EDEN and VICTORY STRUGGLE Eden’s founders were far fewer than Ramius had envisioned. There was only his own family, consisting of himself, Ana, and RJ; Hook and his clan, comprising his wife and two children; Jonathan and his wife; and Picket and his wife and two children. All of their elders were frightened and unwilling to take such a chance, as it involved going against everything they had ever known.
It was sad, but Ramius and his friends were cast out— essentially banished—and expected to never be heard from again. The only other Victorian to leave with them was Harper, who came alone, hoping to work out something with Megan, and it seemed to be working out just fine.
Besides Megan, there were the rest of the minions:
Baggus, his wife, Angie, Lobo, and Mr. Li. Altogether, there were basically seven families, assuming that Megan and Angie had found their men, and Mr. Li was solo. There were also three dogs, all of whom got along just fine and were useful in such a small settlement.
So, they needed at least seven houses. Before launching into construction, Ramius had to head below and get Dream to help him with not only construction methods but also urban planning, assuming the village would grow considerably in the future. This planning concept provided a brilliant insight. He found it quite easy to steal away into the shed below his house and enter the passage to the cave with regularity. Urban plan in hand, he sat down with other founding settlers of his original team, and staked out the choice locations for construction. He then did the same with Harper, Baggus, and Lobo. Angie was angry.
“Why do ya only talk ta da men? Ain’t women nuttin’ ta ya? Whaddif I dun wanna live wit’ Lobo? Megan ’n me should have a place just in case doze guys ain’t fer us.”
“Fair point, Angie. Plenty of room here. You and Megan can each have a place, if you want.
“Well, maybe youz right,” Angie said, suddenly realizing the commercial possibilities of having more real estate.
So as a community, they set about building a standard type of house, the concept and engineering of which came from Ramius, compliments of Dream.
If only we could turn the Drakes loose, Ramius imagined.
His plan for his own house was grand. But it had to play out in phases over time. It was designed and built in such a way that each stage of its development was perfect as is, but there was a stepping-stone to a more elaborate dwelling that was always on the horizon, unless he chose to stop. The houses sprung up from the earth after having been partly dug into it, and the appearance of the dwellings blended with the natural surroundings.
Ramius passed along the secrets of cement making and structural considerations that he had learned. No one knew how he had come to know such things. They all just thought he was a genius and accepted him as the de facto leader of their small paradise.
As the little community took shape, Ramius started to think about agriculture. The location of the town itself was not ideal for it. The ideal location was across the lake, which would require them to make quite a journey. Until they could attract more people and establish a farming community on the other side, they would be limited to hunter–gatherer methods of survival. Ramius was soon rewarded, even to his own surprise.
People started coming in small groups of three, four, and five. They were defectors from Victory, escaping debt or other forms of persecution, which was sometimes meted out by Marco himself. This soon created a situation in Marco’s eyes. “Now, people think they can just run away from their problems. That’s not right. I want anyone who leaves with unresolved business to come back and face their responsibilities!”
“Leader, I have another suggestion,” responded Zeus. “Keep it simple. No one is allowed to go there. If they do, they are guilty of treason, punishable by death.”
“Perfect! Draft it up, and let’s post the announcement.” But People came to the Eden settlement anyway, followed by soldiers who would show up demanding their return. To this, Ramius would reply that they were not there.
The guards would search, find nothing, and then return to Victory empty-handed.
“He’s hiding them somewhere!” Marco would shout in frustration. And he was correct. The newcomers were allowed to join the community, but initially, they would need to settle east of the lake, where they would farm until the day that it was safe for them to come live in the town. Ramius thereby had his farmers. Mr. Li volunteered to stay on the eastern shore and lead the farmers. This removed the tension between him and Baggus, as their relationship seemed irreconcilable.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The next step was to establish a border so that the Victorians could not simply run in and make demands. But this would require many more people and would take a long time.
More houses dotted the landscape over time, and within a year, there emerged the appearance of a real town with a central park. Loose stones and boulders were removed from the beach areas, as well as the areas designated as roads or trails. There was a great deal of ongoing exploration as they searched for sources of timber and constituent materials for making concrete and other useful compounds, from Ramius’s bag of tricks.
Most of the exploration was done ahead of time in the privacy of the cave, using Saginaw, and further analysis was provided by Dream. The manned explorations were, thus, always fruitful and, consequently, quite popular. They called for people to follow the routes suggested by Ramius, which invariably led them to useful items that were brought back to the village. There were only a handful of children, but the parents and other adults came together to create formal education, which was modeled after that of Victory, as were most things.
All in all, life was good in Eden. The nicest aspect of all was the ability to stay in one place rather than having to pick up and move hundreds of miles twice a year. In addition, in the winter, when Victory was basically gone, they had no easy way to pay Eden sudden visits. This allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Ramius knew that Eden was only allowed to exist because Marco believed his threats and had witnessed the technology firsthand. Otherwise, he would never be treading so lightly, allowing his so-called fugitives to slowly bleed away to Eden.
Harper still maintained close ties with Buckley and others who frequently visited the village looking for deserters.
Buckley described Marco as “spooked.” He said that Marco had changed; he had become more introverted and his temper more volatile. Many of the affairs were handled by Zeus and a few other council members. There was talk that Marco would step down. Of course, Ramius got a full accounting of these stories from Harper and others. In a way, he felt sorry for Marco.
One reason for keeping the secrets of the past from others was that exposing them would likely ruin many lives.
Some people would not be able to withstand the mentally jarring effect of the sudden collapse of all prior notions of the past and beliefs of the future. Secrets were good for now, and things seemed stable for the moment—until one day they weren’t.
Harper ran into Eden from the makeshift checkpoint they had built a few miles out of town along a trail heading toward Victory. This checkpoint was a new development, and it was meant to intercept Victory soldiers before they just came into town, brandishing their weapons and superior attitudes. It had been built while Victory had been in the south, so that by the time they returned north, this security would be in place. So far, Eden could maintain only two men there, and it fell to Harper, Baggus, Lobo, and another newcomer, Payne, to staff the checkpoint. They alternated duties and only bothered to fulfill them during the daytime.
Harper called out as he arrived at Ramius’s house. But Ramius was below, already aware of the altercation that was unfolding. He had heard the tell-tale beep emanating from the headset concealed in his waist pack as he’d been walking near the lakeshore, looking for a site on which to construct a public building. He ran back to his house, and after looking around to ensure that no one was watching, he ducked into his lower storage room and went into the cave through the wellconcealed entrance. Once inside, he sat at the command center table and watched the Victorian soldiers—ten of them—talking to Harper and Lobo.
He watched a struggle ensue when Lobo appeared to stand up to one of the Victorian soldiers. A fight started, and Lobo was soon on the ground and badly injured. Ramius saw Harper yelling and demanding that the soldiers help to pick Lobo up, and they all started toward Eden village, with four of the soldiers carrying Lobo.
“Dream, can you see where he was injured, and does it look bad?”
“His injury is to his abdomen, lower right side, frontal entry from a knife blade. The perpetrator is this man.” A soldier was shown walking beside those who carried him. He seemed unconcerned. “The seriousness of the injury is unknown. If the penetration at this location was more than ten centimeters, then the injury could be fatal.”
“I’m not sure what that means, but are you able to help him?” inquired Ramius.
“If he is brought here to the infirmary, Drake will do the necessary surgical procedures. I suggest he be brought here as soon as possible.”
Ramius headed for the exit and left the shelter. He ran out and saw Harper jogging away. “Harper!”
“Ramius! It’s Lobo! He’s badly hurt. The bastards.”
“Bring him here. Then, get those soldiers away from my house. I will tend to him myself.”
Harper ran toward the arriving group of soldiers who were carrying Lobo, and he directed them to Ramius’s house.
“Put him below! Over here!” Ramius shouted.
When they reached his door, Ramius and Harper grabbed under Lobo’s arms and pulled him through the door.
He was bleeding badly and barely conscious. “Lay him on this bench here. Now, get them out of here! Go find Johnny or Hook, and see what these soldiers want!” Harper looked at Lobo, concerned and wanting to help. “Go!” Ramius shouted.
Harper ran out to handle the soldiers.
When Ramius opened the concealed entry, Drake was already waiting with some kind of low rolling table. Drake pushed it out and lined it up quickly alongside Lobo, who was lying on a bench. Ramius immediately knew what to do. He lifted Lobo’s legs onto the table and then slid his body onto the table.
Drake immediately retreated into the shelter, pulling the rolling table with him. Ramius followed, curious about what would happen next. Lobo was pulled into a room that Ramius had seen but he’d had little cause to explore it in the past, given that his time below was always limited.
“Dream! What can I do to help?”
“I assume you are not familiar with this procedure. Also, your blood type is not a match for Lobo. Therefore, you are not needed here.”
“Blood? He needs blood? Who has the right blood?”
“I don’t know who has the correct blood type. The person would need to enter the shelter, or you can bring samples here for analysis. I will contact you if blood is necessary.”
“Dream, I don’t want Lobo to find out about this place.
If you have a way to make him sleep, don’t let him wake up in here. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I am leaving to find out what happened. Please save him.”
“We will try our best.”
With that, Ramius left the shelter once again and went in search of Harper and the soldiers. They were down at Hook’s house. As Ramius approached them, he could see that their discussion was heated.
“Ramius!” shouted Hook. “These bastards are threatening us. They say that a whole section will be coming and that we need to surrender all the people who came here after the original group.” Ramius walked up to the smug commander, whom Dream had pointed out as Lobo’s attacker.
“Why did you knife our friend like that?” Ramius was spitting angry.
“He was making a move for me. I saw him go for his own knife.” Harper nodded in the affirmative as Ramius looked over at him for confirmation.
“Shit! Well it’s because you came in here trying to intimidate us. What did you expect?”
“We are under firm orders given to us directly by Marco. You have seven days to hand over the twelve people who we believe are hiding here. If you do not, we will come in and seize this settlement for Victory, and you will all be jailed and will face punishment.”
Marco gained a spine while on his winter holiday. I will remind him. Tonight.
“Where is the rest of the section right now?” asked Ramius.
“They are ready to leave Victory at any time. Marco expects those twelve people to arrive in Victory by the seventh day. If not, the section will run, and you will be finished. My orders are to deliver this message and then return to Victory to communicate your answer. So, what is your answer?” asked the stone-faced commander.
“First of all, you can search our entire village. There are no more here than the original people. Your twelve people, if there really are twelve such people, are not here. They must have gone somewhere else. That is my answer,” responded Ramius. “Tell Marco that if the section marches, I will be watching. That’s all.”
“Very well. Your answer is noted and witnessed here.
We will leave you now,” said the commander. “And I’m sorry about your friend. I hope he lives.”
The soldiers walked back in the direction of Victory and then picked up to a jog as they accelerated gracefully down the trail toward home.
“Harper, Hook. Don’t disturb me until tonight. I will tend to Lobo. He’s okay.”
“Let me help!” demanded Hook.
“No! I mean it. Let me handle this alone.”
Ramius went back in the direction of his house. Harper and Hook just looked at each other, mystified.
“I have no idea what he’s up to,” muttered Hook. “But he is definitely losing it.”
Ramius literally had nothing to do but watch and marvel while two Drakes worked together on Lobo with speed and precision. They would have done it in the dark, but as a courtesy to Ramius, Dream had the lights on high so that he could observe, and she narrated the procedure for Ramius, at his request.
“You said he might need blood,” Ramius stated, who was half dazed and in wonderment as he observed.
“Blood would be optimal, but it appears unnecessary.
We have administered saline solution, and his blood pressure is normal. The bleeding has now stopped. Blood oxygen levels are suboptimal but not dangerous. Lobo will survive.”
“Did the cut cause any major problem?”
“No. The damage to his internal organs is minimal.
What damage there is has now been repaired, although the healing process will require minimal activity levels for about twenty days.”
“Dream, where did you learn how to do this? In Victory, Lobo would have had a small chance of survival with that wound.”
“I do not have an answer. It is part of my abilities. I have many capabilities, all provided by the developers.”
“The developers? Who are they?”
“Some developers are humans. Most of them are SIs.”
“What is an SI?” queried Ramius.
“Synthetic Intelligence. I am an AI. I possess intelligence, but I am not human. SIs are also not human, but they are similar to humans. SIs can develop and create new AIs or SIs.”
“Now I remember. Artificial intelligence. How does your intelligence compare to humans’?”
“Most things I can do much faster. I can also do many things in parallel. But in some areas, humans are superior.”
“Like what?”
“Humans are able to make decisions without much information. It is called judgement. Humans also establish purpose. Another advantage of humans is their versatility. The human body is versatile and mobile. Humans and AIs are ideal partners.”
“I can see that. Thank you for that explanation.”
“One area in which AIs are quite developed, although not to the extent of humans, is empathy. In a given situation, we can estimate the desires of humans. These estimations improve the more familiar we become with particular humans.
This is considered useful, because humans do not need to give as many instructions, especially for routine matters.”
“Give me an example,” commanded Ramius.
“I have deployed Saginaw to monitor the others. They might be curious and might venture into your house and find that you are not there. If anyone approaches, I will alert you, as you may want to exit the shelter to intercept and reassure them.”
“That’s very good! In fact, I was worried about Baggus or Angie especially, coming to look for him.”
“Ramius, your instincts are correct. Baggus is coming from the campfire now. I suggest you join the others, since Lobo is now stable. He can be safely taken out of the shelter by early tomorrow morning. If you agree, you should go now.”
“Okay! I’m going!” Ramius charged down the hall and out into the entryway, where Dream already had the door swinging open. Ramius exited, and the door closed immediately behind him. As he walked out through the back door, he could already see Baggus’ large form as he approached from the lake.
“Baggus!”
“Ramius! Wheya is ’ee? I wanna see ’im.”
“He’s restful and sleeping. Don’t disturb him. He will be fine. We have special ways in Victory. You cannot disturb him until morning, or it will affect his recovery. He may die. You can’t even look at him. That is our belief. Please go back. I will join you. He is fine. I promise you.”
“Hmmm. Can’t even look at ’im?”
“No, definitely not. I know it sounds strange, but we believe in this. Come. Let’s join the others.”
“Okay,” said Baggus half-heartedly, though a little suspicious, as they walked back toward the large campfire near the beach. Ana walked up to Ramius with a look of concern.
“How is he?” asked Ana.
“He’s fine, really,” answered Ramius. He then leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, but then he whispered in her ear about the claims he had made to Baggus. Ana nodded, looking worried.
Ramius could see Angie and Cora pressing Baggus for answers and looking over at him as they talked.
“Let me deal with this,” Ramius muttered and then walked over to them, trying to put their concerns to rest.
“What we gon’ do ’bout dem soldiers? Dayz gon’ come back fa us. If we jus’ tell ’em da people is cross da lake, den day gon’ leave us be,” stated Baggus.
“If we don’t protect those people, we will never move forward as a settlement. And who knows? Maybe Marco will punish them severely. Make them an example to others.”
Just then, Hook and Johnny walked up.
“He’s fine. He will recover fully,” Ramius said, preempting their questions.
“That’s great news,” said Hook.
“What about Marco? Do we need to go back and talk to him?” asked Johnny. “I mean. We can’t fight them. We have no leverage.”
Ramius looked toward the lake and saw the campfire reflecting off the surface of the water. He saw RJ playing with Picket’s dog while the two minion dogs sat on the ground following the excitement with interest, but not enough to participate. It made him think. Most people are just spectators.
They don’t want to be involved in things, but they sure love to watch. I need to give them a show to remember.
“Let’s all think about it and discuss it in the morning.
Maybe we will have some fresh ideas.”
Later, when everyone was retiring to their new houses, an otherwise blissful small community now felt gnawing uncertainty about their future. They were unfairly jolted from a tranquil optimism and plunged into a state of restlessness. But Ramius felt otherwise. He did not share this powerless fear. His only dilemma was what tools were available and which of them it might be appropriate to deploy.
Apparently, the glimpse he had shared with Marco had cast a spell on him, but only for a while. If people were deserting, which they were and would continue to do, Marco had no choice but to stand up, else his tenure as leader would be over. Ramius understood his position. Nevertheless, protecting Eden was his only real concern. He settled into his bed, alongside Ana, but after a while, he left and went below.
Ana felt badly for him. She wondered why Ramius found it so difficult to sleep at night despite the peace and beauty of what they had built and continued to build. She hoped that his sleeplessness would pass. But she had gotten so used to it by now that she barely stirred.
Ramius checked on Lobo first.
“His vital signs are normal. He can be moved at any time, but he should remain lying down and should not use his abdominal muscles, as this could reopen the wound,” Dream reported. After that, Ramius went to the command center and sat down. He took a deep breath and exhaled, knowing that whatever he decided tonight would be a critical step toward either peace and isolation or war and confrontation.
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