Perpetua

by Lucas Alves Serjento

  - And are not they trouble enough?

  - If only we could get information at the time control center…

  - Forget it. You know it's too risky and that no one can send anything important to the past. These are just messages to ensure that the present continues in the same way.

  - What if we intercepted a message?

  - It's doesn't matter. The most we could overturn would be one, maybe two messages and that would cost us our lives. This timeline may falter but will not break with two strokes. Not to mention that this opens the breach for temporal paradoxes and you don't know if destroying the past prevents your action in the present. Preventing the message opens up more questions than answers and we can't afford to waste the only opportunity we have.

  They would spend days stuck in these dilemmas. Who came to the answer to one of them was Elizabeth, one day when they were both spending time lying in the green fields of the yard, looking up at the sky and holding hands. Somehow, the way the clouds mingled was what gave her the idea she was looking for.

  - It's there a way to pass the data we want to…

  - The other side?

  - Yes.

  - How?

  She turned her body lightly, leaning toward him.

  - Alexander's programming, to clear a system of his memories, needs to activate a specific programming of the microorganisms. The data transmission requires sending commands and receiving the confirmation response.

  -Yes.

  - We can't do the same thing, which means that we can't send a command and receive a response.

  - Exactly.

  - But what if we modify our systems to send commands instead of responses?

  - Our neural network wouldn't support something like this. It would deactivate our system before we could send anything.

  - If we didn't know the exact moment when command information would arrive. If we had this information, we could activate a protocol in our own neural network and forward the information. It would invalidate the neural network, but would send the command with the virus to the system. It will not have time to form a protection, even because the system invaded can't inform anything since it is precisely the information network that is being destroyed.

  He paused to think for a few seconds. She kept talking.

  - It would be like merging one thing into another. It would require the sacrifice of a neural network, but so we unite two clouds of information and destroy the two.

  - Two clouds, huh?

  - Yes.

  She gave him a few seconds, taking advantage to look at the hands that intertwined. Sensing a little pressure from his fingers on hers, she turned her eyes to him.

  - How do you plan to predict the time of system invasion?

  Elizabeth noticed that William knew the answer, but she hoped it was not what she expected.

  - There is only one way to do this and you know it.

  - The shutdown. - She nodded her head. - When the shutdown is decreed as punishment for very serious offenses, the time for this is informed.

  - Exactly. And that's exactly what we need.

  - But a simple shutdown would not be enough.

  - What do you mean?

  - When effecting the shutdown, Alexander will not be exposed enough. If some brain protocols are not broken, you can't break their protocols.

  She paused to think for a few seconds, looking again at the clouds that were melting in the sky. Her brain processed the information and she thought.

  And, as always, managed to come up with an answer.

  - We need him to want to do something other than hang up.

  - Like what? A very serious violation is required to determine the shutdown. What could I do to deserve anything beyond that?

  - You don't have to do anything worse. You just must wait for Ishmael to inform you about the shutdown. I would put myself at the disposal of being turned off, but my public image would be compromised if I took over the plan.

  - And it's no good for you to take the lead because, in the end, none of us will be saved in any way.

  - Yes. Anyone who stands up can compromise the whole plan because of this. - She pointed to her own head.

  - But the fact that he came to visit me makes no difference.

  - What makes a difference is what we will do with this visit. After all, he will visit us, and you will cause his paranoia.

  - About what?

  - I don’t know. He doesn't need to know what he is either. What we need is for him to believe that his violation wasn't in vain. He needs to believe that you know the truth and that there is something you plan to do to.

  - I can use the truth to attract attention.

  - Exactly. He shouldn't suspect you know about anything. It would be a strong surprise for him, especially considering how much time you spent separated from the scientific community. He must think that you have no plans to return to the active and will be taken by surprise by the information.

  - But he can find out anything by simply asking me. If I don't have something real against him, as soon as he asks I'll have to tell the truth.

  - I thought of that too. You don't have to tell the truth. Better: You will not know the truth. Your memories of our secret are stored in vulnerable places, just so he cannot find them. All I must do is erase key points and you will only know the existence of a plan. That should be enough to intrigue him. No action is required in any way. Even though I know what the plan is and he asks me what it is, I will not know how to stop the plan or how to give continuity to it. I will leave Angeline responsible for erasing some of my memories for this purpose.

  - No.

  - What?

  - You don't have to lose your memories. And I don't have the amount of trust necessary to leave something so crucial to Angeline. If we are going to do this, one of us needs to continue with the plans in mind.

  - And what makes you think he will not question me?

  - Your public image. He thinks you're just an android with whom I got married to satisfy my desires. No one knows about your involvement with my plans and that these plans are ours.

  - Yet. It is too risky.

  - It’s impossible to go through all this without risks. Besides, don't forget that I know Ishmael and who he was is in that brain until today. The self-confidence he had in himself made him think that his worldview was universal. He wouldn't trust anyone and wouldn't change his mind about it. He must think that I wouldn't do this to someone who is nothing but “my wife”.

  She considered everything for a few seconds.

  - There is one more problem left: Don't you think that once he discovers the existence and the time of execution of the plan he will not cease to disconnect to interrogate you?

  - Don't worry about it. If he has already ordered the shutdown, there is nothing that will make him turn back or change the order. Ishmael doesn't change plans or says he is wrong. This was a man arrogant enough to believe that he should be the commander of the universe. And he got most of it. Once the shutdown is decreed and he let me know about it, there is no possibility that he would change that.

  -Are you sure?

  -No. But do we have a better alternative?

  XVI. Council II

  Let us return to the imaginary table with its imaginary shadows, discussing the directions of the universe.

  - Did you found anything?

  - Little. Nothing relevant. To me, between two things, one: he's bluffing or planning a direct attack.

  - In this case, what should we do?

  - Nothing. Let's keep the agenda.

  - Why don't we go ahead with this shutdown?

  - I thought about that. It will not happen. It would raise suspicions. We're talking about someone too important. And you're forgetting that I don't want to call him again.

  - Are you going to get rid of him?

  - I'll replace him with another similar android. He has been so reclusive in that place that no one really knows him. Another android wit
h the right memories will serve me better.

  - Why don't we delay the shutdown until we know more?

  -No. I will not submit to it. I will not bow to threats.

  - But, sir, maybe it was better-

  - Shut up. Follow the procedure. And keep an eye on any attack. I'll get in touch.

  XVII. The Last Hour

  -So, you knew about the plan all the time? - For all the information he had just received, William wasn't surprised.

  - It was our intention all along.

  - Do you think there's any chance he'll find out?

  - There would be a good chance if he would stop underestimating us. I don't think this is going to happen.

  - Is there anything I still don't know?

  - The rest of the plan. You have thirty minutes. Do you want to spend them that way?

  - I just want to hear your voice a little more. It makes no difference why you're talking.

  She smiles and they hug each other with some strength. The sunlight is already beginning to make the grass shine in front of the house and to appear behind the mountains and the rocky terrain.

  - We had few options for action from that point on. When we could imagine a way to overthrow the system, what we lacked was to know what we wanted to happen to the world after that.

  - What was left for us to do?

  - I thought the simple destruction was revenge enough. But you could not let the universe alone. I wanted nature to take the paths that were needed, but you didn't like the insecurity. You convinced me that if it weren't Ishmael, mankind would still exist. That he destroyed things and we should let the man start over.

  - Did you agree to that?

  - I must admit that, as Alexander's creation, I feel as if part of the blame for the events is mine as well. Like some kind of racial guilt, you know?

  William smiled.

  - Always the same problems, right? It doesn't matter if it is human or not.

  - Exactly.

  - And we can do something about it?

  - You had an excellent idea: steal biological material from laboratories in the S-3 system. So, you would certainly be sentenced to shut down and the justification for declaring a simple shutdown would be that you, a reclusive scientist, were putting yourself over the goals settled by the council.

  - And what kind of stuff did I steal?

  - You stole the matrix.

  - Matrix?

  She looked at him strangely.

  - Did you erase it from memory, too?

  - I've never been the type to stop taking precaution. - He grimaced. - I think I've been taking precautions in excess.

  - Doesn't matter. The matrix is like a primordial biological material. It is believed to have given rise to all the species of the original planet.

  - And how would the S-3 system have this matrix? Are not they a research center?

  -Yes. And they were conducting research to try to artificially create components that we still can't manufacture, like most foods, for example. Although eating is a luxury act, it is still quite wanted in the galaxy.

  - I remember that. So we stole the matrix?

  - Not only that. We copied it and returned a copy. That was 2 days ago. I helped you, so you were the gimmick and the plan was easy. They think you didn't had time to do anything, since we made a defective copy intentionally so they thought our plan failed.

  His eyes flashed.

  - So, do we have ownership over the origin of life?

  She laughed.

  - You called the same way when I said I got my hands on the matrix. And then made a very sad face when discovered that I had already proceeded with the plan and got rid of it. That. Like that face you're doing right now.

  - Why was not I detained?

  - Because they can find you wherever you are. It was our luck that you stayed on the A-1 system for a day before being sent back. So I had time to take care of the other preparations.

  - What preparations?

  - Sending the matrix to another time.

  - So, we got it? - His voice was shaken, as if waiting for that moment.

  - Got what?

  - Draw a plan to change the past. We figured out some way?

  Her lips curved downward for a moment, in deep reflection. Her eyes reflected a discussion long overdue.

  - Past can not be changed.

  He noticed the change in her tone. It was evident that the discontinuance of what had already happened was something that bothered her.

  - The paradoxes? Could we not overcome them?

  - Maybe no one can. Not the way we handle time now. Maybe at some point someone will change the approach, and all of that will change. But there would be no distinction between past, present, and future, and there would not necessarily be a wait for a moment until that happens. And again I start to get lost in questions about how to fix what's already broken.

  He felt her hand tremble and looked at her fingers.

  -Elizabeth? Are you shaking? What happened?

  - I... I was just thinking about how things would have been different. I could have existed without being... that?

  Her expression was of existential pain. He reached for her hand and protected it within his own.

  - Do you envy humans?

  - Not necessarily the human form, but the ability to feel and speak and act without that horrible feeling that I am being controlled. That I was programmed to feel that way. You know what I mean?

  He thought for a moment.

  - Freedom. Free will. Choice. Believe me, the answer is not in humanity, at least not in the one in which I lived. We lived in war for the same reasons. In the end, you and I are nothing more than mere reflections and descendants of what mankind was in the past.

  She looked up at her.

  - Is this how things will be? In the future, I mean.

  - It depends. Tell me: what was the rest of our plan like?

  *

  After leaving the planet where William was, Ishmael went to his own refuge: a small room hidden in some planet.

  This was his laboratory. Tools were scattered all over the corners and small mechanical components were everywhere. These were insignificant challenges with which he occupied his eternity - while waiting for the slow progress of his long-term plans.

  The conversation with William was the reason he came here. That was where he felt at ease and where he had his best ideas. In many ways it was similar to his father's garage, where he had spent much of his childhood learning the rudiments that would open the doors to such a grand future.

  The very plan for building the brain had been designed by him in that garage. No matter how much money he had, that place was his oasis. After Pinocchio had merged and later became Alexander, he had to invent a similar place to spend his time, after all, his house had been destroyed during the great war. Building a similar place was the best he could do.

  In his mind, he thought about the things William said. The challenge was evident. He had been hinting that he would not be able to decipher them. And to make matters worse, he had set a deadline for the discovery.

  It was a reasonable plan, considering that he had waited for the council to set a timetable under Alexander's supervision so that he could not go back without hurting the image of absolute control he had built so carefully. To ask for a postponement would be to cower and that was probably William's intention: to save time with a bluff.

  But what if it was not? What to do? What did the man intend?

  What bothered him most was rummaging through the messages in his head and not finding a clue. What was he doing in the future? Until now he had been able to police himself to always be waiting for messages from his future counterpart. These messages were necessarily simple, but extremely useful. Where he was? Why had not he taken the first precaution?

  This could mean that there was nothing to report, or could mean that he had not had time to react. It was a matter of believing or not in one's own ability. And he had full faith
in his ability and knew that he would not stop sending the messages because he thought he had a lack of time.

  So-

  That was when it arrived. Finally.

  “There was an attack. Stop connection -”

  The message was interrupted, probably because it was an emergency. But the end of it didn't matter. What mattered was that now he knew what was about to happen and could avoid.

  For a few moments, he wondered if he should delay the shutdown. Obviously it would have something to do with William's plans. He just couldn't imagine how. Did William intended to use himself as a gimmick?

  A vague message. He expected more of himself. At least some kind of detail. Curse. What could be this attack that had made him not even have time to send a decent message to the past? What was preventing him from sending another one?

  “Your presence is requested by the council.”

  It was an urgent message. He consulted the clock in his head: 15 minutes left for the shutdown. Time to act.

  *

  “Have I been called?”

  “Sir, the council met during your absence to deliberate about the scheduled shutdown.”

  “Yes. I wanted to let you know that I came to a conclusion. Let's not just turn him off. Let's erase him.”

  “Sir?”

  “I don't care about your arguments. You were thinking about delaying the shutdown, am I right?”

  “Yes, sir. At least until his plans became clear.”

  “That would give him exactly what he wants. More time means a greater chance to develop whatever plan he has there. Turning him off seems like something with which he already counts. However, no one has been dead for a long time. I did not want to deal with it that way, though, I don't see any other alternative.”

  “It is a very strong decision, sir.”

  “That's my decision. We will deal with the impacts of this later. The schedule continues as planned. I want to be able to monitor how he will handle this by realizing that I didn't do what he wanted. Anything else?”

  “We receive reports of a small mass coming out of the known systems. We don't know it’s trajectory.”

  “What does this have to do with William?”

  “His residence is located near this mass. And it seems that the object carries some sort of life.”