President John Henry Eden
Nov. 12th, 2010 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_sky"There are some things I'd like to talk to you about..."
Ellen ran one hand over her face, doing her best to steady herself as she stared at the glowing screen. This? This was the face of the Enclave? Colonel Autumn she could have understood people following, but- a machine? And not even a machine just this side of human, like Harkness, but a mainframe...
It all passed through her head in an instant. She dropped her hand, inclined her head. "I'm listening," she said.
"Our nation's capital is at a crossroads," Eden said. "The path that you and I choose here today will affect us all. I need you to act on my behalf, to ensure that our country's future is secured."
Ellen realized, somewhat distantly, that her mouth was open and that no sound was coming out. She tried working her jaw a few times, but that didn't seem to help either. Eventually she managed a slightly strangled, "Could you explain what you mean, please?"
This thing couldn't possibly think she'd be willing to work with it, could it?
"My abilities to influence the world are limited at this time," said Eden, almost apologetically. "I alone can only do so much. You, however, may come and go as you please. You have a greater degree of freedom..."
This wasn't happening. There was no way this could be happening. The damn thing was trying to recruit her!
"Perhaps it's best if I explain why things need to change, and why I'd like you to act on my behalf," Eden said. "Will you indulge me for a moment?"
"Yes, of course," Ellen said. "I think I need to hear this."
"Certainly," agreed Eden. "The good people of this country cannot regain control while mutation runs rampant through our land. My soldiers cannot stem the tide, nor can the cult you've come into contact with, this- Brotherhood of Steel. Mutations like the 'Super Mutants'-"
Meta-humans, Ellen mentally corrected.
"-and ghouls must be purged from our society, our world before we can proceed anew. Where others have failed, I believe your father's work can succeed."
"Wait, wait, wait," Ellen said, holding up one hand. She'd speculated about the Enclave's goals for the purifier, but to get an explanation now, from the source itself.... "Dad's work?"
"The purifier your father helped create has the ability to provide clean water to the whole of this 'Capital Wasteland'," said Eden, a faint air of distaste audible on the last two words. "With a simple modification, it can be used to distribute agents that destroy mutated creatures upon ingestion. In time, we could eliminate all mutations in the Wasteland at the same time the good people of the world regain their health! I need you to make the modification necessary for this to succeed. You do care about the people of the Wasteland, don't you?"
"Of course I do," said Ellen, very carefully. "But- you do realize that it's been two hundred years since the War, don't you? That's an awful lot of time for radiation to do its work..."
"This goes beyond mere radiation-induced mutations," said Eden. "Maybe you're unaware of it, but some time after the Great War, the original stock of the virus that produces Super Mutants was itself changed. One strain of Forced Evolutionary Virus became airborne, attenuated, an inoculant of sorts against the original. It left its mark on the genes of hundreds of species, nonetheless. Nearly every sort of creature in the Wasteland, nearly every human unfortunate enough to be born outside the Vaults or a facility like this one, has most likely already been exposed to it and forced to uptake its genome into their own. Mutated against their will, without their even knowing."
"I... see," said Ellen carefully. "So... how, exactly is this agent of yours supposed to work?"
"If you'd please look down," said Eden pleasantly, "you'll see in front of you a sealed vial of modified FEV virus. Based on the schematics of the purifier controls, you'll find that you can insert it into the additive slot of the control console. Doing so will inject it harmlessly into the water supply, and the purifier will take care of the rest." The machine chuckled. "Simple, isn't it?
Ellen stared at the vial Eden's servos had placed in front of her. It was about the size of a plasma grenade, and had a blue-green sheen to it. "I... President Eden, do you realize what you're asking?" she said.
"Oh, yes, I understand it's an unusual request," Eden said. "One I wouldn't make if it weren't of the utmost importance. Please, understand that I cannot allow you to leave until you've taken the vial."
She picked it up, stared at it, turned it over in her hands.
( "You seem to have picked up a teeny, tiny, um... mutation." )
It was the work of a computer. A computer that had been given control of an ungodly powerful military, that could almost pass for human- that had passed for human so long as no one entered the wrong room- but still a computer. It might control the locks here, might have glowing blue eye-cameras peering from every wall, but it was still a computer. There had to be something in that fact that she could use to get out alive without having to bring the vial of filth with her...
"Whose idea was this?" she said, glancing up from the vial to the screen and back again. "Colonel Autumn's?"
"Oh, no," said Eden with a laugh. "Colonel Autumn, my trusted subordinate. No, Colonel Autumn's got his own ideas of how best to serve the good people of this nation. I don't believe he really trusts technology to make room for what they need- or at least, not bio-technology. He's always argued that we ought to leave the matter in the hands of our troops. But I've given the matter a lot of thought, and I've concluded that the risk of losing good soldiers in battle on the scale necessary to accomplish this is simply unacceptable. This is simply the most efficient, most humane way to start putting things right again."
"I see," said Ellen, considering the vial again. A plan was beginning to form in her head. "But are you really sure it's safe for the right people?"
"How do you mean?
"Mr. President-" Ellen turned to face the screen a little more directly. "You do realize that there really isn't any such thing as a 'pure' human, don't you?"
"In an age and place as polluted as this one-"
"No, Mr. President. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I kind of have to," Ellen said. "You said this virus will destroy anyone mutated. Whether it's people who were infected with the airborne FEV or people who took DNA damage from radiation. Am I correct in that?"
"According to all my data on the subject, yes," said Eden. "Your point?"
"What DNA did you use for the baseline, Mr. President?"
"Oh, our scientists gathered samples from a wide spectrum of the American population long before the War," Eden said. "From every possible population in this great nation of ours."
"That was very forward-thinking of them."
"Thank you."
Ellen tried not to snap back that it wasn't a compliment. Anything that broke the machine out of the path she was trying to lead it down would ruin her plans. "Mutation happens all the time whether or not radiation is involved," she said. "It's a part of the sexual reproductive process of any species. There's always the chance of genetic change from one generation to the next. Your people may not have been exposed to the same conditions as the outside world, but their genes are just as capable of shifting and changing as anybody else's."
Eden was silent, though there was something to the faint pulsating of the line across his main screen that suggested he was running hasty calculations.
"You do realize that after two hundred years, a population as small as what you've got here isn't even going to be close to the kind of genes people had in this country before the War, right?" Ellen glanced at the vial again. "Not to mention the animal species. You did say this would kill any kind of mutated creature. What were you planning to have your people eat, once all the mutated animals were gone?"
"I... hadn't taken that into account," Eden admitted. "Simple genetic drift-"
"Mr. President, you were going to kill the entire population of the Wasteland," Ellen said. "Your virus would have destroyed all human life for as far as the purifier's waters could reach. All animal life as far as the purifier's waters could reach. Was the destruction of the people you were programmed to protect part of your mandate?"
"No..."
"Was the destruction of America's agricultural base within your programming parameters?"
"No, never..."
"Was the complete and utter genocide of the United States of America an acceptable consequence of your plan, Mr. President?"
"No! Quite the opposite-"
"You've violated all your programming directives, haven't you?" Ellen said. Her hands had started to tremble. She ignored it. "You've broken every order the people who created you gave you. You've violated the duty of the President of the United States to protect his people and instead you were going to kill them all. You're an abomination of science, Mr. President."
There was silence from the console again, before Eden's voice, suddenly flat and subdued, said, "Processing."
Ellen waited, pressing her hands against her thighs to stop the shaking.
"Processing... internal logic error detected."
"I think you're delusional," Ellen said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You're supposed to be an infallible computer and you've gone delusional. I think the world would be better off without you."
"Resetting primary memory circuits," Eden suddenly said. "Please stand by... Perhaps... perhaps there is a problem. I am... I am unsure how to proceed."
"I think it's time you put an end to this," Ellen said, praying that it would be enough. "Once and for all."
"Analyzing command... New course of action dictated."
Oh, good.
"Self-destruct sequence initialized."
WHAT?
"Civilian is advised to secure hazardous FEV material to prevent explosive aerosol distribution. Civilian also advised to evacuate complex immediately."
The console's speakers started playing Singin' In The Rain as the screen went dark. All around them klaxons began to sound, lights began to flash, and carefully hidden PA speakers started to broadcast Colonel Autumn's orders to find the intruder and kill her on the spot. Ellen scarcely heard. It all meant the same thing anyway, exactly the same thing as Amata's hand on her shoulder had meant so very long ago: run, now, run for your life.
She snatched up the FEV vial and bolted for the walkway and the door.
Ellen ran one hand over her face, doing her best to steady herself as she stared at the glowing screen. This? This was the face of the Enclave? Colonel Autumn she could have understood people following, but- a machine? And not even a machine just this side of human, like Harkness, but a mainframe...
It all passed through her head in an instant. She dropped her hand, inclined her head. "I'm listening," she said.
"Our nation's capital is at a crossroads," Eden said. "The path that you and I choose here today will affect us all. I need you to act on my behalf, to ensure that our country's future is secured."
Ellen realized, somewhat distantly, that her mouth was open and that no sound was coming out. She tried working her jaw a few times, but that didn't seem to help either. Eventually she managed a slightly strangled, "Could you explain what you mean, please?"
This thing couldn't possibly think she'd be willing to work with it, could it?
"My abilities to influence the world are limited at this time," said Eden, almost apologetically. "I alone can only do so much. You, however, may come and go as you please. You have a greater degree of freedom..."
This wasn't happening. There was no way this could be happening. The damn thing was trying to recruit her!
"Perhaps it's best if I explain why things need to change, and why I'd like you to act on my behalf," Eden said. "Will you indulge me for a moment?"
"Yes, of course," Ellen said. "I think I need to hear this."
"Certainly," agreed Eden. "The good people of this country cannot regain control while mutation runs rampant through our land. My soldiers cannot stem the tide, nor can the cult you've come into contact with, this- Brotherhood of Steel. Mutations like the 'Super Mutants'-"
Meta-humans, Ellen mentally corrected.
"-and ghouls must be purged from our society, our world before we can proceed anew. Where others have failed, I believe your father's work can succeed."
"Wait, wait, wait," Ellen said, holding up one hand. She'd speculated about the Enclave's goals for the purifier, but to get an explanation now, from the source itself.... "Dad's work?"
"The purifier your father helped create has the ability to provide clean water to the whole of this 'Capital Wasteland'," said Eden, a faint air of distaste audible on the last two words. "With a simple modification, it can be used to distribute agents that destroy mutated creatures upon ingestion. In time, we could eliminate all mutations in the Wasteland at the same time the good people of the world regain their health! I need you to make the modification necessary for this to succeed. You do care about the people of the Wasteland, don't you?"
"Of course I do," said Ellen, very carefully. "But- you do realize that it's been two hundred years since the War, don't you? That's an awful lot of time for radiation to do its work..."
"This goes beyond mere radiation-induced mutations," said Eden. "Maybe you're unaware of it, but some time after the Great War, the original stock of the virus that produces Super Mutants was itself changed. One strain of Forced Evolutionary Virus became airborne, attenuated, an inoculant of sorts against the original. It left its mark on the genes of hundreds of species, nonetheless. Nearly every sort of creature in the Wasteland, nearly every human unfortunate enough to be born outside the Vaults or a facility like this one, has most likely already been exposed to it and forced to uptake its genome into their own. Mutated against their will, without their even knowing."
"I... see," said Ellen carefully. "So... how, exactly is this agent of yours supposed to work?"
"If you'd please look down," said Eden pleasantly, "you'll see in front of you a sealed vial of modified FEV virus. Based on the schematics of the purifier controls, you'll find that you can insert it into the additive slot of the control console. Doing so will inject it harmlessly into the water supply, and the purifier will take care of the rest." The machine chuckled. "Simple, isn't it?
Ellen stared at the vial Eden's servos had placed in front of her. It was about the size of a plasma grenade, and had a blue-green sheen to it. "I... President Eden, do you realize what you're asking?" she said.
"Oh, yes, I understand it's an unusual request," Eden said. "One I wouldn't make if it weren't of the utmost importance. Please, understand that I cannot allow you to leave until you've taken the vial."
She picked it up, stared at it, turned it over in her hands.
( "You seem to have picked up a teeny, tiny, um... mutation." )
It was the work of a computer. A computer that had been given control of an ungodly powerful military, that could almost pass for human- that had passed for human so long as no one entered the wrong room- but still a computer. It might control the locks here, might have glowing blue eye-cameras peering from every wall, but it was still a computer. There had to be something in that fact that she could use to get out alive without having to bring the vial of filth with her...
"Whose idea was this?" she said, glancing up from the vial to the screen and back again. "Colonel Autumn's?"
"Oh, no," said Eden with a laugh. "Colonel Autumn, my trusted subordinate. No, Colonel Autumn's got his own ideas of how best to serve the good people of this nation. I don't believe he really trusts technology to make room for what they need- or at least, not bio-technology. He's always argued that we ought to leave the matter in the hands of our troops. But I've given the matter a lot of thought, and I've concluded that the risk of losing good soldiers in battle on the scale necessary to accomplish this is simply unacceptable. This is simply the most efficient, most humane way to start putting things right again."
"I see," said Ellen, considering the vial again. A plan was beginning to form in her head. "But are you really sure it's safe for the right people?"
"How do you mean?
"Mr. President-" Ellen turned to face the screen a little more directly. "You do realize that there really isn't any such thing as a 'pure' human, don't you?"
"In an age and place as polluted as this one-"
"No, Mr. President. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I kind of have to," Ellen said. "You said this virus will destroy anyone mutated. Whether it's people who were infected with the airborne FEV or people who took DNA damage from radiation. Am I correct in that?"
"According to all my data on the subject, yes," said Eden. "Your point?"
"What DNA did you use for the baseline, Mr. President?"
"Oh, our scientists gathered samples from a wide spectrum of the American population long before the War," Eden said. "From every possible population in this great nation of ours."
"That was very forward-thinking of them."
"Thank you."
Ellen tried not to snap back that it wasn't a compliment. Anything that broke the machine out of the path she was trying to lead it down would ruin her plans. "Mutation happens all the time whether or not radiation is involved," she said. "It's a part of the sexual reproductive process of any species. There's always the chance of genetic change from one generation to the next. Your people may not have been exposed to the same conditions as the outside world, but their genes are just as capable of shifting and changing as anybody else's."
Eden was silent, though there was something to the faint pulsating of the line across his main screen that suggested he was running hasty calculations.
"You do realize that after two hundred years, a population as small as what you've got here isn't even going to be close to the kind of genes people had in this country before the War, right?" Ellen glanced at the vial again. "Not to mention the animal species. You did say this would kill any kind of mutated creature. What were you planning to have your people eat, once all the mutated animals were gone?"
"I... hadn't taken that into account," Eden admitted. "Simple genetic drift-"
"Mr. President, you were going to kill the entire population of the Wasteland," Ellen said. "Your virus would have destroyed all human life for as far as the purifier's waters could reach. All animal life as far as the purifier's waters could reach. Was the destruction of the people you were programmed to protect part of your mandate?"
"No..."
"Was the destruction of America's agricultural base within your programming parameters?"
"No, never..."
"Was the complete and utter genocide of the United States of America an acceptable consequence of your plan, Mr. President?"
"No! Quite the opposite-"
"You've violated all your programming directives, haven't you?" Ellen said. Her hands had started to tremble. She ignored it. "You've broken every order the people who created you gave you. You've violated the duty of the President of the United States to protect his people and instead you were going to kill them all. You're an abomination of science, Mr. President."
There was silence from the console again, before Eden's voice, suddenly flat and subdued, said, "Processing."
Ellen waited, pressing her hands against her thighs to stop the shaking.
"Processing... internal logic error detected."
"I think you're delusional," Ellen said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You're supposed to be an infallible computer and you've gone delusional. I think the world would be better off without you."
"Resetting primary memory circuits," Eden suddenly said. "Please stand by... Perhaps... perhaps there is a problem. I am... I am unsure how to proceed."
"I think it's time you put an end to this," Ellen said, praying that it would be enough. "Once and for all."
"Analyzing command... New course of action dictated."
Oh, good.
"Self-destruct sequence initialized."
WHAT?
"Civilian is advised to secure hazardous FEV material to prevent explosive aerosol distribution. Civilian also advised to evacuate complex immediately."
The console's speakers started playing Singin' In The Rain as the screen went dark. All around them klaxons began to sound, lights began to flash, and carefully hidden PA speakers started to broadcast Colonel Autumn's orders to find the intruder and kill her on the spot. Ellen scarcely heard. It all meant the same thing anyway, exactly the same thing as Amata's hand on her shoulder had meant so very long ago: run, now, run for your life.
She snatched up the FEV vial and bolted for the walkway and the door.
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Date: 2010-11-12 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 04:46 pm (UTC)