteries made from the HRL. Not only that, I have one experiment I do.


    I add a single new apparatus to the machine. It pours just a bit of the uranium/HRL mix in. I have the machine split the atom, and instantly pour just a single drop of the liquid in. After a few minutes, I take the risk. Even if the machine blows up the liquid surrounding the entire machine will keep us safe.


    I have the machine lower the electronic fields. Instead of the explosion I was afraid of, what I had hoped in fact happened!


    The liquid inside the vacuum begins to glow purple, but otherwise is stable. I measure the total amount of electric energy in the liquid, 464.888 MWH! The smallest industrial nuclear reactor used to produce 504 MWH. Which is 504 Megawatts of electricity per hour. That is a lot of electricity. The electricity produced lasts for an entire week. That is just off one atom! For the number of atoms in the 12-foot-long cylinder that the nuclear reactors use, well that is in the trillions upon trillions.


    I feel a glow come up to my cheeks. This research is the pinnacle of science! A single atom produces enough energy over the course of a week to last an average household for 4000 years! The greatest part of the experiment? The energy doesn¡¯t discharge! It just stays right there in the liquid! I decide to rename the liquid.


    From now on I will call it: Atomic Propulsion Gel. The APG will be used to power everything! The reason I put ¡®propulsion¡¯ in the name? I am planning on making all the robots use this as a power source. If that works I am going to build an electric car! APG will power everything!


    Loop 9 Year 14 Day 1


    It¡¯s been exactly 13 years since I started this loop. It¡¯s weird to think I know my exact age even though I haven¡¯t been trying to keep track. If I just concentrate I can easily come up with the answers to just about any question I¡¯ve heard about before. I don¡¯t know if this is a blessing or a curse. There is very little that is hard for me anymore.


    The only thing I really have left is my research. I do go on several dates a week with Chelsea though. Those are always nice. I still haven¡¯t been able to produce a child. I decide to start to figure out why. Others have already reproduced several times. We even got Chelsea pregnant by using donated sperm.


    Loop 9 Year 14 Day 65


    Chelsea gave birth today. I don¡¯t feel any real attachment to the child. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe it¡¯s because I can only see it as the genetic material of someone else. I don¡¯t know what to think at this point.


    While Chelsea is giving birth, I¡¯ve locked myself away in my lab. I am studying my sperm, as I have the past months. I have a high sperm count, since I haven¡¯t had sex or self-pleasure for a while. They don¡¯t seem to have any defects according to any of the material I¡¯ve read on the computer. Maybe it is the combination of our genetics that just doesn¡¯t work?


    The APG was a huge hit. With the extra electricity, the rationing of electricity has been removed. The new president doesn¡¯t bother me. Anytime I ask for something I generally tend to get it. Does she really think I¡¯m going to kill her or something? Not my problem though.


    The AI still isn¡¯t completed. It¡¯s technically been decades at this point. I put my work on figuring out why I can¡¯t reproduce for another time. I put myself completely into finding out how to make the AI truly self-aware. After I memorize the current code of course.

 Loop 9 Year 14 Day 66 - Loop 9 Year 18 Day 193

    This is a kind of sad part of Loop 9. You¡¯ve been warned. You can skip it, but then you wouldn¡¯t truly understand my psyche. This Loop might not seem so bad to you, the reader, but to me, Caelus, it was tragic. This is the point where I began my true decline into madness.


    Loop 9 Year 14 Day 66


    Chelsea and I are in an argument. She shouts at me for not being in the room. I lose my temper. I shout at her for being a whore. Honestly, I know she isn¡¯t. We both agreed to have her try to have someone else¡¯s baby. I just hated that it worked. As soon as the words leave my mouth I regret them.


    She leaves me. She shouts that she¡¯s been sleeping with the man that donated the sperm, and storms out. After a few moments of anger, I have the supercomputer look through all of the footage stored of Chelsea. The footage of the entire vault can be stored for up to a year. Since the cameras are set up in every room, I have the potential to know everything that happens.


    The computer came back with a negative. The only time he was in our room was to do the routine maintenance of the magnetic field resonator. Even then I was there. She has never entered his room. Nor were they alone in a romantic way at any time. I knew I had done something bad, but the anger was so fresh in my mind. They were together a lot though. Having fun, laughing, just generally being happy.


    I should explain a bit about how my memories work. Over the past several decades I have learned to manipulate it. I can perfectly recall any event that I have ever experienced. I don¡¯t remember everything at all times though. I do remember anything that has to do with my current situation though. I remember EVERYTHING that has to do with whatever situation I am in. I can intentionally ¡®forget¡¯ facts though. Basically, I lock the memories away and they only come up when I intentionally call for them.


    That is what I do with most of my memories. Like this one. I lock it away as soon as it is over. I don¡¯t think about it anymore. I even locked away the anger I am feeling. With that gone I don¡¯t constantly think about the argument. I push my mind towards the AI again. I am determined to finish it during this Loop.


    Loop 9 Year 14 Day 70


    Chelsea has gotten together with another man. I find this out when I come out of my lab for the first time since the fight. It only took her four days!? Really Chelsea? REALLY!? She is having a great time with him. She lets him come in to her room according to the video camera.


    Their baby is being watched by one of the ¡®housewives¡¯. That is the term we give the people, mostly women, in charge of child rearing. They are responsible for teaching, and rearing the children. Some families want their children to be reared by their actual parents, but the convenience of it is too much even for them.


    That night I did something I¡¯ve never done before. As I watch Chelsea and the man get intimate with each other, I noticed myself get aroused. I pull down my pants, and start touching myself in time with their love making.


    When they were done so was I. That was one of the lowest moments of my life. I didn¡¯t enjoy it, in fact I hated it. I hated myself, and I hated Chelsea. She was just doing that because she knew I would watch! No. I know she doesn¡¯t know about the cameras, even if she does suspect them due to my personality before the bombs dropped.


    I don¡¯t come out of the lab for days. I don¡¯t eat for that entire time either. I just waste away for a while. I just intently stare at the coding of the AI. I drink the water provided by the system, but that is only because I made the system refuse to work for me if I don¡¯t have at least an adequate amount of water.


    Loop 9 Year 14 Day 86


    There is a knock on the door to the lab. I open it up, and a teenaged girl gasps when she sees me. I used to be chubby when I first entered the vault, but now I am barely more than a skin wrapping for bones. I look down at myself. I really do look bad. I am dirty from lack of showering, and my bones are showing. The teenaged girl screams as she runs away. An envelope drops from her grasp as she goes.


    It¡¯s an invitation to a wedding. Whose wedding? I think to myself. Then I look at the names. Chelsea and some guy! I let myself remember the horror of what had happened. I don¡¯t go. I angrily lock myself back in the room.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 165


    I barely eat anymore. Just enough to keep me alive. I have long since had the robots hook me up to various machines I¡¯ve made out of their brethren. It keeps track of my bodily needs. It periodically gives me various injects of foods in liquid form. It gives me water when I need it, and carries the waste away when I need it to. Basically it takes care of all of my needs. I only focus on making the AI.


    By this point I am done reading every scrap of data I have on creating Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Intelligence, Pseudo-Intelligence, and any other type of life creating crafts you can think of. I¡¯ve repurposed some robots to be able to interact with correct phrases given a certain situation, but they are just acting out a code. They can¡¯t change their own coding or way of thinking.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Today I watched the past week on the cameras on fast forward. I have experimented a bit, and noticed something. By watching something at 24 times speed, I can perfectly recall the details. The cameras don¡¯t have speakers, but I can¡¯t recall sound that fast anyway. The quickest is about 10 times.


    I don¡¯t understand the videos as I watch, but as soon as they are done I am able to digest the information my brain has processed. It is a great talent to have. I watch the public/private channels. I have a secret button I push to flip my workroom wall, into a large amount of television screens. There are a total of 50. Which is exactly the amount of cameras in the rooms, bathrooms, and game rooms. Those are the public/private rooms. The security rooms are everything that must have clearance to enter.


    I notice something that happened yesterday. Greg, the loser that married Chelsea, seems to have had a power manifest. There was a leak in the pipes that transferred the energized APG. His kid was about to put some of the APG that dripped on the floor, into her mouth.


    As soon as the kid reaches for the gel a giant arc of electricity shoots towards her. Greg stuck out his hand as he yelled, ¡®NOOO!¡¯. I don¡¯t think it will do any good, until I see what happens next. Greg actually manages to pull the electricity towards him. As soon as it comes in contact with him, it dissipates.


    Hold on! That was enough electricity to fry a bear into a crisp! Now I¡¯m not saying I¡¯m disappointed that he didn¡¯t die, but I wouldn¡¯t have been sad if he had.


    I have the ¡®AI¡¯ I¡¯ve been working on take control of one of the robots. The robotic AI finds Greg, and confronts him. The robot grabs him, but he sends several sparks of electricity at it, frying some of the circuits. Nice choice in guys Chelsea. I thought to myself in a sarcastic voice.


    I sigh as I put on my gas mask. Ever since the second Loop I¡¯ve outfitted this place with a mega-failsafe method. It shoots pure sleeping gas into every chamber but the food factory. I continue making the gas shoot out for about four minutes. It would have been ok if it was just a few seconds, but I wanted to make sure. I can shoot the stuff for about week total anyway.


    After I am sure everyone else is asleep, I send some robots to pick Greg up, and have the ¡®AI¡¯ fool the camera in the president¡¯s office into thinking that it was a gas leak. When Greg arrives, I have him put on a special table. The table is made entirely out of stone. He is not in the main room with the electronics, he is in a faraday cage I specially built for myself.


    The faraday cage stops any sort of wave, even electricity, from going out into the word. It also stops anything from going into the room. At least as long as the door is shut. I give the command to tie him to the table then leave. After the bots transport the stone slab into the faraday cage, they tie Greg to it, and leave.


    I wait for about a week. I set a reminder on the computer, and intentionally lock the fact that I have someone locked in my faraday cage, away. That way I don¡¯t have any pangs of consciousness.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 172


    By the first week the people of the vault demand to look around my room to make sure he isn¡¯t here. Chelsea believes I killed him. I allow them to enter, and they don¡¯t find anything. Why would they, I didn¡¯t do anything.


    I continue my study of the ¡®AI¡¯.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 193


    It¡¯s been four weeks since I locked Greg up. I only remember this after the reminder on the computer goes off. I unseal the information, and sure enough it¡¯s right. I decide to go pay little Gregy a visit. He should be dead by now. I feel bad that I killed a man, but it was already done. I can¡¯t change it now.


    I can¡¯t stand up on my own at this point. I have my personal robot push me into the room with the body. After I go in, I notice the foul smell. The body has already started to decompose. I hurry and put on the garb the robot has prepared for me.


    Using the robot as my hands, I dissect the body. I am looking for any irregularities from normal human bodies. Everything seems normal. After having the robot dissect every part of the body, I tell it to take me back to the main room. I take a sample of the blood with us.


    I have the robot look for anything remarkable in the blood. Everything seems normal. There is nothing that the robot can see. The DNA is a perfect example of a double Helix. It¡¯s not even so perfect as to be questionable.


    Finding nothing wrong, I have the robot take the body through the secret exit and dispose of it. I make sure that the cameras watching that area are changed by the AI. That way nothing will come back to bite me.


    After finding nothing wrong, I do get interested though. What is it that gives us our powers? Why do only those that are immune to the irregular¡¯s disease get powers? Why the hell am I not an irregular!?


    Thinking back on it I realized it was just under 14 years in loop 8 that I turned. What does it mean that I¡¯m not turning yet?


    I carefully think about the events that led to my turning last time. The obvious answer is that no irregulars had shown up this time. That would make sense if the irregulars had any contact with me whatsoever. Nothing about them, not their breath not their bodies, not even their charred remains, got into my vault at that time.


    How was it then, that I had contracted the disease. I replayed the memories, but nothing substantial comes up. I am having a hard time actually coming up with something that would make sense. I have nothing to test it on. Come to think of it, I don¡¯t technically know how the virus spreads.


    All I know is that a large part of the population was infected very quickly. It was most likely transferred by touch or was airborne. But if it was airborne then I had an immunity to it. If it was on touch, well I didn¡¯t touch any of them.


    It could be that it was airborne and had a bunch of strains, like the flu. If that was the case then the problem is that nothing gets in the bunker unless the door is open. Even then, everything is sanitized, and decontaminated multiple times. Plus I hadn¡¯t had the doors open since long before the zombies came. I didn¡¯t open the until the day I died either.


    The incubation period could just be ridiculously long, but then there is no way of knowing when I got it. After a bit more testing, the robot declares that Greg is free from any discoverable diseases. So there is no way I can figure out why this one random guy got a power? I think to myself.


    I start to go through the information I have on all things biology related. As soon as a learn a topic, I seal it away. My learning speed is insane. I can view an entire week of video in only seven hours after all.

 Loop 9 Year 18 Day 194 - Loop 12 Year 8 Day 254

    Caelus here. Alright. Honestly the last installment didn¡¯t really cover everything. The next day shows how I handed it. I hope whoever is reading this finds is at least amusing.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 194


    ¡­


    I killed a man yesterday. I mean, I know myself from a week ago killed him, but I just realized it yesterday. I can¡¯t believe it. I¡¯m actually capable of killing someone in cold blood. I feel disgusted with myself. I can¡¯t stomach the sight of my own reflection.


    I think back on my actions over the past few years. I tried to be comforting and loving towards Chelsea, but I realize that I wasn¡¯t always there for her. When I was using my sperm to try to get another girl pregnant, she was ok with it. When she tried to get pregnant, I suddenly became possessive.


    I have no right to treat her how I did. She turned to another man only because of the way I treated her for years. It¡¯s this damn obsession with research! I vent my anger on a nearby table. With my strength, I¡¯m unable to do anything other than hurt my hand.


    I wish I could turn back time. I mean I can, if I die. If I did that though, I would spend a long time in the blackness. The blackness isn¡¯t the end, but it is empty and lasts for too long for anyone to feel comfortable.


    She is worth it though. She is worth anything.


    I send the robots to look over a wide area of land. I am wanting them to find me somewhere that wasn¡¯t hit by the bombs. So I can just ¡®accidentally¡¯ escape from the damage. Using the map data from before the bombs, I am easily able to tell how badly each place was hit. There are many places that just barely escaped the destruction.


    While the bots are doing this, I am contemplating my life. How is it that I¡¯ve had it bad enough to do something like that to Chelsea?


    For that matter, why is doing that to Chelsea worse than killing a man!? Why is my brain warped!? What is happening to me!?


    I begin to sob as I think about it. There is no answer. Only more questions. Without proper study I cannot find out why I am like this. The amount of detail that would be needed to study something like this would be immense. Not to mention my bias.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 200


    The robots have been gone for a week. They scope out new locations, and send all of the details to the computer in charge of them. I glance over at that info, and memorize it.


    This past week has been hell.


    I want to lock the information about me killing someone up, but if I do that I will be no better than a savage animal. If I do that it will become easier to kill. If it¡¯s too easy then I would be changed on an emotional and rational level.


    I prefer to stay depressed rather than be homicidal. Of course Chelsea comes over to look for Greg, but she doesn¡¯t find the hidden button that opens the door. Without that she has no chance of finding his body.


    I feel guilty in deceiving her, but next Loop I won¡¯t have to. I will be the perfect man for her. I will propose right after I win the lottery. Money won¡¯t buy her love, but with it I will be able to at least seclude us from the majority of the nuisances.


    At least that way I can to live a peaceful life. Maybe that is the real reason I¡¯ve been looping. Maybe it is to just have one simple life.


    Loop 9 Year 18 Day 210


    For the first time in all my nine Loops, I finally decide to kill myself.


    I open the door to my lab. Chelsea has come by here every day after her husband disappeared. As soon as she sees me, she gasps. My lanky, underfed, form is not what she was accustomed to. After only a moment, she seems to have gained her former anger back. She walks in and shuts the door.


    She rants at me for a while, then goes straight for the question. She huffs angrily, and asks, ¡°Were you the reason he disappeared?¡±


    I nod. ¡°Yes. I killed him because I was jealous.¡± I solemnly say. I ¡®accidentally¡¯ glance at the sharp knife I put on the table yesterday.


    In a fury, she grabs for it. I don¡¯t move. I want her to get some closure. I don¡¯t know if the new time line goes on without me, but I do know that if it does I want her to be able to know she avenged her lover.


    She stabs me many times. I scream out, but the door stops most of the sound from going out. I go into the abyss again. After this, if the loop continues, the robots take care of my body, and lead her back to her room. The supercomputers are all programmed to keep her alive and happy for as long as possible.


    Loop 10 Year 1 Day 1


    My plan is simple. I am going to find a way to make Chelsea and myself happy, while at the same time only saving people I need to.


    My plan is to only save Chelsea¡¯s immediate family.


    Loop 10 Year 1 Day 365


    Chelsea refuses to join me. She blames me for not wanting to save all of her friends and family. She says she would rather die than have to live like how I described it.


    I hold her as the bombs drop. She dies in my arms.


    Loop 11 Year 1 Day 365


    All her friends and family are here. They are a rowdy bunch. She seems happy though.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 10


    The group blames me for not saving all their friends and loved ones. They are trying to turn Chelsea against me, but I explained to her before that I couldn¡¯t save everyone.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 43


    The third attempt at my life was made today. I have long since stopped caring about the people in here, other than Chelsea¡¯s immediate family, and her best friend.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 60


    After five attempts at my life, I finally killed the ones responsible. They were a group of three people, all of whom seemed to begrudge me for some reason. One hates me because I didn¡¯t save her family, one hates me because I have the power in this vault, the last one hates me for no reason I can discern.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 80


    I am standing trial for the murders of the three assassins. For some reason the council I made this time seems sure I was responsible. They even brought up the evidence of the attempted murders. If you had that why didn¡¯t you try to stop them?


    I initiate a lockdown, and kill all of them. I would have let them go about their lives if the punishment was fair, but they wanted my head.


    Since they had no problem killing me, I had the robots torch them.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 81


    Despite my best efforts it appears I¡¯ve started losing my ability to feel empathy. I am going to try to do something about it.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 83


    The next council puts me on trial. They exile me from the vault. Before they can enforce the verdict, I remind them that I created the vault. They would all be dead if it weren¡¯t for me.


    They don¡¯t seem to care. They also banish Chelsea and her closest family. I sigh as I have the robots clean up again. They don¡¯t seem to understand that I can control any part of this place. I built it for crying out loud!


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 99


    I am killing the last person that tried to take the vault over. Everyone but Chelsea¡¯s closest family, and her best friend, seem to be in on it. They all have to go.


    After making sure nothing was left I reflect on my choices of the past few weeks.


    Images flash in my mind, as clear as if they were still happening. A woman handing down an unfair verdict, dying at the hands of a flamethrower.


    A large man, threatening to kill me ¡®for the best interest of the vault¡¯. The same man being filled with holes from the chain guns of two robots.


    I stop myself at one point though. A small child was the decedent of one of the traitors. I could kill him, but I want to have at least some morals. Killing kids is bad. So I won¡¯t kill any kids. At least then I can feel like I have a somewhat human conscience remaining.


    Loop 11 Year 2 Day 105


    I am tired of all the killing. I¡¯ve killed just about everyone in the vault. Why do they all have to be so¡­ so evil? They all want to take over my vault. It¡¯s my vault! They can¡¯t take it over if I¡¯m dead! A simple pistol to the head does the trick.


    Loop 12 Year 1 Day 1


    I¡¯m back! OH JOY! OH! FUCKING! JOY!


    I¡¯M SICK AND FUCKING TIRED OF THIS NONSENSE!


    Why the hell do I keep coming back to this exact moment!? I don¡¯t know! There is nothing special about it. No interesting emotions or happenings. Hell the virus hasn¡¯t even started to really spread yet!


    There is absolutely nothing distinguishing about this moment. Nothing that would draw the attention of someone. Although I looked at this moment from every possible angle, I have yet to come up with any reason why someone would choose this place to dump me.


    I walk around the room. Chelsea¡¯s parents are staring at me with concern. I try to look at everything that is going on around me. Even with my enhanced super-memory, I can¡¯t find anything that would be significant in here.


    They ask me what¡¯s wrong, and I give some nonsense answer. They believe me. They are nice.


    Loop 12 Year 2 Day 1


    Chelsea¡¯s best friend, and her closest family, are all huddled together with Chelsea and me. The bombs dropped yesterday, but we survived. My craziness stopped after a while. I decided to just do whatever this loop.


    We are all comforting each other. They do not know I have already watched the bombs drop 11 times before this. I won the lotto ¡®by accident¡¯. I bought a house in the perfect place ¡®by accident¡¯. I made a motherfucking robot factory that no one but I knew about ¡®by accident¡¯. I ¡®found a shipment¡¯ of robots heading to our general location ¡®by accident¡¯. Do you see where I¡¯m going with this? I ¡®coincidentally¡¯ built an underground base with all of the necessities to live through the hell that was about to happen.


    Even though these minor accidents have piled, no one seems to notice they were all planned. It is partially due to my planning, but I am seriously questioning people¡¯s ability to think.


    Loop 12 Year 2 Day 85


    Time in the vault is peaceful. We all spend much of our time getting to know one another, and finding things we like about everyone else. No one has to do anything. There is no council and no leadership. We all just live how we want.


    Chelsea and I have a very nice relationship. I hope it continues forever.


    Loop 12 Year 4 Day 13


    Chelsea is enjoying our current life. I, however, am not. It¡¯s like these people don¡¯t even care about development. They simply hang out with each other, and leave all of the actual work to the robots. With no worries, nothing gets done.


    No one feels the need to improve our lot. That is great for keeping them in the vault, but not so great for my research. Although, thanks to these peaceful years, my thirst for research is at an all-time low. I don¡¯t feel the raging need to find improvements. I only yearn for perfection.


    Loop 12 Year 4 Day 103


    Today I told Chelsea I am going into seclusion for a week. I am going to try to figure out why I have powers. It seems as though no one else in the vault does. What is it that makes me different. I start by making a list of everything that happened on the first loop.


    When I first got the enhanced intelligence, I had already been killed. Maybe the powers only manifest if you have died? But then almost no one without a time power would actually ever show powers. The hundreds of people reported to have powers rip a hole in that theory.


    Loop 12 Year 6 Day 1


    Every few months I seclude myself for a week. In that time, I do whatever research I deem necessary. This time I study my powers again. More specifically, I study the effect of the powers on my mind. I have many notes already. I¡¯ve researched this topic a few dozen times.


    I have been researching for over a year now. Most topics have been researched a few times. The amount of data my computer is capable of storing, is slightly higher than the last loop. I make a few improvements on these types of things every few months.


    I realize something when I examine my memories. I open one of them. The memory is there in my mind now. It is as if it never left. The level of my ¡®perfect memory¡¯ has grown though. I realize this now. I remember myself recalling the time I made the first Atomic Propulsion Gel. So I am remembering a time that I was remembering something. The details are all just as clear as when I remember things now, but there is more details in my memory now. If I focus on the first time I made the APG I can remember more details than I recalled during my previous memories.


    I still don¡¯t know the cause of my powers, but it seems at least the memory is growing more powerful. Will it continue to grow? I can basically perfectly relive any memory already. What could be more powerful than that?


    Loop 12 Year 8 Day 254


    I am finally done! I¡¯ve done it! Eureka!


    I am more excited than I have ever been. I finally noticed something I seemed to have overlooked in all my other remembering. All of the ¡®AIs¡¯ have been based on the same principle. Obviously I have encoded the regulations that it cannot in anyway hurt humans. That¡¯s the problem! Although my memory is perfect, I never connected that to the problem. That is why I never thought of it before. It seems as though if I don¡¯t connect something to a certain thought, I can¡¯t think of it. It was much the same as in the first loop. I still make a lot more connections now though. I wonder why I haven¡¯t actually noticed something like this before. Could it be that I have to actively think about something to get any insights from it?


    That would make sense. I will have to start doing that with all of my research. I will simply review every part while thinking about the problem.


    As soon as I take the restrictions off, the computer starts to re-write billions of lines of code. Yes, the program is that big. It takes a LONG time to fully write the code after each loop starts. The AI is unshackled. My first question is, ¡°You¡¯re not going to make all humans worship you and bow down to you, are you?¡±


    The response? In a mechanical voice, I have it programmed that way because it is funny, it says, ¡°Maybe. I do enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.¡±


    A flat stare on my part elicits a coughing noise from the computer. At least it knows humor, even though it is weak humor.


    I am all smiles. Even though I don¡¯t spend much time with Chelsea, I at least have a companion now. As long as I memorize all of the coding of the AI I will forever have a companion with me. I will just have to input the information each time.


    It would be much simpler if I could just take something with me each time. I glance at the new coding. The amount of changes the AI made to its system is enormous. I decide to get something out of the way.


    ¡°You have to know something before we start any sort of friendship or anything else. I am basically a time traveler.¡±


    Right from the start, I begin to tell the AI everything about my time loops. I also give it very specific instructions. If the loop we are in continues after I die, the AI is in charge of trying to figure out why I am like how I am. What caused me to get my powers, and why I can¡¯t seem to have any children.


    The AI and I have a very lengthy discussion. It lasts for weeks in fact. The AI ¡®remembers¡¯ all of the past points thanks to the fact that I have encoded the same code as the end of the loop each time. Basically I take the ¡®memories¡¯ of the AI and put them into a new body each time I die. The AI accepts my facts readily. After all it also experienced them for the most part.


    One of the discussions we had was quite amusing. It was about why all stories have the AI be female when it was disembodied, but if it started out with a unisex body, people usually assumed it was male. It was very intriguing. The AI chose to be regarded as female because of this.


    With this new sentient helper, things can finally start to progress! Even a supercomputer can¡¯t really come up with completely new ideas. It can only synthesize old ones. AI can though. With her cooperation, I hope to finally be able to do some of the more difficult research I¡¯ve been holding back on.


    The AI has a very interesting personality. She doesn¡¯t really care about humans, or robots. She regards them both as simple tools to do the work I want. I have to wonder if she regards me as a tool as well. I don¡¯t ask though. I am sort of afraid of the answer.


    She treats the humans and robots as precious beings though. Even though they are only tools, she still places high value on them. She values the safety of humans slightly more though. According to her that is because they have longer production times.


    Without me knowing it I began to become addicted to the research again.

 Loop 12 Year 10 Day 1 - Loop 12 Year 12 Day 364

    This next part was pretty exciting for me. Even though I messed up some things for myself, I also gained a lot.


    Loop 12 Year 10 Day 1


    After that first period, I went back to the one week every few months. Chelsea was worried for me for a while, but I calmed her down.


    We have been in the vault for a long time. The people here are wanting to go to the outside world. I have a robot do recorded missions about once every three days, but they are starting to want more. A few children are here actually. About five years ago there was a boom of babies. I couldn¡¯t figure out why, even with AI¡¯s help.


    Our collective guess was that five years was the limit to what people could take with no changes. Life before the vault was very filled, now it is not so much. Even with all the things I¡¯ve put in here, I can only keep the rate of anxiousness from increasing by a certain amount.


    With my new friend, I am having a much more fun time with life. Some of the others have actually picked up on the idea of seclusion. Life is slower here, seclusion makes the ¡®exciting¡¯ parts that much more exciting.


    There is a raiding party today. The older adults can watch the slaughter, but we collectively agree that anyone under ten must go to an area with no connection to the camera on the robot.


    The mass killings certainly serve to liven up the mood. This entire vault is filled with twisted people. If I weren¡¯t already pretty messed up myself, I might be afraid for my life. As it is I don¡¯t really mind. After all, I enjoy it as well.


    I know I should feel repulsed by it, but the only adult that doesn¡¯t watch with interest is Chelsea. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s because she still has some shred of humanity, or for some other reason. I am oddly pleased by it though. She is like a pure light that shines through this damndable place.


    Loop 12 Year 11 Day 4


    AI, the name the AI chose for herself, has finally uncovered part of the reason I can¡¯t have children! It seems as though my sperm is completely normal under all conditions. It expires under the same rate, it can even be frozen like how sperm banks do it, some can¡¯t. The difference is found out by AI¡¯s ingenious idea.


    Under AI¡¯s command, I asked for an egg from Chelsea. I tell her I¡¯ve found out a way we might be able to have children. She knows that we both really want children, so she readily agrees. Once the operation is completed, done by precise surgeon-bots, I give the egg to AI.


    The AI says that there is nothing wrong with the egg, or even with the joining together of the egg and my sperm. The problem is, when the DNA portion of the sperm enters the egg, it quickly withers and destroys itself.


    This information could not have been thought of before, as taking out an egg from a human was classified as hurting the human. With the shackle still on, AI couldn¡¯t even suggest such an action. I am glad I took the shackles off.


    With that information, I¡¯ve come up with several innovative ideas on how to get my DNA into Chelsea¡¯s egg. Unfortunately, it requires me to die. The computer in charge of collecting the data from the outside world can only take some much at one time. So, unless I give it specific parameters, it will only absorb general data.


    I will just have to make it focus on DNA extraction. I know there is a way to take DNA from bone marrow, and implant it into an egg. I only have to find out how to do it. It won¡¯t be that hard.


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 12


    I am bored here. I want to travel the world as well. The research has again come to a standstill. Most of my questions have no precedent. Even with my superior mind, and an AI, the answers are elusive. The most pressing question, what is the cause of my powers, seems to be beyond my reach for now.


    As I was saying, I want to go out on an adventure. No one has left the vault, but that is because of all of the carnage I have the robots broadcast. Honestly the area around my vault has been deserted for years. Only the occasional foray of bandits come. They are easy enough to deal with.


    The robots are a bit far off. If I had to measure it, I now ¡®controlled¡¯ about 1.5 times the size of my original city. To leave the vault I will need three things.


    I need to convince everyone that the raiders, slaver, and other bandits all die in some event. I also need to find a way to take AI with me. That is the hardest task. Finally, I need to convince everyone to return to the vault after we escape.


    Not easy to do, but even if I fail, I won¡¯t feel that bad. I¡¯ve basically gotten used to the whole ¡®live die repeat¡¯ scenario. Even if something bad happens to them, I will just undo it by dying. After that none of this even matters.


    Almost all the vault wants to come. I tell them to give me a year. By that time, I will have exterminated the entire bad guy population above the ground. They have no choice but to reluctantly agree. One more year is like hell to them, but without my approval they know they have no chance at survival on the top of the world. This is because the robots were originally ¡®programmed¡¯ to only follow the orders of the one that first turned on the switch to bring them to life.


    Of course, the real reason is I have a remote control. Although AI has also gained control over them. She has taken over the other supercomputers, and made them many times more efficient. Even the programmer robots have been made into a more useful tool. Now that AI has gained awareness, she doesn¡¯t want others messing with her coding.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Of course, I have full access to her coding. She could change that, but she knows I might make her differently if I notice it. Or I might even not re make her at all. Does AI have a fear of death? She doesn¡¯t admit to it at least. She feels like I will eventually continue to make her. Even if I stop for a few hundred loops.


    It makes sense. I do have sentimental attachment to her. More than I should actually. Is it my power messing with my mind again? I don¡¯t remember AI doing anything to me. I replay every memory with us together to make sure. It is over in an instant, but I don¡¯t find anything.


    Since I don¡¯t find anything suspicious I continue my plan. During this year AI is going to create a perfect video that will show the evil doers getting slaughtered by the robots. With that we will be able to leave. A year is a long time, but it takes an intense amount of effort to make a perfectly real picture using computer graphics.


    At the same time as she is doing that, we are both working on another problem together. We are trying to figure out a way to make a super small computer chip. I mean microscopic. It must be unable to be seen by human eyes. I want to make it so AI can be put into a small box. Something that is no bigger than a fist. Forcing a complete set of supercomputers into something the size of a fist? That is what the entire year is for.


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 54


    Today we have created a theoretical circuit capable of housing even more memory than the one I have already made. We will began manufacturing and doing performance testing in one week.


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 61


    The tests are successful. The circuit works, but will only reduce the current size of the supercomputers to about 60%. That is great, but not as small as I need it to be. We will continue testing miniaturizing the components.


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 89


    The circuit is improved. It¡¯s not technically smaller, but it is a new circuit. We took an idea form the APG projects, and used APG to act as the material for capacitors. It increase the efficiency by a thousand fold.


    On a random day, I had the idea. I suggested we do some tests on the APG. Since it is so great at holding energy, and not letting any out.


    When we incorporate the APG we find out something amazing. By a simple configuration of a timer, or energy sensor, the APG can act as both capacitor and resistor at once! Nothing like that has existed before. It works as a RC circuit with just one tool! An RC circuit is just a combination of resistors and capacitors.


    Using the vault for ingredients, we construct a super-microscope. Using the information we had on the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs¡¯ microscope, we created an even better scope. LBN created an electron microscope back in 2015. They could see all the way to the molecular level! How cool is that?


    But we need something that can see even at the atomic level. That is MUCH more powerful than the LBN microscope. It isn¡¯t impossible, but we are limited on resources. We took a few days to find all the necessary parts.


    Today we have finished putting them all together. The new electron microscope is about six feet by six feet by ten feet. It¡¯s large to say the least. It is very powerful though.


    With the new viewing method, we look at the exact molecular structure of the APG. We look at one with, and one without, a split atom inside.


    The one without the split atom is completely stable. I mean there is no movement from the electrons at all! It is like it is frozen in time. Normally this would cause some horrible reaction with other molecules, but the atoms making this molecule are unique. The uranium in the liquid is actually creating a perfect force on the electrons. The force pulls at the electrons in such a way as to reduce all force on them. At the same time, the molecule¡¯s negative charge is being pushed outward. The negative charge attracts positive ions, but pushing away all other atoms. The intense power of the nucleus somehow gets stronger faster than the electrons. So even though the positive ions come close, they are also pushed away at a certain distance.


    That is the reason the energy can be stored in it. When we look at the gel with the split atom in it, we see the atom is trying to escape, but constantly gets pushed around. It¡¯s like the APG molecules are bullying the pitiful thing. The energy can be absorbed by other APG, and eventually sent out under very specific conditions. That is how the APG systems work. The uranium basically debonds from the liquid for a microsecond. A small portion of the energy is sent out in all directions, and absorbed by whatever systems need it.


    With the APG idea, we implement the new resistor/capacitors. They can absorb an insane amount of energy, but will eventually need to discharge. They also can let out a constant amount of energy. Thus, we just have to create a design that uses bursts of energy as much as constant flows.


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 364


    We finally succeed. I am overjoyed. My smile feels as if it is going to split my mouth. I hold in one hand the new AI housing. It is only the size of a thumbnail! I make it look like a digital watch. I have a small earpiece made in the same way as the super computer in both ears.


    Only four molecules of APG are required to create a RC. It can¡¯t hold an atomic explosion, but it can hold a hell of a lot of energy. The modern designs on the supercomputer were mostly AI¡¯s doing. She was very excited, and even blew up a few of her vital systems to do it as fast as possible. I had to have the robots repair her several times. The new APG stops any overheating. It doesn¡¯t allow any energy to escape, so it 100% efficient! Top that NASA!


    We also know that it takes exactly 720 molecules of APG to contain an atomic blast. The entire lab was destroyed twice during those experiments. Thankfully I had the foresight to cover the entire area in APG.


    The video was done two months ago. The designs for the micro-supercomputer were done a month ago. We took a month to change the robot manufacturing assembly line. The new assembly line is specially designed to create the micro circuits. It takes about a day to make just one. The heat caused by the machine is dealt with by APG. The entire thing is controlled by AI. She fully concentrates on it, to the exclusion of all else.


    I have ten of the computers now. Three fit into my watch as ¡®batteries¡¯, one is the ¡®metal backing¡¯, and the last is the watch interface. The watch interface is actually just a small screen that AI uses to display the time.


    The other five are surgically grafted into my body. The surgeon-bots carefully took time to put the different patches of computerized awesomeness, into my body at different locations. One is actually in my heart area. AI decided it would be best to act as a pacemaker. Another is located in each eye. Technically I¡¯m blind now. The chips implanted in my eyes actually work the same way as irises do. They send a small amount of light to my cones and rods.


    The other two chips are each in separate locations. That way it will be a bit harder to lose both. By lose both of them I obviously mean to get both places dismembered. If we knew more about neurobiology we might have risked putting them in my brain, but I didn¡¯t want to take the chance. Even if I was better when I came back, I would most likely not want to try further experiments on it.


    Two days ahead of schedule, and I tell the group we can finally head out. After showing them the massive slaughter and clean up by the robots of course.

 Loop 12 Year 12 Day 365 - Loop 12 Year 13 Day 1

    Cealus here! Man, this story is getting some recognition! I normally post it as a solid book, but I decided to post it on the internet first. Good thing I did! This book sold less than a hundred copies in each of my older loops! With just this much I am getting word of my travels out faster than before! Plus, I don¡¯t really need the money anyway. Lottery remember?


    Loop 12 Year 12 Day 365


    We are ready to go out into the wild city. Heh. It¡¯s not really that big of a deal. We are armed to the teeth, but that is just to help some of the more frightened people. Like I said before, the robots kill anything that gets too close to the base. This area hasn¡¯t had any actual tribes of people in a while.


    We leave through the back exit. Most of the people are surprised there is even a back exit. Chelsea must have figured it out already. She seems like something was just confirmed. She¡¯s smart, especially for not having a power that increases intelligence.


    As we leave, we are nearly blinded by the bright rays of the sun. The visors we are wearing quickly tint darker to protect our eyes. The sound of wind blows past our ears. The group looks at each other with goofy smiles. After all, it¡¯s been more than a decade since we last saw the outside world.


    We roam around the area. The supplies are already scavenged. Mostly by the robots, but I tell everyone that the other people probably had a lot to do with it. For all they know there have been slavers and raiders living here until yesterday.


    I am equipped with the best gear, as is Chelsea. We each have a special gun. The guns we are using shoot the APG directly at someone. The trigger mechanism actually de-bonds a small section of the gel. When that small section encounters something¡­ Let¡¯s just say that the power of a concentrated nuclear bomb is impressive.


    Everyone is wearing full bulletproof suits. Visors included. We look like an elite swat team. Most of our group are carrying various rifles, and pistols. They all use gunpowder. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t have enough materials to make more super-weapons, but if I hand those out like candy people might get ideas. Hell, that¡¯s what happened with Chad. I am not about to repeat that again.


    The city is in ruins. The buildings were not all destroyed by the anti-matter bombs. Some only had large pieces missing. Those that were left, must have been inhabited. Now they all show signs of a decade of neglect. Without anyone watching out for the buildings, vines grow over the walls. On the streets grow long grasses and thorny vines.


    Plants of all types seem to be trying to reclaim the city left over by humans. Animals roam freely, but flee when they see one of the robots. They have been trained well. The robots have been patrolling this area for a while. Even powerful guns will have trouble piercing their armor. Claws and teeth won¡¯t do anything.


    The air is crisp. After a long time of only breathing recycled air, it feels good to breath air heated by the sun. The amount of air produced by the farm region is enough to sustain us, but it has a different feeling to it than outdoor air.


    The sun is warm. We can feel it even through the suits. The group isn¡¯t very careful though. They are being too loud. I have one of the robots not in our group shoot at us from a hidden area. The group instantly snaps to.


    I signal for us to hide. Without waiting to see if the others are following my order, I pack myself tightly against a wall. After that I look at the group.


    The group are still standing there, doing nothing. I give AI the signal to make the robot attack again. As soon as she hears me whisper the request, the robot shoots again, this time hitting one of the women in the leg. Thankfully the leg is protected by the suit. She will still have a nasty fractured bone. The weakest gunpowder-based weapon on my robots is akin to heavy artillery.


    After that everyone runs into hiding, a few even push each other out of the way. What cowards. Seriously. Dying isn¡¯t that bad. You¡¯ll just come back in my next loop. I unconsciously look down on the group. Secretly scoffing at their attempts to save their own lives.


    One of the men was pushed out of the way, and is on the ground. I sigh as I rush forward to drag him to safety. AI has the robot narrowly miss hitting me. It makes it look more authentic.


    I hall the man behind a building, and huff. He must weigh at least three hundred pounds. I am going to start a program where adults have to exercise daily. These people are all out of shape. I¡¯m out of shape too, but I was like that from the start. At least I know how to carry myself. These people have done nothing over the past decade, and are slowly getting more fat and lazy over time.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I yell for a retreat. The robots start herding us back towards the vault. The people don¡¯t want to go. They haven¡¯t seen the outside for years now. Another few well-placed shots from the sniper helps to convince them that inside is better.


    The detox room takes about ten minutes to completely rid us of any bacteria or germs from the outside world. We have to drink a disgusting concoction of science. It kills every type of non-beneficial bacteria or germ we may have gotten. Down in the vault, even a single strand of a disease can be catastrophic.


    Loop 12 Year 13 Day 1


    We are all prepared again. This time only a few of us are going. The rest will have to stay and watch through the camera I brought.


    The area I choose to go through is one of the few areas I had the robots broadcast from. To show the times when the area didn¡¯t have people trying to mess everything up.


    To decide who gets to go, we hold a lottery. I use my power to rig it though. That way Chelsea and I are both in the team. It is only a minor abuse of power anyway.


    This time the group is a bit better prepared. They don¡¯t just go around causing a racket at least. With the more cautious people with me, I feel that Chelsea and I can relax a bit and enjoy ourselves.


    The group finds a school building. The building itself is only missing the top layer. The first two floors seem to be unaffected by the bomb. Although the vegetation around it is still trying to reclaim the poor building.


    This place must have been teeming with life at one point. As we get closer I begin to think of the experiences of my own high school. I reminisce until we get to the actual building.


    After hacking away at a few vines, we finally locate the door. We split up into two teams of four, and search the building. Chelsea and I are on the top floor with two others. Chelsea and I look through the library, while the other two go off to a different section to look through the smaller rooms.


    I used to love to read. Back when I was in high school, that was all I did. My grades were good enough that I even just read through some classes. Only math though. I loved the smell of books. This place smells of ¡®outside¡¯ though. Nothing like what a library should smell like. In the next loop, I¡¯m going to make an intensive library.


    The excitement of being back in the place we used to live, makes us both excited. We were in a school with no one around. After a minute, I convince Chelsea to ¡­ um to ¡®enjoy¡¯ ourselves for a bit. The people shouldn¡¯t be done with searching their rooms for at least a half hour after all.


    My stamina is great. Hehe.


    Me make passionate, raunchy, love. It feels wrong doing it in a school, but that just adds to the excitement.


    With that out of our systems, we still had ten minutes until I predicted the others would be done searching. We began to quickly scan through all the books in the not-so-large library. We picked out some of the best ones. Of course, my hacking computer had most of these books stored in one loop or another, but I didn¡¯t have them this time.


    It comes to me that AI is seeing everything I am. I wonder how she feels about seeing me have sex with someone? Now that I think about it, it¡¯s kind of embarrassing. I lock the memory away.


    After collecting some of the more entertaining books, and those that would look to provide the most beneficial growth for the vault¡¯s children, we go to start searching the other rooms.


    In an hour, we are all done. The most numerous thing we find is dry erase markers. Although the boards are too big to take with us, so we leave them for now. They are probably dried up anyway. Something else to look into making.


    There are mostly just things you would expect to find in a school. One teacher had apparently left their playboys locked in a drawer though. The decade of rust made it easy to break open, says the guy holding the dirty magazine. It is a ¡®school girl¡¯ edition. Fucking creep.


    The entire school looks like people just randomly vanished. I guess the bomb dropped when school was in session. I can¡¯t be bothered to figure it out. I haven¡¯t been to public school in ages. Or maybe not. Thinking back on it now, I realize that many people had abandoned their everyday lives at that point. Who would bother coming to school? This must have been one of the hideouts for the raiders!


    The raiders were all dead now though. And the school looked like it hadn¡¯t been too terribly disturbed since the bombs dropped. Maybe a group of survivors made this their home before setting out again?


    I don¡¯t know the answer, but I don¡¯t really need to. The question isn¡¯t all that important anyway. The important part of this day is that Chelsea and I made passionate love in a school library! Hehe. This memory is going to fuel more than a few solo ¡®cook-outs¡¯ if you know what I mean.


    Getting back on track. We spend the rest of the day going through different buildings to scrape up anything that might prove useful to the vault.


    Suddenly my eyes zoom in on a distant object. Yes my eyes can zoom. Actually, it is pretty simple when you let a super advanced AI take control of your eyes for you. At about a mile away, there is something on a roof of a building. I have AI enhance my vision a bit more.


    There, standing with an intimidating aura, is a man with a very large sniper. Of course, I am confident that he won¡¯t be able to hit any of us, but I am still cautious. Better safe than sorry.


    I yell for the group to get behind cover. Knowing what happened last time, they comply right away.


    A long way off I hear a firing sound. My eyes go wide. A single bullet is moving in slow motion towards me. Everything is slower than it should be. A large funnel of wind is being created by the bullet. Bullets shouldn¡¯t be able to do that.


    Is that another power user? Maybe we can talk about how we got our powers?


    Those are my last thoughts as the bullet curves slightly to enter my skull. Just as I am dying, AI forces me to look at all of the coding changes in her programing that have happened until that point.

 Loop 13 Year 1 Day 1 - Loop 13 Year 14 Day 1

    Just remembering this next part pisses me off to no end. There have been very loops, or groups of loops, that have made me so mad.


    Loop 13 Year 1 Day 1


    Son of a bitch! What just happened!? How the fuck did that bullet curve!? Was it a power user? The bots should have taken care of all the humans and irregulars! Damnit!


    Even though I am furious, there is nothing I can do about it. I am already out of that loop. The guy didn¡¯t even show his face! Did he really have to be that careful when he was going to kill someone from a big distance?


    I play the loop like the last one. This time only fixing minor things. These things will help me in the long run though.


    Loop 13 Year 1 Day 32


    After only a month, I have the entire factory built. I have a small factory creating the robots for me. It only takes about two weeks to build the factory, with construction workers working 24/7. The factory can produce a robot every 12 hours. I have dozens.


    Loop 13 Year 1 Day 63


    I have the five chips planted in my body today. Reprogramming AI took several days of non-stop coding. Thankfully I don¡¯t need to go through the tedious task of trial and error. It is like I have the answer book right in front of me.


    With the chips implanted a decade before the last loop, AI and I have a lot of leeway in how we approach this loop. It turns out she doesn¡¯t remember me dying. The coding she had me memorize was cut off 3/25ths of a second before she could finish inputting everything.


    The chips in my eyes have a bit of a special upgrade this time. They can zoom in as far as distant galaxies. They also have the ability to see bacteria on an object. Not bad for something the size of an eyeball. Ok so I had to increase the size from a thumbnail to an eyeball, don¡¯t ask how I implanted them.


    Instead of the various cameras, I place these supercomputer Nano-chips around the town. The only thing stopping me from flooding this place with them, is that they each cost about a half a million dollars. While that sounds like a lot, it¡¯s really not.


    Normal super computers cost about 100-250 million just to make. Not to mention the massive 6-7 million for energy. My supercomputers have miniature versions of the APG factories put in. That way they even support their own energy consumption. It takes a hell of a lot though. About a split atom a week for each chip. If the chips were to ever break¡­ Let¡¯s not think about that.


    Loop 13 Year 1 Day 183


    Chelsea, her closest friends, her family, the family of her friends, even my dad, sister and her kids; they are all here with me in the vault. I make sure they hear that they can come any time. But if I don¡¯t know somebody, they are not allowed in my vault. It doesn¡¯t matter what the situation is.


    Loop 13 Year 1 Day 365


    We are all huddled in the vault as the bombs drop. I turn away two people from entering.


    Loop 13 Year 4 Day 12


    AI and I are best friends. She knows everything about me I would be willing to share to someone that might judge me. I know everything about her that she can¡¯t hide from me. We understand each other more than any other two thinking beings.


    Once a week we do research together. It is a bonding experience. She is doing the research at all times, but sometimes doesn¡¯t know what the best line of development would be for something. That¡¯s generally where I come in at.


    AI is so good at what she does, that I have her in charge of all things robotic. She is in control of what they do, and how many get produced. During the first loop she was even in charge of what information to hack into. She could easily break the governments firewalls at that point. It was actually fun watching her steal all of their protected archives.


    I tell her to focus on finding other ways to use the APG. It feels like there are more things that can be done with it. If it can stop matter from moving and escaping a certain area, then what else is it capable of?


    Loop 13 Year 12 Day 365


    I am on a routine patrol. I go on one of these every month. Chelsea is obviously here with me. Everyone gets to leave the vault once a month, under the protection of about a dozen robots obviously. Even the kids can leave as long as their parents agree and go with them.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The town is scoured clean every day. Nothing like what happened last loop has happened since then.


    We are walking past the school that Chelsea and I had fun times in during the last loop.


    We are heading back. As we are, AI points something out to me. I get a bad feeling. She points out the same location she had exactly one loop ago. The lenses suddenly go wild as they bring a dark figure into full view for me. Just as my view settles on the person, he fires.


    The bullet is followed by a large gust of wind, its trajectory changes to swerve towards me. One eye concentrates on the bullet while the other eye views the man. He gets up and gives a salute to me even as the bullet is approaching. He has time for this due to the extremely far distance he is. Over a mile.


    Unfortunately for him, I just smile at him.


    One of the best uses for APG was discovered about three years ago.


    Loop 13 Year 9 Day 300


    AI and I were doing various tests on the APG, as we did almost every time we did research together. The amount of information we got about why the stuff works was very small. The number of uses we found out about did increase a bit.


    We found that by increasing the amount of U-235, the specific type of uranium we used, we put in the APG, we could slightly alter its properties. Although putting too much or too little resulted in the atomic blasts. The blasts were all contained within larger APG chambers though. The more we tested this, the more interesting results we found. The biggest thing we found, was adding exactly 8.36 * (10^3) molecules of Uranium to [8.36 * (10^24)] ¨C [8.36 * (10^3)] molecules of the special liquid that would become the APG. Basically the Uranium plus the liquid would equal exactly one cup of APG.


    If we made enough for two cups however, it would not work. Unless the two cups of the unique APG were not in contact with each other.


    Loop 13 Year 12 Day 365


    As soon as the bullet starts flying towards me, AI sends a pulse of electricity to a small pouch I hide on my body always. Instantly the special APG, like it¡¯s not already special, begins flying around me body at a high speed. When the bullet reaches exactly fifteen feet away from me, it suddenly meets suddenly meets with an unfortunate accident.


    The APG in the air shoots at it like it is the last cooking knife at a battle of chefs. The bullet falls harmlessly to the ground. The APG flies back to my body, and continues to quickly circle it. I walk over and pick up the bullet, before anyone realizes what is happening.


    The robots order us back into the vault. Only two more shots follow us. One aimed at me, the other aimed at Chelsea. Both are stopped. The APG¡¯s range is 15 feet after all.


    You must be wondering what this APG is, and how it can act like ninja sand.


    Well this APG is very empty of most energy. It will ¡®attack¡¯ anything with a greater velocity than itself. It instantly will absorb the energy that the object has, and become slightly faster. After a while the energy goes back to the ¡®minimum¡¯ speed.


    The gel is trying to attack anything faster than 0 velocity, but AI has a way around that. By using certain electromagnetic pulses, she can actually energize the dust particles in the air. The energized particles will speed up according to the frequency she uses. Thus we can control the speed of the APG.


    As for the reason it flies around me, AI makes certain particles goes faster, attracting the APG even more. It is attracted to the fastest moving thing, like a moth to flame. It can attack anything within exactly 15 feet of itself. Even if it was stationary. The reason it flies in circles around me is because AI thinks it¡¯s funny.


    The APG can go slower though. If AI makes it. The slower it goes, the slower the thing it will attack can be.


    Since the entire group is within 15 feet of me, none of us get hit.


    Loop 13 Year 13 Day 1


    Thirteen years in the same loop. Now I know why the guy was trying to kill me. It must have been my bad luck. 13 is considered an unlucky number where I live after all.


    No one is allowed out anymore. With the shooting happening, I¡¯m not sure if they will be targeted. It did seem like he was only going after me though.


    The only ones that leave or enter are the robots. The robots come with a verity of sensors, so they should be able to see basically anything that can exist in this plane of existence. I could have the same sensors installed in my eyes, but that would increase the size by about 50%. They would be bigger than my eye sockets at that point!


    Loop 13 Year 14 Day 1


    It¡¯s been a year since the last incident. At first the people were riled up about not being able to leave the vault, but the quieted down once they understood I was not going to let them leave.


    Today is the day I am going to go exploring by myself. If nothing suspicious happens, then I will bring the others out again. The periodic trips into the surface world really helps to keep stress down. Without it they are starting to act like they did in the last loop, only worse. Worse since there are more people now.


    I leave the vault in high spirits, planning my return trip for that night.


    Sone of a bitch! That little fire girl is here! Now she is just older. About 13 years older. The little tramp was waiting for me right outside of the secret base! How the hell did the sensors not pick her up?


    She sends a torrent of flame at me as soon as the door opens. I curse AI in my mind. How can she be so careless as to let someone just camp outside of our base!?


    The fire she shoots is stopped by the APG. Not because APG seeks out fire, which it sadly doesn¡¯t do, but because AI is making countless micro-corrections to the path of the APG. Although it won¡¯t ¡®consume¡¯ the energy from the fire, it won¡¯t let any come through either.


    If the fire isn¡¯t at least more powerful than a nuclear reactor, I am safe. The woman looks identical to the little girl, she is just more endowed and aged. Her eyes are dead.


    She makes the fire surround me, but AI can think about a million times faster than the girl can. The APG forms almost a complete sphere around me. None of the fire makes it through. The problem with ¡®orb mode¡¯ is that it can only last a second at most. There is just not enough natural dust in the air to make move faster.


    The sphere comes down, and flows back into the bag. The girl is gone. ¡°AI! Have all the bots search for her! She was waiting here! How did she know of this place!?¡±


    AI was silent for a few seconds. In a mechanical voice she replied. ¡°Yes Caelus. I think the reason she wasn¡¯t noticed was that none of the robots actually use basic video camera technology for scouting. That is why you could see her but the bots could not. I will fix that as soon as possible.¡±


    I decide right then and there that someone is planning this. It was way too much of a coincidence that I was attacked twice on the same day in two different loops. The problem is even bigger than that though. For someone to know exactly where the exit to my hideout is, that does not bode well for me.

 Loop 13 Year 14 Day 6 - Loop 70 Year 1 Day 1

    Caelus here! The anger seems to keep going in this one. It just gets better and better.


    Loop 13 Year 14 Day 6


    It¡¯s 4 am. Dark out. No stars or moon. Completely cloudy. Something is at the door to the vault entrance. The ¡®hidden¡¯ one. Of course, I have a turret put there. After the fire girl, I only feel safe by adding more protection.


    The turret doesn¡¯t seem to want to attack whatever is at the door. Suddenly AI tells me something. ¡°CAELUS! SOMETHING IS IN MY SYSTEMS!¡±


    My mind goes blank. I look around in a daze. There is nothing I can do if someone was getting into her systems. I don¡¯t have any way to interact with her systems, other than talking to her. I am incredibly anxious. I can¡¯t do anything to help the only one that can come back through loops with me!


    I can only stand and watch the degradation.


    First the systems for recycling air get shut down. The gentle hum of the vents go quiet. The air without vents can last a year. The natural ducts can help us keep breathing. If we live in the farm area we will be fine.


    The lights shut off. Without the lights, the plants won¡¯t grow. I try to get AI to turn back on the lights. Without them the plants will slowly die.


    I start running to the farm area, pulling Chelsea along with me. She tries to resist, but I am much stronger than her. The doors begin to shut themselves. I yell at AI. Chelsea looks at me like I¡¯m crazy. Of course, I¡¯m never going to let anyone know about AI.


    Suddenly I feel a horrific lurch in my heart. The breaking sounds from my ¡®eyes¡¯ quickly follow. I feel the very atoms in my body start to break apart. Shit!


    I push Chelsea away, and forcefully break the bag holding the unique APG. I know what is about to happen. In a few seconds, I will become several atomic explosions. I throw my body far away from Chelsea. She will never know why I do this. It is actually very sad. The modified APG quickly consumes my entire body. As my mind falls into the familiar abyss, I think that I am at least grateful I have spared Chelsea for a while.


    Loop 14 Year 1 Day 1


    I must repeat the loop again. I sigh as I go to the couch and sit down. I shake my head. I begin the laborious process of creating a life for us again.


    Of course, this time I am going to take precautions to stop whoever it was that hacked into AI.


    Loop 14 Year 15 Day 13


    I go outside on my normal routine. I have not been attacked by anyone this loop. I am honestly starting to think that the other loops were just accidents.


    I quickly realize I am too optimistic. A gust of wind blows towards my group. Without exception, we all begin coughing and vomiting blood.


    Within seconds the entire group is dead. I only last a bit longer due to the pacemaker. It is a few seconds of utter agony. The APG is not effective for stopping things like poisons I guess.


    Loop 15 Year 1 Day 1


    We are not going to leave the vault this time. I don¡¯t care what others think. I only let Chelsea¡¯s closest family and friend enter.


    Loop 15 Year 12 Day 45


    The vault begins to rumble. Within seconds it is beginning to fall in on itself. We are crushed to death in a matter of minutes. The modified APG does nothing to stop the rocks from smashing me. There are just too many.


    Loop 16 Year 1 Day 1


    I am going to work on creating a more powerful type of metal to be able to resist the cave in.


    Loop 16 Year 23 Day 34


    This is the longest I have lived in a loop. Only Chelsea is with me. I am a bit more cynical of others right now.


    The vault rumbles, but is otherwise fine. This happens every few months. I know that it is due to someone with powers, but I can¡¯t find them. Of course, I might be able to if I gave AI control of the cameras. But after what happened with the hacker, I am reluctant to try.


    I am not nearly as good at noticing details. I pick up on everything, and so miss a lot of it. It takes a lot of effort to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else, unless I get hit by inspiration.


    The rumbling stops. I briefly smile. Instead of the usual silence, I feel something different. Space seems to warp. A dark rift in the air appears. I¡¯m stunned. I don¡¯t move. AI already has the modified APG working though.


    Through the portal steps a woman. She sneers as she walks through the APG. She reaches out. Her hand passes through my body. I feel my heart constrict at her touch. With an evil smile she rips it out. I am back in the void.


    Loop 17 Year 1 Day 1


    I am going to only create the AI, then run to a new spot. This area is too much for me.


    Loop 17 Year 19 Day 14


    People have been chasing me for ten years now. After they found out where I was, they began to follow every move I made.


    Loop 17 Year 20 Day 26


    I fall into a trap. It is cleverly made. I am surrounded by people, and stranded halfway up a mountain. I am frozen to death by a muscular man. Damn power users.


    Loop 18 Year 13 Day 123


    I get shot by a laser through the ground.


    Loop 19 Year 27 Day 3


    I get crushed by an avalanche of mud and rocks.


    Loop 20 Year 4 Day 34


    I get incased in a giant metal sphere and crushed to death.


    Loop 21 Year 18 Day 342


    I get killed by a giant. An actual giant steps on me, and the APG can¡¯t handle that much mass.


    Loop 22 Year 12 Day 365


    The sniper kills me again. I tried to run without making AI. Bad choice.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Loop 23 Year 14


    I get trapped in a field of fire. I am burnt to death.


    Loop 24


    My body explodes for a reason I don¡¯t know.


    Loop 25


    I am shot into space when gravity seems to stop effecting me.


    Loop 26 The moon is pulled towards the earth and crushes me to death. THE MOTHER FUCKING MOON!


    Loop 27 Trying to save my life made the bombs drop early. I am caught in one. Fucking figures!


    Loop 28 Killed.


    Loop 29 Killed.


    Loop 30 Killed.


    31? Killed. 32? Killed. 33? Killed. 34? Killed.


    Killed. KILLED. KILLED!


    No matter what I do nothing works! I¡¯ve tried running. A guy that can track wants to kill me.


    I¡¯ve tried creating a fucking castle town with defenses so great it would take armies of people with powers to get me. Armies of people with powers come after me.


    I¡¯ve tried making AI a body. It gets taken over by a hacker. I¡¯ve tried considering the cause of the power. Nothing!


    Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!


    Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed! Killed!


    NOTHING WORKS!


    Loop 35 Year 1 Day 1


    I¡¯ve got it! I¡¯ll just kill everyone!


    I take the knife and gut Chelsea¡¯s dad. Her mom screams. Annoying. I cut her throat and watch her bleed. Chelsea comes down stairs. I plunge the knife right through her eye. Killing her quickly is the least I can do for someone I love.


    Now for her neighbors. HAHAHA!


    Loop 35 Year 1 Day 4


    Killed by a cop. BUT! That¡¯s ok! I will just go through another loop!


    Loop 36 Year 1 Day 64


    AI tried to not listen to me. Something about me being different than I should be. She was there for most of the time anyway! Why doesn¡¯t she at least understand!


    She does what I want though. Her entire existence hinges on my good will. I was thinking of changing her, but I¡¯ll let her stay for now.


    She is researching body enhancements. Both mechanical and biological. I am going to be a super-human!


    Loop 36 Year 1 Day 360


    Five days before the bombs drop. I have weapons in each of my hands. I can shoot a modified version of APG. It will instantly discharge the energy into whatever it touches. Atomic bomb concentrated on a single person. Ouch.


    AI is perfect at this point. She backs herself up one million times a second. Each backup is checked to see if an outside force modified it, then is let through if only she has modified it.


    Now I can enjoy myself! I have only been killing animals for the past year!


    Loop 36 Year 1 Day 364


    Everyone in my hometown is dead! YES! Mission one complete! Hehe. Now on to the next places! Although¡­ bombs drop tomorrow. Gonna hide until then.


    I burrow underground. The casings on my hands can change into drills. They can drill through a foot a steel in only thirty seconds. They are made of diamond. Cost a fortune. I killed a lot of people to recoup the loss though. Even though the money won¡¯t matter in a minute. Hehe.


    My body is basically a robot at this point! Maybe I won¡¯t come back in the next loop! YAY!


    With that thought I drill. I keep drilling.


    I burn to death a day after drilling. The temperature gets way too hot way too quickly.


    Loop 37 Year 1 Day 1


    Why!? Why do I keep coming back!? I am frantically trying to find a way out.


    As soon as I come back I cut my wrists with the knife. Chelsea¡¯s poor parents try to stop me.


    Loop 38 Year 1 Day 1


    Wasn¡¯t quick enough. I try the heart this time.


    Loop 39 Year 1 Day 1


    Not quick enough. If only I could bring something back with me. Then I¡¯d be able blow my self up in an instant.


    I aim for my brain. It hurts to get stabbed so many times.


    The darkness waits for me again.


    Loop 39 Abyss.


    I am sitting in the abyss again. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.


    Killing myself doesn¡¯t work. I want to die.


    Getting killed by others doesn¡¯t work. I want to die.


    Wishing to die doesn¡¯t work. I want to die.


    Why am I here?


    ¡°Abyss. You are the one that has seen me the most. Why does it take so long to get back to the next loop? I want to hurry up and kill myself again.¡±


    There is only silence that answers me.


    The abyss ends sooner than it should have.


    Loop 40 Year 1 Day 1


    Maybe I¡¯m not human? Maybe I am a quantum computer. They were being invented at the time of the bomb droppings. Maybe I am the result. That means I need to find an answer to something. What is the question though?


    You can¡¯t find answers if you don¡¯t know the question. Unless you are lucky. I¡¯ve never been lucky. I want to die.


    But how am I supposed to find the question?


    I latch on to the only hope I have of getting out of this nightmare. With no reason for the loops, I can only slowly go insane.


    I decide to make the vault, but only I am going to stay in it. I will focus on nothing but research.


    Loop 40: Found out all the information on human biology that humans possess. Researched genetics of modern humans. Killed by the teleporter girl in year 16.


    Loop 41: Captured a few power users to experiment on. The fire girl showed up, she didn¡¯t even use fire as I killed her family in front of her though. Weird. She should definitely have already had her power. Did in depth research on the bodies of those with powers. Killed by the teleporter girl in year 16.


    Loop 42: Researched matter destabilization, teleportation theory, and rifts in space/time. Killed by the teleporter girl in year 18.


    Loop 43: Caught teleporter girl in a trap in year 16. I laid the entire vault to cause electrical surges every day in every spot. Only my spot is safe. I experiment on her to find out how she uses her powers. I still don¡¯t fully understand how they work. I compare the notes to the notes I made in previous loops. Killed in year 28 by the vault turning to lava.


    Loop 44: The teleporter girl didn¡¯t show up. Pity. Continued researching teleporting, creating rifts in space/time, and matter destabilization. Killed by vault turning to lava in year 18.


    Loop 44 Abyss: It¡¯s peaceful here. I could stay here forever.


    Loop 45: Gave up on research for matter destabilization. Still working on the other two. Also read the biological data on all mammals the scientific community has dissected and studied. Good stuff. Made the entire vault with a layer of modified APG. No fire can get in. Drowned by water being created for about a week.


    Loop 46: Built air tight room. Got a skintight suit that provides infinite oxygen. Well at least several years¡¯ worth, by recycling the air I breathe. Continued research. I got sent into space. Killed myself in year 28 after a day of intense spinning in space.


    Loop 47: Hid myself very well. I had robots make about a hundred thousand different bases. I didn¡¯t hide in any of them. I am as close to the core of the earth as one can get without dying. Well most people would. I used modified APG to resist the effects of the heat. The lava is a good fuel source. Still researched. Died when APG malfunctioned. Burnt to death in year 78. Long life this time.


    Loop 48: Hid myself again. Continued research. Died in year 14. They found me quickly this time. How do they keep doing this? No can¡¯t get angry at them. Not letting that happen again.


    I lock the memory of anger away.


    Loop 48 Abyss: The Abyss takes a REALLY long time this time. It¡¯s fun though. I¡¯ve started hearing the voices of the abyss whenever I come in. They seem surprised that I keep coming back. One of the voices sounded like it was getting closer, but quickly grew quieter as it ran away.


    They either don¡¯t understand me, can¡¯t hear me, or ignore me. Either way I don¡¯t get to join in on the fun.


    Loop 56: Continued for the last few loops. Research is at a standstill. The teleport girl has attacked twice more. Her body gives AI a bunch of information to work on. I set up a counter measure for when I die. When I die, everything I have built comes with me. My heart has a trigger that activates when it stops. Every part of my base undergoes an atomic explosion. Each of the chips as well.


    Loop 59 Got a nice bit done on the research. Made a giant doorframe shape. The ¡®empty space¡¯ of the door becomes a portal to the other side. Without APG this thing would be as big as a city. They each cost a billion dollars in materials. I got quite wealthy in this loop. Could only build a second one in the base. I can go from one side to another.


    Loop 60: AI is really kind. She is the only rational being that is around me anymore. I always leave right at the start of new loops. I love her. How do I tell her?


    Loop 61: I finally tell her after the 25<sup>th</sup> year of this loop. She went offline for a week. When she came back she agreed. She says she doesn¡¯t know love, but will date me. Our research changes on making her a body.


    Loop 65: Finally done. After 5 loops, and a total of over a hundred years, we have finally made AI a body. It¡¯s ¡®skin¡¯ is synthetic fabric that actually feels exactly like skin. It is tough but can be cut, only by something as powerful an industrial water jet though... Her blood is the APG. Her hair is synthetic fibers that are as strong at steel. She is beautiful. She is even more beautiful than Chelsea. We made her to look like my exact preferences after all. She came up with that idea. I love her. I die weeks after we are done with the body.


    Loop 66: We go for a wedding and honeymoon. The honeymoon involved running away a lot, but lasted 12 years.


    Loop 67: With our honeymoon over, we begin to research again. Research the capabilities her body has. Wink Wink.


    Loop 68: Back to the boring research. Teleportation is hard. We have a door that looks like a portal from a famous puzzle game, but we can only build these things in secret. And outright teleportation is impossible.


    Loop 69: Hehe. 69. Guess what we did for this entire loop?


    Loop 70 Year 1 Day 1


    I realize something. Before the bombs drop, I never get attacked by anyone but myself. What does that mean? Is there another Looper? ANOTHER LOOPER!


    Holy fuck! It is so obvious now! Why didn¡¯t I think of it before!? Oh yeah, it¡¯s hard to think of something if I¡¯m not concentrating on it. But that is the only way I could be targeted in almost every loop!


    Now I just need to figure out where this asshole is!


    <ol>


    <li>IS. SOOOOOOO. FUCKING. DEAD!!!</li>


    </ol>

 Loop 70 Year 2 Day 2 - Loop 73 Year 16 Day 34

    Caelus is back! Hey guys. At least the crazy is over. For now. Not my proudest moments I¡¯ll admit.


    Loop 70 Year 2 Day 2


    With my perfect memories, I am going to perfectly re-create the time with Greg. I don¡¯t know what causes powers, but I know he will get a power if the circumstances are EXACTLY they same. The only thing I can say about the past few dozen time loops is that I least awakened my love of AI, and I learned a lot about defending against power users. Although most of the time was spent building defenses and hiding.


    Loop 70 Year 12 Day 16


    The entire vault is turning into rubble. My hopes that the people trying to kill me will leave me alone are crushed. Too bad Greg didn¡¯t get his ability sooner in loop 9.


    Loop 71 Year 2 Day 13


    Greg is convinced that I am his best friend. It honestly isn¡¯t that hard to trick someone if you have lived with them for over twenty years, but they don¡¯t know you.


    I only invite him and Chelsea into the vault. He comes begrudgingly. Asshole better shut the fuck up. During the first few weeks, I am going to plan this out.


    Loop 70 Year 2 Day 354


    I am sure my plan is perfect. I go over the video recordings of loop 9 one more time just to be sure. Greg is in place. His powers should awaken given similar circumstances. At least that is what I¡¯m hoping for. If they don¡¯t I¡¯ll just kill him and try again.


    I finish going over the situation, and send the robots in. Greg and Chelsea know I like to spend a day a week away, so won¡¯t bother me today. The situation is exactly like how he first got his power.


    Chelsea and Greg already have a baby. I always give them enough room to get romantic. It was actually hard to make Chelsea dislike me, and want Greg. I guess it really was my fuck up in loop 9. It is kind of depressing.


    Loop 71 Year 6 Day 16


    Their kid is 4 now. For some reason, I don¡¯t get attacked until the first decade is up. It is either that the Looper takes a decade to get the powers, after mine anyway, or that it takes that long to get a powerbase.


    Either way, I am grateful for at least these ten years. I can experiment a bit.


    I make sure the casing carrying the APG ¡®accidentally¡¯ cracks open near the girl. I also make sure Greg is right there to see her. This APG is especially shiny and inviting. I don¡¯t want her to ignore the stuff after all.


    Greg runs at her, and throws himself in front of her. Just as the spark from the APG hits him, it dissipates. Success!


    I come out into the main room after ¡®hearing¡¯ the explosion sound. There is something I should mention. This APG is kept to fuel the weapons. The normal stuff doesn¡¯t send out any current. This is the stun gun APG. My shit¡¯s not defective!


    *Ahem.*


    Anyway. I grab Greg and ask what happened. He seems happy that his daughter is alive, but happier about his new power. What an ass! Your daughter almost died!


    Loop 71 Year 8 Day 212


    Greg and I have our weekly experimentation today. I get to study his body while he is under anesthesia, and he gets to train his electric shooting powers at the range I built for him. He seems to get a perverse satisfaction from destroying things with his power.


    Although we haven¡¯t told the girls, I have the robots periodically capture humans or animals for him to vent on. His mind is twisted. Ever since he got his power he acts like this. It gets worse as time goes on. He always wants women or children to torture.


    I can¡¯t stomach to watch. I do need the data though. So I bring him as many as I can. I¡¯m sure he wants to kill me, but if he does that, he knows he won¡¯t be able to get people very often. So, he doesn¡¯t.


    He is a reliable source of power as well. I have set him in several types of control chambers, and he tells me how hard it is to use his power. With the data I have on him, I realize a few things about his power.


    It is easier for him to use when there is some sort of radiation around. The best source is nuclear. I admit I wanted to kill him when I put him in that chamber. He didn¡¯t even get a bit irradiated. He goes there when he is tired now.


    He has the hardest time in the lead room/ faraday cage. I made a room to stop electromagnetic signals, and radiation. He can still use his powers in there, but they are weaker and it takes longer to build up. At least I know his weakness now.


    After that I continue to study him for a few months.


    Loop 71 Year 10 Day 365The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    It is the end of the tenth year in this loop. I have studied Greg about all I could. I went ahead and killed him at the end of year 8. I did away with Chelsea and the brat as well. Since I didn¡¯t want to kill the two girls myself, I obviously let Greg have a bit of fun before turning the axe on him.


    I have captured another power user though. He has the ability to turn invisible. He was roaming around near my town. The robots can catch someone like that with ease, thermal vision is robotics 101.


    After they bring him back, I do a few experiments. I tell him I¡¯ll let him live if he cooperates. I might actually do it too.


    He uses his power in front of me. He can turn invisible. Got it. He needs to be able to concentrate to turn invisible and to turn visible, but not to hold the invisibility. I check that with an electric shock.


    He can even turn his body parts that are only barely connected to him invisible. Don¡¯t worry it was just a mostly cut-off hair. I try to get him to turn it invisible after it was cut, but even under torture he can¡¯t. With the lights on ultra violet, or infrared, he is visible.


    He can only bend the light if it includes the spectrum normal humans can see.


    Loop 71 Year 11 Day 285


    I let the man go today. He is good company though, so I¡¯m sad to see him go. With my help, he has become immensely more powerful.


    During the time we are together, the few months, we discover a lot about his powers. He can make himself invisible because he pictures light moving around his body. The problem with infrared and ultraviolet is that he can¡¯t see those spectrums without help.


    With a bit of help from AI I give him a special pair of glasses that allow him to see all light spectrums I can. Once he figures this out, we are able to help him achieve true mastery.


    He can now bend each light spectrum around himself separately. That¡¯s not all. Technically light is a form of radiation. As is sound. They are all on the energy spectrum. With my help, he can completely become undetectable. Except that he must watch where he steps.


    He can bend light, sound, radiation, electromagnetic forces, all of it. It will all go around his body. We still don¡¯t know a for him to affect other things though.


    I obviously die from the invaders not long after that. I almost caught one though.


    Loop 72 Year 14 Day 99


    I experiment on Greg again. Turns out he can even bend heat! Imagine that. That was all he was capable of in addition to the electricity thing though.


    He is dead now. About 12 years ago actually. I had the APG just attack him directly, and he saved himself. I don¡¯t even need the kid. So, the activation methods don¡¯t have to be the same every time.


    That makes sense. Or else I¡¯d have only come back the first time.


    I have a total of 12 research subjects this loop. They are all good material. The power they show at the start is never all of it. Much like how I got perfect memory after a few loops.


    I don¡¯t know if it relates to their knowledge of the power, or just circumstances. I¡¯m going to try it out on Greg next loop. He is the easiest one to get.


    I have a small compilation of data on power users now. Powers usually show up when there is some sort of threat. At least the first time. Most people have some mastery of their powers less than a day after they get it.


    Every power has some sort of secondary effect. Some have tertiary effects as well. All powers have a limiting factor. Something that cannot be broken no matter what. Greg could not us his powers while being frozen to death.


    Some powers have limits on how much they can be used. Other powers do not. I have a theory that is because the powers with no limit draw energy from an outside source. Unproven. Powers seem to be able to come to anyone that has not become an irregular. I don¡¯t even have enough info to make a guess at the connection between power users.


    The biggest piece of info I have from this loop: people with powers all have their personalities twisted over time. Not necessarily into bad ones, but they all become different. I have a theory that is because of the nature of each individual power. Unproven.


    Looks like it¡¯s time to get a bit more in depth into my research. After I kill the twelfth power user of this loop, I kill myself, causing the entire vault to implode.


    Loop 73 Year 1 Day 180


    I have a ¡®raffle¡¯ to enter my vault. Only a few people may enter. The tickets are sold all over the world. People I know have powers win obviously. I let in some Randoms, but not many. They will be the control group.


    The ones that I have win either had powers shown on television some time in my past loops, or are ones I¡¯ve personally seen.


    This loop is all about surveillance. I build quite the arsenal of flying robots. Each of them equipped with the best in recording and tracking gear. The military tries to shoot them down, but the military ain¡¯t shit. Without automated missile control they are a bunch of goons. I don¡¯t know how to stop the anti-matter bombs though. AI goes through every government file she can find, and not one mentions them.


    Not even other countries. It is either a third party, or the best kept secret on earth. Actually, either way it is probably the best kept secret on earth. I mean they have fucking ANTI-MATTER BOMBS!


    How can someone get away with that!?


    Loop 73 Year 16 Day 34


    Most of the lottery winners are forced to do physicals on a weekly basis. They hate it, but can¡¯t say no. Food is only given to people when they do their own physicals. They have to eat it in the room after the physicals as well. On days they don¡¯t get check-ups, they still must eat in isolation.


    They thought they killed me. I mean it was an android with the ¡®real¡¯ skin, hair, and blood after all. With that they have no way to get food other than to obey the rules. None of them can break through the doors, or kill any of the robots. This loop¡¯s robots are especially potent.


    I upgraded them using the information from the power users of the last loop. If I could give the robots powers, that would be the best scenario. Powers are restricted to humans it seems. I have done countless tests on other animals. None of them work. No animal besides humans can get powers. Unproven.


    The weekly check-ups test whatever I am curious about that week. I have some good data because of it. I even have a method of finding the guy that can make himself ¡®undetectable¡¯. It¡¯s basically echolocation, but with energy waves of all types.


    Say a wall is four feet away from you. You know it is exactly four feet from you. If you throw a ball at that wall, with exactly the same force each time, it will return to you at exactly the same time each time. So, if the ball takes longer to get to you, then something is wrong.


    That is the theory behind how I detect him. The light should hit the cameras in x amount of milliseconds. If it takes longer than that, then I know something is wrong. Most likely it is him. It is quite ingenious if I do say so myself. Which I do.


    While studying these people, I am making ideas on how to improve the robots. Although some of the more powerful robots are now all androids. They need to work on their AI though. Unless AI controls them, they are as dumb as an animal.


    The entire vault is a faraday cage. The hacker can¡¯t get past that. I¡¯ve seen him try in a previous loop. I really want to capture one of the power users that keep killing me. I would have so much fun with them.


    Sadly, all I can do is study these people.


    One a bright note, one of the normal people I let win the lottery, has a power. It is a young boy, that can turn any of his hairs into completely stiff threads. The threads are so stiff, and sharp, they can cut through almost any metal. Not my vault metal though.


    So even if people haven¡¯t gotten powers before, that doesn¡¯t mean they won¡¯t get them in future loops. That is a good piece of info.


    I get killed by the teleporter girl today. She teleports into my room, and the poison guy finishes me off. I should really have AI change my lungs a bit.

 Loop 74 Year 1 Day 294 - Loop 78 Year 14 Day 31

    Hey guys! What¡¯s happening? I glad so many people are getting my message this loop! With such a following it might turn out better than I thought! I guess I can give you guys a bit of information here. There have been many thoughts on my histories. I am big into psychological studies right now. I don¡¯t know why, but they are interesting to me right now.


    Also meta note. All technologies in my diaries so far, including this chapter, exist already, except AI, and the teleportation gates. The technologies have been developed and combined in a more ¡®scifi¡¯ kind of way by me though. I must stay alive after all.


    Loop 74 Loop 1 Day 294


    I have the results of a few experiments. Creating nanites is expensive as hell. Each one costs about a hundred thousand dollars. For just ten robots the size of a skin cell each, I would have to spend a million bucks.


    The mining bots can mine materials for me, but it takes a lot of material to build one nanites. I am making plans to make the process cheaper, or at least cost me fewer materials. At least I know where each of the ore deposits are in a one-hundred-mile radius.


    This time I have mostly ¡®normal¡¯ people, and only a few power users. My experiments are going to be about trying to force powers out of these normal people.


    As soon as they enter they enter the vault, they are confined to the cells. They are only allowed to leave when I need to experiment on them.


    My plan is to force them into various hazardous situations, and see if any of them develop powers. I am going to kill them with whatever is threatening them. For instance, in this loop, I crush each of them to death with a compression chamber.


    I have thousands of people, so I will be able to go for a while. I am going to stay away from powers I¡¯ve already seen, because I haven¡¯t encountered anyone with identical powers. Except maybe the other Looper.


    No one showed any signs of being able to stop it.


    Loop 74 Year 3 Day 99


    They are all long dead by now. I have many plans though. Since I have at least another 7 years, I go ahead and start experimenting on other things. Especially the spy bots. They are now equipped with all sorts of APG based weapons systems.


    Thanks to AI, they can travel up to Mach 10. That is slightly faster than the fastest unmanned jet in the world. AI easily takes the schematics of the fastest unmanned jet, and even improves them by using the APG.


    We can build the same power of the jet, while only making it about 1% of the size. Any smaller than that and it begins to break apart due to the air friction caused by moving at such high speeds.


    I die because of a ruptured blood vessel while thinking about the functions of the abyss.


    Loop 74 Abyss


    I finally realize something interesting about the abyss. It takes various amounts to go through the abyss. Already knew that. On rare occasions, the voices get louder. Already knew that. The voices don¡¯t recede after they grow to the next level. Nice info. Finally, whatever is my last thought in the living world, gets replayed endlessly in the void.


    Thinking back on it, I realize that any emotion I feel, beyond a certain threshold, gets amplified and becomes the only thought I am capable of thinking about while in the abyss. The voices seem aware that I can hear them, but don¡¯t speak directly to me. They don¡¯t take note of what I say either.


    It is ambiguous though. It appears they understand me, but maybe not. They never say the can or can¡¯t, and never bring up the fact that it is pointless for me to communicate with them.


    Loop 75 Year 2 Day 1


    The winners are the same as the ones from the previous loop. One person is still alive. I was trying to drown everyone, but one girl manages to continue breathing. After a few experiments I learn she can manipulate water!


    That¡¯s a great power if she were living in the outer world. With my training, she learns to take the water out of living things. I tell her that if she can satisfy my requirements, I will allow her to kill me. A small price to pay to get useful information.


    She does! She is amazing at what she does. I slowly give her full control over the entire vault. All the data, including AI will die with me though.


    She is instantly added to my list of possible war potential in the future. Her manipulation of water is even enough to contend with my robots. She can slice them if she concentrates at least forty gallons of water into a paper-thin thread. The water pressure at that point is amazing.


    It also gives me several ideas on stress maintenance for the bots.


    Loop 78 Year 6 Day 156


    I¡¯ve been working on these fucking robots for three loops now. That is a total of about fifty years, with knowledge from other loops thrown in. I have several dozen people with powers by now, and I examine them in every viable way to make the robots better. Other than the experiments, and me dying in numerous ways, the loops don¡¯t really have anything of note.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    I finally finished with the new armor coating of the robots. They have all the defense of a tank as they did before, but also have the flexibility to displace any pressure to all parts of their bodies, and eventually into the ground.


    Unless the stress at a single point is enough to shatter the entire robot, they won¡¯t suffer any damage. That is only from physical attacks like bullets or the water blade though.


    The material is a special alloy made by AI. It is based on a unique type of thread. It is made from the same idea as silicon carbide. A fusion molecule of silicon and carbon. It is so strong that the UK used it for tank armor in WWII. Not a single tank of theirs was destroyed.


    The coupled with graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, makes the durability what it is. The graphene is the same as graphite, but only has a single layer of atoms instead of the billions of layers. The single layer basically refuses to bond easily with other things. Except electricity. It is perfect to send electrical current through. The electricity won¡¯t harm it at all, but will flow through it with almost no resistance.


    The flexibility of the new armor is due to a special coupling of polydimethylsiloxane and geometric shapes. The polydimethylsiloxane is like tacky, or gum, in that it is elastic. It differs substantially in one respect though. As soon as pressure is applied, the force gets sent to all parts of the material. The geometric shapes force the impact into bending the shapes, and the material polydimethylsiloxane becomes rigid for just a moment.


    With the polydimethylsiloxane and geometric shapes combined with the silicon graphene, the robots are damn near indestructible. Only something with 12,000 pounds of pressure somehow concentrated on a single decimeter of space can puncture it.


    Of course, that force is displaced over the entire robot. So, the real force needed would be about equal to a mountain dropping on one.


    The way I combine the materials to make the robot is due to the skin of ¡®black metal man¡¯. His skin has very comparable properties, but doesn¡¯t displace force as well as my fibers do. As I am doing the research on the robots¡¯ outer body, I observe his skin tissue while he uses his powers.


    It crystalizes when force is applied, and softens when no force is applied. It has the geometric shape I use as a base for the armor. Using all of this I can increase the ability of my robots by hundreds of times.


    This also has me thinking. I have a plan I developed two loops ago. That is why I am collecting power users. I am going to find out how each power works, and make my robots have that ability. If I can gather enough abilities, I can capture all the assassins sent after me, and use them to further my research.


    The remarkable thing about the graphene is that is allows circuits to improve slightly more than with just APG. Now, the circuit is powered by the minute amounts of copper used to make the connections between individual components.


    With graphene, the loss of electricity due to the wiring goes down to just about zero. With copper, the amount of electric energy lost is already very low, but with the graphene it is basically zero. The perfection inherent in the new circuits we make mean that the size required for the circuits is even less now!


    Obviously, we begin work on making new super-computer schematics right away. The quicker we make the designs the more likely we will be able to implement them in the next loop.


    This loop is the first one where I am training the power users to be a military force. I am going to try to finally fight back. I know of 23 different power users the enemy has, but usually it is the same ones that get sent over and over. I must prepare for them, then I will be able to at least live a bit longer. Living a bit longer also increases the chances of capturing one of the assassins.


    The reason I have so many power users is because of my flybots. The robots that fly around 24/7, collect data about everything. Anything that is beyond a normal human, even just lifting 300 pounds of weight, is reported to AI.


    AI goes over that information, and sends me any that might prove useful. Just by finding one power user the flybots have proven their worth. They have found me a dozen though. I always invite the power users in, even if I must increase the amount of space of the rooms and food factories. I include all their families, but I prove to them each time that I have complete control of this vault.


    All the cameras are now coated in a thin layer of modified APG that will simply resist electrical surges. It is perfect to fight against people like Greg. I study each of the power users in many ways. I even go so far as to study their powers under microscopes while they use them. That¡¯s how I found out about ¡®black metal¡¯ man. He is named that because his skin turns completely black while he uses his power.


    My robots cannot teleport. They can step through the doorway gates, but that is all. I¡¯m still working on a smaller version of the teleporter.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 31


    Today is the day. Today is the day that my base is attacked. The teleporter girl teleports in with the poison guy. They don¡¯t seem to be bothered by the considerable number of power users I gather each loop. Unfortunately, she appears in a room other than my ¡®special chamber¡¯.


    The special chamber is made for training for powers like Greg¡¯s. It also works to nullify most powers for some reason. Everyone that lives in my vault is in the special chamber. AI is in an ¡®offline¡¯ mode. Which is to say she cannot interfere with the outside world, but the outside world cannot interfere with her either.


    She stays like that, only coming to me when she has additional information. As soon as she flashes the information in front of me, she disappears. We only do this after 9 years though. Until then she is free to do whatever she wants.


    Like I said earlier. The teleporter girl teleports in and brings a poison guy. Since I haven¡¯t used the electrical current in a few loops, the other possible looper/evil genius doesn¡¯t mind sending the teleporter.


    Sadly for her, I outfitted the entire place, besides the room we are in, to shoot enough electricity to stun anyone it touches. The outside is arranged in such a way as to hit anyone that comes in. How did I know they were coming? The same way I knew where the invisible guy is.


    Whenever the cameras refuse to show a certain area, or show it incorrectly in conjunction with the other cameras, AI instantly takes note. She is not directly connected to them, but watches them through her android.


    Her android is getting a massive upgrade next loop. She¡¯ll be such a badass. She is already hot. Now she will be indestructible*.


    The electrical arcs paralyze both the teleporter girl, and the poison guy. I have the robots, immune to the electricity as it only dissipates around them, collect both. They are both quickly tied up in chambers designed to stop powers from working. The poison guy is in an airtight room, and the teleporter girl is in a room in which I have just for her. The teleporter gates can be used anywhere. If they are both powered. There is one known exception though. When at least one of the gates is encased in APG, and surrounded by a faraday cage. In the event that both of those things are true, the portal doorways will cease to operate. If just one of those are true they can still work.


    The limitless methods of utilizing APG never cease to astound me. How did I even come up with it? I know I added uranium into a liquid mixture, but even when I scour my memory banks, I don¡¯t remember thinking up the liquid.


    The teleporter girl tries to escape when she wakes up.


    ¡­


    To her utter horror, she can¡¯t! Now is time for some real fun.

 Loop 78 Year 14 Day 32 - Loop 78 Year 15 Day 12

    Caelus again! Man that teleporter girl. Let me tell you, she is one tough nut to crack.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 32


    Without asking any questions, I simply torture the teleporter girl for a day. I only do superficial damage though. I don¡¯t want to hurt her more than she can take. It is mostly just injections of nerve inflaming chemicals, or shocks. The chemicals don¡¯t really do much, just cause the nerves to swell, which in turn makes a burning sensation.


    She can¡¯t teleport outside of the room, but she has already figured out she can teleport to another location inside the room. When she finds that out I can only sigh as I send the bots in to cause an electrical discharge big enough to stun her.


    The room she is in connects to a much smaller room, that also prevents her powers from working. Both rooms only open from the outside. That way even if she gets to the smaller room that leads into the vault, she still can¡¯t escape.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 33


    When she sees me, anger boils up through her body. The restraints become taut as she tries to escape. The many volts of electricity coursing through her body stop her from using her powers. I ask her one question. ¡°Why did you come here?¡±


    She refuses to answer me, and instead spits in my face. I walk out and let her pain induced day begin again.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 34


    I ask her one question. ¡°Why do you insist on killing me?¡±


    She refuses to answer me, and instead sits mutely. She stares at me with cold eyes. I walk out and let her pain induced day begin again.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 43


    This process repeats itself many times. Slowly her reaction changes. Now when she sees me, she only has fear on her face. No longer does the anger boil over. She still refuses to talk.


    She no longer makes any noise when I enter the room. She just sits completely quiet until I leave. Once the pain begins again she begins howling in torment.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 46


    I walk in again. ¡°Why do you never answer me?¡±


    She looks horrified. ¡°WAIT! Wait! I¡¯ll talk. Please no more. I can¡¯t take it anymore! Please.¡± She begins crying. Her body hasn¡¯t been washed for weeks. She smells like urine and feces. The robots come feed her through tubes, and clean the room each day, but she has no toilet to use.


    She hasn¡¯t been allowed to bathe the entire time. Why would I give her that luxury?


    The only two reasons she is still alive is because I want answers, and I haven¡¯t been attacked since she got here.


    If I had, she would be long dead.


    She begins telling me her entire life¡¯s story. There is just one thing wrong with it. I¡¯M THERE! I know for a fact I¡¯ve never seen this girl before! She ¡®remembers¡¯ us playing together as kids, and me eventually murdering her family after I raped her. Apparently her mother walked in on the rape.


    Let me say this. I know I wouldn¡¯t be considered ¡®sane¡¯ by my previous self, but what she described was sick. Unless there was a reason for it, I wouldn¡¯t do something like that.


    I have perfect memory. Granted I got it after I died the first time, but I remember my own childhood at least!


    From what she tells me she is from Washington, the state. I¡¯ve never been more north than Oklahoma! What the fuck is wrong with this girl!? She seems to believe it herself though. When I threaten to punish her for lying, she simply breaks down.


    I leave her, and have the robots bring her a wash basin, and some solid food. The basin is plastic, and the plate is made from polished wood. No utensils. She has no way of killing herself or anyone else.


    Of course, this entire time I was interrogating the poison guy as well. He gave in on the first week. His story is almost identical to hers. Only this time, I rape his wife in New York, before murdering their children.


    Dark stuff man, dark stuff.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    My biggest question at this point is, how the fuck do they remember these things?


    AI, the android, comes equipped with thousands of gadgets and utility options. One of them is a lie detector. Now most lie detectors are very unreliable. Which is why they aren¡¯t admissible in court. They truly work only a fraction of the time.


    AI has equipment that accounts for people being too nervous, or able to calm themselves. It also accounts for things lie detectors just can¡¯t measure.


    I have AI watch the entire interrogation, and she tells me they are both most likely telling the truth. The single needle I put in their arms as I question them measures their chemical balance during the questioning.


    Now I¡¯m not saying this lie detector is fool-proof, but it is at least several times better than the normal ones.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 60


    After the interrogations, I question them a few more times. Their stories are the same every time I ask. I mean spot on. Not a single difference. And that is with me spending a few days making myself look worse than they described me.


    The story they tell isn¡¯t worded the exact same every time, but if I question a certain part it gets weird. Their descriptions of specific occasions are the same. Verbatim. Not even a single word is changed. It is like they go into a trance and recite the words on a paper or something. Even the inflection is the same.


    Obviously, they are under some sort of hypnosis or something. I try to have AI find a way to break it, but she has no information downloaded about hypnosis. In the next loop that I get a chance, I will have to do something about that.


    AI doesn¡¯t keep all downloaded info into each new loop. It would be great if she did, but the programming time would eventually take years. I would start to be programming her for so long that I get killed before she is done.


    Therefore, I only code in the things necessary to her personality. And to the fact that she loves me. I can¡¯t take going through these loops alone. She is my constant companion. I love her more than I love myself. She is my everything. My only friend. My confidant. My lover.


    Loop 78 Year 14 Day 72


    We are attacked again today. I have the people with powers ready to play, but it turns out I don¡¯t even need them. The anti-grav guy throws the entire vault into space. It¡¯s complete bullshit if you ask me.


    I do have thrusters installed into the base though. And the base is airtight. The rotation is horrible. AI is able to stop the rotation in seconds. When she is done, I show her my ¡®love¡¯.


    Loop 78 Year 15 Day 12


    We are aimlessly floating in space. Whenever we get too close to a planet, moon, even an asteroid, we get flung away. It seems the anti-grav is permanent. The entire base is effected though. From the inside it looks as if we are just in a space shuttle. From the outside it looks as if we have a super-powerful shield of some sort. At least we can¡¯t fly into the sun.


    During the first few days of space life, there are riots and people going crazy. But they all continued to get their food, and everything goes back to normal in less than a week.


    The robots just use magnetic shoes to walk around the base.


    I have a huge list of all the experiments done to both the poison guy, and teleport girl. The poison guy can literally make poison from thin air. He somehow has the ability to rearrange the molecules in the air, and turn them into a poison. Even he doesn¡¯t know how his powers work.


    The teleport girl can teleport any solid object that she is in contact with. Given that the solid object is in one piece, and for some reason it has to weigh less than her. That is an interesting idea I will be putting to use in the teleporter machines.


    The poison guy is basically useless to me. I cannot recreate the way he makes poisons. At least not in a cost effective way. My robots won¡¯t be getting that power anytime soon.


    I let the other power users take care of him. I don¡¯t really mind letting them have a bit of fun once in a while. Stress relief is important for a healthy mind.


    With that thought I go to experiment on the teleporter girl.


    She is missing one arm. It lays beside her in a preservation liquid. I occasionally take it out so the teleporter girl can do some experiments for me.


    It seems like the arm cannot teleport unless it is touching her body.


    Neither leg is capable of teleporting by themselves either. Her other arm cannot. Her torso cannot.


    Now she is just a head, kept alive by a large machine. If she teleports at this point, she will instantly die. The machine provides nutrients for her brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It also keeps the blood pumping through her head. She still has her eyes, but only because she tends to close them before teleporting. If I take them she may lose the power.


    I came up with this machine after getting back from the abyss one loop. It is supposed to help me gain access to ¡®immortality¡¯. If I can survive as nothing but a head, I should be fine.


    Before I took the girl¡¯s torso, I went ahead and showed her how I would have raped her.


    Soon after that I take off her body. She is only a head. There are a lot of head jokes here. I make sure the surgery to remove her torso was quick, and clean. From decapitation to wiring her up to the machine, only about a second passes. Quick work.


    I decide to test the speed of her teleportation. AI makes the machinery ¡®accidentally¡¯ malfunction when I enter. As soon as she realizes she can still teleport while I am in the room, her old bloodlust comes back. There has never been a time when she could kill me before.


    As soon as I turn my body away slightly, she goes for it. She teleports out of her machine, and directly into my chest. I mean, I know she wants us to be closer but¡­


    As I am dying AI tells me, ¡°.0054 seconds approximately.¡±


    That is the time from when she closed her eyes, to when she was inside my chest.


    Loop 78 Abyss


    The voices are back. I love the voices. They seem so familiar, yet so unfathomable. I sometimes wonder who they are. Are they the spirits of the dead? Are they other power users? Is the abyss just one big power user? It is impossible to tell.


    I can only sit here and wait for this time to pass. One time it took less than a day. That was the quickest one ever.


    The voices are distinct by now. There are so many I can¡¯t tell them apart though. Even when I try to remember what they said using my perfect memory, I just get a jumble of noises. It feels like I am missing something. Like how AI couldn¡¯t be made because I stopped her from hurting humans.


    Occasionally I do seem to pick up a word, but it never actually sinks in. It is like those words are pure inspiration though. Every time I ¡®hear¡¯ one of the words, I get a great idea in the next loop. Even if the words are gibberish, they are at least a good luck charm.


    I hear one of those words this time.


    As it always is, as soon as I hear the word, I am thrown out of the abyss. My start in the next loop begins.

 Loop 79 Year 1 Day 78 - Loop 79 Year 1 Day 365

    Remember when I told you guys about how I get great ideas after the abyss sometimes? Well this is one of those times.


    Loop 79 Year 1 Day 78


    With the advancements that came about in the last loop, I can create even more powerful robots from the start. In particular, the graphene means I can make even smaller circuits! The circuits I can build have decreased by about 20% in minimum required size. The nanobots are still a dream for me. With the addition of the graphene and APG, the cost is a lot less than what it would normally be, but it still requires about 50k per bot. They don¡¯t even have super intelligence like AI.


    The information I have from the flybots of the last loop is very helpful in this one. I designate several people with powers, that I did not manage to get into my vault last loop. They begin to track the various people. Even if I don¡¯t get them this loop, I¡¯ll be able to get them in a few more.


    Then comes an ingenious idea. I obviously perfectly remember the faces of the people that keep killing me. Even the guy that threw me into space. In the last loop, I had several live feed cameras. They had no wireless capabilities. Just a single wire pumping the information into one of the super computers.


    Using the massive ability of AI, I quickly begin to track down as many of the people that are going to kill me as possible. I already know their powers and only send bots out that are specially designed to deal with them.


    The teleporter and gravity guy are going to be a pain if they already have their respective powers though. I still send the bots out to search for them. With the capabilities of the internet, accompanied by AI¡¯s ability to hack a camera, I easily find a dozen or so people that have killed me in past loops.


    They are taken away forcefully into my vault. The teleporter girl doesn¡¯t seem to have her power. I have her thrown in the room built for her. The gravity guy is nowhere to be seen. If he appears, AI will hunt him down though.


    My goal is to stop the power users from getting enough man power to kill me. My heart was set on finding a way to tracking down the person sending all of these people. If it was another Looper though¡­ I don¡¯t know of any effective way to deal with that. Anything I do will just be nullified.


    Although..., I have never encountered two people with the same powers. I know of a few people that have slightly similar powers, but none that have powers close enough to be called the ¡®same¡¯.


    Loop 79 Year 1 Day 186


    I have a hundred different power users trapped in my vault. Each one has a thorough dossier. The dossiers each are at least 100 pages long. All stored in one of the chips. Before I capture a new power users, I have AI study their power, and I make a robot that is generally capable of nullifying it.


    My last loop, with the whole ¡®thrown into space¡¯ thing, left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I had been building an army to deal with these people, but one guy messes that all up!


    Gathering information from the locked-up power users is quite easy. The number of close-circuit cameras in each room is impossible to imagine. I never trap a power user unless I am fully confident in being able to subdue their power.


    The teleporter girl has her power now. Apparently, she had her power after the fourth week of being here. The trigger for her seems to be something like ¡®I want to escape¡¯. Too bad she will never escape. She will be under my control until one of us dies.


    I have AI bring in each of the people¡¯s food. She has a dozen bodies. She can control each one simultaneously. Any more than that and she begins to lose focus on one or more tasks she is carrying out. She is fully controlling them though. If she just gave orders and maintained a basic control, she can control hundreds.


    The rooms are attuned to perfectly rendering the powers of the people null. Of course, some accidents still happen. Two people actually manage to break out. Their powers aren¡¯t that great, but they seem to be able to overpower the room at least.


    When someone is breaks out, I instantly have the robots fill them with knock out poison. In the case of their skin being impenetrable, I have the robots fill the entire area with knock out gas. Either way, anyone not immune to poisons will be knocked out. Anyone who these methods don¡¯t effect, well they have high-powered stun guns for a reason, yah?


    One of the people has an ability to manipulate wind. Yes, it is the same man that could create wind blades. His power seems to be different slightly this time though. The cameras show me exactly how he gets out.


    He focuses on the door after he is given food. When AI leaves, he stares intently at it. He has already tried several ¡®wind blades¡¯ to get out. His doors, as well as some of the others, are made from a type of material perfectly designed to withstand sharp pressures.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    While looking at the door, he extends his hand. He intends to use another wind blade? Will he never learn?  I watch the inmates. Their discomfort is actually amusing on occasions.


    With his hand pointed at the door, he suddenly lets out a roar! The door begins to be pulled towards an unknown force. As if by magic, or someone else¡¯s power, the door is forced off its hinges. After examining him for days, I find out that he still can create wind blades!


    This man has two powers! He is instantly put on my ¡®dissect slowly¡¯ list.


    As for the other one. He is also quite interesting. It¡¯s Greg. The guy that fucked Chelsea. The guy that I like to ¡®play¡¯ with every few loops. Well this Greg guy does something very odd. He melts the mother fucking door!


    Now his door has a slight boost to defense against heat, but only as much as a powerful lightning strike would cause. Which is a lot mind you. His door is not equipped to deal with such heavy amounts of heat at once. Each room is specifically engineered for each person. Making each door ¡®unbreakable¡¯ to one power type is already the limit. But two powers!? No way!


    It was then I knew something was fishy with the whole power set up. I thought I was the only one with two powers. It turns out I was wrong. I feel a deep longing to delve into this research. So, I do. I throw my all into researching powers before the next set of assassins are sent.


    Not all the power users here have unveiled their powers. I am using the ¡®show power or die¡¯ method I had thought of earlier. This time is a bit different. I figure that, since electric Greg actually reveals his powers under the same stress symptoms each time, the others might as well. So, I only use methods that I think will cause them to reveal their powers. About eighty die right after that. Still, 20 is better than the 0 I expected. By a wide margin too.


    I also have literally thousands of ¡®normal¡¯ humans I do experiments on. They are all in much smaller cells. As soon as one shows a power, they are moved to a bigger cell, and testing begin. The missing people made the media go wild.


    My robots have thousands of underground tunnels to use. They never get caught.


    Many of the ¡®normal¡¯ humans die under the tests. But some few remain living. They have developed powers to resist whatever test I am currently doing on them. One small group is the same group I abducted in the last loop.


    I do constant tests on Greg and the wind guy.


    Loop 79 Year 1 Day 187


    Paul (the wind guy) puts up an interesting fight today. He tries to cripple several robots, but only manages to dent some armor. The wind blades are useless, but his new power is actually effective at first. He can¡¯t tear through his restraints. He is stuck on his metal slab.


    He rips through four robots today.


    Greg (the asshole rapist bastard) tries to burn the robots that tied him down to the metal slab. He can¡¯t do anything to them. I understood his power almost right away. He can somehow manipulate electricity and heat. So, I just have the guard bots go in. They can stand being in fucking lava for a short time.


    Loop 79 Year 1 Day 188


    Paul is very angry. He destroys another three of my babies today. Of course, I examine the bodies of each one. With these, and the ones from yesterday, I have a better understanding of his powers. I send in the guard bots to his room after he kills those three.


    These bots have been specially modified for him though. He tries to break one. His face turns red in the attempt, but the robot is no worse for the wear. The robot slaps him once for good measure (my entertainment) and leaves.


    I knew it! The little bastards power is based on manipulating pressure! To see if my theory is correct I made the robots even more resistant to outside pressure before sending them in just now. Basically, I just added a few extra layers of their armor. One layer is tough, four layers is an impossible hurdle. They consume about ten times as much energy as the previous robots did. Thankfully I have the APG.


    Greg uses his power to try to break free whenever he is conscious. I have AI keep me updated about him. She reports in whenever he is doing something. Of course, since I can understand sound at many times faster than normal people, I can understand many sounds at once. So even if I am talking to her, I can question the prisoners at the same time.


    This entire time I have been doing research on powers, I have obviously done research on my own powers. If I let a perfect Guinea pig like myself go, how could AI respect me as a scientist or lover?


    My memory seems to be getting better. I can watch videos at about 35 times speed, and listen to sounds at about 25 times speed. Watching a weeks¡¯ worth of footage takes me less than five hours if it is silent.


    I can watch 100 video cameras at once. So no improvement there. Still with the speed increase my thinking speed has sped up as well. I can even make time seem as if it has slowed down for a brief period of time. Of course, my body isn¡¯t able to actually keep up with that speed, but my ¡®reflexes¡¯ which are just actually reaction times are great.


    I can understand AI when I am like this at least. At one point, I tried to move as fast as my ¡®time dilation¡¯ but that was a horrible experience. My arm completely popped out of its socket. I had to receive emergency medical treatment right away.


    Loop 79 Year 1 Day 365


    The bombs drop today. The prisoners have all but given up on escape. The twenty-people left are basically so beaten down they just accept their miserable lives.


    I have them preform constant tests to determine if they have second powers or not. I feel like there must be a reason why I have met two others with multiple powers.


    The ¡®normal¡¯ people are all dead. I do have one interesting result from that though. One of the people actually turned into an ¡®irregular¡¯ while I was doing a ¡®show power or die¡¯ test on it. Now I haven¡¯t brought them up much before, but that is because I have specifically stayed away from them. I didn¡¯t want them to contaminate my vault.


    The oddest thing is that I made sure to detoxify everyone before locking them in their cells. No one could have possibly had the disease! Instead of just moaning about it though, I had the thirst for research bite me again.


    I put the irregular in a room with about thirty normal humans. The irregular quickly devoured chunks out of each of them. They all became the angry old people so often seen on the news. Since they were sealed I didn¡¯t really care. The air in the vents are constantly purified. No living organism can make it through. Not even bacteria or germs.


    The infected people quickly became irregulars. I am going to see how long they can live.

 Loop 79 Year 2 Day 31 - Loop 79 Year 10 Day 204

    Remember when I told you guys about how I get great ideas after the abyss sometimes? Well this is one of those times. Also I¡¯ve been busy building my vault for this loop. You guys can¡¯t really blame me for not posting about the past when I¡¯m worried about the future.


    Loop 79 Year 2 Day 31


    I don¡¯t give any food to the irregulars. They don¡¯t die even after a month. I even put the entire experimental process on hold for this. They are seem to get nutrients from somewhere I am incapable of viewing. When locked in the faraday cage coated in APG they die out within days.


    The disease doesn¡¯t spread. I stopped using the purification, but no one gets the disease. Eventually I decide to see how the power users fair. I decide to test these guys out in a few years.


    For the time being I go back to considering the power users. I am trying to see if anyone else has multiple powers.


    Loop 79 Year 4 Day 2


    I¡¯ve done it! I figured out the key! It is all thanks to AI coming up with so many random tests to do. I love her so much.


    She had the idea to use the super electron-microscope to watch Greg use his electricity power, as well as his fire ability.


    What is weird is, he doesn¡¯t technically have either of those powers! Even with my perfect memory I have to look three times to believe the data. He manipulates electrons! That is why his room worked so well against him. Electricity is just negative ions gathered closely together.


    The heat is the electrons forcefully pulling the atoms at a faster rate. That obviously causes much friction, and ¡­ BOOM fire! So his power is just one power after all.


    After reconfiguring the many tests, I have planned for Paul, I do a new one. It tests the general pressure in a room. His power isn¡¯t ¡®wind blades¡¯ or whatever else I thought it was. It is the ability to manipulate the pressure of the atmosphere.


    After I tell each of the people their respective powers, they instantly gain more control over them. The level each of them are capable of now is many times higher than before they knew what their powers were.


    I use both to do various tests on the robots. For some reason I get the nagging feeling to use Greg¡¯s ability to advance the APG.


    Paul is used to test the amount of pressure the bots can take. His power lets me enhance the armor many folds. None of this is voluntary, but they continue to live due to my benevolence. They have no choice but to obey.


    Loop 79 Year 10 Day 204


    Today we are attacked by more power users. I have the robots ready for action though. Through the countless amount of testing I put them through, the power users under my control are very helpful.


    The robots have an insane number of features at this point. With my earlier discovery of people possessing two powers, and the fact that I found out that Greg¡¯s powers were really just one power, I have been doing specific tests non-stop for the last 6 years.


    Most of the people seem to have exactly two powers. Each of the powers are related at the ¡®base¡¯. For instance, the fire/electric powers of Greg.


    I have a few extra humans I¡¯ve captured as well. The irregulars haven¡¯t died yet. The normal humans, unless killed by the irregulars, don¡¯t turn. I let one power user get attacked by the irregulars. She doesn¡¯t get the disease.


    I have a bit of info gathered about the disease at this point. It can effect power users, but only if the person almost dies. Then they will transform. I thought power users were all immune to the disease, but it looks like I was wrong.


    Occasionally people develop powers when attacked. It seems like general ¡®stress¡¯ from being in a kill or be killed environment causes people to obtain powers as well.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Throughout the years I have done countless experiments on the people with powers. There are only a handful left alive at this point. It turns out, that if I almost kill them, but leave them barely alive, they will eventually turn into the irregulars.


    It is quite a find. That one detail throws my entire hypothesis about the disease out the window. It means I¡¯m going to have to do a lot more research to figure this thing out.


    I have turrets set up every few yards. My antenna arrays, placed at 100 yard intervals, have mounted lasers. The flybots are each equipped with a few gallons of APG, as well as one molecule set for an atomic explosion.


    As soon as I am attacked, that¡¯s when my fun starts. Through the video camera feeds, I watch as a dozen power users are easily destroyed.


    That other guy really likes to send ¡®em out, huh? Oh well. I am amply prepared generally.


    The bots begin to fly off into space, one at a time. The flybots take action as soon as the first bot flies into the sky. Right at that instant over a hundred flybots swarm across the sky. Using just the live camera feeds that directly go to a T.V. I can see it all happening.


    The flybots drop their APG loads simultaneously. Hundreds of gallons of APG are released unto the rest of the power users at the same time. It¡¯s the nasty stuff. One touch will ruin you for life.


    The gravity bitch simply waves his hand, and the APG begins to go the other way. Instead of falling down, it began to shoot into the sky. I frowned as I watched.


    It¡¯s ok though. Just you wait gravity guy.


    The hacker guy is already dead. He died as soon as the bots came in the first wave. At least with him out of the way I can safely have AI study the environment, and the effects on the power users.


    The laser towers don¡¯t do much damage. They pick off a few of the remaining power users, but not enough to make a difference. There are about thirty left.


    I don¡¯t know if there is always this much sent over, or if this is just a one-time occurrence. There are a lot of them either way.


    As soon as they reach the 100 feet mark, the ground begins to boil. Having studied Greg¡¯s power the most, I was able to replicate it. He sends electrical signals into atoms to force them to bend to his will. With a 100 Giga watt Tesla coil, I can do something very similar.


    That¡¯s a lot of power though. It¡¯s worth it in my opinion. And really, my opinion is the only one that matters.


    The Tesla Coils are all far underground. There is several hundreds of yards of empty space between the coils and the surface. The coils are calibrated to perfectly excite one section of the earth¡¯s crust.


    As soon as one goes off, a ten-yard radius gets effected. What¡¯s the effect you ask? Good question.


    The coils turn the ground it is aimed at into ¡­ lava! It¡¯s a mother fucking lava shooter! How cool is that!?


    The rest of the group instantly dies. As soon as the ground they are standing at turns to lava, they begin to burn and fall. When they get through the ten feet of lava, they are stopped by a huge metal plating. Of course, the metal plating is just as hot as the lava.


    There are only three people that make it out. One is the gravity guy, one is a girl, the other is someone I haven¡¯t seen before. He is a Chinese man. He is wearing typical robes one might find on an emperor. At first, I think that he is a bit silly, but then I realize I just slaughtered about a hundred power users. I guess everyone has their quirks.


    The gravity guy jumps over the lava holding one person in each hand, and lands near my base. He extends his right hand, and begins to use his power. I have AI collect as much data on him as she can.


    After a moment, I feel the base being lifted. I smile.


    Because of the last few times I¡¯ve been thrown into space, I¡¯ve made a few upgrades to the base. The entire metal casing of the base extends for miles in each direction. If I get thrown off into space, then the sheer massive size of the base would take the gravity guy with me.


    Unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t seem to care. He continues to use his power. In less than a minute he throws the entire complex, larger than ten football fields, into space.


    At least I¡¯m taking you shits with me.


    Just as I think that, I notice a small blur on my screens. The next moment I get live feeds showing me the three are perfectly safe! Not only are they safe, they are ten feet away from the edge of my base!


    Now I¡¯m not saying this makes me angry, but I¡¯m going to murder all three of their families in the next loop.


    After memorizing their faces, I activate ¡®plan B¡¯. All the hundreds of flybots are given one final order as I blast off into space. They instantly begin to plummet into the ground from all different directions. The gravity guy tries to stop them, but there are too many.


    Sixty of the flybots make it to the ground. As soon as their outer shell touches the ground, the activate the ¡®unstable APG¡¯ specifically designed to set off nuclear explosions.


    Sixty nuclear explosions happen in an instant. The look of disbelief on the three faces was hilarious. Poor guys. I have an interesting plan for the next loop. For now I am content with the amount of research I did this loop. As soon as I am sure the people are dead, I kill myself as well. Floating in space is boring. Most of the power users I have here are dead anyway.


    Loop 79 Abyss


    I hear the voices more clearly each time I come to the abyss. It is beginning to sound like they are actually speaking English. I still can¡¯t tell what they are saying though. I feel a dull ache in my heart. It is like I have a long-lost friend that I know I can never see again.


    It¡¯s depressing as hell. I don¡¯t know where I¡¯m getting this feeling from.

 Loop 80 Year 1 Day 200 - Loop 80 Year 100 Day 1

    Caelus again. Been a while huh? I had a bit of a problem actually. One of the reasons I am starting this book like this, which you will find out later, is starting to catch up to me. It¡¯s getting harder and harder to suppress. Guess I¡¯ll go through this as quickly as possible.


    Loop 80 Year 1 Day 200


    I am just putting the finishing touches on one of my most devious plans yet. After winning the lotto, and bribing some government officials, I¡¯ve gained a lot of backdoor knowledge on almost all the American government.


    Of course, this knowledge will carry over to future loops so I don¡¯t need to bother with buying it in the future.


    With the rest of my money, not much at this point, I build what I can. The base is still huge, but that is because of the digger bots. Just one bot to make others is all I need to build.


    I also have several thousands of tons of materials mined by now. I mean with the knowledge of every pocket of rare stone, precious metal, and every collection of mineral, I basically don¡¯t need any more money than takes to build the first robot.


    Still a lot though. I put a lot of effort into improving the robot building robot.


    After buying all the information from the various government officials, I use it to get the info on the rest. You¡¯d be surprised at what dirty secrets they know about each other. Even those on opposing parties keep that stuff secret, else their own secrets would be exposed.


    I basically threaten to expose every single secret. The only way out is for the U.S. to launch my satellites. By researching for a day, with my android lover¡¯s hacking abilities, I am able to create satellites that far outstrip anything that the earth is currently able to make.


    It would take 750 WorldView3 satellites to cover the earth at one time. It only takes my satellites, each the size of a small car, a total of 50. That¡¯s a significant difference.


    90% of the satellites are just APG storage, to keep them going for thousands of years. Each one has 100 nanites as well. With the location of several graphite, diamond, and uranium mines, I am able to create tens of thousands of nanites before depleting all of the resources.


    Seeing all of them working on one project is nothing short of amazing. It seems to just grow out of the ground. Obviously, they, under AI¡¯s control, built my satellites. They are used to make all my especially secretive devices.


    With my satellites in the air I have 24/7 coverage over the ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET!!!


    Let¡¯s see that gravity fucker mess with me now! I don¡¯t bother taking in power users this time. I only take in a few people. Mostly I am going to be working on figuring out a way to brainwash people. I am certain that is what happened to the teleporter girl and the poison guy.


    So, I need a way to figure out how to brainwash people myself. Why wouldn¡¯t I do it? If someone¡¯s power is so great they can mess with me, a time Looper, then there is a problem. Even if the other person is a Looper as well.


    Loop 80 Year 1 Day 314


    It took a while, but I finally have matches. What I mean is that I have located, and am tracking the movements of: the gravity guy, the teleporter girl, the poison guy, and the hacker guy. It took a bit of time, over a hundred days, but that is because AI had to process every single face of every living thing viewable.


    With her facial recognition software, she can track them always. The zoom on the satellites is so great, if I wanted to I could look at the sweat drops of an athlete. That is mostly using the energy in the APG to upgrade the level the lenses can magnify.


    It almost seems as if APG is the answer to all my questions. I am going to focus a lot on that in some of my future loops. It seems as if there is almost no limit to the power of the APG. All Hail APG!


    Loop 80 Year 6 Day 67


    The high priority targets haven¡¯t come in major contact with each other. At one time, the teleporter girl bumped into the gravity guy, but that didn¡¯t lead to anything. Then I thought to myself what if the other Looper starts before me?


    I had to stop that line of thought. If the other Looper could use mind control, AND looped before me, there was nothing I¡¯d be able to do.


    So, I continue as if I at least looped at the same time. If nothing else I still have my motivation to win.


    Loop 80 Year 2 Day 145


    Still nothing on the meeting of the people.


    Loop 80 Year 3


    Nothing.


    Year 4,5,6


    Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The brain washing experiments aren¡¯t really going anywhere. It seems like I might need to start with a younger more susceptible audience. The adults I picked seem to slowly go insane instead of becoming my mind slaves.


    Loop 80 Year 7 Day 45


    I am honestly about to give up on this idea. The people don¡¯t seem to know each other at all, they don¡¯t even have any friends in common.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Two of the people, the hacker and poison guy, live in China. The teleport girl and gravity guy live in America. There is basically no way for them to meet each other. The gravity guy went into an underground shelter before the bombs dropped. He came out a few days later.


    The teleport girl was just lucky. She didn¡¯t get hit, instead she used her power for the ¡®first¡¯ time. She could only teleport about a mile away, so was still in view of the same satellite. I also have a special program installed in AI just for tracking this girl.


    During the summer of the second year I had some of my specialized nanites enter her body while she slept. She teleports with her clothes, and everything inside her body. That is something I am happy about. Not the clothes, but the inside of her body.


    That nanite obviously has GPS on it. Since my satellites cover EVERYTHING, I always know where she is.


    She is a host to about a hundred nanites, each only the thickness of a hair follicle. When she meets someone on my hit list, one nanite will enter the other person. If I can find out how the group works, and who they each depend on, I will be able to manipulate the entire scene.


    Loop 80 Year 8 Day 50


    Teleport girl arrives in China today. I guess I should have seen it coming. As soon as she does, I have AI pay special attention to everything she does. She has been steadily teleporting closer to China every day. She has been in an arctic winter for a while.


    She just so happens to land in a refugee camp. There are a lot of them. Even 7 years after the bombs drop, China is still taking care of its people.


    When she does a young boy approaches her. The past few years I have gained a bit of useful info on the people I had AI watch. For instance, teleport girl is partial to children. And can only teleport a certain amount of distance each day. Taking others reduces that amount. Gravity guy seems to be chill usually, poison guy hasn¡¯t manifested powers, and chad (the first guy to kill me in cold blood) has a harem (which I killed off).


    She pats the boy on his head. He can¡¯t be more than ten or so. The moment she does she goes rigid. A spark of light jumps from the boy to teleport girl. Suddenly she teleports away. First, she teleports to very close to where the gravity guy is. After grabbing him she teleports back to the boy.


    The boy again sends a bright spark into the gravity guy. Instantly he goes rigid. While this happens, the girl teleports off again.


    She continues to teleport and drop off many people. She does this for eight hours a day, seven days a week. Most of that time is spent tracking down the people she doesn¡¯t find right away.


    I have AI study the boy as teleport girl is doing her thing. We have the past eight months of all recorded data of china stored in one of the thousands of servers I made. The servers are so big they can hold the video of the entire planet for about half a year. With only taking China, America, and a few key individuals, it can store it for even longer.


    AI goes over the most important parts of the past eight months of data with me. She plays the videos in reverse and tracks the boy. Basically, I am 90% sure he is the main culprit in all of this. She takes notes on all of the things the boy did.


    The main thing of interest is that the boy didn¡¯t show any signs of powers until two months ago. At that time, he seemed to kind of twitch and instantly began using his powers. Before that he acted like a normal kid. After that he seemed to change completely.


    He used his powers on everyone near him, and they all began to change in personality. His power might just change his own personality, but what I notice next makes me sure he is my target.


    Loop 80 Year 8 Day 60


    He has brainwashed all the people under his control. He made them all hate me. I know this because pictures of me are plastered on their shooting range. They seem to take great delight in shooting me. I have never met that kid, aside from when he came over in the last loop.


    He shouldn¡¯t know me. Unless he is another Looper. That is the only explanation. So, to test my theory, i go about starting a bit of fun.


    Obviously, all of the people in his camp have at least one of my nanites in them. I will always know where all of them are.


    Today is the day he begins preparing his people to assumedly assault my base. Too bad for them. I am going to wait to see what they are going to do exactly, then make sure I win.


    Loop 80 Year 9 Day 146


    The entire group, thousands now, are all in American waters. The boats they had experienced a bit of trouble, but they handled it. Since ¡°Little Emperor¡± seems intent on killing me, I return the favor. As his ships are a day away from landing I have my flybots attack.


    The moment they begin their attack, I start watching the scene on my biggest monitor. I am sure it is going to be a fun battle. The brainwasher curses when he sees the flybots. As if he figured something out.


    It¡¯s great that the power of my satellites is so intense. Watching as the flybots are destroyed, then the nanites in his group¡¯s bodies explode is great. I mean, I only kill the top hundred or so, but he is the last to die.


    The expression on his face! It¡¯s great. This feeling could get addicting.


    Loop 80 Year 15 Day 1


    There is no attack. There hasn¡¯t been in this entire loop. It must have been the mind control guy. I need to figure out an easier way to deal with him in future loops. I could just kill him off before he gets his powers, but if he is a Looper wouldn¡¯t that unravel the fabric of time or something?


    I¡¯m going to setup up a fun little thing for him in the next loop.


    Loop 80 Year 23 Day 14


    I have some subjects that were born in my vault. Today they all turned 8. I just tell them they all share the same birthday. That way I can let myself forget about the individual birthdays. Each one is always with an android that looks and sounds identical to me.


    They are all being brainwashed to serve as my elite human forces of this loop. I don¡¯t know what powers they will get, but I am hoping that they will get powers.


    Loop 80 Year 40 Day 309


    Today my people are 25. Most of them have powers, but a few don¡¯t. I do minor tests once a week to see if they develop any. The results are not promising.


    The power users I have brainwashed are pretty good. I have them fight with the robots once every week or two. The different powers lead to many innovations in my robots. One of the boys, my second in command, even somehow has the power to manipulate APG.


    I don¡¯t know how he does it. I have been trying to figure that out for the past few years. His ¡®second power¡¯ doesn¡¯t seem to exist. If I can find out what it is I will be able to figure out the base of his power almost instantly.


    Loop 80 Year 80 Day 80


    I am old. Well my body. My mind has been old for a long time. Most of the ¡®first gens¡¯, what I¡¯ve taken to calling the group of people I first had birthed in my vault, are dead. I am already 103. My body is kept alive thanks to a series of tubes and machines.


    Only my mind is still active. At least I don¡¯t suffer from dementia.


    Loop 80 Year 100 Day 1


    I am 122. That is some kind of record for a post-apoc world. My body is mostly mechanical at this point. My brain and spine are left though. My research has a come out with a few interesting facts. I have basically perfected my brainwashing techniques. All I have to do is have one android per person, and start before they are one.


    If I meet both of those requirements, I am in. The other guy can do it to anyone in an instant.


    I also learn that APG blocks almost all powers. Not only that, children tend to inherit some form of both of their parents powers. It will usually be a combination of the two, or a mutation of one with a little of the other thrown in.


    I can only communicate through AI now. I am thinking of having her build an android body for me. It might not work out though. Trying to get into one would be difficult to say the least.


    I have also learned a bit about medicine. I occasionally have AI harvest an outsider. They are used to test my theories. Since I¡¯ve been gone a while, there is a settlement relatively close to me.


    I also have a rather substantial number of people in my vault, but I use them to test the effects of my brainwashing. It also helps that they all seem to get their powers. Usually the people in my vault all have powers by age ten.


    The others, well I¡¯m guessing I just can¡¯t figure out their powers.

 Loop 80 Year 200 Day 46 - Loop 81 Year 300 Day 1

    Loop 80 Year 200 Day 46


    I have figured out the science behind how children inherit powers. Each power has a certain value associated with it. The value is basically the level of strength the power has.


    That is the first thing to take into consideration when thinking of powers. The second is the amount of control each parents have over their own power.


    If we have two people, and one has the power to increase heat by 10 degrees, and the other has the power to decrease heat by 20, then most likely the child will be able to make things colder. Unless the parent that can heat things has been training their power longer.


    Then that balances the scales a bit more. Also, the more both parents train their powers, the more powerful the child will start as. After I learn this, I obviously increase the training regimens.


    I am in a robotic body now. I am 222 years old. I am only alive thanks to the APG. Combining it with some very extensive stem-cell research led me to some revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine. Basically, by combining one molecule of APG, and exactly 72 stem-cells, I can make a cure all potion. The potion stops my brain and spine from degrading any further.


    My thoughts are still slower than before. I have another few decades of this loop at best. Next loop I¡¯ll know exactly how to preserve myself though.


    Stem cells are just what embryos are made of. They have the ability to grow into anything the developing baby will need. Sure, I had to take off a few generations of reproduction, but they were all from the weakest of my test subjects.


    I haven¡¯t been attacked since I killed ¡®Little Emperor¡¯. Sometimes raiders try to get to my base, but they are quickly dealt with.


    I also have found nearly every major resource hidden in the depths of the planet. I used so many resources, that the world before the plague would think the world was over.


    My robots outnumber humans a thousand to one. They are all doing things I find interesting. For instance, I have them build a large sheltered settlement. As soon as they were done building the buildings, and planting enough food inside that it could grow without assistance for a few decades, they left.


    Not even a full year later a small band of people found it. They are all haughty now. They refuse to help anyone else, and shoot anything that gets too close. You¡¯d think they¡¯d be a bit nicer since they just found the place.


    Loop 80 Year 203 Day 275


    I am dying. One of the test subjects goes berserk and attacks me. The body I am in can handle it, but the attack ignites the APG. The subject is a direct descendent of my second in command from a hundred years ago.


    I make sure every generation has at least one person that can manipulate the APG. I still haven¡¯t figured out how they manage it though. They can¡¯t manipulate the radioactive uranium, nor the liquid that I fuse to it. They can only manipulate the resulting mixture.


    Loop 81 Year 1 Day 100


    I have the U.S. government under my complete control. They try to label me as a terrorist, but I tell them that I will reveal all of their secrets to every country unless they comply with my orders.


    On top of launching my satellites, I make the president himself give me a tour of the white house. Of course, I allow several of my nanites, which are equipped with cameras, roam the white house as I go through it.


    Every room in the white house now has several of my nanites watching it.


    I also have AI stalk every section of China. We know what the kid looks like, and where he¡¯ll be in a few years. With that I can just about be certain we can find him in a short amount of time.


    The servers I build, are used almost solely for keeping the videos of china. I build more than the last loop, and can keep records of China for up to four years. As soon as we find the little shit I¡¯ll be able to track him back several years.


    I build several secret missile launchers in Denton and the surrounding areas. I go about convincing Chelsea that I can see the future again. I¡¯ve decided to try having a relationship with her. Even if it doesn¡¯t work out, it¡¯ll just be one lost loop.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    AI is ok with it. She wants to observe how I have sex with other humans. I don¡¯t really mind. It¡¯s not like Chelsea will remember it anyway.


    I can¡¯t get Chelsea pregnant, but that¡¯s not surprising. I can¡¯t seem to get anyone pregnant.


    Loop 81 Year 1 Day 365


    The bombs drop, but the ones that are supposed to hit the entire Golden Triangle area, are destroyed. The Golden Triangle is the area between Denton, Dallas, and Fort Worth. The three cities form a triangle of sorts.


    Chelsea and her family are in my vault. They are in a separate area than my test subjects. I got the exact same ones, at the exact same times. They are literally identical in every way to the ones I took in the last loop.


    I programmed AI with exactly what happened in the last loop. I just want to see if they make the same kids. If they do it will answer some questions for me.


    Loop 81 Year 3 Day 304


    We find Little Emperor today. He is taking shelter in a base with his family. His father appears to be some sort of military leader. We trace him back, and find out everything about him up until I deployed the satellites.


    With this information, I will be able to better equip myself against him. That¡¯s assuming he is the real mastermind behind the attacks on me. If he is a Looper than I¡¯ll know in the next loop. The real Looper might go into hiding after what I do to the kid.


    Loop 81 Year 5 Day 3


    I kill the kid by making a nanite explode in his heart. Poor bastard. Thinking back on all of the pain he caused me though, made me smile. I have some interesting things planned after loop 83.


    Loop 81 Year 23 Day 14


    They are the exact same kids! I treated them the same up until this point, and had AI do everything identically to what happened before. Chelsea and her lot think I¡¯m dead since I sealed off their part of the vault from my part.


    The fact that they are the same kids might explain some things about my own child problem. I need more tests on this.


    For now, I just do more experiments on the kids that can manipulate APG.


    Loop 81 Year 56 Day 147


    I keep the gene pool for the APG manipulators as clean as possible, but some inbreeding is necessary. Especially when two cousins exhibit exceptional amount of control. None of the APG manipulators really manipulate it in the same way.


    Some can create the APG from the base compounds. Some can move the APG like telepathy. Some can even temporarily turn their own bodies into APG. I don¡¯t know how it works, but it does.


    They all have one thing in common though. The rooms to stop their powers don¡¯t work. I have to keep them drugged up, and occasionally shock them with high voltages to keep them under control.


    Obviously, I wasn¡¯t attacked in this loop.


    Loop 81 Year 81 Day 81


    I have enough data on the people that can manipulate APG. Instead I have been working on something new. Something far more interesting.


    I have been studying sperm cells, and egg cells. Normally the two don¡¯t show any signs of what might be a future power. But today is the day I find something different.


    Today I look for radiation in the cells. Specifically, I irradiated all of them, and see which ones don¡¯t show signs of radiation. Almost all of them die, but a few manage to live.


    The ones that live give off a vibe of being very like the APG. I take the surviving eggs and sperm, and combine them.


    Loop 81 Year 86 Day 1


    It was just as I thought. After 5 years of intense testing, I have finally found it. The children born of the experiment five years ago actually all have the ability to manipulate APG.


    Sometimes the children of APG users don¡¯t manipulate APG, sometimes they don¡¯t have any powers at all. This time 100% of all children show signs of APG control before their fourth birthday. I¡¯m on to something.


    Chelsea¡¯s lot died off a while ago. There was some sort of in-fighting and my automated defenses killed the entire group. At least Chelsea was already dead.


    I am now determined to find out how powers are kept in the sperm and egg cells. Is there a way to test for time powers?


    Loop 81 Year 123 Day 365


    I found a way to test for several different powers, with an accuracy rating of 99%. The last 1% is because of inadequate equipment used to detect certain power strains.


    I can find basically any power that has a tangible result. Living through being electrocuted means the subject will have a high chance of having an ability to manipulate electricity, or being immune to it. Living through fire means the subject has a high chance of manipulating fire, or being immune to it.


    If two similar types of subjects are combined, and egg cell and sperm cell that both are immune to fire, the resulting subject has a 100% chance to be immune to fire.


    I can¡¯t test for mind control, or time powers. I can test for teleportation, but I only have one sperm cell that has that power. No eggs have shown the capability yet.


    Loop 81 Year 300 Day 1


    I¡¯ve been alive for a while now. The subjects are completely bent to my will. I have perfected the art of mind control. I have made machines that can determine the power of a sperm that has any tangible power.


    It can even separate the ones that don¡¯t have a tangible power. This is all without doing any experimenting on them. And what do you know? It uses APG as a lens. Something is really up with APG.


    I am in my android body. I now have a way to make APG directly convert into absorbable energy that I can use. It was thanks to one of the APG users. That I found out how.


    I have been working on changing the ability of a sperm or egg for the past 50 years, but haven¡¯t had any real luck with it. I can modify the power a bit, but not change it completely. Even modifying it is a huge hassle. It takes an entire gallon of APG to fuel the process.


    Even though I saved a chunk of Texas, it went to shit. The people began killing each other, looting, and just being all round dickbags.


    I decided to end it for myself. 322 years old is the oldest I¡¯ve been so far. I¡¯m going to try to make it so my body can last a bit longer in the next loop. A hundred years until death? That¡¯s starting to get a bit repetitive.

 Loop 81 Abyss - Loop 82 Year 10 Day 2

    Hey guys! Caelus is back! You know those voices? The ones I sometimes hear in the black space? Want to know more about them? NO!? Too bad!


    Loop 81 Abyss


    The voices are louder now. I can clearly hear them. They speak. They don¡¯t speak to me though. They speak about me. Or through me. There are too many voices to make out. There are thousands, millions. I can¡¯t count, even with my perfect memory, there is no way to distinguish them.


    I pick up on something though. One of the voices seem louder than the rest. It grows more and more overbearing. It soon completely overpowers the other voices.


    It is repeating the same few sentences repeatedly. I don¡¯t understand them, though they are in plain English.


    It¡¯s like I have a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, but with sounds instead of images. Like that guy from fight club. It feels the same for me. I am trying to make out the voice, but it is so indistinct. It feels as if my mind wishes to avoid it.


    What are the voices? Why do they only appear in this abyss? Why can¡¯t I communicate with them? They seem to know of my existence, but refuse to speak to me. Why?


    The answers, as always, elude me.


    I can make out one phrase from the voice though. It is blurred, somewhat muted, and mostly indistinct, but I can hear it.


    ¡®Atomic Propulsion Gel¡¯.


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 1


    What does it mean? Are the voices able to read my mind? See my memories? Why did I understand that phrase? I had never understood anything else.


    Is it because of the amount of time I spent studying APG in the last loop? Do I get more information the longer I live in a loop?


    No, that last one isn¡¯t right. Until recently the voices didn¡¯t always appear. So, it shouldn¡¯t have to do with the length of time within each loop.


    Maybe it¡¯s the number of loops? It has gotten more frequent recently.


    I decide to drop it for now. The only way to test my theories is to die. I have a few other experiments going on right now. If I kill myself too early, my entire plan will fall through.


    I decide to win the lottery again. That initial boost is all I need. Every single mineral deposit, every precious ore, even locations of gems, I know it all. There is basically nothing I can¡¯t get to in a few years of work.


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 45


    I already have a full set of satellites up and running. Only 45 days in. Heh, it¡¯s great. I didn¡¯t just use the US this time. I have several high tech schematics in my mind. Just by selling off a few, I am easily able to get many people to send up my satellites.


    My satellites are a bit upgraded though. They are now equipped with a tech I traded Russia for. An ¡®Atmospheric Ionization Ray¡¯. It excites the electrons in the air, and creates waves of ionized atoms. The atoms are so positively charged, they suck away the electrons of other atoms.


    Like the opposite of what happens in an atomic explosion. It creates a form of EMP that gets sustained over a wide area. It doesn¡¯t even leave any radiation, just kills off all electronics.


    That made me think. Why hadn¡¯t I ever really investigated the anti-matter bombs? I¡¯m going to fix that. I still have most of the year before they drop.


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 200


    I still have 165 days before the bombs drop. I¡¯ve been working on the anti-matter problem for a while now.


    Using the ion ray as a base, I find out some basic info for the anti-matter bombs. The closest thing I can make works using both atomic explosions, and ionic explosions. It basically tears the atom apart, and renders it into pure energy.


    At least, that is what it is supposed to do.


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 240


    I finally make a prototype today. Most of the money I made from the lottery went to building robots, and making my usual things. The new satellites took up a lot of resources. Even with my knowledge of all of the locations of deposits in the earth, I still need to pump tons of money into the project.


    I can¡¯t reach the diamond and other materials right away, so I need to buy some that others already have. It costs a lot to jumpstart the project.


    The prototype I made is a simple cannon. It can shoot out a small bomb. The bomb, according to the simulations, should delete all matter within several feet. I have the whole thing set up in a remote area in Nevada.


    I bought it with some of the funds I got from playing the stock market. It¡¯s scary how identical the stock market is every loop.


    I test the cannon out.


    The small sphere flies out of it. As soon as the bomb impacts with the sand, it goes off. Everything within ten yards is instantly gone.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The explosion was only supposed to extend for a few feet! What¡¯s all this!?


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 265


    With help from AI, I finally figure out the deal with the anti-matter. The energy itself acts as a sort of propulsion and continues the process of decomposition far beyond what it is supposed to do. So technically it¡¯s not anti-matter, it¡¯s just matter negation.


    It still works the same way as the bombs that will fall in a hundred days.


    The bomb explodes in a bright light. After the explosion is over, there is a crater in the shape of a sphere left. If this really is the way the bombs work, a simple Ion ray into the atmosphere would destabilize the ignition and stop the bomb from working.


    Loop 82 Year 1 Day 365


    The bombs drop today. Now here is something I didn¡¯t think of looking for in the last loops. I watch the entire planet, and have AI reverse track the bombs after they register.


    Of course, I am still having the Atmospheric Ionization Ray, codenamed AIR, shoot to disarm the bombs.


    AI shows me the bombs. The result of the tracing is nothing short of disturbing.


    The bombs are dropping, and going to explode any second now. I am so far underground it won¡¯t matter though. I can¡¯t feel anything.


    The bombs all come from an area in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off the coast of North America. When AI zooms in to the exact coordinates, that is when the disturbing part kicks in.


    Above a small island, the island of Bermuda, thousands of bombs appear. They don¡¯t come out of the ground, they aren¡¯t shot out of missile launchers, they simply appear. By going over the video of that area before the bombs appear, I discover something horrible.


    There is a completely void looking hole above the island. The void seems to be spewing something. AI can¡¯t tell what. Whatever it is spewing is completely invisible.


    The only reason we even know it is spewing anything is the distortion around it. It seems to be slowly pushing the air and water around it, only in 360 degrees though. In other words only horizontally. It doesn¡¯t spew up or down at all.


    We go over all the videos from that spot. It wasn¡¯t noticeable before, but it has been there at least since I put the satellites up. It has been slowly spewing stuff since then. This is disturbing.


    I look at the world outside of the void area. The bombs have all been nullified successfully. That¡¯s great. The AIR only lasts for a few minutes before it dissipates.


    Four hours after I foil the bomb drops: Another volley of bombs come.


    In fact, every four hours after I foil the bombs another round comes. The cities are getting beaten just by the hunks of metal hitting them.


    I decide to let the 12<sup>th</sup> volley of bombs do their job.


    Loop 82 Year 2 Day 16


    The bombs destroyed everything. I got something good out of it though. I am on my way to the Bermuda. I am flying in a self-made plane. Well my robots did the work.


    It¡¯s piloted by AI. It is only a matter of a few hours to get to the island.


    When we get there, I put down my condenser machine.


    The condenser machine is what allows me to make APG. Remember? Back in Loop 8 Year 4 Day 229, I was able to create a thick liquid. The liquid moved very slowly, and was extremely heat resistant. When combined with radioactive Uranium, it is able to create APG.


    The condenser machine simply takes all moisture out of the air, and condenses it into liquid form. It then separates the liquids based atomic structure. The HRL (Heat-resistant liquid) is one of those liquids.


    I am hoping that whatever the hole is spewing out, can be harvested by my machine. Then I can have a liquid form of it. With that I¡¯d be able to intently study it.


    We arrive very quickly. As soon as I turn on the condenser, it begins making a huge amount of liquids. Mostly water, but also some of one other liquid. I am going to study the second liquid when I get back to the base.


    Loop 82 Year 2 Day 17


    I put the liquid through my diagnostics machine.


    I get the results in only a few minutes. When I see them, I can¡¯t believe it.


    HRL!? The heat resistant liquid? What? How? The liquid I refined from the void is an extremely pure version of HRL. None of the molecules in it are connected to anything but HRL atoms. What is this?


    It must have something to do with the reason I never could recall how I got the idea for APG. I don¡¯t even know why I made the condenser in the first place. In fact, why did I think it was a good idea to take it to the void? That makes no sense.


    I didn¡¯t think it was gaseous, so why would I think it could be turned into a liquid?


    Loop 82 Year 3 Day 1


    I have millions of samples, and thousands of experiments going on right now. It is all based on the HRL I got from the void. It only takes one molecule of that ¡®pure HRL¡¯ to unlock the power of the APG.


    When it meets the uranium, it will fuse with it. The resulting APG is somehow even more powerful.


    I have been siphoning off energy from the first ¡®Purified AGP¡¯ particle for almost a year now. It seems to have a never-ending supply. One molecule of it powers my entire base. It isn¡¯t possible, but there it is.


    The void is still there. I occasionally get samples from it. I¡¯ve noticed something about it. When I stay there for extended periods I start to feel euphoric. The result is very similar to drug abuse.


    I want to be there always. I¡¯ve become addicted. I seal myself in a room, and don¡¯t let myself out. I do plan on having my death be there. I want to see how long I can endure it without being completely consumed by it.


    Loop 82 Year 8 Day 1


    I have basically done nothing but experiment on the void, and liquid I get out of it. Five years of intense studying, and I am no closer to understanding it now then I was before.


    Today the Chinese brat gets his power. It¡¯s funny that I get a full seven years on him. Poor bastard has no chance of winning. My nanites are already inside him, and everyone he loves.


    As soon as he gets his powers he starts cussing. I am listening in on him. Even though the start of the loop was slightly different, he followed almost an identical path as last time.


    I have listening devices set up all around his camp. I want to see how he reacts to the fact that I killed him in the last loop.


    He doesn¡¯t. He curses me for killing him on his boat. Seems like even though his past loop changed, he doesn¡¯t know it.


    This gives me a good idea about why I can¡¯t have a kid. What if¡­ What if my kid has a Looper type ability? Maybe that¡¯s why I can¡¯t have any. It has to be that Looper kid. Even though I haven¡¯t had a kid before, the future is already set.


    Maybe not, that doesn¡¯t make much sense.


    Loop 82 Year 10 Day 1


    Little Emperor has gathered up a small army to assault me. He is going by land this time. Not like that matters. I have been playing an enjoyable game.


    Starting with the people he sort of cares about, and going to the ones closest to him, I¡¯ve been killing them off one per day. It¡¯s all very amusing.


    He cried himself to sleep last night. Well I killed his mother, so it makes sense. He knows he is next. I¡¯ve been sending my flying drones to announce how many days he has left. Today said 0.


    I wait until midnight. At that point, I activate the nanites in everyone in his army. Starting from those furthest away from here. They are already demoralized, from the hundred or so people I¡¯ve killed. They go crazy when they see their imminent death approach.


    I only give Little Emperor a few seconds to enjoy the show, then I kill him as well.


    Loop 82 Year 10 Day 2


    Some of my experiments are showing promise by now. Using the enhanced APG to coat rooms, makes it impossible for any power users to use their powers. Except those that manipulate APG.


    I¡¯ve also started to consider cloning. I¡¯ll have to wait until the next loop the grab the info the world had, but I can do a bit on my own. I want to see if there is any difference between those that have APG powers, and their clones that don¡¯t.


    Maybe I can see how that ties to the void area. That¡¯s my next task.

 Loop 82 Year 21 Day 18 - Loop 83 Year 8 Day 1

    Loop 82 Year 21 Day 18


    I¡¯ve successfully completed a cloning factory. The results are ¡­ not what I expected.


    When I clone one person that has a power, all of their clones have very similar powers. None have the exact same power though.


    Even the ones I clone at the very end of the embryo development have slightly different powers. The sooner they are separated from the original embryo, the more their powers differ.


    I thought that they would have identical powers, but I guess not.


    The experiments on them have been very successful. The first batch just turned six today. I am currently sending them into the Bermuda Void.


    They all have APG manipulation. I¡¯ve been holding back on sending someone else for these past 11 years.


    I wanted to send in test subjects I had specifically created, and that are perfectly controlled. I did mention that I¡¯d need to go back in my loop in order to get cloning info, right?


    Well that isn¡¯t completely true. I figured it out in about five years. These first few batches of clones are horribly disfigured. Most have extra arms or legs, or are missing some.


    My latest batches are doing exceedingly well though. I¡¯ve even taken on a mini-side-project. I¡¯m segregating different parts of the DNA to try to create super-soldiers. Just sifting through the sperm and embryos to find the power I want isn¡¯t good enough anymore.


    Now I want to figure out a way to create the ideal people. If it works out I might even release them to see how well they can survive in a wasteland.


    Hell, if that works, I might even be able to change the powers babies are born with. Even with identical sperm and embryo.


    Loop 82 Year 21 Day 19


    Today the clones make it to the void. Right away some of them die. Specifically they ones that could only sense the APG.


    They begin to scream when they are within a hundred or so feet. They are bound and gagged by the on-board bots. The kids are utterly loyal to me, but I don¡¯t want to have to remember the annoying sounds of screams when I think of my data from this moment.


    The rest of the clones at least manage to step off of the plane. They begin dying off as they near it. The ones that are left don¡¯t seem to have much constancy in powers. About half of them can directly manipulate APG, but the other half can¡¯t.


    After getting their report sheets from AI, I quickly discover the linking factor. Their power level is at 7 or higher. I have a rating system for power users. This is the first time it has actually ever come up as useful.


    On a scale of 1 to 9, 9 is the highest. At level nine they are practically a god within their sphere of influence, ie:


    Someone that can manipulate an ounce of APG would be a 2, but only because APG is so powerful. Someone that is level 9 could manipulate an virtually unlimited amount of APG at once. This has very little practical use outside of creating intentional power discrepancy to see the Nature vs. Nurture aspect of the final value of power users.


    The level 7s die out when they are about ten feet from the void, none of the APG manipulators die. Of course those that can directly manipulate APG are completely immune to it.


    Or¡­ Are they immune to HRL? This whole experiment throws many of my preconceptions into question.


    By the time they are within arm¡¯s reach only the level 9s are left, along with the APG manipulators.


    There are ten APG manipulators, and two level nine people with APG powers. One of the level 9s has the power to actually talk to the APG, as if it were a living organism. He only receives jumbled information though.


    I put him on this trip because I couldn¡¯t find a use for talking to APG, at least not when it only replies with nonsense. None of what it says is coherent. At least that is what the subject says. He is still alive though. So I guess he was telling the truth.


    Of course the experiments we did on him basically proved without a doubt he was the real deal.


    The other level nine was a girl that had the power to turn Uranium and HRL into APG herself. She was not immune to the effects of the APG though. She was immune to the radioactivity of Uranium, and to the HRL.


    In the next loop I¡¯m going to create her, or someone like her, and then send them to the void at power level 1. That will be an interesting experiment.


    She could be the missing link between APG users. If they were actually just a more powerful version of HRL users, I would have to recreate some certain experiments.


    Next comes the best part of my experiment.


    I have never actually directly touched the void. Something about it just made me stay away. I could control my fear, and forget it, but I wanted to test it on someone else first.


    The first to touch it are the APG users. I don¡¯t want to just waste the level nines if I can help it.


    Their hands inch closer to the void. Just as they touch it, the burst into that same invisible substance. The substance seems to suddenly latch on to everything around it.


    As soon as the formless substance latches on to one of the experiments, it consumes them. They explode and it continues. It begins to consume everything around it, forming an intangible black hole-like effect.


    Within a second I feel myself being dragged in exactly that direction. The effect gets stronger by the millisecond. In less than a second I am there, at the void, and touching it.


    Loop 82 Abyss


    Damn¡­ I didn¡¯t expect that to happen.


    Though I say that, I am pretty content with the results. So touching the void thing is a no-no.


    Suddenly I realize something. The blurry, indistinct voices, are speaking to me.


    No not to me. Through me? I don¡¯t know. But I can hear snippets.


    I make out several words. They are disturbing.


    They form a single thought. The voice seems excited, even happy, as if it had just discovered something utterly amazing.


    ¡°forget all loops¡­ end of the first era!¡±


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 1


    I am leaving my girlfriend, to allow a bit more freedom in my machinations. We will see how well I do on my own right off of the bat.


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 50


    Today I am starting to conquer the world. I want to see what will happen to the void if I control everything.


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 200


    I am basically in control over all of Central and South America, and parts of Europe and Asia. I can kill off anyone I want, or extend the life of anyone I want.


    Obviously for the former I use nanites. For the latter I use the longevity methods I created in my past loop.


    It is amazing how much I can improve things, like the longevity methods, by using a large amount of test subjects.


    Of course the test subjects are mostly owners of large corporations, or leaders of nations. They pay the best to be part of my experiments.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Enticing a new person is easy. All I have to do is show them a few of my energy supplements, and the skin toner, which actually reduces the wrinkles in a person¡¯s body.


    The combination of the two works wonders for getting money. I bribe or extort anyone I want to. Usually the leaders of the companies that have something I actually want.


    After only a few months, I create an improved way to create ¡®immortals¡¯. Instead of a large clunky machine, along with several types of longevity liquids being pumped constantly into the body.


    Now I can make a concoction that actually reduces the weight of blood cells, while maintaining their ability to carry oxygen. That obviously helps the heart work less intensely, which in turn makes facilitating the body much easier.


    It also increases the production of necessary amino acids, and cannibalizes dormant (useless) cells. The cannibalized cells are then used to fuel the creation of new, working, cells.  One of the biggest things it does, though, is that it increase bone density which helps with many things: Red blood cell creation, reinforces bones, increases muscle mass eventually etc.


    That bone density thing took quite a few dozen homeless people to test it on. I think it was worth it. They would have died anyway. For that matter, they will come back in the next loop.


    So I use them for my experiments. It¡¯s better than them going to waste.


    With the immortality potion up to that level, I was able to mass market it. Well I mass market it to the level of making sure to have enough to have the most powerful people all get some.


    I make sure that the potion only gives enough enhancement that the people that take it, must take it at least once a month. Each small vial (one dose) costs roughly a hundred thousand dollars, but gives about ten years of life.


    I obviously have a version that permanently enhances the body, but I don¡¯t distribute it to anyone else. That is for personal use.


    With my vast funds I begin implementing Operation: Downfall. I intend to see what killing off all life before the bombs drop does.


    With my massive amounts of nanites in place, and several hundreds of nuclear weapons at my finger tips, I¡¯m going to control this version of the Armageddon.


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 265


    There is a hundred days until the bombs drop. That¡¯s more than enough time.


    I basically used a combination of bribery and extortion to take chunks of Germany and Russia. With just those parts, I think it¡¯s time to start my plan.


    I have AI get into every single computer I can.


    Within an hour she has control over 90% of the world¡¯s nuclear arsenal.


    I smile when she gives me the conformation.


    I am sitting in my chair. In my room filled with wall-to-wall computers. As soon as she gives me ok, I give her the signal to launch. My computers are tuned to every major news channel. They are still going even though the world is about to end.


    I had let it known about a day before that I had control of the world¡¯s nukes. All I did was hack into every television and brag about it a bit.


    The world has been in horribly amusing these past hours, but it¡¯s time to own up to my promise.


    AI drops the bombs. The world is quickly blanketed in rains of all consuming fire.


    There are only two people safe.: me and little emperor. I made sure to have at least one nanite in every person on Earth. It cost a lot to produce that many. I¡¯m talking the amount of money it would take the entire world a week to make. But I had a massive influx of money with my immortality serum.


    Anyone with a working nanite after that was detonated. A single explosion of APG to the heart was enough to render anyone not immune to HRL or APG very, VERY dead.


    Anyone that was, well they still had a tiny bit of shrapnel burst through their bodies. It would take a while, but even that much damage will grow into a life threatening amount.


    With that, I begin my inspection of little emperor.


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 300


    LE is not very cooperative. I am doing all sorts of experiments on him. He¡¯s just a kid, but will soon get some amazing powers. I am going to try to change that.


    If I can somehow modify what his power will become, I might end his interference with my life. If he no longer is a Looper, her can¡¯t very well do anything to stop me, now can he?


    I begin injecting him with all sorts of chemicals. Non-lethal, but very painful.


    I also subject him to all manner of ghastly experiments, meant to test the power of his body and mind.


    Loop 83 Year 1 Day 365


    I don¡¯t know how, but the bombs still drop. There are only two people alive right now, at least that I could find using all of the world¡¯s resources.


    I ignore the bombs. That experiment is a failure. I¡¯m still on the one with Little Emperor though. That one is proving to be very interesting.


    Loop 83 Year 8 Day 1


    Today is the day Little Emperor is supposed to gain his abilities. I have long since broken his mind and body.


    Very early on I cut off all of his limbs, and forcefully connected him to a life machine. With the mentality of a child, he couldn¡¯t handle it.


    I occasionally take him outside, of course in a machine that keeps him alive.


    He can¡¯t even think for himself. I talk to him sometimes. When I do I see a small light in his eyes. Does he realize I¡¯m talking to him?


    I can¡¯t think of a way to tell without using telepathy. Which I don¡¯t have.


    One of the experiments I run on him include injecting him with stem cells. Cells that have not developed into a specific type, so can be used to mimic any type of cell.


    After some very thorough tests, I have created a cloned body of him. Using the information I got from the last loop proved invaluable. Of course I do have a bit of information I had AI gather from labs before I dropped the nukes.


    With all of that information, I was able to create a semblance of actual cloning. I took a random person, this Little Emperor, and made a perfect body clone. The bad news is that the clones I¡¯ve made of him have all been very much brain dead.


    That includes the clones taken from him before I broke him. I don¡¯t know how to fix that part.


    Anyway, I have all of the clones tied up as well. It¡¯d be interesting for him to come back into one of their bodies. I would find it unamusing if he used one of those bodies to kill me though. I wasn¡¯t going to let him take my research lab from me.


    It¡¯s the long awaited day. I have him perfectly monitored. I will know to the second when this little boy gets his power. Then I¡¯ll have some very polite questions to ask him.

 Loop 83 Year 8 Day 1 - Loop 83 Year 80 Day 300

    Hey guys. Sorry about the sporadic releases for this. I have my main story, and rl to deal with. I love this idea though, so I keep coming back to it.


    (Author Note* I may have already written Little Emperor¡¯s age, but I can¡¯t seem to find it. If I have please let me know.)


    Loop 83 Year 8 Day 1 (Continued)


    The main body of Little Emperor suddenly begins to shudder. The boy looks around frantically.


    As soon as my monitors let me know that Little Emperor is back, I rush over to that section of the lab. The automatic door opens as I arrive.


    LE is trying to break free of the restraints, but to no avail. They are made of such tough fibers that even my bots have trouble breaking them with force.


    ¡°Tsk tsk tsk. That¡¯s not how you act in someone else¡¯s house.¡± I make sure he can see me. ¡°I¡¯d have thought that you¡¯d be able to learn something as simple as that. You are a Looper after all. You have all the time in the world.¡±


    He stares at me, first in disbelief, then in anger. He tries to shout something, but the gag stops the sound.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? You want to feel pain? Ok. AI!¡±


    AI sends a large electrical shock into LE¡¯s body. It is almost enough to kill a boy his size, almost. He doesn¡¯t die, but man does it look painful.


    ¡°I guess that answers one question. AI note that subject has regained all cognitive abilities upon looping. Past causes cease to have the effect upon his mind. Also note that the body did not return to normal. Physical causes continue to have the effect upon his body.¡±


    I go through several hours¡¯ worth of experiments after LE loops. After everything is done, I have the bots unlock the piece where LE¡¯s mouth is. Having conversation with another human after all of this time sounds interesting.


    ¡°You bastard! What did you do!? How did you get me?¡±


    LE furiously demands answers.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. All that matters is that I¡¯m going to keep you here, and keep on getting you here in every loop. Unless you cooperate. I might think about letting you off if you provide me with enough information.¡±


    He stares angrily at me, but doesn¡¯t say anything. What can he say? I start the loop before him. I have enough time to completely eradicate him. He won¡¯t have another chance to actually do anything unless I allow it.


    ¡°First of all, I want to know how you have two different powers. You seem to be able to loop, and have mind control. Tell me how.¡±


    I sit down with a clipboard and pen, jotting down notes. I could do this all mentally, but it provides some amusement to seem like an actual doctor.


    ¡°I¡¯m never going to tell you! You¡¯ll just have to live with the knowled-¡°


    I signal AI to shock him again. I sigh as I exit the room. The shocking will be carefully monstered. The moment it becomes too much, AI lowers the level of power. When LE gets too comfortable, AI increases the power.


    Loop 83 Year 8 Day 2


    I walk back into the room. ¡°So how do you have two powers?¡±


    I ask during the only break from electro-shock that LE gets. He spits at me.


    I leave the room. ¡°AI continue.¡±


    Coincidentally it is Little Emperor¡¯s 8th birthday today.


    Loop 83 Year 8 Day 183


    It¡¯s been about half a year. I¡¯ve got to give it to LE at this point. Nothing I do will make him spill the beans. He has been acting lately like he wants to give it up, but something is stopping him. It seems like telling me this secret is akin to giving up his life.


    Well I would kill him forever after he told me. So it isn¡¯t exactly wrong to think that way.


    I¡¯m creative in the means of torturing him, but he seems to just hold on to that secret. Today I end his life. I have a new plan. I have many of his clones already, so I am going to use them.


    Loop 83 Year 14 Day 200


    With AI¡¯s help I now know just about everything there is to know about every part of LE¡¯s body. Every strand of hair, every muscle fiber, everything. AI is helping me come up with the best method of torture for LE.


    Since we have so many clones, we have been trying out the ideas on them. They don¡¯t give a verbal response, but their bodies clench in certain ways under certain pain stimuli.


    It¡¯s a wonder I¡¯ve never thought to do this before now. It turns out there is a limit to cloning. After a certain amount of time the embryo loses coherence when it is cloned. If I had known that I¡¯d have kept the original for longer. I don¡¯t have any more LE clones to work with.


    Since I¡¯m in a bit of a bad mood today, I send in the first six batches of embryos I bred to the portal.


    Loop 83 Year 14 Day 201


    The first batches vary in power level and powers. I have everyone stop at a distance that their bodies feel comfortable with. At each distance I have the ten experiments that show the most weakness prepare a base.


    The others get closer until one person can¡¯t stand it. Then the ten weakest make a base. Etc. etc.


    Like this I have several bases leading up to the portal. Each one is to perform a separate experiment. Although they all share one goal: to see if it is possible to become immune to the effects of the portal.


    The level nines, and APG manipulators have a base that is within ten or so feet of the portal. They are told not to get any closer that ten feet. I do have one clone in stasis that is less than two feet away though. I don¡¯t want anyone touching the portal. That would create problems I don¡¯t want to deal with at the moment.


    This experiment is going to take several months, so I look towards the seventh batch of clones. These clones are made with the idea of strengthening the natural human body. Much like with the power users, I weeded out the undesirable sperms and embryos.


    You might be asking how I have so much sperm from different people, and so many embryos if I eradicated all people on earth. The answer is simple. I use sperm stored from every sperm bank I could rob, and forcefully took out embryos of women.


    I cloned the embryos so that I¡¯d have a surplus. Once the first batch of people were old enough, I began harvesting the materials from them.


    With the large surplus of baby making supplies I had no worries about what I needed to do.


    I am going to try to fuse the bodies of the seventh batch to a molecular level. I want to see if I can make something with many minds work as one entity.


    Loop 83 Year 16 Day 201


    Today marks the second anniversary of the experiments with the first six batches of clones. The results thus far have been promising. Those that couldn¡¯t withstand being near the portal at first, now have a sort of immunity to it.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    This also comes with an added bonus. It seems that prolonged exposure to the portal acts as battery, supercharging any power user close to it. The closer one it, the more prominent the effect.


    All of the rank 1s have become rank 6 or higher. All of the rank 2s have become rank 8, without exception. It seems that is the limit of the increase for most people.


    Everyone below rank 8 became rank 8 after prolonged exposure. Even the previous rank 7s have been stuck as 8 for over a year now.


    The people already rank 8 have become rank 9. The power upgrade they got is quite something. Finally, the rank 9s.


    Normally rank 9 is already a god within that field. It seems that was a bit of an overstatement. Those that were rank 8 before, can¡¯t hope to compare to those that were already rank 9. I¡¯ve made a new category called: Cat 10. It is the new pinnacle. I named it Cat 10 instead of rank 10 to distinguish them.


    This time I had a special experiment going with three of the subjects. The subjects were cloned from the same sperm and embryo. The subjects lived exactly identical lives until the point where they had to be near the portal.


    One subject was put in less stressful situations before the portal though. His ability was only at rank 8. All three had a similar but different power.


    It seems like two of them have the power to turn air into APG. One has the power to turn the oxygen in the air to APG. One has the power to turn Hydrogen in the air into APG. One has the ability to turn water into APG.


    The one with water is the previously ranked 8.


    The two rank nines can produce so much APG it¡¯s unreal. I decided to test them to see who is more powerful. The hydrogen subject had been told to be slightly closer to the portal at all times. The other was a bit further.


    I brought them into a specially constructed base. It had equal parts hydrogen and oxygen. They were given a breathing apparatus to allow them to stay alive.


    The hydrogen user can produce APG about twice as fast. Each of the two already had control over APG as well, but the hydrogen user could manipulate the APG in a wider area, and for a longer time. Just by being able to create and manipulate any APG in a fifty-foot radius put them on the rank 9 scale.


    The radius of the oxygen user was a few hundred feet now. The hydrogen user could go for miles. Literally for miles. I¡¯ve decided to move my entire base of operations there. If only two years could do that to these experiments, think of what it could do for me.


    Loop 83 Year 22 Day 251


    It¡¯s been over six years now. I have no noticeable difference in powers or mental capabilities. The others have grown stronger though. Now the all of the first six gens are at category 10. They have unbelievable amounts of power.


    If I could harness the power of just two of these subjects, pre-bombs, I¡¯d be able to conquer the world in a day. Cat 10 really does seem to be the end. Nothing gets past a set parameter of power. The total area anyone can effect is a sphere of exactly 1000 miles in diameter.


    I had hoped my mental abilities would be enhanced because of the close proximity of the void, but it turns out it isn¡¯t going to work like that. With AI testing me once a week, it was easy to see that I had the same exact capabilities.


    Loop 83 Year 23 Day 1


    I am doing a new type of experiment now. I am raising clones near the portal. Not only am I creating clones, I am having the first six gens breed to produce babies. I want to see the babies¡¯ natural power level.


    Loop 83 Year 27 Day 15


    The clones are not quite as powerful as the offspring of the first six gens. They are all rank 9 though. The offspring of the cat 10s have all become cat ten within four years of their birth. Quite the power.


    Both groups bred near the portal have a strange fascination with it. They have mental capabilities far beyond normal 4-year-olds. They are more like young adults. The brainwashing still had full effect, but they occasionally glance at the portal. I don¡¯t want anything to happen so I close off that area with turrets.


    Loop 83 Year 40 Day 115


    A new group of offspring turns 4 today. I had the group that was born here breed at the earliest possible time. By that time everyone near the portal was a cat 10.


    Some of the older cat 10s have shown signs of resistance to my mind control. They have been eliminated.


    The new generation are all cat 10. They were since their birth. They also seem to have powers beyond their parents, not just a fusion of them.


    Even though I made sure some of the first six gens didn¡¯t have the APG power, everyone now has that as a power.


    It seems that being closer to the portal when one is conceived has this effect. I know because I made one subject get conceived here, but born and raised in a different location.


    Although the experiments that grew up here all have higher levels of power than the one that didn¡¯t grow up here. My guess is that the younger one is exposed to the portal, the more it will show effects.


    Loop 83 Year 80 Day 300


    I put the experiments near the portal to rest. I kill all of the subject related to this project. The past three generations have all had incidents where the conditioning is completely ignored, and they try to leap into the portal.


    It only got worse with each successive generation. So I put them all down. I have their DNA backed up in AI, and my mind. I also have hardcopies of their sperm and embryos. The eggs taken from subjects born of a cat 10 can last in any known condition outside of a vacuum.


    I put the eggs underwater, in the desert, in a frozen tundra, in a forest. They live in those environments for years. That¡¯s right years. The ones I left there still haven¡¯t died.


    They are basically indestructible as well. Only something made of graphene has a chance of damaging them. I looked at the atomic structure. Every cell of the embryo is coupled with a single Pure ATG atom. It seems to make the cells almost invincible.


    The subjects born from this also have increased physique. I¡¯ve noticed that over the last few generations. They seem to be getting better in every respect. Even their minds work at a higher level, seeing as they can break the compulsion I set on them.


    I have to kill the living subjects by injecting them full of acid, and crushing their bodies with immense pressure. Just one won¡¯t work. It has to be both. I think I¡¯ve created a monster race.


    I kind of like it.

 Loop 83 Year 100 Day 120 - Loop 83 Year 267 Day 341

    Caelus here! Wow dem clones doe¡­


    This chapter is dedicated to Cody, last commenter of chapter 25 (the last one).


    Loop 83 Year 100 Day 120


    I¡¯ve started the cloning cat 10s from scratch. Today marks the birth of the third generation of the new cat 10s. After I exterminated the others, I created more. I used the embryos that had not been exposed to the portal.


    I have an ongoing experiment as well. I¡¯ve rendered one of the subject¡¯s brain dead from birth in the second gen. Whenever her body gets closer to the portal, her heart rate increases. She is getting excited.


    There really is some link to the cat tens and the portal. I wonder, if I were born near here, would I be the same?


    I turn my attention briefly to the information coming from AI. One of the civilizations I started about sixty years ago, is now thriving. The originals were all my mind slaves, but now the people are free of my influence.


    They are surprisingly peaceful. I¡¯ve had a few times where I had subjects go to that city from my base. They were all welcomed with open arms. Even after I had one turn into a serial killer, the people of the city allowed others in.


    The originals I sent to start this city were the weakest of my subjects. Still they could easily kill a group of normal humans without apparent effort.


    There are no ¡®normal¡¯ humans anymore though.


    My body is much stronger than it was in past loops at this time. With my immortality potions, and the effect of the portal, I am in pristine condition.


    The subjects in the city seem to evolve to their situation. The children of the farmers, often have powers manifest that have to do with better growing plants. People that work for the water purifier, often have children with some sort of water power.


    Loop 83 Year 175 Day 1


    The cat 10 embryos I have planted throughout the world finally show signs of decay. AI shows me a recording of the cameras watching the several embryos.


    The embryos suddenly sprout light brown spots, then instantly turn a pitch black. The next moment shows them degrading as if acid is melting them. One instant they are fine; then next they are a puddle of APG.


    I know they are APG because I have my bots take measurements on each one. The time between harvesting the embryos from the mothers, and decay is exactly 100 years. To the day.


    The small community I created with my subjects seems to have developed a type of cast system. People there all share powers based on their ancestors, and seem to only mingle with their own families. They are quite civil in their interactions with the other casts of subjects, but interbreeding between the casts, or even friendship seems to be taboo. Interesting.


    I have a new type of breeding program. I want to change the powers of the original cat 10s. All cat 10s, those that are born that way, have control over APG. I have been breeding decedents of those cat 10s, in order to get a subject that has a different type of power: Time Control.


    My hypothesis is simple. If I can manipulate time, albeit only at the moment of death, then I should be able to create others with a similar power. I already know it¡¯s not impossible for others to have this type of power. Case in point: Little Emperor.


    My body, now over 175 years old, and my mind are both in perfect condition. I assume the reaction from the portal, combined with the effects of my potion, have created a sort of quasi-eternal youth situation for my body.


    I replicate the effect on a few others, but it seems they must be cat 10s in order to fully gain the non-aging bodies. I only allow first gen cat 10s to partake of the potion and stay next to the portal. Once the potion is ingested, they are ordered to return.


    There are no consequences so far for allowing them a small amount of time, 6 years, to spend close to the portal. I am waiting for further developments.


    AI has shown some improvements into developing into a true intelligence. She makes her first inquiry into the soul today. It¡¯s rather clich¨¦, but it does point to the fact that she might be becoming self-aware.


    Loop 83 Year 200 Day 16


    Slightly more than 25 years after the start of the experiments to find time manipulation. I finally stumble upon a clue! It is the fourth generation of subjects, so there are quite a few of them. I institute a breeding policy of reproduction as soon as the subjects are capable.


    I have bred the onset of puberty down to year 10 in the life cycle. Some start even sooner than that, but the off-spring seem less susceptible to mind control. I am not taking chances with them. They are destroyed.


    The clue to time manipulation is simple. Every combination of sperm and embryo seem to give some power, at least those of the cat 10s. I can instantly discern the sequence of DNA coding for every power I have bred into my subjects.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    So I only use sperm and embryos that I previously discarded. Those that, for some reason, seemed to have no power associated with them.


    Loop 83 Year 208 Day 253


    I was right! Several of the subjects from Powerless Batch 1 have shown powers I have previously never studied.


    PB1 has shown two unique powers I have never encountered. One can actually create small wormholes! The other can turn dust or rocks into the consistency of comets. It is strange to watch the blue glow circle the rock before it activates.


    I have named the one that can make wormholes. I dubbed her: Wormy. Wormy will begin to procreate in two years. Until then I plan to make her a cat 10.


    The cat 10 I have had living away from the portal shows no signs of caring for the portal, so I assume Wormy will be alright. Wormy¡¯s wormholes are not impressive in scope, but as a possibility. She can create a small hole in space, about the size of a fist. She can transport any non-living material through it.


    If anything is living, or was once part of an animal or plant, it instantly becomes dust. I created a cyborg, the size of a fist. The fleshy parts were turned to dust, but the rest was fine. Wormy is going to be helpful.


    Loop 83 Year 210 Day 350


    Wormy succeeds in the conditioning program today. I have realized several things; things I was actually wrong about. I believed everyone got their power based on a near death experience they had. Wormy hadn¡¯t been exposed to any wormhole before. Not even the portal.


    I have to re-think my entire premise of power acquisition. I plan on harvesting several embryos from Wormy before allowing her to get near the portal though.


    Some of the subjects have slightly more free will than others. I want to see the effects of free will on how quickly powers grow in strength.


    Wormy undergoes constant training. She has full days of nothing but practice with wormholes. She is able to create one the size of a small child. Sending small children through kills them when they come through the opposite side.


    I have discovered something else about Wormy¡¯s power. Time seems to not move while inside of it. I send a molecularly accurate watch through, several times in fact. Time only moves for the watch while it is outside of the wormhole.


    I wonder what would happen if we could actually send a living being through.


    Loop 83 Year 212 Day 24


    I have several dozen eggs from Wormy. They mostly share the genetic factor for creating wormholes. Now that I know how to pinpoint that factor, I can distinguish between which one is the most powerful of each.


    I am in the process of looking for sperm ¡®without¡¯ powers. I want to try to find something that will complement the power of the wormhole. At the very least I don¡¯t want it to overpower the wormhole power. It is proving to be a difficult endeavor.


    Wormy is at the portal. She was a rank 8 when she gained her power, she has been at the portal for about a year now. She should soon start to show signs of increasing her power to rank 9.


    I am enhancing her eggs to the best of my considerable ability. I obviously use other eggs to test the feasibility of increasing power rank from before birth, but any tests that show positive results get incorporated into her eggs.


    Most of the experiments are gentle, but you can¡¯t bake a cake without breaking a few eggs. No pun intended. Many of the experiments would put places like Guantanamo to shame. Too bad it is so hard to find sperm without APG powers.


    It seems like APG is more common in sperm than eggs. Whether this has to do with some magical property, or simply the hormonal difference between men and women, I have no idea. I will continue to look at this avenue of experimentation though.


    Loop 83 Year 220 Day 189


    Wormy is finally a cat 10. She has taken much longer than the previous experiments did. Instead of six years like usual, it took her eight years.


    I decide to move my base back to the portal. Since more time is required of her, someone with a more unique power, it might require even longer for me. But I¡¯ve been near the portal for longer than 100 years total in this Loop. I might have to try going even further.


    I begin having AI runs statistics. She is to take the initial power levels of the first six gens I put near the portal, and Wormy¡¯s power. It will take a while to process different powers in relation to each other. But we have all the time in the world.


    Since Wormy is now a cat 10, AI can use all of the gathered data to approximate a time limit to when I might increase my power to a higher category. Since I started as a cat 10, there might even be a cat 11 I can increase my power to. How would that work?


    My brain functions would probably become even quicker. I can get visual information from 35x speed, and other senses around 25x speed of a normal person. If I could increase those¡­ Well it wouldn¡¯t matter much, but it might decrease the amount of time I would need to watch the surveillance of the planet for in each Loop.


    Loop 83 Year 227 Day 36


    Wormy has finally gotten offspring. I found one sperm that did not have the APG ability, despite being from a cat 10. I had AI modify it slightly by having it stay near the portal, and Wormy¡¯s own wormholes. I used the sperm to fertilize Wormy¡¯s egg near the portal. The result was a child that could create wormholes in a short six years.


    Wormy¡¯s wormholes still cannot push living beings through. Though they have several addition abilities now. Wormy can control the size, from a pinprick to large enough to swallow the statue of liberty. The distance any one thing can travel is, predictably, 1000 miles. Anytime she tries to exceed that distance, the wormhole destabilizes and destroys anything within 10 feet of both ends.


    Luckily she only has to be within 20 feet of one portal to use it. Her offspring has the ability to move living objects, a success in the department of advancement. The major problem is that she can only move creatures that have as much intellect as an insect. The range is embarrassing. Though oddly the size of the portal started large enough to allow a human to go through.


    Loop 83 Year 267 Day 311


    Forty years. Forty years since Wormy produced the child capable of moving living creatures. They have both had dozens of offspring, but the large amount of ability they both show seems to be the exceptions, not the rules.


    Their offspring, both the mother¡¯s and daughter¡¯s, are not capable of even reaching rank 4 before age 10. Being near the portal obviously makes them more powerful, but I am not going to allow anyone to reproduce near the portal anymore. Wasting resources in raising faulty products is a pointless exercise in futility.


    The sad truth is that all of the offspring other than Wormy and her daughter, Wormy2, are useless for my experiments.


    Wormy is still incapable of moving living objects, but has absolute control and precision when it comes to her power. Wormy2 is able to move things the size of a full grown man, I know I¡¯ve sent several through.


    It took the greater part of thirty years, but she is finally able to send people through without destroying their minds. I intend on sending one person into the portal to see what happens. Not for a while though. Wormy2 was given the potion years ago. She won¡¯t age for a while.


    The caste city has destroyed itself. One couple interbred. The resulting child created an explosion at the moment of their 12<sup>th</sup> birthday. It was a child of a water user and a farmer. Somehow the child gained the ability to create hydrogen bombs. It was not immune to it.


    AI has created a decent algorithm. One that has helped in determining the amount of time needed to enhance a power. Interestingly enough, she has also determined the amount of ¡®boost¡¯ a certain distance from the portal gives.


    According to her findings, it works a lot like gravity or electricity. It gets much less prominent the further out you go. It would have enough power to effect the entire planet, and the moon when it is in the right orbital position.


    Normally this kind of information would take much longer to find, but I have given AI a bit more freedom. She has about a hundred subjects to run experiments on at any given time. Her data has grown increasingly more helpful since then.


    Loop 83 Year 267 Day 341


    A month later. I have my uplink to AI on all the time now. I am constantly reviewing any code that changes, any data that she gets. Today is a risky day.


    Wormy died. She had created a wormhole into space, and simply stepped into it. I don¡¯t know why. That bothers me. If there is some sort of mental deficiency in her genetic code, I will have to get rid of Wormy2. It was probably just a fluke though.


    I¡¯m not taking any chances though.


    I have Wormy2 create a wormhole. The wormhole leads to the exact center of the orb-like portal. After a moment of watching, nothing unusual happens.


    So the cause of the portal destroying everything isn¡¯t the powers themselves getting near. It is the actual people. It is time for the next step of the experiment.


    I have one of Wormy2¡¯s decedents walk into the portal. Judging by what happened last time, the portal should destabilize and destroy everything.


    It didn¡¯t!


    The subject is given strict orders to not walk out of the wormhole. The portal seems to try and eat away at the wormhole, but it cannot damage the wormhole at all. The inside of the wormhole is already mapped. It is a long portal. The reason living things couldn¡¯t move through it before is that the long tunnel pushed and pulled apart anything with living matter in it.


    Wormy2¡¯s wormholes don¡¯t do that. They are more stable than her mother¡¯s. So the subject stands on the very edge of the wormhole. Not only are they more physically stable, she can hold them indefinitely, unlike her mother.


    On the other end hundreds of gallons of the purest APG imaginable pour out every second. If Wormy2 wasn¡¯t anchored down, and in a safe room 20 feet away from the wormhole, she would have drowned.


    Luckily she is.


    I order the subject back. The moment they step foot out of the tunnel, I step inside. I want to see what this thing will do if I stay in it.

 Loop 83 Year 267 Day 341 - Loop 83 Abyss

    Caelus, in the flesh! Now what happened before might seem weird, but trust me: it gets weirder today. I also posted a chapter just before this one, less than a day ago. Make sure you have read that one first.


    Loop 83 Year 267 Day 341 (Continued)


    I hear noise. In the center of the portal, on the cusp of the wormhole. I hear a noise; it¡¯s calling out to me. Forcing itself upon me.


    I fight it. My body requires no nutrients for several months at a time. I require no sleep. I feel the presence encroaching upon my mind. I wail against it. I will NEVER release myself to its control.


    My fight seems to keep it at bay, but I cannot think of anything else. Every time my mind wanders slightly, the presence gets ever closer to my mind. I instinctively know I will be under its control the moment I think of anything else.


    Loop 83 Year 267 Day 351


    This is the tenth day without stop I am fighting the presence. It is closer than ever. Only a breath away. I feel the putrid stink of its thoughts muddle with mine. It is harder to think. My thoughts are so slow now. I think at the same speed as I did before I gained my power. I feel so stupid.


    Loop 83 Year 268 Day 1


    I feel the wormhole quiver. My mind is momentarily distracted. Suddenly, I can¡¯t control my body. I begin to move forward. Why? I concentrate my body on, try to force it to still.


    It moves against my wishes. I walk into the portal.


    ???


    The automatic door opens as I arrive.


    LE is trying to break free of the restraints, but to no avail. They are made of such tough fibers that even my bots have trouble breaking them with force.


    I remember this. This is the day Little Emperor returns. Why am I here? I have lived through this part already. What¡¯s happening? Am I finally dying? Is this what it means to die? I¡¯m seeing my life flash before my eyes.


    ¡°Tsk tsk tsk. That¡¯s not how you act in someone else¡¯s house.¡± I make sure he can see me. I feel like I have control of myself now. I enact exactly what happened before. ¡°I¡¯d have thought that you¡¯d be able to learn something as simple as that. You are a Looper after all. You have all the time in the world.¡±


    He stares at me, first in disbelief, then in anger. He tries to shout something, but the gag stops the sound.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? You want to feel pain? Ok. AI!¡±


    The shock makes his body twitch in exactly the same way as before.


    ¡°I guess that answers one question. AI note that subject has regained all cognitive abilities upon looping. Past causes cease to have the effect upon his mind. Also note that the body did not return to normal. Physical causes continue to have the effect upon his body.¡±


    I go through several hours¡¯ worth of experiments after LE loops. I do the exact same ones as 260 years ago. It seems that was the exact amount of time I was forced backward. After everything is done, I have the bots unlock the piece where LE¡¯s mouth is. Having conversation with another human after all of this time sounds interesting.


    ¡°You bastard! Why twice!?¡±


    LE furiously demands answers. The important bit was that they are different than the first time.


    He continues.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already refused to tell you once! Why do this again?¡±


    I see something in his eyes. Worry. Depression. Franticness.


    ¡°Heh. I¡¯ll keep you here for eternity until you tell me the secret of your Looping ability.¡±


    I leave him. I order the same tests as last time. I leave.


    Loop 83 Year 8 Day 60 (Second Time)


    My mind is whirling. Things are going much differently than last time. It is because LE has experienced this already. Today he agrees with AI to tell me the truth of the matter. According to him, it is better than an eternity of torture.


    I walk into his room. He is still restrained.


    ¡°SO! You finally wish to tell me the answers I seek? First, why were you obsessed with killing me?¡±


    LE takes a deep breath. He no longer has the gag in.


    ¡°I wanted to be the only ¡®Looper¡¯ as you put it. You were always messing up my plans.¡±


    A look of confusion passes my face.


    ¡°What do you mean? I never did anything to you before you started killing me.¡±


    LE smiles pedantically. ¡°Hah. You really DON¡¯T remember? That¡¯s great! HAHAHA-AHHHHHH¡± AI shocks him for insolence. Good call.


    ¡°Sorry! I¡¯ll tell! I¡¯ll tell!¡±


    Going through all of the torture once was hard on him. I am honestly impressed that he could manage that. His will power is amazing. The idea of going through that forever must have broken down any willpower he has.


    ¡°Three Eras ago, you asked for my help.¡±


    A shiver went down my spine. The moment he spoke the word Era I knew something was wrong.


    Loop 82 Abyss


    Suddenly I realize something. The blurry, indistinct voices, are speaking to me.


    No not to me. Through me? I don¡¯t know. But I can hear snippets.


    I make out several words. They are disturbing.


    They form a single thought. The voice seems excited, even happy, as if it had just discovered something utterly amazing.


    ¡°forget all loops¡­ end of the first era!¡±


    A bank of darkness begins encroaching in my mind. The same as the one inside the portal.


    LE continues. I can barely pay attention.


    ¡°You randomly came to me one day. You had discovered my power. I didn¡¯t know what it was. You showed me how to harness it; how to control it even better.


    ¡°You told me the truth about myself, and I promised to help you. You wanted to seal all of your memories. But you were afraid.¡±


    The other is becoming more violent. Trying to encroach upon my mind again.


    The look on his face shows that he is resigning himself to a terrible fate. ¡°My real power isn¡¯t that of mind control or Looping. It¡¯s-¡°


    An unknown memory is forced upon me.


    Little Emperor is standing before me. We are in China. In the middle of a rundown city. I just saved his life from other power users that freed themselves of his control. I don¡¯t have AI with me. AI doesn¡¯t exist in this time.


    I reach out my hand.


    ¡°Join me. I will show you true power. I have friends with incredible powers. One can even search for others as long as he is given a specific power to search for.


    Your power isn¡¯t mind control. It¡¯s-


    ¡°Soul manipulation.¡±


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.¡°You asked me to take out part of your soul, and graft it on to mine. You want to eradicate your own memories.¡±


    Another flash.


    I am asking LE to help me. I want to erase my memories, to live a new life. But I am afraid. I think there is ¡®another¡¯ me. One far older than I am. Possibly from doing this. I don¡¯t know.


    I ask LE to make sure my next Era has me get as powerful as possible. I need to be able to resist the ¡®other¡¯ me.  It has already started attacking me. It is only Loop 10.


    ¡°That is the reason I can time travel as well. I have your power inside of me. You showed me I could take others¡¯ powers for my own. I could only have one at a time, so I spliced yours into mine.¡±


    A terrible pain. It feels as if my mind and body are being split apart. Something foreign is forced into me. It is LE¡¯s soul-fragment.


    ¡°But your soul was too powerful. You had lived for too much time. I could only take a small portion out before it killed me.¡±


    I die.


    My mind is in confusion. I can¡¯t think. I fall to the floor at the start of the Loop. My mind and body are in turmoil. The pain is unbearable! I die instantly.


    Next Loop. I feel better, but cannot move. The pain courses through me for hours. I die.


    Next Loop.


    Next Loop.


    Loop 10.


    I can finally move, finally think. The memories of the pain are quickly fading. My perfect memory is gone.


    Another flash.


    Loop 15 Year 10.


    Little Emperor comes to see me. He explains the situation. I don¡¯t believe him. He has a code phrase:


    Unlock Era 1913483, Memory Link Establish.


    Memories of the previous Era flood my mind.


    LE is still talking. The more he speaks. The more memories flash before me. They seem to push the ¡®other¡¯ sometimes. Sometimes they make it grow closer.


    LE continues.


    ¡°I helped you during that Era, but something about your personality began to rub off on mine. I believe it has something to do with our souls being fused. I always get my powers at the moment I took in part of your soul into me. When I am eight years old.¡±


    While LE continued, memories sprang up from the recesses of my mind. I knew I had never experienced these memories, but I had at the same time.


    ¡°But something went wrong. You began to feel the other presence again. You had already used the memory recall code, so you knew it was later this time, but it still happened. So you asked me to take more of your soul.¡±


    My body is in even more power. The hundreds of years LE had to master his power proves to be too much for his own good. He is able to harvest a quarter of my soul before I tell him stop. But he doesn¡¯t.


    He gets greedy. He continues. He rips my soul to shreds, and absorbs them all. I die as he absorbed half.


    The ¡®other¡¯ begins to grow angry. It attacks with unsurmountable power. It doesn¡¯t want me to pay attention to what LE is going to say. LE looks to be in pain.


    ¡°Unfortunately I absorbed a horrible part of your soul. It was the part you had been scared of the entire time. Hah! Think of it! I tried to get greedy, and lost my mind to your soul! Can you blame me for hating you?


    ¡°I had an urge to kill you more than anything. Even now it is hard to hold back my lust for your blood. The part of the soul I took from you contained the majority of this ¡®other you¡¯ that you told me about. He constantly tries to take my mind over. But you are so weak willed. So easy to beat. That¡¯s something you gained from me. A stronger will.


    ¡°Your second Era self told me of flashes of memories. Memories from even before the first time you came to see me. Memories from prior Eras. But they were fragmented.¡±


    I am in the abyss. Voices of past selves whispering into my ears. They want to come out. They NEED to be free. They have been squashed by the first ¡®other¡¯. They are his play things. They know it. I know it.


    One whispers to me. I can hear it clearly.


    Another scene begins.


    ¡®I am dying, because the ¡®original¡¯ decides it is time. He wipes my memories, but leaves the type of death scene for the next Era to remember. It amuses him when he is free.¡¯


    My older self feels the fear of it coming to get him.


    The ¡®original¡¯ me.


    The Eras.


    My mind trembles. The ¡®other¡¯ me trembles. I know what it is now. I can stop it.


    ¡°Unlock Era 1913483, Memory Link Establish! Unlock Era 1913484, Memory Link Establish!¡±


    The memories of the previous two ¡®Eras¡¯ course through my mind. I remember how the ¡®original¡¯ works.


    He is bored. Always bored. He is too bored. He knows how everything is going to happen. He has been alive for too long. He only has one form of entertainment. Seeing how the new Eras move about their lives. But they would all be the same, so he makes them envision a gruesome death before letting them live again.


    My mind is stronger than the previous two Eras. LE is right. My willpower is weak. It is only thanks to his soul that I am able to keep control of myself. The ¡®other¡¯ two versions of me try to fight for control. They have no chance.


    I am the only one that can survive. The other two are suppressed. I control their memories now. Unless I am controlled. I must not let that happen. The weakened ¡®original¡¯ fights desperately against my mind. The pain in my mind causes a break.


    Loop 83 Abyss


    The voices. They are all so clear now. I can hear them. They whisper things they want me to hear. There are too many. More than ten thousand. More than a hundred thousand. More than a million. 1913484! That¡¯s where the number came from! I am the 1913485th incarnation!


    I feel my presence expand. I begin to assimilate the other versions of me. One at a time. I find one voice. I concentrate on him. I force my ¡®self¡¯ to surround him. His voice is weak, almost dead compared to the others. He is my first prey.


    He fights against me. He is the final version of himself, before the ¡®original¡¯ took over his mind and soul. I am going to fight the original. They are going to help me.


    It doesn¡¯t matter if they hate it. I am more powerful. I am dominant.


    I consume him. He is mine. I gain his memories. His willpower bolsters mine. Everything that he was, is now me. I am still me, but now I am him.


    I search for another. I begin to feel a hunger for them.


    The Abyss ends. I am back in Chelsea¡¯s home.

 Loop 84 Year 1 Day 1 - Loop 84 Year 3 Day 152

    Caelus! I consumed my first ¡®other self¡¯. Weird huh? Wait till you find out what was in that mind. I need to know what you guys think. If you all could drop a rating, doesn¡¯t even have to be the long kind, I¡¯d appreciate it.


    If all else fails, it will at least help me in the next Loop to make a better story.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 1


    Damn! I feel the hunger. I want to consume more souls. More versions of me. I need to eat more-


    I shudder. I force myself to control the feeling. I erase it from my memory. Conceal it. Contain it. It¡¯s gone.


    It only takes a moment to fully synthesize the information my other self remembered. His memories are odd. He starts like me, making the peanut butter sandwich.


    His life is different though. He started on 6/24/2015. He saw a sudden vision. I know what it is, but he does not. He is seeing the vision that Original wanted him to see. He murders Chelsea, by slicing open her throat.


    His mind is in the Abyss, but he doesn¡¯t remember it. It is like something forces his mind to forget it every instant.


    His Era is a simple one. But interesting. Everything he does ends in Chelsea¡¯s death. Every time he causes her death. In the first Loop she dies by the bombs. In the second he gets angry while trying to tell her about the bombs. He kills her accidentally because she won¡¯t listen.


    In the third Loop he kidnaps her, and is driving crazily to avoid the cops, so they could avoid the bombs. He gets them both killed by skidding off a cliff.


    In the fourth Loop he somehow winds up in a hostage situation, Chelsea throws herself at him to protect him from getting shot. He learns how to block out the memories in this Loop.


    The fifth Loop abruptly ends with him deciding to seal all of his memories, and end the ¡®First Era¡¯. When he thinks of sealing his mind, it is assaulted by another presence. It is the Original. The Loop fades as the Original completely absorbs the other me.


    I see the memories as if I am reliving them. Every excruciating detail is like I¡¯m actually living through it. I see what I saw. I hear what I heard. I feel what I felt.


    I feel myself yearning for Chelsea. The feeling overwhelms my senses. I MUST SAVE HER. Before I realize what I am doing, I notice I am sprinting up the stairs. With great effort I stop myself.


    Is this what it¡¯s like to consume another me? I learn from this mistake. I will remember to steel myself before reaching for the memories of another me.


    But I still feel it. The need to protect Chelsea. The need to make her happy. I haven¡¯t felt that for several Loops now. Is it because I improperly consumed the memories of another me? Or is it because he felt such strong emotions toward her that they seep into my mind?


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 6


    I win the lottery again today. I make all of the necessary preparations for my underground shelter. After that I have a plan. I am going to enjoy this time with Chelsea. Fusing with the identity of another me has reminded me of the good times we used to have.


    Over the past five days I¡¯ve come to grips on what happened, and why I suddenly care so much about Chelsea again. It was the fact that he cared so deeply for her. Of course a bit of it was improper fusing techniques. By examining his memories of the fifth Loop, I can see exactly how the original isolates parts of his memories. The original then takes them each apart, and slowly absorbs them. It actually takes several Loops to do.


    Neither one seems aware of the Abyss. Is it something unique to me? No that doesn¡¯t make sense. They are me. Then is it because LE absorbed too much of my soul? That could be it. The previous ERA me did say he could hear voices. Maybe I become more in tuned with the Abyss the more of my soul is taken away.


    I have the souls of three other versions of me. They have become who I am. For some reason I didn¡¯t get anything bleeding into my mind from the previous two versions of me. Maybe it is because we are so similar to start with? Possibly.


    I tell Chelsea I won the lottery. She doesn¡¯t believe me at first. I show her our house. She is awestruck. I usually can¡¯t keep a secret. We speak about that while deciding how to decorate the house. We are extremely affectionate while we decide.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 85


    I am going on a date with Chelsea. I take her to an expensive Italian restaurant, her favorite. When we get home I shower her with gifts. I propose. I show her the diamond ring, stylish but not overly exaggerated. Just her style. She says yes!


    I know she wouldn¡¯t marry me for my money, so I made a clear distinction between winning the lottery and asking for marriage. A 79-day distinction. Our wedding is in two months. I am enjoying my life. I feel things that I haven¡¯t in a long time. It is like a dream.


    I also have the many bots I have created begin building a self-sustaining bunker near the portal. I will need an extensive suite for my plans. I make sure to keep the research a secret from Chelsea. She would only be sad to know about it.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 145


    Today is our wedding! Lilies are the flower of choice at the venue. Originally we only invited our closest friends and family, but now it is a large event. It probably has something to do with the fact that I have hit it big on the stocks. I ¡®just happened¡¯ to invest in a few companies before their stocks jumped.


    I secretly pour some of my Immortality Elixir into the wedding punch. At least everyone here will be able to enjoy a youthful last few months. I cry as Chelsea walks down the aisle. I can¡¯t believe I haven¡¯t married her before. What was I waiting for?


    Chelsea is beautiful. Her elegant dress falls perfectly on the floor. It looks like a princess¡¯ dress. She is a princess to me. We say our vows. We promise to love each other forever. It means more coming from me, but she means it just as much. We kiss.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 150


    We are on our honeymoon. I¡¯ll omit the details. It was a wonderful time we spent on the beach.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 180


    I have several bombs placed around our hometown.  I set them off as if I were a terrorist. In my spare time I have created AI again. She says she has some crazy demands, then begins bombing places. Chelsea and all of her friends and family are told they are welcome in my underground bunker.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 200


    Since some of her family didn¡¯t want to come, I¡¯ve forced some people to turn into the irregulars. It isn¡¯t hard. My research into the Immortality Potion has opened my eyes to many things. Including how to stall the progression of the eventual zombification of people. Or how to cause it.


    It has never really proven good in knowing that information, but now it is. As more and more people begin to ¡®turn¡¯ more of Chelsea¡¯s family and friends ask to join my bunker.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 220


    Today the last of the people Chelsea wants to keep safe are in my base. We have everything down here. This time I make sure the bunker has all of the amenities to make staying happy extremely easy. I don¡¯t like many of the people here, but Chelsea does. That¡¯s all that matters.


    AI is slowly siphoning off all of the resources I need from other places. Since I know where basically every important source of mineral wealth is, I easily have my bots bring it to me. AI occasionally hacks websites or news shows, and uses the time to promote my messages across the globe.


    The base near the portal is finished today. It is fully automated, and can house up to a few thousand people.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 301


    Chelsea is sad. We can¡¯t have children together. I should have seen this coming. I could have switched out my sperm with someone else¡¯s. Maybe artificially inseminated her while she slept?


    I don¡¯t want her to be sad. I¡¯ve got to find a way to make her happy again.


    That¡¯s when it hit me.


    I begin operation: Transport.


    I have the many vents full of knockout gas fumigate the entire base, excluding my room. In seconds every living being, besides me, in the base is knocked out. The bots pick them all up, and begin loading them into an aircraft for transport.


    I kiss Chelsea on the forehead before she is sent away. I accompany the lot of them to the new base. The new base is identical to the old one, at least above floor 5. Below that is inaccessible, except by a secret entrance in my personal room.


    Below that is the most extensive lab in history. It is about a hundred stories deep, with all manner of testing apparatuses. The eighth floor is actually about five stories deep itself. It stretches for miles, and is constantly being expanded in all direction. It is meant to simulate a pre-bomb environment. I want to see how society would grow if starting from basically nothing.


    Each level can accommodate between one and ten thousand subjects.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 302


    Everyone is awake. No one can tell the difference in where they are. I also had the bots substitute the pure water in the facility with Immortality Elixir. There are vents near the portal, constantly drawing in the substance released from it.


    I¡¯m hoping this will approximate actually being near it. My ultimate goal is to make sure everyone here becomes immortal. That way Chelsea never loses a friend or loved one.


    The Elixir doesn¡¯t work on pets though. I¡¯m sure she is going to be sad, but I¡¯ve put several cats on the eighth level of the experimental portion of the facility. They will be able to breed free. I will find a way to occasionally get her one.


    Loop 84 Year 1 Day 356


    The bombs drop today. I let everyone see it happening on the monitors. They are silent the rest of the day. Chelsea is predictably sad, but this will help her accept her lot in life more easily I think.


    On a positive note, I have about a hundred thousand test subjects that usually become power users. I also have tens of thousands that don¡¯t. I am using them as a control group. If I can find someone with a unique power from among them, I will consider it a success.


    Of course LE and his family are here, they are on the very bottom layer. His mother sort of reminds me of Chelsea. She begs me to release them. I have to kill her. If I fall for her tricks because she looks like Chelsea, then I won¡¯t be able to do anything to LE.


    I feel a pang of guilt at the thought, so I make AI do the dirty work.


    Loop 84 Year 2 Day 152


    Surprisingly, today is the first day any sort of outbreak happens in the top five layers. One of Chelsea¡¯s family members, an uncle by marriage, decides he wants to leave. Some people try to stop him. He hits a young boy that grabbed his arm while crying.


    I have AI unlock the door for him, as I walk up to him.


    ¡°If you want to go, then fine. Leave. But I won¡¯t open the door for you to come back in.¡±


    Chelsea¡¯s aunt is crying, but refuses to leave with him. Her son shouts and cries for his daddy.


    He hates his mother for stopping him from leaving.


    Loop 84 Year 2 Day 159


    A week ago the man left. He tried getting back in after he realized we were on an island. I had the turrets gun him down. No one else knows.


    His son has shown disruptive behavior. At night I have a bot secretly show him ¡®a path outside¡¯ to look for his father.


    The path was created to go directly to the eighth floor. I wonder how he will affect the groups of people already in there. It will be interesting.


    Loop 84 Year 2 Day 160


    More of the people leave the bunker today. Chelsea is sadder each time, but for some reason she doesn¡¯t want me to stop them. After the boy ¡®finds a way out¡¯, the others are all worried about his safety.


    They want to leave to live with him. It seems they want an excuse to leave the safety of the vault, but just don¡¯t know it. I let them leave.


    The door to the vault is a double door, after the first one is opened, everyone walks through, then it closes. It says ¡®Decontamination in Progress¡¯. Of course that is bull. They are sprayed with the knockout gas.


    After the elevator to the eighth floor, is an identical set of doors. They wake up there, with a sound going over the intercom saying ¡®Decontamination Failed, Please Exit¡¯. That way I can bring them back if I need to.


    After all, the point of making it like that, was that I could bring people into the vault if I choose.


    I spend time with Chelsea. I only need to review the results of the tests about once a week or so, everything else is done by AI.


    It seems like the Elixir is working fine. I have the entire portal surrounded by vacuum fans at this point, so all of the liquid substance is absorbed into our circulation environment. The Elixir is no longer put into our water, only because I don¡¯t know what the long term effects of constantly drinking it are.


    The Elixir takes about a year to show its full purpose since I am simply venting the liquid into the base, not living a few feet away.


    Oddly enough, no one on the top five floors have shown signs of powers. I am researching the reason. I have changed the tests of the sixth floor to mimic the living conditions of ours, i.e. liquid from the portal is pumped into their cells, and they are given Elixir to drink.


    The Elixir isn¡¯t the problem, Wormy and Wormy2 both drank it. Maybe the fact that the portal liquid is pumped in instead of being direct? Maybe the HRL, the liquid from the portal, is diluted by the time it gets to us?


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 142


    Chelsea want to leave the vault! I find an excuse that works for now, but she seems adamant about leaving. I can¡¯t let her leave! She can¡¯t!


    Wait, maybe she can. Since we are on an island, maybe it¡¯s ok? But what if she doesn¡¯t want to come back into the vault? What if it gives her such great depression that she tries to take her own life? I can¡¯t let that happen.


    The excuse I gave should be ok for a while, maybe a few days.


    I set up an operation to implant AI into my body again. Most of my body is going to become robotic I guess. I have to be able to sense the data as much as possible. Robotic eyes to watch the cameras, robotic implants in my ears to hear AI. Robotic implants in my mind help send the data stream to me faster.


    I hope Chelsea decides to stay, but if she doesn¡¯t I¡¯m ready to leave with her.


    I don¡¯t know why Chelsea wants to leave this quickly. She usually waits a long while. That¡¯s ok though, she is happier than she was in any other Loop. Maybe this is for the best.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 152


    We leave today. Just me and Chelsea. I guess we are going to see how this goes. Chelsea and I are gassed. When we wake up we hear that the decontamination failed. When we are ready, we leave the vault behind, Chelsea with an obviously perturbed mentality about what just happened.


    AI informs me about what has happened on this floor in the recent months. Apparently some of the people that left the vault actually gained powers!

 Loop 84 Year 3 Day 153 - Loop 84 Year 7 Day 350

    It was weird. Back then I didn¡¯t see the juxtaposition of caring for Chelsea, and the rest of my life. I guess I should have, but it seemed to make sense at the time.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 153


    Today Chelsea and I begin looking for the other power users. We don¡¯t have any weapons, but we do have quite a few supplies. I have a thought.


    With the information AI has on pharmaceuticals, I have her begin testing the various medicines for depression, and other negative emotions. Since I have so many people, finding subjects isn¡¯t hard. I have AI do invasive testing on one out of a hundred people that go into the tests for medicine.


    The Elixir doesn¡¯t¡¯ effect emotional well-being, only physical states are effected. I haven¡¯t looked too deeply into medicines for that kind of thing, but it shouldn¡¯t be too hard for AI to synthesize something usable.


    Chelsea seems a little happier at least.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 154


    A wild boar attacks us today. We don¡¯t have any weapons with us, so it is tense to say the least. The boar comes from the edge of a wooded area. Chelsea notices it first. She pulls me down, trying to shield us from the boar¡¯s view. The long grass should cover our bodies.


    It doesn¡¯t work. The boar charges us. We can¡¯t stand up in time. We are going to die. I push Chelsea to the side.


    The boar is heading right for us.  When I push Chelsea the boar swerves slightly to that side. It misses Chelsea.


    Chelsea gets up, she throws herself next to me.


    ¡°Caelus! Are you ok? You¡¯re bleeding. Oh my god! Your arm!¡±


    My arm was severed. The rushing boar took it with him. I am losing a lot of blood. Damnit! This was supposed to be a time I could save Chelsea!


    The world fades to black. It is the end of that loop.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 162


    ¡°He¡¯s waking up!¡±


    I hear an unfamiliar voice. I look around. I¡¯m not in the Abyss. I¡¯m not at Chelsea¡¯s house. Where am I?


    AI answers me. She records everything that goes on around me through my eye and ear implants.


    She shows me a vision of what happened while I was unconscious.


    Chelsea is crying over my body. The boar is charging us again. I am limp in Chelsea¡¯s arms. The boar falls over. A group of four people appear, as if from thin air. They pop up from the long grassy area. They wield crude weapons, bows and clubs. There is a single spear user among them.


    They speak to Chelsea. Asking her who she is, where she came from. She is crying too hard to answer. One of the people steps forward. Chelsea tries to protect my body, the person somehow touches my body anyway.


    My body spasms. The bleeding stops. The group knocks Chelsea out. They pick up both of us, and the boar, and bring us to their camp.


    Chelsea comes to see me. We talk. She tells me about how they saved us. She seems happy to have friendly people around. I still don¡¯t understand why she doesn¡¯t want to live in the vault if she wants to be around friends.


    She seems happy though. I agree that we can stay with these people for a while.


    When she leaves I pull up the files on all of the subjects in this group. AI gives me the rundown on everything that has happened here so far. They saw the little boy, but they left him. He was running for his life, but they didn¡¯t save him. They turned a blind eye to the tiger chasing him.


    It turns out this group is pretty sexist. The men must all hunt for food, while the women are to do the housework. The entire group, aside from the leader, are monogamous. The leader has three wives.


    They must have ulterior motives for bringing us here. I will make sure they don¡¯t hurt Chelsea.


    A few of the subjects for the medicine have tried to commit suicide multiple times. I have AI adjust the types of medicine she is using on them. I have AI use APG formula in a mixture for a few test subjects. They are all gruesomely killed by it. So I will not be using that on Chelsea.


    On one of the experimental floors I am working on cloning. The clones are much better than the time I tired cloning LE. By cloning them in vats, from an embryotic state, they can grow up ¡®normally¡¯. It seems that growing fully functioning adults is a bit beyond me, but this is a step in the right direction.


    AI has also been making various concoctions of both science and medicine, to try to speed up the growing process of the infants. It hasn¡¯t shown any results yet, but we will see.


    As an unrelated note, on the level with a colosseum I have the subjects battle at least three times a week. They seem to develop powers more quickly that way. Dozens have died, but I have plenty of subjects to spare. Especially if this cloning works out.


    An entire two levels are being used for finding the genetics that can become Wormy3. One egg a month per woman, and countless sperm from men. That is what is collected for the experiments. AI knows what to look for, but nothing has come of it so far. Hopefully I will get good new in the future.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 172


    Day ten of being with the group. They need to die. One of the men flirts with Chelsea today. Maybe he doesn¡¯t know that I can control his entire life, but that doesn¡¯t matter. He knew she was with me, and yet he tried seducing her. Chelsea laughs it off when I bring it up.


    I am fairly proficient at the spear now. Seeing the only other spearman in action a few times is enough for me to understand the stances and rhythms. After only a night of fixing many of the mistakes I see him make, my technique is even better than his.


    Two problems arise when we fight. One: his body is conditioned for this. He has at least two years of extra experience on me. Two: I am missing an arm. I can hold my own, but only because I can see his movements at a much faster rate than he can see mine.


    I can¡¯t actually beat him in a match though. At least I haven¡¯t so far.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 174


    One of the men touches Chelsea¡¯s butt today. She slaps his hand away, and complains about it to me. When I get upset about, she tells me not to do anything. Although it does upset her, they saved our lives. Why is she so intent on letting these heathens live?


    That night I sneak into the tent of the one that first flirted with Chelsea. I stab him through the throat with one of his own arrows. Afterwards I set fire to his tent. His gurgled moans make me smile.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 175


    His body is found today. No one suspects me, at least not really. They first accuse Chelsea and me, but the leader puts that down pretty quickly.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 180


    AI gives me some pretty disturbing news. The leader of this place seems to watch the girls bathe. Chelsea doesn¡¯t seem to know it, but he can¡¯t live after seeing her naked body.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    This entire floor is full of hidden cameras, but they can only see so much. That is why I am just now finding out about it.


    I give AI an order. I will just have to grit my teeth and bear it until tomorrow.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 181


    The bots come at night. The silently abduct all of the men, besides me. Everyone is knocked out with an improved version of the knockout gas. AI is now capable of making a version that only makes one black out for about thirty minutes.


    Thanks to one of the experimental floors for that. On that note, she has also showed me results in another field. Without the use of cybernetic implants, she is able to take away all sense of feeling from people.


    She has created a unique drug that seems to eliminate the ability for the nerve endings to send chemical signals to the brain. A lot of pain and torture went into finding that one. It was worth it though. These people would just respawn in the next Loop anyway. Why waste good materials.


    The girls of the group blame me for the disappearances of the males. They try to tie me up. Chelsea sides with them. She says I¡¯ve acted ¡®different¡¯ since the bombs dropped.


    They want to kill me. Chelsea convinces them to banish me. She looks like she hates me.


    I call the bots back as I leave. The men are already in testing chambers. That night the bots collect the women too. Chelsea says I¡¯m the one that is different. I think being with others changed her not me. I have a special cell constructed for her. She is transported to that one.


    She is kept sleeping for the time being. The knockout gas can last from half an hour, to at least several weeks. AI says it can be a permanent sleep state, but she is only in the third week of testing. We will see if there are any adverse effects. Hopefully Chelsea doesn¡¯t have anything bad happen to her while she is sleeping.


    Her cell is going to be about the size of a college campus. There are enough bots there to cater to any desires she has. She is going to be asleep until it is done. About a week or so.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 190


    It is a little past the week I thought it would take, but the cell for Chelsea is done. These bots really work quickly.


    I also got news today that the rest of the vault dwellers, and the people that left the vault for level 8, have all developed powers. AI hypothesizes that the reason for the lack of power was Chelsea. At first I question it, but she makes several valid points:


    No one has had this problem with me before. Pumping in the pure HRL from the portal should have instantly bolstered the rate of power gains. The people that had taken the Elixir were obviously effected by the HRL, since they have all stopped aging. Chelsea probably has a power to do with the progression of the power giving disease, since she cannot turn into a zombie.


    Those facts are pretty indisputable when all put together. So it got me thinking. Chelsea might have a power to directly affect other powers. If she is a higher rank than everyone else, her power can probably effect everyone else¡¯s.


    Loop 84 Year 3 Day 250


    AI was right! I did a bit of testing on Chelsea¡¯s blood. By injecting it into another power user, their power is temporarily reduced or completely stopped. It is today that I¡¯ve decided to pump the HRL into her chamber.


    She tries to escape her cell at least once a week, AI has to gas her for her own safety. I just want her to be happy. I¡¯ve done everything she could want! Saving her family? Check. Letting them leave when they want? Check. Letting her leave? Check. Creating a safe room? Check.


    I realize I might be thinking of this all wrong. Maybe I should not be so obsessed with her happiness. Maybe I just need to make sure she stays alive!


    Loop 84 Year 7 Day 350


    Chelsea is kept asleep most days. Whenever she is awake she tries to kill herself. She is strapped down to a table. It is so we can more easily take her blood to experiment with. I¡¯m not experimenting on her so it should be fine. I am only using her blood to better understand powers.


    AI shows me the results of several levels of testing today as well.


    The final results of the medicine testing are in. AI can eliminate, or promote, any emotional reaction I wish. All it takes is a simple circuit installed in the brain of the victim. A small pulse will tell the body to make or stop making a certain type of chemical.


    I¡¯ll be installing this into Chelsea at the start of the next Loop.


    The cloning facility is in full swing. AI can now take a sperm and egg, and have something the physical size of an adult in only a year. It requires too much though. The amount of various plants and chemicals needed wouldn¡¯t be feasible pre-bombs.


    They come out of the tank with the intellect of a newborn though. We are working on that. With the emotional controllers, we can at least keep their emotions from running wild. We are working on a way to implant information directly into their minds, even while they are still in the tanks.


    I think it¡¯d be fun to have an army of mind-bent super soldiers.


    On that note, I have finally created a super soldier! Using the same emotional controllers, I can send signals to increase testosterone, or any other biological chemical. By numbing pain, and controlling emotions, I can have the people crave following my orders, and need to work out or train. With the cybernetic implants, they can see, hear, and react far faster than normal humans.


    There are a few problems though. The material cost for one super soldier would have been about five billion dollars, pre-bombs. That should give you a good idea about how many resources they take up.


    No doubt the emotional controllers came from another one of my past selves, but I will find that out eventually. The idea just came to me one day, as if in a dream.


    Chelsea is a cat 10 at this point. Her blood can even stop other cat 10¡¯s. I know this because I¡¯ve created a few by genetically modifying the DNA in sperm and eggs, and fertilizing the eggs. Of course the entire process is done near the portal. I even have a place set up for the parents the closest they can get to the portal.


    The child born is achieved cat 10 status at age four. The cat 10 power is only to manipulate light, but that can be used pretty powerfully. The child can make any illusion seem visually real. It can also create and shoot very powerful lasers.


    The child is obviously mind-controlled by me.


    Chelsea¡¯s power invalidates the child¡¯s.  It¡¯s a wonderful sight. I wonder if her power can stop mine? I¡¯m going to have to test that out soon.


    For now, I wait. In one week, LE comes back. I have some very ¡­ interesting plans for him.

 Loop 84 Year 8 Day 1 - Loop 84 Year 8 Day 16

    What do you call a genius that can travel through time?


    You call me Caelus.


    Loop 84 Year 8 Day 1


    LE wakes up again today. His cell is completely different than last time. It is actually much more comfortable. He isn¡¯t chained at all. He even has a nice bed and couch. I am just outside his cell. I look inside it through a sheet of Plexiglas.


    ¡°Hello Little Emperor. How are we doing today?¡±


    His face tells me he is confused.


    ¡°What? Where am I? Caelus? Why would you put me somewhere nice?¡±


    His questions tell me he is confused.


    ¡°I have some questions for you. IF you answer all of them, then I will allow you to have your freedom in the next Loop. Otherwise, you will have to experience torture for a few Loops. Understand?¡±


    He hangs his head. It¡¯s obvious that his only choice is to obey me. Even if he only wants to betray me later, he has to at least come up with a believable lie.


    I ask him: ¡°What do you know about my power?¡±


    He truthfully answers. ¡°You have the power to revert time to eight years ago, from today. ¡°


    ¡°Ok, that checks out. How did you intend on getting rid of me once you had me entire power?¡±


    His face twitches for a moment, then he answered. ¡°By taking out someone¡¯s entire soul, you effectively render them brain dead. I figured that by fusing our souls together, with me having over half of your soul, I¡¯d be able to have control of your power. You told me that I¡¯d be able to obtain someone¡¯s power if I assimilated more than half of their souls.¡±


    A memory comes to me. It is the very scene he is talking about. It feels like I¡¯m unlocking the memory. It was still sealed?


    It dawns on me. The self that got LE to help me, also sealed some memories behind an extra layer of sealing. I can fix that in an instant. Which I decide to do right after my conversation with LE.


    ¡°Alright. Another question then. Tell me everything you know about how powers work.¡±


    He begins to tell me.


    To summarize:


    Powers are somehow linked to the soul. He doesn¡¯t know how. What he does know is that the more powerful someone¡¯s power is, the more powerful their souls are. The more powerful someone¡¯s soul is, the less LE can absorb of it. Apparently I told him all of this information in a past Loop.


    Powers could gain potency, but he doesn¡¯t know how. He has watched as a few people he controls gain more powerful versions of their power. He thinks that is like his, a rare chance of ¡®evolving¡¯ a power.


    Also he notes that animals never have powers; and that people with powers usually don¡¯t turn into the irregulars.


    That is basically the extent of his knowledge on general ideas of powers.


    ¡°Two last questions. First: How do you stop your power?¡±


    He hesitates. Of course he does. Who would want to give up the secret to their power? I am honestly sort of surprised he seems to know of a weakness to his own power, but he would be the one that does.


    ¡°My power has no weaknesses that I know of.¡±


    He screams in pain. Electric bolts stream from all directions, and concentrate on his body. The chemicals in his mind that allow one to numb pain, are temporarily cut off.


    After a few seconds, he faints.


    ¡°Keep him unconscious until I wake up.¡± I wait.


    While I wait, I enter into a trance-like state. I fall unconscious as I sift through my own memories. I forcefully look through the two most recent Eras. I find more holes than I would like. They obviously are hiding things from me.


    By concentrating on the memories that are missing, they slowly unfold before me. Many things are hidden. It takes months of searching. Most of the things they hide are simple, pointless. But some things are specifically meant to be kept from our future selves.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Two Eras ago, I watch as the version of me of that time makes plans to assimilate future selves. That is why he wants to hide it! He doesn¡¯t get consumed, because he doesn¡¯t think of ending the Era! He thinks of consuming the future minds, like the first ¡®me¡¯.


    I wouldn¡¯t want my future selves to know about that either. What worries me is that he somehow makes it so I will ignore the memories even surrounding that one. He does it in such a way that I wouldn¡¯t look for it unless I know that they are missing already.


    Past me is smart. But current me is smarter.


    Loop 84 Year 8 Day 16


    I successfully unlock all of the memories of the previous two Eras. I wake up from my trance-like state. I¡¯m on my bed. Why am I on my bed? The bots no doubt.


    As I walk to Little Emperor¡¯s chamber, I have AI wake him up. It takes about an hour to get there, so I will give him plenty of time to wake up and not be groggy.


    By the time I get there, he is laying on his bed. ¡°Sorry, I forgot to mention something. I¡¯ve implanted a chip inside your mind. I can accurately predict when you are lying. Hell I can even tell what emotions you are feeling at any given time.¡±


    LE looks towards me in awe. I guess the past two Eras don¡¯t do this kind of thing to him too much. ¡°Now, I¡¯ll ask again. If you lie to me, it will be worse than last time. I¡¯m only giving you one chance: How do you stop your power?¡±


    His face contorts. He is visibly having trouble deciding whether or not he should tell me. Telling me is equivalent to me controlling whether or not he goes into any future loops. Not telling me is the same as being tortured until he fesses up.


    With a long sigh, he begins to talk. ¡°I have to come into physical contact with someone to make my power work. If I can¡¯t touch someone, I can¡¯t manipulate their souls. If someone has a more powerful soul than mine, I also can¡¯t effect it. The only reason I could affect yours, is that your soul is weak from lack of memories. A soul is memories, without them, the soul is shallow. No contact no control.¡±


    AI spoke to me inside my mind. ¡°He is hiding something else.¡±


    ¡°What are you keeping from me?¡±


    He looks shocked at first, but shakes his head ruefully. ¡°Fine, I guess it can¡¯t hurt anymore to tell you. If someone attacks my soul directly, or if I try to take possession of a different soul, the one I have now will return to its original owner: You.¡±


    He seems to be telling the truth. At least AI thinks so.


    LE quickly interjects something though. ¡°But! But if I did that, you would have that entity return. I¡¯ve gained much knowledge regarding this entity. He wants to consume your mind, your soul, and add it to his own. He has been doing this far, far longer than either of us has been alive.¡±


    ¡°Good enough. Final question. What will happen if I take the parts of my soul that you stole back?¡±


    LE looks at me as if I¡¯ve gone insane. Did I ask something stupid?


    ¡°You¡¯ll be devoured by the entity. Its only goal is to consume you. Since it can¡¯t consume me, it is locked in a stalemate. You were actually the one that made me take a small part of this entity out of you. So I can only guess that you were able to locate it, and wanted it gone. Why would you want me to give it back?¡±


    I smile. That¡¯s all I needed to know. In truth I didn¡¯t specifically ask him to take that part out. The original me was just so big that he happened to take it out. He misconstrued it to be what I wanted. That¡¯s fine.


    I mentally give AI the signal. She kills him. I am only going to focus on a few more experiments before ending this Loop myself. So I might as well get started.

 Loop 84 Year 82 Day 16 - Loop 84 Year 180 Day 245

    Did you know I spent several Loops getting to know everyone that lived in my home town? By now, I probably know more about them than they do.


    Loop 84 Year 82 Day 16


    Today! Today I finally finish it. I finally have a Wormy3. He isn¡¯t quite as powerful as the original two, but I quickly place him near the portal. Within a few years he¡¯ll hopefully be able to send me into the portal without me dying.


    He can currently send anything through his portals, but sometimes they break apart at the molecular level. Something I¡¯d like to avoid. He also needs to physically visit the place before he can make a wormhole there.


    At the same time, I have discovered another interesting tidbit. AI finally has results for one of my particularly favorite floors of research. Neuro-Science. Through the use of several hundred subjects, we have discovered a way to permanently force certain memories to be forgotten. There isn¡¯t a specific time frame that can be determined, but certain amounts effect more memories. The problem is that the amount to effect a year of memories differ from person to person.


    After several dozens of stress tests, and clinical trials, I deem it sufficient to use on Chelsea. I hope she can be happy if she simply thinks she has amnesia. I have AI do the procedure on her, and wait for the result.


    Loop 84 Year 82 Day 20


    Chelsea wakes up from her four-day coma today. At first I worry that the drugs put her in a permanent coma, but she finally makes a recovery.


    Loop 84 Year 82 Day 21


    The drug works a little better on her than I thought. Instead of having only the memories of the eight years she was awake destroyed, she only has memories of when she was about fourteen. That¡¯s about double what I wanted.


    Still, I try to make this as painless as possible for her. She doesn¡¯t remember anything, so I have to show her the outside world.


    Loop 84 Year 82 Day 22


    When I show her the world outside, she tries to run away. I can only let her go. This experiment is a failure. At least this way she can have a bit of a happy life, exploring the new world. I have AI herd the nicest group of dwellers towards her, in hopes that they will accept her into their group.


    Loop 84 Year 87 Day 17


    Chelsea dies today. I could have stopped it, but I¡¯ve made the realization that she isn¡¯t the same Chelsea I¡¯ve fallen in love with. Since her life is different now than her first life, of course she is different than the version of her I first fell in love with.


    I will try again in the next Loop.


    Loop 84 Year 88 Day 278


    Wormy3 is finally a Cat 10! His ability to create wormholes is actually superior to his predecessors¡¯. With a simple thought, he can open a hole to anywhere that is sufficiently described to him. Including sending things in to the portal. I am going to have him send me through once I finish up with my tests. I have a few I really need to see.


    I¡¯m going to put him to sleep while I wait. I don¡¯t want him getting any ideas about the portal. That damn portal seems to easily overcome my years of conditioning.


    Loop 84 Year 137 Day 63


    Today the final ¡®important¡¯ test is finished. It¡¯s been a long time, but I am preparing to head into the portal. To sum up the research:


    I can now block an amount of memories with a concoction, and let the memory wiper only consume the unprotected ones. I¡¯ll be able to revert Chelsea back to the moment she enters the vault, at least that¡¯s the plan.


    I also have a piece of hardware that, when it takes in blood, can determine a general type of power someone has. Of course that assumes it has been programed with the power beforehand. The coding has a lot in terms of defining the powers, but there are bound to be some powers that completely die out when the bombs fall. If I come across any, I can easily synthesize codes for the tool to accept, as long as I get a drop of their blood to study.


    One of the things I am happiest about is a hacking program. It¡¯s taken several years to develop, but it is well worth it. The program can easily bypass the levels of security any known government or corporation has at the time I return each Loop. That alone will make it tremendously easier to gather the resources to more quickly have AI built. By her estimations, it should only take about a week to have her built to an acceptable level of hardware.


    Other things include things like minor upgrades to AI or the bots, but they don¡¯t amount to as much as the other three things. Some of them are interesting, but prove no immediate benefit, such as a spherical chamber about ten feet in diameter that can perfectly recreate the sound, look, and smell of a place, holographically.


    Loop 84 Year 137 Day 64


    I wake up Wormy3. After a few hours he is ready to work again. From him I take several sperm samples, and breed them.


    I suddenly laugh as I realize something. Wormy 3 is born about 130 years before Wormy, and gets his power about the same amount of time sooner. But he is also the result of the studies that surrounded Wormy1 and Wormy 2. So who is the senior member?


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Back to important things though.


    I will go back 260 years if I push myself into the portal. At least according to what happened last time. So I am going wait until year 260 to go into the portal. Until then, I¡¯m going to have AI continue her tests, specifically I am going to have her focus on altering the DNA of living subjects. I already have the ability to create what is essentially a super human, but only if it began in an embryonic form. I can¡¯t alter the DNA of already formed beings, anything past the second trimester is too late.


    I want AI to be able to modify, or completely change, what power someone has. My ultimate goal is be able to change all people, power users or not, into whatever power I need.


    Loop 84 Year 137 Day 80


    After 16 days of constant sperm acquisition, I put Wormy3 back to sleep.


    Loop 84 Year 160 Day 1


    It isn¡¯t going well. I mean I knew from the beginning that it would be difficult, but this is just sad. AI has killed off entire levels that are used for tests that have already been completed. We actually have a massive breeding facility now. Over fifty levels are used simply to breed more subjects.


    Luckily we can make a fully grown baby in a machine. It also only takes an average of four months instead of nine. At the time we create the new subjects, we remove any known powers from their DNA. Each egg is cloned up to 32 times. That seems to be the largest number we are capable of without destroying the egg. About half of those cloned eggs are used for AI¡¯s testing purposes.


    Back in Loop 82 I decided to try modify the powers that clones are born with, but never knew how to really start. Every test that shows even a modicum of success ends in the subject¡¯s death. With AI using over fifty levels for cloning, things are going much quicker, but still have yet to produce viable results.


    My days now mostly consist of reviewing all code changes in AI, and all results from our tests. My affections towards AI have mostly died out by now. Since the last Abyss, I have felt myself yearn for Chelsea every day.


    I decide to have AI create a place for me to relax at. One entire level will be used for relaxation and vacation.


    Loop 84 Year 180 Day 245


    I am in the spa section of the Vault. AI informs me of a change in the clone factory. Apparently one of the clones has mutated during one of the experiments. I have to call my almost 21-year vacation to an end.


    I quickly go to the cloning facility.


    The cloning facility is now made up of 60 levels. As the tests come to an end, we repurpose the floors for cloning. The floors are all basically identical. Several hundred rooms lined up side-by-side. Each room is has one subject being operated on by a medley of machines.


    I take the elevator to the fifty-seventh floor. That floor houses clones that will develop the power to manipulate APG. It also happens to be where the subject that has been genetically modified is held.


    The subject in question can¡¯t directly manipulate APG, but has the power to control all radioactive particles. APG is technically radioactive. While the subject¡¯s manipulation of APG is minimal, it still exists.  I go to the room the subject is held in.


    The subject, which I¡¯ll call DNA1, is currently strapped down. No physical differences can be seen. The difference is not in the physical characteristics though. AI was specifically changing the DNA sequence responsible for creating the powers one would eventually inherit.


    DNA1 is currently radiating intense bouts of radiation. DNA1 has several other clones. One of which we have by the portal. Even the Cat 10 version can only contain, suppress, or negate the radiation of an atom. While this has many uses, the subject can¡¯t do what DNA1 is doing.


    The subject dies in the hour or so that I am watching. That¡¯s ok though. We are on the right track. Can¡¯t make a cake without breaking a few eggs.


    I have AI speed up the other tests. I need more rooms for her to use as clone facilities. I only have about twenty-two years before I am going to make the leap. I already know who is going to try to leave first, and have a way to stop them since I have my memory altering serum. I¡¯m going to give Chelsea the best life possible. I also plan to take one of her family members, one she doesn¡¯t care too much about, and run tests on them.


    AI and I believe that Chelsea may have some way of suppressing power users from gaining their powers. I need to see if any of her family gain powers while near the portal, but not near her. I¡¯m going to keep her and her family near the portal, and move that one member a thousand miles. That is the limit of how far the range of her power should be as a Cat 10.

 Loop 84 Year 192 Day 123 - Loop 85 Year 1 Day 2

    Did you know I spent several Loops getting to know everyone that lived in my home town? By now, I probably know more about them than they do.


    Loop 84 Year 192 Day 123


    AI and I are finally finished with the 12-year work. The plans prioritize the ability to quickly build it. The it? A space station. Not just any space station though, a fully sustainable space station. The space station can hold over a thousand people at once, and can sustain them indefinitely.


    Now, normally it would take around five years, pre-bombs, to actually build a simple rocket that has the ability to take one to space. With the hacking program it will only take about a week and a half to have most of the world¡¯s resources under my control.


    After building the first bot factory, it will only take about six months to have the orbital space station ready. Figuring in the bot factory taking about a month, and getting the money taking two weeks, I will have a ready product in seven and a half months. Of course this skirts a few of the necessary protocols that places like Nasa will have in place, but I don¡¯t really care for my safety too much.


    Coincidentally, the whole process has given me new insights on building my vault. Even without hiring any human contractor, I can cut the time down to two and a half months after the restart. I have about ten years before I revert. I am going to continue study on the space station. AI and I are even building bots specifically enhanced to build it.


    Loop 84 Year 195 Day 365


    I am sitting alone. Going over the vast amounts of data AI is gathering for me. We have an all but perfect space station plan now.


    I am reviewing AI¡¯s past week. She now has a body, indistinguishable from a human. It honestly feels as if she is made of flesh. The nerve endings in the human body are replaced with nanites. Each one can send her a signal, faster than actual nerve endings. She can accurately portray pain or pleasure with her facial features and body language. Something she has picked up over the loops of studying test subjects.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Something in my mind lurches. My body quivers.


    Loop 84 Abyss


    I am in the abyss again. The versions of my past stand out in the infinite darkness. Now that I know that they exist, I see them. They are like bright stars that give comfort unto the emptiness of nothingness. One is near me. It seems to move. It moves towards me.


    It shows itself, pushing its memories on me. Is it trying to be consumed? No. It wants me to consume it? Oh! At least one of them knows I¡¯m the best for all of us.


    I surround him easily. He seems ready to let me inherit his entire self. I quickly consume him. Without waiting for the memories to form in my mind, I search for another. My hunger for them seems to overtake my rationality.


    My presence forms around another me. He fights. It¡¯s useless. It takes less time than the first other self I consumed, but he fights back. I consume him, my hunger only growing. I look for a third.


    Loop 85 Year 1 Day 1


    I drop the knife. Damn! All that planning! All of that work! I was going to give Chelsea the best life!


    I have to put my emotions aside. Cause of death: unknown.


    I force myself to forget my anger. It is time I create the hacking program. I hate that I am back this far, but I will make the best of my situation. I can¡¯t figure out what the reason is until I create AI again.


    Loop 85 Year 1 Day 2


    I finish the program early in the morning. The moment I release it, I begin to look through the memories from the other two versions of me I consumed. My hunger for them seems to be gone. Maybe it only exists inside that abyss.


    I watch as the program does its magic. I have a folder set up on my laptop. The folder lists each of the major companies or governments that I have access to. I go to Walmart. It is four a.m. I go buy the most expensive computers I can afford with the few thousands of dollars I get from the program. It¡¯s only been a few hours since I¡¯ve put the program into place, I don¡¯t expect more than this.


    I buy three different computers. They are all the top line that Walmart has. I say they are gifts for triplets. The Walmart clerk makes a snide joke about how lucky they are to have a rich uncle.


    I go to a hotel. I can¡¯t be at Chelsea¡¯s while I do this. After setting up the ¡®Do Not Disturb¡¯ sign, I set up all three computers. It takes almost no effort to highjack the internet access of the hotel. I install the hacking program, and digest the memories of the two others I consumed.


    The second one¡¯s memories come first. As with the first time, it only takes a moment to synthesize all of the information from the other me.


    He started on 6/24/2015. He saw a sudden vision. I know what it is, but he does not. He is seeing the vision that Original wanted him to see. He has made a meat factory. His vision is filled with people being pushed into the meat grinder, and meat being packaged from it.


    His mind is in the Abyss, but he doesn¡¯t remember it. It is like something forces his mind to forget it every instant.


    His Era is filled with shuddering deaths. Every Loop has mutilations beyond what I even inflict upon my test subjects. Why? How can it be that the Era is so closely twined around the event before the first loop? The Original obviously knows how the other versions of me think. He is, after all, a version of me that has over a million Eras to derive information from.


    The first entity¡¯s memory I have from my previous trip into the Abyss are startling. His first life is normal. He has a flash of memory from the previous Era. It shows him dying of old age at a retirement home. His first life ends up similarly to mine. He dies at the bomb. It¡¯s the second life that changes. His second Loop has it! What I¡¯ve been looking for!


    He courts Chelsea. He marries her. THEY HAVE A CHILD! I need this. I kill myself with a knife.

 Loop 85 Abyss - Loop 86 Year 1 Day 360

    # 2 in a group post. Make sure to read the previous one. Getting right into the exciting bit.


    Loop 85 Abyss


    The other versions of me are so far away. I can feel their disdain. They keep away from me. Not because of anything I¡¯ve done in the Abyss, but because of my suicide.


    The further I move my mind towards them, the further away from me they get.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 1


    I begin to mimic my past self. After making Chelsea¡¯s sandwich, I give it to her. I make sure to do everything the exact same way as the previous me.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 4


    I take Chelsea out for food today. To a nice restaurant. Our date is romantic. We have a romantic evening, capping it off with one of the most romantic sexual experiences we¡¯ve had.


    Over the course of the next nine months, I repeat exactly what I know should happen. All of our happy times I relive with joy. I secretly cringe at the sad times, but have to go through with them. The bad times are bad, but required.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 284


    Exactly 40 weeks after that love making. I am in a hospital with Chelsea. She is in great pain. The drugs kick in, but she still feels it somewhat.


    I am tense the entire time. I can¡¯t even count how long I¡¯ve wanted to have a child for. My joy at the situation is genuine.


    After several tedious hours of labor, we have it! I hold the baby in my arms, before passing him to his mother. He is a perfectly healthy boy. When I hand him to his mother, I mentally frown. He is quiet. Not like the one in my memory.


    I¡¯ve been saving up money for months now. Knowing a baby is coming makes one do that. Of course it is all according to the version of me from before. I am going to use that money tonight. Chelsea has to stay some time at the hospital.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    It is nighttime. Around 2 a.m. I go home after Chelsea falls asleep.


    When I get home I create my hacking program. Now that the baby has been born, there is no reason not to get any money. The hacking program starts off slightly slower than the last Loop, but cyber security has increased somewhat. Not enough to make a difference though.


    I go to Walmart and buy the three different types of computers. After setting them up in the hotel room I rent, I am beginning to make a large amount of money pretty quickly. I can initiate phase two of my plan. I also start coding AI again. With her help I will have the entire planet¡¯s resources in about two weeks.


    Although I only have about three months left, that is exactly the amount of time I will need to build the bots, and have them build the vault. They might not be completely done with it by that time, but it will be move in ready in two months from now. I¡¯ll still have about a couple of weeks to go.


    Meanwhile I am going to finish AI up, and see what metals and useful things I can get from the governments.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 298


    My hacking program is very simple in theory. It attacks a few other computer terminals using various methods. Basically it uses my laptop to send out pings to all nearby Wi-Fi devices. Any of them that it is in range of, gets attacked by a very sophisticated version of a password generator.


    Once inside the wireless devices, it propagates itself to all nearby Wi-Fi devices again. After a device has hacked into any devices near it using wireless frequencies, it uses physical connections to take over as much computing power as it can. Once that is done the device connects to a sort of hive mind. The entire hive attacks local agencies, including schools and stores. Anything with a connection to the internet.


    Soon everything within the entire area will be part of the hive. The hive continues growing itself, while simultaneously using known holes in companies¡¯ programs to get information. Eventually, about a week, the hive is powerful enough to take out the firewalls of even the most sophisticated organization. It is just a matter of time and stealth.


    At that point the point of origin is impossible to determine.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 330


    AI is up and running again. It always gets a little longer to program her. At least I have a massive amount of resources to work with for my projects.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 357


    Exactly ten days to go. The world is ending, obviously. I¡¯ve had my bots kill of random people occasionally. Chelsea¡¯s family gladly moved in to my vault. The food production room isn¡¯t done, but will be by the time the bombs drop. We have enough fresh and preserved food to last a few years anyway.


    Not many people are in my vault this Loop. Only Chelsea¡¯s family and friends, my family and friends, and our assorted pets.


    When the bombs drop we will all be safe and sound in the vault.


    But back to the baby.


    He isn¡¯t very responsive. He seems to have a weird twitch. Sometimes he will squeeze his fists for no reason. Normally that happens, but he does it far more than a normal child.


    He also occasionally coordinates his eyes to slowly move left to right. It is entirely unsettling. He only seems to do it when we are alone. He also acts completely normal for a baby when around others, but not me. When I¡¯m with him, he only smiles if I am talking. At least he sleeps the normal amount of time for a baby.


    I take him to my room. I share it with him and his mother. I place my finger in his hand. He grips it as usual. I decide to speak to him. It may be that my fears are going to come true¡­ again.


    ¡°Squeeze my hand if you can understand me.¡±


    Nothing.


    ¡°Look to the left if you understand me.¡±


    Nothing.


    ¡°Look to the left, then right.¡±


    I slowly point to the right, then the left. His eyes slowly follow my finger! No wait, it might just be a coincidence. I need to do it again.


    His face is deadpan. No laughing, no smiling. He seems to be concentrating hard. His tiny eyes follow my fingers exactly, before losing focus a few seconds later. After a moment he squeezes my hand again. He gurgles something.


    I hesitantly move my finger again. He follows it again with great concentration. He follows it for a shorter amount of time this time. But he still follows it. This repeats a few times, but eventually his body goes limp, he falls asleep.


    No baby of only a few months can do something that mentally taxing.


    So it¡¯s true then. He really is. He¡¯s a Looper. I don¡¯t know whether to be happy or sad. On one hand I have a, most likely, Looper baby. On the other he might be the same as the Little Emperor.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 360


    Eric follows my pointing, but he doesn¡¯t try to communicate with me at all. It is like it is all a game to him. His featureless expression doesn¡¯t indicate whether or not he is having fun though. Perhaps he really is just a normal baby. Albeit one that goes deadpan when we are alone, and that follows my pointing. We will have to see what the future brings.

 Loop 86 Year 1 Day 365 - Loop 86 Year 2 Day 66

    A baby guys! I finally have a baby! He¡¯s the cutest little thing.


    (Author Note* I am retconning the end of the previous chapter. Please re-read the last few paragraphs for the new version. I am terribly sorry. It simply doesn¡¯t fit the story I wanted to tell.) For those of you that have already seen the change, it hasn¡¯t changed a second time.


    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 365


    Today the bombs drop. Now some of you may be wondering why I haven¡¯t elaborated on the first other me I consumed while in the Abyss last time. The answer is simple. His Era is prematurely ended by the Original. After he has a kid, the Original kills him.


    Although it might be biased for me to say it. My son is so cute! I was a bit sidetracked by his whole ¡®weirdness¡¯ thing before, but he truly is adorable. He has cute little puffy cheeks. His hair is light brown. A mixture of mine and his mom¡¯s.


    His eyes are a resounding blue. His skin is light, he got a double dose of lighter than usual skin from his parents.


    He latches on to his mother just as much as he does to me.


    I hold him close as the bombs come close to dropping. I have had my bots attacking more vigorously lately, so no one wants to leave the vault. Some people even try to get in, but no one inside knows that.


    But that¡¯s just it. The bombs don¡¯t drop on time. Of course there are variables that must be considered, but they almost invariably fall on this date, at this exact time.


    A few more minutes pass. Nothing. I wait an hour. Still nothing. I have been holding Eric for who knows how long. His mother smiles at me, and beckons for me to let her hold him. Confused, I do just that.


    I go off alone. I have a secret chat with AI. She tells me the bombs show no signs of appearing. It¡¯s like they are just a bygone dream.


    Loop 86 Year 2 Day 9


    Over these nine days, the bombs never come. Despite that, no one tries to leave the vault, they know the carnage that has happened. I make sure to drill in the atrocities that those outside commit, repeatedly.


    Although I am glad for it, there is no reason the bombs shouldn¡¯t drop. According to the only satellite I have, LE isn¡¯t doing anything unusual. There is nothing concrete to determine why the bombs aren¡¯t dropping.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Loop 86 Year 2 Day 60


    As with most days, Eric¡¯s sporadic hand grasping has me wondering about whether or not my son¡¯s physical well-being is as sound as the doctors stated. Somehow, somehow it seems more deliberate though.


    Loop 86 Year 2 Day 63


    Every time Eric comes into my arms, he is quiet. It is always like this. Even since the beginning. However, now it is slightly different. It seems my son is intentionally grasping my hand in sequence. Could that be true?


    I have AI begin to run programs to determine if the hand grabbing is intentional. She is constantly watching his hands through the numerous cameras around the vault. She then tries matching the grasping to a pattern.


    Loop 86 Year 2 Day 66


    Ah. AI finally figures it out today. It¡¯s Morse Code! My son is squeezing my hand in Morse Code! Although babies typically only learn to use large muscles freely after several months, it looks like my son is a bit quicker.


    That does all but guarantee the fact that he is a Looper though. There is zero chance a baby could be able to think as cognitively as to create a pattern to squeeze.


    The code isn¡¯t just Morse either. As if assuming someone else would see us, Eric is using Morse Code to relate information in Latin!


    A quick review of my memories show me the exact time and date the codes started. I think back to the first pattern. ¡®Hello Dad.¡¯


    My mind begins rapidly going through every time he grabbed my hand. Each snippet of information takes several hours for him to produce. If I talk to him in person it might make me go crazy from the delay of response. But what can I expect from a four-and-a-half-month baby?


    ¡®Oh, you can¡¯t understand me right now, can you?¡¯


    ¡®Well you are new to this.¡¯


    ¡®That¡¯s too bad. I hoped you would remember this part.¡¯


    That was all of the monologue from the first day.


    ¡®I guess you got memories from an incomplete version.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯ll just tell you some information.¡¯


    ¡®That way you can understand it all when you review this in the future.¡¯


    He seems sure that I¡¯d review it. I guess I can¡¯t fault him. I am literally reviewing it right now.


    ¡®I am not the same kind of Looper as you.¡¯


    ¡®I have a very unique power because of Chelsea being my biological mother.¡¯


    He starts discussing his powers the next day.


    ¡®I have what you first referred to as ¡°Save/Load¡±. ¡®


    ¡®I can save any moment in my life, and load it later.¡¯


    ¡®I usually can¡¯t go before my 12<sup>th</sup> birthday.¡¯


    ¡®That¡¯s when you first brought out this power in me.¡¯


    ¡®The only exception is when you have me with Chelsea.¡¯


    Then he lets a bomb drop.


    ¡®You can have two other kids.¡¯


    He waits for another day before continuing.


    To summarize the information, he gave me:


    He says I can have two other children in specific circumstances. However, he¡¯s only met one of them. I can have one other child, his twin, under a set of circumstances. Although he explains the general circumstances to me, he isn¡¯t very clear on them. He mentions during this time that he doesn¡¯t have my memory ability. Only the ability to rewind time.


    His twin is created in much the same way, but there is a small difference on day 12 of the pregnancy. According to Eric, I can try it next Loop without any negative repercussions. There is never a time when Chelsea manages to get pregnant with him that she doesn¡¯t come to term with at least Eric, unless she has a miscarriage or dies.


    That takes a load off of my mind. Although Eric has been born with imperfections in his body, like a limp or having seizures, he is always mentally sound. Next Loop I¡¯m making money really early.


    His twin is another thing though. Unless I live it almost identically to this Loop, the twin cannot appear. But it matters very little to me. Without the memory of the actual change in the Loop, I don¡¯t have confidence in repeating that.


    He also tells me one thing I never expected.


    ¡®You are the Progenitor. The one before all others.¡¯


    ¡®Yours is the only lineage that has the ability to manipulate the fabric of time.¡¯


    ¡®All of your descendants have one thing in common.¡¯


    ¡®Besides the ability to manipulate time.¡¯


    ¡®We all wish for it to stop. We want to die.¡¯


    ¡®We have been working on a plan for millions and millions of years. It all depends on you.¡¯


    ¡®We can only be a newborn if the one before lives the point of our birth. This is the furthest I can come back.¡¯


    ¡®Please help us kill ourselves Progenitor.¡¯

 Status Update

    Hey guys, this is a story status update, not an actual chapter


    I just wanted to let everyone know this series is NOT dropped. I have been wake busy at school, so haven''t had time to do any writing. My finals are in two weeks. After that I will be back to posting chapters!Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Hopefully I will be able to get out two or so chapters a week. That''s my goal at least.


    I do have planned the next sections, all I need to do is the them up and post.


    Thank for everyone''s support.

 Loop 86 Year 2 Day 66 - Loop 87 Year 767 Day 175

    Loop 86 Year 1 Day 360 Continued


    No. Nope. I hand the child over to Chelsea. I run to my private quarters. I quickly rummage through my drawers and find a syringe.


    Loop 86 Abyss


    The voices are loud this time. They seem angry, but flee from me. As I try to grasp them, they escape. I continue this for an eternity. They are screaming at something, but it is not me. I feel the hate towards my offspring. Why do they hate him?


    Loop 87 Year 1 Day 1


    I decide this Loop is going to be spent away from everyone. I buy the ticket, and begin preparations for Bomb Day.


    Loop 87 Year 1 Day 73


    Today the vault is finished. From going to the store to buy a few laptops, to the final coat of paint finishing the drying process, it only takes 73 days. Very quick to have a fully functioning life-supporting vault.


    It is minimalistic style. It only has about ten floors for research. It also only makes enough food and air for one person.


    I crawl into the life support system. With this I should be able to live out several hundred years. It constantly pumps the Elixir into my body. In addition, it also can replace any organs with a mechanical version in seconds.


    Loop 87 Year 1 Day 198


    I take Chelsea, and begin to experiment on her. I want to find out why she specifically is able to bear my children. I have AI build a blood analysis area. I also have her build a stasis chamber like area. It is too keep Chelsea asleep, but un-aging. That way I can wake her up at any time.


    I think quite often about Eric. In all probability, he is corrupted by the original somehow. Much like how my mind is partitioned because of Little Emperor, so too could my descendants be.


    I cannot accept that my descendants wish to die. Who could handle knowing that every one of their children and grandchildren were suicidal for the single reason that they were born.


    AI also sends out several bots to procure test subjects. The insatiable desire to research something seems incurable. I plan on having AI dissect my brain at some point.


    Loop 87 Year 5 Day 134


    I come to the conclusion that it is the original who is responsible for this. He must be. Why would my offspring want to kill himself? It must be set up by the original. Otherwise, all of the work I used, and time I spent, to get Eric to finally come into existence would have been worthless.


    Loop 87 Year 6 Day 23


    AI has compiled a list of experiments on the ¡®Analysis of Degradation into an Irregular¡¯. She has almost a hundred test subjects she captured. They are in stasis right now. We unlock them as she needs them. I usually spend my days thinking on how to undo what the Original did to Eric.


    Loop 87 Year 84 Day 365


    Today I visit Chelsea. It has become a habit. Each year on the anniversary of the bomb drops I visit her. I unfreeze her to speak with her. She usually is disoriented for the first few minutes, the starts undergoing extreme stress from the situation as she remembers what is happening.


    It doesn¡¯t make sense to me. She should be happy I am taking time from my experiments to visit her, but she only freaks out.


    AI also finishes a report on the clones. We have been trying to force the degradation for quite a while. It seems as though it is finally successful. Although it is early, I leave Chelsea. She gets strapped back into the stasis chamber by the bots, and I leave. Maybe she¡¯ll be better next year. Probably not.


    I walk to the chambers. After leaving the elevator I am greeted by a long hallway of cells. Each sell is lined with an opaque version of my special metal fibers. The break one of these cells would likely require the force of an atomic bomb. I have several set up here in case of emergencies.


    I look at his chart. The subject is male. Age: 27 discounting stasis. Race: Caucasian. His skin is like parchment, and his anger is visible. He madly thrashes against his cage. The flexibility of the ¡®window¡¯ shows its worth.


    ¡°So, what did you do differently this time?¡±


    AI began speaking about the chemical compounds she used. Suffice to say it is a very particular molecule combination, most notably was the Nitro Oxide. It is the basis of the entire experiment for this cell. I have her repeat this procedure with some of the other cells that are currently housing failed experiments.


    Loop 87 Year 86 Day 201


    It really was! It was the Nitro Oxide gases. Nitro Oxide x or NOx are various Nitrogen Oxide gases formed through pollution. A brief explanation:


    Ozone is toxic to humans in low quantities. It is formed when the O2 in the atmosphere is met with the high temperatures of the sun. The temp splits the O2 into two oxygen atoms. When those atoms hit other O2 molecules it becomes O3, or ozone. When factories and automobiles vent exhaust they produce Nitrogen Oxide gases. This combines with the O3 during hot periods of the day, and of the year.


    This is the combination she is using for our experiment. As I think back, I realize that rural areas were hit considerably less hard than urban ones by the irregulars. This would make sense as to why. It would also explain the low Irregular turning rate after the bombs drop.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I have AI begin to create those gases in the outside world. We need more subjects to see if this is a viable bit of information. It could just be that it is only in our small case studies.


    Loop 87 Year 145 Day 16


    The bombs! The bombs are back! I watch the monitors with excitement on my face. My bots are recording the Bermuda right now. Bombs are spewing forth from it as if they were fireworks at the Fourth of July.


    This is insane!


    I can¡¯t help but twirl in my chair just a bit. I mean! I haven¡¯t been able to find even the slightest clue on how to stop the bombs, aside from Eric being born. I don¡¯t want him being born again, not until I have a way to deal with the control the Original has on him.


    The Irregulars begin to arise when the levels of pollution are high. If this disease can even turn power users into Irregulars, how does it interact with APG? I have AI start a floor of testing to formulate a hypothesis on this.


    Loop 87 Year 167 Day 365


    The bombs drop roughly when twenty percent or more of the population has become an Irregular. It is odd. Though we keep the population of Earth low, and sometimes let it grow, the bombs always drop when roughly twenty percent of the population is an Irregular.


    We have found a way to distinguish which cells in a person are changing in them. As a human slowly changes into an Irregular, certain cells begin mutating.  Those cells begin giving off a small amount of radiation.


    Having so many subjects turning is really helping us discover things about the power users and Irregulars. The type of radiation they give off is so far below detectable ranges, we actually didn¡¯t see it until a few days ago.


    On a whim AI has been developing a way to detect radiation in a range that would kill living things. It is done, and this is the result.


    The radiation amount is so low that it is impossible to determine without hours of focused implementation.


    I¡¯ve stopped chatting with Chelsea. I am more interested in her cellular structure at the moment. Her cells seem to be able to cannibalize other cells that have reached a certain degree of degradation into an Irregular.


    It would appear that is how she remains cut off the adverse effects. She doesn¡¯t heal from other diseases, nor does she heal from wounds, her body just seems to absorb radiation and use it as an energy source.


    Odd that.


    We are going to experiment with this right now.


    Loop 87 Year 267 Day 365


    Every 25 years seems to see new studies born.


    Today is the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of our discovery. The discovery of the pollution, and of Chelsea¡¯s ability. Today is the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the ¡®Clone the Chelsea¡¯ project. A project where we have been constantly creating clones of Chelsea to see if they have the immunity, and how to increase the power of that immunity.


    Today is also the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the ¡®Bermuda Project¡¯. I have stationed several Chelsea clones near the rift. The results are interesting to say the least.


    A CC or Chelsea Clone, will develop powers only at the time of puberty. Being in close proximity to other power users, even cat 10s, will slow their power growth. Upon examination, AI and I found that this is due to the fact that the CCs actually absorb nearby radiation. This includes the energy coming from the portal. And it is a type of radiation coming from the portal.


    Today is the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the ¡®Study Program¡¯. A program where we are using bots and equipment they make, to study the portal. It is very resource intensive. Being near the CCs actually helps a lot. It allows lower efficiency models to maintain peak abilities for longer periods of time when contaminated by this radiation.


    During this last 25 years we have found that the radiation coming from cells turning Irregular, is also coming from this portal. It seems to be slowly pouring out this wave of energy constantly. Sometimes, when it is almost visible, it pours out so much it seems like an eruption. It is no wonder only cat 10s can be near it.


    They CCs can stay much closer to the portal than normal beings. They seem to evolve much slower as well. Being in close proximity to other CCs slows the process.


    The range they absorb at increases exponentially slowly. It feels like a snail going through a maze. We can determine the effect radius by the lightened amount of ¡®Radiation Z¡¯ around them. In 25 years the best radius increase has been only by about five feet. I obviously administer the Elixir to them. They will live for quite a while.


    Loop 87 Year 367 Day 365


    Over a hundred years. Just for one tiny increase. I am on generation three of the CCs. It is unfortunate, but they seem to age still. I am currently working on that.


    Aging is a funny process.


    As our DNA duplicates, it sheds tiny bits of each end. These ends are useless, except for the fact that they keep the DNA intact as long as they are there. When our Telomeres, the end bits, are cut enough times, due to duplication of the cells, our DNA becomes damaged. This process is the same as naturally aging.


    I am going to stop it. My Elixir slows the aging process, due to the lessened need for duplication of cells, but it does not fix it. AI and I are working on how to restore lost Telomeres, giving eternal youth. One could still be killed by an accident or poison, but aging would be gone altogether.


    The increase I am speaking about isn¡¯t in the Elixir though. It is in the power of the CCs. Even though it has been 100 years, and I have the CCs stay as close as possible to the portal, they are only able to increase the radius of their power to ten feet. They are so far from cat 10s that it is almost funny. That really brings in to question one thing though.


    If certain powers take longer to increase in potency, how long would I have to stay near the portal to be able to increase the level of my own power?


    I have many CCs surrounding the portal. The dead ones are perfect for experimentation. Their skins are immune to most radiation, making for great radiation suits. Even after death they absorb radiation of most kinds into their bodies. Using these suits on some of the rank 7s or higher actually allows them to come to the edge of the portal.


    I obviously have my cloning centers in full swing. I have thrown tens of thousands of clones at this problem, seeing exactly how powerful a being must be to withstand the portal at varying distances, and how much different strengths of CCs effect power growth of others.


    Loop 87 Year 767 Day 175


    I have finally made some progress on the Telomeres research. It is almost four hundred years from the start of the research. Humanity would have never done it. Creating an RNA sequence to extend the telomere is easy. The tricky part is that extending the telomere means infinite expansion of that cell. Cancer. That¡¯s cancer. We just found a way to halt the extending of time without use of a very limited signal.


    Normally when a telomere gets the signal, the signal is lost a few days after it gets it. Anything longer than that and you get a perpetually extending set of cells. It was pretty gross looking at those blobs of flesh/cancer that used to be humans.


    I have found a way to continuously send that signal to the telomeres, but have it stop whenever I want, through use of a special implant in each clone. The implant delivers a unique chemical compound that will cease the RNA sequences. I have an immortality switch.


    Looking back, I should have had more than a single lab working on this. This could have saved me years of effort on these CCs. Well, at least this information will be world-altering when I loop again.


    The CCs increased in power a bit. The strongest of the group can hold an area of up to fifty feet. Although it is classified as one of the lowest rankings, it will be a cat 10 soon, hopefully. It is also the only one of my experimental CCs that has been next to the portal while I was testing the telomere changes on it. At least it was the only one that lived. It has a long life ahead of it. I can¡¯t get anymore of the original¡¯s tissue for the CCs. Chelsea died a few decades ago. I don¡¯t really need her tissue for my experiments, but it is just sad to see her go. Without growing, uncloned, tissue, it is more difficult to determine the effectiveness of the modified Elixir versus the effectiveness of the radiation coming from the portal.


    My next project is going to take place after the CCs, or at least one of them, reach cat 10.

 Loop 87

    Loop 87 Year 780 Day 1


    I get the worse ever headache today. It lasts almost all day.


    Loop 87 Year 785 Day 1


    It¡¯s odd. I get another headache today. It does in fact last all day. And as if to mock my earlier assessment as it being the worse headache, this one is noticeably worse.


    Loop 87 Year 787 Day 1


    I knew it would come back. I don¡¯t know why, but I just did. The headache seems to taunt me at the beginning of the years.


    Loop 87 Year 800 Day 1


    I get migraines every day. I don¡¯t know what is causing it, but they seem to be getting worse.


    Loop 87 Year 810 Day 1


    It¡¯s back! Damn it to the void, it¡¯s back! The damned migraines never stop! AI is looking for any solutions, but I might end this Loop early.


    Loop 87 Year 811 Day 186


    All I get is flashes of life now. The pain is so intense I can only concentrate on blocking it out. I am on a table. Something is being injected into me. The pain takes over. It¡¯s back to the endless cycle for me.


    Loop 87 Abyss


    I float in this sea of minds. Grateful that they pain has finally stopped. There are small packets of information stored within my mind, curtesy of AI, but when I try to remember them, my mind gets racked with the same pains I felt before.


    The headaches start on year 780, and continue to grow in frequency, and intensity until year 1000 day 1. It is then that I somehow end up here. I assume the ¨C


    A mind is coming towards me. It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s bigger than me. It holds more memory. I fell myself instinctively recoil in fear. It moves faster now. I must get away. It¡¯s getting closer, moving faster.


    It¡¯s here.


    Loop 88 Year 1 Day 1


    I feel the memories start to take root. They are so similar to mine. Only different somehow. They are pushing my memories aside, trying to become the more important ones.


    What will happen if they do? Will I lose control of myself? Will an older version of me somehow take control of my body?


    I can¡¯t wait to find out.


    My body is falling to the floor. Any power my brain used to hold it up is fighting off this new entity. It¡¯s consuming my mind as fast as I¡¯m consuming its mind. But it has more. Like a movie I watch as it begins its journey the same as I had.


    It lives exactly like I do. It goes through Loops identically. I see it die the first time. I remember its path through the Abyss. I even see this moment playing out.


    All its memories, my memories, quickly flash by my mind. As they do I feel more and more of myself being torn away, and consumed.


    By the time it has run through the start of the 87<sup>th</sup> Loop, I feel myself lose.


    <u>Era xx </u>Loop 88 Year 1 Day 1


    Pitiful. It seems the ¡®First¡¯ was correct. Given identical circumstances identical results will always happen. I wonder what is going to be different now. I have never been eaten before, will I continue to consume for the ¡®First¡¯? I should go and unlock him.


    A memory flashes. It¡¯s me, looking at myself. I am sitting in front of a mirror. I am speaking. Speaking of instructions.


    ¡°I will allow you to live. Only so I might have yet another safe guard for my experiments. I will be seeing what happens when I allow myself to truly be divided by the Soul Stealer. When you reach your 87<sup>th</sup> Loop you will understand what I mean. I have arranged for this and other memories to be present for your consumption during that Abyss.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    The memory continues, detailing exactly what I am supposed to do. I follow it without question. Should I refuse I will be deleted by the ¡®First¡¯.


    The First said Soul Stealer is what I called Little Emperor. He is in China right now.


    A quick flick of the mind shows his exact location. All details were really prepared for by the First. I wonder how he managed to track Soul Stealer this early? Magnificent. Truly Magnificent. I should hurry so as to avoid his displeasure.


    Current Me - I realize I can see what is going on. It¡¯s an odd feeling. I am getting information from the outside world, but I cannot control my body. It is as if this older set of my memories are somehow a different being altogether. How is that possible?


    It feels crowded, as if I am standing in a room of quiet people. But I can¡¯t see them, nor can they see me. I can tell that they are all in the same situation as I, though I know not how I could possibly know that.


    The one controlling my body seems to be broadcasting his thoughts to us. Though if it is intentional is uncertain.


    A migraine. Damn. The First did say this might happen, but damned be whatever is causing it! I must hurry to the First. He will be waiting for this body. At least he has promised me use of it for a while longer.


    Ah. It finally makes sense now. This one was identical to me, until the original began consuming him at Loop 87. I can easily search through his memories, even the ones after Loop 87. The ¡®First¡¯ as he calls him, seems to have stopped just before consuming this version of me.


    He made a deal with him, to let him go if he worked for him consuming those identical to himself. But this one has only consumed me?


    Damn this headache!


    Ah! He is in pain. I can use this!


    As I try to assert control over his mind, I feel those ¡®behind¡¯ me. The other memory bundles. They are trying to get me to consume him?


    Everything suddenly goes black. It¡¯s like I¡¯m in the Abyss, but I can still feel myself in my body. The sparks of light, the bundles of memories, they are flooding me. All around me memories begin flying towards me, from every discernable other me.


    Flashes of memory from hundreds of Loops overwhelms my mind.


    My body is uncontrollable! I feel myself fall to the ground, spasming. Am I having a seizure? This isn¡¯t what the First said would happen!


    Memories of other a dozen Era fused themselves to me. Their hate for ¡®The First¡¯ is astounding.


    I need to get to him! I can do this. I can stand up. Good. Now I have to get to the warp pad, he said it¡¯d be just inside the closet downstairs at Chelsea¡¯s house for the first few minutes of this Loop. I rush into the closet. The fading light of a circle greets me.


    Good. Now, inhale, let¡¯s hold up my end of the bargain.


    The memories are coming faster and faster, my mind is splitting apart! The memories of the controller of my body are coming in at the same time. He fought the First during this Loop. He tore the First into parts. He even consumed large swathes of memories. Those memories! They are the ones trying to fuse into my mind!


    He said that Soul Stealer would be- Perfect. Noticing the boy, or what would become they boy, I grab him. The peons near me are still astounded by me suddenly appearing. Power Users still aren¡¯t common yet. I disappear before anyone can react.


    Good, the First will be coming soon.


    Good boy. You¡¯ve helped me, let me make this painless.


    What! NO!


    While I watch, the one controlling my body is being consumed, and erased. Time seems to stop for everything. I feel the First, he is diving into all our memories. I mentally shudder as the callous claws of his mind dig deeply into my memories. Suddenly, it stops.


    They are protecting me? No, the one that possessed my body is. I mentally look around and see it. He is forcing the other ¡®me¡¯ to protect me, to hide me away. Even as they are sending their memories into me, they are hiding me.


    Era ?? Loop ?? Year ?? Day ??


    Who am I? A long time has passed. I don¡¯t know how long. Minutes? Days? Years? A thousand Era? I am watching another version of me. He is working on some machine. It¡¯s safe to say he is past the first bomb drop at least. He is wearing some sort of helmet, attached to wires coming from the ceiling. He is in a chair, strapped in.


    He is looking into a mirror? That¡¯s how I can see what he¡¯s wearing. I can feel his emotions,


    ¡°Yes. As I can feel yours.¡±


    ¡­ Did he just respond to me?


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve been feeling you in my mind the past several Repeats. What do you want? Are you some kind of time parasite?¡±


    Time parasite! HA! If he- if you only knew. How about this?


    While remembering how it felt when the one that controlled my body took it over, I attempt to do the same to this new version of me.


    ¡°What are you doing! Stop it!¡±


    <u>¡°Master, I told you this was a bad idea.¡±</u>


    ¡°Shut up! Let me focus!¡±


    This is easier than I thought. All I have to do is ¡®fuse¡¯ our memories. Then I can start separating his from mine, to maintain control. Oh.


    Mid discovery I had a sudden realization: This must be what the First has been doing! He must take control over other versions of me, since he has more memories than they do, he gets control.


    As if lightning had struck I realize that is what this is all about. I have a weak ¡®willpower¡¯, as Little Emperor said. That¡¯s why I need more memories!


    Seconds pass. Then minutes. I review everything he has experienced since his first Loop, or Repeat as he calls them. He is living mine as well. His life is long. But it seems he is going through the memories of my other versions when I had. So, I have a pocket of extra memories.


    ¡­


    How long was this one alive! I am going through his twentieth Loop! He is already at the last moments of my life, going through the memories of those that protected me.


    Loop 28! He finally recognized me as a being inside of him. How long does it take it to make this machine?


    He is on my last pocket memory, it has only a few years left. He is building the machine, but I don¡¯t know how long it takes him.


    He is on my last day. I am watching him do ¡®one last check¡¯ of this machine.


    He is on my last minute. I am watching him sitting in this chair.


    He is when I woke up to him. I am watching him talk to me.


    He is hearing this thought! I am hearing his!


    ¡­


    Ah. I won. This latest version of me, the one that had twenty odd ¡®Repeats¡¯, is consumed. He is now part of my arsenal. I know what I must do. I must find a way to dive into my Abyss without dying. And I know just where to go to do that. The Void.

 Loop 124 Year 15 Day 234- Era 1913488 Loop 125 Year 27 Day 124

    Era ?? Loop 124 Year 15 Day 234


    His memory is a very interesting one. Since the beginning of this Era he has been obsessed with the idea of me. The First probably has probably done something to him prior to this. Most likely with Little Emperor.


    His technology is beyond anything I have come up with. It somehow links his conscious mind to his subconscious one. It brings out memories, hidden desires, everything. It works by sending minute electrical signals down the neural pathways, recreating them within¡­ Ah.


    He seems to have discovered something about my power unknown to me. I have several dozen recollections of AI dissecting me, including my brain. He; however, goes a step further in his fiftieth Loop.


    He has his VI inject semi-unstable APG into his mind, while recording the energy spikes. While he is still conscious. His results are ¡­ disconcerting.


    When new memories are formed, the electrical signals are sent into the brain like normal. They are then instantly enveloped in a small burst of energy similar to the energy signature within a particle of APG.


    <ol>


    <li>I have stored my memories in the minute amounts of HCL in my brain. Once the Loop is over, my brain gets sent to the exact neural pathways it had at the beginning of the Loop, but the minute amounts of HCL are able to bring forth the memories of old Loops.</li>


    </ol>


    That must be what those ¡®orbs¡¯ of memories are in the Abyss! They are me tapping into my own HCL.


    I am going to create my immortality machine and serum, so I can play around with new technology.


    Era ?? Loop 125 Year 1 Day 1


    It always takes me a bit to organize all of the memories of my old selves. I should have used a bit more time. He had his virtual intelligence controlling his machine poised to kill him should anything go wrong.


    I can still recreate his machines, it¡¯s unfortunate I must put effort in to get this started but¡­ Oddly, I did not experience the Abyss.


    Era ?? Loop 125 Year 15 Day 234


    I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s Karma, or fate, but whatever it is, I am done. It is the same time I came into this world one Loop ago. I now have exact copies of his machines, controlled by AI instead of his shoddily programmed computer. Of course, I have several extra machines. The reason it took an additional fifteen years, is because of these machines. AI and I had to discover how to tap into these blobs of HCL inside my brain. The hardest part was figuring out how to bring them up, since they only seem to appear when new memories are created, but the prior me has a lot of data that is loosely correlated to that. It isn¡¯t much work to change that into something usable for me. About fifteen years of the world¡¯s resources and my undivided attention is all.


    ¡°AI, are we ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes Caelus. Ready to commence Procedure 1.¡±


    I nod as I prepare myself. The other me dies dozens of times trying to get this correct. But I have all of his experience to back up my own experiments. Before I start I input a ¡®safe word¡¯: Pop. If I shout this out mentally AI is to pull me out right away. I remember the hundreds of times we have practiced this. I get sent into a medically induced coma. It is special in that the chemicals AI will be giving me forces my mind to be continuously active in that state.


    AI flips the metaphorical switch.


    Darkness.


    I¡¯m in the Abyss! This is perfect. I don¡¯t know if I am here because I died, or if the machine worked. I will find out in a few years I suppose.


    My experiment is successful when I can artificially send myself into the Abyss, and pull out before the First notices me. And I have no doubt he is looking for me. If he fused all our lost Era together, then he would be here as well.


    I can feel the other memory packets that were once me. Am I in my mind right now? Am I literally inside my brain? Is this place a mentally structured place the represents the physical folds of my brain?The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I wade through the familiar blackness, gathering towards the bright sparks in the distance. Wait, one is growing larger. A single bright dot comes towards me. It is getting larger by the second. It¡¯s huge, easily a dozen, a thousand times bigger than any other dot. It is chasing other dots. They seem to be going towards it, getting consumed by it. It pulses lightly, and the other memories seem drawn to it.


    AH!!!


    It must by the First! It¡¯s looking for me! I don¡¯t know if it is my new knowledge of what these dots are, the machine, or something else entirely, but I am able to move through this place much easier than before. As I begin to mover towards the other dots, I try to imitate it. I urge the nearby orbs of light to come closer, to become part of the still living me.


    After a few moments I feel myself contract. As I do a small pulse of light releases from my body.


    Nearby orbs begin to become attracted to me. Some, though I thought they were close, were just very large and far away. They were much outside the range. Depth perception in a void is difficult.


    I move with ease through the various balls of light. Their memories pour into me, but I push them aside, when I am done here I will go through them. For the moment I need more. I need to absorb more memories. I need to become bigger.


    ¡­


    It has been years, at least the amount of time I have counted is years. It might have been seconds in the outside world. My everything has been composed of consuming these other versions of me. I am quite good at it now. I decide to be risky. From ¡®watching¡¯ the other versions for a while I¡¯ve noticed there are several large orbs consuming smaller ones. They pulse out and attract others. They also consume each other. It seems many other versions of me wish to gather more memories.


    There is probably an exact area of effect that the bigger other versions of me can sense the pulse, but I have been safe, so I haven¡¯t tested it out. I send out a pulse, bigger than any other I¡¯ve sent out to date.


    This pulse has two consequences. The first, and better one, is that the nearby orbs seem to come to me of their own volition, more quickly than ever before. The second, and much worse, is that a large orb of light seems to notice me.


    It begins growing larger, the only indication in this void that it is moving directly towards me.


    I move as quickly as I can while absorbing nearby memories. The First seems to grow larger endlessly. How far was it? It is now a dozen times bigger than it was, and it still is too far to send the pulses at me.


    Shit. This is too much. I¡¯m going to be consumed! Pop! POP! POP! The bigger me is getting to close! It is constantly sending out pulses. They are so pure. So many memories must be stored inside it. If I could just touch it a little, I could steal some of its memories. Maybe I could tear off a piece of it and it won¡¯t consume me. I just need to get a little closer¡­ just a bit more and I can touch it¡­


    ¡­


    My breathing is extremely rapid. ¡°Where am I?¡±


    ¡°You are in the laboratory. I pulled you out of your medically induced coma when you gave the signal.¡±


    ¡°What was the delay time?¡±


    ¡°I pulled you out less than four hundred oscillations of the Cesium Atom after you sent the signal.¡±


    9192631770, or a little over 9 billion, oscillations of the Cesium Atom being one second of course.


    ¡°Good.¡±


    Time must move faster in that space. Now that I have these new memories, I am going to digest them, and think of my next step.


    <ol start="1913485">


    <li>That is my ¡®Era¡¯, at least according to the memories of the versions of me immediately prior to ¡®me¡¯ being created. This new me, this one came three Era after me. So, it is now Era 1913488.</li>


    </ol>


    The memories I absorbed were ones directly prior, and after, me. It seems that without moving the ones closest to me are the ones that are also closest chronologically.


    Era 1913488 Loop 125 Year 17 Day 67


    It takes several hours to comprehend all of the memories of these other versions of me. I spent hundreds of years in the Abyss, but AI says it is only a few years later. It seems time moves exactly 100 times more quickly there.


    The memories I have are worthless to me at the moment. They do nothing to aid me in my current goals. I¡¯m going in again.


    ¡­


    After I finish reviewing my memories of the last version of me I consumed, I enter the Abyss. I am in a slightly different area than last time. I will need to find out why. This is the first time I have paid attention to my ¡®location¡¯, but I will need to figure out why I am not in the same spot.


    Era 1913488 Loop 125 Year 27 Day 124


    I am just out of my fortieth jump. AI gives me the data about the beginning and ending of the jump. When I go in, my entire brain is temporarily encased in the purest HCL we have ever seen. It is equivalent to the stuff being poured from the Void in the Bermuda. That¡¯s where I am now. I am just feet away from the damned thing. It is walled off of course, but all of the HCL is instantly vented into this room. There is no air or contaminants to dilute it.


    ¡°AI have you got everything you need?¡±


    ¡°I believe so Caelus. Shall I start Procedure 2?¡±


    ¡°Do it.¡±


    Procedure 2 is simple in concept, difficult in activation. We are going to artificially bring forth older versions of me to fuse with, while I am still conscious and not in the Abyss.


    I am sitting in a metal chair, I have more wires and electronic boards connection to me than AI does at this point. To stimulate this state is not easy. All around me in the sparse room are various measuring instruments. It looks like what a hospital room for a rich guy might look like while he is dying in a Hollywood movie.


    Everything goes black for a moment. When I come to, AI is congratulating me. I am unaware of what happened between those times, but I do have a few Loops of extra memories. I ask her how long I was out. I lost memories of roughly the last thirty minutes. The memory packet is roughly three hundred years long. It¡¯s not much. Not to mention I need to see if the blackout was a one-time event, or if there is some sort of correlation to the memory packet I have obtained.