The Population Machine

By Tyrek Showels

Act I: Creation

Transcription:

I finally did it. I have finally created the first artificial human. It has almost every feature that any other human would. For the sake of science i will now record the feature given to them by me, but keep in mind they are humans and are subject to variations and change according to many factors, including but not limited, Environmental, cultural, and societal stimuli. All humans from population machines will be “born”, if you could call it such, at the biological age of 16. Being that I was tasked to create this for the colonization of far off planets, Ive determined that children will not be necessary. I know it will be pointed out that in some caces, having children around could help with moral, and to that i say that children will only get in the way of a burgeoning society. However in a few years time the citizens of this society will hit “puberty” and will their sex drives will activate, Although sex drives will be low due to lack of need of traditional methods of procreation. Population Machines will create an almost 1:1 ratio of male to female. And while sexuality will stat with male and female due to need of procreation in order for there to be children, sexuality will begin to vary over time, exactly as they would in a normal human society. Most of what i have said so far only applies to the original batch. After first batch, all humans will begin life at age 0 and puberty will begin in there pre-teen to teenage years, Behaviorally, the fist batch are more inclined to work and each different person being good at certain tasks which will help build up a society in a short amount of time. All other people after the first batch will vary according to factors including but not limited, parentage, society, any cultures/religions that may emerge, education level, age ,and/or physical ability. The hope is that the skill-sets are diverse enough that the society will flourish but not so distant that communication between different people becomes complicated. Culture/ religion is encouraged as it gives people a reason to connect with others and will help create communities of people. Also having cultural traditions will add something for people to look forward to and take away from the monotony of daily life, as building a society is a full time job. Humans “born” in first batch, if i haven’t covered this already, will be given the knowledge that we here are already privy to, That way getting into space will be a much easier and quicker task and wont require playing with stone tools. Languages will become diverse due to the fact that we will try to spread out the population a little bit, in order to maximize the uses of the planets resources, but communication will not be impossible as all will be able to speak the common language. Although that really only applies to the first batch. All others will really only know what they are taught, but still i don’t believe communications between people will become a huge issue. If anything it leaves an opportunity for some to become translators in order to bridge  any gaps in communication efforts. 

While conflict is not entirely possible to avoid without peeling away what makes us human I don’t believe any conflict will grow big enough to mount a credible threat against the formation of this society. The Population Machine will become dormant after it is satisfied with how many have been created and the ratios thereof, and will remain dormant as long as population is above acceptable levels. If population continues to decrease after multiple reboots of the Population Machine, at that point it will go offline and it the planet will be labelled as uninhabitable. The remaining population and that planet will likely die, but there is little to do about that. The reason for dormancy is so the inhabitants of the planets will come to forget that they were created from machines, and since no future humans will be created from machines they can be left to come up with there own theories of where they come from. It is important to note that there are many unseen variables on these far off planets and that the results may vary accordingly. This concludes the final log of Dr. Claudio Winters. 

Act II: Discovery

All was good in Caleb’s life. He was 25 and lived in a house just outside of the city of Stavia. He had bought the house with his boyfriend Daniel. They had talked about maybe adopting a child but they decided against raising a child in the city. 

“There’s already too many people in the city, We don’t need to bring one more” , Daniel had said, jokingly. 

Caleb had worked at a small eatery in town, but when the opportunity to leave arose, he was more than happy to leave it behind. Caleb’s boyfriend Daniel however, was a very important man in the city which meant that Caleb was home all alone today. Caleb spent most days alone. Daniel would come home at night but, he was always tired from his long work day. Caleb was bored now. He liked to draw though, so he grabbed a notebook and went to work drawing. Recently he had a dream about a cylindrical machine. He liked to draw this machine. He would draw the machine flying over cities and wastelands alike and dropping people out of the sky . The machine was small and yet it never  seemed to run out of people. The dream always ended the same way though, The fire. All consuming fire. The world engulfed in flames. Dreams are weird like that, huh. Caleb chuckles a little bit. When Daniel returns home Caleb is waiting for him in the kitchen. Caleb is an excellent chef, so when Daniel saw him at the table with two plates of food on the table, he grinned excitedly.

“ Aw, Caleb you didn’t have to.”, Daniel said

“ But, of course i did, I love cooking”, Caleb said. 

“I know you do, Do you ever miss your restaurant job” 

“ Not at all, plus I’m practicing staying at home, especially with a baby on the way”

Caleb and Daniel had found a mother who was giving her baby for adoption and they had jumped at the opportunity. The mother is about 5 months along the pregnancy at this point and Caleb and Daniel are very excited about it. 

“ You definitely need it, I had enough trouble just getting you to sit down, let alone settle down.” Daniel said with a laugh as he sat down at the table. “ So did you get up to anything while you were “practicing”?”  

“ Just a bit of drawing, I’ll grab one for you” Caleb said, already up and running down the hall towards the room he had been drawing in. A moment later he was back with a picture of the cylindrical machine flying over cities and dropping people from the sky.

“ I had a dream about this machine. It was amazing. It seemed to just have an endless supply of people in it, and it would just drop them on to the ground.” 

Daniels face had gone very pale as he looked at the drawing

“ Are you OK, Daniel”

But Daniel couldn’t hear him. Daniel was remembering

_______________________________________________________________________

Daniel had come home to the most amazing smell, and almost as if in a trance he followed the scent to the kitchen where he saw his boyfriend Caleb. Caleb was his boyfriend and soon to be stay at home Dad, but Daniel was still hesitant about there arrangement. Daniel had grown up with maids and other servants around him, and he didn’t want his boyfriend to become one. Daniel always insisted on doing everything  himself, but on this occasion he was just tired enough to let it slide. After an exchange of pleasantries Daniel sat down at the table. Caleb ran to the back in order to get a drawing he had. Daniels boyfriend Caleb liked to draw. It helped him clear his mind. When Caleb returned with picture and showed it the Daniel. Daniels mind started racing. He had saw this machine not even a few hours ago. Daniel did demolition for the city. Sometimes the city wanted room to build more things. The whole concept didn’t make sense to Daniel but he didn’t question it. It was good money in any case, at the executive level at least which is where Daniel was. Daniel had got a call a few hours prior about a building that had no doors or windows or any indications as to who built it. How they built it , and why, and they were hesitant to break it down, Daniel knew the protocol. Just tell them to break it down and they would. If the city wants it down, it goes down. This time however Daniel said “ Hang on a minute, ill be right down there”  

Daniel met them close to the edge of the city and he saw what they were referring to. It was about the size of  a one story brick house. But the material used to construct it was unknown and how it was constructed was also unknown. 

“ So what do you want do sir” The foreman had asked Daniel after they had enough time to look it over. 

“ I have no clue what it is, but the city wants it gone”  Daniel had said

Daniel and the foreman stood a good distance away as a wrecking ball hit the side of the structure blowing a hole in it. Daniel waved to the operator and the operator gets out and walks over to Daniel

“We’re gonna head inside, I’m really curious about this building”

Daniel had seen the cylindrical machine inside that building. He had also seen about a dozen sets of skeletons. As if the people who built this structure had trapped themselves inside and suffocated or starved to death. Law enforcement had to be called and while everyone noticed the cylindrical object it just didn’t really seem important. Especially surrounded by bodies. But even as Daniel walked away from it he had a feeling like it was very important.

“Are you OK, Daniel?”

Daniel snaps out of his daze and looks to see Caleb standing over him waving his hand over Daniels face.

“Dan, are you OK?, should I call an ambulance”

“No.no. I’m fine. I’m sorry i just remembered something, Ill be back soon I promise” And giving his boyfriend a kiss he runs back out into the night.

Act III: Destruction

“This is Dr. Claudio Winters. I would like to add to the end of this log that if any of the created lifeforms come into contact with the Population Machine an analysis of all life forms will occur, If it is determined that the discovery of the Machine would do more harm than good a mass extinction will occur. That may seem harsh but new life forms can be created immediately and it will be as if it never happened.”

Daniel makes his way back to the demolition site. The site had been locked down due to the discovery of human remains. Daniel didn’t care about the remains anymore though. It was too coincidental, the dream on the same day that he finds the machine. It’s almost as if he was supposed to find the machine. Daniel sneaks in to the demolition site, and up to the cylindrical machine. He starts to examine it. Part of him wants to touch it but without knowing what it is that could be dangerous. So he observes. He walks around it in a circle. Daniel felt the urge to speak to it 

“Hello?” 

A screen comes to life and a keyboard floats out .

“Hello, What would you like me to do” was written across

“ What are you?”

“ Error. What would you like me to do?”

“ Report”

“ I have completed my 7th reboot. All lifeforms emerged healthy and strong, with minimal defects, Machine not yet discovered”

“What lifeforms” 

“ Humans, All humans emerged with minimal defects” 

“ What do you mean?” 

“Error: Clarify”

“Humans emerged?”

“Yes, Creation process successful: All humans are healthy and strong”

Daniel was having trouble understanding. The origins of life had always been a debated issue, Is it even possible that Daniel was looking at it.

No. No this is some sort of joke or something, Daniel became determined to look into it more, He wanted an explanation. 

So Daniel touched the keyboard

“Claudio Winters DNA Detected, Scanning”

Claudio Winters? That wasn’t Daniels name. This was definitely a joke. If this thing had created all life surely it would know Daniels name .

“Result: Detrimental. Commencing Reboot 8. Extinction in progress”

Yea. This is a joke 

Daniel laughed 

And was silent.