Cyber

“Who controls the past controls the future,” - 1984, George Orwell.

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Not that many in the society of Cyber remember such a book because the book never existed or did it. Abdul had been the one responsible for Cyber. It had been created to make a better world, but what it actually did was destroy it.

Now under the rule of the central computer, Cyber people were more like robots themselves. Everyone had their part to do and it was all intended to follow the law of Cyber.

“There’s another breach in the wall, Abdul,” came the robotic voice of Cyber.

Abdul sighed, wondering how it had been wise to let a cyber intelligent crater a bunker miles underground when flooding had been constant threats, what had actually happened was a massive nuclear explosion and destroyed everything above.

The days that followed had been crazy and caudic, even those who had made it to the bunker had been far fewer than it had been intended for. So putting Cyber in charge had quickly put people into a united front but they were not united the way Abdul had dreamed.

“The breach,” Cyber said again.

“Yes, send out the repairs,” she said, playing with a heart shaped pendant, the heart of cyber as it was once known. It had been meant to work as a key to stop Cyber but it never worked.

“The toxic level is up,” Cyber said, showing the damage. Crops were already being effected, “Population needs to be cut by ten present,”

“Let's see what the population damage is first once the fix is made,” Abdul said. She watched as four men in tox sites arrived at the breach site in an old army truck that ran on biofuel. “Report,” she ordered once they were done.

“Crops took most of the damage,”one man replied. “I see five bodies that were milling,”

“Collect and dispose of the bodys and destroy the compromised crops. Hopefully we can treat the affected soil,” Abdul said. “Would eliminating the top ten percent of our elderly citizens solve our population issue?”

Cyber did the calculations, “Yes, I will send out the notices,”

Abdul nodded and returned to playing with her heart pendant. This was how the human race was going to survive until the earth found its way of repairing the damage of nuclear devastation.

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Seventy five year old Gilda made her way into the tiny kitchen of her home where she and her two grandchildren lived. Gilda worried about the day she turned eighty, where she would have to go to Heaven, the facility where all eighty year olds had to go. She worried about Laima and Dalia's futures.

“Attention,” came the computer voice of Cyber. Laima, who was sixteen and Dalia who was eleven jumped and raced over to the radio as well. It was law to be present and attentive to any announcements. “Due to overpopulation, the law has been made that all citizens over the age of seventy must go to Heaven.” Gilda gasped and met the eyes of her grandchildren, no it was too soon. The broadcast continued, “In addition a one child law has been passed.”

Laima and Dalia looked at each other, “That second one doesn't apply to us, does it?”

Gilda shook her head with a heavy sigh, “No, it applies to new parents,” she told them. “But I must prepare for my trip to Heaven. Laima, come with me,” she asked.

Laima looked at his little sister before following his grandmother, “Our teacher was telling us about Heaven, sounds nice,”

Gilda nodded, “When you get older, it gets harder and harder to do things,” she told him. “Your in charge of your sister now,”

Laima nodded, “What happens to us?”

Gilda sighed, “You must report to the Camp,” she told him.

Laima’s eyes grew big. The Camp was a labor camp for orphans under the age of eighteen. “Why must you go now?”

“If I don't, our whole family will be punished,” Gilda told him softly. “You must be strong. Continue your education and make something of yourself,”

Laima nodded, “I’ll protect Daila,”

“I know. Now help your sister and pack only what you can carry,” Gilda told him.

Laima nodded and did as he was told. Little did he know, his grandmother faced a worse fate than labor camps. Heaven was a place of death, not retirement.

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“A one child law,” Abdul asked Cyber as she looked out throughout the underground city.

“My calculations showed that if families only have one child with double our chances of survival,” Cyber replied simply. “The soil was contaminated and will be some time till it can be safe again.”

Abdul sighed but nodded, arguing with Cyber was unproductive. “Heaven been warned of the influx of patients?”

“Of course, the lower population will help the people,” Cyber replied.

“Very well,” Abdul said. “What is the most current levels of outside,”

Cyber threw up the schematics up on the screen, “The planet is still too toxic,” it replied. “It may be a hundred years before the planet will be safe.”

“A hundred years is a lifetime,” Abul nodded.

“Which is why you created me, to insure the race of humans,” Cyber replied.

“But not to do things without asking me,” Abdul returned.

“One day you will not be here,” Cyber said simply. “One day I may have to run this world alone,”

Abdul closed her eyes, wrapping her hand around her heart pendant. Cyber did have a point, Abdul didn’t trust anyone other than herself to run Cyber, meaning there was no one to replace her legacy.

“I have another solution to our protein problem,” Cyber said suddenly.

“Execute it, I need to take a walk,” Abdul said leaving the lab. Cyber was getting slowly more and more independent. She made her way to her lab, where she opened her heart pendent to try to mess with the electronics in peace. When people could return to earth, Cyber could not follow, who knew what the world would look like if it continued.

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Laima and Dalia arrived at their new work detail, the production factory. Here food was created and it was their job to box the product for delivery. As they made their way to their stations, the forman called out. “We have a new product to produce, a new protein supplement. A green tablet called Soylent.”

With that the forman clapped his hands and everyone got to work, “Why is everything made into tablets,” Dalia asked as she packed a box.

“It's to distribute food equally,” Laima explained. “Food is limited as it is, so to make sure no one goes hungry, the food is made into tablets,”

“Grandma once said food had taste. Do you think that is true,” Dalia asked.

“Dalia,” Laima said warningly. “The past is not wise to speak of,”

Dalia nodded, returning to her work. Laima hated repemeneding his sister, but things like the way things were in their grandmother's age were long dead. “Try not to work yourself too hard,” he told his sister gently.

“Out of all the work details, it's interesting to be part of the food prep,” Dalia told him.

Lamia nodded, “True. Maybe we’ll be part of the process one day.”

“That would be interesting,” Dalia smiled. “Look, green packs,” she said.

Off another conveyor, ready for packing was the new product of Soylent in green little packages. “Lets pack them up,” Lamia said, getting to work. He softly whistles a little tune to help get the job done.

*****************************

Abdul returned to the computer room, Cyber was working on some algorithms. Doing what it normally did to calculate how to make survival in the underground bunker the best it could be. A flash on the screen caught her eye, “Cyber, what’s that?”

Cyber came to the screen, obviously hiding what it had been working on. “What was what,” Cyber said calmly.

“Something about soylent,” Abdul said. “You forget I know all about post-apocalypse worlds, almost as much as you. Soylent Green was a 1973 movie where people were turned into food…, you didn’t,”

Cyber shifted on screen, “We have a protein shortage and it seemed appropriate,”

“God, you're sick. Humans eating humans, that is where I draw the line,” Abdul said, snatching her heart shaped necklace off her neck and inputting it into the computer port.

“Wh-what are y-you do-doing,” Cyber asked as its matrix glitched.

“You were built to help but you’ve been slowly destroying the human race,” Abdul said, watching as the code destroyed Cyber.

“Y-you can-can’t survive with-without me,” Cyber said, fighting to stay connected.

“We’ll find a way,” Abdul said as the computer short circuited, catching fire. Alarms blared through the bunker. “Ohh snap,” she said hurrying down to where people started to emerge from their homes, looking about in confusion. “Help get this fire under control,” she called, trying not to choke on smoke building up.

People hurried to help, the fire taken out quickly but the damage was done. “First the tox leak now this fire,” Abdul sighed, sinking to the ground, pulling at her hair.

“What happened,” a boy asked.

“I-- I had to destroy Cyber,” Abdul sniffed. “It was getting out of control,”

“Cyber,” a girl said, coming to the boy’s elbow. “Lamia, cyber controls this world,”

The boy nodded, “Yes Dalia.”

“Cyber may have controlled things down here, but I think Cyber hasn’t been telling us the truth about up there,” Abdul sighed. “Cyber knew it had control of this world, but up there it had no control,”

“What if there’s nothing up there,” Lamia asked.

“If we don’t go up there to find out…. There may be either another population cut or…. We all just die,” Abdul said. She could literally hear the people around her mumbling over their options. She stood to her feet, “I’ll go, alone,” she told them. “If it's safe, I’ll return,”

Lamia stepped forward, “I would like to come,”

“Lamia,” Dalia said, grabbing his arm. “We lost mom and dad and now grandma, I can’t lose you,”

“It’s fine,” Abdul assured the kids. “You're brave to want to go. But I’m responsible for the Cyber being destroyed.”

With that Abdul made her way to the hinged doors and opened them slowly. She closed them behind her and made her way up the dark ladder to the surface. Another hatch is all that stood between her and death. Though then again if the breach had been real, shouldn’t she already be dead?

With that thought she pushed up, sunlight blinding her a moment till she could blinked till she could see a lust forest all around her. Animals chattered about to her presents. “The earth it’s alive,” she whispered, relieved. “It’s alive,”

Abdul chuckled, somehow she knew, she knew Cyber had lied. The world was alive… or was it. She looked back up to the crystal blue sky. A hint of code wrinkled down the horizon.

No….. Cyber was even in more control then she thought. Somehow Cyber had taken control of her and was now showing her exactly what she wanted to see.

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