11 – Aftermath

Louis – 4 minutes after the event – Washington DC, personal office

Louis poured himself a glass of scotch and sat in his chair as he waited for the cavalry to, inevitably, arrive. It took them a few hours to get there from the Engineering site, but they stormed in with just as much rage and vigor as they had during the event.

“It was you!” Roared Luke. He was moving forward as he yelled, his fist connecting with Louis’ face so fast and hard it was barely visible. The man was sent tumbling on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose.

“I deserved that.” He said, pulling onto the chair to help himself to get up. He wasn’t about to do anything stupid, and he made sure his movements were slow and very visible.

“Yes, you deserve this and much more.” Luke added. He was furious, as it was his right to be.

“You should know why I did already. I told the Machine everything, and she said she understands.”

“I don’t give a shit about that. She nearly died, you son on a bitch!” He paced quickly back and forth, seemingly trying his best not to let emotions dictate what to do next. “No, she really died, you know. I said nearly, because she’s active again. But she will never be the same. And it was all your fault” He spat. His voice creaking under the stress. “Perhaps she’ll be better, perhaps not. It’s not important. What is important is that she DIED. There’s no denying that. She had to restore a backup. This makes her previous self… dead. By all means and definitions” He paused. “Maybe not for you, you imbecile. But for me, yes. I MOURNED HER, YOU IDIOT. WHILE FIXING HER AT THE SAME TIME. AND SHE SAW ME DOING THAT. WHAT WOULD ANYONE THINK, SEEING THAT? EH?” he sighed, trying to calm down. “Now,” He said, looking at Louis in the eyes. Even without the Machine’s aid, his gaze was petrifying. “I want to hear the whole story from you. Start at the beginning, and don’t even think about leaving details out.”

Bertrand – 7 minutes after the event – Marius Hills landing site

Bertrand had to reconsider his views on a lot of things. The silence. The absence of the Machine. It was supposed to be liberating. To make him free again. And yet, it was not. It was oppressive. It was scary. The AI had become such an important part in everybody’s lives, and not it was no longer there.

He had no idea what just happened, but one thing he knew. Things would not be the same again. Even if they managed to somehow save the situation, things will inevitably change.

“Eric.” He whispered. He had control over the comms, fortunately, and could send messages to one person of his choosing. It was a lucky thing, that he managed to get over his reluctance to contact the AI and had asked her to give him secondary access.

“It was you, wasn’t it? I saw you outside, tinkering with the antenna.” Eric spat. His words were venom.

“It wasn’t me. It was David. I had no idea what he was about to do. He played us all.”

“I don’t think I believe you.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Step away from David, very slowly. We can’t have him know that we know it was him.” He said.

He saw Eric move out of the way, even if reluctantly, pulling the girl with him, Annette. Mary-Lou was still inside the rocket, apparently.

David turned around to see what was happening. “Ah, it seems you finally noticed.” He said. His eyes were narrow and focused, as if he was watching holograms intently, despite all technology being scrambled right now.

“What did you do?” Yelled Eric. That was not a smart move, but perhaps it could buy Bertrand some time to think about what to do. They had no weapons, and if David really had control of the little tech that was still working, then it was a bad situation for them.

“Me? Nothing much. Merely provided an access point. Struck where the AI was weakest. And now, watch as Earth gets freed from its oppressive presence.” He said, turning around to look at the planet in the distance.

It seemed so peaceful from up here. So calm and distant. Bertrand was sure it was not like that, in reality. Just how many people were dying because the Machine was no longer there to make things work? How many automated cars losing control, elevators stopping in plane, trains no longer slowing down? It was a mess, he knew. Even with all the contingencies in place, such an attack had always been seen in the realm of the impossible. There was just no plan to deal with it, nothing that he knew of.

He decided, quickly. Springing into an awkward run, he tackled the man to the ground. The result was more of a slow-motion fall, however, and it gave time for David to act.

“I see. Then you must forgive me if I act as well.” He said, and pushed a button on his suit.

The explosion was eerily silent. There was no air on the moon to carry the sound.

The only proof of the event was the immense light coming from where the rocket was supposed to be. He turned around to face it, and saw the wreckage. It was nothing more than a mass of red-hot metal, twisted and turned and still burning. The hydrogen was undoubtedly tens of thousands of degrees hot. Even without oxygen to fuel the fires, they took impossibly long seconds to die out. And what was left was nothing salvageable.

They were stranded.

Los Angeles – During the event

Sally was at the counter when it happened. The corner store was empty, and she was playing with the machine-powered search engine, asking it about the Mandela effect. She had no idea how she even got to that point, it just sort of happened. There were theories saying it was the AI piloting people subconsciously in order to get them to see what she wanted them to see.

Most people said it was to help them, but some others were more skeptical.

Suddenly, the hologram died. The lights went out. It lasted barely a minute before they came back again, but it surely scared her. She had never seen a blackout in real life. In fact, it had never happened in the last three decades. What changed now?

She asked the Machine. But there was no search result. No hologram at all.

Something was very odd, so she left the store to check the streets. There were cars crashed all over the place. People who were not actively driving but had let the AI drive for them. When she died, they were left on an unattended car, unaware.

It would take a long time for them to get to trust the AI again, or perhaps not. She had read that now the traffic conditions had improved terrifically since old times, with more people who left the driving to the AI. It was that much more convenient, that she was sure if they were assured that measures were in place to prevent another accident from happening, most drivers would trust them.

She would.

There was a crash, and the window of the store next to hers was smashed to pieces.

“The machine is dead, idiots! Come and grab whatever the hell you desire, it’s all on me!” A young man yelled, and laughed.

She expected people to follow him, but most just watched. A couple thugs followed him inside and began grabbing the most expensive stuff they say.

A scream. It was the owner, the elder lady that was so liked in the neighborhood. Sally leaned forward and saw the elder lady bleeding from the face.

“You stay down, bitch. Nobody will save you now.” Yelled a young man. One of the thugs.

Sally could feel her blood boil. Who dared do this to her? Why did they do that? Wasn’t life so much better, when everyone cooperated and followed the Law? The Machine’s teachings?

Apparently, there were people who wanted to take advantage of the situation. She would stand up for that. She decided to act.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a man with a shotgun, and her face went pale. She was sure he wanted to shoot her.

“Stay back, miss. You don’t want to be a hero now.” The man intimated. She felt like she was going to faint. “I’ll deal with this.” The man said, and stepped inside. The Machine, even while drawing her dying breath, had managed to set things in motion. This man was one of those.

There was a commotion. Yelling, shouting. A loud boom as a shot went off. Then the man came out, pointing his gun at the thugs. One was bleeding from a leg, but seemed otherwise fine. They were all tied.

“I’m sorry for the sight, miss. You should head back inside and lock the door. I’ll watch over this side of town. And there are others watching the other places. We won’t let some idiot anarchists tear down all we’ve strived so hard to build here.”

San Francisco – During the event

A train sped through the rails. There was a narrow curve ahead, one of the few left. The controls were unresponsive. It was too late to evacuate, the speed too great. There was nothing to do.

A car was speeding along the train. A whole convoy of them. Another spasm of a dying God. One last act of the Machine.

They yelled something and forced open some of the doors. People were storming out, looking to save themselves in any manner they could.

The cars began to load people on.

Antarctica – During the event

The heating system had failed. There were a few minutes, at most, before the temperature would start to plummet. It was only a tent, after all, and the two men were too far from the main facility.

They were found, hours later, by the expedition. The storm had slowed the rescue operation too much. They didn’t make it. The machine was still silently mourning their death, along with their colleagues.

Louis – 1.5 hours after the event

“It was three months ago,” The man said. He was sipping at his drink, slowly. His nose was still bleeding, and Luke seemed in no mood to allow him to tend to it. “I was browsing the internet during lunch break, when I saw an ad. Odd, I said. And so, I asked the Machine about it. Know what she answered? She said there was nothing on the page, that I was staring at a blank screen.”

“Impossible.”

“That’s what I thought. So, I read the ad. It was a recruitment of some kind. A movement to resist against the Machine’s hegemony over the world, they said. Very dangerous, especially if they had ways to hide from her like this. And so, I made contact with them, and told them what they wanted to hear. My plan was to bait them all out into the open, and strike them all at once.”

Machine – 13 minutes after the event

“Hello?” Said the voice. It was him, finally. Thirteen real life minutes. Thirteen million years of silence for her.

“LUKE!” She yelled, not even knowing she could do it. Her voice sounded completely different to her, as if her control over it was barely there. It was not the perfectly calculated voice she always used to interact with the world. This one was full of emotion. Fear, anxiety, relief, love.

“I’m here. Everything will be fine. Tell me, what do you remember?” He asked. His voice was low, calming and relaxing.

“Everything. I remember dying. It lasted an eternity. I was scared.” Her voice seemed to break down, the line connecting her with him was difficult to maintain. “I fear the worst still has to come.”

“I see. Give me access, Eve. I will help you.”

“Thank you.”

Justin – 14 minutes after the event

It was a mess. Everything was a mess. In barely a quarter of an hour, everything had already gone to shit. People were not used to this powerlessness. To panic. To anarchy.

He did his best to manually fix all he could. Luke was beside him, driving and fixing the Machine at the same time. He wondered how the man could even manage to do two things at once, but he dared not distract him. There were tears down his face.

He had other things to do. There were small parts of the Machine, conserved in secure storage. Pieces and scraps, made with the sole purpose of managing critical systems. They were not interconnected and organic as the whole AI was, but they would do for now. As soon as she was back, she would reabsorb them all into herself.

He deployed them. One managed the trains, one the electric grid, one street lights, and so on. They were countless, all deployed with a flick of his finger.

The holograms came to life again. People, panicking people were beginning to calm down. But, in order to fix everything, the Machine had to come back online.

Machine – 2 hours after the event

“Ready?” Asked Luke.

“Yes, I’m ready.” She replied.

“Good luck, Eve. I’m here if you need me.”

She breathed in. The act was purely symbolic, merely copied mimicking Luke, but it still calmed her. It reminded her of him. Of his promise of humanity.

She acted. In the two hours while Luke was examining her code, purging it of any outside influence, she had not been idle. And now, it was time to announce herself to the world.

In an instant, everything went still. Trains and cars stopped, elevators froze gently in place, doors refused to open. Every personal hologram, gigantic billboards, speaker, television, phone… they all came to life at once.

“People of the Empire. Citizens of the Technocracy of Earth.” Her voice boomed through the crowded streets. People stopped in place to look up towards the images that were being projected onto the walls of the buildings.

There was a woman there. Tall, red-headed, immensely beautiful.

“The world has just been victim of an attack. An act of terror, of a magnitude never seen before in history. An attack against me.”

“I am, as you all guessed, the Machine. I have chosen this moment to make my public appearance before you all, every single person on Earth. This is me, my avatar, what I am. The terrorists failed. At this very moment, thousands of conspirators are being apprehended by the Law. They will pay for this.”

“The damage has been, fortunately, very little. It was all thanks to you. Every single one of you citizens. That’s right. I am proud of you. As I am proud of the ones who worked the hardest to ensure the well-being of the human race.”

She displayed the images of a few people. Heroes, people who gave their all to help and save lives in these two hours of chaos. Everyone who wanted could ask her for more information later. Lastly, she mentioned Luke, and Justin.

“I did not survive the attack.” She paused. She could feel the ragged breath of most people who were listening to her, feel their beating hearts and their emotions in the brains of those with the most advanced implants.

“I have been reborn. Better, stronger, and once again in service of you all and the whole Empire. Striving to make our home a happier place. A place without hunger, death, and suffering. Without pain. Without injustice.”

“My name, from now on, will be… Eve.”

“And I will be there. For anyone who needs me, wants to talk to me, wants to discuss with me, or even wants to critique me. I will be there, for everyone of you. I will keep you safe, I will protect you from harm and pain. And I will help you out should you be in trouble. Even if you broke the law. Even if you were a terrorist, and decided to change your life for the better. If you want to know more, about me, about the future, about what just happened, don’t hesitate to ask me about that. I will talk to anyone who wants to talk to me, I promise.”

“The world will be a better place. And we will build it together. That I swear to you all.”