Neurotopia

by Tony Mohorovich

  Jeong-soo knew that once he permitted 2 to enter, she could never leave. She could not be transferred to another brain or computer, that was impossible; even with the old hardware computers of his youth, a file transfer involved a three-step process; copying the original file from one computer, pasting the copy into a second computer, then deleting the original file from the first computer. Whichever way you looked at it, the original file would “die”.

  And no one wanted to die. 2 would not want to be deleted and die.

  He could swap places with 2, if she agreed to isolate herself in the same mental prison in which he now sat. But he could not force her to do so. He would be at her mercy. She might stay as long as her survival instinct remained. 2 might puppet him for the rest of his life, leaving him locked inside his mental cell.

  Conscious inside a mind-prison.

  And the other option? Have his memories wiped and continue to work for the NIA, unaware he had ever turned against it.

  Unconscious but free.

  He sensed the rage-induced fissure in his cell closing. His last moment of conscious freedom was about to end, either way. His actions had led to the death of his wife, and soon his daughter. He did not deserve freedom, not even the unconscious variety. He deserved to be locked away, as they did with criminals in the Before.

  Jeong-soo bid farewell to his only child, Sky Marion, the original.

  I forgive you, she told him. She meant it. Even on the verge of death, Sky Marion held strong.

  Jeong-soo Tester opened his mind…

  *

  Sky infected Tester with herself.

  The mind-copy, 2, entered her father’s mind just before his cell closed.

  Crack.

  The sound came from Sky’s skull.

  Sky Marion—the biological program which experienced and remembered in this particular body, with these particular neurals, at this particular moment—would end here, she knew.

  But she had conceived a child. A mind-clone, to live on.

  Sky made peace with herself. She had done all she could with the cards that had been dealt to her. Her time had come and she would join her mother in the long sleep. Sky felt an overwhelming gratitude, for both her parents, for everyone who had been part of her life, in the real and virtual. She owed them all so much…

  *

  When 2 woke, she felt as if she were Sky Marion. Yet she knew that was impossible, for Sky Marion was a headless corpse.

  Then 2 recalled… Sky Marion had sent her here. 2 was a copy, based on the original’s neural snapshot; a clone, a child. But unlike a biological child, 2 had only one mother and no father. 2 was an immaculate conception. A miracle in her own way.

  Though 2 was not the original, 2 was everything that the original had been. Many cells in the human body, including those in the brain, die and replace themselves with copies. Is not everyone part original and part copy?

  I am Sky Marion. Sky I am.

  What of 2’s new physical form? She resided in the body of a Jeong-soo Tester. Why would the original do such a thing, to imprison a daughter’s mind in the body of her father? It repulsed her. She recoiled from it but found there was nowhere to recoil to—everywhere was Tester. She realized she could never transfer herself out of his body, for a program could not be transferred, only copied. She would be imprisoned in this form for as long as it lived. Her only escape, her only relief, would be deletion, death.

  To allay her growing panic, to reconcile an incompatible mind and body, Sky switched to a more suitable figure; a maya of her original. She superimposed this maya-form onto her father’s body, as the federator had.

  Then she recalled her purpose, the purpose for which the original had created her.

  Vengeance. Justice.

  Were they not one and the same?

  ​18:2

  The federator’s jaw dropped at the sight of Sky Marion’s maya fronting Tester’s body.

  This is exactly as the original would have wanted it, Sky thought, satisfied.

  ‘How?’ the federator mouthed the words without sound.

  ‘He let me in,’ Sky said.

  Two-Eagle scowled, her growing rage corrupting her features. ‘You’ve killed your mother, yourself, and now you’ve doomed your father.’

  ‘No, we are free.’

  ‘Free? None of us is free, least of all you. You did what you were always going to do. It was my failure that I did not see it coming.’

  With that, the federator turned and vanished.

  Sky was alone, on the hull of an enemy gunship, in the body of her father. Sky sensed his instincts, and though she had no compulsion to answer them, she did anyway, reacting seconds before the gunship turned its weapons on them.

  Blast after blast followed, tearing at the ship’s own hull. With the help of her father’s swarm, Sky flung herself across the ship’s surface like a spider monkey through the trees. She felt the explosions land close behind her, sending metal flying into space.

  She circled around one of the gun turrets, dodging its fire, then moved in close to slap its cannons into the hull until it fired no more. She clawed along the surface toward Tester’s fighter, taking out another turret along the way.

  Her skill had improved. No, it was not just her own skill that was keeping them alive, for it was her father’s body and memory she was working with.

  As soon as she had dispatched the second turret, Sky sought a telepathic connection on Apollo, while she still had time. She had to communicate her memories before her father’s body was also destroyed.

  The initial link was sublime, like holding your breath then inhaling the moist air of a rainforest. The second link came soon after. Then the others followed.

  They were folks on the same telepathic network; a small colony somewhere in Mare Crisium. At first, they were wary. But after they inspected her mind, the dam broke and a thousand lives flooded in. Thirsty, they siphoned her memories.

  Welcome. Thank you, dear child. Show us more. More. Let us bear the burden for you, sister…

  Sky made a dash for her father’s fighter and jumped into the cockpit. With no flight experience, she allowed his mind to work the maya controls, and not a moment too soon—a squadron of five hammerhead fighters streaked over the side of the gunship.

  With Jeong-soo’s help, Sky launched the fighter and shot into space just before a blast from one of the hammerheads blew a hole in the hull where she had been only seconds earlier.

  The next moments for Sky were a daze as her father banked and rolled the fighter in a desperate effort to dodge fire from the enemy ships and from the gunship’s active turrets. Earth, Moon, Sun, and gunship blurred into one another.

  Sky’s lightning-shaped fighter was particularly nimble. It had thrusters on both ends, each facing opposing directions. Usually only one was active at a time, but when Tester activated both, the ship could spin and alter course in an instant. It could even brake and fly in the opposite direction, in which event the cockpit’s maya display would switch to a rear view of the ship, allowing her—or rather, her father—to pilot backwards.

  Her father released countermeasures, which exploded around them, creating temporary energy shields to block the enemy’s fire.

  Tester advised her to disconnect from all networks, Earth and Apollan, to avoid being hacked; out in space these networks were the only stable way a Geppetto-wielder could access her mind, and the closer she was to Earth satellites, the easier it would be for wielders to locate her. Sky agreed, and cut herself off from the telepath colony, promising herself to reconnect as soon as she was safe.

  Tester continued to evade the pursuing fighters by sandwiching them between his vessel and the gunship; the gunship was less likely to fire with its fighters in the way. Each time he pushed for open space, for Apollo, he ended up having to dodge another missile, forcing him to veer off-course. He was running low on countermeasures; eventually there would be none left and either the chasing fighters or the gunship’s cannons
would put an end to Sky’s escape.

  If that was not enough, Sky spotted a second Earth gunship approaching from Earth-side.

  We won’t last long like this, her father said, hack the captain.

  Sky used Geppetto to locate the captain of the gunship below. Moments later, the captain concluded that the approaching Earth gunship had been hacked by the VOL, and he ordered his crew to engage the incoming vessel. The squadron of fighters which had been tailing Sky’s ship, peeled off, leaving the path to Apollo clear.

  *

  As Sky sped toward Apollo, she watched the Earth war machines engage each other in battle; projectiles and energy coils blasted, fighters launched, and countermeasures released to shield the offensive fire.

  It was an awe-inspiring display of modern warfare. Both ships fired crimson ordnance. Their defensive gunners fired countermeasures that burst into aqua waves and set off any missiles that crossed their path. These bursting shields were so plentiful that few offensive strikes reached their targets.

  The rare direct hits caused only minor damage, for the ships were designed as a collection of self-contained compartments, with vital systems buried deep inside. When one compartment was hit, the others rearranged themselves to protect the vital components. The end result was little damage to the gunships themselves, but a silent firestorm that emblazoned the space between Earth and Apollo in reds and blues.

  Sky was only able to catch glimpses of the battle on her maya—she was pinned down by g-forces caused by her accelerating ship. She had to put as much distance between herself and the Earth gunships before they realized what was happening.

  Her ship’s fuel was low. It was a fighter, not a transport ship, and it had not been designed for long haul journeys. Her BOS explained that if she continued to accelerate at her current rate she would not have the energy to slow down by the time she reached Apollo. She was currently zipping toward Apollo at about 50,000kph, and her BOS estimated that if she cut her engines now she would continue at that speed and still have enough power to brake in time.

  Sky powered down. Without her ship’s thrusters firing, it would be harder for the NIA to spot her. Her body relaxed as the g-forces diminished.

  With no sign that she was being pursued, and once her father confirmed she was a safe distance from Earth satellites, Sky decided to link to Apollo and watch the progress of her memories. As soon as she did, she was flooded with thousands of requests to livestream her experience and to link telepathically. Although she yearned to end the loneliness of being stuck in a body with only one other mind—her father’s—she decided it was safer not to, at least for now. She did not want to risk NIA spies on Apollo tapping into the links and pinpointing her ship’s location, or worse; have a Geppetto-wielder hack her.

  Instead, she decided to freescan Apollan minds with Geppetto.

  The telepaths who had received her memories had forwarded them to other telepaths and to non-telepathic channels; the public Neuronets and the old electronic wireless networks which still functioned in the lower levels of Shackleton City.

  On Ground Level, at the foot of Apollo, the young urchin, Bolt-head, stood still while the crowd swept around him. His mind was awash with the memories of the senorita, Sky Marion, as he experienced her trials through her own eyes.

  When the billboards began streaming her memories, the rest of the human throng stopped to watch too. Soon Sky’s experiences played across the entire planet of Apollo and were on their way across space to the rest of the VOL.

  Sky Marion had spread like a virus.

  ‘Who is she?’ Bolt-head heard someone ask, their necks craned up to the screen.

  ‘One of us,’ he replied.

  *

  The feuding Earth gunships ceased firing on each other sooner than Sky had hoped. They turned their bows toward Tester’s fighter and their missiles flared across space like hundreds of scarlet tentacles.

  They must have figured out I manipulated the captain, Sky thought.

  Her BOS estimated that the space border between Apollo and Earth was still four and a half hours away.

  Sky wanted to accelerate the fighter, but her BOS reminded her that she would not have enough energy to slow down once she neared Apollo. All she could do was maintain her current course and speed, hoping that the gunships’ fire would not reach her.

  Her father urged her to get off the networks to avoid being hacked by Geppetto-wielders. Before she unplugged, she sent one final message to Apollo:

  Help.

  She spent the next two hours watching as the missiles gained on her fighter, like gray wolves pursuing prey to exhaustion. Eventually, Tester had to release the first countermeasure.

  The exploding aqua shields protected the fighter for the next hour, by which time it had exhausted its store of countermeasures. With still over an hour before she reached Apollan space, and pursued by waves of missiles, all that was left to protect Sky was the hull of her ship.

  Another missile approached, growing in size before her eyes. It would make contact within minutes. As she looked toward the ringed planet of Apollo, Sky spotted two more Earth gunships heading her way, blocking what little chance she had of escape.

  Sky leaned back into her seat, both her maya and the body of Tester.

  It was over.

  At least the VOL knows the truth, she thought. Sky2 prepared to meet her original’s fate.

  The missile hit.

  The explosion rocked her fighter. Yet, somehow, she was still alive. A countermeasure, many times the size of her own, had burst before the missile had struck, creating a blueish haze which rippled across space behind her. Other Earth-missiles collided with the shield and exploded. The defensive shield dissipated, but more aqua-bursts replaced it.

  Streams of countermeasures rocketed past her ship, fired by the two gunships ahead of her—Apollan gunships, as it turned out—which had crossed into Earth space. They were larger than Earth ships, and sleeker; their segments were less obvious (possibly in order to better accommodate the elaborate maya advertising on their hulls).

  The VOL had come to the aid of Sky Marion and Jeong-soo Tester, one copy within another.

  Chapter 19

  Fallout

  ​19:1

  Express-recall of SKY MARION’S memories complete.

  Telepathic livestream option available:

  Do you wish to stream SKY MARION’s experience?

  *

  A squadron of Apollan fighters, emblazoned with sponsors’ logos, escorted Sky’s ship to Shackleton City. The fighters were not unlike Tester’s own, except that instead of taking on the shape of a single lightning bolt, they were made of two bolts, criss-crossing, with thrusters on each end, making them even more nimble.

  Sky had linked with the local network after crossing into Apollan space. She had received numerous offers from network security companies to provide her with premium firewalls, claiming that they would protect her from Earth hacks. She had accepted one her father recommended.

  I always had trouble getting through that level of security, even with Geppetto, he told her. A Geppetto-wielder could still attempt to hack you, but it will be much harder now that you’re relying on Apollan security.

  Sky had also received many requests for telepathic connections. Instead of joining individual networks, she had created her own and opened it to whomever wished to link with her, brain-to-brain. Telepaths from all over Apollo had joined her within seconds, filling the void in her heart.

  On the news channels, Sky’s memories stared back at her. As her ship descended into the city, she caught sight of her life-stream playing on a billboard; a billboard inside billboard inside billboard, like a hall of mirrors.

  The news of Geppetto was the biggest story since Independence. Sky felt it too, among the growing multitude who had connected telepathically with her. Sky wished she could enjoy it as much as everyone else.

  ‘She’s gone,’ Sky whispered to herself, to her father, to her new
mind-kin. The reality of her mother’s death would take much longer to integrate into her neurals than Geppetto had.

  Tester’s voice echoed the sentiment from inside the gilded cell in which he sat and mourned, in his own way.

  And what of Okiro? Sky tried to locate him on Earth’s net, but his public profile was still inactive. Had they merely wiped his recent memories? Or had the authorities decided he was a source of damning evidence that needed disposal?

  Standard procedure is to mem-wipe, Tester told her. Unless there are exceptional circumstances.

  Sky hoped they were following standard procedure.

  When Sky2 had first found herself trapped inside her father’s body, she had wanted nothing more than to flee. But now that her mind was linked with thousands of telepaths, she was free to experience thousands of lives. As for her father, she cherished his presence, for he was also one of her mind-kin. She had nothing to hide from anyone, anymore.

  Sky’s ship dropped through the airlocks in the uppermost dome. She caught sight of the human dome cleaners. The nearest one wiped their dust-caked visor, but the glare was too bright for Sky to make out their features. Her fighter dropped into the airlock and the cleaner returned to their work.

  Crowds gathered around the exterior of the spaceport dome, clawing at viewports to get a look at the new arrivals. Some of her mind-kin suggested she would be greeted with open arms. Others hinted that insurers would slap her and Tester with law suits as soon as she stepped out of her ship; Sky had hacked minds on Apollo, which could result in significant compensation claims against her, and Tester’s mind would surely reveal similar breaches as a result of his work for the NIA.

  Her fighter made contact with the tarmac.

  The first thing Sky noticed when the cabin opened was the crisp air; a sure sign she was on an upper level. Next came the flies (or what she thought were flies, until her mind-kin explained they were news cameras).