“I should have known you'd change your mind. You're spineless,” Christoph mocked. “Just like back at that party, when I saw your weak character.”
“Are you comparing Elite Delete's executions to a game of survival?”
“Fabian, my dear, I don't understand – what do you want now? We've made it this far together. You knew I wanted a society that will be healthier, smarter, more consumer oriented and sharing. You know what I believe in - a digital evolution where the inefficient will disappear. What we're doing is making that dream a reality. Why wait years when we can cut some obvious corners? I put my money into this global financial enterprise to permanently change the world.”
“I still believe in the algorithmic race theory, but as a natural process,” Fabian answered. “I expected it to be a process of natural selection, that the lower races would be eliminated without our direct interference. I believed before in creating an application to select genetically perfect babies. But what we're now doing is not playing God anymore. It's being God.”
“God is code. Now we're God,” Christoph thoughtmitted and poured himself a Parkinson's preventive whiskey substitute. “Ah, damn genes. Let's move to a Mindsphere, this is too long to thoughtmit.”
They were facing each other in a black space, floating - for lack of a better description.
“Our world is like an ocean,” Christoph continued in a quiet voice. “Billions of fish are swimming in it, struggling, fighting, and drowning each other. In the end, the strong prevail. If your brain rank falls below 3.0, you're dead to the digital evolution. So there's no point in such a person surviving and producing offspring. Nothing good can come out of it."
"This is because of Sunshine," Fabian said.
"What does she have to do with this blessed process?" Christoph said, disregarding Fabian’s feelings. "Do you see me taking cues from other people?"
"Since she came, everything took a turn for the worse."
"I expect you meant to say that everything improved," Christoph rushed to defend his partner. "She's efficient, thorough, and always makes an extra effort. We work well as a team and we're writing history, so stop looking for problems where there are none."
Fabian hated himself for being dragged into petty emotions.
"Fabian, are you with me?"
"Yes."
"Do we want to wait for another food crisis to kill millions?" Christoph asked. "Are we really prepared to wait for another economic depression to doom hundreds of millions to a life of misery, hunger and disease? Will we wait for a disastrous lack of resource planning to kill all these people? Would that be more moral in your eyes? Who's to say this life is any better than no life at all? The intelligent planning we’re doing at Minds will allow the living to lead more prosperous lives, and the dead are done caring. I look at all of it with composure and a positive outlook, and I recommend you to do the same. I recognize an efficient solution when I see one, while you're playing an algorithmic Mother Teresa."
Fabian sat down sweating profusely, pulled out an anti-anxiety gum and chewed vigorously.
"I hear you say the words and I don't believe you. This has gotten out of control."
"Efficiency is not a dirty word," Christoph said.
"I didn't say that." Fabian couldn't express himself clearly, and he knew he was won over, spellbound by the charisma that always made him forget what he actually wanted to say. So he sounded less convincing even to himself.
"We both understand that, scientifically speaking, the top priority should be group survival - the collective, and not individuals," Christoph continued. "It's impossible to care for everyone, and it's not what nature wants."
"I don't need you to lecture me on that."
"It seems to me that you do. You've become a romantic, despite what you may think. I do have a conscience, and it's because of it that I do what I do. You forget that the Neverminds chose to exclude themselves. We wanted to give them the choice of a peaceful life, but they quickly made themselves a negative influence that puts a burden and an impossibly expensive maintenance toll on our users. Can you come up with a better idea?"
"I wasn't thinking of one."
"I have, and don't forget that you're an active part in all this. The Netopia program puts the fate of hundreds of millions in our hands, and you have an important part to play in this. Before, we couldn't wait for a new generation to be born. This plan speeds up the process by disappearing the ‘inhibiting factors.’ This huge burden is about to vanish from existence, so you might want to start smiling. We did only good."
"I feel we've gone too far."
"Fabian, no one can accuse us of lacking patience. I believed that we could create a new person, that the network's incentives would nudge the stupid to better themselves, along with the weak, the repressive, the misers, the frugal and the antisocial. We wasted resources and a fair amount of time on an ungrateful, anti-social population. We gave them a chance, more than once. But they stuck to their bad habits. The personality structure of those in the lower brain ranks remained the same. If we don't deal with them, they'll drag our efforts down to the bottom of the ocean. You can think of our little company as a modern Noah's ark. It saves everyone that's worth saving, and the rest are masters of their own fate. I have my mind set on tomorrow," Christoph declared, "and you're crying over the present."
Fabian heard him and stared vacantly. He wondered if they would go down in history as two good friends who traveled a long way together, until one of them did the right thing, or if he would be remembered as a coward. What would it be? He knew full well that issues of morality had not been part of Minds' concern for a long time. He felt that he had come to his senses too late.
"Fabian, you're neck deep in this. You're too far from shore to start recklessly paddling back. When it comes down to it, you're the chief executive of this precious undertaking that we embarked on together."
Fabian silently cursed under his breath. He knew it was pointless to make threats or protest against the shape of the world. If he brought the issue to court, to be decided by a panel of high ranked peers, the decision would go his friend's way.
He also knew that rebellion would be suicidal.
"Christoph, you know it will eventually come out," he said and wiped his brow. "It's only a matter of time."
"Don't be a pessimist. You'll be thanking me for the new world we're creating. In the meantime, switch to the Warm Sunshine Mindsphere. It will do you plenty of good."
"I'm tired of sunshine."
"I'll say it again: it will do you good," Christoph smiled and hung up.
Fabian stayed there staring at blank black space.
***
Don Little chose to go against the good sense that might advise against a connected person spending his time with the disconnected lifeless. He kept his eyes on the ground all the way to the shelter. He moved with quick steps through the fields, and checked his hat every few seconds, making sure it did not shift to reveal the scar from his implant.
Personally, he was thriving in the network and had a higher brain rank than average. But his elderly father, who could not adjust to life on the network, had gradually withered away. Neither of them realized it would end up killing him.
He now picked up his pace, checking his back and flanks, afraid to run into the Elite Delete. His father had already been taken from him, and he was left alone. He was looking for a place to hide, in case Elite Delete decided to search for him as well and returned to the apartment, even though they had him listed as Jack. They might have learned that they missed one, and backtracked to ‘take care’ of him the same way they did with his father.
Don crossed a great distance. The mere thought of Minds tinkering with his head sent cold sweat trickling down his back. He knew they could pull the plug on him at any given moment and kill him remotely, if they knew who he was and what he knew.
Hundreds of Neverminds lived in the urban shelter he eventually reached. Some were talking quietly in g
roups, and others kept to themselves. At first no one noticed him.
"Who are you?" a bald man finally asked in a suspicious tone of voice.
"My name’s Jack… and you?" Don asked politely.
"None of your business," said another, jumping out of a corner.
"Pay him no mind, that's Robin," a young girl said. "And I'm Candy. What made you drop out, by the way?"
Don was quiet for a while, and said "Minds are killing people. They killed my father."
Laughter erupted all around. "You don't say? No kidding? The network certainly does kill an awful lot, people's way of life, their time, their sense of reality. You're perfectly right, metaphorically speaking."
"No," Don said in a serious voice, "listen to me. They killed my father, who was an old man and couldn't figure out the network. They murdered him because he wasn't efficient enough for them."
"Listen to the nonsense coming out of his mouth! We have a maniac on our hands here," said Robin Nice.
No one believed Don, but he kept trying.
"Listen, they came and took him. I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I saw it with my own eyes. They didn't know I was there. He was lying on the table disconnected, without a pulse, not moving, and they came in with their white outfits, the ones that keep things tidy around town, engineering the gardens and fields. They collected him and the entire contents of the house in a box and left. And they did it in seconds."
"Exactly what we were missing. Another crazy prophet of doom," chuckled Alexander Cage.
"Before they came for him, he was notified that his brain rank was too low. Sunshine sent him a warning."
"Sunshine?"
"The Minds booster."
"But what's the connection you're drawing between Elite Delete and the network? Did you come here to lie and entice us?"
"It's the truth. Why would I lie? Why would I be lying about my own father?"
"Wait a minute. How did you see all of it?" Candy Metal asked.
"I was in the attic when they came. It's made of sealed glass. I suddenly heard boots. Tak-Tak-Tak, they came in, and I saw everything from above. They worked in silence, quickly and efficiently. My father was lying there, his head limp, and they cleared him off, put him in a fancy white crate and left the same way they came in. They didn't even know I was there."
Everyone became quiet, and finally Alexander stood up.
"Listen to me well. Minds does not kill people, and you came here to rile us up, to make us say and do things that will help vilify us later. Who are you working for? You’re delirious. The world would not let this happen. Everyone knows everything, everything goes on record, and the media see it all. If what you're saying is true, someone would have found out about it."
"I'm here! I'm letting you know! We have to stop them!"
"Hey, you're not one of us!" said Robin.
"They're going to kill us all, don't you get it?!"
"I bet you're a network agent!" Robin shouted, and pulled Don's hat off to reveal the small scar on the back of his head. "There, he's a liar! Rat! Son of a bitch! You thought you could come here and pull one over us, did you? I'm going to kill you!"
They were savage, offline long enough to have run wild. Robin, once a gentle person, was the first to attack Don, after getting the nod from Alexander. In seconds, the shelter turned into a boxing ring. They beat him and tried to pull the component out of his head while he tried shielding it. His head was bleeding and he wiped the blood off with his hat. The fight sent him back to his days in prison, where he was also forced to fight the moment he showed up, scrawny and weak. But now? Why should he be fighting now? He wanted to help them! He wondered what happened to make these people so blind that they could no longer tell when someone told them the truth.
Those were long, painful moments. Don screamed and fought off dozens. Despite their advantage in numbers, they lacked focus; the Neverminds were clamoring to get to him, hitting him and each other in an escalation of bestial rage. Don bounced between them like a ball of flesh. He was used to a contact-free world, and now everyone wanted to lay a hand on him. He was out of air and about to end his life there, under the mob. And perhaps for the best; he would join his beloved father and the two would finally be able to connect.
Candy was watching it all from the side and begging them to stop. Usually when she sang, everyone would stop what they were doing and stand still, but no one was hearing her voice now.
"They'll come and bag you all like so much trash, just like they did to my dad," Don whispered in a hoarse voice. "They won't leave you alone."
"I don't know what's the deal with your dad, but it has nothing to do with us," Alexander spat in anger.
"Don't count on it. They're clearing people like you off the streets."
"What does Elite Delete have to do with Minds?" Alexander asked, his resolution shaken. He turned to Robin. "What if he's right?"
"He's not right!" Robin decided.
The commotion fizzled out, and everyone tried to get some air and relax. At that moment, a gentle and caressing female voice was heard making an announcement:
"Dear Neverminds, the management of Minds has decided to allow you to return to the world you loved and left behind. You will no longer have to feel like second class citizens. We decided to let you go back to your lives, just as you left them, but with one thousand Unis in your pockets – a small token from the network, to help you with your fresh start. How nice it will be, going back to the wife, the kids, the relatives, the friends and neopets you left behind! There are people who miss you, and we're sure the feeling was always mutual, but you were too busy with the day to day business of surviving. Some of you ended up here because of bugs that took too long to fix, others willingly, and more than a few because this is the only life you could afford. All that is history."
During the announcement all the walls projected a soft colored video. One by one, everyone came together to watch in silence. They were listening to the caressing melody, and stared at a mother and baby beaming with happiness, and pure white smiles. Above their heads appeared shared thought bubbles with the symbols for heart, home and flower. The message was that a mother perfectly understands her baby's thoughts. Later in the video, the child grows up and holds hands with a girl, and they shared the same symbols in a different order: flower, heart, home. Then the couple got old and walked toward the sunset. The presentation ended with the slogan, "Reconnect, Relove, Relive – Reminder: open your mind tomorrow."
The video looped for twenty-four hours. Don could not understand why they all stared at that illusion of happiness like so many hypnotized zombies. It was a kitsch load of trash. People here are so stupid and naive, he thought. Idiots, buying into it so easily.
The Neverminds let him lie in a corner, alone. They did not care anymore if he was an agent or not. They had a new attraction. They were all excited, except for Alexander, who insisted on keeping out of it, determined not to answer Minds' call.
"We don't need them anymore. They can carry on without us," he told his friends.
"Alex, they're giving us a second chance!" Robin exclaimed, joyously celebrating with Candy. "You heard what they said - a thousand Unis! We're getting our lives back!"
"But I chose to leave them!" Alexander yelled and stood blocking the screen. "They're trying to deceive us. They're selling you pink clouds. Don't buy it! What kind of life do you think you'll be getting?"
"So you actually think like this guy?" Robin asked and shot Don a menacing look.
"They might not be murderers, but they are deceivers. Minds will take over your life and quietly turn it to ruin. Look at you - you're willingly giving in."
"You're going to regret it," Don whispered to the deaf ears around him.
The others started planning their new lives, imagining their old friends falling all over them, the availability of public services and agencies, buying nice things again, tending owls, Dream Sex, neocars, being popular. Feeling appreciated. Accepted.
Loved. Back to the center of everything after being cast out in the existential wasteland.
Robin and Candy talked with Alexander, explaining that he, too, could enjoy the world he left behind. But he shook his head.
"You're selling me out - but more importantly, it's a mistake," Alexander expressed his injured feelings over Robin’s and Candy's decisions to reconnect.
The two looked at each other, but as far as they were concerned the deal was done. They were determined to return to Minds. They embraced Alexander, said their farewells, and joined the others. Alexander was left standing alone.
The next day, long lines of people were waiting to be picked up from the shelter. From there they would go to a huge structure erected by Minds. They all ran outside in excitement. No one wanted to miss their second chance. No one noticed Don, who was still licking his wounds from the fight. He lay by the entrance and warned them, "Don't go. You don't know what you're doing. My dad was murdered by these people. They'll do the same to you."
"He's mentally unstable," someone said of him, and they all clapped and shouted to the beat of, "Reconnect, Relove, Relive!"
***
Christoph religiously repeated his morning routine. He liked having time for himself, eating at ease, swallowing with a clear, focused mind. It was a sacred time to him, and no one dared disturb him at that hour. He walked over to the window which overlooked melting icebergs, touched his nose to the glass and enjoyed the cold sensation. He stayed like that for several seconds, watching an iceberg almost submerge.
Orcuin stared at him in silence. There was no one else in the room. After a few seconds she came closer and stepped on his shiny boots with her little feet. She used to do this to get his attention when his thoughts wandered too far.
“If I come closer, Fabian will pull away, and if I pull away, he'll come closer, and I need him close,” he pondered while Orcuin watched. “That's the law of nature: one approaches and the other retreats. I can't interfere with the order of things.” He sat down on the sofa when Nicola appeared. Her eyebrow twitched slightly whenever she was nervous, but she stood at attention, frozen on the screen, with her Mister Feathers on her shoulder.
Netopia: A Thrilling Dystopian Novel (Science Fiction & Action) Page 24