We were quiet most of the trip back. But once we got into safe space again, Celica put her hand on my knee and said, “I’m sorry you lost your father, no matter how little you knew him. I lost everyone too.”
I looked up and met her eyes with mine. We both had tears in them. I let her continue uninterrupted.
“I need a favor,” she said, “let me go with you. Take me back to your world so I too can forget about this awful place. I’m begging you, Eric. There’s nothing here for me. I’ve fought so hard and even with victory, I can’t bear to exist in this hollow universe. Let me start over.”
I completely sympathized with her. Just earlier today, she was cold to me. Not because she wanted to be. But because this world made her that way.
“It’s not like you’ll have to take care of me. I’ll find my own way,” she continued, “just give me the opportunity to cross over. Please.” “Okay, Celica. I can do that.”
She leaned in and gave me a hug and we both cried together.
When we arrived back at Terra Colony HB 10-1, there was a small celebration. The resistance was well on their way to blotting out the synths from the universe. We didn’t participate long. I was eager to put all this behind me and Arduwan was tired of wearing so many clothes. Celica, I’m sure, was also eager to start her new life.
The three of us made our way out to the mines and found the well. I went in first and retrieved the stone. The girls followed me in, and we made the warp back to Earth. After getting to the other side, I saw the stone flicker red, the slowest I had seen yet. Then a few moments later, it started to illuminate green. I held back my tears and got out of the well after Arduwan.
She handed me and Celica towels.
After we dried off, we made our way upstairs to find the others and tell them what had happened. We also needed to introduce them to Celica. We found Emily first, she was carrying food to the dining room table. That was a first. Right behind her were Higgins and Stephanie. Arduwan shouted out, “Great, I’m starving!” and made a run for the kitchen where Anabel was finishing things up.
“Master Noble! You made it back safely,” Higgins said, with happiness in his voice.
Before I could utter a word, Celica snarled, “You!” and grabbed a knife off the dining room table and speared it right into Higgins’ chest.
I couldn’t react fast enough. Celica tore off running into the kitchen, directly towards
Anabel. I shouted, “Anabel! Look out!”
She threw her hands up to shield herself and screamed. Right before Celica reached her, Arduwan shoved Anabel out of the way to protect her and attempted to subdue Celica. However, Celica showed superhuman strength that even surpassed the barbarian princess. She threw Arduwan to one side, skidding her across the kitchen floor and jumped right through the glass window over the sink and ran off into the night.
I rushed over to Higgins’ side. He was bleeding horrifically. Stephanie blurted out, “I’ll go get some towels!”
“I’ll get the medical kit,” Emily added.
Arduwan got to her feet, visibly shaken. She helped Anabel stand up and asked, “are you okay?”
Anabel replied, “I think so. I just hurt my elbow.”
My attention was on Higgins, he was still bleeding profusely and had winded breath.
“Stay with me, Higgins!” I shouted as I held him up to try and stop him from choking on his own blood.
All he said to me was, “Eric…it’s been a pleasure…serving…the Noble family,” and then he died right there on the spot.
* * *
We didn’t know what had happened. Everything was normal. Yea, the mood was a little off because of what happened with meeting my father. What was left of him that is. But our return to my world was otherwise routine. It all happened so fast, it was like a blur. Why did Celica do what she did? Nothing about her indicated she would do something so awful. Her reaction to seeing Higgins played back in my mind. The only word she said was, ‘You!’
Arduwan wrapped Higgins' body in a white sheet. We couldn’t very well call the police with the nature of what was going on at this house. Emily sat cross legged on the floor near his body with a sad look on her face while Stephanie and Anabel held each other in the kitchen and cried. All I did was stand there and think about what could have gone wrong. Could Celica have been a synth this whole time? Not possible. I saw her killing synths. And she maintained normal speech. We even shared tears together just hours before coming back here. None of it made sense.
“Hey, are you okay?” Arduwan asked as she placed her hand on my shoulder.
The question may have seemed insensitive, but she was concerned that I hadn’t moved since I stood up. I was lost in thought and hadn’t been sobbing like the others. Where did I go wrong? I never even got to apologize to Higgins for lashing out at him before we went to Synthetica. Yet, when we came back, he was all smiles and welcoming. As he always was. But now he was gone. In the blink of an eye. A lifetime legacy of servitude and companionship. Only to meet his demise at the end of a kitchen knife from an attacker that I am responsible for bringing into the house.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
I pat Arduwan on her shoulder back and said, “we’ve got to figure out what's going on.” “What do you suggest?” she replied.
“I don’t know. Maybe we could go back into Synthetica and get some answers from General Nova.”
“I’m absolutely going with you this time,” Emily said, still seated by Higgins' body.
“Why?”
“Because you need my brain power. I can help decipher any clues we obtain regarding what motivated Celica to do this.”
“Alright. It’s not as dangerous there as it once was, so if you stick close to me and
Arduwan, you should be safe.”
“What about us? Do you think she’s come back?” asked Stephanie.
“Doesn’t seem like it. She left in an awful hurry. Just the same…Anabel, do you still have that musket pistol?”
“Yes.”
“Have it ready. You and Stephanie stay here and be alert. If Celica comes back, hide until we return.”
“Let’s move quickly,” I said to Emily and Arduwan.
The three of us went to the basement and grabbed the newly minted green stone for Synthetica. We hastily climbed into the well and made our way to the base on Terra Colony HB 10-1 to ask questions.
* * *
“Unbelievable!” General Nova stated in shock, “I have no idea why she could have done this. Lieutenant Celica is one of our best operatives.”
“How long has she been stationed at this outpost?” Emily asked.
“About two months. But her records show she’d been in service for years,” Nova replied.
Emily thought for a brief moment and then asked, “Could I look at her service records?”
“Sure, I’ll pull them up now,” he obliged as he began displaying Celica’s information on the computer in front of him.
“Just as I thought,” Emily said, as she stopped on a report that occurred just before Celica was stationed at this base. “It says here,” she continued, “that she was on a mission fighting against the synths when her platoon was ambushed. Everyone was killed…except her.”
“You don’t think she was replaced as a synth, do you, Emily?” I asked.
“I do.”
“But that’s not possible,” Nova interjected, “no synth has an advanced personality enough to blend in among our ranks like that. They’re a collective, incapable of individualism.”
“It’s possible one could be different. Or perhaps evolved. It’s difficult to say without knowing more about what happened when Eric’s father took over the mainframe. There’s a connection, since it happened around the same time Celica returned from that mission.”
“It’s a shame we can’t ask him ourselves,” I added.
“But you could?” Nova said.
“What do you mean? I thought the space station was destroyed.”
“It hasn’t been yet,” he replied, “our forces have largely pushed back the invading synths, but the station is still intact.”
“Then we have to go to him while there’s still time!” I shouted.
“I’ll alert Captain Baylocke immediately and have you taken there at once.”
* * *
No sooner than we had returned, we were already on the ship heading back to the space station. Arduwan and I were tired, so we used this time to rest. Emily was taking in the sights of outer space from the observation deck and presumably contemplating our situation. In a matter of hours, we arrived.
“Eric, you came back!” said the hologram of my father as we jogged towards him.
“Somethings wrong dad! That woman that was with us before, she killed Higgins and ran off into the countryside back in England!”
“What?! Higgins is dead?!”
“Yes. It was very sudden. She seemed like she had recognized him.”
“This is starting to make sense,” my father said, “the detonation code she gave me for these explosives wasn’t correct either.”
Emily stepped up, “if I may add. We checked out Celica’s service records and we have reason to believe that she was replaced by a synth around the time you took over this station.”
“And who might you be, young lady?”
“This is Emily. She’s the detective I told you about…and a valued friend.” I explained.
Emily continued, “is it possible that when you merged with the central nervous system that the core of the Artificial Intelligence copied itself outside somewhere?”
“I suppose that’s possible. But surely you don’t think it’s Celica, do you?”
“Eric, you said the stone turned green as you left this world and came home right?”
“Right.”
“I think Celica is the A.I. incarnate. She’s the Devil of this world,” Emily inferred.
“That would explain why the stone changed despite the synth threat not being totally eliminated,” I said.
My father added, “then she was controlling the synths outside the parameters of my signal reach. The synths operate on a series of messages. Like a telegraph system. Her reach was limited but she could control the front and keep the resistance embroiled in defense while also worrying about what was going on in synth space.”
“That still didn’t explain why she knew Higgins or wanted to kill him,” I noted.
“Perhaps she recognized him through my memories when I merged with the station. She was simply waiting for an opportunity to get revenge while also getting access to Earth.”
“So, she just jumped ship and left this world?” I asked.
Emily’s eyes got big as she came to a realization, “if Celica is literally a copy of the original synth hivemind core, then she’s like a walking USB stick on Earth. Would it be possible for her to upload herself into another computer?”
“If she operates like the other synths, then she could theoretically merge with any hard drive, organic or otherwise,” my father answered.
“So, she could spread herself on Earth the way she has across this reality?” I asked.
Emily replied, “she could take over the internet, hack satellites, control nuclear warheads. The possibilities for her are endless.”
“Yes, but it will take some time,” my dad explained, “first, she’ll have to get her bearings straight. Then, she’ll likely try to find a way to blend in. Once she’s comfortable she’ll probably begin learning how everything in the world works. But after that, when she finds a way to upload herself into an equivalent to this station, she’ll do it.”
“But what would that be? Google Headquarters? Some Military Supercomputer?” I suggested.
“It’s too difficult to say. We’d have to know exactly where she’d be and what time she’d be there to be able to catch her before she uploaded,” Emily said, perplexed.
We all thought for a moment but were interrupted by Arduwan, who said, “What if I knew a way for us to find out?”
We all turned to her, and I asked, “You know a way to predict what Celica is going to do?”
“I don’t. But I know of someone who does.”
“Who?”
“In my world, there is someone known as The Oracle of Vale. It’s said that, for a fee, he can accurately predict a moment in time,” she explained.
“Then there’s no time to waste. We need to get back to the Mansion and head to Callist so we can find out exactly where Celica will be when she tries to upload herself. Hopefully there's enough time,” I stressed.
“Good luck, son. I’m afraid this is goodbye for real though. I’ve defragmented the sequencing code on the explosive charges. Once you leave, I’m detonating the explosives to end this once and for all.”
“I understand,” I said, “thanks for everything…and goodbye.”
As Captain Baylocke moved the ship away from the space station, the explosives began setting off. I tried to put it at the back of my mind and urged him to hastily get us back to Terra Colony HB 10-1. We couldn’t afford Celica making a move faster than we anticipated.