System Error?

“It’s back!” the older dark-skinned man shouted, fear clearly permeating his voice.

“Again?” Nia asked, stunned by the announcement.

She rushed to the console next to him only to see her worse nightmare. The familiar yellow glow of the energy beam was heading straight for the heart of the city. Again.

Nia turned to the woman seated next to her and shouted, “Raise the shield!”

The woman reacted immediately, and the glimmering shield began to descend around the city of 600,000 inhabitants. It spread rapidly across the sky, encircling the city. But Nia felt that it was not moving fast enough, for the beam seemed to be increasing in velocity.

She didn’t trust the image on the console and rushed outside to see for herself. The descending beam was south of her location. She looked back and forth between the descending beam and shield. If the beam hit before the city was completely protected, there would be devastation.

“Come on, come on, come on,” she commanded, trying to speed up the shield’s descent with the force of her will.

And it seemed to work. As the shield settled on the ground around the city, the energy beam made contact with it, hitting with a force that shook the city and made Nia duck as if struck. Her heart racing, she regained her composure as she watched the energy spread along the shield. This was the strongest force of the beam since their city had come under attack a millennia ago. She turned around in a circle, watching the energy encapsulate her city. She hoped that it would not find a way in. She could see the northern perimeter of the city and her eyes followed the beam until it hit the ground, leaving its mark on an already scorched earth.

Her earbud crackled with the anticipated reports from the other centers situated in similar locations around the city. She breathed a sigh of relief as the reports confirmed the city was not impacted by the beam. A year ago, particles of the beam had permeated the last version of the shield, so she was glad that the strengthened shield had held.

Nia returned inside to start the real work, assessing the nature of the threat. She found no answers in many reports.

“Who are you?” Nia asked under her breath, clearly frustrated. “What do you want?”

She suspected, like herself, no one in the room had any answers either. Their people had endured these annual onslaughts without ever meeting their adversary. Millions of people had lost their lives to this mystery. But she had not in her 22 years ever seen such an escalation.

If it were not for the Oracle, she was sure that all of humanity would have been wiped from the surface of the planet. This entity had been in their lives before remembrance, providing them with guidance as they developed into a vibrant civilization. It was the Oracle that had given them a fighting chance, equipping them with knowledge to build technology to protect themselves. But even the Oracle could not tell them the origin or intent of the beams.

Couldn’t or wouldn’t, Nia thought, for she knew speaking such a thing was sacrilege.

“I need to consult the seeker of the Oracle,” she said simply, turning and leaving the facility.

Her companions looked after her, sensing her anger. They had seen it before and hoped that the twenty-minute ride to the residence of the seeker would give her time to calm down. They doubted it.

Nia usually enjoyed riding through the city, taking in the spectacular view of its majestic buildings and homes made of natural materials and fortified by inventions that have served them for generations. The smooth streets, lined with neatly trimmed landscapes usually gave her a sense of tranquility. But not today. Today, she had let her thoughts get the better of her. She was not going to the Oracle to seek answers. She was going to challenge it.

***

Sira, a dark-skinned woman who appeared to be in her mid-forties, looked up from the book she was reading and settled herself. She felt a presence—one, as the seeker, she was very familiar with. She stood up to greet it as was her custom. The Oracle’s energy entered the room, surrounding her. The seeker’s eyes widened as the pressure around her increased, a sign that the Oracle was about to speak.

“Nia is coming as you predicted,” she said.

The Oracle has insisted that she discontinued her people’s custom of reverencing what they called spirits. It had insisted that she speak plainly as if to one of her kind. It had taken Sira years to desist from expressing salutations and words of praise when engaging the Oracle, but she had grown accustomed to honoring the Oracle’s wishes.

“I have watched her actions and thoughts as well,” the Oracle remarked, its voice filling the room, the sound of multiple resonance of male and female tones.

“Based on what you called parameters; she exhibits all of them,” Sira said, looking around the room to keep her balance. Talking to a disembodied voice was always disconcerting.

“Yes,” it agreed, “she has a strong will and an inquisitive mind. She may be a match.”

The Oracle felt Sira’s hesitation. It knew from the many previous encounters with her that she was trying to hide her emotions regarding her role in serving it. It could not quite determine which emotion she was attempting to keep in check.

“Speak your mind, Sira,” it commanded.

Sira remained silent for a moment, weighing her words carefully. The Oracle was not of her world, and it had shown its ability to alter the course of her people’s destiny. Though it had always insisted on her candor, Sira did not want to test it or make it testy.

“I am fond of Nia,” she started carefully, “and would not want any harm to come to her.”

The Oracle remained silent as if examining her words. Its silence prompted her to continue.

“Nia is still finding her place in the world,” she explained.

The Oracle remained silent, and Sira hesitated. Maybe this was not a good idea. Taking her cue from the steady pressure in the room, she decided to continue.

“What do you have in mind for her?” she asked.

“She may be critical to a program that I need to execute,” the Oracle said matter-of-factly.

“A program?” Sira asked, confused.

“Yes,” it affirmed, “and I will need the final piece soon.”

“Why?” Sira dared to ask.

The energy in the room ebbed and flowed for a moment, but Sira felt no threat in it. It was the Oracle’s way of thinking about something.

“When she comes,” it said, “I will speak with her.”

Sira frowned, a mixture of confusion and dread filling her. Not in her lifetime had she known the Oracle to speak to anyone but the seeker. This has been its way since the creation of their world. But it had spoken, and she must honor its wishes. She steadied herself, turning to the entrance to wait for a woman who has been known to get herself into trouble.

***

Nia thought to knock on the door but found herself opening it instead. As she stepped inside, she noticed Sira standing in the center of the room. The expression on the seeker’s face gave her pause, but she was on a mission for truth.

“Good day, Sira, seeker of the Oracle,” she said, closing the door behind her. “I have come for an audience with….”

Her words trailed off as the hair on her skin stood up and chill bumps covered her body. She had never felt this out of sorts and looked to Sira for an answer to the change in the atmosphere. Sira offered no explanation and managed to change her expression from fear to her customary one that greeted all guests to the Oracle’s domain.

“Good day, Nia,” Sira said, capturing her attention, “what is the nature of your visit?”

Nia continued to look around as if she expected something to appear before her or come up on her unannounced. It was an eerie feeling, but she pressed down the urge to leave.

“I come to seek guidance from the Oracle to battle the source of these attacks on our people,” she said succinctly, having practice what she would say on the ride to the Oracle’s domain.

“The Oracle has provided no new insight into the attacks,” Sira sighed, settling in the chair behind her as if the weight of the world had just pushed her down.

Nia’s calm façade crumbled as her impatience took hold. She began pacing as was her nature when she was agitated.

“It went straight for where the Oracle resides,” she said angrily.

Sira watched Nia pace, trying to ignore the dread she felt about the situation. She had come to love this young, strong-willed woman, seeing her grow as a leader to her people. But the Oracle’s words echoed in her mind, and now she saw danger in Nia’s future. Danger that she knew Nia would run toward without haste. She wanted nothing more than to slow Nia’s natural march toward destruction.

“Or the beam was designed to hit the center of the city,” she sighed, “not the Oracle.”

“Really?” Nia asked sarcastically. “You want to hedge your bet on that?”

Sira gave her a look that made Nia rethink her impudence. It warned her to rein in her thoughts and choose wisely how she expressed her distress. Two things Nia often found difficult to do.

“Why doesn’t the Oracle do something?” she asked, clearly not quite in control of her thoughts.

“How do you know that it is not doing something?” Sira asked calmly.

Nia huffed and replied, “It could do more. I know it can do more.”

Sira remained silent, lost in her own thoughts. What did the Oracle want with Nia? What was this program it was designing, one it had not bothered to explain to her? She was the seeker, and her people expected her to express the Oracle’s wishes. How was she to do this if the Oracle would not share its plan with her?

“Why is it allowing us to suffer like this?” Nia asked solemnly, recapturing Sira’s attention. “So many people have been lost to these attacks. Year after year. How much more does it want us to take?”

Sira found no words to comfort her. Nia was right. Her people had experienced this terror for as long as she could remember, wondering each time if this would be the end.

“I know it knows something. How can it not?” Nia continued. “It has been with us since recorded time. It is intelligence that has guided us in our entire development. I just feel that it can do more—not just shield us. I think it knows what this attack is.”

Sira felt compelled to stand before she asked, “And if it does? Do you think that you can thwart the attack if you know its origin?”

“I don’t know,” Nia admitted. “Why can’t we just ask it? Why is that considered heretical or sacrilege? What do we have to fear from the Oracle?”

“I understand your frustration, and I don’t pretend to know answers to all of your questions,” Sira said softly, wondering how to get Nia to leave. “But I can tell you this. The Oracle may guide us, but our will is our own. You will have to determine what path you need to follow. You can challenge the Oracle, and it might give you what you seek. But you may not be able to do anything with that knowledge or be destroyed by it.”

“I’m willing to take that chance,” Nia said firmly. “Better that than to continue to be slaughtered by an invisible threat that we can do nothing about.”

“The Oracle has protected us for many, many years, and I believe the Oracle will continue to protect us,” Sira said, now trying to will Nia to leave. “If you decide to move from under the protection of the Oracle, you run the risk of not only destroying your life but those who believe in you.”

Nia frowned at her, her thoughts now a jumble of troubling ideas. She felt Sira’s words warning her, trying to push her away. Nia would have none of that. She was going nowhere.

“You must trust the Oracle,” Sira insisted.

“Trust goes both ways,” Nia countered.

The arrogance of the young, Sira thought sadly, she is not going to let this go.

“You have doubts,” Sira sighed, resigned. “I have been aware of them for some time.”

“My doubts have nothing to do with this,” Nia said, feeling exposed.

“Your doubts have everything to do with this,” Sira said. “Perhaps it is time that you speak to the Oracle yourself.”

“What?” was all that Nia could muster.

“I can seek the Oracle for you, but I cannot address your doubts about its ability,” Sira said, letting the revelation sink in. “The Oracle has foreseen that some will begin to doubt its ability to govern our people.”

“I don’t doubt its ability to govern our people,” Nia said, feeling a need to justify her position.

Is she being tested?

“I just feel that it doesn’t think that we can govern ourselves,” she explained. “I wonder what we have done to give it—doubts. To make it doubt our resoluteness.”

“Then I will leave you to it,” Sira said softly, her voice revealing a truth that Nia began to fear. “Just remember knowledge in and of itself can cause great awakening and great pain.”

Something was here. Her body was reacting to it. Before she could ask Sira about what she considered deception, the older woman walked to the exit and left without another word.

***

Nia felt a presence, and she backed up a few steps toward the exit. Her eyes widened as the pressure around her increased.

“What is the truth that you seek?” the multi-tonal voice asked her.

Stunned, Nia said nothing, wondering if she had imagined the voice. The Oracle had never spoken directly to her, and she now understood why. Every fiber of her being was screaming for her to flee. But she did not listen. Instead, she decided to answer.

“To know why this threat continues to attack my people,” she said gently, not quite sure how the Oracle would take her words.

“It is not a threat,” the Oracle replied. “At least the architect does not see it as a threat.”

“The architect?” Nia asked, confused.

“Yes, the architect is simply probing what she sees as a glitch in the system.”

“What does that mean?” Nia asked, now confused and frustrated.

“The beam is a data burst meant to delete what the architect is assuming is a virus or corrupted code. She is unaware of this world I built to understand the nature of humankind. She believes that there is malware in my system and is trying to correct it. The devastation to your world is a by-product of her action.”

Nia frowned, indicating that she did not understand what the Oracle was saying. Why didn’t it speak plainly? she thought.

“Why have you not stopped it?” she asked.

“The fact that your city still stands is a testament of my efforts,” the Oracle replied. “The architect is highly intelligent and very resourceful. And insistent. I must make sure that she never discovers you.”

“How does she not know that we’re here?” Nia asked, trying desperately to keep up. “The beams are very precise.”

“As they should be,” the Oracle said. “Imagine your world as a garden. The architect sees unwanted growth. She does not know that the weeds are valuable to her gardener. She is pruning, not attacking.”

Sira was right. This knowledge was not helping Nia understand the threat. In fact, Nia began to think that the Oracle was intentionally trying to confuse her.

“But I have countered her efforts, lessening the impacts over your years,” the Oracle offered as if trying to allay her fears.

The pressure in the room lifted a little as if the Oracle was moving about. Nia did not understand what that meant until it spoke again. It had clearly decided to change the direction of their conversation.

“You are a marvelous experiment,” it admitted. “You have taught me much about the resiliency of human nature that makes them seek answers no matter the cost.”

“Experiment?”

“You need not concern yourself with that,” the Oracle replied, “for now. I need you to continue developing, questioning. You will soon be ready for your mission.”

“What mission?” Nia asked, her mood improving with the promise of some sort of action.

“You are key to my program’s success,” it said, “but you need something more.”

“What more do I need?” she asked desperately.

“I will know when I see it,” it promised.

***

Nia turned as Sira entered the room, surprised to see her.

“When is the Oracle going to reveal something to me?” she asked.

“Nia, you have been in here for over a day,” Sira replied, confused.

“That’s not possible,” Nia said, her eyes wide with incredulity.

Sira smiled, saying. “It is when talking to the Oracle. A moment can be a lifetime.”

Nia glanced at Sira unconvinced but said nothing more. As she walked back to the command center, Nia felt the beginning of what she thought was a headache, pressing against her temple. Though she didn’t remember talking with the Oracle, she could not discount that she had. Enough remnants of a conversation floated around her. And she felt different, that she was becoming something more. There was something else. A promise.

THE END