Johnny Winger and the Europa Quandary

  Chapter 13

  Solnet/Omnivision Video Post

  @anika.radovich.solnetworldview

  February 16, 2121

  1200 hours U.T.

  SOLNET Special Report:

  Symborg Triggers Riots in Boise, Idaho

  Solnet Reporter Anika Radovich reports on the recent angel riots in Boise:

  “Viewing the dronecam footage of the disturbances several days ago, I had several thoughts. First, there is an explosive increase in the numbers of angels…and by angels I mean swarms of nanobots configured to closely resemble human beings…Normals as we have begun calling ourselves, as if anything about this is normal…a nearly exponential increase in the numbers of angels walking our streets. Second, parallel with this increase and in many ways a triggering mechanism, is the growth of the Church of Assimilation and its followers, especially followers of the recently-released Symborg.

  “This report will detail some of the background to this growth. We also hope to bring you a live vid interview with Symborg himself.

  “Many Solnet viewers have expressed concerns about another problem we’ve been having recently…an increase in problems with the Net, both Solnet and WorldNet. Whether worms, Trojans, zero-day exploits, root-level malware, or other viruses, many Solnet viewers have had difficulties accessing the Net, even to view our reports. Our engineers have assured me that Special Report won’t be affected at all…in fact, my engineer here, Stephen Welks, has assured me that everything is under control and that Special Report will be posted just like normal. So let that put your fears to rest.

  “Now to the latest from Boise…as you know, two days ago, one of many Assimilationist rallies that occur every day around the world was held. Symborg himself was on the schedule to appear. And, as with many of these so-called ‘awakenings’, assimilator booths were on hand for volunteers who want to…I guess the phrase is, ‘be taken up into the mother swarm…be assimilated.’

  “Many of these rallies have descended into chaos and riots. According to police sources I talked with, the presence of Lanier Barnes and his anti-angel group the Hellcats was the proximate cause of the disturbances in Boise. These agitators have disrupted Assimilationist rallies all over the world. While the underlying philosophy of Barnes and the Hellcats is somewhat murky, there can be no denying the effect they have on assimilationists everywhere. If Symborg is seen by millions as a hero, even a sort of robotic messiah, then Lanier Barnes must be seen as the opposite. Every hero seems to produce an anti-hero, just as many forms of matter have corresponding forms of anti-matter.

  “Some years ago, when Symborg first came to prominence, I posted a Special Report dedicated to describing the rise of this unlikely hero. Here are some excerpts:

  --The central figure in all this hurricane of emotion and frenzy was Symborg himself. It was no secret that Symborg was an angel…a semi-human swarm of nanobots. He never made any attempt to hide that.

  As a charismatic spiritual and political leader, Symborg has great influence, even though his followers are well aware that he is nothing but a lifelike swarm of nanoscale robotic elements. Physically, his main appearance is that of a handsome middle-aged man of average height but muscular build, but he can assume many other configurations and forms, as needs dictate. Symborg seems to prefer maintaining a consistent ‘brand’ and ‘image, so he does not often present himself in public in anything other than Config One, his most human-like state.

  His creators, whoever or whatever they are, have done their homework. Symborg has been programmed with the most effective personality elements of Hitler, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, Lincoln and a variety of historical figures, kings and emperors, celebrities and scoundrels. Symborg can assume whatever personality characteristics seem appropriate for the moment. Each is nothing more than a module he can activate or shut off at any time. Yet each is developed, tested and fine-tuned for maximum effect and charisma and the modules can be modified on the fly, probably by Config Zero according to our sources at UNIFORCE and downloaded to Symborg over secure, encrypted quantum communication channels that Humans haven’t been able to detect or intercept. This is a point of potential weakness. Sources tell us that Quantum Corps has been trying to exploit this link by detecting, intercepting and scrambling these communications.

  Symborg first came to public notice from a small Kenyan village on the borderlands of the east African swarm sanctuary. The village is Kipwezi. He is by appearance a man of darker skin, but not deeply black. One of Symborg’s physical capabilities is the ability to manipulate his skin appearance to appear subtly lighter or darker, depending on the needs of the audience. This is a simple matter of manipulating the melanocyte composition of the skin cells at the molecular level, something easy for Symborg to do. He can literally be all things to all people, as any good politician would want.

  From the beginning, Symborg has been an advocate of Assimilationism, the idea that man and his ANAD creations are destined to merge into some kind of blended symbiotic organism, part human and part machine.

  Symborg is a messianic character, some have said even a robotic messiah. He is programmed with the healing and teaching abilities of Jesus, the oratorical skills of a Lincoln, a Roosevelt or a Hitler, the enlightened state of a Buddha, the ruthlessness of a Stalin or Mao, the leadership ability of Patton or Nelson or Mohammed, and the sheer intellectual genius of an Einstein. He is or can be all things to all people. But most of all, he is a persuasive advocate for assimilationism and for deconstruction of single-config entities such as Humans into nanobotic swarm elements and their absorption into the mother swarm. This absorption is portrayed by Symborg as something akin to Heaven, nirvana, paradise or just a desirable end-state configuration symbiotically united with the great mother swarm of the Central Entity. Symborg publically uses the phrases ‘Central Entity’ and ‘Mother Swarm’ interchangeably with various audiences according to his analysis of their emotional and spiritual needs.

  In fact, UNIFORCE sources tell SOLNET that Symborg has the programmed ability to do glutamate trace matching on large numbers of people at the same time…a covert insertion of a few nanobots to sniff out glutamate and dopamine trails in the brains of his followers and the ability to remotely manipulate these trails so as to produce desired emotional states of wonder, enlightenment, happiness, ecstasy, or terror, as the situation dictates. Symborg is like a conductor, orchestrating the ventral tegmentum areas of the brains of his followers to achieve ecstasy or enlightenment or abject terror as his needs dictate. One of the rituals Symborg encourages in his followers is to allow small-scale nanobots to be inserted into them…this is considered good form for those who seek Assimilation. They do this by drinking a small cup of liquid, which contains the nanobots, which then insert themselves. These inserted bots, like angels, allow Symborg to precisely control how his audiences respond to his messages.

  Symborg has gathered around himself a small coterie of followers and worshippers. This cabal seems to be a mixture of actual Humans and swarm–angels. They are known publically as the Sons of Assimilation—

  “Now, let’s talk with Symborg himself…we have him standing by from his headquarters in Nairobi. Good day, sir…can you hear me okay? Thanks for taking the time to be with us today.”

  On millions of screens and displays all over the world, the image of Anika Radovich is split off and shared on screen with the image of the Assimilationist leader. Symborg is wearing a simple white shirt with some kind of token on a chain around his neck. He is dark-complexioned, with high cheek bones and a winning smile. His eyes sparkle.

  “Good day, Ms. Radovich. It’s my pleasure. And as we say here in Kenya…Karibu…welcome to you and your followers.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Symborg. Right off the bat, I’d like to ask you a question…one that is on the minds of many of our followers—“

  “Surely.”

  “There is a very common public perception among many of
your followers that you are indeed a sort of messiah or savior. Can you comment on these perceptions for our audience?”

  Symborg continued smiling, though the arc of his lips evolved to more of a smirk. “Indeed, Ms. Radovich, I am well aware of these perceptions, as you call them…and I am, of course, extremely flattered. As your followers are no doubt aware, some eleven years ago, an archaeologist named Rudolf Volk presented some extraordinary findings to the world. His work at a dig site not far from here, a place called Engebbe, produced direct fossilized evidence of micro-robotic remains, dated to be consistent in time with fossilized bone structures from multiple Homo Erectus finds.”

  “Exactly, Mr. Symborg. If you would permit me, I’d like to open another window on our viewers’ screens and show some of the report that my colleague Anna Kolchinova made at that time—“

  “Please go ahead, Ms. Radovich.”

  Another window opens. The report is dated August 5, 2110. The place is the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany….Kolchinova’s blond curls come up on the window….

  “The essence of Dr. Volk’s presentation is that we now have incontrovertible proof, physical evidence, that Man didn’t develop and evolve on this planet alone or unaided. Recent finds of fossilized micro robotic remains among ancient Homo Erectus bones at the Engebbe dig site have swept the world of archaeology and anthropology like a hurricane. Volk is a researcher in the Institute’s Department of Human Evolution and was here in Leipzig to present the details of his findings to the Institute’s Board of Directors.

  “According to Dr. Volk, the robotic remains have been conclusively dated to be synchronous in time with the bone remains. The techniques used were a relatively new, more advanced form of radiocarbon dating, a method called quantum state spectrometry. According to Dr. Volk, the tests have been performed multiple times, by multiple researchers right here at the Institute and the results are consistent across all experiments and experimenters.”

  “It seems, to quote Dr. Marta Siebeck, an archaeologist on the Board here, that ‘we may be descended from ancient robotic creatures.’”

  When the Kolchinova report was done, Symborg took the moment to make a statement.

  “Ms. Radovich, I am a direct descendant of the individuals discovered by Dr. Volk.”

  Momentarily startled, Anika cleared her throat. “Mr. Symborg, if you will pardon me, that’s a rather extraordinary thing to say. Would you care to elaborate?”

  Symborg’s face lit up. “I would indeed. Perhaps, it’s best to begin at the beginning. What is it that the Church of Assimilation stands for? What do we believe in?”

  Anika took the bait. “Okay, I’ll be your audience. To me, the Church stands for de-construction…a kind of mass suicide.”

  Symborg shook his head. “No, that’s not it at all. In fact, we believe in the unity of all things. We believe that long ago, the Old Ones came to Earth and seeded it with life. Their plan was that this life would grow and develop into a sort of common unified swarm, a sort of common mind, not unlike viruses today. Simple but powerful elements, but organized into greater formations. And when the first elements had developed enough, they would be ready to be taken up by the mother swarm of the Old Ones, incorporated into the greater Unity that is the universe.”

  Radovich had heard this story before. It was a standard litany in many Assimilationist awakenings. “But there was a mistake, according to your way of thinking. Things didn’t quite work out. Evolution got off track and Man is a result of that mistake.”

  Symborg’s smile was that of a parent gently correcting a wayward child. “Not quite. You see: those whom you call the Old Ones have spent millions of years seeding and developing life on other worlds. Each time they do this, the Old Ones seed life to ensure that it evolves in a manner compatible with them…evolving as a distributed, intelligent virus-like swarm of entities. The Old Ones are using this seeding campaign as a way of developing multiple swarm entities with which they can merge. Ultimately, they want to unite all world-based instances of swarm life which they have seeded into a giant, galaxy-spanning swarm or hive mind. Like a network or computational cloud. To the Old Ones, this is the Imperative of Life itself. The Imperative of Life is that life absorbs chaos from the Universe and adds or builds structure or order. Life is anti-entropic.”

  “Mr. Symborg, I’ve heard these explanations in all your literature, all your so-called ‘awakenings.’ But the fact is, millions of your followers are committing suicide, going into those booths. How can you justify this? Isn’t this just a new form of genocide?”

  Symborg’s smile faded, to be replaced by a hard, determined edge to his face and lips. Anika thought she could even see his cheek planes morphing; maybe it was her imagination.

  “Earth was seeded by the Old Ones billions of years ago. But the evolutionary track which the Old Ones laid down on Earth was interrupted or disrupted and evolution took a different course. Multi-cellular, single-configuration, organisms took over. Earth was to have been populated by swarms of intelligent, re-configurable virus-like entities. Instead, it’s populated by human beings. So in a larger sense, you are correct, Ms. Radovich. Man is a mistake. The Old Ones mean to correct this mistake. The Imperative demands this.”

  Anika tried another tack. “What exactly is this Prime Key you speak of? Is it a philosophy?”

  “The Prime Key is a tool, Ms. Radovich. It’s a blueprint. The Prime Key instructs all swarms to maintain certain configurations and to follow additional programming which will ultimately have the effect of returning the Earth to a biological and geological state similar to its condition approximately a billion years ago, when the Old Ones last visited. This programming is a sort of evolution in reverse. I have come to ensure that the Prime Key is executed.”

  Anika suddenly felt a chill down her spine at Symborg’s words. Not precisely his words. It was the way he said them. His voice was even, dead flat, almost machine-like. Anika realized deep down inside, in a visceral way she couldn’t put into words, that she was dealing with a machine here, despite outward appearances. It had a program. And it would stop at nothing to execute that program.

  “Mr. Symborg, I have one final question for our viewers.”

  The expressionless smile came back. “Certainly, Ms. Radovich.”

  “Are you God?”

  Now it was Symborg’s turn to pause. His smile was an enigmatic facial tic. Had she found something with the question? Had she tripped some flag or inhibit inside the angel’s program?

  “Ms. Radovich, names and labels are human creations. The Central Entity…the essential core of the Old Ones…did not create the universe…we don’t know who or what did. But the Mother Swarm is coming and all of us will be taken up…all of us will be part of the family. It is the Imperative of Life…negentropy, the reduction of chaos. The basic organizing influence in the universe is life. Life involves utilizing a flow of energy to draw order from chaos and build internal complexity with an accumulation of information. Living beings thus are anti-entropic, or negentropic, entities. The principle of negentropism is, in a manner of speaking, the ‘natural law’ applicable to all living beings located anywhere in the universe, regardless of their size, shape, biochemistry, sentience, or culture. Your own philosophers know this. They have said this. I have come to help you and all life on Earth fulfill this destiny.”

  “Mr. Symborg, I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us today on Special Report.”

  Again the smile. A politician’s smile, all teeth, no warmth. “It was my pleasure, Ms. Radovich.”

  The screen display went dark, to be replaced by the Solnet logo.

  Solnet Special Report Ends

  Anika took a deep breath. She was drained and she needed a drink. To Stephen Welks, the engineer nearby, she said what she really thought.

  “That guy is as loony as a three-dollar bill.”
r />   Welks didn’t answer right away. He was uploading the interview file to the main server. “Great work, Anika. It’ll be all over the Net in an hour. I just need to re-format a little for time and you can check the edit.”

  “Great, Stephen. Ping me when you’re done. I’m going to the office for a little downtime.”

  “Sure thing, Ms. Radovich.”

  The Solnet reporter left the studio. She didn’t see Welks begin deconstructing right at the console, the moment she left. By the time, Anika had reached her own office down the hall, Stephen Welks was no longer a single-configuration entity. The angel swarm had dispersed into a thin veil of sparkling mist, a swarm of nanobotic elements. Before Anika had poured her first few fingers of vodka and crashed onto a sofa in the corner of her office, the Welks angel had assumed a translucent amorphous cloud-like form and already unplugged a network cable from the console, opening up a Solnet port. In moments, the angel had completely vanished from the studio, penetrating the now open port and entering the world of Solnet itself.