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Stand Against Infinity

  (Space to Stand)

  Prequel to The Last Place to Stand

  Aaron K. Redshaw

  Stand Against Infinity

  Copyright © 2015 by Aaron K. Redshaw

  All rights reserved

 

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Dedication: For those not content to leave well enough alone

  Chapter 1

  The technological wonder before H662 had never grown old. The building, itself a monument to what the best minds could create, stood at 65 floors of shiny, black, synthetic concrete, and every one of them working for the highest goal of mankind: to improve himself through technology.

  “Good morning, H662,” said his foreman, his balding head shining with just a skiff of white hair on both sides. “How long have you been in?”

  “Going on three hours, sir.” H662 ran his fingers through his short, cropped, black hair. “I just barely beat A1103 this time.”

  “And the sun is not yet up. Excellent work, excellent. You will certainly go places with that kind of work ethic. Where is my son anyway?”

  “At his welding station,” H662 said. His foreman moved on to check on A1103. H662 focused again on putting the thermal converter into place and sealing up the compartment. Next, before running the final test, he turned to a screen and checked his embedded chip to see if the numbers were in line with the current standards. The chip sat just behind his right ear, and he accessed its information hundreds of times per day. Much of it just for his job.

  After scanning the screen, he flipped the switch and the testing began. He checked to make sure the pod did not shake unduly as it was put through a simulated speed test. After two minutes, he was done.

  “Thirty-five,” he said to himself. “Thirty-five today, and the sun is just clearing the horizon.”

  He heard the sound of the workroom door. From the narrow shoulders and his way of hunching over when he walked, he could tell it was G1193, the new guy. He came in the back door again, hoping the foreman would not see him. Didn’t he know there was a camera every few feet in here? How did he expect to keep his job if he kept this up?

  H662 wondered at such people in an age where technology was always making advances. Take these transport pods, for instance. They were a work of art, driving at a speed up to 120 miles per hour and they never made a mistake. They never had an accident either, something he had heard used to be a common occurrence in the past.

  Then there was the chip. It held an encyclopedic range of information, always accessible, and able to be modified by each person’s employer for job specific requirements. Why wouldn’t someone want to help improve such technology? By doing so he was improving mankind. His foreman often quoted the company work ethic: “Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution,” and H662 lived by that rule.

  Chapter 2

  He was finally going to do it. He had told himself a hundred times that he would, but now it was really happening. He was picking up his life and with it a new name: Chavez. He had heard the name mentioned in some historical chip index once and he liked the sound of it and so he picked it up, like picking up a fallen apple.

  There was only one problem. They would be looking for him. The moment he didn’t show up to work that morning, they would send out a team of guards to pick him up. He never learned what they did with no shows at his job, but he suspected it couldn’t be good. This society did not value a person until they produced something. It was not that Chavez did not want to work. He just didn’t want to work for them. It was as if they took you in and made you one more cog in the machinery. He didn’t want to be a cog anymore. He wanted to be alive. He wanted to make decisions on his own. To do a thing because he had decided to do it rather than because it had been decided for him.

  Thank goodness he had not received a wife yet. That would have been in only a few months since his 21st birthday was just around the corner, and he would not want to carry someone else into whatever trouble he might bring on himself. And there would be trouble. How could there not be? He was about to rebel against everything his world believed had worth. He would therefore be thought worthless.

  But Chavez had reasoned that if his worth was only in what he could do, then as a baby he was worthless, and as an old man he would die worthless, and he refused to believe that. There had to be some other standard by which men might be measured.

  Chavez put on his pack, and looked around his apartment, small, but neatly kept. He would miss it very little. Since all property was owned by the government he did not feel much attachment to it. Since everything in it was bought by the work he now disdained, he felt little attachment for that as well. In his pack were some bricks of processed carbohydrates, vitamins, and water. Just what he needed to get on the road.

  There was one problem with his plan, however. He didn’t know where he was going.

  Chapter 3

  T-5529 had been playing in her room all evening. After coming home from her job, her mother was working again. This meant that she had to be quiet and do her learning games. But those games were no fun. She liked make-believe games. Games with her imaginary friend T82. She knew that was not a proper name. Proper names had more numbers in them, but what could she do? She was only four.

  Her favorite game with T82 right now was “be somewhere else.” She did not like it in her room. Not when she had to stay there at night while her mom still worked. Didn’t her mom just pick her up after her work? She sure was a busy woman. Always making calls, always answering questions for other people, but not for her.

  She began with thinking up a place. She would be in a garden. But not like where food is grown now inside a building. This would be an outside garden, and it would get its water from rain. This garden was green, and had all kinds of growing things in it. And flowers. She had seen flowers once growing through some cracks in the pavement, and she liked the way they looked.

  She and T82 would play in the garden. Some of the green plants were so big that she could hide behind them, and so could her friend. They would play hide and find. She would hide and her friend would try to find her. First she crept up behind a large bush that held leaves and flowers. She would hide quietly behind it. A perfect place to hide. Here, no one could find her. Not even her mother.

  “T-5529?” She was startled by her mother’s voice. “What are you doing?” She opened the door and looked in.

  Should she tell her? “Playing hide and find,” she said truthfully.

  Her mom’s eyes narrowed, and a cross look formed on her fair face. “Is that a make-believe game? Because that sounds like a make-believe game.”

  “Y-yes.”

  “What have I told you about make-believe games?”

  “They don’t b-benef…“ she began.

  “They don’t benefit anyone,” said her mother, out of patience with her foolishness. “You should be either improving your math score on your wallscreen, or listening to the technology news feeds. Those will be usable skills when you get older.”

  “O-okay, mom,” she felt embarrassed now. But then something stood up in her and she said what she felt. “But those are not any fun.”

  Now her mom’s eyes narrowed even more and her face turned red right up to her blonde hair. “Fun? Fun? No one will ever get anywhere by having fun. Our world will not be made a better place because you had fun. Do you know that?”

  She really did feel bad now. She didn’t like feeling her mom’s stare when she was mad at her. “I will work on my math scores.”

  “Good,” said her mom. “That is someth
ing that will matter when you get older.”

  “Y-yes, mom.”

  Her mom left and T-5529 turned to the wallscreen and switched it on. All the while, her imaginary friend stayed hidden behind a clump of flowers.

  Chapter 4

  It had been the end of a long and successful day for H662. He loved his job, not for the work itself, but for the feeling that he was helping society move forward into a technological age of improvement. In fact, H662 had made several improvements to the pods he made every day. These included a better thermal conversion cycle for the drive system, new improved and remounted intake, and a faster speed overall. These, and the long hours of dedication put in by H662 made him one of the company’s best.

  His only competition was A1103, who always arrived at nearly the same time in the morning, and put in as many hours. The foreman’s son had brought his own innovation to the company, with his tireless work. Sometimes when his father was around him, H662 would sneak a look and saw great pride on his foreman’s face.

  That night H662 took one of the pods home from work, realizing he was tired. It was last year’s model and a bit cramped for his taste. When it reached his home, he stepped out of the pod, and it sped off to pick someone else up who had called for it. Here, before him, was his apartment.

  He took the elevator until he reached his floor and walked down the narrow hallway into his apartment. His wife, U1472, stood just inside the door.

  “Good evening,” she said.

  “Good evening,” he said. “How was work?”

  “Good, but I did have to talk to our daughter about playing make-believe again. Could you talk to her?”

  “I will do my best. Have you ordered dinner yet?”

  “I was just about to,” she moved toward the console on the wall next to the table. “Would beef flavored carbo packs be good for you tonight? I will get the associated vitamins sent up as well.”

  “Sure, sure. Sounds good.” He headed off to see about his daughter.

  Chapter 5

  U2258 was an important man in an important job. For years now, chips had been implanted behind the right ear of citizens once they reached adolescence. Within the city, the number of people who had the chip interface was nearly 100%. And U2258 made sure the chip and the brain could communicate with each other. This took a good deal of knowledge of neurology, signal processing, and biofeedback engineering, so it would be accurate to say that U2258 was smart. However, he did not act like it. In fact, his slow methodical speech often gave strangers the impression that he was slow on the uptake.

  “U2258?” said his boss, a dark haired man with a severe face. “I’d like you in on this new project.”

  A pause as U2258 chose his words. “A new project? Something besides active brain interfaces?”

  “No, no. The same good work you’ve always done. The technology is just different.”

  “Hmm,” said U2258. “When do I get to hear more?”

  “We’ll have a meeting later this afternoon. I know you’re always on time, but be sure you are this time.”

  “Yes,” said U2258.

  ***

  Later that afternoon, U2258 opened the door to the conference room. Three others were in the room, including his boss, so U2258 took a seat across from them.

  “Is this the man?” asked a woman shaped like a concrete block.

  “He is,” said his boss.

  “It is nice to finally meet you, U2258,” she said. “We have heard about all the good work you are doing here.”

  “Thank you,” he said. She did not offer her name, making U2258 just a little suspicious.

  His boss began, “I have had you brought in on this project because of all the work you have done on brain interface technology in the past. You are the best we have.”

  “Thank you,” said U2258, still confused about his role, but interested to see this new project.

  Another man, with a short, well-trimmed beard and a high voice jumped in. “We have designed a new chip with new capabilities that we believe will change the world.”

  U2258 paused, assimilating all this. “In what way?”

  “In every way,” said the man.

  Another pause, “I mean, what will it do?”

  His boss took this up, “It will allow for airwave communication. We call them feeds. A person wearing this chip will have the ability to receive live communication from other sources.”

  Pause. “How will that affect the wearer?” asked U2258.

  “Not sure yet,” said the woman. “It has not yet been tested. But that’s why we want you to set up the interface. It will be the same work you have been doing, but more advanced.”

  “Very well,” said U2258 in his slow way. “When shall we start?”

  “Today,” said his boss. “At 4pm.”

  ***

  Feeds. U2258 thought about that idea. Mulled it over in his brain. Wondered what it would do to someone to be receiving multiple inputs of information simultaneously. What would that do to society? U2258 wondered, but he did not have any conclusions.

  “We’re all ready,” came the voice of a husky man wearing the company logo on his chest and a frown. “He is prepped and ready to go. The new chip has been inserted, and it is time for you to do your magic.”

  After a pause, U2258 said, “Yes. I am coming.” He walked through the door following the man and saw the patient, a pale faced man, reclining in a chair with wires attaching to the side of his head, where the chip sat. He stared at the opposing wall, with his boss near the door, and a small man with a stern face and shiny eyes sat opposite the patient. The patient actually had a smile on his face. He seemed excited to be there. U2258 did not need anyone to tell him what to do. He knew his job, knew it well. He sat in the nearest seat and tapped into a desk console.

  “The generic interface is already set up,” said U2258. “Let me just adjust things so the patient’s particular biometrics are taken into account. This should not take long.” The stern faced man nodded and U2258 typed in some commands and looked carefully at a set of statistics and graphs that few at the company would understand. Within a few minutes, he went to the man’s interface program, and made some adjustments. He double checked his work, and finally sent the signal.

  The patient’s head jerked once, and he said, “Wow. That’s a lot of information. I think it’s weather data. A little hard to get the particulars though.”

  U2258 looked back over the patient’s current biometrics with the addition of the feed, and made a few more adjustments, hoping to sharpen signal-brain communications. He sent the new program update and suddenly the man smiled. “That’s much better. There is a whole world of information out there. Weather, news, and is this a source for learning?”

  “Yes,” said the shiny eyed man. “It is our newest venture. We thought it would be helpful for those wanting more training for their job or to get better employment.”

  “Amazing,” said the patient. “Wonderful.”

  U2258 searched through the input and parsed out the signals. He saw four of them represented on the screen. But this man had so far only mentioned three. The man with the shiny eyes and stern expression stood up and looked over U2258’s shoulder. “Very well,” he said. “You have done your job admirably. You may go to your office until we have more need of you. I am sure you have a lot of work to do.”

  A pause. “Yes sir,” U2258 said in his slow way.

  ***

  Later that day his boss came by his office. “That was very good work you did back there,” he said. “We didn’t want to risk using someone else. You tend to be much more accurate and quick to find what needs to be done.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Pause. “I saw something in those feeds. I noticed that three were noted by the patient. However, according to the screen, four feeds were streaming.”

  “Yes, I noticed that too,” said his boss. “It seems he is still a bit slow at taking up that last feed.”

  Pause. “Sir, i
f there are more adjustments needed, I will certainly go back in there and make them.”

  “I don’t see why not,” said his boss. “Let me just call over there and see when we can get you in.” He picked up a transmitter and put it to his ear. “I hear soon with the feeds, we won’t even need to carry one of these anymore. It’ll all be in the chip.” He waited for a moment. “Sir,” he said, “U2258 noticed there was one feed not received correctly by the patient and he wondered when he might go in to make adjustments for it.” Silence. “Really? Well, if you are certain. Yes, sir. I’ll tell him. Thank you.”

  He hung up the phone and his brow wrinkled as if trying to puzzle something out. “U2258? It seems they don’t want you back in. They said all went as it should and the patient is receiving all the proper feeds.”

  Pause. “He was not when I was in there,” said U2258, “and it seems unlikely that it could have changed by itself.”

  “All I know is what I was told. He said to thank you for your good work, but that was all they would need of you for now.”

  Chapter 6

  That night, H662 thought about his job. He lay next to his sleeping wife and he wondered. What about that new employee? He didn’t like having people fired, but this new guy seemed to deserve it more than most. How could he come late to work? It was his moral and social responsibility to better society with his hard work.

  U1472, lay still. He could hear her breathing, slow and steady. She was a good woman. He wished he could have had more time with her, but the work of society demanded his all. They had married according to obligation, but after the fact, H662 actually felt he liked her. He liked the way she laughed, and at times she could even be warm. If things were different he could probably be a better husband and father and he would feel more warmth from her. If only things were different.

  His mind wandered to work again. His foreman had been under a lot of stress lately. He wondered why. Was his health okay? Should he take a vacation day? He knew such things were frowned upon, but sometimes a person needed to do it in order to keep functioning.

  He had known his foreman for many years and had always been treated well by him, as long as he produced the correct quota per week. That was what made society work. That each person carried their load to make things that much better for everyone else. And that meant improving technology.