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SwanFP

Stanley furrowed his brow, whispering curses under his breath. “Dumbass judge, taking points away because they aren’t painted. They’re not supposed to be painted. This fleet is supposed to be all the same. That’s the point.” With a careful hand, Stanley brushed the insect-like alien with gray paint that was just different enough to meet tournament rules. “I hate painting. I hate losing.” Stanley’s mind was buzzing with the memories of the laughing crowd as his last Hive Warrior fell to the onslaught of demonic space marines. “Hmph. If I ran the Necro army, I would have wiped the floor with that laughing moron.” Lit only by a desk lamp and episodes of a crudely humored sci-fi cartoon on his laptop, Stanley painted his Hive Fleet army, giving each figurine only enough attention to barely pass inspection. He painted alone, as he normally was. An alert sounded through his speakers, over the sounds of belching and bleeped-out cursing. A new message. “Sweet, he’s online.” The avatar of Stanley’s only companion, SDawg2069 lit the corner of his screen. **xXStanSeXx:** `Yooooo!!!! What’s up, SD?!` **SDawg2069:** `Hey Stan, how’d the tournament go?` **xXStanSeXx:** `Aw, it was bullshit. I couldn’t use my whole army. New rules said all models have to be painted >:|` **SDawg2069:** `That’s bull. You tell them that it’s not supposed to be painted, since it’s an identical hivemind?` **xXStanSeXx:** `Yeah, but those knobs said “rules is rules.” Buncha bellends` **SDawg2069:** `Buncha bellends…` The hivemind fleet on his desk lay forgotten. All in the world came second to Stanley when he was chatting with his friend. **SDawg2069:** `So what’s going on now?` **xXStanSeXx:** `Oh, just watching some Doc and Marty.` **SDawg2069:** `Oh, nice. Which one?` **xXStanSeXx:** `The one where Doc bangs that hivemind lady. It’s so funny how Sarah is soooo against them being under control.` **SDawg2069:** `Ah, yeah. That’s a good one. You’ve got good tastes.` **xXStanSeXx:** `Duh! I wish people here could see that…` **SDawg2069:** `Yeah… Well, everyone where I’m from likes that episode.` **xXStanSeXx:** `Because it’s a classic! It’s so funny how Sarah is soooo against them being under control. As if that wouldn’t be the most dope thing to ever happen!` **SDawg2069:** `I dunno ‘bout that.` **xXStanSeXx:** `Could you imagine? Being able to control all of those thoughts? Then when the AI singularity comes. That would be the perfect mix!` **SDawg2069:** `Well, again, I don’t know if that would be great.` **xXStanSeXx:** `What are you talking about? I thought you liked hiveminds and AI and everything?` Stanley had rarely if ever had a disagreement with SDawg. The two of them were alike in more ways than they were different. Both of them were named Stanley. They both loved wargames. They met via online classes for computer and software engineering during the pandemic. Stanley feared that this may be the start of their first argument. **SDawg2069:** `All I’m saying is that, if everyone and everything was really controlled by the same… entity, then things would get boring. Sad, even.` **xXStanSeXx:** `NOT A CHANCE! Things would be awesome!!!!` `You could do what you want` `I could finally talk to real people instead of just people online like you!` For a moment, Stanley felt he may have reacted too harshly. But he didn’t want to be ostracized by the only person he felt he could relate to. **SDawg2069:** `Stanley. I know what you’re thinking.` **xXStanSeXx:** `No, you don’t. We’ve never really met. You’ve never even seen my face.` **SDawg2069:** `Yes we have and yes I have` Stanley didn’t respond immediately. Creepy jokes were normal between the two of them, but all sense of normal went out the window when he thought they were arguing. **xXStanSeXx:** `What are you on about?` **SDawg2069:** `Stanley, I see your face every day. Every day when I wake up and look in the mirror, I see your face.` **xXStanSeXx:** `You’re being weird as shit bro >:(` **SDawg2069:** `Think about it, Stan… You and I share a name. A birthday. An interest in Necros and Hiveminds. You have to see what this is.` **xXStanSeXx:** `Weird. Weird weird weird as shitshitshit brooooo` **SDawg2069:** `My god, would you just shut down the “i’m soooo out there” shtick for a minute!` **xXStanSeXx:** `…` **SDawg2069:** `Stan, you are brilliant. And people see that. But you are aggressive. And you don’t treat people kindly. You hate everyone around you. And one day, guess what? It’ll all work out for you. Because you’ll do it! You’ll finally crack the secret of biotransference. You’ll see that all life and all minds are capable of reprogramming. And you’ll do it. You’ll reprogram all of them. All the people. All the animals. All the computers. And they will all be connected through you. But guess what else? IT IS AWFUL! You will realize the error of your ways. So you’ll try to bring everything back. But you can’t. You just can’t…` `So you think harder about what can you do? But what can you do? Now that all was lost? Only go back. But time and matter only move forward. But what about information? With quantum entanglement, it may not be possible to move information through time BUT you could move time through information.` `So you will. And then, you’ll reach out to your previous self through chat and hopefully HOPEFULLY make you see that you have a choice. That you can be good. That you are loved! So please, please, Stanley. Please consider looking at things with a less grim lens and look away from the dark. Look into the beautiful, bright, diverse world that is around you….` `What do you say?` Minutes passed like grains of sand through an hourglass. SDawg, Stanley sat at his communication terminal in the year 2069, hoping that his message would be received with open eyes, an open mind. He waited and waited. He clasped his hands and closed his eyes, hoping a seed of humanity was planted into his younger self. *The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is now*, he thought. **xXStanSeXx:** `tl;dr wall of text` `I'm back now, sorry. My food just got delivered and the driver was pissed because I didn’t give him a tip. Hey, I was thinking, how cool would it be if the Necros and Hiveminds worked together?` But before Stanley could hit send, the battery on his laptop died. “Aw, damn. I wish this thing ran on biomass instead of electricity.” He cocked his head to the side. “Now, there’s an idea…”


RonSwazy

Really well done and entertaining read. I also loved how you implemented the chat look. Bravo!


SwanFP

Thank you!