day 16 of 30

NanoWriMo2005
J E D Cline
Title: “The Ark of 1984’s Future”
day 16 of 30

Idealiana knew of several other surviving species of mammals that had a small reproducing population somewhere, including wild burros in the American Southwest. It would be years until there were enough cities in GEO to spare some room in them for large animals, so she set a goal to get a couple breeding pairs captured and delivered here to StationBase1, when facilities were available. All animals on earth were long considered “endangered”, and the few in the wild had to cope with deterioration of their environment. She hoped to get some of the remaining scavengers, too, such as crows.

It was expected that people would move into the GEO habitat ring cities as fast as they could be built, primarily because they would then no longer be dependent on the digestion tank derived food supply, but actually have clean agricultural farm grown food much of the time, each 10,000-person city having half its area devoted to agriculture, much as had been envisioned way back in the 1976 design for the archetype inner-rotating, passively shielded Stanford Torus space settlement design, originally intended for construction in L-5, as far as the Moon from Earth. However, many of the species were extinct now, that had been selected for space-suitable agriculture in that environment. Some might be reconstitutable from DNA samples saved by altruistic scientists back then and still kept secure; but the means for doing that had not yet been fully developed. The space city people might have to eat burrow meat instead of beef, for example; all cattle had been devoured in the Great World Famine that occurred after the ecosystem collapse and before the development of the Digestion Vat technology that now recycled their foodstuffs... and anything else organic, including cadavers. In the space cities, with agriculture, instead of mandatory exiting to the Digestion Vats at an age and work status that was based on the level of survival of the moment, their life span was expected to return to a natural life span, and so another reason that people would clamor to get to live in the GEO space cities as fast as they could be built. And thus it would be difficult to get GEO habitat space assigned for animals’ roam-freely habitats. Nonetheless, she was devoting her free time to increasing the possibility that would happen, and successfully.

Her wildest dream was of a 2-mile diameter rotating torus structure containing a salt-water sea environment of the kind which had existed up to 40 years ago, and that would have a balance of sea critters, including some whales grown from DNA saved during the slaughter of them long ago. Imagine, whales spouting as they surfaced, in the 200 meter wide wheel. And dolphins leaping over the surface, learning to compensate for the coriolis force, perhaps, just for the fun of it. She dozed off in the pet farm, one of the animals cuddled in her arms, and her “painted” parakeet roosting on her shoulder, ever half awake through the night.
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People-control-power and wealth often go in lockstep. An understanding of that drove a certain kind of people to create Tanfl type corporations, and they all played the same game on the same side of the game board. The money was there for getting a piece of the action, anywhere. Including 3Musketeers desperate projects, like their space carousel escalator project and its applications, including building things in GEO and on the Moon. All were now ongoing. But the Tanfl motto, “There Ain’t No Free Lunch” always applied; and in the ongoing scenario it meant that Tanfl controlled the security in the facilities in GEO.

The station personnel at SpaceDock1 were deeply asleep, while Rationallo and his crew of security personnel approached the control station used by Artesiana for monitoring work progress. Rationallo spearheaded Tanfl’s demand to know all that can be known about the doings of others, key data needed to ensure power over all that happens.

Open the door, Rationallo demanded of the security officer, at the door to the Holopresence nook. The door was opened, and Rationallo went in, stood examining the nook. It had been on his mind often since that casual wine tasting event, and though he feigned belief that it was all an effect of the wine, he knew something here was unique, and it connected powerfully with what was going on far away. It was something he had to have for himself. First he had to make sure he could use it, calibrate it, do something with it. Then when one was built for him, it had better work the same way or people would be going very early to the digestion vats. Fresh people would replace them. Until he had one of these things that worked. Power was cold and ruthless, not cruel, merely adamant and absolutely insisted on its desires being filled perfectly, and immediately.

He also was expert with information gathering equipment. He thought back to when this nook was operating, what his experience was like, despite being plied with wine by Artesiana before exploring her little toy. Good wine, he had said to her, quite aware of her effort to hide whatever this thing is, but playing along with her game, on the surface. Back then, he had mentally recorded everything she did to activate and use this thing. He sat down in its chair, and repeated all those things. And the nook came to life.

Rationallo almost wished he had a bit of wine to celebrate this triumph, here and now, as he quickly repeated the original activities. He was aware of this booth as if he were part of its wholeness. And as in the previous experience, there were lines of connections to things beyond; he had ever so quickly explored one at random, that previous test. He did the same one again, and got the same impression. It had intrigued him then, and it was paying off with more detailed awareness right now. For he was in a structure of odd construction; it had to be on the Moon. It was dim light there, apparently same sleep cycle timing as the one here at SpaceDock1, makes sense to do that. Fine, a perfect time to snoop around there at the lunar StationBase1, no one would notice.

He had been denied access to this facility due to some fancy footwork by the 3Musketeers people before. He was not so fooled so to not realize that was happening. He played his cards cooly, it was what he had been bred, born and educated to do most excellently. In Tanfl corporation, all knew of the terrifying perishing of those who had trifled with him, and none dare do it any more. The 3Musketeers people were about to taste of that terror too. He was not cruel, just quite efficient in controlling people. He flexed his powerful muscles a bit, yes, the latest workout had gotten him in prime physical shape, too.

He found the lines that went elsewhere in the station. There were four people there, he knew. He followed the lines to the station commander, asleep. He had also piloted the lander that had denied Rationallo that trip. The station commander would be the first to be publicly tortured and executed, as an example, he decided. He then chased down two other crewmen, also asleep in their quarters. Where was the fourth person? No line went to a fourth person. A mystery here, and he loved mysteries.

He checked line after line to each of the facilities, merging his awareness with each until he felt he understood it completely. Yet no fourth person. He then checked in on the animal farm reported to be there, most obnoxious to him, animals with their filth. But that line went to an odd sensation. It was a bird! and the bird was half asleep, the other side of the brain awake, looking out at the room’s doorway. Squawk! the bird went, and fluttered vigorously, and its perch seemed to stir and move. It was siting on a person. The person was waking up as Rationallo willed a connection to that person, hungrily hunting down the details of this mystery. The two minds met in Holopresence space, and knew each other: Rationallo, meet your dead former breeder wife Idealiana, now very much alive.

Rationallo paused long enough to tell the security officer standing outside the nook to have that doctor arrested immediately, the one that had given the false autopsy report on idealiana. The doctor would be an example at breakfast time for the 3Musketeers staff in the morning; it would be a breakfast that none of the 3Musketeers corporate staff would forget for the rest of their lives. An efficient, effective technique, Rationallo knew, because he had experienced it in his somewhat wayward youth, and it had snapped him into instant obedience to Tanfl from then on.
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Idealiana had awakened quickly, and tuned in on Rationallo’s Holopresence invasion, and his coldly ruthless command about her friend, the doctor that had saved her life back when Rationallo had activated the stroke microbomb he had planted in her brain. She ran to her Holopresence nook, and sent instructions to 3Musketeer personnel. Although she had not imagined that total power could corrupt a human mind so much as that of Rationallo’s was now displaying, she was learning fast. He was such a clear-headed rational, analytical, efficient man. But now he seemed beserk with wrath, yet without emotion. What had been bred into those Tanfl people, anyway? And it was involved with Tanfl’s incredible teamwork, unquestioned actions, like the limbs of a gigantic robotic octopus, multiple eyes and tentacles into everything all the time, ever commanded by a pre-programmed brain.

Tanfl was not exactly her kind of people, she decided. And thus needed a bit different treatment. If Tanfl and especially Rationallo was playing the game of chess with real people, she knew how to play chess as a youth, and had only stopped when she realized that thee was no way to win at chess without causing unhappiness in whoever played the other side of the board, and she empathised too much to want to have her friend unhappy if she won ... she had deliberately lost a few games but that did not feel good either, so she had stopped playing the game. And she knew that the widespread boys’ sport of football was similarly merely a conditioning mechanism for preparing them to do real battle on some forsken land with real guns to destroy real people, to “win.” So Rationallo and his ilk had shifted chess to real people, so probably he would next do football kind of antics. And she knew mankind needed the space resources to be created and used wisely for all mankind. Making it mere gamepieces with ego-driven purposes might be excitement for adolescnet boys in adult mens bodies doing bestidl ego things, was not something a wise woman would tolerate in her kinfolk humanity.
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Rationallo stepped out of the Holopresence nook, and gave the command that this area be immediately owned by Tanfl Political Corporation from now on. Artesiana was to be prevented from accessing it. He returned to his quarters here in SpaceDock1, to rest up before watching the upcoming breakfast on TV.

A Tanfl's Leroy Brown Society special police team silently arrived at the home of the 3Musketeers corporate doctor and his family, the house dark, all would be sleeping. It would stay dark, and the neighbors eventually would wonder why they never saw the occupants again. With the best commando raid skill, the team was in the house in moments, shutting the door behind them silently. By the time they found the disheveled empty beds, they were falling asleep from anesthesia gas which filled the house, the doctor and terrified wife and children huddled in the basement until they heard the thuds of a surprising number of bodies fall unconscious and collapse. The Digestion Vat truck arrived about then; the limp forms of the security assault team went peacefully to the vats, without trace.

But the combat vehicles were another problem, with their continuous link to command central, cameras watching everything, for one thing. The vehicles were ready to receive the assault team with their captives, and take them to where the corporate breakfast was to be held. It seemed to be taking a long time, but all was dark and silent in the house, so it must be proceeding normally.

Then carbon soot bags burst over the vehicles, blinding the cameras and shorting out the antennae. Their power was quickly cut; and before dawn, they were also being recycled in the way of dysfunctional vehicles in the junk yard.

Rationallo awoke the next morning, had breakfast early, as he really did not have stomach for what was to happen; he remembered what had happened to his adventure buddy long ago, another breakfast. He really did not like what was to happen, yet it was Prime Directive grist for the Leroy Brown Society’s secret enforcement arm of Tanfl. He connected his TV monitor to join in the breakfast remotely.

He thus watched a rather boring normal breakfast going on, and then the corporate staff all dispersed to their workstations, business as usual.

Rationallo then sat back a long time, thoughtfully. Clearly, it was now his move in the game, and he would win this game as he always won them. This was getting fun, he thought.

Apparently someone in his immediate command had disobeyed him, and disobedience was the ultimate wrong in Tanfl society. He had all his staff who had been involved in the command to dispose of the doctor, and who had been about to take over Artesiana’s Holopresence device, gather together. And Rationallo elliminated them. There would be not the slightest hint of any incorrect move by Rationallo in the minds of his people.