Carl Bertrand had returned to Seattle to resume his duties as a senior director of a powerful multinational technology company called TranSilica. During the long trip to FLO, Bertrand had described how deeply TranSilica was involved in quantum computing and with management of the global infrastructure that had gradually been built up to service Mekhos. Bertrand’s descriptions of a variety of other research and development work being done at TranSilica had been equally impressive. The company was plugged into half the governments on FLO and effectively controlled all R&D related to quantum computing.

Doug, Jamieson and Smith were shown to their rooms on the base. Doug’s room resembled an executive hotel suite. It had a well appointed washroom with separate bathtub and shower stall, a tablet computer connected to the secure network on base, a wireless keyboard, a desk, a television, and a separate bedroom with another desk, tablet and television. He was exhausted but he wanted to watch the news and check the latest goings-on with the newsreader he had been given after his debriefing.

Unsurprisingly, their arrival on FLO was the major news item. Doug had not been famous on either Earth prior to the disaster. On FLO the public had developed a particular fascination with Dr. Douglas Lockwood, the visitor from the Twin that had died years earlier on this Earth. On a news channel he saw a profile of his life, education and accomplishments, and how they started to diverge a few years before the other Lockwood’s death.

Doug’s parents on FLO were interviewed, though they did not have much to say. “That man is not our son,” Mr. Lockwood said as a somber Mrs. Lockwood looked on. “He has his own mother and father on another planet. I’m sure they’re proud of him. Our Doug died over two years ago.”

He felt sympathy for them. It was a bizarre feeling. So familiar, yet they were not his parents. The media, Doug sighed, manages to practice this sort of cruelty on every world. He turned off the television and pushed the thoughts from his mind as he tapped the newsreader.

Aside from being almost weightless, the tablet operated similarly to those back home with a gesture-based touch interface. When turned off the tablet was as transparent as glass, changing luminosity depending on the content. The help system was very forgiving of a new user, so he was able to navigate quickly.

Apart from news on his team’s arrival, The Moon Returns was the dominant story. There was a section detailing the progress and how Mekhos would carefully and gradually bring the Moon into orbit in a way that would help avoid the worst of the earthquakes that had plagued the planet after the trans-dimensional transfer.

According to the report, the Moon was already having a positive effect on the ecosystem. Its normal phases were now visible, though it would remain slightly dimmer and tides would be of smaller magnitude until it was brought into its normal orbital radius. Only Mekhos knew the exact schedule for final alignment, but it wasn’t going to take much longer.

There had been little mention of where the Moon came from until news of an impending visit by an Envoy from the Twin was announced. The people of FLO had believed their own Moon was being moved into its natural place by just the same means that Mekhos had first moved their planet. When the facts about the Moon theft leaked, a sort of collective denial that it had been stolen from the Twin arose quite quickly. One widely broadcast piece featured a short interview with a scientist, who claimed that without its Moon the impact on the Twin would be minimal with only a few species dying off. But after all the preceding months of earthquakes, tremors, and radical climatic and environmental changes taking place on FLO, it was obviously a tough sell.

Mekhos had been consulted by the Limited, but was silent on the matter of public denial of the incident. The Limited had then erred by attempting to disguise the enormous theft. The severity of the situation had been hidden for only as long as it took for the truth to fight its way out. Doug came across another online news piece showing protesters demonstrating in front of government buildings. Stills and video showed protest signs with a photo of the moon and the words “Replace What We Stole Now!” Doug’s comments to the Secretary General had been widely reported, as were his comments in the press conference. Lies about the real disaster lay in shreds.

Many of his searches about the Moon were locked out. It was clear to Doug that the tablet had been set up specifically to prevent him from searching for certain things. He did find plenty of blogs and editorials on the subject, including one on a major media outlet web site titled What About the People of the Twin?

The writer warned that these extreme measures and the speed with which Mekhos appropriated the Twin’s moon were evidence that catastrophe that would be stopped on FLO would now befall the Twin. Some commenters agreed, while others insisted his theories were nonsense. The biggest problem was that the writer didn’t have any science to back him up. No quotes from knowledgeable astrophysicists or earth science experts. Either Mekhos or the Limited had a lid on that sort of access.

Turning to the big daily newspaper that had been delivered to his room, Doug saw plenty of familiar headlines. Most of them dealt with policy and minor natural disasters. A hurricane was battering Jamaica. There were none of the typical middle east tensions or issues with North Korea or any other regime. As far as he could tell the regions were peaceful, enjoying the same prosperity as the rest of the world.

One story got his attention. Doctors the world over are baffled by sudden increase in illnesses. It was a short article detailing unusual increases in heart attacks, strokes, arthritis, respiratory illnesses and other afflictions across the globe. There was speculation that the increases were being caused entirely by stresses from the earthquakes, personal losses, sudden changes of season and a world being without a moon for several months, but there was no solid research or studies offered as backup for the assertions.

Aside from the Moon-related news, Mekhos was mentioned several times in the headlines. Most were details on GDP growth and new policy initiatives on wildlife preservation and sustainable energy development. There was another headline that caught Doug’s eye, even though it was more or less buried in the back of the international news section: Mekhos Loyalists Burn American, UN Flags, with a photo caption of demonstrators and police clashing.

“Huh,” Doug said aloud. “Plenty of trouble in paradise.”

Prior to lift-off from Earth, the crew had been given a brief on what was known about the attitude of common citizens toward Mekhos. For the most part, FLO’s population viewed Mekhos and its policies with acceptance and quiet pride, especially since its accomplishments had moved the world towards peace and a more equitable standard of living. Some people grumbled that the Raim and other public surveillance measures reduced their privacy but since there did not seem to be restrictions on free speech, dissent was rare. Still others pointed out that any loss of self-determination was tantamount to creeping slavery. There was no consensus.

The physical problem of having to wear a Raim no matter what you were doing was solved, or rather solved itself, by ingenuity and the force of ubiquity. If everyone was wearing one, then it followed that it was never inappropriate to wear one no matter what you were doing. And if everyone was wearing one, it followed just as quickly that designers, craftspeople, fashion houses and companies with corporate logos to display easily figured out how to decorate, disguise and otherwise turn any Raim into an unavoidable accessory or advertising platform. Mekhos made it all easier to figure out by releasing technical guides about how to decorate a Raim and what could be embedded in the surface. Clever machine.

Then there were the Mekhos evolutionist groups, whose members advocated that Mekhos be given complete control, even at the local level. The most extreme groups believed Mekhos to be a god, or to have been delivered by God to aid humankind. At the other end of the spectrum were the anti-Mekhos groups, preaching the dangers of letting a machine dictate human destiny. But given the apparent general satisfaction of the global public, the extremist groups seemed destined to stay on the fringe.

The tablet chimed. Doug tossed the paper aside and picked up the device. Curiously, there was an email notification addressed to him. Apparently his hosts had set up an email account in his name. He tapped the notification and was surprised to see the identity of the sender.

 

Greetings Dr. Lockwood!

 

I am very pleased we will be meeting on Thursday. I have been following events very closely. We have much to discuss.

 

Norman Stravinsky

 

For the first time since leaving Earth, Doug felt a shot of jubilation. From what he had read and heard from others, the inventor of Mekhos was not only brilliant, but also had the reputation of being a sympathetic man who gave much of his fortune to charity. The need for charity on FLO wasn’t as pressing as it was back home, but there were still some areas of society that needed attention. Stravinsky was considered a leader in that respect.

Doug was having trouble staying awake so he put the tablet on the end table, turned off his nightstand light and fell into an exhausted sleep.