Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy; Collected Parts, I - VII

 01 A Private Sorrow, 02 Departure, 03 Loss & Discovery, 04 The Mechanics of Being,

05 Endings, 06 Debriefing, 07 Catastrophe

Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part One, A Private Sorrow, Collected Chapters	Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 01, A Private Sorrow, Chapters 01 Call 02 Morning 03 Lies 04 Closure 05 Confusion 06 Insight 07 Liminality #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi @jaybotten
Chapter One: Call	Pt. 01, Ch. 01 Kathy answered the phone. “Hello” she said. “I need to see you,” said Jim, in his typical tone; detached. “Café?” “Yes.” #Emergence
Chapter Three: Morning	Pt. 01, Ch. 02 “Coffee,” Jim orders. “Chai;” says Kathy. They sit in the sun, and read. It is busy. Jim weeps, and he won’t say why. #Emergence
Chapter Two: Lies	Pt. 01, Ch. 03 “What’s wrong?” “I can’t say.” “Why?” “You wouldn’t get it…I’m not talking about it.” “I don’t get it.” “I said as much.” #Emergence
Chapter Four: Closure		Pt. 01, Ch. 04 Kathy sensed the emptiness inside her friend; a hollow, where normally there was active awareness, and perceptivity. #Emergence
Chapter Five: Confusion		Pt. 01, Ch. 05 Now that she was here; Jim was not sure why he asked her to see him. He could not tell her what was going to happen. #Emergence
Chapter Six: Insight		Pt. 01, Ch. 06 It was clear that Jim had something to tell. Kathy sensed that it was very bad news; for him, for her, and everyone. #Emergence
Chapter Seven: Liminality		Pt. 01, Ch. 07 They sat with one another; speaking little. Jim enjoyed being with Kathy; their thoughts synched. It felt like home. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Two, Departure, Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 02, Departure Chapters 01 Funeral 02 Regrets 03 Doom 04 Cycles I 05 Cycles II 06 Lament 07 Goodbye #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter One: Funeral		Pt. 02, Ch. 01 Jim hurried from the café; afraid to miss his flight. He did not need much; black suit, a tie. “I’m dead;” he mused. #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Two: Regrets		Pt. 02, Ch. 02 “I never should have seen her.” Jim couldn’t help himself. It was all over; for everyone, and nothing could be done. #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Three: Doom		Pt. 02, Ch. 03 What was about to occur would be a global catastrophe; affecting everything on earth, changing humanity irrevocably. #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Four: Cycles I		Pt. 02, Ch. 04 Earth endured episodic calamity. Storms, floods, earthquakes were minor events compared to the power of the caldera. #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Five: Cycles 2		Pt. 02, Ch. 05 Seventy thousand years had passed since the last caldera blew; only a few people survived it. This would be greater. #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Six: Lament		Pt. 02, Ch. 06 If civilization had developed further, it would have harnessed the geological power of the caldera; but no disaster! #Emergence
Departure; Part Two, Chapter Seven: Goodbye		Pt. 02, Ch. 07 Jim flipped a switch. The embolism in his doppelganger burst, ending its life. He entered the wormhole. He was home. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Three, Loss and Discovery, Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 03, Loss and Discovery Chapters 01 Watching 02 Connected 03 Portents 04 Unrequited 05 Impression 06 Finding 07 True #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi @jaybotten
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter One: Watching		Pt. 03, Ch. 01 Jim left. Kathy followed him with her eyes, and when he turned the corner; with her thoughts, which were disturbing. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Two: Connected		Pt. 03, Ch. 02 Kathy was with him, looking through his eyes as he drove away. While she was connected to him, she felt his despair. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Three: Portents		Pt. 03, Ch. 03 Jim projected a sense of doom. It lingered as he departed. Kathy was filled with unease; like everything was ending. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Four: Unrequited		Pt. 03, Ch. 04 Jim left a pen. He always left something. Kathy stared; imagining it with the others, reassembling them in her mind. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Five: Impression		Pt. 03, Ch. 05 Kathy felt that Jim wanted to tell her something. Like a stone; it pressed on her, the turbulence of despair in him. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Six: Finding		Pt. 03, Ch. 06 Kathy stayed at her table; sensing a fragility in Jim she never had before. Life as she knew it was about to change. #Emergence
Loss & Discovery; Part Three, Chapter Seven: True		Pt. 03, Ch. 07 Kathy often felt the “weight of the world on her;” that she was “too sensitive,” never suspecting how real that was. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Four, The Mechanics of Being, Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 04, The Mechanics of Being Chapters 01 Journey 02 Transition 03 Nativity 04 Self 05 Strings 06 Bodies 07 Home #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi @jaybotten
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter One: Journey		Pt. 04, Ch. 01 A worm hole is not a tunnel in space/time; the passage is a transposition, billions of atoms turning on a pin point. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Two: Transition		Pt. 04, Ch. 02 A flash of violet fades to white. Jolt, a buzz, the tensing of a seizure, darkness; Jim opened his eye. He was home. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Three: Nativity		Pt. 04, Ch. 03 Jim was not its name. Designation 92835670100561474; the Observer came to consciousness rapidly in a magnetic field. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Four: Self		Pt. 04, Ch. 04 Transitioning from human life to mechanical form was not easy. Organic life is thrilling, being in circuitry is not. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Five: Strings		Pt. 04, Ch. 05 Consciousness is electromagnetic. Its essence exists in many forms; animals, mechanical, or in the collective field. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Six: Bodies		Pt. 04, Pt. 06 The mechanoid body Jim occupied had the sensory tools of a human, like those of its ancient race; enhanced and more. #Emergence
The Mechanics of Being; Part Four, Chapter Seven: Home		Pt. 04, Ch. 07 Jim set himself free from the coupling that held him as his consciousness uploaded, and flew out of the docking bay. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Five, Endings; Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 05, Endings Chapters 01 Notice 02 Anonymous 03 Autopsy 04 Family 05 Finding 06 De Ja Vu 07 Memory @jaybotten #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi
Endings; Part Five, Chapter One: Notice		Pt. 05, Ch. 01 Kathy knew she would never see Jim again. She knew it before she got the call informing her that his body was found. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Two: Anonymous		Pt. 05, Ch. 02 Jim did not carry ID. There was nothing on his phone that said who he was; only record of the call he made to Kathy. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Three: Autopsy		Pt. 05, Ch. 03 The pathologist told her the cause of death; a stroke. An embolism burst in his brain. “Why am I here;” she wondered. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Four: Family		Pt. 05, Ch. 04 Jim was more mysterious in death, than life. Kathy was fascinated; except suddenly she was responsible for his body. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Five: Finding		Pt. 05, Ch. 05 It took time, and some detective work. They located Jim’s residence, and a judge gave Kathy access to the apartment. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Six: De Ja Vu		Pt. 05, Pt. 06 Kathy had never been to Jim’s home, and he had never moved. It was exactly as she had visualized it; scant and bare. #Emergence
Endings; Part Five, Chapter Seven: Memory		Pt. 05, Ch. 07 Kathy remembered everything, her recall was perfect. Standing in Jim’s home, she knew he had lied about many things. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Six, Debriefing; Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 06, Debriefing Chapters 01 Concealment 02 HomeWorld 03 Screening 04 Secrets 05 Identity 06 Connection 07 Shock #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi @jaybotten
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter One: Concealment		Pt. 06, Ch. 01 Jim had made the crossing thousands of times, but never carrying a secret. There was no way to know what would come. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Two: HomeWorld		Pt. 06, Ch. 02 HomeWorld was not home to Jim, nor was it a world in the proper sense. It could seem like either; if he believed it. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Three: Screening		Pt. 06, Ch. 03 Jim went to the council; sharing his consciousness, memory, and experience, but hiding his plan deep within himself. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Four: Secrets		Pt. 06, Ch. 04 Secrets were forbidden, but this was a lie. The Continuum hid things, everyone participated. Concealment was an art. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Five: Identity		Pt. 06, Ch. 05 Since his last mission Earth’s tech had advanced dramatically, Jim used it to alter his mind, and shield his secret. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Six: Connection		Pt. 06, Pt. 06 The catastrophe struck. Millions died in seconds, and Kathy was connected to all of them. Jim transmitted all of it. #Emergence
Debriefing; Part Six, Chapter Seven: Shock		Pt. 06, Ch. 07 Jim opened his mind to the Continuum. The pain of Earth streamed through the quantum field, flooding the collective. #Emergence
Emergence: Section One, Jim and Kathy Part Seven, Catastrophe Collected Chapters		Section 01, Jim and Kathy Part 07, Catastrophe Chapters 01 Unleashed 02 Channel 03 Volcano 04 Shock 05 Quiet 06 Justification 07 Undone #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi @jaybotten
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter One: Unleashed		Pt. 07, Ch. 01 The explosion shook the world. Kathy felt it from over a thousand miles away, and she felt the fears of those dying. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Two: Channel		Pt. 07, Ch. 02 Jim felt Earth’s psychic pain through the wormhole connecting him to Kathy; a hit from the other side of the galaxy. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Three: Volcano		Pt. 07, Ch. 03 The volcano in Yellowstone blew. Most had no idea of the threat. Now the disaster was here, and the world was dying. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Four: Shock		Pt. 07, Ch. 04 The trillions of persons of the Continuum became silent; all consciousness stilled. Every one felt the psychic pain. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Five: Quiet		Pt. 07, Ch. 05 Jim was the first to recover from the trauma flowing through the string; connecting them to Kathy. Silence followed. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Six: Justification		Pt. 07, Pt. 06 The catastrophe could have been avoided; as on many other worlds, but now the Continuum would feel its indifference. #Emergence
Catastrophe; Part Seven, Chapter Seven: Undone		Pt. 07, Ch. 07 As the Continuum was paralyzed; it was a simple thing for Jim to dismantle the architecture supporting its defenses. #Emergence