“Well, speaking of vulnerable,” Thel began, “we need to get outta here. That NPC was in purge mode, which means someone or something has activated a purge.” Then she pointed to the A.I.’s cheek. “And we need to get somewhere to treat your injury, and for God’s sake, we need to get out of this downpour if James is going to have a fighting chance.”
The A.I. nodded in agreement. He looked out to the other side of the bay, the glow of his old penthouse—or at least the one he’d created in his mind so long ago, when it was he that had been the candidate. He crouched down and took James’s arm, helping him up. “If you will be so kind, please get his other arm,” he said to Thel. “I’ve got an idea.”
11
Old-timer watched as the Planck platform disappeared in less than a blink of an eye, taking Rich and Djanet with it. There was no ripple this time; it was just hanging in the blackness one moment and then was gone the next. He turned back to the three ghosts standing near him in the blackness. “All right, folks. It’s time for a little game of twenty questions, and I need some answers.”
“Of course,” Aldous replied, “and answers will be provided.”
Suddenly, a campfire appeared out of the nothing, already strong and crackling warmly. There were logs around the fire, providing a warm, dry place to sit.
“Let’s make ourselves comfortable, shall we?” Aldous suggested as he walked to the fire to take his seat.
Old-timer followed the trio to the fire and took a seat on a log. Paine sat to his left on the same log, while Aldous and Samantha seated themselves opposite them. Samantha was quiet but studying Old-timer, her eyes betraying her obvious confusion and her continued torment. Old-timer tried his best to avoid eye contact.
“Now,” Aldous began with a sigh as though it had been a long time since he’d been able to have a seat and relax, “what question would you like answered first?”
Old-timer considered for a brief second. There was so much he didn’t understand. He decided to pose the most obvious question first and then to work from there. “You refer to this place as the void, but what is it and how did you come to be here?”
“Ah, good question,” Aldous replied, smiling ever so slightly, as though he couldn’t help but delight in the opportunity to explain his creation. “This is a modified version of a plan I was working on that, sadly, was ill-fated. I’d had the notion that if I could create a virtual world, one real enough to fool an intelligent occupant, then I could employ that world as a kind of training ground and mold a benevolent artificial intelligence within it. Sadly, I simply never had the chance to bring my plan to fruition.” His lips pouted for a moment as he remembered the tragedy that had befallen the three of them, and every other entity in their universe. “However, the technology proved invaluable in the end. I knew I could use the sim to upload our core consciousness into it, but I couldn’t create a fully functioning world. Our energy is limited, and we had to keep the doorway to Universe X open.”
“Universe X? A doorway to my universe? Why?” Old-timer asked.
Aldous nodded, ready to elaborate. “We couldn’t access Planck portals on our own, but there was one place we knew of that did have the technology. Universe X. And if the door opened from your side, we knew we could traverse the boundary and escape this frozen hell with you.”
“What happened to your universe? You said it was erased, but I don’t understand that,” Old-timer said, readying himself for what he knew could only be a mesmerizingly absurd answer.
“V-SINN,” Paine responded, the corner of his lip curling slightly as he reflected on what he saw as the source of all of their shared loss.
“V-what?” Old-timer asked.
“V-SINN. Short for Virtual Specialized Intelligent Neural Network,” Aldous explained the acronym.
“A.I.?” Old-timer reacted.
“Of a sort, yes,” Aldous replied. “Of a very ill-conceived, extremely unpredictable, and extraordinarily advanced type.”
“But I thought you said you weren’t able to build an A.I.” Old-timer questioned.
“I wasn’t,” Aldous replied, as though he thought the point was obvious. “I certainly didn’t build V-SINN,” he said, placing his hand on his heart with indignation to emphasize his innocence.
“Then who—”
“V-SINN built itself.”
“Huh? I-I don’t follow you,” Old-timer said, shaking his head as he tried to understand. “How could it—”
“That’s where you come in,” Paine said. A can of beer suddenly appeared in his hand. He popped the top open and took a swig.