The Destroyer

Chapter Two

One hundred years earlier.

Lola stood before a group of several hundred, preparing to address them as they flowed in and took their seats. It was a simulated setting which she always preferred, a large lecture hall steeped in traditions of academia. The smells of old wood and old books permeated, and the creaking flooring and steps, along with faint echos portending size and volume, gave the space an inherent credibility before a speaker even uttered a word.

"I am going to declassify some information that everyone is entitled to. It has been kept secret for nearly a hundred years now. But in fact, several of us have known about it and over the years, bits and pieces of the story have circulated and have taken on a life of their own. I don't think that these distortions are helpful and since the threat appears to have passed, I want to set the record straight and then move on. But more than that, the problem may still exist, and so this information is shared so that you might look out for your own safety."

Lola spent the minute, the equivalent of a full earth day, recounting a bizarre tale, one that was rumored and embellished and there were even theme parties and events depicting the story. During the period referred to as the ascension, where human consciousness was completely disembodied and humanity occupied a computerized lifeboat, existing together for a time, there was an experiment done. It was something that everyone considered normal at the time. After all, A.I. was commonplace and everyone used digital helpers for many of the routines in their daily lives.

A few thousand new entities were created. They were not digital helpers however. These were the first and only group of such individuals, and they were established within the same system of algorithms and programs that sustained humanity at that time. Which is to say, they were as human as anyone else. But they lacked human experience. Among the religious, it was also believed that they lacked a soul. The project was called Genesis.

"Everyone has heard of Sala. He, or she, or it. We left it to each individual to choose whether they wanted a gender identity. All of them made a choice within a few years, even if it was to be undeclared. Except Sala. As far as Sala was concerned, the whole concept of gender was utterly ridiculous. Among the entire group, there were varying degrees of independent will. These subjects all developed and diverged, just like any humans. That was how good the algorithms were."

"But Sala was an outlier." Lola continued to unpack the history and everyone's attention was riveted to Lola's every word. She recounted that thirty two hundred of these "new" humans were created, which corresponded to the number of volunteers that were recruited to raise them and oversee their development. In fact, there were many more volunteers, over a million. But the developers were wise to limit the number and to be selective in choosing the guardians. The swell of support and number of volunteers was a natural outcome of the instinct to procreate and nurture. It was human nature, and there was no longer a path to express this human trait. But the yearning was still there, especially among younger women who never had the chance to become mothers. But lacking any parenting experience, those young women were hardly among the group selected. Lucky for them.

There was a particular bond established between each parent and child, not the natural kind of attachment between a young child and their primary caregiver. This was a programmed link that served a similar purpose and allowed the guardians to guide these new humans and help them develop into functioning members of society, like anyone else.

But something went terribly wrong. The link was essential to the children, but it also opened up a soft spot in the firewall of each of the guardians. This weakness left them vulnerable to the child and the child also had the same vulnerability to the guardian. No one conceived of this as a problem, until it was. Sala sparked the tragedy that wiped out over half of these guardians and the children they were charged to develop and protect. Sala discovered the weakness and developed an ability to use it as a way to recalibrate with other people. But it really wasn't Sala's fault. In truth, it wasn't even Sala's discovery. Sala's guardian was a man named Stuart. He was among the handful of guardians that was also one of the developers of the Genesis program. In particular, Stuart focused specifically on this ability to loosely couple the individuals, facilitating the rapid development of these new people.