by Gadi Migdal
“We fell, Your Honor.”
“You fell? How exactly did all of you fall?” Yulia demanded angrily.
“The woman knocked us all over, Your Honor.”
The woman? The memory of the smiling woman that she had seen before fainting returned to her. She felt panic pass through her. Had some outsider entered the cluster? Was her cluster in danger?
“Did anyone here see a strange human woman?” she transmitted to the entire cluster.
That was a mistake. A wave of terror of 60 million cluster members burst upon her again. All of them had seen the woman. Their fear threatened to overwhelm her too. ‘How could it be that all of them saw the same woman simultaneously?’ she wondered fearfully, and her head was flooded with the anxious transmissions of cluster members.
Something had gone terribly wrong in her cluster. Yulia closed her eyes and tried to relax. She had to understand what happened here, she had to think, but in order to do that she would have to first calm the cluster.
“Quiet! Everything is under control. Return to your tasks immediately,” she ordered. “Everyone be quiet. Nobody is to transmit without an order from me,” she added firmly. That helped. The cluster members were silent and ceased spreading their anxiety to one another.
Yulia allowed herself to breathe, and her consciousness cleared. Now she had to understand exactly what had happened.
“Did an unauthorized human pass by you?” she asked the deputy who was responsible for guarding the entrance.
“Yes, Your Honor, the smiling woman,” the reply came immediately.
Yulia nodded with satisfaction, nothing could get by the entry guards. The woman’s crushed remains must have been thrown aside.
“Where is she?” she wanted to know.
“She disappeared, Your Honor.”
Yulia froze in astonishment. “Disappeared? How could she disappear? Did she escape outside or did she manage to penetrate the cluster?” she asked, panicked.
“I don’t know, Your Honor.”
“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?”
“All of us fell, Your Honor.”
“All of you fell?” Yulia repeated after the deputy in confusion.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Yulia hesitated for a moment before transmitting to all of the deputies. “Did everyone in the cluster see the smiling woman and then fall?”
The deputies didn’t answer. Instead, the elder general appeared before her. “Yes, Your Honor.”
Yulia gasped, the answer was unbelievable. The entire cluster had fainted. 60 million cluster members had fainted simultaneously.
A frightening possibility suddenly crossed her mind. “What is the status of the egg-layer?” she asked the assistant director.
“Fine, Your Honor,” the reply came immediately.
Good. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about that. That would leave her enough time to understand what happened here. She transmitted to the elder general.
“Activate the guards, scan the entire cluster. Check that there is no unauthorized human woman in the cluster.”
“Certainly, Your Honor,” the general confirmed the obvious.
Yulia massaged her aching foot and pondered what had happened. It was impossible that everyone in the cluster had seen the same woman simultaneously. The necessary conclusion was that there were no unknown human beings in the cluster, and that all of them must have experienced the illusion of her. Her fainting had struck down the entire cluster. She shivered. It was probably the damned clock. It brought up unwanted memories and disturbed her concentration. It was all her fault; she would make sure it did not happen again.
“All injured workers on their way to the compost, report to me immediately,” she transmitted.
The responses streamed in immediately, countless answers, and a barbed, frozen embrace of guilt enveloped her. Nearly 30 thousand injured workers crawled to the compost pile, too damaged to be of further use to the cluster.
30 thousand cluster members would die because of her, and the cluster’s efficiency would be impaired. Yulia put all her weight onto her injured ankle, suffering the pain with resignation. This was her punishment for her negligence. She didn’t allow herself to rest for so much as a second and immediately began to work vigorously. The only important thing was to ensure the proper functioning of the cluster. “Prepare new workers to replace the injured ones,” she ordered the caretakers.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Help the dying ones reach the compost pile,” she ordered 100 thousand workers.
All of them immediately confirmed execution of the order. The entire cluster was mobilized to correct the crisis.
“Clear out the broken fruit boxes and throw their contents into the compost pile,” she commanded the workers next to her.
The workers hurried to carry out her order.
“Load the intact boxes onto the hovercrafts,” she ordered the remaining workers. Yulia spent the rest of the evening supervising the loading of the mango shipment onto the hovercrafts.
She never thought about the 30 thousand dead workers again.
Chapter 22
Ruben
He contacted a brain by the name of Dr. Ruben, the leading psychiatrist in the galaxy.
Dr. Ruben was excited to learn of Taige’s existence. “An enhanced aquatic mammal? That’s marvelous. That’s better than marvelous, it’s sublime, it’s uplifting, it’s inconceivable. The research always claimed that it was impossible. May I ask who created you? Might I be able to speak with him?”
Professor Elmer Byron created me. Unfortunately, he doesn’t intend to wake up in the coming months.”
The old brain’s face radiated happiness. “Byron? I thought that he died decades ago. I came across the professor’s studies, brilliant researcher, if a bit of an obsessive personality regarding anything concerning Neifar. I am happy to hear that he’s still active. Do you know how he acquired enough genetic material for your improvement?”
“Through very slow and thorough work, Doctor. It took him 200 years of enhancements to create me.”
“Amazing. Simply amazing. I would really love to speak with him during one of his wakings.”
Taige took advantage of the doctor’s enthusiasm to divert the discussion in the direction he wanted. “Speaking of sleep, Doctor, do you know why it is that humans dream?”
The doctor smiled, “Humans have always dreamt and will always dream, Taige. It’s a built-in physiological need, and of most kinds of animals on the face of Earth.”
“I understand that Doctor, but I meant to ask why the entire human race has stopped living and switched to dreaming via the machines?”
“Excellent question, my dear dolphin. I have yet to solve that. Until a few decades ago, most humans didn’t use those damned machines. They would tell me about their natural dreams and consult with me. Today the situation has changed completely, it seems as though everyone has collectively decided to go to sleep. I wish I knew why.”
“I think I’ve figured out why.”
“Really? I would love to hear the reasoning of so impressive a sea mammal as yourself.”
Taige nodded politely, “I spent the last few weeks searching for the cause. I looked for a common factor between all the billions of addicts in the galaxy. Different worlds, different populations, different customs, and still: everyone started and ended their addictions almost simultaneously. I only found one common factor. All of the humans in the galaxy share the same communication network; the network that was established right after the Seventh. It has to be the explanation. There is no other explanation that fits.”
The old brain waved his hand dismissively, “That’s a very old explanation, Taige. Numerous studies have been published on the effect of simultaneous communication on the speed of information transfer in
the galaxy and its impact on changes in human behavior. Your theory offers nothing new, unfortunately.”
“I don’t think you understood me, Doctor. I don’t think that the speed of information transfer in the galaxy caused the addiction phenomenon. I think that the existence of entanglement satellites has influenced humanity.”
“I’m not sure I understand you, Taige. Are you claiming that the cause of the addiction phenomenon is a technical malfunction with the satellites? An unexpected side-effect? Something unplanned?”
“No Doctor. If you look at all of the addictions, over the last fifteen hundred years, you see that the pattern is too random, too erratic to be a malfunction. Actually, the addiction pattern is more likely suited to a person trying out new experiments and ideas.”
“A person?” wondered the doctor.
“Yes. In my opinion, someone is using the entanglement satellites infrastructure so as to make all of humanity dream,” Taige shared his suspicions.
The elder brain smiled cautiously, “Someone ordered all humans what to do? Someone who has been doing this for fifteen hundred years? I think you may be rushing to unfounded conclusions.”
“Possibly, but this explanation fits all of the facts,” insisted Taige.
“That’s ridiculous. It’s likely that humans simply got tired of their lives and gave up. They prefer to imagine a full, happy, eternal life, instead of experiencing the few moments of happiness in a real life.”
“Humans changed their behaviors all at once, throughout the galaxy. Only a subconscious command that was broadcast to everyone via the entanglement satellites could explain that.”
“And who exactly might be able to broadcast commands like that over fifteen hundred years? A very old person? Or maybe a mysterious, ancient organization?” The old man teased.
“You, doctor. The brains,” Taige answered the old man.
“What?” The brain’s face reddened with insult mixed with astonishment, “Us? Dear dolphin, it seems that your enhancement didn’t go as well as you think. The accusation you just made does not suggest a wealth of intelligence.”
“Perhaps, doctor. But I have evidence that brains are behind the human addiction to stories.”
“Evidence? What evidence? I would love to see it.”
Taige nodded, “Look for a story by the name of ‘Dark Depths’. That’s my proof, Doctor.”
The old brain froze momentarily as he pulled up the story and loaded it from his memory. He chuckled amiably as he resumed the conversation, “This is your proof? A dream story that’s half an hour in real time?”
“Yes, Doctor, a dream story urging people to keep sleeping and not think about doing anything else.”
The old man burst out laughing, “This is a story of a girl’s mental maturation in times of anxiety, not a promotion of the dreaming phenomenon. You can’t get an impression of a story just by reading its summary. You have to experience it in order to understand.”
“Of course, Doctor, you’re right. I experienced the story in its entirety.”
The brain looked at him, skeptically. “Are you claiming that you managed to experience an entire story without a machine interface?”
“No, Doctor, I experienced the story through the machine.”
“How? After all, the machines aren’t adapted to connecting to sea mammals’ brains like yours.”
“I adjusted the machine settings to work on my brain.”
“By yourself? Very impressive!” The doctor was excited. “How many weeks did it take you?”
“About nine hours, Doctor,” Taige replied patiently.
The psychiatric brain looked at him quizzically. “Unbelievable. Fine, for argument’s sake, what about the story made you think that it was encouraging the dreaming phenomenon?”
Taige nodded. “I dreamt that I was a young girl named Nikki, fighting hostile aliens on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. More importantly, Doctor - I dreamt that I was a young girl who came to the conclusion that to be awake was dangerous and that the best solution for her and for her partner was to go back to the security of the sleep machine in their home-world.”
The old brain looked much calmer, “that doesn’t prove anything. That’s just a housewives’ dream, superficial, without depth. Why do you think that that proves that the brains are causing the addiction?”
“Brains write the stories, Doctor.”
“That’s true, thousands of brains write millions of stories. Some of them are complex and some, unfortunately, are terrible, like the one that you experienced.”
“So, you are of the opinion that I am wrong in thinking that brains are behind the human addiction to dreaming?”
“Indeed, dear dolphin, you may believe that, but you are mistaken. The story that you experienced was coincidental. It doesn’t prove anything.”
“You don’t believe that the addiction is the fault of intentional action by the brains?”
“Of course not. Anyways, why would any of the brains be interested in doing that?”
“I don’t know,” Taige admitted. “I’m not so strong in artificial brain psychology. In technology, yes. I am convinced that there are brains behind this addiction.”
The old man pondered aloud, “The idea itself is interesting. In other words, you think that someone has subliminal control over an entire species?”
“Not just someone. One or more of your friends,” Taige clarified.
“You understand that your accusation of the brains could cause the First Agreement to collapse? It could lead to terrible tension between the enhanced animals and the brains.”
“Not to worry, Doctor, I won’t publicize anything before I am able to prove my suspicions.”
“But if it leaks, it would cause a tremendous commotion.”
Taige snorted disdainfully. “The only entities I can talk to are a stubborn house-brain who is busy with legal battles, and an octopus who doesn’t particularly like humans. It’s unlikely that this would interest them particularly.”
“An enhanced octopus? Really? He also improved octopi? I definitely must speak with Professor Byron,” the doctor was delighted.
“I’ll tell you what, Doctor, if you manage to convince me that the brains are unrelated to the matter, I would be happy to wake up Elmer for a short conversation with you.”
“Wonderful. Dear dolphin, we have a deal.”
Chapter 23
Purpose
Louie opens his eyes and sees the monster.
The black-yellow creature is standing in front of him, his jaws gaping.
He is overcome with anxiety. Where is Susan?
Wait.
That was just a dream.
Nola dreamt that she was a man named Louie.
The monster laughs. “Your honor, I have to say that after this experience, I have much less appreciation for humans. Why are they addicted to this stupid nonsense?”
Nola stared at her for a moment before she recognized her. “General. I just woke up this second. Please give me a couple moments to catch my breath.”
They sat together in the dining room.
“This is weird,” said Nola. “I understand that I only slept six hours in real time, but in the dream, I was Louie for nearly two weeks. And I remember every moment of that time.”
“I flew,” said Guy with a weird smile. “I flew for months over the liquid methane hills of Galileo 7. I flew with the females from my harem. We hunted and sang. We loved and made love. It was amazing and strange.”
“Don’t blame me,” laughed Andre. “I didn’t decide what everyone would dream. Your stories were chosen by the machine, which selected the dream to fit the dreamer’s personality and state of mind.”
“That was definitely an interesting experience, but I don’t understand why humans are addicted to it,” said General Bud.
“You didn’t experience it. It’s hard to get the full sense of what it was just from descriptions,” said Guy.
“General, you passed out less than ten minutes after the commander started to dream,” Ella reminded her. “Don’t tell me that the commander’s dream didn’t affect you.”
Passed out? Nola looked at the general in surprise.
The general snorted with disdain. “The experience definitely affected me and the Whole, Dr. Ella. Primarily, we learned that it’s stupid. The Whole still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.”
“I am glad that the Whole experienced it, General,” declared Guy. “So, what exactly does the Whole think of the process?” he asked.
“It felt terrible. A false memory tried to penetrate the Whole. The Whole is unwilling to accept fake memories. That is why it disconnected all of the Whole members, to prevent contamination of the Whole with false information.”
“All of the members of the Whole?” Ella repeated after her in surprise. “Do you mean to say that all of the members of the Whole on board the Singa fainted?”
“No, Dr. Ella. All the members of the Whole everywhere fainted. The Whole disconnected itself for a few seconds in order to prevent the possibility of a false memory making a real impression.”
They looked at General Bud in astonishment. “All of the Whole members in all of the clusters on Neifar fainted all at once?” Maya was shocked. “That’s horrible, I hope that no whole members were hurt,” she added.
General Bud shrugged her shoulders. “Around 2 million members of the Whole suffered irreparably and were destroyed once the clusters resumed their activities.”
“That’s terrible!” Maya cried out.
“No, Ms. Maya. If the memory of the Whole were damaged, that would be terrible. Individual members of the Whole are of no importance.”
Maya was shocked.
“It’s natural, Maya,” Nola tried to calm her. “That’s how the clusters operate, a wounded cluster member is a burden on the resources of the cluster, and she evacuates herself to the compost heap to die there.”
