“So… why did the PRG computer want to talk to you?”
“All the governments figured out the world could end years ago. So they made plans. They had protocols. And one of the protocols was what to do if there was only one survivor. As soon as the system recognised me as the last person on earth, it made me boss of the whole planet. Queen of the fucking anthill.”
“Does that make you the head of state?”
“Huh. Guess it does.”
“And that’s why it was trying to snap you out of it.”
“No. It had a message. It had found the bastard who did it.”
“Ah.”
“So that got me out of the apartment…”
“What happened? I mean, who did it?”
“They really didn’t tell you, did they?”
“I told you, I don’t work for Security. They don’t let me see their reports.”
She sighed. “It was Professor Crayfish.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“Professor Crayfish. Superbrain. Hyperbiologist. He used to make armies of crabs and lobsters and attack towns in the South Pacific.”
“Professor Crayfish.”
I must have seemed very incredulous, because Liss was incensed. “Yes! My world was a fucking joke! Do you thinking I don’t know that? Were you even listening? That crap was happening all the time. We had nutcases popping up and killing thousands of people every other week because they lost the remote for their killer robots or some godawful bullshit…”
“I’m sorry, Liss. You’re right. It isn’t funny.”
“So I killed him.”
“You killed him?”
“I punched him until he was dead. He had this carapace thing he’d grown, so I had to hit him hard, but I definitely killed him.”
“I think we’ve jumped ahead a bit. So… the computer found him. And you went there and you… killed him.”
“That’s right.”
“You took revenge.”
“Yes.”
“How did it make you feel?”
“I threw up.”
“I mean emotionally…”
“It made me sick to my stomach. Isn’t that enough?”
“It didn’t make you feel better?”
“No. It didn’t. The bastard wasn’t working alone. Somebody from another universe was helping him. He didn’t even know why. He was just a madman they gave the technology to… I shouldn’t have killed him.”
“Why do you say that?”
She shook her head. “I just shouldn’t.”
11. Group
“Perhaps it was not revenge,” said Kwame.
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“Perhaps she was simply seeking justice.”
“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” said Olivia. “Just because you want something, doesn’t mean everyone else wants it.”
“Have you never wanted justice for your people?”
“Justice? From what, a disease?”
“It might have been prevented. Someone must have failed in their duty.”
“Of course they bloody failed. And now they’re all dead. How do you get justice when all the guilty people are dead?”
“That is my point. If those who committed genocide on Liss’s world are from another universe, she may be looking for justice.”
“And what good’s that going to do?”
“She may find some comfort if the guilty parties are uncovered and punished.”
“So it’s just more revenge, is it?”
“Not at all—”
“What’s the difference? Revenge or justice, it’s the same thing in the end.”
“The difference is law.”
“What law? How can you have laws when you don’t have people?”
“Perhaps he means interversal law,” suggested Iokan.
“Oh, and how’s that been helping you, eh?” said Olivia to Kwame.
Kwame sighed. “I did not say that her motives were entirely rational. Only that they may be purer than simply revenge.”
“Still a waste of time.”
“That is your opinion.”
12. Liss
“Afterwards… I got drunk again. I sound like a lush, don’t I? Then I realised I’d fucked up. I should have used Professor Crayfish as bait.”
“As bait?”
“He only survived because he was the one who set it off. He was protected, somehow. They were going to come back for him sooner or later.”
“Why do you think that?”
“It’s not a genocide until you’ve killed everyone, is it? And he would have known something. According to the protocols, I was supposed to find and interrogate anyone involved in the genocide, so that was going well. Hah. I was supposed to investigate and exact justice.”
“What kind of justice?”
“They left it up to me to decide.”
“That’s a terrible responsibility.”
“Yeah. I noticed.”
“How did you feel about it?”
“It gave me something to do.”
“What would you have done without it?”
She shook her head. “Don’t ask me that.”
13. Group
Elsbet hadn’t spoken yet, and I hoped a little prodding would bring her into the group. “Elsbet. Do you have an opinion?”
She frowned. Something occurred to her, something she couldn’t quite articulate — but then it snapped into place. “She was an infiltrator.”
“Could you expand on that?”
“I don’t really know her…”
“Of course, but what do you mean by ‘infiltrator’?”
“Well… that’s what she did? Right? She pretended she was innocent, but she was running a covert operation. That’s… like espionage. I don’t know. I wasn’t here.”
Iokan gave me a significant look. He was no fool. He’d figured out the parallels to Elsbet’s own situation as fast as I had: someone hidden in the shell of an entirely different person. I decided to risk the obvious question.
“Is this something you had experience of, in your universe?”
“No. There was no way the machines could have got someone in with us.”
“And you never did the same to them?”
She gave me a reproaching look. “Do I look like I could imitate a machine?”
The group shared surreptitious glances. She didn’t notice.
“No, of course not,” said Iokan.
“Well, shut up about it then.”
“Is that all?” asked Kwame.
She looked back at him, confused at everyone’s sudden interest and covering it with aggression. “Yeah. Why, what else do you want?”
I decided it wasn’t the time to press her further. “Nothing,” I said. “Let’s move on.”
14. Liss
“So we knew the bad guys were from another universe. We researched everything the superbrains knew about that kinda stuff. Turns out all the ones who went into that field died young — lab accidents, mostly. None of them made it past twenty-five.”
“You think someone was suppressing the technology?”
“Hell, yeah. Someone didn’t want us seeing other universes. We could have done it, of course we could. All of the things the superbrains were doing, and they can’t go to other universes? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like going to another star system.”
“Did you find anything else?”
“There was enough in the research for us to set up detectors to see if anyone else came through. And the only bait we had left was me. The idea was to set up shop and make it obvious someone was still alive, and then… well, there were lots of things we could have done. We only did the undercover thing because you seemed friendly.”