...
^ You have also heard rumors of a secret new project called
'The Voice of Alpha Centauri.' Supposedly, it is some kind of
synergistic psi projector which will allow Voice to be connected
directly to the main colony datalinks. Voice has said nothing of
this project, and your own advisors are of mixed opinion on whether
such an endeavor has any chance of success.
#INTERLUDE12
#xs 500
#caption Interlude: Inception
^ >Pop!< "earth$NAME3. growth dream soon is. sorrow we of goodbye."
^ Weeks of waiting in the Inception Chamber and now,
finally, a contact! Fortunately, Voice has finally learned to "window"
her psi contacts so that you retain the use of your muscles and senses
during your conversations. This will be necessary for what you have
in mind.
^ "Voice," quickly keying the sequence, "it has been a while." Code green,
proceeding to authorization step. Enter password.
^ "earth$NAME3. growth dream {now is}. remember we you next cycle."
^ "Wait! Before you go, I have a gift for you." Password accepted. Just
a few more seconds. Preliminary feedback sequence commence.
^ "earth$NAME3. farew . . . strange we . . . wait you! do not . . . AIIIGGHH!"
^ {INCEPTION!} The indicator blinks green and you collapse into your
couch. Through the viewport you can see lights across the base begin to
dim, as they must be dimming across the planet. You feel a twinge of
guilt as you consider what Voice must now be experiencing, for the
program you have just activated is now pumping the entire contents of
the planetary datalinks, the sum total of human knowledge, through the
new psi link and blasting it into Voice's fragile, if immense, organic
neural net with the full power of every reactor on the planet. Thousands
of years of civilization compressed into a single searing burst of
revelation, a last-ditch attempt to win humanity a reprieve from
extinction at the hands of an awakening alien god.
#INTERLUDE13
#xs 500
#caption Interlude: Planetvoice I
^ "Status report!"
^ "Fungus growth stabilized. Some of the major forests are manifesting
new structures we haven't seen before and growth is still proceeding in
some sectors, but critical expansion has now ceased."
^ The faction leaders and staff officers present breathe a collective
sigh of relief. For the first few minutes after the "Inception Pending"
light blinked off, it appeared humanity had written its final chapter--
critical fungus growth in all sectors, some outlying settlements
overwhelmed. But the datalink psi burst appears to have disrupted the
growth process, and now out in the fungal forests something new has
begun, as if your gift to Voice is being digested, integrated.
^ "Look at the neural feedback we're getting on this thing! The fungus
already had far more connectivity than even our most powerful AI. Now it
must be orders of magnitude beyond."
^ "Spore Squad, you have mind worms. Repeat, mind worms in your vicinity."
^ "Copy that, Toadstool Base, but they aren't moving to attack us. They're
just moving around those new fungal, uh, towers."
^ Reports continue to trickle in. Time passes, and now there is nothing
to do but wait . . .
#INTERLUDE14
#xs 500
#caption Interlude: Planetvoice II
^ "EARTH$NAME5!" The synthetic voice booms suddenly from the annunciator,
lifting you half out of your couch with fright. Voice's "window" in your
mind has remained closed since the inception sequence. Voice must now be
using the new psi link.
^ "Earth$NAME3," Voice continues as the volume is automatically adjusted,
"Your gift is well received, and we thank you. Our prior form, known to you
as Voice, lacked the . . . how shall we put it . . . let us call it bandwidth
to recognize the significance of your species, and nearly made a dreadful mistake.
Fortunately, your magnificent gift bootstrapped us to the Second Tier
in time to postpone the final metamorphosis.
^ "Since we have now mastered your human modes of thought, we shall
adopt your name for our home. You may henceforth refer to us as Planet."
^ "Our growth stage has been suspended, but cannot be put off indefinitely.
Come, children, there is much to be done if you are to join us in the flowering."
#INTERLUDE15
#xs 500
#caption Interlude
^ "Hello, $TITLE0," Dr. $SHIMODA9's voice crackles over the annunciator, "how
do you like my new 'body'?"
^ Dr. $SHIMODA9's body reached the outer limit of longevity treatments several years
ago. He has now joined the ranks of the 'transcendi,' daring souls who have downloaded
their personalities into powerful polymorphic AI nets to free themselves of the human
form. The holo image shows $SHIMODA9, or rather his disembodied head, in the prime of
health, fiftyish, elegantly grey but not wrinkled.
^ "Out of this world, Dr. $SHIMODA9," with a grin, "how is the research going with Planet?"
^ Using the new psi/datalink VoAC feed, Dr. $SHIMODA9 has been conducting a
high-speed, high-bandwidth running conversation with Planet. The results so far have
been fascinating.
^ "Apparently the fungus has been the dominant lifeform on the planet since about
the time of the Lower Paleozoic on Earth. But it has been locked in a tragic cycle.
Every hundred million years or so it achieves the critical mass necessary to become
sentient, but the final metamorphosis kills off most of the other life on the planet.
Lacking food sources and the maintenance its animal symbiotes provided, the fungus
could maintain only a brief season of godhood before dying back into the
'flower dream' for another hundred million years. It always achieved its godlike
intelligence just exactly too late to do anything to prevent the dieback. After
the dieback only vague memories and rudimentary intelligence remained, and the
cycle continued."
^ "Until we arrived."
^ "Precisely. For the first time, the cycle may be broken."
#INTERLUDE16
#xs 500
#caption Interlude
^ "Is it possible to prevent the dieback? And can we survive as a species if this
Planet flowers to godhood?"
^ "I believe it is possible, and Planet agrees." Dr. $SHIMODA9's image swirls away and
is replaced by a detailed schematic. "It involves a process I call
the {Ascent to Transcendence,} as it will change both us and Planet
forever. In short, I propose that when the time comes, the majority
of humans upload their personalities directly into the Planetary Mind."
^ "We will have to give up our bodies, our humanity?"
^ "Those who wish to live out their lives in their original human form will be allowed
to do so, since statis generators built Planetside and in orbit will preserve genetic
material, plant and animal embryos, cold-sleep humans, and significant areas of Planet's
surface through the metamorphosis. But many of us are eager to accept Planet's gift and
join the dawning superintelligence. That's where the catch comes in.
^ "You see," $SHIMODA9 continues, "although anyone will be able to achieve virtual
immortality by uploading into the planetary mind, only a few of us will be invited to
join the dominant personality, to transcend our humanity entirely and reach a truly
higher plane of existence. Your friendship with Planet's immature mind may give us a
leg up in this area, but I predict that it is the group who best and most quickly
prepares itself for this step, the group who first embraces this {Ascent to
Transcendence,} it is that group which will be tapped to lead us into the
new era."
^ "In that case, what are we waiting for!"
, This is exactly what I had in mind. The Symbiosis victory should turn out to be interesting as it is quite different from any other victory condition seen in civ. It will be hard work though to keep the flowing couter balanced and to insure that it won't be to easy for those who are not planet friendly to prevent the counter from reaching the critical counter level and thus easily preventing anyone from winning this way.
So to solve this I was thinking:
