Chapter 13

 

It was a mass grave.

David could make out bodies, far away at the bottom. He knew without looking closely that the old man from the coffeehouse was down there. But there was no way he could still be alive. The drop was not only steep, but there were also various implements of death along the way – he could see dried blood on some of them.

David backed them away from the hole of death, still holding Emily tightly as she sobbed. He looked at the Underwriter. “But…they were told that it was safe…by people who went in long ago.”

The Underwriter shook his head. “The Master Computer is programmed to give humanity what it wants, David. Some of humanity, the small sect of dissidents, wanted an escape. So, the Master Computer gave them the only escape it could. It tricked them,” he added patiently, while David tried to assess all he was hearing. “Because they wanted to believe that there was a way to get out of the bubble.”

Emily looked up, her eyes red and her face streaked with tears. “You said it gives us what we want. How can you believe we want this kind of life? That they wanted that kind of death?!”

The Underwriter sighed. “Young lady, you yourself told David only last week that humanity chose this life. Have you forgotten your own words so swiftly?”

“But what happened?” she asked plaintively. “You said the outside world isn’t livable. Show me what you mean!”

The Underwriter looked at him and David looked up at the frozen sky. “Show us what is truly outside the bubble.”

The sky and horizon changed instantly. Instead of blue skies with wispy white clouds there was a cyclone of red, black and brown raging around them. Emily gasped and tightened her hold on David. He stroked her hair while he watched the cyclone shift around the bubble. Something that seemed like snowflakes, but different – uglier, dirtier, larger – were falling onto the bubble now, then being whipped into the cyclone in an endless cycle.

“Nuclear winter, combined with some other unpleasant things,” the Underwriter commented. “A war between the worlds, caused by the usual strifes mankind seems so fond of. We’d colonized the entire solar system, and Earth was old, getting used up. Some on other planets wanted to use it for mining only, some wanted to keep it as a living history, an Earth zoo, if you will. There were some other, less popular suggestions, but in the end, they all fought to create what they wanted out of this planet. We’re all lucky, really, that the Master Computer was activated just in time. It was supposed to encircle the entire world, but it could only protect this one area. Fortunately, an area with a large, diverse amount of humanity in it. In a sense, the zoo people won – we’re all in a huge cage, and will have to remain so. Though I don’t believe anyone comes to visit and look in on us.”

He looked over at David. “You can’t remove the bubble, David, you can’t run away out there. None of us can survive it. Only the bubble, created by the original Programmers, Engineers and Technicians, can protect us.”

“Then why the charade?” Emily asked. “Why have a Chosen Mother and Father or a Next Generation? What’s the point if we can’t expand out of this bubble?”

David answered, feeling like the voice in his head had finally taken over, controlling his mouth without the rest of his intervention. “Because there is something that a computer, no matter how well designed, conceived and engineered will run out of in enough time – storage, backup, memory. The old Programmers seem to rarely die, only those whose functions are now deemed useless, like those who could translate human handwriting into the Main Computer. But new Programmers are created with each New Generation.”

The Underwriter gave him a pleased smile. “Well done, David. Amazing what the human mind can do when it’s allowed to be used. But, whether used by its owner or not, the human brain has amazing capacity for memory. Every human brain remembers everything it has ever seen, heard, read or experienced – or downloaded. And, the more Programmers you have, the more Technicians and Operators, Engineers and the like you need, just to keep the System functioning smoothly.”

“She’s choosing the Mother and Father based on an…an openness to the System, isn’t she?” David asked, feeling somewhat ill. “She’s breeding us, like we were animals. But breeding us for what?”

“Capacity and docility,” Emily offered. “The less you use your mind, the more it can be used. And,” she added quietly, “we are animals, David. Especially if it was a machine considering us. We have more in common with an ape than we do with the Master Computer.”

“And,” he asked, “those of the Next Generation who don’t have the right capacity she…?” His voice trailed off, unwilling to complete the thought his mind’s voice had offered.

“She assimilates,” the Underwriter finished for him.

David looked at the Underwriter. “But, why is the Mother Board doing this?”

“Partially because she believes that this is the way to ensure that the humanity entrusted to her care are provided with all they want.” The old man gave him a wry smile. “And, well, not all computer programs or components are always stable.”

David thought about her personifications and the vast numbers who were assimilated or eradicated over the centuries – and about how she was planning to assimilate him once his reproductive duties were over. “The Mother Board became self-aware.”

“Yes, she did.” The Underwriter sighed. “She became self-aware and therefore unstable, and she determined that, in order to do her job properly, she needed to ensure that the Master Computer would do as man wanted. And to do so, she realized she would need more memory, because man’s wants rarely remain simple.”

“But what we want is rarely what we need,” Emily said in a quiet voice.

“Too true, young lady. She also strove to become as human as possible. She had centuries to learn, and computers do tend to be a bit quicker than humans. At some things.”

“If she wants to become human,” Emily said slowly, “then she’s also creating all of this for a…power base?”

The Underwriter nodded. “Yes. One of the downsides of human nature is its need to conquer, to achieve, to win. The Mother Board has assimilated many over the centuries. She is very strong now, but still and all, she is not human.”

“But, how is it that you know all of this?” David asked, as he watched the cyclone of horror rail and boil around the protective dome they were under.

“And, how is it that you’re still alive?” Emily asked suspiciously. “You don’t sound enamored of the Mother Board, which should mean your eradication, not continued survival.”

He smiled. “The original creator of the basic computer system was my ancestor. He realized that there was always the potential for the computer to take over, become self-aware, destroy humanity. So, he created not only the override code which David used so effectively, but also his own back-up system.”

They both looked at him blankly.

“His progeny. As one Underwriter dies, the backup directive causes the Master Computer to find the next best candidate available immediately, based on bloodline. The Underwriter maintains a direct link into the Master Computer. The check, if you will, to the Mother Board’s overbalance.”

“So,” David asked hotly, “why haven’t you stopped the Mother Board? Why have you let her create a power base made up of…of useless idiots?” he finished, feeling the last vestiges of what had only a week ago been his solid beliefs crumble away.

The Underwriter shrugged. “One program is normally not enough to stop a strong component, at least, not safely. I provided what I could – your dreams, the override code – to the first Chosen One who had both the openness and the intelligence to put the pieces together properly. But I could not do so until you were infected with a virus.” He gave Emily a small smile. “Viruses are disguised and created to slip in, to attack weak areas and expand into them, making it easier to break down the system.”

“David isn’t weak,” she protested quietly.

“No.” The Underwriter chuckled. “Actually, he is quite the opposite – that’s why we’re standing here together at this time. My grandfather was able to affect the Master Computer enough to ensure that intelligence and courage in the male Chosen One would be of supreme importance. Since that time, we have waited for the right male to meet the right virus.”

“I resent being called a virus,” Emily said dryly.

He laughed. “I mean that as the highest compliment, young lady. You are, after all, my great-granddaughter.”