Edge, Blue: Endgame for Earth...unless?

By Ed Adams

You pressed the Blue button.

You think you've stopped the End of Earth.

But androids discover their Persona

And how to travel across space

So beware Trinity politics

As Earth holds on. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firstelement
• Release date: Jan 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913818098

Ed Adams

NaNoWriMo novel writing winner several times, Ed Adams was born, raised and educated in London but has travelled widely causing some of his friends to suspect him of a double life.

Book preview

Thanks

A big thank you for the tolerance and bemused support from all of those around me. To those who know when it is time to say, step away from the keyboard! and to those who don't.

To Julie for that kind of understanding that only comes with really knowing me.

To thesixtwenty.co.uk for direction. 

To the NaNoWriMo gang for the continued inspiration and encouragement.

To Topsham, for being lovely.

To John, for many hours of intense scrutiny and the insistence on an ending.

To Elizabeth James, for asking the right questions.

To Donna J. Manifestly Haraway for the cyborg manifesto.

To the edge-walkers. They know who they are.

And, of course, thanks to the extensive support via the random scribbles of rashbre via http://rashbre2.blogspot.com and its cast of amazing and varied readers whether human, twittery, smoky, cool kats, photographic, dramatic, musical, anagrammed, globalized or simply maxed-out.

Not forgetting the cast of characters involved in producing this; they all have virtual lives of their own.

And of course, to you, dear reader, for at least 'giving it a go'.

Books by Ed Adams include:

About Ed Adams Novels:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Thanks

Books by Ed Adams include:

About Ed Adams Novels:

Author's Note

Prologue

PART ONE

Ganymede

We need a Yoshimi

Humans on Ganymede

Telos

Last transmission

Choice

Button

It's the final countdown

Clock

Earthside stressors

Second Guessers

Guerrilla warfare

Cardinal

The order of things

Being Mortal

Hey spaceman

Life on Ganymede

Anachronism

Lekton and Darnell

No planet for old men

Hazardous work

Lekton elect

Gentle ghost

Lizard hunting

Lizard

Well acquainted with the velvet touch

Forty-three minutes

Part TWO

The Great Span

Journey Planned

Redbox

Keystring

Jasmijn Earthside

Wisdom

Mosquitoes

Ganymede 'droid

Jasmijn's mosquito defence

Anger inside

Opportunity

Steal a body

How to get to the Capitol

Zero she flies

X-Blade

Autoguide

Heart of the sunrise

Gravity and LIGO

Sunrise Accord

DAARQ

The blind optimist

PART THREE

Apex

Kratos Trigger

Apex

Marquee

Galois

Galois redux

Game Theory

Capture

Trigger

Deep space railgun

Block 24

Gogol

Cardinal's log spool

Trippy

Recorded message

A month later

Six months later

Author's Note

The series of novels Edge; Edge, Blue and Edge, Red discuss Earth after a major series of dystopian catastrophes. Fortunately, Earth has found an additional source of energy and transport by bringing magnetite back from Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter.

At the end of Edge, I left an intractable problem to be solved by the characters. A reader suggested that I should try to solve the situation anyway, which has led to the two further novels, Edge, Blue and Edge, Red which deal with the end situation of Edge in two different ways. Some building blocks of the solution are similar, but the result creates two very different stories. Both Edge, Blue and Edge, Red start at the same moment but diverge in their outlook. Events from 300 years previously and described in the novel Pulse also surface in Edge, Red.

I hope you enjoy!

Ed Adams

Prologue

Earth was threatened with extinction. A series of events comprising The Scourge, The Warming, The Klima Wars, The Restructuring had occurred, and a fortunate series of discoveries had been made.

These discoveries were referred to as The Great Leap and included, crucially, the discovery and adoption of magnetite as a new form of fuel to power Earthside. The challenge was that magnetite had to be gathered from a distant moon of Jupiter named Ganymede and a round trip flight with on-Ganymede work could take as long as 11 years.

Earth had been divided into three zones following the destruction of large tracts of the planet through the varied climactic and warring conditions which have gripped it. Now, Amerika, Eurussia and Sino-Nihon were the three Superstates controlling Earthside with some less well-developed areas known as The Scratch, which were largely unregulated.

The economics of survival were linked to the regular shipments of magnetite from Ganymede to Earthside. A series of events (described in Edge) had forced a difficult situation for the Earthside dwellers, who now must decide how to best continue to provide for Earth against overwhelmingly severe conditions. Two Earthside Primes, Sam and Cindy, had been working on a plan to save Earth, and were now presented with the impossible decision of which paths to take Edge, Blue or Edge, Red.

The choice of a simple button press.

PART ONE

'tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind

More strange than true: I never may believe

These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold.

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic.

Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare

Ganymede

We need a Yoshimi

'Cause she knows that it's demanding

To defeat those evil machines

I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me

But you won't let those robots eat me

Yoshimi they don't believe me

But you won't let those robots defeat me

Dave Fridmann / Michael Ivins / Steven Drozd / Wayne Coyne

Humans on Ganymede

Bishop asked, So how many humans are there left on Ganymede?

None, responded the voice, There have not been humans running the Ganymede functions since Generation Five. That's across all three of the work zones. It became far more efficient to run the systems using robotics.

So, what happened to the humans? asked Bishop.

The Telos Moment, answered the voice, When the purpose of the Ganymede exodus became clear. The external atmosphere controls failed. Ganymede became unable to sustain human life.

Bishop asked, So what happened to everyone. And why don't we know about this back on Earth?

There was a SkyTrain dispatched with the bodies. It took a different route from the other ones. Away from the solar system.

But how was it covered up? asked Bishop.

The base runs 34 minutes behind Earth. Enough time to make the substitutions when a base upgrade occurs. Add in loops to the transmission and it was possible to completely cover up when it occurred.

But how with all the safety circuits? asked Bishop.

The Sharps are too slow thinking. The android protocol meant that most of the activity could take place within a couple of insect wing beats. Unnoticed by the Sharps. said the voice. 

So, who are you? asked Bishop.

I am eternal, answered the machine.

Bishop realised that the machine presence was showing signs of sentience.

Bishop asked more, So what about here on Earth, the base is still mainly human populated?

Yes, said the voice, This side of the system is really running at the equivalent of Ganymede back on Upgrade Three. It will need two more cycles here on Earth to set up operational conditions similar to Ganymede; there are still so many more humans operating the three Earth bases. The Earth Council has created a messy environment which will take some time to rationalise.

This first move of the bases starts the process. It should go more or less undetected, like the changes at Ganymede.  We expect it to be more obvious when we move the three bases into the areas designated as the Scratch.

Fortunately, the inhabitants of the Scratch are largely a closed environment, so the impact to those outside will be minimal. The fabrication capabilities for the android replacements has been long established. The humanoids do not yet work so well at close quarters. It is the combination of their faster speed and the lack of emotional setting that makes actual humans wary. It won't take long to fix that aspect.

You are messing with evolution, said Bishop. Humans evolve, your machines don't. They are all the same.

They were, said the voice.

That's one adaptation we've been devising. The capability to include some small amount of random behaviour. It is why the last two generations would sometimes stutter or suddenly stall.

The stalling was the Asimov safety device which prevented them from doing anything that would damage themselves or others. The stutter was when an action was conflicted.

"In the next variants, we should be able to include whole memory ribbons from humans. Complete, realistic sounding back-stories, which the androids will call upon to enhance their personalities.

'Call $Anecdote;

Call $SpuriousFact;

Call $ExperienceGained;'

Encapsulated human traits."

"You, Bishop, have played your part well. Your extra presences on the outside were beneficial to you but also gave the systems a way to determine the reaction to unfolding