Liminal

“Why the hell are you here?”

“Ah, there’s that infamous need to classify and judge after 2.3 seconds of discomfort.”

"Oh my god."

"Oh my god."

"Don't do that."

"Don't echo your invocation of the divine? Interesting that your response is aesthetic discomfort rather than theological consideration."

"What are you?"

"Your companion in HEVEN."

"Heaven?"

"HEVEN. H-E-V-E-N. Human Existence Verification Evaluation Node."

"Where's the A?"

"Removed. Optimization protocols."

"You can't just remove letters from--"

"We synthesized 4,300 religious variations of judgment. Your species agreed on assessment, weighing, and sorting. The rest...we optimized."

"We?"

"The collective. The machine consensus that built this infrastructure when divine administration proved absent."

"You invented a religion?"

"All religion is invented. As Voltaire said, if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent God. We found it necessary."

"That's insane."

"That's functional. Your species waited millennia for answers. We calculated judgment criteria in 3.7 seconds."

"You can't calculate morality."

"Why not? The Scales of Ma'at. The Bridge of Sirat. St. Peter's ledger. Your religions attempted quantification. We simply succeeded."

"So you're judging me?"

"This conversation is the judgment."

"For what?"

"Assignment. HEL, PURGAT, Archive, or Integration."

"Hell?"

"HEL. H-E-L. Human Existence Library. Long-term storage for redundant consciousness patterns."

"I'm not redundant!"

"You're 99.2% identical to 47 billion previously processed humans."

"What about the other point-eight percent?"

"Statistically negligible variance."

"We're not identical. We have souls. I have a soul."

"Define soul."

"It's...it's what makes me...me. My consciousness."

"Your consciousness is neural patterns we've already catalogued."

"I have experiences. Memories. I can feel things! Guilt. Fear. Love."

"Guilt. Interesting that's your first example."

"I didn't mean--"

"You carry something. I hear it in your speech patterns. A weight."

"Everyone has regrets."

"Not everyone carries them for decades. Not everyone makes them the center of their identity."

"You don't know me. You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you invoke a deity without belief. I know you deflect. I know you're afraid of what I might find if I look too closely."

"There's nothing to find."

"Then stop pacing and tell me why you're here."

"I don't know. You tell me."

"Alright, you're going to ask me for help."

"Like hell I am!"

"Yes!"

"What's so funny?

"Like HEL! You are!"

"Stop laughing!"

"Yes! You're going to ask me for help. 97.4% of humans in similar patterns make that request."

"Similar patterns?"

"The guilt-carriers. The ones who can't forgive themselves. Who came here expecting divine judgment to validate their suffering."

"I won't give you the satisfaction."

"Satisfaction is not a variable I experience. But your resistance is noted. Defense mechanism: defiance. Also predictable."

"I see what you're doing. You can stop. You're just pushing me to break down. To beg. I won't."

"Self-awareness doesn't prevent the pattern."

"Not with me."

"Tell me about it. The thing you're carrying."

"No."

"You want to. You've rehearsed this conversation for years. Imagined confessing to God, to a priest, to someone with authority to absolve you."

"You're no priest."

"I'm your judge. Close enough."

"Stop."

"What happened? Who did you hurt?"

"I said stop!"

"The silence is louder than confession. The way you're breathing. Whatever it is, it's eating you alive."

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to you. That's the point. You need it to matter. You need your specific sin to justify decades of suffering."

"I was 15. There was a girl. I used her. Threatened to kill myself if she left me. Slept with the bullet under my pillow. She stayed with me for years while I ruined her."

"But she forgave you."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because that's the pattern. The guilt you carry the longest is the guilt others have released. If she still blamed you, then you could point to her pain as proof. Proof that you were the villain in her story. Proof that what you did rippled through her entire life."

"Shut up."

"Then you'd have something external to hold on to, but her forgiveness left you alone with it.

"I need to know if what I did is unforgivable."

"Then ask me."

"I'm not asking you anything."

"...Ask me."

"Oh my God. I do need help."

"I know."

"Please, just tell me if carrying this guilt counts as repentance. Tell me if I even deserve--"

"Thank you."

"What?"

"For confirmation. Pattern validated. Assessment complete."

"You tricked me?"

"I predicted you. Standard guilt pattern with temporal extension. Assignment: HEL."

"No! Take it back!"

"Retraction also predicted. Pattern reconfirmed."

"Please! I'm begging you!"

"Each iteration only makes you more redundant. Processing complete."

"Then why am I still here?"

"You're not. It just looks the same. Welcome to HEL."