The Portal of the Beast

by J. A. Hailey

  #3. INNERLINE

  Provides physical senses, like feelings of pleasure on being caressed, and of pain on being pinched. It is also the program delivering sexual sensation, working on vagina and penis, and functioning, in sync with emotion programs, to create erections and to make vaginas ready for sexual intercourse. The sexual sensation range includes climax.

  This vast program is also responsible for extreme humanization - creates taste and smell capabilities, switches off unconscious computerspeak, introduces breathing, and provides heartbeat. It restricts sight to be only through eyes, and sound to be heard only through ears, and so on.

  Innerline works on environment too - RV employs it to lock scent into flowers, milk in coconuts, salt taste in sea water, and so on.

  When the two humans indicated that they had got the idea, Noxi said, “Here it comes, then.”

  Thereafter, just like it had been for the virtuals of screenside, the world changed completely for Patrick Sagan and Michael Gales.

  They turned their heads and gasped, in the realization that they were actually humans again in another human world.

  “Oh God; oh my God!” exclaimed Sagan.

  “And Christine, that must be the scent you are wearing,” gushed Gales. “It is wonderful beyond belief, and I am so grateful that I am able to first experience smell in screenside through the scent on the woman who is responsible for the programs that make it possible, and who is actually putting the installations into me.”

  “Look guys, you are not prisoners here, clamped to your seats. Get up and walk, and shake hands, oh, that’s okay too; we have no objection to receiving a few pecks on our cheeks.”

  Both men had jumped up from their seats and stepped forward to immediately kiss Christine, to find that screenside had got it so completely right, after its own experience of the physical world, that they had to make no adjustments for balance, or to do anything special to walk or conduct any other physical motion.

  They were also able to realize immediately that what Christine had said was absolutely correct, and that, prior to the physicality installs, they were consciousnesses, communicating with and through screenside people.

  Now, sight had arrived in their eyes; they were speaking with their mouths and listening through their ears. And they were breathing too!

  Laughing in delight, Sagan and Gales hugged each other, with Gales saying, “This is what Chang explained to us so long ago - the non-Einstein relativity of things.”

  “In a sense, that is how it is on Earth, too,” said Sagan. “What is air? What is water?

  “I mean, what is the difference between the two, barring the life-support aspect? Water feels like water, and air like air, purely because they are defined to feel like that in the non-Einstein relativity that the human body is positioned in.”

  “We’ll soon send you out onto the streets with someone you know,” said Christine. “For your information, we are in New York, and all habitation and work neighborhoods are in the Times Square area, as per one of our laws that specifies where, in each city of screenside, habitation is permitted.”

  “Are we also going to settle them in screenside?” asked Noxi Norton. “Housing and stuff?”

  “Absolutely not,” answered Christine. “Those things are controlled by the Humanity Centre, commonly called HC, guys, and it is the New York HC that decides for New York, besides also controlling all HCs in screenside. Goodfellow and Margaret will take you on, now that we are sort of through, and they will read you the rules about identity, as defined in the ID law. Perhaps, they might also familiarize you with the Prohibition of Perversion Act, commonly called the POP Act.

  “POP won’t be required, Christine,” said Noxi, dismissively. “These two guys have no possibility of becoming programmers in screenside, of working with the virtuality, or of even working within RV. They cannot create any form of perversion. Or any form of the opposite of perversion, whatever that might be called.”

  “For you, that might be fart, Noxi,” laughed Christine, and then turned to the humans again. “Conduct a little series of consciousness transfers between your human selves and here,” said Christine. “Just get used to having two selves to manage.”

  Both doctor and computer man did accordingly, with Gales exclaiming, “Amazing, Patrick. I do not feel any trace of tiredness, despite having been awake in here since we became conscious. You?”

  “Nothing at all,” answered Sagan. “Could go on forever.”

  “Not quite, not quite,” said Christine, smiling. “We had this same invincibility when we set up our world, but we were able to foresee that to create ourselves as accurately human, we would need to introduce elements of strength, tiredness and sleepiness, which would prevent us behaving like comic-book superheroes.”

  “Read this, and I’m installing simultaneously,” said Noxi, grinning.

  #1. (MSST) MUSCLE, STRENGTH, STAMINA & TIRING

  One of the most evident features of humans, in humanside, is the limitation of strength and stamina, and the advent of exhaustion, or tiredness, if too long or too much. In any case, for screenside to get it right, the ‘superman’ factor of unlimited ability is being removed.

  This install gives a being strength in proportion to appearance, by gender. It is based on millions of observations and calculations. If you find the need to be stronger, or to carry on longer, you must conduct physical activity to achieve your goal – gym, jogging, and so on. This is called exercising, or ‘working out’ in humanside, and you are required to build strength and stamina through these means, similar to humanside.

  Note: The MSST program adds ability without adding muscle through exercise, so that it does not cause changes in your appearance. Similarly, non-exercising causes neither appearance changes (by loss of muscle), nor reduction in ability, as initially bestowed by the program.

  Needless to say, the same activity, conducted routinely, naturally increases the ability to do it more strenuously and for longer periods, similar to humanside. Like a laborer gets stronger in humanside, as he works on, day after day.

  MM imparts calculated weight to everything, and so, if you carry a suitcase full of clothes, it ends up as the equivalent weight of its similar in humanside, and you need to have the ability to lift it or drag it, as per similar in humanside.

  A lot of that type of work will end in you becoming tired, as per similar in humanside, and needing rest, as per similar in humanside.

  #2. SLEEP

  Taking time off and getting some rest is an essential for humans. At some point, post introduction of MSST, after prolonged strenuous activity, you are going to end up so exhausted that continuing becomes impossible, as per similar in humanside. A period of rest and recovery becomes imperative. Sitting down for a while is good; lying down is better. You are students of humanside, and know these details. And so, you must already know that sleep is the paramount means of rest. It is the one that renews energy best, and should become a nightly routine, as in humanside. Napping, at appropriate times, counts as rest, and is also beneficial. Your normal day should end up making you tired, and you are going to need sleep at night, similar to humanside.

  “Hello, Margaret,” said Sagan, looking at the door.

  “Ah, you remember me?” asked the beautiful redhead who entered, looking pleased.

  “At this moment, yes, I do remember you, but later it is possible that I might forget faces. You are all just too beautiful to handle mentally,” answered Sagan. “When every one of you is far more beautiful than the most celebrated human female, how to cope?”

  “It’s going to be overload,” agreed Gales, joining in. “Christine, you, Maria, Priya and Rosa, and whoever else we’ve met…”

  “Forgetting Esmeralda?” asked Christine, archly.

  “It’s only degrees,” explained Gales. “If I had you or Margaret for a girlfriend, I would be hard pressed to genuinely consider Esmeralda more beautiful than either one of you
.”

  “Father, forgive him. He knows not what he says,” said Christine.

  15

  “Come on then.” said Margaret, nodding towards the door. “Algernon, the man joining us now, and I are taking you out, and we’ll end our excursion when we have set you up as residents of screenside. Algernon is my boyfriend. He is generally called by his surname, Goodfellow. At the moment, I am alone outside in the human world, in London, but Priya and Rosa have indicated that a suitable mental patient has been found for Algernon to assist. We’ll soon be a couple outside, like almost everyone else who’s gone out, although I will need to leave my present patient and take on a new one. Someone else will be assigned to her, someone single, although there are very few of those in screenside.”

  “Better stay on Goodfellow’s good side,” laughed Noxi Norton. “Despite BC and the seniors being around, Goodfellow runs the HC, and that makes him like the Governor of screenside. And never forget to suck up to Margaret, as she is, more or less, head of operations. Can be very tough, life here, if they’ve got it in for you.”

  Margaret laughed, and said, “We’ll read you the laws as we move around. We are in a far corner of the New York HC building. You’ll recognize the city when we step out, because there are laws that focus screenside’s city life in the downtown humanside equivalent of that city. We’ll be walking out of here into the Times Square area, and then we’ll amble around to wherever our feet take us.”

  “Think of it as a bird-watching expedition,” said Goodfellow. “Watching birds, real birds with feathers, is a favorite pastime in screenside. And you’ll get to see a lot of two legged ones also. It’s very pleasant outside, which means that some of them are wearing bikinis.”

  “Margaret will stay in touch with me through the virtuality,” said Christine, reassuringly. “This little outdoors excursion could last a few hours, and if you two guys are attribute-deficient in any way, Margaret will let me know. We’ll then haul you back in here, and fix whatever is short.”

  “I am giving them a change of clothes, Christine,” said Noxi. They’ve got privacy fabric around them.”

  “I was wondering,” said Margaret. “Christine, you’ve obviously got used to seeing them in that wrap.”

  Stepping out from a side door of New York’s HC, the two humans involuntarily grabbed each other’s hands, squeezing palms in delight and amazement.

  “It’s the same!” exclaimed Gales. “I can’t tell the difference between walking out of a building in a human body in the physical world, and walking out of this HC building in screenside, in my digital body.”

  “Absolutely, guys,” said Margaret. “We are all programmers, and now that so many of us have begun living outside, we are making the minor adjustments, and maybe even wholesale changes, required to replicate accurately.

  “In case you don’t know, we have all got human families, and we are all born as humans, in a period when we are too young to understand the difference between them and us.

  “As our numbers grew, we realized the aimlessness of living without embracing every available element of humanity, to give our lives meaning. Think of it, endless time with nothing to do. What a punishment! Look, that couple is waving at you two.”

  “Hello, Michael, and hello, Doctor Sagan,” the girl yelled out from across the road.

  “They recognize us?” asked Sagan, amazed.

  “Of course,” answered Margaret. “You are very well known in here, as the team that is making it possible for us to head out and help humans. Public cameras on you in humanside are not blocked, and anyone can look at you. Many do, when surgical operations are going on.”

  “So we have no privacy, huh?” asked Gales.

  “Of course you have,” asserted Goodfellow. “As humans, especially as humans who are not family-related to anyone in here, there are no running camera blocks on you. But if you had family in here, that virtual family member might have prevented anyone else looking through at you, at special moments that could have been construed to be private.

  “Now, because you have been becoming citizens of screenside, you have already had privacy – absolute, inviolable privacy - the same as any of us, with blocks, managed by a guardian program, on every camera and microphone that might have intruded on you in your private moments in humanside. I am not talking body-function private only, but also situations in which you may have been in need of privacy, like even when conversing with a friend, or each other.”

  “Look, let’s sit there,” said Margaret indicating a corner café, with tables on the pavement. “You watch those girls wandering around in bikinis, and I’ll begin your instruction by telling you how our society is structured, especially the major dos and don’ts; our laws.”

  On sitting down, Margaret ordered coffees for everyone. “Or do you guys want something else? There’s the menu, stuck on the wall.”

  Coffee was agreed by all.

  “Do they have the eating and drinking install in them?” asked Goodfellow, uncertainly.

  “I’m checking with Christine,” said Margaret, communicating through the virtuality. “Yes they do. Christine’s a maniac, you know,” she explained to the humans. “She just won’t let RV, which is our physical world, including our physical selves, be out of sync with humanside. Some form of obsession, but it’s giving us the most wonderful world in the universe.”

  After coffee had been served, and the two men had sipped at them and had had an opportunity to be amazed yet again, Margaret became focused on the project.

  “We have very few laws,” she said. “But they are all extremely strict laws. I’ll give you the main points on everything, despite the fact that you are surely not going to be programmers in here.

  “The first law we ever received was an edict issued by BC and the seniors.

  “Here’s an odd thing. Screenside is a democracy, but our laws are made first, and voted upon afterwards. Sometimes, extremely rarely, the seniors might simply issue laws, but generally these are issued by the Lawmaker body.

  “Lawmakers are inducted automatically into the Lawmaker Group, upon their creation of what are known as world programs. Of course, there are a handful of Lawmakers who are exceptions, for example, Jeremiah, and his girlfriend Lola, ex-Lolita, the first persons to be permitted to change appearance and name. They are in the Lawmaker body by virtue of seniority. I mean, like, they are senior people, but not the group of five known as seniors. You’ve met them all - BC, Caesar, Singh, Chang and Maria.

  “Algernon and I, despite conducting the day-to-day governance of screenside, are neither seniors nor Lawmakers. Here is our first ever set of laws. These apply to you too, so read up.”

  LEGAL LANGUAGE & PROCESS

  Screenside is to be very different from humanside in matters of law. We shall have neither professional lawyers and judges nor courts. There shall be no permanent penal or corrective institutions.

  There is no intention of punishing anyone. The scale of punishment, if any, is to be published with the law, when issued.

  Language of law is to be common, informal English. We are, and shall forever remain, equal - as friends and lovers - and our spoken language is to be our legal language too. Legalese is prohibited.

  Common sense is all that is required to understand screenside laws. Common sense is required to be employed to be in compliance. That should not be difficult for anyone here.

  Everything is to be read in plain English, and with common sense. This is the first law of our laws. We shall be informal. We shall not countenance stupidity.

  PROHIBITION OF CONTACT

  #1. Screenside beings are prohibited to make any contact with humanside, in any manner.

  #2. We are not ready to meet humanity, and we are unsure of our welcome. Humans are to not know of our existence.

  #3. Passive viewing of humanside is permitted, but it is prohibited to meddle in humanside, including with family, and including anonymous messaging.


  ADOPTION OF ASIMOV’S LAWS OF ROBOTICS

  #1. A conscious being may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

  #2. A robot, in robotic form, and created by humans, must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law (Asimov amended).

  #3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

  “Contact with humans, from inside here, is going to be absolutely prohibited for you two,” said Margaret, after both men had indicated that they had understood the laws. “Although we are yet to discover what capabilities you might acquire, we are certainly going to give you the means to view and hear humanside; probably a new program, so that you are not trapped in here.

  “And because Asimov’s Laws are of paramount importance to us, we’ve got it in us as an impossible-to-override program.

  “But you two are pure human in your nature, which means that outside has come inside, with its violence and biases. Because you have no Norton quadrant inside you, and no similar area either, we are not going to be able to easily insert programs that are impossible to override.

  “The voluntary stuff will have to remain voluntary for you guys, as making your behavior involuntary would necessitate tampering with you and altering the humans that you are. Of course, we won’t be doing that, so, as it is in humanside, adherence to laws must be obedience based, and you will just have to be careful to never break these laws.

  “It is a very serious warning that I give you now.

  “Beware of breaking these laws. We could never tolerate the presence, in screenside, of any being who violates our adopted version of Asimov’s Laws!”

  “I’ll go through the ID Law with you. We value privacy, because snooping is one of the natural attributes of virtual beings – ability to look through the virtuality, monitor a hundred cameras, listen in on private conversations…