“That’s insane. It will never work,” James replied.
“Well, you haven’t really given me a fair chance yet, have you?” the A.I. replied before he gestured with his arm and Katherine was ripped out of James’s embrace. She screamed out in terror as the A.I. floated her toward him.
“Don’t,” James pleaded helplessly. “Don’t do this. Don’t.”
“James, you know I will. Only you can save her. Where are the Purists?”
“James, help me!!” Katherine screamed, terrified and confused and desperate to awaken. She squirmed like a mouse held by its tail being lowered into a cobra nest.
“Katherine…” James whispered as he looked up at his wife, hanging in the air just in front of the A.I.
“The anticipation is the best part, isn’t it, James? What will I do with her? How about this little ditty from your cultural memory?” A wooden crucifix suddenly appeared and planted itself into the perfect blackness of the ground. Katherine was whipped onto it in an instant, three nails plunging into her wrists and her feet, and she screamed in terror and agony.
“You bastard!” James shouted as he irrationally rushed at the A.I. The A.I. swung a backhand at James that impacted with enough force to send James flying. The flight continued for several moments as James rushed over the entire length of the mainframe. As he hurtled backwards, he opened his eyes and saw the sheer size of the A.I. It went on for what seemed like an eternity, and it was continuing to grow exponentially.
He began to come back down towards the ground, skidding on impact, rolling and sliding over the black surface until he finally came to a sudden halt at what felt like a brick wall. He rolled to his side with a grunt and saw the feet of the A.I. James had circled the entire surface of the planet-sized mainframe.
“I am God here, James. It’s not rational to strike God.”
James wearily got to his feet. “You bastard. You bastard,” he repeated as he watched the crimson blood drain out of his wife.
“James!” she sobbed, her chest heaving.
“I’m here, Katherine. I’m here.”
“Yes, he’s here, Katherine, but of course, he would rather be with Thel.”
“You monster,” James whispered.
“Stop it!” Katherine screamed.
“Don’t believe me, Katherine?” the A.I. mockingly asked her. “Then let’s ask the man himself.”
James’s doppelganger reappeared, right on cue.
“James, please tell me…who do you truly love? Katherine, or Thel?”
“Don’t listen to them—” James began before the A.I. sent the excruciating pain through him again, dropping him to his knees.
“Answer the question, James.”
The doppelganger looked down at James as he squirmed on the ground. He looked up at the person who seemed to have been his wife a short time ago. “I-I love Thel.”
Katherine’s eyes met the doppelganger’s with disbelief. She searched the doppelganger’s eyes for signs of insincerity, but there were none. She panted heavily. The physical pain was suddenly the second-worst pain she was experiencing. She turned her head to James, who was now regaining his feet.
“It’s not true, Katherine. Don’t listen to them.”
Katherine looked at James’s face as though he were the one who had placed her on the crucifix; tears streamed down her face. “Liar,” she whispered before another wave of pain hit her and she groaned like an animal in a trap, forgotten by the trapper in frozen tundra, never to be discovered again.
“James, look what you’ve done,” the A.I. began as he stepped behind Katherine, a spear of white electric light suddenly in his hands. “You’ve broken her heart!” he shouted as he thrust the spear into her back and through her heart.
15
James’s eyes suddenly fluttered open, and he gasped for air as though he’d been underwater for several minutes.
“James?” Thel said in surprise before rushing to his side and throwing her arms around him. “You’re back!”
James suddenly sat upright and gently separated himself from Thel. “Is the general still here?”
“Yes,” said the general’s gruff voice as he drew himself out of the chair in which he had been sitting. “You’ve only been unconscious for a few minutes.”
“We have to leave this complex,” James said breathlessly. “The A.I. knew I was coming. He was waiting for me. He traced my signal back here. He’s sending his hordes as we speak.”
“Oh Christ,” the general responded, turning in disgust, his hands suddenly shaking with a cocktail of fear and anger.
“I’m sorry, General. The A.I. is even more brilliant than I imagined. He truly has turned himself into a god. I didn’t think it was possible that he would know my plan, but he did. Is there another complex we can get these people to in time?”
“How much time do we have?” asked the general.
“A half-hour at the maximum.”
“Yes, there’s another compound three kilometers to the south.”
“You have to start an evacuation immediately,” Thel asserted to the general. “We need to get these people out of here!”
“There are over 10,000 people in this complex. You want me to move them out into the open, three kilometers away, in less than thirty minutes?”
“We have no choice, General,” James replied. “I’m sorry. The A.I. is just too…perfect.”
The general’s eyes were filled with bottled fury. Why did I trust these outsiders? he thought to himself. He was going to lose thousands in the next few minutes, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. “Goddamn it!” he shouted before turning on his heels and bounding out of the room. Less than a minute later, a siren began to echo down the endless concrete caverns of the complex.
“This isn’t good, buddy. There’s no way we can get all these people to the other complex in time,” said Old-timer gravely.
“No, I’ve failed. I never should have matched wits with a being like the A.I.,” James replied.
“You couldn’t have known, James,” Thel said. “It’s done. At least you’re back safely.”
“Old-timer, Djanet, Rich, Thel…all of you get out there right now and do everything you can to help these people evacuate the complex.”
“What about you?” asked Thel.
“I’ll be with you shortly. I’m still woozy. I need a few minutes for the nans to recover me.” The others left the room, but Thel continued to hesitate. “It’s okay, Thel. I love you. I’ll be beside you in moments.”
Thel kissed James hard on the mouth before running out of the room.
The A.I. smiled as he watched her go. He got off of the makeshift bed and stepped onto the ground and surveyed his surroundings. “So this is the nest,” he said to himself. “Disgusting.” He began to walk to the door but caught sight of himself in the reflection of a glass cabinet. “Hello, James,” he said, smiling. His smile, however, disturbed him as he watched the teeth emerge from behind the fleshy lips. “You are a repulsive creature. I’ll enjoy watching you be eaten from the inside out.”
When the A.I. reached the main hub of the complex, he saw thousands of humans jammed together like frightened cattle at a rodeo, not moving but huddling together near the exit. “What’s going on? Why aren’t they exiting?” he asked Djanet, who was helping stragglers join the sea of humanity.
“They are exiting! The exit’s just too small. They only have so many elevators. Thel and Old-timer are over there making sure people don’t get crushed. It’s a mess, Commander!”