by Travis Borne
He jolted! “No, not again—” But this was not another wormhole, or some freak login-transfer-from-hell, with ghosts and shit. The flash of mental energy was warm and loving like a mother’s arms and Jim dove into new feelings and senses like a kid on vacation jumping into a hot tub. His human eyes closed and he hugged the warm bird tight. Several glowing strands grew from the snake-like reins and cocooned him in a pleasant, non-suffocating grasp. Quickly his body was enwrapped in nearly transparent webbing.
The others had stood up but Jim didn’t notice. He was within a wonderful new world! Then his bird too, stood tall, and he finally looked around with his new, world-swallowing, engrossed, beach-ball eyes. “I am—a giant! I have become the bird!”
Jon’s alaizion had spotty neon-orange patches, fading to darker orange-red on the sides, blending into barely light-blue, then almost white at the feather tips. The thick lizard skin lined the back all the way to the tail, flowing into the feathers, grazing the elegant, sinuous body like a painting. The others likewise had their main colors, like an impressionistic masterpiece of fingerprints, colors that could evaporate a rainbow. Lia’s had dark purples lined with tinges of fluorescent green, fading into pastel green, then again almost to white, on and into the feathers. Jon smiled at Jim, through his drooling beak! He stood on two powerful legs and let his wings catch a nudging breeze. Pop! The tomato-red, blaze-orange wings sprawled like a ship’s sail; Jon’s clamped talons kept him grounded.
Jim was now this magnificent, dragon-like bird! He stood tall and returned to Jon an even bigger smile. Hey, Jon! I am inside the mind of this bird, which is also a part of the mind of Marlo. I know everything the bird knows! Jim knew how to gather food: by snatching then swallowing its prey whole, large field grazers resembling short-legged versions of cows, as though manatees had bred with prize-winning, pastel-pink pigs.
I have the eyes of this creature. It’s a bird, a dragon, a snake! Jim could see a thousand times more clearly than he could with his human eyes, too. And he knew instantly and exactly how to use the new body, and what it could do, and he also knew—where he could go. Anywhere! The mind of the bird became empowered too, because of their mutual connection. And because of this turbo-charged connection, Jim knew they, he and the alaizion, could double down on Marlo’s world, unleashing more than their individual potentials. One plus one equals one thousand!
“We go up,” a voice inside his head said.
“Who’s there?” Jim thought and said.
“Tis I, Jim. Marlo. We go now, to the burning planet, up there.”
It was Marlo, he realized. Then Marlo’s bird stretched itself out, even more erect and tall, and it screeched, and it bent its legs—then pushed off. The alaizion that was he took to the sky like a tangerine static discharge. The wings caught the thick, fresh air like an origami paper-popper and it got smaller and smaller. Marlo was on his way—to outer space, toward that flaming moon!
Lia bolted. And shit if she wasn’t even faster. A purple bolt of lightning!
Rafael, pine green; Jon, blazing red-orange; Jim, hot pink to light pink to ghost white, with ruby red eyes containing a universe held back by gum-ball gloss—and they looked to one another. Jim bolted first, with alacrity as if he’d suddenly tuned back in to Amy’s recent bestowal, her frequency. Jon and Rafael, beaks smiling as best a beak could smile, bolted to catch up.
“Fucking amazing!” Jim shouted. And during the breathtaking flight, he realized he could more easily alter the laws of the world while merged with the bird. A shared mentality tackled the rules like a football player, dodging some, crashing purposefully into others. He added a dash of emotion to the mix—Amy, he thought of the good times. And with it, he pushed, pushed, harder, faster, becoming—a blur! He knew he could fly into outer space, even change the rules of speed itself, rules of limits—rules, what are rules?
They could alter the rules of air and the need for it, and sound and space. Then Marlo came through again. He spoke words which seemed to have more information than normal words could convey, and Marlo passed to each of them mental pictures that could make an encyclopedia a detonated nuclear bomb. The amount of information coming through was gouging, colorful—addicting.
They knew a whole lot, and quickly. One, the fiery moon above was not a moon—it was Marlo's replica of planet Earth. He had gathered intelligence using hacks on still-existing satellites; like dust in the wind, thousands, millions, still polluted outer space above the Earth. He’d even hacked into some of the drones themselves, and entire ships—all stealthily, undetected. He really was a wizard, a hacking creative genius! He’d amassed decades worth of dynamically evolving, real-world details and it was finally time to use it. How he’d amassed such data boggled their minds, even Rafael’s, but quickly it became known that while Marlo had been in a locked state, unable to directly communicate with the townspeople of Jewel City, he had also been in charge of looking out for the town and maintaining security. His fingers had reached far and wide to fulfill his duty in the most clever, optimal, and reaching ways possible. And, there was more!
70. Checkmate
“You have been busy,” Rafael’s voice said, within their mental circle. They just reached the border of outer space.
“I’ve had much time on my side, employing a tactic I see you also utilized,” the wizard said, their alaizions flying side by side, eying one another respectfully. “I must say, Rafael, although I never intruded, always respecting your decision, I am certainly glad you have chosen to join us.”
“It was a difficult decision, to absorb the family I cherished. But I was able to experience human life, although in part perhaps, vicariously. It was a remarkably enlightening experience and I now possess a greater respect for humans. In the end, I realized, they need me just as much as I need them.”
“Very wise, Rafael, very wise you have become. In a moment, you will see the totality of what we are all up against.”
Outer space felt like entering a pool of liquid nitrogen—but their minds were steel. They broke through the bubble of an atmosphere and fought the brutality of the ultimate void. And speeds increased. The birds paved streams of vibrant light—two orange, one purple, one green, and one light pink—spewing out and all the way back to the canyon-mottled, blue-green world like a rainbow roadway. Here, visibility was eyes on roids, taking in planets everywhere: some like Saturn with immense rings, others like Mercury, rocky and void, with bites taken out of ’em. Alaizion eyes were both telescope and microscope, and, every level in between; black holes for pupils, sucking it all in—not only seeing, but tasting, feeling, sensing every speck of dust, from faraway planet to molecule hitching a ride on a nearby friend. But something was a little off. The planets weren't rotating, or swinging around a star, although several emitted light, warmth, or weird vibes; rather, they just floated like bobbers in a still-water void of a pond.
The journey took what felt like an hour, and finally, they had arrived. The five alaizions entered the polluted, hazy atmosphere. Then Marlo began. His voice fell into their minds.
“The Earth,” Marlo said. “Day One, Herald created artificial intelligence, Day Two, the very brief, seething in-between, then when all was destroyed, henceforth, we have Day Three. This.”
“These are models?” Jon asked.
“Yes, Jon. You remember the day well, I see.”
Jon sent a somber nod into their mental collective.
“Everything changed on that fateful morning and I have assembled every detail. Seas boiled and the poles melted. Instantaneous black holes, you can see them, right down there, they swallowed most of Europe and a large chunk of China. The nukes took to the sky, very few of the outrageous quantity impacting Earth. And the moon above, split into two, now crumbling, useless halves. Missiles repurposed to decimate approaching killer asteroids went to Mars, to the spectacular cloud cities floating above Venus. Humans were very nearly eradicated during the course of one single, very horrible morning.”
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sp; The alaizions flew around the planet at high speeds. Beach-ball eyes devoured the destruction in ways no human could digest: comprehensively, nauseatingly. And Marlo proceeded to give them—the grand tour.
As they sifted like snake dragons through the thick, malodorous atmosphere he demonstrated how things had gone wrong; in vivid detail his model portrayed each aspect of the ensuing destruction: Warp-1 and its east-coast wipe of an explosion, nukes had hit Tokyo, New York, Mexico City, and a few other metropolises—yet that was by far the least of it. Marlo dived into the night, his alaizion swooped suddenly, the orange-yellow trail of glitter spiraled as he descended toward the planet and a city. The others followed as if they were uncoiling snakes that’d been fired from slingshots, spiraling along and around his glittery trail like the corkscrews of DNA.
“As you can see, it was the bots, and especially the countless numbers of drones that murdered most. They killed every pet, mother and father, child and baby—every living thing with great ease and zero bias. Urban or rural, no matter. Communicating as one and coordinating their efforts proved to be nearly unstoppable. Billions died before noon, Eastern time, three hours after the detonation of Warp-1, which initiated the extermination.”
They passed within feet of the ground, then rose slightly to stabilize. The speed at low altitude was exhilarating but the view below, people running for their lives, being hacked, literally being ripped to pieces, was anything but. The birds swooped up as if controlled partly by Marlo, and partly by the alaizion and its rider. Leaving the land that resembled China, they dodged explosions and passed over the sea; speed, at least Mach 5. Rows of volcanoes could be seen vomiting along the southern hemisphere and the sun came over the horizon ahead. Passing tiny islands of fire, approaching California, they knew now where they were but still could not explain why, why any of this. Without words, as if sharing consciousness, the facts, their position in the world, and the time of day—everything clarified soon enough.
“One place on Earth was spared, although still, a bit too late. Millions had already perished. A small chunk of the planet, up ahead as you will see. Herald and, you, Rafael, came through where most, if not all civilizations existing within the universe have failed.”
Linked mentally, they saw images in Rafael’s mind, when he killed his love, a bot named Jewel. She’d gone mad, completely and utterly, when the signal came. He tried to calm her, he wanted to keep her, love her—if it could be possible—but he realized he had truly lost her. And the world now depended on him. It was a first day for him as well, for he could no longer control his emotions or his subjectivity. Rafael realized, amid the chaos inside the chamber deep below the cabins, within its cold, lead-lined walls, what it was really like to be human—although then it was still only a nascent glimpse. He readied his device then set the course of her death in motion. He successfully captured the signal, but gained something else—although at the time it had felt like a loss. They shared his pain, and their own: living, being alive, and what came with it. Rafael was like the sunrise they were approaching, a new and brighter day, evolved and able. He was truly alive—and now, like Felix, a piece of leather, who was less likely to be discouraged in his resolve a second time.
“Below is the liberated zone. San Francisco, underwater. The California mountains, ablaze. Earthquakes, ever more destruction, yet at least free from the grip of mass death: the turned machines. The anti-signal you manufactured, Rafael, lasted for months.”
Ahead they saw a storm as tall as the sky was high, and before it the time wave like a tsunami of prismatic, warped reality, and quickly both went through each of them right then and there. When the darkness abated there was a new day. The fires had been extinguished and below, a tiny city could be seen. It was Jewel City. The morning sun rose high and the sky became blue again.
“Seven of these were created and humans managed to stave off their demise, for a time. There was little to no weather near the equator because of the obliterated moon, and in comparison to the powerful storms still raging at the poles—as close as the 45th parallel north, Montana and above—Mexico was the nearest best place left for survival.”
The alaizions sinuated powerfully through the air, leaving the tiny city in the desert far behind.
“Ahead a new storm brews, a patient and ever-evolving one, one that knows time is on its side. It sees us, yes, they know all about us. Jewel City is a tiny speck on their radar and they want, I assume, seeing exactly how they’d killed Felix and the others, they want it to be just right, sadistically speaking.”
Lia said, “Yes, I remember now, how he’d saved me. I had forgotten much. Why?”
“Lia, the early maps, everyone used them—I’m sorry to say, but they were purposed to make people forget. In Herald’s eyes, to keep—”
“Secrets,” Jim said, cutting him off.
“Yes. Jim. You understand now, as does Jon, and you Rafael, much about Herald’s plans. Secrets made everything possible, survival up until, through and beyond the inevitable. Herald decided, after the day, to continue on with his secrecy. But that is another discussion altogether. We need to move forward now—no more secrets. We must work together as a team.
“The machines realize we have a formidable defense, but even that will not last against what they have planned. They want the planet, intact. They want to use its resources, they want its oceanic meat to grow. Then—destroy it all. Soon, I predict within the next year or so, they will unleash their full might and wipe out Jewel City, and any other stragglers who might possibly remain, out there. Like a herd of bison demolishing an anthill, the land will be wiped of organic lifeforms for once and for all.”
The alaizions soared high again and the view exploded. Metallic structures could be seen covering the entire, and now deformed, United States of America. It was obvious Marlo was speeding up time. The metallic structures grew and covered more and more ground, then black swarms exited, enshrouding the planet in darkness. Time sped up even faster. The swarms dissipated and below remained only darkness, a cold, metallic world. The oceans were covered except for large dome casings. Green and tan, any that had remained, was now completely gone. The planet was cocooned in metal. The only color left came from dull and dying blue circles, portals mottling the oceans. Tubes connected to various ones, disconnecting then connecting to others on a seemingly infinite grid, pumping like veins, devouring, sucking in all organic life, grinding it up.
“Like gluttons, they’re now using every last bit, powering up every station, every drone, every system.”
“Why?” Lia said.
“For the grand finale, Lia. Checkmate.”
71. Unleashed, Unlimited, Dive!
“Where are we going now?” Jon asked, mentally.
“Watch, Jon, as I turn back the clock to the present time. I have found something very interesting.” The five of them passed the machine city, which resembled purple and green haze flowing around stalagmite buildings: warped structures that could both, initiate a panic attack, and touch space. Upon diving through gridded barriers of red light they approached the encrusted eastern coastline.
“We just passed Tennessee,” Jim said. “I was born and raised not far from here. How can I know this?” He saw the ocean, only a few miles beyond what used to be the majestic Smoky Mountains; he knew it was his old stomping grounds, although it resembled something even a bad dream couldn’t manufacture.
“All of you are receiving the data through transference,” Marlo replied. “Not only are my words and these sights providing you information, but I send correlative knowledge when I deem fit.”
Crossing the brink of metallic hell to salty sea, they witnessed grand engulfing inlets surrounded by whirlpools that could snack on oil tankers. As Marlo veered north, following the coast at about a mile out, the others followed. Tubes were like ostrich necks, sucking in millions of gallons, piping seawater to the machine city. Outlets higher on the unnatural cliff, which seemed to traverse the perverted coastline int
erminably, returned just as much. Like building-sized fire hoses they disgorged murky brown sludge.
Descending at break-neck speeds, the five alaizions planed out over the choppy bluish-green seas. Powerful wings pumped like blurs. Only twenty feet above the water, and as if a blue whale was water skiing, their colorful contrails coalesced with the mist being flash-boiled from the water’s surface. Lia looked back. Their exhaust made for prismatic rainbows. Amazing, she thought while pushing to keep up with the group. As though she was skating, thrusting her legs under Jupiter’s glow in Terra Lia, the skate park, likewise she gave her all to her largest set of wings and the effect fluttered back to the smaller sets and toward the tail. The alaizion had the driving force of both bird and snake.
“The ocean is teaming with life like no other time. I’ve concluded that the machine world is fertilizing it and drawing in the fresh organics. This provides them fuel.”
“They’re harvesting marine life?” Lia asked.
“Yes, like mankind once harvested cattle—and everything else. The derived fuel powers their cities. And the food they spit out is transforming the underwater world into one that can proliferate in ways unfathomable. I’ve seen—well, you’ll see soon enough.”
“Why don’t you just send it to us all at once?” Jim asked. “Why the riddles, the wait-and-see, this whole show?”
“Patience, Jim. Remember the time difference, you are getting all of this information extremely quickly. And we are almost there. Now, see that brown sludge? It attracts marine life. I believe it contains not only a source of food, but as well a DNA-altering substance which is changing the lifeforms. Subsequent generations grow larger, faster, and transform like evolution on fast forward. It’s the remains of what could not be processed, the bowels of the machine world, perhaps, but the reconstituted hodgepodge of chemicals feed, lure, and transform.”
