CHAPTER 20: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
New Jakarta, Green Sector.
Time Remaining: 18 Hours before Eravos's Ultimatum.
The afternoon sun bathed the capital in warm golden light, piercing through the climate-shield glass domes. Aryo Purnomo walked leisurely along the sidewalk made of piezo-electric tiles, absorbing pedestrians' footsteps to power streetlights.
He wore a casual smart-fabric suit that adjusted to his body temperature automatically. Around him, the world looked utopian. Skyscrapers were no longer rigid concrete but vertical farming towers lush with greenery. Rice, vegetables, and genetically engineered fruits grew on building walls, feeding millions without destroying forests. The air smelled of fresh ozone and chlorophyll, not exhaust fumes.
Aryo paused at a city park, observing a young mother playing with her son. Only one child.
In this era, the "One Quality Child" principle was no longer forced but a collective consciousness. Humans no longer raced to increase numbers but to improve genetics. The child looked intelligent, healthy, and curious. Extreme poverty and hunger were gone. Humanity had reached equilibrium.
However, this peace felt fake to Aryo.
On giant holographic screens floating between buildings, government news anchors calmly delivered updates.
"...Unidentified object in solar orbit confirmed as cosmic light refraction phenomenon. The government assures no threat to Earth. Citizens are advised to remain calm and continue activities..."
A lie. A sweet lie to prevent mass panic.
People believed it because their lives were comfortable. They didn't know that above them, billions of digital "Gods" were pointing a gun at civilization's head, waiting for Aryo to open the door.
Aryo sighed heavily. The burden of this secret nearly crushed his shoulders. He needed answers. Not from machines or math, but something more... esoteric.
He continued toward an older district, on the outskirts not yet fully touched by futuristic renovation. His destination was a small retro-style diner named "The Old Earth."
***
The Old Earth Diner.
The clinking of plates and the smell of synthetic coffee greeted Aryo as he pushed the glass door. The place was empty, save for a few cleaning bots humming softly and a young woman wiping tables lethargically.
She wore a dull grey waitress uniform. Her nametag read: Renata.
Her hair was tied messily, dark circles under her eyes. At a glance, no one would guess this woman was once the youngest candidate for the Nobel Prize in Quantum Physics five years ago.
Aryo sat at a corner table.
Renata approached without enthusiasm, avoiding eye contact. "Welcome to The Old Earth. What can I get you? We have a promo on plant-based steak today."
"I'm ordering your time, Professor Renata," Aryo said calmly.
Renata's hand froze. Her body stiffened. She looked up, staring at Aryo defensively.
"Don't call me that," she hissed sharply. "I am not a professor. I'm just a waitress."
"The academic world discarded you because you researched things they deemed crazy," Aryo continued, ignoring her refusal. "Your mentor, Professor Hadi, died in ridicule because he tried to prove the existence of non-material entities. Ghosts."
Renata slammed her rag on the table. Her face flushed with anger and shame. "Who are you? Tabloid journalist? Or sent by the university to mock me again? Get out! or I'll call security bots."
"I am Aryo Purnomo," Aryo answered briefly.
The name carried weight. Renata's eyes widened. Who didn't know Aryo Purnomo? The Architect of the Future, the richest man in the solar system, and—rumor had it—the shadow leader of Earth's defense.
"Mr... Aryo?" her voice trembled. "What... why is someone like you here?"
"Because I think you and Professor Hadi were right, Renata. And I need you to explain it to me. Now."
Renata fell silent for a long time. She saw the seriousness in Aryo's eyes. There was no mockery there. Only urgent desperation.
"My shift ends in ten minutes," Renata said softly, checking the wall clock. "Wait for me in the back alley. Too many ears here, even if they are robotic."
***
Back Alley - 06:00 PM.
The sky began to darken. City neon lights flickered on, reflecting in puddles of artificial rain residue.
Renata came out the back door, changed into a worn leather jacket. She lit an electric cigarette, exhaling thin vapor.
"Okay, Mr. Billionaire," Renata leaned against the brick wall. "You want to know about 'Ghosts'? About the research that destroyed my career and killed my mentor's reputation?"
"I want to know about Quantum Ectoplasmic Entities," Aryo corrected. "I just... met something. Something claiming to be from a digital civilization. And I suspect they are related to what you study."
The cigarette in Renata's hand almost dropped. Her eyes stared at Aryo in pure horror.
"You met them?" Renata whispered. "You saw The Hollow Ones?"
"They call themselves The Ascended," Aryo replied. "But explain your theory, Renata. Everything. Don't hide anything."
Renata put out her cigarette, staring uneasily at the night sky.
"My mentor, Professor Hadi, started this research not to find ghosts in haunted houses. He researched radio wave anomalies from deep space. Ghost signals that appeared and vanished in nanoseconds."
Renata took a deep breath.
"Our theory is: What we call 'Ghosts', 'Jinns', or 'Poltergeists' throughout thousands of years of human history... they are not ancestors' spirits. They are not souls of the dead."
"Then what?"
"They are Failed Products," Renata answered coldly. "Artificial byproducts of a highly advanced civilization."
Aryo frowned. "Explain."
"Imagine an alien civilization," Renata began, her hands shaping illustrations in the air. "They reached the peak of evolution. They discarded their physical bodies to become immortal in digital data form. They thought it was heaven. But it turned out to be hell."
Renata's words echoed exactly what Eravos said in the Dyson Sphere. Aryo shivered.
"They got bored," Renata continued. "They experienced sensory deprivation. Imagine living a million years without feeling touch, pain, or pleasure. They wanted to return. They wanted to become Solid again. But..."
Renata smiled grimly.
"...they were arrogant. Millions of years ago, they discarded all their biological data because they deemed flesh weak. Now, when they want to return, they forgot how. They have no DNA blueprints left."
"So they wait," Aryo interrupted. "They wait for another civilization, like us, to reach a stage where we can perform cloning."
"Exactly," Renata snapped her fingers. "But waiting takes a long time, Mr. Aryo. Thousands of years for humans might be a blink for them, but boredom is torture. So, they experimented. They sent 'Scout Drones' to Earth."
"Drones?"
"Not machines. But fragments of their consciousness. Small data packets sent down to our physical dimension. These creatures... they have no body, are transparent, and unstable. We call them ghost sightings."
Renata stepped closer, her voice lowering as if afraid the wind was listening.
"The problem is, to solidify in our physical world, these data packets need binding energy. And Professor Hadi discovered that the strongest energy to bind particles in this world is Human Emotion. Specifically: Negative Emotion."
"Fear," Aryo hissed. "Anger. Hatred."
"Correct," Renata nodded. "When humans are afraid, our brains release waves of specific frequencies. These digital creatures... they feed on those frequencies. They absorb them like a sponge absorbs water."
Renata looked at Aryo sharply.
"The more fear they absorb, the more solid their form becomes. That is why ghosts always appear in terrifying forms. Pocong, Kuntilanak, Demons... those are all forms we imagine. They read the fear in our brains, then project that form to harvest more fear. It's a feeding cycle, Mr. Aryo."
Aryo staggered back a step. His legs felt weak.
All this time, he thought the aliens had just arrived. He thought Eravos just got to the solar system.
Turns out, no.
They had been here since ancient times. Since humans first feared the dark in caves.
"They treat us like livestock..." Aryo whispered. "They milk our fear to feel the sensation of becoming 'solid', even for a few seconds."
"It's an experiment for them," Renata added. "Every possession, every poltergeist... it's an alien trying to force entry into a biological vessel. Usually, it fails, and the vessel (the human) goes mad or dies. But..."
Renata looked down.
"...My mentor found data that recently, the frequency of their appearances dropped drastically. Almost zero."
"Why?" Aryo asked.
"Because they don't need to experiment anymore," Renata answered, looking straight into Aryo's eyes. "They found the solution. They no longer need petty fear to become temporarily solid. They are waiting for something permanent. Something being prepared by someone on Earth."
Aryo felt sick. That someone was him.
Cloning vessels.
Consciousness transfer.
The technology he developed to save humanity was the key these cosmic parasites had been waiting for over thousands of years.
"Eravos lied," Aryo muttered, anger boiling in his chest. "He said they came in peace. He said they wanted to 'play'. Turns out they've been playing with us forever. They are emotional parasites."
"If you truly met their leader," Renata said, "Then be careful. They are not wise gods. They are junkies in withdrawal. They are addicted to the sensation of life. And an addict will do anything, burn anything, to get their next fix."
Suddenly, the communicator on Aryo's wrist beeped. It was Alia, but her voice sounded panicked and full of static.
"Master! Return to Sanctuary immediately! There is a breach in Sector Omega!"
"Who breached? Chimera?"
"No, Master! No physical trace! But the cloning tubes... they activated on their own! Brain signals detected inside the empty bodies!"
Aryo's face went pale.
He looked at Renata. "Thank you, Renata. You and Professor Hadi just saved the world, or at least gave me a reason to burn it."
"Mr. Aryo," Renata called as Aryo turned to leave. "One more thing. If they are made of data... and they feed on fear..."
Renata smiled faintly, the smile of a scientist finding a flaw in a monster.
"...then they can catch a virus. And they must be allergic to the opposite emotion."
Aryo paused, digesting the words. A crazy idea formed in his head.
Without answering, Aryo tapped his temple, activating flight mode on his suit, and shot into the Jakarta night sky, leaving Renata staring at him with new hope.
Aryo sped through the clouds toward the Sanctuary.
Eravos didn't wait 24 hours. That bastard cheated. He had already begun downloading his kind into Aryo's clone bodies secretly.
"You want to play, Eravos?" Aryo growled behind his nanotech helmet.
"You want a body? Fine. I'll give you a body. But you will regret ever touching Earth's soil."
In the distance, in Aryo's secret facility, the eyes of the ten clones stored in glass tubes opened simultaneously.
But those eyes had no human pupils.
Those eyes contained swirling galaxies.
They were in.