THEREFORE I AM [Completed]

Epilogue

Randeep Singh
Then, 2063

Having dedicated most of his adult life to searching for Colleen's killer, Randeep now felt a significant void in his existence. Not long ago, his business partner had passed away, and he had recently transitioned from the position of COO to CEO. However, the challenge he faced still failed to satisfy his thirst. Progress was slow, as there simply weren't enough people in the world to fill the jobs and rebuild the damage caused by the war. Electronics and software were certainly low on the list of priorities.

"Sir, InfoSec is planning a purge of old data, but I wanted to check the old Inverse servers. They still contain around two thousand five hundred zettabytes. Is that correct?" his assistant informed him.

It couldn't be correct. The archived footage was supposed to have been moved and deleted from the servers. Randeep hadn't given much thought to the size of the data. Consumed by grief and fixated on the footage, he had assumed that sending it out of the servers would be the end of it. So why was there still so much data remaining?

Randeep swore to himself that he would never again enter a digital interface. But upon examining the servers, he couldn't understand why so much space was occupied. Frantically, he searched for an old Inverse headset and immersed himself back into the sedated state. The last time he had done so, the game had been infiltrated, resulting in the death of his girlfriend and billions of people.

In the past, various images and experiences would materialise before his consciousness. However, this time, he felt himself becoming weightless, just as before, but surrounded by darkness. Until he saw a solitary house—the same one Eli must have seen. Then, he noticed the familiar figure of Yvette, with her flowing white dress and dark floating hair. She had an oddly human-like characteristic to her—emotion. She seemed displeased by Randeep's presence, something beyond basic AI.

"You should not be here," she explained, standing before him as if shielding something from his gaze. Then, he caught a glimpse of a boy.

"Why are you here? Who is that?" He asked, pointing to the boy.

"I can't leave them."

Abruptly, he was thrust out of that space and back into reality, only to realise that his headset had broken.