“And what was that?” James asked. “The higher purpose?”
The candidate locked eyes with James. “To prevent the two of you from destroying the reality outside of the sim—from destroying the real universe.”
27
The Planck platform blinked into Universe 1, and the accompanying ripple was hardly discernible as Djanet and Old-timer found themselves, once again, in the vast emptiness of space. The android armada that had passed by them were besieging the Earth, which was just a pale, blue star, millions of kilometers away. The collective could be seen though, orbiting around the Earth like a galaxy orbiting a super massive black hole, the individual ships reflecting sunlight the way a sandstorm does, the tiny particles of sand seemingly forming a wall.
Old-timer wasted no time opening communication to Earth. “Daniella? Do you hear me?”
“Craig?” she asked through a crackling, static connection in their mind’s eyes. “Where are you?”
Old-timer had experienced this sort of situation before—he needed to make sure the result would be different this time.
“Daniella, are you aware of what’s happening?”
“The androids are attacking again,” she replied. “They’re raining down everywhere—half the sky is black with them. None of them have come near the farm yet though.”
Old-timer held his hand to his chest, relieved. “Thank God.”
“Craig, where’s James? Where’s the A.I.? Why aren’t they stopping this?”
“We don’t know,” Old-timer replied. “They’ve vanished. Rich is trying to protect the mainframe.”
“Rich? By himself? Oh my God. He’s going to die!”
Old-timer’s eyes darted to Djanet, who was able to read what Daniella had said from Old-timer’s expression. Her lips pulled into a tight, worried grimace.
“Daniella, I’m here with Djanet. I’m adding her to the conversation now. We’ve got to get you off the planet.”
“But where can I go?” Daniella asked. “The farmhouse can’t become a spaceship the way everyone else’s home can. The Net isn’t working properly, so I can’t construct anything.” Her fear and frustration were saturating her voice. “Craig, where are you?”
“I’m in space,” he replied in a helpless tone.
Daniella looked up into the sky and closed her eyes for a moment. “Are you safe?”
“For the moment,” Old-timer confirmed. He looked up at Djanet. “Look, Daniella, I can get you some help.”
“Get me help?” Daniella reacted. “What about you?”
“I-I can’t come back right now. I’ve got something I have to do—something only I can do.”
“Craig!” Daniella exclaimed. “You promised me you wouldn’t do this again—”
“Daniella, listen to me!” Old-timer shouted back. “I love you but I’m the only one who can do this! Everyone’s life is at stake! If I don’t do this, you’re already dead, do you understand? Everyone’s dead—the androids included!” He looked up at Djanet. “Djanet’s coming to get you. She’s going to help you get off the surface.”
“That’ll just get her killed too!” Daniella shot back.
“No it won’t,” Djanet cut in. “Two of us have a better chance than one.”
“Craig, don’t let her come,” Daniella responded emphatically. “She’s already safe. I can’t let her—”
“I can’t let you face this alone,” Old-timer responded. “I can’t be there, but Djanet can.”
“Craig, don’t—”
“Daniella,” Djanet interrupted her, “I’m not doing this selflessly. I’m doing it so he can do what he has to do to save the rest of us. I can be your extra set of eyes. I’ll have your back.”
Daniella exhaled, furious as she began gritting her teeth. Then she saw a lone figure, like a skydiver, a black silhouette against what was left of the blue sky, falling toward the outskirts of her land. “Oh no. They’re here.”
“You gotta hide,” Old-timer reacted, his heart racing.
“Djanet, if you’re coming, you better come now,” Daniella urged, keeping her voice low as she raced out from the open and hid behind the eastern wall of her house, craning her neck so she could keep her eyes on the lone android. She felt the vibration of the impact in the soles of her feet when the android’s body landed, but it disappeared behind the tall grass in the field. A second later, the corner of her eye caught another body falling from the sky on a very similar trajectory to the first. “Because I’ve got minutes here at most.”