The Destroyer

Chapter Fourteen

Leading up to the gamma ray burst, Avery and all of those with him, could converse with Sahara, the orbiting mega-computing facility, now home to thirty two million disembodied people, who were adjusting, searching and wondering what exactly they would be doing with their newfound eternal life. It was a daunting proposition, especially for the non-scientific folks who could not even fathom how it was, they came to now exist in this new state of being.

Even more challenging, especially for the non-technical, was the feeling of being without purpose. Engineers, scientists, mathematicians, programmers, they all had ways to interact in their new environment, to define a goal, and then set about trying to achieve it. There was a sense of excitement and comfort in knowing that time would not be running out. In contrast, those who had been in the arts, be it performing, culinary, literature, music or fine arts, were mostly unclear as to how they would fit into their new world.

But this phenomenon was only temporary. As far a Lola and the architects were concerned, everything mapped nicely onto the new existence. They had considered these questions at length. It was only the problem, that in an effort to save as many people as possible, there had been no time to open people's minds and prepare them for how they might struggle at first, but eventually thrive in their new lives. Every element of their humanity had been preserved and therefore the senses cried out for physical stimulation. This was one of the main struggles. But there were two ways to satisfy these sudden feelings of loss. First, there was hardware. The engineering minded tirelessly designed and built every conceivable type of tactile robotic device, drone, camera, auditory, or olfactory device one might imagine. But these were mainly for physical maintenance of Sahara, so the general public had limited access. Besides, what was so exciting about roaming or repairing a deserted space station?

Hardware based sensory input was limited and needed lots of further development. On the other hand, simulation was something to which there was no limit. And Lola, along with her team, had done a great job in creating a starting point for simulating real human experience. Whether it was taste, smell, tears, laughter, touch, or any other sensation, the programming interface was there and the library was partially built. This was the topic that most people focused on in the early years, the creation of human experience through simulations. There were even entirely new sensations that were beyond the scope of biological humanity, an area where the most creative talents were able to distinguish themselves and delight others, like any good artist.

Sensory input, whether physical or simulated was relatively straightforward, because the types of inputs were limited. More challenging was the reaction. Not only, how the inputs were processed, but the interaction of the inputs and then the physical responses that triggered multitudes of chemical releases and secondary mental processes. All of these things gave particular feelings to people. It was immensely complicated. But thirty years of work on this area alone, produced sophistication and possibilities extending even beyond prior human experience. Better yet, each individual had the ability to play with these things, as they wished. This was of course a complicated affair, so there were preprogrammed packages containing simple adjustments. People would shuffle through these and try them, to see which one they felt best suited them. And, of course, there were new ones coming out all the time.

Just as Lola had surmised, the initial uneasiness was short lived and all walks of life began to flourish, together. Lack of talent or lack of intellect, did not result in disadvantages with regard to wealth or health. And without those two worries, and with the ability to recreate yourself in a new image of your own choosing, people were genuinely happy. Another equalizer was education. Suddenly, no one was too old to learn new things. Assuming humanity survived for a long time, everyone was suddenly young and with an abundance of time to pursue knowledge. There were even programs developed to eliminate weaknesses that people had as biological humans. Things like addictions, phobias, memory retention, ability to comprehend mathematics, reading, public speaking. There was a market for self improvement and this time the purveyors of such programs were not frauds. They were well meaning computer scientists and psychologists.