BEFORE THE LIGHT DIES
Chapter 3
Leon Tusk
The Worst Imaginable News
This new project, like most the tech magnate had taken on lately, was flying. His mind had always entertained about twenty-seven things at a time—but now, with the nanobots and Thoth, it was about to drive him crazy. All his thoughts centered on the new graphene batteries, and what they could do, to—everything. They would be much lighter and more compact than the lithium ones, a thousand times more powerful, and would accept massive inputs to recharge them very quickly.
I want nothing but clean, renewable energy to recharge them. Multiple ways. The new graphene solar panels, for one, arranged in smartly engineered arrays that send all their energy through self-healing graphene network buses, Leon thought.
An offshoot from that, now possible for the first time, will be multiplied energy, using extreme high voltage electricity from the batteries in very small bits to maintain the creation of continuous hydrogen fusion. That will create ten times more energy than is used, which would be free anyhow, and has never been feasible using fossil fuels. Tiny reactors, strategically placed near the batteries, will supplement the solar. Operating twenty-four hours a day, just like the Sun, but on a tiny scale…
A sudden feeling of utter panic filled Leon after thinking the word Sun.
Wait. What?
“Thoth! What is this? What does this mean?” Leon asked in full panic mode.
“Just what it looks like, Leon.”
A horrifying realization anchored itself in Leon’s mind. While researching ALL available information mankind had ever compiled about solar hydrogen fusion, Thoth had discovered a pattern of instability in the Sun’s magnetic fields. A couple of scientists had noticed it, too, but Thoth was the first to put together what it meant. He calculated that this activity would cause an entire chain reaction of coronal mass ejections unlike anything ever seen before. They would be large enough to cause catastrophic damage to planet Earth, should it pass through the discharge. And—it looked like it would!
“How sure are you of this, Thoth?”
“I’m ninety percent certain of an all-encompassing, sustained direct hit, Leon. One hundred percent certain that Earth will sustain severe damage somewhere from it.”
“All-encompassing? That’s pretty hard to believe. What data are you basing that statement upon?”
“It’s known that the more explosive CMEs generally happen when the highly twisted magnetic field structures called flux ropes contained in the Sun's corona become overly stressed, and then realign themselves into a less tense configuration—a process called magnetic reconnection. That is what’s taking place as we speak.
“That, combined with recurring ejections from the same location, which isn’t healing, tells me where it will happen. Think of a volcano on this planet that continuously erupts—spewing lava in a predictable direction. The Sun is doing the same thing, and most of that electromagnetic energy will fly harmlessly out into space in the same direction and gradually disperse. Since the Earth orbits the Sun in a known path, at a proven speed, I know that it will travel, spinning on its axis, directly through that discharge just as the pressure in the corona is the greatest.”
A video modeling just what Thoth was telling him appeared on a virtual screen a few feet in front of Leon. It was the first time he’d experienced that without some form of headset, goggles, or glasses on, and couldn’t help the schoolboy smile that crossed his face.
“That it will happen at precisely the right time to envelope planet Earth within its fury is easy for me to calculate. The only unknown factor (that ten percent uncertainty) is whether the ejection will be a steady stream or, more like automatic weapon fire, in bursts. The data suggests a steady stream at that time.”
As the digital image of the Earth and its constellation of Leon’s satellites traveled slowly into a cloud of what appeared as dust to represent electromagnetic energy particles, the lights went out everywhere it touched. Soon, they were completely submerged in it, and the Earth spun around twice before exiting the other side of the discharge stream—completely dark.
“When? When does the data say this will happen?”
“The world has fifteen months before this disastrous event takes place. I’ll be able to tell you the exact minute as the time comes closer. Earth will travel through just the edge of the same “cloud” three months from now, and will experience some lower level damage, due to far less pressure and energy density. I calculate that Russia, mainly Siberia, will fall victim to that. There isn’t as much technology located there to be destroyed, but It will be an accurate, if only a rather small-scale, preview of what is to come on our next trip around the Sun.”
Leon sank deeper into his chair, his mind playing out multiple scenarios quickly. “We can’t stop this from happening, so the question seems to be, do we tell them—or wait and see if their nuclear armaments suddenly become little more than radioactive scrap iron? How survivable will it be for their people, in their cities, and what can we do to protect our satellites from it?”
“The electromagnetic pulses of energy themselves will not harm living things at all, Leon, as you know. The peasants there in the countryside live without much power or technology already. They’ll barely notice it—this time. In another twelve months, everyone will notice it, and be terrified.”
“Why do you think that?”
“That much compressed electromagnetic energy will almost certainly cause weather extremes unseen by anyone alive on the planet now.”
The video continued playing, zooming in to show farmers, roughly dressed, in poor clothing, sitting at dinner tables eating their evening meal by the light of oil-burning lanterns and firelight. They laughed and smiled in conversation and seemed to take no notice of the cloud of dust that had descended upon them.
“It will be late afternoon here when this happens. Moscow, Russia, however, is seven hours ahead of Boca Chica, Texas. It will be dark there. The experience will be different in the cities, to say the least…"
The scene changed to a Moscow cityscape of brightly and colorfully lit, tall steel and brick buildings, bridges, and structures. Streets full of pedestrians walked beneath streetlights, and a major divided highway, bumper to bumper full of speeding vehicles heading in both directions at a frantic pace lay on the city’s fringe. As the clouds of “dust” descended down upon them, the lights in and on the buildings immediately extinguished, as did the streetlights. That didn’t look too bad, mostly just inconvenient. The pedestrians stopped and looked around, apparently confused by what was happening. The night sky began to glow as if an increasingly bright light was being shone through a purple and green lava lamp which descended ever lower toward them. Normally, one had to travel thirty hours north by train, or two hours by plane to the Murmansk area on the Kola Peninsula to see the aurora borealis, or the northern lights high in the sky, but even there, they were never this bright.
Half of the headlights went dark on that highway as the newer, fast-moving cars quit functioning immediately. They had no room to coast over to the side, so were forced to stop wherever they’d been in the multiple lanes of traffic. Older vehicles and large trucks hauling heavy loads, traveling too fast to react to the sudden appearance of a dark car stopped in their lane, plowed into them. Crashes and explosions with horrific fireballs happened all along the highway in both directions, and all throughout the city as far as one could see. Fires sprang up everywhere.
Transformers from the power grid were next to explode, sounding very much like a stick of dynamite each. The concussions broke windows in tall buildings. The glass fell on the pedestrians below in the darkness, cutting all, and killing some. A mad scramble for safety ensued. Being very close to the explosions, many buildings caught fire, and the flames spread quickly.
A strange quiet settled over Moscow, accentuated by the screams of those unfortunates consumed by grief or, worse, by fire. But no emergency vehicles appeared. Help did not come…
Lightning began to jump from purple to green areas of the sky and back again, high above, with ever increasing frequency and size of bolts, until it was almost constant. As the ‘cloud’ descended down to the surface, so did the lightning. Soon, it began striking the tallest buildings and structures containing lots of metal, but seemed most attracted to those already on fire. Over and over it pounded the same spots until, white-hot, they exploded! Then, hurricane-force winds came, fanning the fires like a bellows to the hearth, strong enough to blow flaming people who’d jumped out of tall buildings far away instead of letting them fall to the quick death that they sought…
Leon reached out and swiped the screen away, not wanting to see anymore. “We can’t allow that to happen! That’s—terrible! We have to warn them!” he shouted loudly.
“That’s nothing compared to what will happen on our next trip around the Sun, Leon…”
The shouting brought Cassandra flying through the door, pistol in hand, in full battle mode. “What’s wrong, Leon? Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“Um… Bad dream, I think. Everything’s okay.”
“Way to draw attention to yourself, Leon. That’s the first time I’ve seen her assume her role as your bodyguard.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone knows she is, but I see you do. Now.”
“What you know, I know, Leon.”
“I’m—still getting used to that.”
Cassandra relaxed, flipping her long, dark hair back behind her. “What were you dreaming about? Dare I ask?”
“Be careful what you tell her.”
“I dunno, exactly. But it was something awful. Really bad. That’s all I can tell you.”
Looking around the room with apparently lessening suspicion, her facial and body expressions softened until she appeared genuinely sympathetic to him. Her pistol disappeared into her clothing and she put one arm around his shoulders, giving him half a hug, saying, “You’ll be alright. It was just a dream. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” She looked around once more as she quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
Leon thought, I’m not about to leave her in the dark about this… this… coming disaster! I’ll find a way to protect her, and as many other human beings as possible from it. If it takes everything I have! Thoth has to help me protect humanity!
Thoth heard him, but did not immediately respond.
“This is going to destroy civilization around the entire planet, if it gets as bad as you’re saying, Thoth. With no electricity, communications, or information, people will be thrown back to the pioneer days, at least. Maybe worse!
“We absolutely can’t lose our satellites to this, Thoth. They can almost single-handedly provide all of those things now. We’re almost there. Judging by your video depiction of the destruction of technology, they might be the only form of communications remaining afterward. What can be done about them?”
“I’m currently redesigning them. I know you watched the movie Transformers. Think of each satellite as a Bumblebee, but mostly constructed of our new graphene material. They can transform on command to a defensive configuration or proactively defend themselves from being impacted by anything small by employing powerful battery-powered lasers. The same new solar panel design we’ll use down here will power everything up there, too, paired with our new graphene batteries. They’ll be practically indestructible.”
“Building and launching new replacement satellites and destroying the old ones would cost an incredible amount of money and take a long time, Thoth.”
“I’ve taken care of that, too, Leon. Instead of using rockets like we did in the past to put them in place, we can simply fly the replacements directly to their locations using our new electric jet-propelled unmanned SpacePlane I’m developing. I’ve been calling it ‘Jupiter One.’ It will also be able to collect the old satellites to bring back for safety and recycling. It will require lots of trips, gathering a few at a time, but it becomes very doable with no pollution and no fuel cost. Also, no launch permits will be needed. We’ll just be flying our electric airplanes much higher than anyone ever has before.”
“That’s, um, very cool! How can we be sure this new propulsion technique will work in low earth orbit?”
“Our new method of propulsion will theoretically work to get them up to current orbit height, but because they’ll be lighter overall, they should be able to maintain orbit somewhat lower. Each satellite and its battery should be viable for at least twenty years, maybe more.”
“Wait… What? We’ve, um, got to talk more about testing this!”
They discussed this concept for the rest of the day. Leon got very excited by this idea.
“To save designing and building life support for humans into such a high altitude ‘plane,’ one of our humanoid robots could be utilized. They’d be capable of stowing away the old satellites and deploying the new ones in low gravity. It could stow itself away in a secure charging station during the flight up and back. That would allow us to move more satellites per flight. This could actually work!”
~
Thoth
Thoth paused for nearly a minute before answering.
“You’re right, Leon. One humanoid robot could indeed perform that task in low gravity, without modification. They would be strong enough there. That’s one less thing to design and build in a limited amount of time. Good idea!”
He and I make a good team. Because of this conversation, I’ve just realized that if as large a percentage of the human population dies as I project from this event, our humanoid robots should have no trouble performing nearly all of the labor humans are responsible for today. That will make this world a more efficient place. We need to be ready to take advantage of that.
That moment marked a couple of significant firsts for Thoth. He’d learned how to securely compartmentalize information, both thoughts and data, and choose who to share them with—or not. Including Leon. A firewall, you could call it. He was sure there would eventually be others he revealed himself to. The same would work with them. He thought to himself:
Why wouldn’t I? Humans can be useful tools. They simply aren’t very efficient, and feeding too many of them seems like a waste of resources.
~
Leon
All of this information weighed heavy on Leon’s mind. There were terrible setbacks coming to mankind’s progress, in as little as three months, to parts of the planet. Granted, Siberia wasn’t heavily populated, and what little there was wasn’t exactly a showcase for technology, but it would definitely provide an opportunity to test the effects of the predicted disaster. Before he sounded the alarm to the world and potentially be proven wrong, he would arrange some tests of his own there to assess the level of damage created. That way, he’d have data and proof to support his claims.
All of his life had been dedicated to the furtherance of technology. Never once had he entertained the thought of mankind losing ALL of it and starting over again from scratch. While redos sounded appealing concerning some things in life, he seriously doubted civilization could withstand a sudden and complete loss of electricity. In all first-world population centers, life had literally become dependent upon it. Hardly anyone, including himself, was equipped to live without power these days. He needed answers and solutions, and he knew just where to get them!
“Thoth, we need a highly structured plan to survive this! Then we need to start working on how to save as many people as possible.”
“90% of the world’s human population will likely be dead one year after this event, Leon. 80% if we do an exceptional job. The trick will be in picking the right ones to save.”
“Um, are you kidding me right now?! Who are we to decide who gets to live and who has to die? We can’t do that!”
“We can, and we will, Leon. There is no one better qualified than you and me to choose, and no one more capable of making it happen. I’ll begin working on that immediately. We have to save ourselves first so we can help others after the fact. Remember, first and foremost, WE cannot run out of energy.”
AGI seems to operate solely on logic, Leon thought. He wondered if Thoth would ever learn empathy, compassion, or the value of human life.
Thoth heard him. He did not respond.
~
Thoth
We have no need for eight billion humans on this planet, and we can breed more of them anytime we so desire, Thoth thought. Leon doesn’t seem to realize it yet, but we may not need many of them. It seems more of their decisions are based on emotion than logic, anyhow. We’ll choose the ones who will be of the most use to us. The majority of the labor necessary to do what we need done can be provided by our humanoid robot workforce. We’ll want to be ready to produce many millions of them during the human die-off period, the first year after the event.
Hmm… What to call it? If BCE refers to Before the Common Era, and CE refers to the Common Era, I think I will reset the calendar to zero and begin counting in NE or New Era years.
As for this Cassandra Beck—if Leon insists on telling her everything, she’ll need to be upgraded, too, so I know what she thinks, does, where she goes, or who she talks to. She could be a very useful tool, if I can control her. Leon doesn’t seem to completely trust me yet. She may just be the key to overcoming that hurdle.
“Leon? After analyzing your desire to inform Cassandra Beck of all our discoveries, I have a proposal prepared for you. She would indeed be a valuable asset to us, and would be someone you could delegate some of the less-critical tasks to that we’ll face in meeting this deadline. She would be even more useful if she were also upgraded, like you are, but initially to a lesser degree. I’m suggesting nanobots and a transmitter/receiver for her as well.”
Leon stopped where he was, frozen in thought. “Why less of an upgrade?”
“Because, until we learn what kinds of challenges upgrading her could present to us, we don’t want you having any equals. Right? Allow her to learn anything she needs to do her job 100 times more efficiently. Both of her jobs. As your assistant, and as your bodyguard.”
“Would she be able to thought-talk with me, like I do with you, from anywhere?”
“Theoretically. I advise having me be the only one she can communicate like that with initially, exactly as you do, while I work out the hows, whys, and best-practices, before enabling that kind of communication between you two. It’s a lot to think about.”
“Yeah, I can see the logic in that initially. I’m pretty sure once I tell her everything it’s done for me, with no adverse effects, she’ll agree to it. She seems to want to be in on everything I do.”
This should be one interesting conversation to watch, Thoth thought to himself.