Transhuman by Mark L. Van Name T. K. F. Weisskopf

Author:Mark L. Van Name, T. K. F. Weisskopf [Weisskopf, Mark L. Van Name, T. K. F.]
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, General, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction - General, Space Opera, Adventure, Science fiction; American, Short Stories, Science Fiction - Adventure, Science Fiction - Space Opera, Science Fiction And Fantasy, Short stories; American, American fiction, American fiction - 21st century, 21st century
ISBN: 9781416555230
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2010-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

"Kru$hr29?" Ga^^er20+ snagged me urgently at work the next morning, startling me in the middle of my first sip of Kona coffee, burning my tongue. I set down the coffee, making a mental note to run taste and touch mods on it later, after it went cold.

"Thanks for your feedback on Jaemz1. I pumped up the taste and smell mods like you said. You want to try them out?"

"No. I trust you."

"Did you hear about the demonstration the blanks are planning?"

"No. What's it about?"

"They're urging us to go blank for a day. Just one day. Someone said people used to do this with something they called television."

"Yeah, I've heard of TV," I said through the tunnel. "Primitive form of two dimensional VR; not very immersive, though, sight and sound only."

"Said they used to do a No TV day every year, back in the day. The blanks are trying to do the same kind of thing, I guess. Calling it Blank Day. Not sure what purpose it serves." I knew. "To show us that our enhancements are unnecessary." I felt a tear well up. "Dad and I were arguing about it the day he died."

"I'm sorry, Kru$hr29," Ga^^er20+ snagged. "I didn't know."

"It's okay."

"Anyway, it's next Tuesday. A week from today."

Tuesday? My brain bot alarmed me and put up a replay view of my dad arguing with me. Poppycock. You'll see on Tuesday after next .

Did he mean this Blank Day? Was Dad somehow involved in this? I had to find out. "Parallel with me, Ga^^er20+," I said. "I need to know what this Blank Day is."

"Done." Our brain bots sent out millions of queries each. A few seconds later, we'd gathered, collated, and shared the responses.

"Not good," I said. "It looks like the blanks were up to something more. There are a bunch of references to some guy they called Creator, who seems to have planned the whole event. And this Creator seems to think that going blank for that long will be permanent. That the nanobots would go impotent somehow, run out of symbiotic power or self destruct or something."

"Creator also tells them that it's inevitable, anyway," Ga^^er20+ said, "that if we don't go blank, we'll all lose control to our botbrains and go crazy afterward."

I shut down the snag and jerked around to face Gamer across the room.

His brow crinkled in obvious worry, mirrored by a reflective frown. He shuffled over to me, dazed. "Do you think they're right?" he whispered conspiratorially, his eyes darting around the room. "That we'd all go crazy without our enhancements?"

Narrowing my eyes, I leaned toward him and whispered back, "Have you ever gone blank before? Even for a few moments?"

Gamer shook his head slowly.

"I do it to mark transitions. Kind of like a bookmark. But it's only for a moment." Gamer's eyes widened, as if I'd just told him his parents were orangutans.

"I was blank for an afternoon once, after a bot crash from a bad face. Took about two dozen restarts to get my botbrain running again.

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