by Nick Webb
“You want me to say it again? I’ll say it again. I’m sorry. You were right. I was wrong. The Findiri are a threat. Congratulations for being right twice a day, Admiral Stopped-watch.” Proctor pierced Oppenheimer with a glare. They’d reconciled. But things were still tense. Far more than she’d like.
“You never change, Shelby. Never will. My point wasn’t blame. My point was to admit that we have no idea what we’re doing. What we’re up against.” He turned to Granger. “Tim. Try. Try harder. You remember nothing? Nothing at all? Shelby claims that your … AI alter-ego said you created them in the first place. You’re telling me that, after two weeks of trying as hard as you can to remember, using the best memories aids known to medicine, that you recall nothing?”
“I told you, Christian. It’s not nothing. It’s just … nothing helpful. Just enough to scare us but not enough to inform us.”
“Fine. Scare us. Tell me a story, Tim.” He leaned back in his plastic chair.
Tim took a deep breath. “You were right to be worried about them. But for the wrong reasons. You were worried that they hadn’t manifested themselves, and that meant they were lying in wait for us. Plotting. Planning. That wasn’t the case at all.”
“Then what were they doing for thirty years, Tim? Smoking joints? Masturbating? Playing chess?”
Granger rolled his eyes. “So crass. No, they weren’t sitting around twiddling there thumbs, nor were they planning our demise. They were hiding from the Swarm. It’s that simple. Their sole drive is survival. And in spite of their strength and aggressive nature, they knew they couldn’t win against the Swarm, and so the spent hundreds of thousands of years perfecting their ability to hide. But now that the Swarm is truly gone? I’m afraid that, instead of being scarce, the Findiri are soon going to be … everywhere. There’s a power vacuum right now. And the thing that fills a power vacuum, is the next-most-powerful thing. And, from the little I remember, I made them … powerful. Bad. Worse than bad. Not Swarm bad. But … well.”
All three said nothing for awhile.
“But, there’s one other thing. And you’re going to kill me, but I’ll tell you anyway.”
Oppenheimer looked back at him. “What?”
“I built in weaknesses. There is a way to beat them. There is hope of surviving the impending war. And if I remember right, the weakness is rather straightforward, if not immediately apparent.”
“Well? Don’t keep me in suspense, Tim.”
“Ok. Here’s the part where you’re going want to kill me. You see, the thing is … I can’t remember what it is.”
Oppenheimer closed his eyes and rested his face in a palm. “Shit.”
Proctor winced, and scratched her temple.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Oppenheimer.
“I wish I were, Christian.”
Oppenheimer stood up, apparently ending the meeting. The other two followed suit. “Well. All I’ll say is this then. You got us into this mess? You’re going to get us out of it.”
He stormed from the room. The door slammed shut behind him.
Granger looked Proctor in the eye. “I’m counting on it.”
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title
Dedication
Front Matter
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Epilogue
Backmatter