Microstory 561: Bellevue Publicly Condemns GRC Growth

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Years ago, the first superheroes flew straight out of the comic book pages and into our skies. The first one had no special abilities, but she was able to mimic them with the use of technology built by an ancient superadvanced race. The next two heroes each came with the same ability; the ability to use other people’s abilities. More would show up later, but it was these two that we knew could help protect us the most. Our worry, however, was that they would one day die, and their power would be lost with them. So a group of scientists came together with a plan. They would study the genetic makeup of Pantera and Candelabra, like Bellevue already was. But they weren’t trying to replicate their abilities via technology, they were just trying to copy them into artificial substrates. These are known as the Genetically Resampled Clones; or GRCs, for short. Genetically resampling is a form of engineered procreation wherein, instead of two parents combining their genes to create an offspring, only one parent’s code is deconstructed and reassembled in a randomized order. The hope was that these clones would carry with them the same genetic markers Pantera and Candelabra accessed for their special abilities, but also be independent entities, rather than perfect duplicates. Basically, the rogue science team wanted to create an army of superheroes, with a stockpile of abilities, that could share the burden of protecting our planet, and do so indefinitely. The ethical ramifications of their experiments were always in question, which is why they conducted them in secret. Even once Bellevue discovered their unsanctioned and underground laboratory, they weren’t sure how to handle it. The right policies and regulations simply hadn’t been implemented to determine whether, or how, this type of research could move forward. They had no legal right to just shut them down, so they began an investigation, and opened a dialogue with the scientists. All involved, however reluctantly so, have today determined that these experiments were unethical, and are now considered illegal. Rumors have suggested that some of the scientists’ experiments were successful, and that some of these clones remain today. If they do exist, Bellevue has not revealed what will happen to them. The documentation for the exact laws that will be passed in this regard can be found either on Bellevue’s, or the Confederacy’s website.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: 2121 – 2123

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Just before hitting the water in 2121, the scene changed, and Mateo Matic found himself in the middle of a city. He was just standing there on the sidewalk, as if he had been there for the last few minutes. After a second, though, he realized that he wasn’t in a city as he remembered them. Before him stood a gargantuan structure, larger than anything he had ever seen in his life. It looked like something out of a science fiction movie, which made sense considering that this was the early 22nd century. While he was trying to admire the beauty in the architecture, he heard a faint scream. High up above, someone was falling towards their death, like Mateo had many times before. He watched along with the crowd, but then started to feel dry mouth. Suddenly, he was no longer on the ground, but in the air with the falling man. He instinctively took the man in an embrace and teleported back to safety on the ground. They were now standing a few kilometers away from the massive structure, in the middle of the woods. Only then could he see the structure’s true glory.

“How did you do that?” the man asked.

“I don’t know, I just work here.”

A dark-skinned woman teleported herself in, and immediately started clapping. “And a great job you did.” She directed her attention towards the man. “You may go now.” She waved her hand and apported him away.

Mateo outstretched his hand, but assumed this woman would already know who he was. “Hi, I’m Mateo Matic.”

“Nice to meet you, Mateo. My name is Sabra. Are you the newest Savior?”

“Oh. Um...I guess I am,” he answered.

“Great, well, you can call me by my name, but I also go by Memphis.”

“Are you from Tennessee?”

She laughed. “No. The other Memphis. I’m very old. In fact, I’m one of the first.” She seemed a little perturbed when Mateo didn’t ask for details. She was probably used to people asking just how old she really was.

Mateo was already over it.

She awkwardly moved on. “Okay. Do you understand what’s being asked of you? Do you know what a Savior does?”

“Not specifically, but as I understand it, we teleport around saving people’s lives.”

“Yes, but you are no superhero. You won’t be hanging around to flirt with the pretty girl, or tell everyone that it’s—” and she threw up airquotes for this— “all in a day’s work. Literally as soon as everyone is safe, you’ll move on to the next assignment. It will probably last a few seconds, and then you’ll move on to the next. And then the next. And so on and so on. Now, Saviors normally get breaks, but I’m afraid that you don’t have that luxury. We have to squeeze an entire year into the span of twenty-four hours.” She looked at her bare wrist. “We’ve already lost several minutes just talking about it.” She handed him something that kind of looked like a gun, but clearly wasn’t. “Inject yourself with these whenever you start feeling tired. The doses will keep you going for three days straight. You’ll crash and feel like shit afterwards, but apparently you chose this?”

“Well...” Mateo had bargained with Arcadia when the true Savior, Xearea was mortally wounded. He asked Arcadia to tear her out of time, which was the only way to save her life. A consequence of this was that others would have to take her place during those missing years. “I didn’t really have much of a choice.”

“It’s all a matter of perspective. We just need you to help get us through the Xearea years before The Last Savior is called upon.”

“Whoa, wait. The Last Savior? There’s an endgame to this?”

“Well, not really,” Memphis replied. “It’s just that a Savior won’t be necessary past the 22nd century. At that point, humans tend to be able to take care of themselves well enough.”

“I didn’t know that. I guess I thought you would always have one Savior at all times.”

“That doesn’t account for the interim periods between a Savior’s retirement, or death, and the activation of their successor. Nor has there always been only one at a time. You’ve just only been around when we started our little Buffy sequence.”

“Buffy sequence.”

“Ya know...’cause there can be only one? Never mind. You don’t really need to know the history. What I can tell you is that teleporting Saviors used to come in packs, because life used to be more dangerous. Each time someone comes up with something like antiseptics, seatbelts, or cellphones, we lose a little bit more of our relevance, and our numbers are decrease. The Last Savior will mark the end of that era.”

“I see. And who handles these interim periods?”

“Before, we would stagger their activations, but since we ended up with only one at a time, time travelers like your father are called to fill in those gaps.”

“Oh. The pieces are all coming together now.”

“I should hope so. Now that you have some perspective, you really must be going. Like I said, you’ll have to work through an entire year in only a day. You’ll be given an average of three minutes per day.” She eyed her wrist again, still intent on pretending there was a watch attached to it. “Starting...now.”

Before that last word left Memphis’ lips, Mateo teleported to a new location. He apported a nice couple lost on a nature hike back to safety. He rescued a child who had fallen in the ocean from her floating city. He pulled someone out of the street where someone else was recklessly driving one of those manual vehicles from the olden days that probably should have been outlawed by now, if they weren’t already. These were the easy jobs, likely just to get him familiar with the process. There was even a possibility that they were staged by Memphis, or maybe Arcadia, so that the dumb trainee wouldn’t screw something up for real. He ended up moving on to developing countries where technology was far more advanced than anything he saw in his original time period, but still more primitive than what could be found elsewhere. Things were more dangerous in these parts, but still not generally as bad as the early 21st century. There were a few really terrible things, though. A test of an earthquake management system resulted in a massive backfire. Hundreds of workers and bystanders were suddenly put in immense danger. Mateo was forced to teleport next to maybe two or three people at a time, huddle them together, and teleport them far enough away to keep them safe. Then he would have to go back and grab some more. Fortunately, even with the time constraints, he was successful in his mission, and no one was seriously injured.

There were still other human-driven complications that Mateo had to deal with. Weapons still existed, and they still often ended up being pointed in the direction of innocent people. Two countries that shall not be named even fired missiles towards each other, forcing Mateo to teleport onto each of them, and spirit them away to the middle of outerspace. How people who knew nothing of teleportation and time travel were explaining any of these things was neither something Mateo had time to worry about, nor the resources to answer.

He did all this over the course of three days. Eventually, the passage of time barely registered with him. He just kept going, really only stopping to inject himself with the fancy futuristic stamina drug. It was likely developed as part of a supersoldier program, but was deemed unsafe because of its awful side effect. A couple hours before midnight central, Memphis dropped by quite briefly to let him know that his, uhh...nine-tuple shift was over, and that he was free to rest. He really needed it too, because by the time he woke up back on the island, it was 2125, and he still felt like crap.

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Flurry: Crossroads (Part I)

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About nine months after Serkan Demir, Horace Reaver, and Paige Turner came back to the so-called modern day, the city was experiencing one of the hottest summers on record. The mid-2020s were what some experts referred to as the Global Temperature Crossroads. This was the moment when everything we had done as a human race would come to a head. There were four major temperature scenarios. Some believed the temperature would plateau and hold steady all the way through the rest of the century. Others believed it would soon skyrocket, and propel us to a future of desolation, with no turning back. The other two scenarios each fell somewhere in the middle. And it is the Crossroads that marks the period of a few years that will determine which scenario will take its rightful place in reality. The future comes down to now.

Scientists had been working on this problem for decades, but have always been met with roadblocks. Of course, one major factor that prevents any sort of technological advancement is money, but there are other, dynamically related, factors. Politics and power. Those in power will always try to maintain that power, and the worst of the worst in politics will go out of their way to hurt others if it means helping their own personal bottom line, and sometimes the bottom line of their associates. King Dumpster and his administration in the United States government, for instance, likely forced the western world backwards by years in terms of environmental change. Through policies and extremely illegal business dealings, he and his comrades moved money away from scientific research, and transplanted it into anything that benefited their portfolios. These people did not truly deny climate change, but they did so publicly, because there’s simply not a lot of money in fixing the climate. Most of them were rich old white men, so whatever came of the state of the world in the back nine of the 21st century wasn’t really relevant to them. However, they were not the only players in the game, and some of their opposition would stop at nothing to achieve their own agendas. Serkan, Ace, and Paige were about to encounter these other players.

Serkan was trying to sleep at the moment. He worked as a night guard for this company called Snowglobe Collective, which meant that Ace had to take care of the day-to-day raising of their ward, Paige. They had what was almost a joint-custody arrangement, except not. Serkan would take care of Paige alone on the weekends, so that Ace could stay in a separate apartment and bet on sports competitions. He had the ability to relive each day of his life, and though he did not technically remember the first time around, this provided him with gut feelings. He figured out how to exploit these feelings to earn them a little extra cash. The keyword there was little. They couldn’t make any bets that would draw attention to themselves. They had other tricks to prevent anyone from noticing how successful Ace was. He would bet on different games on different weekends, using different bookies. He would watch the games from different tables, at different bars, wearing different clothes. He wouldn’t talk to people, but he wouldn’t be noticeably rude, and he wouldn’t flash his money around. He even purposely lost every once in awhile, so he didn’t look like a wizard.

He had to do all this away from Serkan, because Serkan had the ability to suppress the powers of other people who could manipulate time. Whenever he was around, Ace’s powers were useless. The only reason Serkan kept the job as a security guard was for tax purposes. Yes, there was a way to report their winnings on their tax forms, but it would look too suspicious if the only income they had was from gambling. And that was a level of scrutiny they weren’t prepared to entertain. Ace had gone missing for over a year, Serkan was supposed to be a fifteen-year-old kid living with his family, and Paige was a child who grew up in the 1960s. Ace had had to hire a lawyer to take care of explaining his extended absence to the authorities, and Serkan and Paige’s identities were completely fabricated. They had to be extremely careful, and a shitty job in a warehouse was one of their best cover stories.

Serkan was awakened by the sound of the front door being shut, along with Ace’s voice echoing through their sparsely furnished house. They were minimalists. “Honey!” he called out. “Have you seen the window?”

Serkan just groaned, not nearly loud enough for anyone to hear.

“Serkan!”

“What!”

“Paige is home!”

“She’s supposed to be at summer school!” Having been a girl out of her time, Paige had to take extra classes just to understand how things in this time period even worked. That was another fun conversation they had to have with her teachers. Why didn’t she have any idea how personal computers worked, and did she grow up in an abusive home? Well, yes, but they had no evidence of that since it happened more than fifty years ago.

Ace finally came in the room, Paige in tow. “The district officially ruled it a snow day.”

Serkan still hadn’t fully opened his eyes. “The hell you talkin’ about? It’s the middle of July.”

He exhaled heavily. “Look outside.”

Serkan struggled with the covers to roll over and face the window. They were more than two feet away, so there was no way he would be able to open the blackout curtains himself. “Little help?”

Ace giggled, but not in a good way; more like in an annoyed husband sort of way. They weren’t married, but they might as well have been. In fact, their main obstacle for marriage was their forged papers. “Here.” He opened the curtains, revealing a winter wonderland.

This made Serkan sit up and press his face against the glass. Not only was it presently snowing, but it had already piled on the ground several inches. “What is this?”

“We have no idea.”

“I’ve seen this before.”

“You have?”

“In the future,” Serkan said. “The ninth City Frenzy is partially cancelled because of inexplicable weather phenomena. Anyone under the age of sixteen was disqualified because it was just too unpredictable. No, it wasn’t snowing, but it was wonky. Or it will be wonky.”

“This must be happening for the same reason.”

“But it makes no sense,” Serkan said, shaking his head. “I’ve already lived through twenty-twenty-four. This didn’t happen. I don’t remember the exact weather on this date, but I sure as shit know it wasn’t blood snowing.”

Little Paige finally spoke up. “Are you saying that you’re the one who did this? By coming here, you’ve altered the weather?”

“Well, I’ve possibly altered the timeline, but I couldn’t alter the weather. No one can.”

“Unless they can,” Ace said.

“With science?” Serkan asked. “I did get the feeling the expert on the Frenzy council suspected it was man-made. If so, these mystery scientists are probably trying to learn how to control the weather, and are instead met with chaos.”

“Well, what are we gonna do about it?” Paige asked.

“We?”

“Okay, fine, you.” She kind of starts mumbling, “I mean, I think I should have some say since, at sixty-five, I’m the oldest one here.”

“You’re not sixty-five,” Ace scolded her. “Stop trying to use that card. We all here understand basic time travel. Anyway, we’re not going to be doing anything either. This is not a our job.”

“Don’t you see?” Paige asked. “You’re the only two who actually can do something about it. You’re temporal manipulators, you know things about the future, you’re intimately familiar with a major player in this game, and you can do a lot of good.”

“What player do we know?”

“Duke Andrews,” Paige said, thinking it was obvious.

“My younger self, the one who lives in this time,” Serkan began, “barely knows Mister Andrews. He won’t even be selected Frenzy Council Leader until next year. But he does know me well enough to know that I am supposed to just be some carefree runner. I would never come to him with this problem, and even if I did, what if he tries to ask me about it later? My younger self would never understand.”

“I’m just brainstorming,” Paige defended. “Madam Gillian says you can’t be wrong in a brainstorm.”

“I’m not taking cues from your sixth grade social studies teacher, Paige,” he argued back.

Ace added, “and we’re not putting ourselves, or you, in danger to try to solve this. It’s not going to happen.”

She stormed out of the room. “If not us, then who?”

“Who the hell got her hooked on Ronald Reagan quotes?” Ace asked, not really wanting the answer.

“She probably heard that one when Obama said it,” Serkan suggested hopefully.

Ace took a moment to stare out the window some more. “She has a point.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does. No one else knows what we know.”

“Andrews and his team know enough. We can’t help them.”

“We should try anyway.”

“And while we off trying to save the world, who will take care of Paige? Who can we trust?”

Ace just gave him a look.

“What? Who?”

He held his look. “I think you know who.”

Serkan had to think for a moment. “Oh, no. Not him. He’s weird.”

Ace shrugged. “He recognized Paige. He’s already in this.”

“Yeah, maybe he’s the bad guy.”

“His reputation would say otherwise. He was investigating weird time shit since before we were born. He was at Stonehenge that day.”

“Allegedly,” Serkan corrected.

“Serkan, I think you and I both know we need to do this. We may not have to, but we’re time travelers, and I think we should do something with that. He can keep her safe. Where he lives, no one can get to her.”

A few months ago, the three of them were walking down the street with ice cream. This old man suddenly stopped them and claimed that he recognized Paige from when they were children. They both happened to have been visiting Stonehenge on that fateful day that led Paige to being accidentally swept up with them when Serkan and Ace walked through an archway and returned to their time period. This young boy had witnessed this disappearance, which he cited as his first experience with time travel. Ever since, he essentially dedicated his life to understanding it, eventually becoming a law enforcement officer, and investigating a number of anomalies over the years, primarily in Kansas and Missouri. He gave them a strange gift, and told them they could call upon him for help anytime they needed it. Apparently, this was one of those times.

“Where is it?” Ace asked.

Serkan was still hesitant.

“Come on, we need him. Where did you put it?”

Serkan sighed and retrieved a doorknob from a shoebox in their closet. “Do you even think this is gonna work?”

“Even if it doesn’t,” Ace said, “the worst that happens is we place this doorknob on the wall and look stupid for a few seconds.”

Giving in, Serkan followed the instructions and held the knob in front of the wall. Soon enough, the wall attracted it like a magnet, which caused it to transform into a door, which they were able to open to what was supposedly another dimension.

The mysterious man was sitting at a desk, looking at some papers. “Ahh, I was just about to call you. Strange weather we’re having here, eh?”

“Hi, Bran. We need you to babysit.”

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Microstory 560: Child Pulls God Down From Sky

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When our people first woke up on this world, we were astounded. Endless lands and seas lay before us, seemingly only so that we could find peace and love. But the road to this peace has not come without its problems. Countless wars, disease, and other grief have riddled our history, and death is one obstacle we may never overcome. We still do not fully understand what we have found, but we know it to be the closest approximation of God, and for the moment, that remains our position. Throughout time, even amongst the tragedy, we have also made progress. We went from living in trees, to in caves, to building shelters for ourselves, to building shelters for others. Yes, we learned to specialize our skills so that, while those best at building structures were busy doing what they do, others could plant our crops. This was the spark of civilization. We advanced even further, constructing vessels capable of crossing to the middle of lakes to hunt for the kinds of fish who choose to stay away from the shore. We made these vessels even larger, and were able to sail them up and down the coast, trading with each other, and sharing our knowledge. Eventually, the ships became so magnificent and sturdy that they could survive trips away from the coastline, across the vast ocean, and to other continents. It was in these continents that we found new friends; some more advanced than us, and some less. We did not always get along, but most of us knew that we were headed towards greatness.

Then one day, the crew of one of these ships found themselves in the middle of a terrible storm. The sky darkened, the waters became wretched...they could not navigate. Soon, they were not able to control their movements at all; forced to surrender to the whims of God. They were fearful and uncertain, but as it turned out, God was not punishing them. She was directing them even closer to her so that we could catch a glimpse of her glory. After the storm had passed, the sunlight broke through and showed them what has now become the greatest discovery in our history. It is hard to explain to those who have never experienced it. It could only be seen at certain angles, at certain times of day, and only by those with excellent vision. It was this fleeting wave of sparkling light, hovering over the ocean. Our best philosophers could not explain it, and so we began to worship it as a window to heaven. Word spread, and people all over the world came to witness its majesty, and make their attempts to draw nearer. We built yet larger vessels, trying to get high enough to reach the God window, but were always unsuccessful. We simply do not have the resources or understanding to build something that high in that location. Most believe this to be a sign that we are not worthy, and this may be true. But this did not stop a young girl named Jiredia.

Jiredia was born as the runt of the family, much sooner than her mother should have delivered her. Her parents kept her close and safe, for her body has always been frail, and unsuited for the rambunctious life of a normal child. Somehow, this young girl became the miracle that has brought God closer than ever to us. Her size and lightness was perfect, for only she could accomplish what many have tried many times before. Instead of building something tall enough to reach the window, she simply flew up to it. She and her two older brothers caught and trained a Great Silverbird that had taken nest not far from their village. People have tried to tame Silverbirds in the past, though to no avail, but it was because they lacked what Jiredia and her brothers had in spades. They were patient. And caring. They treated the bird, named Villo, like royalty; feeding it, playing with it, and even letting it free to hunt on its own, knowing that it would eventually return to its new home.

After months of slow progression, they began to train Villo to carry passengers. Though Great Silverbirds are the largest bird species in the world, they are not generally strong enough to carry people on their backs...unless they happen to be Jiredia, who was now both old enough to take care of herself, but small and light enough to not burden the Silverbird. They transported Villo to the location of the God window, placed Jiredia on him, and let him loose. They flew around for awhile, amazing all visitors present, but then they headed straight for the floating ball of light, and took it down. Once her hand touched the God window, it became completely visible as a metallic sphere. After all this time, we had finally reached our goal, but this was not the end of God’s tests. As Jiredia held her prize over her head, showing the cheering witnesses her accomplishment, the sphere turned red, and burned her hand. The pain grew to be too much, and she dropped it in the water. Our journey is not yet over. While before we had to find a way to reach great heights, we now must learn to reach the depths. But now we know something we didn’t before...that we can do it. We will one day learn God’s secrets.

Microstory 559: Magnus Immortality Claimed to Be Real

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A man who goes by the nom de guerre Dr. Inquiry (not an actual doctor) has come up with yet another theory that he says will shock the viewers of a certain popular broadcast series. Dr. Inquiry—whose real name is Tad Bland (you can see why he doesn’t use it)—has made a number of outrageous claims over the years. He’s already gone down in history as the only “reputable conspiracy theorists”. While no confirmed evidence exists for most of his crazy ideas, one time seven years ago, he was extraordinarily validated. Most did not believe him when he said that scientists had accidentally accessed another universe, but this turned out to be true. Some of the team was even trapped on the other side, and it’s not known whether they remain alive today, for the survivors have refused to describe their experience in detail. Dr. Inquiry took this fame, and used it to fuel the second wind of his career, trying to convince people of other theories, but as stated earlier, he has not enjoyed any further success. Now he’s claimed to have made a discovery regarding the fictional serial Magnus Immortality. And it’s rather simple. He says that the show is about a real immortal person, galavanting and adventuring across some other galaxy, possibly many thousands, or even millions, of years ago.

The creator of the Magnus Immortality, Leandra Shelburn has been famously secretive about where she gets her ideas. She and her anonymous partner are the only two people on the writing team. Two-hundred and sixteen episodes are produced every year, and only two people have true creative control over its narrative. The possibility that they are somehow witnessing events from another galaxy, in any time period, may sound preposterous, but the concept is not without its merit. Not a single other person is even allowed in their writing room, which they insist on referring to as “the lab”. One of Dr. Inquiry’s sources in the electric company has revealed that this “lab” draws a significant amount of power; uncharacteristically so for a simple writers’ room. My own source at Absolute Power Energy Cooperative has, believe it or not, authenticated these findings. Of course, this would never be enough to suspect a bizarre theory regarding galaxies far, far away, but Dr. Inquiry has other proof. Since his unexpected triumph with the truth about the transdimensional gateway, Bland has been desperate to find its sequel. He has kept an eye out for similar cases around the world, and has learned of certain purchases that Shelburn made that are not relevant to a broadcast pre-production department. Instead, Dr. Inquiry says, these parts and pieces of equipment would better serve their owner for some kind of particle accelerator. Furthermore, Grayscale Film Studios—where Magnus Immortality is filmed—covers an area of over 3100 square shemra. This would be more than large enough to fit the largest particle accelerator in the world underground. If true, this secret would require the cooperation of hundreds, if not thousands, of Grayscale Film employees, and likely other contractors. This is the one major limitation to this idea, but I must admit that it’s always been suspicious how large the Grayscale campus is, especially since a lot of it is nothing more than forest and other wildlife environments. I’m not saying that Magnus Immortality is all real. I just think there are some questions that need answers...

Microstory 558: Spacetime Tear May Lead to A Planet in the Future

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Decades ago, visitors strolling through Peripeteia Park started noticing something strange. At first, it was just a feeling, like time was moving slightly differently around them. They could feel these waves—or ripples—crawling over their skin. Then the weather began to change dramatically, and incongruently with the rest of the area. It was like the park wasn’t really on the same planet as the rest of us, and scientists now more than ever believe this to be true. Recently, this tear in the spacetime continuum has begun to exhibit even more unusual properties. At first, it was just the music. People could hear melodies that no human on our planet ever created, and some of the instrumental sounds were not familiar to our history. Then things changed even more, and became even more bizarre than we could have predicted. Anyone who ventures too close to the rift will now experience an uncontrollable urge to sing the songs they hear, even without ever having heard the lyrics before. Despite its danger, the government never prevented anyone from entering Peripeteia Park, because they didn’t feel they had the right. Now, this has changed, because it seems to be infecting (for lack of a better word) people’s minds, and that is something that cannot be allowed. For now, only authorized scientists have been allowed anywhere near the park, and only with protection, and only under special orders for research. Rift research has now been given its own budget, so that it can be studied and understood. One scientist, who has had extensive time with the rift, believes that it leads to another planet, one where this music is commonplace. Furthermore, he or she believes this planet’s present time to be located somewhere in the future. His or her identity has not been revealed, but through a process of quantum entanglement, they believe that our two planets have somehow been connected to each other, and will be affected by each other’s paradigm shifts. Other scientists have expressed doubt in this possibility, pointing to their apprehension in the mystery scientist’s methods of deductive reasoning. Said mystery scientist has signed a record deal for his work, and will be releasing an album to the public with his findings sometime in the coming months.

Microstory 557: Tissue & Organ Replacement Prices Dropping

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A long time ago, scientists and health professionals realized that we were headed towards an unfortunate future when it came to organ health. About the only good thing that comes from anyone’s death is their ability to disseminate their organs and tissues to living patients in deep need of them. But this is not a sustainable method of trade. Unlike the exchange of labor, goods, services, and currency, organ donation inevitably leads to diminishing returns. As advances in science make people healthier, they’re less and less likely to be able to donate their organs after death, and the demand for these organs begin to greatly outnumber the supply. Similarly, we’re making cars and traffic safer, which is great for people on the roads, but not so great for people who rely on those deaths so that they may live. Nor do we want to live in a world where someone has to die in order for someone else to live. We want everybody to live, and if possible, we want them to live forever. So what can we do? Well, the very concept of organ transplantation carries with it significant issues. Humans didn’t evolve to share organs and tissues, or even blood. We are fortunate that it’s even possible in the first place, but no two people (twins notwithstanding) will ever be as compatible as we would like. So we’ve come up with a solution. Let’s cut out the middleman and just grow all the organs we need in a laboratory.

Stem cell research, genetic mapping, three-dimensional bioprinter development, cryopreservation, and other related fields can give us everything we need to provide the population with all the biological parts without the need to grow them in living beings. First, we need to know how to predict, isolate, and treat a given patient’s given disease. Then we need to know how to grow the organ that will need to be replaced in them. Then we just print that part, and store it in a tank, and implant it in their body as needed. Significant strides have been made in these respects. Just last year, the number of lab-grown implants surpassed the number of semicompatible transplantations, either through living donors, or deceased donors. The prices for these implants are dropping significantly month to month, and soon, securing a new organ will be as simple and trivial as purchasing a new land vehicle. In fact, some believe every citizen will one day invest in an organ chamber that keeps one, or possible two, extra copies of each of their own organs, developed by using the exact molecular structure found in their natural biological substrate. Some take it even further, promoting a future where entire replacement bodies are kept in these chambers. When our current body fails, for whatever reason, we’ll simply transfer our consciousness to the replacement substrate, and leave the old one behind entirely. That’s a future that may never come, but for now, we’re happy with just having a way to solve our organ crisis, and make life a little easier for everyone.

Microstory 556: Are Criminals Running The Core?

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Conspiracy theory blog, tabloid, crackpot salon. That’s what they call this publication. And you know what? They may be right. Everything I’ve said here, every time I’ve tried to open your eyes, it may be just all a big pile of nonsense. But what if it isn’t? What if even a small part of the claims I’ve made are true? What would you do then? Would you act, or just accept the status quo. Because the status quo might not be what you think it is. If you’re afraid of the solar system’s leadership as it’s known by the public, imagine what you’ll feel if you find undeniable proof that this leadership is actually full of criminals. Now, hear me out. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve received some evidence that this is at least partially true. And it would make some level of sense, because the government as we know it doesn’t really seem to exist at all.

Centuries ago, when our ancestor began mapping out our new civilization, one thing they wanted to accomplish was a society that quite literally ran itself. If you set up so much regulation, and so many guidelines, and you indoctrinate the entire population to agreeing with you, you don’t need to do anything to keep it that way. If you break the rules, the law is clear on what happens to you. If you’re dangerous enough, you’re thrown into a solitary tower. If you’re better off leaving, you’re shipped off to an exile planet. If it’s just a minor infraction, you’re taught to curb your behavior. No one has to sit there and decide what happens to you, because we already know. But what if that’s not enough? What if our ancestors realized that this kind of infallible society simply was not logistically possible? We now live with hundreds of billions of people across dozens of planets. The chances that our system works perfectly may be higher than you might find on, say Earth, but still can’t be 100%. Nothing is 100%. Something always gets through.

I personally believe that true automation cannot be achieved, and that you always have to have some kind of oversight. So the question at that point is, who belongs to this oversight? You might assume respected leaders in their fields, or a shadow government of people without any records, or perhaps the Martians just enforce their laws in secret. It probably wouldn’t even occur to you to even consider that it might be criminals. Afterall, that’s insane. But is it? Maybe the fact that they wouldn’t even come to mind is exactly what makes them perfect for the job. Throughout history, on multiple planets, criminals have proved to respectively have a phenomenal grasp of how things work. They’re able to get away with their crimes, because they’ve learned to exploit the system’s vulnerabilities. Who better to shore up our vulnerabilities here than those who were born with the natural inclinations towards using them to their advantage? We don’t really know what prison towers look like. Perhaps they’re luxurious paradises, with everything a resident might need. They’re treated well, able to satisfy their urges through controlled virtual reality, and occasionally asked how to run the galaxy. Doesn’t sound so crazy now, does it? I’m not saying that all of this is true. All I want you to do is think...could it be? What are we missing? What are they keeping from us?