Chapter Twenty-Three

September 20X6, Stanford

The room sways around me. That cannot happen. I cannot be scanned. I tap four exclamation marks out on my thigh, signaling Stewart to find a way to get us out of this.

“What’s the ‘central mind’?” Cara/Chloe cocks her head, somehow keeping her wits about her.

“What we’re really working on.” Dr. Schilling’s eyes glitter. “Universal intelligence. We have a government grant—as do several universities around the world—to crack the code to the human brain. Soon a copy of every brain in the world will exist in one of these tubes.” She compresses a button on one of the squares and the center circle spins in a rainbow of color. With a whir, it ejects a cylinder from the wall. Dr. Schilling holds it up so we can see the bunch of wires and circuits humanity has been reduced to. “We’re building a Simulation that will be the playground of the world. Once these brains are activated, the human connected to it will see the augmented world without AMPs. Impulses that are a detriment to society will be silenced— No one will have the urge to hurt anyone else, to kill, to cheat, to steal.”

We’ll all believe what you want us to believe. No debate, original thought, progress. Let’s just freeze time.

My blood pressure spikes, and I again peek at Beau/Garrett. His eyes are glued to Dr. Schilling, his lips slightly parted, and I sense his excitement. It’s like he’s totally buying into this. He might just be staying in character, but something isn’t right. I press my hands to my churning stomach, and it hits me. He’s working for them. Somehow, the doctors have gotten to him. I sway on my feet, my joints unhinging and my limbs going so loose I’m on the verge of collapse. But I don’t. I cling to Kerri’s essence and she keeps me on my feet.

“Nobody will ever have to worry about food or health or shelter. Anything they ever dreamed will be possible,” Dr. Nasif says. She looks around at each of us as she talks, her eyes penetrating, like she’s trying to convince us. Or like she’s trying to tell if we’re convinced. I nod along with her, preferring not to find out what lengths the doctors would go to make me believe.

“Because these brains can process an experience more quickly than a slow physical one, they’ll get to live a thousand lives, follow every path that presents itself, experience anything and everything they’ve ever wanted,” she continues, ticking the benefits off on her fingers. “All from the safety of one of these little compartments. Our goal is to connect everyone in the world in this way. It will be an even playing field—no more poverty, no more Unrankables.” She swallows like there’s a bad taste in her mouth.

The heaviness from earlier again sinks in my core. I trust she wants to rid the world of Unrankables, but I sense there’s more to it than that, that I’m missing the information that could fill in the blanks.

“You’re letting Unrankables into this thing?” One of the guys makes a choking noise, not hiding his disgust.

Taking advantage of everyone’s attention turning to him, I sidestep my way over to Beau/Garrett.

“Yes.” Dr. Nasif takes the brain cylinder from Dr. Schilling and pushes it back into the wall. “Our goal is that this technology is free and includes everyone. It’s the only way to make world peace possible. And this needs to be done. I know it sounds scary, but the truth is, humans need to be upgraded to keep up with machine learning if our species is going to survive.”

“Which will be possible once we get this thing working on a larger scale.” Dr. Schilling rubs her hands together, her words coming out in a rush. “That’s where you kids come in.”

Cringing, I tap out H-E-L-P on my thigh. I pray for a quick response from Stewart as I come to a stop next to Beau/Garrett, but my curve suit doesn’t buzz with a rescue plan.

“Excuse me, Beau,” I whisper in Kerri’s soft lilt, standing next to him so we’re shoulder-to-shoulder; well, my forehead is next to his shoulder. “Could I bother you for a moment?”

“That’s what I’m here for.” He peers down at me, smiling Beau’s winsome smile. “Let’s chat in the back so we aren’t a distraction.”

As he leads me to the rear of the group, Bix/Sophia speaks up. “What happens to the brains if there’s a malfunction and the system goes down?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Dr. Schilling presses her lips together, shaking her head. “We have high-tech security and constant system backups that ensure that won’t happen. I won’t go into detail, but the chances are very slim.”

What kind of security? I glance between Eric/Nash and Beau/Garrett, knowing they must be working on a way to shut this whole place down, but they remain unfazed, like the Super Brain security systems are old news.

“But what if that 0.0001 percent chance happens?” Bix/Sophia persists. “Sorry, I have a morbid mind.” She puckers her lips, not seeming all that apologetic. “I like to know the worst-case scenario.”

Dr. Nasif sighs. “Well, in the very rare event that happens—trust us, we have many security systems in place to ensure we keep full control of the AI—the minds could be lost or erased.”

“But they’re just copies, right?” Bix/Sophia’s eyebrows rise. “The humans would be fine without the copy.”

Dr. Schilling hesitates, her cheeks bunching up. “Currently, yes, because the minds aren’t active in the Simulation,” she finally says, her head bobbing from side to side. “Once they’re active in the Sim, it’s unclear if the minds will have a symbiotic relationship, like in quantum entanglement—what happens to one brain happens to the other. If one brain has taken over and is experiencing the Sim, it might change the brain that is deactivated. The uploaded, actively experiencing mind might become the mainframe, and the biological brain in the human body might become the copy. But this is all hypothetical. For us to be certain of this outcome, further testing needs to be done.”

On us. I’m positive that’s their plan and sweat trickles down my back. Restless to move, to get to my Book of Secrets and get out, I fill my lungs with air, willing myself to stay in character and stop freaking out.

Anything? I tap to Stewart. Hurry.

“Trying.” His response finally vibrates at my spine.

Ugh.

“What can I help you with?” Beau leans down, his voice hushed, now that we’re facing everyone’s backs.

Still reeling from the possible consequences of the Simulation, I almost forget why I wanted to talk to him.

“I’m afraid I’m a bit shocked. I wasn’t expecting to discover a global simulation is being built.” I find Kerri’s voice, finally collecting my thoughts. “Isn’t anyone afraid the machines running the simulation might learn to overrun their programming and take over the world, ending humanity as we know it?” I mention one of Keystone’s primary concerns about the Simulation, hoping for a response in keeping with their philosophy. “When is enough technology enough?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” The corners of his mouth turn down in concern. “The machines won’t take over. I promise. Truly, a simulation is necessary for the preservation of the earth and the human spirit.”

I peek at him sideways. It’s not the answer I was expecting. He remains so steadfastly Beau, without alluding to even a coded hint of his Keystone roots, I’m having trouble reconciling the person standing next to me with the Garrett I know—or thought I knew in the Steam Tunnels last night.

“Listen.” He gestures at the doctors.

I tune back into what Dr. Schilling is saying.

“Human bodies eventually die and one of the goals of the Sim is to preserve minds for eternity,” she says. “The mind can live on in the Sim even after the human body passes on. It’s better for the environment—for the earth—not to have so many humans around.”

“See. She’s brilliant.” Beau/Garrett leans forward, nodding along with Dr. Schilling as she makes her point, his cheeks flushed.

“It all comes down to consciousness and where it’s located—if it’s located anywhere at all,” Dr. Nasif adds. “If consciousness is stored here in the central mind, and the system goes down, it’s unclear if consciousness will revert to the physical human brain. It’s possible the body would continue to live on as a zombie or a more animalistic human. But again, those bodies would eventually pass on and this isn’t really something we need to worry about.”

“So, if this thing goes down, we’re at risk of unleashing a zombie apocalypse?” I whisper to Beau/Garrett, hoping to get an eyebrow raise out of him, a curl at the corner of his mouth, something that hints he’s not fully buying into this.

But I get nothing. Just Beau. Staring ahead like he’s already a zombie.

My heart squeezes and I can’t help feeling alone in this. “How many brains are in here?” Picturing the real-life horror-movie possibilities starring me as the lone human left on Earth, my voice rings out from the back of the group.

“One hundred and twenty-five thousand in this facility.” Dr. Schilling beams as if stealing that many brains is something to be proud of. “And, of course, there are the other organizations around the world who have also been given grants to build a Simulation. There are probably millions of minds stored in those facilities combined.”

My skin goes cold, but what Dr. Schilling says next chills me to the bone.

“You see. It’s a race.” Her eyes are practically glowing, like a predator lurking in the night. “And you all are going to help us win it. Our plan is to put all of you into a simulation because your DNA is predisposed to what we think is free will—or the algorithmic equivalent of it.”

“We haven’t discovered where free will is located in the brain, though, and we have to make sure we’re not missing it.” Dr. Nasif flaps her hand in front of her face, waving off the notion things are as black-and-white as Dr. Schilling is leading us to believe. “If it does exist, the fear is it could override the system, and we can’t have that. We need to locate it and overwrite that program.”

“As you know, I don’t believe free will exists,” Dr. Schilling snaps, her voice rising. “It’s true the Sim isn’t working— Something keeps glitching. Personally, I think it’s a matter of speed, a quantum equation or algorithm that we haven’t detected. Once we have that answer, we’ll be up and running. I don’t think the problem is that these minds”—she scrunches up her face, gesturing around like the uploaded brains are a worthless bunch of wires—“are choosing not to interact with the system.”

“I respectfully disagree with Dr. Schilling.” Dr. Nasif keeps her pointed gaze on us. “I do agree the element we’re missing is quantum, but it’s my belief that free will exists as an elusive quantum interaction in the brain that we’ve missed in mapping.” Placing her hands on her hips, she finally faces Dr. Schilling, her eyes bulging. “And give the brains some credit, Doctor. They very well could be making a choice. Just because choices are usually predictable, it doesn’t mean we don’t make choices. For one, people are able to create new habits, thereby rewriting their old programming. And two, I mean, chaos theory. Nothing is completely predictable.” Her severe bun loosens, sending wisps of hair across her face.

“We’ve debated this a million times, Adela.” Dr. Schilling jerks her head toward Dr. Nasif. “We don’t need to do it again now.”

They face off and I dare another peep at Beau/Garrett.

“It’s a fascinating debate, isn’t it?” he asks without looking at me, remaining captivated by the doctors.

I frown. “Mesmerizing.”

He doesn’t respond, doesn’t give me so much as a twitch of his lips or nudge to my ribs to indicate he’s won this round of whatever game we’re playing, leaving me with a creeping suspicion I could be stuck with Beau forever.

“As you can see, this is where bias comes in.” Dr. Schilling straightens her lab coat, turning her back on Dr. Nasif, effectively ending their disagreement. “And that’s why we need to run some initial tests to see which of us you will work with. We’re going to get started on that now.”

My lungs seize and I tap out a final message to Stewart.

We’re out of time.