A sense of power
rop it," I said, sharply. I drew the response I was after. The others did
not move.
"When we say the subject is closed, it is closed," I went on, using a calm, pleasant tone to emphasise my displeasure.
"There is no place here for prevarication. There never has been."
I paused, savouring the sadness of the moment, lamenting the necessity for this course. I had had a sense of affinity with Jakorin Dorminor, perhaps because there was a physical resemblance. We were both small of build, dark-skinned, long-armed, with smooth, black hair, although mine of course was now losing its colour. I had seen her as a kind of surrogate for the clone of mine that I could never know. The transgression was thus a double blow, but still, I had my duty.
"We know the problem. Your job was to find solutions. We are a reasonable, pragmatic, and caring. We recognise that in some circumstances, there may be no reasonable outcome for us. We regard that as unfortunate. We note it on your record. We seek other options. We may not consider you suitable for more complex duties. We may require you to move to lesser tasks while you hone your skills once more."
I looked down on the gathering and sensed the aura of discomfort from most, overlaid in some with denial, in some with a sense of excitement.
"We believe in allowing our people to reach their potential. We accept that mistakes can be made, and, we hope, learned from. We accept failure as a part of the process, also to be understood and learned from. We cannot, however, tolerate excuses. Excuses argue a lack of insight and a failure of self-assessment. This failure too, we can accept, with sadness."
I looked down on the room. There was a palpable feeling of breath being held, of tension.
"But you, Dorminor, have sought to deceive us. To take us down paths that lead nowhere, to keep hidden from us what we believe to be a key finding. We gain nothing from you but the sure knowledge that there is an answer, though you will not divulge it. Your actions are... unacceptable."
The sentence had been pronounced. I sensed from some a relief that it was decided, from some a deeply suppressed, sick, pleasurable anticipation. From somewhere, so quick I could not trace it, a strange, baleful hatred. I noted it as something to follow up. It was an unusual feeling to receive. It was a feeling that was thought to induce automatic shielding.
Jakorin Dorminor stood alone between the Tables below; tiny, insignificant and horribly fearful, yet defiant and determined. I had sympathy for her, but I was bound my duty as much as the least of my subjects, the toilers on their keyboards, the monitors of our food supply. I have my responsibilities as they have theirs, and the only reward for unacceptable action is disposal.
"We regret your failure, Jakorin Dorminor, and we condemn you to the Maker."
I took the necessary steps with great care and exactitude. I wished genuinely to spare this unfortunate life form any further suffering. It took eleven seconds to complete my preparations for the disposal. I knew from experience that I could prepare and despatch in as little as five seconds, but I had no desire to inflict the pain that a sloppy, hurried approach would take. I completed my willing and instantly, what had been Jakorin Dorminor was gone, despatched to the Maker to be disaggregated into its useful components.
I reflected yet again what a responsibility I carried, for my unique ability to teleport life was countered by the knowledge that teleporting automatically extinguished the life spark. Disposal was my responsibility alone, as it had been for nineteen generations of Genetic Engineers.
At this moment of sorrow for the wretched Dorminor, I reflected on the event that had shaped our society and brought genetic engineering to take its place as the Ultimate Good, allowing the range of abilities of our life forms to be honed and adjusted to best meet the needs of society. The catechism is known by all our peoples. She was found, after Her birth in a ward of the birthing place walls were cracked as if a seismic disturbance. Those present - parents, birthing professionals - were dead, as was another life form, unconnected, just outside the door. The mystery was unsolved for many years.
As She grew to maturity, Her natural ability was recognised and scholarships paved Her way. Despite all Her promise, She opted for an obscure research position in an obscure institute in the then obscure discipline of genetic engineering. She was investigating the teleport sense, long considered to be a well-understood dead end. It had not taken many generations after the long ago dawn of technology, to discover that our teleport faculty was blocked by relatively small electric currents. Thus our species could teleport electrically inactive substances, but as the level of current rose, resistance to teleportation rose, and this eventually manifested as a measurable time lag between 'willing' and teleporting at voltage differences close to those within atomic nuclei. The lag increased at an exponential rate, so that, allowing for individual variation, it effectively became infinite somewhere in the range of ten to thirty times the voltages within the atomic nucleus. The electric currents within life forms were far above this threshold. Structures were normally built with tiny electrical currents in them to avoid accidental damage..
At the age of thirty-one She revealed Herself to the world. She was a rare natural mutant, blessed with the gift of the Creator of the Universe of an enormous teleport power. Although the time lag at the life form level was several seconds, She could teleport people. At normal electric ranges, Her ability overwhelmed either by speed or power, the teleport faculty of every other life form. She decided to use Her power to create a better world, a world where all would work in peace and harmony toward the Common Good. She set about creating the better world, putting Her gift to the service of the Creator, taking Her place as the Ultimate Arbiter of the Will of the Creator.
The most important work was to understand and re-design the genome to create the range of individuals most appropriate to the optimum society. Improvement of the genome became the Primary Objective. Her genome was of course sacred and so could never be available for the global gene pool. Only She could work on Her genome. She became the Genetic Engineer, selflessly devoting Her existence to the improvement of Her genome, continuing the work She had done before the Revelation.
It was regrettable that teleporting life forms caused their death. The seventh Genetic Engineer had set the best brains of the realm to investigate the problem. The all-too-simple reason took several generations to discover. Whatever domain it was that a body entered to move at the trans-luminal speeds necessary for 'instantaneous' transmission, it led to a reversal of polarity in all electromagnetic fields. This led to an irreversible termination of life. So the Genetic Engineer's teleporting faculty was restricted to occasional moving of mountains, and to disposals.
I thought again of Dorminor. The deed was done. Now it was time to move on. I turned back to the waiting Convocation of Engineers. Time to investigate the likely replacements for Dorminor. She had seemed an exceptional talent. I was dismayed both personally and as the Genetic Engineer at the loss, but my duty was clear. Those at the Higher Table, the Genome Splicers, would advise me, I knew, but the responsibility was mine. I brought the Cone of Silence down over the Higher Table.
"Advise us," I said. "Who is ready to move up to the Higher Table."
Some discussion ensued. The general opinion was that only two of the Senior Technicians from the Lower Table were yet good enough to take the momentous move upwards in responsibility: Marrella Opabin and Odon Togriphus. Each had their proponents, but there was no strong argument against either. I concurred that they were the ones to consider. On this matter, I generally tried to involve the Higher Table. To choose, however, required some careful decision-making.
"Thank you," I told the Genome Splicers of the Higher Table. "We find these choices acceptable. We will consider and give our decision tomorrow."
I lifted the Cone of Silence, and left for my House to be alone and to consider. The Higher and Lower Tables would wish to talk about the day. I knew they would feel freer to discuss the events of the meeting away from the presence of the Genetic Engineer.
The mantle of Ultimate Arbiter weighed heavily upon me this day. The life of the Genetic Engineer, for all its power, was lonely and difficult, and the responsibility for the welfare of so many lives was large. I was concerned. Dorminor was a double problem. Her replacement was one, but her action was that of a dysfunctional life form. Functional level was not normally labile so late in development. It had never happened before in a Genome Splicer. My judgement could not be so much at fault. It almost suggested a failure in functionality. The concept of the Genetic Engineer as dysfunctional was not possible, a paradox. And yet, I had promoted Dorminor as the only possible successor to poor old Lenar Gyrion.
I looked out now toward Gyrion's chosen place of disposal, in a quiet, warm spot in the gardens within sight of the House. I had granted Gyrion disposal at his own request, agreeing because of the cloudiness of his thoughts and the pain and hurt his mind radiated. He was the oldest life form I had known, one hundred and three years old, and very little changed by my reckoning, except physically, in the thirty-nine years of my reign as Genetic Engineer. His careful, objective advice had always given me pleasure to receive, and I regretted his loss still. My predecessor had refused him permission to walk in the gardens on my Succession Day because she too had valued him. It had been a decision I puzzled over, because it was not usual to refuse permission to walk in the gardens. I looked out across my gardens. I knew that they stretched to the horizon, beyond which the world city surrounded them.
The gardens were a splendid place to come to die, and were the last view for many a weary life form. I alone may walk in the gardens at any time, but on Succession Day, it will be for me as for any of my people.
I have constructed my clone, as each of my clone predecessors has done, and she is ready. I must wait now, like any ordinary being, for the failing of my senses. That will trigger the awakening of my clone. I will walk in the garden, the moment will come and the teleport reflex that accompanies awakening will dispose of every life form within the gardens. For many years after, it will be the Dead Space, until my successor grows Her own gardens.
The second Genetic Engineer was cloned following many years of development. At Her awakening, the mystery surrounding Her parent's birth was clear. The first Genetic Engineer's failing of senses triggered awakening in the clone and all attending were teleported some millimetres by the accompanying teleport reflex. This is what had disposed of the life forms at the birth of the first Genetic Engineer. The range for the second Genetic Engineer was much greater than the area affected during the birth of the first Genetic Engineer; the development work had been successful.
The approximate range of the reflex now, of course, is uncontrolled and unpredictable, but extends almost to the horizon. Traditionally, those who wish to undergo disposal gather within the gardens surrounding the Genetic Engineer's House as Succession Day approaches. The new Genetic Engineer then enlists the assistance of the Convocation to teleport the now dead to the Maker for re-cycling. Traditionally, no Genetic Engineer survives the awakening of the clone. It is in any case, theoretically impossible. The ninth Genetic Engineer proved this, though it took the entirety of her Convocation to carry out the work.
My gardens were my relaxation and I was proud of them. I believed them to be the most restful ever created. I left the window and the past behind me and took time for nourishment and waste disposal. I set myself to sleep for 47 decads. For some reason, I always awoke more refreshed if the dekadic time was a prime number.
When I awoke, I considered the outstanding tasks before the Convocation of Engineers. One was the interpersonal attraction/love/sex factor. It tended to distort the effects of Engineering and was inefficient and lowered productivity. It had been found long ago, however, that interference with this complex of gene interactions was a failure. Life forms constructed without sex drive and capacity for the attraction between individuals known as love became dysfunctional early in life. This was tiresome and inefficient and led to high levels of need for disposal, an enormous drain on resources. A solution to this problem would increase efficiency and enhance the Greater Good immeasurably. Most of the Higher Table members were supervising work on this very difficult problem.
The other problem was of particular interest to me. I wanted to find the key to shielding. Shielding looks like transparent areas where there should be something to receive. I remembered Dorminor's end. Her mind had gone completely transparent just before I completed disposal. This had never happened before. Something more to follow up. I thought back to my discussions, years ago when I first formulated the problem. I had asked Gyrion about shielding.
"Genetic Engineer," he had told me, "we know that it is a reflex, inseparable from the receiver and teleport senses. It is below the conscious level, but can be affected by conscious thought. Research has shown us that the if the shielding fails in individuals, the life form is immediately dysfunctional to the point of attempting self-disposal. Its value to society is lost."
"Gyrion, we have decided to follow another line," I had decided. "We think it is more useful to determine how to penetrate shielding than to remove it. We believe this has not been attempted by our predecessors."
Gyrion had agreed that it had not. Strangely, it was not long after that discussion, I recalled, that he had asked for disposal.
Only Dorminor of the High Table had worked on this problem. I had set it as her first assignment. It had become clear this last meeting of the Convocation that Dorminor had found more than a direction. Dorminor had found a key. I did not know why she had caused her own disposal not to tell me of it. I decided to set the continuation of Dorminor's work as the task for her replacement at the Higher Table.
I reflected on the two contenders. Genetically, and therefore physically, Opabin and Togriphus were dissimilar. Marrella Opabin was a male approximating the mean in size and colour, an intuitive thinker with a marvellous delicacy of touch and a characteristic flair in his constructive work. Clones from his gene sets sometimes failed, or needed an occasional intervention from a Higher Table member, but when they were good, they were excellent. He had an excellent receiver sense and often knew there was a problem before finding it. His mass sense too was superb, and he could judge to a nicety the location and size of materials. Thus he was also efficient with resources.
Odon Togriphus was a female at the upper limit of the normal size and physical strength range. She was logical, painstaking, unrelenting and totally consistent in the quality of her work. Her cloning methodology was without error and I cannot recall a need for Higher Table intervention, ever. Togriphus worked through problems almost without reference to the receiver sense. Her work had an almost machine-like inevitability as she moved through a problem to define it, dissect it, demolish it and solve it.
I thought about the shielding problem. Perhaps there was a tie between the shielding and the other problem - the interpersonal attraction/love/sex difficulty. This was a new thought! In the end, I selected Togriphus because she had an exceptionally small shielded area. Almost all her feelings appeared detectable. Perhaps it would make a difference.
It was decided. I alerted the Higher Table so that they might arrange for Togriphus to receive the Accolade. This was given only to those considered suitable for the Higher Table-the only time a life form was accorded a personal audience with the Genetic Engineer. It was the ceremony at which I conferred the new status and first assignment.
I waited in the Chamber, looking forward to rewarding a worthy life form as Togriphus entered. I made the formal offer.
"Odon Togriphus, We welcome you to your new calling of Genome Splicer, and invite you to join our Higher Table at the Convocation of Engineers, where your first assignment will be to continue the work of Jakorin Dorminor."
"I thank you for the honour, Genetic Engineer, but I cannot accept."
I was stunned. This had never happened. I was sickened. Two powerful errors of judgement in succession.
This response is dysfunctional, I thought. I will need to go into seclusion to rethink this. I need reasons. The Genetic Engineer cannot be confused, it is contradictory.
I looked up at the dysfunctional life form, less controlled than I could recall.
"Togriphus, it is our great regret that your response is... unacceptable."
Even though I pronounced sentence, the only feelings I sensed were sadness and an overwhelming determination. It was strange.
"Before I prepare for disposal," I thought, "I need answers. I will ask."
"Togriphus, we have sentenced you and there is no future for you," I began, "but you have the opportunity to add to the Greater Good before disposal. We wish to discover why this sudden dysfunctionality has come upon you. Do you know? Have you retained your sense of self?"
"Genetic Engineer, I come to tell you of Jakorin Dorminor's discovery about the shielding. I do not need to be at the Higher Table to carry out this assignment. She has shared the answer with me."
"We do not comprehend these actions. It is unacceptable for Dorminor to have divulged project secrets beyond the Higher Table without our authority. Do you know why Dorminor carried out these unacceptable acts? We need to understand this sudden strangeness in our people."
"I can answer all your questions, Genetic Engineer, and I will do so willingly."
Togriphus paused. I waited with impatience, but knew that she would present a logical, reasoned explanation
"Jakorin discovered that the shielding was to the receiver sense as electrical blocking is to the teleport sense. She also discovered that some life forms have a stronger receiver sense and shielding is less transparent to them. My colleague Marrella Opabin is one of these, as am I. There are others in whom the shielding level is high. I am not one of those although Marrella Opabin possesses that strength. So too does Jakorin herself."
I noted the misuse of tense. Another sign of dysfunction, I thought.
"Genetic Engineer, the discovery we have been working on for so long (albeit without your knowledge or approval) is the Unified Sense Theory. All our senses appear to be related, in complex ways that we have at last begun to understand."
I noted a strange sense of foreboding. It took some seconds for me to realise that I was the source. Togriphus went on.
"The teleport sense, the shielding, and the receiver sense work together, Genetic Engineer, with the interpersonal attraction/love/sex factor and the physico-electrical structure of the life form. When a life form is in love, the senses can be cultivated, trained towards an equilibrium state that transcends any individual accomplishment. Although each sense alone can be strengthened, perhaps even to levels beyond yours, that is an evolutionary dead end."
I was shocked. There had been too much dysfunctionality in too short a period. I decided that I had heard enough. There was no time to lose. I did not care about this life form's suffering. I wanted it gone. I prepared for disposal....
I awoke with a physical throbbing pain in my face. In the background I could sense a life form radiating a distress so intense that it drowned out other feelings. Gradually it receded.
"What has happened to us?" I asked.
"I am sorry, Genetic Engineer, but Odon had to strike you physically and render you unconscious to prevent her disposal. We do not all have Jakorin's equilibrium. After all, Jakorin and I are deeply in love, and that has aided our development immensely."
It was the voice an face of Opabin. What was he doing here?
I began to prepare for general disposal again, when a new voice spoke.
"Please, do not force us to render you unconscious again, Genetic Engineer. You are not physically strong, and we would not care to cause your accidental disposal, and as you know, inflicting physical violence is very difficult. Odon Togriphus is still in shock from her action."
I looked with shock as Dorminor appeared in my line of vision, and took the hand of Opabin.
"We disposed of you," I gasped, overcome by a feeling for which I had no name.
"I am sorry, Genetic Engineer, I did not mean to frighten you," Dorminor said gently, "but your reign is ended. You can no longer sentence and dispose at will, and that is your only qualification for rule."
"We do not understand." It was true, I was overwhelmed. I could not grasp the flow of events.
"Odon Togriphus will always be a hero to us," Dorminor continued, "for she does not have the ability to achieve total shielding. Nevertheless, she volunteered to be the choice for the Higher Table along with Marrella. We knew that if I succeeded, Marrella too would be safe from you. For Odon, it was a much greater risk, and it will take her a long time to recover from her actions."
"But you were in fear," I said, hardly listening, but at last understanding how it felt to radiate it rather than to receive.
"I was convinced of the theory, but the body does not always respond to theory," Dorminor said with a smile. "Tell me, Genetic Engineer, did you notice anything different when you disposed of me?"
"Yes," I said, recalling suddenly. "You became completely unreceivable. Completely transparent."
At last, I understood. They had learned to manipulate the shielding
"Yes," Dorminor went on, "we can influence the shielding. The shielding works against the receiver sense and the teleport sense. Normally, of course, the shielding is incomplete, and even partial operation of the teleport achieves disposal."
Of course, I thought. Dorminor had become, for that instant, transparent to the teleport. She was no longer disposable.
"But you disappeared!" I said. "How could this be?"
"Perhaps, Genetic Engineer, you sometimes forget that we all have a teleport sense. We merely teleported in the necessary scenic camouflage to cover me. You had no reason to suspect, and you did not stay to examine the area closely."
They left me alone, with one companion, called the Guard. The Guard's function was to prevent me from disposing, although before long, I no longer had the will to sentence or dispose. The Guard went away many years ago now. Eventually, they say, everyone will achieve love and the ability to control shielding. Except me. They are sorry, they say, but my senses are so distorted that I can never find equilibrium. In this new world, I am dysfunctional. I struggle to understand that this is no longer unacceptable. I walk my gardens alone and long for disposal, but it is unavailable. The gardens are no longer beautiful. They are irrelevant, as am I. There is no place in this world for a Genetic Engineer. I walk in my gardens, and I wait to die.
