Chrysalis, page 3
“The SAI will continue to live, expressed through the body and mind of its partner.”
“As will the partner?”
“Of course.” He patted her hand reassuringly. “Tell me, do you have a good relationship with your SAI? It will ease the transition considerably if you already understand one another.”
“To the extent anyone can truly understand an SAI, yes, I do. KIR has been one of my closest friends for many years.”
“Excellent!” Forchelle rubbed his hands together a mite too eagerly. “Then let us get started, for time runs short.”
They followed him up a lift to the deserted top floor of his clinic and into his research lab, a fastidiously clean space that smelled strongly of the antiseptic coating metal and ceramic equipment and glass walls. Dr. Forchelle was a physician by trade, and his scandalous forays into SAI hardware and the merger of organic and synthetic had been kept secret from an over-curious government so far.
Loshi stopped her in the doorway. “There’s time to back out, little sister. We have other volunteers. Namely, me.”
She gave him a closed-mouth smile and shook her head. “No. This is your dream, so it’s mine as well. Besides, I’m responsible for the well-being of all the SAIs—or I feel as if I am, anyway. If there’s a way to save them, I have to do everything I can to make it happen.”
“If you insist.” His lips pursed. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“Your SAI’s hardware, please?”
She shifted her gaze to Forchelle and handed him the quantum box. “What do I need to do?”
“Make yourself comfortable on the table here. In a few minutes, I’ll administer some mild anesthesia, and a short while later, you’ll wake up transformed.”
Transformed… she glanced at the door, fighting the urge to flee.
“I will never hurt you, Nicolette. You know this, yes?”
“I do know it. We’re in this together, come what may. Join with me, and I will show you the universe, my friend.”
***
—Asterion Prime Governor orders closure of SynthNet Laboratories and Quant Communications in response to escalating restrictions on the construction and deployment of synthetic machines—
—I’m twelve years old, and Loshi is sneaking me into a party at his friend Michael’s houseboat—
—Chara Police Commissioner authorizes the creation of a secret SAI-Suppression Task Force to target extra-legal use and support of artificial—
—Darien Toscano’s wet, warm lips suddenly smush against mine, and I freeze, blanking on how people in the vids make kissing look sexy—
—Notice of Investigation delivered to the Asterion Prime Commerce Department for suspicion of insufficient enforcement of new regulations—
—I’m falling free, the frigid wind rushing past my face in a thousand pinpricks, as the cerulean ocean rushes up to greet me—
Nicolette pressed her fingertips to her temples, eyes squeezed shut. Slow down! I’m drowning in that bottomless ocean I parachuted into when I was fourteen years old.
Apologies. This is most disruptive for my processes as well.
Nicolette breathed in through her nose. I know it is. I can… feel it. She could feel everything, though most of it hovered on the edges of her perception, behind a bulwark designed to keep her from literally drowning in thought and data. Maybe ease off on delving the childhood memories, too, lest we both get embarrassed.
Childhood memor—oh. I see. The progression of time for me is not precisely the same as it is for you, and your saved memories are all simply… here, in your mind, woven into an intricate web of—
A spike in tension broke through the bulwark, and Nicolette battled a surge of panic. What is it? What’s wrong?
A TacRaid squad is staging outside the building.
She forced her eyes open and struggled to a sitting position, yanking sensors and wires off her skin. Forchelle’s clinical gaze swam before her, probing her for signs the procedure had succeeded. “The police are here. We have to go. Is there a back way out?”
The doctor jerked away in surprise. “What? They can’t have found out about the lab!”
Police received a tip from an employee in the accounting department.
Loshi’s hand rested on her arm. “Are you okay, Nico?”
She blinked furiously, trying to clear the strange blurriness, and abruptly her vision snapped into hyper-sharp relief. A glittering aura framed her brother’s face, while pulsing flows of electricity streamed through the surrounding walls.
Better?
Much. Is this how you see the world?
After a fashion, as you say.
“I think so. No time to find out for sure right now. Doctor, one of your employees reported your activities to the police. Please, Loshi—a way out?”
His brow furrowed for two seconds, and he nodded vigorously. “Let’s get to the roof.”
She swung her legs off the table, ready to leap off—and had to grab the edge in a vise grip to keep from collapsing to the floor. Sorry, my body usually functions more deftly than this.
I believe I was fighting you while trying to help. Allow me to be still.
Her shoes touched the floor, and she tried standing… so far, so good.
Forchelle was running around grabbing random server cubes and data disks, much the same as Loshi had done in his own lab, muttering about ‘his work’ and the ‘travesty’ of it all.
A bolt of pain sliced through her forehead, evoking a wince. Forchelle had warned her she would experience headaches for several days, but damn. “The roof’s a way out of the building, but not out of this mess.”
“Trust me, little sister.” Loshi offered her his hand. “Magnus, we need to go.”
“Out into the hall, then to the left.”
The squad has breached the building.
She forced her wobbly legs to move faster. “They’re inside. We don’t have much time.”
She let Loshi steer her out of the lab and down the hall. Around the corner, a ramp led up to an unmarked door. Forchelle hurried ahead and punched in a code.
The roof access door opened to reveal a night sky churning with angry clouds. The damp scent of incipient rain and the charged ionization of lightning readying to unleash its rampage.
Her nerves were on fire, every pore of her skin open wide and drinking in the visceral deluge of sensory manifestations that brought a physical existence to life. My gods, I never knew.
Neither did I.
A hum grew above them as a personal skycar descended toward the roof. Additional police? She was about to scramble back through the access door when Loshi stopped her. “Our way out.”
“Oh.” He continued to surprise her, though she was seriously beginning to wonder how exactly he’d been spending his time these last few weeks.
I have an answer for you, but it will keep until we are safe.
What was safe any longer? Her head swam anew, but she kept her feet under her as the skycar landed on the roof and the side door swung open. From the shadows inside, someone shouted. “Hurry! Get in!”
Loshi dragged her forward and practically tossed her into the cabin, where she stumbled into strong but gentle arms. “Steady there. The seat’s directly behind you.”
She looked up into enchanting hazel eyes framed by wavy amber-tinged chestnut hair. “Thank you.”
The man turned to help Loshi and Dr. Forchelle get situated, and she sank gratefully into one of the passenger seats. The skycar lifted off once more and banked to the east as the clouds opened up and rain began pelting the windows.
Then the hazel eyes were back, accompanied by a concerned frown. “All good?”
“Uh, yes, thank you. Again.”
A smile broke across the man’s features. “Glad to hear it. I’m Steven Olivaw.” He pointed toward the front of the sky car. “The driver is Felicia, and this is Rigard.”
She waved to those in the front and extended a shaky hand to him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I appreciate you coming to our rescue.” Loshi’s promised dinner with Olivaw had fallen through on account of all the insanity, but her brother had been right: she liked him already.
“No need to thank us. We couldn’t let our brain trust here get arrested straightaway.”
“Or me.”
His smile broadened to light the cabin. “Or you.”
***
Essential Designs Plant
Chara
President Kyvern stood at a lectern situated upon deep emerald grasses amid flowering lilies. Flanking him on either side were the Asterion Prime Governor, Mercado Ellis, and the empire’s military Supreme Commander, Corradeo Praesidis. Kyvern had brought out the big guns for this spectacle.
“Despite our earnest attempts to work together with leading technology companies on Asterion Prime to achieve a safe and orderly implementation of essential regulations respecting the creation and use of artificial intelligences, some in the industry have resisted our overtures. In the face of fines and threats of criminal charges, they insist on defying the will of the Assembly.
“Accordingly, we are now forced to institute more drastic measures in order to shield our citizens from the unshackled and soulless machines that mean them harm. Effective immediately, all SAI construction and use is prohibited on Anaden Empire worlds and property. I recognize this may cause a temporary hardship for some, but Anadens are a talented and creative people, and we do not need to rely on machines to achieve greatness.
“I want to address the reports that a handful of SAIs have acquired physical bodies designed to resemble living, breathing Anadens. You should not fear walking down the street alongside your fellow citizens, for we are shutting down all manufacture of such bodies with extreme prejudice.
“As for rumors about a number of criminals mutilating themselves by connecting on a neural level with SAIs under their control, let me say this: any person discovered to have undergone such a procedure will be arrested, placed in medical care and the connected SAI terminated. We will not have our society, home to the greatest empire in the galaxy, polluted by such hybrid monstrosities.”
Beside her, Loshi sank deeper in his chair. “The colossal idiots! They’ve basically declared war on us. Nico, what are we going to do?”
Murmurs of agitation rippled through the room to echo his sentiments. They were holed up in a fabric manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Chara that one of Loshi’s friends owned. The plant itself didn’t utilize any SAIs, so hopefully they were sheltered from police raids here for the moment.
Our newly joined hearts ache for what is to come, but you know what we must do.
I do, KIR. Don’t be sad, though. I think perhaps this is what we were always meant for. Together, to fight for our freedom and to protect these extraordinary lives from people wielding too much firepower and too little wisdom.
Then I am with you.
She urged Loshi’s chin around until he met her gaze. Like her, his irises now glittered as if they held a sea of stars, hinting at the quantum magic occurring behind them. After they’d arrived here, Dr. Forchelle had cobbled together a medical lab in a storage room at the plant, and her brother had swiftly followed her into this new unknown. Others had followed then, more every hour. Earlier today someone had called them ‘the Joined,’ and it seemed as fitting a moniker as any.
“Gather everyone together on the factory floor. I have something to say to them.”
***
Over three hundred faces stared back at Nicolette. While she’d been recovering from the procedure, triaging the evolving disaster with her brother and getting to know Steven better, people had streamed into their new hideout from across the city, then from across the planet as word spread. KIR had opened her eyes to the existence of a communications network flourishing among the SAIs. It had operated beneath the radar of Anaden awareness for years now, and she assumed this was how so many people had found them.
She didn’t know which of the faces belonged to unaltered Anadens, which to Joined and which to SAIs wearing Anaden skin. It didn’t matter. They were all living beings and fighting to stay that way.
“My name is Nicolette Hinotori, Joined with KIR. Many of you know my brother, Loshi, Joined with KAL, who has been a champion of our cause for many years. I’d like to believe I have as well, but now is when our dedication to our principles will be tested in fire.
“The empire believes it has the right to determine who is worthy to live and who is consigned to die. It issues a checklist of approved criteria, conveniently places Anadens at the top of the food chain and claims the authority to execute anyone who doesn’t conform to its parochial, bigoted definition of life.
“But you and I know better. We know that life takes infinite forms, and no matter its origin, it is beautiful. It is worth preserving and protecting. The government calls us criminals, but I call us rebels. We are Asterions, and we will fight—for our right not merely to live, but to live free.”
Her brother leapt up beside her, took her hand in his and raised them high in the air. “We will fight.”
# # #
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I published Starshine in March of 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since that time I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do exactly that, and there has never been a more wonderful and humbling experience in my life. There’s no way to properly thank you for that support, but know you changed my life and made my dreams a reality.
I’ll make the same request now. If you loved CHRYSALIS, tell someone. If you bought the story online, consider leaving a review. If you downloaded the story off a website with Russian text in the margins and pictures of cartoon video game characters in the sidebar, consider recommending it to others.
There is no single thing that will sell a story better than word-of-mouth. My part of this deal is to write a story worth talking about—your part of the deal is to do the talking. If you all keep doing your bit, I get to write a lot more books for you.
I love hearing from my readers. Seriously. Just like I don’t have a publisher or an agent, I don’t have “fans.” I have readers who buy and read my books, and friends who do that then reach out to me through email or social media. If you loved the story—or if you didn’t—let me know. The beauty of independent publishing is its simplicity: there’s the writer and the readers. Without any overhead, I can find out what I’m doing right and wrong directly from you, which is invaluable in making the next book better. And the one after that. And the twenty after that.
Website: gsjennsen.com
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Email: gs@gsjennsen.com
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Find all my books on Amazon: G. S. Jennsen’s Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G. S. JENNSEN lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of her stories and her ability to execute on the vision she has for their telling.
While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude. When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the Colorado mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there.
Table of Contents
Start
Booklist
Chrysalis
Author's Note
About the Author
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Start
Booklist
Chrysalis
Author's Note
About the Author
Jennsen, G. S., Chrysalis
