Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 23-24

"At some point, Julien had planned to," she said, "but after he met you, he noticed what you had said to me about deceit. If pressed, he didn't know whether you could lie convincingly enough to make people believe the important lie we spread about."

"Pearce fed the American's information about us," I said. "Julien's lies did help protect us from that, but they appear to know now."

"Yes," she said, "I can't imagine how they found out. I guess we hadn't covered our tracks as well as we thought."

"So, do other countries know about us?" asked Aiden.

"How did we get our passports? Are they fake?" I asked.

"Yes, Aiden, they do know about you, and I'm sure many of them want to help --mostly help themselves anyway, but they don't see the bigger picture. Don't worry, Rick; your passports are quite real. KGSC has influence, especially in France."

"In KGSC's view," said David, "could you describe the bigger picture?"

"The picture comes in several pieces; some of them are terrifying," said Yukiko. "The enhancement will change the economic and social structures of our planet. We cannot doubt that. The medical industry has fully integrated into our society, and it represents many trillions of pounds or dollars per year worldwide. That industry will collapse, and the world's economies will go with it, and unlike the housing bubble, it will not bounce back.

"Piece two, this will put people out of work, affecting their families. Those two parts will take time, though, and the world's governments have time to embrace this change and supply relief if they can or will. Nothing will stop it from spreading, so they better think about doing something or riots will happen.

"I would like KGSC to help with the third piece. When people discover a cure exists for their ailments, they will want it. We have a lot of desperate people in the world who want to survive. We want to make sure every person who wants it, gets the enhancement as quickly as possible."

"What will KGSC get out of doing this?" asked Cadmar. "Will it take advantage of their desperation?"

"Unlike some of our biggest competitors, KGSC has no investments in the medical field at all. Therefore, we have nothing to lose. So, we will make it completely free," she said, "and I have managed to convince the board that KGSC will get brand loyalty and a financial blow to one of our major competitors in return. We have utilized a facility that could do the work, and we've had the equipment up and running for the last week. We have an exponential system in place that will allow us to produce enough enhancement for everyone. We have designed a machine that will not only do all the processing in a sterile environment but produce the result in a gelcap form; you would only need one dose. We've estimated that once we have enhanced seventy percent of the population, the rest will happen on its own."

"That's very clever," said David. "What will you do when the food supply runs short?"

She paused for a moment to think. "Julien said you all eat a lot. So, that's connected to the enhancement?"

"So, you don't know," said David with a gentle shake of his head. "Your bigger picture is incomplete. The pieces you described sound correct to me, but they are minor compared to the larger ongoing problem that this planet will face. Globally, you already cannot feed your expanding population, and many people get no food or subsist on scraps right now. We tend to eat consistently more, but when someone first gets the enhancement, they can expect to eat double and triple what they normally will for a few meals. As it stands, the body of people who subsist on little food is doing its best to maintain homeostasis; if it didn't, they would more rapidly die. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"So, what will happen if someone gets the enhancement, and they don't get enough food to eat?" she asked.

"Well, that's the question," said David. "On Jiyū, we would never give the enhancement to someone we didn't intend to feed. I know the Foundational Enhancement's nanos persistently do what their program tells them, regardless of all other factors. The enhancement will probably utilize all the ingested nutrients to establish itself inside the body and make repairs, even if those repairs take longer than normal depending on food intake. However, I suspect you will discover a minimum threshold of daily nutrition that the body must receive before it survives nano integration; anything less would result in death."

She gasped. "I had no idea."

"And that's one more reason we didn't just hand it to you," said David. "Julien recorded a message from me. I must assume he wanted that for you. Aiden, does Julien's mobile still have that?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Maggie, Cadmar, and Rocke haven't heard that conversation. Would you play that, please?"

Aiden began the audio file: "At the moment, those countries need information. What did they give them, and what will it do? Might we expect to see unstoppable soldiers invading other countries?"

"They're giving them a Jiyūvian nano-based enhancement," David said. "We didn't intend it for people who live on Earth. The British and the Americans will like some of its effects, but if they want unstoppable soldiers, they will not achieve what they're seeking by it.

"I must warn you, though; they will destroy the economies of this world through a snowball effect. It will upend the social and political power structures that this world has relied upon, and chaos will reign. Unless --and I use this in a most literal and critical sense-- unless most of the people of this planet become someone they're not, they will doom this world as you know it. I wouldn't call that bad from my point of view, in a broader, long-term sense, it allows you to become better off in many ways. However, due to the nature of the people here, there will be those who die from this. We couldn't just hand it to you for that precise reason. Despite your nature, we care deeply about all of you. You're our family."

"How long could we be in chaos?" asked Le Gal.

"For as long as the people here create it," David said. "Let's go, chaps."

Le Gal yelled, "They won't change."

"I know," David yelled back, "they're not ready, but change is coming...Please, don't follow us." The recording ended there.

Yukiko had tears in her eyes.

"Did you just not believe me?" David asked her. "I feel torn about whether I should encourage you to go ahead with your plan. On the one hand, it will stop from dying many people who don't have to, but on the other, it will kill the people who would otherwise have lived longer, even in poverty. Nothing will stop it either way, though. Eventually, everyone will have it, and to the survivors goes the planet. However, in intentionally offering them an easy means of obtaining it, you are taking on a responsibility to ensure that it doesn't kill them. People love to absolve themselves of responsibilities. They prefer to pass it onto the individual with rationalizations and fine print, even when the individual's circumstance has left them disempowered and hindered from having the tools to help themselves."

"What should we do?" she asked.

"That's up to you," said David. "I don't think there are any perfectly good outcomes." David looked at the rest of us. "Do any of you have an idea?"

We all shook our heads.

"The faster people get it, the less time it gives their government to supply relief on the food issue," said David, "providing they intend to bother at all. Since this world uses money, the more money someone has, the greater their chances of obtaining food to survive nano integration. So, if you only gave the enhancement to privileged people, you are punishing the underprivileged for being poor. Then, as the privileged people demand greater amounts of food, the greater number of poor people it will create from the price increases. I find that repugnant."

"As the medical industry collapses," said Aiden, "people will lose their jobs, and with no money, they will have even less access to food."

David looked at Yukiko. "If you intend to hurry that collapse along, I suggest you come up with a plan to make food more readily available. Otherwise, you're not doing them any favors."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Yukiko never thought anyone could scupper her brilliant plan. She wrote KGSC's board members an email detailing the reason the endeavor must stop and sent it over the ship's satellite internet connection. It made her unhappy and embarrassed, but she knew that we did not make the facts. It would have shot the messenger to hold a grudge. Still, it took time for her to recover enough to carry on a conversation at mealtime.

The turbulent waters near Sri Lanka had most of us on seasick pills well before our arrival there. The captain made the exterior of the ship off-limits due to the possibility of falling overboard. We could see a great swirl of clouds hanging over India's landmass, some of the last remnants of the dying tropical storm.

Thanks to the pills, we could cope with the ship tossing us about, but eating while holding things down grew tiresome. Little of daily life aboard the ship seemed normal, and normality wouldn't return until we crossed the Bay of Bengal. When we reached the Andaman Sea, the water had calmed, and the chef reintroduced the soup portion of our meals. We had just begun our lobster bisque when Yukiko received an email, and the bridge gave our captain news.

"Marauders in the Malacca Strait have unsuccessfully attempted to board a cargo vessel," said Captain Okamoto.

"How will that affect us?" asked Cadmar.

"Any ships not wishing to expend extra time and fuel must travel through the Malacca Strait, passing Singapore," said the captain. "It's a bottleneck for shipping and the most dangerous area in the world from marauders."

"I thought East Africa had it the worst," I said.

"No," said Yukiko, "East Africa just gets more publicity."

"They could easily board this ship," said Rocke, "making it a more tempting target."

"Yes," said the captain, "and as a large yacht, marauders think it carries wealthy people."

"Does this ship have any defenses?" asked Rocke.

"Only the weapons we carry with us," Yukiko said.

"I think we can assist you with that," said David.

Yukiko began reading her smartphone. "I have a reply from the board on the distribution of the enhancement." --she had our full attention-- "It's not good."

"What did they say?" I asked.

"They said leaked information on the dark web indicates that the enhancement is capable of upgrades. If true, they said it would be of immense value to the company if we ensured everyone had the enhancement so we could sell upgrades when we can make them available."

"I read your letter to the board," said David. "You presented the problem in a clear, concise statement. Do they not care if people die?"

"Those people have no money," she said, "and therefore do not represent valuable customers."

"As the CEO," said Maggie, "can you do something?"

"They say if I attempt to stop them, they will vote me out and proceed with the plan anyway."

"Can they do that?" asked Maggie.

"Oh, yes," she replied.

"I told you, David," said Cadmar, shaking his head.

"I need time alone for a little while. Please, excuse me." Yukiko stood to leave.

"Yukiko," said David. "We're here for you if you need us."

She smiled a little. "Julien was right," she said, looking upon us. "You don't belong here, and I'm beginning to wonder if I do. Thank you, I'll be okay. I need time to think about what to do."

David invited our group to our cabin; none of the others had seen it. David asked Saburo, our cabin boy, to bring tea for six. We planned to sit and chat that evening in comfortable privacy. The next morning, we would enter the strait, and we needed plans to help protect the ship. We had only three pistols, but with a high enough vantage point, they could easily defend us due to their considerable range. Together, we decided that Cadmar and Rocke would sleep during the day while the three of us stood watch. With the ship's technology, Cadmar's night vision eyes, the night vision goggles Rocke brought from The Black Void, and our three pistols, it should prove more than enough to protect us after dark.

"David, something has concerned me," said Rocke. "When you spoke to Yukiko over the mobile several days ago, you said that you sat with everyone from Jiyū and Captain Okamoto. I'm not from Jiyū."

"My apologies, Rocke," said David. "I shouldn't have presumed."

"Would you like to come with us?" Cadmar asked him. "I would like you to. I could sponsor you, and you could stay with Tamika and me while you settle in."

"I would love to, but...to stay with you," said Rocke, clearly torn over the idea. He shook his head slightly, closed his eyes, and tried to swallow the spit in his rapidly drying mouth. "I'm not sure that's best."

"Do you trust me?" asked Cadmar.

"Oui," he whispered.

"Then trust me," said Cadmar. "We can talk about it later."

He considered it for a moment. "Very well, I accept."

When tea and the conversation ended, Cadmar and Rock decided to stay awake all night to sleep the next day. I alerted the chef of the circumstances. He assured me he would feed our defenders during the night. No one wanted us boarded by marauders, so we pulled together for a few days until we passed Singapore.

Later that evening, David and I had fucked for over an hour before he bred me the first time that night. At that point, he had me up against a wall.

"Do you like that?" he asked. "You like my cock inside you?"

"You know I do."

"Do I fill you as much as you'd like? I can make it more like Cadmar's. I've seen how you admire his cock at the pool. He does have a nice one. If it's like Magnar's, he gets huge when erect."

"You don't mind that I looked?"

"Why would I mind? I looked too. We both like cock, remember?" He thrust inside me a few times to remind me that he likes my ass more."

"You've seen Magnar with an erection?"

"When I moved out of my parent's I stayed with him while I looked for a home. He had fucked his girlfriend that night for quite a while, and he came into the kitchen when I was there getting a drink. He's huge. No wonder his girlfriend made such a racket. She always came back for more though, so she must have enjoyed his enormity. If you would like me bigger in any way, I'll do whatever will make you happy. Let me give you something to feel while you think about it."

He cock-walked me back to the bed, and he began fucking me again.

Afterward, breathing heavily, lying on our side with David's cock buried inside me, I asked him a question.

"If I said I wanted you bigger, would that make you feel bad?"

"No, we're merely searching a size that gives you optimal satisfaction. If you want me to be Cadmar's size, or even bigger, you let me know."

"Okay, I'll have to think about it. Speaking of Cadmar, what do you think of Rocke staying with Cadmar and Tamika?" I whispered.

"I don't have an opinion on the matter," he said, "but you do, what is it?"

"I'm not sure. Wouldn't that cause a problem with Cadmar and Tamika? Wouldn't Rocke torture himself, having Cadmar right there with his connection to him?"

"It depends on what Cadmar has in mind," said David, whispering to me.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, not every couple on Jiyū considers themselves monogamous, although many do. Some people feel they have enough love for more than one person, while others like to focus their love and attention on one individual. So that you know, I fit into the latter category."

I smiled. "I'm pleased to hear it. So, do you mean polygamy and polyandry?"

"More like polyamory," said David. "Cadmar and Tamika's relationship could work like that, or perhaps Cadmar wouldn't mind having an inamorato."

"An inamorato, you mean a male lover?" I asked.

"Sure, but then again, it could have nothing to do with any of that, and maybe Cadmar's just a nice guy. I don't feel it's my business."

"I've seen how Rocke looks at Cadmar sometimes. I don't think he would feel satisfied with the status of an inamorato. Besides, I thought Cadmar was straight."

"Something you probably should know about that, almost nobody on Jiyū uses those labels," said David. "I've used them with you in conversation because I know that you have a rather Earthbound understanding of sexuality. So, while people do have their sexual preferences on Jiyū, we try not to make them contingent. We love people, not someone's sex or gender."

I felt my forehead wrinkle, and I yawned. "So, when the person you find yourself in love with and their sex line up with your sexual preference, would you call that a lucky happenstance?" I could feel myself winding down.

David laughed. "When you put it that way... I don't explain this well. You should ask someone in that kind of relationship. I don't mind thinking of myself as gay, and I tend to want sex only after I love someone, but many people on Jiyū view love and sex as separate things. I know Magnar does. Cadmar and Tamika may; I don't know."

"Has Magnar ever had a mate?" I asked, feeling sleepy.

"I've never known him to," whispered David.

"Hmm...we probably should sleep. We have a long day of sentry duty tomorrow."

Cadmar and Rocke had taken positions on the topmost deck with the bridge. Above that deck, the ship's designers attached various navigational equipment, thermal imaging, some highly sophisticated radar, and night-vision technologies, which the bridge crew already used nightly.

Half the world's oil tankers passed through the narrow Malacca Strait. The ships also included cargo ships, container ships, and every other vessel traveling either direction between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Ships require a more sizable buffer zone around them than one might realize, so it would understate the level of closeness to call what we saw merely crowded. With that many ships, it amazed me we didn't witness a collision, especially in the narrowest stretch at only 1.7 miles across. Those hours through the strait proved the most tiring and nail-biting of our journey, but to our relief, they proved uneventful as it was for most ships. When we finally passed Singapore, we had reached the other side unimpeded.

The black and white striped lighthouse of Pedra Branca marked the point we left the waters of Singapore and entered the southern portion of the China Sea. Apart from the lighthouse and the communications tower there, it seemed little more than a collection of wave-worn boulders protruding from the water.

About half an hour after passing the lighthouse, a ship three-quarters our size had pulled alongside us about fifty yards off our starboard and struggled to keep our pace. I hadn't known much about military ships, so unless I saw one of the larger ones like a battleship or an aircraft carrier, I hadn't a clue. The captain told us the frigate came from the British Royal Navy. The two ships remained in parallel for over an hour. As David, Aiden, Maggie, Yukiko, and I watched the vessel from the main deck, Julien's smartphone rang; the call came through the ship's satellite internet connection. We went indoors so David could answer it on speaker.

"I will get Cadmar and Rocke," said Maggie. "I know they're sleeping, but it's almost time for them to get up anyway." She bolted from the room.

"Hello," said David.

"Hello, may I, please, speak to Mr. Levitt?" asked a posh British voice. "I am Captain Thurlow of the H.M.S. Bailiwick off your starboard. Can you hear me well?"

"You're speaking to Mr. Levitt, and yes, we can hear you. I have you on speaker, but please wait a moment."