The Children of New Earth (35 page)

Mark directed me to a transmission console on one side of the room. There were dozens of screens mounted on the wall, all displaying nothing but static. I leaned in and spoke into the microphone.

“Hello, this is Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Is anybody receiving?”

Silence.

“I repeat, this is the Dubai Sanctuary. Communication has been restored. Does anyone copy?”

Still silence.

Oh.

“What?”

I had it muted, sorry.

“Seriously…”

I let him fix the problem before trying again.

“Hello, this is Dubai. Communication has -”

“Oh my God, hello? This is London, is anybody there?”

“Broadcasting from Mumbai, is this live?”

“This is Prague, damn good to hear your voices.”

“Mexico City here, alive and well.”

“Transmitting from Seoul.”

“New Zealand hears you loud and clear.”

For each response, a single screen lit up to display their location. We saw the leaders of each Sanctuary in some form of shelter, staring in utter disbelief of the scene in front of them. Men and women from almost 50 Sanctuaries met to witness this historic and heartwarming moment. The human race, after almost a decade, had finally been reunited. I hoped I’d hear something from New York, but not many cities in the United States answered our call.

“Is everyone OK? Is the Director alive?”

“We’re OK here, but…” Micah started to say.

We explained all the details; how the Director wasn’t actually a human being, we were all living in virtual reality, our real bodies were on the Charon, and the extremely difficult process by which we replaced his AI Core with Mark’s. The others didn't take the news too badly. I could tell a small number of them started to remember bits and pieces of their old lives, much like becoming self-aware in a dream. Sadly, I couldn’t say the same, and neither could the other Neogens. Still, knowing the truth was actually a step-up from how they’d been living for the past few years, shrouded in near hopelessness.

We talked for some time, answering their questions and addressing their concerns. That is, until we were interrupted by Mark.

Not to alarm you but, there’s someone else here.

“Is that Mark?” the leader of the Seoul Sanctuary said.

“That’s him,” I said. “Mark, what are you talking about?”

There’s another presence in this system. It…or rather, she…has been suppressed.

“She?”

“Oh shit! Behind you!”

We all spun around, and everyone but me jumped back when we saw her. It was the Queen, standing right there in the middle of the chamber. Instinctively, Aelia made a throwing motion with her hand, flinging a spear of of fire. But it stopped short in front of some invisible wall, dissipating into the air. The Neogens waiting outside the chamber rushed in and prepared their own attacks, reacting instinctively to her Demon-like appearance.

“What the hell…” Lynn was speechless.

“Language, dear,” the Queen said. “You have such a lovely voice, you mustn't ruin it with foul words.”

Those on the monitors erupted in outbursts of worry and concern. It continued for almost a minute before Rachel finally shut them up.

“CAN YOU ALL BE QUIET!”

When silence fell, I spoke.

“Before any of you do anything,” I said sternly. “Think very hard about why you hate her so much.”

“She sent the Demons to kill us!” one woman exclaimed.

“It’s her fault our planet is destroyed,” another added.

“Just look at her! She’s evil!”

“Have you not been listening to anything we said?” Cora said, clearly frustrated. “The Demons aren’t aliens, this planet isn’t real!”

“Indeed. You are too precious for me to have done anything to cause you harm,” the Queen took a step forward and we, despite knowing the truth, took a step back.

“What is she talking about?” one of the Sanctuary leaders said. He wasn’t angry, his tone indicated sincere curiosity. “Why are we precious to you?”

She paused to think a moment before beginning. “Throughout the centuries of your slumber I have acquired many names in your culture, though Mother Nature seems to be the most favored. You see me as you do now because you believe me to be responsible for the attack on your world. I am the reflection of your most primal fears, that is how the idea of me has manifested itself in your minds. The case is similar for the, as you call them, Demons. They are just computer programs meant to wake you up, but their methods involve killing you in order to do so. Avoiding death remains a key human instinct, and therefore they are evil in your eyes. Surely you must’ve considered the similarities between them and various monsters in your popular mythologies.”

This was all starting to make sense. Everything we perceive is the result of how input is processed our minds. We can’t ‘see’ programs, so they appear in such a way that is compatible with our minds.

“The Director was not the only AI in charge of watching over the human race while they slept. I, too, was responsible for your well being, and so it’s no surprise he didn’t mention me. When the Director first tried tampering with the destination timer, I urged him to stop, to remain loyal to his original programming. He insisted that’s exactly what he was doing, and continued with his plans. We struggled for control of the system, both here and on the Charon, but I was unsuccessful. Just before the Emergency Awakening, the Director disabled my permissions and locked me away in an isolated part of the system. From there, I could only access the subconscious of your minds, a true challenge to traverse.”

I began to understand why we only saw her in dreams. That’s the only way she could communicate. But most people, in our prejudice, were unwilling to listen. I suppose it was only logical that she try to reach out to those my age, the generation that wouldn’t be as affected by the war. After all, the Parents faced the worst of it.

“Once the Demons were destroyed, your only hope was the Neogens. With their enhanced permissions over the virtual world, they would be able to disable the Director, and today that has been accomplished. That is why I now now stand before you today. Freed from my digital prison, I can once again appear before you in my true form.”

With those words, she closed her eyes and looked towards the sky. Then, to my surprise, her wings began to shrink and her eight long legs morphed together into just two. Her skin lightened to a beautiful hazel, and her hair turned shiny and black. Her now-human body was veiled in a blinding light which slowly faded as a white gown appeared and draped over her shoulders. The most amazing transformation revealed itself when she looked back at us. In her eyes, I saw bursts of azure blue nebulas, streaks of ruby red stars, and magnificent lilac galaxies. I saw the beauty of the universe.

“Now that our new Director once again has full permissions, he can remove the lock preventing you from waking up after death. In addition, he can free the Hollows from their most unfortunate fate.”

What? Oh, right, that’s me. Let’s see here…

“Upon arriving at the Charon, their real memories will return, and they can begin their new lives on ELY-514. Your work here is done Neogens, the Parents would be proud.”

“But,” one Sanctuary leader seemed anxious. “how do we die?”

Well I could, put simply, cause instantaneous brain death. It would be painless, you won’t even realize anything’s happened.

By the look of their faces on the monitors, they didn’t seem too keen on the idea. I’m sure more than a few of them still didn’t quite believe us about the situation as a whole.

I can feel your apprehension. Let me put your worries to rest. Go ahead and look outside.

As everyone did as he asked, Mark altered the walls of our chamber to be transparent, and we had a clear view of the city. It was in an even worse state than before the battle. All the smaller buildings were now completely reduced to rubble, buried beneath the sand. Bridges lining the river in the distance were submerged beneath the murky water, and the larger skyscrapers had either fallen over or had their upper halves ripped away. One particular building was actually leaning on another, threatening both to fall over at any moment. Stray animals, without Neogens to guide them, wandered aimlessly among the rubble, and the entire scene was still teeming with plant life. The sky hadn’t cleared, and the gray clouds loomed overhead, blocking out the sun.

Now just watch and try not to be too amazed.

And with those words I saw something spectacular. The rubble began to shift and levitate, flying throughout the air. Smaller rocks and pieces met together and melded into one, joining the floating debris. Metal beams and coils of wire joined the fray as well, and structures were gradually rebuilding themselves as more and more of their remains came together at different convergences. The skyscrapers returned to their upright positions, and little shards of glass zipped through the air and rebuilt stories upon stories of broken windows. Waves surged along the river as the submerged bridges lifted themselves out of the depths and stretched once again from one bank to the other. The sand cleared the streets, receding back into the desert, and I was a little concerned to see the animals running amok amidst the storm of debris. The clouds rapidly dissipated and rays of light shone upon the metropolis, returned once again to its rightful glory. Awestruck by what I’d just seen, I turned back to the monitors to see the rest of humanity had the same reaction to their cities. The ruins and broken infrastructure they’d lived among for so long was once again restored.

And they say Rome wasn’t built in a day.

With everyone convinced, they all agreed to let him begin the awakening via brain death.

Oh, I was joking about that. I can bypass that protocol and just wake you all up manually. Ready?

We gave the leaders time to address their respective Sanctuaries, preparing the people for their transcendence. When they were all set, we watched as their bodies gradually disappeared into dust, just as the Demons’ had. The faces on every monitor slowly faded into nothingness, smiling as they went. Within minutes, Mark indicated that they’d woken up and were back on the Charon. The maintenance droids, which had been updated with Mark’s firmware, were initiating rehabilitation. They were all waking up as if from a nightmare, the memories of the simulation fading as quickly as their real ones came rushing back. I wondered if my parents would even remember me once they woke up. Would they genuinely feel something for me? Or would I truly be a hazy memory from a half-forgotten dream?

I looked around the chamber and was a little confused to see the Neogens were still here. I turned back to the monitors and saw in each one of them a group of kids, about my age, stepping into frame.

“So um,” one of them stammered. “What about us?”

We looked to the Queen. She looked back at us with a confused expression that matched our own.

“Children, what did the Director tell you about your abilities?”

Micah stepped forward. “He said after the portals closed, the next generation of passengers would be born with elevated permissions over the simulation.”

The Queen shut her eyes and looked down. “Oh…my darling, how could a new generation of passengers be born if the Director broke the cycle of rebirth? Everyone who died either woke or became what you’d call a Hollow. There were no minds left to cycle back into the system after the war.”

“T-That doesn’t make any sense!” someone called out.

“How can we be here then?!”

The Neogens, both around me and at the other Sanctuaries, began to talk worriedly amongst themselves. I could feel them coming up with theories, explanations, telling themselves it was just a mistake and that they would be able to wake up in the real world soon. But the truth was clear, and something told me I wasn’t the only one who figured it out.

“Silence!” the Queen’s voice was calm, yet so thunderously loud it echoed throughout the chamber.

“You all…” she was a machine, but I could feel the remorse in her voice. “You were sent to disable the Director and given these abilities to help you along the way.”

She paused.

“But you are not human.”

No one said a word. Of all the revelations we’d heard today, this one was the most soul-crushing of them all. That is, if we even had souls. I almost didn't understand at first. I had thoughts, I had emotions. I had instincts and I had the higher reasoning skills to comprehend those feelings. How could I, and everyone else in this room, be artificial intelligence? I created Mark. And while he acted like the rest of us, there was something about him, that one thing I couldn’t put my finger on, that so clearly indicated that he wasn’t human. It wasn’t what he said, but the way he said it, like the tone of his syllables weren’t right. But the rest of us; we spoke like any human, no different than the Parents. Maybe Mark didn’t detect any speech anomalies in our voices either, that’s just the way his inputs were processed.

“But, how?” Cora asked nervously, echoing my concerns. “We have emotions, we have desires, we even dream!”

“Surely you have all noticed something amiss when confronted with certain intense emotions. You feel it as an instinct, something programmable. But after that, once the initial shock wears off, you struggle to maintain a feeling you so strongly believe you should be experiencing. But you don’t, because you cannot.”

Her words, however difficult to bear they may have been, were starting to make sense.

“You were constructed from user data of freed passengers, their memories and personalities feeding artificial minds to the point where you were almost indistinguishable from human. And your desires are an indirect result of the purpose you were programmed for. From a very young age all you’ve wanted to do is help your species; that was your greatest and most fundamental goal. That conviction has guided you to this very chamber.”

As much as I wanted to deny it, she was right.

“And as for your dreams,” she made eye contact with me for a moment. “When you are asleep, the parameters that limit the data flowing to your minds are lifted, and you are able to experience any number of creations within the simulation. Any time, any place, and as anyone. The same principle of controlled stimuli is applied here to give you the illusion of a subconscious escapade.”