Inhuman(11)

“Math?”

“Yep. Math.”

Old-timer scratched his scalp near his brow. “And what does the math look like?”

“For me,” James replied, “it’s a gorgeous, awe-inspiring, synesthetic landscape.”

Old-timer exhaled, even though he wasn’t really breathing—his new body didn’t need to. “You’re losing the bet, James. You’re supposed to be smart enough to convince me that this isn’t supernatural and godlike.”

“I’m not even worried,” James replied, confidently. “I’ll win. You know what my favorite synesthetic landscape is?”

“No,” Old-timer shrugged. “I still don’t even know what the heck a synesthetic landscape is.”

“My favorite synesthetic landscape,” James pressed on, completely undeterred, “is pi.” He gestured to the curvature of Europa, moving his arm in a flourish to trace the shape with his finger to further emphasize the point.

“Pi? I’m assuming you don’t mean cherry…”

“I mean 3.1415926535897932384264338327950—”

“Okay!” Old-timer exclaimed with a laugh, holding his hand up to stop James. “I get it. So what’s this synesthetic landscape look like?”

James grinned, seemingly from ear to ear, and his head moved slightly to take in the beautiful symmetry of the solar system’s sixth-largest moon. “It’s like sailing on a ship along a shoreline, but instead of mountains around every bend, you see brilliant colors, flashes of light like the most incredible fireworks display you could ever imagine, eruptions of volcanoes, suns going supernova…” he trailed off as he took in the expanse of it all. “You see a circle, I see the face of God. Old-timer, pi is mathematical perfection—it’s eternity. When I see it, my body is flooded with sensations that inspire awe. Eternity is beautiful.” He turned back to Old-timer. “You can see why I picked terraforming as a career.”

Old-timer nodded. “Yep, lots of circles in this business.”

“Lots of 3.14,” James elaborated.

“Speaking of…” Old-timer trailed off as he pointed in front of them, causing James to turn to face Venus, which they were quickly approaching. “There’s a big, beautiful blue circle there.”

James nodded. “Math is the language of reality. It’s pure logic, and I’m convinced it’s the key to truly understanding the nature of the universe, to unlocking the greatest secrets there are. Those secrets still stymie me.” He gestured to the vortex of space, the nebulous cloud that seemed to engulf both of them, and the moon he had in tow. “This gravitational lensing you’re seeing isn’t magic. It’s a warp bubble and a warp drive.”

“Warp?” Old-timer titled his head. “Seriously?” He looked up at the nearly invisible sphere that engulfed them and Europa. “Faster than light speed?”

“Superluminal,” James confirmed. “I didn’t invent it. It’s a modified version of an Alcubierre-White device. Just like the Tesla tower technology that I found and dusted off in the A.I.’s database, I found the plans for a warp drive in the historical record. Before the outbreak of WWIII, the theoretical plans were already in place for warp drive, but no ship was ever built. The Purists came to power, and the plans were lost. The A.I. recovered them, but they were never made public.”

“Why?” Old-timer asked, suddenly turning suspicious. “That kind of technology has almost limitless applications.”

“Agreed, but I’ve learned a lot since I began sharing the operator’s position with the A.I. For instance, I learned that one of the A.I.’s chief purposes is to provide security for the human species so that we don’t go destroying ourselves. The governing council, and the chief in particular, had to approve any technological leaps. Even though I was part of the system, always fighting against the bureaucracy, I’ve since come to realize that the controls were even tighter than I’d imagined.”

Old-timer nodded, visions of his past flooding to his mind, pieces of puzzles three-quarters of a century old falling into place. “Because the A.I. monitored everything,” he said, suddenly understanding. He shook his head regretfully. “James, I—look, I’m really sorry but I’ve been complicit in this. I didn’t realize just how much until now—”

“Complicit?” James reacted, his head tilting. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve—I was asked to keep a secret from you, a long, long time ago. I said I would—I hadn’t even met you yet.” Old-timer nearly scoffed as he thought of the absurd amount of time that had passed. “I’d nearly forgotten about it until last night.”