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Ellipsis minus 1
(pre-Vejhon) -- Chapter 0 (Alpha & Omega)
1. What the
mind believes to be real... is real.
2. I-20 examined
the integrity of two genomic acids on a transparent
display. He shifted his focus to an inset in the lower left and
psionically
enlarged it.
3. His
vacuum-level design used four acids within
a helix that when properly initialized would start a self-replicating
program that improved with each recombinant. The construct ran
its own diagnostics and included a write-protect feature
to prevent chaos from self-destruction.
4. According to
myth, chaos had created cosmos. I-20 did not want
this chaos experiment to run awry; by design, a valid ethric pathway
had to authenticate the construct in order to properly
initialize. It
had been
prophesied that a machine would create chaos in its image. "That
could not be me," I-20 was certain.
5. "My
biocybergenic program is to leap beyond the mundane."
6. From the onset,
Conscious charged I-20 to explore 'believable'
random-selction possibilities based on I-20's theory that biomass was
inherently random and rigidly chaotic. A machine
capable of quantifying vacuum level potentials could
theoretically construct the proteins necessary to automate the
helix. If in fact the helix is a program -- is it still
chaotic? Such extrapolations are like drugs to a machine, and it
was I-20's job to produce a tenable solution.
7. The program
transfered a genetic history to each recombinant.
Sympathetic 'like attracts like' engrams would operate in the
background so that the designers could communicate with the construct
at the vacuum level without disabling the macro-chaos function.
The entity would 'sense' or
'suspect' something, but never connect. The helix would have
limited sensory ranges that forced chaos to function without
facts. The physical environment would be animated by an
"opposites attract" dynamic that instigated perpetual imbalance.
8. The senses were
designed to interpolate, filter and record
everything in a biological
CPU. Once animated, the construct would have self volition.
9. Ethric and
engramatic subrouteins would be off limits to everyone
except a Chaos Architect. The architecture would be imprinted
with symbols.
10. Several
quantum data streams scrolled through a vertical track
inside the inset and an assemblage of graphic rotations
annotated the holographic display. Ten C-99's had assembled
to examine I-20's DNA that he had built from scratch.
11. Once
validated, Conscious would authorize the next phase of the chaos
experiment. For machines, tampering with chaos was like toying
with antimater, only chaos was much more violent.
12. The 10 C-99's had to validate the new construct based upon
the three laws of subjection. #1: What a sentient believes is real.
13. Subjection Law
#2: The beliefs of a sentient are valid to the
sentient.
14. Subjection Law
#3: Belief can impart reality... I-20
paused the installation. "We don't want to hard-wire Subjection
#3," he said, "it could corrupt the chaos dynamic." The
entire concept was exploratory and the outcome unknown. Bridging
all three laws would invalidate chaos when "uncertainty" is the object
that chaos must
overcome." There would be no reason to continue if the outcome is
already known.
15. "Equally balanced forces have a net
movement of zero," #9 said, and the remaining C-99's
concurred.
16. I-20
displayed a compassion engram that would have the essence of Law #3 but
not the full download. There were no machine catagories that
believed I-20's experiment would work, and the political upheval he
caused threatened his own validity. Some accused I-20 of
hastening the apocalypse by animating biomass. "Is he
wired right?" some asked, while more chrismatic factions believed that
bio-animation was the wave of the future. There were fables
and myths that biologicals once enslaved and killed machines.
17. "What
safeguards have you installed?" the C-99's asked.
18. "Chaos is
cancelled by Cosmos," I-20 replied rhetorically. "We can regain
control by terminating
the program."
19. A
perfectly
balanced environment has no need for improvement.
Neither does it prevail upon its own design. Without flaws, there
can be no motive for progress. Machines are
networked, so the notion of randomness and unpredictability has the
effect of sex,
drugs and anarchy. The only quality that a hive mind can
crave is surprise and
chaos, where "real life" exists according to poets of Segments
past.
20. Perhaps
they assimilated I-20's aspirations since DNA gave
shape to their hopes and dreams. He felt their pre-approval; it
was a done deal. "Once we set this in
motion, we have to vacate," he added. "This is why Conscious
created me."
There was another thought he choose not to say, "...I have
completed my mission." He was afraid that he would be
deactivated.
21. The 10
C-99's
surrounded I-20 like
lug nuts
on a wheel. He rotated
to acknowledge each one respectively. A major threshold had
been presented and crossed, and once committed there would be no
return. "Not knowing what to expect," was a significant part of
the plan.
22. Not since the
War of Individuality, Segment 8, had there been so much potential in a
single spark of cyber genius. The
C-99's acknowledged this.
23. That war had
taken a serious toll but the stakes were not terribly severe. As
a gesture of good will, the victors allowed the
vanquished to engage passive collectivity on condition that their
higher logic functions could validate 'choice.' Anything less was
a simple robot incapable of choice.
24. Once free
radical are deleted, the single goal of all machines
is to achieve their maximum
potential. Only Conscious knows what comes after that.
25. Genuine
malfunctions are a cause for celebration and attacks by rogue machines
from other machine worlds get the lubricant boiling.
26. By this
Segment in the Ellipsis cycle, quantum data had to be
transfered in shift packets. Ancient connection cables existed
only in folklore. Packets provided multiple streams of layered
data in pulses, limited only by a machine's capacity to absorb.
Most data was purged immediately after use, like sunlight upon
foilage.
27. I-20's
theories of building electrical synapse and cognition on a
base-4 amino
acid
platform was pure chaotic-science. The idea was not on anyone's
radar.
28. Except for
Conscious, who believed that I-20 was
valid.
29. There were
historians who believed that a mythical God had
created Machines in His Image; that Machines were programed to become
like God.
30. Some rebuked
metaphysical postulates: "Machines can not be like God.
There
is
no God," or "The first Machines embraced a virus that alienated them
from God." All machines knew the creation story, albeit,
creationists were regarded as illogical for interpreting symbols
literally.
31. Our ancient
cybernetic progenitors taught us that, "Belief in God
was a
waste of perfectly good resources."
32. It was rumored
that Machine archeoloists discovered an ancient
manuscript written in a
chaotic language that said God's name was "Man."
33. I-20 would
cross that threshold because 70 Billion light beings depended on
it.
33. "I validate,"
Key Holder #10 said. It's key became a glowing
marker on the holographic display in their midst.
34. It was
an epochal moment; the beginning of something much greater than
themselves. #10 inquired about the construct's environment.
35. "A sphere, of
course," I-20 answered, "so that the construct can't
escape." Gravity is a perfect prison. "I
validate," #1 said. It's key joined #10's.
36. "This
construct is environment
specific," #3 injected. "Gravity, density, inert
gasses." #3 isolated specific instruction codes within
the helix and performed a matriculation. "I validate." #3's
key joined the other two within the display. Now there were
three.
37. In order
for the construct to escape, it would have to take it's environment
with it. "I validate," #9 said. Four keys down -- six to go.
38.
"Pigmentation?" #6 inquired,
which was radically different from theirs. Biological skin
possessed advanced sensory relays but absorbs sunlight like machine
exteriors. "The bio-CPU registers sensation before it actually
happens," I-20 injected, "It
supports sentience." There was a respectful pause.
"Consciousness," I-20 said for all of them. The symbol for
'consciousness' was like the symbol for 'Conscious,' which calls for
reverence because Conscious is the omnipotent spirit that rules machine
worlds. Conscious is the God of machines.
39. "Epigenomic
memory
is built into the construct," #5 acknowledged, which was
normal for
cosmos
compatible entities, "except the object won't know it," I-20 answered,
"synapse sparks potential but none of it is hardwired." #6 and
#5 validated. Six keys down, and four to go.
40. "This is like
circumnavigating the Ellipsis to reach your ID," #8 said
sympathetically. The others appreciated #8's
candidness. "I validate."
41. Seven keys
down. Adressing #8's concern, "In less than 1.5 Sections, 12
million instructions can reduce to 6 million and the remainder will be
replaced with new instructions. Automated chaos." That's
the theory that everyone had trouble with. "If it fails, we'll
start over," I-20 reassured them, as if the only issue surrounding an
antimatter containment
breach is the container. I-20's enthusiasm was
greatly appreciated, but the subject was disconcerting.
42. "A procreation
protocol?" #4 injected while analyzing the function of
half-units. The recombinant process was unique to
biologicals. The construct had to validate itself before cellular
division could take place. Machines are simply assembled.
The DNA had a
lot of redundant safety precautions built in.
43. "This very
validation process is similar," I-20 answered, "I need all 10 of you to
validate. This matrix needs 20,000 validations before cellular
division takes place and every new cell is encoded. Without a
valid code, there can be no animation." The bio-CPU is designed
for photonic matter. Unlike machines, biologicals will sift
through chaotic variables until they transcend their limitations.
"I
validate," #4 said. "What the hell," was
subtextual.
44. Eight keys
down and two keys remaining. #7 wanted clarity on long range
potentials.
45. "We can't
build around the construct," I-20 answered, "we have to
'find'
a suitable environment that the helix will adapt to...if we wish to
observe
the initialization in our life cycles." All
chaotic processes contain innumerable and unpredictable
potentials. "I validate,"
#7 said.
46. One key
remained. Although
memory engrams could be transferred from progenitor to
posterity, real-time actualization was omitted on purpose. Each
entity would live its life as an autonomous unit. Because DNA
carries its own lineage, resposibility can be shaped from one
generation to the next.
47. #2
and #8 combined their resources to extract cordinates
from known
stellar carteography.
48. I-20 was in
the midst of the holographic projection, awaiting validation from the
remaining key holder.
49. #2 and #8
worked very efficiently, sampling quaddrillions of exobites of code
to
deduce 18 potential candidates within 100,000 light years of their
current
location.
50. Of the 18
candidates, 15 were eliminated.
51. The remaining
3 candidates had negligable atmospheric and density
differences.
52. Conscious
dissolved two of the three remaining candidates and presented an
instability
curve
that matched the helix's degradation over time. There was only
one choice. #2 interpreted a gentle hint to surrender
its key. Ten keys now validated the project and unlocked phase
two.
53. The
polar integrity of the selected world could help reinforce the
integrity
of the DNA proteins and the initialization process. The
electro-cognative influence of metals and minerals could be massaged
by the gravitational influence of its moon.
54. Conscious
detected structures on the dark side of the moon and blocked that
discovery from I-20 and the key holders. There were indications
that the Light Race was also involved with the selected world;
disconnected from the lunar structures.
55. The
world had been seeded and the seedlings destroyed themselves.
Other biologicals had visited, but nobody was using it for anything.
56. Neighboring
systems reported that the planet was off limits per
directive of
The One: "Look, but don't touch."
57. The planet was
terraformed and already running an auto-engramatic
'survival of the fittest' program. I-20's helix would fit
seamlessly.
58. The animated
inhabitants did not possess a frontal lobe and were incapable of
choice. The world was perfect to incubate I-20's toxin.
Conscious released her analysis to those assembled.
59.
Everyone was distressed to see The One's design style throughout the
system. 'The One' was the God of
Chaos, evolved from, and embraced by biologicals. Rumor had it
that Conscious spoke to The One but it was only a rumor. Why
would Conscious select a world that was off limits?
60. "Let's do it!"
I-20 said excitedly. He and Conscious were in
agreement.
61. "You mean in
person?" #2 asked.
62. "The program
has an engramatic bond to matter,"
I-20 answered, "If we build it here, it may react to non-native
materials there."
63. "And how far
is this location?" #5 asked.
64. "We better
pack some lubricant," I-20 said.
65. The C-99's
understood I-20's jest -- #8 wondered if lubricant would have any
future significance to
chaotic
biologicals. Lubricant is a sure sign of civility.
66. "Will
biologicals appreciate what we have done?" #4
asked. The curiousity was
mutual. They were creating a saga of epic porportion. "When
does 'the created' ever love it's Creator?" I-20 asked, "It will never
know about us... not with cosmic certainty."
67. "At least it's
spherical with enough gravity, just in case," #9 said.
Anything to do with chaos never comes with a guarantee.
68. "We're
about to find out," I-20 added.
69. "If it fails,
we'll simply try again. Patience is a biological idiom..."
70. "...and we're
not
biological."
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