Pernille rorth, p.1
Pernille Rorth, page 1
Pernille Rørth
The Unedited
A Novel About Genome
and Identity
Science and Fiction
Series Editors
Mark Alpert
Philip Ball
Gregory Benford
Michael Brotherton
Victor Callaghan
Amnon H Eden
Nick Kanas
Geoffrey Landis
Rudy Rucker
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Rüdiger Vaas
Ulrich Walter
Stephen Webb
Science and Fiction – A Springer Series
This collection of entertaining and thought-provoking books will appeal equally to science buffs, scientists and science-fiction fans. It was born out of the recognition that scientific discovery and the creation of plausible fictional scenarios are often two sides of the same coin. Each relies on an understanding of the way the world works, coupled with the imaginative ability to invent new or alternative explanations—and even other worlds. Authored by practicing scientists as well as writers of hard science fiction, these books explore and exploit the borderlands between accepted science and its fictional counterpart. Uncovering mutual influences, promoting fruitful interaction, narrating and analyzing fictional scenarios, together they serve as a reaction vessel for inspired new ideas in science, technology, and beyond.
Whether fiction, fact, or forever undecidable: the Springer Series “Science and Fiction” intends to go where no one has gone before!
Its largely non-technical books take several different approaches. Journey
with their authors as they
• Indulge in science speculation – describing intriguing, plausible yet unproven ideas;
• Exploit science fiction for educational purposes and as a means of promoting critical thinking;
• Explore the interplay of science and science fiction – throughout the history of the genre and looking ahead;
• Delve into related topics including, but not limited to: science as a creative process, the limits of science, interplay of literature and knowledge;
• Tell fictional short stories built around well-defined scientific ideas, with a supplement summarizing the science underlying the plot.
Readers can look forward to a broad range of topics, as intriguing as they are important. Here just a few by way of illustration:
• Time travel, superluminal travel, wormholes, teleportation
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• Non-anthropocentric viewpoints
• Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, developing nanotechnologies
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• Virtual worlds, cyberspace dramas
• Consciousness and mind manipulation
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11657
Pernille Rørth
The Unedited
A Novel About Genome and Identity
Pernille Rørth
Bisley, Gloucestershire, UK
ISSN
2197-1188
ISSN
2197-1196 (electronic)
Science and Fiction
ISBN
978-3-030-34623-2 ISBN
978-3-030-34624-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34624-9
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omis-sions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover art by Stephen Cohen
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
Part I
1
The Wall
3
2
The Day of the Readings
9
3
Transit Interviews
27
4
The Truth Will Set You Free
47
Part II
5
Home
69
6
Unrest
85
7
The Witch 109
8
Business Acumen 127
9
Father Marius 151
v
vi Contents
10 Peas and Politics 167
Part III
11 Return 191
12 Safe Haven 207
13 Summer Rain 225
Scientific Appendix 233
Bibliography 249
Part I
1
The Wall
“It’s just a huge fucking wall.”
“Of course it is. What did you expect?” Leo says, tapping the controls. The pod swerves smoothly to the left. They start moving alongside the looming
mass of concrete.
“Something a bit more sophisticated,” Raphael responds. “Our latest tech-
nology to keep out the barbarians. And their deadly diseases.”
“They probably consider us the barbarians,” Eiko says under her breath.
Only Ben, who is sitting next to her in the back seat, hears it. He shrugs but adds no comment of his own. He continues to look out the window. Eiko
follows his gaze. The solid gray structure streaming past them is strangely mesmerizing. It goes on and on, massive, smooth and silent. It bulges out here and there, possibly accommodating something on the other side. It towers
above them, ominously, when they come in close. But it is just a wall.
“Why don’t we just hop over it?” Raphael asks, a few minutes later. He is
sitting on the other side of Eiko. “It’s not that tall.”
“A shitload of laser-zappers on top,” Leo answers, waving a hand in that
direction. “But I’ll let you out so you can find out for yourself.” He smirks.
“Zap, zap, pong, poor Rafi’s gone.”
“Fuck you,” Raphael responds.
“Rafi,” Celia says, “don’t be so sensitive.” She turns to Leo, her voice flat.
“And you—don’t be such a prick.” He looks surprised, almost shocked. She
notices and hides a miniscule smile. Switching to a lighter tone she adds “but wouldn’t they be directional?”
It takes Leo a moment to realize what she is talking about. “Our zappers
would be, for sure. But they’ve put up their own, as well.” He taps the
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dashboard display and a camera from the micro-scout zooms in. “They look
almost exactly like Huang flats.” He scoffs. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the software is copied as well. Pathetic, really.” He looks at Celia and raises an eyebrow. “I’ve tricked flat zappers before. Do you want me to try?”
“They’ll revoke the visas if we do anything stupid,” Eiko interjects before Celia can answer. “Let’s just find the transit point.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Leo says. Eiko does not respond.
“But you could take it up a bit—so we can see what’s in there,” Celia says, touching Leo lightly on the arm.
“Celia, please,” Eiko says with a sigh. “Be patient.”
“Come on, Eiko, aren’t you curious?” Celia’s tone is light and playful. She turns around and smiles at Eiko. “Let’s just have a peek. The satellite photos are useless.”
“Scramble shield,” Leo says.
“Naturally,” Celia says and turns toward him. “But this close, and from this angle, we should be able to see something, shouldn’t we?”
“Probably,” Leo concedes. But he continues flying low.
“I’m more curious about the people,” Eiko says, with a tentative smile. “All we know is their history, their old-fashioned rules-”
“But we’ve never met any of them,” Celia interrupts, turning back to Eiko
and nodding enthusiastically. “This is so exciting!” She exclaims, then pauses.
“
her a quick look of reprimand with a side-glance to Ben. Celia mouths “sorry”
and turns to face forward again.
No one says anything for while.
Raphael glances at his wrist-link for the twenty-seventh time, but resists
touching it. He does not need another condescending explanation of why
there is no connection inside Leo’s pod. He looks out the window, instead.
On his side, trees pass in a blur.
“Look!” Celia suddenly says and points to a section of the wall immediately ahead of them. “The wall has collapsed.” They all turn their heads as they glide past a series of dramatic vertical cracks with piles of gray rubble below. “Well, not quite,” she continues, “but I guess it is pretty old. It was built during the crisis, wasn’t it?”
“Threatened by superstition and ignorance…” Eiko starts.
“…we found the courage to act,” Raphael continues, the pitch of his voice
rising to match that of their former teacher. “Knowledge and fortitude, children. Remember that! Knowledge and fortitude.” He is a good mimic. He and Eiko giggle. Ben glances over at them and smiles.
1 The Wall
5
“We certainly will remember Ms. Clifton.” Eiko says, once the giggles
have subsided.
“You three,” Celia says, shaking her head. “Sometimes it’s like you never
left primary school.”
“You missed the best part.”
“Believe me, I had my share of-”
“Could that be it?” Leo interrupts them. “That thing up ahead, close to
the wall?”
They see a rectangular structure in the distance, alternatingly darker than the wall and sparkling bright. As it grows bigger, they continue to stare at it.
Their expressions range from eager to apprehensive.
“It looks about right,” Celia says briskly, breaking the long silence. The
building is two stories tall and directly connected to the wall. It is part concrete, part steel and glass, and looks quite new. Around it, the clearing has been widened considerably and partially landscaped. There are no parked
pods or any other signs of activity.
“Taking it down, folks.” Leo decelerates the pod and lands it in the gravel-covered area marked “Visitors’ parking”.
As soon as the pod is stationary, Raphael opens his door and jumps out.
Ben and Eiko exit more slowly from the other side, grab their backpacks and walk away from the pod, their eyes fixed on the silent building. Celia also takes her time getting out. She looks around and inhales deeply. She smiles; the air is fresh and pleasant. Then she moves toward where Ben and Eiko are standing. Raphael remains near the pod, fidgeting with his wrist-link. Leo is the last person to exit the pod, thumbing his fob to reattach the micro-scout and lock the doors as he does so. Seeing what Raphael is doing, he tries his own wrist-link. After a moment, he frowns and shakes his head. He catches
up with Celia.
“There’s no connection,” he says, pulling up his wrist-link to illustrate.
“We’re on our own out here.”
“Finally—a real adventure.” She beams with delight. Then she turns to
Eiko and her expression softens. “What is it, Eiko? You look unhappy.”
“Something is wrong with this place,” Eiko says, in a half-whisper. “It’s too quiet. Why is no one else here?”
“Because I got our applications fast-tracked,” Leo says. “Right to the front of the queue. We’re the first.”
“Sure you did,” Celia says, skeptically.
“It’s true.” Leo grins. “I know all kinds of tricks.”
Celia looks amused, Eiko even more worried.
6
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Just then, Raphael joins them. He holds up his wrist with an expres-
sion of alarm.
“We know,” Celia says. “No connection.”
Raphael looks deflated.
Eiko turns to Ben. “Ben, are you sure you want to do this?” she asks.
“Yes, I’m sure,” he says, with a hint of impatience.
“Benito, my man,” Leo says and reaches across to pat Ben’s shoulder. “We’re right here with you.”
“Thanks,” Ben says, giving him a brief glance.
Finally, a door opens on the near side of the building and two people step
outside, a man and a woman. They are a few years older than their visitors, mid to late twenties, and are both wearing plain-looking, dark clothes. The group of five starts moving toward them, Ben and Eiko in front and Raphael
bringing up the rear. The man speaks to them when they are still some dis-
tance away. His voice is clear and slightly over-enunciated, as if he is unsure whether they will understand him.
“Welcome to transit station West-one.”
The group slows, hesitating. The man and the woman stay where they are
and continue to smile pleasantly. When the visitors are within arm’s reach, the man continues. “Good day to you all. I am Jonathan Parker and this is
Catherine Seville.” He indicates his companion with a slight movement.
Catherine nods and smiles, but keeps her hands clasped throughout
the welcome.
“Leo,” Leo says and holds out his hand.
“Leo Huang, yes, pleased to meet you,” Jonathan says as he shakes the prof-
fered hand.
“Raphael.” Raphael has stepped forward on the far side of Celia.
“Yes, of course. Raphael Delacroix.” Jonathan tilts his head slightly.
“No—Winter. It’s Raphael Winter,” Raphael says, looking irritated.
“My apologies,” Jonathan offers, with minimal expression. “Welcome,
Raphael.”
“Eiko Carr,” Eiko says with more confidence than she feels. Her hand is
half the size of Jonathan’s.
“Celia,” Celia says, with a smile and the hint of a challenge.
“Charmed,” Jonathan responds, but his expression remains unaltered. He
turns to Ben. “And you must be Ben Hatton.”
“Yes,” Ben says, forcing himself to offer a steady hand. Jonathan looks at
him for a moment longer than he needs to, it seems.
“Shall we go inside?” Jonathan says. Without waiting for an answer, he
moves toward the building and opens the side door. Ben follows him closely,
1 The Wall
7
with a determined expression. Eiko keeps up, but is mostly looking at the
ground. Celia is scanning the building, alert. Leo is grinning, Raphael scowl-ing. Catherine closes the door behind them.
2
The Day of the Readings
One month earlier.
“Ben Hatton?” The councilor said with a quick professional smile.
“That’s me,” Ben responded as he took the seat across from her. The conver-
sation cubicle was small and impersonal, but well separated from its neighbors by opaque insulators; noise from the large and busy hall retreated. He passed his wrist-link over the sensor and the councilor mumbled something like
‘thanks’ while moving her fingers rapidly across her desk. From the reflections in her eyes he could see her screen reacting.
“Let us have a look at you.” She tapped on her screen and the shared display sprang to life. At the top, he saw his name and underneath it a helix icon with his name repeated. She muttered a puzzled ‘hmm’ while her face twitched,
frowned and finally realigned. She was around thirty, he guessed, so she must have had her own reading ten years ago. Did hers start with a worrying ‘hmm’
as well? He did not like the sound of it.
“So—all we have is your current sequence file. Not the pre-edit—or any
links to your parents’ files… That’s—well—unusual. And no treatment files.”
“I’ve never been to the hospital or anything.”
“But you’ve seen a family doctor? For checkups and so on?”
“Sure. Aunt Vera.”
“Aunt Vera?”
“Dr. Vera Weiss. She was our doctor.”
“OK.” She tapped slowly. “W-e-i-s-s?”
“I think so.”
Another ‘hmm’ escaped her.
“Those other sequence files, do I need them?” he asked.
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