Syndicate Wars: Empire Rising (Seppukarian Book 5)

by George S. Mahaffey Jr.

  “I’m not sure what to think right now,” Quinn said. “Isn’t there another way?”

  “You’ll come to understand I’m right,” Potentate Cody said. “Once you see everything as I have. And we’ll be together, just like I promised. I still need just a little more time. There’s still a missing piece. I need to combine the Temporal Technology of my ship with the wormhole creation I discovered that led them to kidnap me. And then, only then, I’ll be able to pull human consciousness out of the nether and back into the physical world. Once I’ve achieved it, there’s no stopping us. We’ll be safe through conquest. I’m just missing one piece. And I need your help.”

  “I’m not sure, Cody,” Quinn said. “You don’t sound like the man I fell in love with right now. You sound consumed.”

  “That’s just because they experimented on me. Trying to find out why human consciousness can be pulled back out of death. They believed my mind was the key.”

  “Why would they believe that?”

  “Because their seers foresaw it,” Potentate Cody said. “And their so-called time travelers from the future told them. But I’m not convinced they truly conquered time. I think, maybe, they pulled it off at some point, but couldn’t repeat it. But they all said I was the one who found the missing piece.”

  “So stop it from happening,” Quinn said. “Stop doing this, and maybe their seers and time travelers will have never warned the rest of the Universe to be afraid of us. Stop this before it happens. Undo it.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. It has to have happened for me to be able to want to stop it. Or we’d just end up back here again. Whatever caused me to discover time travel has to happen for me to want to stop it. You understand?”

  “I do,” Quinn said. “You wouldn’t have wanted to change it if it hadn’t happened.”

  “Which is why we have to fulfill our destiny.”

  “I’m not sure I want to,” Quinn said. “Why not take…” She gestured her hands around at the advanced technology. “Why not take this and create a safe place for the remaining humans to start over?”

  “Because they’ll never stop hunting us until we conquer them. Don’t you get that?!”

  “Don’t raise your voice at me,” Quinn said. “Your armor may be fancy, but I’m not averse to beating some sense into you. Don’t forget which one of us is a Marine.”

  “You’re being foolish,” Potentate Cody said. “This is everything we’ve been fighting for. A chance to save humanity and be together.”

  Quinn backed away. “That’s just it,” she said. “I don’t want to be with someone who would do that. Someone who would wipe out other species like they’ve been doing to us. We need to be better than them.”

  “What does it matter how I make us safe? No one else can.”

  “We’ll be just fine on our own,” Quinn said, and marched out of the Keyhole Chamber.

  Leaving Potentate Cody alone with his power. Holding his mask in his left hand. His eyes grew sad, but only for a brief moment, before they turned to anger.

  It was a strange version of reality in which Cody was about to save Earth and humanity, but Quinn was refusing to be with him. Even saw him as evil. Despite winning and achieving everything they’d wanted, he still couldn’t have what he desired.

  Then, the projection swooped in on itself as the images disappeared. Leaving Quinn and Cody from the present alone back in the Keyhole Chamber. Not entirely alone, however, as Pyra was still omnipresent.

  32

  SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE

  Cody and Quinn avoided making eye contact at first. A long silence passed between them. Only to be interrupted by Pyra.

  “Do you understand now?” Pyra said.

  “I could hear their thoughts. My thoughts,” Quinn said. “How could I hear my own thoughts from something I never experienced?”

  “It’s one of the reasons the rest of the Universe is so afraid of Earth,” Pyra said. “When humans die, their consciousness continues. And can be pulled back into a simulation, a database, even another body. Pulled out of the ‘cloud’ that is the Universe itself. It frightens the others. And no one has figured out why humanity differs in this way. It’s the reason Earth was predicted to conquer all. Because they could recycle soldiers, scientists, Marines, even more, and use their experiences and accumulated knowledge to gain ground and advance at exponential rates, even faster than a self-replicating AI. The only way to defeat humans is to strike before they rise to power. That’s why they kidnapped the Original Cody. Potentate Cody. He was the one who discovered how. And there’s only ever been one Potentate Cody. Those aren’t their thoughts you’re hearing. They’re your memories. You experienced all of this. Your consciousness is in all possible worlds at the same time, and yet separate and in the present. You’re in the now. And Potentate Cody found a way to capture human conscious from the nether and bring it back into the physical world. That’s why they fear him.”

  “Is there really no way for you to change your voice?” Quinn said. “It’s getting creepy.”

  “Potentate Cody gave me my voice. It can’t be changed.”

  “What about this inevitability talk?” Cody said. “Is that true? Did all of this have to happen for us to even want to undo it?”

  “I think you’re beginning to understand,” Pyra said. “The problem is neither the Potentate, nor you, yet, comprehend how to break the paradox. You had to discover how to bring a human consciousness out of death and thus discover time travel for you to have ever wanted to not have discovered either.”

  “Do you understand?” Cody asked.

  “No,” Pyra said. “I do not grasp the paradox, because the catalyst for Potentate Cody’s physical world actions was emotional, which is an entire Universe unto itself. And as an AI, I cannot access this data.”

  “Who can?” Quinn said.

  “Only the two of you,” Pyra said, as if that was obvious. “Who else could…”

  “These aren’t just different versions of us and alternate realities,” Cody said, to Quinn. “They are that, but they’re also memories, like Pyra said. It would only be possible for this room, this device to access these moments if they’re being pulled from us. It’s not an archive. We’re the archive. I get that now. How do we use that to find the missing piece?”

  Quinn finally met Cody’s eyes. He was still trying to solve the puzzle. While all she could think about was what his original self had become. “You could do all those things. Take all those lives?”

  “You saw what happened,” Cody said. “Alien invaders killed almost all the humans on Earth. When the original me took lives, he was taking lives that had already been lost.”

  “Are you seriously rationalizing what he did?”

  “No, I’m not. I’m saying that I understand what he did. And why. In his experience they were already dead. To take the lives of a third of those who were dead to save the other two-thirds that would have died is how he saw it.”

  “Do you see it that way?” Quinn said. “Do you feel the way he did?!”

  “No,” Cody pleaded. “No, I don’t. I understand. And if I’d been the first, then maybe, yes. I admit that. But I’m not the original Cody. I’m not. I’m me.”

  “How do I know you won’t become like that one day?”

  Cody held his hands out. “We don’t know. There’s no way to know. But we know more and have experienced more than what he did. If his experiences led him to be that way, then the experiences we’ve had that he hasn’t carry weight too. They have to. We have to have been influenced by what has happened to us since.”

  “Now he gets it,” Pyra interjected, without an invitation.

  “Shut up,” Quinn said, to Pyra. “This doesn’t involve you.”

  “Only Cody can give me orders, and—”

  “Shut up, Pyra,” Cody said. “And can you please give us a moment alone?”

  “I cannot leave the Keyhole Chamber. I am part of it. I can, however, seem to be gone, if t
hat suits you.”

  “Do what you can,” Cody said. “Just give us a minute without interruption.”

  The room grew quiet again. The translucent walls, floor, and ceiling shifted and appeared more like the inside of a simulation.

  “All we have to do is find the missing piece to fix the paradox, and we can defeat him and still save humanity,” Cody said.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Quinn said. “Forget whether or not you’ll become like him and shouldn’t figure out the missing piece. What if he set all this up to get us to find it for him?”

  Cody nodded, and his eyes darted around like he was thinking on hyper drive. “Good point. I’m at a loss.”

  “Exactly,” Quinn said. “We don’t even know if we should try to win.”

  “Yeah, this just about couldn’t get any worse,” Cody said.

  “Oh please don’t say that,” Quinn said. “The last time someone said that, things went to shit.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. Just, let’s think.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Pyra interrupted, while reappearing in a projection of Quinn’s body. “Do you two really still not realize you need to do this?” She waited for a response but got none. “In that case, I’m initializing a viewing sequence that the Scarred Cody who took control of me out of love, yes, he loved me, and forcing you to experience it. Or re-experience it. You need to know what inaction will lead to.”

  “I thought I said to leave us alone,” Cody said.

  “Your previous self already overrode your future self’s command. I’m initializing the sequence, and then you’ll understand.”

  A PAST QUINN APPEARED, along with Potentate Cody, with his mask off. They looked at each other with anger in their eyes as if they’d just finished arguing, but Quinn hadn’t left yet.

  “What does it matter how I make us safe? No one else can.”

  “We’ll be just fine on our own,” Quinn said, and began to march out of the Keyhole Chamber, but someone else entered.

  Scarred Cody. “I see you two have had the chat,” Scarred Cody said. “Any progress this time?”

  Potentate Cody grimaced through his scars and bio-mechanical reconstructed face. “Unfortunately, no. We’re right back where we started.”

  “Seems to be a pattern,” Scarred Cody said. “Maybe I can help.”

  “Don’t see how,” Quinn said.

  “You’re not the first Quinn. You’re not the original,” Scarred Cody said. “We’ve tried this before, and you responded the same before. You took Samantha away from us. Away from safety. And you didn’t last long. The Universe is a dangerous place. A hot mess of destruction and hatred for humanity. I didn’t want to accept it, but the Potentate is right.”

  “You don’t see yourself as the future Potentate?” Quinn asked.

  “Can’t be. There’s only him. He made it so only he can relinquish control. Even if our biometrics are the same. Only he can be in that armored suit and mask of his. Only he can control this ship and the Keyhole Chamber. Trust me, I would take it from him if I could, but I can’t.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” Quinn said.

  “Stay with us,” Scarred Cody said. “Stay and you’ll live. Every time we save humanity, you end up dying. If we save you and Samantha only, the Earth is always destroyed. The only way to save both is for you to choose to stay with us as we conquer the Universe.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Quinn said. “That can’t be the only way.”

  “We’ve tried everything,” Scarred Cody said. “Trust me, this is the only way. You should know that I’m not like him.” He looked to the Potentate. “I haven’t been turned into pure hatred by those who kidnapped him. I still have my soul. Stay with me.”

  “I can’t,” Quinn said.

  “Why not?” Scarred Cody said.

  “You’re not my Cody.” On that note, she marched out of the Keyhole Chamber.

  Scarred Cody strode past Potentate Cody and slumped against the wall. “Still didn’t work.”

  “I will not stop going back until it does.”

  “You’re wasting your time.”

  “You’re wrong. We have to keep trying.”

  “No, we don’t. You can. But I’m done.”

  “You don’t get to decide that,” Potentate Cody said. “I’ll keep bringing you to this point.”

  “Go for it. I’m different from you. I’m going to give up every time.”

  “We’ll see.”

  And they did. The scene repeated over and over and over. And each time, Scarred Cody gave up. Refused to continue. Declined to go on.

  “Please let me go,” Scarred Cody said. “Even if she were to agree, I won’t get to be with her. You will. And even then, she’ll be reluctant. And not be doing it for you. But for her daughter or humanity. She’ll never love you again.”

  “You’re wrong,” Potentate Cody said. “You’re always wrong. I’ve done the impossible more times than you’ve lived.”

  Scarred Cody guffawed and laughed. “Yes, you have. You sure have. And a lot of good it’s done you. Give it up, old man. The only Quinn who will ever have loved you is the Original Quinn. And she’s long gone.”

  Potentate Cody burned hot with anger and swarmed toward Scarred Cody. He lifted him by the neck off the ground. Scarred Cody’s feet dangled a foot above the ground. Their eyes met.

  “Do it,” Scarred Cody said. “Please.”

  Potentate Cody tightened his grip. Scarred Cody’s head fell limp. They stayed there like that for several seconds before Potentate Cody dropped him to the ground. “I will not stop until I have what I desire,” Potentate Cody said, and began initiating the Temporal Ship’s Time Drive. “I will find a way.”

  33

  KING SOLOMON’S CHOICE

  In the present, Quinn and Cody’s shoulders slumped as if they’d just finished running a marathon. Their faces conveyed the feeling of defeat.

  “What if I just chose to be with him?” Quinn said.

  “I don’t think it will matter,” Cody said. “He still won’t be satisfied. He wants you to love him again.”

  “It’s not going to happen.”

  “I know.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Cody began pacing. “My best guess is we could start over with a situation that will lead another version of you to fall for him once more.”

  “That could take decades and still not work,” Quinn said. “Besides, that’s what he’s been trying for who knows how long.”

  “Yup,” Cody said. “It has to happen in the now. This time around will be the last.”

  Quinn went over to Cody and embraced him. He pulled her in closer. He never wanted to let go. But knew he might have to.

  What Potentate Cody had done was unforgivable in a way. At the same time, all the lives he took had already been lost before him. They were going to die anyway. Now Cody understood how his former self had justified it in his own mind. That didn’t make it right. But knowing the reason somehow made him less angry and he almost felt sad for the Potentate.

  He still wanted to rip his guts out, but he did get it. The problem was that the Potentate wasn’t satisfied with saving humanity and creating an Empire to defend Earth. He wanted that and to have Quinn. No matter how he framed it, there was no denying that they were faced with an impossible paradox since the Potentate had control.

  Their brief embrace and moment of togetherness was rudely interrupted, however, as a figure entered from the portal shield and into the Keyhole Chamber. Neither Quinn, nor Cody wanted to let go and look, but they knew who it was.

  He was the first to speak. “Transference,” the Potentate said. “That’s what it’s called. That’s how I’ve been able to keep starting things over. Imagine the possibilities. To live forever. Eventually, I’ll be able to retain all my memories and go back and take over an unharmed physical version of myself. But with all that I’ve achieved still accomplished. I’
ll have everything.”

  Cody and Quinn broke their embrace. They turned at the same time and faced the Potentate.

  “Do you see now?” the Potentate said. “I’ve done all this for you.”

  “Gee thanks,” Cody said. “You shouldn’t have.”

  No one found his quip funny. And the Potentate looked as if he might swoop over and choke Cody to death as he’d done to Scarred Cody. But he remained several feet away.

  Quinn’s voice pierced the deathly silence. “I’ll go with you now,” she said. “Leave this behind. Just the two of us.”

  A long beat. The Potentate seemed to be considering her proposal. “No,” he said. “You don’t love me. My hope was that you’d experience a loop that led you to love him.” He looked to Cody. “And those feelings were supposed to transfer to me once he was killed. But I can tell. You will never feel that way. You’re the kind of person who only falls once.”

  “So you’re just going to let the world burn?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes,” the Potentate said. “I brought it back to life. It’s mine to do with as I please.”

  “Hardly,” Cody said. “You’re the reason the rest of the Universe is afraid of us to begin with.”

  “Spare me the chicken or the egg coming first bullshit,” the Potentate countered. “It’s inevitable that no matter which of us was first, this is what we would have become. And that first time led us to this choice. And always will.”

  “It’s not the choice I would have made,” Cody said.

  “Hypocritical. You can’t know that, because your experiences are different.”

  “Exactly,” Cody said. “I … you have to choose differently. The Universe of emotions is intruding on the physical world, and that’s why there’s a paradox. We have to choose differently. That’s the key.”