The Last Place to Stand

by Redshaw, Aaron K.

  At another house, there was a group of children who were sitting on benches while an adult was teaching them the sounds of reading and the letters of writing. Most of the children were quite small, but they had one girl who was probably twelve, and a boy who was maybe sixteen. As he passed, the teacher called to him.

  “Sir,” the teacher said. “Would you mind helping me with this lesson?”

  Hesitant and a little nervous, X4287 said, “Okay, what can I do?”

  “I was just telling the students that our society is made of all kinds of people, some of whom did not even grow up here, but might have come from the Technophiliac lands. I can see by your mannerisms that this is the case for you. Could you tell the students about where you grew up?”

  “Okay,” said X4287, “I'll try.” Coming to the front of the class and standing next to the teacher, a man who looked to be about fifty, X4287 began. “First of all, the Technos do not use names, they use ID's. Mine is X4287. Names are personal and an ID just identifies people more as part of a whole group. We were like parts in a big machine. To a Techno, there is no individual that has meaning apart from what he or she contributed to the society.”

  Here the teacher interpreted, “So kids, he is saying that each person is not very important by themselves, just all of them as a group.”

  X4287 had never thought of it like that before. He went on, “The reason you call us Technos is because of a common saying they have: ‘Technology is the highest achievement of man’. So most strive to work for a company that makes, repairs, modifies, or invents technology.”

  The teacher spoke up again. “He says that they believe that machines make people important, so the better the machines, the more important they will be.”

  This explanation was like cold water in his face. X4287 had never imagined it that way before. He didn't know whether to hit the man, or to cry, because although he couldn't put his finger on it completely, he knew there was something important in what the man said. Not knowing how to continue, he said, “I’ll answer questions if you have any.”

  A small blonde haired girl raised her hand. “Did you play catch the dog when you were growing up?”

  “W-We didn't play games growing up,” he stammered. “We learned and we worked. When we weren't doing one, we were doing the other. There was some entertainment, but mostly we worked.” The children murmured among themselves in shock. A couple of them laughed.

  Another girl said, “Did your mommy and daddy read to you before you went to bed?”

  “Well, no,” said X4287. “We did not learn to read because the chip we received told us what we needed to know once we were old enough. Signs either spoke when a button was pressed, or our chip informed us as to information we would need to know. At night, we just went to bed. The newer chips now continue to teach us even as we sleep.”

  An older boy raised his hand. “We learned that in some past cultures people married because it was arranged by the parents. In our culture we marry for love and friendship. In the Techno culture, what makes someone marry?”

  X4287 knew this one would be a bit more tricky. He paused for a second thinking about how to respond and then said, “It may not seem to make sense to all of you, but in our culture a marriage is a calculated thing. We do not decide to marry, nor do parents decide. Our work background, financial status, personality traits and other statistics are all put into a computer and a match is made. Both the man and woman are given their assignment when they turn twenty. That very day, they move out of their family house and go to an assigned house designated by the computer.”

  The boy said, “Wow, that would take the wind out of my sails. Don't even meet her until you are living together. Doesn't anyone rebel against this system?”

  “Not really,” said X4287, “because we were all raised with the idea that the computer is always right. In order to be a good citizen we must do what the most logical and most capable in our society dictates. And that is the computer.”

  One last time the boy said, “Do you really think that is the best way to choose a wife?”

  “I-I don't know anymore,” said X4287. He was feeling frustrated. “That's just what we were taught and there are lots of things like that I am beginning to wonder about. Like your teacher said, different places do things differently. But don't believe that they are all just as good as the other. I mean, a culture that believes in and cares for people, I believe, is better than one that prizes none of those things. At least I think that's true.”

  The teacher looked up in surprise, “You've come a long way, X4287. We're glad you’re with us.” Then turning to the class, “Let's all thank X4287.”

  After an applause, X4287 left the outdoor school with a desire to go home. Home. What a funny thing that the first time he had such warm feelings for a place was many miles from his family.

  Chapter 19

  The Operations Manager, T1482, took a handful of pills. Amazing, he thought, how these pills can take him from feelings of despair to a sharpened sense of purpose. The purpose was real, he knew. The future of the world was in his hands. That should be purpose enough for anyone. He sometimes laughed at his own lack of focus, but now he was back on track.

  He had just received a feed that a candidate had been found for the experiment. A surge of excitement went through him and a feeling of accomplishment that now what he had hoped for so long might soon come to pass. It was a slow realization in the progress of technology, that in order to make technology that could change the world it would be necessary to change its makers. Otherwise the technology might improve, but the creators would be left behind.

  The Operations Manager, sitting at his large white desk, pressed a button on a panel on the right side of the desk. “Please send the candidate to briefing.”

  The machine made voice on the other side said, “Yes, sir.” At that moment a feed was being sent to both the candidate as well as those he would soon be in a conference with.

  In another wing of the massive Techcorp building, a man had just finished a grueling and extensive set of tests. Among these were tests for biocompatibility, upper data throughput limits, mental stability testing, emotional suppression boundaries, DNA analysis, and disease likelihood. The process had taken seven days, with some tests running into the night even while sleeping. He was not allowed to leave the testing center, which was fine with him. He did not have an assigned wife. This was denied him due to his remarkable abilities and usefulness for work. His systems of triage, speed of computational analyses, and multitasking limits were unmatched by his peers. He had been assured by employers from early on that he was destined for the most advanced technology; perhaps for experimentation in breakthroughs that would further the whole society.

  It was no surprise to him that he was the best candidate, and he was excited to find out what new technology might be available to him that no one else would have--at least for a while. Meanwhile, he would become a household name as the man who helped bring about a revolution in furthering the future of the Solpaths!

  He suddenly received a feed, summoning him to meet for a briefing. This was what he had been waiting for. He was certainly tired though and wanted to sleep before the surgery began.

  He took six elevators and three transit ducts, where a bullet shaped car moved through a large hollow tube in a lateral fashion, making movement from one part of the building to another much faster. This was a very large building, but that was not why such transportation was available to him. It would have only taken him twenty minutes to move from one end of the building to the other. The reason for this transport was because of one of the primary edicts of society: Do not do yourself what a machine can do better or faster. Rather than the walk taking twenty minutes, he was at the entrance door within three. They were certainly very efficient in this building.

  Entering through the conference door, he saw six people, all men, around a large table made of thick white plastic. The walls were w
hite, like most of the building. The men were dressed in white, making them either look like doctors or scientists. He knew that they were probably a mixture. As soon as he entered the room there was a man at the door who placed an electrode on his head with a wire that ran to a small handheld device. A high beep sound signaled that he was indeed who he said he was. The man said, “Retina scans and fingerprints can be forged, but not brainwave patterns. You are our candidate. Please have a seat.”

  Looking around the room, he saw only one unoccupied chair. It was at the head of the rectangular table and it was black plastic, while all the other chairs were white. He sat down and the men looked down at their screens built flush into the table. A man with a deep voice and a loss of most of his light brown hair said, “Everything we say will be recorded.”

  That was a formality. Everyone knew that most everything anyone did anywhere was recorded, whether in seeming private or not. It was one of the technological advanced that kept people safe. That one integrated piece of technology brought violent crimes to a halt within a few months. No one ever forgot what it was like before that. People were stealing just to get the more advanced chip in the side of someone’s head. A better chip meant more possibility to advance at work or in any field. It meant more money and more opportunity.

  The scientist or doctor continued, “To this point you have only been told that you were selected for an opportunity to test some very advanced technology. You have not been told any details.”

  Another man, pressed a button on a console on the table and a part of the desk in front of the candidate rolled back revealing his own screen. In the voice of the computer, a female voice (often chosen for computerized voices as they were more soothing) said, “Welcome to the Integrated Cerebral and Chip Parallel Processor system (ICCPP). A parallel system of brain and CPU. A confluence of the strengths of the brain and the advances of the best of our technology.” The subliminal messages of peace and wholeness began to work on his brain as he watched and listened.

  The screen showed a historical picture of a man, “In 2053, the first successful experiments were made in combining the human brain and an integrated chip. The initial experiment was to strengthen the memory of an individual who had Alzheimer’s. This disease made memory, especially short term memory, inaccessible to the individual. Richard Corton was able to create and successfully implement this chip into his own father's brain before Alzheimer’s claimed his mind.”

  More pictures of historical moments came on the screen, “Move forward to 2075. Technology like that which was used by Richard Corton became mass produced and introduced to the public through a joining of forces of the United Arab Medical Association and the Integrated Chip Designers, Inc to form Techcorp. Techcorp not only experimented beyond the dreams of Richard Corton, but also began a new branch of the company that installed the proven technology in average citizens at a minimal cost. The cost was subsidized by the government with the idea that more mentally capable employees would benefit the whole country. This became a key belief and the Society of Solpaths, mostly a philosophical society at first, was started.”

  The voice was soothing. “Later on, the Society of Solpaths became involved in government and started their own party which gained dictatorship in 2092. Meanwhile, this technology was improving, and people everywhere looked with hope to a new future based on technological advances. The idea that we could improve, not just our environment around us, but people, brought about a great deal of interest in science, the medical field, and electronic and computer engineering.”

  Next was a picture of one of the men in the room on his left, “Enter today. Breakthroughs in the understanding of brain chemistry, brain activity and stimulation, and even electrochemical pattern recognition and modification has brought about the boldest concept in the history of humanity.” While the screen was playing a feed that the candidate did not at first notice started coming into his mind. It was music used to stir his emotions and sense of duty to his people and a feeling of destiny swelled within him with a beautiful orchestral score. “Eugene Cragstone, after the breaking of the identity ceiling, changed his name to the ID, E2175. After years of research he decided to attempt a huge leap into the future. Collaborating with five other men, all experts in their fields, E2175 developed the Confluence Organization. The goal of which is to develop more complete integration of brain and hardware so that when the singularity occurs, man will be a part of the equation and not left on the outside. Or worse yet, so man will not be considered an enemy of the singularity, and face extinction. The singularity is the event theorized in the near future where technology will become self-aware and self-improving. Once this occurs, there will be nothing that will be impossible for this new entity.”

  The music began to build, pictures of actual components were now presented, “Now for some specifics of the ICCPP. The ICCPP is the first project to be tested by the Confluence Organization. You will have installed in your brain, the most advanced piece of bio-integrated circuitry ever engineered. In the past, processors were added to the brain in order to enhance storage capacity and, more recently, add the ability of the reception of over-the-air feeds. In this leap forward, an actual processor, nearly as complex as the brain itself, will come to co-exist alongside the brain. This is much the way the massive parallel machines of the past would break down a very complex problem and each processor would work out a piece of the answer and then all these pieces would be put together in order to have one complete solution. Many years ago this was found to greatly speed up the processing time needed for complex solutions.”

  “The processor that will be added to your brain will take incoming problems and decide what it can do better and what your built-in processor (brain) can better handle. Then it will assign parts of the problem giving you the information needed to have a ready answer far faster than would otherwise be possible. Because the computerized part of you will have capabilities beyond your own, it will not only speed up the process, but it will make it possible to solve problems that your indigenous brain would never have been able to solve with any amount of time.”

  With a crescendo, the music exploded, “ICCPP, the technology that will lead us to the future!”

  Now the music started to fade into the background, the screen faded and the panel closed. “So, what do you think?” said E2175.

  Now the man was excited, ready to do anything asked of him. He had, through subliminal messages, his own pride, and the presentation, been brought into a kind of ecstatic state of hope for the future and a desire to be a big part of it. At first he stuttered a bit due to the tremendous adrenaline rush, “I-I-I th-think it's am-am-amazing.”

  “We know you are interested in getting started as soon as possible, so we will need you to sign the usual forms, now available on the screen for your perusal. Once done, we will check you in.”

  Even though the candidate was extremely exhausted due to the long testing program he had already been through, he wanted to get started too. He looked blearily at the documents being presented on his screen, but only saw the line at the bottom for signature. If he would have allowed it, the writing on the screen would have been read aloud through his embedded chip since no one read anymore, but he did not give it the time to get started before he had signed each page that presented itself. Within a couple of minutes he had signed six documents in rapid succession, and initialed nine.

  Upon the signing of the last document, a gurney barged into the room and he was lifted off his seat by two robotic assistants, placed onto it, and skittered off. He began giggling as he was carted off toward the operating room.

  Chapter 20

  It was break time, and X213 wanted to step outside. She knew the scrubbers made the air better inside than outside, but she just wanted a change of scenery. This was unusual for her, but she wanted to try something new today. She felt suffocated. As she walked a couple of blocks away from work, she passed an old man who was holding a sign. That was
even more unusual. No one read, but of course, her chip gave her an interpretation. “The end is near,” it said.

  “Why are you holding that?” she said.

  “Because it's true. We're not even a five minute walk from where it will probably happen too!” He was dressed in rags. She couldn't imagine how he had been allowed to stay there without being detected by the cameras and dumped somewhere outside the city.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “I work at Techcorp. Why will it be the end?”

  “Because, when the singularity comes, do you think it will like us? Do you think it will even let us live? What do you think would happen if a truly logical life began? Would it want to exist with an illogical, drug dependent people like us? It's gonna drive us out or kill us all!” He did not seem sad or mad, but insistent and intense. But who would listen to him?

  She wondered how long he had been saying these things. She had heard these sorts of things before, but more as philosophy, not as prophecy. This guy was whacked. She didn't bother responding to him further, but started on her way back. Anyway, her break was almost over and she needed to be on her shift in time or the monitors would record her absence and she would get a pay cut.

  She got only half a block away when the trucks came and robotic servicemen picked the man up and put him in the back. He would either cooperate, change his ways, or be dropped off outside of the city—off the edge of the world. Maybe he would join the Outcasts. Maybe he would be happy there. She sure never would.

  Another block and her hands started to shake again. As she came within sight of her workplace she felt something wet on her hand. She looked up at a sunny sky. That's when it struck her that it was a tear. She began to feel a panic rise up in her. It was as if her insides were fighting with her logical outside. Control, she needed control. She needed to think. She knew that technology was the path to a better future. She knew that life was better than it had ever been in history. She knew she was right. She knew, she knew...she was crying now even more. She had never done that. Not since. . .