Jamie looked around, taking the sheer wonder of the deck into his mind. He drew a blank for the first time in his inquisitive, young life.
“Uh, why are you called Manuel?”
Manuel sped over to Jamie and opened up its pages, displaying a black and white image of Pascal D’Souza.
“My full name is The Manuel. I was put together by my creator, the late Pascal D’Souza. Originally, I was referred to as The Manual, however, when they loaded me into USARIC’s mainframe the first time, an error was made. As you can see.”
The picture of Pascal D’Souza moved like a recorded video. Angry with his fellow scientist, he bopped him on the back.
“Why isn’t The Manual responding to my commands?”
His colleague pressed a button on his computer and pointed to the erroneous letter in the manual’s name. “There’s been a slip up. Someone must have pressed E when they meant to press A.”
Pascal shook his head in incredulity. “So we’ve christened our hyper-intelligent autopilot and data bank as… The Manuel? What is this, some kind of joke?”
“I’m sorry, Dr D’Souza—”
The image paused, allowing Manuel the flip over by one page.
Manuel’s holograph turned to Jamie. “I am able to process close to one billion commands at any given time.”
“Wow, that’s a lot.”
Tor chuckled to himself. “We were just completing Manuel’s assessment. Would you like to see it?”
“Yes, please,” Jamie said.
“Manuel?” Tor asked. “What does USARIC stand for?”
“It won’t stand for anything,” Manuel said. “They are a very stern company.”
Emily and Tripp smirked at the crude joke.
“That’s not that I meant and you know it,” Tor said. “Please, give me the correct answer.”
“It was just a joke.”
“I know, give me the correct answer.”
“USARIC stands for the United States and Russian Intergalactic Confederation.”
“Correct,” Tor pressed a button on the communications panel. Manuel’s holograph lit up. “Tell me the genesis of the company, please?”
“Certainly. USARIC was formed in the year 2100, shortly after the disbanding of NASA.”
“Correct.” Tor winked at Jamie. “Good, isn’t he?
“Yes. I want one when we get back home.”
“Ha,” Tor punched in some data on the comms panel. “Manuel?”
“Yes, Tor?”
“Can you explain to our guest why USARIC was formed?”
“Certainly,” Manuel said, flapping opening and spinning to the end of his book. Footage of a space shuttle launching from its pad played out.
The United States and Russian Intergalactic Confederation (USARIC) is the result of a convergence of two states – the US state of Alaska, and the north-eastern territory of Chukotka in Russia. The Bering Strait lies in the middle, separating the two nations, which lent its name to the treaty drawn between the two nations.
The two states amalgamated to form Chukaska, across the start and end point of the international time zone.
In order to allay a second cold war, the presidents of both countries agreed that the two states merge jurisdictions, thereby forming an alliance.
The switch took place in 2087, two years after the Bering Treaty was formed. In 2088, it was decided that the two nations conform to a confederacy.
The result was the free movement of people from both the US and Russia into both jurisdictions.
In five years, both economies saw a surge in productivity. As a result, wages kept in line with inflation. Companies set up shop globally, at various points in both countries to quell the cost of distribution.
The most remarkable effect was the formation of USARIC. NASA was summarily disbanded. Its protocols and legislature was reconfigured to merge both the US and Russia’s efforts to explore outer space as one entity. In effect, any discoveries that were made would be shared equally. A combined space race, with certain caveats, if you will.
Two months after this formation, tragedy struck. Cape Canaveral in Florida disappeared, along with the rest of the state due to The Great Southern Flood of 2092. Four million people lost their lives and the nation lost its sunshine state. It proved to be an avoidable event. For the previous one hundred years, scientists had speculated that global warming would have this effect. The government chose not to listen.
Floridians fled to Texas, contributing to the density of that state’s populace.
On the recommendation of the governor at the time, the United States opted to split the state into North and South.
Despite the loss of Florida, The United States gained three states in the amalgamation of Chukaska and the division of Texas. Of course, the flag was redesigned to represent the fifty-two states and its convergence with Russia, hence the addition of the hammer (but not the familiar sickle, as it was deemed to be an outmoded tool.)
USARIC relocated their base to Cape Claudius in the state of South Texas.
Located on the southwest peninsula, it is the closest point to the equator that can launch vessels into space. One of the protocols in the Infinity Clause stipulates that no Russians may take part in any manned exploration. It was a stipend that caused no end of frustration to that particular nation—
“—Okay, that’s enough, Manuel,” Tor clicked his fingers. “We don’t want to bore the poor boy, do we?”
Jamie blinked rapidly, his little mind going into overdrive. “Wow.”
“Funny you should mention that, Tor,” Manuel flipped his pages and landed toward the middle of the book. “In conjunction with Pure Genius, I have been conducting research on evolution since my reboot. My findings have been quite curious. Would you like to see them?”
“Uh, okay?” Jamie pretended to understand. He knew it sounded scientific and serious, and that was enough for him.
“With your permission, I’d like to explain to you a concept I have named The Natural Order of Life.”
“Go ahead, Manuel,” Tor said. “But make it quick, we can’t stand around chatting all day.”
“Certainly,” Manuel rose into the air and beamed an image onto the floor. “Observe. The Natural Order of Things has long-since been a quandary for humankind. Life, hence, any living and breathing organism.”
A recorded holograph of a cat pouncing on a rat played out across the floor. Jamie waved his hand right through it in amazement.
“Thus, we can reasonably ascertain the following. Every predator has a prey, as exemplified in my findings.
For every name that appeared, a corresponding image floated next to it.
“Where the greater-than symbol is present denotes is afraid of. Broadly-speaking, the chain is as follows…”
Insect > Mouse
Mouse > Cat
Cat > Dog
Dog > Man
Man > Woman
Tripp and Tor took in the information with great expediency.
Jamie sat there, stunned. “What does that mean?”
“The Natural Order of Life,” Manuel explained. “However, the discovery was the reconciliation of the loop. Thus...”
Woman > Insect
“That’s quite the discovery, Manuel,” Tor rolled his eyes at Tripp. He lowered his voice enough for Manuel not to hear him. “He may need a bit more calibrating before we actually take off, by the way.”