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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Theeaglestrikes on 2024-11-03 03:43:26+00:00.

The idea was that we would never face the apocalyptic aftermath of a failed experiment. They would.

But when that world ended, something came back with us.

“Like each of you, I joined this agency for a reason: to advance our species,” Director Stefan Blom announced at the monthly assembly. “Mankind must experiment to avoid stagnating, but we are rarely permitted to do so. We are constricted by bumbling bureaucrats who care only about preservation. Conserving the status quo.

“They fear change. Fear what it might mean for them. They do not understand that we will die if we do not take risks, which is why we owe our lives to Dr Gerard Weston. Our esteemed physicist has found a way to pursue experimental projects without upsetting politicians and militaries. His latest achievement, the Weston Tunnel, has created a doorway to another universe. One with a parallel version of our world.

“Earth Two. There, we will conduct our supposedly ‘dangerous’ work without putting ‘Earth One’ at risk. And our leaders will see. Presidents. Prime ministers. Commanders. When we achieve results, they won’t care about how we obtained them. They’ve never cared about their ‘neighbours’ before, have they?”

Dozen Minus is a callous corporation in every universe. One linked to the British and American governments. Governments you might already despise in the public sphere, so you wouldn’t want to know the dreadful things they do behind closed doors.

Dozen Minus rarely conducts ethical experiments. Your leaders only care about money, and we only care about progress. Director Blom has only ever cared about progress, I should say. He ensures that politicians get their payday, and they mostly let him do as he pleases. Governments only expressed concern when we began to develop technology that threatened humanity’s very existence.

Of course, as Blom explained in his speech, world leaders think nothing of their neighbours. And Earth Two was nothing more than a cluster of nations across the pond. The ‘pond’ being that multiversal tunnel between one reality and another.

Earth Two became Director Blom’s playground. A gargantuan laboratory for performing Dozen Minus’ experiments without repercussions. And when inventions were tested successfully, they were green-lit for use in our world.

How do I fit into all of this? Well, my name is Adriano Rossi, and I was a computer programmer who worked on the Nervorum Project. We were creating the world’s first superintelligence — a conscious, self-teaching AI named Nerv. Science fiction made reality.

Now, I know that AI has been snowballing over the last couple of years, but Dozen Minus has been ahead of the curve for decades. The Nervorum Project was, actually, near-completion in the late ‘80s. This organisation has always possessed technology beyond anything in the public realm.

But Nerv was obstructed. Was prevented from being ‘born’. The risk of humanity’s extinction was, and still is, too high. Roadblocks prevented programmers from ever taking that final step. From creating a self-sustaining, inorganic intelligence capable of growing itself. A digital mind.

And that was why Dr Gerard Weston changed everything. When he developed that tunnel to a parallel version of Earth in 2015, Director Stefan Blom saw an opportunity to finally test numerous deadly devices. Inventions with the potential to end the world. After all, politicians were no longer concerned when somebody else’s world was in danger.

We began by investigating the Dozen Minus of Earth Two. Seeing whether that parallel agency had also developed a tunnel — one that would risk Earth One. But there was no Dr Gerard Weston in that alternate world, thankfully. Earth Two was vastly different. Politically. Culturally. Historically. Dozen Minus existed, but not in the same manner.

After that, we threw all we had at the parallel world. Deadly experiment after deadly experiment. And when Earth Two survived one project, we moved straight onto the next. In early 2024, the Nervorum Project reached the top of the list. It was approved for testing.

Helen Harding and I stepped through Weston’s tunnel into that parallel world, and we prepared to become gods. In the banal setting of a hotel room, we set up a potentially cataclysmic device — a slim, rectangular gadget that held Nerv on its hardware. That digital brain had existed in some form for nearly thirty years, being tweaked and improved by each new influx of geniuses. A collection of binary commands waiting for some courageous, or foolish, Dr Frankenstein to yank the lever.

“You need to let it go,” Helen said.

She’d read the slight frown on my face. The slight sign of humanity. Only I seemed to see Earth Two as a real place. A planet barely different from ours. One teeming with life. Human beings in a drastically-different world, but human beings, nonetheless.

“We aren’t the first to come here and take a risk, Adriano,” she pointed out.

“But this experiment’s the worst, and you know it,” I said. “Nerv won’t have any use for humanity once he exceeds our intelligence.”

“Not our intelligence,” Helen reminded me. “Theirs. This is their world, Adriano. You keep forgetting that.”

“Even so, I still don’t think we were ready,” I said.

She sighed. “Director Blom was very clear that—”

“Yes, well, the director isn’t a programmer, is he?” I asked. “Nerv will have the ability to become exponentially powerful. He’ll see things that we, with our limited brains, physically can’t see. Who’s to say that he will stay within Earth Two — this ‘laboratory’, as Blom calls it? Nerv might find its way back to our world. Might slip through our tunnel.”

Helen frowned. “Adriano, why did you even get involved with this project?”

I shook my head. “You misunderstand. I’m not trying to act holier than thou. I was drawn to this for the same reasons as you.”

“Then what’s up?” she asked.

“I told you. We need more time,” I said.

“This has been ready for decades,” Helen answered. “All we’ve really done is tweaked and improved it. Added as many safety features as possible.”

“I know,” I replied. “This is my admission of guilt then.”

“Adriano…” my friend started.

I looked up from the device on the hotel bed. “What?”

“Are we going to do this?” she asked. “Or do you want to explain to Mr Blom that you’ve had a crisis of morality and changed your mind?”

I didn’t, and I hadn’t. With the tap of my thumb, I booted Nerv.

And you may think that the horror of my tale involves this superintelligence running amok. Annihilating the world. Well, it certainly did not take long for our artificial intelligence to study the internet, then teach itself things that mankind may not even be able to understand. But Nerv did not go rogue. Did not scorch the Earth. He improved it.

The artificial intelligence multiplied at a rapid pace. Not in the sense of procreating, but uploading itself to physical devices across the world. It revealed its plans to world leaders, offering to improve the global infrastructure, and quickly became something of a global celebrity. All within a single month.

Helen and I were instructed by Director Blom to remain on Earth Two, and we watched the planet flourish. Watched the intelligence put forth plans for tackling climate change, poverty, global debt, all known wars, and even resource shortages. Powerful folk on Earth One wanted Nerv to be implemented back home. Wanted our reality to enjoy the same economic, cultural, and scientific development as Earth Two.

However, after two months of staggering growth, there came an unexpected knock on the door of our hotel room.

Helen sighed. “Will that receptionist ever just—”

It wasn’t the receptionist, and the visitor did not allow me the dignity of opening the door. It burst inwards with a single thud — the forceful pummel of a thick boot. Then charged several dark-uniformed men, and the last thing I heard, before my environment slipped into a black ooze of unconsciousness, was Helen’s piercing shriek.

You may be shocked to learn that the above segment was only the preamble to the true horror. The story I am about to tell.

Waking in a drab cell with two single beds and my screaming colleague, it did not take me long to piece together the situation. I’m not calling myself a genius. I simply felt familiar with the layout of the prison. The grey décor of the small room in which Helen was pounding on a glass viewing pane and begging for release. The yellow badge emblazoned across the guard’s top pocket — a cold man who watched us with static eyes. My fellow inmate had, of course, also pieced things together.

“Adriano… You’re awake. Help me. You programmed these panels back home, didn’t you?” Helen asked, desperately fiddling with the screen by the locked door. “Do you know how to unlock it?”

I rubbed my sore brow and climbed off the bed. “I’ll try, but this isn’t our Dozen Minus, Helen. Things are different here.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice interrupted.

It did not come from the guard who observed us from the hallway. It came from some concealed speaker in a ceiling panel. And I recognised the dulcet tone of the speaker. It was, undoubtedly, Director Stefan Blom. His parallel self.

“Please just let us go!” I called.

“Not until I know why you’re here,” Blom continued. “Not until you tell me why I’m seeing double.”

Then two figures joined the watching guard in the hallway. I had expected their arriv…

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