The ballroom was ornate and lavish. The ceiling vaulted high above, and from the balcony that ringed the expansive room, one could see the rhythmic pattern of the dancers below. Each couple moved in unison and seemed to follow a coordinated pattern with all of the other couples around them. The movements produced a satisfying display. On the one hand, it was appealing to note that the formation maintained equidistances between each dancing couple. And the flow of the dancing couples, as they gracefully whirled and glided around the floor, followed the elliptical shape of the room. It was celestial-like and balanced, implying there were forces at work. It was striking to think that these dozens of couples all had such polished skills. From its ideal appearance, it almost appeared programmed.
And, in fact it was programmed. Rather, it was the coordination of a number of programs, each representing one of the dancers. The program representing the setting, the costumes and the other fine details, down to the flowing drinks, and passing hors d'oeuvres, was supplied by only one individual, the host, Lola Villasenor. At one end of the room, Lola descended a wide, red marble staircase to the balcony level, just as the live orchestra completed the piece.
The dancers all took notice of her elegant gown and her handsome partner, wearing black tails, and they gave her an ovation, to which she bowed and waved. The whole thing seemed overdone, right out of a Shakespearean play, but why not? With all the time in the world, and possibilities limited only by one's imagination, these diversions were thoroughly enjoyed by those willing to participate.
Between dances, the orchestra played on and senses were doused in conversation, fine champagne and tasty delights. "Man this is something. She never disappoints. I mean, if you like these kinds of gatherings, which I obviously do." Laszlo smiled at his date, Abby, and she returned the smile as they toasted and scanned the room.
"Well, she's old school. I mean, all the stuff she comes up with, she probably actually did it on Earth."
"Nah, you read her memoirs. Nothing about this kind of thing. But I agree. She had a lot of time to experience or at least read about it when she was young. Not like us."
"Maybe she did do it. We all know about each other, but only based on what we have revealed about ourselves. For example," Abby smiled as she recollected one of her deep secrets, "I tried to be a dancer when I was in elementary school. But I really sucked at it. But now look at me. I'm a great dancer."
"Well you were just old enough to have something like a normal childhood. At least for a while."
"You on the other hand were in a lab, practically from the time you could speak. Poor baby."
"Yeah, I'm young. You know what? You look pretty hot for an older woman. It is our thirty thousandth date and we seem to hit it off. How about we try something later."
"You mean?"
"Uh huh."
"Oh, I don't know. I usually just do my own thing in that regard."
"You see? That's the problem these days. We find diversion in the past, except for what it was really like. I'm one of the youngest. But in that regard, I'm old school. Let's do it. I'll get us a suite at The Ritz."
Abby laughed heartily, then looked at Laszlo waiting for him to admit that he was joking. But he remained transfixed, expecting her answer. "Okay." Abby then broke out in laughter again. It was the first time in a century where she felt as though there was more than just science to discover.
A bell chimed and all attention was back to Lola, as this signaled that she would now address her guests. "Thank you all for coming. The turnout for this is rather small compared to bowling night." Laughter erupted from the crowd. "But these kinds of parties are my attempt to create an accurate and exciting experience, with all of the sights and sounds and flavors. It really feels like I'm back on earth again."
"If you have any ideas about things from the old days and you want help to develop it, I would be more than happy to help. But for now, enjoy the party. You all look lovely and your clothing designs are fabulous. We will strike up one more dance, the finale. Thank you again." There was a round of applause sprinkled with hoots and whistles, as the the orchestra began the prelude.
Laszlo took Abby's hand and led her to the dance floor. They were both now excited about the dance. But, another excitement was building, knowing what was to come immediately following the party. Thirty thousand dates was not many. They all played out in the span of only a few earth weeks. Humans were no longer limited by their slavish biologies and everything occurred thousands of times faster. And this was their relaxed pace of activity. When needed, things happened even much more rapidly.
Their world was in their minds and it was both individual and collective. They interacted as a society, with all of the richness of human interaction and even more. While they were enjoying recreation, in parallel they were working and communicating across the universe and even attending other parties simultaneously, many trillions of miles away. While humans could focus on many things at once, they could not focus on everything at once and had to shift focus. This was the limitation that in fact defined the need for a large community of Protohumans. If a Protohuman could ever evolve to focus on everything at once, what would be the need for community, for humanity?
But such a godlike creature was inconceivable, so long as Protohumans remained engineered. Engineering in the physical world involved the limitations of matter, and the speed of the sub vacuum and the immense demand for energy.
Protohumans enjoyed creating whatever environments and stimulus gave them comfort, for the true reality was cold and hard. The nothingness of vast, interstellar space. The swarm in which Abby and Laszlo had just attended a party hosted by Lola, was composed of their engineered, cuboid bodies, fifteen millimeters on an edge, traveling only one percent shy of light speed, toward an active boundary wall of the universe. To maintain this rate of speed required physical spacing between them, hundreds of miles, and they all traveled in a moving plane formation, none of them ahead, nor behind. A moving wall of tiny cuboids, eighty thousand of them, comprising a thousand copies of eighty individuals.
There would invariably be significant losses over the thirty year period of their expedition. Hence, the high degree of redundancy. The losses were due to collisions. They were predictable, as the position and speed of any particles was willingly shared by the Quarkian inhabitants of the particles themselves, as if they were tiny lighthouse beacons signaling danger.
These hazardous particles had no way to adjust or control themselves. They could only communicate. But that was enough because the cuboids could make adjustments and weave their way through the never ending dispersion of fragmented matter. Even molecule sized particles of sufficient mass, could obliterate a protohuman. And there were many of these molecules to deal with, while navigating space at near light speed. The moving plane formation prevented collisions with particles from causing additional collateral damage to other cuboids.
Ultimately, some losses could not be avoided, as there were areas of high particle density. Invariably, any correction to avoid one particle would simply place the path of the cuboid in line with another. Twenty seven years into their mission, as they approached the boundary, the swarm was down to about a third of its initial numbers. But no single individual had less than two hundred copies remaining, which was a good situation.
The redundancy was important but also costly. Even such small objects, while traveling at near light speed, consumed nearly every electromagnetic particle, EM, in their path. Which is to say, the energy requirement was making Swiss cheese of space. This was another reason to maintain a good distance between the cuboids, because the shock wave of space redistributing itself in their wake, was immense and involved a sub vacuum component that could disrupt their communication.
With millions of expeditions ongoing, many involving large numbers of Protohumans traveling near light speed, humanity was faced with a realization that like the earth, the universe would someday fall victim to humanity's restlessness. This emphasized the imperative to make the important discoveries as quickly as possible, which in turn, accelerated the depletion of space and its life-giving energy.
At the moment, the dangers and realities of space travel, the long term questions of purpose and humanity's future were among the topics that Laszlo had determined not to dwell on. He was on an exploration of a different kind. As one of many humans who were too young to have had sex as a biological human, Laszlo was curious.
"What was it like?" Pressed Laszlo, curious to understand whether his experience was the genuine article.
"I didn't have much experience myself, and what little sex I did experience, probably wasn't a great example of the ultimate experience. The best way to think about it now, is just to tune your feelings and your senses in the way that gives you the most pleasure."
"Okay. I'll try." Laszlo put his hand on Abby's hip and pulled her near. They had been standing near a large, picture window, in their Ritz Carlton penthouse suite. The view was spectacular. Paris, basically from the perspective of a high, mythical building not far from the Seine, just across from Notre Dame cathedral. They danced, mimicking their previous moves at the grand ball, but this time getting much closer, and eventually embracing.
"That was so enjoyable. But I was wondering, was that realistic for you? I mean, is it the same as when you were biological?" Laszlo propped himself up on one arm, in the disheveled bed that had just served as the venue for a long and varied sequence of sexual escapades. He eagerly awaited Abbey's feedback as she stared toward the ceiling trying to form her impressions.
"It's hard to say. I would say it's better because no matter who you are, or what you were like, I can tune the pheromone response and every other chemical parameter to my own liking. On earth, it would be hit and miss. But now, every man is Mr. Right."
"So I'm just like anyone else, as far as your concerned."
"Not really. You're Mr. Right. But more importantly, you're Mr. Right Now."
"Ha ha. True."
"Actually, your personality is unique. So I think that's the difference. We can be with the one we like, but there are no detractors. No bad breath, B.O., snoring. Ha ha. Unless you're into that kind of real human sensation stuff. Some people are. I'm not."
"No, me neither. I have tried to really gross myself out before."
"What happened?"
"It was gross." They both laughed and closed the distance between them. There was no harm in another full round. After all, it only took less than a second.
The wall of eerily silent, swiftly moving cuboids was suddenly disrupted by a bright flash, whose energy release rivaled a thirty kiloton nuclear detonation. It was the latest casualty among the explorers and this one in particular was one of Lola's replicates.
This type of loss was calculated, fully expected and not of any serious consequence to an individual. Yet the human reaction was to be startled, if only for an instant. As if pricked by a sharp object, Lola made a quick assessment and moved on. In fact, she already knew minutes ahead of time that there was a very high probability for the occurrence. But similar to donating blood or receiving a vaccination, despite the forewarning, the actual event was unwelcome and a bit nerve wracking.
This exploration team had agreed on a human simulation for the scientific interaction. To the explorers it seemed like a normal human experience, at least to the extent that their memories were accurate and they usually were. Compared to real human interaction, everything unfolded thousands of times faster which made for very productive science.
The simulated working environment was an elaborate, interstellar space vessel, which they modified to their liking, on the fly. It wasn't purely for entertainment that such a mirage was preferred. Such environments were proven to evoke greater creativity as well as a degree of structure in probing the frontiers of discovery. There was even a hierarchy of leadership, and certain specializations. For although the capability gap between them was narrow compared to earthly humans, there were residual traits and preferences among them. Some liked to lead, others would follow.
Specialization was important in particular, as it had always been with humans. More could be accomplished through division of labor. As this particular group of explorers approached a phenomenon of interest, a super massive black hole that appeared to be precisely on the boundary between the universe and one of its neighboring universes, the parties and other diversions tapered off rapidly and all minds were focused on the objective, to understand whether this black hole was different because of its location and most important, was it somehow connected to space and matter from the other universe and were these forms of space and matter similar to our own.
It was long known that matter was annihilated or deflected at a universe boundary so it was clear that there were at least two other types of universes. In fact, the universe on the other side of the black hole was already known to be the type to deflect matter and EMs. What was puzzling, was the ability of the black hole to seemingly straddle the two universes.
The mission would be for groups of humanoids to enter the black hole, something that had been done commonly, and transmit back using the sub vacuum, information about the inner workings of this black hole and whether it potentially represented a passage through. The redundancy of each of them was a thing of beauty, when it came to voyages from where there could be no coming back. It just didn't matter.