∞∞∞
“I really like your mother,” Cheryn is telling Zaleria as Achi returns from delivering several liters of his grape elixir. They are sitting in the middle of a large conservatory that forms the central hub of Luna Base. “I didn't know what to think when I first met her. She looks so young but has so many years behind her. How do you galanen sort through these mixed signals?”
Achi hears Zaleria's alto voice laughing lightly in response. “Well, bear in mind we share all the time. When we look at another galan, we're already gathering and sharing data about each other, learning who they are, some of their background, major accomplishments, things like that. We instantly recognize an elder, if nothing else because of the immensity of what is known about them. In our virtual world, they appear vastly different from more junior members. We synthesize all these inputs just as effortlessly as humans recognize the degree of age in the face of strangers.”
Clive nods his head, “Yeah, I still remember my first interactions with our group of elders. Once I started interacting with them, I could feel their past. It is like a great mass they carry with them. And all these white walls?” He gestures around for emphasis. “They look blank to us, but to the galanen, they are covered with virtual messages, art, windows that they can 'see' through using their symbiots. It's like having an additional sense.”
“That is a great way to put it,” Zaleria agrees.
Achi joins in their conversation. “I think this is why they sometimes find the presence of humans slightly unsettling. We look so similar, but we're an empty void in their virtual world; they instinctively try to connect with us but can't. Most don't have the social skills to bridge that gap comfortably, which is why we've been teaching the galanen poker. Some of whom have proven to be very quick studies…”
“Speaking of Beltare,” Clive asks, “How is she doing?”
“Better. She is cleaning up and should be joining us soon.” Traemuña and Rialle hear his latter comment as they join the group.
“Good,” Rialle comments. “I'll start gathering the others; we have much to discuss. I'll bring them here. This garden is the most comfortable spot in the base. Well, at least I think so.”
Jevelle is the first to show and greets everyone. She looks at Cheryn, momentarily conflicted. “Cheryn, I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to not participate in this discussion. Clive understands that his insights into our activities limits his future on Earth. He can never lead anything resembling a normal life, and he accepts this as a sacrifice he is willing to make. However, such a life may still be open to you, if that is what you desire. We have not discussed this among ourselves, and we will not do so without including you, but until all of that is settled, I think it prudent to not expose you to more.”
Cheryn frowns a bit. “Yeah, Achi had similar problems dealing with me in the past. I thought it was just because he didn't trust me. I now know that wasn't his only reason.”
Jevelle squats down next to her. “The fact is, you are free to go or stay. And if you choose to return to Earth, we'll work with you to protect you as best we can. As I'm sure you are now aware, we are neither omnipotent nor omniscient. Such a decision carries risk. So until you decide your future and are sure you're comfortable with all the potential consequences, I think this is the most prudent course.”
Cheryn nods her head. “Believe me, I understand. Anything I know can easily be taken from me.”
“How about I give you a walking tour?” Achi offers. “With all that has been going on, we haven't had a chance to really catch up. Zaleria can attend the meeting; there really is no reason for us to both be there.”
“Well, Traemuña already gave me the tour, but I'd be happy to chat with you a bit. I expect you'd like to discuss my future?”
“A few things actually, but certainly that as well. Ever since I've met you, I haven't really known what I should do about you, but that is no longer my problem. The question now is, what do you want to do about you, and about your child?” Achi says as he gestures for her to follow him.
“I don't want this thing. It's a monster, just like that bitch who put it in me. I want to make it go away, but the galanen won't help me. I may have to go back to Earth to take care of it.”
“She is as human as you are; the galanen checked,” Achi says. “She is not responsible for the actions of the creature that raped you.”
“I can't stand carrying it around inside of me. It's evil, what that thing did to me.” She is starting to tear up, so they walk in silence for a while.
Achi tries a different tack. “What do you remember of your mother?”
Cheryn looks at him coldly. “Nothing. I always figured she dumped me in that commune. I never knew her and have no memories of her. I don't care to know her.”
“Did it ever occur to you she may have been no different than you, forced to have a child she didn't want, perhaps even killed afterwards? Yet you were given a second chance.”
She stops, a look of horror crossing her face before it grows dark with rage, “How dare you. How dare you judge me! I didn't ask for any of this to happen to me!”
“We seldom can change what happens to us, but we can decide how to react to it. I have never been able to return a life once taken. Each one still weighs upon my soul, for which I must give account. And for most of them, I can't. Look, I can't tell you what to do, but I do ask you to think about it. You'll have to live with the consequences no matter what you decide, but whatever you do you will not be alone, not anymore, not unless you want to be.”
She looks like she is going to yell at him some more, but knowing the truth of his feelings for her, she instead grabs onto him, tears running silently down her face. “I'm such a wreck. I don't know what to do. I don't know how I'll ever feel whole again.” They stand there for a very long time until she begins to regain her composure. Finally she asks him a question. “Why did you adopt Clive?”
Achi gathers his thoughts, having never felt the need to explain his actions before. “I saw his potential and realized no one else was going to step up and help him grow. And while I can't help every person in the world, I could help him. So I did. I haven't regretted it.”
“That's it? It doesn't seem very profound.”
“The difference between good and evil is rarely profound. In fact, it is usually very simple. But there is so much that needs to be righted that otherwise well-meaning people often give in to despair and end up doing nothing. So I decided a long time ago that I would help out where I could. I refuse to give up.”
“Why?”
“I have stood before the Being of Light on many occasions, seeing all my faults reflected in His perfect mirror. I could either hide from the Truth or face it. It is humbling. I love humanity too much to give up on us; the galanen are proof we can make it too.”
She is quiet for a long time after that, thinking on all he has said to her, knowing that in his own way, he is doing exactly what he has always done since she first met him. He is trying to help her. “I'll think about what you've said.”
He nods as they walk some more. Eventually, she starts to wonder what she can do next. “As far as me, what are my options?”
“Go. Stay. If you go, where? If you stay, what do you do?”
She creases her brow. “If I go, where can I go? If I go back to Earth, it might find me again. But where else can I go? Can I visit Zaleria's home? If I go there, how long could I stay? What would there be for me to do? What other worlds could I travel to?”
Achi thinks on this. “Perxephsis is my home too, in the same sense as it is for Zaleria. You should know, in case that changes anything for you.”
She shakes her head.
“One thing you need to know about galanen home worlds are they're pretty barren. They hold primitive life but nothing like Earth. The galanen make homes out of all the worlds that can never give rise to advanced life. It is amazing what they can do over thousands of years of development, so they'll each be incre
dibly beautiful and interesting, but without access to the collective, they'll seem sparse to you. Hypothetically, you could visit any galan home world, but the places where there is advanced life would be closed to you. I suppose you could potentially go to the Urthru system; many galanen still send unitaries there, since it is the place they originated from. What could you do? On Perxephsis, you could help us build our home, train new Irruptors—er, the galanen ground troops—or help manufacture and distribute equipment for them to use. Pretty much anywhere you go you can study, learn, teach—show galanen what it means to be human, perhaps hold a mirror up to their own society so they can better understand what they once were, and deep inside still are.”
“What do you recommend?”
He shakes his head. “When you were lying in the hospital in a coma, all I cared about was the information that might be trapped in your head. When Zaleria reached out for your mind, I recognized where you were. I'd gotten a second chance. How could I deny that to you? I can't tell you what to do with it.”
She thinks about this for a while. “You told me a lot about what you endured, and I suspect you spared me a lot of the details. Why don't you and Zaleria just stay on Pur, Purzefsus?”
“Perxephsis.”
“Right, why don't you just stay there, build your home, and live? You finally have a chance to have everything you've ever wanted, why don't you just enjoy it?”
“I want all of humanity to be like me someday, like the galanen. We all deserve a second chance. I feel best positioned to help bring that about. I have to help, if I can.”
“Why?”
“Love.”
“People suck, Achi, or have you experienced a different history than I know of.”
“Many do, yes. Why? Because unlike any other animal born into the world, humans are born with the knowledge that they will die. That our lives are fragile. That we are likely to suffer. One of the main sources of strife in the world is fighting over resources. Very few people actually are cruel to each other just for the sake of being evil. Technology can help us evolve, overcome scarcity, and even death. Can we overcome evil? I think we can, but it isn't guaranteed. This is why I set up the foundations. We must evolve morally, so little girls in the future will know only loving parents, nice friends, beautiful homes, a nourishing and enriching society, and not know depravity, predators, hatred, and anger.”
“How?”
“One person at a time. If I can change a few lives to the point they each change a few others, over the course of a few generations, the geometric progression can change the world.”
“And you think you can make a difference?” Cheryn asks skeptically.
“I have faith that it can be so. I think Sklávoi Ashtoreth has done a great job countering my efforts; there is a reason I was targeted. But I admit,” Achi confesses, “If they are eliminated, I am still concerned whether we will be able to help guide humanity to a more enlightened path before the singularity comes. But this isn't about me. We are supposed to be discussing what you want to do.”
“I don't know.”
“Understandable. Think on it and let me know if you'd like to talk some more. You are safe here and don't have to make any decisions today.”
They walk around some more, Cheryn asking him questions about what he sees around him as they walk, trying to understand what virtual ornamentation she is unable to experience. Achi does a great job describing all that he experiences, helping her see beyond the sterile white walls that make up the vast majority of Luna base. Finally, she remembers there were other matters Achi wanted to discuss with her.
“What else did you want to know?”
Achi takes a moment to gather his thoughts again, having gotten so engrossed in their conversation he has to remember what else he did want to discuss. It finally comes to him. “Do you recall the first time we discussed Sklávoi Ashtoreth. You'd mentioned the Priestesses, the iéreies. Do you know how many of them exist?”
“Yeah, that's easy. One for each point in the star—eight.”
“Well, I suspect it was one of the iéreies that held you in LA, and if that is the case, they are already down four; we recently destroyed another three.”
Cheryn smiles. “If that is the case, I can't say I'm saddened by the news.”
∞∞∞
“I don't believe we are facing galanen. I think they are a similar but distant lineage. The lack of higher dimensional comms, no dimensional travel, their hedonism—they are a failed race, but also carry the seed of Gravis,” Traemuña states. “The most logical explanation is we all stem from the same stock. Perhaps an earlier race that fell after they were evolved? An ugly truth, but one that matches the data. It would have left pockets of people stranded across the universe. Some may have been able to sustain enough of a breeding stock to start over, begin the process of evolution all over again.”
“But we are physically very different from this species. They're hermaphrodites, if what Cheryn told you is to be believed,” Beltare shares.
“Cheryn's recollections are accurate,” Zaleria affirms. “Why would she have a reason to lie to us?”
“I'm sorry, I did not mean for that to sound like I doubted her memories, just her interpretation of them. For instance, some humans find it fashionable to dress and act as the other sex.”
“Well, in this case it is backed up by our analysis of its DNA,” Traemuña continues. “At least this one individual appears to be a true hermaphrodite, although again, it is hard to say how much genetic engineering they have engaged in. Based on the one we've examined and the other three we've encountered, there seems to be very little diversity across that small sample set. They looked nearly identical.”
“Fandtha, what have you learned about their ships?” Jevelle asks.
“They do not appear to share a design history with anything of which we are, er, aware. This, uh, supports the theory of a distinct lineage. They are capable of at least near light-speed travel, if not, er, even greater apparent velocity, but they are somewhat primitive to our technology. They appear to be very old, and, uh, seldom used. They may lack the technology to keep them running, perhaps, eh, devolving during their time on Earth? Just a theory.”
“Power source?” Jevelle asks.
“Antimatter conversion. They either haven't discovered or can't access higher dimensional energy sources,” Fandtha explains. “I, uh, bet on the latter. I agree they likely represent an, eh, failed race. If they have only mastered antimatter energy, their interstellar movements would be, er, very limited.”
“What are we doing to ensure what happened to Juruele doesn't happen to Earth?” Zaleria asks.
“I, ah, we have developed a network of monitoring remotes linked to defensive batteries fully capable of vaporizing any craft departing Earth we do not, uh, recognize. And while we can't, eh, track a graviton drive that precisely, we can track the emissions of their antimatter power sources.” Fandtha smiles. “We've learned a great deal from our, uh, failures.”
“Have we learned anything from the computers and other equipment found in Saudi Arabia?” Traemuña asks.
“We've been able to crack at least some of their encryption,” Cloufen explains. She healed much faster than most of her squad and has been helping Fandtha with exploiting the captured computers, her area of specialty. “It appears the facility was used for training higher level members of the organization. We don't have specific names as most are only referenced by internal accounting numbers, probably to maintain anonymity. However, it is a small number—probably no more than twenty-five. There are also references to other figures, Priestesses. And of course, Ashtoreth, who apparently is a real person, or at least an honorific or figurehead. Whoever or whatever it is, it seems to be setting the overall strategy. The briefing materials we've found seem to revolve around the acquisition of funding for various activities. What those are isn't really detailed. I suppose attendees would have already known what they were.”
�
�Any idea where any of these people are located, especially this 'Ashtoreth' or any of the priestesses?” Zargus asks, now filling in as second to Rialle while Trègar regenerates.
“Eager to strike back at the enemy?” Zaleria asks.
“Yes.”
Zaleria looks at him, concerned. He and the rest of the rear guard have shown a lot of guilt for not being there when their squad mates needed them.
Cloufen shakes her head. “Unfortunately, while we have found references to other sites or facilities, there was no location information to go with them.”
“Do we know how they traveled between them? Dates perhaps when they held meetings?” Beltare asks. “Perhaps we can start chasing them down this way.”
Jevelle looks at her and smiles. “We do have some leads, and we are following them. We don't have any solid data now.”
“Fandtha, you mentioned that we can track their antimatter converters. Have you looked for any on Earth?” Beltare inquires.
“Of course. We've come up empty. That, uh, doesn't mean there aren't any. Just that they're not, er, operating at a high enough power level to be detected.”
They grow silent for a while, reflecting, thinking about other things they should discuss.
“The Rayleonna has arrived,” Fandtha announces. Once the galanen discovered that there were unknown interstellar craft on Earth, they called in a large galanen support ship. The Rayleonna has been outfitted with a wide variety of waveriders, gravitational tugs, and remotes of all sizes—many of which can be used as anti-ship weaponry if needed. It will hang out in the Sol system, another tool they can use, if needed.
Jevelle is looking restless. “So, where are we? What is our next step? Are we still looking for Gravis’ shell, or someone else?”
“Gravis' DNA is still spread throughout our adversaries. His shell is still involved in this somewhere, somehow,” Traemuña says.
“Do we have any idea how many of these presumed failed creatures we may face?” Jevelle sits there musing. “I dislike our growing list of unknowns. Why is this other race here? How many of them are there? What are their capabilities? It seems every time we think we're making advancements, more unknowns are created.”
Through the Singularity Page 50
