AMPED (10 page)

There were blank stares all around, except for Kira, who nodded appreciatively. “I have to admit to being a science fiction geek,” she said. “Asimov was a bit dated when I grew up, but he was still a favorite. And this might have been his most thought provoking piece of all.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said van Hutten, obviously delighted to have found a fellow fan. “But for the benefit of those who haven’t read it, let me tell you a simpler story that makes a similar point, although not quite as interesting and thought provoking as Asimov’s.”

Van Hutten gathered his thoughts for a few seconds and then began. “A guy dies and finds himself welcomed to the afterlife by a brilliant, all encompassing light; by an almighty being who tells him that he can now pursue his wildest dreams for all eternity. There are no rules. He can do whatever he wants. And he can travel anywhere in the universe in an instant. For the first ten thousand years or so the guy is having the time of his life. But after a
million
years
, he’s got the
been there, done that
syndrome. He’s bored out of his mind and weary of the burden of consciousness. So he finds the almighty being and asks that his existence be ended. But he’s told that this is the one thing that isn’t possible. So he goes off for another
billion
years
. Finally, he’s so fatigued, so bored, that he
begs
for his existence to be ended. And once again he’s told this isn’t possible. ‘Well if that’s the case,’ he says angrily, ‘then I’d rather be in hell.’ To which the almighty being, from deep within the all-encompassing light, replies, ‘
Where do you think you are
?’”

There was silence around the conference room for several seconds.

Kira finally nodded and said, “It’s a fascinating point. Seems like there is no perfect world. All I can say is that at least future immortals will be able to end their own existence if they choose to. And maybe boredom and weariness from the drudgery of existence is only a factor of our limited intellect and perspective. Or our endocrine system. It’s possible the enhanced mind won’t have any problem with eternity.”

“Maybe,” allowed van Hutten, but he still seemed unconvinced. “And sorry to be diverting the conversation,” he added. “I’ve just always been fascinated by the philosophical implications of immortality.”

Matt Griffin rolled his eyes. “you’re really gonna fit right in here, aren’t you?”

“I have to admit, I enjoy kicking around big ideas. And since this group has the chance to turn just about any big idea into reality someday, it’s even more intriguing.” He motioned to Kira. “But let me circle back to something you said earlier, if I may. You’ve really found a way to double the span of human life? Why haven’t I heard about this?”

Kira described her longevity treatment further, and then the subsequent analysis that convinced her its release would lead to disaster. “Since this time, we’ve been careful to examine any major breakthrough we come up with to see what impact it might have if unleashed. Unintended consequences. As you pointed out, even immortality has them.” She sighed. “But I have to say we’ve been rethinking this position.”

“Why? It seems like a reasonable one.”

“Centralized planning doesn’t work,” replied Desh. “History has demonstrated this over and over, although many refuse to accept the evidence. Besides, in any advance there are winners and losers. If we had invented the car in the nineteenth century, would we have released it? Or would we have concluded it would be too big a blow to the thriving horse industry? Too radical a change for society to digest?”

“Think
The End of Eternity
,” said Kira, raising her eyebrows. “By your favorite author.”

In
The
End of Eternity
, Asimov envisioned a huge bureaucracy existing outside of time, which could make changes to the time stream wherever it wanted. The group was genuinely devoted to ensuring the best outcome for the most people, and so would change history away from wars and other disasters. It would eliminate risky discoveries and innovations. It opted for the status quo, for not upsetting the apple cart. But this benevolent intent ended in disaster.

Progress and evolution, by their very nature, could be painful and cause upheaval. A sober, safe analysis would often steer civilization away from dramatic advances. Yet sometimes the birthing pains of a revolutionary advance were the price of survival and advancement of the species.

Van Hutten rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Interesting. Haven’t thought of this book in ages. But I understand what you’re saying.”

“We’re smart enough while enhanced to realize we’re not smart enough to be central planners,” explained Desh. “Still, we’re clinging to our paranoia just a little longer. And as far as doubling the span of human life, this is too far beyond the normal progression to be absorbed, even in a traumatic way. Doing this in one fell swoop will break civilization’s back.”

“That’s why you’re so important to our efforts,” said Kira. “You could be the key that allows us to disclose this discovery—and all others as well.”

Van Hutten tilted his head in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“The bottom line is this,” said Kira. “Inexpensive and efficient faster-than-light travel makes all of these problems go away. Right now, humanity has all of its eggs in one basket. As a species, we’re exceedingly vulnerable to catastrophe. If Earth gets hit by a meteor—we’re done. If we blow ourselves up—we’re done. But if we colonize the cosmos,” she said, her voice becoming passionate and her eyes more alive than ever, “even if the Earth is destroyed, humanity lives on. We can extend our lives as long as we can manage without fear of overpopulation. No invention would ever have to be withheld. Humanity’s place in the universe and continued growth would be assured.” She paused. “But it all hinges on our ability to rise from our planetary cradle and put our eggs in many other baskets.”

Van Hutten nodded vigorously, dazzled by the vision Kira had laid out in her typical, mesmerizing fashion. “It’s obvious once you point it out,” he said. “Truly a cause worth believing in. It goes without saying that I’m at your disposal.”

“You’re not making that offer just to Kira, personally, are you?” asked Griffin playfully.

Van Hutten chuckled. “I meant the entire group, of course,” he replied innocently. “I’m at the disposal of the Center for Research Excellence.”

“Actually,” said Griffin, “there is no such thing. We make up a different name for our fictitious think tank for every recruit.”

“The true name of our organization is Icarus,” said Kira.

“ Icarus?”

“Yeah,” said Desh with a grin. “We figured every good radical, covert organization should have a name. And Al-Qaeda was already taken.”

Van Hutten laughed.

“Jim Connelly and I wanted to go with something less symbolic, less comic-booky,” continued Desh. “But the geeks are in the majority here, so we were outvoted.”

“I see,” said van Hutten. “I have to admit, it is a geeky name. But once you think about it for a second, it’s a good one. Icarus. The Greek who flew too close to the sun. A cautionary tale of the dangers of hubris.”

Kira nodded. “We thought it was appropriate,” she said. “A reminder not to get carried away with ourselves. And given that hubris becomes overwhelming when we’re enhanced, not a bad thought to keep in the back of our minds.”

“So welcome to Icarus,” said Griffin. “It’s great to have someone of your caliber join our efforts.”

The other three members of the group nodded their agreement.

“Thanks,” replied van Hutten.

The physicist turned to David Desh with a more sober expression. “You said earlier things weren’t going so well. What did you mean by that?”

Desh paused for a moment as though deciding where to begin. “Recruitment has gone slower than we anticipated,” he replied. “Finding accomplished scientists who can pass our screens has proven more difficult than we had thought. We could lower our standards—after all, the four of
us
couldn’t have passed—but the danger of a single mistake is greater than you might imagine.”

“And cheap, efficient faster-than-light travel is proving far more intractable of a problem than we had guessed,” added Griffin.

“Yeah,” said Desh in amusement, “even
expensive
,
inefficient
FTL travel is proving impossible.”

“We naively thought that if we enhanced any good physicist a few times,” said Kira, “they’d come up with revolutionary solutions. But this hasn’t been the case. The few physicists who’ve joined us have made remarkable advances in many areas. But as far as FTL is concerned . . . not so much.” She frowned deeply. “And everything—everything—depends on us solving this problem.”

“What makes you so sure I can do it?”

“We’re not. But in this area, you’re in a league of your own. So we
are
hopeful.”

“Thanks for the compliment. But what if I strike out as well?”

Kira sighed. “There is one other possibility I’ve been working on,” she replied. A pained expression crossed her face and she looked as though she wasn’t eager to elaborate further.

Van Hutten waited patiently for her to continue.

“There is a higher level of enhancement,” she said finally. “Far higher.”

“
Far higher?
” repeated van Hutten dubiously. “I don’t believe it. Hard to imagine how what I just experienced could possibly be surpassed.”

“Not just surpassed. Blown away. The first level is impossible to imagine, also, unless you’ve been there. But the second level . . .” Kira’s eyes widened and she shook her head in awe. “I was there for five minutes. But my mind was moving so fast it felt like
five days
. I can’t recall most of the thoughts I had, but I do know this: this level was as far beyond what you just experienced as this level is beyond normal. And it came with the greatest bonus of all: it was so transcendent that the pull of sociopathy and megalomania was totally gone.”

“That’s fantastic,” said van Hutten.

Kira’s eyes fell and she turned away.

“Something went wrong, didn’t it?” said van Hutten softly.

Kira nodded and she wore a pained expression. “I barely survived it,” she replied. “The first minute or two afterwards I felt great, but my body crashed almost immediately after that. At this level your mind burns too brightly. You saw how starved you were for glucose after being enhanced. This was worse. It was complete depletion of, well . . . just about everything.”

“We rushed her to the hospital,” said Desh. “Just after we arrived she lapsed into a coma. It lasted for almost two weeks.” He looked deeply troubled, as though it were happening right then. “She pulled through at the end, but it could have easily gone the other way.”

There was more to the story, but it was something that only she and David Desh would ever know. While at this transcendent level of intelligence, when she had perfect knowledge of every cell in her body, she had discovered that she was newly pregnant, long before this would have shown up on any diagnostic test. But the drain on her body had been too much for this new life to continue. And afterwards, she and David had reluctantly come to realize they should wait to have children. It had been a painful decision, but she knew it was the right one. With all due modesty, she and David would likely play a pivotal role in human history. No matter how badly they wanted to be parents, their responsibilities were too great to allow themselves the luxury.

“What if someone was preloaded with nutrition and anything else that might get depleted?” asked van Hutten. “You know, hooked up to an IV for a few days before undergoing this second level of enhancement. Isn’t it possible that this would make it feasible?”

“We had the same thought,” said Griffin. “And given the importance of FTL propulsion, and the lack of real progress, a physicist on our team volunteered.” He paused. “We did our best to talk him out of it, just to make sure he was absolutely certain. But he insisted that having the chance to glimpse the mind of God, as he put it, was worth the risk.” He shook his head somberly. “He didn’t make it. Despite intravenous preloading. Despite the advanced medical equipment on site. When he returned to normal, his eyes went wide, he whispered, ‘the answer is obvious,’ and then he lapsed into a coma from which he never recovered.”

The incandescence left Kira’s eyes and her expression left no room for doubt that she blamed herself for what happened.

“I’m so sorry,” said van Hutten. “But it wasn’t your fault, Kira. He knew the risks. And after having been at the first level, it’s easy to see why he was willing to volunteer. His death couldn’t be more tragic, but during the last five minutes of his life . . .” He shook his head. “I can’t even imagine the insights into the nature of reality he must have had.”

“That’s at least some consolation,” agreed Kira, but she was clearly unconvinced. She visibly gathered herself and continued. “I’ve been working to understand what happened and perfect the therapy. I’ve also been trying to modulate it. If the first level is ten and the second is one hundred, maybe I can engineer a setting of fifty or sixty. Something transcendent, yet survivable. This is what I’ve been spending most of my time on.”

“Any progress?

“Some, but not enough. It’s a neuronal chain reaction. A crystallization process that has discrete endpoints. There doesn’t seem to be an intermediate setting.”

Desh glanced at his watch. “I hate to say it, but I’m afraid we need to start wrapping things up.” He gestured to the Stanford physicist. “We wouldn’t want you to be late for your flight.”

A delighted smile slowly spread across van Hutten’s pink, cherubic face. “At this point I’m so euphoric I could probably
float
home. This has been the most remarkable day of my life.”

“Well, there’s a lot more going on,” said Kira, “but we can bring you more fully up to speed next time. The good news is that we’ve managed to hit all of the highlights.”

Desh shot the physicist a troubled look. “Well, almost all,” he said.

Van Hutten raised his eyebrows.

“We can’t let you leave without making you aware that there are dangers associated with joining Icarus.”