by A. I. Zlato
Leaving the Tower behind, the animal caressed the expansive clouds populating the sky. Space H … In parallel with the Machine, the Elders had invented a concept that was much more important, something they could not fully grasp and that only they could have imagined. Spaces … Identical places in a different time.
They could be created indefinitely, as long as needed … For that concept, for that reason, Edgard showed respect to their species and had faith in it. Paul, its human binomial, would be part of the solution. The animal was convinced.
It landed in Paul’s garden. Every day he cooked for the Kandron a meal he would lay on the roof, within reachable distance. He paid special attention to its diet, a gesture the animal was grateful for. It delightfully dipped its muzzle in the mixture of dry meat and tomatoes seasoned with basil. It focused on the food smell, the taste, forgetting its mental queries momentarily. At that moment, it was nothing but a hungry beast with its head lying on a house roof.
A tingling on its temples made him raise the nose. The tomatoes slipped along its muzzle, falling flabbily into the half-empty salad bowl. Lunch time was over … Deep inside its psyche, it felt the call. The space had come to meet with the others, so said the Spirit of the Multitude. The Spirit was the community of all Kandrons, the force that bound them all together. It was present in each of them, like the pearl of a superior conscience, which had its own will, and this force was calling Edgard.
The Kandron interrupted its lunch, so it could be in listening mode, regretfully leaving behind the half-empty salad bowl. With muscles slackened, wings half folded, it stretched its neck and spirit simultaneously. If someone were observing the animal at that moment, he or she would think it was static and that its soul left its body. It became oblivious to the surrounding world, a world that suddenly became too small for it. The enticing smell of the meal vanished, and so was the feeling of its legs touching the ground. The animal was elsewhere. The Spirit of the Multitude floated around Edgard, waiting for it to be ready. The other Kandrons were there, in thought, gathered in the Spirit. The Kandrons …
When the linearity of time was reversed, and that space was a dimension complementary to time … so were the Kandrons today.
No one outside the Kandron species understood that reality, what the very essence of the species was. How could Edgard explain what its daily life was? It never attempted to offer a window into its existence, not even to Paul. However, not knowing and, most important, not understanding, that was similar to locking up permanently the doors of the Kandron universe, similar to ignoring what motivated the species. Perhaps, one day, Edgard would tell him everything. Talk to him about the reversed time, the nothingness of its past, the future for him...
Only the Gateways knew. A type of abstraction, the Gateways lived in Inter-Spaces, places that existed only because the Gateways existed. Their role consisted in making sure that Spaces remain separate, without collision, but also without any kind of transfer from one Space to another. Each Gateway flowed through currents of space-time … They saw the Kandrons evolve in a reversed time, not being really part of this world, because they had a broader view of things. Gateways knew, thanks to their very nature. They knew the Spirit of the Multitude.
The multitude … Edgard painfully felt the primary meaning of this word. Once upon a time, there were countless Kandrons, which populated, by thousands, the sky with their broad wings. Once upon a time, they travelled through time and Spaces, which then had not yet been separated, before the Gateways came to being. In that era, the Kandrons possessed the linearity of other living beings, and had control over their lives. That era is now bygone. Today, they were only one hundred fifty-two members of the species, prisoners to Space H., and they wandered in a reversed time. They now could only attempt to influence those beings who were living normally in time, so the latter could alter their own future, which was the Kandrons’ past. The Kandrons could no longer do it on their own.
The Spirit of the Multitude renewed its call, making it urgent. Edgard joined its peers and felt the contact with others. The conscience pearls of each Kandron rolled in, forming a colossal virtual sphere, independent from space. The Kandrons’ meeting brought together the community, composed of individuals, but also infinity, the S.M. The Spirit … the sum of all their consciences … and even more … ancient wisdom inherited from the future of humanity … a future that was probable but not inescapable…
There was no need to gather physically; the thought was enough to connect different consciences. The crossroads was near, the place where there would not be any possible past, so it was critical to figure out what to do. This was the goal of this mental get-together.
The S.M. triggered a stimulus in the brain of 5th Hexa, the Kandron that Paul called Edgard. Unwilling to explain to humans what the Hexagon, the Heptagon or the Circle was, Kandrons had adopted common names. Edgard, Faress, Albana … What could be more distant from their true nature than those few letters? But a name could not make a thing different from what it really was … and humans were not authorised to understand the structures.
Edgard has chosen the Hexagon, as much the Hexagon has selected it, to start its adult life. Its brothers had welcomed it as if it had always been there — and that was true; it always had. The Hexagon community had connected it to the S.M. that fit its desire, a passage to infinity in this space that became its own. Like all its brothers, it had chosen a human binomial to connect to time, and thus complete its space. Selecting this human, among many others, had overwhelmed Edgard, so the Spirit guided its search, on criteria that it just started to understand. Paul had a strange connection to time, that even he did not know or feel. He had immense potential … an alternative to this future of humanity that gave him nausea.
As the connection was getting through, 5th Hexa sunk into its personal memories. It had seen the destruction of Space H., and then its last days of death agony, before seeing it declining. These were bad memories, and for the Kandron, there was nothing more important than reversing the course of events, to prevent that decline. Because the past affected the future … Edgard’s future … a different life for Kandrons … the ultimate connection …
In its past, Space H. suffered from a series of events, from forces pursuing their own goals. Humans’ inaction and, most important, Kandrons’ mistakes made possible the total destruction that ensued. That was why he had chosen the Hexagon, and thus a human binomial. It had thought that its knowledge of the past, coupled with a human possessing extraordinary aptitude, could reverse the course of events. Unlike some of its peers, it believed that humanity had in itself the necessary energy and capacities to ensure its own survival, similar to the time when the Elders had invented the concept of Spaces. Hope was still possible.
Paul was an uncanny creature at many levels. Answers confused him, while questions comforted him, but he had instinct, which led him towards infinity. Because 5th Hexa was convinced that the Spirit of the Multitude directed it to him for a good reason. He was the solution to this future.
It exited its recollections when the S.M. enjoined it to really join the mental gathering. All the elements were represented. Edgard was the only one missing, the one whose job was to represent the Hexagon. 5th Hexa felt the presence of seven peers, some of whom disclosed their belonging while others hid it. All eight elements were ready to start, and the S.M. took control of the space, pervading the assembly. It released the mental pictures of previous meetings, as well as information that each Kandron wanted to share. The Spirit thus expanded its own knowledge by delving into each Kandron’s memory and experiences, projecting it back to them, to increase the wisdom they needed. The Kandrons transmitted, one by one, their respective images and viewpoints of life in Space H.
The fourth element of the Tetrahedron, or 4th Tetra, talked about the Machine and its activities. A long time ago, it had been in contact with Machines in all Spaces, but now it could only access the Machine in Space H. The Tower worked to achieve Equilib
rium, locating disturbances, and acting correctively. Everything seemed to be perfectly normal. Nonetheless, 4th Tetra said it had perceived tiny variations, not in sync with the initial programming. It projected details that had caught its attention. Strange construction projects, sizable reams of data sent without being received… All in the attendance received the information and pondered it. Could the Machine have been one of those forces that led the Spaces towards ultimate destruction? How could It have ignored Its preset instructions?
5th Hexa shared its thoughts about the reasons underlying the Machine’s creation, the Elders’ decision to produce an artificial entity rather than altering themselves. This earliest choice they made, could that have been the origin of the subsequent destruction? The audience needed to learn more about the topic. The Spirit absorbed everyone’s ideas and perceptions, and then hid everything in its memory, to create more space for further analytical practice. 5th Hexa felt its thoughts sucked from its brain and sent to the collective memory. It knew it could access such personal thoughts whenever it wanted. Now, it felt relieved, with a less encumbered brain, keeping only the recollection of an idea, an open window into the collective memory. The Spirit of the Multitude expanded its intelligence as always … thanks to these countless new elements.
The First and Last Element of the Circle projected life beyond the Unique Forest, the entity that communicated with the Gateways and rendered the Machine blind. It mentioned humans living near the lake, outside the City. They, too, were part of Space H., even though they were not under the Machine’s influence. Kandrons thus had to monitor them; perhaps they could play a role. For now, as since their arrival in this Space, their influence was negligible — so believed the majority of the Kandrons. A belief that the First and Last Element of the Circle did not share, so it continued to monitor them nonstop.
In the same way that 5th Hexa had faith in Paul, so did the Circle believe in those humans living outside the City, seeing in them the solution to Kandrons’ problems. A solution for them, not for Space H., and that was not enough for 5th Hexa. It nonetheless paid attention to the report, heeding the ongoing construction of that technology, aimed at commuting throughout the universe. Of course, they were had not thought of building something similar as the City’s Machine. Yet, there were numerous common points … The report kept on rolling into its brain, showing a big black hull, partially completed, astronomical calculations, and a small community of individuals living in isolation, focusing exclusively on their project of leaving the planet.
It was 7th Hepta’s turn, and it chronicled its life in the mountains, with Servants. 5th Hexa had no interest in this account, and thus let the S.M. memorise it. Servants … their no-life owing to an absence of progress, their apparent concentration on the four elements … floated around its spirit, without penetrating its conscience pearl.
5th Hexa then had the opportunity to sink once again in its personal memories, the time when it could easily change Spaces, where its freedom was only limited to its imagination. A bygone era … a possible future. Who could know? Its thoughts about the Machine, the latter’s absurd origins … humans … the future locking … nothingness … Paul … the solution … A mental stimulus from the Spirit of the Multitude compelled the Kandron to refocus. It was its turn to share some experience.
As the Hexagon’s representative, it had to narrate life in the City. It reported some general information, to start, because it wanted to paint the humans at their brightest, as if it were some type of ambassador for their species. Only the First and Last Element of the Circle liked its story, thanks to its mental closeness with those living near the lake. Other attendees listened in, but made no comment. 5th Hexa sighed before taking a deep breath.
What it had to say was not pleasant. And that was only the beginning. Thanks to its close bond with Paul, it had been able to see the break in lifetimes of young humans. Those youngsters were dying, in groups, triggering chaotic waves throughout the City, and the Machine had not been able to stop those deaths … assuming It really wanted to. Every Kandron in attendance expanded its conscience pearl, to immerse itself more deeply in personal memories. Edgard then reflected what Paul thought about those youngsters’ deaths, but also what the news media had shown so far. All Kandrons knew those strange behaviours were only the beginning of a future they did not want. They thus needed to change that beginning, which was the meeting agenda … from 5th Hexa’s point of view.
Ideas emerged and penetrated each other. To change the beginning … to avoid their past … How to do it? Their reverse linearity did not enable them to act directly. Edgard had great things to say about Paul, but it knew his initiatives alone would not be enough.
The S.M. projected a thought … that 5th Hexa, at first, had not understood. It had also felt the confusion among other attendees. What did the Spirit mean? They immersed themselves into the energy flow, opening their consciences to the greater understanding. The Spirit of the Multitude was referring to … Space E. Space E. … what could that really mean … There was a correlation … That Space was not created in the same way others were … It was an anomaly. This time, they could not afford to overlook it.
“Space E. is a major alteration.”
“Its beginning has no name, and its end does not exist.”
“Only a Gateway can act; we are prisoners to Space H.”
“A Gateway could differ, but a difference does not mean a change. We do change; the Gateway differs.”
“We must focus on this problem.”
“The abstraction has not turned out to be true.”
“Neither has the opposite.”
“A Gateway must see in order to differ.”
Space E. … one of the probable causes of nothingness. What was the connection with the break in lifetimes of young humans?...And what was the Machine’s role?
The Spirit of the Multitude expanded its thoughts further, enabling attendees to see how strange that Space was. 5th Hexa grasped the thoughts of other participants, who were pondering the same problem. The human youngsters had to be feeling things that they, themselves, did not even see. It was absolutely necessary to act. Space H. was not perfect, but its very existence was threatened and thus theirs. The action plan took shape.
“A Gateway must differ Space E.”
“That would not be enough, said 5th Hexa. Humans must be part of the solution. Space E. is certainly a major anomaly, but it cannot explain everything.”
“Their intrinsic problem is that they are prisoners of the Elders’ dream. The direction the humans received has become a burden. That prevented them from acting — and you know that very well.”
“So one of them must seek the Origins to release them from this dream …”
“Obviously, you are recommending your binomial; right, 5th Hexa?”
“Yes, his job and skills make that possible. I would need to steer him, to orientate him, to give him the right questions so he can find the right answers.”
“How would you do that?”
“Paul must understand how critical this is, and spend more time on the break of lifetimes of human youngsters.”
“We must give the Machine the necessary data to guide It in that direction.”
“The answers are not unique; several leads point to the same beginning.”
“All options will be explored. We cannot fail. We owe it to our brothers and sisters who were sucked into nothingness.”
“5th Hexa will contact the Machine. It will give It the necessary data to execute our strategy. 4th Tetra will monitor everything closely; we need to know the Machine’s involvement and latest activities. The Circle will continue to check the shuttle, for we cannot miss anything. Servants are under the Heptagon’s oversight. As for the Gateway, we would not do anything. You know why.”
So decided the Spirit of the Multitude.
The mental connection interrupted itself naturally, as nothing was left to say. Every attendee understood the emergency
, and the imminence of the no-return point. All Kandrons left the meeting, determined, conscientious of what they needed to do. For 5th Hexa, that meant steering the Machine to guide Paul towards his true destiny.
His spirit and body became one again. The sun had nearly set, and it had to quickly finish its meal to go and get Paul at the laboratory. The excellent mixture, which he concocted, felt tasteless to the Kandron.
5th Hexa was worried.
Reason is an irrational and powerful force. There is nobody more faithful that people who cling to their reason.
Lessons from Chaacetime
Chapter 3
: Space H. (1st Circle)
The Machine was all her life. She had known it since her teenage years, and that would never change. At 14, while the children were assigned to jobs matching their skills, Baley was selected to work closely with the Machine.
She still remembered that Graduation Day, the clothes she wore, her heart beating wildly, the shortness of breath, her untidy hair all over her face. All her peers had waited in the schoolyard, in silence. One by one, they were called to receive their Graduation. When she heard her name, Baley stepped forward, and walked past the headmistress, her legs shaking. She then put her trembling hands on the membrane, which would make a decision about her entire life. Her sweaty fingers gradually penetrated the flexible material, and she felt a tingling in her palm, indicating that the connection was established.
