“I would have insisted on it,” she answered immediately, “at the start of the call. To prove my sincerity to him. Jake had given me plenty of warning, so I had multiple contingences planned out.”
As Desh considered this last, Kira’s iron grip on her emotions broke down once again and the look of pain and vulnerability returned. This time, tears flowed from her eyes as well. “I love you, David,” she whispered. “I know what I’ve done to your mind. And how badly I’ve hurt you. I can’t blame you for not believing me. But I swear to you, I’m not the sociopath I pretended to be with Frey. I’m the woman you fell in love with.”
Desh gazed at her, his mind numb. Everything she said was so plausible. But was he being played for a fool yet again?
“Dutton and his men will be back any minute,” she said. “You have to decide if you can trust me.”
Desh looked into her beautiful eyes, still moist but no longer producing tears. Maybe she was that good. Maybe his heart was clouding his judgment even now. But if this were the case, then it would be better if she did kill him. Death would be a welcome release.
“Okay,” said Desh, nodding. “Let’s do this.”
They hurriedly positioned themselves back to back and Desh began sawing at her cuffs with Metzger’s combat knife. Her cuffs, unlike his, had been left with a two inch length of plastic between her hands. Sawing backwards in such an awkward position with little leverage required every ounce of his strength and focus, but after just a few minutes he succeeded in freeing her.
Desh held a mental breath. What would happen now?
True to her word, Kira immediately began sawing through his restraints, her hands in front of her and, unlike Desh, now able to use the strength in her arms as well as just her hands. In less than a minute the razor sharp combat knife, its flat surfaces covered in dried blood, finished severing the plastic.
Kira retrieved her Sig Sauer from Frey’s body and Desh chose one of several automatic weapons now strewn throughout the living room. Together they dragged the sniper Desh had killed with his violent kick out of sight of the entrance, and took up positions on either side of the door, about twelve feet deep in the room. Still clutching their weapons, they put their hands behind their backs as though they were still bound and readied themselves.
Less than a minute later, Dutton threw open the door and entered, spotting Kira in front of him and to his left. “The attacker was acting alone,” he told her. “But I’m taking over for Frey, which means I’ll be needing those magic pills of yours.” He leered at her suggestively. “And for the record, I do like adult women.”
He was about to continue when it finally dawned on him that something was very wrong. The sniper he had left to mind the prisoners was nowhere in sight. His two companions had caught on just an instant earlier, but before they could react Kira and Desh cut all three men to ribbons.
Kira knew they couldn’t afford to do anything less, but it was a bloody massacre, and she fell to her knees when it was done, fighting back vomit.
She visibly shook off the horror of having been an instrument of death, and her physical squeamishness, and moved over to Ross to inspect his wound. “Find a fist-aid kit,” she ordered, and Desh marveled at her ability to keep getting back in the saddle after every fall. She was truly remarkable.
He raced through the safe house and returned several minutes later with a military style first-aid kit. Kira washed Metzger’s wound and went to work dressing it. He had lost considerable blood, but in the few minutes he had played possum, his enhanced mind had marshaled clotting and immune factors to the wound and directed these biochemical armies to initiate the healing process far more efficiently than his body would have done naturally. Kira was confident he would make it.
She was just finishing up when Matt Griffin opened his eyes. The dose of tranquilizer had been fairly modest, and hadn’t been enough to keep a man of Griffin’s weight out for long.
He shook himself awake and then looked around the room, taking in the gruesome bodies and massive carnage. Then he did it a second time, as though he wasn’t quite sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. Only two figures moved. Kira, who was tending to Ross, and David Desh, who he spied through the open door, keeping watch outside.
Griffin breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and Kira’s head shot around at the noise. She caught his eye and visibly relaxed.
“Kira, um . . . just out of curiosity,” he said wryly, making a show of turning his head around the room to take in the corpses that surrounded him. “Did I miss anything while I was asleep, by any chance?”
62
After they had freed Griffin and he and Kira had embraced warmly, Desh removed Kira’s keys from Dutton’s bullet-riddled corpse and they loaded Ross Metzger carefully into the back of the Icarus van.
“Is David fully up to speed?” asked Griffin
Kira blew out a breath and shook her head no.
Griffin’s eyes roamed between Desh and Kira and back again, as if trying to guess the possible state of their current relationship. “In that case,” he said finally, “I’ll drive.” He held out his hand toward Desh, who was holding the keys. “You and Kira can ride in the back. You two need to have some quality alone time,” he said. He raised his eyebrows. “Well, alone time if you don’t count Ross.”
Desh looked into Kira’s eyes once again. Was there really an explanation that would exonerate her? It seemed almost impossible. He so wanted there to be, but he still couldn’t rule out that her explanation of events would fall short. But there was only one way to find out. “Thanks, Matt,” he said, putting the keys in the giant’s hand. “Find the nearest woods and we’ll decide if we want to switch vehicles. I’m sure Frey and Dutton wanted their ambush of Kira to be off the record, so no one should be watching. But be alert and keep your eyes peeled anyway,” he instructed.
“Wow,” said Griffin with a grin, “it’s like we’re one big happy family again.”
“That remains to be seen,” said Desh grimly.
Desh and Kira sat in leather captain’s chairs opposite each other and belted in as Matt pulled away from the charnel house.
“Okay, Kira. If you can truly explain away everything I’ve learned, every act you’ve taken, you’re an even greater magician than I thought.”
Kira sighed. “I have a gellcap in the key ring upfront. You could take it before I start to be sure I’m telling the truth.”
Desh considered. The fact she was offering this up was encouraging. “That’s okay. Let’s just have a normal conversation. Emphasis on normal.”
“If you have even the slightest doubt, I’m going to insist you take one.”
Desh nodded.
“All of this started a little over two and a half years ago,” began Kira. “A few months before I tried the second level of enhancement. World events were getting me more nervous even than usual.”
“Yeah, world events will do that to you,” noted Desh with a frown.
“As you know better than anyone, my analysis suggested that extended life would be a disaster. That society was already struggling from the burden of overpopulation and the weight of increases in human lifespan. When social security was created, life expectancy in America was below sixty-five, the age when benefits kicked in. Now it’s around eighty. We’ve been putting more and more burden on the system for every year longer in life expectancy medical science is able to create. In 1940 there were six people working for each person at retirement age. Now there are only three. And retirement lasts longer and longer every decade. Society’s back is breaking already, and my therapy would accelerate this dramatically, which would inevitably lead to wars and the end of civilization.”
“I’m well aware of this analysis,” said Desh impatiently. How could he not be? The entire vision of Icarus had been to create efficient star travel, so mankind could leave its cradle and have room to grow—and room for an increased duration of life.
“I know. Sorry. The thing is, even
having decided not to release my longevity therapy, the world seemed to be going to hell. European economies began melting down faster than my enhanced self had predicted. And most of the world’s other economies performed worse than expected as well. Terrorist states were acquiring or building nuclear weapons. Islamic fundamentalism was rising around the world, with democratic-seeming revolutions leading to even more intolerant rule in many cases. Given all of this, I became more worried than ever. I had thought we had enough time to solve faster-than-light travel before the powder keg went off. But what if was wrong?”
“I assume you tried to get a handle on this while enhanced,” said Desh.
Kira nodded. “Yes. But without success. The analysis for a seismic shift like increasing life expectancy by eighty years was fairly straightforward. This wasn’t. Even for an enhanced mind. It was clear that the probability of immanent self-destruction of our species was high. But just how high, and how immanent, wasn’t clear. And regardless, even assuming the end was near, my superhuman intellect couldn’t see any way to stop it.”
Desh listened thoughtfully as the van drove on, with Matt Griffin at the helm.
“But then the core council agreed I would attempt five minutes at the second level of enhancement. So I studied up on world affairs, geopolitical conflicts, weapons systems and strategies, the effects of various stimuli on world order, and pressure points that could trigger wars. The works. I wanted to have as much raw data as I could for my uh . . . super-enhanced self to draw from.”
Desh nodded to himself as at least one piece of the puzzle slid into place. He had found remnants of this research hidden on her computer, and had naturally jumped to the wrong conclusions. Kira Miller had wanted to be prepared for her five minutes at a level of intelligence that was all but omniscient.
“And?” said Desh.
“And . . . my mind at this transcendent level was able to easily perform the analysis. The results were even more sobering than I thought. Basically, we were out of time already. World War III or the equivalent was inevitable, and irreversible. On the course we were on, even if we invented faster-than-light travel the next day, it would be too late. Although if we did, at least a few would escape to seed the species elsewhere. But that’s if we could solve faster-than-light travel, something even my transcendent self knew would be a considerable challenge.”
Kira paused to gather her thoughts.
“Go on,” prompted Desh, who as usual when speaking with Kira, found himself intellectually stimulated and totally absorbed by the case she was presenting.
“Transcendent Kira realized that the only possible way to save us from ourselves was to accomplish two things. One, relieve the ever increasing global tensions between countries. And two, render every nuclear warhead on the face of the earth impotent.”
Kira paused to let Desh reflect on the enormity of these two goals.
“So during the five minutes she existed,” she continued, “transcendent Kira hatched a plan that was insanely ambitious, even for her. And she split normal me—and the person I became while enhanced—both into two personalities. One aware of the plan, who would implement and monitor it, making course corrections as they became necessary. And one who was clueless, left totally in the dark, so she would behave and react normally as events unfolded.”
Desh stared into Kira’s eyes and saw nothing but sincerity. And her assertions were almost too outrageous to be anything but true.
“You weren’t the only one I was deceiving, David. I was deceiving myself just as much. The fewer people who knew, the less chance something would go wrong. If you don’t know something, you can’t spill it during an interrogation. Disclosure was on a need to know basis only. If it had been up to me, I would have told you everything from the beginning.” She rolled her eyes. “Then again, I would have told myself everything also.”
Desh nodded. Knowing that he hadn’t been the only who wasn’t trusted with this plan made him feel better about the situation, even though he knew it shouldn’t.
“Basically, transcendent Kira realized the only way to stave off disaster was to present an external threat. A threat to the entire planet. One that would scare the world straight. Freak out people and governments enough that they would have to learn to work as a single species. They would still have their own languages and cultures, but everyone would be striving toward a common goal, focused on a common enemy, rather than trying to tear out each other’s jugulars.”
Desh’s eyes narrowed. Was she implying what he thought she was? He couldn’t see any other alternative. “So what are you saying?” he asked, his tone incredulous. “You can’t mean that . . .” He paused and waved his hands, somehow unable to finish a thought that seemed so utterly preposterous. “So what are you saying?” he repeated.
“What I’m saying,” responded Kira with a grin, amused by his struggles, “is that there is no alien species. I’m saying that transcendent Kira found a way to fabricate one from whole cloth.” She paused and raised her eyebrows impishly. “What I’m saying, David, is that the entire alien visitation is a sham.”
63
Desh sat in stunned silence for almost thirty seconds. Had Kira Miller really engineered the greatest hoax in human history? A hoax swallowed whole by eight billion people? It was remarkable. Stunning. Impossible.
“Just a teeny bit ambitious,” said Kira with a smile, “wouldn’t you say? Even for someone with godlike intellect.”
“How?” said Desh simply.
“Second level Kira came up with the entire plan, of course, and imbedded key parts of it in the neuronal structure of both normal me and enhanced me. Like programming a computer.”
“It can’t be done,” objected Desh. “Implanting the epiphanies we have while enhanced in our minds for playback when we return to normal is impossible.”
“Impossible at the first level of enhancement, yes,” conceded Kira. “But as you know, the second level is as far above the first as the first is above normal.”
Desh smiled sheepishly. He did know that. He was being stupid. They weren’t using the word transcendent for nothing. “Go on,” he said.
“We always thought Ross took enhancement better than any of us, without negative personality changes. Transcendent Kira was certain he was someone who could be absolutely trusted, even while enhanced. And also that if he studied enough physics, he could pull off a few miracles—with her help. So I gave him a lifetime supply of gellcaps, which sped up his advances dramatically, since he wasn’t a danger to society and didn’t need any babysitters.”
Desh nodded. “So once you recovered from your five minutes at this second level, you had Ross bone up on physics. But not to tackle cold fusion.”
“Right. Ross knew the real score from the beginning, even if I didn’t. The hidden half of my personality told him everything. He was responsible for implementing three breakthroughs that transcendent Kira scorched into my mind. Zero point energy was one of them, of course. Ross needed to pretend to be making progress with cold fusion to justify his physics work. And the last thing we could do was risk letting you or Jim—or me, for that matter—know he was working to implement the principles of ZPE my much smarter self had laid out, or we might have connected the dots when the alien ship was discovered. During this time, Ross was also making great progress building his own group to move the plan forward. Doling out gellcaps from the supply I had given him.”
“Can I assume he was also responsible for developing the nanites?”
“Yes. Although I helped some with the biological portion, and others he recruited helped as well.” She paused. “Actually, the nanites are far simpler than you would ever guess. A concerted effort would have allowed us to create them even at the first level of enhancement, without the help of transcendent Kira.”
“But then Frey discovered Ross and attacked,” said Desh.
Kira nodded.
Desh raised his eyebrows as something else occurred to him. “Frey discovered Ross
because of advanced science he found on his computer. Frey told me it was so advanced, it meant nothing to him, even when he was enhanced. And Frey was a Ph.D. scientist.”
“It was the principles of ZPE that transcendent Kira had laid down. Believe me, none of us could understand them either, even while enhanced. But Ross and his group kept at it and at least came to understand these principles enough to use them to produce a working drive.”
“So when Frey attacked, Ross decided to be opportunistic and use this as a way to fall off the Icarus radar screen.”
“Exactly. He really was shot. He needed to take a gellcap to help him heal—he was lucky the shot didn’t kill him. But once enhanced he realized it was a golden opportunity. If he cut his ties to Icarus, he could act totally independently, without having to pretend to be working on something else. The great majority of time I was just as clueless about any of this as you, including that night. When his pulse stopped, I thought he was just as dead as you did.”
Desh remembered her reaction to Metzger’s supposed death, and knew she was telling the truth. She had been devastated.
“So then he continued building his organization,” said Desh. “Keeping in contact with you periodically.”
“Exactly. He perfected the nanites shortly after this time.”
Desh rubbed his chin in thought. “You needed the nanites to cement the threat posed by the fictitious aliens,” he said. “To create the illusion that an armada was on the way, and establish a specific deadline. To get our species working together.”
“Right. If the threat was too far removed, it wouldn’t have the same impact, the same urgency. But too soon wasn’t good either. Transcendent Kira decided on thirty-four years.” She paused. “But the nanites played another role as well.”
“Well, obviously they were also intended to pretend to blow every nuke on the planet. To freak us out even more. And to get the nations of the world to take their nukes off-line.”
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