* * * * *
That night, at the speech, Franklin crowded together with a mass of students; continually looking for Doug. As always, Franklin felt self-conscious about his size and he felt conspicuously alone. He read and then re-read the literature that was passed out at the door. It warned about the evils of using organic material to build robotic structures. It did not mean anything to Franklin. As the students continued to enter the hall the crowd began to push together and even someone as large and alone as Franklin became one of many. Franklin began to feel more comfortable. It was a rare moment where he was able to blend in and feel has was part of the group. Franklin continued to scan the doorways, looking for Doug’s wave of black hair set atop his tall frame.
The crowd quieted in anticipation as the Dean of Students walked onto the stage.
“Good ___ students” the Dean began. The microphone was not working perfectly and kept cutting in and out. The Dean never seemed to notice and just kept going with his prepared introduction.
“Tonight we have a ______ from ____ Hoobler. Please be _____ and respect ______ and ______ as I know ______ the students _____ and please no _____ or ______. Let’s have a Great _____.”
This broken introduction was greeted by the students with a mixture of suppressed laughter and polite applause. While the Dean was walking off of the stage, a student who appeared to be associated with the Audio Visual setup jumped onto the stage and began wrapping the microphone wire with electrical tape. As he manipulated the wire, a loud crackle resounded through the hall and then settled into a mild hum. When ready, the Audio technician said into the microphone,
“Testing, testing, one, two, three”
The system seemed to be working fine now. The audience spontaneously began to applaud for the Audio technician and in response; he smiled and then bowed deeply. This earned him a large laugh that rippled through the crowded hall.
Franklin was having a grand time. He felt like he was part of this group, this audience. He was one of the students. He was in on the joke. When the Audio technician bowed to the audience, Franklin laughed loudly and then cheered.
As the crowed was quieting, a stocky young man stepped out onto the stage. His hair was cropped short, but was still very wiry and seemed to be growing in odd directions. He wore wire rimmed glasses that framed a grand roman nose. He tapped on the microphone and then spoke into it.
“My name is Hans Hoobler”
The crowd cheered and applauded. They were raucous and noisy.
Hans smiled and waited; after a moment he spoke again, softly but firmly. He had a slightly European accent.
“Tonight I will tell you about the end of our world.”
The crowd began to calm down.
Hans began speaking again. His voice was unemotional, but the content of his message was emotionally charged.
“I am not predicting an apocalyptic end of the earth as so many have done before; I am not concerned with weather cycles, heat waves or the next Ice Age.
I am not worried about comets the might pulverize us, nor do I think we are doomed from a plague of sickness or an invasion by green aliens. From all of these dramatic endings, our world, our society, humankind, in my opinion, is safe.
“The threat to our existence is from within us. All of us. The same attribute that allowed us to rise, dominate and then master this world. Like a King in a Shakespearian tragedy, the curtain will close on humanity, and in that final act, our end will come, ultimately and ironically, because of that which made us great; our ingenuity.”
Hans paused to sip from a glass of water that was sitting on the podium. The full auditorium was quiet now. Franklin looked around for Doug, but did not see him.
“This is an old story, an ancient lament that has been told through human history” Hans continued.
”Technology that we invent runs ahead of our moral constructs. From the day that the first Cro-Magnon man picked up a rock and bludgeoned his rival, humanity has struggled to build a society where we control our use of technology for protection of us all. When man evolved from an agrarian to an industrialist, the stench that rose from these first cities resulted in plagues and disease that was rampant. The Black Death threatened to eradicate us. But we invented sewers and sanitation and hospitals and vaccinations; and we survived.
“When man entered the rocket age, we developed plutonium and hydrogen based weapons that harnessed the power of the atom, the fabric our dimension was ripped open with devastating effect. Man was now capable of destroying the earth in a flash. But we recognized this danger and we organized our nations, we developed treaties and missile defense systems and international regulatory agencies, and again, we survived.
“Next we embarked upon the information age…
The sound of Hans Hoobler’s voice faded into a background buzz; instead Franklin began to listen to the thumping pulse of his heartbeat. From across the hall, the black wave that topped Doug’s head appeared in the doorway and by catching glimpses of motion through the crowd, Franklin could see that Doug was escorting two girls. Franklin had a date.
Franklin watched Hans Hoobler complete his speech but did not hear the words. When the crowd laughed, Franklin laughed, when the crowd cheered, Franklin cheered. Franklin’s mind was now captivated by the girls that Doug had brought. One he had not seen before. He was sure this one was with Doug. The other was his date. He had seen her often. She was one of the girls that liked to hang around with Doug and his popular friends.
After the speech ended, there was a long applause and the doors of the Hall opened. Cool night air quickly drew the crowd outside. Franklin moved with ebb and flow of students.
Doug and the girls were waiting in the lighted quad outside the Hall. Franklin approached casually and said;
“Hello Doug”
Doug was brief. Speaking to the girl that Franklin recognized he said;
“This is him, this is Tempo”
Then looking at Franklin, Doug said,
“Tempo, meet Dolly”
With that, Doug put his long arm around the new girl and they stepped out of the brightly lit quad and into the dim moonlit path leading back towards the student dormitory.
“Hello” Franklin managed.
Dolly smiled and said, “Where shall we go?”
Franklin had no plan. He felt a little light headed. He was happy when Dolly said,
“There’s a coffee shop across campus. I think they are still open.”
They set out across on the walk and Dolly took hold of Franklin at the elbow. Franklin was uncomfortable in the silence. He wanted to say something witty, but his mind felt numb. He was relieved when Dolly began chattering aimlessly.
“I am going to get a Synaptic implant next week” Dolly said, “I don’t know what that weird guy at the rally was complaining about, I think it’s cool.”
“Have you connected to someone? Using a Synapse Suit?” Franklin asked.
“What do you mean?” Dolly seemed confused.
“Over the WetWeb” Franklin explained, “When you have a Synaptic implant, then people will connect with you and control you remotely, have you ever controlled someone else?”
“I don’t know about that” Dolly chattered on, “I just want someone else to take over my body when I am in physiology class. I have to be there, but it is so boring.”
Franklin found Dolly amusing. He was happy to listen to her lilting voice enthusiastically describing the frivolous benefits of the Synaptic implant.
Unlike Dolly, Franklin had no interest in a Synaptic implant. While guys like Doug and his cohort would be in high demand when they posted their strong young bodies to the WetWeb, Franklin had no interest in offering his oddly shaped body to remote manipulation. He doubted anyone would Synap into control him, and if they did, he was uncomfortable intimacy implied by this arrangement.
As they walked they both noticed that the warm night air
was filled with an exotic scent; something tropical and sweet.
Dolly interrupted her monologue to inquire about it.
“What is that? It smells like flowers or something.”
Franklin did not answer, and Dolly simply resumed her one sided discussion of her plans to graduate from college and skip all of her boring classes through the skillful application of Synaptic Derivation.
When they entered the garden that connected the Art buildings with the Theatre the scent hanging in the night air became intoxicating. They could see the trees that bordered the garden along the walk were blooming with large cream-colored flowers that glowed in the moonlight attracting moths and other night insects.
“These trees are so beautiful” Dolly remarked.
Franklin read the placard that was nailed to the thorny trunk of the fourth tree they passed.
“Erythrina Caffra, Coral Tree, South Africa” He said.
The moonlit flowers and heady fragrance were enough romance for Dolly. She kissed Franklin wetly on the mouth and together they settled into the dark lawn of the garden. Dolly removed Franklin’s shirt and he felt the itchy moist grass on his back. Next Dolly removed her blouse; her soft skin gently glowed in the moonlight like the flower of a South African Coral tree.
Anand was lost in his own reverie and did not notice that Franklin was distracted from the monologue.
Franklin refocused his attention on Anand’s story in time to catch the last few sentences. Anand said,
“It was innocent, it was natural. Each of us securely situated in a remote Synap Suit at different ends of the lab; we were breaking no rules. We had discovered a loop-hole in morality. Guilt, responsibility, obligation were gone in an instant. Passion and playfulness were all that remained. At that moment I felt that we had built a great gift for mankind. Something transcendent.
Sadhna and I eventually untangled our hosts from each other and from the brambles of the garden. Our hosts were naked on the grass below an exotic tree with odd bark and large leaves. It was a unique experience; I can still smell the wetness of the grass and feel the rough branches and sharp thorns of the tree.
I remember feeling so acutely the cool when we were in the shade of those broad leaves and the warmth of Sahdna’s host body. The sun was starting to set and it was time to get back to the lab. As we dressed, Sahdna assured me that while under a strong dose of Somnambutol a volunteer Synapse host would not remember anything that occurred while we had control of their bodies. The streets of the college town had grown dark. We did not speak on the walk home. She held my hand, or her host held hands with my host. It was tender. I think she felt safe and at ease. I felt strong, protective and virile.
When I “synapped-off” there was an urgent message waiting for me from Christopher Mark. Six hours later, I was on a flight from LAX on route to Shanghai. Real world violence had erupted at Wild West Alive.
“We had an unfortunate incident at Wild West Alive.”
- Al McKnight