by David Beers
People followed Caesar. In the end, we all followed him because Jerry was right. The difference though, between the two of them, was that people loved Jerry. They followed Caesar, but they loved Jerry, and somehow that combination killed a lot of people that didn’t deserve to die.
Chapter Eight
Gary Pierre looked out his window at the street before him. The window, of course, was one way, so that he could see out but no one could see in. When he didn’t want to see out anymore, he hit the button on the wall and the inside of the window turned black as well, so that the view was blocked from both sides. Most times he liked both views blocked. He didn’t want to see out any more than he wanted people seeing in.
Today was different though. Or rather, the past week had been different. He didn’t know it for quite a few days, of course, because he hadn’t bothered to check. However, the streets were empty. Almost completely so. The first time Gary looked out he had expected to see trains and people and the general hustle of everyday life outside his apartment. He hadn’t though. He’d seen a single train, sitting at the curb, with no one entering or exiting. No one had been on the streets, either. The place appeared to be deserted.
That made Gary curious. Gary didn’t like people, didn’t like being around them, but he was still a curious individual, and that often times got him into trouble—the inclination to learn and his inability to stand human contact. They were in direct opposition to each other and it took him years to fully understand that. If he was to remain calm then he had to temper his curiosity; he had to find other ways to learn the things he wanted, rather than venturing out into the world. Still, this was too much for Gary, the empty streets and the lack of trains floating through the air. It didn’t make any sense.
He had walked out into the hallway of his apartment complex and seen no one there either. That was the farthest he had walked out in a little over a year, but he heard people moving around outside his apartment from time to time. His curiosity piqued though and he couldn’t hold back. He walked through the hall and took the elevator down ten floors. He walked out into the lobby fully expecting a freak-out to happen. Applications would come though and they would protect him. They would keep the people from hurting him. He could always count on applications to do that, no matter how bad his freak-out was. But he had to know what was going on, why people weren’t moving around outside.
And yet, no one was in the lobby either. Not even the man who usually stood behind the guest counter. The place was completely empty.
So, Gary did what came extremely unnatural for him. He walked outside onto the street.
Looking around, he saw empty roads and stillness. The further he went out, the more he expected to find a huge crowd, all congregating around some exhibit and then his meltdown would come. It never came though, because Gary couldn’t find a single person anywhere.
The answers he needed weren’t outside. He turned around and followed his own steps back up to his apartment, still not seeing a soul the whole way up. He had work to do, but he could get that finished once he figured out what was going on here. The work was important, no doubt, and he enjoyed it, but this was...different. The world had changed in the past few days and he didn’t know how, didn’t have a clue as to why these streets weren’t moving like they usually did.
Gary turned on his scroll and started working through it, and sure enough, he found out what was happening.
The world, it appeared, had shut down.
People were dead, a lot of them—twelve—and The Genesis said it was from faulty wiring. They had all burnt up, died by fire. People were scared, scared to be around each other, scared to leave their apartments. Gary put the scroll down and walked to his window; he turned off the black screen covering it and looked out again.
Everyone knew what it felt like to be Gary Pierre now. They all were too scared to go anywhere, to do anything. They all sat inside their apartments, not even venturing out to work. The world had shut down. And, for once, Gary had free reign to leave as he wanted, because he wasn’t going to meet a single soul outside.
* * *
This is what you wanted? This is the plan?
We knew there would be...hardship, at first. We knew the first iteration would make waves. We always knew the probability was high.
Is that what this is? A wave? Every human on the entire planet is hiding inside their dwelling and won’t come out. It appears they’ve lost trust in what we tell them.
That’s fine. This isn’t about them. It’s about him, The Theory. He’s the only one we’re really concerned with.
Even so, how long can the world continue on like this? The applications can’t run everything; at some point, humans need to at least be a part of raising the crops. If we lose them, it sets us back decades.
And what is a decade to a millennium.
Silence draped across the entity for a while.
We have to name them. We have to tell humanity we know what happened, and that it won’t happen again. The citizenry can’t hide like this. They can’t be too scared to leave their homes. We will need them at some point, and if they’ve chosen a path of fear, we won’t be able to use them. We have to name the first iteration, name all of them, and then say—
* * *
The Genesis’ Release Statement
The Genesis is committed to complete eradication of these terrorists.
The original assessment of faulty wiring in the building was incorrect, made by an older application, which has since been upgraded. The truth, something that this terrorist group tried to hide out of fear of the sure retaliation that is coming, is that a group of individuals—small in number—killed the Population Control Council out of malice. Out of hate. The group that did this calls themselves The Named, although their title is unimportant. They are insane, completely outside the realm of Necessary. They are dangerous, but not in the way the planet seems to think. They are no threat to any of you, not in the slightest. They managed to kill a handful of people in a cowardly fashion, and they will not be able to do it again as The Genesis has placed extra precautions throughout its systems. Not a single member of this terrorist organization will be able to step inside a city anywhere on this planet.
The real danger with this group is allowing them to paralyze you. Allowing them to dictate whether or not you venture outside of your homes, whether you go to your job, whether you visit friends and family. Not a single application has been cowed by this group, nor will a single one be so cowed. In the same way, humanity must be bold. Humanity must not allow this group to think for them, must not allow this group to decide what will happen in everyday life. That is what they wish to do. To keep the world fearful. To make you think that anyone can die at any second when it simply isn’t true. This group, The Named, is trivial in its overall importance, and The Genesis will eradicate them within a few weeks.
Chapter Nine
“Why did Manny push so hard?” Caesar asked, his hand on the shirt he just placed into his bag.
“He’s scared,” Jerry said.
“Of what?” Caesar didn’t look over at his door where Jerry stood.
“Of you. Of losing me. Of us failing. He’s scared of what most people here are scared of. You’re new. You’re unproven. They look at you as taking me away, taking me to a city on a strange mission from which I might not return. They think I’m the important one out of us two, at least right now they do. That’ll change though, very soon. Manny and the others, they won’t be fearful anymore.”
Caesar reached into the dresser and grabbed another article of clothing. He folded it and placed it in his bag.
“And Paige?”
The old man didn’t talk for a second and Caesar waited. The tension that grew a few hours ago in the other room had become almost unbearable. Manny eventually left, just walked out on the discussion. The others stayed, but most of them avoided eye contact with Caesar. Most of them wanted what Manny wanted, wanted someone else to go with Caesar and
for Jerry to stay with them. He was their leader, not Caesar.
“She believes, I think. Or at least, she’s starting to. Paige saw what you did all those months ago. She saw you lay your life out for two people that you barely knew.”
“Is she going to die?” Caesar asked, stopping his packing. They would leave this bunker, their home, within the hour and venture to a strange city a world away from here. Everything that could be planned already had been, now they only needed to execute. When Caesar was finished here, he would say goodbye to Leon, and then they would begin their journey. Caesar didn’t have anyone else to say goodbye too, especially not after that last meeting.
“She may. I don’t know yet. If we can’t get her skin to heal, we can’t hold off infection forever. Her body will eventually succumb.”
“And what then?”
“Then you join The Eight.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” Caesar turned around and looked at Jerry for the first time since the old man opened his door. “How many years has she served with you?”
“Ten.”
“And if she dies, you move on?”
“You don’t know what a thousand years means, Caesar. You can’t possibly know. Everyone I’ve ever met has died. I don’t want Paige to die, but if she does, this still continues. The Named is going to finish what those two people started hundreds of years ago. I’ll feel sadness, but this is bigger than Paige and she knows it. That’s why she went out into the world to find you; she knew she might die. She was okay with that. Everyone at that table is okay with dying, and for the most part, they’re okay with the rest of us dying too.”
“Except for you,” Caesar said. “They’re not okay with you dying.”
“They don’t think they are, but that’s because they haven’t really seen you yet. Paige has, or at least part of you, and she’s okay with my death. That’s what she said in there. The same thing I just said. That if I die, you join The Eight and The Named continues moving forward.”
Caesar turned around and put the last piece of clothing into his bag. He really didn’t know how much he would need. Jerry had one bag slung over his shoulder. He wore his sunglasses, hiding the part of his face that The Genesis destroyed a thousand years ago. Hiding it because the places they were going wouldn’t accept it, would turn them in immediately. Hiding it because Jerry wasn’t able to be himself.
“Caesar, I want to talk to you about something before we leave,” Jerry said.
Caesar looked up from his bag.
“Do you feel like someone should pay for what was done to your parents? Or do you feel like what happened to them should be left alone, that there’s nothing to be done?”
Caesar studied Jerry’s face; why was he asking this right now? They had spoken of his parents before, but not like this, not in terms of vengeance.
“I mean, that’s what this is about, isn’t it? Someone’s going to pay. The Genesis,” he answered.
“And what about the others, the people that stand in your way of getting to The Genesis, of making it pay? How do you plan on getting by them?”
Caesar had thought about this before, but only briefly. Whenever it came up, he pushed the thought away, not wanting to confront what Jerry was asking him now. He would kill The Genesis—he knew that—but what would he do to someone else protecting it?
“I don’t know,” he said, looking down at the floor. “The Genesis owes a debt, but no one else.”
“You might be right, but you might be wrong, too. The ends justify the means, Caesar. I truly believe that. What you’re after, what this whole thing is about, it’s bigger than any one person. Bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than all of us. You have your own reasons for this, and I have mine, but if either of us are going to achieve what we want, then you need to realize the truth in that statement: the ends justify the means.”
Caesar had heard the statement before. It sounded, to him, like something The Genesis would believe in wholeheartedly. But did he? Did the ends justify the means for his parents? If The Named succeeded and somehow managed to bring down The Genesis, was their death okay then? Was it worth it?
“Look, I’m not saying it’s definite,” Jerry said. “I just want you to think about it. If it’s your life or someone else’s, you need to know what you’re going to do. You don’t want to be in a position where you might die and not know how to react.”
Caesar had helped in killing the council over Population Control, but that was different than what Jerry was saying now. Jerry was saying that there was a good chance he would have to kill someone, face to face, if he wanted to succeed. No planning, no timed explosions, no help. Just him and murder.
Caesar heard the footsteps moving down the hall, taking him away from his thoughts.
“Hey,” someone else said from the door.
It was Paige, her head peeking around the corner. Jerry and he both looked at her.
“Hey,” Caesar said, his hand on the zipper to finish the job of packing.
“I just wanted to tell you guys bye. Good luck. All of that.”
Jerry turned and opened his arms, which Paige moved into, wrapping her own arms around Jerry. Caesar watched Jerry carefully place his arms, not touching Paige’s back.
When they released, Paige looked back over at Caesar.
“Thanks,” he said. He didn’t want to say goodbye, because that seemed so final, especially after what Jerry just said. “We’ll be back.”
She looked at him, her eyes asking the same question they had previously. A question that he still couldn’t decipher.
“I know,” she said after a few seconds. She looked to Jerry. “Take care of him.”
Then Paige turned and left the room with Caesar staring after her.
Chapter Ten
“Quickly,” Jerry said, stepping past Caesar.
He watched the old man move, a speed in him now that he hadn’t shown in all the months past. A quickness that said if they dallied here, they wouldn’t make it. That what came now was crucial to making sure anything came next.
Jerry stepped onto the train and Caesar followed, trying to match his steps to the thousand-year-old man, trying to keep up.
The past few days were little more than a blur. They left the bunker and traveled at first using a vehicle that must have been made shortly after The Singularity—still using gasoline instead of solar rays. They used it until they ran out of desert, and then on foot, traveled into a wooded area that Caesar didn’t know, nor really understand. Inside there, hidden, a plane waited—they landed it twenty miles out from the city. From there, they walked at a nearly back-breaking pace. They walked the entire twenty miles in a single night, with very little rest. Jerry didn’t seem to need it. No accumulation of steps seemed to wear on him in the slightest. Caesar was nearly delirious as they stepped onto the train, the first train they had encountered at the edge of the city.
He barely remembered Jerry opening up Caesar’s eyes and placing in lenses.
“They’ll keep the systems from optically registering you.”
Other precautions too, but those slipped his mind as easily as water through a strainer. So many miles. Blisters the size of rocks canvassed his feet, and Jerry had to apply salve just to keep him walking.
Quickly.
The word felt like a slap across Caesar’s face, the urgency in Jerry’s voice not something he had heard before. It woke him up, if only slightly, making him realize that all the previous travel, that all the miles behind him mattered little if he didn’t do something now. But he didn’t know what. He didn’t know where they were, really, or what the plan was. He followed Jerry, had followed Jerry the entire way, but Jerry didn’t tell him what he needed to do.
Quickly.
Caesar stood on the train looking around, his eyes taking in blurred images as his eyelids started trying to close again, the exhaustion reclaiming him.
The train looked empty, but that made sense, or at least he thoug
ht it did—who knew what sense actually was—because they were on the edge of a city. No one came out here because there wasn’t any reason to, outside of venturing into the wilderness for a day’s excursion. This train...it had to come once a week, if that. The car they stood on was completely empty though, and dear Genesis, if he could just take a seat.
He moved to a chair on his left, not looking at Jerry, not knowing what else was going on around him, just wanting to rest.
He sat.
And as the thing materialized around him, he barely understood it. His brain tried to rev up, to figure out what was happening, but it was like a dream, everything moving around him in ways that he didn’t understand and couldn’t control.
The thing came from under him, taking form right out of the air.
It wasn’t human.
It was static, the look of snow on a television screen, something ephemeral yet very, very permanent. It didn’t take a primate form, didn’t grow legs and arms, didn’t form a head. Instead, the static began wrapping around Caesar, tentacles of bright electricity wrapping around his neck, his face, latching onto his eyes like a squid’s tentacles wrapped around food. Taking him in, eating him alive.
And finally his brain clicked into place, snapping to the present like a whip popping in the air. He was going to die. Right here with this disgusting, alien presence taking him whole, all at once. The static, the snow, the goddamn air latched onto him like steel melting with other steel, forming a grip that he couldn’t break free from. And cold, oh so fucking cold. He tried to stretch outward, tried to stand up and brake free, but he couldn’t move. The thing had him locked down, and the cold was sinking into his bones, into his brain, slowing him down.
His vision was turning into little more than a blizzard, but he could still see Jerry, barely.
Not for long though.