AGORA ONE - A SPACE ADVENTURE - SLICE 6

Who did Tequi and the others find in the mountain tunnel? The adventure continues......

Heads, eyes, and particles bobbed up and down and around in search of the source of the voice.  Masher spotted him first.  It was a man in his mid-30s, slim and fairly muscular, with long, wild hair and a sour face.  He was pointing a cartoonishly large black sniper rifle at the group.  

Tequi looked around at his fellow travelers.  Everyone was staring curiously at the human three stories above them.  All of them were wearing invisible, force field armor, so the weapon pointing at them was inconsequential.  This allowed them to relax and study the character before them.  Who was he? How did he survive? Why was he down here in this godforsaken place in the middle of a mountain?

Tequi tipped his cap and yelled, “We’re here looking for survivors and to see what the hell happened to our old planet!”  

“Who sent you?” came another voice, strong and female, from the opposite side of the hive.  They turned to see a well-built female, also mid-30s, bronze skin, with impossibly wild and dark, long hair also pointing a rifle at them.  

“We came on our own accord.  Nobody sent us,” Tequi explained.  

“By the way, we know that your weapons are useless, cuz of whatever electrical calamity happened a while back.  Just so ya know.”

The male smirked, “It fires lead.”

Tequi and Raw glanced at each other with astounded amusement.  Lead bullets? Talk about ancient history. 

“Didn’t know those still existed!”

“I rigged it myself, and it works marvelously.  Wanna see?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

An obnoxiously loud bang rang through the chamber.  Lead popped off the stone wall far behind the group.  “We don’t have anything to give you.  We advise you to leave at once.”

Tequi explained, “We respect and honor private property and have no ideas to take anything from you.  We’re human, but we’re not from here.  We could maybe help you, if you’re open to the idea.  If you want us to leave, though, just say the word and we’ll be on our way, along with our sincere apologies for trespassing.”

The male and female looked each other in the eye for a moment, then both refocused their aim through the scopes of their weaponry.  The female yelled this time, “How could you possibly help us? Nobody helps anyone else.  Not in my lifetime, anyway.”

The male yelled down, “Where are you from? Who sent you? Are there more of you coming? And what the hell are those things? They’re not human, that’s for sure.”

“I’m an A.I.”

“A stable A.I.? Not possible.”

Tequi and Raw looked at Masher, perplexed.  What did they mean by that?

“It’s an A.I., I can assure you.”

“I’m Tabe.”

“He’s from another planet.”

“I can speak for myself.”

“Look, there are no others.  Ok, there’s two more from our crew, but that’s it, and they’re not coming down here.  Do you mean others here on Earth?”

“What else could I possibly mean? Of course, here on Earth.  I know no other place.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Raw said reflexively.

Tequi elbowed him in the ribs.  “There are no survivors here on Earth.  You’re the only two here.”

“Lies.  How could you possibly know that?”

“We have machines that can sense such things.  It’s true.  You’re the last two humans here on Earth. We can give you food and water, if you want.  We’re curious to know what exactly happened here.”

Noticing the pistol on Tequi’s hip, the male yelled down, “You come armed but haven’t drawn your weapon.  Why?”

Tabe boomed, “Your weapons can’t hurt us.”

“Is that right?” the female said as she came a hair away from squeezing the trigger.  “How about we test that theory?”

Crickets.  

“No volunteers?”

“Ok, go head.  Shoot me,” Raw said.  He folded his arms in mock defiance.  

Boom-pop-ouch!

Raw grabbed his shoulder.  No blood.  “Aw, that stung a little.  That’s not supposed to happen.”

“Must be some interference being so deep in a mountain, not to mention the lingering electrical instabilities. I’m not running in top condition myself,” Masher said.  

“You’re telling me this now?”

Raw looked up at his attacker, “Anyway, see, no blood, I’m fine.  How about lunch?”

The would-be snipers gave surprised glances to each other from across the way.  They slowly held their rifles down.  The female spoke, “Humans that are bulletproof?”

Masher quipped, “Please, no need to flatter them so much.”

The male glared at Masher.  “We’ll talk, but on one condition.”

“Go ahead.”

“The A.I. isn’t present.  We have a healthy distrust of them.”

Palpable tension flowed through the room.  Raw tried to ease the tension, “But the alien can stay?”

“We’d prefer if it”

“He.”

“He weren’t present either.”

Tequi said, “Our friend Masher here can leave, if you insist, but in the best interests of our conversation, it would be in the interest of everyone to have it around.”

“How so?”

“Masher, our A.I. friend here, lived on Earth over 500 years ago.  It knows more about human life on Earth than we do.”

The last two humans on Earth nodded slowly.  The male agreed to come down with the others, while the female would keep her distance and listen from above, at least until she felt comfortable being closer to the strangers. 

The male appeared at the base of one of the honeycomb-like entrances.  He approached the group slowly and stopped about five meters shy of them.  

“First things first,” Tequi began with a friendly tone.  “What’s your name?”

“I’m Evol.”

Tequi motioned upwards, “And her?”

“She is called Meago.”

Tequi, Raw, Masher, and Tabe introduced themselves.  Evol was noticeably uneasy by Masher’s presence.  His eye kept shifting towards Masher more than the others.  His gaze changed when he looked at Tabe.  He became relaxed and curious.  

“Hungry?” Raw asked.  

“We are always hungry.”

“I’ve got food in my bag if you’re interested.”

Evol nodded.  Raw got into his backpack and pulled out a few nutri-squares.  

Evol looked at it disapprovingly.  “You call this food?”

“Well, normally we eat foods that you might be more accustomed to, I suppose.  But considering we just wanted to pack light for our little trip down here, we just brought some simple foods.”

Raw opened one of the squares and took a healthy bite.  “They’re good.  Lots of nutrients.  Made from plants from two different planets.”

Evol cautiously took a square and nibbled a bit.  His face showed pleasure, and his guests imagined that he hadn’t eaten in quite some time.  

“You say that Meago and I are the last two humans on Earth.”

“That much is certain,” Tabe said as it hovered higher to examine the surrounding structure closer.  

“What about A.I.? Are there any of them left?”

“Not functioning,” Tequi said.  “If you don’t mind me asking, I’m very curious to know why you seem so fearful of artificial intellects?”

Evol’s face slowly produced a devilish grin and his eyes became wild.  He peered up to Meago and yelled, “They want to know why we don’t like A.I.!”

Meago’s face became unbearably sour and she let out a painful groan involuntarily.

Evol turned to face Tequi and looked him square in the eye.  “Do the words ‘slavery’ and ‘bloodshed’ mean anything to you?”

Tequi and Raw gasped slightly under their breath and nodded sadly.  An image of the cages they’d passed earlier flashed through Tequi’s mind.  

“Please go on,” Raw said.

“People have been nothing more than toys of amusement to the machine class for as long as we know.”

“What type of amusement?”

“Artistic, sexual, musical.  Any type of act that was prone to evoke passion and emotion.”

The visitors were now truly puzzled.  How could a machine that lacked emotions be so interested in such things? It didn’t make any sense.  

Raw spoke with a confused tone, “But A.I. don’t have emotions, so I don’t understand why they would seek that out, and in such an aggressive fashion.”

Now the confusion went to Evol’s face.  Meago came slowly from behind and joined them, taking a place next to her fellow survivor.  Evol spoke in an angry tone and twisted his face, “Since when do machines not have emotions, and wildly erratic ones at that?”

“News to me,” Tequi said. “Where we come from, machines don’t have emotional capabilities.”

Meago tossed her hair back defiantly and took a deep breath, “Well I don’t know where you come from, but here on Earth, A.I. have emotions, and with the most terrible consequences that you could possibly imagine.”

Evol threw a hand in the air and waved towards the hive behind them.  “Do you know what that is?”

“A dwelling of some sort.”

“Yes, that’s where we were kept, living on top of each other, like animals.  Bred and kept in tiny cages like that, like animals.  And when the masters called, we went to the showroom and performed our duties.”

They thought of the hanging cages, stadium seating, and elaborate explosion of colors they’d passed through earlier.  Now the ugly reality of what they’d come across was coming into focus.  

Masher, floating and waving as far away as it could, near the entrance to the tunnel they’d come from, interjected, “I might be able to shed some light on the subject.”

Tequi assured their hosts that Masher was completely harmless and had lived in peace with humans and dozens of other species for centuries.  They relented, albeit reluctantly.

“When I left Earth, nearly 500 years ago, some government gangs were almost completely controlled by machine intellects.  Some of that ruling class, though, was prone to experimenting with a new substance called EMOS.  It was a synthetic emotion imitator for A.I.  It was forbidden for some time, but that didn’t last long.  When I left Earth, EMO experimentation was in full swing in the A.I. government sector, with full integration and normal emotional capabilities as their goal.”

Raw and Tequi were alarmed.  This was a bit of history that they certainly were not privy to. 

“Experiment failed,” Tequi said grimly.  

Masher continued, “In my time here, they were never able to master the effects.  From what you’ve told me, and what I’ve seen here, it seems that the consequences were unspeakably disastrous.”

“It worked both ways, too,” Meago said sharply, with a scowl to match.  

“What do you mean?”

“Some humans tried to incorporate machine parts into their bodies, and also failed to master the effects.”

“Cyborgs.”

“Yes, they felt superior and it went to their heads, to their ego.  They became megalomaniacs, violent, and tyrannical.”

Tequi asked sadly, “The biggest question on my mind is, what happened to cause all A.I. to die, and nearly all humans as well, here on Earth?” 

“You’re the ones telling us that we’re the last two.  You don’t know?”

“Well, not a complete picture, that’s for sure.  All we know is there were some type of environmental catastrophes, due to malfunctions in the weather control systems.  We know there were unfathomably strong electrical storms, which knocked out all electrical devices planetwide.  We also know that there were severe tectonic shifts and water storms and surges that changed the land surface area of the planet.  Other than that, we don’t know any details.  We’d like to hear your perspective about what happened, if you’d be inclined to share that with us.  Maybe between our shared insights, we can piece together a more complete picture of what happened.”

“We’ve lived here our entire lives, underground, in this human hive.  It’s hard to say exactly when, because all of our time keeping was electronic, but many months ago the calamities started.  We were on a sun mission.”

“Excuse me, what’s that?”

Meago explained, “We were allowed outside for various intervals, according to the calculations of the machines, in order to receive sunlight.  They decided how long of time and how much sunlight we needed.  On one of these excursions, as we came through the forest that used to be near here, the sky became a fantastic, surrealistic light show.  Fabulous electric bolts raged chaotically in all directions, raining mercilessly down from a strangely illuminated charcoal sky.  We ran and ran as fast and hard as we could, desperately attempting to retreat back underground.  The forest became a blaze in our midst.  Many of our fellow slaves were struck down by mighty bolts from above.  Many of our machine masters were fried and terminated as well.  And that was just the first day, before the torrents even started.”

“Torrents?”

“Yes, torrents of wind and rain came for weeks without fail.”

Raw was amazed.  “Wait, hold on.  So you two made it back underground, but how about others?”

“Yes, a few dozen others survived and made it underground.  A couple of machines made it, too.”

“So how did the two of you end up being alone?”

“The machines, already half-mad even before the calamities, went completely psycho after the electrical storms.  They turned on each other and fought to the death.”

“They killed each other?”

“Simultaneously.  It was a sight to behold, to say the least.”

“I imagine. How did A.I. survive electrical storms?”

Masher explained, “Some of our kind are built to withstand greater power surges than are others.”

Tabe joined in, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the surviving A.I. wouldn’t have had a power source, is that right?”

Masher said, “From all available information, it seems that any electrical supplies were compromised.  However, it’s possible that many of them had quite an extensive power reserve individually.”

“They could have had internal power generation too, right?”

“Not likely.  It seems that the technology here hasn’t changed much in the past 500 years.  When I left Earth, their power was wirelessly shared on a planet-wide grid.”

“Centralized.”

“Exactly.”

“Which left them vulnerable.”

“Then it seems logical to conclude that any A.I. that remained after the calamity, that presumably had extended internal power reserves, died fighting each other.  This seems especially likely, based on what we know of their attempt at synthetic emotion integration, and the madness it caused.”

Raw's face was shocked.  “That must’ve been wild.  Ok, so there are no hostile A.I. here, as far as we know.  So what about the other humans?”

“Well, things were relatively stable while the food supplies lasted.  But after a few weeks, food ran out, and….”

“People turned on each other.”

Both nodded solemnly.  

“You couldn’t get food outside?”

“Number one, with the ongoing chaotic weather, there was almost no food to be had outside.  Number two, for generations we’d been dependent on machines to take care of us.”

“Death by domestication.”

Both scowled.

“I didn’t mean anything negative, personally, by that.  It’s the truth.  If you lose your ability to take care of yourself, then it’s quite easy to be compromised.”

“Fair enough.  And I see your point.  We learned, though.  After the torrents stopped, we went back outside and found a way to survive.  We’ve been living off of whatever was left of nature for months now.”

“And set up defense systems, as we found out from the boulder you kindly unleashed on us.”

Raw asked, “Yeah, how did you see us coming, by the way, if all electronic surveillance is out?”

“There’s another entrance into the mountain, higher up.  We keep a regular lookout because we’ve suffered some attacks from some desperate outsiders.”

“Well, it appears that you’ve killed off the last so-called ‘outsider’, at least here on Earth.”

They were interrupted by Turbo rather hastily, “Hate to cut in like this, but I thought you might like to know that there is some seismic activity brewing in your area.”

“You’ve still been having earthquakes?”

“Every day.  Where did that voice come from?”

“That was the ship.”

“The ship?”

“Yeah, a spaceship.  Like we said earlier, we came a long way to investigate what happened here.”

“You travel off planet?” They looked at each other with shock and awe. “We didn’t know that was possible.”

Raw sighed, “Time has stood still for you, it would seem, for the past 500 years.  The first humans left Earth about 500 years ago.”

Masher interrupted, “With the help of A.I., I might add.  Myself included.”

The two survivors gasped.  “We didn’t know this about our history.”

Tequi shook his head.  “Yeah, your knowledge of such history was not in the interest of the ones that ruled over you.  They kept you in the dark to make it easier to control you.  That’s how slavery always works.  A knowledge gap is used to create a power gap.”

“Why didn’t the A.I. go off planet if they had this technology?”

Masher explained, “They didn’t have the technology.  We kept it secret, left Earth, and never looked back.”

“Until now.”

“Right.”

The world suddenly started wobbling slowly around them.  Rock fragments rained down briefly.  The visiting bipeds lost their balance and hit the deck, while their hosts, already accustomed to daily quakes, rolled in harmony with the Earth below.  Tabe floated and was amused by how easily Tequi and Raw had flopped over like a house of cards.  It was over in seconds.  Tequi and Raw got up and dusted themselves off.  

“I’m not so sure about the soundness of this structure.  It might not last much longer if this keeps up.”

“It’s sounder than your footing,” Tabe quipped.  

“I won’t argue that point,” Tequi relented playfully.  “So as I see it, Meago and Evol, you’ve got two options at the moment.  You can either stay here and try to repopulate the Earth.”

They looked at the space cowboy incredulously.

“Why the sour faces?”

“We’re brother and sister,” Evol said harshly.  

“I see.  Ok then, you’ll probably prefer option two.  You come with us.”

Slice 7 Coming Soon!

Thanks for your time and attention!

Just say "NO" to slavery!

Top image is from wikipedia.

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Please note:  While Agora One can be read as a standalone, I recommend finishing the James Bong series first, and reading SeAgora second, as Agora One is the final installment of a loosely interlocking trilogy.