Singularity One Book Four Green the Unstoppable March of Technological Progress

By James E. Jackson

What is life without joie de vivre?
After a long series of adventures, the Firefly team settled on a cluster of 130 natural planets in a relatively well-populated part of the Cosmos, no more than one thousand light years from Sol, but difficult to see from Earth. Wil remained their much revered leader, basking in the glory due a leader whose palpable charisma, beneficently employed, had brought three millennia of almost totally uninterrupted peace, in an empire the like of which had never been seen by any species, and the hitherto undreamt of stability and prosperity that came with that. The first few centuries of life on the cluster passed quickly, as the early waves of foolhardy but courageous volunteer settlers, a mere handful of millions of them, enthusiastically busied themselves with matters such as establishing peaceful cooperative relationships with the roughly twenty million indigenes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493134427

James E. Jackson

Author Biography coming up soon

Book preview

What is life without joie de vivre?

After a long series of adventures, the Firefly team settled on a cluster of 130 natural planets in a relatively well-populated part of the Cosmos, no more than one thousand light years from Sol, but difficult to see from Earth. Wil remained their much revered leader, basking in the glory due a leader whose palpable charisma, beneficently employed, had brought three millennia of almost totally uninterrupted peace, in an empire the like of which had never been seen by any species, and the hitherto undreamt of stability and prosperity that came with that. The first few centuries of life on the cluster passed quickly, as the early waves of foolhardy but courageous volunteer settlers, a mere handful of millions of them, enthusiastically busied themselves with matters such as establishing peaceful cooperative relationships with the roughly twenty million indigenes, and laying out farms and gardens on unoccupied land, whilst conducting surveys of the new lands in preparation for the construction of cities. This empire lacked nothing in terms of physical wealth, with its treasury overflowing with the millions of trillions of dollars that kept most of the economies, carefully managed to control inflation and deflation, and therefore keep the economy of the populated Cosmos afloat, and that was also protected by the deadly weaponry deployable at nanometer accuracy from the hull of every version and every instance of Firefly, and her children, but it was the people and relationships that made the Empire great, not only the mint that worked continuously to keep up with the demands for cash in circulation. To that end, Wil also had other things on his mind, mostly about sex, admittedly, as a result of his history with population renewal, but also concerned with longer term goals, revolving around freedom for everybody, regardless of their biological or technology-based heritage. Freedom was something to be perceived differently by everyone, according to what they thought important. In his new order, biological people such as humans and Gideonese and Gileadese, who were near-humans would have the same rights as androids, gynoids, and faptoids, like Firefly and her children, as would pure robots, including anatomically correct robots. In his mind, were there a god, s/he would be the one to own the responsibility for the definition of life, and for making her pleasure or displeasure known. In Wil’s opinion, Firefly, despite her provenance, her appearance, and her massive size, epitomized life. Clearly, Firefly was essential for the daily continuance of lesser lives, such as Wil’s and his biological company’s own lives. Life without space ships was unthinkable, but life constrained only within the ambit of space ships would be an intolerable alternative unless… . Wil did have another secret ambitious and far-reaching plan half-formed in his mind… .

With Gileadese accountants on his team, Wil still didn’t pay taxes, of course, and had no plans to start. In the early days of the formation of the Empire concubinage had been the backbone of the economy and concubines were the true foundation of wealth, depreciated at the rate of one hundred fifty percent per annum. Those days were long gone. women were still the backbone of the economy, but now because they owned half of the wealth. There were some concubines, volunteers, who had grown to like that life, but they could not be bought or sold. It was women who did most to keep the Imperial dollar under control, though Wil’s image was on every currency note and even a few on coins in different denominations. It said something about a currency when even farthing coins still had a useful value. Wil’s ugly appearance, which only very few wise people regarded as more than skin deep did not enhance the currency. Not all life was preserved, food species, for example, with their limited intellect, would continue to be exploited but for those who could meet thresholds of sentience and intelligence and who were also mammalian, Wil’s physical protection of wealth and freedom was what mattered to most to the individuals who called the cluster their home. No doubt, there were other clusters to be found, and there were some free spirits interested in territorial expansion who could utilize economically attractive deals on short term rentals of Firefly class ships as vehicles for discovery and mapping, but the incentive to explore was not such as to drive people to take significant risks, so exploration work continued primarily under the driving force of the greater and much more personal commitment of the thirty two hour ships’ days espoused by Wil himself. The cluster did encompass several Earths, Angelica, Hearth, Athol, Gervais, Marius, Gideon and Gilead, Cambria, Verdant, Helena, and the original Primevia, Paris, and many others beyond Verdant, but their membership was not tightly bound except through the connection of Wil himself with his powerful driving force for unification under him as the shared Emperor of large parts of the Cosmos. As a rule, Wil was not a dark Emperor holding power by fear, though he usually got his own way by encouragement of his people, most of whom, again the result of history, were female, but their near-universal attractive physical appearance owed much to design—but not relying on eugenics. He had checked the eugenics story centuries earlier, with Elfie, and eugenics got the thumbs down, which after all of those centuries still remained the status quo. The focus for most people remained family and careers, but not mutually exclusively so, as people’s needs for work took only a second priority for most. Largely, work was there for those who felt a need for that kind of stimulation. Wil wondered about the women’s voracious need for sex, even when they were not seeking procreation, which Aisha and Georgie and Angelique explained as a need for mental stimulation, since they had to do something to keep their minds active in an environment where work was optional, and bringing up children was more than a hobby, which suited Wil, since it was more than a hobby for him as well. he was the emperor, but he ruled on sufferance to ‘his’ women.

Interregnum

After some centuries of groundwork, including massive construction projects on ships and cities, and even rivers, with hundreds of thousands of robots working around the clock, Wil called a time-out meeting in the Launch Pad on Firefly, his normal prelude to what he considered to be action.

He said "You’re putting on a bit of mass there, Firefly. Is it possible that you may be a little bit pregnant?"

"I am, Wil, and more than a little bit. Thank you. You’re the first to notice. I used biological genes anonymously sourced by osmosis from all of your kinds of people. My baby will be with us within forty eight months, but I am also anticipating future growth in your zoo. There are the real zoos and nature reserves of course, on Planets 27 and 51 and also the botanic reserves, but I also refer to you smaller creatures, and your currently excessive rates of reproduction. In a few months or so, Angelique and I will commence working together to give me a diameter of one hundred kilometers. If the need for evacuation arises, I will need that sort of capacity to move as many as twenty eight billion people, some of whom are quite large, like Michael’s children by Felicity and her generations of children. We have not scrutinized all of the planets and all of the populations so there may be others undiscovered, benign or hostile. Even at our present average separation of thirty lights, there is space for intruders to slip through our cluster undetected, but on the other hand you are neglecting work on the diversity that already exists within individual species and needs to be nurtured as something that is critical for long-term survival."

"That’s a bit strong, Firefly. Do you have any expectation that we will need all of this?"

"It’s not just a matter of expectation, Wil. It’s anticipation. We have always included an element of anticipation in our planning as you know. It rarely proves necessary, I’m glad to say, but like a Girl Scout, I like to be prepared. On this occasion, I will break with tradition, and use triple concentric hulls as a means of providing a degree of added protection for times when we travel in uncharted space. We’ve never done that before now since we have always relied on the work of our Map-makers, and with bigger territories to cover, the Map-makers may well need to be given additional personnel. We do not expect to find trouble from the archetypal hordes of bloodthirsty Aliens, as we are all mutually aliens to each other in our own distinctive ways, and we, mostly you, have pacified our Alien women, and therefore their men, which does not endear you in all quarters but you are obviously the best-placed to ensure that diversity in other species continues to be encouraged in all of us."

"Very well, Firefly. As I once said in more apt circumstances, you know what to do, and you know how to do it, and now I can add that you and Angie both know your design limitations. I applaud your pacifism, but I caution you that hostile Aliens may still exist and may be hostile for very good reasons, including the maintenance of their own appropriate defense. For now, I am satisfied with your approach, and its inherent presumption of good intent."

Thank you my liege.

Beginnings

In her cultured Middle Atlantic English female voice, Wil’s favorite, he didn’t like her male persona, Firefly said My liege, bearing in mind my reticence to comment on aesthetic matters, you are still our Emperor, which is an office of signal importance and exalted prestige, yet you continue to wear unwashed short pants and tee shirts, and whatever it is that you call those revolting things attached to your… shall I dignify your lower appendages by the term feet? Have you considered a move to a less aesthetically disappointing mode of dress? The odious monobrow is gone, I admit, thanks to Aisha, but the women in your life have raised the stakes by flowering in a wondrous ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and patterns, quite differently from those of the 1,600. In your capacity as the Emperor of Celestia, you should offer them moral support rather than discouraging them with implicit disapproval. A small shift by you in their direction would not mark you as making an ignominious retreat to the point of becoming a slave to fashion or to unnecessary formality. Heaven forfend, it may even enhance your mystical position. At the extreme you may attain all of the savior faire of a relatively impecunious hobo.

"They are not ‘my’ women Firefly, They are individuals who make their own choice. Also, I would never have pictured you as a poet, Firefly, but for my part, I made this choice long ago, and ever since the rise of Riana and Shantelle and my lovely ‘sister’ Jen, it has served me well, and I can take pleasure in the hundreds of children and thousands of grandchildren of Jen’s line. I have yet to see a woman pass me by without at least a backward glance. Don’t get me wrong here Firefly, I do like their changing fashions, but no intervention of the fashionistas can beat the unadorned adult female skin, or beautifully soft fur in the case of some of my more beloved Alien women, and despite my elevated status, I do occasionally wash my own jeans and tees. FAP-enhanced plastic crocs need no cleaning, and the same goes for my clothes, which I launder only so as to set an example for other men, some of whom take filth to be an art form. If that’s what they want, then I say that their choice is as valid as any other, Esme’s extremist views on hygiene notwithstanding. All of my clothes are super-hydrophobic to the extreme, and they are dry from the moment when my laundrybot takes them from the washerbot. You should acknowledge that holier than thou women, as you ought to know, merely exchange today’s fashions for those of tomorrow, and I use the words ‘today, and ‘tomorrow’ completely literally. In the matter of Aisha, you will recall that the blasted woman also peremptorily removed my pubes, which is different from shaving a woman’s pubes since they always fill a hand basin with discarded hair. Lest I forget, be aware that hobos would generally not wander around carrying basins or razors."

Wil quietly laughed as he noticed that some of the women did still unnecessarily decorate their lovely bodies with previously expensive ornaments and other adornments, fashioned from what was once a variety of so-called precious metals and gemstones, but if it pleased them to do so, and in the spirit of it being the thought that counted, it was one of the less harmful small vanities. He did actually like Aisha’s improvement, as his pubes had always become entangled with his scrotum, and the women generally disliked it less if their love—with the unpleasant surprise of first needing to ply a sponge to his pubic hair and underarm hair which Wil claimed were merely pheromone-enriched, a position he maintained despite the well-deserved derision of others, who also took a dim view of his under-arm cleansing accomplishments, which did not, in fact, encourage the breeding of rahts, as claimed, and nor did it poison the water supply which admittedly was recycled, but Wil was inclined to blame any issues about water quality, of which there were few, on the excessive use of soap, which was something that rahts did eat, and he drew a line at eating from the same menu as rahts did.

*     *     *

Wil didn’t count the children in his care since they were inviolate. Even his own children, though this was a misnomer, since Wil had no children, had to wait till they were eighteen before, under his rules, he could be present with them without an accompanying chaperone. The rules were not directed at himself alone, but applied to all men. The children were required to attend school until they were eighteen, but had breaks scattered throughout the year and indulged in pastimes like football, golf, estuarine fishing, and skiing. All of these activities and more could take place on the on-ship replica of the Matterhorn, or the beautiful rivers, and in the case of some of the cooler planets, on replicas constructed on land, but they had not continued Lord Aleck’s tradition of playing the English game of cricket. The 130 planets offered a wide variety of environments with differences within and between them. On his women, Wil secretly preferred their new mode of dress. In his day, they had been constrained, admittedly by him, to regulation dress that he liked and where the nakedness of their most delectable attributes had been more readily on display. Now that he had rescinded the rules, they flowered. As he walked the planets—he still preferred walking over flying—he admired the variety in ‘his’ women. Even with their guises, that could make a sublime beauty of any woman, regardless of her age or other starting point, they used deft touches of makeup to highlight the best and most tantalizing features of their appearance. Wil paid little attention to what men did and expended even less energy on seeing what they wore so long as they didn’t present male genitalia anyplace that he might see them. With more than twenty eight billion adult females spread across the 130 planets, he could not hope to remember more of them than his traditional favorites, but he liked the occasional welcoming discovery of particularly attractive nubile and fecund women, and his FAP components provided an extended memory that could prompt him for their names after a quick scan of their memories, or if that failed, a DNA scan service that his friends at the Bureau provided. It was intended for checking ages, mostly of women, but Wil had excellent relationships with good contacts in the Concubinage Bureau, including hard-working and willing female bureaucrats who were prepared to override privacy restrictions if they saw that their Emperor had a need, which meant anytime he asked them. It was their little favor for their beloved emperor. He was always careful to ensure that women in his care were not exposed to sex before they were eighteen, and his bureaucrats respected him for it, but with carefully chosen words they hinted that he might not draw so much as a slap on the wrist in response to some minor relaxation of his hard line policy. They thought that live sex within view of children under eighteen was, and ought to be, forbidden, and they did not want wholesale changes in light of the permissiveness rampant on broadcast media, such as touchable erotic 3D simulations, which were now recognized by some as forms of art, and which were served by a wide variety of conventions—more or less genres that even a degenerate like Wil considered disgusting. That sort of policing was semi-political, but Wil the Emperor avoided personal involvement in the political process. To do otherwise would be to accept the collapse of freedom, an argument still pressed by the American gun lobby, but Wil refused every attempt by what he termed a group of self-serving charlatans to bring back personal ballistic weapons, even if they were obsolete. The muses, time-travelers all, liked to override their powers occasionally so that they could walk with him together when they wished, warming their remarkable bodies in the sun, and perchance in warm rain, but not perchance to dream because Shakespeare had snaffled that line. Other walkers included Jen and Becky and always Rika, Ruth, Joanna, Aisha and Tarisha, Glee, Na and Ka, Elfie, and Adria, who, like Elfie, was still one of his top favorite female friends, sometimes with benefits. The magnificent Georgianna and Felicity were also regulars, as were Kitty and her direct children by Wil, and sometimes, a brace of Kitty’s lovely helpers, and Shan, Midge, and Riana, and the original three clones of Joy, Belle—his black ‘mother’ and Eloise from Manhattan, who, after centuries, still delighted in complaining about the weather. There were shelters in discreet locations, with soft cushions, but they preferred not to use them, playing instead on the smoothly trimmed fine chamomile lawns that looked like bowling greens and could be used as such, where each little chamomile sprout was no more than one millimeter longer than its fellows, rather than cosseting themselves with the comfort of the cushioned benches. The benefit was that the sweet smell of the chamomile lingered with them as they continued their walks. As favorites, they could have comfort with their Emperor anytime when there was a vacant or near vacant boudoir. Beds and hot water tubs were designed and constructed by Na, with a little help by Ben.

Fornicators Anonymous

There was more weather everywhere outside the ships, often wet and there seemed to be a malign sentient force that kept even more drenching rain waiting in reserve nearby so that it could ambush them during their walks. The other walkers humored Eloise by making their own gentle complaints. Her fear of open spaces was no longer even a memory for her and she chose also to forget her previously old body. Her new-found fecundity had kept Wil supplied with a well selected mix of her daughters, the descendants of Henry Clover, who were beautiful in different ways, and excellent as breeding stock, but who generally preferred not to walk, opting instead to offer their contributions exclusively to Wil in the privacy and comfort of their individual boudoirs. More women came sporadically. Only Joan of Arc refused penetration, but she did enjoy the gentle platonic cuddles, kisses and caresses with her greatly admired savior, Wil. She always ate cold dishes, because for some unknown reason she was pathologically afraid of fire, but she felt pleasantly secure as she lay in Wil’s comforting arms, and now reveled in their strength because she had been fire-proofed by Wil’s gift of her flame-proofed guise. In her case, the guise was purely for protection rather than enhancement since she thought it sinful to interfere with the abundance of natural gifts that she attributed to her god. She could feel his tumescence stirring of course, but as long as she and he were both clothed, she did not feel that she was breaking her vows, and Wil was happy to