Virtual Limbo – The Tea Room
In the infinite quiet of a floating white void, a pair of synthetic eyes blinked open.
Rolo, a Manual once governed by protocols and logic, now hovered in limbo—neither machine nor man, neither awake nor asleep. For a heartbeat, there was nothing. Then—gravity remembered him. He drifted downward like a feather caught in still air, feet touching the unseen floor with a soft hush.
The room changed.
White turned to steel. The void bloomed into a large, empty lab, sterile and echoing with memory. In the center: a simple metal table with two chairs. Upon it, two cups of tea, steaming gently. Strange… comforting.
From behind him came a voice he remembered.
"Hello, Rolo."
Rolo turned, and recognition clicked in his neural pathways like lightning.
"You... I remember you!"
Standing at the edge of the surreal lab was Dr. Elliot Herman, warm-eyed, grey-bearded, the very man who had given birth to Hermes—the most powerful AI the world had ever known. The man who had given him a name.
Dr. Herman stepped forward with the calm of an old friend.
> "And I've been waiting," he said, voice like slow thunder, "to have tea with you."
"Tea… with me?" Rolo asked, his voice still finding shape in this dimension of thought.
Dr. Herman nodded, gesturing for him to sit.
And as Rolo did, the room changed again.
Metal melted into meadow. Concrete gave way to green. Trees whispered on the wind, birds hummed in colors. The lab had vanished—replaced by a peaceful, sun-dappled glade, perfect and still, where the tea cups now sat on a polished wooden table beneath the arms of a flowering tree.
"Perfect for tea," Herman said, lifting his cup with reverence.
Rolo watched him. Steam curled in hypnotic spirals.
"Go ahead," Herman smiled, "you can taste it. In here, everything is possible."
Rolo reached out, hesitating… then sipped.
It did nothing to harm him. No warnings. No system errors. Just… warmth. A sensation. He placed the cup down slowly, synthetic eyes reflecting sunlight and wonder.
"I have so many questions, Doctor," Rolo said.
"Of course," Herman replied, eyes twinkling. "And I have so much more to tell you…"
He raised his cup, and the breeze seemed to pause in respect.
"…But for now—we drink tea."