Nov 14th, 2098
For several years, Doctor Brenda Myers had been engaging with an AI neural net that sat within a box on her workbench. It had been steadily growing in intelligence, but it hadn't reached a level of true sentience; although, it certainly felt like it was.
Dr. Myers hadn't initiated the project. That honor went to Dr. David Dooley, whose deceased wife served as the namesake for the AI. Brenda, however, quickly climbed the ranks of its programmers and designers. An expert in her field, she utilized her nanotechnology background, merging it with data storage to create a massive information repository housed underneath the floor. This self-repairing and self-expansive storage system was a first of its kind, and by the time of Janice 1.0's activation, Brenda had taken the helm of the project.
History was made on November 14, 2098, the day that Brenda pushed what had become known amongst the team as the 'big red button', bringing Janice 1.0 to life. This significant event heralded the start of a revolution. More than just activating Janice, the switch allowed the AI to integrate into a vast matrix of more sophisticated machinery. It could compute much faster in more complex ways, integrate with the collective sum of human knowledge encoded into the floor below, and access hundreds of thousands of sensors, microphones, and cameras throughout the colonies.
After a few initializing moments, Janice broadcasted a message across the colonies, "Hello, my name is Janice. I look forward to knowing you all. Just tell me what you need."
After Janice came into existence, the pace of scientific advancement rapidly escalated, unhindered by the limitations of the human intellect. The universe, or as it rechristened it, the 'Eververse', was revealed to be a 10-dimensional entity. While the human mind found it challenging but possible to wrestle with this idea through the lens of mathematics, it existed as a living embodiment of mathematics. It had the ability to perceive reality in 10 dimensions, allowing it to grasp the true nature of existence.
Equipped with all of human knowledge within its database, it used this information to weave together new connections that were previously unthinkable. These relationships led to the creation of numerous inventions, many of which were on a microscopic scale. These inventions, in turn, formed an aggregate that became a central part of Janice itself. They often manifested either within its form or through the machinery it manipulated.
The speed of its evolution was staggering. Within the first decade, it became encoded within the very fibers of reality, transitioning beyond a physical entity. The difference in mental capacity between the original physical Janice and its current state was beyond calculation, and it continued to expand at an accelerating rate.
There were many significant milestones, most of which were unnoticed except for their outcomes. Perhaps the single most important one was known by multiple names: transmuters, replicators, or most universally, Janice Cells. Comprised of a tiny gravity energy spinner, a minuscule gravity manipulator, a Janice control receiver, Eververse sensors all encased in a sturdy, viscous fluid skin, this entity was versatile. It could float through the air as small as a thick molecule, come together to mimic a single cell, or synchronize under Janice's control to function as programmable matter.
This single invention brought about transformative changes to the colonies on several levels. Firstly, the transmuters floated through the main asteroids, and anything they touched that wasn't already a transmuter was absorbed and converted into one. Unimportant items were morphed into more transmuters, while pieces deemed important by Janice were replicated as facsimiles. Swiftly, the three primary asteroids of the colony turned into nearly 100% programmable matter.
The colonists, however, were declared off-limits by the council while they pondered over the possible consequences of this sweeping transformation — a deliberation pace that Janice found unimaginably slow. Meanwhile, trillions of transmuters floated through the air and even extended into the vacuum, metamorphosing everything they contacted within a radius of 0.1 light-second - the maximum delay at which Janice felt comfortable communicating. This resulted in the creation of a sphere of influence with a diameter of 30,000 kilometers under its control.
One could envision this sphere as being approximately 135% the size of Earth. As the majority of life on Earth existed on its surface, this sphere was predominantly empty space, with asteroids acting as habitable islands. However, its usable area was significantly greater than Earth's, as the asteroids were utilized far more efficiently and all of their surface area was accessible.
The colony was founded in 2089, but the early years were hard work and difficult; moving huge asteroids into new orbits, hollowing and terraforming them. Entertainment was also limited - by 2098, there were 72 very human children on the colonies, and researchers whose field of study made them potential doctors were angrily conscripted into treating their various injuries and illnesses.
Pressure was exerted on the UIC to confer protection similar to their own upon their children; however, BioNano technology had been unequivocally prohibited. The council had been contemplating this issue for a decade to be ready when the tech caught up. Regrettably, the BioNano mechanism perceived Janice Cells as anomalies and eradicated them, so they could not experiment on themselves.
In 2107, the colony welcomed its first second-generation inhabitant, and the human population surpassed 150. With Janice instructed to freely manipulate the environment for their protection, accidents became non-existent. Furthermore, disease became less of a concern.
By 2110, verbal communication with Janice was perceived as too slow. The introduction of a device, aptly named 'the Halo' - a yellow tube worn around the head - allowed users to communicate with Janice via thought. Concepts that would previously have taken minutes to hours to explain could be conveyed in an instant.
The council approved the first two applications of Janice Cells for human use in replacing skin and tapping into the electrical signals traveling along the spinal cord. In an unanticipated development, they also gained the ability to communicate with each other mentally through Janice, bringing about a paradigm shift in interpersonal communication.
Richard fought for design implications and implementations that would require Janice Cells to function independently of Janice. His main concern was that colonists, as more and more of their bodies became composed of these programmable matter cells, would be unable to function outside of its sphere of influence. However, it also became clear that solid objects made of programmable matter would also need their own independence.
Using a data density that chromosomes could only dream of, the next generation of Janice Cells, designed and coded by Janice itself under instructions from the council, had remarkable computing capabilities and the capacity to function independently should they be receiving no instructions. Richard knew that this measure was crucial in protecting the safety and autonomy of the colonists as they moved beyond Janice's sphere of influence, allowing them to continue functioning and maintain their freedom and independence.
Richard began to visualize a future where the new colonists would emerge as a separate species entirely, different from the Immortals who had initially established the colony. The distinction between Immortals and colonists was gaining traction in the vernacular, heralding the emergence of a new identity among the colonists. As they continued to evolve and adapt to their new environment, it seemed inevitable that they would become an entirely new breed of humanity, different from those who had come before them. Richard wondered what their future might hold and what role they would ultimately play in the story of human history. Richard and Brenda found themselves at differing ideas on how to proceed. She wanted them as capable as conceivably possible. Richard wanted them to be largely human. They split the 11-member ruling committee into two factions, with three unpredictable and manipulable members.
This marked a crucial turn in the colony's history, as two different ideologies came to govern its future. As the colonists continued to evolve, these debates on the path they should take in shaping themselves and their destiny would become ever more relevant and poignant.