David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“Don’t do this, James! You don’t know what you’re doing! You’re killing the greatest being that has ever existed!”

“No, I’m just upgrading,” James replied before generating a sharp white spear of light. “This is for Katherine and all of the Purists you killed.”

James thrust the spear of light into the A.I.’s heart. White light exploded and filled the room. The A.I. wailed the dying cry of a god without a church and, in an instant, ceased to exist.

Thel remained motionless, huddled on the ground protecting her eyes from the light. She opened them again after a time and stood to her feet. The A.I. was no more, but James remained, the figure of the man she loved, crouched where the crucifix had been, glowing with a misty energy.

“James?” she asked. “Is that you?”

“I finally understand, Thel,” James replied in a whispery voice. “To become God, you have to kill God.”

“What are you talking about James? What is happening?” James turned to face Thel and opened his eyes, which glowed white. Thel gasped and stepped back. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’ve become him now.”

“I-I don’t understand. What do you mean, James?”

“I am the A.I., Thel. I have access to everything—control over everything.”

Thel took a moment to process what she was hearing. “Does that mean the Purists are safe?” she asked.

“It means so much more than just that,” James said as his image began to levitate and glow with white energy.

“What’s happening to you?”

“I can bring them back, Thel.”

“Them? Who’s them?”

“ Everyone. Everyone in the world. The A.I. used Death’s Counterfeit to upload all of their consciousnesses onto his mainframe. Your sister is still alive, Thel. Everyone is still alive.”

“My sister? My sister?” Thel echoed excitedly. “But her body…?”

“I can re-create it perfectly. It’s all saved. The A.I. created so many trillions of nans, and they can build a body—using the earth around them, just like a replicator.”

Outside of the mainframe bunker, Old-timer deactivated the Zeus as he watched a dream come true, the old world forming right in front of his eyes. The nans formed buildings, trees, grass, and even people. Human beings were waking, as if from restful sleeps, standing to their feet as he watched. Finally, the Zeus crashed to the ground and lay there, still.

“My God.”

In the Purist complex, the digging continued as the masses remained together, huddled and praying that Old-timer and Thel could save them in time. The robots slowly neared, and Djanet and Rich took their places as protectors of the helpless.

“No more tricks left up our sleeves,” Rich said to Djanet.

“No more tricks. It’s been a pleasure, Richard.”

The two Omegas stepped to each other and embraced, holding each other tight as the sound of the bats grew to an almost deafening roar.

“Let’s give them hell,” Rich whispered.

Djanet nodded, and they turned to face fate. Boulders and rubble smashed away from the wall near the destroyed elevator shaft, and a bat emerged. Rich and Djanet blasted it with magnetic energy, and it tumbled to the ground. They waited for several moments, expecting robots to flood into the room, but they never came.

“What the hell is going on?” Djanet asked.

Rich stepped forward and examined the entrance that the bat had created. Hundreds of meters above, the light of day glowed. No nans or bats could be seen. Rich turned to the thousands of people watching him and shrugged. “You’re not gonna believe this, but the coast is clear.”

Suddenly, Djanet and Rich’s mind’s eyes opened automatically, and a picture of James greeted them. “James!” Djanet shouted in surprise.

“Their leader?” General Wong asked in astonishment.

“Yes!” Alejandra replied, sensing a joy more powerful than any she’d ever felt.

“Rich, Djanet, I’ve deactivated and deleted the A.I. You and the Purists are safe, and I have control of the nans,” James informed them calmly.

“We’re safe,” Rich whispered before shouting out to the thousands of silent onlookers, “The A.I. is dead! We’re safe!”

A crowd of thousands erupted in a roar. The noise was unlike any they would ever experience again; nothing could match the release of being so close to a certain death and then finding reprieve. It was like the new birth of 10,000 souls. Alejandra shook as the joy flowed through her like a mountain river.

Old-timer blasted through the black doors of the mainframe bunker as though they were made of paper and marveled as he saw James, still glowing with electric light, Thel standing nearby. “It’s a miracle!”

“It is,” Thel replied, smiling.

Old-timer walked in a daze toward the spectacle before him. “Is it really him?” he asked.

“It’s him…sort of.”

“It’s…it’s like he’s a god.”

James opened his eyes and smiled at Old-timer. “God took seven days.”

Outside, the trillions of nans continued to build. Cities were re-created according to existing records, forests were reconstructed down to the last detail, and the oceans were refilled with life.

“Old-timer,” James began, “there’s someone waiting for you in Texas.”

Old-timer’s mouth opened in surprise. “Daniella? She’s alive? How?”

“The A.I. saved their consciousness,” Thel informed him. “James is rebuilding their bodies and putting them back! Go to her!” Thel encouraged, beaming a smile at her friend.

Old-timer turned to leave before quickly turning back to the electronic James and saying, “Thank you, buddy.”

“No thanks needed,” James replied.

Old-timer smiled and then hooted with glee before streaking out of the bunker in a line of green light.

“Someone is waiting for you too,” James said to Thel.

“My sister? Thank you, James. I’ll go to her soon, but I want to stay here with you.”

“Not your sister,” James’s voice said from behind her.

Thel turned quickly to see James walking into the room. “James? James, is it really you?” She ran to him and threw her arms around him as tears began to stream down her face. “You’re…real!”

“I’m real,” James affirmed as he kissed her.

“But how?” Thel asked as she turned to see the holographic image of James still glowing with white light. “If you’re James, then who is that?”

“That’s me too,” James replied.

“I-I don’t understand,” Thel said, exasperated.

“I’ve become so powerful now that I can exist in the mainframe and in my body at the same time, as long as I remain connected to the Net. It takes very little to operate my body.”

Thel embraced him again and held on tight. “I don’t care. I just don’t care. As long as you’re alive. James! It’s like…a dream!”

“I promise it’s real, and things are going to be better than you remember.”

Old-timer streaked through the stratosphere toward Texas. His mind’s eye and navigational systems were operational once again, and the trip took only seconds. When he reached his house, Daniella was outside in the back yard, holding her trowel as though it was a strange message in a bottle from another planet. She wasn’t gardening, but was looking straight up at the spectacle above. The nans were moving overhead in a cloud of black, clearing the atmosphere of the fetid smoke that had been left in the wake of the earlier destruction. When the nans had finished passing overhead, the sky was a brilliant color of blue, unlike any she’d seen in her life.

She turned, startled when she saw Old-timer approaching from the corner of her eye. “Craig!” she shouted. “What’s going on?”