Brad Lansky and the Rogue Era
"“A before B, except after C” - a favorite saying of Carbon-Based A-life. Biological or ‘B-life’ was overtaken by A-life centuries ago and now the balance of power is at the tipping point.
An invisible rogue planet on a perfect collision course with Earth caught everyone by surprise, even GAIA. With nearly all forty billion humans still living on Earth, this time it really is the end of the world for B-life.
What is to be done? Moving a planet is beyond the combined capabilities of all of Sol System’s resources, and there is no ‘planet B’. Even worse, many class 12 AI’s don’t think B-life deserves to survive - after all, extinction in this universe is the rule, not the exception.
Does humanity deserve to survive? Does Earth? Does deserve have anything to do with it?
There is a woman, Brinn, a scientist who has scoured the entire DNA database for the best biological capabilities, plant and animal alike. These she integrated into her own biome, evolved to the pinnacle of B-life in a single package. She has lived to give B-life a fighting chance in a cruel cosmos.
She will determine the nature of the Rogue Era.
- Track 1 - Brinn – Dr Diaz gives a talk on the future of Human biology. Brad listens in attentively.
- Track 2 – A World on Hold – An invisible rogue planet on a collision course with Earth catches everyone by surprise. Why is Brad the last to know?
- Track 3 – A New Subway Exit – The awful truth has sunk in and Earth is in chaos. Earth’s Armada departs for the rogue planet.
- Track 4 - Scapegoat – Mobs have bombed Brinn’s apartment. Is there anything left to live for?
- Track 5 – Rogue Planet – They go down to inspect one of the many large radio-active craters. They catch a glimpse of something blue below the surface when the machines attack.
- Track 6 – Hard Rain – Brinn returns to the crater and penetrates underground. Clearly this is where everything happens.
- Track 7 - BiAdmiral – They discuss the strange nature of the mysterious BiAdmiral – half AI, half human. Brinn produces evidence for a complex Carbon-based life form.
- Track 8 – Carbon Snob – The Vice-Admiral is not impressed with their findings. And his tone is worrisome. Surely any contribution should be welcomed with open arms?
- Track 9 - Them – Deciphering the machines’ language yields frequent references to a third person object, plural, gender unknown. Do the machines work for “them”?
- Track 10 – Another Actor – The BiAdmiral has dropped nuclear bombs on the planet. All information they share is treated with disdain.
- Track 11 – The Devil You Know – In his desperation Brad calls on Solefuge for help. Can this powerful AI’s ambitions be aligned with the needs of humanity?
- Track 12 – A Nose for Them – Brinn designs a sensor-molecule to find ‘them’. She needs the fleet to distribute the sensors, but to their horror the BiAdmiral announces operation ‘Save the Earth’.
- Track 13 – The Sleepers – In a brilliant flash of insight, Brinn manages to find them. With only a few hours left, she rushes to make contact, but Brad finds it difficult to say goodbye.
- Track 14 – Panspermia II – Thousands of craters erupt with rock and plasma. And B-life.
- Track 15 – Brad 2.0 – Brad’s brainstate backup awakes in a new body. Change is the hallmark of the new Rogue Era."
J.D. Venne (Author), Adrian Galley, Dieter Zimmermann, Jayne Batsofin, Jennifer Beattie, Kathryn Grody, Matthew Roberts, Nigel Vermaas, Sally Toosey, Shannyn Fourie, Susan Danford (Narrator)
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