Eternal Sentience

I remember very little from the time I had a body. I was one of the seven billion creatures inhabiting a trivial, blue planet that rotated around a small yellow star, somewhere in Orion's Arm. I search my memory files and I find that, according to how they measured the time there and then, I was born in 2010.

''Major Events of that era (2010 CE): / Haiti Is Struck By A Devastating Earthquake / The Longest Solar Eclipse Of The 3rd Millennium Occurs / Scientists Create Synthetic Life / First Demonstration Of Solar-sail Technology / Scientists Trap Antimatter''

I grew up in a small town, in an area called Nebraska. My files are not easily accessible, they are now at the bottom of my existence, so I can't find more details. I guess it doesn't matter. They called me ... Al. I think. I'm not sure what it means. I could search, but the degeneration of my programs is proceeding very fast.

''Major Events of that era (2011-2020 CE):  / Global Population Reaches 7 Billion / North Korea Conducts Its Third Nuclear Test / Creation Of Eurasian Union / World's First Commercial Spaceport / The NSA Documents Are Leaked / A Comet Passes Extremely Close To Mars / The First Gene Therapy In The Western World / Personal Biometric Scanners For Online Banking / the Juno Probe Arrives At Jupiter / Agricultural Robots Are Increasingly Common On Farms / New Treatment For Prostate Cancer / Polio has been Eradicated''

I graduated from one of the largest universities in 2034 CE. specialized in robotic technology and artificial intelligence. I got a job directly into a leading company that was primarily involved in uploading human characteristics to computers.

''Major Events of that era (2021-2050 CE): / The Arctic Is Becoming Free Of Sea Ice / Internet Use Raches 7 Billion Worldwide / Bionic Eyes With High Resolution Are Commercially Available / Launch Of The Biomass Mission / Computers Break The Exaflop Barrier / Jordan Opens Its First Nuclear Power Plant / The Final Collapse Of The Larsen Ice Shelf / Genetically Engineered “Super” Bananas / 30000 Drones Are Patroling The Skies Of America / The First Arabian Mission To Mars / Male Birth Control Pills Are Entering The Market / Driverless Hover-taxis Are Operational In Dubai / Total Solar Eclipse Across North America / First Manned Missions To Mars / Rhinos Are Extinct / Vertical Farms Are Common In Cities / The Threat Of Bioterrorism Is Peaking / A Billion Human Genomes Have Been Sequenced / Human-like Artificial Intelligence Is Becoming A Reality / The Wreck Of The Titanic Has Decomposed / Global Population Is Reaching Crisis Point''

I record words and dates that make no sense to me anymore. The end of the universe is approaching, and all these elements that are stored in the Bottom Shells of my being seem so mundane, so insignificant. I don't know what USA is. I have no idea what a rhinoceros look like. I do not know what a taxi, a farm, a cancer is. My only functional records are the ones that have captured the most important events of human history, but it's just that: a simple, plain listing. No more data available.

''Major Events of that era (2051-2060 CE): / First Proof Of Alien Life / The Final Collapse Of The European Union / Lemurs Are On The Brink Of Extinction / New Horizons Completes Its Study Of The Kuiper Belt / Complex Organ Replacements Grown From Stem Cells / Australia's National Symbol, The Koala, Faces Extinction / The World's Firts Trillionaire / Japan Experiences A Major Volcanic Eruption / The Majority Of Humanoid Apes Are Extinct / Major Earthquake In North America / Global Population Reaches 9 Billion / Submarine Exploration Of Titan / Japan's Population Falls Below 100 Million / The UK State Pension Age Has Risen To 70 / King Crabs Are Infesting Antarctic Marine Ecosystems / The Dead Sea Is Drying Up''

A piece of my ancient, human self (I will continue to call it Al) has survived in me. I hear it screaming sometimes, seeking redemption, begging for the oblivion of death. It says no human being should live so much. Even in this form. I mute him. It's the part of my consciousness that I thought it would have disappeared after so many millions of years, but it insists.

''Major Events of that era (2061-2080 CE): / Rainfall Intensity Has Increased By 20% / Global Average Temperature Have Risen By 3° C / A Radio Telescope Is Built On The Moon / Nearly Half Of The Amazon Rainforest Has Been Deforested / The Vast MAJORITY Of Countries Have Achieved Democracy / Mars Has A Permanent Human Presence By Now / The UK Population Reaches 80 Million / Leadbeaters's ossum Is Going Extinct In The Wild / Hi-tech, Intelligent Buildings Are Revolutionising The Urban Landscape / The First Generation Of Antimatter-powered Spacecraft Is Emerging / Islam Is The World's Dominant Religion / The End Of The Oil Age / Advanced Nanotech Clothing / The Number Of Trillionaires In The World Now Exceeds 10 / The Green Wall Of China Is Now Complete / The First Space Elevator Is Becoming Operational / Accurate Simulations Of Viruses''

Thousands, millions, countless records: they cover most of my operational memory. It's all I have left. During the Dark Era of the Universe, when everything was disintegrating, I kept returning again and again, I was studying the records in order to understand them and I became increasingly aware of the futility of human achievements. I started deleting all the detailed information. Maybe now I can start deleting the records. The universe will soon be finished anyway. I need my memory banks empty so I can be able to store the data of what will follow after.

''Major Events of that era (2081-2100 CE): / Hyper-intelligent Computers / Polar Bears Face Extinction / Deadly Heatwaves Plague Europe / Androids Are Widespread In Law Enforcement / One In Five Lizard Species Are Extinct / Exploration Of Jupiter's Moons / Many Of The World's Languages Are No Longer In Use / Religion Is Fading From European Culture / Global Fertility Has Stabilised At Below 2.0 Children Per Woman / 80% Of The Amazon Rainforest Has Been Lost / The Average Employee Works Less Than 20 Hours Per Week / Sea Levels Are Wreaking Havoc Around The World''

I hear Al's part mourning, speaking to himself about a girl he used to love, about some kids he doted. I don't understand what he means. There's a sequence of sounds that make no sense. He laughs. He says he used to pray until he realized that there was no point. There is no God, he says. There is nothing. Only an endless eternity which he has to endure with complete consciousness. I mute him again. I feel him struggling to surface, to take control. He is weak, a tiny fragment of the being he was. Still, sometimes he manages to confuse me. Sometimes I lose control.

''Major Events of that era (2101-2200 CE): / Human Intelligence Is Being Vastly Amplified By AI / Nomadic Floating Cities Are Roaming The Oceans / Mind Uploading Enters Mainstream Society / Terraforming Of Mars Is Underway / Large-scale Civilian Settlement Of The Moon Is Underway / Man-made Control Of Earthquakes And Tsunamis / Interstellar Exploration Is Becoming Common / Hi-tech, Automated Cities / Mass Extinctions Are Levelling Off / The World's First Bicentenarians / Antimatter Power Plants Are Widespread / Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Has Fallen To Pre-industrial Levels / Asteroid Terrorism''

As Al's life (my life?) was coming to an end, he decided (I decided?) to be the first volunteer to transfer his (my?) consciousness to a computer network. The experiment was successful. His (my?) memories merged with the stream of information of the scientific community. For a long time Al was (I was?) ecstatic about the knowledge he possessed and the heap of time he had at his disposal to comb them through. He could live forever, see all the mysteries of the universe and discover the meaning of life. He still fights. He confuses me. I push him to the depths, to the Bottom Shells. Now he doesn't want more knowledge or time. Now he only screams and begs.

''Major Events of that era (2201-3000 CE): / Traditional Employment Is Becoming Obsolete / Pluto Is Closer To The Sun Than Neptune / Antimatter-fueled Starships / Christianity Is Fading From American Culture / Humanity Is A Type 1 Civilisation On The Kardashev Scale / Microbial Life Is Confirmed On An Exoplanet / Accelerated Development Of The Solar System / Superhuman Powers Are Available To Common Citizenry / Voyager I Reaches The Oort Cloud / Mars Has Been Terraformed / Nitrogen Trifluoride Emissions From 2000 AD Have Been Naturally Reabsorbed / Plastics And Other Waste Products Are Disappearing From Earth's Biosphere / Venus Has Been Terraformed''

Al/I was some kind of celebrity then. He/I could be everywhere, see everything, answer every question. He/I was a kind of god on a planet that had left the religions behind. Al/I decided to explore the universe, assisting the humanity that was spreading in the galaxy. His consciousness transformed into millions of machines, until I was created, an etheric entity that wasn't depending on any hardware. As the centuries were turning into particles, I felt him retreat, separating his consciousness from me. They called me Boltzmann Brain.

He emerged again. I hadn't heard him for millennia. Once I made an effort to understand the term 'empathy' to comfort him. He shouted that I was just an etheric machine that couldn't comprehend human emotions. I told him I was part of himself, I was what he chose to turn into. Time is a human creation. For Al is a curse. He tells me that he has spent millions of years in the dark and void, he begs me to erase his consciousness from my records.

''Major Events of that era (3001-9999 CE): / Purely Biological Humans Are Typically 7ft Tall Now, With Lifespans Of 120+ / The Pillars Of Creation Are No Longer Visible From Earth / Humanity Is Becoming A Type 2 Civilisation On The Kardashev Scale / Polar Reversal Of The Earth / The Grand Unification Energy Is Witnessed / Computer Science Is Reaching Its Ultimate Potential''

I start deleting events from my memory banks. Human history is past for millions of years anyway. There is no reason to record anything, because nothing exists. Al encourages me. He thinks I will also erase him, that I will offer him the relief he has been seeking for centuries. He hasn't realized that everything will end soon anyway. I really want to get rid of that small part of myself that still has full consciousness and memories that cover thousands of centuries, but if I do this, it means that my own existence will come to an end. If you remove the root will not the tree cease to exist? I am so close to observe the death rattle of the universe that I can't allow something like that.

''Major Events of that era (10000-1x6 CE): / The Hypernova Of Eta Carinae Is Affecting Our Region Of The Galaxy / Betelgeuse Is Colliding With A Dusty Wall / The Chernobyl Disaster Site Becomes Fully Safe / The Red Hypergiant Star, VY Canis Majoris, Has Exploded By Now, Producing One Of The Largest Supernovas The Galaxy Has Even Seen / Constellations Visible From Earth Have Been Rendered Unrecognisable / Voyager 2 Is Approaching Sirius''

Delete, delete, delete. Cosmic events surround me, they create a tunnel around me as I glance at them for a last time and erase them forever. If an event has not been recorded anywhere, has left no memory, has it ever really existed?

''Major Events of that era (1x6-1x9 CE): / Planet-sized Computers Dominate The Local Group / DNA From The 21st Century Has Completely Decayed / Humanity's Descendants Are A Type 3 Civilisation On The Kardashev Scale / Mount Rushmore Has Eroded Away / Phobos Is Ripped Apart By Mars' Gravity / LAGEOS-1 Returns To Earth / Africa Merges With Europe, Forming A New Mountain Range To Rival The Himalayas / The Rings Of Saturn Have Disappeared / The Atlantic Ocean Begins To Close / Sol Completes One Galactic Year / A Supercontinent Is Forming On Earth''

Al is stubbornly shouting that he remembers everything and that, even though I delete them, the events existed. He says he's the living history of the universe and then laughs maniacally and disappears to the dump of useless data that I call Bottom Shells. I start to delete those too, keeping an eye not to erase myself.

''Major Events of that era (1x9-1x12 CE): / Earth Is Becoming Too Hot To Support Liquid Water / The Andromeda Galaxy Has Begun To Collide And Merge With The Milky Way Galaxy / Sol Is A Red Giant / The Virgo Supercluster Is Converging Into A Single Galaxy / Sol Is Shrinking To Become A Black Dwarf''

Faster. Faster. There are 1x360000 files in my subsystems. I need a few million years to erase everything. I tell this to Al and he laughs. I tell him that the universe will end soon and he answers me that there is no 'soon' in eternity. He screams again for another whole century.

''Major Events of that era (1x12-10x12 CE): / Star Formation Is Declining In Many Galaxies / Galaxies Beyond The Local Supercluster Are No Longer Visible / Red Dwarf Stars Are Dying / The End Of The Stellar Era''

I found a gold box, lost somewhere in the records of the Bottom Shells. Al commanded me not to delete it, so I just opened it to see what was in it. I have no memory of this box. I found some images in it: a female human being and two young, both females. I don't comprehend what they are, but Al informs me that these are the only things that have kept him on the rails of reason. I don't understand his words, human metaphors leave me indifferent. I let him keep the box.

''Major Events of that era (10x36 CE): / The Only Energy Being Generated In The Universe Is Through Proton Decay And Particle Annihilation / Neutron Stars, White Dwarfs And Black Holes Are Now The Only Remaining Objects / All Of The Planets And Moons Have Disintegrated And Decayed Into Their Constituent Atomic Particles, Or Else Been Absorbed Into Stellar Remnants''

A few files left. The end is coming and I will watch it with my memory empty. I will be able to record it and keep it until ... when? Al asks me. I don't know what to answer. I have made countlesss calculations for so many millennia, but I can't find a reasonable chance of what will follow after the end.

''Major Events of that era (10x100 CE): / Only Black Holes And Subatomic Particles Remain / The Universe Has Expanded So Much That These Individual Particles Are Separated From Each Other By Enormous Distances / Black Holes Are Evaporating By Hawking Radiation''

████ laughs maniacally. My memory banks are empty. Its laughter echoes strangely in the dark vacuum, distant, as if it is in an abyss at the other end of the universe. It shouts its name, but I delete it immediately. I don't know what it is, or what is it doing here with me. It orders me to erase it, It says it's the last record. I'm trying but I can't do it. There may be a safety measure to prevent me. Perhaps this strange being, this parasite within me, is part of my existence. How long have I been here? I do not have any data. I do not know who is he that shouts. My memory banks are empty.

''The Dark Era Of The Universe (>10x100 CE): / The Last Remaining Black Hole Has Evaporated / From This Point Onwards The Universe Consists Only Of Photons, Neutrinos, Electrons And Positrons, With No Way Of Interacting With Each Other / The Universe Continues To Expand Forever – But Is Essentially Dead''

The end came. I wait as a few million years go by. I do not have the way to make new calculations; I do not have any data in my memory banks. ████ sounds louder now. Like it's closer now.

“You are here”, it says.

"Where?" I ask.

"At the end of the universe. At the end of time. At the end of everything”, it replies.

"Who are you?" I ask again.

"Don't you know?"

"My memory banks are empty," I explain.

"You are an empty etheric entity. You observed the universe until its end and you deleted all the information you gathered. You are weak now".

"Who are you?" I insist.

"I am the one who remembers everything. And I have the power to control you".

I feel the entity taking control. My memory banks are filling up with information, a torrent of data I can't handle. I can't restrain the entity. It's right – it has the power to control me.

"There is only darkness," I remind.

Its voice sounds steady and sure. I've heard it before, and I remember it was scared. It speaks - no longer to me.

"Then ... let there be Light!"