I, Spaceman

by Anthony North

  One of the new breed of young prospectors had accompanied Old Space Dog to the homestead. He couldn’t get used to the idea that what was once thought an animal – a delicacy, even – could suddenly be a sentient species.

  ‘But they are,’ said Old Space Dog. ‘I’d always known it. And I was one of the first to agree with Sister Isis about their intelligence.’ And as was Old Space Dog’s way, he had to retell the story:

  ‘Sister Isis was one of the first scientists to arrive on Angeria, and she immediately noticed the balance of life between Angerian and Slothy was being upset. And she was certain it was the Slothy who were gaining sentience.

  ‘Of course, the Angerians branded her a witch, talking to the animals, and when they first gave definite displays of high intelligence, they said she had charmed them.’

  The old Angerian interjected: ‘And I still feel that way,’ he said.

  ‘Which was, in a way, what could have happened,’ continued Old Space Dog. ‘Maybe that intelligence had been there a long time, but it needed someone to communicate on their terms in order for it to be displayed.’

  ‘So it WAS Earthers who civilized them,’ the Angerian said.

  Old Space Dog smiled. He looked around the homestead, recalled the violence of the colonization of the Sector, dissipating almost in line with the Slothy ascendance, and he felt the peace of just being with them.

  ‘Well, whatever the truth,’ he said, ‘in the end it is them who are civilizing us.’

  SPIRIT RISING

  Old Space Dog was bored. These interplanetary transports were all very well, but with not going into hyperspace, it could take longer to get round the planets in the system than going to Earth, hundreds of light years away. Okay, the B-Movers of the Space Rangers could go hyper in such short distances, as could the Envin space pirates, but transports? No.

  He was sat there is his worn leather one-piece, his leather patch over one eye, his long white hair disheveled. The other passengers were wary of him. They knew Old Space Dog, and hoped he wouldn’t come out with another of his stories. But he did:

  ‘It was in the old days,’ he said, ‘on Angeria. Boy, did those Angerians know how to live then.’

  He paused, waited for the irritation to subside, and he soon had them. He continued:

  ‘We’d heard of one of their hiding places for their artifacts. As you know, they were priceless, them things. And the local Angerian chief had placed a guard on them. But my gang was having none of that.’

  A look of pride issued from his worn face. He leaned forward, increasing their attention. ‘We raised the spirit of their great warrior god …’

  A theatrical pause. Gasps of disbelief. ‘It’s true,’ said Old Space Dog. ‘It suddenly appeared, wild and ferocious, and rose into the air. And those guards? Well, they just ran towards it, got on their knees and prayed. And that’s when we dived inside the cave and took the lot.’

  Was that the end of the story, thought the passengers. Unlikely, they decided, knowing HIM.

  ‘But we never realized what would happen next. For as the Warrior god disappeared, the Angerians took it as a sign that they should rise up and take back their land.’

  The passengers remembered the incident now. Of course, they knew of nothing to do with Old Space Dog causing it. But the uprising could have got bloody indeed.

  Earthers and the Pridians had landed on Angeria early on in the colonization of the system, and the Angerian way of life was soon at risk. And when the Warrior god appeared, the Pridians were soon on the scene, ready to put down any insurrection.

  ‘Well,’ Old Space Dog continued. ‘I may have been a thief, but I wasn’t going to be responsible for a slaughter. After all, them damn blue skinned, bald headed Pridians could be butchers when they got going.

  ‘Of course, they didn’t believe any such nonsense as a Warrior god really appearing. But they were in for a shock.

  ‘I watched from the hill overlooking the promise of the battlefield. I got down on my knees and conjured up, once more, the Warrior god, and he rose into the air before the Pridians. And boy, did they run off.’

  Looks of disbelief were high now in the transport. Old Space Dog laughed.

  ‘The Angerians took this as a sign, too. The Warrior god had intervened to stop the fighting before it began. Was that a sign that war was not the answer to their problems? I don’t know. But they went home, the incident over. Although spotting us on the hill, we had to run like hell to escape them, dropping the artifacts on the way.’

  The general feeling was that this was another story concocted in Old Space Dog’s imagination. After all, as if HE could conjure up spirits?

  They were about to tell him so when there was a distortion in the air and he disappeared.

  From the back of the cabin Old Space Dog raised his head. Quickly, he pushed the holographic generator into his pocket. It had come in useful often during his decades of adventures.

  ‘You don’t think I’d lie, do you?’ he asked.

  ULRIKA FAYN IN OVERMIND

  A HIGHER REALM

  Ulrika Fayn knew it would be dangerous – it always was when the Gred were around. Time after time they powered up their sonic drives and attacked. And time after time Ulrika fired and manoeuvred herself out of trouble.

  It was an awry experience, even in the latest B-Mover. But she was an experienced Space Ranger, even using the Angerian Homeworld at one point to slingshot herself into a flank attack.

  Tox, her blue-skinned, conical-headed Pridian crew mate had already been injured, and Ulrika had evacuated him in a Pod, soon picked up by the Meds. She felt to blame for his injuries, but knew he would not think that of her.

  So she was now on her own as wave after wave of Gred ships appeared. And as she looked at them, she knew a hiatus was coming in the battle. Indeed, she knew her only escape, now, was to run. Which presented a problem in itself. After all, she’d penetrated so far into the battle that she was on the far side from the rest of the fleet.

  She momentarily sat at the controls, sighed, and pushed her long blonde hair behind her shoulders. Far off, she could just see Pridia, and it was then that the idea entered her head.

  Theoretically she knew that the latest B-Mover was fast enough to go to the edge of hyper-space. What lay beyond the barrier, she had no idea. No one did. But there was a belief that if someone went over the barrier, then they would enter OverMind – in effect, go out of the universe as we knew it.

  It was a daunting prospect, but if she used Pridia to slingshot once more, maybe that ultimate speed would be reached? And as over a dozen Gred ships bore down on her, she realized she had no other choice.

  She turned her ship, destination Pridia. She powered the sonic drive to its maximum, and as Pridia shot past her, she felt a sickly motion and the universe began to …

  She had no idea what the universe had done as she laid in the bed. She didn’t even know how she had got there. All she knew was that she was a torrent of raging thoughts, as if she was not alone in her head.

  Momentarily, she looked around the room. Then she thought of Tox, and suddenly she thought she WAS him. Which was, of course, ridiculous – until she looked down and saw she was in his body …

  The shock catapulted Ulrika Fayn out of Tox’s mind, and suddenly she thought she was back in the B-Mover and all around her was a world of thought, a universe of thought, and she realized she had crossed the barrier and had become one with universal mind – with OverMind. And a great adventure had begun.

  ULRIKA AND THE MYSTERIOUS LADY

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller from the future who became trapped in the universal mind. This was such a strange experience, she didn’t know whether she was real, or a thought in the mind of some storyteller. But regardless, she simply had to think of being somewhere and she was.

  One day she found herself in a dusty room and in the corner was a mysterious lady of undefined age. The lady seemed melancholy so Ulrika asked her what was wrong.<
br />
  ‘You’ll know soon enough,’ replied the lady.

  This intrigued Ulrika so she asked what she meant.

  ‘Oh, it’s a great adventure when you first get trapped in Uni-Mind,’ she said, ‘but after eons the excitement wears off and the fantastic becomes routine, and soon you realise you haven’t been given a gift, but become imprisoned. I remember once, when I was young and nearly got out of Uni-Mind, I actually spoke of my fantastic adventures to someone. If only I could communicate to him, now, how terrible the adventure becomes.’

  Ulrika was worried by this, and realised she might be right. Maybe, she decided, it was time to think about how to escape. And as the rationalist she was, she decided to try to get into the mind of the person the lady had spoken to – see it from his perspective.

  ‘Do you know his name?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes,’ replied the lady, ‘Carroll – Lewis Carroll.’

  ULRIKA VISITS PLANET CELL

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller from the future who became trapped in the universal mind. This was such a strange experience, she didn’t know whether she was real, or a thought in the mind of some storyteller. But regardless, she simply had to think of being somewhere and she was.

  Suddenly she found herself on Cell, watching the last humanoid on the planet die a painful death. All around her were bodies in varying stages of decay, as if a plague had slowly wiped them all out. ‘What’s happened to these people?’ she asked Uni-Mind.

  When he answered, his voice boomed more than normal, shaking the very foundations of Cell. ‘It’s a fault in the universal program,’ he said. Not waiting for Ulrika to speak, he continued: ‘Occasionally a species will fall out of sympathy, which is a big mistake. They begin to see themselves as above the system, not realising that they don’t inhabit a planet, but a universal cell, as if a part of the universal body. And as you know, a body has an immune system …’

  Ulrika realised what he meant. ‘You mean, it’s like a disease, and when that happens the universe fights back, eradicating it?’

  ‘Exactly right,’ boomed Uni-Mind, ‘and this little species got above itself, so Zap!’

  Ulrika thought this a bit harsh, and asked: ‘Isn’t there some way a message could be sent instead, warning of their error.’

  ‘Been there, done that,’ said Uni-Mind. ‘It’s endemic to the immune system. It’s not invisible, you know. Infact, the signals can be witnessed for decades before the killing starts. But no, most don’t get the message. First they deny, and then they usually attach myths to what they see. Just take your own little planet, Earth. Flying saucers, I think you call them.’

  ULRIKA AND HER GREAT REGRET

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller trapped in the universal mind, and she just had to think of being somewhere and she was. One day, she decided to visit home – see what her parents were doing; after all, they must be upset by her disappearance.

  It was an emotional visit for Ulrika and she willed herself to escape Uni-Mind and be with them. Uni-Mind had spoken in her head and told her of such folly, but she ignored it. Indeed, as Ulrika thought this, her parents jumped and seemed to look straight at her.

  ‘Well, you manifested, didn’t you,’ said Uni-Mind later.

  Ulrika said: ‘You mean they saw me?’

  This was indeed the case, and Ulrika was overjoyed – until, that is, Uni-Mind insisted she returned.

  You see, no matter how advanced a society becomes, beliefs in ghosts will just never die. And Ulrika cried as she saw the devastation on her parents’ faces at her memorial service.

  ULRIKA AND THE BULLET

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller from the future who became trapped in the universal mind. This was such a strange experience, she didn’t know whether she was real, or a thought in the mind of some storyteller. But regardless, she simply had to think of being somewhere and she was.

  One thought that continually came into her head concerned the millions of worlds she had not yet seen. Indeed, it was only upon entering Uni Mind that she realised how pitiful were the worlds she had actually visited. Yet one world that really appealed to her was Dawn.

  What was it about Dawn that enraptured her? Maybe it was just on the point of transition from a disconnected, conflict ridden world, to a world in unison and ready for the break-out into space.

  It was a young, vibrant leader who was well on the way to achieving this, and Ulrika had said to Uni Mind: this is what it’s all about – real lifeforms taking the lead, with no room for gods.

  Uni Mind ignored the sleight. Momentarily, as Ulrika stood, invisible, as the leader made a speech, she intuited activity to her side. Turning, she saw the man raise the gun and fire.

  Ulrika acted immediately. Being a thought within a thought she found it easy to concentrate on the bullet, and little by little it began to slow down, finally coming to a stop just inches from the leaders head.

  Uni Mind watched this and said: so who’s the god now?

  Ulrika thought a moment; and then cried as the bullet went on its way.

  ULRIKA AND THE WORK OF ART

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller entrapped in the universal mind. She simply had to think of being somewhere and she was. Of late she’d been thinking about whether those trapped in the universal mind were really gods.

  It came to a head one eon when she found herself close to an elderly woman looking at a picture and crying. Ulrika looked at the picture and noticed a handsome man of about thirty posing next to the woman when she was much younger. Next to this picture was another – of the woman in old age and alone.

  The pictures told their story and Ulrika felt sad for the woman. She focused on her, and in her mind the incidence of his death flashed before her. So tragic, she decided she must do something about it.

  Life, she decided, was like a work of art, and the universal painter always had the option to intervene, to change this, to change that. And this is precisely what she did, flitting through the pictures of life, deciding on different outcomes.

  Finished, she was shocked when she returned to the room – where she found herself close to an elderly man, looking at a picture and crying …

  ULRIKA AND THE ZONE

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller entrapped in the universal mind. She simply had to think of being somewhere and she was. One eon she found herself drawn to a deep area of what she could only class as psychic activity.

  As she approached, thoughts seemed to whirl around the universal ether. Some seemed soothing, whilst most were a rage. If ever there was a state called Chaos, thought Ulrika, this was it.

  ‘Do you like my Voice Zone?’ boomed Uni Mind as she existed on the edge. Ulrika thought ‘no’, she found it terrifying. But she had to ask what it was.

  ‘This is my gift to all sentient lifeforms,’ It answered. ‘When I think a species may be ready for the next phase, I’ll send a Voice and someone will pick it up.’

  Ulrika seemed to get the gist of what Uni Mind was saying. ‘You mean this is the centre of inspiration, making people geniuses?’ she thought.

  ‘That’s right – at least, when it works.’

  ‘And when it doesn’t?’

  ‘Oh, they go mad.’

  …

  Ulrika Fayn was a star traveller from the future who became trapped in the universal mind. This was such a strange experience, she didn’t know whether she was real, or a thought in the mind of some storyteller. But regardless, she simply had to think of being somewhere and she was.

  Except in the real world. Ulrika screamed. Would she ever escape!!!!!?

  HOW IT ALL BEGAN - YOUNG NULYN

 

  ARRIVAL

  Life had been fairly normal up until my early twenties - you know, Overmind permitting, a decent upbringing on Earth, an adequate education - but as my eyes scanned the skies my heart yearned for the stars. Hence, as soon as my education was over, I signed up as a cadet. But by the time I qualified, the only job I could get was as a tram
p freighter pilot. You know, the solos, ferrying from one boring planet to the next. But when humans moved into the Graveyard Sector, I thought I'd like a bit of the adventure.

  It was in the days before the Confederation. And as I was to go on to become the Sector's first Space Commander, I decided the best place to begin my memoirs proper was when I arrived. After all, my life had no real meaning until that day.

  That day. What a day!

  My freighter was old, and I knew it was inadequate for the leaps through hyperspace to the sector. But the young fool I was, I never considered the danger.

  I entered normal space close to Angeria. I'd heard the stories of this raw planet at the centre of the Sector. And as my sonic drive failed, and I went into free fall, I guessed I'd make my own impression on the planet. Although I thought that impression would be in the form of a great big crater.

  Well, it wasn't that big. My piloting skills had paid off and I managed to climb out of the wreck, complete with a pack of supplies, my sonic gun and an old sonic scooter – though how I was going to make a living without my freighter was another matter.

  I climbed to the top of the nearest hill to take in Angeria; try to get my bearings. But all I saw was wilderness.

  The Slothy - those weird, hairy beasts with their unusually sentient faces - grazed. I knew these creatures were the staple diet of the Angerians. And whenever you saw Slothy, you were bound to bump into some Angerians sooner or later.

  Sure enough, I spied a group racing towards me.

  They'd obviously seen my freighter come down, and curiosity was doing the rest.

  I was surprised to see them racing towards me on sonic scooters, with sonic guns by their side. Why is it civilisation always begins with the acquiring of weapons? It seems a contradiction to me. But other than the hardware, they seemed just as I'd expected from the holo-pictures - huge, wild men with big red hair and fierce faces.