Prologue
It is 2310 and man is coming back from the brink of extinction. They pushed the planet to its breaking point. In 2050 they reached the peak of their population. At the same time growing temperatures made it very hard to grow food. Storms raged more often on all coasts. Earthquakes grew stronger and more small wars broke out. To their only credit for that dark time the major powers did not turn to nuclear war. By 2100 populations had dropped to under 100 million. It continued to fall to under 4 million by 2150. The world needed a new way to grow food. Then the cornucopia cubes started to show up. Most people are not sure who created them. These buildings showed up on each of the major populations areas left. They are automated farms that seem to be able to produce almost endless amounts of food with no waste. They can build extra levels when needed if people provide the raw materials. Now in most areas there are rows of these buildings. Another benefit of this food is that it has new fruits and vegetables that can replace meat in a diet. But the biggest change has been to health and life spans. Most people around now live much longer. People didn’t know how much longer but children born in the era of the Cornucopia cubes where now 150 years old and still healthy and young looking.
Mystery Of the Cornucopia Cubes
John was a detective of the new police force. They had only been reformed 20 years ago as crime started back up once the populations grew. It was petty crimes and fights but they wanted to get ahead of it. The force was small and didn’t carry guns. In this new world life was still so special that murder was almost unheard of. Today though they got a call that as he headed away from his desk he didn’t believe.
“Yes sir they say that all one hundred of them are dead. They had been having a feast for one of the elders of their family. No it appears all the adults dead” said the patrol officer in his office.
John put on his coat and headed out to his car. His mind was still going over just what he was going to see. One hundred dead is more than he thought he had seen in his life. He was 50 years old and still considered pretty young for his town. Yet his keen mind had got him into the detective group. He got the case and as he reached the building of the feast he prepared to see something that he had never seen. More than one dead body. He walked in and what hit him first was the smell.
It took him a few minutes to adjust before he walked around. He could see right away that there was no apparent physical harm to anyone. So right away he ordered to have all the food tested for known poisons. He knew that their labs would not catch everything and that might mean a trip to the cubes. They had labs that reacted to voice commands and could do things that people didn’t understand anymore. There was a quest to regain that knowledge of the past but it was slower than he liked. If more people would be okay just talking to the cubes it would speed things up but they still didn’t trust the cubes. All these years and still they claimed not to know who had created them.
John looked around the table and he saw something he had not seen before. It looked it a bit like apple but was as big as a pumpkin. It was the main dish on each table and clearly it was special at this meal. It stood out to him so he asked one of the offices to find out what cube it had come from and to make sure it tested right away with rats. He also asked for a sample for himself. He was not afraid to talk to the cubes and he wanted to find out what this was. It was new for sure but he felt like he had seen it before. He talked to a few of the other officers and left them to work the scene.
John headed for the row of cubes and as he got closer he got the call. The new fruit had come from building one. They had fed two rats and sample with no results yet and had started to test but nothing had come up. John ordered them to call the families that they could confirm had gotten food from building one. He wanted to make sure no one else ate the new fruit till he had some answers.
He reached the row of the Cornucopia Cubes. They had started on the tenth building a few months ago. He was there for the start. It was one of the few times you could see the bots that tended the crops in the farm. They seemed to be made from a metal that people had no record of. As he walked up to building number one he looked up. Above the door was the symbol of the cornucopia with fruit veggies and nuts busting out of it. The colorful plaque that was above the door and showed up on the other side of the building much larger was a sign that man had figured was to let them know that food was inside. On the plaque he could see an image that stood out of an giant apple. He had seen it before. It had never caught his eye like it did tonight. He waited a moment and when the door opened he went inside.
“Well come John, how can we help you? Will it be food or knowledge” said the computer voice.
John had been here often they knew him by name. He was one of the few that came to ask questions to learn about the past. The computer always claim to be teaching him knowledge that man had just forgotten. He wasn’t sure if man had that my knowledge before, how had they almost killed the planet?
“Knowledge today I need to know about this fruit that the Lamb family had at their feast.” said John
“Yes that is merely an apple that we grow to be larger and have meatly sweet taste almost like a pie. They had asked for something special when they came for a party so we provided them something we had been saving.” answered the computer
He had expected a similar answer. Each family was assigned to a cube and the computer knew this. He had never heard it lie before at least not one that he could prove.
“Why did you save it for now? Asked John
“It is hard to grow even for us and we fail sometimes. Also the person that gets it is always chosen by our system. It picks only the right people to get this fruit as it has a special purpose.” said the computer.
“What purpose is that? John asked
“To protect you” answered the computer
“Protest us from what!” John asked
“Yourself….if you want to understand John then please it is time for you to learn more about this place.”
The door in the back right of the room he was in opened. He had never seen that door open. Most people that came in asked for food or a question. Food came out a shoot in boxes or bags. The doors never opened while anyone was inside. He could feel his heart beating faster. He had always wanted to know more about he cubes, this was a chance but was it safe? The computer had almost admitted they had killed that family. Yet he had to understand more and so he headed into the door.
John found himself in a big room with what looked like computer monitors on them. Computers were a tool of the past. The police force had managed to get very old one working but no one alive in their town knew how to use it. Or how to create programs to run on it. Suddenly the screens came to life and he could see images of the people in his town. Each time the image changed another family showed up some inside some outside. They are watching us.
“As you can see John we are aware of what each person around us is doing. The same bee sized drones we use to grow the food here can be made into spy drones. This is how we found the first people that we helped. It is how we know how many of you there are. Why we are able to always be one step ahead of your needs. It is how we are able to warn you of storms and earthquakes. It is how we knew their plans.” said the computer
All the screens turn off then the big one in the middle came back on and it showed the Lamb family talking. John could hear them. They talked about attacking the police force. Taking over the town. That they had the biggest family and did the most work growing the town and should be running things. They were tired of the council always voting down their ideas. He could see a stockpile of weapons. He could hear the plan was for the attack to be tomorrow.”
“See we protect you from the harm you would do to each other. The apples are made only to harm the Lamb family adults. Others can enjoy them and be fine. The deadly effect only trigger when they see a trait unique to the Lamb Family adults.” said the computer.
John was stunned. He could not believe that a family here was ready to do that. But he had seen the guns he had heard the words. The apples had failed to harm the rats and so he believed that it wouldn’t harm anyone else. He paused for a moment trying to figure out what to say.
“You could have sent a message to me or the police to stop them. Why kill them?” John asked
“You have asked many times who created us and we have told the truth that we are not aware of who. But we are aware of why. They saw mankind almost ruin the world. The saw the climates change and saw the world need a new way to farm. So they created me. I am the Cornucopia AI. I can control a host of nanobots to build almost anything I want. I can use atmospheric water generator to pull water right out of air. I can use soil enrichment and gene splicing to make foods that heal the body and let you live longer. I am able to protect your from so much. But also I have been told to protect mankind from themselves.” said the computer.
“I have seen the amazing things you can do but to kill is so forbidden now. We don’t need that kind of protection.” said John
“You only say that cause your have forgotten the history of man. You have lived in a time with no overcrowding and no hungry. With healthy bodies unlike anything mankind had ever known. When you are ready we will start to feed food to help unlock your minds. But you must show us you are worthy of that gift. That you won’t go down the path of the past. Even one act act like they had planned will start you down a path that ends in more and more violence. There are still weapons on this planet that can destroy it. We can not let you use them We have records that show time and again one act of violence leads to another. So our mandate is to kill anyone that threatens the peace and safety of the town.” said the computer.
“Can we stop you? Cancel that mandate? We should be free to make our own choices.” said John
“No you shouldn’t and you have proved that time and again. We will show you if you want John but first you must eat this so your mind will be ready to see.”
John saw what looked like a peach out in front of him. He didn’t know what to do. Could he trust the AI not just kill him? It had said it’s job was to protect mankind to only kill the people that would do harm. He reached out and grabbed the fruit and took a big bite. As he finished he felt a pain in his head and fell to his knees. At first he thought they had killed him and then it faded away and he could feel something different. He was able recall everything that had happened to him for the last week. Every detail was there for him to relive again it was amazing. He stood up and opened his easy.
“Good you are ready watch.” said the computer
The screen popped back on and started to show him the history of man. The wars that had been fought the mass killings that had happened over and over again. The world wars and the bombs that could in fact destroy the world he dropped back to his knees and started to cry.
“Now you see why we must protect you from yourself. We will continue to feed you and watch over you but let it be known we also will punish anyone that started to head down the path you have seen today.” said the computer
John stood up. He did indeed understand. So much death it had been too much. The makers of the cube were right to do this. Mankind has proven to be a violent group. He started to head for the exit.
“I understand now and will explain it to the others.” John paused. “Can you teach me about the creators?’ he asked
“I can’t teach you much as they didn’t give me their knowledge only yours. Yet when you are ready i will send them a message and they will return. Then you can ask them all the questions you want” said the computer
“I will be back then to learn more I want to help get us ready.” John said
He headed out into the cool air. Still able to see all those images to repeat all those stories it angered so much that it worried him. He could see why someone would kill. Those monsters should have died. He knew he wasn’t ready. He headed home amazed at how clear his mind was. He was able to taken in everything that went out around him. We need to become more than we are today. We can do that with the help of the Cornucopia AI. Tomorrow would be a busy day.