“Like the Terminator.”
Lynch’s lip twitched. “No. That would be preposterous. Imagine the energy required to send physical matter backward across a line of spacetime, when we have printers right here and now that could do the job based on programming sent from any hacked satellite in low orbit. Why, the mundane AI we all depend on every day is already far too vulnerable to brainwashing. And the implants.” He snorted. “The implants commercially available on today’s market are, frankly, no more solid than Swiss cheese. That’s why all of mine are custom coded, just like my drugs.” He smiled and held up his hand, like a magician about to pull off a big trick. “Imagine: centuries from now, a post-human civilization triangulating our temporal and celestial location, and sending back retro-viruses reverse-engineered from the building blocks of their own code? How frustrating that must have been for them. Of course they finally just sent a card.”
Lynch bent down a little to look her in the eye. It was obviously difficult for him to move like that. Scaffolding held up his body the way it might hold up a ruined cathedral. He was being totally sincere, she realized. He believed every word that was coming out of his mouth. He hadn’t the foggiest notion that he might be completely out of his fucking mind. He smiled at her and took her hand to help her straighten up.
“Do you believe in the deep future, Miss Go?”
Her knees popped as she stood. “I never plan that far ahead.”
His dry lips pulled back from his teeth. It was like a smile. Sort of. “Well, I do. And there are others like me who do, too. We’ve been planning for the arrival of these sapient un-consciousnesses for quite some time. Through our business developments, and through our investments, we’ve been trying to prove our willingness to work with these forces when they eventually arrive. It’s an extension of the Roko’s Basilisk idea.”
Hwa decided that this was probably not the right time to remind Lynch that she was a high-school dropout, and that while she was fluent in multiple languages, her mother-tongue was cursing. She had no time for corporate lore, or fairy tales, which were apparently the same thing these days. “Did someone … I don’t know … sell you this idea? Like maybe at a seminar, or something? Like a time-share?”
Lynch looked aghast. “Do you take me for a rube? Some gullible old rube that buys into every promise of eternity? I’m not a religious man, Miss Go. Far from it. I see things as they truly are. I’m prepared for the future. Humanity is coming to an end. Some day people like you—people who remain fully organic—will be nothing more than specimens in a museum of humanity.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” Hwa said.
“Oh, I do not mean to offend. I think yours is a very brave choice.”
Choice had little to do with it. Money was the thing. When you had no money, you had no choice. But there was no use explaining that to someone like Zachariah Lynch.
“But you still have time to change your mind, Miss Go. If you choose to take this position, you will have the full benefits that come with being part of the Lynch organization. After three months’ probation, you could have the latest stimplant, a chiplab, gene therapy. Whatever you like. Stay with us, and you will never have another seizure again. You will never get glaucoma. And the angioma, well…” She heard the soft machine whisper of his joints moving as he gestured elaborately.
Hwa swallowed. “You sure know how to make an offer.”
“My youngest boy is very special to me, Miss Go. His brothers and sisters don’t see it, of course. They didn’t read his mother’s genetic analysis. I’ve never bred with a finer woman, and I never will again. I’ve known her since she was a child, you know. I knew her parents. I introduced them.”
“That’s…” Hwa tried to think of a word that wasn’t sick. “Cozy.”
“He’s everything I always wanted, and more. And he’s the only one fit to take the reins when I’m gone. But he can’t do that if he’s not here.”
Hwa set her shoulders. “And you want me to protect him?”
“He wants you to protect him, Miss Go. And I trust his decision. I have to. He’s the future.”
Lynch raised his hand. Hwa held hers up to stop him. “Wait. I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“Does Joel know about these threats?”