“Epsilon Six, you are cleared to execute mission plan Charlie. AI authentication sequence to follow. Acknowledge.”
He sent the AI authentication sequence that would validate his order and returned to studying the Kutanga. It would take more than twenty minutes for Wilkes to receive the message and another twenty or so for him to receive her acknowledgment—plenty of time to figure out how to get his team out of there once everything went to hell.
CHAPTER 35
APRIL 6, 2075 11:17 AM GST
Galilei Station
Ceres
“Okay, with Dumanov's deletion, adding Doctors Walker and Berkovic...and the other changes that Aneni recommended, we have 4,492 archives stored on”—Doctor Chen Hao glanced at the small group sitting around the conference table with him—“including ours.”
Lily and Aubrey sat on one side of the table with Dylan and Evan, Chen, Adee and Yin sat across from them. The group had spent the last hour reviewing recent events to ensure that they were all working from the same set of facts.
The original plan had called for spending the next two weeks testing the drive system, running emergency drills with the crew (which comprised twelve semi-autonomous synthetic humanoids, or "synths" as they were often called) and stress-testing Aneni, the ship’s master AI.
Once launched, Kutanga would be the first interstellar ship in history and one of just a handful operated entirely by a synthetic crew. Unfortunately, the events of the past three days had caused the group to rethink their plans, and they were now forced to consider an immediate launch. Doing so, though, would prevent them from completing the thorough and rigorous test plan they had developed.
“So, once we load Papa that will leave us with room for seven more,” Aubrey said.
“I still haven’t said yes,” Evan replied.
“Oh, come on, Dad,” Lily said. “Of course you’re coming with us. Why wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t like you assuming that I am just going along for the ride. If I am being honest, this whole thing has left a sour taste in my mouth.”
Lily placed her hand on top of her father’s. “I know and I’m sorry. We thought we could get you off Earth quietly, just like last time. Unfortunately, someone tipped off the GSSA.”
“Who do you think it was?” Evan asked.
“We don’t know, it could have been Aubrey’s executive assistant, Evelyn Wu. We know from Bruce's last report that Evelyn was an Overwatch agent.”
“And it’s possible that the GSSA had other agents at other facilities that we don’t know about,” Aubrey added. “It doesn’t really matter though because we’ve always known this was going to be our last shot at this.”
“Really? What’s stopping you from bringing me back again?”
“Technically nothing,” Chen replied. “But it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for us—for any of us—to return to Earth.”
“Why? Can’t you just create new identities, sneak back and start all over again?”
“Trust us, Dad, we can’t,” Lily said. “They won't stop looking for us until we're dead, or so far beyond their reach that they could never catch us.”
“That’s right, Papa,” Aubrey added. “Changing identities might buy us a little time but we can’t go back to our old lives—we’d have to start over. That means no money, no education, work or financial history…nothing that could connect us back to who we were.”
“Why not just stay here? Or live on Mars? Didn’t you say they have different laws and aren’t likely to turn us over to the GFN?”
“That’s true to a point, Evan,” Adee answered, “but that won’t stop the GFN from hunting us down. Believe me when I tell you we would not be the first fugitives who tried to hide out on Mars.”
“So, what’s the plan then?” Evan asked. “You’ve already said that Kutanga isn’t designed to transport people, so where do we go from here?”
Adee looked back and forth uncomfortably between Lily and Aubrey—he clearly did not want to answer Evan’s question.
“It can't carry lots of people,” he finally said. “But it can carry some.”
Lily tried to speak but Yin cut her off. “Their plan was to terminate themselves once Kutanga is safely away. Isn’t that right Adee?”
Adee had briefed Yin on the group’s plan a few hours before and she was clearly not happy with the details he had shared.
“Yes, that was the plan...before everything went sideways.”
“Is that true, Lily,” Evan asked with obvious shock and horror on his face, “were you going to kill yourselves?”
“It’s hard to explain, Dad, you haven’t lived like we have. But what’s important is that we won’t be dead, everything that makes us who we are is stored safely on board Kutanga. Aneni will restore us and we’ll all pick up where we left off once we get to Gaia. In fact, none of us will even remember having had this conversation if we don’t update our archives before the ship leaves.”
“I don’t understand,” Evan said.
“It’s simple really,” Chen replied. “When we create an engramic archive of ourselves we capture our thoughts, feelings and memories as of that specific moment in time. After restoration, we only remember what happened before the archive was created. We lose everything that happened to us afterwards.”
“But none of that matters,” Yin interjected, “because nobody is terminating anybody, right, Adee?”
“That's correct, we've decided that it's best that we stay with Kutanga a little longer than we originally planned.”
“So, when are you leaving?” Evan asked.
“Soon,” Adee replied, “the GFN Peacekeepers will be here in little more than an hour.”
“But I didn’t think Kutanga would be ready for at least another six hours?”
“Well, the gravity pulse drive won’t be ready to make the first jump for another six hours but she can leave on thrusters right now. She won’t get very far but that’s what we’ve got to decide next.”
“That’s right,” Yin said. “I’ve completed my tactical analysis and…”
“Just a second, please,” Adee cut her off. “We need to know if you are coming with us, Evan.”
“Do I have a choice?” Evan asked.
“Yes, you have a choice,” Adee answered.
“What happens if I choose to stay here?”
“Then in all likelihood, they will capture and kill you.”
“Why would they kill me? None of this is my fault. I didn't ask you to restore me.”
“No, you didn’t. But, unfortunately, that doesn't matter.”
“That's not an option,” Lily said. “Look, Dad, you can't go back to Earth. As an illegal clone, you have no rights and they can do anything they want to you. More than likely they will have you terminated but at best you spend the rest of your life slaving away in one of the penal mines on Luna or in the Belt.”
Evan thought about that for a minute, neither outcome sounded especially appealing. “So, then I don't really have a choice, do I? You've already made it for me. Either I go with you or I die.”
“There is another option,” Chen said.
“Oh, what's that?” Evan asked.
“We could create an updated archive for you—one that includes everything you've learned over the past three days—and add that to Aneni's data store.”
“Which was the plan all along, wasn't it?”
“Yes, Papa,” Aubrey said. “It was, that was the plan for all of us. Our hope was to have several weeks to ensure that you were stable and then we were going to re-archive you.”
“Well, if that's the case then you will have to remind me…what the hell was the purpose of bringing me back in the first place? Why not just add my original archive to Kutanga and be done with it? Why did you put me through all of this?”
“To put it most simply,” Lily said. “We wanted to have a stable archive that was aware of current events so that your restoration o
n Gaia wouldn’t be such a shock to you. As I told you before, it is very difficult to restore someone in a different environment from the one in which they lived. Given the challenges we’ve had with our past attempts to restore you, we wanted to give you every chance to adapt to your new reality on Gaia.”
“So, what happens if you archive me now?” Evan asked.
“Truthfully, we don’t know,” Chen replied. “You are stable and doing reasonably well so far…much better than last time in fact. But we don’t know what might happen if we were to archive you right now because your neural pathways are still…well, healing for lack of a better word.”
“So, what happens if you restore me on Gaia and I go crazy, is that the end of it for me?”
“Not necessarily,” Lily said. “Although we have a one-archive-per-person rule, we’ve decided to make an exception for you. The truth is that we’ve already added your original archive to the Kutanga’s storage array. The only question is whether we make a new one and add it as well.”
“Which would mean…”
Chen interrupted Evan before he could finish his statement. “Which would mean that if we discover that your current engramic mesh is unstable we could try again using your original.”
“But if neither of them work?”
“Well, Dad,” Lily continued. “Then we accept the fact that we gave it our best effort but that it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“What about all the others you are taking? Didn't you say that none of the other people knew that you had selected them for this mission? Won't you have the same problem restoring them on Gaia?”
“Probably but none of them are my father,” Lily said.
“That's cold, Lil, that's not you...and you didn't answer my question.”
“I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated and we don't have a lot of time. We know there are risks...we are trying to do something that's never been done before and we know we don't have all the answers right now but...”
“But what?” Evan asked.
“But Aneni is going to have however long she needs to figure it out and we are confident that she will find a solution by the time we arrive at Gaia...or not too long thereafter.”
“And how is she going to do that...to figure it out?”
“It's complicated, Papa,” Aubrey replied. “But Mom and I modified the organic storage system to allow Aneni to access the memories of every person in the archive. To put it simply, she knows everything we know...she knows everything that every one of those 4,492 people knew.”
“My God, you can't be serious!” Evan shouted. “So, all those people are part of that...computer?”
“Yes and no, each archive is self-contained. And Aneni isn't a computer, she's a self-aware artificial intelligence. Her consciousness exists independent of the archives, but she can access the memories of everyone in her storage array.”
“Okay, so what? She has access to all our knowledge, then what?” Evan asked.
“Plus, she has a massive database of her own,” Lily added. “She has everything...everything that matters anyway. Books, journals and lectures...movies and music...anything of scientific, historical or cultural significance...we let her have it all.”
“So, why don't you use her to solve the mutation problem? Why use all that knowledge to save just a few when she could save everyone?”
“She tried,” Chen said. “She spent the better part of the last ten years looking for a solution. In fact, she predicted the increased rate of mutation six years ago. We are doing this because Aneni determined that this is our only option to save humanity from extinction.”
Evan stared dumbfounded at the group.
“So, let me make sure I understand,” he finally said. “You all got together and built the world's most powerful super-computer...or self-aware AI, or whatever you want to call it. And then you built it a ship capable of traveling to another star system…but before you sent it off into space, you filled it with the minds of thousands of people, most of them without their permission, in the hope that sometime in the next however-many decades, the computer would figure out how to solve the mutation problem, restore those people to life and save humanity from extinction. Is that it? Do I have it right?”
“Yes, Dad, that's pretty much it,” Lily replied. “It was either that or just sit by and watch everyone die. What would you have us do?”
“And what about me? Was bringing me back part of Aneni's plan?”
“No, it wasn't,” Adee said. “In truth, she argued against it because it put the mission at unnecessary risk…and it looks like she was right.”
“It was my idea,” Aubrey said. “I begged Mom to try one more time. After I got her to agree, I begged Chen and Adee and Bruce, and they all agreed to do this for me even though Aneni thought it was a bad idea.”
“And why was that, Aubrey? Why was it so important to bring me back that you...that you all...were willing to risk everything you've worked so hard for? I don't get it.”
Aubrey burst into tears. She tried to speak but all that came out were sobs. Lily wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close, rotating her chair just enough so she could see Evan's face over Aubrey's shoulder.
“Because she's lived her entire life without really knowing my mother or father and she desperately wanted to know you before...” Lily sobbed, her own tears spilling on to Aubrey's shoulder.
Aubrey pulled away from her mother so she could face her grandfather.
“To know you before you were gone forever,” she said between sobs.
“Why would I be gone forever?” Evan asked, tears welling in his eyes from seeing his daughter and granddaughter in such obvious pain.
Lily wiped the tears from her face. “Because yours is the oldest archive ever made, that's why. And the more time goes by the less likely that it will ever be restored successfully. Unless...”
“Unless what?” Evan implored.
“Unless we can get you stabilized and create a new archive,” Chen answered. “Your engramic mesh is fragile, Evan, it always has been. It is unlikely that your current archive will survive restoration on Gaia. At the very least, Aubrey was hoping to be able to spend at least a few weeks with you before we started our journey.”
“And so was I,” Lily added.
“So, you did all this...”
“Because we love you,” Lily interrupted. “And because deep down I guess I wanted one last shot at fulfilling my promise to you.”
Evan leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, placing both hands over his eyes to hold back his tears.
“I'm sorry I have to do this,” Yin said. “But we are running out of time. You need to decide, Evan, are you coming with us or not?”
“Oh Yin, that’s why I love you,”—Adee smiled at her—“always direct and to the point.”
Adee turned to face the group. “But she’s right, we must decide and we must wrap this up quickly. I have lots to do before our GFN friends arrive.”
Evan slid out of his chair so he could kneel between Aubrey and Lily.
“I love you two more than anything in the world and I am glad that I got to see and talk to you again. I really am,” he said, “but I just don’t think I am cut out to live in this world. I grew up in a time when you lived and you died and you did your very best to make every moment in between count for something.”
“But Dad…”
Evan squeezed Lily’s hand. “Let me finish, I am not judging you. Clearly, you all have had access to information and experiences that, quite frankly, are almost impossible for me to comprehend. So, I can’t judge you or your actions based on my limited point of view.”
“But…”
“I’m not done.”—Evan gave Lily that stern look that parents give when they want their children to be quiet and listen—“I can’t judge you but I can judge myself. It is clear to me now that it was wrong of me to ask you to bring me back…and I’m sorry. In those final days, I was consumed with grief of h
aving lost your mother and I was terrified of losing you.”
He turned toward Aubrey. “Of losing you both. You are my greatest accomplishments. Nothing else I ever did mattered in comparison and I am so proud to see the women you’ve become. I know that your hearts are in the right place and I am sure that you truly believe all of this was worth it but it’s just not for me.”
Evan looked around the table before focusing on Lily. “So, I am going to wish you all well and the best of luck on your mission. I hope you make it and I hope that Gaia is everything you expect it to be but please make this the last time for me. I don’t want to do this again and I am begging you to please delete my archive and never bring me back again.”
“Dad,” Lily said as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I don’t know if I can make that promise.”
“If you love me, then you will. I’m done being a science experiment. Please, it’s time to let me go.”
Lily leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Evan. The tears were streaming down her face even harder now.
“Ohhh…ohh...kay,” she sobbed.
Evan stood up. “Give your Papa a hug, Aubrey.”
Aubrey stood up and hugged her grandfather for nearly a minute, which in that moment seemed like an eternity.
Evan turned back to the others at the conference table. “Alright, friends. I appreciate everything you've done for my family, I truly do but you have my decision. If it’s alright with you, I would like to leave you all to discuss whatever else you need to decide without me. I will be in my room if you need me.”
“Very well, Evan,” Adee replied. “Thank you for your honesty.”
Evan nodded slightly and trudged across the room, his magnetic boots thumping with each step. Although the station had some artificial gravity, it was still well below Earth-normal and Evan took his time rather than risk losing his balance. The group at the table sat quietly until he had left the room.
Adee spoke first. “Well, that was unfortunate. I am sorry for you both.”
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