Restoration
Page 26
“Yes, Aubrey told me that the earthquake destroyed my original body and brain and that’s why I am in this one.”
“Good. So, after the earthquake, we built another backup facility at our research labs in Xi’an, China...which is where you and I first met Yin.”
“Keep going.”
“Let me back up a bit. The first successful transfer of human engrams into a clone occurred July 19th, 2035. Her name was Arianna Lekowitz…she was thirty-two years old and suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease. We used a technique called differential genetic modeling to identify, isolate and remove the defect that caused ALS and then we genetically modified her stem cells to grow her a disease-free body.”
“You said we, were you actually there?”
“Not directly. After the war, I went to work for Telogene at the Xi’an research facility as a junior researcher and, as it so happened, I was assigned to the differential modeling lab. We discovered the genetic sequence that caused ALS, which turned out to be a relatively simple twenty-eight base pair mutation on the SMN1 and SMN2 genes. The resulting motor neuron protein deficiency caused the paralysis and other symptoms associated with ALS.”
“So, you discovered the cure for ALS?”
“No. As I said, I just did the genetic modeling…and some re-sequencing I guess. It was my colleague, Doctor Liam Shen, who officially discovered the cure for ALS. But I digress. The point is that we were able to grow an ALS free body for Arianna. Of course, we didn’t have the growth accelerator technology we have now, and it took us the better part of six years to grow her an adolescent body. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to be thirteen again, but it was the best we could do at the time.”
“So, you started growing her new body when she was twenty-six?”
“Yes. She was diagnosed several years earlier, but it took her parents some time to find a doctor who would work with them. Telogene had been cloning limbs and organs for several years by then, but nobody had done a full body replacement. In fact, most everyone thought it couldn’t be done…except Lily.”
“So, it was Lily who agreed to do it?”
“That’s right. The Lekowitz’s contacted her and basically got on their hands and knees in her office and begged her to help them. Lily being Lily, she couldn’t say no.”
“So, what happened?”
“Telogene created Arianna a new body and used the newly developed engramic transfer technology to copy her personality and memories from her diseased body to her new one.”
“And?”
“And she went on to live a happy, healthy life. She lives in Portland with her husband of twenty-some-odd years and has two grown children. I used to call her at least once a year to check in on her…but it’s been several years since we last spoke.”
“Well that’s great for her, and I am proud of Lily for being willing to take a chance on saving that girl’s life...but what does that have to do with me?”
“Arianna was alive when we did the engramic transfer procedure.”
“So?”
“So, every engramic transfer ever performed was done using engrams taken from a living person—and usually within hours of when the engramic archive was created…a week or two in the most extreme cases.”
“You’re saying that I…”
“I am saying that you are the first person to be restored using an engramic archive that was created long after you died.”
“Nobody ever tried it? That’s hard to believe given all I read about everything that was going on before the HDDA.”
“Oh sure, there were a few cases where someone died without having created a recent engramic archive. But there is a big difference between doing a post-mortem archive a few hours after death and creating one from a brain that’s been on ice for nearly a decade!”
“So, I’m an experiment and you have no idea whether it’s ultimately going to work or not. Is that it?”
“Not at all. I am extremely confident that we got a high-quality transfer and that nearly all of your memories are inside that head of yours. It will take some time for everything to settle in. Trust me, six months from now your memories will feel completely natural. Events that happened a long time ago will feel more distant and things that happened recently will be more vivid…just as they are for all of us.”
“If you say so, but it feels like there is something you aren’t telling me.”
“Like what?”
“Like the real reason I was brought back?”
“Well, the original thought was that you could help shed some light on the mutation problem.”
“Oh, come on. I was a great scientist but we were only scratching the surface of what you all have clearly mastered. If you can isolate and cure ALS why can’t you isolate and cure all genetic mutations?”
“We did…or at least we thought we did. We cured most forms of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, you name it. We even eliminated Down Syndrome and were able to correct almost any birth defect in the womb. We engineered good viruses and bacteria that protected us from the bad ones. Over the last fifty years we wiped out virtually everything that could reduce our lifespan or diminish our quality of life, and we’ve made huge strides in augmenting human abilities.”
“So what happened?”
“We don’t know…mother nature happened. Do you realize that for all our accomplishments and advances we still don’t understand the purpose of over seventy percent of our DNA?”
“How is that possible?”
“It’s possible because we are an incredibly complex life form that has evolved over millions of years on a world that experiences significant climate change every twelve to twenty thousand years and mass extinction events every twenty to thirty million years. The bulk of our DNA is stuff that has lain dormant within us for thousands upon thousands of years. And as far as we can tell it doesn’t do anything, it’s just a collection of old junk that we carry around.”
“But it’s doing something now?”
“That appears to be the case. The majority of the genetic mutations are occurring in what we thought were large sequences of junk DNA.”
“Any ideas on what activated them?”
“Not really…certainly nothing scientifically valid. Based on what we know so far, it appears that the affected sequences are inherited from some pre-human reptilian form.”
“Reptilian? How could we have reptilian DNA?”
“That’s a very good question, Evan. The prevailing assumption is that all mammals and reptiles have a common ancestor somewhere very far back on the evolutionary tree.”
“But that would have to be, what…tens of millions…hundreds of millions of years ago?”
“Probably, at least tens of millions.”
“So how do we stop it?”
“We don’t know that we can, and certainly not in a population of six billion people.”
“What about the differential modeling technique you used to find the cure for ALS, won't that work?”
“Sadly no. Differential modeling only works when you have a clean genetic sample to compare to. In Arianna's case we were able to compare her DNA and the DNA of thousands of others with ALS, to a database of millions people who did not have the defective genetic sequence. The genetic defects affecting the population now are all over the place and we've been unable to isolate a root cause—it's possible that we're all affected and there is no clean DNA to model.”
“So, what are we doing out here then?”
“We are trying to save the human race from extinction....we're...well, truth be told we're grasping at straws.”
Evan stared at the red planet. In his mind, he went through everything he had learned about Luna and Mars over the past few days. There were 30,000 people living on Luna, just over 100,000 on Mars and another 3,000 spread out across the Asteroid Belt. Would even these few be safe?
“You said original thought...what did you mean by that?” Evan asked.
“When?”
“Oh, well…that was still part of it. Aubrey thought that you might be able to provide a fresh perspective…be able to see the problem through fresh eyes, so to speak.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“In due time, Evan, in due time. Trust me, it’s nothing nefarious…you just need some more time to acclimate before we throw you into the deep end of the pool.”
“I don’t think I do.”
“What?”
“I don’t think I trust you.”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way but there is nothing I can do to earn trust beyond what I am already doing.”
“You can tell me the truth.”
“I am, Evan. I have not once lied to you. In fact, I have even told you things I shouldn’t have…or at least before I should have…because I want you to trust me.”
“Like what? What have you told me you shouldn’t have?”
“Evan, please, we must return to our pods before the next jump. Please be patient with me a little longer.”
Evan stood up.
“Alright, Chen,” he said. “I’m going to play along because, quite frankly, I don’t have a choice. But I know that there is more to this situation than you’ve told me, and I will find out what it is one way or another. Am I clear?”
“Perfectly.”
CHAPTER 29
APRIL 6, 2075 5:27 AM GST
GSSA Headquarters
Zurich, Switzerland
Dianne Merkel woke to the sound of chimes playing a soothing melody combined with an annoying vibration on the nightstand next to her bed. She glanced over at the holodisplay floating above the nightstand; it was Christian calling.
“You have something?” She was too tired for any pleasantries.
Christian was always pleasant. “Good morning, ma’am. My apologies for waking you but I have information I think you should hear.”
“Go ahead.”
“Evelyn’s memory scan is complete, there were no inconsistencies.”
“So, she told the truth. She knew about the transfer but didn’t know they were restoring him.”
“It appears so.”
“What else?”
“The court ordered memory scans of Doctors Walker and Berkovic are complete.”
Even though Aubrey’s appearance in court was canceled due to the nano-wipe, they arraigned her co-conspirators as scheduled. The judge remanded Tanessa Walker and Leah Berkovic to GSSA custody pending trial and also approved the GSSA’s request for memory scans.
Christian continued. “And both told the truth—neither was aware of the plan to restore Feldman until summoned by Doctor Hao that morning.”
“And they only participated because Hao told them that Feldman was granted a GFN exception due to his knowledge and expertise,” Dianne interjected.
Although the HDDA outlawed restoring deceased individuals, the government could grant certain rare exceptions if they deemed a person critical to the global interest. To Dianne’s knowledge, only three had ever been granted and Evan Feldman was not one of them.
“Correct,” Christian replied. “Also, I have received an update from Agent Govender.”
“And?”
“He does not have a high enough security clearance to access engineering, or any other restricted section on Kutanga. There are other options but he is concerned that any overt action on his part will result in discovery by the captain or other crew members. He requests additional guidance as to the level of risk you want him to take.”
Thato Govender was the Overwatch agent Dianne had activated a little over fourteen hours ago after her security briefing with Bachmann and subsequent meeting with Bruce a.k.a. “Geoff” Wagner. Govender had been a part of Adekunle Gbadamosi’s crew for seven years but had made limited progress getting close to him.
He was currently serving as a junior officer responsible for managing Endeavor's cargo and storage bays. He had only heard rumors of the colony ship, which he mentioned in his last report. But the information received little attention from his superiors at Overwatch Command. Now it seemed that the rumors were credible, and the Kutanga was real.
“Where is he now?” Dianne asked.
“The Endeavor departed Mars at 23:10 hours GST and is headed for Ceres. Estimated arrival is 06:30 hours today, roughly one hour from now.”
“And where is E-Six?”
“They just completed their acceleration orbit around Mars and are approximately seven hours behind the Endeavor.”
Captain Bachmann had aborted his team’s planned “vacation” to Mars after discussing a new mission with Dianne on her car ride home last night. The Peacekeepers were now traveling at best possible speed to Ceres with orders to disable the Kutanga if possible, or severely damage it if not.
“Can they catch them?”
“No, ma’am. The GFN troop transport vessel cannot achieve better than two percent of light speed. The analysts believe Endeavor is capable of at least five percent.”
“I wonder how GFN Command feels about that?”
“Ma’am?”
“Never mind. What else do you have?”
“Two more things. First, Geoff Wagner landed in Lead, South Dakota two hours ago and proceeded directly to his office at Telogene’s headquarters. He has not left since, nor has he attempted to contact anyone.”
“And?”
“And I have received synchronization requests from the BGSI and GFN Command. Integrating with their AIs would yield a tremendous boost in my processing power. However, they would also have access to my data and advanced processing functions.”
Rules had existed to limit the frequency and duration of direct contact between AIs since the creation of the first artificial intelligence, and for good reason. The prevailing fear was that, if left unchecked, these advanced AIs would eventually reorder themselves into a monolithic intelligence—an intelligence that might choose to serve its own interests rather than those of its human masters. Dianne shared that fear.
“No, let’s maintain standard interface protocols for now. Share only what they need to update their models.”
“Of course, ma’am. Will there be anything else?”
“No, thank you for the update. I will be in by eight but call me if anything changes between now and then.”
“Very well.”
Christian’s face faded away, and the room went dark again.
“Lights,” Dianne said to the invisible AI that continuously monitored her home and waited silently to serve her every need.
The room grew gradually brighter as Dianne tossed off her blanket and flung her feet over the side of the bed.
There will be no more sleep today for me today, time to get to work!
* * *
Geoff a.k.a. Bruce Wagner woke to the sound of rapid beeping coming from somewhere off to his left. He tried to open his eyes, but it felt as though someone had glued them shut. In fact, he couldn’t move any part of his body—he was paralyzed from head to toe. A brief moment of panic washed over him, but then Bruce remembered where he was. He relaxed and waited for a few minutes before trying again. Eventually his eyes opened, and was greeted by the words “Engramic Archive Complete” flashing on his holodisplay.
Bruce scrolled through the activity log until he was satisfied that the engramic archive procedure was successful. Once satisfied, he removed the spiderweb-looking cap from his head and returned it to its usual place in his desk drawer. The display shifted to a three-dimensional view of Bruce’s body, with green lights emanating from his head and spinal column. He confirmed what he already knew—the nanites he had injected two hours ago to begin the procedure had deactivated and were now migrating out of his nervous system and into his bloodstream for elimination by his kidneys.
Geoff swiveled the thick leather chair so he could bet
ter see the second holodisplay floating a meter to his left. The display showed that his engramic archive was being prepared for transmission along with the copy of Aubrey’s archive he had made while in Switzerland. Another countdown timer showed that it would take thirty-seven minutes and twenty-two seconds to compress the archives.
Geoff looked at his watch. The dual display showed that it was 10:50 PM local time and 05:50 AM Global Standard Time.
Good, he thought. Right on schedule.
CHAPTER 30
APRIL 6, 2075 6:32 AM GST
Geosynchronous Orbit
Ceres
Evan released the restraints holding him in his acceleration pod and shifted forward so he could place both magnetic boots on the metal deck below him. The artificial gravity in this section of the ship was low, about that of Luna and Evan had not yet mastered the bouncing gait used by the crew to get around quickly. Doctor Hao was two pods to Evan’s right and like Evan, he used his magnetic boots to make his way down the aisle toward the exit.
“Do you need assistance?” Doctor Hao asked as he approached.
“No thanks, I think I’ve got this down now.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear that. If you’ll please follow me, Adee has asked us to join him and Yin. We will be taking a shuttle down to Ceres.”
“Lead the way.”
Chen took a few steps past Evan and stepped aside so the last few remaining crew members could get by. He and Evan followed the last one out. They walked a short distance and came to a bank of three lifts.
“This is us,” Chen said.
The four crew members continued down the hallway, disappearing from sight as they rounded the corner. A few seconds later the lift door slid open and a young female member of the crew greeted them.
“Good day, gentlemen. I am Madeline and the Admiral has asked me to escort you to shuttle bay two.”
“Good morning,” Evan said as he stepped into the lift.
Chen nodded at the young woman and followed Evan inside. The doors hissed shut and Evan grabbed hold of the handrail as the lift accelerated horizontally along the outer edge of the habitation ring.