The Razor's Edge

by Seanan McGuire

  The creature was no longer in sight, but the view was still as disconcerting as it had been when Jose first saw it. The room reminded Jose of his last colonoscopy. The brains could even be thought of as polyps attached to the walls by stems of organic material. This colon, however, was a dark purple with pulsing veins woven through it. The walls shifted and moved. A green fluid flowed along the veins to and from the brains. Even though there was no audio, he could imagine a slurping sound.

  The mood in the conference room was one of bewildered disgust. All thirty workers had shown up and they murmured in small groups until Jose stood. Then the questions began.

  “What’re we seeing, Jose?”

  “Is this real?”

  “Where’s the feed coming from?”

  Jose held up his hand to silence the room. “The first thing I can tell you is, I don’t know. This morning I tapped into a video signal in the communication hub and this is what I got. All during our shift there was a creature in the room, tending the brains.”

  Jose flipped the video to a still image he’d taken of the creature. “This creature seems to be a caretaker of some sort. He floated around checking the tablet he’s holding and spraying some sort of chemical on the brains.” Jose left out the part about petting one of the brains. The thought of that creature having some sort of affection for his “subjects” was far too much for Jose to handle. “I was able to tap into three other feeds too.” Jose paused and swallowed hard. “There are thirty brains in this chamber.”

  The significance of the number was not lost on the people in the room and the questions began again.

  “Are you saying those brains have something to do with us?”

  “Do each of those brains control one of us?”

  “Are you saying those are our brains?”

  Jose held his hand up again. “Once again, I don’t know. What I do know is that if we can find a way to communicate with this creature, maybe we’ll get some answers.”

  Ideas flew loudly around the room until a young woman with short brown hair and glasses hopped up on her chair and raised her hand and yelled, “We need to hack the tablet!”

  “Uhm,” said Jose, trying to think of the woman’s name.

  “I’m Carol. Now that you’ve hacked the video feed, we’re part way there. If we can find a way to make what we type show up on its tablet, we can communicate with it.”

  “But, we don’t know the language.”

  A dark-skinned woman hopped up on the chair next to Carol. “I think we have enough context that we can try to decipher some of the labels and text. Maybe that’ll help us put together some basic sentences.”

  The suggestion was met with more approval than opposition. “Let’s break up into smaller groups and see what we come up with.” Jose could feel his eyes getting heavy. Usually he was the last one to fall asleep, but he felt weary after the events of the day and could already hear the song swelling in his head. “Don’t forget to update your ‘Open Me’ files. We’ve only got about ten more minutes until some of you start falling asleep. We’ll meet tomorrow to go over the ideas,” said Jose. He headed back to his workstation and entered the information into his journal.

  * * *

  Craylxz seethed with anger every time he thought about the Salar’s visit. He went through his routine mechanically while imagining all the ways he could discredit Juyk. He thought of turning back up the sleep wave and letting the efficiency fall below normal, but he knew that the blame would ultimately fall on him. Craylxz stopped at the unit that had originally started all of this and brought up the diagnostics. Instead of the normal waveform, a word appeared: Hello.

  What sort of trick was this? Was the Domar trying to catch him at something? Craylxz banged on the side of his device, hoping this was some sort of glitch, but the word remained. It was soon joined by others.

  Hello. Monitor you. What you? Where you?

  Craylxz looked around, focusing on each one of the eyes in the chamber. When he turned to the one directly behind him, he got another message.

  Monitor. Unit Monitor you.

  Craylxz began to shake with fear. The only one he knew that monitored this chamber was the Domar, but he couldn’t imagine the Domar using incorrect grammar. Though, it could be a test. Craylxz moved to the next unit and pulled up the corresponding diagnostics. The correct waveform appeared. He performed his normal maintenance as if nothing had happened and moved on to the next unit. Thirty minutes later he had completed his rounds without any other issues. The Domar had not come into the chamber to reprimand him. Could it have just been a glitch? Curiosity got the best of him. He returned to the offending unit and once again brought up the diagnostics. The words were still visible. Then more appeared.

  Unit Jose. Who you?

  Unit? Was the cerebral unit trying to communicate with him? What was a Jose? A name? A species? Craylxz pondered whether or not to answer. He had always assumed these were only computational units. An attempt at communication implied so much more. A shiver of fear ran through his body. He had to know more.

  Craylxz looked up. “I am Craylxz the caretaker of this chamber and these units.”

  There was no response, so he turned to the eye and repeated his words. He waited and a new message appeared on the screen.

  Unit observe. No audio.

  Craylxz bent in assent. His device had note taking capability, but he wasn’t sure if that would send the message to this Jose. He opened up the function and transcribed his response. When there wasn’t a reply from Jose, he held up the device so the eye could see it. A new message appeared.

  Unit observe. No data.

  An alarm went off. Unit out of specification. In a panic, Craylxz initiated the unit’s sleep wave. Now he was certain that this had been a test. The Domar was sure to punish him. He waited for the unit to enter the sleep phase, disconnected the stalk and began meticulously cleaning the folds. He was still doing so when the Domar arrived.

  “I noticed an anomaly, Craylxz,” said the Domar. “Explain.”

  Craylxz attempted to dampen his nervous vibrations and responded, “It was just a glitch, Domar. I found some residue in the stalk. It may be caused by the units operating at such high a level. I plan on checking each one.”

  Juyk towered over Craylxz. “Very well, but make sure it does not happen again. We need these units operating at peak levels to complete the trajectory calculations. Don’t ruin this for me, Craylxz. I am next in line for Salar and if I do not get it, I will not hesitate to remove you. Do you understand?”

  Craylxz turned his gaze to the floor. “Yes, Domar.”

  He remained that way until he heard the chamber slurp shut. The Domar had not mentioned the message, nor had he seemed aware of it. Craylxz finished cleaning the unit and reattached the stalk. He would have to wait until the next cycle to discover more about this Jose.

  * * *

  Jose yawned and sat back down in his chair with another cup of coffee. It was hard to remember the events of yesterday, but his notes said they’d been successful in transmitting a message but had no way to receive one. Carol was already working on the problem. She’d found where the creature had entered its text and was attempting to use that for two way communication. She told him he’d gone unconscious as soon as the alarm went off and just … disappeared.

  George popped his head into Jose’s office, “Hey, you’re back! We thought you’d been zapped somewhere for good.”

  Jose wiped his eyes and yawned again, “So I’ve heard. But here I am. Carol told me a bit and then went to work on our communication issue. So tell me what happened.”

  George sat on the edge of Jose’s desk and took a swig of his coffee, “After you left, we kept watching the feed and in walks this other creature. Definitely a different species. Taller, and it sorta walked on two of its long spindly legs instead of floating. Looked like some sort of a boss over our friend. Cowed him big time and left.” George paused before continuing, “You disappeared at
exactly the same time that creature pulled the brain’s stalk away from the ceiling. I know it sounds like some weird sci-fi movie, but I’m beginning to think we are those brains.”

  Jose rested his head in his hand and rubbed his forehead. He didn’t want to acknowledge the thought. “We need to talk to that creature, George,” said Jose. “That’s the only way we’re going to get any answers. Does anyone have any ideas on our language problem?”

  “Allie does,” replied George. “When that tall dude came in, one of the guys that’s a big Star Trek fan said he wondered if they had universal translators. Allie used to work on the Google translator, so she spent some time with Carol going over possibilities.”

  At the mention of her name, Carol popped her head into Jose’s cubicle, “If you’re up for it, I think I have something working.”

  Jose looked at the clock. They’d need to start work in ten minutes but maybe the creature would be there already. “Let’s give it a shot,” he said.

  They punched up the feed and Carol executed her new version of the translator. Thankfully the creature was there. Carol opened yesterday’s program and typed, “Look at your notes.”

  Carol backed away to let Jose take over. “Make it quick. We can’t take the chance of that alarm going off again.”

  The creature jerked slightly and turned toward the camera. It mouthed something and the note page from yesterday popped up over the waveforms.

  Jose typed, “Hello again. Can you read this?”

  There was a slight delay before they saw the creature shudder and begin to mouth something. A few moments later came the word, “Yes.”

  * * *

  A message popped up on Jose’s console with a soft “ping.” Come here, I’ve got something to show you and I don’t think I want anyone else knowing yet. Jose wrinkled his brow, but grabbed his cup of coffee and headed to George’s cubicle.

  “Have a seat,” said George. “I investigated a few things Craylxz mentioned. I think I found someone’s journal and it’s freaking me out.”

  Jose rolled over to George and looked at the document. A series of entries appeared like a medical log. A few of the entries stood out and caused Jose to grip his cup until his knuckles were white.

  Species 651 cerebral cortex found compatible with organic matrix. Encephalon extraction and integration of all remaining subjects scheduled for completion in 3 cycles.

  Species 651 resisting computation programming. Research being conducted to separate unconscious cerebral functions from conscious functions. If research deemed unsuccessful, all subjects will be disposed.

  Species 651 responding to neural simulation. Shutdown required regularly in order to maintain control of unconscious functionality. Expected to have established limits within next cycle.

  Species 651 now fully integrated and performance has exceeded expectations. Operational hand-off of one million units complete.

  “Crap!” exclaimed Jose. “You think we’re species 651?”

  “Don’t you? Craylxz already told us that only one species has brains compatible with this ship. That’s gotta be us,” said George. “How do we break the news to the others?”

  “I always found the truth was the best. Time to call a meeting.”

  “Wait, there’s more.” George opened another file. “I found this one on species 430. There’s a picture in it which looks a lot like Craylxz. Seems to me our friend is in trouble.”

  Jose reached over George’s shoulder and read the entry.

  Several members of species 430 are showing degeneration. This has caused violent outbreaks and destruction of property. Our analysis has shown that species 672 of the Sicbar system are viable candidates to replace species 430. Therefore, species 430 will be terminated after the conquest of Sicbar.

  “I have to tell Craylxz.”

  George nodded. “I’ll gather our troops.”

  * * *

  Jose had been a bit surprised at how calmly Craylxz and the group had taken the news. After seeing the brains and the alien, his information just confirmed what they had already speculated. They now met regularly before and after their shift. Craylxz had reduced the wave as far as possible to give them the maximum hours of consciousness but still maintain their health.

  “So all we need to do is short-circuit our own brains,” George said at one meeting and rolled his eyes.

  “We can’t just stop computing,” said someone. “There are thousands of other chambers like ours. The overseers would just trash us and the others would pick up the slack.”

  “We need a good old fashioned virus!”

  “Not a bad idea, but even if we stop the rest of the chambers from calculating, they’ll just wipe and reboot us.”

  “We need to screw the bastards. Kill ‘em all!”

  “But that’ll kill us!”

  “We’re already dead, why not take them down, too?”

  After several seconds of silence, a resounding chorus of “Kill ‘em all” grew and filled the room.

  Jose held up his hand to quiet the group, “I’d have to agree with that. I don’t want these things doing to anyone else what they did to us. The question is, how?”

  “We need to find out exactly what our group is working on.”

  The crowd murmured in assent.

  “Craylxz mentioned that we were calculating some sort of trajectory. I’ll ask him for more information. Considering the circumstances, I think he’ll help. In the meantime, maybe we can hack further into the system and find something. Carol?” said Jose.

  “I’m on it, boss.”

  * * *

  “Thank you for coming, Domar,” said Craylxz, attempting to look more humble than usual.

  “This best be important, Craylxz,” replied Juyk, his hands clasped behind his back below his upper limbs.

  “Yes, Domar. I had an idea that might boost this chamber’s output even further, but I need to know what is being calculated to determine if my idea would work,” Craylxz said.

  “How would that help anything?” asked the Domar.

  “You see, Domar, I think I found a way to tune the units to certain mathematical operations. If I can do this, it may reduce the cycles needed to complete the calculations. All of the glory would be yours,” replied Craylxz hoping to appeal to the Domar’s desires.

  Juyk walked up and down the rows. “Hmm.”

  Craylxz puffed heavily to keep up. “If this works, I would be happy to teach you what I did. You could be the one to tell all of the other Domars. Just think how grateful the Salar would be if all of his chambers performed magnitudes higher than the other Salars and how you would outshine the other Domars by teaching them these techniques.”

  The Domar paused and spoke with his back to Craylxz, “This chamber is in charge of computing the trajectory needed to reach the Sicbar system. The trajectory must pass behind their sun so that we remain undetected. For the mission to be successful, we anticipate we have only fourteen more cycles before we lose our window of opportunity. I want you to make sure these units complete the calculations in seven.”

  “Yes, Domar,” replied Crayxz as he watched Juyk exit the chamber.

  * * *

  “Did you get that?” asked Jose.

  “Yes,” replied George. “I’ll go tell Carol what to look for.”

  * * *

  “Good news or bad news first,” said George.

  “Bad news, always best to end on a good note,” replied Jose.

  “Bad news is that we still have no idea how to tap into our unconscious minds,” said George.

  “And the good news?” asked Jose.

  “We found a way to up our efficiency so Craylxz can meet his seven day deadline,” replied George.

  “And I have good news as well,” said Jose with a grin on his face.

  “And what would that be, O Great Hacker?” asked George.

  “This,” replied Jose as his screen was taken over by a star chart.

  “Woah, is that what I th
ink it is?” asked George.

  “Yes. I now know where we are, how many ships are in this fleet, and where they’re trying to go,” said Jose.

  * * *

  “So, we know where we are and where we’re going but not how to affect it,” said a voice from the crowd.

  “Yes, but this is a big step forward. Once we can tap into our unconscious, we can fudge the calculations,” said Jose.

  “And how close are we to that?” asked another.

  “Unfortunately, no closer than we were three days ago,” replied Jose. “But at least we’ve solved half the problem.”

  A general grumbling filled the room.

  “C’mon guys, glass half full, right? I know we don’t like that we can’t stop ourselves from doing this, but there’s hope,” said George over the din. “Let’s get back to work, and remember no idea is too small.”

  Jose and George watched the crowd disperse. “I’d hoped showing them would make them a bit more hopeful.”

  “I know, buddy, but think about it. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve all found out that we’re pretty much dead, and we’re also the gun that’s pointed at killing another several billion. It’s a bit much to swallow even on a good day,” George quipped.

  Jose smirked, “I think I’ll go talk to Craylxz. Maybe he’s got some ideas.”