We hide them away in the corners most of the time, occasionally letting them drift into our mind, then drift back into the sea like a pearl on the shore of a large ocean. Joined with pieces of debris that constantly wash onto the shore, they rarely wash onto the land themselves, most created and kept sealed in oysters of our mind. When they do, we act like a child with a new toy; we admire them for a moment, then let them back into the ocean, forgetting they ever existed, even the good ones, never understanding their true worth, and they are washed away. But sometimes, we let them stay on the shore for a bit, but eventually they are washed away as well, but this time with a different kind of wave. The lucky ones understand it for what it is, and share it with the world, changing everyone’s lives for the better, well, most of the time. And that is what everyone forgets, but that’s what makes us human.

My friend had forgotten that. He had his pearl, gleaming with luminescence that had not been seen in all history, and afraid of others, privatized the oysters and set him under his control. Yet he has forgotten, a natural pearl is much more valuable, much more rare than an artificial one. He never thought of that, he just wanted more of them, set the oysters in a farm for the sole purpose of making pearls. But it’s a cruel process, never letting live their lives and condemned to endless torcher, only to be used again and again to make the pearls until they die from these conditions, and he would’ve had more valuable ones if he had just left them alone. He wants them to shine like the stars in the sky, but they are as dull as a faraway asteroid. O sky, show him his way back to humanity, the dreams of the inventors, the entrepreneurs, the children , everyone. Rekindle the beacon to the world like the warm glow of the sun, which everyone seems to forget, is a star too.

A computer, one of the most powerful in the world. It had been a few weeks ago when I found it, after it fell from the sky into my backyard, a nice change from the raw sewage and garbage that usually rains down from the city. The entire thing was in pieces when I found it, but all of the components were still intact. It had been a long time since any form of technology had dropped here that was useful, and I intended to make use of it. Piece by piece I assembled it, not sure how pieces were meant to fit together, but with a feverish excitement I have not felt in years.

Many weeks passed and it was done. Flipping the switch, the machine came on, sending signals into the sky. The faint glow of the screen carried forms of light that I hadn't seen in many years. Thankfully it had reset, and I would program it however I wanted. But my conscience was urging me to reconsider this, trying to find another path. After all, the world became so desolate because of this machine. Messing with the human mind didn’t carry much physical danger, but society has already been reformed from these forces. He never saw society as individuals working separately and together towards their own happiness, he used them all as cogs in his machine, forced into his network for the advancement of technology. But what was his point in these discoveries if all of the people wouldn’t be awake for them? I never remembered him being so selfish as to enslave almost all of humanity by means of his twisted “efficiency”, his ultimate supercomputer resulting. Only I’m left, the only one who can save them.

Now the machine that enslaved them all will also be the conduit for their freedom. I code the lines for letting humanity go, each keystroke ready to bring a new age. And maybe he will see that humanity isn’t synonymous with progress, maybe… And the electricity cuts out halfway through the line and the screen goes out. Dammit. I was SO close too. Just a bit more electricity I needed, but the solar batteries were completely depleted now even though they started with 100%. The only way I could power this thing is with a better supply, which meant I had to get to the city, but it’s very dangerous. If anyone sees me, he’ll know that I'm back. But there had to be another way. But there was not. My shed was the only structure left on the ground. He ordered, all the others had been taken down, hoping to forget how people used to live.

So I took it out, the OCEAN pass, the gateway to the city, but connected to his system. It shimmered like brand new, hiding its true nature under its metallic shell. I almost threw it away when I was mailed it, but decided I would keep it. Thankfully, I had already modified it years ago, and it could get me without alerting the system. There was a place there, reserved for me, that hadn’t been touched yet. I could hide the computer away from him, at least for a time, but eventually he would come for me. But it was enough time for me. I placed it on the computer, ready to teleport. The glide of the holoscreen was a sharp contrast to the computer I had been using earlier, but operated with the same purpose. A blue glow echoed through the room, encircling me and the computer with an iridescent haze. It grew thicker and thicker, gnawing at reality in preparation for the jump. Then the room went still, and I entered his world of delusions. 

The jump was painless, the computer still fully intact. There was a small window back onto my house, old and dingy compared to all of the latest technology in this realm. The portal closed, and I glimpsed back as humanity truly left our world. But now wasn’t time for reminiscing on the past, now was time for action. Quickly, booting up the computer, I pulled up the code again. Thankfully, it had autosaved, and I was a few clicks away from running it. I had to do so quickly, or I’d risk him catching me. I finished the program, and went to run it. A save window popped up. So, Shucker.exe was complete. Only little light in the shadow. It was enough to explore around a bit though. Billions of names loaded into the program, billions of lives under the hivemind. I could choose any one of them. Although, after a bit of searching, he wasn’t there. He had hidden himself somewhere in the hivemind. Not well enough though. There was a tiny amount of redundant code in the system, but it was immediately obvious that this was a person. I had many questions at the moment. Why was he hiding himself? Was he anticipating me? It was a bit scary that he went through the effort to hide it so much, but as I was already in the system it was useless. I just needed to access 3 random people to triangulate his location. So I decided to get into the minds of some of the people I knew.

Charles. He was an interesting person. He was relatively strong built, and definitely took advantage of it. Back in school, he always used to steal my and my friends lunch cards, use the money, and give them back to us. But he always seemed sorry after it. I took this to my guidance counselor, but instead of punishing Charles, he personally went to him and filled up his own card with his own wallet. But he still stole all of our lunch cards and used them even after that. I had been confused about that for a long time, and finally I had a chance to figure out what had happened. On the side of my desk was a pale white headband, the same one that was gifted to everyone else. It felt smooth and cold, an energy vibrating off of it that was both new and familiar. I couldn’t quite place it, but I felt like I had touched this before although I had no recollection of having done so. I slipped it onto my head, my mind turning to a haze as I drifted about in his.

The first thing I noticed was trillions of digits, all swarming around. Yes, now I was 100% sure that he had made everyone a computer. Filtering away all of the numbers, I could feel a distant melancholy, dulled by the fact this was someone else’s mind and he was in the computer. Memories of the past came like gentle waves on the beach at first, summers in the fields playing soccer. But slowly, they began coming harder and harder, like a torrent before a storm. Starving during the summers he used to have so much fun in, parents arguing with each other constantly, grades dropping, then a divorce. Even I felt my heart being pulled a bit by this. I felt his twang of guilt every time he came to take our money, knowing he was taking it just to feed himself and his sister. Now I felt bad for getting angry with him, for saying so many things to him, not knowing the full situation he was in. But now I had a small chance to make it up to him. Once I freed them all, we could continue our lives like it had always been before, and he would move away and start life again on a fresh slate, one that I intended to give him personally. At that time, the program had finished mapping out his neural interface, and it was on to the next one.

Joshua. He always had sat in the corner of the room quietly, rarely talking to anyone. He aced every test, except he did terrible in presentations. He always was either stuttering or talking too quietly for anyone else to hear. He was always nice to everyone, offering to help out where he could, but would rarely talk in any other scenario. Always had a mysterious vibe going on with him, but I would never quite place why. He also got his money stolen by Charles, but definitely didn’t say anything about it.

Diving into his mind, I filtered out the numbers here but instead of a deep melancholy, there was a strong sense of accomplishment. But under a shell, there was a deep loneliness that had filled him occasionally. He won many competitions, in many different subjects in school, but had always been ab outcast who didn’t have much in common with anyone. He was just starting to get a social life, just starting to make his life happy for the first time, but then all of a sudden this happened. But there was one fuzzy spot in the memory, not like it had been forgotten, but it was like it had been corrupted. Must have been some corruption in the file.

Then Caity. She had been one of my best friends. We had always went to the mall together, just the two of us together to buy some clothes. Everyone thought it would be funny to ship both of us, but we weren’t that close to each other. She had been the light in my life, always there to help me, as I was there for her. We were always there for each other, and will continue to be after this.

Deceased. That was the mark on the screen. But no. How? It must’ve been a mistake. It felt as if the world had been shattered once again, the last hope fallen away in the dark of night, like a star extinguished against the dark abyss. But yet I knew why. She was the lead of the protest movement, campaigning for the few months before everyone had been taken over. But one wasn’t the time to mourn. I had finally triangulated the code. It was just a few moments until they were all free, free from the hive mind, free…

The door to my cell burst open, and he was there. Eyes full of fury at first, but then his gaze slowly softened. He looked at me as if he had not seen me in centuries, but also looking beyond to somewhere else. But then I realized, of course, I fully connected his mind to the system he has only been partially connected to. The memories of humanity were flooding into him, and he was finally beginning to realize what he has done.

“I… I’m sorry,” he said.

Even with everything he had done to me, and everyone else, the somber tone in his voice finally pierced through my heart, and both of us collapsed into tears and hugged each other. He had taken it too far, but deep down knew what true humanity was. He was just a poor oyster farmer trying to make a living, but only when he stepped into the shoes of the oysters, he realized what he was doing was cruel and wrong. Seeing through the headband, he had been double crossed by his own creation, enslaved to it himself. He had only wanted a friend that he would trust, but artificial friends were a sure way to your own demise.

So breathing again, I said, “Well, what are we going to do now, Joshua?”