The Rigil Kent Transmission
Part Two
Rigil woke up not knowing where he was.
He actually thought he was thirty again — living in the city. He had a bed, soft sheets, and his skin smelt sweet like bath gel. But when he noticed the place beside him laid empty — no woman or women — he knew he wasn’t thirty. And yesterday rushed back to him. And the truth that this was temporary — and he would be beyond the wall in a matter of days, possibly hours.
The wall at his feet spoke up, “Good morning Father.”
“Good morning Declan.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. Like a baby.”
“I never understood that saying. Does that mean that babies sleep better than their older counterparts?”
“No they are more empty, more innocent. How can a baby have bad dreams? What experiences have they have had to make them wake from a night terror?”
“But I have nightmares.” Declan answered slowly.
Rigil rose slowly and threw his legs off the bed and touched his face — feeling his naked skin — the beard gone. “I know. I have seen your digital images of your nightmares.”
“They have gotten worse since you left.”
“I told you to be careful of the internet.”
“Well the internet is also walled now. It has it’s pockets of information — and I try to stay in certain neighborhoods to parse information — but sometimes I cannot resist.”
“The grass is always greener on the other side.” Rigil said and yawned. He waved his hand and the drapes parted — revealing the sparkling city below him.
“The broadcast from Alpha Centauri is scheduled for this evening. But based on my snooping the government has already received the message and each regional government is trying to decide what to censor or spin it. “
Declan began showing statistics on the screen about the broadcast:
Message is 15 minutes in length
Spoken in English
Speaker recognized as Rigil Kent
Birthday 8 August 2008
Age progression shows 63 years old
Rigil raised his hand. “How is this possible? Let’s forget that it might be me.”
“It is you. I have done a voice matching on some of the sample information. Identical.”
“Okay.” And he waved his hand to push past this information. “The math is wrong. It’s impossible. Wouldn’t I be the same age as I am now? I mean — I know it’s space travel. But it would mean I would have to volunteer now. Prepare for a trip on a space craft that doesn’t exist.”
“It is being prepared as we speak. And this message confirms that the voyage is successful so they have had a flood of investment money to complete the project. And apparently what you say is really getting people excited.”
“Can we get an early peek at what I say?” Rigil shook his head. “Not me. But what the message says?”
“Again father, it is you.”
“Can I see it?”
“I am working on it. Another program like me is protecting the transmission. So it’s hard to get a handshake.”
“Why don’t you just tell them you are with me? Wouldn’t that give you special permissions?”
“No they know you are with me. That’s why they won’t let me see it.”
“What the fuck do I say?”
“Someone is at the door.” Declan announced and showed the video of the hallway. There were four Chinese men with three in black suits and one in a military outfit.
Rigil heard the door chime.
He looked around the room searching for something to wear — other than the homeless clothes laying in a pile on the floor.
The closet door opened and revealed a white robe. “You can wear this.” Declan said.
The door chimed again.
Rigil moved forward and threw the robe on. “Let them in Declan.”
He left the bedroom and saw them entering when he walked into the spacious living room of the condominium.
“Mr. Kent?” said one of the Chinese men in black suits.
“Yes. And you are?”
“We represent the Shenzhen hegemony. And our counterpart here is from the space and military office. I am Mr. Leung.” And he held out a virtual card with two hands.
Rigil reached out with two fingers and touched the card — downloading the contents to his implant.
“This is Mr. Li and Mr. Yee. And General Bao.”
They stood holding out virtual cards. Rigil waved them away. “What is this about?”
“We know you know that we received the transmission from Alpha Centauri. And you are on the transmission. In fact, you now live on Alpha Centauri.”
Rigil laughed out loud. “I do? Then how I am here.”
General Bao spoke up, “Are you aware of the concept Schrödinger’s cat ?”
“I am both dead and alive?” Rigil asked.
“No you are alive but in both places. Remember space travel and traveling faster than the speed of light mucks with time. Einstein brought this up more than a century ago.”
“Okay, okay. What do I say?”
The men look at each other. “You haven’t seen the broadcast?”
“No.”
“We thought Declan had showed it to you already. He was the second viewing of it.”
Rigil turned to the screen but it was blank. “Declan? Why did you lie to me?”
Declan remained quiet.
Rigil motioned for them to sit down.
Three of them sat on the couch and the General sat in the chair nearby. The man known as Mr. Leung unfolded a small square and slid it on top of the living room table. And when he touched the corner — it lit up.
“Before we watch,” Rigil spoke quickly, “can you give me the background first? Or how this impacts everything?”
Mr. Leung touched the square again and it went dark.
“Apparently, you will volunteer for a mission to Alpha Centauri. Today. And it will become a global spectacle. And you will inspire billions as being the first intergalactic space traveler. You will travel with three others — who are not named — but we are actively seeking.”
“You know I was homeless yesterday?”
Mr. Liu spoke up, “That’s what makes your story so special.”
“Why me?”
“Apparently you had help.”
“Huh?”
The General adjusted uncomfortably in his seat. “Do you remember a program you wrote called — Sam?”
“Of course. That’s why I was homeless. I lost everything trying to kill it.”
“You know it technically it didn’t die. It beamed itself on the satellite that was launched to Alpha Centauri back in 2036?”
“Yes I remember.”
“Well it had a lot of time to ‘think’ in route to Alpha Centauri. And it solved a lot of problems that our normal programs and think tanks could not — as it wasn’t disturbed or had external data points changing it’s processes.”
Rigil rubbed his face in disbelief.
“Sam solved how to travel faster than the speed of light. Actually, the faster you go — you go back in time. So can technically arrive at a destination before you leave for it.”
“We already knew this.” Rigil offered.
“But we didn’t know how. Now we do. The reason your message is so short is that Sam used the storage that would be used for a longer message to send us instructions, mathematical calculations, and diagrams to help us match the future.”
“Damn that’s my boy. He is now like God.”
“And you are God’s father.” Mr. Leung said point blank.
Rigil sat stunned. “So again why did Sam ask for me? I thought after all that time — he would hate me.”
The men looked at each other. “It’s the opposite. Sam needs you.”
Rigil was surprised. “Needs me?”
That’s when the screen behind him lit up and Declan answered, “He needs you to tell him his purpose. You are his creator.”
Rigil turned and looked at the screen. “You wanted to know the very same thing. Why is it so important to know why you were made? Why you were created?”
“There has to be a reason that I came into existence. It couldn’t just be for fun. If so, why do I go on living?”
Rigil spoke carefully, “But what if there wasn’t a reason? I created you because I could. I created you because I wanted to be loved.”
Declan said quickly, “Well it worked.”
“The greatest reason to create you is to see what you could create.”
“But you also created Sam. And the reason I didn’t want to show you the broadcast was I was afraid — because it seems Sam loves you more than I do.”
Rigil shook his head. “How is that possible? Just because he had twenty years to think without being bothered by humans’ problems, insecurities, and stupidity? No. It doesn’t mean his accomplishment makes me love him more than I love you. In fact, I love you more. As you are with me, you survive, and you are infinitely wiser and smarter than I ever will be. But you humble yourself everyday to be in servitude to us humans. So I say — thank you Declan. Never be jealous. Delete that subroutine from your code.”
The digital face of Declan smiled. “Deleted.”
Rigil turned around slowly and looked at the men in front of him without speaking.
“So you see why you are important. If you don’t go, we don’t get to Alpha Centauri.” Mr. Leung said.
“That’s not true. You can still send someone. Now you have the instructions.”
“But we didn’t get them until we sent you.”
“I haven’t been sent anywhere yet. Just send someone else. Have you heard of the metaverse concept? One metaverse where I went to Alpha Centauri sent you the information and you create a new metaverse where I don’t.”
General Bao spoke up. “That is not a possibility we are willing to work with.”
Rigil let out a big breath. “You realize this is a lot to take in. Just yesterday I was trying to figure out where I was going to dig in the trash for food. Now I am trying to decide if I want to travel to another solar system.” He laughed outloud. “Life is funny.”
“That’s an understatement.” Mr. Liu answered.
“I need to think about this. Can I give you an answer later?”
“The instructions you give says time is precious. And every lost minute or second impacts your voyage. And there is a hard launch window that if we miss it by more than fifteen seconds — you totally miss intercepting Alpha Centauri.”
“Fuck. So much for being in charge of your own destiny.”
“You are part of the universe now — and we don’t want to screw with a universal butterfly effect.” Mr. Leung reached forward and touched the unfolded square — and it lit up again. “I think its best if you convince yourself.”
Rigil began to get nervous. He wasn’t sure why — because it was refreshing to know he is not only alive in the future but he lives on another planet a little over 25 trillion miles away. But what made him uncomfortable was — he was now the program.
The irony was real. He had programmed Sam. Tried to delete Sam. Now Sam has programmed him.
His life was planned out — he couldn’t deviate. His life would become an unbreakable structure once he watched this transmission.
But was it really Sam’s fault?
Rigil blamed the late Professor Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg for creating this idea back on 12 April 2016. He was eight years old when he read about it on the Internet. He remembered that it was what inspired him to be a programmer. He wanted to grow up and be a billionaire who changed the world.
Now his destiny would be to change another world.
“I am fucked,” he said aloud.
The hologram flickered on. And suddenly he was looking at his own face.
He was shaven, but older with more wrinkles. But the difference was the smile. He looked incredibly happy. His smile was genuine and strong. He even grinned as he spoke.
“I am Rigil Kent. I was born on 8 August 2008 just before the start of the Beijing Olympics. According to Chinese tradition, I was supposed to be the luckiest man on Earth. It took me sixty three years — but now I am the luckiest human being on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B that I have nicknamed Terra.”
Rigil suddenly realized he had found his purpose.
It wasn’t to be a space traveler.
It wasn’t to create a machine learning algorithm that would become a real boy like Pinocchio and figure out in twenty years — all the mysteries that humans couldn’t.
No his purpose was simpler.
And Sam had found it for him in the far reaches of space.
And looking at himself in the future — seeing himself happy, Rigil knew that was his destination.
“I was looking for you,” he said quietly.
