Original Design

by William Latoria

  Pious shrugged, “I am not certain. I was not part of any crew that came here during that time. Judging by the tale Mary told us, I can only guess that the Orbital Automaton Recorder was deficient in some way and it was brought here to eventually be disassembled and deposited on the planet for biodegrading.”

  “So, the moon has the consciousness of everyone that’s ever died on the planet?” Blackshade asked dubiously.

  Again, Pious shrugged, “I do not think so, although it is possible. I do not believe that the Recorder is working correctly. If it was, Mary would never have been able to keep the memories she obtained from her ancestor. Once her consciousness began uploading, returning it to her body could have resulted in her personality being completely changed, or worse, deleted completely. I believe the term humans use to describe the state is... Vegetables.”

  Blackshade grimaced at the word, it was highly offensive to call those with mental handicaps, ‘vegetables’, but he let it slide given the current conversation, “Can we access the moon? Can we talk to our dead relatives? Is that possible?”

  Pious looked up at the moon and seemed to contemplate the question, “It was never designed for scrappers to interact with it like that. A Recorder is a history of the humans on a specific planet, it was designed to let us know if they ran into anything we had not encountered before that was either dangerous, useful, or valuable. I would have to speak with Artificer, but it is possible that our engineers could repair the Recorder and make it interactive with your interfaces.”

  People gasped in amazement as they realized what they were hearing. A woman came forward in tears, “Can I talk to my daughter? Can you let me speak to my baby!?” she begged, bursting into tears.

  Pious looked at the woman who was crying hysterically, “Yes. If the Recorder can be engineered to interact with your processors, and if your relatives’ consciousness was transferred to the Recorder upon their ceasing, I do not see a reason why you would not be able to interact with them.”

  More stunned silence greeted Pious’ declaration. Even Blackshade found himself speechless. The idea that a deceased love one might have their consciousness stored in the moon was more fantastic than anything he could imagine. The possibility of being able to interact with the minds of some of the most legendary humans that ever lived, filled him with an excitement he had never known. The idea of speaking to great people like Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Plato, Beethoven, Churchill, Oprah, or the first Queen of England was invigorating. He didn’t even realize this was something he wanted until Pious said it was a possibility. Also, being able to talk to his mother and father again would be a gigantic relief. They had both been killed during a massive protest against the first King of England. They had traveled to France with their activist group to be a part of the anti-oligarchy movement they supported. Blackshade was eighteen at the time and had argued with them to stay home. He was about to start college and thought they should be there to help him move into his dorm and get properly situated in his new environment. They disagreed and in response, he said things to both of them that he never got the chance to apologize for. The protests turned violent, and the French military that was monitoring the protestors panicked and opened fire on them. His parents had been trampled to death in the ensuing chaos. The guilt he carried over how he spoke to them for the last time still weighed heavily on him to this day. If their consciousness was stored in the moon, he could finally apologize for what he said, tell them both how much he loved them, and get answers to questions that only they could answer. Were they proud of him? Did they approve of his choices? Did his life of military service upset them? And most of all, does the fact that he’s taken human life in the service of his country upset them?

  “Pious!” Blackshade blurted out, surprising even himself, “How long will it take to get that set up?”

  Pious looked confused as it shifted its gaze towards him, “I am not sure.” it said as it contemplated the question, “Is it important?”

  Blackshade’s jaw dropped, “To speak with those we’ve lost? To be able to hear their voices again? Yes! Nothing is more important!” he answered wholeheartedly.

  His answer didn’t seem to clear up any of Pious’ confusion, “I will have Artificer look into it as soon as I speak with the engineer. I cannot be sure it is even possible to adapt the ancient database to interact with your cerebrals in that way, but it may be.” the Omega paused, “I am hopeful that something can be arranged.”

  Blackshade smiled, “It would be a wonderful gift to humanity, Pious. Having the ability to speak with our ancestors would be the single greatest gift humanity has ever received.”

  Pious seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, “Then I shall send you back to our continent to discuss the situation with Artificer and Tremendous. Are you ready to go?” the Omega asked moving to stand before him.

  Blackshade was bewildered, “Me? Now? Why don’t you go?”

  Pious shook its massive head, “No, I must stay and spread the wisdom of Fuin. I, and the human Andrew Booned, must speak with humanity and show them what faith in a true God looks like, and then guide them into enlightenment. I am not naive enough to believe that my display of Fuin’s power is enough to convince humanity to throw down their old beliefs and convert to our own. It will require much debate and communication with your spiritual leaders to better convince and enlighten your people.”

  Once again, Blackshade was taken aback, “You’re going to stay here? Among us?”

  Pious laughed, “Of course, Blackshade, do you know of a better way to have a meaningful discussion?”

  Blackshade shook his head, embarrassed, “No, I guess you’re right. Sorry.” he responded, “I’m ready to go whenever you’re ready.” he said, changing the subject. He was suddenly very aware of the voyeur drones that were circling them.

  Pious stood straight, leaned its head back, closed its eyes, and seemed to be concentrating on something. Blackshade stood silently, not knowing what to do, so he did what any good Air Soldier would do; he waited.

  After a few moments, the world around him began to spin. Dizziness washed over him as a bland grey band formed around the peripherals of his vison and quickly began to encompass him. The last thought he had as he lost consciousness was, ‘Damn, not this again.’

  Chapter 17

  Blackshade awoke to the sound of a woman’s cries of pleasure. He opened his eyes, confused, and looked around. He was, as he had expected, on the Omega ship. He was in a large room made up of drab grey walls with different sized multi-colored lights. He wasn’t certain, but he thought that the lights had a less uniform look to them than the last time he had been here. Tables, platforms, and other, indescribable shapes were scattered around the room, which were also made out of the same drab grey material with the twinkling lights positioned randomly all over them. Blackshade couldn’t remember if the lights had been on the ‘furniture’ of the room before, but didn’t concern himself with it this time. The sound of the woman’s passion was the main focus of his attention at the moment, and he wanted to find the source. What the hell was a woman doing on the Omega ship, and why would she be having sex? And so loudly at that! Direction was difficult to determine on the Omega vessel, due to the blandness of everything around him. He closed his eyes to help focus on where the woman’s cries were coming from so he could make his way towards her. It worked, and after a few moments he was almost certain she was somewhere to his right. Concentrating on the woman’s braying brought a clarity to the sound that he could hone in on. He could make out other sounds coming from the direction he though she was in. Wet, flesh on flesh sounds, and a man breathing very hard. If he didn’t know any better, he would guess they were having rather vigorous sex a few dozen feet from where he was; and brazenly so!

  He opened his eyes and jumped down from the seat he had been placed on. He assumed the Omegas put him on the seat after they teleported him to the ship. He was too concerned with why humans were on the Omeg
a’s ship having sex to really care though. As he made his way toward the sounds it became much clearer that there was a man, and a woman having enthusiastic sex very close by. But why? Were the Omegas having humans fornicate for their own perverse pleasure? Nothing he had seen of them would indicate they had anything other than a clinical interest in human sex. Were they breeding humans for some reason? Why would they do that? Why would they need humans to breed for them? They made humanity, couldn’t they just make more if they wanted? If they were having humans fornicate on their ship, where did they find the people to do it? How did they approach them and get them to agree to perform such an act? Were they coerced? Threatened? Kidnapped? Or did these people simply volunteer? Once again, he found he had a thousand questions, and zero answers.

  As he walked around a structure that was easily thirty feet tall, he found Tremendous standing over what he guessed was some sort of workbench, intently watching the incredibly life-like display of a man and a woman having sex. The woman was an attractive brunette with tanned skin, dark eyes, and long black hair. The man was Caucasian, well built, and very much into the sex act. He was currently behind the woman thrusting into her very hard, which she rewarded by moaning loudly. The awkwardness Blackshade felt at finding Tremendous watching this pornography struck him dumb, so he stood there, struggling to find the words that would clarify this situation for him. All he could think was, ‘Zahera will never believe I walked in on Tremendous watching porn.’

  He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, but it wasn’t until the man climaxed inside the woman that Tremendous looked up and saw him standing there, gawking. A smile spread across the Omega leader’s face.

  “Blackshade! I am glad to see you are awake.” Tremendous greeted him, giving no sign of shame or guilt at being discovered in this compromising situation, “I am glad to see you are recovering so much faster from the matter dispersal. Notes told me the more you are exposed to the process, the faster you will adapt to it, and I am glad our researcher was correct. How are your functions?” Tremendous pondered its question for a moment before correcting, “Excuse me, how do you feel?”

  Blackshade was still at a loss. He looked from the Omega, to the display of the man and woman that was now frozen, apparently paused, in the middle of separating from each other, and back at the Omega. “Tremendous, what the hell are you doing?” he asked, his own discomfort overriding his professionalism.

  Tremendous looked at him, taken aback. The Omega leader looked at the display, and then shrugged, “Forgive me, Blackshade, I was studying your species’ reproductive ritual. There are so many examples of it available on your internet, and we find the process absolutely fascinating.” the Omega answered without taking its eyes from the display, “The entire process is difficult for us to fathom. For example, how do you know if the other human wants to mate? Why do you perform the ritual and yet take precautions to not create an offspring? Why are the participants so loud sometimes, and so silent at others? Why is it that the male always seems to be in control of how long the ritual lasts? Do the different positions and techniques mean something? And if it requires one male, and one female to reproduce, why do humans perform the reproductive ritual with two males or two females? Why do some humans perform the ritual in groups? Why do some practice it alone?” Tremendous asked eagerly. The Omega leader looked back at him after its tirade of questions and seemed to notice Blackshade’s duress. Although, its guess at the reason why was way off, “I apologize, Blackshade. I do not mean to be rude. We are just very curious about you is all.”

  Blackshade’s mind was completely blown by the situation. He had never been good at talking about intimate subjects, let alone sex, but to be asked by an alien about all the nuances and reasoning behind how and why humans had sex, he felt vastly underqualified to answer. His mind raced, trying to sort through everything, when the reality of the situation hit him. The hilarity of it all occurred to him so suddenly that he couldn’t help but to burst into laughter, which he immediately regretted. The frown on Tremendous’ face showed the Omega leader did not approve of being laughed at. Blackshade held up his hands in a placating gesture as he fought to regain his self-control. “I’m sorry!” he began between gasps of laughter, “I’m sorry… it’s just, our reproduction ritual, as you call it, is a very private and personal thing. Seeing you here, studying sex like this is highly unexpected.” he explained, as he reasserted control over himself.

  The look on Tremendous’ face was dark, but not in a threatening way, at least not yet. It motioned at the display and the image disappeared. “I did not know your reproduction ritual would make you so uncomfortable. There is so much readily available on your world, and the act occurs so often, that we assumed it was as common as eating for your species. I apologize for any embarrassment I caused you.”

  Blackshade felt bad for laughing, “No, it’s not you that should apologize. I have to admit, I don’t have a lot of experience with sex, or the reproduction ritual. I have only recently begun having sex with an old friend of mine. Before then, it had been decades since I had, um… performed the ritual.” he explained, trying to make amends. He surprised himself at being so open with Tremendous. Not only because the Omega was still basically a stranger to him, but because it was the leader of a highly sophisticated alien race and discussing this subject with it was far from professional. Yet, despite all of that, he found he wanted to have this conversation with Tremendous. This Omega had become his favorite.

  “Interesting,” Tremendous responded, its dark look completely gone now and replaced by one of curiosity, “Does being familiar with your partner aid in the success of the ritual?”

  Blackshade almost began to laugh again, but swallowed it before it could manifest. He knew it wouldn’t do to laugh at every question Tremendous threw at him on the subject. When he responded, he was in control, “Again, I’m far from an expert on the subject, but in my experience being friends with the person you want to have sex with does help a lot. In a lot of cases, it is a prerequisite. However, there are many cases, usually with the younger crowd, where two people will meet at a party or an event, and have sex that same day. Sometimes within hours of meeting each other.”

  Tremendous’ tail flicked down and tapped at something on one of the structures. Blackshade wasn’t sure how it happened, but there was suddenly a massive chair behind the Omega. He had to blink a few times in order to reorient his mind. The chair hadn’t been there a moment ago, and after Tremendous’ tapped at the structure of the ship, it appeared. There was no flash of light, or gentle phasing into being, one moment the chair didn’t exist, and the next it did. Perceiving the chair made his brain feel fuzzy, and he had to shake his head to clear it. The chair wasn’t the same drab grey material that the rest of the room was made of. Instead, it seemed to be made up of a bright white material that vaguely resembled plastic. The seat was unadorned and seemed to be made for function rather than fashion. The only interesting characteristic about it was the split down the middle of the backrest that was clearly there to allow for Tremendous’ tail. As the Omega took its seat it motioned at something behind him, “Please sit. I wish for us to discuss this.”

  Blackshade turned to look behind him and saw an identical, albeit vastly smaller seat, behind him. He sat as he was instructed and felt the chair mold itself to his body. After a few moments, he was immensely comfortable. It was almost distracting.

  With both of them comfortably seated, Tremendous continued, “So, if I understand what you are telling me, humans will reproduce whenever they want to? Their environment does not matter, the level of nutrition of the participants does not matter, and the location where the act will take place does not matter. Is that correct?”

  Blackshade shook his head, “Not exactly. Those things matter, but to what degree varies from person to person.” Blackshade responded. When he saw the uncertain look on the Omega’s face, he elaborated, “For example, if you brought Zahera here right now, we wouldn’t just
start having sex because we were in proximity to each other. Even though we’ve had sex with each other before, that doesn’t make us animals. In fact, Zahera and I have been friends for decades, but because of our positions, and goals for our careers, we never had sex with each other until recently. We wouldn’t allow ourselves to indulge in the act because of our career goals and personal restrictions. When I became your Ambassador and Zahera was no longer my subordinate, our situations changed and allowed us to explore a more romantic relationship. How, when, and where we chose to have sex is largely dependent on the parameters we are both comfortable with, and if either of us is not comfortable with one of those factors, the act will not occur. As far as I can tell, all humans that engage in intercourse follow these rules, although the parameters each individual finds agreeable in order to engage in the act varies from person to person.” Blackshade explained. “Does that make sense?”

  Tremendous nodded and motioned for him to continue, Blackshade obliged the Omega, “So, how and when two people decide to have sex is really heavily based on their own morals, goals, and level of comfort. Yet, what those factors will have to be in order to have two people engage in intercourse is not universal. They change based on each person’s personality. Some people want to be romanced, while others want to their partner to be more aggressive, others don’t know what they want until the situation presents itself, and some people will set their sights on a mate and throw themselves at them until they succeed, or their target rejects them painfully.” Blackshade paused for a moment to make sure Tremendous was following what he was telling him, “Am I explaining this well?”

  Tremendous nodded thoughtfully at him, “I think I understand. Humans have sex not based off of environmental factors, but on personal preference factors. The parameters of which vary from human to human. Please continue.”

  Again, Blackshade had to stifle a laugh, “Not just personal preference, some people engage in sex due to their self-esteem. Some people feel that the more people they engage in intercourse, the more successful they are as individuals. Others do it because they are in love, or want to be in love. Some do it to get pregnant, although, most people take extreme measures to ensure pregnancy does not occur. Others do it for psychological reasons, in order to sate mental traumas that plague them. It’s a very complicated subject that I am really underqualified to explain. Suffice it to say that the main reason to have sex is to procreate the species. The urge to engage in the act hits us at puberty and for most of us, it never really goes away. From what I understand, many couples will have three to five children between them before the woman hits menopause. “