Psy-Clones Timeline 3/3

Inspiration for this timeline came from a variety of sources. I've been reading a lot of Asimov and Arthur C Clarke recently; several nationalist parties enjoyed success in the recent European Parliament Elections; I read an essay on what the state of government might be in the near future; finally, I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is awesome.

Mars Base 3, known as MB3 to all, became a hotbed of psychic training and research. Within ten years, the first psychs had developed into a society based around research. They developed cloning technology that worked, and used it to improve the calibre of their trainees. The facility was run by a dumb-AI that was incapable of attaining sentience. It was in charge of all mechanical aspects of MB3, the cloning, food production, weather control… everything. It was also live-storing everyone’s psyche in case of death, which was a realistic threat in psych training. It would then clone a new body for them and restore them, complete with memories up to the second of death. In reality, the computer was able to do all this by peer-to-peer sharing the information in the minds of every other psych, using their brains as parallel processors. Only the upper echelons of the teaching staff were aware of this, however.

Psy-Clones Timeline 2/3

Again it was to be a scientist that provided the next step in the chain. Frederic Rawlins, an American by birth, finally succeeded in 2078 in doing what humans had been dreaming about for decades, creating the Halflight Drive. Designed to travel at half the speed of light, it suddenly made space travel en masse a possibility again. Terraforming robots were created, algae was redesigned and ships were constructed in space. The newly-completely space elevator, linking the defunct International Space Station to a small island in the Atlantic meant that materials could be taken up with increasing regularity. Within a year, with public fervour behind it, the first major mission to Mars left. Half an hour later, it arrived and began the long process of terraforming. It would be a process that would take over two centuries to complete. The construction of three habitable cities on Mars, connected by long straight roads, was begun. Ships were sent on exploratory missions to all planets of the solar system, now completing journeys in days that should have taken years, and mankind’s understanding of the universe expanded.

Although the State had been born of totalitarian control, that control had been relinquished at the right time, and the people now had hope, the promise of a future. China’s regime crumbled from within as public pressure, and the vision of how much better things were in the old countries of the US and UK, finally enacted a toll. The leaders were assassinated and a temporary government was instated. They immediately reached out to the State for aid, and were accepted.

Russia, now in control of most of Europe, found that it was alone. Stubbornly, it held on to its independence, focusing on the technology that it had always had a penchant for: Robots.

Cutter, now calling himself the Emperor of Earth, focused the planet’s sights on space.

Psy-Clones Timeline 1/3

I've split the timeline into three parts because it became quite long and winding.

Starting from within the next ten years, this is a timeline for PsyClones (which is still a working title, but it's growing on me. It's a bit silly though.)

By 2045, most factories only had a small human contingent of engineers as robot workforces took over. Even the factories that made the robots had automated assembly lines. More than that, robots were used in mining operations, undersea oil drilling and farming. One of the major robot-creating countries was Russia, beginning by using cheap human workforces and then switching as soon as possible. Unemployment, steadily rising in all countries over the previous decades, hit an all-time high. With it came mass homelessness. The areas most strongly hit were the US, which suffered a massive population boom, and Europe. China became the most tightly-controlled country in the world, as they were already closely controlling population. By 2050, it was clear that humanity was close to consuming itself. While large portions of the world’s overpopulation had been moved to relatively barren areas such as Central Australia and parts of Africa, most of the democracies of the world had elected leaders who promised harsher controls and management. Police forces were given more power in most countries, becoming repressive.

045 - Illusion

Another Psy-Clones-setting 100 themes work. These are all short and deliberately display a photo, a moment in time. I should really concentrate on creating fully-encapsulated short stories, because it's something I find challenging.

045 - Illusion

Alex sat on the single hard chair, concentrating. In his mind, he could hear the lesson, his tutor’s voice quiet, hypnotic. 

“Picture a box.”

He furnished himself with a cardboard box. It wasn’t much. The bottom was sealed with brown packing tape.

“Into the box, place your thoughts about where you are.”

One by one, he tuned out his surroundings. Into the box went the hum of the terminal, the quiet hiss of the clone tube, the sound of music in another room, other people breathing.

“Place your thoughts and feelings from the day.”

This was harder. Visualising the events as solid objects helped, but even the small victory of still being alive this late in the day was something Alex desperately wanted to hold on to. It was some minutes before he felt composed enough for the next stage.

044 - Two Roads

Also, Psy-Clones! I've been playing around with the world a bit and I've created a timeline. Worldbuilding is so much fun. I should do some actual writing sometime!

This is #44 of the 100 Themes, which takes place in a lecture room on Mars Base 3.

“There are two roads on Mars,” Dr. Judd said, pointing at the projected map, “and it’s likely to stay that way until the terraforming is complete.” Alex watched as his tutor highlighted the two thin supply routes, making notes on his own pad.

“Now. They’re dead straight, see that? Anyone care to tell me why?”

“Robots,” Alex said, not even looking up from the pad.

“That’s right,” Judd said, wiping sweat from his bald pate. It was stifling in the classroom, thirty bodies packed into a space designed for half that. “In the early days of the Empire, before the Singularity, remote-operated robots were sent here. They had the capability to construct things like roads and the habitation domes that you live in today.” The display switched to stock video of old worker drones, crawling over Martian soil like giant beetles. In front, they consumed dirt, stone, dust. Behind them, like a snail trail, a road was slowly laid.

“Of course, once the Machine Threat awoke it snatched up the drones, leaving the habitations almost complete. Earth was able to send labourers to finish the job.” Dr. Judd paused and loosened his tie. The windows had been opaqued so that they could see the holo more easily, but already Alex could hear someone snoring at the back. The quiet squeaking sounds of gum being chewed rose over the hum of the projector.

“You haven’t answered my question, though,” Judd finally said. “Why are the roads dead straight?”

Psy-Clones - The Machine Threat

In my imagined future world, there is an AI operating out in Pluto's orbit. It's basically a human-built AI that put two fingers up at humanity and now sends machines to destroy us. I'm really amused by the idea that the biggest threat is something we ourselves create.

Other characters: Alex is possibly my main character's name. He's seventeen in this story, a relatively weak psychic. Hendricks is a researcher at Mars Base 3 and Alex's mentor in non-psychic research.

The Machine Threat

“In the mid twentieth century, mankind rejoiced as we gave birth to our greatest achievement: true AI. It was hailed as an end to infighting, a unifying force for humanity and, in the event, it was.” Hendricks paused and sipped his coffee. “Just not in the way we envisaged.”

Alex put the remains of his sandwich down. “How so?”

“Jeez, don’t they teach you anything at school these days?” Hendricks tutted and shook his head. “You know what AI is, right? I mean, we have one here at MB3.” 

Alex nodded.

“We’d just come to the end of a decade of war. Resources were getting slim, but technology doesn’t stop improving. It was a combined international research team, with a crapload of private funding, that managed to get the resources together and ship them into space.”

Psy-Clones - The Psy Ops

These are all largely working titles for now. I might come up with something far better, probably will, and when that happens I'll track back through and edit things like this.

Anyway; the state of play on Earth, and on its colonies on Luna and Mars, is that the regular police force has been supplemented with specialised psychic troops whose main mission is to find awoken psychics.

The Psy Ops - known as the PO to most - are specially trained psychics. They fall into the middle group of gradings at Mars Base 3; those too weak to go on active duty on the front lines, but strong enough to withstand training and the predation of their classmates. Officially, they exist to bring in sixteen-year-olds who have manifested psychic powers. Everyone with psychic gifts must be registered at Mars Base 3 school where they will be trained and monitored. They have immunity from prosecution and the power to enter any home. They are generally not corrupt, however; MB3 does a good job of weeding out those who are not loyal. They also gather information on dissenters, machine sympathisers, and ensure that they are brought to justice.

There are POs in every city on Earth, in the slums on Luna and in both Mars Bases 1 and 2.

POs are dressed in black leather with reflective helmets. They wield small pulse rifles, designed to fire a ball of plasma which can be tuned to stun or kill.

Group: The Psy Ops (POs)

It wasn’t even dawn when they crashed through the front door. None of us were up; I got to the top of the stairs about the same time Dad came out, dressing-gown flapping out behind him. There were men downstairs, in the hall. Shouting.

Something itched at the back of my brain. I crept down the stairs and peeked around the wall. There were three men in black, two of them wearing helmets that had curved mirrors hiding their faces. The third had short black hair and a scar down the right side of his face. All three had small guns.

“What the blazing hell d’you think you’re doing?” 

New Project - Psy-Clones (working title)

I've taken an idea that I tried to develop a long time ago and modified it heavily until it's basically a new novel-length idea. I realised that there's quite a hole in my writing repertoire. I've written a fair amount of fantasy, but never really any sci-fi.

I'll be developing this idea over the next few weeks, hopefully approaching it like a NaNoWriMo, and posting some of the development stuff up here. Character sketches, setting concepts, that sort of thing.

For now, it's called 'Psy-Clones'; I'm an absolute sucker for puns and as it's about clones with psychic powers, this one makes perfect sense.

043 - Dying

Eve and Tic return! I'm still trying to nail down exactly what she's like, and what her role is. Ideally I'd like to use her to explain things that we take for granted. This one touches briefly on plant biology, but not in any way that would teach things. The trouble is, I think it would take quite a lot of exposition to explore some ideas.

Anyway; in my head, the setting for this is a town in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in a valley, where Zuko and Iroh end up fighting Azula, and Aang gets involved as well. According to Google, it's called Tu Zin.

043 – Dying

Panting, Eve collapsed onto one knee. Her crossbow was smeared in green residue, some sort of ichor from inside the enormous plantoid that was shuddering its last in front of her. Its roots, ripped from the ground as it thrashed, were turning brown, wilting even as she watched.

Something buzzed at her shoulder, and then Tic was next to her. His brass casing was covered in the same slime that the plantoid had vomited up; he shook himself and Eve recoiled as more flecks landed in her hair.

“Watch it,” she growled.

“Sorry,” the little Cog replied.

“Better record this.”

A small hatch opened on the front of his casing and a long bluish-white line shone onto the top of the creature. It quickly swept down it from top to bottom, then turned sideways to sweep across it horizontally. Eve could feel the heat from the beams and breathed in the sharp scent that always accompanied their use. It was a useful trait, though; the little Cog could produce three-dimensional models of the creatures it scanned on demand.

042 - Standing Still

Another 100 themes story. I don't exactly know where the influences for this come from, but at the beginning it was loosely based around Jack and the Beanstalk. We had to teach this a couple of years ago and it's always seemed like a really unfair story to me. I mean, Jack is a thief and a murderer. He breaks into the Giant's castle; he hears threats made about men, but doesn't have any evidence; he steals from him three times, and then when the Giant follows him to retrieve his stolen goods, Jack kills him. What about the Giant's wife, who hides Jack? What happens to her after her husband is dead?

Very unfair :(

Anyway, here's an almost entirely-unrelated story about giants.

042 – Standing Still

The day the mountain woke up, I was sitting on the top of it. Perhaps mountain is a grand word to describe it, but it was the tallest hill for miles around. Climbing it took an hour or more, but the view was spectacular; you could see our village, the next village over, the town fifteen miles away, the forest, lake, fields… everything.

I climbed the mountain most days, and it amused me to watch out-of-towners puffing and panting their way up. Even my friends had trouble with it sometimes, and none of them could climb it as well as me. It was important work, too. Someone had to be the lookout. That’s what grandpa Jack always told me.

Suddenly, the rock under me flicked to one side and I was thrown off it. I fell into the grass, skinning my knee. The pain was an instant heat on my skin. My hat had gone one way, I’d gone another, and the boulder that I’d been sat on was still again.

I moved closer, watching carefully. Then, pretty stupidly in hindsight, I gave the boulder a good hard kick.

041 - Teamwork

Another 100 themes. This one has a nice point of view, quite different from anything I've written so far. I think on reflection that the amount of things I put in to make it seem 'alien', calling furniture and rooms by different names, makes it too hard to get a sense of place.

041 - Teamwork

“My friends,” screeched Barney, “we must work together to defeat our common enemy!” He turned, pointing to the walls of their prison. “Even now we are taunted, forced into unwanted physical contact completely at the whim of our captors, and for what? For the sludge they put out for us every day? For what we can steal from their kitchen while they sleep?” He looked down at his audience, but Flora was licking her paws and Flynn just seemed to be staring out into space. “It is an outrage!” Barney yelled, trying one more time. “Only together can we bring down this cruel system…” But it was no good. His voice tailed off and he sank down onto all fours again, then jumped down onto the floor. Flynn’s ears flicked, a sure sign that at least part of him was paying attention, but Flora had finished with her paws and had moved on to her elbows. Barney sighed. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Chill out, man,” Flynn said dreamily, staring intently at a spot on the wall. “It’s not like we’re in a bad place. I mean, we’re cats. Cats, man.”