by Paul Anlee
The Reality Assertion (preview)
Deplosion: Book Four
Coming: 2018
“We grow impatient. Alum must be stopped.”
The five other Gods signaled their agreement. Raytansoh, monitoring silently as he had for ages, said nothing.
“We?” Darak raised a skeptical eyebrow. “So you’re talking to each other directly, now?”
The scoffing that returned along the five active channels suggested not.
Ishtgor put words to his contemptuous snort. “I’m sure Glenchax simply extrapolated our consensus from previous conversations. I don’t believe any of us has developed a sudden trust in the independent links you’ve provided.”
“The quantum-encrypted, entangled channels are secure,” Darak assured.
“But not as secure as the filter provided by communicating through you.”
Darak sighed. He was glad they trusted him that much, but there was no need to funnel everything through his lattice. The links he provided were more than adequate for simple verbal-type communications. The bandwidth was too restrictive to squeeze a concepta virus through unnoticed.
But Gods thought in terms of millennia or even eons. So, theoretically, it would be possible for one of them to inject a self-assembling worm into another over a long enough period. Highly unlikely, but theoretically possible
Only the most xenophobic, paranoid beings would believe that was a threat.
He laughed silently. Xenophobic and paranoid described the Gods perfectly. Supremely powerful in each of their own sequestered domains, they were terrified of encountering any others like them. They kept their locations and species identities secret.
“In any case, my plans on how to deal with Alum are moving forward at an acceptable pace,” Darak continued. His translator routines converted his transmission into the appropriate native language for each of the six Gods.
Glenchax seemed eager to debate today. “You haven’t shared many details of these plans.”
They’d gone over this countless times. Darak steadfastly refused to divulge to them how he was going to deal with Alum’s Divine Plan to destroy the entire universe and recreate it in His personal vision of Heaven.
I hardly know what I’ll do, myself—he admitted. It didn’t make much sense to share his uncertainty with them.
He wondered for the thousandth time how wise it had been to pull this group together. Herding cats is hard, but herding intransigent, skittish cats with the powers to alter the laws of nature is nearly impossible. How much can I rely on them for decent advice? And sane actions?
“You haven’t even told us where this Realm of humans is,” Ishtgor added.
It was true he’d resisted giving up the location of the Realm. “You know I can’t expose all of humanity to the possibility of your attack,” he replied. “No more than you’d want me to open you to attacks from each other.”
“Perhaps it would be more effective to simply tell us how to find Alum. We could deal with him together.”
“I will reveal that when it becomes relevant to our actions,” Darak said.
Not that it matters—he thought. Where exactly is a distributed consciousness like Alum located? The other Gods preferred the security of a single physical incorporation, however big their resultant “body” might be. Depchaun is the size of Neptune—he reminded himself.
“Anyway, what’s to say Alum couldn’t defend Himself, maybe even turn the tables, were any of you to try an attack?”
“Against all six of us at once?”
Darak’s eyes shifted to the unoccupied throne where only a blinking amber light indicated Raytansoh was listening.
“Last I checked, only five of you actually contribute to these meetings.”
“Still, five Gods against one?”
“I’ve warned you that Alum’s Realm is larger and more powerful than any of yours. If you don’t wish to expose yourselves to each other, then you can’t give Him a direct link back to your territories.”
“We have only your word on this,” Depchaun pointed out.
Ever the proud one—Darak thought. Aloud, he said, “You have some idea of my capabilities. Relative to Alum, I am a mite.”
“We know only that you are reckless to the point of irresponsible.”
Darak stepped off his throne and paced into the middle of the floor. The seven jeweled seats arrayed around the perimeter of the circular, gold-lit room were occupied by humanoid projections. The Gods had wanted it that way. To keep their true appearances safe, they chose to adopt Darak’s human shape.
As if an entire, tiny universe made just for these get-togethers wasn’t adequate—he mused. Complete with all the signs of wealth and power one might expect of any Supreme Being. Just to make them feel appropriately respected, safe, and at home.
He looked down at the galaxy inlay on the floor. It was made of actual star stuff, made possible by an enhanced weak nuclear force in this universe. The “walls” of the meeting room were galaxy-spanning clouds of gas, dimly glowing factories for new stars. Their thrones were diamond-encrusted, velvet-cushioned, obsidian slabs from another place, held artificially stable in this universe that Darak had created specifically for them. The Gods felt relatively safe here, untraceable.
He raised his head and answered the challenge. “My irresponsibility, as you put it, is how we have come together here.”
Depchaun had to concede that point. “True. Your reckless journeys to Our various regions of the universe alerted Us to the presence of others like Ourselves. Unfortunately, you know all about Us, while We know almost nothing of you, except what you have allowed.”
“It might have been better if you’d never come,” Lyv sounded unhappy, but then She always did.
Darak faced her. “True. You all could have simply disappeared, one-by-one, as Alum’s Deplosion field overwhelmed your defenses. You’d never know what hit you. Would the universe be any worse off?” He shrugged.
Lyv emitted a harsh laugh. “You bait me with your words, but they have no power.”
Darak felt the air shimmer around him. Was Lyv taking advantage of the challenge to cast a field around him? Was she changing the nature of his reality? Or just one of the others probing for weakness again?—he wondered.
He swept away the clumsy attempt and glared at Lyv’s avatar. “Be careful not to reach for more than even your eight poisonous appendages can grasp,” he said.
He smiled in gratification when her translator sounded a short inhalation. Against the convention of these meetings, his rebuttal had revealed to the others something of her arachnid nature. Useless information, but a hint that I could reveal more.
He expected to be rebuffed. Instead, she apologized, “I regret my expression of frustration. It is too easy to forget we are all equals.”
Darak turned back to his seat. “More or less,” he replied. “No matter. We have found common ground and a common enemy. Let us remain focused on our primary objective.”
Ishtgor grunted his agreement. “To kill Alum.”
Darak sat. “To stop Alum,” he corrected.
“By any means possible,” Ishtgor added.
“By any reasonable means,” Darak revised.
“Pah! Semantics.”
“An important distinction,” Darak replied. “I will not destroy my species to prevent His Divine Plan. Nor will I leave my people defenceless and open to incorporation into any of your realms.”
“We are Gods,” Glenchax protested. “Any species would be fortunate to be under our rule.”
“I’m sure the humans would welcome that as much as your people would welcome Alum’s rule over them.” Darak smiled.
The Gods all protested at once. Darak ignored the din.
Out the corner of his eye, he noticed the amber light over Raytansoh’s throne switch to a solid green. The Supreme Being who hadn’t spoken in over ten thousand years cleared his throat for attention.
“Instead of this endless bickering am
ong ourselves, perhaps we should find a way to work with this God, Alum.” Raytansoh said.
The ensuing silence was deafening.
Books by Paul Anlee
The Deplosion Series
The Reality Thief
Buy on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSML7V5
The Reality Incursion
Buy on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FH1J44
The Reality Rebellions
Buy on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078Q84W9G
The Reality Assertion
(Coming in 2018)
Other Publications
Friends in Foreign Places Omnibus Edition
(contains the Paul Anlee short story: Illegal Alien)
Buy on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Omnibus-Friends-Places-Complete-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01LBDPVC6
Now available in Spanish, too!
Buy on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Amigos-Lugares-Extranjeros-Friends-Place-Spanish-ebook/dp/B076Q49BNR
Access these books through your local library. Ask your librarian to order them through IngramSpark!
Points to Ponder
Book Club & Study Questions
The Deplosion series is intended
to be more than just a story. I hope it inspires thinking and exchange on a variety of philosophical, religious, scientific, and social issues. The following questions will help get you started. Additional discussion can be found on the Paul Anlee Facebook page, and on my science and philosophy blog at www.paulanlee.com.
1) Over the course of the series, I’ve claimed that the mental structures of thinking beings, whether embodied in biological or semiconductor computers, are largely equivalent. Do you think the human mental process can be modeled outside of the human brain? Do you think we’ll ever develop a good understanding of human intelligence, and be able to program something smarter? What do you see as possible limitations?
2) What is required to be accepted as “human?” Do you think being “human” means having two arms and two legs, human genes, being fully biological (or to what extent)? Or is “human” more in the mind than in the body?
3) Alum takes his first step toward “godhood” by expanding and spreading his intelligence throughout the machinery of the Vesta colonies. Is godhood a reflection of ultimate knowledge and intelligence, or does God have unique powers beyond perhaps even His own understanding? If so, where would those have come from? Does humanity have the potential to achieve godhood (in whatever form you choose)? Or is it a state we can never achieve no matter how smart we become? Does God understand everything He does? If so, could He teach us or some sufficiently smart version of us?
4) Another important theme in the Deplosion series is the relationship between politics and economics. Alum describes how money has gone from once being a relatively simple medium of exchange of goods and services, to being a tool with which to exert one’s power. He says,
“In ancient days, strong armies would arrive at the doors of the weak and the innocent, demanding their taxes. They would use force to lay claim to land on which families had hunted and farmed freely for generations. We called them kings or lords, though they were no better than thugs and extortionists. ... Over time, the wicked expanded their preposterous claims of ownership over the land God gave to all. They built factories, limiting what could be manufactured, where, and by whom. They claimed ownership over all of our works, and returned a pittance to those who performed the labor.”
Does this seem like a fair assessment of the origin of both government and capitalism to you? Or is it too simplistic? Both ancient and modern governments provide protective services to their citizens (presumably from marauding thieves), and extract taxes in return for their protection. This protection is based on geography rather than proven need. Is that a reasonable basis for being under the “rule” of a select few people?
5) The Vesta colonies represent the first post-scarcity society. There is food and lodging for all. There are ample natural resources, and adequate manufacturing facilities to meet all essentials for the human population of the asteroid habitats. All of this comes courtesy of the hard-working Cybrids. With everyone’s needs met, Alum’s challenge is to provide a structure that won’t allow human society to fall into depravity or purposelessness. What did you think of his policies for ownership of homes and businesses? His policies for work (assigned, community, and optional)? If you were in his position, what would you do differently to encourage a long-term, stable society?
6) Automation is expected to remove millions of human jobs on Earth over the next decade. Some of these will be in manufacturing, some in transportation (autonomous vehicles), and some will affect traditional white-collar jobs. Do you think humans can accept a “post-scarcity” economy, or will the lack of jobs and our human psychology overwhelm our ability to adapt to life without a forced need to labor? What kind of changes would society need to adapt?
7) Alum states that money is not the root of all evil, debt is. Humanity’s insatiable desire to materially improve our lives causes us to go into debt now rather than waiting until we have saved enough funds to pay in full for what we want. As of mid-year 2017, total Global Debt reached a new record of $217 Trillion, over 325% of total Global GDP (economic activity). Families put themselves into debt to purchase houses, cars, clothing, groceries, and other goods. Even governments use debt to finance their daily operations. Do you think there’s any chance all the debt in the world (remember, these are all loans of some sort or the other) will ever be repaid? Should they be repaid? Or should we only worry about paying the interest and nothing more? Should we just “print” some money to pay all the debt? At what point is widespread global debt no longer sustainable?
8) Here’s a good explanation of how money is “created” in our modern societies: https://goldsilver.com/hidden-secrets/episode-4/. In essence, money is debt; it is created by governments when they borrow and private banks when they lend. The amount of money created is not necessarily tied to the general growth of the economy. Does this sound like a good way to run a national or global financial system? Alum puts a limit on the amount of new money that will be created in his system. Given that a government can arbitrarily heat up the economy by creating and disbursing more new money, do you think Alum’s system would limit economic growth too much? Is our current system of creating new money too reckless?
9) For AI enthusiasts: The Concepta and Persona structure I use to describe the mind of the Cybrids is an extension of graph-based knowledge representation, semantic networks, and neural networks. It is based on studies in cognitive psychology, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence. Recent articles discuss mental activity and consciousness as something either intrinsic to nature (qualia: the elements of conscious experience), or as something requiring the quantum properties of biomolecules in order to exist. Do you think it’s possible to embed intelligence and consciousness in a computational substrate that has the ability to process concepts? That is, can we make association networks as described by the idea of the Concepta? Why or why not?
Further Reading
This series contains a lot of real science and speculates heavily on possible advances in several fields. If you’re interested in learning more about some of the areas discussed in this book, I suggest the following:
Lawrence Krauss, A Universe From Nothing.
An excellent review of cosmology and the possible origins of the universe.
Andrew Thomas, Hidden In Plain Sight.
A great series of five books covering everything from gravity, relativity, quantum mechanics, time, space, and the particles that comprise all matter.
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion.
A powerful analytic indictment of religious belief that applies logic and reason to spirit and faith.
Francis Collins, The Language of God.
A famous scientist
’s perspective on reconciling belief in God with scientific studies of evolution.
Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True.
A fact-filled romp through the scientific evidence in support of evolution.
George M. Church and Ed Regis, Regenesis.
Inside the mind of one of the world’s leading synthetic biologists. Includes the origins of the field, current practices, and stunning visions of the future.
James Rickards, The Death of Money.
Analysis of how modern currency wars will be fought among major countries of the world, resulting in the collapse of the international monetary system.
Matt Strassler (https://profmattstrassler.com/), Of Particular Significance.
Insightful and informative website from a theoretical physicist with essays on a variety of topics in physics.
http://igem.org/Main_Page
iGEM is the International Genetically Engineered Machines annual competition. This is *the* place to go to learn about the exciting research done every year by university undergrads from around the world.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Lee
for being the most patient editor imaginable, and to my great team of Deplosion series beta readers: Joel, Abby, Craig, Ed, Eric, Gary, Lorraine, Mike, Jeff, Kathie, Leanna, Scarlett, Barbara, Susan, and Rachel. This is a much better series for your insightful and invaluable feedback.
A special thanks to the members of Cuenca: Writing Our World for all your support.
All science fiction writers owe a debt to the giants who have gone before us, many of whom still produce prolifically. I have been influenced by many of the best, though none bear the responsibility for any of my errors. Isaac Asimov, Iain M. Banks, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ray Bradbury, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Peter F. Hamilton, Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Sheri S. Tepper, and John C. Wright, you have all been great inspirations.