“Iwould like to have access to a DC room.”
“Whatis the purpose of your visit?”
“FurtherVision development. Broad search criteria.”
“Ofcourse.” She looked at the holo screen in front of her, which was black from myside. She tapped a few buttons, then swiped through severalholo pages before she reached down to her drawer.
Shehanded me an E-hook. “Floor three, right, DC room three fourteen. Please returnthe interface on your way out. Enjoy your stay.”
Ipicked up the E-hook and thanked her.
Iwalked around the counter and entered one of the four transparent elevatortubes. The door closed and the tube pushed me up to the third floor while Ilooked down at people entering and leaving the DC Hall.
Onthe third floor, the tube wall opened, and I walked out and turned right. All DCrooms were transparent, and I could see the people inside, but the holo screenswere dark when viewed from the hallway.
Ifound my room, placed my palm on the DC room scanningpanel, and entered. The door closed behind me. It was a small room with adiameter of only one IP. It was meant to be occupiedby only one person in a standing position. I took the E-hook and put it to myleft ear. The object attached itself to my head, allowing me to move freelywithout it falling off. A tone signaled that the connection to my nanoprobeswas established.
Ithought about my search focus for a moment. Without making it too obvious, I neededto find articles about current experiments somehow related to the Mind that hadrun into problems.
“Search:Booleans. Current experiments.”
Severalpages with different titles piled up on the desk screen. I swiped the screenupward to bring them in front of me on the holo screen wall.
“Advancements in Rejuvenation Procedures.”
Itapped on the title, and the first page of information sheet appeared. I glancedthrough it.
“Thirty years regular cycle… scientist at theBoolean Institute used a novel sequence… new virus extends the rejuvenation cycleup to fifty years…”
Clear.
Itapped on “virus” to check if it had anything to do with Humans. Several newpages appeared, but none of them mentioned the Human species. I swiped all ofthe pages on my screen and pushed them down, minimizing them at the bottomright corner.
Ilooked back on the piles of information sheets that referred to theexperiments.
“3-D Algae Lakes.”
Ilooked into the file.
Onmost of the Uni worlds, oxygen is made by fusion plants andGMO forests in the Nature Halls. However, the amounts produced that wayare not sufficient for the whole planet’s population, so Booleans devised asystem of algae lakes, which produce the majority of oxygen. Recently, theyseemed to have developed a novel structure where algae grow on several levels,therefore producing more oxygen than a 2-D surface previously had.
Itdidn’t seem like there were any yield issues here.
Iclicked on “algae.”
“Skin products… raw food material…”
Iread through.
Clear.
Humanswere not good test subjects either, because their metabolism is too differentfrom ours. In addition, Booleans have been using in vitro cell-culture preps usingDescendant cells for centuries. They wouldn’t need Humans for that.
Iswiped the screens down, and all the pages disappeared in front of me.
“Whatelse? What about Zamnan Second?” I mused and swiped up some more pages from thesearch pile I had on the desk.
“Dr. Zamnan Second wins the Uni Award for NovelResearch in epigenetics and mutagenesis.”
Yes. Yet again.
BothZamnan First and Zamnan Second received multiple awards from Zlathars for the developmentof the Descendant species. All the species in Uni were once Humans. With thetargeted mutagenesis during the voyage of the Seedships, led by Dr. ZamnanFirst, most of the Descendant species were already being developed, though thecurrent range of species took another thousand years to reach their final stage.The large population of original Humans rebelled against Descendants, but theywere defeated by Zlathar forces and placed on the concentration planet Zema4,where they are still kept under surveillance.
Ilooked back at the holo screen.
Thiswas not the information I was looking for. I touched a pile of informationsheets on the desk and made a fist to mimic crumpling paper. All the sheets ofthe previous search disappeared.
“Inthe Vision, Zamnan Second showed apprehension regarding the Mind. I need to viewLoreans,” I said out loud, and typed: Loreans.Mind. Yield.
Severalpages piled up on the table, and I swiped up several of them to look at them onthe screen.
“The high-security Mind central station isbeing transported to a new location.”
Ishook my head slightly and read the line again.
Unclear.
Thisinformation did not make sense.
Thelocation of the Mind was a tightly kept secret; only high-ranking Loreans andZlathars knew about it. If it was a secret, then why write about a change oflocation in the first place?
Unless…
Unlessthis was to dissuade anyone else who would want to search for it.
Iclosed my eyes, letting my nanoprobes recalculate the possibilities. Then Inodded and opened my eyes.
Yes, possible… but then,who? And why?
Ilooked back to the article and read through the rest. As expected, it was shortand didn’t give away any useful information. The Mind was too valuable to makesomething of such importance public knowledge. The only issue was that ithindered the creation of my future Visions. If I did not receive correct data,I could not recalculate possible future options.
Ishook my head and raised my hand to the screen, but just before I moved toswipe it away, a line at the end of the article caught my attention:
“…with the smooth newtransition. Moreover, there was no delay in chip delivery. The replacementscontinue on schedule.”
Replacements?Of APC chips?
Definitely unclear!
Idid not know that APC chips had to be replaced. There should be no need to doso. Most of the synthetic materials produced at Uni last for several millennia.Why, then, would they need to replace them?
Ilooked back at the board and typed “APC chips” to access more information. Allof a sudden, there was a faint buzzing sound, and all my screens went black. Ilooked up, confused. Then I tapped on the holo wall. Nothing. I tapped on thetable desk. Still nothing.
Ipressed the E-hook on my left ear and said out loud, “The DC room isdysfunctional. I need assistance.”
Therewas a short break, and then the voice of the woman at the reception replied,“Yes, I see it on the screen.
