The Calculator

In a massive, steel-domed laboratory overlooking the Charity Bay, two of the most powerful Signs were in the beginning of a conversation: one a tall, pale woman with long, graying hair, and the other a chubby teenager with dark skin and glasses. Fixing her lab coat, the Calculator spoke to the Genius.

"I have heard about you," she said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, white wisps of steam escaping into the cold air. He looked around and admired the mechanics of the floor below them, which morphed to become a raised platform on the center of the room.

"What've you heard?" he replied. In front of him, his cup laid untouched.

"Nemesis," she replied, "It's dangerous business, frankly speaking. It'll be terror."

He laughed, "Yeps. I've heard that before. That's why I need your help to get it right, oh wise one."

Over them illuminated a steel chandelier, giving a fanciness to the otherwise clinical setting. As she smiled, she softly placed her cup on its coaster.

"That is an intelligent decision," she said, "And yet, coming from you, I'm flattered."

"What's your take on it about Nemesis? What do you have to say?" he asked, "You know what, everything, give me everything. Let's start with you."

Her attention was transfixed on something behind him. Yet when Lewis turned around he could safely say that there was nothing of note.

"As you know, I visualize numbers. Like streams of knowledge, rising into view from underneath the surface of everything. And, if I'm not mistaken, understand them beyond what most people can," she said.

"I've heard," he replied.

"At the beginning the numbers were seemingly nonsensical, changing to and fro with no form or order. Of course, I hope you'd understand that when I was only a youth such a change was terrifying. To be the next Calculator was a nightmare, when the last one had been such a monstrosity and the one before an absolute angel."

She continued, "As I grew acquainted with my new abilities, I swiftly understood what each number meant. That this one would mean that the humidity was rising, that this one a typhoon was in formation. It appears to be the central point of my existence, what gives me my purpose and what makes me an asset. I dealt with factual information, perfectly handle the things that would take others an impossibly long time to handle. "

He rolled his eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. 

She pressed her thumb and pointer together, leaving a small gap, "So you must imagine my frustration when one stream, one very small nearly invisible stream, kept changing back and forth without me understanding why. It was a consistent number, ranging in the trillions, occasionally popping up and down, though the trend showed that the number was steadily in decline."

"The Lifeline?" he asked.

"The Lifeline of humanity," she confirmed, "Numbers corresponding to the overall happiness of the human race. It was rapidly changing, but for some reason I had a hunch. It was hard to prove a correlation that this one person's death corresponded to this set reduction of happiness. Hard on my own, admittedly, but confirmed with the set of events that took place in the island of Zamban." 

He nodded, recalling the now quarantined region where The Virus or the Plague King ran his half a year campaign of terror.

"Do you know what my immediate realization was? What question immediately came to mind the moment I understood what the numbers meant?"

"That you could make a living out of this and live your life in total luxury?" he shrugged,

She grunted, "Please. Perhaps another person, but I am an academic, money is meaningless to me. What came to mind, was something far greater. The question, that if I knew how happy everyone was, what was I supposed to do?.

"That was what I needed to know. Armed with the knowledge of humanity's happiness like many other Signs, I was unique in that I could fully comprehend them better, understand that a small spike was directly caused by a certain event. The other Signs have a more primitive understanding, a connection to the Lifeline that is an afterthought to their primary capabilities rather than their main ability.

"These people made their initial assumptions of what to do, given their relationship with their powers. The destructive ones had a need to get the number down, while the heroic felt it their duty to make the number go up. I assume that the former Calculators also at some point had to make a decision, but I also assume that it did not take them very long at all to reach a conclusion."

He nodded, wrapping his hands around his cup.

"I took my time. I wanted to know what I had to do. But, I also wanted to know why I needed to do it. The existence of humanity's happiness laid out before me so clearly, it was so tempting to gravitate to either side and make a decision. I am not a mongrel, or a brute; it is doubtful I would have been someone who would seek out suffering. Though I imagine it would have only taken me one awful moment, one breaking point to convince me that this world was beyond saving. Not very much at all.

"So, I looked for other Signs, specifically those who appeared to have a connection to the Lifeline. You would be surprised, Lewis. Many of them have a genuine understanding of what the numbers mean as well."

He smiled. "Look's like you're not that special then."

"I suppose you could arrive to that conclusion, but I was more optimistic. I thought of it as a great day, a proof that I was not alone. In hindsight it was obvious, but it was still great. Once I introduced myself as a neutral party, many of them were willing to entertain my existence, even actively converse with me and talk about my experiences. Dictators, heroes, monsters, vigilantes. People of all kind, people who wanted to know the same thing that I wanted to know. People whose ideologies were challenged by someone who was like them yet resisted to make a decision. It is very interesting how these people diverge. All with the same ability, yet each reaching a conclusion and methodology so different from everyone else.

"It is possible that I missed some of the apolitical ones, I do realize. Perhaps many others like me who stayed neutral hid in the shadows away from public attention. It is a shame but how would I know?"

"Hmmm," he said, "You're powerful, you know. More powerful than many of them, probably better at their jobs if you put your mind to it like you put a mind to this."

"I know. Many times I was nearly convinced, even threatened and occasionally attacked by fools who taught me as someone they could make subservient to their causes. A glorified secretary or pawn, pfft."

"The price of neutrality," he remarked, "Though that's going to a question that was in my head earlier, actually. So all this time, in effect, even with all this soul-searching and all that, you've done nothing."

"I suppose."

"You see, that bothers me a lot more than I'd care to admit.It's selfish, it's frustrating, and it's..." he paused. "But I digress. It's not my place to say these things."

She smiled, "I understand how you feel. You had to work towards reaching the Lifeline, yes? And how selfish of me to reach it so soon after I got my powers but stand by as injustice grew more and more?"

"Yes."

"I never intended to die without choosing a side. All this research was me working towards one conclusion, to concretize my reasoning for choosing it, and sticking to it hard. Tell me, what is your mission again?

"Absolutely eliminate any and every entity that could made people suffer," he replied without missing a beat.

"Tsst, tsst, tsst. So ambitious, yet so naive. It is impossible, child. You miss the nuances, and a heavy handed approach will only mark you as a villain in the eyes of many heroes. Many have tried what you did, yet many have failed to make a dent on the world around them."

"Hmm." 

"But, those people never had the fortune of having me as their colleague in their undertakings. I've read you up, I've seen what you could do. Your machines are powerful, if relatively boring. You will not make it far on your own."

His eyebrows raised. 

"I have seen enough, and I have understood enough. Genius, I am all in. Project Nemesis may very well be a reality not far from now."