Buffalo Future, 1 ~ Serpent Dove, 06 Pondering

Copyright © 2013 Elder Adok.  First novel in the Buffalo Future series.  First published in Great Britain in April 2013 by Hiss Farm Concepts www.hissfarmconcepts.co.uk  office@hissfarmconcepts.co.uk  Second edition September 2013.  This blog chapter edition June 2015.  The moral right of Elder Adok to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.  All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher.

Transistor's Dance
 ©  Marina Shakhmametieva

Ashley Woodlander and William Inchbald were thick besides being bright. They had a certain chemistry about them. Each was a catalyst to the other. Ashley's quest for advantage gave him a restlessness which somehow suited his ginger features. Most found him intense and claustrophobic; however William was so used to it that he virtually ignored the traits. They had had a few blazing rows which resulted in an understanding which gave space for each other's opinion.

"Did you watch that game last night, Wills? That try by Firano was fantastic. He programmed the ball just right". 

His freckled face screwed up slightly, adding unnecessary tension to an ordinary question.

"No, I was out with Mum and Dad. They had been working together on a dialect recognition programme and hadn't been out of the house for days. They were getting ratty so I told them they needed a break. Couldn't believe it when they took notice of me". 

"Pity. You missed a cool game. What did you do with the oldies anyway, Wills?" 

They walked along the Cam river as they talked; William taking short frequent steps.

"We went down to the new Sports Entirety gym; it's impressive. You really do feel able to compete on equal terms without the virtual being too strong. You actually come off the court sweating". 

"Sounds cool. How do you vary the virtual then?" 

William explained how you warmed up on a trial setting and then had the first game. Depending on the result you arrived at a handicap setting. Play began in earnest with all the players reducing virtual to a minimum. The best players had hardly any virtual at all.

Ashley's father, Silvanus Woodlander, had seeded a child by Holly when she was only seventeen. He had been impatient with having a family at first, but seemed to settle and married Holly when their firstborn was two and was baptized, in fact it had been a joint occasion. Because they had been together for some time a grand white wedding seemed inappropriate, so a small village church sufficed and everyone walked there in wellington boots which were left in a random pile in the porch. It had all seemed so right to Silvanus at the time. How appropriate that a young girl called Holly should become a part of the Woodlander tribe. After all, his sister had been called Arborea. 

When Ashley was only seven his parents split up and he came to know what heartache meant for the first time. It had been as if he had been cut in two emotionally while remaining physically intact. His little head could not, would not understand. He lived from Sunday to Wednesday in Lakenheath with his mother Holly, and the rest of the week in Eriswell with his socalled father Silvanus. The tear of his parents parting was bad enough; now it was reinforced by an arrangement permanently dividing him. He had had no say in all this because at seven he was deemed too young. It was young enough to be hurt but too young it seemed to be loved. 

As a result he buried himself in another world. 'Adventure' and 'discovery' became his parents. William became a kind of brother in Ashley's new 'family.' When Ashley had cautiously dared to trust his new 'brother' the pair became almost inseparable. Sometimes others could not get a look in; they could only speak to them rather than to each individually. William Inchbald's parents had given wise counsel when he first met Ashley. They felt their parental love drawn through their precious and only son towards the heartbroken ginger lad. 

Ashley had felt a sense of betrayal when his father's girlfriend Jeanette fell pregnant. She only lived a few streets away from his mother Holly. At full term Jeanette gave birth to healthy twins. Although Silvanus and Jeanette named them loosely in the Woodlander tradition it was clear early on that Silvanus did not want Fern and Ernest living with him at his Eriswell cottage. However he did regularly visit them and provided sufficient funds so that Jeanette only needed to work half-time in Inflow PR services while their twins attended pre-school; she looked after them the other half of the week.

"Can you be 100% healthy, Wills, or is it like infinity, impossible to reach?" 

Ashley initiated a completely new thread of conversation as the boys sat down with two freshly brewed mugs of red bush tea, a taste they had learnt from their inspirational Metaguild history tutor Gustav Kimmler. 

"Well, what do you mean by health? Pete says health involves all that makes us human: body, mind, soul, and strength". 

He hadn't quite known how to respond so plucked an idea from a recent conversation he had had with Peter Roberts, the Metaguild chaplain. 

"Getting all religious again! Why do you take so much notice of Pete anyway? Why don't you think for yourself, Wills old man?" 

There was a barb to his question but it was also genuine, longing for some solid rock in the shifting sands of his life. 

"You're jealous! When you really want to know, I'll explain about models and faith, but right now you asked me about health. Ash, what do you want health, or faith, or both?" 

Previously William Inchbald would not have responded so strongly, but he had learnt that the passive conversation of his loving parents was not always the right mode for the freckled Ashley Woodlander. 

"Sorry, no offence. I know it's real for you. OK, tell me about health". 

Before replying William smiled at Ashley and winked. They treasured their remarkable gift of robust thoughtful respectful exchange. 

"I will in a moment but I'm going to tell you why Chaplain Roberts helps me. He's integrated and has integrity! Besides his Metaguild role he is part of the Healthy Neighbourhood practice, and vicar to Waterbeach". 

Ashley remained silent; part of what made their bond so strong was that the boys really argued and really listened. William went on.

"It's a bit like computers with hardware, software, firmware, and all those other wares. One bit affects another. By the way I reckon some things just have to be received because you can only find them, not understand them!" 

The trust and rapport between them was stunning. They had a respect for each other beyond their years. As they sparred they drew not blood but nuggets of wisdom. Most wrote the pair off as living in another world, as nerds; but Gustav saw them as the first real potential for his research into wisdom. His basic thesis was that she was available to all ages and in all situations. Mankind had lost the art of listening to her. 

"As we progress, the boundary between natural biological life and artificial processes seems to be fading", argued William. 

"Think of those replacement nerves your Gran had fitted last week. She is already showing sign of beginning to walk again. Is that health, Ash? The oldies keep asking when all the artificial is going to stop but they're first in the queue for replacements". 

There was a long pause as the lads pondered a moment of Darwinian weight. Could evolution of the human species include material that wasn't biological? When mankind first went to the moon technology was so primitive that in order to reduce the weight of computers smaller logic circuits were designed. The first type used germanium but it was too temperature sensitive. Silicon logic circuits were first produced in the 1960s. 

"Think how much has happened since then, Ash. Microchips used to be enormous because of binary counting methods but now ..."

"What do you mean 'binary'?", puzzled Ashley.

"It was a complete system of logic using 'on' or 'off; it was so crude that logic operations took ages".

"Oh yes, I remember, that's partly why counting based on twelve was introduced. We should have been born with twelve fingers and toes. Ten can't be divided by three without getting recurring decimals".

"Point three three ... forever you mean".

There was another short silence before William continued shouting in excitement.

"That's it! I've got it! Hey, écoute mon ami!"

They animatedly discussed how if biological selection improved species why shouldn't nonbiological selection also work in the same way. Had mankind evolve beyond biology by thinking not in tens but in dozens?

"We need to ask Gustav what he thinks".

They went off to find him.

Two years before, Gustav had welcomed them as freshers to Waterbeach Metaguild.

"If I can begin with our style; 'meta' as in 'metamorphosis' is the Greek for change; hence, metaguild is education in transition. Guilds are centres of craft, of wisdom. You come in here green having mastered 'the white heat of technology' but naïve in its use. Technology has tamed you; now you must become its master. By the way, sphinx will tell you who first used the 'white heat' image".

Alfred had anticipated the invitation and sphinx informed him through his contact lenses that Prime Minister Harold Wilson used the phrase' white heat of technology' as in this clip from one of his party political broadcasts in 1966 ... Gustav loved education. Information bored him as it did most others. Nerds were few nowadays; education had come of age in the techno era.

Our little technological toys had in the past been tin gods inviting us to wallow in data, 'brilliant with information,' a phrase coined by Ray Bradbury in his prophetic novel 'Fahrenheit 451'. We had often wasted the wisdom of our elders or had rejected the past. Education had been renewed and Gustav relished his part in that renewal.

"I see, when it comes to sphinx, you have the inside lane Alfred. Good, but you come to metaguild like fat caterpillars stuffed with facts gleaned from the cabbage-like sphinx plant. I want you to transform, to metamorphose into gossamer-light butterflies born on the winds of beauty, art, creation, and spirit".

That brief introduction had captivated William and Ashley. Gustav was more than a teacher; he was a companion on a journey discovering the intimacy of wisdom and her innate beauty. He understood their quest and he had a love of all disciplines not just one. He was the master physician and the others merely specialists. He could see the whole picture while they saw only through their particular specialism. If he had a weakness it was that he saw education as queen not knave.

Where would they find him this time of day? Gustav was not a creature of habit but neither was he an absentminded professor. Enquiry at reception yielded direction to the scented garden behind the cricket pavilion. Gustav had imported the idea from the Botanical Gardens at Cambridge. It appealed to his overall philosophy that boundaries are usually artificial. Wisdom could come to you through all the senses, including smell.

He was sitting, breathing deeply when Ashley and William arrived full of excitement. Gustav's passion was disciplined; although interruption was the last thing he wanted he knew these lads were on to something. How often people artificially created moments to talk? But conversation chooses its own moment usually at an inconvenient time and often late at night. This was such a moment. Young lads are not partial to flower scent, yet Gustav invited them to sit down and breath deeply.

"Take a moment to collect your thoughts so you can express them succinctly".

They duly obeyed but wondered why he asked them to wait. Still, he usually had reasons.

"What's that smell?" asked the boys.

"I'm glad you've noticed. This scented garden somehow puts my thoughts into perspective. Well, let's hear you".

They put their thesis to Gustav. Were silicon and carbon evolution systems the same? He paused for a moment and then began thinking aloud about deterrence. Ashley and William listened because they had learnt that he often approached an answer from an unexpected direction. It was this unpredictability that made Gustav such an inspiration. He compared the complex and vastly expensive deterrence systems keeping the continental power blocks in check with the surveillance and locks for an ordinary house. The difference in scale made the comparison look ridiculous but in fact the principle of deterrence was exactly the same.

"I reckon that it's no different when it comes to evolution. If the processes that are behind the development of carbon based organisms are the same as those behind the silicon revolution then they are both evolutionary".

This was the cue they had been waiting for. Gustav had thrown a conclusion into the ring and they knew he now wanted their take on it.

"But is it natural?" asked Ashley.

"What I mean is who or what is in control?"

He paused not quite understanding what he wanted to ask and yet at the same time knowing he was near the heart of the matter.

"Go on", encouraged Gustav, relishing the scent and the chase.

"Well, if you buck Mother Nature she has a tendency to hit back. You know, all that stuff last century when the food chain was messed about because herbivores were given meat products and suddenly humans developed all kinds of odd diseases. Now with silicon there's no limit to its advance. Zoid has fancy implants in his eyes and ears so he can link to sphinx 24/7".

Gustav thought for a while and then seemingly changed the direction of conversation to bees.

"A queen bee is natural, and yet how appalling that she should become an egg factory. If Mother Nature could do that then perhaps the excesses of biotechnology were more natural than they might appear. Now of course the trade-off in the evolution of the queen bee is that her every need is sated by attendant bees. I think this trade-off principle should be at the heart of any earth diplomacy leading to treaties covering gene modification or bionic implant".

No doubt the conversation would continue but for now Gustav needed space and invited the boys to leave him a while.

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