Chapter 564: Interlude (1/2)
THREE MONTHS PRIOR
Bo'okdu'ust got up slowly from his reclining couch and clattered over to his holotanks. The walls of the room were layered with rows of parallel linked quantum supercomputers and strange matter computational devices, linked together by think superluminal datacables. The computers generated enough heat that the room had to be chilled with air conditioning to keep anyone inside from suffering heat stroke.
He had seven holotanks displaying the results of six different simulations.
Simulation One was the data available to the Unified Council citizens. Simulation Two was data available to Lanaktallan Researchers. Simulation Three included the data from the Lanaktallan deserters. Simulation Four contained the data taken by Terran espionage at the opening of the war. Simulation Five contained data taken from the warfare against the Third Precursor Race. Simulation Six contained the data that had arrived from parts unknown through the Confederate Intelligence system.
Simulation Seven was an amalgamation and had his own Sociomathematical work as well as the input by nearly two dozen assistants.
They were currently crunching the data on the events of several thousand years ago and had hours until they were ready to show their results.
Bo'okdu'ust yawned and stretched before trotting toward his office.
It was 0300 Hours and everyone but him was asleep.
He had a comfortable bed in his office that he could rest on, although he had become partial to the Terran ”Zero-G Bed” over the last two years.
Bo'okdu'ust walked through the door and moved around to the other side of his desk in the dimness, sitting down in the chair and reaching for his private terminal.
He realized he could smell cigarette smoke and paused, looking around for a Treana'ad in his personal office.
A light clicked on. A single bulb illuminating one of the chairs against the wall.
Which was odd, because Bo'okdu'ust preferred the ambient nanite light method.
A man sat in the chair. Thick bodied, bald, a bushy beard, brown skin, brown eyes, wearing a suit. A Terran.
But all the Terrans had fallen down dead months before.
”Good evening, Doctor Bo'okdu'ust,” the man said. His voice was smooth, cultured, with a slight accent that made it seem more professional than menacing.
The man had one of Bo'okdu'ust's books in his hand and was over two thirds of the way through it.
”Good evening, sir, ma'am, both, or neither,” Bo'okdu'ust said automatically.
”Doctor,” the man said. He set the book down. ”Doctor Dhruv Deshmuhk, to be precise.”
Bo'okdu'ust noted there was no ”Confederate Intelligence” or ”Confederate Military” added to it.
”Might I inquire who you represent?” Bo'okdu'ust asked. He was old enough that an unexpected Terran in his office was little more than a slight startlement.
”Humanity, in all of it's glory,” Dr. Deshmuhk said. He looked around. ”My compatriot, Doctor Taynee, prefers not to be seen. She is slightly modest.”
Bo'okdu'ust looked around in time to see smoke exhale from an empty chair. He looked away and back at Dr. Deshmuhk. ”To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Doctor?” he asked.
Dr. Deshmuhk lifted up a datacube and held it for a second, then tossed it. Bo'okdu'ust was proud he was able to catch it without too much effort.
”Data,” was all he said.
”And what is the reasoning behind me being interested in this data?” Bo'okdu'ust asked mildly, setting the datacube down.
”Because I gave it to you,” Doctor Deshmuhk said. He smiled. ”As a socio-historian, you probably know me under a different name.”
”And that would be?” Bo'okdu'ust asked.
”There are two names you would recognize,” Dr. Deshmuhk said.
The door opened and another Terran walked through. Bald, slender, without a beard, but Bo'okdu'ust could see the simularities.
”Vat Grown Luke,” that one said. ”The Third Biological Apostle.”
Another stepped through. This one in an ancient uniform that Bo'okdu'ust recognized from images as a Combine Admiral of the Warsteel (Upper Decks) dress uniform. Another stepped from the shadows, this one dressed in heavy Imperium power armor, the armor hissing and whirring. Another stepped from the shadows in a military uniform carrying a submachine gun.
”Legion,” the newcomers stated in one voice.
All but the one in the chair collapsed into black dust and swept over around Doctor Deshmuhk's feet.
Bo'okdu'ust nodded slowly, his brain whirring as he went through the permutations of the visitation.
”Well, you aren't screaming in terror, that's a first,” Doctor Deshmuhk said, a smile dancing around the corners of his mouth.
Bo'okdu'ust gave a very human shrug with all four shoulders. ”I am elderly. I have seen many things, that the Biological Apostles and the Immortals are real is something I intellectually accepted when I first began to take Terrans into account with my simulations.”
Bo'okdu'ust leaned forward. ”But what can I do for you, Doctor?”
Doctor Deshmuhk leaned back, tapping his fingers on the chair. ”I need a simulation run with your sociomathematics, actually.”
”What exactly is on this datacube?” Bo'okdu'ust asked, setting it down and tapping the top with one finger.
”The rough estimation of the amount of Terran Descent Humans and actual Terrans awaiting rebirth when the SUDS goes back online, sorted by time period, region, political beliefs, and social media postings,” Doctor Deshmuhk said. ”It should be enough data for your programs to give me a simulation of what kind of atomic bomb we're looking at when they all come back.”
The brown skinned bearded man leaned forward. ”Because they will all be a very very bad mood.”
Bo'okdu'ust nodded. ”And if I'm asked where I got this data?”
”There's more,” Doctor Deshmuhk said softly. ”Something I just heard about. Something I know that very few people in this world know about. Two somethings to be exact.”
Bo'okdu'ust frowned. ”What?”
”Do you know who Enraged Phillip is?” Doctor Deshmuhk asked.
”Daxin Freeborn. The First Biological Apostle,” Bo'okdu'ust said. ”I've taken him into account.”
Doctor Deshmuhk shook his head. ”No. You haven't.”
Bo'okdu'ust raised his eyebrow ridge. ”I haven't?”
”No. You've taken into account Daxin Freeborn, the First and Last of the Immortals. An exhausted man who simply wants left alone,” Doctor Deshmuhk said. ”I am talking about Enraged Phillip will be making his return.”
Bo'okdu'ust frowned. ”Why? Why pick up a mantle long discarded?”
”Because it ties into the other fact that maybe a handful know about right now,” the Terran said.
Bo'okdu'ust waited.
The Terran smiled. ”Very well,” he took a deep breath. ”The Digital Omnimessiah has returned. He has begun to appear to the populace. Not just humans, but Rigellians, Mantids, Treana'ad,” he got a slightly pained look on his face. ”He plans on appearing to the beings you once called neo-sapients as well as to you Lanaktallan as well.”
Bo'okdu'ust drew upright slightly, his mind going over the implications.
”There's one more thing,” Doctor Deshmuhk sat back, rubbing his face for a moment.