The Second Sphere

I missed Lila and Sam.

There were many reasons for the separation from them. But, the first step occurred in 2042, when the Laslow Corporation unleashed information that they had found, isolated, and were able to capture that part of the human being that was The Being. What for so many centuries humans called a soul, something intangible and ethereal, had a biological basis that could be controlled and stored.

The discovery of the biological basis for the human soul had little impact on anything practical until two years later when Laslow announced the development of a biological chip on which to store this “being.” What philosophers quickly realized, and the media soon caught on to, was that Laslow had discovered the key to ever-lasting life.

The cloning ban, which was lifted some years before, brought the development of the transfer, a fully contained, marketable product that provided the opportunity to obtain what, until that time, was only a fantasy.

Eternal life presented opportunities, our leaders said. They billed the tapping of infinity as the key to ending all wars, bringing a level of unity to humanity that, until that point, was considered an unobtainable utopia. The governments of the world would help create a place where all beings would go to tap their full potential, to discover the bliss that religious books intimated, but which few ever found. When a person can create his or her own paradise and tap into the energy of all of humanity, amazing things can happen, they said.

The Source, as it was called, became the center of life, the place to get energized, to reach back to that intricate web of human connection, which linked every one of us. And the connection to this Source wasn’t open for debate. If one chose the path to infinite life, one needed to be connected.

There were those who thought this effort was the work of the devil, something so evil that humanity must turn its back on it. This Source wasn’t just about providing bliss. Some said, this Source knew all--every memory, every action, and every thought.

The world discovered that breeding and infinite life were a dangerous cocktail. The population exploded under the centralized world government, which was required to manage the Source’s enormous infrastructure and the advertising needs of corporate entities. Although the power of transfer reproduction was eventually removed from newer models, by that time, there were seventeen billion of us.

We settled the moon and Mars about fifty years apart, in 2200 and 2250 respectively. The Three Spheres Government (TSG) was conceived from the expansion, a gargantuan bureaucracy needed to deal with interplanetary resource management and peacekeeping.

Yet, despite what should’ve been a natural enticement, the adventure of a lifetime, the fulfillment of science fiction prognosticators, the outer two spheres weren’t an easy sell. Go for a visit? Maybe. But to live? There were questions about just how pleasant that might be.

A well-crafted campaign for settlement followed. TSG billed the outer two spheres as adventures. And of course, there were generous incentives for those who wanted to go. As the earth hemmed and hawed, deciding how she would deal with the human infection, the trickle became a good stream. Propagandists deemed those who went first pioneers and heroes sent to conquer and settle untamed lands. But, of course, as the infrastructure solidified and life became normalized, corporations got their fingers into lunar and Martian society, and existence became much less pleasant.

The constant bombardment from advertisers was a pain for any transfer. But on the moon and Mars, the attack of the sales pitch was horrific. At home, on earth, even if ads ran through my head, I possessed the ability to move freely. On the moon, walls and arrows directed my movement. But worse, commercials told me what I needed and wanted out of a life that I just couldn’t let myself leave.