“To what end?”
“To fill the entire universe with our collective glory. Ultimately, to fill an infinity of universes. We know of your concept of God. Many of you believe that God was once all there was in the cosmos, until he created playthings to amuse himself.
“Well, we’re a God who requires no playthings. There is only us. There only needs to be us. We will become the God of your religions, the God who existed before he created puny, pathetic, inconsequential species like the human race.
“We are all that matters. All other life exists simply to provide fuel for our expansion, until we learn how to feed on pure energy.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of a dick?” I said emphatically.
“A characteristic display of humor and bravado. Both are hallmarks of your species. Too bad neither will save you from extinction at our hands.”
“Look,” I pressed, “if you don’t want to admit how much we scare you, I get that.”
“We’ve read your mind from cover to cover, Jason Ramsey. It’s clear you’re convinced that humanity and the Federation can’t prevail against us. Even if we weren’t taking the additional steps we’re taking.”
“That’s where you’re making a fatal mistake,” I said defiantly. “Because my intellect may believe one thing, but you can’t read my heart. And that’s the part of the human anatomy that’s going to beat you.”
45
“How’s it coming?” I thought urgently at my nanites. I had also been thinking at the Swarm, but this seemed like speech to me. My communications with the nanite AI, on the other hand, seemed like thought. Somehow the two modes were different enough that the nanites could identify my communications with them and shield these from the Swarm.
“Slower than we’d prefer,” came the reply. “But you’re doing a good job of distracting the hive-mind. Although it is correct, if it were even within five hundred trillion miles of us, it’s intelligence would be overwhelming and would anticipate our every move.”
I wasn’t sure why this last bit was helpful, but I had no time to dwell on it. I needed to continue to distract the enemy.
“So if I’m just a puny bacteria,” I said to the Swarm, “why are you speaking with me?”
“Our plans are on hold until your flimsy mind and body are in sync once again.”
“So I’m just helping you kill some time?”
“Yes.”
“Why not?” I said in disgust. “You’ve managed to kill everything else.”
The hive mind ignored this. “We’re also speaking with you because you managed to do what no other entity ever has: fight us off and recognize our presence in your mind. And we haven’t had a conversation with anyone outside of ourselves in millions of years. Not as ourselves. We’ve had conversations through puppets, but that isn’t quite the same. We’re finding our interaction with you to be a novelty.”
“Yeah,” I said wryly, “turns out this is a novelty for me too. But let’s get back to your grand plan. You never really answered my question. Nick suggested there was more to it than just the computer hack, but that he’d contact me to explain once I was back in Brad’s and the Federation’s good graces.”
“Here is the complete plan. First, you’ll hack the Federation computer and leave the facility. Then—”
“Not me,” I corrected. “I won’t hack anything. You mean that you still plan to hack their computer, controlling my mind, personality, and body. Well, I’ve got news for you, I’ll be fighting like a rabid badger to stop you every step of the way.”
“Fight all you want, we won’t even know you’re there. Would you like us to continue?”
“Yes.”
“Once we direct your borrowed body to leave the facility, Nick will pick us up in what he calls a zip-craft. We’ll then have the Federation command codes, and will quickly use them to implant irremovable command codes of our own.
“Soon after this, we’ll make sure you honor your commitment to the Mark Russell Podcast.”
“What?” I said in disbelief.
“We’ll be able to tap your imprisoned mind, your creativity, to deliver the ultimate broadcast. You’ll disclose our narrative in its entirety. The asteroid ship orbiting Saturn. The fabled Grays and the Federation, both wanting to control and harness humanity for malevolent purposes. The peaceful Benefactors, and the miracle technology they’ve so generously given to humanity, with more to come. Including immortality.”
“Nari will crash the broadcast,” I said.
“Don’t be na?ve. You’ll be broadcasting from the undersea base, and we’ll make sure nothing interferes—with you or the signal. We can’t have anything stopping you—us—from rallying humanity against the Federation. From fulfilling your promise to disclose what’s really going on to Russell’s sizable audience, which, after replays, will include every man, woman, and child on Earth.
“At the end of your first appearance on the show, you claimed you were off in search of evidence robust enough to convince even the most jaded skeptic. Well, you’ll have found it. The evidence Nick has already shared with you. You’ve seen for yourself how compelling it is. You’ll cherry pick the best of it during the show, and put the rest of this vast treasure-trove of proof online for the world to see.”
It would work. These lies would be accepted as truth, just as I had accepted them. Their fake evidence really was overwhelming. But I had to try to plant seeds of doubt in the Swarm.
“You won’t get the reaction you think,” I said. “Humanity is used to fake news that looks perfect. We’re also great at ignoring information we don’t want to believe, no matter how compelling.