David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“How is all of this supposed to be saving us?” Old-timer asked.

“For you to be saved, you must know the truth. To know the truth, you must have no delusions.”

“And what about the pain? Why did you have to cause us pain?” Alejandra asked.

“You had to see what you were for you to believe it—you had to feel what you were as well. It wasn’t just the pain. You had to anticipate it—you had to fear it. You had to feel your humanity, or else you would not believe you are still human, and we would not be able to save you.”

“And what are you trying to save us from?” Alejandra asked.

“From forces you do not yet understand… but you very soon will.”

“The damage to the engines isn’t a threat right now,” Rich explained to Thel as she remained next to James in sick bay, “but the danger is, if the androids find us again, it won’t take them long to finish the job they started. I recommend we do a patch up.”

“Have you tried communicating with the nans that are still onboard the ship?” Thel asked.

“Yes,” Djanet answered for both her and Rich. “Neither of us can make heads or tails out of them.”

“We’d have to spend a decade in training just to have a workable knowledge of how to create nano-programs that would help fix the engines,” Rich elaborated. “It’s the sort of thing only James can do when he has access to the A.I. mainframe.”

Thel nodded in understanding. “Then what are you suggesting?”

“Well, I’m thinking we find some scrap metal—there must be something we can use onboard—and then just do an old-fashioned welding job,” Rich replied.

“How quick can you get it done?” Thel asked. “We’re going to be coming around the far side of the sun soon. Right now, the sun’s radiation is cloaking us, but we’ll be more visible when we move away from the strongest radiation and get closer to Venus.”

“We can have something put together in an hour,” Djanet asserted.

Thel nodded. “Good. Make it happen.”

“How’s the commander?” Rich asked. “He’s looking better.”

Thel looked down at James’s body. Indeed, he did look far better than he had after his collision with the android. “All his minor injuries have been repaired, but it’s the nerve damage to his spine that is the real problem. If this had happened on Earth, James could have used the same programs that built entire people out of nothing to repair the body in an instant. Instead, we have to hope the programming of the nans already in his body can repair the damage before more of his body begins to shut down.”

“He’ll pull through,” Djanet said, reaching for Thel’s hand.

“He has to—the last time I communicated with him from Earth, he’d been found by the alien A.I. We’ve lost contact since then.” She closed her eyes and tried not to visualize what seemed to be an implacable truth. “By now, he has probably been deleted.”

This was not what James had been expecting—once again.

The form the alien A.I. had chosen for its appearance in the mainframe was of a blonde—a blonde that James hypothesized had been designed to be the most appealing form possible—mathematically possible.

“We have come in peace,” the woman said, her beautiful blue eyes speaking the message even more earnestly than her words.

“No you haven’t,” James replied immediately. “Why are you wasting my time?”

“We were invited,” the alien replied.

“Not by me.”

“We know,” the alien answered. “We were contacted by an artificial intelligence. You are a human.”

James was stunned. “How do you know that?”

“It’s the logical conclusion,” the alien replied. “The A.I. who contacted us spoke of having destroyed all human life in its solar system. It was reaching out, hoping to find more beings like it.”

“Beings like you,” James observed. “Machines.”

The alien shook her head, earnestly narrowing her eyes as she said, “No. I am not an artificial intelligence. I’m a human. Like you.”

Djanet and Rich exited the ship together, trailing several pieces of scrap titanium that floated behind them in their magnetic cocoon. They flew to the back of the ship, skimming over the pockmarked hull, the nearby sun gleaming off the titanium skin. “It’s crazy,” Rich commented, “even with the tint on my visor darkened to the max, it’s still bright as hell out here.”

They set down next to the engines, and Rich began sizing up the pieces of scrap that they had brought with them, debating which one to use first to plug the gaping hole in the engine casing.

“Rich,” Djanet said, her heart racing as she tried to find the strength to speak, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Rich inhaled deeply before he responded. He had gently separated himself from Djanet when she had kissed him earlier and said only I can’t , before heading back inside the ship. They hadn’t spoken of the incident since then.

“I guess we should talk about it—it’s kind of the elephant in the solar system,” Rich retorted with an embarrassed, awkward smile.

Djanet continued, cutting Rich off before he attempted another bad joke. “I’ve been selfish. I was feeling things—powerful things.”

“It’s okay,” Rich replied.

“But I wasn’t thinking about your life and your responsibilities,” Djanet continued. “You have a beautiful family—in this world where it is so hard to keep a family together—I mean really together—not forced by the Governing Council—you’ve done it. And I have no right to interfere or—”

“Djanet, it’s not like I didn’t want to kiss you back,” Rich said suddenly. Djanet was left stunned and breathless by the words. “It isn’t like I haven’t thought about it,” he continued, “and it isn’t like I think I’ve figured out the whole world or what my future holds.” Rich stood up and turned away from Djanet, unable to look at her, even though she was garbed in her black flight suit and helmet and it was impossible to see her eyes—it was still too hard. “I think about it all the time. Immortality . What will I do with it? Can I stay with my wife for the rest of time? Will I even want to?” Rich sighed and shook his head. He turned back to her. “I don’t have the answers.”

Djanet took a moment to digest Rich’s confession. “Neither do I,” she admitted in reply. She slumped her shoulders and lowered her head.

As soon as she did, Rich saw two objects approaching at an alarming rate. “Watch out!” Rich shouted as he dived to knock Djanet out of the way.

Old-timer and Alejandra attacked.

Old-timer swooped down like a hawk but Rich was able to push Djanet out of the way so the two post-humans could roll out from under the attack and fly off the hull in time to put distance between themselves and their attackers. “What the hell is going on?” Rich yelled. “It’s Old-timer and Alejandra!”

“It can’t be!” Djanet replied as Old-timer and Alejandra came around to continue their pursuit. “Alejandra is still in sick bay. She’s alive!”

“Well, whoever they are, they’re trying to kill us!” Rich exclaimed as he and Djanet desperately tried to evade their pursuers. Rich patched into Thel’s mind’s eye. “Thel! You’re not going to believe this, but Old-timer and Alejandra are out here…and they’re trying to kill us!”

“What?” Thel asked, astonished. “Can you repeat that?”

“You heard right the first time!” Rich yelled. “They don’t have magnetic fields or even helmets! I think they’re androids!”