At the end of the long tunnel, I lift my head up and look up with my one eye into the blocked shaft above, giving both me and Jeff a view of it. I feel so broken. I’m such an idiot, just walking in there, thinking I stood a chance. Of course he’s going to have the whole place fortified. Of course he’s going to be running the biggest cloud he can all the time. After his time in the Wallace Hospital, why would I think for a second that he would push himself any less relentlessly than I did? I take a deep breath, hold it, and slowly exhale. The pain is still sharp, but it’s subsiding.

I still can’t believe he just took my eye like that.

I step back a meter or so into the tunnel and reach up with my bots. I cut a hole through the plug I had put in place, and watch as it crashes to the ground in front of me. I start cracking into the ice above it as I transmit the shutdown code. The wild bots deactivate just as I breach through and let a small avalanche of ice thunder down. The deactivated bots pour over the dirty chunks of ice like fine metal dust. I check the seals on the faceplate and jet upwards into the flowing, sleeping swarm. It takes all the strength of the powerful exoskeleton to push myself through the opening against the flow of the sand-like bots into the bottom of the massive and still-full bowl. Getting through here on my way back down is going to be a pain.

To Andrea: I’m here.

I push up through the dormant swarm, fighting the current flowing down into the pipe. It’s a relief to rest my feet on the surface when I get there. Swimming upstream through flowing dust is exhausting even if it’s my mind doing the work and not my body. From up here, the flow down into the shaft is inconsequential enough that I don’t even see much of a dent in the surface. I take a look around, but it’s almost pitch black. Then suddenly it’s not. Someone has put up some big floating lights above the swarm pit.

“Noah!” a voice calls. A pretty young woman with short black hair rushes towards me from my right side riding a floating circular disk. I know her. What’s her name?

“Hey,” I say, retracting the faceplate of the armor and feeling the blast of cold on my face.

“You did it!” she exclaims. She floats up on her disk to grab my bulky form and kiss me long and hard on the mouth. Lin. That’s right. She’s the one I love that I couldn’t remember. I love Lin. I’m going to marry Lin one day. I feel the kiss, and I also feel something hard pressing into my back. Oh, good. The delivery from Andrea. I need that. I let it melt into the inside of the armor on my back as I silently take it from her hand. She lets me go and gets her first good look at my face.

"Wait, what's wrong with your eye?" she asks.

Now Jeff knows about her. Not good. I don’t want him to have any more leverage against me than he already has. And I really don’t want her to get hurt. Maybe he’ll leave her alone after he sees me kill Evan and Louise.

“I'll tell you later. Nothing is final yet, but we have a plan,” I tell her, hoping Jeff interprets that to mean that he and I have a plan. “Please, trust me. I’m doing the right thing. You’ll want to step back. You don’t want to be close to me right now.”

I disengage from her and survey the area. Lin looks a little hurt, but she complies, backing several meters away from me. My siblings and the firefighters are lined up along the edges of the giant circle that had once been New Orleans’ doom, joined by dozens of newcomers wearing VR goggles. Antonio’s crew did arrive in time to help then.

“Evan!” I shout, amplifying my voice to deafening levels with my bots. “Louise! Come here! I need you!”

Two rocketing shapes move towards me almost immediately, one from the north, one from the east.

“Brother!” Evan shouts, as he touches down and his flight suit helmet dissolves.

I put up my one finger, gesturing for him to wait as Louise rushes in.

“Hey, Noah,” she says, her helmet blowing away like dust. “What’s up?”

Once she’s down I can begin.

“I just wanted to say goodbye,” I tell them. “And thank you. Thank you for being the best brother and sister I could ever ask for. I love you both.”

They look at each other then look back at me, their faces wearing matching masks of concern.

“What are you talking about, man?” Evan asks, taking a step towards me on the unstable dust that was once a swarm. “I mean, I love you too, but what’s going on?”

I take a step back, making sure I have both of them clearly in my field of vision.

“Also, I’m sorry,” I say, as I strike out ruthlessly at both of them simultaneously. The bots that had formed the gauntlets of my armor rush like cannonballs into each of their faces. I feel the crush of flesh and bone and see each of their heads explode back away from me in bursts of red and white.

Lin screams as their bodies fall onto the sleeping dust that was once a swarm. I hear an echo of screams from all around the perimeter of the swarm’s devastation.

“Noah!” Lin cries. “What did you do?!?”

“I’m sorry,” I say again, keeping my voice as cold as I can. “I did what I had to do.”

I take a long look at each of the bodies before I close the faceplate again and reform my armored gloves. That should satisfy Jeff.

To Andrea: Thank you. Take care of Lin until I get back, please. The intake should be somewhere near these coordinates.

I send her the distance and direction I’d traversed from Jeff’s lab to here. She responds with a single letter Y.

“Why did you do that!” Lin demands, rushing towards me. She strikes at my armored chest with her small fists.

“Please. Trust me,” I say one more time. “And get out of the way.”

I lift upwards, even further this time than the first time I dove into the pit. I want as much momentum as I can get. I compress more air and top off my air tanks, just in case. Lin stands defiantly below me.

To Lin: Please move. I don’t want you to get hurt.

From Lin: No! Not until you tell me what’s going on! Why did you just kill Evan and Louise? And why do you need that thing?

To Lin: I’ll explain it all later. Right now, I need you to move. I need to do this while I still remember everything.

She reluctantly steps aside and I begin my dive. I see Andrea’s dragonfly suit coming towards her from the west and Valerie skimming in from the north just before I plunge back into the sea of metallic dust. It’s a better trip through it than my first time. Nothing is trying to eat me, as least. I follow the flow back down through the hole and into the vertical shaft. The bottom several meters of the pipe has filled up and the bot dust is slowly flowing into the tunnel. I push on through the dead bots and seal the tunnel tightly behind me without looking back.

I begin the walk back to Jeff’s lab, the darkness of the tunnel matching my mood.

It’s not good that I couldn’t remember Lin back there. I check my diagnostic scan as I walk and compare it to one from last week. There’s extensive remodeling, more than I’ve ever seen before in this short of a time. The area around the burst blood vessel looks like it’s cleared up, but that area has remodeled quite a bit, too. Even more than the rest. I don’t want to lose my motor skills. I dissolve my right glove again and try flexing my hand without the armor. It doesn’t work. Nothing. I try again on the left side. That hand can at least open and close. I sigh and reform both gloves.

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The tunnel seems longer this time. I don’t know why. It doesn’t matter though. I take my time walking along it. I’m in no hurry now, the slower I go, the better. I still can’t believe that I forgot about Lin so quickly. I probably would have forgotten the others if I hadn’t been talking to Jeff about them. Finally the darkness gives over to light. I emerge into Jeff’s lab.

“Brother, that was masterful,” he praises me as I enter.

WARNING! NOREPINEPHRINE/SEROTONIN LEVELS INDICATE MURDEROUS INTENT! THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU KILL ANYONE!

I know. I know. I’ve thought very carefully, so shut up, other brain. I disable the warning.

“Thank you,” I tell Jeff, forcing all traces of the rage out of my voice. “I hope you understand how difficult that was for me.”

“Oh, I do. And I appreciate it. Come on, brother. We have a great deal of work to do.”

“We do,” I agree. “But first I’d like your gesture of good faith. How do your failsafes work?”

“Oh, certainly,” he says, almost cheerfully. “In the event of my untimely death, you’ll need to connect to a specific web page daily and enter the code ‘father is dead’ - that is all one word, no spaces, all lowercase letters. The link is bookmarked on that computer there.” He gestures to the laptop near the server racks. “As long as the code is entered every twenty-four hours, the failsafes will remain dormant. Be certain not to enter the passcode incorrectly, as three attempts would result in activation. We will need to go and change batteries in a few years. As for the locations, they’re recorded in my research notes, also on that computer. You’ll have ample time to look there later. Satisfied?”

I nod, indexing his instructions. I want to take a look at the link and locations now, but if I seem too eager to see them, I think I would destroy the trust I just earned.

“Then let’s get to work,” he says. “An all-nighter, like back in the old days on campus.”

I nod, though I don’t remember doing much studying at all with Jeff back on campus. Not that I’d even remember at this point, since the events of less than an hour ago are already fading.

“Let me get you up to speed on what I have accomplished so far.” He turns and gestures to one of the young men on the cots. “This subject has been the longest lasting of the test subjects that I’ve used here. He has lasted two full weeks with an involuntary installation of the implant, which is a significant improvement over the prior groups. I believe that the design I used with him has potential to work as the basis for our project going forward.”

“All right,” I tell him, “but we probably want to start planning to move rather than just diving into the research. This location is compromised.”

“Of course, of course,” he says, putting his skeletal metal hand on the table in front of him and rising to his feet. “You are quite correct. We should begin packing now. I will dispose of the test subjects. We won’t be able to move them and they are so easy to obtain wherever we go. Where should we relocate to? I have quite enjoyed the climate here. Perhaps Florida next?”

“Maybe,” I say. “Wait, why don’t we want to try to move the test subjects? We wouldn’t want to lose the findings we can get from them. Can’t we just stop their sedative drips and herd them onto a bus or something?”

“Oh, no,” Jeff says as he bustles over to the cot nearest the incinerator. “They are all quite permanently damaged. I found it so difficult to work with fully functioning bodies, I disconnected most of their systems from their brains so I could study the important parts in isolation. With the data I have gathered from this batch, we might be able to test on intact humans next time, though I suspect we may need at least one more of these limited test runs.”

“So they’re not sedated?”

“Of course not. The IV is just a nutritive drip that keeps them alive. These people will never recover. A small price to pay for the world we will create, but a price that must be paid nonetheless.”

They’re all just trapped there, working brains with no motor control over their bodies. I can’t imagine what kind of nightmare that must be. One more reason Jeff has to go, as if I needed more. On the upside, that simplifies this situation a little. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough air for everyone.

“I see,” I say quietly.

I note the slightly decreased level of oxygen in the room. Good. Andrea has found the intake. I turn on a trickle of airflow into my helmet from one of the compressed tanks at my back.

Mom, please don’t let him have the atmospheric overlay enabled. I really need this to work.

“In any case,” Jeff continues. “You are correct. We must prepare to move. Go ahead and get the servers shut down, while I take care of the test subjects. The proper sequence is documented on the computer there. Actually, while you’re there, please reset the failsafe for the day. I don’t want that to lapse while we are busy relocating.”

I step over to the laptop and hit the bookmark labeled “Failsafe Devices.” I enter the code and get a little confirmation that it succeeded. I quickly add the address of the page to my index for later. On my way to the server shutdown instructions, I also open the file containing all the failsafe box locations and snapshot that into my index as well.

“We don’t need that yet,” Jeff says as he floats one of the bodies into the incinerator alcove and closes the door to it. “As I said, the batteries don’t need to be changed for years.”

Of course he’s still seeing out of my eye. His eye. I maximize the shutdown instructions to fill the screen and start to power down the servers according to the sequence the instructions show.

“See,” Jeff says. “This is already better now that we’re working together. We shall accomplish twice as much. More, even.”

I notice a familiar hard drive sitting between two of the servers on one of the racks. A label reading Property of SynTech stretches across the front of it. An index entry pops for it and I read that it’s the drive stolen from our brain-in-a-box facility. Not something that I should leave lying around. I turn my head to one side so Jeff’s eye won’t see as I pull the drive into a hollow in the interior of my armor.

The oxygen levels are getting lower. The air still feels fine. Good. Andrea is doing it right, not introducing any extra carbon dioxide. I take another deep breath of fresh air from my tank.

“I feel so good about our partnership,” Jeff continues. “It has been a long and lonely time since we killed Father together. Smith was poor company, I can tell you that. Intelligent, but not in ways that made for meaningful conversation. Willfully ignorant of so many of the more important matters. And always complaining of how much he missed his precious Dorothy.”

He’s starting to ramble. That’s a very good sign.

“You look a little tired,” I say as casually as I can. “You’ve been working so hard for so long, why don’t you take a rest and let me take care of getting things ready to move. I’ll wake you when things are ready. How about Miami for our next location? I hear the weather there is very nice.”

“Now that you mention it, I am quite exhausted. Perhaps we’ll do the all-nighter another time.” He staggers a little. “Oh, yes. I may lay down for just a moment.”

“Good, you rest,” I tell him. I’m a little lightheaded too, even with my frequent breaths from my tanks. The oxygen level is getting very low now. It’s funny how the human body doesn’t have a good way to detect that. If he’d been looking at the right readouts for his bots, he might have known, but who besides me would even think to do that?

"Oh, and I trust that your sexual relationship will not interfere with our work.” Jeff manages to sound both magnanimous and robotic at the same time. “You may take breaks to attend to needs like that every now and then, but you'll want her to be available locally. Or find someone local. Miami does sound nice. Let's go there tomorrow."

He lays down on the cot without the restraints. His implant will probably start flashing alerts soon to let him know that his brain is dying without oxygen, but by then it will be much too late. We’re deep down here, there’s no way he could get to where there is good, oxygenated air in time.

“I see Father sometimes,” Jeff says, his voice fading. “Do you? We killed him, you and I. We solved that problem. AI will never control human minds now. Only the collective needs of all of humanity should do that. I thought it through. I solved the fundamental problem of humanity. We will preserve life. We will end suffering...”

He trails off.

“And we will elevate humanity,” I say, completing Father’s creed. “You did solve it, brother. Good work. Now sleep. I’ll take care of everything.”

I switch back to acoustical signaling and pull the jammer out from where Lin planted it on the back of my armor. It will block all the radio frequency channels that the bots know how to talk on, but not the new technique based on subsonic transmissions. The alerts in Jeff’s implant should fire any time now, he’s well into hypoxia. I turn on the jammer.

“What?” he says, his voice still sleepy. “What have you done? You’ve disconnected me.”

“Yes.”

“Oh dear,” he says, his voice quiet and weak. “That will trigger my final failsafes. I am sorry, brother.” He yawns. “I quite looked forward to working with you again.”

Final failsafes? The eye. Of course. I quickly pluck Jeff’s new eye from my socket. I scour out the cavity it leaves with my bots as I drop Jeff’s creation on the floor, making sure no part of him is left in me.

With that, Jeff closes his eyes and lies still.

“Goodbye, brother.”

I close my faceplate and breath deeply from the air in my compressed supply. The eye on the floor erupts into a flurry of destruction, annihilating the floor beneath it and the leg of Jeff’s cot where it had rolled, then going still as a pile of dust on the floor. One extra precaution that I’m sure Jeff thought would take my head off in an event like this. The walls, floor, and ceiling rumble. Are all his bots going live and wild? No, none of them are jumping to the easily available metal of the cots and server racks. They’re just tearing into the supports that kept this room from caving in.

I check Jeff’s pulse. He’s dead. Finally. I scan the bots that had made up the eye and they've gone dormant. So have the ones embedded in the floor, walls, and ceiling that had just shaken the room. I hear a crack, then another and another. The walls begin buckling.

Look, Mom. I cleaned up my mess. Are you proud of me, Mommy?

And with that the ceiling falls. Several hundred tons of cool, damp earth and stone rain down on top of me.