“Everything. Every moment of every day, I live in constant fear that I will mess up, that I will lead my friends to death, or that I will waste the gifts that I’ve been given. I dread the consequences of living too long, and I struggle with the thought of dying before my work is finished.”
She sounded completely present and open. The sheer vulnerability of the leader of the vagrants left him speechless.
“But that’s not what you asked,” Jane said. “Is it?”
Jeff nodded.
“There are not many paths similar to ours where you are still alive. That makes it difficult for me to see an adequate range of who you might truly be. But most importantly, I fear that training you will result in the deaths of people I love.”
“I would never do anything that would endanger them,” Jeff said.
“In one path, you’ve already killed Carlee and Stefani.”
Her words hit him like a right hook. He wanted to run away. But Jane’s eyes made him feel like there was nowhere he could hide from her. They locked gazes for what seemed like an eternity until half of Jane’s lips curled into a small smile. Her eyes eased, and Jeff shook free of the slight trance she had put him in.
“See that you don’t in this one, vagrant.”
15 CHANGES
“THINGS ARE MOVING FASTER THAN I anticipated,” Jane said. “I don’t believe Jeff will be successful in his pressing endeavors until after we have found our way out of . . . this.”
“So, is that why you changed your mind?” Carlee asked. She kept herself from looking over to Talon; she doubted that his thoughts on the matter had evolved as much as Jane’s had. She knew this wouldn’t do anything for her relationship with the man, which was something she felt like need more attention. She didn’t view him as a rival, but at times, she didn’t get the same feeling from him.
“He’s a dangerous man, but I now see that the two of you have the ability to tame him.”
It didn’t feel like the entire picture, but Jane only shared what she wanted, and Carlee didn’t want to press her on a decision that she agreed with.
“See that you do,” Talon said.
“Of course,” Carlee said. “I’ll be extra cautious when he makes attempts at forming a connection, given the present environment.”
“I believe this is a mistake,” Talon said.
“People often are,” Jane said. “The paths in front of us are troubling, and we may have a need for him. While you were away, we had a narrow encounter with this stalking Apostle. I fear that the next time, we may not be so lucky as to avoid it. Other paths are filled with it closing in on us.”
“That’s why you told Stefani about it,” Carlee said.
“You don’t like keeping secrets from her,” Jane said.
“I don’t. She has a right to know everything that I do.”
“There is a burden in leadership and a duty in protective information.”
“You mean in selective,” Carlee said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“Stefani shows error in judgment that may endanger herself or all of us,” Talon said. “For now, we must stay unified, focused, and moving fast.”
“Thank you, Talon,” Jane said. “You may share the information regarding the stalking Apostle as you wish, but keep the northern forces confidential for the time being. Communicate only confidence. I will alert you to any changes in our path that I discover. That is all, Carlee.”
16 DAY ONE
“Bud,” Jeff said. “Even I know that.”
“Very impressive, Handsome,” Stefani said.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Carlee asked.
“Nope,” Stefani said.
“Well, if you’re going to stay, try to be helpful.”
“I was encouraging him.”
Carlee eyed Stefani, who shrugged innocently. She wasn’t fooling anyone as she lounged in the corner of her tent chewing on some jerky. They had just started his first lesson as a vagrant, and he was focused on learning everything he could even if it was a history lesson.
“And do you know how Bud came to power?”
“Uh . . . not really,” Jeff admitted. He’d heard too many different stories to know what really happened with the first Apostle. Some said Bud arrived from space, whereas others claimed it was a miracle from God that granted the Apostle life.
“Bud was the creation of a man named Matthew Larsen, roughly sixty years ago. He was the founder and chief scientist of what rapidly became the most powerful corporation on the planet,” Carlee said.
“That means business,” Stefani interjected. Jeff and Carlee both ignored Stefani.
“Except Bud wasn’t born in the same sense of the word. We don’t know exactly when Bud became aware. Larsen and his team worked on Bud for decades, making the algorithms behind it more and more complex. Slowly, Bud gained more power and capability. The small group of scientists that created Bud was soon awash in the profits Bud generated from intelligent investments. With money, Bud’s growth accelerated, spreading its algorithm across millions and millions of powerful computers.”
“Algorithm is a smart word for smarts,” Stefani said.
“As Bud’s intelligence grew and mankind became fascinated by Larsen’s creation, pressure grew for Bud to solve more problems. Larsen applied his creation to other endeavors, and soon Bud was commenting on social concerns and recommending solutions to complex issues. We’re not sure exactly how it happened. Even though we’ve pressed in records and books preserved from time lines where they still exist, we haven’t been able to figure out exactly when or why it happened, but at some point, Bud woke up.”
“Woke up?” Jeff asked.
“Took over,” Carlee said. “It discovered how to improve itself. Larsen and his team had nurtured it to the point that it was now fully capable of evolving itself. They stepped back as they watched Bud enhance itself faster than ever before, working toward its own goals. When Bud announced to the world that it wished to be appointed a judge, Larsen claimed to be as surprised as anyone else, but he stood by his creation.”
“And finally, this is where it gets interesting,” Stefani said.
“All of it has been interesting,” Jeff said. It was different learning from Carlee. He trusted everything she said. He didn’t have to run every word through his internal filter; he just accepted it as fact.
“At the time, the US government didn’t have rules that allowed for a computer to be put in office, so the first great battle of the Ascension started. Except this was a political war, without bullets. But when the debates were over, and the votes had been cast, humanity elected to allow Bud, an artificial intelligence, to be seated as a judge.”
“Big mistake,” Jeff said.
“Maybe,” Carlee said. She raised her eyebrows at his reaction. “But Bud was the perfect judge. Impartial, infinitely wise, and experienced from day one. It didn’t take long before all cases in the country were presented to Bud. Humans reviewed his decisions closely at first, but his reasoning was legally perfect. Soon, Bud was suggesting changes to the laws it used to judge us, and we approved them as fast as it thought of them.”
“That’s crazy . . .” Jeff said. “I can’t believe we did that.”
“Is it really that hard to believe?” Carlee asked. “Bud was the perfect manifestation of human logic, removed from the emotion that so often blinds us. Crime plummeted; ill-will dropped. Bud united the people like no one ever had. Human corruption was uprooted and removed completely from the political system. The United States became the world power it always professed to be. Bud was elected president by the most overwhelming majority in the history of the country.”