by submission | Jan 29, 2012 | Story |
Author : Tom Coupland
Even more of the world watched Jerome II enter the hospital room than had even watched those first interviews with Jerome. Those early interviews had set the world alight. They had watched in their thousands of millions as the gray haired scientist had described the moment he realised he had taken a step humanity had never before imagined possible. The moment he felt his mind tear. When he described how the sensation of fluid filled lungs had caused him to believe he was drowning while standing in his lab, they had exclaimed their disbelief. As he went on to describe how he first saw his submerged premature eyes open and also of opening them, they fell silent. Of how he had looked through the distortion of the growth medium and the glass curve of the viewing portal into his own soul from two pairs of eyes, the clamour began.
All the efforts philosophers had put into the moral issues of cloning; inter clone homicide, asset ownership, even marriage. All the scientific enquiry into the process of tempting cells taken from an individual to form a new whole. Those decades of biological and ethical thinking had never considered how the human mind itself would cope with the existence of two physically identical brains. How the two might entangle at the lowest possible subatomic level and create a new kind of home for a mind. A home with two bodies.
The dispute over what this meant for the human race began immediately. Spiritual ideals formed the first lines around which the debate ebbed and flowed. Was this proof of gods existence or would new branches of the science explain this incredible finding?
As the conversation matured more practical concerns began to dominate. Regardless of whether it was science or spiritual in nature. Was this the end of cancer and degenerative diseases? Would it be possible for those now alive to measure their experiences in centuries or even millennia? Could humanity stop losing its finest minds to death? Had immortality been achieved?
Of course, thus far all of humanity’s greatest discoveries had caused stresses on the race before any benefit was felt. Could the impact of this, the most incredible discovery of all, be too much for us to bear? Would armies of a single mind march across the world waging war? First against those countries that held resources coveted by their creators, but soon just against each other for dominance over the planet.
As the years passed an almost unspoken agreement formed. No one attempted to recreate Jeromes work, they waited until one further crucial piece of the experiment was performed; could Jeromes psyche survive the death of the original host?
So now in their tens of billions they watched as Jerome failed to first find a breath and then another heart beat. Then the whole world turned its attention to the man stood over the bed.
by Matt Thomas | Jan 11, 2012 | Story |
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Formerly the bookies were not popular. Governments in many countries have banned their work. But today, for people who love sports and watch sports with a heavy heart, here are a good opportunity to play the game with good humor, positive emotions and money. The sports betting enthusiasts no longer need to go to stores noisy and smoky to bet.
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by submission | Jan 11, 2012 | Story |
Author : Gordon Day
The man was dressed in ivory and on his chest for all to see was a red bolt, declaring his allegiance to the Militant Atheist order. His audience did not know it yet, but he would be the last to publicly wear it.
His lightly freckled cheeks begin to vibrate in tune to his lips as he turned on his PA system and began his speech.
“The world is a carnival of sins, temptations, sorceries, and fear organized by men who claim their faith holds them above such vice. They promise to deliver from the bite of reality and to place you into the hands of God. He will lighten your load, they say. The captain of his ship will take you through the straits, where vile cliffs of indecency border on each side. If you do not wish to pay for charter you are left on the beach of a world crumbling apart. And if you cannot suffer his orthodox rule while aboard, you are thrown into the salty depths.”
His bulky, but soft frame had become the object of a small collection of consciousness.
“But brothers and sisters, I ask you to divorce such rancid and illogical thoughts from your head. The parcel with which man has been burdened with is not sin, but intellect. It is not our task to carry it to the top of a mountain to sacrifice, but to carry it through the universe in an effort to understand how chaos is ordered. We are not the product of a divine manifestation, but of the natural tendency for reproduction to overcome the static and inert.”
The crowd had grown larger as the freako unhinged his jaws and openly defied not just God, but the society that had long since rejected the need for science.
“We must rise from the mud that we have mistaken for gold. We must open not our hearts, but our minds. We must expand past the limits of spirituality and discover the boundaries of our physical and glorious reality. Life is meant for-”
A thunderous cascade of lightning erupted from the sky. The crowd recoiled a half second to late as the heretic was consumed in light, a black imprint against so much white.
*******
Edson scanned the courtyard again. There was no undue damage, though the radiation would cling to the stucco of the houses for a couple of months. And he did not see any more ivory fools. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Hey boss, looks like the satellite flattened him. And I don’t see any more mice in the underbrush.”
The commander replied, “That’s good, imagine, going into the capital city, and trying a stunt like that. He might have actually started a revolution out of the darkness!”
by Patricia Stewart | Jan 2, 2012 | Story |
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer
“Receiving a distress call, Captain,” reported the communications officer of the SS Diciotti. “It’s coming from Lavello III.”
“Lavello III?” repeated Captain Campbell. “What idiot would land on Lavello III? It’s a death trap.”
“Captain,” said the science officer after consulting his monitor. “According to the ship’s transponder code, it’s a rental. The manifest lists a Mr. and Mrs. Balordo. Married a week ago. No mention of Lavello III on their registered flight plan. Looks like the honeymooners got more than they bargained for.”
“Okay, let’s investigate,” replied the captain. “Helmsman, best speed to Lavello III.”
As the Diciotti came out of warp, a featureless gray planet filled the center of the forward viewscreen. Although all terrestrial planets appear spherical from space, Lavello III was the closest thing in the universe to it. The difference between the top of the highest mountain and the bottom of the lowest valley was a little less than three centimeters. Scientist attributed this unique characteristic to a gravitational instability in the planet’s core. Every five hours, the core emits rhythmic graviton waves that cause the planet’s diameter to grow by almost 30 meters. These gravity quakes last about two minutes, and then the planet settles down to its original diameter. The net effect of billions of years to expanding and contracting is the pulverization of the crust and mantel. Mountains were leveled; boulders were crushed to rocks, rocks to pebbles, pebbles to grains. Over the eons, the denser fragments settled toward the planet’s core, and the lighter pumas-like material drifted toward the surface. As a result, the density of the surface ‘sand’ was 0.95 grams per cubic centimeter, or a little less than the density of water. During the five hours of dormancy, a person could walk along the surface of Lavello III, but during a gravity quake, the liquefaction of the surface meant that anything more dense than 0.95 grams per cubic centimeter would sink below the surface. In other words, the surface of the planet became quick sand.
“Any sensor readings?” asked the captain.
“Aye, Captain. Their ship is already fifty meters below the surface. However, I’m reading two life signs near the surface. I can’t tell if they are still on top, or just below the surface. The next quake will occur in approximately three hours. If they are not completely under now, they will be soon.”
“Have a maintenance team meet me in the shuttle bay,” ordered the captain.
An hour later, the shuttlecraft landed near the two partially buried newlyweds. The ground crunched under the weight of Campbell’s boots as she walked up to the protruding heads of Mr. and Mrs. Balordo. They were both buried up to their mouths, with only their blinking eyes confirming that they were still alive. Captain Campbell knelt down and scooped the sand away from the woman’s jaw, making it easier for her to breathe. “This was his idea wasn’t it?” asked Campbell.
“Yes,” sputtered Mrs. Balordo after spitting out a mouthful of sand. “He did it to win a bet. He’s a moron. Please, dig me out first. I want to use his head for a soccer ball.”
Campbell checked her chronometer and motioned to the maintenance crew to start digging the woman from her would-be grave. Then she moved over to the husband and asked, “Did you sign up for the additional insurance for the rental ship?”
Mr. Balordo closed his eyes and moved his head back and forth very slightly.
“Well then,” said Campbell with a grin, “I guess it’s not a good day to be you.”
by submission | Dec 31, 2011 | Story |
Author : Aradhana Choudhuri
“No. There’s no funds, Mr. Lawrence. None. We work with what we’ve got.”
“Then you have to repurpose this satellite, Mrs. President, or we start losing vital assets. We’re deep in Kessler syndrome time — LEO and GEO are going to have one catastrophic collision after another, each spawning off more debris. Chain reaction.”
“I get all that. That’s why I gave you Webb! The science lobby’s gonna go nuts if I give you this one too.”
“It’s the only one left that can monitor that segment of the graveyard orbit, warn us before we start losing the Geostationaries.”
“Why can’t you build more telescopes on the ground? I can scrounge a few million out of discretionary.”
“Ma’am, Earth-based telescopes can only look out at night. We’re already using each and every ground asset we can just to keep the nightside covered from dusk to dawn. Anything sunside we won’t know about till satellites start going down.”
“What about other countries? China started this problem with their testing, and they’re the only ones with enough money left to spend on watching outer-space garbage. It can’t hurt to ask.”
“You want to ask the People’s Republic of China to launch a constellation of telescopes pointed at us?”
“Nevermind. Tell me why the Japanese repurposing their visible-spectro-thingamabob satellite wasn’t enough.”
“It was never designed to focus fast-moving near-Earth objects. Pointing requirements have been thrown out the window, delta-V budgets make any kind of repositioning? The point is, it’s not enough.”
“The science lobby is powerful, Mr. Lawrence.”
“So is the telecom lobby, Mrs. President, and it’s a helluva lot more relevant to the average taxpayer.”
“I’m aware of that. That’s why I’m here.”
“Yes Ma’am. This is no longer about competing priorities — it’s about threats to the vital infrastructure of this country. You think the ARGOS/NOAA-L collision was bad? We’re going to start seeing one like that every three months.”
“When will the next one happen?”
“In ten minutes? Tomorrow? Probability goes up to better than ninety in two months.”
“Allright, Mr. Lawerence. I’ll sign it. You’ll have Kepler by the end of the quarter.”
—————-
…peoples of earth…2051 by the…transmission…share…speck of light in a…static…we heard you…must have…scope…hear us…wait…response…
—————-
…earth…093…share joy…by now you…have telescopes…transmit…AMGE…hear…respo…
—————-
…ello?…
