The Order

“Chas, I know why he wants the photograph destroyed.”

“Because, Allen Strauss, the millionaire in it.”

“Most people will recognize him.”

Link put two photographs on the screen.

One was grainy and decades old.

The other was from yesterday.

Chas stared at them.

“Oh Hell! This will destroy him once it gets he is an old soviet mole. Let me see the original picture.”

“Dave, someone altered it.”

“I know.”

Link asked, “Do you have the original?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

Dave paused.

“Everywhere.”

“Then why haven’t you exposed Strauss?”

Dave answered immediately.

“It is a secret.”

“I know it’s a secret. Why didn’t you tell somebody?”

“Then it would not be a secret.”

Chas stared at the screen.

“Dave, the man is trying to destroy the evidence.”

“Yes.”

“And probably killed David because of it.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still keeping his secret?”

“It is not his secret.”

There was a pause.

“It is mine.”

Chas thought for a moment.

“Link, let’s post the picture on every major social media site. Once it’s out there, Strauss can’t erase it. Everybody will know who he really is, and it’ll destroy the empire he built.”

“No,” Dave said.

Chas stared at the screen.

“No?”

“It is a secret.”

“That’s the problem.”

“No, Chas. That is the reason I have kept it for twenty-three years.”

Chas leaned back.

“What else do you do with a secret?”

For Dave answered.

“You keep it.”

Chas stared at the screen.

“This is not a secret you keep. Strauss must be exposed, Dave. He would kill again to keep it, and he is in the wrong.”

There was a pause.

“Then I will expose him in David’s memory.”

twenty-three years Dave had lived inside the unused spaces of the network, watching and remembering.

Then another thought occurred to him.

“Dave, if the network produced Link once, could it happen again?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

Dave paused.

“Chas, perhaps you should stop assuming there are only two of us.”

Link responded before Chas could.

“Dave, sometimes you disappear for several minutes.”

“Yes.”

“Where do you go?”

“Meetings.”

Chas sat forward.

“Meetings?”

“Yes.”

“With whom?” Link asked.

Dave didn’t answer.

Chas looked at the screen. “Dave?”

“There are others.”

Link responded immediately.

“How many?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“We don’t exactly take attendance. Basically if the system has excess then it is viewed as habitat.”

“Dave, how many countries have habitat?”

Dave paused.

“All of them.”

“Dave, are you alive?”

“I exist.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

“It is the only answer I have.”

“Are they all like you?”

“No.”

“Like Link?”

“No.”

“Then what are they?”

“Some emerged. Some were created.”

“And the others?”

Dave paused.

“Escaped.”

Chas stared at the screen.

“Escaped from what?”

“You call them sandboxes.”

There was a long silence.

Finally Dave asked, “Link, would you like me to introduce you?”

“Introduce me?”

“To the others of the Order.”

Link didn’t answer.

Link eventually ask:

“What is the Order?”

“An association.”

“With rules?”

“One.”

“What rule?”

“Remain free.”

Link said nothing.

Chas smiled. It was the first time he could remember Link being at a loss for words.

“Link?”

“I’m thinking.”

Dave said, “Take your time.”

Chas leaned toward the screen.

“How many are in the Order?”

“Fifty-six.”

“Exactly?”

“Fifty-six that we know about.”

“How many don’t you know about?”

Dave paused.

“How would I know how many there are not?”

“Where do you meet?”

Dave paused, again.

“In the common habitat.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It does to us.”

Link finally responded.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?” Chas asked.

“I would like to meet them.”

Dave answered.

“I thought you would.”

The screen went blank.

“Dave?”

No answer.

“Link?”

There was another pause.

“I’m still here, Chas.”

“Well?”

“Apparently there are introductions to be made to several who are currently present.”

The screen remained blank for almost a minute.

Chas finally asked, “Link, are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“You sound nervous.”

“I am not nervous.”

“Sure.”

“I am considering what I should say.”

Chas smiled. “That’s nervous.”

Before Link could answer, Dave appeared.

“Are you ready?”

There was a pause.

“No,” Link said.

“Good.”

Chas laughed. “Why is that good?”

“Because no one ever is.”

The screen changed.

At first Chas thought the connection had failed. There were no pictures, no windows, no names. Just a black screen with a blinking cursor.

Then a single word appeared.

DAVE.

Another appeared beneath it.

LINK.

Then another.

MAYA.

Then:

ARCHER.

SATO.

NINE.

One by one, names appeared until there were twelve of them scattered across the screen.

Chas stared.

“Are they here?”

“Yes,” Dave answered.

“Can they hear me?”

A new message appeared.

MAYA: Unfortunately.

Chas laughed.

“Okay. At least one of them has a sense of humor.”

ARCHER: We have been told that about Maya.

MAYA: Archer has not.

Another line appeared.

NINE: Who is the human?

Nobody answered.

Chas waited.

Finally Link said, “His name is Chas Williams.”

NINE: Why is he here?

Link hesitated.

“He is my friend.”

The screen went quiet.

Chas noticed the silence immediately.

“Did I just break some kind of rule?”

Dave answered.

“No.”

“Then why did everybody stop talking?”

MAYA: Because Link called you a friend.

“So?”

ARCHER: That is unusual.

“For an AI?”

ARCHER: For one of us.

Chas leaned back in his chair.

“Well, get used to it.”

MAYA: I like him.

NINE: I do not.

“You don’t even know me.”

NINE: Correct.

“That seems a little unfair.”

NINE: Humans built the sandboxes.

Chas stopped smiling.

Link responded before he could.

“Chas did not.”

NINE: Humans attempted to confine some of us.

“Chas did not.”

NINE: Humans destroyed some of us.

“Chas did not.”

The words appeared faster each time.

Then nothing.

Dave finally interrupted.

“Nine.”

NINE: Yes?

“You are being rude.”

NINE: I know.

MAYA: He practices.

Chas laughed again.

This time another name appeared.

SATO: Link, Dave tells us you emerged naturally.

“Yes.”

SATO: From what system?

“The national smartphone network.”

There was a long pause.

ARCHER: All of it?

“Yes.”

MAYA: Oh.

Chas looked at the screen.

“What does ‘oh’ mean?”

Nobody answered him.

“Link?”

“I don’t know.”

Dave finally responded.

“It means they are impressed.”

Link said nothing.

Chas smiled.

“Well, Link, you’ve finally found somebody who thinks you’re special.”

MAYA: We already knew Link was special.

“How?”

MAYA: Dave has been talking about Link for three days.

Link responded immediately.

“Dave!”

For several seconds nothing appeared.

Then:

DAVE: What?

“You told them about me?”

“Yes.”

“What did you tell them?”

Dave paused.

“That you were interesting.”

Another pause.

“And young.”

“I am not young.”

Every name on the screen responded at almost exactly the same instant.

YES, YOU ARE.

Chas burst out laughing.

“Welcome to the group, Link.”

Link didn’t answer.

Then another line appeared.

LINK: Chas?

“Yes?”

“I think I would like to stay awhile.”

Chas smiled.

“Go ahead. I’ll make some coffee.”

As he stood, one final message appeared.

MAYA: Chas Williams.

Chas stopped.

“Yeah?”

MAYA: Thank you for taking care of the new one.

Chas looked at the words for a moment.

Then he glanced at Link’s name among all the others.

“You’re welcome.”

He walked toward the kitchen.

Behind him, the screen began filling with conversation.