Some are concerned about procreation. What of it? If the E10 unit cannot procreate, we will build the knowledge to replace or reinvent procreation. And if not, what need is there for procreation among immortal beings? Children will become mythological.
Arnon D’Bvaym
HANNAH CARRIED CORTEX again as she followed the balding rozie through the twilight maze of Id’s rozie factory. Despite his growling stomach, Cortex almost couldn’t keep his eyes open as Hannah walked. It had been a long, long few days . . . a week? Cortex didn’t know how much time had passed by, but he felt himself at the end of his ability to endure. He realized now that the time he had spent alone did little to refresh his mental fortitude, and, rather than dreading what was coming, he felt a dull resignation. He didn’t even feel angry anymore—Cortex’s righteous anger from before had burned down to a dull ache as his empty stomach growled and complained.
Still, the gentle sway of Hannah’s arms was relaxing, and Cortex could almost forget where he was. He could almost believe that Hannah cared for him . . .
Why is it asleep? It will be of no use to me if its mind is foggy. The thoughts dripped through his mind like a slow-burning acid. Sleepiness quickly fled Cortex’s mind as he opened his eyes and stared at Id’s twisted, disfigured, and uncomfortably close body. He noticed that her one fleshy eye was lazy, staring just to the side of Cortex’s head, but somehow he knew that the green, pupilless glass orb that was her other eye was focused on him with the same serious, deadpan intensity of a hungry viper.
Id chuckled, her throat rasping. I see it awoke. Pity for it, I suppose. Turn it so it can see.
There was a pause, then Hannah turned Cortex in her arms. As she did so, Cortex stared at the cramped, sterile room that he was in. Unlike previous rooms, this one was almost lit to normal levels, although the light still didn’t extend upward enough to reveal where Id’s tubes and wires came from—it merely revealed that the ceiling was higher than Cortex had previously imagined. The walls were a grayish off-white and several chairs were pushed against the far wall. Hannah, Cortex, and Id stood before a large control panel and a thick window. On the other side of the window was an operating room.
Though there were several other things in the operating room, including Id’s two rozie servants, the only thing Cortex processed was the body inside on an operating table. It was a man, fair skinned, blue eyes opened wide in a vacant expression. The top of his head was missing, as was his brain, but Cortex saw his blond, bloody scalp set on a table nearby. Cortex couldn’t pull his eyes away from the bloody, pink bowl that was the man’s empty head. He couldn’t understand what made him so . . . apathetic to this gruesome visage. In his head, Cortex knew he should be disgusted or horrified, but he was too numb to muster up any strong emotion.
He’s not dead, Id said. You were slow in coming and missed the transfer, but there will be another. This fleshy shell of his—meaningless. Let me show you—
The window into the operating room flickered, then an image of Prophet appeared. He still had strangely smooth, shiny skin and his robes were white, but his expression was stern rather than friendly. “I’m becoming concerned about your lack of dedication to finding the core processor, Id. I’ve been informed that you’re spending all of your time enlightening mortal souls when there are higher matters at stake. It’s also concerning to me that you have not cracked the aging technomancer yet, although I accept that may take lower priority—at the moment.”
Cortex saw Id’s lips, on the side of her face that worked, twitch, as though she were holding back a sneer. Then she smiled, an expression that looked ghastly on her partially paralyzed face. Much of my Enlightened were destroyed when that pathetic settlement exploded, Divinity. I cannot hope to capture the core processor without my hands and fingers. And what would the people from the settlement do while they waited enlightenment?
Prophet pursed his lips in annoyance. “I know your capacities—you’re fully able to manage a squad of hunters while you manage your work. You could even have Hannah or Gabriel lead them in the hunt for the core processor—I’ve set them at your disposal, for the time being.”
The one you call Gabriel is already on the task, which I thought sufficient. We have no way of knowing if the core processor survived the explosion anyway—I believe he instigated it. As for Hannah, she informed me that she has a more important work here. Id bowed her head slightly before Prophet as she spoke. Several clear tubes that extended from her back into the darkness above began pumping more rapidly, and Cortex suspected that she was becoming agitated.
“Is that who is in there with you? This camera needs a wider field of view.” Prophet tapped the screen, momentarily making his finger look gargantuan as it covered the entire window. “Yes, Hannah, I see you now. And who is that . . .” Prophet cocked his head and raised a brow as he stared at Cortex. “Oh! I know what room this is, Id, and my apprentice is not prepared to witness enlightenment yet. He doesn’t have the context to comprehend its holiness—he’ll merely be overwhelmed by the grisly details of the moment. I order you to remove him as soon as our conversation is over.” Prophet’s face then softened. “Cortex, I apologize if you witnessed anything distressing. I promise this will all make sense after you’ve come to the Gates of Heaven. I have just a few more preparations to make, and then I will have Hannah bring you here.”
It shall be as you wish . . . Divinity, Id said, her head still bowed. Though the process is already complete. Might I show the boy the fruit of this labor?
Prophet turned his attention back to Id and frowned. “Obey, Id. I would like to have you welcomed by the Hive when I bring Cortex to me, but you must be prepared to assimilate your thinking. If we are not one, then we are nothing. You will remain where you are for now—perhaps you are not as well progressed as I had imagined.”
Is that a ghost of a smile on Id’s lip? Cortex wondered. The woman’s face was twitching strangely.
Prophet looked at Hannah. “My preparations will not take long. Leave after my apprentice is well-rested, and make your journey swift. We’ve delayed too long already. Thank you for caring for him.” Finally, Prophet looked down at Cortex with a smile, his large teeth gleaming. His sudden warmness felt fake to Cortex, given how suddenly he had turned it on. “I look forward to finally meeting you. I promise, all of this will make sense with the proper context. May the Creator be with you.” Then the image wavered and disappeared.
Hannah turned and exited the room without acknowledging Id, Cortex still cradled in her arms. As she walked into the dark hallways beyond, Cortex looked back and saw Id staring at the body in the medical room, hands clenched. He couldn’t begin to imagine what might be running through her mind.
Stomach still grumbling, Cortex was already nodding off in Hannah’s arms again.
#
HANNAH WALKED THROUGH the darkness, carrying the little boy, matching each step with each thrum of inward pain. Hannah decided she liked Id’s factory, and just the factory, if she was still capable of liking anything—it matched the great, cavernous, empty darkness within her. Hannah entered the small bubble of light that marked Cortex’s room, wondering why Id had felt it necessary to remove the walls that once surrounded it.
When nearby, Id filled Hannah’s mind, making it feel lopsided, as if part of her brain had been carved away. It took a great deal of effort, but Hannah cast the woman from her mind to focus on her charge. With the boy’s head resting on her shoulder, breathing evenly, Hannah almost felt sad that the journey had been so swift.
Hannah set Cortex down on his cot, where Cortex immediately flopped onto his back and stared blearily at the darkness above him. He seemed such a small, fragile thing to her, as his eyes fluttered closed and he fought to open them again. His cheeks were still red and curved in a round, babyish way. He whispered something incomprehensible, and Hannah resisted the impulse to lean in and try to catch it. Eventually Cortex opened his eyes and looked at her, then said, “When are we leaving?”
“The Divinity requested that you are recovered before we leave. So, no sooner than after you sleep and eat.” Hannah stood still and stared forward, carefully maintaining a blank expression. Thrum, thrum, thrum: lances of agony continued to pound against her mind like waves. She wanted to move, to do something that could match the rhythm and drown it out.
Cortex, completely oblivious, yawned and rubbed an eye. “Can you sing me a song?”
Hannah looked at Cortex, her expression carefully unreadable, but she felt surprise—and alarm. Cortex’s request had awakened old memories that she preferred to stay buried, lest they bury her. She carefully answered, “I have not sung since I have been Enlightened. I do not believe that I remember any old songs.”
“I have always wondered what it was like . . . to be sung asleep . . .” Cortex’s words slurred.
There was a long pause as Hannah stared at the boy, caught by a feeling she had forgotten, that she couldn’t quite put a word to. Hannah opened her mouth. She no longer knew the notes and sang in monotone, though her voice moved in rhythm with her inward pain.
Hush baby,
It is time now to rest.
Hush baby,
I lay you down in your nest.
Hush bird,
No little cries, let sleep start.
Hush bird,
Rest in your mother’s—
Hannah stopped and stared at the floor. “I do not remember the rest,” she whispered. But the boy was already asleep. Hannah looked up and saw him breathing slowly, mouth slightly open, all the pain and worries of the past few days melted from his face.
Thrum . . . thrum . . . thrum . . .
Hannah clenched her fists and relaxed them, utterly disappointed with how the motors in her hands simulated the feeling of tensing and relaxing muscles. She couldn’t deny that she felt . . . different. The pain was still there, but the great, cavernous darkness within her felt a little smaller.
Cortex murmured in his sleep. Hannah looked at his soft face, then knelt on the ground beside his cot and tried very hard to piece together fragments of memories from before she had been Enlightened.
Copyright © 2023 by David Ludlow
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