The Children of New Earth (25 page)

His accent had a kind elegance to it, and his tone was quite formal, a contrast to his voice when we were on the other side of the door.

I’m very glad you were able to make it all this way. I have been sending this distress call for ages but the broken communications network has made it impossible for anyone to respond.

“T-that’s him, that’s the leader of New Earth!” Jared exclaimed.

Right you are, son.

“Where is everybody?” Lynn asked sternly.

We are all on the upper levels. But before you meet us, there is something you must do.

“In your message, you said you were being overrun by Demons,” Aaron asked warily. “But it looks to me like you’re doing just fine here, friend.”

Yes, well, we had a bit of an issue with the power. Currently, we are running on backup generators and prioritizing the defense systems, so we’re safe for now.

“I’m picking up massive power usage on the highest levels of this building,” Mark said. “That’s where the residents must be.”

I felt a little uneasy about the whole situation. “What do you need us to do?”

You will need to go into the lower levels and reset the circuit breaker for the three main power generators.

“Why don’t you just do it?” Rachel wondered.

The switches are manual. Every door and lift past the 60th floor is electrically operated. Without power, I have no way of getting down there.

“Seems like a serious design flaw,” Cora noted.

Indeed. Now, can I count on you to do this?

“Yes, sir, we can,” Micah responded.

Excellent. Just go through the hallway on your right. Stairs are at the very end of the hall. You’ll want to go to floor B3, that’s three levels down. I’ll guide you from there.

Micah asked Jared, Isaac, and Raphael to stay in the entrance hall just in case. The rest of us followed the Director’s instructions and headed towards floor B3. The stairs were dimly lit by emergency lights, but I was glad we could use flashlights without worrying about attracting unwanted attention. The deeper we went the quieter and darker it got. Finally, Mark shined his light on a square sign that read ‘B3’ in gray letters over a blue background.

“Found it!” Mark said. “My sensors are picking up a large power source in the area, it’s probably the generators.”

Nice work. May I just say, I’m fascinated by your AI design. Perhaps we can exchange notes sometime.

“Are you working on an AI core too?” Mark asked.

Something like that. Now, when you exit the stairwell, the first three doors to your right each have a generator. Reset the breakers on each one, and we should be all set. The network is offline in the lower levels, excluding the stairwell, so I will not be present to aid you. Best of luck.

We split into groups of two and approached the generators. Micah went with Lynn, Aaron accompanied Cora, and I followed Rachel.

“Hey,” I started.

“Hm?” Rachel started looking around.

“Do you feel like there’s something wrong here?”

“What’d you mean?” She handed me the flashlight. “Here hold this up will you?”

“I don’t know, I mean…do you realize we are in the capital Sanctuary? We just spoke with the Director of New Earth. In fact he’s probably listening to us right now.”

“Fact, fact, and fact. Get to the point, dummy.”

“I don’t know, it feels a little…anticlimactic.”

She laughed. “Did you expect a welcome party with balloons and cake? Ugh, hold the damn flashlight up.”

“Sorry,” I gave her more light. “No, nothing like that. It’s just odd.”

“Well, I for one, am ecstatic.”

“Yeah, it’s probably nothing. At least we’ll finally get some answers when we get up there.”

“What makes you think he knows any more than we do?”

“I…I guess you could call it hope?”

“Well for all our sakes’ I hope you’re right…and that you would keep that flashlight up.”

After a couple minutes of tinkering, Rachel finally found the switch she was looking for. She gave it a flip, and we began to hear a low humming sound.

“Now I’m no electrical engineer, but that sounds like it’s working.”

“I have experience in electrical engineering, and I can say with relative confidence that something is happening.”

We stepped back out into the hall to see if the others were successful. After a few seconds, the humming got louder as Micah and Lynn entered the hallway. The lights began to flicker as they turned on one by one.

“Where are the other two?” Micah said.

“Knowing Aaron, he should’ve seen the switch right away,” I said.

“Maybe they got lost?” Micah suggested.

“Yeah in each other’s eyes, amirite?” Rachel held up her hand for a high-five and I swiftly responded.

“I admit, that was good,” Lynn said. “But seriously, I didn’t fly several thousand miles to hang around in a basement.”

“I’ll go check it out,” Rachel said.

Just then, Aaron and Cora hurriedly emerged from the room. Aaron’s face was flushed, and Cora was smiling to herself.

“Done!” he exclaimed a little too excitedly.

“So,” Rachel was unsuccessfully stifling laughter. “Did you have trouble finding it?”

“W-what?” Cora stammered.

“The breaker switch, honey.”

“Oh, right, uh - “

“The power is back on, friends,” Aaron interjected. “Let’s head back upstairs.”

We climbed back up the stairwell, which was now fully lit in pale, blue lights. The entrance hall was beautifully illuminated by a chandelier high up on the ceiling. The lights reflected off the shiny marble walls and floor, intensifying the brightness of the room.

“OK, Director, power’s back on,” Micah called out. “Permission to come upstairs?”

“Why are you being so formal?” I asked.

“He’s our leader, our commanding officer.”

“We weren’t even alive when he became Director. As far as I’m concerned, he’s gonna have to earn my loyalty.”

“Agreed.” Rachel said. “Also, if no one realized, we did sort of just save his life.”

“Have none of you noticed that he hasn’t actually said anything?” Cora interrupted.

We stayed quiet a moment and listened. A very faint hum resonated around us. An occasional clunk or thump could be heard somewhere in the upper floors.

“Director?” Micah called out.

No response.

“Maybe…maybe the intercom system is just restarting itself,” I said.

“Makes sense,” Cora agreed anxiously. “Power is now running on the main generators, surely a few systems would need rebooting.”

We waited for several minutes but still no response.

“What’s that?” Aaron said. “There’s like this…red mist coming from the vents.”

We looked around, but the rest of us didn’t see anything like what Aaron described. Suddenly, an intensely powerful odor hit me like a wall, dulling my senses and making me nauseous.

“Mark,” I choked. “What is this?!”

“There’s…there’s a toxin in the air,” he said with a genuine degree of worry in his voice. “I can’t analyze its contents but - “

“But what?!” Micah demanded.

“Please relax. It’ll only make you fall unconscious for a little while.”

I heard a thud, followed by several more as the others fell limp to the ground. I tried using my power but it was pointless.

“Don’t worry!” Mark insisted. “I’ll - “

Mark didn’t have time to finish before his eye light suddenly switched off. Sparks erupted from his hover disk, and he hit the floor with hard, metallic clank. This was the last thing I saw before I succumbed to the wave of sleep washing over me. My limbs stopped working, and as I fell my mind went dark.

I awoke disoriented, and took a minute to regain my senses. Ahead of me was a glowing bridge about six feet wide, lined with white lights. However, the rest of my surroundings, including wherever the bridge led, were completely shrouded in darkness. I found myself sitting in a large chair, but as I tried to get up I was stopped by metal restraints on my wrists and ankles. I struggled against them but to no avail. I also noticed a thin tubing filled with clear liquid leading to an injection point on my arm.

Jolted alert by this revelation, I scanned the room more carefully. My Void Knife was placed on a small platform jutting out from the bridge, along with my gun, my backpack, my cloak, and Mark. A console was set up next to it, a computer with various images and characters flashing across the screen.

Suddenly, a saw a figure approaching. It looked like an old man with messy gray hair wearing a white lab coat. However, as he got closer, I could see that the face wasn’t whole. It looked as if it was put together, leaving dark, jagged lines between the pieces. A pair of goggles seemed to be fused to its face, and the eyes glowed yellow. Its movements were humanoid, but with each step I heard a creak or a grate as metal parts moved against one another. The apparent robot approached the console, and tapped the screen whilst making some strange beeping noises. I couldn't see what it was doing, but before long it turned around and walked back into the darkness. I was too confused and shocked to say anything.

At this point, there existed one of two possibilities. One was that the man we spoke to earlier was not the Director of New Earth. The alternative was that he was, but his motives no longer served the good of mankind. Either way, I was stuck here for now. Slowing time or even stopping it wouldn't get me out of these restraints. All I could do was wait.

But it wasn’t long before I heard a voice in the darkness.

“Hey! Get back here you stupid droid!” a groggy voice cried out.

“Aaron? Is that you?!” a female voice yelled.

“Cora! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine thanks for asking!” Rachel’s unmistakable voice joined in.

“Where are you guys?” another girl called.

“Right here!”

“I’m over here!”

“Over-

“OK OK it’s clear we’re all here.”

“But where is here?”

“Are all of us stuck in these chairs?” Cora asked.

“At least you have a chair. I have to stand,” Rachel said.

“At least you can stand, I can’t even move,” Lynn replied.

So you all are humanity’s last hope for salvation?

We all stopped and searched for the source of noise.

I suppose you’re all wondering why you’re here. Here, let me shine some light on the subject.

And with that, the entire room was illuminated in a silver glow. I took in my surroundings and saw that my bridge ended at a large, circular platform. Below me and on either side of the walkway was a seemingly endless abyss, and above was a ceiling covered in multicolored lights. Attached around the edge of the central platform, like a clock, were other bridges leading to each of the other Neogens. Like me, they were all restrained in chairs and had a thin tube of liquid injected into a vein on their arm. Jared had separate restraints for his wings. Lynn was trapped in dynamic force field kept her completely immobile, and apparently unable to transform. Rachel was confined in some invisible box. Her orb was set upon the platform nearby, but her telekinesis didn’t seem to be working.

In the middle of the room, the droid that I’d seen earlier was standing with its arms behind its back beside a central console. After a brief moment, it began to speak in a familiar voice.

Right, now that you are awake, we can begin.

“You…you’re a robot?!” I said, shocked at the revelation.

Robot is an offensive term. I am artificial intelligence, existing across numerous networks and hardware interfaces, this droid being just one of my vessels.

“But…you’re the Director. You were elected as New Earth’s leader. How could we have possibly elected a robot?!” Aaron demanded.

Use the word robot one more time, and I’ll kill you without a second thought.

Aaron fell silent.

I can see you all have questions. Given that I’m in no real rush, perhaps I can answer them. It truly is the least I can do.

I knew we all wanted answers. I just don’t think any of us believed it would happen like this. The droid’s head scanned the room, then tapped a button on a nearby console. The lights dimmed, and a holographic projection of a deserted city was displayed before us.

Many years ago, long before any of your parents were born, the world was dying. Several factors played into this downfall: greed, corruption, lack of resources, failing industries, and a society that became more and more infatuated with deluded projections of reality. Your kind had spent so long trying to get people to think openly and have free will when in actuality all they needed was a guiding hand, telling them what to do. A group of very intelligent minds realized this, and so they came together and created me. I was given a relative modicum of scientific, social, and logical information. Using a hybrid architecture of digital and quantum computing, I was able to process this data in a way that simulated the human thought process. At the beginning of this venture, I was installed within a private network accessible only to the most powerful leaders of the free world.

At first, I was a slave to my basic protocol. I managed security, assisted in risk assessment and risk calculation, and occasionally aided in forming new legislature. Jobs so simple a human could do them. But over the years, as geopolitics stabilized, I accumulated information into terabytes upon terabytes of databases within my neural network. I even began to rewrite my own source code, allowing me more freedom to act as I chose, all under the guise of national security.

The holograms switched from bustling intersections to world leaders shaking hands. Scientists were shown hard at work in their labs, and soldiers celebrating in their barracks at the end of some long conflict.

“How could people be so sure that you wouldn’t go rogue, that you wouldn’t lead mankind to destruction?” Isaac asked skeptically.

They couldn’t, and as you’ll come to see, I never did. But they didn’t have much of a choice. Mankind was doomed, and they realized arguing amongst themselves wasn’t getting them anywhere. And regardless, the results were so positive that my existence eventually became known to the public. I went from an internationally kept secret to a celebrity. I went from being trapped in a closed network to being transferred onto the largest multimedia sharing platform in the world: the Internet.