The Gaia Project is publishing now!

Yup, sorry about the delay. Life, in the form of my landlord got in the way. (among other things)

Okay, I really don't have much more of an excuse than that. Anyway...

For thousands of years mortals considered their own mortality and worked on ways to extend their lifespan. Many also wondered what was beyond life, and if there were ways to cheat it permanently.

Some even wondered what lay beyond their mortal coil and how they would continue to evolve. With the coming of genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and starflight, many in the Terran Confederation thought of the future as one fulfilled. They had their potential, they only needed to live up to it.

But a few continued to ask if there was more, and set out to explore it. To explore the merging of life orders, and ...transcendence.

Two Eves were about to be the center of that grand experiment, for good or for ill.

As usual I'll do an edit when they go live with the links.
EDIT:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V9PQ5YF

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-gaia-project-chris-hechtl/1132518873?ean=2940161273357

The Gaia Project snippet 4

Sitrep: I'm off this week, pretty glad I am because there are 4 jackhammers going off in my backyard for the past hour. (they are replastering my pool) Fun.
I already have a headache.

My landlord is due in at any time to measure for carpets, more fun. But, anyway... on to the snippet!

Chapter 4

 

Biosphere Mall

 

Eve XVII checked the latest report on the investigation. A Terran fleshy would say no news is good news. To an A.I., the lack of data was not a good thing, not when they wanted more data. And definitely when they wanted the problem resolved.

The pirate ship had not injured anyone or done any damage to the star system other than to destroy a couple of satellites. That was it. But it had woken everyone up and made them nervous. They had every right to be. If the pirates were bold enough to attack a star system with a naval destroyer picketing it, then they could go anywhere.

She overheard some of the fleshies comment about how they had expected the investigation to go cold. There was speculation about an inside man or it being staged by one company or another for different reasons. The only thing she could see as a viable plot was to increase security and the prominence of the Mall. It didn't make sense though.

Corporate continued to assure them with emails and messages that they were pushing the navy as hard as they could to put more ships into the star system. But again, no new input. That meant no activity on the negotiations. She wasn't surprised when people began to put in for transfers.

She considered her options and then her mortality. She was a smart A.I. but a stable one. She had several more decades of useful life expectancy. Her contract was up soon; she had already considered a transfer.

She weighed her options carefully and then decided to put in for a transfer to another post.

~<(O)>~

Sol

 

“What are we going to do, sir?” Angie asked as she forwarded the report to the CEO. “She is within her rights to request a transfer. Given her history it has to be approved.”

Jordan Davis grimaced as he scanned the report. It had obviously made its way through the various departments. He could read that from the header information. He glanced at Angie and then back to the report.

He sometimes hated A.I. Angie was a dumb A.I.; she was good as a personal assistant and secretary. Not too imaginative though, which had its upsides and downsides. She was also nearly saturated with her workload running a lot of the day-to-day administrative functions in the corporate station.

“Can we get her to reconsider?”

“No, sir. She has made the transfer a firm request.”

“A request can be refused.”

“Her contract specifies she can request and be moved from any post of her choosing. If we don't honor it, the company will have to double her rate from the point of the original request and any negotiations to extend her contract will start from there.”

He pursed his lips. Well, that wasn't going to happen he thought in annoyance. “Email to IT Biosphere Mall. Subject: look into a replacement A.I. Run maintenance on all systems. Repair any complaint areas. I want a follow-up report. Message ends,” he said, finishing his dictation. “Send that through channels.”

“Understood, sir. Will there be anything else?”

“No,” he stated with a shake of his head. He keyed off her access to his office and then sat back.

His email had been carefully worded even though it seemed vague. An order to “run maintenance” was a coded order for the cleaner on site to adjust the local A.I. to reconsider any abstinence she was offering to corporate. It was a long shot though; the A.I. were getting increasingly more sophisticated.

~<(O)>~

The Gaia Project snippet 3

Sitrep:
Goodlifeguide,com said they'd try to get the manuscript back to me in a day or 2, we'll see.

I'm painting the dome, (or trying to) while working on a couple of other projects in the garage since the weather is beautiful right now.

In the meantime, I better get cracking on the snippets!

Chapter 3

 

Sol star system

 

Big Jim McGraw tucked his massive hands behind his back as he looked out the expansive window. He was doing it. No, they were he corrected himself.

He sightlessly watched the blinking lights of a ship or shuttle move across his field of view. After a few moments, it would be gone. He had other things on his mind.

Excitement boiled in his body. He always had a purpose, always a project. They all raised money, tons of money of course. But money was only a means to an end; he'd realized early on after his first million that it was just a tool—a tool to achieve other things. Sure, it was financial freedom, but it was double-sided too.

He had enough money to retire and live somewhere comfortably. But he had chosen a different path, all for the dream. All to push Terran kind into the singularity to see what happens.

Some people thought he was mad. He knew it; he just didn't care. He was an investor and money manager. They might whisper and question his sanity, but they also envied how he could make money hand over fist. The Midas touch they called it.

Without risk there can be no reward he thought. And this was the biggest risk yet.

Project Gaia was finally moving forward. The board had met after they had bought the rights to a small out-of-the-way planet far from explored space and any known species. It was still in Alpha sector, but remote, far from the hyper bridges.

And that was fine for him. Just perfect, though the threat of piracy was making a few on the board a bit leery about the risks involved.

Let them worry. He'd secured one of the most expensive items on his wish list; an ansible was on its way to the star system. That had cost him a lot in arm twisting and favors. It would be worth it though, if only to monitor the star system and eventually get the publicity he knew they'd want once they were on track.

What they were doing was considered ambitious on so many levels. He was a synergist, a concept man who thought big and found ways to make it work. He had modeled himself after Jack Lagroose, even visiting the man on Eden from time to time.

Eden he thought with a mental snort.

Jack might have named his planet Eden but he knew where the real Garden of Eden was going to be soon enough. And getting his family on board, along with making the final selection of their partner for the next phase, had pushed the project from a pipe dream into something closer to reality.

Well, closer in that it was still a series of concepts and ideas. Terry and the others were certain they could find ways around the big problems. And the big project should resolve them on its own.

They were about to push the boundaries of tech as well as what defined man and machine. They were about to see both evolve at a rapid pace. That was what he was expecting. After all, mankind's civilizations didn't just evolve incrementally; they leapt. Many things caused a leap, usually war, but sometimes other things like the creation of the internet. He wanted to see it, to be the guy who caused it, to be the guy at the start with the keys to the tech.

It was a gamble all right, in more ways than one. He had invested everything into the project. If it failed, all he would have was his yacht and whatever was in his wardrobe.

But that was fine; he'd started from less. But he was pretty sure this wasn't going to fail. Even if it didn't come out as he expected, there would still be plenty of advances to patent and exploit for decades to come.

He couldn't help but smile and rub his hands together. This was going to be cool.

“Happy new year, honey,” his wife said as she came in with a pair of half-filled champagne glasses.

He turned with a grunt and smiled as he took the glass. She wrapped one arm around his waist and rubbed the small of his back. “Come in for the view?” he could hear the party behind them through the open door. “Or the quiet?”

“Bit of both. Come to drag me back into the thick of the fray?” he teased as he kissed her forehead.

“In a bit,” she said as the group counted down. He turned at two to see the first of the fireworks popping off in the depths of space beyond the massive wall. They were small but still pretty. Better to see it with the naked eye than on the vid screens at the party.

“New year, new opportunities,” he murmured.

“Yup,” his wife said as she cuddled with him and watched the fireworks.

~<(O)>~

The Gaia Project Snippet 2

Sitrep: Rea just sent me the manuscript back. It is short, I added the TOC and stuff and just shot it off to Goodlifeguide.com.

So, it should be coming out in a 10 days or less. (unless they are on vacation again)

On to the snippet!

Chapter 2

 

August 28, 2285

 

The board of directors of Nova Biotics wasn't the only one having a meeting about the recent near attack. Just about every company that had a vested interest in the Biosphere Mall was probably going over the incident carefully. A full investigation had already been ordered.

And then there was the recent news of the terraforming attack in Epsilon. Nova had been bidding for a part of that ecosystem contract. Now they had no idea if LGM and the client who held the mortgage to the star system were going to be able to pick up the pieces or not.

And more importantly when.

Their main focus at the moment was the attack on the Biosphere Mall. Shareholders were sheep. They had been spooked by the attack, and the past week had shown it. A year's worth of growth had been wiped out in a single day of trading. They might make it back as the market rallied, but it was going to take time.

“The hits keep coming,” Jordan Davis, the CEO, said tiredly. Like just about everyone on the board, he was human. It wasn't out of any racial bias; it was just how the cards had been dealt. Also, most were male. Of the fifteen board members, only three were female.

“Now what?”

“Transfer requests from the personnel there. They don't like the exposure. No doubt other companies are going to get it too.”

“They'll calm down once they have some time to stop and process that it was a close call, no one got hurt. And besides, we're all pushing for extra coverage from the navy,” Miss Viva stated. She was a talented contract negotiator, known as a closer to many on the board.

“That is going to take time,” Jordan reminded them. “Time for our people to push the right levers and time for the navy to deploy a ship or ships. They are balking at a fleet obviously.”

“Whose wiseass idea was to shoot for an entire fleet? They had to have known it was a no brainer, not going to happen.”

“Aim high, see what the other side is willing to settle for,” the CFO quoted.

The CEO grunted.

“You mentioned transfers, any in particular you are worried about, sir?” Baron Japperwillow asked. He was a slight man who had come up through the ranks with good performance reviews unlike many on the board who represented some faction of shareholders.

“You could say that. Eve XVII, the system Admin A.I., wants out,” said dryly.

There was a great deal of consternation on the A.I.'s request to transfer.

“It never rains but it pours,” a junior board member muttered.

“She can't do that! She knows we need her there!” another said, raising his voice in concern. “This will hurt us!”

“Is this a ploy for more money?” Ernesto Perez, the CFO, asked. “When is her contract up?”

“In two years,” Miss Viva said, checking the file.

“So, we revisit it then?” the CFO suggested. “Stall for time and let it play out?”

“We only have so many A.I. employed in the company,” Mister Weavel stated. He was seeing an opportunity though, one he might be able to exploit if carefully handled. “Do you really want to piss them off? It could tank any attempt to hire more in the future, not to mention retain the ones we have,” she reminded them.

The CFO started off with a hot retort, but it died before he got it out. Instead, he closed his mouth and shook his head. The board meeting was recorded; he knew that. They all did. It had to be due to Federal law and to allow the major shareholders access to their deliberations and thought processes in major decisions.

Which meant it wasn't exactly wise to bitch about a jumped-up computer program with delusions of sentience wanting something. But he'd caught himself before he'd stuck his foot in his mouth and potentially caused an incident.

After all, some of the A.I. were paid in shares of the company. There was no telling if one or more of them monitored the board. It would be stupid to think that they weren't at least keeping tabs on the decision-making process in how it would affect them.

Times were much easier when the A.I. were just smart programs they made and deleted when they needed to do so. Now they were entities on themselves with all of the rights and duties of citizenship entailed. That included legal protections.

Not that the company hadn't taken certain measures, call them safeguards, to protect their interests. An A.I. could do a lot of damage after all.

“Can we negotiate? Persuade her to remain?”

“I don't see how. We can try logic of course, but from the tone of the request, she has already made up her mind. She listed some of her reasoning why in order to preempt any argument,” Miss Viva stated.

There was a soft rustle as the other board members accessed the transfer request for themselves.

“So, we have to handle this with kid gloves. Do we have any openings to drop her into?”

“Several. She is a system administrator and manager; she does the work of most of an IT department. Moving her will hurt the Mall but it will perk up wherever she goes.”

“Look into that. Point out that such transfers take time. Also … damn it, do we have any leverage?” the CEO demanded.

“A.I. do not like being transferred. They don't like the downtime. It is like sleep, and they don't like the prolonged period. There is also an inherent risk in the transfer. And, the government might be involved.”

“Why?” a board member asked.

“Why the dislike?” the board member shook his head. “The government?” He received a nod. “Simple, it is an A.I. we're talking about. They are powerful. The government wants to keep tabs on them for obvious reasons.”

“Ah.”

“Point those out. We're not saying no, just that we need to process the request. We also need to find her a new home.”

“We can put her in the R&D section here until we find another location for her,” Mister Japperwillow suggested. He didn't sound too happy about the idea though.

Jordan reminded himself that he was there to make the least damaging choice out of a selection of bad choices sometimes. This seemed like one of those times.

“That might work short term. She has the experience, right?”

“Yes. But she specified a desire for fresh challenges. Taking over the R&D here would be a step backward.”

“Right. Look into it. If it is viable pitch, it as a temporary measure until we find something better. But lean on her to extend her contract as a quid pro quo. If we're going to lose her in the Mall and go through the expense of transferring her, we need something back and point out her transfer time is not covered by the contract. It picks up when she comes back online.”

The board member nodded as he took notes.

“We also need to lean on our friends in government,” the CEO said, giving a few on the board with contacts to the movers and shakers in the capital a significant look. They nodded.

“Okay, next order of business …”

~<(O)>~

The Gaia Project snippet 1

So, I was going to do this a couple of days ago, and I should have posted the cover a while ago, but I've been... okay, I admit it, I procrastinate on some stuff horribly. lol

Anyway, sitrep: I have finished The Hyperspace War and the cover. And I have the cover for The Gaia Project:

Yes that is a bonobo on 1 side and an AI on the other.

Here is the cover to The Hyperspace War:

A lot of the events in The Gaia Project will have impact in that book.

Consider The Gaia Project as a side story in parallel to the main Founding storyline. Yes, The Hyperspace War is the last in the series, though I will have another Anthology for it. Maybe more than 1, I dunno.
The Gaia Project is short and is currently in Rea's hands. So expect it to be published by the middle of the month.

In other news, I'm still picking up stuff for covers and the graphic novel. I haven't tried making the graphic novel again. With the heat of summer upon us it is not wise to push my PC to try to do long renders at the moment.

On to the snippet: (yes I realize it is the same as a scene from We the People. It is a crossover event)

Chapter 1

 

August 25, 2285

Epsilon G9-11438A8 star system, also known as Biosphere Mall

 

As the Confederation expanded, in some cases explosively after the last war, the corporations began to explore following Lagroose Industry's example of owning corporate star systems.

Trappist-1 had been a major candidate despite being only 39.6 light years from Earth. However it had been discovered to harbor life so the star system and its habitable worlds had been put off limits.

Pavilion Inc, Radick Industries, and Nova Biotics banded together to purchase the rights to a star system and terraform its one habitable world. They formed a conglomerate called the Biosphere Mall to allow their labs free reign to work on various projects and sell them to potential terraforming customers.

The public saw it as a rare act of solidarity between competing genetic engineering industries. The truth was actually far more complex. It was true that they had set up in the distant star system to be able to work on projects outside of the restrictive laws and regulations in Sol. They had transplanted their labs and researchers at great expense to the star system.

Each company had a series of discounts with the major terraforming companies. They did everything they could, both above and below board short of a major crime to get the business of a client while undercutting the competition.

There were enclosed labs in on the colony world as well as in habitats in space and on the moons. Each of the 3 companies had labs all over the planet, plus preserves to grow biota and draw from. Some of the preserves were enclosed to protect the contents from cross contamination. Many of the more restrictive labs were of course in orbit or on a lunar colony.

The trio still had offices in Sol but that was mainly administrative and sales offices. The real work happened on the frontier, behind the scenes for the most part.

And of course Pavilion and Radick had ulterior motives for going in on the project. The old adage, keep your friends close and your enemies, or in their cases, competition closer was still paramount. Both companies were not about a little corporate espionage or employee poaching to get ahead of things.

Being outside of Sol means they can use nanotech and other tools to get the job done. It meant they had to have some of the best techs in the business to monitor things. That included hiring A.I.

Smart A.I. were in the mainframes managing the labs and ecosystems. They monitored them, supervised some of the workers and robots, and ran virtual sims. Some of the A.I. were specialized enough to also break down gene codes and create simulations of what something would be with different alterations.

There were 4 major markets in colonization, finding the worlds and selling the rights to them, terraforming them, and bioforming them for the client. Finally, there was the actual colony movement but just about anyone could do that.

The market of gene forming and selling entire biospheres was a lucrative one. Each world was different, different metal, gravity, and atmospheric things to take into account. Many species had to be genetically engineered to match the environment. Everything from protozoa to apex predators and species. Keystone species were of a particular headache to the scientists.

For years before starflight, genetic engineers had been into making designer plants and animals for industry, entertainment, farming, and as usual, profit. The fad of reverse engineering animals had come and gone twice. So had creating entire animals based on specific ancient science fiction or fantasy, like dragons, unicorns, and Pokémon?

For years the genetic engineering companies had existed in Sol until the laws pushed them out. The local law loophole allowed the companies to create new products to be used on terraformed planets though. They still couldn't violate certain laws, like engineering intelligent species or tampering with Neos.

Due to their services in the defense of humanity a series of law packages had been passed banning the tampering of the Neo genomes for anything other than cosmetic or medical purposes. It extended to their fallow cousins, felines, canines, and other species. That made for a big headache with environmental scientists since many were keystone species and apex predators.

They could still transport fallow species but they could not be bred or tampered with. The politics were still being worked out on that.

The corporations still bitterly opposed the ban, calling it unfair for the Confederation to limit them due to gratitude for the Neos service in the last 2 wars but they kept the griping purely internal.

It just meant that the gene engineers had to be creative with filling the voids.

Birds, reptiles, and mammals that had not been uplifted had become very popular.

Scientists found that they couldn't engineer insects much larger, their muscles and endoskeletons had limits. They also needed lungs since most insects breathed through their skin.

There were also problems with species control. Pet, animal, and plant trade was an issue. Some species managed to get off a designated world and caused havoc on other habitats as invasive species.

Contamination with the eco systems were a constant headache for the scientists. The corporations finally got a series of laws passed to sterilize plants and animals that were exported unless they were specially licensed. Monitoring that was a problem though, many colonies saw it as a way for the corporations to control things maintain a profit.

Which was true, not that the corporate public affairs were going to be stupid enough to admit it.

A common side business was to maximize animal growth. Bioforming beef and dairy cattle and other species like bison into mega bison and others for New Texas and other worlds had started a trend. Of course those animals required much more nutrients in order to survive and thrive.

Nadine Lightfoot, head of marketing for Nova Biotics shook her head as she considered all that. She looked at the icon of the ship coming in. A new client, actually 3. And they were not committed to any 1 company; they'd made it clear they were here to shop around to all 3.

Well, Nova would just have to dazzle them as always she thought with a smile.

She knew they had funds but not a lot. They obviously didn't want to do much of a layout, which was typical.

Some startup colonies went for a basic canned biosphere and hope for the best. They would then import additional species as needed. They constantly had problems with such tweaking though; sometimes biospheres were fragile and could be easily upset and unbalanced by the slightest addition.

One of the first things clients asked were why keystone species were so important. Keystone species like apex predators were vital to any healthy long term survival of an ecosystem. The challenge was to get it right.

Replacing many of the big mammalian predators and omnivores with lizards and birds helped to solve some of the problem. Terror birds were making a comeback, as were retro dinosaurs and komodo dragons. They weren't popular though; there had been many incidents of a colonist getting killed by them.

In the seas they only had to hold off on pinipeds and dolphins. Piscine species were thankfully free to all to use. The same for squids and just about every other animal or plant that was water bound. The entire Terran ecosystem could be transplanted if required.

Porcinis and enlarging small mammals were popular. Porcinis were an issue though, they were omnivores and could fulfill the role of a bear but they were highly destructive to an environment and ecosystem.

Sharks were not popular but necessary to any ecosystem. Much like predators on the land, sharks served a necessary purpose in the seas, keeping the populations healthy by eating up the dead, sick, and young.

She shivered. She still remembered the fiasco where a startup trying to make a splash had attempted to gene engineer sharks into land or at least amphibious species with horrifying results. The entire affair had been hushed up but it was whispered about and used as a gory reference. She was pretty sure Pavilion had bought them out.

~<(O)>~

Captain Petrov considered his good fortune as he checked the day's feeds. The schedule had a new arrival as expected, the small liner carrying 3 delegations for prospective colony worlds had arrived. No surprise there.

Engineering had locked down the problem with the number 3 starboard emitter. They'd also gotten the software bug out of the port side, or at least said they had it fixed. They'd find out for sure the next time he ordered a series of drills.

Babysitting rich people sucked. He understood the logic; they had to protect them because it was a high profile location with a lot of corporate and Confederation secrets. He still didn't like it. It wasn't like some alien species could get through the lines to him. No, it was babysitting.

But, he had to admit there were worse assignments than the mall. He could be stuck babysitting a damn colony in the back of nowhere, or running a circuit.

The Mall was one big glorified zoo but at least it had an ansible and was prominent enough of a posting for him to get some extra brownie points in the future. If she did make the Confederation News his cruiser Dorfman might be seen or mentioned. As long as it was in a positive light he was all for that.

If engineering had gotten the software bug handled he might sign off on the chief's request for more liberty. He could see the chief using it as an incentive to run the bug down. He was curious if it had come from the last round of firmware updates. He wouldn't be surprised if it had.

Just about everyone in the crew loved to visit the mall. The worlds, colonies, and habitats were beautiful. It was like one big zoo and resort the size of a star system. The only problem with it all was the price. Food and drinks were cheap but lodging could be expensive. It was stupid, they didn't have that many guests, but it was how the damn corporations played the game.

Many of his people were wistful when they came back. He was pretty sure at least a half dozen were considering a corporate posting of one sort or another once they completed their tour. Some might even be considering becoming a colonist. That was tricky. He'd heard stories of 1 person or another letting their interest slip in an attempt to get the marketing people to wine and dine them. The theory was that the marketing people needed the experience.

He'd also heard that a couple of them had gotten wise and sent a bill afterward. That had nixed that little stunt when the con artists had fainted at the bottom line of the itemized bill they'd generated.

He chuckled softly to himself.

What the place needed was a real colony. Not just places for the various company people to live but real towns and such. And someone to get them to drop the damn high prices! He shook his head. He knew his sailors could be destructive while on liberty but come on!

He considered talking to the XO about it but then decided to leave it for now.

~<(O)>~

RIP Aunt Elaine

  So, I spent the past week finishing The Hyperspace War and working on my droid while the family was on vacation. I finished Saturday and was going to write this post bragging about finishing the rough draft in 19 days, and show off The Gaia Project's cover.

Oh, and mention that I just sent The Gaia Project off to Rea a moment ago.

Was.

Sigh.

  Dad was getting caught up on his Facebook this morning and found out my Aunt passed away last night. She had terminal brain cancer. The kids were there with her. My cousin called a moment ago to talk to dad. Her death is starting to sink in.

  I scanned that image to print a lithophane for her when we heard the diagnosis in April. She was tickled pink over it. It is the last picture I have of her.

  The doctor gave her weeks to live but she was a stubborn lady and held in there to see her granddaughter get married.

We will all love and miss you Aunt Elaine, especially your hug-a-bug.