Infinity Curve - Lamentations to Unseen Friends Across the Vastness of Space

EP. 62 - ON ENTROPY

RICK AWOKE AND, AFTER letting Pete and Molli out his bunker door and into the rest of the house, he began his usual routine of exercise. This was a daily discipline; first thing in the morning. A half hour of muscle rubs, massaging joints, loosening up, and stretching, followed by another half hour of repetitive warm-up exercises. An hour-plus of Ba-gua circle walking. Tai-chi, Hsing-I and weapons were added to the routine in his evening exercises.

This was his way of staying healthy in otherwise cramped quarters barely larger than a one-bedroom apartment. To keep from going stir crazy, Sofia regularly came in to visit, reminisce, and keep him company. Then there were the dogs, a constant source of enjoyment, coupled with their usual stale breath, dirt and dust, and typical dog smells.

Occasionally, he would exit his compound to view the array, navigating the narrow passages of his underground tunnel system to access the barn. This activity was fraught with risk, however, since his body movements beneath the surface might be discovered by the infrared sensors of drones or satellites. He wore a special suit on these outings designed to mitigate and disperse any heat radiation his body emitted.

To keep his DNA from being detected by external bots and other bio-sensing devices, his waste products were handled by himself and Sofia. When a bag was full, he'd detach it from his toilet, hand it to Sofia, and she would dispose of it in her working bath. Sofia normally used this type of bath for mixing chemicals for the gardens. She jury-rigged a special one for Rick's waste products, combining them with hydrochloric acid then venting the airborne waste into a room they had excavated in the hillside for future needs.

They always employed an abundance of caution, and for good reason. Snooping drones were a fact of life as were human hybrids, each possibly sporting advanced imaging and olfactory receptors. Given the extreme security the oligarchs implemented to prevent another Debacle, DNA monitors were deployed virtually everywhere there were people.

Perhaps due to their remote location, Sofia never found monitors lurking around their compound, though she suspected the drones regularly sampled the air in proximity of their house and therefore could find evidence of Rick's DNA. One small mistake, one instance of mismanaging his clothing or waste products, had the potential to expose his presence and their plan.

In the previous decades, the authorities began to utilize DNA testing and other technologies to track and manage humans and hybrids. Ironically, DNA testing started in innocence, an elective way for people to uncover their genetic heritage, health indicators, and unknown relatives. However, as the technologies advanced, so did the ability to capture DNA for control and identification purposes.

With DNA tracking technology, one could readily acquire and sequence anybody's DNA, record and store the unique signatures in an AI database, and use multiple means of surveillance to track an individual's comings, goings, and proclivities. Because humans naturally shed millions of cells a day, a person's whereabouts could be determined by sampling things like countertops, restaurant utensils, and even ambient air.

Like DNA tracking, most of the technologies the oligarchs employed extensively for citizen control purposes were initially used for commercial applications and eventually governmental uses. What soda did that person order at the ball game? Who was driving the rental car? What magazine article did they peruse at the airport? Who visited the store and what did they buy? What sock colors do they prefer?

Eventually, DNA tracking was integrated with the numerous other methods of analyzing any individual including financial transactions, conversations picked up on home or business intercom units, facial recognition, video monitoring, cellphone tracking and texts, automobile travel, stored data, and email traffic. All this information was collected and compiled in requisite governmental and commercial AI databases.