I've Lost My Mummy 4

Collen sat in his room talking to an image of a doctor on the screen of his bedside tablet. It wasn't a human doctor, it was a singularity. A singularity was a computer more intelligent than a human being. They were usually involved in medicine, economics or politics. The Singularity was the super computer that ran the world government, the one that people referred to when, like school children in an assembly, they said, "The singularity is very good." Collen's doctor looked like a real doctor, even complete with a suit jacket and stylish brown hair. It was not easy to tell if the doctor was a man or a woman. That was the modern style.
"Collen, we need to increase your medication," said the doctor. "I gave you 10 milligrams of paxifimol, which is a low dose, just to see if it had the desired effect."
"What desired effect would that be?"
"You have an undercurrent of anxiety. I'm trying to make you less anxious about things that worry you."
"Things like Sir John's salary?"
"Yes, Collen. You seem to be very anxious about the state of the world."
"And is that a crime?"
"That is an illness, Collen, all crime is an illness. Crime is caused by anxiety. If you steal something or rob someone, that is because you are anxious. If you murder someone, that is because you are frightened and driven to despair. Anxiety is the illness and medication is the cure."
"And if you insult The Singularity?"
"That's because you are anxious about things that shouldn't concern you. The Singularity is doing an excellent job of running the world government. It's far more clever than a human would ever be. You study these things, Collen. Don't you realise that we have no more wars? We have world peace. We have eliminated absolute poverty. The singularity is very good." The doctor paused to allow Collen to repeat the phrase. Collen did not. "Oh, you don't think so? The full dose of paxifimol is 25mg and you will take it every night at bed time. Dream Collen, dream of the singularity and how it brought world peace." Collen sat in the lounge downstairs looking very anxious.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him.
"Neville, the doctor has increased my medication. I'm on the maximum dose of paxifimol at night time, 25mg."
"Are you feeling really depressed?"
"The doctor thinks I have anxiety."
"Why?"
"Because of our discussion about Sir John Betjeman's salary."
"Collen, in my century rich people were always complaining about how little money they had and how much tax they had to pay. They wrote songs about it."
"Did they? It's not like that here. Here, anyone who steps out of line is prescribed anti-depressants. There's hardly any crime. There's no war. Jackie Gleadless was a mass murderer. Killed 13 people over 5 years. Put him on powerful tranquillisers. Now he's studying medicine, he's got a reputation for going around cities with a First aid kit giving medical care to homeless people no one else cares about."
"Do they still have homeless people here?"
"Yes. Usually people with mental health issues who don't fit in to society."
"I appreciate that Jackie Gleadless doesn't kill people anymore but I can see a serious problem."
"Can you Neville?"
"It wouldn't be a very free world." Collen looked shocked.
"A free world? A free world? Is that something past generations believed in?"
"Collen, if your doctor has put you on anti-depressants because you criticised the government I think you shouldn't take them."
"You're right Neville. I'm becoming part of the psychosis."
"It's like the film, The Matrix. You're part of an artificial reality."
"We still have that film, The Matrix, yes. Thank you Neville. I will stop taking this medication."

A few months later Collen sat in his room with a sterile needle that had appeared on the teleport pad on his bedside table. It was time for his annual medical. He put his finger on the screen of his tablet. "Oxygen levels correct. Blood pressure correct," said the picture of Collen's doctor. "Now provide a blood sample." Everyone provided a blood sample in this test. It was checked for cholesterol, for cancer and for liver and kidney function. Collen pricked himself with the sterile needle. A drop of blood landed on the screen. An alarm sounded. "You have stopped taking your medication," said the doctor. "This will require emergency treatment. I would like you to be admitted as an inpatient, I would find it very difficult to learn as much about you as an outpatient. You will go to a psychiatric facility for 5 days." At dinner time in the student house, Collen was not there.
"Where's Collen?" asked the young woman in her twenties.
"He had his medical today," said one of the other students, a middle aged man who was wearing a red suit and had a pony tail. "Have they taken him into hospital?"
"Why hasn't he been in touch?" asked the young woman. I began to wonder if it had anything to do with me. It occurred to me that Collen wasn't allowed to stop taking his medication. Some terrible punishment would follow.
"I'll find him," I said. "I'll find out which hospital he is in. I'll visit him." I pressed a button on my watch. "Was Collen Green admitted to hospital today?" I asked out loud. "I would like to visit him." Suddenly I was in a hospital ward. Collen sat on a chair by a bed, looking extremely dazed, grinning at me like a Cheshire cat that had just taken extacy and valium at the same time. "The singularity is very good," he said. "The world is a beautiful place, Neville. People love one another." A nurse appeared by the bed. She was a young woman wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.
"Mr Green will feel very strange for a few days," said the nurse. "It will take him 72 hours to adjust to his new medication. He will be home at the weekend."
"You've brainwashed him," I shouted, lunging at the nurse's face with a heavy punch that should have sent her flying through the air, except that I was the one flying through the air. The nurse was a hologram. Collen burst out laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha, Neville, very funny."

A few days later I was reading an advert for a Christian conference. "The devil is the Lord of this world and the prince of the air. This year's Spring Harvest festival will be held on the moon, away from the devil and the influence of his demons." Spring Harvest. I hadn't been there since I was a student. It would be good to see it again, 400 years later. Could I afford to attend a conference on the moon? The price was only £30.
"How can they afford to have a conference on the moon and only charge £30 for it?" I asked Collen.
"They get water shipped from Earth. With the huge solar panels a mile across that they've got up there, they can electrolyse the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen they breathe. It must be mixed with air but that's recycled anyway, and the hydrogen is sent to Earth to be used as fuel in chemical factories and steelworks. So in the end they sell the hydrogen for more money than the water cost. Great deal."
"Do they grow food up there?" I asked.
"No. They used to but since we made interstellar contact and flying saucers are available, it's cheaper to import it from Earth. What conference is this you've seen?"
"Spring Harvest." I said.
"What is it about?"
"Christianity, religion and God."
"Interesting," said Collen. "I'm studying Religion and Theology. I'll come with you."

A few months later we teleported to the city flying saucer station and boarded service FKC591 to Earth-Moon, Mars, Titan and Nibiru. The door of the spacecraft had only just closed. It opened again and we were on the moon. It was like going up one floor in an elevator. "What's on Mars?"
"It's a colony," said Collen.
"Did they terraform it?"
"Hardly. They're trying to. It's a research station. Mostly just scientists."
"A few hundred years ago they were searching for primitive lifeforms there," I said. "They thought they might have fungus on the rocks or moss under the polar ice cap."
"Well Neville, the kind of lifeforms we've made contact with in the galaxy now, I hardly think we'd be exited about finding a little bit of moss on Mars." We sat down next to a creature that looked like an octopus covered in eyes.
"Hello," it said.
"Hello," I said. "Where are you from?"
"Sirius B," said the octopus.
"Like the book Was God an Astronaut? They mentioned Aliens from Sirius B."
"Yes. We helped to build the pyramids and Stonehenge. We have 8 arms. We're excellent stone masons. Someone wrote a book about us in 1979. It's still around. I have it on my iwatch."

A glowing yellow Zeta Reticulan stood on the stage.
"We must begin to evangelise other planets," he said. "They have been living in spiritual darkness and waiting to hear the gospel for millions of years. When you look at a map of the Milky Way, it is teeming with life. But how many of those planets have an active Christian witness among them? Only three. Earth, Sirius B and Zeta Reticuli. The three who are here today. Don't you think that aliens know God, some people say. Without Jesus, you can only know God in a very limited way. These civilizations live in the Old Testament dispensation. A few of them would know God, in the way that Abraham, Moses or Enoch knew God. Planet Zebelun repented in sackcloth and ashes when the prophet Jonaduboz warned them that the comet heading straight for their planet was God's judgement. Then the comet changed course and missed the planet. So how many Zebulonians were saved? Those who were there at the time of the prophet Jonaduboz. That one generation. It never happened again. In Jesus, anyone can be saved any time they want. We can have mass evangelism. We can have millions of people finding God. The Lord will add daily to our number those who are being saved. But how shall they hear without a preacher? Who will join me in preaching the gospel to the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies? Who will go? Stand up if you believe that God is calling you to preach the gospel to other planets." I was really excited at the thought. I stood up.
"Aren't you going to stand up?" I asked Collen.
"I don't like evangelists," he said, grimacing. "They've never done any theological training. They believe that Jesus died for their sins. That is only one way of understanding the crucifixion. Jesus shows us how to triumph in the face of evil, Jesus shows us how to forgive. Neville, we shouldn't concentrate on saving people from Hell. We should be saving them from going through Hell in this life. I believe in the social gospel. The creation of a society in this world that is just and fair. That is why Christ died."

Someone had built a replica of a Butlins holiday camp on the moon. After the meeting we teleported to the small chalet that Collen and me shared. I looked out of the window at the stars. They were amazing.
"If you study Astronomy you will spend a lot of time on the moon," said Collen. "You can't do Amateur Astronomy on Earth anymore. The Wi-Max system uses 25 million satellites to cover the whole world. They're unmanned aircraft powered by solar panels, five miles apart and ten miles high. The signal is 10,000 times stronger than the sky TV signal so that you don't need a satellite dish. But astronomers hate them. They leave streaks on long expoure photographs. To make matters worse, they communicate with two other layers of satellites higher up which broadcast in infra-red. If you want to do any serious astronomy you have to do it on the moon. But don't worry, they've got huge telescopes here. They've got a reflector a mile wide and a radio telescope with a 500 metre dish."

The next day I saw the preacher who had been leading the meeting last night standing behind a stall which had a sign which said, 'Semwag.'
"Hello," he said excitedly. "You're the young man who wants to be a missionary."
"Not the only one, I hope."
"There weren't many."
"Let's pray there will be a few more. What is Semwag?"
"Society for Evangelism of the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy."
"Andromeda galaxy?" I asked, amazed. "I could fly to another galaxy?"
"We're planning to build a larger ship that can travel close to the speed of light. With time dilation, if we took a few million years to get to another galaxy, it would feel like a few months. We'd then launch lots of smaller flying saucers from the mother ship and they'd fly off and evangelise all the planets in the new galaxy."
"Wow," I said. "I'd love to be part of something like that."