TOC
Agent Black, we found another one, he is missing his head and most of his upper torso, the Security Force Officer reported. How many does that make now sergeant, Agent Black requested, from his desk in the command center aboard the flag ship. That makes a total of six, just like the other houses we found, an explosive blast to the head and torso sir, the Officer reported. Very well have the bodies removed and brought back for identification and forensic analysis, Agent Black ordered. The situation in the Saturn Region had gone from total chaos to almost complete tranquility in the space of a week. All across the region bodies were found that had been killed in the same manner. It always seemed like the victims were caught unaware and there was no evidence of anyone else being in the houses. The term victim was not really the right word to use to describe the people that were being found. They had been identified as suspected or known members of the factions or mercenaries and thugs for hire.
Added to the mystery was the almost total destruction of the Titan settlement, though from what they had been finding from the ashes of the hostile forces believed to have caused the damage, the situation could have been much worse. Eyewitness accounts reported public executions and mass murder, until another unknown force showed up and completely destroyed the enemy combatants. The few survivors from the central squire incident, reported being herded into a protected area and then being released when all the fighting had stopped. Debris from almost twenty ships were found in the spaceport and in space around the moon. DNA analysis of the ashes had found hundreds of mercenaries and suspected factionists. Whatever went down, could only be described as all-out war between the two factions. The strange part was that the winning side seemed to be helping the planetary alliance, or at least their actions seemed to benefit the innocent civilians and the alliance.
The year is 2226 for most it is a time of peace and prosperity the likes of which has not been seen before in the history of man. They have pushed out into space and have spread across the solar system. The quality of life for all is beyond any other time in history. Life is full of unlimited potential and promise. They have also delved deep into the very essence of our being. Nanotechnology has allowed the manipulation of mater at its very smallest form. Advances in this technology open up new doors into our potential and allow great abundance.
Over population on Earth has forced many to leave the planet to build less crowded settlements in different regions of space. Most live on space stations since terraforming takes too long. During the time of the great builder ships with nanotechnology to help them, it is easier to create artificial habitats in space stations that orbit the planets, rather than form new habitats on the planets. The space stations have large rings that rotate around a hub to create gravity. The hub has the central command, law enforcement, hospitals, shops, and the business centers that let the stations thrive. Also along the hub are spaceports for passenger and cargo ships to dock.
The stations have become the suburbs where those that can, have moved to get away from the crowding of the mega cities on Earth. Surveillance and other technologies have reduced crime dramatically but it still happens, the need to be game-fully employed, or in school to live on a station makes it a little less prevalent. The stations draw the middle class and upper class business crowd as well as the government officials needed to make the station run smoothly. Life on the stations is more like a small town even though the populations are fairly large, communities form around school districts and the small neighborhood convenience shops within the ring.
There are some stations that function only as mining, agricultural, and manufacturing stations. The mining and manufacturing stations function by looking for the various minerals found on the moons and debris fields around planets, but mostly robots operate these stations with minimal human presence required. Ships carry all forms of goods between these stations and the rest of the settlements in the solar system. Still man continues to push further out into space small settlements are starting to form out beyond the edges of our solar system. The great builder ships that went from planet to planet building space stations have now moved on to the outer edges of the solar system. Without planets to anchor them, the new space stations assume a solar orbit. Ever the pioneer, man has reached another frontier, and soon will master light speed, to allow the settlement of different stars.
What those that are in power now know, is that dark forces are at work that will shake the very foundations of the fragile peace that holds the alliance together. Perhaps the cause of the problem could be attributed to a procedure or implant that augments the brain, and was developed for the betterment of mankind, but has become so much more.
Besides allowing the recipient the ability to interact with their environment and all of the various entertainment and data repositories in the alliance of planets, it also opened up pathways and allowed more of the brain to be used. And that was exactly the problem, some of the populous had developed powers that set them apart from the rest of society. In all the years of research and improvement of the procedure, there was still no way to control what pathways were opened and what attributes would be unleashed. This was primarily due to the uniqueness of each human brain. The other major benefit of the implant, though some would say it was a curse, was the personal communicator, credit interface, and location tracking.
It allowed the user to be at one with the environment they lived in, any action needed to interact with it was merely a thought away. Of course, there had been protests when it was first invented. Mostly concerns about unfettered access to the human brain and privacy, but there were safeguards put in place to protect that, ultimately it became mainstream and now mandatory for any member of the alliance. This by proxy meant any member of the human race.
However, unknown to everyone except the highest levels of government was what they called the side benefit of the mandatory implant. In the wake of failed government policies that spent more money on the nonproductive elements of society, than that which was produced by the productive elements of society, and huge over population of the very poorest members of the population. It was determined that a more comprehensive form of population control was required. Therefore, the implant interacted with other wetware implants injected at birth. These implants did many things, most monitored and repaired vital organs and allowed for a healthy society, one however was responsible for controlling the reproductive process of all females. It was argued when it was introduced that the reproductive age of our species had not evolved along with the social and economic evolution of our species.
Therefore, what the public knew of this technology was that it did not allow girls to get pregnant until they turned eighteen. This of course eliminated teenage pregnancy and seemed like a good idea, but what the public did not know, was that the implant also limited some females from having more than one child and sometimes none at all. The entire process was based on economics, if the female could support a child she was allowed to have one, at a maximum two, if not then she would not. If the child died before the female was beyond reproductive years and she could still support one, she could have another. This option was only allowed if the female seemed psychologically capable of having another child.
Her mental state was evaluated, and a committee determined if she could have another one, all of this was done through the implant without her knowledge or her consent. The other wetware would also function based on economics, if the person was economically fit then their body would remain fit. If not then the organs would be left to fend for themselves, and life expectancy of that person would be shorter than someone who was a productive member of society, again this was all monitored through the implant and without the subject’s knowledge or consent.
This allowed for the ultimate population control, it also allowed select breeding, in that the economic prospects of an individual were determined by the mental ability of that person. Robots did all m
anual labor and undesired tasks so all that was left to humans was the jobs that required thought. If your mental faculties even after the implant were not capable of being a benefit to society then you are not allowed to enjoy a prolonged life. Over generations, only the strong survive and weak gene pools were eliminated, thus ensuring a strong populous.
This of course was not the known policy but it was what had happened regardless, mental birth defects were eliminated, and to a certain point even physical defects as well. The wetware implants also eliminated obesity, cancer, plaque in the blood stream, and several other organ related health problems. With the wetware regulating body-chemistry, humans were living very healthy lives. In addition, since the wetware also repaired DNA strands the life span of the average human increased dramatically.
When humans first started experimenting with wetware and the idea of brain augmentation, they really had no idea of the potential it would offer. In what could be considered a relatively short period of time they had been able to achieve a great deal, mainly due to the increased brain capacity of the population. The average person had the IQ and mental acuity of the historical figure Einstein. Those that were considered gifted or exceptional had a mental capacity beyond the comprehension of those who lived in Einstein’s era, they ultimately went on to become the leaders of industry and government. Academics became even more critical than they ever had been in the past. Failure was not an option and with the sheer volume of human knowledge expanding at such a fast pace, it became harder and harder for the non-educated to survive in society.
There were tests created and given to determine what field of study was most suited to the abilities of the brain of each child within weeks of receiving the implant. The implant which was designed to ferret out the dormant or latent abilities of the unused portions of the brain, often found things that previously had not been known to exist. Ultimately, it came down to genetics, if the genetics of your parents had come together to produce a certain aspect of your brain then the implant would find it and expand it. After the first few generations of expansion new mutations started to arise and then mutate again as they interacted with each other. Of course, there were many overlaps of abilities that played into all aspects of a given skill, the requirements of any given skill also required knowledge from other disciplines, and they found having a well-rounded understanding of all aspects of those disciplines was the best way to approach mastery of that skill.
However, in this there was still some debate, the old nature verses nurture, by waiting to give the implant until the age of fifteen the child had spent enough time in the world to develop affinities toward certain things that would help shape there brain the natural way, and this was encouraged. Of course, there were tests along the way that helped guide them on their path and students were constantly exposed to so much information and technology. They were encouraged to follow many different paths intellectually and culturally. Therefore, it could be argued that the early development years played a part in the paths that were opened later after the implant.
The knowledge of man continued to grow and new fields arose from that knowledge, as old ones went away or rolled up into the new. This process was akin to the famous expression being able to see further by standing on the shoulders of giants. So to were the technologies of mankind advanced as the knowledge gained from the past was brought to bear against the new problems of future discovery. Sometimes it was just a question of the right people coming together at the right time to collaborate, and put existing technologies together in ways that had not been done before.
Also new ways of teaching were developed that focused on learning, where a student was, encourage to follow a thought deeper and deeper into the understanding of an idea. Meaning that the students often taught themselves, the teachers became guides that would steer them in the right direction but not interfere with their path. Advanced learning programs that often presented themselves as games, and that would force the student to learn new skills to advance to the next level, helped this process along.
Unlike, the primitive versions that had first been developed for this purpose, they had sophisticated AIs. These AI systems adapted to the child’s learning style, and combined with systems that used neuroplasticity, and neuro-linguistic programming techniques to push the difficult concepts into the brain. All of this was wrapped in clever storytelling to draw them in, and make them want to continue. The learning could be focused on the theory behind certain principles and not the complicated concepts like formulas, syntax, mathematical equations, mathematical and chemical tables, and other types of data that normally had to be memorized. Instead, the student was free to concentrate on achieving the next challenge and the next level. Before they knew it, knowledge was the reward for further advancement.
Even with academics taking such a high precedent, other activities were also pursued, athletics and the arts were valued, but it was clear if the student did not have the knowledge to function after those dreams were done, they would not be allowed to continue. This provided for a more balanced person leaving the academic halls of the education system.
Budgets were written that took the advancement of society as the goal. Knowledge was the yardstick that measured the effectiveness of the system. Schools were held accountable for the accomplishments of the students that graduated from them, for budget considerations. Teachers also had to sit through alumni boards, were it was determined to what extent there teaching methods had contributed to the students success or failure.
While the system seemed to work for the majority of the populous some slipped through the cracks. As the abilities of some people continued to evolve, new skills emerged. Latent abilities that seemed to have been lost to the human race had started to come back. Ancient secrets that had been relegated to the realm of fantasy had started to return. Unknown to the general populous was that a small percentage of the population had developed paranormal abilities, these abilities presented themselves in several ways. For some it was just the ability to have an uncanny knowledge of what was going to happen next. Others sporadically felt like they were hearing other peoples thoughts. Still others sometimes felt like they were moving things with their mind. Most of the time these abilities are not realized and go unreported by the person experiencing them. They do not want to sound crazy so they say nothing. Most go on with their lives like nothing has happened, other are not as lucky and find themselves in life threating situations.
An even smaller percentage of the populous had full control of these abilities and were sought out by the government or other organizations, that wanted to exploit them and force them into service. Some of them were in hiding split between two rival factions. These factions had started battling each other over a difference in philosophies regarding the use of their gifts. At one time they were all part of the same faction, and during that time had developed ways to evade the government that was trying to control them. They had also developed ways of augmenting their powers to help channel them in new ways that helped protect them from attack.
Unfortunately, over the year since the split more and more of the fighting has been between the two factions, as one seeks to undermine the government with no regard for human life, and the other seeks to preserve it at all costs. Sometimes the one must secretly work with the government to help stop the other. Their cause is sometimes aided by sympathetic supporters within the government that help develop new technologies that help keep them hidden while they perform their mission. The battle has never been this bad before…