Revelations

Fountain of Paradise Passenger Section, High Above Brunei June 22, 2069 AD

Thurgood was so bored. It hadn't even been a full day since he got on the elevator and he was already out of thinks to do. He was currently attempting to carve a smiley face into the surface of the wooden table with a plastic spoon, it wasn't going so well. Hitting on Dixie hadn't worked, he wasn't allowed to use drugs for 'safety reasons' and because the elevator was constantly rising it was hard to keep a steady signal strength on his phone to surf the Internet. He had tried playing Solitaire but the clubs on the cards reminded him of pot leaves. He had tried talking with people but Dr. B, Old Man, Kenji, and Pencil Pusher kept talking about work-related stuff. SomeBitch McCrabbyPants would glare at Thurgood whenever he got near her, she just wanted to record the other four arguing. Worst of all, Dixie spent most of the time napping. Flirting with her did nothing. Why did he insist on coming on this trip again?

He glanced up from his wood-carving to see Old Man slowly walk past the dining room door (the Collective had decided to have a stained glass window of a wasp occupy the upper half of the door) to the bathroom. Old Man walked like a lame duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. Thurgood was pretty sure that in a race, a snail on stilts would beat the Old Man. How was Old Man going to survive once they made it into space and started floating around? He'd probably break in half when he collided with a wall.

Well, seeing as how he had made no progress carving into the table (stupid plastic spoons, stupid healthy paste, stupid drones) Thurgood decided to go check to see what everyone was talking about. From here he could see Dixie was reading in a chair, not paying attention to anything and SomeBitch was seated next to her, recording the argument going on just out of Thurgood's sight.

As he walked into the sitting room he saw Pencil Pusher gesturing frantically while he spoke, "No no no, I didn't mean it like that. All I'm saying is that with a Russian Collective, the Borg Collective is now vulnerable to potential cyber attacks. You would need a really good firewall to keep them out and China is well known for our firewalls."

"Fred," Jeff said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "There is no way the Collective would allow the Chinese government access to the code that runs the neural transceivers. Especially since, if what Rex is saying is true, you've already got enough dead drones hidden away that you can copy the hardware but can't work the software and so would need to take a look at it while it's running."

"I keep telling you, my government would never condone attacks against your drones! The deal we struck has been incredibly profitable and can only get better now that the Fountain is built and working. Rex is just trying to break apart our alliance."

"We don't have an alliance Fred. We have a trade agreement along with an understanding that China would receive discounted rates when the Fountainwas finished. However, since the space elevator is now fully built, the trade agreement is over. Unless you are willing to do like most the African countries and allow us to open up offices in the mainland to recruit employees, I don't see any reason to do any business with you beyond what you want shipped into space."

Thurgood wasn't sure how many drones had been attacked and killed in China, but he knew it was a lot more than any other country. He had watched some of the footage of what the drones saw before they died, the attackers were like something out of a video game. They came out of nowhere and killed quickly and efficiently. Thurgood was glad to see Jeff calling Pencil Pusher out on the ninja shenanigans. As Pencil Pusher realized he might not be welcomed warmly when he returned to China it was clear from the look on his scrunchy face (which was only magnified by his ginormous glasses) that he was feeling a nameless dread. Hmmm, actually there probably was a long German name for it for that kind of dread, like Geschpooklichkeit or something, but Thurgood didn't speak German and he doubted Pencil Pusher did either. Anyway, it's a dread that nobody knows the name for, like those little square plastic gizmos that close your bread bags. Thurgood didn't know the name for those either. What would Pencil Pusher's headstone read after he got 'retired' by his bosses for failing to do...whatever it was they had told him to do? "Terrible at his job, but awesome at locating lost objects. Could count the hairs on a fly's legs from a mile away. His superpower will be missed." Course it would probably be in Chinese not English so that meant it would be a bunch of squiggles...would that make it longer or shorter? Could you fit more on a tombstone in Chinese or in English? Thurgood would have to ask Kenji about it at some point, China and Japan were the same place but slightly different, like the Asian equivalent of New York and Texas right?

"I don't have the authority to allow the Collective to open up anything permanent on China, you know that Dr. Borg."

It was at this point that Kenji interjected into the conversation. "Don't worry about it Jeff. We are happy to have your business. Last time I checked, the Collective had an office on all four of Japan's major islands and you are welcome to open more. We love the technological progress your company brings with it, you've done wonders for our economy."

This actually caused SomeBitch to speak up. "You don't see any dangers in having your economic boom rely solely on one company? What happens when they decide to leave to focus on making money somewhere else?"

Kenji laughed at her in response. "Alright, they leave. So what? Who said we were dependent on the Collective's offices? If you did your research at all, you would know the offices are primarily used as recruitment and assimilation chambers for people that wish to become drones. Most of the Collective's products are created in other countries and shipped in." That shut her up, Thurgood noticed smugly as he found a chair and sat down. Ooooh, lots of cushion on this chair. Kinda bouncy, why hadn't he sat in this chair before?

"But back onto the original topic at hand," Jeff said while giving the reporter a quick glare. "I am not worried about the Russian Collective and neither are the drones. So, regardless of what our relationship with China turns out to be, we won't be altering our business strategies. We didn't do anything when Russian announced that they had created a Collective five years ago, I don't see why we should change just because I've now met an implanted nano-scientist."

That caught everyone's attention, even Dixie looked up from her book. Thurgood was the first to speak. "Say what now J-man? Old Man has a neural transceiver implanted in his head? But he doesn't say 'we' and uses like, actual emotions when he talks."

"Well, clearly the Russian neural network doesn't have sufficient people on it yet, or maybe they've equipped their transceivers with an off switch when they aren't working. It doesn't really matter. What I do know is that when I got a close look at Rex's head this morning at breakfast, I recognized some of the scars on his head as those that come from a neural transceivers implantation surgery," Jeff answered.

"So does that change anything? That dude's on a network, he could be spying on us or something. Should we do something?" Thurgood asked.

"Thurgood, I realize your brain is the size of a Lilliput but honestly, why are you worried? You found Rex rather amusing prior to my revelation and suddenly you think he might be a spy? Nothing has actually changed. He is still a (apparently) respected scientist in the field of nanotechnology. The Collective invited him because the Fountainis the biggest building in the world that had nanites involved in every single piece of construction. Not to mention I'm pretty sure he's also an agent of the SVR so it would be a good idea to not anger a global superpower by harming one of their intelligence agents."

The conversation in the room died as the creak of a door opening signaled that Old Man was exiting the bathroom. As he slowly made his way back to his chair he spoke, "Well, judging from the way you all shut up, I imagine I was the subject of your conversation. Let's not make this anymore awkward then it already is and just come clean, shall we?"

Thurgood decided to speak up first, "Old Man...is it true you're a Borg drone?"

The sound the Old Man made was either laughter or a death rattle, Thurgood wasn't sure. "I have a neural transceiver in my head, but I am not part of your Borg Collective, and certainly not a drone."

"How does that work?" Dixie, of all people, asked. "I thought getting one of those machines put in your brain killed all emotions."

"I am not at liberty to discuss the schematics of our neural transceivers, but rest assured we improved upon Jeff's original design and found a way around that particular problem." Old Man said smugly while glancing at Jeff.

"And stupidity springs eternal once again, you can't improve perfection. What you did was not an improvement Rex, all you people did was create a limitation." Jeff quickly retorted.

"Are someone's feelings hurt that he didn't think of the next upgrade to add to his favorite toy?" Old Man asked.

"Canis- er um Jade, make sure your camera is rolling for this part." Jeff stood up from his chair and looked down at Old Man, who didn't seem the least bit intimidated. "The emotionless aspect of the drones within the Borg Collective is not, I repeat NOT, the result of a hardware or software flaw. It is the natural result of what happens when so many voices on the neural network talk at once, they drown each other out as the various rivers of emotions meet and form a neural sea. From what you've just told us, the Russian government has deliberately hindered the neural transceivers from constantly talking to each other which limits their ability to do the job I designed them for. Ergo, the neural transceiver in your head is not an improvement, it is a knock-off. Anyone that believes otherwise need only look at the progress the Russian Collective has made compared to that of my Collective. We have developed game engines, operating systems, self-replicating robots, and new sources of energy. We built a damned space elevator! What have you accomplished? Nothing that's what! You've done nothing but simple proof-of-concept work to show that your neural transceivers function. You haven't had the breakthroughs the Borg Collective has had because you continue to hold onto your pathetic ideals of individuality, the possibility of changing the course of the human race's development is within your grasp and you lack the willpower to reach out and do anything!" And with that Jeff spun around and stormed out of the room.

Thurgood noticed Jeff went through the door that lead out of the passenger section and off to one of the numerous cargo areas. Deciding he would rather hang out with Jeff than talk with any of these boring people, Thurgood hopped up from his seat and raced out the Thurgood caught up to Jeff in the hallway he couldn't help but laugh as he slapped Jeff on the back. "Jay-Dawg, that was amazing. That was more awesome than a shark high fiving a grizzly bear during an explosion...on Mount Everest! You put Old Man in his place, and right in from of SomeBitch too. Do you realize that if you had struck a pose before leaving, the whole elevator would have frozen solid from your coolness?"

Jeff just sighed. "I cannot understand how shortsighted some people can be. Rex might as well be the ancient Chinese. The Russian government has the secret of gunpowder and all they want is to make pretty fireworks. I know in my speech down in the spaceport I said I would welcome any competition from groups that want to beat the Collective in choosing the trajectory of human history, but now I think no groups are actually going to take the challenge. Everyone is too content, too lazy, too happy with the status quo. They'll complain about whatever the Collective is doing because it is strange and makes them uncomfortable, but they are sure happy to reap the benefits of our advances."

"Man Jeff, why do you have to be such a downer? Here I am trying to congratulate you on an epic speech and you're getting all angsty about the state of mankind."

"Frankly, Thurgood, I don't understand how you can't be concerned about the future of mankind. The amount of influence you and I have over the Borg Collective is astounding when you think of it, when we talk, they actually listen. How do you not stop and think about what you can do with that kind of power? When you die, what is your legacy going to be? How are people going to remember you?"

"I...er...I don't have an answer to that Dr. B." Thurgood responded after several seconds of thought.

"When I turn those questions around on myself and try to answer them, I don't like what I come up with. I am 'angsty' because I looked in the mirror and couldn't recognize what was looking back."

"Then maybe it's time went in and got your eye augmentations looked at, I'm pretty sure there is a virus going around the affects depth perception. Was made some some bored Swedish teenager on a bet. I can assure you that when you look in the mirror, you will see you. You're still the same crotchety old man you've always been ever since I met you." Thurgood said reassuringly.

Jeff just sighed.

Fountain of Paradise Passenger Section, High Above Brunei June 24, 2069 AD

"So our rockets would shoot up into space hauling all as much of the building materials they could, and once they got there all the stuff would be set to drift in orbit around the Earth. The rockets would then fly back home to pick up more stuff to bring up to space." Thurgood explained to Dixie.

"OK, but that doesn't totally explain on the elevator was built. The cables for this thing are incredibly long. It's not like these could be made in a factory somewhere." Dixie said as she glanced out of a window. She had just woke up from a nap, apparently it was the middle of the night since she and Thurgood were the only passengers who were awake. Deciding she wasn't in the mood for reading, she had asked Thurgood how various projects by the Collective worked. When he didn't wander off subject his explanations were rather informative, at the moment they were discussing the construction of the Fountain.

"Ah, well you see we had, still have actually, a bunch of nanites in the Zenith Space Station. At the time the Zenith was orbiting around the Earth so it would release the nanites on the raw materials and they would transform the stuff in the cables and what-not needed for the elevator. Apparently we need a lot of something called graphene that took the nanites a while to make. Once we had enough it was just a matter of stringing it all together and threading the camel through the eye of the needle. Then we monkey fisted the elevator cables down to the ground, then back up, then back down, then back up, and then it was built. Once everything was attached, the Zenith became stationary over Brunei at the top of the elevator."

Dixie was pretty sure she followed Thurgood's explanation. "Now that the elevator is built and, since we haven't died yet, apparently working, what's the Collective's next step?"

"There aren't any steps Dixie. It's an elevator, not stairs...its not an escalator either cus those also have steps even if most people just stand on them."

"What? No, Thurgood that's not what I meant. What does the Collective plan on doing next now that the elevator's built? Are they going to explore outside the Solar System? Build a base on the Moon? Travel to Mars?"

"Hmmm," Thurgood said as he stroked his chin in a clearly exaggerated manner so as to appear as if he was deep in thought. Dixie resisted the urge to say anything, she didn't want another ten minute lecture on the importance of properly cleaning pineapples before eating them. "I would have to say the answer to all of that is: yes. While we can't go to any other solar systems yet, the Collective just finished developing a new kind of rocket engine. They haven't done any space flights with it yet but it did very well in the lab. Made for a great grill too, I ever tell you I was trained as a Hibachi chef? I made some awesome Teriyaki steak on the top of that rocket. The tricky part was finding a spot where the plasma exhaust didn't waft over and alter the flavor of the meat."

"Plasma exhaust? Don't the Collective's laser guns use plasma? You mean you guys have developed a laser rocket and you were cooking on it?" Dixie wasn't sure if she should be impressed or terrified at this tidbit of information.

"Eh, I'd probably screw it up if I tried to explain everything to you. Mainly because I don't remember how the engine works and so would make it all up in an effort to impress you...did I say that last part out loud?"

"Yes, yes you did."

"Ah...well that's unfortunate." Thurgood said nervously.

Deciding to steer the conversation in another direction before Thurgood tried to make up for his verbal gaff Dixie said, "Don't worry, I'm used to it. So I notice you're not wearing a wedding ring. No special woman at home waiting for you?"

"Nah, most chicks don't get me. They don't understand the vast cosmic wonders that are locked away in my brain, so they tend to get mad at me when I don't do something."

"...vast cosmic wonders? Like what?" Dixie asked, though she couldn't imagine what Thurgood could possibly know that would fall into that category.

"Well, for example, a couple years ago I was dating this chick...well sorta dating...well, OK she was the cashier at the McDonald's near my house. MY POINT is we could been going out, but we weren't, cus she didn't get me. I would stand in line contemplating the existence of food and how it was behind her counter instead of in my belly, and she would get mad at me for thinking. She would actually yell at me for thinking! I bet she was a communist, communists don't like it when you think. Did you know communists can squeeze their bodies down to fit through a hole the size of a quarter? Wait...I think that was rats."

"Well, that's...interesting." Dixie said.

"Yea, the drones said that too when I told them about it. I remember they said something about having to compensate some guy named Heisenberg if I was going to get my food without having to go to a restaurant, which is weird because I don't have the implant that lets me plug my stomach into an outlet so I don't see why they would need to pay anyone."

"You don't have the nutritional augmentation?" Dixie asked in surprise.

"You mean you do?"

"Of course! I don't think I know a single pornographic actress or fashion model that doesn't have one. It's so amazing, I don't get hungry anymore so I don't have to worry about getting fat. I just figured that since you work for the Collective you would have such a useful augmentation."

"I like food too much, plus electricity tastes horrible. Ever lick a wall socket? Let me tell you, it ain't pleasant." Thurgood said with a shudder. "So all you porn stars have one? I thought Jeff said they didn't sell well."

Dixie shrugged, "I guess it depends on what your definition of 'well' is."

"Mass market penetration I would imagine. Though then again since they're in every porn star in America I imagine there is plenty of penetration going on already. UP HIGH!" Thurgood said while holding his hand out waiting for Dixie to high five him.

"Not going to happen Thurgood. Besides I think I've had enough...thought-provoking conversation for one night, I'm heading back to bed." Dixie said as she slowly stood up.

Aldrin Rocket, High Above Brunei June 26, 2069 AD

"Make sure you are properly strapped in Dr. Borg. The CollinsRocket is currently receiving repairs because one of the tourists did not follow all of the safety instructions prior to reentering the Earth's atmosphere and she was thrown from her seat damaging several electronic components along with herself." The drone pilot said as he floated around the cockpit, looking at the various display screens.

Jeff let out a groan as he continued checking the various straps, buckles, and safety harnesses around his chair. "Are we going to have to deal with a lawsuit? I thought that's why we made it such a long process to get tied into these seats in the first place, to avoid this exact scenario."

"Because her injuries were deemed life-threatening upon landing, we gave her an emergency dose of nanites to heal the more serious internal injuries she received. A neural transceiver was also constructed in her brain."

"And you don't think that will come back to bite the Collective later? Sure, she won't sue, but what about her family? Someone with enough money to afford a space flight doesn't just randomly decide to give up their individuality." Jeff asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We are aware of that Dr. Borg, which is why we are using this an excellent opportunity to test out the new nanite delivery system. In addition to heal wounds and constructing a neural transceiver, the nanites we injected will also build assimilation tubules in the subject's wrists, which will allow for the injection of nanites into other individuals. Should this test run prove successful, all drones will be upgraded with this augmentation."

"You're going to forcefully assimilate a family into the Collective? That's...different. Really different actually. Yea, I've tricked people into getting implanted before, and yes, we've forcefully assimilated criminals but this...this is a whole new level for you guys." Jeff wasn't entirely pleased with this development, even if he was impressed with how well the drones were handling the situation from a damage control perspective.

"No, it is not different. You said yourself we have assimilated others against their will. We are doing this, just like we did those, for the good of the Collective, for the good of humanity."

"You know what? Fine, I really don't want to argue with you after spending five days stuck in a confined space with Canis Lupus Familiaris." Jeff took a deep, calming breath. "So anything else I should know? Might as well drop all the bombshells on me at once."

"We have constructed and stabilized a quantum computer, though its computational power is severely limited." the pilot said as he floated down to his seat and began strapping himself in.

"How limited are we talking here? Cheap labtop from Wal-Mart? Lobotomized, mentally challenge cockroach? Steam-powered calculator? I'm going to need an approximation to tell the press," Jeff said, taking mental notes.

"You will not need a comparison as poor as any of those. We created a new low order programming language, which we are calling Leap, that is far more efficient than any other language."

"My knowledge of quantum computers is a bit rusty," Jeff reluctantly admitted. "Why does the new language make such a big difference for a quantum computer when it didn't make such a drastic change back when we sold that operating system to Google?"

"Silicon-chip based computers grow in power linearly, following Moore's Law. Quantum computer increase in power quadratically. We have approximated that two years should be how much time it will take us to test and perfect all the necessary infrastructure, programming languages, memory storage, data transfer, et cetera to create a quantum supercomputer."

This was going to make some people rather uneasy, and for once it probably wouldn't be the general public. Quite a couple governments and their militaries would not like a private company having a supercomputer that outclassed anything they could hope to have by several orders of magnitude. The Collective's quantum computer could probably break just about any code or cryptographic system in existence simply by being able to do so many calculations so quickly. Hacking the IRS's database and altering around a few tax laws would be a nice possibility. This had some serious potential, maybe the Collective should just keep quiet about this little project for now. Then again, there were other quantum computers out there but Jeff didn't know where the Collective stood in the quantum computer power hierarchy. If the drone was making such a big deal out of this then it was likely that this discovery would send them to the top of the pack but that wasn't a guarantee.

"I'm the only person that has been told about this, right?" Jeff asked his pilot.

"Correct, we have not yet notified Mr. Jenkins."

"Let's keep it that why for a while, continue developing the quantum computer but don't tell anyone. And try to keep as much of the production in-house as possible, we can't have any leaks. This could be big."

Author's Note: Bit of a short chapter, but it lays down the groundwork for several technologies which will be relevant later on in the story. If you know which technologies, you deserve a cookie.