by M. D. Cooper
Joe placed a hand on Tanis’s shoulder. “I’ll pass that on to her family. She’ll have a hero’s burial on Carthage.”
Tangel nodded silently, composing herself—surprised that it was so hard.
“I was in an atrium,” Tangel spoke up after a few more seconds. “Out of everything, totally spent. I took a blow to the head, and when I came to…I wasn’t Tanis anymore.”
“So you and Angela did merge,” Saanvi whispered, eyes wide.
“Yes, sort of,” Tanis replied. “But there was more. We could see things, understand things we’d never imagined. We were able to create fields to manipulate matter at fundamental levels. We existed across more levels. We…we were able to kill with a thought.”
“Were?” Cary asked, an eyebrow cocked.
Tangel shrugged. “Well, ‘are’. I can see the spaces between the atoms in your body, I can tell how to pluck them apart, spin them off, draw the energy out of them.”
“Shit,” Joe whispered his eyes wide with disbelief. “Are you serious?”
Tangel nodded. “I know you’re all wondering—heck, I know that Trine can probably see it. Simply put, I’ve ascended.”
Joe swallowed, then a smile toyed at the corners of his lips, and he poked a finger into Tangel’s shoulder. “You don’t look ascended; seem like good ol’ flesh and blood Tanis.”
Tangel held up her left arm. “Yeah, but only because I want to be. I grew this in an instant. I think I could un-grow it just as fast, but I’m still taking baby steps. I don’t want to do something like accidentally unmake my physical body. I’m rather attached to it.”
“Yeah, we have. The parts of us that used to be separate are still there, but they’re more like memories…shadows. After Priscilla introduced a swarm of pico to stabilize our form, we thought—I thought—that we were separate. But Bob set us straight: we’re not separate. We’re one person now—though I plan on behaving as separate beings insofar as interactions with any others are concerned. I don’t know that the ISF or all our allies are ready for this.”
Tangel paused, studying the faces of her family members. Joe was still split between amazement and amusement. Saanvi appeared more curious, her eyes narrowed as she stared into Tangel’s. Faleena seemed elated, while Cary’s face, on the other hand betrayed nothing. Her mind, however, was another story entirely.
No one took up the conversational torch, so Tangel ended up breaking the silence. “You don’t seem very surprised.”
“Oh, we’re surprised, Mom…moms…Mom?” Cary said after a moment, her voice nearly devoid of emotion—which meant she was holding anger in check. “Just processing. So let me get this straight. We all knew you two were merging—”
“Taking your time about it, too,” Joe interrupted with a wink.
“Right, yeah,” Cary stammered, casting her father a wounded look. “I guess not to me, though. I don’t want to lose my moms.”
Tangel could see the void of anger turn into an ocean of anguish behind Cary’s eyes, and reached her hand across the table. “I’m not going anywhere, Cary. And we’re both still here, Tanis and Angela, we just speak with one voice now.”
“But you’re ascended…” Cary rasped. “Aren’t you just going to turn to light and disappear?”
Tangel held up her other hand, slipping a part of her fifth dimensional body outside the bounds of her three-dimensional one. The visible result was tendrils of light swirling around her hand.
“This is just the rest of my body,” Tanis said, holding Cary’s gaze while speaking calmly. “You have it too, you just can’t manipulate it like I can.”
Cary’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Saanvi. “Because we make up Trine?”
“No,” Tanis shook her head. “Everyone occupies more of space-time than they realize. You’re just not cognizant of it—well, you are, Cary, you just don’t understand how to control it.”
Cary’s face grew ashen. “Am I going to ascend?”
Tanis nodded. “Someday, if you want to.” She glanced at Joe. “You all can, eventually. I mean…billions of people did it on Star City. To my knowledge, none of them were merged with an AI mind, they were just regular people.”
“So I’ll turn into some being of light as well?” Cary whispered, her voice wavering as she spoke.
Tanis realized what was bothering Cary so much. “I think I need to clear up a misconception. When you ascend, you’re really just becoming aware of, and able to manipulate, things in more dimensions. Trine is effectively an ascended being, but you’re not when you’re alone. In time you won’t need to do your deep Linking mind merge to use your abilities, Cary. But you’re still you, a person with a brain and a mind. You need neurons to think, you need energy to function—you just have different ways of going about that. Not everyone does it the same way.”
Tanis paused and looked at the room’s ceiling. “I’m outing you, Bob.”
“Bob’s ascended,” Tangel said. “Has been for some time. Ascending for an AI isn’t fundamentally different than it is for a human—though they lack bodies, which limits their initial set of extra-dimensional sensory organs. Many ascended AIs make themselves new bodies in the other dimensions, they…move their minds there. That’s why we only see them as beings of light and energy. They can manifest a physical presence if needed by manipulating matter.”
Tanis paused and rapped on the table, turning it to steel where she touched it, then rapped again, turning it back to wood.
“But I can already do that, and I like my body, and I like my brain where it is. I have no need to shift myself from this dimension into others. Not to mention the fact that I think they lose something in the process when they do it.”
“But what about Bob?” Saanvi asked. “Is he going to shift himself away?”
“ ‘Tangel’?” Joe asked. “I thought you two had settled on ‘Tangela’?”
“Too many syllables,” Tangel replied. “I kept thinking of other names, but they were all too…different. We’re not different or new, we’re Tanis and Angela.”
“This is just too weird.” Cary’s voice rose in pitch as she spoke. “I can’t call you ‘Tangel’! You’re my mom!”
Saanvi placed a hand on Cary’s shoulder. “We called them ‘Moms’ most of the time anyway. Now we’re just calling her ‘Moms’. No difference.”
Cary turned her head, glaring at Saanvi. “No, it’s a lot different. For all intents and purposes, Mom is dead. So is Angela!”
As she cried out Angela’s name, Cary rose, knocked her chair over, and fled the room, then the house.
Saanvi began to get up, but Tangel held up her hand. “You know Cary. She’s going to need a bit to come around to this on her own. Faleena is talking with her as well.”
“Faleena told you that?” Joe asked, and Tangel shook her head.
“No, I can see it.”
Joe’s mouth formed a silent O.
“How?” Saanvi asked, leaning forward.
“Oh, Saanvi. You’ve always been the most curious young girl—and now woman—I’ve ever known.” Tangel gave her daughter a warm smile.
“I like to know how things work.” Saanvi shrugged.
“Because you want to gain some measure of control after feeling like you had so little,” Tangel replied.
Saanvi waved a finger at Tangel. “You may have me all figured o
ut now, Moms, but don’t try to distract me with your psychoanalysis. I want to know how you can see AIs. This isn’t the first time you’ve said you can see Faleena’s mind.”
Tangel waved her hand in the air, and an image appeared over the table. It was a wavering mass of light and dark, diaphanous tendrils stretching out, moving through dark areas, causing them to become lighter while others grew dim.
“That is Faleena. At least, her electromagnetic spectrum. I can see more of her, but it doesn’t translate well into a visual. But even at this distance, through the walls, I can see what her mind looks like.”
“How far away is she?” Joe asked as he stared unblinking at the image before him, moisture in his eyes as he saw his daughter for the first time.
“Down on the dock,” Tangel replied. “She’s not entirely happy about this, but she’s putting on a brave face. Trying to console Cary—it’s not going well.”
“Are you reading Cary’s mind?” Saanvi’s eyes narrowed.
“No,” Tangel gave a rueful laugh. “She’s yelling. I can see the windows vibrating.”
Joe barked a laugh. “No keeping secrets from you anymore.”
“Like that was ever possible before,” Tangel said as she regarded Joe, unable to miss the knowing look he shared with Saanvi. “What?”
“Nothing, oh Ascended Moms, there’s just some stuff you don’t know,” Saanvi’s mouth took on a mischievous grin. “And we’re going to keep it that way.”
“How am I going to rule the galaxy if I don’t know everything, though,” Tangel wondered in a mock sulk.
Joe sputtered a cough. “Say what?”
Tangel gave him a slow wink. “Mess with me, and I mess right back.”
“Stars,” Joe muttered. “Looks like we didn’t lose Angela in your merge.”
“Sahn, hon,” Tangel gestured toward the door. “I think your sister is ready for an arm around the shoulder about now.”
Saanvi chuckled as she rose, glancing at Joe. “I see how it is, Moms. Need some alone time with your mortal consort, do you?”
“Hey,” Joe said in mock anger. “I’m no one’s consort. I’m obviously the Chief Acolyte.”
Saanvi walked around the table and wrapped her arms around Tangel. “Just so you know,” she whispered softly. “I may seem all calm and controlled on the outside—but that’s the curious scientist in me. Inside, I’m freaked the hell out.”
“I know,” Tangel whispered back. “I’m still your mom, and I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to be stuck with me for a looooong time.”
“Good. Because if you turn into a glowing ball of light and leave us, I’m going to go to Star City, ascend myself, and then find you and kick your ass.”
“Ha!” Tangel barked a laugh. “I do not doubt that for a second.”
Joe pulled Saanvi close as she passed, giving her quick hug before she left.
Once they heard the door close, Joe shifted in his seat and stared into Tangel’s eyes for a minute without speaking.
“What?” Tangel finally said.
“They look different, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Tangel caused her eyes to sparkle. “Maybe it’s just my general brilliance.”
Joe snorted. “Do that more often and you’ll get people more than wondering about your ascendancy.”
“Seriously, Joe,” Tangel took her husband’s hands. “How is it that you’re so…accepting of this?”
“I’m surprised that you keep asking me that,” Joe replied. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that loving two women was hard. You—rather, Tanis and Angela—have been a part of my life longer than I lived without them. When I first met you, I fell in love with Tanis, but we spent decades together, just the three of us. You know I came to love Angela as well. Sometimes I wondered….”
“What?” Tangel laughed. “That Tanis would be jealous?”
“OK…now that is weird.” Joe shook his head slowly, a half-smile on his lips. “To hear your voice speak of yourself as though it’s someone else.”
“Should I change something about my appearance?” Tanis asked. “Something that will make it easy to remember that I’m Tangel, and not Tanis or Angela?”
Joe put a finger to his lips as he considered it. “Maybe? I wonder what would work.”
“I could make a streak of my hair black,” Tangel said, and a moment later, a lock of hair at her left temple turned black.
Joe shook his head. “No, nothing so overt. It’ll probably bother Cary, too. She needs you to stay as you are as much as possible. What about your eyes? Maybe add just a hint of lavender to them.”
Tangel cocked an eyebrow. “If it’s enough to notice, how different would that be than coloring my hair?”
“True…” Joe tapped a finger against his lips. “I’ve got it! Make your nails a darker color. You always keep them natural or choose a light pink. Go for something darker.”
“Like this?” Tangel held up a hand, and her nails shifted to a darker red.
“Perfect!” Joe proclaimed, then looked her up and down, a smile forming on his lips. “You know, I always knew you were destined for great things…many of which you’ve achieved. But, I gotta say, ascension and a full AI merge all at the same time? I doubt there are any others like you.” He leant back in his chair, grinning as he clasped his hands behind his head. “I sure can pick ‘em.”
“Pft!” Tangel pulled Joe in close. “I picked you.”
“Remember when you ran the SOC on the Intrepid, back at the Mars Outer Shipyards? Remember what everyone called you behind your back?”
Tangel rolled her eyes. “ ‘Dragon Lady’ was the nicest one, if memory serves.”
“Correct, oh glowing wife of mine. Yet I braved your lair and conquered you. I chose you.”
“I just let you think that.”
Joe reached out and pulled Tangel toward him.
“Keep telling yourself that,” he said a moment before their lips met.
UNDERSTANDING
STELLAR DATE: 08.29.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Ol’ Sam, ISS I2
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
Tangel stepped out into the evening light, glancing up at the long sun that ran through the center of the habitat cylinder. She noted that there was a slight variance in the light output from one end of the long sun to the other, and sent a message off to the engineering team’s queue.
Ninety-seven meters of stone path lay between her and the lake, another seven worth of dock, and at the end of that, her three daughters.
Tangel still remembered the first time she saw each of them: Cary as a newborn—carried and birthed the old-fashioned way—and Saanvi as she woke from the stasis tube, a trembling little girl, nearly petrified with fear. She also remembered seeing Faleena’s mind as Angela, the first words their third daughter had spoken.
She remembered, as Tanis, the feel of their skin, the bioreadout reports on their health, skin temperature, pupil dilation, body proportion measurements, the uncertain looks in their eyes. She remembered the EM frequencies their brains gave off, the feel of connecting to minds over the Link, all of it. All at once.
Closing her eyes, Tangel drew a deep breath. Memories were hard. Though her mind was one thing, her memories—barring recent ones—were not. She had two overlaid experiences; disparate recollections, disparate conclusions.
As she examined them, she couldn’t help but note that, as time passed, Tanis and Angela had begun to think more and more alike. Back when Tangel divided, she couldn’t see it as clearly, but now it was abundantly apparent. For years, the overlap had been greater than the differences.
But how to explain that to the women sitting at the end of the dock?
Tangel smiled. At nineteen and twenty years old, her two organic daughters both behaved as though they had everything figured out. They certainly were more put-together than Tanis had been at that age—on the brink of joining the military to rebel against her fa
ther.
Funny how history repeats itself, Tangel mused. Though my two girls joined the military to please me, not to anger me, as I did with him….
A high bandwidth data stream was flowing between the girls—yes, ‘girls’, Tangel thought. They could be a thousand years old, and they’d still be my little girls. She surmised from the information flow that the three of them were deep-Linked, sharing in the special bond that these three sisters possessed.
Tendrils of light began to drift around Cary, and Tangel saw them reach out toward Saanvi—from whom three small filaments of light also came, stretching toward Cary.
Well that’s unexpected.
Unexpected, maybe, but it did make sense. When Cary Linked into the minds of her sisters, she was creating a new being of sorts. Not one so deeply entwined as Tanis and Angela had become in their later days, but something in Cary was a catalyst that pushed them closer. Thus far, Faleena seemed unchanged, but she’d not been a part of their little group for as long. Time would tell how her progression went.
Tangel wasn’t certain what it was, but she was eager to see it unfold—so long as it happened slowly. There was no need for her daughters to evolve too soon.
She began to walk down the path, moving slowly, giving the girls time to notice her—and hopefully not wave her off. As she neared the water’s edge, Saanvi glanced over her shoulder, and then made to rise.
“You don’t have to go,” Tangel said, but Saanvi shook her head.
“It’s OK, Moms, we had our chat. You’re up now.”
Tangel embraced Saanvi, then sat next to Cary, feeling the dock vibrate for a few more moments until Saanvi made it to the shore.
“I’m sorry,” Tangel whispered, staring down at her hands. She didn’t dare look into her daughter’s eyes yet, fearful of what she might see there.
Cary didn’t respond right away, but Tangel could tell from her breathing that she nearly did three times. Then she finally said, “For what?”