Emergence

by L. J. Suarez

  Emergence

  L.J. Suarez

  Copyright © 2018 by L.J. Suarez.

  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 in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  L.J. Suarez

  www.ljsuarez.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

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  ALSO BY L.J. SUAREZ

  Chapter One

  WESTERN PLAINS, THE OUTLANDS, EARTH

  YEAR 12039

  10,000 YEARS AFTER HUMANS

  Dr. Ionne carefully navigated the damp cavern to rendezvous with her fellow paleontologist, Dr. Derix.

  Moments ago, she’d been on a remote mountaintop, enjoying the breeze while she collected rock samples to determine the age of microscopic algae embedded in the rocks. Derix had reached out to her through their Optic Implants, asking her to join him inside the cave, as he’d found something “of great intrigue.”

  For the past several days, Ionne and the rest of the excavation crew had been digging at a remote site in the Western Plains of the ancient Earth—the Outlands, as it was commonly referred to. Despite having found little of significance, the site was an opportunity for Ionne to gain the hands-on field experience she lacked. Most of her early career had been spent in academic research in the Museum of Ancient Earth History back in her home city of Cadon. She was thrilled, and admittedly a bit petrified, about leaving the confines of the museum labs. It was also the first time she had left Cadon, but she felt determined to embrace the challenges awaiting her in this unexplored region.

  Ionne was quickly approaching an impenetrable blackness; she switched on the night vision mode of her Implants. Her surroundings now shone with a blue glow, and water droplets from the stalactites above landed on the shoulder pads of her excursion jumpsuit. The passageway was getting shorter for the seven-foot tall Monad, forcing her to hunch.

  Ionne was learning things about herself on this expedition that she had not known before, such as her fear of confined spaces. But Derix’s discovery gave her the courage to keep pushing forward. She passed a few of her colleagues carving pieces of limestone out of the cavern walls with mobile plasma cutters. She finally reached Derix, crouching with his back to her.

  “What do you have?” she asked, looking over his shoulder.

  Lying sidelong before Derix were the skeletal remains of some type of animal that had long ago met its fate. A small, rectangular excavation drone hovered a few feet above, the tube-like mechanical arm protruding from its center blowing the remaining sand residue from the specimen.

  Derix turned to Ionne with an amused expression, as if he were about to give her a lesson. “Tell me, what would you classify this species as?”

  Ionne examined the fossil. Her Optic Implants’ heads-up display showed several points of interest on a series of small screens lined up over the remains. The creature had long horns atop its bony skull and measured over three feet tall at the shoulder.

  Her Implants could not identify the exact species the remains belonged to; the screen displayed the message: Organism Unknown.

  “This creature does not come up in any known record,” Ionne said.

  Derix smirked. “That is because it has not been recorded yet. Try using your trained observation without the Implants.”

  Ionne sighed. Splendid. She wished it didn’t have to come to this; the process of identifying the fossil’s origins would take longer without her Implants. And patience wasn’t one of her virtues.

  Nevertheless, she followed Derix’s directions. With a mental command, all the screens projecting from her Implants disappeared. Ionne studied the fossil closely with her own eyes. “Well, no doubt this was a mammal. Possibly an adult male. Judging by its size and shape, this could be a member of the ancient bovidae species.” She paused. “Perhaps a sheep or bison?”

  “Sheep were not known to have had horns,” Derix said. “And the bones of a full-grown bison we have recovered have a mass of nearly two thousand pounds. Much larger than our friend here.” He cracked a patient smile. “Try again.”

  Derix would often test Ionne’s ability to identify ancient organisms back in the museum without relying on her Optic Implants. Playing these games with Derix made her realize just how much her people relied on technological conveniences, and she had come to develop an appreciation for natural intuition.

  Ionne crouched next to Derix, observing the skeleton. “Wait, this may be some kind of antelope?”

  “Go on,” Derix encouraged.

  She studied the curved horns more closely. “A gazelle!”

  “Very good, Daughter,” Derix said. He turned to the fossil. “This is the first one of its kind we have found, though it is unclear whether the species originated from this region due to the centuries of landmass shifts our world has experienced. It may prove difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of any organism we find out here.” He turned back to Ionne. “I was starting to doubt we would find anything of interest on this expedition.”

  Ionne stared at the remains. “A magnificent find. It would have been amazing to see these creatures in the flesh. They must have been beautiful to behold.”

  “I see you are starting to enjoy field work,” Derix said with a twinkle in his large, yellow-colored eyes.

  “I am. This is much more exhilarating than dusting off old rocks at the museum.”

  Derix let out a snort. “You will get no argument from me.” Her father was a natural explorer; working in a lab did not appeal to a man like him. In fact, Ionne hardly ever saw her father in the museum: he spent most of his time on every major Outlands dig site he could find. “To truly understand the organic history of our planet,” Derix said, “we must venture out here to its final resting place to feel it, and hold it in our hands.” As he spoke, Derix grabbed a handful of sand. With his eyes shut, he allowed a stream of it to fall from his half-opened palm. He then opened his eyes and brushed his hands off, facing Ionne. “Now you try it.”

  “Try what?”

  “Grab the sand beneath you.”

  “Is this another lesson?”

  Derix smirked. “Perhaps.”

  Ionne hesitated, looking at the sand by her feet.

  “Go on,” Derix insisted.

  Ionne reached down and scooped a small pile of sand.

  “Now close your eyes, and slowly let the sand fall from your hand.”

  As instructed, she closed her eyes and gradually released a stream of sand from her open palm.

  “Imagine each grain of sand falling from your hand is a tiny piece of history from this very cavern. Take a deep breath, and silence your thoughts.”

  Ionne inhaled through her nose, then slowly exhaled through her mouth.

  “If you listen closely enough, you can almost hear the grains talking, giving up the cavern’s secr
ets.”

  Ionne didn’t exactly hear voices in her head, but she could almost feel a euphoric energy pulsing through her body. When the last grain fell, she reopened her eyes and took in another heavy breath. “Incredible!” she said with child-like wonder. A grin sat fixed on her face from the rush she felt. “I could almost feel the cavern around us.”

  Derix snickered once more. “You have come a long way since you first started working at the museum, my young one. You have learned so much that very soon there will be little more you can learn from me.” He touched her shoulder with affection. “Your mother and I are proud.”

  Ionne smiled at Derix. “I have a good teacher.” The ground beneath them rumbled slightly, and she rose to her feet. “Did you feel that?”

  Derix’s expression changed to worry. “I did.”

  “Could it be the other teams setting off charges?”

  Derix shook his head. “No. This is something else.”

  The rumble intensified. The ground cracked beneath them, small pieces of rock debris falling everywhere.

  Derix focused on the area of disturbed ground where a three-inch ledge now protruded. A digital screen with several readout displays projecting from his Implants materialized above the ground. “I am detecting a buildup in seismic waves with a magnitude of 5.0, and climbing rapidly.”

  “How can that be?” Ionne said. “There has not been any reported seismic activity in this region for decades.”

  Derix turned to Ionne. “We must leave—now.”

  Ionne looked toward the remains. “But what about the fossil?”

  More debris fell from the cavern’s ceiling, the ground shuddering so violently the crack heaved and separated. A large chunk of rock fell atop the excavation drone, flattening it.

  Derix grabbed Ionne’s arm. “There is no time.”

  They ran through the cavern without missing a step. The researchers inside the cave with them followed, the two paleontologists falling in behind. Suddenly, a thunderous crash echoed through the cavern walls. Ionne looked back, watching in horror as the scientists were killed instantly by the falling rocks.

  Light from outside shimmered through the cave entrance, and they sprinted for it. Ionne and Derix emerged from the cavern, scanning the surrounding area. The mountaintop they stood on seemed to convulse, and above, a large boulder from the peak bounced off the mountain face, plummeting toward them.

  “The transport is over there,” Derix yelled, pointing to the sleek, eight-passenger airship at the bottom of the ridge, only a kilometer away. Making their way down from the mountaintop, Derix shouted to the nearby frightened scientists, “head to the transport!” Ionne and the remaining excavation crew followed Derix down the ridge. The cascading boulders landed atop some of the team members with bone-crushing thuds.

  Partway down, Ionne spotted her cylindrical container with rock samples on the ground with the rest of her gear. She stopped to scoop it up while the rest of the group continued on. Lifting the container, she spotted Derix coming back for her. “Leave those! We must go at once.”

  “I cannot leave without these samples,” she said, carrying the container down the ridge with her father by her side. As they neared the transport, a sudden tremor caused Ionne to lose her balance. She fell hard to the ground, losing her grip on her precious rock samples. The container shot from her hand and disappeared over the edge. Clambering up, she turned to see Derix struggling to stand until the ground beneath him collapsed. For a fraction of a second, Ionne and Derix locked eyes before he fell through the earth.

  “Father!” Ionne yelled, desperately extending her hand. Before she could take another step, Ionne felt herself being hauled backward. The remaining scientists dragged her inside the transport. “No—let go of me,” she pleaded.

  “Ionne, we must leave,” said the one who pulled her in.

  As soon as they were safely inside, the door sealed, the airship’s ion engines pulsated to life. The craft took flight just as the ground beneath them gave way. Ionne’s colleague led her to one of the rear seats, the belt automatically restraining her as soon as she was in place. Ionne felt the airship hurtling into the sky with such speed that the restraining belt loosened as she was forced into the seat cushion. She craned her neck to see out the side window and saw the entire mountaintop collapsing onto itself.

  Once they reached a safe altitude, the craft leveled. Everyone in the transport was silent, shaken by the horrifying and sudden loss. A numbness settled over Ionne, and the realization was slowly hitting her. She had lost her father, her mentor. And it was all her fault.

  Chapter Two

  NEW YORK CITY

  YEAR 2025

  SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE SPIRIT FLU OUTBREAK

  Dr. Robert Cane took the stage to a sold-out crowd. Most of the audience members had gotten to their feet from their stadium style seats, clapping vociferously to receive him. Others had their phones out, pointing them at the main stage as they took pictures and video.

  Cane put his audience anywhere between early twenties and late sixties. He adjusted his navy-blue sports jacket and fiddled with his wireless headset as he waited for the applause to die down. It was his first time speaking at a TED Talk, and he tried but failed to hide his nervousness.

  He himself was in his early fifties. At age twenty, he had graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D. in computer science, and at twenty-five he’d received a second Ph.D. in biology from Princeton. He became one of the youngest faculty members at MIT, known for his work in both bio- and genetic engineering. Due to his extreme views on genetics and humanity itself, some of Cane’s colleagues in the scientific community had accused him of being a “misanthropist.” He didn’t agree with that assessment—a bit too harsh of a word. He had no hatred for humans, though he did feel they could use a bit of improving, to say the least.

  He considered himself a transhumanist, part of an intellectual movement aiming to transform the human condition via technology, to enhance humans into different beings with expanded abilities. He’d even written a book on the topic—Emergent Future—which, last he’d checked, was rising rapidly up the bestseller charts.

  Cane forced a smile, then nodded toward the audience until the applause ceased. He went right in. “We are on the verge of Emergence. Allow me to offer you a brief look into the future of our species.” He paused for effect, though he knew the silence that followed meant he had their undivided attention. With a slight grin, he continued. “The concept of Emergence has been around since the time of Aristotle. Nicolai Hartmann was one of the first modern philosophers to write on the subject. In philosophy, Emergence describes a phenomenon whereby larger entities arise through interactions with smaller entities. Eventually the larger entities will exhibit properties the smaller ones lack. Using this analogy, our species faces a potential future whereby our children—perhaps our great-grandchildren—will not look anything like us. We face the possibility that humans of today will cease to exist. In our place, a new, dominant species will arise to claim this world as their own. They will possess intellectual, physical, and psychological properties far superior to ours.”

  Cane could have heard a pin drop. Not a single person so much as cleared their throat; they hung on to every word the scientist said. Recognizing the tension, Cane chuckled. “Don’t worry—I’m sure our species will still be around for a while longer before any of this happens. No need for any mass hysteria.”

  The audience let a much-needed laugh, the tension slowly easing.

  “I know there are some members of the intellectual community who don’t agree with these unpopular ideas, labeling them as fearmongering. But there is nothing to fear—Darwin himself stated that evolution is a natural state. For four billion years, species have come and gone on this planet. This follows two sets of principles: natural selection and random mutation. Then humans came into the picture, and everything changed. We have gone from crossbreeding plants and animals, to altering the environment, to even purposefully
altering ourselves.” Cane punctuated each statement by lifting one finger at a time.

  “Throughout history, multiple versions of humans have lived and died. From the earlier versions of man, such as Ardipithecus kadabba, to Homo erectus—and finally to us, the Homo sapiens. Every version of mankind brought an upgrade, an improvement for the better. I believe our species today is due for an upgrade. I foresee our race transcending into a new species, with the ability to program life itself. We are already in the midst of minor improvements to the human body and mind: we grow new tissue, program cells, and augment ourselves through robotics. As these trends continue, more aspects of human life will be capable of scientific manipulation. But no matter what anyone tells you, there is nothing to fear. This is simply the natural progression of life. We cannot stagnate because of our innate fear of change. If we are to survive and thrive”—he paused again, the anticipation building—“then evolution is not only a must, but an inevitability. These are truly exciting times. We are on the brink of the most exciting adventure humans have ever embarked on. That is the single greatest power we possess: the power to alter who we are, the power to cheat our very own extinction.”

  He ceased his pacing and faced the audience, arms extended. “Today, I ask you all to join me on this adventure. To see what lies beyond the horizon—and to embrace our destiny.”

  He brought his hands together, clasped, as if to say Thank You. It was as if lightning had struck and people were counting as they waited to hear more. Then, all at once, the crowd broke into thunderous applause.

  Chapter Three

  GREAT FALLS, MONTANA

  YEAR 2035

  TEN YEARS AFTER THE SPIRIT FLU OUTBREAK

  It’s gotta be close, Claire thought.

  Dawn loomed over the snowy mountain peaks on the horizon as Claire and Tim wandered down the winding highway. They had just passed the sign welcoming them to the city of Great Falls, which meant the settlement should be nearby. It was winter in Montana, and the cold, bitter wind chilled her bones. Dozens of abandoned cars stood idle on the highway, some with long-dead occupants. Tall weeds had grown through cracks in the pavement, engulfing a few of the abandoned vehicles in twisting, choking clumps.