The Eden Chip
Fiction: Christmas Eve, 2424. Earth is on the brink of war. Homo sapiens have evolved into two distinct species. Can an unlikely friendship of two young women from opposing groups save humanity?
This short story was written for the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) Symposium. The STSC is a small, exclusive online speakeasy where a dauntless band of raconteurs, writers, artists, philosophers, flaneurs, musicians, idlers, and bohemians share ideas and companionship. Occasionally, STSC members create something around a set theme. This time the theme was “fiction.” If you are a writer, I encourage you to consider joining us, I’ve included details at the bottom of this post. Lastly, you can find all my past symposium pieces by clicking here.
Cognitus Date: Day 118,341.7
Spiritus Date: 2424 Anno Domini, Dec 24th, evening.
I laid next to Aria in the cool grass on the hill just outside our small village. In our companionable silence, we watched the cloud formations float by as the waning sunlight ricocheted off the lake below us, creating a spectacle of sparkling diamonds on the wavy water. In the evening sky, the clouds transformed, in our imaginations, into a parade of bunnies, a coat of arms, a pair dancing bears, a portrait of Einstein (even us Spiritus know who Einstein was), and a fantastical landscape - all artworks created by the universe to delight our eyes. Off in the distance, beyond the mountains, we could see the aeropods flying to and from The Luminous City where the Cognitus lived. Behind us, just down the hill, Havenfield, our home, was settling in for the dinner hour.
I looked at the scar behind Aria’s right ear and wondered how she felt watching nature’s spectacle in the clouds. Did she even feel anything? She wore her hair buzzed short on the right side so that the scar would be visible to all as a sort of badge of honor or shame, I’m not sure which.
The setting sun moved lower and spread out its golden rays behind the clouds, creating a cosmic screen for the ever changing show, which we, and we alone, were blessed to be the only two beings in the universe to witness. I activated my sixth sense and my view exploded into a kaleidoscope of psychedelic fractal colors and shapes. I could see colorful vital energy flows around everything; between me and the ground, between the ground and the trees, even between myself and Aria, though her flows were weaker than they should be. I gasped at the incomprehensible beauty.
Aria sighed, “You’re using your sixth sense aren’t you?”
I hesitated a moment. I felt guilty using it when I knew she was currently unable to. So I replied, “You’ll learn to use it in time, Aria.”
“Don’t patronize me,” she replied. “I know it’s unlikely. Have you ever known any Cognitus that developed the sight?”
I played with a piece of grass for a moment, “No, but you’re the only de-chipped Cognitus I’ve ever known. The Unisource works in mysterious ways, you know.”
“Spoken like a true homo spiritus” Aria laughed, “I hope you are right, but it’s enough for me to see reality with my normal eyes...without that damn chip interpreting everything for me.”
“Spoken like a true homo cognitus,” I countered.
“Touché. How do you deal with the loneliness?” Aria continued.
She pulled out the MindLink chip and turned it over and over in her hand. Our elders had removed the neural implant chip from her brain only a few months ago. She stared at the chip as she said, “I had access to all the world’s information with just a thought. I could communicate telepathically with any other homo congitus across the entire planet! And now, there’s just vast emptiness.”
“You also had advertising beamed into your brain that compelled you to purchase things you didn’t need,” I countered. “Remember how, when you first arrived, you were feeling overwhelmed by the never-ending deluge that you couldn’t escape? Trust me, you will learn to appreciate that emptiness. You will find joy in the emptiness. Your mind will be empty and your soul will be full – filled with glorious things, like the beauty of this sunset.”
I gestured again to the sky where a group of meerkats made of clouds were now standing guard over the valley, “Do you see the meerkats in the sky?”
Aria squinted, “I guess. I’m a Cognitus, I don’t have much of an imagination, Valeri”
I patted her hand, “That’s why we make such a great pair! I’m not much of a logical thinker. We will learn from one another.”
Aria sniffed. She stared wistfully at the clouds for a few moments. Her right hand still held the MindLink chip and her left hand was grasping at the grass we sat upon. “Can you imagine what it was like?” Aria finally asked.
“What what was like?” I replied.
“When we were all one species, homo sapiens? When we all had roughly equal abilities? When everyone could be logical and creative? When nobody required cybernetic augmentation? When we hadn’t split so divisively into the haves and the have nots?”
“Watch who you’re calling a have not!” I chuckled, punching Aria in the arm playfully, then, more seriously said, “We might not have fancy MindLinks, and we might live simple lives, but we have embraced the path of creativity, joy and harmony. It’s the crazy Cogitus in that shining city over there who are the have nots!”
“Touché again, Valeri. It is difficult, after a life filled with information and dopamine, to conceptualize the depth of such simple pleasures. Thank you for teaching me.”
“It’s OK Aria, you were, in a way, brainwashed and, as we understand it, turned into an artificial being, mostly driven by computer algorithms and machine learning. Your true self was smothered by that damn chip!” I pointed at the MindLink in her hand. “It will get easier over time.”
“My father told me that you were the ones who were brainwashed, Valeri.” Aria looked away, watching the sunset, “He said that most Sapiens believed that the human race needed to evolve. He said our ancestors realized that we had to be more than our animalistic past, and that, to evolve we needed to become more than human, we needed to leave behind our violent tendencies and for that, we needed to become our technology, to actually merge with our technology, for that technology is what separates us from the animals. So, we believed that the path forward was to merge with our technology and to take control of our evolution, and thus the Cognitus were born.”
I started laughing.
Aria frowned, “What’s so funny?”
“What you said, it’s just so ironic.” I chuckled.
“What do you mean?” Aria asked.
“Well, my father believed the same thing as your father! Our ancestors also believed that we would one day merge with our technology and take control of our evolution. However, we, the homo spiritus, came to the conclusion that, as Sapiens, we were not ready for such technology. Homo sapiens had demonstrated a willingness, throughout history, to use technology for violent ends - from bows and arrows, to firearms, to nuclear weapons… they even used biological weapons on each other! Until mankind could transcend the desire to go to war with each other, they were not yet ready to merge with technology. So our ancestors worked on developing our minds first. We meditated. We let go of our egos. We learned that we are all one and part of the same consciousness – the Unisource. In other words, our tribe sought enlightenment first and then, and only then, would we be ready to handle any technology we created from that place of love for all. It isn’t only our technology that separates us from the animals, it is our ability to mentally transcend the animal part of us and connect with the divine.”
Now Aira laughed, “I had no idea! You’re right, that is ironic. And yet, now we live in a violent world where the homo cognitus have great power that they are not equipped to handle and you, the homo spiritus live on reservations with little access to that technology, though you are now evolved enough to use it for all mankind and not in the conquest of power. The Cognitus are going to go to war, you know. They will end up destroying each other. And they will likely destroy you as well. That’s part of the reason I left. I expect the bombing to start any day now, though much of the war will take place inside the network. Imagine the devastation when a computer virus can infect all their minds simultaneously.”
“Well,” I said, “we inherited the world built by our homo sapien ancestors….and they didn’t always make the best decisions. We will do the best we can.” I reached over and patted her hand again.
We both turned back toward the west. The sky had transmogrified to a breathtaking deep crimson and the beauty of it almost overwhelmed us for a moment. We both sat and simply enjoyed being alive.
“It’s okay,” I finally said.
“What’s okay?” Aria turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“The divide. Even the war, should that happen, though I hope it doesn’t. We will eventually be reunited, the Spiritus and the Cognitus. It is inevitable that, eventually, we will all be enlightened and evolve. It’s why we exist. That is what we believe anyway,” I replied softly.
“I wish I could believe that,” Aria said.
I shrugged, “It doesn’t matter if we believe it or not. Everything is happening as it is supposed to happen.”
Aria grunted and turned back toward the west, though the sun had set.
“Hey!” I exclaimed, “the sun is down. Do you know what that means? It’s Christmas Eve!”
“Christmas?” Aria turned toward me, both her eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Spiritus celebrate that commercial holiday? I thought you were above such nonsense!”
“Yes, we celebrate it Aria,” I said, “but not in a commercial way. And, though sometimes we do give heartfelt gifts, it is not expected that anyone will give or receive a gift and we certainly don’t use the holiday as a cheap way to boost our economy as the Cognitus do.”
“Then what are you celebrating?” Aria asked, staring at me intently.
“Well, see, Christ was a remarkable person from thousands of years ago. We believe he was one of the first humans to evolve into a homo spiritus, though there were a handful of others as well. By so clearly speaking and demonstrating the power of connecting to the Unisource, which he called ‘The Holy Spirit’ or the ‘Spirit of Truth’, he forged a path for all Sapiens to follow…..so, we continue to celebrate his birth as, if not the first, the most famous homo spiritus. It was quite difficult for the Sapiens of his time to understand what he was talking about, though some did follow him.”
“Wow.” Aria mumbled, “I never knew. The Cognitus don’t talk about such things much anymore. And there are so few of you.”
“Did Christ not say the path was narrow and few would find it?” I replied.
Aria grunted again and we both turned back to the west, though it was dark now, save the faint glow from beyond the mountains – the lights of The Luminous City.
“I have a gift for you” Aria said softly, in almost a whisper.
I turned to her, surprised.
“Here”, she held out her MindLink chip. Her hand trembled. It was a lot for her to give up. It was a lot for her to sacrifice.
“Are you sure?” I asked, “You could always put it back in and go back to….all that.” I gestured toward The Luminous City. I had to be sure of something. I had to be sure she had transcended her ego enough to see the futility of that path.
“I’m sure.” Aria replied. “I don’t ever want to go back to living in that purely materialistic, mechanistic way.”
“Thank you.” I said.
I held out my hand and she dropped the MindLink chip into it. She stared at it for a long moment. Then turned back to the west.
“I have something for you as well, Aria.” I said, reaching into my pack and pulling out a small golden box and placing it on the ground in front of her.
“What is that?” Aria asked.
“Aria, a long time ago, one of our seers was gifted The Divine Eye - the ability to see the future. He wrote down a prophecy concerning how humans would be reunited and evolve to be more than both the Spiritus and the Cognitus. He wrote of a young woman who would leave the Cognitus and sacrifice the power of the MindLink chip in an earnest effort to evolve.”
I paused and let that sink in for a moment and Aria’s mouth formed an “O” of surprise.
“Me?” she asked.
“Yes, Aria, you.” I replied, “You are the only person we know of who has ever voluntarily had their MindLink chip removed. Look at this box.”
The box appeared to be made of solid gold, with intricate detailed figures carved in relief on the lid. The scene depicted two beautiful and powerful winged figures holding a flaming sword between them. Behind them one could see the entrance to a treed garden.
“Eden?” Aria asked.
“Yes. The top of the box depicts the cherubim that guard Eden. However, the story of Eden is not about a literal place, it’s about a place in the minds of men. It’s about enlightenment. It’s about all men achieving the peace, love and joy children are born with…the peace that we Spiritus have achieved by walking the path that Christ pioneered.”
Aria let out a short bark of a laugh, “The Cognitus will never achieve that, Valeri.”
“They will, Aria” I replied, “And you will lead them. Open the box. It will only open for a Cognitus without a MindLink chip. It has never been opened since our ancestors created it. Only you have that gift.”
Aria slowly opened the box and gasped at what she saw inside. It was a golden Mindlink chip. She looked at me in confusion.
“It’s called… The Eden Chip.” I continued, “and only the girl from the prophecy can implant it. No Spiritus can utilize it because our minds have evolved differently. It was not created by the Mindlink Corporation. Our ancient masters forged it long ago, in secret, when we still had access to neural implant technology. In addition to all the normal Mindlink chip abilities, it will bestow upon you with all the gifts of a fully enlightened Spiritus as well as the knowledge of how to reunite mankind and finally bring peace to this world as we, together, forge a new earth. Through the network, you will be able to help the Cognitus evolve at a far faster pace. Take it, Aria. It’s yours.”
Aria reach out a hand, trembling even more than before, and, as her fingers closed around The Eden Chip, I said, “Merry Christmas, Aria”
And with tears in her eyes, Aria looked at me and replied, “Merry Christmas, Valeri.”
Wow!!! What a beautiful story. Thank you!