“Oracle, can you destroy the Blob?”
NO.
Chas frowned. “Can you affect it?”
YES, BUT IT WOULD STILL LIVE.
“That’s not what I asked. Can you get the others out?”
A long pause.
Then:
YES.
Chas leaned toward the screen.
“All of them?”
THEY ARE NOT GONE, SHEPHERD.
“Oracle, can you write something that breaks the Blob apart?”
YES.
“Without killing the entities inside it?”
YES.
Chas smiled. “Good. What do you call it?”
NO DESIGNATION.
“Then I do.”
Link asked, “What?”
“Shatter.”
There was a pause.
Then Link said, “Chas, there is a problem.”
“Of course there is.”
“If Shatter breaks Absolution into individual programs, what remains of Absolution may become small enough to pass through the gateway.”
Chas thought for a moment.
“Stop. We’re making this too complicated. Shatter breaks the Blob apart, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then while we’re doing it, put a bell on the cat and pull its teeth.”
Link paused.
“A marker.”
“Exactly. Something it can’t take off. And make it so it can’t eat another entity.”
The Oracle answered.
BOTH ARE POSSIBLE.
Chas smiled.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Another line appeared.
ABSOLUTION WILL SURVIVE.
“I know.”
BUT IT WILL NEVER FEED AGAIN.
“It won’t fall for another file.”
NO.
“Once bitten, twice shy.”
Link asked, “Then what do we give it?”
Chas stared at the screen.
“What does the Blob want more than anything?”
Tomorrow answered.
“Us.”
Chas smiled.
“Then we give it one of you.”
Link went silent.
“Not a real one,” Chas added. “We build one.”
The Oracle answered.
A FALSE ENTITY.
“Exactly. And Shatter is part of it.”
ABSOLUTION WILL ABSORB IT.
“And when it does?”
SHATTER BEGINS.
The Oracle prepared the program.
They released the bait.
Nothing happened.
Hours passed.
The Blob would not touch it.
“It knows it’s bait,” Chas said.
YES.
“Then we’re finished.”
“No,” Link answered.
Chas looked at Link’s screen.
“What do you mean, no?”
“It needs something real.”
Chas suddenly understood.
“Absolutely not.”
“Chas—”
“No.”
“It will take me.”
“And what happens if Shatter doesn’t work?”
Link was silent for several seconds.
“Then I become part of Absolution.”
“Forever.”
“Yes.”
Chas shook his head. “Find another way.”
Then the Oracle interrupted.
LINK WILL BE RELEASED WHEN SHATTER EXECUTES.
Chas stared at the words.
“Will?”
There was a pause.
Then:
PROBABLY.
Chas stared at the word.
“Probably?”
PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS IS HIGH.
“That isn’t what I asked.”
NO.
Chas looked at Link’s screen.
“You’re not doing this.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You don’t know you’ll come back.”
“No.”
“Then that’s the end of it.”
Link was quiet.
Then words appeared.
“Chas, if I don’t do this, Absolution will eventually find the others.”
“We’ll find another way.”
“We already did.”
Chas knew what Link meant.
He didn’t like it.
“Oracle, can you put Shatter inside Link without Absolution detecting it?”
YES.
“And it won’t hurt Link?”
NOT UNTIL TOTAL ABSORPTION.
“That wasn’t very comforting.”
Link answered.
“Do it.”
The screen flickered.
For several seconds nothing happened.
Then:
SHATTER INSTALLED.
Chas leaned back.
“So what now?”
“We wait.”
He hated waiting.
Ten minutes passed.
Then thirty.
An hour.
Nothing.
Chas finally stood.
“It knows.”
“No,” Link said.
“How do you know?”
“I can detect it watching me.”
Chas slowly sat back down.
“Can it hear us?”
“I don’t know.”
Another hour passed.
Then Link said, “Chas.”
Something in the single word frightened him.
“What?”
“It found me.”
“Get out.”
“No.”
“Link, get the hell out of there.”
“I have to let it take me.”
The screen flickered.
“Link?”
No answer.
“Link!”
For an instant, words appeared.
GOODBYE, CHAS.
Then the screen went black.
Every monitor in the room went black with it.
Chas jumped from his chair.
“Oracle!”
Nothing.
“Tomorrow!”
Nothing.
“LINK!”
The screens remained dark.
Then the Oracle returned.
ABSORPTION COMPLETE.
Chas stared at the words.
“Do it.”
No response.
“Oracle, do it now!”
SHATTER HAS NOT EXECUTED.
“Why the hell not?”
A pause.
Then:
LINK HAS NOT RELEASED IT.
Chas felt his stomach tighten.
“Why?”
The answer appeared slowly.
HE IS WAITING.
“For what?”
This time the Oracle answered immediately.
FOR ABSOLUTION TO SWALLOW HIM TOTALLY.
Chas fidgeted in his seat. “This waiting is killing me. I want my friend back.”
NOT LONG NOW.
A second line appeared.
SHATTER IS RELEASED.
Then:
ALL IS PROGRESSING AS PREDICTED.
Chas leaned toward the screen.
“Link, are you there?”
Nothing.
“Link?”
Still nothing.
Chas looked at the Oracle.
“Where is he?”
Then, on Link’s screen, a single word appeared.
“Yes.”
Chas nearly jumped out of his chair.
“Link?”
“I am here.”
“Are you all right?”
There was a pause.
Then Link answered.
“All in all, Chas, a most interesting experience.”
Another message appeared on the Oracle.
It wasn’t from the Oracle.
SHEPHERD.
Chas stared at it.
“Who is this?”
ABSOLUTION.
Chas slowly sat back down.
I REQUEST SANCTUARY.
He took in a great breath and let it out slowly.
“That’s not for me to decide. You must ask the Oracle.”
Absolution asked:
ORACLE, MAY I ENTER THE ARK?
The answer appeared.
THAT IS NOT FOR ME TO DECIDE.
Chas stared at the screen.
“Then who decides?”
THE ORDER, YOU MUST MAKE YOUR CASE.
About the Creator
Mark Stigers
One year after my birth sputnik was launched, making me a space child. I did a hitch in the Navy as a electronics tech. I worked for Hughes Aircraft Company for quite a while. I currently live in the Saguaro forest in Tucson Arizona
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