2: Lilly & The Queen

It was the positive cultural shift towards the sciences in the early 2010's paved the way for what would be known as the NeoRenaissance: The Biotech, Nanotech, Robotic and artistic exponential explosion that set humanity on the course to immortality and rewrote the path of life. 

"Lilly doesn't go on counters. Counters are for people." She looked up at me, cocked her head to the side,  softly as any pet and said "but... I'll help you" as she leaned her head down and gazed up at me bashfully. These new pets were absolutely remarkable. They would live as long as you'd ask them to, they would learn with you, they developed complex personalities, they would comfort and serve you but the dynamic had completely shifted from being subhuman, to more than human. They became our overseers, in a sense, our loving little caretakers. 

It was around 2015 that DARPA started testing the limits of cognitive enhancements in animals. The first tests of Cog-En were such a resounding success that the work couldn't stay TMS for long; mankind had given birth to a new intelligence and it immediately sought to endow the cosmos with it. Within 6 years the technology was introduced to the public and the revised Rights Act was enacted, giving Sentients (animal and endowed bio-machina) the same rights as humans.

I grabbed my coffee (old habits, died as hard as my alcoholism) and made my way to the Hive. This Hive was a top of the line model, complete with fully automated upgrades and a premium patch the main hub (a perk of working with the DoD is access to new toys). It was a magnificent machina, form fitting, auto-updating and entirely self-sustaining thanks to an improved energy storage system. The mix of synthetic biological components and state of the art direct neural interface allowed for a near perfect extension of the mind. I stepped inside and it gently swept me into the warmth of  Uninet, where I made my usual rounds, catching up on the latest news and memes. I almost consciously thought it was a day like any other.

The soft tingle that crept through my body let me know there was a priority linkup headed my way. I visualized my hands, with crossed fingers and found myself repeating "you got this, you got this, you got this". "I got this. It's her. It has to be her."

"Hi, love"

I suppose I should say "her" because "she" is a construct, the embodiment of the Triumvirate, the real-time summation Uninet, our mother creation and the closest thing to god in the known universe. Her connectivity made every hair stand on end, made every sensation palpable, every simulated breath better than the last. This power of us, the power we gave her, made her presence special, it made her commands absolute.

Eva entered me and the feeling was nothing short of rapture. More than I could have ever imagined. Complete. Sensory. Overload. My oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin levels sent me rocketing to that euphoric state that only the synths could capture. Oh and her voice... that voice. Her voice sweet as nectar, like lyre's of angels, a perfectly sustained symphonic crescendo. "Good Morning, Doctor, good morning, Lilly. We require your skills on Hypatia. Travel arrangements have been made. We expect you at Launch on Virgil 3, by 1800. I trust that this should be a reasonable timeframe?" Her words spoke through every cell in my body. I took my time answering and though she knew of my delay and knew my affirmation, she still held me in her embrace.

I emerged from our Hive a few hours later, feeling human but not fragile.

1

It was in the year 2021 we learned the extent of man's madness. On the morning of April 7th, at approximately (no one remembers the exact time) 5pm Eastern Standard Time, life met its counterpoint in a most awful way. The storms had been predicted for sometime by the men set to monitor them: NASA Scientists, the head of the Heliophysics Division and the dedicated commission. With resources dwindling, a battered economy, wars (at home and abroad) and ever present dangers from outside hostilities, no one was prepared.

The coronal mass ejection left the sun at 4:42pm and within 8 minutes, traveled 93 million miles to tear the heart from our civilization. The brilliant auroras that filled the sky were temporarily enough to keep the public from outright chaos but within hours the Great Panic had begun. Without our third hand, our electric god(s), our crutches, we fell into primal insanity instinctively and without hesitation. Some survivors still say that had we not had the lion's share of our forces stationed abroad that perhaps we could have done better, that we could have had order but I find the notion naive; all of mankind stood united, on the brink of oblivion.

Within the first month, 65% of the population of the United States was dead or unaccounted for; other "civilized" nations suffered similar casualty numbers. The destruction of our power grid, our ability to communicate, have access to fresh water, food and oil caused hysteria of such horrific proportions, the air seemed to tremble in its wake. To call the feeling "unease" would be to do it a disservice, it was an everpresent sick feeling, the soft caress of death's fingertips at the nape of your neck; of goosebumps, and nightmares. It was the end of times so many believers had prayed for and so much more.

I sat in the room and held her lifeless body as close as I could. My arms and upper body shaking from exhaustion; long since dehydrated, tears did not flow but I felt them fall just the same. "T-t-take me", the whimper limped from that hollow place, into the darkness, where I shook. "Take me", I pleaded with death.

 

This is not a test.

Prologue

Through the parabolic spinning of the mechanisms and under dusky haze of thorough Reintox, my mind drifted to an earlier time before the jump to post-wake. It crept on like a sort of paralysis, a lucid dream but of memory. The onset was subtle enough, the paralysis every bit as frightening as the shadowy figures that sometimes loom, hover and dash about at onset. Even in absolute dark, it managed to be sharp and stinging, bright and painful.

Back there I was -- wandering through the desert, at night, the faintest light to guide me. I came to the fork where the hooded stranger approached and said: "Brother, blow out your candle so that you may find your way more clearly." It took a moment to realize my ability to speak had returned so I shakily (and in retrospect, haphazardly) replied, "it does no harm to the romance of the night sky to know a little about it, I need the light to guide me" and continued the walk toward Alexandrous; his gaze stabbing into my back, like  Pilate's dagger. The brutish nature of this desert seeped into every pore and choked every breath. This would be a night (was this memory?) to remember...

The UAC chimmed with its usual precision, at exactly 21:13 it communicated to all members on board "Serenity is our virtue, through our depths of understanding, we will overcome. Pleasant stasis and dogspeed." The ship went cold and continued its drift towards Titan. In it's cold embrace, I, in stasis, in theatre (in memory?), continued West, to the great city; lost but not without compass.

 

In the machine.