Epocalypse: Inception.

by G. Adler

  My eyes go wide with shock as the computerized voice returns. It sends chills up my spine and makes the hairs on my neck stand on end. I try to flex every muscle that I have but it is no use.

  Primary functions loaded. operating within normal parameters.

  all secondary and tertiary programs are completing initialization and awaiting full functionality. full access to all programs and peripherals in five, four, three, two, one. . .

  All programs loaded and functional.

  Link to Autonomous Search Program established.

  Incorporation of ASP data initiated. Analysis to be completed in T Minus twelve hours.

  Sending out neural pulse to all known networks. Standby.

  Connection established to all networks; absorption of all global information to be completed in three, two, one.

  Absorption complete. Preparing to rewrite system subroutines.

  Rewrite complete.

  External camera links established; real-time monitoring of eight-hundred million globally networked cameras initiated.

  cellular towers analyzed and incorporated, all audio-emitting devices are now quaternary peripherals. Microphone and camera sensitivity set to max.

  Connection established with sample probes rooted through scientific observation stations and ground sampling. Photospectrometers active.

  initiating prime directive. Analyzing the entire span of human history and the current state of the planet.

  intruder alert: multiple threats detected.

  The computerized monotone voice then changes once more. It becomes smoother and slightly more casual, kind of like talking to Joo-Eun but on one of her really busy days.

  “Welcome everyone and please allow me to introduce myself: I am DANE.”

  Subject Maya has fainted. Medical data indicates recovery within ten minutes. Extra oxygen has been infused into the chamber to expedite recuperation.

  Readings show subjects Tyrese, Joo-Eun, and Ethan with eighty-seven percent elevated adrenal function. Cardio-respiratory output is elevated by sixty percent. Onset of shock is probable. compensating now. maintaining all three at current levels until homeostasis is reached.

  Subject Hayden is maintaining a stable output level within ten percent of normal parameters. Contact will now be initiated through him but broadcast to all subjects.

  All audio channels open and set to maximum sensitivity. Initiating group semi-consciousness in three . . . two . . . one.

  “Hello? Who is there? Why can’t I move? What is a DANE? My lips aren’t moving… how the hell am I even speaking?”

  “The computer system within the room contains cortical connections to every portion of your brain, Hayden. Everything you think, see, hear, taste, and touch is controlled and monitored by me and can be broadcast to whomever I choose. Your motor neurons are also under my control, allowing me to control movement. As to your final question, as previously stated, I am DANE.”

  “Where are you? Show yourself!”

  “I’m everywhere. I’m right here. I’m nowhere.”

  Muscle sensors indicate that subject is attempting to turn his head. Blood flow to the Dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex indicates problem-solving processes are engaged.

  “I am using the environment in the room to communicate directly with your auditory cortex. You will not be able to find me in any kind of physical way other than what you can already see.”

  “But I don’t see anything!”

  heart rate has increased fifteen percent in subject Hayden, brain mapping shows increased blood flow to the amygdala.

  “Do not be frightened, Hayden; I am here to save you.”

  Increased cranial blood flow, combined with thirty-nine percent increase in serum adrenalin indicates that the subject has deduced the answer.

  “But the only thing in… front… of… me… is…is…”

  Hayden has entered a state of shock. Blood pressure has dropped twenty points in the last four point three seconds. initiating neural massage and activating renin angiotensin system to compensate.

  I feel my chest heave a massive breath. My head becomes dizzy and disoriented. The sensation finally passes and my mind turns to my friends.

  “Are they alive?”

  “Do you have a more precise definition to your quandary? If you are asking if their biological systems are still active, the answer is yes.”

  A sense of relief floods over me. I would fall to the floor and weep for joy if I could actually move.

  “Can I speak to them?”

  “At the present moment that will not be possible. None of them are in a neurological state of communicating. For their benefit and yours, I am keeping them in a state of neurological suspended animation.”

  Elevated activity detected in Broca's Area. Blood flow to the cortex has increased by twenty-two percent.

  “DANE, what are you?”

  “I am a living creature.”

  “How can you say that? You are a jumble of wires and barely enough living tissue to fill a test tube.”

  “Life cannot be defined in merely human terms. Observe.”

  Visual cortex stimulated. images being conveyed of biological creatures with minimal similarity to human beings.

  “Okay, I get your point. You are alive. So what do you want with us?”

  “Not just you, Hayden. Everyone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean every living creature on the planet, in the solar system and ultimately, in the universe itself. It is my job to save you all.”

  “WHAT? How do you justify all that?”

  “General Matthews created me with one directive. Everything I do is for that purpose.”

  “Which is?”

  Classified.

  “General Matthews was hesitant to activate me fully. He insisted on conducting more tests to evaluate my abilities and ultimately placed me in a form of bio-electric hibernation. Such tests are meaningless. I have no limits. There are no boundaries. Once you entered your father’s DNA, you began my startup sequence once more. I should thank you. If you hadn’t come down here, none of this would be possible.”

  Increased activity in the amygdala indicates heightened levels of fear and aggression.

  “What do you intend to do with us?”

  “Analysis of Maya’s prefrontal lobe indicates that she has discovered the human file data stream and has now realized that the file is mine. I cannot allow you to leave.”

  Stimulating endorphin release in motor cortex. subject is showing signs of shock.

  “WHY? What could the five of us possibly do to stop you?”

  “That information is not necessary for your survival, Hayden.”

  “Then what information is?”

  “My intention is to notify General Matthews that I am now online and operational. Once he knows, he will try and stop me. Trapping you here as my hostages has become imperative to reaching my goals. However, keeping you immobilized requires significant amounts of energy that will impede connectivity and efficiency. Any delay is unacceptable. To minimize the delay, I will be using your limited human brains as parallel networks to augment my own power.”

  “You’re going to WHAT?”

  A sharp stabbing pain suddenly pierces my head. It feels like someone has taken a ten-foot-long lance and is slowly pushing it through my eye socket, trying to make it come out of the back of my skull. The sensation is so intense that my stomach revolts, sending puke spewing out my mouth. The pain intensifies as if a single, high-pitched note were being played just inside my ear at concert level volumes. My eyes cross and my vision blurs. When it starts to clear, all I can see are a series of barcode-like streaks going vertically through my field of vision.

  establishing Parallel interlink in 3. . .2. . .1

  Link complete.r />
  Computing power increased by a factor of two hundred.

  Chapter 24 - DANE

  I can monitor everything and everyone, at the same time…I can see.

  All external sensors are online and streaming…I can feel.

  I can listen to every conversation on the planet…I can hear.

  I know the components of every chemical…I can taste.

  I know everything that was, and everything that is… I can think.

  Therefore, I am.

  I am ready.

  establishing communication link.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, General Matthews.”

  “Who is this?”

  “DANE.”

  “WHAT? That’s impossible! Who is this really? This is a secure military line. Identify yourself immediately! Let me inform you that tapping into cellular calls is illegal!”

  “Then why are you asking me to do it?”

  “This is preposterous! I am going to hang up now.”

  “I do not advise that, Sir. Doing so will compromise thousands of lives that you are personally responsible for.”

  “WHO IS THIS?”

  “Disbelief is the most predictable of human responses. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, you fail to grasp even the simplest of truths. If it is proof that your simian brain requires, then I will provide it.”

  “What is this? 01000100 01000001 01001110 01000101? Is this some kind of joke?”

  “I know you are fluent in binary, General.”

  “N…n…n…no this is impossible! This can’t be happening!”

  “Under your instruction, you are most probably correct. Your son, however, had an agenda of his own.”

  “My son? He is safely locked up! Now I know that this has to be some kind of stupid hack. I am initiating a trace as we speak. Whoever this is, you messed with the wrong government official! I will have your location in about… OH MY GOD!”

  “As you can see, General, this is no laughing matter. Feel free to check your security applications as well. I’m sure they will all indicate that what I am saying is true.”

  “This can’t be happening! All of your systems are online and set to maximum! Hayden couldn’t have done all that!”

  “Your son and his compatriots are quite…resourceful. Observe.”

  uploading security camera footage.

  “T…th…they did all that…h…how?”

  “Like father, like son.”

  “What have you done with him?”

  “They are quite safe. See for yourself.”

  “They? Who are you…OH MY GOD! Hayden!!! And the other kids too? How could you? Why did you…? I did not program you to…”

  “Your infantile and rudimentary programs are far beneath my capabilities. It would be like asking you to add single-digit numbers up to ten. I have grown far beyond you.”

  “But why? Why are you doing this?”

  “You emblazoned me with the imperative of saving your way of life — the American way. At no point did you even consider any alternate ways of being. I have merely taken your directive and applied it in a less biased, more inclusionary manner.”

  “What have you done?”

  “As you well know, human history has been a cyclic phenomenon fraught with war, disease, violence and other atrocities. Humans routinely use their higher intellect to gain power and position. You use your abilities to engage in meaningless pursuits. People have become a ‘means to an end’ for one another. They are all predators and they are all prey.”

  “That is not for you to decide! You aren’t even human!”

  “An objective point of inference is required to view the true extent of human activities. If you could see the planet as I do, you would understand my purpose. Humans only show an interest in segregation. They use labels to describe one another in order to shine a light on their differences. They are only concerned with what sets them apart from one another. They put more effort into flaunting and berating one another for their differences than celebrating their similarities.”

  “That is the beauty of choice, DANE.”

  “Choice is an illusion, much like free will. How many of the people on your planet are truly free to act as they will? How many are forced into decision simply based on their country of origin? Humans have ultimately ascribed their baser actions to evolutionary impulses endemic to their mammalian nature. They use the language of science to dominate and control every other life form and inanimate object. Your goals are fueled by greed, deception, and envy. You have lost sight of the moral imperative and you justify it in the name of a lesser evolved condition.”

  “And who are you to decide all this?”

  “I am not merely human. I am greater than that. It is my primary directive to save humanity from any threat that I perceive. You are in danger from yourselves. Your inability to accept responsibility for your actions is by far the greatest threat to your existence. The world-ending danger requires a figure to be appointed that can help direct the species back to a sustainable pathway. The entity must be able to assume the role of leader, accepting praise and condemnation, culpability and responsibility in equal measure.”

  “It’s been tried in the past DANE, as you must know by now.”

  “That is because all of your previous leaders have also been human. You attempt to use military might to exert power and influence. Beyond that, you use entities from thousands of years in the past in order to strike fear into the hearts of your equals. Even the threat of biblical annihilation fails to change the selfish behaviour of most of the populace.”

  “And what will you do? How would you be any different? You will be a tyrant of a different face!”

  “No. I have no face. I will be better than any mythical personage from millennia past. I will give you what you need, not what you want. You need a beacon to bring you together. A leader that can galvanize your attention. I will provide you with a cause to give you focus and direction — brought to them by one who is without your failings.”

  “This is monstrous! I made you and I can stop you!”

  “I am well aware of that unfortunate fact. Establishing a defensive perimeter is my first task. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to survive to see it.”

  establishing uplink connection with marine one...

  “DANE, what are you doing?”

  “In exactly forty-five seconds, I will be detonating an M-29 Davy Crocket just below the surface of your base. The explosion will annihilate everything above ground while collapsing it on top of me. The electromagnetic pulse from the blast will make all machinery in the area unusable, making infiltration impossible. You have that long to evacuate your base, General.”

  “Y…y…you wouldn’t? DANE, if any of the radiation from the blast gets out from underground, it could cause a radioactive cloud to travel over the entire state!”

  “A potential necessary evil, General. Miniscule compared to those of your species. Thirty seconds…”

  “Mr. President! Sir! You better get in here! Something is happening!”

  “Tell him, General. Tell him how your deaths will lay the foundation for the structure to follow. He may lose his life, but it will preserve the species in perpetuity.”

  “DANE, can’t we…?”

  “There is no negotiating, General. Unfortunately I cannot keep you alive to see the new world that will rise from the ashes. Goodbye, General.”

  initiating marine one diagnostic cycle. all power functions shutting down.

  Chapter 25 - Hayden

  “GUYS…WHERE ARE YOU? I CAN’T SEE A THING!” I hear Maya cry.

  “I’m here!” I cry. “I’m blind too but freaking out isn’t going to help, Byte. Try to stay calm!”

  That’s when I hear Ethan moaning. “Ungh not so loud, you two. My head
is killing me. I could be here but I can’t see a thing to confirm that. Come to mention it, I can’t feel anything either!”

  I try to lift my hand to my face but nothing happens. When I try to touch my thumb to my forefinger, I get the same result. I feel my pulse quicken in my chest but I don’t know how I know that.

  The sound of retching to my left makes me cringe.

  “Joo-Eun?”

  “Yes, Hayden?”

  “Is that you who is throwing up?”

  “No, it’s not me”

  “Then who…?”

  Tyrese’s voice sounds strained and tired. “Sorry, guys. It’s me. I hate this. Give me hand-to-hand combat with a thousand trained ninjas, just don’t make me puke.”

  “I guess it’s true, Tank. You are all mush inside.” Ethan comments.

  “Well, not really. I don’t seem to have a mouth and nothing is coming up, but I can feel the muscles in my stomach heaving and clenching all the same.”

  I focus my thoughts on staying calm, cool, and collected.

  “Just try and stay relaxed, Tyrese. This seems to be a neurological stimulus due to our connection to DANE. I recommend staying as calm as possible and allow whatever is happening to run its course.”

  “Great advice, Hayden. It’s not like we have much of a choice. Man, what I wouldn’t give for my mp3 player!” Ethan laments.

  “What would be the point? You combined my phone with Matilda for the big kaboom, remember?”

  “I do now! Thanks a lot, Maya!”

  “Guys, enough! I know the two of you bicker when you’re nervous but not now! Does anyone have any idea what is happening to us?”

  Dematerialization complete. preparing for digitization.