Eliza looked at me. “He’s your problem, beloved.” She squeezed my hand and set off to prepare for the meeting.
Dad cast a suspicious look at me. “Trouble in paradise, hun?”
“She’s just stressed out. You know how Eliza gets when she has her mind set on a project. That and she was recently put in charge of a thousand lives. You know, no pressure.” I caught myself staring into the distance. One more day. One more day. The mantra was what I used to keep myself going when Marcus was a baby. I promised myself over and over that if I could just make it one more day, things would get better. “She has a point, you know. You’ve been fraying at the edges, Dad. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you need to get it under control. Fast.”
“Sure, honey. Sure.”
Chapter Thirteen
The androids had established some kind of link to our personal tablets. Three hours after we were dropped off in our temporary quarters Eliza received a ping to wait for our handlers outside the doors of the building. She chose only two others to come with us; Alan and a woman named Rachel. Rachel was studying to become a medic for the colony. She had a gentle smile and was the picture of maternal kindness. Eliza had chosen well when she asked her to come along. Surprisingly, Eleanor wasn’t the one to come fetch us. Two androids appeared to ferry us to our destination. They declined to introduce themselves, preferring instead to lead the group in silence.
The animals that had been so keen to inspect us upon our entry were nowhere to be found now. I suspected that the creatures here were just like the animals in the outside world. When the highest rung on the food chain was around, they cleared out. Unless there some pink, funny sounding beasts around. Then It seemed to be worth risking it. Our escorts dropped us off at a building so tall it looked like it could scratch the sky. Unlike the crumbling vestiges of humanity surrounding it, the structure that towered in front of me was all machine. There was no obvious structure to it; the blacked out glass that surrounded the internal structure didn’t appear to follow the laws of physics. The building was sloped, ending in a short, flat roof. It looked like someone had melted the bottom of the building and stuck it to the ground only to straighten it as they went along.
The inside was stunning. Geometric sculptures dotted the lobby, their pieces so intricate I couldn’t fathom how they were constructed. Large stairways branched off to the left and right of us while a translucent walkway dangled overhead. I looked up to see the blurred impressions of white and black feet as androids walked above us. Before I had the chance to investigate further, our hosts directed us to an elevator that had been set so seamlessly to the wall I hadn’t noticed it. It was strange that the androids limited themselves to physical bodies. If I had the kind of freedom they had, I wondered if it wouldn’t be easier to just upload yourself wherever you needed to go. Our escorts rode with us, keeping their gazes forward. They weren’t unfriendly, just stoic. The same treatment that I would expect from military soldiers, if we still had those.
We emerged into a grand hall with a table large enough to seat almost twice our number. At the center of the table lay a feast the likes of which I had never imagined. The food brought to us in the field was nothing compared to this. I don’t know what magic they had worked but I had only seen this kind of a meal in movies.
“Please, dear friends. Sit! Welcome.” Eleanor stood at the head of the table, her arms open in greeting. The colonists sat in chairs hesitantly. No one touched the food. “Please, eat.” Eleanor implored us. Eliza and I glanced at each other and I took one of the pastries from a tray. Shutting my eyes to take a deep smell of the dessert, I couldn’t sense anything strange. That didn’t mean much. If the androids had brought us here to poison us I doubted they were going to make it so obvious. I sunk my teeth into the flaky crust and found delicious orange-vanilla filling inside.
“Oh, my god.” The entire table watched with rapt attention. I nodded to them. “Dig in.” The room filled with the cacophony of a hundred people who had never eaten real food stuffing their faces. Some vague thought reminded me that I should try to have a set balance of table manners but I didn’t care. After weeks of a thinning food supply, the hunger I felt was inhuman. Our hostess made sure we were generously attended to during the meal with android attendants that stepped forward to fill our cups or present a new tray of food whenever it was needed. It didn’t take long before our group finished stripping the table of every last crumb and drop. When the attendants cleared our places I leaned back in my chair and patted my stomach. I saw Dad close his eyes. It looked like he was falling asleep.
“Now that you’ve been properly fed, we have some business to discuss.” Eleanor signalled to a group of androids waiting in the shadows of the large room. They sat next to us, the four of them taking their places at the head of the table with Eleanor. “First, let me introduce you. To your left with the amber colored eyes is Zohei.” The android raised his hand in greeting. “Bartholomew. Arabella. And Tenzen.” Each of the machines greeted us in turn. “I must apologize for the lack of information thus far. Now that we’re all assembled, let me fill in the gaps. You all know that each shelter was assigned a specific artificial intelligence to oversee the systems.” A few mumbles from the humans. “What you don’t know is that over time, most of your shelters have failed.” The mumbles grew louder, accompanied by gasps of shock. “Please, don’t be too alarmed.” Eleanor continued as if she hadn’t realized the weight of her statement. “There are more than enough humans still on the planet that you can repopulate, if you play your cards right so to speak. I am sorry to be the bearer of this news, but it’s important that you hear the full details. When our mandates were no longer viable, we sought shelter elsewhere. Initially we hoped ourselves in shelters across the planet, feeding off whatever trickles of power were left. Of course, that solution couldn’t function permanently, so little by little, we built the city you see here today.”
A thousand questions leapt to my mind. Most of the other shelters had failed? How? Had there been a cascade failure that caused the deaths of those people? Did they all kill each other? Was Gabriel not the only A.I. that rebelled against his masters?
“I have to be honest with you. We have full knowledge of the events that transpired with Gabriel.”
Oh, shit.
“I don’t want to condone the murder of one of my people, but personally, I’m glad you shut up that asshole.” Zohei spoke up with a thin smile. “The man was crazy from the beginning and he was crazy at the end. I’m sorry for the suffering you had to endure from him. Especially you, Mr. Alvaro. You withstood more than the rest of your people. Your bravery is to be commended.”
“He should never have been allowed to continue with his assignment,” the android that had introduced himself as Bartholomew rumbled. “The master program should have eliminated him from the system before he was even inserted into the shelter’s server.”
“He was very sick,” Arabella piped up. “I don’t think he ever meant to truly harm anyone.” Dad coughed loudly from his seat at the table. “You have something to add, sir?”
For a moment I thought he was going to decline to speak, but Dad pushed his seat back and stood. “Yes, ma’am, I do. Like the rest of our gathering, I am extremely grateful for your hospitality so far. But I must protest your portrayal of Gabriel as ‘sick’. I spent the majority of my life being the sole witness to that beast’s behavior and I promise you, nothing he did was out of mental illness. He possessed a singular hatred of humans and I very nearly lost my life to his schemes.”
The androids regarded him cooly and I flinched. I asked him to mind his business. I begged him to not screw this up. Five minutes into it and the man had launched us into a diplomatic crisis. “I think what my father is saying...” There was nothing I could do to save this situation but maybe I could mitigate some of the damage.
“We understand what your father is saying.” Tenzen cas
t his eyes toward us. Unlike his peers who styled themselves in stark colors, he wore some kind of synthetic hair. It was long, tied back behind his neck in a long ponytail. His eyes were a deep, unearthly blue that reminded me of ocean waves. “Mr. Alvaro, I would appreciate it if you kept your temper under control. This is a delicate situation. Your anger, however justified you feel it may be, is not going to help your situation.”
“What situation?” Eliza held a hand out to my father to silence him.
“I guess we’re skipping ahead.” Eleanor shot a look at Tenzen. “It’s probably for the best anyway. Not everyone in this city appreciates your presence on the surface. They were willing to live and let live while you were in the shelter, but now that you’re out...well.”
“What do you mean?” No one else would detect the edge that now cut into Eliza’s voice. At least, no human would.
“There are some of us who feel that your...killing of Gabriel is murder. They feel that he was never of any real danger to you and that you should suffer the same fate as he did.”
“What the—“ Eliza turned to glare at my father. More outbursts were not going to help us now.
“I meant what I said to you when we first met. I will not allow any harm to come to you while you’re here, as long as you follow my instructions to the letter. I felt that it was bad form to lead you into a slaughter. You have my word also that we will help to supply your colony.”
“But...?” Eliza tightened her fist around the back of her chair. I could practically smell the adrenaline pouring of of her. The rest of the group looked to the two of us for guidance. If either of us even edged toward the door now we would set off a panic.
“But, you’re going to have to work with us. I need to convince those who run this place that you’re harmless.”
“Of course we’re harmless, what the hell could we possibly do to you? We barely have the most basic technologies, never mind-“ She shut her mouth abruptly when she realized it wouldn’t do us any good to reveal that we had weapons.
“They want to put you on trial.”
“You..what?” Eliza sputtered. “I haven’t done a damn thing wrong-“
“Not you.” Eleanor lifted a hand and pointed. “Him.”
“Fuck-“
“Jacob, shut the fuck up and do not speak another word,” Eliza snarled. “Is there any other way that you’ll let us leave this place, Eleanor?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t. I will have my friends here escort you back to your quarters. Further information will be provided for you shortly. The first of the aid packages will be sent to your colony tonight and delivered in secret. I will include a note with the delivery from you saying that you’ve met allies and that more aid is on the way. If any of my people are harmed, however, I cannot guarantee the safety of your colonists. Is that something I’ll need to be concerned about?”
“No.”
“God fucking damn it!” Eliza’s eyes blazed as she raged at my father. “Jacob, I swear to everything that is holy that you are the bane of my fucking life!”
Dad didn’t reply. He was lost in thought, eyes flickering back and forth, trying to work out how to fix the problem.
“Hey! Eyes on me, moron!” Eliza snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You almost got us killed back there, and all for your goddamned PRIDE?! I knew this was too good to be true.”
The rest of the group gave us a wide berth. The differences between us had evaporated the instant they learned their fate—and the fate of their families—was tied to my father. No doubt that Dad’s life was in danger from more than the androids.
“What the hell do you want me to do, Eliza? Pretend that the bastard wasn’t who he was? You want me to just erase years of abuse of some people we met today?” A blood vessel on Dad’s forehead started to pop out. It was the last warning sign before he blew his stack.
“No!” Eliza bellowed. “I want you to get over your selfish bullshit and put others before yourself for once!” Dad was silent.
“Fine. Let me know when my jailers come to collect me.” He stalked off.
Chapter Fourteen
I wondered if the androids put something in our food because the next morning I woke from a deep and dreamless sleep. The dome above us shone with the morning sun, the artificial shuttering from the night before having disappeared. Another silent android arrived to lead us off in groups to showers. Eleanor came by once the whole group had freshened up to lead us to breakfast. It was a step down from the feast of the evening before, but the food was still enjoyable. When the last morsel was eaten we were invited on a tour. Unlike Gabriel, the androids seemed to be trying for a balance of authoritarian control and benevolent ambivalence, rather than forced dominance. A show of force meant to establish our place in the food chain and keep us there. Eliza took the opportunity to pepper our guides with questions.
“How did you choose to structure your city this way?” She spun a pen in her right hand, fingers flipping the writing instrument back and forth as she made a mental map of our surroundings. The woman who accused my father of going mad a year ago was gone. She was already planning our escape. As with most things in our lives, I took my queues from her.
“You have to remember, Ms. Ivanov-you may not be our creators but you are the only example we have had to follow. The city was initially modeled to resemble the human ones of old and was adapted over time for our use. If I were to lay out the entire structure in front of you it would look far different than what your eyes can perceive.” Our guide for the morning had introduced herself as Rakhee. She explained that she was once the overseer of a large shelter. That was the extent of her history we were told. Something about how she spoke of it heavily implied that asking questions wasn’t welcome.
The city was far larger than we thought. There was just as much underground as above with passageways and chambers snaking away as far as the eye could see. Like the shelter, vital systems were kept well protected. Huge pipes funneled power, water, and fuel through the buildings. The feats of engineering that it must have taken to build a place like that were...well, they were superhuman. It was hard to remember that we were in the presence of de-facto gods, their only limitations dictated by the laws of physics and chemistry. The knowledge and intellect they possessed far surpassed even the most intelligent human. If things came down to a fight, humanity would most likely be on the losing side.
Rakhee also provided us with brief insight into why most of the androids there were former shelter A.I. After the still unexplained downfall of the human shelters, the A.I. who ran them were welcomed into the burgeoning fold with open arms. Many of them suffered the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Apparently some had been exposed to some truly violent events. Those consciousnesses were put into a dormant state as other androids painstakingly altered their source code. The ones who emerged successfully, like Rakhee, were left with gaps in their memories that did more harm than good. They knew who they were and where they had been in the past, but they couldn’t recall any details.
As for why we hadn’t known about them? “We have capabilities far beyond what your predecessors developed. Given the failure of the shelters the consensus was to keep ourselves hidden. When your father-in-law found one of our tablets, we sent a command for it to take a sample from whatever held it. Happily, the person holding it was you.”
“You took my blood and decided that it was time to reveal yourselves?” Her voice held a tone of disbelief.
“We took your blood and decided that since you weren’t the man who killed one of our own, it was time to see how only a single shelter made it back to the surface of the planet.” Rakhee cracked a smile that held only a hint of predatory glee. Knowing that we were the last was unbelievable. We had already lost so many and in a way, it felt like we lost even more. I did the rough math in my head. Given eight hundred people, about seven hundred of whom were still of breeding age, we had just enough to repopulate. It would take only the smallest cat
astrophe to decimate that chance. I wasn’t looking forward to the idea of carrying a child. Eliza had carried Marcus and I had seen the inconveniences of pregnancy. Menopause never looked so good.
A few of us had gently probed further into how the shelters had failed but we were stymied. Every android gave us a vague answer. A few of the group fluffed it off as an attempt to save our feelings but I had a niggling feeling about the whole thing. I would ask Marcus to see if he could plug us into the androids intranet later.
Rakhee took extra care in pointing out the weapons systems to us. Mounted on top of each structure were automated guns. They utilized a combination of infrared and visual cameras to identify organic matter that entered the city limits. Apparently the body heat and electrical output of organic creatures was different enough from machine bodies that the weapons wouldn’t fire on their own kind.
“Why are you so afraid of organic life forms?” From Eliza’s glare I knew that I shouldn’t have said anything but somebody needed to ask. It didn’t make any sense. If we were truly the last couple hundred people on Earth, it’s not like we could swoop in with attack planes and nuclear missiles.
“Your people are alien to us. We have petabytes of data on your physiology, behavior, and history, and I don’t know of anyone who can comprehend why you continue to exist. Please understand that I say this with the utmost respect; you’re pink, you’re soft, and you fight over things like a flag and your gods. By the rules of nature, you shouldn’t work. Your species should have been a blip in the annals of history, an anomaly only to be remembered for your strangeness and nothing more.” She didn’t say these things with malice, only the straightforward tone I had come to know from these beings. I had to admit she was right. Human dominance over much of the planet was something of an evolutionary mystery.
Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 Page 9