Post-Human Trilogy

by David Simpson

  Post-Human Trilogy

  David Simpson

  The series started in 2009 with Post-Human, followed by it’s sequel, 2011’s Trans-Human, and then leading to the prequel, published in the summer of 2012, Sub-Human. The trilogy can be read in the order of publication or in the chronological order of the entire epic story. The ebook is ordered according to the narrative, but reading it in the order of publication is its own, rewarding experience. It’s all up to your preference.

  Readers have taken to calling this the “Human Series,” and why not? It’s the story of humanity’s future, both the possible bliss, the possible torment, and all of the in between. It might expand your view of what “human” really means, it might make you consider the pleasures and pains of immortality, and reflect on the extraordinary benefits and profound danger of strong A.I. All of this delivered in an epic series, paced faster than most novels, with twists and turns around almost every page, and a set of characters with whom you’ll fall in love.

  POST-HUMAN

  TRILOGY

  by

  David Simpson

  A message for you from the author:

  Hi! Thank you so much for reading my book! I hope you enjoy it. It is always an honor when someone takes the time to read one of my novels and I feel humbled and thankful. I owe you one! If you do enjoy the book, please remember to tell a friend or two (or two thousand) about it. Best of all is a positive review on Amazon.com. At this stage in my writing career, word of mouth is better than gold and is the best way for me to reach a large audience and achieve my dream of writing full time one day soon.

  I want to be available and interactive with my readers, so you can actually friend me on Facebook, “like” the Facebook page for Post-Human, read my blog, follow me on Twitter, or check out my website. I’m also on goodreads.com and love to hear from readers and correspond with them about their experiences with my books.

  So, thanks again, and hopefully, this will be the beginning of a long, rewarding, and beautiful relationship between reader and author.

  Yours,

  David Simpson

  SUB-HUMAN

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank you to my editor, Autumn J. Conley, for being so thorough, creative, and awesome.

  Thanks also to my beta readers, Curtis Hox (the awesome pro), Patrick Weddell (my technical advisor), Matthew Drummey (my gracious reader), and Jeremiah Wood (my military expert).

  Thank you also to Sandra and Brian Degrechie, Melanie Klein, Aria Cheng, Sanha Cho, Daniel Lee, and Lisa Kelly-Wilson for allowing me the use of their names.

  Thank you to the hundreds of supportive readers who have taken time out of their busy lives to leave positive reviews on Amazon. I owe so much to you. Thank you also to the tens of thousands of people who have downloaded copies of this series in the last few months. I’m blown away.

  And lastly, thank you to my wife, Jennifer, who makes these books possible. I can’t believe how much work you put into them and how incredible your support is. You’re the coolest woman in the universe, and all other universes too!

  Prologue

  Interviewer: With us is presumptive Presidential nominee, Senator Morgan, for his first major interview since sweeping the Super Tuesday primary contests less than twenty-four hours ago. Congratulations on your victories, Senator and for locking down the nomination so quickly.

  Morgan: Thank you very much, Anderson.

  Interviewer: Now that your opponents have suspended their campaigns, are you surprised at all with how quickly you’ve managed to dispatch your competition? You were, after all, facing two candidates that were far better funded than yourself throughout most of the early primary season. Yet here we are in the middle of March, and you’re already uncontested and headed for the general election.

  Morgan: I’m not surprised at all, actually, given that the stakes were so high. The choice was crystal clear for voters, and they resoundingly chose to cherish and protect human life. No amount of funding would have been enough to confuse the issue for the American people in the primaries, and no amount of funding will be enough to confuse it for them in the general election either.

  Interviewer: By ‘protecting human life,’ you are, of course, referring to your signature issue—that being that you want to outlaw what is known as strong artificial intelligence.

  Morgan: It’s not just my signature issue—it’s the most important issue in the history of our species. It’s about species dominance—

  Interviewer: And the ‘history of our species’ is 6,000 years? Since Adam and Eve?

  Morgan: Listen, Anderson, I’m not going to play that game. This is too important—

  Interviewer: I’m just trying to clarify—

  Morgan: No, you’re not. You’re doing a hit job on me, as I knew you would.

  Interviewer: I’m just clarifying—

  Morgan: You’re doing a hit job for the incumbent—the President of the United States—as I expected.

  Interviewer: Senator, you said during the primaries that you believed in Adam and Eve—

  Morgan: I’m not going to be debating theology or my personal religious beliefs with you, Anderson. I am not taking that bait. What I am going to do is voice the concerns of the majority of Americans, whether your friend the President likes it or not.

  Interviewer: I cannot deny, Senator Morgan, that you have voiced the concerns of about half the American electorate. Stats have shown that 47 percent of Americans say they strongly oppose the development of strong A.I., which is part of why you were able to use your unofficial status as the head of the Purist movement in the United States to beat back your better-funded opponents.

  Morgan: The Purist movement is bigger than any one man.

  Interviewer: Well, it may be bigger than you, sir, but you must admit that it was your wedge issue.

  Morgan: You think you’re so clever, don’t you?

  Interviewer: Excuse me?

  Morgan: You do. Admit it. You ask me questions and smirk away, but you have no idea what’s coming. You and your pseudo-intellectual establishment. The people of this country know what’s coming. They know the choice that they have in this election. That’s why I accepted the invitation to be here today. No amount of personal character assassination against me is going to confuse this issue in the minds of the American public.

  Interviewer: Okay, so let’s discuss the issue at hand, then.

  Morgan: All right.

  Interviewer: It’s your position that the United States should use its power within the new Democratic Union to push for a ban on artificial intelligence worldwide, correct?

  Morgan: Let’s be crystal clear, because this is a crucial point.

  Interviewer: Okay.

  Morgan: It’s not my position that we should use our power to push for a ban—it’s my position that we should use our power to insist on a ban. And I am not personally against the development of artificial intelligence. A.I. is all around us—

  Interviewer: Yes, I was going to ask you about your own personal use—

  Morgan: I’m not against artificial intelligence. What I’m against is strong A.I. I am against artificial intelligence that is capable of passing the Turing test and that has the potential to become infinitely more intelligent than human beings.

  Interviewer: But, Senator, A.I. is already stronger than us at most types of thinking—

  Morgan: Most types of thinking? I don’t know where you’re getting your information, Anderson, but that’s simply not true.

  Interviewer: Okay—many types of thinking—is that a fair statement?

  Morgan: It’s faster, sure.

  Interviewer: So, if computers have already surpassed us in many respects, isn’t the Turing test an ant
hropocentric and, therefore, irrelevant way of evaluating—

  Morgan: No, it’s not. The Turing test determines whether or not a computer is conscious. That’s the whole point of it.

  Interviewer: Don’t you think that might be debatable?

  Morgan: We don’t have time for that type of academic debate.

  Interviewer: No time for debate, Senator?

  Morgan: The Turing test is the only agreed-upon—

  Interviewer: No time for debate in a democracy?

  Morgan: Let me finish. The Turing test is the only agreed-upon test in which all parties agree that, when a computer passes it, that computer will have reached human levels in all respects. We won’t have any cognitive advantages over a machine like that—we’ll be demoted to the second-smartest species on the planet. Like the dolphins. Ask them how that worked out for them.

  Interviewer: So your position is that the United States will unilaterally decide to ban artificial intelligence if you’re elected president?

  Morgan: I never said that.

  Interviewer: You said the United States should insist on a ban.

  Morgan: We should.

  Interviewer: The rest of the Democratic Union doesn’t agree with that position.

  Morgan: That’s not true.

  Interviewer: It is true, Senator—

  Morgan: No, it’s not. Sure, there are countries within the D.U. that disagree, and we’ll negotiate with those countries—

  Interviewer: You said “insist.”

  Morgan: The United States has the most influence of any D.U. nation. If we take a moral stand, I have full confidence that the D.U. will follow our lead.

  Interviewer: Even if that’s true, China will never agree to abandon—

  Morgan: I don’t know about that.

  Interviewer: They have openly stated their position that they will continue developing strong A.I., regardless of the D.U. position on the matter.

  Morgan: As President, I will not let China threaten us—

  Interviewer: They’ve issued no threat, Senator.

  Morgan: Yes they have. If they develop strong A.I., not only will that threaten international security, but it will also threaten our species.

  Interviewer: How have they threatened international security?

  Morgan: A strong A.I. would quickly be able to find a way around our defenses. That’s why they want to develop it in the first place—to threaten us.

  Interviewer: With all due respect, Senator, aren’t you the one who’s issuing threats?

  Morgan: Absolutely not, Anderson. I’m simply doing what the American people expect me to do—defending humanity from an existential threat.

  Interviewer: Isn’t this—

  Morgan: I’m glad you find this amusing.

  Interviewer: I’m sorry, but aren’t you being a little dramatic?

  Morgan: I don’t find the security of the American people and the security of the people of the Democratic Union funny, Anderson. I take it very seriously. If your friend, the President, were to take it seriously, he’d back me up and insist on a comprehensive, strong A.I. ban.

  Interviewer: Let’s talk about that proposed ban. The election is almost eight months away, Senator, and even if you win, you won’t take office until January of next year. Meanwhile, IBM already has a working simulation of the human brain. Some experts are saying now that this simulated brain might be able to pass the Turing test before the end of the next President’s first term. How do you intend to implement measures draconian enough to stop multinational companies from following through on the development of these technologies?

  Morgan: By any means necessary.

  Interviewer: Excuse me, Senator, but I am a bit taken aback. Isn’t that the kind of talk that has caused some people to label you as an extremist?

  Morgan: Your network has labeled me as an extremist. The American people haven’t.

  Interviewer: Senator, I resent that. We’ve always been fair—

  Morgan: Fair? The man who owns your network has donated to the President’s campaign already, has he not?

  Interviewer: He has. Full disclosure for our viewers. That’s true.

  Morgan: He’s got his toes dipped in every major technology company there is.

  Interviewer: That’s an unfair generalization—

  Morgan: It’s worse than selling his soul. If he just sold his soul, so be it. He’d burn in Hell. Serves him right. But this is worse than that. He’s selling out his species. He’d end humanity. He’d see a world that is post-human, as long as he lived to see it inside a computer—

  Interviewer: Senator Morgan—

  Morgan: He’s not just a traitor to America—

  Interviewer: This is really—

  Morgan: He’s a traitor to the species—to his own species!

  Interviewer: Senator Morgan? Please—okay. Senator Morgan has walked out on the interview. He’s certainly started the general election campaign with a bang, that’s for sure. We’ll see how voters respond. A fiery outburst of a self-proclaimed Purist, or the extremism of a fanatic? The American voters will decide in November.

  PART 1

  1

  WAKING UP for the first time from nano-infusion treatment was a disorienting and altogether unpleasant experience for Dr. Craig Emilson. The feeling of nausea was overwhelming.

  “Don’t try to stand up,” said the young doctor as she lightly pressed her palm against Craig’s chest and kept his back against the small bed on which he lay. “We have to do a quick test first.”

  “I’m fine, really,” Craig replied as he tried to get up once again.

  Again, the young doctor kept him horizontal. “Dr. Emilson, try not to be such a stereotypically bad patient for the next minute and just let me help you.”

  Craig smiled. “You can’t turn off being a doctor.”

  “Pretend,” the young doctor replied. “I have to make sure the respirocytes are operating and, since this is your first nano-infusion, it’s important that I show you how they work.”

  “I know how they work,” Craig replied. “My wife builds them.”

  “She what?” asked the doctor, her routine suddenly interrupted by the interesting tidbit.

  “My wife works with Professor Gibson. She makes respirocytes, so I already know all about them.”

  “Hmm,” the doctor eventually responded after a barely perceptible moment of disappointment. “Then you know how important the Freitas test is?”

  “Uh…”

  The doctor smiled, flirtatiously. “Ha! So, you don’t know everything, Smarty Pants! We have to test the respirocytes and activate the pressure tanks to get the oxygen and carbon dioxide flowing, and there’s only one way to do that.”

  “The Freitas test?”

  “That’s right,” the doctor replied triumphantly. “And do you know how we administer the Freitas test?” She seemed to be beaming.

  “No clue.”

  “We get smarty pants like you to hold their breath.” The doctor’s teeth were nearly perfectly white and straight; her smile was gorgeous. “Ready?”

  Craig grinned, acquiescing. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  “All right,” she said as she held her small tricorder in front of Craig and watched the screen for information on the progress of the tiny, robotic red blood cells that were now flowing through his veins. “Hit it.”

  Craig inhaled and then began holding his breath.

  “You didn’t have to inhale,” the doctor observed.

  Craig’s eyes darted to her questioningly.

  “Just let it out nice and slow, but don’t inhale again when you’re finished.”

  Against all of his instincts, Craig began to let out his breath nice and slowly, just as he had been instructed.

  “You’re married, huh?” the doctor asked, apparently rhetorically. Craig nodded anyway. “That’s a shame. You’re way too handsome to be married. Handsome young doctors like you should be single. Then single doctors like me could marry
you instead.”

  Craig’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the forward come-on, but there was something about the young woman’s demeanor that seemed to make it innocent enough. He took it as a compliment and smiled.

  “You feel that?” the doctor asked him.

  Craig wasn’t sure what she was referring to. His first instinct was that her forwardness was starting to cross a boundary. Just as he was going to speak, ruining the Freitas test for the sake of politely cooling the woman’s jets, she spoke again.

  “No shortness of breath. You could keep this up for four hours before you’d need to take another breath. Congratulations. You’re officially a super soldier.”

  The notion of being a superhuman hadn’t crossed Craig’s mind until that moment. It was surreal. What she said was true: He’d felt no shortage of breath. Like most technological marvels, it was difficult for him to fully grasp it, so he just accepted it with a slightly marveled shake of his head.

  “So what happens when they run out of air?” he asked.

  “The respirocytes will…” She smiled again as she thought of the absurd euphemism bubbling to the surface. “…expel themselves.”

  “Ah,” Craig replied.

  “You can get up now.”

  Craig sat up as the doctor uploaded her results onto a larger wall screen behind the small bed. “Thanks. That was…different.”

  She smiled. “Now you can tell your wife she’s doing good work. The fruits of her labor are breathing for you. When you’re ready, just start breathing again and the respirocytes will shut down.”

  Craig nodded and smiled sideways. “I will.” He turned to leave but turned back quickly on a whim. “Hey, what’s your name?”

  The doctor replied, “Daniella. It was nice to meet you, Dr. Emilson.”

  2

  Craig walked quickly—nearly running—toward his bachelor’s officer barracks as he pulled his phone from his pocket and began dialing the number of his wife’s laboratory. As he crossed the threshold into his room, the phone was already ringing. He slipped the phone into the ultrasonic dock that sat upon a modest wooden table and pulled his hardback chair over so he could sit. He waited eagerly for his wife’s answer. “Come on,” he whispered to himself.