The Stream

by Mark White

  That was easier than I expected. First hurdle over. I'd better get back in there and wait. I can't believe it's all going to be this easy though.

  So we waited, and we waited. And waited some more. We didn't feel like talking, so we just sat there quietly waiting for Raj to appear. He clearly wants to show us that he is in control, and we're having this conversation on his terms. We'll let him have his little victory, if it helps lull his ego into a false sense of superiority.

  I was just thinking of dropping back out and speaking on the radio again, when suddenly he was there. Raj Tamboli, in the virtual flesh. I recognised him straight away from all the old photos of him, but what was most interesting is that he'd chosen an appearance based on when he was in his late twenties, probably around the time that he'd joined Tethys. I'm sure that says something deep and meaningful about his psyche, but to me all it showed was that he had a very loose grasp on reality. Hopefully we can exploit that.

  'Hello Dr Tamboli, it is an honour to meet you,' I said, trying not to sound like an obsequious creep, but probably failing. 'Please may I apologise again for my conduct the last time we met. I was tired and emotional, and wrong.'

  'I am a reasonable man, but you did hurt me deeply,' said the young shit. 'I will however forgive you on an interim basis. If this conversation does not prove worthwhile, I will reconsider.'

  'Thank you Dr Tamboli, that is very considerate. May I call you Raj?' I said to the murdering bastard.

  'You may. Will you introduce me to your co-conspirators?' he asked. Nice choice of words.

  'Raj, please may I introduce you to Safira, Legate of the Safirans. She is their representative and is authorised to make any decision on their behalf,' I said.

  'Greetings Raj, it is an honour to meet you,' said Safira, bowing.

  'Thank you. Now I recognise this other gentleman, but I do not understand. He should be dead,' Raj said, pointing towards Kofi.

  'Yes Raj, I am Kofi Albus. The report of my death was an exaggeration,' said Kwasi.

  'Nice to hear someone getting that quote right Kofi. I still do not understand how you are alive however,' said Raj. Good attention to detail Kwasi, scary that a Safiran knows Mark Twain better than me, as I thought he'd got it wrong.

  'Before Damon shot me, the Safirans uploaded my consciousness, similar to when you entered the Stream. However, I am now incorporeal, like the Safirans,' Kwasi said, simplifying nicely.

  Raj brightened, looking fascinated. That's encouraging. 'Really? What is it like? Can you go anywhere?' he said.

  'It is amazing, humbling even,' Kwasi said. 'You get an entirely new perspective on the universe, and more. I can sense the structure of bulk, but unfortunately my experience is limited.'

  'Limited in what way?' Raj said, hanging on every word.

  'They had to use me as the guinea pig to perfect the technique. Although I am alive, and it is a truly wonderful experience, I cannot travel limitlessly through the bulk nor experience its full majesty and glory,' said Kwasi. Nicely done I thought, even if he did lay it on a bit thick.

  'Is the process fully working now?' he asked.

  Safira took over. This team is working well. 'Yes, we are confident that the next human that uses the process will experience full ascension.' Yes, nicely dropped in the 'A' word there Safira. 'That is what we would like to discuss with you Raj.'

  'Yes?' he asked, sounding more and more interested. Shit, this is going to work.

  'We have been watching humanity for a while as you know. Our respect has grown as we have found out more about its past and how it has changed for the better. The architect of that change was you Raj. Your vision and wisdom has saved humanity, and turned it into a force for good in this galaxy,' she said. Don't overdo it.

  'Thank you, it is nice to be appreciated,' Raj said. OK, maybe she judged him better than me.

  'We wish to reward the service you have fulfilled for humanity by being its trailblazer once more. We would like to invite you to be the first human to truly ascend and join us through immortal eternity,' she said. Immortal eternity? Nice phrase, that should interest him. This could be it.

  'That will not happen,' said Raj, suddenly stern. Fuck. What went wrong? I thought we had him there.

  Raj looked round us, staring aggressively, pointing his finger at each in turn. 'I do not trust you. I do not trust any of you, especially you Geraldine.'

  I started to reply, 'Raj, I can assure…' but he cut in.

  'Quiet. You will listen to me, and answer my questions,' he shouted. Shit, I think we're in the 'let's make it up as we go along' phase.

  'I know you Safirans want us to stop using the bulk drive. That will not happen. We must stay an interstellar species. I have worked for that all my life, to safeguard our future and remove our dependence on the Earth,' he said, almost spitting out every word. 'Are you saying you no longer want us to give up the bulk drive?'

  Safira was the first to react. 'Yes we still want that, but it is not as simple as you state.' Weak Safira, we'll need to do better than that.

  'In what way?' he snapped.

  'We wish to replace your bulk drive by something less damaging. We can teach you how to skim the surface of the bulk, rather than break through it and damage it so badly. Your current bulk drive is destructive, and not only damages the bulk, but kills us Safirans,' she said.

  'So you are just looking to protect yourself, not help us?' he said. 'That doesn't sound very altruistic.' Bastard, just skip over the bits where Safirans die.

  'We will give you something better, and in exchange, you stop hurting us. That sounds like a fair trade, not one sided at all,' she said, starting to show some passion and annoyance.

  'How could I trust you in this? It's easy to say, less easy to deliver,' Raj sneered.

  'Here, have this,' Safira said somewhat abruptly, sending him something through the Stream.

  'What is it?' he asked.

  'It is the design of a bulk-skimmer space drive, with a full analysis of the science behind it. I give it to you as a goodwill gesture, with no preconditions,' she said. Nicely played Safira. I know that the bulk-skimmer drive isn't as fast in reality as our current bulk drive, but it will be good enough. More importantly, Raj won't realise that very quickly.

  'Give me a moment,' Raj said. His face showed intense concentration, as he was obviously studying the details. After a couple of minutes, he finally responded. He looked more relaxed.

  'I am impressed by the finesse of the design. It is a much more elegant solution than our current drive, I can appreciate how this is an improvement. It takes a lot of effort to make our current bulk drive work. Thank you,' he said. Well done Safira. I was just starting to relax, when he turned and looked at me.

  'That does not excuse your treachery Geraldine. Your treason, your plotting against me. I am willing to forgive Kofi, as he was your minion, and has carried out a service for us in helping to perfect the ascension process. You I cannot forgive. How do you justify yourself?' he said.

  'I cannot,' I said, trying to calm myself. Don't panic Geraldine. 'At first I was unsure what was happening, I could just see that people were dying, which is when I first asked Kofi to help investigate. I already had suspicions that there was something more going on, once I'd found out what had happened to Shigekatsu Ishihara and the Tenjiku Tokubei after they first met the Safirans. I could not just trust the Safirans, an alien race who had nothing but words to back up their accusations. So I decided to investigate myself; how could I do otherwise as a Decemvir, sworn to protect and guide humanity?'

  'OK, I'll give you that much, but it doesn't justify trying to kill me,' Raj said, still in a very aggressive tone of voice. I've clearly got a lot more work to do.

  'Indeed, but I have never actively sought to kill you,' I replied honestly, although that's only because I've never thought of a way to do it. 'Let me explain further. As we investigated, it became clear that some agency had been driving humanity since the days of the Flood. We called
it the Fount. We did not know what the agency was, just that it existed, that people were dying and humanity was being controlled and shaped in some way. At one time, we were concerned that this agency may have influenced you around the time of the Flood, and that what happened may have served a wider agenda that wasn't necessarily just to the benefit of humanity.'

  'That wasn't the case, I can assure you,' he said.

  'I agree, but we didn't know that at the time. At first we considered that the Safirans were responsible for the Fount, but not long after that Safira made contact with Kofi. It became clear to us that they were not behind it, but could be a vital ally against the Fount. It was the Safirans that revealed to us that the Fount was actually an intelligent entity residing in the Stream. That made us determined to find out what it was. The most likely explanation was that an alien entity had infiltrated the Stream and was dominating humanity. If that was the case, it had to be stopped. I started working on plans to rescue humanity. How could I do otherwise? I was a Decemvir, I was responsible for the safety of mankind.' I tried to put as much passion and sincerity into my speech as I could. I hope he buys this. I'm making sure that as many as possible of the facts that I say are true. They're just not necessarily in the right order.

  'I can understand how things must have seemed from your perspective. That doesn't explain when you knew who I was, or what you were planning on doing. It doesn't justify what you said to me last time,' Raj said. Still a way to go, but he is definitely sounding less hostile. Let's go for a bit of direct honesty, followed by a barefaced lie.

  'We did not know how to remove the Fount from the Stream, so the only option we had was to stop it from being able to influence humanity," I said. I think I need to focus just on humanity, I don't think he really cares about the other races in the Confluvium. 'We developed a way to turn humanity Dry. It's a variation on the command used by Damon to cause HOME deaths, but only destroys the command processing centre. I can deploy it worldwide from here. It would be the opposite of your Flood. We called it the Stopcock.'

  Raj looked shocked, and then angry.

  'That must not happen. Humanity will not survive without the Stream. It cannot revert back to its old ways,' he said, raising his voice.

  'I agree Raj, that is why I contacted you again. I think we could keep humanity from reverting back to its old habits given the positive way you have guided us all, but that is a risk I do not wish to take now that I know you are the Fount,' I said.

  'When did you first realise?' he asked. Good, just the question I wanted. Now for the barefaced lie.

  'I only had my first suspicions a couple of weeks ago. While I was waiting for the deployment system to be completed, I was re-reading Kofi's research material. It suddenly struck me that there were several facts that made perfect sense if it was you living in the Stream. For example, we didn't really understand how you died on Flood day, and we know you instigated research into full brain emulation. Even so, I didn't really believe it, it seemed too wild a theory; it was still more likely to be an external influence. That was until we spoke earlier. When you told me who you were, it wasn't entirely a surprise, but it was still a great shock. I reacted badly, and said things that in retrospect I did not mean. Once more, please accept my apologies,' I said.

  'What changed your mind about triggering your Stopcock?' he said.

  'It was only afterwards when I considered the things that you've done, knowing who you are. They made sense for the first time, I can see why they had to happen,' I said. It was a struggle to get the words out, they were so sickening, but it needed doing. 'As with the way you saved us with the Flood, everything has been done for the benefit of humanity. You've had to make so many tough decisions and sacrifices along the way, it must be hard to bear. I have nothing but thanks and admiration for your dedication and the service you have performed for us all.' Was that too much?

  He paused, thinking to himself for a while. Hurry up you sanctimonious prat.

  'Thank you Geraldine, those are kind words. It is nice to be appreciated at last. However, there is one fact that does not ring true,' Raj said, turning to Kwasi. 'Kofi, before you died, Damon told you who I was. Why did you not tell Geraldine? I cannot believe you would not have told her.'

  Kwasi briefly feigned confusion.

  'Raj, I have no memories of my final day. My consciousness was copied the evening before my arrest, as a contingency. I have no recollection of meeting Damon at all on my last day,' said Kofi.

  'That would explain it if that were true. However how do I know that you are truly Kofi? I have only your word for it. You could have taken on his appearance to trick me,' he said. An unexpectedly astute point from Dr Psycho. Sorry, control yourself Geraldine, focus on the plan.

  'Ask me any question from my past, anything that only I would know,' Kwasi challenged him with a bit of an old cliché. I hope his memories are as good as he thinks.

  'Tell me about who you were married to, and why you split up,' Damon asked. I realised that Kofi had never actually told me what happened that triggered the breakup, and I never wanted to pry. I could see how upset he was when he talked about Colin.

  'I was married to Colin Snowdon. We met while we were at University together,' Kwasi said, his voice very emotional. Well done Kwasi. 'We split up when I discovered he had been having an affair with my older brother.'

  Shit Kofi, I never knew. I am so sorry, that must have been terrible. Losing your husband and brother in one go. I'm amazed how open and trusting you still were to me given what you had been through.

  'Thank you, that matches what I know. So tell me, was Colin was your only love?' he asked. That question just seemed malicious, having seen how upset he was over Colin. The heartless bastard, he never had a decent long term relationship with anyone but himself. Don't tell him about Safira, Kwasi. That will only open a can of worms.

  'No, Colin was not my first love,' Kwasi said. What? Kwasi turned to look at me and smiled. 'When we were teenagers, I fell for a close friend of mine. I never told her of course, as it was clear it wouldn't have been right for her despite our friendship. She needed support and affirmation as she went through her gender reassignment. I was very happy to stay close friends and to be with her through the transition, becoming the person she always wanted to be. There was no stopping her after that, I was always proud to call Geraldine my friend.'

  I stared at Kofi, I mean, Kwasi. I realised I had tears in my eyes again. 'I never knew,' I said. I've not cried for years, and yet these last few months have changed me. I seem to be much more open with my emotions since Kofi came back into my life, and I feel stronger for it, not weaker.

  'I did not want you to know, life was hard enough for you as it was,' Kwasi said. 'I think that's why I didn't make much effort to keep in touch after we went to different universities. I didn't want to hold you back in your new life, you were enjoying it so much, and I too needed to move on. I missed your friendship though.'

  'As touching as this is,' interjected Raj, 'let us not forget why we are here. I am convinced that you are indeed Kofi, and I accept what you say Geraldine. Will you agree to dismantle the infrastructure you have put in place for the Stopcock, Geraldine?'

  You bastard, give me a moment to take in what Kwasi just said. I know he's not Kofi, but those felt like Kofi's words, and I'm sure they're based on Kofi's true feeling. I'm not sure I deserved his love and friendship. Deep breath Geraldine.

  'Of course, Raj. It is no longer needed now I understand what is happening,' I lied instinctively, still distracted by Kwasi's words.

  'That is good, please do so immediately. This however changes nothing. I cannot leave the Stream,' he said.

  Fuck, as soon as I think we’re getting somewhere, he slams the door in our face. He's really enjoying this, building us up and then destroying our hopes. That sounded final, what do we do now?

  Pool reconstruction: Raj Tamboli - 31st Ianuarius 228PD

  Geraldine Mander looked at me, stunned. I
could see the hope drain from her face. It’s been a useful exercise, stringing them along like this, finding out the full extent of their plans. Plotters always love to explain themselves it seems. Of course, it would always come to nought, but I needed to know the true nature and extent of their treachery. Maybe I have misjudged them, maybe not. I must admit that I am intrigued and tempted by the thought of becoming fully incorporeal after living in this cage I built for myself. However, there’s no point in dwelling on it, I have long accepted I cannot leave the Stream, and will be here guiding the Confluvium in perpetuity. I accepted responsibility for humanity long ago, and it is a burden I cannot in all good conscience put down, as much as I may benefit from doing so.

  I could see Geraldine struggling to regain her composure as I stood there smiling at her. I wonder what she’ll try next? I guess I should put an end to this and put them out of their misery, but I’m rather enjoying this. There have been so few chances over the years for direct interaction with people who actually knew who they were talking to. Geraldine took a deep breath, and at last continued.

  ‘Raj, you have done so much for humanity, you deserve a rest and a change. If you accept ascension, you can still guide us. You will still be able to communicate with Damon, your Lictors, and of course I am happy to act on your behalf as well. It would be an honour to serve you; after all I need to make amends for my mistakes,’ she said.

  Wow, she’s desperate, laying it on so thick, as if flattery is going to make someone of my wisdom and experience change my mind. It is nice to hear the compliments and subservience of course, naturally. Oh well, time to make it clear what’s really at stake here.

  ‘Thank you Geraldine,’ I said, as genuinely as I could. ‘Unfortunately it is not that simple.’ When is anything ever simple? Did they think it was simple to organise Flood Day and guide everything that has happened since? The naive fools. The decisions I have had to make at times sicken me, but better than risk humanity making the same mistakes again.