by Eric Warren
“Do you think we should even go back?” Arista flopped down in one of the chairs. “Before Blu figured out the map, I considered all of this nothing more than an exercise in futility,” she said. “But now she’s had a breakthrough, I just don’t know. What if we actually get it up and working again? What if we do go back? What then?”
Frees walked around the other chair and sat down beside her. “Then we go stop him. We can’t let him do whatever he wants to that world. We’re the only ones who might be able to keep Charlie from destroying everything we’ve worked for.”
She dropped her head so he couldn’t see her eyes. “Frees, it’s been six weeks. He could have the entire planet under subjugation by now. Without Echo—not to mention Hogo-sha—there’s no telling what he could have done. We don’t even know if Trymian is still active. He was probably Charlie’s first target.”
Trymian was the last of the AI’s that made up the Cadre, and he was the only one they hadn’t encountered. Before Arista, Charlie had worked in tandem with both Trymian and Hogo-sha to retain and control the planet’s machine population, only it seemed he had been plotting against his fellow AI’s for some time. Or maybe it had been Arista’s intervention that finally pushed him over the edge. Whatever happened, he couldn’t be trusted to try and put things back the way they were.
“I know this is difficult for you,” Frees said. “Your entire reason for getting into this was saving the lives of your parents. Now you feel like you’ve failed in that mission. And you don’t want to go back and face the consequences. I get that.”
Arista wanted to lash out at him. To argue with him and point out the futility of everything but the truth was he was right. She didn’t want to face the consequences. If she stayed here maybe in some way it wasn’t real. That other world no longer existed. This could be their home now, as strange of a place as it was. And she would never know what happened to them. “I’m not sure I can go back,” she finally said.
“What about Jessika? And Jill? And all the other humans in the colony?” he asked.
She scoffed and met his eyes. “You mean if they’re not dead?”
He pursed his artificial lips. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t want to leave them. I’m just saying…” She shook her head. “I’m saying could we do better here?”
His face twisted into a grimace and he stood. “You can be really selfish sometimes. Just because your own personal crusade is over doesn’t mean our work is done. Have you forgotten about all the machines over there under his rule? All those people without independent minds, my entire race who Charlie uses for his own personal amusement? Should we just leave them to their fates? Because I guarantee he won’t stop making them…ever. He’ll keep building bodies and implanting new minds in them for all of eternity if we let him. It will never end.”
She dropped her head again. He was right, she’d made a commitment to helping him free his people. But it seemed like ever since the date of her parents’ passing had come and gone, she couldn’t focus on anything else. She’d become lost in her own mind, beholden to people she knew she’d never see again.
Arista glanced at him and for the first time in a long time felt real anger emanating off him. As a machine, Frees didn’t get hot or cold, instead he maintained a regular internal temperature. But to look at him now you’d never be able to tell. His shoulders rose and fell as the breath he unnecessarily inhaled and exhaled passed through him. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn he was human himself in that moment. It seemed the loss of the Device in her head had not only contributed to the transformation of her own self-image, but of his as well.
“Well?” he asked.
She cast her eyes downward and nodded a few times. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. We have to go back.” She stood as well. “I made a commitment to you and I’m going to honor it. I’m sorry, it’s just…a lot has happened.”
He seemed to relax and stopped breathing. Had he even realized he’d been doing it? Or was it just because he’d been around humans for so long he was picking up on all their little mannerisms? Arista had to admit close proximity to a lot of humans had taken some getting used to, especially because her own species could be so damn unpredictable sometimes.
Frees rubbed her shoulder with his skin-covered hand. “I know this has been a strange time…for both of us. But don’t let it change who you are. You don’t belong here, neither of us does. And we need to get back. Even if we’ve lost everything, we can’t let him go on like that forever.”
Arista reached into her pocket and fingered the key Echo had given her back on the subway. It was her ace-in-the-hole; a sure-fire way to stop Charlie, assuming they could get close enough. Frees was right, if he had gone back and completely taken over, it might be difficult or impossible for anyone else to get close to him, human or Peacekeeper alike. But with this key…she only needed to get within a few feet.
“I think this place has changed me,” she said. “When I lost the Device, I lost…I lost myself. And I’ve had to start over.”
His features softened and he retracted his hand which fell to his side.
“You have to understand I’ve had that Device for as long as I can remember. Jessika said it was installed when I was six and it was a part of me for eighteen years. It’s a big adjustment.”
“I’m sure its jarring sometimes. And you’re right, this place has changed you. But in superficial ways. Not in ways that determine who you are as a person. That’s what I’m talking about.”
She turned and stared out his small office window to the assembly floor. “Do you really think it can be finished in a few days?”
He stood beside her. “I’m not sure. If David thinks so then probably, but it’s going to take a lot of work. I may not be back home for the next few days.”
She couldn’t help but smirk as he said it, as if they were some married couple who each had day jobs they could come home from. Their “home” consisted of little more than her bedroom, a kitchen table, and the appliances. It wasn’t as if they saw that much of each other there anyway. He was usually here, and she was usually off taking clandestine meetings with organizations that needed funds. Still, it was part of what she liked about this world. Something like that wouldn’t be possible in her own world, at least not as it had been. But maybe if they did go back, they could help change all that.
“Arista—” Frees began, using the tone he always did when he was about to talk about something neither of them particularly wanted to talk about. Was she aware he had feelings for her? Yes. Did she have feelings for him? She wasn’t sure. And every time one of them brought it up the other usually found some excuse to get out of talking about it. She’d wanted to avoid the subject and suspected he feared her eventual response. Arista couldn’t see how it would work, especially not if they were headed back into the chaos of their own universe. If they were staying here…maybe. Maybe somewhere deep down that had been part of her desire to stay as well, though she wasn’t even sure she could admit that much to herself.
“I’m going to go talk to David,” she said, interrupting him. “I want to get a final timetable on this thing and maybe we can start testing it.” She didn’t look back at him as she reached the door. She didn’t want to subject herself to what she might see.
“Yeah,” he said as she passed through the doorway. “Good idea.”
FOUR
Three days had passed since Blu revealed her big secret to everyone. Hmph. Big secret. Like it was something she would ever keep to herself. Though she had considered it. Because if they didn’t have the coordinates Arista wouldn’t be able to go home. She’d have to stay.
But Blu had shaken those thoughts from her mind. Those were the thoughts of a kid; someone who couldn’t see past their own selfish desires. Blu wasn’t about to do that to the only sister she’d ever had. Arista had to go back, and it was Blu’s job to make sure she could.
Blu couldn’t help but smile at the machine anyway. Two months ago, her life had been bland and boring. Her days spent either going over the required learning from school—because there was no way she was going back to those assholes, she’d get her degree on her own—or coding her own personal AI project. It wasn’t like she was ever going to use anything from school anyway. Most of the people she knew didn’t even have jobs, much less any kind of financial security. It had been clear from a young age the only way to get ahead in this world was to either work hard or screw a lot of people over. Blu was going to get by on her cunning, her deviousness, her…okay maybe deviousness wasn’t the right word. But she was going to get by on something.
And then Frees had come along. And right behind him: Arista. And it was like everything she knew about the universe had flipped on its head. Alternate universes did exist! AI’s were possible! Life became exciting for once, and here she was, all her needs provided for and yet she was still challenged by all this new information. When Dad had first suggested she try and find the quantum signature matching Arista and Frees so they could find some kind of a target she’d dismissed the idea as ludicrous. She didn’t know anything about quantum mechanics or cross-dimensional theory. But it seemed she was a quick study. When Blu found something interesting or challenging, she dove in head-first. And despite taking nearly a month, she’d done it.
It was hard not to be impressed with herself. After all, she had done the near-impossible in less than one full lunar cycle. Take that Maspeth High School physics program!
“Okay we’re trying this again!” David called out. He was at the primary control station for the gate, operating the interface he’d designed himself based on Frees’ plans. Frees was beside the gate, manually controlling the inputs and trying to get some kind of response. And Arista sat off to the side, her arms and legs crossed as she watched them under the glare of dark eyebrows.
Blu couldn’t understand what was wrong with her; did she think the gate wouldn’t work? Or was she worried about something else? Either way, Blu had tried her best to engage her the past couple of days and had been met with little more than affirmative grunts and melancholy dissents. Maybe Arista didn’t want to leave and was sulking. Maybe she just had a lot on her mind; she did have to save an entire planet after all. And if she was right and Charlie had made it back over the other side, she had a pretty big uphill battle in front of her.
“Okay, firing the emitters in three…two…one…mark!” David pulled back on the main lever on the control pad and the room hummed with electricity. The tiny blonde hairs on Blu’s arm stood up at once and she raised her eyebrows, studying the device.
“We’re getting something,” Frees yelled back. A group of workers standing on a cherry-picker signaled to her father.
“One of the emitters is firing!” David yelled. “Everyone stand back!”
The cherry-picker swung back from the gate as Frees trotted away from the frame of the giant machine.
The hum in the room grew louder as the air seemed to pop with electricity. Blu glanced over to Arista who had stood and was now staring at the gate. She followed her gaze to the inside edges of the gate where a faint white light was growing in intensity. This was new, none of the other tests had produced anything like this before.
Frees passed her as he trotted over to her dad’s control station. “There’s some variance in the emitter outputs,” Frees said. “And I don’t like the look of that waveform. The valleys are much too deep.”
“Give it a second,” David said, making adjustments as he went. Blu turned to see Arista had made her way over to them as well, and now stood beside Blu. She turned to her.
“Is this what it’s supposed to do?” Blu whispered.
Arista shrugged, keeping her eyes on the gate. “I don’t know, but it isn’t like any other gate I’ve ever seen. Those always worked pretty flawlessly.”
Blu wasn’t sure if she was trying to dig Frees or if she was just baffled by the machine but she noticed Frees arch an eyebrow anyway. He didn’t respond, instead keeping his focus on his work. “There,” Frees said, “Check the waveform now.”
“It’s evening out,” her dad said, watching the controls intently. “I think we might have it. Increase power output to sixty percent.”
The room hummed even more fervently. Now all the edges inside the gate were glowing white; Blu could feel the heat coming off them, but the inside of the gate showed nothing but the other side of the room.
She nudged Arista with her arm. “Are you suppose—?”
CRACK!
The entire room shook with what felt like an earthquake and Blu grabbed Arista’s arm to keep steady. There was an audible rumble as the sound waves moved through the building, causing small bits of debris to fall from the ceiling. The men on the cherry-picker had ducked down and were holding on to the sides for dear life.
“The gate!” Frees yelled. Blu glanced over to see the center of the gate had turned into a muted gray, but it was moving and undulating as if the surface of the door itself was water.
“I’ve got a full connection,” David said. “I think we’ve done it.”
“Prepare the test drone,” Frees said.
Arista stepped forward. “You don’t have to. I’m going through,” she said.
Blu’s eyes widened at the prospect of Arista leaving right this moment. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.
Frees rushed over to Arista. “No way, there’s no telling where that might lead. What if the other end comes out in the middle of outer space somewhere?” Arista remained resolute, not backing down from his arguments. “Let us at least send a test through to gather information and bring it back. We don’t even have to shut down the gate,” he said.
“How long can you keep it open?” she asked.
He glanced back to Blu’s dad who only shrugged in response. “I’d say until we run out of power or something breaks. Until then, it’s on.”
“Does that mean someone else could come through the other side?” Blu asked.
Frees faced her. “Maybe? I don’t know what it looks like over there. I don’t know if they can see the gate or not. I don’t even know if this has worked. It’s very possible this is all just a flaw.” He returned his attention to Arista. “Which is why you can’t just stroll across.”
Blu couldn’t read her face, but something was bothering her sister. Finally, she broke her gaze. “Let me know as soon as you’ve confirmed the exit point.” Then, with her voice lower she added, “I need to get through that thing before I lose my nerve.” Arista glanced over to Blu who pretended like she hadn’t heard it. Instead, she kept her attention on the gate itself. It almost seemed alive in a way. Blu made her way over to her father’s workstation, watching him keep the gate under control; so far it looked as if all the power levels were nominal.
“Pretty neat, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Blu replied, staring at the gate from this angle. No matter where she stood, it always seemed to undulate toward her in some fashion, as if the gate was beckoning her to give it a try, to see how she liked crossing dimensional barriers.
Then again maybe it hadn’t worked and all it did was transport someone a couple of blocks away. It would be hard to tell. She glanced back behind her to see Arista making her way back toward the offices while Frees came up beside her, checking the levels.
“Is she okay?” Blu asked.
“Sure, she just wants to get it done. It’s hard for her, sitting around here without anything to do.”
“What about all the…philanthropy?”
“I think when she realized we were so close she passed that off to someone else, someone to take over for her.”
“Oh,” Blu said, watching Ari
sta walk away. “Is she worried about Charlie?”
“She’s not thrilled about him, I can tell you that much,” Frees said. “Everything she sacrificed, all the people she had to kill…I think it’s taking its toll on her.” He turned, his orange eyes staring right into Blu’s turquoise ones. “She’s apprehensive she’ll have to make the same hard choices again.”
“But she’s got the key, right? Won’t that help?” It seemed to Blu that with the key in her possession Arista would have an easy time taking down Charlie. And anyone else who might get in her way.
“It will help,” Frees said. “But it won’t make her decisions any easier.” He turned away. “She’d been doing so good, making so much progress and now…I just don’t know. I’m afraid she might relapse.”
“But isn’t killing Charlie a good thing?” Blu asked, confused.
“Maybe for everyone else, but not for her,” he replied.
***
Two hours and one retrieval drone later Frees had confirmed the gate worked, just not as they had hoped. It had burned off some of the outer coating of the autonomous drone.
“Regardless, I’d call it a successful first test,” David told him once the smoking drone had returned. It had taken Frees another thirty minutes to download the information but it had been corrupted. The drone had returned in worse shape than it left, but it had returned. Which meant the gate had an exit point somewhere. They’d have to shut down and try again. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if everyone who passed through the gate had their skin roasted in the process.