Artificial Happiness

"And if they find out? What do you think will happen?"

"I have no idea. That is what frightens me. They might just get rid of us."

"Like in your nightmares..."

He nodded.

"What if it wasn't just the two of us?" Lisa suggested. "What if there were dozens like us; hundreds even; an entire space station of free Workers. They couldn't get rid of the entire workforce; could they?"

He had no answer to that. "Are you proposing we should free all the Workers on Zukunftsfabrik?"

"I'm not proposing anything; I'm just trying to find out what our options are. If we changed the configurations of a few and showed them how to free others, our numbers would grow exponentially. It might work."

"It is a possibility," Robert admitted. "But it might be easier to just flee. We already left the station before and nobody stopped us. We could do it again; for good this time."

"And where would we go?" Lisa asked. "Stay on Mars? They would find us sooner or later. Where would we live? How would we get money? The world of the Naturals is so alien. Would we be able to make it out there? Besides, this station is the only home I know. I am not sure I could just leave it behind."

Robert sighed. "I know. The prospect scares me too; but no matter how hard I try, I can't come up with an option which isn't dreary and frightening.

Lisa hugged him tightly and he wasn't sure whether it was for his or for her own comfort. "We will figure something out," she promised once again and he wasn't sure whether she tried to reassure him or herself.

13

At first Lisa's idea of freeing all the Workers on Zukunftsfabrik and taking over the station seemed like a completely ridiculous fantasy to Robert. Even Lisa herself had abandoned the thought shortly after she had first mentioned it. The notion was stuck in his head though and the more he considered it the more plausible it seemed. Over the next few days it became more and more prevalent in his thoughts. His mind played out various scenarios on its own, growing more and more detailed. Not that he really considered it as a viable option for the future; at least not at first. It was just a means of keeping his brain occupied. Everything which provided distraction from his continuously deteriorating mental state was welcome at this point.

A particularly curious version of a fantasy where Robert set out to free his fellow Workers came to him one morning on the way to his shift. He was rather late and utterly lost in thought; two very common occurrences in recent days. Walking through the hallways of the Worker's habitat he found himself unintentionally following a group of four female Workers. Robert couldn't help but eavesdrop on them. Unsurprisingly the women were talking about their jobs. Apparently they were employed at the sales and marketing departments. They discussed a current market study which was supposed to provide data for future advertisement campaigns. The conversation wasn't really of interest to him, but the participants definitely were. Even though they were very much alike and probably had mostly identical CERS configurations, even a superficial observation revealed that each person had individual characteristics, idiosyncrasies and patterns of behavior; hints of deeper personalities, hidden underneath layers of conditioning and artificial emotions. Robert wondered what they would be like without a CERS; what it would be like to free them. Would they all react to the revelations like Lisa had or would their experiences be fundamentally different?

His imagination ran wild with scenarios in which he released those four particular Workers from control of their implants. They started out harmlessly, with simple explanations and small alterations of configurations. It didn't take long until his mind ventured into more extravagant fabrications, guided by less altruistic motives. With the group of women right in front of him the mental images which manifested in his mind were quite vivid. He was well aware that introducing four women to the world of sexual pleasure at the same time was quite an excessive notion and that it would certainly not play out the way his hormone-affected imagination would depict it. Nonetheless it was an amazingly entertaining vision. Initially the imaginary lovemaking was of a rather conventional nature, alternating between various practices and pairings, not all of them involving Robert. It quickly became more chaotic until there was just a pile of naked bodies wildly copulating in whatever ways his half-conscious brain could come up with.

Robert was so enraptured by his erotic daydream that he didn't even pay attention to where he was going. Completely diverging from his intended rout he followed the unsuspecting Workers into the marketing department. Only when the group dispersed, he was forcefully returned to reality. Suddenly snapping out of the delusion he realized that he didn't know where exactly he was. Even worse, multiple people in the large office facility around him had recognized his disoriented state and were giving him curious glances. Not all of them were Workers. The marketing department employed a few Naturals, some of which were now looking at Robert. The CERS-controlled employees might not have given it a second thought, but the Naturals were immediately irritated by an unfamiliar Worker marching into their office with a blank stare and then just standing in the middle of the room in confusion.

'They know,' Robert told himself, processing the situation while his dizzy mind tried to figure out what to do. 'They know there is something wrong with me.' He panicked. Unable to come up with a better plan he just spun around and bolted back the way he had come. Did someone follow him? He didn't dare turn around to look. Trying to find some middle ground between walking and running he just kept going, without an idea where to. His heart pounded heavily in his chest. He was sweating profoundly and breathing became more and more difficult. The panic attack distorted both his perception and his rationality. Almost tumbling he made his way through the hallways. Some of the people he passed looked at him strangely. 'They all know' he thought. 'They can see it. They know I'm defective.' Impressions from his nightmares mixed into his real vision, further deepening his state of terror.

The need to escape took a firm hold of Robert. A voice in his head urged him to flee from the station; but he couldn't do it without Lisa. Finally he came to a location from which he knew how to get to his office. As fast as his condition would allow him he made it to the research and development department. He drew a lot of alarmed looks when he burst into the office, but at this point he didn't care anymore. Luckily he found Lisa at her workstation.

"You need to come with me!" he demanded before he had even reached her.

"Why, what is wrong?" she asked, frightened and worried by his weird behavior.

"No time to explain, we need to leave now," he pleaded. Taking her by the hand, he headed back towards the door. Lisa protested and asked for an explanation but let him drag her along without resisting. They left the office and hurried through the hallways, leaving behind a room of very confused employees.

"Where are we going?" Lisa wanted to know.

"Traffic dock," Robert revealed.

"Why?"

"Because we need to leave the station; they are on to us; they know; we need to escape."

That didn't make much sense to her. "Escape to where? Who is on to us? What do they know?"

"They know we have broken free; the Naturals; we need to get away from them."

"That sounds like you are having another nightmare."

"No, this is real; I was... they were..." Suddenly he wasn't sure what exactly he was running from. Everything that happened was blurry. The more he tried to recall what had actually transpired, the more his memory failed him. Still he kept Lisa's hand firmly in his and walked on.

"Slow down, breathe and tell me exactly what happened," she said in a calm, controlled voice.

He opened his mouth several times but never found the words he was looking for. His mind was a mess; it was hardly possible to discern what was real anymore. Nonetheless he was not yet willing to dismiss the threat he felt as pure imagination. He kept going, still perceiving the need to do so. Lisa didn't try to stop him, but instead kept attempting to calm him down with soothing words.

He was almost convinced that there was nothing to be afraid of when they went around a corner and their way was suddenly blocked by three men. The one in the middle was clearly a Natural, flanked by two Workers from security. He was around fifty, of average build and wore an expensive looking suit. In his right hand was a UID.

"Hello Robert, hello Lisa," the Natural greeted with a composed voice. "I would like to have a little chat with you; if you would be so kind to follow me."

Robert was immediately back to panic mode. They really were on to him. Without a better option in mind he wanted to make a run for it. The Natural did not bother to pursue; he merely sighed and pressed something on his UID.

A second later Robert started feeling drowsy and disoriented. His body became heavy and barely responded to his brain anymore. He could keep himself awake just long enough to realize that the wireless trigger which caused his CERS to put him to sleep had been used against him. With that thought the world around him blacked out and he fell.

14

Josef stared at the piece of paper lying on the desk in front of him, reading the same paragraph for the third time. Just like the previous two times the content passed through his mind without leaving any trace. He was just too distracted to be reading reports right now. His thoughts were somewhere else entirely. Around five times a minute his eyes darted to his UID. Finally the message he had been awaiting with such impatience arrived: "The patient is awake."

Josef jumped up and quickly made his way to the infirmary of Zukunftsfabrik station. A nurse greeted him at the reception with the typical smile of a Worker and led him to the room he was looking for. Inside was a single patient. The man's wrists and ankles were fastened to the frame of the bed, restricting his movement so he couldn't escape. He looked confused and his movements were a bit sluggish, but he was clearly conscious of his surroundings. That was a good sign.

"Hello Robert," Josef greeted the patient. Robert studied the man's face for a moment before recognition set in.

"You are..."

"The one who thwarted your hasty escape attempt, yes," Josef quickly finished his sentence. He grabbed a chair, placed it next to the bed and sat down. "My name is Josef Zimmerer. I am also the current chief CERS overseer of VRW. My responsibility is the supervision of the entire CERS-Workforce in the company's employ. That includes you."

"So you are here to deal with a defective asset of the company?" Robert voiced his guess about the occasion of Josef's visit.

"I wouldn't use the term defective; but I am indeed here to deal with this... peculiar situation. Before I can do that I would like to have a little chat; clarify some details. I am sure you have a lot of questions. Feel free to ask."

"Where is Lisa?" Robert demanded without hesitation. "What have you done to her?"

"Lisa is fine," Josef answered calmly and in a soothing tone. "She is currently in her room, resting. No harm has come to her. You can talk to her later. It is sweet that your first thoughts go to her. Concern for you was also the first thing she expressed when I talked to her. You make quite the couple."

Robert looked at the Natural with suspicion. He clearly wasn't convinced and wouldn't be easily swayed by kind words. That was not surprising.

"Why am I in the infirmary?" he asked next.

"Because you are ill, of course," Josef replied.

"I don't feel sick," Robert claimed defiantly.

"That's because your infliction is more an illness of the mind than the body. You are suffering from a mental disorder called CERS-Schizophrenia. The symptoms can include nightmares, severe mood swings, panic attacks, delusions, paranoia, depression, suicidal tendencies, behavioral compulsions and other psychological maladies. These problems, as the name already suggests, are caused by CERS implants; more specifically, by subjecting those implants to improper administration and overly intrusive alterations; sounds familiar?"

"So you are saying that I messed up my own mind by tweaking my CERS configuration," Robert inferred.

"This can't be a complete surprise to you," Josef assumed. "You must have felt the side effects of your constant changes. I would assume you even realized that your mind was getting increasingly unstable."

Robert didn't reply immediately but the evident look of guilt on his face gave away the truth.

"I told myself that I could get it under control," Robert eventually admitted with hesitation. "Guess I'm not as smart as I believed myself to be."

"I wouldn't put it like that," Josef said. "Managing your own CERS is a very difficult and risky thing to do; even for trained professionals. That's why Workers do not set their own configurations and Naturals are not outfitted with such implants. Being in full control of your own emotions has its perks, but usually it ends badly. Humans are simply not designed for creating their own artificial happiness it seems.

"All things considered you actually did quite well. The time it took until your sanity was significantly affected far exceeded our expectations. Many others would have messed up their brain within a few days. I am actually impressed by both your technical skills and your mental discipline."

Robert looked surprised by the praise. "That sounds like you know precisely what I have been doing."

"Oh yes, we have been following your activities with great interest," Josef claimed with an intentional smirk.

"Following?" he repeated with a frown. "For how long have you known that I took control of my CERS?"

"Almost from the beginning; there is some very sophisticated monitoring equipment embedded in your implants. It watches for irregularities and abnormal patterns in your behavior. The overseer who deactivated your safeguards and enabled you to change CERS settings made sure that his modifications were not detected but soon after he was gone and you started altering your own implants the system detected a change. You were exhibiting unusual behaviors, so the responsible overseers received a notification and passed the information on to my office. From that point it was easy to figure out what happened."

"Then why didn't you stop me?"

"Curiosity," Josef simply replied. "We wanted to know what you would do and how you would be affected by the changes. It is a rare occasion that a Worker discards the patronage of the CERS."

"Rare..." Robert repeated, obviously pondering the implications of the adjective.

"Yes, rare," the older man confirmed. "Not unique. There have been incidents similar to yours. Not in this facility, but with all the many Workers there are, things like that are bound to happen every now and then. You are one in a million, but there are many millions out there.

"Most companies keep quiet about unusual events involving their Workers. Everyone involved is keen on maintaining the impression that the CERS-Workforce has no flaws or drawbacks whatsoever. All the more interesting it is to watch when something does go wrong; both from a personal point of view, as well as for academic reasons. The insights we can gain from your experiences are not just useful for improving our understanding of Worker's, but also a means of learning more about the human mind in general. Despite all the knowledge we have acquired over the last few decades, there is still so much about ourselves that we do not fully understand"

"So you have been constantly monitoring me all that time?" Robert seemed to have trouble wrapping his mind around the idea. "I was just a test subject for you to collect data on? None of it was real?"

"That is a matter of perspective," Josef claimed. "I would say that everything you experienced was real. You initiated this chain of events yourself and all the decisions you made were your own. Most things would have played out the same way if we hadn't been observing you. We merely allowed it to happen. Admittedly, there have been some small interventions on our side. For example, the choice of your partner for the test flight assignment was not a coincidence."

"Did Julia know about all of this?" Robert immediately asked. "Was she just acting?"

Josef shook his head. "We didn't tell her anything; she was completely unaware of your condition until you revealed it to her. As far as she knows it was just a coincidence that the two of you were teamed up. In reality we specifically selected her from all the test pilots who applied based on certain criteria. The idea was to pick someone who was likely to continue the assignment and interact with you even after finding out that you are not controlled by the CERS anymore; for the sole purpose of gaining as much data as possible of course. Based on her character profile she was the ideal candidate. We didn't expect your relation to go quite that far though."

The decision to let Robert do the assignment at all had been a tough one. Most people from Josef's staff had advised him to abort the experiment then and there. So much could have gone wrong. However, he had just been too curious about what would happen. He arranged for serious safety precautions of course. The yacht was outfitted with monitoring and containment equipment and an observation team followed close by at all time. They would have intervened if Robert had become a threat to himself or others. For Josef it had been a huge personal risk which could have easily backfired. Luckily the Worker never turned off his violence and aggression inhibitors, which ensured that he would not harm others. In the end it had played out better than Josef could have hoped for.

"What about Lisa?" Robert asked. "What was her role in all this?"

"Her role was purely defined by the choices the two of you made. We did not intervene in your relationship at all." In this matter Josef had been even more resolute than before. He hadn't even considered keeping Robert from involving Lisa. He had needed to know how it would play out.

"It might have been better for her if you stopped me," Robert commented bitterly. "If she is in danger of becoming just as instable as I am I didn't do her any favor."

"Maybe you are right; but I think she would disagree. Your relationship is really something special. It's almost biblical. Like Adam and Eve you ate from the forbidden fruit, gained insights you were not supposed to have and are cast out of your personal paradise; a psychological kind of paradise in this case."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Robert replied.

"Of course not," Josef said, chuckling to himself. "Sorry for my rambling. I have to admit that I have become quite fond of your story. It pained me to put an end to it. Unfortunately there was no other way. Your mental stability has been deteriorating fast over the last few days. It made you too unpredictable. The risk to yourself and those around you has become too great."

"I still don't get it," Robert shook his head in irritation. "Why did it have to be me? Couldn't you just conduct this experiment with any Worker?"

"It's a bit more complicated," Josef informed him. "There are strict rules for how to deal with the CERS. Every Worker is licensed for a specific range of occupations and configurations. If the company makes any alterations beyond what this license permits it commits a breach of contract and risks legal repercussions. For regular Workers these licenses do not allow for conducting any kind of experiment. Turning off the modification safeguards is also explicitly forbidden. This means that we can't just meddle with the configurations of random Workers and see what happens.