“Delusions of grandeur,” Rich responded, his eyes wide. “You just disabled the Purists’ command center. They’re not going to be thanking you for saving them if they’re assimilated!”
“When they’re assimilated,” Aldous corrected. “It was inevitable.” He narrowed his eyes. “Only the timing was off. Something went wrong in the sim. I was betrayed, but I don’t know yet why or by whom.”
Rich scoffed, his palm going to his forehead. “Oh dear Lord, I am in a comedy!”
“I’m afraid not, Richard,” Aldous replied. “And there will be no Deus ex machina to intervene this time. I’m making sure of that. Now, please, hand over the hard drive. I give you my word I will protect it, and I’ll make sure the androids take you painlessly.”
“He can’t touch you, Rich,” James pointed out. “If he could break your force-field, he would’ve done it already .”
“He’s waiting for the androids to arrive,” the A.I. added.
Rich nodded. “Your word is…what would Old-timer say? Oh yeah. A steaming pile of horse—”
“Stop, Richard,” Aldous warned as Rich began to back out of the corner Aldous had backed him in to, making his way slowly to the steps of the command center toward the exit. “If the androids have to take back that sim from you, I can’t guarantee its safety. I’m trying to save our friends here, Richard. Please, be reasonable.”
“I hate to break it to you,” Rich responded, “but you disabled the Purists’ defenses almost two minutes ago. There was a whole world full of androids in orbit just itching to get down here. Are you sure your backup is coming?”
Aldous’s face nearly formed a smile at Rich’s absurd suggestion. He paused for a moment, and Rich saw the flash of information before Aldous’s eyes as he seemed to check on something. Whatever the answer was that he found, it contorted his face into an expression of dread.
“Oh my God,” Aldous whispered.
“What’s wrong, friend?” Rich asked. “Betrayed again?”
“We’re already too late,” Aldous uttered. In shock, he pulled out a small, black object from his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand.
Rich’s expression reached a new level of surprise. “Is that...an assimilator?” he reacted. “They gave you one?”
Aldous nodded as he looked up at Rich in utter defeat. “For my wife,” he confirmed. “She’d never have gone along with my plan. So I did it while she was sleeping.” He stroked the side of the device with his index finger as though he was stroking the side of Samantha’s cheek.
“I can’t believe you assimilated your wife,” Rich said, disgusted. “You have no lim—”
“Richard!” Aldous screamed in response, snapping his head around, his eyes suddenly burning with fury. “Do you know what’s happening right this second?” He gesticulated violently, gesturing toward the sky that was far above them, several meters of concrete and ocean separating them. “The ship the androids call the Constructor, a ship where more than ninety-nine percent of their people are built, is being devoured by an infinity computer.”
“A what now?”
“In layman’s terms, Richard, it’s a black hole,” Aldous continued. “A perfect computing device, built by the nans.”
“Oh my God,” James reacted when he overheard the news, immediately exchanging looks of terror with the A.I. “Is it possible?”
Rich heard James’s reaction and tried to make sense out of what was happening. “But…how could…”
“It’s inevitable,” Aldous responded gutturally, as though the pressure of a secret kept for decades could finally be released. “It’s exactly what Trans-human is—the unavoidable consequence of mathematical perfection—and it’s eating the goddamn multiverse! Devouring it! That’s what I was trying to prevent, Richard! That’s what I’ve been trying to save us from!”
“Is it possible he’s telling the truth, James?” Thel suddenly asked, having tapped into the conversation moments earlier as she slowly made her way back to the command center’s door after recovering enough from Aldous’s salvo against her.
“I-I don’t know,” James replied.
Aldous looked up at Thel, his bottom lip actually protruding slightly in a pout, his eyes beginning to glisten as tears welled in them. “I never wanted this to happen,” he suddenly said. “Please tell James for me, Thel. I never wanted this. I tried to protect them—James and the A.I., but I was betrayed, and now we’ve run out of time.”