Infinity Machine Read online

  I hear the voice of Ajax I've known, but the voice does not come from this creature, and I do not see the creature's mouth move.

  “I am of the Malorian race,” says Ajax's voice, “My real body will speak now.”

  The being in front of me opens his mouth and there are a series of sounds like I've never heard before. There are deep whooshing, netted waspy sounds, with a faint whistle, all emitted at the same time.

  I realize the being is speaking — it sounds fascinating. I'm gawking, stuck in an unnerving emotion.

  As the being speaks, images form around me. Ajax's human voice also speaks, over the voice of the alien being. “I am derived from the Malorians of the planet Nespaal. My vocal cords do not allow me to speak the human dialect at all.”

  The being in front of me smiles

  and a dry waspish laugh comes out. “My planet was helped by the Subvoxians, and the technology worked well. I, however, am not a natural being direct from the Malorian genealogy. I am a genetic creation of the Subvoxians. My genes were originally chosen due to the benefactor quality of my personality. I believed in their outreach, so, agreed to become a… unique being.

  Ajax's voice says, “Those who run the technology influence the evolution of the planet. The technology is a living process that lives through the controllers. For this reason, we have to train you. Earth must influence Earth. If I run the tech, then Earth will be influenced by Malorian patterns of evolution. You would become... hybrids.”

  My heart begins to catch up. I finally interject, “Wait...train... me... to run this?”

  “Well?” says the voice of Ajax.

  “I have a life,” I say.

  “You also have a planet,” says Ajax.

  “You want me to live alone... in this ship?”

  Ajax thinks and says, “Not exactly, but maybe sometimes.”

  I walk away.

  I turn around and glance at the giant Malorian alien. My heart palpitates. I am getting small surges of fear looking at this large alien creature.

  “You did not like the illusion of Ajax, but now you see the purpose of the human hologram. It saves us days. Look how uncomfortable you are!”

  The hologram of Ajax appears again from thin air, and I see his familiar face again.

  I look at the hologram standing next to the large Malorian. I say, “You are standing beside... yourself.”

  The giant Malorian laughs and nods, and the human form of Ajax does the same.

  Ajax says, “The Malorian is back at the Shangri-La.” Ajax bows to the giant creature, causing lighted squares to dimly flash into the air and cover the Malorian until he vanishes.

  A new image appears, showing the Malorian sitting at a large master panel, and he works screens in front of him, screens that show rapidly moving lights and images. The Malorian seems to interact with these things very quickly, much faster than a human could.

  The human Ajax beside me says, “Malorians score very high on the reflex tests as well.” The Malorian looks up towards me, and then eyes a lever to his right side. He pushes that lever and I hear the most incredible other-worldly tones — a rhythm of deep ' rrrrick-shww' sound, a whirring synthesizer of unknown sounds, a melody of stellar music. I realize this may be Malorian music. I am entranced.

  The image of the Malorian just fades away, and the human Ajax stands there. “I am sorry Casey, it will be hard to get used to the human Ajax again. I am that Malorian being, just an iteration of his consciousness expanded into the node within the Shangri-La.”

  I ask, “So that's how there's 40 of you on the ship, as holograms, leading all the people this way? This is some kind of node?”

  Ajax says, “40 nodes, for 40 Ajax, and a re-transmission of consciousness through the inversion points of those tiny universal buds. Every instance of Ajax is an instance of the Malorian who works the control room right now.”

  He continues, “Casey, while you can enter a node, we have been energetically evolved to such a point that we can project ourselves as a node.”

  22.

  Ajax moves through a doorway, into a hall saying, “We must leave this node now, and go back to the Shangri-La. Your body needs nourishment and rest. It has been extended in a crystalline state for a very intensive period.”

  I manage to say, “Where... is... my body?”

  “It's exactly where you left it. It hasn't moved, and time has not passed. But when we re-flood your consciousness with these nodal experiences, your body will take a tremendous hit. You will be so tired and depleted as we rewrite days of experience into your body. If we stay here longer, you could not survive the flood.

  I am unable to negotiate.

  “You are a human being, and have not been evolved to handle more than this increment.”

  My vision glitches.

  Bars of reality slip away.

  I am of split awareness, partly at this ship, and in odd wavering flashes, back in the room where Ajax and myself began our talk.

  I sit in this suspended limbo, like a sleep I cannot wake from.

  Ajax's hologram pulls me back into that original room. I sit as though frozen, unable, or un-wanting to move.

  I finally force a movement. It feels incredibly awkward, and like an outpouring, I feel immense weight and strain overtakes my brain, and my body feels suddenly very tired or old.

  “It's okay,” says Ajax, “you must eat and rest.”

  From a panel in the wall a bed pushes out, and from another panel a meal of mashed potatoes, carrots, and some kind of meat.

  Ajax says, “It's synthetic, the meat. Well, the carrots and potatoes too. I wanted to tell you about the meat, most people can tell the difference. The potatoes also have a sleeping additive, you will be asleep for 48 hours to recover.”

  I pull myself to the bench, like a shocked old man. I loom near the food. I feel awful, like I've been beaten by a hurricane. I can barely hold my fork up.

  “Your mind and nerves have gone through a lot, Mr. Dorn. It has all come back with you, your knowledge and experience... that is how the nodes are set up; to rewrite your body's actual chemistry upon the re-flooding. You look sick as a dog! It will be alright, it's worse the first time.”

  I take a few bites of food, as Ajax says, “On my planet Nespaal, we eat in silence, but we have drinks together afterwards. My favorite drink tastes somewhat like Earth's salted honey. Would you like to try it?”

  I nod and another panel opens with this beverage in a simple tall and narrow cup. I drink it and say, “Not bad, yeah like salted honey, maybe a trace of... orange?”

  Ajax says, “I will let you eat and rest Casey. Sleep well, you will feel great when you wake up.”

  He exits the room.

  As I slowly eat, I think about how many times Ajax has seen people go through this, and how many times he has said “sick as a dog ” and I sense that he really means it, that he really has a compassion for others. He really is a natural at this... process. I pull myself to the bed, and my head hits the pillow.

  Ten breaths later, I'm gone.

  23.

  I open my eyes.

  I see the ceiling of the room.

  I think about Ajax's proposition.

  I feel really weird about it.

  How am I supposed to be like

  that Malorian being? It's impossible. Is that what Ajax means?

  Is there one Malorian per discovered planet, one ship per planet, are they like a slave to that planet for life...

  Ajax walks into the room, “You're awake then, Mr. Dorn, your vital signs have signaled me.”

  “Yeah I'm awake. About this idea of me helping out...”

  Ajax laughed, “Right on cue, they all say that that at this exact moment. Almost every one of them.”

  Ajax comes close to me; his hologram shows its energy cycling as he moves closer.

  He says, “Casey, to do this means to change. What you identify with now cannot grasp the idea of such a new role...”

  I sit
up further, and lean back against the wall behind me.

  Ajax continues, “Species evolve, and that evolution brings about changes of experience, and those changes alter the way we perceive.

  He looks at me with great specificity, “To experience the changes of the Subvoxian technology is to change deeply.”

  Ajax continues, “Your abilities will be magnified, your understanding grown, your reflexes and knowledge amplified, progressed, and expanded dramatically.”

  He adds, “On top of that, you will not play the same role I do, as the Malorian, or the same roll I play as the Ajax you see.”

  I say, “What do you want me to do?”

  Ajax says, “To implement the technology, the Subvoxians need a guide and implementer, what they call a XNdr Sahy which is to say a Founder... a role that is both active and passive, a living seed of consciousness that influences the energy of the technology. Who you are will be written into the technology... or rather, the technology will be written based on you.”

  Ajax continues, “This is a technology of machinery, energy, and consciousness. Everything that comes of the Subvoxian technology is built upon itself. This building process is rapid at first. It is always fast, but the beginning injects so much newness — it must build on a very solid framework.”

  Ajax says, “You will not be alone, there will be other Founders, but together we will be running a vast amount of living, experiential technology through your entire being, your genealogy, your consciousness. For the species that we have helped, this plays out like a symphony of divine iteration. For the Plaidan, what was experienced was a sort of hidden wobble, a fine fracture that was very difficult to see. What happened to their planet was an unstoppable chain reaction; the Shangri-La was pulled into an endless chain, as the technology elaborated in all the wrong ways. Just as a nuclear explosion cannot be packed back up into the tiny bomb. Once it's done, it's over.”

  I nod a little... “Why take such a horrible risk? WHY?”

  Ajax says, “This process comes at a cost to the Subvoxians, on their planet it is considered a great sacrifice. They initiate this process on planets that display a trajectory of uncertain future. The threats range from natural circumstances, planetary stability, or a potential crossing with the Rhionak invaders.”

  “I see.”

  “I hope that explains the matter.” He seemed a little urgent, “We must show you the next portion.”

  Ajax raises his arm, and the from the ceiling I feel a tremendous energy and from the core of vision, I see the room peel away. I am sitting in a chair in an endless gray room, a room that changes, pixelated chunks are replaced with a vast landscape. I feel my heart bursting.

  I sit on that same chair now on a 10-foot-wide platform, 2,000 feet above the Earth. The wind and scale are horrifying.

  “Scary isn't it!” yells Ajax.

  I'm frozen, almost shaking.

  “The walls are coming,” says Ajax.

  The walls slowly form, pixelated wall chunks walk their way up from the small platform floor.

  Ajax says, “This is a Core Station, a special tower that interjects a framework around a planet. That framework is reality-altering. It allows the Subvoxian technology to exist, because it is the foundation of that technology.”

  I walk to the walls and peer out through the window panels.

  Ajax says, “This tower leads 1,000 feet below the Earth, and down there, there is a machine structure that is much larger than the Shangri-La.”

  He goes on, “Around the planet there would be 74 structures. With these structures in place the Subvoxian Framework would allow humanity to become a different species, a super species, and move along their own pathway of development, much like the Subvoxians or the wonderful Opthalians.”

  Ajax says, “We don't know the outcome ahead of time — we don't know the specific future for humanity, and it is said that only the progenitors of the true Avail know... the actual creator... or creators... that enable the universe to exist at all. Only they truly know. Whatever they are. We just set the ball in motion.”

  I say, “Isn’t evolution based on genetic roles of the dice, as in, species have to live and die over and over again through natural selection?”

  Ajax says, “Active gene editing is a feature of living existence. The genealogy responds to environmental and experiential occurrences. The evolutionary death-wave you speak of is not the only method that affects evolution. It does play a role, but not as many currently think.”

  Ajax laughs and says, “When the technology takes hold... wow . It's like nothing imaginable. I will never tire of seeing it in action, especially on a new planet.”

  I reply, “So, this is not a secret ploy to take over humanity, and you are not trying to get me to hand the planet over. You are trying to evolve my species and to save my planet against doom.”

  Ajax says, “Consider it more like a universal artwork, and the Subvoxians more amused and well-meaning gardeners. There are other options. Alternatively, the Subvoxians could have a battle station waiting here for the Rhionak, or the Harrish, and attempt to destroy them as they arrive. They could also set up a few gear-works to stave off natural destruction or fend off meteors, but that's not the same. It's limited. It's faulty. Empowering others is a great facet to the universe as the Subvoxians have not only discovered, but pioneered.”

  I gaze at the long horizon. I wonder about how different Ajax's Malorian being must be from members of his own Malorian species – super evolved.

  I feel aloneness for him. I wonder if I will become some weird being that does not look like a human any more. I don't think he implied that though. I turn to him and say, “You are so alone, are you not?”

  Ajax smiles and says, “I am a savior... for my planet. I saw my world begin to get devoured by the Harrish. Even still, I denied the Subvoxians my role as a Founder. All seven of our Founders did the same. The Subvoxians gave us the limited technology instead, and we existed like that for 9 years.

  Ajax is clearly saddened, “A wave of Harrish bypassed those defensive structures. They destroyed, killed, and enslaved many members of my species. They were taken so quickly. I appealed to the Subvoxians without delay, and they rapidly accepted. We fulfilled the process, and the Subvoxian equation… ran through us.”

  Ajax gazes to the sky and loses himself — then he beams “Like the anvil of Xala, the technology beamed it's mighty force right through us!”

  He looks at me, right through me, and reveals, “They knew we would change our mind, when the major disaster struck. They waited and were ready to help us the instant we asked. All seven of us were ready, and the technology worked with perfection.

  Ajax opens a hologram and I see seven other people, all humans. They are talking to other iterations of Ajax. I see videos of them piloting the space ship as I did. I see images of them deflecting the cubes. I see pictures and video floating around them, images I assumed were their family and friends.

  I feel the impact.

  Ajax opens another image and says, “This is Nespaal, my planet.” The hologram cuts to images of the Harrish walking on the ground near other Malorian beings, and the Harrish look wicked. With great brutality they kill with ease, with the effects of true horror. They are not like animals but like nightmare beasts, weaving energy around beings they approach, scrambling their intent and motion.

  Ajax says, “The Subvoxians can fight the Harrish, but only we can stop them for good, from the inside, from within our planetary experience. As soon as the Subvoxian framework went up, we became a super-power, able to defend ourselves, for all time.”

  I think for a while.

  Ajax waits.

  I think about my life. I never had kids. Never had a wife — got close a few times though. I think about my sister and brother, their families who I love. I think about my parents.

  I look to Ajax, “What are you looking for, really, some kind of commitment?”

  Ajax says, “What happens on the oth
er side of the process will remove you from the future you once thought you would have.”

  I reply, “and then more testing and training?”

  Ajax says, “That training will happen, but you have already been tested.”

  “So, we've done some reflex tests and piloting that light-speed ship?”

  Ajax says, “We have been testing you in other ways all along, energetically.”

  He continues, “On the Shangri-La you are within a network of energy that is very responsive to who and what you are. We read that energy all along. You are sturdy, well meaning, you have a deep sense of humanity, you have no desire to cause harm, and you are not obsessed with yourself. You are fluid in enough ways that we believe you are compatible.”

  “So you read my energy, huh?”

  Ajax says, “We have been reading your energy... for quite some time.”

  “How much time?” I ask.

  “Since you were 12.”

  24.

  In my past, there is a night I don't talk about; not because something bad happened, but because it was too subtle to discuss as a dream, but too impactful to talk about in some casual way.

  When I was 12, as I lay asleep in bed one night, I opened my eyes.

  I open my eyes because when they were closed, I could see very intense bright light shine through my eyelids.

  When I opened my eyes what I saw at the end of the bed was like a floating lighted circle 6 feet across. There were ripples of energy around that circle.

  I was paralyzed while gazing into that light. From that light I saw a translucent outline, it was a creature. That’s were my memory ends, fizzles, there's nothing more.

  I take a moment to realize what Ajax implies.

  As I sit with concern, he speaks up, “Of course you remember it, we leave that part intact, the memory. The part you do not remember went like this...”