Sidespace (10 page)

She considered the statement a moment, unsure of exactly what her Artificial and Prevo consort meant.
Why aren’t I conscious?

You simply have to choose to be. When you’re ready, we’ve created a lovely space for you.

Who’s ‘we’?

The Prevos—most of us anyway.

I won’t wake up in the real world? In my body?

Not quite yet. One step at a time.

This is weird. So I just—

She stood on a beach. The quartz crystals in the sand sparkled beneath a midday sun; an ocean stretching to the horizon shone a vivid aquamarine.

Timid and a bit fearful—of what, she couldn’t say—she cautiously stretched her arms out in front of her. They looked normal, the skin smooth and unblemished. Her hair was draped in front of her left shoulder; she ran a hand through it and found it long and sleek.

“Hey, Mia—over here!”

Jolted at the revelation of
sound
after endless silence, she spun in the direction of the voice. Devon Reynolds was lounging on a chaise down the stretch of beach, iced drink in hand. Morgan Lekkas lay on her stomach in a bikini next to him, but waved over her shoulder in Mia’s direction.

She started to approach them, only to be distracted by movement to her right. Two dolphins were cavorting several dozen meters from shore, emerging above the water’s surface to spin and flip before disappearing into the ocean once more.

“Get them near the water and they turn into total scamps.”

She again shifted toward Devon, feeling overwhelmed at all the noise and motion. Surf crashing violently. Sun shining brightly. The sand scalded the bottom of her bare feet. It was all so much to take in…but she didn’t want to return to the blackness. To the
absence
.

She placed a hand at her throat and tried clearing it. “ ‘They?’ ” Her voice barely squeaked out, scratchy and hoarse, as if she’d never used it before.

“That’s Annie and Stanley. They might join us on shore eventually, but probably not.”

“Annie and….” She whipped around, searching. “Meno?”

The form of a seagull took shape out of thin air in front of her. Ashen wings flapped against a breeze she hadn’t noticed until now to hold the bird at her eye level. ‘
I’m here, Mia. But you should go talk to your friends for a while.’

She slowly turned full circle and let out a long sigh. “I’m definitely dead.”

Morgan snorted from her chaise. “Not even.”

“What is this, then?”

Devon took a sip of his drink. “It’s our playground—our escape. It’s whatever we decide it is.”

Mia stared at him until he visibly deflated. “It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s a…space, built at the quantum mechanical level—where waves and particles are one and the same, where the qubits are superposited and everything is a probability, thus anything can be. It’s the natural extension of the Noesis we created.”

She watched in contemplation as one of the dolphins started ‘walking’ backwards three-fourths out of the water. “Does time pass while we’re here?”

“Sadly. Though since we’re here via our connections with the Artificials, it’s effectively passing at their speed—so not too much time in the outside world, if you don’t focus on it.”

Morgan groaned. “Sadly for certain. I spend far too many hours here. I am so bored.”

The outside world…. “What about the Metigens? Did we win?”

Morgan rolled over and snatched Devon’s drink out of his hand. “Fuck yes, we won. Kicked their shredded asses back through the portal.”

Relief flooded her mind. It made her lightheaded, so she went and sat on the edge of the third, empty chaise. Her voice was soft, for she dreaded the answer. “How long?”

Devon smiled like it didn’t matter. “Seven months.”

She drew in a sharp breath…but it could have been far worse. She had feared years had passed without her knowledge. “Where’s Alex? She didn’t get injured, too, did she?”

“Nah. She and Caleb went through the portal chasing after the Metigens a month or so ago. Took Valkyrie with them.”

Morgan snickered. “They got married first.”

“Married?
” Mia threw her head back and laughed. Oh my, how good did it feel to laugh? “Of course they did.”

When the laughter finally subsided, she walked over and took the drink from Morgan, sat back down and took a sip. It tasted similar to a lemon version of a Polaris Burst, plus an abundance of salt. “So what’s with the dolphins…and the seagull?”

Devon shrugged. “They took human form the first few visits, but it was weird. Either they looked like us, which was weird, or they looked like other people, which was also weird. Sometimes they’re animals—Stanley fancies being a cougar, I don’t know what that’s about—or birds, like Meno here. Sometimes they’re just floaty lights. But they seem to enjoy being dolphins when we’re at the beach.”

“So this…place…isn’t always a beach?”

“God, no. We can even superimpose it on reality—be both places at once. But honestly, wouldn’t you pretty much always rather be at the beach if you could?”

Mia nodded idly in agreement. After another sip she handed the drink to Devon and glanced around to find Seagull Meno waddling about on the sand. “So how bad is it? I know I’m hurt—I must be. I remember being on Romane with Colonel Jenner’s squad during the Metigen assault, then an excruciating pain exploded in my head, then…nothing. Nothing until a few minutes ago.” Or had it been an eternity? She had no recollection of being consciously aware until a few minutes ago, but it felt as if she’d been
un
aware for a very long time.

Seagull Meno pattered over and hopped onto the chaise beside her.

‘
A man who was indirectly working for the Metigens blew up your home on Romane, with me in it. The abrupt severing of our connection caused a massive stroke in your cerebral cortex. You’ve been in a coma since then. Luckily my hardware wasn’t completely destroyed, and Dr. Canivon still had the imaging data she captured for Noetica.

‘At Alex Solovy’s insistence, the Alliance rebuilt me, and I…rebuilt you. In a sense. I helped your brain tissue regenerate and, together with some new biosynth implants, we were able to restart your cerebral processes and restore normal brain activity.’

“Thank you. I’d hug you, but, well, you’re a seagull. And my body? Is it in one piece?”

Devon sat up and dropped his elbows to his knees. “You’ve been lying in a hospital bed for seven months, so you’ll be weak—docs kept all the usual stimulation procedures running, though, so you shouldn’t be in too bad of shape.” His eyes slid away from her. “And your head’s shaved, so be ready for that. I’m sure Meno can grow your hair out quickly for you once they remove all the sensors.”

Bald? She cringed, but recognized it was a small price to pay when she should be dead. “Right. So, the beach is lovely, but I haven’t seen the actual world in a long while. Can I wake up now?”

Seagull Meno fluttered around on the chaise.
‘There is one more thing you need to know. I continue to operate in certain gaps in your brain where we’ve been unable to restore full functionality. Dr. Canivon and I hope this isn’t a permanent dependency, but for now, our connection must remain open. I must be with you always.’

“I’m fine with that, Meno. Remember back on Romane, I said you were part of me now. So you are.” She gazed at the others. “What do I do?”

Devon exhaled in evident reluctance and stood. “Come on, Morgan, time to return to the grind.” He cupped his hands and shouted toward the ocean. “Hey, you two—playtime’s over!” Then he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Close your eyes. It’ll be easier on you.”

She took a deep breath and did as instructed.

Silence fell.

Several seconds passed, and she tried to reopen them. Her lids were sticky and heavy, as if the lashes were glued together. Her eyes watered—it stung—but after considerable coaxing her eyelids opened a sliver. Light seeped in through a hazy, glycerin-coated filter, yet even with the haze her irises recoiled, forcing her lids closed.

A little daunted, she paused to take stock of her situation in other ways. She felt cool fabric beneath her palms and softness beneath her head, evidence she lay on a bed. Not surprising. Now that she listened more closely, there were noises, but nothing noteworthy. Merely the sounds of living.

She steeled herself and tried again, forcing her lids open and blinking rapidly to try to clear the gooey haze.

It was so damn bright. But gradually blurry images solidified: the rail of a hospital bed; a long window to her left; beyond the bed, a closed door.

As the harshness of the real world came crashing in on her, she began to panic.
Meno, where are you? Are you there?

I’m here, Mia. I told you, I’ll always be here.

Is this reality? Truly?

It is.

…All right.

There was movement in the corner of her vision, followed by the warmth of a hand atop hers. “Take your time.”

She struggled to turn her head, shocked at the effort the act required. Hazel eyes and pale ginger hair coalesced into the visage of Dr. Canivon. The woman stood beside the bed, a rare comforting expression softening her features.

“Welcome back to us, Mia.”

8

EARTH

L
ONDON:
E
ARTH
A
LLIANCE
A
SSEMBLY

T
HE
C
HAIRMAN OF THE
M
ILITARY
O
VERSIGHT
C
OMMITTEE
glared down her narrow, prim nose at Miriam. “Admiral Solovy, please explain to the Committee how it is that the most powerful and dangerous weapon in the military’s arsenal—a weapon that would be illegal absent a dubious Executive Order issued by the Prime Minister—is currently entrusted to a civilian who is scarcely more than a child, and why it is you believe this weapon is safe in his hands.”

Miriam displayed no outward irritation at the tone or content of the question. Inwardly she wondered how many more hours she would be forced to subject herself to the condescension emanating from the dais.

The arrangement of the room placed the Committee members in a physical position of authority, raised a full three meters above the witness tables and ensconced behind an imposing stretch of burnished brass paneling. The optics presumably had the desired effect on most witnesses. But she did not rise to Fleet Admiral of the Earth Alliance Armed Forces by being easily intimidated.

They had kept Project Noetica shrouded in complete secrecy for as long as possible, but there were expiration dates on wartime executive orders and oversight checks on wartime actions. The public at large remained ignorant for now, though rumors percolated through various circles. There were no recording devices in the room, and the hearing was sealed not only to the public and the press but also to Committee aides and other members of the Assembly.

But the Military Oversight Committee had spent the last two months rooting through every file, process and record Noetica had produced before calling her to testify. Her
and
Defense Secretary Mori, as they were apparently under the mistaken impression the man had played some definable role in Noetica and the final days of the war.

Mori was a coward, and if he’d been allowed to make decisions of consequence during the war they would all be dead now. Yet in the safety and shelter peace afforded, he’d been granted the role of respected expert and voice of authority. The Secretary’s presence two meters to her right added another layer of distaste to an already thoroughly distasteful affair.

She notched her chin up minutely. “Are you referring to Devon Reynolds, Chairman?”

“Don’t be coy, Admiral. You know perfectly well I am.”

“Mr. Reynolds had been a full-time civilian consultant in the employ of EASC Special Projects for over two years when he became a participant in Project Noetica. As the lead troubleshooter for Project ANNIE and one of the foremost quantum computing specialists in the Alliance, he understood her design, logic and structure better than anyone alive. He and Annie enjoyed a close and collegial working relationship as well. To be blunt, no military candidates came anywhere close to equaling his qualifications.”