“Why not?” James asked. “We’ll already’ve lost the mainframe by now, not to mention Earth.”
“Because Thel was right earlier,” the A.I. returned. “Aldous, is a suspect, and a strong one at that.”
“What?” Thel reacted, astonished. “You said there was no way—”
“I was lying. He was listening in on our conversation,” the A.I. answered. “I couldn’t let him know we suspected him, but you were spot on. Aldous does indeed benefit from keeping James and I trapped in the sim, and he also benefits from the destruction of the mainframe.”
“How?” James asked, flabbergasted. “If the mainframe’s destroyed, it can’t be a power grab. He’s just as powerless as any of us—”
“It wasn’t power that he wanted for himself,” the A.I. replied, “but power he didn’t want you and I to have.” He turned to the candidate. “And power he didn’t want you to have either.”
“Trans-human,” James realized. “You’re suggesting he did all this—gave up the Earth—caused us to be assimilated by the androids—all because he didn’t want Trans-human to be reactivated?”
“Possibly,” the A.I. replied cautiously. “I’m only suggesting that Aldous is a suspect, not that he’s definitely the perpetrator responsible for our current circumstances.”
“I don’t know,” James dubiously replied. “I’ve butted heads with that obnoxious, pigheaded egomaniac ever since I was a child, ever since the council identified me as gifted. But betraying his race? I just can’t believe he’d—”
“We can’t depend on belief, James,” the A.I. replied. “We have to depend on the facts, no matter how cold and hard they are. Indeed, Aldous is not a perfect suspect. He knew Trans-human had already been activated and that it operated in an exemplary manner when I was in charge of it. His fear of it then, would seem to be irrational.”
“Unless there was something he was afraid of in particular,” Thel pointed out, “one aspect.”
James nodded. “He warned Old-timer just last night about Planck technology, but as dangerous as parallel universe-hopping might be, was he so afraid of it that he’d destroy the mainframe and leave us defenseless just to stop it?”
“And it begs the question, what does Trans-human have to do with Planck technology?” the A.I. added.
James’s arms were crossed as he began to pace across the rooftop, his head bowed as the rain drenched his hair and ran down his face, dripping from his chin. “Trans-human would have almost infinite computing capability—a mind that could unlock innumerable mysteries. What if there was a mystery he didn’t want unlocked?”
The A.I.’s eyebrow raised as he considered the question.
“Perhaps,” the candidate suddenly spoke up, “this Aldous person feared that Trans-human might be the mind that would destroy the universe as the stranger warned me?”
James’s mouth opened slightly as he snapped his head around and locked eyes with the A.I. “Aldous was the visitor that the candidate had in the sim?”
“It’s plausible,” the A.I. agreed. “It’s plausible indeed.”
3
WAKING UP underneath the Earth’s crust was akin to waking up in the ninth level of Hell as far as Rich was concerned.
Aldous tilted his companion’s head up to help rouse him. “You’re alive,” he said.
Rich turned his head to see that Aldous had brought him inside of the ship after Rich had been injured in their fall. His forcefield had remained on despite his lack of consciousness, performing correctly according to its design, but it couldn’t protect him from the ship he also cocooned and the structure had hit him, knocking him unconscious and temporarily blackening his eye. A few minutes had since past and the nans had recovered him sufficiently that Aldous knew it was safe to wake him.
Rich turned from Aldous and looked outside of the view screen to see the perfect blackness all around them outside of the green glow of their magnetic field. “Tell me that was a nightmare,” Rich spoke.
“I’m afraid not,” Aldous replied as he inhaled deeply and puffed out his chest, once again stoically pulling his shoulders back. “We’ve lost the mainframe. We’ve lost Earth, but we haven’t lost our lives, and that, in the end, is what counts.”
“Yeah,” Rich forced a sarcastic smile, “you’re right. Things aren’t so bad. Just lost Earth and everyone we know and love, not to mention our whole way of life. We’re buried under who-knows-how-many kilometers of earth, but that’s okay, because even if we can make it to the surface, we’re officially the androids’s bitches for all time. Thanks for cheering me up, Chief! You always know how to look on the bright side of life.”