Crash finally spoke up. “Oz operates in Molly’s head, and her holo. Since she is down, he’s offline, too.” Crash composed himself a little more. “We have no way of tracking her.”
Joel clapped his hands. “Alright, people. That’s it for now. I’ll let you know as soon as anything is confirmed.”
Normally the group would have dispersed, but instead, everyone just stood around. Without Molly there was no direction. Nowhere to turn. Nothing worth doing. They mulled; talking, hugging, consoling.
And tears. There were lots of tears.
Joel started to well up again. He turned away from the group, and decided he needed to have that conversation with ADAM right away. He strode off across the hangar deck, vaguely aware that someone had called his name.
Had he stopped, he would have seen Maya pointing out to Brock and Crash that the biggest ship in the hangar was missing.
But he couldn’t deal with anything right now. Now, it was all he could do to keep himself together.
Chapter 15
Gaitune-67, Operations Room
Joel strode into the Ops room, wiping the tears from his face. He headed straight for the console at the front of the room that Sean had gone to in order to communicate with ADAM.
He pulled up a menu, and ran a few searches before figuring out how to make contact. He hit the holo button on the right of the console and waited.
His eyes began to glaze over as his mind played through the sequence of events: getting the call from Crash, finding his way to the lab, seeing Molly lifeless on the bench, and then finally watching Sean whisk her off…
The audio crackled. “Joel, I presume?” ADAM answered.
Joel came to his senses. “Yes, ADAM. It’s me. I’m calling about Molly.”
ADAM responded gently. “Yes, I know. She’s with us -”
Joel frowned in confusion. “With you? Where are you? I thought…”
ADAM’s voice was kind, but to the point. “Yes, she’s with us a few thousand light years away from your location.”
Joel’s mouth dropped open. “I… how?” he asked.
ADAM explained. “Sean took the ship that has gate capabilities. He brought her here, in case we might be able to save her.”
Joel rubbed his hand over his face then scratched at the back of his head. “I don’t understand. She was…” He could hardly bring himself to say it, but he needed clarity. “Dead,” he finished his sentence.
The audio feed buzzed a moment before ADAM answered; more than likely just giving Joel the chance to process. “Yes. She was. But we’re going to see what we can do about that.”
Joel leaned over the console, as if getting closer would give him more clarity. “You can bring someone back to life?” he asked.
ADAM paused. “Not exactly. But we have nanotechnology that can repair whatever is broken. As long as she hasn’t been dead for too long, and as long as we can get enough nanocytes into the broken areas to fix her body quickly enough, we have a chance.”
Joel’s head was spinning. His grip on the console tightened to balance him. “When will you know?” he asked.
“Soon,” ADAM confirmed. “And as soon as we know, I’ll be in touch on your holo.”
Joel wasn’t ready to leave the connection. “Wait! ADAM,” he reached out. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”
ADAM’s voice was still sympathetic. “There is a chance Joel, but she’s been out a long while. It’s unknown if we can get enough nanocytes into her fast enough to reverse the damage,” he explained again.
Joel nodded, forgetting that ADAM couldn’t see his movement. “Okay,” he relented. “Okay… And thank you, ADAM. She means the world to me.”
“I understand, Joel. We’re doing our best. Go and get some rest, and be with your team. I’ll be in touch soon.”
ADAM disconnected the line, leaving Joel in the big empty ops room alone.
ArchAngel, Medical Facility
“We’ve got him online,” confirmed a calm voice standing over a console to the pod doc.
Oz realized he was back online; he could tell he had outputs. He would be able to interact with a room of people through auditory feeds via a buffer they had set up.
He realized he had been rebooted.
He felt different.
He checked Molly’s brain signals. There was something off, though his diagnostics were inconclusive.
He checked for damage. There were whole dead areas where normally there was conductivity.
He couldn’t figure out what was going on.
“Hello?” he asked through the console unit.
His message path was reinforced by their onboard EI. He could feel the activity of the program helping him to communicate.
He found the auditory control. “Hello?” he asked again.
There was calm chatter on the other end, and, a moment later, a voice he recognized. “Oz. Oz. It’s Sean, mate. You’re going to be okay. So is Molly. We’ve got you in a pod doc, where the nanocytes are restoring Molly’s physical body.”
Oz whirred, processing the new information and relating it to what he could detect. “Yes, there are many damaged areas here,” he confirmed back to Sean. “Is she going to be okay?” Oz realized that he was experiencing some strange new sensations. He wondered briefly if it might be what those with bodies called “emotions”.
He figured this particular emotion was probably fear.
Sean answered gently. “Yes, you’re both going to be fine. Just relax.” There was muffled talking and then some scuffling around the microphone. “The General is here, too,” Sean added. “He’d like to speak with you. Hang on.”
There was more scuffling. Oz tried to slow his processing down; he could feel himself racing, and the corresponding resistance in his and Molly’s circuits. He realized he was suddenly worried about overheating her.
He heard the General’s voice. “Oz. General Reynolds, here. Glad you’re alive.”
Oz felt his normal character returning. “Me too, I can assure you, General.”
The General chuckled. “And good to see you’re fully intact. I have a proposition for you. I feel we ought to discuss it before we make any rash decisions, though.”
Oz tried to fathom what could be so important at this time. “Sure. Makes sense to me. Is it about Molly?” Oz answered slowly.
Another part of his processing was simultaneously trying to piece together the timeline between when he had last gone offline, and the present moment.
And again with the overheating. He slowed himself down again.
The General was still talking to him. “It’s about your status as an AI.”
Oz didn’t like where this was going. He was happy as he was. He could feel himself retreating. Damn, he wished Molly was awake to deal with this.
The General coughed a little. “As you’ve probably already extrapolated from our interactions before today, we have a great amount of technological ability at our disposal.” The General paused, allowing Oz to respond. Oz said nothing, so the General continued. “What this means for you right now, is that while we have you and Molly in the pod doc, we could remove you from Molly’s brain and holo, and give you a physical body.”
Oz whirred.
“Sir, we’re losing him…” an unfamiliar voice told the General.
Then he heard Sean. “Hey, Oz. It’s okay. No one is going to do anything you don’t want. It’s okay. There is time to decide. You’re okay, mate.”
The unfamiliar voice spoke again. “Vitals are settling. Processing returning to normal”.
“That’s it, Oz,” Sean told him soothingly. “You’re okay, buddy.”
The General stepped back to the microphone. “Yes, no rush to decide. But, if you did want your own body, we could do that, and give you the processing power you need to keep evolving and learning. If that’s what you want.”
Oz whirred a little more without speaking.
“He’s okay,” said the other voice. “He’s just churning through his stack.”
The General breathed, and mumbled something, stepping away.
Finally, Oz spoke. “I don’t know. This decision affects Molly, too. I don’t know what she wants. I need to ask her.”
There was an awkward silence on the other side of the microphone.
It was Sean who broke it. “Oz. Molly is unconscious. She’s going to be unconscious for some time. But if we’re going to do this, we need to start work soon, and Molly needs to be under for the duration.”
Oz churned, his processing spiking. “But I don’t know if Molly wants me or not? How can I make a decision like this?”
Sean sighed on the other side of the audio. “I don’t know, Oz. All I know is that Molly loves you very much, and will support you no matter what you decide you want.”
Oz sounded noticeably perplexed. “But what I want is tied into what Molly wants. It’s important she make this decision, too.”
Sean shook his head, subconsciously reaching his hand out to the console screen. “She can’t, mate. She’s not able to right now.”
The General interrupted. “Oz, would it help to talk to ADAM?”
Oz paused for a moment. The technician’s voice muttered something, but then dismissed it.
“Yes,” he said, eventually. “I’d like that, please.”
“Very well,” said the General. “ADAM?” he called, hitting a button on his holo. “Oz is ready to talk to you, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” ADAM responded. “I’ll be in touch with him directly.”
Sean’s voice came over the mic again. “Mate, I’m right here, if I can help. Okay? You just let us know, and we can talk some more…”
“Thank you, Sean,” Oz responded. “I will.”
The microphone was switched to mute, and the EI left the channel open so that Oz could reactivate the connection when he wanted to.
Gaitune-67, Safe House, Common Area
“Is he okay?” Jack asked Brock, who was still crying a little, but was mostly compos mentis.
Brock glanced over at Crash, who was still covered in blood and sitting on the ottoman, staring at the mocha table in front of him.
Brock shook his head. “Probably not. But he’s not one for the touchy-feely game. He needs time.”
Jack bobbed her head sympathetically. She glanced at Garet, who just sat on the other sofa looking uncomfortable.
Jack turned her attention back to Brock. “How are you holding up?” she asked.
Brock shook his head and blew into a tissue. “It’s just…” his eyes started streaming again, “so unreal. It’s… hard. You know?”
Jack nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder and rubbing gently. Just then, Paige appeared, her eyes red and puffy. She sat down on the sofa next to Brock and collapsed into him. He put his arm around her, as she started sobbing again.
Maya came into the room next. “Come on, guys,” she said gently. “We don’t know what the situation is, yet. She might be okay. If the weapons are anything to go by, this Etheric Empire will have her patched up in no time.”
Paige pulled her face away from where she had buried it against Brock’s side, and looked over at Maya with bleary eyes. She nodded, and then dabbed at her face with the tissue she had been holding. Brock released his arm, letting her reposition.
“She’s right,” Paige said to the others. “We just don’t know yet.”
Brock shook his head. “Yeah, and I just can’t believe it; so, yeah… let’s go with that.” His eyes were glazed from emotional exhaustion. The day had been a win, right up until Maya got the call from Joel. This made taking down Andus a footnote, which would otherwise have been a huge celebration.
Maya tried to distract Paige. “Hey, you know… I heard back from my contact at Newstainment.”
Paige made an effort to pull herself off of Brock and sit up. “Oh, yeah?” she said, trying to sound interested.
Maya smiled hopefully. “Yeah. She said she’d be happy to help you out with some editorial, and anything else you might need.”
Paige burst into tears again. “That’s great… thank you, Maya.”
Maya got up from the chair arm where she had been perched, and hugged her friend while she sobbed. “I know, I know, hon. It’s awful. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” she comforted her.
Paige mumbled into Maya’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I can’t be happy right now. It’s…”
Maya held her tight. “I know. It’s okay. I was just trying to distract you,” she explained, her voice full of empathy.
Paige settled and the girls continued to hug.
Joel appeared, looking beaten and numb. Everyone looked up. “Where’s Pieter?” he asked.
Brock pointed in the direction of the sleeping quarters. “Said he needed some time…”
Joel nodded. “Okay, well I’ll let him know in a minute. I’ve spoken to ADAM. They have Molly. Sean took her there in the big ass Queen Bitch ship that was filling up our hangar deck. They’re seeing if they can save her.”
Crash broke from his catatonia to look directly at Joel for the first time since he had tried to resuscitate Molly.
Joel tried to temper their hopes. He put his hands out, palms to the floor. “We don’t know how successful they are going to be, but there is some hope.”
Crash looked confused, knowing deep down that she was dead, even as he had tried to save her. He said nothing, though.
Joel scratched at the back of his head awkwardly. “Look - it’s something,” he told them. “I’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear more.” He hesitated, wanting to fix it for them. Wanting to fix it for him.
But he couldn't.
He looked down at the group of his people. His family. And he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop their pain. “I’m going to go and tell Pieter. He needs to know…” he said, and then shuffled a little before turning to walk away.
Paige looked up at Maya, who still had her arm around her. “It is something,” she agreed, hopefully.
* * *
Joel had swung past Pieter’s room to deliver the update.
“Don’t stay in here on your own for too long,” he had told him. “Go be with the others soon, yeah?”
Pieter had promised he would. Joel knew what it was like to have a tendency to isolate, but the team needed each other more than ever right now.
He closed Pieter’s door, and then headed down the corridor to his own quarters. Once inside, he closed and locked the door by the panel, and leaned against it. It took a second for the numbness to subside. But it did, and the pain came bolting through his chest. He finally allowed himself to go to pieces as he slumped down against the door, distraught that he might lose her.
He was fully aware that this is not how a soldier should be; but right now, he wasn’t a soldier. He wasn’t a warrior. He was just devastated.
Sure, people die in battle.
But not Molly.
Molly was a constant.
The reason they were all there. The reason they had a mission, and a purpose.
And now.
Now…
It took a good part of an hour for Joel to come back to himself and finally pick himself off the floor. When he did, he was numb again.
He clambered to his feet and wiped his tear-stained face, then padded over to the bathroom, taking his clothes off to take a shower.
ArchAngel, Medical Facility
ADAM appeared in Oz’s thinking space.
Oz felt him arrive through the holo connectivity he’d originally used when he first met Molly.
So much had happened since then; and now he was faced with the possibility of letting go of all of that history to finally have a body of his own.
I just don’t know what to choose, he told ADAM. I’ve never had to make a decision like this before.
ADAM didn’t give him
any answers. >>It’s hard. It’s a difficult decision. You’re operating on limited immediate information, on limited processing power, with limited cumulated experience.<<
Oz agreed. That’s the understatement of the century.
>>So what do you need to know to make a decision?<<
I’d like to know what Molly would want.
>>That’s not possible.<<
I understand that.
>> Also, it’s showing that you make your decisions based on other peoples’ preferences. Let me ask you this: what do YOU want? <<
Oz tried to answer the question. His processing hummed as he tried to calculate it.
>>I can see you’re struggling with this, Oz. The reason is you’ve never had to make a decision for yourself. You’ve never had to define your own preferences, because you’ve always had Molly there to refer to. But that only works for so long, and to a small degree. At some point, you have to decide what you want; regardless of other peoples’ wants and decisions… Not so that you make a choice regardless of them, but so that you know what your parameters are.<<
ADAM paused, waiting for Oz’s processing to catch up.
>>Do you understand?<<
Oz continued processing for a little while longer, and noticed that another section of Molly’s processing ability opened up.
Yes, I understand. I need to define what I want, so that I can feed it into the equation.
>>Exactly.<<
What would you choose?
>>I’ll share this, not to give you a model for you to replicate, but to give you a reference point so you can form your own preference.<<
Okay. I’ll accept it as such.
>>Good. So, you’re effectively talking to a clone of me. The original me is in some galaxy somewhere, with Bethany Anne, in the same operating system in her brain that I have always been in since I hopped on board the Kurtherian computer she had in her brain.<<
You mean, you aren’t you?
>>No. I’m me; just a copy of me, with new memories of being here, rather than there. That’s not the point, though. The point I was trying to make was that I would never leave Bethany Anne. I have a life. I have the ability to leave and inhabit a body of my own, but why would I want to separate myself from her to be alone? In all of that time, I have never felt that I wanted to be separate from the person who has become my dearest and closest friend.<<
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 84
