A Stone's Throw Away, three

The fun starts at One: Click Here

Three

“Thirty-nine spacecraft launched from the Earth,” the professor said. “Their departures covered nearly thirty years. Every ship was equipped with a Dupe. The early models contained enough raw materials to dupe up to fifty men; later models, up to one hundred. Out of necessity, after they arrive, they will only stay on the ships for a brief time, then shuttle down to the planet taking the Dupe with them.”

“I thought we were going to lunch,” Danny said low enough that only Pete and Brian could hear him. “I’m starved.”

“The professor’s never missed lunch,” Pete said. “He’ll take a break.”

“Yeah, but now it’ll be later.” Then he leaned toward Brian. “Thanks to you.”

“They were launched off platforms from the Space Station. The Space Station itself was a work in progress which had been under construction for decades. Sections of it were quite old when put into service to assemble and launch the spacecrafts.”

“It’s not my fault,” Brian whispered.

“You got him started on the spaceships with that question about Stan.”

“Incidentally, we’ve lost communication with twenty-seven of the craft so far. Considering how much time there is yet to go…that’s not a good percentage. Think about this. Our future hinges on the outcome, and only theories prevail as to why.”

“I can fix that,” Brian raised his hand. With a nod, the professor acknowledged him. “Are we going to lunch anytime soon?”

“Why not? Maybe you’ll pay attention when we get back.”

***

Carrying three thin booklets, Ed looked solemn when he started the afternoon session. Brian received his copy first.

Immediately, he opened it.

“Not now.” The professor lifted one side of the cover and pushed it closed against the desk. “These are profiles. I need you to fill them out. They will be used to determine the apprenticeship you’ll be assigned.”

Brian still needed to sneak in the question about the fox; but he would wait for the right moment.

“Sorry, you’ll need to fill these out on your own time,” the professor said. “You gentlemen sidetracked me yesterday onto the Dupe, and now we don’t have time to cover everything. So this afternoon, we will do an abbreviated history to catch up.”

“Great,” Pete blurted, sarcastic. “Sounds like fun.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t call it fun. It is interesting, though.”

Afterward, Brian believed the professor was only partially correct.

Fun it wasn’t. Interesting proved an understatement; horrifying was a better descriptor.

“The analogy of the Earth being nothing more than an island in space was to have led to the collapse of civilization. It was caused by conspicuous consumption, resulting in the depletion of the Earth’s resources which man used to survive.”

Brian listened but had a hard time perceiving the level of suffering on the scale the professor presented. He tried to imagine being in that position, having to go through it, and genuinely felt sorry for the people who did.

Household use of the Dupe was out of the question. The sum of all of its parts took up more space than the average size home, more like two and a half. At the time though, everyone believed it would shrink to a household appliance, just like the computer.

With the genie out of the bottle, every government vied for the attention of those in charge of the project. They all wanted a Dupe or, at a minimum, its technology, and were eager to pay.

Those in charge of the project realized the opportunity for this would only exist once. They decided to hold back on one crucial part until they had everyone on board who could afford to get on board. It was the only way to make a killing. All buyers would pay through the nose.

They started manufacturing parts using the original blueprints. This didn’t go smoothly. Nothing was standard and, once made, they had to assemble each new part into the Dupe to ensure it worked. Not all of them did. Technicians had made changes under Stan’s direction as he experimented.

Without Stan, they decided the best course of action was to disassemble the whole thing. Piece by piece, they digitalized the entire Dupe.

While that process took place, those who anted up astronomical sums received the designs for the structure best suited to house the Dupe.

The buildings were erected posthaste. No expense was too great, or spared.

The whole process of digitalizing the Dupe took a while. Every step of the way, great measures were taken to ensure every part found its way back into the original. Each part was numbered and accounted for at all times. None of those in charge were sure if it would work when it came time to put it back together, but once reassembled, the Dupe did work, and it worked on its initial start up.

After that, parts began to arrive daily at the construction sites. On-site experts were made available to oversee every project. Naturally, this was at an additional cost, but no sites went without them.

Long before the invention of the transporter, now Dupe, fossil fuels had not kept pace with demand.

At first, people thought it was cool to go green and know their environmental impact number.

Later, it became more serious and created tension; everyone became more aware of what needed to be done to reduce their impact number. They paid close attention to their own and their neighbors’ use of precious resources. Some even kept records and reported their findings to government officials and the news.

History clearly revealed that black gold was responsible for placing seventy-billion people on the Earth at the same time.

Before fossil fuels were discovered and used, the amount of work--a hunter-gatherer had to perform just to exist another day took up the majority of his time. It was hard on him, too. As a result, he didn’t stick around long.

Fossil fuels provided freedom to people in masses. No longer did they have to hunt and gather and, as a result, the art of self-sufficiency went by the wayside. This knowledge was completely lost to subsequent generations as they too contributed toward the goal of convenience and further specialization.

While fossil fuels drove the food supply, it didn’t take long for man to set unprecedented numbers on the earth. Toward the end, in every second of every day, hundreds of people died. The numbers that came into the world were stellar. There was a total net gain, on average, of over a million people a day.

Fossil fuels were an incredible resource, but not renewable.

If you had lived when it was abundant, it truly was a blessing for the individual.

As fossil fuels depleted, it became increasingly expensive, and not for its name’s sake, black gold. It added an enormous amount of stress to each individual with no end in sight.

Supplies continually dipped below demand. Governments at first used rationing for short periods to equal things out.

During this time, the space program approved building spacecraft with Dupes. The expectation was that someone would figure out how to make the Dupe work as a transporter, memory intact, before the ships arrived at their destinations.

The whole project took on a feverish pitch. Dupe parts were whisked away as needed to ensure launches took place when scheduled. To those in charge of the project, they represented pork belly and became priority.

As time went on, shortages of fossil fuels became more serious. Processing plants operated below capacity. The Earth no longer had the ability to give it up at the required pace. It wasn’t available any longer in abundance.

Deforestation accelerated to an unimaginable scale as wood became an alternative to heat homes and drove newly built steam engines. Thousands upon thousands of businesses sprung up overnight to cash in on alternative fuels.

Those efforts didn’t stem the tide of shortages. Rationing became permanent. It stung the poor, the least influential.

In a drastic measure, even farmers were included. They plowed what they could plant and harvest, not knowing if they would receive more fuel. Some didn’t bother; they sold their allotment at huge profits. This generated a scare and it became necessary to ration food immediately to prevent people from clearing shelves and hoarding.

During the following year, severe shortages coupled with climate changes broadened rationing to include every aspect of consumption. Home gardening became the rage.

Dwindling reservoirs had more holes punched into them, in an effort to get what was there. It was desperately needed.

Unprecedented, the space program moved. New facilities went up within eyesight of several of the Dupes. Plans to secure the Dupes with fortifications were given the go ahead.

Businesses generating alternate fuels began shutting down. The resources needed to produce their product wound up allocated for people. Home gardening proved just how inadequately people were prepared to deal with the volume needed to feed a family. They had no inkling how much land it took to feed one person for a year.

Local governments could not feed the people they arrested, and arrested they were, in droves, mostly for stealing food. Of course, incarceration didn’t mean food. Instead, they were marched out of those jurisdictions and ordered never to return. It made matters worse wherever they ended up.

All at the same time, one hundred and fifty eight crucial duplicator parts shipped around the globe. Within a week, all Dupe Installations came on line.

There was a feeling of euphoria, and much rejoicing took place at each facility. Because of the Dupes, they were able to hand out food in abundance. There was pride, as people thanked those in charge for full bellies, something that had not happened to most of them in years. The Dupes began to run around the clock providing food.

Instead of helping, it only proved how desperate the situation had become. Total pandemonium broke out where the Dupes were located. As word spread, people flocked to them. At first, they came by the hundreds, then the thousands, later, literally millions showed up. This took place at each of the one hundred fifty nine Installations.

There was no way to make something from nothing. When the Dupes ran out of raw material, they asked those waiting for food to bring it in exchange. In no time, the vegetation for miles around was hacked to the ground and fed to the Dupe.

It was at that time Douglas Fairbanks stepped up to the plate and declared he was in charge of all Dupes.

Douglas was in on the ground floor. An associate of Stan’s, he’d worked with Stan from the very beginning. The board of directors selected Douglas as Stan’s replacement after Stan transmitted himself prematurely.

Desperate times required desperate measures. Douglas took matters into his own hands and made a series of bold moves.

He saw the need to unify the Dupe Installations and did so. They were overwhelmed. They quickly accepted his leadership because of his connections to the top brass at the United Nations. He provided assistance in the form of the military.

His first act at the helm was to declare the Installations independent. His rationale was they were unique, having the means to provide food.

Those in charge at each facility agreed to this. It gave them freedom from the constant demands of the most influential, and the selfish motivations placed on them by their previous owners. Douglas informed the Installations that his second act was to allow the dead to become raw material for the Dupes.

This act put the facilities in a position where they could continue to operate around the clock. They could not, however, provide for millions.

The rightful owners filed lawsuits in different courts all around the world, where they stayed in litigation until the point was moot.

Fearful of losing control while people continued to show up in masses, Douglas ordered the military to construct a fence around each of the Dupes and began the process of developing a constitution to govern the Installations. He even went as far as to provide the military with the area each Installation would encompass and ordered any land seized to meet those requirements.

Labor for the project was easy to come by; work for food.

People arriving at the end of the line lost hope when they saw how futile it was. They themselves would long be dead before making it to where the food was handed out. The line was too long, if it really was a line anymore. Chaos prevailed as they began to butcher one another like a school of starving Piranha looking for the weakest member in the school. Once found, they were vanquished.

Reports of cannibalism poured into Douglas office.

Close to the Dupe, the military kept order, beyond that, they were not as concerned. The Dupe fed them. They didn’t need to be told what to do. They would protect it by force if necessary.

There were those who joined the military, hoping to get an assignment with the United Nations. They did this because there was a chance of getting a position at one of the Dupe Installations.

Before the fences were completed, Douglas quietly increased the military presence at each Installation. Some who signed up found they beat the odds.

Eventually, Douglas himself moved into one of the facilities. Outside of the fences, food became very scarce; it was hopeless. People were desperate and Douglas no longer knew who to trust.

At the Installation, it was worse than Douglas imagined. The reports had always been grave, but never conveyed the magnitude. With so many people, it became unsanitary, and had been for some time. People died as a result and those that fed off the corpses died too.

Douglas stood inside the fence and surveyed how bad it had become. Bodies were stacked up all around the outside of the fence. New piles seemed to appear overnight faster than the Dupe could incorporate them.

The Installation reeked of death.

From within the safety of the fence, Douglas ordered all Installations to stop the feeding frenzy. It wasn’t helping. He ordered the military to lock down the facilities and told them anyone attempting to get in was to be dealt with severely. They complied, as every Installation came under siege.

Douglas began to view his fellow man as an infestation.

Forty-six Installations did not prevail against the onslaught of humanity and succumbed. They were no longer under Douglas’s control. Each experienced untold calamities until there were only enough people alive at each renegade Installation that the Dupe could support.

Over time, Douglas dealt with the renegades. Their survival depended on a machine. Those machines were duped from a prototype and prone to break-downs. They could not supply their own parts. Other facilities had to Dupe them. Deals were made that brought them back under Douglas’s control.

Over the next year, three-quarters of the Earth’s population ceased to exist.

“Seventy two years later, Douglas Fairbanks’s successor announced in a celebratory ceremony that the last pocket of infestation was gone. There was no one left on the Earth who lived outside the fences,” the professor concluded. “The Earth was on its way to recovery.”

“Why didn’t they use the Dupes to make more Dupes?” Pete asked.

“There was nothing they could do other than make food,” the professor said. “Once they began, they couldn’t stop. Look at what happened when they did.”

“So there weren’t enough Dupes, just like there weren’t enough trees to keep the Polynesians from starving too,” Danny surmised.

“Exactly,” the professor confirmed. “It was too little, too late.”

***

Several days later, the big day arrived. Brian was excited. When the professor finished teaching for the day, he told Brian and Pete to wait in the hall.

They were going to find out what apprenticeships were available.

Twenty minutes later, Danny told Pete it was his turn.

“What did you get?” Brian asked as Pete went inside the classroom.

“The professor told me not to say.” Then as he walked away, he added, “He wanted to be sure he was the one to tell you.”

“That never stopped you before.”

“He made it very clear.”

“He knows you too well,” Brian said louder, so he was heard down the hall.

Even though Brian was excited, he was also nervous. He was finally getting the chance to talk to the professor alone and he could ask about the foxes. Although that question wasn’t as important any longer, Brian had thought of something else and had devised a nifty little plan where he would avoid embarrassment and find out if he was right.

Pete didn’t take as long as Danny and when he opened the door, he said, “Your turn.”

“Thanks a lot,” Brian said as he got up to go in.

The professor was seated at one of the student desks. Brian sat in the designated seat next to him.

“I’ve finished reviewing your profile, Brian,” the professor said. “In a quick synopsis, it shows your primary aptitude lies in child rearing and they could really use your help in that area.”

“What?” Brian doubted this. The professor had it wrong. What was he thinking? Brian never dreamed...how did the professor know? Brian knew he was not suited for that.

“Yes, your profile shows you have a gift for it.”

“Really?” Brian said, trying to understand. “I never gave it a thought.” The professor going down this route made Brian completely forget about the fox.

“Give it a try, Brian,” the professor encouraged. “You can always change to something else if it doesn’t work out.”

“Um, is there something else my profile shows I might be good at?”

“Maybe research. That would place you with Sandy at the Research Center. But you should only consider that if child rearing doesn’t pan out. Even though research is a worthy vocation, I don’t think you’ll do as well if placed there and they don’t have the same need for help.”

Though the choice didn’t suit Brian either, because he had heard rumors of people working long hours, it sounded better than taking care of a kid, even if the professor believed the Research Center was not as good fit for him.

“What else?”

“I could assign you to a maintenance crew. They’ll take you, but they don’t need anyone.” Performing maintenance would be like doing chores all day. He didn’t like the idea of that either.

“Anything besides those?” Brian asked.

“That’s the end of the list.”

Brian had something else in mind he wanted to do.

“Do I have time to think about this?”

“No more than a day.”

Brian focused on the choices given him, thought for a second, then looked at the professor, “I don’t think child rearing or maintenance are things I want to do. If I had to decide right now, I’d lean toward research, but I have something I would like to do.”

“And that would be…?”

“Fly the plane,” Brian said.

“There’s nothing in your profile showing you have an aptitude for it. I think it would be best if you apprenticed at child rearing.”

“I really want to fly.”

“Well, you don’t get to fly just because you want to fly. There’s a host of other responsibilities involved. Most of the time you would be taking care of those things.”

“I’m sure there is, but that doesn’t matter. I will do whatever is required.”

“Brian, really, I don’t see it working out. That would apprentice you with the Chief,” the professor said, as if Henry was the worst person to be stuck with.

“Chief Henry is by himself,” Brian said, now doubtful there was any chance. “Doesn’t he need help?”

The Chief was the head of security and the only one who flew. Because of the small number of people living at the Installation, no more than five hundred, he was the only one who held that position. Henry was not that old. Brian figured it was because of Henry’s age the professor discouraged him.

“Okay,” the professor gave in. Brian could tell he was ready to call it a day. He had seen him before when he went tactful. He was doing it now. “I’ll talk to the Chief but if he doesn’t need you around, you’ll choose one of the other options.”

“I guess so,” Brian said, feeling a glimmer of hope. “You will talk to him.”

“I said I would. I’ll find him after dinner.” The professor then turned in his chair to get up. He was done; the counseling session over.

“Wait,” Brian said, thinking he had forgotten something.

This stopped the professor, though he stayed turned in his chair ready to go. Only his head tilted back toward Brian, waiting, his posture acknowledging his annoyance at the delay.

“Brian, I already gave you all the options there’s going to be and I told you I would talk to the Chief.”

“That’s not it. I have a question,” Brian stammered. “Does the Dupe ever get it wrong?”

“What?”

“When it makes something, can it go wrong?” Brian tried to clarify, and he could see the question caught the professor off guard. “Has it ever made a mistake?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?” Brian pressed.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s a machine. It follows a program. It doesn’t think for itself. It puts atoms in place, duplicating exactly what you programmed it to do.”

“But we can change the program, right.”

“Yes.”

“Did we ever get it wrong?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” The professor looked puzzled as to where Brian was going with this. “Precisely what do you think went wrong?”

“Do we Dupe animals?”

“No,” the professor answered.

For Brian, all the scenarios that he’d played through his mind ended in a ‘yes’ here. It was the only logical explanation. Man duped the animals and either changed the program or the Dupe made an error and got it wrong. “It was done a long time ago,” the professor clarified, “but we don’t do it anymore.”

That was all Brian needed to hear.

“Tomorrow you’ll tell me what Chief Henry said?” Brian respectfully asked. He now had a chance to fly and he knew it had to be an accident or a change in the program which made the animals different.

“Sure, kid.”

He would soon move on with Danny and Pete to an apprenticeship.

He wasn’t sure at what yet, but he wasn’t going to end up with a kid and he hoped he didn’t end up working for Sandy at the Research Center.

The maintenance crew was looking better all the time.

If only he could fly!

© C. Lee

To continue reading this work:

Four: Coming of age