Dominic passed through a thin layer of wispy white clouds as he floated through the air in a bubble of utility fog.
The vast cylindrical landscape that was spread all around him contained cities, forests, and right beneath him, a small blue sea. This gargantuan habitat he was in housed more than a million inhabitants, comprising several hundred different clades.
The utility fog was used for so much more than the personal transportation system of Dominic and other sophonts. It formed the basis of the angelnet, an all-pervasive network of nanobots that were ubiquoutous throughout the entire habitat.
Thanks to the angelnet, Dominic and ever other citizen of this habitat had never felt anxiety or worry with regard to physical safety or want. Disease, poverty, and the unthinkable act of harming one’s neighbor were completely absent from this habitat.
The angelnet was able to do away with appetency just as effectively as suffering. If Dominic ever desired something, he needed only to ask for it, and the angelnet would provide it for him.
The exterior mirrors reflected light from the sun to simulate day within the vast habitat.
Another day made possible through the grace and glory of Shangdi.
Everything about this world, from the vastness of the habitat to the lives of all its inhabitants to the angelnet that was keeping Dominic suspended in the air and provided everyone with unparalleled security and comfort, all of it had been made possible through the infinite love of the godling known as Shangdi.
Dominic was a nearbaseline human, his grandparents having been among the first of his species to have been created by Shangdi. His family, which consisted of his grandparents, twenty-three siblings, his parents, fifty aunts and uncles, hundreds of cousins, and many other far-flung relatives, lived all throughout the vast habitat.
Dominic had spent the past several days saying his goodbyes to many of his family members after he had made the final preparations for the journey he was about to embark on that would take him further away from the habitat then he had ever been before.
Right now Dominic was hovering right above a miniature ocean that housed many of the habitat’s aquatic clades. He had come here to say goodbye to someone he had known his entire life and thought of as being as close to him as any of his genetic family members.
The utility fog dropped down Dominic into the placid water and sank beneath the surface, but provided him with a bubble of air with which to breathe while not enabling any of the surrounding water to get him wet.
As Dominic sank deeper into the water, he saw a group of plesiosaurs swim past him. An intriguing sight that caused him to smile, but it was nothing that he hadn’t seen before.
Hovering near the bottom of the miniature sea was a large, provolved humpback whale. His name was Zui’ye’tsu, and he was the reason that Dominic had come here.
Zui’ye’tsu was more than four hundred years old, one of the first of the provolved whales that Shangdi had created. Zui’ye’tsu had more than fifty children and hundreds or thousands of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The humpback was not an avatar of Shangdi, nor was he a transapient, and he had expressed no desire to ascend.
Still, Dominic thought of him as a wise and ancient sophont that he enjoyed talking to whenever he had the opportunity.
“What brings you here?” asked Zui’ye’tsu. He spoke in a whimsical language that was reminiscent of the whale song that baseline humpbacks had sung on Old Earth for millions of years until they had been driven to extinction by humans during the Information Age.
But even though he spoke such an exotic language, Dominic was still able to understand him, thanks to his cerebral biochip implant.
“I wanted let you know that I’ll be leaving the habitat in just a little while,” he said, “and I won’t be seeing you again for a while.”
“Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d pay a visit to Qulx for a couple of months.”
“Qulx? Why are you going there?”
“Because I’ve never been there before, and I figured that now is as good a time as any to go.”
“I see. May I inquire as to how you plan on getting to Qulx?”
“Valnar is giving me a ride.”
“Valnar? But isn’t he…” Zui’ye’tsu paused momentarily, unsure of what to say. “Is it wrong for me to say that he has nothing but contempt for his fellow sophonts?”
Dominic chuckled. “He’s not as antisocial as you’d think.”
Zui’ye’tsu’s tone shifted to be one of great concern. “It baffles me as to why you would want to associate yourself with anyone that chooses to vilify Shangdi with such fervency.”
“I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call his opinions full-fledged vilification. He just…doesn’t have the same kind of respect for Shangdi that we have.”
“And you don’t see this as being the least bit unnerving?”
“To me, there is nothing more mindboggling than an inhabitant of Shenzhou who would question the benevolence of Shangdi. And it’s my hope that one day that will change, not only for Valnar, but for all the misguided children of Shangdi. And you might think that I’m being naïve, but maybe I can help Valnar and others like him to understand the errors of their ways.”
“You are most bold for endeavoring to make sohponts as arrogant as Valnar to see the light that is Shangdi, and it may ultimately prove to be a futile task. After all, if Shangdi himself cannot sway their minds, then how can anyone expect to?”
Dominic sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“But there is no harm in striving to do so, and I do commend you for making such an attempt.”
“Thank you.”
“One other thing: try not to let Valnar corrupt you.”
Dominic smiled. “Thanks for the advice,” he said sincerely. “But that’s definitely not something you or anyone else will ever have to worry about.” …
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