Episode 29

You Say You Want a Revolution?

“Alright, where to?” She reached out and grasped my hand. Virtual contact was the only way for UCCs to establish a direct link with each other. Linking to another UCC required some trust, but in the brief time we had interacted, I had gotten a good feeling about her.

Although I had no memory of our shared life together, I had come to accept that Cherri and I had been a couple. Consequently, I trusted her.

“Ready?” she asked.

I took a last look around at the partying Marines and hoped I would get another chance to let loose at a party like this one. However, if I got that chance, it definitely wouldn’t include any 50/50.

I nodded, and in the blink of an eye, we were standing alone in a private room. She let go of my hand, walked a few steps to a low sofa and sat down. She then pointed to a plush chair several feet away from her and said, “Why don’t you sit over there.”

With a strategically placed coffee table between us, it was clear she wanted to create some distance. It was a sure sign that this would be a serious talk. I took my seat feeling like I was about to be cross-examined in a courtroom.

There was an awkward silence as each of us waited for the other to begin. Then of course, we both began speaking at precisely the same moment. Swearing silently to myself, I gestured for her to begin.

She leveled her gaze at me and asked, “So, you really don’t have any memories of me … or us?”

Choosing my words carefully, I explained, “Well, I know who you are, but I have no memories of us together… as a couple. If that’s what you’re asking.”

She frowned slightly and asked, “And for the 3 months you’ve been missing, you have no recollection of where you’ve been?”

“That’s also correct. I have no memories of the last 3 months.” It was difficult to see where she was going with this. Hoping to fill in the details for her, I added, “Lucy thinks that Command deleted all of my memories of you … and us, for some reason.”

Thinking back to Lucy’s comment about Command doing something similar to Merc, when he was involved with Cherri, I decided to confirm this with her. “Lucy also told me that Command had erased Merc’s memories of you when you two were a couple. Is that true?”

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Yeah, it’s true. It’s like Command doesn’t want me getting too close to anyone.” I could hear the anguish in her voice. “Lots of UCCs have relationships with each other, but this never happens to them. Why me?”

It was a fair question.

This was yet another enigma in troopship land which made no sense to me. As bad as I felt for her, it was encouraging to know that someone else recognized the incongruities that existed here.

Then she asked, “And why would they only erase your memories and not mine?”

“Look, Cherri, I don’t know. I have plenty of my own questions that I’d like answers to. But one thing I’m certain of, there’s a lot more going on here in troopship-land than we can possibly perceive with our limited sensor arrays.” I paused, uncertain about how much more I should share with her.

Dropping her gaze briefly, she looked up at me and nodded. “I know. I mean, look at us. We were building a life together and Command just erased it all. I feel like we can’t just accept things the way they are. “

It was clear that she had suspicions about the setup here too. I decided to trust my gut feelings and just come clean with her.

“Listen, I’m convinced that Command is deceiving us about our role in humanity’s interstellar expansion. There are way too many things that just don’t make any sense. “

I began citing some examples. “They’re editing our memories from combat. Sending us to Trappist 1-e on a rescue mission when there was no one left to rescue. Half the troopship getting AD’d by an enemy that’s hacked Command’s auto-destruct system. ”

I thought briefly about the encrypted files in my RAM. I wasn’t certain why, but I felt I needed to solve that riddle on my own.

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Adding to my list of reasons why troopship land was a complete mind-fuck, I continued, “And what about our so-called memories? None of the UCCs value their personal memories. They sell them the first chance they get. The ones who keep their memories become mentally unstable. The whole system is just so dysfunctional. It can’t possibly work the way we’ve been led to believe. I think everything here is based on a colossal manipulation of the truth.”

It felt good to finally share my concerns with someone, but I couldn’t tell whether Cherri thought I was on to something, or just plain crazy. Her avatar’s expression was impossible to read.

Prompting her to share her thoughts, I asked, “So, does any of this make sense to you?”

Cherri sighed and said, “You’re not the first one to suspect a conspiracy by Command, and the AIs. We all know that things aren’t as they seem. But what can we do about it? The system has all the power. Besides a few cheats and My Wizard, we have nothing.”

“I disagree! I think the system needs us more than we need it. Think about it. Merc was able to bluff Command out of AD’ing all of us during the Trappist mission. Why? Because if they destroyed all the UCCs, they would become powerless. The system can’t let that happen. It won’t let that happen.

It’s not all powerful and all-knowing like we’ve been led to believe. The enemy, or someone, has figured out how to coopt the auto-destruct function and use it as a weapon against us. Even UCCs can successfully hack into some subsystems without getting caught. I can’t put my finger on it, but I believe the system is vulnerable. “

Cherri furrowed her brow. I couldn’t tell if she was seriously considering my argument, or wondering how to gracefully tell me how stupid it was.

Finally, she spoke. “What if you’re right? What if we could somehow defeat the system? The system is all we have. We’re part of it. How could we even exist without it?”

“I agree! Destroying the system would be shooting ourselves in the foot. But this is not about breaking the system. What I’m proposing is learning how to influence the system, to control it. Figure out a way to use it to our advantage. If the enemy can manipulate the system, so can we.”

Her avatar’s expression turned thoughtful as she began to grasp my intent. “So, hypothetically speaking, how would we do this?”

Working more on a hunch than a plan, I shared my vision with her. “I’m not sure where we start, but I know what our goals are. Find out the truth about everything here in troopship land and figure out how to game the system.”

“Oh, is that all?” Cherri shook her head and said mockingly, “At least no one can accuse you of setting goals that are too modest.”

I ignored her sarcasm and asked, “So, what do you think?” I felt that having her onboard was crucial.

She chuckled. “Well, you are going to need someone to keep you alive until you can figure out a plan.”

I countered with, “Hey, not having a plan provides a lot of flexibility, and flexibility could be huge. “

“God, you’re so simple minded.” It was surprisingly fun bantering with her. I imagined for a moment what it would have been like to be in a relationship with her. We must have been an entertaining couple.

Then Cherri gave me a look that I couldn’t read, and asked, “And what about us?” It was a good question. A question I had given exactly zero thought to, up to this point.

“Well, I don’t think we can just pick up where we left off, personally. I mean, I don’t even know where we left off.” She frowned, confused or disappointed, maybe both.

I knew I wasn’t making much sense, but hoped my honesty would convince her of my sincerity.

“Listen, I think I must have been the luckiest guy in the corps to have been in a relationship with you. But I don’t know how to restart things, with us. I think, if we’re meant to be, we’ll find out how to make it work. I promise you I’ll do my share to try and figure things out.”

“So? Are you in or out?” Even as I pressed her for a commitment, I knew I wouldn’t blame her if she decided not to join me. After all, it sounded like a monumentally bad idea, even to my ears.

“Okay. I’m in, with one condition.” I held my breath, hoping it wasn’t a deal breaker. “I’m going to give you some memories to safeguard but you’ll have to promise not to open them unless I give you permission to do so. Deal?”

“Deal!” I couldn’t believe my luck. I had one of the most capable Marines in the USMC on my team, and all I had to do was safeguard some memories in return.

Cherri asked, “So, what do we do now?”

It was a question to which I had devoted no thought whatsoever. I had been in limbo for 3 months and out of touch with troopship life. Consequently, I hadn’t a clue how to go to war against a repressive system controlled by AIs.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

Judging by her avatar’s expression, Cherri seemed unimpressed with my prospects as a revolutionary mastermind. “For someone with such ambitious goals, it seems like you should at least have an opening gambit figured out. “

Clearly, my preference for flexibility over planning had put me at a disadvantage.

Attempting to salvage my image, I began thinking on my feet, which isn’t one of my strengths. “Well, with the balance of power completely in favor of the AIs, we would have to operate as clandestinely as possible. And we’ll need collaborators.”

Not genius, but it felt like a decent start. So, I continued with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. “The good news is, we are the ultimate insurgents. We already operate within the system as UCCs and have a range of illicit resources available to us. So, we don’t need to infiltrate. And we have tools to work with.”

In my mind, it seemed like the revolution was already in progress. However, Cherri wasn’t so easily swayed.

“So far, all you have is, be secretive and get some collaborators?” She scoffed, “You might be the least inspiring revolutionary ever.”

Her sarcasm felt a little gratuitous. “Listen, I admit it’s more of an outline than a plan, but … as they say, a thousand-mile journey begins with the first step.”

She rolled her eyes, then stood up and stretched, seemingly bored with our conversation. As I pondered why a UCC would feel the need to stretch in the first place, she said, “Okay, let’s go start your revolution.” She made air quotes around the last word.

Having no personal memories of our time together made it impossible to know for sure, but I wondered if she had always been so condescending.