“Can people stay here if they want?”
The Transcendent couldn’t seem to stand still and was fidgeting about, so it was hard to tell if he was giving the question some thought or was just pretending to.
“I don’t see why not,” it replied after a few moments. Bruce had noticed its eyes had glazed over, and he reckoned the clone must have been communicating with other Transcendents. Maybe the technology wasn’t fully developed, if the clone couldn’t carry on two conversations at the same time.
Bruce walked over and sat at one of the café’s outside chairs where some other clones were drinking and pulled out his smokes. The Transcendent, Janice and Wisneski joined him.
“Thanks,” his clone said, holding out its hand to take a cigarette.
Bruce looked at it, then shook the pack at it. The Transcendent took out a cigarette and leant over the table as Bruce lit it, then sat back contentedly.
“Do you want coffee?” it asked, and motioned to a waiting clone, asking for two Americanos without checking with Bruce.
Wisneski stared at the two of them. He doubted Bruce realised at this point he was dealing with an entity whose physical appearance was a close copy of himself. The similarity was uncanny, including the speech patterns and gestures. Then he realised at least half the clones they could see looked like Bruce.
For his part Bruce felt completely demoralised. What had been the point of the last eighteen months of effort? It now looked like a complete waste of time. All he had succeeded in doing was bring distress and turmoil into people’s lives and dumping them on a planet far from home.
“Bugger! What the fuck am I supposed to do now?” He stared at Transcendent. It felt odd to be talking to a physical version of the entity which had until recently lived inside his head. “You knew all along?”
“I’ve only just become aware of the cloning developments, I only discovered what was happening when I started to investigate the anomaly in this area. Once the project steering committee decided to pursue your suggestion about cloning, a separate project to ours was established to gather a broad consensus and chart a course of action to bring it alive. The steering committee decided to let both projects run because there was no certainty of success for the cloning project and there was a risk we might end up with no options if we stuck all our eggs in one basket.”
“In the same way our own venture was compartmentalised. Once it was initiated, the project ran in parallel to our own.”
“That’s the bit I don’t get. I see the point in taking our project through to implementation, but why flip the switch when this other preferred option is so close to delivery? Wasn’t there some oversight of both projects?”
“No. The steering committee got distracted by other issues,” the Transcendent replied vaguely.”
“Like what?”
“Ha, typical.” Janice grinned, taking in Bruce’s crestfallen appearance.
“What do you mean?”
“Well you’ve never worked in a large organisation, have you?” Janice asked. “This happens all the time. You often find the right arm doesn’t know what the left one’s doing. What’s unusual here is that two big, complicated projects appear to have delivered their planned outcomes. This doesn’t happen very often with major projects, or any project, really.”
“I know it’s difficult for you to deal with,” the Transcendent explained, “Requirements and plans change all the time. Technology develops, and we draw new insights in the process of planning and rolling out these projects. The option to upload people from your planet to Skid was the correct one at the time. We’ve done this repeatedly over an extended period - for generations, in fact. Now it’s time for a change in approach, this will be a better outcome for all concerned. The upload process has now outlived its usefulness, and we no longer need to run the risk of disrupting life on your planet each time we need to replenish the population on Skid.” The Transcendent sounded proud of these achievements.
Bruce couldn’t help but dwell on the detrimental impact they'd had on people’s lives, now all for nothing. He’d overcome his initial moral reservations to the upload plan because there was some benefit for mankind, but now that might not be the case.
“What about all the newSkidians? What about the concept of a species lifeboat for humanity we all agreed on?” Bruce demanded angrily. “That was the main reason I agreed to be involved in the first place, to start to spread humans across the galaxy to reduce the risk of an event impacting Earth and leading to the extinction of humanity. What are we going to do with the newSkidians? What are we going to tell them?”
The Transcendent had clearly been giving this question some consideration while Bruce was speaking.
“It will take us some time to refine the cloning systems, to build the manufacturing and storage capacity, and produce enough fully formed clone blanks to meet our requirements.”
“Can you define ‘some time’ for me?”
“It will take years,” the Transcendent replied eventually, bouncing around in its seat. Its fidgeting had increased to a level that was bugging Bruce.
“Can’t you sit still for a moment? It’s bloody rude to carry on the way you are. How is a man supposed to concentrate when you’re jiggling around all over the place?”
“If you’ll give me a minute,” The Transcendent stood up without waiting for a response. “I’m trying to adjust to my new body. It’s like putting on a new skin and takes a while to get used to.” He turned unexpectedly and sprinted off down the road through the settlement, toward the sea, as fast as he could go.
“What the fuck’s he doing?”
“Getting used to his new body, I guess,” replied Janice, stating the obvious. She was a little nervous at how agitated Bruce was getting. She glanced at Wisneski who didn’t seem perturbed. “It’s not the end of the world,” she continued.
“What would you know?” Bruce demanded. “We’ve put a huge amount of effort into making this a success and the Transcendents had another plan all the time. What a fucken' waste of time!”
“How do you think I feel?” Janice retorted, her temper flaring. “I really believed I was one of the first people to walk on Mars...”
“You were.” Bruce interrupted her.
“But it was all a sham: we were never in control of the mission. How do you think I feel?”
“I understand,” Bruce replied meekly. “I thought it was the right thing to do at the time.”
“I doubt you really do. You need to think about it this way and stop crying into your beer. Your project had a successful outcome. It delivered its objectives, which is unusual, especially because they were delivered on time. There are a few loose ends to tidy up, but there always are. The outcome might not be what you expected, but you’ll get over it eventually. Trust me. That isn’t the case for most of the people you had a hand in sending here.” Janice glared at Bruce, daring him to contradict her. Then, deciding she’d had her say, she stalked off.
“She’s a feisty one. Do you reckon you’ll be able to handle her?” Bruce asked Wisneski. Deep down, while he didn’t like her answer, he knew Janice was right. By the time the Transcendent had jogged back, Bruce was already feeling a lot more philosophical than he had been a few moments before.
“These bodies are amazing,” it exclaimed. “Each time I download, I am astonished how they developed. It’s a completely divergent evolutionary course to the one which emerged here on Skid. It’s bloody awesome!”
Wisneski was intrigued at how not only did the Transcendent look like Bruce, it had the same strangled accent, and had picked up on his vocabulary as well.
“So, what’s next for us..” Bruce asked “..and for the likes of Janice and Wisneski and the others who really know what’s going on?”
“You’ll always be welcome here, Bruce, and so will the others. You have a special place in our community because you helped us when we needed it most and for this we will be eternally grateful. In recognition of all yo
ur accomplishments and effort over a number of years we have updated your status.”
“You what? You mean there’s more than having a spaceship and an AI at my disposal?”
“There sure is,” the Transcendent replied.
Bruce had to reach out and grab the table for support as he experienced a momentary sense of vertigo. His mind expanded, and he felt a new sense of clarity, as if he suddenly had an infinite amount of processing power. Simultaneously, he became conscious of a huge volume of... he began to experience a sensory overload which threatened to overwhelm him, despite his increased processing capacity. He was in awe of it, it was minds, the constant babbling of millions of voices. He realised he was now fully connected to the faint whispering conversations he had sensed at the edge of his consciousness for a while now.
“Oh my god,” he muttered as the Transcendents accepted him into their realm. “This is going to get bloody complicated.”
Twenty-Six
“Mission control, this is Lander One.” There had been an international controversy over naming the vehicle which would complete the first lunar landing in over half a century. All the nations involved sought the right to name the lander as a matter of prestige. It was a controversy so intense it almost derailed the entire mission, diverting attention from more important subjects and distracting the mission crew.
Worse still, the international organisations who had combined to put the project together couldn’t agree on an approach to deal with their political leaders over the matter. In the end, the senior crew decided to identify the vessels as Rocket One, Module One, and Lander One, while their masters wrangled with each other, and the terms stuck.
“Reading you loud and clear, Lander One.”
“All systems are go for egress onto the lunar surface once you are happy your checklist is complete.”
The landing had been practised over and repeatedly to make sure the real thing would run like a well-oiled machine on the day. Every conceivable contingency had been accounted for, and each member of the crew was proficient in at least one other key role apart from their own. They knew down to the last second the time the first steps were going to be taken onto the surface, who would make those steps, and what the backup plan was if something went wrong.
“We are good to go,” Commander Whale replied. “Check your helmet seals one more time, team.” he added to the crew lined up behind him in the airlock. He turned to the person immediately behind him and tapped their helmet lightly with his gloved hand. It was a gesture repeated with the rest of the crew. Only the pilot was staying aboard the lander for the time being in case of emergency. The only other crew member not in the airlock was in a lonely orbit aboard the mother ship. “Are you OK up there, CT?” CT wouldn’t be landing. If this part of the mission was successful, he would be heading back to earth orbit to pick up the next crew from the space station and repeat the mission. If everything went according to plan, and repairs could be actioned easily, a permanent base would be established on the planet in the next few weeks.
“Affirmative, Commander. You are good to go.”
“Control, I can confirm we have completed the egress to surface checklist and are exiting the landing module.” Whale slammed the airlock release button with the palm of his hand and the airlock’s outer door slid open.
Whale felt his heart beat faster: the medics would be poring over the data being beamed back to them and would soon ask him to pump himself full of sedatives. Whale wasn’t about to follow those orders. He wanted to savour this moment with the full suite of his faculties and be able to recall each detail for the rest of his life.
The relief mission to the MFY settlement on the moon had been mounted too late to engage with the MFY colonists who had gone off air after departing for Mars. The evacuation had begun after the settlement suffered a containment breach and power failure, possibly caused by an explosion in their powerplant, which happened as Whale and his crew were climbing into their lift vehicle on the launch pad.
It wouldn’t have to be a very big explosion to cause catastrophic damage, and it had likely accelerated the MFY plan to transfer the lunar colonists to Mars. Once communication from the moon ended, Whale's mission profile changed from a relief expedition to one tasked with analysing the cause of the containment breach as a learning opportunity for future missions and settlements and determining whether repairs could be implemented. They would also gather evidence for the legal battles the families of the settlers were going to launch against the MFY program, and the producers of the Martian Reality Show, still going strong and beaming down from Mars.
Whale felt someone nudge him gently in the back.
“Got cold feet? Want me to go first?” someone laughed on their private channel.
“Not on your life.” Whale stepped out onto the surface and looked around. He pretended momentarily he was the first man to walk on the surface in fifty odd years, an absurd thought given the MFYers had beat him to it.
He stopped and scanned around. An abandoned MFY lander was several hundred metres off to his left. Just where he expected to see it.
“The dome looks intact to me,” Petra Maldavian reported, stepping onto the surface behind him and scanning around. “I wonder what happened.”
The entrance to the settlement was at the end of a translucent tunnel projecting out of a dome, constructed on the floor of large, shallow crater. A series of large caverns had been excavated in the crater wall behind the dome, which contained the bulk of the settlement.
“That’s what we are here to find out. OK people, make a quick check of the landers and the vehicles to see if any survivors have managed to take refuge there. But, remember our primary goal is to get into the settlement itself..” Whale paused as the outer door of the dome slid open.
“What the..? Control are you seeing what I am seeing?” A figure stepped out of the hatch at the end of the tunnel and gave them a friendly wave. It was clearly expecting the crew to approach it and enter the settlement.
If Whale’s heartbeat had been at a dangerous level, it was now beating even faster.
“We see a figure approaching you. There must have been survivors after all.”
“Oh fuck, how did this happen?” Bruce demanded angrily. I thought we had uploaded all the humans and androids to Skid. Fuck! Can’t these guys get anything right?”
“I’m not sure,” said the Transcendent, who Bruce had decided to call B3. It still didn’t get the joke, but everyone else thought it was hilarious.
“Well, this is going to be interesting,” Bruce muttered as the android started walking towards the human astronauts, who had all stopped in their tracks. He wasn’t really concerned how it all looked. The human colonists were all safely on Skid and he had moved on from his disappointment that the project he had lived and breathed for so long had been a complete and utter waste of fucken'’ time!
Ok, the wound was still a bit raw. “Settle,” he said to himself, and took a couple of deep breaths.
Bruce knew it was an enormous achievement for the combined space agencies of earth to mount a mission at short notice to Automedon. It was an even greater accomplishment to re-purpose it for the moon when Automedon inexplicably accelerated away to rapidly for current human technology to pursue. Equipment left behind at the Australian MFY facility had been critical to the accelerated program, but it had still been a huge effort for humanity to bootstrap themselves back into space so quickly.
Now the crew of this mission were confronted by a situation they were completely un-prepared for. Bruce could see a couple of them hesitate and he imagined they were probably thinking the best thing they could do was get back in the lander as quickly as possible.
“I concur, control. Note, survivor is not wearing a suit? How do you want us to proceed?”
“Please confirm.”
“I repeat: the survivor is not wearing a suit.”
“Oh shit! I don’t think we have a contingency for that!” someone muttered.
Historical note.
This is a work of historical fiction. This book explores the outcomes when people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and religions - all with their own expectations and varying degrees of sophistication - are thrown into a melting pot on foreign territory. One where the locals will fiercely refuse to be overwhelmed by the weight of numbers, and will retain ultimate control of the society, even if just via a proxy.
The wider public appears to have erased the times and the people I describe in these novels from their consciousness. A form of group amnesia about this period in our history has affected the entire population of our planet. The settlements on the moon and Mars are now true outposts of mankind and we are reaching further out into the universe. The Martian Reality Show is long gone, and people now celebrate the first Mars landing made by the Global Space Mission, not the one enabled by the MFY program, despite the core of the current colonisation project still using the infrastructure the MFY program left to humanity before continuing their journey to Skid.
I have attempted to get the full history published over the years. I had opportunities and failed to act on them. I pursued other options in life. Today, in relative obscurity, I am writing this modern history of our species, one which is unlikely to see the light of day in mainstream publishing because, even today, the story is just too fantastic to believe. It could undermine mankind’s sense of well-being for all we have achieved since the enlightenment, and the gradual global acceptance of a new world order initiated by one man still living in relative obscurity.
…. and the story continues.
The End
Afterword
If you have made it to the end I hope you have enjoyed this book. If this is the first book in the series you have sampled, I hope you will download and enjoy the other books in the Skidian Chronicles series - Skid - the first Skidian Chronicle , The Second Coming, and The Lifeboat
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