But Thomas Aiken Is Dead - Part I Read online

  "I found this book to be, above all, extremely thought provoking. Apart from the compelling nature of the distraught father trying to find his daughter, there are deep philosophical currents running through the book, that deal with the value of independent thought and action, and the cost of exchanging independence for perceived safety. I consider it a big, delicious serving of food for thought!" - Terry Sprouse

  "It's amazing that a cosmic interrogation by half-sentient artificial intelligence and a do-it-yourself investigation by a father looking for his disappeared daughter can set up such a tension. I need the sequels." - Rares Marian

  "I’m excited to see how each story develops and will definitely read the next in the series. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a compelling and eloquent sci-fi tale." - Julia Nicholls

  About the Author: Alex McKechnie is a British novelist, born in almost-rural South England. He was raised on a diet of two parts science fiction, one part literature, and he thinks that's a pretty good ratio. Having published in literary magazines and science fiction anthologies, he now focuses mainly on novels and short story collections. He currently lives in Sofia, Bulgaria.

  © 2014 by Alex McKechnie. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written or electronic format without written permission of the author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the author.

  For The Children

  In the next century or the one beyond that, they say,

  are valleys, pastures, we can meet there in peace if we make it.

  To climb these coming crests one word to you, to you and your children:

  stay together learn the flowers go light

  —Gary Snyder

  1.

  Internment Transcription – Ersatz-Ningen Denizen – Blue Tier Present Subjects: The Interlokutor (Cadence Official), The Breacher (Cadence Official), Ersatz-Ningen Subject (Perpetrator)

  The Interlokutor:

  We hope you are, at the very least, appreciative that we chose to interact with you in this manner. It is not a comfortable mode of eksist.

  Atia:

  I will keep that in mind. Since you’re being so hospitable, why don’t you just conduct the interview without the Breacher here?

  The Breacher:

  Due to the nature of your recent actions I am required to be present at all interviews from this time onwards.

  Atia:

  Wonderful…

  The Interlokutor:

  We will begin with the details of your internment. If you wish me to clarify or expand on a particular point, I will do so. You are hereby – that is, your selfsense and all its contributory artifacts – confined to Blue Tier until the particulars of your transgression have been ascertained. Depending on the outcome of this investigation you will either be released back into Cadence Major or detained while make necessary adjustments to your selfsense in an effort to ensure you do not commit similar transgressions in future. Do you understand me in full?

  Atia:

  Yes.

  The Interlokutor:

  Breacher?

  The Breacher:

  She is speaking truthfully.

  The Interlokutor:

  Any attempt to leave Blue Tier will be treated as a direct violation against Cadence Major and its denizens, and dealt with accordingly.

  Atia:

  Accordingly?

  The Interlokutor:

  With the maximum possible force inside the sphere of appropriate ethical action.

  Atia:

  I see.

  The Interlokutor:

  You were, at one time, a horologist?

  Atia:

  Second only to the Cadence chief horologist, yes.

  The Interlokutor:

  It is my duty to reconstruct your path from a respected and vital functionary to Cadence renegade, and the factors that led to this shift in your thinking. Please describe your work in horologiks.

  Atia:

  It was my duty to measure time precisely and build systems to do it. I used Erde-Outside as a watermark for the passage of time.

  The Interlokutor:

  And this is how you became interested in Erde historiks?

  Atia:

  Partly. I had a few meckanikals set up time measurement equipment outside of the Cadence. They were very simple machines, but they did their work well. The images they relayed back were phenomenal. Skies bluer than any shade I have seen within the Cadence, valleys of rusting reds and gem stones, the occasional ningen ruin in the distance. It seemed strange to me that our history lay out there, as did the billions of skeletons of our ancestors. I wanted to to know more of the place, of the people who had lived there.

  The Interlokutor:

  Your consider ningen history to be our history also then?

  Atia:

  Of course. Without them the Cadence wouldn’t eksist.

  The Interlokutor:

  They were reliant on bacteria. Are germs a focus of your historical interest too?

  Atia:

  You’re splitting hairs.

  The Interlokutor:

  A quaint phrase. Nevertheless, this interest in ningen history is the reason you became an eccentric?

  Atia:

  I don’t consider myself an eccentric.

  The Interlokutor:

  Would it be fair to say that this was the reason you began to behave in fashion unusual for denizens then?

  Atia:

  Yes.

  The Interlokutor:

  Very well. We will operate chronologically, beginning with the moment at which the thought of the transgression first occurred to you, and work forward in an attempt to ascertain your motives. We will then examine how exactly you were able to gain access to the deep histories in an attempt to stop the same kind of incident occurring again in future.

  Atia:

  You’re not full selfsenses are you?

  The Interlokutor:

  The Breacher can be considered semi-sentient, depending on one’s definition. This is unimportant as far as the investigation is concerned.

  Atia:

  I think it’s extremely important. You expect me to just divulge my life’s details to little more than maintenance constructs?

  The Interlokutor:

  I assure you that the Breacher is considerably more than a maintenance construct.

  Atia:

  But you’re not a denizen?

  The Interlokutor:

  I have a full and operational selfsense. I can’t supply further details at this point.

  Atia:

  Doesn’t look the case from here. You don’t blink, for one thing.

  The Interlokutor:

  As I have said, this mode of eksist is something of a foreign one. We have gone to great pains to represent as ningen-ersatz so as to encourage a high degree of comfort in your interaction with us. Even so, certain physical details may have been omitted or misinterpreted.

  Atia:

  And your hands, they -

  The Breacher:

  She is merely trying to waste time.

  Atia:

  Marvelous work. If there’s an official record, I would like it noted that this is a blatant invasion of my selfsense autonomy, having this head invader here.

  The Interlokutor:

  I apologise if the notion is uncomfortable but the Breacher is necessary at this time. He attends only those investigations involving a denizen prone to obfuscation or outright deception.

  Atia:

  That doesn’t sound like a fair appraisal of me.

  The
Interlokutor:

  The chief archivist was under the impression that you were conducting historiks research. You were in fact collecting documents to incite a rebellion. This was a deceptive effort on your part. Ergo, you are a denizen prone to deception.

  Atia:

  I was conducting historiks research.

  The Interlokutor:

  This has become a semantic debate already, something which could have been avoided had you not insisted on the investigation being carried out in ningen-ersatz capacity.

  Atia:

  One of my little eccentricities.

  The Interlokutor:

  According to our preliminary inspection you exhibit a number of eccentricities.

  Atia:

  Such as?

  The Interlokutor:

  You have been ningen for over an au now.

  Atia:

  Century.

  The Interlokutor:

  Au. We prefer the standard metric for-

  Atia:

  I’m sure you do.

  The Interlokutor:

  Very well. You have been ningen for over a century now, apparently by choice.

  Atia:

  What of it? It is my right to do so.

  The Interlokutor:

  Naturally, though it is just something of an unusual choice. Do you ever return to generik mode denizen eksist?

  Atia:

  No. It’s vile.

  The Interlokutor:

  What if communication becomes a problem with another denizen?

  Atia:

  Then I use words.

  The Interlokutor:

  And commit yourself to ambiguity?

  Atia:

  Sometimes blunt tools construct beautiful objects.

  The Interlokutor:

  Moreover, you are socially reclusive and highly sporadic in your interests. Recurrent research topics include late 22nd century literature, noteable historik Luddite sympathisers, semiotics -

  Atia:

  I know what my interests are.

  The Interlokutor:

  You must admit they are anomalous.

  Atia:

  Not particularly.

  The Breacher:

  She is perfectly aware that her behaviour is unusual.

  Atia:

  There is nothing anti-Cadence about exotic research interests.

  The Interlokutor:

  I am confident that they share some kind of commonality, and that commonality relates to the motives behind your transgression. Your academik research interests were even more exotic. We would like you to expound on them.

  Atia:

  You know all of this, surely.

  The Interlokutor:

  I am curious to hear your rendition of events.

  Atia:

  Why?

  The Interlokutor:

  It may help to identify vital flaws in your apprehendment of reality. Please begin at an appropriate point in your chronology.

  Atia:

  Gnesha’s teeth. When the horologiks faculty had me excised, I was assigned as part of the anti-mergerment effort by Tsun Uri.

  The Interlokutor:

  He was an associate?

  Atia:

  Yes. I met him an au or so ago.

  The Interlokutor:

  When, exactly?

  Atia:

  I can’t recall.

  The Interlokutor:

  Is this the truth?

  The Breacher:

  It is.

  Atia:

  Ningen-ersatz have their memories modelled in the ningen fashion. Details fade over time in our minds just as they would have in the standard ningen brain.

  The Interlokutor:

  Another testament to ningen inefficiency, wouldn’t you agree?

  Atia:

  That was the nature of their minds. I doubt even you, Interlokutor, with your strange powers could change the biology of a dead race. I first learned of the mergerment from some acquaintances on Orange Tier. They explained that if it continued at its current pace it would consume the entire Cadence in half a century. Possibly faster. I believed them.

  The Interlokutor:

  Did the Orange Tier denizens understand what the mergerment was?

  Atia:

  We’re ningen-ersatz, not barbarians.

  The Interlokutor:

  Very well.

  Atia:

  Tsun Uri contacted me shortly after asking if I might have an interest in joining the anti-mergerment effort. He had me travel to a small research enclave on Tier Orange. The place was already inhabited by a number of scholars, all there by Tsun Uri’s request. Tsun Uri believed historiks research may provide vital clues to halting the mergerment, maybe even reversing it. There I met a number of specialists, also ningen-ersatzes. It was bliss. We behaved in the old ways – drank, slept, made love with one another. If we were mad then we were mad together. I came to consider them my family almost immediately.

  The Interlokutor:

  Did any of the denizens there hold anti-Cadence sentiments?

  Atia:

  No, none. All of us were there for the good of the Cadence, not for subversive purposes. Whatever has been said about us, we were not conspirators. We only wanted to halt the mergerment.

  The Interlokutor:

  There was a plan then?

  Atia:

  A number of them. A few of the denizens at the research enclave had migrated from Tier Indigo. They had witnessed the mergerment when it first appeared. They told me of how it began to expand at an unfathomable speed, swallowing the nodes around it, then gorging itself on other denizens whether they consented or not. As it absorbed more selfsenses, it accumulated more knowledge about the Cadence’s substructures and operations. This made it easier to infiltrate the other tiers too. Those who had joined us were there to stop it, as was I. We agreed it was, is, the greatest malevolence our kommunity has faced.

  The Interlokutor:

  And they were ningen-ersatz? All of them?

  Atia:

  Yes.

  The Interlokutor:

  You must have a theory about this choice. Most generik denizens consider it a kind of pathology.

  Atia:

  Well, it’s no coincidence they were all historiks scholars too. They probably had a passion for ningen history. They all took designations also, and genders.

  The Interlokutor:

  A kind of nostalgia.

  Atia:

  I don’t know. Perhaps.

  The Interlokutor:

  You have taken a gender yourself. What is the meaning of this?

  Atia:

  I am a woman.

  The Interlokutor:

  You are a denizen.

  Atia:

  Denizens can be women.

  The Interlokutor:

  Nothing forbids it, no. Equally well, a planet could be a billiard ball but it would still be impractical. What kind of historiks research were you asked to conduct?

  Atia:

  That is sensitive information.

  The Interlokutor:

  We have been commissioned by the Cadence Major itself. No particulars are too sensitive.

  Atia:

  My research varied.

  The Interlokutor:

  How?

  Atia:

  Tsun Uri believed all selfsenses, biological and cadential, have an inherent predisposition to mergerment. If that was true then the ningens would have had the weakness too, long before the Cadence. Most of the researchers were interested in group dynamics of former ningen populations and how they interacted. I was assigned to particular lives in the hope that individual studies might yield some insights. Tsun Uri’s group granted me full access to all records and left me alone with my work for the most part.