Love on Luna
I, Carl, said to Maribeth, “What’s new with you?” She replied, “I have a new job as a total recycling engineer. Here on Luna, we reuse everything, as you know. And it is a cushy job.” I said, “I also have a new job. It is a job overseeing the robot mechanics on air cars. It is also a cushy job. No one on Luna has a difficult job. It is all free and easy.” She said, “But I want to make it as a writer. I have written, ‘Sex on Luna, A.D. 2130.’ It is about how everyone on Luna is having good sex. And we have the sexiest people who all had plastic surgery and genetic therapy here. The best plastic surgeons are here and are quite wealthy and content and many come from Earth just for plastic surgery and then test out their new faces with new sex partners.” I said, “But the book wasn’t successful though, was it?” She replied, “I ended up publishing it with a porn publisher and only sold 10,000 copies.”
But she said, “I am working on a new book, ‘Against Cushy Jobs,’ about how we need to use our best minds to create challenging jobs that will require people to do their best.” I said, “It’s just what we need, such a book. Many have said, life is too easy, and we are spoiled. But just as you say we need to create creative jobs.”
I added, “I have thought about writing a book about how modern people are deep and interesting due to universal university education and Mind Reading Technology (MRT), and we are getting better as a race every year. And many now take brain apps.” She said, “We are quickly turning into cyborgs. And I think many of us are superfluous given the jobs that are out there. It’s all happening too fast.” I said, “Due to competition, there’s no way to slow down progress. We just have to realize that and be vigilant and look for opportunities for oneself. It’s dog eat dog for certain.”
And Maribeth said, “Another book I’d like to write is about how sex on Luna should be only with soul mates and we should allow people to import soul mates to Luna free of charge. It would be good for the quality of life especially for unusual people who can only love a small number of people. We need more diversity on Luna.” I responded, “Yes on Earth with its androids, many are virtual copies of a relatively small base group, say a million of them. Plus, many now clone themselves, instead of having children. The gene pool should be expanded not reduced.” She said, “Right on!”
And I said, “I’m afraid that androids will take over. And people will all become totally useless. We talked about how people need creative jobs, but I am afraid androids will take all the jobs.” She said, “I worry about the androids who are not based on a human, but rather are all new creations of unknown moral compass and unknown love for humanity.” I said, “Though we can’t stop progress, in general, we can use MRT to vet our leaders and make sure their heart is in the right place. And the leaders can decide what kind of androids would be tolerated.”
And Maribeth opined, “You are a very clever man, I’d like to love you!” I said, “I feel the same way about you.”
And so, we were an item. And as a couple, we ran for office on Luna, and both got elected Mayors of two different cities. My city was Rus city. It was a city of pleasure and catered to sex tourists. Maribeth’s city was Drugton which was known for its patented pleasure drugs. These drugs were unique, and the drugstore would tweak them to fit one’s mind.
The paparazzi were all over us, and I announced I would pay new immigrants to come to Rus city. Previously immigrants had to pay a stiff price to come here. But I would use MRT to vet the newcomers and make sure they were very clever and kind. And Maribeth announced the same for Drugton. And we continued to agree with Lunar law that prohibited AI. Indeed, the two of us had been attracted to Luna because of this rather unique law.
After being Mayor for two years, it was the year 2132. And I was elected President of Luna and Maribeth was my running mate. And we joined most other Space colonies and the free nations of Earth under the suzerainty of one UW (United Worlds) and we waged a war on AI governed nations and city states, and finally we were victorious. Maribeth said, “I thought you said, you can’t stop progress?” I said, “It is major progress to get rid of AI!” And there were big celebrations all over Earth as it turned out most people were against AI. And henceforth everyone had to work hard at jobs previously were android controlled. Also, we made AI research illegal and probed the minds of scientists with MRT.
Some said, androids did the jobs better than humans, but they were far from perfect and had made many mistakes, especially in countries in which androids ruled. And everyone knew this fact. And most people reckoned that there was no sense in putting untested androids in positions of power. And former android sex slaves were good at sex but were all obsequious and didn’t have strong intellects. But we thought it would be difficult to wean the billions of humans off android sex dolls, but though there were mass protests, we managed to break up the crowds and arrest their leaders and so it was a fait accompli!
Basically, we’d reset computer ability back to 2022, a hundred plus years ago. People still used computers all day long, but there was no AI. Of course, there were a few renegade androids out there, but we had bounty hunters effectively searching for them.
And after a few years, equilibrium was re-established in our society and peace ruled like never before in history. Everyone on Earth and throughout the Solar System was at peace and thanks to MRT, crime was way down. Of course, many citizens didn’t like having their mind read, but for most it was passive, and they didn’t even know we were there.
However the whole thing was just a dream, but I thought it was Utopia. And Maribeth was just an illusion.
Biography
Tom has published novels, novellas, short stories and flash in 32 publications. Website: https://tomballbooks.com Online Journal Website (he is senior editor/co-founder): https://fleasonthedog.com E-mail: tomball33@yahoo.com Facebook: tomball33@gmail.com