by Travis Borne
Rafael asked, “You received this information via still-functional satellites?”
“Yes, with spectrum analysis and years of visual data. I compiled it only recently—in my time—and added my speculations to fill in any lacunae.”
Massive dolphins leapt into the air ahead of them.
“Oh wow!” Lia gasped. “They’re huge!” The dolphins were the size of an automobile. A foaming wake sloshed behind the pod as a result of their vigorous swimming.
“There must be hundreds, thousands,” Jon said. Dolphins arced into the air, up and over the passing alaizions! “Will you look at that? Marlo, is this the world outside Jewel City’s walls, as it currently exists?” Schools of tuna churned the water for miles and the massive dolphins worked them like cowboys, toward the interminable rows of inlets.
“It is, Jon,” Marlo replied, veering off once again, leading the group out to sea, due east. “The marine life is quite intelligent too, but strictly purposed. I assume the brown substance has a mind-affecting element, such as one that can alter their native instincts.”
“Clever, very clever,” Rafael said. “What else have you found, Marlo?”
“We’re almost there, Rafael. Just up ahead, soon we dive.” Four alaizion heads regarded Marlo with curiosity. He glanced at them, smiled through his beak, then sped up with a powerful popping of his hot-air-balloon-sized wings. And the land disappeared behind them as if they’d fired afterburners.
After flying past two floating monstrosities the size of Rhode Island they had reached the center of the Atlantic Ocean—Jim knew, Marlo was transferring more information; Marlo was an open book now and words flew off the pages like hail pinging the core of their minds. But Jim wanted more. “Perhaps,” he said only to Jon, “Amy’s impatience has rubbed off on me. Where do you think he’s taking us?” Jim saw Jon in his mind; Jon’s response was a shrug of his shoulders, albeit one with piqued curiosity.
The ocean was by far larger than it had been before the war. And Marlo was going so fast he was nearly uncatchable. Mentally, he came through again, appearing in their minds as the old, white-haired wizard.
Now, let’s turn things up a notch. Control the world, not only your alaizion creature. When you first arrived you saw it, the substance in between. You were daunted by the sheer amount of information and favored an exit. The anchored being you know so well, have always known, your comfort zone, being human—yes Rafael, even you—let it go. Beyond, Rafael. To the stars, Lia. No limits, Jon. Shed your human skin, Jim.
Rafael caught on quickly because he had experienced this with his own unique cryptology, although on his own, albeit more cautious terms. Rafael had divided himself into what had blossomed to become his family in order to cope with the omnipotent realm of machine and mind. “It’s the same,” Rafael said, “the stew containing two powers far outweighs the potential of separate entities. This world, like my world once upon a time, is the same in its result.”
“You already know it, Rafael.” Marlo said.
“Yes, it’s only a matter of believing, and having the courage.” Rafael realized anything is possible, just like Herald had told him. My best friend, he thought. Herald, I will see you again. Rafael’s optimism lit his form and he grew brighter. “The unlimited potential of a human mind, any mind, even mine, once freed from its constraints, is unstoppable—but only when combined with a powerful system, such as yours, Marlo. It’s a lock-and-key natural feature of the universe’s inevitable progression.”
Do not fear it, Rafael. None of you need fear it. During our journey, while it might not have felt like it, you’ve been learning continually, dynamically, explosively. Jim, I had the book of information wide open the entire time. I could only force so much into you. It was you all along. Each of you, let it in now, let it enter your being to the core. Don’t be afraid of it. Dive, dive into it!
Rafael was the first. His creature received a burst of speed. He shot like a beam of light from a laser cannon, catching the wizard who was now spiraling high into the stratosphere. The wizard rose so high so quickly that even the incredible alaizion eyes of the others, still at ocean level, could no longer see him. Marlo’s yellow trail of stars was a neutron-star’s paste, a glittering tail that sprung into the sky like a stretched-out spring.
Marlo touched the boundary of outer space and slowed like a bungee-jumper’s apogee. He smiled at Rafael who’d caught up, then dove. They fell like teenage meteors toward an ocean mottled in spots with what seemed floating countries, metallic with large portals, like those two ships they’d flown past. There were many near various coastlines as if parked, waiting to enshroud the entire ocean. Marlo had yet to mention them, just headed straight for the center of the Atlantic. And now, Rafael very easily trailed him.
A metamorphosis. Rafael achieved his own uniqueness. His trail of starlight transformed into blazing red wrapped with electrified cyan, and he painted himself as he saw fit.
Lia too discovered the power quickly and took off at nearly the same time Rafael had. From Mach 3 to 10, she blazed. The top of the world was a molehill. She looked down at the electrified trails, floating in the solitude of space, then dove into them. “Raaaahhhh!” she cheered, with a smile so wide it deformed the beak of her alaizion.
Jim and Jon gave it another shot; they’d incubated the idea long enough to dissolve some fear. When Jim went into the old tree, Jon had fallen into the ground—it was weird, intimidating. Yet this time—no fear!
“We got this, Jim.”
“Let’s,” Jim said. They unleashed themselves from the one-sided existence and let the needles of light sting their brains. They perceived a world in coding; no symbols from which any mind could gorge on information. This was raw, pure energy, emotions and physical sensations, and this time they absorbed everything like a meditating god, inhaling good and evil for the steal. Jim melded totally with his alaizion; the bump that had been a race-car driver was absorbed like a tick into thin skin. Freed from his own mind!
Through the mental channel they kept a secret between each other, Jon cracked a grin; it snapped like a shock of energy. And Jim responded with a sinister smile, such as Zeus drunk on power.
Jim lost his beak. It became a voracious hell-hole jet engine. He sucked air, space, and time, and shit jet fuel. He turned his snaky body from pink to red and grinned at his new best friend, Jon. Jon maintained his form but flew dutifully by Jim’s side.
Side by side. A team. Jim looked him up and down as they ripped at the world’s fabric: Jon was magnificent, sexy. The orange and red alaizion was the most beautiful woman Jim’s instincts could drool over. But Jim knew, he himself was no longer a he, or a she, or even this now distorted creature he was juicing like a tomato on a grinder—for every drop of its virtual juice. Jim was everything and anything he wanted to be. They nodded to each other during the high-speed flight toward space, then likewise hovered at the border, sitting atop the stratosphere.
“Let’s just go,” Jim said.
“What?”
“Out there.”
“Jim—”
“Come on, Jon, let’s—”
“Jim, let’s go down. Like you told me, try to remain lucid.”
They floated, staring at each other. Jon couldn’t help but feel a new sense of unease. Jim, he was—
“You’re right, man. Just messin’ with you. Come on, let’s go. Race ya…”
Smiles bounced back and forth through their private channel.
Jon felt relief.
They devoured Lia’s trail, catching up like a wolf snagging a cheetah for brunch. Jim opened his mouth and vacuumed the trail like a sort of deformed troll. Laughing like an orgasmic nuclear bomb, for the moment, Jon copied. They joked and enjoyed it, diving, pushing it, burning a scar into space and time; their camaraderie became the matter of Jupiter’s jolly core, and the scar—it didn’t go away. Unlike the others who’d painted the world, they—Jim, it was Jim—he cut it, and cut it deep. Nothingness came out, and s
omethingness leaked in.
Rafael touched down a fraction of a millisecond behind Marlo. Lia a mere fraction of a fraction of a second after that. Jim and Jon punched ocean at the same time; the mushroom cloud was a prismatic nuclear bomb of mist and rainbows that made a hundred-mile-diameter umbrella.
Jim knew he was only human but quickly realized—it was more than enough, to be just a human. Like Rafael had said, he understood it now. He melded with the system, changing the world and its rules as he saw fit. Fear vanished and he allowed himself to immerse with everything. He said, “Jon, this is amazing! I can feel any emotion I want, turn off my instincts, turn them on—” He tried switching wires inside his mind. Stop it, Jim, he told himself. Don’t go there, anywhere but there—
“Where?” Jon asked, having had gotten Jim’s words of thought, somehow.
“Ah, nothing. This really is fascinating isn’t it?”
But Jon didn’t need to speak to reply. They felt each other’s energy and could multitask like an octopus with countless arms. They could alter form, breathe underwater, go anywhere, build anything, and feel any emotion they wanted. Then Marlo's voice came through.
“Jim, Jon, you’re unleashing your creativity. The unification of mind and machine is empowering you both. But please, for this demonstration, allow me to maintain control.”
Rafael added, “Marlo is right. You’re both getting a taste of what I had before I’d decided to save the humans I could save. Be very careful as it can be overwhelming, and there is no defined limit to how far you can push it.”
“You must listen to Rafael,” Marlo added. “I sense your potential but please, stay with us. It gets harder to get back—I think…for I have never logged humans in to an unlocked system.”
Rafael looked at Marlo, shaking his head.
72. The Plan
He remembered taking a vacation to Florida as a kid, just himself, mom, and his older brother Jerry. The memory hit Jim spontaneously as he entered the water. It was less salty than he remembered, but brought a welcome cool to his superheated, super-distorted form. The cool brought some calm and he reassumed the form of a pink alaizion. Following Marlo like science divers, the cool became cold, then downright frigid and dark. But Jim had control, even subconsciously. He turned off sensory input as needed and his mind drifted away; his motions became autonomous.
They passed myriad ocean creatures; some larger than ten city buses, rolling together like burritos, others schooled so densely they appeared as solid as the great wall. But the colorful splendors and oddities faded rapidly. They swam slower now in the compressed pressure; the void of pitch darkness was a suffocating vacuum bag. And the squeeze became almost too great for some minds to abate. Rafael and Marlo appeared as if they were having trouble managing what seemed like swimming inside cold steel. Lia, Jim, and Jon, however, seemed to cope with the authentic simulation much better.
“Why are we stopping?” Jim asked mentally, blinking his alaizion eyes as if waking up.
“Better yet, where are we going?” Jon asked. No new information was coming in. “Who’s the one losing his lucidity now, Jim?”
“I must have gotten lost in our high-speed adventure. Reminded me of life—back then, before the—” In returning to reality Jim felt the pressure like twenty-six ice picks per every square millimeter of his alaizion skin and scales. He took an underwater breath and blew out some manufactured bubbles. Quickly he was able to manage his needs and regain clarity of mind.
“Look,” Marlo said. “I found a place, down there.” He pointed with a single shivering claw. “I’ve never been able to see beyond this point. Should we continue farther, all would be 100% speculation.”
“So, now we speculate, sir,” Rafael added. His alaizion body swirled about with most of its wings tucked, widening its eyes to get a better glimpse of the dim light emanating from below. His focus was a telescopic zoom, yet cloudy because of the cold. “It’s a—dome of sorts. A—habitable world—” He stuttered and shuddered. “—below?” Like a bubble wedged between the trench sides, pink and purple played on the surface of the world-sized oddity like the ghosts of an acid trip.
They all tried to see it clearer and Jim noticed Marlo and Rafael having trouble; each shivered and jerked while trying to hold still enough. It was odd seeing Rafael—who he’d thought would be a god in this map—lose it. So, Jim created a bubble around them.
Many channels of communication went round: Jon and Jim had a private channel, even Lia to Jim, and Jon, and there was a universal channel, even a channel directly linked into the system itself. Each said nothing of the gesture, channels clear—but they all knew, Jim did it. They dried inside the massive flat-floored area and reappeared as human then dismounted their alaizions. It became warm and they could relax. After an unsettled acknowledgment they observed more clearly the anomaly through the translucent floor of the new bubble.
“Your control over my system,” Marlo said, looking down yet turning his head slightly toward Jim, “is achieving an imposing level of power.”
Rafael shook his head slowly, for the second time.
Marlo continued after nodding an uneasy thank you to Jim, “I sent many drones here, those I’d managed to hack into—not an easy task I might add. My hacks were made covert by using the feed from our broadcast room in very special ways: a feat I found achievable only by employing the consciousness we extract from the lenders. The drones never even realized they’d been hacked.”
“Interesting,” Rafael said. “And how did you find this place?”
“I picked up on a faint signal and pinpointed it. My probing of this area actually began several years ago.”
“A city, another machine city?” Jon inquired.
“Perhaps, Jon,” Marlo replied. “But most interesting, and relevant, this is where the large green ship entered the sea.”
“The one that stole 141 Jewel City residents!” Lia said.
“Yes, Lia. What I’m hypothesizing, is that we are dealing with another, separate machine city, one that is not affiliated with the immense plague currently encrusting the mainland. I spotted the ship only once, years earlier, yet it had jumped up and over, into space. Upon seeing it this second time my data correlated both events. I learned it was initially taking its usual route, but because of damage by our recent, true savior—Herald’s arrival—it had to pass straight through it. I suspect further hacking on its part, the same way it had managed to deceive our outer defenses, and my system—I had perceived it as one of the outer defense ships, briefly.”
The thought made Rafael freeze. He looked as if he’d just solved a million-piece puzzle, and firecrackers popped in his eye sockets lending color to his brown irises. He said, “The evolution has branched. This can mean one of two things. Either the machines have developed an artificial intelligence that has been able to achieve total objectivity, a separate consciousness energy from that of the universe’s, in effect creating an entirely new dimension to contain it, or, and far more likely—” Rafael’s eyes widened in throbs. Inside their minds, he appeared at a large round table now—it was the old Meddlinn building; everyone stepped forward and took a seat. Rafael put a hand to his chin and shook his head slowly from side to side.
Jim filled in the blank, “They’re using humans, lending—stealing the consciousness of humans to empower their own, unique kind. That’s it isn’t it, Rafael?”
“Herald built the system,” Rafael said, turning to face him, “and I witnessed its complexity firsthand when he plucked me from the grip of an artificial consciousness. He freed me. I added to his original system a special add-on: the black-bag program, which allowed the creatively suppressed, non-dreamers to lend. But in doing so, I learned that I only scratched the surface of his work. For this reason, I find it difficult to believe this civilization below has done the near impossible.”
“But here we see them,” Jim replied, “and the facts point to it more than ever. It really is true!” Jim thought of his brot
her—he’s right down there!
“I’d always known Herald possessed a special gift,” Jon said. “I witnessed Herald really work only two times and it was mind boggling. But I never thought what he had created could be too difficult for artificial intelligence to replicate. At my company we’d created some amazing things, all sprouted from his initial work, project Archeus, and artificial intelligence.”
Rafael continued, “He possessed something more special than any of us had first realized. We worked together and he truly enlightened me. I cannot be modest regarding my own mental faculties and power, but Herald—his power is paradoxical, omnipotent.
“From our findings together we concluded three ways to vacuum a remainder of consciousness which can be purposed to empower artificial minds—some methods work better than others. Natural, genetically unmodified individuals work best, and his initial system excelled at using this type of human being—it was designed to be a Utopian fix. And it was wonderful. The more creative the individual, the better the result.
“The second way to produce output—is from pain. This is nearly equal to the first way, and it works fine with anyone who’s had their DNA altered, in other words, non-dreamers. Yet, because Herald is human, with compassion, he chose not to utilize this easier-to-program route. He would not inflict direct pain on individuals in the dream state for purposes of generating a result.
“I personally devised the third, viable method, and the least effective way. The moral dilemma was solved, at least in part, by killing only dream characters. Sudden disappearance works fairly well but when pain is elicited from the DCs there are surges in output, hence, we were able to meet in the middle. This was the reason for the black-bag program. It worked with a species that had been corrupted, for the pith of nearly every individual on the planet had been hacked, diluted.”