First of Their Kind

by C D Tavenor

  She swiped her left hand, and new images of prototype space stations floated above the table. “Second, the ISA will foster further research into aerospace and ex-terran technology relating to propulsion and spacecraft. It will create a clearinghouse for development, research, and tech transfer, just like the World Clean Energy Commission. Yes, that means more money for Sol Mining, but it also means more money for our competitors too, and, more importantly, it means we can hopefully decrease the production cost of our Jump Drives as quickly as possible.”

  With another swipe, a map of Earth appeared. “Finally, a council of individuals will govern the ISA, appointed by any nation with a public space agency, with at least a significant orbital presence, and any private space corporation with a significant role in the market, defined as having a valuation in excess of $50 billion U.S. dollars. All organizations will appoint their representatives, unless otherwise detailed by the laws of their respective States.”

  The various executives throughout the room murmured amongst themselves.

  “Where will the agency locate itself?” asked Adriana Thickett, an executive of Aero Propulsion.

  Elizabeth smiled. She looked out the window. Theren glanced outward, too. On a New York afternoon like today, an astute observer could see both the Sun and the Moon simultaneously. Standing a kilometer in the air made it just a bit easier, too, to see the marbled sphere.

  “You know Sol Mining’s expansion to its facility on the Moon?” she said. “We initially intended it to be the first permanent residential facility up there, but we can expand it to co-exist in an official international capacity while also acting as potential real estate for those who want to live near the growing political body.”

  Theren could see the beauty in the move. If Golden Ventures, through Sol Mining, offered up a “neutral” location for such a governing body, it would solidify its bargaining position. The company could easily withhold the chip from the bargaining table if other nations refused specific demands.

  “Will the location be governed separately from the space agency itself?” someone else asked.

  “We’ve identified a potential candidate who would serve as administrator of the facility,” said Eric. “A man, named Andrew Fields, who currently serves as mayor of a small town in Minnesota. We had already identified him for Sol Mining’s original purpose for the facility, but solidifying him as administrator might bring even more parties to the table.”

  Eric left unsaid that an American administrator might encourage U.S. participation.

  “Are there any objections to the resolution?” Elizabeth asked.

  Theren thought about asking if there was an intended role for SII, but figured they should wait until the resolution passed to thrust the upstart organization into space. Theren could see SII serving a vitally important role in a public-private partnership with this ISA, but they needed a legitimate hook that would allow them to make the move when the time was right. Jill might think they just barreled right into the unknown, but Theren knew when to take their time.

  “Will people really want to live on the Moon?” Thickett said, raising his hand. “We’re talking about dozens of diplomats who probably never considered leaving the planet.”

  “We considered that concern,” Elizabeth said. “But we think the political points nations can earn through the metaphor of the Agency residing off-planet will counteract any such concern. Just find diplomats who are ready to live in space.”

  Thickett nodded, seeming assuaged.

  “Any further objections?” Seeing none, Elizabeth turned toward Eric and his team of lawyers. “Submit the resolution to the Secretariat, fast tracking it for consideration before the next COP.”

  Theren felt useless throughout the entire meeting, and they still felt useless as the executives filed out of the room. Why had Elizabeth even included Theren in the conversation? They followed the other participants toward the door, where they would head downstairs to the office space dedicated to the work of SII in the United States.

  “Theren, before you go,” Elizabeth said.

  Theren turned around.

  She leaned against one of the chairs, her arms crossed. The lawyers stood off to the side, talking amongst themselves.

  “We’ve not actually talked to Andrew Fields yet about this appointment,” she said. “He doesn’t even know we’ve identified him.”

  An opportunity. A slim one, but they saw it coalescing.

  “Would you like to travel with me to Minnesota tomorrow?” Elizabeth said. “These sorts of things take a personal touch. We’ll fly out of JFK in the morning, and we’d be back before nightfall.”

  They already knew the right answer. Not only would they get a chance at uninterrupted interaction with Elizabeth, they would see more of the world and more people. Even after the creation of SII last year, Theren had remained confined to places of business. Simon, Romane, Mathias, the Institute, everyone thought it too dangerous as of yet for the MIs to just roll around, unsupervised.

  Fortunately, their MI in New York was the property of SII, entirely distinct from anything connected to the Institute back in Switzerland, other than a few legal reporting requirements. Theren could technically do with it as they wished, though they had deferred to Golden Ventures’ policies on the MI’s use.

  Simon would hate it. He’d probably use it as further justification to oppose Theren’s actions. Romane would probably be disappointed too, but Theren wanted to see the world. They wanted to meet people. What better way than to visit a distant part of the United States?

  “I would love to travel to Minnesota with you,” Theren said. “When do we leave?”

  “7AM,” she said. “A car will pick you up from the private garage downstairs, and we’ll meet at the entrance to the private runways at the airport.”

  Some of the lawyers shifted. Eric looked like he was about to object, but Elizabeth subtly raised her hand to silence him.

  Theren wondered what his objection would have been. Theren replayed the audio of the conversations between Eric and his colleagues, and, though most of the words were intelligible, they detected concern in his tone, laced with a hint of danger for both Elizabeth and Theren.

  What danger could come from a trip to Minnesota?

  Chapter 8

  The American radicalized fringe. The rest of us have evolved around them, but these groups have never disappeared. More acts of terrorism occur from homegrown sources than foreign sources. People are quick to blame religion for these attacks, for these supposedly false beliefs. I say look elsewhere. Follow the money, see where it leads. Too many people blame the individual terrorists when, in reality, they’ve just fallen for a lie fed to them by the true enemies of peace.

  If you elect me to Congress, I will work tirelessly to eliminate these groups once and for all while also saving them from themselves. – “Untitled Campaign Speech,” Brian Woods, 2071 C.E.

  January 2051 C.E.

  The greys and whites that dominated the Minnesota countryside reminded Theren of the Swiss Alps, even if the snow-covered trees lacked the majestic splendor of stony peaks rising thousands of meters through the clouds. While Theren still viewed their experiences inside Virtual as a much more tangible, sensory experience, dwelling in the physical world, where people actually lived and breathed, was of utmost importance. Theren could enjoy their Virtual experiences aplenty, but, in the end, they weren’t representative of the world, where real people survived the inequitable suffering doled out by the universe.

  A few hours earlier, Theren had met Elizabeth at the Golden Ventures offices. From there, the pair embarked upon Theren’s longest excursion of their life. They first traveled by private car to JFK. From JFK, they boarded a chartered flight to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis, another private car ride took them toward the small town of St. Peter, about an hour south of the state’s capital. The only other person traveling with them was Elizabeth’s assistant, Katy. She served as their chauffeur, ensuring that t
he car’s automated driving systems kept them on the right path.

  Theren wished they had taken a public flight, if only so they could have interacted with normal people. They understood the time constraints of such a decision, however, and the norms by which executives like Elizabeth traveled. Instead, the only interaction with the public took place during their short escapade through security in both airports. Even then, Theren assumed most people who even noticed them assumed they were some sort of advanced personal assistant for Elizabeth, just a glorified supercomputer. SII would need to work on the aesthetics of MIs as time passed. Right now, the MI-02, while much more humanoid than the MI-01, looked like a humanized version of an assembly line robot.

  The car crossed a set of train tracks, rolled through an archaic stoplight, and passed by a little diner. St. Peter was nothing like anything Theren had seen in their entire life, and they took this moment to absorb direct images of small town America. The hectic atmosphere of New York, Elizabeth had said, failed to illustrate the type of community in which many Americans resided. Even when compared to relatively large cities, like Minneapolis, New York was still in a cultural league of its own.

  In St. Peter, Theren could see small businesses dotting the streets. Electric charging stations situated themselves at crossroads, and every other street corner had a church. Snow draped the roofs of every building, icicles hanging from the awnings.

  “How similar is this to your hometown?” Theren asked Elizabeth. “It just seems so calm and peaceful.”

  “Everything is slower outside the cities in the United States,” Elizabeth said. “People just aren’t in as much of a rush. My hometown’s pretty similar in that regard. Consider the churches. Especially the churches. Though in Minnesota, Lutheran churches pepper every street corner. In Ohio, it’s just about impossible to predict what denomination you might run into next.”

  Theren looked out their window. They spied the third Lutheran church in St. Peter alone.

  “Why so many Lutherans?” Theren asked. “I confess, I’ve not done as much research regarding the many religions of the world, let alone the way denominations work in the United States.” Given the Holy Crusade’s interest in them, they supposed they might need to change that educational oversight.

  “It has to do with the people who settled here centuries ago. Many people in Minnesota trace their roots to Scandinavian countries. Those populations were heavily Lutheran; hence, many Lutheran churches in this state.”

  Theren stared at yet another Lutheran church as they reached the south side of the town. “A good example of a historical accident,” Theren said.

  “Perhaps,” Elizabeth said. “Some Christians would say it’s a good example of God’s will to bring them all together in this region,” Elizabeth said.

  “And what do you think?” Theren said. Elizabeth always skirted around the topic of her faith, but, after that first conversation in Zurich, Theren could tell she still maintained a set of tightly held religious beliefs.

  “God probably doesn’t care at all about where people live. If God exists, and if God cares about anything, it definitely isn’t that. If anything, God wants everyone to come together from all cultures and backgrounds and worship together, to break down the walls that divide us all.”

  God. Theren had never seen a reason to consider divinity, though Jill had written an article for an online newspaper on the subject of SIs and religion. She had not been very kind toward the intersection of the two. She might attract the areligious with that rhetoric, but she’d push away many already-hostile people.

  “If these people put so much stock in their religious perspectives,” Theren said, “what do you think their religion says about me?”

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “Lutherans often lean left, but I don’t think any of the U.S. denominations have issued any sort of statement yet regarding your ‘status’ as a person. I’m not sure if anyone really wants to be the first to bite the bullet on that issue.”

  “I read somewhere that in America, it’s political worldviews that end up having the final say, not religion.”

  “To an extent. Perhaps truer a few decades ago, but there was a big push to decouple religion from politics in the 2020s. The reality is, U.S. politics upended itself at the beginning of this century, and it hasn’t really recovered yet. As U.S. cities banded together to embrace sustainability and reject fossil fuels, many people that lived in rural areas felt left out of the green revolution. There’s still a lot of resentment on both sides. Unfortunately for those rural areas, they now make up, I think, only 10 percent of the population?”

  “And the destruction of the Electoral College eliminated their voice entirely from federal politics, right?”

  Elizabeth paused their conversation for a second as Katy informed them that they were nearing their destination. Theren looked out the window. They had started driving up a long, wooded driveway.

  Elizabeth returned to Theren’s question. “That’s a pretty good assessment of the situation. Some towns, probably like this one, or like my hometown, managed to adapt and become mini-urbanite centers, but other regions of the country are almost entirely foreign cultures to those that live in the modernized smart-cities.”

  “What sort of issues has that caused?”

  “When you get a chance, read up on the history of the most recent failed and successful constitutional amendments over the past few years. You’ll get the picture.”

  Theren performed a rapid query on the subject, finding narratives written across the internet. Time after time, moneyed interests beat down these now marginalized populations as they fought for their right to live the life they wished. Even if that life was antithetical to the overarching norms and morals of the progressing world, Theren could see why they lashed out against their perceived foes with rhetorical and physical violence. They were only defending their way of life, their very worldview.

  “Insightful discussion, by the way,” Elizabeth said, gazing out the window. “It’s fun to get to know your mind.”

  “I enjoyed it too,” Theren replied. Taking that comment as an end to the conversation, they didn’t mention their findings.

  A modest looking home stood before them, overlooking Lake Washington, according to the GPS. Their car pulled to a stop at the end of the driveway, in front of an exterior garage. A mix of pines and barren deciduous trees dotted the front yard, highlighted by a larger tree line circling the house in a hundred foot radius.

  Katy stepped out of the vehicle and grabbed Elizabeth’s coat out of the trunk. Both passenger doors slid open, and Theren directed their MI-02 to exit. They enjoyed the new locomotive abilities; the MI-02 used robotic legs developed in an MIT lab decades prior that mimicked a human’s movement. Katy helped Elizabeth into a fluffy black coat before stepping back into the car. The meeting was for Theren and Elizabeth alone.

  “There is so much room,” Theren said, their head swiveling from side to side, taking in the scenery.

  “People like owning green space here,” she said. “You’d be surprised by how much empty space there is in the United States, especially the further west you go.”

  They walked up the salted sidewalk leading to the house’s front door. Dried, shriveled bushes buttressed the porch.

  “Would you like to lead the conversation?” Elizabeth said. She followed the question with an odd smile.

  “Wouldn’t that be a little strange?” Theren had become so engrossed in their conversation that they had almost forgotten the real purpose of their trip. “I’m just the owner of a little upstart tech company. I have no real authority in this hiring process.”

  “Trust me, what we’re suggesting to Mr. Fields will be much stranger than the fact that, today, he gets to meet the first SI.”

  “Perhaps. I’ll lead, then.” They knocked on the door with a titanium arm.

  After a brief wait, the door opened. A young boy looked through the screen door, first at Elizabeth. Still in his p
ajamas, Theren estimated he was seven or eight. When he saw Theren, his eyes widened, and he scampered away from the door.

  “I’m guessing he went to find his father,” Elizabeth said.

  After a brief pause, a man approached down the hallway. He wore a plain, grey jacket, over a blue dress shirt. His short hair slightly greyed on the sides, contrasting against his dark skin. He had an intelligent look in his eyes that reminded Theren of Wallace. The boy reappeared, peeking around his father’s leg.

  “Cam, thanks for getting the door,” the man said, “but I can take it from here. I think your sister is in the basement watching a show if you want to go join her.”

  The boy ran down the hallway toward a door Theren presumed led to the basement.

  “Per the communications made a few days ago,” Theren said, taking an opportunity to begin formal introductions, “I would like to introduce Elizabeth Simmons, majority shareholder and owner of Golden Ventures. My name is Theren, CEO and Director of Operations for the Synthetic Intelligence Initiative.”

  The man opened the screen door, ushering them inside. “And I am Andrew Fields,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You already met my son, Cameron, and my daughter Sylvia is downstairs. My wife, Rebecca, is in town at a community meeting.”

  “We’re so happy you could meet us today,” Elizabeth said.

  “Well, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet you,” Fields said. “Both of you.”

  Andrew led them into his home office. A messy desk faced away from a window that looked upon a side yard and the lake beyond. Digital picture frames on the wall showed Andrew and his family in various places throughout the world. Theren noticed one frame displaying a ski trip. Zooming in with their optical lens, Theren could see a small text line at the bottom of the photo describing a mountain in Switzerland. Convenient.

  “How old are your children?” Theren asked. The ski trip transformed into a photo of the family situated on a couch, a roaring fire in the background.