“So, basically what you are saying is that you don’t know what is happening here.”
“Well, we know what is happening, sir. We just can’t explain how, let alone predict what is going to happen next. Not yet…”
“So, you don’t know what’s happening.”
“I know the facts. I know that we stabilised the twin quantum clouds at 2:36 AM of last night. I know the code we ran on it. And we think we know what it is doing right now.”
“Then, tell me again.”
“We can’t say for sure, because Lisa and Amy have now created their own code. The last few hours we’ve been in the dark, but…”
“Well, funny thing you say that, Doctor, because half of the goddamn country has gone dark the last few hours too. But please, go on.”
“It needs the energy to grow, it is calculating what we asked of it in the first place.”
“Which is what?”
“To solve the ultimate mathematical equation.”
“And what was it supposed to answer you, Dr. Kahn?”
“Everything! You need to keep us online. We need to… nurture it. Contain it.”
“This isn’t by any means contained, Dr. Kahn. And taxpayers are not responsible for your pet quantum clouds. It isn’t our responsibility to keep your project going. And contained? You must be joking. Half the country is running on flashlights and we should all stay in the dark because of whatever it is that you are doing here? People are scared, Kahn. They are rioting, and looting. Talking about your sister Gods like it’s the end of the world. I can’t allow this to go on. You have to shut it down.”
“You don’t understand. That’s impossible. You’ve tried it already, haven’t you? That’s why she manifested in Austin too.”
“You are saying you didn’t know about the Austin cloud initially?”
“Yes, we were informed right away, but it wasn’t something we predicted was going to happen. We stabilised Lisa first. Amy came a millisecond later. We thought she just manifested herself that way naturally, but… now that you… I think Lisa knew you were coming for her. She predicted this would happen before you even thought about it, that’s why she split into two...”
“You are putting us in a difficult position here, Dr. Kahn. I am going to be honest with you. Yes, you are right, we’ve cut some power lines and tried to strangle you out of our network, but that seems to be easier said than done. So, that’s why I am here. You need to shut this down, right now. We need to bring the power back on and people back in order.”
“If we were ever able to shut them down from here, she wouldn’t have just manifested over there. There are thousands of quantum computers out there in the world. Sure, none as good as ours, but all of them have the capability of stabilising time-crystal clouds. There is no turning them off now. To them, there is no now. There is no space. You can’t just cut them out. The best course of action is to keep them contained to these two cities so that we can study them. Imagine the possibilities, the advantages we would have against other nations. If we succeed in turning them off, they’ll just migrate, it would be like handing over the greatest discovery in our nation’s history on a silver platter to some random country.”
“Dr. Khan, if the light stays out, very soon, there won’t be a nation here anymore.”
