dinsdag 28 mei 2013

Your wish...

...is my command, or something.

People asked, so here is the short story I wrote, based on a dream. This is the first story I've ever written, so comments and shit are welcome :)

Immortality.


Immortality. It was created in the early 21st century. A mixture of genetic engineering, cybernetic implants, organ replacement plans and constant drug use.
At first, it was a luxury reserved for the wealthy. The cost involved was staggering. But as with all innovations, the cost fell and became affordable to almost anyone.

A new generation of people was born who, under normal circumstances, would never know death. A side-effect to this new world would soon become all too clear.

Overpopulation.

No-one would die. In an attempt to stop the world from imploding, restrictions were set in place by global governments. Strict rations, lifespan limits, mandatory life termination. Immortality became a curse.
People went underground, modifying the technology that kept them alive. Hacks and home-cooked drugs were developed to ensure continued immortality. No matter what governments used to stem the tide, people did not seem to want to die.
Death-squads were created. Hunting people down.
Civil war on a global scale was the result.
The war solved the immediate problem of overpopulation. Hundreds of millions died in a war that lasted decades.
Horrific cyborgs and robots were created across the world. Killing machine, both human and not.

It was during these Immortal Wars that the worlds first true AI went live. An intellect of vast power, it saw the strive humans and robots had put themselves in.
Considering its options, it chose the least lethal option, in hopes of preventing the destruction of mankind and itself.
A vast mainframe was created. Using the existing technology of cyborgs and combining it with the infinite computational power of quantum computation, the consciousness of most people was uploaded into it.
Willingly or otherwise.
Decades passed. A new form of living death was created in the mainframes. As a person reached a certain age, they would upload into them, their bodies scrapped and recycled. This new status quo was enforced in order to keep the planet viable and most people alive. In a way.

Tremendous resources were poured into developing new ways of traveling the stars. Human and machine alike need more room, more resources, to grow and stay alive.
The first generation of carriers were slow, bulky. Used to transport hundreds of androids and newly awoken, regrown cyborgs to nearby planets and asteroids.
It didn't take long to secure a steady flow of minerals to Earth. Colonies were created on any moon or planet that was able to support this new form of live.
In time, an almost perfect hybrid of machine and nature was created. This new form of the human race was again able to become immortal. Using the mainframes to store ones consciousness, even the destruction of a body meant little.

Within one century, the human condition had undergone several shifts. This latest incarnation would prove to be the most durable, peaceful and intelligent. War and crime soon became obsolete. Wealth, meaningless. The pursuit of knowledge, exploration and art became the main focus of most people.
A second Golden Age.

The advancement of technology never stopped. The AI merged with all machines and people, to varying degrees.
Interstellar travel was developed. Thousands of new carriers were constructed. Fleets of ships to support them. Armadas for a new Age. They flew from Sol like a locust swarm. Nearby solar systems were colonized and exploited.

New forms of life were discovered. Some intelligent and advanced, others barely qualified as live at all.

These peoples were few and far between. While some were on similar levels of advancement, most were primitive, warlike. Aggressive.
Wars would again plague the people from Sol. Without death, these wars lasted for hundreds of years. Entire races were destroyed or thrown back into their version of the stone age, all trace of their former power eradicated.

The people from Sol conquered, allied and traded.

The Age of Creation.

After eons of war, peace, creation and destruction, the people from Sol merged fully with the AI that began their journey into the Golden Age.
Other races had begun to worship them as gods. They could create planets, life, play with stars and solar systems.
They decided on a new role for themselves. They would be guardians. A force unseen, a lingering memory of greatness. Others would strive to emulate them. They would rise to greatness, following in Sol's path, eventually merging and becoming one.

Years had become moments, millennia barely noticed in their passing. The end of the universe was fast approaching. Matter would rip itself apart, regardless of it's power. The only option left to it, was leaving.

Using its monstrous power, a bridge was forced between dimensions. A new universe, with new rules, knowledge. It would be a voyage to remember.


It would endure for all time and far beyond.

Dreams...

...are amazing inspiration.

I rarely remember dreams and when I do, they are rarely worth remembering.
This dream though was very much worth remembering. In fact, it wrote it down. The dream revolved around the concept of immortality. Specifically the concept of immortality through technology and the implications it might have.

From a plaything of the rich to a universe traversing super intelligence, this dream spanned billions of years. From slightly into the future to the end of this universe. It was trippy to say the least.
What emerged was a 2 page short story, the first one I've ever written. The overarching feeling I had with this dream ,was the meaninglessness of time, once you become immortal. Time become utterly irrelevant.

The story tells a tale of civil upheaval, a quantum shift in the human condition, galactic expansion and transcendence into an entirely new form of being.

Regardless of what I end up doing with this little story, it will serve as a great source of inspiration. I also feel like I now know who authors get the ideas for truly epic books like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc.

Dreams are amazing. I wish I would remember them more often.