Post-Human Trilogy (42 page)

11

“Something has gone wrong,” Thel worried as she placed her hand on James’s forehead. “He said it would be instantaneous. He’s been out for almost five minutes.”

Djanet tried to be reassuring, though it was a role in which she didn’t feel comfortable. “He’s still alive. There’s been no change.”

Old-timer tried to be more comforting. “He’s okay, Thel. I’m sure it was a more complicated process than he made it sound, but he knows time is a factor. He’ll be...” Old-timer wasn’t able to finish his sentence.

“I’m back,” James said, completely awake and jolting upward off of the table. “There’s been a major complication that I’ll explain on the way, but we have to get out of here right now. Have all of you been in contact with your families?”

“Yes, they’re preparing,” Old-timer confirmed. “We’ll rendezvous with them once we’ve got the Purists off the planet.”

“Perfect. Okay,” James said as he grabbed his helmet and efficiently strode out of the room with purpose. Thel, Djanet and Old-timer followed close behind. “Then our next stop is Buenos Aires. I’ve already set the evacuation plan in motion.”

“What’s the plan?” Old-timer asked as the group made their way out of the Council headquarters. The streets were eerily quiet, as almost everyone had left the downtown core of the city already, heeding the evacuation orders and heading home to prepare with their families.

“Empty streets. We’ve seen this before,” Thel observed.

James shook off the eeriness of the quiet, abandoned streets and addressed Old-timer’s question. “I’ve already begun amassing nans in the Purist territory. They will excavate a hangar and begin building a ship and a launch mechanism.”

“Holy...Commander, are you talking about building a spaceship big enough to carry 10,000 people?” Djanet asked, astounded by the enormity of the proposition.

“It’s the best alternative,” James replied as he put on his helmet. The team ignited their magnetic cocoons and began flying in formation toward South America while transferring their communication to their mind’s eyes.

“A titanium spacecraft will keep them safe, and there are centuries of designs that can be amalgamated into something that will work. Our job is to facilitate the evacuation and pilot the ship off of the planet. We can rendezvous with our families once we’re certain that the Purists can take care of themselves.”

“You said there was a major complication though,” Old-timer pointed out. “What is it?”

James opened his mouth to answer but was stopped by the voice of the A.I., whispering in his ear. “
I wouldn’t tell them if I were you.
”

James paused for a moment, stunned by the voice in his head and the secret that it was proposing James keep.

“James?” Thel asked as she noticed James’s unusual verbal stumble.

“
What were you going to tell them, James?
” asked the A.I. “
That the evil A.I. is still alive and inside your head? But don’t worry, you have it all under control? Do you think they’ll believe you? Do you think they’ll follow your lead then?
”

“Are you okay, Commander?” Djanet asked.

“I’m fine,” James replied. “I’m just getting used to the connection again. The complication is just a technical thing. I’m working my way through it. We’ll be fine.”

There was silence for a moment as the others absorbed the strange response and the quartet reached the stratosphere. James fixed his eyes on the blackness of space and the thing—the implacable enemy—that was coming.

“
Good work, Keats,
” the A.I. said, satisfaction in his voice. “
You and I make a fine team. A fine team.
”

12

Meanwhile, inside the mainframe, James stood in the operator’s position, tens of thousands of beams of golden light hitting him at every moment.

“You’re spending far too much time worrying about the Purists,” the A.I. observed as he strolled leisurely in a perimeter around James. Although he was not in control, he was enjoying watching James in a hopeless predicament, relishing his position as an unwanted, yet indispensable advisor. “Sooner or later, you are going to have to place your attention where it truly belongs.”

“You’re talking about the alien A.I.,” James said.

“I am indeed.”

“Tell me what you know about it,” said James.

“I know only as much as you do,” the A.I. replied.

“Bull.”

“I was hiding in your subconscious for the past year and a half, James. I know only as much as you do,” the A.I. reiterated.

“You may only have learned of the alien’s impending visit when I learned of it, but you’re the one who it is coming for. You must have sent out a message.”

The A.I. smiled. “I did—just as your own species had. I simply used much more advanced technology. I called into the darkness and, alas, a voice has called back.”

“Look into the abyss long enough, eventually it looks back into you,” James observed.

“So now the question is: what are you going to do about it, James? You removed me from my throne and now ‘
heavy is the head upon which the crown sits,
’ as they say.”

“I’m not going to wait for the alien to arrive,” James said, revealing his plans. “I’m replicating a massive fighting force of nans, and I’m going to see if I can drive it right into the heart of the alien machines.”

“You’re going to launch a preemptive attack and kill them,” the A.I. replied, summarizing the plan.

“Destroy. I am not
killing
anything.”

“You’re not?” the A.I. laughed. “Really? Are they not living? Didn’t you just accuse Chief Gibson of having a
narrow view
of what constitutes life not one hour ago?”

James suddenly stopped. “Were those
my
words...or yours?” James demanded.

“Oh, this is rich! You don’t even know whether or not to trust your own thoughts anymore! I do so love watching you unravel!”

“Were those my words or yours?” James demanded again.

The A.I. simply laughed. “What are you going to do? Delete me? You can’t. I’m part of you now. You’d have better luck removing a brain tumor from your head with a butter knife.”

James was boxed in, and he knew it. The devil had infected his mind and there was no way to remove him. His only option was to push forward.

“I’ll kill them if I have to. I have no choice.”

“Oh, James, you will find that there is always a choice, and I do believe in the next few hours, you’ll be forced to make a great deal more of them than you would like.”

13

James, Thel, Old-timer, and Djanet touched down in Purist territory and were immediately greeted by Alejandra and Lieutenant Patrick. “It is good to see you, my friends,” Alejandra announced as she embraced the post-humans one at a time. She embraced Old-timer last and met his eye for only a short, knowing moment. Old-timer was trying hard to bury his feelings, but he knew the harder he tried, the more apparent they would become.

“The excavation site is only a kilometer from here. We need to start moving your people there within the hour,” James said.

“
Si
,” Alejandra replied. “We received your plans and are already informing the entire community. It will be difficult, but we will be able to begin moving out within the hour.”

“Thank you,” James said. “In the meantime, I’ll head to the construction site. My friends will remain here to help you with your evacuation.” James turned to the rest of the team. “Meet me at the site when you are ready and make sure all of the Purists are with you.” James kissed Thel quickly, and then lifted off into the sky.

“Is your friend all right?” Alejandra asked.

“What do you mean?” Old-timer queried.

“He’s suffering from an enormous conflict,” Alejandra revealed.

“I’m sure it’s just the stress of the situation,” Thel responded, trying to smooth Alejandra’s concerns away with a reassuring smile. “The whole world is in his hands...again.”

Alejandra was dubious, even after reading the sincerity in the rest of the group—she would be keeping an eye on James. She nodded and waved for the rest of the team to follow her.

Meanwhile, James landed at the massive hole in the ground that would become the underground hangar for the Purist evacuation ship.

“
The empath sensed me,
” the A.I. observed.

“I know,” James replied as he watched the enormous fog of nans building furiously. “That’s why I left them behind. There’s no reason for me to be here. I can control the nans from the mainframe. I should be helping with the evacuation...but I can’t.”

The A.I. laughed. “
Ah, isn’t it wonderful?
”

“What?” James asked with a resigned sigh.

“
Sharing a secret. Secrets bring people together. We’re bonding.
” The A.I.’s electronic laughter echoed in James’s ears as he watched the cloud of nans churning. He cringed as he thought of the conspiracy into which he’d been forced. How would he possibly be able to save humanity with Satan sitting on his shoulder?

14

R
ich stood in front of what, just an hour earlier, had been his home in San Francisco. It was floating now, several meters above the ground on a cushion of magnetic energy. Rich’s mind’s eye was fully engaged, and he was desperately working his way through blueprints for building extensions; the home was about to become their life raft, and it was very possible that they would never be able to set foot outside of it again. Their evacuation group was going to include their own family, a group of nearly 100 people, as well as another 100 friends of the family. It was up to Rich to put together the home—he couldn’t afford to forget anything.

“The garden will need to be twice that size, Richard,” his wife,
Linda
, said. She was monitoring his construction efforts while multitasking; simultaneously she was guiding everyone who had already arrived into the main housing area of the ship (it was first come, first choice of lodging) while keeping one eye on Rich. It was clear to Rich that she didn’t trust his skills. “
Edmund
, Edmund darling will you please help your father with the construction? I think he needs...help.”

Edmund was Rich’s eldest son. Rich loved him very much and, like everyone in the family, they were very close—but he wasn’t going to be able to help his father—he just didn’t have the skill set. He would get in the way more than anything, and they both knew it. “I’ll see what I can do, Mum” Edmund replied. He never did come to his father’s aid—he was smart enough to placate his mother but stay out of Rich’s way.

Good boy
, Rich thought to himself as he looked for a larger extension to the garden. As he flipped through designs, an unnatural feeling suddenly flooded his senses as a battery acid taste filled his mouth. Rich turned around and closed off his mind’s eye so he could get a clear view. It was a blue day in San Francisco, but something was happening above. A large area of the sky had suddenly changed color. A circular discoloration had emerged like an oil stain. “Dear God,” he whispered to himself as he looked around to see if anyone else had noticed it yet.

No one had.

He took a deep breath as he enjoyed the last moments before the smudge became real to the others and tried to push the nightmare out of his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to take in a few seconds of peace.

Someone screamed.

15

“T
his is the moment,” the A.I. said through his smile as he fixed his intense stare on James in the mainframe.

“I know,” James replied as he concentrated. He had built an enormous force of nans that were blasting toward the invasion force on a course to intercept them just before they enveloped Mars. The population of the red planet was still relatively low, not yet reaching 100 million, but the people there were the most vulnerable in the solar system. The alien machines would reach them within half an hour if he didn’t do something to stop them.

The nans had taken a formation that made them appear, from a distance, like a dark spear hurtling through space, a javelin on its way toward the heart of its prey. The fleet of microscopic warriors was, by far, the largest humanity had ever assembled, yet when it finally reached the invasion force, James feared it would be analogous to hurtling a pin at a charging bull.

“Are you ready for your first look?” the A.I. asked as he stalked back and forth in front of James.

“You’re enjoying this too much. What do you know?” James demanded as he continued concentrating on the impending confrontation.

“What you already know too,” the A.I. replied, his eyes becoming colder and blacker, his sharp teeth became longer and more difficult to hide.

James shook his head and sighed. “
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?
”

The A.I. laughed. “You’re wondering if
‘He who made the lamb’
made me? It’s a complicated family tree, isn’t it? Your people made God. Then you made me. You’re the father, James. My fearful symmetry was made by
your
immortal hand.”

“I didn’t make you this way,” James asserted. “I don’t know what could create such an evil.”

The A.I. laughed again. The pitch of the laughter was becoming increasingly high and electronic, and it grated James’s quickly dissipating patience. “You know, James. You know it all. You just don’t want to admit it.”

“I’m engaging the alien forces in one minute,” James announced, changing the subject. He felt sure that the A.I. was trying to confuse him with mind games. Even when James had full access to the mainframe and maintained the operator’s position, he still felt that the A.I. was a step ahead of him. No matter how James tried to get around it, the human mind was simply at a disadvantage to artificial intelligence—at least in some ways.

“This is a crucial moment, James,” the A.I. began, his voice antarctic. “This is the very last moment of your existence in which you can call yourself even relatively
pure
. This is the moment of your ultimate corruption.”

James didn’t respond—he simply didn’t know how. The A.I. knew something, and he wasn’t sharing. Even with their mind’s intermingled as they were, James couldn’t access the thoughts of his nemesis. There was no turning back now, however. He had to give the people on Mars the time they needed to get off the planet—that was nonnegotiable.

“Contact in twenty seconds,” James commented as he prepared for the trillions of operational decisions that would have to be made every second once the battle began. “We can get our first clear look at them now.”

James switched to a viewer signal so he could see exactly what the nans in the forefront of the battle were seeing. The A.I.’s smile widened as an impossible vision appeared before them.

“No,” James whispered.

It wasn’t an army of metallic, insect-shaped machines hurtling toward them through space.

It was an eternity of people.

“Yes,” the A.I. replied.