Babylon Dreams
. . . a challenging but compelling vision of a privatized, synthetic heaven slowly eaten away by ungodly capitalism, cupidity, and the sins of its founder. Noble credits futurist Ray Kurzweil as a particular inspiration. A keen and absorbing what-if tale about VR and a digital afterlife.” Kirkus Review
“. . . inventive and intriguing storytelling . . .” Portland Book Review
“The futuristic world is so well developed that it seemed almost prophetic. . . .an impressively detailed, creative story . . .” City Book Review
There are different rules for different realities. Dreams have their own sense of time, cast of characters and goals. Science fiction creates new worlds with new rules. Virtual Reality has always fascinated me. If you lived in a virtual world as a virtual person, what rules would apply?
Babylon Dreams concerns life after death in a virtual reality world.
It begins with murder, though in the twenty-second century, is it really murder? Many cheat death by escaping into virtual reality. Before his death in 2123, Gunter Holden was CEO of Virtual Enterprises, Inc. (VEI), where he oversaw the creation of his virtual Eden, Bali Hai. Now, Gunter exists in a folder, stored in Bali Hai, a product of the after-death destinations industry. Tucked away in the Gunter folder are the murders of his wife Laura and her lover, Jacob, Gunter’s hated brother. When his victims escaped to Bali Hai, Gunter shoots himself to follow them into virtual reality.
Sixty years later, Gunter is alone. The love triangle, a struggle played out in virtual reality, is done.
In 2183, the lovers are long gone. Youth, beauty, fantasy and adventure via a memory library are standard. Cheating death by mind-upload is no longer newsworthy. An old program, Bali Hai’s sun is often in the wrong place. Strange fish swim in its virtual seas. “Virtual” Gunter is anxious. Memory breaches force him to relive times best forgotten. Is he becoming unstable? Gunter relies on charm and it’s slipping away. Rumors of a merger auger unwelcome change.
Gunter appears as an eight-year old boy when he greets Tom, a new resident. After shifting his age to forty, Gunter extolls the wonders of his paradise, and advises Tom on virtual life protocol. When Tom leaves for orientation, a breach occurs and Gunter relives his wife’s betrayal. Coming to terms with his past might stop the breaches. Gunter pursues Tom’s friendship and help—“he’ll agree that Jacob should have stayed dead”.
Gunter repays Tom by betraying him. When a merger shifts control of Bali Hai to an evangelical Christian sect, Gunter protests. Virtual Paris is instantly erased. Then another merger plunges Bali Hai into chaos. Mass erasures neutralize the Christian sect. A new cult, whose members live as herd animals, rules Bali Hai. The aging entrepreneur who leads them comes to Bali Hai as a god. To protect Bali Hai, Gunter must change. He begs Tom’s forgiveness. As Gunter confronts his past, he learns a devastating truth, one that causes Gunter to question his will to survive or to save the world he created.
M. K. Noble lives in California. After working as an actress and then, as a casting director, she became a credentialed English teacher. While teaching English, she began to write.
“The Seventh Folding of Willow Sprite,” concerns an online romance gone wrong. .
Links
Short stories on Strange Fictions:
The Seventh Folding of Willow Sprite
A horror novel:
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marjorie kaye's Babylon Dreams 