Chapter Seven
Revelations
Upon returning to Earth Devan decides to walk to Stubb’s from the intergalactic travel hub, rather than using hyper-space, giving him a chance to consider his options. After discussing evolution with the Olaraf, Kekarklarah, Devan isn’t sure about resetting the game. His confidence in the meaning of reality is shaky. The Olaraf could have been an illusion, or could have been misleading him. Then again, Devan thinks to himself, does it really matter?
What Frank said about engineered humans strikes a chord with Devan. We have no control over how we got here, we were not involved in that decision. But once here, we can determine our own future. The thing about Devan’s reality is that people can’t determine their future. At least that is the way things seem. People have given up, they don’t care. If Devan stays in this new reality he thinks he’ll be happier but knows he’ll never be able to live up to the standards of this new world. On the other hand Devan thinks that maybe he can return to his old reality, with all the knowledge he’s gained, and make things better. Change the way people think.
Now Devan’s mind is obsessed with the breeding of humans on Earth and their intelligence. Thinking quietly to himself he decides to satisfy his curiosity by accessing hyper-memory.
“Search, earthling, breeding… verbal.”
“Natural breeding, mating, of earthlings ceased approximately 200 years after the Great War. The main reason for this was the proliferation of disease and disease related birth defects which resulted from mass intercontinental migrations. Earth humans are created in government laboratories distributed throughout the world. Genetic material from living humans is paired based on compatibility, and new humans created from that material. The original donors of genetic material are notified of the impending birth. Parents are primarily responsible for the welfare of the child but all expenses are covered by the commonwealth.”
“Search, breeding laboratory locations… Nearest my current location in space-time.”
“There is a government breeding facility less than one mile from your current location.”
“Access and directions.”
“Access to the breeding archives is public but access to laboratory facilities requires clearance. This facility is located in the main medical facility.”
Devan realizes that this is the same building as Dr. Nalbandian’s office.
“Convenient. I know how to get there from here…”
“Convenient: Adjective…”
“Stop! End search.”
*****
Devan walks to the medical facility where Jacob administered the neuro scan and resolves himself to getting access to the archives. He figures since the archives are public he’ll just walk in and imitate Jacob’s statement modified to suite his purpose. Devan arrives and enters the building.
“Devan Anderson, citizen of the commonwealth, request access to… birth archives.”
A door opens. Devan was hoping to see the swarm of flying bio sensors but as he ponders this he realizes that the sensors might be able to sense that his DNA is different and set off an alarm. There is no security for public archives. Devan enters the birth archive. The room is impressive, massive, with glass ceilings that give the appearance that the room enters the clouds. Inside it looks like an old fashioned library with rows of shelves stacked with papers. Everything is neat and orderly, almost sterile. The papers are not directly accessible but monitored by a robotic librarian system. The entire room is encased in glass and the atmosphere controlled to preserve paper documents. Despite the vast utility of hyper-space and the fact that it seems like an unlimited resource there are consequences to overusing it. The Ache is one and in this reality they limit the use of hyper-memory. Another reason that hard copy archives still exist is that the government wants to control the proliferation of certain forms of information. These records are public but not globally or universally available. People have easy access to the archives in their local neighborhood but must travel to gains access to non-local information. A voice greets Devan.
“Welcome to the birth archives of the Commonwealth, sector eleven. Please state your name.”
“Devan. Devan Anderson.”
“Devan Anderson. Our records show you are a resident. What information would you like to review?”
“My birth record.” I figure that’s a safe bet.
A robotic arm moves effortlessly to the location of Devan’s paper records and brings them to the table on the opposite side of the glass wall where Devan stands. The robotic arm opens the file to the first page and Devan starts to read. Devan isn’t too interested in the birth record. It looks like a cross between a lab notebook and a DMV form. What he’s really interested in is the subject he can’t get any information on.
“Turn to intelligence.”
The arm selects several pages and removes them from the stack revealing the information Devan requested. Devan reads on.
SUBJECT: Evaluation of mental aptitude.
CITIZEN: Devan Anderson
EVALUATION: Normal
CRITERION: Details of evaluation are provided below.
LANGUAGE:
- Devan has demonstrated the ability to speak the language of his parents upon birth.
- Within four months Devan has demonstrated the ability to learn a new language.
MATHEMATICS:
- Within six months Devan has demonstrated the ability to understand and express mathematical concepts from several subject areas: Manifolds, Topology, Category Theory, and Group Theory.
- Before Devan’s second year he demonstrated the ability to organize complex technical data and develop logical proofs of mathematical theorems.
PHYSICAL:
- Crawling by six months.
- Walking by thirteen months.
- Self-sufficient by third year.
STANDARDIZED TESTS:
647: 2018: 32: 18,741:
All tests fall within the 1% margin of error of the accepted intelligence level.
FINAL ASSESSMENT:
Development of Devan Anderson should continue as normal.
End report.
Devan can’t make heads or tails of the numbers but this doesn’t look very strange. He asks about Jacob.
“May I view the birth record of Jacob Nalbandian?”
The arm reassembles Devan’s birth record, files it and returns with Jacob’s birth record. Devan isn’t really interested in all the details and looks right to the standardized tests. Jacob’s final evaluation comment is the same.
All tests fall within the 1% margin of error of the accepted intelligence level.
Development of Jacob Nalbandian should continue as normal.
Devan is curious. He tries to get Allyson’s record but realizes that he doesn’t know her last name. He asks anyway.
“May I view the birth record of Allyson?”
“There are 4376 records for, first name Allyson. Which would you like?”
Devan thinks for a moment. “Recite full names.”
“Allyson Abrams, Allyson Adams, Ally…”
“Allyson Abrams.”
Devan doesn’t care whose record it is. The robot brings the record and Devan scans the data he’s interested in. It’s the same, exactly the same. He looks through a dozen more and all are identical.
All tests fall within the 1% margin of error of the accepted intelligence level.
Development of Allyson Abrams should continue as normal.
Devan is more curious but can’t figure out a way to query the system regarding deviations in intelligence. He finally thinks of looking at death records.
“May I view death records?”
There is a pause. “No such records exist.”
Devan is a little confused. He knows no one lives forever but figures he’s not asking the question correctly. He is not aware of anyone who has died. He thinks of George Washington or Albert Einstein, but these individuals would not have records here, in sector nine of the Commonwealth since they were probably not born here. Then he has an idea.
“Richard Anderson. Birth record for Richard Anderson.” This is Devan’s father. In his reality Devan’s father is deceased.
The arm returns the current record and returns with the birth record for Devan’s father. Devan reads through the same information and again the basics are all the same. Identical intelligence and final evaluation. Devan than asks the system about death records. Again no such luck. Then he asks another way.
“Life span for Richard Anderson.”
The robotic arm moves a large number of pages form the stack. Devan reads on. There is only one statement.
120 years.
No context, no reference, nothing. Devan figures this is great, his father had a long life, but then he starts to think about how old his father would have been when Devan was born and starts to get confused. Maybe it’s the strange way they document time, in epochs, or maybe the government simply decided not to make Devan until his father was old. He looks up his mother. Again, 120 years. Devan begins to get suspicious. He looks at his mother’s birth year, but without context cannot really determine when she died. He then asks for his record. The arm returns and Devan asks to see what is printed in his record for life span. Again, like the others, it reads 120 years. Devan thinks about it and isn’t really concerned at first, based on everything he’s experienced this isn’t a surprise. The body ages and this world is completely disease free so there’s nothing to kill people or take years off their life. It seems that the commonwealth has set a limit on the number of years a person can live. Then a cold wave surges through Devan’s body. He thinks about whether or not people really live to 120 and if so how is life terminated. For a few seconds Devan didn’t see anything wrong with it but now he feels sick. This means that somehow people are rounded up or required to go somewhere to be killed. This is public record so it’s not a secret. In this place people are made and then killed at a preset time. As the thought sinks in Devan becomes more disturbed by it. Devan looks at the records, paying more attention to detail. He sees that the birthing laboratory is in the same building in sector three. Devan, determined to see the birthing laboratory, leaves the archives and returns to the lobby of the building.
“Devan Anderson, request access to sector three.”
There is a pause. A series of dim laser fields scans Devan. This is different form the mosquito drone swarm that came for Jacob. Devan really wants to see that swarm again.
“Access denied. Sector three access is only granted to perspective parents, medical personnel and government officials.”
Devan thinks. Maybe he can get Jacob to bring him here to enter the lab, but he’d need an excuse. Jacob knows about Devan’s predicament but Devan feels that Jacob is suspicious. Then Devan has an idea.
“Devan Anderson. Patient of Doctor Jacob Nalbandian. Request access to sector 9.”
A door opens and Devan enters Jacob’s office.
“Hey, at least this is a start.” Devan thinks to himself. “But where to start looking and what to look for?”
Devan sits in Jacobs chair and thinks. He tries to access hyper-memory for information. He asks about access permission. Nothing. He asks about neuro conductivity scans. Nothing. This is weird. Devan asks a question out loud.
“Where is the nearest Stubb’s coffee?”
Nothing, silence. This is strange. Devan cannot access hyper-memory here. It is almost as if he is in a shielded chamber. Devan remembers something the Olaraf said he also realizes that his thoughts are probably safe here as well. Devan doesn’t understand how to secure his personal thoughts but this society has developed the technology to shield certain information from hyper-space access. He begins to search the office for clues, talking out loud to himself.
“There has to be some documentation about access privileges. A set of passcodes or sectors that Jacob has access to. Man, what do they use here to keep records if there’s no hyper-space access? No file cabinets, no drawers in the desk. No paper. What? Aaah.”
Devan sees what looks like and antique hand held computer device. He picks it up and the screen illuminates.
“Wow. There doesn’t seem to be a security lock on this device. That’s not good. I guess Jacob didn’t expect someone to come in.”
Devan scrolls through the information on the hand held device. He eventually comes across an access list. This indicates that Jacob has access to all areas of the facility. It also has information on the security scans. The drone scan was performed on Jacob because of his clearance level. It also states that once a cleared person is in their office they may move freely without additional scans. Devan isn’t sure what a cleared person really means. He reads further and discovers that cleared personnel require scanning upon entering but that carrying their hand held device will trigger access to all facilities without the need for a scan. It also indicates that devices are not allowed out of the facility. The handheld is essentially an interface to the security system. Devan enters sector three, the birthing sector. The door to Jacob’s office opens to a corridor. It is not the same type as the stainless steel corridor he and Jacob were in for the neural scan. This looks more like a hallway in an office building. Devan enters, begins to walk, and in less than a minute he comes to an open door and enters.
*****
This is sector three. Devan is awestruck. It looks like a farm or like a hydroponics lab for growing plants. There are rows of clear fluid filled containers each with a human embryo or fetus in various stages of development. Devan walks through looking at every detail. He is more interested in the science behind it all more than anything else. All of these test tube babies seem to be in perfect health and well taken care of. He isn’t turned off at all by this method of reproduction. Back home people have used all sorts of medical assistance with fertility including this method but he’s never seen a mass production of humans before. As he walks and observes Devan starts to think, to put things together in his head. He isn’t sure about the numbers but there seem to be more unborn humans in this lab than people on the street any given day. Devan is curious as to whether or not there is a planned baby boom on its way.
He moves to another sector of the lab where more developed fetuses have undergone neutering. He can see the effects on the fetus but they look healthy. Devan starts to wonder, if the evolution of human intelligence was due to the sharing of data with the mother through hyper-memory then how are these fetuses learning? What makes them smarter? Recalling the information he gathered from the archives and the discussions he’s had over the past several days he recalls that this is encrypted in the DNA now. But still there is a connection to the mother for language that must be simulated. Devan, now curious begins looking more closely at the chambers containing the growing humans, looking for clues. His left brain analyzing every detail of the devices attached to them. He sees a tube for drawing out waste where the placenta would be and one for delivering nutrients. The amniotic fluid is very clear, from some angles it almost appears that they’re suspended in air. Devan is looking for neuro transmitters, some connection to the brain. He wishes he could ask Jacob how this works. But then again, he realizes, Jacob will probably get in trouble for my being here if anyone finds out.
Devan then thinks to himself, “The fetus doesn’t need a hard wire connection to access hyper-memory, how would that even work, it’s not part of a human system. No, there needs to be a conscious person in close proximity, connected to the fetus. How would the fetus know this? A heartbeat, vibration, acoustics.”
He looks closer at the jar trying to peak up and around the fetus floating inside. Then, he finally sees it. There are membranes at the top of the jar, pulsating, simulating the effect of a heartbeat.
“The mother’s memory will have to access the child’s.” Devan thinks to himself. “So, wherever the source of the pulse is, the control, there is probably a person, people or even some type of computer producing memories, speech patterns etc. that is being transmitted through the acoustic vibrations and into hyper-memory for the fetus to access.”
He continues to walk through the facility keeping an eye on the connections to the embryonic chambers, following them like a trail, or a map. He comes up to the back wall and a door opens. This is the control room Devan expected to find. Here he can see the various pieces of the system controlling heartbeat, monitoring vitals, and in the center if it all the brain. A massive cluster of quantum super computers generating everything from speech to a review of all knowledge known to man and transmitting this data to the entire network of unborn humans. Devan is impressed, he knows that there has to be an algorithm that helps the system manipulate hyper-space and that requires some sort of reactor. While humans have learned to use their mind to bend space this amount of curvature held in place for this long requires more. He looks around a sees what he knows to be the controls and other interfaces for monitoring the status of a small but powerful particle accelerator. Devan isn’t curious where it is, under them next to them, he only cares that he knows it’s there. Devan walks out into the hall, strolling causally down the corridor not concerned with getting caught, absorbed in thought about the human farm, super computers and accelerator, and proud of himself for figuring it out. His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a conversation in the distance. Devan slowly walks to where the voices are coming from. In a small room is a toddler, no more than 18 months old, and a grown woman having a conversation. Devan eavesdrops by the door trying not to be noticed. He is amused at the conversation, the subject being advanced mathematics. It’s hard to comprehend, seeing a 2 year old talk like an adult. People’s bodies still develop slowly and emotional development still takes time. But intellectually people are born knowing everything. Devan listens intently. The child seems pretty smart. The woman is documenting something, writing on a pad. The woman gets up to leave and Devan backs up, down the hall hiding around a corner. The woman leaves, placing a folder in a vertical holder on the wall outside the door of the room as she walks away. Out of curiosity Devan sneaks back to the room. He see the child playing with blocks. Devan opens the folder and rifles through the pages. He sees the same type if intelligence assessment as in the other birth records. He looks for the final assessment.
STANDARDIZED TESTS:
1232: 2701: 88: 21,650:
All tests are more than 8% above the accepted intelligence level.
FINAL ASSESSMENT:
Development of Child 1732E-4K7 should be terminated.
End report.
An instant wave of nausea hits Devan. He looks into the room at the small child playing innocently. Wondering if he is aware of his fate. “Baby killers!” “Genocide!” Devan thinks to himself. He cannot believe his eyes. Somehow he managed to get past the neutering and controlled breeding of humans and even the predetermined death at 120 years. But this he cannot fathom. It’s not true that society is intellectually homogeneous by evolution. The government pick and chooses only those individuals that meet the required intelligence criterion by age 2 to continue development. All others are put to sleep. How can anyone accept this? Is everyone complacent? Devan feels as though he’s going to drop to the floor and begin sobbing when he hears voices in the distance.
A man’s voice asks, “Have you seen Dr. Nalbandian? Our system indicates that he entered this sector over an hour ago and hasn’t left.”
A woman answers. “No I haven’t seen him.”
Now Devan’s feelings turn to fear and anxiety over getting caught here. He can’t focus on anything, he’s suffering information overload. Thinking what to do next he resorts to the only thing an animal could do, especially one who doesn’t fully understand hyper-space travel, run! His choice to run alerts security to his presence.
“Sir, please stop. We need to talk to you.” A security guard says politely.
Devan’s heart is racing, adrenaline pumping. He can only think of getting away. Security pursues him. Devan recalls his first impressions of people here, that they looked like Greek Gods. Well security resembles Thor on massive doses of steroids. Three men pursue Devan, each over seven feet tall with shoulders over three feet wide. The men don’t run after Devan, they simply continue to walk calmly restating their request.
“Sir, please stop. We need to talk to you.”
Just as Devan feels that he’s out run them one appears in front of him appearing out of thin air. Devan stops in his tracks and reverses direction. He thinks to himself, they must be using hyper-space travel. Anywhere he turns he is surrounded. The guards do not approach him or attempt to apprehend him, but restate their request. Devan, panting, panicking can’t stop thinking “right, right, left. Right, right, left. Right, right, left.” Over and over since it’s the only thing he knows. He executes the sequence of moves and instantly finds himself at the university, at the door to his classroom. Feeling a moment of relief he enters. As he opens the door he sees the guards at the back of the class walking towards him.
“Sir, please stop. We need to talk to you. No harm will come to you. Please comply.” One of the guards says.
Devan now in a panic again musters enough composure to reverse his steps and finds himself in the hallway of the medical facility again, with guards approaching him from all directions. Realizing that he’s still holding on to Jacob’s handheld computer he throws it down and executes the rotation sequence left, left, right. Devan now finds himself at Stubb’s. He rushes in, running past Jacob and Allyson, to his arcade office in the back. Slamming the door behind him and locking the door, Devan starts to obsess over the babies and what he’s learned of their fate. The Commonwealth is running a eugenics program. Not even a war against the weak but a concerted effort to keep intelligence completely homogeneous. He wonders if these little children understand what’s going to happen to them or how they’re going to do it. He feels sick again. There’s a knock on the door and Jacob calls out.
*****
“Hey, Devan, what’s going on man? Let me in.”
Devan isn’t sure what to think or do. He realizes that Jacob is a part of this but this is not the Jacob he knows back in his reality. Devan opens the door. Jacob enters and Devan locks the door behind him.
“What’s going on Devan?”
“You’re not going to like this… What am I thinking, I don’t like this! Well, I went to your office and used your handheld to go to the birthing lab in the medical building.”
“Oh man, you shouldn’t have done that. So the guards were following you.”
“Yeah. You know what they do there right? I mean, they don’t just grow humans there. They kill children there. At age two?! How do you fucking kill a two year old who’s smart enough to solve any math problem in the world, or speak fluently?! I mean, do they know what’s happening?”
“Devan, you’re overreacting. This is how we… breed here. This is what we do. I don’t know how to say it any more plainly. You know all about this, it’s not a surprise for you. But you’d better keep you voice down and your thoughts to yourself.”
“Why? What are you talking about? Anyway like I told you I’m not from here. There’s that space-time arcade game reset problem…”
“Right, right.”
“How do they do it? And… how come in the archives everyone lives to be 120 years?”
“You started that. That was the nature of your proof on the moral imperative of ignorance. I don’t know exactly how… they… you know. But after, all records are destroyed. The only records kept are of those whose development is approved. Your thesis was used by the government to justify the destruction of records. You consulted on that.”
“Oh God.” Devan can’t believe his ears. He can’t believe how easy it is for Jacob to discuss. He can’t believe that he had something to do with this. It seems very easy now for him to make the decision. There is nothing about this world worth staying for. As soon as he figures out the correct initial condition to reset he’s out of here. Just as he has the thought the program he set returns. The results are in and Devan looks in disbelief. “Jacob?”
“I know. Look I had no other choice.”
“You’re the one who screwed with the game! You changed the initial conditions? But… Then you’re the Jacob from the other reality. Why did you do this?”