Chapter 103 – Twin Cities (1)

Adam blinked and stared, somewhat dumbfounded, at the empty space in front of him. Several long, thin wires ran from an interface at the back of his cervical spine, several of which were connected to a huge copper-coloured machine behind him.

It was a signal reinforcement device he had created from materials already in Lost Paradise, to help him connect to the satellite system controlled by Eden in space. He had started building this machine while Zhang Xun was under house arrest and after his last conversation with Zhang Xun, he had made an interface in his cervical spine that extended to his mechanical brain, allowing him to connect to all external devices. He used this device to communicate with Eden, to determine Zhang Xun's location and to control Enoch from there.

At first, Zhang Xun hadn't included any interfaces on his body in order to make him more human-like, so he couldn't easily access other devices like a robot, but now, he was turning himself back into one little by little.

In addition to the lines connecting the signal intensifiers, other lines extended overhead, connecting to the countless servers with constantly blinking lights. They unfolded densely on the ceiling, hanging in several layers.

This was the world's first human consciousness cloud. The hardware was somewhat rudimentary, after all, the resources available in Lost Paradise were limited, but the functionality was perfect. In a short space of time, several towers had been built in Lost Paradise so the network covered all ten districts and in each city old buildings had been converted into consciousness uploading centres. Anyone wishing to undergo a nanobot transformation and consciousness transfer could go to one of these centres and be infused with nanobots. While the brain was being transformed, the nanobots would also activate the function of sending and receiving data, recording all the brain's consciousness activity and transforming it into a signal to be transmitted to the cloud.

None of the current uploaders had yet chosen to completely detach themselves from their bodies. The nanobots were constantly uploading and re-downloading their consciousness and everyone was sharing everything they could see, hear, feel and even think. Privacy no longer existed and everything was laid bare for all who share it.

The plan was that the first uploaders to be completely disembodied would be those who were terminally ill and dying.

Adam remained underground in the Lab, a vast space converted from three levels of underground space, connecting himself to these servers to monitor the activity of all the data being uploaded. Until the day that Lost Paradise opened up, he could start transferring his consciousness to countless servers around the world.

In the days that Zhang Xun was away, he barely left this space. He could monitor the situation in every corner of every urban area in Lost Paradise at all times through Pan's extension robots. Most of the actual work on the machines, nanobots and uploading devices was done with the assistance of Pan and the other mechanics; he was only responsible for providing specific designs and methods of operation and for testing the results once the hardware had been created.

He divided his attention into two parts. One part stayed here, while the other part had travelled across North America with Zhang Xun.

He had thought he could keep it hidden for a little longer, stay around Ah-Xun for a little longer, but lately Lost Paradise had required so much of his attention that it had led to some uncontrolled and less than sensible decisions slipping out while controlling Enoch, arousing Ah-Xun's suspicions.

As the connection was severed, a great hollow feeling spread silently through his mind. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced before, as if everything had suddenly gone dark and for a moment he wasn't sure of the meaning of what he was doing.

Meaning...... that was something only humans would cling to......

His body didn't feel cold, but cold was the only way to describe how he felt at that moment. If the human part of him was a little more human, if he had been human for a little longer, perhaps he would understand that this feeling was loneliness.

Somewhat numbly, he lifted his hand and unplugged the pieces of tubing that were connected to the signal intensifier. A part of his consciousness was still monitoring the flow of data from everything in the cloud without stopping, while another part, another part that should now begin to deploy its next move, was floating vacantly.

He remembered the way Ah-Xun had looked at him.

He knew that Xun was hurting, not physically, but mentally. For once again, he had deceived him.

Ah-Xun didn't believe that he had followed him all that way, just to protect him, just to...... be with him.

He feared that Ah-Xun would never believe in him again...... that he wouldn't believe that he just wanted to be by his side for a longer time. Even if it was in another capacity, under another name. No longer would Zhang Xun look at him with those somewhat helpless but doting eyes, no longer would he lazily lie on his chest and refuse to get up, no longer would he gently smile and reach out to wipe the chocolate off his mouth.

All those little gestures, those routines between the two of them, those memories that belonged between him and Zhang Xun, were all in the past, never to be repeated. He didn't even know that was their last kiss, the last time they would hold hands, the last time they would make love.

That realisation suddenly made him feel very uncomfortable, as if all the air in his chest had been sucked out and filled with gravel. His mechanical heart actually hurt as if it could feel it too, or maybe it wasn't his heart that was hurting, just his spirit.

He felt like he was being torn apart.

Was this what it felt like to be human? Out of control, scared, helpless.....

It was as if everything had gone back to the beginning, to the early hours of the morning when he had just descended, but no longer did Zhang Xun soothe him with a gentle voice, hold him with warm hands, gaze at him with dark eyes.

At that moment, a combination of gears beside the metal door directly opposite began to turn, driving the heavy door slowly open. The Sixth Chief, Jian Mo and the psychologist, Patty, entered.

For a moment, all the expression that had been on Adam's face disappeared. He sat up straight and slowly lifted his head, curving his mouth into an elegant and polite smile, "Good evening."

The Sixth Chief didn't look too good and said coldly, "There have been disturbances in the Tenth District, Eighth District and Second District today after Eden announced a reduction in our threat level."

Adam kept his smile, "Any change will stir up ripples. It was to be expected and by now a few of those leading the riots have been brought under control and none of the rest can stir anything up. After all, most of the people would still prefer to live in peace with the outside world."

Patty whispered, "For two hundred years we have presented ourselves as the last bastion of masculinity and until not long ago we were propagating hostility towards women and AI. Without the Honey Plague I'm sure that wouldn't have changed. I think we're proceeding too fast and this is likely to cause people to lose their sense of belonging and not find their place."

Adam looked to the psychologist who was always so low key that he couldn't be found when put into a crowd, "May I ask if you have any suggestions?"

"If we are to open up Lost Paradise, we need to do it gradually. We could start by opening up trade exchanges. Start by introducing some of the outside world's technology and entertainment products to break some of the stereotypes. We should also export some of the things we have that the outside world doesn't. After all, the ordinary world has the same extreme impression of us."

"Your suggestion is valuable and I will consider it carefully." Adam replied formulaically, although he had thought of all these details already.

The Sixth Chief continued, "There's still a significant portion of the Guard that harbours sympathy for Zhang Shuo. You have repeatedly stressed that Zhang Shuo must not be touched, but it would be legally unjustifiable not to deal with him. After all, he did spread rumours about the Consciousness Cloud and blatantly disobeyed the orders of the Round Table, causing bad publicity. Moreover, he is Zhang Xun's father and we should take advantage of that."

"Zhang Xun is not currently a threat to us."

"But he certainly will be a threat to us." The Sixth Chief said solemnly, "You don't think he's going to run away and just disappear from sight, do you? Zhang Xun tried to kill you and he was also the one who completed your descent. Even Pan was built by him. He knows too much about our inner workings and it's hard to say if he'll unite with certain forces to deal with us."

"Sixth Chief, that's an issue I think we've already agreed on." Adam's smile narrowed and his expression condensed slightly, "Zhang Xun and Zhang Shuo are within my charge, do not get involved."

"If they're going to be a threat to Lost Paradise, of course I'm going to get involved!"

The smile on Adam's face disappeared. He slowly rose from that armchair and took a few steps forward regardless of the various tubes attached to the back of his head. He was of similar height to the Sixth Chief, but the Sixth Chief, who was being watched by Adam, had the illusion of being looked down upon.

A sense of being mentally overwhelmed and suffocated.

"If you question my decision making, we can always terminate all plans." Adam said in a calm and emotionless voice.

Terminating all plans would mean that both the Consciousness Cloud project and the plan to open up Lost Paradise would come to a halt, Eden might raise the threat level of Lost Paradise again and those robot soldiers would come back...... and everything they had done before would be for naught.

It couldn't be a more obvious threat.

The Sixth Chief had begun to sense that Lost Paradise had become too dependent on Adam and Pan and that Pan had been controlled by Adam's influence. The voice and prestige of the Round Table was rapidly diminishing.

Without Zhang Xun, no one seemed to be able to control Adam any longer. Although Jian Mo was nominally Adam's mechanic, he was more like Adam's puppet.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Jian Mo came forward and said in a softer voice, "Adam, how are your headaches?"

Headaches, an additional symptom that had been present since Zhang Xun had detonated the mini-bomb that had almost killed him, but Jian Mo had checked his human and mechanical brain parts and found no problems.

"Nothing's changed." Adam replied simply, "But I'm used to it."

"Do you think we should continue to increase the number of uploads? At what point will you not have to continue monitoring?"

"At the moment our cloud is carrying very few people, I'd like to wait until we reach at least 30,000 visits before I let it run automatically. At the rate the uploaders are growing, I expect to reach that number in about a month's time." Adam said, looking again at the Sixth Chief, "Have you thought about who you want to meet with the President of the United States?"

The Sixth Chief nodded, "I will go myself."

"Are you sure? The journey will be a risky one."

"This is the first time Lost Paradise has appeared in front of the ordinary world press, it can only be me."

Adam nodded and after a moment continued, "In a month's time, when the consciousness cloud has stabilised, I'm going to make a trip to Feathered Serpent City."