The Light

by James T. Crichton

  It could be that the wisps were still a comparatively young species and that their ability to copy insects was a relatively new development – explaining the low rate of assimilation success.

  In all likelihood they worked their way up to insects over millions of years and it would possibly take another couple of million years of evolution before the wisps where a threat to larger species. Grex felt relief that he would probably not be around when that happened.

  He stared at the images of the network for a while. It was an intricate and ever-changing web of interconnecting lines and nodes. It looked almost exactly like...

  Grex felt a chill wash over him and goose bumps on his arms as realization dawned of what he was actually looking at...

  The network bared a striking resemblance to a neurological map of a primitive brain. The wisps weren’t individual creatures after all, but seemed to form part of a much larger creature. Some sort of brain...

  Grex nearly laughed. How could it be? Surely he was reading way too much into what he was seeing? A wireless brain? Come on.

  And even if it was one, it was obviously still very primitive, and would surely take billions of years of evolution before it could even say ‘Hi’.

  Grex saved his work. Either way, he had gathered enough interesting data on the wisps to keep the scientists back home happy. They could decide whether it was a brain or not. He had done his job.

  He looked up as they approached camp. It was time now to focus on the reality of getting the hell away from this place. He started thinking of the more pressing tasks at hand.

  But somewhere in the back of his mind he continued wondering for a little while. What would happen to this creature if it was infected with triterium poisoning?

  He felt a last bout of goose bumps pimpling his skin, then shook off the thought.

  The field transport with Grex and Fresi pulled into camp. Brem and Jera were already back and must’ve arrived a minute or two before them. Everyone looked tired, thought Grex.

  He greeted everybody as he got out of the transport and instructed them to hurry up with moving everything into the shuttle. He began walking over to the living quarters to get the last of his stuff.

  Fresi had gone over to Jera and was having a chat with him.

  Suddenly, Grex had a distinct gnawing feeling that something was horribly wrong. Nonsense, everything is perfectly normal, he thought. His wisp research had just made him momentarily and ridiculously a little paranoid. He grabbed the last of his stuff and walked over to the shuttle. Jera and Fresi were still chatting away while they were offloading the cargo from the transports.

  Brem had started walking over to the room that housed Boxy and the power plant. Then, in what seemed like an entirely normal act, Jera put down the box he was holding, extended his arm and placed his hand on Fresi’s chest.

  “What the...? What are you doing Je...?” Fresi froze in mid-sentence. Now he just stood there, motionless. A faint glow seemed to be radiating from Jera’s hand.

  The material of Fresi’s suit around Jera’s hand also appeared to be glowing. Now Grex watched as Brem entered the transparent door to Boxy’s room. He walked right over to Boxy, and then casually put his hand on the enclosure that held her.

  “Oh my God!” exclaimed Grex, his heart racing. As he turned around to make a run for the shuttle, he saw Jera take his hand off Fresi’s chest. Then he started walking towards Grex.

  “Hey, hold up, G. We still need to chat about what we found at the site,” said Jera, smiling, his voice entirely normal.

  Grex made a desperate dash for the shuttle door.

  He rushed inside, locked the door and immediately instructed the onboard computer to start lift off and to cut all links with Boxy right away. He went over to the shuttle control panels and activated the outside camera.

  Jera was there, looking up at the shuttle, still smiling. Then his expression changed to worry.

  “Hey Grex, what are you doing?” he asked over the comms system. Grex could see Brem running out of Boxy’s room towards the shuttle. The shuttle began lift off.

  “Hey! Hey! Stop! Stop!” screamed Brem. “You can’t leave us here! Wait!” the desperation was clear and genuine in his voice.

  Now, another voice came over the comms. It was Fresi.

  “Boss? What are you doing? Is this some kind of joke?” he asked. “You can’t leave us here! Hey! Stop! Please! Stop!”

  Grex could now see Fresi on the screen. He looked fine.

  For a brief moment, before Grex turned it off, there was more emotional pleading, then begging, then swearing on the comms.

  It sounded exactly like his teammates realizing to their total surprise that they were being abandoned.

  “Oh my God! What have I done?” asked Grex to himself as the shuttle rose towards space.

  Chapter 8: Awakening

  Helley had been in and out of consciousness for some time now.

  One moment, she’s was lost in the crazy dream world, then the next, she was back in reality. She was confused and disorientated; reality or dream – it was all the same to her.

  People were there, around the bed, but she couldn’t quite get a clear look of them.

  She knew what they were… she just couldn’t put a name to it. Her vision was blurry. Her head began to bang, then an excruciating bolt of pain struck through her brain. She thought she saw some people move… then she blacked out.

  When she came to, the pain was gone and her vision was clearer – though there was still some blurriness on the peripheral areas of her vision. Her brain felt like a fire had run rampage through it. It felt raw and burnt. She was lying in bed, not being able to see much around her, she tried to move to get a better look. Suddenly, hands were on her, keeping her down gently. “Oh good, you’re awake… try not to move darling,” said this someone calmly as he came into view, “Can you understand me?” Helley managed a nod.

  “My name is doctor Beriyana,” he said as he came closer, “you’re safe now, can you remember your name?”

  Name? No… she couldn’t… Helley tried to answer but only mumbled garbage came out. There was a quick pause, and then she got nervous and began struggling.

  “Don’t worry, it’s normal,” doctor Beriyana said calmly, “this should calm you down.”

  Helley felt a wave of calm wash over her… yes… that was better. She lay back.

  “Right,” said the doctor “we’re just going to have a look at you, please try to relax and try not to move.”

  More doctors appeared – though Helley recognized the word for what they were, she just couldn’t place it – there was just a blank space where the recall was supposed to be.

  The doctors waved some strange devices over her, and then a few moments later, a line of light was projected from a small device that hung above the bed and, beginning at the end of the bed, scanned her from her toes to her head. Helley had no idea what was going on… she just lay still, trying not to move. She was scared… What was going on?

  “Ok, you can relax, it’s all over” doctor Beriyana said. The other doctors left the room. The doctor had a calm, trustworthy demeanor; Helley felt she could trust him. She began to relax.

  “I need to discuss something with my colleagues quick, I’ll be right back” and as if he could read her mind, he added “I will be back, I promise. You’re safe here. Please try not to move,” and with that he was gone.

  Helley had no idea what doctor Beriyana was discussing with his colleagues, but she tried to follow his advice and relax. She looked at the ceiling and the device. Everything looked so familiar somehow. It was quiet for a little while, and then she heard footsteps coming into the room. She thought it was doctor Beriyana.

  Next a handsome man appeared next to the bed. He was dressed in a familiar uniform and looked surprised but happy to see her.

  “I just heard you’re awake… I can’t believe it – it’s a miracle...” His hand touched hers softly.

  More fo
otsteps as someone else came into the room.

  “Hey! You can’t be in here right now – get out,” Doctor Beriyana said sternly as he gently shoved the mysterious stranger out the room, “this is a very delicate time for her – she’s incredibly fragile, you should know.”

  “I just wanted to see it with my own eyes” the stranger said.

  “I know; you and everybody else on this ship”, said the doctor as he closed the door.

  Now the doctor was back, and an assistant was near, working on some medical console. The doctor looked serious.

  “Let’s get straight to it then, shall we?” he paused for a couple of seconds, “Your name is Helley Ulxo and you’ve sustained a very serious head injury” Helley tried to speak, but he stopped her.

  “Look Helley, we’ve had a look at your preliminary test results, and quite frankly it’s amazing that you’re awake at all. My colleagues and I are in agreement that the best course of action would be to take it very carefully and slowly; let the natural healing run its course. It is absolutely imperative that you rest and sleep.

  For now, you should try not to think, and try not to talk. I know it’s counterintuitive, but sleep is the best thing for you right now,” he tried to give her a reassuring smile then continued, “Your brain heals itself best when you’re asleep. It seems that the coma has been broken, so you shouldn’t go back into it.

  We’ll give you something light to help you sleep and I’ll be right here, monitoring your progress. We’ll wake you up every now and then to check if you’re still ok and we’ll do some tests,” he paused, “Is that ok?”

  Helley gave a nod. “Good, then let’s get started.”

  Helley noticed the doctor’s assistant tap a hand-held pad that looked like a thin pane of glass, and then she was gone.

  Chapter 9: The Creature

  It had dwelled in the dense and vast jungle wildernesses of Kryxo for millennia.

  Fueled by persistent hunger, it would seek out new energy sources to consume. It was driven by mindless, automatic instinct, which led it through the jungles on an erratic and endless quest.

  Yes, it had consciousness, but it was inactive, sleeping and dreaming, like the mind of a baby in the womb. Growing and forming, yet to be born, a million years from now – but not yet.

  It would eat the insects it encountered, converting their energy into its own. During this process, they would become part of it and it would become part of them. It would then buzz and crawl, scamper, flit or hop away as an insect would. It lived through the experiences of its consumed prey, slowly learning subconsciously, slowly evolving, and slowly becoming more.

  And sometimes, at night, it would shake off its corporeal bodies and wisp through the jungle; perhaps to expand its range, or perhaps for no reason at all but a primitive urge to display its true electrical self.

  It was content with drifting along this existence forever, blissfully unaware. It was eternal but didn’t have the mind to care.

  One day, however, it felt pain for the first time.

  It had wandered into an area affected by triterium poisoning, and had unawares eaten several infected insects.

  It began as a sickening feeling, then, slowly, building over a few weeks, rising in intensity until it became a disorienting, intense spike of pain.

  The creature began burning energy at many times its normal rate, which translated into a vastly magnified sense of hunger. The pain reverberated across its entire network, throwing the automatic order that had existed previously into disarray. In this new disorder that ensued, it started displaying new, chaotic and erratic behavior.

  For the first time, some nodes were cannibalized by the larger network and their energy was redistributed into the network, causing more pain. Other nodes obsessively tried to assimilate some plants they were on.

  One or two even got it right, with the new and alien component, still mostly incompatible, being forcefully pushed into the network, resulting in more searing pain and disorientation. Other nodes moved mindlessly and erratically, bumping into trees and other obstacles or just endlessly buzzing around in circles.

  Yet others just froze, and remained motionless. Many nodes started to disconnect from and reconnect to the network repeatedly, causing new lines of connection to form to themselves every time a link was re-established.

  Others were uncontrollably flickering between wisp and insect form. All of this was severely painful and a life-threatening drain on valuable energy.

  It was dying and dying quickly. If there ever was a chance of survival, it hinged on bringing order back to the chaos. It needed a captain at the helm; a conductor to the orchestra.

  Its sleeping awareness was stirring, slowly trying to wake from its deep slumber, the chaos having prodded and prompted it to rise. But this was happening too slowly, and it would be dead soon, the embers of consciousness destined to be extinguished long before the flames of sentience could rise and burn in full, wondrous glory.

  It was burning out quickly now. One by one, entire branches of its network, filled with nodes, flickered out of existence. In a desperate attempt for more energy, instinct drove the remaining functioning nodes to seek out new energy sources. Some nodes, still in the guise of insects, attracted to both the energy of the fence and the power plants inside, crashed like a mindless wave to their doom on the expedition’s and mining colony’s perimeter force-field fences, overriding the strong insect urge not to touch.

  It would be game over very soon. The cliff of oblivion loomed large.

  Then, a miracle happened...

  It came suddenly, a piercing feeling of relief. It was like a shockwave of healing white light that washed over what little was left of the creature like an unstoppable, transformative tsunami, restoring calm order in its wake.

  There was one last excruciating burst of pain, and then the pain and the healing tsunami were gone.

  There was just calm silence now.

  And only the hunger remained.

  The creature, exhausted after its ordeal, slept for a brief moment. Its network, order now restored, automatically returned all connected nodes back to normal behavior and worked on integrating new components. The healing wave had transformed it into something new, something strong. It was pulsing with new life and vigor.

  Now, finally, after many millennia, the creature awoke. Completely aware. And like a new-born gazelle, it was fully developed and ready to run. It opened up its millions of eyes, and saw the world for the first time.

  It could hear the sounds of Kryxo and could feel it resting underneath its countless feet. It could sense and feel it with its multitude of sensors.

  And it felt and heard the impulses of its insect nodes and knew what they were doing, where they were. Like a body part, there was no separation between them and it. It was in countless places and doing countless things at once.

  It was new. It would take some time to master and grow its control over itself and learn what it could do, what it was capable of. It was still for a while, resting and taking silent stock of itself.

  Then it heard the thoughts and voices of two Praxians...

  They were in a transport heading back to camp.

  The assimilation process ensured that the last few moments of short-term memory of the prey was wiped. These two had no recollection of what had happened to them.

  The creature thought for a moment and recalled a fuzzy memory of before. Yes, it knew what had happened.

  During the chaos, desperate for survival, and energy, like a drowning person frantically trying to grab something to hold onto, several thousand of the instinct-driven wisps had detected the battery packs of Brem and Jera’s enviro suits and had descended on them in full force, their frantic electrical energy causing severe interference.

  The mindless swarm couldn’t distinguish between the Praxians and the battery packs, and had tried to just eat the whole thing.

  The Praxians had pointlessly tried to brush the wisps off and had made a fu
tile run for the transport.

  The instinct-driven creature was an animal with its back against the wall. It was out of options. It was either death and extinction on the one hand, or evolution and survival on the other.

  And somehow, against all odds, the mechanism that kept it limited to assimilating insects only and nothing else unlocked. There was a piercing sensation of relief, like it had been struggling against an immovable obstacle that suddenly gave way.

  Then everything filled with light.

  The creature wasn’t entirely sure what had happened next. Its memories before and during the event were patchy and foggy at best. However, some instinct told it that these two were the key to its newly found awareness.

  It could feel their influence on its network, and knew that they had enhanced it and breathed new life into it somehow. Similar to the aftertaste of a good meal, the amazing taste of these two Praxians lingered on its senses. It could feel an almost overwhelming sense of hunger. It was eager for more.

  The minds of the two Praxians were now at the forefront of its awareness. It could sense a wealth of information within – ready and just waiting to be accessed. All it had to do was just to go forward and delve in. The minds were like ripe fruit ready to be plucked and practically begging to let eager teeth sink into their juicy sweet flesh.

  Not being able to resist the temptation, it dove in.

  It was immediately hit by a massive, paralyzing deluge of information.

  It probably should’ve waited. Its young mind, not yet fully formed, struggled for a brief moment to keep up with the flood. Then it lost its footing, and got swept along with the overwhelming torrent. It was lost and adrift in an alien whirl of strange images, concepts, thoughts, memories, general knowledge and countless terabytes of subconscious and conscious data. The sheer avalanche of information was just too much.

  It wasn’t long before it started panicking. Then it felt what could be described as nausea, followed by that blinding pain from before, rising in intensity with every passing second. The torrent picked up speed to impossible levels. Everything turned into a blur and all distinct definition was lost. The pain felt like it was exploding.