CHAPTER 21
DARWIN 2.0
The Knowall strode from the Cloud Computing room and into the hallway. Nelson and Tina dutifully followed, each processing in their own way this new information. They walked past the many lacquered doors with their plated signs. Nelson paused in front of:
DARWIN 2.0 & HYPERMUTATION
This had significantly piqued his interest as they first entered the corridor.
"What's in there?"
"A mystery we are still in the process of solving."
"Darwin 2.0? So you think he was wrong!" exclaimed Nelson.
"No, not at all," said the Knowall, "...but we think he may still need some help."
"Yes! And I agree entirely," interjected Nelson unexpectedly, suddenly more animated than at any point since their arrival.
"You do?"
The Knowall was taken aback by this unexpected outburst from a man he may have judged too soon.
"I certainly do, Dex. The Cambrian Explosion... I did my thesis on it. My thesis! For for my Masters in Paleontology."
Nelson sighed and his eyes widened recalling his university days. "Five-hundred and forty million years ago... an unexplained and unparalleled emergence of vast varieties of lifeforms and intense evolution. What I loved is that all of this came after a tiny background hum of bacteria and bugs for billions of years beforehand. And then bang! Bang Dex. Life everywhere. A massive story that's probably the most significant part of all Earth's evolution. Even Darwin couldn't explain it... and ventured it could upset his own theories. Wait, hang on..."
Nelson's head snapped towards the Knowall in shock. "You're not saying that this was you guys as well?"
"Ha hah hah," burst out the Knowall in genuine laughter. "Good grief, no Nelson. This was before any human evolution or intelligent life."
"Thank God. It doesn't make sense, does it? Never did! The most staggering thing is that no one really knows definitively why it happened!"
"Indeed, my dear Nelson. And I can clearly see that this is one of your passions."
"Oh it was Dex, at least until I had to leave academia and come into the real world." Nelson dropped his head slightly disconsolately and stared at the floor for a few seconds. He looked back up at the Knowall. "So, go on then, what's your hypermutation theory?"
"Exactly that Nelson, just a theory. Or perhaps some form of interference. Let's walk and talk."
The Knowall led them along the corridor and away from the large chamber from which they fled. He steered through another series of corridors. Nelson and Tina walked flanking him either side.
Tina listened respectfully and then absent-mindedly to Dex's notions of evolution and programmed mutation that she didn't understand or care about, all the while stealing surreptitious looks at this guiding figure in his dark red robes. Though he was clearly aging, there was something older and deeper within him, as though a large burden weighed heavy. She then tuned back into their conversation just as Nelson asked a strange question.
"So just a minute Dex. This sounds like your Darwin 2.0 thinking is leading towards some form of divine intervention?"
"Nelson!" The chastisement from the Knowall was formal. "We are scientists and technologists at heart, not theologians." His spurning eyes were unwavering. Confident of the subject matter, Nelson held his ground.
"Well, everything you've told me so far appears to head to an interventionist way."
"We're still working through our hypothesis, but along the way there appears to have been some mistake or interference that affected our genetic code and DNA... and subsequently the mutations accelerated. After that, evolution started going a whole lot faster. The origin of this... mistake is key," stated the old man flatly. He then snapped a gesture with his arm and abruptly moved on, dismissing further comment.
They had reached a T-junction in the corridors. All the floors were rubberized, and their steps made little sound. Neatly etched into the wall before them was a deep triangle pointing to the left labelled: Laboratory Mezzanine, Keppler Wing, Lifts.
Following the signs, the three of them walked on in quiet. Tina broke the silence.
"Okay, Lord Dex of the Red Robe, moving on from all that evolution, interference, some big mistake, and those bloody Luddites... I'll ask again, why are we," she indicated herself and Nelson, "actually here?"
"I believe your friend Nelson has shared the backdrop."
"No, not really. Unless you're talking about his NASA letter, my nice legs and all that crap. But I still don't get why both of us are here with you now, and also... why you're telling us all of this."
"Well firstly, we had to take action when Nelson threatened us with his NASA letter."
"Come off it, I didn't threaten you," coughed Nelson.
"But we couldn't take that risk Nelson, we had to find out what you knew. The Directorate is approaching a critical point in our planning, and we need to control all the variables."
"Excuse me," interrupted Tina, "I'm asking the questions at the moment. Dex, look at me. Why us, why here, and why all this chat?"
"We now believe that letter is the last of its kind. Once Nelson came to us with it, we had to act quickly." Dex turned towards Nelson. "You really didn't give us any time for lengthy decision making did you, so the decision was taken to extract... and now to erase."
"Blame me, eh Dex? And there you go with that erase word again. But so... my NASA letter wasn't a fake then?" cheered Nelson.
"Well, that depends on how you look at it."
"Go on then Dex, how do you look at it?"
"Indeed, there was a Doctor Grimaldi, and he was a Knowall."
"So, he did exist? I knew it!"
"Is this the guy that was supposed to have lived in my flat?"
"Yes Tina," replied the Knowall. "Grimaldi gave up his homeland in Corsica, and our secret base there, because weirdly, he just loved North London. You see, we've always had a handful of our troupe on the surface. They are our progressive missionaries, tasked with moving humanity's future forward as rapidly as possible. We call them Progressionaries."
"Just more words Dex," interjected Tina but the Knowall continued over her.
"Exceptions were made with Grimaldi allowing him to stay permanently on the surface and be a Non-Executive Progressionary... provided he told no one. Not even his new wife. In retrospect this was also another big mistake.
"Why is that?" asked Nelson.
They had continued to walk and talk. Another tiled tunnel, this time in light blue, led a sweeping curve into the distance. A similar triangle pointed right to Reception, Directorate, Cafeteria. Walking this way, the Knowall continued explanations. Nelson perked up at the thought of food.
"In 1968, Grimaldi's wife left him. She had been threatening it and he had tried everything to stop it happening. But he couldn't tell her the truth."
"An average man then," muttered Tina.
"Sadly, not average. This was our explicit message to Grimaldi. It was the only way we'd allow him to stay up there, or we'd revoke his surface privileges. Anyway, his wife Agnes packed up and walked out one night, never to return. Her note said she knew he was up to something. Grimaldi was distraught. In his grief he lost all good sense and blamed the Directorate for his dual life. In retaliation, he forged ten official letters and scattered them across various sites in the hope intellectuals may discover them. He used NASA's branding because he knew it's the one place where you will find the biggest group of Knowalls above ground."
"Damn right," muttered Nelson.
"We searched the obvious institutions, British Library, The Bodleian, New York Public Library... but missed the less evident choice of his nearest and dearest. And you, Nelson, found what we believe is the last remaining letter in Swiss Cottage, which was slipped into that encyclopaedia nearly fifteen years earlier... but don't tell the publishers."
Dex leaned back satisfactorily, feeling his short story was now complete.
"And me?" sighed Tina, "why am I here?"
The Knowall smiled, glancing to her ankles. Tina returned Dex's look with a potent scowl.
"I'm not afraid to slap you as well!" she called.
***
Nelson and Tina were inundated. Peering to the middle distance with glazed eyes, now they each walked mechanically forward, absent in their own thoughts. The Knowall granted a few moments of silence, allowing the full implication of his recent monologues to sink in.
After a suitable pause, and with a jaunty manner absent from his previous declarations, he continued.
"So... hopefully you can see how a Moon landing was possible in May 1929. However, I'm sorry to say it wasn't your Armstrong and Aldrin as first men. Hans Svensson and Greta Gustafsson were the first there. And Hans' historic words were: A new world, a new opportunity, a new... Sss. Pop. Thud."
"What!" checked Tina.
"Yes, Hans hadn't sealed his space suit correctly. It's not footage we're proud of. Fortunately, at the time most of the world, including UK Prime Minister Baldwin and US President Hoover, were completely unaware of it. Neither were one of ours. And then, later, we sent another two-man mission, just to prove we could do it successfully. And we did. But it is just a boring piece of rock. And then finally, humanity caught up in 1969."
Becoming bored with this lecture and the endless corridor walking, Tina stopped abruptly. A few steps in front of her Nelson and the Knowall pulled up.
"Dex. Dexter Two Oh, or whatever. So far you have told us everything that went wrong, and the mistakes that were made?"
"I believe I have. Full disclosure."
"Thank you. And so, as a self-professed Knowall, do you have a plan to move things forward?" she challenged.
The older man turned his gaze to fix on her and grinned.
"A very perceptive question my dear." He stepped a few paces back to be next to her.
"Thank you," she found herself blushing.
"We've been constantly trying Tina, honestly. We believed everything was rolling like clockwork towards our two society's reconnection, especially during the late 60's and on through those crazy 70's. We released a huge volume to you then. Microchips were everywhere, doing everything, getting smaller all the time. You couldn't get enough, and we put a couple of key tech guys on the surface as Progressionaries, to try to speed things up.
"So, we are catching up?" offered Tina hopefully.
"You were. But..."
"But? Yes..."
"Well, but now we've hit 1983 and you're all feeling threatened by the robot, computers, artificial intelligence, and the notion of increased leisure time. So, we asked ourselves, where do we go from here?"
"Surely it'll change?" offered Tina. "We'll get better. We will."
"Will you?" begged the Knowall. "Really? Could we still be facing your same demons in thirty, forty or fifty years?"
"Helloooo...!" interrupted Nelson, "Er... you know, food?" He indicated urgently onwards down the corridor and the sign marked Cafeteria.
"Nelson, shush!" urged Tina.
The Knowall hesitated, seemingly to consider his next words. He held his hands open and looked mutely at them for a long time.
"Nelson, Tina... it's not just the fact that the human race has fallen behind, or that you are struggling to catch up. It grieves me deeply to say that the saddest thing now as we go into the '80s, and beyond all of this, is we are witnessing a once promising species embark on a journey that appears impossible for anyone to control. A journey that points towards disaster for every single one of us."
"What kind of journey?" came their simultaneous response.
"Mutually Assured Destruction. MAD as you ironically term it. As a self-designated world of East versus West, you are proliferating nuclear weapons, and multiplying these warheads to the point where even we can no longer keep track. This leaves just one option open to our Directorate, which we are now well on the way to achieving."
There was a faint electronic blip and simultaneous vibrating sound. They watched Dex pull a small slip of a device from his pocket and flipped it open along a metallic fold, at which point a faint blue glow lit up his face.
"Oh good," he said. "The decision to erase you has just been confirmed. Please, let's walk on, we're nearly there. I want you to meet the Directorate before that happens."
A few seconds silence and his irritable bowel flared.
"I need to go again," said Nelson. "Where are the toilets?"