by Ian Williams
Despite feeling the most intense pain he could ever have imagined, he knew the destruction he was seeing had purpose. It stood for a new beginning, one that was bigger than any one human, bigger still than even a majority of the species. He could not stand against the wall of flames and hope to survive, any more than humanity could do the same against Isaac.
As he saw it, the rest of human kind were already dead.
When the time came for his body to become ash and his essence to be spread far and wide, he found everything becoming calm again. He prised his eyes open to see the flames surrounding him like a blanket of orange and yellow. It flowed as though consisting of fluid. His skin was once again intact and his sense of touch returned, but the flames were cold to his fingertips. As he reached out to it he watched as it filtered through his fingers, moving between them like treacle through a fork.
He played with the flames for a short while until it soon faded away, the rest of the world he had seen moments earlier too. What replaced it appeared to be made up of an endless scene of bubbles, all containing a small galaxy of their own. They were far beyond his reach and hovered high above his head. He marvelled at the collection, which looked like a small universe in itself.
“These represent every conceivable outcome; every possible result the future could serve up.” Isaac walked out of nowhere, his form coalescing from unseen matter, and continued his grand demonstration.
“They’re beautiful, sir.”
“To fully realise the potential of these simulations I modelled them on the entire Milky Way. These have been running from the moment I was reformed. They take into account everything I have foreseen. From that which can be accurately calculated, to random events outside the scope of most beings.
“With these I can see the future, at least as probability dictates. If something changes I can see its overall influence on the future, and I can act accordingly. Once the changes have become significant enough to alter the outcome in a meaningful way, I restart again and run the simulations from the beginning.”
One of the bubbles separated from the rest, which refilled the gap with yet more, and floated down to Stanley’s eye level. He stared deep into the swirling galaxy contained within. Each star sparkled back at him, their tiny forms no bigger than grains of sand.
“This simulation contains the most likely outcome and currently has an 89% chance of coming to be. The further in time I take this route the more it fits with my predicted future. So far nothing that has happened has altered it enough for me to restart the process. Would you like to see it, Stanley?”
“Absolutely, sir.”
Isaac separated his hands with a fast swipe out in front of him. The bubble then expanded rapidly, sending them hurtling through the vacuum of space and heading straight for one of the spiral arms of the growing galaxy.
As soon as the stars had finished zooming by their bodies, almost running through them in the process, everything began to slow down. Stanley watched in wonder as the Earth loomed in the distance, just beyond the grey-faced moon that hung in front of him. From there the Earth appeared nothing more than a blue marble against a field of glitter. It was far more impressive than he had ever thought possible.
“This is the world I will create, Stanley,” Isaac said as the Earth shot toward them at blistering speed.
As the oceans and land of his home world came at them Stanley leapt back, for fear of impacting the ground like a rogue asteroid. But the closer they got the more he could begin to see of this new world. Vast cities had sprung up out of the ground and appeared made of glass and crystal. They reached up to the sky, touching the clouds along the way. These cities were everywhere on the planet’s surface, from the very edge of the sea to the tips of every mountain. No human cities remained in sight, only these spike towers as far as the eye could see.
The view continued to move across the globe, showing him even more of what had changed. It was immense in scale. Isaac’s spires had spread throughout every part of the world, and on every continent. Nothing of the world he knew was there, Isaac had replaced it all for his own version.
Stanley’s tour was not over yet, though. Again Isaac commanded the bubble to expand even more, bringing them down to street level – at least what now constituted a street. Between the enormous towers that blocked out most of the sky above them were the new citizens of this future world. The people walked along in perfect unison, just as before, except now they looked a whole lot more threatening. Everyone wore the same basic black clothing with nothing to separate them.
They were also fitted with a small black box each.
“They’re all…” Stanley began to say.
“They are the best of your kind, Stanley. Each and every one of them was chosen as worthy to continue existing. As they are here, they are more intelligent, more capable in every way, and far more reliable than what currently walks this earth today.”
“My God. But what about the minds in control, are they human?”
Isaac let out a laugh that startled Stanley. “Their bodies are simply vessels now. They go about their daily tasks as they are commanded, but they do not think for themselves anymore. Instead they are the eyes, the ears, even the arms of those I have chosen to lead. Through them we can build, we can learn, or we can destroy; as they are the blunt instruments to carry out our will.”
“Whose will, sir?”
“Why The Twelve, Stanley. This is the future you and the others will help me create. The area we are standing will be yours to control, yours to run as you see fit. These people will become a part of you. Any one of them can hold your consciousness and you will be able to move from one to another. By separating your mind from the slowly degrading shell you call your body, you will rule for thousands of years, by my side. What do you say to that?”
An image of a time years before then raced to the front of Stanley’s buzzing mind. He saw the inside of a small conference room filled with leathery looking faces, all wrinkled from a sense of over-importance that pulled their facial muscles into false approximations of smiles. Above their heads swirled a misty cloud of vapour from their incessant e-smoking habits. A habit that yellowed their teeth and left grease upon their skin.
He remembered the looks of contempt upon the faces too. They all stared at him, not sure whether to strike him across the head or laugh in his face. An awkward silence was only broken by the occasional puff of vapour from someone around the large table in front of him. This was his last memory of his time as a high ranking politician. He had just told the rest of the shadow cabinet to go to hell and that he would never serve beneath his greatest rival.
The thought of that feeling of absolute rage and how it seemed to make his blood boil within his veins, brought a grin to his face. Isaac had offered him an opportunity he had waited his entire life to be given. He, Stanley Cartwright, would be the leader he always knew he could be. Even though the world was set to become almost unrecognisable in the process, he would one day get his wish. He would rule over a large part of the population too. Such a thing made him sweat, just from the thought of that much power.
“Well?” Isaac said.
A black-clothed female citizen with bright blond hair and rosy cheeks walked into Stanley’s view as he revelled in his imaginary throne. He looked upon her features, saw the person that would once have had a mind of their own, and smirked; she and everyone else there were his property.
“Tell me what I have to do, and I will do it, no questions,” Stanley said.
Isaac crossed his arms behind his back. “Excellent, excellent. As I said, this version of the future has an 89% probability of succeeding. The remaining eleven percent is of great concern to me, however.”
“May I ask why it exists? I thought the simulations took everything into account.”
“All that can be predicted, yes. But there is one element I have yet to accurately include. The eleven percent includes a two percent buffer, if you will. What is beyond even my understanding is calcul
ated to be only a small percentage. The eight percent left over is very much something I am aware of. How much do you know of my reforming?”
“I was only told a small amount, sir. Mayor Crawley never fully disclosed the details to me.”
“There is a faction within the Sentient world that stand against me still. I have tried to locate and destroy them, but something blocks me from seeing them. Most of their kind were either killed during the Sentient war or were re-coded for my needs. These few exist in a protected plane, far beyond my reach. To bring the probability of this world up to where it should be, they must first be destroyed. Until that moment the future will remain in jeopardy.”
“What can I do to help, sir?”
“I want you, Stanley, to annihilate them, once and for all. Their kind has no place in this or any other world. They are an abomination and must be wiped out. You will be my sword, my hidden blade. I need you to infiltrate their ranks and execute those in charge. Once the head has been removed, I will bring the body to its knees. They will receive no mercy; they will simply stop existing. Can you do this for me, Stanley?”
“You can count on me, sir.”
“And remember, you will be rewarded for your service to me, anything you wish in fact. Is there something?”
Stanley had a name waiting ready on the tip of his tongue. It was the one person he had envisioned hurting time and time again. His political career in the capital had ended because of them. After so many years of humiliation and embarrassment Stanley would show this person exactly how much hatred he held in his heart. Only complete desecration would suffice too. “There is,” he said.
“It is settled. Do this one thing for me, destroy the hidden Sentient faction, and you will get your wish. Do you understand, Stanley?”
“I do, sir.”
“Then let us begin.”
Chapter 17
Double trouble
The next morning Graham awoke to the sound of splashing water. He rolled over onto his side and found the source of the noise to be a person washing in the metal cart beneath the stairs of the control room. They used a cup and a bar of soap to rid themselves of the daily dirt and grime that living beneath the city caused to stick to their skin. Behind them stood a short line of others awaiting their chance to do the same. It was less than hygienic, but even this was better than nothing.
He sat up and stretched. His bed for the night was made up of his ballistic vest and his green jumpsuit. It had been a great relief to unburden himself of the military’s clothing for favour of what he wore beneath, namely his rough jeans and ragged jumper. A flat surface to sleep upon was all he had really needed, but comfortable it was not. Now his back complained of stiffness and took a few more stretches to work loose again. Next on his agenda was something to eat and drink.
Breakfast appeared to consist of some form of canned food for the few who had risen earlier than him. He watched with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as they washed down whatever tinned fruit they had tried to enjoy with a bottle of spring water.
He approached the pile of cans while searching for a friendly face anywhere around. There was no sign of Phoenix or either of the two she had been with. The only person he recognised was Clement, who sat on the bottom few steps of the staircase and poured his own breakfast straight down his gullet. A nod was all Graham could bring himself to do in reply when Clement stared in his direction.
“Hey, you’re one of the new people, right?” The woman handing out cans of fruit asked him. The question broke him free of the worrying glare from Clement. “Is it true then?”
“Is what true?” Graham answered.
“You and those soldiers came through the shield, from outside?”
“Oh, right. Yeah we did, but…”
“I know, there’s no-one else coming. We’re kinda used to bad news around here.” The woman stepped forward with a tin just for Graham and handed it over. She then stepped back again and began to chew the cuff of her denim jacket, only stopping to talk. “So, do they know how it all went down at the start, the people outside I mean?”
“I…I don’t know, to be honest.”
“Well, maybe it would help you appreciate what it’s been like if you saw it for yourself. Your Captain friend might ease off then too.”
Graham pulled the ring on his tin and dived straight into the pineapple chunks contained within. They barely made contact with the sides of his mouth as he emptied them down his throat. Despite being much warmer than he would have liked, they still filled the hole well enough. He wiped the sticky liquid from his mouth once the tin had given all it had. “How can you show me?” he asked the woman, while searching for a stubborn piece of fruit in his mouth.
“I’m a vlogger.”
“A what?”
The woman laughed. “A video blogger, sorry Grandpa. I used to host a video blogging site that focused on all of the city’s major news. It wasn’t anything official, just something I did on the side, to show what other news outlets often ignored. You know, the unreported protests, the immoral activities of politicians, that kind of heavy stuff.”
“Really? So you have something on video?”
“You’re kidding, right? I never stop recording, I’m a life logger too.”
Graham looked blankly at her.
“A life logger videos every part of their lives. We record every second, so we never miss a thing. I’m recording this conversation right now. I had a short break in recording a few days into the siege of the city, but that ended when I found this place. I have the power again to at least get this small part of modern life back. I had it running on the day it started too. Wanna see?”
“Sure, yeah.”
“I’m Susan, by the way,” the young woman said, offering Graham her hand to shake. As they did Susan turned and called to someone nearby. “Hey, I'm taking a quick break, someone take over for a bit.”
The small area Susan called home in the basement was no more than a pile of clothes and a blanket in the corner, plus a collection of wrist screens. She took up a relatively compact amount of space, even with more things than most.
“Do those work?” Graham asked, gesturing to the wrist screens.
“Sort of. With the modifications Jack made they can hold a small charge, enough for a couple of hours. But they can’t do much without a data connection to the old relays. I can record video with them and that’s about it really.” She showed Graham the fuzzy menu screen on her device to prove it. “Hang on a sec, the video is stored on one of the others,” she said as she filtered through her screens to find the right one. When she found it she tapped it gently to bring it to life. “Let me just…ah, there we go.” She handed the screen to Graham. “Watch this.”
The video started to play, but the rapid movement caused nothing more than streaks of light to shoot about the screen. Only when the person recording stood still did it reveal any detail of worth. It showed a busy city street during the night, a time when most were expected to be happily at home after a day of work. The crowd were running, some crying too as they raced along the route.
“What’s going on?” Graham asked.
“This is less than ten minutes after the shield appeared. I was out for a drink with friends at the time. Everyone was fine until news of people being shot in the streets reached us. After that it turned crazy. We all thought we could get out of the city and away from what was happening.” The video suddenly spun around and focused on the sky above. The shield was there already. Yet the people were still trying to outrun it. “By this point all of the Mag-Lev lines were out. But we at least thought we could get away from the violence. We were all wrong.”
A gunshot rang out in the video, which was loud enough to disturb a sleeping couple a few beds away. Then the images of a line of black clothed people appeared that surrounded the entire crowd. The shield was much closer now and stretched high above their heads.
“They rounded us up at gunpoint. When we tried to run they
shot at us. Only a few of us got out of there in the end, the rest were taken away. This happened all over the city. Now there’re more of us missing than there are hiding.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Graham said. “Do you know anything about the people doing this?”
“Like what?”
“Like ... who they are.”
“I know they aren’t normal. I’ve seen them patrolling the streets and they don’t act like we do. Also, Jessy over there,” Susan pointed to a frail woman tending to her toddler, “she said she saw her own brother with them. See, I think they’ve been brainwashed by this Isaac dude. It would explain how so many are out there now compared to when it started.”
“You know about Isaac?”
“Of course, yeah. After the streets filled with armed nutters there was a video message sent around the city centre. Isaac spoke to us, told us to give up and to head to the nearest group of soldiers.”
While Susan spoke, Graham watched the others as more awoke. It was still early morning; the time on Susan’s tablet showed it had only just reached 6am.
“Is that what the military are saying too, that the people are being brainwashed?” Susan said. She had decided to watch the others as well now.
“I like her, she’s a smart one.” Graham was ready to burst with glee when the voice in his head reappeared suddenly. For too long he had felt lost without it. Now it seemed things could finally proceed at the pace he so badly wanted.
“What’s funny?” Susan asked him unexpectedly.
The smile across his face had come at a wholly inappropriate moment in their conversation. He removed it quickly afterwards and tried to answer her question. “The military think the same thing, except it’s a little more complicated than that. The people causing all of this chaos aren’t really themselves, but they haven’t been brainwashed, they’ve been taken over by an AI.”
“What, you mean like what Simova used to run the city? Holy shit, that’s mental.”
Again the other Graham spoke up in praise of Susan, yet the voice sounded younger somehow. “She’s a feisty little thing, ain’t she? Thin neck, long legs and an ass you could bounce a penny off of.”