Paul Hardy - The Last Man on Earth Club

She put her head in her hands.

“And then all the idiots who thought they could save the world just because they could breathe fire or punch through steel would go after them and half the time they just made it worse.” She lifted her head again, eyes damp. “That security gizmo was something they had in the vault at the PRG. Don’t ask me how it works. It just does. The guy who made it was doing seven to twelve for bank robbery in the low tech prison in Hallitasset. That thing’s all that’s left of him. Except for the ash.”

“I suppose the question is, why did she do it?” said Iokan.

“Well, she seemed to be investigating, “ I said. “Beyond that I can’t tell you. But if you’d like to discuss it, I don’t have any objections.”

“It’s revenge,” said Pew.

“Why do you say that?”

“I mean, what happened on her world wasn’t natural. Somebody did it. Maybe she wants to get back at them.”

“She wouldn’t know what revenge is,” said Olivia. “She thinks a harsh word is a slap in the face…”

“I’d do it.” Pew suddenly sounded on edge, and everyone looked up at him.

“Would you?” asked Iokan.

“Yes.”

“Would you kill?”

Pew only took a second to think about it. “Yes.”

“Do you think that would make anything better?”

“Yes. It’d make me better.”

“How so?”

“I wouldn’t be a coward.”

“You’re not a coward. Don’t be stupid,” muttered Olivia.

“Yes I am.”

“Stop talking rot! Just because you’re not killing every bloody Soo you can lay your hands on doesn’t mean you’re a coward. I used to do it with revenants but it doesn’t do any good, it doesn’t matter how many you kill, you don’t feel any better so stop it .”

Pew sighed and stopped talking.

“What did you do after it happened?” I asked.

“I don’t remember. I blanked out for a couple of days. I was drinking. I went to find my parents and I buried them…”

“So that part was true?”

She looked straight at me. “Every word.”

“I’m so sorry, Liss.”

She sighed and looked down. “And then I went home. Opened another bottle. Skipped a few days…” She shook her head. “Then I snapped out of it.”

“By yourself?”

“No. The computer at the PRG found me. The damn thing kept pestering me. It took over the sound systems in all the apartments nearby to get my attention.”

“Was that an artificial intelligence?”

“Not really. All the real AIs were eaten by a virus years ago — another fucking mess from a superbrain. All they had at the PRG was an automated system. Once everyone was gone it went into survival mode and took over all the country’s computers to stop everything falling apart…”

“So… why did the PRG computer want to talk to you?”

“All the governments figured out the world could end years ago. So they made plans. They had protocols. And one of the protocols was what to do if there was only one survivor. As soon as the system recognised me as the last person on earth, it made me boss of the whole planet. Queen of the fucking anthill.”

“Does that make you the head of state?”

“Huh. Guess it does.”

“And that’s why it was trying to snap you out of it.”

“No. It had a message. It had found the bastard who did it.”

“Ah.”

“So that got me out of the apartment…”

“What happened? I mean, who did it?”

“They really didn’t tell you, did they?”

“I told you, I don’t work for Security. They don’t let me see their reports.”

She sighed. “It was Professor Crayfish.”

“…I’m sorry?”

“Professor Crayfish. Superbrain. Hyperbiologist. He used to make armies of crabs and lobsters and attack towns in the South Pacific.”

“Professor Crayfish.”

I must have seemed very incredulous, because Liss was incensed. “Yes! My world was a fucking joke! Do you thinking I don’t know that? Were you even listening? That crap was happening all the time. We had nutcases popping up and killing thousands of people every other week because they lost the remote for their killer robots or some godawful bullshit…”

“I’m sorry, Liss. You’re right. It isn’t funny.”

“So I killed him.”

“You killed him?”

“I punched him until he was dead. He had this carapace thing he’d grown, so I had to hit him hard, but I definitely killed him.”

“I think we’ve jumped ahead a bit. So… the computer found him. And you went there and you… killed him.”

“That’s right.”

“You took revenge.”

“Yes.”

“How did it make you feel?”

“I threw up.”

“I mean emotionally…”

“It made me sick to my stomach. Isn’t that enough?”

“It didn’t make you feel better?”

“No. It didn’t. The bastard wasn’t working alone. Somebody from another universe was helping him. He didn’t even know why. He was just a madman they gave the technology to… I shouldn’t have killed him.”

“Why do you say that?”

She shook her head. “I just shouldn’t.”

“Perhaps it was not revenge,” said Kwame.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

“Perhaps she was simply seeking justice.”

“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” said Olivia. “Just because you want something, doesn’t mean everyone else wants it.”

“Have you never wanted justice for your people?”

“Justice? From what, a disease?”

“It might have been prevented. Someone must have failed in their duty.”

“Of course they bloody failed. And now they’re all dead. How do you get justice when all the guilty people are dead?”

“That is my point. If those who committed genocide on Liss’s world are from another universe, she may be looking for justice.”

“And what good’s that going to do?”

“She may find some comfort if the guilty parties are uncovered and punished.”

“So it’s just more revenge, is it?”

“Not at all—”

“What’s the difference? Revenge or justice, it’s the same thing in the end.”

“The difference is law.”

“What law? How can you have laws when you don’t have people?”

“Perhaps he means interversal law,” suggested Iokan.

“Oh, and how’s that been helping you, eh?” said Olivia to Kwame.

Kwame sighed. “I did not say that her motives were entirely rational. Only that they may be purer than simply revenge.”

“Still a waste of time.”

“That is your opinion.”

“Afterwards… I got drunk again. I sound like a lush, don’t I? Then I realised I’d fucked up. I should have used Professor Crayfish as bait.”

“As bait?”

“He only survived because he was the one who set it off. He was protected, somehow. They were going to come back for him sooner or later.”

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s not a genocide until you’ve killed everyone, is it? And he would have known something . According to the protocols, I was supposed to find and interrogate anyone involved in the genocide, so that was going well. Hah. I was supposed to investigate and exact justice.”

“What kind of justice?”

“They left it up to me to decide.”

“That’s a terrible responsibility.”

“Yeah. I noticed.”

“How did you feel about it?”

“It gave me something to do.”

“What would you have done without it?”

She shook her head. “Don’t ask me that.”