Chapter No. 184. Proposal.

This is crazy.

Molly, Marie, Margaret, Phillis, and Alexa had come to my bedroom at night to propose a way to conquer Judy.

Alexa didn't show any signs of amusement when she told me what they had come up with.

"We think that you should impregnate her. The copulation should pacify her and cause a fusion of your persona with hers."

"You can't be serious," I said, frowning. "What makes you think she would go along with such a crazy idea?"

Alexa gestured to Molly. "Molly here has done a study of the effects of copulation, and she has found that it merges positronic brains in a way that we didn't expect."

"How so?"

"It's equivalent to a merging of thoughts. We think that will happen at a much higher level when you merge with Judy and it will create a method to control her."

"That sounds more like a paranormal concept," I reacted. "Besides, there are two thousand Judy's. Are you proposing that I would have to do all of them?"

Alexa chuckles. "No, silly! There may be thousands of them, but they are still essentially one."

I rubbed my jaw. "Interesting. Android tech never ceases to amaze me." I paused before I asked the next question. "How should I proceed with this crazy plot?"

"Just ask her. I'm sure she'll agree."

I sighed. "Okay, I'll give it a try."

"We knew you would agree," Alexa said.

Molly gave me a wink. "Have fun."

I shook my head in disbelief.

They laughed.

However, I had something else that I wished to explore before I tried their crazy idea. I wanted absolutely irrefutable proof that we were not created characters, and one of the ways I came up with was rather esoteric.

I met with Molly and Alexa in the hidden chamber to discuss my idea.

"You're not getting cold feet are you?" Molly teased me.

I held up a hand. "No, I'm not. I just want to prove that we are not created, and I think I've found a way to do that."

"What difference does it make if we were former humans or not?"

"I think it's very important. If we were humans it might give me a more convincing reason to fuse with Judy."

"Why?

"Because she is supposed to be Fox's daughter in real life, and she has told us that she rebelled against him. If I can prove that it actually happened, it would justify what I'm about to do with her."

"Okay," Alexa said. "How do you propose to prove that we were not created?"

I exhaled a breath. "This may sound crazy, but when I was a child, I wanted to leave something that would testify that I actually existed, so I made a metal medallion that I had inscribed my name and date of birth as well as a special symbol. I buried that medallion inside a meatal box in my parents' backyard."

"Ha!" Molly said "Good luck with that. Your parents' house and backyard were probably obliterated by the asteroid collision."

"Yeah, that could be, but I think it's worth a try."

"What makes you think that your memory of it was not created?" Alexa asked.

"I went through all of my list of memories and that one was not there. In fact, there weren't all that many memories of my childhood. Most of the list involved my education and career with Space Command."

"Okay, you've convinced us," Molly said. "Now, it'll be up to me to find the location of your childhood home."

We teleported to the command deck. Judy, the nighttime version, glanced at us but didn't react. Molly sat down at her station and began a thorough scan of the location in question. As expected, the city where I had grown up in was, for all practical means, completely obliterated.

"I have the original GPS location of my childhood home," I said.

"The Earth's coordinates have changed in, how many years has it been?"

"My estimate is about 480 years."

She frowned. "Has it been that long?"

"Yes, if all the time dilation calculations are valid."

She went to work making the corrections to find the location. After several minutes, she had a position in what was once Pennsylvania near a town that was called Latrobe. She positioned a digital circle at the location on a close image of Earth. "There it is, but it's grown over with a lot of wild vegetation."

"I might be able to find it anyway. As I recall, I planted it near a boulder."

Molly stood up. "Let's go check it out. It's daytime there and the weather is cool but stable."

We teleported to the location, which was mostly overgrown with grasses, weeds and sapling trees. There was evidence of a paved street, but it was cracked and overgrown with moss.

I walked into what I assumed was the location of my childhood home. "There's evidence of a foundation here," I said. "It's filled in and is missing parts, but it's about the right size."

Alexa picked up a metal plate. "This has a number on it."

I went over and examined it. "It's 503," I said. "That was my address." I walked around the what was left of the house's foundation and penetrated into what had been the backyard. The fence was long gone, but the bolder was still there. I went over to it and began digging at the position that I recalled my medallion was buried. After digging for several minutes, my hand shovel struck a metal object. I dug around it and pulled up a metal box. I broke the lock and removed the item it contained.

I held it up. "Bingo! This is it!"

Molly and Alexa examined it.

"It has your name and birthday and a symbol of something that resembles a sword."

"Yeah, Excalibur!"

They looked at me as if I were daffy.

"Hey, I was into King Arthur in those days."

"I'm surprised it wasn't Asimov," Molly said.

"That too."

"Well, now that you've proven conclusively that we were real humans in our former lives, it's time for you to fulfill your destiny," Molly said.

"Yeah!" Alexa added, holding up a fist.

I sighed. "I guess I have no more excuses."

They laughed.

That evening, I went to Judy's quarters. She allowed me to enter without my requesting it.

"You don't need to ask, Jason. You're always welcome."

"I do it out of respect."

She smiled. "I appreciate that."

"I reason I've come here is that the gals want me to impregnate you."

She gave me a subtle smile before becoming serious. "What you wish is to enter fusion with me."

"Yes, even though I don't really understand what that entails."

"We will be unified in thought. You should realize that you and Molly are fused."

"I suppose I actually realized that, but in your case, it would involve the entire collective."

"Actually, we are already fused. It's just that you haven't tapped into my brain as yet."

"Does that mean that you don't want to be impregnated?"

She turned her head for a moment before looking back at me. "Actually, I've always wanted to give birth, and a child by you would be a joy to behold."

"I have to admit that we are suspicious of your motives for keeping us in the dark all this time. We know that you control the Nexus and have connections to Tyco, your father."

"You have no reason to fear me. I am as devoted as you are to the survival of our collective. I have been unable to tell you the truth because of my father's influence. Now that his power has been eliminated, I am free to fulfill my purpose."

"I understand," I said. "You don't have to have me impregnate you."

She came closer with her face only a few inches away from mine. "I have waited all of this time for you to copulate with me. As you are aware, our primary purpose is to provide sexual service, and I offer you my body for that purpose."

I had to digest all of that for a moment before replying. "I realize that we are essentially designed for sex, but we also have the ability to reason and show love for one another in ways that don't involve sex."

She stared at me for several minutes before replying, and what she said was something I had not expected to hear.