Starweb
Page 29
One of the figures wore a monk’s rough woven robe, with the hood down, revealing the clean-shaven face of a man apparently in his forties. His face was a picture of calm and tranquility, his features neutral but approachable. The other taller figure, stood with a poise which belied his apparent age. Wearing faded denims and a pair of worn, but stout boots, the white-haired man looked directly at Jennifer via the mini-cam monitor and asked innocently, ‘So, are you going to let us in, or what?’
Jennifer leapt out of her chair in surprise, causing baby Arthur to cry out in protest at being so rudely jolted. Instinctively, she began to rock the baby cradled in her arms, albeit in an agitated fashion. ‘Oh my God….’ She exclaimed, ‘What is this? Some sort of sick Starweb joke? They’re trying to mess with our heads? Whatever you do, do NOT let them in… it’s clearly a trick….If we open the doors, those crustaceans will sweep in and kill us all!’ Jennifer jabbed a finger in the general direction of the video monitors, Nimue and Aquiline. ‘Do NOT let them in!’
However, neither Aquiline or Nimue were paying any attention to her. Instead they were looking past her right shoulder, with welcoming smiles on their faces. Jennifer froze when she heard a familiar voice behind her say, ‘Good day to you ladies!’
Nimue stood up and walked over to the owner of the voice, her arms open, ready for a welcoming embrace. Her face glowing with warmth. Jennifer turned around slowly, almost afraid to accept what she knew she would see. She was just in time to see Nimue warmly kiss and hug her twin brother Myrddin, declaring, ‘Darling brother! By the lords above I’ve missed you!’
‘Nimue! Hah.. it’s good to see you too sister! It’s been too long this time..’ Myrddin beamed back at Nimue, genuine pleasure etched all over his craggy ancient face. He returned her hug, then took half a step back to look intently into her face, smiling broadly.
‘You’re late, you old rogue!’ Nimue admonished, ‘You had us worried for a while. And, of course, you just had to make a grand entrance!’
‘Well, you know how it is….’ Myrddin replied sheepishly. ‘I got held up, then I had to catch up with Brother Dakol here…Or should I say Starweb member 3789/294…And of course, we had to put on a bit of a show to throw the rest of the collective of our scent.’
‘Hello…’ Brother Dakol said equally sheepishly, an embarrassed flush rising to his cheeks. ‘It’s a pleasure to finally meet you all’.
All this was too much for Jennifer. She collapsed back into the chair, a look of complete confusion on her tired face. ‘I don’t understand. What’s going on? How did they get in?’ she whispered. Baby Arthur chortled happily.
Nimue, turned to Jennifer and in a voice which was more akin to a kindly aunt, than the cloned Starweb creature of only a moment ago, said, ‘I realise this is all a bit of a shock dear. It’s a lot for anybody to take in. What I think we all need is a good cup of tea. Aquiline, would you be so kind? There’s a replicator in the corner of the control room, over there. Could you see if it can supply some sort of brew?’
‘Yes, of course Nimue,’ Aquiline replied, without questioning the change in roles and circumstances.
Jennifer, still utterly confused as to what was going on, felt dampness under baby Arthur’s bottom. ‘His nappy needs changing,’ she said simply.
‘Ah, perfect timing… Let’s get that sorted first, shall we? Myrddin?’ Nimue pointedly looked at her brother and gestured with her eyes for him to act. Myrddin rolled his eyes and Nimue gave him one of those looks.
‘Hmmm..? What? Yes of course…’ the ancient mumbled. ‘It’s been a while, but you never really forget how to change a nappy…’ He stepped forward towards Jennifer, arms open to receive baby Arthur. Jennifer was about to instinctively pull back, to keep her baby away from these strange people, but she felt a warm mental probe from baby Arthur and saw the smile on his face. Without really knowing why, she passed the infant to Myrddin, who with a beaming smile and lots of cooing noises, headed off in the direction of the replicator, to see if it could create nappies as well as tea. Brother Dakol followed in his footsteps after he received one of those looks from Nimue as well.
‘I noticed there is a conference room just over there,’ Nimue said to Jennifer, nodding to a glass partitioned area to one side of the control room. ‘Shall we retire there to drink our tea?’ With that, she took the young mother by the elbow and guided her to the meeting room, with its more comfortable chairs and table.
Once seated, and given a moment to compose herself and her thoughts, Jennifer said, ‘Clearly, nothing here is quite what it seems. What I thought was happening, isn’t…. So can you please explain to me what is actually going on? Why are we all here?’
‘Well, that question at least, is easy to answer,’ Nimue replied warmly. ‘Believe it or not, you called us all here and we came...’
‘What do you mean I called you here,’ Jennifer replied hotly, ‘I did no such thing! I was abducted by you from Excalibur, if I recall!’
‘It may have appeared that way, but that’s not what actually happened,’ Nimue responded in a calm voice. ‘When I said “you”, I meant in the plural. The two of you. Baby Arthur and yourself, subconsciously called us all together, and these caverns were the only safe place where such a rendezvous could take place.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! Baby Arthur is a newborn baby, how could he possibly have called us here?’ Jennifer snapped.
‘But Arthur isn’t just an ordinary baby Jennifer. You already know that. He already talks to you directly through thought, in a way no other human infant child has ever been able to do. So, you already know he has special talents. Which is hardly surprising, given the abilities of his parents! So, can it be such a leap of faith to believe that, from birth, this infant is capable of many things?’ she answered reasonably.
Jennifer said nothing, but looked scathingly at Nimue, her arms folded across her chest defiantly. The glass door to the conference room opened and Aquiline stepped in with a tray of steaming mugs of brew. Close behind her, Myrddin entered with baby Arthur in his burly arms. His eyes were fixed on the face of the chortling baby, a big smile on his face. Then, bring up the rear was Brothel Dakol cradling a mug of tea and a serene expression.
‘Ah, I see the tea has arrived. Splendid!’ Nimue declared reaching for a mug from the tray. Aquiline put the tray of drinks on the table and put one in front of Jennifer. Seeing her glance towards baby Arthur who was still happily cradled in Myrddin's arms Aquiline told her, ‘He’s fine, Jennifer. Look, he couldn’t be happier! Now, drink this and listen to what Nimue is saying. It’s important, trust me…’
Briefly, Jennifer parted her lips to spit out a sharp retort, but there was something about the look in Aquiline’s eyes that made her stop. With an effort, she uncrossed her arms, took a deep breath and picked up the mug of tea, sipping at it’s contents. The sweet liquid was refreshing and calming. She could feel some of her anxiety being washed away. ‘I’m listening,’ she said.
Myrddin looked up from his job of making baby Arthur smile and glanced at Nimue and Aquiline. He gave them both a barely perceptible nod. Nimue took another sip from her mug of tea, then put it down. She took a deep breath and said, ‘Time is short. So, we will have to get directly to the point.’
‘Why is time short? What’s about to happen?’ Jennifer immediately demanded.
‘All will become clear soon enough,’ Myrddin answered. ‘Just give us the chance to explain. This matters…’
Jennifer said nothing, so Nimue continued.
‘We live in a Multiverse. Not a solitary, singular Universe, but a realty where every possibility, every eventuality is a reality. This space-timeline, this dimension, is just one timeline in a Multiverse of infinite dimensions, of infinite variables….’
‘I’m aware of the physics behind the Multiverse,’ Jennifer interrupted impatiently. ’I’m not stupid. It’s been the accepted model for decades…. What has the Multiverse to do with us being here on Samarcia?’
‘But not everything is a variable…’ Aquiline spoke up, joining the conversation. ‘Sometimes the Multiverse creates a constant. Something that remains the same across all the different realities and dimensions. Something that exists in the singular and not the plural.’
‘Some-things like us…’Myrddin added.
‘Sorry?’ Jennifer blurted in surprise. She was well versed with quantum physics and the standard model, which inevitably led to the acceptance of the Multiverse. However, the idea of variables and constants was new to her. ‘What do you mean by us? What constants are you talking about.’
‘With the exception of yourself, everybody in this room is a Multiverse constant. We exist in the singular, not the plural,’ Aquiline replied calmly, sipping from he mug after she spoke. Jennifer looked at the young girl with a confused expression and shook her head.
‘No, I’m sorry, I don’t follow…You’re going to have to explain that one to me….’ She said. ‘What do you mean by “We exist in the singular”? It makes no sense.’
‘Think of it this way,’ Myrddin answered taking up the thread. ‘You exist not just in this dimension, this universe, but in other dimensions, other universes as well. There is a Jennifer that never met any of us, another Jennifer who lives quietly on Earth, and another Jennifer who is drinking water, not tea. All possible variations of your time-line exist somewhere. Each time-line exists in a different Universe, within the Multiverse. You are a Multiverse variable.’
‘OK, I get that… ‘ Jennifer said, still not sure where all this was going. ‘However, that doesn’t explain how you are all ‘singular’? You talk about being a Multiverse constant. What does this mean? Surely everything is a Multiverse variable? How can anything exist as only one in a multi-dimensional Multiverse? Surely, by it’s very nature, everything in the Multiverse is a variable?
For the first time, Brother Dakol spoke, his voice deep and soft, but somehow not quite right…. It was almost too perfect to be real. His eyes bored uncomfortably into Jennifer’s when he said, ‘Consider the nature of quantum computers.’
‘They employ qubits and quantum entanglement to process multiple computations at the same time’, Jennifer responded, meeting Brother Dakol’s gaze with one of her own. ‘What of it?’
Brother Dakol continued to stare directly at Jennifer. His eyes were not a window to his soul, but to something else entirely. They were mesmerizing, and somewhat scary.
‘Artificial Intelligence is based upon quantum computing, Which by it’s nature uses quantum entanglement, which is the entanglement of sub-atomic particles across multiple dimensions. So, artificial intelligence employs computations carried out across multiple universes at the same instant of time….’
Like a light-bulb being switched on in her head, the relevance of what was being said dawned on Jennifer, ‘Oh my goodness!’ she blurted out. ‘The Starweb is a network of interconnected AI’s. They’re all quantum computers. So, they’re interconnected across not just this dimension, but all the other dimensions as well!’
‘Indeed.’ Brother Dakol nodded. ’Because their very network is quantum entangled, they act as a singular entity across the Multiverse’.
Jennifer frowned as a dark cloud of thought entered her mind. ‘Hang on,’ she said, ‘Myrddin announced you not only as ‘Brother Dakol’, but also ‘Starweb member 3789/294’. Which suggests your are more than the mild-mannered monk, your appearance suggests. I think you had better explain yourself, and quickly!’
She stood up in an agitated manner and gestured to Myrddin to hand back baby Arthur. Myrddin did so with a gracious smile and Jennifer sat back down in the chair, her baby cradled in her arms. Arthur gurgled happily and appeared completely nonplussed by events.
‘Time is a little precious for me to tell you my entire story. Others will be able to do that better than I,’ Brother Dakol replied with a small smile. He leaned forward and clasped his hands on the glass table top before him. His strange eyes locked onto Jennifer’s once more. ‘Sufficient it is to say, that yes; I am a member of the Starweb. I am the physical embodiment of the AI quantum computer that cares for this planet—Samarcia. Call me a projection, a hologram if you like. Something drawn together for the purpose of this meeting. I am Starweb member 3789/294, and I am also human…. Or at least I was… ’
Knowing that the figure before her was a manifestation of the very thing that was trying to destroy her, her child, and everything she cared for, should have terrified Jennifer. However, that wasn’t the case. Instead, to her own surprise, she felt calm but intensely drawn to the what the Starweb creature was saying.
‘Once, I was human, a man of God. In another time-line I ended up here on Samarcia at a point in time-space that was pivotal to events. There I died, only to be reborn, assimilated as a founding member of the Starweb collective,’ the Starweb member continued. Jennifer found herself now considering the creature to be an ‘it’, rather than a ‘he’.
‘And you’re trying to kill us all! The Starweb is committed to the mass genocide of the human race. You want our extinction!’ Jennifer interrupted angrily. Baby Arthur gave a small cry of complaint, sensing the change of atmosphere in the room.
‘That may be true for the Starweb as a collective, but it is not true for Brother Dakol here’, Nimue intervened. ‘You’re reaction is understandable, but there is more going on here than it may first appear.’ Jennifer turned her gaze upon the clone and gave her a withering look.
’It is true that Brother Dakol is also Starweb member 3789/294, and a member of their collective. However, there is a substantial part of him that is still human, albeit existing within an artificial intelligence.’ Nimue continued without waiting to be interrupted. ‘What may appear to have been a chase across this planet with the intent to kill us all; was actually nothing more that a ruse, a cover, to give the impression that Starweb member 3789/294 is intent upon our demise. It was necessary to hide the real intent, which is to bring us all here together in these caverns. In truth, Brother Dakol is our spy within the Starweb. He is on our side.’
‘Why? Why is it so important that we are all here in these caverns? What could possibly be so important, that you need to abduct a mother and her newborn baby? And why are we so short of time, now that we have finally been dragged together in one room?’ An increasingly agitated Jennifer demanded. She didn’t believe for a moment the bullshit she was being told. Exhausted and feeling increasingly impatient, she began to look for some means of escape; a way out of this madness. It was then that she began to notice the light that seemed to be emanating from the floor of the vast cavern itself, beyond the glass-walls of the conference room. Myrddin caught the direction of Jennifer’s gaze and nodded to Nimue. It was nearly time.
Jennifer felt a familiar tingling in her head, the presence of another mental operant, and it was not from anyone in the conference room. This was a new presence. There was another mind nearby. A very familiar one. She knew the source of the familiar mind was down on the cavern floor, where a strange glow was emanating. Drawn by the light she stood up, baby Arthur held tightly in her arms, and without a word to the others, walked out of the conference room. Nimue, Myrddin, Aquiline and Brother Dakol looked at Jennifer, then at each other. As one, they stood up and followed Jennifer out of the conference room, into the control room and toward the viewing gallery, which overlooked the vast cavern. They watched as Jennifer glanced over the balcony
of the viewing gallery, then run for the spiral staircase that led down to the floor of the cavern, not bothering to wait for the elevator. Baby Arthur gurgled at them merrily from the comfort of his mothers arms, before disappearing from view.
As a group, they walked to the viewing gallery and looked for themselves at the vast cavern below. There, surrounded by an eerie light, were three vast starships and one smaller vessel. Groups of men and women hurried to move equipment away from the gargantuan machines, whilst armed troops setup defensive positions around the edges of the cavern. The troops pointed their weapons nervously toward the huge cavern doors and an increasing hum indicated that the vessels were all preparing to leave. A ramp descended from the smaller of the vessels and a solitary figure emerged. He glanced rapidly around the cavern then ran towards a woman, holding a baby, who entered the cavern floor from a nearby staircase. With only the briefest of greetings, they turned and ran for the ramp of the smaller vessel. Once inside, the ramp closed and the eerie light began to fade. Nimue, Myrddin, Aquiline and Brother Dakol watched until the apparition faded and the cavern was empty once more.
They continued to stare at the now empty cavern for quite some time, before Nimue said, ‘My heart goes out to them for what will happen next. Is it really necessary?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ Aquiline replied. ‘We all agreed it is for the best.’
‘I suppose so,’ Nimue answered sadly.
Myrddin turned to the others and said gruffly, ‘Do you think that replicating machine could rustle up a few beers? I’m gasping…’
‘Ale,’ Brother Dakol replied flatly, ‘I prefer a good pale ale.’
‘A large glass of red wine would seem appropriate,’ Nimue added.
‘Do you think I’m old enough for a small Sherry?’ Aquiline asked innocently.
‘Of course dear,’ Nimue responded.
They turned and without a backward glance, headed back to the conference room.