Post-Human Trilogy

so you should live a nice long time—by my calculations, about 500 million years.”

He took the pearl between his index finger and thumb and examined it for a moment, bringing it close to his face so he could clearly see the blue glow of his new eyes. He knew the nan consciousness could see him—he smiled. Then he turned to the darkest corner of space that he could find and let the pearl float, only inches from his hand. Like a baseball pitcher, he took a moment to calculate the power he would need to fire the pearl at close to light speed. When he was ready, he flicked his wrist like a magician about to pull something from his sleeve, and a small wormhole opened up before him. The pearl vanished into it in a streak of light and vanished. The nan consciousness would be far enough away from the solar system so as not to be caught up in the wake of the Trans-Human program; it would live on in this time and suffer for what would be, essentially, eternity.

“Good riddance.”

18

James looked down at the amazed faces below him inside the ship. He hadn’t been expecting to see his friends with the androids; he could sense that they’d been transformed. His eyes quickly shifted to Thel. Unlike the others, her expression was filled with love and hope. Even through all of his physical changes, his reflective skin, and his brightly glowing azure eyes, she had recognized him. This woman knew him inside and out. As his eyes met hers, even in the alien environment of space, even with all of the disarray surrounding them, he felt as though he was coming home.

This brief flutter of happiness was immediately replaced as he saw Old-timer crumpled to the ground and unmoving next to her.

The skin of the ship was invisible but James had many more senses to draw upon now. He sensed the ship, felt the molecules of the ship skin, and found a path through them. His own molecules moved to allow him to sink through the hull as those onboard looked on in astonishment. He phased through the ship ceiling and floated gently to the floor.

Thel sprung to him and threw her arms around his neck. “You’re alive!” she nearly screamed. “I thought you were dead!”

“Resurrection is my forte.”

“It’s really you,” Rich said, allowing himself a smile. “Wow. What the hell happened to you? Who did this?”

“I did,” James replied.

“You did?” Thel exclaimed, pulling back slightly so she could face him, yet still keeping her hold on him. “How? Why? We thought the nans had deleted you!”

“They tried, but it turns out deletion is impossible from the A.I.’s mainframe. I survived, and so did the A.I.—the real A.I.”

“What?” Thel reacted. “You mean the A.I. still exists?”

“He never turned on us,” James explained, turning to Rich and Djanet as well. “It was always the nans. They impersonated him, destroyed all of us, and lured the androids here as a trap.”

“What about your body? What is…this?” Thel asked as she touched James’s new skin. Its texture was like diamond, yet it was pliable like skin.

“It has no name,” James replied. “I have to help Old-timer,” he said, immediately shifting gears, pulling away from Thel and placing his palm just a few inches from Old-timer’s chest.

“Can you help him?” Thel asked.

“There’s been catastrophic damage. I would need access to the exact molecular pattern of his android body to put him back together. Without it, all I can do is stop the pain and give him a temporary patch-up.”

“Will it be enough to save him?” Djanet asked.

“No,” James replied, “but it doesn’t have to be.”

“What does that mean?” asked Thel.

“You’ll see.”

Just then, Old-timer began to stir, slowly regaining his consciousness. He sighed a long sigh before turning slightly and looking up at James through slitted eyes. “Who are you?”

“It’s me,” James replied with a smile.

Old-timer took a long moment to examine the features of the figure’s shining face and glowing eyes. “James?”

James nodded. “How are you feeling?”

Old-timer tried to get up, performing a maneuver reminiscent of a bodybuilder trying to finish one last sit up—with an exhausted exhale, he failed and fell back against the floor. James gave him his arm and helped him stand back upright. Old-timer kept his right forearm crossed in front of his abdomen and remained hunched over, floating just off the ground in the zero gravity.

James turned and observed the drawn guns of Neirbo and the other androids. “You did this to him?” James asked.

“I…I had no choice,” explained a befuddled Neirbo. “The circumstances were different. We’d run out of time…we were about to be consumed by the nanobots.”

“So why didn’t you detonate the missile yourself?” James queried, already knowing the answer.

“You know about the missile?” Thel reacted in surprised bewilderment. “How?”

“Yes. I know what your plan is.”

“Then…you’re here to help us,” Neirbo said, his voice filled with uncertainty.

“Don’t do it, James!” Old-timer said desperately, struggling against the weakness of his voice.

James turned to his friend and replied, “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“What?” exclaimed Neirbo. “You can’t be serious! The nanobots destroyed your people! You can’t let them claim this solar system for themselves!”

“The nanobots may have killed my people, but your leader let it happen,” James replied.

19

“That’s not true,” Neirbo responded. “We came here to help you! We tried to save as many of you as we could!”

“You tried to assimilate as many of us as you could,” James calmly asserted. “The impending nanobot attack and your leader’s claims that she was unable to transmit a warning to us were convenient excuses.”

“But why would they want to assimilate us?” Djanet asked. “What good would that do for them?”

“We came to defend humanity,” Neirbo stated, staking claim.

“You came to defend your narrow notion of what humanity should be,” James replied.

Neirbo was at a loss. “I don’t know what that is supposed to mean. We’re not the ones with limits.”

Old-timer, however, completely understood. As soon as he heard James’s words, it was as if a light switch had gone on. His eyes lit up with understanding.

“I’ll be damned,” he said. “Luddites.”

“What?” Rich asked.

“Luddites,” Old-timer repeated. “I didn’t realize it until just this moment. I was fooled by their advanced technology. But just because they’re more advanced than we currently are, doesn’t mean that they’re still advancing.”

“Your arguments crossed the border into ridiculous long ago,” Neirbo replied.

Old-timer’s teeth were suddenly gritted with fury. “Think about it,” he said to his companions. “There are trillions and trillions of these people, all willing to do the same thing, to fight the same war. Where is the individuality? They’re even wearing the same damn style of clothes, for God’s sake!”