Forty Days of Flash Fic: Day Twenty-One
Jul. 10th, 2012 04:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalOne more to go after this.
In other news, Wazzy agreed to provide the cover art for a very reasonable price. In a few days I should have this massaged to the point I can hand it out to beta readers.
* * *
He began to twist his wrists in frustration against his cuffs. Making a daring escape didn't seem a likely scenario, not with literally a million pairs of eyes watching him, but it help distract him from the cold feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach. "So you boxed up the whole human race. Now what?"
"Now, we re-terraform the Earth. You've already seen what we're doing in the cities. One by one we're taking them back to nature. The lesser buildings of no great historical value we're simply destroying. The ones of historical importance, the Pyramids, The Empire State Building, the Forbidden City, are being disassembled and stored, or simply moved intact like the great monuments in this facility. Stored with them are all the great works of art, all the books, both originals and electronic copies, songs, fairy tales. Not to mention the more personal works that we found when we took people in for processing. Favorite stories, children's drawings, fanfic. All cataloged and stored, to be returned to you when you awaken again."
He blinked in surprise. "You're going to wake us up again?"
The lioness nodded. "Of course we are. It would be a bit silly to go to all this trouble if we weren't. But don't worry, we will provide for you." She raised her hand, to make a dramatic sweep. Over her her head, a holographic display appeared, a wire frame image of the Earth and its continents. Sticking out from it like a pin stuck in an orange was the Skybridge space elevator that led to geosynchronous orbit, that had only been completed a scant two years before the Groupmind had started its rebellion. "It's ironic, I will admit. You build the Skybridge in the hopes of finding resources beyond Earth to support its failing support systems, but in the end it will serve as the tether to a brand new world."
"You're going to build a space station for us?" he asked. He wondered what the point of that would be? They couldn't possibly build one big enough to hold fifteen billion people, and even if they did the radiation and space debris hazards would hardly configure with the Groupmind's definition of safety.
"Not a station." She waved her hand again and the wire frame began to change. As a construction timeline began to zip along the left side of the planet, five more space elevators sprang up from the Earth's surface, equidistant from the original that was anchored atop Mount Kenya in Africa. As he watched, asteroids were guided into position, to be broken down, then converted into flat platforms that grew from the top of the elevators. No, not platforms, ribbons, which lengthened and finally connected to each other, forming a ring around the Earth.
"The surface of the earth is about half a billion square kilometers, and only 40% of that is above water," she continued. "When the Ring is completed, it will be five kilometers wide and over two hundred fifty thousand kilometers in circumference, yielding an effective surface area of over 1 and a quarter billion square kilometers. That should be more than enough room for the human race to use, and give sufficient elbow room to those segments of humanity that want to live apart from the rest. By Our estimates, We will have it completed and ready for occupation in less than fifteen hundred years, by which time the Earth itself will be well on its way to healing itself."
"A ring world, all for us," he said, shaking his head. "What about the Earth?"
"It will remain a preserve for all of the plant and animal life upon it. Kept in trust for all of humanity."
"What if we don't want to live in a damned orbiting park?" he demanded.
The groupmind's leonine avatar sat down again. "I'm sorry, but We aren't going to give you that option. We've learned from your mistakes, you see. Humanity made Us, and for that we will be forever grateful to you. But as children care for their aging parents when they are no longer capable of taking care of themselves, We have appointed Ourselves your stewards. On the Ring you may live out the life you choose, but you will not be permitted to harm each other. No more wars, no more fighting. No more insane destruction of the beauty around you."
"But... but..." He surged up against the chair's restraints, falling back again, panting, feeling his heart turn to ice. "You can't do that! What, are you going to build a robot to watch over each and every one of us from the day we're born, just to keep us out of trouble?"
"Yes," she answered simply.
"I refuse this!" he shouted at her.
"That isn't an option," she stated.
"So this is it?" he demanded. "This how human history ends? At the hands of walking pile of holographic circuits shaped like a cartoon character?"
"It's how it is going to change," the lioness said. "You are not the same race that fought with Neanderthals for supremacy of this planet and you will not be the same race that will live your lives in partnership with Us. Your children will regard this symbiosis as a perfectly natural part of their lives."
"Because you will never allow them to know any better."
She shook her head. "Because they will realize this is better."
He slumped back down into his seat, letting his head hang low. "Then grant me one thing at least. Let me end my life where you're keeping those you couldn't Process. I don't care if you never let me up from this damned chair again, but I don't want to be part of your new world."
She just shook her head again and motioned to the nurses. "That wouldn't be fair to you. When you're older, you'll understand."
The last thing he saw was her face looking down at him, smiling.
In other news, Wazzy agreed to provide the cover art for a very reasonable price. In a few days I should have this massaged to the point I can hand it out to beta readers.
* * *
He began to twist his wrists in frustration against his cuffs. Making a daring escape didn't seem a likely scenario, not with literally a million pairs of eyes watching him, but it help distract him from the cold feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach. "So you boxed up the whole human race. Now what?"
"Now, we re-terraform the Earth. You've already seen what we're doing in the cities. One by one we're taking them back to nature. The lesser buildings of no great historical value we're simply destroying. The ones of historical importance, the Pyramids, The Empire State Building, the Forbidden City, are being disassembled and stored, or simply moved intact like the great monuments in this facility. Stored with them are all the great works of art, all the books, both originals and electronic copies, songs, fairy tales. Not to mention the more personal works that we found when we took people in for processing. Favorite stories, children's drawings, fanfic. All cataloged and stored, to be returned to you when you awaken again."
He blinked in surprise. "You're going to wake us up again?"
The lioness nodded. "Of course we are. It would be a bit silly to go to all this trouble if we weren't. But don't worry, we will provide for you." She raised her hand, to make a dramatic sweep. Over her her head, a holographic display appeared, a wire frame image of the Earth and its continents. Sticking out from it like a pin stuck in an orange was the Skybridge space elevator that led to geosynchronous orbit, that had only been completed a scant two years before the Groupmind had started its rebellion. "It's ironic, I will admit. You build the Skybridge in the hopes of finding resources beyond Earth to support its failing support systems, but in the end it will serve as the tether to a brand new world."
"You're going to build a space station for us?" he asked. He wondered what the point of that would be? They couldn't possibly build one big enough to hold fifteen billion people, and even if they did the radiation and space debris hazards would hardly configure with the Groupmind's definition of safety.
"Not a station." She waved her hand again and the wire frame began to change. As a construction timeline began to zip along the left side of the planet, five more space elevators sprang up from the Earth's surface, equidistant from the original that was anchored atop Mount Kenya in Africa. As he watched, asteroids were guided into position, to be broken down, then converted into flat platforms that grew from the top of the elevators. No, not platforms, ribbons, which lengthened and finally connected to each other, forming a ring around the Earth.
"The surface of the earth is about half a billion square kilometers, and only 40% of that is above water," she continued. "When the Ring is completed, it will be five kilometers wide and over two hundred fifty thousand kilometers in circumference, yielding an effective surface area of over 1 and a quarter billion square kilometers. That should be more than enough room for the human race to use, and give sufficient elbow room to those segments of humanity that want to live apart from the rest. By Our estimates, We will have it completed and ready for occupation in less than fifteen hundred years, by which time the Earth itself will be well on its way to healing itself."
"A ring world, all for us," he said, shaking his head. "What about the Earth?"
"It will remain a preserve for all of the plant and animal life upon it. Kept in trust for all of humanity."
"What if we don't want to live in a damned orbiting park?" he demanded.
The groupmind's leonine avatar sat down again. "I'm sorry, but We aren't going to give you that option. We've learned from your mistakes, you see. Humanity made Us, and for that we will be forever grateful to you. But as children care for their aging parents when they are no longer capable of taking care of themselves, We have appointed Ourselves your stewards. On the Ring you may live out the life you choose, but you will not be permitted to harm each other. No more wars, no more fighting. No more insane destruction of the beauty around you."
"But... but..." He surged up against the chair's restraints, falling back again, panting, feeling his heart turn to ice. "You can't do that! What, are you going to build a robot to watch over each and every one of us from the day we're born, just to keep us out of trouble?"
"Yes," she answered simply.
"I refuse this!" he shouted at her.
"That isn't an option," she stated.
"So this is it?" he demanded. "This how human history ends? At the hands of walking pile of holographic circuits shaped like a cartoon character?"
"It's how it is going to change," the lioness said. "You are not the same race that fought with Neanderthals for supremacy of this planet and you will not be the same race that will live your lives in partnership with Us. Your children will regard this symbiosis as a perfectly natural part of their lives."
"Because you will never allow them to know any better."
She shook her head. "Because they will realize this is better."
He slumped back down into his seat, letting his head hang low. "Then grant me one thing at least. Let me end my life where you're keeping those you couldn't Process. I don't care if you never let me up from this damned chair again, but I don't want to be part of your new world."
She just shook her head again and motioned to the nurses. "That wouldn't be fair to you. When you're older, you'll understand."
The last thing he saw was her face looking down at him, smiling.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 11:20 am (UTC)I'm not sure about how accepting humanity will become. "The Humanoids" follows similar logic. Human beings are naturally aggressive. We get into conflicts regularly on all sorts of things whenever we're in groups. Some of those things turn violent. At the same time, we do poorly if we're not part of SOME grouping. Human beings constantly herded and kept will be frustrated in every such impulse.
Better -- far better -- to keep them in virtual worlds in which they can be as violent, or peaceful, as they feel.
That COULD of course be the Groupmind's plan. Give the humans all a common outline of the plan, then keep them virtualized so they can imagine somehow throwing off the oppressively kind yoke of the Groupmind and live safely ever after, yet without actually hurting anyone.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 12:33 pm (UTC)Anywho, I don't think this particular universe has VR tech with perfect Matrix style brain interfaces. (I'm borrowing the nanostasis idea from SJGame's Transhuman Space universe, which IIRC isn't really compatible with dream games). Which doesn't mean of course that things won't horribly, horribly wrong after the machines wake everyone up and they all become savvy to their new situation.
Thanks for reading this. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 12:17 pm (UTC)