THE MOMENT
"Thank you!" Celia chirped as she ran her card through the reader. She smiled at no one, then took her receipt and strolled out through the automatic doors.
She walked to the nearest SUV and began loading her groceries. The parking lot was full of cars Celia parked there herself and all of them had their keys in the ignition. Celia was doing her best to pretend things were normal; but, it's much harder having to pretend alone. She spent the first month after everyone else disappeared trying to find out something or someone.
The internet still worked but no one replied to anything she posted. At first, she wasn't sure how long the power grid would stay up without being monitored. But, after a month she felt confident enough to try and travel. The grocery store was her last stop before hitting the road. She loaded the final case of water, closed the trunk and walked around to the driver's side; but, something caught her eye.
Out of nowhere, a dark-haired teenage boy was standing in the middle of the parking lot. He wore a translucent red visor over his eyes and his hands were at chest height typing on a smokey-grey pane of glass.
"HELLO!" Celia shouted and approached the boy. He took his eyes off the glass pane to look at her and a pair of golden stars glowed in his visor for a moment. Then, he smiled at her.
"Hello," he said. He gave a dismissing wave with his hand and the grey slate disintegrated into white dust and disappeared. "My name's Turbo, what's yours?"
"Celia," she stopped a few feet away from him. She was eager to talk to anyone else again; but, she still wanted to be ready to run if she needed to. "Where'd you come from?"
"An alternate Earth," Turbo said. "He looked around at the parking lot, then back at her. "Something happened about a month ago?" he asked. Celia was intrigued when he mentioned an alternate Earth. If she hadn't been alone for a month, she might have found it harder to believe. But, she knew he appeared out of thin air. Then, he gave her a timeframe for the event.
"Yes!!" Celia nodded. "How'd you know? Do you know what happened?" Turbo nodded.
"It happened everywhere," he said. "I do know what happened, but it's not important. Do you want me to fix it?" Celia took a half step back subconsciously. She definitely wanted him to fix it, but his comment triggered some red flags.
"Not important?" she asked. "Everyone else on Earth disappeared... and that's not important?" Turbo nodded.
"It wasn't just this Earth, and it can be fixed," he shrugged. "Inconsequential. Not important." Celia narrowed her eyes at him.
"So, if it's not important... tell me," she said. Turbo chuckled.
"Alright, but you're not going to like the answer. You sure?" Celia nodded.
"I want to know what happened," she said.
"Do you know anything about online games?" Turbo asked.
"Yeah....?" Celia nodded. Though, she had no idea where that question was headed.
"You know that games are run on computers called 'servers' and that updates are installed to keep the game fresh, you get how all that works?" he asked.
"Where'd everyone go?" Celia shook her head to ignore his questions and try to get hers answered.
"And sometimes, when an update is being installed, something goes wrong. The server could crash during an update and accidentally delete things, for example," Turbo said. "Though, it's usually fixable. Any well run game will have reliable backups." Turbo reached forward and plucked nothing out of the air. But, when he pulled his hand back he held a card-sized, red pane of glass with a white pair of scissors etched on the front. Then, he flicked his wrist upward and the grey slate appeared. He inserted the red card into the slate, then focused on Celia.
"Restoring the backup is as simple as hitting," Turbo looked down and hovered his hand over the slate. "This key," he smiled at Celia.
"Waitwaitwaitwait...," Celia waved her hands to shoo away all unnecessary thoughts. Turbo lifted his hand away from the key. "You're saying...somehow...this Earth is... a game?" she asked. Turbo nodded and shrugged simultaneously.
`'Welcome to the AlterNet," he said.
"So.. the power is going to stay on? Groceries still restocked?" she asked.
"Yeah. When it crashed, it deleted all the NPCs, but all the established routines are still running."
"Why am I still here?" she asked.
"You're Unique," Turbo replied with a shrug. "Your soul isn't the same as the rest of the NPCs," he said. Celia didn't quite understand what that meant but she decided it could wait. She had a more important curiosity to answer.
"What happens if you don't fix it?" Celia asked. Turbo shrugged.
"Nothing? Probably." Despite the disappearance of everyone else, Celia was just starting to enjoy her predicament. She was looking forward to traveling across the country alone without the fear of running into anyone else. "Can you fix it later if I change my mind? Can I reach you again?"
"Sure," Turbo nodded. He dismissed the slate and stepped forward while pulling another glass card out of the air. This time it was transparent. He held it between both his hand and pulled it apart; it stretched out and became two. He handed one to Celia.
"This is a node. It'll let you contact other universes and it'll give you control over this Earth," he said. "I'm already on your friend list," he added as she accepted the node.
"Wow. Thank -," Celia was interrupted by a black portal opening next to them. It left behind a woman in a white space suit. The woman saw them through the helmet and immediately yelled at them.
"HELP!!" But, another voice spoke over her scream.
"This one too," the voice said. Then, a black portal appeared. Golden stars appeared on Turbo's visor as he watched them disappear again.
"Whoa. I gotta help! Good luck!" Turbo pulled a black card out of his node and threw it on the ground. It formed a hole and he jumped in.
Celia was alone again but things were different. She knew there was a wider universe out there that she could reach if she wanted to. And, she knew she was alone on the Earth with full access to all the conveniences of modern life. She smiled to herself as she reflected on the most important thing she pieced together in the last few minutes. She could play the game however she wanted. Celia returned to her car with a final thought for Turbo and the wider universe.
"Thank you," she whispered to herself.