“Hilton uses a sixth generation holographic emitter.” Ell’s reply held a note of contempt. “Sixth and seventh generations are incompatible. The idea was to make seventh and eighth generation AIs visually identical to flesh and blood. Ninth was to incorporate tactile projection, so that we could actually interact with physical objects, and tenth was to incorporate two way tactile feedback, so that our environment can interact with us.” The AI stopped for a moment. “The envisioned application was in health care, so that an AI could actually touch and feel a patient; monitoring temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure in a single simple touch.” The voice in the air sighed. “The engineers never had the chance to realize their dreams.” Ahead of them Chiu and the young man turned into a glassed in room, and Gareth stopped when he saw the quarter hectare of pool his wife was staring at. With a ceiling open to the chill air outside, thin fingers of steam were rising from the clear water.
Gareth took Chiu’s arm. “We need to wash up first.” He said in a low voice. “I haven’t had a good bath in weeks.”
“All right.” She said in a resigned voice, glancing back over her shoulder as Gareth led her away.
Looking like an overlarge beach ball floating in the air, the blue and red striped porter met them at the edge of the pool and led them to their sumptuous suite, depositing their meager belongings on a low coffee table. As the porter floated out of the room Shyrrik stopped, hovering at the foot of the bed.
“If you both would sit down please.” The mechanical voice was unusually flat. “I have a message for you.” Gareth felt a chill run down his spine, and Chiu’s face paled as she sat beside him. “Thank you. The message was to be delivered to the individuals who activated the Armageddon Device.”
The air in front of them flickered, and suddenly a man sat before them at a very familiar console in a brightly lit room. He looked incredibly tired. His dark brown eyes seemed to stare into them as he began to speak. “My name,” he began, “is Major General Barid Das, and I am head of Terran Strategic Command. I am operating with the full support and cooperation of the Terran High Council. If you are listening to this, then you have activated the Armageddon Device and destroyed the moon.” Gareth suddenly recognized the uniform the man was wearing, and the strange tee shaped key hanging from a chain about his neck. His desiccated body had been draped over the console where the Armageddon Device sat. The image of the man took a deep breath. “What you need to know is that the Armageddon Device, and the entire program to blow up the moon to save the Earth, was nothing more than a sham, created and implemented solely to keep the attention of the… more unsavory elements of the world population riveted to a project that, from its very inception, held no hope of success.”
This is the end of this story, but not the adventure. Follow Gareth through more perils, pitfalls and surprises in Eldenworld, The Decade Worlds, Book Three and the final book of the Eldenworld series.
The City that Time forgot Page 27