THE MOMENT
"Of course, I know..." Helios chuckled as he nodded his golden head. Tyler had gotten used to the fact that he was essentially talking to a gold mannequin on his phone screen. But, it was still a little unnerving to hear his voice when the stranger in a red suit had no mouth, nor eyes. He had minor dimples where his eyes should be and a faint point where his nose belonged. But, he had so many questions swimming in his mind, including the one Helios asked, that all he could do was assume everything was really happening. "...but, I find it entertaining when others search for the answer. And, I've chosen you to entertain me."
"What if I don't want to?" Tyler asked. Despite the strange goings-on, he did not get any negative vibes from Helios. If anything, watching the golden man walk around his home screen like he were in a real place was mildly amusing on its own. Tyler was stuck bored at home with nothing to do. He scrolled endlessly on his phone hoping for the slightest bit of entertainment until Helios walked into the frame from the side. Tyler assumed it was a strange pop-up and tried to close it; Helios was offended.
"Then, I'll find someone else," Helios shrugged. "It's not fun if you don't want to play. But, you'll be missing out on this," Helios held up a transparent glass card and stuck it out to Tyler. It soon took up most of the frame as if he held it in front of a camera.
"What's that?"
"It's a node!" Helios answered. "If you play along with me, this node will give you everything you need to find the answer I'm looking for. And, as a bonus, you get to keep it when we're done."
"What's it do?" Tyler asked. He was almost willing to agree to Helios' game just to find out. At first, it only looked like a thin, card-sized glass pane. But, as Helios held it closer, the display lit up like his phone screen. If it functioned anything like his phone, it would be a major upgrade.
"A lot more than this pile of junk," Helios kicked one of Tyler's icons out of place and it rolled off the screen. "It's practically falling apart!" he chuckled. Then, Tyler saw a small black hole open next to Helios. The golden man reached up and pushed the node through the hole. Tyler pulled back when a golden hand holding a node appeared in front of his face in real life. He saw the hand coming out of a small black hole in his bedroom. "Go on, try it out," he said.
Tyler took the card and the time appeared right away. He swiped up and it revealed a home screen similar to the one Helios was on.
"I already installed all your apps from this phone and more; it's ready to go as soon as you are," he said.
"I'm in!" Tyler nodded. He'd seen all he needed to. If he was dreaming, he'd wake up at some point. Until then, he wanted to play with the node.
"Great!" Helios said. Tyler immediately sank through a black hole on his bed. It was sudden, but it wasn't much of a fall. He landed on his feet in a large warehouse. A row of computers sat against one wall with all kinds of strange and familiar equipment strewn about the center. A line of caged dogs, wolves, and more sat against another wall.
"In this lab, you'll find everything you need," Helios spoke from the node this time. Tyler pocketed his phone and focused on the new tech instead.
"I'm 14...," he said. "I don't know anything about... where to even start?" He almost said 'biology', but, the more he thought about it, he wasn't sure Helios' question was biological. He had access to very advanced tech, so maybe it was a technical question.
"Not a problem," Helios said. He snapped his fingers and a new icon appeared on the node. It was labeled 'LernGud' in a crayon-like font. "This special tutorial has access to all knowledge from across the multiverse. You can take as long as you need to learn anything you want; and, as a special bonus, I stopped time on your Earth. Whenever you're done playing along, you can go right back to where you left off. Without the node, if you just want to give up at any time."
Tyler wasn't sure and he pressed the LernGud icon. It brought up a menu, which brought up another. After several random button presses, a black mannequin appeared in front of him. It resembled Helios in that neither one had a face; but, this one wasn't wearing any clothes. At least, not right away. Two seconds after it appeared, it changed completely. The mannequin transformed into an old, smiling woman with spectacles and a silver bun on her head.
"Ready to start school, dearie?" the woman asked. A rolling chalkboard appeared next to her on one side, with a whiteboard appearing on the other side.
"Take as long as you need," Helios said. Then, he walked off of Tyler's node.
Tyler did not get to work right away. Instead, he played with the node some more and explored his surroundings. He familiarized himself with the dogs and just generally made himself comfortable for a couple of weeks before the boredom began to set in again. Finally, he realized the opportunity he had. Not only could he keep the node if he found the answer to Helios' question; he could keep the knowledge too. If nothing else, he could probably learn enough to sleep his way through school. He decided to get to work and fired up the app.
Time passed. Helios made yearly check-ins with Tyler. Tyler could reach him and give up at any time; but, he still liked the company. Tyler learned all he could about technology and biology and anything that sparked his interest. But, after a decade of learning, he wasn't any closer to finding the answer.
Two more decades went by and Tyler had invented a great many things during his research; but, the answer was proving to be elusive.
Three more decades went by and Tyler was now an old, silver-haired man with intimate knowledge of how the universe worked. But, he couldn't find the answer. He didn't feel like he wasted his life because it was still waiting for him; but, he was ready to give up. He could solve almost all the world's problems even without the node.
"HELIOS!" he called out one morning. His voice was frail and raspy.
"Yeah?" Helios walked onto his node.
"I'm ready..," Tyler shook his head. "I've learned everything I wanted to and more; but, I can't find the answer," he sighed. "I give up," he said. "Will you please, tell me the answer? I need to know; what's updog?"
"Not much, what's up with you?"