David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“You may only have learned of the alien’s impending visit when I learned of it, but you’re the one who it is coming for. You must have sent out a message.”

The A.I. smiled. “I did—just as your own species had. I simply used much more advanced technology. I called into the darkness and, alas, a voice has called back.”

“Look into the abyss long enough, eventually it looks back into you,” James observed.

“So now the question is: what are you going to do about it, James? You removed me from my throne and now ‘ heavy is the head upon which the crown sits, ’ as they say.”

“I’m not going to wait for the alien to arrive,” James said, revealing his plans. “I’m replicating a massive fighting force of nans, and I’m going to see if I can drive it right into the heart of the alien machines.”

“You’re going to launch a preemptive attack and kill them,” the A.I. replied, summarizing the plan.

“Destroy. I am not killing anything.”

“You’re not?” the A.I. laughed. “Really? Are they not living? Didn’t you just accuse Chief Gibson of having a narrow view of what constitutes life not one hour ago?”

James suddenly stopped. “Were those my words…or yours?” James demanded.

“Oh, this is rich! You don’t even know whether or not to trust your own thoughts anymore! I do so love watching you unravel!”

“Were those my words or yours?” James demanded again.

The A.I. simply laughed. “What are you going to do? Delete me? You can’t. I’m part of you now. You’d have better luck removing a brain tumor from your head with a butter knife.”

James was boxed in, and he knew it. The devil had infected his mind and there was no way to remove him. His only option was to push forward.

“I’ll kill them if I have to. I have no choice.”

“Oh, James, you will find that there is always a choice, and I do believe in the next few hours, you’ll be forced to make a great deal more of them than you would like.”

James, Thel, Old-timer, and Djanet touched down in Purist territory and were immediately greeted by Alejandra and Lieutenant Patrick. “It is good to see you, my friends,” Alejandra announced as she embraced the post-humans one at a time. She embraced Old-timer last and met his eye for only a short, knowing moment. Old-timer was trying hard to bury his feelings, but he knew the harder he tried, the more apparent they would become.

“The excavation site is only a kilometer from here. We need to start moving your people there within the hour,” James said.

“ Si ,” Alejandra replied. “We received your plans and are already informing the entire community. It will be difficult, but we will be able to begin moving out within the hour.”

“Thank you,” James said. “In the meantime, I’ll head to the construction site. My friends will remain here to help you with your evacuation.” James turned to the rest of the team. “Meet me at the site when you are ready and make sure all of the Purists are with you.” James kissed Thel quickly, and then lifted off into the sky.

“Is your friend all right?” Alejandra asked.

“What do you mean?” Old-timer queried.

“He’s suffering from an enormous conflict,” Alejandra revealed.

“I’m sure it’s just the stress of the situation,” Thel responded, trying to smooth Alejandra’s concerns away with a reassuring smile. “The whole world is in his hands…again.”

Alejandra was dubious, even after reading the sincerity in the rest of the group—she would be keeping an eye on James. She nodded and waved for the rest of the team to follow her.

Meanwhile, James landed at the massive hole in the ground that would become the underground hangar for the Purist evacuation ship.

“ The empath sensed me, ” the A.I. observed.

“I know,” James replied as he watched the enormous fog of nans building furiously. “That’s why I left them behind. There’s no reason for me to be here. I can control the nans from the mainframe. I should be helping with the evacuation…but I can’t.”

The A.I. laughed. “ Ah, isn’t it wonderful? ”

“What?” James asked with a resigned sigh.

“ Sharing a secret. Secrets bring people together. We’re bonding. ” The A.I.’s electronic laughter echoed in James’s ears as he watched the cloud of nans churning. He cringed as he thought of the conspiracy into which he’d been forced. How would he possibly be able to save humanity with Satan sitting on his shoulder?

Rich stood in front of what, just an hour earlier, had been his home in San Francisco. It was floating now, several meters above the ground on a cushion of magnetic energy. Rich’s mind’s eye was fully engaged, and he was desperately working his way through blueprints for building extensions; the home was about to become their life raft, and it was very possible that they would never be able to set foot outside of it again. Their evacuation group was going to include their own family, a group of nearly 100 people, as well as another 100 friends of the family. It was up to Rich to put together the home—he couldn’t afford to forget anything.

“The garden will need to be twice that size, Richard,” his wife, Linda , said. She was monitoring his construction efforts while multitasking; simultaneously she was guiding everyone who had already arrived into the main housing area of the ship (it was first come, first choice of lodging) while keeping one eye on Rich. It was clear to Rich that she didn’t trust his skills. “ Edmund , Edmund darling will you please help your father with the construction? I think he needs…help.”

Edmund was Rich’s eldest son. Rich loved him very much and, like everyone in the family, they were very close—but he wasn’t going to be able to help his father—he just didn’t have the skill set. He would get in the way more than anything, and they both knew it. “I’ll see what I can do, Mum” Edmund replied. He never did come to his father’s aid—he was smart enough to placate his mother but stay out of Rich’s way.

Good boy, Rich thought to himself as he looked for a larger extension to the garden. As he flipped through designs, an unnatural feeling suddenly flooded his senses as a battery acid taste filled his mouth. Rich turned around and closed off his mind’s eye so he could get a clear view. It was a blue day in San Francisco, but something was happening above. A large area of the sky had suddenly changed color. A circular discoloration had emerged like an oil stain. “Dear God,” he whispered to himself as he looked around to see if anyone else had noticed it yet.

No one had.

He took a deep breath as he enjoyed the last moments before the smudge became real to the others and tried to push the nightmare out of his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to take in a few seconds of peace.

Someone screamed.

“This is the moment,” the A.I. said through his smile as he fixed his intense stare on James in the mainframe.

“I know,” James replied as he concentrated. He had built an enormous force of nans that were blasting toward the invasion force on a course to intercept them just before they enveloped Mars. The population of the red planet was still relatively low, not yet reaching 100 million, but the people there were the most vulnerable in the solar system. The alien machines would reach them within half an hour if he didn’t do something to stop them.

The nans had taken a formation that made them appear, from a distance, like a dark spear hurtling through space, a javelin on its way toward the heart of its prey. The fleet of microscopic warriors was, by far, the largest humanity had ever assembled, yet when it finally reached the invasion force, James feared it would be analogous to hurtling a pin at a charging bull.