//------------------------------// // 15 - What You See Is Not What You Get // Story: Poniocracy // by sunnypack //------------------------------// Chapter 15: What You See Is Not What You Get Two billion years ago there were a race of beings called the Jari. The Jari were fond of living large and having a good time. Their society was built on the principle of ‘being easygoing’. It wasn’t much in terms of the technological side of things, but the Jari were a happy people, content with life as it presented itself and interested in what made themselves and others happy rather than owning the most things. Of course, even among the Jari, there were those that did not agree and they split off to form their own group, taking the slightly different name of Yari. The Yari still had the fundamental core ideal that the Jari had. Do what makes you happy... but they stopped there. The Yari were a greedy people and wanted more for themselves and their own kind. Soon, the Yari had spread across the globe and there were only a few places where the Jari inhabited and many, many places the Yari had taken. It was not long before the Jari faced a crisis point in their culture. What were the powerless Jari to do when the Yari were so greedy? It came to the Jari leader, Nuutaki, one night as he gazed among the infinite stars. The Yari wanted more, and there was only so much to give. Perhaps, he reasoned, there was a way to give them more. Nuutaki gathered his people and told them of a secret, one that would be very, very important to the Yari. Of course, the Yari knew about this, for they had sensitive ears and long arms to grab what was not theirs. They learned of the secret and demanded from the Jari to tell them what this secret was. They brought many, many weapons to make the Jari afraid. Nuutaki stepped forward and told them meekly that it would be his pleasure to tell a child of Yaandu what the secret was. There was no need to hurt the Jari. Were they not brothers and sisters? The greedy leader, Cocotuuki, told him that they were different. The Yari and Jari are not the same people. Nuutaki conceded that Cocotuuki was right and told him he was a wise person. Nuutaki then pointed to the stars. He told Cocotuuki that among one of them was treasure and bounty that was beyond mortal comprehension. If they could only reach it, then it would be theirs. The Yari were starstruck. In haste, they began to build tall, tall towers. Towers that reached into the heavens and that would scrape the sky. They even called these buildings ‘skyscrapers’. The Yari shrunk into these towers, dividing their large culture into singular monolithic buildings and mining the earth to build forever high. It never occurred to the Yari that the Jari leader would lie to them. Indeed, Nuutaki had been right, there was an infinite bounty among the stars. But among the limited imagination of the self-contained Yari, this goal was an impossible feat. The Jari found themselves with plentiful lands and bountiful fruits as was with them in the beginning. Nuutaki told his people that the Yari were so focused on what was above them that they did not consider what was below or around them. That was a lesson to take to the heart, Nuutaki said to his people. Be content with what you have. ———— “Do you have black pudding flavour?” Twilight blinked at the human. Their conversation had stretched so long that she had given up on standing and brought a chair from one of the nearby cafés to sit upon. The human had brought out a folding chair in a similar arrangement. They even had time to introduce themselves. Twilight had been talking to the ship’s pilot, Ensign Martin. “What the heck is black pudding flavour?” “Black pudding is when you take the blood of a pig and make it into a sausage.” “Why is Celestia’s name would you do that in a biscuit?!” Martin shrugged. “You’d have to ask the Commandant.” He paused, listening to something the Commandant said. “Oh, he’s ranting again. Don’t worry, it’ll pass, and hopefully he won’t wipe the planet early. He gets twitchy like that when he hasn’t had a proper morning tea.” Pony Joe shifted nervously. “I don’t know what I can do, we’ve gone through hay biscuits, wheat biscuits, crackers, shortbread, gingerbread, cream, butter— everything! What are these strange flavours that he wants?!” “Surely he wouldn’t want to wipe the planet over biscuits?!” Twilight spluttered. Martin shrugged. “I hope so too,” he sighed. “But the Commandant would probably do it, even with the surface team in place.” Twilight gaped at the pilot, not knowing how she could still feel surprise with all that was going on. She felt tired. The absurdity of recent events was wearing to her soul. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and forget this whole thing ever happened. These humans had been nothing but trouble, one after the other. Twilight tried a different tack. “Surely you have some sort of say, he wouldn’t just wipe you out with us?” Martin shrugged helplessly again. “I can’t help it, that’s how our whole civilisation is structured. Can’t disobey a direct order from the Commandant.” He mumbled something under his breath. “What?” “Nothing.” Twilight sank back. She glanced back at the castle. Hopefully, she had bought enough time for the Princesses to finish what they were planning. ———— Luna fiddled with the armour, making sure that it clasped onto her chest properly. She didn’t often use the armour, because seeing her in it usually perturbed the few she met with it on. Now though, with a soon-to-be battle on their hooves, she needed to appear strong and intimidating to make sure negotiations were to run smoothly. Weakness was an attribute the dragons despised. Feeling the buckle tighten around her sternum, Luna nodded to herself when she caught her reflection in the pony-length mirror that was mounted on the wall. All was in order. Taking a deep breath, she headed out of her room, her armour clinking ominously in time with her own guards. She might have been imagining it, when she passed, but she thought she saw relieved expressions among the staff as she headed out. And that made her heart feel a bit lighter, despite the trials ahead. ————— A glow of red and yellow blinded David temporarily. He hastily blinked his eyes, afterimages cluttering his vision as he tried to resolve the two double-images of the figure bent over him. “Hmm,” the figure grated. “One hundred percent human, no doubt about that. Not a good sign, not a good sign at all. What’s your name and why are you so far from the Deeps, son?” David squeezed the last drops of tears away and regarded the figure wearily. Now that he could see more clearly, he realised he was talking to another human… or something humanoid. He hoped that was a suit. “Yes,” he said, answering his unspoken question. “It’s an EHS, haven’t you seen one before?” He tapped the visor to his helmet, which peeled back revealing a very friendly human face, framed with a bushy beard. The light flashed again from something he held in his grip. “Hang on, it’s hard to get reception this far out of the Deeps, but this close to the surface. Tricky.” On closer inspection, the man held something that looked like a checkout scanner. It beeped, clicked and whistled in response. “Alright, no can do here. Follow me, we’ll have to go deeper.” David followed him reluctantly, listening to the echoing sound of his footsteps rebounding around the hall. He thought he should be excited to finally meet another human, but surprisingly he found himself more cautious than anything. The suited human’s footsteps were almost silent, making him sound like he was walking in slippers rather than in something that looked like a full suit of armour from the future. “No worries, mate, you got lost in the Passages, for sure, but we’ll get you back to the right team, no doubt,” he rambled cheerfully. “Once we get in range we can get a lock on your ID and search the DB.” He stopped suddenly and guffawed. “Oh crikey, I near forgot to ask for your name? What is it, son? I’m Tim. Slim Tim, but not a Slim Jim, if you catch my drift.” Tim chuckled, while David stood uncomfortably. “Hey, I’m David.” “Woowee, haven’t heard of a ‘David’, for quite while, can’t say I blame you, what with our groups working in cells and all that—“ He stopped as the device hooked onto his hip trilled a tri-tone. “Oops. Looks like we’re late for mustering. Come with me, quickly or the Consortium’s going to be real mad. Can’t let the higher ups get angry, you get my drift, mate?” “Yeah, I got it,” David replied, picking up his pace to match Tim’s. Tim continued his little speech, his intimidating tone offset by his cheerful babbling. “So we got news that the experiment’s goin’ well. Over four thousand years in the making, would you believe? Our generation’s going to be the one to see it.” Tim fell silent for a few moments as he marched down to the opposing wall of the cavern. “I wish she could see this.” Tim shook his head. “Sorry mate, old memories, they’re a bloody riot, right?” David nodded. He was more concerned with the smooth wall they were coming up against. Tim aimed his… scanner-thing at the wall. Several click and whines from the scanner later, and a small partition from the wall clicked, with a small indentation peeking out from the surface. Tim ran his fingers over the groove and heaved, grunting with the effort. The partition hinged open, revealing a small passageway lined with dull LEDs glowing softly along the hallway. “Mind your head,” Tim warned, ducking through the opening. David clambered through and glanced back to see Tim locking the partition back behind him. “We’re coming up to the collection point soon, so—“ Tim looked down at his scanner as it clicked. “What? He stared at David in confusion. No ID…? That can’t be right.” He held out the scanner and shone the red and yellow light on his face again. “No record? What the bloody heck?” He tapped a few buttons on the scanner. “Is your ID malfunctioning?” David shrugged. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, really.” Tim glanced back at the scanner’s small screen. “No, no, no. Bad, bad, bad! You’re not in a team. There’s no procedure for this. No protocol!” “Uhh—“ “Quiet! Let me think!” Tim paced around in the cramped corridor, looking to all concerned like an animal trapped in a cage. David lapsed into silence, hearing the faint hum of electricity around him. The sound was soothing and familiar and the ventilation within the corridor appeared to be active, with a faint breeze playing around him. It was strangely pleasant. The breeze reminded him of home… “I’ve got it!” Tim exclaimed, startling David out of his drifting thoughts. “I’ll just introduce you to the Consortium, they’ll know what to do.” “Do you think that’s a good idea?” David replied uneasily. Tim shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s the best I can come up with.” ———— “Tim Giller? Maintenance?” “Yes, ma’am.” “Hmm, a person without ID. Strange. Thank you for bringing him.” Tim hovered around uncertainly, his hands kept moving from his sides to behind his back, as if he were unsure on what stance he should pose in. The woman waved her hand dismissively. “You may go, Mr. Giller. Follow me…?” “David.” “David, then. Follow me. I’m Florence, one of the members of the Consortium.” David glanced back, watching as Tim bobbed his head and headed for the door. Though they hadn’t been long together Tim had been friendly enough, and more than that, his accent had been Australian, making him feel right at home… or at least as close as he could get to that. Florence however, was vastly different, and had an Eastern European accent which he couldn’t pin down. “David, please come along, the other members may not be so patient as I am, I want you to bear that in mind.” David swallowed having the familiar feeling of being dragged into a situation that seemed to growing bigger than he could possibly handle. He trotted alongside Florence, as they made their way through rat-maze corridors that looked so similar that David quickly gave up hope of finding his way out of the place after a few turns. “You must have a lot of questions, David. But do not worry, the Consortium always has the answer.” Though the message was undoubtedly directed at him, David got the feeling that Florence was merely repeated an oft-spoken phrase. Feeling a fresh dose of foreboding, he braced himself as they came to a set of door doors, with an unfamiliar symbol etched into the steel plating. Underneath, ‘Consortium’ was engraved, making it hard to mistake where he had ended up. “Don’t be afraid, David. The Consortium has always existed for humanity.” Swallowing his mounting fear, he entered the room when Florence opened the door using her scanner. Three other members sat in high-backed leather chairs. They all wore severe suits, mirroring Florence’s own as she left David in the centre of the room and seated herself elegantly at the empty chair on the left. A woman in the centre of the of Consortium raised an eyebrow. “Before we address your curiosities, that you no doubt have flying around in that little mind of yours. Perhaps you will indulge ours, first?” “I-I’ll try,” David stammered. He thought he had a nightmare about something similar to this, but in that dream he wasn’t wearing pants. He double checked his spandex were on. Better. But not by much. It was one thing to dress like that in front of ponies, but in front of a fully suited panel… “Relax, David,” a deep voice called out soothingly. A mountain of a man sat to the right of the woman in the centre, his muscles bulging and defined, even through the black suit he was wearing. He nodded at David. “This is not an interrogation, more like a conversation. We’re here to help, if we can.” The blonde woman in the centre nodded her head in agreement. “My name is Marie. I’m the current President of the International Consortium of Scientists. According to the datalogs, we are the custodians of experiment alpha. The first experiment conducted on a world scale.” Her piercing blue eyes pinned David down with their intensity. “In accordance with the original protocols set down by our Ancestors, every human within the Consortium is to be ID tagged and logged.” Marie steepled her fingers. “Compliance with this policy has been ninety-nine point nine percent,” she stated. “Which means you are an anomaly. I must conclude that you lie outside the Consortium. Where did you come from?” David shifted his feet. “I was cryogenically frozen for the better part of ten thousand years,” he said. Silence greeted him. “Impossible!” Florence grated, pounding her fist into her desk. “That’s absurd. What you’re proposing was already fringe science! The line of research was abandoned ages ago!” David shrugged. “How long ago?” he asked. Florence snorted and brought up her scanner. “Approximately, let’s see…” she trailed off, looking at the screen in disbelief. Isabelle glanced at Florence in concern. “What does it say?” “Ten thousand years ago.” She shook her head. “That doesn’t prove anything. Tests will have to be made. We can’t believe his claims without evidence.” Isabelle turned back to David. “Anything else you’d like to add?” David shuffled his feet, feeling like a child in front of bickering adults. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I woke up, saw these pony-things. My cry-pod contacted a beacon. We found it in an underground cavern and the British responded.” “The British?!” Isabelle muttered. “There’s something about them in the logs, I’m sure of it.” She perused her scanner. “Albert, do you have the key for Zeta-C files?” The mountain-man nodded and tapped something on his scanner, making it chime. “It pertains to the original experiment.” He paused. “Pre-Phase I.” Florence’s sharp intake of breath and Isabelle’s raised eyebrow prompted David’s curiosity. “Pre-Phase I?” Isabelle glanced at David. “Before the start of our experiment.” She sighed at David’s confused expression. “This is something taught in all basic Preceptures. A long time ago, over ten thousand years ago, scientists had a problem…” ———— Dr. Staton heard his pager go off again and muttered something under his breath. Couldn’t he finish a beer in peace? Granted, his alcoholic beverage of choice was a good Scotch, but after intense procedure, he couldn’t deny a nice cold one to take the edge off. He looked down at his pager. Begin Phase 0. Gently, he set down his beer and headed for a small alcove hidden behind his office drawer. With the flick of a switch, the heavy drawer slid back, revealing a small passageway paved with LED lighting. Carefully closing the doorway behind him, the doctor checked his watch and hurried along to the predetermined collection point. Several colleagues passed in similar haste, and they only paused briefly to nod at him in greeting before rushing off. Staton recognised the unique coding marking his unit’s unique collection point and pick up the pace, pausing only briefly to get his ID chip read by a stoic-looking security officer. “Dr. Staton, present,” he puffed as the security officer scanned his arm. “Just in time,” the officer growled, waving him through. Inside the chamber was a spacious lounge, constructed with the sustainable fabricators funded by the Consortium’s seemingly endless pockets. At the head of a room, the Lead Scientist for their unit was operating her scanner, and reviewing the procedures. “Dr. Staton! Glad you could make it!” a cheerful voice greeted. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mark. What’s been going on with you?” The engineer laughed. “Oh you would not believe how many systems I’ve had to prepare for the Generation Ships. Did you see the size of the Y-Classes? Almost seems like a waste we’re not even going to fill one of them.” He clicked his tongue. “Oh well, I can settle for a Z-Class.” “I know how you feel mate, if we didn’t have pesky ethics, we’d have come up with a far more efficient solution, wouldn’t you agree?” Mark rolled his eyes at that. “You’re always the cynic, Staton. Lighten up! Once they’re gone to new places they can fuck it up there. In a few thousand we’ll be back when it’s all fixed, you’ll see. It’ll all be a bad dream that’ll be over. What about you, what have you been up to?” “Started an experiment, but the local government found out about it and I couldn’t complete it in time for Phase 0.” Mark shook his head in sympathy. “Bad luck, mate. Guess we’ll have to abandon that line of research, and an interesting one at that. In fact it probably would have helped with the main mission—” The hubbub of conversation between members died as the speakers crackled to life. The measured voice of an aged scientist filtered through the connection. “Standby for a message from the President.” The wall panel at the front of the room lit up, showing the lined face of Dr. Maxine Curie. “Fellow scientists, engineers, scholars and humans. This will be my first and last message to you. As fellow members of the Consortium we have always been guided by our goal to bring the best of ourselves to humanity. We’ve tried to sway the masses, we’ve tried to advocate for peace, progress and prosperity.” Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Members of the Consortium, we have failed. Technology has only hastened the destruction of the land and consumed resources faster than we could sustainably source them. The climate is in imbalance and we’re fast running out of options.” Maxine paused and unexpectedly smiled. “Or so they think. Today marks the completion of the local Dyson Sphere! The satellite orbiting the Earth has provided output at a comfortable margin of twenty six percent. Those on the surface have yet to discover that the star of the sun is no longer their own, but one of our making. With this monumental effort we have cemented the resources to begin our extra-solar journey and evacuate the planet. Our Martian arm has recently relayed to us that the ships on their side are ready. Today is the day, fellow members of the Consortium. We leave for new grounds! Good luck, everyone.” The feed cutoff. For a moment there was stunned silence. Then a cheer erupted from members of the audience. Mark was shedding tears. “Finally,” he cried. “This was decades in the making.” He turned around to share the sentiment with his friend, but he finally noticed how silent Staton was. “Hey,” he said. “What’s wrong?” Dr. Staton shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to ruin Mark’s good mood. “I’m sorry, Mark. I forgot to tell you this, but I’m part of experiment alpha.” Mark gaped. “The xenobiotics one on this planet? Oh mate.” “Yeah,” Dr. Staton mumbled. “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be,” Mark replied, his voice husky with emotion. “Don’t be. You’re doing a good thing here, mate. You’re a good man.” He grabbed Staton by the shoulder’s and crushed the doctor in a bear hug. Ah, Mark was always the emotional one. Maybe that’s why he had a family? “I’ll miss you, Staton.” Staton awkwardly patted Mark’s arm. “I’ll miss you too, buddy.” ———— “So you’re saying that the whole Earth is now an experiment to correct climate imbalance?” David spluttered. A soft voice spoke up from the final chair on the left. “Among other things, yes.” David stared at the figure… he looked familiar somehow but he couldn’t place it. “Hello, David, I never thought I’d see you again. Remember me, mate? It’s Dr. Staton.” ———— Talons clicked impatiently on stone. A growl rumbled low and ominous, reflecting around the chamber in a series of ringing waves. Luna gritted her teeth and stood firm, glaring at the current Matriarch of the Dragons. “Luna,” her gravelly voice grumbled. “So you’ve come.” “You’ve seen the skies, then?” The dragoness regarded Luna with a molten eye. The deep red of her iris looked like the slow-moving glow of living lava, and the heat of her glare made Luna take a half step back. “How could we not know of the skies, little pony? I may be old, but my eyes are as keen as yours. But that ship is your affair, not ours. We’ve seen and ignored the many internal strifes that your land seems so fond of. Why should we help you?” Luna shook her head savagely. “This is also your concern!” she shot back. “These humans have announced their intention to wipe the planet of thinking life! They intend to rule over us, if nothing else!” The Matriarch snorted, the puff of smoke coming from her maw enough to smother a small town. Her scales ground together, black as obsidian but hard as diamonds. “They would not have the power to destroy us. We would defeat them!” Luna stamped her hoof in frustration. “On your own, you say? Tell me, Matriarch, can you breathe without air?” The Matriarch narrowed her eyes at Luna. She sensed a trap, but couldn’t discern its shape or form. “No, but I don’t see—“ Luna pointed to the floating megastructure above Canterlot. “That thing comes from beyond the moon! Can your wings go farther than the sky lets you?” The Matriarch growled and gnashed her teeth. “What do you propose, then?” Luna’s feral grin made even the Matriarch hesitate. “We’ll give you magic, you lend us fire.” The Matriarch considered Luna for a moment, before extending a talon. “Bargain struck.” ————— “I didn’t believe we’d meet this way again,” he chuckled. “Dr. Staton, you know this man?” Albert asked. His chair creaked as he leaned back. “Yes, he’s was a patient for one of my experiments. The cryogenic procedure in fact.” “How are you still alive?!” David spluttered. “It’s been about ten thousand years!” Dr. Staton stared at David and tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, as if debating whether or not to tell him. “Well, I wouldn’t call myself alive, as more existing.” He glanced at the other occupants in the room. “The same could be said for the others.” “How—“ “We’re androids.” “What?” “Cybernetic organisms. We’re not humans anymore. I mean at some point we were humans and some point we were both human and machine, but now we’re almost completely machines.” Dr. Staton sighed and grinned ruefully. “If only I invested more time in the cryogenic capsules, perhaps I would have been here to greet you personally.” “How can you be here, and not here at the same time? Why are you saying that you’re not exactly Dr. Staton and you’re not exactly alive?” The doctor tapped his fingers on the armrest again, then shrugged. “I suppose it’s a matter of perspective. Over the years, the Consortium and I have agreed that the moment your mind is over fifty percent succeeded by nanotic nerves, you’re organically dead. “For some, it’s a big deal, being organically dead and they can only come to grips with it by taking a new name and living the new life of a different persona. The human mind is a delicate thing.” “Why? Why do this to yourselves?” Dr Staton laughed, though David thought he heard a tinge of bitterness. “Why do anything, David? We do this because we want to live on. We do this because we care about the world. We do this because one day when humanity come back, they’ll come back to paradise, instead of a desolate wasteland. “The Consortium was originally built as an idea. Prominent scientists from around the world developed technology in secret bunkers, suppressing some technology, but releasing others. We quickly came to the conclusion that at the current rate of growth, the population would not be able to sustain itself. At one point the bubble would pop and everything will collapse. “Hence, the Consortium made a plan. A plan to evacuate Earth and fix the resulting imbalances borne from humanity’s greed. In place would be an experiment. Experiment alpha, for which the objective was two-fold. “One: To determine when life on this planet would be self-sustainable again.” Dr. Staton stopped here, reaching out to take a sip of water from the glass on his desk. “What’s two?” David asked, unable to help himself. “Two: Create the largest scale social experiment ever performed, to determine the optimum philosophies and design for a sustainable society.” “So you’re saying…” “Yes. All the creatures on the surface are part of the experiment, and you are an unforeseen variable.” Silence echoed in the chamber. David took a step back, feeling the cold, hard gaze of Dr. Staton lock with his own. Then the doctor laughed. “Oh don’t be such a tight-arse, David. I told you, we’re here for humanity. What would be the point of doing anything to you? Now the problem is the British. I happen to remember them, but even I had to look up the information as a refresher. You might not know this, David, but our memories don’t have infinite capacity. There’s local storage and there’s the storage in the database, or DB as it has caught on. Some of these people don’t retain memories past the last hundred years, so it’s hard to remember what the British were. “Of the many generation ships we’ve sent out by nation and region, some were specially designated for the politician and ruling class.” Dr. Staton pressed his lips together and clenched his teeth. “Unfortunately, they have somehow intercepted the return call for the expeditionary ships. Being that it has been ten thousand years, we won’t even know if the original Consortium will respond. The problem, David, is that we haven’t finished experiment alpha, and the ship here is interfering with our attempts to succeed.” Isabelle steepled her fingers. “That’s why we need your help, David. No one on the surface must know of this control chamber. Some of the more paranoid among the Consortium has made sure that the Robotic Laws applied to cybernetic organisms as much as AI-bound systems. We will not be able to stop any human from coming in here and wreaking havoc on our plans. Simultaneously, this means we cannot activate the local satellite array and blast these meddling ships back to Kingdom Come. Do you get what I’m suggesting?” David wrinkled his brow. “Uhh…” Florence shook her head. “What we’re saying is that several of the experiment subjects of this planet has control over the nearest satellite system in orbit. Effectively, they control the sun. We want you to convince them to— urk.” Isabelle glanced over to Florence in sympathy. “Hopefully you catch our drift, we can’t directly tell you to… do anything that would cause harm to another human being. I hate to say this, but the fate of the world depends on you, David.” “Great,” David muttered. “Just great.”