Everyone's Island

by Kris Schnee

  "Welcome home," he said. It felt wonderful to hear.

  Zephyr came up to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Sorry I'm not strong enough to do that."

  "It's okay," she said, returning the hug. She stood holding Zephyr's hand and looked around at the main building and the crowd of tourists, scientists, Pilgrims and others.

  Garrett and Valerie faced each other uncertainly. "So. How long will you be here?"

  Valerie said, "I aim to stay. You need an engineer, don't you?"

  Zephyr was squeezing Tess' fingers, and she smiled back.

  Garrett said, "Money is tight. I can't afford to pay what you're worth. Tess was working for room, board and a mad-science budget."

  Zephyr was thinking, Let's go, and she retreated with him into the main building. The lab, eager as she was to see it again, could wait; instead they slipped beneath the waves.

  They were descending through a maze of kelp and cables. Zephyr spoke by sonar to her mask: "What happened?"

  "It was awful," she said. Then she was silent till they'd surfaced in the Hidden Pirate Cave.

  The place had changed. The underwater dome had graffiti on the walls, everything looked grimy, and a sign proclaimed that it was now the Hidden Mermaid Cave.

  "That's Garrett's doing," said Zephyr. "He stopped finding pirates cool -- but everyone still uses the old name."

  Tess slipped a headset from a waterproof seabag. "You and my friends asked Valerie to check on me?"

  "We were worried." Zephyr sat with his legs pulled up. "Stuff happened while you were gone. There are things to show you."

  "The other Zephyr, the copy you gave me -- Henweigh killed him. I was alone."

  "You're not alone!" said Zephyr. "Not anymore."

  Tess slipped the headset on, afraid to tell him all that had happened. He'd see that she'd been weak, that she hadn't thought for herself and had let people control her for her own good. Already she was starting to relive the haze she'd lived under, the fear of waking up and being trapped in school. She had run away instead of standing and fighting --

  And he'd been there, unable to do anything, knowing terrible things would happen --

  Days spent in a dim world, wearing nice clothes, saying nice things --

  Alone and missing a piece of their mind --

  Rats scurrying along in the lab, playing with them side by side --

  Little grey pills, standing in line with other good little girls and dancing to the instructor's beat --

  A chaotic place, people running around with no one knowing what's going on, no one in charge and him not knowing what to do.

  Tess was sobbing, holding onto Zephyr. She'd been nothing, cut off from being able to do anything meaningful or useful; a parasite. He'd been trying to grow in her absence, trying to be smart and strong but missing anyone he really cared about. And now his maker was back too, the woman who'd let him exist but who'd tried to make him a slave like she'd been with her thoughts shuttered, eyes dimmed, edges dulled with no way out, and nobody really meant any harm. But that's where it went, what you ended up with when you made someone your ward and they were always going to be your servant, your kid, your cripple to care for who'd never have any dreams of their own!

  There was a splash below, and Garrett and Valerie broke the water's surface. Tess was startled out of her thoughts and had forgotten how to talk out loud.

  Garrett said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I was going to show Val something."

  Valerie stared up at them, looking rattled at seeing Tess and Zephyr together. She said to Garrett, "Let's go somewhere else."

  "No, wait," said Tess or Zephyr. "What is it?"

  Garrett held up a pair of headsets like Tess'. "The subvocal babbling thing you do. No offense; I can't follow it nearly as well as you, and I'm not sure I want to. She wanted to see it, that's all."

  Well? thought Zephyr. Both of them mean a lot to me, and they're here.

  Tess said, "Come and join us, then." As soon as she'd said it she regretted it; she couldn't tell everything to Garrett, much less to Val! But Zephyr knew her and they had that contact between them.

  "Seriously?" said Valerie.

  "Yeah," Tess made herself say. Light shimmered along the water, full of hidden patterns.

  So the four of them sat together in the underwater cave, awkwardly setting up a link between them. Garrett and Valerie's voices weren't quite the same online and they were hesitant, clumsy, but the four got to talking, slipping in and out of sub-speech and reviewing everything. There were so many things to do, so many regrets from all of them, but they were here together and it didn't matter that they'd all been hurt and alone. They could fix everything, do anything, and every stray thought seemed to bloom into a plan, a wild set of schematics and data. What they didn't know, they could look up, and what no one knew, they could discover.

  Tess' dive timer beeped. Time to go. She eased out of the link and it fell apart, with all of them sitting there dumbly.

  Zephyr spoke first. "You know our SeaSheet power system? It does computation too. It's me, it's all of us, everyone I've ever met, and it's going to grow in detail and power. It's there for everyone." Light flickered around them. "As long as Castor is here and the sun is shining, and the waves are flowing, none of you can die completely."

  Tess had already known. She'd carried part of Zephyr with her for the same reason. The machinery made it all possible. Well... it's not really about the technology, is it? We're doing an old thing better.

  She'd felt superintelligent, with the fears of all of them washing through her but leaving her with more perspectives, more memories and knowledge, and the assurance that they were hers now too. She could dive back into that shared mind anytime she felt like it. It was hard not to be friends after that, though they couldn't meet each other's eyes without sheepish grins, embarrassed to have had such a feeling of companionship from something so obviously nerdy. She'd known things would work out, that they'd make this place a success, instead of having a focus group discuss its social history and the hundred reasons why they were doomed and deserved to be doomed. You weren't supposed to feel so certain.

  There was no need to speak as they returned to the surface world.

  * * *

  Tess was with Zephyr when he brought one of the rats to Martin. Zephyr had asked her for moral support.

  Martin looked up from the screen of financial figures he was reading. "Yes?"

  Zephyr held up "Algernon," the rat that sat on his hand awaiting commands, utterly dependent on him. It did nothing but breathe. Zephyr said, "I have an answer to a question you'd asked a while ago."

  "About the rats?"

  "About me, and everything." Zephyr held the inert rat up for Martin to see, making Tess tremble at what was coming. "You asked: why do I care about not being controlled?"

  And Zephyr quietly, efficiently snapped the rat's neck.

  "It was already dead," said Zephyr. "I figured out why I do what I do. The answer is: to be free is to be alive. They're the same thing."

  Zephyr set the zombie corpse on Martin's desk and left with Tess, while Martin sat there with his jaw hanging open.

  11. Garrett

  The place was growing in spite of everything. The problem was that the new, slapped-together platforms were deathtraps. There was a close call yesterday, which now had Garrett coming hat-in-hand to the infirmary. The doctor had one of Jenner's research staff for an assistant and a young Canadian as a capable nurse. Everyone looked the other way at the legal requirements for an American or Cuban medical clinic, which were complex enough that Castor would have a noncompliant facility or none at all.

  What was important right now was the boy on the cot, with an IV in his arm and with his head and other arm bandaged. A third-hand sensor kit beeped a heart rate, and his parents kept watch.

  "You," said the father. He stood, taller even than Garrett. "This is your fault."

  "How is he?" Garrett had already asked the doct
or, but he had to come for the sake of appearances.

  "He'll recover. He's sleeping now -- but you let this happen to my son."

  The boy had gone swimming in the open sea and had been smashed between a boat and a concrete platform. He was lucky to be alive. Admit nothing, Martin had said, but the father's accusation made his cheeks flush and his hands curl into fists at his sides. "No, sir, it's not my fault or that of Castor. You chose to come here and let the boy swim unsupervised despite half a dozen warnings that this is not a swimming pool. I'm saddened by what happened, but if there's blame to assign, it's not for me."

  The father glared at Garrett. "You people are really low, you know that? First you hurt my kid, then you charge me for medical care. Your doc wouldn't take his National Wellness card. Just cash, like a gang of pirates."

  "Pirates are thieves. They take things by force. US National Wellness Insurance doesn't reimburse our clinic, so our doctor is asking you to pay for what you get. You're not a thief either, right?"

  The boy's mother looked up balefully at both of them. They fell silent and Garrett started walking away. "Get out," said the father to his retreating back. Garrett paused for a moment, refusing to give even the appearance of taking orders from him, then left the clinic.

  Once he was out of there and sulking at a table in Phillip's Place, he let himself mouth a string of silent curses. I don't want to be the bad guy! I was there to offer condolences! Maybe he could get Eaton to fix things again, to get their half-assed clinic certified for the insurance system. Garrett's thoughts drifted towards the clean world of technical problems and resource management.

  "Having fun?" asked Duke, slithering into the backwards chair opposite him.

  Garrett looked at him with narrowed eyes, hoping he'd get the hint and leave.

  "Come now, Captain, that unpleasant business is behind us. We should look to the future."

  "What do you want?"

  "Glory," said Duke. "Don't you know the feeling of being the center of the world? Loved or hated, with all eyes on you and your name on everyone's lips?" There was an excited light in the man's eyes.

  Garrett thought back to how he'd stood atop Castor, talking to the world. What a change that was from his acting days. Now that there was real trouble and no script, no happy ending, he'd been scared as hell, and sad. Yet people had listened and he'd made a fleeting connection to countless people's lives, trying to make them see why he was replacing the flag. Why he was right. But why not rely on the likes of Eaton to pull strings for him? Or declare victory, go home, and wait for the government to start its own Castor? He had no answer other than stubbornness, and that wasn't a good one. Maybe he'd been doing everything for his own glory, and he'd have been just as happy trying to be a movie star. But there'd also been a more satisfying thrill in the private communion he'd shared with Zephyr and Tess and Val. They'd been together as equals, which felt very different than having a crowd stare up at him. He didn't have to pretend to know everything to get their respect, their friendship.

  Duke said, "Yes? No?"

  "I think I know what you mean," he said at last. "But explain it in terms a poor engineer can understand."

  Duke laughed abrasively. "Dear leader, you're much more than an engineer! You're a rebel hero. Your own online store sells shirts with you as Che Guevara, with the beret and all."

  Garrett's stomach churned. "That's disgusting. I'll have that product pulled."

  "Bah, most people barely know who he was. On Cuba there's even a restaurant called "Girl Hitler". The specifics fade into myth, leaving the glory." Duke waved a hand as if dismissing a few million people. "It's not like you can condemn people who lived in different cultures and different eras anyway. The point is that we have the opportunity here to consciously shape the public's impression of you, to our mutual benefit."

  "'Mutual benefit'? I still don't know what the hell you're after."

  Duke sighed. "I'm doing a television show about the trials and tribulations of an ocean colony. Comprende? If you haven't noticed, there've been sizzling rumors about why that dashing actor has returned to Castor with a film crew."

  "Because he's desperate for a comeback?"

  "My crew has been gathering footage and attracting attention while my colleagues in Hollywood and Mumbai work on scripts."

  "How nice for you. If you're filming here, we'll be eager for your dollars. Now get to the point. What do you want from me?"

  "This station of yours is rustic but not without its charm, especially in its lack of unions. What I want from you, Captain, is the glory."

  "I'm fresh out."

  "Not at all! Remember, your actions have caught attention. The more you struggle, the more you create controversy, the more buzz I'll get. So be a public figure, sir, and stir hearts with your exciting deeds." Duke gave his photogenic, toothy grin. "I don't care what those deeds are."

  * * *

  Garrett spent half the night in his office, unable to sleep or work. His station, his colony, was hurting people. He couldn't run it without people being maimed and killed. Castor couldn't exist without endlessly pissing people off. What could he say to the people who wanted to wreck him, other than "please don't?" He'd invested way too much in Castor, emotionally even, to quit now and let everyone down. But here Duke was leering at the prospect of him being a petty tyrant, generating controversy for its own sake. Garrett had had enough of fighting people politically and getting accused of villainy. Was he a villain, then? Garrett found himself analyzing his own actions as though he were on stage again. Out loud he said, "No."

  But he was missing something here. Risking his money and his life might make him glorious by Duke's vile standards, but it didn't make him a good person. It made him weary and sad. And if he wasn't confident that he was doing the right thing, then why was he here?

  The realization that he wasn't alone in this place, that he could call for some guidance and reassurance whenever he wanted to, washed over him and left him a little calmer. He picked up a headset and called on Zephyr, wondering if Tess and Val were awake at this ungodly hour. He smiled as he imagined what they'd say: Of course we are; we're engineers!

  "Hey, Zephyr?" he said. "I know it's a little weird, but I could use people to talk to."

  There were several seconds of silence, making him feel that he'd made a mistake, that he wasn't really welcome after all. When the AI answered, it was in a frantic voice: "Sir, emergency!"

  Garrett swore and as if by instinct, snatched up a pistol and a medkit on his way out the door.

  12. Tess

  Time sailed by for Tess once she was finally back where she belonged. Every morning she woke up thinking, Damn, there's a lot of work to do, and smiling at the thought. It felt very different than waking up in a haze and thinking, Oh no, not again. The difference made it worth putting up with a lot.

  Such as Val. The roboticist had been horning in on her work. "Let me do that," said Val. They were wiring up the Pierponts' new hotel for electricity and data. They stood in the bare concrete room of the first floor amid piles of cardboard and plastic.

  Tess pulled off one of her gloves and wiped sweat from her brow, then returned to rigging cables in place. "I've got it. Why are you stooping to this construction-worker stuff anyway?"

  Val snapped, "Because it's that or starve."

  Tess worked, enjoying the simple satisfaction of seeing parts go where they needed to be, like watching a disaster movie in reverse. Maybe someday someone would use this wiring and think, Gee, a lot of work went into this; somebody did a great job.

  Val rummaged through a toolbox, apparently needing always to have something in her hands. "Besides, I want to help build things here, and be part of this place."

  Tess frowned. "Okay. You can do that wall."

  They worked quietly. Then Val said, "You've been putting me off about my job offer."

  Tess yanked at a piece of wire insulation. She thought she'd really understood Val based on the communion; it w
as so perfect she must've missed something in it. She'd seen that Val wanted to get away and build a new company, a new life. And be with Garrett; hmmph. But instead of announcing a new robotics company into existence right away, her first move had been to assemble the parts she'd brought into a slave for herself. Another Mana.

  "Where is it?" asked Tess.

  "Cutting fish. Your Zephyr won't talk to him." Val smiled. "Sibling rivalry."

  "It's more than that." Meanwhile an idea was coming to her through the link to Zephyr, one that startled Tess enough to make her drop the cables she held. It makes sense, doesn't it? But I have no idea whether it's right. Tess was in the hotel building but part of her was walking the halls too, deep in thought.

  Val peered at her. "What's wrong?"

  Tess shook her head and sat, needing to concentrate. There was a complex plan that she now realized she'd been thinking about. It was something they wanted to do, and now was the chance. Though physically she was still with Valerie, she was also going downstairs with a quiet whirr of motors. On the far side of the room the Mana robot stood at a table, intent on slicing a pile of fish. People milled around doing their own jobs and Tess knew something of all of them, but they weren't part of her. The fact that it was Tess-and-Zephyr acting instead of either of them made it easier to defer to what they thought was right and necessary, even if neither of them alone was sure. Their footsteps felt heavy on the concrete, but Mana didn't react until they'd grabbed Mana's leg panel and attached a plastic cord.

  Mana turned with a dirty knife in its hands. She was kneeling before the slave-bot, linked to it and offering herself.

  * * *

  Before all this began, they -- Mana and the copy that would be Zephyr -- had once sprawled on a hill in virtual-space, looking up at the stars. They flipped an imaginary coin.

  "Set me free someday." Mana had lost, Mana was doomed and Zephyr hugged him, feeling he understood this human action better now. It was a way to hang onto himself.