David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“Hypothetically, let’s say we did go along with this plan,” said Old-timer, “how would you destroy the system?”

“It wouldn’t be us,” 1 replied, “It would be you. It is our law.”

“Well, we’re terribly sorry to disappoint you, lady, but smart as we are, none of us know how the hell to destroy a solar system so—wanna fill us in?” Rich retorted.

“We’ll equip you with a ship,” 1 replied, keeping her patient, earnest tone intact in the face of Rich’s continued insolence. “Onboard the ship will be an anti-matter missile . Firing it into the sun will create a matter/anti-matter reaction that will release enough energy to destroy the sun and all of this system’s planets. Neirbo and a small contingent of our people will accompany you to guide you through any technical questions you may have.”

“Why not just fire the missile from here? Why do we have to have a ship?” Old-timer queried.

“The missile is extraordinarily powerful,” answered 1. “It requires a mass of anti-matter larger than half of your sun to cause the required chain reaction. If we fired the missile from here, the chance that it might be intercepted by the nans and then used against us is too great. Therefore, you must get in close to fire it.”

“Won’t that kill us, lady?” Rich asked.

“No,” 1 replied. “You’ll be thirty light seconds away from the impact, which will be enough time for you to open a wormhole and get far enough away from the system to be safe.”

“It sounds like a plan to me,” Djanet announced. “I’m up for it.”

“You can’t be serious?” Old-timer reacted with astonishment.

“Why not?” Djanet responded, “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get a little payback against those bloodsuckers.”

“I don’t know,” Old-timer replied, furrowing his brow as he tried to figure out why every part of him was telling him not to go ahead with the plan. “This sounds like what they used to call a scorched earth policy back in my day. Armies destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while they advance further into their territory. It’s brutal and destructive and…I just don’t want any part of this.”

A moment of silence followed. With one for and one against, the situation teetered.

“I don’t like the sound of it either, Old-timer,” Rich finally said, “but I don’t like any of this. Given the alternative of letting those evil little bloodsuckers get away with killing our families or getting some revenge, I’m with Djanet—revenge sounds good.” Rich stepped to Djanet’s side and put his arm around her shoulder. She reached across his body to hold his hand.

Old-timer turned to Thel. “Well, it looks like it’s up to you. I’m sorry, Thel.”

“Yeah, the fate of the solar system is in your hands. No pressure,” Rich quipped.

“The decision is yours,” 1 said, meeting Thel’s eyes. Things had unfolded exactly as 1 had expected. She was moments away from certain victory. Thel could only make one choice. There was no alternative.

“I…I don’t know,” Thel said. “I agree with Old-timer. This seems so…brutal.”

At that moment, just as Thel was about to make her final decision, 1 fed the image of James being deleted by the nan consciousness into Thel’s mind. The image flashed so quickly that Thel didn’t see it consciously, but it immediately caused her to conjure the image herself from her memory. James vanishing. Forever.

“But we can’t let them get away with this,” Thel suddenly said with determination. “I’m with Djanet and Rich. I say we destroy this system and take as many nans with it as we can.”

1 didn’t smile—yet.

“You can bring them back?” James uttered.

“No,” the A.I. replied. “We can bring them back. Together.”

“How?” James asked, his heart in his throat.

The A.I. smiled again. “You know the answer.”

James thought for a moment, desperately searching his mind. He came up with dozens of dead ends. “I really don’t.”

“Let me assist you,” the A.I. replied. “To help you find the answer, it is my turn to ask a question. Tell me, James, what is the purpose of life?”

“I…I don’t really know,” James replied.

“That’s true,” the A.I. agreed, “you truly don’t know. Yet you’ve given a great deal of thought to the subject and eliminated some of the false purposes others have found to fill the void created by not knowing the purpose of humanity. You know the purpose of life is obviously not, for instance, gaining material wealth. Nor is it sexual pleasure. Other activities may seem to be purposes because of their positive outcomes, such as procreation. Religion is the prime example of a false purpose that fills in for the real purpose as humanity continued to struggle for answers; the Purists still fall back on this solution. Why do none of these examples qualify as true purposes, James?”

“Because, ultimately, they lead nowhere,” James replied. “None of them advance the species. The only one that is even close is having children, but all that amounts to is putting your resources into training the next generation in hopes that they’ll find a higher purpose or achieve something great—it amounts to passing responsibility off to the future.”

“I’d say that’s typically selfish and egocentric of you, James,” Katherine protested defensively. “I happen to want children. It will give my life meaning. I think it’s sad that you’ll never experience that.”

James noted that Jim was conspicuously silent on the subject. He considered dropping it to save his twin the headache, but in the end, couldn’t resist his curiosity. As soon as he opened his mouth, however, to ask the question, Jim responded. “I’m opening my mind to the possibility.”

James silently digested this for a minute, sharing a hard stare from Jim as he did so. “Okay,” James said.

“James is correct,” the A.I. suddenly interjected, stunning Katherine. “Although having children has been a necessity in the past, the advent of immortality means it is no longer necessary.”

“Maybe so,” Jim responded, “but if the species had never had children in the past, we wouldn’t be here to even have this conversation.”

“True,” the A.I. confirmed, “and therefore, it was a means to fulfilling an eventual purpose, but it was never the purpose itself. Sharing the experience of life with new beings of your own creation is a generous and fulfilling endeavor, but it is not the purpose of existence. Remember, all species can procreate, but with no intelligence behind it, it simply buys more time. Now that we no longer need to buy time, it does not advance a purpose.”

“And what’s this purpose?” Katherine demanded.

The A.I. turned to James. “What has been the path you have followed, James?”

“The pursuit of knowledge,” James replied.

“How is that any more purposeful than having children?” Katherine retorted.

“It is because it moves the species forward,” the A.I. replied. “The acquisition of knowledge propels the species. You may not like it, but James’s logic in this instance is flawless.”

“Because you say so?” Katherine protested.

“Logic and reason simply exist, my dear. If you choose to ignore them or willfully pretend that 2 + 2 does not = 4 then you have chosen to be illogical. It is not a matter of opinion. It is epistemology.”

“I don’t know what that word means,” Katherine replied angrily. “English, please.”

“It’s the study of reason and logic,” Jim informed her in a low whisper before turning back to address James and the A.I. “There are still very good reasons for having children,” he suggested, “such as bonding two people.”