Rhapsody For The Tempest
The Braintrust Book 3
Marc Stiegler
Contents
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Ships of the Archipelagos
Cast of Characters
1. When Last Seen Our Heroines Were…
2. In Deep
3. Hitting Bottom
4. Journeying
5. Two Chocolates
6. Perfectly Legal
7. A Chance to Ponder
8. Siberia
9. Cradle of Civilization
10. Escape Escapades
11. Flight of the Black Titan
12. Invasion
13. Practical Ethics
Author's Notes
Books by Marc Stiegler
Connect
Rhapsody For The Tempest (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2018 Marc Stiegler
Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US Edition, August 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64202-060-1
Acknowledgments
Special thanks this time go to Hugh Hoover for teaching me about keeping your limits open on your homebrew bots; Sheryl Corchnoy who supplied the psych eval; and Dr. James Caplan for his expertise on scenario testing and other matters of education tech.
Dedication
For Alice Pack, teacher nonpareil
Rhapsody For The Tempest Team Includes
JIT Beta Readers - My deepest gratitude!
Dr. James Caplan
John Ashmore
Mary Morris
Paul Westman
Micky Cocker
If I missed anyone, please let me know!
Fashion Consultant
Judith Anderle
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
Ships of the Archipelagos
The BrainTrust’s main fleet:
Argus: Manufacturing ship specializing in the manufacture of isle ships, but performing diverse manufacturing tasks including the manufacture of rocket boosters for SpaceR.
BTU: Ship hosting BrainTrust University, also known as BTU.
Chiron: Medical ship catering to medical tourists, i.e., people needing medical care who want to avoid either the long lines or high costs of medical procedures in Western countries.
Dreams Come True: Isle ship filled with startup companies.
Elysian Fields: Tourist ship, also known as ‘the Party Boat.’
FB Alpha & Beta: Two of the original four BrainTrust isle ships, mainly hosting FB employees but also leasing space to other companies.
GPlex I & II: Two of the original four BrainTrust isle ships, mainly hosting GPlex employees but also leasing space to other companies.
GPlex III: GPlex isle ship filled with compute servers.
GS Prime: Goldman Sachs financial services ship, mainly hosting GS employees but also leasing space to other financial services companies.
GSDC: Goldman Sachs Data Center ship.
Haven: Residential isle ship built by billionaires for billionaires.
Heinlein: Modified isle ship used as launch pad for SpaceR rockets. Kept at a safe distance from the main fleet, often moves closer to the equator for launches.
Helios: Manufacturing ship belonging to SpaceR, under construction, intended for the manufacture of Kestrel Titans.
Hephaestus: Factory ship where operations involving toxic and explosive materials take place. Nuclear reactors are built here. The ship is kept at a safe distance from the main archipelago.
Warenhaus: Logistics ship which also contains a silicon chip foundry.
Wells Morgan: Joint venture of Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan, hosting diverse financial services companies.
The Fuxing fleet/archipelago stationed off the coasts of China, Taiwan, and the Philippines:
Mount Helicon: School and residential ship, with only a skeleton crew until the Taixue is well-populated.
Taixue: School and residential ship, the flagship, the first home of new students, employees, and families from around the South China Sea.
Zhaozhou: Manufacturing ship under construction.
The Prometheus fleet/archipelago, stationed off the coasts of Nigeria and Benin:
Al-Zarnuji: School and residential ship, with only a skeleton crew until the Mount Parnassus is well populated.
Archimedes: Manufacturing ship
Mount Parnassus: School and residential ship, the flagship.
Cast of Characters
Aar Singh: BrainTrust Sikh peacekeeper.
Abshir: Somali twenty-something, cousin of Diric.
Ainsworth: Fleet Captain Jack Ainsworth, commander of the Fuxing fleet.
Alex Turner: Chief engineer of the Argus.
Alexei: Bodyguard for Dmitri, takes orders directly from the Premier of the Russian Union.
Amanda Copeland: Director of the Chiron’s medical department, current Chairman of the Board for the BrainTrust Consortium, Dash’s supervisor.
Ben Wilson: Aging venture capitalist
Chance Dixon: Intern for Dash, Doctor of Medicine.
Chen Ying: Son of the Chinese Politburo, student on the Taixue.
Ciara Thornhill: Mission Commander for the Prometheus fleet, daughter of Lenora.
Colin Wheeler: BrainTrust resident
Dash: Dr. Dyah Ambarawati, medical researcher, polymath
Dawn Rainer: New head of the Rainer social media conglomerate. Daughter of Anne Rainer, who died undergoing rejuvenation therapy.
Dennis Gordon: Independent trucker specializing in delivering goods to California from out of state.
Diric: Somali teenager, pirate, student on the Mount Parnassus, cousin of Abshir.
Dmitri Mikhailov: Russian oligarch residing on the Haven.
Liu Fan Hui: Daughter of the Chinese Politburo, student on the Taixue.
Gao: Chinese Air Force Captain and squadron commander.
Gary Schott: Employee of SpaceR at the Hawthorne rocket factory.
Gina Toscano: Wife of Matt Toscano, Vogue model.
Gleb: Bodyguard for Dmitri.
Guang Jian: Son of the third member of the Chinese Standing Committee, student on the Taixue
Han Chunlan: Captain of the Chinese cruiser Renhai stationed near the Fuxing.
Hart Baddeley: Security Chief for the Fuxing
Jam: Pakistani commando, peacekeeper on the BrainTrust, Expedition Commander for the Fuxing fleet.
James Caplan, Ph.D.: Co-Founder of Accel, expert in scenario testing, one of the first pioneers to apply advanced technology to identification of people with leadership skills.
Joshua Pickett: BrainTrust mediator, stationed on the Chiron and then the Haven.
Julissa: Hukou peasant girl, student with the Taixue, serving as interpreter and guide for Jam in China.
J
un Laquan: Hukou peasant boy, student on the Taixue, inventor of the scuba bot Jacques.
Keenan Stull: Goldman Sachs financier
Kuo Lim: Baotong villager, husband of Shu Shi, father of missing daughter Liling.
Lenora Thornhill: Mission Commander for the Fuxing fleet, co-founder of Accel, mother of Ciara.
Lindsey Postrel: Owner/editor of Cogent News.
Marcos Ford: Peacekeeper for the Prometheus Fleet.
Matthew Toscano: CEO of SpaceR, husband of Gina Toscano.
Nuan: Elder and unofficial leader of the village of Baotong.
Ping: Peacekeeper for the BrainTrust, Security Chief for the Prometheus fleet.
Putu Arnawa: Peacekeeper for the Prometheus fleet.
Qi Ru: Hukou peasant, escaped China to attend Oxford, venture financing broker for the Fuxing.
Rhett Woodson: Nuclear engineer and designer for the primary isle ship reactors.
Shu Shi: Baotong villager, wife of Kuo Lim, mother of missing daughter Liling.
Song: Brilliant older hukou peasant from the Loess Plateau, father of Tai.
Suparman Herianto: aka Soup, peacekeeper for the Prometheus fleet.
Tai: Son of Song, hukou peasant diagnosed with web addiction.
Ted Simpson: Teenage developer of advanced homebrew copters.
Toni Shatski: Israeli Air Force Captain, engineering student at BTU.
Vasily: Bodyguard for Dmitri, takes orders directly from the Russian Union Premier.
Werner Halstead: Chief Engineer for SpaceR
Wolf Griffin: BrainTrust peacekeeper.
Xiu Bao: Hukou peasant girl, student on the Taixue.
Yefim: Bodyguard for Dmitri.
Zhang: Chinese Army Major commanding troops near the Loess Plateau.
1
When Last Seen Our Heroines Were…
True and unpopular ideas are what drive the world forward.
—Sam Altman
Dash knocked politely on the open door of Chance’s office. She had been there only a few times before. Normally the two of them spread their data out on a table in a conference room or huddled over a bank of computer screens in the lab compartment where they programmed the CRISPIER.
Before, the collage of pictures on the walls relentlessly displaying tattooed body parts had made Dash uncomfortable enough to keep her from seeing much. Today, because of Dash’s increased awareness of hand-to-hand combat after the battle on Dmitri’s yacht, one photo leapt out at her.
Two women faced off in a mixed martial arts ring. The woman delivering a ferocious kick to her opponent's head had her back to the photographer. Looking at the tattoos on the woman's arms and legs, however, Dash could now see clearly that the woman was Chance. The evidence of Chance's fighting skills, so surprising yet critical during the Russian Union Premier’s attempt to kidnap her, had always been there for the seeing.
Chance waved her to a chair. "If our therapy continues to produce results like this it could get boring around here." Their latest batch of patients were all experiencing some level of successful rejuvenation.
Dash shook her head. "It cannot remain boring for long. We still have to figure out how to correct the therapy so it works for everyone." She pursed her lips. “I have been doing some preparatory work towards this, and I believe it is just about time to go back to it.”
A look of horror crossed Chance's face and she shuddered. "Yeah, this has been nice, but we've been kind of avoiding the real work."
"Indeed. This has been a nice break, but it is time for us to return to battle." Dash pulled forth her tablet. "I have some ideas for some treatments we might be able to combine with basic telomere reconstruction. Some of these might reduce the risk while the telomere reconstruction was underway, while others may be able to increase the number of years a rejuvenation regains." Dash looked at the expression of dismay on Chance's face. She had clasped her hands together so tightly that Dash feared the nails would dig into the backs of her hands and draw blood.
Chance had clearly not quite steeled herself for the next round of experiments and the patient deaths that would consequently follow. Dash decided to give her a little time to prepare. "But we can do this tomorrow. Perhaps, for now, we should select another batch of easy patients.”
Chance relaxed and drew out her own tablet. With a flick of her wrist, she passed a list of ten candidates over to Dash's tablet for consideration.
Dash perused the list. "I take it you ran these names past Dark Alpha 42?"
Chance shook her head. "Didn't need to. I picked them myself."
Dash laughed in surprise. "So you can follow Dark Alpha’s algorithm now as well?" Dash had just recently trained herself to follow the algorithm, even though she still didn’t understand it in any way she could express.
Chance shrugged. "Pretty much." A twinkle appeared in her eye. "You know, I tried feeding all the data from Dark Alpha into several of the AI systems that can explain their results."
Dash nodded. "As did I. I am pleased you did as well." It had been a test, sort of. Dash had wanted to see if Chance would take the initiative to find a better alternative for such an important problem. "Did you find anything?"
Chance sighed. "I found a couple that did better than you had done for your first set of test subjects, but none of them worked as well as Dark Alpha 42." She took another deep breath. "So I figured it would be best if I learned how to do it myself." The twinkle returned to her eye. "Now I'm just like you."
"So tell me. Explain the algorithm that discriminates between those who will receive rejuvenation and those who will die."
Chance snorted. "I can't explain it any better than you can. Apparently, I am now as nonhuman as you are."
"Aha. It is not really nonhuman, you know. There is a name for people like us who know the answer but can't explain it."
Chance raised her eyebrow.
"We are called ‘experts.’"
Chance frowned. "Still, I think we'd be better experts if we could explain what our expertise tells us."
Dash shook her head. "No, Chance. There is another word in English for people who are not only expert but who can also explain what they know. Their title is more prestigious, but oddly, they often receive less respect."
Chance considered this for a moment, then gave up. "Okay, tell me. What is an expert who can explain himself called?"
Dash smiled. A faraway look entered her eyes. "Such a person is called a teacher."
Red Princeling Guang Jian knew everyone in the whole Fuxing/Prometheus merged archipelago watched him like hawks circling a squirrel. The way they all looked at him with so much distrust and loathing was comical. As if he could possibly care what these foolish Westerners thought.
Or foolish Politburo geeks for that matter. What had he ever done to Chen Ying to gain such obvious disrespect? Guang couldn’t do much about the Westerners, but he knew that some time along the way he would have to teach Chen Ying some manners. Sure, Chen Ying was a son of the Politburo, but even Politburo members needed to show respect for the Standing Committee.
Right now, however, Guang was focused on getting more than just respect from Xiu Bao. He’d had his eye on the girl ever since coming aboard. At least she did not look at him with loathing. Actually, she didn’t look at him at all, casting her eyes down any time he entered a room to find her. Generally, she then exited the room before he could even catch up to her to say something. But despite her avoidance and her shyness, he was confident she knew how to do her duty for a future member of the Standing Committee.
Which was what had brought him here to slouch against a passageway wall adorned with the images of tall skinny trees on the Sea of Bamboo Park deck on the Taixue. He had to admit the rendition of the park was not bad. He had been to the actual park, an hour or so outside Shanghai, several times. He’d even been on the cable car to the top of the mountain. He could see the rendering far down the passage, and it was an excellent reproduction of the real thing. People said the walk
to the top of the mountain was delightful. Maybe so, but such journeys required far too much exertion for his taste.
Rhapsody For The Tempest (The Braintrust Book 3) Page 1
