John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

“What I don’t understand….”

Kreitzmann interrupted. “This is only one of many projects I wish to show you, Patrick. After you get settled in, you may return and spend as much time as you like with Doctor Bonillas.”

A brief look of disappointment crossed Bonillas’ face as Elias replied, “Of course. It’s just that this is fascinating.”

Kreitzmann grinned. “If you think so, wait until you see the rest.”

After they stepped out of Bonillas’ lab and closed the door, Kreitzmann turned to Elias. “What you’ve just seen is our newest venture, and certainly the most embryonic, insofar as the progress we’ve made.”

As he spoke, he led Elias to a small alcove in the hallway, where he motioned for him to take a seat at a small conference table.

When they were both seated, Elias remarked, “That was quite impressive.”

“Thank you. At the time it was proposed, I admit I was a bit skeptical. Although I firmly believe that the human body is vastly underutilized, as a result of growing up and developing with a lowest-common-denominator environment surrounding it, the psychic, or telepathic, facility seemed outlandish even to me.”

“I can understand that.”

“However, what it demonstrates is our underlying technique and driving philosophy. The presumption of science, and mankind in general, has been that evolution and human development constitute an upward linear path, that each step taken by every organism is a step toward improvement — betterment, if you will — of the species.”

“You don’t believe that?”

“I don’t. Patrick, look around you. Not in here, but the outside world. Does it look to you as if we, as a species, are striving for perfection? No, my theory is that both evolution in the long term, and human development in the short term will always take the path of least resistance. That path is not the route to betterment, but the road to mediocrity.”

“So you think Darwin was wrong?”

Kreitzmann laughed, the sound echoing off the walls of the empty corridor they sat beside. “No, I don’t. I think he was right. That’s the problem. He was too right.”

“Then I am really confused.”

“As are most, at first. This confusion stems from the fact that almost everyone tends to forget the very basic element of Darwin’s work: procreation, pure and simple, the making of offspring. It is the biological imperative to reproduce. That’s the cornerstone of his theory. The only mention of our development, our progress toward becoming something better, is if it benefits us in obtaining a mate and successfully having a litter of children.”

Elias had to admit to himself that the man was persuasive. His expectation of this meeting was, in his own mind, something out of a cheap science fiction movie, with Kreitzmann playing the role of the mad scientist, not that his cold exploitation of infants for the purposes of his research was not sufficient to firmly plant him in the category of “monster.” It did. But Elias found him to be soft spoken, almost gentle in his approach to the topic. There was no psychotic, fanatical fire in his eyes, no imperious air in his demeanor. Elias did not sense a “God complex” from the scientist, simply an attitude of firm conviction.

“Rudy, there are those who do excel in our society.”

“Yes, there are, including you, Patrick. But look at your own choices. Immersing yourself in a community which is biologically hard-wired to do nothing more noble than have children…is a distraction, at best. Remember, you felt a need to escape it to be able to focus on your work.”

“I don’t know….”

“Think back to middle school and high school. When I attended those stellar institutions, I was called ‘brain,’ as though it was an insult. I’m sure that you, too, were one of the ‘brains’ in that environment.”

Elias nodded that he was; this answer was true both for his cover as well as for himself.

“Did that make you the most popular guy in school?”

It was Elias’ turn to laugh. “No. More like the least popular, until exam time came around, that is. Then all of the girls wanted to get together with me. But we are sounding like a couple of whining geeks, complaining that the jocks got the girls.”

“Geeks whine for good reason. That’s my point. If evolution were a process that pushed or pulled the human race toward higher plateaus, would the females in high school be hard-wired to prefer the male who could throw the football, rather than the male who could calculate its trajectory?”

“I guess that depends on what you view as a higher plateau. Evolutionarily, it would produce better football players.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Kreitzmann acknowledged, chuckling,"but I’m sure that you see my point. All of society is geared to encourage, produce, and even glamorize an act that is one of our most base, an act that essentially every animal and insect on the planet can perform. We eat. We sleep. We void ourselves of bodily waste. And we have sex and make babies. The message to people is basically this: Once that is done, once you have produced another baby, the evolutionary bells and whistles go off, considering that you’ve won the jackpot. You’ve accomplished what thousands of years of evolution directed you to do to fulfill your destiny. You’re done, other than feeding the children, clothing them, and providing them with shelter — in other words, safely delivering them to the age of reproduction themselves.

“You see, that’s the problem, Patrick. Natural selection has worked too well. We are now up to our eyeballs in population. We have geared our entire society toward quantity, not quality. There is no social pressure to become a better human being. There is certainly no biological pressure to do so, either.”

“That seems a little harsh, Rudy. There are expectations. There are rewards for excellence.”

“There were!” Kreitzmann almost shouted. “Certain segments of the population have made attempts in the past. There was a class system — not perfect, by any means, but an attempt to create a distinction between the rutting rabble and those who were men of letters. Partially as a result of the abuses perpetrated by this upper class, but mostly due to the tremendous social pressure from the lower group, this system, this distinction, is erased and, in the minds of many, a cause of shame and embarrassment.

“Now, it has become out of vogue to place a person such as you, a person who holds a doctorate, in higher regard than one may hold a factory worker, or even a prostitute.”

Elias took a deep breath and let it out slowly before responding. “I understand what you are saying, Rudy. We may differ on the degree, but I do see some merit in your viewpoint.”

“You’d have to, Patrick. You are far too intelligent to not.”

“Are you attempting to counter all of this, here in Aegis?”

“I am. We are. My first attempts were in more normal settings such as universities and privately funded labs. But we could never obtain the lack of interference from the culture, true control over the control group, that we desired. Aegis is perfect.”

“Is it your goal to create a mini-culture within these walls? One that reinforces your vision for mankind?”

A boyish grin came to Kreitzmann’s face. “You make me sound as though I have a God complex. This is not,” he declared, sweeping his arm around, “an attempt to manufacture a race which complies with some preconceived vision. This is an ongoing experiment to discover what those latent capabilities might be. At some point, more than likely without any input from me, a vision for a mini-culture, as you put it, will be reached by consensus. At that point, Aegis can become a seed, an incubator, for a better mankind.”