by David Smith
At that instant Park realised that the physicists weren’t alone.
He saw a stranger he didn’t recognise. A tall, slim and handsome man wearing a smart jacket over a polo-neck sweater ran over to the injured physicist. The newcomer dropped his bow, pulled out a wicked looking dagger and with appalling calm, plunged it into the stricken scientist’s heart.
Park’s mouth went dry, unlike his trousers, which were thoroughly saturated as his bladder cut loose.
He squealed unintentionally and attracted the attention of the stranger who looked at him curiously through hooded brown eyes either side of a distinctly aquiline nose.
He turned toward Park, the knife in his hand smeared with the blood of the fallen physicist and called out in a loudly in voice with a nasal tone coloured with a broad New York Italian accent.
More strangers advanced from the line of trees, but to Park’s amazement they weren’t strangers. Each was an identical copy of the murderer.
They looked at Park and began to advance towards him with murderous intent obvious in those dark eyes.
At that instant Park remembered where he was and screamed ‘There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home!’
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‘What the hell happened?’ asked Romanov ‘And why does Park smell of pee?’
Sato was still holding her arm and it was being carefully examined by Doctor Mengele although there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it. ‘We’re not exactly sure. If I had to guess, I’d say that the artificial memory engrams have been locked out of the logic process but are still active. However, some element of the software architecture seems to be hell bent on eliminating them.’
Park had an epiphany. ‘Of course! One personality element has become dominant and is trying to remove the influence of the others!’
‘Why would it do that?’ asked Romanov. ‘The whole concept of this computer is to mesh different artificial thought processes.’
Park sighed. ‘That’s the idea, but whoever put the programme together didn’t think about whether those different thought processes would like the idea of being a small part of a greater whole. I’m no psychologist, but I’m pretty certain that the group of physicists we encountered weren’t shy about their own abilities.’
Romanov looked horrified. ‘So you think this is just a clash of out-sized egos?’
Park shrugged. ‘We’ve left the computer off line for quite a while. I guess the devil will find work for idle minds to do.’
Sato nodded. ‘I suppose that in any group, some personalities naturally seek to dominate others.’
‘But how can that affect the operation of the primary logic circuits?’
‘From what we’ve seen, it seems that the minds are imagining their own physical world, so they’re probably controlling the computers logic processes at a subconscious or instinctive level. Within that physical world they’ll probably perceive software functions and issues as physical objects that the human mind can relate to.’
Romanov mulled this over. ‘So one of the minds has an ego so big it’s managed to assert control over the primary programme, and has either disabled or suppressed the personality we knew as Susan.’
‘Or killed her’ added Park nervously. He had seen the look on the face of this uber-ego, and would put nothing past him.
‘And there’s no sign of the other personalities intended to moderate the gestalt?’
Sato shook her head. ‘Not that we could see, but we weren’t in there long and didn’t get that far. We were attacked. I got shot in the arm.’
Dr Mengele straightened herself up and the others caught the creaking noise of latex underwear as she moved. The tall, elegant doctor raised an eyebrow and announced the result of her examination. ‘I can see raised endorphin and adrenalin levels associated with physical pain, but there’s no sign of physical trauma. Obviously.’
‘It hurt!’ Sato stated forcefully.
The doctor showed her the scans of her arm on a PAD. ‘Perhaps, but there is no sign of any physical damage. I would suggest that the computer interface has supplied all the data needed to convince you an arrow was embedded in your arm and your subconscious mind has accepted that as being as real as whatever forest you were stood in.’
Park gulped. ‘What if the arrow had struck her in the heart?’
‘It seems reasonable to assume that the trauma would feel every bit as real as the wound to Lieutenant Sato’s arm’ replied the doctor calmly.
‘But that would kill me!’ gasped Sato.
The doctor retained her usual icy detachment. ‘Possibly, although I can’t be certain what effect the perceived trauma would have on the physical body. What we’re discussing is the possibility of “imagining” yourself to death.’
Romanov was still focused on the greater issue. ‘That’s as maybe, but it doesn’t change the price of vodka. We still have to unlock the computer somehow. You’ll have to go back in.’
Park looked horrified ‘WHAAAATTT??? There’s a maniac on the loose in there! I’m not going back in!’
Sato looked across at the little Korean and quietly said ‘I’ll do it. I’m the Services Engineer, it’s my duty.’
To everyone’s surprise, Dr Mengele over-ruled her. ‘No you will not, Lieutenant. In your mind, your body had been injured. I believe that interfacing with the computer again will result in your mind reacting as if you really have had an arrow pierce your bicep muscle. You would be . . . uncomfortable.’
‘We can’t send Park in alone!’ muttered Sato ‘He’s not cut out for that sort of thing.’
Romanov narrowed her eyes. ‘We don’t have to send two computer experts. What Park needs is someone who can protect him. And maybe track down the other artificial personalities in there. I think I know just the person.’
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Running Deer looked at the interface headset curiously. ‘So I put this on and run around in an artificial reality trying to find Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Ghandi? I’ve played VR games like that before.’
‘Those games didn’t have good enough tactile feedback to make you feel an arrowhead slicing through skin and muscle though’ warned Sato ruefully.
Deer nodded calmly. ‘So it’s a “one-life-only” scenario and I have to protect Park too?’
Romanov nodded. ‘That’s about the size of it. Park has to investigate this fake world and find out where the people that should be populating it have gone and ultimately what’s happened to our computer’s primary personality. Your job is to help him and protect him from the local psychopath.’
‘But we don’t know how many psychos, who they are or what they want?’
‘No’ admitted Romanov.
Doctor Mengele was still present and raised an eyebrow in surprise. ‘Logically, there is only one person it could be.’
‘What??’
‘My understanding is that all of the personas so far encountered are generated from the engrams previously loaded onto the computer. From Lieutenant Sato’s assessment of the scale of ego needed to dominate this world and from Crewman Park’s description, it seems obvious that the killer is Professor Nando Vincenzi.’
‘Of course!’ gasped Romanov.
They’d discovered some time ago that whoever had compiled the collection of engrams that constituted the computers gestalt personality had included Professor Nando Vincenzi, confusing the pop-psychologist of dubious ability and morality with Professor Alfredo Vincenzi, the hugely respected director of warp-field dynamics studies at the Starfleet Propulsion Facility.
At that time, they’d just completed trials at the Fleet proving ground and were preparing the ship to return to its station using new dilithium crystals in the ship’s warp-drive system. Unfortunately the ship’s computer had tried to use Professor Vincenzi’s thought patterns to ascertain the field dynamics of the reconfigured warp-engines, which had resulted in a tear in sub-space and the ship and crew s
pending several danger-filled months lost in a massive dust-cloud hundreds of light-years from home.
Romanov had never met Vincenzi, or read any of his innumerable books and had gone out of her way to avoid his day-time media show. However, everyone was aware of his reputation as an outspoken and shameless self-publicist.
Running Deer nodded calmly. ‘Ok, psycho-psychoanalyst on the loose, possibly several of them, armed with bows and arrows. No problem. Let’s do this.’
Park stared at her in amazement. ‘You’re happy to go in there? Knowing how dangerous it could be?’
Deer shrugged. ‘That’s pretty much what the security team does.’
Park was still clearly nervous and Running Deer did what she could to calm him. Unlike most of the female crew, the women in security wore tight-fitting leggings. In Running Deer’s case this emphasised her slim and athletic physique, and as always she wore a sheath for a hunting knife strapped around her thigh.
She drew the ferocious looking foot-long blade out and held it up glinting. ‘Don’t worry Park, me and my friend will look after you.’
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They found themselves back in the forest.
Deer was taking it all in and Park found himself nervously hiding behind her.
She was tall and elegant and looked curiously at home in the wild surroundings. A soft wind stirred her long, straight dark hair and even terrified as he was, Park could only admire the grace with which she walked. She wore soft boots and moved almost noiselessly through the forest, making Park very conscious of how much racket he himself made. No matter how he tried he couldn’t match her stealth, even though he was smaller and lighter than her.
Park had no idea where they were going but followed Deer meekly. He stopped when she stopped and crouched down when she did too. He looked at the same patch of earth and the same piles of leaf-litter although he had no idea what she was looking for.
After a few minutes of walking they came to the clearing where Park had seen the physicists attacked. When they did, it occurred to him that they’d not followed the same path but had somehow still arrived there.
He timidly tugged on Deer’s sleeve, but she was already thinking along the same lines. ‘Yeah, weird isn’t it. This isn’t where I expected to be. We’ve been heading down hill, but we’re now stood on the top of a small hill. I’m struggling to get my head around this place.’
‘So what do we do now?’
Deer stood hands on hip, thinking about it. ‘Well nothing’s changed. First priority is to not get caught and second priority is to find the other personalities. That means we get off these freaky paths and go find Abraham Lincoln in the woods.’
Park was stunned. ‘How do you know Abraham Lincoln is in here? Have you found some kind of track or clue?’
Deer looked at him in surprise. ‘No. I read the list of personalities and Lincoln was first name on the list. I’ve read his bio-data, so I know he’s an experienced woodsman and natural born leader. He’ll have led them into the woods for safety.’
‘Oh’ said Park feeling slightly silly.
Deer patted him on the shoulder. ‘Sorry to disappoint you. I’ll try to conform to stereotype a bit more in future.’
She strode off between the trees, and Park toddled after her. She seemed to float between the trees and foliage like a ghost, but Park spent the entire trip being slapped in the face by branches and tripping over roots.
More than once he found himself face down in the damp leaf-litter and was helped back to his feet by the patient Security woman.
Eventually, Deer paused and Park whispered ‘What is it?’
Deer said ‘Can you smell that?’
‘What?’
‘Wood smoke. We’ve found the other engrams.’
Before Park could say anything she’d moved off again, crouching down now, but still moving silently. She turned and held a finger to her lips to remind him to be silent and then motioned for him to stay where he was while she sneaked forward, stopping every now and then to sneak a furtive glance deeper into the woods ahead of them.
Eventually she returned and whispered to Park ‘There’s a camp down there. Eight people I can see, including Lincoln and signs of more. How many engrams did you manage to load?’
‘We managed to upload fourteen complete engrams, but the whole process got slower and slower as we went and stalled on the fifteenth engram.’
Deer nodded. ‘Ok. Anyone in that list that we should be worried about?’
Park considered this. ‘Well, I heard a rumour that ex-President Jana Cho suffers from terrible flatulence.’
Deer rolled her eyes. ‘I was thinking more in terms of anyone who might be a threat to us?’
Park blushed. ‘Oh. Sorry. Um, no I don’t think so.’
Deer nodded. ‘In that case I suggest we go down and introduce ourselves.’
Deer calmly stood up and encouraged Park to do the same. They walked forward and down a shallow slope into the camp.
As they did, Park spotted a tall figure sat with his back to them by the fire. The others around the camp spotted them and stopped what they were doing. As they did the tall figure by the fire spoke without turning around. ‘I wondered when you were going to come down and say hello.’
Deer smiled. ‘Good to know you’re still a country boy at heart Mr President.’
The imposing figure stood, picking up a tall stove-pipe hat, which he donned, adding even more height to his appearance.
‘You have the advantage, Madam’ he stated politely.
Deer looked at Park, shrugged and curtsied with surprising skill. ‘Running Deer of the Lakota Sioux Nation, Mr President and my associate is Mr Park Si Yung of the Korean Republic.’
The President bowed low, before straightening himself and announcing ‘I am Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and I welcome you to our encampment.’ With a wry smile the President added ‘Wherever that may be.’
Park cleared his throat and tried to find out what the President knew. ‘This isn’t like any place you’ll have been before Mr President . . . ‘
Lincoln interrupted him with a loud guffaw. ‘Ha! You ain’t just whistling Dixie! This is the damnedest place I’ve ever been. I can’t tell how long we’ve been here, as there’s no sun to judge the hour or any day or night by which to take a count. It’s just this damned perpetual twilight. And while I make no claim to be a great navigator, even I know that walking in a dead straight line it should take me more than four hours to get back where I started. Now either planet earth has stopped revolving and shrunk a mite, or we’re in some other place.’
He narrowed his eyes and weighed Park and Deer carefully. ‘I harbour a sneaking suspicion that you two might know a tad more than I do in that respect.’
Park looked at Deer uncertainly, but she grinned and said ‘Hey, I’m just the hired muscle: You’re on your own when it comes to dealing with the software.’
Park considered lying, but had already concluded that the facsimile of Lincoln was every bit as shrewd as the real thing was reputed to be. He decided to come clean.
‘This isn’t real. This world is the imagination of an advanced thinking machine that’s built upon the stored memories and experiences of many of humanities greatest minds. The machine depends on the collective of great minds to come up with new and original thoughts, but several of the scientists within that collective mind are antagonistic towards each other. You may feel real, but you’re not real either. You’re a simulation of the real Abraham Lincoln, who’s been created to mediate between the antagonistic scientists.’
Lincoln seemed to consider this before replying. ‘If that’s the case, I assume things have not gone to plan.’
Park was taken aback. ‘Why, yes! How did you know?’
Lincoln chuckled. ‘I appear to be in esteemed company, but I would not describe any of my camp-fellows as scientists. I have run into an odd couple of persons that I might describe as scienti
sts but they were largely unresponsive to my offers of help. In truth, they were singularly rude, and collectively quite ignorant. Then there’s the matter of you two, who are just as clearly not of the same ilk as myself.’
Park nodded. ‘That’s most astute of you, Mr President.’
‘Not just me, I must admit’ smiled the President ‘A couple of fellows in our little group who go by the names of Heigl and Descartes have spent hours debating the nature of our existence, and concluded that we’re the figments of some twisted imagination.’
Park nodded excitedly. ‘Yes! I knew the computer would work. Even in this dysfunctional state the individual memory engrams are interfacing and coming to conclusions that they probably couldn’t have made on their own!’
Lincoln nodded. ‘Perhaps, but the real clincher is that fact that there’s a most peculiar fellow running around trying to do all manner of mischief.’
Deer winced. ‘Yeah, that’ll be Professor Nando Vincenzi. Like yourself he’s a simulation, but he’s somehow managed to gain a degree of control over this environment.’
‘I’ll say!’ snorted Lincoln. ‘When last I saw him, he’d somehow managed to create a dozen duplicates of himself and was hunting down those poor scientists.’
‘Do you have any inkling what he’s trying to achieve?’
The President shook his head. ‘No, such thinking is not in my realm of experience. But I can tell you where he’ll be.’
‘You know where his camp is?’
The President smiled again. ‘It’s no secret. I quickly learned that all paths in this peculiar land lead to the same place eventually.’
Park thought about this. ‘If we could find him, we might be able to surprise him and capture him.’
Deer shook her head. ‘Not if he’s managed to create a dozen versions of himself. I could probably over-power one or two of them, but if there’re a dozen versions of him, one of them is bound to get me.’
Lincoln shook his head. ‘That’s not your only problem. Follow me.’