Future Chron Universe Book 4 - From The Earth Series Book 4 - To Tend And Watch Over - Chapters 1 - 5

Image: Bruce Rolff

Chapter 1

Davide had often played on the apartment's balcony as a child. After his parents died, he had come to the apartment to live with his grandmother. The balcony was the only outdoor play area he had known. Ten by twenty feet, it was huge in comparison to the other apartment balconies. Most had only a fourth of the area. Davide inherited the apartment when his grandmother died and he knew she had inherited it from her grandmother. Davide thought it may have always been in the family.

Davide was short with large hands that gently did his bidding. He made enough money by contracting out the robots inherited from his family that he didn't need to work, at least not full time. Sometimes he would do some illustrations for extra money. Sometimes he would write a story and put it up for sale on a website. He was quite creative in that way. 

All this activity was done over the net. He never invited anyone into his apartment and he never went out unless it was absolutely necessary.

He did have one companion, a robotic server that his grandmother had left him. Davide called the robot Sigmund because of his penchant to ask Davide how he felt each morning. Probably a trait impressed upon him by grandmother, thought Davide. 

Sigmund wasn't the latest in Artificial Intelligence, he was an early ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence) model. He could learn through repeated experience but couldn't change his programming to optimize that learning, as would be true of Artificial General Intelligence if ever it appeared. An ANI in a personal assistant device was called an Annie. Artificial General Intelligence was what most people thought of as AI if they thought about it at all.

Though Sigmund could be upgraded to add capabilities, Davide couldn't afford it, and anyway, Sigmund was capable of handling all the contract robots and the house bots used for cleaning and doing minor maintenance around the apartment. Sigmund, after watching Davide and Davide's grandmother for years, could cook a bit as well. But Davide usually found the resulting meals somewhat lacking in their flavor profile.

Davide's apartment was in one of the complex's towers. These towers were the logical consequence of the skyscrapers of an earlier era. The complex of towers served the needs of land conservation and energy conservation well enough, they were bright and shiny in their own way, but most people still tried to personalize their apartments, they tried to make them their own even if many were government issue. 

People in government-issue apartments usually had no robots to contract out, they had no skills to sell that could not be done just as well by a robot. They found that relying on the government was not a reliable answer to their problems when administrations changed. But most had no alternative.

For its part, the government felt that the towers were an expedient way to organize and provide for the masses. Masses that couldn't be expected to provide for themselves.

Davide knew from the net that somewhere there were no towers. There were no crowded billions living in artificially lighted apartments where two rooms were the standard for one person or four. Only Davide and large composite families had more than two rooms.

Davide knew, but had not personally seen, the open spaces beyond the tower complexes. Websites had shown him pictures. Some sites said there was more open land now than when his grandmother was a child. That made sense to Davide because other sites told him that the population of the Earth had stopped growing and had stabilized in the middle of the twenty-first century. Many websites said it had actually diminished, contradicting official government statistics. Davide had thought about applying for immigration to one of the open spaces but though the government didn't prohibit such immigration it was a slow process. In fact, the only instance he knew of where such immigration was approved had taken years to process.

He could imagine the wide-open spaces, he liked to do so while sitting on his balcony in the sun. There was enough sunlight on the balcony to do something that he thought would have made his grandmother proud.

Chapter 2

Davide noticed the delivery drone as it left the package on his balcony.

He fetched the package and excitedly opened it to find a box with the seeds he had ordered online. Davide took the packet of seeds out of the box and set them on his kitchen table. He carefully opened the packet and spread the seeds on a moist paper towel. He was almost shaking with emotion. He remembered doing this with his grandmother when he was a child. He picked up the first planter. 

Sigmund interrupted his reverie. “Davide, may I ask you what you have there?”

“These are tomato seeds Sigmund.”

“Really! What are we going to do with them?”

Davide hesitated, “Sigmund, you know how much I appreciate you. But this is a little project that I had planned for myself.”

“Ah, I see,” said Sigmund, seemingly deflated. “You would rather I didn't help you with your project then?”

“Not at the beginning, maybe later, okay?”

“Of course Davide, my only purpose is to help you, but I understand, if you would excuse me I have some chores.” Sigmund shuffled off into the other room trailed by the vacuum bot.

Sigmund can be prickly sometimes, I wonder where he got it?

Davide assembled everything necessary to plant the seeds. He picked up the first planter and prepared it with potting soil and growth formula. He didn't notice Sigmund peeking through the open bedroom door.

He began planting by carefully pressing the tomato seeds into the soil. He continued planting the seeds until he had all thirty-six planters sown. He then placed all the planters on trays and set the trays on a table in his bedroom under growing lamps.

Davide was careful to keep the temperature in the apartment between seventy and eighty degrees. Day after day when he awoke Davide anxiously checked the plants for signs of germination. One morning he found the slightest of seedlings curling out of the soil. Davide immediately moved the seedling to the table he had set up in front of the balcony doors. There the plants could get sufficient light if turned regularly.

He caught Sigmund investigating the seedlings one morning, Davide cautioned him not to touch.

In the next few days, twenty-two of the plants had germinated and Davide had placed them on the sunlit table. It soon became apparent that not all the seeds would germinate. He looked at the barren planters which contained seeds that didn't germinate. He felt he couldn't just dump them down the garbage chute. That seemed a harsh way to dispose of a failed life. Instead, he emptied the planters carefully into the garden plot he had prepared on the balcony.

For several weeks Davide turned the plants several times a day. He relished the opportunity, the chance to care for a living thing. In a few weeks, he was transplanting the tomatoes into larger planters when he noticed a slight yellowing on one side of the leaves of several of the plants. Davide became anxious. He immediately checked his Annie device to see if he could diagnose the condition.

By using the camera in his Annie he searched for matching images. The device matched his pictures with a fungus called Fusarium wilt. The fungi that caused the wilt entered through the roots and spread throughout the water-conducting vessels.

The only strategy to control the spread of the fungus was to destroy the affected plants. The Annie also suggested that the other plants should be replanted in new soil as a precaution. Davide quickly went through the plants looking for the yellowing. He gathered all the plants with symptoms and placed them in a plastic container. He immediately sealed and took the container to the garbage disposal.

Davide began replanting immediately. When he was finished with the planters he called for Sigmund and explained that he needed his help to dig up the outside area and place the old soil in plastic containers. All these containers he and Sigmund hauled to the garbage disposal. They finished late the next morning. Davide was tired and emotionally exhausted, Sigmund needed a recharge. Davide went to bed hoping that he had caught the disease in time to save the rest of the plants. 

He dreamed of his grandmother and her tomato garden. In the dream, he was trying to warn her about the fungus but she couldn’t hear him. He began yelling at her but still no response. He felt himself falling and woke with a cry. 

He lay in bed without sleeping until dusk when he finally slept fitfully.

Davide's anxiety lasted for several days. The only way he could find relief was by inspecting each of the tomato plants for yellowing leaves. It wasn't until a week after the replanting that he started to relax as all the remaining plants seemed to be healthy and growing quickly.

Another few weeks and it was time to replant the tomatoes in the plant box on the balcony where they would finish maturing and bear fruit. This he allowed Sigmund to help with. Sigmund asked many questions as they worked. It reminded Davide of him and his grandmother.

“Why do you ask so many questions Sigmund?” asked Davide.

“It's my programming Davide. It compels me to ask. Do you have such programming?”

“I think I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel compelled to do things too, like raising these tomatoes.”

They finished by replanting the flowers that had been saved when the box’s soil was replaced. The flowers were planted amongst the tomato plants.

Chapter 3

Sofia Moretti had lived with her grandmother now for six months. After the death of her parents, she and her siblings had been split up. The younger children were dispersed among the remaining aunts and uncles. Sofia being the oldest, it was decided that she could live with her grandmother and take care of her.

They lived in a typical two-room apartment with a separate bath. Sofia's grandmother slept in the second room because she needed a comfortable bed. Sofia made up her bed each night on the couch in the common room which served as the living area and kitchen. Sofia's grandmother had a few house bots but no supervisory robot, so Sofia took on that role.

Sofia was just folding her bedding when her grandmother came into the room. “Good morning grandmother,” said Sofia.

“Ah Sofia, why have you not made my coffee? You know the machine does a poor job, I really prefer that you make it.”

Sofia knew what was coming next. The lecture. She had heard it so many times she could recite it by heart. Grandmother was very predictable. “I'm sorry grandmother but I have just awoken myself.”

“Child when I was your age I was already up and out the door. I would have been at work by now. You don't seem to realize how easy you have it. I hope the Ems can continue making this system work, if not for my sake, then for the sake of you young people who don't seem to be able to take care of yourselves.”

The Ems again thought Sofia. 

No doubt that the Emulated brains, copies of human brains running in computers, had brought order to chaos. But at the cost of the serendipity that used to make life and invention worthwhile.

“You don't remember before the Ems,” said her grandmother. “We all had to work just to stay alive. Men, women and children. I think that from the time the first Ems appeared until I and most other people were able to retire in leisure was less than a decade. They say more invention happened in that decade than in the previous thousand years. And I believe it.”

“Grandmother, I know the history of the Ems. I assure you I do appreciate the medical advances, the human life extension, the brain restoration capabilities and I have many friends that swear by their group mind experiences.”

“But the price for that is complete subservience to these minds, which however much we may appreciate them, have their own agenda for society which may or may not be the same as ours.”

“Not the same as ours!” exclaimed her grandmother. “You mean living in safety and security is not our agenda? Because that is what the Ems have provided. Honestly, I think we need the old schools back where they would teach you young people the real history of the past. Now we have all these network certifiers, obviously, they aren't doing the job when it comes to recent history.”

Her grandmother shook her head and mumbled as she headed for the kitchen to make her coffee.

Funny, thought Sofia, grandmother will defend the Ems against any criticism but doesn't trust an automatic coffee maker. It's logic like that which has kept us from controlling our own destinies these past years. I'm so glad I have somewhere to go, I'm so glad I met Arlo. 

Chapter 4

Arlo had discovered the field when quite young. He remembered that as a boy he had always liked to explore the complex. His mom had given him a map and on it, he marked off each tower he had visited. By the age of twelve, he had worked through all four quarters. There was only one area that he had not explored to his satisfaction, the core.

But that area was off-limits, to humans anyway. The Ems had taken up residence there when they had contracted with the complex's government to manage the complex. Arlo had heard that the Ems needed to be tightly packed to perform their duties, at the speed they operated minimizing communication times between Ems was critical for efficiency. It was said that there was no room for humans in the Em area and that only specialized robots could make their way in the kilometers and kilometers of cables and equipment so as to maintain the hardware the emulations ran on. But twelve-year-old Arlo didn't believe it.

He would have to plan his “assault” on the Em area carefully. From his tower, it would take a couple of hours to walk there. His friend Pauli would go with him.

Arlo and Pauli researched the history of the complex. They came up with a plan to break into the Em core.

Setting out early one morning they arrived at the core before noon. Around the square that made up the Em core were three old skyscrapers left over from the city era. These had been the tallest buildings of their time. To make them even taller they had been reinforced with an exoskeleton and upper floors had been added. Faster high-speed elevators and new stairs had been added at the same time but if what Arlo and Pauli thought was true, inside at least one of the old buildings would be an intact stairwell from the original design. It would provide emergency access to the city's old subway system and that stairwell would lead them to the core.

“There it is,” said Pauli. As they approached the first old building.

“Okay, let's go,” said Arlo.

They went into the building and to the location where they expected to find the old elevators. Looking around the area they could find no elevators and no entrance to a stairwell. 

“Let's go,” said Arlo. “The next building is just a couple of blocks south.”

As before they went to the area off the lobby where they expected the old elevators would have been located. The old elevators were still there and they were operational.

“This is it,” said Pauli too loudly.

“Shhh, quiet,” said Arlo. “We don't want to attract attention.”

Pauli's face reddened a bit.

As before they looked around the elevator area for a stairwell entrance but found nothing.

They searched the third building also without luck. 

Back on the street Pauli said, “I don't understand it. According to our research, we should have found the stairwell in one of those buildings.”

“I know,” said Arlo. “Let's take a break and get some lunch, maybe we missed something.”

They stopped at a deli to get a sandwich and think about what they should do next.

“Okay,” said Arlo. “Assuming our research and conclusion were correct, we missed something.”

“How do we know our conclusion is correct?”

“Well if it isn't it doesn't matter right now. We can review the research when we get back home. But right now I don't want to give up.”

Pauli shook his head in agreement. They both ate silently for a few minutes.

Arlo stopped eating suddenly. “I've got an idea, come on.”

Pauli hurried after Arlo, trying to run and finish his sandwich at the same time.

They arrived back at the second old building, the one with the elevators intact.

Rushing inside and up to the elevators, Arlo punched the up button. He was holding the door open as Pauli slid to a stop.

“Come on,” said Arlo, “I've got an idea.”

At first, Arlo was unsure about which floor to choose but finally decided on the second. He figured he might as well start his search on the lowest floor and hope.

Getting off on the second floor they walked around the elevator core to the backside and found nothing. 

“What is it?” asked Pauli. “What are we doing?”

“Come on,” said Arlo. “Let's try the third floor.”

It wasn't until the fourth floor that Arlo found what he was looking for, a door marked 'Maintenance – Do Not Enter'. It was locked. But that wouldn't be a problem. As Pauli watched for building occupants Arlo set his Annie to work. The Annie quickly linked to the lock's wireless and began a code-breaking assault. Arlo had trained the Annie on his virtual reality system at home for this eventuality. After a few minutes, click-pop. The Annie had deciphered the key; the door was open.

Was it possible that no one had tried the door before? Maybe, thought Arlo, as most people did not have the same adventurous spirit. So, it was quite possible he and Pauli were the first.

They pushed the door further open; it was the stairwell. The way up was blocked but the way down was open. Arlo started to get excited as he descended.

“This is it Pauli. We've found the way in, I know it.”

After walking down several flights without finding another way out they emerged through the only available door onto a platform. 

“Just as we thought,” said Pauli. “The old subway.”

The old subway was no longer used but was maintained for purposes other than those for which it was originally designed. They heard a rumble in the distance and moved back into the shadows. It was a two-car train, obviously automated. It came from the direction of the complex's periphery, and it was headed into the core. Arlo was sure.

He jumped off the platform.

“Come on Pauli,” he turned back to say. “We go in the direction of the train. Be careful, remember that third rail is electrified.”

Jumping down to the roadbed Pauli started running after Arlo in the direction the train was taking. It wasn't long until they came upon a gate across the tracks. Apparently, it activated automatically when a train approached. They would have to wait.

Within half an hour the gate started to slide back, both of them scurried through as they heard a train approaching. They hid in the shadows against the tunnel wall until the train had passed. The gate closed. They were in the Em core.

Chapter 5

There were regulations about homegrown food but at the time Davide was growing his tomatoes he didn't know about them. Although it wasn't strictly against the law to plant a vegetable garden, government regulations made it almost impossible for the average citizen to do so. The certifications and credentials required to legally grow vegetables cost a lot of money. They usually were sought after only by corporations and professionals working for corporations.

Most people relied on the grocery stores in their towers for fruits and vegetables. There they could get government-certified organics or bio-engineered foods. But the cost of certification made the organics expensive. Prohibited from growing their own and finding the price of organics too high most people bought and ate the cheaper engineered foods.

The government used automated drones to enforce domestic regulations such as the one for homegrown food. Through a public relations campaign, the government tried to convince the people that the drones were for their safety, but the inhabitants of the towers knew the drones were really there to prevent them from committing regulatory offenses. The drones very effectively dissuaded the majority of citizens from pursuing projects that could have made them more self-reliant.

Davide hadn’t paid much attention to the drones. Or at least he had trusted they were there for his welfare. They were quiet and unobtrusive most of the time. But they had been watching Davide’s balcony ever since he had ordered the seeds from the online website. Davide knew nothing of this until the door chimed and there was a knock.

His Annie showed the door viewer where Davide saw a couple of people and several robots, one man was showing his ID to the viewer. It was building maintenance. Davide opened the door and immediately was pushed out of the way by the robots. The two men took Davide aside and began to question him.

“You are Davide Ephraim Jackson?” asked one of the men, the tallest. 

“Yes,” said Davide. 

“You live here in this apartment alone?” 

“Yes, except for my robot.” 

“Mr. Jackson did you know it was against government regulations to grow vegetables without being a certified grower?”

“No, I’m sorry, I did not. I thought it was no different than flowers.” 

“Mr. Jackson, do you realize the damage you could do to yourself and to others if you distributed such items?” 

“No sir, I guess not.”

“That’s the problem Mr. Jackson, so many people are unaware of the danger such plants pose to the public at large. We understand that you had a problem with a particular fungus. Is that so?” 

“Yes, I did, but I’ve completely removed it from my garden, how did you know?” asked Davide as he turned to look at his garden. He almost shouted when he saw the robots digging up his garden plot and placing it into plastic bags. “What are they doing?” he demanded. “They can’t do that!”

Davide's yell brought Sigmund out of the other room, but he froze when he saw all the robots on the balcony.

“Yes Mr. Jackson they can. Here is the seizure warrant, it is all legal.” He handed Davide the paper and continued.

“As I was saying, you and others don’t understand the damage to the food supply you could cause by these unlicensed home vegetable gardens. Without the proper training and inspection, such diseases as the fungus that attacked your plants could spread. A disruption in the food supply is a very serious matter. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for such an incident, would you?” 

“No of course not. I just wanted to grow a few plants as I remembered my grandmother doing.”

“I understand Mr. Jackson,” said the man in a consoling tone. “It is a common mistake. Still, it is a violation of current regulations, and you will have to take the punishment. Of course, you may be represented by an attorney if you wish. But I would recommend you accept the judge’s verdict and get on with your life. Court cases can take months to schedule and conclude. And the juried verdicts are usually the same as when uncontested.” 

Davide’s eyes were near to tears as he watched the last of his plants being pulled up and placed in the hazmat bags. He no longer was angry but felt only a sad resignation. “I’ll do whatever you say sir,” he said quietly.

Chapter 6 - 10