Influx by Daniel Suarez Read Free Book Online

the blinding light. “You can’t be serious . . .”
    “I’m always serious.”
    “Fusion
.
You perfected
fusion
.”
    Hedrick nodded.
    “
Fusion energy?
”
    “I told you I’ve been where you are now.”
    Grady looked back and forth between the reactor and its creator. Dumbfounded.
    “I’m a plasma physicist by training. Toroidal magnetic confinement fusion devices were my specialty.”
    “I . . .” Grady searched for words.
    Hedrick nodded toward the reactor. “This is a later model. The first prototype was huge and output only a hundred megawatts. Even this one’s crude compared to what we have now.”
    “But . . . 1985?”
    “Certain innovations serve as catalysts for each other—creating a positive feedback cycle. Eventually a technology becomes inevitable. It’s managing the transition that’s critical. Fusion and quantum computing are good examples. Improved reactor designs were made possible by computer simulations of nonlinearly coupled phenomena in the core plasma, edge plasma, and wall regions of reactor prototypes. The vast energy from fusion made more powerful computers possible. And more powerful computers, better fusion reactor designs. They are symbiotic. Gravity modification will be another key symbiotic technology.”
    Hedrick nudged Grady along to the next exhibit. “I wanted to show you this gallery because these are the advances that will one day transform human civilization.”
    “And you’re keeping them secret? Even your own fusion work?”
    “We prefer to think of it as safeguarding them. Preparing the world for the massive changes these innovations will bring about. A sudden influx of innovation could disrupt social order, and disruption of social order is not to be taken lightly, Jon.” Hedrick brought them to the next display. It was a holographic animation hovering in midair. It depicted living cells replicating in a petri dish. The plaque read:
    Cure for Malignant Neoplasm—November 1998: Rowe, Rochelle, MD, et al
    “
Cancer?
You cured cancer?”
    “Doctor Rowe did, yes—or at least most forms of it. An elusive pocket on the surface of protein 53.” Hedrick nodded and ushered Grady onward.
    “How the hell can you ethically conceal a cure for cancer? Do you realize how many millions of lives would be saved? How many tens of millions of lives?”
    “The human population is still growing rapidly. Even with cancer.”
    “What gives you the right to withhold this from people?”
    Hedrick looked on patiently. “Jon, the BTC predates me. It was founded in the years before the moon landings—as the pace of technological change threatened to overwhelm our social and political institutions. The BTC grew out of a section of the Directorate of Science and Technology. It was formed to monitor research worldwide for disruptive technologies, to classify them, and to regulate their future release to the general public. We don’t have a perfect record—Steve Jobs was a tricky one—but we’ve managed to catch most of the big disruptors before they brought about uncontrolled change.” He gestured to the line of exhibits stretching before them. “As you can see.”
    Grady let a disgusted laugh escape. “Who says technology was threatening to overwhelm our social and political institutions? The space program inspired kids to go into science.”
    Hedrick nodded. “Yes, but how would humanity have coped with cures for most diseases? With limitless clean energy? With greater-than-human artificial intelligence? These would result in irreversible changes to society. Changes that we’re seeing even now, despite our best efforts at management.”
    “I can’t believe you think this is ethical.”
    “Relinquishing my own achievements with fusion was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But I made that sacrifice for the common good.”
    Grady clenched his hands. “You have no right to decide the pace of technological change.”
    “Now you sound like someone we both