The Man Who Talked to Machines

by Michael Graeme

  "So?"

  "She lied. I think she intends holding us prisoner, perhaps even killing us - there are a hundred ways she could do it. Maybe the floaters have evolved beyond what I understand. Maybe they're fighting back."

  "You don't believe that. You trust in them,… and I trust in you."

  Her admission wrong footed me. "Erm,… you do?"

  "Of course,… and while we're on the subject, you're right about your delicate physique. I've always found it alluring."

  "Erm,.. you have?"

  "Of course. You're helpless, physically but I have the power to protect you, and I've always enjoyed that. I also have the power to pleasure you beyond your wildest imaginings. That bitch Ursula didn't deserve you. She obviously never took the time to find out what it was you liked. Anyone who'd rather talk to a machine has simply been unfortunate in his choice of human companions."

  "Grizwald, you don't know what you're saying. There's something in the air. Do you understand? What you're feeling - you can't trust it."

  "I think I can," she replied. "We're talking about an un-inhibitor right? I felt it when we first came aboard and so did you, but we both know un-inhibitors can't stimulate something that isn't already there."

  "But there's more than that, Griz."

  "What more could there be, Hacker?"

  "Hypatia lied, remember? She's gone rogue. We need to think of a way out of here."

  She laughed, which came as a shock, because thus far I couldn't even remember having seen her so much as smile.

  "Hypatia didn't lie," she said. "It was me. I triggered the scout, set it to hover. I wanted to scare Hypatia into taking off."

  "What? Do you realise what you're saying? For pity's sake woman! You've launched us as near to outer space as we can get without a rocket."

  Her temper flared at my tone. "I had to do something. Look at you. You're a wreck. Another de-con would have killed you. I had no choice. You can rest here. Just look at this ship, all this luxury! It will take care of you,… of us. And in six months we'll go back,… and they'll leave us alone next time because we screwed up. They'll pick someone else."

  "If I wasn't up to it, I could just have said no."

  "But you never say no, do you? Every chance you get, you hook up to one of these things."

  "It's what I do."

  "And you do it because you're still searching for Delores. All this time, you've wanted to believe there was a chance she transmitted herself out of that shuttle, beamed herself into the memory of another machine,… a passing floater perhaps,… don't tell me you've not considered the possibility."

  "Nonsense," I said, but felt the betrayal of a fierce blush flooding my cheeks.

  "Delores has gone, Hacker. And even if she hasn't, then so what? You can't touch a machine. But you can touch me. So touch me, Hacker."

  For the record then, Hypatia did not lie. Delores is here. She is frozen into the electron array of my comp's memory, but in six months neither Grizwald nor I will want to leave this ship. The chemicals in the air will slowly swell the capillaries of our brains, putting us on the crest of a permanent wave of well being that will in time erode our senses and any resolve either of us might have to escape. I will never give life to Delores and to Delores it is all the same, whether she is given life now by me, or by those who follow in the centuries to come, when this great ship finally settles down to die.

  Grizwald was right: a man can talk to a machine as easily as he might to a disembodied human voice, but he can never touch it. To touch is what defines us, so I did the only thing left that I could do under the circumstances. I reached out,… .

  … .and I touched Grizwald.

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