A Visitor to the Future - 2 - The Consortium
I let out a large breath I didn't know I'd been holding and ran my hands through my hair - which was still shaved short. Somehow I'd avoided thinking of the enormity of it all until now. Sarkona was talking in terms of hundreds of years as if it were nothing. Again, the trilling noise sounded and Sarkona's expression changed, their concern evident.
"I understand this is much to take in. Please take your time. Do you have any questions? I can try and break things down for you if you'd like."
I took a moment and sat back down on the bed until my thoughts calmed down a little. Sarkona stood still, waiting patiently. Their posture was excellent - they barely seemed to move at all.
"Sarkona, what exactly is this... Consortium?" I asked.
Sarkona came over and sat down next to me on the bed. They shifted position slightly, grimaced, and then stood back up, shaking their head. "I'll be right back," they said. A moment later, they returned with what looked like a bar-stool with a plush cushion atop it. They positioned it next to me and sat down on it.
"To put this simply, the Consortium is effectively our government. It is formed from input from each and every citizen. Consortium citizens by and large live by whatever rules they wish. We group sets of similar rules into what are called Organizations - Orgs for short. There are even sub-organizations. Some people don't even belong to an Org - they live purely by the fundamental laws alone."
"And what are these fundamental laws?" I asked.
"They're non-complex," they responded, "As you heard, the right to self-determination is the most important law. The next most important is that you can't infringe another's right to self-determination. There are limits to both - and a careful balance must be tinkered with all the time. For example, you can't kill someone else because that would infringe their right to self-determination - not that anyone would want to! But you are allowed to insult them if you want. There's a line of tolerance somewhere in the middle. You'd have to ask a Lawmaster where."
"Lawmaster?"
"Oh, something like a scholar of law. I think Professor might be the closest comparison you know of. But not paid." They raised a finger at the last sentence. "You could also ask the Consortium itself."
"Ask it? Like, talk to a government official?"
They shook their head, "No, there are no government representatives - that's one of the super things about the Consortium. The Consortium is intelligent enough to answer questions - but it is not alive, if that makes sense."
I didn't know how to react to that, but I had another pressing question on my mind. "You said earlier that there's no money, right? Could you explain that to me?"
"Of course! About four hundred cycles - sorry, years - ago, money was abolished. Technology has advanced to the point that a human or AI can no longer tax available resources enough to warrant such allocations of wealth - well, unless you wanted to do something super big - then you'd submit that for approval, and it would get approved by the Consortium, local Orgs, and any other key stakeholders. Plus, the whole money inequality issue was a big social barrier to innovation."
"So if I wanted to, I could just apply to get a mansion built wherever I wanted?" It seemed unthinkable.
A shake of the head came in response. Ah, so there were limits. "Not anywhere - if you were try and build near someone else's home or on some important site of cultural heritage, then that would have to be discussed. But apart from that, yes. I myself have a home near Europa. You should come and visit sometime."
"So they don't call it Europe any more?"
They smiled once again, and glanced to one side quickly before addressing me. "Not quite. Tell me, Nat, how are you feeling currently? I know today has been a super day of major changes - are you ready for one more?"
I nodded, at this point, why not?
They walked to the door and opened it, gesturing for me to follow. The corridor was a very different style to that of the hospital room - which I now realized must have been made for my comfort. The corridor was pleasantly lit, and carpeted with what looked very much like grass. Walls were decorated with what appeared to be artwork of some kind - beautiful lines and curves of colour which were a sight to behold. Eventually we came to a window. As I approached, it appeared to be pitch black outside - I could only see the stars.
But as I approached the window, Sarkona began to point at one of them. I blinked, and saw that it was a perfect, ocean blue.
Earth.
My head spinning, I tried to take in all the details. It looked to be the size of a marble at this distance. I pressed my face to the glass and was shocked to find it wasn't cold to the touch. But there was Earth, surrounded by other pinpoints of light. Many of those points of light were moving - as I realized, was Earth itself.
"I can see your eyes tracking the movement," said Sarkona, "I don't know whether it would be better or worse for your sense of balance for me to tell you, but as it is the truth I will tell you anyway - the Earth isn't moving, you are."
I starred at them, bewildered.
"You're on board the Promise of Sol, and we're taking you home."