Profusion

by Stan C. Smith

  Samuel hesitated and then exchanged a few words with Sinanie. “That is correct, but there is more to consider than only that. Sinanie is referring to something he has not discussed with me in a long time. I am unsure that I can adequately describe it, as the very concept of it bewilders my thoughts. He told me long ago that the Lamotelokhai has placed a measured portion of its knowledge into the mind of each of the members of his tribe. When I asked what this knowledge was, he replied that he did not know, only that the knowledge was quite extensive. How one can have knowledge in his mind without understanding the nature of the knowledge remains a mystery to me.”

  Lindsey spoke up. “Sinanie believes that the main purpose of his life is to have some of the Lamotelokhai’s knowledge in his mind?”

  “The indigenes have told me that their tribe was wakhatum for the Lamotelokhai. Wakhatum refers to stories or knowledge, in this case referring to those who keep the knowledge. The tribe has traditionally had no more than thirty members because each member was given a portion of the knowledge. Thirty is approximately the number needed to carry the knowledge of the Lamotelokhai.”

  Quentin and Lindsey exchanged another glance, this time a grimmer one.

  Lindsey said it first. “And Addison killed half of them.”

  “Addison killed sixteen villagers, including twelve men and four women. There were thirteen who survived, only half the number needed to carry the Lamotelokhai’s knowledge.”

  “And so they believe they have abandoned their purpose,” Quentin said.

  Samuel nodded silently.

  Lindsey said, “So what does that mean, that the Lamotelokhai was using the villagers’ brains to make a backup of its data?”

  Samuel shook his head, indicating that he failed to understand the question.

  “Do you think Sinanie might tell us more about this?” Quentin said.

  Samuel spoke again to the Papuan. Sinanie crawled out of the shelter and gestured for them to follow him. He led them through the dense brush until they came upon a fallen tree they had passed before stopping to set up camp. Molded to a fork in the tree’s trunk was a brown mass the size of a backpack—a termite nest. Sinanie broke a club-sized branch from the tree and swung it at the nest, putting a dent in it. He swung several more times, splitting the nest open. He then dropped the club and placed his hand into the gash he had created in the nest. Within seconds frantic termites covered his hand. He raised it to his face and began licking the termites off. Samuel stepped forward and did the same thing.

  “Try them,” Samuel said as he licked the last crawling insect from his hand. “Their flavor may surprise you pleasantly.”

  Quentin didn’t step forward, and neither did Lindsey. Quentin said, “I thought maybe Sinanie was going to show us something.”

  Samuel just smiled and loaded his hand up with termites again.

  After several more minutes of this, Sinanie began speaking. He punctuated his statements by pointing at the swarming termites. Everyone watched him attentively until he was finished.

  “I must say, his familiarity with these insects is impressive even to me,” Samuel said. “He would like you to understand that the termite nest is one functioning colony, achieving its purpose with the collective actions of three different castes of termites.” Samuel allowed more of the insects to crawl onto his hand and then held it out for them to see. “Those with the black heads are of the soldier caste. They are uniquely suited to protecting the nest. They are, in fact, biting my skin at this moment.” He flicked a couple of them off. “The small, pale ones are of the worker caste. They build the tunnels and forage for food. And somewhere in the interior of the nest are the queen and kings of the reproductive caste. I imagine I hardly need to explain their function, though you may not know that they are the most delectable to eat.”

  “How does that relate to Samuel’s tribe?” Lindsey said.

  “I believe he is making the point that each member of his tribe carried a distinct portion of the Lamotelokhai’s knowledge. If you destroy any of the three castes of the termite nest, then the entire nest will fail to achieve its purpose. If you destroy any of the portions of the Lamotelokhai’s knowledge, the knowledge is no longer complete. The united purpose is no longer achieved.”

  Curious, Quentin summoned the courage to step forward and touch the nest’s exposed interior, allowing some of the termites to crawl over his skin. The black-headed soldiers began biting, though, and he quickly swiped them all off. Finally, he spoke. “If it was important to the Lamotelokhai to place its knowledge into the minds of thirty people, what did it do when sixteen of those people were killed?”

  “I know only what the indigenes have told me,” Samuel said. He then turned and spoke with Sinanie. The Papuan continued eating termites as he answered the questions.

  Samuel turned back to them. “In the years I have lived with my indigene hosts, I had never witnessed the irrevocable death of a villager. Until your arrival, of course. But I am told that in the past, upon the rare occasion of a permanent death, the dead villager’s knowledge was placed into the mind of another villager. This sometimes would require one of the females to bear a child for this purpose.”

  “Jesus,” Lindsey said in a whisper. Then more loudly, “That makes it seem like the Lamotelokhai has simply been using the villagers to suit its own purpose.”

  “I might remind you that the indigenes hold the Lamotelokhai in the highest regard,” Samuel said. “They consider it a great honor to have served as its stewards.”

  “This still hasn’t answered my question,” Quentin said. “What did the Lamotelokhai do when Addison destroyed more than half the people carrying portions of its knowledge?”

  Samuel slowly nodded. “Indeed, an interesting question.”

  Six

  Peter Wooley sputtered and then cried out. He pulled at his restraints, confused. He looked around at the stark white concrete walls, remembering where he was. A bizarre feeling of relief washed over him. He had just been dreaming, even though he didn’t recall falling asleep or even feeling tired. In the dream he had occupied the body of his old friend, Samuel. He had hiked miles from the hanging village in order to carry out an experiment, with the goal of discovering what could be accomplished by piecing together small portions of the Lamotelokhai’s clay. But the experiment had gone horrifically wrong, spawning an outbreak of creatures that were the stuff of nightmares. Even now that Peter was awake, he found himself shaking and fighting back tears.

  This had been more than a mere dream. More detailed and lucid. This felt like the visions the Lamotelokhai had placed in his mind before. Peter could think of only one reason the Lamotelokhai would put such a disturbing vision into his head.

  “Hey! Someone get in here! We need to talk!” He waited, but his shouts were followed by silence. He yelled again. He yanked violently against the restraints, actually rolling the bed a few inches toward the center of the room.

  The metal door clicked as it was unlocked. It swung open, and the woman who had pushed his bed into the room stood in the doorway. A burly man stood behind her. They both wore green scrubs, like everyone else Peter had seen in this place. They entered the room, but the bloke remained by the door. The woman came over, pushed the bed back to the wall, and flipped a brake with her foot.

  “You’ve got to listen to me,” Peter said. “I think there’s a possibility that something very dangerous might happen. I know you have Addison—”

  “You mean the Lamotelokhai,” she said.

  Peter hesitated only briefly. “Yes, good for you, you know what it’s called. But I’m pretty bloody sure you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

  “What are we dealing with, Mr. Wooley?”

  “And it seems you know who I am. Then perhaps you’ll listen while I explain something.”

  She sat on the edge of the bed next to Peter’s knees. “Absolutely. Our purpose here is to learn all we can.”

  “Are you with the United Stat
es government?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were going to explain something to me.”

  Peter glared at her for a moment. “I had a dream. More accurately, a vision. I believe the Lamotelokhai put it into my head as a warning of what might happen if you people are careless.”

  She raised her brows again. “What might happen?”

  “It’s difficult to describe. What I saw was apparently the result of attempting to work with a small portion of the Lamotelokhai, rather than with the entire entity.”

  The woman’s eyes grew wide for a brief moment, and she glanced at the man by the door. “Go on,” she said.

  “I’m trying to tell you that the thing is dangerous beyond anything you can imagine. I know for a fact that the Lamotelokhai is programmed to do whatever we ask it to do, regardless of the consequences. Perhaps it’s just studying us, watching to see if we destroy ourselves. If we do, it will simply watch it happen. Maybe a million years later—maybe fifty million—a more intelligent species might evolve on this planet. If so, those future beings will have the opportunity to make the same mistakes we did. It won’t stop them, just as it won’t stop us.”

  The woman waited patiently, apparently considering his words.

  “It gave me a warning,” Peter said. “But if you don’t heed the warning, it won’t interfere.”

  The woman nodded thoughtfully. “Why did the Lamotelokhai give you this warning?” She nodded toward the straps holding him to the bed. “You are not in a position in which you are likely to make a careless mistake, are you?”

  “I don’t know! It gives me these visions occasionally, maybe because its particles have been in my body for fifty years!”

  She seemed to consider this before speaking again. “Mr. Wooley, since arriving at this facility, have you seen anything that might suggest that we are being careless?”

  He stared at her, stewing in his anger. “I have seen little of this facility, perhaps because you drugged me and brought me here unconscious. Not to mention that you shot my friend. And the very fact that you are performing some sort of barbaric experiment on a mere child suggests that you are ill-suited to do anything at all scientific, let alone anything involving the Lamotelokhai.”

  “Well, you should see more of the facility, Mr. Wooley. I think you would be impressed, particularly since we constructed it in only half a year.”

  Peter said, “Can we get back to the impending catastrophe I’m trying to warn you about? Personally, I don’t care if the Lamotelokhai kills you and your other government lackeys in the most horrible way possible. But the danger is very much larger than that. I’ll say it again, the vision I saw suggested it is a very bad idea to try to deal with a subset of the particles that make up the Lamotelokhai. God knows it’s dangerous enough to use the entire thing intact.”

  She put her hand on Peter’s knee, and he shook his leg to dislodge it. “Here’s an interesting thought,” she said. “If you were the Lamotelokhai, and you did not want us to divide the collective particles of your body into smaller portions, perhaps because such an act might allow us to learn the secrets of how you function, then wouldn’t you be tempted to scare us by warning of the terrible things that might result?”

  Peter was incredulous. “If you think the warning is a deception, then you have no—”

  “This conversation has been helpful,” she said. “In fact, we are counting on you being correct, that the Lamotelokhai will do anything it is asked to do.”

  She stood up and walked to the door. “Please let us know if you decide to share additional information. We wish to learn all we can. You may ask for me by name, if you wish. I am Sofia.”

  She and the bloke stepped out, and the door slammed shut.

  Seven

  The elevator’s stainless steel doors whisked open and then were silent, waiting for Bobby to step through. He tried to control his breathing. Outside the elevator was a white floor. Beyond that was a glass wall with another white room behind it. He stepped forward, and the doors closed behind him. He was in a large circular room, empty except for the cylindrical elevator shaft in the center. He now saw that the glass wall before him was only one of ten glass panels that made up the outer wall of the room. Behind each glass panel was a smaller chamber. He walked around the elevator shaft, looking into each of the chambers until he found one that wasn’t empty. Standing inside the chamber and gazing back at him through the glass was Addison. The Lamotelokhai.

  Bobby stared at it, terrified that he might make a mistake.

  Addison smiled. He then spoke, and his voice came through speakers somewhere in the ceiling. “Hello, Bobby. You are wearing an interesting hat.”

  Bobby swallowed. “It’s a protective helmet, in case I fall.” This was exactly what he had been told to say, and it was true. “I like it, so I wanted to wear it today.” This part was a lie, but if he hadn't said it, Ashley would have been hurt again.

  Addison stepped closer to the glass. “I have observed some interesting events since I last saw you. It is difficult to predict what behaviors your kind might exhibit next.”

  Bobby kept his mouth shut, waiting for a pulse behind his ears. None came, so he didn’t dare speak.

  “You are afraid,” Addison said. “Why?”

  This wasn’t going the way Helmich had told him it should. After several long seconds of waiting, Bobby felt the pulse. The device was off, and he was now allowed to answer the Lamotelokhai. But he knew what would happen if he said anything Helmich didn’t like.

  “I’m not afraid. I’m just kind of nervous about everything that’s happening. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.” Bobby held his breath, half expecting to wake up on the floor. But nothing happened. Helmich was waiting for him to say what he’d been instructed to say.

  Addison gazed at him with no expression.

  There was no point in trying to put it off. Bobby had no idea if it would work, and he silently hoped it wouldn’t, particularly after the terrifying vision he’d seen in his mind less than an hour ago. But he had no choice.

  “Addison, I need your help. Please just do what I ask, okay? I will explain later. I need for you to divide yourself into ten smaller but equal portions. Can you do that?”

  Addison’s eyes turned from sky blue to fire gold. They stayed that way for many seconds, longer than Bobby had seen them do it before. Finally they turned back to blue.

  “That is an interesting request,” it said.

  Bobby gave the response he was allowed to give. “I’m sorry, but it’s important. Can you do it for me?”

  Addison looked down at his own body and then back up at Bobby. “If I do, it will affect my ability to function as a collective entity.”

  Bobby felt faint. The Lamotelokhai was actually considering doing it. Why in the hell did these people want to split it up? Did Helmich think he could destroy it this way? Bobby wanted to stop this, to warn the Lamotelokhai. But he knew that he wouldn’t be able to finish his warning and that Ashley would have to suffer. He had to trust that the Lamotelokhai would not allow itself to be harmed.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s important,” he repeated. “Can you do it for me?”

  Addison lowered his head, like he was praying.

  Don’t do it! Bobby opened his mouth to say what he was thinking, but then he stopped himself. It was too late.

  Addison folded over at the waist. But instead of bending forward like a person would, his upper body folded straight back, until his head touched the floor behind his feet. The motion was so unnatural and sickening that Bobby barely stopped himself from crying out in surprise. He stared, helpless.

  Addison’s left arm and part of his shoulder detached and fell to the floor beside his inverted head, which was still attached to the folded body. Bobby heard the thump on the floor through the ceiling speakers. There was no blood or gore, just a smooth, pink surface where the arm had been attached. The other arm and shoulder tumbled away from the body. Next c
ame the head, with a portion of the chest still attached. It fell and came to rest facing away from Bobby. Without the head propping it up, the rest of the body fell into a heap. Each of the legs detached just above the knee, followed by the two thighs. After that, the jumble of body parts made it hard to comprehend what was happening. But Bobby knew Addison’s torso was being split into three sections. The Lamotelokhai was doing exactly what he had asked it to do—just as it always had.

  A low beep sounded in the earpiece that had been fitted to Bobby’s left ear. He then heard people cheering and congratulating each other. It sounded like a NASA control room after a successful Mars landing.

  “Very well done, Bobby.” It was Helmich. “You have convinced even those of us who have held the most skepticism. Now, as you know, you have another task to complete. Please be most careful. We do not want to have to hurt you or your friends.” The earpiece beeped again, and the radio went silent.

  Suddenly the floor vibrated as a large machine somewhere beneath kicked on. The machine’s hum rose to a higher pitch, and then the ten chambers surrounding the room began pulling away from the room’s center. They moved steadily outward, and Bobby then saw that each chamber was on two metal rails. The rooms stopped after receding about ten feet outward, and the machine fell silent. The rooms had been pulled out from the center like pieces of a pie, and now there were gaps between them.

  Bobby listened for a moment to his own breathing and the blood rushing through his ears. He had to do something to stop this. Maybe he could surprise them. Maybe they were so busy congratulating each other that he could enter the chamber, shove the Lamotelokhai’s pieces back together, and order it to zap itself out of here—to the motel room or anywhere else. Bobby looked around at the strange array of chambers and then at the pile of Addison’s body parts, and he knew it was too late. Any opportunity he may have had was now past.