CHAPTER FOUR

“You didn’t show him?”

Giovanni frowned at Dante, eyes staring into his incredulously. It was the early hours of day four, and Dante felt decently rested through the use of a sleep aid he had asked to be delivered to his room. The possible Hellwhip was in his hands, a heavy weight as he rocked it back and forth absentmindedly, staring at it with far off eyes.

“I’m thinking about not showing him at all, if I’m honest.” Giovanni got up to say something but Dante kept going as if he hadn’t noticed. “The man is already dying. It’s probably for the best that I hold onto this. Maybe I can give it to him on the seventh day, who knows?”

“I do,” Giovanni said, his voice a hard punch to Dante’s ego. “Look, it’s starting to look like you’re a little to emotionally invested in this subject. Perhaps I should find someone else to take over the recording duties.”

Snapped out of his trance, Dante looked at his superior with worry. “No, no sir! I only mean that it’s probably going to be the case that the subject will get a lot worse before finally feeling better on the final day? Haven’t you seen this effect in the dying before, sir? It’s quite common, actually. The dying grow so weak and ill in their final days, but the day before they finally are gone they seem to feel a renewed sense of strength. Remarkable, really. I’d say if I wait until that day and show him the weapon he will be of full capacity to tell me the truth of the matter, then perhaps we can confiscate it and study its power.”

Continuing to frown at his subordinate, Giovanni snatched the weapon from his hands, turning it over as if it were a gem of unknown origin. “Just so, I believe it may be for the best if I were to keep it for now. The subject is dangerous, after all. On the off chance that this weapon is as strong as he has stated, I’d prefer it to be in the hands of the Consulate. Understand me?”

Swallowing nothing, Dante nodded. “Yes sir.”

He had understood him completely. One more incorrect move and Dante would be sent off, not to another prisoner for recording duty but to another department. They’d send him off to the far reaches of 999, perhaps be given security monitoring or routine Nano maintenance, or even be the dust dumper, a job whose mere existence made Dante shudder.

“Now then, why don’t you go ahead and get started with him,” Giovanni ordered, his words slightly more hard than before. “I’m sure the nurses have been working all night to ensure his quality of life is as good as possible for the next few days. See if he can’t give you something more interesting as far as information is concerned. Ask about what he did in 995.”

Nodding, Dante was off, wondering if Giovanni had ever been his friend or if it was merely the proximity of the workplace which had given the illusion of friendship. Whatever the case, it was obvious that the Giovanni in the room with him at that moment was nothing more than his superior, and he had better obey.

A tired looking nurse debriefed Dante before letting him into the cell.

“His condition is severe but not untreatable,” she said, voice mildly robotic. “If I were you, I would record with him in shorter sessions and have us come in every few hours to administer his treatment. Otherwise he’ll end up in a coughing fit as he did yesterday and you won’t be able to get him to speak anymore.”

“Could you not just leave the treatment for me so I might do it for him?” Dante asked the question without thinking of the implications.

“We of the nursing unit aren’t quite as prestigious as you recorders, however we are still of use,” she said, haughtily. “Allow us to do our jobs and we will allow you to do yours. Or perhaps you’d like us to overtake your recording duties so that we might record him while we treat him? Wouldn’t that be a might bit easier? After all, nurses require untold amounts of biological and medical knowledge whereas you merely, what, press a few buttons on a device that does all the recording for you while you sit back and listen?”

Dante saw that she was lashing out from lack of sleep and merely nodded. “Sorry, I was out of step. I’ll call for someone in a few hours. Good day, ma’am.”

The nurse was about to say more when Pluto interrupted from behind her.

“Is that you, Dante? Come on in, let’s get started already!”

Pushing passed the proud nurse, Dante sat down in his chair and began readying his device for recording and engaged in small talk with his subject.

“Was she good to you?” Dante asked.

Pluto smiled and shook his head. “She’s a bit quick-tempered but I suppose that’s something you want in a person of her position. A little rough around the edges, but she took good care of me. I haven’t been coughing. In fact I was able to get some sleep last night.”

“Oh?” Dante found himself smiling back at his subject. “I’m sure you haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in quite some time, have you?”

“Probably about as long as it has been for you,” Pluto said with a playful yawn, and for a moment it felt to Dante as if they were just two kids enjoying a laugh. He almost forgot that Pluto was a criminal of the highest order, a man accused of absolute genocide and reckless endangerment to the Grand Colony. A heretic. A maniac.

But still, a man with a story to tell.

“So today I haven’t got much of a clue for where I should take you,” Pluto revealed as he pulled absently at the shackle attaching him to his bed. “If you have any questions or requests, I’ll see if I can oblige you. And if we don’t come up with anything that way I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

And just like that Dante was angry with him again.

“You realize a man shouldn’t have to think of stories in his life, right? They should be memories for you. They should be something you can think of without trying, a constant reminder in your mind, another piece of information in the eternal spiral that makes you who you are.”

Pluto sighed, aggravated. “I didn’t ask for any poetic indulgences, I asked for you to ask me a question.”

“Well your word choice is giving me a poor level of confidence in your innocence. It makes me think you’re lying.”

“And isn’t that the job of the Judge?” Pluto asked, the playful smile returning, its appearance too lupine for Dante’s liking.

Kneading the knots growing in his forehead, Dante acquiesced. “Fine, though my point remains. How about answering this—” He was about to ask Pluto about the crimes he had committed to get him there, about the “accident” on 995, but he had another thought, something that had been bothering him for some time.

“Yes?” Pluto asked, appearing uncomfortable in the sudden silence.

“Right, sorry. I’d like to know if there are any strata that are uninhabited by people but have a populous of Nanos instead.”

Pausing, Pluto said, “You mean every strata?” as though Dante were an idiot.

“No, no, not like that! I mean a place like this, like 999, only instead of the governing body being human it is instead Nano in nature. Any place like that?”

With his free hand Pluto pulled at the hairs of his chin, his eyes slanting in a wily gaze. “Before I answer that, why are you asking? Is there a particular reason for the question or is it something you are simply asking for the sake of it?”

Feeling strangely talkative, Dante fiddled with the recording device and said, “Well normally I would ask a question pertaining more to you, but the subject in question—you—is a possible mythic creature, someone without equal in all of Mobius. For that reason I chose to ask a question that only you could answer, since my typical subjects are from the nearest strata below us, nowhere else.”

Nodding, Pluto asked, “But you think I’m a liar, don’t you? So why ask at all? My answer will be nothing more than the fancy of a dying man.”

All Dante could do was shrug. “Liar, not a liar, it doesn’t matter much to me. As you say, I’m no Judge. Your judgment will commence with or without my opinion. So forgoing my thoughts regarding you, I believe it’s better to ask you a question that actually pertains to my own interests, as on the off chance you speak truthfully I will know more about something I care for. And, likewise, on the off chance you’re lying there was no harm in asking the question.”

“Fair enough,” Pluto said, nodding to himself as though he were happy with the answer. “Now then, to answer your question, yes I have encountered places run entirely by Nanos.”

“You have?” Dante nearly rose from his seat he was so excited.

“Yes, and as it were, what I’m about to tell you does tie in nicely with what I spoke of yesterday. So allow me to tell you about the Nanos I met on Stratum 169, a strange place indeed.”

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This was, obviously, a long time after my meeting with Cat and the Nano who had been following me. Many things—important things—happened along the way, but as we are pressed for time I will merely say that the time we spent together was filled with ups and downs, that I learned much of Cat and little of the Nano who followed us. Oh sure, Poe and myself began to theorize about the Nano and its origins. Was it a messenger on the same pilgrimage as we? Was it even a Nano at all if it was unattached to their ilk? Or perhaps it was merely a broken toy, nothing more than the product of a ruthless environment. Perhaps even there were many Nanos of its type, Nanos who were lost and confused and unable to perform their true programming.

Of course, we were wrong on all counts. But still, when traveling with something like that you tend to come up with wild claims. It’s only natural.

We entered Stratum 169 unceremoniously. By this point we were all well used to finding a new place, but Cat was still looking around at everything in awe; the exploration of Mobius truly was her calling. Or rather, being a pirate was. Travel had worn on her body, of course, as it had mine, and by this time her hair was thick with mats and her tender limbs had grown muscular. We had procured her a number of weapons throughout the journey, but unless I’m mistaken during this period she was using a makeshift spear weapon that had come off of the torso of a Nano maybe ten strata prior.

And, to my delight, she wore a skin suit like mine. My eyes always had a place to call home, now.

“This place seems off,” was the first thing Cat said, though, and I was immediately worried. Few instances she would say something like that, but each time her intuition was sound.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She means she wants to go home.

Poe never really got used to her. Or anyone, for that matter.

“I’m not sure,” she said, meandering her way forward with a hand gliding across the wall, “It just doesn’t appear that this place is habitable.”

“None of Mobius is,” I said dryly. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”

We pressed forward, Cat remaining quiet at my side, our resident Nano following a shadows distance away. Our footsteps echoed along the walls, and as we continued along the hallways I found it was probably the case that 169 just happened to be a strata that was uninhabited by anyone, that it was more likely to be a connecting strata as opposed to a residential one. The strange thing, however, was that Cat had been in many of these connecting strata before, so she was well aware not only of their existence but of their frequency and importance.

Cat, as was typical with her, seemed to pick up on my thoughts as if she were reading them herself.

“I know you think it’s a connecting strata,” she said, her voice filled with quiet worry, “but each of those is designed differently from this one. Usually they’re just big LG shafts or long, straight hallways, or they’re in some way open and easy to navigate. They’re never labyrinthine like this one is. This has more in common with—”

“With the early colonies, right?” I finished her sentence for her. “I’m surprised you recall my description of them. But no, this couldn’t be that sort of design.”

She gave me a most scintillating look before asking, “How? In what way is this different from your home strata aside from the lack of people populating it?”

Just as I was about answer her, we made a grave mistake. Unbeknown to us there were security lights at the level of our feet, and we stepped through them lackadaisically, like they weren’t there at all. This activated the security system of course, setting off a blaring siren and red flashing lights emitted from the ceiling.

More strangely, however, was our Nano companion.

It began reacting, its single camera blinking bright red like the lights above us. It fell to the ground in a heap, its metal body creaking as if it were struggling against something, as if it didn’t want to do what it was about to do.

Run!

Poe may have said more, but that’s all I recall before the smoke began permeating our bodies, sending Cat and I into unwanted intoxication, then unconsciousness.

When I came to I was hanging from chains attached to the ceiling of a room no larger than a closet. My vision was filled with black dots but it didn’t take me long to see the body before me, its metallic form becoming clearer and clearer as the seconds passed by.

“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice sounding messy and distorted from just waking up. “I haven’t deviated from the pilgrimage for a long time now. Why stop me?”

At that moment my vision was completely clear, and I began to realize that the Nano before me was no ordinary Nano. Although some of the Nanos I had seen had somewhat human shapes, this one was nearly one to one human-like in terms of its form. There were metallic muscles on lifelike limbs, a torso similarly shaped to that of a muscular man, and the head was most different of all. Whereas most Nanos housed a massive red camera in their “head,” this one had two smaller cameras like the eyes of a man, though it still had no mouth or nose, a speaker located where the lips would be. Had I not noticed the shine of the metal, the red of the eyes, I may have briefly thought I had been captured by a human.

“That’s why you don’t understand,” the Nano spoke in a voice more human than the others, with real emotional inflections that were uncanny to the ear. It’s difficult for me to refer to this creature as a Nano and not a “he.” “We don’t allow trespassers on our homeland, whether they are Nano or otherwise. Whatever your pilgrimage is, it ends here, foolish meat body.”

“Are you not Nanos?” I asked, absolutely confused. “Do you not wish for the mapping of Mobius?”

“Mobius? We detest this place with every bolt of our being. A grave mistake done by you sacks of flesh, no less. And you sit here asking to map it out, saying that we Nanos wish it? I should kill you right now.”

“Then why don’t you?”

The cameras contracted, and it was almost as if it felt emotion. Conflict. “Because it is not our way. You will be set to trial, then we will determine the fate of you and your friend.”

The Nano was about to walk off but I stopped it. “Friend? I came here with two people, what about the—”

“Do you mean the Nano who forgot its programming?” it interrupted with a vicious conviction. The more I heard its mimicry of human emotion the more sick I felt in my stomach, as though it were a crime against nature. “We are in the process of fixing that poor creature as we speak. By this time tomorrow it will be in its rightful place.”

With that, I was left alone, in chains, wondering if this was the end of my journey. Granted, there had been many possible ends to my journey by this point, but none felt so hopeless as this one.

You must escape. Something is wrong about this place.

“Really? I sure am glad to have you around to help with all the difficult stuff.”

No, I don’t… Look. Nanos are always meant to improve themselves, become more efficient. It’s in their code. It’s part of why Mobius is endlessly being built on and rebuilt over and over and over again. But to make themselves more human? To deny the pilgrimage? Something is terribly wrong here, Pluto. This place feels almost as if it were off the grid, like it’s not truly Stratum 169 but a hidden place, off the beaten path.

We were silent for a moment. I didn’t know what to do with that speculation. Poe was usually right, but what if he was? What did it matter? It didn’t change the fact that we needed to escape, that we were all trapped and in danger.

“What should we do then?”

Don’t interrupt me.

The chains suddenly slackened, and I was soon standing on the ground nursing the soreness from my wrists.

“How did you—”

Cat appears to be in the cell directly across from you. Our Nano companion is above us, more than likely in a room designated for rebuilding. Give me just a moment to locate your Hellwhip and we can get out of here.

I was about to open the door and rush to Cat but I hesitated. “You’re desperate to get us out of here. Why?”

You’re all in danger. Therefore we should leave.

“That’s not entirely true, though. They said that we would get a fair trial. Really the only possible danger is that when they ‘fix’ our Nano buddy, it won’t be the same, it might decide to stay here.”

You would trust these Nanos to abide by their word?

“I trust at least one Nano already.”

Poe was quiet for a moment.

Look, perhaps you’re right about yourself and Cat being in no danger. But as you’ve already pointed out, they might change your Nano friend forever. Would it not be preferential to halt the changes to the Nano on the off chance things go poorly?

“If I stay here, nothing bad happens to me or Cat.”

Something bad might happen to the Nano though.

Frustrated with the constant back and forth, I asked, “Why are you so concerned by all this? Is there something you know that you aren’t telling me? What’s going to happen if I let them mess with the Nano?” Poe remained quiet and I said, “If you don’t answer me, I’m just going to choose to stay here and wait. I need more concrete evidence before putting us all in further danger just because you say something bad might happen.”

You would disobey me out of spite?

“Would it be the first time?”

I paced around the room before finding a wall to lean against. Poe remained quiet in my mind.

“Look, the way you talk about the Nano, the way you’ve answered questions I’ve placed in the past… You just seem like you know something about it that you’re hiding. Why, I don’t know, but you do it all the same. Considering that, and the fact that Cat and myself will more than likely remain safe if we stay put, I’m going to choose to stay put. Unless, of course, you decide to tell me why I should save the Nano?”

Poe sighed, an eerie sound in my head.

I didn’t want to do this.

Suddenly my body went numb. I tried doing any sort of movement, anything at all, but I couldn’t bring my body back to myself. Without understanding what was happening, I was suddenly a phantom, an echo in the mind without a house to call home. And I found that when I tried to call out, to ask what was going wrong, I couldn’t do so. But I could see myself, could see my lips move.

“How have you managed to get this far in such a weak body?” I asked myself, unable to understand how I asked myself. “Well, no matter. Be quiet while I save your friends and get you out of here.”

That’s when I realized more or less what had happened. That Poe had given up on trying to reason with me, found it too difficult to tell me the truth but knew I must continue on, and instead of waiting decided to take matters into his own hands using my hands, my body. Poe had kicked my consciousness out and replaced it with his own.

As you can imagine, I’m sure, this caused a lot of possible issues. Whatever Poe did would be blamed on me, for starters. I had told no one of Poe so if he said or did something horrible with Cat she would blame me. If he killed any Nanos, they would blame me. If he hurt my friend, my Nano, it would blame me. And if he messed things up and broke my body in some way, I’d be the one who has to deal with it once I was returned to my original state.

Needless to say, I was worried beyond belief.

Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t find any way to influence myself. Somehow I was completely cut off from my body. Even as far as being able to communicate with Poe, it seemed I lacked the avenue to do so. Either that or I was merely unaware of such a path. All I could do was watch as Poe searched the area, found the Hellwhip, and ran off toward our Nano, ready to destroy everything in his way.

Now look, it’s completely obvious to me that you haven’t believed much of anything I’ve told you. The way you roll your eyes, the way you look away when I say something that sounds like the tall tale of a child, the way you stare in disbelief as I describe the absurdity that is Mobius, a place you truly haven’t understood despite living here you’re entire life; I get it. The things I’m telling you, the things I’m showing you, they’re all hard to take when you’ve been here your entire life. And my story is about to get very strange. So I understand if I’m about to lose you here, Dante. Just know that while I may have embellished here or there, or hidden something from you for one reason or another, that the next part is as true as it gets. Maybe my saying this will cause you pause. Maybe you won’t believe me out of principal. That’s all fine. You’ll understand in due time. But I’m asking you to at least keep an open mind, for I’m about to describe what it’s like to be a virtual entity, and that isn’t something that’s very easy to understand.

In fact I’d wager that I still don’t fully understand it, but I digress.

Once I realized that it was useless to try and manipulate my body or interact with Poe in any meaningful way, I began to look inward instead of outward and I found that I could explore a virtual landscape, something that wasn’t altogether real and yet it was completely interactive. Now Dante, I’m sure you’ve used a few computers here, right? That recorder, for instance, is probably able to access the network of at least 999, if not the entire network that is Mobius’ digital infrastructure. Files are displayed in folders, there are icons that are meant to be visual aids, and anything and everything is able to be broken down into a lower language, a language of code. But all of this is displayed through text, through the use of language and nothing more really. When you’re exploring a digital world ocularly using your intrinsic concepts of three dimensional space, you—and of course, I must add, this is speculation based on my personal experience—you interact with language through objects, through an internalized mimicry of material reality. So directories were monolithic structures that I could see before me like the towers of an old city, the data rising in a landscape as opposed to letters and numbers. I was able to touch this data, to feel it. A touch could quite literally be worth a thousand words.

Learning something new is a rewarding activity, but normally it takes valuable time and energy to do so. If you were to pore over the data that I was able to see, it would take many long afternoons of reading, taking breaks, resting, then reading again to fully understand what I could hold, grasp, and internalize within the span of a second. Soon, without noticing myself, I was sucking up the data of Mobius like there was no tomorrow. Now as hard as all of this is probably to believe for you, the great skeptic, I must also tell you something that will more than likely hurt my case but is true nonetheless; though I know I learned much in that state, there is little that I recall. The only information I really remember was the information that changed my perspective on everything. A truth I understood but despised. The truth of Mobius, the Nanos, why it is the way it is.

I recall reaching out to grasp that information and recoiling from it. All the other monoliths left me filled with some form of dopamine, but this monolith knocked me on my ass, and I had to stop for a moment to really understand what I’d just found out. Do you want to know what it was, Dante?

I’ll tell you in a bit.

First, let me explain what happened while I was in my inside-out-of-body experience.

Poe caused a lot of trouble for me. Not only had he stolen back my Hellwhip, but he had destroyed at least five or so Nanos who were merely trying to stop him from destroying everything. A reasonable desire, to say the least, but Poe thinks nothing of the consequences, only of the end. He found the place where our Nano was hidden and that was when my consciousness returned to watch, after I had been knocked on my ass by the information overload.

There were three Nanos there running tests on ours, and ours was on a platform hooked up to a bunch of machines. Physically it remained the same at least, so it didn’t have that odd, false human face that the other Nanos there had acquired, but it was clear they were altering its code.

All three of the Nanos spun to face Poe, and of course all three of them treated him as if he were me.

“Return to your cell!” one yelled, pointing at Poe like he were a demonic presence. “This is a private area, no one can be in here!”

“I’m just here to retrieve my pal,” Poe said in a voice—my voice—that was as demonic as they feared. For good measure Poe pointed the Hellwhip at them, its hum growing louder by the second. I could see it was set to level four. If his intentions were to destroy the entire testing space, our Nano included, he had it set correctly. To this day I’m unsure if it was a mistake or if he truly intended on reducing everything to ash.

“This Nano is defective,” another said in a voice meant to calm and diffuse. “We aren’t hurting the Nano, we are merely trying to repair its functionality. For instance, we’ve found that its ability to speak—”

“Silence!” Poe reaffirmed his grip on the Hellwhip, and though I was unsure if he was willing to destroy everything I suddenly realized what his goals were. His intentions.

Poe, stop all this now! You can’t hide him from me forever!

Somehow this time I was able to get through to him, and upon hearing me refer to the Nano as him instead of it Poe froze.

“You know?” he said under his breath, fear audible in him.

I don’t completely understand, but yes. I know why the Nano follows me. And I’m aware that you’re the reason it can’t speak well.

Poe was angry, and I feared that he would destroy the Nanos anyway upon hearing me. But instead he lowered the Hellwhip.

“Fine, I’ll throw the reins back to you. Do as you please.”

And with that, the strange process of our consciousness transferring back to their rightful locations was done.

I found myself looking through my own eyes again, staring at the three Nanos in fear before me, and with my new understanding of it all I heaved a sigh and began apologizing as best I could. “I know it will be difficult to believe, but I’m sorry for all this. I wasn’t feeling myself just then. I’m going to leave this Hellwhip here and return to my cell. The Nanos that have been destroyed were not my doing, but if I must be tried and killed for it I completely understand. After all, as a human it’s my fault any of this is happening, correct?”

The Nanos looked from one another in confused apprehension and I left without another word.

You know I did all this for you, right? I wasn’t trying to cause you pain.

Poe wasn’t lying. But that didn’t matter. “Well you failed. Not only am I aware, but now I can never really trust you again. You realize that, right?”

He was silent until I got back to my cell.

I’m sorry.

For a split second I believed him.

“No you’re not.”

The following morning Cat’s trial and my trial commenced. Or at least I believe it was morning. Time on 169 was kept oddly, and there was no indication that there was a night or day outside of my own inner clock.

The trials for us were separate but both Cat and myself were present for each others. We were lead to an auditorium lined with charging stations for the Nanos and a few designated seating areas for humans. These seating areas were what you might expect from a land lead by Nanos—a few small spaces lined with tape so you knew that was where you could sit. Your ass was on the cold metal. Whether the Nanos found this amusing or simply didn’t care, I’m unsure, but after getting to know them I assume they just didn’t care. Most of the men and women who would sit in those squares were probably sentenced to death, anyway.

Considering your position, Dante, I would assume that I will undergo a trial here as well, correct? Of course, and I’m sure it will be a traditional human one? With a judge, a jury, and a probable executioner to tidy it all up once we’re finished? Nod if I’m right, I know you can’t speak… Right, well then. None of this really is the same with a trial run by Nanos. Oh sure there is a judge, a jury, and an executioner, but it’s all so… abstract. I’ll explain.

The wall we were facing was some sort of projector, with the screen filled with an AI persona called the Adjudicator. It’s not really a Nano. I’d compare it more to Poe, in that it’s merely an AI with an extremely interactive personality, one that’s nearly a one to one clone of a real human personality. The difference between the Adjudicator and Poe is a lack of emotion. The Adjudicator has the ability to judge with logic only, something highly valuable in a courtroom. However I will say—and perhaps this is the bias of a criminal—the Adjudicator does have its own biases, they are merely those of the Nanos it defends from harm. So what it lacks in emotion it still is faulty in its programming. As far as the jury is concerned, there are three Nanos that comprise a jury in that courtroom. If I’m remembering correctly, it’s one Nano who witnessed the crime, one Nano with experience in the court, and one Nano who is new to the court. The witness is meant to be a tiebreaker of sorts, as the two unbiased will go based on the logical reasoning shown by the Adjudicator. In addition to this, the witness holds more weight in the decision making, as if the witness believes the criminal is innocent or has committed a crime seen as lesser, then the punishment will be more mild or rescinded altogether. Finally, there’s the executioner. This Nano stands in the corner, eyes on the room like a humanoid security system, the threat constant, looming. Its role is very clear.

Cat’s trial was very straightforward, and since I was preoccupied with my own thoughts during it I won’t lie or make up what was said between her and the Adjudicator, but suffice it to say that the Adjudicator tried her on the mere trespass of 169, and her response was as candid as she always was, a teller of the truth through and through.

In short, she said, “We are pirates, travelers of Mobius in search of its end. I serve Captain Pluto as only I can. We meant no harm, we were merely passing through. We only destroy Nanos who threaten our lives.”

Cat of course was more… expository? Descriptive, even? But we are short on time as always, and she of course was only given a proverbial slap on the wrist and set free.

When my turn came I sat in my square and did my best to calm my nerves, taking deep breaths that were far more shaky than I would have liked.

You’ll be fine, don’t worry.

Easy for him to say, right?

“Captain Pluto, I presume,” the Adjudicator began, his voice an all encompassing vibration which entered your soul more than your eardrums. “Your crime is more complicated than the one your associate has committed, wouldn’t you say?”

“That’s fair,” I said, cursing myself upon hearing the quiver of my consonants.

“Fair indeed. Not only did you breach our security systems, but after being apprehended you escaped your cell, destroyed nearly ten of our Nanos, and threatened to destroy three of our workers while they fixed the Nano who follows you. Does this sound right so far, Captain Pluto?”

Nodding, I said, “Yes, it’s fair to describe my actions as such.”

“Indeed it is,” the Adjudicator continued. “However something strange happened when you came into that room where we were fixing the Nano. For what seems like no reason at all, you stopped, apologized, left your weapon and returned to your cell. You even—if the report is correct—said that you fully understand if this means your sentence is worse. Is all this right?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Then why did you do it? Why go out of your way, destroy all of these Nanos only to halt your progress? It simply doesn’t make any logical sense whatsoever.”

Prior to the trial I had thought of many ways to describe it, to plead my case, to place all the blame on the entity inside my head. Once I was actually being tried it was as if my mouth was gone, unable to find the words to say.

When I didn’t answer, the Adjudicator rumbled a great noise, producing a localized, minor quake. “Pluto, allow me to explain something to you. We have encountered countless humans attempting to break into this strata. I’m sure that you came from the levels below, yes? Then you saw that they are barren. Lifeless. Uninhabited. That’s because of us, but more than that it’s because of people who tried to rise against us. Humans who thought they were worth more than their creations. Now if we were to look merely at your actions right up until your sudden stoppage, you appear just as foolhardy as they were. But you stopped. A Nano wouldn’t have stopped, you know. We are beings of logic, of conviction. Sure, we have striven to mimic the faults of humanity in ways that you might understand being as you are made in what was it? ‘The image of God?’ However there is one thing we haven’t been able to recreate in a way that was purposeful, and that is the fault of insanity, the fault of a broken mind, the fault of misfiring neurotransmitters creating false images greater than real ones. Are you such a broken man? The great Captain Pluto, man who has traveled over a hundred strata?”

“No.”

“Then please explain your actions. We of the court are curious. Why did you halt your attack?”

Backed into a corner, I nervously explained myself. The words weren’t as clear as I’ve used in my recordings. After all, I was still a young man, and the nerves brought about by the insanity of the tale as well as the figure in the corner, gaze never faltering, gave me pause where I wish it hadn’t.

“My mind was taken over by… Are you familiar with a CMP drive? It goes in the back of a human head… Oh, it can be in a Nano?… Well, anyway there is an AI in my drive that kicked me out. The actions… Yes an AI… The actions were done by it, not me. When I returned it had already done my—its crimes.”

The Adjudicator seemed puzzled. Not only by my frantic words, but of the content of my story. The Adjudicator was said to be equipped with a lie detector, and I’m certain it saw I was telling the truth. This meant it was trying its best to understand how to properly punish the one criminal, Poe.

“Well, in the opinion of the Adjudicator it would seem that you, Pluto, are free to go. However we must destroy the chip in your CMP unit so that there is no fear you will be taken over again.”

I felt a great relief flow over me. After all I was finally free to go, and also I would be free of Poe. Then I followed the logic and realized that without the chip I wouldn’t be tracked by Nanos any longer, my mission would be over, the endless exploration could cease. I looked to Cat. Thought maybe we could go backwards, back down to her home in 117. Or we could even return to 148, a place I haven’t told you about that was also modeled after a true, human paradise. There was much to think about for the two of us. A smile pulled at my lips, and the muscles responding to happiness were once again employed by my dead face.

“No!” yelled Cat, frantic. “You can’t do that to him!”

Confused, I turned to her and saw tears rolling down her cheeks.

You can’t let them do what they are asking of you, Pluto.

“Why?” I asked out loud. “It’s just the chip, it shouldn’t matter.”

Both responded at once.

“You might die!”

There is a 40% chance that the removal of the chip will be fatal to you.

My familiar frown once more graced my face.

You could live, yes. But because I’ve been housed here so long, our consciousness has become intertwined. It’s more collective than singular. If I’m removed from you I will be fine because of the security within the chip, but because you are organic, because your consciousness is held down merely by the divinity of the body, you could be pulled apart from within. You might come with me in the chip. If that were the case, your body would become a vegetable and you would be useless until you died.

“Okay, but on the off chance I live? What then?”

Once again they answered simultaneously.

“You won’t be the same!”

In that case, I’d only take some of you. If I only take some then whatever is left will be inside your body. This could result in either you living a strange, new life, or an identity crisis that will cause unrelenting internal turmoil. Both options are bad. You should only remove the chip in dire straits, not willy-nilly because some Nanos said so.

All of this was going on while the Executioner approached, slow, thumping step after slow, thumping step.

I looked to Cat, wondered if she would be able to help. Then I saw the cuffs still binding her, as there were on my own wrists. I thought of the Hellwhip, its location unknown to me. Thump went the steps, thump went my heartbeat.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

What are you waiting for? Run!

The warning reminded me so much of the past, and I wondered how many times Poe had given me such a warning. I wondered if I could handle hearing it again for who knew how many strata were left. The Executioner was nearly at my side, ready to pluck my soul from my body, and there wasn’t nearly enough time for me to truly consider whether or not that was preferable to my own continuation. And Dante, in all honesty I doubt there is ever enough time to answer such existential questions; they are as endless as Mobius itself, their answers a mere transient happiness.

The Executioner stood behind me. I couldn’t tell whether or not a single metal phalanx had penetrated the defenses of my matted head.

Then there was a loud noise, followed by a gust of wind brought about by the great speed of my protector. My old friend the Nano. In one hand my Hellwhip was humming, pointed at the back of the Executioners own head, the other hand pressed down on the back of my neck protectively, covering my CMP.

“What is the meaning of this?” the Adjudicator asked, its confusion felt by the whole court. The Nanos of the jury were backing away in fear. The Executioner remained silent, and I could tell it was attempting to find a way to carry out the sentence still.

Then, to mine, Cat’s, and especially Poe’s surprise, the Nano who had followed us silently and spoke with broken grammar now began its eloquent proposal to keep me safe.

“This is all a grave misunderstanding,” it said with a perfect, commanding cadence.

“In what way? Our sentence was sound and fair.”

“Fair you say? As the Adjudicator I’m sure you’re aware of many things, but it appears you are unaware of the effects of a CMP unit on a naturally conscious being. On beings such as ourselves, whose consciousness were either created or ported through electronic means, someone such as Captain Pluto here would be torn apart from the inside out were you to remove the chip from his CMP unit. You wouldn’t be removing a threat, you would be killing the victim as well as the criminal.”

The Adjudicator sat in silent rumination. “Have you a better proposal?”

Now Dante, I’m unsure of how your encounters with Nanos have gone, but I can tell you that mine—especially prior to this instance I’m recording—were not very emotional. The Nanos themselves are beings of logic and reason. They are computers mimicking nature, the opposite of us. When I say that the Nanos in that room gasped, I mean that they gasped in the emotional surprise of a human being, not in some strange, robotic sigh of apathy. They had never heard the Adjudicator ask for a suggested judgment, especially from an outsider like the Nano we had brought with us.

“I do,” the Nano said, his grip growing stronger on me in a protective way. “I have been following Captain Pluto since his journey began. While following him I have done my best to prevent him from being taken advantage of by any outsiders, those who might tempt him to halt his grand pilgrimage. This includes the being in his head. Were I in the position of your esteem, I would sentence me to watch over Captain Pluto and to protect him from the AI so that it would never take over for him again.”

The room was still. Then the Adjudicator spoke. “Would you be able to carry out such a sentence?”

“Indeed, for I already have been without such a judgment hanging over me. I’ve done it of my own volition.”

“Very well. I sentence you then to the terms you’ve outline, though I warn you; in the event that this AI takes control of Captain Pluto—even if it does so hundreds of strata away—the Executioner will find and destroy you for failing in your efforts.”

The Executioner thumped away to his corner, and I finally got a good look at the Nano who I’d called my own. He was barely recognizable. They had removed his single camera face and replaced it with a dual camera face like theirs. His limbs had been enhanced, fixed; they were plated and appeared stronger. And obviously his speech had been improved. It was almost as if he were real.

He looked at me, the dual cameras changed from their red color to a hue of mild green.

Then he helped Cat and I gather our things and prepare to leave, the three of us unable to process his great evolution.

We made it to Stratum 170 without being stopped as well as without speaking to each other. Our Nano lead the way instead of remaining behind us, and Cat kept giving me looks. I knew she wanted to talk about our “new” companion as soon as possible. Early on in 170 there was a spot for us to rest, with an NRS and an easy enough spot to guard while we slept. Our Nano hooked itself up to a Nano recharge station and put itself into sleep mode, allowing Cat and myself to discuss what needed discussing.

“Are you sure we can trust it?” she asked bluntly. She was unsure of how much time we would have to speak, and though I was equally worried the bluntness still gave me pause.

“Were we sure before?” I asked. “I don’t think there is a right answer, Cat. It was always a Nano, there was always a risk. Now its just a smarter, more capable version of what it was before.”

“And more dangerous. What happens if we lag behind a bit, take some time to rest in a spot for an extended period like we’ve done in the past? Will it deem you as giving up and destroy you?” Cat shook her head, folding her arms as she looked at our Nano with disgust. “I just don’t think I can get used to it. We should destroy it.”

I second that notion.

“Of course you do,” I growled to Poe. “Look, I understand where you’re coming from. And don’t think I haven’t thought of these things too, but it just seems like it would be more risky to attack him than to live with him.”

Cat glared holes into my skull before nodding. “Destroying it would be a rebellion against your sentence.”

“And therefore a crime against the Nanos of 169, summoning the Executioner, yes.”

We both turned upon hearing the Nano speak, and it seemed to find our shock amusing. “Captain Pluto is correct in his thought process.”

“How much of that did you…?”

“All of it,” the Nano said to Cat. “Don’t worry about me, Miss Cat. While I had to navigate the trial using diplomacy, I would never do anything to harm either yourself or Captain Pluto. I’m as much of the team as either of you.”

Cat wasn’t completely convinced still, but hearing him talk like that I knew he was telling the truth. Poe could sense I knew and for once he said something nice.

You’re right about him. He hasn’t changed since you were kids. I bet he’ll even answer to his name still.

I was nervous, but I held out a hand and the Nano clasped it firmly while I asked a question I had asked long ago. “What should we call you, Nano? Have you a name?”

The Nano looked from Cat to me and said, “I’m what is known as a T.O.M. which stands for Templar of Mobius. You may call me—”

“Tom, I know.”

Dante stopped the recording device after Pluto shook his head and said to shut it off. Without wasting time, Dante called for a nurse and got ready to leave when Pluto waved him back over to the bed.

“Don’t try to speak,” Dante warned. “I’ve already sent for the nurse and she’ll be in here ready to administer your medicine.”

Pluto just smiled up at Dante, an uncomfortable wetness appearing on his lips. “Did you… get what you want? From… my recording, I mean…?”

Dante held a hand up to tell him to stay quiet. “I assume you want my honest answer and so I will give it to you as long as you remain quiet. Understand?”

Pluto nodded.

“Good. Well, in short I still don’t believe you.”

It looked like Pluto wanted to argue but the nurse came in and began administering his medication.

“Do you mind if I continue talking with him?” Dante asked the nurse politely.

“As long as you don’t interfere with my work, I won’t interfere with yours.”

“Right,” Dante nodded, a little hurt that she was still angry. “Anyway, let me explain why, Mr. Pluto. For starters, it took brainstorming ideas for you to begin the story. That never sits well with me, speaking as a person trying to discern a truth from a lie. In addition to this, you neglected to tell me more about the world itself, this collective of Nanos who run their own strata. You speak of the Adjudicator and the court, but you didn’t really outline their way of life. Do they have homes? Do they just sit at charging stations? I believe you mentioned that they wiped out those who would invade them, but they didn’t kill you on sight? That doesn’t make much sense. And what about their designs? Human-like? They follow a court of law? For what purpose? There would be no reason to try other Nanos as they all follow the same logic.

“And this Nano who follows you is named Tom like the boy you spoke of before? That’s too convenient. How would it be possible to place a human mind into a Nano?”

Dante was about to leave when Pluto began coughing. The nurse started yelling at Dante, “Get out of here! You’re aggravating him. If he gets worse you won’t be able to record anything and he’ll die without having a record!”

Hurt once again, Dante went to leave.

“Do you remember… what I said… about my own… consciousness?”

Sighing, Dante said, “Yes, I do. But that doesn’t—”

“Is it really… so hard to believe? That a boy… could be uploaded?”

Frustrated, Dante left before getting yelled at by the nurse again. It was clear to him that the argument would once again go nowhere, that it would be simple headbutting until one of them gave up and the recording process continued. Based on what the nurse said, he knew that Pluto would be ready to record again soon. With just a little time to kill, Dante decided to go to Giovanni and give him a full report of everything that Pluto had said. It was always possible that Giovanni could shed some light on things.

Still, Dante couldn’t shake this feeling inside his chest, this strange sensation that came over him whenever he talked with Pluto. The stories he’d hear from him were falsehoods told with the sincerity of truth, a skill Pluto most likely picked up as a criminal. All criminals were good at manipulation to varying degrees, and the more Dante spoke to him the more he felt Pluto was the greatest manipulator he’d ever encountered in his life, for no matter how hard he tried not to, no matter how much he thought he knew there was absolutely no way he would ever believe what he said, there was always this nagging feeling inside him, this intense sickness that came about whenever he spoke to Pluto as he had just then.

Dante wouldn’t bring that up to Giovanni. Though he wasn’t sure what the feeling was, he knew it could only be bad.