The atomic Judy’s reply was gentle. “Come on. How do you feel about committing suicide, Helen?”
“Me? Why should I commit suicide? Oh!”
“Precisely. It doesn’t matter how many copies of Helen are running, there is only one
Judy 3 placed a white hand on Helen’s tanned arm, and the young woman tensed. Judy gave her a gentle smile and spoke in calming tones. “Helen, before we do anything else, you need to undergo acclimatization and counseling. You’ve undergone a very stressful experience that has left you harboring unhealthy thoughts towards your tormentor. You’ve got to be readjusted. Added to that, you are now living seventy years out of time.”
“I want to go home.”
“Which home, Helen?” the atomic Judy asked. “The one seventy years ago in the atomic world? There are virtual copies of that time running in processing spaces that you could join, but, well, you’re a young woman. Barely twenty-three. Wouldn’t you prefer to make a go of living in the twenty-third century?”
The atomic Judy was impressed by how quickly Helen pulled herself together.
“You’re right. I would prefer the twenty-third century. I’m not thinking clearly.” She pressed her hands on the window and leaned forward to look out again, her breath making misty patterns on the crystal. “I want to know about the Shawl. How is it grown? I want to know what it’s like on Earth here in the future. Is it true I can travel through space now?”
The Judy standing by her smiled. “Oh, yes. The EA laid it down as a basic human right. Free travel is available to all. There are no restrictions, not even economic restrictions.”
“Then I shall travel. And so I can go where I want, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“And no one can hinder me? Did I understand that part?”
“You did.”
Helen smiled. “In that case I’m coming with you, Judy, wherever you go. I want to find out about where I am.”
“Fine,” Judy 3 said. “You can accompany me wherever I go.” She smiled triumphantly at her atomic sister.
Judy’s sudden agreement left Helen feeling a little deflated. The ease of acceptance devalued her request. She found herself looking at Frances, her eyes drawn to her pubic buttons. The robot had no obvious way of signaling emotions; Helen was nevertheless developing a sneaking suspicion that Frances was enjoying the attention. In order not to stare, Helen wandered back across to the window and looked out again.
“This looks like a good place to live,” she murmured.
“It is,” said Judy 3. “But more of that later. Come on, it’s been a long night for me. Your virtual prison was operating on a different time to this world, and I need some sleep.”
Helen looked from one Judy to the other. She could sense the tension between the two of them.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere. This is my home, too. We just close the link to the atomic world. You can sleep in the lounge for tonight. We’ll sort you out with an apartment tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Helen paused for a moment. She looked towards the atomic Judy.
“Will I see you again?” she asked.
“Maybe…”
“I don’t care what you said. I still think you occupy the real world. I envy you.”
The atomic Judy said nothing, merely spread her hands wide.
The red-bordered viewing field shrank to a point and vanished.
The atomic Judy stared at the empty space it left behind for a moment, then turned as a second red-bordered viewing area appeared in the doorway and the other digital Judy walked through.
“Hi there, Eleven.”
Judy 11 looked grave. “I was listening to what you were just telling Helen. I never realized before how much we take for granted what we are told by the EA.”
“What do you mean?”
“All that talk about the Transition. About the Watcher and the way it studied Eva Rye. No matter what we believe in, we always believe that humans are going to be looked after. What if that wasn’t true? What if someone was lying to us?”
“To you and me?”
“To the entire human race.”
They spoke in sign language. The atomic Judy had set the window to opaque. Frances stood before the window, scanning for any attempts at trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Judy 11’s black kimono had its sleeves cut long, a lot longer than those of the atomic Judy. She had pushed them back so that the other could see her hands clearly.
– Do we really believe in the Watcher, AJ?
– Well, yes. I suppose so.
– What, really? Do you really believe that modern society was shaped by a conversation that an AI had with a woman named Eva Rye back in 2051? Or is that just a superstition, like knocking on wood? We think that we really know better, but we do it anyway. Really deep down, do we believe or not?
– I don’t know…
The atomic Judy turned a hand palm up.
– Well, I believe, said Judy 11,-I really believe. There really is one AI more powerful than all the others. It has successfully concealed its true strength for the past two hundred years.
Speaking to herself was sometimes just like thinking aloud, so the atomic Judy answered the unasked question.
– Because the true power behind the throne always conceals itself? It hides the fact that there is another plan?
– From what I’ve heard, the potted history you and Judy 3 were recounting to Helen just then was bunk. An invention of the Watcher to draw attention away from itself.
The atomic Judy frowned and sat down on the low bed, Judy 11 apparently sitting beside her. A red line now ran across the white quilt, separating them.
– What makes you think all this?
– I haven’t got time to explain it all. I met a man in that simulation where Judy 3 found Helen. He was hiding out on one of the lower levels-in the torture area. He has been hiding out in simulations and obscure processes for most of the past seventeen years, hoping to meet someone like me. Like us.
– What did he want you for?
– To empathize with one murder and to stop another one.
The atomic Judy gave a half nod. Empathizing with a murder, that was a job for Social Care, but…
– Stopping a murder? Isn’t that more a job for the EA?
– The EA is an accessory to the crime.
Judy 11 bit her lip.-The Watcher is behind these murders.
The atomic Judy paused, genuinely shaken. Even if she hadn’t ever quite believed in the Watcher, she had believed in its effects. It was an accepted force, like gravity. You didn’t quite know what caused it, but you could observe its effect everywhere. The Watcher was supposed to be a force for good, the mysterious teacher leading humanity on the path to enlightenment.
– Are you sure? How do you know what this man was saying was the truth?
– I know he
“
