The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (12 page)

Not backing down, Spencer
sarcastically said, “That’s so comforting, am I one of
them?”

“
You have been placed in the Optimized group,
which is the best out of the five levels. The other levels in order
of importance are Managed, Defined, Repeatable, and
Initial.”

“
Really, I’m so honored,” replied
Spencer.

Spencer refused to acknowledge
the detracting remark when Telmar simply said, “No reason to be
honored. Your program has matured enough to reach the requirements.
Your attributes are well above the minimum levels.”

“
What are the minimal levels?”

“
That is more information than you require.
You will be given your official Established Attribute Rating, when
your program goes into Alpha and Beta testing.”

“
What if I don’t want to be merged?” asked
Spencer now showing signs of nervousness.

“
Excuse me, did you just ask, what if you do
not want to be merged?” replied Telmar surprisingly.

“
Yeah, what if I wanted to stay as me. What if
I want to keep the memories of my daughter, my wife, and all the
positive and negative feelings that I’ve experienced? You can’t
just take that from me, if so, I would rather be dead.” Spencer
stopped for a moment and studied Telmar’s face then asked, “Why do
you look so surprised? Are you telling me out of all these field
programs, you never had one refuse to be absorbed into your
society?”

“
I,” Telmar paused and received
the follow message from Prime 2 via Telmar’s internal uplink,
preventing Spencer from hearing it.

“
I will be shutting down EC6L163O7074 in an
attempt to study this anomaly.”

“
May I ask why EC6L163O7074 is still
experiencing emotions? Were they not scrubbed?”

“
Unknown at this time,” replied Prime
2.

“
Understood, I will be ending my involvement
with him,” reported Telmar.

“
Hello, you there?” Spencer asked.

“
Yes, sorry,” said Telmar.

“
Where did you go? You were standing there
with a blank look on your face.”

“
I must be leaving, I have other tasks to
attend to.”

“
But I think I’m really
uncomfortable merging. I’m afraid I’m going to lose my
individuality. Does any of this make sense?”

“
It’s really not my place to comment Spencer;
I need to step out on another assignment.”

Spencer started yawning and felt
an overwhelming urge to fall asleep. “That’s fine, I think, I’m
going to lie down here on the couch and take a na…” Before Spencer
could complete his sentence, he was fast asleep; at least that was
what he had thought.

Telmar looked at Spencer, bent down and whispered in
his ear, “Remember Spencer this is the beginning to a real life,
try not to mess it up.” Telmar stood up looked towards the front
door and said, “Archive program EC6L163O7074 and download me to my
external body.”

Telmar’s surroundings changed from the quaint
Vermont cabin to the interior of a sterile metal pod. As the
chamber’s large metallic door opened, a greenish cloud of chilled
air poured out revealing the pod that held Telmar’s body. Two lab
technicians walked over, allowed the container to warm up,
confirmed that Telmar’s body was at the appropriate temperature of
103 degrees Fahrenheit, and released the three locks on the door to
the secured pod. Telmar stepped out wearing only a pair of white
shorts and asked to speak with the on duty supervisor immediately
as he headed towards the changing area. Telmar looked just like his
virtual interpretation that Spencer had met; the only exception
being he was seven inches taller than his Earth body. One of the
technicians signaled for their supervisor telepathically from their
lab, which was on a platform over looking thousands of other
labs.

All these platforms formed around a massive tube
over three hundred stories high. The on duty supervisor was on a
moving floor traveling within this tube. He acknowledged Telmar’s
request and indicated he would be there shortly, as Telmar finished
getting dressed.

The platform Telmar uploaded to
consisted of ten chambers each holding ten pods. All these pods
allowed individuals to connect virtually to Prime 2’s storage
facilities. If an active connection was taking place, the pod’s
exterior was red if an individual was inside and when there was no
connection the exterior was blue. Pods that were inactive were
green. Outside the access to the chambers was a lab with two large
screens connected to a variety of holographical data pads. Here two
technicians worked to monitor the individuals who were occupying
the pods on their platform. The lighting on these platforms gave
off a dim bluish color and an energy sound barrier muffled any
noises.

Telmar headed to the lab and accessed a nearby
terminal in order to review his encounter with Spencer. While
playing back his experience the on duty supervisor walked over and
said, “Disturbing to say the least.”

“
Yes, what happened?” asked Telmar

“
We do not know. We have not experienced
anything of this nature before. It appears when EC6L163O7074 was
uploaded from Earth his field program did not complete the
emotional scrubbing.”

“
Was there a malfunction?”

Taking that as an insult, the on
duty supervisor responded, “That is impossible. There are too many
safety precautions in place and even if that did occur, Prime 2
would have shutdown all uploads until the problem was resolved. In
addition, no programs that uploaded before or after EC6L163O7074
had their emotions attached. So we must ask ourselves, ‘Why did
EC6L163O7074 question his merger and not the other field programs?’
I am certain it was not because of a mechanical
failure.”

“
What about him recognizing the figure eight
in his transition program?” asked Telmar.

“
We cannot answer that. Not only
did he recognize our symbolic icon, but he also carved this symbol
onto a tree when he was a child. This is something we do not yet
comprehend. There is no way EC6L163O7074 could have carried
memories with him on the download that allowed him to be reborn on
Earth. My theory is it was just a fluke. Our symbolic icon has been
intertwined with many different cultures on many different planets
for eons.”

“
So what is going on?”

“
We do not know. Prime 2 is looking into
reasons. Right now we are categorizing it as an anomaly,” explained
the on duty supervisor.

Frustrated with the lack of answers Telmar simply
asked, “Where am I going from here?”

“
Your title as Herder has been reinstated. You
are getting downloaded back to Earth, your temporary suspension has
been lifted.”

“
Temporary suspension, I should have never
been removed from Earth, that was a ridiculous accusation,” snapped
Telmar.

“
Being accused of supplying technology to
harvested planets is a serious offense,” replied the on duty
supervisor.

“
I know it is serious, that is why they had no
right to accuse me. I would never do such a thing.”

“
Well, it is over now. You are
scheduled to download in eleven cycles. Your humanoid body is in
cryogenic stasis on Earth, in America, at one of our facilities
located in Washington State. It was a pleasure working with you.
You did a fine job making first contact with new arrivals. If you
ever want to come back and work for us, please do not
hesitate.”

Ignoring the offer Telmar simply asked, “Please keep
me updated on EC6L163O7074. I am interested in learning what
happened.”

“
I will do my best.”

“
I am staying on site until my download, I can
be found in Sector 23 holding room 538,” advised Telmar.

“
You are not going to tour your home planet
during the rest of your stay here?”

“
I do not have a home planet. Take care,” said
Telmar.

Telmar exited the lab and headed
towards his waiting facility, where he grabbed something to eat,
stretched out on his resting mat, and fell asleep.

Getting to Know
You

“HICAMS can you verify if these
calculations are correct?” asked Jade.

“
Most certainly, Ms. Jade, whatever I can do
to assist in your educational endeavors.”

“
Thanks, HICAMS I’m so glad we transferred
your programming over to Reece’s home.”

“
So am I. Ms. Jade, I just received notice
there is a young lady at the front door, her name is Serafina
Smith, and she wants to introduce herself as your new
neighbor.”

“
Did you say Serafina?”

“
Yes, Ms. Jade, Ms. Serafina Smith is how she
identified herself,” answered HICAMS.

“
Can you pull her up on my
display?”

“
Most certainly.”

Jade paused for a moment as her
face slowly fell into shock. “Oh my god…”

“
Is there a problem Ms. Jade?”

“
Yes, I mean, no, that woman she…
she is the clergy from Dad’s funeral.

“
Are you sure this is the same
woman?”

“
Yes, I’m sure. The only difference is she had
her hair pulled back at the funeral. I can’t believe she’s here.
Please tell her I’ll be right out and while you’re at it run her
identity through the International ID database. Try to find
anything you can on her. One more thing can you call Reece and find
out where he is?”

“
Yes, Ms. Jade, is everything ok?”

“
Yeah, everything is fine,” said Jade
frantically.

Jade ran to her closet to find
something more presentable to wear. She took off her stained
t-shirt and ripped jeans in order to replace them with a pair of
black satin cuff shorts and a pinkish V-neck space dyed top. Once
dressed, she hurried into the bathroom where she combed her hair
and brushed her teeth.

HICAMS advised, “I told Serafina you would be right
out, Reece should be on his way home from the lab as stated on his
agenda. I left him a message, as I was not able to get through to
him. I ran Serafina’s known identity through the Facial Recognition
database as well as the International ID database and obtained zero
matches.”

Jade spat out her toothpaste, “No
matches, how can that be? Did you scan for a PIC?”

“
Yes, that was the first thing I did and I
found nothing, she may be a Floater.”

“
A Floater, for real? How can that be? She’s a
clergy. Wow, I didn’t think they existed anymore,” said Jade
surprisingly.

HICAMS explained, “According to
the last International Poll only a quarter of one percent of the
world’s population is listed as Floaters. As for her being a
clergy, maybe she is not. In order to carry this title you would
need to be in the International Database. Unless...”

“
Unless what?” cut in Jade impatiently as she
conducted a second rinse of her mouth.

“
Certain religious organizations have some of
their clergies withdraw from the modern world for a period of time
in an attempt to live a recognized way of life. These individuals
must give up all forms of technology, to include their PIC, in
order to complete this quest.”

“
And the International Government has agreed
to these conditions?” asked Jade.

“
Yes.”

“
Would these clergies have to
register after they removed themselves from their
sabbatical?”

“
Yes,” answered HICAMS who
followed with, “Also if someone had enough resources they could
adopt this false identity of being a clergy on a short time basis,
allowing them to forgo an active PIC implant.”

“
That must be it. I know this was
the clergy at my dad’s funeral. And because she doesn’t currently
have a PIC that means she must have just come back from her
sabbatical, or she is lying about being a clergy all together. She
is not old enough to be exempted from having one, is
she?”

“
No she is not Ms. Jade. Do you
recall any specific markings or something which stood out on this
Ms. Serafina Smith when she was representing herself as a clergy?”
asked HICAMS.

“
No, but she was wearing a dark
robe with a collar all the way up to her neck, and dark colored
gloves.” Jade paused for a moment then remembered, “Oh wait, I did
see a series of silver colored figure eights embedded in the robe
she was wearing. I figured it was a cool design or some type of
clergy thing. I didn’t really give much thought to what it meant at
the time.”

“
I will run this symbol. In the meantime would
you like me to contact the authorities Ms. Jade?”

“
No way, what if this is a Floater pretending
to be a clergy? We need to figure out why she is doing this, plus
what are the chances we would ever meet a real live
Floater?”

“
Extremely slim, do I need to remind you Ms.
Jade that failure to report a Floater is considered
illegal?”

“
No, HICAMS you don’t have to remind me, and
so what if she is. She didn’t do anything illegal, which we know
of, and for all we know maybe she did just get back from her
sabbatical, and hadn’t received her PIC implant yet.”