Sparks of Chaos (2 page)

Chase never considered himself a particularly spiritual or religious man, so the thought that this could be heaven or the afterlife was hard to believe. Did heaven have bottles of shampoo? There were several possible explanations that came to mind and none of them were particularly plausible. If he had a pen and paper he would have written a list but he hadn’t yet done a thorough search of the room to see what it all contained. So he made his own mental list of what he thought could possibly be happening.

He was dead and this was the afterlife, heaven, hell or even some form of limbo.

This was a dream and he was still lying near death on the island beach.

He had been captured by aliens and was on a spaceship waiting to be probed.

This was the future and some distant civilization had found his bones on the beach and used some advanced science to rebuild his body from his DNA.

All of those potential scenarios seemed crazy to him. He certainly didn’t feel dead; in fact he couldn’t remember ever feeling so alive. He had never had a dream like this and it was far too detailed to not be actually happening to him. This didn’t feel like any spaceship and why would they fix his body like this. He supposed it could be the future. The room definitely seemed to have some features like the lighting that didn’t quite seem possible today, but why were all his memories intact?

No matter how crazy these ideas were, he couldn’t deny that something incredibly weird and unexplainable had happened to him and he truly had no clue as to what it was. He decided to do a more thorough search of the room to find some solution to this puzzle or a way out.

Walking around the room he realized that there was no apparent way out of here.  No doors and no windows, he was a prisoner in this room. “Hey, whoever you are let me out of here!” he screamed. Not surprisingly, there was no answer. How long would they keep him here?

Chase began looking through the items to see if he could find any label or something that could give him some idea of where ‘here’ was. The pillows, his shorts, nothing had any identifiable marks on them and he noticed there were no clothes or food anywhere to be found either. He wasn’t overly concerned because he figured whoever or whatever brought him here wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble just to let him starve.

Chapter 4

Standing in his lab workshop Rex said, “It’s either too hot or too cold in here; even buying the best doesn’t guarantee it will work.”  He said this out loud even though he was by himself. He’d found himself doing that more and more lately but remembering his father often saying that it wasn’t crazy to talk to yourself unless you started answering. He liked everything perfect. It was hard to say if he was a perfectionist or just obsessive about everything he interacted with.

Why was it always the little things that bedeviled him so much? The big picture, planning and completing some of the most complex projects in mankind, that was no problem but small details often managed to elude him. Right now it was the heat from a faulty thermostat that was causing him some discomfort.

He had been alone for a very long time now but that was about to change soon enough.  When you are by yourself you can do things your way and he certainly had all the time in the world to get it right. He had done the work of a lifetime; really it was more like two lifetimes. Now that he was finally ending this phase of his work he felt some compunction to rush to finish it and be done.

Being the meticulous sort of man that he was, he would never do that no matter the appeal of finishing faster.  He fully admitted it to himself that he was a stickler for control, rules and order. Years of scientific training and laboratory experimentation reinforced the necessity to follow a design, until now it was a compulsion. Being alone for what seemed like forever probably didn’t help things either and in fact probably amplified those traits in him.

Moving toward creation of his perfectly structured society would not only be the culmination of all his work and the incredible sacrifices that he’d made but be a complete vindication of those decisions and sacrifices that he had made that led to all of this. This entire second phase of his life was drawing to a conclusion and very soon he could finally begin implementing the next step in his grand scheme. It would certainly be nice to have someone else to talk with, he longed for some stimulating scientific discussions from other brilliant minds. Sure the BLI’s that he had built had given him someone to talk with and their skills had improved greatly with every upgrade he had given them. He was hungry though for a more challenging human interaction. Speaking of hunger, it was time to take a break and have some dinner.

“Italian Dinner” he said into the thin clear band on his wrist. Since he wanted to continue working after his dinner, he decided to eat on the balcony of the research laboratory instead of his main residence. Waiting only a few minutes he walked over to the wall and said “open”. The wall silently slid open and he stepped out onto a large spacious balcony that was built high up the side of a large mountain. He sat down at his table that overlooked what by any standards was a breathtaking view but after fifty years he no longer paid it much attention.

The table was already set and prepared for his meal. The finest quality crisp white tablecloth and exquisite gold trimmed china plates and cutlery. On his plate a fresh Caesar salad and a glass of ice cold red wine. Yes, he knew the wine experts often said to drink red wine at room temperature but he didn’t care, he liked it ice cold, so that’s the way it was always served to him.

Standing next to the table was the patiently waiting Tasker. The Tasker was six feet tall with a humanoid shape and seamless metallic blue skin.  He had developed and built the Taskers with no facial features and no independent intelligence. They were strong, virtually indestructible and all identical. Essentially they were created to do anything and everything you could think of. Years before he had come up with the idea to build a vast amount of Taskers that were interchangeable and thus capable of doing any chore from building to serving dinner.

Not having to personalize and independently program each Tasker made them very economical to build and maintain. Using a single centralized controlling master computer the Tasker workforce could wirelessly be instructed to complete a myriad of well, ‘tasks’. Using what he called Distributed Intelligence to control them was extremely flexible and efficient. They had no individuality or personality and other than responding to his verbal commands they required no conversation.

Taking a bite of his salad, he sighed and said contentedly “Ah, delicious as always”. Yes everything was going perfectly for Rex King as he sat to enjoy his dinner before going back to work.

Chapter 5

Rex stood at his work table desk to review the progress of the overall project.  The table had a microscopically thin coating embedded in its surface that allowed it to act as both a physical desk and a functioning computer. The intelligence was stored centrally and the desk projected an incredibly high definition three dimensional display of data and video. Controlled by his fingers and voice commands, he brought up the status of the physical terraforming of the interior of the island. He was extremely pleased to see that all ten sectors were within or ahead of their scheduled completion timeframes.

Within a week all of the major work will have ended. While some small details would continue to be added over the years it would soon be ready to live in. He had all the time in the world to complete the finishing touches. He had already constructed enough housing and buildings to be ready for the first inhabitants that he planned to introduce. He wanted the buildings to be spectacular and rather than rush their construction, he would rather take his time and construct them as needed.

Using his hands he expertly manipulated the data and made some final changes and updates to the project. These directions were instantly absorbed by the central computing unit which began simultaneously programming the Taskers with their revised individual instructions. When the wristband on his arm flashed and buzzed, he tapped it and waited for Armstrong to begin speaking.

“Sir, we need to review the final list of the initial settlers and the schedule as you asked.” Armstrong stated.

“I will be ready for you in the next ten minutes, come up here then,” he answered.

In exactly ten minutes a bong sounded and a doorway appeared in the wall. Out walked a man who appeared to be in his fifties, rather average looking, with slightly receding dark hair beginning to gray and looking a bit like the actor Tom Hanks. Regardless of his looks, technically he wasn’t a man at all but a manufactured being. He wasn’t in his fifties either as he had been created only five years before. Rex referred to his creation as a BLI, which stood for Biological Lifeform Intelligence.

The BLI, which he pronounced as ‘bl-eye’, had been incredibly complex and difficult to create. He built upon his earlier work with the Taskers in designing them. Their human appearance and individual intelligence were tremendously more difficult to perfect. It had taken much trial and error before he worked out all of the problems. Armstrong had been the first successful BLI he produced five years ago and even that had required a number of tweaks and upgrades until he got everything right.

As the first of his kind he had named him Armstrong after the first man to walk on the moon. The BLI were crucial to his overall plan and Armstrong had turned out to be a greater success than he had ever hoped. Up till now he had only been able to create two of them but he had plans to ramp up their production to be ready when he began populating the island. His plan was to pair a BLI with each person he brought to the island. Each BLI would have a unique appearance and personality and would play many roles in his new society.

He had chosen to pattern the BLI somewhat on the idea of a classic English butler, though that wasn’t really a close approximation of their role as it was much more substantial and complex than that. When he was younger there was a TV show that he always enjoyed called Family Affair that featured a lovable butler character called Mr. French.  He’d always liked the idea of someone who could help keep your life organized and moving smoothly.

They were primarily administrators who took care of the personal details of their human’s life as well as acting as a wise mentor, giving sage advice and counsel when needed. He had deliberately given them an older aspect to enhance their appearance of wisdom and experience. It also made them easily be identifiable as a BLI as opposed to the youthful look of the humans they would be paired with. The BLI would also have additional administrative duties in operating all the complex systems found on the island.

He was adamant that he would never allow them to be used as servants or slaves but more of a partnership. He had decided that he would instill to everyone that they be treated with respect. As their creator he felt quite protective of them. Unlike the Taskers, which were nothing more than unthinking machines, he viewed the BLIs as equals to humans and as he had never had offspring of his own, he saw them as his children.

They were a hybrid organism, a mixture of mechanical and organic parts that were grown and created rather than born. Their outward appearance showed nothing that would distinguish them from an ordinary human but they were deceptively strong and physically powerful. He appreciated having Armstrong around, both for helping to lighten the incredible workload he had been under, as well as for his companionship.  Being alone for the first forty five of the sixty years of his island project had come close to driving him insane.

With the addition of Tedford the second BLI, the work had begun to move even faster. Rex was very much looking forward to having more hands to continue the mission and needed them quickly.  He had hoped to partner Tedford with Professor Hauptman whom he had identified as his first candidate to live on the island.

“Sir,” announced Armstrong “I have prepared the final list for the first one hundred candidates as you requested.”

“Thank you; have there been any major changes to our previous list?” Rex replied.

“No, but I would like to do a quick review with you anyways,” after Rex nodded he continued. “Show candidate list,” he said and with a few hand gestures went through a visual presentation of the candidate’s appearance, name and statistics. With the review completed Armstrong said, “I know that you don’t agree but I felt it important to reiterate my concerns with Dr. Hauptmann as the first candidate. His advanced age and health concerns make him a risk as our first conversion.”

“Yes his age is a concern but it is all the more reason for us to move quickly before his health deteriorates even more. His particular expertise is important to us in the beginning. Your concerns are noted but for now he remains as our first,” Rex answered.

“Of course, as you wish sir. I will continue with the preparations. I will return now and keep you apprised of the progress,” Armstrong said as he turned and left the room.

Chapter 6

Lost in his research, Rex worked almost robotically as he went through the various stages of his experiment. Since there were no distractions he could work with a laser like focus on the task at hand. Suddenly his wristband and a thin line around the entire top portion of the wall flashed an urgent red and a warning noise sounded. He was so startled that he almost slipped and fell to the floor. Gathering his composure, he tapped the wristband shutting off the alarm and said “What’s happening?”

“Sir, there is a potential emergency. It is not critical at this time but we may need to make decisions quickly to avoid any danger,” Armstrong’s voice answered loud and clear.

“Come to the lab immediately and brief me,” Rex ordered.

Entering the lab a few moments later, Armstrong immediately went to the main display desk and was joined by Rex. “Situation Report,” he said as he gestured and an incredibly lifelike three dimensional display of the outside of the island and the surrounding Ocean appeared. Walking over to the southwest corner of the island he gestured at the display and enlarged the area a few miles from the shoreline. Pointing to a little dot, he enlarged it further until he could see in detail a small rubber boat with a body inside.