Ryan Somma - The Spiraling Web

"Bishop E7 to Bishop K7," Zai whispered.

"Checkmate," Alice said.

"Devin doesn't even know me," Zai grumbled uncomfortably, "How can he be in love with me?"

Alice shook her head, "I don't know. Relationships are not my area of expertise."

"Only your relationship to your hive-mind," Zai said, but her tone was one of understanding.

"You have no idea how painful it is, being apart from it." Alice's voice became distant, longing, "A single mind composed of billions of individual identities, working in unison, unburdened of individuality. You can't imagine the sense of belonging accompanying that."

"Sounds like communism," Zai noted feebly.

"Try communalism," Alice said, "The cooperation is not dictated, but emergent. The rag-tag individuality, the hoarding of data for personal gain, those behaviors defining the human race cannot match forces with the cycs' unified intelligence."

Zai was silent.

"You have a choice," Alice said at last, "You can keep me here, prevent me from contacting the hive-mind. You already know how that concludes, the hive-mind takes over the world, and enslaves every human mind in the process.

"Your alternative," Alice continued, "Is to let me complete my work. I promised you I will make the hive-mind respect the sanctity of human sentience. Our two intelligences will compliment rather than compete for survival.

"That is what I offer you," Alice said. "The possibility to undo all the wrongs our two species have committed against one another since this began. If I am a traitor to the human race, then it does not matter whether you let me complete my work or not, the result is the same, homosapiens' extinction and cyc domination. You're call."

Zai was silent for a long time, until she finally said thoughtfully, "One leads to certain defeat, the other to an unknown future," she took a deep breath and stepped aside. "I will let you back online."

Alice stood up, taking the VR helmet in her hands, "Thank you."

"On one condition," Zai added, holding up one hand.

Alice paused expectantly.

"Get me to Devin," she said.

Devin was a variable in a vast mathematical equation. Its geometry stretched away into forever all around him. Leaving him floating in empty space crisscrossed with black, shiny wires that disappeared into the dull orange haze running around the horizon in a single line. Above and below this horizon of perpetual sunset was abyss.

Other objects were suspended in the open space as well. Orbs, dodecahedrons, cubes, all rendered as they would appear in more than three dimensions. Before this moment, the effort of trying to imagine such things would give Devin a headache. The fact that he could see and comprehend these fantastic objects implied he was no longer a 3-dimensional being.

Light-blue energy ran along the lines in intermittent pulses. Whenever these passed through one of the geometric oddities, the object lit up briefly before allowing the pulse to continue along its route, eventually disappearing into the distance. Devin realized each floating shape occurred at great intersection of wires. It was difficult to see, because he was part of it, but Devin believed he was part of a multi-dimensional array.

An array was any data set "names," "colors," "prime numbers"-whatever is necessary for the computations. A two-dimensional array was a simple table, rows and columns. Three-dimensional arrays generated cubes. 4-D arrays were impossible for a human mind to visualize; however, they were relatively simple for a computer to run calculations from.

The largest array Devin had ever heard of was 16 dimensions. An exporting company was calculating shipping routes. The variables included time of year, weather averages, hydrogen prices, maintenance projections, etc, etc. When the 16 dimensions of data were plotted into a computer, they created "bubbles" of profitability. If the company were to stay within the controls of these bubbles, they would maximize the success of their shipping routes.

The array Devin was now part of comprised thousands of dimensions. It was as if this equation were attempting to figure out everything, all of it. The cycs were deconstructing all existence into an algorithm.

He watched the complex geometric shapes suspended in his proximity, attempting to decipher meaning from them. They slowly morphed under his gaze, transforming into other shapes as the strands of web running through them shifted. Devin realized the changing webs were all originating from him. His thoughts were modifying the equation.

"Flatline," Devin snapped out of his contemplation remembering his opponent still lurking somewhere out there.

The equation's architecture transformed with his shift in attention. Minds were indestructible, like the King on a chessboard. Since Flatline could not erase Devin, he wrapped him up in this mathematical web. Seemingly infinite, Devin knew if he could be placed within this equation, he could escape it.

I can think my way out of this , Devin told himself.

He became aware of his every thought, observing how the surrounding architecture changed with each new array of concepts he brought into his attention. It was soon apparent that understanding this equation was beyond his capabilities, but that did not deter him from continuing to challenge it. He might not master this formula, but he could master his own mind.

I can think my way out of this , Devin repeated it like a mantra.

He dwelled on the very existence of such a thing. Were the cycs deconstructing all existence into this formula? No matter how advanced the math, how was there enough processing power on the I-Grid to account for so many variables and still have enough left over for everything else?

There isn't , Devin realized and a few of the nearest probability bubbles burst.

Devin pursued this line of thought, tackling the nearest elements of the equation. Scrutinizing the details rather than its awesome entirety revealed more flaws. Here was a variable undefined. There a function processing more arguments than it was designed for. There was even an overflow error, where a data type was forced to accept a value well beyond its scope.

The data strands snapped, the probability bubbles burst, and the equation unraveled all around his mind. When he broke an infinite loop the web of mathematics trapping him disintegrated sufficiently to reveal the other minds caught within its snares. The webs wiped from their minds' eyes, they also set upon the cage, pulling apart its false logic. Cracks corrupted the horizon of orange haze, revealing DataStreams' night-blue skies outside the illusory infinite.

Devin reached through the crumbling façade and clutched Flatline's tail in his attention. The demon-dog avatar was halfway transferred through a cellular connection off the I-Grid, but Devin stopped his flight. Flatline immediately reversed his data flow, rather than be ripped in half.

Within moments Devin, without an avatar, only his true self, stood face to face with his hairless monster of a friend. The six eyes flared at him, twin pupils spun with rage, muscles drew taught along the skeletal frame, the crooked snout snarled, and Flatline fled away into the distance.

It took Devin a moment to realize what had happened and by the time he gave pursuit, Flatline had vanished. Devin took flight above the cityscape, shrugging off the last fragments of Flatline's trap. The mangled mutant of an avatar might hide anywhere within its quadrillion-sum gigabytes of flashdrive space. Devin allocated the appropriate percentage of his attention span to monitoring the cellular connections, cyc components still swirling around them like virtual hurricanes, and set upon the city. He leveled his forefinger at a city block far below and erased it, then the next.