This work is inspired by "The Reward" by Azil.
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It was Sunday evening, so it had been a little over a day since my life changed forever. I had another day to myself; the family would be back Monday night, and of course I didn't have work on the holiday, if I decided I wanted to keep working at all. My life was going to be very different, but I hadn't decided how different yet. Aside from spouting random convenience things at Power, I had spent the last day and change getting my rocks off (and unexpectedly making a friend). So far the only major thing I had done was add a pool and a privacy filter to my back yard, and made Beth's family not notice her being too happy.
I wanted to feel a little normalcy after what was admittedly a couple days of the best sex I had ever had in my life, so I threw together a quick dinner and sat down to watch a movie. I could have just made the food appear, but it would be boring just sitting on the couch having everything appear and do itself for me, at least for simple things (though I did throw cleaning the house and taking out the garbage on the automatic pile). I cheated a little by picking a movie that was still in theaters, but otherwise just hit Netflix like normal. As I brought it up, I noticed that Netfucks was still on my smart TV's app menu, but rather than get rid of it, I just had it go unnoticed; no reason not to keep it if I could make it a non-issue.
I concluded the movie was just ok, nothing special though. It occurred to me later I could have made it the greatest ever, but oh well. With the evening wearing on, I decided to put a little thought into how I would be using Power in the long term. Sensing I wanted to talk, rather than just issue orders, Power appeared before me, her translucent hologram body 'seated' in the recliner to the side of the couch.
"So I can do anything?" I began. It was still a lot to wrap my head around, even with everything I had already done.
"As I previously stated, I can fulfill any request you have, so long as you do not cause problems for the earth and sentient life in general," she replied, paraphrasing the earlier explanation; her tone had gotten much more conversational than someone reading off cue cards. "My personality has been adjusted to best communicate with you," she added, answering my unasked question. "You found my original manner uncomfortable."
"Please wait for me to actually ask things," I replied, pinching my nose a bit in annoyance. "Having you answer things I was only thinking about is giving me a headache. It's ok when things are going on. I appreciate the little fixes you were throwing out when I was with Lisa, and I don't want to have to say every little thing, but I am trying to have conversation right now."
"I am sorry. I am still adjusting my personality simulation to most easily communicate with you," she replied contritely.
"Personality simulation?" I repeated. "What do you mean? What exactly are you?"
"I am the interface for your powers. I do not, strictly speaking, exist. What you are currently talking to akin to a help program. The powers you have been granted cannot be manually operated by a human, so I receive and interpret you wishes and translate them into instructions, which then allows for your desires to become real."
"So you aren't something I was given that has power; I was given the powers and you just operate them?" I reasoned, trying to wrap my head around things.
"You can alter all matter and energy within the confines of your solar system in any way. Doing so without properly formulated instructions would result in at best nothing and at worst total annihilation of all life in a quantum event. I determine the minimal alterations need to achieve the desired result, perfectly managing the matter and energy changes to achieve the desired result, without any side effects."
I was getting a distinct headache by this time. "Look, I'm just an advertising guy. This sounds like high level science stuff. I have no idea how this works, but just to be clear, as long as I don't blow up the planet or end life in this solar system, you can do literally anything?"
"Yes," she confirmed.
This was a lot to take in. Sure, I had been changing things around a bit already, altering minds and bodies, making things appear. But that had all been small stuff. I could literally do anything at all I wanted in the entire solar system? "Ok, don't do anything big without making really sure I mean it," I said. I was seriously a bit scared I could do something really bad by accident. "Also nothing in response to dreams or anything; I don't want to cause a Zombie Apocalypse or something due to a nightmare."
"Of course. Such would be against the rules in any case," she added, which was reassuring. "You cannot do anything that would cause you to cease to exist or to be unable to utilize your reward, so you will always be able to undo anything you do."
"So anything I want for the rest of my life, just for bringing a tablet to a cave?" I repeated, a little shell shocked.
"How long would you like to live for?" she asked.