Inhuman(102)

“I wish it was that simple, but it’s gonna be a risk, bud,” James said. “I know you don’t know where you are in the room, but we need you to give us some sort of visual cue so that we can direct you to a signal booster. That means we need to get you out of that room.”

“And how do we do that?” Rich replied, his face stricken with dread.

“The command center juts out, right at the front of the waterfall, and it’s the most westward-facing point in the complex,” James replied. Because it juts out, that means if you head up, you’ll break free from the room and the water above and escape. If you head down, you’ll crash through into the waterfall, but eventually you’ll make it to the seabed and, again, be able to escape. The same goes for if you go left or right. The only truly bad direction is if you go east and crash into the rest of the complex, which wouldn’t be optimal.”

“Optimal? What happens if I crash into the rest of the complex?”

“You might bring the ceiling down on Thel and spread the flooding and kill the rest of the Purists. So, this is going to be like Russian roulette. Same odds. Five directions save you, one direction doesn’t.”

“But instead of playing with my life, I’m playing with Thel’s life and the lives of all the Purists!” Rich fired back.

“Rich,” Thel suddenly cut in as she remained in the center hub of the complex, still holding back the tidal wave of water that threatened them. “James is right. You’ve got a five-in-six chance of getting out of there, but even if you do come east and flood the rest of the complex, it’ll be okay.”

“What? Thel, I can’t be responsible for—”

“Think about it, Rich,” Thel cut him off. “It won’t matter if we die if you’re able to get James and the A.I. out of the sim and into Trans-human. They can turn the solar system back in time again, and that’s all that matters. We can still save Governor Wong and the others that we’ve already lost.”

Rich’s mind immediately went to Djanet, before turning to his family. In all likelihood, they’d been assimilated, and James and the A.I. were his only hope of undoing that damage and bringing back the Purist lives that had already been lost. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it. Damn it. How do I pick a direction? Eenie-meenie-miney-mo?”

“That’ll work,” James conceded, “but hurry, Rich. If Aldous is buying time, it means he thinks there’s a strong chance that the person who can get through your magnetic field is on her way as we speak, and we all know who that is. Every second counts.”

“Djanet you were right,” Rich whispered to himself as he nodded. “I’ve gotta retire from the saving the world business.” He closed his eyes and then flew forward as fast as he could, not knowing what direction “forward” was.





7





Old-timer watched in awe of the spectacle that unfolded outside of the replicator pod he shared with Djanet and Samantha. Like matchsticks in the wind, the giant pillars blew around erratically inside of the crumbling ship, none of them gaining enough momentum to carry them all the way to the gargantuan hole that had exploded open in the side of the hull, their masses causing them to be caught in the immense and increasing gravity of V-SINN, still unseen but clearly devouring the ship, sucking them ever closer to the most final death imaginable.

The fissure toward which the group of pods were rapidly approaching at high velocity came into view for brief glimpses, but the pods were spinning uncontrollably, caught up in the force of the decompression, gusts of the atmosphere smacking them to and fro in turbulence that reminded Old-timer of the suborbital jump he’d taken the better part of a century earlier. Each time the fissure came into view, it was closer, but then it would disappear again, replaced by views of tumbling pillars, catwalks, and shrapnel that shot in every direction like grenade fragments.

“It’s gonna take a miracle to survive this!” Djanet shouted.

Old-timer noted that her words were barely audible, despite the fact that she was clearly shouting, an obvious sign that the atmosphere was rapidly thinning, the air unable to carry the sound of her voice.

Suddenly, a black shape appeared from above and, whatever it was, the debris batted them down, changing their trajectory. “What was that?” Djanet asked.

Their view was unintelligible; geometric shapes, ripped from the once moon-sized ship, were passing in front of them, but the fissure didn’t appear again.

“Are we off course?” Samantha shouted.

Old-timer stayed quiet. If they’d been knocked down toward V-SINN, they were as good as dead, but it was impossible to tell. He watched the bizarre spectacle continuing to unfold, his face filled with trepidation, yet also stone still as he waited for his fate to become clear.