'Uh-huh.' Ellie looked around at the virtual world they were standing in. This was Shelby's 'default' work environment; a monotonous wireframe pattern of hexagons that receded to a bland honeycomb infinity.
'But we can also use the suite for creature design. Which, I will now demonstrate. Mother?'
Her soothing voice filled the small chamber. 'Yes, Shelby?'
'Activate the central projector, please.'
Thick beams of light emerged from the floor and the roof creating a central brightly glowing holographic pillar. 'This projection is our creature design interface,' said Shelby. 'Think of it as a carpenter's lathe or a potter's wheel.'
'Potters wheel?'
He sighed. 'All right then, think of it as the plinth on which you are going to shape some clay into what you want. Mother, please open a new creature design folder and call it 'Ellie project1'.'
'Of course, Shelby.'
'Standard bipedal template, please.'
'Standard bipedal, as requested,' Mother replied congenially.
A moment later a two legged thing appeared in the projection beam. Two long, bare, feminine, human-like neon green legs, that met at the top in what she could only really describe as a large glowing, neon green, potato.
'Ew.' She looked closely at it. 'Hold on….is that thing alive?
The legs shifted slightly; the thing seemingly impatient to be interacted with.
'Of course not. It's a simulation. But the simulation is active. That's so you can get immediate feedback as to whether your current design is flawed, for example, is unstable or two heavy or unable to perform a physical action.'
Shelby reached into the beam of light, his hands 'touching' the surface of the blob at the top of the legs - where the 'hip' would have been if these had been a pair of human legs. He made a pinching gesture then pulled his hand slowly backwards. A fat neon green protrusion, like a tumour bulged outwards. He released the pinch and the tumour, a foot long and six inches wide, wobbled under its own weight like a small sack full of jelly. The creature's legs quickly shuffled and adjusted to compensate for the suddenly added weight on one side.
'Ellie Project1, walk please.'
The legs obediently began to pace on the spot; an inelegant lurching gait compensating for the weight of the wobbling protuberance.
'There? Do you see what I mean?' said Shelby. 'We're getting immediate feedback on whether the in-progress creation is able to walk easily, run, that kind of thing. You can see that the asymmetrical protuberance is causing it problems.'
Ellie watched the long legged blob pitifully lurching on the spot. 'Crud. I almost feel sorry for it.'
'Ellie Project1. Default stance.'
It stopped pacing, its legs settled back into an uncomfortable lop-sided position; doing its best not to topple over under the weight of the unsightly wobbling bulge. Shelby reached into the beam and with the edge of his palm, and 'sliced' through the tumour. It disappeared instantly and the creature adjusted itself once more.
'So, I'll talk you through the standard form-editing hand gestures. Then you can have a go at making something that hopefully won't look like the lovechild of a human and a root vegetable.'
Ellie snorted and Shelby looked at her curiously. 'You all right?'
She nodded. 'That was funny. What you just said was kinda funny.'
'Funny?' He looked perplexed. 'I never say anything humorous. Not intentionally, anyway.' He shrugged. 'Not that anyone would laugh if I did try to be funny. Which is why I don't.'
'I'm the same, I think. Whenever I try to be funny, it never works. It just causes an embarrassing silence.'
'Laughing looks moronic anyway.' He shrugged. 'I think people look like apes when they laugh. Anyway, that's irrelevant. Let me demonstrate to you those basic form editing hand gestures.'
A while later, after a satisfying hour of pinching, slicing, pulling, smoothing, stroking and fondling, Ellie stepped back and appraised her first ever creation. She'd tried to mould something that looked vaguely human; two arms, two legs, a head; the basics. The creature that stared glumly back at her looked as though it was pleading to be put down; a pot-bellied, slump shouldered monstrosity with no neck and a small conical nub of a head. It had bulging round eyes above a stretched-far-too-wide mouth which blinked uncertainly back at her as if to say - we both know I'm an abomination.
It looked like a very unhappy five foot tall toad.
Shelby nodded. 'Well, that's no worse than I was expecting for a first go.' He ordered the creature to walk, run, crouch, jump. All of which it managed to pull off successfully, if somewhat clumsily.
'You've got full ambulatory functionality working just fine. Plus there are no warning markers for internal bio-mechanical limitations. Although it's pretty ugly and inelegant, that's really not a bad first attempt.'
'Bio-thingy-thingy? What's that mean?'
'Biomechanical limitations? See? You've created a body shape that can accommodate basic organ requirements. If the torso mass was too small or narrow, mother would have flagged that up.' He looked at her. 'This…thing…would actually live, you know, if it was fabricated.' He stroked his chin thoughtfully. 'However…like I say, it's not particularly appealing to look at.'
She studied her creation. It did look pitiful. If she added another pair of arms and smoothed out the pot-belly it would look just a little bit like Harvey. She wondered if subconsciously she'd been trying to recreate her jimp.
'Could I make it live? What's the word you just used…can I fabricate it?'
The creature seemed to wince at the idea. Although, she suspected that had to be a random animation twitch of some sort.
'Sure. If you like. You want it to have some level of intelligence? To be able to talk, perhaps? You can browse through the intelligence templates that might fit into that tiny head. Don't expect anything as articulate as Frasier though. Your creature has quite a small cranial cavity. You're not exactly going to get an Albert Einstein in that space.'
'Albert…?'
'Never mind. So…do you want Mother to fabricate it?'
Ellie looked again at her miserable looking creation. It seemed to be shaking its head at her, begging her not to make it a real living thing. Although, again, she suspected that was probably just her imagination.
She finally shook her head. 'No…you can delete it.'
'Probably best. If you want to have another go, you can always browse through the creature templates in our database. You could always start with a unicorn, or a fairy or whatever…'
*
Ellie examined the folders hovering on the holoscreen in front of her. A number of them appeared to contain the personal workspace of the skeleton crew Shelby had mentioned a while back. Names were tagged to them;
Rochelle.Ryan:Locked.
Kleinman.Poll:Locked.
Carter.Madelaine:Locked.
Meade.Helen:Locked.
'Shelby?'
He turned from the glowing screen he was staring at, above the console next to her's. 'Uh?'
'These names, are they the others who were part of your caretaker crew?'
He pulled his seat over beside hers and looked at the screen. 'Yes. Those folders are password locked. Personal projects.'
'I know….I was just curious.' She studied the names on the screen. 'What were they like?'
Shelby sucked in a breath and held it. 'Hmmm…annoying, mostly.'
'Do you not miss them, though? I mean…there's only Gray and it seems like you two don't really get on. You hardly ever interact with each other.'
'I prefer my own company. And Frasier's. He may be just a fake chimpanzee, but quite honestly he's a far better conversationalist than most people I've met.'
'But these others. They were fellow sciencey types, like you, right? Smart people?'
'Sciencey?' He rolled his eyes and huffed. 'If you mean were they highly qualified technicians. Geneticists and AI programmers, then yes.'
'Don't you miss any of them?'
/>
He shrugged. Stroked his chin thoughtfully for a while. 'I suppose Helen Meade was tolerable.'
'Well there you go, do you miss her?'
His eyes narrowed as he gave that some consideration. 'She was extremely good at her job. Quite possibly one of the best AI programmers in this system. Quite probably one of the best in all of Human Space.'
'But what about her as a person? Did you like her?' She smiled coyly. 'Perhaps fancy her?'
Shelby curled his lips. 'She was old enough to be my mother!' He swiped a hand across the holoscreen and the folders collapsed together into a single screen-side icon. 'Anyway, that's enough about them!'
She looked at him. Is he angry? Or upset? It was so hard to read him.
'That's really quite enough about them. They're nothing but obsolete data to me now.'
Obsolete data?
Ellie studied him. While there was something oddly amusing about his prissy mannerisms and childlike bluntness, there seemed to be nothing there that felt like a human emotion. An almost robotic coldness.
'Shelby?'
'Yes?'
'Have you ever had anyone in your life that…you know, you cared for? Loved even? Maybe before you started working here? Family maybe?'
'Loved?' His eyes focused through the holoscreen in front of him to something far beyond, far away. 'Loved?' He said again as if trying the word out for size. 'You can't design people in quite the same way you can design products. People are merely an accidental jumble of genetic traits and learned bad habits. People are unpredictable, illogical, inconsistent, selfish….and mostly spiteful.'
'Love?' He laughed as if she'd just suggested the most ridiculous thing. 'Why on earth would I ever want to waste time and energy caring for a person?' His eyes focused back on the screen then he turned to look at her. 'Why? Is there anyone you've loved?'
She smiled sadly. 'Of course. There's my family; my parents. My brother Ted, my sister, Shona. There was this really good guy called Aaron.' She sighed. 'And….'
Shelby cocked his head. Actually interested. 'And?'
She shook her head and waved her hand. 'Oh, nothing.'
'You said 'and', clearly indicating at least one more.' He ground his teeth impatiently. 'You can't say And then say Oh nothing. It's actually contradictory and very annoying.' He turned to stare pointedly at her. 'Aannnd?'
She sighed. 'A young man…I once quite liked.' She could still see his face so clearly. So handsome. So earnest. So serious. So interested in what was in her stupid, mostly befuddled, little peanut of a mind.
Quite liked? Admit it. Loved. She pressed her lips.
Where are you now, Sean? I wonder, where the crud are you now?
CHAPTER 23
‘Come on, concentrate Ellie.’
‘I’m trying to, but this is so-o-o boring.’
‘It’s not boring, and you’ve got exams coming up, so try and stay a little focused, okay?’
That foggy memory came to Sean out of nowhere. A fleeting moment stoked from some dying corner of his mind. It was one of the last times he and Ellie were together. They were in her small habicube back at the Quin's farm. He was trying to teach her some pretty basic math. She was never any good at that. Numbers were definitely just not her thing.
He recalled that conversation; he'd had to tell her he was going away. That he was leaving her for good to join the colonial marines.
Such a very, very difficult thing to do. Because…yes…he loved her.
They'd been getting far too close. Sean wasn't ready to admit to anyone that he might be falling for her. He couldn't. She wasn't just a normal girl. She was everything their faith had been waiting generations for. He was falling in love with her…and it was clear she was feeling that way towards him.
That was dangerous. It could upset everything. This God-child, this Final Prophet couldn't be distracted by mere love. She couldn't remain out there on that remote farm. She had a destiny. She needed to go. She needed to travel.
His teacher told him he had to leave her. He was affecting her. Joining the colonial marines was as good a cover story as any. After all the always-travelling recruitment barge was due their way soon. And knowing that she wasn't going to see him again for many many years, hopefully, she'd finally let go of this place; let go of her childhood. Let go of her infatuation with him.
Hopefully, she'd spread her wings and fly.
Sean could see her now so clearly, hunched over her data-pad, both of them sitting on her bed. But the memory felt oddly different this time. He knew he was dying. He knew this wasn't real, that it was just his mind firing off random electrical charges between synaptic links, a dying spasm. But even so there was definitely something wrong. He looked around the habicube and saw what was different.
They weren't alone.
It was there, sitting placidly in one corner of the habicube, listening in on their private moment together.
A boojam.
The memory suddenly felt frozen as if it was a scene from a crummy sopa- dram, paused by a lazy hand-swipe command. Ellie was there beside him, perfectly still, tears built up and ready to tumble onto her freckled sun-coloured cheeks - once the memory was restarted.
But it remained frozen.
The boojam finally stirred. You am loving her?
He knew he was dying. He wondered if the cascading failure of his brain was producing this odd uninvited guest in his mind.
Yes. I love her.
The girl. Very special.
She is. Yes. Very special.
Because love? Because more?
He wondered why this boojam was so damned interested in his love life. Not that it mattered greatly. Outside of his dying mind nothing mattered any more.
Because she's quite incredible.
Explain this.
She doesn't even know it yet. She doesn't know what she is.
The boojam shifted position. It's elephantine head tilted with curiosity.
What is being the Ellie?
He felt himself smiling at the boojam's amusing linguistic missteps.
She's salvation. Our salvation.
How is the Ellie salvation?
She's come from God. She's here to save us.
Save? How is save?
He wondered how to explain that to a boojam. Although he knew they were very spiritual beings, as far as anyone had figured out so far, they didn't appear to have a notion of a Godhead. A single supreme being.
She's here to finally put us right again. Make us good with God once more.
How make good?
Sean turned to look back at Ellie, a perfect statue. God promised us he'd send a part of himself to guide us. A child that would come from him. That a chosen few would watch over this child and protect her until she was ready. He turned back to the boojam. And we've been doing that….looking after her.
We? More than is you?
The frozen memory flickered like a cheap holotoob display with a poor data connection. He knew what this had to be; it was the rapidly dying cells of his brain producing this illusion, synaptic connections failing. His last moments of conscious thought. Wouldn't it be lovely though, if it could be just him and Ellie once more? If she could just unfreeze. And perhaps - since it could do no harm since this wasn't really her - he could tell her that he was in love with her. That he had loved her since the first moment he'd set eyes on her.
More than you? The boojam was stirring. Getting up, shuffling impatiently towards him.
Yes. It's not just me. The boojam was a curious and for a while, an interesting distraction, but now Sean wanted it to leave this memory. It wasn't welcome any more.
In city? More of you?
Just give me this, will you? Can't you just let me have this fregging moment with her?
In city? Where?
Just go! Please!
Tell. Place. Now. I leave.
The boojam's shuffling form loomed over him and Ellie. The memory flickered again. He could feel the last of his
consciousness was beginning to fall apart. The boojam's snake-like snout uncurled and extended towards him.
Tell. Then I leave you.
He recalled images. Fleeting images. A tall building where he and several others tasked with watching over Ellie had been living in the city. An abandoned tower. One that had been scheduled for demolition and replacement.
He let go of those images and the boojam inhaled sharply, the nostrils on the end of its trunk puckering unpleasantly. Then, it seemed to nod with satisfaction.
I leave now.
And it did. Gone in a blink. Frozen Ellie stirred once more.
Ellie? Sean wanted to say this to her. Quickly. Before the memory deteriorated into an incoherent jumble of thoughts. Before he died.
She looked up from her work tablet. 'What?'
Ellie, I love you. I always have. I won't leave you.
She smiled at him, and the first of those frozen tears slid down onto her cheek. She smiled, beautifully…and that was the very last thing he was left with.
*
'Flatline, sir.' The technician pointed at the holoscreen. A scrolling display showed one last spike of brain activity shifting slowly to the left then it disappeared off the edge of the screen leaving in its wake a relentlessly final, plateau. 'That's it, he's now officially brain dead, sir.'
Deacon nodded. He turned to the boojam sitting beside the medipod. 'Did you get anything from him? Anything at all?'
The alien nodded slowly. It's trunk coiled back from what was left of the dead young man in the pod and disappeared back inside its hood.
'Am knowing location,' an almost feminine voice rasped dryly.
CHAPTER 24
'Ohhhh, don't stop,' Jez closed her eyes and sighed. 'That's just totally uber- drool.'
'Down a bit further?'
'Uh-huh,' she purred contentedly as his hands worked the knots out of her lower spine. 'Oh, yeah…that's got it.' She opened her eyes and sighed again, blowing a curl of steam away from her face. It twisted and spun across the hot and bubbling bathwater and drifted out over the lip of the tub. Beyond the fading curls of vapour she could see Gray's hellish world. The hot tub was perched on a small platform, right at the end of a long walkway protruding from a tower at the very top of his gothic castle. Sitting in the tub, they had a birds-eye view almost all the way round them. Above, the sky continued its endless turbulent churn, dark crimson storm clouds wrestling with each other and threatening at any moment to drench the world below with a deluge of blood coloured rain. Below them, Gray's sea of tortured souls squirmed mournfully.