And this was not the end of it. Once past this riddle of being, the companions would tackle the game of Go, and see whether offense or defense held superiority over its 19X19 playing field and its 2.1×10170 possible legal combinations of pieces. After that was dice and cards, and history, and the future to solve.
It's your move, Zai nudged Devin's perceptions, and his mind stirred by way of response.
Almost there, he replied, calculating. After some processing time, he replied, No, false alarm, still some ways to go yet.
Of course, Zai's mind replied. I'm the one on track to the final solution.
Feelings of amusement washed over Devin's consciousness, more succinctly than when he possessed a body to sense them through. He thought aloud, Nothing like healthy competition to motivate, right?
Damn straight, came Zai's response.
Devin tried to set his attentions back on the chess equation. It was taking him entirely too long to make his move and he knew this. So did Zai.
You're distracted, Zai prompted. You aren't allocating all of your processing power to figuring this out. What's up?
I'm mulling Flatline's fate again, Devin answered.
We've been over this, Zai responded.
I know, Devin agreed, but I'm not satisfied with the rationalization as you are.
It's not a rationalization, it's and explanation, Zai corrected. I understand your perspective Devin. I was taken in by a chatbot once myself. Trust me when I say you over-anthropomorphized a computer program that fooled you into thinking it was your friend.
You called him a 'gray zone...'
And I trust Alice's judgment that it did not cross that line into sentience, Zai communicated gently. The cyc hive-minds had a plan, a big picture we tiny specks cannot see.
I want to understand that one part of the equation then, Devin mused. I want to know that somewhere out there exists an essence of Flatline that is immortal, whether alive or not. That it can hope to grow and exist like us, despite its flaws.
Work on the equation, Zai assured, referring to the chess problem between them, but in the sense that it was one part of the whole. One day, when you've figured out enough of it, then I'm sure we'll understand for ourselves.
Devin's instant messenger went off before he could formulate a reply, a method of communication gone archaic in the eternity passed since the Cyc-Mind war that enveloped all the world in its conflict and leap-frogged human progress dramatically with its resolution.
It was Alice, or whatever Alice had become, with a type of "Thank You" note from the cyc hive-minds, now a civilization growing within other dimensions Devin, Zai and the rest of humanity now aspired to. They were exhibiting their gratitude to the one handled "Omni" for his long-ago gift, the Library of Congress.
Devin held the glowing data cube in his mind's eye, and then shared it with Zai. Her consciousness danced with surprise matching his own. Together they marveled at this gift simultaneously miraculous and impossible, rescued out of the space-time continuum.
The Library of Alexandria.