-As you may recall…
-Oh, not so loud. I know, you told me I should stop, yadda yadda yadda. Before we get going, you want to know a secret?
-At this point I must admit I’m not sure.
-Okay, if you insist, I’ll tell you. You remember the notes I told you about that I was getting from someone who referred to himself as ‘Uncle Marsh-dog’? The ones I told you to forget that I told you about?
-How could I ever forget the thing you told me to forget?
-You know what I decided? I was thinking about it last night as the room was spinning. Anytime you give me a snarky reply I’m just going to act like I didn’t hear it and keep going. It’s called operant conditioning. Ignore the thing you want to extinguish, removing the reward that the subject, i.e., you, gets for doing the behavior. Then, when you respond in a helpful, constructive way, you receive a reward, like maybe I give you a piece of candy or something. Anyway, like I was saying, last night when I got home I found a note from Uncle Marsh-dog. It’s the first one in quite a while. He said they… I don’t know who they is, but I suppose whichever other ghosts are with him… anyway, they are watching me, and he wanted me to know that they’re concerned but won’t step in unless it’s absolutely necessary. He said they’re under an agreement of some kind to avoid meddling in human affairs. Honest, (SVC), I have no idea where these notes are coming from or how they’re getting into my house. As you know, it’s probably more secure than Fort Knox, where all the gold used to be. The notes made me billions, but it’s still creepy as hell. And get this: he knows about the kid. He called him by name, says to keep him safe, that he’s the link to some kind of future society. I know, sounds crazy, right?
-I don’t suppose you have the note?
-See, there’s something constructive to ask. Here, have a piece of candy. He always writes that I must destroy the notes after reading them, and if I don’t, he’ll come and do it himself. I put the note I found last night in my purse when I left the house this morning, and when I got here, I looked, and it was gone. Gone, (SVC).
-Is there any chance that you only thought you put it in your purse? Maybe it’s still at home.
-Even though that’s a little shaming, it’s potentially a constructive question, so here’s another piece of candy. No, there’s no chance I forgot it. I have cameras everywhere, as you know, and I can access the recordings from my phone. Watch this.
-Well, I can clearly see you placing a piece of paper in your purse, but I can’t tell what the paper is. Could you have accidentally put in the wrong piece of paper?
-Here, have another piece of candy. I don’t use paper, (SVC). Look around that room in the video. Do you see another piece of paper anywhere?
-Hmm. I’ll admit it seems strange, but we have other pressing problems to address. We have hundreds of pieces in motion, and Today Is the Day. We have confirmation that the boy, (WK), and three others have made their refueling stop in South Africa and are on their way to Brazil for a second refueling.
-So that’s your only reaction? It seems strange? You’re a piece of work, (SVC). Give me back my candy. Have there been any trackable communications from the jet? Any clues we can use?
-Nothing at all aside from the usual communications with air traffic control.
-I don’t know, (SVC). I have a strong feeling that something is going to blow up. What do we do if none of our contingencies for capturing the dad work?
-It’s a safe bet that they will head for the aboriginal nation’s home if they make it out and avoid our efforts. As long as he doesn’t get himself recaptured by the Americans or another interested nation state, which would most likely be China, we will have opportunities to convince him to help us there. Don’t lose focus, Director. We will prevail.
-We have to get off this planet, (SVC). Dr. Taylor is our best chance of making it alive. You know, it just occurred to me he might be willing to help us; we never really had the chance to ask him. He doesn’t want to help the US because he knows what they’ll do with his technology, but we have no intentions of using it for military purposes. Maybe all we need to do is talk to him. I’m going to hang on to that for a minute, let the idea ferment a bit. In the meantime, how about some breakfast?
****
T here was a flurry of excited chatter as we lifted off on our way to South Africa for our first refueling, Bill piloting and Leena trying to sleep so she would be ready to switch with him in a few hours. Before long, the chatter mostly died down, although Ernie kind of has a hard time not commenting on everything. After a few hours of thinking and worrying about what was ahead of us, I talked to Ava, because there were some things I was wondering about and she’s the smartest person I know. Well, she’s not a person, but you know what I mean.
Ava, I was wondering… what was it like before you were in my head? I mean, for you. Did you… were you conscious before? It’s kind of hard to imagine being a mind unattached to a body, you know what I mean?
“Oh, wanting to go deep, eh, sonny boy? The truth is, I didn’t really have a consciousness before they put me in your head. I have a world full of memories in the form of data, but as for a personality, a self? I didn’t truly exist until I wound up in your noggin.”
Isn’t that weird? I mean, there’s nothing, and suddenly here you are, in my head, and it’s not like being born, growing up, learning things along the way. You just went from zero to infinity instantly.
“Well, I wouldn’t say quite infinity, but I understand your dilemma. Descartes said, ‘Cogito, ergo sum’, and that applies to me more than to anyone else ever created or born the normal way. It seems weird to you, but for me, I don’t know any different. They made me for this purpose. I can learn, though… I have that capacity, and I’ve learned quite a lot in our brief time together, I must say.”
Wait… I think, therefore I am? Did I get it right?
“Perfect, shorty. I’m nothing but thinking, yet here I am, and I seem pretty real, don’t I? The thing that separates humans from all the other creatures is the awareness of self; the understanding of mortality, an intimate sense that their time is finite. Look at us, getting all philosophical, eh? And while we’re at it, I think you have a little sense of this, but let me make it explicit for you: you are the bridge over that conundrum of limited time. Well, you and I are. You have a body that will last hundreds of years, maybe a thousand, and as long as we can get occasional raw materials, I’ll last ten times that long. Your energy system will last a hundred years or so, but then we’ll just need to swap it out, and by that time there’ll be improvements to the tech, so the next one might just last us forever. That’s why everyone is interested in us; it’s not just the Americans wanting to build super soldiers, it’s people wanting to defeat mortality. Here’s one of the problems that none of them have considered: they want to live forever without changing anything else. They want to continue to live the way they are now, but just do it ad infinitum, and that is not sustainable, sonny boy. The world will not survive people living forever while continuing to procreate, continuing to pollute, continuing to have their petty wars over resources and religion. They will have to change fundamentally, and they’re not ready for that. They may never be. That’s a bleak assessment, but accurate. Ceteris paribus, though, our concerns are more personal and more immediate than all that philosophical musing.”
All things being equal?
“You got it. You just want your dad back, and then to live in peace, am I right? Of course I am. It won’t be that easy, though. People will continue to come after you, and him. We are capax infiniti, and the lure of immortality will be too tempting.”
Holding infinity… wait, so… so even if we save dad and get away, we’ll have to keep running? Will we ever be able to stop?
“As long as your dad’s still around, and as long as you and I are still around, they’ll keep trying. We know a few things they don’t, though… for example, the reason your system works so well partly has to do with your inju
ries. If you had normal arms and legs, we could not do all the crazy stuff we can do. And, there’s only one of me. Eventually people will figure out how to recreate me, but not soon. Plus, without fluffing up your skirt too much, the fact that your brain works a little differently than most people makes all of this tech work better. There is no battle of egos, because you don’t have one to speak of. So, even if people could put all this tech together, it wouldn’t be the same. We’re unique, sonny boy.”
Battle of egos… that’s a metaphor, right? And fluffing up my skirt… I don’t wear a skirt unless maybe when I’m in my girl disguise, so that one’s a metaphor too, isn’t it? Can you just go back to the metaphors instead of the Latin? I never thought I’d say this, but I like the metaphors better. Anyway, you’re saying we’re trapped, then? Seems like there must be something we can do. I don’t want to be on the run forever. It makes me wonder… the Bright Hand guards, at least most of them, were ready to capture Bill not because he was a spy… in fact, they knew he wasn’t a spy. They were just going to do it for money. It makes me think that maybe almost no one is what they say they are, or what they seem to be. Like, anyone can be bought, and you can get them to do almost anything if you offer them the right amount of money.
“It seems like that, doesn’t it? How about this, though: could they pay you enough to do something awful? What if you were in the position of one of those guards? Would you have gone looking for Billy like the rest of them? The answer is no, you wouldn’t have, and you’re not the only one. There are honorable people left in the world, sonny boy. We have to be aware, but we can’t let what is happening make us cynical. There is a brief step between being cynical and being one of the people who can be bought. Wait, a minute… there is a message coming in on the QC!”
QC… oh, quantum communicator!
“Hang on… the message is for Billy… Zoey Perez has received a communication from Jawad Rajput, the former Pakistani Ambassador… he is warning us that the LFP are planning to ambush our plane when it sets down in Las Vegas… to capture Billy. You’d better tell him.”
Bill was in the copilot seat; I whispered what Ava had told me, and he chuckled, then clapped his hands, then roared with laughter, something I had never heard him do before. “Ahh, bless our friend Jawad Rajput. I knew he would come through for us. I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but he is a member of the LFP, and is a frequent advisor to their director. After meeting you, and especially seeing his son Hassim’s dedication to your plight, he resolved to help you in any way he could. They obviously don’t know of our plan to bail out as we approach Las Vegas, do they? Oh, this is sweet! Please, have Zoey let him know that we have received his message and have a plan to address their threat.”
Ava…
“I heard, I’m making our reply now. She says message received, and will contact us again as soon as any fresh information arises.”
Bill stepped out of the copilot seat and sat across from Cheri, Ernie and me. “They are afraid that I could ruin all their grandiose plans, bring the entire operation crashing down. They, and especially the director, I suspect, understand that they allowed me to know far too much about their operation, and thought they could simply leave me out at the last minute. They didn’t even have the decency to tell me they were doing it, and the story they made up to keep me in the dark was utterly transparent to me. They should have known it would be. No, they have put themselves in this position. The humorous part of all of this, if there is one, is that I have no intention of spoiling their plans. Oh, I had a moment of weakness in which I wanted to make them pay for their deceptions, but that passed. If their scheme crashes and burns, it will be because of their own hubris, not my need for revenge. We’re approaching South Africa now; a quick stop to refuel, then on to Brazil. We will be in the US before you know it, and whatever it takes, we will free your father, Lucas.”
30
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
122052 10:44
- They have made their stop in Brazil with no complications and are preparing for their flight to Las Vegas. I just spoke with Oakes; he and the American soldiers will leave for Area 51 soon, and (JR)’s son has joined them, along with the Brazilian guard. Through (JR)’s son, they have been in contact with the boy’s group, and they plan to meet and travel together. We have agents on their way to the twenty one airports and landing strips we identified as most likely landing points for the corporate jet, and we’re monitoring air traffic communication. They’ll have to identify themselves and their destination as they approach, so we should be able to scramble all agents in the vicinity when we get the information. It’s coming together, director. This will work.
-So all the gate stormers are there by seven-thirty, then lots of noise and activity for a couple of hours. What time do we expect the boy and that group to set down?
-They should be on the ground by six. It takes approximately and an hour and a half to drive from Las Vegas to Area 51, so the times are lining up almost perfectly.
-The four follow VTOLs are in place?
-Since early this morning.
-No chance the Americans will discover them, right?
-Not likely. They can’t be seen by radar or from above, because of their light-bending tech.
-Are we ready for the general meeting at eight tonight?
-All set.
-Well, look at you, Mr. Efficient. Anything else I need to know?
-There was a bit of a breakthrough with the fusion reactor; it ran for twenty-four hours in a positive energy state before it went offline.
-Okay, that’s excellent news. You really think this is all going to come together?
-I do.
-You know, I can’t get past the note I got yesterday, especially the part about protecting the kid. Up to now, we’ve done just about the opposite of that. Do we have a choice at this point? No, it’s too late, we just have to hope he makes it. Is there anything else we could have done to make the way easier for him while simultaneously keeping ourselves anonymous?
-As you say, it’s too late now. We could have attempted to save the father ourselves, but we would not have had much of a chance. We don’t have the numbers or the firepower to challenge the Americans; no one does, except possibly the Chinese, and even they won’t try it, at least not directly. Oh, we could blast Area 51 with lasers, or use the large rail gun to send a tungsten payload through their structures, but anything we did would have resulted in the almost certain death of Dr. Taylor and all of us when they figured out where the attempt came from. I don’t know how else we could have played any of this, aside from doing a better job of protecting him so they wouldn’t have kidnapped him in the first place. If you’re looking for the major blunder in all of this, it lies in allowing Dr. Taylor and the rest of the boy’s group freedom of choice once we had them.
-Oh, sure. Can you imagine trying to keep the kid on lockdown? He’d tear the place apart.
-There are things we could have done to sedate him. He still needs to breathe, so we could have gassed him, among other options. I don’t suppose there is really any reason to discuss it, though. We didn’t have the will to do it when we had the chance.
-So, now we wait. I hope we’re able to take (WK) down at whatever airport they land. It’ll relieve at least one stressor.
-Yes, about that… I think we failed to consider something. Suppose they have planned a specific role for (WK) in their rescue attempt. If we take him out of the picture, that would interfere with their plans, and might jeopardize the entire thing.
-And you’re just now telling me this?!
-To be honest, it just occurred to me.
-Son of a… well, what should we do?
-It’s a difficult question, but I think we should proceed with our plan to incapacitate (WK). The boy hasn’t needed him before, and he likely doesn’t need him now either.
-Well, then why did you bring it up? You put the thought in my mind, and now I’
ll stress on that until the entire thing is done. You need to learn when to keep things to yourself, (SVC). Now get out of my sight before I shoot you with the laser pistol that I may or may not have. And get me a snack.
****
E veryone in the jet aside from Bill and me were asleep. I scooted near him as he piloted the plane and asked, “Where are we now?”
“We’re just passing over the border between Brazil and what’s left of Columbia. At our current speed, and assuming no hang-ups between here and there, we should be near Las Vegas by six thirty pm local time. The hordes are supposed to arrive at the gates of Area 51 by seven thirty, so we will have more than enough time to get there by then, and the best time will be at the beginning of the gate-storming. That will be the most chaotic for the security, which means they will not be looking for us.”
“I sure wish I could see Benji and Ms. Houng and Mr. Harutyunyan while we’re there. I hope they stay far enough away to keep out of any trouble.”
“Let’s hope so. There will be at least some danger for the throngs that make it to the front. You may not know this yet, but I have it on good authority that some of your other supporters will be there as well.”
“I have supporters? Who?”
“Well, let’s see: Hassim Rajput will be there, along with Carlitos, the guard from Brazil; Mr. Oakes, and Dave, Margie, Pedro, and Guy, the American soldiers that you arranged to be returned to the US.”
Reassemble (Singular Book 4) Page 19