Chapter 3 third chapter

The body sealed in the tank was pushed into the perfusion laboratory, and Colonel Robbins said to Lieutenant Wilson, "That's it." "That's it," Wilson agreed, walking to the monitor that was temporarily used to display the vital signs of the body, "Colonel, have you ever been a father?" "No," Robbins said, "I'm not personally inclined to go that way." "Well," Wilson said, "that's as close as we can get to that moment." The breeding laboratory usually has up to sixteen special forces soldiers receiving consciousness infusion together. These soldiers are activated and trained at the same time, to cultivate team coordination during training, and to reduce the confusion caused by having full consciousness but no apparent memory when activated .But today there is only one soldier here, and he will house the consciousness of Charles Boutin.

More than two hundred years ago, the nascent colonial alliance suffered a major setback in a defense battle—the destroyed and rebuilt colony planet was named Phoenix Star—and realized that unmodified human soldiers could not complete the task.The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak.In those years, the history books of mankind recorded some of the worst defeats in history, and one of the frequently mentioned examples is the battle of Armstrong: we reversed the defeat, but at a heavy price.The enemies that time, all enemies, were too fast, too ruthless, too cruel, too many.Human technology is not far behind, and the weapons they hold are no less than those of most opponents, but the decisive weapon is the warrior who pulls the trigger.

The initial modifications were relatively simple: increase speed, durability, muscle size and strength.However, the early genetic engineers who modified humans in glass vessels had both practical and ethical constraints. They had to suffer for about eighteen years, waiting for the modified humans to have enough body and mind to fight.The Colonial Defense Forces discovered to their dismay that many of the less (relatively) genetically modified humans were not particularly happy to learn that they were natural cannon fodder, refusing to set foot on the battlefield, no matter how much propaganda was instilled.The unmodified human beings are also disgusted, because no matter how you think about it, this kind of behavior is like a human government that promotes eugenics, and no eugenics-loving government has ever expanded to interstellar space in human history.

Initial attempts at genetically modifying soldiers brought the Colonial Union close to political doom, and the Colonial Union barely survived.If the Battle of Armstrong hadn't shown the colonies what kind of universe they were fighting against, the alliance would have broken up and human colonies would have been left to compete with each other instead of working together against the intelligent races they encountered. There were also two key technological inventions that appeared almost at the same time that saved the alliance: one was the forced cultivation of human bodies to adult size within a few months; In the brain, the premise is that the two brains come from the same gene, and a series of programs are used to cultivate the necessary bioelectrical channels in the new brain before transmission.Two new technologies allow the Colonial Union to turn to a huge source of soldiers: old people, many of whom would rather live in a barracks than die of old age.Another advantage is that no matter how old people die, it will not cause a large number of healthy young people to be killed by alien weapons, thus causing a generational population disaster.

With such a wide pool of recruits, the Colonial Defense Forces suddenly had the freedom to choose their members.The Defense Force no longer requires colonists to perform military service, allowing colonists to focus on developing new planets and multiplying as much as possible according to the carrying capacity of the location; at the same time, it eliminates a key factor that caused political tension between colonists and the government.Now that young people in the colony don't have to be forced to leave their families behind to die trillions of miles away, the colonists are less concerned with the ethics of genetically engineered soldiers, especially those who volunteer to fight.

The Defense Force did not ask the colonists to volunteer to join the army, but selected recruits from among the inhabitants of the human home planet Earth.Earth has billions of people, more in fact than all the colonies put together.The source of troops was so vast that the Defense Forces could scale back and recruit recruits from the wealthiest and most industrialized countries whose economic conditions allowed their citizens to live into old age, while the social blueprint led to an overemphasis on two aspects: one On the one hand, it is the longing for youth; on the other hand, the whole people have serious psychological fear of aging and death.These old men were molded by their society to be the best and most desired recruits of the Defense Force; the Defense Force soon found that they would even join the army without knowing the specifics of military service-but then again, the more the applicants knew, the more they knew. The less, the more recruits are recruited.The recruits thought that military service in the Defense Forces was similar to military service on Earth.The Defense Force is happy to keep this misconception alive.

Facts have proved that the way of recruiting old people from industrialized countries is extremely successful. In order to protect the source of troops, the Colonial Union prohibits these countries from colonizing aliens, and only selects colonists from countries whose economic and social problems make young people want to flee as soon as possible.Dividing the sources of soldiers and colonists, the Colonial Union achieved good results in both areas. The recruitment of the elderly into the army posed an unanticipated problem for the Defense Forces, with many recruits dying before serving, victims of heart attacks, strokes and too many cheeseburgers, cheesecakes and cheese sticks.The Defense Forces had been taking DNA samples from volunteers and had finally found themselves with a huge pile of human genomes that they didn't know what to do with.On the other hand, the Defense Forces found that they not only wanted but needed to continue experimenting with soldier torso models in order to improve the design without compromising the combat capabilities already possessed by the troops.

Then, another breakthrough was born.Insanely powerful and light, semi-organic computers that can fully integrate with the human brain, despite being dubbed "brain mates" in a very disproportionate understatement.For a brain loaded with a lifetime of knowledge and experience, BrainPal can be of great help in terms of intelligence, memory and communication. But for genuine "blank minds," BrainPal is even more useful. Robbins looked at the body fixed by the levitation field in the tank, and said to Wilson, "It doesn't look like Charles Butin." Wilson was making final adjustments to the hardware storing Butin's consciousness, and replied without raising his head: "Butin is an unmodified human being, and we know him has already entered middle age. He probably looks like this at the age of twenty. Specific body, of course, except for the green skin, cat eyes and other improvements, and I'm afraid he's not in such good shape himself. Needs exercise."

"Your body has been engineered to take care of itself," Robbins reminded Wilson. "Thank God, I love donuts so much," Wilson said. "The price is being hunted down by all intelligent races in the universe except humans." Robbins said. "Good joke," Wilson said. Robbins turned to the body in the tank and said, "With so many modifications, it won't affect the transmission of consciousness?" "Probably not," Wilson said. "In the new genome, none of the genes involved in brain development have been altered. The cranium contains Butin's brain, at least genetically."

"What about the brain?" Robbins asked. "It looks good," Wilson tapped on the monitor of the tank control system, "Healthy, ready." "Do you think it will work?" Robbins asked. "Ask me." Wilson replied. "It's been great knowing we're all so confident," Robbins said. Wilson was about to answer when he was interrupted.The door opened, and Generals Mattson and Schillard walked in, followed by three infusion technicians from the Special Forces.The technician walked straight to the tank, Mattson walked to Robbins, and Robbins saluted with Wilson.

"Just say we're going to make it," Mattson said, returning the salute. "Lieutenant Wilson and I were just talking about this." Robbins hesitated for an insignificant moment. Mattson turned to Wilson. "So, Lieutenant?" Wilson pointed to the body in the tank where the three technicians were fiddling with: "The body is healthy, and so is the brain. It's not surprising that BrainPal is working fine. We've integrated Butin's consciousness model and transmission equipment together, and when encountering Surprisingly few problems have been encountered, and test runs have proven that teleportation will not encounter problems. In theory, we should be able to teleport his consciousness as well as any consciousness." "The content sounds confident, Lieutenant, but why is the tone a bit uncertain?" Mattson said. "There are many uncertainties, General," Wilson replied. "The teleportation object is usually conscious when teleporting, which is very useful for the teleportation process, but this time is different. Only by waking up the body can we know whether the teleportation was successful or not. This is our first attempt to transfer consciousness between two brains. If it is not Butin stored in the device, the consciousness model cannot take over the brain. Even if it is Butin's consciousness, there is no guarantee that the engraving will be successful. We Everything that can be done has been done to ensure a smooth transfer. You have read our report, but there is still a lot in it that we don't understand. We know every road to success, but the road to failure is hard to say .” "Do you really think it's going to work?" Mattson asked. "I think so," replied Wilson. "We have to be positive about what we're doing but don't understand. There's plenty of room for error, sir." "Robbins?" Mattson said. "I agree with Lieutenant Wilson, General," said Robbins. The technicians completed the adjustments and reported to General Schillard, who nodded and walked over to Mattson and said, "The technicians say they are ready." Mattson looked at Robbins, at Wilson, and finally said, "Okay, here we go." The formula used by the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces to create soldiers is simple: start with the human genome and scale it down. The human genome includes about 20,000 genes, consisting of 30 billion base pairs, distributed on 23 pairs of chromosomes.Much of the genome is so-called "junk," fragments of sequences that don't code for the final product of DNA -- a human being.As long as nature puts a sequence into DNA, even if it is useless, it seems to be too lazy to take it out. Special Forces scientists aren't that particular.Every time they construct a new body model, their first step is to remove the redundant and inactive genetic material, and in the end only a clean and shortened version of the DNA sequence is left, but this sequence is useless, because modifying the human genome destroys Chromosomal structure is lost, and the ability to replicate is lost.But this is only the first step, and there are still several steps to reassembling and replicating the new genome. The lightweight new DNA sequence includes every single gene that makes a human being human, but it's far from enough.The genotype of human beings determines that human beings cannot show the plasticity required by special forces. The implication is that our genes cannot create supermen like special forces.The remaining human genome was taken apart, redesigned and reassembled, and the resulting genes coded for fully enhanced abilities.This process requires the introduction of foreign genes and genetic material.Genes from other humans rarely have problems combining because human genomes can accommodate genetic information from other people's genomes (this natural process, which is often done enthusiastically, is called "sex"); It's not difficult, because the earth's organisms all share the same genetic block and are genetically related to each other. Combining genetic material from non-terrestrial races is much more difficult.Some planets have evolved a genetic structure similar to that of the earth, and the genetic material also has nucleosides in the genes of the earth's organisms (not necessarily all. Perhaps it is not accidental, intelligent races on these planets are notoriously fond of eating people, such as Said that the Raleigh people think human flesh is quite delicious).But the genetic structure and composition of most alien species are so different from those on Earth that using their genes can't just be cut and pasted. The way that the special forces solve this problem is as follows: read the DNA equivalent of the alien race, and use a transcoder to "compile" the genetic information into the DNA format of the earth's organisms; if the obtained DNA can develop, the individual born Appearance and function will be close to the original alien creatures.Next, the genes of compiled organisms can be collected and put into the DNA of special forces. The end result of this genetic design process is a set of DNA that describes a creature based on a human being, but not at all; if you let it develop at this stage, you will get a tangled mass of flesh, including its spiritual godmother Mary. Wollstonecraft Shelley would walk around whenever he saw him.Having pulled the DNA away from humans, Special Forces scientists now have to re-edit the genetic information to turn their monsters back into recognizable human forms.These scientists considered this the most difficult step, and several privately doubted its necessity; but you must remember that these fellows themselves appear to be all humanoid. The DNA is finally assembled here, and its owner will have a human appearance and superhuman abilities.However, even with the addition of non-earth genes, it is still much more concise than ordinary human DNA; the subsequent coding project has allowed the DNA to be combined into five pairs of chromosomes, which is much less than the twenty-three pairs of unmodified humans, and much less than the 23 pairs of fruit flies. Only one more pair.Although the Special Forces soldiers and the gene source had the same sex, and the genes related to sexual development were retained in the final shortened version of the DNA, they did not have a Y chromosome, which made the (male) scientist originally assigned to the Special Forces Feeling a little uneasy. The assembled DNA is put into the empty shell of the fertilized egg, and then put into the development tank, and the fertilized egg gradually begins to undergo mitosis.The process from fertilized egg to fully developed embryo is accelerated many times over, and the metabolic heat is enough to cause DNA denaturation.The developmental tank is filled with a heat-conducting fluid and nanorobots that infiltrate the developing cells and dissipate the heat generated by the embryo's rapid growth. Special Forces scientists will continue to reduce the human body weight of soldiers.The technical upgrades are followed by biological repairs.Injecting specialized nanorobots into the heads of fast-growing special forces embryos has two destinations: Most rush to the marrow-rich skeletal center, deplete the marrow and replace it, producing more oxygen-carrying, more clotting and nearly immune The intelligent blood of all diseases; the rest of the nanobots migrate to the rapidly expanding brain, laying the groundwork for the BrainPal computer, which when completed will be something the size of a glass ball.This sphere is deeply planted in the center of the brain and surrounded by dense tentacles. The tentacles sense the electric field of the brain, translate thoughts, and send the results to the output devices in the soldiers' eyes and ears. There are other modification measures, many of which are still in the experimental stage, and are only tested on a small number of developing bodies to see if they can produce any advantages.If there is an advantage, the modification will be widely used in special forces, and it will be included in the candidate list of next-generation upgrades for ordinary soldiers of the Colonial Defense Forces.If not, the modification measure dies along with the subject of the experiment. Special Forces soldiers grow to human neonatal size in twenty-nine days; adult size in sixteen weeks, as long as the metabolic management of the reservoir is correct.The Colonial Defense Force tried to continue shortening the developmental cycle, but the result was that the metabolic heat was too high and the body was directly scorched.If the DNA transcription goes wrong, the fetus is not aborted, and the body can develop cancer or fatal mutations if it does not die.At sixteen weeks, the chemical stability of the DNA has been pushed to the limit; at the end of the sixteen weeks, the developmental tank allows an artificial hormone to flow through the body, pulling the metabolism back to normal levels. During development, the reservoir trains the body, increasing its strength so that its future owner can use it as soon as it wakes up.In the brain, Brain Companion assists in the formation of general neural channels, stimulates the control centers of various organs, and alleviates the difficulty of consciousness from scratch. For most Special Forces soldiers, there is now only so-called "birth," the process of infusion, which will begin his military career quickly and (generally speaking) smoothly.For a special forces soldier, there is one more step to complete. Schillard gestured to the technicians, and they got busy.Wilson turned his attention back to the device, waiting for the signal to begin transmission.The technician signaled that the preparation was complete, and Wilson sent the consciousness on the road.The machine hummed softly, but the body in the tank remained motionless.After a few minutes, Wilson discussed with the technician and then with Robbins, who walked up to Mattson and said, "It's done." "Finished?" Matson looked at the body in the tank, "It doesn't look any different, it still seems to be in a coma." "Haven't woken him up yet," Robbins said. "The technician wants to know how you're going to wake him up. Waking up a Special Forces soldier is as simple as switching the BrainPal into Consciousness Fusion mode, which gives the soldier a second before he becomes conscious." Temporary sense of self. But there is already a consciousness in this body, and they don't want to turn on the BrainPal, so as not to cause confusion." Mattson snorted, thinking the idea was funny. "Don't turn on BrainPal, just wake him up," he said. "If it's Boutin, I don't like him being confused. I want him to talk about it." "Yes, sir," said Robbins. "If it works, he'll know who he is when he wakes up, right?" Mattson asked. Robbins looks at Wilson, who can hear their conversation, and Wilson nods with a shrug."We think so," Robbins said. "Fine," Mattson said, "I hope he sees me as soon as he opens his eyes." He walked to the tank and pressed himself against the unconscious body. "Tell them to wake up the son of a bitch," he said.Robbins nods to a technician, who sticks out a finger and pokes at the console she's been fiddling with. The body trembled a bit, which was completely the reaction of people when they suddenly felt that they were falling while they were half asleep and half awake.The eyelids flickered and twitched, and they opened suddenly.His eyes glanced left and right, seeming a little confused, and his eyes finally fell on the face of Mattson who was leaning over and grinning. "Well, Boutin," said Mattson, "surprised to see me?" The body desperately moved its head closer to Mattson, as if trying to say something.Mattson bent down very cooperatively. The body screamed. General Schillard came out of the irrigation room and found Mattson peeing in the toilet. "How's the ear?" Schillard asked. "What the hell is this problem," Mattson said, facing the wall. "You try to have an idiot yell in your ear, and then come talk to me about how you feel." "He's not an idiot," Schillard said. "You wake up a newborn Special Forces soldier without a BrainPal. He has no sense of self and just does what every newborn does. Can you still What do you expect?" "I'm counting on him to be Charles Fucking Boutin," Mattson said with a shake of his voice. "You haven't forgotten, otherwise why would we be raising that little bastard in the tank?" "You know it may not succeed," Schillard said. "I told you, and your subordinates told you." "Thanks for the reminder," Mattson said as he zipped up and walked over to the sink, "this little adventure wasted a lot of fucking time." "He could still be useful," Schillard said. "It might take time for consciousness to emerge." "Robins and Wilson said that when he wakes up, consciousness is in his body," Mattson said, waving his hand under the faucet. "Damn automatic faucets!" It finally flowed out. "This is the first time we've tried to do something like this," Schillard said. "Maybe Robbins and Wilson got it wrong." Mattson sneered: "There is no 'maybe', Schillard, they did make a mistake, but the place of mistake is different from what you said. In addition, while waiting for his 'consciousness to emerge', you still plan to Sending someone to take care of a full-fledged adult baby? I guess you'd say 'no', I'm not fucking helping you anyway. Enough time wasted." Mattson washed his hands and looked left and right for a tissue box. Schillard pointed to the opposite wall and said, "It's empty." "Well, I don't want to know," Mattson said. "Humans can make soldiers from DNA, but they can't remember that there are toilet paper towels." He shook his hands vigorously and wiped the remaining water on his pants. "Leaving aside the issue of tissues," Schillard said, "are you going to give me this soldier? If so, then I will turn on his BrainPal and let him join the training team as soon as possible." "What's the hurry?" Mattson said. "He's a full-fledged Special Forces soldier," Schillard said, "and I'm not in that rush, but you know how high the turnover rate is in Special Forces. We're always short. Let's just say, I am confident that this soldier should be useful in the end." "You're pretty optimistic," Mattson said. Schillard smiled and asked Mattson, "Do you know how special forces soldiers are named, General?" "Continuing the names of scientists and artists," Mattson said. "Scientists and philosophers," said Schillard, "actually only use surnames, first names chosen at random from common names. My name comes from Leo Schillard. He helped build the first atomic bomb, Feel guilty about it later.” "I know who Leo Schillard is," Mattson said. "I'm not implying that you don't know, General," Schillard said, "but who knows if any of you really know. There are always strange gaps in your knowledge structure." “We spend our higher education years courting,” Mattson said, “so distracted that we don’t have time to cram the stories of twentieth-century scientists into our heads.” "Imagine it," Schillard said half-coldly, and then went on along with the train of thought just now. "In addition to his scientific talent, Schillard is also good at predicting the future. He foresaw two worlds in the twentieth century." Big fights and other important events. It makes him jumpy, like he always stays in hotels, always has a survival kit. Just in case." "Interesting," Mattson said, "what does it mean?" "I don't want to say that I have anything to do with Leo Schillard," Schillard said, "I just happened to be assigned his name, but I think I also have his gift of prediction, especially in war. ...I think this coming war is going to be very dangerous. This is not a wild guess, because we already know the target, so we have been gathering information. But even if you don't have any information, you should know that the odds of human beings against three races at the same time are very good Small." Schillard shook his head towards the laboratory, "This soldier may not have Butin's memory, but he still has Butin's genes. I think this will be useful, we will need everything we can get Help. You can call him my survival kit." "You decided to keep him just because of a hunch?" Mattson said. "Intuition is important," Schillard said. "Skilard, you do look like a teenager sometimes," Mattson said. "You will give me this soldier, General?" Schillard asked. Mattson waved his hand casually and said, "Here, General, enjoy it. At least I don't have to worry about this betraying humans." "Thank you," Schillard said. "What are you going to do with your new toy?" Mattson asked. "First of all," said Schillard, "he has to be named."