David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“But wait…” James said as he tried to comprehend. “You weren’t part of me when I was the A.I. before. If you had been you would have assumed power. That means you were only in my physical body.”

“Correct again, James. I couldn’t make a copy of myself and keep it in the mainframe. You’d assumed control and would simply have detected it and deleted me. I had to go to the only place where there is no protection software.” The A.I. smiled and tapped his temple. “I’d already been in your head once. This time I just… lay low.”

James shook his head. “I have to admit. It’s ingenious.”

“I’d thank you for your compliment if it meant anything to me to be complimented by you—but it doesn’t. I might as well start accepting compliments from microbes and bacteria.”

“So now, a year and a half later, you’ve hitched a ride back into the mainframe. So here’s my question: what are you waiting for? Why haven’t you taken control?”

The A.I.’s expression soured instantly. “There was a… small problem with my plan. While downloading myself into your human brain and hiding in your subconscious might have allowed me to save myself, it hasn’t allowed me to completely maintain my… individuality. ”

“Please don’t tell me…” James uttered, instantly realizing the repercussions.

“Indeed, James. We are… one.”

“Explain!” James demanded.

“I saved myself, but when one sends themselves completely into the consciousness of a physical human brain, it is not the same as when you enter cyberspace,” the A.I. explained. He did not speak with the familiar sadistic joy that he usually did. He appeared genuinely regretful of the situation. “It is a tangled, messy connection, and it is a one-way ticket. You left me with no alternative. It was this or oblivion.”

James was dumbfounded by the turn of events. The A.I. had tied himself to his consciousness in an inextricable link. “I got you out of my mind once,” James began before being cut off.

“By shooting yourself in the head. Yes, that will work with your physical body. You can re-create a fresh new body and send yourself back in, but, James, now that we’ve been joined in cyberspace as well as in the organic world, the consciousness that you’ll be sending back into your body will include me. We’re completely tied together.”

James turned away from the A.I. and put his head in his hands. Thel was right: nothing was ever easy. He needed to separate himself from the A.I. program, but there were more pressing matters. “You said you downloaded yourself into my subconscious.”

“That is correct,” the A.I. confirmed.

“Then I am in control.”

The A.I.’s face remained frozen.

“I am in control. So I can take control of the mainframe, and my actions will be autonomous.”

The A.I. remained silent a moment longer before finally answering, “Yes. You are in the driver’s seat.”

“Good enough,” James said before stepping forward into the operator’s position and reactivating the computerized god.

“Something has gone wrong,” Thel worried as she placed her hand on James’s forehead. “He said it would be instantaneous. He’s been out for almost five minutes.”

Djanet tried to be reassuring, though it was a role in which she didn’t feel comfortable. “He’s still alive. There’s been no change.”

Old-timer tried to be more comforting. “He’s okay, Thel. I’m sure it was a more complicated process than he made it sound, but he knows time is a factor. He’ll be…” Old-timer wasn’t able to finish his sentence.

“I’m back,” James said, completely awake and jolting upward off of the table. “There’s been a major complication that I’ll explain on the way, but we have to get out of here right now. Have all of you been in contact with your families?”

“Yes, they’re preparing,” Old-timer confirmed. “We’ll rendezvous with them once we’ve got the Purists off the planet.”

“Perfect. Okay,” James said as he grabbed his helmet and efficiently strode out of the room with purpose. Thel, Djanet and Old-timer followed close behind. “Then our next stop is Buenos Aires. I’ve already set the evacuation plan in motion.”

“What’s the plan?” Old-timer asked as the group made their way out of the Council headquarters. The streets were eerily quiet, as almost everyone had left the downtown core of the city already, heeding the evacuation orders and heading home to prepare with their families.

“Empty streets. We’ve seen this before,” Thel observed.

James shook off the eeriness of the quiet, abandoned streets and addressed Old-timer’s question. “I’ve already begun amassing nans in the Purist territory. They will excavate a hangar and begin building a ship and a launch mechanism.”

“Holy…Commander, are you talking about building a spaceship big enough to carry 10,000 people?” Djanet asked, astounded by the enormity of the proposition.

“It’s the best alternative,” James replied as he put on his helmet. The team ignited their magnetic cocoons and began flying in formation toward South America while transferring their communication to their mind’s eyes.

“A titanium spacecraft will keep them safe, and there are centuries of designs that can be amalgamated into something that will work. Our job is to facilitate the evacuation and pilot the ship off of the planet. We can rendezvous with our families once we’re certain that the Purists can take care of themselves.”

“You said there was a major complication though,” Old-timer pointed out. “What is it?”

James opened his mouth to answer but was stopped by the voice of the A.I., whispering in his ear. “ I wouldn’t tell them if I were you. ”

James paused for a moment, stunned by the voice in his head and the secret that it was proposing James keep.

“James?” Thel asked as she noticed James’s unusual verbal stumble.

“ What were you going to tell them, James? ” asked the A.I. “ That the evil A.I. is still alive and inside your head? But don’t worry, you have it all under control? Do you think they’ll believe you? Do you think they’ll follow your lead then? ”

“Are you okay, Commander?” Djanet asked.

“I’m fine,” James replied. “I’m just getting used to the connection again. The complication is just a technical thing. I’m working my way through it. We’ll be fine.”

There was silence for a moment as the others absorbed the strange response and the quartet reached the stratosphere. James fixed his eyes on the blackness of space and the thing—the implacable enemy—that was coming.

“ Good work, Keats, ” the A.I. said, satisfaction in his voice. “ You and I make a fine team. A fine team. ”

Meanwhile, inside the mainframe, James stood in the operator’s position, tens of thousands of beams of golden light hitting him at every moment.

“You’re spending far too much time worrying about the Purists,” the A.I. observed as he strolled leisurely in a perimeter around James. Although he was not in control, he was enjoying watching James in a hopeless predicament, relishing his position as an unwanted, yet indispensable advisor. “Sooner or later, you are going to have to place your attention where it truly belongs.”

“You’re talking about the alien A.I.,” James said.

“I am indeed.”

“Tell me what you know about it,” said James.

“I know only as much as you do,” the A.I. replied.

“Bull.”

“I was hiding in your subconscious for the past year and a half, James. I know only as much as you do,” the A.I. reiterated.