Darwin's Paradox (31 page)

Zane,
his left arm still in a sling, pointed out details on a comp-generated animation of the lifecycle of the Proteus virus on a holo-screen with the cursor. Julie and Carl stood facing him in Carl’s lab at the Odum Mall Med-Center. Carl and Zane were debriefing Julie in advance of their first class with fifteen Darwin children.

“So, Vogel made Proteus to interact symbiotically with a human and the A.I.s of the city,” Zane lectured her happily. “His intention always was to create a new species.”

Julie nodded solemnly.

“This new species was meant to be proficient and highly capable of interacting and flourishing among its viral-human-machine parts. A super-being, so to speak, capable of incredible machine speed and logic, possessing human intuition, problem-solving capabilities, a spiritual conscience and the ability to correct itself, to evolve and change rapidly in incremental ways through its viral counterpart. Imagine,” he sighed with an expression of awe. “Imagine getting sick. The virus would pick it up, diagnose it using your A.I., and then help you fix it. An efficient self-regulating, self-correcting autopoietic system.”

Carl said, “The irony is, with this symbiotic relationship, we wouldn’t need a lot of those very drugs that are causing the infertility problems in the first place.”

Zane nodded vigorously. “This is Vogel’s gift to us: Our future. The future of humankind. Basically...you, Julie,” he ended smugly. There was that annoying manic grin again, Julie thought.

“The virus,” Zane continued, “immediately opened a door for you to the A.I. world hence the machine voices in your head. Proteus was created to learn and had only rudimentary communication skills in the beginning—the insect sounds you heard along with the A.I. machines.”

Zane flicked his control and the holo showed the two pathways of communication. “As the virus learned though its interaction with you and the A.I.s—mainly SAM—it was able to communicate directly with you. But you weren’t receptive except during REM sleep, dreamtime.” He flicked his control and another image added to the first, showing the sleep equation in Proteus communication. “But in veemeld, mediated by SAM once you were back within its range, you could talk to Proteus while you were awake. It was only when you ‘joined’, which we interpret as you fully and consciously opening yourself to the virus, that you freed up the ‘channels’ of complete communication.” The holo demonstrated this pathway, via the hippocampus and secondary sectors of the brain. “Your whole body is a symphony of rhythms and Proteus is a viral Mozart a genetic genius.”

Julie ignored Zane’s usual hyperbole and considered the essence of what he said with a thoughtful nod. “So how far do you expect these kids to go? Only some of them are veemelds like me. The pathway you’ve shown there doesn’t account for non-veemelds.”

“That’s right,” Carl added. “But we only really need them to understand what they’re already doing, if they hear Proteus’s non-verbal communication the first level of communication shown on the holo. That’s sufficient for their bodies to counteract the nano-drugs and other effects of Icaria’s environment. The rest what you and Angel can do with them is simply a bonus.”

“Okay,” Julie said, folding her arms across her chest. “But—”

“So, the question is,” Carl went on, anticipating Julie’s challenge, “whether, by making them open to Proteus, we can encourage that 80% of non-veemelds to hear Proteus too. It’s a gamble but we’ve got to try. If we’re successful with these children, we and they can teach the adults.”

“I see,” Julie nodded.

“But first things first,” Zane interjected. “The children are our future, after all. If we’re successful with them, we save Icaria, otherwise...
poof!
” He slapped his hands together to emphasize his point and gave Julie one of his best toothpaste-ad grins. Same old Zane, she thought, with his flare for the dramatic.

Perhaps more to deflate his drama than out of practical logic, she challenged, “You do have other means to propagate, though? The DP’s been doing it for years.”

Carl shook his head. “That’s not practical and certainly not viable in the long term. It’s giving up on what we are as a species. If we accept that we have to rely on artificial means to reproduce our kind, we’re accepting our own extinction.”

“Besides,” Zane added, “the DP’s also demonstrated that good old fashioned sex between a man and a woman is the very best way of maintaining a healthy and diverse gene pool through natural random selection.”

“Julie, we think that what you do to free-veemeld—veemelding without using Interact-SYM—may be a good place to start these kids into consciously mapping what they intuitively do to hear Proteus,” Carl went on. “The brain pathways appear to converge and it may apply equally to non-veemelds.”

“Okay,” Julie said, straightening with resolve. “I know what to do. I’m ready.”

“Good,” Carl said, nodding to Zane, who went to the door and called the children in. Carl leaned over to Julie. “Half of them are non-veemelds but they all carry Proteus. Some of the non-veemelds don’t hear Proteus yet, so we have a good mix.”

Julie fixed her attention on the children entering the room. They looked to range in age from about seven to late teens, she guessed. The group included Angel, of course, as well as Manfred and some of his friends. She smiled warmly to all of them as they entered and found seats.

***

“Thanks for inviting me to watch,” Daniel said to Victor, seated beside him in the observation booth, hidden behind a one-way mirror. They watched Julie, Carl and Zane discuss veemelding and Darwin with about a dozen young hopes for the future of mankind.

“Welcome,” Carl said to the children. “This is Julie Crane,” he indicated Julie with a wave of his hand. “As you’ve been told, Julie is the original recipient of Proteus and can not only hear the chirps that some of you can, but she can converse with Proteus and she can free-veemeld. Free-veemelding—that’s veemelding without requiring Interact-SYM.”

Daniel noticed several of the children exchanging looks of impressed amazement.

“Over the next few months,” Carl went on, “Julie is going to show you how she does all that and hopefully some of you will learn to do it yourselves. Going into free-veemeld is the first step to communicating meaningfully with Proteus.” He glanced at Julie for reassurance, because he wasn’t speaking out of experience.

“That’s right, Carl,” she affirmed, taking his pause as a cue to speak. “Going into free-veemeld is like entering a daydream or a conscious trance. I’d like you all to attempt these exercises, whether you’re a veemeld or not and whether you can hear Proteus or not, because the intention here is to be able to hear Proteus and understand how you do it and there’s no reason that we know of why you all can’t.”

“Is it like meditating?”

Julie turned to a tall gangly boy with flaming red hair. “That’s right, Nicholas. You have to learn to relax. That’s the first step.”

“Before we go too far, I’d like us to check these kids for what they already hear from Proteus,” Carl said. Using a sound generator, he asked each child to define as best he or she could what the “insect” noises sounded like in frequency and loudness. Julie watched with interest.

Victor leaned toward Daniel to speak in low tones, despite the fact that it was impossible for them to be heard by those in the next room. “Thanks for accepting my invitation. Inviting you here was the least I could do, considering what you’re sacrificing. Don’t think we take what you are doing lightly. I heard that you and Angel won’t be staying.”

“Thanks,” Daniel said, the pain of losing Julie again returning like an old man’s ache. After a long swallow, he glanced at the thoughtful man beside him and offered, “Thanks for taking care of her when she came back.”

Victor’s face tightened with an involuntary expression of pain. “Though not as well as I’d wished, I’m afraid,” he responded in a strange voice, training his eyes on Julie. Daniel suspected he was alluding to his inability to prevent what the Head Pol had done. Daniel could have felt infuriated, and did so for a while, but somehow he’d managed to distance himself from thoughts of retribution. Julie had made it clear that it was a matter between her and Langor and it had really been up to her whether he was punished or not. Whatever she decided, Daniel respected, and she’d decided to let him go. Victor continued, “As for thanks, it’s Icaria who owes you thanks, Daniel—thanks for taking care of Julie for all these years out in the heath.”

Daniel snorted laughter. “She takes good enough care of herself, I think, without needing me too much.” Then he smiled politely. “But I know what you mean, Victor. Really. I understand that one man’s claim on Julie Crane is nothing compared to Icaria’s claim on the beautiful creature it spawned. I’ve always recognized deep down that I’ve only had her on loan.”

Unable to meet Daniel’s raw, honest gaze, Victor looked everywhere else and his hands flickered to his face in nervous twitches. “I didn’t mean it that way—”

Daniel laughed softly. “I didn’t either, Victor. What I really meant to say,” he went on in a sighing voice, “was that Julie Crane belongs to no one. Not me and certainly not Icaria.” They both looked back through the looking glass, back to his wife, who listened intently to the instructions Carl was giving the children. When Daniel continued it was in a voice of reverence, “Like the fertile land, the rain, the trees, our lakes and rivers. We lay claim over them and we use them, but they really don’t belong to us. Despite the elaborate wedding ceremony and our vows of commitment, she isn’t mine to give away or to keep.”

Daniel found Victor staring at him. As Daniel looked back into those pale blue eyes filled with sad acceptance, he suddenly understood that Victor had come to that very conclusion twelve years ago when he’d given Julie her freedom and let her ‘escape’ Icaria-5 into the wilderness of the heath. Even Aard’s role had been that of protector and supplier. Daniel intuitively recognized that the secrecy of Aard’s mission was driven more by courtesy and the wish not to intrude on a way of life than out of any malice or manipulative intent.

Then Victor turned back to the window and Daniel saw why Julie was explaining to the children about how she engaged in veemeld with SAM. “Do any of you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?” she asked them, looking into each of their faces. Daniel thought he saw Angel’s face blush and Manfred look at the floor.

Most shook their heads to her question but the red-haired boy admitted that he liked a girl. Julie smiled at him. “Brave of you to say so, Nicholas. I suspect the rest of you have at least had a silent crush on someone at some time.” She didn’t look at either Manfred, or at Angel, who was trying to control her heating face. Julie continued. “If not, you can think of your parent or sibling or a special place that gives you great joy and peace. Now, hold onto those thoughts. Going into free-veemeld without Interact-SYM requires harnessing a quantum energy frequency and manipulating it in your brain into what it needs to interpret. Sound complicated?”

All the children agreed with nervous laughs. She laughed with them.

“Don’t worry,” she said with a grin. “It might sound complicated but it’s more an intuitive phenomenon.” Julie focused again on Nicholas. “I want each of you to think of your special friend or person or place and imagine that you’re in that place or that person is standing here where I’m standing,” she instructed. “Like a vivid daydream, imagine them here,” she tapped her chest. Then Julie glanced right at Daniel and Victor with a faint smile and winked before turning back to the children.

***

Quite aware of Daniel and Victor watching them from behind the mirror, Julie glanced at her own image reflected there, and winked at herself. “Close your eyes, if it helps.” She closed hers. “Now breath deeply in and out a couple of times.” She inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly, deliberately. The children followed her lead. “Remember to imagine that special friend standing there with joy and love in their heart...”

Her first thought was of embracing Daniel, but it dissolved as she slid into veemeld and entertained a rakish thought of SAM...
Have you ever wanted to hug someone, SAM, me?

Abruptly her vision broke up and all her strength ebbed from her. Her knees buckled and she fell into a dark place. She was no longer in the room, but falling no, floating in darkness as if in space. If she’d drifted into one of her dream-states, this certainly wasn’t the usual place she went. It wasn’t frightening...yet. What fantastical place had she conjured up this time? It was as though there was a whole universe inside her mind.

Where am I? SAM? Proteus? Are you there?

Proteus answered,
[You have slipped into an ecstatic trance again, Julie.]

Oh, dear. I keep doing that.
She smiled lopsidedly and found she enjoyed tumbling through the dark space. She thought she could make out stars but her vision wasn’t very clear for some reason.

A figure approached, also flying in space, with obviously more control than she had. When he neared, she stared at the lean body, dressed in funky clothes, and knew at once who it was: SAM. His jubilant face reminded her of what her father might have looked like if he’d been a happy man, with some Daniel mixed in and a bit of Victor and a host of other familiar faces. She turned to him with a lopsided grin.
I never realized that you wanted a body, SAM. I always thought you were content being the ethereal entity...indefinable and uncontainable.