Influx

  Grady clenched his hands. “You have no right to decide the pace of technological change.”

  “Now you sound like someone we both know.”

  Grady recalled the face of the madman whose followers had so recently strapped him to a bomb.

  Hedrick saw the realization in Grady’s eyes. “Yes, Richard Louis Cotton—the public face of the antitechnology movement. Every once in a while his Winnowers strike at some scientist or lab. It’s just a means of control, Jon. Cotton’s movement is an illusion. A method of misdirection. You are all quite alive, after all.”

  Grady moved away from Hedrick warily. “Cotton works for you?”

  Hedrick sighed. “Not for me—the BTC. I know it’s upsetting, but everyone is fine.”

  “We’re not fine. Where’s Doctor Alcot? Where are Raj and Mike? I want to see them. Right now.”

  “That’s not possible, Jon. They’ve already come to terms with the BTC. Until you join us, you can’t join them.”

  “Join you? Why on earth would I join you? You’re abducting researchers and scientists. Concealing life-changing scientific breakthroughs. I’m not joining you.”

  “We do what must be done. And even then only when truly disruptive innovation occurs and containment risks are high.”

  “What ‘containment risks’?”

  “Some technologies are too dangerous to be allowed to spread on their own. Left to chance, technologies like fusion and antigravity would sweep away existing social systems. They would change every society they touched.” Hedrick gestured to several more exhibits lining the corridor. “Shall we continue?”

  “You’re going to add gravity modification to this museum of yours, aren’t you?”

  “You should feel honored. I know I do. Very few innovations require complete isolation. Yours is one of them. Our models suggest that mastery of gravitation is what’s known as a keystone. When combined with other advances—like fusion—gravity manipulation will catapult humanity to a much higher technological level. In this case, moving us for the first time into a Type One civilization—a society capable of moving entire planets. Of building warp drives. Capturing the entire energy output from our star.”

  “That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”

  “Your modesty is admirable, but your contribution stands alongside those of the greatest minds in history. Think of this: the notion of a ‘fictitious force’—Newton’s second law. In a closed box, an observer would not be able to distinguish between acceleration and the force of gravity. Einstein himself attributed the apparent acceleration of gravity to the curvature of space-time. Inertial mass and gravitational mass were not just equal—they were the same force. Yet, combined with our knowledge of extra dimensions, we might be able to use your work to disprove the equivalence principle at a high level of precision—and that’s just one of many possibilities. You’ve made an unprecedented breakthrough.”

  “Extra dimensions?”

  Hedrick ignored the question as he gestured again to the gallery. “Your gravity mirror belongs here, and you should feel honored—very honored indeed.”

  “It isn’t an honor. I’d like to leave now, please.”

  “We greatly admire your work, Jon. We want you to do what other researchers”—he motioned along the displays in the gallery—“like those whose work is represented here, have done. Join us. We want you to be part of the BTC family. To continue your research, but to continue it with access to technology you can only now imagine. We can open so many doors of inquiry to you. We can show you scientific wonders.”

  Grady was still trying to process it all. He shook his head clear and walked farther along the gallery. At the next display he saw a hologram of cells, this time dividing and re-forming, as well as the image of a young person resembling an older person beside them. The plaque read:

  Immortal DNA strand segregation—June 1986: Lee, Chao Park

  He read the details. “My God . . .”

  “Immortality is just one of the things we’ve accomplished, Jon.” Hedrick gestured down the gallery. “True artificial intelligence, quantum computing, miraculous metamaterials—and so much more. You can be part of it. You’ve earned a place among us.”

  “Us?” He turned. “I want to speak with Doctor Alcot.”

  “I’ve told you that’s not possible. Everyone must decide on his own—not because of what someone else decided.”

  “How do I know he’s even alive?”

  “Why would we harm him?”

  “And why would you kidnap someone? Why would you conceal the cure for cancer? The achievement of fusion? I want to see my colleagues.”

  Hedrick sighed. “You’re acting as if we’ve had no role in this. You do realize we’re the reason you received your funding? We’re the reason your research succeeded.”

  Grady narrowed his eyes. “I was awarded a National Science—”

  “You were awarded an NSF grant? How do you really know? And who was it that identified you from among all those candidates? From among the students in your online courses?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Very early on your mathematical solutions in online physics courses came to the attention of our AIs. You think very differently from others, Jon. Our AIs guided your path. They’re the ones who noted the unusual promise in the mathematics of your grant application. Please don’t act as if we’re intruding here. If it weren’t for us, your ideas would never have been realized. Think back on how you’ve been treated all your life. Professionally. Personally.”

  Grady stared blankly at Hedrick.

  “Yes, Jon. We know about your unusual way of seeing the world. But we’ve had faith in you all along, even when no one else did. You have a unique gift—a visionary way of interpreting the physical world. That’s what we search for. We’d like to learn from you. And unlike the public world, we have the ability to understand what you teach us.”

  Grady stood numbly again, trying in vain to comprehend it all. His model of the known world was no longer valid.

  That comforting hand on his shoulder again. Hedrick leaned close. “The ability to manipulate gravity will transform even our most advanced technologies. Instead of containing fusion reactions in a magnetic field, as with tokamak designs, we’ll be able to carry out fusion the same way stars do. We might gain a four hundred and fifty–to-one energy yield. And that’s just the beginning.”

  Grady pondered this. “Not with a gravity mirror you won’t. You’d need a million times the mass of the Earth for that.”

  “But that’s where you can help us, Jon. How do we create gravity—not simply reflect it? That’s the next goal. You mentioned to Professor Kulkarni that acceleration can be harnessed—redirected. That’s a promising line of research.”

  “Kulkarni is one of yours, too?”

  Hedrick ignored this question. “You and I both know gravity is the most powerful force in the universe. It can consume whole galaxies. Light itself. If we could create it from energy—imagine what constructs man might be capable of.”

  They were walking again now, Hedrick guiding Grady to the end of the gallery and into another large office. Grady was lost in thought.

  As they entered the new office, he looked up to see a young woman standing next to a conference table, along with an older, grizzled-looking man in his sixties. The guy had the demeanor and stance of an old soldier, and he wore a black uniform bearing an inscrutable rank and the BTC’s tree insignia. Grady did a double take on the woman. She was incredibly beautiful, fair complected, with short jet-black hair and lapis-lazuli-blue eyes. She wore a tailored pantsuit and crisp white blouse—normal business attire. But in fact, she was so attractive it was difficult for Grady to take his eyes off her, despite his absurd predicament.

  Hedrick apparently noticed. He smiled and motioned toward the woman. “And what show-and-tel
l of our technology would be complete without an introduction to Alexa?”

  The woman cocked her head to the side and frowned. “You always make me sound like a circus attraction.”

  “Not at all.” Hedrick turned to Grady. “Alexa is one of our top bureau managers but also a biotech marvel. Her DNA includes proprietary genetic sequences developed decades ago by BTC scientists—sequences that give her longevity, intelligence, and perfect form. She is literally a product of BTC research. An experiment that led to great advances.”

  Alexa sighed. “Are you finished, Graham?”

  Hedrick nudged Grady. “How old do you think she is?”

  Alexa rolled her eyes. “Graham, if we could just continue debriefing Mr. Grady.”

  “How old, Jon? Guess.”

  Grady couldn’t help but look her up and down. “I . . . Twenty-three.”

  “Try forty-six. And that’s without gene therapy. It was her genomic sequence that led to the breakthrough in immortal DNA strand segregation and a cure for necrotic cascade back in the ’80s.” He looked admiringly at her. “What a magnificent creature.”

  “I’m not a ‘creature,’ Graham.”

  He laughed mildly. “Yes. Of course.”

  The older man cleared his throat and spoke with weary irritation. “We’ve got a busy schedule, Mr. Director.”

  “Yes, Mr. Morrison. You’re right. And as important as you are, Jon, we do need to get down to business.” Hedrick joined them at the table and offered a seat to Grady as the two BTC officials stood nearby. “We’d like you to join the BTC as a research scientist, Jon. You’ll have access to the best facilities on earth and nearly limitless funding. You’ll live more like a god than a mortal. And we can make your years long indeed.” Hedrick tapped at the glass surface of the table, and Grady’s gravity-reflection CAD plans appeared as ghostly 3D apparitions, rotating slowly in midair. “Gravity magnification—creating strong gravity fields derived purely from energy—that’s what we want your research to focus on. And you’ll have the most powerful biological and synthetic minds available to assist you.”

  Grady shook his head. “I’m not joining anything. I want to see my colleagues.”

  Hedrick grimaced. “Jon, we’ve been over this.”

  “I have no desire to live ‘like a god’ while everyone else suffers.” He pointed to Alexa. “You’re creating a race apart when you should be sharing this technology with the world. What gives you the right to keep this all for yourselves? You have fusion, and you haven’t shared limitless clean energy with a starving world?”

  Hedrick nodded slowly to himself, digesting this. But Alexa walked around the table, approaching Grady with a stern look on her lovely face. “A starving world?”

  It occurred to Grady that her beauty might be more of a weapon than he thought—disarming him. But he managed to scrape together his wits as she approached.

  “Do you know how many people died last year of starvation, Mr. Grady?”

  “Not precisely, but I’d guess a lot.”

  “The answer is just over one million. And do you know how many died of diseases associated with obesity?”

  He shook his head.

  She stopped just a couple of feet in front of him. “Well over three million.”

  She was actually quite intimidating. Taller than she seemed and projecting a confidence that seemed unassailable.

  “I’ve seen your type many times. You do realize that ‘limitless energy’ would cause the human population to increase by an order of magnitude.” She spoke over her shoulder at someone. “Varuna, bring up fusion scenario six.”

  A disembodied voice spoke: “Of course, Alexa.”

  Suddenly a crystal clear three-dimensional holographic projection of the Earth appeared above the conference table. It looked almost real—not translucent but solid. Cities of the world showed as glowing networks of light stretching down the coasts of most continents. The current year appeared in one corner. It was a startlingly realistic display.

  Alexa stared at Grady. “Execute simulation.”

  “Executing.”

  The year started incrementing in one-second intervals as the Earth changed. Alexa narrated, without even looking at the image of Earth just behind her. “From the first decade cheap fusion energy appears, population levels and city densities increase. Within twenty years trillions of additional Btu have been pumped into the atmosphere. Although fossil fuel use drops sharply, abundant energy means industrial processes increase. Industrialized society drastically expands, along with manufacture of complex molecules and inorganic wastes. Human population continues to spike, with eight billion people living a modern consumer lifestyle by the year 2050 . . .”

  The simulation showed cities growing into several massive hundred-mile-wide hubs. Blinding conglomerations of light.

  “With the added heat in the atmosphere, ocean levels rise. Deforestation occurs as climate fluctuates rapidly. Earth’s ecosystem becomes destabilized and most other species along with it—a vast food chain on which humanity depends for survival. Foundational species go extinct. Algal blooms cloud the oceans. Runaway greenhouse effect . . .”

  Grady studied the very realistic animation as the atmosphere turned opaque. A runaway greenhouse effect began to swallow humanity—all within a century.

  “The wealthy move to orbit. The rest of humanity perishes.”

  Grady took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, I’d like to see the data behind this model.”

  Alexa’s eyes bored into him. “It’s based on four hundred million petabytes of meteorological, sociological, and economic data. If I gave it to you, it would take you forty million years to read through it. So I hope you brought your eyeglasses.”

  “Ah. Maybe a summary then.”

  “Like I said: I’ve seen your type before, Mr. Grady. Scientists convinced their innovations are going to ‘save’ the human race. Did you ever stop to ask yourself what would happen if your antigravity technology were set loose upon the world? Do you realize the impact it would have on society?” Alexa again barked over her shoulder. “Varuna, load antigravity scenario three.”

  “Yes, Alexa.”

  The Earth reset, this time showing transportation routes of the world, along with the nations of the world as height maps for economic strength.

  “Execute simulation.”

  “Executing.”

  “Jon Grady, the great innovator. The man who would give his knowledge to all humanity. How generous of you to share your brilliance with us all.”

  Grady watched as complex transportation networks of ships, aircraft, and railroad networks disappeared in just a few years, dispersing into a vastly more complex network. Major transit hub cities fell into decline. National gross domestic product numbers lurched around, affected by the resulting economic chaos.

  Alexa yet again narrated, apparently having committed this simulation to memory, too. “Transportation, travel, shipping, security, manufacturing—hundreds of industries worldwide drastically reshaped, some erased, overnight. The economic impact would devastate the livelihoods of hundreds of millions—every airport in the world, every airline, harbor, and railroad network, and all the industries dependent upon them suddenly obsolete. Border security. Personal security. Economic chaos—”

  “Okay, I get it. But I think you’re painting a worst-case scenario.” He sighed wearily and looked to Hedrick. “I guess I hadn’t thought through the consequences of my work. But I still say you’re being pessimistic.”

  Alexa folded her arms. “These models have successfully predicted much more than this.”

  Grady considered this. “All right. Okay . . .”

  Hedrick smiled warmly. “Then you’ll join us?”

  Grady pondered it and finally nodded again. “Yes, I guess I am interested to see what other advances might speed my research along.??
?

  “Mr. Grady is lying.” The voice came from the ceiling somewhere. It was the same disembodied voice that Alexa had spoken to.

  Hedrick looked disappointed. “Thank you, Varuna.”

  Alexa looked unsurprised.

  Hedrick focused a less friendly gaze on Grady. “Jon, did you really think you could deceive us? There is no ‘lying’ to the BTC.”

  Grady looked at the walls and ceiling. “Is that really an AI talking?”

  “It’s our bureau interface, and never mind what it is—I’m concerned that Varuna says you’re being untruthful.”

  Grady spoke to the ceiling and Hedrick both. “I’m not lying. Look, I want to have a chance to continue my work.” He gestured to the projection of the Earth. “It’s obvious that I haven’t the analytical power to assess the effects of gravity modification on society.”

  “Mr. Grady, you are dissembling. Near-infrared readings of the activity in your occipital and frontal lobes demonstrate deceit-related latency.”

  Alexa, Hedrick, and Morrison stared at him.

  He shook his head. “This ‘Varuna’ thing is wrong.”

  Alexa scowled. “Bigotry isn’t appreciated here, Mr. Grady.”

  “In plain language, Mr. Grady: It takes humans longer to deceive than to tell the truth. When responding to external stimuli, humans require an average of eight hundred milliseconds to reach what’s termed ‘readiness potential’—meaning a decision. Approximately zero-point-zero-five seconds later a second surge of electrical activity implements that decision. Throughout your visit today, your brain required an average of six hundred six milliseconds to reach readiness potential. Your recent statements required almost twice that interval.”

  Hedrick pointed to the ceiling. “We are primitive things, Jon. Our biological systems are well understood.”

  Finally Grady took a deep breath. “All right. Okay. You win.” He looked to Alexa. “Spare me the sermon about how I’m egotistical. The BTC controls advanced technology. You’re putting yourselves in a position to technologically dominate humanity. That’s what this is about, and I don’t want any part of it. I’d rather burn my research than work for you.”