Metamorphosis

By J. S. Majaika

Waking up from a near century-long hibernation-like state, Samuel Blake discovers things are not the way he expected them to be. Rather than needing to initiate the emergency recolonization procedure as planned, he finds that Earth is flourishing, showing no signs it is recovering from an Ice Age.

Now living in a society that has mastered the use of nanotechnological devices, Samuel quickly gains the knowledge he seeks.

Clyde Thompson, Samuel’s assigned personal aide, guides his every move with the use of Lincc, the elite form of communication technology. He informs Samuel that humans have not only evolved territorially by becoming a multi-planetary species, but they have also evolved physically during the expansion.

Learning of rising threats to Auspex, the new name of the solar system, Samuel agrees to join the top-ranking task force team to investigate and eradicate a mysterious army of criminals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. S. Majaika
• Release date: Jun 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370459179

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Metamorphosis

Copyright 2017 J. S. Majaika

Published by J. S. Majaika at Smashword

J. S. Majaika

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Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Prologue

Late in the twenty-first century, the world has become vastly overpopulated. The failure to enact preventive measures has caused pollution to fill the oceans and atmosphere, stripping Earth of its essential resources and pushing humanity to the brink of extinction. World leaders conclude that their last hope is to find another planet to colonize. With Mars being the only logical planet, colonization missions are attempted, but it is quickly acknowledged that the process will not be completed in time. Realizing they are about to live out the final days of existence, leaders make the decision to initiate Project Athanasia. The objective of Project Athanasia is to enable a small group of humans to successfully outlast the ice age Earth is entering. This process involves placing the group of men and women into anti-aging devices, which enable them to achieve a hibernation-like state. Assisted reproductive technology will be stored along with the other necessary supplies required to enact phase two. Once Earth is habitable for humans again, the men and women will awaken to start the recolonization process known as Project Vivification.

Chapter 1

A handsome, middle-aged man lies asleep in what appears to be a recovery room bed. His name is Samuel Blake, a member of Project Athanasia. Slowly coming to, he sees a beautiful nurse gazing out of the window of the small room. Squinting his eyes, he tries to focus while the Sun’s rays gleam around her.

Where am I? Samuel asks in confusion.

The nurse smiles as she walks toward Samuel. Hi, my name is Julia. You’re in a recovery room. How do you feel, Samuel?

Samuel sits upright and begins to stretch his arms. I feel great. How long was I out? Seeing the city looks the same, I take it they must have found a way to fix Earth. What was the solution?

Julia hesitates to speak for a moment. You’ve been asleep for around one hundred years, and you’re right, Earth is better now.

If I’ve been asleep for a hundred years, why does the city look exactly the same? Why haven’t I woken with the others to start Project Vivification? Samuel asks while scratching the stubble on his face.

I’m here to aid you today because humans never went extinct on Earth.

Samuel slides his feet off the side of the bed, then attempts to style his medium-length, brown hair, using only his hands. Where are the others?

They are in separate recovery rooms.

Samuel walks over to the window and begins to study the moving city. You never explained why the city looks the same.

Julia joins Samuel near the window. The room was set up this way to keep you calm when you first awoke. These clothes, the decor, even this projection of the city, aren’t that of the present time, Samuel. They fulfilled their purpose, so now it’s time for the next step.

What do you mean? Samuel asks.

Julia places her hand on Samuel’s shoulder. Just remember, everything is fine, and all of your questions will be answered in time.

The window transforms the view of a busy city into a view of Earth from outer space.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Julia asks as she removes her hand from Samuel’s shoulder.

Samuel slowly begins to run his hand along the edge of the window. You’re telling me that we’re in space right now?

Julia places her hand on Samuel’s shoulder again. Yes. We’re at the UNA police headquarters, the safest place in our solar system. Like I said before, there’s nothing for you to worry about, Samuel.

Samuel turns away from Julia and sits in a chair near the window. He closes his eyes and runs his hands over his face. What does UNA mean? Why are we in space right now? Why not Earth?

Julia turns to face Samuel. A lot has changed since Project Athanasia was initiated.

Samuel looks up at Julia. Speaking of Project Athanasia, if Earth is fine, and the population is okay, why terminate Project Athanasia? Why get rid of the only backup plan for the human race?

Project Athanasia was manually overridden to stay in the hibernation stage once Earth recovered. The purpose was to keep a fail-safe for humans like you spoke of, but it has now been advanced to the awakening stage since there’s no logical reason to extend the project, Julia explains.

What do you mean there’s no logical reason to extend the project? Samuel eagerly asks.

We have discovered a way to enable eternal life.

Samuel jumps up from the chair and begins to pace the room frantically. That’s impossible. I have to be dreaming this.

I can assure you, this isn’t a dream, Julia hastily states.

Samuel lets out a nervous laugh as he walks back over to the window and fretfully runs his hands along the edge of the frame again. You’re telling me that people are doing so well, they can live forever, and for some reason, we are in space? You never told me how Earth was saved! Why did you avoid that question?

Everything is fine, Samuel. Try to calm down, and I’ll explain everything, Julia replies.

Samuel rapidly taps his fingers on the window itself. How do I know that this is the real view of the window, and not just another projection? What is UNA? Why am I at a police station and not a hospital?

Julia remains silent while Samuel unnervingly scans the room.

Suddenly, a mysterious man’s voice begins to speak in Samuel’s head. Thanks, Julia. I will take it from here. Hello Samuel. My name is Clyde Thompson, your personal aide. Feel free to ask me all the questions you wish. I am here to do whatever it takes to ease you into this new age.

Samuel peers at Julia. Are you hearing this also? There’s a voice in my head…and it’s talking to you.

Julia smiles. Yes.

Samuel shakes his head. Either I’m dreaming, or I’ve just gone crazy after enduring the hardships of Project Athanasia.

Clyde explains, This is real; you are not mad, Samuel. I am a real person. Advanced technology has enabled this to be possible.

How is it possible? Samuel asks.

Modern technology has enabled us to communicate in a whole new way. Smartphones, well, all phones actually, no longer exist in physical form. There is a new system in place. It is called Lincc, which stands for the localization of information through nanotechnological and cognitive concomitance, Clyde states.

I don’t understand all that jargon, Samuel replies.

You just need to remember that it is called Lincc, which is easy, as it links one person to another, Clyde says as he pulls up a small, virtual box in the corner of Samuel’s line of sight. The box streams a live video feed of Clyde looking into a mirror at himself, allowing Samuel to see through his eyes.

Hello, Samuel.

Samuel begins to blink rapidly. What the hell is happening? I can still see you! Even when I close my eyes!

Precisely. This is just one of the many benefits of Lincc. Let me explain a little further. Instead of using a device with a screen to display images, Lincc allows us to now project those images directly into our line of sight by tapping into our optic nerves. That is why you can see what I see, through that small box. Still with me? Clyde asks.

Yeah. I think so. I am talking to a voice in my head after all.

Good. Now to the hearing part. Instead of a device emitting sound, Lincc connects directly to our eardrums or Graf drums. Graf drums are a second set of eardrums. The main advantages of Graf drums include the ability to hear farther, more efficiently, as well as allowing us to have a backup set of eardrums in case of an emergency. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that we no longer need devices to project sound to our ears. We can now transfer and interpret sounds internally if we choose to, of course, Clyde explains.

Great. I thought people looked like zombies when they used smartphones. I can’t imagine what the world looks like now, Samuel jokes.

Speaking of the world. That is another topic we need to discuss. It is not just the world anymore. It is now worlds.

Samuel laughs. Now you’re telling me we inhabit multiple planets?

Yes, many planets. I will explain with a demonstration.

Clyde brings a full-screen view to Samuel’s sight, which blocks out all his natural vision. The image shows a view of Earth from outer space.

Whoa! I can’t see anything! You’re blocking my vision!

Calm down, Samuel. You have nothing to worry about. I will show you how to switch views later. Anyway, as you know, all signs showed Earth was encountering its final days of human civilization when you went to sleep for Project Athanasia.

The demonstration zooms out, and the whole solar system is displayed.

Now, this is the part where it gets tricky. We still do not actually know what caused this, and there are a lot of ideas floating around. I will explain the most popular theory.

The demonstration shows a very large object, a lot more massive than any of the planets, swing into the edge of the solar system, then swing back out.

We believe something bigger than we have ever seen before, bigger than we could imagine, entered our solar system for a very brief time. We also believe it was in a swinging motion, like a pendulum. Thus, causing a considerable amount of gravitational pull in the process, forcing our entire solar system to get shuffled around.

The demonstration shows planets shifting around in the solar system, but eventually fades away, giving Samuel his sight back.

Just so you know, I’m not surprised at all anymore when you tell me these crazy things. I actually expect them. What happened during this so-called shuffle? Wouldn’t it have harmed humans? You know, from all the heavy pulling and stuff like that? Wouldn’t planets have crashed together as well?

That is another unknown part of the phenomenon. It seems none of the planets collided, and Earth was basically unaffected during the transition. It almost seems too perfect of a scenario, Clyde explains.

You said the other planets are now habitable for humans? How’s that possible?

Yes. After the shift of the solar system, it was decided right away to explore them. After all, there was nothing to lose at this point. Earth was still vastly overpopulated and in extreme danger. Mars was first, as it is still the closest planet to Earth, and previous missions had already been carried out, making the additional trip seem routine. Upon arrival, it was discovered that the red planet had changed tremendously. In fact, all the planets are entirely different than we had previously known them and completely habitable. Every planet seems to have been instantly terraformed, making the whole solar system terrestrial. Along with the surface transformations, the planets somehow managed to stay on the same plane, but they now sit much closer together than they previously did. We think this is possible because the formerly known gas giants have shrunk significantly, causing the gravitational fields to change, resulting in the shift of the position of the planets. With the newly acquired knowledge, it was decided that the majority of the population was to be removed from Earth as quickly as possible in order to save it. The new, compact, solar system made interplanetary travel much easier, and we now have civilizations spread out across all the planets. The solar system is now named Auspex, and UNA stands for United Nations of Auspex.

This is insane! It seems I have a lot to learn. No one knows what sent that giant planet or whatever it was into our solar system? Samuel asks.

It is still being investigated. Some people think it is just the path of the galaxy. Others say it was something watching over us. We do not know anything for sure yet.

This is a lot to take in. Can I come meet you in person? It’s still really weird talking to a voice in my head. For all I know, I could have gone insane, and this is just a figment of my imagination.

You can come by my office anytime. I prefer you to be here for the next bit of information I am going to inform you of anyway.

Of course, there’s more crazy information that I need to be filled in on. Why wouldn’t there be?

Thanks for your help, Julia. You can go now. I will pull up a map for Samuel so he can find his way to my office.

Samuel hugs Julia. Thanks, Julia, it was a pleasure waking up to you.

Julia smiles while she walks toward the door. Take care, Samuel.

The door quickly slides shut after she exits the room.

…

Following the directions of the map that Clyde has pulled up in Lincc for him, Samuel navigates his way through a brightly lit hallway. Spectacular views of Earth and the surrounding stars are visible through the transparent walls on the right side of the hall.

I have heard enough of your bizarre guesses, Samuel. I will inform you when you arrive at my office, Clyde says to Samuel through Lincc.

Samuel stares down at his arms as the hallway makes a left turn. My arms have been replaced with robotic ones that seem impressively real?

Clyde laughs. I told you that I am done listening to your guesses. Although, you are getting closer.

The hallway is now fully enclosed, only blank, metallic walls and doors are visible.

Okay, I have a real question for you. How is it possible to install the parts of Lincc? Wouldn’t it require extremely risky surgeries to access the optic nerve and other organs? Samuel asks while he continues through the monotonous hall.

We now use a whole new process to achieve successful surgeries. Most of them are performed internally, which nullifies scalpel use. We use a gel-like substance, which is made up of very, very, small mobile robots, called nanobots. The current nanobots are smaller than red blood cells, allowing them to pass through your body with ease. Anyway, we can program them to travel to a specified location and group together to form one joint unit. That is how Lincc systems are installed in our bodies without causing pain or discomfort. These nanobots are also able to remain in that position as long as we wish. My office is right around the corner. It is the room highlighted in red on the map.

Sounds like surgeons have it easy now, Samuel replies.

You have no idea.

I can see your door. That gives me just enough time for one more guess. I really hope this isn’t it.… Giraffes are now extinct?

No. That is all I have to say to that, Clyde responds apathetically.

Samuel walks through the door of Clyde’s office, and it quickly slides shut behind him. He looks around the dimly lit room while Clyde rises from a chair behind his desk.

You’re real! Samuel shouts. I was starting to think that this was all in my head. Well, my head only.

It is a pleasure finally to meet you in person, Clyde says as he shakes Samuel’s hand.

The pleasure is all mine. You have no idea how much I appreciate shaking your very real hand right now, Samuel jokes before releasing his grip on Clyde’s sweaty, frail, hand.

I know all this must be extremely tough on you mentally, but don’t worry. I know you will get used to this new era very quickly.

You sounded pretty confident with that remark. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to tell me?

You must stop worrying, Samuel. Trust me when I say everything will be fine. Have a seat, and I will explain everything.

Samuel proceeds to sit in one of the two visitor chairs located in front of Clyde’s desk. How do you know I’m worried?

Clyde sits back down in his chair. We are fully Lincced, so I have full access to your system. I can see your heart rate, blood pressure; you name it.

That’s kinda scary. When will you not have full access? People still have privacy, right?

Yes, of course, privacy is a vital aspect of Auspex. I am currently your personal aide, once you no longer need an aide, I will be out of your hair, or should I say head? Clyde replies.

That’s good. You seem like a great person and all, but I don’t think I could live forever with another person in my head. This is a nice office, Samuel says before turning his head around to glance at the window that covers the whole wall behind him.

A breathtaking view of Earth and the surrounding stars is visible through this window as well.

Thanks.

So, I have to ask. What’s with your desk? There’s nothing on it. Actually, never mind. Let’s just get to what you wanted to tell me. I can’t wait any longer, Samuel says.

All right, I will get right to it. Planets are not the only things that have changed. People have changed also, Clyde responds.

Yeah, I know; they can live forever now.

No. It is more than that, Samuel. It is the reason why we have reached this point so fast, why we have discovered eternal life. People now have unique abilities. We can now do things that you could only have imagined in the past—things you saw in comic books and in action movies.

Samuel smiles. Let me make sure I hear you correctly; you’re telling me that superheroes are real now. Is that where you’re going with this?

In a matter of speaking, yes.

Samuel sits up straight in his seat. You’re joking, right?

Clyde moves his hand over a sensor on his desk, causing a small, three-dimensional projection of the planet Mars to form above the surface.

When we started colonizing planets, some unusual things occurred. For example, while on Mars, people with the zodiac sign Aries began to experience things like never before.

The projected image changes to a man with his hand extended and his exposed palm facing upward. Emitting from his palm is a steady streaming small flame.

They were able to create fire from within their bodies. They harnessed the power of pyrokinesis.

The projection changes to a list displaying the new abilities:

Ariespyrokinesis

Taurussuper strength

Geminimulti-task in every way

Cancerability to heal

Leocannot die unless heart is severely damaged or separated from body

Virgoenhanced minds

Libraability to read other’s vitals

Scorpioelectrokinesis

Sagittariusteleportation

Capricornself-sustaining bodies

Aquariusshapeshifters

Piscesability to enter/exit the spirit world

It was unbelievable, and this was happening on all of the planets. As you can see on this list, all kinds of amazing enhancements were showing up. At first, the abilities only worked when you were on the planet that matched your zodiac sign, but that quickly changed, along with many other things, Clyde explains.

This day just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Next, you’re going to tell me that God transformed into to a human and now lives on Earth, Samuel jokes.

Close. It is actually Mercury, Clyde responds.

You’re able to make jokes after all. I was beginning to think that you might be a robot or something.… You were just kidding, weren’t you?

Yes, I was joking, Samuel. Now, I will continue with what I was explaining to you. As you can see on the projected list, Virgos’ minds became enhanced. Every one of them instantly transformed into a genius. Along with being very smart, they do not need to take the time to think. Every one of their memories can be accessed instantly. Soon after, some of the Virgos got together and discovered a way to allow people to always have their enhanced abilities no matter what planet they are on. That was the dawn of a new era of humankind.

So, it’s not just a few that exist; everyone is a superhero now? Samuel asks while waving his hands through the projected image.

"If you are comparing someone of the present day to someone of the past, I suppose you could say that, and I think the correct word would