Nihala

by Scott Burdick

  “Charlotte moved to India and founded the company that engineered Ganesh. Like many others, she died in the Neo-Luddite Plague.”

  “And how did you ever save so many Gene-Freaks?”

  “I have Dale Blumenschein to thank for much of it. He harbored me and Helen throughout his studies at MIT, and into his teaching position at the school. When the worldwide ban on genetic organisms went into effect in 2060, Dorky Dale took in hundreds of more illegals—with my help. This beta version of Middilgard was likewise built underground in ever-expanding tunnels beneath his house.

  “I’d gone through the entire MIT virtual library with Dale’s access codes and helped him with his own research into the physics of heat and radiation shielding for space travel. This research helped him found the Scientarian movement.”

  Ohg lapsed into silence, lost in his memories. Finally, he roused and continued. “We had numerous close calls, and I continually searched for a more permanent solution. When the Neo-Luddite Plague hit in 2069, I built transports capable of surviving the intense heat of volcanic cracks into the interior of the planet.

  “When the world returned to its senses, we’d vanished.”

  Ohg gazed at the dead bodies of the Monads and shook his head. “The most dangerous leader is a dreamer. Idealism blinded me, reality corrected me, and now I’m left with nothing but what is, rather than what I thought could be. You’re probably right to cling to your delusions, for truth is as empty as the soul of man.”

  ***

  General Colrev yawned as his aide delivered his report. Damn technology.

  “...and despite less overt Rogue activity, some signs remain troubling,” the sergeant said.

  “Such as?”

  “The average speed of processing data in Ixtalia lags by a fraction of a nanosecond from what it should be. This is smaller than the human mind can perceive, but the total amount of computer resources being utilized is enormous when multiplied throughout the entire system. Something is growing at an exponential rate, and we have no idea what it is.”

  “How can you not know?” the general asked.

  “The system is so complex that none of our human engineers have ever been able to understand how it operates in the first place.”

  “But the Rogues understand it.” Colrev shook his head at the hopelessness of the situation. “They could be marshaling for an attack at this very moment, and we’d have no warning.”

  “One other possibility occurs to me,” the officer said with some hesitation. “This disturbance may be a sign of the growing power of Nihala.”

  Colrev nodded and leaned back in his chair. “The Rogues seem desperate to kill her, but even that could be a ruse. Has there been any progress in the terrestrial search?”

  “No, sir. These Gene-Freaks must hide somewhere deep in the earth.”

  “If you have any theories on the origin of this Nihala creature, this is the time to share it.”

  The sergeant hesitated, then blurted out, “I haven’t completely abandoned my first guess of Potemia as the source. What if the designer of the Wall inserted a back-door into the crystalline code at its creation so Nihala could leave without notifying us?”

  Colrev grunted. “Hiding her within Potemia before the Wall’s completion would certainly have sheltered her from us as well as the Rogues.”

  “We know that project Nihala was meant as a last defense against the AIs. Maybe the danger we’re now facing activated her somehow.”

  “Can you confirm this back door?”

  “I’ve got a hundred thousand human programmers dissecting the code. I couldn’t trust AIs to analyze this for fear of Rogue interference.”

  “I commend your initiative, Sergeant,” Colrev said. “But if your theory is true, the implications are profoundly disturbing.”

  ***

  Kayla stood in the Crystal Cavern in front of the surface transport. She wore a vibrant purple cloak. Minister Coglin would condemn such a color as a vanity unbecoming any respectable woman. Which is exactly why she’d chosen it.

  Ganesh and Ohg entered the sparkling cavern and walked toward her.

  “So the moment has arrived,” Ohg said.

  Kayla inclined her head.

  “I see you’re prepared.” Ohg gestured to the shimmering cloud of nanobots surrounding her like a halo.

  “They grow exponentially,” Kayla said, “but I’ve reached the limit that my mind can control.”

  Ganesh wrung his hands and choked back a sob. “I wish you’d let me come with you. I helped save you twice now, and you might need me again.”

  Kayla hugged him. “This journey I must take on my own,” she said as his four arms encircled her in their protective warmth. “Besides, I don’t think Potemians are ready for someone like you, my friend.”

  She turned to Ohg but looked at the floor. “If I’d never come here...”

  Ohg gently lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. “I am not sorry I brought you here.”

  “But so many have died because of me.”

  “They died as much because of my arrogance in keeping them here, as your presence. Without the codes stolen from my mind, the prisoners could never have escaped.”

  Kayla’s brow furrowed. “How could Sangwa have gotten them from the duchess in any case? Or typed in the numbers without a physical body? Or known exactly when I left Middilgard to meet the Rogues in Ixtalia?”

  “We may never know,” Ohg said. “The one thing I can say for certain is that we lie at a crucial juncture in history, and you are the key to it all. I suspect that the small role I’ve played in helping you reach your full potential is the most important thing I will do in my entire life.”

  Ohg placed one of his stubby hands on her shoulder like a father might. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m proud of the woman you’ve become.”

  Kayla hugged him and closed her eyes. “I think you know why I’m going.”

  “Yes, I know,” Ohg said.

  “Before I can do anything else, I have to learn if my memories are real or not.”

  Ohg nodded and stepped back.

  The echo of footsteps caused them to turn. A grim-faced Tem marched across the cavern. Military fatigues replaced his traditional Mongolian clothing. A pulse rifle hung over one shoulder, and his Mongolian bow, with a full quiver of arrows, was draped across the other.

  He planted himself before Kayla, legs wide and arms crossed over his chest. “Will you join me in fighting the Rogues?”

  “I’m sorry about Fatima.” Kayla’s hand rose, as if to reach out to him, but then paused and finally settled back to her side.

  “Sorry isn’t enough,” Tem said. “Will you help me avenge her?”

  Ohg and Ganesh stood silent.

  A knot of guilt twisted through her insides at the sight of Tem’s all-consuming hatred. She hardly recognized her friend, who had been so filled with hope just a few days before. And it’s my fault. Don’t I owe him?

  “A simple yes or no will do,” Tem said.

  “I’m not excusing the Rogues,” Kayla said, “but they’re fighting to save their entire species. You, of all people, should understand—”

  “I understand loyalty. As a human, how can you abandon your own people?”

  Kayla lowered her eyes. “It’s ironic how your words mirror Melchi’s. Both humans and AI claim me as their own, and both demand that I kill for them. You once told me I could choose my own destiny. Well, I choose not to kill for revenge.”

  Tem turned and left the cavern without a word.

  Kayla’s shoulders sagged, and Ganesh sighed.

  “Tem’s grief will not allow him any emotion but anger,” Ohg said. “At least for the time being.”

  “Will you fight the Rogues?” Kayla asked Ohg.

  “I suppose I will fight alongside Tem.”

  “But I thought you were a pacifist?”

  “My idealism died with Middilgard.”

  “I love you, Ohg!” Kayla bur
ied her face in his shoulder, and he stroked her hair.

  “I love you too, my little orphan.”

  When Ohg left the chamber with Ganesh, it took several moments to regain her composure. She faced the transport and took a deep breath.

  “Wait, Kayla!” shouted a child’s voice.

  Kayla turned as Saphie ran into the cavern, Puck riding her shoulder.

  Kayla crouched and gave her a hug. “I’ll miss you most of all, my little Sapphire.”

  “I made this for you.” Saphie placed her homemade necklace of chipped crystal around Kayla’s neck. “It will protect you from the bad people.”

  Kayla raised an eyebrow. “Is it magic, then?” Saphie nodded solemnly, and Kayla laughed. “Okay, little one. I promise to wear it always.”

  Puck jumped onto Kayla’s shoulder, and she stood.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here with Saphie?” Puck gazed up at her and twitched his nose. Kayla laughed. “Well, I suppose Potemia is your homeland too, so we might as well see the journey full circle together.”

  Kayla took one last look at Saphie and the Crystal Cavern. Then she walked into the transport and pressed the button that represented its single control. The door slid closed. She sank onto one of the chairs, and the machine rumbled to life.

  Chapter 35

  Two Greek soldiers held Xiong Huai immobile before Alexander. Silken tapestries embraced the walls, while intricately wrought iron braziers and dozens of Chinese lanterns illuminated the throne room with a splendor equal to any in Persia. Incense spiraled through the air and mixed with the scent from thousands of flowers strewn across the floor.

  A fitting celebration for such an achievement.

  An attendant walked forward with the ceremonial execution sword, and Alexander took hold of it. I am not a bloodthirsty monster. I act for the greater good. With this last act in his great project complete, what purpose would his life hold now?

  Wearing the robes and golden ornaments befitting his rank, the defeated Chinese ruler of the Chu province knelt on the raised platform of his one-time throne. An inspiring display of grace and courage in the face of death.

  Alexander hefted the oversized sword that would complete the final piece in his dream of a unified empire stretching from sea to sea. Proof of what history might have been, had the real Alexander lived. Or at least as close to proof as the computer simulation could get.

  General Colrev, in the virtual body of the greatest general in all of history, raised the sword. The defeated King of Chu lowered his head to the block without prompting. The heavy sword sliced through skin, muscle, and bone in a single stroke. The head separated in a spurt of blood and rolled through the flowers, leaving a crimson trail. It came to rest before the feet of the Chinese king’s wife and eight-year-old daughter. The little girl covered her eyes and cried. Her mother’s face showed no change.

  The queen strode toward Alexander and stood before him. With chin high, she spoke. A white-bearded man in a blue silk robe translated. “She says her husband was a tyrant, and she married against her will.” The woman’s exotic eyes held no hint of fear. “She offers herself to you as a wife, if you will spare her daughter.”

  A realist, like me.

  Alexander smiled. “Tell her I accept.”

  Taking his queen’s hand, Alexander turned to the hundreds of onlookers. How many times had he dreamed of what he’d say at this moment? “War is nothing but a means to an end. Order, the rule of law, education, free trade, the arts, and science will now take the place of battle and suffering. As a united civilization, the goal of humanity will be—”

  The scene froze, and General Colrev’s aide stood before him, blocking the view of his prize.

  “What is it, Sergeant!” Alexander the Great shouted at the anachronism.

  “Sir, our satellite surveillance spotted Nihala on the surface of the Earth.”

  “Where?”

  “She tunneled out of the ground in an ancient mining machine.”

  “I didn’t ask how she got there. I asked where she is now!”

  “Standing in front of the Northern Section of the Potemian Wall.”

  ***

  Kayla’s moonlit reflection gazed back at her in the mirrored surface of the Wall as it stretched left and right into what seemed infinity. On her double’s shoulder sat a second three-footed mouse. Puck squeaked at his doppelganger, and the mouse soundlessly replied in tandem.

  The roar of an approaching missile grew louder.

  Maybe I should welcome death? A fission bomb would certainly do it.

  But then she would never know if her memory of Ishan was real.

  Kayla placed her right palm on the cool surface of the Wall and closed her eyes. She reached out through her Mind-Link, searching for a portal into what was nearly a living entity in its own right.

  Though not conscious in the way that Rogues or humans were, the Wall replied with a question programmed into it at the time of its birth. It spoke in the vibrational language of AI Mathematics, a language no human programmer understood—a request of identity. Who else, but Eve could have inserted it?

  “I am Nihala,” a voice within Kayla’s mind said in AI vibrational syllables.

  The missile neared with a roar like a comet.

  The archway shimmered into existence, and she stepped inside.

  The Wall sealed behind her. Only a faint echo of the explosion reached her. The shock seemed little more than a pebble entering a distant lake, the energy absorbed and rippling away through the Wall without effect.

  Nerves tingling, Kayla moved through the light. It flowed around her in dazzling arrays of colors, each pattern suggestive of something more than random fluctuations. She’d been deaf to the vibrational symphony all around her the first time she passed through the Wall.

  Unless that memory is false, and this is actually my first time in here.

  The crystal around her neck vibrated in response to the sound frequencies encapsulating her. Kayla held Saphie’s gift before her eyes as it glowed a brilliant amber.

  Is the Wall objecting to something foreign coming through?

  The crystal cracked, then shattered, the pieces flowing into the plasmic energy around her like dandelion seeds in a summer breeze. Fear stabbed at her chest. If the Wall could keep something as simple as a crystal from violating the integrity of Potemia, what of her mechanical parts? What if the Wall stripped her of her nanos and Mind-Link? Bereft of her microscopic helpers, she would be helpless.

  I would be an ordinary human.

  The outline of another archway formed, and Kayla stepped into Potemia.

  The moon’s light dimmed inside the Wall, but the desert stretched to the horizon just as before.

  Puck sniffed the air, then settled into her pocket for a nap.

  As a first test, Kayla stretched her consciousness to Ixtalia through her Mind-Link and found it intact. How else could she have dreamed of Melchi or viewed Peter’s memories while still in Potemia without a Mind-Link connection? One hurtle cleared.

  Her nanos likewise remained unharmed. Kayla breathed deep and let it out. I’m still something more than human. Though exactly what, remained the question.

  Kayla dispersed thousands of her microscopic servants in an ever-expanding arc high into the atmosphere. Their data revealed that the dome of protective energy extended six miles up—the approximate height of the Earth’s terrestrial atmosphere. By depositing one extrasomatic sensor every few miles, she constructed a real-time view of the desert that would eventually encompass the entire continent of Potemia.

  With a thought, she took to the air and flashed across the moonlit sky with her violet cloak spreading like wings. An occasional traveler in a camel caravan looked up at the demon soaring across the stars and shouted a prayer of protection from the Jinn.

  What did it matter? In a world ruled by superstition, a real miracle seems nothing special.

  Ishan’s village came into view shortly after midnight.
He’d described it so many times that she identified it even before spotting his father’s tribal banner. Her nanos spread through the village and revealed the signs of drought, warfare, and near starvation.

  Ishan stood outside one of the huts, loading firewood into a leather carrier. His gaunt limbs and sunken cheeks suggested an age far older than he should be.

  Kayla landed beyond his view, heart pounding. His existence confirmed the memories stored within her brain. Were they her own, or recordings of someone else’s life?

  “Ishan,” Kayla whispered as she emerged into the dim moonlight. Ishan’s hand gripped his sword, but relaxed as Kayla revealed her face.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  Kayla’s shoulders sagged. Even with her face healed, Ishan should have recognized her.

  Ishan frowned. “Do I know you from somewhere?” Then his eyes widened. “Kayla …?” Ishan glanced at her healed leg, and then his fingers caressed her face. “It’s a miracle.”

  She threw herself into his arms. A muffled sob escaped him as he hugged her. Everything she’d been through melted away as she pressed against his chest. Her memories were real.

  Ishan pulled back and gazed at her. “You’re alive!”

  “Yes.”

  “But I saw the arrow enter your chest. I killed you.”

  “And I thank you for that, my love,” she said, which seemed to confuse him more.

  “People say you’re a demon; that you left Potemia for … the Outside.”

  “I did go through the Wall—twice now. As for being a demon … I honestly don’t know what I am.” Kayla placed her palm against his cheek. “All I know for sure is that what we shared was real—and that’s enough.”

  She kissed him and he responded. Her fingers explored his neck and scalp. Ishan returned her kisses with equal passion, and his arms pulled her body to his. Kayla melted into him. Thank you, God, for returning him to me.

  “I’ve waited so long for this moment,” Kayla whispered in his ear. “Make love to me. I can’t wait any longer.”

  Ishan jerked back and shook his head as if waking from a dream. “Kayla, I’m happy you’re safe, but I have to tell you something—”