The Warm Machine

by Seth Rain

  The Watchers surrounding the fountain shifted uncomfortably. So did Mathew, before edging closer. ‘Do you believe He will return or not, Gabriel?’ he asked.

  ‘You know I do.’ Gabriel pursed his lips. ‘But not like this. The Second Coming will be His doing, not yours.’

  Scott raised his head above the fountain.

  ‘How many will there be? On that day?’ Gabriel asked.

  ‘Listen carefully,’ Mathew said. ‘Recall His words: “We shall not all die but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet call. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.”’

  ‘How many?’ Juliet asked.

  Mathew stood taller and raised his chin. ‘All.’

  Juliet covered her mouth.

  ‘No,’ Scott muttered, shaking his head.

  ‘How?’ Juliet asked. ‘How will it happen?’

  ‘It is all in hand,’ Mathew said. ‘He is coming. Those who are deserving will find their place in Heaven and be at His side.’

  ‘Not like this,’ Gabriel said. ‘It can’t happen like this.’

  ‘Yes,’ Mathew said. ‘We did this. You, me, Juliet. We helped the world to see Him coming. This is our gift. And now we can welcome Him together. Just think: we will have the ability to end the suffering of billions in an instant. If you had that ability, wouldn’t you use it? In a moment, everyone would be saved.’

  Juliet clenched her fists. ‘This is wrong, Mathew. Let me speak to the AI. Please let me speak to him.’

  ‘Stop saying “him”. It’s a machine, not a person.’

  ‘The AI is keeping something from you – from us,’ Juliet said.

  Mathew shook his head. ‘No. The AI is a tool. It does not question right or wrong; it computes.’

  ‘You know there’s more to it than that,’ Gabriel said.

  ‘You’re projecting,’ Mathew said.

  A figure emerged from behind one of the self-drivers. A woman. ‘Scott’s date is wrong,’ she said. Scott leaned in closer and squinted. Freya! She was alive! He wanted to shout out to her. He wanted to hold her.

  ‘Scott’s date,’ Mathew said to Freya, ‘your date, my date, everyone’s date – they are set. It is done. There is no going back. Only forward to meet Him.’

  Scott wanted to go to Freya, but hesitated. If Freya was alive, then maybe Noah was too. Why would Mathew lie? Stooping, he edged further around the fountain. There he was. Noah. Scott’s heart thumped. He slumped to the ground, leaning against the brickwork of the fountain. He needed to think – to work out what had happened. What was Freya doing with Gabriel? Mathew had lied. What about Isaiah? Where was he?

  He bowed his head. ‘Think,’ he muttered. There had to be a way of stopping Mathew and the AI from releasing the dates.

  ‘Think.’

  The weight of the revolver in his pocket pulled at him. He took it out, opened the cylinder and peered through the one empty slot. He spun the cylinder and closed it.

  Fifty-Three

  Scott inhaled deeply and got to his feet, then walked out from behind the fountain.

  ‘Scott!’ Freya called after him.

  ‘What is he doing here?’ Mathew asked.

  Two Watchers marched towards Scott.

  ‘Stop!’ Scott ordered, gripping the revolver.

  The Watchers hesitated, then reached for their own revolvers and pointed them at him.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ Scott asked. ‘Are you going to shoot me?’

  The Watchers looked at one another.

  ‘Scott,’ Mathew said. ‘What are you doing? I brought you here to keep you safe.’ He pointed at Gabriel. ‘From him.’

  ‘What have you done?’ Scott asked. ‘What’s going to happen?’

  ‘The dates are being released today,’ Gabriel shouted.

  ‘Everyone’s dates,’ Freya said. ‘The whole world. And their dates – it’s the same date as yours.’

  ‘The Rapture,’ Mathew said. ‘He is coming for us. For all of us.’

  ‘My date,’ Scott said to Mathew. ‘It’s wrong, isn’t it? And there are more like me.’

  Mathew took a step closer, holding up his hand. ‘No, Scott. It’s not true.’ Mathew’s eyes focused on Scott’s revolver. ‘Please, lower the gun.’

  ‘Scott, listen to me,’ Freya called out.

  ‘What are you doing with him?’ Scott pointed the gun at Gabriel. ‘He tried to kill me. Remember?’

  ‘I can explain,’ Freya said. ‘He has helped us. He wants the same as we do – to prove the AI wrong, to show we have free will.’

  ‘Free will is an illusion,’ Scott said. ‘There’s no such thing.’

  ‘You sound like him,’ Gabriel said, glancing at Mathew.

  ‘I’m nothing like him.’

  Gabriel moved closer to Scott, ‘I believe we have free will. It means those who are deserving are given their place beside Him. Nine billion people, Scott. How many of those will make it to the kingdom of Heaven?’

  ‘There’s no such place.’

  ‘You don’t believe that,’ Gabriel said. ‘Not really. Any more than you believe we don’t choose.’

  Scott’s eyes darkened. ‘The AI has worked out the dates of everyone’s death. On the planet. Every single one of them. It has done so because we’re not as complex, as unpredictable, as you think. There is nothing religious, nothing sacred about us.’ Scott scanned the courtyard. ‘Each one of us is driven by one desire: survival. It’s as simple as that. Everything comes down to that. You, Mathew, the Watchers – you want the Rapture because you’re scared. You’re scared the end is really the end. You can tell yourself all you like that what you’re doing is for the greater good. But really it’s about fear – the fear of dying, of not being, of being lost to time, for good. Forever.’

  Gabriel’s shoulders slumped. ‘You’re wrong,’ he said. ‘We have a soul. Each of us. We are different. We choose to do good or do evil.’

  ‘And you trying to kill me – what was that?’

  Gabriel rubbed the side of his chin. ‘It was necessary.’

  ‘Was it?’

  ‘I told you,’ Gabriel said, ‘the discussion on sacrifice in the Bible is hard for us to fully appreciate. But that’s why it’s there. We should not avoid the most difficult questions. Sacrifice is a metaphor for many things. We all sacrifice the immediate for greater rewards. The difference between childhood and adulthood is sacrifice. The moment you see the necessity of that is when you move from innocence to experience.’

  ‘You were not sacrificing a thing in killing me.’

  Gabriel’s expression changed again, his head tilting. ‘Oh, Scott, I was. Please understand. I knew I was committing murder. I was sacrificing my soul, my place in Heaven, for the greater good. Maybe even for you. Don’t you see? I was protecting what makes us human, what sets us apart from every other living thing on this planet. I was protecting our freedom to choose.’

  ‘You’re deluded,’ Scott said. ‘Like the rest of them.’ He lifted the revolver. ‘What is it you Watchers say and do before you shoot? About there being only five bullets?’ Scott opened the cylinder on the revolver, spun it, and clicked it back into place. He lifted the revolver and pressed it to the side of his head.

  ‘No!’ Freya called out.

  ‘Wait!’ Mathew shouted.

  Scott tightened his grip on the revolver. ‘We need to know. Once and for all.’

  ‘You won’t die,’ Mathew said. ‘It’s not your time.’

  ‘We’re going to find out,’ Scott said. ‘Through everything – finding out about my date, waiting each year for it to happen, watching that bastard murder Rebecca – I’ve been wishing away choice. I’ve not wanted it. Because if I was choosing, then all of it, everything, was my doing. I wanted to believe everything that happened to me was out of my control.’

  One of the Watchers tightened his grip on his revolver.

  ‘Go on,
then! Shoot me!’ Scott shouted. ‘Do it!’ He stared at Mathew. ‘You think I wouldn’t do this to prove you wrong? To prove the date wrong? To prove the AI wrong? If I die today, then everyone here will see.’

  ‘Scott,’ Mathew said calmly, ‘you will not die today. Now lower the gun.’

  ‘Don’t,’ Freya said. ‘Please, Scott. There’s another way. We can speak to the AI.’

  ‘No,’ Scott said, shaking his head. ‘It’s too late. And it wouldn’t change anything. Too many people believe the AI is infallible. Mathew, these Watchers – they all believe that what the AI says is unquestionable because they’re not prepared to choose themselves. I’m going to find out if choosing is possible, if free will is real. The AI … it said I would have to make a decision. Make a sacrifice.’ Scott turned on the spot and pointed at the drones hovering in the distance. ‘They will see this,’ he said, showing the palm of his hand and his date to the drones. ‘The world will know that the AI is wrong.’

  Noah crossed his arms and bowed his head.

  Freya took another step closer to Scott, tears in her eyes, her voice breaking, ‘Please, Scott. Don’t.’

  ‘How can I not?’ Scott said. ‘If it stops Mathew bringing about the Rapture, I have to.’

  ‘He won’t stop,’ Freya said. ‘It doesn’t matter what happens to you.’

  ‘I have to try. You would do the same.’

  ‘No,’ Freya said. ‘There’s still time.’

  The fountain stopped, leaving only the sound of waves sloshing against its sides.

  The revolver shook in Scott’s hand. A burst of warmth, sunshine reflected by the windowed building surrounding him, filled the courtyard. Then the fountain began again, spouts of water shooting high into the air.

  Gabriel’s eyes were dull with sympathy. He’d got what he wanted all along.

  Scott couldn’t acknowledge Freya or Noah. One of Mathew’s Watchers stared at him, frowning, shaking his head gently. Scott saw confusion in the Watcher’s expression. He, like everyone else, would soon discover the truth – a truth that could change everything. And that was frightening – so frightening maybe the Watcher did not want to know.

  Scott stared at Mathew and spoke the Watcher’s words: ‘The Watcher’s revolver has five bullets and one empty chamber. This empty chamber belongs to Him, to do with as He wishes.’

  ‘No!’ Freya shouted again. ‘Don’t, Scott. We can work something out.’

  The fountain stopped again.

  ‘Noah,’ Freya said. ‘Tell him. Please.’

  There was no reply.

  Water sprayed into the air again.

  High above, an aeroplane flew past. Scott felt, at first, the warmth of the sun, and then the cooling spray from the fountain. The gun was solid, an instrument of machinery, of purpose. The chamber was already set. Either there was a bullet waiting to be fired, or the chamber was empty. That was already decided. If what Mathew believed was true, it had been decided since the birth of the universe, and maybe before that. It was ridiculous that things had come to this. Yet, in some way, it was logical that it had. Everything about the gun was intentional: it always acknowledged what it wanted, how it should be used. He’d never fired a gun, but the gun felt natural in his hand. It taught him how.

  Another aeroplane made its way across the square of clear sky. He could hear it: its mechanical whisper, its noise seconds old.

  Scott closed his eyes.

  He squeezed the trigger.

  Fifty-Four

  They waited on the train station platform. Scott read the train tickets – the date, time and destination: 02.02.2038, 10:14 Manchester to Oxenholme, Lake District. He pushed them into his wallet, then held Rebecca and kissed her.

  She held his face in her hands. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  ‘What for?’

  She shrugged. ‘For this.’ She glanced over at the train tracks. ‘For everything.’

  The sound of someone approaching made them both turn to see a man running towards them, breathless, sweating.

  ‘You have to help me!’ the man shouted.

  Scott knew immediately he was Chosen. The man’s hand was bleeding. Scott had seen it before – men trying to remove the date from their hand as if that could remove the truth.

  Rebecca held Scott’s arm.

  ‘Please,’ the man said. ‘You have to help me.’

  The only other people there were on the other side of the platform.

  A Watcher appeared, his long coat flapping about his legs.

  ‘No!’ the man said.

  Scott held on to Rebecca, moving her behind him, placing himself between her and the Watcher.

  The Watcher nodded at Scott. It was the signal – it showed that the Watcher knew Scott was Chosen.

  ‘Wait,’ Scott said, his head tilting. ‘Not here.’

  ‘He is unsafe,’ the Watcher said, edging closer.

  ‘Stay the fuck away from me!’ the man said.

  ‘Come with me,’ the Watcher said to the man, looking across the tracks to the people on the other side of the platform. ‘This is not the way it should be done. You know this.’

  ‘Fuck you,’ the man said. ‘I’m not ready. Who says it has to be this way?’

  ‘You know it does,’ the Watcher said. ‘This is bigger than you or me.’

  ‘Bullshit,’ the man said.

  The Watcher looked at Scott. ‘You know how this works. I’m sorry, but I’m going to need you to step aside.’

  ‘Wait,’ Scott said. ‘Please.’

  The Watcher took out his revolver. ‘The Watcher’s revolver has five bullets and one empty chamber. This empty chamber belongs to Him, to do with as He wishes.’

  Scott stepped away from Rebecca, both hands raised to the Watcher. ‘Wait. Not like this.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ the Watcher said. ‘He’s dangerous.’

  Rebecca screamed.

  Scott whirled around.

  The Chosen man had Rebecca, his arm around her neck and shoulders, pulling her away from Scott.

  Scott ran towards him.

  The man held a knife to Rebecca’s throat.

  Another Watcher appeared at the other end of the platform.

  The man spun around. Rebecca stumbled and fell.

  ‘Get up!’ the man said, grabbing her, pulling her up and returning the blade to her throat.

  ‘Please,’ Scott said. ‘Please let her go!’

  Rebecca cried out, her feet slipping on the platform.

  ‘Let her go,’ said the Watcher at the other end of the platform.

  ‘Maybe her date is the same as mine,’ the man said.

  ‘You don’t know that,’ the Watcher replied. ‘David, let her go. Come with us. This is not the way it is done.’

  ‘Fuck your ways! The dates are bullshit and you know it.’

  The Watcher edged closer.

  ‘Stay away from me!’

  ‘We can’t let you do this. You know that.’

  Rebecca stared at Scott, trembling.

  ‘Please,’ Scott said.

  ‘We have to do something,’ the Watcher said. ‘Or it will be too late.’

  There was the roar of an approaching train.

  ‘Let her go,’ the Watcher said, raising his voice above the noise of the train.

  ‘Fuck you!’ the man said again, loosening his grip on Rebecca. ‘You’re wrong!’

  ‘You know it’s not wrong,’ the Watcher said. ‘It has already been decided. But it doesn’t need to be like this, here, now.’

  The man dropped the knife. The Watcher raised his gun.

  The sound of the train grew louder. It was a fast train, not stopping at this station.

  ‘Come with me, David,’ the Watcher said. ‘Please.’

  The clattering of the approaching train was deafening. A tin can rolled soundlessly across the platform and onto the tracks.

  Scott’s feet wouldn’t move. He saw himself diving for Rebecca, grabbing her, pulling her away fro
m the edge of the platform. But his feet didn’t move. He was afraid.

  The Watcher’s expression changed and he stopped.

  ‘Fuck you!’ the man shouted.

  A wall of air gusted through the station ahead of the train.

  The man grabbed Rebecca and jumped in front of the oncoming train.

  And they were gone.

  Fifty-Five

  Click.

  Scott opened his eyes and stared at the revolver. The one empty chamber…

  Gabriel shook his head. ‘It can’t be. He’s alive.’

  Scott fell to his knees and gasped for air, holding the gun loosely against his thighs. He stiffened and got up to face Gabriel. He breathed in deeply, aware of the air in his chest, aware of the sky above, of his heart thumping.

  ‘No,’ Gabriel said. ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’

  The Watchers murmured to one another.

  ‘Scott!’ Freya shouted.

  The fountain stopped and Gabriel, as if waking from a dream, faced Mathew. Gabriel shook his head. ‘I don’t understand.’

  Mathew walked towards him. ‘He is coming, Gabriel. Now do you believe me? The Rapture is coming. You must see that now. It is not Scott’s time – as decreed by Him. Gabriel, we can earn our place by His side. Both of us. You, me, everyone.’

  Gabriel shook his head. ‘No. I can’t…’

  Still on his knees, Scott let go of the gun, dropping it to the floor, and held his head in his hands. His relief had changed to fear. If his date was right, then so was everyone else’s, and so was the Rapture. He stared at the revolver. There was still time to go through with it. He could prove the date was wrong by using the revolver again. This time it was guaranteed to go off. His hands shook. He reached for the revolver.

  Then Gabriel was there, grabbing the revolver before Scott could take it.

  ‘No!’ Gabriel shouted. ‘It must be today. He must die today!’

  There was movement: left, right, behind, in front. Grey coats moving quickly, the sound of gunfire, loud, continuous, building.

  Heat in Scott’s chest, behind it, through it.

  Freya’s voice. ‘Scott!’

  He fell backwards, his legs folding, the ground rising to meet him. He’d been shot.