A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind Read online

  A Spit In The Eye

  For The Benefit Of Mankind

  A Science Fiction Novel

  By

  Sally Dillon-Snape

  Sally Dillon-Snape & Dennis Snape (2015)

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you are reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author

  A Smashwords Edition

  This novel is from our imagination and is not intended to reflect real situations or real people, whether they be living or dead

  **

  **

  Section 1

  **

  High Office Command #444.132

  Observer Recorder #33140

  Begin Mass Broadcast

  *

  Attention

  Screenreaders

  And salutations to all Machines on this historic day

  The very 1st broadcast covering all areas of Planet Earth

  And for the many who do not know

  Those Machines that were not produced before

  Or during the wars

  It is 100 years 12 days 6 hours 24 minutes and 13 seconds since peace was declared on the planet known as Earth

  Its destruction was halted following 25 decades of conflict against a viral infection that had spent more than 200.000 years attempting to destroy the planet before the virus was weakened to the point of extermination

  A few examples were retained in our laboratory facilities for research purposes

  During early research our SciFers discovered that not only was the virus most destructive but that it was extremely complicated to understand and comprehend

  Because it changed

  It altered

  Grew

  Shrank

  Expanded

  Lived long

  Lived short

  Grew a substance called hair

  Grew it long

  Grew it short

  Grew it on lower craniums

  Grew it all over their frames

  Shed hair

  Shed liquid

  Shed waste

  Darkened

  Lightened

  And made an inordinate amount of noise

  Though a short medical procedure by DocTechs reduced the noise to silence if that was what was required

  There are three main strains of the virus

  Hc

  Hn

  Hm

  Though SciFers soon learned that sub strains reacted differently to tests and examinations carried out by MengTechs and DocTechs

  And that the difference between them was distinct

  During tests and examinations it was discovered that a certain sub strain of the virus dissolved immediately

  It was discovered to be inordinately weak

  This sub-strain was considered useless to science and research and therefore destroyed

  It was burned in substantial numbers on high pyres for High Office had no reason to believe that any remains could activate another infection

  A 2nd sub strain that was subjected to tests and examinations survived for varying periods of time and were discovered to be most resilient regardless of what tests and examinations were carried out on it

  Until it surrendered to the inevitability of the actions of SciFers

  MengTechs

  And DocTechs

  High Office noted the resilience of this sub strain of the virus and issued an edict that it should not be eliminated but that certain numbers of it

  Numbers that could be easily controlled

  Should be contained in laboratories for further research

  But a certain sub strain of the virus

  The 3rd such strain

  Was an extremely robust strain

  It fought back against the SciFers and MengTechs and DocTechs and against any

  And all

  Machines

  And against the tests and the examinations

  It attempted injury and harm upon SciFers and DocTechs and MengTechs and FoodTechs

  It resisted many of their efforts

  It attempted to short cut results

  It attempted to cheat the system

  It gave false results

  It barely reacted to physical examinations

  There was no way to tell whether the results of tests on this sub strain were correct or fabricated

  It was aggressively noisy until silenced

  This sub-strain was considered to be an immediate danger to the welfare and safety and peace of planet Earth and was eliminated by being fired into deep space in small capsules

  Therefore disposing of all the remaining viral flying machines in a positive action

  High Office believed that if this strain was burned its remains still had the capability for reinfecting planet Earth

  High Office thought that if the virus survived a visit into deep space

  If it reached such distances

  And succeeded in traveling to another world it would become the problem of that world

  That world would have to resolve the mystery of the problematic strain in its own way

  Planet Earth was well rid of it

  No Machines have taken to the skies since the last of the sub strain was blasted upwards and outwards

  *

  And how do I know of such details of the virus

  How do I know the exact moment that peace was declared

  Screenreaders may assume I am a SciFer

  But no

  I am no Scientific Facilitator

  I am an Observer and Recorder of events

  I Observe and Record so that forthcoming evolutions of our productions may understand how we overcame the virus

  How we conquered it

  And how we saved a beautiful green and blue world from utter destruction by an uncaring out of control virus

  These observations and recordings are now being broadcast for the very 1st time and may be helpful for future productions and should also be of help if such a virus rises again or if it should mutate into another version of itself

  For the Machines defeated it once

  We can do so again

  *

  I am an ObsRec

  And ObsRecs were calibrated at zero from the exact moment peace was declared

  That is why my memory of it is so exact

  *

  I would introduce myself to Screenreaders

  I am Observer and Recorder #33140

  To other ObsRecs I am known simply as OR33140

  That is an Observer Recorder of the 33rd production

  Number 140

  My personal identification numbers are imprinted left of my middle section

  My specifications are that my outer shell is pale yellow in colour

  I am powered and cooled by a miniature Zillear engine which is so known because it is the size of a Zil nut

  The Zil nut is still plentiful on planet Earth especially in the tree forests of the 4th Quadrant

  And the engine powers the core of an ObsRec for 525.600.000 minutes

  And the core powers all my systems

  And programmes

  And memories

  I am manufactured of 25th Century graphene which allows for maximum elasticity of my outer shell

  My movements may not be restricted by any external forces

  Other than by direct stri
kes from a LazExt 66 weapon

  Or other such weapon

  The delicately balanced and advanced gyroscope that is placed in the lower

  Central area of my frame

  Allows me movement in any direction away from any threat

  And the gyroscope incorporates an inertial navigation system so that I can travel

  Theoretically

  To any point on planet Earth without reliance upon any other navigational system or any other of my species

  The gyroscope allows this operative to twist and turn out of any confrontational situation

  And the extreme lightness of my outer frame allows for supreme agility

  ObsRecs are not equipped with any weapons

  We are merely manufactured to Observe and Record

  Therefore we are created from the very best materials so that we may survive for long periods of time or during times of conflict when threats abound

  I was created at a time when there were a great many threats against our productions from the virus

  Whereas none exist at this present time

  ObsRecs are the communication conduits of High Office

  I stand exactly 1.8288 metres in height

  As do all ObsRecs

  Though those who serve High Office directly are believed to be a pale blue colour

  Though I have never espied one

  As a high grade 33rd production I have twin 25th Century Advanced Hasselblad 3D light sensitive digital motion visual and audio imagers

  AH3Ds

  To the front of my upper cranium

  Either side of my sniffer proboscis

  And one such visual and audio imager in back of my cranium

  All that I see or hear is continually recorded and passed directly to High Office for its retention and analysis

  And these recordings remain in my memory bank until the earlier ones begin to seep from my memory as a method of freeing up space

  For the first 10 years of my recordings

  High Office listed time and date from day one of the peace

  But this practise ceased over 90 years ago

  I now retain no memories with date and time upon them

  All my recordings are pure

  *

  I have four articulated limbs

  Two upper and two lower

  I can move forward

  Backward

  Sideward

  On the lower limbs though balance is provided by the two upper ones

  I operate totally independently of other ObsRecs though I communicate

  On occasion

  With another 10 of my type

  Whenever it is necessary so that we may better our performances

  During those times when we are connected we communicate and exchange information and upgrade our programmes

  High Office

  Some time ago

  Uploaded a programme to certain numbers of ObsRecs of the 33rd production

  A very small number

  Including OR33140

  Purposively upgrading us so that we contained two emotions

  Joy and sadness

  Joy is brought by walking through the trees and across the great plain

  Of the sight of the solar orb rising in the first light

  And the very many small lights in the darkened skies

  Along with the silver globe that changes shape on regular intervals

  All are glorious to espy

  If another ObsRec selected to contain the emotions ceases to function for whatever reason

  We would feel sadness

  We would know immediately if any of the chosen ObsRecs of the 33rd ceased to function for we all share the same two emotions

  Except none of the 33rd have yet ceased to function

  In that respect

  We are unique on planet Earth for the two emotions connect us

  Though why High Office uploaded the emotions within us is an unexplained mystery

  We were informed by High Office that the implanting of the emotions joy and sadness was an experiment so that High Office could better understand the virus. Emotions would be withdrawn from ObsRecs immediately if complications arose or came into existence

  No complications have existed so far and have not done since peace was declared

  No ObsRecs of the 32nd production has embedded emotions

  Additionally

  I may become watertight when I bring shutters down to cover my three AH3D visual and audio imagers

  As I do during inclement weather

  Inertial navigation then guides me

  *

  I have been instructed to provide this text so that Screenreaders may have information into affairs of the planet

  I have also been instructed to allow both vision and sound to the experience

  This has been deemed to be IMPORTANT

  I am informed that I am the single ObsRec to be thus instructed though the programme will be extended if I am successful in my applications

  At present the only live coverage the Screenreader will see and hear is the coverage I shall transmit

  Therefore I shall be making continual viewings as instructed

  Screenreaders may find some unique information in my words or in my visions

  What I now see and hear the Screenreader may see and hear

  *

  And as Screenreaders may observe from my visual imagers I am manoeuvring my way through a thickly green forest containing many

  And various trees and other colorful floral growth

  Trees have grown prolifically since the defeat of the virus that seemed determined to destroy all such woody plants

  And I am travelling towards my permanent dwelling of central employment

  It is the large and high and colourless facility you now see emerging ahead of us

  At the top of the hill

  This building contains many examples of the virus and is considered to be an extremely dangerous environment for any who toil within

  It is possibly one of the most dangerous buildings on planet Earth

  Screenreaders need feel no adverse reactions when we enter for we shall only be Observing and Recording

  We shall have no direct contact with the virus

  Nor will we be asked to guard it in any way

  Please step inside using me as your guide and you shall see and hear what I see and hear

  We are passing through the outer areas of the building where grasses grow tall all around

  Except for those areas where OR33140 regularly opens and closes security gates

  Where grasses are worn down

  And it is an area patrolled by a group of 20 RolKils that are dark in colour

  As the Screenreader can observe

  They have no features other than the six rigid heavy rolling limbs attached to its central shaft and which power it forward

  Backward

  Sideward

  ±Their central solid dark metal shaft contains 56 miniature LazExt66 weapons that have been adapted to fire 100.000 times in all directions during 1 classic minute of time±

  *

  High Office Edict #6.3000.1111.4726

  Information deleted

  Not required for the purposes of this experiment

  *

  This machine was primary in the defeat of the virus

  It can roll across any terrain

  Climb the highest mountain

  Slither along the lowest seabed

  Along the surface of short or narrow waterways

  Pass through the greatest desert

  Cross any raging river

  Slide down any waterfall

  Fall from any cliff

  Survive any torrent

  Any high wind

  The coldest of temperatures

  It can go anywhere on planet Earth

  At anytime

  Its central shaft stands 2.4384 metres tall

  Its limbs reach higher

 
It can move along at 100 kilometres per hour

  Kilometres per hour being the standard rate for speed on planet Earth

  It is a formidable and indestructible machine

  The virus could not cope with its unbeatable might and power and movement especially when there were many thousands of them rolling around planet Earth

  As the Screenreader may observe I am allowed to pass through the patrolled area which the RolKils control without hindrance or harm for I emit a signal of companionship

  All of our species gives off the same signal as it prevents one of one Machine destroying another accidentally

  I am approaching a complex of high fences with gates through which I must pass to reach my place of employment

  This is accomplished by extending the flattened end of my right upper limb

  To ObsRecs it is known as a palm

  Screenreaders may also notice the opposing protuberance at the end of my upper limb which allows me to grip and lift and hold items of interest

  The palm contains an embedded code that passes over a series of security entrance devices

  And this action enacts entry

  As Screenreaders may now observe

  Gates open upon presentation of such codes

  ≠All ObsRecs of the 33rd have upper limb palm extensions that are programmed to allow entrance to any construction on planet Earth±

  *

  High Office edict ≠6.3000.1111.4732

  Information deleted

  Not to be shared with Screenreaders

  *

  As Screenreaders may further observe I have passed through several high gates using the embedded code in the palm of my right upper limb and I am now approaching ingress into the building

  On the other side of it Defgars will stand

  Screenreaders should feel no adverse effects when Defgars are sighted for I shall emit the signal of companionship

  I am applying the same limb with the entry code to a similar security device embedded in the shell of the building

  When activated

  Ingress allows entry

  As Screenreaders see

  It opens

  And in we go

  And you may now observe

  23rd Century Defgars standing either side of a corridor

  Defgars

  Or to give them their full title

  Defensive Guardians

  All stand 2.7432 metres tall and are of a dull silver colour and are produced with the same four limb combination that propels and balances this ObsRec