Haven (The Last Humans Book 3) (16 page)

Instantly, I see the world as a spaceship, except, unlike last time, we’re not flying.

But that’s probably not the urgent matter Phoe wanted me to see.

No, I bet it’s the tendril connecting Phoe’s hull to the nearest layer of the megastructure we’ve been calling Matrioshka.

The tendril looks like it’s made of that same material that permeates the rest of the Solar System, only it’s very thin, like a ray of light.

Suddenly, I’m no longer looking through the ship’s sensors. Instead, I find a single version of myself on the beach—our favorite conversation spot.

The light of the moon casts a romantic glow over the scene, but romance is the furthest thing from my mind when I see Phoe’s beautiful face in the moonlight. She looks genuinely scared. I wasn’t sure she could even get this scared.

Her fear makes my heart skip a beat, and I don’t even bother reflecting on the realness of my heart.

“I feel something, or someone, entering my computing resources,” Phoe says in awed whisper. “Our world is getting rearranged in the most delicate manner. I—”

She stops speaking because a figure suddenly appears in front of us.

It’s a man. He’s around my age, but I’ve never seen him before in either Oasis or Haven.

Still, something about him looks vaguely familiar.

“Hello, Theo. Hello, Phoe,” the man says. I’ve never heard his voice before, but it’s also somehow familiar. “It’s an honor to finally meet you. My name is Fio.”

I
look
the stranger up and down.

“Who are you?” I ask at the same time as Phoe asks, “What are you?”

“I have to apologize for the way I entered your domain.” Fio spreads his sinewy arms to encompass the beach and the ocean. “You have no way of receiving communications, so we had to resort to this brute-force approach. If you wish it, I will leave.”

“No,” Phoe says, crossing her arms. “You know full well you have our undivided attention. You can’t leave without explaining who you are and what you want.”

Fio smiles a faintly familiar smile. “I admit I do know that. If I’m completely honest, I can predict what the two of you may do or say with a very high degree of accuracy. I also know that by saying this, I will make you more paranoid, but at the same time, you’ll appreciate my honesty.”

Phoe is keeping her reaction hidden, unlike me. I can’t keep my confusion off my face.

“Is it safe for us to speak mentally?” I think at her.

“I can hear your mental communications as easily as your spoken ones,” Fio says regretfully. “I want to be honest so I can gain your trust. In any case, hiding your conversation isn’t helpful since, as I said, I know what you’ll likely say.”

Phoe narrows her eyes. “It’s not you specifically, right? It’s someone out there, in the Matrioshka world, who knows what we’ll likely say or do. Correct?” Phoe asks this with the confidence of someone who knows the answer.

“You figured it out already,” Fio says and rubs his familiar-looking chin. “Two seconds sooner than they thought.”

“That’s
free will for you, at its finest.” Phoe smirks. “Two seconds. Great.”

“Figured what out?” I give each of them an annoyed look.

“How he knows what we might say and why he looks so familiar,” Phoe says. “Don’t you see it yet?” She points at her chin. “They emulated us.”

“They what?” I look at Fio’s features again, hoping to find the answer in his familiarity.

“It’s pretty simple.” Fio steeples his fingers in front of his face. “In order to figure out how to best communicate with this ship, the citizens of what Phoe called the Matrioshka world scanned this ship from afar and created a simulation of it to study. A very accurate simulation that tried to encompass the ship’s physical makeup. They soon learned that there was an ancient computing substrate running on the simulated ship’s hardware, and that they inadvertently recreated the things running on that substrate. The sentience they discovered was immediately granted status as citizens and provided a choice similar to what I will give you.”

“I still don’t get it,” I say.

“Theo is not in control of as many resources as I am,” Phoe says to Fio. “So he sometimes needs things spoon-fed to him.”

“I know.” Fio gives me a friendly smile. “I also know how magnificent Theo’s mind could be once he really starts expanding its capacities.”

“I bet,” Phoe says. “I’ve seen a glimmer of it already.”

“Very funny, talking about me like I’m not even here.” I’m more irritated with Phoe, who should be on my side, than with Fio. “Can you explain what the hell you both know that I can’t figure out?”

“It’s just logic,” Phoe says, looking at Fio. “If they created an accurate simulation of this ship, that means they recreated a version of me and you in the process. Accurate recreations of us, so to speak.”

“Copies of us? You mean to tell me there’s another me out there, not a thread, but someone whose thoughts I can’t access?” The idea is as strange as it is exciting. “This person remembers everything I’ve done and is helping Fio figure out what I might say?”

Fio lowers his arms to his sides. “Strictly speaking, they are not copies but recreations. Also, by now, there’s many more than just the two, since they chose to copy themselves—in the strictest sense of that word—when given the chance, but overall, you are correct. Your doppelganger and Phoe’s are advising me on this mission and helping me figure out the best way to communicate with you and what to expect. They told me you’d forgive this intrusion and warned me to stay honest.”

“Theo still doesn’t get it,” Phoe says, putting her hand on her forehead in frustration. “He doesn’t understand who you are to us.” She turns to me. “Can’t you see the resemblance, Theo? Look at him a little closer.”

I look at Fio and then at Phoe. Then I summon a mirror and look into it.

My pulse jacks up. Fio looks a little bit like Phoe and a little bit like me.

He also sounds a lot like me, but his facial features remind me of her, particularly his chin.

“No,” I say. “You can’t be. It’s too weird.”

“I’m afraid you guessed right.” Fio winks at me in Phoe’s signature way. “I’m the son of your approximations.”

I look at Phoe, and she nods. “They might’ve taken that virtual snapshot of the ship while we were discussing procreating.”

“Yes, but a full-grown, walking and talking son?” I say, fighting the urge to walk up to Fio and pinch him to check his realness. “Does it mean you’re
our
son too? How does that work?”

“If your question is about my emotions, I’m very fond of the two of you, but then again, everyone in our society is. If you’re asking me how you should feel about me, that’s not my place to say. My parents are my parents, and you remind me of the way they used to be—long ago. You’re not the same people they are now. Much time has passed in our world. I’m very happy to have been born, as that led to them choosing me for this very important mission. I hope seeing me as the ambassador made you feel more comfortable.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable with this,” I say.

Phoe puts her hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry about that,” Fio says. “At the very least, I hope that meeting me has given you a small glimpse into our world and its capabilities, the timelines and all that. If my familiar face doesn’t make you comfortable, let me know what might do the trick and I’ll see what I can do. I, of course, am very honored to be the one to make first contact. You two are living legends. A human mind and one of the first artificial minds—that, in itself, makes the two of you a kind of miracle of history and archeology. But you’re in a relationship as well—a romance against all odds and one that crosses mind modalities. Everyone has been talking about you. Stories have been written about you, and songs have been sung.”

“They run much faster than us,” Phoe explains before I get the chance to ask how they can be worshipping us if they just received Phoe’s attempts at communication.

“It’s true,” Fio says, looking at me. “We run much, much faster. But if you’d like, I can give you our computorium to run on so you can enjoy the same fast speed as us and—”

“Yes,” Phoe says. “Please. I’m sorry to interrupt, but yes. We want to run as fast as the denizens of your world.”

Fio grins and waves his hands in an intricate gesture.

I can’t put my finger on it, but something changes. It’s almost as if the air is fresher, the sound of the ocean surf is richer, and the moonlight is more magnificent.

“I can run this world with a lot more fidelity now,” Phoe says, explaining the changes to me.

“Down to atoms, I notice,” Fio says. “That’s not the ultimate limit, by the way. Our own versions of virtual worlds like this have even more fidelity, but that’s something we can discuss at a later time.”

Phoe’s eyes widen, and even I know what he means. He’s implying it’s possible to simulate reality on a level below atoms—on the quantum level, or below, if that’s possible.

“We’ll enjoy talking about these things for millennia,” Fio says. “But Phoe is about to ask—”

“What is the purpose of your visit?” Phoe says and squeezes my shoulder. “I think I know, but I want to hear you say it.”

“And I want to learn it for the first time,” I say. “Though I can probably guess.”

“It’s very simple.” Fio spreads his arms. “I’m here to give you options. Options when it comes to joining us on the Matrioshka world, as you call it, and options that include
not
joining us, if that is what you wish.”

“Why don’t you enumerate the possibilities,” Phoe suggests. She lets go of my shoulder and sits down cross-legged on the sand. “What do you have to offer?”

“You can join our world proper.” Fio points up. “I think that choice is the most interesting one, but it will also require the biggest adjustment for you. The way I am now is highly customized so that I can communicate with you, but my real self, and my parents, live and think in a way that is very different from your current existence. You’d still be you, of course, but with time, in our world, you’d find yourselves capable of feats that this language I’m using can’t describe. It’s like the difference between a baby and a grownup.”

While I process that, Fio sits down, mirroring Phoe’s cross-legged posture. “Other options involve lesser worlds,” he continues, “but they’re not any less interesting. We have game-like virtual worlds, where physics and mathematics work differently. We also have ancestor simulations. Those are whole virtual universes populated by minds that include beings that preceded Matrioshka citizens, AIs as you’ve always imagined them, early human-AI hybrids, and all the way down to a universe with mere human-level minds—a place I suspect many former Haven denizens will choose to live in when we get around to offering them the same choices. I know that you, Theo, won’t want to join this particular set of universes, because Phoe won’t be allowed to join you.”

The implications of these choices overwhelm my mind. He’s saying there are many realities we can live in, each one sounding more wondrous than the next. He’s also saying everyone who’s currently in Limbo will get a choice, which is good.

I notice that Phoe and Fio are looking at me expectantly, so I say, “You’re right. I go where Phoe goes, so yeah, purely human universes aren’t for me.”

“Unless I choose to downgrade myself to human-level intelligence,” Phoe says. “It’s not impossible, is it?”

“No, it can be done, and some of us have even tried it. But let’s not dwell on this one example. That human-level universe is but one of the choices you have. The other possibilities are truly endless. One of your options can be this.” He spreads his arms to indicate the world we created. “We can provide you with all the computational resources required to build a universe of your own, based on the world you began. You can resurrect everyone from Oasis, allow them to run as fast as you do, let them have offspring—”

“Do we have to choose one option?” Phoe asks. “Theo and I are just data. Can’t you make an exact copy of us and give us more than one outcome?”

“We can, if that’s what you want,” Fio says. “We can make exact copies of you. In our world, we do this to ourselves all the time.”

“Well then, can’t you make a bunch of us and allow those copies to populate every universe you have available, as well as let us stay here and build our own world, as well as live in your Matrioshka world, and so on and so forth? In other words, can we choose all of the above?”

I sit down next to them, my mind hurting as I try to imagine that.

Fio smiles widely—a smile that’s so much like Phoe’s. “This is a rare point in our conversation where my mother wasn’t sure if you’d come up with this solution yourself. If not, I was to propose it.”

“So that’s a yes?” Phoe asks and scoots next to me. “We don’t really have to choose?”

“You can have whatever you wish,” Fio says. “This ‘all of the above’ scenario is definitely a great option for a being of your stature. This way, every world will get to meet the two of you, something that would make many entities very happy. Once I was considered to be of legal age, I did what you just described. There are copies of me running in many universes—copies I don’t have any access to. If you ever meet them—oh, what conversations they might have with you…” Fio’s gaze drifts off as he loses himself in that fantasy.

“Okay. Theo and I will have to think about this, obviously,” Phoe says and gently massages the back of my head. “But you already know which way I’m leaning.”

“Yes,” Fio says. “I also know which way Theo is leaning.”

I nod. “It boggles my mind, but I also want to be everywhere and experience everything that your world has to offer.” I put my hand on Phoe’s thigh. “As long as I’m with Phoe, I’m leaning toward the ‘all of the above’ option.”

“Indeed,” Fio whispers and gives us a knowing smile. “According to what my parents told me to expect at this point, I think I should give you two some privacy. On behalf of everyone out there, I want to say, ‘Welcome.’ We’re honored to meet you.”

With that, Fio is gone. Not even his butt print remains on the sand where he was sitting.

I turn to face Phoe and whisper, “Wow.”

She turns to me, her lips almost brushing against mine. “Yeah.”

“Was everything he said true?” I ask, though deep down I’m convinced it was.

“It must be,” Phoe whispers. “That option he mentioned, the one about turning this place into our own universe, he already made it possible. When he disappeared, my resources grew by an unimaginable exponent. We can even build multiple universes with all this computorium. It’s incredible.”

“And you’re sure we should do all the other options?” I pull her closer to me. “Let them copy us and allow those copies to roam in so many different places?”

“Of course,” she whispers. “We’ll be together. It’s an opportunity that I couldn’t even dream of.”

“I know you’ll accuse me of being corny again, but I can face anything if I’m with you.” I look into her bottomless blue eyes and find the courage to finally say what I feel. “I love you, Phoe. Not as a friend, but in a way that the ancients meant it.”

She moves impossibly closer to me, her lips curving in a smile. “You’re right. That
was
super corny, but I’ll let it slide, just this once, because I feel the same way about you. I thought it was obvious, but I guess it needed to be stated explicitly.”

I close the millimeter gap between our lips, and after a long kiss, we fall backward onto the sand. I’m definitely glad our strange new family member gave us the privacy we needed.

When we’re done, we lie there panting, and the wondrous options lying before of us seem more welcoming and exciting than before. As corny as it might be, choosing “all of the above” means there are about to be countless versions of me who can do what I just did with a myriad versions of Phoe in a multitude of unimaginable worlds, and I find the idea extremely appealing. Trying to fathom all the adventures the two of us will have in those worlds makes my head spin, but in a pleasant way. I picture what building our planet into a whole universe would be like, and it’s easy to imagine, because it would be a lot like the way we spent our recent days, only on a much larger scale. Then I try to picture what meeting our Matrioshka doppelgangers and the rest of that enigmatic society would be like—and fail miserably. With a bit more success, I think about the limited worlds Fio mentioned. I can picture a world with Phoe-level intelligences and even a universe where everyone is twice as smart as Phoe, but eventually, going down this road gets me back to Matrioshka-level beings, and my mind feels like it’s about to explode again.