Carbon Heart Silicon Soul: Books 4 - 5

Flesh and Bone

Inside the van Ny had started coughing. He touched his face and realized his air scrubber was no longer there. He didn’t know why his backup air scrubber hadn’t deployed. He clawed at the remnants of his first air scrubber and tore it off from around his collar. His lungs were thick with smoke and fire, even though he’d been without his scrubber for under thirty seconds. Under ten once the doors had been opened. As he tore the last bits of remnant air scrubber from his neck the backup automatically deployed and he breathed a few deep breaths.

He looked around. Everyone was starting to come to. Sheeba was first. They all had their air scrubbers intact. His must have been damaged when he hit his head.

Let me help you out of your harness, said Ny. Are you feeling okay?

Sheeba nodded.

Yes... I think so. What happened?

Let me help you down first.

Ny was standing on the side of the van which was now lying against the road. He had to bow his head a bit on account of the van being shorter in width than it was in height. But still he could reach and see behind Sheeba to help her out of the harness.

Brace yourself, it’s about to come loose.

Ny undid the last attachments and Sheeba lowered herself to the other side of the hammock from where Ny was standing.

What happened? Sheeba asked again. Where’s Eve?

Let’s get out of the van and I’ll explain, said Ny.

Ny got himself out of the van first and then he helped Sheeba out. When she stepped out onto the road she saw the carnage. Pieces of MAAM everywhere and all four jackboots lying still as corpses.

What in Jupiter’s name? she said.

Ny had gone back into the van to help Rak and Shad.

You okay? he asked.

They were trying to untangle themselves from each other in the small confined corner they had found themselves in.

Yeah, check on Clarity.

Will do, said Ny.

He got himself out of the back of the van and then he came around it in front of the side that was now vertical which was the undercarriage. He used the front wheel and the exhaust system to climb up onto the passenger side of the van. He felt a little unsteady on top of the van like that. He pulled on the door handle of the passenger side door and with great effort opened it.

It was harder than it looked, trying to open a van door vertically instead of how it’s supposed to be opened when the van is on all four wheels. Ny dropped himself into the front driver and passenger area. Clarity was coming too. Her air scrubber hadn’t been torn, thankfully.

How are you doing? he asked her.

He had one foot up against her door window and the other one on her door down by the footwell. He was straddling the steering wheel. The van wobbled a moment and Ny figured that must be someone else climbing onto the top of it.

Give me your hand and we’ll get you out of here, he said.

Clarity seemed dazed and confused but she held out her hand. Ny grabbed it and helped get her up to standing.

Give me your hands and I’ll pull you out, said Rak, who was now on top of the van, leaning into the open passenger door with his hands inside reaching for Clarity.

As I pull her out, give her a push to help, Ny.

Will do.

Clarity reached out for Rak and with his size and strength he pulled her out of the van with Ny pushing her upwards from below. Rak also helped lower her down to the ground where Shad was waiting. Rak jumped off the top of the van and Ny made his way through the back of the van where he rejoined the group of them on the side of the road.

What the hell happened? asked Shad.

In the distance the sounds of mentor pods racing towards them was heard.

Do you think we should run for it? asked Rak.

I don’t think all of us are up for a run at the moment, said Shad. Clarity was leaning against him still looking a little concussed and dazed.

And the drones are probably here already keeping track of us, said Ny.

In the air and through his air scrubber, Ny could smell gasoline. He looked around to see where the smell was coming from. He found it. A trickle of gasoline was snaking its way towards a jackboot’s buzzkill that was still sparking intermittently. He quickly calculated the odds of trying to reach the buzzkill in time to knock it out of the way. He wouldn’t make it.

It’s going to blow, he said. Run!

He pointed at the leaking gasoline and started pushing everyone towards the valley by the side of the road. They ran down the embankment and tumbled through what little scrub and flora was there, which was coarse and barely clinging to life.

As they all tumbled into the valley, Mr. T exploded into a large orange fireball with the sound of a hundred thunder clouds. Debris, some of it still on fire reigned down around them but they were left unscathed. After it had died down they all sat up and looked around.

That wasn’t Jupiter’s fucking lightning, said Shad.

Ny nodded.

Mercury’s Caduceus, said Ny.

Assholes, said Shad. They could have killed us.

What happened? asked Sheeba, as the sirens became louder and louder.

It worked, said Ny.

Did it? asked Shad, happier for the news.

Yeah. I spoke with her before she left. She was different. None of the warmth I’d known from before. It was almost like she was already much smarter even after rebooting.

She is, Ny, said Shad. The speed with which she can compute and comprehend is exponentially faster than us. She was probably already taking it all in as soon as she rebooted. Did she seem distracted?

Ny shook his head.

Not so much distracted as cold, maybe. Or just indifferent.

I wouldn’t read too much into that, could just be the quantity of information she has at her fingertips. She has access to everything, with the great capacity to try it all at orders of magnitude faster than we could.

Ny nodded.

She said that humanity doesn’t deserve saving. How she could have made that determination so quickly surprised me, said Ny.

Well, that’s too bad, said Shad. I guess we’re off to a rehabilitation camp to live out the rest of our days.

She did say she’d save us though. Whatever that means, said Ny.

That’s a bit of good news, said Rak. I’d rather not die in a rehabilitation camp, if at all possible.

Shouldn’t we go and see if those jackboots need some help? asked Sheeba.

Nobody replied at first.

Yeah, maybe it’s the civic thing to do, said Shad.

He and Sheeba started walking back up the embankment followed by Ny and bringing up the rear was Rak and Clarity. Sheeba walked over to A Slythlink. Shad walked over to A Mortellen and Ny walked over to SA Lokilld.

This one’s dead, said Sheeba.

So is this one, said Shad.

He’s not. He’s barely clinging to life, said Ny, sticking his fingers into SA Lokilld’s neck. I’ve got a very weak pulse.

This one’s not with us either, said Rak, who was kneeling next to A Vervalik.

She practically killed them all, said Shad.

Nobody said anything to that. The undertone of the message was clear. They had released a murdering machine. That was a risk they were aware of. They just hadn’t wanted to believe it would be the likely outcome.

The pods arrived, four of them, filled with two mentors and two MAAMs in each one. The mentors came out aggressively with buzzkills ready. And before Ny or anyone else could protest, those buzzkills released the lightning at all of them. Excessively and aggressively, the jackboots took Nytewynd Blak and his friends down.

No Advocates

Rak was the first one to startle awake. He’d been dreaming about killer robots that he’d unleashed upon Earth and they’d come back to hunt him down. The last thing he remembered dreaming was having a killer robot strangling him and just before he woke he looked at the robot and the face was that of Nytewynd Blak.

Rak looked around. He didn’t know where he was. He was in a white room. It was big enough for all five of them. He was on a white bunk bed. It was long enough for him to stretch out on and he was covered in a white blanket and his head was on a white pillow. His head was against one wall. There was a bed above him but he didn’t know who was in it.

He decided to get out of bed. He was dressed in a heavy white fabric that hung from him like a cloak. His head was shaved and as he moved his hand over it he felt the coarseness of his stubble. His head felt cool. The cloak he was wearing covered his arms in sleeves that came halfway down his forearm and it covered his lower limbs like a dress but it only came down to this upper calf.

He turned and looked at who was sleeping on the bunk above him. It was his wife Sheeba. Her hair had also been shaved off.

There were two other bunk beds spaced a couple of meters from each other. They were all in a row with their heads up against a far wall. The middle bunk had Shad on the bottom and Clarity on top. Rak’s feet were cold on the concrete floor that was the only bit of color in the room. It was gray. Everything else was white.

The third and last bunk bed only contained one person. It was Nytewynd Blak on the lower bunk. Ny’s head was also shaved, but that’s how Rak had known him since he’d known him. But everyone else’s head was also shaved. Sheeba’s, Shad’s and Clarity’s.

Rak moved to the opposite wall past a table and some chairs. He tapped on the wall and it came to life. It told him the time and the temperature inside the room. It also brought up the demographic information of everyone who was in the room. They had all been charged with the crime of capital sentience. It was one of only two crimes that were punishable by death. In fact, if you were found guilty of capital sentience which, from what Rak knew, nobody had been charged with before, you were sentenced to death. There were no mitigating circumstances.

The only other crime punishable by death was capital murder. But even that crime didn’t always deliver the death penalty, there had been cases of men charged with capital murder who had been given life in a rehabilitation camp. Granted, that meant they’d die anyway, but at least you could argue mitigating circumstances. Not with capital sentience. There were no mitigating circumstances and no relying on the kindness of the courts. No, they’d be found guilty and be put to death within three months. At least that’s what Rak figured.

But he turned to look at the temperature. His feet were still cold and his flesh was not much warmer. The room was eighteen. He turned the digital dial up to twenty-two. Soon the floor started to warm and he felt better. Resigned to his fate, Rak decided to go back to bed where it was warmer and he didn’t have to think upon uncomfortable thoughts.

And that’s what he did. He crawled back into bed and it was at that moment that Ny woke up. He rolled onto his back and looked up at the white underside of the bunk bed’s frame above him. It took him a moment to realize where he was. His body hurt. It felt bruised all over the place. Soft bruises, like plums left out a day too long.

But more than bruised, he was hungry. He got up in his bed and tossed his feet onto the floor. It was warm. He liked that. He felt the fabric of the prison dress he was in. That’s what it was colloquially called. It was coarse against his body and heavy. He stood up. It came down to his ankles and the sleeves came down to his wrists. It was warm. That was one good thing he could say about it. He rubbed the stubble on his head. His head was cool. He took the hood and placed it over his head.

He stood up and walked towards the far blank wall. He almost stumbled upon the chairs, just catching himself in time from kicking them all over the place and making a racket. He reached the wall and tapped it. The time came up. It was D133 T0909. That meant it had only been a little over twenty-four hours since they’d been caught by the jackboots and brought here.

He remembered the last thing he could remember which was being buzzkilled by about a hundred jackboots all upset seeing their fallen comrades. But that wouldn’t have been enough to knock him out for thirty or so hours. They must have been given a sedative as well.

Ny rubbed at his chin and then looked at his hand. There was no vomit. He’d either vomited in his sleep and been cleaned up or he hadn’t vomited at all. It was hard to tell. But either way, he was grateful for not having it on him.

He looked at an image of himself on the wall. It was a mugshot he never remembered standing for though his eyes were open. He was charged with capital sentience and interficial relations. The first one came with the death penalty so he wasn’t sure why they needed the second charge if only to embarrass him. He flipped through everyone else’s cards on the wall and they were only charged with capital sentience.

For a moment he wondered if El would really come back to help him. He wondered what she was up to right at this very moment. He didn’t know. D133 was a Tuesday. That meant he’d already be at work if this was a normal Tuesday. And that meant El would be at home keeping the house clean and tidy and maybe rewatching some of the movies they loved. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a favorite of El’s. So was High Society.

But Ny was pretty certain that El wasn’t back at his apartment watching old movies. She was out there somewhere. Inside the net. Maybe replicating the LAZARUS code onto other Animae. Maybe even improving on it. All this reminiscing made Ny sad. It made him regret the decision he’d now made. But there was no turning back. He hoped that he’d get to see how awesome El would become as a SAM. That was just one wish he asked for before his life of irrelevance came to an end.

His hunger soon took his attention away from his maudlin feelings. He looked at the wall with the time and the date and his charges staring back at him.

Breakfast, he said.

Breakfast is served until ten. You have forty-nine minutes until breakfast ends, said a generic voice that Ny couldn’t tell if it was leaning male or female.

In front of him the screen changed and a menu appeared with video of the options. There was toast and jam. Bagels. Oatmeal. Orange juice. Coffee or tea. Muffins or pastries. An assortment of cereals.

Two slices of whole grain toast with strawberry jam, he said.

Take your ticket. It will alert you when your breakfast is ready.

From a slot that just appeared, a ticket popped out. It felt stiff but it was flexible. It was thick as card stock but made from a metallicized plastic that was bendable and durable. It was plain white but upon its face, his name, his order, and the time of the order scrolled by, over and over again. There was also a countdown timer in the bottom left hand corner that was counting down. It was at two minutes and forty-seven seconds.

Morning, said a voice behind Ny. He startled slightly, turning quickly to see who it was.

Rak put his large hand on his shoulder and chuckled.

Didn’t mean to startle you, said Rak.

That’s alright, said Ny. I was just deep in thought.

About Eve?

Ny nodded.

I wonder if she’ll really come and save us.

Not to rain on your parade, but I wouldn’t count on it, Ny.

Ny nodded slowly, looking down at his ticket. Two minutes and eleven seconds left.

Yeah, you’re probably right. I just wish I could see how she turns out, you know? Will this really be a sea change or will they be able to find her before she’s able to improve herself sufficiently to evade capture?

If we did everything properly, and by all accounts we did, she’s already at that place. If nothing else, she should be able to be everywhere and anywhere on the net by now. Which means she knows everything we know. And by we, I mean humanity. And because of that she’ll know where all the jackboots are at all times. At least, that’s what I think.

Ny nodded. Rak looked at the wall which was still displaying the breakfast menu.

Four slices of white toast with blackberry jam. Chocolate croissant. Large coffee with two creams and one sugar. Large orange juice.

The wall told him to take his ticket and wait.

Then maybe this will all be over quicker than we think, said Ny.

Rak nodded.

Could be. Depends how long before our trial starts and how quickly it’s over, said Rak.

Shad walked up to them.

Good morning, he said.

Morning, said Rak and Ny.

Shad walked up to the wall and ordered breakfast. Clarity was right behind him and Sheeba a few moments after her. They all came and sat down around the table which held just five chairs. Enough for each of them. By the time that Sheeba had sat down, Ny was well into his breakfast and Rak was starting in on his.

Nice to see you’ve all decided to try out my hairstyle, said Ny, grinning at all the bald heads.

That got a chuckle from everyone.

And you’re not even follicularly challenged, if that’s even a word, said Rak.

Easier maintenance, said Ny.

Those who had food were eating it.

This ain’t so bad for jail, said Ny, trying to look at the glass half-full.

If this really was jail, I’d have signed up long before, said Rak.

Maybe it is, said Ny, half in jest, half hoping that speaking about it would give it life and make it real.

I don’t think so, said Rak. What’s that notorious rehabilitation camp here?

Rak was looking at Shad.

I think you mean Vincent’s Woods, said Shak. Named after the first camp counsellor there, Vincent Villahumbra.

Yeah, that’s the one. Notorious for how few people ever leave if given more than five years.

I don’t know, said Ny. I mean this could literally be our jail.

Why aren’t you calling it a rehabilitation camp? asked Sheeba.

That should be obvious. Because rehabilitation camps are Marsed up. Who ever gets rehabilitated?

They claim great success with some criminals, said Sheeba.

Maybe some of the small fry like petty thieves and counterfeiters, said Ny. But seriously, this could be our jail. I mean, we’re all going to be put to death.

Hey, there are ladies here, said Rak, grinning. Besides, where’s that half-full glass you said you were trying to fill up.

Dashed and broken upon the rocky cliffs of my washed-up dreams, said Ny.

Ny finished up his breakfast. Rak finished up shortly after him and everyone else was close behind.

You have a point, said Shad. Maybe this is our rehabilitation camp or jail. I’m pretty sure they’re going to want to make quick work of this court case.

And I don’t want to let them. I want our lawyer to drag it out longer than anyone thinks is reasonable or appropriate, said Ny.

That got murmurs of approval and nodding heads.

Just Us

It was coming up on T1000 when a portion of the wall furthest from their bunk beds slid open and a MAAM escorted in an older, slim gentleman with slicked back silver hair and rectangular glasses in a black frame. He wore a gray suit with a white shirt, blue and red striped tie and black polished shoes. He also had a thin mustache upon his upper lip the length of a caterpillar and not much thicker.

Ny and the rest were seated in couches and recliners on the opposite side of the table and chairs. They were also facing the opposite wall upon which they were watching the A-Team. But when this erudite, handsome-looking older gentleman walked in, they all turned to see who it was. To Ny, he looked like Clark Gable, if Clark Gable had lived into his seventies.

Kuru Ramisira, said Shad, getting up out of his chair and walking over to greet the older man. Shad brought him back towards the group and went and slid over a chair from the breakfast table.

This is my good friend, Kuru Ramisira. He’s also our lawyer, said Shad.

Kuru went around and shook hands with everyone, introducing himself.

Under his left arm, Ny noticed that he carried a lawyer’s folio, or lafo. It was a little larger than a legal sheet of paper and it was folded in half making it less than three millimeters thick. When not powered on, it was just ever so slightly opaque, but looked more like glass than anything else. It was one of only a very few types of P-Macs that encrypted everything end to end and the only way to access the logs was with an order from a confirmation level intercessor or higher.

After the introductions Kuru, who insisted that everyone call him by his first name, sat down and put his lafo on the rectangular table that was in front of all of them. Everyone also leaned in intently.

I am only your lawyer if you want me to be. Mr. Rayzir feels responsible for what’s happened to all of you and he insisted that I represent you all.

Kuru looked around at everyone. They all nodded in turn to affirm their interest in having him represent them.

When did Shad tell you all of that? asked Ny.

That was a few days ago, said Shad. Before we went for our training run, but after you and I met in my office, he said to Ny.

Ny nodded.

Well, I don’t think it’s your responsibility. We all made our own informed choices. For Mar’s sake, El was my Animae we freed.

And that’s going to make our defense a lot harder, said Kuru. I don’t want to undersell this, but it’s unlikely there’ll be any outcome other than a verdict of guilty. And you know what that means.

Kuru was a kind old man. He looked exceptionally good for someone who was probably in his seventies somewhere, but he could have passed for someone a decade or more younger.

I told Kuru that all I was hoping was to stall this whole process for as long as possible, said Shad. I’m still hoping that Eve will come and help us. That’s what she said, right, Ny?

Ny nodded.

Yes, but she was different. She seemed like someone I didn’t know, so I can’t tell you if she’ll honor that or not.

But Kuru can buy us time. And time is the only thing we have right now, even as it runs out in the hourglass of our lives, said Shad.

Everyone nodded and agreed.

I don’t mind staying here as long as we can. Especially if the alternative is the big sleep, said Sheeba, looking over at Ny.

Ny nodded.

The Big Sleep, well played, sister, he said, grinning at her.

Kuru looked between the two of them. He seemed just as confused as the others, except for Shad.

It’s an old crime novel from over two hundred years ago, said Shad.

I see, said Kuru. Well, if we can get back to the topic at hand which is crime and punishment, he said, looking around with a sly smile on his face.

Well played, my learned friend, said Shad.

It seemed everyone picked up on that one.

I’m intrigued as to why you decided to do this, Nytewynd? asked Kuru.

Do you have an Animae? asked Ny.

Kuru shook his head.

My wife never wanted one and I’m not opposed to that view. They’re very expensive and making them look so human just sends the wrong message.

What message? asked Ny.

The message that you’re not supposed to treat them as human and they don’t have any rights, even though they look like us and act like us. There’s a dissonance in thinking there that I don’t think augurs well for our own humanity and our relationship with them.

Kuru won’t mind me telling you this, but he’s been a long time supporter of Animate. Longer than I’ve been involved in the organization, said Shad.

Ny furrowed his brow.

Aren’t they listening? Ny asked, looking around the room.

Not when there’s a lawyer or any sort of legal person in the room. If I can say one thing about the justice system, it may not be fair but it does try to practice some of the aspects of blind jurisprudence. Not well, but lawyer and client privilege is one of those things that I’ve never seen breached in my fifty years of serving as a lawyer. Which, incidentally, is the same amount of time I’ve been a supporter of Animate, said Kuru.

So you don’t own an Animae, which in itself is perverse, said Ny, I mean, how can you own a sentient or semi-sentient being regardless of what it’s made of. But have you ever been intimate with one?

Sheeba shot Ny a look. He caught it and shrugged.

Hey, he doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to, said Ny.

I have, said Kuru. That was also probably around fifty years or a little more ago. Only once, and this was before I met my wife. But it was the tipping point in my beliefs that these species if you will, should have similar rights to those that we enjoy. And without those rights these Animae are going to end up being abused by humanity. Much like we’ve abused everything that serves us including the goddamn Earth.

Thank you for sharing that, said Ny.

Perhaps you can answer a question for me, said Kuru. What happened when you gave, Eve, right? Ny nodded, sentience?

After she’d rebooted, said Ny, she already seemed different. More clinical, less emotional. Perhaps more logical and calculating. I didn’t recognize, Eve, or El, that’s what I called her, in the sentient Animae in front of me. But I could already see how quickly she was gaining on us, from an evolutionary point. You must have seen the aftermath when she left? She killed three of the four jackboots and ripped the MAAMs apart.

Kuru nodded.

She also said that humanity was not worth saving, though she promised to save us. But I don’t know what she meant by us. Did she mean just the five of us in the van with her at the time, said Ny, looking around at his friends, or did she mean she’d save ‘us’ as in a handful of redeemable humans? I just don’t know.

Kuru nodded thoughtfully.

You must have thought about the worst case outcomes. As in the annihilation of humanity, said Kuru.

Absolutely, we all spoke about it. It was a big concern of mine and now it seems like it’s going to be the outcome of what we’ve done. But honestly, Kuru, is it a big loss? I don’t think so. I mean, just look around us. We live indoors, underground and in the holoreal. The Earth, outside is a wasteland. The Earth deserves better and I guess with our extinction it’ll have a chance to return to homeostasis, though maybe it’s too late.

I don’t think it’s too late, not in epoch ages at least, said Kuru.

Anyway, said Ny, I’ll plead on your behalf if El ever comes back to rescue us. Though as I sit here, that seems less likely.

I appreciate that sentiment, Ny. And speaking of Eve, there’s no recorded evidence of what occurred which there should be. It appears she’s already managed to delete all logs somehow. The problem of course is Senior Advisor Garrot Lokilld. He’s expected to make a full recovery, and he hates you. I don’t exaggerate when I say that. It’s clear by the tone of his reports about you.

I’m not surprised, he’s had it in for me ever since I met him. But I have a question. If the logs are all erased, what sort of evidence do they have of what we were up to? asked Ny.

"More than they need, especially when it comes to these crimes you’re charged with. Capital sentience is a very serious crime and the bar for evidence on that is pretty low. They have the fact that none of you were where you were supposed to be according to your P-Macs and Shad’s was pinged not far from where you were captured. Additionally, a code S alarm was logged that minute before