Espree smiles, “That’s one area of technology that hasn’t been introduced into your society―space moving”
“And what is space moving?”
“To be honest with you Tim, I have no idea how it works. As a spirit, none of that is relevant to me. I move by thought, not by “space. I do understand the general concept: Rather than move an object, you move the space that contains the object. When you do that, the object really isn’t moving. You are actually stationary in that space. Therefore you have none of the problems you encounter with motion or with speed.”
I’m not even going to try and comprehend that. I set it aside in my mind as something to look into later on. Moving space? Does that mean you can move the space you are in to another space across the galaxy?
“They can only move space that contains similar composition; such as the atmosphere here on earth,” says Espree, “If you move space from an altitude of 100,000 feet to sea level, you get a vacuum that collapses everything and the program will only give you an error message: “space error”. If you move blank outer space, it is terribly easy to misplace it and lose everything. Therefore it is only workable under certain conditions...”
Out of the corner of my eye I notice something―it’s a man! He’s walking across the campus, strolling along as if he were out for a walk on a normal day.
Espree sees him too. “Breeder Agent,” she says as she waving to him, “good, maybe he can tell us what’s going on with this planet.”
The man waves back and heads toward us.
I recognize him. I’ve seen him in the computer science building a few times and I assumed he was a member of the university faculty. He looks to be in his 50’s with a very affable, friendly countenance.
“Hello!” says Espree as he approaches.
“Maychnime. Corri dak seitish!”
Espree smiles. “Jench itul! It has been some time since I have heard our language!” She turns and nods toward me. “This is Tim Johnson and I am Cassandra Espree.”
Wow. I suddenly realize I’ve never know Espree’s first name.
“Tom Peterson,” he says extending his hand, “I have a hell of a time speaking “Sence” through these 3B mouths; the tongues are too damn thick!”
“As do we,” says Espree.
“So tell me Tom, why such an early harvest. I was informed that this lot was being conditioned for a special computer industry.”
Tom looks puzzled. “Computers? Who told you that?”
“I read it in a UWF mission opps work order.”
Tom squints at the Espree. “Why would it say that? This lot is going into R&D.”
Espree shrugs. “There must have been a mix-up in the paperwork.” She chuckles, “I may have picked up the wrong work order.”
Tom laughs and looks at me, “you too?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”
There is an odd silence as I have no idea what to say now.
Tom’s smile fades. “You know everything about this operation has been fickle. My orders were changed about three times. This planet is such a mixed up operation. They finally decided to get rid of the 3B’s because they wouldn’t stop interfering with the breeding patterns. I don’t know why they didn’t get rid of them earlier.”
“Oh, so that’s it,” says Espree, “I was wondering why they have 3B’s on this planet in the first place?”
“From what I know, this planet was originally owned by a group called the Biological Research Group. The BRG was creating new genetic patterns for traveling biological expos. Apparently they went out of business and left the place unattended for some time. So the superior breed—the humans—kinda took over.
“UWF tried to make a go of it for a while, but those quirky Humanoid 4B’s have been getting good product reviews of late and as a result the price for 3B’s has plummeted. So UWF is getting rid of them and they’re going to go exclusively with exotic breeding here on Earth.”
Espree looks around. “Too bad, this was a good assignment.”
“That’s for sure” says Tom, “This was the greatest job I ever had! It was so laid back and this planet is downright fascinating. It has been more of a vacation than a job. I was hoping I’d be here at another 20 years.”
Espree smiles, “So where are you off to next?”
“Angelin system,” he says with a frown, “Big brown dirt clod.”
Espree looks sympathetic. “That’s too bad.”
“Back to the grindstone,” he says shaking his head. “Oh well, I’ll be nice to get out of this body structure.” He shakes his head. “3B’s are just too heavy for their musculature and the bodies just want to store fat.”
“I agree.”
Tom suddenly glances to the side. A small ship approaches. It looks like a bus with small wide wings at its sides and no wheels.
“There’s my shuttle. I suppose it’s time to go.”
“You coming?”
“No, we’re staying,” Says Espree.
“Lucky you!” he says turning toward the shuttle. “Nice meeting you uh, Tim.”
“Nice meeting you.” I mumble.
Tom disappears into the shuttle and it rises into the air—quickly and soundlessly disappearing into the sky.
We begin walking back to the office.
As we walk through the empty campus, it really hits me. They are gone. All the humans are gone. I almost feel the planet and all its inhabitants giving a collective sigh of relief. The birds seem to be happier as they dash from tree to tree.
I have a question for Espree.
“What do you mean by Breeder Agents?”
“Breeder Agents work for the Breeding Companies which are in the business of producing and selling workforces. They have their bodies modified to look like those of the native population. Their job is to strategically introduce technology into the society. They subtly lead the culture into innovative discoveries that result in ‘new’ technology. These technological discoveries will begin to familiarize them with the kind of work they are being bred to perform. I believe here on Earth it has to do with computers and wireless communication technology.”
“So you are saying that our development of computer technology was a planned introduction by aliens acting as one of us!”
“Very good Tim, that is correct.”
So the advances we have seen in our technology were not discovered, but rather, have been covertly introduced?
“Oh not all of it,” she says, “This planet is a very ‘loose’ planet. You discovered nuclear energy and nuclear weapons all on your own―which was probably rather disconcerting to the Harvesters. Furthermore, you have the moved over into the video game industry and have made some incredible special effects in movies. You folks came up with those―much to the consternation of the agents. Video games and movies are rather distracting and therefore not allowed in a typical breeding culture. Apparently when you are left alone for a while you become quite a creative lot. That is one of the reasons I came here to Earth, you are non-conformists.”
I’m fascinated by these so-called agents. “Tell me professor. Who are some of the ‘agents’? If they introduce new technology, they must be famous.”
“They are not permitted to be famous Tim. Therefore anyone you see who is a well-known innovator would not be an agent. Breeder Agents are the one’s behind the scenes. They work their way into advisory positions and give suggestions to the geniuses of society who–following their lead–come up with new technology.
“Oh, but there was one agent who did become famous and it got him in a lot of trouble too with the home office. His name on earth was Tesla. He was quite a non-conformist who, subsequently, had to have his mind reprogrammed. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”
“Tesla was an alien?!”
“That term is very inappropriate Tim, but yes.”
We look around at the deserted campus. Everything looks rather normal save the silence and the absence of people. It makes me sad. I really liked th
is place. Now it is a ghost town—a ghost Earth.
We arrive back at the office.
What was that language you spoke?” I ask, taking a seat.
“It is called ‘Moscal’. It is a very common language spoken by a majority of universal citizens. It’s a very beautiful language, not like this confoundedly illogical English. I will have to teach it to you, only problem is these bodies just don’t have the right kind of tongue for many of the syllables so you will have quite an accent.”
She turns to the computer and says cheerfully. “Are you ready to meet the Spirit Trappers?”
I don’t know if I am, but I assume that wasn’t a question.
CHAPTER 7
THE SPIRIT TRAPPERS
We look and the viewer and the scene showing the bridge of the Trap Ship.
A very strange looking figure walks into view.
“Oh jeez, what’s that?”
“I would assume that’s the owner of the ship,” says Espree, “as I mentioned earlier, that’s a Citizonian.”
I was expecting something human in form but this is a different animal―yet it looks vaguely familiar. Could I have seen something like that in a movie?
It looks somewhat humanoid, but with some very different features. The most obvious difference is in the arms. They are slender and lean with well-defined muscles beneath a forest green skin. The hands are more delicate looking then a typical humanoid hand with four slender fingers and a thumb.
It appears the only clothing this Citizonian wears are form fitting brown cargo style shorts and a belt with a white polo style shirt. Otherwise it appears adorned with some shiny black, tight fitting necklaces, bracelets and various colored straps and bands. Its scalp is covered with what appears to be a tight fitting cap.
The upper body is human in musculature, the legs are similar to human legs, but they are thinner and longer with well-defined muscles. There does not appear to be an ounce of fat on the body.
The head is humanoid, but instead of a nose, there is a ridge running sideways below two big yellow, catlike eyes. The ridge extends around the face and forms a circle on either side of the head, forming what appear to be ears. The mouth is very humanlike with jaws that look slightly more delicate and lips proportionately full.
The creature turns to the side and I notice the cap has an opening for a ridge of flesh or cartilage from the top of its head down just below the shoulders. If I assumed the creature was similar to humans in height, I would estimate the ridge to be about five inches tall at the head and similar to the fin of a fish, but thicker, smoother and less rigid.
I look over to Espree, “Interesting looking creature.”
“This is the same kind of race that is managing the harvest of this planet,” she says. “There are lots of races in this universe, but if you want to call one of them standard, or predominant, this would be the standard race.”
“Then what are we?”
“You are a popular selling “3B model humanoid.”
“Selling?”
“That’s right; in this universe you are considered a lesser life form compared to the typical Universal Citizen. You are called a ‘Sentient Worker.’”
She chuckles and nods at the creatures in the viewer. “These folks think they were the original ‘created’ beings in this universe. They think as you do—that they are essentially divinely created beings, higher in rank than other forms of life.
“According to the Citizonians, humans are simply ‘animated’ biological units. This actually corresponds to the philosophy some of your silly scientists have that a human being is just a biological organism with a brain, programmed by the environment, acting according to the Laws of Physics, thinking whatever the brain cells tell it to think. Your scientists also include some kind of vaguely defined ‘soul’ that somehow represents your essence; but is placed in the category of “non-scientific”.
According to the Universal Citizens you are a genetically developed, patented body unit bred for a specific purpose. Your body is ‘animated’ – not by a soul – but rather, by injecting EHF which is essentially the battery that powers the body. Only EHF never runs out of charge.
“EHF of course, is what is being collected by this ship and millions of others like it.
“What it all comes down to is this: you are not considered to be ‘life’. You are ‘animals’ if you will. The treatment of your Jews by the Nazi’s would be comparable. They did not consider Jews ‘human’; they were animals so they could be treated like animals. Ironically enough, they were playing the same game that was being played on them in a much larger arena.
Or take this ridiculous ‘racism’ thing your people dramatize where they look at bodies instead of the soul that inhabits them. It logically follows that people of such opinion do not believe there is such a thing as a spirit or a soul—it’s all simply biology. And with that viewpoint, I suppose racism is logical—but then that is a completely insane viewpoint—a viewpoint that our “modern” society seems to have adopted. Therefore racism will continue and be used to create innumerable conflicts, upsets and wars because it makes no sense and so can never be resolved.
As I explained earlier, your Mechanical Mind, like any computer you purchase, is pre-programmed. Your thoughts are limited by the programming of your Mechanical Mind. Your ability to perceive is also limited by your mind and by how it is configured to your brain. The only data you perceive is the data they want you to perceive through the hardware of the brain— which is run by the software contained in the Mechanical Mind. Like a computer, you can only perceive those things that the hardware and the software are configure to accept. The only difference between a typical computer and your brain is that computers can’t replicate themselves. You folks here on Earth haven’t learned to do that yet and frankly, as replication is a patented process, you’d be in violation of universal patent law anyway.”
“Universal patent?”
“That’s right, ‘Replication—or reproduction as you’d call it—is a patented process. Only licensed, approved “Breeders” can use reproduction. Robot manufacturers on the other hand, can’t. That means that breeders have a real corner on the labor force market and robots—since they have to be built one at a time―are generally too expensive to compete.”
“Wow, that’s wild, but it almost makes sense in some far out way.”
She laughs. “Don’t worry Tim, I will show this all to you, but that’s down the line a bit. First I’ve got to get you through ‘Secrets of the Universe 101’.
“Espree, your telling me all this, but you’re not showing me.”
“That’s right, but I do need to set you up for what you are about to witness—I believe it will help you understand what you see.”
“I can’t wait.” I hear myself say through what seems to be a gathering fog in my mind. I would be fascinated with this whole thing if I were feeling so terrible. My head hurts. I feel like I have a case of the flu and my body aches.
She smiles sympathetically and continues.
“As I said before EHF energy is considered to be merely a unique, high wave form of physical energy. It is not considered to be a form of ‘life’ at all. EHF is the ‘energy’ that animates a “Sentient Worker”―that’s you.
“Currently your body type is very popular for use in engineering design firms, entertainment, consumer art companies, Hospitals, R&D groups.
“So are ‘bred’ as Sentient Workers. Then we’re sold to companies to do specific types of work.”
“Correct.”
“I don’t get it. Our population doesn’t seem to be working for anyone but ourselves.”
“Oh, that is right. This particular population on Earth has never been sold before. They only reason you are here on Earth at all is that some time ago, your body types were still in the R&D stage.
“The purpose of a typical breeding planet is to breed a large number of Sentient Workers so that they can be sold. A typical breeding planet will gro
w from a population of one million, to 10 trillion in about 500 years or so. In that time the population will be guided – by specialists who work for the breeders―into certain kinds of technology that the breeder believes will sell well and bring in a profit. Then the population will then be sold to a corporation needing workers. They will then Harvest the population and ship them to the customer.
“But you said a typical breeding planet will produce 10 trillion—we’re not even at 10 billion.”
This harvest has been totally unexpected. I don’t understand it. But then this planet was never meant to be a breeding planet. A typical breeding planet will be very arid and featureless. The atmosphere will be constant and well controlled and virtually all sustenance will be imported from surrounding ‘farm planets.’
She smiles. “That’s your story Tim, as unbelievable as it is.”
“Well that’s pretty wild.”
Espree actually looks encouraged. “That’s a good thing!” she says, “I usually get nothing more than a blank stare followed by rolling eyes and then they just leave.
“It’s time to get a little reality on all this talk. Let’s continue watching the Spirit Trappers.”
She looks back at the screen. I notice that another creature has entered the room. It is slightly smaller and stockier than the other one.
The other one turns and looks at the smaller one and—how interesting—the ridge is getting stiffer and turning a lighter shade of green, while the ridge on the other one is darker and almost limp.
“They’re really fascinating bodies Tim. Emotions are manifested quite clearly in their coloration and through that dorsal ridge. As you can see, the first one is reacting to the other. Apparently he is already mildly irritated by him.
“Let’s listen in.”
“We can listen?”
“Sure. Of course it has to be translated into our language so it will have the appearance of one of those Chinese Kung Fu movies dubbed over in English.”
“Of course.”
She turns a dial apparently turning the sound up.
Total Amnesia: Forgotten Lives Page 9