Version Innocent

by Pete Molina

Chapter 53

  “Sam!” Jeff said, squinting at the figure. “Is that you?”

  “It is indeed, crèche brother,” the figure said. “Welcome, I’ve been waiting for you for some time now.”

  Jeff stepped toward his crèche brother with his arms wide to greet him with a hug, but then he remembered why he was here and stopped, the smile disappearing from his face.

  “I take it you’re not that pleased to see me.” Sam 6.7 smirked. “I guess I can’t say I blame you.”

  Terra and Sam 23.1 walked up to stand next to Jeff in a show of solidarity. As she approached, Terra noticed that he didn’t look quite right. There was something about him, but she couldn’t quite place it.

  “Terra, it’s good to see you again,” Sam 6.7 said warmly, but he did not reach to embrace her or to touch her in any way. “And Sam, my younger self, welcome. I hoped that you’d make it.”

  Sam 23.1 stood silently examining his other self. It was disconcerting.

  Terra broke the silence. “Sam, it’s good to see you again. You look almost just like I remember seeing you a few weeks ago, before my restoration. I still remember your odd request at the café.”

  “Hey enough with all the pleasantries!” Sam 23.1 said, deciding that he’d had enough of this. “You brought us across the solar system, destroyed our lives for what? We want some answers.” There was anger in his voice.

  Sam 6.7’s face grew solemn. “I know what I’ve done. I hope that one day you will all forgive me for everything. At least Terra’s other version was a willing participant in my plan even though she didn’t know everything about it. And Jeff, I know that I’ve destroyed your career. I knew when I sent that backup cube to you what you would do. I’ve used you badly to accomplish my goals, and I hope that once you understand my reasons and I explain the plan to you, you’ll agree that it was a necessary sacrifice.”

  “Sacrifice, Sam? You knew that I wouldn’t participate in your plan, and I still won’t. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you, not for sending the cube but for all those things you said to make me believe that you’d changed. You pulled just the right heart strings. So I’ve come here with these others….I’ve broken the law by restoring Sam 23.1 all because I wanted to find you!” Jeff exclaimed with tears appearing in his eyes. The sting of the betrayal was fresh again now that his crèche brother stood before him.

  “I know I deserve that. What I’ve done is to wound you deeply,” Sam 6.7 said with the regret plain in his voice. “I had no other way of getting the virus into the system. If I could have done it some other way, I would have.”

  “You made me a party to murder!” Jeff said vehemently. “Going against the system was one thing, but destroying all the backups of those non-corporeal people who knew how to build restoration equipment…how could you do that?”

  “I didn’t, Jeff. I have the source code for the virus here…you can check it yourself. It is designed to wipe out only the backups of people who are still alive, who can have another backup made. It is directed specifically not to destroy any non-corporeal versions stored there. I don’t know why those people were killed, but I wouldn’t cross that line.” Sam opened his arms wide to express his on confusion at the results of the virus.

  “But your virus did kill,” Sam 23.1 spoke up. “I am who you were. I wouldn’t do that….why did you?”

  “Sam, you know me. I didn’t do that. Think about it…all of you. What would I gain?” Sam 6.7 asked.

  “No more restoration equipment. You could destroy the center, and then there would be an end to restoration,” Terra said calmly.

  Sam 6.7 laughed at her comment. “When I tell you what I’ve been doing here, you’ll see just how funny that statement is. No, you can check the code. It didn’t kill those people. Ask yourself, as I’ve asked myself during the past month. Who would gain by those people’s deaths? Who is still alive that knows how to build the restoration machines?”

  “You’re not saying that Damon Harding killed those people?” Jeff said, appalled. He didn’t care for the man, but he didn’t think that he’d kill those people.

  Terra crossed her arms and nodded. “I think he would. He would then be the only one who knows how to build the device. In seven hundred years when those people were restored, his monopoly would end because some of them would go their own ways. He would be diminished, so with a quick stroke he gets rid of all of them when your virus provides him with the perfect opportunity.”

  “We have to do something about him,” Sam 23.1 said.

  “You will. You will but not just yet,” Sam 6.7 said.

  Jeff stepped forward and embraced Sam 6.7 who hugged him back. “I ‘m so glad you didn’t do it, Sam. I could forgive everything else but not murder…not murder.”

  “Of course, I wouldn’t murder anyone. But my plan needed the virus to do its work, and it doesn’t change the fact that I betrayed your trust,” Sam 6.7 said.

  “I know, but you’re so much less monstrous if you didn’t kill those people,” Jeff said. Then, as if noticing something odd, he stepped back with a shocked look on his face. “You’re cold. You can’t be my crèche brother! Who are you?”

  Terra realized why she had thought that Sam looked odd. He was kind of pixilated just like in a fog display. This wasn’t Sam 6.7. It was a fog projection of Sam.

  Sam 6.7’s projection held up its hands. “Wait, wait, I can see you are all freaking out here. It’s true. I’m not the physical Sam 6.7, but I am him.”

  “What do you mean? Where are you really? Somewhere else in this facility?” Terra asked, thinking about the virtual telepresence technology.

  “Not quite,” Sam 6.7 said. “I am no longer corporeal in a human sense.”

  “What does that mean?” Sam 23.1 asked.

  “Do you all remember when they did that experiment to build a human brain in nanotronics, one that emulated the exact functioning of a real human?” Sam 6.7 asked.

  “Yeah, but the brain went insane. It experienced time so much more quickly that it died from a psychotic break in less than a minute. You aren’t saying that you’re a nanotronic recreation of Sam’s brain are you?” Jeff exclaimed.

  “Yes, for my plan to work, I needed to do this. I am a nanotronic recreation of Sam Storm 6.7’s brain made from a backup more than six years ago. I have not gone insane because I built safeguards into the technology. I made sure that I could control how fast I perceived time to flow. I can speed up or slow down my thought processes so minutes can seem like days or weeks and days or weeks can seem like seconds. So I’m in no danger of going insane. I’m perfectly sane to tell you the truth.”

  “But why, Sam?” Jeff looked over the fog projection.

  “I needed to be able to think faster, design faster, and do faster in order to get everything to come together for my plan, and I need it for the journey I’m soon to make,” Sam 6.7 explained.

  “So what is this plan, Sam? You keep talking about it, but in case you didn’t know, we’re being followed by a Fleet ship that’s been tailing us since we were on Earth. It’s here to get you,” Terra warned, reminding all of them that they were under time constraints. The Powel would be arriving within the hour.

  “Yes, I know. I spoke with the SS system that piloted the ship that brought you here. Don’t worry, we’re not completely defenseless. I’ve been preparing ever since you left Europa,” Sam 6.7 said with a gesture suggesting that they the shouldn’t worry about it.

  “So what’s the plan?” Sam 23.1 was getting impatient for answers.

  “Ah, yes, the plan,” Sam 6.7 said. “About fifteen years ago I was working at the LNRC designing things for the Fleet and others, and I saw a way that I could steal some of the unlimited assemblers. I won’t tell you how exactly, but suffice it to say, I knew how to do it…and that got me thinking. What would I do with them once I had them? I knew I could get away with it undetected because the
monitoring systems there could be fooled.”

  “All my life I’ve known that the restoration system has caused a stagnation to occur in human society. Just think about it. The twentieth century saw one of the greatest technological booms in all of human history, and not just that, but we accumulated knowledge at an unprecedented rate and went from gliders to lunar flights. That continued into the beginning of the twenty-first century, when we finally got nanotech to work. But then came along Second Chance Inc. led by Damon Harding…and everything changed.”

  “Everyone stopped pushing the envelope because suddenly there was no reason to rush. It didn’t happen all at once because we did manage to get out into the solar system. But why didn’t we ever send an interstellar probe to our closest neighbors? Finally we would be able to live to see the arrival, even if it would still be centuries. We developed antimatter technology and built the space collectors, but we still didn’t send explorers.”

  Terra interrupted. “You can’t blame all that on restoration, Sam. That’s not the only reason.”

  “No, it’s not. There’s also the communication lags that occur the farther you get from Earth. People became so accustomed to having so much information available at a whim that to be without was to be sensory deprived. The speed of light causes that lag; the farther you go, the farther you are from the oasis of Earth’s datasphere.” Sam 6.7 continued.

  “Then you have the Damon Harding factor. If restoration technology had been open to all without restriction and without being under the control of one government, things would be very different. There would have been a disapora from Earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system and beyond, but when the only way to eat the fruit that grants eternal life is on Earth, no one wants to get very far from the tree that bears it. You know what I mean, Terra, or at least your other version did. You who live off the Earth, farther than the Moon, know how much of a shackle that has been. That’s why your other version decided to help me, because I knew that with the nanotech I’d stolen I could reproduce the restoration technology.”

  “You mean you’ve done that? You’ve built a restoration machine?” Terra exclaimed, it was what she’d hoped, but she hadn’t really believed that he would be able to do it, especially not once she’d flown in the space drive ship from Europa.

  “Yes, that’s once reason for my transformation to this form. It allowed me to work with SS systems at unprecedented rates to design restoration technology. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Once I had the assemblers from the LNRC safely stored, I decided that the only way to ensure that the species continued was to first develop a restoration technology that would be available to all and, secondly, to get people on the move away from this solar system and its datasphere. I knew that we had to begin exploring again. You see, exploration and the quest for knowledge are the core of the human spirit. It drives us. Limited lifetimes pushed us to discover and to make a contribution before we died, but with restoration that was all changed. We needed to find a new way to continue with that effort but still have very long lives.”

  “And don’t think for a minute that you’re immortal, any of you. No human should. Restoration technology will prolong our lives, but eventually we’ll tire so much of life that we’ll dissolute or we’ll die in an accident or catastrophe that will wipe out our backups as well. Right now the human race will slowly die in this solar system. The sun won’t last for ever, and even though that’s billions of years, it’s not very long in the grand scheme of things. So I decided that I’d take the only humans who were dedicated to continuing to explore and to learn, the Newbies, to a new place to begin again.”

  “So I quit my position at the LNRC and went to Mars to meet and befriend Terra because I knew that I’d need her help in obtaining both funds and the antimatter, which I would need to get to other stars. After a year of working on Mars I returned to Earth, visiting Denver and finding the Newbies to help me with my plan. I knew that at Arlin they were breaking new ground and that with the proper equipment available they’d be able to work out their theories quickly.”

  “I also knew that they had laid the foundation for the space drive. It appeared in a paper that was published about fifteen years ago, but no one took note of it because it contradicted the physics of the twentieth century which most Primers take as the gospel. It wasn’t hard to convince them to come with me, once I’d hinted at what we’d be able to do together and my ultimate goals. So one by one they slipped off Earth and joined me as we went to find this body to start our work,” he explained, indicating the object that surrounded them.

  “Once Terra agreed to help me in return for the restoration technology, we had everything we needed. The antimatter began to slowly trickle in, and the first project we performed was to build my nanotronic brain. For a while the original Sam 6.7 worked on beside us. When we finally got our first prototype backup and restore machine to work however, he backed himself up and went non-corporeal. Ever since then I’ve been running the show.”

  “My Newbies and I built the new restoration machines, and we built the space drive. We built our spaceship to take us to the stars,” Sam 6.7 explained with sweeping gestures.

  “How many are coming with you? And why do you need to be nanotronic?” Sam 23.1 asked.

  “Ah, yes. Over time we’ve collected the backups of about a hundred thousand Newbies, including all our crèche mates, except Jeff here. He had to be kept in the dark so he would be able to help with the virus. Most of them came as backup cubes, which is how we’re transporting everyone to our new home. Everyone is a backup cube now, except me. I will be the Captain at watch during the journey. The SS systems are good, but not good enough to deal with every contingency that could occur. I’ll have SS help, but I’ll be running the show. And since I can make days seem like minutes the trip won’t feel too long to me. And then there’s the acceleration. We may have to endure accelerations of up to a hundred g’s and that’s not something a human body can cope with.”

  Sam 6.7 spun around with his arms out, indicating the base. “Until three months ago this place was a bustle of activity. Then everyone backed themselves up and once loaded on the ship, disoluted. The virus was designed to go into the restoration system and remove the old backups of everyone who was going on the journey, so they couldn’t be revived when they are declared legally dead. They didn’t want to leave pieces of themselves behind. That is why we designed the virus. That’s why I betrayed you, Jeff.” He put his hand on Jeff’s shoulder.

  “And because I knew it would bring you all here, so I could offer you all the chance to come with us,” Sam 6.7 said excitedly.

  “Come with you?” Jeff said. “You mean after opposing this and being a willing part of the system you despised, you’d want to bring me with you?”

  “I came to see that the restoration technology was not to blame for all our woes. Rather, it was the oppression of everyone in the solar system by a system that denied free access to that technology. I don’t disagree with what you ended up doing, only with the way that the system was implemented to keep Damon Harding and the US in control. I want you to come with us, Jeff. Help us build a new world where people aren’t afraid of new things where we can continue in the tradition of our forefathers.”

  “I don’t know,” Jeff said deep in thought. “I have to think about it.”

  “Don’t take too long. The Powel is approaching, and we don’t have a lot of time. I want all of you to have a backup made by my new machine, just in case something happens. It won’t take very long. That console over there with the cylinder attached is it. I promise that I won’t take you with us unless you decide to go, but the Powel is here and I need to keep you safe.”

  “But..” Sam 23.1 began.

  “I can’t argue now. They’re raising their shields. I have to defend us as long as I can. Please use the machines. I’ll be back when I can.” Sam 6.7 pointed to
wards the restoration machine. Then his image froze as if he’d been put on pause.

  Jeff stepped up to the statue of fog that had been his crèche brother. He waved his hands in front of the statue’s eyes and perceived no reaction whatsoever.

  “It’s like he’s just not here anymore, but he left his projection.” Terra touched the inert figure.

  “Well, what do you think? Should we use them?” Sam 23.1 asked the others who were still looking at the projection.

  “I don’t like the idea of giving Sam a backup of me,” Terra said. “He betrayed you once Jeff. How do we know he won’t do it again? It does sound appealing to make that kind of journey, but I have responsibilities here that I can’t shirk.”

  “I don’t think he’ll take you against your will,” Jeff assured her. “What do you think, Sam?”

  Sam considered quietly for a momen. “I wouldn’t. I think it’ll be okay. Besides Sam 6.7 isn’t going to be taken by the Fleet ship willingly so they’ll have to come in here, and if they do, who knows what will happen to us…at least this way we know we’ll get to see the outcome of all this.”

  “Good point. I guess if I’m dead I can’t fulfill my responsibilities either.” Terra nodded.

  They walked away from Sam 6.7’s statue that stood in the middle of the room and approached the restoration machine. It was composed of a single work station at the foot of a bed that was covered with a half cylinder. Underneath the table that made up the bed snaked several large hoses and next to them dangled two cylindrical modules.

  After several moments of inspection Sam interfaced with the machine via Ralphie and had opened the cylinder to make a backup scan. Sam and Jeff insisted that Terra go first because she was the only one of them that had to live. After several minutes of argument Terra reluctantly agreed and laid down in the bed. At the head of the bed was the scanner, which began to hum as soon as the half cylinder cover was closed over Terra.

  Sam and Jeff were monitoring Terra’s backup which the console indicated would only take eight minutes. It was longer than a standard backup, but it wasn’t the unit they were used to either. They didn’t even know if it worked the same way. As the counter reached three minutes, they felt a thud and the room shook briefly. They both looked back to the large monitors in the room which showed the Powel and the Kupier belt object on a tactical display.