Spheria by Cody Leet Page B

to Max.” If you closed your eyes, you would think he was a radio announcer. “I built the computer system that the Qubes attach to. I also maintain the workstations that everyone has, which contain some specialized components. Something nobody knows about me. Hm. Well okay, I used to work for Apple in its consumer electronics department. It was disbanded by Steve Jobs when he came back as CEO. We designed a bunch of wacky products that had nothing to do with computers. My group was working on an electric razor, not kidding, that used ultrasonic waves to give the closest shave possible. I still have a prototype and use it on my head. That’s why you'll never see any sign of hair up there.”
    “Either that,” said Rash, “or you just made all that up to explain your low testosterone.” Rash unconsciously combed his right fingers through his thick head of hair.
    Desmond answered him in an even deeper voice. “What do you think?”
    “I… get the point,” added Rash.
    “I guess I’m next,” said a thin Caucasian with an acne covered face. He looked too young to actually be part of this project. “My name is Tim Feynman, and, fun fact, I’m actually related to Richard Feynman. Why’s that cool you ask? Because he's the physicist who formulated the theory of quantum mechanics. So, if we go back far enough, he's the reason this project is possible. When I heard about it, which was just a random act of chance, I called Max and begged him to add me as a programmer. He wasn’t at that stage yet, but he kept my contact information, and I bugged him enough that he ended up hiring me. That and he wanted some star power on his staff. Also, I’m very humble.”
    “I can tell,” said Min. “That’s a pretty cool claim to fame.”
    “Top that, pizza boy,” he said, turning to the Italian man.
    “I think I can do that. Min, my name is Frankie Pompeo, and I’m the 3D designer and world builder on this team. In contrast to how Richard Feynman theorized about how the world works, I actually create how a worldworks!” Turning to Tim, “Oh yeah, you're cowering now.”
    Tim countered with, “Nice try. But it’s easier to know the rules when you make them up.”
    “Okay fine, you win,” said Frankie. “So in case my title didn’t give anything away, it was me that conceived of the virtual world as being on the inside surface of a sphere. It’s mathematically called a Spherical Eversion, which is like a planet but inside out, and provides us a world with no out-of-bounds to deal with, except for the Rift. That was created to segregate the two halves so that we could someday run a second experiment on the other side. So I create the building blocks of the world. In the human universe, everything is comprised of atoms, which as you know are very small. In Spheria, everything is made from a 3D polygon or a polyhedron. These much larger building blocks allow us to construct a world relatively quickly. And with Lee’s help we’ve got programs that can build forests, mountain ranges, and otherwise terraform an area. We can also reduce a polyhedron into smaller polyhedrons, so the size of things isn't limiting. So, say one of our inhabitants decided to dig a hole in the ground. We can take the large ground polyhedron and instantly subdivide it into smaller ones. This allows the smaller pieces to be removed thus allowing the hole to exist. So the world is always changing. Not only by the rules we set forth, their equivalent to laws of physics, but because we’re constantly adding things. The work is rewarding, and I love adding little mysteries or obstacles for the Polyans to encounter. I could, of course, go on and on because this is super fun stuff.”
    “You certainly are passionate,” commented Min.
    “Yep, let’s get together over the next couple of weeks and I’ll show you how I do this.”
    Max added, “He loves showing it off. Actually, I've got to admit he exceeded my expectations. I’m glad we found