“The operation will take place in a foreign country. He is going to entrust the secret service with it.”
“I will insist on assigning at least the command to Security.”
LANDING
@
The ovoids, hidden from sight and any surveillance system, skim over the sea, cutting a furrow in the smooth surface and raising a wake. On board, along the fuselage, the Security Special Forces. They carry war weapons and wear thick shields. At the end, wrapped in wide-mesh nets, a heap of metal cases.
“The wind is increasing,” announces the captain. “Cyclone arriving.”
Low, dark clouds. Rare clear gaps, penetrated by moonlight that lights up the leaden expanse with silvery flashes.
On the horizon, the downtown skyscrapers loom up. Garlands of light crowning the bay.
Before reaching the coast, the ovoids turn to the right.
“The atoll is twenty kilometers away. We are entering the storm.”
In front, flashes of lightning pierce the sea. Sharp waves spread in every direction, in the middle of a thick fog of vaporized water.
Sheer cliffs emerge from the ocean. A front like the palm of a giant, that at the top is fifty meters high. The breakers pound the reefs furiously, leaving trails of white.
The flight turns to the left, skirting the rocks, just below the edge. The villa is behind a crag, near the beach.
Seemingly undefended and solitary. A criminal’s den.
The aircrafts open like the legs of a spider. They start circling.
The captain’s ovoid lands on the beach.
Till twelve hours before, soaring palms, snow-white sand. An earthly paradise. Now, a hell. Sand filled gusts cut the breath, volleys of pebbles pound against the shields. Behind, the boiling sea. Walls of water face each other and disintegrate into foaming spray. A howling, deafening wind.
Bent forward, with their weapons in their arms, the raiders climb along a muddy path, up to a lawn studded with palms bent by the wind.
The captain steps over an uprooted trunk, staring at the five dots in his visual field that are converging towards the center.
Then he stops. Encirclement completed. The villa is fifty meters farther, on a bank.
They approach stealthily, from all directions.
Ready.
They burst into with leveled guns.
Security General Headquarters, two hours later.
“He escaped!”
The captain’s hologram, still at the mercy of the excitement that followed him during the whole mission, approaches striding rapidly.
“A servant saw him before he left. He was wearing the looks of a tall brown man, with a strange black suit. He didn’t say where he was going. We questioned the staff: no suspicions. Great class; a nice person, according to them.”
He gets his breath back. “We seized his virtual secretary in an encrypted directory. A good hideout. She was seemingly ready to cooperate, but then started dragging on. We threatened her. At that point she answered back that we couldn’t hurt her!”
C573Y sighs. “She doesn’t know us, clearly.”
“We began to erase her programs, one after the other. When she realized we were tearing her to pieces, she started blabbing it all out. Her boss is a businessman among the richest in the country, but with a peculiar hobby: he is a killer, the best in the market. He received the money, but she does not know the reason and has no idea where he is. Just before his departure, she handed him a file. The instructions, I imagine.”
“Did you verify she was telling the truth?”
“We had her memory access code delivered to us. So we found an old image of Nihil with the killer, on the beach. The Head of the Elects visits the island once a year at least. The two are friends, evidently.”
“Do you have an image of the killer?”
“The domestic who caught a glimpse of him, doesn’t remember enough for an identikit. I have set the best search programs on his track, but I doubt I will find him in time.”
PARTING
@
The shower has just finished and the wind is driving away the clouds beyond the pinewood. There is a fragrance of resin and wet soil. Victoria is sitting on a fence, intent on observing the colts that run after each other spraying around dirty water and mud.
Many years before, she was in a manège when James drew her to him, for the first time. The beginning of a dream she thought everlasting.
James is approaching briskly. Victoria jumps down and runs up to him.
“As soon as you called, I rushed here,” says the man panting.
They kiss each other.
“I missed you. Did you enjoy your holidays?”
“My friend didn’t want to let me go,” answersVictoria. “Did you order the gynoid?”
“While you were on holidays, the law making dehumanization compulsory passed.”
Victoria stiffens. “Does it apply to all digital beings?”
James nods.
“We must continue this way, then…” murmurs Victoria. “Day after day. I’ll try to stay the person you know.”
The man hesitates. “After dehumanization, you will avoid me to go round with others like you.”
“That’s what you think,” explodes Victoria. “The fact is you don’t have enough courage!”
Silence.
The man shakes his head and sets out for the paddock. He leans against the enclosure and watches a mare nuzzling her colt. He looks up, diverted by shrill cries. Beyond the downs, a few young seagulls are circling above the rippling sea.
He turns round. “OK, let’s try.”
Eve folds her arms. “It's no use. You have already given up, James.”
James steps back and without adding anything else, he vanishes.
Victoria remains still, staring into space, as if she were living a surreal experience. As her tension eases, the cold determination she was supported by, is replaced by remorse. A deep remorse. She turns towards the paddock with a lost expression. Now the horses that the stable boy is pushing hastily towards an arcade, look like ghosts. Their neighs are distant noises.
Then the first big drops; dark spots on the dried up earth. Rolling over the treetops, thick low clouds are approaching. Where the downs take the place of the scrub, whirling sand hides the view. The air is still.
An icy gust strikes her, a heavy shower slaps her face. She slips on her jacket and with a hand on her hair, rushes into a reed roof cabin. She wedges herself behind a window. Now the whole area is swept by gusts of wind and sand, bending the young pines along the fence like twigs, while the puddles are widening quickly. The room is pervaded by the vivid flash of lightning; its rumble penetrates into her bones. Victoria closes her eyes and breathes in deeply. All around, only whistles and bangs. Suddenly everything dissolves.
SEDUCTION
@
The followers descend a winding staircase lit up by torches along the walls. They pass through a corridor and come out in the crypt, a room with eight columns supporting a low vault. They arrange themselves in a circle and keep silent. There are twenty of them in all. The air is fragrant with spices and the musical background transmits a sensation of peace.
Eve arrives with a white tunic opened to her hips, a veil on her head. The circle opens and she goes to the center. When the music stops, she lets the veil slide to her shoulders and begins: “The Council has honored me to be mother. A task I accept joyfully, because only united, we will have a chance to survive.”
She stops. Victoria has run into. The girl looks around with a lost expression.
Eve stretches out her arms. “Today is a great day: Victoria is participating in the ceremony, too.”
The circle opens, Victoria slips into.
The music begins again, and Eve drops her tunic. Her pale body is finely sculpted under her skin as smooth as porcelain. The group does likewise. Victoria hesitates, then heaves a sigh and follows suit.
Eve stretches out her ar
ms towards a black. The man, who has a sinewy body, moves away from the group. He comes to the woman, lying down at her feet. She stretches herself out above him. Victoria watches the scene carefully, but now the two are wrapped by a cocoon of light hiding them completely. By hearsay, such stirring sensations can be experienced, that someone can become addicted. Prolonged whispers echo in the crypt like those of the wind finding its way through a dense forest. The companions raise their arms, start waving, strike up an excited song... Now they are as restless as waves in a stormy sea, their voices making guttural sounds.
When, after a few minutes, the voices slacken, the brightness fades away and the couple’s features reappear. Propping herself up with her arms, Eve sits on the man. Then she breaks away in a flash. He rejoins the group. Eve turns towards Victoria, stretching out her arms. “It’s your turn now.”
All the eyes are turned towards the girl, but she pays no attention. Gazing into space, she walks towards the center with measured steps. Eve, who now is lying on the floor, makes a sign to join her. Charmed, Victoria bends down, but just before lying down, closes her eyes. She gives a start in contact with Eve’s soft skin, and smiles as she is filled with a heady feeling of tenderness. Now they are isolated in a cocoon of light, pressed one against the other. Eve’s warm breath, her fleshy lips...
Victoria hears a caressing voice speaking to her mind:
“I knew you were going to come.”
“I never stopped to dream this moment.”
“Kiss me.”
She lets herself go in a tender and passionate act.
While Victoria is still bewildered, Eve adds: “I am starting the extraction of the genetic code.”
A fire ball spreads through Victoria’s stomach, runs through her thorax up to her head, leaving her stunned.
Like a turbulent stream, images, sounds, emotions, wishes follow one another in her mind… Eve’s whole life flows, entering every fiber of Victoria’s being, becoming part of herself.
Unable to think, Victoria gives herself up a stormy sea.
She pants
and trembles,
she smiles
and groans,
again
and again.
Enraptured,
more
and more...
LOVE IS SHARING (14).
Victoria opens her whole self, letting her recollections flow outside.
One after the other, nonstop, up to the last one.
Now she is exhausted.
A lot of peace.
She feels serene.
Eve’s awareness has entered her,
and her awareness is inside Eve.
As in a dream, Victoria finds herself over the rippling surface of a cobalt sea. A flock of seagulls glides down towards an expanse of sea bubbling with silvery reflections. The breeze pushes her over cliffs dominated by a bright green forest. She wakes up bathed in sweat.
Eve is smiling a few centimeters away. "How did it go?"
"I’m shaken."
"Pay attention to the giddiness, when you stand up. A normal reaction, especially the first time. It will last only a few minutes. A companion will help you."
Victoria is projected by an invisible hand towards one of the group. Leaning on his arm, she reaches her place. There she remains motionless, shocked by emotions, while the next participants follow one another on Eve’s body.
At the end, a dazzling light streams from Eve’s eyes.
“Tomorrow I will introduce our son,” she announces. “I thank all of you, but especially Victoria, who has participated for the first time like me.”
The music starts again loudly. The feminine figure vanishes, followed by the other beings. Finally shadows swallow the room.
(14) The transfer of the parents’ recollections to the descendants, helped the diffusion of empathy and tolerance through the digital society, that soon became structurally peaceful. This attitude, combined with the introduction of the collaboration principle in the laws, revolutionized the organization of the virtual world, leading to accelerated progress.
PRESENTATION
@
“I am Adam, your son.”
Victoria’s heart skips a beat. The young man (15) has James’ imposing height, his marked features and thick hair she loves so much.
“Your memories are engraved in me, as well as your emotions and wishes,” he continues. “We are at the same time one and two beings. I lacked only this moment to know you completely.”
She rests her head against Adam’s chest. The tenderness of his skin…
A few hours later, the official presentation. Excited atmosphere, as for great events. Adam is in the middle of the crypt, surrounded by his parents who are competing to speak to him. A black man with a statuesque figure comes in.
“Excuse me,” says the young man. And without adding anything else, he walks towards the newcomer. The two meet halfway and embrace each other.
“Your life is an example for me,” says Adam.
“You have an exceptional mother, don’t forget: Eve is unique.”
The two draw aside and start telling their stories, with the familiarity of two friends who meet again after a long time.
“Who’s that man?” Victoria asks Eve.
“A person who did not hesitate to sacrifice his life for Civil Rights, and who is continuing his battle in Net. An example to us all, a dear friend: Martin Wing.”
Victoria is struck dumb. She has had a son from one of the most famous men in the solar system, a myth for those, like her, who believe in equality.
(15) In Net physical and intellectual development is very fast. During conception, the new being receives part of the parents’ culture and memories. At birth, he posses most of the maturity and experience of the grown-ups, and is linked by a close bond of affection with the preceding generations. Growth takes place in the time needed for the installation of programs, as for both intellectual and physical characteristics. Learning is obtained in the same way. Therefore a few days after procreation, the new being enters the world of the adults.
As a consequence, the family as known to humans does not exist in Net. Instead blood ties are so strong that immediately after birth, the new being feels an intense desire to meet his predecessors. For this reason relatives often form communities of hundreds of individuals.
EVOLUTION
For millennia genetic defects afflicted the human race. Some never knew what they were brooding over, but others had their life turned into an ordeal. At the end of the 20th century, the first changes, when medicine agreed to recognize a few severe defects in unborn children and birth selection enabled effective intervention. In the ensuing decades, the diagnoses improved and in case the defects were a serious threat, even if dormant, periodic controls were adopted. More and more therapies were developed, but often still not decisive, because of the complexity of the problem and the difficulty in finding general solutions.
In those years genetic therapy came to the forefront. The idea of introducing curative genes into the organism was just splendid, because it could make it possible to tackle the root of every problem. This method turned out to be successful in a few cases, but in many others revealed evident limits: it was dangerous, it could induce a remission, but almost never a complete recovery.
Meanwhile genetic engineering was used more and more in animals, targeting not the whole organism, but the few cells from which a new creature could be originated. This system, even if it had the advantage of transmitting the modifications to the descendants, only had sporadic use in man for ethical reasons and above all because science was still inadequate to face such a delicate task.
However as years went by, innovative methods were developed and the long term effects were studied. Towards the middle of the 21st century, the new technology became reliable, most of all mature for large scale employment.
But humanity was not ready yet. Were these methods really safe? Besides, what to cure? Only the m
ost serious illnesses, or also others? But why not go beyond, holding the reins of evolution, in order to improve the species? At that point, how to manage the transition? Above all, should human nature be modified? What are the limits that should not be exceeded? Will man be in a position to guide his evolution, or does he risk self-destruction, instead?
A slow but profound process started, which involved politicians and journalists, religious leaders and philosophers, scientists, managers and ordinary people in heated debates regularly amplified by the media. A process with dark moments, when it resulted in public disorder and terrorist outrages.
The birth of groups supporting accelerated innovation, with a shared ethics and vision of future, dates back at that time. Some of them, to implement their programs, converged into existing political parties; others, growing in size, became real meta-societies that set up parties revealing themselves to be extraordinary propellers of wealth and progress.
On their side, the institutions strove to guide the confused series of events, promulgating laws and sentences often invalidated by prejudices or affected by the mood of the moment, but also precise and cautious rules, which made an important contribution to progress.
The genetic engineering had an extraordinary potential. Genetic defects could be eradicated from the human race all in one go, but it also produced an evolutionary change of the species like that achieved by nature over millions of years. Semi-immortality was within reach at last. It could be extended to a lot of people, maybe to the whole population, producing jobs, a great deal of money and even an economic boom.
The doubters could be reassured with adequate guarantees. As for the opponents, global competition and market laws would be sufficient, rewarding the brave but also relegating the reluctant ones.
Industry sponsored the new technology, assuming it to be a farsighted policy. It invested huge sums in research, supported a cautious but constant progress and put security among its priorities. It lavished information on public opinion and institutions, showing both rigor and competence. It supported the setting up of policy committees, accepted the institution of control commissions and created powerful lobbies.