The Immortality Code

by Douglas E. Richards

  “When I was killed by the gas,” he continued. “I was reborn as the me who existed two days earlier. But I’m always able to get back up to speed quickly, because I have smart contacts and comms that record everything around me. And I can fast rewind. Allowing me to catch up on anything important that I missed.”

  “Fast rewind?” said Reed.

  “Right. As opposed to fast-forwarding. If I die when I’m not purposely making a copy of myself, it means that something unexpected killed me. So it pays to review the footage starting with my death, to learn how it happened, and work backwards.”

  “It sounds like there’s only one of you alive at a time,” said Reed. “I mean, you could create unlimited copies, right? An army of Tom Hoyers.”

  “But I don’t. One of me is all I need. A singular, immortal, eternal me. Since my nanites can’t presently make copies of themselves, if there were more than one of me, we’d have to share nanites. And I don’t share well. And neither would my copy. And the only person on Earth who could get the better of me would be another me. So even after I’m able to get my nanites to reproduce, I’ll stick to one of me at a time.”

  “As far as I’m concerned,” said Reed, “one of you is too many. But let’s get back to your revival after you had Ava gas the room.”

  “Haven’t we already gone over this? After I was reborn I brought myself up to speed. I saw that you had captured and interrogated me, and why. I retrieved your phone from the study, played the last part of your conversation with Bryce. The part you had kept from me.”

  Reed nodded knowingly. “The part about texting him the location for a meeting.”

  “Exactly,” said Hoyer with a smug grin. “Not only had you been using your phone to play me a recording, you were having it record our session until further notice. So when I returned to the study it was still unlocked. But had it been locked, I could have opened it using a print from one of your dead fingers. Regardless, given I had access to your phone, the least I could do was text Bryce, pretending to be you. I told him Hoyer had failed to convince me, Zachary Reed, of his innocence. And that I, Zachary Reed, was now on board. But instead of bringing Hoyer with me to the meet, I was keeping him unconscious and secured in my own facility—at least for now—complete with an anti-telepathy helmet.”

  Reed nodded. “And then you gave him the location we’re at now and set the sixteen-hour clock running.”

  “Nice, huh?” said Hoyer. “I told him it was a brand new safe house that Hoyer had yet to use, but that I, Zachary Reed, had the codes to allow him to take over the security AI. I even alerted him about the deadly gas in every room. If his men found it without the heads-up, that might have scared him off. And I didn’t want to capture his mercs. I wanted to capture him.”

  “You’re an evil, ruthless bastard,” said Reed, “but you did play this well. You cleverly used my memory loss to convince me and Allie to travel here, so you could capture us all at once. Wrap this up neat and tidy. And you told us you were going to load the place with your men beforehand, so the presence of Aronson’s mercs wouldn’t scare us off when we arrived. You knew Aronson’s men would know to expect us, so we’d just assume they were yours.”

  “The dots are finally getting easy to connect, aren’t they?” said Hoyer. “Still, I enjoy hearing my flawless plan parroted back to me. It sounds even more impressive when you say it.”

  Reed sighed. He wanted to lash out, not give Hoyer any satisfaction, but he also wanted to keep him talking. Learn what he could. And not do anything to get him to raise his guard. “So you asked me to give you a fifteen-minute warning when we were due to arrive here. And then you and your buddy Rico had yourselves dissolved in Henderson, and reconstituted in the basement here. Aronson’s men had blessed the place. They must have even inspected the piles of potting soil, but didn’t know several of them contained nanites. Even if they did, they couldn’t have expected hostiles to literally materialize in the center of their secure zone.”

  “Felt like teleportation to me,” said Hoyer. “One moment I’m in the safe house in Nevada and the next I’m here. A trick even Houdini would envy. After arrival here, I had the nanites whip up gas masks, drones, tranq darts, and so on. And then we . . . announced our presence.”

  “So where are your other reconstitution centers?” asked Reed.

  Hoyer laughed. “Nice try. But you must think I’m stupid.”

  “You’ve won. So what does it matter?”

  “Funny, same discussion we had back in Henderson in reverse. I tried to get you to tell me where Aronson was, and you wouldn’t. I said the same thing. Why not? I’m your prisoner. What will it matter? I now know that you had no idea where he was. But if you had told me, it would have blown up in your face. So even though I’m all but certain you can’t escape, why take any chances? At the moment I’m immortal. Eternal. Why give you detailed directions to my kryptonite?”

  There was a long silence in the room.

  “Last thing,” said Reed. “After I was . . . reborn, you needed to stall. You knew that Aronson wouldn’t arrive at the Texas safe house until his men had used most of the sixteen hours I had agreed to give him to clear the place. But you were aware that I was sleeping with Allie. Knowing that, it’s clear you were actively encouraging us to make love again last night. Why?”

  “I’m glad you asked. It amused me to think of you experiencing sexual ecstasy together, continuing down the path to falling in love, only to run into this wood chipper today. Like lambs to the slaughter. Just when you thought you were safe.”

  “You are one sick bastard,” said Reed.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment, Commander.”

  46

  Reed’s mind continued to churn, evaluating the best time and way to play his cards. He had only come up with a single option, but it was as good as he could hope for. Still, his execution would have to be flawless. For now, it was enough to let Hoyer keep talking for as long as possible. To learn as much as he could.

  “So here we are,” said Reed. “Just like you planned. But if we’re lambs to the slaughter, why are we still alive? Just so you have an audience to gloat to?” He leaned forward. “What do want with us?”

  “Not much of you and Allie, actually. But I do want something of my old friend and colleague.”

  He walked the few steps to Bryce Aronson and tore the duct tape from his mouth in one violent motion, accompanied by a sharp sound like that of ripping paper. Aronson let out a brief howl of pain and massaged his lips against each other to help lessen the sting and bring them back to life.

  “Okay, Tom,” said the prisoner with a sneer. “What is it that you want?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “The decryption codes for your nanites.”

  “Good guess.”

  “Why does that even matter anymore?” asked Aronson. “You can have your quantum computer find them.”

  “Not yet, I can’t. A true quantum computer might take another full year to perfect. And as you know, patience isn’t one of my virtues. Actually, virtue isn’t one of my virtues. So no time like the present. I also want to see all of your nanite research, and get access to all of your safe houses and facilities.”

  “Why would I help you?”

  “First,” said Hoyer, “because if you do, I’ll let you live. Despite your relentless efforts to keep the nanites all to yourself. And where there’s life, there’s hope. You have a chance of turning the tables. A remote chance, but a chance. I’ll treat you well and even let you have your say. Let you debate me.”

  “I don’t buy it for a second.”

  “Why not? You’re brilliant. You’re bound to think of things that I miss. You can even contribute to my cause. I’ll not only let you live, I’ll help you thrive. If you play ball. You have my word.”

  “Your word?” said Aronson incredulously. “You have to be kidding. You’ll kill me the moment I give you what you want.”

  “Why would I do that? Belie
ve me, I want you to take me up on this. I’d love to keep you alive. You’d be good for me, Bryce. I need you for mental stimulation. As a challenge. I’m addicted to action, to peril, remember? What fun is it for a chess master to play a beginner? Someone like you might actually be able to keep me on my toes.”

  “I’ll just be a Guinea pig for you to torture and run through a maze.”

  “Not at all,” said Hoyer innocently. “You’ll be a respected sparring partner helping to keep me sharp. But your own life isn’t the only reason to cooperate.”

  “Wait a minute,” interrupted Reed. He stared at Aronson in confusion. “Don’t you have a copy of yourself in nanite memory, just like Hoyer does?”

  “I don’t,” replied the physicist. “I wasn’t willing to risk killing people to do the proper experiments. Tom didn’t do them until after we, ah . . . parted ways. Besides, I’d prefer not to be digested down to individual atoms if I can help it.”

  “A mistake,” said Hoyer. “You’ve always been too reliant on the repair crew in your bloodstream, Bricey.” He turned and glared at Reed. “Now don’t interrupt us again!” he demanded.

  Hoyer turned back to the quantum physicist. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” he continued, “it isn’t just your life on the line here. If you don’t provide the decryption code, I’ll torture and kill Allie Keane in front of you. And I know you agree with the rest of us that she’s special. Very special. Her death would be an epic loss to the cosmos.”

  “What about Zachary?”

  “I’ll probably let him live,” said Hoyer. “But no guarantee. I’ll have to play that by ear. He’s just the man to keep me sharp, but he’s a little too good. Still, I’ll give him a chance. And even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll have his pattern from a time before he knew anything about my recent disclosures. So I can start over and keep him on my side this time. Might need someone of his caliber again.” He shrugged. “Although, the longer I go without bringing him back, the harder it is to explain the vast gap in memory.”

  He paused. “So what do you say, Bryce?”

  “I say you’re bluffing. At least about Dr. Keane. You need her.”

  “First, I don’t bluff. You should have learned that from the video I just showed of me gassing myself to death. Second, why do I need her? She’s already given me the recipe for her special molecule. And while she might be helpful in figuring out how to best implement her room temperature qubits into a quantum computer, the nanites already possess the patterns of the best quantum physicists in the world.”

  Allie’s eyes widened. “You didn’t just digest their equipment, did you?” she said in horror. “You digested them also.”

  Hoyer smiled. “Like their equipment, I did put them back in place when I was done. So they haven’t been missed. And I copied eight more physicists after that. They’re all in nanite memory, ready to be reborn as personal servants at my whim. I was going to reanimate them soon, in fact, so they could help you turn your theory into a working computer. These are world-leading scientists that I own, lock, stock, and barrel. No one is looking for them, because they aren’t missing. No cops, no employers, no wives. And even if cops stumble upon my copies, they couldn’t prove I killed the originals. As far as anyone knows, the copies living the originals’ lives are the originals. And as for the copies I’m using, the law would confirm that I own them outright. I manufactured them, after all, and one is entitled to own what one manufactures.”

  “You’re delusional,” said Reed. “Married couples create children, but the children still aren’t their property under the law.”

  “Because the children are assumed to have souls. Which won’t be the case with my copies.”

  Reed opened his mouth to argue further, but Hoyer cut him off. “A debate for another time, Commander.” He turned back to Aronson. “The bottom line is that I don’t need Allie at all. Not anymore. I have all the skill and brainpower I need to go forward from here.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “So if you fail to cooperate, Bryce, you’re almost certainly sealing her permanent death. Yes, there is a chance I’ll need her particular brand of genius again. But it’s very small. And if I do, I’ll just have her reanimated.”

  “If you digest her now,” pointed out Aronson, “all copies going forward will have a memory of who you really are.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I digested her at the same time I digested Commander Reed, isn’t it?”

  The blood drained from Allie’s face. “What?” she whispered.

  Hoyer laughed. “I could tell that hadn’t occurred to you, smart as you are. What did you think? That you were immune? You were my most precious commodity. Of course I’d want an immediate backup copy. I back up unimportant emails, so I’m sure as hell going to back you up. When I asked you if you thought Reed 2.0 was any different than before, it wasn’t really a controlled experiment, was it? Because I was asking a duplicate to weigh in on another duplicate. You died soon after he did.”

  Hoyer leaned forward in amusement. “So if the commander is now a soulless zombie, you are too. Yet another thing you two crazy kids have in common.”

  47

  Allie thought the universe had finally run out of epic surprises to deliver, but she had been wrong.

  The original her had been killed! Just like Zachary Reed.

  Still, she was glad she had been forced to consider how she felt about Zach before learning she was in the same boat. It allowed her to trust her conclusions more than if she were reeling from the knowledge of her own death, trying to come to grips with it rather than objectively weighing the evidence. And she knew in her heart she had been prepared to accept Zach as himself. The time she had spent with him had convinced her that he hadn’t changed. Not that this was conclusive, because if she were no longer truly human, how could she judge his humanity?

  She shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t afford to dwell on this now. And what was the point, anyway? There was no way Aronson would agree to Hoyer’s terms, so even if she was human, she was down to her last minutes of life.

  Hoyer watched the shock of his bombshell play out on Allie’s face for several long seconds. “Okay, Bryce,” he said, “I can see you aren’t quite ready to take me up on my offer. So I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to leave you alone for a while with these two. Let you try to win them over to your way of thinking.”

  “Why?” said Aronson.

  “Don’t you think they deserve to hear your point of view, grandiose as it is? So have the discussion you had with the commander when you first called him. You can all get to know each other. And this will give you time to think about my offer, and the consequences of refusing it, both. Wouldn’t want you rejecting it out of hand.”

  Aronson laughed. “Come on, Tom, I know how you think. I can see right through you. You want to leave us alone so we can all bond. So I get to see how wonderful Allie really is, hoping I’ll start to fall in love with her myself. So when you torture her in front of me, threaten permanent death, it will sway me that much more.

  “And even if that doesn’t work,” continued Aronson, “you’ll be listening in to every word. Hoping to glean something new before you kill me. Or, at minimum, derive some twisted entertainment from our conversation, which we know is what you live for.”

  “You got me, Bryce. You’re absolutely right. But here’s the thing. You can take me up on my offer. You can buy yourself more time. Or I can kill you right now.” He raised his eyebrows. “You’re choice.”

  Aronson glared at Hoyer for several long seconds. “Maybe I will take you up on your offer, after all,” he whispered.

  48

  Reed took a deep breath. It was time to act. Delaying might only make conditions worse.

  By his count he was facing eight mercenaries, a man named Rico, who no doubt was well trained, and Tom Hoyer, one of the most dangerous men in the world.

  And that was without counting the nanites, which were c
apable of defeating armies all by themselves.

  Seemed fair.

  Reed had a single ace up his sleeve. Along with experience, skill, and determination, it would have to be enough.

  He had vowed to protect Allie and had failed. He had already let them both die. But at the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were both still the same as they ever were. It was possible they were shadows of their former selves without realizing it, but he was content to pretend this wasn’t the case, and determined to do whatever was necessary to keep the most remarkable woman he had ever known alive, copy or no copy.

  Reed took a deep breath. “Before you go, Major,” he said, “I need to, ah . . . go myself. Can I take a brief bathroom break?”

  Hoyer snorted derisively. “Really, Commander? Is that the best plan you’ve got?”

  “Pretty much,” said Reed with a smile. “Although sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, right? I know it’s cliché to ask to go to the bathroom so you can escape. But you do have to admit, sometimes human beings really do need a bathroom.”

  “I don’t care,” said Hoyer. “Hold it.”

  “I get it,” said Reed. “I am the most dangerous adversary you’ve ever faced, even after you’ve taken my gun and knife. And there are only ten of you, after all. So I don’t blame you for being afraid. But how about this, bring in five of your men to escort me from the room at gunpoint. I insist. And then you can watch me in the act if you want. If you’re trying to win Bryce over, why not show him that you’re willing to do the minimum necessary to prevent my bladder from exploding?”

  Hoyer sighed. “Okay. Why not? I’ll take you myself.”