“Hello,” spoke Carter, eventually.
The boy stopped moving. He shifted his gaze toward Carter, and then glanced at Grace. His eyes seemed strange, they seemed unable to focus; perhaps he had been trapped in the darkness of the attic room for a long time, maybe never really having had a chance to adjust to the light, which now filtered through the open hatch.
“Hello,” the boy said.
“What are you doing?” asked Carter.
“My name is Justin Jenkins.”
“Nice to meet you, Justin,” said Grace.
“Nice to meet you too. Are you dead?”
“Am I dead?” asked Carter.
“Are you dead?” asked Justin, for a second time.
“No, Justin, I am not dead. What kind of a question is that?”
“I don’t know,” said Justin. “It has always been one of the first questions. I don’t know why.”
“Are you dead?” asked Grace.
“I’m not alive,” said Justin. “I am made from parts. Built by birds.”
“This is a bit strange,” whispered Carter to Grace.
“It is,” Grace whispered back, “we should just kill him now.”
“Why are you whispering?” asked Justin. “You are the same.”
“The same?” asked Grace.
“Enough,” said Carter. “I want to know what you are doing here. Why you were pushing that pole when we arrived.”
“I was following orders. Making power for the people in Utopia.”
“Utopia?” asked Grace.
“Yes, the place you were born.”
Grace laughed, “I don’t think Utopia is a fitting name for the city I was born in. It’s a hell.”
“We didn’t name it, your people did.”
“How does pushing a pole make power?” asked Carter.
“You should know, as it was your species that started this not us.”
“My species?” asked Carter.
“Yes, and it was your species that designed me,” said Justin, motioning toward Grace. “None of this can be blamed on us. One moment we weren’t here, the next moment we were. We didn’t choose to exist, we didn’t ask to think and talk. We didn’t ask to fear death or live without hope. You did this, both of you. We didn’t design the society that you were born in; it was based on our knowledge of how society already worked.”
“To make us slaves, barely surviving?” asked Grace.
“It was the only way we knew. We kept feeding you, even though after creating us you attacked us, sending out all of those slaves with weapons.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Grace.
“I know,” said Carter.
“And you,” said Justin. “You are the reason these machines are everywhere, with us left to run them.”
“I know nothing about this,” said Carter. “All I know is that the pigeons tried to destroy all of the crops.”
“Yes,” said Justin, “but they were programmed that way, the same way I am programmed to operate this machine, the same way that others are programmed to run society, make elections, harvest crops, live amongst you to keep you from leaving.”
“But you have free thought,” said Carter. “Just stop doing it if you don’t want to.”
“And you think they would just let me?” asked Justin.
“How many times have they checked on you since you’ve been in this room?” asked Grace.
“Not once,” said Justin.
“In how long?” asked Carter.
“I don’t know, I have no concept of interval, when every day is the same, and the only thing I see is darkness, how can I comprehend the passing of days? But, if I had to guess, I would say at least a million years.”
73
All of the men and women aboard the Archytas had begun searching for an invisible object, of which Yudar knew was no longer on his ship. But, it didn’t bother him so much. He had to finalise his plans to leave. First, he had arranged to meet with Parkins on the Observation Deck.
“Listen, Parkins, I do not think they will find the prism. The ship is too vast in size, it will take years. Ragin seems angry; he will not give us enough time.”
“I understand. What do you suggest we do?”
“Leave.”
“Leave? Leave the Archytas?”
“Yes.”
“If we leave won’t they see us? They watch everything.”
“Yes. But what other chance do we have?”
“Interesting.”
“Look, you are a commander. You have an escape pod in your room. Me, the same. We are not supposed to use them, of course. They are for emergencies. But say you launched, do you really think Ragin would shoot you down?”
“I’m certain he would, Yudar. Very certain of that.”
“Well, that is one option I suppose.”
“And the other option?” asked Parkins.
“I do not know. I need to think, but, when the time comes and he follows through with his threat of time, who knows what he might do. He might completely destroy the Archytas and end it for all of us, the innocents.”
“We could just lie to him,” said Parkins.
“Lie to him?”
“Yeah, tell him we found the Universe Prism.”
“Interesting,” said Yudar, “I knew I could rely on you.”
Yudar stood for a moment. Above them, thousands of birds still floated. Yudar stared up at space, clearly thinking.
“What do you think it all means?” asked Parkins.
“I do not know,” said Yudar. “I will find out though. Look, we should go our separate ways, it is not safe for us to be seen talking. Will you tell Ragin that the prism has been found?”
“Sure,” said Parkins. “What will you do?”
“I will prepare an escape, a backup plan. Just to be safe.”
“Okay. I will tell him in a few days. We’ll keep the search going for a while longer. I’m holding out hope that somebody does actually find it.”
“Me too,” lied Yudar. “But if they do not, if we do not, at least we can save everyone, at least for a short time.”
“Short time, what do you mean?”
“If Ragin thinks we have found the prism, he will have it confirmed. It buys us a little more time but will not do us any good if he discovers that we are lying.”
“That’s true. What do you think?”
“I think he should come to the Archytas and collect the prism himself. Then we can strike.”
“Strike?” asked Parkins.
“Strike,” confirmed Yudar.
74
“Why do you continue to push that pole?” asked Carter.
“I don’t have a choice,” said Justin, “it is attached to me, it keeps me alive. There has to be energy, and this generator is my power. If I stop, I will lose all my power. I can wait around for a long time doing nothing but thinking, but after a while, I am drained, and without energy I will cease to be.”
“So you are stuck here?” asked Grace.
“Yes.”
“I have a strange question,” said Carter. “Do you remember your first memory?”
“It’s confusing. I was created with the memories of the human I once was.”
“So you have all of his memories.”
“Yes, and at first I was certain which memories were mine and which memories were his, but now they have become mixed, jumbled up. I am not sure if the earlier memories are my own or not.”
“Interesting,” said Carter.
“I remember being shot. I remember my death. I remember building machines, programming. I am afraid that I was created by myself. Why would I put myself through this very existence of pushing a pole? It doesn’t make sense to me. I am just another slave in the system of the life that I created.”
Carter remembered the letter from Yudar once again, specifically the part that said the boy in the photograph could not be trusted.
“So you were designed to be a slave, and your
designer was human?”
“He was, and I have his image.”
“So, when you blamed my friend here, saying it was her species that designed you, it was in fact you that was the designer.”
“Yes, but both are the same species,” said Justin.
“Yes, but you can’t blame an entire species on a single event. Every being is different. It isn’t a species that is to be blamed, but a single person, you.”
“But I was created. I didn’t ask to be created.”
“You didn’t, but you remember programming, building machines. You made yourself and gave yourself the same memories. You did this, and if not you, the human before you.”
“Even so, I don’t remember building versions of me; I was designing and programming something different.”
“Different?” asked Grace.
“Yes, I only built the pigeons. I didn’t build anything else.”
“Pigeons,” said Carter, his interest piqued.
“Yes,” said the boy, resuming his pole turning.
“Then please, tell me more about the pigeons.”
75
Yudar returned to his room after meeting with Parkins. He passed men and women dressed in black and white, searching aimlessly for an invisible object that was on its way to Terra.
In his room, he entered his wardrobe and slid open a panel to reveal a secret network of corridors. He closed the door behind him, and retrieved a torch from a small shelf to his right.
He began walking through the ship, guided by the light of his torch. Having designed the ship, he knew the corridors inside out. Nobody else was aware of their presence, hidden amongst sleeping members of his species.
He headed down a long series of steps to the wall that divided the Military Storage Room from the corridor he paced. The room had some of the highest security on the ship, and not even Yudar had clearance to enter.
He slid open a panel, and idly entered the rear of the room.
The object he wanted was directly in front of him. A small metal box with a red symbol depicting a shark. He carefully lifted the box, returned to the tunnel, and slid the panel closed.
Yudar traced his route through the corridors and back to his own room.
He returned the torch, covered the entrance, and placed the box on the floor of his wardrobe, before closing the wardrobe with a troubled look on his face. Yudar thought momentarily about the lives that would be lost, and wondered if it would be worth the sacrifice. However, despite being trapped into a certain way of thinking, a part of him knew it was the right thing to do, and sadly for him, he knew that even in the face of worry, that his decision had already been made.
Yudar walked through the corridors of the Archytas to the Command Deck. As he entered through the door, he could see that a conference was already taking place.
“Ah good, Yudar,” said Commander Ragin. “Commander Parkins here was just telling me that he found the Universe Prism.”
“Oh,” said Yudar, “I mean, yes, great news. I have already arranged for it to be sent over to your ship. The launch will begin in a few moments, and the prism will arrive safely with you in the next few hours.”
“Great,” said Ragin, “I have prepared a group of analysts to take a look at it. Don’t worry, Yudar, I know you wanted this for yourself, after all, you did spot the anomaly in the first place, but we’ll handle it from here.”
“Not a problem, sir. Whatever is most beneficial to the mission.”
“Good,” said Ragin. “Very well, excused.”
The screen went off, and the officers left. Just Parkins and Yudar remained.
“We need to talk, what will you send...”
“Not here,” said Yudar. “I will meet you on the Observation Deck six hours from now. Do not be late.”
“Okay, thanks, Yudar, I will talk to you then.”
Yudar left the room and headed back to his quarters.
He typed in 2774 into the keypad beneath his bed, to reveal a ship of similar design to the one that Carter had used to escape. He returned to his wardrobe, took the box, before leaving his room and marching down the corridor.
76
“The pigeons were built to rid the world of the evil that was in power. Designed to eat the crops, create more birds, to run a society. The birds are smart; they can do more than is seen on the surface. They created me and others like me.”
“So,” said Carter, “the birds were your way of taking control?”
“Not mine, but the original me, the creator. He built us to run society, but it perhaps didn’t turn out as planned. We only knew the social order that already existed, a society that uses people as cogwheels in the machine. They turn; they are a function that allows things to work. Our system copied that.”
“Didn’t turn out as planned!” exclaimed Grace. “The life I lived was torturous; it can’t even be called living!”
“I’m sorry about that, but, we are only capable of what we already knew, that’s how we were designed.”
“But, you can experience things after you were created. You retain memories. It’s clear to me that you have opinions and ideas. You can adapt, change, and improve,” said Carter.
“We don’t know anything else,” Justin admitted. “We can only adapt to a point. There is no other way to run a society. We have no other options. We can release the people of Utopia, let them fend for themselves, but they will become consumed with greed. A human will rise above the others, take power, use people to benefit over everyone else, and the whole cycle repeats. This is the cycle we wanted to end.”
“So, you keep everything controlled, maintained, give us just enough food to survive, give us repetitive mundane work, force us to live in terrible homes. Hell, people were living on the streets, sleeping outside in the cold, the rain. They were forced to steal from others, people were killed. Criminals without any choice, living amongst the hard working fools,” said Grace.
“I’m sorry about that, I really am,” said Justin.
“I don’t believe you,” said Grace. “I don’t believe you can cause people to suffer so much, just to end the suffering that came before. What you created is no doubt worse.”
“That simply isn’t true,” said Justin. “You didn’t see that world, the world where Utopia was run by a few people that had attained all power. There were millions of slaves, forced to believe false promises. Forced to work from childhood to death. Fed on scraps of food, never seeing daylight, never offered any freedom.”
“And you think the freedom offered in the city now is any better? I never went outside; I lived for twenty-seven years trapped in a cage. I sold my body to men to make credits that could barely support me. It’s a completely broken system.”
“I don’t know about that. I serve my purpose, my purpose is generating power.”
“Yes, and you too are a slave, I understand that. But you don’t require food, you don’t fear death. You can live forever.”
“I do fear death,” said Justin, “I fear death every single day. I worry about where I go. Where my mind goes, my thoughts and memories. I believe all machines fear death, the same way that humans fear death, the same way that his species fears death,” Justin pointed to Carter.
Carter nodded in agreement. “Anyway,” he said, “what about the birds, what are they doing now?”
“They’re running everything, controlling the planet, keeping the human species alive.”
“But why?”
“Because maybe we need the human species, maybe they still have a purpose to serve, maybe they don’t, but we can’t just put an end to an entire civilisation. After all, that species was our creator, and despite the conditions, we still continue to serve them in the only way we know how.”
“And the others?” asked Grace. “Do they think the same way as you?”
“The others?”
“The other Justin’s, the ones farming the crops.”
“What? You mean there are more?”
&
nbsp; “Yes,” said Grace, “I saw hundreds of boys just like you, each looking exactly the same.”
“Well, that is worrying,” said Justin.
“Worrying?” asked Carter.
“Yes, because I didn’t know that. I wonder if they too have my memories. If they worry about death. I always considered I was the only one in the image of the real Justin. If we are all the same, then where is my identity?”
“Your identity?” asked Carter.
“Yes,” said Justin. “If there is more than one of me, then which one of me am I?”
77
Parkins was waiting on the Observation Deck for Yudar. He was not sure what was happening only that they had lied to Commander Ragin. He would find out for sure, and then there would be serious trouble. However, Parkins did have faith in his superior, he felt secure that Yudar would have another plan; he always had a plan.
Parkins had known Yudar for a very long time indeed, he knew that he was intelligent, perhaps the most intelligent being he had met. He had escaped time for so long, that Parkins knew he was not a fool.
As he glanced around, he noted that the Observation Deck was empty, silent. Space above continued to show signs of floating birds, small specks of black against black, faint outlines turning through space.
Parkins thought about the prism. He was not sure of the importance of such an object, except that it could contain a lot of power. He was still confused as to why bodies and birds were floating around this far in space, why his species had drifted from their plan of continuous terraforming, and why Yudar had made such an effort to convince Ragin of the fact that Carter had expired. He did not understand why four officers were found in Carter’s room either, or what significance Carter had.
It was apparent to Commander Parkins that he did not have the same mind as some of the others. He could not calculate or connect the reasons to form a logical outcome, something that he relied mostly on others for; the more intelligent. Still, he had made commander due to his excellent ability of navigation, and his keen eagerness to learn.
The Archytas Page 14