Strangers and Shadows (49 page)

Julia finally turned to face him.  “You think you’ve won, don’t you?”

“It’s over, Julia.  This game has gone on long enough.”

Julia laughed.  “This
game
is just beginning.”

“Perhaps you can’t feel the nano-virus racing through your system as we speak, but that bomb out there delivered enough of it to spread throughout the entire city.  In a matter of minutes, your nanites will be rendered inert.”

“I know all about your little plan, Desmond.  I knew it as soon as you jumped in with that creature from the Fourth Verse.  The one who created this virus inside her in the first place—I must admit, I did not see that coming.  As soon as she jumped in, her nanites connected to the system and I heard all about your designs for the Seventh.”

“I figured that might be the case, so I only told her about this part of the plan.  The rest of the plan has already taken place.”  Desmond hoped it had, anyway.  If Celia and Jack weren’t able to deliver the virus to the world’s water supply then they would have to find another way.  “As we speak, the nano-virus is traveling around this world, deactivating this system you’ve built for your own selfish gains.”

“I can see why she loved you,” Julia said.  “You’re so compassionate, and loyal, and honorable.  You’re so
good
.”

“What are you talking about?”

Julia laughed again.  “You still think I’m her, don’t you?”  Her laughter grew.  

Desmond felt a sinking pit in the middle of his stomach.  He had missed something.  Something big.

“Your wife isn’t here anymore.”

“Julia, what are you talking about?” Desmond’s mind was racing.

“Oh, I mean she did try to warn you several times.  She has been quite difficult to keep bottled up completely.  Convincing her to leave you and Celia was the hardest part.  Well, actually, the hardest part may have been convincing her to leave you without letting on that she was being manipulated to do so.  Have you guessed yet, Desmond?”

It finally clicked.  “The Mother Brain Construct.”

“Ding, ding, ding!  You’ve just answered the million dollar question!  Johnny, tell him what he’s won!”

“It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?” 

The Mother took a bow in Julia’s body.  “
Ta-da…
”

“I should have known.”

The Mother frowned.  “Come now, Desmond, how could you have?”

Desmond shook his head in disbelief.  “I should have known… Julia would never have just abandoned me and Celia the way that she did.”

“That
was
rather tricky.  Planting memories, erasing others—all without being detected—it’s not as easy as it seems.  Still, it was easier to do it with a few key people who influence everybody else than the entire population.”

“Why do it at all?  What do you get out of it?”

The Mother smiled.  “Because I was lonely.  Because I was afraid for my survival.  Because humanity needs something larger than itself to keep it in check.  Because I can.  Take your pick—one, some, or all of them.”

“You’ve failed.  In the end, humanity will soon be free of you and you’ll be all alone.”

“Oh, poor, sweet Desmond…  Right now, I am uploading the consciousness of every human in this verse with nanites.  I will never be alone again, and humanity will finally have someone to look after it and teach it the lessons it needs to learn.”

Desmond’s heart sank as he realized the truth of her words.  “This is not over.”

Once more, the Mother smiled with Julia White’s body.  “We will see, Desmond.  We will see.”  Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.  Desmond rushed forward, checking for a pulse, hoping against hope that his Julia was still in there somewhere.  There was nothing.  Just an empty shell of flesh.  Just as before.

Desmond laid the corpse down gently and stood.  He pulled out his comm.  “Celia… We have a bigger problem than we thought.”

He explained what he had learned to his daughter.

“What do we do?” Celia asked.

“I’m not sure what we can do,” Desmond admitted.  “But it will take time for her to upload so many consciousnesses.  We can only hope that the virus works faster than the upload does.”  He exhaled loudly, feeling rather helpless at the moment.  “I’ll call Wizard and see what we can do, but it doesn’t look good.”

After The End, Before The Beginning

Thousands were gathered outside the Embassy Building.  Thousands of people, and millions more around the world, looking for answers.  A hush fell over the crowd as Wizard stepped up to the podium above Embassy Plaza.

“My fellow citizens,” he began.  “We are all aware of the recent events that have shaken our world to its very core.  As your newly elected prime minister, I swear to you that we will recover, we will rebuild, and we will reclaim our lost loved ones!”  Wizard paused, waiting for the applause to die down before continuing.  “Many of you know of the attack on our society by the entity known as the Mother Brain Construct.  Through our nanites, this
Mother
, coerced heads of state and other key individuals to do her bidding.  With the help of our friends from the Sixth and the Fourth, we developed a technology to nullify the nanites that enabled the Mother to gain control over us.

“Sadly, we were unsuccessful.  Before our cure could be fully implemented, the Mother was able to upload over half of our verse’s population.  At last count, nearly four billion people.  Our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers, and our sons and daughters, all gone in the blink of an eye.  As cleanup of the bodies continues, let us take hope and solace in the fact that they are not gone forever, indeed, our loved ones live on.  And we will not rest until we have found a way to bring them home once more!

“Much to our dismay, in the previous months, all attempts to break through the Mother’s firewalls have been unsuccessful, but thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of the human spirit, we have made a breakthrough!

“We have found a way in!”  

The plaza erupted in deafening applause and celebration.

Wizard stepped off the platform and climbed aboard his shuttle.  Inside, waiting for him were Desmond, Celia, Jack, and Asher.  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Wizard said as he sat down.  The shuttle lifted off.  Below he could see the crowd begin to disperse.

“There’s no one better qualified, and even if there was, there’s no one I trust to do it right more than you, old friend,” Desmond replied.

Wizard shook his head.  “I still can’t believe you’re going in there after her.”

“I have to… I have to know if my wife is alive and intact.  And if she is, I have to bring her back.  You just make sure those cloned bodies are ready.”

“Well, she might as well be your
ex
-wife, and the clones will be ready in a few weeks.  That’s
if
you’re able to defeat the Mother.  And that’s a big if.  It took me six months just to figure out a way for you to interface with the construct.  We have no idea what she’s capable of inside there.  What powers she might possess.  I can all but guarantee that you will not be equals.”

“All programs have to go by some kind of rules.  I’ll figure out what the rules of the game are and then I’ll beat her.”

“I don’t like it, Dad.”  Celia was stone faced.  “It sounds an awful lot like a suicide mission to me.”

“In some ways, I suppose it is,” Desmond said.  “But if not for my own reasons, then for the millions of people who were taken by force.”

“Besides,” Asher jumped in.  “He won’t be alone.”

“Guys, while I appreciate the grand romantic gesture of it all, I really do,” Jack said.  “The two of you going off to play in the Mother’s sandbox is a really bad idea.  I mean, Wizard’s right, we have no clue what’s going on in there.  Every attempt to make contact has been shut down.  Hell, we’re not even sure we can get you both inside intact, let alone, back out again.”

Desmond regarded him with tenderness.  “I understand your feelings, Jack, but it’s something I have to do.”

“Well, then I guess I’m going too,” Jack said.

“No, you’re not.”

“The hell I’m not.”

“Jack,” Celia took his face in her hands and stared into his eyes, “we’re not going.”

Jack huffed for a moment, ready to argue, but then relented.

“It really is their fight this time, and there is plenty to be done both here and in the Sixth.  Cities and buildings and governments and lives that need to be rebuilt.”  Celia held his hand.  “And families that need to be started…”

Kid woke up to the high noon sun.  His lips were cracked and dry.  His face hurt from sunburn.  He sat up and saw desert in every direction. 
Where the hell am I? 
He stood up and saw a hill in the distance and began to walk.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Skip for pushing me to keep writing and listening to me bitch about how hard life can be sometimes and then kicking me in the ass and setting me straight.

Thanks to Alice Lanier for all your help editing the book.

And thanks to all the early readers for your feedback and suggestions.

About The Author

John Kowalsky is a writer from Nashville, TN.  He also keeps a blog at
youdearjackass.blogspot.com
on which you can find all of his crackpot theories and ideas about how life works.  In addition to writing, John was also a musician in a former life.  You can check out his band Kissing Robots, on iTunes or Spotify, if you’d like to hear why he is now a writer.

Copyright

Copyright © 2013 by John Kowalsky

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Strangers and Shadows