by Andrew Busey
“I need to ask you one question,” he said.
“OK.”
“Have you spoken to anyone outside IACP about our work?”
“No. Outside of the office, and after I left, the only person I talked to about it was Stephen.”
Thomas studied her face. He could see no “I told you so” in Catherine’s eyes. He could see no hint of an ulterior agenda of any kind.
So he smiled and told her, “Welcome back.”
Chapter 47
And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
—Acts 3:15, King James Version
And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did [it], as [did] also your rulers.
—Acts 3:17, King James Version
And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead…
—Romans 1:4, King James Version
SU-N11 Time: 511 PC [+13,508,915,729 Years]
The palace had largely been converted into a temple since Mike had been here last but that had been before the death of the pharaoh. The old sleeping chamber for the harem was now open and people passed through it slowly, reading the story told by the writing and pictures that were embossed on the wall. It wasn’t crowded; most of the population already knew these stories. But some came to remind themselves, and others came to teach their children. It was important to them that these stories be learned, these beliefs adopted. They represented the new foundations of this society.
It could have been a museum and Mike a tourist, except that it was real. To these people, they were modern stories, not ancient. They spoke the truth, and there was little room for interpretation.
The first facet of the wall told the story of the five gods—the Creator, the Builder, the Architect, the Guide, the Scribe, and the Darkness. It told stories of the first civilization that had brought order from chaos—the creators of the first city and the five pyramids. It spoke of the importance of order. It laid out a system of morals and ethics that all were expected to adhere to and the rewards for doing so: the Guide would lead you safely in Darkness when your time came.
Mike continued to the second wall, marveling as he walked at how well the Nefirti software translated everything. It overlaid the English translations perfectly and further amplified the museum experience. But it made him think of Stephen, and Nefirti of course, and that made him sadder than usual. He often felt melancholy when he entered the SU now, but this was deeper.
The second wall depicted a map of the pyramids, showing a crater where the sixth would have been. Then it told of the decadence of the final pharaohs—the harems, the sacrifices, the moral decay—that they worshipped the gods in name only.
It showed the death of the high priest, the soldiers, and Nefirti’s parents. It showed Muu Muu attempting to protect her—the protection of innocence against evil and the power the protector was given. It told of the importance of loyalty…and of sacrifice. The cat represented good attacking evil.
The story continued, that Nefirti knew what must happen and went silently unto the altar. And before the dagger pierced her heart, she called out to the gods to save her people—to end the blasphemy of the pharaohs.
Mike didn’t read the curse. He already knew it by heart. But he saw that it was written on the wall.
And then it depicted her entering Darkness.
Nefirti’s shadow moved through Darkness seeking the gods, not for herself but to free her people from tyranny. It showed her finding the Builder. He listened to her pleas and cries at the state of the world. He was enraged by the misdeeds done in the name of the gods.
Mike started to wonder if Stephen had figured out how to manifest himself in the SU somehow. The story almost seemed like a conversation between Nefirti and Stephen. But there had been nothing to indicate such an interaction in the log files, and Mike didn’t think it was possible.
The story continued, that the Builder, out of love for Nefirti and the people, had broken the law of the gods and intervened to shatter the tyranny of the pharaoh. He granted Nefirti’s curse—a god delivering wrath and vengeance. He had wiped out the pharaoh and all his progeny, leaving the city with no ruler. He had further wiped out much of the priesthood for their pandering to the pharaoh rather than doing the will of the gods.
The next panel showed the resurrection of Nefirti and her sacred guardian, Muu Muu, by the Builder. It showed her marching to the palace and the people falling at her feet chanting, “Daughter of the gods.” The next panel told of the rise of new order, based on the teachings of Nefirti and the words she brought back from the Builder.
A recess in the wall, dimly lit by candles, contained a door mounted like a picture. On the door was the diamond with its dots, the religious symbol Mike knew well. But this one was different. The Builder’s dot had bled into the Darkness. It was the door from Nefirti’s house.
Written next to it was Nefirti’s recitation of the Builder’s words upon her resurrection:
I was banished to the Darkness by a false vessel of the Gods. I will Build a new place there, in the Darkness. A place bereft of fear. Those that do good shall live in eternal happiness. Once I go there, I can help you no more in life. I will wait for you there, to give you a sanctuary in the Darkness.
Chills went down Mike’s spine. Again, he wondered if Stephen had found some way to communicate with her.
Mike continued down the final wall, reading about the new era that had been ushered in by Nefirti. It told of peace and equality—not quite of democracy or the things we think of, but more that people should be respected. It laid out a series of edicts, their principles falling somewhere between the Ten Commandments or the golden rule on one side and the Bill of Rights on the other. It was a new moral and ethical system that combined elements of religion and government. Mike thought it was a fascinating step forward.
Well, at least Stephen made a difference, Mike thought and sat in one of the rendering room’s chairs. He leaned back in the chair, contemplating the changes that had been wrought on Alpha through just one intervention. It was definitely more than a nudge.
***
Mike finally leaned forward.
He looked at the computer screen and said, “Stephen, did you communicate with Nefirti?” He threw his hands up in the air. “And if you did, how?”
He backed the renderer up to Nefirti’s death and scanned forward from there, looking for some way Stephen might have manifested or left a message. Mike doubted that Stephen had figured out a way to “appear” in the SU. That would most likely take some kind of body suit or some way to jack into an observer’s brain or something, and Mike hadn’t seen any indication that Stephen had created anything like that. It seemed more likely that Stephen had figured out some way to send a message, almost like handing Nefirti the Ten Commandments.
As Mike scanned forward, he saw everything that the whole team had played through the previous week, but he didn’t see anything obvious that could have delivered a message. He saw Nefirti at the temple. He saw her anointing a priest. There he paused. He recognized the priest.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s the acolyte that survived. He was at her house.”
He stopped to watch.
“We need to change things,” Nefirti said.
The acolyte nodded. “The old priesthood was so cynical and corrupt. They were toadies to the pharaoh.” He shook his head. “When I set off down that path, I hoped to do something good, but the core was rotten. We have a blank slate now.”
“It’s not blank,” she said. “The gods are still here. We know they care about us.” She frowned before continuing. “I wish they had given me some guidance. I feel like I was touched, but all I really know is that they cared enough to bring me back.”
“And wipe out the pharaoh, his line, and the priesthood.”
“Yes, that would appear to be a definite mandate for change.”
He nodded v
igorously.
“So let’s guess at what they want. I think we can use this to instill goodness into people and make our city better. It is an opportunity for the gods to deliver a message of hope.”
“So the gods are going to speak through you? Some kind of message before you are resurrected?”
“Yes.”
Mike mumbled to himself, “So, there it is.”
Stephen had not communicated with her in any way—other than bringing her back to life. It appeared Stephen and Mike had made a powerful choice in Nefirti. She was strong and smart and had seized the opportunity. Clearly, her resurrection had catapulted her to an important position in society. Mike felt like a proud father knowing she had used that position to lay a strong foundation for her people. On some level, it bothered him that she had put words into the mouths of gods. Maybe it was some weird sense of blasphemy or heresy that had disturbed him or maybe it was just the shocking audacity that she showed by so convincingly speaking for the gods. Maybe it was something else entirely. Regardless, he was relieved and fascinated by the way she had used the situation and the power it had given her to make such changes for good. So although he felt a little confused, he was proud of her and he thought Stephen would be proud of her as well. Mike felt all this somehow reflected Stephen’s love for the SU and for Nefirti.
Chapter 48
Immortality lies not in the things you leave behind, but in the people your life has touched.
—Unknown
It didn’t start out a somber day, but it quickly became one. As each member of the IACP team arrived at work, sat down, and eventually opened their e-mail, they each saw the day’s standard SU-N11 update in their inboxes. Today’s was different. It was the first time in weeks—and the second time ever—that the update carried a major event header.
Major Event: Nefirti died of natural causes last night.
Mike did a quick calculation. She was forty-two. It made sense. The life expectancy on Alpha was much lower—as it had been in the early days of our own world.
Another e-mail was waiting as well, this one from Jules.
Please gather in Rendering Room 1 at 9:30 a.m.
Mike wondered if this was Thomas’s request or just a proactive action on Jules’s part. Then he decided it didn’t really matter; it was a nice gesture. He noticed his instant messaging client blinking, so he opened it.
Thomas: hey can you talk a little about nefirti? you knew her best
Mike: sure no problem
Thomas: thanks
Mike leaned back in his chair and started composing his thoughts.
***
By around 9:20, the core IACP team had assembled in Rendering Room 1. They were in the main Alphan city, and it looked like major ceremonies were about to start there as well. They watched, seemingly from a crowd, the palace waiting to see what would happen. It looked like twenty thousand or more Alphans had gathered for Nefirti’s funeral.
“Thanks for coming,” Thomas said. As he began to speak, tears welled up in his eyes—something that most of the team had never seen. “Stephen was instrumental in the creation of the SU. He made many major breakthroughs, but I believe if he was here today, he would say the thing he was most proud of is Nefirti. She was so full of life. Nefirti has touched all of our lives. That is something I never expected to say when we started down this road. It’s amazing that someone in a universe we created has had a lasting impact on our lives.”
There were somber nods from most of the team.
“This is painful because this girl, who many thought of as a daughter, has passed away. The immortality we have, relative to our SU, will always create issues like this. Those we develop connections with will grow old and die in months or weeks, while we continue to live and watch. We should remember these people and remember that they are the ones who make the SU real.”
Thomas nodded toward Mike.
Mike cleared his throat and said, “Nefirti not only touched us in a deep way, she also touched her own world. Her resurrection by Stephen did not carry any caveats or requirements. But she realized the opportunity it presented and grabbed hold of it. She reshaped her world into a better place. With deft subtlety, she altered the religious system and totally reshaped the political reality on Alpha. Her life will have an impact on Alpha for centuries, if not more. They call her the daughter of the gods.”
There were a few whispers at Mike’s brief eulogy for her. He knew not everyone knew what had happened after the resurrection.
At that moment, horns blared out. Everyone turned to face the palace.
A phalanx of guards stepped out of the palace. They were followed by two beasts similar to oxen, which pulled a large open wagon. Whispers of awe rippled through the assembled crowd as the procession inched its way forward.
Nefirti was lying in a bed of flowers, arms across her chest. She appeared at rest, serene. The procession coursed down the avenue lined with Alphans paying tribute to the queen who had freed them and improved their lives.
Tears were plainly visible on the faces of much of the crowd, both in Alpha and in the rendering room. Lisa saw a tear on Thomas’s cheek, and she took his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder.
Epilogue
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
—Arthur C. Clarke
A few weeks after Nefirti’s death, the pall had finally started to lift at IACP. Thomas, with Catherine’s help, had finally got the press under control. Things were starting to get back to normal.
New discussions were happening, often starting with “What now?”
Then the klaxon bells of the alarm system started blaring throughout the building. Somewhat panicked, everyone fled the building.
In the data center, silent glass panels dropped from the ceiling encasing each independent SU in its own airtight cube. Then each cube was nearly instantaneously filled with the inert gas argon that had the immediate effect of removing all fuel from any potential fire. In parallel, another system analyzed the content of the gas leaving each cube for potential evidence of a fire. If it detected a fire, it immediately cut power to that cube. This system had been carefully designed to avoid cutting power unless absolutely necessary while containing any potential fire, preventing it from damaging multiple systems. It had been expensive, but Thomas had demanded it after the meltdowns they had experienced during the early days of the SU. He had forgotten about that.
Larry pulled him aside and reminded him as he milled about outside the building waiting for the fire department to finish their walkthrough.
Once the building had been cleared, Thomas and Larry went straight to the data center where Bleys met them. He probably hadn’t left the building.
As they entered the primary systems area, most of the glass walls were hissing back into their invisible alcoves in the ceiling. One remained encased in glass. The original SU.
“Any idea what could have caused this?” Thomas asked, looking at the glass-encased system. It had obviously been on fire, but the argon gas had extinguished the fire without much of a trace other than some smolder components.
“Man, I have no idea. Clearly, SU-0 had a meltdown and the system cut power and contained it. I guess that fire suppression system was worth it. But I don’t know what this means for the universe—hell, I don’t even know if it can be rebooted,” Larry replied as he entered a code on a nearby touchpad. The glass encasing SU-0 hissed upward and disappeared.
“What do you mean completely shut down? All of the redundancy failed?”
“It must have. It never should have been able to get that hot.”
“So, the original universe may just be gone?” Thomas continued his questioning. “Really, I don’t know if it’s even worth turning back on; we never found anything in it—besides, we have SU-N11 and the Alphans now.” Then it occurred to him that he might get asked about just such a situation. Had they destroyed a universe?
&nb
sp; “Thomas, it’s not so much the machine failed. It’s that there was no reason for it to fail. There’s nothing that could have been happening within the program to cause a system-wide catastrophic failure like that. Look, the physics ‘stuff’ isn’t what I do, but I know there was nothing wrong with the hardware. I got no alerts until the fire suppression was triggered. Something had to cause it to fail.”
“Well, as much as I would like to look into it…” Thomas paused to consider. “I don’t think we can unless you can manage to get it back online so we can see what was going on.”
“On it,” Bleys quipped.
“Let me know as soon as it comes back online,” Thomas said, knowing that he would get a text milliseconds after they got it to work. “Oh, but don’t turn on universe processing. I just want rendering to see what was going on.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so? If you want that, I think I can take a renderer and plug it into this SU’s diamond,” Larry said. “It should be ready to go in thirty minutes.”
“Talk to Jenn, and send it to all the rendering rooms,” Thomas said already on his way out of the data center.
As he was walking back to his office, he called Jules and told her to get the core team together and have them meet him in Rendering Room 1. Finding a needle in a haystack, after all, was much easier with multiple people—particularly if you don’t know whether or not there’s a needle in the haystack at all.
***
Fifteen minutes later, everyone had gathered in Rendering Room 3. Mike, Don, Lisa, Jules, Ajay, and even Catherine had no idea why they were there, particularly after the emotional rollercoaster of the day before.