2 Book 1 - 2139

Etana Daedo was nine years old the day he was to attend his first academy entrance trial.

"Etana are you ready?" his father called.

"Yes, Father," he answered as he left his room. It was the year 2139, and Etana was prepared for the most important day of his short life.

"She'll be here soon. I had to promise we'd go with her," Ikaros said.

Etana nodded. It didn't worry him. Cisse seemed to affect his father more.

A hovervan pulled up outside the front door to their small home, and a door slid open.

"Hurry up, get in," Cisse called from the van.

Ikaros rushed his son down the pathway and into the vehicle. They sat opposite Cisse who was still in her hoverchair, which was locked into place. She'd had to order a special hovervan to accommodate her chair.

"Let me have a look," she said excitedly, grabbing Etana and bending his head over to the side. "Wow, it's big! Is it military grade?"

"Yes, its gen three military-grade from Svarski," Etana said.

"It's not big though," Ikaros said. "His head is small."

Cisse scoffed. "His head is massive! Look closely at your son, Ikaros. Now look at mine. It's a gen two civvie." She looked lost in thought for a moment before she asked, "Have you put any apps on it, Etana?"

"No, it was only installed yesterday," Etana said.

Cisse looked at Ikaros. "Don't you think it's a bit premature?"

"Why?" Ikaros said defensively. "He finished cyberschool early with almost perfect scores; how hard could it be?"

"The others are thirteen," Cisse said sternly.

"If it took them that long to finish cyberschool, he'll trounce them!" Ikaros declared.

"They don't do cyberschool, not this crowd. They have tutors. Human tutors," Cisse informed them.

"I'm not concerned," Ikaros said.

Cisse leaned forward and summoned him closer. "I'm helping with the fees. I know you don't have enough, and I have bitcreds from the settlement too."

Ikaros's face darkened and he went rigid. He looked out the window as the countryside peeled away for the city. They lived just outside Paris, and the fifty-minute trip couldn't be over quick enough. "If bitcreds were an issue, he could attend a regional academy," Ikaros said finally.

"Fortescue is only Tier Three, and with your employee discount, I can't imagine you would get a better deal anywhere else," Cisse said. "These military academies are not cheap to run. Not with the cost of mechs, exos, facilities, and living expenses."

"As much as I hate Fortescue for what they've done to us, it was always Laine's dream that he attend and become something," Ikaros said, the sadness evident in his voice. He continued to look out the window before saying softly, "Okay." He didn't make eye contact with Cisse.

Sensing the tension, Etana looked out the opposite window, not wanting to intrude on the adults' conversation. They always underestimated him; he was able to piece together everything from a few conversations. His father and Cisse possessed a false sense of security in thinking a young boy would not comprehend their words.

Cisse and his mother had worked together at Fortescue as power engineers, and his father worked in another part of the company as a robot mechanic. Ikaros was apparently an exceptional mechanic, saving the company thousands of bitcreds a year.

Etana's mother and Cisse had been working on an experimental reactor, known as the Zero Point Energy - or ZPE - Reactor, when an out of control experiment caused an explosion that killed his mother and almost killed Cisse.

Both Ikaros and Cisse received payouts from Fortescue. Etana was sure there was something in the details about negligence or responsibility for the accident on the company's part. It was these bitcreds that were paying for his entrance into the military academy. Otherwise, it wasn't something they could normally afford. Only the richest one per cent of the population could.

"We're almost there," Cisse said after a long stretch of silence. Etana and his father had been staring out separate windows for what seemed like an eternity.

The grounds of Fortescue Military Academy were extraordinary. The first impression it gave, with its sandstone walls and grass-covered lawns, was that of a medieval castle. It was impossible to house almost eight thousand cadets in the few buildings that were topside. The Academy proper was an underground city.

His father walked with Etana to the registration desk while Cisse followed behind in her chair.

The robot attendant scanned him and sent him to the trialist's arena topside. Every other attendee was much taller than the nine-year-old Etana. They were all thirteen or older, and it seemed like most of the thirty thousand trialists were staring at the short boy.

There was a barrage of academic tests including logic, human studies, philosophy, strategy, abstract thinking, and problem-solving.

Then came the physical tests, which involved an obstacle course with climbing, balance, coordination, strength, and stamina assessments.

He was not prepared for the physical assessments and failed dismally. Tragically he was given a DNF when he was unable to complete the course, and it made him wonder if he was going to be disqualified from the entrance exam entirely.

"Son, it's fine," Ikaros said, but he looked worried. He glanced back at Cisse, and she looked as worried as he did.

They headed back to the trialist zone and waited for the virtual attendant to give Etana his overall results.

As he walked into the zone, a large display appeared in front of him. It had the results of the individual tests, but his eyes quickly skimmed past them down to the bottom. 'UNSUCCESSFUL' was all it said. He didn't bother looking into the details of the academic scores; it was pointless.

Dejected, Etana turned and faced his father and Cisse. He had failed them. But that was nothing compared to the feeling that he had failed his mother.

Historical Text

By Etana Daedo May 4th, 2139 - Cyber School assignment

A one-hundred-year summary of major events on planet Earth from 2040 to 2139.

The catastrophe of climate change had come and gone as little more than a bump in the road. Species annihilation was averted by major changes to the energy mix from a fossil fuel source to renewables and versions of nuclear fission.

In the year 2074, a series of breakthroughs led the world to rely on cold fusion reactors for almost its entire energy needs. Other than a few islands going underwater and the extinction of a few dozen species, the human race survived without too much trouble.

As a lasting consequence from worldwide sustainability measures, the population rarely ate animal-based food with the reasonable exception of arthropods. Feeding fifteen billion people with different forms of meat was not a sustainable practice in terms of land and water use. The primary source of protein changed from animal to plant and insect matter.

While the world skipped past a mass extinction event and avoided planetwide anarchy with climate change, it came close to Armageddon with the rise of robot labour. Throughout the twenty-first century, robots replaced humans in the workforce. It started with factories and logistics, and even driverless cars, trucks, and trains played their part before spreading to every industry and sector.

Robots replaced humans in telephony-based services and nearly every facet of the information technology sector. AI programming and machine learning improved rapidly throughout the century. Tasks and functions that were extremely difficult for robots and computers soon became possible and commonplace.

These robots were not yet sentient, but a robot could learn on the job. In the information and communication sector, although they had no body and no bipedal mechanical structure, these entities were also referred to as robots or 'bots.'

People worried about driverless cars, arguing that they weren't safe. In reality, the software driving the cars was far more reliable than human beings on a mass scale. Governments became addicted to removing drivers as a matter of reducing traffic congestion. A highway that could handle a million human-controlled cars a week could handle ten million driverless vehicles, due to their far superior traffic management, merging, and consistent speeds.

Unemployment rose from ten per cent to twenty, and once it hit fifty per cent, the world began to buckle. Anti-robot protests led to riots, which led to anarchy in a few of the major cities, followed by a lethal crackdown. The cycle repeated. And protest plans turned to revolution plans.

The European Union was an early adopter of a universal basic income (UBI or ubi), which the population received whether they worked or not. With this underpinning income, the entire population could afford housing and food; with money to spare for a few entertainments. If they wanted to work they could earn extra, without it affecting the government stipend.

The political arguments raged and were fought far longer than the economic ones. But with unemployment creeping towards sixty and then seventy per cent, it became an issue of, 'Either accept this policy or the whole world will burn.'

The ancient Roman leaders knew they had to give the people bread and give them entertainment. Nothing had changed.

Without the UBI policy, governments would have toppled. The corporations that existed to increase their share price, their shareholders, and the wealthy one per cent all agreed: If the people had money, they would spend it. And their world was turned by money. The corporations were caught in a vicious cycle of reducing labour for productivity, but as fewer people had jobs, there was less spending in the market. UBI was a solution to this downward spiral.

In the year 2100, every citizen – no matter their wealth and earnings – was paid a stipend from their respective government. The internet was cheap, most conveniences were cheap, food was cheap, and people could live happily, doing no work whatsoever. Nearly all entertainment was delivered on demand to the person or home via old school monitors, goggles, headphones, or a multitude of devices. Or to the new wave of first-generation cybernetics.

Twenty per cent of people worked for corporations as support to the backbone of what was a much larger workforce of robots. Some worked in research or maintenance. Some worked as supervisors or as one of the few humans in any number of sectors.

In 2039, the world's richest one per cent owned fifty per cent of the world's wealth. By the year 2100, this quotient was over ninety per cent. The majority of people spent everything they received, and because they were housed, fed, and entertained, they were compliant and content.

The eighty per cent who received the UBI and did not work a salaried job were free to earn extra by working for themselves. A motivated person could increase their capital and change their circumstance. While the majority of the population sat happily at home watching streams of the latest drama or playing games, a few driven individuals produced creative content or products for others to consume.

Whether they streamed, sold digital items for the latest VR or AR application or game, programmed their own application, made music, or had some other creative outlet, this group had the ability to make a little extra, and in some cases, a lot.

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Then, in 2101, the world was forever changed. Humans were no longer alone.

An alien vessel parked itself in orbit around Earth; the people of earth abruptly panicked. The panic was accompanied by end of the world predictions, general mayhem, and rioting, until the aliens spoke to the entire world.

"We are peaceful. Do not despair. You are not alone," they said. The alien vessel then released four mechs which dropped to the planet. One to China, one to the European Union, one to Russia, and the last to North America. These four mechanical monoliths walked the earth and handed each of the world's superpowers a mysterious package.

The contents of those packages were never revealed, but what happened after that event was dramatic.

The world was gripped with paranoia. Instead of humans fearing and fighting each other, for a short while they were united. The world had a common 'them' to fear. Instead of 'us' being North America and 'them' being Russia or vice versa, 'us' was now the world and 'them' were the aliens.

The major arms and armament manufacturers began producing robot soldiers. But after they failed every test against human soldiers, who could adapt spontaneously and with strategic variety, the direction moved towards mimicking the aliens, and mech research and development began in earnest.

Mechs came in all shapes and sizes. Not only were the traditional arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Saab Industries involved, but tech companies like Huawei and DaVinci entered the fray as well. New companies were born and grew rapidly; Svarski, Templars, and Tiger Eight to name a few.

Governments invested heavily into mechs as did private enterprise controlled by the richest one per cent. Academies to train the pilots were born either as offshoots from the top universities of the world or sponsored by the large mech companies as proving grounds and to showcase their strength.

In 2120, amateur competitions came into fashion where old technology or fabricated parts were used to homebrew a mech fitting into one of three predefined categories. The fights went viral, and it quickly became an international obsession. A VR game was one thing, but when real alloy mechs and dreams were blown to bits, it had a visceral appeal that digital could not come close to.

Amateur circuits soon became professional, and with increased views and crowdfunding, it soon turned into emerging businesses around the globe. Even the major corporations took note of the innovations coming from the 'entertainment combat mechs.'

The world had become infatuated with mechs. VR and AR games were produced, with the most popular one, World of Mechs, born in 2112, only to be surpassed by League of Mechs in 2120. Finally, the latest dominant game to grip the planet was the first VR MMO to utilise AI-enhanced cybernetics used by the real world military mechs called CyberMech. It will be launched in 2139.

Mechmania was born from fear and idolatry of the aliens that visited in 2101. Although they had not been seen since, the event still gripped the planet almost fifty years later. The knowledge that humans were not alone drove innovation and constant improvement. If war did come from outer space, the world would be ready or would die trying.