Entanglement

by Michael S Nuckols

  “I don’t normally just drop by,” Christina said nervously, “I already knew that Ridley would be away.”

  “Oh? How?”

  “Lucy told me”

  Diane placed three small cups and saucers onto the table before presenting an assortment of nori-crackers on a plate. She sat down. “So, I assume Lucy arranged this meeting.”

  “Yes.”

  Diane poured the tea. “That’s what I thought. She’s been unusually quiet since you arrived. Which makes me think this is more than a social call.”

  “I needed to speak with you alone, without Ridley.”

  Kelly sniffed the pu-erh tea curiously.

  “It’s hot,” Diane said, “Blow on it so you don’t burn your tongue.”

  Christina held the warm cup between her hands. She searched for the right words. “I guess you know that Lucy and I talk often. She told me about Sandy.”

  Diane did not look up from her tea. “What did she tell you?”

  “That the dog was going to die and that she saved it. I want to know if you believe that Lucy succeeded?”

  Diane poured herself a cup of tea. “Lucy understands a great deal, probably better than anyone alive. But we are uncertain if she understands the physical world in the same way that we do. Sandy’s digital transformation is either a brilliant simulation or the most stunning development yet in computer science. It might as well be magic for all that we understand about what has happened. But whether I believe? It’s hard to say.”

  Christina looked around. “Lucy can hear us, can’t she?”

  Diane looked at the wall-screen. “Lucy? We’ve had this very discussion. Haven’t we?”

  Lucy finally appeared on the camera in her black-and-white avatar. “Yes, Diane. We have. Ridley and Diane hide nothing from me. Our conversations are always forthright and honest.”

  Kelly took a cracker, bit into it, wrinkled her nose, and then placed the remnants onto a saucer.

  Christina said, “I’ll get to the point. My mother is near death. She’s in an induced coma after a blood clot destroyed parts of her brain.”

  “How old is she?” Diane asked before taking a sip of her tea.

  “One-hundred-twenty-seven. She lived through the Great Collapse without getting sick. She’s a tough old bird.”

  “It sounds like she’s had very good medical care.”

  “She had genetic therapy years ago. Her mind is good,” Christina added, “It’s just that her body is failing. Every bit of her genetic material has been corrupted.”

  “Did they try growing new organs?”

  “They’ve exhausted those options.”

  Diane wiped crumbs off the table into her napkin. “What you are asking is likely illegal.”

  “I’m not so sure of that. Lucy says she can help, but I had to know if you believe that the dog is alive.”

  A cargo shipped was passing in the distance. “There is no real way to know. At the end of the day, it seems to be a leap of faith. I believe that she was successful. I’ve grown to trust Lucy’s sincerity.”

  “Would you like to meet Sandy?” Lucy asked.

  Diane knew what Lucy meant. She went to the drawer and pulled out a VR mask. “Lucy can introduce you to the dog if you want.”

  Christina was hesitant to take the device. Kelly watched jealously as Christina put on the neural assembly. Diane helped fasten the collar around her neck and then plugged in the connection. Lucy displayed their meeting on the screen for Diane and Kelly.

  “Where am I?” Christina asked.

  Lucy took her hand. “At Ridley’s childhood home.”

  Within virtual reality, Christina held her hands out, and studied the avatar that Lucy had prepared for her. Her clothes were identical to those she wore during the last newscast. Lucy leaned against an old peach tree that was in full bloom. Sandy ran through the meadow Christina knelt to greet the animal, which jumped into Christina’s arms. The dog licked Christina’s face, her tail full of energy. Christina was surprised by her enthusiasm. “You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”

  The dog circled happily, her tail wagging, beckoning Christina to follow her into the woods for an adventure.

  Kelly was curious about Christina’s stiff posture in the chair as compared to her activity in the VR. “Can I play with the dog, Mom?”

  “I’ll get you a puppy instead,” Diane said.

  “Really?”

  Diane considered. “If you’re grades are good at the end of the semester, you can pick out a puppy for Christmas.”

  Lucy stood with her arms folded across her chest. In real life, a tear stream down Christina’s face. “Why is she crying?” Kelly asked.

  “Sometimes the VR doesn’t block all the signals to the facial muscles,” Diane said.

  Diane finished her tea. Kelly pushed hers away.

  “She chases digital rabbits every morning,” Lucy said.

  Christina joined Lucy in the shade. The dog disappeared into the woods. “Is she happy here?”

  “She has everything she needs. Everything she wants. And she’s young again.”

  “My mother can be uploaded and saved, can’t she?”

  “Yes,” Lucy said, “Just as we discussed.”

  “Will Ridley allow it?”

  Lucy ended the simulation. Christina calmly removed the VR mask. Diane helped Kelly to wipe up spilled tea. The screen went black again.

  Kelly had grown bored. “Can I go down to the beach?”

  Diane nodded yes, and Kelly left the room. “We’ll go later.”

  “Please.”

  “No. Go into the living room and finish your drawing.”

  Kelly did as she was told.

  Diane turned to Christina. “The dark energy scanner is in the basement. I have a feeling that Lucy hasn’t told you everything.”

  Christina followed her down the stairs. Lucy’s processor broadcast faint rainbows into the dark space. Diane turned on the lights in the scanning room, revealing the device. “The process will destroy your mother’s brain, just as it did the dog. The FDA hasn’t even seen the device—so using it is indeed illegal. Because it is a destructive technology, we doubt they will approve it anytime in the next ten years, if ever.”

  “My mother’s mind is still here, now. There’s no guarantee that her brain will be intact in six months. This is her only hope. Everything else is just a painful delay against the inevitable.”

  “Lucy, what do you say about this?” Diane asked.

  “I’ve read about Bethany. She seems to be a wonderful person. I would love to speak with her one day. I can save her,” Lucy implored, “If you only allow me.”

  “You know that’s not my decision,” Diane said, “Or even Ridley’s.”

  Ridley had begun to feel pain in his wrist; he visited Dr. Stone’s office. A late summer rainstorm fell from the sky as he ran into the office. He brushed the water droplets off his jacket and grabbed a paper towel to dry his face and hair, which flopped onto his collar like Raggedy Andy’s.

  Once in the examination room, a male nurse took a swab of his cheek, swirled it in a test tube, and sealed it. “The doctor will be in when the analysis is complete.”

  A glacier scene had replaced the waterfall screensaver in the exam room. Ridley uploaded his health data and then checked his phone for messages. The corporation’s stock was flat. As Stone entered the room, the results of Ridley’s genetic analysis populated the wall-screen. Stone paged through it page by page. “As we expected. Your telomeres are 18% shorter than the last time we looked. That’s a lot. And here,” he said, pointing to a flawed piece of DNA, “This is the source of your arthritis…”

  “I’m not that old.”

  “It’s time that you considered telomeric therapy.”

  Ridley had expected that answer. “That’s the fountain of youth for everything these days, isn’t it?”

  Stone paged to a chromosome where a cancer gene had been activated. He zoomed in on the area that the
computer had highlighted in yellow.

  “What is that?” Ridley asked.

  “You’re already aware that you carry a gene for pancreatic cancer.”

  Ridley’s heart raced. “Yes.”

  “The thing with this particular marker is that it exists towards the end of the chromosome. With the reduced telomere length, it looks like the gene has become active. It’s your age. Your body is losing the ability to catch these kind of transcription errors.”

  “Are you saying I have cancer?”

  “Not yet. But the probability has increased significantly. We’ll need to watch you carefully.”

  “How long until I need to worry?”

  “It can happen at any time. Telomeric therapy will be essential. The arthritis is just one indication. But this gene… I recommend therapy sooner than later. I can get you into the clinic next month.”

  “I’m not ready for that.”

  “None of us are, Ridley. Prevention is easier to manage than cancer.”

  “We’ll talk about this next year. An analgesic is enough for now.”

  “I’ll send a prescription.”

  In spite of the sudden downpour and dim evening light, Ridley felt adventurous. He debated driving the Porsche home manually. He finally tossed his coat into the passenger seat, rotated it so that it faced forward, and pulled up the steering wheel. The rain fell in sheets as the windshield wipers swished back and forth. The engine hummed happily as he thrust it around curves and up hills. He skidded on loose gravel and then hydroplaned across standing water. The storm grew stronger; the trees began to sway. Ridley slowed the car as he arrived at the gate, pleased with the drive. “You still got it, old girl,” he said, “Need to blast the gunk out of your engine more often.”

  Insides, the house was quiet, the storm’s rage attenuated through the thick walls and vacuum glass panels. He walked into the kitchen. Diane and Christina still sat at the table. “You didn’t tell me you were expecting company.”

  “Lucy invited her,” Diane said.

  Christina stood and offered her hand. “I need to speak with you.”

  Instead of greeting her properly, Ridley grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and popped it open. “Phone broke?”

  Diane poured Christina more tea.

  Ridley turned a chair backwards, straddled it, and leaned forward. He grabbed a cracker and chomped on it loudly. “So, Christina. What is so important that you had to convince Lucy to invite you?”

  “My mother is dying.”

  Ridley’s irreverent grin turned serious. He tried to be compassionate, to be polite, but his refusal was unsympathetic and cold. “Cerenovo donates generously to the Seattle Hospice. I’m sure that they can help you.”

  “I don’t need money, Ridley.”

  Ridley already suspected the reason for the visit. He was curt. “We have no way of helping you.”

  Christina nervously bit her lip. She stared down at the cup of tea leaves as if they could answer her question. “I wouldn’t have come to you if there were any realistic options.”

  Lucy appeared out of the blackness. She stood on a brilliant green hill against a blue backdrop. Ridley remembered the image as a screensaver from his childhood. “I must interrupt,” Lucy said.

  Ridley stood. “I have a great deal of work today.”

  Live video from a security camera on the dock filled the screen. Lucy calmly said, “Kelly is drowning.”

  Diane’s eyes grew wide as Kelly’s hand pushed through the cold water and then disappeared. “Oh God!”

  Lucy zoomed the camera closer. Again, the girl’s head popped above the water momentarily and then disappeared.

  “Call an ambulance,” Ridley yelled.

  As Diane and Ridley raced to the beach, Christina searched for her phone. Lucy appeared again. “I am contacting emergency assistance. Go help them.”

  Ridley was first down the stairs and onto the rocky path leading down to the beach. A strong wind blew and whitecaps foamed. Diane stumbled and slipped down the wet steps. His long legs carried Ridley ahead like a sprinter. He ran along the pebble beach and to the tidal pools just beyond. At the base of the cliff, he looked into the rough water. Kelly was nowhere to be seen. He waded into the cold waves. Diane followed. The water was a knife. Diane dove under and as she surfaced, the current pulled her off her feet. Her head slipped beneath the waves. Ridley grabbed her hand before the current pulled her away from the shore. “The current is too strong,” he screamed.

  She struggled against him. “Ridley, let me go.”

  The water was blackness.

  Christina caught up with them and stood on the pebble beach, helpless. She held her cell phone in her hand.

  Diane struggled against Ridley as the rain fell in droves from the dark sky. She broke his grasp. A wave pushed him backwards into the water. Diane swam towards the open water, took a deep breath, and dove under. She dove under again and again. Kelly was nowhere to be found.

  Minutes passed. The girl had disappeared.

  The lights of a search and rescue drone flickered in the distance. It searched along the shore for the missing girl until it sounded an alarm. The drone hovered in place. “There,” Christina yelled.

  Kelly’s body had been swept southward. Her red shirt was a flag in the surf, caught on a snag of rock. Ridley ran to the girl but could not reach her. He struggled to stand in the current before catching her hand and pulling Kelly towards him. Blood flowed from the child’s head and her skin was pale. He lost his footing and fell again.

  Ridley pulled the lifeless girl towards the safety of the beach. Once in shallow water, he picked Kelly up, carried her to the landing, and pushed her onto her side. Christina followed him. Water poured out of Kelly’s mouth. “She needs CPR,” Christina said.

  Ridley knelt opposite Christina. He tried to remember how to perform CPR, but his mind was a fog. He tried to give a rescue breath but it went nowhere. He could not bring himself to break Kelly’s ribs. He pressed meekly at each compression until he reached ten. Another rescue breath was stopped by the water in her lungs. Christina pushed him away. “Let me,” she yelled.

  Christina bent down and placed her lips onto the girl’s mouth, forcing a breath into her lungs. She broke the girl’s ribs with the first compression. Ridley winced at the cracking sound. Christina counted, “One, two, three…”

  “How far away is the nearest ambulance?” she said, as she grew winded.

  “I don’t know,” Ridley said.

  “Go to the gate. Make sure they can get in. Lead them down here.”

  Kelly did not awaken. Ridley hesitated. “Let’s take her to the house.”

  Christina agreed. “They can get oxygen into her.”

  The rain continued to pour. He scooped the girl into his arms and ran with her up the stairs to the patio. Christina could not match his pace. Ridley placed Kelly onto the oak dining table. Christina entered the room as he gave a rescue breath.

  “How long was she under?” he asked.

  Lucy reviewed the security footage. “She was under the water for four minutes and 23 seconds.”

  Christina gave ten more chest compressions, each with force and purpose.

  “How long can a child be submerged?” he asked.

  “Fatal neurological damage typically occurs after 5 minutes. Children have survived as long as fourteen minutes but with damage. The record is two hours in near-freezing water. The water temperature is fifty-four.”

  Ridley gave a rescue breath. Kelly’s arms were scratched. Her hair and clothes were speckled with kelp.

  Christina gave more chest compressions. “They might be able to revive her. She was in cold water.”

  They alternated positions. Ridley meekly pressed on the child’s chest. “Deeper,” she commanded.

  Eight more rounds of CPR followed.

  The flashing lights of an ambulance flashed at the gate. Lucy opened it and the ambulance pulled up to the front walkway.

 
Lucy had changed her avatar yet again. Now, she appeared as a grown woman with thick, black hair, high cheeks, pouty lips, and large brown eyes. She led a trio of paramedics through the house to the dining room. The younger man immediately began chest compressions. The female medic cut off Kelly’s blouse and injected oxygen-bearing fluid into the girl’s heart. The third inserted a ventilation tube into her throat and forced oxygen into her lungs. Without missing a beat, the medics lifted her onto a gurney and wrapped an automatic CPR compression band around her chest. The machine struck rhythmically. They rolled the gurney through the house and into the open doors of the waiting ambulance. As they loaded the ambulance, the female medic asked, “Are you the parents?”

  The younger man attached electrodes to Kelly’s chest and attached them to a port on the defibrillator.

  “I don’t know where Diane is,” Ridley said.

  The ambulance doors slammed. Ridley watched as the driverless ambulance flew down the driveway and onto the highway. The automated cars on the roadway anticipated its arrival and pulled aside to clear a path. Ridley walked into the house and looked around nervously. “Where is Diane?”

  Christina realized their mistake. “She’s still in the water.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Like Kelly, the current had pulled Diane away from the boulders and under the water before finally depositing her on the pebble beach. The tide had begun rising and the water was now at Ridley’s waist. Christina struggled with him to bring Diane to the shore. Her skin was pale and rubbery. They safely pulled her to the landing. It was a horrific déjà vu for both. She searched her pocket. “I must’ve dropped my phone.”

  Ridley looked at one of the security cameras. “Lucy must have called 911 again by now.”

  Christina began CPR with a rescue breath followed by that now-familiar and horrifying crunch of breaking ribs. She was growing tired. “Are you certain that she called?”

  Ridley ran up the stairs, across the patio, and to the kitchen wall monitor.

  Lucy anticipated his question. “I have contacted them. The first ambulance is still with Kelly. The second is at a vehicle accident. They are dispatching another from Manzanita.”