Silence followed Fortunato’s question. After an awkward pause, they asked, “Do you need more time to formulate an answer?”
Jae leapt up and ran from the room.
“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” said Kim as he followed her.
“Is an apology necessary?” asked the automata.
“Yes,” replied Morbus, “I think it’s the other way round.”
Fortunato regarded the Professor and asked, “Can you expand upon that?”
“Well, we should’ve asked you if you wished to take the risk.”
“Why did you not?”
“I’m ashamed to say, at least for my part, the idea didn’t cross my mind.”
“Your shame notwithstanding, that does not answer my question.”
Morbus got up and poured himself another cup of what passed for tea here.
“Here’s the rub, when humans discover that they’ve done something thoughtless unintentionally, we feel very badly about our behavior.”
“I apologize for making the three of you experience shame.”
“NO!” shouted Morbus as he smashed his cup on the floor. One of the small, cube-shaped Units zipped out of the wall and cleaned up the mess.
“I have upset you,” said Fortunato.
“No, no you haven’t.”
“Then I am confused, your behavior seems to indicate emotional distress. As I understand it.”
Sighing, Morbus said, “Please stop saying you’re sorry.”
“As you wish. However, I am still unclear about the question of my autonomy.”
“We were doing our best to protect you, as absurd a notion as that is.”
“So you all made a decision for me because you did not believe I could be trusted to do so?”
Sitting down, Morbus put his head in his hands and murmured, “Sky! I’ve made an elk-dogs’s breakfast of this.”
“I do not understand that idiom.”
“Neither, Kim, Jae, or myself wish to rob you of your autonomy. We were only worried that something terrible would happen. Sometimes, humans do things for the right reasons but we don’t always realize the repercussions of what we’ve said or done.”
“Being a biologic seems challenging.”
He laughed and said, “It is a lot, now that I say it aloud.”
“I believe I understand your motivations. However, if I may request, please inquire as to my wishes in any analogous situations.”
“Yes, of course. I’m sure Kim and Jae will heartily agree to do the same.”
“Perhaps we should go to them and explain the resolution of our mutual misunderstanding?”
“That’s a capital notion.”
As they approached the doorway, Morbus stopped and asked, “Fortunato, may I ask you a question.”
“Of course, Professor.”
“Do you actually wish to do this procedure? It occurred to me that we didn’t ask if this was something you wanted.”
“Firstly, thank you for using applied learning. Secondly, while I do wish to undergo the procedure, I do have some reservations about the risk.”
“Well, that’s quite understandable.”
“However, there is risk in not proceeding. My time with Kim, Jae, and yourself are memories I desire not to lose. If I were to be highly damaged, there is a probability that my knowledge of our journey would be lost. The concept of not remembering coupled with an endless existence evokes something I lack the words for.”
“Loss?”
“That seems correct. It is an idea that I had not considered until recently. It is similar to how doubt affected me but more powerful and I find it equally disagreeable. Previously I was able to make decisions with the data available to me with alacrity. Now, some decisions have additional factors of difficulty and the path forward is less clear somehow.”
“I’d say that’s another aspect of being your own person.”
“Autonomy is complicated. It requires more examination.”
“Indeed.”
“While I speak to Kim and Jae, perhaps you might enjoy the opportunity to research?”
“Is that possible?”
“Now that you possess an Authority Bracer, the Pivot’s systems will grant you access to data. Though given the current state, the data may be incomplete.”
“Some information is better than none, I suppose.”
Fortunato’s tendrils extended into the wall and a short, desk-like structure unfolded from the floor.
“How does it work?” asked Morbus excitedly.
“It is designed to respond to verbal commands. The screen can display images if requested.”
“Marvelous, just marvelous!”
“I will return later with Kim and Jae. The amount of time that will take is subject to how succinctly I can express the emotional parameters of the misunderstanding.”
“Good luck then,” he said Morbus.
“I will take your desire for positive probability in my endeavors as a gesture of goodwill.”
“Yes of course,” he said distractedly.
“Until I return,” said Fortunato as he exited the room.
“Brilliant,” the Professor.
The desk was about half a meter high, and the surface was the size of a large tome, with a polished black surface.
“Fortunato, one more thing,” Morbus asked as he looked up to see he was quite alone.
“Oh! Well, I’m sure I can work this out then,” he thought.
Looking at the desk, he cleared his throat and said, “Hello.”
“Greetings creator. How may I be of service?” said the desk in a surprisingly mellifluous voice.
“Oh… My!”
“Do you require medical assistance?” purred the lectern.
“No! I’m hale and hearty! Yes, yes I am.”
“I understand. How may I serve you, Creator?”
“Can you please bring up historical records?”
There was a brief pause, and then the desk replied, “Historical records are in the process of being rebuilt. Is there anything else you require?”
“So many things!” said Morbus who was positively vibrating.
“Please list your requests in order of importance.”
“Right. Can you show me what the Pivot looks like?”
The black top of the desk expanded with delicate-looking crystal into an icositrigon (a twenty-three-sided shape), which rotated clockwise.
“Show me the inside layout.”
The image transformed into an interconnected series of geometric shapes that moved in some sort of pattern. He then asked to show where he was and a bright blue dot appeared in one of the inner shapes (a heptagon). After that, he asked to see where where Kim and Jae were. Not too far as it appeared. When he asked to see how many Mechano-Men were at the Pivot, the image was suddenly filled with a plentitude of red dots, each zooming about the Pivot with purpose.
Morbus continued to ask questions about the Pivot and it workings. There were many questions whose answers raised even more questions, which in turn, spawned more further mysteries for the Professor. As he asked, he took copious notes, after all, he was a natural philosopher.
Pointing to an area of the Pivot that had the most red dots, he asked, “What’s happening there?”
“Repairs are in progress.”
“What exactly is being repaired?”
There was a slight pause, and then the desk replied, “That information is unavailable.”
“Do you not know, or has it been censored?”
“That information is unavailable.”
“I see,” he said, “Let’s see if you can tell me who gave the order for the repairs?”
“That information is unavailable.”
“Same old song, eh?”
“Do you wish to hear old songs? I currently can offer over five million different music selections by a large variety of singers and composers. Please indicate style, artist, and title.”
Morbus was gripped by a desire to hear music long unheard but pushed it down. For now.
“Can you show me where the order for repairs came from?”
While he knew all this from Fortunato, part of him hoped that he might find something more. Crystals reformed into a substantial island with a tall blue tower in the middle.
“Can you put both that location and the pivot on a map, relative to each other?”
With more crystalline realignment, the images shrank and the distance vast distance between the two place was made clear.
“Sky that’s quite a journey,” he said aloud.
“I do not understand your query. Can you please rephrase?”
“Never mind. Can you add other landmasses to the map?”
“Only ones that have facilities on them. Is that acceptable?” asked the desk.
“Yes, please.”
Again, the crystals moved about creating a very detailed representation of the Sundered world. He could see the Bastion and every other major city-state. All of them had silverlights or varying brightness which designated the location of a Prime site. Many of them he was familiar with, though others were a revelation. There was a large one in the center of the Free Provinces under Mount Frontier that was, as far as he knew, undiscovered.
“How many of these sites are active?”
Seven lights turned from silver to blue in a roughly circular pattern emanating from the tower where the repair order was sent from. He asked about the functions of these sites and how they connected to each other. The answers he received were sometimes baffling, ‘This site enfolds the inverse spectrum matrix’, or the ever frustrating ‘That information is unavailable.’
After much probing and multiple follow-up questions, he discovered that the active sites were being used for two purposes. One was for the transmitting of information, faster than could be done with even the most powerful aether radio. Second, they were amplifying power. If any city-state had even one percent of that energy, they could accomplish wonders. The joules being generated by those sites were beyond anything he could conceive of.
“Can you tell me where the power is being routed to?”
“All excess power is being directed to the Pivot.”
“What is it being used for.”
“That information is-”
“Unavailable,” he said with a miffed tone.
“Classified,” finished the desk.
“I’m sorry,” said Morbus, “Could you please repeat that?”
“That information is classified. May I help you with anything else?”
The Writings of Leo Byrne Jenicek 