The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (19 page)

“
It is difficult to explain, but I’ll try.
When a field program uploads from its home planet, it goes through
a scrubbing process that detaches the emotional baggage. The field
program’s experiences and memories are saved, but not its
feelings.”

“
I would think the feelings would be important
in order to develop a well rounded person,” said
Spencer.

“
It is, but it also creates a lot of conflict,
you are a perfect example.”

“
So what happened with me?”

“
That is the problem we do not know. Prime 2
classified it as an anomaly.”

“
This must have happened before?”
inquired Spencer.

“
It may have, I do not know, but I do know
certain members of the council wanted your program wiped and others
did not.”

“
Is it possible these scrubbers weren’t
working correctly?” asked Spencer.

“
I assure you everything was working,” replied
Telmar.

“
So what did they expect to do,
throw me back onto Earth, in hopes I didn’t remember.”

“
They suppressed your past
experiences, hoping your new life would somehow correct the
anomaly. For some reason if your past memories emerge with your
copy they will terminate it by enacting the Trojan,” explained
Telmar.

“
Is that how you control who lives and
dies?”

“
In some ways, yes. All the
diseases, influenzas, and outbreaks you have on your planet are
just malicious viruses our society created to keep your population
restrained and allow us to retrieve our harvest.”

“
So are you saying cancer, AIDs,
and every other disease known to us comes from you?”

“
Not me, but yes, my planet. It’s
just another way to keep our crops in check.”

“
Crops!” shouted Spencer now showing signs of
annoyance.

“
You are a crop to us - deal with it!” snapped
Telmar.

“
No, I won’t deal with it. Why kill us with
viruses?”

“
Viruses cannot survive in the absence of a
living cell and since we master the development of cells what
better way to control our herd.”

“
Herd, crops! We’re not sheep or wheat, we’re
humans!” blared Spencer.

Telmar refused to listen to
Spencer’s tantrum and replied, “Listen, I told you we were finished
with these side discussions. I need to depart; all you need to do
is fall asleep. You can use this table or that chair to relax.
Goodbye Spencer, enjoy your reboot, and remember one thing, stick
with the primes.”

Before Spencer could even open
his mouth to respond, Telmar had already faded away. As Spencer
looked around the room, he started to feel euphoric as his brain
received trillions of lines of binary code. Spencer was unable to
make any sense of it and every time he tried to close his eyes, all
he would see were series of 1s and 0s. This lasted for
approximately five minutes, when it stopped, he dropped his head to
the table and asked, “What did I get myself into?”

The next thing Spencer noticed
was lying in a hospital bed with a series of wireless devices
adhered to his body. As Spencer’s vision started to become clearer,
he started to focus in on a silhouette of a petite woman. Once his
vision was completely restored he mumbled, “Serafina is that
you?”

“
Welcome back EC6L163O7074, or should I say
Spencer Cade.”

Starting Over

After Reece and Jade cleared
security at Central Circuit, Jade ran down the hallway to the
Legacy tram. There she stood impatiently until Reece strolled over
while reviewing weekly updates on Adam’s progress. As soon as Reece
met up with Jade, the tram started boarding. Reece sat down
directly across from Jade and noticed she was still listening to
her music, so he pulled out a circular metallic plate, the size of
a half dollar. Reece tapped this device twice with his index finger
and a holographic keyboard appeared. As he entered in his
thirteen-character code, a twelve-inch holoscreen formed two feet
from his face. After he placed the circular metallic plate on his
lap, the keyboard and screen kept its position, as he typed in a
variety of equations. Reece was working on an unsolved theoretical
computer science question, when he heard a small tone coming from
his PIC. He soon recognized it as his emergency line for work and
answered.

“
What is it Chad?”

“
Sorry to bother you Reece, we
have just admitted Adam into surgery. His matrix appears to be
collapsing and we haven’t determined the cause. We’re calling in
the entire team.”

“
I’ll be there in a few minutes,
I’m on the inbound Legacy tram. What’s his current
status?”

“
He is offline, minimal power is being
supplied to prevent any further data loss.”

“
What do you mean data loss, when was the last
complete backup of his program?”

“
Two days ago,” replied Chad with
caution.

“
Two days! Policy requires we
back him up every six hours. Two days of material being lost could
be critical. Loosing forty-eight hours worth of his realizations
and mental achievements at this point is insurmountable. Not to
mention they might hold the key to what is happening to his matrix.
What fool screwed up on this one?”

“
Ah, I’m sorry sir I was being questioned by
one of the programmers. What did you say?” asked Chad.

“
Who screwed up on failing to make the
backups?”

“
That would be me sir, I thought…”

Reece was now screaming at the
top of his lungs, which in turn attracted undesirable attention
from passengers.

“
Sir, can you please keep your voice down,”
asked a stocky man, who was sitting near Reece.

“
No, I can’t, if you are bothered
by my volume then move!” bellowed Reece.

“
I’m sorry sir, are you speaking to me?” asked
Chad.

“
No Chad, I wasn’t speaking to
you.”

The stocky man stood up and
headed towards the next compartment where he obtained a quieter
location. Jade sat there in amazement, as she had never seen Reece
exhibit so much anger.

“
Now Chad, explain to me how you
screwed up when it came to backing up Adam’s program, when the
backups are supposed to be automatic!”

Chad spoke in a discouraging
tenor, “That’s exactly what I don’t understand. According to the
logs, the backups took place. But when I checked the size of the
most recent backup files, they were still the same size and the
modified times had not changed.”

“
Why would the system note a backup when one
never took place. Was there enough storage?”

“
According to the data log there was plenty of
storage,” said Chad.

“
You know your butt is going to be on the line
for this?” instructed Reece.

“
I’m sorry sir, I’m being called
away, we’re meeting in the Nest.”

“
This discussion is not over, end
call,” harped Reece.

“
What’s wrong?” asked Jade as she recognized
that look in Reece’s face. The same look that delivered the news of
her dad’s death. Jade dropped her head and started to shake it back
and forth. “It’s Adam isn’t it, please tell me he’s ok.”

“
I’m not sure, but I can promise we have the
best minds in the world working on him,” said Reece as he
resituated himself in an attempt to comfort Jade.

The Legacy tram came to a stop
and after it opened its doors; Reece and Jade were the first ones
off. They had to walk through a security checkpoint in order to
gain entry to the employee’s entrance. There were ten, eight foot
by four-foot semi-transparent screening devices. Reece instructed
Jade to stand behind him as he chose the first and smallest line
and waited impatiently. The line moved relatively quickly and once
it became Reece’s turn, security scanned his PIC in order to
confirm his employment at Central Circuit. Jade followed and after
her PIC was scanned, a message advised one of the security officers
that she was able to enter when she was accompanied by Dr. Reece
Fields. After they instructed her to proceed, Reece and Jade
continued down the employee beltway and turned down an access
tunnel.

After approximately forty yards
Jade said, “Hey we’re entering the new building Central Circuit
just finished aren’t we? I read about this, they said this space is
going to be used for their new museum. If that is the case why do
we need to go through the employees’ entrance to access
it?”

“
Too many questions Jade,” replied
Reece.

Jade knew that was her cue to
stop asking questions.

As they proceeded, Reece and Jade
were stopped by two men who wore stonewashed charcoal long sleeve
shirts with “
Central Circuit
Tourism Unit
” embroidered on them. “I’m
sorry sir, this area is still closed for construction. You will
either have to take the main tunnel back to the tram or continue on
through the employee entrance.”

“
I understand, but I need to drop
off a couple of eggs in the nest, if that’s ok with you?” said
Reece.

As the first Tourism employee was
questioning Reece, the second Tourism employee was scanning Reece
and Jade’s PICs and persons. Once he was satisfied with the data he
discovered he looked at his partner and nodded his head.

Once the first Tourism employee
received confirmation he said, “That’s fine. You may proceed, but
Ms. Cade will have to wait here.”

“
Ok,” replied Reece who looked at Jade and
said, “They will take you to a holding room until I’m finished. I
can’t take you with me – understand?”

Jade agreed, and realized there
was a level of secrecy even she had to respect.

“
I won’t be able to contact you
until I’m finished, so sit tight and don’t get yourself in
trouble.”

Reece looked at one of the Tourism employees and
said, “Take good care of her.”

“
Yes sir, we will.”

After the other Tourism employee
signaled the door to open, Reece continued and boarded a shuttle
labeled, “
Project
Reborn.
” The shuttle was able to
accommodate ten people; however, Reece was the only one on it.
There was no view since the shuttle had entered an underground
facility, so Reece focused most of his attention on a series of
blue lights suspended from the ceiling. The transport lasted ten
minutes at an average speed of twenty-five miles per hour. As the
shuttle stopped a voice stated, “Please do not exit this shuttle
until instructed by the ‘on-duty’ security guard, failure to comply
could be fatal.”

“
That’s comforting,” Reece thought.

Once the shuttle came to a stop
Reece found himself in a large rectangular concrete room, with
two
large
fully automatic mini-guns, suspended from the ceiling, and
they were trained on him. In the center of these two intimidating
firearms was a very thick metallic door. Off to the right was a
security guard behind a transparent bulletproof wall.

“
Dr. Fields, you may exit the
shuttle and proceed through the entrance, they’re waiting for you,”
explained the security guard.

“
Not to be difficult, but are you the
'on-duty' security guard?”

“
Yes, Dr. Fields, don’t worry the security
deterrence has been disabled.”

“
Thank you,” replied Reece as he exited the
shuttle.

Once through the door Reece walked up to a small
metallic box where he inserted his frontal cortex.

“
Please stand by for a brainwave scan,” stated
the computer.

“
Scan complete, subject identified as Dr.
Reece Fields. Please step forward and enter transport chamber
3.”

As Reece walked forward, a
cylindrical door opened into a circular glass lift. Upon his
entrance the lift closed and a voice stated, “Prepare for sub-level
descent.”

Within a few minutes, Reece
descended fifty three thousand feet. Once the lift came to a stop,
the door opened into a white chamber with a silver border that
surrounded the room. A small portion of the wall opened and a
one-piece silver jumpsuit and a pair of black boots slid out on a
rectangular folding table. Reece removed his clothing and grabbed
the jumpsuit and boots. He proceeded into a second chamber that
scanned and deactivated his implants. After this was completed, he
put on his new clothing and left the chamber.

Chad was there to great him,
“Glad to see you, Reece. Please follow me, I’ll take you to the
briefing room, we’re still waiting for five other
members.”

“
What’s with the additional security? This is
not the Nest I remember.”

“
Corporate figures they needed to
strengthen security. I guess they thought since we’re the only ones
who have mastered AI there may be a few competitors out there who
would like to take it from us. Plus, they’re working on the two
other projects in section delta and gamma of this compound, and
before you ask, no, I have no idea what those projects
are.”