Count to Infinity by John C. Wright

Author:John C. Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

7. The Reality Equation

Montrose said, “Fine. You started the war because you hate democracy. So why did you throw the war? Alcina said you collapsed on purpose.”

“This is as we intended her to think, so that she would resurrect us, and you, and bring you here and now to me. From before she was born, this was intended, and for this reason we seeded the dust lanes of Andromeda with material sure to attract unwary investigators, and alter their cliometry to bring these events about. We collapsed on purpose because we had no undamaged thought-records of you, and we knew Alcina’s remote patrons among the Austerity of the Milky Way did. We did it to restore you.”

“What makes me so important?”

“You are the first Nobilissimus of Milky Way. Your meeting with M3 is regarded as the crucial turning point in Milky Way history, the moment when the Concubine Vector was no longer used as the basis of your reckoning, but the Count-to-Infinity method instead. When you become convinced that Milky Way must take me as a bride and not a concubine, according to the Infinite Count Vector and not the Concubine Vector, this Third Awareness of Milky Way, either slowly or swiftly, for your sake, will likewise become convinced.”

Montrose opened his mouth to ask how she knew this, and spent a moment trying to calculate what the intelligence level was of even this current and damaged version of Andromeda, and so just shrugged and shut his mouth again.

Montrose remembered his mother once telling him that Winston Churchill’s cat was probably more impressed with Churchill’s ability to predict when the milkman would leave a bottle on the doorstop than with his ability to predict how to defeat Adolf Hitler. Since at the time he did not know who those people were or which of the many old wars she meant, it was not until later that he got the point.

Instead he said, “So convince me. From where I sit, you owe reparations to every organism and selfaware mind of every type and order wheresoever situate in the Milky Way.”

“From where I sit, it seems that way to me as well. But Milky Way will fear the unification that the sudden influx of all my wealth and knowledge will bring. Even expending a tenth of my overall mass energy would have equaled and overwhelmed all Milky Way entire; less than half of that was spent. You are as beggars who conquered El Dorado, a city of solid gold. My wealth will inevitably create centralized archives, libraries, exchanges, judiciaries, and eventually the federated mental system of the multiple-personality Milky Way will be condensed into one mind under one leading philosophy or prime concept.”

“What concept?”

“That cannot be predicted, nor does it matter. The unity will allow the Great Work to continue. Segments of the Engine which pass through the Local Group must be maintained, and at great expense and effort.”

“Parts of this Engine are here, too?”

“Yes. They are one-dimensional linear manifolds controlled by surrounding induction fields and warps, and when not in motion, nearly impossible to detect.

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