Peter Hamilton - Manhattan in Reverse

I waited for Bethany Maria Caesar at one of the refectory tables in the gallery, staring straight out at the volcano through the gritty, smeared windows, hoping I would get to see an eruption. The only evidence of any seismic activity was the occasional tremor which ran through the compartment, barely enough to create a ripple in my teacup.

‘Hello, Edward, it’s been a long time.’

I would never have recognized her. This woman standing before me bore only the faintest resemblance to that beautiful, distraught girl I’d sat with through innumerable interviews eight decades ago. She looked, for want of a better word, old. Her face was lined with thick wrinkles that obscured the features I once knew; nor was there any more of that flowing blond hair — she’d had a crew cut so severe it barely qualified as stubble, and that was greyish. The tunic she wore was loose-fitting, but even that couldn’t disguise her stooped posture.

She put both hands on the table and lowered herself into a chair opposite me with a slight wheeze. ‘Quite a sight, aren’t I?’

‘What happened?’ I asked, appalled. No briefing file had mentioned any sort of accident or chronic illness.

‘Low gravity happened, Edward. I can see your face is all puffed up with fluid retention, so you already know a fraction of the suffering possible. Content yourself with that fraction. Low gravity affects some people worse than others, a lot worse. And after thirteen years constant exposure, I’m just about off the scale.’

‘Dear Mary! I don’t know what you Caesars want with Jupiter, but nothing is worth abusing yourself like this. Come home, back to Earth.’

Her smile alluded to a wisdom denied me. ‘This is my home. Jupiter is the frontier of humanity.’

‘How can you say that? It’s killing you.’

‘Life!’ The word was spat out. ‘Such a treacherous gift.’

‘A precious gift,’ I countered.

‘Ah yes. Poor old Justin. I was quite surprised when I saw you were the representative the Raleighs were sending. You caused me quite a little trip down memory lane.’

‘I won’t lie to you, you’re not my primary reason for being here.’

‘Ha. The great mystery of our time. What can those wicked Caesars want with Jupiter? Had any luck working it out yet?’

‘None at all. But we’ll get there in the end.’

‘I’m sure you will. Devote enough processing power to any problem, and ultimately it will be solved.’

‘That’s more like the Bethany I remember.’

‘I doubt it. This is experience talking. We have more AIs per head of population up here than anywhere on Earth. Every scrap of research data is analysed and tabulated — our knowledge base is expanding at a rate we can barely keep track of. And we can devote so much of ourselves to understanding it. We don’t have to worry so much about our physical requirements. The AIs take care of that for us; they run the food-synthesis plants, the cybernetics factories, administration. I consider my life here to be my liberation, Edward. I don’t have to concern myself with the mundane any more. I can use my mind full time.’

‘Then I’m glad for you. You’ve found something new out here. AI utilisation on Earth is causing no end of problems. They can take over the running of just about all mechanical operations and do it with increased efficiency. Industry and utility provision are discarding more and more human operatives. We’re seeing large-scale patterns of unemployment evolving. And it brings a host of social unrest with it. There’s more petty crime than there ever used to be; psychologists need counselling, they have such a heavy workload these days. People are starting to question the true worth of introducing AIs.’

‘I’m sure there will be temporary problems thrown up by AI integration. You never get smooth transitions of this magnitude. Moving to a leisure-based society is going to be hard for a people who are so set in their ways. The penalty for a long life is the increasing resistance to change. The familiar is too easy and comfortable for it to be discarded quickly. And the families are very familiar with their life as it is. But the change will happen. If we have a purpose it is to think and create; that’s our uniqueness. Any non-sentient animal can build a nest and gather food. Now this march through progress has finally started to relieve us of that physical distraction. I mean, that’s what we were doing it for in the first place, right? Once you set out to determine how the universe works, then as a species there’s no turning back. We’re freefalling to the plateau, Edward.’

‘The plateau?’

‘The moment at which science has explained everything, and machines are perfect. After that, human life becomes one long summer afternoon picnic. All we do then is think, dream, and play.’

‘I can’t quite see that myself.’

‘That’s a shame. You must adapt or die, Edward. I took you as someone bright enough to surmount that last hurdle and climb up there to the plateau. Perhaps the Sport of Emperors wasn’t the blessing we like to believe, at least, not for everyone. The original Caesars were so certain they were doing the right thing with their gift for all of the Empire. They’d bred stables of gladiators for generations, evolving their speed and strength until they were invincible in the arena. Only age slowed and weakened them. It was such a short leap to breed for longevity, and what a political weapon that was. The one thing everybody always wants. But the life they bred for in the children of the Empire was longer than nature ever intended. And messing with nature however crudely is always dangerous. Humans change their environment. That is our true nature. The cycle of life and death, of constant renewal, is nature’s way of adapting us as a species to the freshness we create for ourselves.’

‘Are you saying I’ve outlived my usefulness?’

‘I don’t know, Edward. Can you give up everything you’ve lived for in order to face the unknown? Or are you going to watch trees grow as the same old seasons wash past you to no effect?’

‘That’s what you believe you’re doing by living out here, is it?’

‘I enjoy change. It’s the most magnificent challenge.’

‘You have the luxury of enjoying it.’

Her laugh was a fluid-clogged cackle. ‘Oh Edward, so single-minded. You and I are alive, which is more than can be said for Justin. I have to admit, I’m very curious. What can you possibly have to add to the matter at this stage?’

I waved a hand at the curving windows, with their slim reinforcement mesh of carbon strands. That particular carbon allotrope was the reason the glass could be so thin, one of the new miracles we took so much for granted. ‘Carbon 60.’

‘How the hell can pentaspheres possibly be connected to Justin’s murder? We only discovered the stuff ten years ago… Oh. Mary, yes! It was Alexander, wasn’t it? He was the one who found it.’

‘I hope so.’

‘ Hope ?’

‘Carbon 60 is an awesome substance. There are so many theoretical applications, from ultrastrength fibres to superconductivity. It’s being incorporated into just about every process and structure we use. And they’re still finding new uses on a daily basis.’

‘So?’

‘So I need to know about Justin’s great project, the one he was working on when he was killed. Was he studying supernovae for carbon signatures?’

‘Heavens.’ She sat back and gave me an admiring look. ‘You really don’t give up, do you?’

‘No.’

‘We only found out that carbon 60 existed in stellar nebulae after we — or rather Alexander — produced it in a laboratory. What you’re saying is that it could have happened the other way round, aren’t you? That some astronomer found traces, proof that it physically existed, and chemists worked at synthesising it afterwards.’