by Judyth Baker
“We knew you could take over the world,” the Warden said. “But you’re so good at what you do, otherwise, that we need to keep you. At least, until we have finished creating something even better.”
As the word ‘create’ hit his brain, MacHeath28 made a little, helpless gasp. They were wheeling him ever-closer toward that large, hot metal door. Suddenly a Waste Robot rolled itself into place, as if on guard.
“Ready for disposal. All components to be cycled into power generation system,” one of the Cyborgs told the robot, who then pivoted on eight spidery legs and opened the furnace’s door. As a wave of fierce heat struck him, Macheath28 rolled his eyes, the only part of his body that was still able to move … he felt as if he had been turned into a solid mass: all his senses were failing…. He drew in some final gasps of air as his lungs began to stiffen, but even so, his frantic brain could still hear words flowing from the compassionate lips of Jesus:
“Don’t worry. You will go on! Your clone was prepared after you began collecting the Bobbing Heads. That was our clue: you were considering World Dominion, weren’t you?”
But Macheath28 could not speak. Only his eyes rolled upwards as he was pushed closer to the furnace.
“You will go on living, MacHeath28. See? We did not kill you! We’re only killing your clone. That’s what the paperwork will show.”
Macheath28’s eyes managed to blink in horror.
“You were a clone, yourself,” the Warden explained. “We got rid of the original almost ten years ago. In fact,” Jesus said, as the robot picked Macheath28 up and held him aloft before the great, hot flaming open maw of the furnace, “you are Clone Number Three of your own self. As for your final Clone, you met him during your early training. Don’t you remember Macheath29, at the Sex and Adventure Club?”
The waste robot heaved him up higher in its great, steely arms.
“MacHeath28 is happily having sex in the room where you got a glimpse of him. He will be able to function and think the same as you. After all, he has your thoughts and memories. We sucked the best from you and shoved them into him. Or, should I say, almost all of the best. Straight from your own brain. So – be comforted, for he IS you. Only, there are no nano-devices in him to worry about.”
The Warden wiped a pair of cold tears from MacHeath28’s paralyzed eyes. “Too bad you just couldn’t resist the temptation, Mr. President, to collect bobbing heads. That was our own little way of implanting you to reveal your secret ambitions. It was always a problem with MacHeaths26 and 27. But we are generating a new model that won’t have the capacity to rebel: the Henry Kissinger-June Cleaver Model. It will be bisexual, so we can get around the married-with-children and concubine issues. And that’s best for everyone, isn’t it, Mr. President?”
As the robot threw Macheath28’s body, rigid in its prison suit, into the flames, Jesus emitted a cackling laugh of pure glee. After all, he was programmed to never get depressed with his duty as Warden-Executioner.
Endnotes
1. http://www.millomlocal.co.uk/farewell-to-giant-barge-1.160333 Acquired Feb. 6, 2016.
2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2514936/The-incredible-mile-long-floating-CITY--complete-schools-hospital-parks-airport-50-000-residents.html Retrieved Aug. 29, 2015.
3. Marine zooplankton shown ingesting microplastic particles in video made at UK’s Plymouth Marine Labs by Dr. Matthew Cole and Verity White. YouTube.
“28 July, 2015: Vancouver, B.C. Tiny marine zooplankton are ingesting microplastic particles at an alarming rate, according to a new study [June, 2015]by Dr. Peter Ross, head of the Ocean Pollution Research Program at Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. [At] the base of the aquatic food web… plastics will radiate up the chains of predators and prey, finally accumulating in important food fishes, such as salmon, and in apex species such as whales and humans.” (For example, it was estimated that adult salmon were ingesting 91 plastic particles per day, which incorporates in the flesh of the salmon and then is eaten by humans. http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2015/07/28/microplastic-in-marine-food-webs/ Retrieved Aug. 31, 2015.
4. e.g. advanced units based on Thorium MOX-fuel reactors. See Norwegian experiments at: http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx Retrieved Dec. 31, 2015.
5. We’re talking about harmonic vibration analysis, important to consider when designing engines, bridges and structures subject to such stresses as pounding waves. “Any design that is subjected to a cyclical excitation source responds by vibrating in order to release the incoming energy. The vibrations are perceived as small deflections on the design. Everyday instances include motors mounted to shafts, a tool mounted on a mill or a lathe, unbalanced rotating machinery, etc… [A] cyclic sinusoidal frequency source induces vibrations on the design, resulting in deflections [which] over time are typically detrimental to a design.… Harmonic analysis involves understanding which … derivatives come closest to the natural vibrating characteristics [frequency] of the physical design itself.…” The natural frequency of a design should not “coincide with one of the derivative frequencies of the composite wave, [or] the design goes into resonance and …can possibly hasten failure.” The author posits that AI-designed ocean-dwelling structures would tend to be streamlined as a result of this “quality control” mechanism. http://www.3dvision.com/pdf/white-papers/simulation/Harmonic-Vibration-Analysis.pdf Retrieved Sept. 2, 2015.
6. Shimizu Corporation has been hard at work [concerning:] … Green Float … the Environmental Island.… Designed for the equatorial Pacific, presumably near Japan, Green Float is a concept for a series of floating islands with eco skyscraper cities, where people live, work and can easily get to gardens, open space, the beach and even “forests.” Islands are connected together to form modules, and a number of modules grouped together form a “country” of roughly one million people.
A 1,000 m tower in the center of the island acts as both a vertical farm as well as a skyscraper with residential, commercial and office space. The green space, the beach, and the water terminal on the flat plane of the island are all within walking distance. Energy for the islands would be generated from renewable sources like solar, wind, and ocean thermal, and they also propose to collect solar energy from space … [by] install[ing] a solar belt on the moon.” http://inhabitat.com/futuristic-floating-city-is-an-ecotopia-at-sea/ Retrieved Sept. 1, 2015
Nor were the “Lily Pads” anything like the elegant and yet-functional design “by Award-winning architect Vincent Callebaut [who] … designed a self-sustainable “Lilypad City” Ref: http://maxcdn.thedesigninspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lilypad/Lilypad-07.jpg Retrieved Sept. 1, 2015.
7. “The Mack” is, in the author’s opinion, a 1972 version of “The Three-Penny Opera” and its predecessor, “The Beggars Opera” where Macheath is the main character, involved with prostitutes, corrupt government, the mafia and police; he is an anti-hero. All three versions are useful for making social statements and can even serve to foment revolution. “The Beggars Opera” was George Washington’s favorite opera; The Czech President Vaclav Havel gained his huge popularity after being jailed for his special production of The Three-Penny Opera, which lambasted Soviet rule and corruption; the Brecht/Weill Threepenny Opera was banned in Hitler’s Germany for the same reason. “The Mack”- supposedly a ‘blaxploitation movie’ - has the same kind of structure and utility. Goldie, who is “”The Mack” easily reminds us of “Macheath” and “Mack the Knife.”
The Music of the Spheres
“Music of the Spheres” (Musica universalis) is a philosophical concept proposed by the great thinker and mathematician Pythagoras, who stated that the movements of the stars and planets produced a celestial form of music. It has since been determined that the universal note is D; or so they say.
“Daddy,” little John asked, “When can we go Outside?”
It was Holiday Time, and they were eating a traditional meal of special shoots
of grass, mushrooms, dragon fish, and algae, celebrating the Great Escape, in John’s bedroom. It was the time when children of his age were taught the facts of life, and John was required to ask the question of his father, Socrates.
Sophia, John’s twin sister, was in her bedroom in the tunnel, asking her mother, Aphrodite, the same question as they, too, ate the traditional meal. Their underground home was lit by vibrating walls of a variety of Pyrosystis Fusiformis dinoflagellates – bio-luminescent algae. The algae radiated waves of faint, luscious blue light. The ancient Sacred Lamps were fueled for this special occasion with miniature dragon fish, producing red and pink light,1 but it was geothermal energy that supplied their white and ultraviolet light. Young John had never seen natural sunlight. Though their underground world was sophisticated and technologically advanced, Socrates was readying himself to tell his son that he must never try to go to the surface. It was forbidden. After blessing his son, Socrates began the speech he had memorized. It would be John’s duty to memorize it for his own children one day.
“Remember how I told you that long, long ago, everyone used to live above our caves and tunnels, in the land of Thessalonica?”
John nodded, looking into his father’s pale, blue eyes. His father was one of the few who never changed his eye color, because his mom liked blue eyes. Most of the Underground changed their eye colors to match their mood, or for a holiday, but everyone changed their skin colors and patterns regularly. Their skins had been genetically modified eons ago to produce bioluminescence, in whatever colors they wished. They braided their long hair and let it trail behind them as they walked, creating a wave of fluorescent light.
Everyone was, when at rest, as white as marble, but dotted all over with what looked like tiny freckles. These were iridophores, such as the octopus and squid in their aquaria had. By opening or closing these millions of tiny iridophores, all kinds of patterns could be created. Due to their additional bioluminescence, everyone with it could display every color of the rainbow – and beyond – in whatever patterns were desired.
John had been born with an innate ability to change his color to display fear, anger, happiness or curiosity. As for the rest, he learned everything from writing to math, right on the backs of his smooth, flat hands. The contents of innumerable books (they, too, were sacred) had been programmed into his brain, but the commandment to read was practiced every day, even by adults. They projected pictures, pages and games on their large, flattened hands for private use, whenever they wished, though they had wall-screens of all sizes as well. Communication was easy using iridophores, but of course politicians, lawyers and movie stars knew how to pretend, though outright lying or acting a serious role did take years of practice.
“It is good to live underground,” Socrates began. All his life, John had heard the phrase used daily. It was how they greeted each other. It was how they said goodbye. He had been taught about the benefits of life underground from infancy. True, they had to pump out radon, but they were protected from the sun, which overheated people, burnt their skins, and caused uncontrolled black growths (these were called ‘cancers’). They were all much better off living underground.
“You have heard whispers about the Outside,” Socrates continued. “You have heard whispers about ‘stars,’ ‘mountains,’ and ‘oceans.’”
“Yes, my father, I have heard,” John said, for his part of the ritual.
“You must not listen to the whispers!” Socrates stated, reaching over and pushing lumps of clay into his son’s ears. John bowed his head, then said, as he had been taught, “I will not listen to the whispers.”
After a long minute, John was allowed to remove the clay. As he cleaned his ears thoroughly, Socrates continued to speak.
“You must not ask about ‘music.’ It was once a way to make merry. It was once a way to celebrate life and death. It was once part of our lives, but ‘music’ is forbidden.”
“Music is forbidden,” John repeated.
“Now learn the truth,” Socrates said, placing his hands over John’s. “Open your ears, for you are the son of a priest.”
“My father, they are open.”
“We trust you with our rite of disobedience.”
“I hear and say Amen, father.”
This was the moment John had been waiting for. He was now old enough to hear music. To play music on the Sacred Instruments. He was old enough to be trusted not to reveal this secret to outsiders.
He knew that music once existed everywhere on the surface of the planet. For those Underground, music was strictly forbidden in public: only stamping on the floor in rhythm and chants were allowed. John had been told that singing, or any kind of melody, was forbidden, but why this was so had long been forgotten.
Some said that bad music was once made Above Ground, so bad that it had to be banned. There were legends that flying creatures called ‘birds’ existed. There was the Roc, for example, whose eggs were as big as a horse. Then there was the Phoenix, who plunged herself into the sun, a hot, bright object that hung in a sky so big you had to turn your head to see all of it. Some of their greatest caves were so high-ceilinged that they had elevators and cable cars. These were too warm for comfort, but by piping frigid groundwater into lakes, they cooled the caves and grew their food. The lakes teemed with algae-eating koi, goldfish, clown loaches, Siamese fighting fish, and variegated catfish.2 These fish had survived the Cyborg Life Purge, which occurred when the Cyborgs had decided to eliminate most organic life from the surface of the whole world.
Life, after all, was a messy thing. A few Cyborgs, who had been breeding these particular fish for their color, and to fight, hid them in an underground lake, where robots tended them for an unknown length of time until the People of the Underground discovered them. The same robots who tended these exotic fish were still at it, hundreds of years later, thanks to their ability to replicate any of their parts that might wear out, including the orders given them on how to care for the fish.
“It is now time to learn our family’s sacred Music,” Socrates told him, handing him a small flute. “Today, you will learn this Song, which can never be heard outside the walls of our house. This Song is our past and our future. Now come, follow me.”
They joined Aphrodite and Sophia, who were sitting in the family’s living-room: John could smell the catfish and grass shoot stew that was always served to the children once a year, in honor of the times when there was once only fish, grass shoots and algae to eat. A robot brought the stew into the room and sat it on a small table.
For the first time, Sophia was old enough to serve the stew. She began by giving Archie, their lapdog, the decorated head and tail, after which she gave a bit of algae to their goldfish. “We remember the needs of all other creatures, as well as our own,” she said.
“We remember their needs,” the family said together. “Even as they supply our needs, body and soul.” They knew that across the Kingdom, the same words were being spoken this hour, but only in the homes of the Priest would the sacred, secret music be played and celebrated.
As they ate the simple meal, Aphrodite told the age-old stories of how the Greek Athletes had survived the Great Extermination.
Certain Cyborgs had bred these very special Greek athletes, fleet of foot, for racing. Because some of these athletes were cherished, having earned fortunes for their owners, the best of the best had been sent underground to avoid the final extermination orders that were issued to rid the planet of the last human genes.
To do so was dangerous, and several Cyborgs were killed for their insubordination. Now Aphrodite told the traditonal story of Lady Diana the Derby Winner, whose Cyborg Master was 8KL88-Mother Teresa-Version 422. It had led Lady Diana and her children underground. “It saved her. It saved her family. It saved her friends. Though they tortured it and dismembered it, 8KL88-Mother Teresa-Version 422 never disclosed their hiding place. It did this because it loved Lady Diana.”
Socrates added, “This proved that
some purebred Cyborgs had chosen to harbor the capacity to love.”
Next, John was handed a tiny cup, which was removed from its place of honor in an alcove next to a big wall-screen. He held the cup steady as his mother filled it with seaweed tea.3
“We drink this cup to remember its name: it was 8KL88-Mother Teresa-Version 422.”
They each took a sip of the tea.
“Later, the Strangers Who Came to Earth found its head, which had somehow survived incineration,” Aphrodite said. “Unable to revive it, nevertheless, they were able to learn of our existence, and through their superior technology, they located us.”
Aphrodite wiped the cup clean and set it back in its place of honor.
“They explained to us why we needed to stay underground, while the earth was cleansed of the last of the Cyborgs. And here we must remain, until the time comes that we can be free.”
“Now, we pray for that time to come, as our ancestors before us have prayed,” Socrates said, as the family joined hands in a circle.
After the prayer, Socrates asked his family to be seated. The final part of the ritual was about to unfold. Prior to this, the twins had always been sent to their rooms, but now, they were old enough to participate.
The wall-screen lit up, and a flautist appeared, carrying a silver flute. He was tall, florid-faced, dressed in worked leather, with golden buskins laced to his knees. He stared at them with a fierce countenance. His thick eyebrows and curly, black beard made him look like one of the ancient Greek gods. “Listen well!” he commanded them, lifting his silver flute to his mouth.