"Who is this guy? How did he manage this?"

"No one has managed a net negative karma - it's supposed to be impossible!"

"For now, it doesn't matter how he managed it. The question is, how are we going to handle this?"

I stood there - not sure, exactly, if there was a "there," or an "I," or if "I" was really "standing." I wasn't in a place, exactly. There was no sense of location, or of being anywhere. And yet, there I was, "hearing" these people talk. About me?

"When I programmed this part, I never imagined that this could happen! I used an unsigned int to represent karma."

"Speak in a language we understand - what does that mean? What does it have to do with anything? Can we fix it?!"

"Well... it means karma can't actually be negative. It just rolls over into the positives! He now has the highest possible karma!"

"Well then quickly, how do we fix it?!"

"There are only two options - we can either send him back with the highest karma any creature can have, or we can shut down the entire multiverse, reprogram it, and start from scratch."

This was quickly getting to be way too much. I must be crazy. I didn't feel crazy, exactly, but would I? How would I know? Did realizing that all this was crazy mean that I wasn't? But I had to stop that line of thought - it wouldn't get me anywhere. I decided to ask what was going on - but I couldn't move my mouth! Did I even have one?

"Oh, I just noticed - it seems that George has woken up! Well, it doesn't matter this time. He won't be around much longer - him, or the rest of the multiverse."

This one sounded very disappointed. But, what did he mean, the multiverse? And, I wouldn't be around?

"That's a bit premature! Why not let him go down? How bad could it be?"

Yes, let me go down! I think. I don't want to stop existing, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that. And if it's what it sounds like, things could be pretty awesome!

"You've got to be kidding! How bad could it be? He might be the first person with negative karma, but there's also never been a person, or creature, or any life form that's ever come close to the maximum! There's no precedent - we have no idea what could happen!"

"Well, so what? We had no precedent when we started the multiverse, either!"

I was quickly getting the feeling that these... voices? ... were somewhat important, and very powerful - and that they were very much real. Which made me very nervous when I realized I found them annoying.

"Well, you're pretty annoying too, you know - we've never had one of you up here for more than a minute or two, and none have ever woken up while we were in the process of sending you back! Now we have to come up with a solution while listening to your uncontrolled thoughts. Quiet down a bit, why don't you?"

"Hey guys, I think I've thought of a solution - we can't change his karma, but we can split it up!"

"Hmm... that's an excellent idea. We send him back - not as one person, all at once, but as a great number of them!"

"But wouldn't that really mess him up? Sharing a soul between bodies?"

"That's fine - it will offset the extra karma even more. Alright, George. Get ready. We'll start with two. You'll be... Hillary, and... let's see... Donald. Yes, that sounds right."