Shinies Ritual
Natalia Afanaseva


We live inadynamic era and inaworld changing so fast that there seems tobe but one little step that separates the past from the future. Awhole load ofuseful inventions previously known from science fiction books are now being called into service However, the problem is that you are not alone here, and our future is afabric woven from the efforts exerted bythe many aroundus. No technology would stand aHUMAN. Welcome tothe world ofabsurd fiction, where everything goes wrong.





Shinies Ritual

Natalia Afanaseva



Natalia Afanaseva,2015

Alexey Gorokhov, translation,2015

Natalia Afanaseva, translation,2015

Aleksandr Delistyanov, illustrations,2015

Anna Delistyanova, illustrations,2015



Created with Ridero


Its awell-known fact that our Future is mighty world rescuers wearing exoskeletons, and heroic spacevessel captains prowling the Universe. The smart things capable ofdoing all yourdaily routine work. Super-geniuses and explorers creating the new reality.

Maybe itwill be this way, but toerr is human. Stumbling and ending up with eggall over the face will be as human-like inthe future as it is today. However not unlikely, with the advent ofanti-gravity, the egg will be able tohop and smearitself over your face, and, with the appearance ofartificial intelligence, itwill try tocatch up with you and rub itself inyour face once again. Im here toinvite you totake afresh look atthe Future uncrowned, with alarge dose ofirony.

Im here toinvite you totake afresh look at the Future uncrowned, with alarge dose ofirony.




Human Factor







1

Wahl crinkled. His right foot was encapsulated inaglass cube and was asorry sight. The swollen bluish-black flesh was oozing drops ofsome nebulous liquid. Although the cube kept the smell inside, Wahl felt like he could smell it internally. The smell was akind ofsaturating his entire body and oozing treacherously from every pore. The worst thing was that the leg itched terribly.

Doctor Tim, amerry fat little man, as ill luck would have it, commenced his round with Wahls chamber mate. One minute, two Wahl could not bear his boisterous cackling any more. Finally, the doctor turned tohim and took an indulgent look at the guys dying limb.

Won-der-ful! he clicked his tongue with enjoyment and shook what was left ofhis red locks. The thin hair was drawn back inapuny neither-here-nor-there bobtail. Indeed, the doctors appearance was that ofan aging punk-rock fan rather than ofaworld-class head ofscience. Wahl hatedhim.

While the Wonderful! followed byeither one or two exclamation marks, had lasted for amonth, what was left ofhis patience could last him for but afew moments. And, right away, the doctor said what the whole thing was all about.

Ti-da-da, ti-da-doo, surgery tomorrow", he chanted inthe manner ofhis favorite song bythe Clash, and Wahl all but joined him, although under any other circumstances the Clashs Should Istay? would have made him want tocurse and swear.

He did not say aword tothe doctor about the alarming itching, since now his biggest dream was tolapse into sleep and wake up five minutes before the surgery. Yet, he was infor arather complex preoperative assessment. Everything had been discussed beforehand, and Wahl was aware that there would be no food and, most important, no pain-killers, during the following twenty four hours, plus he would have togo through awhole batch ofunpleasant procedures.

But still that was going tobe just one day! And he was nearly off his rocker, already cherishing ato-hell-with-that-leg-an-artificial-one-will-be-ok thought. All the more so, todays prosthetics had grown dexterous enough tocraft alimb barely distinguishable from the real one, so tospeak. If it were not for surfing

That was how the whole thing began. Surely, the higher the waves, the bigger the sharks. However, in99,9999% ofcases ashark will not attack you unless you are bleeding. What is left is aone-in-a-million chance ofan unprovoked attack. Wahl remembered himself being carried away from the beach, not able toeven look at his shredded led, and arescue man saying tohim: Youre one inamillion boy, Wahl! He did have tosay something anyway.

If it were not for the surfing, he would hardly have thought about the new method doctors had come up with protomass limb regeneration. But for the governments financial help (Wahl was an investigator at alocal police department), nothing would have come ofit either. The cost was far beyond an ordinary citizens capacity.

Now the government did help him, and at first Wahl was very happy considering himself alucky boy. Later, he repeatedly tongue-lashed himself, since he knew that he would have rejected it, had he been aware how it would have ended.

The creepiest thing was that it was his leg rotting inthe cube that actually generated the protomass. The beasts dressed inlab coats had set up ablockade tolet Wahls leg rot completely. Frankly, the shark did agreat job, and, it might have been ahundred years since it had brushed its teeth last time It took only amonth and ahalf. Only amonth and ahalf! Wahl was acrazy surfer

Alright, tomorrow hed receive his batch ofinjections, the protomass would be loaded with nano-particles featuring DNA elements, and here we are! Wahls right legs second birthday Happy Birthday, maam!

2

Everything swam before Wahls eyes. He felt ascalding pain inthe leg. Can you hear me? Good boy! Tim the Merry Greek spoke inan unusually serious tone. But he beamed right away, not being able tohold it: Everything was won-der-ful!

You stay here for awhile, the doctor absently waved his hand sideways, but well put you back inthere (another wave) soon. We have them coming inone byone, applicants, one byone And off he ran, jumping up and singing something ofhis most favorite stock again.

Soon Wahl was transported back tothe chamber indeed. The well-recognizable cube was there too. Wahl would superstitiously turn his eye away from his leg until he really knew it was ok. Two weeks later, he was liberated from that glass contraption, which had embittered the last two months ofhis life, and discharged from hospital. Although there still would be alot ofscreening procedures, examinations and treatment, he was back home!

The leg ached, itched and tingled, but it was. Regeneration was surprisingly rapid, and shortly after that Wahl started using crutches and was able toreach the window; and after amonth he was giving his leg full-scale training bywalking along the coast with astick.

There was only one thing that worried him astrange pain inthe heel. He had telephoned his doctor on that and was advised not towalk too much. Wahl obediently reduced the mileage, but the pain persisted. Not that it was severe, but all nasty sensations seemed toconcentrate inthe heel, and stepping on it would hurt pretty much.

Nevertheless, going tothe clinic was the last thing Wahl wanted todo. He rightly feared detection ofaserious problem and, consequently, having toget back tothat place indefinitely. But one day inthe morning he groped asmall lump inthe area where the pain was concentrated and realized that further postponement ofhis visit tothe Esculapian lair was no longer possible.

3

Doctor Tim looked unusually gloomy. Known for moving around the clinic inafashion ofawell-pumped ball bouncing from one wall tothe other, he suddenly fell into the habit ofshrugging sharply and speaking with long breaks, during which he stared at the floor with his dull eyes.

Wahl briefly described the problem and provided avisual demonstration ofhis swollen heel. He told the medic about the pain, craving for, if not interest, at least atiny bit ofsympathy, but Doctor Tim continued toindifferently rock heel totoe and hardly deigned toeven look at the leg. Finally, feeling outraged, Wahl requested at least an X-ray ofthe tumor, but the doctor brushed it off wearily.

Iknow, Wahl. You dont think you are the only one who has it, do you? Every seventh does, Wahl. Every seventh patient who has undergone the surgery. Everyone ofyou has the same thing.

What is it? Wahl felt cold creeping through his chest. What whats happening?

Teeth. You all have teeth cutting. My first patients already have fully grown ones.

The world-class expert was apitiful sight. He would not look Wahl inthe eye. But Wahl The doctors words were blowing his mind.

Doctor, please, tell me more details. Why is this happening?

Nobody knows. We have been through three checks. Theyve moppedus length and breadth. Both for sabotage and negligence. Negligence! Do you understand me, Wahl? They found nothing. Nothing!

How is that possible? Wahl began toget the message, Im not amedic, Doc, but Iremember what you told me. We apply tissue extracted from unaffected areas, which is structurally similar tothat inthe damaged area, and we do not have jaws growing on our legs, do we?! And why every seventhone?

Ihave no idea. This should not have happened, no, it should not! The doctor looked suddenly alive and he began tofuriously kick the first available treatment couch. Idont understand. Idont un-der-stand. Hypothetically, tiny fragments ofother tissues might have gotten inthere But you remember, dont you! The whole thing is gno-to-bi-otic. You didnt spit on the samples, did you? Did you? Neither did I. Neither did anybody!

The doctors energy expired rapidly, and he melancholically shook Wahls hand.

Im sorry. See you when they are fully erupted. And, so far, take good care and do not expose it toheat.



Wahl had acase oftinnitus. He did remember how absolutely strict everything had been. All samples were selected as if Wahl was going through no less than acase ofEbola virus disease. He did remember the pink plastic strips and the doctor literally scrutinizing every single one, not letting anybody touch them. All byhimself!

Wahl pulled on his sock and shoes. Now all he could do was go back home, and hed have toforget about his job. He sniffed. Yes, indefinitely. That was the expected result. He should have chosen an artificial leg, shouldnt he?! Why, why, why?! The treatment couch caught another shot.

4

Wahl limped along the corridor. Nothing has changed here. Except avisible decrease inthe number ofemployees. Nobody would walk out into the corridor for achat with an associate or apatient. During Wahls hospitalization, there had been much more amicability. Now all doctors were locked inand sitting still as mice, not wanting tostick their headsout.

Miss Granzer, the nurse manager, was the only one who kept her door open. Wahl remembered that battleaxe woman, whose voice was audible throughout the department. Her powerful janitor growl made everyone ofthe cleaning personnel jump up and mop whatever they had close at hand with twice the energy. Well, well, this one would not care acuss.

Wahl looked briefly inside as he walked further. Then he stopped, still not realizing what it was that had caught his attention. Then he returned and peeped inagain. Granzer was standing at the table and sorting apack ofpink plastic strips. One, two, three, four, five, six The plastic wouldnt stick toher hands. Then she licked her finger Seven Miss Granzer lookedup.

What is it, sweetie? she yelled, its an stocktaking day, move on, moveon!




EVOcuation







1

There were six ofthem. Six young confederates ready togo on any desperate adventure toachieve their goal. Perhaps, this was the only type ofbehavior anineteen-year-old could show. Fiery speeches and admiring eyes contemplating the world they seemed tohave sought rather than lived they had sought for an idea, which was worth livingfor.

They disappeared inthe jungle ofCentral Africa, leaving nothing but asmall camp, which was found four hundred years later byamere accident.

No bodies were found, but that was no great wonder. What was really curious was the order, with which their gear was arranged and packed as if towait for their owners who had gone on along trip and were tocome back one day. There was astock offood that would not spoil for years, if not decades. Clothes were all new and never worn. ID cards.

Nature did eventually interfere inthe order, but it was clearly observable that they had not meant toleave for good. But where did they go and why? They might have known the answer, but they were never found, not even the bones neither then, nor after acentury, nor later.

2

Three months before the group ofsix stepped upon the wild lands ofCentral Africa, aheated debate took place inaclassroom ofthe Institute ofBiology inone ofthe cities ofSiberia.

Professor Popov was watching with delight the young men trying tostand their ground. There were agood deal ofsophomore bravado, highly flown arguments and scientifically weird statements. Every time he heard yet another absurdity, he lowered his eyes, trying toconceal asmile, and would wipe his spectacles with arag.

He did not mean tooffend anyone. Neither those who were heartily fighting for their moot point, nor those parrying with hackneyed textbook clichs. Such arguments were useful even if no truth sprouted from them.

Tobe brutally honest, it was the group with the moot point who appealed toPopov. However, it was time tobreak in, because the lecture was going tobe over inseven minutes, and Professor was aman ofcompleteness.

Dear guys, Ican say you are not fully right, he finally said after two frantic waves ofhis hand, calling upon the disputers tocalm down and keep silent, you are trying toprove that man is capable ofevolving

He should be! acollective response thundered. Professor drew ahorizontal line with his hand inthe air tosignal that, first, he had understood everything and, second, he wanted the guys tolet him speak.

Yes, man can continue toevolve, because now we have an opportunity todistract alittle from gaining our daily bread, so tosay, and concentrate on the vector ofevolution, as you have put it the term sounds quite moot, but Ive seized the point and Id like tomake acorrection Inother words, you mean that it is possible tofocus on aparticular ability and develop it, say, using methods ofartificial evolution.

Popov wiped his spectacles again, fumbling for correct words that would neither offend the guys nor discourage them from directing their quest intheir chosen vector.

You have left out the fact that any evolution is areaction toexternal challenges, and the key factor, which has contributed toour breaking from the evolutionary loop, is the absence ofthis challenge. You see that as aspecies, we are currently above the evolution, do you understand? We dont need toadjust our lives tonature, and we adjust nature toour needs, which is areverse process.

But we are talking about

Professor drew another rigorous line.

What you are talking about is selection. It is an imitative and therefore more predictable and less stable process. Your idea sounds very interesting, but it must be applied otherwise, do you get me? Do you?

Nobody looked up once. Its ok, these boys are strong enough toface it, and theyll be grateful intheend.

So, during the recess, Iadvise you to, Professor gave asly blink, have agood rest! Thats one! (cries ofapproval and chuckling); not tolose the knowledge thats two! Think once again over your absolutely respectable opinion, yet from adifferent standpoint, got it? Thats it, see you inthe fall.

Boys and girls, now buzzing and bidding good-byes, began toleave the room, some singly, others intwos. Six ofthem three boys and three girls would never get see it again.

3

They stood near the edge ofahuge plateau covered with dense vegetation. As far around as the eye could see, the ground billowed into hills and cliffs laden with lush greenery. Apit yawned right next tothem. Raging hundreds ofyards below was the jungle ofCentral Africa. Mountaineering equipment, clothes and tools lay at their feet.

So what? Thats it? they looked at each other inthe eye once again. Each nodded silently. The unanimously appointed group leader walked up tothe pile ofropes and tools and dealt it into the pit. After looking down tomake sure that nothing had gotten caught on rock outcroppings, he turned tohis mates.

Now thats it. Letsgo.

The scenery opening before their eyes was completely wild even byAfrican wild jungle standards. There were no predators, as, notwithstanding its enormity, the plateau was isolated, and so long as they had shed their equipment, they had burned their boats.

Instead, there were tons ofstuff around they really wanted cliffs and rocks, tall trees with smooth trunks and lianas hanging unreachably high.

And down they stepped into the mirage trembling over the torrid ground

4

Asmall glassy helicopter hung over the raging green mass. It looked nice and fragile, resembling asoap bubble, which was about togo down, touch the green carpet and collapse.

However, nothing like that happened. Asmall scientific expedition crew landed safely on the plateau, where the group ofsix had gone centuries ago. It was arather routine research, and if anything could add atouch oflife toit, it was zero awareness ofthe area.

Now that the aerial survey was finished, all they had todo was get down, take soil and water samples, examine the slabs piled at the plateaus highest point, which had caught the inspectors attention. Actually, they were located within the landing area.

Getting there proved unexpectedly difficult. Every following step threatened totrigger arockslide, but finally, two men reached the black holes, which, most probably, led todeep caves. They looked inside and, not daring toclimb down themselves, sent down acamera-carrying drone.

That was all so routine. Nobody was ready for what happened next.

All but knocking them over, ahuge pale skin-winged creature shot out ofthe hole and settled itself on anearby rock outcropping. It sat there blinking myopically at the humans and shading itself from sunlight with its membranous limbs. The copper crew was all eyes

It'sits ahuman! the phrase slipped out from the pilots mouth.

Whought? the creature chirped, cocking its head questioningly. Whought? Whought?

Then, considering the inspectors too big toprey on, it bounced up heavily and flipped back down into the hole.




Superperson







1

The Superperson was going through its free phase inone ofthe cities ofNew Zealand. Asignificant amount ofpower still remained unused, so it could analyze the most recent changes inthe control groups behavior. It would take 3,78% offree resources, and that was arare opportunity.

The Superpersons separate elements performed their functions inthe Philippines and inseveral European cities, but that was no hindrance for the already launched process. The worlds smartest machine was doing was what people referred toas searching for an answer.

The question was that the Superperson did not have the qualification toguide the control groups behavior during the last 6379,15earthly days. The types ofcontrol group members behavior and categorization parameters had been specified bythe machines creators. However, they had programmed the Superperson tobe able tolaunch its own categorization process with an over 55% parametrical disparity with any ofthe behavior patterns.

Bythe time, the Superperson had accumulated set of14*106 incidents, and their parameters demonstrated an over 55% similarity between each other, and amore than 55% dissimilarity with her accumulatedset.

Infact, it had defined and coded all categorization indicators. Now the Superperson was infor amuch more complicated assignment toevaluate destructive behavior according tothe degree ofhazard for the members ofthe control group.

The problem was that some ofthe indicators had estimates, which generated controversial conclusions. The revealed evaluation indicators would not let the machine categorize this type ofbehavior as hazardous, although they did not meet the criteria ofnon-hazardous incidents either.

2

The Superperson once again aligned the non-standard indicators inthe order ofdecreasing frequency rate. The first indicator was absence ofmotivation. None ofthe incidents had been motivated. The objects, which had showed behavior deviating from that defined bythe standard program, had no reason toact as they actually did. That followed from the analysis ofvoice records.

Second, incidents were supposed toinflict consequences, which could not be regarded as the only possible ones and therefore could not be predicted. Man would call them absurd.

Third, the criminals did not seem totry tohide at all. The analysis ofthe controlled group members body movements, given the destructive act they had committed, had demonstrated perfect calm.

Had the Superperson obtained an ability toassign qualitative characteristics toits own condition, it would have referred toit as inconfusion. Since agroup ofscientists and programmers had designed it inback the twenty-second century, and since the global system ofsupercontrol over offenses against person the Superperson had been accepted worldwide, it would not have reached its current parameters.

Capable ofassembling its own physical body from nanograin containers, which were located at adecent distance from each other, so that it could arrive at the scene ofdestructive act within 27seconds, the Superperson, connected toafull-range detection network, chose toaccumulate more data.

As soon as the decision was made, i.e. after 4,45seconds since the launch ofthe process, the Superperson once again tuned all its resources tosignals coming infrom the detection network. There it was: one ofthe signals was non-standard again. The Superperson directed 4,59% ofits resources tothe scene.

3

There were two ofthem standing face toface. One was checking the time and the other one was looking around worriedly.

Where is the THING?

3, 2, 1 here we are.

The Superperson materialized the nano-particles, which were contained inthe nearest tank, and all but walked up tothetwo.

Destructive act 31120514789564detected. Offence against person Category 2, Type 1, Code 3. Non-accomplice theft, minor loss.

Oh, come on, the number-one objected with factitious resent, No theft.

You dont have anything against me, do you? the number-two uttered with asnort.

Nothing, Dr. Cooper.

Well, thank you for sharing your sandwich withme.

The analysis ofyour action shows signs ofdestructive behavior, Dr. Cooper Arc-ID-17895462879.

No, thats wrong. Why should Isteal you mean Idid it, dont you? Doctor did realize that the Superperson would not appreciate his irony, but he could not holdit.

Affirmative, Cap, his swashbuckling companion trumped. Thank you for being alert, Sir erm Miss (there was hardly anything inthe whole world that the doctors companion liked better than sneering).

Charges ofdestructive behavior withdrawn, proceeding terminated for mutual denial, the Superperson turned around and, followed bythe criminals choked-back laughter, started toward the nearest container. Toan onlooker, it might appear that it walked heavily and was quite low-shouldered.

4

As soon as it collected asufficient amount ofresource inone place, the proceeding was resumed. It started with the question: is the offence against the Superperson an offence against aperson?

An affirmative answer was received in10,87seconds.

In14,35seconds, the Superperson decided tocategorize this type ofdestructive behavior as highly hazardous.

98,52seconds later, the first member ofthe control group became the thirtieth-centurys first life-termer.




Strategic Mistake







That was an act Trent could not have expected from the rival. He pulled the collar ofhis uniform coat. The move seemed robotic, and the body was signaling fatigue and oxygen deficiency. However, his conscience kept ordering him tostay calm. Inany case, aresponse action would follow inminutes.




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