Post-Human 05 - Inhuman (30 page)

17

The white light and golden sparkle of the figure before them suddenly faded. When the blinding distortion of the light was absent, it revealed that Thel’s image was gone, but Kali’s image remained. Astonished, the trio of James, the A.I. and the candidate looked on as Kali examined her body, and her regrown hand, holding her hands up before her eyes.

“So cool,” she finally said.

“Thel?” James asked in near disbelief.

Kali smiled before her form melted away, replaced by Thel’s. “Yep.”

“Thank God,” James exclaimed. He tried to run toward her to embrace her, but the A.I. and the candidate continued holding him back.

“James,” the A.I. spoke in a half-pleading, half-scolding tone, “this has never been tried before. If you touch her, your patterns might merge, and you could end up killing each other! Stay back until we know what we’re dealing with.”

James’s eyes locked on Thel’s before he relented and did, indeed, hold back. He desperately wanted to hold Thel in his arms, but he knew the A.I. was right. Thel’s bizarre leap of faith and her previously never attempted method of joining with an avatar were unknowns, and as they always did, James and the A.I. chose to be cautious.

“Okay. Okay, you’re right,” James said as he disentangled himself from the two artificial intelligences that held him back. They relented as well and James stood, just meters from Thel. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I’m awesome,” Thel replied. “I’m checking the systems. Guys, the Kali avatar is fully operational. I can do anything inside the sim, just as the Kali program was designed to do. I can heal wounds, I can manipulate matter…” She trailed off as she seemed to see something while she read through her list of capabilities. She turned to the curved glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up the perimeter of Cloud 9 and stepped toward the edge. “I can even stop the purge.” She held out her hands, and suddenly, every NPC that was still functioning stopped their rampaging.

James and the two A.I.s ran to the window themselves to see the results. NPCs that had been ripped to shreds and deactivated suddenly came back together, their patterns resetting until they were fully functioning. They simply stood up and walked calmly away, returning to their business. The fires extinguished themselves all over the city, and the smoke blew away, dispersing in the rain, vanishing into the ubiquitous clouds.

“There,” Thel said as she watched, amazed by her own accomplishments. She turned to her companions. “We’re safe. And I’m digging these godlike powers.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she smiled. “I think I understand you guys a little better now. It’s not easy to give up being superhuman.”

“Incredible,” the candidate observed.

“Indeed,” the A.I. echoed, smiling before he turned to Thel. “It appears that whoever our mystery occupant of the Kali avatar was, is also our guardian angel. That entity has provided us with the means to protect ourselves.”

“Unless it’s another trick,” James cautioned. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been manipulated.”

“True,” the A.I. conceded. “However, for the time being, we do seem to be safe within the sim.”

“The trick is to make sure we’re safe
outside
the sim,” Thel pointed out. She sighed. “Fellas, I’ve checked the systems. I should be good to go for an exit. My body is within range in the real world.”

“Thel!” James suddenly reacted, so quickly that it appeared to be an instinctual reaction rather than a considered one. “
Please
, wait! That could be the trick,” he said, urging caution. “Maybe whoever it is wants us to kill ourselves by trying to exit?”

“For what purpose?” the candidate asked.

“I agree with the candidate’s implication,” the A.I. announced. “James, you’re understandably trepidatious. You don’t want to lose Thel—she’s the love of your life. But this is an instance where logic must dictate our decision. Whatever entity inhabited the Kali avatar before could’ve killed us with the ease of a thought while she was here. What advantage could that entity have possibly had by keeping us alive, only to then trick us into our own deaths at a later point?”

“I don’t know,” James responded, “but we have to be absolutely sure that—”

“We’ll never be absolutely sure,” the A.I. countered, his lips tightening as he spoke. “James, your emotions—your love—are capacities that have served you well. They make you the hero that you are. But you cannot let your love turn into a fear that controls your better judgment. We naturally fear the loss of those we hold most dear, but there’s no reason to believe Thel won’t be able to successfully leave the sim.”

James listened to the explanation and then ran his fingers through his hair before collapsing onto one of the chairs that lined the windows of Cloud 9. He looked up at Thel, who’d watched the entire exchange wordlessly, but who’d kept her eyes locked on James.

“I’ll be okay,” she told him with a reassuring smile.

“And one of us needs to be in the real world,” the A.I. added. “Thel can help to sequester Aldous, and she can also relate to the Purists what’s happening to us.”

“Rich can do those things!” James countered.

“But he
can’t
get us out of here,” Thel replied. “If I can escape, then we know the two of you can too. All we need is to send a powerful enough signal to reach Earth, and if we reach Earth—”

“We can activate Trans-human,” James said, finishing her sentence.

“And if we activate Trans-human, we can undo this damage,” the A.I. added. He put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Let go, James. Trust her.”

James shut his eyes tight. “You’d go, even without my blessing,” he said, as he opened his eyes and looked into Thel’s.

“Yep,” Thel replied, “but I’d still appreciate the support.”

James sighed and stood. It was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. “Okay. Okay, you’re right. I’ve asked you to trust me so many times—it’s time for me to trust you.”

Thel smiled wide. “Damn straight. I love you, James Keats.”

“I love you too,” James replied.

Thel blew James a kiss and winked before waving goodbye. “Talk to you on the other side.”

A second later, Thel vanished and the Kali avatar, along with its deadened eyes, returned.

James held his hand up to his aug glasses before speaking in an almost pleading tone, “Rich, please tell me Thel just woke up.”

18

Old-timer remembered that James had described what this would feel like—the sensation of thousands of tentacle-like appendages acting out instead of the arms and legs, fingers and toes he was used to. Then he remembered the way James described his own ability to manipulate space-time, comparing it to a seven-year-old catching a fly ball. He realized now what James had been trying to tell him.

“It’ll feel natural. I promise,” James had proclaimed.

Old-timer nearly smiled at the remembrance of the conversation as his thousands of tendrils sprang into action, his body morphing into something that, to his companions, resembled more closely a jellyfish than it did a human, as each tendril flashed out, circled an attacking android’s neck, and severed its head from its body.

Paine ducked and partially protected himself with the railing of the catwalk, his eyes wild as he made sure no androids came close to him while also keeping an eye on Old-timer, who was doing things Paine had never imagined in his wildest dreams. To him—Old-timer—Craig, as Paine knew him—no longer appeared human. Craig was a killing machine, more lethal than almost anything he’d seen in his life—more lethal than anything other than one very notable exception.

Hundreds of androids were attempting to pounce on Paine, Daniella, Djanet, and Samantha, yet none of them were able to manage so much as a hand on their quarry, each android who got within reach having its head summarily popped from its body, decapitated with ease by the weapon that Old-timer’s body had become.

Even their leader, Neirbo, was powerless, standing several meters away from the flailing death-bringer that was Old-timer, firing futile shots from his weapon in an attempt to bring the monster down—or at least slow the ease with which it was destroying his forces. One of Old-timer’s tendrils seemed to sense this, reason that the shots were a threat, and consequently circled Neirbo’s arm, easily ripping it from the android’s body and sending the android screaming and stumbling away in retreat.

The weapon slid down the catwalk, eventually finding its way to within Paine’s grasp. He moved from the railing and lunged out for it, grasping it before rolling back against the railing, the bodies still falling around him like trees in the woods, smashing hard against the ground or tumbling over the ledge for what seemed to be an eternity into the darkness below.

“Did you get the gun?” Old-timer called over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Paine responded, realizing that Old-timer had planned it that way.

“Watch my back,” he turned his head slightly to meet Paine’s eye. “Just in case,” he added.

“Okay,” Paine responded, watching to make sure that no androids breached the killing perimeter that Old-timer’s body had formed. Not one of them got close to touching them.

Then, suddenly, everything changed.

The android ship seemed to pitch, its nose pointing upward instantly, the gravity suddenly throwing them all to the side, the limp android bodies falling to Paine’s left instead of downward to the ground so far below.

Paine hooked his arm around the railing, as did Daniella, who was the first person his eyes instinctively went to. The others in their party had managed to react in time as well, the catwalk seeming to have been turned on its side, debris smashing down around them, falling to the new bottom of the scene, which was the back of the
Constructor
vessel.

Old-timer had latched onto the railing as well, reaching out with his tendrils to catch Djanet and even Jules, the android he’d kidnapped, keeping her from plunging toward the irresistible gravity.

“What’s happening?” Old-timer shouted out as his body re-furled most of his tendrils, his human form retaking its shape. “Did we get hit with something?”

“We weren’t close to a planet!” Jules shouted back. “We were in deep space—nothing could explain a gravity shift like this other than—”

“A black hole,” Samantha realized.

“A black hole?” Djanet reacted. She turned to Old-timer with a hopeful expression. “Like Trans-human! James! The A.I.! They must be fighting back!”

“No,” Old-timer said, his face contorted with dread, “they’d have contacted us if Trans-human was online.”

“It’s not a friend,” Samantha announced. “We have to get out of here. Now!”

“Why? What’s happening?” Daniella shouted.

Paine looked at Old-timer, their eyes locking onto one another in deadly seriousness. “It’s V-SINN,” Paine announced, his voice filled with both hatred and dread. “And anything that hasn’t escaped this ship in the next ninety seconds is going to be dead.”

PART 4

1

“Rich? Rich, do you copy?” James’s voice desperately called out over and over in Rich’s ear. Rich ignored James’s plea for a status update in his mind’s eye, turning the volume down as he led Lieutenant Commander Patrick down the stairs of the command center. Alejandra was at point, her job to detect any sign that Aldous suspected them or could detect their approach. She turned to Rich when they were only a couple of meters away and silently gave him a nod and a thumbs-up before she stepped away, clearing the path for Rich to fire.

Rich held his hands up, the magnetic energy pulsing green on his finger tips before fusing into a ball of light. He knew he had to hit the chief with just the right amount of power—enough to stun him unconscious but not enough to damage the sensitive instruments of the command center or, perhaps even more importantly, the hard drive that carried the sim in which James and the A.I. were still imprisoned. He licked his lips as he prepared to fire, took in a deep breath to muster the courage, and fired.

A second later, Rich was upside down, flying through the air in the opposite direction, headed for a collision with the far, concrete wall of the room. He hit with a
thud
and grunted when one of his ribs cracked with a sickening
snap
that he could hear as well as feel.

As he rolled to his side, he saw Aldous turning around, a look of shock on his face as Alejandra, Lieutenant Commander Patrick, and half a dozen of Patrick’s men trained their rifles on the former leader of the post-humans.

“What is the meaning of this?” Governor Wong demanded. “This man is my guest!”

“Richard?” Aldous said, still incredulous as he saw Rich barely moving, struggling to get to his knees. “Did you attack me?”

Within the sim, James looked up at the A.I., concern furrowing his brow. “I just heard something weird. I think he’s been injured! Rich! Rich, do you copy?”

Rich tried to reply, but no words could escape his lips, the wind still knocked out of his chest. The nans were hard at work taking care of the internal damage, but the consequential pain of his rapid impact with the unforgiving wall hadn’t yet abated.

“Governor,” Alejandra began, “the chief isn’t to be trusted. He’s the post-humans’ prime suspect.”

“Suspect? Suspected of what?” Wong questioned.

“Treason,” Alejandra replied. “Commander James Keats and their artificial intelligence are imprisoned within the device the chief is wearing over his shoulder,” she pointed out, gesturing to the black hard drive, still attached to the strap slung over Aldous’s shoulder.

“James and the A.I. suspect that Aldous…” Rich began, struggling to get to his feet as he held both his arms around his torso, hugging himself to support his weight as he struggled against the pain that each breath brought along as part of the package so that he could continue speaking, “…may have paved the way for the androids to assimilate the humans on Earth.”

“
James
,” Aldous said as though the name alone was enough of an answer, his expression flat, yet stoic. “He found a way to contact you, didn’t he?”

Rich nodded.

“That boy.” He shook his head before, odd as it seemed to those present, he held up his hands in surrender. “And now he’s told you he’s concerned that I’ll damage the hard drive? That I’d rather see James and the A.I. deleted than have them set free to defend us against the androids. Is that about right, Richard?”

“That about sizes it up,” Rich replied, grimacing as he crossed both of his arms across his torso, hugging it to mitigate the extreme pain.

“Rich, can you report?” James asked through their aural connection, desperate for answers.

“I’m a little busy, Commander. Hang on,” Rich grunted in reply to the voice in his ears.

“Richard, in the future,” Aldous began, his tone carrying a hint of slightly amused indignation, “if you ever want to attack me again, keep in mind that I am the chief of the governing council. That means I have access to extra defenses that the regular citizenship don’t have. Even if you sneak up on me, you’ll be detected, and my force-field will automatically activate to protect me.”

“Yeah,” Rich answered. “So I noticed. Neat trick you got there.”

“It was nothing personal,” Aldous said, his words tinged with condescension. “I meant you no harm, and…” He turned to the governor before addressing everyone else in the room, most of whom had their rifles aimed futilely in his direction, “I also meant no harm to James, Thel, or the A.I. So, if you’ll allow me,” he began to move his hands slowly to the hard drive before removing it from his shoulder, grasping the hard drive in his hand and holding it out before him, offering it directly to Rich.

Rich kept his eyes squarely on the hard drive, but held his hands out, ready to blast the chief again while speaking with deliberate emphasis as each syllable escaped his lips, addressing Alejandra directly, “Would you mind?”

Alejandra lowered her rifle, letting it hang loose from the strap on her shoulder as she tentatively reached for the hard drive.

“You’re not thinking clearly, Richard,” Aldous spoke, a faint smile crossing his lips. “I already told you, you can’t harm me.”

Alejandra’s fingers reached the hard drive and, for a moment, she and Aldous held it together, Aldous’s eyes remaining locked with Rich’s. After seconds that felt much longer, Aldous released his hold and Alejandra backed away with the hard drive successfully before turning to deliver it to Rich, who took it in his hands.

“I’d never,
ever
, intentionally hurt Commander Keats, Thel, or the A.I., nor would I
ever
intentionally harm a post-human,” Aldous said emphatically.

“He’s telling the truth,” Alejandra confirmed for those assembled.

“And does that same courtesy extend to Purists?” Lieutenant Commander Patrick asked, his rifle still aimed squarely at the chief.

Aldous’s eyes finally left Rich’s as he turned to regard the room, populated by the scrutinizing, distrustful eyes of more than a dozen Purists. He considered the question, then considered that he was in a room with an empath, who seemed nearly as adept as the A.I. at determining if someone was being sincere.

“When Governor Wong here was barely out of his diapers,” Aldous spoke, gesturing to the elderly leader of the Purists, “I was rebuilding a world destroyed in a war that I blamed solely on Purist beliefs.” He tightened his lips as he allowed himself a brief remembrance of the pain. “The lives lost—the entire world, nearly destroyed. It wasn’t…easy. Of that you can be sure.”

“It wasn’t easy to cram all of us on a reservation in South America?” Patrick questioned, disdain saturating his voice.

“I didn’t make the decision to bring the post-human world into being,” Aldous replied. “I admit I wanted it, but I left it up to another man—a man considered by all of you here to be a hero.
He
had the power to decide whether the world would be post-human or…something else. Some, indescribable place the Purists were desperately and forlornly trying to build, albeit without much success.”

Rich scoffed. “I really doubt
you’d
leave a decision like that up to someone else.”

“Oh I did, Richard,” Aldous replied, “and you know the man I speak of very well.
Craig Emilson
made the call. I simply carried out his order.”

“Old-timer?” Rich reacted, astonished.

“Craig?” Alejandra echoed. She turned to Rich. “My God…Richard, he’s telling the truth.”

Rich shook his head. “No...no way. Old-timer wouldn’t have wanted this. He wouldn’t have treated the Purists this way. I don’t believe it.”

“Craig—or Old-timer as you incessantly insist on calling him—didn’t have the stomach to take control. He left the actual construction of the post-human world up to me, but he
could’ve
stopped me. I gave him the chance…and he chose a post-human future.”

“But you’re the one who imprisoned us,” Patrick concluded. “You can’t pass the buck.”

Aldous shook his head. “I didn’t imprison you. You imprisoned yourselves. You could’ve been post-humans, but you chose to live like the indigent fools of the past. You actually chose to live with disease and die like animals, as though your lives don’t mean anything,” Aldous said. It was clear from his tone that he could barely fathom the Purists’ reasoning.

“At least we’re still human!” Patrick shot back.

Aldous looked around the room at the venom that filled every stare directed his way. “You love James Keats,” Aldous said, nodding. “He’s your new hero.
Your savior.
Why? Because he gave you
this
?” he gestured around himself. “He gave you Venus?” Aldous pounded angrily on his own chest as he yelled out, “Well, I didn’t have an entire planet to give you!” He tried to get his breathing back under control, his anger reaching proportions he hadn’t felt for what seemed like eons. “No matter what I did, I couldn’t convince the Purists to join us. We explained everything—detailed a life without pain, or suffering. A life where you could soar in the air like a bird, and even help us terraform so that we could expand humanity’s reach! Most Purists eventually agreed and relented, but there were those of you that were unreachable. And every generation bred more doubters. So I gave you land—just like James—I gave you a place to exist.”

He put his hand through his hair and paced as he further calmed himself, his eyes seeming to leave the room as he remembered something—something horrible. “And then years passed by. And over the years, a man learns. A man discovers truths. And as the man learns these truths, he begins to understand his enemies. And when a man understands his enemies—
truly
understands them—they cease to be his enemies.”

He turned to Lieutenant Commander Patrick, then to Governor Wong, who stood just a meter away behind the chief. “Make no mistake. All these years, we had the power to eradicate you. But
every single human life is sacred to me
. And listen to me when I tell you, that now more than ever, I’ve done everything in my power to protect every human in this solar system,
including
the Purists.”

For a moment, silence hung in the air. Rich didn’t have a response, but turned to Alejandra, as did, eventually, everyone else—even Aldous.

“He…” She paused as she realized she needed to moisten her dry mouth before she could speak. “He’s telling the truth.”

The tension in the room suddenly dropped significantly, and Rich even relaxed his grip on the hard drive, which he’d been gripping like grim death.

“But,” Alejandra continued, her face paled with terror, “he’s still hiding something from us. Something…horrible.”

Before anyone could react, Thel Cleland burst through the doors into the command center, holding a Purist guard that she’d accosted in a headlock, her palm pressed against his temple threateningly. Once she was inside the room, she released him and he, without a fight, rolled pathetically away from her, getting to his knees as he continued to back away, terrified of the post-human after his ordeal.

“Thel!” Rich exclaimed.

“Thel?” James reacted. “She’s okay?”

“Yes,” Rich confirmed.

“
Thel
?” Aldous said, disbelieving his own eyes.

“Chief Gibson,” Thel began, her expression molded by her determination, “you better have one hell of an explanation.” She held up her hands, green energy pulsating threateningly on her fingertips.