|1-ESP 9



                              by SparHawk


 He  was a rebel.  He had known it from an early age.  Even at school he
hadn't  participated  as  he  should.  His reasoning was simple - He was
much more intelligent than the rest.

 To  Falde  this had never been simple childish conceit, it had been the
truth.   He  had  always  realised  that  others  followed orders, never
questioning  or even wondering.  Even such a simple emotion as curiosity
was denied to them.

 But not to him.

 He lived in block 673 Ax-Delta.  This corresponded with the term 'Upper
Middle-Class' he had learned from the old books he had read.  He and his
mother  lived  together.  His father had long since been volunteered for
the  Outer  Satellite  Reconnaissance  team - basically the long-running
Pluto  Terraforming  project.   Falde had always wanted to go there, but
first  he  had to complete his five years at the Records offices, before
he  could  qualify  for  entry  into  the  Exploration Corps.  The giant
'mirror' they were constructing to heat Pluto's surface was fascinating.

 Falde's  mother  didn't  work  any  more  -  she  had  taken  voluntary
unemployment.   Ever  since  his  father  had  gone  his  mother had had
periodic  nervous  breakdowns.   In  Falde's  subversive searches at the
Records  office  he  had  discovered  why  - she had a reversed IQ while
young.  Although this technique had long since been perfected it was not
so  at the time of her birth.  Now she just watched the vid channels all
day.   She saved everything she had to buy a total submersion unit.  She
even  refused  to eat in her quest to buy this equipment so it was up to
Falde  to  keep  her  alive.   She  wanted the top of the range - "Total
Reality".

 "Hi  mum."  he  said  as he walked in, after a long day at the offices.
There  had  been another influx of the old America's refugees.  This had
meant a lot of work for him.

 "Oh, hello Falde." said his mother.  "Turn to 38 while you're up."

 Falde  did  as she requested.  There was no point in talking to her any
longer.   He  retreated to his own room and switched on to the news.  As
expected  it  was  full of the refugees.  Falde lay back to watch, after
punching out a milk shake from the Autochef.

 "...   the  latest  count  is  four-million  of the refugees." said the
announcer.   "The  old America is deteriorating rapidly.  Europa will no
longer  be  able  to take in many more refugees.  As you can see " - the
camera  view  swung  wildly  to  show  a  picture  of  one  of the giant
Ferryplanes - "this ship is fully loaded.  It is now a first-come first-
served  situation.   Only  those of ESP 4 or above are being allowed in.
Britain  has  agreed to take in anyone of ESP 8 or over, which of course
means  the  diplomats  and  governmental officials.  It is war out here.
Fights  break out rapidly.  Back to the studio..." the screen changed to
the  news-updates.   Falde  turned  it off.  He switched the vid-unit to
transmit and dialled a number.

 "Hello?" said the now familiar voice.  The picture remained blank.

 "Siman!  You're back!"

 "Yeah...   look,  we'd better switch to a secure channel.  You know the
procedure."

 Falde  switched  to  515 and encoded it.  Soon, Siman was back on-line,
with  picture  this time.  He looked the same as Falde remembered, apart
from an obvious prosthetic ear.

 "Right.   First  you  must  know,  the  mission was a success.  The new
Soviets are backing off from the ruins of old America."

 "What happened to your ear?"

 "Soviet spy.  Found my miniplane and laid in ambush.  I escaped though,
with help from...  well let's just say 'a certain girl'..."

 Falde smiled to himself.  He knew just what Siman was like.  "My mother
is to be terminated soon." he said.

 Siman  looked  sad.  "I'm sorry, Falde...  I know how much she means to
you."  And  indeed he did.  Siman had lived with them for a while not to
long ago.

 "I  don't  think  she'd  even  notice.   I'm  going  to buy her TS unit
tomorrow.   It's  all she's ever wanted.  Anyway, I'll better get to the
point  before  the authorities notice this channel.  I've found a way to
hack into the Core computer.  I can give us all ESP 9."

 Siman  paused  for  a  moment,  then  said  "Switch off.  I'll meet you
later."

 Falde did as requested.

 As  he  walked  down level 5 to the small area known only as the 'park'
Falde glanced around, astonished by how much the crowds had shrunk since
his  youth.   Although there had been massive outcry when Europa decreed
that  all  over  45  were  to be 'terminated' Falde could appreciate the
foreknowledge that must have influenced the decision.

 If  the  age  limits  had not be implemented Falde would not be walking
here  now.   He  himself  still  had another 25 years to go.  But if his
planned  worked - all of Effective Society Performance of 9 were allowed
extended life as recognition of their 'services to mankind'.

 Falde  saw  Siman  leaning  against a fountain near the far edge of the
park.  He walked over, and pretending not to notice him, began to talk.

 "Be  quick."  said  Siman  before  Falde  could  speak.  "I think I was
followed.  How do you plan to do what you said?"

 "By  inserting  a  TS  unit  to the direct Core link at my office I can
enter the system directly.  It's difficult, but possible."

 Siman handed him a small piece of paper.  "Then do it.  Alter the names
on  this list, as well as any more you discover from the Revolution.  Do
the  ones  on  the  top  first,  they're our leaders.  Do not lose this,
Falde.  You are now one of the few who know their identities."

 Falde  walked  away  as  if  nothing had happened.  A few moments later
Siman left in the opposite direction.

 Falde bought the TS unit later that day.  His account went into the red
in  doing so, but if this worked then...  well, he wouldn't need credits
any more.

 He  attached  it  easily.  The socket his terminal was plugged into was
more  than  adequate.   Falde  had  cut  the  original  plug off the TS,
intended for a vid unit, and rewired the terminals plug onto it.

 After locking the door, he jacked in.

 It  was  strange  at first.  All he could see was a blur of his office.
Then  he  closed his eyes and let his mind take over.  Suddenly he could
see  a  long  corridor, that must be the nearest approximation his brain
could make from the mass of signals coming from the Core computers.

 He found his way quickly.  By concentrating he could sense a current in
the  air.   This  was  probably the information flow in the system so he
moved to the direction where the current was against him the strongest.

 Soon it was difficult to walk.  There was an open door ahead of him, so
he  pushed  forward as best he could and held onto the door frame.  With
one final tug he threw himself into the room, and was astonished to find
it very calm inside.

 The room contained just two objects, a very large book and an old quill
pen in a small pot of ink.  Both floated in the air.  He flicked through
the  pages until he found his own name.  Lifting the pen, he changed his
ESP  level  to  9.  He did this for every name he had memorised from the
list.

 To  leave  was easy.  He just had to wait for the time-limit to run out
on the TS unit.

 "Siman?  It's done." said Falde to the vid unit and then switched off.

 He knew it had worked.  Soon after leaving the system Falde had rewired
his terminal and requested information he should not have access to.  He
got the information, so that was proof enough.

 But he wished he hadn't.

 What  could he do now?  He, and the pitiful rebellion he thought he was
part of, could do nothing.  He new the truth, and soon others would too.

 The government, whom everyone obeyed, did not exist.  Instead, the core
computers  run  everything.   The  wars  between old America and the new
Soviets  had  never happened.  The police were little more than androids
serving  the system.  The whole scenario was false.  Even the immigrants
weren't real - they were a mock up for the TV's.

 Falde had to expose this.  People had to know.

 The truth was worse than any horror vid.  The inhabitants of Europa had
been  conditioned over generations to believe the lie.  The world lay in
ruins.   The past was true - there was no doubting it.  Not even the men
who  had  set up this lie could have changed that.  The third and fourth
world wars had happened.  The lie was here, in the present.

 People  had  been  led to believe - Christ, even he had believed - that
the  wars  were  past,  that  the  world  had  been  rebuilt.  There was
supposedly  peace,  apart from the America-Soviet skirmishes.  The truth
was far worse.

 The  world  was  destroyed.   The  whole  earth  had  been ravaged by a
succession  of nuclear, biological and chemical attacks in the final two
wars of mankind.  He, and the people he knew, were no more than entities
in a gigantic system.

 The  physical location of this was in the land that used to be known as
'Britain'.   Falde  had  seen  the  truth.   Rows  upon  rows of humans,
sleeping  peacefully  and  plugged  into  the  Core.   Humans recreate ,
reproduced and even dreamt as part of a simulation.  The 'age-limit' had
been  introduced  as  the  machine  could  only  hold a finite number of
entities  at  once,  and  so  to  introduce  variety the older-aged were
'terminated' as younger ones were 'born'.

 This  was  atrocious.   But there was no escape.  No hope.  For even if
Falde  escaped  he  had  no  body  - nowhere to go.  His whole being was
little  more than a binary code.  His mother, and those near to her age,
had  bodies.   They  slept,  and  dreamed,  as  the  Core  took in their
personalities  to  understand  human life.  Once the existing generation
died  there  would  be no more.  The Core ran itself.  Satellites beamed
solar-energy down to it.  It controlled what was left of the world.

 There  was  only one hope.  Falde had to release the older ones.  To do
so  was  suicide.   Anyone  like himself would die, having no existence.
But must be done.

 Turning to his terminal, he did so.

 Falde  felt  a  wrenching sensation as the deconstruction started.  The
program  he  had initiated would take a while.  He manoeuvred his vision
to a high vantage point and saw the ruin take place.  On the far horizon
he  could  see  the  edges  of  the  land crumbling away.  It was coming
closer.

 Falde  patched  into  his mothers vid channel.  She was watching one of
her  favourite  soaps.   "Mum,  you'll be free soon." he said.  He could
sense her shocked surprise through the link.

 Next,  he  contacted  Siman.   "Siman, I've destroyed the world...  but
don't  be  worried.   All  will work out in the end." He could see Siman
about to turn and question him, but he cut the link.

 Finally, he called his father.  "Dad?  You'll be back with Mum.  You're
going  home." Falde heard him say "Son?..." before he cut that link too.
Then it ended.  And the world began anew.

End