Read Online The Voyage of the Star Wolf by David Gerrold - Free Book Online Page B

and we get rid of hemophilia; we can tweak that, we get rid of color-blindness. By the time the process was commonplace, it was too late, the collective consciousness was hurtling headlong toward a furious redesign of itself.
    And along the way, it began designing organic prosthetics and bio-mechanical augments to do the jobs that mere genetics couldn’t accomplishalone. Subsets of the human species began to appear—or perhaps they were super sets. They contained all the genetic equivalent of human beings, but they were more than human. The More-Thans were designed for living naked on the planet Mars, and later a moderately terraformed Venus as well. They could endure cold and altitude and heat. They could run farther and faster, they could fight with greater ferocity, and their unaugmented strength was unmatched by anything short of a grizzly bear. They were bred to be explorers and colonists at first—and then, later on, soldiers.
    To meet the demands of a physical body having superior physical qualities, the brains of the More-Thans also had to be superior. The More-Thans began to take charge of their own destiny, became their own scientists and researchers. Of course, they began to regard themselves as a superior species, significantly better than their feeble ancestors. The logic of that train of thought led inexorably toward one conclusion.
    The smart Morthans began plotting how to take over the human worlds they lived on. They died in prison.
    The smarter Morthans became separatists. They earned their fortunes fairly, invested in starships, and ultimately settled colonies far beyond the frontiers of human expansion.
    The smartest Morthans stayed where the most advanced research was being done. Some of them perceived the possibility of a loyalty to conscious life that transcended mere loyalty to one’s own subset of a species. They realized that a rational species could and would redesign itself for increased rationality; and they started where the need was greatest—with humanity itself, themselves included. The smartest Morthans got even smarter .

HARLIE

    Korie studied the report on the screen in front of him. He didn’t like what it suggested, but he didn’t have much choice either. HARLIE had as much responsibility to this ship as any other crewmember, perhaps more.
    The problem was that there really wasn’t a lot of precedent for this situation. There weren’t even any reliable simulations. Nobody really knew how a constructed consciousness would react to being revived in an amputated environment. Would it be as traumatic as it would be for a human being? Or would the constructed consciousness merely accept the circumstance? What was the possibility for identity damage in this situation?
    Nobody knew.
    And despite nearly a week of chasing the question around and around in his head, Korie still had no idea what would happen when he began the process of reactivating HARLIE.
    Chief Leen pulled himself up into the cramped computer bay and anchored himself next to Korie. “All set?”
    â€œYour cutoff switch ready?”
    In answer, Leen held up a remote. “Think we’ll need it?”
    â€œI hope to God not.”
    â€œ You hope to God?”
    â€œIt’s just an expression. Don’t get your hopes up. I will not be in chapel this Sunday.”
    Leen grinned. “In my religion, we never stop praying for lost souls.”
    â€œYou don’t have to pray for my soul,” Korie said absentmindedly as he refocused his attention on the screen. “I’ll sell it to you. Just make me a reasonable offer.” He poked the display. “According to this, the network is running at 43 percent efficiency, the mass-drivers are online, but not operating, the singularity monitors have been restored, the fluctuators have been aligned, and life-support is only ten percent below critical. Can I depend on that?”
    â€œEspecially the part about