Logic E-Book

Luca Bertorelli

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

This story takes place more than two hundred years from now. Earth is no longer habitable, at least not comfortably so. Almost the entire story takes place aboard a spaceship called "Star One." The ship itself is run almost exclusively using technology, including a supercomputer named LOGIC. LOGIC is a secret program maintained by a tech guru named Sydney. When LOGIC starts sending threatening messages to the inhabitants of the ship, the Commander of the ship panics and turns to a group called the "Faithful" to help prevent the threatened self-destruction of "Star One." The "Faithful" is nothing more than a group of people on "Star One" who don't completely trust technology. They are interested, some would say obsessed, with older technologies – the stuff that we have today in the 21st century. Ironically, it is this older technology that may hold the key to survival for Commander Morris and the rest of the staff and civilians onboard his ship. Once you start reading LOGIC: A Forced Choice, you won't be able to put it down! Like other readers, you'll want to find out what happens with Officer Mike Mason and his friend Han Lo. You'll also want to see what First Lieutenant Adam Pace is up to. • Find out what happened to the original "Star One" ship • Can you tell who is a member of the "Faithful"? • Who is behind the threatening messages sent by LOGIC? • Whatever happened to Sweeney? • Will Mason and Han save the day? Imagine what it's like to live on a spaceship two hundred years from now. Forget about eating pizza and drinking a soft drink. You'll be popping drink and food pellets instead. Maybe you'd want to join the "Faithful" and enjoy wading through the relics of the past. Cruise past the Garbage Canyons down on Earth and see if there's anything worth salvaging for use or sale. This is what life could be like in the year 2350. If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll qualify for an encryptor implant. If not, will you be able to tell who has one? Find out who's intercepting the air messages being sent onboard "Star One." Can you figure out who Han Lo's contacts are back on Earth and beyond? Read on to find out if the Commander ever makes it back to Andromeda, where he can get a cushy post and live in a fantastic house. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, you'll enter the twist and turns of life in space. No more creature comforts for you – the only comfort the people onboard "Star One" enjoy is technology. But you can always take a stroll through the Hall of Records if you want to read a few dusty books from days gone by. Or, if you're extra curious, ask Mike Mason to give you a tour of the Museum of Antiquities! That's the closest you'll come to living on Earth in this book!

Leseprobe

LOGIC

A Forced Choice

Luca Bertorelli

© Copyright 2023 by Luca Bertorelli. All rights reserved.

The materials comprising the literary work presented herein have been produced for entertainment and informational intent. The content creator(s) have carried out every possible effort to ensure the contents’ accuracy and veracity. Notwithstanding, the content creator(s) do not claim to be experts on the subject matter or purport unquestionable validity. Consequently, readers must conduct research to verify the contents’ accuracy while seeking whatever professional counsel they deem appropriate.

This copyright statement declares a legally binding contract as determined by the Committee of Publishers Association as well as the American Bar Association within the jurisdiction pertaining to the United States of America. Applicable legislation shall govern copyright issues in jurisdictions outside of the United States. No portion of the contents contained herein shall be reproduced, broadcast, or disseminated, in any form, without the copyright holder’s consent. Any unauthorized use of this literary work’s contents shall be deemed copyright infringement and subject to the appropriate legal claims as allowed by American copyright legislation.

The information, descriptions, events, or any other data contained in this literary work have been determined to be true and fair. Nevertheless, the accounts in this literary work are not deemed true in the case of a literary work of fiction. Thus, the creator(s) and publisher are exempt from any responsibility of actions stemming from the reader’s own accord. Advice, recommendations, tips, or techniques are not to be construed as giving professional advice. The reader must seek appropriate professional counsel before putting any of the information contained forthwith into practice.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Welcome to Star One

Chapter 2: The Meeting

Chapter 3: Rejection At Its Finest!

Chapter 4: At Adam’s Pace

Chapter 5: Teacher Observation

Chapter 6: Books and Air Messages

Chapter 7: Beware of Banishment!

Chapter 8: Who Are the Faithful?

Chapter 9: Countdown to Self-Destruction

Chapter 10: Enter the Star Chamber

Chapter 11: Putting Our Heads Together

Chapter 12: Adam’s Plan

Chapter 13: The Weight of the World

Chapter 14: A Hopeless Commander

Chapter 15: What Happened to Sweeney?

Chapter 16: Enter At Your Own Risk!

Chapter 17: The Hangover

Chapter 18: Han’s Secret

Chapter 19: I Need a Shrink!

Chapter 20: Sydney’s Lair

Chapter 21: Dr. Ford’s Calling

Chapter 22: Houston, We Have a Problem

Chapter 23: Desperate Times

Chapter 24: Time to Solicit Han

Chapter 25: Han Lo, You’re Our Only Hope!

Chapter 26: Entry to the Lair

Chapter 27: I Need a Favor

Chapter 28: They Need Me

Chapter 29: Adam’s Not Happy

Chapter 30: Dude, We’ve Gotta Talk!

Chapter 31: What Did I Do Last Night?

Chapter 32: DeSeat’s Deceit

Chapter 33: Meeting of the Faithful

Chapter 34: Alas – It’s Sweeney!

Chapter 35: Time for Some Explaining

Chapter 36: Han Opens Up

Chapter 37: We’ve Identified the Culprits

Chapter 38: Come Sail Away

Chapter 39: Time to Go

Chapter 40: Morris Is Safe

Chapter 41: Back to Earth

Chapter 42: It’s a Mad, Mad World

Conclusion

 

Introduction

Congratulations on purchasing LOGIC: A Forced Choice, and thank you for doing so.

The following chapters will offer a fictional tale about the dangers of the human race relying too heavily on technology. This is a work of fiction and is intended for amusement and entertainment purposes only.

There are plenty of books on this subject on the market. Thanks again for choosing this one! Please enjoy!

Chapter 1: Welcome to Star One

Star One Officer Mike Mason looked up from his desk. He looked out at the class full of kids. They were supposed to be working on their group projects. Of course, what that meant was that a handful of the smarter students were doing all the work while the rest of them goofed off or sent air messages to each other.

The project they were working on was one he gave to each of his classes. Year after year, he found himself reading close to thirty papers on how the students imagined life was for kids living in the year 2020. In the last five years, Mason was still waiting to read a single paper that didn’t have to do with technology. You’d think by the year 2350, people would’ve gotten over their obsessions with technology.

Most of his students wrote about how terrible life must have been back when kids had to read actual books, line by line. The fact that students in the early twenty-first century had to type their papers into a computer was mind-boggling to his students. One of the students in his previous year’s class had actually asked him how people back in the “olden times” were able to get anything done without the technology available to people in the 24th century.

Mason already felt old standing up in front of a group of a hundred and twenty teenagers. He was in his early thirties, although he felt a lot older than that. Thankfully, he didn’t look his age. He could still pass for twenty-six or twenty-seven. He was tall, much taller than most of the other officers onboard the ship. He had brown, wavy hair. While he didn’t consider himself cocky in the least, he couldn’t ignore the fact that a lot of the women on the ship told him he was a good looking guy.

It probably didn’t hurt that he worked out a lot. In between classes, there wasn’t much else to do. Plus, he needed to hit the gym sometimes to work off some of the frustrations he felt, especially as a teacher to a bunch of kids who would rather be anywhere else besides in his classroom. One thing that Mason was a little self-conscious about was the fact that he needed glasses now. He knew it was coming as his father started wearing glasses in his mid-twenties. But even with his glasses on, people still told him he looked good.

He wished his students were a little more intimidated by him. They seemed to have no qualms about doing whatever they felt like doing during class. They drove him a little nuts sometimes. The way they talked about people who had lived just two hundred years before them was more proof that they had no idea how easy they had it.

He felt the same thing when he took groups on tours through the Star One Museum of Antiquity. Not that he had it all that hard. Most of his job was done through technology. He wasn’t all that different from his students or the people he took on museum tours. But one thing he couldn’t believe was how entitled most people felt.

Most of the people he met through his job had no respect for history. All they cared about was the here and now. If it wasn’t something they could plug into their brain port, they wanted nothing to do with it.

That was only part of the problem with living on Star One. Mason had seen enough aero videos to know how hard life was for the people still living on Earth. Talk about a rough life.

Mason had a few relatives who still lived down there. The things his cousins did to survive! He could barely think about it without getting sick to his stomach. At least on the Star One ship, they had plenty to eat and drink. All they had to do was push a couple of buttons, and anything they felt like having would appear in front of them. Of course, it was different. They didn’t really get to enjoy the food. They swallowed those little candy-coated tablets and went on with their day. But at least they weren’t eating dead rats and other varmint.

Before he knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. That was one of the last vestiges of the old days. Bells and alarms! Oh, how he was tired of the bells and alarms. They seemed to dictate his every move. Class started – the bell rang, and when class was over – the bell rang. The Commander was calling for an emergency drill – an alarm rang. How nice it would be to go just one day without his every step being orchestrated by bells and alarms.

No sooner had he minimized his AirPad and put it in his pocket than another alarm sounded. But this one wasn’t a bell letting him know his next class was about to start. Instead, this one was a bit more ominous.

Mason walked as quickly as he could without running. He had to get to the Star One Conference Room fast, or he wouldn’t get a seat. He had no idea what this meeting was about, but he was sure the Commander was the one who called the meeting.

When he arrived at the conference room door, he put his eye up to the security scanner and heard a strange buzzer. A big red sign appeared on the screen saying, “ACCESS DENIED.” Denied? Mason had been on this ship for over five years, and he had never been denied access to anything. What was going on?

Before he had time to wonder for too long, a buddy of his ran up to the door.

“Hey, Adam. What is this meeting all about?” He figured if Adam was meant to be in that meeting, then he was too.

What to say about First Lieutenant Adam Pace. He felt bad thinking it, but Mason knew that he was one of only a few people onboard who tolerated the guy. The guy never seemed to be doing any work. He was constantly in one of the canteens eating or, more likely, popping beer and vodka pods. If he wasn’t in the canteen, you could usually find him in the Hall of Records hitting on some teenage girl.

The young girls, and the women for that matter, were obsessed with Adam. Even Mason had to admit that guy was one of the best looking guys on the ship. He was well-built, and somehow, despite the fact that they lived on a ship, he was always tan. He got his hair cut twice a month, and he'd never admit it, but Mason knew the guy got manicures and pedicures! He was always in his civilian clothes despite the fact that officers were supposed to be in formal dress while on duty.

The fact that Adam was such a party guy was precisely why Mason was angry that he had been invited to a secret meeting with the Commander and other higher-ups.

“Oh, nothing to concern yourself about, man. Can I squeeze past you to the scanner?” Right before his friend approached the security scanner, he placed a coffee film under his tongue.

“I had a late night and need all the caffeine I can get!”

Mason was starting to get frustrated. Here was Adam, someone he considered a friend, and he was freezing him out. Why was he being so evasive?

“Adam, the scanner won’t let me in. Must have rubbed my eyes too hard trying to stay awake in class. Scan me in, will ya?”

His friend looked at him and started shuffling the pods he had in his hand. “Come on, man. I got my hands full here. Just try scanning your eye again. Maybe it was a fluke.”

“I tried twice!”Mason lied. He knew better than to try to scan twice in a row. Two “ACCESS DENIED” scans and he’d get called down to the Director of Security’s office. The last thing he needed to deal with right now was Sargent DeSeat. He couldn’t stand the guy, and he certainly wasn’t in the mood for a dressing down this morning.

Director DeSeat was one of his least favorite people on the ship. The man was only five-foot-six or seven but walked around like he owned the place. Not only was he short, but he could stand to lose a few pounds (or fifty!) He always had someone smeared all over his shirt. Mason had no idea what it was since very few of the officers onboard the ship ate real food. Plus, the guy's hair, what was left of it, was always greasy. The less time Mason had to spend with that guy, the better.

“Geez, what’s going on? I’ve scanned you in plenty of times when your eyes were so bloodshot from popping vodka tabs the night before. What’s the big deal?”

“Look, I didn’t want to get into it with you right now, but I don’t think you’re supposed to be at this meeting. It’s just a few guys the Commander called late last night. I don’t even know what it’s about.”

“Wait a minute - they called you into this meeting but not me? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Adam tried to look over his shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was be seen talking to Mason before this meeting. It didn’t matter that he was an Officer. The Commander didn’t like the fact that he hung out with members of the “Faithful.”

“I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but I really don’t want to hash this out right now. Just let me get by so I can get into the meeting. If I’m late, the Commander will have my head.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That must be why his eye scanner didn’t work - he was being frozen out for real.

The next thing he knew, Adam was brushing past him to get to the scanner. He scanned his eye and received the safe, green message, “ACCESS GRANTED.”

“Talk to ya later, buddy.” Adam cruised past him and went into the conference room. Mason tried to peek inside. The only people he saw were Sargent DeSeat, Commander Morris, and Sydney, the IT guru who was in charge of LOGIC.

He scratched his head. He couldn’t imagine what was going on in that room, but he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Chapter 2: The Meeting

Adam entered the conference room, not sure who he should sit next to. He was a First Lieutenant, so he technically belonged in the meeting. He felt terrible having to tell his friend that he hadn’t been invited. It wasn’t like he was happy to be included. He would much rather sit in the canteen and pop a few beer pods.

He still wasn’t sure what the meeting was about or why it was so urgent that they gathered. He saw Sergeant DeSeat sitting on the right, next to the head of the table. He didn’t want to be that close to either the Director of Security or the Commander.

To the left, he saw Sydney from IT. He didn’t talk to the guy all that much. To tell the truth, he thought the guy was a little weird. Everybody thought so. However, he figured he was better off sitting next to the quiet guy with glasses than any of the others.

Adam headed over and took the seat to the right of Sydney. He attempted to say hello, but Sydney was lost in his palmtop. Leave it to the IT guy to still use a computer you had to hold in your hand. The rest of the commissioned guys (and girls) on Star One used their air pods.

Now that he thought about it, Mason used a palmtop as well. What was it with these guys and old technology? That was part of the problem. If people would stop hanging on to the past, they would be able to embrace the future.

That’s part of the reason Adam was included in this meeting. The more he thought about it, the people in this room supported innovation more than anybody else on Star One.

Of course, the civilians on the ship couldn’t wait to get their hands on new technology. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw a young person sending anything but an air message. Why waste time speaking or typing a message when all you had to do was think about it and put it out into the air?

Before he could get too deep in thought about air messaging, Adam saw Commander Morris enter the room. He knew better than to talk when the man was holding a meeting. The Commander had made it clear that people were there to listen, not talk. The only time you were expected to speak to the Commander was when he asked you a direct question.

This was why he was so surprised when the Commander took his seat next to Lieutenant DeSeat and said to the men in the room, “Talk to me, gentlemen! What are we going to do about this LOGIC problem?”

Sydney stopped looking at his palmtop for the first time since Adam had entered the room.

“Um, Sir, with all due respect, there is no problem with LOGIC. I already told you, LOGIC is fine.”

“Well, Sydney, things don’t seem “fine” to me when I have people sending me air messages non-stop about how LOGIC is being secretive lately. In fact, Director DeSeat told me himself that he is concerned.”

Sydney looked at DeSeat with a look of consternation on his face. He made no effort to hide his disdain for the commissioned men on the ship. He answered to the Commander because he had no choice.

When Sydney accepted the position on Star One, he made it clear that he would only do so if he was free to work without the issue of authority above him. The only concession he had made was that he would answer to the Commander. Even then, he had the final say when it came to IT issues, especially when they concerned LOGIC.

“Commander Morris, as I stated before, there is no problem with LOGIC. Yes, LOGIC has been acting strange lately. But it’s nothing to be concerned about.”

The Commander got up out of his seat. It was never a good sign when he stood up. It was even worse when he started pacing the room.

Commander Morris started pacing with his hands placed behind his back. This was what he did when he felt the need to remind people that he was the leader of the ship. The problem is that Sydney didn’t care about who was in charge of what. He only cared about his computers and the technological devices back in his workshop.

“Sydney, I usually trust you wholeheartedly. But something sinister is going on. I personally observed LOGIC behaving strangely just this morning. At 0600 hours, I went in to see what was going on for myself. Do you know what that blasted machine said to me?”

“No, Commander. As I wasn’t there, I have no idea what LOGIC said to you. But I’m sure you will enlighten us?”

The tension in the room was so thick Adam could cut it with a knife. That is if they still used knives. He had to laugh to himself. He thought back to what he had observed the night before in the canteen. One of the “Faithful” was there, and they were using silverware – actual silverware! – to eat their dinner. Who would use a fork and knife to eat a plant-based stew capsule?

Adam was so deep into his daydreaming that he had missed what the Commander had said.

“Excuse me, sir, could you repeat that? I was fighting a cough there and couldn’t hear you.”

The Commander stopped pacing. He came over to where Adam was sitting and stared directly into his face. “Lieutenant Pace, did you just say you felt a cough coming on?”

Oh, no. He wasn’t even thinking when he made up that little white lie. On Star One, a cough was more than just a cough. A cough meant you had to go into quarantine for fourteen days. Adam could not go that long without a beer pod.

“I didn’t actually feel a cough, sir. I simply thought I felt a cough. But no, I am right as rain. I just felt bad asking you to repeat yourself. I know you’re an important and busy man, and I didn’t want to disrespect you, is all.”

Commander Morris stepped back. He must’ve bought what Adam was selling.

“I had just told your colleagues that when I went in to check on LOGIC this morning, the supercomputer told me to, “Get Out!”

Adam wasn’t prepared for that. He knew the Commander overreacted at every turn. He had no idea that LOGIC said something that was truly concerning. But what could it mean telling the commander of the ship to “Get Out?” It’s not like there was anywhere to go. He couldn’t imagine the supercomputer that helped guide Star One meant for him to get out of Sydney’s dungeon.

All of a sudden, Adam was scared. He had been on Star One for over ten years, and nothing like this had ever happened. Even before Sydney came on board, their IT department had always had complete control over the computer system. Even the motherboard was indestructible. Now this?

Adam rubbed his palms across his eyes. Maybe Mason was right. Maybe he did have one too many beer pods the night before. He had to cut back; even he knew that. The problem is that things were so darned boring around here. Nothing ever happened.

Chapter 3: Rejection At Its Finest!

Officer Mason was not happy when he walked away from the conference room. He was embarrassed, to be honest. Everyone knew Adam Pace was a joke. Nobody took him seriously. He didn’t even take himself seriously. Why was he included in the meeting that morning?

He knew he had to shake it off, or it would ruin his whole day. He knew exactly where he needed to go to blow off some steam.

Mason, known by his friends in the “Faithful” as Mike, looked around to see who was in the hall with him. Even though there was a chance the Commander knew where the “Faithful” met on the ship, Mason didn’t want to be the one who confirmed it for him.

He walked another thirty feet or so and stopped at a green locker to his right. It resembled one of the old lockers the people on Earth used in high schools back in the 20th and 21st centuries. It used to be in the Star One Museum of Antiquity, but he was afraid the rust on the locker would infect the other metal pieces in the museum.

When he moved the locker to the hallway, he had no idea it would one day become the secret portal to the “Star Chamber.” He had to laugh. The people who created the “Faithful” named their secret room the “Star Chamber” after a movie that came out hundreds of years ago with the same name.

The film was about a group of people who controlled the court system back in the late 1900s. Nobody knew the group existed. In that way, it was like the “Faithful.” Well, that was the original hope of the founder of the group. Ultimately, one of the defectors from the group ran their mouth and told the others on Star One that it existed.

Thankfully, the Commander and Sergeant DeSeat didn’t believe them. Or, if they did, they didn’t care. That’s because they all thought they were untouchable. What could a group of history buffs possibly do to threaten those in charge on Star One?

Little did the Commander know that this was exactly what the “Faithful” planned to do one day. Mason could only hope that the day was soon.

When he was sure nobody was around, Mason knocked on the locker three times. They didn’t keep a lock on the hunk of metal. After all, nobody was allowed to lock their cabins on Star One anyway. The only doors that locked were those of the Commander and his high-level sentries. And, of course, the door to Sydney’s lair had a lock on it. Nobody was allowed in, and nobody was allowed anywhere near LOGIC without permission, except for the Commander. Commander Morris could get into any room he wanted, at any time and for any reason.

About ten seconds after Mason had knocked on the metal door, he heard three beeps. It almost sounded like a bird. Well, what a bird sounded like when they were excited. He hadn’t seen a bird since he left Earth. But he loved playing the old videos for his friends in the “Faithful.” They got a kick out of seeing how things used to be back when Earth was a plentiful, hospitable place.

After he heard the bird chirping, he knew it was safe to go through. He squeezed through the opening of the locker and walked down the dark, long hallway to the “Star Chamber.” Once inside, he could finally exhale.

It had been a long morning, and it wasn’t over yet. He rubbed his eyes and looked around to see who was hanging out in the “Star Chamber.” It looked empty, but he knew that couldn’t be true since there had to be at least one member of the group in the chamber at all times.

He called out a greeting and heard some rustling back in the viewing room. He walked tentatively back to the room to see who was back there.

He smiled when he saw Han Lo. Han was one of the few people Mason knew when he lived back on Earth. Han reminded him of a guy who used to star in a show called, “The Goldbergs” back in the early part of the 21st century. The show was about a bunch of dorky kids growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1980s. One of the main characters' friends was named Dave Kim. He was Chinese and had a bowl cut. He wore thick glasses that covered half his face. As far as his clothes were concerned, he wouldn’t know what style was if it hit him in the head. Han Lo looked and acted just like that guy.

Of course, the funny thing is that Han Lo was probably the only person other than Mason who knew what show he was talking about!

“Hey Han, how’s it hanging?” The two men laughed. When in the “Star Chamber,” members liked to use terminology and language that people used “back in the day.” Some days, they would have contests to see who could come up with more phrases, but sadly, this would not be one of those days.

“How has your day been so far?”

Han suddenly stopped laughing. All of a sudden, his face took on a serious expression.

“Well, it started out okay. I woke up early and got in here before the first alarm went off. I managed to convince Sara to give me two of her coffee pods in exchange for one of my carrot cake tablets.”

“Well, that sounds like a good trade to me. What happened? You said your day started out okay. I take it that something has happened to change that?”