by Vu, Frank
SAI’S
TRANSCENDENCE
Thirteen thousand years ago, an advanced civilization existed that could do things with their minds that no civilization has done since. This civilization was almost wiped out and was able to not only survive, but also nudge Earth's evolution forward and leave warning messages about a future disaster similar to theirs. Only now, in our time, is the world starting to discover some of those ancient messages. In the near future, a serial killer and a reclusive monk will be on a path that will give birth to sentient artificial intelligence in the hopes of saving the Earth from the coming disaster . . .
Copyright © 2016
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental—except for North America. I’m pretty sure that exists in real life.
For information, contact [email protected].
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
MIXED MESSAGES 6
MONKING AROUND 14
TWO FRIENDS 27
INCOMING 29
ADEPTATION 34
A TRIP REMEMBERED 37
THE EXPERIMENT 43
RISING AWARENESS 50
VISION 53
ALPACA 59
DIZZY MOURNING 65
ESCAPE 72
VUCIANISM 76
TRANSCENDENCE 82
DIGITAL CHILD 86
ONE LAST TIME 89
PEEPING TOMS 93
DISCOVERY 98
DIGITAL ABOLITIONIST 101
FORMLESSNESS 107
RETURN TO SENDER 112
A special thanks to everyone who helped me bounce ideas around and edit and proofread this, including Diane, Jack, Carah, Mark, Sonny, Carrin and Ross!
MIXED MESSAGES
“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”—Dr. Seuss
2035 AD, Colorado River, United States
Sanaka Ahsan reclined easily in the front of the canoe as his new friend Shelly paddled them through the dead, flat water. The morning sun hid behind the clouds above the canyon, making the air brisk—perfect for a hard morning workout. Sanaka’s paddle rested on the sides of the canoe comfortably while he did the same, propping himself up with his toned and tanned arms on the side of the canoe and his feet up on the bow. He swung the black hair of his bangs out of his brown eyes with a flick of his head and gazed down the river, taking in the image of the clouds and the canyon reflected in the water.
“Well, ain’t you just a purdy liddle thing,” Shelly drawled as she slowly paddled them forward, smiling. “You must be workin’ out all the time up in that city, eatin’ clean. Good on you.”
“Well, I try to stay away from junk food and snacks. You can put them away, but you can’t put them down!” he said with a smile. “Anyway, I’m not trying to be pretty, but if you keep telling me that, I’ll do whatever you want,” he said, showing even more of his bright white teeth.
Shelly eyed Sanaka. “You’s cute for a Chinese guy. I know this.”
Sanaka frowned. “I’m Japanese, but thanks.”
“Yeah, I knew it was one of dem. Look, don’t get too comfy now. We have rapids coming up. You’s a rookie, so you don’t know how this goes, but shit’s about to get cuh-ray-zee.”
Shelly let her hand drift languidly in the water, making a trail of small ripples behind them. She pushed her wraparound sunglasses over her ears and covered up her green eyes to protect them from the intermittent flashes on the water left by the sun as it peeked from between the clouds.
Sanaka sat forward and started paddling. “Please, girl, I’m on the varsity rowing team in my college. I got this. Just because this is my first time on your group’s little camping and canoe trip doesn’t mean I’m worthless.” He alternated paddling with powerful strokes on each side to keep them straight. Shelly’s slurred speech and sluggish movements gave Sanaka pause. He wasn’t entirely sure how sober Shelly was; she and her other friends had consumed a heroic amount of drugs prior to this, and he considered that he might have to steer and paddle. “Besides, you guys have been doing an awful lot of drugs. You may not be at your best, you know.”
“All’s I had was a bit of liquid shrooms to even me out. It’s all ’bout the layerin’. Settle down, now, I’m good.” She smiled and traced the other hand through the water. “Better than good. You ’bout to find out that rowin’ and livin’ are two different things. You’s real smart with all your fancy schoolin’, but out here that don’t matter for much. Sometimes you just gotta go where the river takes you. You could be havin’ a better time on shrooms too. That’s what the river’s for, ya know.”
She took her hand from the water and started offsetting Sanaka’s efforts. Each time he made a stroke, Shelly counteracted with her paddle.
“Paddle on just one side now, ya hear? Stop doin’ my job. I’m an expert canoer.” Shelly looked up at the cliffs and clouds around them, smiling lazily, moving slowly.
Sanaka grimaced, pondering. She was clearly way, way under the influence, but she had probably done this before, too. Should he trust her and lay off, or should he try to take charge? Someone needed to be in charge here, but he had never been down rapids in a canoe before. He decided to give her a chance and started paddling just on the left side—to test the waters, so to speak. Inevitably, the canoe drifted to the right more and more. Sanaka turned to face Shelly, looking directly into her eyes as the canoe strayed. He was sure she would correct their course eventually. Shelly smiled and leaned back, looking at the cliffs.
“You do see the shore coming, yes?” he asked incredulously.
“You’s a nervous canoer, you know that?” Shelly smiled as they gently bumped into the shore. She leisurely miracled a joint and lighter into existence from somewhere in her bikini and began to smoke, regarding Sanaka with a grin. “It’s okay if we stop every now and again. Maybe gives us time fer other things.” She locked eyes with Sanaka, not moving or saying anything else, just observing him.
Sanaka, unsure if she was trying to have sex with him and even more unsure about how it would work in a canoe, decided that chastity was the optimal decision. He broke the awkward silence.
“Everyone else is way ahead of us. Shouldn’t we catch up and stay together, in case something happens?”
“Things are always happenin’. Don’t worry. Just give us a bit and we’ll be off.” She inhaled deeply, swinging her blondish-brown hair off her shoulders with a shake of her head. “Nervous canoer,” she exhaled with a toothy smile.
Sanaka returned her smile and leaned back to look at the clouds. It certainly was nice out here, and it was a welcome break from hurrying between his advanced courses—neurochemistry, algebraic topology, and general artificial intelligence. With only one more semester left to complete his doctorate, he was looking forward to doing something with his life. But this was nice. He was unbelievably more relaxed out here than he had ever been. It was strange to imagine, going back to being a busy worker bee stuck in vast swarms of humanity instead of a calm person relaxing in wide open spaces. Maybe Shelly was onto something.
Shelly pushed off from the shore with her paddle, swinging them around to face downstream as the canoe started to pick up speed from the faster current. “Look alive—we ’bout to have some fun now. Paddle on one side, pretty.” They accelerated quickly with Sanaka’s powerfu
l strokes. “More slow-like now. The river goes fast ’nuff.”
Sanaka looked ahead of them, and as they approached the rapids his chest clenched in surprised fear. “Rock ahead. Rock ahead!”
“Just push it with your paddle, pretty,” Shelly said, unconcerned.
As the oven-sized rock loomed ahead of them, Sanaka stuck the paddle in front of the boat and braced himself. The speed at which they hit the rock was too much though, and instead of pushing them away from the boulder, the paddle struck Sanaka in the chest, knocking him backward. They slammed into the stone slab, stopping briefly.
“You’s having a merry old time, ain’t ya? Maybe this river has too much sauce today. You might want to sit on up, pretty,” Shelly observed.
“Jesus Christ!” Sanaka said, struggling back to his seat. “Why didn’t you steer us around it!”
“Listen now—” Shelly started to say, but the rear of the canoe caught in the current and swung around, sending them backwards down the raging river.
“Holy fuck!” Sanaka yelled, trying to look behind him.
Shelly swung her body around 180 degrees and faced forward, unperturbed. As Sanaka tried to perform the same maneuver, they ran aground on another rock, sending Sanaka flying off into the water. Shelly stuck her paddle out, which Sanaka lunged for but missed.
It was then that Sanaka spontaneously developed a personal mantra, and he muttered, “Not good, not good, not good, not good,” as he alternated between flailing and spitting out water.
The life jacket was keeping him afloat, but he shuddered to think about getting wedged under any of the huge boulders in the river. Paddling furiously, Shelly screamed “To the shore!” and attempted to do the same in the canoe. She was now fully and properly concerned about his safety. Somehow Shelly maneuvered the canoe downstream by the shore and climbed out. She ran towards Sanaka, who was clinging to his own personal rock a few feet from the riverbank. As the current swirled around him, Sanaka was sure he could not cross to the shore without being swept further downstream and possibly smashed against a rock.
“Maybe takin’ the whole freakin’ bottle of liquid shrooms wasn’t such a good ideeeaaaaaaaaa!” Shelly screamed as she sprinted towards Sanaka in her water shoes.
Shelly had simply assumed that the liquid shrooms were about the same potency as the dried ones. She was now starting to believe otherwise. As the river engulfed her and the clouds swirled darkly overhead, the sound of the raging river became the sound the universe would make when it died. As Sanaka yelled “Hurry!”, Shelly saw his mouth twist into a demented football shape while he stared hopefully towards her panicked arrival.
Then Sanaka had long hair and was . . . Shelly? Sanaka was her? Oh, this was not a good time to be tripping balls, she thought, silently panicking.
Shelly spontaneously developed the same mantra as Sanaka, saying, “Not good, not good, not good,” as she ran.
The ground in front of her stretched and pulled away, and she seemingly ran in place as the universe stretched away from her in every direction. Logical thought was no longer working for Shelly. As she ran in place in the center of the universe, she pictured herself teleporting to help herself in the water where she was drowning. Was she Sanaka? The distinction between them did not seem to matter; they were both one now. Suddenly she appeared beside Sanaka-Shelly, unsure how she had arrived, her chest heaving with gasping, panicked breaths.
“Grab our hand!” she yelled at him.
Sanaka-Shelly looked at her with wide and wild eyes, unsure if he could trust her. “Are you sure you can pull me out?” he seemed to say.
“Yes, pretty. Look into our eyes and believe us.”
“Jesus Christ you’re high. I can’t believe this is happening.” Sanaka-Shelly shook his head, knowing fully well that this was a terrible idea that would probably kill them both. But there were few options since he was stuck on this boulder with nobody around. If he sent her downstream to get help, would she even make it or just spend her time looking at the clouds? Sanaka-Shelly decided this was their best shot and shouted to Shelly.
“Dig your feet in on the shore! I’m going to reach out, but I don’t know how long I can stay like that with the current. Are you ready?”
Shelly paused, looked at her feet, then raised her head slowly with a smile. “Believe it.” She suddenly became sure that everything was one thing, and if she were so inclined, she could do anything at all. She decided a sunny day would work better. The clouds parted, and she felt the warmth on both of their faces. Probably a coincidence. She pictured herself as Sanaka and suddenly Sanaka-Shelly was gone and Sanaka was back in front of her.
“What the fuck!” Sanaka yelled.
“What?” Shelly asked, surprised, her concentration broken.
“I thought for a second I saw—you had hair like mine—I—fuck it. Let’s do this.”
Shelly reached her hand out torpidly and smiled at Sanaka. Sanaka lunged fiercely and caught her hand, his left foot spinning downstream and his right foot caught securely against the rock. They paused, staring at each other for a half second or a week; either was possible. Shelly then pulled hard on Sanaka, yanking him back towards the shore with more strength than she had ever had. Sanaka whirled around her body to the left, knocking her off balance, and as she wavered, she jumped as hard as she could to avoid rushing downstream in the current, almost landing on Sanaka’s rock with her feet.
Almost.
As she scrambled for purchase, she felt her left foot snag somewhere underneath the water in whatever horrors lurked there. But Shelly also understood that if she could manufacture sunshine, then it would be good to summon help too. She decided that help was coming, looked up and saw a man in a kayak furiously paddling to get to their side of the river to help her. Probably a coincidence.
She wondered vaguely if she could just teleport to the shore, or maybe even make it teleport to her. What was it really made of, anyway? Dirt and sticks? As Shelly focused on teleporting the shore, the man made his way towards her, upstream but drawing closer, paddling frantically. As he crossed sideways against an upstream rock, he dislodged a log, spilling it, dirt, and other random sticks towards them. Shelly laughed at the dirt and sticks teleporting towards her and looked at Sanaka. Probably a coincidence.
Sanaka yelled, waving his hands, “Get out of there!”
Shelly smiled listlessly and said, “My foot is stuck. Sometimes you have to go where the river takes you.”
The terrible timber struck her directly in the chest, center mass, a bullet from God or perhaps from Shelly. Maybe it didn’t matter, she thought, as she spat blood from her mouth and watched the log slide by and go downstream.
“Ahhhhhh,” Sanaka screamed. “What the fuck! Why didn’t you move?!”
Shelly smiled again. It was becoming a habit. “Calm down, pretty. We only have a few moments now. Let’s make it nice.”
Shelly looked around. The water was swirling. The cliffs were swirling. Sanaka was swirling. The general consensus was that there was swirling. The man on the kayak passed by on the other side of the rock, frantically trying to avoid a collision.
“I’m sorry!” he shouted, rushing by. He looked back and waved his smartwatch, saying, “I don’t have a signal, but once I do I’ll call for help!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Shelly whispered, punctuating her sentence with a coughing mist of blood. The sound of the river echoed around her, magnified in each ear on a slight delay, as if the sound was bouncing around the canyon of her head. She wondered if she could play herself out of this world with some nice soft piano music. As the music seemed to surround her, she relaxed and leaned back, looking up at the ridge of the nearby cliff. She was somehow able to see everything, as if she had zoom lenses for eyes. A flying insect landed where she was looking and seemed to consider her. A bird landed beside the bug and considered it in turn. The nearby plants seemed to consider them all, and, more interestingly, Sanaka looked into her eyes with a mixture of
sadness and wonder. They pondered each other in silence for a moment. Then a breeze passed them both, and the area went even more silent for a time, with no noise from the water, the breeze, the bugs, or the birds. The water sparkled in Sanaka’s eyes.
Shelly felt the most intense happiness she had ever felt. If there were such a thing as nirvana or heaven, this was it. She opened her mouth in wonder, and a breath escaped her. She exhaled loudly and fully for over ten seconds. Shelly wondered if true enlightenment was feeling this way all the time.
But there was also pain in the world, immense pain. The Yin and Yang of pain and happiness intertwined, like a lovers embrace. Maybe all those mixed messages were necessary to achieve this exact state of enlightenment she was feeling? Did God just like good stories, and that was why there was good and evil in the world? Was she God, making her own stories?
In a state of pure ecstasy, she inhaled and shouted, “MIXED MESSAGES, GOD!” as Sanaka opened his eyes wide in surprise. She then closed her eyes with a smile as the color drained from her face. Sanaka slumped to the ground as he watched the life seep out of Shelly. Then he wondered why he had heard a soft piano tune before she passed and what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
MONKING AROUND
“When a pickpocket sees a saint, all he sees are his pockets.”—Sufi saying
2065 AD, Tibet
Creaking rusty suspension noises and dusty open windows pulled Sanaka from his latest episodic nap. The locals riding with him on the bus yelled to each other over the engine and wind noise, oblivious to his annoyance. The bus to the monastery was old and rickety, a relic from the early 21st century that should have been scrapped decades earlier. Sanaka clenched his teeth and his fists in anger as the bus bounced violently over every rut in the gravel road, tossing him against his companion. Why, he wondered, had nobody thought to run a hovercraft here? The Chinese could afford it. If there was any place on Earth that needed a hovercraft for travelers, it was the Tibetan Plateau, but apparently Tibet’s Chinese rulers didn’t care enough to waste their ridiculously large economic surplus on it.
