by Seth Rain
‘Humanity must be blind to determinism,’ Juliet went on, ‘to the mechanics of the universe. If it isn’t, clearly, it leads to self-destruction.’
‘That’s what I don’t understand,’ Scott said. ‘If everything is predetermined, then we were predetermined to design the AI and then follow through with its vision of things to come.’
Juliet sat back in her chair. ‘That is also true.’
‘So everything that has happened, that is happening, that will happen, has already been decided,’ Scott said.
Juliet sighed deeply. ‘I don’t think it’s as simple as that.’
‘So explain,’ Scott said. ‘Please.’
‘I’m not sure I can. But as far as I understand, we need to stop the AI. For humanity to have a chance, we must be oblivious to determinism. It’s the only way. Ever since Mathew released the 144,000 dates, humanity has lost control.’
‘That was your doing,’ Dawn said. ‘Along with Gabriel and Mathew.’
Juliet lowered her head. ‘I know. It is painfully ironic. The AI was designed to save lives. To prolong them.’
Dawn looked at Juliet and Scott. Raising her voice, she said, ‘So, if we stop the AI – stop it predicting dates – there’s a chance?’
Juliet’s face softened. ‘Maybe.’
‘So there’s hope,’ Dawn repeated, ‘if we stop the AI?’ She opened her coat, revealing her stomach.
Juliet covered her mouth, her eyes opening wide.
Dawn cradled her stomach. ‘I want my baby to be born into a world without dates. I want it to have a chance to live.’
Slowly, Juliet shook her head, her eyes moving to Dawn’s stomach. ‘But you’re a child yourself,’ she said.
‘I’m not a child,’ Dawn said.
‘I’m sorry,’ Juliet said. ‘Of course not.’
‘So what can we do?’ Scott asked.
‘I’ve been working on the passwords,’ Juliet said, ‘that we each had from the beginning: Gabriel, Mathew and myself.’
‘Yes,’ Scott said. ‘But you need face recognition, fingerprints…’
‘I know Mathew – he will have Gabriel’s body for that.’
Scott recalled Gabriel lying on the ground beside him, blood pooling around him. All Scott felt then, and now, was how pointless it all was. Gabriel had shot Scott, and someone had shot Gabriel, and there they both were, on the ground, bleeding out and dying.
‘So we can stop the AI?’ Dawn asked.
‘Possibly,’ Juliet said. ‘But we’d need all three passwords.’
‘And that would work? That would stop the AI?’ Scott asked.
‘We knew, when we designed the first AI, that there was a risk. That it could present a danger if used incorrectly. We set up, at the core of the AI, a way of disabling it. It also requires the three passwords to run its permission to design the next generation of AI. There was always a danger that the AI might run ahead of us and design an AI that would outsmart us in all sorts of ways.’
‘I think that’s already happened,’ Scott said.
‘This is not the AI’s doing,’ Juliet said. ‘This is Mathew. This is us – humanity.’
‘But Gabriel’s dead,’ Scott said. ‘And Mathew would never give up his password.’
Juliet stood and pointed to a bookcase in the far corner of the room.
‘This was Gabriel’s home. That’s why I’m here. In one of these books, diaries or computers is his password. I know it.’
There were several bookcases, each lined with tightly packed folders crammed with paper, rows of books stacked haphazardly, and a number of laptops and tablets.
‘And how will you know if you have the right password?’
‘I’m able to try once every twenty-four hours. I’ve been trying different passwords.’
Scott stared at the bookcases. ‘Does Mathew know about this? Why doesn’t he get your password from you?’
‘I’ve asked myself the same question. Either he doesn’t need to improve the AI, or he’s already managed to remove the restrictions I set up in the beginning.’
‘Or he knows you have the best chance of working out Gabriel’s password and is leaving you to it,’ Dawn said. ‘Which would mean he’s not managed to break down the protection you set up.’
Juliet nodded.
‘But even if you discovered Gabriel’s password, you still wouldn’t have Mathew’s.’
Juliet got up and walked to the door. ‘I can’t sit around waiting for my date without trying to do something. I’ll find Gabriel’s password. What happens after that … well, one step at a time. Come with me.’
Scott and Dawn followed her to a dark, windowless room. Juliet leaned into the darkness and flicked a switch. Somewhere behind the wall, a motor started up. A light flickered above them.
‘A generator,’ Juliet said. ‘It gives me around an hour of power each day.’
In one corner of the room was a mass of wires and electronic hardware. On a desk was a monitor.
‘Is this how you speak with the AI?’ Scott asked.
‘It is a part of the system the AI cannot see. Each day I try another password.’
Scott shook his head. ‘Gabriel’s password could be anything.’
Juliet turned off the power in the room and led them back to the living room. ‘Not anything. People don’t work like that. There will be a reason he chose the password.’
Dawn leaned against the wall, gazing out at the lake.
‘And what about people who have their dates already?’ Scott asked, glancing over at Dawn.
Juliet spoke quietly. ‘There’s nothing we can do about dates that have already been issued. All we can do is help those who are born free of the AI and Mathew’s dates. It doesn’t mean determinism is any less true, but not knowing our dates is as close to free will as we can get.’
‘And the paradox will end?’ Scott asked.
Juliet nodded. ‘That’s my guess. Look what’s happened to us. Knowing the dates we die means humanity has done everything possible to ensure those dates are adhered to.’
Scott rubbed his eyes. ‘You knew Gabriel best,’ he said to Juliet. ‘Do you have any idea what the password might be?’
‘I’ve tried lots of options,’ she said, shrugging.
Scott stared at his hands. He thought back to the conversations he’d had with Gabriel. The password lay in those conversations, somewhere, he knew it must. He recalled Gabriel as he lay on the floor beside him, dying. It kept coming back to him. As though it was important. His expression … he looked as though he knew a secret. What was that? And he had muttered something.
‘What?’ Juliet asked. ‘What is it?’
‘I was with him when he was shot,’ Scott said. ‘Wait. I remember…’
‘Remember what?’ Dawn asked.
Scott held up his hand and closed his eyes to think. ‘He said something. Gabriel said something.’
‘Why would he say something to you?’ Juliet asked.
‘I don’t know why, but he did. It was difficult to make out. I knew at the time, somehow, that what he was saying was important.’
‘What did he say?’ Juliet asked.
Scott squeezed his eyes shut. ‘It sounded like he was saying “death” or “dead”. And there was an aeroplane overhead. He stared at it and smiled. I remember hearing the aeroplane and Gabriel’s eyes flickered, as if he heard it too. And he said something … something about flying too close to the sun.’
‘Daedalus,’ Juliet said. ‘That’s it. That’s his password.’
‘What’s that?’ Dawn asked.
‘You mean who is that?’ Juliet said. ‘He was the father of Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. Daedalus made it – but Icarus didn’t.’ She sank into the chair next to the fire.
‘When can we try it?’ Dawn asked.
‘Tomorrow,’ Juliet said. ‘The twenty-four hours will be up at midday.’
Fourteen
The only place free from
Mathew’s surveillance and drones was Birmingham and the Black Country. It had been different to most of the country for some time, but now the date of the Rapture had been released, the hedonistic, defiant nature of the city and surrounding towns had reached a new level. Different parts of the city were governed by competing clans and access to these places was tricky. Noah had contacted several other defected Watchers, who had taken the same view he had – that Mathew had manipulated the Rapture and the dates to suit himself. This small network gave them a way of staying on the move and undetectable by Mathew’s Watchers. In Wolverhampton, Scott and Freya stayed above a pub called The Crown, opposite a cemetery.
Even now, in June, thick smog filled the air. The heat was oppressive and Scott longed to see blue skies and feel a clean breeze.
‘We have to leave,’ Scott said.
Freya handed Scott a glass of water. ‘And go where?’
‘I don’t know! But this heat is killing us. I can’t breathe.’
In the living room at the front of the building, Scott stared at the radio. There were only two stations that played music.
Freya, at the window, faced out onto the cemetery on the other side of the dual carriageway.
‘We could go north,’ Scott said. ‘To the Lakes.’
‘What about drones?’
Scott shrugged. ‘We take our chances. If we make it there it’ll be isolated, away from prying eyes.’
‘It’s getting there that’s the problem.’
‘Mathew will be searching for Juliet. Not us.’
‘I think you underestimate how much he’ll want to punish us for what we’ve done.’
He drank warm water and then held his head in his hands.
The music on the radio stopped abruptly midway through a song.
A voice spoke. Mathew.
‘The time is close at hand when we will ascend to His side. This is not something to fear. We will celebrate this important moment in the story of humanity. All stories have a beginning and an end, and our end is redemption. We will return to the place of conception and rise from our fall.
“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
‘When the time comes, on 22 April 2041, we will show our lord and saviour we are ready. We will lie naked, as Adam and Eve once did, before their defiance and misbehaviour. Man, woman, son, daughter… all will lie naked, ready for him and the Chosen 144,000 to usher us to His side in the Garden of Eden.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
‘Our souls, brothers and sisters … the soul that was given to each and every one of us as His children … will rise again. Do not fear this. It will be instantaneous, painless, euphoric. The Rapture is upon us. Prepare.’
The radio hissed with static and the music returned.
Scott sat back in his chair. The language Mathew used struck him as childish, and yet he knew other people heard something different. Mathew had always known how to persuade people, how to manipulate them. It made Scott angry, imagining people all over the world, hearing Mathew recite the Bible, and nodding to themselves, as though what they were listening to was self-evident. It was easy to give in to it – the stories humanity had invented for itself.
‘Why don’t people do something?’ Freya asked. ‘Why do they follow what he says?’
‘But we’re not doing anything, are we?’ Scott said.
Freya walked back from the window, her hands out in front. ‘We tried. We can’t do it on our own.’
Scott slowly tapped the arms of his chair with the sides of his fists. ‘Noah and Juliet won’t want to go back either.’
‘No,’ Freya said, sitting beside Scott.
‘I can’t stay here,’ he said.
Freya waited, her eyes on his.
‘Mathew has something planned,’ he said. ‘He’s going to make the Rapture happen. He’s not waiting – he’s bringing it on, himself.’
‘How?’
Scott hesitated. ‘I don’t know. But we’re just waiting for it to happen. Along with everyone else.’
‘There will be others who want to challenge it,’ Freya said. ‘There has to be.’
Scott nodded. ‘We need to find them. If we’re going to stop Mathew, we have to find others willing to help.’ He thought back to his time in the Black Country. ‘I know someone who might.’
Freya sat up straight. ‘You think we can stop Mathew?’
‘We have to try. I can’t stay here, waiting for it to happen.’
Freya stood and reached for her jacket, on the floor beside the chair.
‘His name’s Jack,’ Scott said. ‘When we split up, by the canal, he was the one who gave Isaiah the tattoo of a date.’
‘Do we really want to ask him for help?’ Freya asked.
‘I’m not sure we have a choice. He has a large clan that could help.’
‘What makes you think he’ll want to?’
‘He hates Mathew and the Watchers. And he hates someone like Mathew having control over him.’
‘I don’t know. How can we trust them?’
Scott stood and reached for his clothes. ‘Either we head north and ignore what’s happening. Or we get help and go south to stop Mathew.’
‘You think we can stop him?’ Freya stood up and put her arms round him. He felt a desperation in her that he’d not felt so fiercely before. She needed reassurance. ‘Is there a chance?’
Scott held her and kissed the top of her head. ‘I don’t know for sure.’
‘What do you want to do?’ she asked.
‘If you’d asked me that before I met you, I’d have said I’d head north.’
‘And now?’ she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
‘I thought it would be enough – being with you until … until it happens.’
Freya leaned back to look into his eyes.
‘But I want more,’ he said. ‘I want to be with you for years, not months and weeks.’
‘Me too,’ Freya said. ‘I want more time.’
He wrapped his arms around her again and held her tightly. ‘So let’s do something.’
Fifteen
The loch, in the early morning light, was like a painting. Mist hovered above the water, through which the mountains rose into a grey sky. The water shimmered, faint ripples moving towards Scott. The air was cold and fresh.
Scott took a canister of fuel from the 4x4 and carried it to the small wooden hut which housed the generator.
‘This should give us plenty of time,’ Juliet said, pointing to where Scott needed to empty the canister into the generator.
‘How long will we have with the AI?’
‘Hard to say. Sometimes I don’t manage contact at all. His programming changes all the time.’
‘Can you still understand it?’ Scott asked.
‘He’s been upgrading himself continually. It’s difficult to keep up. Each time I go in, I find something new – segments of code I have to learn and understand all over again. But let’s see what we can do.’ Juliet started the generator then began walking back towards the loch.
‘Where are you going?’ Scott asked, pointing back to the house.
Juliet didn’t say anything.
Scott and Dawn followed her. At the bottom of the long garden, standing on a concrete pad, was a large, dirty-white satellite dish that appeared out of place looming over the tiny hut beside it.
‘In here,’ Juliet said, opening the door to the hut. There was barely enough room for the three of them.
Juliet opened a laptop. On the screen was an image of the satellite dish, along with rows of numbers and graphs. ‘First we have to find and track a satellite in order to make contact with the AI.’
Scott watched Juliet tap the keyboard and mumble to herself.
‘Can you find one?’ Dawn asked.
‘I will,’ Juliet said. ‘Eventually.’
Scott stepped outside. The satellite dish, which was taller than he was, tilted slightly, scanning left to right, then upwards. Scott followed the direction the dish pointed but could see nothing but clouds. Then the dish stopped moving. Juliet appeared from the hut.
‘Dawn,’ Juliet said, ‘would you go and check on the generator? Make sure it’s not overheating.’
Dawn nodded and walked up to the house.
‘I want to tell you my password,’ Juliet said quietly to Scott.
Scott frowned.
‘I don’t want her to know,’ Juliet said, watching Dawn reach the house. ‘If Mathew manages to get hold of her, I want Dawn to be able to say honestly that she doesn’t know my password. Otherwise he’ll get it out of her.’
Scott looked back to the house, then at Juliet.
‘Rudbeckia goldsturm,’ she whispered. ‘Say it back to me and spell it.’
He did as she asked.
‘It’s a flower,’ she said. ‘Now only you and I know both passwords. Keep it that way.’
Scott repeated it over and over in his head.
‘You’re different,’ Juliet said.
‘What?’
‘The last time I saw you. The day of the Rapture – you looked broken – like you’d given up.’
Scott looked down at the ground.
‘It’s a good thing,’ she said. ‘You look and sound as though you have some hope again. After what happened to Freya.’
‘She doesn’t have long left,’ he said. ‘She’s just a kid. It doesn’t hurt to play along.’
‘So you don’t think her date’s wrong?’
He wiped his brow. ‘No. Of course not.’
They both looked up to the house. Dawn had checked on the generator and was waiting for them.
Juliet led the three of them back to the room in the house with the computer. She flicked switches and turned dials. What at first sounded like a whisper of hardware starting up became a growling hum. Scott recognised the smell – it smelled like the AI. He marvelled at how organic the smell was, like turned earth. It was warm in the room, even with the fans and cooling systems working hard to keep the processors from corrupting. Juliet pushed back the chair and sat at the computer. There was no holo-screen, only a bank of old-fashioned flat-screen monitors.
