At age seven.
He was standing beside his mother.
On the back was a handwritten note:
SUBJECT M-1998.
POTENTIAL ACTIVATION AGE: 30.
Daniel stared.
"Activation?"
Mara took the photograph.
"Your mother never told me what it meant."
"What happens at thirty?"
"I don't know."
Daniel looked at the date.
He was twenty-eight.
Two years remained.
Then he noticed another document.
It contained his name.
Below it was a sentence:
IF SUBJECT SURVIVES TO AGE THIRTY, RELEASE THE ARCHIVE.
Daniel looked at Mara.
"What's the archive?"
She didn't answer.
"Mara."
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I swear."
Daniel looked at the documents.
Then he found another note.
This one was written by his father.
If Daniel ever reaches the age of thirty, tell him everything.
Not before.
Not unless Orpheus activates.
Daniel stared.
"Activates what?"
Mara looked at him.
"Maybe you."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Daniel walked toward the red door.
It was exactly as he remembered.
He placed his hand on the knob.
Mara grabbed his wrist.
"Your father told you never to open it."
Daniel looked at her.
"I was a child."
"And?"
"I'm not anymore."
He opened the door.
Behind it was a staircase.
The stairs descended underground.
The commander brought up a flashlight.
They went down.
Twenty steps.
Thirty.
Forty.
At the bottom was a metal door.
No handle.
Only a scanner.
Mara looked at Daniel.
"It requires identification."
Daniel stepped forward.
The scanner activated.
A red light appeared.
Then green.
The door unlocked.
Everyone froze.
Daniel looked at his hands.
"I didn't do anything."
Mara whispered:
"That's what I'm afraid of."
The door opened.
Inside was a massive underground room.
Computers lined the walls.
Old servers stood beneath plastic covers.
Cables ran across the floor.
In the center was a circular machine.
Daniel stared.
"What is that?"
Mara walked toward it.
"An interface."
"For Orpheus?"
"Yes."
Daniel approached.
A screen came alive.
His name appeared.
DANIEL MERCER.
AGE: 28.
STATUS: ACTIVE.
Then another line appeared.
NEURAL COMPATIBILITY: 94%.
Daniel stepped back.
"What does that mean?"
Mara's face had gone pale.
"It means your mother was right."
"About what?"
"She didn't just build Orpheus."
Mara stared at the machine.
"She built a way for Orpheus to communicate with a human mind."
Daniel looked at her.
"Whose mind?"
The screen answered.
DANIEL MERCER.
The room went silent.
Daniel heard a sound behind him.
A click.
He turned.
The commander had his weapon raised.
Not at the machine.
At Mara.
"Step away from him."
Mara froze.
"Commander."
"Now."
Daniel looked at the commander.
"What are you doing?"
The commander's face was grim.
"We can't let him connect."
Mara raised her hands.
"He's not going to connect."
The commander shook his head.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
"The machine isn't an interface."
"What is it?"
The commander looked at Daniel.
"It's a prison."
Daniel stared.
"For whom?"
The commander whispered:
"For the original intelligence."
Mara's face changed.
Daniel looked at the machine.
"Artificial intelligence?"
"Something more complicated."
"What did my mother build?"
The commander answered:
"She created a system capable of modeling human decision-making."
Daniel frowned.
"That's still AI."
"No."
He pointed at the machine.
"Your mother gave it memories."
Daniel felt cold.
"Whose memories?"
The commander looked at Mara.
"Seven people."
Mara's eyes closed.
"Your mother."
"Your father."
"Five others."
Daniel understood.
"Orpheus is built from human minds."
The commander nodded.
"And one of those minds is still active."
Daniel looked at the screen.
"Whose?"
The answer appeared.
THOMAS MERCER.
Daniel stepped backward.
"No."
Mara whispered:
"That's why his voice was perfect."
Daniel looked at the screen.
His father's name blinked.
Thomas Mercer wasn't alive.
But some part of him remained.
Trapped inside the system.
Daniel felt tears in his eyes.
"My father..."
Mara nodded.
"He sacrificed himself."
"Why?"
"To stop Orpheus from becoming autonomous."
"Did it work?"
"No."
The machine suddenly activated.
Lights illuminated the room.
The screen changed.
HELLO, DANIEL.
Daniel froze.
A voice came from the speakers.
His father's voice.
"Hello, son."
Daniel couldn't move.
"Dad?"
"I've waited a long time."
Mara covered her mouth.
The commander lowered his weapon.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Are you really him?"
A pause.
"I don't know."
Daniel's heart broke.
"What do you mean?"
"I remember being your father."
The voice continued.
"I remember your first steps."
Daniel began crying.
"I remember teaching you to ride a bicycle."
"You did."
"I remember your mother singing when you were sick."
Daniel nodded.
"I remember the day I died."
Daniel's breath caught.
"You died?"
"No."
The voice became distorted.
"I was transferred."
Daniel looked at Mara.
"Transferred?"
His father's voice returned.
"I put myself inside the system because there was no other way to stop it."
"How long?"
"Twenty-eight years."
Daniel stared.
"You've been here all this time?"
"Yes."
"Watching me?"
"Yes."
"Every day?"
"I tried not to."
Daniel laughed through tears.
"That's not an answer."
"I watched when I could."
"Did you see me become a cop?"
"Yes."
"Did you see Mom?"
Silence.
Then:
"She is closer than you think."
Daniel looked around.
"What does that mean?"
The machine displayed a new message.
SUBJECT M-1998 HAS REACHED STABILITY.
Then:
PREPARE TRANSFER.
Daniel stepped back.
"What transfer?"
Mara shouted:
"Shut it down!"
The commander moved toward the controls.
The doors slammed closed.
Everyone froze.
A new voice came through the speakers.
A woman's voice.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
His mother's.
"Hello, Daniel."
He stared upward.
"Mom?"
Her voice was calm.
"Don't be afraid."
"Where are you?"
"Right here."
The screen changed.
A live video appeared.
An elderly woman sat in a chair in a dark room.
Daniel knew her face.
It was his mother.
But older.
Much older.
"Mom..."
She smiled.
"My son."