by Jeff Gunhus
“Follow me, please,” she said to Morris.
She walked around the curved outer wall, past the ends of the other patients. Morris noticed the men in the beds looked young and fit, probably candidates pulled right from the army. So much easier than all the complications Keefer had introduced into the system.
A ninth bed was set off to the side of the room in an operating area. The man on this bed was in his twenties, well-muscled and handsome. Morris had reviewed the genetic study himself and determined the man to be an acceptable host. He’d wondered if he would get cold feet now that it was so close, but he didn’t. He couldn’t wait to be in his new body.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’m ready to proceed.”
The translator smiled and returned to the computer station. As he followed her, every eye in the lab watched him. Waiting.
“Your code, please,” the translator said, waving an open hand at the computer terminal as if she were a hostess on a game show.
“Yes, of course.” Morris reached out his two prosthetic arms, running on technology designed by Cassie, and placed them on the keyboard. He felt the eyes in the room boring into him as he typed a series of instructions into the computer.
He hesitated to press the final button, but knew it was only a formality. He was certain his hosts had hacked his brain-machine connection the second he’d connected his wheelchair to the work station and activated his arms. They already knew the last letter of the code, or could dig it out of the encrypted code they’d surely downloaded from him already.
It didn’t matter. The final button was his to push, from a ceremonial standpoint if nothing else. It would give his hosts the algorithm they needed to create the brainet so that he could begin his road to immortality. He trusted it would be an incredible journey.
But then again, Morris always did trust too much.
He pressed the final button and the command center came to life with a buzz of activity. One of the military men asked a question of a man in the center of the dais. Morris didn’t understand Chinese, but understood the exchange. The military man smiled as he got the confirmation he’d been seeking. The group followed suit, some clapping their hands in applause. Morris enjoyed the sight. He felt appreciated here in a way he never had back in America.
The military man made a signal with his hand and a loud thud echoed through the room. A mechanical rat-ta-tat followed as the metal walls all around the room rose up into the ceiling. Morris was puzzled. He had no idea the walls could move. No one had briefed him about this part of the plan.
He rolled his wheelchair away from the computer dock and out toward the edge of the room, feeling like he was standing inside a garage as the door opened to reveal what was outside.
At the first indication of what was behind the wall, Morris shut his eyes. It wasn’t real. Just some terrible nightmare brought on by his pain medication.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and then a voice next to his ear. He recognized the voice as belonging to the general, although he’d never heard the man speak English until that moment.
“Thank you,” he said. “You are now truly immortal. Just as you wished.”
Morris opened his eyes. He looked left and right. He turned his wheelchair to look around the room, now open on all sides.
Hospital beds. Evenly spaced. Each with a person sitting up at a forty-five-degree angle. An articulated robotic arm poised over their heads. There weren’t hundreds of them. There were thousands. Spread out in a massive space until the beds became indistinct in the distance.
Morris knew what the general meant. He would be immortal in that generations of Chinese leaders would keep his memory alive. And generations of every other nation, if there were to be any more after the world was remade, would hold his name in contempt.
The general gave a command. Tens of thousands of drills whined into action. The robotic arms descended onto their targets and did their work. Morris watched numbly as the screens across the vast sea of bodies shifted colors, turning into a deep, pulsating blue.
And then the world changed forever.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
First, let me thank you for reading this book. Time is our most precious commodity and I recognize not only the investment inherent in reading a novel, but the number of choices you have in deciding what to read. I hope I proved worthy of your trust and that you found Resurrection America to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
As I promised in the author’s note in the beginning of the book, I’ll share with you the science that formed the core idea of this story. It started with an article I read about two experiments performed by Miguel Nicolelis, a scientist at Duke University. In one, the brains of three monkeys were linked together so they were able to collectively control an avatar arm. In another lab, scientists were able to connect several mouse brains together in a way that allowed them to solve tasks more quickly than they could do on their own. In both, they effectively created a superbrain, launching a trajectory leading us toward a world of organic computers, collectives of animal brains linked together to create powerful tools.
As a writer, I immediately considered that humankind has always found a way to weaponize technology. Combine that with the reliance on technology in the modern world, the rise of nationalism in global politics, the current geopolitical climate, and the story took form.
Can an organization or government yet create a brainet to unleash the extraordinary computing power locked up in the human mind?
Are there men or women who would sacrifice everything to seize that power if it did exist?
Is it possible that nationalism can go so far as to wish for the destruction of the world outside of one country’s borders?
I don’t know the answer to these three questions. And that scares the hell out of me.
And I hope it scares the hell out of you too.
The last chapter is the worst fear ... and perhaps the greatest likelihood of
what technology may one day do to our world. I chose China to place the last scene, but it could have been a dozen other countries. Or in the United States.
The point is that the human impulses of nationalism and power are as dangerous as any weapon. It’s our responsibility to be vigilant and protect ourselves and our families in the dangerous times ahead as automation and technology collide with inescapable trends of population growth and ascendant powers which will challenge the world order.
The old Chinese curse goes: May you live in interesting times. Well, kids, things are going to get more than just a little interesting in the decades ahead. Buckle up.
If you enjoyed the book, please add your review to Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rezreview and your other favorite social media sites as well. Even just a line or two helps others discover the book. You’d be doing me a favor.
Thank you for the privilege of sharing my stories with you. I appreciate it more than you can know.
BEST,
JEFF Gunhus
www.JeffGunhus.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Gunhus is the USA TODAY bestselling author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, JACK TEMPLAR MONSTER HUNTER, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have won awards, been translated into multiple languages and been featured on the USA TODAY Bestseller list.
After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.
For more information:
@jeffgunhus
jeffgunhusauthor
www.JeffGunhus
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Untitled
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Part 2
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Part 3
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Author’s Note
About the Author