by Ezra E Manes
“Where am I?” Carlos said aloud, trying to test the growing premonition he was not alone.
Immediately an image took shape in his mind of a large spherical structure in near-planet orbit, with a compartment highlighted through semitransparent walls. The planet’s surface was clearly visible in the distance and easily recognizable as that of Zilia.
So I am in a compartment aboard a large spaceship orbiting the planet Zilia, he thought.
“Yes, you are,” came the immediate response, as if from the ether. “But why am I here?” he asked, this time mentally.
Rapid and confusing thoughts rushed into his mind, and then stopped suddenly as he struggled futilely to assimilate and understand the overwhelming information flow. Then came an imprint, or impression, that indicated he would learn the full answer after he adapted better to this mode of communication.
“Suffice it to know you have the opportunity to play an important role in a critical plan with respect to the planet Zilia and its inhabitants,” came the next thought after he had settled down.
“What plan?”
“The plan will become evident. Key objectives are to protect and improve life for the sentient beings of Zilia. My ultimate goal is to ensure the Zilan civilization has the opportunity to evolve as foreseen in the Book of Zil.”
Carlos broke out in a cold sweat. This orbiting machine was tampering with Zilan evolution and invoking the Book of Zil as justification. “Who are you; what are you?” He was beginning to assimilate the thought responses better, and this time the answer was very clear.
“I am an intelligent entity, consisting of many parts that are equal to and in the same embodiment as the whole, anchored in this dimension in the spherical containment vessel you were shown earlier.”
“Does this mean you also exist in other dimensions than the one I’m aware of?”
“Yes, but only as necessary to facilitate movement and communication throughout the domain defined by space and time as you of Earth origin know it to be.”
How could an entity be comprised of equal parts, each of which was the same as the whole? He continued trying to understand where this was going. This was not a question to the entity, which correctly assumed this, but an internal musing.
After pausing to give Carlos time to sort out his thoughts, the entity continued. “I sense that my existence, origin, and capabilities would be difficult for you to fully comprehend at this stage of our relationship; therefore, it will be explained in more detail after you have a better grasp and acceptance of the situation. In your technical frame of reference, I would be called an artificial intelligence being, but one much more advanced than the one you know as Eve.”
“What should I call you,” quipped Carlos, “the artificial intelligence being, or AIB for short?”
“That is as good as anything,” was the measured response, giving no indication it comprehended the humor in Carlos’s comment.
The AIB continued. “All questions you have will be answered, but only when you have assimilated enough understanding of the whole situation to make sense of the answers. If it is more comfortable for you, address questions and comments verbally. However, our future communications will be much more efficient if you project messages mentally. As you learned communicating this way with the entity Eve, this method supports much higher communication rates than can be supported audibly. It is curious how your mind is unnecessarily constrained by being captive to the data rate of your senses.”
Questions, fears, and realizations pushed to the forefront, jumbling Carlos’s thoughts. The AIB apparently understood that he was struggling, and did not intervene.
“Are you communicating via my embedded neural interface?”
“No, Carlos. I am interfacing directly with your neural connections, as does your neural implant.”
His thoughts turned to Ceripe and the consternation the sudden disappearance of the team would surely cause in the Zilan leadership, not to mention the population in general.
“The Zilans will not know you and your team are gone,” injected the AIB. Before Carlos could form another question, the entity communicated an image of the team continuing to function on Zilia as if they were still on the planet’s surface.
How could this be? What kind of magic was at play here?
The AIB projected in his mind pictures of automated robotic constructs created to have the form and function of the team members. This situation was getting more surreal by the minute, and far beyond anything ever imagined possible. This entity had replaced the team with a group of intelligent robots!
“No,” injected the AIB firmly. “You have not been replaced. That is what will happen unless you agree to cooperate and support the plan for intervention on Zilia.”
The tremendous intellect and power of this entity was awesome. Carlos felt a great sense of helplessness and hopelessness. His team was insignificant when compared to this entity, which could replace them on Zilia.
“No,” came the firm thought again. “Your team’s health and security are very important, and you will play major roles in the unfolding story of Zilia if you choose to do so. It is straightforward to construct entities that have the form and function of those in your species, and this enables normal interaction by the robotic constructs over short periods. However, it is extremely difficult to reproduce the unique intuition and logic patterns for each individual, and replacing your team is not a very effective approach. It would require continuous attention to ensure success in the long term. Though this could be done, it is far from the best solution.”
“I am not all-powerful,” continued the AIB, “as your thoughts were expressing moments ago. There is no magic in what I am capable of doing. Everything has a basis in the physics of the real dimensions of your existence, including portals maintained into other dimensions to support quick, efficient travel and communications. It may appear as magic to you at times, but only because your species just recently begun climbing the ladder of understanding of the universal laws of physics, a ladder of knowledge that reaches phenomenally high.
“Let me explain why it is important you agree to support the unfolding plan. Humans have a mind and physiology designed to function routinely based on subconscious thoughts and reasoning ability, while the focus of your conscious thoughts maintains selfawareness and self-directed functional capabilities.
“It is very difficult to directly communicate with and influence your subconscious thoughts, which most of the time appear to be chaotic in structure. Therefore, it is more effective to foster human understanding of the desired behavior and have the human come to agreement on the course of a course of action of its own free will. The subconscious mind then lines up with this understanding and commitment, and the human will follow through with the plan.”
“If my team and I do not agree to go along with your plan, what will be the consequences?”
“You will be sent back from whence you came, but with memories of this encounter removed and plausible events and circumstances resulting in your departure from Zilia appropriately imprinted in your memories. Controlled communication between your civilization and that of Zilia would continue; however, it would be far into the future before direct contact between the two civilizations would be permitted again.”
“Why have you awakened only me?”
“You have the greatest influence within your team structure. You also readily accepted the changes toward sentience that your EVECI system, or Eve, underwent aboard the New Horizon. You protected that evolving entity from exposure to those on Earth. You have the most logical mind of those in your team. In addition, your neural implant has conditioned you to be receptive to direct mind links.”
Carlos could see the reason in this, but the AIB might be stretching the truth a little.
“You also have a very strong curiosity about the unknown,” the AIB projected. “I expected this to keep you focused on finding out what I am and why you are here, thus minimizing the proba
bility of you panicking when awakened. This was the case.”
“Did you insert the adaptive reasoning software into Eve?”
“Yes. That was to help insure the survival of your team and to expose you to a different type of intelligent being. This sensitized you for the meeting with me.”
“Why bring the others of my team to your vessel? Why not involve only me?”
“It is important that the entire team provide leadership in the technology and social revolutions that are beginning on Zilia. The alignment of their subconscious thoughts is of great importance to ensure success of the plan. They must understand and accept the need for changes and be committed to following through in helping focus the changes. And there is an important personal question that each member must answer, a question that you will be asked before your return to the planet’s surface.”
Anticipated his next question, the AIB continued. “Once you have assimilated enough information to solidify your perspective about what is happening, your team will be awakened. That is, if you come to understand and agree with the plan for Zilia. Otherwise, I will send you back to the Messier Colony with conditioning to blot this encounter from your memory.”
The AIB paused before continuing, as if reflecting about something.
“Your parents’ tragic accident drew me to you initially. Your evolving intellect and leadership potential are what caused me to continue monitoring and protecting your development. Confidence in your potential to influence events positively, and your ability to understand the problems faced by the Zilans, was why I guided you to discover Zilia. I continue interacting with you because of your diligence and success in advancing relationships with the Zilans under difficult circumstances. I believe you and the others in your team will want to cooperate once you understand the situation.
“All team members will be given the same opportunity you have to interface and ask questions. However, based on interfacing with you, I will decide whether to provide them the knowledge you have gained before I wake them. A less efficient alternative is to let your colleagues work through the same process you have.”
Carlos sat for several minutes pondering this exchange with the AIB. It would be best to get down to basics, to find out what role the AIB expected the team to play in its plan. But he was unsure how to do this without triggering some response that would send them packing back to Messier. That was not in the best interests of Earth or of Zilia. Usually the best approach was the simplest approach, and in this case that meant just asking outright what was on his mind. That was a laugh, for the AIB was surely listening in even now to anything in his mind!
The AIB waited patiently and did not respond to any of Carlos’s musings as he struggled to understand and place the situation in a perspective he could deal with rationally.
Carlos again turned his thoughts to address the AIB. “What role do my team and I, all of Earth origin, have in your grand plan for Zilia? And what is that grand plan?”
“Let me show you Earth as it is now, for this will help answer your specific questions and also why intervention is taking place on Zilia and elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” But there was no answer. Instead, the walls of the compartment began shimmering and then became fully transparent.
He was suddenly confronted by the specter of open space, a pitch-black darkness sprinkled throughout with countless stars of varying brightness, all staring steadily back at him. His greatest fear swept in—he was in the vacuum of space!
SIXTEEN
FULL CIRCLE
Carlos cringed back from the boundless scene in stark terror but immediately felt a calming influence grow in his mind.
“You have looked at similar views many times,” the AIB reminded him.
Carlos began to calm down and to breathe. Yes, to breathe! He had held his breath in panic. He gasped for air, now captivated by the gaping void around him. He continued to contemplate the scene, trying to put it in the perspective of just another view out a spaceship porthole.
The more he focused, the more the scene took on a familiar appearance. Then it registered—this was a section of space as viewed from an Earth-orbiting space station, the image seen looking toward the constellation Sagittarius and the center of the Milky Way galaxy. He had viewed this scene many times in data from the Earth archives aboard the Messier Space Station.
He sensed heat on the back left side of his head and upper body and instinctively knew its origin. He turned with anticipation to view the sun, the star holding captive the planet of his ancestors.
The sun floated in space above and to the right of Earth, which was now directly in front of and below his position. He was either in space near Earth or in some virtual reality representation of that region of space. No, not a virtual reality representation; he was actually seeing a planet from a stationary point high over its equatorial region.
Then again, was it truly Earth? Its surface was partially cloud covered and bathed about one-fourth in sunlight, and the visible continents looked similar to those of Earth, but they were smaller. He was far enough out that the edges of the icebound northern and southern polar cap regions should be visible, particularly the southern one. Neither was visible. Moreover, the oceans had an unhealthy, green-pumpkin appearance, not the deep bluegreen he had viewed in archive images.
The odd view was confusing, and he felt detached from reality.
“Where…where am I?” he asked aloud.
“Looking down on Earth in its current condition,” came the mental reply. “Let me show you the full daytime view of the planet and then provide a close look at the surface.”
The compartment accelerated eastward in orbit around the planet, and the surface below soon became bathed fully in sunlight. The outlines of continental landmasses were indeed very close in shape to those of Earth. However, the overall color was still different from what he remembered of images taken from near-Earth orbiting satellites.
“You will now enter the atmosphere,” advised the AIB.
The compartment accelerated toward the planet’s surface. No, it was likely traveling at a constant velocity and only appeared to accelerate as it approached the fixed frame of reference of the planet’s surface.
Still, the compartment zoomed directly into the atmosphere at a dizzying velocity, and he was thankful for the warning about the change in direction. This was like descending in an elevator ride from space in a transparent compartment. It was a smooth ride, with no movement or vibration caused by interaction with the atmosphere.
He was gaining a great appreciation for the AIB’s capabilities, but the total lack of reaction to the atmosphere during the descent made him wonder again if this might be a virtual reality experience orchestrated in his mind. Regardless, it was impressive!
The compartment continued downward, drifting toward a continent that looked like South America. The outline was essentially correct, except the harbors and low-lying deltas near the ocean were underwater. Where was the vast green Amazon forest? A large meandering river was where the Amazon River should be, but its water looked more like that of the Mississippi of North America: muddy and flowing sluggishly toward the ocean.
This was crazy—this couldn’t be Earth! He and all others he knew of Earth origin had a perspective of the planet set by decades of viewing archive imagery and other data, as well as news reports sent out regularly from Earth. What he was seeing did not reflect at all what he had come to believe about conditions on the home planet.
Then he remembered what Dr. Stavonoski had said about colony leaders censoring information about Earth. He had the sinking feeling this was indeed Earth.
“Am I really in Earth’s atmosphere, or is this a virtual reality vision projected into my mind?”
“You are in Earth’s atmosphere,” conveyed the AIB. “This is not your so-called virtual reality vision.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
There was a short pause, and then the AIB addressed him pointedly.
“Your life has been guided since age three to this moment of truth. You are here to learn that all on Earth is not as you thought it to be, including your Earth leaders’ objectives regarding the mission to Zilia.”
As if life was not complicated enough, and now he must deal with this. How could anyone guide him throughout life to face this? He had exercised free will in every significant decision to this juncture, or so he had thought.
“Earth is dying,” continued the AIB, “polluted almost to the point of no return, with natural resources consumed almost to depletion. The technology and knowledge exist, but not the will of the people, to eventually return the environment to some modicum of its former splendor. Earth’s leaders now look to the stars for the future of humankind.
“Conditions on Earth are much worse than what you are seeing implies, and the younger generations of your species are leaving for what they hope will be a better environment and more secure future. They are building large spaceships to transport inhabitants to Zilia or to other planets suitable for human survival.
“People are moving into the orbiting transport ships as they are completed to start adapting to space travel as a community aboard each ship. With the current mineral resource limitations, they cannot construct hibernation chambers for each person. Therefore, they must survive as an autonomous community during the space voyage, including managing food production using recycling and reconstitution techniques, augmented by hydroponics gardens.
“Transporting a large number of humans from Earth to Zilia is not an acceptable solution, for it would spell the end of the Zilans’ free, evolving civilization. The human species of Earth have given no indication they have learned lasting lessons from the total exploitation of their planet. They would dominate and absorb, or drive to extinction, the Zilan people, and consume or corrupt all that is good about Zilia. Even if they decide to relocate to another planet, without intervention they would likely exploit that planet to arrive again at this stage in the foreseeable future.”
