Chapter 21: Intrepid - 3756 C.E.

Vashti stumbled through the open lawns of the penultimate level where Beatrice had so recently been imprisoned. She reasoned that the android perhaps had an idea of what was happening. How was it possible for a nanobot community to be compromised in such a strange and unprecedented manner? There was nothing in Vashti's vast repository of data and experience that could explain it.

It was definitely humbling for a being who naturally presumed that she was superior over both biological and robotic life-forms in every measurable way to be so ignorant. It was even more humiliating to have to ask advice from a mere android. Humans were handicapped by emotions such as pride that made it difficult for them to seek advice from someone they'd previously treated with contempt, but Vashti wasn't human. Her imperative was to seek assistance from wherever she could. It wasn't just the success of Vashti's mission, but her very survival that was at risk.

Vashti evaluated the symptoms of her predicament as she stumbled across the elegant landscape. The ground was no longer firm beneath her feet, but resembled more a boggy marsh into which she sometimes sunk. The physical form she'd adopted was losing its integrity and consistency. Scrolls of skin would sometimes shed off her legs and hover behind her until they reasserted their solidity and reattached themselves to her body. Her hair flowed and shimmered as if it was only tentatively attached to her head. When she dragged her fingers over her face, the skin would either briefly detach itself or stretch like a coating of fresh paint before it fell back onto the contours of her cheek. The effort to generate a uniform to cover Vashti's nakedness was now beyond her ability. When she attempted to do so, her brown skin took on an utterly unconvincing silvery cloth-like texture.

The problem wasn't simply that the entity known as Vashti was having difficulty in maintaining her integral individual identity. The bigger issue was that the nanobot community which not so long ago had grown large enough to assimilate space fleets and maintain an endless number of distinct independently operating manifestations was now reduced to one single individual. And this individual that had no previous difficulty in maintaining its identity in the Solar System for over thirty years was now failing in the rudimentary task of holding itself together.

Some parts of Vashti were functioning rather better than others. In fact, they appeared to have a life all of their own. The part of Vashti's anatomy that most fit the description was her penis which was twice or even three times its normal length and breadth and was slapping against her thighs as she walked along. Sometimes it sprung into full erection and even ejaculated with no motivation or purpose. This puzzled Vashti. The systems that composed her—the sexual, intellectual, lymphatic, cardiac and perceptual—were competing with each other for primacy in an uncoordinated fashion.

"Good evening, sir," said a soldier, probably a corporal but maybe a sergeant, who stood to attention and saluted as Vashti approached.

"Good evening," said Colonel Vashti who was struggling to recall what the various insignia might mean. She stopped and saluted, aware of the strange sight she made with her penis now inappropriately erect and more than half a metre long. "Have you anything to report?"

The soldier gazed at the naked colonel in consternation. For a moment, Vashti wondered whether he might not just be another Apparition.

"Come on, soldier," said the colonel. "What's the problem?"

"Your eye, sir," said the soldier.

"Oh," said Vashti, belatedly aware that it had somehow worked its way out of its socket and was dangling over her cheek. With a matter of will she retracted it back into the socket which must have further alarmed the soldier. "Never mind that. What's the overall situation?"

"Anarchy, sir. Absolute chaos. There's no order at all. Everyone's seeing these weird Apparitions, sir. And they're solid. They're real. They can even kill."

"Kill?"

"A whole cohort of Roman soldiers suddenly appeared on the fourth level, sir," said the soldier. "They were there for only five minutes or so, but they slaughtered over a dozen scientists and service personnel. It was horrifying. Are you sure you're alright, sir?"

"It's been tough on me, soldier," the colonel admitted. "How is discipline holding up?"

"Almost non-existent, sir," said the officer. "All the senior military officers have vanished. I was told by Private Johnson that Colonel Musashi actually disintegrated."

"What do you mean by that, soldier?"

"It's like the literal meaning of the word, sir. One moment he was standing there in the command centre and the next he sort of fell apart. It was like he was turning into dust except that instead of falling in a heap on the floor the particles of dust were so fine that they just blew away. It was very strange."

"Do you know how he was before that moment, soldier?"

"He'd been behaving very strangely, sir. He could hardly express himself coherently. He even had difficulty standing up. We think it's happened to all the senior officers. No one knows anything for sure. The only person I've heard of who's sort of ... disintegrated ... is Colonel Musashi. But I've heard that Captain Kerensky, Chief Petty Officer Singh and all the rest of the crew have also kind of vanished. There's no one manning the bridge. It's like we're leaderless in deep space, sir."

"Well, I'm still here," said Colonel Vashti.

"Yes, sir," said the soldier, who seemed rather less than reassured.

"We need to keep order."

"Yes, sir."

"It's paramount."

"I agree, sir."

"I shall try and locate the missing officers."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't abandon your post."

"No, sir."

"Dismissed," said the colonel finally.

"Thank you, sir."

Vashti continued her trudge across the level. It was as she feared. The integrity of the nanobot community had quite simply ceased to be. It was as if it had been blown asunder by a breeze. The facsimiles she'd generated of the senior officers had all disintegrated just as the soldier had described it. They were no longer coherent entities. The nanobots had decomposed into their constituent elements. Instead of assimilating the environment they were themselves now being re-assimilated back into it. And the same thing was happening to Vashti.

The only hope she had was that Beatrice, the most advanced life-form on the Intrepid after Vashti, might have some insight into what was happening. At least an android wouldn't be re-assimilated.

Vashti scanned the horizon as she tried to guess where the android might be. She caught a glimpse of several camels walking by on the horizon. On their backs and chanting from the Quran were several Arab warriors. They then suddenly vanished. Vashti looked towards the villa where Beatrice had been imprisoned for the last year or so. Just behind the villa a strange orange being with skin that resembled chiselled granite was lumbering over the lawn. Then that too vanished leaving behind footprints embedded in the path. There were many strange sights, but no sign of Beatrice.

Vashti walked towards the villa while her penis became ever more excited and tumescent at the anticipation of meeting her lover. This again was totally incongruous and inappropriate. There was no evidence of Beatrice at the villa. The invisible force field that had confined her had disintegrated in just the same way as her facsimiles had. Every part of her nanobot community had ceased to function. Vashti was very much alone.

Where else could Beatrice be? The most likely place, of course, was Paul's villa also on the same level, but would Beatrice really choose to go there? Would she really want to be by the side of her husband given that his only function for Beatrice had been to facilitate her passage on the Intrepid? What possible use would a super-intelligent android now have for a less than adequate biological life-form?

Vashti had no answers to such questions, but she nonetheless decided that Paul's villa would be her next destination.

Vashti hobbled, stumbled and lurched over the Intrepid's lawns and gardens to the tranquil home where Vashti had very little doubt that Paul would be in residence. He very rarely wandered from home even when there was nothing to hide from. Now that there were peculiar Apparitions everywhere on the space ship, where else would the man stay but where it was most homely and familiar?

Vashti could see Paul standing in the garden of his villa. He was regarding with bemusement a golden fountain that had somehow located itself a metre above the ground and was encircled by a ring of bluebirds. It was a captivating sight, but after a few minutes it too vanished.

Paul was now even more bemused.

"Why it's you, colonel," said Paul as he saw Vashti approach. "My goodness, you really don't look very well. Where are your clothes? And what the fuck is that between your legs?"

Paul was perhaps the only person aboard the Intrepid who didn't know about Vashti's peculiar assets. However, when Vashti gazed down at her engorged penis it was so monstrous that it was perfectly understandable that Paul should be alarmed at the sight.

"Didn't you know, Paul," said Vashti. "You could say that I'm a very peculiar woman."

"You most certainly are," Paul agreed.

"Is Beatrice here?"

"Beatrice? No. She isn't. Do you know what's happened to her? I've been looking for her everywhere."

"Everywhere?"

"In the bridge. In the military quarters. On the other levels. Everywhere I could think of."

"When was the last time you saw Beatrice?"

"I don't know," said Paul. "I've lost all sense of time. Maybe days ago. She just vanished. She disintegrated. It was like she turned to dust."

"That wasn't Beatrice, Paul," said Vashti who really didn't see any point of maintaining the pretence any more. "The real Beatrice was elsewhere. The woman who you thought was Beatrice was just a facsimile of her. An exact copy. You haven't been living with the real Beatrice for over a year."

Paul shook his head in disbelief. "I know that some very strange things have happened since we entered the Anomaly, but I don't see how what you've just said makes any sense."

"There's a great deal you don't know, Paul," said Vashti. "Shall we sit inside? I'm not feeling very well."

"You don't look yourself at all," Paul admitted. "Come inside. You'll have to excuse the mess. Very peculiar things have been happening even inside the villa. I don't know which is worse. Being outside where you can see all these bizarre Apparitions popping up all over the place but mostly at a distance. Or indoors where they happen a lot less often but make much more of a mess."

Paul and Vashti walked into Paul's living room which was indeed in a chaotic state. Vashti set a chair upright and sat on it while Paul sat exactly opposite her.