Official Intelligent Beings: How Our Devices Became Us, And The World Consumed Itself (9 page)

“Sure, right now with the interweb it has been harder to trace the past. They can manipulate the past as they please. But we have noticed others from above ground who have become extremely successful in a very short period of time and then vanished. We have reason to believe that you are next and that the Alien contact has something to do with it.”

“People vanishing? What are you talking about? Like who?”

“Well for example, about 30 years ago, when I was around 25 years old and you were a few years away from birth, I was trying to create better food for our compound. I was able to track a great farmer, a very intelligent man by the name of Jon Cleary, he shared his work about farming with anyone willing to listen. He was making huge waves in the community. This was, of course, when some people still ate real food—whatever they could get their hands on—when the substitutes that you are so used to now were only just coming into existence. Jon Cleary’s voice grew, and it grew fast. His unconventional farming practices were un-matched and he had the people’s support. Then one day, just like that, he was gone.”

“What do you mean gone?”

“He ceased to exist. The crazy part is that he had started to talk about farming practices from other planets. He believed he was tapping into Alien farming practices. He had been contacted and learned of a better way to grow food. Then, just like that, he was gone. It was the most bizarre thing anyone down here had ever seen.”

“So what happened? People obviously had to have known something was suspicious. Some had to have looked into it.”

“You would think they would, but they didn’t. No. Slowly, word started getting out that Jon Cleary had lost his mind. Before we knew it, praise turned to hatred. Somehow they had managed to turn on him overnight and eventually everyone forgot he existed.”

“And what about you? Did you guys find anything else out?”

“No, unfortunately we didn’t. That is precisely why when I heard you talking about meeting an Alien, I had to get to you before it was too late. You are a piece of a much bigger puzzle and by damn I’m going to solve it and set things straight!”

“Couldn’t this all just be coincidence? It sounds intriguing, but it was just one example.”

“I wish I could say the same, believe me, I tried to chalk it up to coincidence, but you and Jon aren’t the only ones. Years before a similar thing happened when I was only first going under ground at the age of 14. A woman who was expressing free love, Edith Maymoore, was making quite a storm in the media about the importance of not attaching yourself to one person, of spreading your seed around, sharing love, being free, and just like Jon, started talking about how Aliens were contacting her, speaking with her, how she even met one who wanted to share ancient ways that gave their planet so much more fulfilled than Earth.”

“And what happened to her?”

“Just like Jon, one day she was on top of the world, her social media followers were rapidly rising, the next day she was gone and all that was left of her was her devoted subscribers, who quickly turned on her believing her to be mad. They did everything that they could to forget and destroy her image.”

Redd picked up a device. It looked like a small keypad. He pressed a few buttons until a screen turned on and began playing a video. It recounted what appeared to be some taped version of both Jon and Edith’s encounters and others with similar stories. All speaking to Aliens, gaining a following, and then seemingly disappeared from Earth.

“What is all of this?”

“A reminder,” said Redd. “That things are not as they seem up there. We made the right damn decision staying down here. No one above ground could ever see these videos, could even process them if they tried, not without being exposed to what you have been exposed to. But it helps to keep me on track, reminds me that what we are doing down here is right.”

“What are you doing down here besides rotting away? Living underground, hiding from the rest of the world?”

“Well, I should probably mention that there is a second reason we brought you down here.”

“Yeah? What might that be?”

“Well we want to let you in on a little plan. I can’t share all of the details without being certain that they won’t get out once you’re above ground. You never know who is watching. I’m going to need to ask you to keep this 100% to yourself. I don’t want to hurt you. I have no intention of hurting you. But if I tell you what I am about to tell you, I need to know that you are going to tell absolutely no one, or I will hurt you. By no one I mean no one, not even your girlfriend.”

“She isn’t my girlfriend, but if you touch her I swear to web.…”

“Calm down. Whatever she is, you two are pretty damn close and I can’t be making any exceptions.”

“I understand.”

“Do you understand or do you agree? I didn’t ask if you understood. I need to know that I can trust you and I am prepared to cause you severe physical pain if you break that trust.”

“I need some time to think. My head is spinning. Can I lay down for a few minutes?”

“Okay, but I need to know soon. In the mean-time there is a bed over there where you can rest.”

Redd pointed to a room with hundreds of beds in it, some occupied with people fast asleep, others were clear.

Jagz walked over and crawled into a vacant bed. He tossed and turned for a while, unsure of his place in this world.
What is real? What does it all mean? Which side am I on? I didn’t know I had to choose a side. How can I really know what to do? Please, I just need some sort of sign. H
e thought.                             

As he uncomfortably tried to reposition himself on the bed he began to hear some relaxing music, and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 16.

Jagz was sliding on something round. It was all around him and he was on his back slipping away, sliding down, slowly at first, and faster as he continued forward. He noticed what appeared to be wires of some sort, similar to the ones that flowed out of the corridors he cleaned at work. They surrounded him as he slid down one that seemed to be never-ending.

Jagz continued sliding, causing sparks to fly with each second that passed. He heard sounds of machines clicking, of storage drives working, of fans churning to keep this labyrinth of wires from over heating, of electricity passing through his entire body.

When he finally came to a stop, he seemed to be sitting inside of the world’s largest computing device on a processing chip inside of this great beast.

“So good of you to join me,” said Schoron the Being of Technology.

“Where am I? What is this place?”

“You are inside the great webwork that you call the interweb. The place where everyone’s thoughts, ideas, and actions are stored. We can see everything here. We know all that happens the moment that it happens.”

“But what about privacy? Was that ever a concern?”

“Privacy? What is privacy really? If everyone wants to be free, if everyone wants free speech, the only way for that is to allow for total and absolute openness. Freedom of speech means freedom of all information. It’s the only way that a society that wants to have free and equal rights can ever exist, because when you are hiding things, by default you are harming others, and quite likely yourself.”

“I’m not sure that I follow. Harming myself?”

“There was a time in history when freedom of speech entitled people to a right to privacy. But all it did was lead to more secrets. Those secrets created inequality, made some people feel that they had things they needed to hold onto, that those things were sacred, that they had information they didn’t want to share. It was in the act of not wanting to share that they stripped themselves of the one freedom they were trying so hard to protect—the freedom to exist equally, in peace with everyone around them. Secrecy harbored the idea that people needed to keep things to themselves, which in turn threw out the notion of freedom, no matter what people told themselves about their
rights
as human beings. It simply wasn’t possible to be free and hide information, and so privacy, as it once was, was taken away. Everyone could have access to everything. It may seem like holding onto your information is important, but by having access to everyone’s information, no one had anything to hide and thus no one had to feel separate anymore.”

“It sounds so controlling.”

“Ah but you have to understand. Though it took some adjusting, what actually happened was that people went back to their daily lives. They went on being themselves and they stopped worrying about holding onto secrets. They just took the world for what it was. They said what they wanted to say, they shared what they needed to share, and eventually people stopped caring about secrecy. They realized it was a trivial thing. It was unnecessary. It did no good to hold things in, which is why now we let everything out. It connects us all to a unified network of knowledge.”

“Is that why President Herd wanted to share the information about the Alien with me?”

“That is precisely why. One thing had been underestimated about the expression of feelings. Even though all of the world’s information has been open source, the thoughts, ideas, and feelings within ones own mind are much harder to express. Most humans have yet to express certain feelings because they have forgotten how to express them. You, on the other hand, seem to have no problem expressing how you feel and what you think. We have grown to see how valuable that is, how there was something beyond the interweb and infor-mation openness that needed to be addressed. The act of self-expression is far more powerful than expressing ideas, far more difficult to express clearly and competently. One must only be asked the right question, or ask the right question, for if he does, he may just find the right answer. For it is those that live in fear of asking the truth that never receive it. It is simple enough to believe that you are open and willing to hear all of the truths in the world, but if you can’t ask those questions yourself, if you can’t express those truths to the world, then you are no different than everyone else and you too do not understand how the world directs itself back to you.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“Think long and hard. You’ll know.”

Jagz closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He saw everything—his life before he spoke with Mr. Herd, his encounter with Ani Rudh, his meeting with Shera, speaking to Redd, and then, in an instantaneous flash, his eyes opened like he was just hit with a bullet of truth.

“Schoron, what truth have I failed to see?”

“I think what you mean is what truth have you failed to confront, to ask.”

“Yes. Was I meant to see Ani Rudh?”

“It depends on your definition of meaning. Ask again.”

“Is Ani Rudh real?”

“Real is subjective. Ask another question.”

“Is your technology advanced enough that it could create a false image and convince someone it was real?”

“That question is accurate in more ways than you can even begin to understand.”

Chapter 17.

Jagz was shaken from his sleep. When he looked up he saw an unfamiliar face.

“Mr. Jagz. Mr. Jagz,” said the woman peering over him in bed. “You must come now. You must come now. Redd has summonsed you. It is urgent.”

Jagz got up, collected himself, and followed the woman into the room where Redd was waiting. The woman hurried out of the room.

“Jagz, there have been some recent devel-opments and we need to act fast. I have to know if I can trust you. If you want to hear what I have to share, it’s now or never.”

“I’m in,” said Jagz.

“Okay, but brace yourself. This is going to get heavy.”

“I’m all ears.”

“As I said, we have strong reason to believe that your encounter with the Alien life form was falsified. Has anything indicated to you that this may be the case?”

“Yes. I’m beginning to think you are onto something.”

“Okay. Well, as I mentioned, we have some inside men above ground who have been collecting information for us. That information is only valuable if there is a plan. Now that we have found you, the missing link, if you agree, that plan can be set in motion. We have devised a way to take down the interweb. To restart things to the way they were.”

“You what now? Take down the interweb? You mean destroy it? I’m not sure I can get behind that.”

“You don’t understand. You are living in a world broken with lies. The Beings have tricked you. Mr. Herd convinced you of something that simply is not true. If history repeats itself you will be gone next. Your followers will turn on you, you will be hated and then forgotten, no one will remember you ever existed, not even your so called followers, not even if there are 20 million of them.”

“I know. It’s just things are going well in many ways. I have people who believe in me, people who listen to me, millions of followers who are inspired by my every word. I even have real human connection, something I didn’t even know was possible, didn’t even think existed a few weeks ago.”

“That sounds great, it really does, but all of that is a lie. Don’t you think it’s strange that one day you’re meeting an Alien—which we now believe to be a lie—and then the next you’re gaining millions of supporters? Can’t you see? They are trying to build you up to wipe you out. They know you will be forgotten. They are using you for their little plan.  You need to release that control, that absurd idea that you were meant to be a leader. But before you do, we need you to do one thing for us.”

“And what might that be?”

“We need you to send out one last Quack.”

“One last Quack? I’m beginning to think you are the ones using me.”

“I can’t tell you what to think. I can only ask you to look at the facts, to feel what your gut is telling you, and to act accordingly. Look, if you don’t want to be part of our plan, we will find another way, but regardless, I can’t have you telling anyone about us. If you do, I will find out and we will come for you. If you don’t want to join in in our plan, then you will have to keep your mouth shut, go on living like this never happened and just wait for the fall.”

“For the fall? What do you really expect to happen when the interweb goes out?”

“While we can’t say for sure, we know it is a necessary step to restore order. The world is a twisted place. People feel free but they are robots. Why do you think you are sent UrDg? Why do you think you have an endless supply of a drug that keeps you happy? If that supply ran out you would begin to see just how messed up the world you are living in is, which is why this is all happening to you.”

“Because I stopped taking my UrDg?”

“Exactly. Since you stopped, has anything hap-pened that has surprised you beyond belief?”

“Yes, actually. I made love for the first time and it was better than anything I have ever felt on UrDg. It was real, it was pure, it was beyond belief. Everything felt right. For a moment it felt like everything was going to be okay.”

“Jagz, that is just one of the many human emo-tions, human experiences, one of the very things that makes you who you are, who you ought to be. The things we experience day to day, the things that come natural to us, that is just one of the many human emotions that you are stripped of when you live in a world by their rules.“

“Their rules?”

“Yes. They may convince you that they know what is best, but the Beings are just your rulers and they will do anything to keep you playing their game, convince you that you are free when you are anything but.”

“Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like what President Herd, the CYO, said of the Aliens, that they would come and run the world as they saw fit, that they wanted to co-inhabit, but what that would actually mean was that they were our rulers. At the time it made sense to fight it, but now, I suppose you’re right. We already live in a world where everything is controlled. I guess what I’m saying is, what can I do to help?”

“Good to hear. Smart move. As I said, we have some people on the surface who are actively working on shutting down the interweb. Schoron is of vital importance to the continuation of the all powerful interweb. Remove him and you remove the connection between everything on the surface, thus destroying the great system the world has been built on. You destroy the foundation and the rest comes tumbling down.”

“What will happen if you are successful?”

“It’s hard to say, but I know that we will be alright. We will be able to restore order in the world. We have lived down here for over 40 years. We have lived a normal human experience, preserving tradition, which we will restore. Natural order will return someday. You will be looked after. You will be taken care of for all of your help.”

“So what can I do?”

“All we need is for you to send out one Quack. A secret code to reach the thousands of us above ground. The ones that we are not in direct contact with. Some are in powerful positions. They will know what it means, they will know what to do, and it is cryptic so no one will suspect a thing.”

“What is that message?”

Redd handed him a piece of paper. It read:

“Study our mythology, I.E. Chronos”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It’s a calling card to those above ground, a call to action to a few of our members in particular.”

“How am I supposed to send out a Quack like that without raising suspicion?”

“It’s simple. Share another bit of truth as though you’ve made a link to where the names of all of the Official Intelligent Beings are from.”

“What’s that link?”

“Look back on ancient Greek mythology. The original gods that ruled the world, Aphrodite, Chronos, Hera, Athena, Demeter, Apollo,  Hades, they all share a link to the ones you call your present day OIBs. Just look at their names, rearrange the letters.”

“What about their names?”

“You want to know what ‘Study our mythology! I.E. Chronos!’ means when decoded?

              “Yes.”

              Royy, Log, Youth! Schoron must die!”

“So if I send a Quack to my followers with this message,” Jagz pointed to the paper, “your people will know what it means and what to do?”

“Precisely. We just need a way to get to them as soon as possible before anything drastic happens. You can’t trust those slimy bastards up there and with all of this Alien business there is no telling what they might do to you sooner rather than later. We have good men and woman in the field trained to look for signs. This one will be plain as day to them and absolutely random to anyone else. ”

“Alright, I can’t see how anyone would know what I mean by this phrasing anyhow. I’ll get to it right now. I just need to get out of here.”

“There is one more thing that I think you need to see. I’ll get you on an elevator out of here, but first I need you to see something that we just found out, something that has got us expediting our plan. You’ll know why when you see it.”

“What is it? Just tell me, enough suspense for one day already.”

Redd led Jagz to the elevator, pressed a few buttons, and gestured for Jagz to get in. The elevator had a dim red light that reflected off of Jagz, making him look as though he might be of another world. Just as Jagz stepped into the elevator, music came out of the small speaker. It sounded just as alive as the Jazz music he had heard with Redd.

“Take care of yourself. We will find you and alert you if anything else comes up,” said Redd.

“Wait, what about this important message that I need to see?”

“It will begin playing in the elevator just as soon as I press this button. And one more thing, take this,” Redd handed Jagz a small, translucent and unsuspecting circular object.

“What is this?”

“Place it over your right eye as soon as you can and leave it there. It will allow us to be in contact with you when the crap hits the fan.” 

Redd pressed a button and the elevator doors shut. As Jagz began his ascent, a new light hit his face. A screen played video footage, which, at first, was a most beautiful sight.

Jagz looked straight into Shera’s beautiful and comforting eyes. Just as he was about to say hello, thinking it to be a live video broadcast, Shera began talking, to someone else.

“President Herd, so far so good. I made contact with Jagz and he felt comfortable around me. We spent our day together. I think he is already taking a liking to me. Everything is going as expected. I even hid some mugwort under his pillow to help me influence his dreams.”

Jagz’s heart deflated. He watched on, slowly realizing this was a pre-recorded message Redd had hijacked somehow.

“We met again today. This time I shared some fruit and kissed him. He is starting to trust me and I think we will be growing very close to one another by our next visit.”

Jagz began to get sick to his stomach. He tried to look away but he wanted to know more.

“Today we made love in the park. I could tell that he really feels a deep connection to me and trusts anything I say. I don’t think it will be a problem to convince him to share what you showed him.”

The video of Shera ended, but was followed by another video of Redd.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I really am. But now you can see how severe this is. You can’t trust anyone. You need to get that message out. Don’t let everyone down.”

The elevator reached the surface. The doors opened and Jagz was let out into an unsuspecting place. Before he could even begin to think about where he was his mind immediately went to the message. Feeling betrayed by the one person that he loved, Jagz was more determined than ever to help the cause.

He thought about the right way to disguise his Quack, a way that would not bring about any additional attention, a way that would seem in line with his previous ones. For all he knew, this could be his last Quack and he wanted it to mean something. He began to type.

What do you know about the Gods of our ancestors’ past? Recently I was visited in a dream by what appeared to be the Gods of the past and they told me about the way things used to be, about how humans once prayed to the heavens above, believed in something greater than themselves. It’s quite interesting stuff, I recommend checking it out. As a start, study our mythology. I.E Chronos. Chronos was the ancient god of time. Pretty wild the things our forefathers used to believe.

As Jagz sent his Quack, possibly his last mark on society, his final gesture to his followers, he realized he was far closer to his home than he original thought. Panic kicked in and he wondered what to do when he arrived home, assuming Shera was there waiting for him, and likely a bit worried as to where he had been.

Jagz was certain now that he could not trust her. But trust was no match for the heartbreak that he felt. He was destroyed inside. He didn’t even think that he could look at her, but he also knew he could not cause any alarm that might trigger suspicion and call Mr. Herd in to take care of the situation.

Jagz approached his apartment.
Keep it together, keep it together. If she is there, you’ll just act like you don’t feel well. Chalk it up to feelings. Try to grab a few things, make an excuse and just get out of there, find a place to hide out for a few days, you’ll figure it out,
he thought.

Jagz entered his building, hoping as each second went by, that somehow everything would magically change, that somehow any moment could be the moment that erased everything he just saw, that it would all just go back to normal. Maybe he wanted some UrDg after all. Or maybe Redd’s plan would go into action before he opened the door.

He opened it carefully and was met with Shera’s loving eyes, only this time he could not see the beauty, he felt only disgust, disdain for them.

“Jagz!” shouted Shera. “It is so good to see you, I was beginning to wonder where you were. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course everything is okay. Why?”

“Oh it’s just that you took off so quickly and you’ve been gone for over a day.”

A day
, Jagz wondered,
had it really been that long?

“Yeah well, funny story actually, I fell asleep in the park. Hadn’t realized I was out for so long though. I must have been really tired.”

“You fell asleep? Strange indeed. Are you sure there isn’t something else that you want to tell me about?”

“Something else? What do you mean something else?”

“Well, You sent out a very odd Quack just before coming home and I’m really not sure where it came from. Did something happen to you? You can tell me. You can trust me.”

“No, not at all. Like I said, it’s just been really crazy and overwhelming, what with all of these new followers, the Alien stuff, it’s just a lot to handle right now and it made me have some odd dreams. I thought I would share them with the world.”

“I understand. But somehow I get the feeling like there’s something you’re not telling me. Something you are afraid to share. You’ve never acted like this before.”

“Like I told you, I am fine! Please, stop asking me. Everything is fine and dandy web damn it!”

“I’m just trying to help, to be here for you. Like I said, you can trust me, I just want to help.”

“Maybe you’ve done enough to help! Can’t you just give me some space? Just let me be!” said Jagz, realizing he had probably gone too far. He just couldn’t hold back his anger. He felt betrayed by the one person he cared about. His emotions were pouring out of him.

“Fine. If you are going to act like that, then I’m out of here!” Shera slammed the door.

Jagz, breathing heavily, tried to relax but it was of little use. His heart was pounding and he searched the house for something to distract him, take his mind off of what was going on, give him an idea for what to do next.

For a moment he considered taking a pill, but he knew it wouldn’t help. He knew it was just a band aid for a shotgun to the face.

Just as he started to pack a bag and seek shelter, the door opened. Shera was returning and he took it as a chance to apologize and try to calm the situation. “Look,” he said. “I didn’t mean to yell, it’s just so much…”

He looked up and locked eyes with President Herd.

“Nice to see you again. My sincerest apologies for barging in like this. It looks like we have a few urgent things we need to discuss.” President Herd he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, elongated device that looked like an electronic branch of a tree. He turned on the device and a light vibration started to ring in Jagz’s ear.

“It appears that some people have been playing with your brain and we can’t have that. No, we can’t have that at all.”

Jagz’s world went from blurry to blank.