Post-Human Trilogy Part 63

"Do you expect repentance? Do you expect me to beg?" the nan.o.bot shadow replied. "You won't get it. You may destroy me, but my brethren are spread throughout the universe in numbers you cannot imagine. This little act of yours, killing me, will mean nothing in the grand picture."

"You have no idea how little you are going to be in the grand picture," James replied. Once again, he put out his hand, letting the shadow see itself one last time in the reflection of his palm, and then slowly, painfully, crushed the being that had tormented him so into a tiny, s.h.i.+ny, black pearl. "I know you can still hear me, you gruesome piece of filth. I've tangled your molecules so badly that the only way you'll ever regain your former form is if someone takes notice of a black pearl in the infinite black ocean of s.p.a.ce. I've given your magnetic field a boost too, so you should live a nice long time-by my calculations, about 500 million years."

He took the pearl between his index finger and thumb and examined it for a moment, bringing it close to his face so he could clearly see the blue glow of his new eyes. He knew the nan consciousness could see him-he smiled. Then he turned to the darkest corner of s.p.a.ce that he could find and let the pearl float, only inches from his hand. Like a baseball pitcher, he took a moment to calculate the power he would need to fire the pearl at close to light speed. When he was ready, he flicked his wrist like a magician about to pull something from his sleeve, and a small wormhole opened up before him. The pearl vanished into it in a streak of light and vanished. The nan consciousness would be far enough away from the solar system so as not to be caught up in the wake of the Trans-Human program; it would live on in this time and suffer for what would be, essentially, eternity.

"Good riddance."

18.

James looked down at the amazed faces below him inside the s.h.i.+p. He hadn't been expecting to see his friends with the androids; he could sense that they'd been transformed. His eyes quickly s.h.i.+fted to Thel. Unlike the others, her expression was filled with love and hope. Even through all of his physical changes, his reflective skin, and his brightly glowing azure eyes, she had recognized him. This woman knew him inside and out. As his eyes met hers, even in the alien environment of s.p.a.ce, even with all of the disarray surrounding them, he felt as though he was coming home.

This brief flutter of happiness was immediately replaced as he saw Old-timer crumpled to the ground and unmoving next to her.

The skin of the s.h.i.+p was invisible but James had many more senses to draw upon now. He sensed the s.h.i.+p, felt the molecules of the s.h.i.+p skin, and found a path through them. His own molecules moved to allow him to sink through the hull as those onboard looked on in astonishment. He phased through the s.h.i.+p ceiling and floated gently to the floor.

Thel sprung to him and threw her arms around his neck. "You're alive!" she nearly screamed. "I thought you were dead!"

"Resurrection is my forte."

"It's really you," Rich said, allowing himself a smile. "Wow. What the h.e.l.l happened to you? Who did this?"

"I did," James replied.

"You did?" Thel exclaimed, pulling back slightly so she could face him, yet still keeping her hold on him. "How? Why? We thought the nans had deleted you!"

"They tried, but it turns out deletion is impossible from the A.I.'s mainframe. I survived, and so did the A.I.-the real A.I."

"What?" Thel reacted. "You mean the A.I. still exists?"

"He never turned on us," James explained, turning to Rich and Djanet as well. "It was always the nans. They impersonated him, destroyed all of us, and lured the androids here as a trap."

"What about your body? What is...this?" Thel asked as she touched James's new skin. Its texture was like diamond, yet it was pliable like skin.

"It has no name," James replied. "I have to help Old-timer," he said, immediately s.h.i.+fting gears, pulling away from Thel and placing his palm just a few inches from Old-timer's chest.

"Can you help him?" Thel asked.

"There's been catastrophic damage. I would need access to the exact molecular pattern of his android body to put him back together. Without it, all I can do is stop the pain and give him a temporary patch-up."

"Will it be enough to save him?" Djanet asked.

"No," James replied, "but it doesn't have to be."

"What does that mean?" asked Thel.

"You'll see."

Just then, Old-timer began to stir, slowly regaining his consciousness. He sighed a long sigh before turning slightly and looking up at James through slitted eyes. "Who are you?"

"It's me," James replied with a smile.

Old-timer took a long moment to examine the features of the figure's s.h.i.+ning face and glowing eyes. "James?"

James nodded. "How are you feeling?"

Old-timer tried to get up, performing a maneuver reminiscent of a bodybuilder trying to finish one last sit up-with an exhausted exhale, he failed and fell back against the floor. James gave him his arm and helped him stand back upright. Old-timer kept his right forearm crossed in front of his abdomen and remained hunched over, floating just off the ground in the zero gravity.

James turned and observed the drawn guns of Neirbo and the other androids. "You did this to him?" James asked.

"I...I had no choice," explained a befuddled Neirbo. "The circ.u.mstances were different. We'd run out of time...we were about to be consumed by the nan.o.bots."

"So why didn't you detonate the missile yourself?" James queried, already knowing the answer.

"You know about the missile?" Thel reacted in surprised bewilderment. "How?"

"Yes. I know what your plan is."

"Then...you're here to help us," Neirbo said, his voice filled with uncertainty.

"Don't do it, James!" Old-timer said desperately, struggling against the weakness of his voice.

James turned to his friend and replied, "Don't worry. I won't."

"What?" exclaimed Neirbo. "You can't be serious! The nan.o.bots destroyed your people! You can't let them claim this solar system for themselves!"

"The nan.o.bots may have killed my people, but your leader let it happen," James replied.

19.

"That's not true," Neirbo responded. "We came here to help you! We tried to save as many of you as we could!"

"You tried to a.s.similate as many of us as you could," James calmly a.s.serted. "The impending nan.o.bot attack and your leader's claims that she was unable to transmit a warning to us were convenient excuses."

"But why would they want to a.s.similate us?" Djanet asked. "What good would that do for them?"

"We came to defend humanity," Neirbo stated, staking claim.

"You came to defend your narrow notion of what humanity should be," James replied.

Neirbo was at a loss. "I don't know what that is supposed to mean. We're not the ones with limits."

Old-timer, however, completely understood. As soon as he heard James's words, it was as if a light switch had gone on. His eyes lit up with understanding.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned," he said. "Luddites."

"What?" Rich asked.

"Luddites," Old-timer repeated. "I didn't realize it until just this moment. I was fooled by their advanced technology. But just because they're more advanced than we currently are, doesn't mean that they're still advancing."

"Your arguments crossed the border into ridiculous long ago," Neirbo replied.

Old-timer's teeth were suddenly gritted with fury. "Think about it," he said to his companions. "There are trillions and trillions of these people, all willing to do the same thing, to fight the same war. Where is the individuality? They're even wearing the same d.a.m.n style of clothes, for G.o.d's sake!"

"We have individual freedom," Neirbo replied. "We have chosen to defend humanity against the nan.o.bot scourge. We are here because of our compa.s.sion."

"You shoot me compa.s.sionately, son?" Old-timer seethed.

"They have the illusion of individual free choice," James explained, "but at anytime their leader, the person who calls herself 1, can control their actions."

"1 communicates with us and leads us. She does not control us!" Neirbo fired back.

"I'm willing to put that to the test," James replied. He turned to his companions. "We are not going to destroy the solar system."

"James, are you sure about this?" Thel asked, with a serious look of concern. "You may be right about everything you said, there's no way to know for sure, but what we do know for sure is that the nans have turned against us! How can we just let them have this solar system to use to reproduce and kill more people in the future? Shouldn't we destroy the nest?"

"h.e.l.lo, 1," James responded without missing a beat.

"What?" Thel answered back.

"I antic.i.p.ated you would take her first. You're counting on my emotional connection confusing my reason. However, I have more than just my emotions and reason to rely upon now."

"James!" Thel exclaimed. "It's me! I love you! What's the matter with you?"

"It's not Thel," Old-timer a.s.serted, turning to Rich and Djanet. "James is right. There's no reason to think 1 couldn't control any of us at anytime."

"That's paranoia!" Thel shouted. She threw her arms around James and tried to kiss him, but he roughly withdrew.

"You're not the woman I love. Stop pretending."

"You're wrong, James!" Thel turned desperately to the others. "Don't listen to him! There's something wrong with him!"

James kept the gaze of his glowing blue eyes on Thel. "I can see you, 1. I have more eyes than you can imagine."

"You're confused," Thel pleaded. "The A.I. has done something to you! He's tricking you!"

James ignored her pleas and addressed everyone in the room. "The android system of transferring power sounds perfect on the surface. The android randomly selected to become 1 leads the group for a period of time and then, on the designated date, surrenders the power. Therefore, anyone and everyone has a chance to become the leader. But there's a flaw. It was only a matter of time before someone was selected leader who would realize that he or she could continue as 1 forever. All that was required was that the randomly selected person be a person of 1's own creation."

"Of course," Old-timer a.s.sented, "and that person would continue leading them, essentially, forever. Their civilization followed the singular vision of one ent.i.ty-like fascism or any kind of dictators.h.i.+p."

"It's even more similar than you think, Old-timer," James continued. "Just like fascism, they're xenophobic. 1 has unilaterally decided what is human and what is not and has made it her mission to stop human civilization from progressing into anything that she considers inhuman."

"Something like you, for instance," Old-timer observed.

"Exactly," affirmed James.

"Then that's their real mission," Djanet realized, "to find human civilizations and...a.s.similate them."

Thel paused for a moment, as though she was considering her next move. Then, suddenly, her body went slack, she released the grip that she had on the wall and she floated for a moment in the zero gravity. "What happened?" she asked.

"1 took control of your body," James replied. "Any one of you could be next," he began, "but I already know what her next move will be."

"You don't know a thing," Neirbo replied as he held his weapon up to James with a snarl on his lips. Seeing Neirbo's aggressive stance, the seven men under his command did likewise.

"Welcome back, 1," said James. "Long time, no see."

"You think that body of yours and your new senses make you special?" 1 replied with Neirbo's lips. "You're just another abomination."

"Oh my G.o.d," Old-timer said, shaking his head slightly in dismay. "This sounds so familiar."

"Picked a h.e.l.l of a time for deja vu, Old-timer," observed Rich.

"I've been through this with people before, on Earth, back in the old days," Old-timer related. "There's always someone out there who thinks we should draw a line and not cross it and that humanity will be much happier if we just stand still."

"I've been through this more than once myself," 1 replied. "And I've always managed to stop the spread of monsters like him," she said, gesturing with Neirbo's body toward James. "Don't fool yourselves. He'll just be the beginning. When people are given the reins to become anything they want, they will become unrecognizable...and uncontrollable."

"We don't want to be controlled," Old-timer retorted.

"You're a petty, selfish, idealist," 1 answered back. "What I have done, I have done for all of humanity, throughout the universe."

"Isn't that what all dictators claim," replied Old-timer. "You did it for the people? Bull. You just wanted to be number 1."

1 snapped her neck quickly toward Old-timer, her eyes filled with black hatred, fueled by a war and a conviction that had lasted for centuries. "How dare you speak to me that way!" she thundered with Neirbo's voice as she used Neirbo's arm to train his weapon on Old-timer again. 1 fired.

20.

James held his hand up once again, palm outward, and the bullets became a harmless puff of smoke that wafted through the air. "That's not going to happen."

"What did you do?" 1 furiously demanded.

"If you had allowed your civilization to progress scientifically, you'd know what and how I did it."