Causality (Quantum Gate Book 5)

by Eric Warren

  Jairo looked taken aback. “You don’t give me orders human. I am—”

  “I know who you think you are. Don’t forget I was the person who allowed you to become you in the first place. The least you can do is not tread on those we’ve lost.”

  Jairo glanced down at the form that used to be Jill, though it was already beginning to deteriorate into smaller pieces. “Oh,” he said. “Yes, I apologize.” He and the others moved around the body, approaching the rest of them. “It seems you have destroyed your enemy.”

  “And your enemy,” Blu said.

  “Yes. Well, I expect you to leave Osaka now your work is done. You are no longer welcome here,” he said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Frees said, stepping forward. “She just removed the biggest threat to the Peacekeepers and you’re telling her she has to leave? She should be able to strut around any part of the planet she wants.”

  Arista had to work to hide her smile.

  “It’s just she’s a human and humans are destructive—”

  “Don’t worry about the humans,” Frees said. “They’re not your enemy. Right?” He turned to Jessika.

  She shook her head. “Our leadership has been dismantled and we’re scattered all over the planet. We want nothing more than to live and survive. No one else wants to destroy the machine population; those people are dead.”

  “Humans are unpredictable,” Jairo said.

  Frees got up in Jairo’s face. “Listen to me. You work with me helping the Peacekeepers and the general population. The humans aren’t your concern. Understand?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Not. Your. Concern,” Frees snapped. Jairo stared at him a moment then returned to the tower. “How could you let this guy take over?” Frees asked Mitsu and Takai.

  They shrugged, almost in unison. “He has ambition where we do not,” Mitsu said. “It was difficult running things ourselves in Hogo-Sha’s absence.”

  “You didn’t tell us how hard it would be,” Takai added. “Poor Mitsu has taken on more than her fair share.”

  “Neither of you are going to have to worry about it much longer,” Arista said. “Now Charlie is dead the old power system will be replaced.”

  “With what?” Mitsu asked.

  Arista exchanged glances with Blu and Frees. “We’re still working on that.”

  ***

  A few hours later after Jill and Jonn’s bodies had been gathered and stored in portable containers. After the Peacekeepers had disassembled and destroyed the husk Charlie had been using by igniting all the parts in one of the heating furnaces for the tower, Arista stood, watching Jessika and David talk on the balcony of one of the sky lobbies. She and Blu stayed back near the waiting area, trying not to intrude. Frees had gone with Jairo and the others to work out some kind of agreement while Kurt and the other Peacekeepers were still in the process of dispersing all the husks below, helping them to the correct gates and getting everyone sent back where they belonged. It would be a long and arduous process.

  “Think something’s going on over there?” Blu asked, nudging Arista.

  She hadn’t been paying attention to Jessika and David’s body language, but now she stopped to notice there was definitely some kind of attraction going on. They’d moved close together with their shoulders barely touching, David had procured new glasses and a crutch which was propped up against the railing. “I dunno, is it weird?” she asked. “I mean Jess was with the other David.”

  “Probably why she likes him. Didn’t you say your David was a douche?”

  Arista snickered. “Yeah. He was. Nothing like your dad, though.”

  “Our dad,” Blu said.

  Arista smiled. “I guess. It’s weird, having two parents again. I only ever thought of Emily and Carver as my parents, but now it seems I have a whole new family.”

  Blu smiled mischievously. “And a new boyfriend.”

  Arista rolled her eyes. “Don’t. I have no idea what’s going to happen with that. We still need to have the talk. Plus, we have to figure out what to do with my other parents back in London, along with Jonn…and Jill.”

  “I wish I’d gotten to know Jill better,” Blu said. “From what little I saw she seemed pretty amazing.”

  “I had no idea she had combat skills like that,” Arista said. “She kept me on my toes ‘till the very end.”

  “I mean, did you see the way she jumped all the way across the courtyard, and landed all superhero style right there on the concrete? I felt like I was watching a movie. And then she pulled those guns out and just started…Blam!...Blam! Amazing.” Blu leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. “Dad says they fixed the comm grid in London. He said Jill was worried sick about you, didn’t want to leave you alone after what happened to Frees.”

  “That sounds like her alright.” Arista drew a deep breath, exhaling through her nose. “I wish I could have communicated to her what I needed. I know she thought she was helping but—"

  “Yeah,” Blu said. “Me too.”

  “Arista?” She glanced up to see Jessika standing in front of her with David not far behind. Jessika leaned down, caressing Arista’s face with her hand. “I just want you to know how proud of you I am. You’ve done so much more than I ever thought possible.”

  “But it wasn’t enough,” she said, heaviness in her chest. “We still lost people.”

  “That’s part of life sometimes; no matter what you do sometimes you lose. But you came through when it mattered. And in the end you saved all of us.” She watched Arista’s eyes for a moment and Arista allowed herself to sink into the sensation. It had been so long since anyone had acted like this toward her and she wanted to soak it up. “Frees told me you damaged your Device. Do you want me to fix it for you?”

  “You can fix that?” Blu said. “Like, just open her head up and fix it?”

  “Well,” Jessika said, chuckling. “It’s a little more complex than that.”

  “I’ve gotten used to it being off. And I think I like it,” Arista said. “I don’t need the dampener anymore.”

  “I understand. The offer stands if you ever want it.” Her mother was still beaming at her.

  “I’m good just the way I am,” Arista said.

  EPILOGUE

  “I hate funerals,” Frees said, buttoning his shirt. “They’re so pointless.”

  “Not to the humans they’re not,” Trymian replied. “We may not understand the need, but they certainly do.”

  “I understand the need, I just hate them,” Frees replied, as he finished buttoning the shirt he pulled on a coat. “Not to mention I have to wear clothes.”

  “One of your many quirks, my friend. Regardless, it’s good you’re doing this for them.” Trymian turned and limped out of the room. Frees realized he would have normally found Trymian’s penchant for maintaining his avatar’s limp ridiculous, but he’d come to see the programmed behaviors in the husks as something to be appreciated, not shunned. They complimented each person’s individual personality, and that had been even more important since they’d started freeing more and more husks. It reminded him of that short time he and Arista had spent their time riding all over the greater Chicago area meeting people and turning them to autonomous beings. But now, they had a lot more help.

  “Tick tock!” Trymian’s voice announced from the hall.

  “Coming,” Frees said, making sure his tie was on right. He didn’t even bother to check a mirror, he was sure he looked ridiculous and would rather just be spared the ignominy. He strode out into the hall and fell into step beside Trymian, keeping pace with the other machine. “Have you heard back from Jairo?”

  Trymian sighed. “That one is hardheaded, without a doubt. But I think after listening to me and taking into account my history he’s ready to make an agreement.”

  “Really?” Frees almost did a double-take, but managed to quell it. Jairo had been stonewalling ever since they’d left a week ago, despite Frees’ threats.
<
br />   “He’s a purist, concerned only with the machines. But as more and more machines become autonomous by the day, he’s had to accept his role needs to be that of a leader of more than just a few hundred individuals.”

  “Do you think he’ll ever accept the humans?” Frees asked.

  “In time I believe he’ll see we need each other. That humans and machines need to act as symbiotes, two parts of a whole, in balance. Isn’t that what Arista always says? Maintain the balance?”

  Frees scoffed, remembering the times Arista had been far to one side or the other. “Yes. That’s what she wants…now.”

  “Some people have difficult transition periods,” Trymian said. “But I do believe she has finally found her purpose. The only question remains: have you spoken to her yet?”

  Frees furrowed his brow. “Spoken to her?”

  “About the two of you.”

  Frees stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the old man. “You’re kidding me. You too?”

  “My boy, it’s plainly obvious. Why you’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to notice it.”

  Frees ran his hand down his face. “Is there anyone who isn’t concerned with my feelings for Arista?”

  “I think perhaps David? His eyes seemed trained on Jessika, though I’m monitoring things closely to see if my theories pan out. Human interpersonal interactions are fascinating, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, fascinating,” Frees said, uncomfortable with this line of conversation. They continued down the hall in silence until reaching the stairway which Trymian took a few steps at a time.

  “You know,” Trymian finally said. “If you’d like to go ahead of me and speak to someone about something important, I wouldn’t mind.”

  “What, now?” Frees asked.

  “There is no time like the present. You never know what the future might bring, so it’s best not to waste what time we have,” he replied. “Go on. Perhaps she’s as anxious about it as you are. It could be a relief to you both.”

  Frees hesitated.

  “Think of it this way. Would you rather be staring at each other in some uncomfortable silence across the room during this solemn ceremony, or would you rather be by her side, supporting her through it?”

  “Shit,” Frees said. “I think you’re right.”

  “Very good. Go on then.”

  Frees turned and took the stairs three at a time.

  ***

  “I’m not doing it. You can’t make me wear it,” Arista said, staring at the black piece of fabric on the bed.

  “It’s just a dress, Arista, jeez,” Blu replied, sporting her own modest black dress. “It’s what you’re supposed to wear to a funeral.”

  “It’s not what I’m going to wear,” she replied. “I don’t care if Trymian gave us all this stuff or not, it doesn’t matter what I cover myself with. They’re gone.”

  Blu took a deep breath and pressed her features together, walking over to her and putting her hand on Arista’s arm. “That’s fine. You don’t have to.”

  “I want this to be over,” Arista replied with a huff. “I don’t even see—”

  “Trust me,” Blu interrupted. “You’ll be glad you did this. Maybe not for a while. But in the future you’ll be glad.” She paused a moment. “Plus, funerals are about being as uncomfortable as you can get. That way the dead know you mean it.”

  Arista stared at Blu a moment before they both broke out into laughter. “No, it’s not right. This is a funeral, we need to be sad,” Arista said through the giggles.

  “I think after everything we’ve been through, we deserve as many laughs as we can get,” Blu said.

  “Good point.” Arista wiped her eyes. “I don’t think Jill or my parents will care what I wear.”

  “I think you’re probably right.”

  Ten minutes later they’d made it to the hall, catching up with Jessika and David as they all made their way to the main atrium. Jessika had managed to pick up a few medical tools from the colony, repairing David’s ankle a few days before. Both of them were dressed in solemn black clothes and Jessika’s arm was hooked around David’s.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Jessika asked Arista as they approached the main doors.

  “I’ll have to be,” Arista said. “They deserve a proper goodbye.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Jessika leaned over and planted a kiss on Arista’s forehead. “I’m very proud of you.”

  Arista wanted to respond, but her throat had suddenly seized up and speaking had become impossible. The best she could do was nod.

  Jessika smiled. “In other news, I’ve made some good progress on developing a type of repeater that will allow any human to affect more than one husk at once. If I can stabilize the feed, we can have most of the husks autonomous in under a year.”

  “Dear,” David said, stopping both Arista and Blu in their tracks. “Shop talk at the funeral?”

  Jessika winced. “Right, right. Sorry.” She waved her hand as if it could make the words disappear. “We’ll talk about it later. Should be good for the global initiative though. See you both in there.”

  Arista stared at her mother, her mouth open as they passed into the large room beyond.

  “Dear?” Blu asked in a hushed voice as soon as they were out of earshot.

  “I guess it was inevitable,” Arista replied, having finally found her voice.

  “What do you thi—?” Blu’s eyes widened at something behind Arista. She turned to see Frees, decked out in a brand-new suit, complete with loafers and tie. “Whoa,” Blu said. “I think I’ll head in now. See you in there.”

  Before Arista could protest, Blu was gone. She turned to face Frees, who made his way to her. “Well?” he asked. “How bad is it?”

  “Probably not nearly as bad as you’re imagining,” Arista said, doing her best not to stare. She’d never seen him in such nice clothes. “I know you hate them, but they really suit you. No pun intended.”

  Frees rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t look weird? Without skin and all?”

  Arista shrugged. “Not to me.”

  An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Frees glanced toward the doors which were the last barrier between them and the four people they had come here today to honor. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “As well as can be expected.”

  “I was surprised you wanted Jonn in there as well,” Frees said, staring at the doors.

  “It took him a while, but he finally figured it out I think,” Arista said. “They all deserve to be honored.”

  “I only wish we could upload Jill to the Collective Consciousness,” Frees said.

  Arista winced, thinking about how her body had turned to ash by now. If only the necrotizer hadn’t destroyed her cortex they could have uploaded her memories along with Emily and Carver.

  “I guess some things just weren’t meant to be,” she said.

  “Arista…I…” She watched the discomfort on his face as he tried to put to words what they both knew he felt. “I don’t know if this is an inappropriate time or not. But I just wanted you to know…”

  She stared at him, expectantly.

  “I’ve only been on this planet about fifteen years.” Frees said, resetting himself. “And in those fifteen years I’ve never felt anything like I’ve felt when I’m with you. Granted five of those years I was a mindless automaton, but I think you get my drift.”

  She smiled. “I think I do.”

  “Anyway. All I know is I need you to be part of my life. And if that’s what love is then that’s where I am. So there.”

  Her heart hammered. He’d finally said it. But it felt different than she thought; it hadn’t come across as something she would classify was romantic. It was more…platonic than that. Deeper in some way. She wanted to tell him she felt the same but she didn’t want him to misunderstand. Whatever this was between them they needed to take it slow, see where things took them. There had barely been a moment whe
n they hadn’t been under the threat of death and she needed some normal for a while. She didn’t want to rush into what could potentially be a very important part of her life only for her to screw it up later.

  She reached out her hand to him, and he took it. Remarkably, it wasn’t cold as she’d expected. “I think that’s a very good place to be,” she said. “And if you can stay there, I think I might be able to meet you.”

  He nodded. “Then that’s where we’ll be.”

  She stared at their hands a moment, as a world outside of the palace in the process of uniting human and machine alike and smiled. “The future,” she said, “is looking up.”

  The End

  Thank you for reading CAUSALITY!

  I hope you enjoyed reading about these characters as much as I enjoyed writing them.

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  An Interview with

  Eric Warren

  (questions provided by Katie Camden)

  Katie Camden (KC): When did you come up with the storyline for the Quantum Gate series? Were there any changes from the original plans for the story and characters that came about after you started writing?

  Eric Warren (EW): I first came up with the basic story in the summer of 2016. It was borne from an idea I had while watching the movie: Ex Machina. In it, there is a scene where Caleb (the human) is questioning Ava (the AI) as she sits behind glass. It got me to wondering, what if the situation were reversed? What if a group of machines was interrogating a human? And what would that world look like? What sort of circumstances would lead to that situation?

  I wrote the first draft during the summer and fall of 2016, planning to make it a trilogy. The first version is vastly different from the published copy, involving a chase in an airport as well as ending with Arista and Frees being accidentally transported to the alternate universe. When I went back and re-examined the story, I realized it wasn’t quite right, so I started over from scratch with the same basic concepts while deepening the characters and building up the world a bit more. Also in the original version Arista wasn’t trying to keep her parents alive; she was a much more passive character. She still burned her hand off, but there was no urgency with it. Giving her a reason to fight completely energized the story in a way it hadn’t in the first draft.