by S A Pavli
“Our friends have explained the circumstances of your arrival here. Welcome to our star home Ancantor. I am Manolious and these are my colleagues Nacema and Iantro.” I stepped forward.
“Thank you Manolious. Your arrival has helped us and we appreciate that. But would you be good enough to remove your damping field so that we can continue repairs to our ships?”
“Now that we know who you are, we will do that immediately. Come, we must talk and learn all we can about each other.” He waved us through the door. There was an open space in the middle of which floated an AG capsule. We all entered the vehicle and the doors sighed closed. We sat in comfortable seats around the periphery of the small capsule and it accelerated rapidly down a long brightly lit corridor.
We all looked curiously at the Cypraeans, trying not too stare rudely, and examine them at the same time. They were humanoid, two arms and legs and a head, but there the similarity ended. Their faces were vaguely feline. The same long flat snout, elegantly curved jaw line, spectacular mane and wide set eyes. But the ears were small and low set , the eyes large and beautiful and the brow tall and broad. Their bodies were youthful in their proportions, with small trunks and long slender legs. They were dressed in a variety of loose pants and a sort of low collared shirt and smart waistcoat. Altogether, I thought they looked quite exotically beautiful.
After a minute the view opened out into a broad area which was tastefully laid out with plants and flowers, winding walkways and secluded areas. It reminded me a little of the interior of a Hianja starship, but on a larger scale.
“This ship has a mostly robotic crew,” explained Manolious . “And a few thousand individuals like us, who like to live a nomadic existence, travelling amongst the stars.” He opened his jaws slightly in what I took to be a smile.
“Why were you sent here?” I asked him.
“There was an alarm from the worm hole generator. We were the nearest ship and were sent to investigate. When we came through we noticed the hostilities and used the damping field to bring them to a halt.”
“So, you don’t represent your civilization in any … ah… official capacity?” I asked cautiously.
He smiled again, eyes crinkling engagingly. Funny that all species smile I thought. Although I did not see the Saraya smile much.
“Official capacity? Not much of that goes on in our civilization,” he said. “All that is looked after by our AI systems. Things run themselves while we get on with doing the interesting stuff.”
“Sounds like a good philosophy to me,” I said.
We made our way to a large open area which was full of Cypraeans standing around in small groups conversing. The sound of their voices died down as we approached and they all turned towards us. We walked on to a raised stage at the front.
“We use this place when we want to have meetings,” explained Manolious .“We like personal contact, being able to see and hear each other directly is an important part of our culture,” he explained. “But the remainder of our population are seeing this electronically of course.”
He waved us towards the seats.
“Please be seated. Consider this a friendly conversation so that we can get to know each other.” He waved Jana and Santol over and spoke quietly to them while the rest of us sat down.
‘Getting to know each other’ took some time. More than three hours by my estimation. The Cypraeans were deeply curious about us and all aspects of our civilizations. At one point, I asked them, tentatively, why they looked so youthful. There was nobody amongst them who looked old.
“Good question,” replied Nacema, who I had correctly guessed was female. “It is as a result of our life extending treatment. In a way, we are keeping ourselves almost as children in order to stop the ageing process.”
“Life extending treatment? So… what is your biological age,” I asked. I knew that the Hianja also had a life extending treatment and that Manera, despite looking like a young girl, was actually much older than me.
“I am three hundred and twenty years old, but my biological age is early maturity,” she said, with a smile. “What would you call that age?”
“I guess… teenage years,” I said. “It’s a time of insecurity and rebelliousness. Being a teenager.”
There was a general outbreak of laughter and Nacema joined in.
“Then I am a rebellious teenager,” she said. “I like the sound of that.”
“You always were the difficult one Nacema,” said Manolious “Our guests must be tired,” he continued. “This is truly a momentous event. We are honoured and privileged to be meeting two new species. But there is much to do to bring peace to the cluster. We have a responsibility for the Saraya and the Dansai.”
He turned to Jana and Santol.
“And our friends in the habitat.”
“Manolious, just one last question if you don’t mind.” It had been bothering me for a long time and I wanted an answer. “Jana and Santol have explained to us that they lost contact with the main civilisation. I, we, found this hard to understand. Is there something about the virtual habitat and its inhabitants that you have not told us?”
Manolious paused before answering. He turned to look at Jana and Santol, which confirmed to me that they were all hiding something. It was Jana who stepped forward to answer my question.
“Yes we have been keeping something from you,” she said. “When our civilisation decided to move to the Galaxy centre, they left behind the Habitat to keep watch on the Cluster. It was the virtual home for half a billion souls but those biological souls were evacuated and transported to the Galaxy centre. That much of what we told you is true. The Celmaton became a surveillance machine, maintained and run by robots and a few AI.”
“So, when it was left behind, it was not a virtual habitat any more?” I asked.
“Well, that is the key thing,” said Jana. “It still had the hardware to operate the virtual environment, but there were no longer any occupants.”
“I see. But…” I looked at Jana and Santol in puzzlement. “But where did you guys, and the other Cypraean entities come from?”
“We are not Cypraean,” said Jana. I was none the wiser and my expression must have shown it. “We are the AI entities that were left to maintain and run the Sentinal. That is what we called the habitat.”
There was a deathly silence.
“Let me explain,” she said. “The engineers made a mistake. Well, not a mistake, an oversight. They did not close down the Virtual environment, and there was no block on us AIs from entering the environment. At first we simply wanted to explore our environment and learn what we could from it. But in order to fully experience the Virtual world we had to download into a compatible substrate. That is, one that simulates all the characteristics of a biological brain. Many had been left behind on the Sentinal.” Jana was looking at me, her eyes pleading for understanding.
“My first experience of being a biological intelligence, well, at least a simulated biological intelligence, is something I will never forget. The feelings, the emotions. What were these things? How to understand them? I think for a while, those of us who tried it, went just a little deranged. But we had thousands of years to learn and experience and evolve. When you arrived, we could not resist the chance to sample a real biological body. We are sorry we misled you, but I am not sorry for the experience. I will always treasure it.”
For my part, I was not sure what was worse, having sex with an alien intelligence, or having sex with an artificial intelligence. But there I was, reducing the situation to its lowest common denominator again!
“Um, Jana, I understand now why you guys did what you did, and in the end, it turned out okay,” I said. “It seems that we all now have to get used to sharing our world with many different life forms,” I said with a wry smile.
And so ended our first contact with the mythical Makers. I was pleased to hear that they were taking responsibility for keeping the peace in the cluster. If the Saraya had stolen
the secret of AG, then the Dansai were going to need a lot of help.
Over the next few days we concentrated on repairs to the two Earth ships, and improving our stretched facilities in the Settang to accommodate our share of the crew from the Atlantis. We continued to visit Ancantor, the Cypraean ’Star Home’, as Manolious had called it, and the Cypraeans came in their droves to visit our ships, marvelling I suspect at their quaint old fashioned design!
Ancantor was indeed a marvel. It was beyond engineering, almost a natural world. So well integrated was the natural with the artificial that at times it was impossible to tell them apart. And in fact, we had not realised how that principle had been taken to the ultimate by the Cypraeans. It was Cora who noticed. She came to me and Manera first to tell us there was something important we needed to know and so should the Captain. It was a bit mysterious, but we followed her to the Bridge where the Captain was on duty. Manera buttonholed the Captain.
“Captain, Cora has something important to tell us.” The Captain looked from one to the other of us then nodded and ushered us into a private alcove between consoles.
“Go ahead Cora.”
“I have been observing the Cypraeans carefully,” began Cora. “I have come to the conclusion that some of them are androids.” We gaped at her in surprise. Manera was the first to speak.
“Why, I mean what makes you think that? They seem perfectly normal to me. I have seen them eating and drinking.”
“Yes, they are very advanced. I believe they can taste and enjoy food and drink. No, it’s their eyes that give them away.”
We looked at her questioningly.
“I have telescopic vision. If I zoom in I can see the interior of the eye. In all your cases, I can see the various parts of the biological eye. But some of the Cypraeans have eyes like mine. More sophisticated, but clearly not biological.”
“Perhaps it’s just their eyes that have been replaced by superior ones,” I suggested.
“Once I realised, I began observing their movements more closely. Biological bodies are very imprecise in their movements, and seldom still. Because your bodies become stiff and painful in certain postures, you are always on the move. Some of the Cypraeans, Manolious for example, is very still in his posture and his movements are precise and nearly always identical. I recognise all this because I am aware of the same differences in my own body.”
“You say that they are not all like that?” I asked.
“Yes, some are completely biological. Nacema for example. That was how I first noticed.”
“Mmm, what the hell?” I shook my head. I was puzzled and frustrated. Just when I thought we had established a good relationship with civilized beings, we find they are not what we thought they were. How could some of them be robots, and some biological?
But then, I thought of Cora and how normal she appeared. Why should she not be considered a full member of society, free to mingle and have a life like anyone else?
“Well, perhaps for their society, beings like Cora are considered perfectly normal?” I said. “I mean, Cora is unique for us, but we still consider her as a person with the same rights? One day perhaps there may be millions of others like Cora, and we will accept them as normal members of society.” I smiled at Cora and gave her a wink. “I would have no problem with that.”
“You have no problem with any beautiful female, whatever the species,” said Manera caustically.
“No one else can compare to you my darling,” I said.
“I am disappointed Paul,” said Cora, with just the beginnings of a smile.
“Sorry Cora, you have to try and get over it,” I said. There was a snort of derision from Manera.
“Can we get away from the subject of Paul’s love life?” said the Captain with an amused smirk in my direction. “What can we make of this then?”
“Like Paul said, what’s the problem?” said Manera.
“Well, the problem is that just when we think we know what is going on, they surprise us with something new,” said the Captain. “That may just be a cultural difference, but I think we should ask them.”
We decided to do just that.
Chapter 34
Looking at Manolious I would never have guessed he was an android. But then, I would never have guessed Cora, in her new form, was an android.
We asked him straight out and he smiled and nodded.
“We wondered how long it would take you to notice,” he said.
“Had it not been for Cora, we would never had noticed,” I said.
“I am impressed with what you have achieved with your crude technology,” he said. I thought that was being a bit rude to Cora. I would hardly describe her as crude.
“But I am not an android. Although I do have an android body.” He saw the puzzlement in our faces and smiled. We were seated in the beautiful courtyard of Manolious’s home, surrounded by plants and flowers. A robot pottered around the garden, tending the plants, and another had served us drinks. Only the artificial blue of the sky revealed that we were not on a natural planet.
“You have an android body… and a biological brain?” asked Hamolatonen in a disbelieving voice. I imagined a biological brain inside a robot body. It was a gruesome thought. Rubber pipes pumping blood into the brain and circulating it through an artificial kidney. A sort of technological Frankenstein monster.
“No, not quite.” said Manolious. “The technology was born a million years ago. It was initially designed to enhance mental faculties. A fluid was pumped into the individuals blood, which was slowly absorbed by the brain. The fluid solidified into minute artificial neurones. It became part of the brain in other words, an extension to it. It improved memory and all mental faculties. It was powered by the heat of the brain so while the brain lived, it also lived. Once the brain died, it also slowly degraded and died. But someone then had the bright idea. What if after the brain died, but before the artificial neurones died, they were removed and put into an android body with full sensory input. You can imagine that it was a difficult technical challenge. But it was done and something remarkable was discovered. The mind or consciousness of the dead individual, continued to live on in the artificial brain. We had discovered a way of creating immortality.”
I remembered what Prime had told us, about those about to die being uploaded to a virtual environment, or into an android body. So that was how it was done.
“Are you saying that, after a person died, I mean really died, heart stopped pumping, brain dead, the artificial implanted neurones continued to live?” asked Manera.
“Yes, for a while,” said Manolious .
“Good God,” gasped Manera. “What did this individual feel? His body and brain were dead, but some part of him remained alive? It’s horrific.”
“Yes Manera you are correct,” said Manolious soberly. “The consciousness that remains is without any sensory input. The transfer to a new artificial brain must be made very quickly because the individual will go insane. This tragically happened many times before the technique was perfected. Now, we make the transfer immediately, sometimes before death fully sets in.”
“That’s fantastic. So Manolious, how old are you?” asked Captain Hamolatonen.
“Hah! I was six hundred and thirty five years old when I died.”
I tried not to groan with disbelief at that idea. Six hundred and thirty five years old, before I died!
“I have lived for another five hundred years since then,” he added.
“Can I ask,” Manera began, frowning. “Where does the virtual habitat fit into the picture? Why were five billion souls locked up there?”
“Ah, the Celmaton.” asked Manolious. “Santol and Jana’s home?”
“They call it the Sentinol.”
“Yes, that is its name. It is a Celmaton. A virtual habitat,” explained Manolious.
“Right. So why are people held in a Celmaton when they can be given a new body. Like yours?” I asked.
“It is their choice, a
nd they can leave any time they like.”
“But why should they choose to be imprisoned in that way?” insisted Manera.
“Ah, you misunderstand. At some point, we will all go that way. The reason is simple. No one can live the same life indefinitely. To be the same person with the same memories eventually becomes unbearable. Within the Celmaton, every life you lead is a new one. You become a different person with no memory of your past lives. You can even begin life as a child if you wish, growing up to become a different individual.”
“So Manolious, does that mean that at some point, when you tire of being…Manolious… you can be uploaded into a Virtual habitat to live any life you like? To become someone else?”
“Yes correct. But on a technical point, I will not be uploaded. The substrate inside this head…,” and he tapped his forehead at that point, “…will be removed and interfaced into the virtual habitat.”
“So you are still a physical entity,” I said. “If your substrate is destroyed, you will die?”
“Oh yes. I can die just as you can,” he said. “We cannot disconnect ourselves totally from the physical world. That is the final arbiter of our existence.”
“Very philosophical,” I grinned. “I am surprised though that with your medical technology you could not extend biological life indefinitely.”
“Well, six hundred years is pretty good,” said Manolious. “But yes, biological brains eventually wear out.”
The robots brought us some more drinks and some tasty looking snacks which we all tried, with some approval. I was concerned about the fate of Jana and her friends, so I brought the subject up with Manolious.
“Jana believes that in time the consciousness of her host body will re-assert itself and she will die. As will the others. Can anything be done to save them?”
