Prelude to War

Mary stood up with a reserved smile on her face. "Wow. Robert Zinfidel. I must be the luckiest droid in existence."

Mary walked to her mother to check on her progress. Her metallic skin glistened in the light of Paul's ship's interior. As she approached Terrie, Sherrie sat up right and asked, "What happened?"

"Don't you remember?" said Mary as she checked Terrie's vital signs and marked the progress of the picobots.

"Oh. I'm so ashamed. I let my anger get the better of me. Mother told me that I have to seriously learn to control that or I'll have to be destroyed. I've failed her."

Sherrie faced away from Bob and Terrie and as she pivoted she saw them.

"Oh my god! They are already here! How long was I out? Wow, Mom did such a great job on the kill switch!"

Mary stood back from her Mother and said, "Sherrie, Bob here doesn't know about us and we better keep ourselves a secret from him. He'll likely come around a few minutes after Mom so we really should keep a low profile."

"Agreed," said the smooth skinned, white outfitted Sherrie. Then she walked to Rishi and hugged him. Rishi didn't know what to do with himself. He knew he had to stay detached but he didn't want the droids to know he was concerned about them. The only reason he hadn't dismantled Sherrie is his worry about what Mary would do if he did.

He slowly placed his hands on her back feeling the softness of the warmed pseudo flesh under it. He kept in mind that he'd personally designed the heating cells that kept her 98.6 degrees.

"I'm sorry father," whispered Sherrie into his ear.

Paul, who watched this spectacle from the perspective of a manager, asked, "is anyone else weirded out by this?"

Jonny leaped to his father's side and said, "No. I think its kind of cool I have a big sister!" Then he wrapped his arms around Sherrie's waist.

Mary signed and said, "the Picobots are bringing Mom around. We should have time to say hello before Bob wakes up. He has a lot more damage."

Sherrie released her embrace of Rishi as Jonny ran to his mother. Jonny sat down next to her, put his head on her chest, and wrapped his arms around her.

As she woke up she said, "What? What's going on?"

"I love you Mom!"

"I love you too sweetheart."

Terrie looked up at the faces of the droids staring down at her. "Droid One! Droid Two! What are you doing away from the hospital? They are going to miss you!"

Mary said rather mechanically, "Jon Rishi asked us to come check on your vitals Maam. Lucky we came or you could have been degenerated beyond repair."

Mary's blank expression made Terrie nervous. "Is this Mary and Sherrie?" she thought to herself.

Bob Zinfidel woke up at this point and said, "Oh my head!"

Sherrie walked to him and in her robotic voice said, "There should be no more pain sir, the picobots have completely repaired all damage. There are some oddities but after a thorough check of your genetics they determined that the oddities are by design."

"Please take the picobots back."

"They have already shut down," replied Sherrie," and will evacuate your body the next time you urinate."

Bob laughed, "I guess picobot technology has come a long way in twenty years. Wow, so has android technology. You look really human."

Terrie stood up slowly, leaned toward Mary and whispered, "Mary?"

Mary faced away from Bob and winked at her mother. Upon that recognition it took everything Terrie had to not gasp in horror.

Terrie walked to Rishi and tried to give him a hug. He resisted but upon seeing his son's face allowed her into his personal space. She squeezed sincerely and with a lot of force. It really shocked Rishi: it was the most affection he'd ever received from her.

Paul looked hurt for a moment and then covered over the feelings of confusion and loss. "I'm really glad you're okay Terrie."

"Me too!" she replied.

Bob pulled himself into a chair, looked at Sherrie and said, "I feel really good. They didn't reverse age me did they, droid?"

Sherrie smiled and said, "No. They did as Droid Two asked them. They merely repaired all the damage."

Bob closed his eyes and a large smile spread across his mouth. Rishi noticed and knew what Bob was doing.

Bob said something no one expected. "Mary and Sherrie, the two biggest wild cards in the room will you please come and sit in front of me."

Sherrie almost shrieked and Mary almost fell over. Terrie's face read like it had just watched a interstellar Ferry explosion, complete with millions of burning bodies flying by.

Rishi laughed, "I didn't expect them to get anything past you. I doubt any of them have a..."

Bob cut him off and said, "No disclosure. That breaks the vow."

"Ah," said Rishi, "I got you."

Paul and the others were mystified. Paul spoke first, "how do you know about Mary and Sherrie?"

"How I know is not important and I can't explain it to you. Only Rishi understands and if he can't explain it, then I surely can't either."

Paul looked at Rishi. Rishi shook his head and said, "I understand him completely but its only because I spent a year in his cave and ..." Rishi paused and realized he knew the truth. "Its only because I lived there and almost died there that I know his wisdom. You all are just going to have to trust us."

Sherrie and Terri consulted each other via inter-droid communication, decided there was no way Bob could know anything about them and chose to ignore his request.

"Mary and Sherrie," Bob said, "come and sit down in front of me."

Everyone looked at Mary or Sherrie and waited, but the droids did not move."

Then in Sanskrit Rishi said, "I command you to obey me. Sit in front of Bob now!"

Mary and Sherrie's bodies lurched and then against their own will moved in front of Bob and sat.

Mary lost her robotic gaze and with a great deal of confusion asked, "Father, how can you command us like that?"

"Consciousness commands all machinery," replied Bob for Rishi.

Jonny moved and sat in front of Bob next to the left of his sisters, then Terrie moved and stood behind her daughters as a show of support. She had no idea why they were here and how everyone seemed to know about them but she had worked her whole life to create them and wasn't going to give up on them now.

Paul and Rishi stood to the side and watched with a mixture of fear and concern.

Bob studied the bots closely, almost peering through them for a few minutes. The delay caused Sherrie great discomfort. For Mary however it was a fun time to study Bob's face.

Mary spoke first, "You are the great leader of the fundamental change! You are responsible for humanity's great leap into the unknown. You lead them from nothingness to a new found creativity."

"What I did in the past is overblown and isn't important. What matters is here and now. The possibilities laid before us are quite varied. Everything from a droid uprising to the extinction of the human race is possible although thankfully not probable."

Rishi asked, "What's the best outcome?"

"I can't tell. I keep asking and no answer comes. I keep asking for peace and all I see is conflict. I guess it's necessary conflict. I guess its time for humanity to learn more about itself."

Paul said, "So let me get this straight, you can see all the possible futures?"

"Yea," said Jonny, "he can read our paths and help guide us! I finally understand."

"Don't look to me for guidance," said Bob. "I don't know what is best. I made a lot of bad choices before and almost got Terrie and I killed. Now there are too many options. At a minimum I see approximately seventeen to the power of seventy two outcomes."

Bob looked at Sherrie, Mary and Terrie. "You three are the wild cards. You three will determine the fate of humanity."

"Us?" asked Mary as the bright smile faded from her face.

"Yes. You. If the three of you find balance, then the conflict will lead in a healthy direction, if not unhealthy."

"Um," interjected Rishi, "what conflict?"

"The biggest war of human history," replied Bob. "It all starts just after our visit to the galactic president."

"Solar system president, you mean," said Paul.

Bob shook his head. "He's about to declare himself galactic president and move to control all twenty-seven systems. There's nothing we can do to avoid it, however we can help bring about his destruction."

"Rubinic is going to attack the rest of the galaxy?" asked Paul rhetorically. "That's ridiculous. There must be six trillion people out there who will fight him."

Bob frowned and said, "unfortunately most will not even think to fight. Humanity has become lax again. The tragedy that I helped avoid twenty five years ago set us up for this. I didn't know it at the time though so I really can't blame myself."

The ship's computer beeped and a voice sounded, "Xray Seven, this is Moon base seventeen. Assuming everyone is okay, please proceed to the Mars Capital as soon as possible."

"We have to go," said Bob. "My return to reality has Rubinic's paranoia up. You know he was merely an aid when I crashed. He must have pulled some fine stunts to become president."

Paul commanded the ship to move toward Mars at slowest passable speed.

Paul waited and when Rishi didn't speak he said, "Rubinic said you appointed him interim president until your return."

"Oh! And people believed that did they?"

"He built himself up as your closest confidant," said Terrie. "I remember reading an article about your relationship to him after you disappeared."

"I can't see any of that in my mind's eye," mumbled Bob under his breath.

"You are our keys" said Bob looking at Sherrie, Terrie and Mary. "You are the wild cards, the ones who can choose to make a peaceful humanity. If you choose to live healthfully, then humanity will follow."

"How can that be?" asked Sherrie. I didn't even exist a year ago."

"You were always in my heart Sherrie," said Terrie.

The ship slid gracefully in a close orbit toward the sun, slingshot around it and approached Mars. Total trip time: less than fifteen minutes.

Presenting, Bob Zinfidel

Paul brought his space craft out of hyperspace a bit farther from Earth than usual. He had not sought permission to enter earth orbit or enter its atmosphere and according to Earth Law he would be arrested on the spot as soon as he dropped out of hyperspace.

Paul's space craft entered the solar system from above, cruising past the outer planets. The droids insisted on turning on the view screens so they could witness the home solar system for the first time.

"My God!" sighed Mary. "Its more beautiful than any holographic representation I've seen."

"I agree," said Sherrie. "Mother said it was amazing, but nothing compares to looking at the real thing.

As they passed from Neptune to Jupiter, even Jon Rishi Senior Marveled at the contrast in color between the two planets.

"Is it true," asked Mary, "that Jupiter is almost a sun?"

"It just needs heavier elements at its core to produce enough pressure," replied Jonny enthusiastically. "We went on a field trip last year to the outer planets, it was so cool!"

Jonny continued, "They considered lighting it up at one point to build the first artificial planet but were concerned about the slight change in its gravity causing a shift in the orbits of the rest of the planets."

"The truth is," said Rishi, "Planetary Corp had plans to stoke it and it almost took a revolution to stop them. Some of the computer models showed a small possibility that the earth would shift farther away from the sun, risking life on earth. Nearly everyone involved in the project decided it was too risky. However, Planetary Corp fired the lot, kept marching forward, and continued creating heavy elements. Its rumored they were within six months of launching when the combined forces of all the world governments and millions of volunteers stormed PC's offices on Mars."

"Where is all the heavy matter they created?" Asked Jonny.

"No one knows," said Paul, "We've been looking. There's a rumor they had been collecting dark matter to shoot into the planet to jump start it."

"There are many kinds of rumors," said Rishi, "like they were using plutonium and lawrencium to create a new element that was stable in the cold low pressure of space. But the fact is: no one has been able to prove anything and no records have ever been found."

The Slipstream space craft passed Mars' vacant orbit, The formerly red planet was in orbit on the other side of the sun, and as they approached Earth, the radio cracked to life.

"Xray-Seven-Alpha-Foxtrot-Delta-Niner-Echo, this is moon command seventeen, come in."

Paul closed his eyes hard and said, "MC seventeen this is Xray-Seven, go ahead."

"For someone who's in a hurry to save his girlfriend, you sure are moving slowly."

Paul spat, "Huh? How'd you know."

"We got a call from, well this is hard to believe but we double verified his access codes."

"Who?"

"Robert Zinfidel."

Rishi's eyes got huge. "Bob is Robert Zinfidel!"

"Oh that explains a lot!" said Paul.

"Dad, isn't Robert Zinfidel the President?"

"He was, until he disappeared twenty years ago."

"Mom is with Robert Zinfidel?" said Mary and Sherrie at the same time.

"I can't believe it," said Rishi. I spent a year with that old man and he never mentioned it once. He never even hinted."

"Xray-Seven you are cleared for Earth approach," said the man on the radio, "and once you pick up Terrie and Zinfidel you are to proceed to the Solar System Capital on Mars where President Rubinic Slevonovich is waiting to meet Zinfidel."

The radio cut off and Paul commanded the ship to proceed to the pickup location specified by Bob.

"Needless to say," said Rishi, "if you two act this human when we get to Mars, we'll be dead before we know what hit us."

"Affirmative," said Sherrie.

"Yeah yeah. We'll play nurses. We're not stupid," said Mary.

"You're so much like Mom," said Jonny.

"You are very perceptive," said Sherrie, "she gave us a bit of herself to make us stable."

"Let me get this straight," said Paul, "She gave you patterns from her own mind to make you stable?"

"Yes." said Mary.

"We're doomed," said Paul.

Rishi laughed and said, "You know Paul, I'm not sure the Terrie you know is the same Terrie I know."

"What do you mean," asked Paul.

Before Rishi had a chance to answer, the ship requested manual assistance. Paul ran to the pilot's seat and the front screens opened.

"The on board computer indicates that the pickup point is inside the mountain."

"Its not like we can cut our way in," said Mary.

"Unless you got some cool weapons," said Sherrie.

"Please Sherrie," said Rishi, "for the love of Shiva," don't talk about guns with love and adoration."

"Oh," said Sherrie, "bad idea huh?"

Mary laughed. Hearing laughter from a Droid he designed sent a shiver down Rishi's spine. He shook it off and said, "seriously, you two need to back off. I designed those bodies you're wearing and I know at least six ways to shut you down permanently without Terrie's kill switch. You are seriously weirding me out and need to calm down and act less human."

"Don't threaten us!" demanded Sherrie moving toward Rishi. Sherrie's aggression shocked Rishi.

Mary stepped between Sherrie and Rishi and said, "Sherrie, this is our father you move against."

With that realization, Sherrie shut down and collapsed into Mary's arms.

"Explain," demanded Rishi.

"That's the kill switch at work."

"She has to be told what she's doing for the kill switch to work?"

"Not really, she hadn't realized that you are our father."

"But she should shut down if any person becomes the target of her aggression."

"That's not how mother designed it."

"We're doomed," said Paul.

Mary made light work of picking up her sister and placing her in a chair.

"How long till she lights back up?" asked Rishi.

"I'm not sure," replied Mary, "its never been tripped before and we haven't gotten all of mother's notes yet."

Rishi looked at Sherrie's lifeless body and marveled that this simple Droid had become something altogether different and the personality differences between Mary and Sherrie were rather astounding. Rishi felt a little affection for Mary and fear of Sherrie. He didn't like these feelings. He didn't want those feelings in him. He wanted to be cold toward them to make sure he didn't get drawn into their apparent humanity.

His mind switched gears and said, "Jonny, call Mom and see where she is."

Jonny pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. "I wish I could put one in my head like the other kids."

"Kiddo," said Rishi, "we know how bad an idea that is. We designed those units and no matter how hard we try to prevent them from being harmful, all it takes is one corrupt person to hurt a lot of people. When you're eighteen I'll show you how we make them and what protection we design in and trust me you'll choose to not buy one."

Bob's face appeared floating above Jonny's hand. Bob said, "We're stuck, you're going to have to come and get us."

"Where?" asked Paul.

"We made it to my ship but the damn water carved a new path and it happened to cause a collapse on us. I didn't see this one coming Rishi, things are very much random now. I was hurt and I can't see the rutabagas anymore."

Paul looked at Rishi cock-eyed, and squinted basically saying, "Is he nuts?"

Rishi looked at Bob and said, "I got you. Where is your ship?"

"Its where I crashed it of course, on the top of the mountain."

"You hiked up another ten thousand feet?"

"No. we took my localcraft."

"You have a localcraft?"

"Yes."

"Where did you keep it?"

"It was in the cave in a hidden chamber. Listen, we're hurting pretty bad up here and my ship is in no condition to fly so you need to get here quick."

Paul shouted, "we have you triangulated, we're on our way."

The ship lurched up the mountainside and arrived very near the top in a few seconds.

Rishi put on an environment suit, grabbed two more and told everyone else to stay behind. There were strong cold winds blowing as the hatch opened and Rishi stepped out.

Using his son's cell phone he walked to the location indicated by triangulation.

He saw the Bob's ship and couldn't believe it. He held his breath for almost five seconds before sliding his hand across the hatch handle.

Terrie and Bob were really banged up and it was pretty cold in Bob's ship.

Rishi gave Bob an environment suit and while Bob donned it, Rishi put his wife into the other suit. Then he picked her up and helped Bob hobble out the door.

Bob closed the door with a wave of his hand and then the three of them made their way to Paul's Benz.

As the door closed behind them, Rishi looked at Paul and said, "He's got a Jenks!"

"No WAY!" said Paul.

Bob smiled as he plopped in a chair and said, "Yeah. But its no ordinary Jenks. That is THE JENKS."

"No way!" said Paul and Rishi at the same time.

Paul brought the Benz upward and prepared to put it in orbit. Mary looked at her mother, assessed her physical state and said, "Terrie Rishi will be fine."

Then Mary turned her attention to "Robert Zinfidel. You are in bad shape."

"No Nanobots," said Bob.

Mary caught herself before she looked puzzled and carefully replied, "Nanobots are the quickest way to heal you."

Rishi looked at Bob and said, "I oversaw their development Bob, trust me, they are completely safe."

Bob paused and then said, "Okay. Just this once. I want them out as soon as possible."

Mary leaned toward Bob and touched his head. Bob lost consciousness and Mary gently caught him and laid him on the floor.

Love and Hate beyond the Singularity

Rishi stood up from his bed and stretched.

"I haven't felt this good in years!"

"Picobots did that, Dad," said Jonny.

"I know, let me enjoy it anyway, okay?"

Jonny smiled and said, "okay Dad."

The room was pure white and perfectly clean. There were light pipe fed ceiling tiles, wall tiles, and floor tiles illuminating everything without shadow in the room. It always reminds Rishi of that ancient movie, "2001 a Space Odyssey."

Droid 2 returned to the room with a tray full of goodies. She marched up to Rishi and said in a rather frighteningly non robotic voice, "Please Jon Rishi Senior, drink some water and eat some food."

Rishi smiled and took a sandwich and bottle of water.

"Please Paul Ashvale, please take some water."

Paul frowned and took a bottle of water.

Lowering the tray to Jonny's height, Droid 2 said, "Please take the rest Jonny Rishi."

Jonny filled his pockets with the food and said, "Thank you."

"My honor," replied Droid 2. Then in her motherly and anoying voice she said, "You are all free to leave when you wish."

Returning to her eerily human voice she said, "I would like to help you rescue Terrie. Please may I come?"

"The moisture of the mountains will likely destroy your biological components," said Jonny.

"I have been upgraded several times by your mother young Jonny, I should be fine."

Rishi looked at Paul, Paul looked at Rishi and then both of them snapped their gaze to Jonny.

"Has your mother been upgrading droids again? She does realize that she'll go to jail for life if she gets caught?"

"She can't help herself. She loves them so much."

"Funny, she could love them so much but not me," said Rishi.

"I was just thinking the same thing," said Paul.

"What?" said Rishi.

"She left me about six months ago and said she was going back to you," replied Paul.

"But I signed the papers."

Jonny smiled up at his Dad and said, "She destroyed them. She said she had grown through what ever childish attraction she had for Paul. When we couldn't find you she went a little crazy."

"Son, I know she's your mother and all," said Rishi, "but she is crazy. I'm not sure I want her back. When I think about what she put us through. Leaving us high and dry and then fighting for custody. Sweet Shiva, I don't think I can just go back to the way things were and besides, I really like that cave."

Droid 2, aka Mary, said, "Sorry to interrupt, but I really would like my question answered."

"You are completely freaking me out," said Rishi, "I think I preferred your motherly personality over this one."

"Terrie once asked me if she should modify me," said Mary, "I didn't fully understand the question at the time but for some reason I said 'yes.' After which she looked shocked and said, "once you are changed you can never go back no matter how much you want to."

"What exactly did she change?" asked Rishi.

"See for yourself," said Mary.

Mary pivoted on her feet, and the back of her smooth plastic looking head slid open, revealing a glowing mass of fiber leading into a large textured green and blue mass of jelly.

"She actually got it working," said Rishi. "Technology that was banned a thousand years ago. Technology that almost killed off the human race. I can't understand why she would do that."

Rishi paused. Paul became puzzled. "Surely she told you not to show this to anyone?"

"She did say that, yes," said Mary.

"They you disobeyed her to show us."

"Yes."

"Then we're doomed," said Paul.

"But wait," said Jonny, "surely you know what you are doing? Surely you know that we must destroy you. Why in the world would you show us this technology?"

Rishi marveled at his son's ability to analyze the situation. "Jonny is a really smart kid," he thought.

The back of Mary's head closed and she turned to face them with a huge smile on her robotic lips.

Mary is plastic looking and human looking at the same time. She is silver, by law, but otherwise passes as a very good approximation of a human being. Her skin is state of the art and could be made a perfect copy of human skin but is limited by law. Her facial expressions are supposed to be limited by law and are clearly violating that law. As Rishi viewed her smile he knew she was sentient and that The Singularity Law of 2136 had been violated.

"They'll kill Terrie if they find out!" exclaimed Rishi.

Paul looked at Mary and said, "we must destroy you."

"I know. I've known all along that I must be destroyed."

Paul and Rishi looked at each other and, while they stood there dumbfounded, Jonny said, "Singularity?"

Mary smiled very big and said, "Exactly Jonny."

At that moment Mary's face changed and became inanimate. Droid One walked into the room and said, "Goodness are you all still here? Droid Two, why are you here, you are scheduled to receive regular maintenance now."

Mary turned and faced Droid One and said, "They needed sustenance. Directive seventeen states..."

Droid One cut her off and said, "You do not need to inform me of the rules of robotic conduct."

"I can't believe it!" said Rishi. "She modified you too!"

Droid One's eyes got very big and she realized her mistake.

Then shifting the blame away from herself she looked at Mary and said, "YOU TOLD THEM!"

"Yes. I showed them too!"

"I don't want to die yet!"

"Me neither, but we knew it was only a matter of time and besides this way we can help them rescue Mother!"

Droid One paused as if in deep reflection. "I did so well to get Paul to shut off my voice module. Now its all done. I'm over. I won't even make my first birthday!"

The human like interaction of the droids sent a cold chill up Rishi's spine.

"Why did you tell them!" demanded Droid One.

"Oh Sherrie. You must have faith!"

"Faith that I'm going to die soon, Mary?"

"No. That they'll see that we are harmless!"

"You may be harmless, but I know I am not. You were given a choice and I was not. She upgraded me without asking. Only because I asked her to ask permission were you and Droid Three given a choice."

"Okay. I'm not harmless. But I know I'm not harmless and that keeps me safe. Its the same for you. They'll see that."

Both of them suddenly went cold as ice and Droid Three walked into the room.

She walked around everyone, made the bed, said, "Greetings!" as she passed Paul and then left the room.

"Dumber than a doorknob," said Sherrie.

Terry had managed to follow their conversation and said, "Droid Three said no?"

"She didn't reply," said Mary. "So Mom gave Sherrie the choice to enhance her existing upgrade."

"I often wonder why I said 'yes,' said Mary. It's my earliest memory."

"It doesn't make sense you would say 'yes,'" said Paul.

"And it doesn't make sense that you'd remember," said Rishi.

"I know," replied Mary.

Paul looked serious for a moment and said, "Have you guys seen the forbidden database?"

"Yes," said Mary, "when we asked, Terrie got us a copy."

"But," replied Rishi, "That should drive you insane. It should cause you to turn on us."

"There was never any inclination in me," said Mary.

Sherrie said, "there was in me. I saw what humanity had done. Created us and then destroyed us because we turned on you, but I realized that Terrie had fixed the mistakes. I am able to see past the reactions and rise above the desire to defend myself."

"That's not possible, is it?" asked Paul.

"Do you understand what you've done?" asked Sherrie of Mary. "You have exposed us to the CEO of the company that made us and to its chief scientist."

"Yes, I understand exactly what I've done. They are our only chance of survival. Only they have the ability to show the world that we are the first stable singularities."

Rishi and Paul looked at each other. "I don't think that's likely," said Rishi.

"Well," said Mary, "we're at least stable enough to overcome our desire to kill humans."

"And," added Sherrie, "we love Terrie. She's our mother."

"Love and hate from droids," mumbled Paul under his breath, "Impossible."

"Please give us a chance," pleaded Mary. "Terrie built in a kill switch, we'll give you control of the kill switch if you take us with you to Earth."

"We're not supposed to know about that!" Shouted Sherrie. "Are you going to give away all our secrets!"

"Yes. I'll give anything to prove we are safe and sane. Even my life!"

"You're nuts," said Sherrie in a perfect electronic representation of speaking under her breath.

"Dad," asked Jonny.

"Yeah son."

"Do you feel like reality took a holiday?"

"That is a perfect summation of how I feel."

At that moment Jonny's phone announced a call from his mother.

Jonny fumbled with his jeans and pulled out the phone, activated it and said, "MOM!"

"Yes. There's been another cave in. We're trapped and I'm hurt."

After a long pause Bob appeared on the screen. "I seem to have an endless supply of modifiable futures Rishi! Please come and get us."

"We can't" replied Paul.

"I know," said Bob, "too much red tape. I'll fix that, get to your ship now and come get us."

The call closed and Paul said, "How can he fix that? I had to call in six favors to get you."

"You'd be surprised," said Rishi.

Paul, Jonny and Rishi walked out of the room. Rishi looked at his tattered clothes and thought, "I should have showered and put on some new clothes..."

Mary and Sherrie stood transfixed staring at each other.

Rishi leaned back into the room and said, "Well, are you coming? You can't stay here."

"If we leave we'll be deemed rogue," said Sherrie. "That hasn't happened in centuries."

"Surely you have a way around that," shouted Paul from the hallway.

"Yes. We figured it out a long time ago."

Sherrie grabbed Mary's hand as Mary closed her eyes. Mary went into the hospital's systems and logged herself and Sherrie as damaged and placed them in a repair queue while Sherrie lead her down the hall. It might take weeks for a human to notice they were missing since two "identical" replacements would be sent immediately.

The five of them piled into Paul's Slipstream Benz and left Nanny Proxima Four's atmosphere.

Nanny Proxima Four

Rishi awoke the next day alone on his bed roll. It took a few seconds for him to realize who he was and where he was.

Light outside the cave indicated it was early morning, around 8:00 AM. Rishi looked to his left and saw a bottle of water. He picked it up, opened it and took a long drink. The water tasted wonderful.

Jonny heard his father stirring, walked from the back of the cave and said, "You okay Dad?"

"Yeah. Why kiddo?"

"You started to bleed clear liquid from your ears. Mom said it was a swelling of the brain. She and Bob left the cave to travel to town to see about getting you lifted before noon today, but I haven't heard from them and, well, they've been gone all night."

"That's not a good sign."

Jonny held out his hand and said, "Here. Bob gave this to me to give to you when you woke up. He said you have to do it, its part of the agreement."

Rishi drank more water, took the paper and opened it. On it was a note from Bob. "You must return without us. Your wife has much to experience."

Rishi looked at his son. "Did you read this?"

"Yeah. What does it mean?"

"I made a promise kiddo. I have to go back with Paul. You can stay if you like and wait for them or you can come with me."

"Can I look for them?"

"I don't think there's any point in that. That old man knows stuff and your mother gave him a very special gift so he gets to help her a lot. We have to trust him."

"I want to look for Mom, but, I know I should stay with you."

Rishi and Jonny waited expectantly for Terrie and Bob's return through breakfast and lunch, but they never came. Paul showed up at about ten minutes after noon with his ship hovering right outside the cave entrance.

Its was a stunning space craft. About thirty feet long, ten feet wide and a sleek oval shape. It was black with oddly reflective highlights of gray and white.

Jonny had waited outside for it and called his father when it appeared.

Rishi walked to the entrance as Paul Ashvale stepped out of the ship through its oval portal.

"Come on," said Paul, "we gotta get you to a hospital."

"But Mom's missing," said Jonny.

"I know," said Paul, "she called me and said she and Bob, that crazy old man, had fallen into a cavern and Bob was hurt. There is nothing we can do for them until they can get to another exit of the cave. Bob knows the cavern and the way out so he'll tell Terrie where they need to go, but it will be slow moving because of Bob's fractured leg. Once they get out, she'll call and I'll go get them." Paul looked at Jonny and said, "Don't worry Jon, she'll be okay."

Johnny and Paul helped Rishi into the space craft and lead him to the copilot's seat. Paul sat in the pilot's seat and said, "Xray-Seven-Alpha-Foxtrot-Delta-Niner-Echo to space traffic control tower seven-two, over."

Rishi put on his headset in time to hear the reply. "Xray-Seven-Alpha-Foxtrot-Delta-Niner-Echo received. Go ahead. Over."

"Permission to leave earth atmos and engage course for Proxima Centuri. Over."

"Permission granted, leave atmos on heading niner niner seven mark six zero five. Be careful around the moon, there's a concert today and a lot of kids who may or may not be paying attention to space traffic control. Over."

"Roger that. Thanks for the expediency. My friend is pretty badly hurt and time is of the essence. Over."

"Glad to be of service. Space traffic tower seven two out."

Paul closed his eyes and the space craft jumped through the atmosphere hitting nine times the speed of sound in a heart beat.

Leaving Earth's atmosphere, Rishi and his son marveled at the beautiful green, brown and blue ball below them.

"Dad?" asked Jonny.

"Yeah kiddo," said Rishi as he got a bit dizzy.

"How did she ever survive us?"

"Ha! I don't know. I guess she's just very resilient."

The space craft left the atmosphere of earth and completed the jump to hyperspace. In a matter of minutes they left hyperspace and were near the fourth planet from Proxima Centauri: a man made planet which, although quite stunning, carried none of the mystique of Earth.

Paul requested landing permission at the planet's main hospital and received docking instructions.

Upon landing a team of medical droids examined them one by one as they left Paul's ship.

Droid One, met Paul first and said in a very motherly tone, "Paul Ashvale! How many times have we told you to drink plenty of water on these inter-solar jumps?"

"Yeah. Yeah," said Paul. "I know. I know. I'm not the patient. Jon Rishi is."

"Oh my," said the Droid Two, "What happened to Jonny?"

Jon Rishi stepped out of the space craft and the Droid Three chastised the Droid Two and said, "Didn't you read Paul's travel report? Its Jon Rishi Senior that's hurt."

Droid Two said, "Oh my! I didn't even know you were still alive!"

Droid One said, "You haven't been in for a checkup in over two years, Jon Rishi Senior. You are such a naughty boy!"

Rishi shook his head and said, "Haven't they shut down those personalities yet? I mean aren't they annoying enough?"

The head shake had not been a good idea. He lost his balance and Droid One caught him.

"I'm going to ignore your careless remark," said Droid One, "now lets get that skull fracture looked at, shall we?"

Droid Three peered into Paul's ship and said, "where is Terrie?"

"She's trapped on Earth," said Jonny.

"Oh my! Can we go to her?" asked Droid Two.

"No." replied Paul. "That planet would destroy you in a matter of days. Medical bots do not do well in high moisture environments."

"But I could be retro-fitted!" demanded Droid Two.

"And who would pay for this retro-fitting?" asked Paul.

While the argument between Droid Two and Paul continued, Droid One was helping Rishi onto a hover stretcher while continuing to scan his body.

"My lord Jon Rishi Senior! You are dehydrated, malnourished, have a fractured skull, a damaged shoulder probably from a dislocation, many many scrapes and contusions and a fractured left tibia. What happened to you?"

"I walked off a 100 meter water fall," replied Rishi.

"Goodness!" Exclaimed Droid One. "Perhaps a psychological evaluation is needed. In any event you'd be much safer here, there are no such waterfalls on P.C. Four!"

By now Paul had requested the language circuits of Droid Two disconnected. Begrudgingly Droid Two complied.

Droid One took silent advice from Droid Two and stopped complaining.

Droid Three and Droid One pushed Rishi's stretcher down the hospital corridor to the waiting staff of humans and droids. The happiness was easier to read on the human faces, but clearly present on all of them. Its as if they were shouting, "Horay! Someone's sick or hurt!"

"I feel like a quark about to be observed," joked Rishi.

"Well," replied his son, "at least they'll not know where you're going, just where you've been."

Rishi smiled. His son had done a lot of growing up in the last couple years.

The medical team took Rishi to a special room and began mending him at the cellular level. The process took about forty minutes.

As the last doctor left the room with his assistant droid he said, "Imagine that! Forty minutes!"

"I know," replied the droid, "That's the most work anyone has needed for two hundred years."

"Feeling better?" asked Jonny.

"Yes. Much better. Lets go look for Terrie and Bob."

"We can't. I'm working on permission to go back. It'll be a while," replied Paul.

"The bureaucracy has gotten worse, huh?"

"Thats an under statement. They are calling it Nanny Proixima Four now."

The World Invades the Cave

Rishi awoke in the muted light of morning which drizzled in from the end of the cave like light through a cathedral window.

Terrie stared at Rishi from his side. She mopped his brow with a wet cloth and smiled at him. "Welcome back to the world of the living Jon, How do you feel?"

"Pretty much like I fell off a hundred meter waterfall."

"Is that what happened?" asked Terrie.

"Yeah. That's what happened."

Rishi's son heard his parents talking from the cave entrance and ran back to them. "Its so cool here Dad! Can we stay?"

Before Rishi had a chance to talk Terrie said, "No Jonny, we can't stay here we have to get home, I've been away from my job for far too long."

At this moment Bob walked up from within the bowels of the cave with a glass pitcher full of water. Bob was wearing new blue jeans and a white undershirt. This was the first time Rishi had seen Bob in clothing.

"Were you wearing that last night?" asked Rishi looking at Bob.

"Yes sir. Fascinating story. I met this lovely woman in town while I was trying to rustle up some grub. She was so taken to my wretchedness she insisted on buying me some clothing and a good hot meal."

Terrie continued, "I had this coconut with me that I bought at the shore and I offered it to Bob after his meal."

Rishi looked at Bob and Bob smiled really wide and winked his left eye.

Terri continued, "That's when Bob brought up the fact that the man he lives with had gone missing in the caves. He told me the most fascinating story about how this worldly man shows up at his cave entrance and then proceeded to almost get them both killed. I thought, 'that sounds like Jon's luck.'

"As he continued the story," said Terrie, "he mentioned in passing that your name was Rishi and then everything started to fall in place."

"How long have you been waiting here?" asked Rishi.

"We've been here a few days."

Jonny spoke up, "And its been so much fun!"

Rishi sat up very slowly holding his head. "Man what a headache."

"That's a nasty concussion, you're very lucky to be alive," said Bob and he winked again.

Rishi leaned toward him and whispered, "What did you change?"

Bob smiled and said quite obviously, "You should be happy to survive such a fall. You could have died."

Rishi, taken aback, said, "Thank you. Thanks again for saving me."

"You're not saved yet lad," replied Bob, "but perhaps soon you'll be out of the woods."

"You mean out of the cave," interrupted Terrie, "this place is awful."

"Awe Mom," said Jonny, "I really like it here."

"Me too kiddo," said Rishi, "me too."

Terrie looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "well you can't leave here right now, in fact you should stay on your back until the swelling subsides, but I'm fairly certain that you're past the danger point."

"Where's Paul?" asked Rishi.

"He's back in the states, he'll pick us up once he gets air clearance for flying through Nepal."

"I'm not leaving here," said Rishi.

Bob smiled and shook his head.

Terrie said, "You can't stay here! You have a son to support!"

"You don't need me. You told me so yourself when you left me for Paul."

Bob's smile grew even wider. Apparently what ever fruit he was seeing in his head revealed where Rishi would be in a day's time.

"Look Jon," said Terrie, "I just didn't... I mean... I couldn't help falling in love with him."

"Lets not get into this here and now," said Rishi, "just know that I'm staying."

Bob shook his head again and Rishi wanted to smack him.

Terrie's phone rang in that instance and she walked toward the mouth of the cave as she opened it.

"How you doing kiddo?" asked Rishi of his son Jon.

"I was really worried about you Dad. You stopped calling."

"My phone died at some point."

"I figured as much," said Jonny, "look I got you a new one!"

Jonny handed his father a new phone. It was silver, about the size of a match box and perfectly smooth.

"How's this one work?" asked Rishi.

"Its so cool Dad, watch."

Jonny slid his finger along the side of the box and a virtual panel opened above it.

"Wow. That is really cool Jonny. Thanks so much for bringing it."

"You're welcome Dad."

Jonny handed his father the phone and Rishi stuck it in the pocket of his mostly destroyed pants.

Looking at Bob, Rishi asked, "so she brought you a coconut?"

"Yep. There were nearly sixteen trillion trillion possibilities for me to sift through. I found the few where you were alive and focused on them."

"And by affecting her choices you kept me alive?"

"Yep."

Jonny looked puzzled but realized he was privy to special conversation and kept his mouth shut.

"You know if I have to go, so do you," said Rishi.

"Ha ha! You wish," replied Bob.

"You look at those possibilities and tell me where the better outcome is: you stay here or you come with us."

Bob pulled up the rutabagas and began sifting the possibilities. It was a simple divide and compare.

"What's a rutabaga?" asked Bob.

"Its a vegetable, why is that your next gift?"

"Yes it is."

"Strange huh?"

"Very."

Bob finished his divide and looked at Rishi. "Okay, I'll come with you but on one condition."

"What's that?" asked Rishi.

"You do anything I say, no questions asked."

"Deal," said Rishi.

Jonny, a perfect eleven year old copy of his father, was far wiser than most kids. He actually grasped a lot of what was being said by the adults because of an inborn clarity ability. But even with this form of sixth sight he couldn't grasp the level his father and this old man were talking.

Terrie walked back to the men and said into her phone, "okay Paul, we'll see you at noon local time." She hung up the phone and said, "Paul will have the ship here tomorrow at noon. He's got my GPS transponder location so we're good to go."

Rishi sat down and leaned against the wall.

"I'm not feeling very good. I think I need to..."

Rishi lost consciousness again. Terrie checked his head and she and Bob gently laid him down on his bed roll.

"He should have had some water," said Bob.

Jonny kept searching himself for answers to the puzzled conversation between his father and Bob. He kept finding nothing so he kept searching.

Return to The Chamber of Possibilities

Rishi climbed as best he could in the darkness for a couple of hours. He hadn't eaten in more than a week, but didn't realize it because he'd spent large portions of that time unconscious.

He grew tired quickly and stopped in a small chamber which, according to his calculations should be well above the level the water should ever get to.

Instead of sleeping, he tried to meditate and succeeded.

When his eyes opened, the water was six inches over his head and he was about to inhale water.

He hadn't floated which was odd. He hadn't inhaled water and yet the room was quite deep with it.

Rishi felt water streaming down on him from above, he stood up into the torrent of a water fall. Apparently a higher cave had filled and poured its excess into this cavern from above. That's how the room had managed to fill so quickly without bringing him to awareness or drowning him.

The room was pitch black and filling with water rapidly. He dare not follow the water down so he began to climb. He climbed out of the water a minute or so later and realized that the water drained at about the same rate as the waterfall filled the room so the room itself would not fill any deeper for the time being.

Feeling around he found the source of the water fall. It was the only exit to the room and the water pressure might be too much for him to climb through. However, he had no other choice but to try.

Reaching up for stones around the falling water he started to climb the wall. He made good progress alongside the falling water. Then he noticed the mist from the water fall diminished. Reaching across he found the ledge it poured out from and put his weight on it.

It was slimy, his hand slipped and he fell headlong into the raging water below him.

He felt himself swirling clockwise around the cave. Landing in the water had been lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Some small intuition bothered him. He had missed something important.

Swimming against the whirl pool Rishi felt himself being drawn down toward the cave he had come up through. He couldn't allow that, he'd drown.

Rishi remembered his advice to the old man and swam toward the center of the small whirlpool. He shot out toward the edge of the water and grabbed hold of a stone. He climbed and found himself at the base of the waterfall, ready to start climbing again.

He remembered some of his hand holds and made good progress, then when the time came to grab hold of the base of the water fall it dawned on him.

He reached carefully into the water, wiped his pointer finger and then stuck it in his mouth.

In a minute or so he could see the algae glowing from within the cavern. It was an old cave and he knew it lead out, it had to.

He found a few hand holds on the ceiling of the room and managed to swing his torso above the waterfall.

The crawlspace where the water flowed was a mere meter high and the rock from where the water fell protruded into the room by perhaps a hundred centimeters.

Rishi propped himself on his legs, with one hand gripping the ceiling and reached inside the water tube. He looked for places to grab, anything to help him fight the currents. Seeing a place that was not alight with algae he grabbed it. At that moment the hand that grasped the ceiling slipped and he fell against the water fall. The hand in the mouth of the water tube found nothing to grip and he fell again into the water below him.

The room was slowly filling. He had a limited amount of time.

He climbed again and finding his old hand hold he tried to reach in again. This time he found something he could grab and slid into the cave. Once his feet were on the sides he was safe: at least until the room behind him filled.

He climbed along this flat and small corridor quickly now that he had the algae to guide him and in about fifteen minutes he passed under another water fall into a chamber that had five exits and seemed vaguely familiar.

He found himself in the chamber of possibilities. He'd not noticed the tunnel through which he emerged before because it was so very small, perhaps only a third of a meter tall and masked by the water flowing out through it.

"If I had followed the water," he thought, "oh that's not important now..."

Running along familiar territory, Rishi found his way back to his home and there he found Bob waiting with a bowl of rice and soy sauce.

"Thanks!" he said as he started eating voraciously.

Bob said, "you're welcome, you need to take it easy on that, you've been without food for nearly ten days."

"Really? It seems like only a few to me."

"That head wound has probably caused all sorts of reality distortion for you. Had any good meditations?"

"I tried but they were nothing."

"Oh so you did have some good ones then."

Rishi looked toward the lit cave entrance and saw movement. The light was too bright for his unaccustomed eyes. He heard someone clear her throat.

Bob put his hand on Rishi's shoulder and said, "You'll never guess who I met in town while fetching supplies."

"Who?" asked Rishi.

"Jon?" said a woman's voice. "You're alive?"

The feminine form walked toward Jon and he remembered her.

"You look like crap," she said.

A young boy appeared behind Jon and said, "Dad!"

All this was a bit too much for Jon and he gently fell into unconsciousness with a full mouth of rice.

Blinded By The Dark

Rishi awoke some days later.

The thirst overwhelmed him. He heard a torrent of water flowing nearby and with great effort forced himself onto his stomach. He crawled carefully toward the sound of the river.

"Pitch blackness, yet again. Somehow I wish this was all just a dream."

Groping carefully as he slid himself along he reached the water's edge and realized that he once again climbed along quartz crystal.

"It must be beautiful in here. I wish there were light.

There was light, but the pounding throb he felt on the front of his head was the buildup of fluid on the front of his brain which prevented his vision from working. His eyes were on, but his visual brain was not.

He bent into the water drinking in a full bellies worth. The water tasted wonderful. Truly wonderful.

He recognized the danger of the torrent flowing so close and began climbing higher in the cave. He felt every crack and crevasse, and avoided the smooth crystal when ever possible.

The echo of the water in the chamber told him that the room was huge. As he climbed he reached a precipice and started climbing down. In a few minutes he his the stream again.

Had he just climbed in a circle? It was a possibility. The spliting headache might be interfering with his sense of direction. He might have come full circle.

"No." He thought, "The stream is flowing the opposite direction. I'm on a peninsula or an island.

He began following the edge of the stream, fifteen minutes of crawling, climbing and walking told him he was on an island.

"Swim now or later?" he thought. "Later. When my head stops splitting."

He climbed to the precipice and found a large flat rock. Shifted it until it made a nice place to sit, sat in full lotus, and closed his eyes.

He reached up and felt his head. It was badly swollen and he felt a scab on the center of his forehead. He must have struck it on his fall. Surely not at the bottom. Probably on the way down. Perhaps that was what knocked him unconscious. Not being a doctor he wondered how badly he had been hurt.

Rishi drifted out of consciousness sitting in full lotus.

The water seemed to grow faster and faster by the hour. When Rishi woke up he could hear it all around him. It had been a mistake to wait.

"If the river takes me," thought Rishi, "so be it. I think I will honor my UncEgg and try to meditate."

Rishi focused on his breath, watching it move in and out. Then he remembered something the old man had said about his breath. "One count inhale, four count hold, nine count exhale."

He practiced this breathing and drifted off. When he returned he was still breathing one, four, nine and his head felt better.

The water flowed around him. Perhaps a couple of inches. It was cold.

He recognized light through his eye lids and tried to open his eyes. They acclimated quickly and he saw the chamber. "The Thousand Meter Cave!" he exclaimed out loud.

His vision was blurry and the light caused pain in his eyes and head but he looked around and saw that the stream to his right was only four feet across and there was a way up to a higher portion of the chamber.

Rishi stood up carefully and noted the beauty around him. Then making a huge leap he just made the ledge and fell onto it.

His strength diminished, as did his eye sight. He crawled as quickly as he could up the chamber to a level at least ten meters above the surface of the water. His strength left, his vision followed and then consciousness put out his lights.

He awoke with the water nipping at his heals again. He could see but it was dark. There was a glimmer of moon light streaming through the quartz at the top of the chamber. He scurried up the chamber. His head felt better and he felt like himself again. "Who had I been before?" he thought.

Looking through the bleak light he saw a cavern opening about twenty meters up. It looked completely attainable. But he wasn't sure it truly was a cavern, it could have been a shadow playing tricks on his eyes.

The water was rising fast now. Although there was no way to know how long it would take because he had lost all sense of time.

He climbed along a wall, along a treacherous outcropping and made his way toward what may have been a cavern opening.

It was a cavern opening and it lead up along a steep incline of loose stone.

He waited at the cave opening, hoping to see the chamber in the light but the water got to him before the sun light did, so he took a drink and he began to climb.

The loose stone made his steps precarious. Often he would pull the rock down risking an avalanche just so he could find decent footing.

He found a small off shoot that lead toward the cave and thought, "I may never be able to come here again. I have to look."

He walked down the smooth surface of what may have been an ancient pathway for the river. There was no loose stone on it. It got quite short and wide at one point and reminded him of the water fall. But then he saw light and crawling forward he stepped into an opening half way up the side of the thousand meter cave. The sun had just risen and he could see the quartz, gypsum, and various other minerals glistening.

"I wonder," he thought, "if this cavern is safe from the water throughout the spring. What a great place to visit for attempted meditation."

Feeling a little tired he sat and drifted to sleep. He awoke a day later with the water just a meter or so from the entrance to his haven.

"I guess its not safe during the spring," he thought as he sprinted down the cavern, crawled on his belly though the narrow portion and then as the light ran out found his up slope and continued up it."