by Eric Warren
She whipped her head over to Jennings. “I thought you said you were going to see what you could do!”
“I tried. But after the Specialist examined your arm he found…interesting tools tucked inside.”
“What sort of tools?” She hadn’t thought about that. Though Jessika had designed the arm, Arista hadn’t quite figured out all of its features yet. She knew it contained at least diagnostic and surgical tools as she’d used them to remove inhibitor discs from some of the machines. But who knew what else was in there. Jessika told her there weren’t any weapons; nothing like what Sy had done to her, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something in there that couldn’t be misconstrued as a weapon.
“As if you don’t know.” Foley wrapped his hand around her arm and dragged her up out of her seat.
“Hey! Let go, you don’t have to manhandle me,” Arista said, twisting against him.
“You want to make trouble for yourself?” he asked, a gleam in his eye.
Arista shut up and stopped moving. Remember the goal. Get out of here as quickly as possible.
“I thought not. Now come with me, we have to finish processing you.”
Arista shot a look back at Jennings, who looked somewhat sheepish standing there in the empty room. She never should have trusted him. It seemed like the humans of this world weren’t much different than the ones of hers. She stifled a laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Life,” she replied. “Life is funny.”
Foley didn’t say anything else, only led her down the hallway past a series of media screens buried in the middle of one of the walls. She almost didn’t pay any attention to them until a particular face caught her eye.
“Wait,” she said, stopping. “Who’s that?”
Foley glanced from her back to the screen. “You really need to keep moving,” he warned.
“I will, just…who is that?”
He turned to the screen. “First you don’t know what day it is. Then you don’t know where you are. And now you’ve never heard of Echo Dante?”
Echo. How did she get on TV?
“No, of course I’ve heard of her,” Arista said with complete honesty. “I just…I just didn’t recognize her there for a second.”
Foley got up in her face and sniffed her. “I think maybe you do need to go down to medical. Your behavior is very concerning.”
“No, no, I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just…I can’t remember. What does she do again?”
Foley stared at her like her head had fallen off. “She’s one of the richest people in the world. Runs hundreds of technology companies. Thousands of charities. Hundreds of thousands of sponsorships. She might as well be the unelected leader of Earth.”
Arista’s heart rate picked up. She had to remember to take deep breaths. That wasn’t her Echo on the screen there, it was one native to this universe. She still existed here. And if she did, perhaps so did other people. Perhaps there was even another Arista out there running around. Except…she furrowed her brow. The police hadn’t come up with any hits on her fingerprints or DNA. Which meant she didn’t exist here. Maybe Echo was just an anomaly.
“Oh shit,” she said, not meaning to do it aloud.
“What?” Foley asked, clearly losing his patience.
If her Echo found out she had a double here, especially one with enough power and resources to do whatever she wanted, then how long before her Echo went after this world’s Echo? How long before she tried to take her place?
“The uhhh…Ms. Dante is in danger,” Arista said. “You need to warn her. Or put some patrols on her.”
“Danger?” Foley asked, his face incredulous.
“Yes, danger! Someone is coming after her, you need to make sure she’s safe.”
Foley rolled his eyes. “She’s one of the richest people in all of history. She’s got a private security force she pays probably ten times what I make. People who are trained in every kind of combat situation and martial art on the planet. I think she’ll be okay.” He resumed walking, dragging her along with him.
“No, but, you don’t get it. The person coming after her will be in disguise. They’ll…they’ll think it’s her.”
Foley dropped his head and shook it while leading her down the hallway. “Do us both a favor and shut up. I’m too tired to deal with any more paperwork relating to you and your unique situation.” He turned on her, looking her dead in the eye. “I’ll tell you one thing, though. You better pray nothing happens to Ms. Dante this evening or tomorrow or anytime. Because if something does, you’re going to be the first person we look at.”
“I was trying to warn you! Not brag about some misguided attempt to wrestle power from her. She needs to know what’s coming because if this person I know finds her, no one will ever know.”
“You know this person?” Foley asked.
“Yes. Well, I mean, I do. But I can’t tell you who they are.”
Foley smirked and resumed walking. “Of course you can’t. Why would you?”
“Will you at least consider it?” Arista asked. They passed desks on either side, some empty and others with officers interfacing with some kind of terminal Arista had never seen before.
“Hey everybody,” Foley yelled, continuing to lead her down the hall. “This woman says Echo Dante is in immediate danger and is about to be replaced by a pod person. Let’s get someone over there to get that committed to the net, huh?”
Half the room cracked up laughing while the other half stifled grins and returned to work. Was this how it was supposed to be?
“Hey,” Jennings said, coming up behind them. “C’mon, man.”
“What?” Foley said. “She’s spouting nonsense. Once I finish processing I want you to get her down to medical. Let them do an examination.”
Arista almost froze. No examinations. No procedures. If they didn’t like finding an arm that came off, what would they do if they detected the Device mounted on her brain? Try to remove it too? Or would she just be sentenced to death?
“Jeez, some people can’t take a joke,” Arista said. She scoffed. “You really think I’m serious?”
“I think you’re messed up,” Foley said. “Now get over here so we can get this over with.”
***
Fifteen minutes later Arista’s image had been uploaded into the main database, she’d given a blood sample, and her genome had been mapped and placed inside the system. She wondered if the database would show anything suspicious, like perhaps a different quantum signature telling them she couldn’t possibly be from this universe? Or was that too far-fetched? She sat in her cell, pondering. This cell had a cot, a small toilet and nothing but old-fashioned metal bars. No quantum walls or pocket universes here. It seemed these humans were content to make things easy. Maybe they just hadn’t been pushed to innovate like the humans of her world had. After all, the entire reason the gates existed in the first place was because of the machine threat. If there was no threat, why make the gates? It made perfect sense. But it also eliminated any possibility they’d be able to use their own to get back. Even if Frees somehow had the knowledge to build one, they had no clue how David’s particular model had worked. And it had taken him fifteen years to develop.
Arista reached up with her arm and grabbed the edge of her sleeve with her teeth, pulling it back. Then she tapped the side of her head above her ear.
“Frees?” she whispered. She tapped the comm under her skin, confirming she had the right number. “Frees, are you there?”
It was nothing but static. She didn’t want to panic, there was a good chance it wasn’t working because the types of communications they used here were different. Operating on different frequencies or modulations. But she still couldn’t help feel that pit in her stomach.
She stood and walked over to one of the two solid walls that made up her cage and tapped the surface just like the guard had showed her. A vid-screen appeared in the wall, but she only had a limited number of channel
s. She flipped back through them, looking for the one she’d seen Echo on but not finding anything. It must be a blocked channel. Instead, she surfed to a different set: American history.
Unfortunately, it was all in text.
Arista sighed and rubbed her eyes one at a time. She should probably take the chance to get some rest, but she needed information on this world and its history. If she ever had any chance of understanding what was going on here, she had to buckle down and learn it.
***
Half an hour later the doors to the cell block down the hall opened up, causing Arista to snap awake. She’d fallen asleep leaning against the wall reading. It’d been more comfortable than it had looked and when she looked at the text before her, she realized she’d barely gotten through the first page.
“Studying?” Jennings asked, approaching from the cell block doors.
“Just…keeping myself occupied,” Arista replied. She yawned and walked over to her “bed”, laying back so she was half on the bed and half propped up by the wall.
“I took a lot of history classes in college. Anything I can answer?”
She gave a quick laugh. “Is that why you came in here? To help me with my homework?”
“Try me,” he said, giving her a brief smile.
“Okay then.” She sat back up. “Explain to me the Artificial Control Act of 2053. The reason why you arrested me.”
“Well,” Jennings said glancing at the floor. “It was designed to prevent the development or spread of Artificial Intelligence after the scares of 2050, 2051 and 2052.”
“What were ‘the scares’?”
“Companies were in a race to develop the first true AI, and they very nearly succeeded. Some say it would have happened in 2051 if someone hadn’t destroyed the Cadre.”
She snapped awake. “The Cadre?”
“Yeah, that was the name of the campus where they were developing it. Didn’t you learn any of this in school?” he asked.
“I didn’t go to school,” she admitted. Everything she’d ever learned had either been from experience or by reading what few books she could get her hands on. When you’re moving all over the country it’s kind of hard to build yourself a library.
“Oh,” he said, his eyes dropping. “It was a project by Caltech with input from various other countries. We were trying to beat the Chinese to building the first sentient AI in existence. They were close in 2050, close enough to get the attention of the government, who immediately took interest in the project. Then in 2151 some people say the AI came online, but the building housing it was destroyed soon after a massive explosive.” He leaned closer to the bars. “Personally, I don’t believe they ever got it off the ground, but they were close enough for someone to do something drastic.”
“What happened after that?” Arista asked.
“Most of the base research was undamaged, but they had to rebuild everything from scratch which took another nine months. By then the governmental regulatory agencies deemed the risk too great. They started running all these prediction scenarios and apparently they were…disturbing.”
“Disturbing how?” Her heart was really pumping now. Is this what had happened in her own world? Except for whatever reason the first AI hadn’t been destroyed? They had come online April 25th, 2051. Four days later the world was at war.
“I’m sure you know back then many people had personal robotic assistants. Husks they called them. Looked human. Sounded human, just nothing…” He pointed to his head “up here. Simple things to do simple tasks. Help with groceries. Keep people company. Even keep them warm at night if that’s what they wanted.”
Arista was more than familiar.
“The scenarios predicted the AI would manage a way to take control of the husks, infiltrate society. Possibly gain access to things like nuclear codes. Real end-of-the-world shit. So the project was shut down.”
“So that’s…why there are no more machines walking around,” she said. It finally clicked. This world didn’t have any artificial life. They were all humans.
Jennings nodded. “And then came the other war.”
“What other war?” Arista asked.
“The one with the Chinese to make them shut their program down too. They weren’t interested in hearing the reports or the projections. They just wanted the thing to work. And they weren’t going to stop. And eventually a bunch of different countries had to come together and force them.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” Jennings smiled at her. “And now that the history lesson is over I know without a doubt that you aren’t from here.”
“I know. I told you I was from…um…Mars.”
Jennings shook his head very slowly, a pained look on his face.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been so eager to learn about this world’s past. “I mean, you know, I told you I had retrograde—” she couldn’t even finish it.
“I know exactly where you’re from,” Jennings said. “And it’s not Mars.”
FIVE
“WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?” Arista asked. She never should have opened her mouth. She should have just let him come in here, ask whatever he had planned on asking rather than let him goad her into accepting his challenge. Probably everyone in the solar system knew about the AI scare. She bet it was told as a bedtime story to infants.
“Oh, no reason,” Jennings said, taking his eyes off her and walking around to the other side of the cell.
“Is there some purpose you have in coming here? Like an actual reason other than to harass me?” Arista said. Maybe if she got combative he might leave her alone. But then what? He already knew there was something wrong with her.
“There is. I came in to tell you you have a hearing scheduled in two days. You’ll be taken before the judge to determine if you are a danger to society and if it is lawful for us to keep or release you.”
“Oh,” Arista said. She sat back down on the bed. Two days. That was too long. What if they tried opening up the gate before then? If they came back for Echo, they wouldn’t return for her and Frees. And she couldn’t stay here. Not on a planet full of humans.
“I’m curious,” Jennings said. “You asked about the ACA. Does that subject have particular…resonance with you?”
“What? What do you mean?” she asked, not following his train of thought.
“It’s just you have your arm,” he said. “And that seems like a pretty important part of you. So I naturally assumed…”
“My arm is my arm. It does what I need it to do. Nothing more.”
Jennings nodded and ambled back over to the other side of the cell, keeping his eyes off her. “See because I find it odd. Someone who doesn’t know about the ACA—”
“I didn’t say I didn’t know about it,” she insisted. “I just needed clarification on a few points. Like that Cadre thing. I didn’t know that.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry, that was my mistake,” Jennings said. His eyes slid to hers. “It seems to me someone wearing such an advanced piece of technology would know all about the history of technology on this planet. Down to the smallest detail.”
She didn’t know how to respond.
“But it’s also strange. Because it would have been easy enough to disguise. All you would have needed was a thick glove and we would never have known. You’d have gotten a ticket for trespassing and nothing more.”
What was he implying?
“And then I have to wonder how you got on the island. It’s not easy to get into Manhattan even with an ID, which you don’t have. Now don’t take this the wrong way; I don’t have a problem with people without ID’s. It’s just curious.” He was obviously building to something. She thought it in her best interest just to let him do it and get it over with. “So. Here we are.”
“Here we are,” she mimicked.
“And yet we’re no closer to the truth,” he said.
“Sometimes you can be right beside something and never see it.” She was reminded of the pocket universe i
n the cell she shared with Jessika. They both occupied the same space, yet couldn’t see each other. Maybe that’s how this universe was. Right beside her own universe, she just couldn’t see it.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re just toying with me?” Jennings asked. “Like you know a lot more than you’re letting on?”
“Because it always feels like that when you don’t get the answers you’re looking for,” she replied. What on Earth could he possibly want from her? So far, she’d been inadequate in providing satisfactory answers.
“You know,” he said. “We can probably get your court date moved up.”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“I think it could perhaps even be this afternoon. But I need you to answer a question for me first. And I need you to be honest. If you don’t, I’m afraid that won’t look too good when you face the judge.”
“Okay, shouldn’t I have a lawyer present or something?” Arista said, undecided if she would actually answer honestly or not.
Jennings leaned in close to the bars, motioning for Arista to come closer. She stood, but only took one step. Not close enough for him to reach. “What is four hundred and twenty-five times a hundred and nineteen?”
She took a step back, grinning. “Why?”
“Humor me.”
The calculation was easy for the Device. But she wasn’t sure she should tell him. What was he playing at here? He’d been much fairer to her than Foley had. And if the goal was to get out of here—to get her court date—as soon as possible then she needed to take advantage of every opportunity. “The same as twenty-five times two thousand and twenty-three,” she replied.
His eyes widened. He opened his palm and tapped something. She couldn’t see the other side of the display from her vantage point but his eyes widened even further. “I knew it. The arm is just a diversionary tactic, isn’t it?”
She shrugged, not having a clue what he was talking about. “I guess?”