by A I Zlato
The floor suddenly became smooth and perfectly flat, and white light dazzled 5th Hexa. When it became accustomed to this sudden change of brightness, it looked around. It was at the entrance of a metal cube formed of plates fastened together by several kinds of metal pebbles homogeneously distributed on the edges. Light was scattered by rods fixed to the ceiling. In the center was a blue ball placed on a pedestal and behind a kind of strange machine. It had never seen such a place before. No construction in the city was similar, not even close to that. It stepped forward and decided to go around the room. Everywhere, the same plates with the same stones on the edges. At the very back, it found a heavy, sealed door, on which lay the notice S-1 toward Level -3. A response for Paul, 7th Hepta had siad his hopes of discovering the Earliest Space... He would fulfil them soon...
It walked toward the center of the room and grabbed the blue ball. It quickly realized that it was a simplistic representation of a planet. It included oceans dotted with pieces of land that were large to varying extents. Inscriptions on the land seemed to indicate points of interest. The mapping was precise, coasts were chiseled, and mountains were represented by small bumps on the surface of the sphere. 5th Hexa turned the ball over, feeling puzzled. If this was indeed a piece of human work... Earth... this was Earth... there was no other way...
but so... different. Land masses... a cut... 5th Hexa followed the coasts of continents and saw that they were from the same supercontinent, which had been sundered. Spaces were filled by oceans. It was Earth... the earth of another space... one Edgard never travelled to. Before it became a prisoner in Space H. and in a reverse linearity of time, it had roamed above other spaces with its peers. This distribution of land and ocean, as represented by this globe, was certainly something it had never seen. Then it realized what this was, but this answer brought it other questions. Why did Servants keep this globe, and everything that was in that room?
5th Hexa put the sphere back on its base and became interested in the gigantic equipment that took up half the room. This was a kind of machine with a door to match human dimensions. It opened the door cautiously and ventured its head through. It came out for a moment to compare what it just saw with what it had seen before. It realized that this thing did not stop at the ground on which it stood, but extended for dozens or even hundreds of feet. It went back inside. There it saw beds, a dining hall, sports equipment... and most significantly, a large cockpit with many controls to run the device that was equipped with harnessed seats for the crew... It bumped its head while coming out too quickly. It knew what was lying before its eyes — a spacecraft, whose design vaguely recalled what the Circle was showing the Spirit of the Multitude. Humans from another space had created this machine... Did they succeed?
With questions swirling in its mind, Edgard exited the place to interrogate 7th Hepta.
“Most of the questions are irrelevant,” said the latter.
“I can hear all the answers.”
“I’m sure you can. What worries the Heptagon is what you intend to do with these answers.”
“OK. So tell me what’s important.”
“You saw the ruins of another space, as you understood it. How it all happened there in that mountain and why Servants have kept them are not issues to which the Heptagon wishes to respond, at least for now. What you must know is that it is the human past and not the future. They built flying machines, lived in space, even went to other planets.”
“I understood it was the past, and from what space it all came from.”
“What you think you know... reality is a step beyond comprehension.”
5th Hexa nodded in assent. It could not draw a conclusion. It then said.
“You’re right, I went too fast; however, I...” It almost ventured the question burning its lips, but stopped short with a stare from 7th Hepta — and then moved on.
“I did not know... for space... We have to show this technology to the Circle so that it shares that with the hybrid. This is important for his project.”
“Will you help the Circle?”
“I promised the Spirit of the Multitude to be sincere.”
“We do not allow that.”
“Why?”
“Because it is the human past... their past, you hear?
The space-travel project is just a dead end...”
“I know... linearity will not change... but I promised.” “We will prevent you from doing anything.”
“So the Heptagon does not approve of the Circle’s solution...”
“The Heptagon will help you.”
“I am the Hexagon.”
“It may be time for you to take a different path.”
“I cannot... Paul...”
“Yes, your human. You have faith in him. You say he perceives time... and we believe you.”
“I have to stay with the Hexagon.”
“The Heptagon can help you.”
“You are seven!”
“No.”
“How is that so, but... ? You have hidden these things
from the Spirit of the Multitude?”
“1st Hexa was not the only one who had seen the most probable future and had died out of despair.”
“Impossible! We would have felt something!”
“The Heptagon is more powerful than you think it is, or what you believe it can do.”
“Why me?”
“You fight only for a solution that has little chance of success. That is a proof of courage and perseverance. You sensed a solution to save the spaces, as no one did. You have the necessary human.”
“The Spirit of the Multitude has chosen him for me.”
“No. 1st Hexa and 2nd Hepta did. It was their farewell gift, even if they did not believe in that future.”
5th Hexa wavered. Would what it had taken to be real until now be an illusion? Was it possible? These revelations were a shock, which brought out the many questions from the metal cube... this space in which humans had travelled... the preservation of relics... and this inscription... S-1 toward Level 3... Two kandrons had chosen instead of the Spirit... one of which was Albana, its dear Albana... the kandron beauty had not been the only one to commit suicide...
“I do not ask the right questions, correct?” 5th Hexa enquired.
“Yes, but the Heptagon will not help you.”
“For the moment.”
“For the moment.”
“Will I know someday?”
“Everything depends on the path you are going to choose.”
Edgard paused for a moment, trying to put its thoughts in order.
“Is it real? What you said...”
“Look.”
7th Hepta created a bridge between its mind and Edgard’s. “With the risk that the S. of M. would find out,” 5th Hexa thought.
“Not if the connection was short,” 7th Hepta replied.
Behind the latter, 5th Hexa perceived five other kandrons... five, not six. The Heptagon was not complete... as 7th Hepta had said. It showed Edgard 2nd Hepta, shortly after nothingness occurred, talking to 1st Hexa... There was discussion about Edgard, before it became 5th Hexa... before it integrated the Hexagon... before it even made its choice! They also spoke of Paul, they said... The connection was cut.
“You do not need to know what was said. The only thing that matters is that you have seen all that I told you to be reality,” said 7th Hepta.
Albana... it had chosen Edgard before the latter knew itself what it would do... that kandron had decided the human with whom 5th Hexa would tie ‘nodes’... Albana had seen things... it probably already knew it was dying... And yet it had loved Edgard. Unless the whole thing was an illusion... Had Albana seduced Edgard to make sure the latter would not see Albana’s manipulations? Why had it chosen Paul for Edgard, while it itself did not believe in another future? The voice of Faress, 6th Hexa, imposed itself in its mind.
“What is going on with you? Brainwaves are disrupting the Hexagon.”
“
Nothing.”
“Of course, there is nothing in your mind, but... are you still trying to hide things from the Spirit of the Multitude?”
“I hide nothing, now... I know.”
“Tell me.”
“What I know does not need to be known.”
“So you are hiding things... the Hexagon may exclude you, if you continue.”
“No. The Hexagon cannot afford to be incomplete, the risks are too great. And there are no more new kandrons to integrate a structure... since nothingness.”
“And to me, can you tell?”
“Not at the moment!”
“I helped you, 5th Hexa, when you needed it. I’m still here today.”
“I cannot.”
6th Hexa withdrew from Edgard’s mind as it had come in without insisting. 5th Hexa found itself back with 7th Hepta. The latter did not comment on the Hexagon’s incursion, yet it was clear that 7th Hepta knew what had happened. One way or another, it had followed the conversation. In its eyes, 5th Hexa perceived acquiescence. Edgard had reacted as the Heptagon had wanted, rejecting its own sibling... Both buried in snow up to their chests, they moved with difficulty to reach the sunny side of the mountain. They had nothing more to do there... 5th Hexa had learned all that the Heptagon wanted to show.
They both stopped simultaneously, listening to the call of the Spirit of the Multitude.
To imagine — to create in one’s mind — is a talent.
Knowing how to tell is another.
The storyteller makes the story, not the reverse.
The Legend of the Elders, the History of the Machine
CHAPTER 44
SPACE H. (1ST CIRCLE)
Baley woke up feeling strong; both reinvigorated by her new theory and happy about the previous day’s discussion with Iris. This conversation was a success both personally — they had managed to converse without arguing — and professionally. Iris had in her own way onfirmed Baley’s theory of an anti-Machine youth movement. She had told her about the despair that had invaded her that grew out of the impression of a fully- planned life under the Machine’s control. Iris had also said that the Machine had a plan to keep humans under its influence... Baley had found this theory absurd at the time. During the night, however, her dreams had taken her onto the trail of a master plan, something bigger than her, the city, an overall plan managed by the Machine... and her daughter’s theory no longer seemed as devoid of sense. In her sleep, the shadow area of her brain seemed to reconnect to the rest of her mind, finding its place, making memories, thoughts... accessible and real; the ties, relations between the Machine’s internal modification she had heard from Lars, external changes in the pioneering area, the trigger factor of the Problem... and now a larger plan... What if? Ideas were circulating like streams and rivers to the ocean... infinite possibilities... probabilities... all the way to the Machine. What did she really know about this wonder? In the Tower, she only saw the data that the Machine sent her... just a tiny part of the thousands of lines of code executed at any time... The Equilibrium — was it an end in itself? Did the Machine really have its own intentions? And...?
Fortunately, at sunrise, the barriers were forming and all her thoughts were absorbed by the black hole firmly framed by... the Machine; again and again... She preferred to focus on the day’s program. As she explained to Paul, she wanted to ask the parents of the latest victims; she had not yet met them. She wanted to talk to them about their children’s behavior, and verify her hypothesis. She could go back to the parents she had already interviewed, but she did not feel she was ready to confront Sarah and Mark or Sam and Mary. After she paid them a visit, their beliefs were exposed to daylight, and their children were ostracized. A new discussion with them was unthinkable. As Paul made it patently clear in his remarks, they had already suffered enough. She had to ask new people, specifically, parents who had just lost a child; to face haggard look of their visages ravaged by tears with the disbelief still present. Ready to face this reality, she left the apartment stronger and more combative than ever before.
At the square, she found nothing but hostile looks.
She felt the strength of the dull rage that animated people.
She was the special agent who had snatched the children from their parents; all for nothing as far as they were concerned. She used to make her way easily through the crowd, led by her chip. That day, however, it could do nothing for her, for people were deliberately ignoring the injunctions of their respective chips, staying put to burden Baley with their silent recriminations. Although she understood their feelings, Baley was no less determined to continue her investigation against all odds. It didn’t matter if she became or remained the most hated person in the city, as long as she solved the Problem. She calmly faced the stares, withstanding them without hostility and with the serenity that stemmed from her confidence in her abilities. She went to her morning appointment with the Machine. Crossing the hall of the Tower, she left behind the rejection of her fellow citizens. She came face-to-face with Paul’s kandron, which turned, its head toward her for a few seconds. This could not be a coincidence. What was it doing there? Why, among all kandrons that existed in the city, was Edgard the one to come to see the Machine? She found herself imagining that kandrons might also have their own intentions... Were they all on the same team — humans, Machine, kandrons?
She hated her mind, which embarked upon absurd reflections — far from reality, far from her world, beyond logic. Despite the Machine’s intervention, she could not completely eliminate these digressions, although the presence of the dark side might be helping her tremendously. She forced herself to gather her energy around the investigation and nothing else. She walked straight toward the columns, passing Edgard; in the same way, she mentally bypassed the thoughts that the animal triggered in her.
The interface of the column notified her that her allotted time with the Machine was four minutes. The alcove opened into an area without contours. A pale, soft light percolated into an open area, in the middle of which stood a connection terminal. All around the halo of light, a thick, cold, insidious fog covered with its silver curls a space that was to remain hidden. Yet the ground space and its rough edges shone despite the veil. Baley found herself facing the exact representation of her own mind; a light box, in which she was an effective investigator and a disturbing nebula, containing her strange ideas, though not fully able to encompass them.
She presented her new theory to the Machine, but not without difficulty. To think that people could reject it was inconceivable — her chip sending her small discharges — but to present this idea was even worse. She felt that the information would not cross her mind and reach the Machine, as if it were corrupted data. Yet it received the data flow, and treated it like any other flow without emotion. She notified the Machine of her intention to question the recently-bereaved families to validate her theory, and received no comment. The Machine took note, waiting for the next report. Baley gave no instructions regarding children who had been removed, continuing with her previous decision. The thread concerning the end of young humans remained open...
She walked back to the column, which opened on contact. She saw the representation blur and disappear before the door finally uncovered it. She already regretted this vision and the freshness of the membrane in particular; the electric current... She wanted to stay there so much; with the Machine, her machine; to remain in a world of logic, of probability, of calculation of lines of code, of programs... She found herself in the lobby, exited the building and went through the crowd again, denser still, en route to the rail station. The arm with translucent fibers, which connected her to the Tower, like a rope, was traversed by a wave. The hot surface of the link indicated a colossal amount of data transiting between the Tower and the station. If the rail served as a means of physically transporting humans from one point to another of the city, the Machine also used it as a data-transmission conduit. Each station was used as a neuronal center, sorting
information, relaying what needed to be, and processing the relevant data. On the rail, Baley still felt connected to the Machine indirectly, following the waves of information disseminated into the city. She went to her first interrogation; away from the digital world and into the world of feelings... the illogical world... the world of humans... her world.
The apartment of the first couple she needed to see was in the Second Circle. In this section, gray buildings melted into an architectural ensemble consisting of a multitude of cubes facing the center of the city. Baley took a few steps and found herself in front of the building of Roger and Anne Dufaur, parents who were experiencing a monstrous tragedy.
She announced herself into the terminal at the entrance of the building, and was received by Anne on the fourth floor of the building. She was a thin woman, turned frail by grief. Her brown hair framed a pale face and radiated sadness. She asked Baley to come in and preceded her into the parlor that adjoined the entrance. Roger, her husband, appeared in the doorway like a ghost. They had just lost their twins, Alexis and Cyril (both 12 years old). They sat in the family sofa, which was far too big for just the two of them, and offered Baley a chair. The special agent opened her mouth, but did not have time to say a word. Anne, damaged in her thoughts, began to speak, barely conscious of her husband’s presence or of Baley, who stood beside her.
