by James Harris
“If you honor him, then you mock me.”
“That is not true, Kor. Please understand that it is not always about you. This has nothing to do with you.
“He ran away and joined up with our enemy.”
“He was tricked into believing that he was escaping imprisonment. Kor, I understand your anger. It is because you are hurt and feel betrayed. But if you must blame someone, blame me, not Stell. I should have been more forthcoming with both of you. Don’t you think he also feels hurt and abandoned? Each of you has lost a brother.
“I still think it odd that you honor Stell in this fashion.”
“I have my reasons, Kor. Let’s leave it at that.”
The discussion was over.
“Is it time now?”
Asunda walked over to the nearest chair and gestured to the crypt-orb immersed in the green liquid. Sensing Kor’s trepidation, he spoke up. “As a reminder, we will be transferring the data from your body to the crypt-orb. Your brain will be scanned and, once we are confident that the transition was successful, will be voided of data. Your crypt-orb, containing all that you are in a digitalized format, will be stowed in a secure place on board the ship.”
Kor said nothing.
“If and when you decide to reunite with this present body of yours, remember this … your body will be cryogenically preserved and stored in a climate-controlled casket. After cryogenic storage, brain matter does not defrost well. Your brain tissue must regenerate before it is usable again. While in the cryogenic state, in the casket, we will sustain minimum life functions such as oxygen respiration.
“The casket will itself be entombed in its own biosphere-controlled sarcophagus in a secluded area of the ship. The Re-transition Chamber on board the ship can be utilized to transition body and mind coding either into another human being or back into your original body. It has been preprogrammed to allow for your choice of action. Your bioencoding is recognizable on all three spaceships, in case the ship you are on is damaged.
“Since your mission is to assimilate with a native human on another planet, the first, automatic objective will be for the Bot to retrieve a human and assimilate the human with you.”
This prompted Kor into a series of questions.
“What happens to my casket if the ship is damaged, attacked, or crashes?”
“Your sarcophagus will automatically eject from the craft in the event of imminent destruction. Scout ship sensors will determine the severity of any danger and make a decision to eject. The jettisoned sarcophagus is capable of surviving a thousand years in space.”
“What happens when the scout ship lands? The crew is in a state of digitalization. We’re helpless aren’t we?”
“Recall the protocol. Each ship comes equipped with a bio-mechanical robotic support unit, a Bot. This retrieval Bot is programmed to roam the new planet and locate and capture a suitable human. The human is then prepared for the transition while suspended in the chamber. The Bot will select a specific crypt-orb and place it in the transition tube. The chamber functions synchronize with the crypt-orb’s data and program. Its function is to prepare the primitive host for assimilation.”
Asunda continued. “This is the tricky part: Since the host will not be as evolved as we are, mental preparation will be necessary. This process will be completed in the chamber. The human’s mind will be assessed to determine if it is capable of assimilation without complications. A genetic scan will then be performed to determine what physiological repairs must be made upon assimilation. Significant gene faults will be repaired as the transition process takes place. Minor gene faults are discretionary. Finally, body and mind coding are assimilated with the human.”
“Understood, Asunda. But what happens if something goes wrong? What then? Does my life depend on one Bot?”
“Well, yes. But it’s not just any Bot. This Retrieval Bot unit is by far the most sophisticated we’ve ever developed. It is a thinking creature that will be essential for your initial survival on a potentially hostile planet. You will need it to protect the ship, to protect you in your inorganic digital state, to activate you, and to take your crypt-orb to the Transition Chamber.”
“That’s my point. What if the Bot is disabled or the chamber is inoperative? What then?”
“They are extremely resilient.”
“Worst possible outcome, please.”
“Well, I guess you linger within the crypt-orb until help comes.”
“What? That could be centuries!”
“It could well be, but there are other factors to consider. First, you have two fellow scout ships to help you. The odds that all ships will be disabled simultaneously are slim to none. Second, you have your marker beacons placed methodically in space. Ultimately, the galactic fleet will find you by following the tracking signal.”
“It still sounds risky, Asunda.”
“A little, maybe. But this journey is vital. A lot depends on the three Alpha ships. We depend on you to lead the way and to prepare the planet for general assimilation.”
Kor sighed and looked around the barren, sterile room. “I guess everything is ready, isn’t it, Asunda?”
“Yes, my Prince,” Asunda nodded with a reassuring smile.
Kor surveyed the large room. A scattering of guards and technicians were milling about, along with Asunda, and Kor’s father. It was the air of finality about this procedure that somehow troubled him. He felt helpless and small and not as brave as he’d hoped. He would soon be reduced to a series of digits. “So I guess this is it,” he said awkwardly. His eyes flicked about as though he was seeking a way out of the room.
“I guess so,” Asunda said.
A thought jumped into Kor’s mind. “Father, where is the queen? What of my mother?”
As though on cue, Kor’s mother entered the room, her personal guards in tow. She had a presence that only a queen can possess. Everyone in the room stopped and stared. She was a majestic, stately figure, dressed simply but elegantly in cream-colored flowing robes that swirled behind her as she walked like wisps of smoke.
“Never far away from you, Kor, my son. Never far.” Her voice was like a gentle whisper, yet it had a quality which seemed to make it carry forever. She smiled knowingly at her son, whose fears fell away like ice from a melting glacier.
“Remember your father and me when you awake in your new home,” she continued. “Think of us and how we loved you more than life itself.”
Kor’s face lit up, and he embraced his mother with a not-so-regal hug, his gangly arms completely enveloping her. “Mother, plans seem to have changed. I leave now,” he whispered in her ear. The more he fought for control, the more he seemed to tremble. Kor smelled his mother’s distinct scent. The fragrance she wore was perfect for her body chemistry and skin acidity. Her complexion was still practically flawless, framing large oval-shaped black eyes.
She took her son’s hands and looked at him intently, her eyes welling up. “I had hoped for one more day to be with you, to walk and talk with you and listen to your voice. Because of security concerns, that opportunity has passed. Now is for goodbyes. Ahead there is the journey through space.” She paused, looking distant, “Space is so cold and so vast. It’s like having you die.”
“It has to be done, Mother. Think of the peril of the planet. We are all going on this journey. It’s just that I am leaving before you.”
“I know, I know. The knowledge doesn’t dampen a mother’s pain, though. Oh, how I will miss you!”
Kor gazed into his mother’s eyes. He stood in the center of the room and placed his hand on his chest, his voice softening and wavering. “Mother, Father, Asunda, peace and happiness. I pledge on my life that I will find a safe haven for our people. Have a safe journey when your time comes.”
The silence hung in the air.
The king strode over and embraced his son awkwardly. “I may never get the chance to do this again,” he said, laughing. Then the smile faded. “I may never see you again, Ko
r.” Blinking back tears, he eased Kor away and held him at arm’s length. “I wish to remember you as you are – a brilliant, handsome young man on his first true quest.”
“And I will remember you and Mother forever. Whenever I think of wisdom and kindness, your faces will appear in my mind. When I consider a loving relationship, I will conjure up thoughts of you both.”
Kor straightened his shoulders and placed his hand across his chest. “Peace.” He turned and followed an attendant to a waiting lounge chair. He slid easily into the comfortable cavity. His heart was racing. His mouth was dry. He smiled bravely at the small group gathered around him to say their goodbyes.
His mother’s eyes glistened and she wrung her hands behind her back. His father smiled proudly, his hands also clasped stiffly behind him.
“See you in your next life, Kor,” Asunda said.
“Hey, Asunda, read this!” Kor grinned and pushed a message to his friend.
“My Prince!” Asunda said, holding back a sheepish grin and glancing across to the queen.
The queen chuckled. Her Gift was strong, and she had easily read the childish message. HOW RUDE! she thought. These boys! Where do they think they got their abilities from?
Kor winked and laughed. “Don’t take too long catching up with our ships. Good luck to all of us.” He caught his mother’s eye before nodding to an attendant to close the lid.
Kor lay down and the sonic anesthetic put him to sleep in seconds. The lounger changed color from rose to light rose to creamy white as the suspended hood slowly descended upon his outstretched frame. The two chair molds slotted together perfectly, closing tightly with a soft hiss. To the group watching, there was no apparent change. However, inside the capsule, the prince was unconscious, lying in relaxed repose on the chair, his delicate fingers entwined across his chest.
The bio-mechanism gurgled softly as it began to function. The tubes connecting the hood with the crypt-orb filled with a transparent gel. The entire unit began to glow a soft green where the top and bottom of the lounger chair joined. Razor-thin shards of green light streaked and arced from around the sealed joint. The transfer tubes glowed brightly as Kor’s neurons began their journey to the orb. There was a series of loud cracks as bolts of electricity grounded randomly around the room.
“Is that supposed to happen? I haven’t seen that before,” the king said.
Asunda tried to reassure him. “Do you mean the intensity of the glow? Sire, I have seen many transfers. It is perfectly normal. In Kor’s case, his protective aura is extraordinarily strong. He has much energy. His bodily defenses have naturally come to protect him from harm.”
“Will his defense shield disrupt the transition?”
“It is highly unlikely. We are transferring at the molecular level. The shield is not capable of fighting within its own body. It is an external defense. It protects Kor should someone try to attack him while he is in this defenseless state.”
“How is that possible? We are in the midst of transferring his mind. His mind cannot be directing this defense. What’s in control?”
“One answer is instinct. Kor is running on automatic now. Another answer is that his Being is now aware and may help direct the defense.”
“His Being? But how?”
“Kor’s Being has been disturbed because his body is dying, and a dead body is not a place where his Being wants to be, so it lends energy to the fight to survive. It will hover around the body, helping whenever it can.”
“Is Kor going to be all right?”
“Kor has the Gift. He has prepared himself and his Being for this transition with my help.”
“You are most favored, Asunda. You have the Gift and you see other worlds and dimensions. Can you help him through this?”
“Sire, I believe I already have, and I will continue to help him. Never forget, he is the product of you and the queen. A most powerful union.”
The King nodded as he stared anxiously at the machine. He fidgeted his hands behind his back.
“Now I must meditate,” Asunda said, smiling and closing his eyes.
CHAPTER29
Almost immediately after the attendant administered the neuron-neutralizing sonic anesthetic, sound waves disengaged Kor’s mind and body, freeing his Being. His mind became numb. It could no longer engage in idle chatter with itself, solve problems, or analyze situations. Kor’s senses all disappeared. His feelings, based on the mind’s interpretation of circumstances, ebbed into nothingness. There was no emotion. The firing of neurons – which normally causes the brain to function, ceased. There was absolute blackness.
For a period of time – although “time,” a human construct, was immeasurable in this state – there was peace and nothingness. To somebody immersed in nothingness, there can be no time frame. It is only from the perspective of an outside observer that time can exist. This was not the first time Kor had experienced this state. He had the Gift, which allowed him to slough his present form and disengage his mind. Over the years of learning and practicing, he had begun to understand his mind.
The mind is a filter. It recognizes only those thoughts and images that it has been conditioned to believe as being valid. All others are labeled invalid. Seeing is believing, but more importantly, believing is seeing. The eye is an organ that reports to the mind. Kor’s Gift allowed him the freedom to experience what it was like to exist as his Being, unencumbered, for extended periods of time. Most humans could access their Being, but only fleetingly. In the early days of man’s existence, it was considered a form of meditation.
Since his early childhood, Kor had learned, with Asunda’s help, how to free himself temporarily from the mind’s filters that prevented him from existing as his Being outside of his flesh. Afterwards, he could return to his conscious self, all the wiser because his brain could recall some of the experience. He had always found that returning was the difficult part. Why come back to the drudgery of human existence when one could exist in a state of pure Being – a state of pure Joy? Kor learned early on that he must master this skill to prepare him for the challenge ahead. Humans could become extinct in his lifetime. Millions of years of genetic evolution could be wiped out once Sargon was destroyed.
But this journey was not a practice run; this was the real thing. Kor sensed his mental filters shutting down. He felt lightheaded at first, and then weightless as if heavy chains had fallen away from his legs. A cascade, a curtain of impossibly bright colors took shape. Kor was unconscious. His human body was stripped away leaving only his essential Being. He became Joyous. He felt his aura engage in an attempt to halt the invasion of his body. But his aura couldn’t find a target. There was no outside force attacking him. The attack came from within. The mind had been a willing participant in its own transition. It understood what was happening.
Digitalization was essentially organic death and the mind reasoned that if it died, then the “person” would die, too. And to a certain extent the mind was right. It wailed: I think, therefore I am. Therefore, its reasoning continued, if I stop thinking, I am no more.
In fact, as Kor learned during his long training for the ordeal of transitioning, the correct postulation is: I am, therefore I think. The arrogant organic mind twists the concepts of existence and consciousness. The mind screams that you must be aware of your existence, biologically conscious, in order to be able to define it. But the mind is misleading. A person’s existence existed before their organic mind was born. You do not need organic life as proof of your existence. You simply must understand that we have always existed.
Kor’s Being drifted outward from the transitioning capsule and sensed his body lying within. There was no consternation, only the state of pure Joy. Next, as his Being, he became one with the entire room and the people in it. He recognized no one, nor did he care. (Recognition requires memory and a mind). Kor was aware that there was a connection, but did not have the cognitive inclination to determine what this connection was. It just was. He, as his Bein
g, felt good to be around Kor and, like a balloon tethered to a child’s hand, it felt compelled to stay with his body.
But something strange was happening. Things were moving. Mind and body were going their separate ways. Where should his Being go? With the Mind or with the body? In this case it didn’t matter. Mind and body would be reunited on board ship. It chose proximity to the digital mind, because the body felt cold and dead. The choice was not logical but intuitive. Or perhaps Kor had somehow guided himself as his Being. The crypt-orb buzzed with digital energy, with Kor’s energy.
“Observe, Asunda, the device is signaling,” the king said to Asunda as he returned to the room.
The technician nodded to the pair, king and councilor. “The transition is complete, Majesty. Prince Kor is ready for storage.”
The king sighed and nodded. He was not comfortable with the transitioning process. “Do what is necessary to prepare him for the journey. Are the others ready?”
“Yes, Majesty. They await transition. They are outside.” Asunda nodded toward the door.
“Is Stell with them?”
“Yes, Highness.” Asunda studied the king, wondering why he’d asked about Stell.
“Prepare Stell as you did Kor,” the king said. “With dignity and respect. He is a prince of the realm, whether he believes it or not. His casket is to travel with his crypt-orb on board his scout ship, Alpha II. He will be the commander of the second ship. Send the bodies of the remaining crewmembers to the surface for incineration once the transition has taken place. I take my leave.”
The king felt so very old that day. As a sad footnote, he said, “I do not wish to see Stell.” In fact, however, he did yearn for one last glimpse of the boy. But it was not to be. He reached out and grasped his wife’s hand. The queen smiled wanly and the pair exited the room without another word.
Back in their quarters, the king held his queen’s hand and gazed into her eyes. “Why do you fret so? You have foreseen our son’s destiny and you were pleased. You told me so.”
