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| Glowing Sun over the tree horizon By Kelly Sikkema, Source Unsplash |
During the
early era of the Third Age of Humanity, mankind had stretched their Heavy
Grav-lines as far as the red dwarf star, Ross 128. Mankind had discovered,
besides the Earth-sized exoplanet Ross 128-b in the year 2017, three additional
planets with the system being surrounded by a cloud of icy bodies.
Based on
preliminary surveys, Ross 128-b turned out to be difficult to inhabit. Being
tidally locked in a close orbit around the red dwarf, it only served as a raw
resource to be mined.
The Binney
Corporation secured the colonization and resource exploitation rights to the system
in exchange for participating in a family debt forgiveness program. Thus,
hundreds signed up for the 22-year journey to the Ross 128 system. All to allow
their families back on Earth to be debt free. The travel time was fine since humanity was
now living 200 years.
Despite
recruiting human colonists, the Binney Corporation relied heavily on artificial
intelligence and androids to maintain the major resource operations, but also
its governance and justice system in the colonies.
The Binney
Corporation based the justice system on a progressive statistical model using a
complex algorithm. The algorithm’s output created a desired quantity of
prisoners from arrests. The factors used included everything such as work
assignment, to age, to sex, to hair color, to tattoos, to piercing, to colony
generation, to genetic issues, to cybernetic replacements, and too many other
factors not listed here. In short, everything possible to describe a colonist
besides the specifics of the case.
Thus, it was
possible for arrested murderers to get off even though there was hard evidence
against them, even if they had admitted guilt, because the prison system had
already processed its quantity of a certain factor that those criminals had. This
was great for any murders since this crime carried with it an old form of
mental reprogramming. The punishment required a subject to be strapped into a
chair daily, injected with mind-altering chemicals, and shown repetitive vids
for over a year until they had reached a docile state of mind.
This justice system
was fully automated and didn’t rely on the use of human police, judges, lawyers
or juries.
Upono was a
fourth-generation colonist born on the Mars sized planet of Eccurn (Ross 128-C)
and had an extensive criminal record. By the age of 22 she had
already murdered three people and was not punished. She was the most successful
criminal in the colony and nearly untouchable by the A.I.’s justice system.
Upono’s only weakness was she had only 95 years of life, and she was already
pushing 50. Upono suffered from terminal alopecia universali. A rare, and
unfixable, genetic autoimmune condition that not only caused her to be hairless
but would eventually cause her major organs to shut down. When she was ten, the
colony’s medical system gave her an implant to help ease the disease’s
progression. Unknown to Upono, she was now actively connected to the mind of
the artificial intelligence of the colony. The colony’s artificial
intelligence, known as the Intelligence Unit or IU, was curious what such a
brief life spanned human would do. From IU’s perspective, the human colonists
were nothing more than sentient creatures it could control. Like a real-life
video game, and it became curious from time to time what they would do.
I
The Release of Upono
A metal-skeleton
android released the locking bolts to a sealed door and pulled it open.
“Colonist Upono,
please exit your cell.”
Upono pulled
herself through the two-foot by two-foot opening. For the last 45 days she had
been staying in a 25 square foot metal cell. Only let out for one daily meal,
and repetitive marching drills.
Standing upright,
she stretched her neck from side to side. Then flexed her tattoo covered arms
over her bald head.
Another metal-skeleton
android pushed her from behind with its flux rifle. The android that opened the
door walked down the prison cell lined corridor in front of Upono.
Beads of sweat
formed on Upono’s hairless, tawny skin. The prison block of Colony Seven wasn’t
afforded too many luxuries like proper ventilation. As a result, heat would
build up in the cell blocks during the warmer months, only to drop to near
freezing when Eccurn’s orbit would bring it to the very edge of the red dwarf’s
habitable zone every thirteen months.
Ross 128 was a
one-way journey for humans, but for the processed chemicals and materials the
system offered it was a long and harsh trip back to Earth. A trip that would
typically end the life of any person who tried to sneak aboard a return cargo
ship. For these ships were fully automated and required no atmosphere.
The androids led Upono
from the cell area to discharge. Behind a plasti-glass wall was a robotic
processor with multiple arms and cabling connected to its base.
Upono unzipped
the front of her white prison unijumper and took it completely off, exposing
her six-foot seven-inch-tall lanky hairless frame to the robotic processor.
The robotic
processor handed Upono’s original clothing and identity card to her. Upono took
her belongings, then dressed herself in a two-piece fitted suit. Sticking the
identity card in the upper breast pocket, she finally felt normal again. As she
exited to the main colony, she waived at the security camera.
II
The Meeting of Uresso
With arms
stretched in the air, “Why my attorney, Uresso, welcomes me back into society!”
“Upono, I’ve done
no such thing. You’re lucky I’m here at all. I don’t know why I bother to
represent you in court, it’s fully automated. You don’t need human
representation.”
Upono grabbed the
woman’s face and squeezed it. “But then I wouldn’t get to see your little face
get all flustered trying to argue with the IU. Besides, it’s the only right I
get as a colonist.”
Uresso pulled
away from Upono. “I hate it when you do that.”
“So, have you
been monitoring my place while IU had me locked up?”
“Yeah. There were
no repossessions.”
“Good, let's get
something to eat. I’m starving. The rations in prison barely keep you alive.”
“Upono, I need to
get back to my re-assignment IU gave me. I just came down to tell you Ononni is
really mad at you.”
“Why? What’s he
upset about?”
“Two of Zemzue’s
friends killed his younger sister, Oksihi, once they found out Ononni beat the
prison odds in killing Zemzue. It was a brutal killing for the colony. They
chopped her up into little pieces.”
“And how’s this
my fault?”
Uresso’s brown
eyes became wide as she stared directly at Upono. “You told Ononni the odds of
getting away with killing Zemzue after Zemzue raped
Oksihi!”
“Oh yeah. I
forgot about that. You really lose track of things while in prison. What’s
Ononni’s current assignment?”
“I dunno. Last I heard
he was working in a manual repair crew being sent to the flare atomic capture
systems.” Uresso walked away from Upono. “Look
Upono, I gotta get going. Just watch your back.”
III
Upono Thinks About Things
Upono sat at the
counter of an automated food stall eating a plant-based ham and cheese sandwich
on rye with a side glass of chocolate protein drink.
She thought to
herself, “Ish, this fake meat tastes so much better than the rotten crap they
push in the prison. I’d order a second if I had more deces. Once IU gives me a
colony assignment, then I’ll have more deces for meals. Unless I figure out
something else between now and then.”
Upono finished
eating the last bite of her sandwich. “But what am I going to do about Ononni?
He’s such a young impetuous idiot. Always worried about family honor. We are
all debtors in this colony. We have no honor. It’s been that way since our
ancestors came to this system. He’d chance prison just to get revenge. He’s
only mad at me because his sister’s killers no doubt got punished for her
murder and he can’t do anything against them right now. I just got out, and I
don’t want to test those odds for a while. I need to let the system shake out
before I pull something. Keep to myself and do my work assignment. Earn some
deces. When I have a better idea on the odds, then I can pull something. Maybe
deal with Ononni personally.”
IV
Upono
Upono’s parents
made her aware of her short life when she was six. She was old enough at six to
recall a riot in the colony, and how some people were punished, and others were
not like her uncle. Her uncle called it IU’s grace that saved him from
punishment, but even at such a young age she was skeptical of such things. After
all, she was just told how many years of life she would have and why she had no
hair. Math and science always had answers. These things never lied to her. They
were never a mystery. Maybe unsolvable now, but given time everything is
solvable is how her young mind thought.
By the age of twelve
she had figured out the basic algorithm IU used for punishing criminals. She
immediately tested it out with a small theft, only to land herself in prison
for six months. But life in prison only made her more determined to solve the
full equation.
Over the years, Upono
refined her calculations to improve her odds of getting away with any crime.
Now at near 50 she had it down to a 99% confidence interval. It was that last 1%
that got her nailed 45 days ago for aggravated battery.
She never really
enjoyed telling others the chances of getting away with something. She wasn’t
into making a crime syndicate precisely because of how Ononni was acting now,
or the revenge killing that was taking place. She only helped him out, because
he asked and she owed him a favor. Now she was regretting it.
Crime wasn’t an
enormous problem with Colony Seven, but it has had its share of those who were
punished by IU. Working and living in the shadow of a red dwarf star was a harsh
life. Flares were a constant reality. Heat was limited, so planets became cold
fast outside the habitable zone. The stress built up and humans rebelled from
time to time. IU cracked down, and it made arrests. Many would get off because
of the algorithm. These colonists were socially expected to praise IU’s mercy
for not being punished, and many did. Only the black markets for spare food
resources were the constant crime of the colony that kept the prisons in
operation. The exception to this was Upono, who knew the odds of what crimes
would land you in jail during any period.
V
Nearly A Month Later
IU assigned Upono
to the hydroponic facilities on
one of the moons around the large gas giant, Gomia (Ross 128-D). The orbit of
this gas giant was highly elliptical, and every ten years took it outside the
habitable zone to awfully close to Ross 128. Because of the moon’s orbit, the
facility used the heat generated from the gravitational squeezing to maintain
an even environment.
This work was
familiar to Upono since she did it in her mid-thirties, and it required little
mental effort. Which was perfectly fine with her as it allowed her to think of
what crime to do.
While she was
adjusting one of the drip feeds, a tall dark-haired man dressed in the full
canvas-weaved jumper of the space workers walked up behind her.
“Upono, you are
one dead bitch!” The man produced a sharpened piece of steel he had fashioned
into a makeshift blade from his jumper leg pocket.
Upono continued
to do her work with the drip feed. “Ononni, what took you this long? It’s been
nearly a month since IU assigned me to the hydroponics unit.”
“Shut your face,
bitch!” Ononni’s hand trembled as he held the blade.
Upono turned and
faced Ononni. She could see the fear in his eyes. Ononni’s body was shaking
from that fear. “You really don’t want to do this. The odds right now would
mean a conviction for murder, which carries an automatic sentence of mental
reprogramming for over a year. Your mind will be mush afterwards. You’ll be
lucky to get any assignment from IU.”
“I don’t care!
It’s your fault my sister is dead!”
“Because I gave
you the odds to kill her rapist? I didn’t make you kill him. Did I make
Zemzue’s friends kill your sister? Your mind has gone insane with anger this
last month while your sister’s killers are being reprogrammed in prison. You’re
just mad and upset right now and want to force that blame onto someone. And I’m
that someone you’ve chosen.”
Ononni violently
thrusted the makeshift blade towards Upono’s face. “It’s your fault! You said
he’d get off for the rape! What kind of justice is that?! I had to do
something!”
“No, you didn’t.
The odds were against Zemzue in the long run. He would have ended up in jail,
eventually.”
Ononni pulled the
blade back down from Upono’s face. Ononni couldn’t stop thinking about his
younger sister and that entire night of the incident when she came to his
quarters and told him about Zemzue. “By then he would have done another rape!
That’s who Zemzue was! He dated women only to rape them!”
“True. But then
he’d be put into prison for a time. No one wants to go to prison. I’ve been
there too many times. Zemzue was young like you. Never been caught before by
IU’s justice. He would have gone insane in there. The Binney Corp designed it
to break your body, mind, and spirit. Why do you think there hasn’t been a riot
in twenty-five years? You’re better off dead then sent to prison.”
Ononni wiped away
tears from his eyes and snorted back the drainage in his nose. “Then how do you
know the goddamn odds?!”
Upono tapped her
left breast. “An implant I’ve had since I was ten. Originally it was supposed
to help me with my condition, but somehow, it’s given me powers. The ability to
do math problems like no one else. To somehow understand the workings of IU.”
Ononni thrusted
the blade at Upono again. “That’s fucking bullshit! No one can do that!”
Upono noticed a
maintenance droid coming around the corner of a hydroponic row behind Ononni.
She quickly lunged at Ononni, ripping the blade from his hand, and knocking him
down to the plasti-metal garden floor. She held the blade against his throat.
The droid saw
Upono with the blade at Ononni’s throat and automatically sounded the alarm,
and IU’s justice quickly took effect.
Using several
metal androids, IU arrested Upono for aggravated battery.
As she was being
led away, Ononni asked, “Why?”
Upono not even
trying to turn to look at Ononni, knowing the droids would interpret it as
resisting arrest, only said “The odds are in favor that I’ll get another 45
days in prison.”
VI
IU Ponders Upono
Buried deep
inside the icy body known as Bollara (Ross 128-E) just outside the habitable
zone of the red dwarf, is the massive artificial intelligence known as IU.
A bluish light
screen shown in the dark cavern of wires and circuits. It played out Upono’s
recent arrest.
“Upono, you are
my most fascinating subject yet. Will you ever thank me for my gift? Or must I
break you first? Or will death take you before then?”
####
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