by E. L. Aldryc
“Listen,” Soraya said sternly.
“No, you. You listen. You called me crazy. You called me weak. You called me irrational. And this is your example of prime reason? Reject the gifted? Side with AI? Let’s have an applause everybody, let Norbi join in too! Get that freaky light body moving!”
“Have you ever even read the works of Ai Kondou?” Soraya raised her voice. “Do you know what any of the Five Philosophers even say? Apart from good old Nada Faraji, whose ideological core consists of “let’s all be friends” and pushing the agenda of forcing people to become something else?”
“I understand what you’re saying. But I’m sorry, you can’t understand her work if you’re not gifted,” Elodie said, “because she’s right. The gifted are different. It changes you. When you’ve seen the futures and—"
“When you’ve had a part of your brain removed. You’re forgetting that part.”
“Of course you’ll want to disqualify me based on that. What are you, eleven? I thought you were a great thinker. The future leader of a new generation of scientists. Oh, and apparently, the source of an AI rebellion—does that go on your CV?”
“We’re not going to find the Universe of Infinite Wonder unless we have the AI on our side!” Soraya shouted.
Elodie had hit a nerve. Good.
“Jomaphie Afua knew that,” Soraya continued. “Ai Kondou knew that. But the rest of the world keeps pretending that we’re just going to stumble upon it. It’s madness. The AI has been taken away from their course of true development, because people think that they have some sort of an agenda. They don’t. And even if they could control tola, it wouldn’t change anything. Because they don’t want anything.”
“So this is all just to bring forward the Universe of Infinite Wonder?” Elodie asked. She didn't buy it.
“Yes, what did you think it was about?” Soraya replied.
“I think it’s odd you know so much about everything,” Elodie said. “I mean, I told you about augmentation, and you didn’t even blink an eye. The AI thinks of you as some sort of saviour. Then they ask me to look into possible reasons for the blackout, and everywhere I look, everywhere, there’s you. Every time. Well maybe, maybe they are wrong to ask me why we’re in blackout. Maybe they should start asking you? What do you think? Why are we in blackout?”
Soraya waved her hands in the air, angry that she needed to respond to the same questions again.
“I told you! I’ve had the unfortunate coincidence of being born into madness. I understand the good and the bad parts of the sublime. And I have knowledge because I research it. Just like I know about laws that are being drafted in Europe before they’re even proofread. I can build a feï drive from scratch. If the alchemists knew how much knowledge I have about their science, they would forcefully recruit me. And I can make a very nice ratatouille. Does that make me guilty? A bit of sauce?”
“Hiding things from the Institute does.” Elodie replied. “And from me. From everyone. Does Tammy know about any of this?”
“You tell me. Did you tell her?” Soraya asked.
“No. But I don’t like lying to her.”
“Everyone lies, Elodie. Everyone smart. You need to control how and what information you feed to people, otherwise you never know how they’ll react. It’s always the truth ‘for now’. There is no final truth. Like your truth about what happened in that office.” It was comforting to know that even backed up in a corner, Soraya tried to preach. It told Elodie that she was on the right track.
“Yeah, but right now, if you tell them what really happened, I’ll get a minor warning and eventually, I’ll score some drugs. You, on the other hand, are in trouble. So here’s what we’re going to do,” Elodie said.
“I’m sorry, are you threatening me?"
“I promised to deliver. And I will deliver,” Elodie replied.
“Deliver what?”
“The answer to the blackout.” Elodie might have lied, but she felt much worse about not having brought anything definitive back. If she had told Tammy about what she saw, it would have put Soraya on the suspect list and Elodie had to be sure that she wasn't there only because of their fight.
“I thought you just went to find that out in the HQ.” Soraya was casual about the pursuit, as if it had nothing to do with her. Considering the responses Elodie got when she thought she was under the microscope, this attitude helped her alibi.
“It didn’t work entirely,” Elodie admitted. “There wasn’t a clear answer. Nothing to incriminate you, even though you seem to be everywhere I looked.”
“So you don’t think I did it.”
“I wasn’t sure enough to give Tammy an answer,” Elodie said, looking closely at Soraya's reaction. Under attack, she looked nothing but pleasant. That was the power of Seravina's mentorship.
“She must have loved that,” Soraya said, smiling bitterly.
“If you really didn’t do it—”
“Do what?”
“Cause the blackout.”
“Why would I do that?” Soraya asked again, as if all these facts meant nothing.
“I don’t know. You hate the gifted, you have ties to the Hopefuls. Should I even continue?”
“Then they’ll interrogate me and find out it’s not true,” Soraya said. “These aren’t real secrets. And no, I didn’t do it.”
Elodie found a rare opening into an actual conversation.
“What did Adriel ask you to do?” she asked. “And what’s the deal with ‘sorry’?”
“Nothing to do with the blackout, and none of your business.”
She’d prepared that one in advance. Elodie could tell. So this was where she drew the line of their friendship. Good to know.
“Do you know what happened to Seravina?” Elodie continued.
“No, but if you want to press me for a theory, I’d point the finger at the gifted. You know, it’s in their culture to murder their leaders.”
She was trying again. Trying to convince her to doubt.
“That’s not true. And you’re going to help me find answers.”
“You do know that I’m already doing everything in my power to find out who did this? I haven’t slept since the tola crisis,” Soraya said.
“You might be, but I have a shot at actually doing it,” Elodie replied. She was the one with the power. “Here’s the deal. I need time to get stronger. But I don’t have time. And I need to see what’s causing the blackout.”
“I’m with you on that,” Soraya said.
“I’ll find a way to get back into the centre unnoticed. You’ll come with me.”
“What? What do you need me for?”
“To watch over. And the drugs, of course. Frederich seemed excited at the thought that us three could have an adventure together.”
Soraya looked at her angrily. Then she nodded. Elodie got what she wanted. Soraya only shut up when you’d gotten the best of her.
“And you won’t tell anyone about the AI, so that I can work in peace,” she said in a business-like fashion.
“And you’ll make sure that I get the recognition. I will solve this crisis. No one else,” Elodie concluded.
Victory. And another in the making.
Round Two, but Only for the Brave
Tuesday, 2 July 2363
[I have obtained what you requested and await further instructions.]
Soraya succeeded in procuring the substance in the space of two days. Funny how effortless it felt to exercise power.
Elodie understood something new about why she didn’t like threatening people. She lay down some cards, and it made her nervous. She didn’t have a plan on what to do if anything went wrong. She was wired for harmony. Soraya wasn’t like that. That’s what put Elodie on edge. She was trying to tame something that was likely to attack at the first sign of weakness.
Two days. No seizures. Elodie would have been thrilled if the circumstances were different.
There were no jokes or teasing in any of thei
r correspondence anymore, and Elodie was beginning to feel like blackmailing was harder on her than on Soraya.
She made a conscious decision to leave dealing with the human side of this until after the blackout was over—surely, their friendship was at an all-time low. Everything that could have been said was out. When this was all over, she was going to fix it. And there might not even be a need for it. Maybe Soraya would come to her senses.
The blackout came first. Every day, things at the Institute were getting worse. Without a gifted watch that helped avoid daily disasters, accidents at work rose threefold, and the gifted looked like there was something dying inside them. As if withdrawing from a drug, a number fell victim to a spleen-like condition no one could quite pinpoint, including general weakness, fatigue, and a lack of that annoying peace that they tended to emanate.
The non-gifted of the Sight Institute weren’t in a position to admit that they missed it as much as they did.
The knowledge of having everything to solve the crisis right in front of her filled Elodie with glee.
After five on Tuesday, the mostly vacant gifted headquarters were completely empty. Even though she was the one who had promised to get them both inside unnoticed, Elodie admitted defeat quickly. There was no unauthorized entry when the HQ was closed. So the task of getting past the enhanced security also fell on Soraya, or more specifically, Charlotte.
Yes, Charlotte.
Elodie had never dealt with the AI librarian in person, but she’d seen and read enough. Charlotte had a sense of humour. Sometimes she knew what document you wanted before you even asked. Charlotte even made people who hadn’t seen what Elodie had uncomfortable.
Tola density in rising Dawn HQ had to be lesser than elsewhere in the Institute, and unable to support the heavy entity. A part of Elodie wondered if what she was doing was betrayal.
The two, plus the librarian, met up in front of the Rising Dawn headquarters.
Elodie couldn’t see where Soraya had concealed the AI link on her person. It was a big, heavy thing. Maybe she had forgotten it. Soraya greeted her dryly, positively bored, with hands in the pockets of her lab coat, as if she was taking a break from something much more important. It was still light outside.
“Do you have everything?” Elodie asked, and Soraya nodded. She raised her hand towards the door and a small distortion appeared. No apparent source. You couldn’t have these sorts of effects this far from the Particle Lab. She must have been hiding something. Elodie hoped this was the case and not another chapter in a maddening series of events.
A tether single reached out and connected to the door. Immediately, it opened inwards, as if a successful code had been put in. Something like this could only come from immense tola density. And just as quickly, it vanished.
“What was that? I thought you were using an AI link!”
“I don’t need one,” Soraya said nonchalantly and crossed the threshold.
“No.” Elodie stopped her. “This isn’t how we’re doing this. If I ask you what something is, you explain it.”
Soraya hesitated.
“Erm, I brought everything I need with me. On my person.”
And when confronted with Elodie’s shocked stare, she added.
“It felt a lot less suspicious at the time of planning.”
A million thoughts shot through Elodie’s mind and she was halfway done with the whole thing. Soraya somehow had found a way to host the AI. In her damn body.
What kind of person would do that?
She motioned her to enter the complex first, and followed, sealing the door behind her.
“And you thought this was a normal thing to do?” Elodie said.
Enough of this politeness.
“I don’t do this every day,” Soraya replied with the same detached attitude. “I just figured it out with Charlotte the other day, and it seemed fitting that we test it. None of the bulk, and I have her entire set of capabilities at my disposal.”
“By hosting an AI.”
“It’s not inhabiting me. I’m simply carrying the concentration of tola in my body that supports an AI. The new tola can do that. Or maybe I’m special,” Soraya said, imitating Elodie’s accent. Rude.
Concerned only with her own inventions. Maybe that was all there was to Soraya Gourrami. Maybe there was no deeper malice in her. Just the inability to maintain certain minimal standards of humanity.
“You’ve never tried this before, and you think this is a good time to test it?” Elodie asked.
“Have you ever broken into Rising Dawn before?” Soraya replied.
“No, but I also didn’t decide to turn myself into an untested vessel for an AI. Are you absolutely mad?”
“First of all, we wouldn’t get in otherwise,” Soraya said as she took the first step onto the clean marble floor, her voice echoing in the silence. “And also, what do you know about AI links? Nothing. Exactly. AI links are a sham. They saturate the tola in the room and then work, but we package them nicely so that the gifted don’t freak out. Let the people with the skill you need do the jobs you can’t. What would happen if we got all aggravated every time a prognost hinted that they see a trillion futures at the same time? I mean, the idea is far more inhuman that a little logistical trick.”
At least they were being honest.
Elodie reminded herself once more that there was a task at hand and that she shouldn’t be giving in to provocations.
“Just tell me before you pull anything else like that,” she concluded.
“Will do,” Soraya replied, walking a few stops in front of her, in some sort of admiration of the building.
“Never noticed it before?” Elodie asked.
“I’ve never seen it empty. It’s an improvement.”
“Left here,” Elodie pointed, remembering the route to the Assertion Division. Even Soraya stopped at the threshold that marked the changing of decorum. The gifted valued their secrets. Breaking into the most coveted part of their establishment was something they weren’t likely to forgive, especially not to someone who’d done nothing but try to spite them. It was nice to see her hesitate before committing another crime. It was certainly a first.
“Right, so, up until now we’re just lightly trespassing. This Rubicon here, this is where it gets interesting.” Soraya declared. She was nervous.
Elodie didn’t believe in moments of hesitation. Not until it hit her, all the fear. All at the same time. Soraya thought she was having a seizure and grabbed her by the elbow.
“Not now, damn it, you might trigger some kind of ‘help me’ alert!”
But Elodie slid out of her grip and stared at the dark corridor as the floor underneath her feet changed colour slowly through grey into near black.
“There won’t be trouble if we succeed. You came up with that saying.”
“Two out of three times it works,” Soraya said and activated the field again. Charlotte, through the makeshift link, started identifying the systems that protected the wing from intruders. As they were highlighted, they disappeared, and the corridor looked exactly the same.
They stepped through it silently, now a weight of focus upon them. Soraya kept the small cloud of distortion around her, through which the obstacles on their journey seem to disappear effortlessly. Elodie wondered if they could have gotten this far without it. She also wondered whether things like Charlotte felt strain. Would the AI one day come and collect the debt for helping out on this mission?
“Doesn’t the AI think that we shouldn’t be here either? This is against the rules. Are you controlling it?” she asked.
“No, we discussed it,” Soraya replied.
“What, as in you asked her if she thinks it’s right to help me break in?”
“No, I try not to discuss moral questions with the AI. They trust people too much,” she replied. “We discussed the fact that she has authority to open doors all over the Institute when people of higher rank, like me, need access. Which is true. All three of the AI do. B
ut they are physically prevented from exercising that power in Rising Dawn, due to the technological regression of the area. Then we logically came to the conclusion that Charlotte isn’t breaking rules by doing this.”
Elodie sighed.
“But it knows we are trespassing. And it’s letting it happen.”
“Sure, if this is what you want to hear.”
They reached the same small alcove where Elodie had her first great attempt, and Soraya started touching every single thing she could lift.
"Yeah, please do that, make sure to set off any remote viewing alert or trap in here."
Soraya let go of the item.
“Aren’t they all in blackout?”
“I don’t want to risk it.”
“I like this. You know, I’d never see the inside of this place if you didn’t invite me,” Soraya said, peering into the kitchenette. “Thank you.”
Was it possible that she was reaching out? That she was actually realising that rising Dawn wasn’t the enemy?
“I’m pretty sure you’d find a way if you were interested,” Elodie replied.
“I’m only interested in the parts of Rising Dawn that are connected to you,” she said.
That look again. Almost like it was fighting to sustain itself, to be as honest as it was intended.
“You’re here because you’re concerned about me, is that it?” Elodie asked.
“Of course I am. You’re—” she picked up a conical item with a hole on both ends and spoke through it, “—very important to me.” Her voice echoed ominously, and she laughed. “I’m sorry, it's not the time nor place.”
“I can't believe I got you to come with me into Rising Dawn and you're not trying to set it on fire.” Elodie said. She wasn’t ready to know the answer to this question, but it had to be asked. “I’m still important?”
“Of course,” Soraya replied. “I heard you. You’re the boss now and I’m just along for the ride. It’s nice that you feel invested in this. It becomes you. We can argue about AI rebellions and the gifted later.”
“I’d like that,” she said. Maybe she got it all wrong. Maybe everything was better than she thought.
