2175 C.E.

I: The Town of Jimeso is Burning

Personal Journal: Theresa Mwangi: Translated by Ibrahim Wassume

08/09/2175

Okoye informed me today of a problem in Ghana. The news tells me about the terrorist attacks that have hit Ambience facilities (may God strike them down) over the last two days. Okoye says that one of them might have found an Ambience host. In Ghana, of all places, a host! This, of course, is a very serious matter, so I spoke personally to the Vice President Yong An-Hong. He, I thought, would know everything that I needed to know about the practices of Ambience Corp.

The Vice President is a man whom I had never known except through reputation until his arrival in my country a few days ago. I had heard of course of his politics, all of them frighteningly pro-Ambience. He was one of the original architects of the "great project of humanity," of course, and as such, I expected him to be a man without a strong moral sense. I confess that I did feel these things; there were days when I frowned and gave into anger at the mere mention of his name, his and of course Shen Wei-Fun and Yan An-Sing and the rest. But God has surprised me and taught me a lesson in humility in Yong An-Hong, who is a man of great intellect and resolve, and unlike the picture I have painted of him in my mind (and indeed has been painted for me by his former and current colleagues who have met disgrace, such as Kazuo Akikagi, Herman Throtgaard, and Evelyn Mann). He has been reluctant, but fully, cooperating with the intelligence community of Congo as well as Novan Intelligence operatives like Alexandra Troy and her family. No doubt he has explained everything he knows about Ambience to these other fine people many times over, but I requested that he help me to understand what the presence of a host might mean for Congo and Africa.

He came to my permanent office in the capital building today with a wary air about him, like he was afraid of silly old me or the place which I work from (which is an enormous office; I have often asked for a smaller and more comfortable one, but the current President insists that I have an official location and an official role in his administration).

When we began, the Vice President first asked what I understood about the Ambience Mainframe. I have not been fully briefed the processes of the Mainframe, and he explained its mechanism to me.

"The Mainframe is essentially a vast computer with massive processing capability that utilizes the human cerebral cortex," he told me. That much I knew; Ambience has been hijacking the human brain for some time. But the Mainframe was something different, or so he told me. He says that "A human who is implanted with the Mainframe uplink becomes a data core and processing matrix, and his consciousness becomes like a discarded application. That empty shell is a host. It is a human that is converted into a computer processor. Enough of these hosts in communion can simultaneously run thousands of calculations and probability assessments. Ambience has over two hundred, enough to command almost all of the autonomous air defense drones in the Terran military."

Arya Kumar was with us. He has not been fully briefed on Ambience because of his lack of communication with Nova and the Grushan. He nearly spit out his tea upon hearing this revelation. "The Mainframe is people?" he asked in a shock. "What people?"

Yong An-Hong answered, "Criminals and traitors, mostly. Some volunteers. Many on death row are offered the chance at a limited sentence in the Mainframe with the promise of release at a later time. None of those offered this leniency have received it.

"Traitors like us?" my friend Arya asked.

"My government perceives you as traitors and potential terrorists, yes," An-Hong told us. "A host can be connected to the Mainframe from anywhere in the world. Often, Ambience places hosts in specific areas to gather direct sensory data from the host's senses, like a microphone or a camera. Then the hosts will collaborate to interpret the data. They are like a hive of ants which share a single mind and purpose."

"How have you managed to do this without informing our governments?" Arya asked. I understand and share his anger at this great evil that has entered the world through Ambience Corp. However, I am old, unlike my friend Arya, and I have seen this many times through my life. I fought against Ambience so many times in my own country. Many times, my heart cries out to me, for it has been strained to the breaking point many times by the evil that abounds in this world.

An-Hong turned to Arya. "I was administrator in India when the Mainframe was under construction. I was responsible in part for this. As an architect of the great project, I was often required to hide its nature from those whom we worked with. For, if a wild tiger was told that it would be saved from extinction by living in a cage, it would not reply well."

"How do you liken the project to a cage and at the same time believe that it holds salvation?" I asked him.

He turned to me and replied, "I did not believe it a cage until I myself saw the bars."

I have seen this turn of phrase many times in my interactions with Yong An-Hong, and I perceive deep regret in his hears from it. I do not know if before he came to us his heart was so conflicted, but I see conflict in him now. And this gives me hope, because I see now that God, in his wisdom, has sent men of wisdom and integrity even to our enemies. And there are people who say that I am being sentimental because of his sacrifice, but I don't think so. I think that my way that I have chosen is right, and I admire An-Hong for coming to the same conclusions as I have, although he is guilty of so much.

I then briefed him on the growing situation in Ghana, and the possible host that was reported by the rebels in that country. I asked him, "Why has the host followed them to their outpost? Is it under Ambience control?"

An-Hong doubted that. "The Mainframe can control a host at long distances at times, but the host must be equipped with specialized equipment for the Mainframe to take control of the body. Otherwise, he must be integrated into the Mainframe using specialty equipment."

So the question became, what was this host or possible host doing so far separate from his uplink? An-Hong tells us he isn't sure. "I have heard early reports that a host disconnected from the Mainframe has very little memory or motor functions. It can't speak," and Arya interrupted him to remind him that it was "he," not "it," "he, can't speak, or communicate. A few motor functions are unaffected, so he's able to eat, walk, and breath without assistance, but not much else."

"So why did he follow these freedom fighters?" I asked him.

"He probably latched onto them when they arrived and is following them as a freshly hatched bird might. They're most likely the only living things that he remembers."

"You people are monsters," Arya said.

"I must warn you, Ambience will expend every resource that they have to retrieve this host," An-Hong said. "For some time after his release, he will retain full memory of the Mainframe's most recent processes. He'll likely retain it until he starts to regain his memory and communication abilities, if he regains them at all."

He says things like this so matter-of factly, like this might not represent the second biggest intelligence coup of the war (the biggest being the American children and the black probe that they have brought, of course).

"Then we must do whatever we can to bring this host to Congo." And I have set forces in motion to do so. May God be with us.