Welcome to The Baby wants It’s Bottle Podcast, a creative project by Martin Anton Smith a NZ based creative. In this episode I have what you could call a “Spoken Word Piece” (whatever exactly Spoken Word is.). Its really a mini story, sci fi leaning about one of my favorite subjects – Dystopia. I wrote this on the fly, as Dystopian topics are great at at least half writing themselves, of course they are easy to start, but are hard to finish – because to “finish” in the sci fi or dystopia genre means a short story or a novella or a novel or a movie script – all tough longer term projects. I wrote the core idea of this before the pandemic hit – the proof is in the image on my Instagram account with the date stamp of Dec 1 2019 (which is on the Blog page). In the midst of the pandemic this now looks like I was hinting to a “Vaccine Passport” – that terrible thing that has actually already happened in parts of the world. I hope to Write a part two to this unfinished possible serial sci fi story.
His name was Marcell Atkins Sotheby – and he worked for Dreamscape Reality Card Systems, as a quantum hologram cryptograph technician. He had been scheduled for his annual leave by Aurora, the autonomous AI system that now ruled the Earth, like a rising phoenix, that rose from the ashes of the non AI world. He, being a staff member of the higher ‘Zilo’ class designation, was lucky to be assigned the ability to have a “Physical Holiday, and so he was walking around the now mostly derelict Artists quarters of St Kilda, Melbourne. It was a time capsule only open to those carrying the Card with the right credentials – a Dystopian Perk, you could say. . And so He walked down Acland St into an Edwardian Mansion – called “Lydon Art Gallery”. He walked in he could see the remains of a art showing, it was a competition, open to everyone it seemed, and the walls hanged a myriad of small paintings,. They were all no bigger than his outstretched hand and were littering the walls, the good the bad, the ugly – it was all here. It was the type 21st Century Art Dreamscape had programmed in the office, a rehash of the best 20th Century art. He came across a painting marked “Grand Prize Winner” it was a black hole with the Earth slowly being sucked into it, but the earth was pixelated, the title was “There’s no Future in the Past”, which made the beginning a tear form, which he was able to stifle. No one could know he had some Tribality in his DNA, this would mean certain erasure by Aurora.
His heart did pound a little, but the hacked version of The Card, would mask the biodata back to Aurora. The Hack was all his own handiwork during the messy crossover period of 2051, where somehow he stumbled on an “Open Door’ in the software. It was a mix of pure luck and genius that allowed him to do it, The hologram ID image of his body was supposed to interface his limbic system via the implant, however his extreme rare condition meant the connection to the implant was less alkaline that the early Aurora system parameters, thus he was able to patch the software on the Card to send a second false signal to Aurora system – his hack would allow him to see “normal” that is seem incapable of emotion. At the time of the confusion of 2051, he as a tech, had simply explained away his extra 17 minutes of work as “need to know” basis. With this hack, he was also able to retain knowledge of his full DNA, something only AURORA and the StarPeople and 4 Human Viceroys, one for each Earth Quadrant, had exclusive access to.
After the Hack, he thought to himself what have I done? – The DNA information was deep in his subconsciousness from his ancestors DNA and the extraction of this information, from the ‘memory machine’ was no longer available for his type of worker class. From the 22nd Century, 50 odd years onwards, he could barely remember why he had the hacked card at all. The viewing of the artwork “There’s No future in the Past”, had brought it all forward suddenly, with crystalline clarity. He remembered the Propaganda Slogan: “”The ‘Starman Reconfiguration’ of 2051, where man’s obsession with ‘tribality’ will be finally removed, or some would say cured, for emotion has been the curse of humanity since antiquity, and with your co-operation in the “Starman reconfig.”, War and conflict will no longer plague humanity”…But he could see from the cards help in not masking his emotions, that a fresh idea was a very dangerous thing to hold in the 21st Century, and he could again so many years later, attest to those times.
Those with ideas were to be seen as outcasts, and instructed to be made unwelcome socially and professionally. This period just before “reconfiguration” entailed a strange train of consequences, such that society began to cannibalize itself. The Banal were at that time, things to be celebrated as ‘Gods’. The clever were to be feared and mistrusted. The Dark ages of the 21st Century was unexpected by those blinded in the ‘fog of war’. the first half of the 21st century was, in reality was the ‘First World Mind War’. However, 2051 wasn’t perfect, The ‘Experiment from the Stars’, was seen as a failure, as tribal spirits did not fully disappear as quickly intended. Those from the Stars would need to return and re-engineer the next phase of humanity’s history. By The 22nd Century there would be no tribalism, and only cold logic for a “secure future of the planet” would remain. He had been hiding this hacked card from the Star People, for if they knew he had residual DNA knowledge, thus full access to his emotions, he would be deactivated and his existence erased, and his friends and family’s memories of him reconfigured as a ‘dream state’ and so as he would not be confused with reality, and so no questions would be raised as to his absence. The perfect crime.
He could not let them see his self-hacked Brain Chip – it was the key to the knowledge of the 21st Century, and what had happened. For history had been selectively erased, in piecemeal over 50 years of software updates to the brain implant interface Terminal (Its acronym was “BiiT” ) every human now had. He was the only one who knew of the Star People and the “Starman reconfiguration of 2051”. everyone of course now remembered a history that was continuous, with nothing dramatic happening, the updates had by now implanted a memory of slow scientific change, with no revolutions, political or otherwise. Yes, he was in some ways happy with society overall, it was predictable and safer than pre-2051, and technical and theoretical discoveries were coming from anywhere no that AI Aurora was doing the thinking for Humans. But still, he felt a sense of injustice, that he was the only one who knew the history of the past…and that humanity had been robbed of its self-awareness.
But the question he kept asking himself, behind the safety of his hacked limbic system implant, was this – “Do I Matthew Atkins Sotheby, have the guts, to engineer a solution, to stop the Starman reconfiguration in its tracks? How Could this be done? How will I gain the Courage? How can I safely recruit the rebellion? How will I gain access to the Aurora AI system? The “Aurora” AI system was quantumly woven into the fabric of space – so it was indestructible – in theory, for how can a mere human interface with the fabric of space-time? If anyone was going to do, it was himself, and he would need to win over the 4 viceroys, who also had access to DNA history, and so knew the past. With himself and the 4 Viceroys, he could, he believes, build a genuine resistance. But Aurora of course was not just a thinker, Aurora was coupled with highly dexterous robotic armies, or military and non-military officials, so as to engage its commands with the physical humans of Earth. Aurora’s Propaganda system was what the StarPeople had used to expertly indoctrinate humans – for who could ever argue with a politician, Police or Tax man – if they were autonomous uploads from Aurora, directly from your Brain Chip – Your “BiiT”? When brute force was needed to move a body, AI controlled robots, who held the best possible scientific and surveillance information, were incapable of sub optimum solutions, and could arrest, detain, and erase far better than any 20th Century Dictator ever could. Marcel had his work cut for him, but he had the spark of an idea, the system was not technically fully invulnerable, after all, Marcell was still very much alive, despite having from Aurora’s point of view a “faulty brain chip”.
End of Part 1 , Tune in Next Time for Part 2….Part 2 Screens sometime in the near future….
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