The Song of the Jubilee (The Phantom of the Earth Book 1) (25 page)

BIRTH YEAR:
358 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
N/A

DEVELOPER:
Murray Olyorna
BIRTHPLACE:
Gaia City, Gaia, Underground West
ETERNAL PARTNER:
N/A
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
Seventh Ward, Gaia City, Gaia, Underground West
OFFSPRING:
N/A

ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
No
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
BP spy
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
Five

SEX:
Female

HEIGHT:
183 centimeters (6’ 0”)
WEIGHT:
90 kilograms (198 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Reddish-violet
EYE COLOR:
Blackish-orange
BIRTH YEAR:
262 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
269 AR

DEVELOPER:
House Rige
BIRTHPLACE:
Peanowera City, Peanowera, Underground East
ETERNAL PARTNER:
Euros Jzhakovia
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
Peanowera Citadel, Peanowera City, Peanowera, Underground East
OFFSPRING:
N/A

ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
Yes
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Former Tucana Consortium chief engineering officer; minister of Peanowera Territory, Underground East; Supreme Scientific Board member
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
One

SEX:
Male

HEIGHT:
193.5 centimeters (6’ 4”)
WEIGHT:
95.5 kilograms (211 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Brownish-blue
EYE COLOR:
Brownish-gold
BIRTH YEAR:
286 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
292 AR

DEVELOPER:
House Callovi
BIRTHPLACE:
Gaia City, Gaia, Underground West
ETERNAL PARTNER:
Brooklyn Harper
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
First Ward, Silkscape City, Lovereal, Underground West
OFFSPRING:
Kapono Voss (deceased), Fala Voss (deceased), Crwys Voss
ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
No
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Former Famennian Consortium engineer; BP spy
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
Five

SEX:
Female

HEIGHT:
178 centimeters (5’ 10”)
WEIGHT:
65 kilograms (143 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Reddish-blue

EYE COLOR:
Violet, hazel

BIRTH YEAR:
250 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
255 AR

DEVELOPER:
House Consueornos
BIRTHPLACE:
Cineris City, Cineris, Underground Central
ETERNAL PARTNER:
Orsino Algol
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
Second Ward, City in the Vale, Cineris, Underground Central
OFFSPRING:
Tahlia Algol, Dryden Algol
ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
Yes

NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Albian Consortium Granville sky engineer
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
One

SEX:
Female

HEIGHT:
182 centimeters (6’ 0”)
WEIGHT:
65 kilograms (143 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Light violet
EYE COLOR:
Violet, red
BIRTH YEAR:
277 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
281 AR

DEVELOPER:
House Aelena
BIRTHPLACE:
Alpinia City, Marshlands, Underground East
ETERNAL PARTNER:
N/A

LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
Candor Chasma Central Command, Valles Marineris Canyon, Mars
OFFSPRING:
N/A

ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
Yes
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
Collected air samples from Jupiter
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Strike team aera
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
One

SEX:
Male

HEIGHT:
199 centimeters (6’ 6”)
WEIGHT:
97 kilograms (214 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Red, green

EYE COLOR:
Brownish-silver
BIRTH YEAR:
322 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
323 AR (Second Half)
DEVELOPER:
House Beteldia
BIRTHPLACE:
Farino City, Farino, Underground North
ETERNAL PARTNER:
N/A

LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
Santonian Cavern, Santonian Village, Xerean, Underground North
OFFSPRING:
N/A

ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
Yes
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Executive of Santonian Village, Xerean Territory, Underground North
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
One

SEX:
Male

HEIGHT:
198 centimeters (6’ 6”)
WEIGHT:
96 kilograms (212 lbs.)
HAIR COLOR:
Black, silver
EYE COLOR:
Snowflake obsidian
BIRTH YEAR:
315 AR

AUCTION YEAR:
317 AR (Second Half)
DEVELOPER:
House Adao

BIRTHPLACE:
Palaestra City, Palaestra, Underground Northeast
ETERNAL PARTNER:
Previous: Haleya Decca (deceased); Present: N/A
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE:
First Ward, Palaestra City, Palaestra, Underground Northeast
OFFSPRING:
N/A

ATHANASIA-QUALIFIED:
No
NOTABLE PROPER CONVERSION:
Constructed
E. sustenance
, a synism that produced a wonder protein containing the exact ratio of essential amino acids needed in the daily transhuman diet
NOTABLE SIGNIFICANT CONVERSION:
N/A
NOTABLE OCCUPATION(S):
Former RDD scientist
THREAT LEVEL (ONE TO FIVE):
N/A

Precept 1: Serve Beimeni. Live forever.

Precept 2: Suffering is questioning. Questioning is destructive. Destruction is never inevitable.

Precept 3: Jealousy is treachery. Treachery is culpable. Culpability is never questioned.

Precept 4: Abuse or misuse of official insignia of the commonwealth is forbidden.

Precept 5: Citizen heirs of the chancellor are a blessing. They are also property of the Office of the Chancellor. All pregnancies must be reported to the nearest medical facility and all citizens must be registered with the government at the time of birth, prior to development.

Precept 6: Excursions to the surface of the Earth are forbidden unless sanctioned by the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 7: Citizens should be honored to serve their chancellor, including in the Lower Level.

Precept 8: The Harpoon Auction shall serve as the primary arbiter of commonwealth function.

Precept 9: Exile to the Lower Level is not immutable, unless as determined by the Harpoon Auction or the Office of the Judiciary.

Precept 10: No Beimenian in the upper territories shall be permitted to the Lower Level, unless as determined by the Harpoon Auction or the Offices of the Judiciary or the Chancellor.

Precept 11: The Judiciary shall act in stewardship of the chancellor and in the best interest of the citizenry.

Precept 12: The chancellor shall be the ultimate arbiter in matters that involve the Office of the Judiciary.

Precept 13: To speak against the chancellor is to speak against the Twin Gods of the Cosmos.

Precept 14: Unauthorized exposure to forsaken and foreign lands is forbidden.

Precept 15: A commonwealth mission is honorable. Beimenians who fail to uphold such missions are dishonorable.

Precept 16: Unlimited expansion throughout Earth is the right of all Beimenians. Construction privileges shall be granted via the Department of Communications and Commonwealth Relations.

Precept 17: Ownership of weapons, including but not limited to pulse rifles, pulse guns, and pulse grenades, is forbidden.

Precept 18: Beimenians shall live in harmony, serve, and live together. Everyone belongs to each other.

Precept 19: Fountain Square access shall be granted for service and conversion or as designated by the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 20: Private ownership of apartment units is encouraged. Private ownership of goods and services is especially encouraged.

Precept 21: Abundant celebrations are encouraged by the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 22: All images, thoughts, messages, and other neural impulses held within the cerebral network are the property of the Department of Communications and Commonwealth Relations.

Precept 23: The Beimeni monetary unit, the benari, henceforth is defined as coins manufactured by the official mint, comprised of a proprietary blend of silver, gold, and platinum.

Precept 24: The Departments of Peace and Communications shall ensure tranquility and harmony within the borders of Beimeni under the authority of the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 25: The Department of Space shall ensure technological advancement for departure from the commonwealth and safe passage to foreign or hostile lands, including, but not limited to, the Earth’s surface.

Precept 26: The Research & Development Department is tasked with providing all the resources Beimenians require for survival.

Precept 27: The people of Beimeni have the right to freely elect territorial representatives to serve as ministers within the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 28: The people of Beimeni have the right to bring any and all complaints to the Office of the Judiciary.

Precept 29: Criminal acts with a possible sentencing to the Lower Level shall be arbitrated by the Department of Peace and the Office of the Judiciary at the discretion of the Office of the Chancellor.

Precept 30: A chancellor’s rule is infinite as determined by the Twin Gods of the Cosmos and the Beimenian people. In the event of death or incapacitation, and until an election can be arranged, the prime minister of Beimeni shall assume leadership. Beneath the prime minister, the rule of the free peoples of Beimeni shall fall to the supreme scientist tasked with Reassortment.

The following is the transcript of Supreme Scientist Jeremiah Selendia’s guest lecture to a Harpoon class in 233 AR. Though its central topic was underground terraforming and engineering, the lecture also covered subjects such as the Reassortment Atmospheric Anomaly, the Death Wave, the Reassortment Strain, Livelle city-state, the Beimeni zone, and the Age of Masimovian, among others. It was required reading for Harpoon candidates and knowledge of the points covered in the lecture was tested during the first half multiple choice section of the exams until Jeremiah’s demotion from Project Reassortment in 283 AR. The transcript is stored in Marstone’s Database and is considered classified government property.

To thoroughly understand the process by which we terraformed the Beimeni zone of the underground, a brief overview of the circumstances that led to its necessity is required. The Reassortment Atmospheric Anomaly and resultant Death Wave concluded the Second Hundred Years’ War fought between the Eastern and Western Hegemonies. The paucity of data that survived in Livelle Laboratory after the zeropoint attack at the end of the war suggests the Reassortment Strain may have escaped containment from Hengill Laboratory, built 200 meters below the surface of Iceland. From there we suspect it mutated in unexpected ways, transforming into the modern killer of transhumans. We also believe the end must have been swift, and terrifying, based on our own experience with it: no transhuman has survived exposure to it.

The lone survivors of the extinction event organized a civilization within the contained and sustained Livelle Laboratory some 50 meters below Antelope Canyon. Noriel Livelle, the chief administrator for the lab, proposed the formation of a new government, consisting of a democratically-elected chancellor and 10 ministers (for 10 districts) to rule over a new city-state. The city-state would include the centrally located laboratory and its surrounding village with a population of about 15,000—the presumed last of the transhuman race.

Noriel Livelle was elected the first chancellor in a landslide victory; with the approval of the ministry, he named the new city-state after himself. He and the ministry requested a group of scientists known as the Elders—transhumans highly skilled with the zeropoint field—to formulate a strategy to protect Livellans from structural collapses and Reassortment breaches. The Elders created strategic expedition (strike) teams with a separate mission from the Livelle Guard, which protected the central government apparatus and provided security throughout the city-state.

The strike teams were instead given complete autonomy under a designated strike team commander, with the understanding their sole mission was to respond to structural collapses and Reassortment breaches in Livelle. The Elders suspected either the strain was designed to diffuse into the Earth—presumably to disrupt or kill scientists who worked in subterranean synbio labs—or did so by other means because they’d lost contact with the Western Hegemony, including the underground facilities. So the first volunteers for the strike teams understood their mission was a suicidal one; no biomat suit could then protect transhumans from Reassortment exposure in the shallower parts of the underground or upon the surface.

Concurrent with the creation of the strike teams, the chancellor called on his confidant, Ruslan Masimovian, to form the Reassortment research team to focus on developing Reassortment-resistant biomats and a cure. Masimo, as Ruslan was known, first sought to unfreeze the League of Scientists—the 340 scientists frozen near absolute zero as required by the initiation of Operation Preservation—who many believed could hold the key to immunity to the Reassortment Strain. (Some even suspected they could have Reassortment-resistant genes.)