"How?" she asked, then added, "Come on, please don't make me play twenty questions. Spill it. How?"
"Okay. The short version. While hiking back from Lake Valhalla-"
"Oh, shit!" she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "That was yesterday? I totally forgot, what with, well, you know. I'm so sorry. I should have said something. How was it? Did it go like you hoped?"
"It was perfect, better than we had hoped." Then he chuckled darkly, "I almost added, 'I wish she was there to see it.' I think she'd get the humor in me saying that."
"Yeah, she probably would."
They just sat for a second, saying nothing, then she prompted him, "So, you were hiking back, and?"
"Right, I was hiking back and was passing through that section of the trail where you have to basically climb through a rhododendron when, blam! Blackout."
"You passed out?"
"No. I was still conscious. I just didn't have a body. It was like my soul was separated from my body. And, now that I think about it, that might be what actually happened. Anyway, I was in this void of nothingness for a few hours, though at the time I had no way of knowing how much time was passing. Then I got this message in my mind telling me a Genesis Heart had been installed. But before that, it told me my soul was too weak and needed to be strengthened. That might be why I was in the nothingness for so long."
"Stuck there while it strengthened you soul?"
"That's my guess."
"So, then what? What's genesis heart? Is it some kind of system?"
"I don't know." He then began describing the various features of Genesis Heart. When he got to the part where he described Sapient Templates, she became visibly excited, almost trembling.
"So the last feature I unlocked, not counting the soul space assistant, was soul bonds."
"YES!" she yelled.
Jack flinched in surprise. This was not the response he was expecting. He hadn't even described what it did yet.
"What?"
"Yes! Soul bond me now," she demanded. Then added in a pleading, desperate tone, "Please!"
"But you don't even know what it is, or how it would affect you!"
"It doesn't matter. I want it! Please bond me."
"But what if I told you it would turn you into a mindless slave?!" It wouldn't, of course, but he wanted to know if she even had a bottom line.
"I... I think, since it would be you, I'd be okay with that."
What is wrong with this girl? This was not going how he expected. She'd been very calm and analytical up till this point, but now it was like she was a crack addict and he was dangling a big fat rock in her face.
When he didn't immediately say anything, she said, "Does it? Make me a mindless slave?"
He shook his head. "No, it just makes it so you cannot tell anyone about the Genesis Heart or be able to harm me. You also get to remember any time you spend in simulations and can use the Parallel Self feature."
"Ooh, that's perfect. Can we do it now?"
"Are you sure? It's permanent. Once you're bonded, there's no going back."
"Yes, I'm sure. Please. I really want this."
Why was she so eager to soul bind with him? Did it matter? The soul bond would ensure she could not reveal his secret, and would also make sure she could not harm him. So, what was there to worry about? He decided to proceed.
"Okay. Umm... wait here?" This version would remember their conversation after the simulation ended, so it felt...off, to just disappear without saying anything. Then he left the simulation and entered his soul space.
Back in his soul space he was still standing next to the wall with his finger touching the snapshot sphere. And in the neighboring cubby hole was a new sphere, showing a scene of him and Madison facing each other. This must represent the simulation he had just left. He moved his hand and touched the simulation sphere, mentally located and selected Madison, then used his Interface to trigger the creation of a sapient template.
When he felt her template appear in his template catalog, he selected her template, and used his Interface to request a soul bond. As soon as he did, a message appeared.
[Soul Bond Accepted: Madison Kavanagh]
When the message appeared so did a strange sensation. It was like the sensation that he had experienced before Genesis Heart was installed, the growing sense of becoming more. But now, it felt like something was pressing against him in a place that was not his physical self. Is this my soul? He thought. Am I feeling Madison's soul connecting to mine?
At first, the sense of connection, of something pressing against him, was almost pleasant, but as the pressure grew, it became uncomfortable. The sensation transitioned from pressing to grabbing, and then it felt like this other was trying to enter him, to merge with him. But, just as the sensation bordered on painful, it subsided and he felt a strange "pop" sensation.
Where before it felt like something was pressing against him, now it felt like that something was connected to him. And, with that connection, came a sensation of something new in the back of his mind. Before he could explore the new something, Madison appeared, standing in front of him in his soul space.
As soon as she appeared, she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him. Squeezing him tightly, she pressed her face against his chest and started sobbing. He just stood there, flummoxed. She'd never initiated physical contact and had made it very clear she didn't want to be touched. There had been a few times in the past where she had been upset and he'd offered her a hug, but she had refused. Now she was hugging him tightly and sobbing into his chest. He wavered for a few moments, then tentatively reached his arms around her and placed his palms against her shoulder blades, not quite committing to a full hug.
As soon as his hands touched her back, she squeezed even harder and bawled even louder. If she wasn't crying, he would have assumed she wanted him to hug her, but right now he was getting mixed messages. When he pulled his hands back, he felt her shake her head against his chest.
Okay, maybe she does want me to hug her. So, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently. She nodded her head against his chest while bawling even louder. Still confused, he just held her. This was by far the most bizarre experience of his life. He wasn't certain which was more life upending, getting Genesis Heart, or being hugged by a bawling Madison.