Dawn of Modern Man

by Nick Plastino

  “I knew you drove a Snake, but I didn’t think yours looked like one.” Cad said.

  Dunc laughed, “Get in on the other side guys”

  They walked around the front and climbed up the ladder, which made a metallic throng with each step. The rig was so massive they had to walk down a plank to enter through a full sized door.

  Both Cad and Parker were impressed with the size of the truck. They were not expecting to ride over in what seemed like a nice living room. The cabin was massive, head room to walk, long couch style benches and different comfortable looking seats were organized in the cabin. Seating went around a center table and was positioned in between different types of storage cabinets around the cabin of the truck. It smelled of leather and clean upholstery. Dunc managed to keep everything in there looking new. He sat at what looked like the helm of a boat, although a boat with a lot of controls and no steering wheel. The chair Dunc sat in swiveled and he turned around as the guys entered. “All ah-board,” Dunc laughed, “So if you guys need to, this thing sleeps four.” He could tell the guys were impressed with the size of the truck.

  “Yeah, it looks like it. Can we put our stuff here?” Cad pointed to what looked like a closet near the entrance.

  “Sure.” Dunc looked happy to have guests aboard his rolling apartment.

  The guys walked towards the rear where there was a galley. Cad examined the narrow counter with a small sink. It looked like everything, cabinets, drawers, appliances, were perfectly placed to save room. He made a circle around the cabin towards Dunc.

  “Yeah that’s a bed if you need to sleep there, blankets are under the cushions. There’s another bed there,” Dunc was stretched out with his legs crossed at the calf and his hands crossed behind his head. He pointed directly towards the back of the truck and said, “I sleep in a loft above the galley area. The bathroom is towards the back.” Dunc pointed near the back of the wall with the entrance on it.

  Parker spoke up, “This rig is sweet. So are you on the clock?” After Parker asked, he took a seat on the curved couch. “I mean, we’re not in the way on this trip, right?”

  “Nah, like I said it’s my rig,” Dunc said and then rolled his eyes, “Well, the bank owns most of it. But as far as the U-A-N is concerned I could also make money transporting people back if I had an empty tube. I’ve even thought about doing an audio talk show as I drove. It doesn’t matter. I’m mostly just here to make inputs up in this control station. Then this baby does all the driving itself. Shit, if it weren’t for interstate commerce laws I’d be out of a job.”

  “Sweet!” Cad smiled big.

  Parker turned his head towards Dunc, “Well it’s more than just laws, right? You got to make deals with the suppliers and stuff and bring the food to the grid crop.”

  Dunc looked amused. “Yes, yes that stuff too. It is work, but you know a computer could probably do it if it wasn’t for laws. You guys ready?”

  Parker and Cad agreed.

  Dunc swiveled back around in his chair towards the control panel.

  He touched a few different controls on the board.

  Destination: Seattle, distance: 353 miles; 4 hours 12 minutes until arrival, the onboard computer system said. The rig began to move. It sped up quickly and made its way for the interstate entrance a few blocks from the depot. The truck snaked into the tunnel and picked up more speed. The tunnel was short and dark. The truck got to cruising speed as it emerged from the tunnel and merged with other super transporters. Once they were on the open road, Dunc swiveled back to face Cad and Parker.

  “So about four hours. Plenty of time to have a good time, right?” Cad said as he rolled over on his hip and reached into his pocket. He made a slight exaggeration with his hand as he pulled out a palm sized white glossy envelope.

  “You got it?” Dunc said.

  Parker didn’t know what they were talking about, but he recognized the package and was pleasantly surprised, “What flavor?”

  “Unflavored, least expensive one,” Cad said.

  Dunc glanced at Parker and said, “Isn’t that the flavor that makes people puke?”

  “Shit… Yeah I think so,” Parker said as he looked over at Cad, as if to say sorry. “I don’t know about you guys but it’s made me sick. I might have to pass.”

  Cad started rolling with laughter, “I’m just shitting you guys.” He paused and pulled a coin sized disc out of the envelope. It was light pink. “Bubble gum flavored mood enhancers, four-hour dose.”

  Mood enhancers were a popular prescription drug, they varied slightly in effects, but overall it lowered inhibitions (motor skills too) and made people much happier than normal. The drug was illegal to have without clearance for it from the healthcare network. Most people had clearance for its use, but since it was a controlled substance the chances were slim Dunc was supposed to take it while operating a snake.

  “Perfect,” Dunc sat up in his chair and rested his palms on top of his knees. “I should take mine right now then. It’s timed so it will finish right as we pull in.”

  Parker interjected and said, “Well, are you supposed to take that?

  This is a big rig we’re in.

  “What are you, my mom?” Dunc said.

  “Yeah, shit Parker, what are you fussing about?”

  “Well, I mean I know these things are pretty mellow. I was wondering if he could get fired or something.” Parker back tracked from the reaction and tried to play it cool.

  “If you’re concerned Parker, I got, and I always got in this rig, a See-LowCybin1 pill.” Dunc swiveled in his chair and reached into a compartment near his right knee. “I just pop one of these and the affects, of any drug I’d ever take to have fun, would wear off.”

  “I know what a Sea-LowCybin is, and good you have it.” Parker did feel safer, but he said with a hint of sarcasm, “I feel much safer now.”

  Dunc raised his eyebrows and dropped them back down right as his forehead crinkled. He got out of his chair and walked towards Cad. Dunc reached down and Cad handed him a mood enhancer disc. He instantly popped it in his mouth and turned back towards his pilot chair. Cad then took one for himself and with a disc under his tongue he managed to sound fine when he said, “Come get yours, Parker.”

  Parker got up and made his way towards Cad. He was a few steps away as Cad underhand tossed the disc. Parker caught it with his hand in front of his chest. He gently tossed it in the air and cocked his head back to catch it in his mouth.

  Dunc laughed, “Nice catch.” Dunc settled into his chair, pushing his hips towards the edge of the seat. He looked comfortable. He started rolling his hands, palm into knuckles, palm into knuckles. He smiled, “Man these things work fast. What was I saying?”

  “You only do drugs that Sea-LowCybin works on?” Parker giggled. “What the hell do you care?” Dunc was sitting up in his chair, with

  straight arms, hands on his knees.

  “You said you only do drugs that Sea-LowCybin works on. Why wouldn’t you try weed?” Parker was slowly slouching in his seat and moving his rib cage back and forth as he asked.

  “I’m a working man, I can’t be smoking weed. Sea-LowCybin is an off button for any fun like that I want to have. Besides, the drugs I like are engineered much safer. No side effects and an off button. What more do you want?”

  “I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Sea-LowCybin and top notch drugs. But what about what grows right here on this planet?”

  Cad chimed in, “Will you guys quit saying that word? See-low-sie- bin,” Cad looked at his hands as he said it again even slower, “See-low- sie-bin.” He laughed his pupils were tiny, which magnified his bright blue eyes. “We’re in a big truck and it’s damn comfortable, you guys don’t need to be arguing.”

  “We’re not arguing,” Dunc said sincerely. “Yeah…we’re not.”

  “Okay, well I thought you were,” Cad started rubbing his palms on his hips.

  1 Sea-LowCybin: is a pill that activates nanobots in the bl
ood stream to trigger inhibitors that are engineered in healthcare network drugs. In essence, the pill cancels the effect of any prescription drug induced.

  “This stuff is good, Cad. How much do I owe you?” Parker asked.

  Dunc spoke up, “Parker, I do drugs from the earth. Not on the job though. I usually don’t tell people that. I don’t mean I do them a lot though, but I have.”

  “Yeah that’s fine, me too.” Parker was distracted with Cad. “What do you need, Cad?”

  “Oh, you don’t need to pay me man. I got a good deal on this stuff. Plus, with my new level up, tests done and a life of being prosperous in front of me, I’m feeling pretty damn good.” He laughed, “These mood enhancers are great, too.” Cad pulled his hand up from his hip and rubbed the opposite shoulder. His jaw was moving in and out. Dunc looked down at his knees.

  “Well I don’t care, I can pay for my share. I’m sure Dunc threw down.” Parker reached for his pocket as if to pay Cad.

  “No. I’m telling you, I got this. I was wondering though, maybe I could stay with you up on Whidbey? I don’t usually stay at home when I go back.”

  “Oh, well, yeah, sure,” Parker did not care if Cadmus stayed at his place, but he hadn’t heard from his parents and wasn’t even sure if he’d be staying there. He turned his head to the side and looked down, “Well, I haven’t actually talked to my parents yet.”

  Cadmus nodded.

  Parker hoped Cad knew what he meant, that they might not be able to stay at his parents’ place.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you guys,” Dunc swiveled around towards the control panel. He made a few swipes on his control screen. In the center of the truck cabin a circular overhead lens switched open. All the seats on the rig were facing towards the center where a circular table sat covered in metallic looking glass. Above the table on the ceiling was the lens that began to open up. An opaque cylinder formed between the table and the overhead lens. It was a hologram viewing tube, known better as a sonovision. Dunc continued after the sonovision lit up and said, “We’re watching the BRRL prelims. Winners of their heat go to the championship”

  “Really?” Cad was excited

  Parker was happy as well. He said “I had a feeling we would be able to watch the body rocket races today. It’s a big day for the league. I didn’t realize we’d get to watch it on such a nice sonovision system though.”

  “It’s got the all-around feature, which means you guys can watch from any side and see the same depth of screen,” Dunc said as he slowly rocked back and forth. The opaque cylinder in the center of the room started turning into an in-depth image of six racers standing in their suits with their helmets on. Each racer had mirrored or dark lenses on their helmets. They were all wearing full body suits with protection in their vulnerable areas, joints, pelvis and everything around the neck and head. The racers were on their feet at the starting line, jet-cycles at their side and in position to mount once the race started. The cylindrical screen showed this image of the racers. The screen had the ability to look the same no matter what side a person watched from. Below the sonovision on the table was information about whichever racer a person wanted to know about. Dunc sat up in his captain chair doing his racer research on his mobile device.

  They had barely made it out of Sandpoint and were already feeling great from the mood enhancer pills that they dissolved in their mouths. There was 20 minutes until the first race started. Dunc, Cadmus and Parker started placing bets at the base table of the sonovision. The betting system was something that the guys were all comfortable with. They chose to bet with the house, the payoff was better and they wouldn’t have to take credit from each other. They would bet and anti-up using credit inside the Cloud. In other words, the credit they made when clocking in at the Cloud would be used to pay the winnings or they would need to spend time inside until the bet was paid off if they lost. A winner saw their account increase the moment the bet outcome was determined. This was all arranged through the sonovision system, it was networked with the UAN.

  Everybody was in a good mood and ready for the races to begin. They hardly even paid attention to the passing landscape en route to Seattle.

  C H A P T E R 1 2

  Becky had hardly slept since the terrorist attacks. The past few weeks of her life blended into one long work day. If she wasn’t answering questions for the media she was preparing for a press conference. She was required to report all findings of the scientists and respond to any questions from the media regarding the actual research, which was more than a full time job by itself. The amount of scrutiny the program was under seemed, bar none, unlike anything else out there. Besides being the media liaison, her official title was Project Honey Juice Manager. She wasn’t the biggest fan of the name but also liked that fact that she was the Project Manager. And it was a big deal, she hardly had time to think about the future, but when she did, she knew her experience was stacking up quite nicely in her favor. Rarely did somebody so young get to be a part of something so monumental and she knew it.

  The lack of sleep hardly wore her down. Each day amounted to significant progress in the lab. It was all exciting and to a young women like Becky Carlyle, it was all new. She drafted reports and wrote UAN approved opinions that surprised her. The speed of the research seemed alarming. How did they already know the children would be conscious in their growing pod at five months after conception? That didn’t actually surprise her, but how did they know? It didn’t matter, either way it was in the report. The things that did surprise her were reports on childhood development. Like the child should be capable of reading within three and a half years and that the Cloud children would be capable of advanced math by eight. Becky didn’t even know what they meant by advanced math. Algebra? She wondered. What piqued her curiosity the most was that the research kept pointing to results supposedly in the future; she didn’t understand how they had these answers, but she also wasn’t paid to question it.

  Needless to say, the research department quickly showed results. Dr. Celsus wrote a peer reviewed paper that pointed out the benefits of being raised in the Cloud. It was published two weeks after the terrorist attacks. The paper highlighted the prospects of life longevity in the Cloud and how it appeared possible people born in the Cloud could live much longer than regular people. This was already perceived as a benefit to living in the Cloud, life longevity, but the actual results were not available yet. The Cloud had only been around for about 20 years. The general consensus was that time in the Cloud was good for the health. The mycelium liquid and nutritional diet was given credit as to why.

  Every now and then somebody did die in there and it was enough to spark enthusiasm amongst skeptics. Some people appeared to die of old age, the Cloud was considered a good place to go to die, but at the same time these were new waters to sail in and nobody had all the answers. So when somebody did die it was a big deal, especially if they were young. The Cloud was slowly gaining positive traction as a place to live into the high hundreds. People had already lived beyond 100 years old relatively easily, but the problems with old age seemed to outweigh living longer in some respects. Why live if the mind didn’t keep pace or the body is too worn out? The idea was that living in the Cloud could at least erase the physical problems with growing old. The ability to not be restricted by physical inability helped the mind stay young. Thus, the Cloud was the perfect place to get old.

  The peer reviewed paper Dr. Celsus wrote gave him some notoriety. His research was approved by just about all major scientific bodies. The papers showed that certain research had been going on since before diplomatic immunity. This was regarded as non-pertinent to the actual research, but viewed as pertinent to the very public battle against the research. This position confused Becky, but she believed it was a point of view used to confuse people in general. Closer inspection showed that the early research results were all from computer models. The basis for the majority of reported information from the Cloud was such. Many of the findings
in the computer models fascinated Becky. The thought of living for hundreds of years was intriguing, even if it was just computer model research. This didn’t bother the science community, they knew these models took into account hundreds of years of data about the human body and were capable of making accurate predictions with controllable variables, i.e. the environment, diet, body stimulation, etcetera. The research method did bother those that needed to see it first to believe, oddly enough the majority of which were the ones that chose to live their life around faith.

  Becky understood why it was so important to keep public opinion on the matter in favor of the UAN; she understood why she needed to spend so much time corresponding with the media when they had already got the green light for the project. If they lost the majority of public opinion they would be in trouble. If the American government’s citizens desperately wanted to end the research program, then the government would take action on grounds that they are the moral authority. The UAN needed the support of the American government.

  This had been Alceon Fudore’s position. At the first staff meeting after the terrorist attacks, she handed out literature for all UAN employees to learn. The theme of which was that the UAN needed to keep the American general population on their side, remain an ally at all costs. Becky was intimidated by Alceon and her blunt approach, but she was also inspired by her, and learned to enjoy the chaos that was their job working together. In a lot of ways Becky looked up to Alceon. She felt Alceon was flawed, but would then say to herself, who isn’t? Becky liked how Alceon was decisive and exerted leadership, she was a powerful woman. Becky knew Alceon valued loyalty and each day they worked together, her loyalty grew.

  It had been three weeks since the terrorist attacks. It was a Friday evening and Becky was still working. The afternoon press conference went smoothly. Most of the questions were recycled from the day before. It had been a slow research day, which gave Becky time to get to her other task of looking through the North Mountain Academy career placement scores. Becky was practically living at the Adirondack building on campus. Alceon liked her close throughout the day. Many times she even slept in the bunks outside the research reporting area.