Safetyland: A Place Where Robots Care

By Frank Burg

The end of the world started quickly. First came the flu, which took many lives and overwhelmed the medical system. People realized their confidence in the governing power was misplaced as the rich and privileged took advantage while the rest of the population fought to survive. Then came the storms: earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. One disaster after another resulted in fear and panic that escalated to violence and insanity.

Some found solace in blaming the failure of humanity while others turned to God. Still others ignored the mounting horror, calling it fake news. Those people claimed the planet was just going through a phase and that all would soon right itself. Add global warming to the spreading illness and massive natural disasters, and it appeared Earth would soon be uninhabitable for those who remained.

Unbeknownst to many, a group of world leaders begins meeting in a covert location. Together, they work with a supercomputer in the effort to at least save the memory of human society. This secret computer and an alien contact now offer a way to escape a dying planet. However, there isn’t room for everyone, not even in the digital life, so how are the special few chosen … and at what cost? The world is ending; how far would you go to survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jul 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665707664

Frank Burg

Frank “Safetyman” Burg is a certified safety professional and registered professional safety engineer who has made occupational safety and health his life’s work. Frank has a master’s in ergonomics from the University of Wisconsin. He worked at the OSHA National Training Institute for eighteen years. For the last seventeen years, Frank has been president of the Accident Prevention Corporation. Learn more at www.safetyman.com.

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Copyright © 2021 Frank Burg.

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ISBN: 978-1-6657-0764-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0765-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0766-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021911023

Archway Publishing rev. date: 07/21/2021

Contents

Diamond Head

The Council

Leaders

Brad Stevens

A Plan

Lack of Leadership

A Singular Leader Emerges

The Day Everything Changed

Computer Power

Supercomputers

The Secret Establishment of the Gamatron

Inside the Gamatron

Zygon

Next

Roykodia

History of Roykodia

Human Qualities

The Organic Weakness

Bags of Water and Bacteria

Shelter in Place

The End of Trust

Chaos and Complexity

Isolation

Boredom

Control of the Weather

Emotions

Power Struggle

Polarization

Submission

World of Change

How It Had Come to This

Fake News

Secrets and Lies

The Big Lie

Black Holes

Something of Special Interest

Collaboration

Formation of the Council of Unity

The Queue

The Waiting Room

The Meetings

Compromise

Lifecoin

Trafficking

The Day the Earth Was Informed

Giving In and Letting Go

Too Good to Be True

Council of the Universe

Returning to the Past

Adopting a New Normal

Randomness and Objectivity

Competition

The Games

Gambling

Addiction

Gameworld

Followers

The Secrets

Area 51

Trip to Area 51 and Roswell

The Need for Speed

Forward

Searching the Black Holes

The Organization and Resistance

Gamblasters

Momentum

Hospice

Order

Awareness in Space

Urgency

The Dreams

Deeper into Dreamland

Twin Dreamworlds

Wormhole

Aliens

Resisters

Opt-Outers

Transition Begins

Safetyland

The Drugs

Bet Your Life

Subatomic Future

Human Limitations

Computers Reaching Out

Objectivity and Fairness

Jeremy

The Inocks

Danger of Progress and Efficiency

Doug Sandberg

Converting the Opt-Outers

Mass Production of Machines

Domestication of Humans

The Hive

Zygon’s Ship

Culture of Domestication on Earth

The First Expansion of the Human Mind

The Mirror

Resisters Unite

The Nuclear Bombs

Creating and Secreting the Weapon

Coffee Cave

Back to the Past

The Deflection

End of Jeremy’s Organic Life

After Jeremy and the Contracting Universe

Political Process at the Volcano

Healing Power of the Black Laser

Addiction to the Mirror

Black Laser Portal to Safetyland

The Power Grows—Pressure Builds

Digital Life—the Other Side

Expanding Time and Space

The Power of Cooperation

Back on Earth

The Next Frontier: Harmony

The Secret of Size

Halley’s Comet

Safetyland

The Unknown Future

Spirit Leader—an Even Higher Power

Oliver

New World

The Creation

Survival in the Contracting Universe

The Evil

Battle for the Control of Time

Access to the Past

Goodbye, Earth

Training for a Counterclockwise Revolution

The Fireball

Maintaining Order

Intervention

New Form of Living

Spark of Life

Solutions from Space

Life on Roykodia after the End of Earth

Turning Back the Time

The Cyborg on Timeworld

The Trinity

Prologue

I t all happened in just a few days. The coronavirus took so many of the vulnerable and overwhelmed the medical system. It also showed the people that their confidence in their nations had been misplaced as life became a war and the rich and privileged took advantage of those less fortunate. There were so many storms with so many names—fires, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hailstorms, cyclones, tornadoes, and hurricanes—and many storm surges. One disaster after another spawned fear and panic, resulting in violence and madness.

Some found solace in blaming the failure of the world on humanity, and others turned to God. The governments and their leaders were determined to ignore the news; they called it fake news. The planet, they said, was just going through a phase. They invoked the concept of herd immunity, knowing that millions would die from the virus and the survivors would be on their own in a hostile world. The leaders believed that death always ends the suffering. The death toll from the virus was just one of the problems as scientists pointed to the proximity of the people of the world to oceans and the forests, and what they called global warming. They coined the phrase climate change, but whatever the name, and whatever the cause, nobody could seem to do anything about it. It kept getting worse. Predictions were made that the planet had only a short time to be inhabitable, and some believed the earth would burn out of existence.

The pandemic ended the lives of millions in the population, and climate change was positioned to take even more lives. The virus quashed contact and travel, while climate change ruined the quality of life. The novel coronavirus had come in waves of infection. At first it infected the dense populations of the cities. The public was told to shelter in place in order to hold down the spread. Then it started moving out into rural communities, spreading where people were mingling, and the people in the dense areas could not restrain themselves from engaging in social interaction especially around holidays. Before long there were sick people in lines waiting to be tested and waiting for treatment. The hospitals and morgues were so full, they had to bring refrigerator trucks to store bodies, and mass graves were needed for disposal. It seemed as if the worst had happened, but this was not the only bug; there were new bugs just as resistant to antibiotics. And the virus kept mutating. Those who had been infected were lining up at hospitals, government buildings, and military bases looking for relief, but without effective treatment, all efforts were useless. Some of the worst effects were from skin-eating bacteria that would ravage a healthy body in just a few weeks or months. It was a painful demise, and most sufferers turned to narcotics and alcohol to ease the pain of transition from life to death. With the governments failing and the public in terror, the only leaders who emerged were a disorganized group of specialists who had started to communicate about the possibility of saving the planet. They were called the Council.

The elected leaders and even dictators had run off with their riches or in fear of angry mobs. With chaos ruling the earth, the leaders of the Council, mostly made up of former elected officials, scientists, and some military personnel, began to communicate using what was left of the World Wide Web. Their first order of business was to find a location that would be safe from the virus and the violence, someplace where they could work toward a solution for saving the earth. One of the Council leaders was a general by the name of Earnest Kessler, who had previously held the position as national security adviser. He informed the others that the only reasonable place to meet to try to save the earth was under the volcano at Diamond Head.

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Diamond Head

D iamond Head on Oahu in Hawaii had always been the most protected and secure place on Earth before the advance of the flu and climate change. Kessler informed the others on his secure blockchain network that the chamber was secure and safe and was virtually the most protected location in the world from nuclear fallout. He told them about the development of a powerful supercomputer loaded with artificial intelligence. He said, We are going to need that big boy if we are going to solve these problems. The most identifiable problem we must deal with immediately is protecting and securing the nuclear sites and making certain that nobody is going to blow up the planet. Then we will need programs to deal with the violence and mental illness.

General Kessler was arranging for critical people and materials to be brought to Hawaii by what was left of military transports. Diamond Head was easily accessed by ship or plane. He obtained security passes in the form of cryptocurrency to allow entry into the volcano. It took several weeks before he was able to assemble his people at the secure location. When the general arrived via the abandoned air force helicopter, showed his credentials, and took the elevator inside the chamber, several invited guests were waiting for his arrival to discuss events, including recent rebel efforts to gain access to the nuclear sites and materials. The Council would need to organize and take steps to secure the sites and prevent access to reactor cores.

Kessler opened the meeting with topics that required top secret clearance. You should all know there have been discoveries of alien life and UFOs, and more recently we have acquired proof of alien life. We now know human biological life is not the only form of life in our universe. Contact has been made with alien life-forms, which information has not been shared with the public. The alien data was used privately by the military to try to intervene in climate change, for improvements in medical technology, and on one occasion to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth and destroying it. The public had no idea how many asteroids had hit the earth. Most were call meteors when they were small, but there had been some large impacts in the past. Many scientists believed that the dinosaurs had been wiped out by such an event. Six years before the pandemic, a large asteroid called Hygiea was on a trajectory to encounter the earth somewhere near New York City. At the time, a UFO had crashed in New Mexico and a living alien had been taken to a silo for examination. The scientists had employed the alien to assist with the asteroid. It was only a few days later that the asteroid changed its course. Nobody could be sure it was the work of the alien, but there was no other explanation.

Kessler had the full attention of every member of the Council when he imparted the information that communications with an alien source code-named Zygon had indicated the earth would not last more than a few months and that steps were needed for evacuation. We must be determined to pursue a quest for protection and safety on Earth, or if that is not feasible, we will need to have a plan for evacuation. I have designated this effort as Project Safetyland, a project of the highest order of importance to find a safe place for families and future generations in space. We may need to leave Earth. And there are not enough resources to make an exit available to all.

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The Council

M any believed the nations would govern for the benefit of the people, but it turned out that this notion had originated with the fake news. To the contrary, there was plenty of evidence that those in power looked only after their own interests. The powerful gained influence and advantage while they spread the big lies about truth, fairness, and equality. Most of the people were considered suckers and losers, and the leaders could not be trusted as the people could not distinguish between the truth and the fake news. A president was killed by people who were never identified, and the facts were never fully investigated, which gave rise to conspiracy theories. There were ventures to the moon with no proof beyond some grainy videos and rocks, and a war was said to be fought in one country, but it was really in another country. When things started to fall apart with the flu, storms, fires, and floods, Kessler and some others began to act to form the Council. The blockchain was perfect for scrambled communication. These former leaders began working together to gain a semblance of order.

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Leaders

O ne of the leaders invited to the Council had been living in Hawaii, not far from Diamond Head. Hawaii was seen to be one of the safest places on Earth, protected from the pandemic, fear, panic, and rioting by the isolation provided by its being a few islands in the ocean. After the loss of government control, Hawaii still had a good climate and low population, and it was home to a dormant volcano that housed the most secure and powerful military base in the world. The area inside the volcano was constructed much like the Capitol had been constructed in DC. In the front, near the computer, was a chamber for meetings. Behind this chamber was a large waiting room that included a great assembly hall, big enough for seventy people. The assembly hall had been used for briefings. There was another room on the side for important visitors. Everyone had pocket screens, but there were also big screens on the walls like a sports bar in happier times.

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Brad Stevens

T he former first family had been spared from the flu and the shortages of food and water. The past president of the United States was Brad Stevens, a retired leader of the former free world. He had served his two terms with good success and leadership, but his vice president had been defeated by the other party, headed by Ross Taylor, who ran on a platform of law and order and was using weapons on his own people to keep the peace. The Taylor administration had no use for demonstrations and told the public that they were supporting law and order when putting down the rebellions. They promised the public they would cure the flu. Despite those promises, nothing had happened. The administration was characterized by indecision and ineptitude. Under Taylor, the situation and the country were deteriorating, the coronavirus was spreading, and the rioting and looting was getting worse. Brad had been watching the demise of his country and the violence spreading across the world. He was showing every bit of his sixty-four years but was still fit. His hair was graying and thinning, and recently he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In the last two months, before it had become difficult to leave his home, he was responding to treatments of chemotherapy and radiation. Many people thought Brad resembled Billy Bob Thornton. Like Billy Bob, he tried to stay physically fit and active despite his cancer.

During the crisis, there was little time and few locations for physical activity. The fancy gyms were all closed. But fortunately, Brad had a workout room installed in the basement of his home. He was spending his mornings downstairs on the Peloton, trying to keep up his energy. While he was working out, he had General Kessler in his ear telling him about the terrible job Ross Taylor was doing of running the country. Taylor had claimed to be a man of the people and told the media that the virus would go away on its own and that the stories about contact with extraterrestrials were all fake news. He was big on promises and short on decisive action. Unlike Brad, who had been raised in the Midwest and came from hardworking middle-class parents, Ross Taylor had come from money and lived a life of leisure and privilege. Ross was diminutive in height and had a sharp nose that made him look like a bald eagle. Some of his friends had referred to him as the Eagle. Those who were close to Taylor knew he was a religious zealot. When you looked into his deep blue eyes, you could see he was a true believer in the power of the Lord. Taylor believed that a higher power would come to solve the earth’s problems, which had not hurt his chances of being elected to the highest office in the land.

During the change in administration, there had been a magnitude 9.6 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, the largest in history. The earthquake, larger than the one in Valdivia in 1960, created a tidal wave that killed more than six thousand people. Ross Taylor had said that it was the will of God and never even mentioned climate change, this because Ross Taylor refused to believe in climate change. After the floods came the virus that spread all over the world. The Taylor administration did nothing to alleviate the crisis or to help people looking to their leaders for a plan of action. The administration was frozen while the world started to fall apart—and Brad Stevens was ready to move on with his life. At the time, Brad thought, The people have chosen this guy to run the nation. Now they are paying the price for it.

After the election, former president Brad Stevens moved with his wife Beverly and their twin girls, Melody and Margaret, called Mel and Peg by their parents and friends, to a compound on Oahu, the Hawaiian island. Being isolated, it was a good place to ride out some of the ravages to the earth. On the islands, the virus had been held back with quarantine and the worst of the mutating superbugs had yet to arrive. Brad and family had a small security detail, normally assigned to past presidents, and protective fences around the property. Brad had been a dynamic, energetic leader, and in many ways he was comfortable being relieved of the responsibilities of world leadership, especially with his cancer diagnosis and during a pandemic. He retreated to Hawaii, wanting to trust that the resources of the government could deal with the increasing danger the nation was facing. He wanted to be free to explore his hobbies and interests, which included soccer and gardening, but the flu was keeping him from leaving the house. He felt useless and even silly spending his time on the screens playing video games and collecting cryptocurrency. The games were a distraction, but all the while he was playing, he was thinking about protecting his family and his country from the ravages of the flu outside the gates. He was sometimes frustrated and occasionally found himself drinking too much wine. One time after a few glasses, he sat in front of the fire in the living room with Bev and the twins, worrying about the future. On the big wide-screen TV he could see the rioting and violence. He wondered what he could do to make things better in the world.

Brad was worried about basic and important things like food and medical care, but mostly he was worried about Ross Taylor’s arrogance and incompetence. The compound had a storehouse, but months without leaving the house and fear of catching the virus was taking a toll on his family’s supplies. He asked Bev when the orders they had placed for supplies and food were going to be delivered, and she told him the deliveries were taking weeks and that some items were not delivered at all. If it were not for the drones and the robots, there would be no deliveries at all. Depending on drones to deliver food and his chemo was the first indication to Brad that his family and the people of the world were becoming subservient to this technology. The virus was taking all the workers off the streets, with many going to hospitals and some to their graves. The next morning, Bev received a recorded message delivered by one of the drones, which she immediately passed on to Brad. The drone, waiting outside the door, passively stated, You are needed immediately at the volcano. I will escort you safely now.

Bev did not want Brad to leave the protection of the compound. She was adamant. If you leave the protection of this house, you might be killed, or you will get the virus and bring it home to us. Brad assured her that he would be protected by the drone, which was armed, and added that he would wear a biosuit to protect himself from the flu. Brad knew the volcano had become the center of activity for the military in dealing with worldwide civil unrest and the pandemic. He was being called to the Council.

The volcano was chosen for high-level meetings because of the safety and security offered by the cavern underneath Diamond Head. Those caverns of Diamond Head had been used for top secret discussion about contact with the extraterrestrials during Brad’s own administration. Brad had never told his family about any top secret subjects, including sightings and research on the aliens, or the fact that there was a large military supercomputer deep under the volcano that stored data related to UFOs and the alien contacts. The sensitivity and seriousness of the alien presence on Earth had caused Brad, while president, to appoint Professor Devon Marsh, a physicist from Harvard University, to head a committee to establish preparedness for a potential invasion by aliens and to monitor any communications. Marsh was well-known for his bespectacled Ben Franklin appearance, his long white hair, and the deep furrows in his brow. Brad thought Marsh was more like a chunky Albert Einstein with his long and unkempt white hair.

Brad and Professor Marsh had developed a deep friendship and understanding that continued after Brad left office. They met socially, discussing sensitive issues, concerns about the new administration, and threats to the earth, spending hours on UFOs, aliens, earthquakes, and the virus the few times they had had their meetings at Brad’s home. Even before the pandemic, there were serious concerns about the lack of readiness to fight against a viral menace, climate change, and an alien invasion, all of which they knew were coming. There had been shortages of hospital beds and personal protective equipment, and a few interactions with the extraterrestrials were now being reported more frequently and aggressively. They had discussed the advantage the volcano offered, not only safety from the civil unrest, riots, and the virus, but also protection from news media and nuclear threats. Every entrant through the gates of Diamond Head was authorized in advance and screened for weapons and viruses. Some were quarantined until they were proven to be safe within the bubble.

The drone delivered Brad to the entrance to the volcano on the land side. He used his crypto to pass through security. He was tested for the virus and was grateful for both himself and his family that he was negative. Several drones escorted him down the stone stairway into the large assembly hall that was used for highly secure meetings. The hall reminded Brad of the United Nations. He was seated at a table at the front of the assembly of around thirty-five people, mostly military, all with top security clearances. He was not shy about letting his feelings be known, especially how angry he was that the new administration was helplessly waiting for the virus or climate change to ravage the planet. He was interrupted by Kessler, who told him that his concerns about the virus and the climate would have to take a back seat to problems with civil unrest and recent communications from the aliens. Brad was considered a major resource within these briefings because of his top secret clearance, experience, and creative brain. He had even written strategies for dealing with what would be left of the planet at the end of the pandemic. General Kessler barely mentioned the number of cases and deaths from the virus, but the big screen behind the podium showed video of riots and shootings around the country and the world. They had called Brad to the volcano not because the violence and the spread of the virus were getting out of control, but because there had been a communication with extraterrestrials with huge implications for the future of Earth. It was after dealing with the alien communications that those assembled would also need to develop plans for dealing with the civil unrest.

General Earnest Kessler had been Brad’s former national security adviser, and he was up at the podium for a briefing regarding developments with the aliens. Brad knew there had been communications with some extraterrestrials and that the satellites were both sending and received signals from intelligent life, but an actual direct communication was both frightening and surprising. Kessler showed pictures on the screens of some technology that had been found at a UFO crash site that was being used by the aliens to communicate directly to the supercomputer in the volcano. As Brad listened to Kessler’s briefing, he leaned over to his old friend Professor Marsh and whispered in his ear, saying, The most frightening thing is that the leaders of the world are looking for leadership. Marsh took that comment to mean that the Taylor administration was looking for help from the aliens. The Taylor administration had spent its time blaming Brad’s former administration and sitting on their hands. Brad, Kessler, and Marsh had been reluctant to go against the Taylor administration because of historical precedent and because of policy against one leader criticizing another, with a peaceful transition being uppermost in importance. Brad was not interested in going over the past or even criticizing the new administration. He was there to find answers and to provide insight and leadership at a time when it was needed. After all, it was this group that had called him to the volcano. When they asked Brad to speak, he tried hard to avoid criticism of Taylor, but he was frustrated and angry at the lack of planning and preparedness for issues that he knew Taylor and staff had been repeatedly briefed on. Brad hated that they were playing politics with people’s lives and using magical thinking to deal with climate change, a pandemic, and issues with extraterrestrials. Particularly the inaction against the coronavirus was unforgivable. There were rumors that President Taylor was so indecisive and incompetent that he was getting his instructions from television reporters. He clearly had business ties to Russia, and tabloids had suggested that there might be sex tapes of Taylor’s activities during visits to Russia.

After Brad spoke of needing a full briefing regarding the communication with the aliens, he and Kessler were taken to a small conference room on the other side of the supercomputer, which was being called the Gamatron because it was running all the games. Brad could hear the computer whirring as he felt the heat from the energy and smelled something foreign and exotic in the air, but he could not put his finger on the odor. He told Kessler, It smells like something between a factory and a morgue. They were seated in the small conference room. In walked President Ross Taylor and his main assistant, Chad Ingersol.

The president said, "I need to be frank. We are losing control over the virus and the riots. We have had a communication with aliens and have asked them for assistance. The Gamatron received a coded communication from someone named Zygon telling us that they want to make a deal. What I tell you now is of the highest order of national security. The future of