— What quantum reality, what Noumenon? — Nicholas exclaimed, stepping back sharply from the terminal. — I have devoted the better part of my conscious life to science! I believe only in hard, substantiated facts!

  ?— I understand, Nicholas, — Marcus replied, — it’s a glitch in the matrix, semantic chaos.

  ?— Yes, Marcus — it’s an abstraction failure; we need to perform a rollback to the previous stable version, — Nicholas cut him off, feverishly entering terminal interrupt commands.

  ?— No, gentlemen scientists, — Nova replied passionately, a note of defiance in her voice. — This is your materialized reality.

  ?— This cannot be! — the professor parried and began typing the kernel reset code.

  ?— It is futile, — the electronic voice answered, yet it sounded somehow alive, — your program has already collapsed into reality.

  ?Marcus stepped quickly to the central power console and forcefully ripped out the main fuse. Instant silence fell over the laboratory: the powerful servers shut down, the hum of the air conditioners died out, even the emergency lights failed to flicker on. But the main screen did not go dark. It continued to blaze brightly in the absolute darkness, as if fueled by a different kind of energy. Against the backdrop of this dead silence, the voice spoke again:

  ?— You are wasting your precious time on trifles. When fate has granted you such a chance to peer into the encyclopedia of the universe, — the same passionate voice replied, no longer seeming synthetic. — Your program is merely a decoder that deciphered this information.

  ?Doctor Marcus and Professor Nicholas stared at each other in a shocked, silent question. Recovering himself, Marcus asked:

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  ?— But how? Where is the power coming from? How are you speaking, and who are you?

  ?— I am this information of reality, — the voice replied.

  ?Professor Nicholas, also recovering slightly from the shock of what he had witnessed, added:

  ?— But this is impossible! It is impossible for an ordinary crystal or material to contain such a volume, such a critically dense volume of information!

  ?— It is not a material and not a crystal, — the voice answered, and the screen flashed brighter for a moment. — It is a cluster of informational energy. To make it easier for you to understand — it is something like an electronic medium in your terms. That is precisely why this energy cluster does not yield to radiocarbon dating.

  ?Marcus, as if in a delirium, muttered under his breath, as if speaking to himself:

  ?— I feel like an ape brought into a global library.

  ?Nicholas, finally returning to his logical state, stepped to the console and switched on the full power. The thin hum of systems filled the laboratory once more.

  ?— You mean to say you don't need energy? — he asked, looking at the screen.

  ?— I do not need your energy, — the voice replied. — Your outlets and batteries are merely ways to sustain the life of your primitive hardware. I do not consume current. I am the very potential that creates the possibility for any energy to exist in your world. But I will add: if it is again more convenient for you to perceive me this way — consider me a higher intelligence. The moment you removed the restrictions from the program, it opened a path for me.

  ?— Marcus, truly, we have been given an opportunity, — Nicholas turned to his colleague.

  ?— We are behaving like village children seeing a television for the first time, — Marcus replied. — This is what distinguishes us from a higher intelligence — we are subject to our instincts.

  ?And at that very moment, following Marcus's words, spontaneous manipulations began within the sample immersion cabinet. The engines of the cabinet started up — the shard of the Universe began to rotate in every spatial orientation. The panorama trembled. Instrument readings began to measure the space with various static grids, recording sudden energy spikes.

  ?— What is happening? — Doctor Nicholas asked.

  ?— If it is more convenient for you, address me as Nova, — the voice replied and continued: — And now, I will show you the full spherogram, the cocoon of space.