After Lilijoy filled Anda in on all of her (mostly internal) adventures, they sat in silence as the marshy river banks passed. They were headed somewhere in the interior of the continent, following another former river channel, the Purus this time. It was a month past the end of the short rainy season, so the wide channel was still quite muddy, often breaking into small rivulets of flowing water. They had even crossed a few shallow lakes. The landscape was gradually becoming more barren; less plant, more stinking mud. Anda had chosen the direction more or less at random to avoid any more encounters with Boggs or his allies.

Waiting for death from above in anxious acceptance was a unique feeling, Lilijoy thought. She wasn’t quite sure what to think or do. All of her excitement about her flower’s advances had evaporated instantly. Much as she was going to at any moment.

She turned to Anda as her passivity momentarily inverted into frustration, blurting, “There must be something we can do!”

Anda’s expression toyed with a sad smile, before settling into sympathy. “Pray,” he said.

That felt like an empty answer, even though she wasn’t completely sure what it meant.

Her annoyance must have showed, as Anda went on to explain, “I don’t mean that frivolously. For many people, most people around the world, praying is a way to connect with the universe beyond themselves, and through that connection become more than just an insignificant ant on the surface of the earth. To reach out to something bigger, God or Allah or Enkai as my people call it. We hope that the connection may flow both ways, and that our concerns will become smaller as we become part of something bigger. Of course, in the back of our minds, most people are also hoping that God will magically fix our problems for us, even though we recognize how childish that feeling may be. Typically, prayer is the last refuge in times of death and tragedy.

So when I suggest that you pray, I don’t mean to belittle your feelings. I mean that you should make your own feelings be little, by becoming part of something for whom your despair and tragedy are akin to a child crying over a dropped sweet. There are even those who worship Guardian as a god and pray to it. There is even a dedicated satellite for listening to their prayers. Not that Guardian would ever answer!”

Lilijoy looked at Anda, her eyes narrowed in defiance. “Let’s see if Guardian will answer me,” she said.

***

“Hello, Guardian. This is Lilijoy. I really need to talk to you before you start vaporizing people. I’ve got this system called the Tao system or something, and Anda (I’m sure you know who he is), told me that it’s some kind of legend or something and it looks like it might bend Rule One just a little bit. But it doesn’t do anything unless I tell it to. So it’s not really replicating by itself, you understand, ‘cause I have to tell it or it won’t. Replicate I mean.

Oh, and it needs these things called rare earth elements to grow, and if it grows too much it’ll run out and then stop. And the man who designed it lived a long time ago. I’m pretty sure he did it before your Rules, so maybe it doesn’t count quite the same? And you should know that I’m the only one that has it, so you don’t need to waste any energy microwaving anyone else, unless you really want to. I think that’s pretty much it. Oh, except for Jiannu. Anda thinks she might be an A.I. who lives in my system. She’s really smart, and nice. Okay, I’m done. Bye!”

She closed the link, and sat back in her seat, avoiding Anda’s eyes. He had not been in favor of her gambit, but had done nothing other than say, “The worst it can do is hasten our deaths by a few minutes anyway.” Though he might have rolled his eyes a little.

She resumed her study of the landscape, and marveled as several large birds burst from a small stand of reeds, startled by the hovercraft’s passage. She felt a certain serenity from the sight. Beautiful life will go on, always finding a way to survive, she thought. Then she remembered that Guardian’s microwave laser typically covered an area about a mile wide, and felt bad for any wildlife caught in her vicinity.

I hope whatever those birds were, they fly far, far away.

Her reveries were interrupted by gentle sound she could only characterize as a ‘whoosh bell’. A small message window entered her vision.

External Message from Right Hand of Azreal (Tier 5) Mode: Satellite, Narrow Message Content: Text Title: Registration

Message Body:

A Message was received from [Self Identified] using system [Tao 2.3.3]

This identification and system are unregistered to the Guardian network.

Identification available.

Do you wish to register user using system to the Guardian network?

Reply to this message to consent.

Registration will enable access to public Guardian services.

Contact | Delete | Blacklist | Quarantine | Menu

She read it over, then quickly forwarded it to Anda. “What do you make of this?” she asked.

His mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. She could have sworn she saw his eyes cross briefly, though he has probably just focused on his internal view.

“This is...not...bad?” he said. “There are a few unusual things here. When a child uses their interface to communicate with the system for the first time, they get a message like this. It’s something of a rite of passage, getting your official ID, and many families celebrate the occasion. Often, the child has to go through several attempts to find a user name they like. Once it is chosen, it never changes, though there are many ways to mask it within the system. It is much the same when joining the Inside for the first time. A new name is created and permanently connected to your system ID.”

“The first interesting thing I see here,” he continued, “is the sender. Ninety-nine percent of communications directed at the system never receive a reply. The primary exception is first time registration. When someone receives a reply, it is usually from a sender like ‘Guardian network admin 56784 at tier six'. Pretty much the only thing that changes is the number. Getting a reply from tier five is very uncommon, and the name is even more unusual. Azreal is the tier four subsystem supervising humans in the Outside. Tier four is the highest anyone has ever interacted with, and almost all of those communications have occurred in the Inside. The Subsystem supervising the Inside is more involved with humans than any other, and he will make an appearance if the circumstances merit. But Azreal stays far above the fray. I don’t think anyone has ever been in contact with that one.”

Lilijoy jumped in. “But mine says it’s from the ‘Right Hand of Azreal’. That would be like her assistant, right?”

“We can only speculate about the relationships among such beings. They are all part of Guardian, but they have independence as well.”

Like Jiannu and me, thought Lilijoy.

“Wise ones in my former clan speculate that a human would be about equivalent to a tier six in brain power, and that each tier has a mind at least a hundred times greater than the previous. It is thought that ‘The Rules’ is tier three. Anyway, the other odd thing is the system registration. It just seems odd, how minimal it is. Guardian will only interact with recognized systems, systems it has taken apart and examined. For Guardian to blindly accept your system would be like you marrying a stranger, just because they asked via message. It makes no sense. I can only conclude that Guardian somehow has encountered the Tao system previously. That, or it is a mistake made at a lower processing level. If it is a mistake, we’ll never know, because the vaporization will take place immediately.”

Lilijoy processed this. “I don’t think I can take living with the uncertainty. I’m going to accept the registration, and ask for clarification.”

She proceeded to message ‘Right Hand of Azreal’.

“Yes. I do want to register my name and system. By the way, how many other Tao system users are in the network?”

Soon a ‘whoosh bell’ followed.

External Message from Right Hand of Azreal (Tier 5) Mode: Satellite, Narrow Message Content: Text Title: Registration

Message Body:

A Message was received from [Self Identified] using system [Tao 2.3.3]

is now your primary identification for all Guardian network functions and areas. In conjunction with system [Tao 2.3.3]

Tao system user base

Further communications directed to Guardian network Admin 11237 (Tier 6)

Contact | Delete | Blacklist | Quarantine | Menu

She again showed it to Anda. Sighing and shrugging all at once, Anda said, “It seems as if you have been bumped down in priority; that’s not unexpected. I don’t know what to make of ‘Tao user base unknowable’. Shouldn’t it say ‘unknown?’ I’m quite surprised it answered at all, but then to give one like that...”

“It’s like it has to know about it to even know that it’s unknowable,” said Lilijoy, nearly tangling herself in her own phrasing. “You know?”

Blinking, Anda replied, “I couldn’t have said it better myself, dear one. I am starting to feel that my odds of becoming a smear of carbon in the near future are diminishing. I suggest we drive off the channel a bit and find a sheltered spot. Since it looks like we might live for the time being, we need to make sure that you don’t die from your infection. I am going to give you the med bugs now and you can see if your system can interface with them. Even if it can’t, med bugs will keep you from bleeding to death and clear out any residual infection.”

He reached into a pouch and pulled out two large oval pills., handing them to Lilijoy. “Let me know what happens. It should narrow down the treatment possibilities. I can try interfacing with them externally if they don’t show up for you.”

Lilijoy looked down at the pills filling her hand. Overflowing her hand, really. She gulped nervously, testing her swallow against the ovoid menaces. They seemed to be getting bigger by the second. She lifted one up to get a closer look. It was black and shiny.

“Lilijoy is...I mean, I am not sure this will fit,” she said.

Anda looked at her with a grin. “There is another way to take them you know,” he said, gesturing toward his lower half.

Lilijoy looked at him askance. Anda got a bit flustered. “You know, you can put them up your...”

“Oh,” Lilijoy interrupted. “Ohhh, I get it. I can put them up my butt. Yes. That would be much better. Just hold on one second.”

Anda turned away as she began to pull up her absolutely filthy and torn pillowcase, pondering the inhibitions modern culture bestowed. As he pondered, he quickly checked the network to see if his suggestion would actually work. He had expected to make her feel better about swallowing them. He sighed in relief, discovering that the two methods would be about equivalent. He would not have looked forward to explaining she needed to swallow them after all, especially now that they were otherwise confined.

He abandoned an image of being chased around a hovercraft by a furious Lilijoy (and he knew how deadly she could be in a confined space.) to pay attention to her words.

“Anda, how long will it take?”

“About thirty minutes to interface, an hour or so to maximum efficacy,” he replied.

“Okay.” She wriggled uncomfortably for a moment. “Anda, what do you know about the Tao system? Is it really dangerous or something?” She didn’t see how Jiannu and the flowers could pose a threat, but clearly, she didn’t have the whole picture.

“Lilijoy, there are legends of systems with incredible power, tales told around the campfire, of the time before Guardian. Many of the powers we have rediscovered, or found the actual bugs, and today there are people who have enhanced their bodies and brains to an incredible extent. We use a system of ‘ranks’ which loosely follows which part of the body is augmented, and by how much. You can find the details easily enough on your own now, but let me give you an example. Rank eight is muscle enhancement. People at that rank are using bugs which augment or even replace individual muscle fibers in a variety of ways. Each rank has one to ten levels, so a strong rank eight, let’s say rank eight at the ninth level, can lift many, many times her own body weight.”

He raised a finger, going into full lecture mode.

“However, if someone had such strong muscles, but normal bones, they would break every bone in their body when they used their full strength. For that reason, bone enhancement must come before muscle enhancement. Bone is rank six. You already know about rank 4, which is blood. You need strong blood to serve the bones and muscles, so blood comes first. For these reasons, and others, such as cost and ease of access, there is a basic order.”

“A person with all ten ranks at the highest level is a force of nature. In combat, they could destroy a large group of armed men with their bare hands, but combat is only a small part of why some strive for the highest levels. It is also for status and competitive drive and for the satisfaction of performing amazing feats. Ultimately, it represents the human drive for surpassing excellence. It also doesn’t hurt that the highest ranks seem to have virtually unlimited youthful lifespans. The reason we aren’t all running around as immortal superheroes is simple, the cost. Well, that and the fact that the clans who specialize in certain high rank bugs can be very difficult to deal with.”

His lips tightened in frustration for just a moment.

“As you know, almost everyone has some Rank one augmentations, and I find those to be the most valuable.”

He seemed to realize he had gone off topic and shook his head in apology. With a wink he said, “Getting back to your question, there are legends of bugs with powers that go beyond the ten ranks we use now. Bugs that can control other systems. Bugs that allow the user to split their mind, to shape their body, to see the future,” he rolled his eyes. “If you can imagine a power, there is probably an imaginary legendary bug that can do it. After all, humans have never lost our love for the fantastic and the mythological. One of the best-known legends is the Tao system.”

His voice lowered, “The legend goes that in the time of strife before Guardian, a wise sage developed bugs, or bots as they were known, that could incorporate and improve any other bots that they contacted. He felt that seduction was preferable to destruction, and envisioned groups of warrior-sages entering the battlefield and with a wave of their hands, disarming all the technological weapons, taming all the uncontrolled bugs, rendering the combatants as weak and friendly as kittens."

Lilijoy thought back to Emily’s kitten poster. That would be so cool, she thought, smiling inwardly as she remembered an icicle flowing over the kitten.

“So what happened?” she prompted.

“Of course, the system used by the warrior-monks would need to be able to compete with the most vicious, all-devouring bugs, the kind that destroyed entire continents.” He looked somber. “We never mention Australia, even today.”

Shaking it off, he continued, “So they were elite physically, mentally, and their own bugs could replicate equally fast, suppressing the demon bugs and using them for feedstock, working in harmony with the warriors to quell the outbreak.”

“The story starts as the Tao system was first being tested in the real world. The warrior-monks took the battlefield in a particularly nasty outbreak, the heat from the demon bug’s uncontrolled replication burning trees and melting rocks, the bugs expanding in a circle of ever greater circumference surrounding a landscape completely empty of any organic matter, rocks crackling, sand glazing, devouring outward faster than even the swiftest animal could run.

No one knows the fate of the Monks. Did they perish in the face of the brutal consumption of the demon bugs? Did they stop the advance and slowly, arduously begin to force the bugs back into the interior to their destruction? Some legends even say that the Monks simply walked into the fires of the demon bugs, and in their footsteps, flowers bloomed as the demons were tamed into reversing the destruction they had caused.

No one will ever know, because that was the day Guardian rose. Its mighty weapons rained fire and destruction, destroying the monks and the demon bugs alike, and the world was at peace.” He smiled ironically.

“After all, what is more peaceful than death?”

Lilijoy stared at Anda with wide eyes.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he added “Guardian is indisputably the savior of our species and we owe it a great debt. This legend is just that, a fun story that gives wonder to children, like a thousand other stories of might and magic and tragedy. There has never been any evidence for the Tao system’s existence.”

He looked at Lilijoy, waiting.

“Until now,” she said.