Augmented Fatality by Kevin McLaughlin & Michael Anderle

Author:Kevin McLaughlin & Michael Anderle [Mclaughlin, Kevin & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2023-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Dane involuntarily glanced at the guards by the door. If this was a horror video, they would have grabbed him by the neck and injected the nanites then and there, but they hadn’t come any farther into the room.

“That idea makes you nervous?” Carmen asked, drawing his attention back to her.

“It does,” Dane admitted. “You have to understand, the first Augmented people we met tried to kill us.”

“But only because you weren’t Augmented.”

“I mean, I want to believe that, but from a security perspective, I have to make sure I don’t bring something to my colony that destabilizes what we’ve built. We’ve made so much progress there. We can’t risk giving up our gains.”

“You claim you’ve made progress, and yet our scout didn’t see anything in your solar system besides a few satellites orbiting a single planet. Weather satellites, our analysis showed us. Likely to keep an eye on the weather. You can’t really expect me to believe you don’t have more to gain by allying with us. Instead of figuring out kelp, we could ship you grain. Instead of trying to retrofit your two aging colony ships, we could equip you with ships that can hop between our solar systems.”

“You would do that for us? Give us a ship, I mean? We don’t have much by way of industry to offer in trade.”

“We are not looking at quarterly profits as our human predecessors would. We are looking at the long-term success of humanity. You live on a planet that could support billions of people. We are more than willing to equip you with a few ships to help us realize that dream. All we would need is a delegation of Augmented people to return with you so they could facilitate Augmenting your own population.”

“Is the implant tech really that central to your mission, though? You have to understand, we’re from more than a hundred years ago. The only implants on our planet are in the brains of the Russians, and those are clunky things that can’t interface with half the things they claim to. I’m skeptical, I guess. I think it would be easier to set up trade, then talk about…Augmenting.”

Carmen tsked. “I assure you, if any one of your people agrees to undergo the procedure, you will all be convinced of its superiority.”

“How?”

Carmen smiled. It was a softball question, and she looked willing to answer.

“All information is available to us with barely a thought. I was able to access your military and public records easily enough, but really almost all information is at our disposal. That means new data, too. Say one of your people discovers a particular method to help with the farming of…”

“Kelp,” Dane offered, though she didn’t need the suggestion. She was trying to remind him how they struggled to farm kelp while her own planet farmed successfully enough to feed the solar system.

“Right. Kelp. Say someone discovers a method. They can record a video with a thought, then instantly share it with all other technicians, who can then see exactly what was done.

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