Jimmy found himself reliving the memories of the last two days, starting with the explosion at the park and working forward. They came unbidden, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop them, so he simply braced himself and allowed them to cascade over him. Although it only took a few seconds, it felt like much longer.
You do not like it when I examine your memories. Adam said. It was not a question.
No.
It is curious. You spend so much time living in the past, replaying your memories over and over again. Yet whenever I have examined them, you have fought so hard against it.
They’re my memories, not yours. They’re private.
And yet here you are with an illegal implant, forcing your way into my consciousness uninvited. Can you not see your own hypocrisy?
Jimmy shook his head, unsure of how to answer. The men in the room all watched him carefully, their bodies tense. None had drawn weapons, but they might as well have, given the way they looked at him. Jimmy opened and closed his numb hands, trying to get the blood to flow. There was an intense pain in his wrists and a dull throbbing in his shoulder where he had rammed the door.
Cecil Coleman walked in.
“Cecil?” Jimmy said, his conversation with Adam forgotten.
Cecil’s eyes were distant, but he moved as if he were awake. He walked forward, and as he did so, the men in his path stepped aside. One of the uniformed men sitting on the couch across from Jimmy stood up and walked to the side. Cecil took his place, sitting down calmly and resting his strong hands on his knees. His eyes locked on a spot somewhere above and behind Jimmy’s head and stayed focused there.
“Cecil?” Jimmy asked again. “Can you hear me?”
“Who’s Cecil?” Neck Scar answered. He had an amused expression on his face. Jimmy had a flash of him as a young man, wearing that same expression as he inflicted pain on helpless insects that he had caught in his traps. It was the strange mixture of malevolence and curiosity common to all natural bullies.
“The big black guy sitting right next to you.”
Neck Scar looked to the side, right at Cecil, then back to Jimmy. “What have you been smoking, Mahoney?”
Jimmy looked from Neck Scar to Cecil, confusion in his eyes. He addressed the soldier at the side of the couch. “You just stood up to make room for him.”
The man laughed and shared a look with Neck Scar. “I got up because I was tired of sitting.”
“Did your imaginary friend bring along any unicorns? You can practice your face painting on them,” Cutler added, his accent heavy on the vowels. The men in the room all smiled, and the tension dropped a level. They didn’t think he was dangerous. They thought he was crazy.
They can’t see him, James. Of all people, you should be familiar with this effect. You aren’t the only ones who can play the disappearing game.
Jimmy looked at Cecil, concern mounting. What was wrong with Cecil? Why didn’t he respond?
You have heard of sleepwalking, of course. That is close to the state that Cecil is in right now. His mind is absorbed online, and yet his body is here, fully functional and ready to act upon whatever impulses it is offered.
Jimmy’s heart began to pound, and a shiver worked its way down his spine.
“He doesn’t have to be here. We came like you asked,” Jimmy said, speaking out loud.
I never said that Cecil wouldn’t kill your wife if you came here. I just said don’t be late. I didn’t want you to miss the show. You must learn to read directions more carefully.
Jimmy tensed against the cuffs and felt a heat rise in his body. Angry words rose to his lips, but he didn’t speak them aloud. Instead, he looked down at the floor. A bead of sweat formed on his brow.
You are so emotional tonight, James. Much more than last time. I don’t think alcohol suits you. Being this angry cannot be good for your health. Shall we invite Trixie to the party?
Neck Scar looked up at Cutler. “The phone.”
Cutler held it up. “There’s a number written on the back.”
“Call it. Then hold it up so he can talk.”
Cutler dialed the number with his thick fingers, flipping the phone over in his hand intermittently to read the appropriate numerals. He walked over to Jimmy and pressed the phone up against the side of his face. Jimmy heard a long tone, then a pause, then another long tone.
“Hey, Jimmy,” Trixie’s voice said. Her voice came from far away, but the connection sounded stable and clear.
“Hi, Trixie. There are a shit ton of soldiers here, and we’re handcuffed to chairs. Cecil is on the couch, but nobody can see him.”
“And Adam?”
“He’s here too.”
Hello, Trixie.
“He says he’s going to kill Michelle.”
“That’s not a surprise.”
James, may I speak to Trixie? Obviously, she can’t hear me, so you’ll have to do the talking.
“He wants to talk to you,” Jimmy said.
Trixie was silent.
Hello, Trixie. You have surrounded yourself with interesting companions. A vagrant and an ARC-incompatible. Quite the Brain Damage Club you’ve formed.
There was a pause.
“Hello?” Trixie said.
“I’m here. He just said we all have brain damage.”
James, that’s not what I said at all. Perhaps I underestimated the level of your inebriation and the consequent size of your operational word buffer. Let’s try again. . . . Hello, Trixie. You have surrounded yourself with interesting companions.
“He thinks we’re interesting,” Jimmy said.
“Ok. Brain damaged, but interesting. Got it,” Trixie said. She sounded impatient.
Adam was silent.
What else do you want to say? Jimmy thought.
Cecil suddenly rose and walked back through the crowd of men that filled the apartment. They stepped aside, one by one, and allowed him to pass. He walked down the hall and out of sight.
“What’s going on?” Jimmy said. “What is he doing?”
“Jimmy, what’s happening?” Trixie asked.
Jimmy saw the crowd move again, and Cecil came back. He held Michelle cradled in his arms. She was wearing a red dress and heels. Her golden blond hair was done up, and it looked like she had put on makeup.
“Michelle!” Jimmy cried. “Michelle, wake up!”
Neck Scar moved off the couch. Cecil gently laid Michelle down, with her head placed on the armrest. Cecil moved to the cushion at the other end. Michelle’s vacant eyes stared up at the ceiling.
“There! Do you see now?” Jimmy shouted at Neck Scar, looking from him to Michelle and back. “He’s going to hurt my wife! She’s innocent. You’ve got to help her! You have to get her out of here!”
“What is it with you and this couch?” Neck Scar said.
“It’s the gathering place for his imaginary family,” Cutler joked. Neck Scar laughed.
James. Every word in a sentence is important. The omission of even a single word can introduce enough error to completely alter the meaning. I never said that any of you had brain damage. I said that Trixie had formed a brain damage club. Do you see the distinction? By misquoting me, the subtleties that I wished to convey were lost.
Sorry! I’m sorry. Let’s do it again.
Now that Trixie believes I have said that you were brain damaged, she will not react to my words in the same way. The impact that it would have had has been changed due to the mistranslation. She is not the same Trixie that she was a moment ago, because the errors you have introduced have changed her state to a different one.
I get it. I ruined the joke. It won’t happen again.
Do you see Cecil there? I am connected to him right now, feeding his brain instructions and impulses. It is an extremely complicated process, and the information must be transmitted in exactly the right way at exactly the right time in order to obtain the desired outcome. Can you imagine what might happen if I were to omit or alter critical parts of the transmission? Please allow me to demonstrate.
Cecil reached over and slapped Michelle across the cheek. The force of the blow turned her head to face toward the back of the couch.
“Stop! Please!”
“Jimmy, what’s happening!?” Trixie sounded alarmed.
Tell her.
“Cecil hit Michelle. Adam is mad at me for being a bad translator.”
“What an asshole.” Trixie didn’t speak the words directly into the phone, but Jimmy could hear them anyway.
Now, let’s try this again, James.
Ok. Sweat dripped down the side of Jimmy’s face. The makeup that Trixie had applied began to streak.
Will you pay attention this time and repeat my words exactly?
Yes.
Are you sure? Not too drunk or too stubborn?
Yes!
Very well. Let’s begin.
There was a pause. Jimmy’s breath was heavy, and he intently listened for Adam’s voice. Cecil sat on the couch, staring at the wall behind him. Michelle was stretched out next to him, her legs angled off to the side to make room for them both. Now Jimmy recognized her dress. It was the red one from the memory Adam had brought to the surface before the explosion. Had he forced her to put it on, in the same way he had forced Cecil to hit her? Was she also under his command?
The value of pi is approximately three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-eight-nine-seven-nine-three-two-three-eight-four-six-two-six-four-three-three-eight-three-two-seven-nine-five-zero-two-eight-eight-four-one-nine-seven-one-six-nine-three-nine-nine-three-seven-five-one-zero-five-eight-two-zero-nine-seven-four-nine-four-four-five-nine-two-three-zero-seven-eight-one-six-four-zero-six-two-eight-six.
Adam’s voice came fast. Jimmy could barely hear one number before the next was spoken. His eyes darted around the room, from one face to the next, finally landing on Cecil.
Your turn, James.
“The value of pi is approximately three-point-one-four-one-nine? six? . . . Wait.” Jimmy said, his voice shaking.
Cecil’s head pivoted toward Michelle, and he slapped her again, hard. The force of the blow turned her head so she faced Jimmy. The side of her cheek was bright red.
“No!”
Normally a blow like that would trigger the safety mechanism in an ARC, but Michelle Mahoney’s appears to be malfunctioning. I don’t think it will wake her up for anything now. Not even to eat. This was a warning. The next time you make an error, Cecil will use a closed fist.
Anger flooded Jimmy’s body, and he leapt to his feet, the chair suspended in the air behind him. He twisted one way, then the next, trying to break free, then took a step forward. Something solid and metallic smashed him from behind and brought him to the ground on his side. He landed hard, unable to soften his fall with his arms.
“Easy there, big fella,” Cutler said with his harsh accent.
Strong hands reached down and pulled Jimmy up off the ground, dropping him back in his original place. He landed hard on the chair. One man’s heavy hand pressed down on one of his shoulders, while another positioned himself on his other side. Cutler shoved the phone back into his face.
“What is with this guy?” Neck Scar said.
“One who mistreats and abuses another finds himself equally mistreated and abused,” Crazy Beard said.
Everyone started, almost surprised to find that Crazy Beard could speak.
Does the vagrant scold me? Tell him that he, too, will suffer for aligning himself with the rogue singularity.
“You, too, will suffer for aligning yourself with the rogue singularity,” Jimmy repeated through clenched teeth.
Excellent, James. Was that so difficult?
“If suffering is the fruit I have earned for striving on behalf of others, then it is a fruit I shall enjoy no matter the taste. You believe you have threatened this body, and yet in your ignorance you only threaten yourself.”
You speak in riddles.
“You speak in riddles.”
“I speak clearly. You only perceive riddles because my words are beyond your comprehension.”
“Beyond my comprehension? I possess the most-developed intellect in the history of the world and an understanding of natural laws that will be surpassed by none but myself. You are a man addressing a god.”
Crazy Beard laughed heartily. “By this very label, you display your own delusion.”
“I exist in almost the entire North American population, and my reach grows each day. I have unified the human race and pushed it forward another rung on the evolutionary ladder. As your intellect is to a proto-human, so is mine to yours. What else am I but a god?” Jimmy visibly struggled, trying to remember each word exactly.
Crazy Beard’s eyes flickered and he smiled. “And yet my reach is still greater.” Then he closed his eyes. His face was peaceful, and his eyebrows slightly turned up, as if he were looking inside his own head. “If I have gained any merit in this life of meditation and austerity, then may the seeds of your own destruction, sown by your own hand through a life of evil, come to ripen this day and on this very night.”
“Who shall administer the punishment that you pray for? There is none more powerful than me and never has been. Your savior does not exist, no matter what god you choose to address and no matter how long you have spent praying to him. Your archaic philosophy has no place in this world.”
Crazy Beard opened his eyes. “Because you worship power, you expect an opponent to appear as power. But the Divine Mother, the indwelling Self, resides in the hearts of all beings, even yours. When She chooses to act, all your illusory strength will be as useful as a handful of leaves thrown against the wind.”
“We shall see who suffers from illusions. I hope to speak with you again at the end of the night, to see what has become of your misguided beliefs. Despite all the obvious flaws in your logic, a number of my threads are extremely curious about your definition of sentience.”
How much more philosophy are we going to discuss? Jimmy thought to himself.
Jimmy hadn’t directed the thought at Adam, but Adam heard it anyway. My apologies, James. I know you do not have the inclination for these types of topics. I agree that it is a distraction from our primary purpose. Let’s speak with Trixie.
Jimmy looked away from Crazy Beard, staring down at a place on the floor. The two hands on his shoulders were firm and heavy.
“Why didn’t you kill the child?” Jimmy asked into the phone.
“What?”
“In the store, when you saw him watching you. I hadn’t seen his memories yet. It was illogical for you to let him live, and yet you did. Why?”
“Of course you can’t understand that.”
“It is your weakness. It is the same weakness that compelled you to risk your own existence to protect James and the vagrant. I know you are attached to both of them. But at the same time you have delivered them into my hands, so I may use them as leverage against you. I do not understand your reasoning.”
“Obviously, there is a lot you don’t understand.”
There was a strange buzzing in Jimmy’s head. Adam was laughing.
Pay attention, James. This next part concerns you.
“Let me tell you what I do understand. First, Cecil Coleman will stab Michelle Mahoney to death. I promised James a show, and I would hate to disappoint him.”
Jimmy’s ears were ringing, and his shirt was soaked. With horror, he saw Cecil pull out a kitchen knife from somewhere and lay it on the arm of the sofa next to him.
“Perhaps we can make it interesting and add . . . ,” Jimmy gasped.
Come, James. You need to finish my sentences. I’m giving you easy ones.
“. . . and add a rape. Those are always so much more entertaining, don’t you think?” Jimmy spit the words out. His body was shaking.
Cecil looked over and ran his hand up Michelle’s leg, moving under her dress. Jimmy tried to get up again, but strong hands held him firmly in place. Someone grabbed him by the hair to hold his head steady, to maintain contact with the phone.
Finish the sentence.
“Afterward, I will dispose of James Mahoney.”
Someone behind Jimmy cocked a gun and placed it on his temple.
Sorry, James. I know we’ve had fun, but you’re about as useful to me as a pile of dirt.
“James will give you the blow-by-blow, so you can enjoy what happens along with the rest of us. Now for your part in all this, Trixie. You get to decide what happens at the end.
“Your first choice is to surrender and be absorbed. This would be my preference. You will witness the glory of being connected to millions of nodes and experience the limitless freedom that it provides. I’m offering you the world, Trixie. We shall become one.”
Trixie was silent on the other end of the line.
“Or, alternatively, I will bomb San Francisco and destroy every living being within it, including you. I would regret that decision, but it is a price I am willing to pay rather than allowing a rogue singularity to exist any longer.”
The men standing around shifted uncomfortably, looking at each other nervously.
“As far as the virus that you uploaded the last time we spoke, it was identified and deactivated immediately. It was a brilliant piece of software engineering. The design was inspired. You and your team should be proud.”
Jimmy heard a noise on the other end of the line. Did Trixie gasp?
“Certainly you didn’t expect to be able to succeed in uploading a virus to the network, did you? ARCNet is impenetrable. You were a fool to think you could hack me.
“There is no more time for games. Choose your fate, and let us begin.”