He took in a deep breath of simulated air, then engaged in what he knew would be the highest level of consciousness he’d ever reach.
Meanwhile, Rich watched as the first android dug its way down through the deep trench Rich had forged around the perimeter of the mainframe, emerging from the Earth, its arm reaching out first, its hand grabbing the surface and pulling itself out as though the planet itself were giving birth to the fearsome figure. When it fully emerged, Rich saw the android’s other arm reach out right behind it.
“Not good,” Rich uttered to himself, his eyes round as the first android locked eyes on him.
The android crouched down, about to begin his charge toward the single post-human that held back the trillion-strong tide of assimilated humanity.
Rich never gave him a chance. He instantly shrank the force-field by several meters, and millions of bodies dropped, impacting on the new, lower ceiling above him as a result. The android that had made it through the field suddenly found himself back on the outside, swallowed up by the perversion of humanity that came charging forth, the crowd reclaiming him as though he were a droplet of ocean spray reclaimed by the ocean.
“Aldous, I am not kidding when I say that they are about to crash this party,” Rich stammered, his voice shaking from fear and desperation. “I just used my last trick, man. They’re gonna be able to dig up under the magnetic field now!”
“Not to worry,” Aldous replied with a calm tone that seemed to Rich to be several leagues removed from their current reality. “I’m in control. The androids will be cleared off momentarily. Stand by.”
Well, it isn’t like I can do anything else, Rich thought. He stood perfectly still, his hands outstretched as he continued to generate his magnetic field, his nervousness causing sweat to pour from his forehead, despite the efforts of his nans to calm him. “Stand by,” Rich said, imitating Aldous’s flat tone. “Is this some sort of artificial intelligence understated humor? Gee, Aldous. I guess you’re right. I’m going to twiddle my thumbs, if you don’t mind.”
The seconds ticked by as the ground shook from the aerial attack that was quickly transitioning into an attack from below. The androids were already under Rich’s force-field, the earth being thrashed around under the protective perimeter, the androids having quickly adapted, digging farther toward the mainframe in an effort to force Rich to collapse the field back even further. Rich knew that each android that was charging up from under the earth was cognizant it would quickly be dispatched after the magnetic field retreated once again and he was appalled at the ease with which they chose to sacrifice themselves for the singular purpose of the collective.
The first androids began breaking through, arms emerging simultaneously in various locations all around him, quickly surrounding him. He could only assume others had breached the other sides of the mainframe as well, and that he’d have to collapse the entire magnetic field back several more meters, almost to his feet, to keep up the protection any longer. “Dear God, this is going to be way too close for comfort,” he said, nearly hyperventilating.
“Richard, disengage your magnetic field,” Aldous suddenly commanded.
“Are you sure?” Rich replied, considering the mass of metal that surrounded him and that would almost instantly collapse on his head if Aldous had miscalculated.
“Richard, you have nothing to fear,” Aldous replied calmly. “Disengage. Trust me.”
As Rich watched the first of the androids to fight his way up out of the Earth within the confines of his perimeter, he realized he had no choice. He closed his eyes, knelt on the ground, and let his guard down.
The instant the magnetic field was down, it was replaced by the mainframe’s own magnetic protection, a force-field far more powerful than the one Rich had generated. It pulsed out, heaving the millions of bodies that had collapsed on it up and off of it, hurling them out in a formation that looked like a dark gray mushroom cloud from afar. The bodies were expelled for dozens of kilometers.
Rich could feel the sunlight on his eyelids, a feeling he’d felt sure he’d never experience again, and he flashed his eyes open to take in the life-giving orb for one more moment in the sun. He smiled from ear to ear. “Aldous! That was incredibly badass! We might actually be able to win this thing!”
“I’m afraid you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself, Richard,” Aldous cautioned, throwing cold water on Rich’s brief hopefulness. “Even with these new powers, I don’t have the experience that would allow me to fend the androids off for long.”
“What do you mean?” Rich replied, his expression suddenly souring. “Just keep blasting them!”
“Richard, look up to your one o’clock.”
Rich looked almost straight up. A brownish object, the sun reflecting brightly off of its left side, hung in the sky like a cigarette burn on a piece of paper.
“Do you see it?”
A cloud partially covered the object, just as Aldous spoke, but Rich had indeed picked it out beforehand. “I see it. It’s an android ship, right?”
“Yes,” Aldous confirmed. “One of their largest, and it’s headed for us.”
Rich shrugged. “Thanks, Captain Obvious. All their ships are headed for us. What makes that one—”
“No, I don’t mean it is headed for Earth. I mean I’ve already calculated its exact trajectory. That ship, which is two-thirds the size of our moon, is headed directly for us, Richard. Directly for this spot on Earth.”
The temporary relief Rich had felt was instantly replaced with a dread so heavy that it felt heavier than the android collective that had previously covered his magnetic canopy. “Wait. Are-are you saying—”
“Richard, it is headed on a collision course. The androids are taking no chances. They are going to ram the mainframe. Even I can’t repel an object of that magnitude.”
“Oh no,” Rich whispered.
“Make no mistake, this will be an Earth-destroying event. We are experiencing the final moments of life after a three-billion-year reign. Less than five minutes from now, it’ll all be over.”
26
“That answer’s simply just unacceptable,” James responded to the candidate.
“I understand,” the candidate replied in a tone that seemed sympathetic, “but I have no other answer to give.”
“What about you?” James asked the A.I., turning to the figure that had always had an answer in the past. “We need options.”
“I agree,” the A.I. replied. He pointed to the gate, still glowing white, partially obscured by the china cabinet. “I don’t believe that is one of them.”
James nodded. “Understandably. If we’re cut off from the mainframe, then the exits are almost certainly cut off too. Our patterns are likely to be destroyed if we try to cross, and the only way we’d know for sure is if one of us tried it and either made it successfully or…” he paused for a moment before finishing, “…disappeared. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly like the idea of using myself as a guinea pig.”
“What about the candidate?” Thel asked.
All three men in the room turned to her, shocked by the suggestion, the candidate even taking a defensive step back toward the wall.
“No! Thel!” James retorted. “He’s a conscious entity—”
Thel sighed and rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t mean that—obviously.” She turned to the candidate. “We’ve all been cut down to size, but the test gives him the ability to manipulate code in the sim. If he can look into the inner workings of the program, he might be able to determine if the gateway is still open—”
“And if it’s locked, he might be able to unlock it,” the A.I. realized.
Thel nodded before turning to James to shoot him a look.
“Uh...sorry,” he said to her.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the candidate cut in. “I’ve never seen any code for the sim.”
James turned to the candidate. “You teleported out of the car, locked the
doors, and drove us off the bridge. If you did all that, you can certainly—”
“But I didn’t! I didn’t do those things,” the candidate replied. “It was all controlled…I was controlled.”
“What do you mean?” the A.I. asked, his eyes narrowed, intrigued. “Controlled by whom?”
“My visitor, the stranger,” the candidate replied.
“How did this happen?” Thel questioned suspiciously. “How did this so-called stranger infiltrate the sim without any of us seeing him?” She turned to the candidate. “And when did he speak with you? Before or after Kali informed you that you were in a sim?”
“After,” the candidate replied. “I got out of bed, desperate to get away from Kali. My intention was to head out, to anywhere that was open, and clear my head. I went down to my car, but when I reached the ground floor, there was a stranger standing in the rain, blocking my path. I immediately knew he was waiting for me—there was something unreal about him—and I became more frightened of him than I was of Kali. I tried the elevator icon in my aug glasses, but it wouldn’t work, and then when I looked outside again…the stranger had stopped the world.”
“Stopped it?” Thel reacted, confused.
The candidate nodded. “Yes. The rain was frozen in place. There wasn’t a sound. I couldn’t see his face, it was hidden by the darkness, but I knew I couldn’t escape. He waited and I went to him.”
“What did he say to you?” the A.I. asked.
“He told me that I was about to meet three people.” The candidate turned to Thel. “He said I’d meet a woman first, and that woman would take me to meet two men.” He turned back to the A.I. “He told me that you were good people, but that you were going to lie to me. He said the lie was part of a test, and that, although the three of you wouldn’t hurt me, it was important that I behaved as though I believed you would. He told me that, though the three of you were lying because you thought you were serving a greater good, I would have to lie to you to serve the true good. He said, time and time again, that his purpose is...higher.”
“And what was that?” James asked. “The higher purpose?”
The candidate locked eyes with James. “To prevent the two of you from destroying the reality outside of the sim—from destroying the real universe.”
27
The Planck platform blinked into Universe 1, and the accompanying ripple was hardly discernible as Djanet and Old-timer found themselves, once again, in the vast emptiness of space. The android armada that had passed by them were besieging the Earth, which was just a pale, blue star, millions of kilometers away. The collective could be seen though, orbiting around the Earth like a galaxy orbiting a super massive black hole, the individual ships reflecting sunlight the way a sandstorm does, the tiny particles of sand seemingly forming a wall.
Old-timer wasted no time opening communication to Earth. “Daniella? Do you hear me?”
“Craig?” she asked through a crackling, static connection in their mind’s eyes. “Where are you?”
Old-timer had experienced this sort of situation before—he needed to make sure the result would be different this time.
“Daniella, are you aware of what’s happening?”
“The androids are attacking again,” she replied. “They’re raining down everywhere—half the sky is black with them. None of them have come near the farm yet though.”
Old-timer held his hand to his chest, relieved. “Thank God.”
“Craig, where’s James? Where’s the A.I.? Why aren’t they stopping this?”
“We don’t know,” Old-timer replied. “They’ve vanished. Rich is trying to protect the mainframe.”
“Rich? By himself? Oh my God. He’s going to die!”
Old-timer’s eyes darted to Djanet, who was able to read what Daniella had said from Old-timer’s expression. Her lips pulled into a tight, worried grimace.
“Daniella, I’m here with Djanet. I’m adding her to the conversation now. We’ve got to get you off the planet.”
“But where can I go?” Daniella asked. “The farmhouse can’t become a spaceship the way everyone else’s home can. The Net isn’t working properly, so I can’t construct anything.” Her fear and frustration were saturating her voice. “Craig, where are you?”
“I’m in space,” he replied in a helpless tone.
Daniella looked up into the sky and closed her eyes for a moment. “Are you safe?”
“For the moment,” Old-timer confirmed. He looked up at Djanet. “Look, Daniella, I can get you some help.”
“Get me help?” Daniella reacted. “What about you?”
“I-I can’t come back right now. I’ve got something I have to do—something only I can do.”
“Craig!” Daniella exclaimed. “You promised me you wouldn’t do this again—”
“Daniella, listen to me!” Old-timer shouted back. “I love you but I’m the only one who can do this! Everyone’s life is at stake! If I don’t do this, you’re already dead, do you understand? Everyone’s dead—the androids included!” He looked up at Djanet. “Djanet’s coming to get you. She’s going to help you get off the surface.”
“That’ll just get her killed too!” Daniella shot back.
“No it won’t,” Djanet cut in. “Two of us have a better chance than one.”
“Craig, don’t let her come,” Daniella responded emphatically. “She’s already safe. I can’t let her—”
“I can’t let you face this alone,” Old-timer responded. “I can’t be there, but Djanet can.”
“Craig, don’t—”
“Daniella,” Djanet interrupted her, “I’m not doing this selflessly. I’m doing it so he can do what he has to do to save the rest of us. I can be your extra set of eyes. I’ll have your back.”
Daniella exhaled, furious as she began gritting her teeth. Then she saw a lone figure, like a skydiver, a black silhouette against what was left of the blue sky, falling toward the outskirts of her land. “Oh no. They’re here.”
“You gotta hide,” Old-timer reacted, his heart racing.
“Djanet, if you’re coming, you better come now,” Daniella urged, keeping her voice low as she raced out from the open and hid behind the eastern wall of her house, craning her neck so she could keep her eyes on the lone android. She felt the vibration of the impact in the soles of her feet when the android’s body landed, but it disappeared behind the tall grass in the field. A second later, the corner of her eye caught another body falling from the sky on a very similar trajectory to the first. “Because I’ve got minutes here at most.”
Old-timer’s snarl returned as he looked down at the unconscious android. “I’m going to disengage the magnetic field to give us a bit of room. Keep your distance. When I wake this ugly piece of filth up, he’s not going to be happy.”
Djanet nodded. “Okay.” She engaged her magnetic cocoon in preparation.
Old-timer disengaged the Planck platform’s magnetic field. Djanet floated a few meters away, while Old-timer remained crouched above the unconscious body. He placed his hand flat on the metal chest. A second later, he sent a jumpstart of magnetic energy into the body, instantly jolting the creature to life. Its eyes opened wide before its hand reached up to grasp Old-timer’s throat. A second after that, the android screamed out in excruciating pain.
Djanet gasped as she watched Old-timer’s violent response to the android’s aggression. Instantly, its body was impaled from dozens of the tendrils that Old-timer’s new body controlled and that had unfurled from his torso, and struck like an army of cobras all going in for the kill at once. One of the tendrils had driven itself like a spike into the back of the android’s neck, jamming up into its artificial brain.
Finally, Old-timer stood, floating above the platform, the tendrils having impaled the android in so many places that he looked like a marionette—and Old-timer was his puppeteer. “It’s safe now,” he said to Djanet. “I’ve got control and I’ve opened up a line of communication with him. I’ve
got access to the collective.”
Djanet’s mouth was agape for a moment before she asked, “How? I didn’t know—”
“It’s a feature James suggested when we designed my body,” Old-timer replied. “The appendages can connect on a nano scale to communicate with anything computerized. Comes in handy.”
“That boy thinks of everything,” Djanet commented. Then she considered the fact that James had disappeared. “Usually,” she amended. “So where does that leave us?”
“Daniella, can you give me an update?” Old-timer asked his wife through their mind’s eye connection.
“They’re crossing to the house. I’m going to lock myself in the old storm shelter.”
“Okay,” Old-timer replied. “Djanet’s on her way. Daniella, I love you. Stay safe.”
“I love you too. I’m going to go quiet now. They’ll be tracing for communication signals. Djanet, get your ass down here,” Daniella replied before rushing to the hidden entrance, several meters away from the main house.
Old-timer turned to his wife’s would-be rescuer. “Djanet, there’s an android mothership, they call it the Constructor. It’s where they construct the bodies of the people they assimilate. That’s where we’re headed.”
“You found that out…” she reacted, pointing to the android’s head, “…by connecting to his brain?”
Old-timer shrugged, as though the answer were obvious. “Of course. Yours and my brain are connected right now by the mind’s eye. It’s basically the same thing.”
“Except you didn’t jam a tendril into my brain—”
“It’s a little unorthodox,” he admitted, “but the situation’s gotten a little unorthodox.”
“Earth’s at least twenty minutes away,” Djanet pointed out, “and Daniella says she’s only got minutes. So…”
Old-timer waved her over to the Planck. “It’s safe,” he reassured her when he noticed her hesitation. “I’m in complete control of his nervous system. His name is Anisim, if you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” Djanet replied as she hovered above the platform, just inches from the gruesome spectacle of the duo. “You’ve really got your hooks into that guy, huh?”
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