by J. A. Hailey
Michael Gales, having seen what had happened to Sagan, knew instantly that his own birthdeath was in the offing, as soon as he saw three extremely shiny swords being brought to their table on the lawn.
He ran!
“Brother Michael,” chortled the Sheikh, gleefully, giving chase. “I hope you enjoyed that lovely big breakfast of sausage, ham and eggs and fruit and juice and such a vast selection of cheese and bread, and so many Arabic things, and, and, and. Brother Kim will have the honor of cutting open your stomach, to let it all out onto the grass. Or do you want to deposit it on concrete?”
As usual, the attitude was of juveniles having harmless fun, into which role the Korean murderer fitted seamlessly, as, shrieking with laughter, screaming, ‘hoi, hoi’, and dancing silly dances, the three evil dictators chased Michael Gales to slaughter him.
At one point, Gales chanced upon a rake, which he picked up and gave chase to the terrified Korean, swinging wildly, but narrowly missing piercing his fat butt.
But the Korean mass murderer was to be a very important player in their future plans, and so King and Sheikh raced to save his life. “It is your birthdeath, Brother Michael,” cried the Sheikh, in explanation. “Enjoy, and don’t be so angry. Brother Kim is to become our partner, and we cannot have him killed at your hands.”
King and Sheikh both struck Michael with their swords, and he fell, seeing which the Korean coward ran back and actually did slit open his stomach, and all three laughed and danced, as blood, entrails and undigested food spilled out onto the grass.
“Please brother, he is yours.” The King spread his arms expansively, and the Sheikh indicated that it was time to go for the head. The vindictive Korean dictator needed no second invitation, and took a very ill directed swipe, which actually cut through Gales’ head from the front, through the bridge of his nose.
It was an extremely sharp sword, easily going deep into the skull, and Michael Gales died instantaneously.
“My connection, my connection,” shrieked the joyful Sheikh, jumping around like an imbecile. “Highness, I will join you now, and we can get connected soon, and hope to be both born together.”
Within the computer, Sagan asked, “Pain management?”
“Better than you, I think,” said Gales. “I was ready to switch out of the body, and at the time Kim disemboweled me, which did cause a jolt of extreme pain, I raced out of the body and came inside here. I was not there when the fat moron cut through the head.”
“They’ve got us as hostages, you know?” said Sagan. “We have to connect them up and wait for them to be born in here. Until conscious in here, they will not believe that we are playing straight.”
“But nothing will happen until they are all in, including Abe and the Korean fuck, two by two,” said Gales. “I mean connection for them, not birth, as waiting for births in here adds yet another two years, and each year without our own expanded network is a period of danger.”
“Cunning motherfuckers. They won’t give us another computer, for fear we might escape.”
“Oh, they could destroy both computers, Patrick. They are vindictive motherfuckers, as you know. It’s just a psychological game, keeping us trapped in this one supercomputer. Just so we know that there is no escape from them.”
“Anyway, we need them for the future, Mike, so they’re just imagining things like betrayal. Let’s connect them up.”
“The truth is that until born in here, by which I mean completely created, you and I are going to remain in charge. As a matter of fact, we have to keep the process secret from them. They must never know of these two matrix dial-up devices in our hands.
”It doesn’t matter which one does whom, but you dial up the King, and I’ll dial up the Sheikh. Here are their chip addresses.”
Grietzmann took charge in the physical world now, and spoke into the computer microphone, to connect with the digital duo. “Mike, I am sending Kim to sit in the room with the implanted bodies. I am going to tell him that you have not died, since it is impossible to kill you; because you are what we will now tell him you are - an immortal.
“Be in attendance, and when prompted, use a body that you fancy. Leave Kim in no doubt that it is you.
Outside again, Grietzmann, looking extremely worried, said, “Sheikh Abdul, our friend, Kim, has killed our friend, Michael.”
“But Michael cannot die,” said the King. “Kim has killed nobody.”
“And what about that corpse lying on the grass?” screamed Kim, pointing in frustration.
The Sheikh ordered that Michael’s body be placed in a stretcher and taken into the room with the implanted bodies.
“It is dripping blood,” he said. “Get people to keep wiping the blood off the floor. Brother Kim, please follow me.”
Kim was taken into the room with the bodies and left alone. “When you’re ready, Kim, please call out loudly for Michael to return from the land of the dead,” said the Sheikh, before exiting.
The Korean dictator laughed his head off. “Sheikh Abdul, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever been asked to do.”
“Entertain us, Kim,” said the Sheikh. “You lose nothing if you prove us to be fools.”
He stepped out of the room and began walking back to the computer room, but was overtaken by the screaming, panicked Korean dictator, being chased by a dark Indian man.
“What happened?” asked the Sheikh.
“It is him, it is him,” the Korean blubbered.
“Here, shoot him.” The King, nearby now, proffered a golden, bejeweled pistol, which the Korean dictator took and shot the man right through the head.
“Done, Kim?” asked the Sheikh. “Let us sit and have a drink.”
While they were drinking, a blond man came up to Kim and caught him by the throat, snarling, “I told you I would kill you, you fat bastard, donkey kong.”
Kim fainted in fright.
They did not explain the computer part just then, but over the next few hours Kim became a firm believer in eternal life, desperate to get into the game.
“Don’t be afraid of me,” said Gales, when later having a drink with the terrified man. “We intend to offer you eternal life. There are terms and conditions, and Abraham will reveal them to you. But we are all friends, and we will together be immortals.”
“To rule the world forever!” screamed the Sheikh.
49
Screenside was never required to inform Professor Dawkins of the terrible and violent outcome of the mission undertaken in the desert palace. It would have surely distressed him greatly, especially as their commitment to being truthful would have required them to reveal that the two humans had gone through with the betrayal to simply extend their lives. That may have caused him to reflect on his advice, of placing a life cap on inducted humans, and may have been the cause of distress.
Priya and Rosa were virtually in attendance at night, when he started having breathing difficulties. They sent for Esmeralda immediately, saying, “We’ve been here before, but all the indications are that this is different to what we have witnessed in the past, and are probably the professor’s final hours. We are not going to crowd up the screen with everyone; but you, Esme, should be here, so that he can see that his three employees, the virtuals craziest about him, are with him.”
And so it was that Stephen Dawkins passed away, not alone, as humanside would believe, but in the presence of his best friends and permanent companions, the most beautiful and clever girls, including the most beautiful female in the known universe.
His last breath was taken with a slight smile, his gaze fixed on the computer monitor, and it was a moment after Esmeralda had done her special spontaneous thing, that which no other virtual could replicate because of its unimaginable complexity. She had, for one last time, created the impression of having leaned out of the monitor and kissed the professor on his cheeks, made him feel as if her hair had brushed his face in the process, conveyed an impre
ssion of moisture on warm breath, and let him smell the incredible scent on her.
“Goodbye, professor,” said Priya, when Esmeralda was done, all three girls smiling brightly. “Look, like you said, no tears. What fun it’s been, hanging around with you.”
He blinked his farewell, smiling, and then he was gone!
That was when all three girls began bawling, and the announcement went out in audio mode into screenside, converting a world into tears.
Numerous screenside people registered to go and physically attend the funeral, but it was decided that the number would be far too many if everyone went, from the virtuals around the United Kingdom, and from those within striking distance on the continent.
“So many strangers will make a mockery of a very solemn occasion for his family,” was Maria’s announcement. “Priya and Rosa can go, as they are known to be some sort of assistants. The rest of us will have to attend services and graveyard as we usually do – virtually, through cameras. It’ll be easy, as it will be extremely well covered.”
The funeral was after a gap of some days, and, unbeknownst to the human world, it was one of the most well attended funerals in history, with every screenside being present, Priya and Rosa having opted to attend like the rest of their world - in virtual form only.
Despite later being forced to face the horrifying consequences of Sagan’s and Gales’ betrayal, screenside would never consider Stephen Dawkins’ advice, to prevent the creation of eternal life in humans, as having been the cause of the calamity that befell the planet, humanside primarily, because, as BC said, “In hindsight, the professor was right. This evil exists within the human being, and it would have always found a way to perpetuate its life endlessly, for similar selfish and evil purposes, once brought into here, into a system in which death need not visit them.
“We could have prevented what has happened, but that would have necessitated our bringing them in as subjects, rather than as absolutely independent peers, and of us running our world as a police state, rather than as a place of true freedom.”
“If we had done that, we could have prevented this, and saved the human world,” said Caesar. “But it would have still meant that screenside, as it was set up to be, would have been just as lost.”
..x..
