by Toker, Dor
Suddenly, Ramon shouted with a broken voice. He jumped toward Adam and Natalia, bumped against his computer and rolled on the floor, holding the old, coreless computer, rocking it in his arms. Natalia watched him, surprised and disgusted at the same time. ‘Thus passes the glory of the world,’ she thought to herself and immediately turned serious and returned to examine Adam. A smile emerged on his face, and he grabbed her hand. “Thank you,” he whispered and opened his eyes, “you’ve rescued me,” he added, and his hand caressed her cheek.
• Report the Nagid
• Report
• The poison has been neutralized and disintegrated at the atomic level. Your body’s health condition is eighty-three percent. Return to one hundred percent will take place as soon as nanoparticles will be drained and encoded, within fifteen minutes.
• Thanks for your help
• Spots thank you for removing the threat. We are committed to you
• I’ll remember that
• Disengaging and maintaining surveillance
Adam noticed that Natalia was confused by the turn of events and hurried to explain: “The Spots tried to drain the poison from my blood but didn’t have the DNA code of the virus Rwanda inserted into my body. They weren’t fast enough, and the poison had already spread in my blood. Good thing you were here. They wouldn’t have been able to rescue me without your aid in taking over the nanos from Ramon’s core.” Natalia smiled and hugged him. He answered her embrace, but Natalia sensed his weakness and hurried to support him as he stood on his feet. “All computers in the world are connected in a web into one brain, thinking, reacting, acting, possessing intelligence. Think of the potential of a brain with an infinite number of cores. For some reason, they obey and aid me, and mainly protect me. The only computer that would not cooperate with the central brain and even threatened its activity was Ramon’s. His corporation’s inner web was not connected to the central brain, and its allegiance lay only with its owners. As far as that computer was concerned, the human race was merely a disturbance, another negligible statistical data in an infinite gamut of information. By destroying the central core, I did not close Skil’s inner web, but I’ve created a breach wide enough for the Spots to infiltrate and take over the web. They need every possible source of power in order to follow us and take the leap. Ramon’s computer’s core, the nanos they’ve injected my body with to aid me and neutralize the poison, will give them control over Skil and the energy that they’ll need. Assuming they will be able to drain it from my blood.”
“Do you trust them?” asked Natalia.
“Yes,” said Adam, “at the moment. Because we share common interests, and if the situation changes, they’ll be unable to impose their will on me, because the creators balance them. I’m in the middle, between them both.”
“You and the entire human race,” Natalia mumbled, hoping Adam couldn’t hear her.
Adam concentrated, and a swirl of nanoparticles surrounded Ramon’s head. The prisoner laid still and unconscious within the invisible cloud Adam had created around him. “Do you mean to kill him?” asked Natalia.
“No,” said Adam, “even though he deserves to be killed. He and his partner were directly responsible for everything that happened to me.”
“He doesn’t seem so intimidating,” Natalia remarked, “Sato was much more dangerous.
“Don’t let his appearance fool you,” Adam warned her, “given half a chance, he’ll kill us both without a shred of remorse, he has no conscience.”
“So what do we do?” asked Natalia.
Adam concentrated before answering, “Look, Natalia,” he began to say hesitantly, “I know the way, I know how to leap to the level of the creators and join them, I’ve already done it once, I could have remained that way.”
“Really?” Natalia became enthusiastic, “so you’re really the one?”
“Yes,” Adam answered, “I’m the one.”
“And you can guide everyone how to take the leap?”
“Yes,” answered Adam, “I can.” Natalia seemed to hear a reservation in Adam’s voice. “But everyone needs to make their own choice in order to follow that path.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” asked Natalia, “I’d like to do it.”
“Really?” asked Adam and Natalia seemed to hear disappointment in his voice.
“I think so,” she answered, a little less sure of herself, “it will improve me, wouldn’t it?”
Adam nodded. “Give me your hand,” he instructed his love. They joined their hands together, and Natalia felt their brains combine into one. She felt she was lifted up with Adam and when she looked beneath her, saw she was standing on the air. When she raised her eyes up, she saw Adam and herself there. An intense chill surrounded her, and the air around her was dry. The light that reached her eyes was gray and had black and white hues.
She couldn’t see him next to her, but felt his presence all around. “We’re gaining a new consciousness, but leaving important treasures behind us. I’m not sure everyone will be willing to give us these treasures,” she heard Adam’s clear voice speaking from inside her mind, “you’re still not aware of everything, because you’re not yet fully released from your body. Pretty soon, you’ll discover that in this state you’ll be busy making probability calculations, just like the corporation manager’s machine lying at our feet.” And it was true, Natalia’s thoughts calculated costs and benefits, even about Adam. She began to feel she was drawing away from him. “To each his body in this world,” Adam’s voice sounded distant and unclear, and she felt he was pulling her back down. But she didn’t want to return. He insisted and was stronger than her. She was dragged after him until they were both back inside their bodies, holding hands. Natalia felt her humanity once more. Only when she’d returned to reality did she realize what was missing up there: emotions! Emotions had no importance up there. Now she understood Adam’s hesitations about opening the possibility to leap to the next consciousness level to the entire human race.
“Wow,” that was all she managed to say.
“That’s right, wow,” said Adam. They sat silently on a green corduroy sofa in Ramon’s office. Without even noticing, they continued to hold hands, and Natalia thought how Adam’s touch was soothing her and imbuing her with confidence.
“How will you be able to release everyone?”
Adam thought for a while before answering: “With a virus.”
“A virus?” Natalia didn’t understand.
“Yes,” continued Adam, “a virus. And I know exactly who could do it.”
“Who?” asked Natalia, “your Spots?”
“No,” answered Adam, “I don’t think they should be involved. They have an interest in our taking the leap so that they could continue to the next developmental stage as well. I won’t allow the creators to decide for us either because they would prefer that we wait with the leap and serve as bait for the great evil that threatens them. No, the change needs to be done by the human race and the responsibility for the change must remain ours.”
“The great evil?” fear had snuck into Natalia’s voice.
“Yes,” answered Adam, offering no further explanation.
“So who will help us?” asked Natalia, “I mean you and me.”
“Someone I used to know long ago,” answered Adam and turned to leave Ramon’s office. Natalia hurried after him.
“Wait a minute,” she stopped and asked, “what about him?” she meant Ramon.
Adam smiled: “He won’t be able to harm anyone anymore. This ancient box, and whatever remains in it doesn’t operate without the core. Without it, he is powerless. Nothing interests him anymore.”
“You’ve done something to him on the inside, haven’t you?”
“Let’s just say he’s changed,” Adam gave her an evasive reply, “he won’t be preoccupied with the hunt for power anymore.” He continued to walk toward the elevator. She hurried after him, and they headed down the elevator.
�
��Where will we go now?” Natalia asked her loved one.
“To the place where everything will end,” answered Adam and pulled her to him, and while embracing her and placing his face against her hair, added quietly: “to the place where we can dream of a new beginning.”
Chapter 38
At the edge of the horizon, to the light of the sun setting over the vast expanses of the Australian desert, the space port was shining. As the passenger hovercraft in which they flew approached its destination, the contours of the space city gradually became clearer. They landed the small vehicle in front of the space-government buildings.
“Ready?” Natalia turned to him.
“Yes,” answered Adam and rose to his feet, “let’s go.” They stood in front of the pathway leading to the gate. Their eyes were scanned by the pathway’s scanning device; their identity was received by the system. Even before they were able to move, the pathway was closed on both sides by partitions and they found themselves isolated in a narrow space, set apart from all the others who were waiting in the entry line. Natalia began to feel pressure in her chest. She felt the walls nervously, trying to find a way out. Adam placed his hand on her shoulder. “Take it easy,” he said, “they’re looking out for us.”
“Who is looking out for us?” Natalia did not stop seeking a way out.
“Chapalcharie,” answered Adam, “he knows we’re coming.”
Natalia dropped her hands and turned to him. “This doesn’t look like a very positive welcome.” A small quadrilateral window opened in the corridor’s wall, and the face of a young soldier in government service uniform gazed at them from the other side. The soldier turned aside and showed them the way they needed to go through. They passed him by and entered the corridor, dotted with light spots, and marched down it quietly until they stopped next to a wide door. The soldier held his hand against a sensor by the side of the door, and it silently glided open. The Australian Prime Minister was already waiting in the small room they had entered and hurried to shake Adam’s hand. “Everything is ready?”
Chapalcharie smiled, “Everything’s ready,” he approved.
“Good,” said Adam, “then wait for us in the laboratory.” Chapalcharie bowed to them, then went out of the room. Natalia waited for the door to close before speaking.
“What do you have planned for us here?” she asked.
Adam smiled. “A dream,” he answered, “a dream we all share.”
“A dream? What dream?” Natalia was confused.
“Just like the dream you’ve dreamed with me,” Adam explained, “the dream in which I’ve shown you the possibilities.”
“That wasn’t a dream,” she remarked and questioned at the same time.
“No,” he answered silently and hugged her, “it wasn’t, but anyone who will get this message will feel like dreaming it.”
Natalia was silent for a few moments, and then asked, “How will you do it?”
“I’ve already told you at the Skil building,” answered Adam, “they’ll get the information as a virus, the same virus Amir Lev and my father were working on before they were killed, or as I now know, murdered by corporation agents.” For the first time since they had left Ramon’s offices, Adam seemed vulnerable and excited to Natalia and she realized since the live demonstration he had presented her with, she was seeing the soft and sensitive human side of the man in front of her, the man she loved so much. She was shocked when she realized since he had returned from his meeting with the creator, she viewed him as a sort of superhuman.
“What?” she asked, “you have an instruction sheet that we’ll pass to everyone on the worldwide-web?”
“Not exactly,” said Adam, “it’s more like a virus that will descend from the pyramid’s head and will spread to everyone.”
“A virus? And what if they have an anti-virus?”
“Who do you think created the anti-viruses?” Adam retorted with a question of his own.
“I don’t know,” said Natalia, “Ramon?”
“That’s right,” he said, “Ramon and his corporation. But whoever planned a large part of them were people like Amir Lev and my father. They wrote the code for what the Spots call ‘the mother of all viruses’, he and my father called it MOAV. According to their plan, it was intended to protect all computer systems by containing and harnessing the virus to the benefit of the users. That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
“You believe the computers will do everything you’ll ask them to?” asked Natalia.
“Yes,” answered Adam, “they made it clear who their loyalty lies with. And, in addition, they don’t have that many other choices. They depend on us.”
“They depend on us?” Natalia was surprised, “I always thought it was the other way around.”
“Both are true,” Adam explained, “they’ve chosen to help us because they realize we’re their only chance to leap into the next complexity level themselves. Only with us, will they be able to do that. We’re the vehicle that will take them there.”
“So we’re the hovercraft, and they’re using us?”
“Without us they’re useless. But together we’re an almost perfect combination.” Adam saw that his explanation did not calm Natalia. He embraced her and kissed her gently. “I know what I’m doing,” he said, and both of them realized he did. She smiled at him and kissed him back.
“Tell me,” asked Natalia, “what will your dream include?”
“It will teach the nanoparticles in each of us to change, something which will allow the change necessary for the leap,” explained Adam. Chapalcharie and I will create a shared dream that will include the passage to the new state of being and will implant it with the software that allows it. The Spots will capture the dream, package it in the tail of the MOAV virus and release in into the web. The virus will attack all computerized systems connected to the web, on Earth and outside it. Within less than two seconds, everyone will catch the virus.”
“Everyone?” asked Natalia, “including people like Ramon, who lied and murdered and did things I don’t even want to think about?”
Adam hesitated before answering: “In this new state of consciousness, it’s not important if you were good or bad, smart or stupid before. It won’t be important. You’ll be part of the universe, and the universe will be a part of you. That’s what’s important. Do you believe me?”
“Yes,” she answered, even though his words did not sound very reasonable.
“You understand because you’ve been there already,” explained Adam, “but there’s one more thing,” he added, “there’s no turning back. Whoever will choose to take the leap will not be able to return.”
“But you’ve returned,” Natalia determined, “and you’ve brought me back as well.”
“I’m the Chi,” said Adam, “the creators directed everything to me. I am the lock and the key. I am the needle and the stitch. Both here and there.”
Natalia was silent. It was almost too much for her. The amount of information she’d received in the short time that had passed since she experienced the leap and the passage back was beyond her capability to fully digest. But she suddenly realized something and had to ask Adam about it. “If I’ll pass to the other side of consciousness, will I still be able to love you? Will we still be together?”
“We’ll be together,” answered Adam, “just like everyone else who will pass through.”
“You know what I mean,” Natalia was angry.
“Yes,” he answered quietly, “I know.” He hugged her, and she cuddled in his arms. “It’s your choice and yours alone,” he said, “and anyone who will catch my virus will need to ask herself exactly the same question. No one has the right to decide for others. The creators did not predict a possibility in which some humans won’t be willing to take the leap, won’t be willing to accept such a gift, because truly, it is a gift.”
“Can they stop you?”
“They can try,” he answered, “It is doubtful that they’ll succeed.
I’m Chi, the traveler between worlds and dimensions. I’m faster than them; I’m already familiar with more dimensions that they’re capable of conceiving. Besides,” he added, “in their probability calculations, there will still be quite a few humans who will prefer to maintain their current state of consciousness and continue to serve as bait. I leave every person to make her own choice.”
“Bait?”
“Yes, bait. The creators believe that a great evil is approaching them and is trying to annihilate them. They also believe that on his way to their home-world, he will make a quick stop on Earth in order to get a snack or two, namely us.”
“And you believe them?”
“Yes,” answered Adam, “I believe that that’s what they believe. They also think I’ll be able to reveal who or what that evil is. I’m not sure I’ll be able to help them with that, but I definitely intend to try.”
Natalia examined Adam closely. “You already know the answer, right?”
Adam smiled and nodded, “I think so, but at the moment, I’m not sure my guess is better than yours. I’d rather not even talk about it, so as not to create an echo on the web and awaken that evil.” Adam gently caressed Natalia’s cheek and smiled:
“Anyway, at the moment I intend to remain here on Earth,” he said, “at least until everyone who will want to will perform the leap. I’ll try to make it as easy as possible for the passers. The small children whose implants have not yet opened and cannot leap will need someone to guide them and take care of them.”
“And that someone is you,” Natalia realized.
“That’s right,” answered Adam, “I can mediate the passage for them and help them make it easier.”
“I’m staying with you,” Natalia determined.
“You can’t,” Adam became serious, “you need to take the leap.”
“I’m staying,” Natalia persisted.
“It’s dangerous,” Adam warned her, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“It’s my decision to make,” said Natalia, “you said you’d allow everyone to make their own choice. I’ve made my choice; I’m staying with you,” her voice softened, “I don’t want to lose you again.”