Divine Artifact in a Scientific World-Chapter 87: Club Velvet (4)

When Jack mentioned to Nora that Rina was sitting on his lap at Club Velvet, she shouted, "Jack! You have to bond her. Please! When you talk to her in a simulation, please include me."

So, while physical world Jack sat and chatted with Rina and Miranda, parallel Jack entered a simulation, along with Nora, Miranda, and Madison.

The simulation started with him still sitting in the booth, with Rina on his lap and Miranda snuggled next to him. Madison and Nora appeared standing in front of them, Madison in her camisole and shorts, Nora in a lab coat.

He’d set the boundaries of the simulation to cover just the VIP area and set the lighting to be a dim glow to match what it had been like in the club before the simulation started.

Rina had been looking at Jack when he took the snapshot, so she was still looking at him when the simulation started.

"...the union rep was saying we were not allowed to-" she said, her voice loud in the sudden silence that came with the start of the simulation.

Rina looked around and said, "Jack, what just happened? Where did everyone go? Why- What is that?"

She hopped off his lap and walked over to the simulation border. And just like Anjali, she rapped on the border with her knuckles. Next, she ran her hand over the impossibly smooth surface, then rubbed her fingers together.

"This is impossible. There’s no friction! No oil, yet it’s impossibly smooth, and glowing! What IS this?!"

She turned, walked back to Jack, and stared at him with that same desperately inquisitive look he’d given him when they first met.

"I received divine-"

"Catnip?! Seriously?!" she complained.

"Artifact," he said louder, over her complaint.

"I received a divine artifact that grants me certain abilities, like for instance, creating this simulation." He waved his hand at the space around them as he said the last.

Rina’s jaw dropped and an expression of wonder and awe came over her before she rushed him, climbed into his lap, stopped so close he could feel her breath on his face, and started spewing questions at him like bullets from a machine gun.

"Who do you work for? How big is your cluster? Who coded this? How did you make a scan of me? Are you using covariant..." she went on and on, then eventually wound down and ended with, "Is it aliens?"

Then she grabbed his head and said desperately, "Please tell me! I need to know!"

Jack put his hands on either side of her face and gently pushed her back so he wasn’t going cross-eyed trying to look at her.

"If you’ll stop talking and listen, you might get answers to your questions. Are you going to listen?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Okay. As I was saying..." he explained about the Genesis Heart, snapshots and the level of detail they provide, simulations, sapient templates, and finally described his soul space and how he and Madison had set up multiple Cerebras super computers.

When he got to the part about Cerebras super computers, she said, "How many?"

"Sixteen so far."

"And you can make a copy of me that would live in your soul space?"

"Yes, but only with your permission."

"You have it."

"And you don’t care that I can alter the loyalty and obedience of your copy?"

"No, it doesn’t matter."

"And you don’t care that your copy won’t be able to communicate with the original you, and your original self will remain ignorant of all this?"

"Okay, that does bother me a little, but not enough to pass up the opportunity for at least one of me to be part of what you are trying to do."

Nora chimed in, "Tell her about soul bonds."

"Soul bonds?" Rina sounded skeptical.

So, Jack explained soul bonds, what they did, what Madison, Miranda, and Nora had done to increase the connection strength, and how it was permanent.

"So, you won’t be able to control me. I’ll probably grow very loyal to you, and if I die, you’ll still have my copy."

"Yes."

In the most serious tone he had ever heard from her so far, she declared, "Basically, you’re a god. And anyone who soul bonds to you is your chosen. I bet if you die, you would still have access to your soul space."

He wanted to ask Jeeves if she was right, about what happens if he dies, but the simulation was running at 10:1 so he’d have to wait until the sim ended.

Still looking at Jack, she said, "Nora, since you’re here, does that mean you are soul bound to him?"

"Yes," replied Nora.

"Why?"

"Isn’t it obvious? He has the best lab on the planet inside his soul space!"

"Okay, but why? I can’t imagine you would sell your soul to a man just for a nice lab. So, why? Why would you be willing to bind yourself to him forever?"

"I...I don’t know. You’re right that a great lab would not normally be enough to make such a monumental commitment, but honestly, there’s just something about him. The moment I met him, even before he talked to me in a simulation, I felt something..."

"Respect? Awe? Like you were in the presence of someone just slightly...more?"

Jack wanted to know how Nora and Rina would respond when they learned about his soul strength and how it was effecting them. Not because he felt guilty about it, but he felt that a fully informed decision was best.

"Yes!" said Nora. "That, that’s what I felt. Still feel."

"It’s soul strength. The artifact made my soul stronger. I might have the strongest soul on the planet. Weak souls recognize stronger souls and this will manifest in many people as a feeling of respect."

Rina’s eyes glowed as she climbed backward off his lap and then knelt on the floor.

She bowed down placing her hands on the floor next to her head, in a very reverential and ritualistic way and intoned, "I bow before you, my lord, and beg you to accept me, your humble servant, as one of your chosen."

Jack’s first thought was, Is it me? Do I just attract eccentric women?

The three girls all looking at Rina like she’d just grown a second head.

Jack just remained silent and put his finger to his lips when it looked like they might say something. After about a minute, Rina sat up and looked at Jack. She looked at him seriously, but as he just stared at her, he noticed her face twitching.

After a few moments of him just staring at her blankly, she burst out laughing and said, "Sorry, sorry. I just couldn’t help it. But seriously, you did receive a divine artifact, and your soul space and sapient templates and soul bonds kind of make you a god. So, in all seriousness, please accept me as one of your chosen."

While she was speaking, the girls looks relieved and annoyed. Madison and Miranda relieved, Nora a little annoyed.

Rina seemed fine with soul bonding with him despite everything he’d told her, so he decided he would be a fool not to add her to his team.

He paused the simulation, dropped the time ratio back to 1:1, synched memories with his physical self, then initiated the soul bond with Rina.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Rina Devi] frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

As soon as he did, he felt that she too was going for maximum connection, and soon, their connection completed.

Over their new bond he could sense that her emotions were dominated by excitement, and curiosity, though he could tell there was also a growing sense of warmth toward him, like she’d just found a teddy bear she wanted to snuggle with.

Unlike Madison and Miranda’s lust, or Nora’s quiet attraction and growing interest, Rina didn’t seem to feel any sexual interest in him.

The moment Rina appeared, he maxed the time ratio again. So he’d have time to explain things to her before her physical self reacted.

Before he could say anything, she rushed over and gave him a hug, saying, "Thank you."

Then she stepped back and said, "It’s nice being able to do that without feeling weird about it. And I appreciate that, while you feel desire for me, you won’t try to force it. This soul bond connection is amazing. It’s wonderful to finally know at least one person where I always know exactly where I stand, no guessing, no worries."

"Preach it sister," muttered Madison.

Rina turned to Madison, "You too!"

"You and Madison can compare notes later," he said.

He got the impression that Rina was more averse to physical contact than Madison, and Madison had refused to attend any of the school dances because she didn’t like how crowded it could get. So he wondered why Rina would be at Club Velvet. He’d ask her about it later.

After explaining normal soul space entry, parallel self, and how to access them to Rina, he pushed her out and dropped the time ratio back to 1:1.

He didn’t grant her access to parallel self, because he just knew she would gaze into herself and have a non-explainable reaction in the physical world. He’d grant her access later when she was somewhere private.

In the physical world, Rin had been in the middle of explaining some aspect of code optimization for the Cerebras when she paused mid sentence. Kissed Jack on the cheek, then returned to her explanation.

Vincent noticed Rina’s action and stared at Jack like he’d just tamed a dragon.

Miranda interrupted Rina’s lecture and said, "I need to use the ladies’ room. I don’t want to go alone. Will you go with me?"

Rina looked like she was going to decline, then got an ’aha’ look and nodded her head. She hopped off his lap and followed Miranda.

As soon as they left, Vincent leaned over and said, "How do you do it? Is it some new pheromone that hasn’t hit the market yet?"

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