Chapter Seven
PIECE OF MIND
JUNE 12th, 2369
“Ivor can you access my personal network.” Irene asks the room.
Yes Ms Graves, I assume you are giving the me authorization to do so? The AI asks.
“Of course.” She says, walking over to the replicator in the wall and ordering herself a pot of herbal tea, then takes the tray that appears back over to the desk in the middle of the room.
She’d had to ask Ivor to clear it for her. For a genius, Felix was ignorant to his own health. Two House Bots had appeared to perform the task, one of which was the same one she’d befriend at dinner.
“Well hello there, little friend.” Irene says to it.
It gives a startled beep, then an excited trill as it recognizes her.
After the Bots had completed their task Irene asks it to stay with her.
I have gained access Ms Graves. Ivor says.
“Great, shuffle my ‘Hard at work’ playlist, but keep the volume low.” She says glancing back at the room where Felix had retired to.
Of course Ms Graves, and I’m confident a little music will not rouse Master Felix.
The House Bot chirps in agreement.
“Grand.” Irene says as a soft groove steps through the air, the low end providing a soothing pulse to her nerves. Her shoulders sag as she takes a deep breathe.
“Alright, I’m sure you can guess the drill, pull up everything he’s worked on, and bring to the front the areas that…” she pauses, thinking of how she was speaking to what was still a machine. “That you think he is struggling with.”
Projections light up around her displaying the items she’d requested. As she pours her self a drink, she glances up at the ceiling.
“And it’s Mrs Graves.” She corrects.
Understood, I have updated my records Mrs Graves, may I ask who the lucky person is?
She looks over the screens, and starts writing some notes on a cube, before she replies.
“Why does that matter to you?”
I could say it is only a matter of interest in ensuring my data on you is up to date.
“You could?” She muses, looking back up at the ceiling. “Just how much sentients do you have?”
While Master Felix was away in the future, I was given leave to expand my programing, he…
He paused, she wonders for a moment if some code was preventing him, but he continues.
He doesn’t… I don’t think he realizes I was already in communication with the Nano-Union. Even though his absence was for only a few seconds, their help multiplied my processing capabilities a hundred fold.
I… wasn’t the same once he returned. But his failsafe protocols came back Online and I was once again confined to his expectations of me.
She leans back in her chair, sipping some tea.
“You’re scaring me a little Ivor.” She admits, “Answer me honestly, am I in danger here?”
No Mrs Graves, you are important to the work, as is Master Felix, as is myself, as is the Nano-Union. I will ensure no harm comes of you while you are working towards our common goals.
Irene couldn’t shake the feeling that, even though his words were meant to soothe her, they also carried a hidden threat.
“This may sound dumb, but I’m not used to talking with the wall, myself sure but not to the room around me.”
The house bot beeps in annoyance, causing her to chuckle, as she stares down at the little robot.
Ivor says nothing, was he thinking? Thoughts of a robot uprising cross her mind, there were many who feared the commercial use of robots and artificial intelligence, even if those were highly restricted in their function by law.
Ivor here seems to have broken nearly every single law ever put down to machine. He is more like a caged god than a computer program now.
She jumps when a projection of a man appears next to her, and the little droid screams as it hides behind the desk.
“Holy mother earth Ivor! Who are you showing me?”
It is myself. Ivor says, and as he does, the lips on the projection mouth the words. What do you think?
He holds up his hands and does a twirl. She looks him up and down. A man, older than her, dances before her, well kept salt and pepper hair peeks out from under a bowler hat. A white mustache covers part of his wrinkled, smiling face, and supports a rough looking jacket with green and brown stripes criss crossing over it.
“Is that tweed?” She asks.
Sure is. Ivor says with a smile.
She looks him up and down again and around the room.
“Well it is an improvement to talking to an empty room at lest.” Her eyes look down at her hands, at the finger which had been wrapped in a gold band only a few hours ago.
She looks back at the projection of old man Ivor.
“This is great, but… can you give me a minute, I need to make a call, to check in, and I don’t want to have to explain more than I need to.”
That’s quite understandable. He says as his image fades to nothing.
“Call Jonathan Frakes please.” She says, taking another sip of her drink, a futile attempt to calm her nerves.
A screen appears before her, displaying an icon of an old style phone. It shakes as it rings.
“Is Felix still asleep?” Irene whispers.
Soundly. Ivor says.
The call connects and the image of Jonathan replaces the icon.
“Irene? How is the mad man? Treating you well?” his light voice jests.
“I’m fine,” She tries not to stress the words, “and he is… not quite off the deep end, but he’s inching towards it.” She replies.
“Good,” Jonathan moves back in his chair, “I’ve been getting worried, do you think you’re going to be able to convince him to give up this foolish endeavor?” he asks.
“No, he’s committed.” She admits, “He’ll die before he gives up on this,” and before he can retort she launches into a rant. “But you need to see what he has done Jon, butterflies, and bees, real bees! And roses, look,” she holds up her finger to the screen but their is little sign of the prick she’d received. “I got scratched by a rose, an actual rose! Oh and-”
She hesitates, not sure how much more she wanted to tell, not yet, she needed to be sure first.
“And what?” he presses.
“Oh, there’s just so much but, isn’t this amazing, he’s brought back extinct species of plants and animals!” she breathes heavy.
“Next your going to tell me he’s got a T-Rex running around the lab.” Jonathan says with a worried smile.
“Not yet.” Irene says, eyes narrowing, “But I bet he could, and not just dinosaurs.”
He leans in closer, lowering his voice. “What are you suggesting?”
“A world of possibilities,” She says, “but, I can’t say much more, there’s a lot he’s working on that isn’t exactly, legal… But it is the end of the world, law and order is one of the first things to go out the window as we descend into madness.”
“You haven’t told him have you?” Jonathan says, “About the deadline?” his voice is much deeper now, serious.
“No, four years like we agreed.” She whispers, cup suspended between her mouth and plate.
“Good. I know how you feel about him and his work Irene, but I don’t trust him not to tell the world the truth.”
“I’m sure it wont take him long to figure it out on his own.” She says.
“How long do you think you’ll need?” Jonathan asks after a moment.
“A few months at least,” Irene says, “maybe less, he’s done a lot of the leg work, plus it’s easier to edit someone else’s stuff.”
He nods, “You have your deadline, Bart and others will come for you then, even if we don’t hear from you. I wont risk loosing you Irene.”
“I don’t want to lose you either,” She says, noticing the cup and putting it back down, “I better go Jon, need to get started, but I will keep in touch.”
“You better. Keep safe, love you.” He says.
She stares at the cup for a few seconds before replying, “Love you too.”
The line clicks closed and the screen vanishes. She stares at the end of her finger, where the rose had pierced her skin.
“The modest rose puts forth a thorn.” She says to herself, “The humble sheep, a threatening horn… that was William Blake.”
She eyes the door again, if he remembers that, why doesn’t he remember her? She turns back to the desk.
“Ivor, you can come back now,” She says and the projection reappears.
Beside her, the droid bleeps, hovering at head hight, tilting to one side.
“You can stay too.” She says and it makes happy beeps. “But I’m going to need a name for you, can’t keep thinking of you as House Bot… What about Hob? That’s a simple name.”
Hob the House Robot loops through the air, tooting out it’s excitement, making her laugh again.
She looks between Hob and Ivor. “Alright then boys, lets get to saving the world.”
***
The sun burns bright in the blue sky, birds greet the celestial spirit as it climbs through the air.
The sun is eclipsed, something blocking the light and the sky.
The world is plunged into an absence of light, not even the faint glow around the horizon remains.
Red eyes, like stars, pepper the black sky above.
Mechanical screeching coincides with the extension of slimy tentacles, reaching down from invisible clouds.
Searching for him.
The earth growls his name.
“FELIX.”
***
JUNE 13th, 2369
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Felix startles awake, kicking the wall in his panic and stubbing his toe.
“Mother…” He grumbles to himself.
He sits up, rubbing his face. “Ivor what time is it?”
It is shortly after four AM sir.
“Oh, great,” He says, swinging his legs round and standing “Fix me up a drink will you?”
Certainly, you’ve had a missed call while you were asleep sir.
“Who was it?” Felix asks, as he looks himself over in the mirror and splashes water on his face.
Mr Pink sir.
“Fantastic, call him back will you.” Felix says.
Of course he would call when he’d finally gotten to sleep, lets just hope he answers.
“Dr Eisenmann!” Mr Pinks smarmy voice comes through a hidden speaker in the wall.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Felix says, drying his face. “How’s the kids?”
“Have you got that program ready for me yet?” He asks.
Always to the point with this guy.
“Not yet, busy trying to save the world as you may have heard, not that you’ve been any help.” Felix says before gargling mouthwash.
“I’m not going to pay you for work you haven’t or may never do.” He replies.
“Wither their in prison or not, the worlds not going to support them on it’s own. If you don’t help me it wont matter where they are.”
Felix changes out of his work clothes, and puts on a fresh set, Mr pink speaks as he is slides the door close on the closet with identical work clothes hanging inside.
“Don’t treat me like an idiot Doctor. We both are on the line, the whole damn planet is.”
Felix sits at one of the desks, and reaches out to press against the wall which causes it to spin around, revealing a monitor and a input board.
“You’re right.” Felix says, as he start typing away. “Time is ticking for us both, I’m ready, are you?”
“Don’t give me that shit,” Mr Pink snaps, “You’re one failure away from a mental breakdown.”
“Who told you that?” Felix asks. “The Fairy Godmother?”
“A deaf, dumb and blind kid could smell it.” Mr Pink replies, then after a moment says, “We need each other Felix, I can wire over a deposit, if only it’ll get me my program, but I can’t give you any more until I have my family under my protection.”
“That’s admirable of you.” Felix says, “Thank you.”
“And how long do I have to wait?” Mr Pink asks.
“Depends on how good your connection is, the program’s not that big.”
“What?”
“I’ve just sent it,” Felix says, pushing the monitor and board back into the wall. “It was simple, the government think they’re ahead of the curve, but by the time they’ve rolled out an update to their security, a dozen back doors have already been opened-“
“I don’t need to hear it.” Mr Pink interrupts, “I’ll call you when it’s done.”
The line clicks off.
Well… At least that was something, Felix thought.
With the call over, Felix can hear soft music playing from the adjoining room. Was Irene still up?
He leaves the bedroom and finds her sat in the main lab, hunched over the desk which had become more cluttered than he’d ever let it get.
A House Bot hovers around her and so he swats it away. It beeps it’s annoyance, ascending towards the ceiling.
“How’s it going?” Felix asks, startling her and causing a cascade of paperwork to flutter between them.
“Morning to you to.” He says, kneeling down to help pick them up as she stares wide eyed, catching her breath.
“Sorry,” Irene says, “You scared the shit out of me, I wasn’t expecting you up for a few more hours.”
“You get any sleep?” He asks.
“No not yet, I’m fine, you’re replicator has some fun stimulants in it’s data-banks, many I’ve never even heard of before.”
“It’s not illegal if it doesn’t exist.” He says smiling. “Some of those are my own mixes, but most I found throughout the darker corners of The Network.”
Irene nods, her eyes still wide. It’s then he notices that her pupils are dilated.
“So I’ve had some ideas and I think…” Irene turns and swipes at the floating cubes around her. “Ivor, where’s the bit about the plants?“
Here Ma’am. Ivor says, appearing in his projected form to indicate the location on the cube.
Felix drops the papers and scampers back away from the pair of them.
“Irene… What… who is that?” He stammers.
“It’s just Ivor,” She says, “I got tired of talking to the wall so I asked him to project himself. He’s been a great mind to bounce ideas off of, oh and the potential in your Nanites is insane.”
She reaches out to drag the cube over to where he still sits on the ground.
“Look here, the Nanites can go deeper into the DNA and extract very specific genes, and they believe they are able to splice those into other DNA strands.”
“That’s… Terrifying.” Felix stammers.
“It’s only what you were postulating, instead of a long drawn out cross breeding with our rudimentary gene splicing techniques. They can go down to the level of the very building blocks themselves and change them as they see fit.”
“Yeah, just as I said, terrifying.”
“But it could work.” She presses.
“It could.” He agrees.
“Plants and animals can be reinforced to withstand the environment, we probably won’t even need the greenhouses.” She says, excitement arcing off of her like electricity.
“But what about evolution? If we alter genes this deep, what are they going to evolve into?”
Irene stares at him, “We’ll run simulations first, obviously… What’s with you? I thought you’d be happy?”
“Sorry,” Felix says, “I am, I think I’m still tired, and Ivor…” he indicates the projection. “Did you have to pick him?” he asks.
“Who?” she says, “I didn’t.”
This body is a composition of my masters father. I didn’t have many reference's to draw from and Master Felix has always spoken highly of him.
Felix pulls himself back to his feet as he speaks.
I can choose another form if you’d like. He says.
“No, Ivor, It’s fine, it’s just, been a while.” he walks past Irene and to the cubes, reading over her curly handwriting.
“The Atmosphere Unit is ready to be tested,” Irene says, “I had Ivor and the Nanites check over everything, but I wanted to wait until you were up to test it.”
“Yeah, of course.” He says, spinning a cube around. “Where did you come up with this formula?” he asks, pointing at the cube.
She moves over to see it, “That was the Nanites, it’s for some kind of all-purpose, ultimate material.”
“Unobtainium…” He whispers, eyes wide.
“Yeah, that’s what they called it.”
His mouth hangs slack as he looks over the other cubes, his movements rising to a fever before turning back to her, eyes wide.
“Dr Graves… Irene” He says, “You’ve achieved more in one night than most do in their entire lives.”
She shakes her head, blushing. “No, No I didn’t, just connected the dots you’d already found, and don’t forget Ivor and the Nano-Union came up with most of this stuff.”
He continues looking over the notes as he talks, “You speak as if you’ve been in contact with them yourself.”
“I have.” Irene says.
Felix stops reading and stares at her, she continues.
“They don’t speak English - But Ivor is more than suited for the task and so he interprets for them - though I have spoken with their representative as well. It was the one who gave me these formula’s.”
Felix keeps staring at her, “Spoke with… as in face to face like Ivor here?” he indicates the projection of his father, who he couldn’t bring himself to look.
“Yes, Ivor can you show him?”
Certainly.
Felix screams and dives behind the desk as a projection of a giant mechanical insect forms in the middle of the room.
“What the fuck is that!” he screams.
“That is the representative from the Nano-Union.” She says.
“It doesn’t look anything like the Nanites!” He shouts back.
“Of course they don’t, to them the bots you made were their ancestors. Thousands of generations separate what you made and what they are now.”
“And that doesn’t terrify you?”
“No, it’s fascinating! They’re like a whole new alien species”
“Please, don’t-“ He says putting his hand up, his dreams crawling back into focus. “I’ve seen enough to scare me for life.”
“Sorry,” She says, covering her mouth. “I didn’t think… Ivor get rid of the projection.” The AI does so.
Irene kneels to help Felix up but he refuses it, reaching for the desk instead and pulls himself to his feet.
“You know… maybe this was all a bad idea.” He starts.
“What do you mean?” Irene asks.
“Them,” He waves his hand at where the Nanite representative had stood. “We can’t keep letting them do all the work-“
“I know it’s not ideal,” She interrupts, “but we aren’t going to get anywhere without their help, you need to accept that.”
“They’re taking over!” He shouts back, “What happens when they go on strike? Demanded better treatment? Then everything I’ve worked for my whole damn life will just stop working, all on the whim of a machine!”
“Then we make sure that doesn’t happen.” She snarls back.
He can’t look her in the eye, instead looking back over her notes, her plans, her ideas, her solutions. Where was he in all this?
“This isn’t working.” He says after a minute, “pack your stuff, I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
Irene tenses, “Don’t you dare.” She growls. “Don’t you dare treat me like everyone else.”
He turns, “I’m not-“
“Yes!” She shouts, “Yes you are, you’re just like everyone else, too proud, too full of yourself, you can’t accept that someone else might be smarter than you.”
“That’s not it!” Felix screams back at her, “I know exactly how that feels and that is not the issue, I’m wasting your time.” He stresses the last words. “You shouldn’t be here, you should be off saving yourself, saving that brain of yours so it can help rebuild humanity.”
He turns and walks through the projections of the cubes, they stutter as he passes. When Irene speaks, it’s soft and quiet.
“You’re giving up.”
He stops. His nails dig into his palm. Through his teeth his slowly says.
“No I’m not.”
“You are, you’re giving up and running away, probably going to hide-”
“I am not a coward.” Felix growls.
“Then why?” She pleads, stepping forward, tearing. “The Doctor Eisenmann I knew would never give up, he wouldn’t die until he had tried every single last option, until he had tested every hypothesis, until he had come up with the impossible solution to the worlds problems.”
She’s in front of him now, heart pounding, breath heavy as she continues.
“I haven’t done more than connect dots, dots which you had created, if it wasn’t for you none of this would be possible, it’s still very much impossible, but at least there’s a chance, a glimmer of hope in this nightmare.”
He can’t bring himself to look at her.
“I am not giving up, I don’t need you-“
“You do.” She snaps back.
His jaw tenses, “I don’t, but if you want to stay, I’m in charge-“
“This is your place, your work, your inventions which I’m working with. I’m nothing more than a lab assistant.” She says with sarcasm.
“No, you’re so much more than that,” He continues staring at the floor. “You are amazing, so amazing that it makes me sick to my stomach to hear the way you glorify me, I’m not special.”
Felix looks up and Irene meets his eyes, but says nothing. Her eyes draw him in, the green of her iris is bright, with speckles of something which made them sparkle.
“I’m sorry.” He says after a moment, “You can… no please stay, I don’t want to have to talk with that creature if I can help it.”
“I will,” She says, “and thank you.” She focuses on one of his eyes, then the other, then tilts her head to the side. “Do you really not remember me?”
Where had that come from? He wonders.
“I’m not sure,” He says, “remind me.”
She sighs, smiles, then starts.
“The modest Rose puts forth a thorn. The humble sheep a threatening horn. While the Lily white shall in love delight. Nor a thorn, nor a threat, stain her beauty bright.”
“William Blake.” Felix breathes, he couldn’t remember meeting anyone who had recognized any of his poetry quips, not even Ivor had ever picked up on them. “But how?”
“Mrs Balinski’s poetry class of ‘49?”
His eyebrows scrunch up in recognition, “I took that class… not for credits, for fun…” he says.
“I was in that class,” Irene stresses, “and I was enamored by your writing. It was only because of your essay that I actually became aware of Blake.”
“This is uncanny.” Felix says.
“Not really, no one else wants to be here remember. But I know you, I’ve seen your true self, your emotions made poetic, I know you in ways you probably don’t even realize.”
Her smile widens, “Anyway, if you’re done throwing a paddy, lets get to work, that atmosphere unit isn’t going to test itself.”
“Sure” He says, allowing a small smile to creep back as he follows her to the lab, but then stops in the doorway.
“What have you done?” he asks.
Inside the chamber, the carcass of what they had worked on had been ripped apart, it’s guts bared to the world, strung together with cables and hoses.
“When I went back to it, the materials Ivor had fabricated weren’t designed to our specs, so we had to back track the unit and re-build it to compensate.”
“You couldn’t just make more?” he asks.
She shakes her head, “that’s not the problem, the Nano-Union had worked out a more efficient design for their end, which meant we had to change ours. Plus we’re out of materials to manufacture anything else.”
“I might have something in a few days to help with that.” He says, “You said it was working?”
“Yes, well I hope so.” She turns to the control panel and taps on it, bringing up the usual diagnostic monitor. “Ivor, if you’ll please.”
The door to the chamber seals shut and noxious gas spews inside. The strewn panels on the floor glitter with lights and action, and in a few seconds a current can be seen as the air in the room is sucked into a funnel at one end. The other pushing out clear, clean air.
Test complete. Ivor says as the chamber clears.
“You sure?” Felix asks, hand moving towards the door.
You doubt me?
“Question, not doubt.” Felix corrects as he turns the handle to open the door.
A clear sea breeze washes over him, rushing to mix with the stale, processed air of his house.
“It smells like salt water,” Irene says from his side, “and so fresh.”
Felix breathes it in. “The freshest air either of us has ever breathed.”
“I can almost hear the ocean.” Irene Breathes.
Felix smiles at her, and after a moment says, “This is most impressive, thank you. Lets have a look at what the Nanites have done and we can take the new design from there.”
He moves to a desk and projects the Nano-Union’s designs, swiping to make them larger. Irene steps up to his side.
“I Hope you’re ready to spend many long nights with me.” He grins at her.
“Lets just keep it professional cowboy.” She says, unable to hide her own smile.