‘Tao? What’s up?’ Deira said.
‘I just realised,’ Tao said. ‘When I was inside Adam. He’s fine. But Josh … Deira, all his levels are perfect.’
‘
Deira looked blank for a minute, then she too, looked stricken. ‘You’re not saying …?’ she began.
‘Yes, I am. We did this too well, Deira. We …’
She was interrupted by a scream from Juliette. The Josh body had turned its head towards Tao and was trying to speak. It struggled for perhaps two minutes, its previously unused facial muscles twitching and stretching. Everyone watched it in stunned silence – and finally the thing spoke.
‘Tao?’ it said, its smooth forehead wrinkling into a deep furrow ‘How did we get back home?’
Chapter 32
I still can’t believe it.’ Tao’s eyes were puffy and red as she knocked back her tequila and gazed bleakly at Deira. It was two hours since they’d produced the new Josh, and she, like everyone else, was still reeling from the shock.
Gary, being an excitable soul at the best of times, had been particularly badly affected, and had looked so close to physical collapse at one point that Sol had been provoked into administering some rapid therapy in the form of a stiff whiskey. That had been a traumatic event in itself for someone not used to strong alcohol but, strangely enough, after a near-aspiration event and a lot of coughing and spluttering, a miracle occurred – Gary pulled himself together and began to talk rationally once more. Sol had been delighted and had rambled on at length about the therapeutic benefits of strong liquor, only shutting up when Deira threatened to exile him to the spare room for the night if he didn’t button his lip.
Having recovered from both his shock and its treatment, Gary had very manfully taken himself off to the sitting room to review the mathematics, and he’d finally found the problem in one function – one solitary function – amongst the hundreds they’d used to accomplish this miracle. That function hadn’t been included in the Adam body, but had somehow found its way into the mix during the creation of Josh 2. Perhaps it had been due to tiredness. Perhaps it had simply been a distraction at a critical time. Whatever the cause, it was a disaster.
The intention had been to create a cloned body with no associated sentience, and the Adam body fulfilled those specs perfectly. Unfortunately, the small extra function resulted in the production of a direct copy, mind included. They’d spent some time talking to Josh 2 and his memories appeared perfect up to the last few minutes of the asteroid crisis. Why this should be, they didn’t know, but they’d now got one colossal problem on their hands. One of their own making.
‘I can’t believe it either.’
Deira was on her sixth tequila and looking like she might soon begin her seventh. She was as confused as she’d ever been in her life. To all intents and purposes, the person in the new body was Josh, minus a few memories, yet she didn’t feel he was Josh. Her Josh was still stuck in sub-quantal space. Josh 2 hadn’t understood why she was so cold towards him, and had understandably been very distressed, so Sol had volunteered to explain the situation to him. As far as Deira and Tao knew, he was still at it. They’d taken themselves off to Deira’s bedroom – along with the tequila.
‘We can always make another body,’ Tao said, though she didn’t sound very enthusiastic. ‘It was only that one function. If we omit that, everything should be fine.’
Deira put her arm round her and tossed back the tequila. ‘We can try,’ she said, her words slurring slightly, ‘but what happens if we create a different problem?’ She looked down at the floor morosely. ‘Perhaps we’ve bitten off more than we can chew in the body-making department. Perhaps we weren’t meant to do this.’
Tao wasn’t prepared to accept that, and she suspected Deira wasn’t serious about it either.
‘You don’t mean that,’ she said. ‘We know where we went wrong, and we must do it again if we’re going to get Josh out. The real Josh, I mean. We can’t afford to wait on Chayka’s clone.’
Deira grabbed the tequila bottle and poured herself another shot, downing it in one. ‘I think the Josh in our sitting room thinks of himself as the real Josh, too,’ she said, ‘and apart from the minor physical differences, I suppose he is. Do you think he’ll be mentalics-capable?’
‘I’m sure he will, but he hasn’t been trained and I think it’d take some time for him to get to the level of the original Josh. We should probably assume he’s mentalically-naïve, at least for now.’
‘Okay.’ Deira looked longingly at the tequila bottle then decided enough was enough. ‘Guess you and I had better get back downstairs and see what’s what.’ She climbed unsteadily to her feet and headed for the door. ‘Coming?’
‘Suppose so.’ Tao would have given anything not to go back downstairs and confront, once again, the thing that was masquerading as her Josh. However, she would need to come to terms with it sometime, so it might as well be sooner rather than later. She followed Deira, and they trudged downstairs and into the living room, where the other four were sitting round talking. Sol had obviously told Josh 2 of the facts because, although lucid, he looked as if the bottom had fallen out of his world. He looked up as Deira and Tao appeared, and stood.
‘Mum,’ he started, then paused in confusion. ‘Sorry, I probably shouldn’t call you that. It’s just – I still think of you as “mum”. His eyes were shining with promised tears. ‘And Tao – I can’t imagine life without you. What am I going to do?’
The two women exchanged miserable glances and sat with the others, prompting Josh 2 to sit down again as well. Neither of them knew what to say. The simplest thing would be to give him reassurances that everything would be alright, to say that they still loved him. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the truth. Mouthing platitudes wouldn’t convince Josh 2, and certainly wouldn’t do anything to help them overcome their real feelings. To them, he was more a Frankenstein monster than son and lover, and they couldn’t envisage that ever changing. So, if they couldn’t love him, how on Earth could this poor construction ever come to terms with his place in the cosmos. How could you live without love?
‘We’ll take it one day at a time,’ Deira said. ‘I don’t know how this is going to work out – and I’m so sorry. Sorry to have put you in this awful position. We made a terrible mistake and we owe you the right to our continued support. As far as I’m concerned, you’re always welcome in this house.’
‘Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.’ Josh 2 had been watching her carefully, and now looked around the group. ‘Even if it was, though, I don’t want to be accepted purely because you feel guilty. How do you really feel about me? I was supposed to be the vessel that would allow you to rescue the original Josh, and now you can’t. I’m not surprised you can’t love me,’ His voice caught a little. ‘Do you hate me?’
That was followed by a flurry of denials – denials that sounded false even to those making them – and now the tears did begin to flow down Josh 2’s perfect cheeks.
‘I thought so.’ He swiped at his eyes, trying to wipe the tears away, but they just kept coming. ‘This is so hard. You know, I’ve always considered myself strong and able to handle life’s occasional downturns, but I can’t handle this.’
Tao was very close to tears of her own now. She stood uncertainly, and walked slowly towards him, intending to hug him, but he leaped up and backed away.
‘No! Don’t do that – and don’t say anything.’ He walked over to the fireplace. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here.’
Before anyone could guess his intentions, a portal formed and, with a brief, haunted look back, he stepped through. The portal closed, and they were left gaping at each other.
‘Shit,’ Sol got up and poured himself another stiff slug of scotch. ‘I guess we didn’t handle that very well.’
‘You think?’ It was all Deira could do to hold back her own tears. ‘Tao and I didn’t think he’d be mentalically-capable’
‘That poor thing,’ Ju
liette said, sobbing gently.
‘You just said it.’ Tao was staring bleakly at where the portal had just closed. ‘That’s how he thought we viewed him – a “thing” – and he wasn’t so far wrong. Yet he thought and felt just like Josh. To all intents and purposes, he was Josh. Can you imagine what it must be like for him?
Juliette could very well imagine it – her empathic abilities were second to none – and her tears flowed freely. Deira put her arm round her.
‘It’s not your fault,’ she said. ‘We all felt the same. Unfortunately, he knew we did.’
It was left to Gary to ask the key question.
‘So, what do we do now? Are we going to try for another body?’
There was a moment while guilty glances were exchanged between Sol, Deira and Tao. No words were spoken, but it seemed that a silent consensus had been reached.
‘’Not for now,’ Tao said, doing her best to get a grip on her emotions. She looked to Deira and Sol for affirmation, and they both nodded. ‘This has the potential to throw us all off course, and its vitally important we stay focused. My next task is to visit the Eich and get hold of their data about the Founders. It’s important we get that data to Chayka, so he can compare it with the other set.’
‘But what about Adam?’ said Deira, who was finding it much harder than Tao to be objective. ‘We could at least give him his life back.’
‘That’d mean another trip to sub-quantal space, more rest, and more time wasted.’ Tao said. ‘We have other priorities.’
Reluctantly, Deira conceded the point. They’d already lost a full day out of the possible five Sama needed to complete his weapon. They couldn’t afford to waste any more.
‘But we still need to get Josh out in case they fire that weapon,’ she said. ‘That means we must try for a body again.’
‘I agree, but for now the data is the most important thing. Without that, we won’t know what needs to be done with the Founders.’
‘Okay, I get that. And, now we know how to construct a body, we’ve still got time. Are you going to see the Eich straight away?’
‘I think so. We must move on. I’ll drop the data off with Chayka immediately afterwards and then get back here. Okay?’
‘Okay. Take care.’
‘No! Wait!’
That was Sol. Tao had been in the process of forming a portal, but his interruption was so unlike him that she immediately abandoned it.
‘What’s up?’ she said, gazing at him in surprise.
‘I think we need to think things through a bit, that’s all. You’re jumping here and there like a jackrabbit, without a proper plan. I’d say that Josh 2 has already caused us to lose focus.’
Deira stared at him in surprise. This wasn’t like Sol at all. He was the guy who enjoyed flying by the seat of his pants. He wasn’t into planning – never had been.
‘Who are you and what have you done with my partner?’ she said, giving a faint smile. ‘It seems to me that Tao knows exactly what she’s doing.’
Sol carried on. ‘Yeah, but there are other things we need from the Eich as well as their data.’
‘Like?’ Tao put her hands on her hips, reminding Sol of Deira when she was in a certain frame of mind.
‘Bear with me,’ he said. ‘After you’ve taken the Eich data to Chayka, what are you likely to want to do next?’
‘Well …’ Tao looked thoughtful. ‘There are a number of things we need to get done. Get Adam into his body. Construct a new body for Josh and get him out.’ She hesitated.
‘But what would be the one thing that would buy us more time for Chayka to examine the data?’
Tao saw it now. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Destroy that weapon. So, what you’re saying is that, when I’ve delivered the data to Chayka, I need to fold to the El ship and destroy the weapon.’
‘Not exactly.’ Sol went over to her and put his arm round her shoulder, much to her obvious surprise. ‘Tao, it’s not all on your shoulders. We have other assets.’
‘The young agents? But they’re still training. Developing.’
‘I know that, but they’re still agents, and even if they can’t do all the fancy mentalic stuff, they can still manage space-folds - and they can still fight. So, while you’re visiting the Eich, get them to release the youngsters at the same time, then you can take them with you when you go to the El ship. Oh, and by the way, when you do go to the El ship, I’ll be going too.’
‘Like hell you will,’ Deira said, bristling. ‘Or, if you are, so am I.’
‘No, you’re not.’ Sol took his arm from around Tao and wandered back to Deira. ‘Not this time. We need you to remain here.’ He leaned down and kissed her, but she brusquely pushed him away.
‘What? Am I some sort of encumbrance now? Am I supposed to stay here and bake cakes or something? For God’s sake, Sol, this is me!’
Tao had been a bit taken aback by all this thoughtful stuff coming from Sol, but she could see where he was going now. Time for her to intervene before this little spat got any worse.
‘Deira,’ she said. ‘For once I’m with Sol on this.’
‘What! But …’
‘No, please listen. If we do this, we’ll have committed all our assets and be potentially critically overexposed. If something were to go wrong, we’d be in real trouble. Hell, the whole universe could be in trouble. We need you to stay here – and you wouldn’t be baking cakes.’
‘Go on.’ Deira looked disgruntled but shut up.
‘Okay. First, you’d need to keep the pressure on Chayka – try to get him to deliver a verdict on that data. Second, if we aren’t back in, say three days, you’d have to form another body for Josh and get him out. He’ll be our last real hope.’
‘Me form a body? It was Sol that did most of that. And as to getting him out, I can’t even get to sub-quantal space.’
Tao sat next to her and took her hand. ‘You’ve seen everything Sol did during the body construction process and I’m convinced you could do it too. It’d be hard work without a PWC, but you’re good for this, believe me. As to getting to sub-quantal space, that’s easy. You just let the tentacle pull you through. And, assuming there’s a body waiting for Josh, he’ll be able to access it and then rescue you. He’ll also be able to help Adam out. It’s logical’
Deira had to admit it was, even if it sounded a little daunting.
‘Okay,’ she said, a little reluctantly. ‘I’ll do it. Do you mind if I comment on your plan so far?’
‘Not at all. Fire away.’
‘Well, the whole point of destroying the weapon is to give us more time and, while it will do that, I suspect Sama will be able to get a new one built pretty quickly. We still won’t have enough time to get the Founders out of sub-quantal space if that’s where the data leads us.’
‘So, what are you proposing?’
‘I think you should try to free Micha and his comrades and organise a counter-mutiny. That way, you might be able to remove the weapon from the stage indefinitely.’
Tao remained silent, processing scenarios.
‘She’s right,’ Sol said.
‘I think she probably is.’ Tao grinned at Deira. ‘Good plan. I’m all for it.’ The grin faded as she thought of something else. ‘But Micha wants the same outcome as Sama, surely? Isn’t it possible he’d use the weapon?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Sol said. ‘Micha seems a good sort. Sure, he wants the entities to remain in sub-quantal space, but I didn’t get the impression he’d countenance genocide. He simply wants to block their way out.’
Tao nodded. ‘Okay. It’s worth a try.’ She thought for a minute. ‘You know, if we do this, the timing will be critical. We’ll need to fold straight to the stasis room and free Micha before the alarms bring Sama and his cohorts down on us.’
Sol looked suddenly doubtful. ‘We’re still not thinking this through properly,’ he said.
‘How so?’ Tao looked perplexed.
‘Even if we can free Mich
a and his supporters, they’ll take a little time to emerge from stasis – and they’ll be naked. They’ll hardly be in a fit state to fight and won’t have access to weapons even if they were. It could be a blood-bath.’
‘Then we need some sort of diversion to allow Micha to recover, and we also need to access some weapons for him. We could take extra weapons of our own, of course, but I think giving him something he’s familiar with would be best.’
‘Agreed,’ Sol said. ‘How about a raid on their armoury?’
‘That’d work. We could send a team after the weapon as well. Try to take their attention from the stasis room.’
Deira looked from one to the other, pleased they were starting to work together now, but still feeling a little left out despite knowing the importance of her role in all this.
‘What about the mentalic blocker?’ she said, suddenly. ‘You ought to assume it will have been repaired. After all, Sama will almost certainly be expecting an attack of some kind. And the blocker is critical to his defence.’
‘Shit, you’re right.’ Tao said. ‘If it’s operational again, we’ll need to destroy it as soon as possible. Perhaps we should send a team straight in to do that, in addition to the other diversions.’
Sol frowned as he considered numbers. ‘Okay then. There are eight young agents, plus you and me. We need four separate teams – armoury, weapon, mentalic blocker, and stasis room. That’s spreading ourselves pretty thin.’
‘I don’t think it can be helped,’ Tao said. We’ve enough for two teams of two and two of three – perhaps better would be three teams of two, for the various diversions, and one team of four to free Micha and protect him while he’s recovering from stasis.’
‘Now that’s what I call preparation.’ Sol looked pleased with the way the discussion had gone. ‘Sounds like a definite plan.’
‘Yeah, and you were right. I do need the other agents,’ Tao smiled. Your new mentalics are already coming into their own.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 26
