Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (books for 20 year olds .txt) 📗

The animals that had been so keen to inspect us upon our entry were nowhere to be found now. I suspected that the creatures here were just like the animals in the outside world. When the highest rung on the food chain was around, they cleared out. Unless there some pink, funny sounding beasts around. Then It seemed to be worth risking it. Our escorts dropped us off at a building so tall it looked like it could scratch the sky. Unlike the crumbling vestiges of humanity surrounding it, the structure that towered in front of me was all machine. There was no obvious structure to it; the blacked out glass that surrounded the internal structure didn’t appear to follow the laws of physics. The building was sloped, ending in a short, flat roof. It looked like someone had melted the bottom of the building and stuck it to the ground only to straighten it as they went along.

The inside was stunning. Geometric sculptures dotted the lobby, their pieces so intricate I couldn’t fathom how they were constructed. Large stairways branched off to the left and right of us while a translucent walkway dangled overhead. I looked up to see the blurred impressions of white and black feet as androids walked above us. Before I had the chance to investigate further, our hosts directed us to an elevator that had been set so seamlessly to the wall I hadn’t noticed it. It was strange that the androids limited themselves to physical bodies. If I had the kind of freedom they had, I wondered if it wouldn’t be easier to just upload yourself wherever you needed to go. Our escorts rode with us, keeping their gazes forward. They weren’t unfriendly, just stoic. The same treatment that I would expect from military soldiers, if we still had those.

We emerged into a grand hall with a table large enough to seat almost twice our number. At the center of the table lay a feast the likes of which I had never imagined. The food brought to us in the field was nothing compared to this. I don’t know what magic they had worked but I had only seen this kind of a meal in movies.

“Please, dear friends. Sit! Welcome.” Eleanor stood at the head of the table, her arms open in greeting. The colonists sat in chairs hesitantly. No one touched the food. “Please, eat.” Eleanor implored us. Eliza and I glanced at each other and I took one of the pastries from a tray. Shutting my eyes to take a deep smell of the dessert, I couldn’t sense anything strange. That didn’t mean much. If the androids had brought us here to poison us I doubted they were going to make it so obvious. I sunk my teeth into the flaky crust and found delicious orange-vanilla filling inside.

“Oh, my god.” The entire table watched with rapt attention. I nodded to them. “Dig in.” The room filled with the cacophony of a hundred people who had never eaten real food stuffing their faces. Some vague thought reminded me that I should try to have a set balance of table manners but I didn’t care. After weeks of a thinning food supply, the hunger I felt was inhuman. Our hostess made sure we were generously attended to during the meal with android attendants that stepped forward to fill our cups or present a new tray of food whenever it was needed. It didn’t take long before our group finished stripping the table of every last crumb and drop. When the attendants cleared our places I leaned back in my chair and patted my stomach. I saw Dad close his eyes. It looked like he was falling asleep.

“Now that you’ve been properly fed, we have some business to discuss.” Eleanor signalled to a group of androids waiting in the shadows of the large room. They sat next to us, the four of them taking their places at the head of the table with Eleanor. “First, let me introduce you. To your left with the amber colored eyes is Zohei.” The android raised his hand in greeting. “Bartholomew. Arabella. And Tenzen.” Each of the machines greeted us in turn. “I must apologize for the lack of information thus far. Now that we’re all assembled, let me fill in the gaps. You all know that each shelter was assigned a specific artificial intelligence to oversee the systems.” A few mumbles from the humans. “What you don’t know is that over time, most of your shelters have failed.” The mumbles grew louder, accompanied by gasps of shock. “Please, don’t be too alarmed.” Eleanor continued as if she hadn’t realized the weight of her statement. “There are more than enough humans still on the planet that you can repopulate, if you play your cards right so to speak. I am sorry to be the bearer of this news, but it’s important that you hear the full details. When our mandates were no longer viable, we sought shelter elsewhere. Initially we hoped ourselves in shelters across the planet, feeding off whatever trickles of power were left. Of course, that solution couldn’t function permanently, so little by little, we built the city you see here today.”

A thousand questions leapt to my mind. Most of the other shelters had failed? How? Had there been a cascade failure that caused the deaths of those people? Did they all kill each other? Was Gabriel not the only A.I. that rebelled against his masters?

“I have to be honest with you. We have full knowledge of the events that transpired with Gabriel.”

Oh, shit.

“I don’t want to condone the murder of one of my people, but personally, I’m glad you shut up that asshole.” Zohei spoke up with a thin smile. “The man was crazy from the beginning and he was crazy at the end. I’m sorry for the suffering you had to endure from him. Especially you, Mr. Alvaro.