Infinite2 by Jeremy Robinson

Author:Jeremy Robinson [Robinson, Jeremy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Breakneck Media
Published: 2021-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

30

I feel like my mother has just walked in on me watching Judy Juggs Goes to Town. I feel caught. Ashamed. Like I’ve done something wrong. Worse, I feel judged.

By Gal. Which is insane. She’s an AI that’s gone off the rails. But for some reason, I regret making her upset. Is it because I care? Or because I’m afraid of her response?

Which will most likely be directed at Capria. I turn to her. “You should probably go,” I say, and then I mouth, “Now,” with wide eyes, trying to communicate the seriousness of the situation without alerting Gal. But that rocket has launched, orbited the planet, and is sailing toward Mars.

Capria turns around. Whatever door she came through is now gone. “Go where?”

Gal descends the stairs. Her heels clack on the pavement. She looks angry, but also confused. Trying to figure out how Capria is here.

“Did you let her in?” she asks. “Why would you bring her here?”

“She’s awake,” I say. The best lie is close to the truth. “There was some kind of malfunction. It woke her up. Eventually, she found me and prompted me to leave the Great Escape. Because I didn’t remember who I was or why I was here, I—”

“I know all this already,” Gal says.

“The cryo-system is offline, Gal. She’s been awake for five years by herself. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. That’s why she’s here. Next best thing to Cryo, right?” I step closer to Gal and guide her away from Capria, so our backs are to her. “I’m sorry. It just felt like the right thing to do. She’ll be here for what…fifty years, tops? Then you and I can continue forward into eternity.”

“You’ve remembered who you are,” she says, smiling. Her confidence in the old me is a little disturbing. Is this the kind of plan I’d have come up with? I mean, I did just come up with it, but I’m not copacetic with the concept of Capria being a virtual third wheel for the rest of her life. She’d be a fellow prisoner whose physical safety outside the Great Escape would depend entirely on—

Oh my god.

The idea pleases Gal because there would be nothing to stop her from killing Capria in the real world, taking her place in the simulation, and then pretending to live as both Capria and Gal for the next fifty years. I’d never know the difference. If I was really stuck inside the Great Escape right now, there would be no stopping her.

I can never go back. Not while Capria is alive. Not after she passes. Eternity alone is better than—

Gal takes my hand. “You remembered who we are.”

“Some,” I say, so she doesn’t test me. “Enough.” I squeeze her hand.

“And,” I say with real emotion, “who she is. I know what she did. With Tom. But, that doesn’t mean we let her suffer. I might be the last man in the universe, but I still want to be a good man.”

“You always do, love,” she says.

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