Encoded

Outside

The vast arena he surveyed that had once processed hundreds of people a day contained the last encoder machine. However, technically in an emergency, his HER vehicle HER-V could work in reverse and reabsorb you into the GOO if something went wrong with the isolation protocol, keeping your master digital copy updated where ever it was. The fact he was in the HER-V unit showed the others he had declared for AD as his salvation. The HER-V had been dropped via fusion bullet two days ago, waiting for him today. Although truthfully, he had no choice in choosing AD. He was still mulling over his run-in with SarahPragmaticForesight, which, like last time, had dropped him exactly where he was before the interruption; no time was missing when he checked his watch. What he hated most was that even though it was real, and he knew it from Hector, no time had passed, and that was still technically impossible. The RealTimeWaster wasn't an AI; it was a Mashup, hence the bloody name. However, the naming convention was odd. He never knew a human called Real, Time, or Waster, so which part was human or AI was confusing. He dealt in absolutes in his job. Things could go weird, but they had to go weird inside the rule book, and messing with time wasn't in the rule book.
"Bloody hot up there!" Potts said, coming to stand next to him. His slight South African accent still detectable after 300 years of hanging with neutrals. Potts was for Dearth and, as such, had never undergone cloning, instead opting for using now routine gene enhancements and organ replacements to extend his life. His skin had to have gene treatment, but he instructed the DocBots to leave all his scars, and he had a lot of them. He stood Stocky, a few inches shorter than DigBee, who was muscle boosted with unblemished skin. No one had hair on earth anymore due to radiation. Despite the shields and drugs that kept them alive, hair or babies would not grow here.
"I saw that." He replied, almost sarcastically. But Potts was right. While the weather had long since become a moot point of conversation, today had, as if in some last fuck off gesture, registered the hottest ever surface temperature on earth.
"Off to find another destiny, then hey?" He said, nodding his head towards the HER-V. Potts had left his standard encoder vehicle at the top of the ramp.
"Yes, but no surprises between us?" He questioned confidently.

DigBee's heart actually lay with New Earth too, but the Ford Destiny continued to plague him and convince him his place was in the GOO on AD ships keeping an eye on the NEST. Hector was in the lineage of Damien Ford. Hector claimed when they were alone in the Hobby Shop inside the GOO that he was somehow in touch with Damien and Sally; they were stuck somewhere not easily describable. Hector was on a mission to find and free them, claiming, without them, the NEST was a constant threat to all humanity; Dearth or AD. So, while he kept his personal beliefs erased in a digital lockbox, Hector had given him. DigBee was, as well as his job as an encoder, leader of what you might call Black Ops for the NEST. He was never sure if this meant he got to keep an eye on them, or they faked it so they could keep tabs on Hector, a known NEST skeptic but the only mathematician capable of producing encryption keys for the GOO that could keep Dearth Digitally locked out of their world. Even the power of the NEST AI brains hadn't been able to match the mathematical genius of Martin Muller, the leader of New Earths Council.
"Cheer up, you two!" Sheepman, next to arrive, pulled them both out of augmented information overload. It was too easy these days to zone out into your internal digital worlds.
"Hey, Sheep." He said, forcing a cheerful smile. Sheep had been DigBee's friend for many hundreds of years and wore a clone body similar in stature to his own, but he dressed and spoke very differently. Loose cotton clothes, overly bling jewelry, and a fake London cockney accent perfected his in your face personality.
"Potts." Sheep said, nodding at the scar ridden man.
"Hey, Sheepman, hot or what?" Potts began.
"Fucking right. Hottest day, ever, right?" Sheepman interrupted. "Hey, Digger. You going to use today as an excuse to get rid of that old leather jacket finally?" Sheepman continued, appraising DigBee's attire.
"Naa, thanks to all the same sheep. I know you have been trying for centuries to change my dress code, but the jacket stays." His flight jacket was his one concession to a sentiment that he insisted the encoding machines and all HER machines always replicated for him in the same worn-out way.' A man had given it to him after he blew the head off a clone soldier attacking him during the wars that followed the digital reset. The guy had been so grateful, and it was a lovely heavy leather.

Drew was short and skinny by comparison to them, and he was always very well-groomed, smelling too good for someone who spent his days doing this shit job. He almost skipped down the ramp towards them as he ran.
"Gentlemen. It struck me today that after Tawny and Essie left us last round, I've spent way too much time in male company. I can't wait to get rid of this body and go play with my New Earth peeps in the GOO." They all laughed. Drew was the only one who DigBee had ever wondered had been sent by Muller to spy on them. But he always concluded he was being too paranoid and blamed Hector for that!

DigBee produced a Bottle of real scotch he had found some hundred years ago and kept stashed for today.
"The real McCoy." He said, flipping four flat discs into the air and watching them become cups as they floated back down. They all grabbed one and sat in a small circle in the dust.

"Can I look at the rig?" Drew asked; eventually, he had been quiet and reflective even for him since they sat. DigBee wondered if he was having second thoughts, it was natural. Over so many years of watching humans disappear underground, society splitting permanently down the middle, it seemed apparent people would second guess themselves. Because once the decision was put into action and you were loaded into your chosen databank of GOO, the world and wars became purely digital. Worlds and empires could be built in the GOO, limited only by the imagination. But Martin and the Fords had two very different but effective means of circular quantum encryption that, if they worked as advertised, ended the hacking wars permanently. The theory being that with quantum entanglement at its core, the new key was already in use before the old key was even used. Creating an impenetrable flux of encryption with no start or endpoint once running.

"Sure," DigBee said, getting up to help but Drew hushed him back down.
"Enjoy the whiskey. I just want to look at the HER-V; it's really the one thing that enabled the humans to split their survival choice." He set off towards the truck.
DigBee's training kicked in and be activated atomic forensic dust on the truck's surface to ensure nothing was taken or tampered with.

"Here's to Death." He said, offering a toast
"And rebirth!" They all said in unison, smiling at each other. Eventually, Drew rejoined the group, the dust reporting nothing unusual. Just a handprint where Drew had laid his palm down on the encoder as he patted it.

"Ok!" He said, not being one for long goodbyes.
"Who wants to die first?"

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