Absolution

by Peter Smith

  Her father had returned. The man had destroyed the fragile stability and peace that she and countless others had fought so hard to create. Now, less than a few hours had passed, and he had already implemented a series of plans that she, and no one else, could fathom the end goal of. He was good at that sort of thing, destroying the lives and accomplishments of others.

  She dismissed the construction project and directed the transport to approach the hangar bay. It was nearly identical to the one in her spire, except it was far larger. There were also no doors along the interior walls allowing for one to easily enter the Spire. She could see drone access points, but nothing for people. That was a problem given that at the current altitude there wasn’t enough oxygen for her to be outside looking for a way in.

  The aircraft set down on a pad that was marked for personnel transports. She sat there, staring out the other end of the hangar. She noted that there were thousands of drones and craft in this space and not one of them was in motion, they all stood in place, awaiting direction.

  She pulled up her virtual vision and began looking for network points to access. She located the hangar’s wireless node and prepared to use her system to infiltrate it. But it detected her presence immediately allowed her access to its command interface. She searched for ways to leave the aircraft safely and within moments located a command related to disembarking.

  The aircraft shook and then descended as the pad they landed on revealed itself to be a large lift. The floor slid past her as she slipped down into a chamber below the hangar. The newly designated roof sealed, and she could hear air being pumped into the space. The lift came to a halt with a slight vibration and she unbuckled herself and left the transport behind.

  She boarded a small lift that would take her to the top of this newly constructed Spire. As she ascended upward, she looked out over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean with its smattering of islands between her and the horizon. She sat and watched the water as the lift continued to accelerate up the exterior of the Spire. She realized as she ascended this testament to the knowledge and power of the Jacob Patterson, that her life for the last five years had been for nothing.

  Her father had enacted plans at the moment of his death that would preserve him and his goals, rendering everything she had done irrelevant. That all the fighting and pain she had suffered was for nothing as her father had been working in the shadows all along. The entity that she had thought was a rogue AI, was in fact the man who had dominated her existence from the second she was brought into this world.

  “Never again.” She muttered to herself. Never again would he control her fate. From this point on, she would be the one to decide, no matter how final it was.

  The doors opened behind her, and she slowly stood. Displayed before her was a vast chamber, nearly a quarter that of the hangar space of this spire. A vast imperial stair case ascended to where she knew her father would have placed his sanctum. A glass ceiling let in the moon's light, which provided the only illumination.

  She stepped out of the elevator, one of many that made up a large bank of them. Upon exiting, she noted the hundreds of figures that lined the both walls, one per step. Each of them was covered in a robe that rippled slightly from side to side, as if possessing a mind of its own. Their faces were all that of her father. Each was looking upon the ground.

  She ignored them. Knowing that each could kill her, but not fearing that they would. Their ability to harm her, to end her life was now irrelevant.

  Ascending the steps took a great deal of time and gave her yet another reason to hate the man she knew she would find at the top. Every step left her with her thoughts for that much longer. She could see Sean after the first time they had made love. His hair a mess but the look of peace in his eyes a welcome change from the burden they regularly carried. Her mother’s small wedding to David, the stunning black dress with red accents that she wore and perfectly matched with his dress uniform. The true smile her mother displayed as she and Williams fed each other cake, the one she hadn’t used since before ‘The Fall’.

  Holding Alex for the first time. The hours of watching him intently, waiting for him to sit up for the first time. Him running after Toby, pretending to be a robot eating monster and watching her friend play along.

  His little arms wrapping around her randomly in the middle of the day and asking her if he could give her a kissy.

  She despised her father for the time to have the memories she was experiencing, but she hated him even more because now the only emotion they evoked within her was hate. He had burned the rest away when he had taken her family from her.

  She finished the last set of steps and came to the plateau. He sat behind a large desk, his face in the palm of his hands. She stopped at the front of the table and stared at him, waiting for him to show the courage necessary to gaze upon her.

  When he failed to do so she pressed the issue, “Look at me.” Maria demanded.

  He didn’t respond, and she swore, walking around the desk, grabbing his chair and spinning her toward him, “Look at me you monster, you psychopathic bastard!”

  Slowly his face raised above his palms, she could see the redness in his eyes and the intense bags beneath them. His cheeks were sunken and his flesh was white, even his hair seemed thinner. She didn’t let it sway her. She knew that he had been masterful in his control over his emotions prior to his death. Whatever he was now, she knew that he still kept the same characteristic.

  “You wanted me, now you’ve got me.” She hissed.

  He looked at her, his face a mask of sorrow.

  “I’m sorry.” He whispered.

  She stepped back, struck by his words, “What did you say?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shook, her entire body feeling like it would explode, “You’re sorry” She screamed and her hand slapped him across the face.

  He didn’t respond, only closing his eyes, “I destroyed you.” He continued.

  She hit him again and again, ignoring the pain in her hand and in his expression with every blow. She lost track of how many times she struck him. Eventually she collapsed to her knees in front of him, “You didn’t destroy me, you ruined me. I’m still alive, I have to live with everything you’ve done”

  He nodded his head, “I realize that, now.”

  “You put the deaths of billions on my shoulders, you killed my husband, you murdered my son!”

  Another nod, his eyes closed as he did.

  “You took my past, my present and my future,” she gripped at her heart as she screamed at him, “there’s nothing left for you to take, for you to manipulate.”

  Tears were rolling down his cheeks, “I’m sorry…” He gasped.

  “Prove it.” She said, her eyes locked on his.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  She gripped his hand and placed it on her chest, “I want you to kill me.”

  His hand recoiled from her, as if bitten, “No.” He said, surprise in his voice.

  She grabbed at it again, her eyes wide and her expression manic, “You took everything I had left, I’m as close to dead as you can be without being buried. Finish what you started.”

  He stood, his chair rolling away as he stepped backward, “I wanted none of this to happen. I had a plan to make everything better.”

  She stood, closing the distance, “It failed and rather than acknowledge your mistake you made it worst and worst until this moment. I am asking you, begging you to put me out of this hell you created for me.”

  He gripped her hands, “I couldn’t harm you Maria and I couldn’t exist in a universe that didn’t have you in it.”

  She slipped her hands from his, “You ripped my heart out when you killed your grandson.” Her eyes intent upon his, before he could respond she continued, “and you shaped this into a universe I have no desire to live in any longer. So finish it, kill me and set me free from you.”

  “I won’t.”

  Her eyes closed and
when they opened again, she was looking past his shoulder, “Then I’ll throw myself from this Spire.”

  “I’ll stop you, you shouldn’t suffer for my mistakes.”

  A noise came from her that some might have mistaken for a laugh, “All I do is suffer for your mistakes, just like billions of others. And how will you stop me exactly, by taking my freedom and adding to the list of ways you’ve harmed me?”

  He looked away, “Maria…” he began choking on his emotions. After several seconds he continued, “I can’t let you be hurt because so long as you are alive there’s a chance that it wasn’t all for nothing. That I can complete the plan and you can take over and shepard the human race to its rightful place. I can’t let that go.”

  “You can’t watch me every second of every day. I don’t want to live in a universe where my family is dead and I exist to meet your needs. I hate you, I will resist you and when the first opportunity presents itself, I will leave you.”

  He fell to his knees before her, “I’m so sorry.”

  She knelt, cupping his face in her hands, “Then prove it, end my suffering.”

  He shook his head, “I won’t live without you.”

  “Then don’t,” she said, “End all of this, dad. Join me.”

  He looked upon her face for a moment, not understanding what she meant and then she saw the moment realization came to him. She thought he would rocket away and refuse her, but she saw relief flood across his eyes, “Okay” was all that he could manage.

  He reached for her with open arms, and she allowed for him to embrace her. He cried into the nape of her neck and she let herself return the embrace.

  A black haze swirled about them both and she felt her skin tingling slightly, “Close your eyes.” He said, and she did.

  She lost sensation in her extremities, and a roar filled her ears. Her father felt less substantial as the noise increased, and her senses diminished.

  “I love you” He said, his last words as his form dissolved, the nanites he consisted of consuming themselves and him.

  She let out a gasp of air as her own body faded away under their onslaught. As she too dissolved into the air, the pain disappeared, replaced by the feeling she experienced when looking upon Alex’s smiling face.

  23

  Maria

  Her back arched as pain raged through her. Her skin was on fire, vision blazed, and her ears hammered away at her conscious thought. Her arms wrapped around her body, finding bare flesh beneath her touch. She rolled onto her side, her knees pulling upward and into the fetal position. She tried to vomit, but nothing came forth.

  A pattern emerged in the storm of noise that was assaulting her. It was far away but approaching quickly, becoming more discernible with each passing moment. Something brushed the top of her head, and she screamed. At least she thought she had. She wasn’t sure if her mouth had opened or if any sound escaped.

  A sharp sensation blossomed from her shoulder. She tried to scream again, unsure what was happening to her.

  A feeling of warmth radiated from the epicenter and as it grew, spreading across her body, the pain subsided. From her skin, to the muscle and bone beneath. She took another breath, this time the sensation of needles flowing down her trachea didn’t greet her.

  The sun that was blazing away above her eyes dimmed, and the pain in her ears relented. The repeating noise coalesced into something she could understand.

  “It’s okay” was being repeated. As her senses calmed, she could tell that the statement was being spoken gently from above her. The sensation of something stroking her hair returned, only this time she could identify it as a hand. There was still discomfort, but not to where she felt the need to cry out.

  She tried opening her eyes, realizing they had been closed the entire time. The light that had been gradually being replaced by cooling darkness, returned though with less intensity. She blinked, trying to bring the figure before her into better resolution.

  Even without crisp detail, she knew the shape of her mother’s face anywhere. Her soft tones as she reassured her that everything was fine. Maria opened her mouth and tried to speak, only to find that her throat was dry and her vocal cords wouldn’t respond.

  Her mother moved away, becoming blurrier. When she returned Maria felt something graze her lips, “Drink.”

  Maria had difficulty wrapping her lips around the straw and most of the salty solution she got out ran from her mouth. The dryness and irritation in her throat subsided, and she tried to form words, “What” she rasped, taking a deep breath, “Happened?”

  The last thing she was aware of, she had just deactivated Toby in the hangar. Had her father attacked again in that moment? Was she so harmed in the event that she had suffered memory loss?

  “Mijita…” Mom began and then stopped.

  “What?” She managed.

  Her mother’s hands cupped her face, “You died sweetie.”

  Maria blinked, unsure how to process the information she had just received, “How long?” Assuming that she must have been badly hurt and died during surgery, “Two months.”

  That couldn’t be right, she must have misheard, she rasped out her disbelief, “No.”

  She could now see well enough to make out the tears that were splashed against her mother’s cheeks, “I had you brought back.”

  Then it struck her and the realization of her situation cut through the fog that her mind was treading. She had died and her mother had cloned her using data from her neural implant. She opened her mouth to speak, but her vocal cords failed. Her mother took that as a sign that she needed to continue.

  “When your father’s forces stopped across the globe, the Marines and Toby dispatched a reconnaissance force to his base of operations in the Galapagos. The spire he built there, it was empty. He was gone, all they found were deactivated nano machines and a few of your cells in his sanctum.”

  The pain came rushing back. Tears burst from her own eyes as she stared at her mother. What had she done? She rasped at her mother, rage making it difficult for her to form the words.

  Her mother leaned closer, unsure what she had just said, “Yes?”

  “Should have left me dead” The words bursting from her lips. Her mother sat up straight, shocked by the statement.

  She had died; she had achieved peace she never had in life and never could without Alex.

  No, that wasn’t true. The other Maria had died. By resurrecting her, her mother had denied this Maria the one thing she had been seeking when she set out to confront her father. Peace.

  The Maria that had died now had what they both wanted so desperately. The gaping void that filled her heart with the death of her husband and son was beyond her ability to handle. She tightened her embrace on her body and this time she knew that she was screaming. Violent shaking seized her body as she unleashed the rage she had been suppressing for years upon her mother in one intense moment.

  Her mother’s face was awash in tears, “I couldn’t let you die. I couldn’t lose all of you,” she cried, almost pleading with Maria to understand.

  “You’re no better than him!”

  Mother’s hands went to her mouth as shock replaced her expression. Her mother stammered, looking for the words, her eyes wide as she shook her head, “Get away from me” Maria continued.

  “Maria, we couldn’t live without you. Sean, he’s still alive.”

  Her screams stopped and hope sprang into her heart. If Sean could be saved, then maybe their son had been too, “Alex?”

  Mouth agape she struggled with what to say next, “We saved Sean, put him into a coma and managed to get him into a cloning tank, his lower half has been”

  “Alex” Maria shouted.

  Shaking her head, her mother looked away from her, “What ever your father did can’t be undone.”

  Maria cut her mother off again, her hand swiping at her as the despair and pain raged back, “You should have left me dead, leave!”

  Her mother kept her
gaze from Maria and then nodded her head. Standing upon wobbling legs, her mother staggered out of the room. Maria lay on the tabletop, her naked skin exposed and cold. Her hands slid to the sides of her head as she covered her ears, her eyes pressed closed tightly.

  She screamed until she lost consciousness.

  The sun burned on the horizon, half of the disc obscured by the curve of the Earth.

  Maria’s legs dangled off the edge of the hangar as gusts of wind threatened to propel her to her death. She sat there, looking down and wishing that Tobor hadn’t saved her all those years ago. She fantasized about plummeting to the grounds below, to die with her father.

  It was cruel of the universe to let her have these last five years. To let her experience the illusion of self determination, the love of a person she chose for herself and the happiness that came from being the mother to Alex.

  Had she died with her father, she never would have known what she was losing the opportunity to experience. Now though, she was left with a crater where her heart should have been. One that could never be filled and she didn’t want it to be.

  The strangled sobs of her mother continued to eat at her attention. She seemed to have recovered from the breakdown she had experienced hours earlier. After Maria had ordered a drone to destroy the mainframe that held her personal data. Without a neural implant in this body and her consciousness no longer saved anywhere else, no future versions of herself would have to suffer from the selfishness of her mother. She could sense the woman several meters away, just out of sight behind her.