Those who protested that such treatment was too lenient and would encourage crime were reminded that the abolition of public hangings had met with similar outcry. The civilised decision that had been reached was one on which all could pride themselves.
After this debate, Bill Abramson circulated a message on the Ambient. He appeared, saying, ‘The case of Peters, with his mild punishment, gratifies our liberal instincts but represents a case of cognitive dissonance, the disjunction between reality and one’s ideas. Such is usually the case with utopianists.
‘Since we are not free of terrestrial vices, we must adhere to terrestrial laws in these matters. Peters committed murder. His pretence of penitence is immaterial. Murderers were traditionally put to death. Peters should be put to death.
‘Despite the collapse of financial infrastructures on our home planet, it cannot be long before ships arrive here to return us to our families. Nevertheless, let us suppose we have to remain here for another year. Or even, if we suppose ships set out now, half a year. In that time, I calculate that something like five hundred extra mouths will have to be fed. That is the result of our unchecked population growth, and unchecked promiscuity. But our food output cannot very greatly increase. So at some point in the future we shall face starvation, or else possibly our precious reservoir of water will dry up.
‘Those who increase their numbers promiscuously are a threat to our small community. I propose that they also should be punished – if not with death, then with a jail sentence and isolation in prison. To my mind, a prison is more urgently needed than Utopia.
‘Thank you for listening to me. I require no cheap abuse in return, but will gladly receive constructive suggestions.’
The Adminex made an immediate response. They built a gallows on Bova Boulevard and appended to it a large notice:
PUBLIC HANGMAN WANTED.
Downstairs, on Earth, a queue for the job would have formed. But in our small enlightened community, no one wished to be branded a hangman. So Bill Abramson was answered.
A committee of three interviewed the senior mentatropists, the Willa-Vera Composite. The Composite marched into the meeting loaded down with equipment. Mendanadum was in white, White was in lilac. They proceeded to demonstrate how every area of the brain had been precisely mapped, and how mind-body connections had been established over recent decades. In consequence, nanoneurosurgery was proving its worth.
With the aid of the quantcomp, the mentatropist could dispatch ‘remotes’ to explore the entire structure of the brain and nervous system. Vera spoke enthusiastically of the ‘wired neurons’ that served this purpose.
‘These synthetic neurons send back a receivable signal, and can be programmed to trigger the release of chemicals that store memory. We guide the wired neurons to reach the appropriate synapse. We don’t really expect you to comprehend the science behind our science – which may seem like magic to the uninformed – but Willa and I assure you that our work is a mingling of technical ability and sheer artistry.
‘Indeed, we are somewhat taken aback that you find it necessary to question our abilities. You have received our CVs, after all.’
The Composite was engaged for the task of remedying Bevis Paskin Peters.
Nevertheless, the mentatropy of Peters, conducted by the Willa-Vera Composite, was a slow business, continuing over many months.
I was permitted to be present at their first session.
The remotes travelled slowly forward, downward. Neurons glowed and died on the monitor like small security lights as they ventured onward, probing various cytoarchitectonic areas. To the remotes, every neuron marking a local circuit was like a single star, while about them macroscopic systems resembled entire galaxies, dense with suns and dark matter.
Something that resembled light flickered away from their progress.
The remotes journeyed through the hemispheres of the cerebrum, some diverting to the diencephalon, a collection of nuclei below the hemispheres, into the thalamus and hypothalamus. Other remotes entered regions of the limbic system and putamen. Still others toured in the cerebral cortex, the blanketing mantle of the cerebrum, a massive and complex constellation of synaptic activity, by one system of measurement a mere 3 millimetres thick.