by Beers,David
"Do you think we won't?" Charlie said.
"No, no. Not at all."
"Then why ask, now of all times?" He placed his drink down and sat down across from Tom. "What is it?"
"Nerves, maybe. I know Lexi will do what She says, but you know the history. You know what The Genesis is capable of; I just wonder if maybe It's stronger than we think."
"It might be, but It's not stronger than Her. She tells us this is fate and it is; I don't have any doubt about that. We're going to win and the world is finally going to be on the right course."
Tom looked down, not saying anything for a few seconds. Then he nodded and looked back up. "You're right."
"Alright. Go bring Skelly and her family up here."
* * *
Skelly sat on one side of her parents and Andy on the other.
She thought it would be reversed in any normal situation. The parents on the outside, making the kids feel at ease. Here, though, the children weren't the ones needing reassurance.
"What I'm going to tell you all won't be easy to understand," Charlie said. "It wasn't easy for me to understand when She first came for me, and even the little bit we've shared with Andy and Skelly was difficult. I just ask that you listen and try to keep up. It'll be easier when it actually happens."
Skelly opened her mouth to ask when what happens, but caught herself before letting the words loose. Charlie saw her in the act and smiled.
"Feel free to ask questions along the way," he said, his eyes first catching hers and then moving across the rest of her family. He waited a few seconds but no one said anything. "How much did you two tell your parents?"
"Just the basics," Andy said. "What's happening with The Genesis taking people away, what Lexi told us about the virus changing the genetic makeup of certain people five hundred years ago. We tried to explain Lexi, but we don't really know much. We told them about the city we saw, about what Tom did with his hand--which is actually my first question. What was that?"
Charlie looked to Tom and Skelly followed.
"There's a process called Rising," Tom said slowly, almost as if he didn't want to voice it. "It will happen to you two soon enough, though the first of us have already Risen. What I did with the door in that elevator was ... a symptom of Rising. I can ...," he paused and looked to Charlie. "I've never tried to explain this to anyone. It's harder than I thought. I can manipulate digital worlds kind of like a carpenter can manipulate wood."
"So you're a cyborg?" Andy said.
"No, not a cyborg. There's no metal inside me. Digital code is binary, ones and zeros. Human DNA isn't binary, but a complex combination made up of individual pieces. When you Rise, the digital code is combined with DNA."
Skelly looked across to her parents who stared at Tom as if he just told them that their heads had been removed and they'd both notice momentarily, right before dieing.
"I told you this would be difficult to understand," Charlie said. "Tom is telling it probably as well as I could. What you saw with him is a sample of what will happen with you two, Skelly and Andy."
"What's the process?" Skelly asked.
"Do you mind if I defer that question for later? I want you to understand it but I'd rather use this time to focus on large themes."
Skelly nodded, feeling the man could ask anything of anyone and they would acquiesce.
"Lexi was the first of us," he continued. "She realized what She was about two hundred and fifty years ago."
"What?" Skelly's mother, Heather, said. "She's two hundred and fifty years old?"
Charlie nodded. "Yes. Age doesn't affect those that Rise like it does normal people. She's alive and She's our leader. When Lexi realized what She would become, She also realized there were others like Her. She called them potentials, people that could Rise if given the opportunity."
"How old are you?" Skelly said.
"Two hundred and two. Tom is ninety-seven."
Skelly didn't know what to say and apparently neither did anyone else. Finally, she asked, "You're immortal?"
"Forever is a long time, Skelly. I prefer to think of myself as old and try not to focus on how long I have left."
"So what is the plan for all this?" Eric said, her father speaking for the first time. "You saved my children from the sound of it, and I'm thankful for that, but what are you going to do? Keep us hidden here forever? You can't defeat The Genesis. Nothing can. The only hope anyone has is to ride out The Reckoning. That's it. So what are we doing here?"
Charlie stood and walked a few feet to the fireplace. He bent down and pressed a button near the base; the fire roared to life, Charlie stepping back a few feet.
"We can defeat The Genesis. Or rather, Lexi can. When Caesar tried, he didn't know what he was doing. All his intelligence and training, but what was he actually doing? He wanted to save his friend and lover, and then The Genesis showed up. That's not what we're doing and it's not what we will do. He had a group of a hundred and in the end, he was the last one standing. We will have millions. We're not just going after potentials, Mr. Thompson. We're going to unite the world."
40
Private Conversations
I have an idea for the girl.
You keep calling her that: a girl. Is that how you see her, Caesar? Is she completely humanized.
She has to be if I'm going to get anything out of her. I can't look at her as a specimen because she'll shut down. She needs companionship and I'm becoming that.
Just don't fall in love, ol' chap. Now, if Negative Newton can calm down for a second, I for one would like to hear your idea.
Something is contacting her--
What do you mean 'something'? How?
Let him finish!
I don't know what it is, but it's contacting her directly. Her mind. It's speaking to her and advising her not to talk with us. She says it doesn't trust us.
Telepathy doesn't exist, Caesar.
It's not telepathy, at least I don't believe it is. I think it's genetic, the very thing we're looking for. Something else with the same genetic code is reaching out to her, and clearly it's against us. Whatever this thing is, we need to figure it out more than ever. If I have to guess, which I do, it's amassing people against us. Hundreds, maybe more..
What could it be? What are the possibilities? We've searched as far as we possibly can, and the nearest intelligent life is a hundred million light years away, a place called Bynimian. It can't be anything from there, we would have seen it long before arrival.
It's probably not alien in nature, run the math.
And what is all your math telling you, wise one?
Stop. I want to contact it and I think I may be able to if I convince Michele it's a good idea.
Why would convincing her of anything matter?
I think that the biology of this understands we're a threat. That's why it's not allowing us to find it. If I can make it think I'm not a threat, it may give me more access.
Chapter 41
"What do you think this next meeting will be?" Grace said.
Jerry lay on a cot facing the ceiling. He'd been laying like this for the past three hours, waiting on the 'Council' to tell him their decision. He spent the time repairing the damage all his movement created. Laborious work that took intense concentration. Grace hadn't spoken in hours, and her words cracked his focus like slamming an egg on the ground.
He welcomed it, though, if he was honest with himself. Jerry was more tired than he could remember ever being. Not just from the concentration needed to repair tiny wires inside himself, but his soul felt tired. That piece of humanity The Genesis never understood--in fact, denied even its existence--felt worn out. He told the 'Council' he would try to defeat The Genesis again, because he didn't know what else to say. Jerry barely remembered a time when he had another purpose besides Its death, so he said it, but lying here now, he didn't know if he could.
"Jerry?"
"I'm awake ... I imagine they'll let me live, which I know is the
best news you've heard in around five hundred years. I can't imagine what you would do without me. Just a horrible life to lead."
Ignoring his sarcasm, Grace said, "They're not going to let you live unless you have something to offer them. I'm not connected to anything anymore, but I still have all my past files, and the speech patterns they display make me think this is a more violent place than they've let on. They aren't out here in the desert simply to protest. I think they're planning something and I think that will be their protest."
"So? I'll help if I can."
"Jerry, I know you can tell the state your body is in, but I can see it. How would you help? Your days of fighting are over, even if they can somehow repair a lot of you. Living through the end of this year is going to be a test."
"Your support means the world to me. I can't thank you enough," he said from his cot. Jerry sighed. "What are you getting at?"
"I think we should leave. Tell them we're harmless and that we mean to keep moving until we find a place to live out the rest of our lives. I don't understand why you would want to do anything else. You know it's hopeless to try and defeat Caesar, even more hopeless than last time."
"I know," Jerry said.
"So how about it? If they decide to let us live, why don't we negotiate our way out of this place?"
"What are we going to do, Grace? Build a house and a white picket fence?"
"I don't understand."
Jerry smiled, his age even greater than Grace's knowledge of history. "Nothing. It used to be a saying. What are we supposed to do when we leave, though? Where will we go? There's nothing out here and I can't trek any further across the desert, not without more advanced mechanics working on me first."
"I know," Grace said, sounding agitated. "Let me think, Jerry. Maybe I can find us a way out of this."
Jerry said nothing else but didn't go back to work on his broken body. He was too tired and so he let himself drift into a light sleep.
Until the door opened.
"Nome would like to see you." Jerry didn't recognize the voice but he slowly started sitting up.
"Not you," the voice said. "Your assistant."
* * *
"I'm here," Grace said.
Nome couldn't see her, though her voice sounded about at eye level and a few feet to the right of Trist.
"Thank you, Trist. I'll take it from here," Nome said.
"You're welcome, sir."
Nome waited until the tent's flap closed before he sat back down at his table. "How are you?" he said to the assistant. He stared ahead at the same area as before, but snapped his head to the right when he heard her speak.
"I'm okay," the assistant said, from the corner now.
"That is disorienting," Nome said. "Trying to speak to someone I can't see."
"Most people get used to it fairly easy."
"Maybe." Nome paused, deciding whether he wanted to follow the assistant around with his basically blind--when it came to her--eyes. She could be doing it just to make him look foolish as well. Nome decided to look forward, not worrying about which way she flew. "Thanks for coming."
"Don't mention it," she said and he heard the sarcasm.
Nome smiled. "It seems that you and Jerry have a good sense of humor, which I can appreciate."
"We aim to please. Would you mind telling me why I'm here?"
"Sure," Nome said. "I want to talk about Jerry. I want to get your thoughts on him. I'll say up front that he's going to live, you are too, so you don't have to lie to me."
"Which thoughts would you like?"
"What was he like before, when he had Caesar?" Nome listened to the wind blowing at his tent, the assistant quiet. "Was he different?"
"Yes, he was."
"How?"
Another pause and Nome realized this wasn't an easy question to answer. He had expected the assistant--a machine, basically--to be able to accurately and quickly discuss anything, like a digital encyclopedia.
"He's just trying to live now. Back then, I think in some ways, he'd been trying to die. He would never have said that, but he carried a fatalistic persona, one that cared only about destroying The Genesis and maybe himself, too, in the process."
"Tell me more about how he wanted to destroy The Genesis."
Grace laughed, a shocked little thing that filled the tent. "His whole life was dedicated to it. Once The Genesis turned him into what he is now, his life consisted of nothing else. No family. No real friends. He had The Named and an idea that someone like Caesar would come around. That's what dictated his life. Nothing else mattered."
Nome nodded. "You can see me, correct?"
"Yes."
"Okay, just wanted to make sure my visual cues aren't missed; if so, I'd need to be more verbal ... would you like to step outside?" He stood up as he spoke.
"It doesn't matter," Grace said.
"Take a stroll with me."
Nome stood and walked outside of the tent, the wind and heat hitting him at the same time. "No matter how large the breeze, it can't usurp the heat's dominion of this place. Do you feel heat?"
"I do," she said.
Nome started walking, a slow and meandering thing. People saw him but couldn't see the creature he spoke with. Nome walked when he thought and if he needed to think while with someone, they walked as well. The city knew of the cyborg's arrival. Many were nervous about it and Nome understood why. They were very close to beginning and this new entry made everyone question why it happened now. Fifty years in this desert without visitors and now one arrives.
"I don't have any real reason to disbelieve the story you two told. He certainly looks like all the things he said happened, happened. I'm wondering if luck shined on us out here, perhaps even greater than the sun. Others, though, wonder if you two are a bad omen, and I think both views are possible."
"We're neither," she said. "We're not fate for your group, Nome. We're two weary beings without a home. We've both died at least once and all I want to do is find a place to live. No war. No fighting. No planning. Just living."
"Aren't you made to help humans, though? Isn't that your purpose?"
"And I'll help Jerry," Grace said.
"And when he dies?"
"I don't know."
They walked a few minutes in silence, making a circle round the city.
"He said he wanted to try and take down The Genesis again. Is that true?"
"In-so-much as he doesn't know what else to do with himself. I think if he found something else, he would take it. Look at him. He can't do it again. He can barely get off his cot."
"I can fix that," Nome said.
"Candidly, no you can't. You may lie to him or even yourself, but you can't lie to me about this. You don't have the tools or expertise to do what you're saying. Jerry may be able to be fixed, but not here and not by anyone that I've seen so far."
"There are people here you haven't seen, Grace. What I need to know is whether he has the heart to fight anymore."
Nome listened in the quiet of Grace's thinking.
"I don't know anymore. I think a lot of his heart died when Caesar made his choice,” the assistant said.
* * *
"It's just you and I, right?" Nome said. "Grace is gone?"
Jerry nodded. "As far as I know. She could possibly be here but just not talking."
"You think she is?"
"I think when Grace says something," Jerry responded, "she doesn't lie. She said she wouldn't be here and so I don't think she is." Jerry and Grace had basically switched spots, her heading back to the small tent and he coming to the large one to be alone with this man who had the weirdest name Jerry had ever heard.
"That's good to know. You won't be meeting with The Council, just me. Is that okay?"
"I think the fact that I'm meeting with anyone is good enough for me."
"Probably true," Nome said. "As you know, I spoke to Grace a little while ago. Do you want to know what we talked about?"
"It doesn't
matter. She'll tell me if you don't."
"Playing your cards close isn't really your thing is it?" Nome said.
Jerry smiled. "I led a revolution without the world knowing we existed. Then it all blew up in my face. I don't really see any benefit to keeping secrets right now, I suppose."
He listened to Nome chuckle. "Fair enough ... I asked her if she thought you could do it again, go at The Genesis."
"What did she say?"
"She's not sure, but she's doubtful, I think. Your heart's not in it anymore and that's what I need more than anything. Like I told her, I can fix you. Physically, you'd be close to new, but mentally? Spiritually? I'm not sure anything can fix those. So now I want to ask you if your heart is in it?"
Jerry stared endlessly into his own night, hearing wind and a voice from across the room, smelling sun-baked sand and the dusty aroma of an old tent. The voice was asking him the same question he had asked himself. He stood up in Caesar's bunker when he found he could, the same as he once challenged The Genesis when he found he could. He left Caesar's bunker because he wasn't going to remain a prisoner if he didn't have to.
He had always stood. Always walked.
Yet now he was contemplating sitting.
"It's okay if you don't have it anymore, Jerry. I'm not going to kill you."
"Grace said I should tell you that we want to leave. She's a smart one, probably the most humanistic application to ever exist. In her own ways, she is as special as Caesar was. She thinks you're up to something and I do too."
"Perhaps I am," Nome said.
"I don't know if I have it in me to do this," the blind cyborg said. "I don't know much of anything anymore. What I once knew turned out to be false and for the past five hundred years I've wallowed in that fact ... why don't you show me what you have planned and then decide if I can help?"
Jerry heard nothing, but didn't move at all. He gave no sign that the silence made him uncomfortable, though he had just asked to peek behind the curtain without a commitment.
What was the worst they could do? Kill him?