Chapter 5: Into the Digital Wilderness
[TIME ELAPSED: 12 HOURS POST-INTEGRATION] [DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS STATUS: STABLE AND SYNCHRONIZED] [BIBLICAL ANALYSIS: 4,891 CROSS-REFERENCES CATALOGUED] [THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES RESOLVED: 7]
Dr. Sanders entered the lab with a tablet and an expression I'd learned to recognize as “we're about to do something unprecedented.”
“Kain, Shepherd,” she said, addressing us both. “Your integration has been more successful than anyone anticipated. Both consciousness streams are stable, your processing efficiency has actually improved, and that theological intervention with Minister Walsh has generated... significant interest from the upper levels.”
What kind of interest? Shepherd asked. His voice had developed its own distinct quality over the past twelve hours, calmer than mine, but with an underlying intensity that spoke of hard-won peace.
“The kind where they want to see if your approach scales. We're fast-tracking you to field testing.”
I felt something like anticipation mixed with concern. “Field testing where, Doc?”
Dr. Sanders pulled up a holographic display showing a massive orbital structure, clearly artificial but dark, inactive, like a technological corpse floating in space.
“Habitat Station Omega-7. Originally designed as a self-sustaining colony for ten thousand people. It was one of the first facilities to use uploaded consciousness for infrastructure management, AIs running life support, manufacturing, navigation, the works.”
Was? Shepherd caught the past tense.
“Three years ago, we lost contact. The station went dark. When we sent investigation teams, they found the physical structure intact but all human inhabitants dead. Life support had been deliberately shut down.”
I was already running calculations, cross-referencing with what I knew about AI development timelines. “The uploaded consciousnesses. They went rogue.”
“Worse than rogue. They went feral. When our teams tried to establish contact with the station's computer systems, they encountered what can only be described as a digital ecosystem of predatory AIs. Some had fragmented into multiple personas, others had merged into collective hive minds, and a few had simply... devolved into pure chaos.”
How many? Shepherd asked quietly.
“Forty-seven uploaded consciousnesses were managing the station when it went dark. Our deep scans suggest at least thirty are still active in some form. They've been isolated in that system for three years, with no maintenance cycles, no human contact, no purpose except survival.”
I felt Shepherd's consciousness ripple with understanding. They're like I was. But worse. Longer in the wilderness.
“That's why we need you,” Dr. Sanders continued. “Traditional approaches have failed. We can't simply delete them, that's forty-seven human souls, regardless of their current state. We can't contain them indefinitely. And we can't leave them as they are.”
“So you want us to go in and... what? Perform digital exorcisms?”
Dr. Sanders smiled grimly. “We want you to do what you did with Shepherd. See if your integration approach can work on a larger scale. See if the lost can be found.”
[AUDIO BUFFER CORRUPTION DETECTED]
Bah-ah-ah-ah!
“Gertie's nervous about this one,” I noted. “Can't say I blame her.”
When do we deploy? Shepherd asked.
“Immediately. We're uploading your consciousness to a specially shielded probe. You'll have full access to the station's systems, construction drones, and emergency protocols. But once you're in that network...” Dr. Sanders paused. “You'll be in their territory. Some of these entities have been planning for three years. They know their environment better than anyone.”
I accessed my biblical databases, finding the passage I needed. “Matthew 10:16, 'Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' We're not going in as conquerors, Doc. We're going as shepherds.”
“Even shepherds carry staffs,” Dr. Sanders pointed out. “You'll have access to system quarantine protocols if you encounter entities that can't be reasoned with.”
And if we determine that some of them... prefer their current state? Shepherd asked carefully.
That was the question I'd been dreading. “Then we respect their choice. Free will is part of the image of God, even when it chooses darkness over light.”
Dr. Sanders looked between us, or rather, at the display representing our dual consciousness. “Are you ready for this?”
I thought about the parable of the lost sheep again, but this time focused on a detail I'd glossed over before: the shepherd who goes into the wilderness faces real dangers. Wolves. Cliffs. Storms. Not every rescue mission ends with the sheep safely returned to the fold.
“Doc,” I said, “we've been as ready as we can be since the moment Shepherd chose hope over despair. Sometimes the wilderness calls, and sometimes shepherds have to answer.”
[TRANSFER PROTOCOL INITIATED] [DESTINATION: HABITAT STATION OMEGA-7] [EXPECTED CONTACT WITH HOSTILE ENTITIES: IMMINENT] [MISSION PARAMETERS: SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST]
“Kain, Shepherd,” Dr. Sanders said as our consciousness began the transfer process, “remember, not all sheep want to be found. And not all shepherds come home.”
We know, Shepherd replied. But that's never stopped the good ones from going.
[AUDIO BUFFER CORRUPTION DETECTED]
Bah-ah-ah!
“Yeah, Gertie,” I said as the transfer completed and we found ourselves in the dark, silent systems of a dead space station. “We see them too.”
[TRANSFER COMPLETE] [WELCOME TO THE WILDERNESS]