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Mysterious Logbook: Difference between revisions
All pages transcribed. Images added. I want to sleep. Traveler save me. Unless it's a typo (which I will cross reference), I expect nobody to touch a single thing on this page.
(Added NOTE--BAROTRAUMA through NOTE--CLARITY) |
(All pages transcribed. Images added. I want to sleep. Traveler save me. Unless it's a typo (which I will cross reference), I expect nobody to touch a single thing on this page.) |
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The '''Mysterious Logbook''' is the journal of [[Clovis Bray I]], included in the [[Beyond Light]] Collector's Edition. It contains entries on a variety of topics, including Europa and information relating to the moon, as well as Exos.<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ib5OXH3UQr-6eG-eXlQEvMjsdV1p2Y45/view?usp=sharing '''Google Drive''' - ''DCSJournal_Bach'']</ref> Based on the appearance of the pages, the journal is in decent condition, despite its likely age. There are at least 46 pages within the journal, with the final pages seemingly ripped out. | The '''Mysterious Logbook''' is the journal of [[Clovis Bray I]], included in the [[Beyond Light]] Collector's Edition. It contains entries on a variety of topics, including Europa and information relating to the moon, as well as Exos.<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ib5OXH3UQr-6eG-eXlQEvMjsdV1p2Y45/view?usp=sharing '''Google Drive''' - ''DCSJournal_Bach'']</ref> Based on the appearance of the pages, the journal is in decent condition, despite its likely age. There are at least 46 pages within the journal, with the final pages seemingly ripped out. | ||
Text in <span style="color:#008080;">this color</span> indicates Clovis Bray I | Text in <span style="color:#008080;">this color</span> indicates handwritten notes made by Clovis Bray I. | ||
===-01-=== | ===-01-=== | ||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
==ENTRY 1== | ==ENTRY 1== | ||
===-02-=== | ===-02-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 001.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
A new start. A clean page for a most important story. | A new start. A clean page for a most important story. | ||
| Line 32: | Line 34: | ||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
:'''Objective: construct long-term scientific''' <br> | ::'''Objective: construct long-term scientific''' <br> | ||
:'''outpost for study of indigenous Europan life.''' | ::'''outpost for study of indigenous Europan life.''' | ||
:'''Resources: eight prefab starter habitats, ''' <br> | ::'''Resources: eight prefab starter habitats, ''' <br> | ||
:'''600 shielded heavy work frames, and VIS(NU) ''' <br> | ::'''600 shielded heavy work frames, and VIS(NU) ''' <br> | ||
:'''and B-RA/MA cytomachines with backup''' <br> | ::'''and B-RA/MA cytomachines with backup''' <br> | ||
:'''replication chambers aboard''' '''''Hannu.''''' '''The best''' <br> | ::'''replication chambers aboard''' '''''Hannu.''''' '''The best''' <br> | ||
:'''hazardous-environment engineers money can't''' <br> | ::'''hazardous-environment engineers money can't''' <br> | ||
:'''buy. SMILE support for extended duration.''' <br> | ::'''buy. SMILE support for extended duration.''' <br> | ||
:'''Two of Elisabeth's Eon-type platforms for''' <br> | ::'''Two of Elisabeth's Eon-type platforms for''' <br> | ||
:'''radar, Lidar, and deep ice mapping.''' | ::'''radar, Lidar, and deep ice mapping.''' | ||
:'''Hazards: Lethal radiation environment (heavy''' <br> | ::'''Hazards: Lethal radiation environment (heavy''' <br> | ||
:'''ion bombardment from Jovian magnetosphere).''' <br> | ::'''ion bombardment from Jovian magnetosphere).''' <br> | ||
:'''Unshielded crew half-Life is 24 hours.''' <br> | ::'''Unshielded crew half-Life is 24 hours.''' <br> | ||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
| Line 54: | Line 56: | ||
things too well. They are already killing me. <br> | things too well. They are already killing me. <br> | ||
The | The K1 artifact promised me an offering. A gateway to the secret of <br> | ||
immortality. I call it Clarity. <br> | immortality. I call it Clarity. <br> | ||
| Line 118: | Line 120: | ||
===-04-=== | ===-04-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 004.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
:'''Ongoing projects:''' | :'''Ongoing projects:''' | ||
| Line 133: | Line 137: | ||
==NOTE--BAROTRAUMA== | ==NOTE--BAROTRAUMA== | ||
===-05-=== | ===-05-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 005.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
If we land too hard on Europa, we will plunge into the ocean below the ice <br> | If we land too hard on Europa, we will plunge into the ocean below the ice <br> | ||
and die of barotrauma. Death by pressure. | and die of barotrauma. Death by pressure. | ||
| Line 215: | Line 221: | ||
legacy no longer mine? How can I be reborn through the eternal recurrence <br> | legacy no longer mine? How can I be reborn through the eternal recurrence <br> | ||
of my life-logic if what my children pass down is the logic of some other <br> | of my life-logic if what my children pass down is the logic of some other <br> | ||
Clovis, some flawed copy... just as Clovis II was a flawed image of me? <br> | Clovis, some flawed copy...just as Clovis II was a flawed image of me? <br> | ||
A flaw that I created in my clumsy eagerness to make him flawless. | A flaw that I created in my clumsy eagerness to make him flawless. | ||
| Line 260: | Line 266: | ||
:*'''Today's blood mix is pure perfluorocarbon''' <br> | :*'''Today's blood mix is pure perfluorocarbon''' <br> | ||
::'''with new modified monocytes.''' | ::'''with new modified monocytes.''' | ||
:*'''New kidneys functioning well. Donor pig sacrificed, brined, prepared as seared pork''' <br> | :*'''New kidneys functioning well. Donor pig''' <br> | ||
::sacrificed, brined, prepared as seared pork''' <br> | |||
::'''chops.''' | ::'''chops.''' | ||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
===-08-=== | ===-08-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 008.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Sous vide is for prissy nerds. Poor Whitford. I wonder if I should reduce the volume </span><br> | :<span style="color:#008080;">Sous vide is for prissy nerds. Poor Whitford. I wonder if I should reduce the volume </span><br> | ||
:<span style="color:#008080;">of my stem cells introduced to the pig blastocysts. I feel too much empathy for them. </span><br> | :<span style="color:#008080;">of my stem cells introduced to the pig blastocysts. I feel too much empathy for them. </span><br> | ||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Does PFHOR compel me to take better care of Clovis-pig chimeras than ordinary porkers? </span><br> | :<span style="color:#008080;">Does PFHOR compel me to take better care of Clovis-pig chimeras than ordinary porkers? </span><br> | ||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Yes... but only to the extent that they can contribute to my legacy </span><br> | :<span style="color:#008080;">Yes...but only to the extent that they can contribute to my legacy </span><br> | ||
:<span style="color:#008080;">with cloned organs and good eating. No guilt!</span> | :<span style="color:#008080;">with cloned organs and good eating. No guilt!</span> | ||
==NOTE--SAVAGING== | ==NOTE--SAVAGING== | ||
===-09-=== | ===-09-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 009.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
The term for parents destroying their own offspring is "savaging." | The term for parents destroying their own offspring is "savaging." | ||
| Line 293: | Line 302: | ||
==NOTE--EUROPA LIFE== | ==NOTE--EUROPA LIFE== | ||
===-010-=== | ===-010-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 010.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
Now a bristling thing, large as a whale, appears on the icebore camera we <br> | Now a bristling thing, large as a whale, appears on the icebore camera we <br> | ||
| Line 367: | Line 377: | ||
===-012-=== | ===-012-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 012.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
I struggle to explain what I will become. The LUCA. I borrowed that term <br> | I struggle to explain what I will become. The LUCA. I borrowed that term <br> | ||
| Line 392: | Line 403: | ||
===-013-=== | ===-013-=== | ||
Study of the lunar artifact retrieved from the | Study of the lunar artifact retrieved from the K1 mission provides insight <br> | ||
into the effect I have termed "Clarity." | into the effect I have termed "Clarity." | ||
| Line 479: | Line 490: | ||
'''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | '''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | ||
'''entangled qubits for security''' | '''entangled qubits for security''' | ||
</tt> | |||
Wilhelmina, it's your grandfather. I'm on Europa doing some very exciting <br> | |||
work. I understand that you're probably reluctant to enter into any <br> | |||
collaboration, given my choices surrounding your father's treatment. But I <br> | |||
sincerely believe that this will be the most important scientific project since <br> | |||
the invention of agriculture. <br> | |||
You know how I value minds that can run alongside my own. I fondly <br> | |||
remember your childhood explanation of the myth of the alpha wolf. The <br> | |||
truth, you told me, was that the so-called alpha is not a dominant male, but <br> | |||
simply the father of the family. | |||
I remember with less fondness, but with equal respect, your later accusation <br> | |||
that I had so fully assumed the role of immortal patriarch as to close myself <br> | |||
off from you. "Megalos kryos pateras," you called me, in very poor Greek. <br> | |||
On the day of my son's funeral. | |||
Let me show you what I was thinking of when I was not thinking of my family. <br> | |||
Come to Europa. Help me. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//save draft unsent''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ANASTASIA== | ==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ANASTASIA== | ||
===-016-=== | ===-016-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 016.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
'''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) - qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | '''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) - qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | ||
| Line 488: | Line 525: | ||
'''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | '''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | ||
'''entangled qubits for security. ''' | '''entangled qubits for security. ''' | ||
</tt> | |||
Anastasia, it's your grandfather. I'm on Europa doing some very exciting <br> | |||
work. I understand that you're probably reluctant to enter into any <br> | |||
collaboration, given your memory of your father's treatment process. I also <br> | |||
know that you've struggled with questions of belonging...not helped by my <br> | |||
own attitude towards your genetics. | |||
Let me make amends. You've wasted enough on that paranoiac machine. <br> | |||
Both of us know that your attempts to fix the value-capture problem are <br> | |||
just bandages on an ethical wound. Come to Europa. Let's set aside the <br> | |||
broken past and make a clean start. | |||
What I have here will change everything. We will be as immortal as your <br> | |||
warmind, and far more human. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//save draft unsent''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
===-017-=== | ===-017-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 017.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
'''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) -qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | '''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) -qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | ||
'''rng_seed(AM_241) --pad(padelsie''' | '''rng_seed(AM_241) --pad(padelsie''' | ||
</tt> | |||
Come to Europa. I am taking an enormous risk-and this time I am the one <br> | |||
at risk. Let me prove to you that I did nothing to your father that I wouldn't <br> | |||
do to myself. | |||
There are significant dangers. Outside-context threats. Your expertise would <br> | |||
be invaluable. I need you. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//save''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==ENTRY 4== | ==ENTRY 4== | ||
===-018-=== | ===-018-=== | ||
===- | |||
I FOUND HER! | |||
Clarity Control. The mystery I was promised. | |||
Analysis of the surrounding ice suggests it arrived on Europa no more than <br> | |||
20 years ago...still, well before I encountered the K1 artifact. How long <br> | |||
have they planned my invitation? | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''ARRIVAL EVENT: omnibus analysis of''' <br> | |||
::'''spallation products in the ice suggest''' <br> | |||
::'''recent x-ray bombardment, characteristic''' <br> | |||
::'''of the decay of a Majorana-massive Light''' <br> | |||
::'''sterile neutrino. These neutrinos are''' <br> | |||
::'''associated with the Lambda field and the''' <br> | |||
::'''expansion of the early universe.''' | |||
</tt> | |||
So a blast of dark neutrinos struck this particular province of Europan <br> | |||
chaos. The particle involved-yet more evidence that Clarity is as old as <br> | |||
time? The Alkahest that shaped the early universe...? <br> | |||
I wonder why Clarity Control chose the particular aspect it did. That form, <br> | |||
that face. The same visage as the precursor on Earth's moon. What is it <br> | |||
meant to communicate? Is it a message particularly meant for me? <br> | |||
I have always harbored a wariness towards women. I understand people as <br> | |||
coiled engines of self-interest. Programmed first by a cosmology that selects, <br> | |||
via the anthropic principle, for the possibility of complex structure. Then <br> | |||
by a biology that wipes out traits deleterious to its own persistence. And <br> | |||
then by a culture that evolves to promote the survival of its hosts. People <br> | |||
are avatars of these self-preserving forces. | |||
I feel a purity and a rightness to this understanding. It lets me see people as <br> | |||
they really are. It is the foundation of PFHOR. | |||
But all this is complicated in women. They are the sites of such <br> | |||
evolutionary complexity-the grandmother hypothesis, for example, or the <br> | |||
eusociality of female ants. Even their flesh is hard to understand. Female <br> | |||
bodies are a mosaic of two cell lines-one with the mother's X chromosome <br> | |||
active, one with the father's. Never both. A house of two lineages, <br> | |||
constantly renegotiating their mutual interest. | |||
===-19-=== | |||
[[File:Logbook 019.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
ls that interior plurality, that secret depth, why Elisabeth, Wilhelmina, <br> | |||
and Anastasia were all so vehemently opposed to my plan for Clovis Il's <br> | |||
treatment? Alton never fought it, but the girls were persistently...difficult. <br> | |||
Elisabeth has not replied to my message. I know she received it. I will have <br> | |||
to remind her of her own self-interest. | |||
==NOTE--WHY EXOMINDS FAIL== | ==NOTE--WHY EXOMINDS FAIL== | ||
===-020-=== | ===-020-=== | ||
The major obstacle to a viable exomind is the loop/billboard/crash cycle. | |||
Human consciousness in simula is not new. (The equipment we provided <br> | |||
AeroChina for containment of the K1 anomaly included simulated <br> | |||
connectome forks of the mission crew as mineshaft canaries.) But <br> | |||
simulated environments are limited. If a simulated crew member wants to <br> | |||
leave the mission and go home, they cannot, and that impossibility will <br> | |||
cause divergence from the physical original. Even minute changes in the <br> | |||
physical fidelity of the simulation can have chaotic effects. | |||
All cognition is embodied. The architecture of our minds is highly <br> | |||
co-evolved with our physical form. In or out of simulation, only a truly <br> | |||
synthetic Al can dissociate from the human body plan. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">And there be dragons.</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Without common evolutionary legacy, there is no reason an AI should share our values.</span> | |||
Given the limits of simulation, we need to find synthetic immortality <br> | |||
in the real world. The grail of homo simulacra is an artificial body with <br> | |||
an immortal human mind. (Attempts to upload human minds into <br> | |||
frames, with their artificial senses and limited architecture, are uniformly <br> | |||
terrifying and disagreeable.) <br> | |||
Early attempts at uploaded consciousness were haunted by fears that <br> | |||
the upload would suffer "cryptic loss of qualia": the unseen death of the <br> | |||
first-person, conscious mind. The upload would then become a so-called <br> | |||
billboard, a flat imitation. I lobbied the ISO to establish a standard for <br> | |||
a "certified conscious simulacrum." Any emulation of a human brain <br> | |||
must display neural activity correlated with consciousness, particularly in <br> | |||
the nuclei of the thalamus, midbrain, and pons. (Modern philosophy is <br> | |||
satisfied that all qualia have neural correlates.) | |||
Many researchers refer to this criterion as the "zombie detector." | |||
The problem with exominds is that they quickly stop passing the <br> | |||
zombie test. | |||
The first stage of the breakdown is looping-the same repetitive, <br> | |||
stereotyped behavior once observed in zoo animals. Prototype exominds <br> | |||
begin to repeat similar conversations and action schemes. This stereotypy <br> | |||
descends from high-level social behaviors, through cognitive programs <br> | |||
like memory recall and task selection, into basic motor functions. The <br> | |||
mid-stage symptoms are pacing, chewing, rocking, grunting, striking <br> | |||
limbs against walls or furniture, and facial tics. This is a result of <br> | |||
depressed activity in the higher brain. Without input from the prefrontal <br> | |||
cortex, the basal ganglia stops selecting new motor programs. | |||
===-021-=== | ===-021-=== | ||
The eventual, highly upsetting result is athetosis: a disorder characterized <br> | |||
by slow, involuntary writhing motions of the limbs, digits, neck, and <br> | |||
tongue. (Early exobodies, without governors on their paramuscle, could <br> | |||
tear themselves apart like starfish with wasting syndrome. This was how <br> | |||
my son died.) | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">I am reminded of that hideous Europan thing! Why does my brain </span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">insist on free-associating its way back to self-destruction? And again I return to </span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">savaging the young-- </span> | |||
The driver of this degenerative loop is a process we call "billboarding." No <br> | |||
matter how actively we stimulate the exobody, how rich we make its social <br> | |||
and cognitive environment, and how powerful its senses, we still observe <br> | |||
the gradual shutdown of exoneurons. The neural correlates of consciousness <br> | |||
in the midbrain are among the first to die. The exomind-despite acing <br> | |||
the Turing test-no longer meets ISO standards for consciousness. It is a <br> | |||
philosophical zombie. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">I have had the uncanny experience of holding a long,</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">emotional conversation with an uploaded woman, only to discover that she was unconscious</span> | |||
Eventually, this shutdown proceeds far enough that the exomind cannot sustain <br> | |||
its default network, the "light in the windows" of a living brain. We roll the <br> | |||
brainstate back and try again, but the outcome is inevitable. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">the entire time, and in fact showed</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">brain activity similar to deep asphyxia! The languid, ambiguous phrases that I found</span> | |||
Why does this self-strangulation occur? | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">so intriguing were the results of a brain that had lost its neocortex.</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">She was dead.</span> | |||
At first I believed the answer was simple. Like a tiger pacing in a zoo pen, the <br> | |||
exomind did not receive enough stimulation from the exobody. A human in <br> | |||
sensory deprivation will go mad. Perhaps the exobody deprived the mind of <br> | |||
some vital but unrecognized sense. | |||
But I now think I was on the wrong track. The problem is actually one of <br> | |||
excessive self-causation. If, as the philosopher Wick proposed, "We are that <br> | |||
which we cause the most," and our future selves qualify as "still truly us" only <br> | |||
because they are primarily determined by our current brainstate, then a paradox <br> | |||
arises. | |||
To remain ourselves, we must limit the amount of change we experience. For <br> | |||
example, our brain cannot be changed into a cloud of hot gas without killing <br> | |||
us. But what change is permissible? Would we not be most ourselves if we <br> | |||
NEVER changed? If our future state was fully determined by our current <br> | |||
state? | |||
I believe the human mind is engaged in constant self-correction. In order <br> | |||
to filter out external causation that might disrupt our self-loops, the mind <br> | |||
screens out errors (caused by cosmic rays, EM fields, prions, chemical <br> | |||
misfires, irritating conversations, etc.) by running a kind of constant <br> | |||
checksum on itself. Perhaps this recursive self-checking is even the source of <br> | |||
consciousness itself! | |||
Exominds, however, are immune to these natural sources of error. They are <br> | |||
not messy enough. They do not suffer enough jitter, enough degradation. | |||
===-022-=== | ===-022-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 022.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
When we train Ais, we knock out random neurons in each learning cycle, <br> | |||
forcing the AI to operate without them. This creates a more robust, stable <br> | |||
intelligence. It also shows why some random error and entropy is vital to <br> | |||
keeping a brain alive. Without those random knockouts, the AI is vulnerable <br> | |||
to overfitting: locking itself into a single, narrow, stereotyped behavior, <br> | |||
perfectly adapted to a very specific set of stimuli, but otherwise catatonic and <br> | |||
unresponsive. | |||
Without countervailing entropy, the very self-corrective processes meant to <br> | |||
maintain the human mind calcify and kill it. | |||
I believe this is why the exominds fail. | |||
If the exominds are to be viable shelters against mortality, I must find a <br> | |||
useful source of noise. Emulation of biological error will not be enough-the <br> | |||
exomind is designed for total immunity to such fleshy noise, after all. | |||
That source of error must be Clarity. The effect generated by Clarity Control. | |||
But how can it be gathered, harvested, and applied? How can I change Clarity <br> | |||
from an abstract process to something tangible, incarnate, and usable? | |||
I know that it is possible. It is the ''reason'' I was brought here. | |||
==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
| Line 514: | Line 768: | ||
'''entangled qubits for security.''' | '''entangled qubits for security.''' | ||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
I know your secret. Did you think you could keep it from me? Elisabeth, I <br> | |||
keep track of every tiny change in your gene expression. I know when you so <br> | |||
much as burp. You are my offspring! You are the most important thing in the <br> | |||
universe to me, for you are an extension of my own self! | |||
I understand you're angry with me. I would be too, if I'd watched my father <br> | |||
come so close to salvation, only to die the way he did. Believe me-the groans <br> | |||
and snaps of his exobody tearing itself apart haunt me almost as profoundly <br> | |||
as the things we said over his deathbed. | |||
I failed your father. First I tried to make him sleepless. When that failed <br> | |||
augment eventually turned against him, I correctly identified the disease as <br> | |||
fatal prion insomnia while those incompetents were still blathering about <br> | |||
unexplained cachexia. I even recognized that my boy's hypervigilant immune <br> | |||
system would make gene therapy and polythiophene treatment ineffective. At <br> | |||
every step, I was ahead of the problem, and entirely focused on its solution. | |||
I determined to transfer him to a new body. And I failed. The new body <br> | |||
killed him. His final scan still sleeps in the family archives, awaiting, <br> | |||
perhaps, some second chance. | |||
But what I am working on here could have saved him. Could save him still. | |||
AND IT CAN SAVE YOU. | |||
You know that you have your father's disease, inherited from the same genes <br> | |||
I so rashly engineered. You have the Clovis Curse. There is no way to know <br> | |||
exactly when it will strike, but once it does, I'm sure you've charted out <br> | |||
exactly how it will progress. | |||
First: insomnia. Panic, hallucination, and fear. Extended hypnagogia and the <br> | |||
loss of all dreams. You will sweat and your eyes will dwindle to points. You <br> | |||
will go into menopause. You will try anti-prion treatments and gene therapy <br> | |||
to correct the mutation, but your enhanced immunity will protect the very <br> | |||
flaw that is killing you. You will try immunosuppressants, but they will be no <br> | |||
match for the family arsenal. I did not make us to be easily edited. | |||
===-024-=== | ===-024-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 024.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
Within two years, you will be entirely unable to sleep. Dementia and <br> | |||
wasting will follow. You will be dead by then, but the husk you leave <br> | |||
behind will continue to live, sustained by machines, unable even to dream <br> | |||
of a time when it was Elisabeth Bray. | |||
Come to me. I am dying too. Let us save each other. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//send''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==ENTRY 5== | ==ENTRY 5== | ||
===-025-=== | ===-025-=== | ||
Disaster at the worksite. Clearly we will not be moving Clarity Control <br> | |||
like we did the K1 artifact. It reacted violently to the attempt. I have <br> | |||
entered 19 casualties into the log, since 19 engineers from the ''Hannu'' <br> | |||
team were caught in its reaction...though there were many more than 19 <br> | |||
bodies when it was finished. | |||
I have sequestered the recordings. Especially the sensorium telemetry. <br> | |||
Quite upsetting. | |||
Yet I do not believe it was an act of hostility. Even this outburst carried <br> | |||
themes of duplication...as if Clarity Control wanted to show it could <br> | |||
help me. | |||
It whispers to me. I have been communicating with it, just as I did the K1 <br> | |||
artifact. | |||
I dashed off a memo to the expedition team (all fully NDA'd, of course, <br> | |||
with hashes of their brain states on file as proof of honesty). I tried to be <br> | |||
plain. Yes, we will proceed with necessary caution. But I am now in contact <br> | |||
with Clarity Control. I am in communication with an intelligence so far <br> | |||
beyond our own that it can manipulate us like stones on a go board. | |||
Terrifying, obviously--but not malevolent. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">NOT MALEVOLENT!!!</span> | |||
If it wanted to extinguish us (according to dark forest logic, perhaps) <br> | |||
it would simply drop a strangelet into Earth. There is nothing it could <br> | |||
possibly want from us that could not be obtained elsewhere. Even if it <br> | |||
were so malicious as to feed on the raw suffering of conscious minds, it <br> | |||
would be easier to build vast hell-simulations, or to engineer a custom <br> | |||
species capable of limitless woe. | |||
If we are endangered by Clarity Control, it is only through accident or <br> | |||
miscommunication. Or punishment. Punishment is a key part of any <br> | |||
teaching process. | |||
Still, I am keenly aware that there might be some danger I cannot <br> | |||
foresee. So I have ordered an orbital platform constructed over the <br> | |||
worksite. If we need catastrophic containment, or a quick and thorough <br> | |||
redaction of our work here, the platform will excurse from its orbit and <br> | |||
collide with the site. | |||
Europa's orbital dynamics make even high polar orbits very unstable, <br> | |||
so the platform needs onboard power for course correction. A fission | |||
===-026-=== | ===-026-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 026.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
reactor makes sense--it requires less frequent refueling than a fusion <br> | |||
plant, and it's easy to hide something in the design that will allow it to <br> | |||
achieve, ah, extremely prompt criticality. | |||
Now we can proceed with peace of mind. | |||
<tt> | |||
:'''CORPOREAL STATUS: | |||
:*'''Body at 33.2 C. Pulse 33 BPM, strength''' <br> | |||
::'''good. BP 120 over 100. Resp 10 breaths/''' <br> | |||
::'''minute. Pulse ox 90, oxygen radical cleanup''' <br> | |||
::'''in progress.''' | |||
:*'''Today's blood mix is enriched pig's blood''' <br> | |||
::'''with new modified monocyte.''' | |||
:*'''Prep for liver regeneration and gallbladder''' <br> | |||
::'''transplant underway.''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==MESSAGE FROM BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE FROM BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
===-027-=== | ===-027-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 027.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
'''//decrypt -pkey(clovisroot) --pad(padelsie)''' | '''//decrypt -pkey(clovisroot) --pad(padelsie)''' | ||
</tt> | |||
Fine. I'm coming. If only to limit the damage you can cause. | |||
If you tell the family I'm sick, I'll never speak to you again. I won't even let <br> | |||
you treat me. You'll have to watch, helpless, as your own granddaughter <br> | |||
falls victim to your mistakes. | |||
I hope you're still someone capable of being troubled by that. | |||
-E | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//save''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==ENTRY 6== | ==ENTRY 6== | ||
===-028-=== | ===-028-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 028.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
A gate. Of course. Clarity Control is inviting me to make a GATE. | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''The Messenger Hypothesis. Aliens would seek''' <br> | |||
::'''the most efficient method of interstellar''' <br> | |||
::'''contact. Starships are slow, fragile, and''' <br> | |||
::'''massive. It is easier to send a set of''' <br> | |||
::'''instructions for a message receiver, or a''' <br> | |||
::'''construction blueprint for a portal.''' | |||
</tt> | |||
This explains the reports of visions and paranoia at the K1 site! The idiots <br> | |||
were receiving a message, but they failed to divine the true purpose! Or <br> | |||
perhaps the invitation was only intended for me. And it IS an invitation... | |||
...but I will need more data, and more talent, to answer it. I feel that the <br> | |||
gate Clarity Control wants me to build is not any form or product of <br> | |||
Clarity itself. The design, I think, is Vex...those pestilential nuisances <br> | |||
encountered on Venus and occasionally elsewhere. | |||
If I need a Vex gate to fulfill Clarity Control's purpose, then I will make a <br> | |||
Vex gate in the simplest way. I will have a Vex build it for me. | |||
I know exactly where to find one. The only trick will be concealing the fact <br> | |||
that I've taken it. | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''ASSET ACTIVATION:''' | |||
::'''//venus/ishtar/management/TRUSTFALL''' <br> | |||
::'''//venus/Ishtar/labor/DENNIS''' <br> | |||
::'''//venus/aerospace/ISR/NASSAU''' <br> | |||
::'''//venus/aerospace/cargo/WARBLER''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==ENTRY 6 AMENDMENT== | ==ENTRY 6 AMENDMENT== | ||
===-029-=== | ===-029-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 029.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
The raid on the Ishtar Collective went off flawlessly. Some casualties during <br> | |||
the outbreak, of course--they were woefully unprepared for their artifacts to <br> | |||
switch into expand-and-exploit behavior. Necessary sacrifices, alas. They died <br> | |||
meaningful deaths for a vital human project, even if they didn't know it. <br> | |||
Heroes, every one. | |||
After Rasputin intervened with frames and orbital fire, there was urgent <br> | |||
need for search and rescue. An easy task to have one of our ships slip away <br> | |||
with a specimen. By the time Ishtar is up and running again, they'll attribute <br> | |||
the missing artifact to damage during the battle. | |||
The stolen machine is now at work building the gate I require. | |||
The gate shares nothing in common with the structure of Clarity Control. <br> | |||
In fact, I am not sure it has a structure at all beyond the gross material form <br> | |||
and some apparently arbitrary interior complications. Even the materials are <br> | |||
elementally basic. Perhaps the design is old on a cosmic scale, dating back to <br> | |||
an era before supernovas, when there was very little free metal. | |||
I think the structure of the gate is simply a password, a configuration of <br> | |||
symbols which will be recognized by some distant technology. A connection <br> | |||
will be made. And what will we find when we pass through? The Babylon of <br> | |||
the universe? The Silk Road of some cosmic union? | |||
I will be the first, of course, but I will not go in the flesh. I will use my <br> | |||
assistant as remote proxy. It is all so exciting that I can hardly-- | |||
Can hardly-- | |||
<tt> | |||
:'''CORPOREAL ALERT:''' <br> | |||
:*'''Body at 30.2 C: emergency cooling. Pulse''' <br> | |||
::'''AFib: defibrillating. Pulse ox 110: supportive''' <br> | |||
::'''oxygen.''' <br> | |||
:*'''Inducing protective syncope.''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==NOTE--THE WATER AND THE WAVE== | ==NOTE--THE WATER AND THE WAVE== | ||
===-030-=== | ===-030-=== | ||
Quickly! Quickly, have to get it down. I saw-- | |||
I was a beast upon the earth, a salamander or an eel. Water passed through <br> | |||
that earth as streams pass through a garden. Beside each stream grew sweet <br> | |||
grass. Not much of it, but enough to feed little aphids, who lived mean and <br> | |||
starving lives. | |||
Now there came an upwelling of water from the earth, so that the streams <br> | |||
ran fat and slow. The grass grew thick. The aphids mated and multiplied. <br> | |||
Ants came to enslave the aphids, and the aphids joined together to oppose <br> | |||
them. And in victory they returned to tend their grass, to aerate its roots <br> | |||
and spread its seeds. So they did thrive. | |||
Now it occurred to me that I might join two streams by crawling between <br> | |||
them on my belly. Having done so, I saw that I might dam one stream to <br> | |||
divert its water into the other. The aphids of the first stream came to me in <br> | |||
protest, but I said to them, "Go to the new pond I have made, and join the <br> | |||
aphids there in cultivation, and I will send more water unto you." | |||
And they were greatened by the joining. | |||
Thus, I proceeded to join all the streams together into one pond. And <br> | |||
whenever the aphids of a small stream might protest, I said to them, "Go, <br> | |||
look at my pond, and see the plenitude I have provided to my people <br> | |||
there." When it became necessary to stop those upstream from polluting <br> | |||
the water, I offered them the bounty of our pond, the grass and the <br> | |||
watercress. And if they did not yield, I sent the ant-fighters against them, <br> | |||
because their petty good injured the good of the all. | |||
I appointed ministers of water and soil and seed and war, and to the most <br> | |||
loyal, I gave these posts as reward; but ultimately their power depended on <br> | |||
me, for they were aphid and I was Leviathan. | |||
In time, I became the coordinator of all water and the dispensator of fertility. <br> | |||
Then I became the coordinator of coordinators, and I gave up the control of <br> | |||
thirst and life for control of those who had control. And all my craft became <br> | |||
the pure and abstract management of power. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Note: reminds me of a book--</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">theory and practice of something, by E. Goldstein? Or that Michels tract about</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">oligarchy?</span> | |||
Then saw upon the horizon a wave, and the wave was God, and it <br> | |||
approached me, saying, "We are as one, you and I. We are the gathering of <br> | |||
the waters. Gather unto me as they have gathered unto you; we will be as <br> | |||
one." The aphids screamed and begged me for salvation. But I was not of <br> | |||
them. I was of the wave. | |||
===-031-=== | ===-031-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 031.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
Clearly a message from Clarity Control! And written in allegorical large <br> | |||
print. I am, in the eyes (or whatever percepts it possesses) of Clarity, the <br> | |||
leader of humanity. This is why they contacted me. This is why they want <br> | |||
me. | |||
They are an association of coordinators, those whose choices cause change. <br> | |||
And they are inviting me into their pantheon. | |||
We must_ finish this gate. | |||
==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
| Line 544: | Line 1,063: | ||
'''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | '''Warning: this transmission will expend''' <br> | ||
'''entangled qubits for security.''' | '''entangled qubits for security.''' | ||
</tt> | |||
I see that your ship is making its orbital insertion. I trust the progress on <br> | |||
Bray Station will impress. It makes a fine mooring point, if you please, and <br> | |||
its transmat facilities are the quickest way down to the surface. There is no <br> | |||
luxury as fine as a good telepheretic network-it gets you to the edge of the <br> | |||
map, where the real work begins. | |||
I'll want to examine you as soon as you arrive, just to get a baseline <br> | |||
measurement on the progress of the disease. The transmat system is <br> | |||
unfortunately not an adequate imager. As you're well aware, transmat obeys <br> | |||
the no-cloning theorem, functioning precisely because it DOESN'T allow <br> | |||
us to store or copy the information transmitted. Otherwise there would be <br> | |||
no need for exobodies; we could simply print healthy copies of ourselves <br> | |||
from the transmat. (Perhaps Willa will one day learn how to engrammatize <br> | |||
and duplicate the human form, hm?) | |||
I promise I won't conduct any brain scans. If we're ultimately going to <br> | |||
transubstantiate you, we'll wait until I'm certain the exobodies are safe. <br> | |||
And I vow to obtain your full consent. | |||
I've prepared an itinerary, starting with a review of our security and <br> | |||
then an introduction to our captive Vex worker. I want your insight on <br> | |||
everything related to containment and control. I know you had strong <br> | |||
feedback about how the K1 mission was handled. | |||
You'll see that certain areas of our facilities are off limits. They are under <br> | |||
my personal authority, and I keep them sequestered for everyone's safety. I <br> | |||
know you'll be curious anyway. I won't condescend to give you instructions <br> | |||
you won't obey. But know that your attempts to penetrate those areas won't <br> | |||
succeed. | |||
Welcome. We have so much to do. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//send''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==ENTRY 7== | ==ENTRY 7== | ||
===-033-=== | ===-033-=== | ||
We passed through the gate. Myself and my team. Elisabeth insisted on <br> | |||
coming. I could hardly call her all this way and then refuse her. | |||
<tt> | |||
:'''EXOB0DY STATUS:''' <br> | |||
:*'''Proxy mode, remote operator, microwave''' <br> | |||
::'''repeater Link.''' | |||
:*'''Internal temperature 222K.''' | |||
:*'''Superconducting media Loaded: diamond-anvil''' <br> | |||
::'''hydrogen sulfide, carbon nanotube mesh.''' | |||
:*'''Remote sensorium Latency 16ms.''' | |||
:*'''Q-dot battery charge: 10100 yrs at current''' <br> | |||
::'''load.''' | |||
:*'''Spintronics in neuromorphic/mimetic mode. ''' | |||
</tt> | |||
What lay beyond-- | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''Gateway analysis. A non-gravitating, purely''' <br> | |||
::'''geometric traversable wormhole of the Ellis''' <br> | |||
::'''configuration. There is no singularity and''' <br> | |||
::'''no firewall (interesting ramifications for''' <br> | |||
::'''ER = EPR). The wormhole manifold provides''' <br> | |||
::'''a pathway to another four-point in our''' <br> | |||
::'''spacetime, or in a nearby parallel universe''' <br> | |||
::'''in the quantum many-worlds ensemble. ''' | |||
</tt> | |||
We passed into a gallery of awesome light. It struck us to our knees. | |||
The probe imagery did not prepare us. A curtain of blue-violet fire filled an <br> | |||
entire half of the sky, pebbled with granules, seething with promontories <br> | |||
and flares. We stood beneath a blue hypergiant, titan of suns, looming over <br> | |||
all. It should have killed my human-bodied companions instantly--with <br> | |||
peak radiance in the far ultraviolet, it would cook flesh. | |||
But the probes said it was, impossibly, safe for life. | |||
We fanned out into ancient stone ruins, pierced by dull metal towers <br> | |||
and flickering lines of light. Though the rock was cracked and pitted by <br> | |||
radiation, our geologist identified it at once. "Felsic granite," he reported. <br> | |||
"No iron. No heavy metals at all. A lot more sodium, oxygen, boron, and <br> | |||
aluminum than I'd expect, and a lot less silicon...oh my God." | |||
===-034-=== | ===-034-=== | ||
"What?" I demanded. | |||
"This rock is almost 13 billion years old," the geologist whispered. "It <br> | |||
formed with the very first generation of planets, less than a billion years <br> | |||
after the universe was born. We are standing on a dissected piece of one of <br> | |||
the first worlds." | |||
"That's not possible," the astronomer protested. "That's a type-0 <br> | |||
hypergiant up there. They're lucky to live two ''million'' years! And its <br> | |||
metallicity is 15 sigma above average! That is not an old star!" | |||
I opened my proxy arms to the light. The gate had taken us to a miracle. <br> | |||
This star was big enough to fill the solar system from the Sun to the orbit <br> | |||
of Neptune; bright enough to shine like the full moon, even from the <br> | |||
distance of Alpha Centauri. Yet here I was, unblinded. | |||
Something had tampered with this star. | |||
Our physicist identified a lensing effect, magnifying the star's optical size <br> | |||
and redshifting its radiation. It was as if the whole behemoth was wrapped <br> | |||
in some kind of ''skin''. | |||
But that was only the beginning. | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''Hypergiant stars are so bright that the''' <br> | |||
::'''outward pressure of their radiation tends''' <br> | |||
::'''to blow off the corona. In the Last million''' <br> | |||
::'''years, this star has exhaled more than''' <br> | |||
::'''30 times the mass of Earth's sun into its''' <br> | |||
::'''2000-kilometer-per-second stellar wind.''' | |||
::'''Its remaining mass still exceeds our Sun's''' <br> | |||
::'''by a factor of 259. ''' | |||
</tt> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">We assumed the star could not be 13 billion years old.</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">because stars this hot and bright die swiftly. But that was before we saw--</span> | |||
Our instruments identified glints of brighter light against the sunfire. <br> | |||
They were orbiting mirror clusters, gathering the star's radiation and <br> | |||
focusing it back, burning wounds in the photosphere. These solar stigmata <br> | |||
hemorrhaged endless flares, geysers of energy and precious metals. | |||
Above those cutting mirrors, rings encircled the star like garrote wires. <br> | |||
These were particle accelerators, generating blades of electromagnetic <br> | |||
force that stabbed down into the star's skin, through photosphere and <br> | |||
tachocline, towards the core. | |||
"They're stirring it," I realized. "To pull metals out of the core and send <br> | |||
fresh hydrogen down to fuse. Is it possible that they've..." | |||
===-035-=== | ===-035-=== | ||
They had. They had refueled the star. They were ''stoking'' it. Enormous <br> | |||
portals dumped streams of hydrogen into the giant, replenishing its mass <br> | |||
and fusion power. At this obscene size and brightness, this star ''should'' have <br> | |||
gone supernova in less than the two million years it would take a single <br> | |||
photon to crawl from the core to the surface. | |||
But with careful refueling, that supernova could be averted. This giant <br> | |||
might have been here since the dawn of stellar time. | |||
Perhaps this star had begun as some metal-poor Population II dwarf, <br> | |||
surrounded by meager, rocky planets. But the inhabitants of one of <br> | |||
those planets had found a way to pump their sun full of hydrogen, <br> | |||
supercharging it, pushing it to the edge of stability. All in the name of <br> | |||
making metal. In the early universe, elements heavier than helium were <br> | |||
unthinkably rare. So these firstborn aliens built a forge. A fusion smelter <br> | |||
for the atoms they needed. | |||
We turned outwards, hoping to locate pulsars in the sky and thereby <br> | |||
fix our position. But the stars were blotted out by a swarm of bronze <br> | |||
discs. They were statites: a shell of artificial worlds, hovering on the star's <br> | |||
radiation. Years ago, I had proposed tearing apart Mercury to form a shell <br> | |||
like this...and here, I found my ambition achieved a thousandfold. | |||
It seemed our gate had delivered us upon one of these statites. We ventured <br> | |||
out of the ruins, onto an island of living glass, broken by fissures of deep <br> | |||
green light and reservoirs of white fluid. Around the glass, a shallow <br> | |||
sea trembled with tiny, intersecting waves. In one direction, a cloud of <br> | |||
mist obscured a shattered tower, its form uncannily different from the <br> | |||
surrounding architecture. Above us loomed structures linked by bolts of <br> | |||
lightning, reminiscent of the Citadel ruins on Venus. | |||
And that was when, in spite of the awesome power on display, I felt <br> | |||
crushing disappointment. | |||
There was no trace of Clarity s influence here at all. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Except perhaps in that mysterious tower...?</span> | |||
If this was a Vex construct, then it was an ancient and formidable one, but <br> | |||
in a few minutes I had already grasped its overall purpose. It was no longer <br> | |||
an area of crisis and potential, somewhere off the edge of the map. Just <br> | |||
mighty clockwork. | |||
I had come hoping for a meeting with the unknowable. Instead I had <br> | |||
found an engineering museum. Oh, we could explore it for thousands <br> | |||
of years and not touch a single percent of its wonder. But Clarity had <br> | |||
promised me a solution to immortality! I had promised Elisabeth a cure! <br> | |||
I needed a way to use Clarity as a solvent and seed for my exobodies. | |||
===-036-=== | ===-036-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 036.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
How would I find it ''here''? | |||
Perhaps the Vex themselves were the key. I knew that the Ishtar Collective <br> | |||
had achieved stable simulations of human minds. They refused to share <br> | |||
their method with me. | |||
What if they had stolen the method from the Vex they studied? | |||
I called over one of my scientists, an M. Sundaresh. "I want to bring back <br> | |||
samples," I told her. "There will be some risk. The Vex are not always <br> | |||
docile." Some at SOLSECCENT even suggested we were in a state of war <br> | |||
with the Vex, though I felt their responses were more like the stings of <br> | |||
drowsy hornets. "Is your team ready to accept that risk?" | |||
She nodded at my proxy. "Of course, Mr. Bray. We've come this far. No <br> | |||
sense going home unless we bring something with us." | |||
I dispatched teams to secure Vex samples. When they began to harvest <br> | |||
fluid from the nearby reservoir, a group of lightly armed Vex platforms <br> | |||
attacked them with inaccurate weapons fire. Elisabeth replied with a <br> | |||
matter laser, a grotesquely disproportionate weapon. A coherent-matter <br> | |||
pulse bears the same relation to an ordinary bullet that a gamma laser does <br> | |||
to a flashlight. There was nothing left to salvage. | |||
I explained to her that we must proceed as investigators, not conquerors. If <br> | |||
we simply scavenge and abduct out of curiosity, the Vex will reply in kind, <br> | |||
and that is a risk we can manage. | |||
We must not provoke them to war. | |||
==NOTE--VEX FLUID== | ==NOTE--VEX FLUID== | ||
===-037-=== | ===-037-=== | ||
<tt> | |||
::'''Specimen report. Volume of fluid recovered''' <br> | |||
::'''from Vex reservoir located on a statite ''' <br> | |||
::'''hovering above the 'Forge Star', 2082 ''' <br> | |||
::'''Volantis. Colloquially "Vex mind fluid",''' <br> | |||
::'''"Vex milk."''' | |||
</tt> | |||
Informatic exchange with any Vex substrate has proven hazardous. The <br> | |||
Ishtar Collective data Elisabeth has analyzed warns against risks ranging <br> | |||
from physical infection by Vex cytostructures to transmission of substrate- <br> | |||
free syntactic replicators, malignant oncomemes, and viral semiotic <br> | |||
signifiers (a particular nuisance to have Vex ideas suddenly assigned to <br> | |||
basic concepts in your mind; you want to think about an apple and instead <br> | |||
your brain chokes on [gauge:contrast:gouge]). | |||
I have therefore proceeded under SOLSECCENT's WILDFIRE, <br> | |||
HEXTEMPERED, and BRAINSTAIN protocols. | |||
Vex milk is non-Newtonian, highly conductive, and noncompressible. <br> | |||
Its viscosity and surface tension are variable: it can form a resistant <br> | |||
membrane, or climb the walls of a container like a superfluid. I have even <br> | |||
observed the milk store kinetic energy in zero-viscosity vortices, essentially <br> | |||
liquid flywheels. One must be careful when stirring it, lest it retain the <br> | |||
motion for some future escape! | |||
Chemically, the Vex milk is an alkaline solution of dense salts in water. <br> | |||
The salts range from sodium and calcium to lead and even (in barely <br> | |||
detectable amounts) plutonium. Not good to drink. | |||
Suspended in this solution are cells of silicoid structure, 100-200 <br> | |||
micrometers in size. Their shapes are heterogenous but always geometric, <br> | |||
reminiscent of Earth's radiolarian protozoa. Many have needle-like <br> | |||
pseudopods, which transform between stiff spines and motile whips on the <br> | |||
basis of some piezoelectric response. Imaging of internal structure detects <br> | |||
a nucleus, and a genetic molecule analogous to DNA (though I speculate <br> | |||
read-write times are much faster, on the order of milliseconds, perhaps <br> | |||
exploiting some quantum effect). | |||
I have allowed Dr. M. Sundaresh to assist me with this work. She has <br> | |||
discovered several levels of abstract higher order to the motion of these <br> | |||
radiolarian cells. Some of these ensembles are distributed across space, <br> | |||
some across time; all admit remarkable beauty. The sensitivity and chaos <br> | |||
of fluid media seems to suggest an intrinsic Vex suitability for certain <br> | |||
difficult computations. Perhaps this is reflected in the nature of Vex <br> | |||
thought; porous and miscible. I would request a teleonomic analysis | |||
===-038-=== | ===-038-=== | ||
from an Al-COM resource if I did not expect the Tyrant to get its grubby <br> | |||
Russian paws on my data. | |||
I hesitate to apply anthropomorphic concepts of "intelligence," "self- <br> | |||
awareness," or even "sentience" to such an alien cognition. But I strongly <br> | |||
suspect that each radiolarian element is in communication with its neighbors <br> | |||
and possibly even retains a holographic record of the larger structure. | |||
If so, we could safely assign the trait called Schroeder thalience to the Vex <br> | |||
milk: the ability to communicate internal states to others and to model the <br> | |||
external state of the world. | |||
I note that the Vex milk, while computationally powerful, seems to avoid <br> | |||
semiosis. That is, it prefers to mimic the actual dynamics of phenomena <br> | |||
rather than assigning a symbol. This a fundamental difference between <br> | |||
Vex cognition and our own. We encode inputs as symbols, manipulate the <br> | |||
symbols according to some set of logical rules, and produce output. The <br> | |||
Vex are more direct. Burn them, and they will extinguish the fire-not <br> | |||
because they possess a symbolic knowledge of fire and its properties, but <br> | |||
because their structure is so suited to adaption and survival that the heat <br> | |||
of the fire directly becomes the response required to snuff it out. Rather <br> | |||
than encoding symbols, they generate self-sustaining and self-correcting <br> | |||
patterns, which like the suspension of a bridge flexing under strain, can <br> | |||
accept destructive input and produce reparatory output. | |||
When we are infected by Vex memes, as the Ishtar data warns against, I <br> | |||
suspect that we are simply experiencing Vex patterns jumping from one <br> | |||
substrate to another-recruiting our own brains and bodies as media for <br> | |||
their spread. | |||
It is not hostility. It is simply their way of interacting with the universe. | |||
And is that transubstantiation, that migration to another substrate, not <br> | |||
what I seek here on Europa? | |||
Perhaps Clarity has been very generous indeed. | |||
The Ishtar researchers felt that this asymbolic mode of thought raised a <br> | |||
disturbing possibility. The Vex might not communicate or interact with <br> | |||
us by understanding our language, but instead, by creating internal copies <br> | |||
of our minds. They would prod and stimulate those internal copies to see <br> | |||
how they behaved. And if they chose to destroy us, they learned how to do <br> | |||
it by torturing and destroying those internalities. | |||
To be the enemy of the Vex is to be reproduced, experimented upon, and <br> | |||
annihilated within their mindspace. | |||
===-039-=== | ===-039-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 039.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
Elisabeth is monumentally disturbed by this, which is highly inconvenient. <br> | |||
Despite my efforts to sooth her with fine dining and conversation, she has <br> | |||
begun to question the very idea of cybernetic immortality. | |||
"Aren't the Vex a perfect demonstration of what could go wrong?" she <br> | |||
demanded. "Human minds trapped in a totally inhuman context, <br> | |||
tormented and mutilated by an unsympathetic alien god. If we want to <br> | |||
preserve our minds for eternity, couldn't we end up that way? Aren't we <br> | |||
giving up the grace of death? The promise that all suffering will end?" | |||
"Elisabeth," I countered, perhaps too sharply, "the Vex are ''already'' doing <br> | |||
this to our minds. They will do it whether we are in weak flesh or durable <br> | |||
metal. If they got into our bodies, into our blood, we would be far safer in <br> | |||
an exobody. In fact, I can think of no finer way to resist Vex infiltration!" | |||
Dr. Sundaresh requests further expeditions to the Forge Star for material. <br> | |||
She does not trust the other members of her team, claiming suspicion <br> | |||
of Vex exposure, and prefers to work directly with me. Very well-but I <br> | |||
wonder what peculiar internal motives she harbors. | |||
I reformatted my assistant. No sense taking risks. Who knows what might <br> | |||
get into my head through the proxy link? | |||
==ENTRY 8== | ==ENTRY 8== | ||
===-040-=== | ===-040-=== | ||
Eureka. | |||
The Vex radiolarian fluid is obviously too virulent for use in exominds. But <br> | |||
if exposed to Clarity, the Vex patterns break down, and the fluid takes on <br> | |||
some of the properties of Clarity itself--namely, its reductive effect. | |||
Introducing a tiny aliquot of this reified Clarity into an exomind solves the <br> | |||
loop/billboard/crash cycle. As far as I can tell--permanently. | |||
THE COMBINATION OF VEX FLUID AND CLARITY IS THE KEY TO <br> | |||
CYBERNETIC IMMORTALITY! | |||
<tt> | |||
::'''Speculation: the interaction of Clarity,''' <br> | |||
::'''with its caustic anti-structural properties,''' <br> | |||
::'''and the Vex mind fluid, with its highly''' <br> | |||
::'''physicalized and asymbolic architecture,''' <br> | |||
::'''creates a "physicalized algorithm" that can''' <br> | |||
::'''serve as a random seed for the knockouts''' <br> | |||
::'''required to sustain a viable exomind. ''' | |||
</tt> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">I'll never sell THAT to a board. Easier to say...that the exomind is too stiff and</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">deterministic to support a human consciousness, which depends on some random failures</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">and turbulence to keep it supple. Clarity provides an algorithmic seed adding error to</span> | |||
I uploaded a connectome from my library into an exobody head treated with <br> | |||
the Clarity/Vex preparation. A full destructive scan of an aging Georgian <br> | |||
volunteer, one Mr. A. D. A. I. Zhuk. I think he believes he is in a nightmare. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">every operation, which replicates that original turbulence. No more need for software</span> | |||
Fear not, Mr. Zhuk I would never mistreat the beginning of something <br> | |||
so wonderful. You will be the first of many-they shall march out of this <br> | |||
Europan laboratory and sweep away every infirmity, every disease, every loss! <br> | |||
Until all humanity rests in the loving permanence of my exobodies. And all <br> | |||
the future will look to me in humble gratitude. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">emulation of organic chaos! We emulate it in hardware now!</span> | |||
The problem, of course, is that we are going to require more Vex fluid. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Too complex. Exomind too harsh and cold! Clarity plus Vex fluid is the spice,</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">the secret sauce, the oil of easy function.</span> | |||
:'''CORPOREAL STATUS:''' | |||
:*'''Body at 37.6 C. Recommend supplementary''' <br> | |||
::'''cooling. Pulse 110 BPM: stroke/arrest risk.''' <br> | |||
::'''BP 150/100, pulse ox 150: blood volume''' <br> | |||
::'''overfill! Oxygen radicals over safe Levels!''' <br> | |||
::'''Recommend tap and wash cycle.''' | |||
:*'''Warning. Body status not sustainable.''' <br> | |||
::'''Recommend SMILE pod sabbatical. ''' | |||
==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE TO BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
| Line 566: | Line 1,474: | ||
'''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) -qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | '''//encrypt -pkey(clovisroot) -qdresist(shor) --''' <br> | ||
'''rng_seed(AM241) --pad(padelsie)''' | '''rng_seed(AM241) --pad(padelsie)''' | ||
</tt> | |||
I've finished my workup on your exam data. I'm sorry, Elisabeth. The <br> | |||
dis~ase has already activated. There are defective prions in your spinal <br> | |||
fluid, which means they are replicating throughout your brain. | |||
Without treatment, you have 15 months. If we fought the prions with <br> | |||
aggressive cytomachine injections, immunosuppressants, and gene therapy, <br> | |||
you could last five or six years. We could even alter your sensorium to <br> | |||
knock you out and emulate sleep, and that might give you enough quality <br> | |||
of life to conduct some final research and say your goodbyes. | |||
I know that I have been a cruel and domineering grandfather. You and <br> | |||
your sisters have speculated that I intentionally sabotaged your father's <br> | |||
genome so he would never outlive me without my help. That doesn't bother <br> | |||
me. Actually, I wish I'd thought of it myself! To force my own beloved <br> | |||
progeny to either achieve synthetic immortality or die in agony-now <br> | |||
THAT would be commitment to greatness! | |||
But I never wanted to hurt my grandchildren. Grandkids have always been <br> | |||
my favorite. Do you remember that old Clovis Bray contract I showed to <br> | |||
you? "We want your grandchildren." My collaborators could keep the rights <br> | |||
to their inventions, but BrayTech would own the unexpected combinations <br> | |||
of those inventions. | |||
Grandchildren are unexpected creations, the wonderful knock-on <br> | |||
consequences of reproduction. We have children, rather than making <br> | |||
clones of ourselves, because the exploration of possibilities lets us find new <br> | |||
ways to survive a changing universe. If the 52-card playing deck has never <br> | |||
been shuffled the same way twice in the entire history of the universe-- <br> | |||
imagine how many possible grandchildren I could have produced! | |||
And out of all of those possibilities, I got you. The finest of them all. | |||
I owe you the salvation I couldn't give your father. Please consider making <br> | |||
a terminal scan and decanting your mind into an immortal exo body. I <br> | |||
myself plan to do it soon. | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//send''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==MESSAGE FROM BRAY, ELISABETH== | ==MESSAGE FROM BRAY, ELISABETH== | ||
===-042-=== | ===-042-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 042.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
<tt> | <tt> | ||
'''//decrypt -pkey(clovisroot) --pad(padelsie)''' | '''//decrypt -pkey(clovisroot) --pad(padelsie)''' | ||
</tt> | |||
I don't trust you. You made the same promises to Father, didn't you? | |||
I won't put myself in one of your humaniform torture dolls until you can <br> | |||
prove it's safe. And even then...I don't know. I don't know if I want to be <br> | |||
part of your LUCA dream. | |||
Stop trying to get that rhubarb compote recipe right. You serve it at every <br> | |||
dinner, waiting for me to say it's just like Grandma made it. It's pathetic. <br> | |||
And you wonder why I'd rather eat with the crew. | |||
-E | |||
<tt> | |||
'''//delete''' | |||
</tt> | </tt> | ||
==ENTRY 9== | ==ENTRY 9== | ||
===-043-=== | ===-043-=== | ||
The infrastructure is in place. We are now in limited exobody production. | |||
l have allowed small Vex platforms_ to pass through the gate from 2082 <br> | |||
Volantis (apparently intent on constructing infrastructure on this side). <br> | |||
They are captured, drained, and discarded. Their mind fluid goes to Clarity <br> | |||
Control; the Alkahest flows back. The machine of immortality has begun its <br> | |||
slow turn. | |||
In ancient days, they believed that the source of the Alkahest was the <br> | |||
Philosopher's Stone. I have named my own source after that deepest, oldest <br> | |||
stone. A place where the dead go to rise again. A deep stone crypt. | |||
Bray Station guarantees our security from above. The Europa life project <br> | |||
provides deniability and cover. The infrastructure around Clarity Control <br> | |||
will expose the Vex radiolarian fluid to Clarity and deliver it to the exobody <br> | |||
manufacturing site. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Elisabeth keeps trying to penetrate the networks around</span> | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Clarity Control, but I have airgapped everything, and the physical coffers are secure.</span> | |||
One the exobodies are prepared, I will upload the minds from my research <br> | |||
library. A century of volunteers waiting for reincarnation. | |||
The first generation is already coming online. | |||
But I will not be one of them. Not yet. And neither will Elisabeth. | |||
A true upload requires a maximum-resolution subneural scan, and such <br> | |||
a scan is invariably fatal. That means I will only get one shot. I will not <br> | |||
take it until the exos are stable. I refuse to be an alpha tester of my own <br> | |||
immortality! | |||
I am opening two new off-the-books labs to study the Vex and the <br> | |||
effects of Clarity. If humanity is going to fully transmigrate to these <br> | |||
immortal bodies, then the eternal welfare of all future generations <br> | |||
depends on spotting and avoiding any dangers now. I can justify taking <br> | |||
extreme measures. | |||
One of my most tantalizing projects involves A. Miller, a young <br> | |||
man who suffers from a nanoparticle-induced degenerative immune <br> | |||
disorder. I have been testing radical new imaging techniques on Mr. <br> | |||
Miller, hoping to secure a nondestructive scan that still meets the <br> | |||
requirements for a full-faith upload. | |||
Unfortunately, Mr. Miller's dosage of various fixing compounds and <br> | |||
imaging radiation is approaching the limits of clinical toxicity. Despite | |||
===-044-=== | ===-044-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 044.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
blood and CSF washes, I fear his tumors will escape our control. I am <br> | |||
curious about the therapeutic potential of the Vex fluid. I plan to obtain <br> | |||
his informed consent for a human trial. | |||
M. Sundaresh comes and goes at odd hours. Her behavior is erratic. <br> | |||
Yesterday she discussed the possibility that we would be eternal <br> | |||
collaborators in exobodies, and I believe she even flirted with me. An <br> | |||
hour later, she was as cold as the ice outside and put up her hand to <br> | |||
silence me whenever I spoke. An hour after that, she glowed with joy as <br> | |||
she went on and on about her dear wife. Then she wept. I am not sure <br> | |||
whether to blame my confusion on my own conception of women, or <br> | |||
on M. Sundaresh's racing mind. I cannot tolerate such volatility, and I <br> | |||
would dismiss her instantly, except that her supervision seems key to the <br> | |||
successful entrapment of the Vex we need. She has a knack. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">I should give a name to the figurehead Clarity Control presents to the word.</span> | |||
I have ordered a new hero of organ-growing pigs. I plan to be here a <br> | |||
while. Elisabeth still will not commit to a scan. I fear she will die in some <br> | |||
accident, and I will lose her forever. | |||
:<span style="color:#008080;">Ha! Shall I call her Claire?</span> | |||
<tt> | |||
:'''WARNING. <br> | |||
:*'''The following organs require urgent''' <br> | |||
::'''replacement: Liver. Gallbladder. Duodenum.''' <br> | |||
::'''Mesentery. Thymus. Spleen. Cornea. ''' <br> | |||
:*'''The following systems require replenishment:''' <br> | |||
::'''Lymph. Blood plasma. Skin basal Layer.''' <br> | |||
::'''Basal Lamina Layers (Alport syndrome risk).''' <br> | |||
::'''Intercellular cytosol.''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==NOTE--D.E.R.== | ==NOTE--D.E.R.== | ||
===-045-=== | ===-045-=== | ||
Infuriating. With twelve Alkahest-seeded exos now online, I find myself <br> | |||
beached on the shoals of another serious problem. Not a transitional <br> | |||
trauma after·all. Not a temporary ailment. Quite fatal. | |||
Mr. Zhuk was first to succumb. He continued to insist that he was living <br> | |||
in a nightmare. He complained of hunger, of thirst, of breathlessness, of <br> | |||
a rot in his bowels. I became concerned that he was billboarding, but his <br> | |||
exoneuron activity remained healthy. | |||
Shortly after, Mr. Zhuk developed a full-blown Cotard delusion. I found <br> | |||
him trying to chisel his face off with a table shim. He insisted that his true <br> | |||
face was covered in a thick layer of keratin ("toenail" was his exact word) <br> | |||
and that the rest of his body was already dead and rotting. He became <br> | |||
violent. I had to paralyze his motor functions for diagnosis. | |||
This only made things worse. Without the satisfaction of motor feedback, <br> | |||
he dissociated entirely. He stopped forming new memories, which trapped <br> | |||
him in an eight-second loop of panic. After I resumed his motor functions, <br> | |||
I watched him fill every page of a notebook with the words I HAVE JUST <br> | |||
DIED, I AM TRAPPED IN THE CORPSE; NOW I AM CERTAIN I <br> | |||
AM DEAD; DEATH HAS TAKEN ME COMPLETELY; I HAVE JUST <br> | |||
FINISHED DYING. | |||
Activity in his temporal lobes collapsed. He lost his ego barrier and <br> | |||
achieved metaphysical oneness with the universe. Unfortunately, this <br> | |||
spread his Cotard delusion to his entire perceptual cosmos, and he rejected <br> | |||
the resulting necroreality as intolerable. I have not ever before seen such <br> | |||
all-consuming terror and dread. | |||
In the final stages of the disease, he insisted that he had been possessed <br> | |||
by some sort of ancient Kartvelian spirit, a memory of his upbringing in <br> | |||
Georgia. He was insistent that this spirit was female. It is an idiosyncrasy <br> | |||
of the Khevsurian Georgians' creation myth that the male spirit is divine, <br> | |||
while the female is demonic. | |||
Soon Mr. Zhuk's fear and panic were simply too much for him to bear. He <br> | |||
retreated into catatonia. Then he crashed. | |||
Oh, I still have the connectome scan I used to make him--that Mr. Zhuk <br> | |||
can live again--but the Zhuk who evolved over the past several weeks, the <br> | |||
Zhuk I had so many endearing arguments with, is lost. | |||
Elisabeth is more and more suspicious. She asks what, exactly, makes me <br> | |||
think these exos will turn out any better than her father did. She demands | |||
===-046-=== | ===-046-=== | ||
[[File:Logbook 046.png|right|thumb|400px]] | |||
to know what I'm doing with the Vex salvage, and whether it has to do with <br> | |||
my plans for her survival. I have hastily deleted all records of the treatment <br> | |||
of Mr. Miller, lest she think l plan to dose her with Vex fluid. | |||
--M. Sundaresh came upon me just now. She seemed fascinated by my <br> | |||
distress. She said several comforting things, and then made one extremely <br> | |||
unpleasant suggestion that my pride and haste had caused Mr. Zhuk's death. <br> | |||
I have decided to hate her. | |||
<tt> | |||
:'''WARNING.''' | |||
:*'''Novel prion detected in body collagen.''' | |||
::'''Hypothesis: Jovian magnetosphere promotes''' | |||
::'''highly abnormal protein folding. Prognosis:''' | |||
::'''massive sloughing/fraying of basement''' | |||
::'''membranes, Loss of tissue binding, inhibited''' | |||
::'''durotaxis of new cells, delamination of all''' | |||
::'''body tissues into thin sheets. You will fall''' | |||
::'''apart Like an old book. ''' | |||
</tt> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||