The Quiet at the End of the World
Page 15
Shen makes a noise low in his throat, a kind of anxious tsk. He folds his arms around his chest, curling in on himself. “Mama and Doctor Ahmed were working on a cure. They must have been. Maybe we can find it and try and use it. Or we can learn. Can we learn? I might be able to learn.”
“Shen! You might be able to do little things on a computer, but you aren’t a programmer. This is way beyond anything we can do. Our parents will be stuck in this ward for years while we try. Decades. What if they never wake up?” The words circle back to loop around my throat, tightening.
I know I’ve been preparing for this moment for my whole life. But now it’s here, I don’t feel at all ready. There are still so many things I don’t know how to do, and so many things I have to say to my parents. What if this is it? What if we can’t fix this, and they’re gone for ever? We’ll have to do everything on our own. Can we really handle that?
Shen’s expression crumples. “We don’t have any other choice, Lowrie!” he spits. “I’m not going to give up and let them – and let them…” He bites at his knuckle.
“I know we can’t give up! That’s not what I’m saying.” I swallow, again and again, trying to push away everything I’m feeling.
“How is being so negative going to help? We need to do something, and this is the only idea I’ve got. Do you have any better ones?”
“I – I…” I stare at him, trying not to cry. My mind is blank. “We just need time to think.”
The corners of his eyes tighten. “We don’t have any time! We have no idea what this thing is doing to them. It might be erasing their minds right now. I can fix this, I know I can.”
“We’re just kids, Shen. Your mama and Doctor Ahmed have been working day and night to try and stop this, and they got nowhere. They’re unconscious right now, because they couldn’t stop it. There’s nothing we can do that they won’t have thought of, that they won’t have tried dozens of times. What do you want to do, get a Dummies Guide to Programming and start at page one?”
“Shut up, Lowrie!”
“You shut up! Stop being so obtuse!”
Suddenly we’re fighting, in a way we haven’t since we were ten-year-olds, all spit and indignant fury.
“I’m obtuse?” he hisses, getting right in my face. “You’re the one being negative. We just need to work on this, and we’ll find an answer!”
I throw my hands in the air and growl, too frustrated to think straight. He has a way of making me angry in seconds, like he just flicks a switch and gouges straight into my nerves. When we’re friends, we’re the best of friends, and when we’re not, I hate him to the depths of his bones.
“This isn’t my fault!” I say. “I’m just trying to be sensible here.”
Shen’s face goes blank. He turns and walks away, only stopping when he reaches the wall. He braces his hands on it, and I watch his shoulders rise and fall. “I know it’s not your fault! I just wish…” He slumps. “I wish – I wish this wasn’t happening.”
“Me too. I’m sorry. Of course we need to try to fix this.”
“I’m sorry too.” Shen holds out his arms.
I step into them, more relieved than I can say that we’re not fighting any more. “We’re going to be fine. Whatever happens, we’re going to be fine,” I whisper, not brave enough to say it any louder. “We’ve got each other, and that’s never, ever going to change. We’re always going to be together, OK?”
He huffs. “I know, Lowrie. Trust me, I would be freaking out a lot more if you weren’t here.”
I press my ear to his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat. That sound, at least, is real.
MyWaves05
It’s strange to think that the anniversary of the day the last human dies is already fixed, even if we don’t know it yet. The anniversary of our future extinction passes every year. How soon is it going to be? Is it today?
Posted on 19 Aug 2030
Rizzz on 19 Aug 2030
Replying to @MyWaves05
How long do you think it’ll be before the last human dies?
MyWaves05 on 19 Aug 2030
Replying to @Rizzz
I think if they never solve the sterility, then … 2179, give or take a few years.
Rizzz on 19 Aug 2030
Replying to @MyWaves05
I reckon more like 2167.
MyWaves05 on 19 Aug 2030
Replying to @Rizzz
Always with the glass half empty. But it’s a bet.
MyWaves05 on 19 Aug 2030
Replying to @Rizzz
Winner inherits the Earth. Literally.
MyWaves05
It’s moving day for us newlyweds!!!
Posted on 15 Sep 2030
Unhako_neko on 15 Sep 2030
Replying to @MyWaves05 and @Rizzz
I can’t wait to see your new house (and the puppy! Only you would pick up a new dog on the same day you get the keys.)
Rizzz on 15 Sep 2030
Replying to @Unhako_neko and @MyWaves05
Come over at your own risk. Things we have bought for the house: the entire contents of Ikea, including, absurdly, 4 toasters (4!). Things we have not bought for our house: any FOOD. It’s 11 p.m. and we are on our way to fading away from desperate hunger.
MyWaves05
@Unhako_neko @Blueburnedskies Look at this. It’s so cool!
Posted on 8 May 2031
TECHNEWS.COM
COMPUTER PROGRAMMER HOOKS HIS BABYGROW “SON” UP TO AN ELECTRICAL DOLL TO BRING HIM INTO THE FAMILY FOR REAL
The Babygrow app has taken the world by storm since it was launched four years ago on Apple and Android systems. It recently reached nearly four billion downloads, far outranking its nearest competitor. This is no surprise, as the simple program gives would-be parents one last chance to have the child they’ve always wanted, at a time when scientists admit they still see no hope of a cure for the sterility in the immediate future.
Recently, one man took his love for his simulated offspring to the next level. Yuri Oni, an engineer, designed and built a doll of his Babygrow son. A projector takes the code from the app and converts the simple CGI display into a three-dimensional model, which is then transmitted to a mechanical doll, providing instructions for it to move and open and close its eyes.
The model does not yet respond to physical stimuli, and users currently still requires the app interface to feed and speak to the babies. But Oni has already revolutionized the app’s future, and the company who developed Babygrow have reached out to offer him a job. They have already licenced his hardware, which is currently patent-pending. Plans are well underway for the hardware to be developed for public manufacture, with Oni as the lead developer and shareholder.
Blueburnedskies on 10 May 2031
Replying to @MyWaves05 and @Unhako_neko
The tech is very cool, but the dolls cost five hundred grand! Are they serious? So millionaires are the only ones allowed to have kids now?
MyWaves05 on 10 May 2031
Replying to @Unhako_neko and
@Blueburnedskies
Who would even spend that much on some dodgy tech? They probably don’t even work.
MyWaves05
My favourite brand of sweets has stopped being made!! Can the company really be making that little money nowadays?! Wow. I genuinely thought that adults bought just as many sweets as kids used to do. Am I eating too many sweets? Don’t answer that.
Posted on 26 Aug 2031
MyWaves05
I have some big news. Riz and I have decided to have a baby. We’re pregnant! I was really sceptical about the Babygrows at first, but I love my friends’ kids, and I can’t wait for one of my own.
I’m going to be using one of those brand-new fake pregnancy wombs that connects to the Babygrow app and transmits the baby’s motions. I’ve posted a picture of it strapped on to my stomach here and a picture of it off here, so you can see how the device works. It’s surprisingly comfortable. I can’t wait unt
il the baby starts kicking. Apparently, it’s quite an experience.
Has anyone else got one of these yet? I know they’re expensive. If you have any tips, please let me know! #Babygrow
Posted on 27 Dec 2032
Blueburnedskies on 27 Dec 2032
Replying to @MyWaves05
CONGRATULATIONS!! Hailey and I are so excited to meet them! What a wonderful Christmas present!
MyWaves05 on 28 Dec 2032
Replying to @Blueburnedskies
I’m so excited too!! We don’t know the gender yet.
(I love Hailey’s new haircut, by the way! In the screenshots from the app it looks like she’s got super curly hair now!)
Blueburnedskies on 28 Dec 2032
Replying to @MyWaves05
She really has, just like her papa! We’re trying to save up to get one of the body kits now they’ve released the new model that actually works. They’re so expensive, though. Do you think you’re going to get one?
MyWaves05 on 28 Dec 2032
Replying to @Blueburnedskies
Honestly, we haven’t discussed it yet. Maybe? They are soooo pricey, though, and you’d need to get a new one so often as they grow. I’m not sure.
CHAPTER 22
Shen and I stand together for a long time, unable to decide what to do. Finally, we make ourselves get up and go through the hospital, making sure that everyone is in a bed and hooked up to the equipment with a cable-IV thing, like Feng was when we found him. The whole community fills an entire floor of wards.
The machines beep reassuringly, even if I’m not quite sure what they are doing. With Mitch’s help, we fetch Mrs Wheeler, the nurse from the corridor, and get her into a bed too. She must not be dead at all, just in the same kind of unconscious state as the other robots.
“What do we do now?” Shen asks, staring at them all.
“You were right. We need to see if we can fix this. Let’s see if this actually is a malware. Like you said, Jia must have research in the lab.” There’s an odd calmness in my mind now. If I just focus on the next step, then this all starts to seem less impossible.
If I think about everything that comes after that, I’ll have to give up and collapse on the floor in a puddle. One step at a time. That’s the only way to get through this.
Jia’s lab is just across the hall. We used to come and visit her at work when we were little. Shen would try to help with her research while I attempted to fix a perpetually broken cupboard bracket. I haven’t been in years, though.
It’s immaculately clean, with grey benches stretching the length of the room. To my surprise, the counters are empty. Whenever I pictured Jia working on fixing the virus, I saw her surrounded by batches of blood samples, or bacteria cultures in petri dishes. But there’s only a long computer screen embedded into the counter, displaying a single medical record. It’s Feng’s, I realise – just as Shen makes a small noise of distress in the back of his throat.
CONFIDENTIAL MEDICAL RECORD OF FENG ZHANG (封张)
ADMITTANCE DATE: 07/04/2509
ADMITTANCE TIME: 11:14
SYMPTOMS:
Unconscious episode occurred at 10:46. No visible after-effects. Analysis in process.
DIAGNOSIS:
Patient appears to be infected with a malware, as suggested by symptoms which match previous cases. This has overridden the motion controller in the hardware.
N.B. Check again about getting inside Snowdon?
TREATMENT:
System has been rebooted offline and short-term memory has been erased to remove malware, which seems to be running in the form:
ToInfect.CodeModule.AddFromString.Lines(BGN, 1) <>”” (“Document_Close.exe( )*)
; Invoke StartProcessKiller
IFN DisablePK target[]= void usage nn
EncryptEnd “”$$””
;Create admin synchro mutex
Printf(“usage:killoperatingmemory”)
RESTORE_REDIRECTION_STATE.SECS_BETWEEN_RUNS [151secs]
End If = [NextRequestTime -> [432000secs]]
Page 1 of 102
One hundred and two pages of code! I grimace. It’s even worse than I’d imagined. I still don’t see how we’ve got a chance of fixing this on our own, but, like Shen said, we need to at least try.
“Do you think you can do this?” I ask carefully. “Because I have no idea where to even start.” I scroll through the code. I don’t recognize any of it. This looks impossible.
“I can try,” he says, sitting in Jia’s chair and rolling up his sleeves. “I suppose we’d better get reading.”
I keep examining my memory, trying to work out how I never guessed my parents were robots. I wonder if there’s a part of me that has always known. Surely, I must have suspected that something was not quite normal? But there’s nothing. I can’t say with any honesty that I ever suspected a thing.
MyWaves05
Well, this is a bit of perfect timing, huh? Government announces plans to extend paid maternity and paternity cover to Babygrow parents.
Posted on 22 Aug 2033
Rizzz on 22 Aug 2033
Replying to @MyWaves05
One month to go!!!! We’re having a BABY, Maya!
MyWaves05
Urgh.
RT @Rizzz We are on minute fifteen of @MyWaves05 explaining why the birth is going to be more scary for her than for me, and I’m 100% confident it’s the funniest things I’ve heard in my entire life. It’s a simulation of a baby! She doesn’t actually give birth! But you would not know that based on her hormone levels.
Posted on 18 Sep 2033
Blueburnedskies on 18 Sep 2033
Replying to @Rizzz
Ask her to tell you about the time she was convinced her arm hurt with sympathy pains after I broke mine when we were 6.
Rizzz on 18 Sep 2033
Replying to @Blueburnedskies
Her response was essentially “I swear I will start a riot if you don’t unfollow her right this instant”, in a kind of raspy screech.
MyWaves05
EVERYBODY STAY CALM, BUT OUR BABY IS BEING BORN. Nobody panic! I’m certainly not!
Posted on 19 Sep 2033
Unhako_neko on 19 Sep 2033
Replying to @MyWaves05
They’re impatient, they’re two weeks early! I’m on my way over! Wheeee!
MyWaves05
I am over the moon to present our daughter, Darcy Cynthia Stevens. She was born at 14.11 on 19 Sep 2033, weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces. We are both exhausted but so, so happy. We’re parents!
Posted on 19 Sep 2033
Silentstar on 19 Sep 2033
Replying to @MyWaves05
Oh, she’s gorgeous. Congratulations to you and the new dad. Is that one of the new body kit models?
MyWaves05 on 19 Sep 2033
Replying to @Silentstar
It is! Riz’s parents treated us – they wanted the best for their first grandchild! Isn’t it gorgeous? Her movements are so smooth and realistic.
MyWaves05
OK, so not to feel like a failure of a mum or anything, but I’m struggling a bit to get to grips with the Babygrow software. Can anyone recommend any good Babygrow vloggers I should follow for tips?
Posted on 28 Sep 2033
Silentstar on 28 Sep 2033
Replying to @MyWaves05
Ahhhh, this is my guilty pleasure. I’m kind of obsessed with mummy bloggers. Try @mamagrow, @BGblogger05 and @GlitterGoldandBabyGrow.
MyWaves05 on 28 Sep 2033 Replying to @Silentstar
Thank you! There are so many mods being made – how is anyone supposed to keep up? It’s like every programmer in the world has started making improvements to the BG software. It’s great, but it’s going to be a full-time job trying to stay up with the latest updates!
Silentstar on 28 Sep 2033
Replying to @MyWaves05
Agreed. There must be an easier way to organise it. But it’s so worth having trawled through the mods when you find one that mak
es a huge difference.
The biggest one for me was when the intelligence became skills- and learning-based, as opposed to the old ultra-high artificial IQ that just felt completely fake and robotic. The learning-based one makes it feel like the time I spend teaching my son is really useful – I’m actually imparting wisdom to him, as it were.
MyWaves05 on 28 Sep 2033
Replying to @Silentstar
That update sounds amazing – like the muscle memory one from a while back. That made a huge difference, even to the tiny babies. Their learned movements, like sucking their thumbs, became so much smoother. I’ll make a note of the IQ one!
CHAPTER 23
Shen studies the code in the lab, while I sit with him, trying to be helpful but mostly being distracting. I don’t know anything about software. Even now, when I desperately want to contribute something useful, my mind goes blank. Why can I never make myself study like Shen can? Why am I so absolutely useless?
I check the time, surprised to find that it’s only three p.m. It feels like we’ve been here for days, not just four hours.
There’s a picture of baby Shen on Jia’s desk. He’s smiling at the camera, face covered in mashed banana and seeming very pleased with himself. I can’t stop staring at him. The photo reminds me of one we have back at home, hanging on the wall of the library. It’s a picture of me that was taken in the growlery. Goggles are pushed up on to my forehead, with blonde hair tangled around the strap. There’s a smudge of grease on my cheek and a wrench is teetering on the brink of falling out of the pocket of my sawdust-covered overalls.
I used to wonder why Mum kept that picture on display, rather than one of the others where I’m dressed up in a pretty ball-gown. I thought it was embarrassing, in the same way Shen must hate this one of him, covered in banana. But I see why Mum likes it now – there’s a big grin on my face, and I’m flushed pink with excitement at whatever I’m working on.