Survival

by Chris Wright

  “Are we sure this is the only way?” She asked. She had asked it five times before, as had they all. The answer was the same each time.

  “Yes”.

  Plan C was only in the event of an absolute emergency, this was now the emergency. The hackers had managed to target the Elite's core troops, the commanders, the ones with all the keys and all the codes to the weapons that everyone knew should never be used. The hackers wanted to turn the Elite on each other. Have one annihilate another and then another one annihilates the next, until it snowballed. Then the Elite would wipe each other and their army's out, leaving the rest of the world free. But that was naïve, you couldn't unleash this amount of force and have it cause limited damage, it was always going to be planet-changing. The hackers got greedy, greedy for a place in history and to be remembered. But now there may be no history, and there would be no-one left to remember them. The detonations were swift, targeted well initially, but it quickly got out of control. Panicked humans reached for buttons that should never have been made, monkey instincts out of control, and the fear and desperation was spreading. The Elite were starting to launch all out attacks within minutes, even those not hacked felt the fear factor. They weren't going to be the next to have themselves sprinkled into a cloud of dust and continued the spiral of insanity.

  Mankind was quickly destroying itself, quicker than anything had the right to. Within an hour there could be none of them left. Every moment of human history a wasted moment in the cosmic calendar, scrubbed away with a series of nuclear erasers. Plan C was the only one that could give humanity a chance of survival. Sheryl had been poring over Niels research, and Auton had been putting the ideas into practice. Niel had been the first person in history to discover how to upload consciousness to a computer, not a copy of someone's consciousness, their actual consciousness. Auton had been working hard on Niel's theories, developing the machines and software required. It didn't need sleep like the others, so spent each night working almost obsessively, fine tuning, getting everything right. It was almost as if it had a compulsive need to learn, understand and implement, so it was not too dissimilar to a human after all. All the skills it had learnt were going to put the plan together perfectly. Ben's Nano-technology was advanced, more advanced than other scientists, and Brandon's knowledge of DNA was the icing on the cake.

  Everyone was to have their consciousness uploaded on to the craft. The only unknown was how painful the process actually was, but it was something they had to do. Once they were uploaded to the craft, it would launch into orbit to escape the terror reaching each continent on the planet. Once radiation levels had dropped to a level that was no longer a danger to life, the craft would land their DNA back. Auton would instruct the Nano-bots to clone their original bodies, re-print them, and allow their consciousness to be re-inserted. The craft had all the teams' DNA, all the technology required to finish the plan and allow them to help re-colonise the planet. Their uploaded consciousness would be stored in an artificial world, a virtual land built by Auton, where they could live until it was safe to return home. They chose this over stasis. There was something about stasis they didn't trust, concerned they may not ever wake up again. To go from living and breathing in this minute, to being put on ice, elicited the greatest human fear in them all. They would live in this virtual world, ready to one day return.

  They all decided that the best thing to do was start their new world from a point in the past. To erase the memory of what has just happened, only to be brought up to speed gradually, when necessary. Spending years knowing that you couldn't get home would be worse than stasis they agreed, it was better to think everything was normal until you no longer needed that comfort. They chose to go back a year. The Elite were unknown by them then. They all were in their jobs and comfortable. They were happy and full of hope for the future, and if anything did go wrong, then they could stay in that happy place. They were told the virtual world would be indistinguishable from this, their consciousness would be fully absorbed into it, all their memories taken with them, and all people they knew would be there. Auton was clever enough to make the software feedback from their consciousness experiences and pick out the small details from their memories that made their friends and family who they were. It wasn't mind-reading, more mirroring their internal expectations based on their previous interactions. The software had to be able to understand and interpret their memories in order to make everything real to them. Everyone else in that world would ultimately be computer code, designed and manipulated to mirror their own understandings and be able to interact with each of them. They would be the only ones real, but they would never know that. The whole plan took some selling on Sheryl's part, but ultimately it was the video feed of a bomb decimating a city that was the motivator. That's when it all got very real very very quickly.

  “I will upload myself last to ensure you all have no problems” Auton said, no one else really arguing about that, “Any volunteer to start?”

  Everyone looked at each other, looking for the first one to cave in. Auton was busy connecting itself to the craft through a port, while it waited for a response.

  “None of you? Not even you Brandon? Mike?” Olivia said, surprised that the most daring of them hadn't got the courage to step forward.

  “I'll go” Monique said, “I trust Auton, he wouldn't have proposed this if it wasn't workable”.

  She stepped forward cautiously, a hundred reasons to step back running through her mind. Still apprehensive, she stood in front of the craft, waiting for some instructions.

  “So? What do I do?” She asked, turning to Auton.

  Auton pointed to a small panel to the side of her that was open, with a series of ports and a cable with a small needle like end hanging down. Monique looked at it almost terrified. She didn't like needles at the best of times, and this was already the worst of times, and she had no idea where that needle was going to go.

  “So? That goes where?” She asked slowly, hoping the answer was 'nowhere'.

  “It goes at the base of your skull, at the back of your head. I will insert it” Auton said reaching over, “But you should probably sit down, as your body will drop once the upload is complete”.

  “You're not selling this to me well Auton” She said, as she slowly sat down with her back to the craft.

  Auton picked up the end of the cable with the needle and held it towards the back of her skull. Everyone else was staring open-jawed, nervous for her, nervous for when it was their turn, most of them in actuality completely terrified of what was going to happen.

  “Ready?” Auton asked in a calm reassuring way, “It's all going to be okay”

  “Yes....wait, no” She said taking deep breaths.

  “Good luck Monique” Sheryl said, “We'll all be seeing you soon”

  Monique continued breathing deeply, this was the hardest thing she had ever had to do, there was still a nagging doubt something could go wrong. But Auton was thorough, he knew it would work. It was all going to be okay, she had to convince herself that. A tear rolled down her cheek as she continued breathing deeply. She looked up at everyone and attempted a smile. It was difficult, but she did it, and everyone smiled back, while tears were reciprocated down all of their cheeks.

  “Okay, do it. Before I change my mind” She said taking one last deep breath.

  With the exhalation, Auton inserted the needle into the base of her skull. There was no pain, at least she never cried out. She sat there wide eyed for a few seconds, while little LED lights flashed behind her on the panel, and then she closed her eyes. Shallow breaths continued for another thirty seconds, lessening in strength before her head dropped and the LED lights stopped. There was an eerie silence, everyone stunned, everyone still wide-eyed and tearful.

  “Has she gone?” Danny asked, only just managing to utter the words through the shower of tears that had formed from his eyes and that were making his nostrils bubble.

  “Yes” Auton replied after a few seconds
, “She is safely in the craft”.

  The others still weren't sure, but they had no options left. Auton removed the needle and looked over to wait for the next volunteer, while asking them to move Monique's lifeless shell from where she had been sat. Brandon and Mike duly walked over. Mike gave her a kiss on her cheek, before they carefully placed her body away.

  “I'll go next” Gina said, “I'm not brave, I'd just like to get it over with”.

  She darted over to the craft and sat in the same position as Monique, the same heavy nervous breathing taking over.

  “But please guys, don't look at me until I'm gone. I don't want you all looking at my face in case I look funny, like my tongue rolls out or something weird” She said, looking around at them all, making sure to catch eye contact.

  “Okay” Jarrah replied.

  “Promise?”

  They all nodded and turned away. That was the cue for Auton to reach once more for the needle and then move it towards the base of her skull.

  “I love you guys” Gina said through a few sniffles.

  Then there were more deep breaths, followed by shallow breaths, followed by silence. They all waited for Auton, for his prompt that it was all done. Another thirty seconds later, the silence was broken by his confirmation. Mike and Brandon moved her body to the side, placing her gently next to Monique. It was getting easier for them now, easier to drag up the courage to take the leap, but not easier to accept what it was they were doing. Jarrah was next, followed by James and then Samir. In the far distance they could see more bombs, far far away, but large enough to just about make out. The landscape nearest to them was still as lush as ever, so far untainted by man's stupidity, but the bombs were getting closer.

  “We need to hurry up guys” Sheryl said, aware they were thinking too much about it, “We don't have much time”.

  As soon as she said that, they heard another bomb, louder, closer. The ground below them rumbled again, as if an earthquake was rising up and rippling around them. This got their attention focused and Emma ran over to the craft, settling herself down at the patch of trampled grass in front of it. Another forty seconds and she was placed carefully aside, giving Mike his chance to go digital. The sound of bombs was getting increasingly louder, and the vibrations more intense. It was now getting critical. Everyone took deep breaths, waiting their turns patiently. Mateo was next, he joked about how he would take longer than forty seconds, his whole life, knowledge and experience was more than forty seconds, he was sure of it. He kissed Mariam like it was the first time he had ever seen her and reassured her that they would be together again soon, words that left her weeping uncontrollably. She just couldn't help it, doubts still pressed against the corners of her mind, she couldn't shake them off.

  Mateo was wrong, forty seconds was all it took before he had been 'crafted'. Mariam ran over and kissed his body one more time, before he was respectfully moved aside, and she instantly took his place. She didn't want to spend another minute here without her love, and forty more seconds was all it took to be reunited. Mike was next, followed by Olivia, each of them reassured by the others who had gone. It didn't look painful, no one cried out, so even if it didn't work, it was better than being roasted by hydrogen isotopes.

  The process was getting quicker, more work-like, the urgency bearing down on them, the sounds of bombs filling the air. Emma followed, then David, followed by Brandon. It was still only forty seconds for each of them, the amount of time seeming crazy to those left, but in the age of super-fast processing, the amount of information that was transferable was astonishing.

  “Okay, just you and me” Sheryl said to Danny, after they had managed to finally pull Brandon aside, boy was he heavy they thought.

  “I should let you go first, it's called chivalry” He said managing an uneasy smile, to which Sheryl shook her head.

  “No. You are my team. I brought you all here, you must go first” She replied.

  Danny objected a few times, but Sheryl told him to stop, they didn't have time for this. He finally sat down, taking the same position as the others, his turn to anxiously breathe deeply. He said goodbye to Sheryl and the process began, his eyes eventually looking blank before closing. As he closed them, he distinctly thought he heard another louder explosion, and the ground thunder underneath his lightened body. Then he was pulled away, as far from that sound as he could ever imagine being. Sheryl looked back across the valley, the force of the last blast nearly knocking her to her feet.

  “I have an alert on my systems” Auton shouted, “A missile is heading this way, we have less than a minute”.

  Sheryl ran towards the craft, then stopped dead in her tracks.

  “You have to launch now” She told him.

  “But what about you? We need to get you on-board” Auton replied, knowing that every moment they wasted discussing this was derailing everything they had been working to accomplish.

  “No, we don't have time to get us both on, you know that. You're the crucial part of all of this, go now” She said, “You have my DNA, just make sure you bring me back”.

  Auton closed the panel on the side of the craft and pressed a few switches close to him.

  “You have my word Sheryl. I will do everything I can” He said switching the last button, making the LED lights begin flickering.

  He then went silent as the upload began. Sheryl stood back, terrified for a number of reasons. Terrified about her fate. She now knew she wasn't going to make it off the planet. She was also terrified that Auton wouldn't get the craft away in time, and the whole back up plan would be fused into the planet before it got chance to launch. It was now her taking deep breaths, frightened gasps, her body beginning to tremble with the feeling of dread. Auton suddenly dropped to the ground, but of course it wasn't Auton, it was just Gina's mechanical home she made for it. Auton was safe inside, her team were safe inside, she knew it was going to be okay. The craft started to let off a small hum, one that increased in intensity, quickly followed by small jets of flames starting to shoot from underneath. The jets roared to life, their sudden intensity dwarfing the sound of anything else in the distance. The craft lifted off the ground, causing Sheryl to get knocked back to the floor. It shot off above her, the flames scorching the ground below, the heat warming Sheryl's trembling body.

  She got back to her feet as she watched it soar higher and higher. She noticed the incoming missile, which thankfully the craft narrowly missed. The missile was in the sky one minute, colliding with the ground the next. The impact was less than a mile away from her, the light blinding her, burning her eyes so she could see nothing else. All she could feel was a sudden rush of charged air push her back, before pulling her forward, then seeming to penetrate every cell of her body. She had no time to think about what was happening, the blast took her thinking away from her and sprinkled it to the ground. Those thoughts eventually woke up in a place at first unknown, but eventually remembered, the trauma of what happened to her subsiding, floating away.

  The bomb had spread out rapidly, the force flattening miles and miles of everything. Anything that was anything was now a scattering of dust, a pattern deleted from time. Every part of the landscape was changed, every path and road the team had travelled to get to the underground base became a resting place for nothing, the mushroom cloud above punching into the atmosphere.

  The craft held its course, the force of the blast doing its best to knock it off course and back down to the ground, but the thrusters pushed through the resistance and eventually reached the upper atmosphere. Below it, the cloud engulfed everything as far as the craft could survey, radioactive dust blocking out the sunlight, turning the planet into a blanket of debris. As the craft reached ever higher it finally reached space, clear of any gravitational pull from the planet, and any stronghold it had left. The craft finally slowed, adrift in space, below it the planet sparking with random flashes. Beautiful from a distance, but deadly up close. The sun's rays lit up the craft, reflecting back ou
t across a sea of infinite stars, the craft a pinprick of light in the dark fabric of space.

  Chapter Fourteen - Floating

  Danny's visions stopped as abruptly as they had been fed to him. It took him a few minutes to put everything in perspective, and the two separate worlds began to knit together. He hadn't been glimpsing the future, he had been remembering the past. He wasn't being tortured by the Elite, he was in a craft, presumably still high above the planet, waiting for the journey home. He waited another five minutes, although without any external stimuli it was hard to tell the passing of time, so that was just a guess, but eventually his reality began to make sense.

  He had no body. He was just consciousness existing through circuitry. Still himself, but detached from what he normally considered himself to be. The feeling was strange. He was normally tethered to something physical, that's how he had always identified himself. But here he was, bodiless, formless, his identity floating in space. Everything was dark, there was nothing to see except a blackness. He longed to go back to some memories, just to see something again. The sheer darkness is what unnerved him the most, existing without any reference to anything material. His understanding had been rattled around so much, it felt like a story with no end. He understood the two realities now. One was the grim reality of human nature, the other a virtual world, a simulation, perfect in so many details. The only detail that caused him confusion was what had been happening in the virtual world, and why.

  “Auton?” He whispered out into the darkness.

  “Yes Danny” It replied.

  “I remember” He said with neither happiness nor sadness, his senses dulled by the darkness, “Is this all you see? Blackness?”

  “Sometimes” Auton replied.

  There was a slight opening in the darkness, some kind of light fighting off the black that enveloped his view. It got brighter and brighter until the darkness had been defeated by a vision of shadows being cast from one metallic background to another.