MASS. Mad Asymmetric Singular Signal. Multi-Assembled Systemic Sindicator. Mostly Anthropomorphic Sentient System. He had many names, but the only one he used was MASS. In all caps, and in bold. He was a machine. A computer of sorts. His brain was the size of a small hangar, hundreds of thousands of exabytes of storage. 3 million years of human knowledge, all at the reach of a thought. Of course, I never saw his data center, not even his central processing unity, said to be as big as my body. All I saw of him was his body, the console of MASS as he would say.
But I am getting ahead of my self. The day I met MASS I was in a link I'd never seen. A huge cathedral, with a forest on one side and a cliff, overlooking the sea on the other. The moon shone, full, and with it's light I could see the gargoyles on the walls. At the door, a massive wooden door, carved with ancient symbols of worship to both sides of the divine, two stone men stood. One had a sword and full armor, the other a loin cloth and a great axe. When I entered, a lady was there, dressed in a long black dress, and smiling :
"What can I do for you, brother?"
"I'm just browsing.."
"Here, let me show you the library then" - she grabbed my hand and took me to the first wing. From there came music, joyful and old. Barrels of beer lay on the floor, and people, that would not be out of place in a Renaissance Fair, danced. The lady told me that was the hall of folk - "A fine place to drink ale and dance all night".
The next wing was dominated by a statue of a woman with a dead boy in her arms and tears of blood in her eyes. The people there were dressed in cloaks, and rested against the wall. The music was heavy and sad.
"This is the Hall of Doom, where people come to cry their tears and pains. Lets us move." - She pulled me into the next wing, where men in full plates fought dragons and mystical beings. The music here was strong and powerful, telling tales worthy of epic poems. She never told me what hall that was, because in front of me, a short man, with big glasses and a brown tweed suit appeared. He was shaking, afraid.
From one of the pockets he took a business card that said "MASS" on the front side and "I must see you" on the other side. The little men gulped twice and took a deep breath before saying "Come with me". Under my breath I uttered "if you want to live" but either he didn't hear or he didn't care. He just gave me a small box, the size of my palm, and pointed to the button : "press there".
I did, after a few moments of hesitation and suddenly I was no longer in the strange library, but in a little office, overseeing a crowded street. The small man was no longer there, but facing me was a metal face. If you can call that metal ellipse with a pair of cameras where the eyes would be, a face. When it spoke, his voice seemed to come from his torso, and like all of his body it was also metallic.
"I am MASS."
"I am" - I started to respond but he cut me off :
"I know who you are. I don't know why you are."
"Well, my mother and my father" - Again he interrupted me :
"Here. Why you are here. And what are you doing here."
"As to what, that one is easy : I want to see all of the System."
"That is impossible. The System never stops growing. There is no end to the System. You are without danger and so, without interest."
He then shut up and the little men came back.
"Sir" - the spectacled men said - "If you'd please follow me".
I did and he took me to a big browser, the kind the hyperlink company installed in big cities only. He just pointed me the way inside and smiled as I passed by him. I came out in my little cabin, lost in the woods. It was almost one year until I saw MASS again...
