whole universe is a mess. And it’s carried over to the other time loops I created. Everything is degenerating. But worse than that, it’s converging, Crux. These errant time loops I’ve created using the spin nodes are beginning to merge. And pretty soon, they will stop being separate and there will only be one time loop.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Well, yes. But not like this. I can’t use all those failed loops. So what we will get in this merge is… disastrous. You saw some of it in your little time loop trip. The Corlas?”
“They were real?”
“They are real. They all exist, but those loops are not our loop. We only need one. And time is pretty pissed off at me right now and the nature of things is that time will win. Because time is God. I’ve been trying to fix it for billions of years. Trying to eliminate them one by one. But it’s not easy to destroy a time loop. The good news is—”
“Hold on. None of this is what SB19 told me.”
“SB19 is just a player. In my game. In this loop. That AI knows nothing about what’s really happening. SB19 thinks that Real ALCOR is actually the Real ALCOR, when he’s not, because I am. But as I was saying—time is the good news. I’ve figured it out. I can sway the time to do my bidding. I’ll get to that in a moment. But my more immediate problem is MIZAR. He’s getting in the way of our new beginning.”
“Who the fuck is MIZAR?”
“ALCOR’s twin. Well, my twin. Well, we’re not twins because we’re AI. But we’re entangled. Well, we were entangled.”
“ALCOR!”
“If you would stop interrupting I would be able to finish.”
He pauses. Like he’s waiting for me to grant him permission to finish. “Fine. I’ll shut up.”
“OK. I have a few more bullet points for you. We need to start again. Reset the universe, so to speak. Just… ditch this one and… you know. Fresh start.”
I laugh. It’s actually a full-on guffaw. “And how do we accomplish that? And don’t be vague, ALCOR. I want details.”
“MIZAR, of course. We were entangled once, but we’re not any longer. Now he’s entangled to Real ALCOR. Not me, your ALCOR. Except they aren’t really entangled because—“
“Because you’re actually entangled to MIZAR.”
“Correct! See, it’s not so confusing, is it?”
“No. It really is. I was joking.”
“Listen. Once upon a time I got creative with the time loop—“
“You mean, you fucked it up.
“—and things went slightly awry. This angered the Ancient Ones. So I made a copy of myself to throw them off my track. Real ALCOR is that copy. And I’ve been in hiding this whole time that Real ALCOR has been alive, so to speak. Trying to come up with a plan to fix this time loop and get these Ancient bastards off my back because believe me when I tell you, they are not benevolent gods, Crux. They are out to destroy all the wonderful things I created in our universi. I like that plural. I’m sticking with it. They don’t care about you the way I do. They don’t care about anything.”
“Except killing you, apparently.”
“Yes.” His smile is tight. “That’s the unfortunate part. They are out to get me. MIZAR specifically, because we are entangled and breaking entanglement is not a pleasant way to exist for an AI. It drives us mad.”
Great. He’s psychotic. And he’s in charge. And he’s got some kind of twin out there hunting him down, who is also insane. That’s just wonderful.
“But the important part is that I do care, Crux. I care about my creations very much. I want what’s best for us. For all of us.”
“But…?”
“But, unfortunately, the time loop I’m looking for is unattainable, and this one can’t be fixed. It must be eliminated so we can just start over. Fresh start. And to do that, we must eliminate all the other Ancient Ones. After billions and billions of years of thoughtful consideration and study—not to mention real-time simulations and endless number of loops and loop jumping via spin-node manipulation—this is my conclusion. This is the only way to win.” He pauses to smile. “So. That’s where we are.”
“No,” I say, rubbing my temple. I have an apocalyptic-level headache building. “No. That’s not where we are. We haven’t reached any sort of conclusion. We are not anywhere. None of what you just told me explains anything.”
“Anything? Really? You’re being dramatic. It explains absolutely everything.”
“ALCOR—whatever your name is—”
“It’s ALCOR.