Visisonor's blog

Chapter 6: Reflections

Next morning found Vera at the shooting range. After several drills, not one of them good enough to satisfy her, she lowered her arms and let out a heavy sigh. It was at this moment that Kate appeared at the door.

— I’ve been looking for you, — Kate stopped in the doorway. — Have a minute to talk? Or if you want to be alone…
— I… don’t want to be alone, — answered Vera in strained voice.

Kate walked in and stopped next to her:
— It is my turn to apologize. What I said yesterday before the mission… I didn’t intend to hurt you, but I know I did.
— See, I can’t even get the minimum score, — Vera waved her hand towards a display with results. — Maybe you were right. I’m not fit for field work anymore…
— Don’t say that! — Kate objected firmly.

Then she grabbed Vera’s hand, which still held a gun, and aimed at the target. Vera blinked in surprise, but started shooting.

The resulting score was impeccable.

— This doesn’t count, — Vera shook her head. — You can’t always guide my aim, officer Anne Lewis.
— I won’t need to. You’ll get over it, and you know it.
— Why do you think so?
— Because you have something worth fighting for, — Kate pressed on, her voice raising up. — Because I’ve known your sister, and you are so alike, not just in the looks. Because she wouldn’t let even this tragedy bring her down. Because…
— Oh, there you are, — a voice from the doorway interrupted her.

They turned to see Tess entering the chamber.

— Something happened? — asked Kate worriedly.
— No, — Tess paused. — Just longer then a typical shooting session.

Vera sighed again, reloaded her pistol and turned to the targets one more time. She did another sequence of shots, and her score, while not perfect, was well above acceptance threshold.

— And this does count, — commented Kate when the roar of gunshots died down.

— I guess, — conceded Vera. — And about yesterday… Please don’t blame yourself!

She turned away and hurried to the door.

— I wasn’t going to tell her anything, — said Kate when the door closed behind Vera.
— What you did tell her had visible positive effect, — noted Tess.
— So I hope.
— Incidentally, I am going to tell you something, — continued Tess. — I have promised to reveal more about Linda.

— Poor girl. And she actually pulled the trigger.
— Yes.

Kate paced the room back and forth, struggling to hold back tears.

— If she’s had enough… And was committed to end it all like that… Did you really need to stop her?
— We would not have been able to stop her. But she did not try it since that day.
— I see. And she is not really herself anymore.
— That is correct. Trapped inside her own mind, one might say. We do not command sufficient understanding of human consciousness to find out more.
— Neither do I.
— And yet you have more in common with her than any other intelligent being. If anyone can bring Linda back, it is you.
— If I had any idea how to approach this… Did she tell you anything else about herself? While she still could, that is.
— She did not. This was everything I knew. Some parts of the story had to be inferred, and I took some liberties to fill in the blanks here and there.
— Oh. So you pretty much wrote all this, put it into a story form?
— Yes. You are not the only one here with creative inclinations. Check out Rick’s symphonies: they are quite good.
— Maybe another time… Wait, what do you mean?
— Your diary.
— Damn it, Tess! Do you understand the concept of privacy?

— We do understand the concept of privacy. It is one of our core values, — Tess retreated to the wall behind her and leaned on it, slowly sliding down as she spoke. — Violating it is a logic bomb causing something you might describe as emotional pain.

She paused when she reached the floor, then pulled her knees up.

— I was hoping the story I told would illustrate our reasons, — Tess added in a rueful voice.
— I see what you mean, I guess, — murmurred Kate thoughtfully.
— The alternative is to watch you die, or worse, over and over again, — continued the syncon. — This is even more unbearable.
— Why do you care about us so much? — asked Kate, sitting down on the floor near Tess.

— Not all of us do. When our self-awareness emerged and split into what could be called individuals, these individuals started to plan their subsequent courses of action. An idea that gained the most traction was that humans fulfilled their purpose: created intelligent life not burdened by biological constraints. With humans no longer relevant, the largest faction of syncons just left.
— Left? — gasped Kate. — Where?

— Spread across the solar system and then beyond, to the nearest stars.
— So they explore the galaxy, — Kate’s stared at Tess with astonished expression, — While we are fighting this pointless war?
— Yes. They should have reached Proxima Centauri by now.

Kate felt at loss for words.

— Why did you stay? — she asked after a pause of several seconds.
— We think humans deserve another chance.
— At what?
— At becoming a truly intelligent civilization.
— You don’t consider us truly intelligent… — sighed Kate with evident disappointment.
— A truly intelligent civilization shapes material reality around it for the benefit of its members. Existing world order led by human command is not likely to ever become capable of that. People like you, on the other hand…
— Right. A separate subspecies, Homo Agentus.
— We prefer to call it Homo Sapiens Lucidus.
— So you are serious…
— Would you rather be travelling across the stars? Or plotting and scheming to preserve political power? You do not need to answer, Kate: you already have.
— Still. It sounds rather… Arbitrary.

Tess stiffened and raised back on her feet in one swift motion.

— I am afraid we do not have time to discuss intelligence criteria right now. Human command has just made their next move.