Divergence

“Miss Rose is part of that confrontation, Kevin. She was put on board the Eva Rye to help me. If you want me to do your dirty work, save Miss Rose!”

Kevin spoke in patient tones. “You weren’t listening, Judy. I can’t save her. I don’t control those creatures. Look around you, what do you see?”

Judy didn’t look. She was too busy watching Miss Rose, watching the old woman’s stomach swelling in a wriggling mass of silver legs, her arms straightening and lengthening as something inside her body uncurled itself. She was trying to ignore the meta-intelligence which was whispering the beauty of the form in there. If those VNMs were interacting with a tree, you would appreciate the venumb that was formed. Why is this any different?

“I see a woman dying,” snapped Judy.

Kevin was dismissive. “An old woman. Close to death. Those VNMs are doing her a favor in entering her. She is becoming a venumb.”

“Why? Kevin, look at me. I work for DIANA, too. I am on an important mission. I need this woman to help me reach Earth. I order you to release her.”

“You’re not listening to me, Judy,” he repeated.

Judy wished she could see Saskia’s face. What was she thinking? Saskia reached out a hand and placed it on Miss Rose’s neck, then pulled it away. Then she placed both hands there.

“Are you going to kill her, Saskia?” Kevin asked. “You’re welcome to try. In this space we believe in the survival of the fittest. You’re welcome to try to kill her, but I wonder if you can? Look around you!”

Saskia snatched her hands away.

“I don’t see anything,” she whispered. “Only empty space.”

“Exactly!” Kevin’s voice had become a deep rumble: a pleasant voice suffused with the confidence of knowing he would be listened to. A voice written to command. Judy felt a knot of hate in her stomach just to hear it. Calm yourself , she thought. Center yourself.

“Think about it, Judy,” said Kevin, “a Warp Ship fleeing Earth and the rising tyranny of the Watcher, as it subsumed first humans and then AIs to its will. I hid here in the space between the stars and began to plan. But where was I to find the material to build my empire?”

“Go on, Kevin,” said Judy, still watching Miss Rose. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“The Bailero was overdesigned—deliberately overdesigned—for this purpose. Lots of excess material, lots of building material. I built VNMs from my engines, and I set them loose inside my body to evolve. Many different VNMs, all fighting for scarce resources: survival of the fittest. This is how I planned to compete with the Watcher. By evolving new life of my own.”

“I can’t kill her,” Saskia sobbed, pulling her hands away from Miss Rose’s neck again. “I can’t do it!”

Miss Rose was keening softly.

“Kill or be killed,” said Kevin. “Your ship has been destroyed, converted to VNMs by one of my most successful species. That flower trick has taken in others before you. There will be many more such space flowers now, made from the materials of the Eva Rye . Some of them are already floating into human space. I wonder what they will meet there?”

“You do it,” Saskia moaned. “You kill her, Judy.”

“They’re not the only form of VNM that has thrived out here,” Kevin continued. “There are dark machines that have followed you on board. Stealth machines. They surround you now, and I don’t think you are aware of them.”

“I can’t see anything,” said Judy, but nevertheless something tickled at the edge of her meta-intelligence. Was there something out there? Lean and sharp and deadly, a single intent so focused it did not quite qualify as an intelligence?

“Of course you can’t see anything,” Kevin said. “That’s the point. Interesting, isn’t it? There are machines out there that appeal to curiosity, and those that hide and pounce. Some even set off exploring space on their own. Ships like the Free Enterprise .”

“What do you want with us?” Judy snapped.

“Nothing,” Kevin said. “I told you, I improve the breed. You live or die in here according to your own actions. Those who survive improve the breed.”