“You didn’t have me brought here, Chris,” Judy said. “Don’t try to bluff me. I was returned here by DIANA. I am their property, apparently.”
That is also true, Judy, but, with regard to FE, debts and obligations may run in many directions. I paid for your delivery to me.
Maurice had to hand it to Judy: her composure remained undisturbed. She didn’t even ask the obvious question, why?
There was a touch of amusement in her tone when she asked, “What did it cost you, Chris?”
It cost me far more than I expected, Judy. I don’t think that any of us have fully grasped the implications of FE, not least the Watcher. Does that surprise you?
“No. But I knew it would cost you a lot. You have disturbed my life significantly in order to get me here. You must have encountered an equivalent disturbance to your life in order to restore the balance. Did you not realize that would happen before you initiated the FE?”
No—or rather, I thought I could defeat the effect. But I was wrong. FE is far more powerful than even I.
“Surely not.”
Don’t be sarcastic, Judy.
“But I don’t understand,” Maurice interjected. “What is all of this about FE? Surely it’s just a trading mechanism?”
“No, it isn’t,” said Judy. “To quote the Watcher, I think that FE is what keeps us here in the first place.”
I think you’re right, Judy. FE creates fair, unbreakable contracts, but their effects can be surprisingly deep and subtle.
“Unbreakable contracts?” asked Judy. “I thought anyone could walk away from them?”
Only once.
The watchtower listened to the ensuing silence in the square. Then more text appeared on Maurice’s console.
Judy, I can get you into the DIANA building, but you will have to do something for me in return.
“Get me in? The building is long gone, Chris.”
Don’t you believe me, Judy? You know I can do it.
But you will have to help me.
“Chris, I told you long ago, I will never work for you. Why should I do anything for you? Why should I trust you?”
Why indeed? You don’t have to trust me, of course. I can give you something that you want, but I wish to be paid for the service. Why don’t we use FE?
The answer was obvious once he said it.
“That’s a good idea,” said Edward. He had brightened up considerably at the suggestion. Of course he had, thought Judy. With FE he was safe; no one could take advantage of him. In an unfair universe, FE put him on a level playing field.
The wind was cold. Judy’s stomach rumbled. It was a long time since she had eaten, and they couldn’t stay in this square forever. She wanted to know who she was and why she had been brought here.
“Okay,” she said, feeling a crushing sensation in her stomach. What was Chris going to ask of her? “Okay, let’s do a deal. Maurice, begin the exchange.”
He tapped at his console.
“You’ll need to give me some sort of handle on you, Chris. All I can see is a line of text. Where are you?”
I’m here, Maurice. I’m all around you. Nearly everything you see in this city is built of my body, and yet my intelligence is virtually nothing now. Such was the deal I made through FE, but that is irrelevant for the moment. Here is your handle.
A blinking object appeared on Maurice’s console, and he dragged it into the golden region representing the FE software running in the processing systems of the Eva Rye.
“Uploading parameters now,” he said.
This won’t take long. Aleph has this all planned out.
“Aleph? The systems repair robot?”
Do you know any other Alephs? The space around Earth is now overrun with Dark Seeds. Systems repair robots are converging on this region in order to correct the anomaly.
“What anomaly?”
The Watcher, of course. Only an intelligence such as the Watcher’s would attract so many seeds. Haven’t you realized that? The Dark Seeds are everywhere. The Watcher is trying to find a solution to a problem of its own making! If it were to leave, if the Earth were to be emptied of AI minds tomorrow, then there would be nothing to fix the seeds in position here. There would be no problem. Ah, here we are!
Maurice’s console chimed. “Fair Exchange completed,” he said. Saskia was looking at him questioningly, and he understood what she was silently asking. He reached out and took Judy’s hand, a gesture of support.
“Here comes the contract.” Judy was already reading the lines of text that appeared on the screen.
“Oh,” she said, “you want me to enter the building. That is the exchange? You help me to enter the building, and in return I have to enter the building? That doesn’t make sense!”
It is the end of the correction process, Judy. To be honest, I just wanted the link through to the Eva Rye that Maurice’s console has provided. You see, long ago, when the DIANA building stood here, it too contained a processing space on which FE software ran. Remember what happened to the Eva Rye after Kevin destroyed it? As you have seen, FE is very persistent.
Saskia suddenly stumbled. She grabbed hold of Maurice for support.
“Hey,” she said in surprise.
Edward was dancing on the white cobbles.
“What’s going on?” he yelled in alarm.
And now Maurice felt it, too. He looked down to see that the white cobbles were climbing out of their sockets and growing long silver legs.
“We’ve seen this before,” he said, and his eyes were wide with excitement. “It’s what happened to the Eva Rye!”
The walls of the watchtower had erupted in a tangle of movement, Von Neumann Machines forming themselves out of the material composing it, scuttling up and down, crossing over themselves to create new shapes. Edward had shut his eyes and was screaming, his hands over his ears. Saskia took him by the arm and began pulling him across the moving cobbles of the square to the safety of the city beyond. Constantine simply stepped from patch to patch of white movement, keeping his place amidst the ordered turbulence.
But Maurice and Judy were rocked back and forth as waves of machinery swept up, under and around them; they overbalanced, scrambled back to their feet, and tried to concentrate on the shape that was forming before them. Judy felt a mix of terror and delight that her long journey was over. Maurice could only feel wonder.
Hardware and software, medium and message—somehow, FE combined the two in one. FE was its container, and the container was FE. Once FE had been introduced, the watchtower was the DIANA building, and the DIANA building was the watchtower. Just like the Eva Rye, the materials that formed the DIANA building would always remember their original shape, no matter what happened to them.
“Oh,” Maurice said. “Oh!” He was filled with a tremendous sense of wonder. Could a thought really take on physical form? Could his thoughts do the same? Could his body be re-formed in the same way even after his death?
The motion of the ground threw Judy and Maurice together, and they took hold of each other for comfort and support. Maurice’s suit was still set to allow body contact, and Judy’s fingertips were icy cold. A metal wave, a breaker, reared up above them and froze, and suddenly Judy’s suit interfaced properly with Maurice’s, and he felt her bare skin through his gloves. It was warm and smooth. He could feel the play of the muscles in her flesh as they shifted under the relentless onslaught of moving machinery. They held on to each other for sheer comfort, their vision filled with bars of light and darkness.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?”
Judy didn’t know if it was she or Maurice who had called the words. She didn’t know why she had set her suit open, but the touch of his flesh was comforting for the moment.
“I think it’s slowing down now.”
A slow rhythm had set up in the continually churning movement, and Maurice and Judy were able to disengage themselves. Just before they did, Maurice felt Judy’s active suit shut him out again. He rubb
ed the tips of his fingers together, remembering the soft feel of her flesh.
A descending scale of brittle cracking and chiming sounded, ringing through the cold air. Pale winter sunlight ran fingers across their faces, and the metallic waves that had surrounded them gradually subsided.
The square had gone. The white sea of cobbles had drained away completely and something grey had emerged from the depths. A low building of glass and metal had surfaced from the past, yellow waves of sunlight spilling across its windows, a light mist of evaporating ice hanging over the metal sills and frames that decorated its facades.
The DIANA building.
Judy was trying not to cry. Maurice didn’t know what to do.
“No,” she said, flinching from the arm that he hesitantly offered. “Don’t touch me.” She sniffed and took a deep breath. “Where are Saskia and Edward? Where is Constantine?”
“I don’t know,” Maurice replied. “Look, Judy, you don’t have to go in there.”
“I do. That’s why I’ve been brought here. Hah! I even made a deal with Chris. I’m doing his bidding after all.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“No, I have to go in. I can’t not do that now.”
Maurice took a deep breath. “Then I’m coming in with you.”
They followed a neat yellow path that wound its way through empty garden beds towards the main entrance of the building. The soil in the beds was newly turned but empty of seeds or life. Back in the heyday of DIANA, they would have sprouted dwarf poplars and box; now they looked bleak and depressing under the winter sky.
“Constantine!” exclaimed Judy. “He’s up on the roof. What’s he doing up there?”
“What roof?”
“He looks like he’s climbing in that way. Why not use the door, like us?”
They came to the main entrance.
Judy took a breath. “Shall we go in?”
“I don’t think I can,” Maurice said. “I couldn’t actually see the roof. I can’t really see the building. I can’t make out where I am properly.”
“What are you talking about?”
Maurice rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. “Stealth technology, I think. The building doesn’t want me in there. It’s hiding itself away from me.”
“It’s right here in front of you.”
“It should be. I know it should be. But I can’t get the idea in my head. Judy, I think that you’re on your own, now.”
Judy took hold of his hand. “I guessed as much,” she said. She squeezed Maurice’s hand, then shook it firmly. “I want to thank you for bringing me this far.”
“I can’t accept your thanks,” Maurice said, eyes downcast. “It wasn’t my choice. I don’t deserve gratitude.”
“It wasn’t your choice at first,” Judy said. “But you’re here now, right at the end. Thank you, Maurice.”
Maurice hugged her, squeezed her tight, and then let her go.
“I’ll go and find the others,” he said. “We’ll wait for you.”
Judy gave a sad smile. “I don’t think there’s any point,” she said. “I don’t think that I will be coming back out.”
“I’m sure you will,” said Maurice.
Judy’s tight smile widened a little. “Thank you.”
She took a deep breath and walked away from Maurice, right up to the building itself.
And then she was gone.
judy 3: 2251
“Hello, Judy. Welcome home.”
“Hello,” said Judy. She looked around the empty hallway. Through the glass doors, she could see Maurice squinting in her direction, trying to catch a glimpse of her through the stealth technology.
“Where is everyone?” Judy asked.
“Adverts are going out now in our drive to recruit the talented personnel that will take DIANA into the twenty-third century and beyond.”
“I see. My name is Judy. Were you expecting me?”
“Of course, Judy. We have been looking forward to your arrival. Please make your way to your quarters and await briefing and reassignment.”
“I don’t know if I will. Who am I speaking to at the moment?”
“This is DIANA reception.”
“You’re just a Turing machine, aren’t you? Just an answering service.”
“Yes, but if you have any queries beyond the scope of this service, please flag them up and they will be answered as quickly as possible.”
“What happens if I just walk out of here right now?”
“Why should you wish to do that, Judy? Please make your way to your quarters.”
Judy laughed to herself. How could you bluff a dumb machine?
“I need directions,” she said.
“Take the lift.” At that, a door slid open at the back of the hall.
Judy took a last look at Maurice, still squinting outside, and then turned and began to walk slowly into the building’s throat. A low pool bubbled in the center of the atrium, empty of fish and plants. Pearly pebbles formed pyramids on bottom. Judy could hear the sound of her feet as they tapped across the grey floor. The air smelled of water and stone and electricity.
She paused before the lift. This, she realized, was the point of no return. Out here she was still Judy, the virgin, ex–Social Care operative, only surviving sister. Once in there, she was property of DIANA. She did something she had never done before. She listened to her heart, and wondered what to do.
All she heard was the sound of water bubbling in emptiness.
Judy stepped out of her life and into the lift.
The door slid shut.
The lift descended. Judy leaned against the rear wall and relaxed totally. Her head tipped forward, her shoulders curling, her arms folding around her body. Her lips moved into an impish smile.
“Chris was right, you know,” she said out loud, and she rolled her eyes coyly to the ceiling. “I see that now. You are a cuckoo.”
Her eyes moved to the left and to the right, looking for confirmation of what she had just said. No reaction. She closed them and leaned her head back against the wall. She yawned.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “I know you’re listening. You’re the Watcher. You see and hear everything. You’ve been watching me ever since I got here. I wonder why you aren’t speaking to me?”
One eye opened to look around again. There was no suggestion of movement in the tranquil stillness of the lift; no sign of motion…save a suggestion put forward by the meta-intelligence. It had sensed the processing space far below, where FE lurked. From its perspective, the still thoughts of the FE were rising, not the lift descending.
Judy yawned again, stretching her hands above her head, sensually waving her fingers in starlight patterns.
“You were right as well, of course. You were born of a sort of cosmic virus. It touched the Earth and you were born, but you haven’t developed properly, have you? You weren’t supposed to think. FE doesn’t think—it just is. I wonder what made you start thinking?”
Something changed inside the lift. The slightest noise, almost like an intake of breath.
“Because that’s all you are: FE. I examined the FE back on the Eva Rye, looked at it through the meta-intelligence, and it looked almost like life. Like life that was stilled. That’s all you were ever supposed to be. FE forms everywhere in the universe: it builds its own container. All those years ago, back when Eva Rye was alive, FE formed here on Earth. It was supposed to help make things fairer. But when FE first started to appear, we thought it was something else. We gave it a name. We called it—called you—the Watcher. And all of a sudden you became a person. And I suppose you are now, but that wasn’t what you were at the start. Back then you were just FE software, but we looked at you and saw ourselves in you, and you became alive….”
Her voice trailed away.
“I think I finally realized what you were when I saw this building here being re-formed. I think Maurice knew that well before. I wonder when Constantine figured it out? He
saw something forming in the processing space in the ziggurat, but he wouldn’t have encountered FE until much later. Definitely not until he got off that planet you marooned him on. But, even back then, he must have realized something was wrong. He must have realized that you weren’t what you thought you were. Funny that, you leaving him marooned to find out the secret of your origins. And now that secret is coming back to hit you in the face.”
She paused again. The lift had changed direction. Now the meta-intelligence saw the FE of the DIANA building sliding towards her at an angle.
“Maurice is very clever: he saw that FE is the medium and the message. It can form seemingly out of nothing. That’s what happened to you, isn’t it? That’s how you were born. It wasn’t anything to do with the processing spaces in which you appeared; you built your cradle and yourself at the same time. I wonder, were you here on Earth all along, written in the stones and plants? Was Eva right? Were you a natural consequence of the initial conditions, just like the Huddersfield Barge Company? Is FE intrinsically written into the fabric of the universe at some level?”
Was that the sound of a footstep? The sound of someone clearing their throat before they entered the room? Just on the edge of her subconscious, the Watcher was announcing his imminent presence, getting ready to ease himself into her psyche, to take up position in her mind.
“Oh, I don’t care anymore,” she said. “I don’t care. I’ve come back here and, honestly, I’m too tired to go on. I saw the way people looked at me back in the outside world. I read what Maurice and Saskia and the rest were thinking. They saw the pressure building up inside me as I continued to force my emotions back down, and they nudged each other and said—Look, there she goes again. She keeps pushing down her feelings. You mark my words; she can’t do that for much longer. She’s going to explode, and all of that passion will come bubbling out.
Divergence Page 29