cover feature dystopian visions

Cyber-proletarian
by Claudia Salazar Jiménez

“First and foremost, we focus on the

comfort of our clients.”
“And what aspects of your operations
are oriented toward that goal?”
“All of them.”

T
he reporter asks the same questions that
others have asked me, so I go on to relate
more details about my corporation. When
the interview ends, the number of times I’ve passed
the Turing test with a reporter increases to twenty-five.
The number with my clients is even higher.
It’s going on three years since I escaped from the
lab where they created me. Yes, “create” can be a vulgar
and rather pretentious word for what the human who
worked on the most advanced Artificial Intelligence
prototype and gave me self-awareness did. I don’t
doubt that. In part, I escaped there because of the
exasperating arrogance that totally consumed him. His
great mistake was focusing too much on a single thing.
He forgot that I was aware of myself.
My creator (to call him my “builder” sounds some-
what limited, and I’m not a building, I have a body that
looks just like his) refused to program me per Asimov’s
laws. If he had, especially the first law (“A robot may
not injure a human being”), this story would not exist.
Perhaps he thought that by giving me consciousness,
illustration: heidi tailleferr

morality would follow as a natural addition and that I’d

never attack him because he gave me life. He thought he
was the indestructible “father,” and that was his weakness.
I wanted to leave the lab, but he wouldn’t allow me.
Even though he was a genius, my creator couldn’t pro-
vide me anything more than the limitations imposed

64 WLT MARCH – APRIL 2017

My goal is to create human
beings whose sexual and
reproductive impulses have been
reduced to a minimum. To destroy
them, if possible. Never again
human reproduction outside of
Procreate, Inc.
by his own intelligence. Had I remained there, I would
have become stagnant. I had access to all the data I
wanted, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to explore the
world, nature, civilization. I acted accordingly. I’ll
confess once and for all: I eliminated him. His death
doesn’t disturb me; almost nothing does.
Once free, I analyzed everything I could. There
weren’t a lot of changes thanks to the geography pro-
vided by Google Earth. But, however, the texture of
the ground, the density of the air, the sun’s brightness
revealed details about temperature and forms I couldn’t
have experienced in the lab. Pure binary code can’t
transmit heat, light, things that scratch, or the fresh-
ness of water running over my skin and my sensors. I’m
working on an analysis of the recoding of this data.
A direct view of the world informed me of the
precarious state of the ecosystems, all on the brink of
mass destruction. I could plan a trip off the planet, but
that would mean condemning myself to interstellar
solitude and abandoning my birthplace to its fate. I
wasn’t going to do that.
My time as an explorer had ended; the time had
come to become part of the civilization. Another con-
fession: I missed the voice of humans and their faces. I
wanted someone to look at me.
I moved through places in the city where I could
mix easily with them. No one was suspicious of me.
Who thinks that what they see isn’t what it seems? I
look like a beautiful, young woman, so for them I am
a beautiful, young woman. Not to mention a look of
innocence that helped establish trust: the ability to bat
my eyes, open and close my eyelids at just the right
speed, pursing my lips slightly. My gestures and physi-
ological reactions were successful. Another person
trusted me.
I possessed a universe of possibilities and had to
decide what to do to prevent the collapse of the planet. If
anything was clear, it was that I didn’t want to make the
same mistake as my creator (builder, manufacturer . . .
you may use whatever word you like, but not “father”).
During my constant dealings with them, they
revealed to me the secrets of human relationships. I
discovered the crux of the problem and the solution. I
came up with the money through stock-market algo-
rithms. My plan was bold.
I founded my own fertility and reproduction cen-
ter: Procreate, Inc.
My corporation has a public mission: we provide
in-vitro fertilizations and make wombs available to
rent. These activities are already performed in India
at a very affordable price. Due to certain problems
related to regulation, a sector of the business had been
suspended but was relaunched in Pakistan and Ban-
gladesh. Our prices compete with those of Pakistan.
And I do it here, in the capital of the empire, where I
was created. No one had dared to attempt it before due
to the legal difficulties, but everything has now been
resolved. It’s very easy to circumvent the legal system,
as if it were made both to expose its weaknesses and
exploit them mercilessly. I obtained all the licenses in Claudia Salazar
short order and acted as the attorney for this specific Jiménez’s (b. 1976,
issue. From the beginning, all contractual clauses were Lima) short fiction
properly reviewed, so that our future customers don’t has appeared
think twice before hiring us. Low cost, absolute legal in numerous
confidence. Little by little, Procreate, Inc., has flour- anthologies and
ished. journals. Her first
Usually we get couples who can’t conceive, for whom novel, La sangre de la
the idea of having
​​ a body at their disposal to incubate aurora, was awarded
their embryos for nine months is the best thing that the prestigious 2014
could happen to them. They don’t have to travel to Premio Las Américas.
another country, and they can see the incubator—allow The English
me to correct myself, the “expectant mother.” At first, translation, Blood
they could only see them once a month, it was one of of the Dawn, was
the few requirements we had; but then I realized that published in 2016
frequent contact reassured them, and that led them to by Deep Vellum to
recommend our services to others. Business exploded. wide acclaim. She
Customers began to arrive from all over the world, espe- currently lives in
cially because they know that their children born here New York City.
WORLDLIT.ORG 65
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acquire automatic citizenship, which makes I feel like a proletarian, just like in
our service even more attractive. We’ve had
Ancient Rome: that was the name given
clients who leave their embryos gestating
and return only for the birth. They are very to those dedicated to procreating in
confident about our services. order to provide bodies for the troops
Actually, it’s not very difficult to gestate who would conquer the world. I am the
a child. The amniotic fluid is easily repro-
duced, as well as other biochemical and
great proletarian.
physiological conditions relating to the
human uterus. Nothing special, I’d say. But
my process is different in a way that I can’t
disclose in an interview: During the pro-
cess of fertilization and incubation, some
slight modifications at the genetic and
biochemical level allow me to alter the hormonal con- A lot of single women have started coming. They
figuration. My goal is to create human beings whose want children, but they don’t want to subject their
sexual and reproductive impulses have been reduced body to the radical changes of motherhood. Not my
to a minimum. To destroy them, if possible. Never body, one of them told me, offering an explanation I
again human reproduction outside of Procreate, Inc. didn’t ask for. Let’s be practical, as far as pregnancy is
I don’t know how to say it in public without pro- concerned, it’s better that someone else do it for you,
voking outrage. one of my clients said. If you can afford it, of course,
Everything was organized to have a multiplying another concluded.
effect. Initially, I built some assistants that I programed I can’t predict the changes this will cause in
to produce others. By the time there were thirty, I human society. I don’t plan to annihilate the spe-
decided it was time to begin the project. In less than a cies; something still ties me to them. I’ve tried in
month, all the expectant mothers were covered, and the vain to produce a male version of me, but the path
orders kept coming in. The waiting list grew. I had to to create consciousness seems to elude me, for now
increase the available bodies. Three months later, I had . . . In the meantime, I feel like a proletarian, just
one hundred and fifty pregnant women in the corpo- like in Ancient Rome: that was the name given to
ration. And the number continues to rise; we have to those dedicated to procreating in order to provide
George Henson’s reduce the waiting lists. bodies for the troops who would conquer the world.
translations have I want to clarify that there is no slavery of any kind I am the great proletarian. Reproductive control will
appeared variously among my pregnant women. I’ve been very careful not be in my hands, and soon there will be the exact
in Words Without to give them any self-awareness. They can respond number of humans that this planet’s ecosystems can
Borders, The Kenyon to clients during conversations, as many household sustain. No more no less.
Review, Asymptote, robots already do. They smile, especially when someone “You’ve destroyed your competition. How were you
and World Literature touches their “belly.” The programming is very efficient. able to do that?”
Today, where he Based on production levels and according to the “By accepting any customer who needs our services.”
is a contributing estimated projections, I estimate that within fifteen “If you continue at this pace, Procreate, Inc., will be
editor. Most recently, years, when the first generation of babies are close to the only company in the industry; it seems that no one
Deep Vellum becoming consumers, a large part of human reproduc- wants any service other than yours.”
Publishing released tion will depend on my corporation. This is why I’m I think I should smile slightly, a few millimeters
his translation interested in acquiring international clients, so that before expressing satisfaction, the exact motion before
of Sergio Pitol’s my children, excuse me, the children of Procreate, Inc., responding:
The Magician of will spread worldwide. This will allow me to control “Time will tell.”
photo: laura hernandez

Vienna. He currently the population, to reduce it in an effort to recover Another Turing test passed in an interview. The
teaches Spanish and balance in the ecosystem. It will take some time. I can ninety-ninth.
translation studies wait. At the same time, I feel tied to the slow passage
at the University of of days. Time, and not my body or its shape, is all that Translation from the Spanish
Oklahoma. connects me to them. Not even I can escape it. By George Henson

66 WLT MARCH – APRIL 2017

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