Inhuman(8)
Rich’s eyes flashed wide with surprise before he smiled. “Neirbo, your attempts at humor are woeful.” He winked. “Twenty-four hours, little man.”
And with that, the post-humans turned to retreat back to their ship and head home as quickly as possible.
“Do you have to taunt them?” Djanet whispered. “We still have to get out of here.”
Rich smiled as he shrugged. “You know, I gotta tell you, I feel good about it.”
*****
In the mainframe, James turned to the A.I. “We know Neirbo’s stalling, but we’re no closer to uncovering the whereabouts of 1.”
The A.I. nodded, folding his arms and nestling his chin against his chest as he pondered a mystery that exasperated even the two massive intelligences. “I do not like this. If we’re missing information, then it’s entirely possible we’re vulnerable. I suggest that we move ahead with our plan of putting the Trans-human candidate through the final phase of its testing as quickly as possible. If we’re going to be facing an unknown threat, it’s preferable that we have Trans-human on our side.”
“Agreed,” James replied. “I’ll speak with Thel. Let’s arrange for the final testing to begin tomorrow night.
5
“Thel?” Old-timer said as Thel’s visage appeared, smiling and relaxed as she lounged on a Venus beach in his mind’s eye. “I’m having trouble locating James. He’s not appearing on my contact list. How is that even possib—”
“That’s because he doesn’t really have a location at the moment,” Thel said, understanding the problem immediately. “It’s a bit counterintuitive, I know, but, you know, James and quantum physics.”
Old-timer scratched the back of his head as he stood just a few paces in front of his porch, the dawn’s early light painting the horizon a soft pink, the morning dew forming large droplets on the long blades of grass in front of him. “Come again?”
“He’s terraforming,” Thel replied.
“Terraforming?” Old-timer reacted, astonished.
Thel nodded, her smile never faded. There appeared to be some sort of festive music in the background. It was night on the beach on which she was reclining in a comfortable beach chair. “Yep, but not in the old school way we’re used to. This is terraforming, James style. Check your real-time solar system map. You’ll see an anomaly that should be crossing near Mars as we speak.”
Old-timer tilted his head, perplexed but still following Thel’s instructions. A map of the solar system unfurled in front of him, a gigantic, nearly planet-sized, nebulous shape moving at an impossibly fast rate across it. “I see it.”
“That’s James,” Thel said, smiling. “He’s out of communication right now, but I can tell him you’re looking for him when I see him?”
“It’s pretty important. I should really speak with him right away.”
“Well, you could always go meet him. Just put yourself between him and Venus. That’s where he’s headed. Don’t worry, he’ll be able to sense you.”
“Venus? Isn’t the terraforming complete there?”
“He wanted to make a few tweaks,” Thel replied. “You know James.”
Old-timer smiled. “Yeah, yeah I sure do. Okay, I better head out if I’m going to reach him in time.”
“Okay, see you later!” She waved goodbye, and the communication ended.
“What are you doing?” Daniella suddenly asked, startling Old-timer and causing him to spin.
He held his hand to his chest. “Phew. You scared me! You can still get the old ticker ticking.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. She stepped closer. “You were trying to sneak out before I woke up. Craig, please don’t go.”
“Daniella,” Old-timer replied, taking in a deep breath. He crossed to her and put his hands on her arms, which were folded across her chest. “I’m literally not going to do anything but have a chat with him.”
“You can’t let them keep sucking you in, Craig,” Daniella advised, the advice tinged with a pleading tone. “Things are getting too crazy. I just…” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes fell from his and dropped to the dirt on which she stood.
He tightened his grip on her when he saw that she was becoming overwhelmed. “Hey, Daniella, what is it?”
She swallowed and looked up at him. “Don’t you feel it, Craig? The world’s upside down. It doesn’t make sense anymore. We’re crossing a threshold here and I don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to come back. There’s no stability anymore—no life—just endless upheaval that threatens everyone. And then with Aldous showing up last night…”