Crashland – Chapter 11

Holden’s eyes came to rest on the face. He was sure he could see some movement there. The slightest twitching in the cheeks, the lips trembling now and then. It was almost as if he were dreaming. His skin looked terribly pale too. He imagined it felt cold and clammy to the touch.

From his other side, Jacobs kneeled down and smiled.

“What’s the matter, William? Haven’t you ever met a novus before?”

Holden retracted his hand. His eyes widened, surprise and understanding filling them at once.

“You mean… he’s –”

“That’s right,” Jacobs interrupted. “He’s a fully functioning post-human. What people in the business referred to as a Nexus. The living entity that monitors the bahn for a specific area.” He raised a finger. “Unofficially, of course.”

Holden uttered a noise akin to a laugh and shook his head in his disbelief.

“I’d heard, but I never thought they might actually exist. I mean, the controversy alone over adapting a human being to do this work…”

“Well, given the sheer volume of data that goes around the world in a day, it was either this, or a fully-functioning AI.” He looked at Holden coolly. “We both know what Congress said about that.”

Holden swallowed his misgivings and touched Simon’s face. The young man twitched, sending Holden back, but then settled down. Whatever dreams he was having, or visions the goggles were feeding him, were clearly keeping him calm.

“Is he even aware of where he is?”

Jacobs nodded. “Relatively. Ever since the bahn went down, he’s been in a state of shock. We’ve had to bring him down slow, feeding him bits of information when we thought he could stand it. He’s been apprised of just about everything now, but we still need to discuss what we plan to do about it.”

He looked up at Holden, who was still in awe of the young man. He smiled.

“I think you’d agree, letting him know the full extent of the damage right away would have been shattering.”

“Yes, of course,” Holden replied, oblivious to what Jacobs was implying. Were he able to truly pay attention to Simon and him at once, he would have realized he was referring to the way he had broken the truth to him too quickly. And he might have realized that he and this… Nexus had something in common. Alas, all he could think of right now was the fact that he was actually looking at one.

A real Nexus, he thought. The pinnacle of man-machine interface. At least, that was how the old promotional vids had put it, years back when the concept was being pitched to him and everyone else in the development world. And how close had they come? The technology was there, but as far as he knew, the whole thing had been buried before anyone could attempt some genuine trials.

“Either this or an AI,” Jacobs had said. He knew exactly what that meant too. Ever since the passage of the Minsky Laws, which forbade the development of artificial intelligences, those who were closest to making the breakthroughs had had to come up with something else. For years, rumors abounded what they had switched over to. Some said they were working on creating a living construct program, others that they were trying to perfect MMI.

Oh Jesus, he thought, full realization striking him at once. The project hadn’t been buried at all, it had just gone underground! With AI’s banned and the government dragging its heels on human trials for MMI, the developers must have been growing desperate, thinking their research would be next on the chopping block. And that’s probably when ATF or whoever the hell had made Simon had come for them. They offered them a way to complete their trials, to produce a real life living man-machine. How shrewd. He admired that. It’s exactly what he would have done had he been in their position.

“Bet this is a bit of a wakeup for you, isn’t it… seeing something like this up close?”

Holden looked up at him. There it was again, that ever-so-slightly harsh tone. He could ignore it no longer.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“It means that individuals like yourself rarely to get to see all of the outcomes of your work. If you knew where it all went, you might think twice before constantly trying to move the outer edge. But I guess you got an eyeful of that these last few days.”

Holden felt something well up inside of him. Something he hadn’t felt in days. He couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice.

“Are you saying I’m to blame for what’s happened?”

Jacobs shrugged. “Was Einstein to blame for the atomic bomb? Was Alfred Nobel to blame for bombs or modern artillery?”

Holden’s face went hot. He could stare at him and wait. Eventually, he shrugged again.

“All in how you look at it, I guess. Just saying, I doubt they would have been in such a hurry to push the envelope if they’d known what came of it.”

“You mean what others did with it…” Holden countered. Jacobs smiled coolly.

“Like I said, all in how you look at it.”

Jacobs broke their stare first and looked back down to Simon. Though he was nowhere near placated by any of his answers, and almost sure he was putting some responsibility for the Crash at his feet, he looked back at him too. He looked so strangely peaceful, so distant too. Almost like he was completely unaware of what was going on around him.

“What are you feeding him?”

Jacobs looked at him quizzically. Holden indicated the goggles.

“I mean, what kind of info are you feeding him? How do you keep him docile and entertained now that’s he’s unjacked?”

“Ah, yes! That…” He reached gently for a small black box above his head, the one located next to his monitor. He lifted it a mere inch, careful not to disturb the electrodes that connected it to the goggles.

“What the guys in the industry call ‘White Noise’, endless series’ of digital information fed by through his VL set. For him, I imagine it’s like watching some TV show over and over again. But since he can’t be without the endless stimulation of bits and bytes going back and forth at the speed of light, it’s enough for now.”

Holden went inert for a few seconds, at least as far as all outward indications were concerned. His mind needed a moment to process one last realization. He forgot Jacobs and Simon for the space of those few heartbeats.

He means to start up the bahn again, he concluded. He needs a Nexus to go about rebooting the entire system, otherwise it will just crash again. Yes, that seemed to make sense. Anyone not specifically adapted to handle the overflow of information would surely be helpless. It was simply beyond the abilities of a regular human human mind and a conventional interface. And then there’s the matter of the virus. Whoever interfaces with the bahn again will have to be able to neutralize it, assuming it’s still out there.

But that would mean his circuits were insulated or adapted against all known forms of cyberwarfare. Again, made sense.

But… there’s only one place… at least in the NAFTAS…

“Oh….” He said, the last of it dribbling out of his mouth. “We’re going to Virginia, aren’t we?”

He saw a smile spread across Jacobs’ face. It was the smile of a proud teacher or father. Clearly, his conclusion was right on the money.

“Is this why I’m coming?” he said next.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… is this my chance to atone? Or do you just want me along because of technical expertise?”

Jacobs’ smile faded. Once more, he seemed to get it in one. Or at least close enough to the mark to give Jacobs some pause. He cleared his throat, making his reply as gentle as possible.

“I need your expertise, yes,” he started. “Anything else… well, that’s between you and you alone.”

Holden flared. “You’re not answering me. I want to know just what the hell you blame me for!”

Jacobs looked a little miffed himself now. His looked about ready to jump to his feet when a knock came at their door. Jacobs looked up issued a stern command.

“Open!”

The door creaked open. Holden began the slow and painful process of trying to turn around to see who was walking in on them. He got around just in time to see the face of Molya, his face looking graver than before.

“What is it?” Jacobs asked.

“Problem sir,” he replied, his tone grave too. “You’re needed up top.”

Jacobs jumped to his feet and quickly crossed the room. Again, Holden was impressed with the speed at which he did it. His feet seemed to have built in springs that made his movements very quick and gazelle-like. One second he was crouching several meters away, the next he was at the door and next to Molya’s face, whispering in harsh tones.

“What’s going on?” Holden asked after a decent interval. Jacobs turned to look at him, his ire gone and a new look of deep concern painted on.

“Holden… we do indeed have a problem…”