Limitless: Book IV: The Settlement Chronicals

by W. J. Rydrych

  Admiral Sutter paced angrily back and forth, his subordinate officers sitting at the long conference table subdued; not wanting to further anger the Fleet Commander.

  Suddenly Sutter stopped, only to turn to the assembled group with the harsh question, “what the hell is going on? Why don’t they at least acknowledge our presence, let alone show some sign of preparing their defenses?”

  When there was no answer Admiral Sutter just resumed his seat at the head of the table and sourly picked up the open briefing report that lay before him.

  Putting the briefing report down, Admiral Sutter nodded to Captain Fleming, the head of fleet intelligence, who was standing at the podium, “sorry Captain, I didn’t mean to go off on you like that. But this report doesn’t answer the question of why there is no resistance, or why they don’t even acknowledge our presence. We have to find out what this lack of response is all about; we can’t just sit here like a bunch of ‘idiots’ while we’re ignored.”

  Adding, ‘they certainly have the armament. Why don’t they use it?”

  Captain Fleming shrugged before commenting, “perhaps it’s as we speculated before. While Carl seems to have assumed control, there is still the ‘prime imperative’ of doing no harm to any human, and their initial probes should have disclosed we qualify; in which case the armament we see is defense against alien species only.”

  General Green commented quietly, “a lot of defense against a non-existent threat; he should be aware there are no significant alien civilizations within hundreds of light years.”

  General Korchev, land-force commander for the fleet forces, looked up, and after a moment commented, “I haven’t changed the opinion I voiced at last week’s staff meeting. Let me send a recon to one of the military satellites to see what response we get. If that doesn’t get them to react I don’t know what will; we certainly can’t land ground forces until those satellites are neutralized in some way anyway. If they react we have our forces in position; it might as well start now as well as later.”

  Admiral Sutter nodded after a moment, “I’ve been thinking about it,” nodding to Ambassador Corado who had veto powers during this initial phase, “and the Ambassador’s proposal as well. Anyone care to comment?”

  Ambassador Corado leaned forward, “as I said before, approaching one of the military satellites, or those on the surface that appear to be military, would only serve to provoke an incident, and our instructions are clear. First we have to contact the Earth government if one still exists and lay out the options. Get rid of Carl, their controlling intelligence, or we do it for them.”

  General Korchev just shook his head, “how do we know they still even have the ability to rid themselves of Carl? My people tell me they probably lost any control over him decades, if not centuries, ago. The refusal to respond to messages, or even acknowledge our existence, points to that. Either whoever, or whatever, is in control doesn’t care about our presence; implying they or it has weapons we don’t know about, or are simply not concerned about out presence. We not only don’t know where the government is based, we don’t even know if there is a government. For all we know Carl is the government now. If they don’t make contact with us we could just sit here forever; ignored as if we didn’t exist. That’s intolerable.”

  General Korchev continued, “if approaching a military satellite is considered too dangerous, at least let’s do what Ambassador Corado proposed. Send a diplomatic mission to the surface to try to make contact with what appears to be a commercial complex.”

  Corado nodded, “I can’t believe someone wouldn’t meet us, if only to find out what we wanted. While we don’t know where the leadership is located, if we pick one of the larger locations we should get some response; perhaps even direction to those higher up.”

  Admiral Sutter nodded, “we’ve discussed that before, and it appears to be something we can try. I agree; we have to do something likely to get some kind of response, whether positive or negative.”

  Turning to Ambassador Corado, “let’s hear how you would go about it and meet this evening after dinner-hour. But,” he continued, “whatever you propose has to include an armed contingent for protection; I won’t let it be said I was naive enough to sent unarmed civilians into the lion’s den without some protection.’

  And,” he added, “you don’t go; send someone from your staff.”

  The following day. . . .

  Colonel Tanaka, commander of the 1st Assault Regiment, stood at the podium in the ready room, just having outlined the mission to the group of men and women of the 1st Platoon of the 4th Tracker Company who were seated listening, and had now opened the session for questions. In the back of the room sat Michael (Mike) Moore, the deputy of Ambassador Corado.

  Lt Yashita, the platoon leader, raised his hand, and when acknowledged, “if they won’t open up and give us admittance are we authorized to use force? Blow a door for example?”

  Also,” he added who’s in charge, Mr. Moore or myself if we have to make such decisions?”

  There was silence in the room, until Colonel Tanaka finally answered, “yes, those are the instructions; force entry if required. But only if authorized by Mr. Moore who represents Ambassador Corado.”

  “Please, all of you recognize what this all means,” Colonel Tanaka added, “if they respond with force there is little to nothing we can do to protect you, and your response is limited to that authorized by Mr. Moore. We cannot allow a localized incident to become a general conflict until we learn more of the situation. Yes, we’ll have a destroyer positioned in orbit above the installation which can be ordered to fire on the opposition if it makes an aggressive response, but that will hardly be a positive outcome for your team.”

  After a moment of silence, Sgt Bennett asked, “once we gain entrance, if we do, what then?”

  Colonel Tanaka shook his head slowly, “that’s up to Mr. Moore; as the Ambassador’s representative he’s in charge, at least up to the time you find active opposition. What he’s looking for is to find someone who can direct us to whatever higher authority exists. If you fail in that, then simply find out as much as you can about the installation itself and anything else of interest and then return.”

  Later, on the surface of planet Earth. . . .

  The shuttle had landed an hour earlier at the furthest point in the large parking lot, about a quarter mile from what appeared to be a large office complex, and Mike Moore and the tracker team had disembarked. However, while they had waited outside the shuttle for over a half hour no response came. During that time no one entered or exited the building, although from where they stood what looked like the main entrance was clearly visible.

  Lt. Yashita, standing next to Moore, broke the silence with, “how long do we wait?”

  After a moment Moore responded, “well, I guess no one’s coming out to greet us, so its up to us to initiate contact. Form your platoon and we’ll see if the entrance is sealed or what.”

  But,” he added, “shoulder your weapons; we don’t want to look aggressive.”

  Lt. Yashita nodded, and glanced over to his platoon sergeant who had been standing within hearing distance, and nodded.

  It took only a matter of minutes before the group reached the main entrance, the door opening automatically as they approached. When they entered they found themselves in a large lobby, deserted except at the far end where a counter stood, behind which a figure stood watching; the figure of a young woman. Moore stopped for a moment, then started toward the counter followed by Lt. Yashita and the others.

  The figure behind the counter watched quietly as they approached, and when they stopped, smiled and asked, “how may I help you?”

  While the figure appeared to be a young woman in her early twenties it immediately became apparent she was not human at all, but an android; on her cheek the tattooed identification of model and serial number was clearly visible.

  “My name is Monica,” she added, “I see you are all ‘naturals’; and s
o many. It would be a pleasure to serve you in any way we can. We rarely are visited by naturals anymore, but our services are always available.”

  Moore thought for a moment, “and exactly what services do you offer?”

  Monica smiled again before responding, “we are full service, from initial selection of the world you wish to inhabit and the role you wish to play, then creation of that world and your insertion into it, through the various stages as your body ages. For those who can afford the maintenance cost we also have the added service of saving your memories along with your personal world in our data banks after both the body and brain fails.”

  “We are also,” Monica added, “one of the few facilities licensed to provide ‘eternal life’ services, but of course that is a very expensive procedure affordable by only a few. As we like to say; ‘with us you can live forever.’”

  Moore looked surprised, “’eternal live’ service? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that.”

  Monica smiled, “not surprising; fewer that one tenth of one percent have the resources for the program, and first they require a license from the government. Of course at the present time only naturals qualify for the procedure.”

  Noting Moore’s raised eyebrows Monica nodded, and continued, “for a substantial fee we transfer the candidates complete mind patterns to an android body of their selection, which may if they wish be an exact replica of their own, after which the natural body is disposed of. As long as maintenance fees are provided the android body effectively, through periodic replacement, allows the mind to live forever. Not only do they have the android body, since many mind patterns in addition to memories are transferred, they are in effect a nearly complete replacement of the original. ”

  “Well,” Monica added, “not really ‘exactly’ identical to the original. While the memories remain, complete human capacity to reason is lacking; a lack we hope will someday disappear if the government relaxes its current restrictions against transferring the complete brain patterns to a clone of the original, but of course that is forbidden at this time.

  “Still, besides eternal life,” Monica added, “the new android body has the ability to plug into any virtual world they desire in their own home.”

  Moore just shook his head slightly before glancing over at Lt. Yashita, then back to Monica, “I understand; and other services?”

  “We also offer services such as cloning and taking care of the clone while the original resides in their virtual world. As you are no doubt aware, since most humans enter their virtual worlds either permanently or semi-permanently at the earliest age allowed by law, eighteen, few ‘natural’ children are born anymore; the preference is for the virtual family free of the problems of natural parenthood.”

  “And, of course,” she added, “if anyone lacks the latest in sensory implants we can provide that service as well. All the latest technology is always available.”

  Lt. Yashita asked, “how is the cloning managed? Someone must raise and educate the clone, and what about the genetic degradation from generation to generation?”

  “Certainly,” Monica responded, “when customers enter stage one, if they wish to be parents some of their cells are harvested for their genetic material and grown in nutrient tanks for the first nine months. Except for taking samples that is done at one of our other facilities. Then an android family is provided, with both parents and siblings to establish a natural environment while growing up. At the age of majority, eighteen, they are then free to choose their own future; which is nearly always selection of a virtual world.”

  Adding, “of course there is no longer a need for either naturals or clones to engage in any work activities unless they choose to do so; the economy is run completely by androids or specialized robots except for the very highest level where a few naturals have chosen to stay outside the virtual worlds.”

  “I am rather confused, however,” Monica added, with a light laugh, “I thought everyone knew how the process, and the economy as well, works. You must all come from a remote area of the planet where more naturals live; I have heard such places still exist.”

  Lt. Yashita nodded, “yes, we do come from far away; but back to my initial question. You haven’t said how the problem of deterioration of the genetic code when cloning continues for generation after generation is taken care of. Have you solved that problem as well?”

  “Well, it was largely solved, but originally it could sometimes be a problem,” Monica answered. “In the old days the DNA patterns of the new cells were tested against stored patterns of the ancestors when first harvested, and, unless the errors could be corrected were disposed of without cloning. In fact some cell lines at our center could be validated as accurate for over twenty generations, and I understand that at some other centers even more generations were achieved.”

  “But then,” she added, “the above process is no longer used, since by law now all clones are infertile, and the next generation cannot be taken from cells of the previous generation, only from the original copy; sorry, I meant ancestor. That completely eliminated the problem of genetic degradation.”

  “Unfortunately, “she added, “since at this time only a single clone is allowed by law, plus its expense, coupled with the decline in use of the natural method of birth, we are now beginning to see an overall population decline for both naturals and clones. While for the cloning process the government provides some subsidies to ‘naturals’, it is still a very expensive procedure. But we do expect the government to respond soon by allowing multiple copies to be grown.”

  Adding, “of course we also offer many of our services free of charge to the indigent or to those who can’t afford full services, but there the selection of worlds is more limited and the final stages of maintenance and storage at life’s end are omitted. The cloning services are also omitted.”

  When no one responded, Monica added, “would you like to see the facilities? I can summon a salesperson who can give you a tour and describe our selections and services, in addition to prices, in detail. Or”, she added, “in your case, because of the size of your group and the fact you are all naturals, a very special tour.”

  “No offense,” Moore replied, “but are there any humans in charge here that we could talk to?”

  Monica looked bewildered for a moment, before responding, “humans? You must mean either ‘naturals’ or ‘clones’ of naturals. Why no, of course not. Those ‘humans’, as you refer to them, not our customers or those of some other company, are either too important to engage in management of a facility such as ours, or find no need to involve themselves in either physical or mental labor. But I can assure you we are fully capable of meeting all your needs.”

  “In fact,” she added with a laugh, “naturals rarely appear here now, and when they do it’s usually one or two at a time; you are the largest group of ‘naturals’ I’ve ever encountered. But of course I was activated only two years ago.”

  Moore was silent for a moment, “I see. Well, we would certainly appreciate a tour of your facilities.”

  Then glancing over at Lt. Yashita, who nodded before turning to his platoon sergeant, “one squad to accompany us, you stay with the other two just in case. I’ll keep in communication.”

  “By the way,” Moore asked Monica, “how can you tell we are ‘naturals’, not clones? The only difference I know of is the location and size of the navel, which of course can’t be seen when clothed.”

  Monica looked confused for a moment before responding with a light chuckle, “you must be from one of the rural areas where clones are uncommon. Of course all clones have the embedded chip that any android can detect. How else could we provide the deference to ‘naturals’ the law requires?”

  Adding, “and of course clones can also detect the presence or absence of the chip to allow them to keep their place.”

  “Keep their place?” Moore glanced over at Monica, “I presume then clones are considered a lower class than naturals?”

&nb
sp; Monica gave Moore a surprised look, “why of course. Naturals are – well, special; is that not true where you come from?”

  Moore just shrugged without responding.

  In less than a minute a figure entered the lobby and walked over to the desk; again an android in the form of a young woman.

  “Hello,” she said smiling, “my name is Andrea, and I’m so pleased that you are considering our services; we consider ourselves one of the foremost providers on the planet. For our tour we’ll start with stage one, and later go over the details. Our full tour should take two hours or less.”

  Smiling, “there is no need to repeat information provided to Monica; that has already been downloaded.”

  As Andrea motioned them to follow, Moore, Lt. Yashita, and the squad of soldiers fell into step behind as she led them down a long corridor at the end of which was a set of double doors. When within a few feet the doors opened automatically, but Andrea stopped to first explain what they would find.

  “Here,” she said, “is the area for the first step when we receive a new customer. Now if you will follow,” she said walking through the door into a carpeted lobby, “we can review the residential facilities used by our new customers. This is an entire separate wing capable of housing over 1,000 customers in separate apartments, ranging from single room efficiency apartments to luxury apartments with up to two bedrooms.”

  “Of course,” she added, “only those with considerable wealth can afford the more luxurious units, all of which have private attendants.”

  “How many are presently resident,” Moore asked? “And how many are naturals?”

  “I believe,” Andrea responded, “the total is now 739 since the movement of one to stage two earlier this week. Naturals? Only fifteen presently. Which is why we are so excited to have you visit us. A group of naturals of your size accepted into our facility all at once would be quite a ‘coup’ and written up in all the trade newspapers and magazines.”