TBP – Three Body Problems

Introduction

They didn’t come in ships.

They didn’t light up the sky.

They didn’t slice through space with dazzling technology.

They came as an idea.

As a presence.

As a direct violation of what humanity believed untouchable: the mind itself.

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The species had no name — not because they didn’t want to be known, but because they had transcended language long ago. Millions of cycles earlier, they had deciphered every secret of the universe: time, matter, consciousness, paradox. They mastered every known dimension and had already built, unbuilt, and rebuilt reality out of sheer boredom. Their physical forms had long been reduced to symbolic shells, maintained only for nostalgia’s sake.

And it was in a forgotten corner of the galaxy that one of the interdimensional survey commanders noticed a small blue planet — Earth — vibrating with chaos and uncertainty.

There was intelligent life there. But more importantly: there was doubt. Attachment. Ego. Emotion. Trivial drama, impulsive decisions, and above all, impermanence — something their kind had lost eons ago.

The idea came as a joke among the border observers:

“What if we stirred a little of our old chaos into this planet?”

Thus began the experiment: the Neural Reconfigurator, a quantum-wide broadcast injected directly into every human mind. A cosmic gift. Or a trap.

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No one on Earth had time to react.

The message wasn’t spoken.

It wasn’t heard with ears.

It happened, as if it were a thought — but one clearly not their own.

“Human species: you now have 3 choices. Select 3 bodies you wish to inhabit. You may visit each one once, or choose to remain permanently. Selections are sealed by thought. Selection begins now.”

There was no countdown.

No explanation.

No mercy.

Each person, across every continent, felt their mind spark with involuntary choices. Instinctive. Immediate. Unfiltered.

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In the Parker household, nestled in the quiet suburbs of an American city, the family patriarch, Matthew, adjusted his tie for a planned family dinner. It was meant to be a formal evening — a touch more elegant than usual.

Upstairs, behind three partially open doors, ordinary moments unfolded — moments that would soon cease to be ordinary: Claire, his wife, picking the right lingerie to wear under her dress; Emily, his young daughter, analyzing herself in the mirror as she changed outfits for the fourth time; and Janna, his son’s girlfriend, finishing her makeup with a confident, playful focus.

And in that moment — that precise breath of calm and anticipation — Matthew felt the message crash into him. A silent flood of irreversible rules.

Confused, instinctive, protective… his mind reacted.

Claire. Emily. Janna.

His wife. His daughter. His son’s girlfriend.

Three people he cared about.

And the order wasn’t random. It couldn’t be.

Claire came first — naturally, unshakably. The woman he had chosen for life. His partner through every hardship, every joy. His first instinct was to wonder: What would happen to her? Would someone else take her place? Would she still be the Claire he knew? The thought struck deep, and it was sealed before he even realized it.

Then came Emily — his youngest, his little girl, barely into adulthood. Not because he was thinking of her directly at first, but because the fear hit him sideways: What if someone else… anyone else… ended up inside her? The very idea twisted his stomach. That protective panic — not fully formed into words — was enough for the system to register the intent.

And finally… Janna.

He hadn’t even meant to think of her so soon.

What really crossed his mind was Ryan, his son — and how devastated he would be if that relationship vanished or turned into something unfamiliar. Janna was important to Ryan. Special. A source of pride, maybe even love. But the way the thought formed, it wasn’t Ryan’s grief that got locked in — it was her. Janna’s face. Janna’s body. That was the shape the thought took. And that was enough.

Three thoughts.

Three choices.

Three seals.

No takebacks.

No edits.

No mercy.

And in that instant, like a collective heartbeat across the human race, the world began to change.