Crossing the World

XVI - Earth (Karen)

The virtual world project has entered its final phase. I guess handing everything over to AI won't be a problem. Well, actually from the beginning of my intervention it wasn't much.

Today is Monday morning on a clear day. Jakarta is still busy as usual and the streets are full of vehicles.

I sat in the back seat of an AI-built car just to check its performance. As of now there is still no damage whatsoever that I found.

Johan sat in the driver's seat, placing his hand on the steering wheel as if he were driving. In fact, the steering is completely controlled by an AI program calibrated with my car and smartphone.

"Aura, how's the language installation I put you in?"

I who was still immersed in the sea of information on the internet started talking, asking the AI program that was driving this car.

"There's no problem. All the languages of the earth are well installed. However, a lot of my storage space is used."

Unlike the AI storage space in the shelter, Aura only has a little storage space implanted in this car. Indeed, the type used is the latest type, but because of its small size, the storage space also becomes small. I don't think it's useful to keep too many languages.

"Well, how else. About 7,000 languages are superfluous. I think deleting everything except Bahasa Indonesia and English would be fine."

"understandable. I'll do the deletion process now."

Hm? Whatisthis?

As I scoured the internet and tried to dive deeper and deeper, I came across some strange sites with complicated addresses. The content varies from adult videos, drug sales and illegal firearms, to hitmen. Each site only accepts payments through cryptocurrency, as if trying to keep the real identity of the seller and buyer hidden.

How strange. Why are there sites like this on the internet?

Well ... let's forget it. It's none of my business anyway.

While I was still exploring the various sites, Aura suddenly stopped our car. Realizing this, I asked Aura about what happened.

"What's wrong?"

"Razia police. Did you bring this vehicle letter?"

Hm, vehicle mail check, huh? Well, I don't think there's a problem because all the fake documents are in Johan's hands.

"Johan. Let's act cooperatively."

"Understand."

Aura pointed the car to the shoulder of the road and stopped. Then, the steering chair window section began to be lowered.

"Good morning, sir." One of the police officers asked Johan.

"Good morning."

I answered him through Johan while I sat behind me pretending to play my smartphone. The policeman looked at me, but then looked back at Johan. Is something wrong?

Hey shit! What do you mean ask like that?! I'm not a kid, you know? You are not polite!

"No, Sir." I replied to her words through Johan while trying to suppress my emotions from going out. "She's homeschooling."

The policeman was silent for a while. He thought of something, then spoke again. However, his words became a rather formal language. Does he think we are people from other countries?

Well, actually our faces are not too similar to the natives. I think people would mistake it if they just saw it for a quick glance. Not that we are natives either. Ah, let's forget about this race first.

"Can you see the vehicle?"

Johan gave his STNK and SIM to the police. Then, after a few moments of inspection, we were allowed to return to continue our journey.

We traveled around without a clear purpose, just trying to better familiarize ourselves with this world. I mean, since I've been here, I haven't really seen the state of the city in detail.

Therefore, some facts that are actually trivial I only know now. One example is language. The language used by the citizens was not the language I ever used when buying food and smartpohone. People use informal language. Honestly this is a bit difficult for me because the language package does not add any nonformal language at installation.

I do understand a few words because they are not much different from the original word. However, not a few of these words are very different from the original words listed in the Great Dictionary of Indonesian Language.

Honestly, why is there such a difference between the official language and the everyday language used? It is clear that foreigners who come from outside - myself included - would find it difficult to have conversations with the natives.

The second problem is air pollution and congestion levels. I guess if I decided to stay here to die, at least half of my life would be spent on the road. How could they put up with an atmosphere that was not conducive like this?

Should I move country? I mean, there are still so many countries in the world. I think there would be an ideal country that would make me comfortable living there.

Well, I'll think about this later. Visiting another country will be my agenda in the future.

"O-oh?! What's this?!"

As I was drifting inside my thoughts, something foreign suddenly stung my head. All of my parallel consciousness was even temporarily cut off, causing Johan and the others to be unconscious for about less than a minute before finally returning to normal.

"Is there a problem?" Aura asked me, but I ignored her.

My head lowered, looking at my two legs that were trembling in shock. Meanwhile, the strange sensation that struck my head was still felt until now.

Whatisthis? Something like trying to get inside my head. Is there anyone on earth so great as to try to hijack my body? No, it should be impossible for there to be someone like that.

"Aura, get back home right now."

Responding to my orders, Aura replied, "understood."

The sting was still felt, but it didn't make me lose consciousness. Obviously this was not an attempt to infiltrate my head. However, I still don't know what really happened.

Then, let's lie down for a while and focus on the source of the problem.

I laid my body in the back seat, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the sting that hit my head. Then, something unexpected jolted me from my chair.