Lenders

by Johnson, John

  He arrived to the broadcast room shoulders sagging, and for a moment broke free of his prison of sadness and regret while beholding the sight of the needle at the center of the room. It was glowing harmoniously, and the steady rhythmic hum was gentle on the ears. Jim went to him, put and arm around his shoulder and led him to the center—and the purple electricity went through his head.

  His eyes went back, and a relaxed smile came over his face. Coming out of it ten seconds later, as if he’d taken a dose of tranquilizers, he floated his head to face Jim, and they hugged.

  “It wasn’t your fault Rico,” Jim said patting him on the back. “We all have to make decisions. That’s the hardest thing about being a leader. Most times, we live with our choice for the rest of our lives, and sometimes, we get a chance to make it right. Now, let’s go outside.”

  Outside, the broadcast needle atop the wall rose up, high into the sky. It illuminated with the same purple glow and pleasantly zapped those outside who were walking toward the true savior. Another brighter purple beam connected with the top of the craft. As if mutual communication had been achieved, support ship #11 departed, returning to the outer perimeter.

  Eyes lit with wonder as the bedazzled citizens encircled the craft; looking up they saw their own distorted reflections like those in a fun house mirror. It was a sight to be seen, a beautiful craft—again, if it was one. It gleamed flawlessly under the vivid blue sky. Slowly, contentedly, Jim walked with Rico behind the last of the widely spread out townspeople. Bertha had his right with a face of dry rock-hard tears; Ted walked on their left. The Docs, and the entire lender team walked behind them; and the townspeople made way. Then everyone stopped, and waited. New feelings flooded the minds of all, intense feelings that hadn’t been felt since childhood, and Rico cried with joy. Emotions rode the rails of a roller coaster, a smorgasbord of intensities tingled their fingers and toes and minds, and youthful vivacity popped; strong feelings of hope and wonder stood above the rest.

  Jim pondered at what he might expect. He expected, hoped, that he’d see Herald and Ana. For now he knew them like family. As if he was Amy, yet still Jim, with all of his memories, both. And somehow, as if channeled through the very DNA, or the system itself, he knew Herald intimately, and all of his memories—to a point. He knew of VlexCom, and his trusted friends. He knew even of Herald’s most intimate secrets: Troll, Vine, Snake, the oh so terrible Panic, even the Demon. And he knew he was standing, breathing, existing, only because of this man. He knew very well what they’d all accomplished. They’d saved so many—working together as a team. Intimately he knew Amy up until the cave rescue, but beyond that—blank. And he knew of his time with her here, objectively, as odd as it was, her memories and perspectives. He knew of her secrets too, the artwork she made and kept to herself, the true honest goodness in her heart, and he realized she was stronger than he’d ever imagined she was. He was heartbroken because she was gone. Overwhelmingly, the flood of it all forced his eyes to fill.

  And he knew how he himself fit into the picture, why he was even brought to Jewel City in the first place. And it hurt his heart to think of it. It was the one thing his mind pushed into the darkness, behind its own great wall; a wall of impenetrable denial. No, no, no! It cannot be! And he pushed it back, even further into the recesses of his mind. He let it get buried by all of the other stuff; mountains upon mountains of other stuff.

  The side of the ship began to melt and its liquid chrome assumed the shape of a ramp. A gradual curving and graceful path led the way to a twenty-foot wide platform. The inside was as bright as day. What appeared to be a world, lush and green, with trees and vegetation, even buildings and blue sky filled the land beyond the arched opening as if the ship itself was a traveling portal. A tall elegant creature stepped forward onto the platform. He was nude and smooth, and thin about his every feature, extremely, as if he’d been stretched so. His skin was semi-gloss and pastel blue, his friendly eyes were large and ran deep with warm golden-yellow, and he blinked slowly. Accompanying him appeared a slightly shorter version of the same creature, and it held his hand, and looked up to him with a smile. Together, they waved at the town agape below. And a hello could be heard, but not by sound. It was felt mentally, and was sincere. Like a picture, worth a million words, the greeting from these creatures spoke worlds in one magical feeling. They spoke, welcome to all.

  On the other side of the platform, through what appeared to be a blooming spring-green park, appeared the shadow of a man and woman passing between rows of flowers. They headed toward the opening.

  Jim stood outside next to Rico, waiting. He knew, it was Herald and Ana. And he could not wait to meet them. His body tingled with anticipation. He stepped forward, departing the dazzled crowd, alone, toward the ship. And he put his foot on the chrome ramp.

  And the light of the day lit their faces. It was Herald, and Amy. Amy! And she looked great, just as he remembered, except, she was slightly older, perhaps by five years. And he wobbled for a moment. His eyes flooded and a pass of dizziness blew by him, then his muscles tightened; emotions on overload. He’d yet to master this new powerful side of himself, and his heart pounded the inside of his chest making him warm all over. The tingle throughout his body exploded into pure elation.

  He rushed up the S-shaped floating path like an ecstatic child, and onto the platform. From there his steps were slow, as if stepping into a dream. Can this really be? Amy smiled at him brightly, just the same way she’d always had. And she waved, perkily. It was her! And he hugged her, and she him. And together they cried. His joy erupted, like he was the Sun and his rays were gleaming emotions that involved every color of a rainbow. And he saw Herald, and shook his hand; hardly able to contain himself. Herald was older too, by quite a bit; he looked experienced and wise. He felt him as a friend, a father. And then, they too hugged.

  Ana came shortly after, followed by another man. It was Jon! He wore a tight white glove on one hand, the one that had been severed by the machines during his fight to protect Amy at the cave. They’d been able to revive him! And his beard of despair and hopelessness had been shaved and he looked vibrant and happy in life; he too looked older—in contrast with Jim’s new memories, but fantastic just the same. Ana was stunning, her birthmark was a mark of beauty, and she smiled to Jim, and the greetings went round. He’d met Ana in the Fantasyland map he’d entered with Felix and Rico, through the portal beyond the Old Town map. But now, he knew so much about her, and what they’d been through. Sadly, Jim thought, Jerry was nowhere to be seen. And he forced many ideas and speculations behind the great wall he’d mentally created; he locked it and threw away the key.

  Herald invited the entire town aboard and they came. Mystified, they went about the beautiful green land that painted the interior of the saucer and met—the others.

  They were people, if you could call them people, of all types, all colors, but they surely weren’t human. As if beings from the entire universe had met to mingle, to drive this world of a flying saucer about the universe. Short olive-colored people, again thin, and seemingly without a muscle on their body came up to greet the lenders and arriving townspeople. The ten-feet tall pastel-blue colored beings, ones that had first introduced themselves, spoke, without words. Some beings flew high about the clear sky above, and quickly they too descended to participate in the mass greeting. Others were translucent, mostly, and their bodies changed shape at will. Just touching them was a powerful form of communication.

  Rico, Ted, the other lenders and team were overjoyed—which overshadowed their perplexity—to see Amy. They cried happy tears and broke down. And their new minds, like it should be, contained a wonder as large as the universe itself—larger even. After the long line of hugs and greetings Herald led all deeper inside to the park, and they sat in the cool green grass and he began to explain.

  “We invite you all to come with us. Earth, sadly, is finished and soon the machines will inevitably overrun the planet and wipe it clean. This is
their purpose: to destroy any that abuse technology to the point it can harm the universe itself. Jim, I believe, although I do not know the extent to how much you received, you know this already. Technology is a fragile thing, and in the wrong hands, frivolous and ignorant, rampant and careless, it will be dissolved. Only a small few are entrusted with it, those you see here—and, a few more.” He smiled to Ana, who also returned one.

  “But Amy, I saw you die. How?” Jim asked.

  “Listen Jim,” she said, smiling, surely with a few extra years of practiced patience.

  “Many of you might know your very dreams were stolen from you by the machines, this force meant to do us in. Because, we were once so rash. They hated, but, it was their purpose—to stop us. They manipulated the cleansing. You were all provided fixes, yes, superficial many, cures for diseases, but also your imagination was stolen. Your ability—and this, like many other things manifested later—to procreate. Much had a delayed and gradual impact: all who tried perished during childbirth, and soon after, the ability to conceive eventually vanished as well. Amy, Ana, and I, and a very small few others were hidden from this cleansing, so they called it. And I am sorry, we discovered this too late to warn anyone, but in time to hide ourselves from its damaging effects. Later, in conjunction with our system, likewise the facility you have here in your town, we were able to devise a way to repair this damage, through dreams—with Amy’s help. We lost her during the war, hence the long wait, but eventually were able to reunite. Her DNA had been devised specifically to collaborate with the systems in order to repair the damage that had been done. And by logging in with her, the repair process took place.”

  “But—” Jim said. “Why did she have to die, and why, how—”

  “Jim, the Amy you knew was a copy, exact in every detail. And although she did have her own life, she’d been lent her very own consciousness—by the real Amy. In effect, the Amy you knew was a dream character.”

  Ted realized, “The ball, the one in her head—”

  “Yes, exactly. She was a copy, we, printed her you might say. The real Amy, here with us now—” He turned to her and smiled. “—was lending, for years, although we have advanced technology that allows her to integrate the process seamlessly into her life, without the need to be, asleep.”

  “But she had to die?” Jim re-asked.

  “In the final moments of life a power is released, on one plane of the universe, a dimension other than this, it is stronger than anything imaginable.” He paused. “Imagine a garden, and she was a flower. When she was ready, she released her pedals, which she had nurtured, grown, with her own life experiences, giving them to the many, you. And you all, those that have been touched with it, as I feel all of you in front of me have, received a part of her. A part of her imagination—is now yours. A gift you might say—to replace what you’ve lost, had stolen. And you will nurture it, and it will continue to grow. And one day, one special day—you too will explode, like a supernova—on the other plane of which I speak—and you will be spread throughout, giving a part of your own self, to an entirely new universe of beings. And the flowers in the garden continue to grow, and blossom and bloom.”

  “And this needed to take place, her death, to be able to contact you?”

  “There is only one Amy remaining now. And she is here. Her copied counterparts were designed to not only to repair each and every one of you, and your DNA, providing you once again imagination and curiosity, but our systems used a small sliver of this power—for contact. We were on the far side of the universe when we received your call. And we came to save you. You have proven yourselves.”

  “Proven ourselves?”

  “I never intended to save the world Jim. But I gave it a chance. We did.” He splayed his arms about his team and family. “Many of these towns were constructed and surrounded by a wall, built by the builders—immense and very powerful robots. Some of the towns however fought with each other, some abused the chance we provided, and, only a very small few came through. Those, meaning each of you in front of me, worked with what they had, cared deeply for one another—even waited until Amy and others had grown because they knew about problems with early versions of the lending systems; that it could cause amnesia among youngsters. So many towns went on regardless of knowing, carelessly, as humanity has always proceeded to a large degree, hence the predicament in which we find this planet—a total loss. You and your town, are special, you worked together. The system went both ways, Jim. We received your mind, your memories—we saw it all, how you lived—and a decision was made. And because of this we are here now, and we welcome all of you to come, join us.”

  “I know so much about you Herald, about VlexCom and your struggles. I also know, the machines started scanning humans, stealing their consciousness. I even remember your childhood dreams Amy. People, enslaved in a dream world, used, abused, forced to work. What about those others?” Jim asked. The wall he’d built in his mind started to crumble. And he continued after a hard swallow, “What about those in the ship, half of our town that boarded that monstrosity? Are we going to try and save them? You talk about the importance of consciousness on this other plane, what about them?”

  Herald paused. He flattened a smile and looked to Ana and Amy who sat next to him. Jon was still standing, behind them. Jon knew Valerie hadn’t been scanned when she and her child passed during childbirth, and that Jodi’s consciousness was safe, and from all he’d learned, they could eventually meet up, possibly during the next transitional stage—but he thought of Jerry.

  “Jerry,” Jon said looking down to Herald.

  “Is he Herald?” Jim asked. He’d seen him through Amy’s eyes, so his resemblance was altered. But, he already knew. And the wall in his mind crumbled as if an earthquake was tearing it to pieces, and his heart began to torture his chest.

  “You know that I never said I could save them all. Even with the power of this ship, and every being aboard, and the knowledge we tread carefully with, I cannot save them all.”

  Silence went around. And Jim thought deep. He remembered in the recollection: Herald never gave up, he went against all odds. Why? Because someone had to. He realized with all he was so quickly learning, and with all that he had learned in his own life, that this was the way of the universe. That it takes a person, just one with the right plan, the right friends, and the right amount of information—but mostly, imagination. It takes this to succeed, to save. And he asked again, “Herald, is he?”

  “Yes, Jim, he is. He came to me at the cabins and asked sincerely if there was any chance. Any way in hell, as he put it. He told me you were a dreamer, the smartest young guy he knew. I told him it would be difficult, nearly impossible. But, I gave him my word I would try. You were on the other side of the country, and it wasn’t easy, but we finally managed to save you. I wish we could’ve saved the rest of your family. Yes, Jim. But I am sure you already know. Jerry is your brother, and yes, he was scanned.”

  The wall crumbled, and there he was, standing tall in his mind. His memories and that of Amy’s merged to create a clear vision of his older brother. And yes, he already knew. He knew it after receiving the memories. Denial, the pain of it all, the war, his old rigid mind, every fucking damn thing, had made him blind. He wanted to cry and break down, but did the exact opposite.

  “We must be going now,” Herald said.

  “Herald, Amy, Ana, I want to thank you for saving us,” Jim said, “for giving us a chance. But, I cannot go. I am going to use the chance you have given me. I’m going to save the others, all of them.”

  Herald had yet to see this with the others. He sighed. He couldn’t imagine what it would take to get that consciousness back from the world of machines. They’d turned the planet into an impenetrable shell. They’d even stolen his own ideas, about lending and employing consciousness, and evolved billions of times over. Even with the magnificent powers he shared with his new friends of the universe—it was suicide. The steps of possibility, get
ting taller with each rise, farther and farther from reach, were unable to grasp. His other accomplishments paled in comparison to what this one man had just decided to undertake—but, he knew what passion and determination could do.

  “Can I sir, have the key to this city?” Jim asked.

  “You’ll go about this alone? Surely the others want what we can offer, and I’m needed elsewhere so unfortunately cannot assist. Jewel City is now the last city on Earth, the final stand, and it’s only a matter of time—they’re closing in. Do you even realize what you are saying?”

  Somehow, Jim knew—he was not going to be alone.

  Jon raised a hand and said, “Jim, I’m with you. I owe it to Jerry. If he’s out there, I cannot let him down.”

  One after another the lenders stood up. Bertha stood up. The Docs stood. Lia and Ted, Abell and Ron and Devon, the twins, even little Myron stood. Fran and Nanny stood up. Alex and Trixie rose to their feet. Jessie asked to rise, and security who’d been at her back, let her and followed suit. And Rico. All of the lenders, and the team stood along with many others who’d taken a seat on the grass to listen to Herald’s explanations. They all agreed. They were going to stay in Jewel City, and rebuild, and use technology wisely from that day forward, and retrieve the consciousness, the consciousness that’d been stolen by the machines.

  Half of the town decided to go with Herald and his family. Goodbyes went around, and it was painful, but happy in the same moment—for they’d shared their hearts. Lia was brought aboard and restored physically, although it would take a few months for the regeneration procedure to complete. She nodded a teary-eyed thank you, then Abell carried her down the ramp. And Herald gave Jim the key to the city, the systems—full unlimited control. In his hand he also placed a purple sphere, technology, the power of science and beyond. As Jim left the ship, descending the ramp in company of Jon and Rico he turned one last time. “Herald, why is it called Jewel City?”