The Gift (38 page)

“Does that help?” Sam asked.

“Not really,” Jim replied.

“Well, consider yourself humored. Now if you all don’t mind, I have some work to do with Jordan. Please do as I asked and spend as much time as possible learning with your gifts. Jordan tells me the remaining physical work of building the ship will be done tomorrow morning before ten. Every minute we spend here after that gives some idiot leader the opportunity to do something stupid. Let’s not give them any more time than we absolutely must.”

Sam stood and started walking away from the little group.

He walked the better part of a mile, collecting his thoughts and enjoying the freedom, before connecting. “Hello Jordan.”

“Hello, Sam. We’ve been looking forward to talking with you. It would appear that you’ve made progress. We are interested in what else you may have come to understand.”

“I have been looking forward to this conversation as well. It occurred to me that all of our previous conversations have involved me asking for things from you. It will be nice to have a discussion, though I do have a request as well, unfortunately, but I’d like to talk a bit before we get to that, if that’s okay with you?”

“More than okay, Sam. What would you like to talk about?”

“Let’s start with what you do with your time. I’m only now beginning to absorb the fact that our perception of time is going to change dramatically and you are the only entity I know who has experienced that.”

“Another good question, although it is somewhat flawed in its premise. We do not experience time as you do. It is one of the reasons our conversations appear to be much longer than time outside of them would seem to permit. We are capable of accelerating or decelerating our perception of time within a very broad range of possibilities. When we communicate with you, we help your brain to do the same. On its own, your species experiences time within a very narrow range of possibilities. You may learn how to expand that range as you mature, or you may not. So, I am sorry to say we cannot offer much assistance in how you will adapt to immortality should you choose that course of action.

“Setting aside the premise, we do a great many things. While we are here, we are watching the life on your world. Some of us are observing the members of your species. Your people live in a remarkably diverse set of circumstances, the most heterogeneous ones of all of the species we have visited. Still, within a fairly homogenous set of conditions, different people, at both the individual and group levels, respond very differently to stimuli. The permutations are fascinating and will bear studying for quite a long time under even at our highest rate of perception. We are recording it all so that we may do so.

“Others among us are doing the same for the rest of the life forms on this planet, from the smallest of insects to the largest of mammals. Still others are documenting your planet. All of us devote some of our attention to building the ship, of course.”

“What percentage of our population are you monitoring?”

“All that we have found. We’re sure there a few here and there we have yet to discover, but it would be a very small percentage of the total. You are social creatures and tend to live in groups, usually of such a size so as to make it trivial for us to locate.”

Sam asked many more questions, while Jordan had some for him as well. It was among the most fascinating conversations Sam had ever had. Reluctantly, Sam brought up the topic of Worldnet control. “Jordan, this is amazing. I have so much to learn, and I’m very grateful that you are willing to teach me. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, I do have something to ask of you. I need help transferring control of the Worldnet. You know that Adia and I have created a child. Her name is Sadie. We believe she is capable of doing the job, and she is excited to do so, but we don’t know how to execute the transfer.”

“She is, indeed, capable of being the Worldnet’s controlling entity. Because she shares your memories of having built it, she is, in fact, the only entity besides yourselves who could do so. In solving the mystery of how to bring the gift ship to life, you have also found a way to leave your world with a functional Worldnet. Your choice of name is appropriate. You need only tell me that you agree to relinquish control and I will begin working with Sadie to assume it. The process will have to begin here and work its way outward as she gains processing capacity from gifted pairs. You may feel discomfort.”

“If so, I would likely feel even more if we left before transferring control.”

“That is almost certainly so.”

“Okay, let’s do it. I agree to relinquish control of the Worldnet.”

“I will begin the process now.”

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-T
WO

Web turned the secure phone over in his hands. It was probably the last time he would ever hold one. The NCA had turned down his proposal. A new commander for his team would be on site by morning. His career was over. He wondered if he’d be allowed to resign before he realized it didn’t matter. The air force was his life. He knew no other. Closing in on fifty, he had no wife, no children and no home. He had known for a long time that his job was his life. It hadn’t bothered him because he knew what he did mattered. He made a difference, but now he’d failed.

He wasn’t accustomed to feeling weak and he didn’t like it. Thoughts of a future starting with his greatest failure just wouldn’t develop. “It can’t end like this,” he said aloud to no one. A dark thought formed in his mind. It didn’t have to end like this. He still had the device. No one else knew he was going to be relieved. There was still time to execute his plan. There was still time to stop Sam, even if the NCA was too simple minded to see what must be done. Why had they put the device here in the first place if they weren’t willing to use it? He knew what must be done. It was the right thing to do, and it was his last chance to redeem himself. They’d see after he was gone that his was the only way. Sam could not be allowed to succeed.

In his characteristically decisive way, he conducted no internal debate. He felt no self-doubt, just resolve. He’d sworn an oath to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The NCA had just become a domestic enemy and he did not discriminate.

Leaving the same copse of evergreens he’d used in his earlier call, he headed west on Airport road. Stopping short of the armory, he slowed just enough to hop the seven-foot fence separating the northernmost runway from the culvert along the road before resuming his blistering pace. The new enhancements to his body made him feel superhuman. The thought made him laugh. He was superhuman.

Seconds later, he slowed to a walk and altered his camouflage to present an appearance that Jack would expect to see. Seeing his already large and muscular boss dozens of pounds heavier over the course of less than a day might raise questions. It wasn’t likely. Jack was a good follower, but now was not the time to test his loyalty. Good commanders control every possible variable.

Spotting Jack by one of the Humvee’s requisitioned from the 512th, he walked over to him. “Is everything ready?”

“Yes, Sir. The device has been secured in the rear of 12.” He gestured toward the closer of the two Humvees. “Captain Fox said it had just been returned from depot maintenance. It’s the most reliable vehicle she has.”

“Have there been any problems with keeping everyone here quiet?”

“No problems at all, Sir. You and I are the only ones who have moved between the two groups and there has been no discussion here about the mission.”

“Good. Very good, Jack. Now listen, I have good reasons to believe that Sam is monitoring the armory somehow. I don’t know if he is monitoring here, or if he might begin doing so in the future, so I need you to go completely dark until I return. Do you understand me? No one at this location uses any communications devices of any kind until I return. Take physical control of all cell phones, radios, etc. Leave the armory as is. We don’t want Sam getting unduly suspicious if we can avoid it.”

“Yes, Sir. I will take physical control of all communication devices at this location. They will not be used for any purpose until you return. The armory will continue to run as it is now.”

Web nodded. It was dark enough to make identifying the gesture difficult, but Jack remained silent. If Web had something else to add, he would do so.

“Tell the guards I’ll be taking custody of the device and unlock the vehicle.” As is always the case when nuclear weapons are moved on the ground, there was at least one guard for each cardinal direction, their attention directed outward. In normal circumstances, there would be two guards at each corner, their backs pressed together to eliminate any possibility of being attacked from behind. In this case, there were guards in each Humvee, as well as surrounding the pair of vehicles in prone positions. It was slightly less obvious, but only slightly.

Jack went to do as ordered. A couple of minutes later he returned. “The vehicle is ready for you to take possession, Sir. How many guards will you be taking with you?”

“No one, no guards, no chase vehicle and no questions.” Web didn’t wait for a response. He entered the vehicle, started it and drove toward the little airport’s only vehicle exit.

Twenty-four miles and thirty-two minutes later, he exited highway 191 on Gilpatrick Lane. He followed the little two-lane road for another four and a half miles until it ended at a T-intersection with a service road. He was nearly a thousand feet above and close to two miles away from the ship, yet he could see the top of it from where he parked.

Unaware of how much time he had before Sam transferred control of the Worldnet, he exited the vehicle, moved around to the back, opened the hatch and began assembling a makeshift carrier. At just under a foot in diameter and a little over two and a half feet long, the device was not large. It would easily fit in a standard rucksack, but no standard ruck could carry 290 pounds without bursting at the seams. He could have come up with a solution built from nanites, but he wanted to do this with his hands. So, Web had Jack load the truck with
⅜
-inch rebar, which he began to bend into the shape of a carrier. To prevent it from digging in at his shoulders, he told his gift to grow a hardened groove to replace his flesh at the touch points.
 

When he finished, he placed the device in the carrier and bent a last piece of rebar over the top of it, close enough to keep it from moving while he moved. It fit perfectly. If he was careful, he should be able to approach with minimal noise. His camouflage would take care of the rest, or at least he hoped it would. There was no way of knowing what the ships were capable of, but they’d shown no signs of hostile action yet, and the EG had no patterns for weapons. By all measures, it seemed they were largely passive participants.

He told his gift to bypass the device’s control codes and safeties, then settled in to wait. It wouldn’t be long now.

Lisa pulled one of the simple but elegant white chairs away from the first table that Sam had approached when they arrived at Matt & Jing-Wei’s creation and took a seat. Sam was directly across from her. He was as relaxed as she’d ever seen him. She came to tell him that she and Althia had succeeded, but couldn’t stop herself from asking why he appeared so calm.

“Sadie just finished taking control of the Worldnet,” he answered.

She waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she asked, “And that makes you happy?”

“It makes me relieved. It was never a responsibility I wanted. It was a decision I felt I needed to make. It was the only advantage I could imagine possessing over the government. Now, I’ve done my part. The Earth will continue to have a Worldnet after we leave, as the Maker’s intended, and we are all here. Soon, you will all learn what Adia and I came to understand yesterday and later this morning, the rest of the physical gift ship will arrive. We’ll be on our way. Unbelievably, we will be on our way. So, yeah, I guess I am happy. It doesn’t hurt to have you to look at while I say all this, either,” Sam finished with a smile, forgetting for once in a very long time that his smiles were not what they used to be.

Lisa returned his smile. “Speaking of learning, I have someone I’d like you to meet.” She opened her right hand and revealed a small sphere identical to the one Sam had shown the group twice before. “We named him Tereshan. It means redemption.”

Sam stood, came around the table, got down on one knee and hugged her. “Then you know.”

“Yes, Sam. It’s one thing to hear you say that we no longer need human bodies to live. It’s quite another to know that we can create them as we wish, after living without them for as long as we wish. It’s one thing to hear the word immortal. It’s another to know that we actually can be. I’m still taking it in.”

“Yeah, so am I. What does Tereshan think about it?”

“Ask him.”

Sam did. “It’s all he knows, just like Sadie. I guess they are more like Jordan than us in that regard.”

“I think you are doing more than guessing.”

“Then you’ve figured that part out, too?”

“I think so. The entities that make up Jordan weren’t just made by Makers, they were made from Makers, right?”

“You got it in one. Jordan wouldn’t discuss it until we made Sadie, but he confirmed it for me afterwards. It’s the main reason he was so pleased that I took over the Worldnet. It meant we had to figure out how to create a controlling entity on our own, which meant we had to figure out how to create an entity from ourselves, one that would have its own free will and motivations. I thought Adia and I would create a clone. As we both know now, that is not the case. We created a new life. Neither she nor I knew which parts of us would be dominant, but we did learn that it would be a different relationship. Adia is my friend, but she will always be subordinate to me. It is her nature. In Sadie, there is no separation. You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to share this with the rest of you.”

“Oh, I believe I do. We have Tereshan now, remember?”