Post-Human 05 - Inhuman (41 page)

23

Thel arrived on the scene just as the sun began to set in the west, melting into the golden ocean. She was at the forefront of a small group of flying machines that hovered just a few meters above the water and landed in the surf of the beach before hovering onto the sand, blowing it up into a cloud of gold. Rich narrowed his eyes as he recognized the telltale signs of James
’
s design, the same chrome-colored sheen and sleek design that made it seem as though James was somehow there, his presence ubiquitous.

“Still no word?”
Thel asked as she landed on the hill, just meters from the 180-foot Tesla tower and the group of post-humans and androids who were now milling about in an awkward pause in the conflict.

Old-timer shook his head. “No sign yet.”

“We
’
re not likely to get one,”
1 interjected. “If Keats and the A.I. are successful, they
’
ll initiate the same process as before. There may not be time to send a communication signal to us warning us before the fact.”

“And then,”
Aldous grumbled,
“we
’
ll be sharing our universe—
our solar system
—with a god.”

“
Chief,
”
Thel began in response, “what the hell is your major malfunction?”

“Excuse me?”

“The A.I. was tested by you. You, above all people, should trust him!”

“I trust the A.I. implicitly,”
Aldous returned. “But there are things I know about the multiverse that
I alone
know—things that have chilled me to my core. When the A.I. discovers these things, as he
’
s sure to do, we
’
ll face an existential threat unlike anything we can currently
imagine, and given what we’ve been through lately, you should know I don’t take that statement lightly.”

“I’d trust the A.I. with whatever knowledge you’re alluding to before I’d trust you,” Thel insisted.

“Regardless,” Aldous returned, “I’ve studied thousands of parallel universes and I’ve detected thousands more that have been shut down—annihilated after infinity computers were initiated. Thel, we cannot possibly comprehend what the experience of trying to input consciousness into one of these machines would be like—we don’t even know if consciousness would survive. When a being transcends, whatever character traits we’d understand and expect might not be retained. The being would be working on a level so beyond us, that it’s highly likely they—

Aldous was cut off by a sudden and dramatic shift in the light, as the soft pinks and yellows of the sunset were suddenly replaced by an intense increase in luminosity as though there were suddenly a second sun, this one in the east. “What the devil…”

“Oh no!”
1 reacted in dismay. “Oh no!”

“What? What is it?”
Djanet demanded, shocked to see the unflappable android suddenly distraught.

Aldous leapt into action, almost instantly generating a powerful magnetic field and extending it out so that it protected everyone on the beach and the small bluff. The others looked on in awe, befuddled as Aldous remained silent, his face instantly paled, as he stared forlornly up into the sky.

Old-timer grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him as he demanded an answer to the same question. “What is it?”

“V-SINN,”
Paine sneered, surprising everyone by being the first one to verbally acknowledge their impending death.

“V-SINN?”
Thel reacted. “What the hell is that?”

“It
’
s the nanobot infinity computer,”
Aldous whispered, his voice still electronically garbled, though not to the point of being unrecognizable. “Essentially, the nanobot version of Trans-human. A black hole computer.”

“So…what does this mean?”
Djanet asked. “What are we seeing?”

“The nanobot infinity computer is a black hole formed from matter, while the technology that birthed Trans-human is anti-matter,”
Aldous answered. “If they touched—”

“There
’
d be an extraordinarily violent reaction,”
Djanet realized. “Oh my God.”

“But,”
Thel began, trying to reason, still in disbelief, “if they
’
re black holes, wouldn
’
t the intense gravity contain the reaction?”

“In stellar black holes, yes, in theory,”
Aldous replied, “because they
’
re extraordinarily dense, but Trans-human and the nanobot computer are not stellar black holes. Their gravity, while immense, isn
’
t nearly enough to hold back an explosive reaction of that magnitude. They
’
ll both be ripped apart.”

“And, as we speak, the incredibly powerful magnetic fields of the black holes are twisting the material V-SINN has consumed into collimated beams, ejecting the material and photons and sending them streaming in jets of gamma radiation throughout the solar system,”
1 said in a hollow tone, turning to face the group, her expression hopeless. “It will fry the systems of every android in the solar system, destroying the entire collective within minutes.”

“This must have been its plan all along,” Samantha realized, shaking her head as she looked up at Old-timer. “I told you, V-SINN doesn’t make mistakes.”

“Oh my God,”
Thel realized. “And because the chief shut down Venus
’
s magnetic force-field, all of the life on the planet is about to get a lethal dose of radiation too!”

Alejandra and Lieutenant Commander Patrick had just finished ambling up the hill in time to hear the dire pronouncement.

“Whoa, what?”
the lieutenant commander reacted suddenly. “We
’
re going to lose Venus?
”

“
But we
’
ll survive, right?
”
Rich pointed out.
“
Aldous is shielding us from the radiation, so
—”

“
I
’
m only delaying the inevitable, Richard,
”
Aldous uttered.
“
With no planet to sustain us and without the tools we need to escape this universe, we
’
ll be set adrift in space, waiting for the inevitable moment, hours, days, or years from now, when another nanobot infinity computer returns to finish the job.
”

“Aldous,”
Old-timer said, contempt dripping from his lips as he turned on the chief, “all of our deaths are on your hands.”

“I know,”
Aldous conceded. “Dear Lord, I know.”

“We
’
re not just gonna sit here and wait to die, are we?”
Rich exclaimed, the most vocal opponent to the notion of waiting forlornly for death to arrive. “We
’
ve got options!
”
He turned to the tower behind him and pointed.
“
The tower generates the planetary force-field, right? And James and the A.I. were able to access it and boost the signal carrying their patterns to Earth, so we know it
’
s still functional. All we need to do is take control and
—”

“
We can
’
t, Richard,
”
Aldous asserted.

“
Why not?
”
Rich exclaimed.

“
Because James designed the system so that only Purists could access it,
”
Lieutenant Commander Patrick announced, his tone filled with resignation,
“
so that no post-human would have the ability to access it mentally and interfere, and your chief destroyed the only place where that control could be accessed.
”

Aldous
’
s expression displayed an even deeper level of guilt.

Rich blinked, disbelieving.
“
Okay, but wait. James and the A.I. just accessed the controls. I mean, they
just
freak
’
n did it! Wirelessly even!
”

“
The hard drive you have in your possession,
”
Aldous responded,
“
is extraordinarily nimble. It had to be able to download an entire virtual world in 90 seconds
—
a feat that required it to be able to access essentially every signal the mainframe was capable of sending. Apparently, James and the A.I. were able to exploit the hard drive
’
s agility to gain access to the tower, not surprising considering James designed the system. But, go ahead,
”
Aldous insisted,
“
try to find a way to access the tower through your mind
’
s eye. You
’
ll see, as I already have, that there isn
’
t a way in that can be detected in the short time we have left before Venus has taken its lethal dose of gamma rays.
”

“
Kali,
”
Thel suddenly whispered before repeating the name again in an excited shout.
“
Kali! She
’
s the secret!
”

“
What?
”
Old-timer asked, perplexed.

“
Kali
—
she
’
s an avatar in the sim!
”
Thel explained before she turned to Aldous.
“
The Kali avatar was our doorway out of the sim. It allowed us to access all of the hard drive
’
s systems.
”

Aldous
’
s brow knitted momentarily before he turned to 1, his expression accusatory.
“
Were you responsible for this?
”