Life on Mars

Chapter Twelve

It looked like the documentaries he'd seen on the discovery channel about Cape Canaveral. Everything pointed towards a huge screen on the left-hand wall. There was too much data to make any sense of. Numbers cascading down and across a map, blips, lights. Fifty unmanned desks laid out in rows, each with its own myriad of data, buttons and switches. The place hummed with energy and the temperature was stable, air-conditioned with the smell of a cool, clean office environment that reminded him of the smell of new carpet. In the centre was a huge high-backed chair turned away from him. Minutes earlier, Vic had been stood in his suite but still couldn't get used to that outrush of air when he entered V-world. He stood for a moment to catch his breath as lights blinked and various instruments beeped. The chair spun slowly around to reveal its occupant. Bluu had her hands clasped and her elbows on either arm like a bad guy from a bond movie. "Remember, I said nothing is real?" she said. Vic was looking around and nodding at the same time. "Well, this is not real within not real," she smirked.

"It's to illustrate the Saviour Machine, the Saviour Machine does not exist in any single place, but if it did every input, every experience and every answer would find its way there. Like an algorithm and search engine combined that no longer answer searches but answers questions." Standing she stared up at the screen. "The fact is there is no control room, no authority. The Saviour Machine or Mother as it's commonly known is everywhere. It's us really. It's a little bit like an internet of thought?" raising the notation as if to ask if he understood.

"Ok," whispered Vic still taking it all in. "With no government is there some authority, police or something?"

"We are citizens of Heathen; we are the authority. Citizens are able to take care of anything unforeseen, but I can't imagine what?" Bluu seemed puzzled by the concept of authority. "Mother does not exist in any given place but... her servers are on Mars." Bluu noticed his eyebrows furrow.

"Then how can it work things here?" said Vic.

"It's not a server in the sense you might remember. Any instructions from Mars are more global whilst instant decisions happen locally."

"Let me give you an example," she stopped, waiting for a response. Vic stopped scanning and turned to her. "Imagine that enough people wanted to build a leisure space near your living area? In your time, that might have involved decision, authority, agreement and of course disagreement. 

Yes?" 

Bluu beckoned him to sit down opposite her in a noticeably smaller and lower chair. He nodded slowly. 

"Well, imagine if all the opinions, expertise and past experience were already there? Imagine if all that input could be correlated to show how it could be done, who would like it done and at the other end?" There was a ping as a small slip of paper slid out of the console in front of her. She leaned over and tore it away, holding it up with the word 'yes' printed clearly on it.

"Of course, it doesn't work this way, there's no control room like this one, but in principle, that's how Mother works. The Saviour Machine doesn't need input because that happens instantaneously. That's why we love her, that's why we trust her. What you said about it being dangerous, that it would hurt humans? That's why it will never happen because we are part of it. The Saviour Machine was able to solve problems that had hindered primitive humans for centuries. War, famine, overpopulation and pollution are now managed by everyone who exists. Even though they have no need to consciously consider or vote for anything." Pleased with herself, Bluu stood up, becoming more animated the background lights blinked across her features. The light appeared warming to her and highlighted her skin tone, the V-World hair colour suited her female form.

"There's no need for government or leadership. Robotics are so advanced that food and resources can be harvested, because of the limited population, the materials are all around us. Steel, glass and stone that used to supply billions of people before the shutdown are sitting around on the surface of the planet."