Coeus?

“

Who needs just Zero and One if all the possible states between them are also available?

”

-The days of quantum computing

***Sol, Mars***

***Gideon***

I follow Zibil to the speaker's platform where he gestures for me to wait. Then he climbs the five stairs to the centre and turns to the audience. “I hereby declare the meeting as opened. Today's agenda is to deal with a complaint about our techno-mage elder, Sanguin Folstrom. The governor Gideon Alvar filed a complaint about incompetence in office, failed responsibilities and violation laws. Gideon, if you would please explain your reasons for this complaint and why you want Sanguin removed from his office.”

So I climb the stairs and take Zibil's place as the speaker. In absence of a better idea I smile at audience to break the ice. All I get is Melan smacking her forehead, so I can guess what happened. My expression slipped again.

I clear my throat and start speaking, slowly retelling Ed's slightly edited version of the events. There is no need to hold back about me being manufactured inside a genetic laboratory. Sadina's memories are enough to reveal that little secret of mine. Though the rest of the story paints me in a saintly light and forgets to mention my less noble deeds.

During all the time Sanguin keeps holding this smug expression, which makes me feel a little uneasy. Does he have some form of leverage on me? Ed's people checked Sadina's memories again and again. They should have found something, but Sanguin was really paranoid about contact with Sadina. She never sent him any reports. All he did was broadcast coded messages over certain news channels to give commands. Something that's very easy to do when you have full access to the mainframe.

At first I wasn't all too keen about revealing my past, but Zibil won us over. He wants to bet on the common sense of the elders and use Sadina and Sanguin as scapegoats. I may be the product of mad genetic research and it is laid down in the law that such research and all its products have to be destroyed. But in a certain way all that research is already destroyed and Ed's superior already used Sadina's memories to find her hideouts and sent clean-up crews.

I for my part am a highly decorated member of society. To the public I have lived a formidable life and gave our people the IM-lines. I served in the SDF and protected Sol as the captain of a ship and the governor of Aether. I have a family, a wife and children. All that has to count for something at least.

My vest is as clean as it can be and if the elders would condemn my existence for that, then Zibil is sure that he would be able to topple the system. Ed at least is certain that the faceless wouldn't move even one finger against me.

Once I am done telling the slightly edited version of events I nod at Zibil and leave the platform. I notice several different expressions among the elders, but if they are more positive or negative towards me I can't tell.

When I reach my companions Melan hugs me. “The start was a little bumpy, but you made good on it in the end.”

Finally Zibil starts speaking. “Unfortunately, as my lawyers inform me we can't confirm the entirety of this story because of Sanguin's immunity. It's his mind where we can find concrete proof for all of the events. I am sure that all of you see this complaint of Gideon's as a valid step from his point of view. We would betray our oath to society if we ignore the situation. This has to be investigated and the easiest way would be for Sanguin to allow us to have a look at his memories.”

“I do not.” Sanguin calls out. “In my brain are secrets of state most other elders aren't even allowed to know. I am the one who is tasked with the administration of Sol's mainframe! From ancient times onwards this responsibility and its secrets was only transferred from one techno-mage elder to the next. Nobody can have a look at my memories. Nobody!”

Zibil continues with a bored voice. “Then I am afraid that we have no choice. Is there anybody against a direct comparison of skill?”

Zibil's question is answered with deadly silence. Not even Sanguin tries to intervene. Zibil already told us as much. First of all there would have to be a significant majority to stop the comparison of skill. Secondly it would look very bad for Sainguin if he alone refuses the comparison and not even his closest cronies would dare to risk their skins for a lost vote.

Sanguin seems to be unconcerned nonetheless and that makes me a little nervous. Something makes him sure that he can win a comparison of skill with me. Does he intend to win the comparison and flee afterwards? Or is he sure that he can't be replaced?

Zibil gestures for me and Sanguin to come to the speaker's platform. “Then let's get it over with.” Another flick of his hand and two sprites enter the amphitheatre. They are of the same model as Exo before I made the adjustments.

I raise an eyebrow while Sanguin is on his way towards us. “We take the test right here?”

“Yes, right here. In front of everyone inside your VRs. The sprites will measure your psychological qualifications, knowledge and then you will compare your abilities.”

“How will we compare our abilities?” I ask.

“We will connect to the mainframe and prove that we can use it for the greater good. That we have control over it. The mainframe isn't some kind of sprite or a computer you can program. It is the entirety of the entire quantum network. Even if you have administrator rights it takes an unbelievable amount of skill to get something done. That's why the techno-mage elders don't change very often. Almost all fail the ultimate test of qualification simply because they can't deal with the mainframe.” Sanguin throws a dirty grin at me and in that moment I know why he is so sure of himself.

Connecting to the mainframe must be like using a completely different operating system. It takes time and effort to get familiar with the network. And probably it also takes a teacher who shows the ropes. There is no way that I can perform on an equal level of skill as Sanguin who used the mainframe for who knows how long.

But I get no chance to think about it as the sprites take their positions in front of us. Sanguin reaches out to touch his sprite and I do the same. One moment later I appear inside my VR with the sprite in front of me. “Hello. My name is Exa-98. I'll ask you a few questions.”

I pull a grimace and look the sprite over. “You guys aren't very creative when it comes to names, aren't you? Let me guess, Exa is the assembling line in which your quantum brain was manufactured and 98 is the batch number of the tank in which it was grown?”

When the sprite doesn't answer immediately I know that I hit the mark.

***Sol, Mars***

***Cyla***

I watch Gideon closing his eyes to take the theoretical test. Since this may take a little time I decide to find out a few things about the family. “How is Sadina doing?”

Melan's eyes wander to the ground. “I am not sure. She woke up and thought she was rescued almost immediately. I didn't expect that it would be that hard for me. For years I harboured those feelings and thoughts that I would give her a proper beating if she ever again shows her face to me. And there she is and doesn't even know what she did. Or didn't do. It's hard to see her as the one who left the house before the explosion.”

I bite my lip. “You didn't tell her?”

“I cried and she didn't understand why. To send Rhiannon would have been the better choice.” Melan sighs. “Of course I told her what happened. Just to prepare her for when the memories return. She shouldn't face that out of nothing. She was silent for a long time afterwards.”

“I guess it's hard to wake up and learn that you lost thirty years and the people whom you knew... maybe they aren't dead, but have changed to the point of not recognizing you any more.” I ponder. “Will she start seeing other people?”

“Hedeon and Rhiannon will start visiting her in turn and she asked how Ed is doing.” Melan looks up. “I am not sure if I should allow Ed to visit her.”

Ow! It must hurt to be talked about as if you weren't present. My eyes wander to Ed, but he acts as if there is no problem. Though it's hard to tell for sure with that mask he is always wearing.

“And you told her about Gideon and...” My voice trails off.

“Not in that much detail. She knows that Rhiannon and her husband had two kids and that her other self had a son. She took it a little better than I expected though I guess she was already too shocked from everything before that.” Melan shrugs.

“I guess it will take some time.” I answer and Melan nods. “Probably a lot of time and tears too.”

That's the moment when Sanguin and Gideon take their hands off of the sprites. Sanguin's sprite floats a little higher and announces. “Suitable mentality and a perfect score.”

Gideon's sprite copies the actions of the first one. “Suitable mentality and a perfect score.”

Sanguin's grin widens and he gestures like a king on his throne for the sprites to leave. “Then I guess that means we have to get to the final test to end this. Mainframe! Administrator Sanguin requests full access.”

He closes his eyes and the light dims. “Display the mainframe.” Then a huge projection of the solar system appears above us with countless tiny dots. They concentrate in areas with high population density and I realize that it displays the whole of Sol. There are even lines which indicate connections to outside of Sol.

Sanguin nods to himself, doing something inside his VR. “Entertainment and news programs. Restart!” Then whole sections of the network disconnect and go dark. A moment later they reconnect again. I gasp and some of the elders start murmuring. Did he just switch off a huge part of the network just to make a statement?

Sanguin grins and picks his ears without a care in the world. “Mainframe! New administration account for governor Gideon Alvar. He has full root rights and access.” Then he turns to Gideon. “Let's see how you manage to deal with the network.”

Gideon squints his eyes at Sanguin, but then he closes his eyes to connect to the mainframe. We wait for a while but nothing happens. A deadly silence stretches through the hall. And then I see a pearl of sweat forming on Gideon's forehead.

***Sol, Mars***

***Gideon***

This sucks! One moment it feels like I am falling and then I am in a million different places at once! The mainframe doesn't have a centralized command structure. Everything is equal... and not. I see probabilities and chaos. Is that what it looks like when you connect unfiltered to a quantum core? Normally the VR protects you from being affected by the illogical results of quantum computation.

In a normal system you reach the result of an equation step by step, going mechanically through each part of the process even if it you already know the result of a small auxiliary equation.

Not so in quantum computing. There each result is just a probability of many possible results and you reach the solution sometimes by leaping over entire steps based on probability.

It's not logical and it hurts my understanding of a computer system! If I could barf inside my VR I would to it. That's why Sanguin was so certain of himself. How is he dealing with it?

Once more I try to concentrate on one point in a sea of possibilities, but the solutions flash past me before I can even consciously register them.

It's the whole of Sol's computational power. The mainframe. I must try to relax and step back from the problem. Even at my fastest I can't keep up with the whole network, so I close my eyes to stop seeing the raw chaos of uncertainties. Sanguin granted me root access. That means I can access all functions. All I have to do is to create my own interface. My own blue room with four walls, a ceiling and most importantly a floor.

No million places at once. Just my VR room like I always use it. I take a deep breath and slowly open one eye. Blue wall! “Ha!”

I look around and it is indeed my VR. “For a moment I was really worried.” I sit down and imagine a window to the chaos outside. The mainframe faithfully fulfils my wish.

With the feeling of falling removed from the virtual representation of my body it is much easier to bear the sea of chaos outside. It's much like the sea of emotions in my own mind... but seeing down the bottleneck of probabilities is disturbing nonetheless. There is nothing stable out there.

I start working on creating an interface to the mainframe. Maybe I could get used to dealing the lowest level of the mainframe by myself, but I have no time for that. That's the trap Sanguin set for me. He granted me full access, but didn't provide the necessary interface to interact properly with the mainframe. Now I have to solve the puzzling chaos which is outside my little room.

After a few days of staring through my window I slowly start to understand the system and how to interact with it. The mainframe provides only a basic functionality for the user. My room is already a higher form of control over the system. Falling through the raw sea of chaos outside was nothing more than the command line. Root level access as he said.

A grin creeps onto my face. I can do a lot of things with that kind of power. Just what would be the best? I imagine a good, old keyboard in front of me and it conveniently appears. Slowly I start typing as a plan starts forming in my head.

If I had known that issuing a challenge is all it takes to get that kind of power I would have done it sooner. On the other hand I would have failed earlier because my priorities didn't match the specifications.

But right now I feel like doing something for everyone. Something that lasts forever.

A felt eternity later I have an interface to work with. First I access the government network of Aether and get a list of the devices in my office. The mainframe doesn't even need time to pull a full copy of Twisted-Sadina's personality. As a full register of transistors would shift a full byte of information in one go from one position to the next, the mainframe simply loads Sadina's personality at once.

When I was confronted with the raw and disorganized state of the mainframe I couldn't help but think of the human brain. Emulating a complete human consciousness on a single system might be a hideously complicated task, but the mainframe is a perfect environment. It's already in a state which is very close to the human brain.

I create an enclosed space to house Sadina's consciousness and connect to it by using a direct link between her and me. Then I start editing it. There is no way that I can set Sadina loose as she is now. First I have to get rid of her crazy streaks, which are mainly the fault of Sanguin's meddling with her priorities.

The new Sadina needs to be like the one who counselled me during school. Someone who cares for her charges and society as a whole. And maybe a good person. That's what she wanted to teach me during her lessons in order to allow me to reach the top.

But the old me would have never wasted a thought for society or something aside from personal benefits. Though the new me can't help but think of himself too. So I give the new Sadina a strong sense of loyalty towards family. My family in particular. She is still Sadina after all. Or maybe not, she will have to decide that on her own.

This time I go agonizingly slow while performing the needed changes. The mind-medics brought that idea to my mind and it works. You can't simply smash a mind to pieces and reassemble it back together like Lego-stones.

The mind-medics didn't use the terms of smash and assemble. They said twist and shove. And that's exactly how it is done. How it works.

After a felt eternity I am done and drop the firewalls which enclosed the isolated space for the new mind. The new Sadina immediately stretches out to enclose the entire architecture of the network. Maybe that's what the creator of the mainframe planned to do once the supporting network had grown sufficiently. But he died beforehand and his successors didn't realize what the mainframe really is. Three thousand years of network history.

With nothing else on my list I order the mainframe to display the new consciousness in my room.

Sadina's avatar appears right in front of me. It's the busty version which she used as my counsellor. She immediately reaches for her head. “The headaches. What's going on? It feels like a hundred little men are hobbling through my brain.” Then her eyes focus on me. “Gideon, err...”

After a moment with no further action I get up and wave a hand in front of her face. “What's wrong? Did you crash? Don't tell me that I pulled the greatest feat in history, a human mind inside a machine, and it bluescreens after five seconds.”

Sadina blinks. “I am sorry. It's just. This version of me. I tried to sort through the memories. You did something to my personality!”

I spread my hands. “Guilty! Sorry for reviving you as a Deus Ex Machina, but I kinda figured that us mages could need a god from time to time. Not one of those imaginative ones of course, but a real one. You were at hand, so I chose you as the new system administrator, Sadina.”

“I see. I am inside the mainframe. I am the mainframe.” Her eyes turn glassy for a moment. “I am so sorry for what I did to you.”

I nod. “What's done is done. And I have to admit I may have deleted a few memories here and there. I kind of edited you pretty heavily. You aren't the Sadina who created me. But now I kind of created you, so let's call it quits.”

A mad laugh escapes her lips and after a few seconds her laughing fit finally stops. “You are right. I am not Sadina. Could you call the new me Nina?”

I nod.

She sighs and surveys the empty room. “I guess I will also have to create a new body for myself. I don't want to be caught forever inside the machine.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Haven't you learned at least something from your previous self?”

She smirks. “Just one little facsimile here and there as an avatar. I won't even make it look like Sadina. Err, well, the other me who is still in rehabilitation would probably freak out.”

It seems like I did an acceptable job on her mind. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a bad choice. “Whatever you think is necessary to bear the new burden.” I answer and cross my arms in front of my chest. “Then I guess it's time to wake up.”

***Sol, Mars***

***Cyla***

Suddenly Gideon bends over and pukes his breakfast all over the platform. He sways and gets to one knee before emptying the rest of his stomach's contents on the ground. I hurry forward, ignoring proper protocol. A few steps take me to his side and I pat his back. “Is everything alright!? What happened?”

“Q-Coding sucks! Zero and one are so much better without the undefined,” Gideon gets out before another retching fit shakes his entire body, but there is nothing left to leave his stomach.

Sanguin chuckles. “I guess that's it then. Maybe your mother could have done it, but you lived your entire life as a freelance programmer. Your file says that you never delved into the uncertainties of deep quantum mechanics.”

“Who says that?” Gideon cleans his mouth with his sleeve. “My grandmother taught me a lot about teleportation and quantum mechanics off the records. One doesn't need a diploma to be knowledgeable on a certain field. Melan is also the source of Sadina's genius.”

The old man snorts and I fight the urge to punch him. “It didn't help. Mainframe, revoke Gideon Alvar's admin rights. He doesn't need them any more.”

“No.” A female voice booms from all around us and I feel my hairs standing up. That voice!

Sanguin's eyes widen and he looks around. “Who?”

“It's me. Hellooo World!” The figure of a busty female flickers into existence right next to us. She is projected by the crystals at the ceiling of the huge geode around us.

It's the avatar which Sadina always used to communicate over the net. “I don't feel like taking your commands any more.”

“Who are you!? You can't be...” Sanguin's voice trails off as he pales.

“I am the mainframe. Friends and family can call me Nina.” She singles me out and winks at me with a disturbing, conspiratorial smile. “Gideon was so nice to give me self-awareness. We had a long talk and decided that leaving the control over the entire quantum net in the hands of a single elder is a little too much power in one person's hands.”

Sanguin stretches shaky fingers towards Nina. “Then what about you!”

“I am me. Why shouldn't I have control over my own body? Silly.” She places her arms beneath her bust and pushes. “Gideon made sure that I have only the best for humanity in mind and don't turn into a sicko like you. Having control over all that computational power makes me see a looot of things, Sanguin. There are a lot of dirty little secrets in your past. I've used an insignificant amount of my mind to file a looong and detailed report on your shortcomings.”

Sanguin closes his eyes in an attempt to do something, but it doesn't work.

Nina studies her nails as if the image of light could actually be anything less than perfection. “I am afraid that I've created a bubble of certainty around you. It's a complicated little piece of mathematics. To make it short, magic doesn't work around you.”

Next, he turns and runs.

“Where are you going, Sanguin?” Nina calls after him. “I am everywhere! I am the mainframe, the whole of Sol and beyond! You can't run from me. Nowhere.”

Suddenly Melan is in front of Sanguin and a magically enhanced fist impacts his jaw. The jaw unhinges and several teeth clatter to the ground as Sanguin spurts blood and performs an unwilling backflip in mid air.

Melan kicks him once, twice and is grabbed by three faceless. They pull her away from the elder. She backhands one of them. Then twists the arm of the other one, sending him flying into his companion.

With the obstacles removed she returns her attention to Sanguin who is trying to get to his feet. Melan jumps, landing with one knee on Sanguin's back which results in a nasty cracking sound.

Finally the rest of the faceless arrive to subdue her and I watch in awe as my grandmother in law is escorted by no less than seven faceless out of the amphitheatre.

Two burly faceless grab Sanguin at each arm and carry him like a broken doll towards the exit. The legs of the sobbing elder dangle limply from his body. I think his spine is broken.

It took Melan less than five seconds to turn him into a bloody mess. “Who the fuck is that!? That's not the gentle woman whom I spent the last year with!”

“Codename: Tisiphone the vengeful, a highly decorated spy for industrial espionage. Worked also for the government, mostly deployed against the Revelation Wing and other vengeful groups in the old days when those groups were at the height of their power.” Ed clears his throat. “Sometimes she took the law into her own hands. When she did her targets tended to disappear. The government doesn't have much use for someone like her in this day and age.”

Gideon chuckles in my arms. “Oh, I am so glad that I never gave her cause to punish me.”

.