Linkworld – Teaser

These are the two opening sections to what might one day become a novel that I started writing shortly before my illness made it difficult to continue. Thus the project has been on hold for some time, but could easily be resurrected, as could my main novel project that is also currently on hold (though I have never stopped planning and revising that one).

It should be fairly self-explanatory as to the premise of the story and broadly where it was going. Indeed, with only a further two or three sections it could be made into just a short story, at least for the time being, and I am considering whether to perhaps do that instead, in order to have a finished product.

For now, though, it is just a teaser...

Linkworld

Letter to the Outside.
 
"You may not yet know our Name.

Know now, though, that we are both within and without.

We live within this world--literally within, for our places need to be able to withstand all that you old-style humans can create with which to destroy yourselves--and potentially us with you.
We also live without, in our own societies in many parts of this planet, though all connected with each other in numerous ways.

We are within your racial and genetic history, but have begun to slowly diverge from your physical biochemistry, and already--after little more than a single century since we went our separate way--we are without your susceptibility to most diseases, and your recreational and truth drugs do not affect us, neither do most poisons.

We are within your cognisance, yet you do not recognise our specialness (which we keep well hidden) when one or more of us can be found in your towns and streets on occasion. Yet we always obey all your laws when we are in your places, and appear unremarkable, so avoid bringing undue attention to ourselves.

We are, however, completely outside your governance, monetary systems and other such restrictive and controlling influences, so our social and scientific advances have not been held back by any such impediments to true progress.

We are outside of "the system": we have no political parties, moneyed interests or other such powerful inhibitors, and are firmly determined to survive and grow in quality, though not in quantity. Therefore we have no hunger, save the hunger for advancement and betterment for all.

We have had atomic power for twice as long as you have had it, we produce no avoidable pollutants, and we have been flying gravity-nullifying aircraft for over half a century. You call them "UFOs" when you notice them, and they are ours and ours alone.

There are many other things I could divulge about us, but the time is not right for that. At the proper times, further details will be revealed, on four more occasions. We were not happy to feel compelled to operate in this undisclosed manner, but we had to do so until we reached a point where even partial disclosure could not result in any kind of viable threat to us.

That point has now been reached."

Mirva 3 Cartier-Hosna, Second Resident of Linkworld
28th May 2011 (Linkworld Date 119-38-4)


 
Status Report: LWD 126, Third Quarter
Warm greetings to all who either read or acquire this Status Report!
Today completes the third quarter of the 126th year of the LinkWorld Project. For the benefit of those of our number who need to operate Outside, the date "out there" is 30th May 2018.

As you know, the Outsiders have been made aware of our existence for a few years now, and they have--as we predicted--made several attempts to find us. This is part of the Plan we have for ensuring that they have the best chance of survival that we can provide in our necessarily limited legacy, when we leave this world behind--the Grand Project.

We are preparing them to make the leaps they will need to make if they are to overcome their self-destructive innate natures. For now, we have given them something new to think about, and the programme to come will guide them toward where they will need to be by the time of our departure.
It is unlikely in the extreme that any of their agents will find any of us; but we are of course fully prepared for that eventuality, just in case!

Our own energies are firmly being directed toward the two primary goals of our society: adding new Centres at a gradual but sustained rate; and pushing forward the Grand Project with all the skills at our command.

We continue to be aware of the dangers of inbreeding, and have recently increased the exchange of Residents between the various Centres. This of course is something the outside world would not easily be able to do to the extent that we can, owing to the language and cultural barriers that exist outside. With our common philosophy of life and Linguex to bind us together, we have no such obstacles.

We also have our teleportation tunnels between all Centres now in place, complete with the Inertial Dumping system that allows differences in departure and arrival velocities to be compensated for by "dumping" the inertial difference into the planetary core when we teleport from one Centre to another. I have tried this myself on several occasions, and although it isn't yet a hundred percent smooth, it has improved considerably since the early trials. It will improve as our understanding of the mechanics of the system continues to advance.

However, after six generations, we are now finding it necessary to introduce new genetic material through careful and highly selective breeding with a strictly limited number of carefully chosen outsider males. This practice cannot yet be extended to Outsider females as we have no way to ensure we can acquire the offspring, and would not wish to act in such a manner as to deprive a natural mother of her child.

Although we have the capability to remove all memory of the child's birth from the mother and have her memory and the official records indicate that the baby was stillborn, this we feel would be a morally unacceptable approach. We must never allow our powers and our own needs to lead us to even contemplate less than exemplary behaviour--that is not and must never become our way!

Meanwhile, the completion of the new Centre in Kent, England, brings the total of Centres to 43, 16 of which are in Britain--a superb achievement as we are far less obvious here (where it all began back in 1892, the Great Year) than in countries that are major players on the world stage. It is much "quieter" in the smaller countries, which is why we have only one Centre in each of the superpower countries (and those are there for special reasons) and the next three new Centres are planned for Mauritius, Venezuela and Portugal.

Our total population is now 132,000 or so, averaging around 3,500 per Centre. This scale of Residents per Centre continues to work well, and there are few tensions or other undesirable situations occurring anywhere in the Linkworld as a whole. The few crimes we do have are minor in nature, sporadic in frequency, and reducing in number every quarter.

This is without doubt due to the increasing closeness of our Residents, as more and more of us either acquire through training or are now being born with either telepathic or empathic abilities, or both, however rudimentary those skills and talents might be so far.

The trend is now well established: nearly all Residents can at least sense something of what others nearby are feeling, yet without unwarranted intrusion: it is just the surface thoughts and emotions of those people that are being picked up, and those being 'read' are always aware of what is happening.

On a personal note, I have an advantage over most Residents in that I was privileged to have been one of the very first of us to accept the training and dietary supplements that Mama Barbara devised for us all those decades ago. Who knew then just how far-reaching the effects of those early additions to (and subtractions from!) our food and drink would one day extend?

With the later refinements--and the new compounds that Mama's team have since developed--we can all look forward to life-spans of at least two hundred years, in most cases with no crippling diseases or other severe ailments. Who knows: maybe one day we shall even eliminate the common cold!

The latest news on this programme is the very recent confirmation of a further improvement that promises another forty to fifty years beyond that, and tests completed just yesterday mean that I can now confirm this great news to all Residents!

To all of you I wish good fortune; and I look forward to being able to impart an equally upbeat report next quarter.

Radhlee 1 Dicken-Ashbery, First Resident
LWD 126-38-6