by John Gribbin
More applause as I stand and get ready. I suddenly think of Julia and Tendo and glance at my LifePhone and Julia’s status. I smile slightly as I see a small Green pulse. My son is born. This can only make me more Green, and now everything I am going to say is true.
“Thank you. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s wonderful to see you and your Vitals looking so well. So. Without delay, I’m going to introduce you to Inside and Out™ V.5. As you know, since V.1 there have been many developments, and the huge increase in the world population is due not to population recruitment, but to population retention. In this exclusive club called Humankind, it has never been more important to prolong life. Since Inside and Out™ was introduced, we have been able to prolong the average lifespan by fifty years and counting. Of course, there have been barriers to this, particularly concerning brain deterioration and Black Swan events which, I am afraid, we can do nothing to predict. There will always be culmination through major natural hazard, as our planet changes alongside us, but I am pleased to announce that we have now developed a product that will halt brain deterioration and this product will be mandatory to the population through the Fountains from today.”
More applause. This is going well. Now for the crunch. I can already see Felicia Stoller frowning in anticipation.
“So, let me introduce you to Inside and Out™ V.5. The first improvement is the 3D model. Diagnostics, devices and drugs will now all be available via the HealthCloud, providing that your status and LifeCredits are up to date. The 3D model will bring healthcare into our lounges, so that we will be able to diagnose and treat ourselves in our own homes.”
I shuffle my notes. This will be tricky. It’s a big change but if I can get to the end, they will surely see the benefits. In any case, the average age of the WMC is 90 years old, so it will not affect them directly.
“As Marcus mentioned, the world population is more than 22 million, and this is due to retention of life, rather than any bulges in the birth rate. The only barrier we faced to reduce culmination, barring major natural events and man made disasters which are thankfully few and far between, has been solved. So, as a result, the population has the potential to rise steadily with no real decrease. It has become obvious in recent years that the world cannot sustain much more growth in population, not even with genetically modified food sources, so Inside and Out™ surveyed the population through the Fountains with the following questions:
Which of the following statements would you say was most true:
A) I would be most happy if I was able to reproduce, but would culminate at age 100 as this is the norm for parents
B) I would be most happy if I could contribute to civilization by being the most healthy person I can and postponing reproducing until a later date
C) I would be most happy if I was able to decide not to reproduce and have an unlimited lifespan”
I hear a collective gasp.
“Of course, after the test period, we ran this survey for each person, that is, 99.99% WorldPOP. I made the usual promise that each person will be granted his or her choice. In this case, the results were unanimous. 99% of respondents chose option C. Of the 1% who did not chose C, 99% chose B and these people will be granted their wish. The 0.01% who wish to continue to reproduce will, for the time being, be banded as B, as the program rolls out ETERNITY.”
There is complete silence. Some of the Vitals are showing amber now and a few are bordering on Red. I continue.
“ETERNITY combines a wider commitment to SIA, where facilities will be extended now that birthing stations are no longer required. Twice as much resource will now be driven into providing a single HealthCredit dose of products, all refined to balance to each individual’s homeostatic level. All the major pharmaceutical providers are onboard with this and will continue to manufacture and distribute under the WMC licenses approved by World Governments. Additionally, extra LifeCredits will be available to anyone who shows early commitment to WorldPOP, and ETERNITY V.5 will be active immediately, and will be reviewed annually, with V.6 available to roll out should an ultra-world disaster diminish WorldPOP significantly.” I glance at my own Vitals. Red. Only to be expected. My job now is to get everyone back down to Green.
“Any questions?”
There is a loud silence for a full minute, then Jake Smithers, World Correspondent for NewsCloud speaks.
“So, if I understand this correctly, from today, there will be no more pregnancies?”
I nod.
“Well, not quite. We ran the survey three years ago and have been rolling out people’s wishes since then, ending nine months ago. So, after today, there will be no more babies born anywhere in the world until further notice.”
Jake stares at me.
“So the Fountain has been giving contraceptives?”
“Yes, in accordance with people’s self-diagnosis and the survey outcome. We haven’t done anything that people didn’t ask for.”
Vitals are returning to Green now, and people are nodding and smiling. Except for Felicia Stoller, who remains Red. Marcus intervenes now.
“Thank you, Angus, we’ll all look forward to reaping the research and development rewards, and to living long productive lives. Any more questions?”
He looks around the room and predictably, Felicia’s hand shoots up.
“Felicia Stoller, WMC. I’m a little bit concerned. What about the Keepers? Doesn’t this mean that most of them are redundant now? All they will be used for is terminal care, which is falling annually, and culmination, which, as you point out, will become rarer and rarer. So what will happen to them?”
I think about Tendo. What will happen to him? Well, eventually he will culminate and be gone.
“Well, Felicia, I think that is obvious. Unfortunately, Keepers are outside the remit of Inside and Out™ and cannot benefit from the Fountain or 3D program. So they have become a self-selecting group that will eventually culminate.”
She nods.
“Thank you. Just one more thing. What are you defining as ‘happiness’?”
I stare at her. She always hits me with a doozie.
“I’m sorry, Felicia, I’m not sure I understand you?”
“In the survey. All the questions have the words ‘most happy’. What’s the definition of this, and how are you measuring it?”
I nod.
“Well, with a yes or no. It’s the option which, as it says, they are ‘most happy’ with.”
She frowns and taps her pencil on her pad.
“But happiness. How are you measuring it? And in what context, I mean, happiness is relative, surely? And, for that matter, did you exclude all the people who are synthetically happy, those who are using LifeCredits to boost their synapses? You said yourself, as far back a V.3, that there is a difference between induced happiness and authentic happiness.”
Did I? I don’t remember that. Silence again. My Vitals are creeping through Amber to Red on the screen for everyone to see. She continues.
“OK, Angus, but didn’t you say that V.5 would be reviewed every year? And what if people try it and decide that, after all they would be ‘happier’ being able to reproduce? What would happen then, when all the trained SIA staff have culminated, if V.6 was required? I put it to you that you have no intention to ever allow people to breed again. The last baby born will be the end of mankind.”
I glance at my LifePhone and see a picture of a smiling Julia with my son. A surge of something unfamiliar rises, a tingling that makes me breathe in rapidly. I see my heartbeat soar on the wall screen.
“That’s slightly dramatic, Felicia, isn’t it? It’s been thoroughly researched and is completely reversible. Regular Fountain surveys will be held and I’m sure that if there is sufficient interest, we can roll out V.6 to those people who wish it. Although I’m not sure how many sane people would volunteer for culmination instead of ETERNITY. Could I enquire as to whether or not you took the survey, Felicia? I won’t pry into your answer, but I assume th
at you are not in the minority group, or you wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
She shakes her head and slams shut her notebook. “I guess that’s what it always comes down to in the end, eh Angus? Life, Death and Money. But you know, it’s what happens in between that counts, the experience. Oh, and the emotions and feelings. Remember those, Angus?”
There are gasps as Felicia uses the D word. Marcus looks around.
“Any further questions? No? It leaves me, then, to thank Angus Farraday for his contribution to ETERNITY and for bringing the pharmaceutical world together with world leaders in the spirit of 2020 Vision. I’m pleased to say that even in 2095, every nation is still involved in the HealthCloud initiative. Louis Pasteur would have been proud, if he were living today.”
The green live button fades and I touch off the wall screen. I’m alone. The experience. I must be running low, time to replenish. Doom descends on me and I feel what I have only felt twice before in my life, a gnawing guilt. Guilt about Julia, Tendo, and the son I have yet to meet. The tears well and I swallow back my pain. Lots of scientists practiced on their own families. Freud, Piaget, Darwin, even Lovelock, who predicted climate change so accurately, used his own family as experimental subjects. I walk over to the Fountain now. 3D in action, right in my own office. My screen shows me a 3D graphic of the chemical structure of the drug I am about to take. A mini version of the street-side Fountains. Soon everyone will have one. Damn Felicia and damn authenticity. Damn happiness and guilt, I know I’m working for the greater good. I step inside the Fountain and watch as my Vitals return to their homeostatic levels, and I feel nothing, which is the only way to be truly happy, or so my surveys tell me.
In the bleak Long Winter
by
Peter R. Ellis
Peter would like to say he’s been a writer all his life but it is only since retiring as a teacher in 2010 that he has been able to devote enough time to writing to call it a career. Brought up in Cardiff, he studied Chemical Physics at the University of Kent at Canterbury, then taught chemistry (and a bit of physics) in Norwich, the Isle of Wight and Thames Valley. His first experience of publishing was in writing educational materials which he has continued to do since retiring. Of his fictional writing, the Evil Above the Stars series was his first published speculative fiction.
Peter has been a fan of science fiction and fantasy since he was young, has an (almost) complete collection of classic SF by Asimov, Ballard, Clarke, Heinlein and Niven, among others, while also enjoying fantasy by Tolkien, Donaldson and Ursula Le Guin. Of more recent authors Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds and China Mieville have his greatest respect. His Welsh upbringing also engendered a love of the language (even though he can't speak it) and of Welsh mythology like the Mabinogion. All these strands come together in the Evil Above the Stars series. He lives in Herefordshire with his wife, Alison, who is a great supporter.
The cold hit her like a thousand daggers. Her thermo-suit rendered the daggers imaginary but the frigid air at minus ninety Celsius was real enough, a half a centimetre from her skin. Abigail closed the outer door and took a few steps away from the habitat module. The carbon dioxide frost crunched under her boots. She took a deep breath. The nitrogen-rich air of Disciple still tasted dry and cold even though it was mixed with oxygen from her tank and warmed by her suit before being fed to her helmet.
There were no clouds in the sky now and it was clear and dark but for the myriad stars. Abigail picked out Orion but where was Earth? She could never quite remember which of the numerous faint stars was Earth’s sun, twenty light years distant. She turned and looked to the east. There was just the beginning of a red glow above the ragged ridge as the dry, dust-free air scattered the light of the suns. It wouldn’t be long before Madonna rose. Abigail thought that the others would join her soon but she hadn’t wanted to miss the dawn of Midwinter Day.
She strode south-east, climbing the gentle slope of the hill. It was more a snowdrift that had accumulated over the eight Earth years of the Long Winter. The exertion warmed her and by the time she reached the top her respirator was working hard to remove the water vapour she exhaled in order to keep her face-plate clear. Three grave-markers stood erect on the flat summit. The graves weren’t there of course, the bodies of her friends had been recycled, their amino acids and trace elements too precious to consign to the ice. But they’d placed the crosses here, shards of diamond coated, graphene-reinforced, resin cut from the wreckage of the shuttle that had killed them. Abigail crouched to read the names though she needed no reminder. They’d only been here on Disciple a few (Earth) months prior to the accident, but they’d trained together for years until they began the long sleep-filled journey between the stars. They had learned each other’s strengths and foibles well. Abigail straightened and looked up again. Despite the stars the sky seemed empty now that the Paul Dirac had left on its return journey. Seeing that bright dot scudding across the sky had been a link to home, a link that was now broken. Not that she was homesick; the psych tests would have bumped her off the mission if she was going to have regrets about leaving a life on Earth.
The glow in the east was brighter so she stood staring up at the sky. Her suit detected that her exertion had ended, and heated up. Despite the cold around her she felt relatively cosy.
She only had a few minutes to wait before the curve of Madonna appeared above the ridge. The blood red disc swiftly grew until it was just about to detach from the horizon, but then there was a spark of blue. Soon another globe began to rise, fiercely bright, but apparently of similar size and touching the first. The two stars had official designations on Earth but the commonly used names were those given by Father Guglielmo at the Vatican Observatory. He discovered the planet on the Feast of the Annunciation. Madonna was a bloated red giant star, now in its old age after a long and quiet life. Child was the smaller, younger upstart, squandering its hydrogen fuel in its precocious youth, destined to live only a fraction of Madonna’s lifetime. Nevertheless, the astronomical lifetimes were quite long enough for mankind’s plans. What intrigued Abigail was that from Disciple, Child looked to be about the same size as Madonna, rather like the Moon appeared the same diameter as the Sun from the surface of the Earth. Abigail thought the coincidence meant that they were supposed to be here, that Disciple could become a new home for humans even if the climate still had to be mastered.
Minutes passed and now both discs were above the skyline. Abigail’s face-plate darkened to protect her eyes from the brightness and the skin of her face from the fierce uv rays that Child emitted. She watched in wonder as Child took the tiniest of bites out of Madonna’s rim. Disciple clung close to Child, orbiting it every eighty Earth days. In that time Disciple span on its axis just sixty times, making its own days a third longer than Earth’s. It had taken the eight Earth years since they had arrived for the internal clocks of Abigail and her companions to adjust, but thirty-two hour days now felt normal. Disciple’s days were growing longer by a few fractions of a second a year, and one day, far distant, it would become locked with one face always towards the blue star. Its axis was perpendicular to its path around the star but its orbit was slightly eccentric. That meant that the northern and southern hemispheres of Disciple experienced the seasons at the same time. It was mid-winter now, but summer of the Short Year would only be twenty degrees or so warmer. Child and its coterie of followers, Disciple and two other rocky planets, took sixty-four Earth years to orbit Madonna. In fact, both the stars circled around their centre of mass but Madonna, being the bigger by far, barely seemed to move. Child’s orbit was also eccentric and it was now at its furthest point from its companion star – Mid-Long-winter. Today was the only day in sixty-four years when the two stars would line up perfectly so that Child would eclipse Madonna. From this day onwards Child and its retinue would steadily approach the large red star and gradually its warming rays would loosen winter’s hold on Disciple. At Long Mid-summer the equator of the planet would be baking at temperatur
es of eighty degrees above freezing. They had established the colony’s base here in the temperate zone, forty degrees of latitude north of the equator, to avoid the searing heat of the tropics at Long-summer-time and the piercing cold of the polar region during Long-winter.
Abigail struggled to imagine the valley below without its metres deep hard-packed water ice. The dusting of carbon dioxide frost came and went during the short years but it seemed impossible that in eight or so years spring would come, the ice would melt and torrents of water would flow southwards carving gullies in the bedrock. She looked down at the cluster of linked modules and to the north the rows of poly-tunnels in many of which saplings of genetically modified conifers grew. Illuminated by Child’s rays but warmed by heat drawn from the hot rocks deep underground, the trees were growing steadily. In the Long-spring they would be planted all over the valley and by Long-summer would provide shade for the colony. It was their hope that the altered trees would survive the wildly fluctuating temperatures of Disciple’s climate. Other polytunnels contained the food crops which the five colonists tended daily. Soon they would defrost the embryos they had brought with them and start raising children to take on the tasks while they grew older.
Abigail noticed another figure emerge from the habitat and start the short climb to join her. As the figure approached she recognised it as Yang. He came to her side and leaned his head slightly towards her, their face-plates almost touching.
“The others will join us when totality is close,” he said, his voice faint having passed through two face-plates and the thin, dry air.
“I want to see it all,” Abigail said, “He would have wanted to.” She nodded to the nearest grave-marker which carried the name Rick Armstrong, her declared partner.
“He worked it out didn’t he,” Yang said. It was a statement rather than a question. All the colonists knew that Rick, the shuttle pilot and astronomer had been the first to realise that the relative sizes of Madonna and Child and Disciple’s eccentric orbit would make this total eclipse a once in a Long-year event.
