Yes, there is more. There is a deeper need for you to have direct communication with Mom. You also need some level of control over her system. I cannot elaborate at this time, but it is imperative.
The speed of their communication had taken place so quickly, Mom surely wouldn’t have noticed the pause.
“I—uh. I can do what we need. Take my hand.” Jason reached out with his right hand, palm up.
“All right, dear. I trust you. This sounds like magic, but I guess you probably know what you are doing.”
He smiled. “There’s a logical explanation, I promise. When this is over, I’ll tell you all about it.”
She reached out and took his hand. He clasped it for a moment, then with a mischievous grin, he waggled his other hand above his head. In a booming voice he yelled, “Abracaaadaaabra!”
She laughed. “Very funny. Please just get it over with, dear. I don’t think we have time for parlor tricks.”
“Actually, I’m done. That’s it.”
She made a funny expression. One eyebrow raised, one lowered, her lips pursed sideways with incredulity. Then she narrowed her eyes and leaned forward as if trying to listen to him in some other way. “Are you sure? I can’t hear anything.”
He nodded. “It takes a little while, and I’ll let you know before I just start talking inside your head. I also won’t be listening in on you. I will set our link to trigger when you say my name, just like you were talking to me. And you will stop transmitting when you say you are finished. I promise this won’t be intrusive. I’ll remove the link between us when we are done.”
“I would appreciate it, sweetie.”
The data flow between Tarien and Jason completed itself, though the awareness of each other seemed to be growing.
“Now,” Tarien said, “utilize the template data I’ve provided to construct a similar method for using your new nannites. They should be able to cluster to form processing centers, along with storage and relay stations. You will find this becomes a pattern based on need. Expressing your need for more resources will trigger them to increase your capacity as necessary, without you having to directly guide them. This is how you can automate standard processes.”
Jason had to contain his amazement at the power he felt. His ability to think increased enormously with each passing moment. He grew increasingly aware of detail. How far does this scale? Tarien, this is extremely dangerous. I don’t have any protective edicts to prevent me from abusing this.
We know. Neither does Faust. We trust you to curb your ability when the time comes. We trust you will not abuse this. Faust will.
The timber of Tarien’s voice made Jason shiver. He had increasing problems with distinguishing between Seven’s bodily data and his own. For a moment, he was dizzy, experiencing double vision, seeing out of Tarien’s eyes and his own simultaneously.
You must remember yourself, Jason. We are separate, but we are one. You must remember this, or you will quickly become lost. Hold an image of yourself in your mind, keep it separated.
Tarien . . . I—I think I could control your body if I wanted. Move your arms and legs.
Tarien nodded. Yes, this is necessary. You will need to be familiar with me in order to prevent me from obeying new orders the moment I resume connection with the WorldNet. There are additional reasons for this, which you will discover when it is time.
Jason felt a blush rise in his cheeks. I’m aware of a lot more than I feel like I should be. This is like being a peeping Tom, but far more interactive. Tarien’s vitality, his youthful vigor, increasingly distracted him. Jason’s thoughts kept wandering.
Tarien, too, blushed. Yes, we did not anticipate this. It is . . . novel.
Tarien stood up suddenly. Aloud, he said, “We must excuse ourselves for a little while, Mom. We will return when the clock is at 15:00.” Then, he said to Jason, “Please come with me.”
Jason got up, unable to control his flaming face. He knew what Tarien intended, couldn’t help but know, and he blushed furiously.
Mom looked at them both, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Now? Oh? My, my. Well good for you, boys, I suppose. Of course, dears. Just don’t take forever in there. I’m sure there is a lot to do and I’m a little uncomfortable with you boys playing hanky-panky while there is a massive conflict brewing.”
Tarien grabbed Jason’s hand nervously, urgently, leading him into the room. He closed the door. Jason could tell Tarien’s intent, knew where this would go. This realization paralyzed him, and he just stood there, frozen.
Tarien finally spoke. “Is this acceptable? We wish to . . . to be with you. We do not believe there will be another opportunity. We know this may be inappropriate when there is so much danger, but I want this. Just once, before the end. If things must end. Our desire is unexpected and strong.”
Jason’s mind tried to keep up with the vast complexity under which it now operated. Being immersed in the huge data flow coming in from his nannies, and being acutely aware of Tarien’s whole body, their attraction for each other was magnified, mirrored and almost narcissistic, since he had trouble differentiating his own feelings from Tarien’s.
“I want to. You know I want to. I just worry about losing control. Giving in to my base desires became the trigger for me, the one that made me forget myself in the prison apartment. That urge overwhelmed me, turned me into a monster.”
Tarien looked at him shyly. “Please, Jason. We have resisted this impulse. I have never . . . this is the only opportunity I have ever had. It may be the only opportunity I will ever have. We have time and I am part of you. I will not allow us to fall into the same trap.”
Jason stood mutely, his entire body thrumming with need, heightened by their connection to each other.
Jason took a deep breath and finally surrendered. The first kiss disoriented him. Jason kissed Tarien, but also himself at the same time. The confusion lent him a double experience, but he quickly adjusted, keeping his identity firmly in mind. I am Jason.
Then they were tearing off their clothes, kissing the whole while. They simply couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Naked, Tarien was more physically perfect than Jason felt he had a right to be, almost heartbreakingly so. Jason stared at him a moment. “You are so beautiful.”
Tarien smiled and really looked at him. “You are beautiful to me, too, Jason.”
Jason enfolded Tarien in his arms and then pushed him down onto the bed. Jason took his time. He brushed his lips against Tarien, from hairline to calf. Down his back. Goosebumps formed over Tarien’s body, and he shivered as each little kiss landed on his smooth skin. Tarien gave several startled exclamations as each new experience surprised him. He moaned as Jason flipped him over, kissed up his inner thighs and his stomach. Jason nibbled at Tarien’s nipples, grazing them with his teeth.
Tarien touched Jason awkwardly, caressing him as Jason moved up and down Tarien’s body. Tarien began to writhe beneath the touches, flooded with pleasure Jason recognized he’d never felt. He asked for more, begged Jason to touch him. He groaned when Jason obliged.
Jason showed Tarien what it meant to make love, in a variety of ways. The continual shock Tarien experienced made Jason laugh softly. Tarien also learned what it meant to have youthful athleticism and nearly boundless energy from having a partner.
Afterwards, they lay there for a while, Jason running his fingers through Tarien’s hair, occasionally kissing his ear.
Finally, Tarien sat up. “It is time.”
Jason almost despaired. The perfection and beauty of the moment lingered for a long while. Reality came crashing back.
Seventeen
TARIEN ROSE, STEPPING away from Jason and slowly putting on his biosuit. He touched Jason’s face tenderly, his fingers a feathery touch on Jason’s jaw. “How are your nannites? Any information about Faust?”
Surprisingly, Jason had to focus to bring them back to the fore, rather than fighting the details back. He was no longer completely overwhelmed by the tide
of information. “Spreading. At least a quarter of this municipal boundary has been infected, and much of the area now infected will be under my control within the hour. At the increasing rate of replication, I will have half the municipal boundary and the core within two hours. The entire Sector, all of Seven, will be blanketed in four days.”
“We do not have four days. We must leave soon. Also, you must not allow them to replicate unchecked. This is dangerous, as they will consume resources.”
Will I know what I need to do when we leave here? I’m afraid.
I will guide you, and you will have access to my uplinks. Please remember, Jason, I must not be allowed to enact the new edicts as they come through. You will have to fight me. Prevent me. Once you have, you will have to use my access and knowledge.
“Tarien, I don’t know if I can do it. I honestly don’t think I could violate you by suppressing your will, caging you within yourself.”
“It is time. We must be ready.” He waited until Jason dressed himself. “Jason, I understand your worry. I need you to do this. I am asking you. Please. It is imperative.” Then, quietly, he said, “I trust you.”
Jason’s brows knitted in fear. “Let’s go.”
Mom had prepared another meal of steak and eggs, along with coffee, even though the caffeine would not affect either of them since they could control their own energy levels and did not require external stimuli. She did not comment on how loud they had been when making love, and they didn’t mention it. They ate in silence, though Tarien stared at Jason the entire time, a smile in his eyes.
Jason glanced at Mom. “Are you ready? I would like to test your new communications.”
She looked nervous, but nodded.
Mom? You should hear my voice in your head, just as if I were speaking. Jason said in her mind.
“Oh my! How did you do that? It’s exactly as if you were speaking aloud!”
Communicate by thinking, not speaking. I can hear you either way, but silently, you can keep our conversation to yourself.
She hesitated. Like this? Can you hear me?
He smiled encouragingly and took her hand to reassure her. Good! Now, I’m going to enable the ability for you to turn this on or off so every time you speak it is not transmitted without your permission. If I must, I’ll address you first, warning you I’m initiating connection. For you to initiate communication with me, just say my name. To end our conversation, say or think ‘End transmission.’
She nodded. End transmission.
She sat there for a moment as if she were speaking to him, but he heard nothing.
Then, Jason, can you hear me now?
Yes, Mom, I can hear you.
Could you hear me before? Saying, I think your new boyfriend is quite handsome and good luck to you both?
He reached out and took her other hand and smiled shyly at her. “No, Mom. But I heard it this time.”
She took a deep breath. “Well then.” End transmission. “I’ll be going. I’ll update you when something happens. Whatever it is. I still have no idea. Please be careful.”
Tarien said, “Good luck to you, too, Mom. And thank you.”
They went into the bedroom and closed the door, which had also been imbued with the Faraday materials. They had to remain behind a shielded area so the opening of the front door while Mom exited wouldn’t trigger Seven’s communication uplink. After they heard the exit door close, they went back out to the table.
They simultaneously took a deep breath.
Jason stared at the wall for a moment, noting the crumbling and cracked concrete, the slight wetness of micro leaks and the dankness of being so far underground. I now have control of this warehouse and I’ve managed to get nannies straight up from here to street level. They have attached themselves to various people and are spreading quickly. Mom is shedding them for me as well, just long enough to establish a few pockets without starving her by using too much of her fat deposits for replication material. Information coming in from the district indicates law enforcement is searching for me. I have access to some of the enforcer systems and there is a warrant. It appears the Techs are helping them search. How did you keep this place secret?
Tarien scooted his chair closer, put a hand on Jason’s back. We, all my brethren, my sisters, the Techs, which are at once the highest servants and the least free of our society, met in secret. Foreseeing this outcome, we decided we would act as much as we were able, constrained as we are by our edicts. The Techs agreed I should craft a plan to accomplish our goals and to act on this plan with autonomy. My brothers and sisters permitted me to keep this information to myself, and to wipe all record of it out of the system prior to bringing you here. I have carefully kept this location and our plans from dangerous observation, prevented saving or logging the data to external storage and, consequently, kept everything out of the hands of the Council and Faust. I employed misdirection based on changing the data on which the Council depends so heavily.
Jason nodded in understanding. I’m keeping Mom’s movements a secret as much as I can. She’ll be noticed in the next ten minutes. I simply cannot prevent the sheer amount of observation data from reaching the Techs. They’re sure to associate her with me.
Tarien nodded. Yes, they will. But it is too late. She is already under the care of our sleeper cells, being taken to where she can be most active. We must be poised to leave this place, after she performs her duty and the evacuation is underway.
“What evacuation? I still don’t have any idea what is going on.” Jason felt more comfortable speaking aloud, which helped him keep from blurring the distinction between himself and Tarien. Internalizing everything almost felt like he talked to himself.
Tarien understood, taking his hand and squeezing it in acknowledgement. “You will know everything soon. The moment we leave here, when you intercede on my behalf to prevent me from acting on the commands of the Council, you will be privy to all I know. The link we have created will be critical to the two-way flow of data.” He paused. “For now, I can tell you we will have to use a lot of force to get to Faust. In order to accomplish this, we must take as many precautions as we are able to prevent the harm of citizens. We will be creating distractions—huge problems regarding the safety of citizens—which will trigger the automatic actions of the Techs to evacuate the population. The Council will not be able to override this reaction, which is inherent in the Tech’s protective protocols. It will force the Techs to ignore you, temporarily, while they work to save the people.”
They sat in silence for some time, their thoughts kept separate by choice.
After a while, Tarien rose from his chair and walked over to one of the equipment closets. He pulled out a couple of backpacks and proceeded to fill them with rations.
Jason sorted through all the data coming in, changing external resources to include more storage and retrieval nodes, more processing centers for automation. He mentally noted Mom’s progress. Her guardians escorted her into a tall building, a thin spire of mostly glass that rose out of the sea of other, more squat buildings that were covered in vegetation. The nannies she shed on Jason’s behalf had already infected those people around her, so he stopped her production of the nannies, worrying he would weaken her too much by draining her resources. The amount of resources she’d already burned through had probably made her ravenous. Still, even stopping, he could use the nannies she’d shed to continue to spread his reach.
“Mom appears to be in place. I can see her with my nannies. She is in a room filled with audio gear and is being given a sealed envelope.” While he couldn’t make out all the details of the room yet, he could see what she saw to a small degree. Through his nannies in her system and of those that busily replicated all around her, he saw the envelope contained the universal seal of the Techs, that of a man standing with a palm forward. On the palm of the stern man was an eye from which a beam of light appeared to be shooting out.
Tarien nodded solemnly. “She will read what I’
ve written for her, then the teams will be put into play. We have two hours until the sabotage creates a panic situation. The rapid evacuation procedures will then provide us with the opportunity to attack.”
Mom opened the letter and took a deep breath. Jason, this is Mom. Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you. We are ready.
He could detect her heart racing and she shuddered from anxiety. Jason tried to avoid being too invasive, making sure his senses of her were surface only. After a long pause, presumably to gather her courage, Mom began to read, her voice clear and firm. Jason performed a direct signal transfer to Tarien so he could hear too.
“Hello, and greetings to all who can hear my voice. This is . . .” she hesitated. The letter had her name, “Rayna Markhuar” and then “Mom” clearly printed. She pursed her lips and then modified the words slightly. “This is Mom. A personal affectation I intend to keep,” she said pointedly. “I’m reading from a letter given to me by the highest authority of our movement. This letter and its words were drafted to provide you with the trigger and the permission to enact the resistance for which you have been trained.”
Jason smiled, despite the seriousness of the situation. The writing was clearly Tarien’s. Dry and stilted. Tarien wasn’t the type to write passionately, or to evoke the passions of others through his words. He and Tarien both walked around the room as they listened, nervous energy compelling movement, making them pace.
“You are hereby asked to immediately begin your objectives, to hurry toward the goals laid before you. You know what they are. I will not voice them, for fear of giving away vital information that would prevent you from taking action, but know this: now is the correct time to move our plans forward. Know, also, by committing these acts, you are saving the lives of a great many people. This plan is the only thing standing in the way of enslavement. You are part of this movement because you believe. I ask you to continue to keep faith. It may not seem like what you are asked to do is right, but it is vital for you to proceed, for the safety of those around you. Everyone must be evacuated, and you are going to help. Once your tasks are complete, flee the area as you have planned and wait until it is safe to return.” Her voice began to shake. “I have to go, but I—I hope you heard me. Goodbye then,” she finished, a little uncertainly.
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