by Mark White
'How do you know?' I said taken aback.
'There is an entity living in the Stream. A consciousness that is fighting against us. While I have been infiltrating myself into this VR link in recent months, I have analysed the pattern that has been stopping us materialising. There is a mind here. I feel its shape, and its being, but I cannot fully identify it. It is not like us, but it resides in the links that form the Stream. I believe it sees us as a threat to its continuance. We cannot be assimilated, and hence cannot be controlled like the other races of the Confluvium,' she said.
I was stunned, and yet it made sense. My mind raced through the possibilities. The Stream was structured like a neural net, perfect for an intelligence to infiltrate. It must have taken residence before the Flood, and perhaps even drove Raj to ensure it happened. That way, all of humanity was primed for its control and influence. It could have culled those he knew it couldn't control, and is doing the same now with the HOME deaths. But to what end? What is it hoping to gain. Power? That seems a sad goal for an intelligent mind. Where is it from?
'Safira, thank you. That makes sense and a lot has suddenly become clearer to me. Do you have any direct evidence I can provide to Geraldine? We need to work out a plan to understand and flush out this intelligence. I'll report to her directly tomorrow,' I said.
'No,' said Safira. 'You'll have to trust me on this.'
'Of course Safira,' I said. And I did. During our conversation, I felt a bond had grown. She'd been so open and sincere I found it hard to doubt her word. Above that, I found I liked her. I enjoyed her company. How strange, to feel that someone I believed was a mortal enemy a few days ago could become a friend.
'Kofi, I must go. My presence has been monitored and I am being repelled. I will try to return in two days. Use the next episode of the Confluvium series, thirty minutes in. Take care, you may be in danger,' said Safira.
With that, she was gone. The Wellsian was motionless. I was speechless. The world was a different place.
I could spend the evening thinking about this over and over. However I need to get on with my report if I'm going to get it sent to Geraldine tomorrow. Hopefully that will take my mind off things, and I'll be able to get to sleep and let my subconscious do its magic.
Late log. It's around 3am. I lay here semi-conscious, when with sudden clarity, I know. I think I know. Yes I know. I'm sure. I know what this intelligence is. I know where it came from. I know what the Fount is. How could I have been so stupid?
Report: Antediluvian Politics - 16th Sextilis 227PD
FEOS: Discussion document for Geraldine Mander's eyes only.
Executive Summary
I'm going to expand the remit of this report, and split it into two sections. The first covers the original topic, the state of the world before the Flood. The second covers my findings on the Fount.
State of the world
The world was a mess. There were grouping of states into power blocs, often split along religious or cultural lines. They were insular, and antagonistic. Fascism, nationalism and other forms of intolerance drove too much of the world. Border wars were regularly breaking out. Genocide and mass executions were routine threats. A major nuclear conflict could have engulfed the world at any time. In short, the world needed saving, and Raj Tamboli was our saviour. I don’t believe we would be here today if Raj hadn’t triggered the Flood. However, I see no evidence of any other guiding force behind this, no Fount controlling things, forward into the present day.
The Fount
Safira made contact with me, without needing to materialise, by piggy-backing the Stream via the VR system. In short, she says there is an intelligence residing within the Stream itself. It is this intelligence that is blocking contact with the Safirans, and controlling the Confluvium. I believe Damon and Gulzari may be working on its behalf, whether they know it or not. Safira doesn't know what this intelligence is, but I believe that I do. This intelligence is the Fount, and I know its true name. No skipping to the end, you'll have to wait to find out. I don't want to spoil the ending.
The State Of The World
In the (Gregorian calendar) late 20th and early 21st centuries, stable groupings of the old states were forming, and despite minor disputes and problems within the Middle East spilling across the world, international co-operation appeared on the rise. After the world wars earlier in the 20th century, this was a major step forward. However things started to disintegrate around the same time in both Europe and North America, which caused a domino effect around the world. Complacency in the name of democratic freedom led to a resurgence of fascist methodologies. This was coupled with accelerating climate change, increasing the need for population movement. This stoked the political climate further, and was exploited by the dictators for their own ends. I’ll treat this region by region, just covering the areas that had a major impact at the time, roughly following the dominoes.
Europe
In the early 21st century, the European Union would have been considered a bastion of sanity in a troubled world by today's standards, but it got ahead of itself. It tried to impose some of the tenets of our modern world onto a Europe that was not prepared for it. The concept of freedom of movement and fiscal union within Europe was a noble one, but the people were not ready, nor was the society equal and fair. There was too much inequality and latent bigotry within the population. The snollygosters of the time seized upon this, and used the techniques in the fascist toolbox to achieve their goals. They stirred up mistrust and hatred of those from other countries and cultures to obtain power, and once in power ruthlessly exploited this to mould states in their own warped images.
The initial catalyst for this to become mainstream was when key states voted democratically to leave the European Union. These campaigns, along with similar tactics used in elections in the United States of America around the same time, are the events that William Lyngard regarded as the moments the old order began to crumble in his book 'The Fall of the Age of Democracy'. Lyngard's book built upon earlier seminal works, particularly 'Democracy for Realists' by Achen and Bartels, and 'Press Freedom and its Role in the Rise of Fascism' by O'Brien and Dunt. Raj himself cited these examples in his doctrines as why democracy in its truest form could no longer continue. Many people voted in a way that made sense to them, for the best of intentions. Many were not driven by bigotry and hatred, despite these tools being used by the politicians to drive the agenda. However no-one could fully understand the true impact of their vote, and hence such freedom and naïveté was dangerous.
These campaigns based on fascist ideologies inspired a new generation of politician around the world, using the same techniques to sow discord and mistrust amongst the population in order to obtain their ends. Once started, the effect spread like a plague. Prior to the Flood, the world was split into smaller groupings of nations and other insular states, often on the verge of war.
The Federal States of Northern Europe. This grouping of countries was a remnant of the old European Union, and a last bastion of successful democratic governance. Germany was the driving power behind this, although for historical reasons the capital was Brussels. It included most of the nearby countries into near Eastern Europe plus a seceded Scotland and unified Ireland. Freedom of movement, fiscal and military union was mandatory within this grouping.
The United Kingdom of England and Wales. The UKEW developed an increasingly insular tendency, backward looking to a time when it was a great world power, and in doing so lost its influence in the world. Initial signs of hope after voting to leave the European Union evaporated once the ultra-right seized power. It was a nation divided, with regular internal atrocities occurring between various groups, split along both religious and political lines. It was a dichotomy - a nation with a strong authoritarian government, but which was effectively in civil war with itself.
France. After a short period of stability, France was the next major nation to leave the European Union after the UK, and was the main catalys
t for its dissolution. It became a staunchly atheist state which celebrated its independence with the ritual destruction of the Channel Tunnel. The government stoked up enmity against the UKEW to try to hold together a country struggling within against a religious underclass.
Scandinavian Socialist Collective. The grouping of Scandinavian nations, including Iceland, were generally a stable and peaceful region who tried to keep out of things.
Independent States of Southern Europe. A loose coalition of states in Iberia, Italy, the Balkans, Turkey and nearby regions, typically led by local dictators or cardinals. They were expelled from the European Union after the northern states refused to prop up their economies and wished to focus their efforts on their own stability. The more western states initially reverted back to their staunchly Catholic roots, with the church having much influence over the state. Birth rates rose with contraception and abortion outlawed, and confession was used as one of the tools of the state to control the population. Respect for Catholicism was starting to wane amongst the populace however, after the last Pope was found to have died from a sexually transmitted retrovirus. The area was largely rudderless and lacking direction and cohesion.
Russian Empire. Russia re-established its hold over the eastern European states. Its position as an effective dictatorship before the European Union started to crumble meant it was in a perfect position to pounce and expand its influence as the rest of Europe weakened and the USA focused on itself. Indeed, through targeted use of misinformation, it was the driving force behind much of the nationalism that led to the changes elsewhere. Border disputes were common with adjoining nations, as it looked to push further west, particularly into the more easterly states of the Northern European Federation.
America
The United States of America was another dichotomy - entirely inward looking in terms of policy focus, and yet at the same time aggressively campaigning wars in the Middle East in order to spread its religion of democracy or retaliate for historical events. It was obsessed with its own status after generations of indoctrination of its population with the myth that it was the land of the free and the best country in the world. Mirroring what happened in Europe, presidential campaigns started regularly using fascist techniques to stir up hatred and mistrust within the population in order to gain power. Once in power, this hatred was exploited. The borders were effectively closed in order to keep out foreigners under the pretext of fear of terrorism. The USA became a fundamentalist Christian nation. In many states, membership of a Church was mandatory, as was gun ownership. The USA was an isolated nation, powerful and yet keeping itself separate other than its excursions in the OSA (see later). Despite the mainland USA being effectively at peace, it had the highest per capita death rate in the world, facilitated by the widespread gun availability.
The remainder of North and South America tried to keep themselves to themselves, with only the occasional falling out between neighbours. After Mexico came a bad second in a border conflict with the USA, all countries to the south felt it was safer to live a quiet life. To the north however, Canada struggled to cope with the level of immigration from the USA, not all of which was voluntary.
Middle East
The Middle East routinely was a war zone. A terrorist dirty nuclear device had exploded in Tel Aviv and was the trigger for the USA to invade the region and form the OSA, the Occupied States of America, in what became known as the New Crusade. Israel was largely under the protection of the USA. Many of the other states in the region joined together to form the Islamic Caliphate to protect themselves against the US aggression. There were internal skirmishes within the Caliphates based on historical divisions, but most of the focus was against Israel and the OSA. Within the region, the OSA and Israel were also supported militarily by the UK, and the Islamic Caliphate was supported by France and the Russian Empire. Most conflicts were border skirmishes as elsewhere, but it was felt that at any time a major war could break out. Nuclear weapons were owned by all parties, and no-one would have been surprised if they had been used. The world was ready to explode.
Far East and Africa
The Far East was the main stable and progressive area of the world, and spread its growth and influence into Africa. The main economic power houses were China, Japan, a recently unified Korea and India. Only India had a working form of democracy, although a caste criteria had to be passed in order to vote, and votes were weighted depending on the maximum level of education achieved. India had become an increasingly secular society, partly due to Raj's influence. These nations all invested in African states and were driving growth and stability to these nations, which continues to this day. China, Japan and India, along with Russia, were the primary space-faring nations that remained. India and its African investments were the world's main powerhouses for computing and other technological innovations. Despite their success, they would be swept aside if the madness spreading across the world broke into full scale war. There's so much more that could be said about these stable and emerging powers, but they weren't directly responsible for the chaos in the world leading into Flood day, so this isn't relevant to this report.
Australia
Australia largely tried to keep its head down after discouraging all immigration. They hoped everyone would ignore them and let them get on with their BBQs.
In summary, the world was in a mess that could break out into full nuclear war at any time. It was split into a series of insular nations and groupings, driven by rampant nationalism and bigotry. All forms of intolerance were on the rise; including racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia - not a world either of us would have felt comfortable in, Geraldine.
I've attached more detailed references to works discussing the leaders and trouble makers of each region before the Flood, and what motivated them. Many of them died on Flood Day. Of the ones that survived, many were killed soon after by their people. Unless I'm missing something, I can't find any group that survived with their power intact. Nothing to link anyone to our Fount. However, I now think I know why that is; keep reading and all will be revealed.
The Fount
Much to my surprise, Safira made contact with me after we last met. She worked out a way of contacting me directly via the Stream using the VR infrastructure. It's not yet fool proof, and only lasts until her presence is detected by the Fount, but it does mean we can now communicate.
Rather than just repeating everything she told me, I'm going to attach my personal pools covering my meetings with her. You should look at the detail, there's a lot of awe inspiring background there about the Safiran culture, and what they are doing to fix the damage we are causing. I don't know why I trust her, but I do. There is something about her that is humbling.
In fact, I'm going to send you my personal pools for every day since we started this project, and will do so automatically in future until this is over. Safira indicated that I may be in danger. If something happens to me, I want to make sure you have all the information I've found out. I don't think I've said anything too incriminating in my personal musings!
The important things to highlight since my last meeting:
Damon is trying to turn me against you and get me to spy on you. He compared you to Marcus, and said he hopes you don't suffer the same fate. I'm not sure whether that was a threat, or just saying that he hopes you don't make the same mistakes as Marcus.
Damon actively worked against me in blocking the research project with Mauro. Thanks for resolving that. We're going to have to be very careful here.
Damon says Gulzari is the one who has suspicions about you, and he's just working on his behalf. It feels as if both of them are working on behalf of the Fount.
Safira says that there is an intelligence living in the Stream itself, an entity residing in the nodes. It's this entity that is repelling them, and I can only assume that this is the driving force behind what is happening in the Confluvium; our Fount. The Safirans are a threat to it because they cannot be assimilated int
o the Stream like the other races we have met.
Let me finish off with a bit of personal speculation. This is pure guesswork, but it fits the facts perfectly, and feels right. It explains just about everything. Remember the odd neurological research projects started by Raj that didn't quite fit in? In particular, full brain emulation from scanned neurological snapshots, and also research into the basis of consciousness. I think those projects were all completed and delivered results.
Raj Tamboli did not die on Flood Day. He did not commit suicide. He uploaded his consciousness to reside in the neural network that forms the Stream.
The unknown agency, the Fount, the intelligence residing in the Stream, is Raj Tamboli. That explains why so many things that Raj liked are common today, and so many of his traits are accepted as the norm. The research projects must have given him a way to shape and mould our thoughts, not with direct control, but influence and guidance. Shallow people are likely to be less susceptible to influence, hence the drive to more deeply immerse humanity and gain further control. They say history is written by the winners; Raj Tamboli was the winner, and has written himself over the Confluvium.
He is not Saint Raj. He is our god, shaping us into creatures of his own image. The Fount is Raj Tamboli.
Pool: Kofi Albus - 17th Sextilis 227PD
An early start for me today, I couldn't sleep and thought it best to head into the office as quickly as I could, taking a bit of a circuitous route to maximise my chances of avoiding Damon. Luckily Geraldine could get in early too, so we'll both head straight to our usual meeting point. No point wasting time.