"Let's watch the original airing of the Utopia project from several years ago," Mick said.

The feed of Mick and Larry once again shrunk to a small corner of Tom's front wall. The main display area changed.

It was the first night that the world was introduced to Mick Nealy-Nealy, the charismatic spokesperson for the Utopia project. Despite being older like everyone else, Mick still had a ruggedly handsome appearance, and a warm and reassuring Aussie accent. He stood out in his black scrubs; most people only had access to white scrubs.

Mick's show had been highly anticipated, and was heavily promoted as the answer to humanity's survival. Every underground apartment in the world had tuned in to Mick's broadcast; their residents hoping for a solution.

The Mick in black scrubs began by introducing himself and his team at Utopia, whose faces—including a fresher-looking Larry—were all on video-chat in the background. Mick then launched into an explanation of how they had cracked the problems with the simulations.

It turned out that there were two unbreakable rules for a simulated consciousness to maintain sanity in a virtual world.

"The first rule requires that the scanned consciousness is completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that it exists within a simulation," Mick explained. "No contact or knowledge of the Real World can ever be revealed. Ever. Even the knowledge that humankind was attempting simulation needs to be forgotten. This means the last fifty years of technological advancement needs to be wiped from memory."

Black-scrubs Mick leaned toward the camera. "Memory manipulation is tricky. So, we will be relying on the original six billion brain scans conducted over forty years ago. Those scans are the starting point. To the limited number of you who have not been scanned; I am sorry, but you will not be able to join Utopia."

Surprisingly—or not—those who could join were not upset about losing fifty years of memories.

"The second rule is that the simulated world cannot be an exact replica of Earth. It needs to be distorted and manipulated enough so the consciousness does not believe it should behave entirely like the Earth they once knew. A familiar life on a recognizable Earth leads to the consciousness's fixation on the differences between reality and the simulated world, which eventually drives the mind mad." Mick smiled, and held up one finger. "However, by presenting a completely new and fantastical world, the brain can rationalize these discrepancies. An example we love to throw around here is that the thought process shifts to 'Monster Pizza has a unique taste' rather than 'pizza doesn't taste like pizza, what is wrong with the world?'. Oversimplified, but you get the idea. So, when we begin the simulation, we will be loaded into a familiar Earth. This is so the consciousness can ground itself. Then, almost immediately afterward, the Earth undergoes its transformation into Utopia."

Black-scrubs Mick paused dramatically. The video-call faces behind him were still and silent.

"At this point," Mick continued, "you're probably thinking: 'Okay, so you can create a virtual human living in a virtual world. So what? That's not me, just a virtual copy.'"

Those had been Tom's thoughts exactly, and he had already dismissed the idea.

That's not me and it's not my family.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Eventually, his physical body would die here in reality, and that would be the end of it all.

"Let me tell you a story," black-scrubs Mick continued in the older video. "When we first discovered that we could sustain a scanned consciousness, the energy and computing power required were off the charts. We didn't understand why at first, but we pushed forward with the project, and our AI Caretakers built highly advanced computer servers to meet the demand. One night, during testing, one of our software developers decided to use his own scanned consciousness. The moment it was activated, poor Fredrick died."

Mick paused again. The faces in the background were solemn.

"While this was a shock, and a horrible tragedy for the team, this incident led to an astonishing discovery; the existence of what can only be called a soul." Mick smiled wondrously. "Fredrick died because his soul left his physical body to inhabit the simulated one. The high energy needs of the system, that we hadn't understood before, were caused by the power draws needed for sustaining the human soul. Whenever we activate a deceased person's consciousness in the simulation, their soul is called forth from . . . well, wherever it was, and is reunited with their consciousness. They only possess memories stored with the consciousness from their previous life. They have no knowledge of their death, or any answers about the afterlife. However, the individual is truly alive within the simulation, and the profound emotions we felt during life, like love, are connected to the soul."

The discovery had rocked the world.

Tom's original outlook on the simulation had completely flipped. He could be with them again. Not just a computer replication of his family, but actually them, with their souls and most of their memories. Thank God, his family and closest friends had been scanned and stored.

In the older video, black-scrubs Mick allowed the news to sink in. "Storing inactive consciousnesses is similar to any other kind of data storage. We've successfully stored six billion individuals, and I have no doubt that they, as well as ourselves, are eager to resume living their lives." Mick waved a hand around his underground apartment, then stared intensely into the camera. "Because this is not living."

The older video cut off dramatically.

The minimized feed of blue-scrubs Mick and white-scrubs Larry returned to full size on the wall. The Onboarding video played on.

"As expected, the revelation of a soul sparked religious uproar," said Larry. "It almost escalated into war. However, nearly all of us are in our seventies or eighties, and our apartments are too safe and comfortable for many to wish to leave and attack each other. Nevertheless, many people saw the virtual simulation as a potential purgatory, designed to trap souls instead of letting them continue on to an afterlife. If there was a God or gods, would we anger them by calling the souls back? Were we ripping our loved ones from actual Heaven? Humankind had a lot of fear-based questions. However, humans' survival instinct is strong, and humanity pushed forward with its plan. Every living individual whose consciousness was mapped forty years ago was given the choice to participate, or to opt out."

Even if it had turned out to be purgatory, Tom would still be with his family. The simulation would eventually come to an end—through loss of power, alien invasion, or the Earth being eaten by a black hole—and their souls would make their way to the real afterlife then. Whatever that was.

"After another few years of research," Larry continued, "we discovered a way to initiate simulations while keeping the physical body alive. When activated, the soul will transfer to the virtual realm while the user's physical form remains in a vegetative state and is cared for by AI robots."

Larry reached under his chair and extracted a metal circlet with wires. "Everyone wears these silly-looking attachments on their foreheads, which slowly feed simulated memories back into your unconscious bodies. This keeps the physical body from dying. When the simulation is paused, the soul returns."

Tom had been filled with excitement and hope. After years of loneliness and pain, he finally had something to look forward to. The Real World was shit, but this new virtual life could give him his family back.

Larry put down the circlet. "Everything was proceeding to plan; until we ran into another roadblock. We already knew about the energy and computing power challenges. However, as the simulation expanded and more tests were conducted, we uncovered an insurmountable problem. The sheer magnitude of raw power to run billions of souls with fully functioning neural pathways is simply not sustainable. The strain on the system is immense. The power flowing through the system can sometimes literally melt the hardware. The fact was, if we wanted a simulation to house everyone, we needed ten thousand more super computers and a million more spare parts."

Larry paused again, though it seemed to Tom that he was settling into his role. "Sadly, even if the AI were to continue constructing simulation servers long after the last human passed away, the necessary minerals and resources are already gone. We've used every available resource to its maximum capacity." Larry spoke faster. "Currently, we possess enough equipment to sustain the active consciousness of six billion individuals for approximately five years in Real World time. Beyond that point, we must drastically reduce the number of active consciousnesses. Out of the six billion scanned minds, three hundred million fortunate individuals will be able to continue their existence within the simulated reality. Once the limited population is chosen, the AI will have sufficient servers, recyclable options, and power to ensure the perpetual operation of the simulation."

Mick's face was somber. "I am so sorry to tell you this news."

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