“You could say that,” Lyle replied. “We have been starved for years.”
“They were prisoners of the Agent. He is an evil man.”
“Oh yes, we have heard tales of his doing. You must be very relieved to be free from him. Sit. We can all eat together.”
As the meal commenced, Juan and Diego arrived back from their journey to the city, and Lolita immediately ushered them to the large bench table.
“So you found us. Diego and I thought about our meeting and we talked all the way into the city and nearly all the way back here again about what it meant to take you in. We are very happy you have arrived, for you given us the numbers and strength for our farm to flourish. How has it been since you arrived? Did you find a suitable place to settle?”
“Oh yes thank you Juan,” Carmel replied. “Lolita was so graceful to offer us a choice of barn, and we all agree, it is a very fine place for us to live. As soon as we can, we agreed to get to work here so we can re-pay the kindness from you all.”
“Ha. That is good to hear from you. We have a lot of work to do. There is grain we have harvested that needs to become flour, and soon, our summer vegetables will ripen.”
“Do you ever get any trouble here?” Steve asked.
“Only once,” Manuel replied. “The authorities came here four years ago to see what was going on. But we are just a small group, and they decided to leave us alone. There was nothing here they could use.”
“So they didn’t try to take over and send you to the city?”
“No. They are not so worried with such things. If there is anything they want, they would come and get it, but we are peaceful and simple, so I think that is to our advantage.”
“Anyone else…um, try to steal or take over.”
“No. Some people did come looking a few months ago and they had weapons with them, but we have a few of our own and we sent them on their way.”
“What do you have?”
“Ah, this may seem a little out of place, but we have some of those laser rifles the authorities use. That is one of the reasons we went into the city. The power cells for them are low, and so we obtained some more. We have a contact who provides for us now and then.”
“Can they be trusted?”
“I suppose. They are not from the authorities, but they have links to others in Lima. We have to trust them, but remain wary. Weapons are not our thing, but we have to be realistic and keep some for protection.”
“I can help you there.”
“I’m sure you could Tobias,” John said. “We have weapons too. But like you, we do not like to use them. You can hold them for us if you wish, in case you think we cannot be trusted, but…”
“No, no, we trust you. We can feel you are peaceful people. It is good that you have some weapons, as it will add to ours and we can feel safer should we need to use them.”
“Are there any special places nearby this valley?’ Chan asked, changing the subject.
“Oh yes, there are some very special places. In amongst the Andes Mountains here, there are avenues to what some say are places of spirit. Not far from here is a place called Tora Muerto…”
“Dead bull,” Lyle said.
“Yes, dead bull. It is an old place of special significance. It has petroglyphs of times past. Some say they are of things that could be said to be unworldly.”
“Petroglyphs…ancient images.”
“Yes they are images of times long ago. They are not so far from this valley. You could easily travel there and return the same day on horseback.”
“What are they of…these images?”
“As I said, some say there are images of people not of this world. But also, there are pictures of life from times long past. Of animals and village matters.”
“This is very adequate for our understanding,” Chan said. “Consider what we have done to come to this place, and there is now a destination to visit during our stay called Dead Bull. Our…”
“Of course! Dead Bull. John here killed that beastly amplifier thing the Agent had. You’re strong honey.”
“Killed the beast? Whatever do you mean?” Pablo asked.
“It was a machine the Agent used called a vortex amplifier. It looked like a bull with two horns and a centre ring as if it was a nose ring.”
“That sounds very bad. We have legends of similar things in places near this valley where lines and stones were used to summon unseen forces. This beast may have been a similar thing.”
“Perhaps, but the Agent was using it to create bad things. There are many people in North America and other places with holes…”
“Oh. No, do not speak of those things. There have been a few of those people seen in Arequipa. They look like horror has been planted into their hearts. Many people are wary of them and if they ever see them, they are outcast to the desert. There it never rains and food is almost non-existent. A few of those people you speak of tried to attack people at the edge of the city, and whilst it seems awful to abandon them, it is all we could do. We do not have any machines to make them well again.”
“I’m afraid nobody can make them well again. Even with what I know about technology, there are simply no answers.”
“You have done what is required to further progression by doing this with those afflicted people. There are elemental disparities within them created by those holes you speak of. When we were within the Agent’s grasp, he told us of the devastation he was doing to people in their bodies and their souls. It is Ok for you to have reacted this way, otherwise there would have been growth of the disparities and then many more would have been afflicted.”
“You sure speak a bit funny Chan,” Kerry Ann remarked.
“Oh you get used to it. He’s a lovely man,” Raynie replied. “We have known Chan a long time now.”
“More food anyone?” Lolita offered. “I have prepared a special feast to celebrate, so please eat as much as you can. We cannot let it go to waste.”
The entire group continued the feast well into the night, and although Frieda was not beside them, she too was enjoying the fresh hay and grain she had been given, along with the company of the other three horses living at the farm.
Chapter 26
Further testing under the guidance of Eric Gunter, revealed there were no new viruses coming from the Agent. As he processed the data appearing on the holographic array with his part human and part mechanical mind, he began to envisage the near future when he could deploy many of the new systems he had been testing over the past year and a half. Gone was the notion of compliance through identification chip technology, and gone were the ideas of dependency as they had stood eight years before. An entirely new set of arrangements for the population at large had been developed, and soon, Eric would be in charge as they were rolled out across the nation and further across the planet at a time when they were certain the Agent was no longer a tangible threat.
His next duty was to report the latest findings to his superiors for their assessment and decision on how to proceed. When he arrived at their office, he found they were looking into their latest quantum-computing calculations for the deployment of pseudo self-realisation robotics. Being the next level in technological robotic surveillance, these machines were programmed to rely on authority driven parameters, yet also, to have an element of self-determination for making decisions. Studies initiated eight years previous for the elemental properties in self-awareness, had developed to a stage where these new robots were equipped to anticipate the actions of human beings in any given situation. Fifty stood waiting in the warehouse below the huge east-coast city where many of the people above, would soon experience the true force of the authoritarian intentions commenced those years prior.
“Sir?”
“Yes Eric?”
“I have the results sir. It appears as though we have a positive result for proceeding.”
“Do you have the holographic data report?”
“Yes sir.”
�
�Leave it with me, and then you may go. Oh…and well done on your initiative. I look forward to more efficient outcomes from you Eric.”
“Thank you sir. You can expect nothing less.”
Constant music sounded throughout the main authority complex. Further studies conducted over the past eight years, had shown that given the right type of rhythmical constant, human beings could sub-consciously connect with the tones and enhancement to their output could be achieved. It was not really music, rather a mixture of tones and rhythm sections played at low volume so as to add to the atmospheric conditions and not override or interfere with the concentration level of all employees in those areas where the music could be heard. Senior officers and officials were not subjected to the subliminal suggestion of the constant tones, remaining free from this type of ever-present drive for efficiency. Status within the ranks could afford a degree of relaxation from the strict rules of compliance enforced upon all sub-ordinate employees.
When Eric arrived back at his workstation, his heartbeat had risen and so too had his adrenalin levels, from a mixture of the walk and from the subliminal tones. Immediately he set about his next task without any moments taken to consider his place, or himself. As part man and part machine, the technology systems inside of him were connected to a real time status holographic readout. This mean that for Eric and many others involved with taking up the advanced nano implants and systems mechanics, they could be prompted by subtle internal system changes to re-direct their focus and return to work. Their trade-off for accepting the implants, which the authorities would soon aspire to make mandatory, was the promise of a longer life span guaranteed beyond one hundred and forty years.
Inside of Eric’s brain, the millions of the tiny robots worked to enhance his neural capacity as he collated data on the possible locations of the rogue HyperJet. With such enhancements in place, he was capable of processing considerably more information than those without the nano inserts, and also to make decisions based on projections contained within the data. His superior had permitted him to continue with this objective, using whatever resources he deemed necessary to find John Matheson. The military jets sent to find him had not been successful, resulting in Eric cancelling their broad sweep fly over missions of the area they thought John might be located. He ordered them to return to their Washington base and await further instructions based on any new data he was able to retrieve. During John’s flight, the jet had provided various identification and systems signatures, and so Eric set to work organising the data to implement a far wider search.
The holographic array at Eric’s workstation contained a new type of quantum computing processor, providing each officer of the authorities access to pseudo flux capacity. As he entered possible scenarios based on the telemetry readings, the array lit up showing possible outcomes for the HyperJet, based on energy capacity, John’s personality traits based on data the authorities had obtained during his incarceration at the facility eight years ago, and headings projections the jet might have taken given their requirement to remain obscured from detection. Several destinations appeared on a three dimensional Earth globe, highlighting the locations within reach of nominal HyperJet capacity, coupled with suggestions based on John’s type of decision making within the conditions he was forced to endure in remaining free from detection. Eric had also projected some data involving the Agent, into the sequence, and this was included within the results he was now analysing. As he entered data, the holographic projections updated within the second, yet it was not as instantaneous as it would have been using flux mechanics. This began to bother Eric as he studied the reports in front of him, with his desire to be ever more efficient taking hold in his mind for a few moments. His internal mechanics sensed this, and so they eased his angst through deliberate manipulation of his synaptic processes for him to gather focus once again on the task at hand.
Eric’s sight was not susceptible to the subtleties of normal organic based sight, where the blink of eyes, a speck of dust, or the loss of focus, might affect his capacity to continuously view and thus analyse the results as they appeared. His eyes retained a constant fix on the array spread before him, but somewhere deep inside his self, inside his brain, there was a misalignment of the nuances within the human experience.
Unknown to him, and to those who were also monitoring his progress, they began to conjure a disassociation not too unlike the unstable vortexes created by the Agent. In time, this would develop into situations where the efficient stability they aspired to inside the human brain, would itself, render a scale of disturbance to the normal patterns of life that would require those afflicted, and those who supervised this new type of trans-human, to take unforseen measures to counteract these drawbacks. When it would come time to make the adjustments required, they would unearth yet more disturbing technology, inclined to manifest reason and propensity beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
This elemental oversight in the authorities attempts to create the pinnacle of efficiency through trans-humanism, would also affect the population at large. People were to become a derision of themselves, held in contempt at will by others, and without foundation.
After a five minute effort at compiling sufficient data to complete a report for consideration and recommendation on how to pursue John, Eric noticed his time was up for work that day. Without any sense of relief or any feelings of excitement about what he could do during the non-working hours, Eric simply logged out of his workstation, and then left to go home. His place of residence was not above ground – it was at the same level as his place of work, and so he only required to board the electric transport and stand patiently on its carrier platform, for the ten-minute ride through the tunnel to his allocated abode.
Upon arrival, he sat in the specially equipped chair for the automated daily injections required each day for the first two years of his new trans-human way of life. The medicines stabilised the endocrine system until his body had adjusted to the graphene based implants. Each implant was a hexagonal design of technical marvel, constructed as a result of studies into elemental geometric forces, then compiled into form through data spectrum prototyping. Characteristics of graphene implants were its function as both a framework construct for retention of physical structural integrity, and a conductor for processing data in vast quantities throughout the body. Even when at home, Eric was aligned to the systems monitoring as he was at work.
Ten seconds after the injection procedure, Eric could feel hunger rise from within, so he ordered his once per day meal from the food dispenser. Dinner for Eric was the same food substance every day. Consisting of the compounds designed to alternate flavours each evening, each meal was only a slight variation in taste lacking the diversity of normal human desires for food. After eating, Eric disposed of his utensils via the built in laser dispersal unit, and within a second of engaging the holographic control, his waste was reduced to a small mass of densely packed atoms, to then be taken away via the garbage chute.
Entertainment was not something Eric chose each night during those hours between working. He would often just sit and enjoy his newly found trans-humanism, as he could sense the internal workings aligning his systems with efficient processing of both organics and data. It was an entirely new experience for a human being, where one could feel their internal processes described by those with the implants, as a feeling of warmth. These moments were the only time Eric came close to feeling pleasure, yet is was pseudo in nature as the robots manipulated his remaining natural self. When the sensations ceased, Eric would then analyse all the information he had collected for the day, in pursuit of creating further technological developments to please his superiors. Finally, the systems would tell him he was tired, and at almost the precise same time each night, Eric was sent to bed.
The very next morning when Eric awoke as he had done at the same time for one and half years now, his mind immediately switched to efficiency awareness. He washed efficiently, he dressed efficiently, a
nd then he made his way to work efficiently. When he arrived back at his station, the night shift officer handed operations over to him, for his daytime twelve-hour shift. Two shifts per day were all the authorities required to ensure their facilities ran non-stop without any downtime. His last action prior to commencing work, which was standard procedure for any officer, was to advise his backup officer to be on standby at the array, should Eric be required to leave the workstation for any amount of time.
Next for Eric, was to download all of the considerations he had made at home the night before. Without any obvious hardware means to make the transfer, he entered a small sequence into the array for its scanners to analyse his brain for any new information. Then, as he resumed actual work on the technological developments he thought of as being required to apprehend John Matheson, the quantum computer once again provided him near real time statistics and results. As he continued processing the information in front of him, Eric felt a slight surge of excitement as if one of remaining organic neural pathways came to a sudden realisation. Before he could recognise this in himself for more than a fleeting moment, the implants took over. They both analysed the response and then adjusted his thoughts to send him once again into primary efficiency status, avoiding the inefficiency of distraction created through any notion of self.
Despite this drive by the authorities to reach the highest degree of efficiency possible, the scenarios in front of Eric did not provide a lot of tangible data on where to find John. Consequentially, Eric immediately moved on to further considerations, with his goal to eventually determine enough information for the physical search and apprehension of the target. For him, there was barely any humanistic sense to his work as he continued to regard John, not as a person by name, but as the targeted individual. His biggest problem was that his target did not have any technology implants himself, nor did he have the identification chip still found in most of the population, for the quantum computer to scan. DNA scanning was too localised in effective radius to obtain a positive result, and so Eric was instructed by his own implants to remain determined and to continue.
Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga Page 23