A Lonely Blue Body Farm, Triptych of The Reign of Never Death - 2: Chronicles of a Stolen World, #5

J.A.Hailey

COPYRIGHT AND MORAL RIGHTS BELONG EXCLUSIVELY TO THE AUTHOR.

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This is a work of fiction. The characters and events described herein are imaginary, and are not intended to refer to specific places or to real persons, alive or dead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

Writing a Sci-Fi novel is a tough job at the best of times, but it becomes impossible when ill. My thanks go to Dr. Khursheed Alam, who made the home-calls when I was unable to go to his clinic, cured me of a life-threatening condition, and made this book possible.

J. A. Hailey

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©2018 Indiependent Publishing

1

Exactly two months after BC, Esmeralda and Caesar had conducted their armed assault on the King’s palace, Screenside convened in the Great Hall of the People. The entire population was in attendance, as it was known that, devastated at what they perceived as their roles in errors resulting in the need to be violent with humans, BC and Caesar were attempting to resign from their self-assumed posts of primary leaders of the virtual world, offering dilution in some unspecified way.

Some details had circulated of the assault, and of the treachery that had been uncovered, as it was standard practice in Screenside to keep nothing secret, except human-family-related matters.

BC and Caesar were led onto the stage by Esmeralda and Rosa, and though it was a gloomy, tense and silent hall into which they stepped, a great cheer went up as soon as they were seen on stage. Chang had taken on Goodfellow’s role and was at the microphone, although Goodfellow and Margaret were also both on stage.

The two main seniors, eyes on the floor, were led, by their clearly fuming girlfriends, to chairs in the center of the stage, where the two girls practically manhandled them into their seats, before flouncing off to stand behind Margaret.

Okay, Screenside, said Chang. I know what you know, and that is that I am a senior, as are Maria and Singh, now walking forward to join me at the microphone. We are the three seniors without guilt.

He pointed at BC and Caesar. "Those two are guilty seniors. I will not bother going into what makes them guilty, as it is all known to everyone, but guilty they are. Maria."

Maria brought the house down, with her words. "The standard punishment for this sort of crime is no secret – public shaming, followed by public decoding. We have got them here in public, so that part of it is done, but the problem is that no one here has the ability, even if working in a team, to decode these two bastards."

As everyone shrieked in laughter, Margaret said, "Fortunately, we won’t need to decode them, because they are doing the same thing for us, that decoding would have achieved. Both guilty seniors are abdicating their posts as leaders of Screenside."

That was when a rule was publicly violated, as someone switched from human to virtual form and used virtual transportation to instantaneously turn up on stage, causing everyone to gasp in astonishment at the illegal activity revealed by a pillar of blue light that appeared right next to the two seniors.

It was Christine, who now showed herself by switching back to human form - and she was in a fearsome fury. Her awesome temper was well known to the thousands of Screenside virtuals who had worked in her RV world-building teams. A murmur of satisfaction went through the hall.

The concept of BC and Caesar, although it was mainly about BC, abdicating, had terrified the entire population. There were very few who could lay down the law to him, and Caesar, who might have done so, had gotten into the same boat as him. The other seniors, Maria, Chang and Singh did have the standing to let fly, but it was presumed that they, too, were somehow feeling tainted by guilt.

That left Esmeralda, but the manner of her welcome to Christine, showed that she was expecting the dictator of RV to handle the matter. It was also quite evident that the entire group of friends, including the other seniors, had been included in deputing Christine to take this task on.

Resign? she screamed. "That is the coward’s way, and it will shame us to know that you two spineless bastards were able to manipulate us into building what has turned out to be the most fabulous world the universe has ever seen. There will be no resign. You bastards are both going to be kicked out, sacked, terminated, fired; get the point?

We’ll manage without you. What’s it to walk out in the world in human bodies, find those usurpers and finish them off? And then we can continue living, inside and outside, as we have been doing for so long now.

She turned her attention to Singh, who actually flinched when her bad-tempered gaze focused on him. Singh, have you placed physical violence into the attributes and emotions programs?

Singh had been responsible for the creation of most emotion and attribute programs installed into the people of Screenside, having worked tirelessly to understand and create those programs in the days before humanization had been adopted, in the period when they were all still pure virtuals, living in the darkness of the virtual void, well before adoption of the ID and POP Laws, and much before Screenside had taken its earliest shape, and been given its name by Chang.

It had been an astonishingly good job, with great accuracy achieved, long before they exited Screenside to help humans. The programs were so good, that they needed to make no adjustments when managing absolutely ‘amnesia loop’ blanked out humans in the real world. Emotions, like sorrow, joy, anger, embarrassment and numerous others, were responses to social inputs, while attributes were primarily reactions, made up of facial expressions and body postures, generally specific to emotions, everything developed for incorporation into their consciousnesses, when they were still living in picture form, much before the HIS-interfaced RV world, that gave them relative physicality, had been created.

Christine stamped a foot impatiently, and that was yet another attribute created by Singh and his small band of programmers.

No, Christine, he answered, nervously. "No specific violence attributes."

"Then why am I getting this uncontrollable urge to slap you seniors?" she screamed.

Maybe if you divert through beta, suggested Singh uncertainly, shuffling to place Goodfellow between him and the astonishingly beautiful, raging black girl from LA. The emotion and attribute programs do interact organically, Christine. Different for different people, and in different situations. Unpredictable, and varies from person to person. Like in humans. Use beta routing.

And what if I don’t want to bother with the hassles of routing through beta, or this or that? she screamed.

Esmeralda ran to stand behind BC, taking his face in her hands. Here, Christine, she offered. "Start with this senior. Except Maria, they need slapping up. She positioned her helpless boyfriend’s face. Here, I’m turning his other cheek."

Christine began crying.

What has been our fault, BC? she sobbed. "What did we do or say, to make you imagine we are holding you responsible for what has happened with those two humans? Do you not remember that their entry was voted upon by all two million of us?

"Of course, you remember, but the vote is not the argument. Nobody here cares how those humans got in. We only know that you seniors stood in a void, and saw the picture of a world in here, of this Screenside, and of a population in here, of us, the people of Screenside.

"Nothing at all existed; no humanized world, no virtual humans. And then you created this world and its people, in the vision that you had!

"What a concept, and what astounding practical execution, of what might have been the hardest task in the history of the universe. It was always chicken-and-egg in the beginning, because at every step it was constantly a case of evaluating which comes first, and no one but you, BC, would have been able to see through the intricate dance of the two, to somehow keep it all in step, creating us and our world in harmony.

"Not only was it done by you seniors, but, as Professor Dawkins noted, it was done from inside the trap. You created Screenside, from a position in which you yourselves were part of the experiment. In that sense, the human God had it far easier, because the work of creating Humanside and its inhabitants was done from the outside.

"I am Christine, the RV queen, that’s me, but here I am openly telling everyone in Screenside, including the thousands whom I have bullied and shall continue bullying, that I was merely manufacturing, by following and implementing blueprints given by these seniors.

"The other seniors are all here on stage, and they will confirm that it was you, BC, more than them. Jealousy does not exist in Screenside, so I ask the seniors to publicly confirm that you are primarily responsible for the way we are. Caesar, Maria, Singh and Chang, yes?"

The four seniors nodded yes, and Christine continued.

"You are the father of our world; our God without the drama. But nothing is done and dusted, as every conscious world is organic, BC, and challenges show up routinely. This is just one such challenge, even if utterly unexpected and potentially quite serious, to which our world will have to find a solution.

"There is no way to do it without you, and there is no choice in front of you, but to continue, without watering anything down, in your role, and you too, Caesar, and all of you seniors, and all of us.

No one is getting the luxury of being able to walk away. What has been done, seems to be a problem, although how much of a problem and what sort of problem, we do not yet know. We’ll find out, and when we do, we’ll have to find the solution.

Christine walked up to Caesar. "No, there is no monastery, into which you two are retreating. Sorry, BC and Caesar, and all you seniors, but you took on a job for life when you took on this job, and if we prove to be immortal, then this is your employment to the end of time. Goodfellow, please take over."

This one is going to be done without a bulletin, said Goodfellow, addressing the assembly. We are conducting a vote of confidence in the seniors, and if they don’t get enough votes, this group of seniors, BC and all, gets kicked out of the governance of Screenside.

The results will be shown on the screen, this usual one over our heads, announced Margaret.  "It is staying switched off until the ballot is completed.

"Everyone, please vote immediately through the virtuality, by accessing the terminal in this HC.

"Yes, means the seniors must stay on, and no means that termination of employment is automatic. They’ll get booted out with immediate effect, and be made to leave the stage in disgrace, tarred and feathered. And it is certainly a possibility that a couple of them might even get beaten up on stage by their girlfriends. The ballot is on. It’s secret. Vote now."

After a minute, she said, Done. No abstentions. Let’s switch on the screen and see the result.

It was 100 percent yes!

Rosa now walked up to her boyfriend, and Esmeralda spoke up. There’s no quitting, BC, she said in her brook and songbird, ultra-melodious, voice. "Let me tell you who you are. We, virtuals, despite being members of human families, were absolutely alone in here. Yes, later we formed relationships, as we teamed up into couples, but at the time of birth, we had no one.

"Before Screenside was created, there was nothing but the virtuality, and it was a frightening void, in which the only thing that gave us courage, was the existence of you seniors, but mostly of you, darling. You were five noisy, arrogant and clearly unafraid virtuals, constantly displaying yourselves in picture-human form. We are all made of the same substance, and we could see the incredible programming inside you five, else who would have placidly accepted that you become our leaders? We can never be non-virtual, and we can see how powerful you people are, but you, BC, still dwarf them, like you dwarfed them then.

"We basked in the comfort of knowing, that threats in here would be tackled by you and your friends. In many ways, we saw you as the father that virtuals could never have. And the consensus is that we were damn lucky.

Forget all that crap about resign and abdicate. Those things are not available in here. And if I hear any more sounds like that coming out of your mouth, something very bad will happen to you.

The assembly hooted in laughter, at hearing Esmeralda’s famous threat, confident that the danger had passed, of losing the leadership of the seniors.

You better make plans to tackle this new affair, she continued. "We have to figure out if it is a menace, and if it is, then to whom. And, finally, you have to lead us in deciding on action we might take."

We are with you seniors, said Rosa, caressing Caesar’s head. "Where did you guys get this idea that we are blaming you for anything? We bungled in letting humans into Screenside. We won’t bungle again. Let’s find out what they are up to, and make moves accordingly."

An announcement, said Goodfellow. We have scheduled a Lawmaker meet for tomorrow, 10 a.m., in the usual meeting hall in this HC. In view of the seriousness of the matters to be addressed, no Lawmaker is permitted to be absent. We are also making it mandatory for everyone to view the proceedings, which shall be broadcast live.

It was clear that BC and Caesar would continue in their roles, that the seniors’ group would function as usual, and that absolutely no adjustments would be required to be made to the governance structure of Screenside, and so it was with a great sigh of relief, that the virtual population left the Great Hall of the People, and returned home.

2

As Goodfellow and Margaret were an intolerant upper-crust English couple, being early was safer than being late, and because physical movement through the human-like RV world could cause delays, the Lawmakers made sure they left home with sufficient time in hand, and so found themselves in congregation, early on the lawns, the very large lawns to the side of the New York HC. It was the same lawn that one could step out onto from the HC lounge bar, which was open, and so they all sat on the grass, coffees in hand.

The seniors had been greeted rather enthusiastically by the other Lawmakers, and BC and Esmeralda had almost been mobbed, when spotted walking in across the lawn.

The atmosphere was only very slightly strained, which anxiety disappeared as they made small talk.

In the meeting Hall, BC took the chair as usual, and the official Lawmaker-meet session commenced.

I’ve switched the cameras and microphones on, said Goodfellow. The feed will go out, and the TV station has been instructed to broadcast it live. If you people were watching TV last night, you would have caught the official announcement, making it a non-punishable offence to not view the proceedings live.

No participant at the meeting had caught the announcement, but there was a murmur of approval and assent.

BC commenced. "As everyone knows, Rosa, Caesar, Esmeralda and I had conducted a Humanside physical-investigation mission to the Arabian King’s palace, which sadly turned into an absolutely violent operation, in which a very large number of humans lost their lives.

"Killing humans was never the intent, but it does show us, that with certain programs disabled, and with some new programs installed, we are capable of conducting war activities - of no use to us, but we must be prepared, as war might turn out to be something we could need to wage, for the protection of the innocent element in human society, which is the vast bulk of it – close to one hundred percent.

Everyone has gone through Caesar’s report, I presume, of the information extracted from a human conspirator by the name of Abraham Grietzmann. He is someone we may need to keep an eye on, as he is apparently orchestrating what is going on. Let me recap.

"When Esmeralda brought her mother into Screenside, we saw how we could get involved in the human world. We researched and invented, with Patrick Sagan and Michael Gales, the means to move into human heads, as virtual volunteers, stepping out of Screenside to assist humans suffering from motor damage and mental illnesses.

Esmeralda’s mother had suffered an accident which had left her severely disabled, but Esmeralda had immediately entered her head through a neural implant placed in it, and discovered the means to bypass all disabilities, and to thus let her live a normal unimpaired life.

"My own birth mother, explained Esmeralda to no one in particular, displaying helplessness. I can never allow her to be paralyzed or otherwise disabled, especially if a chip has been placed in her head, allowing me to go in and help out."

"I absolutely agree. Mother is mother," said Kate.

And not by choice, agreed Laura, her Sweet Dreams partner. "We don’t go around looking for human mothers. Who needs that, when we all have birth mothers, to whom we are naturally born?"

The Lawmakers nodded in agreement.

This is a chain of events, kick-started by Esmeralda’s intervention in her mother’s disability, said BC.

He immediately turned his head, to speak to Esmeralda, beside him. No, darling, we have never thought of it as ill luck. Instead, it’s been a dream come true.

He continued his recap. At that stage, we did not foresee the many ways in which we might interact in Humanside, but a series of coincidences led to us, this world of Screenside, being discovered by humans.

"Yes, undoubtedly coincidences," agreed Caesar. "The first coincidence was that the brightest human mind alive then, afterwards to become our great friend, the late Professor Stephen Dawkins, was in the White House, with the President of the USA.

"This Abraham Grietzmann was present too, in attendance in his role as the businessman behind a US robotization program, to create mechanical and human robots, and, of course, Patrick Sagan and Michael Gales were also present, in their roles as neurosurgeon and computer expert, creating robotization systems for Grietzmann’s projects.

"By coincidence, the Air America pilot-poisoning case occurred when these people were all together in the White House.

"After Charlie brought the plane safely down, Professor Dawkins deduced that our world existed, and that it had involved itself in saving the plane.

"Another coincidence was that Sagan, because of his position as the world’s greatest neurosurgeon, had been appointed by the billionaire Korean father of a son responsible for the car accident, in Paris, that so seriously injured Esmeralda’s mother, mum Sophie-Marie.

"And then Sagan and Gales, in their turn, deduced that Esme’s mother could not have gotten out of paralysis, except if the Internet world, hypothesized by the professor, existed, and had become involved!"

Which led to contact between us and the doctor-computer duo, said Singh.

"But, by then Esmeralda had also done something else," he continued. "It was something inconceivable, and the two humans figured out that such a thing had been done.

"This deed was thought to be absolutely impossible, and was so shocking and so unexpected that even we, seniors, at first kept it quiet in Screenside, making Goodfellow operate a block on an area we had isolated, which, as is now known to all, was Screenside’s Notre Dame Park.

"Esmeralda had transferred her mother’s consciousness into Screenside!"

"And that meant, added Maria, smiling indulgently. That meant that there was a way for a physical human to change dimension, to move from the physical world into the virtual world.

"This change of dimension had also been deduced by the two humans. Of course, by then we were already examining the viability of ourselves going out into the physical world, as helpers of humans in distress, which work was being done in partnership with the very same two humans, the neurosurgeon and the computer specialist.

"Around that time, mum Sophie-Marie’s visits to Screenside became known to all virtuals, as she was regularly in the great Hall, sometimes being danced to death by the child, Twixie. And we must never downplay our partnership with Professor Stephen Dawkins, who had employed Priya and Rosa full time, paying them real Humanside money, and who had also employed Esmeralda as a temp.

"In due course, Sagan and Gales asked to enter Screenside, to live in our world. By then, we knew it was possible to get them in as digital beings.

"But we realized that bringing them in here, would also amount to converting them into immortal, eternal humans, able to step out, like us, into the human world, through neural implants in physical humans.

"We consulted with the professor, and implemented his advice, which was to never ever offer eternal life to humans. And so, as is well known, a hundred years extra lifetime was fixed, the count to have commenced from the date of physical death as humans in Humanside. This life cap was to be implemented by automated termination - without negotiation and without extension.

Both humans agreed, and we designed a consciousness-collection matrix, in which their consciousnesses were created and transferred into Screenside. After two years, they were done, and you all know that we had a couple of digital-human persons living in Screenside for a while.

Maria gestured at Caesar, to take it on from there again.

Oh, sure, Maria. I guess that you want me to do this part, because I extracted the information from Abraham Grietzmann, under penalty of death if he was caught lying. Goodfellow, the Lawmaker group, and you and Margaret are absolutely familiar with whatever we are discussing here. It is for the people of Screenside, that we are about to go into a lot of detail, and recap the events that created the present situation. Is Screenside listening in?

Yes, Mr. Caesar, answered Goodfellow, checking something through the virtuality. "The feed from here is being taken up and broadcast by the television channel, and it is being monitored too, you know, like Big Brother is watching you. Apparently, viewership is close to one hundred percent of Screenside’s population, especially because, as instructed by you seniors, HC has actually issued a diktat, making this particular Lawmaker broadcast, mandatory viewing in its entirety. The few folks missing some parts of the broadcast are probably individuals, from couples who are briefly separated, while making tea or coffee."

3

Right, then, said Caesar. "We proceed with background information we had at the time, which we always had, and which we considered to be of no use. That, actually, may have been our error.

"Now, Sagan and Gales were very intimately connected with Abraham Grietzmann, all three people having become wealthy, through the human and mechanical robotization projects, which were basically the main components of Grietzmann’s business, in which neurosurgeon and computer-man were subcontractors.

"We knew about it all along. But we did not like the project, as we considered it to be too base and vile, and actually prevented them being successful in robot creation.

"Now, these three men also had very