Oracle

by Douglas E. Richards

  “So you’re suggesting that natural selection led to a firm barrier between the subconscious and the conscious,” said Redford.

  “Possibly, yes,” said the chief scientist. “Those whose conscious minds could easily pick up clairvoyant visions from their subconscious minds were weeded out—in favor of those whose conscious minds were blissfully unburdened by future signals.” She shrugged. “But this is just speculation.”

  Redford nodded thoughtfully, soaking it all in. “Getting back to the topic,” he said, “you’ve told us that all other intelligences have versions of microtubules, which lead to consciousness. But none of these lead to clairvoyance. So what’s different about ours?”

  “Yours are able to somehow vibrate at the right frequency to pick up these future quantum signals,” said Kaitlyn. “Like a tuning fork. And while we’ve tried to modify ours using genetic engineering to match yours, this alone isn’t enough. It’s not just the microtubules, but their interactions with your neuronal structures and the architecture of your brains. It’s a perfect storm that we believe none of the other twenty-seven intelligences can duplicate, even given genetic engineering. And even if we could, we believe that this capability in a conscious mind would draw unwanted attention from the Gatekeepers.”

  “Which is where Anna comes in,” said Redford.

  “Which is where Anna comes in,” agreed the alien known as Tom Vega.

  40

  There was a long silence in the library as the two humans considered everything that had been said. Anna could tell that Redford had been won over by Kaitlyn’s presentation. He had been so sure there could never be a scientific justification for clairvoyance, but the Vors had turned him into a believer.

  Anna sighed. “If you did enhance my abilities,” she asked, “wouldn’t I be overwhelmed by future visions? The very reason you speculate that people like me are practically extinct?”

  “Not at all,” said Kaitlyn. “Our computers modeled this possibility also. As you just said, this theory of ours is only speculation. But even if it is true, you’ll still be fine. The early hominids who tapped into the future, whom we believe natural selection may have weeded out, were not like you. Our theory supposes that the clairvoyant channel between their subconscious and conscious minds was wide open. Full throttle. But yours is mostly closed, allowing only a trickle of the visions your subconscious mind receives to get to you. So you’ll have the best of both worlds. You aren’t inundated with a maelstrom of visions, but you can get them when they’re desperately needed. And we have reason to believe you’ll ultimately be able to exert a reasonable level of control over the process.”

  Anna thought about this. It did make sense. She had recently had visions, which were disconcerting, but this was her first experience with them, and she was still quite able to focus on the present.

  “And if I were to agree to have my clairvoyance augmented,” she said, “how would you do it?”

  “I’ll ask Lisa to field that one,” said Vega.

  Anna studied the Vorian medic and genetic engineer, but her intuition continued to draw a blank.

  “The genetic material for all twenty-eight species differs in a number of ways,” began the Vor named Lisa. “But there are also considerable similarities. And processes like mitosis, meiosis, protein synthesis, energy production, and so on are even more similar. I studied human DNA and the human genome for many years on Vor, using knowledge and computers beyond what you have here. I was able to design gene therapy constructs that can alter microtubule production and location in your brains. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to acquire the proper human equipment to make these constructs, and to encapsulate them in pill form.”

  “So I just have to take a pill?” said Anna dubiously. “That’s it? And then my genes suddenly begin spitting out superior microtubules?”

  Lisa nodded. “More or less, yes,” she replied. “Once the gene cocktail in the pill activates the proper genes in the proper way, they should stay on. Our modeling has suggested that just a minor tweak in your microtubules will dramatically improve their ability to resonate with quantum signals from the future. Right now they work, but it’s like receiving music on the very edge of a radio band, which comes in mostly as static. This will be like tuning in to the dead center of the signal, with no static whatsoever. Exquisitely sensitive.”

  “But even so,” Vega hastened to add, “the partition between your two brains will still only allow a trickle of these visions through. And only on certain occasions. Your hidden mind was only getting a faint signal, and you were only receiving a fraction of that. After your microtubules are enhanced, what does make it through to your conscious mind will contain more meaningful information.”

  “It all sounds fascinating,” said Anna. “But I don’t love the idea of having my brain screwed with. Won’t this alter my consciousness? Or worse? How do we even know it won’t kill me? It’s great that your advanced computers are satisfied that it’s safe, but I’m not about to trust my life to your modeling.”

  “We never would either,” insisted Vega. “We’ve been looking for you for thousands of years. Do you really think we’d take any risk, whatsoever, with your life?”

  He shook his head. “We’ve given this pill to dozens of well-paid human volunteers, although we lied to them about its purpose. And we studied them extensively, before and after. They didn’t experience the slightest change in intelligence, personality, or behavior. We followed up for over a year, and they still have the same spouses, friends, jobs, and so on, and are as well-adjusted after the pill as they ever were before.”

  “Did it improve their clairvoyance?” said Redford.

  “We think it did, yes,” replied Lisa. “But unlike Anna, who has a certain porosity between her two minds, they weren’t able to receive any signals from their subconscious. So there is no way to be sure. The bottom line is that it didn’t affect their health or welfare in any way. And no group of people has ever been more thoroughly examined.”

  “So you did this to be sure you wouldn’t put your precious Oracle at risk,” said Anna, “whoever that turned out to be. But you didn’t care about putting your guinea pigs at risk, did you?

  Vega frowned. “We did have concerns, yes. Especially with the first few we tried it on. But our computers indicated that the risks were exceedingly small. And we had to know. I’m sorry, Anna, but my conscience is clear. We’re talking fate of the galaxy here.”

  Anna sighed. “Funny,” she said, “that doesn’t sound nearly as preposterous as it did last night. Still preposterous, I’m not going to lie. But gaining ground.”

  Vega smiled. “Good. Aren’t you glad you agreed to dinner last night?”

  “Worst decision of my life,” replied Anna in amusement. “And how in the world is it still only Friday?” she added.

  “There’s no question that much has happened since the restaurant,” allowed Vega, uttering what might be the biggest understatement in history. He leaned forward intently. “So what do you think, Anna? Should we proceed?”

  “How long will the process take?” asked the detective. “And what am I likely to experience?”

  “Not long,” said Lisa. “When you take the pill, we’ll also give you a sedative. While you’re sleeping, your genes will flood your subconscious brain with improved microtubules, and your subconscious will have full rein of your mind to begin to adjust to its enhanced capabilities. We believe that you’ll already begin noticing an improvement in precognition upon awakening. Greater clarity and range. But your abilities will continue to grow after that. We can’t be sure how quickly, but your subconscious will continue to hone its mastery of these skills through practice and trial and error.”

  Lisa paused. “We also believe that you’ll eventually develop a greater conscious control of this ability than you have now. It won’t be perfect control, but it will be much better. You’ll be able to focus on the futures that you want to see, and not on those you don’t.”<
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  The room became silent, and all eyes turned toward the detective as she decided what to do.

  Anna knew she was contemplating the unknown. A scary unknown, since she was considering altering the structure of her own brain. And once she stepped off this cliff, there was no returning. She was also putting an extraordinary level of trust into these aliens. Into their veracity, their motives, their computer models, and their judgment.

  Still, her gut continued to urge her on, telling her that the waters were safe. Not only safe, but inviting. She just hoped that her hidden mind, and she, weren’t at cross purposes this time.

  Regardless, she decided that she had to take this leap of faith. This was her chance to rise above. To matter. She was the lottery winner who happened to have the right brain structure, and who had trained herself to take advantage of it.

  Maybe she could prove decisive in an endless galactic war. She was still skeptical, but would she have believed any of this the day before?

  Not a chance in hell.

  And if there was any possibility that the Vors were right, how could she refuse to do what she could to help? Even if they were wrong, the Tarts were a looming crisis, and her intuition and clairvoyance could certainly help in this regard.

  Anna blew out a long breath. “I’m in,” she said finally. “When do we start?”

  41

  Anna’s eyes fluttered open and she found herself on a king-sized mattress so thick that a bagful of doorknobs underneath wouldn’t have impinged upon her sleep in the slightest. The wound on her upper arm was almost completely healed, presumably by some magic process known to the Vors, and she was showered and dressed in fresh jeans and a T-shirt, provided to her the day before by her benefactors.

  She felt fantastic. She glanced at a digital clock on an end table, which read 7:00 a.m. She had slept for more than seventeen hours, and all the events since her dinner with Tom Vega came rushing back to her. After two never-ending days, punctuated by only a few hours’ sleep, and after fighting off both human and alien adversaries, her body and mind had been more desperate for sleep than she had realized.

  The last thing she remembered was the colonel contacting his people to tell them that he was on a secret mission, which he couldn’t disclose, and to be ready to carry out an avalanche of orders at a moment’s notice. And then she had taken the magic pill, along with a sedative.

  The detective freshened up in the bathroom and then wandered into the main house, where the four other current residents quickly assembled as if they were part of a military drill, having eagerly awaited her emergence.

  A lavish buffet breakfast had been laid out on the vast quartzite island in the kitchen, and Anna realized she was starving. Tom Vega checked her vital signs, reflexes, and other simple measures of health in between breakfast courses, and deemed the results to be good.

  The group engaged in small talk while she ate, but once breakfast was over, Vega asked that they retire once again to the library, and to the conference table, which now contained a deck of cards and a digital timer.

  “Having any visions?” Vega asked her while they all took their seats as before, with the exception that Redford was now seated across from her, with the cards in front of him.

  The detective shook her head. “None that I’m aware of,” she replied. “I don’t feel any different.”

  Anna smiled. “Well, that isn’t quite true,” she amended. “I feel spectacular. Like a new woman. But that’s just the sleep talking.”

  “Still very nice to hear,” said Kaitlyn. “So let me tell you why you’re seated here,” she continued. “We’d like to get a baseline read on your abilities. Get a sense of just where you are on the clairvoyance scale.”

  “Didn’t know there was such a thing,” said Anna.

  “There isn’t,” said Vega with a smile. “But we’re trying to create one.”

  “What did you have in mind?” she asked.

  “The four of us had lengthy discussions while you were asleep,” replied Vega, “about how best to test you. And about possible aspects of your abilities we wanted to explore. Colonel Redford—Steve,” he corrected, as the colonel had continued to insist that he be addressed informally, “was quite helpful. He only has a human conscious mind, but it’s very sharp, and very well trained.”

  “Thanks,” said Redford. “I think,” he added in amusement, and then quickly returned his affectionate eyes to Anna’s face, where they seemed to enjoy dwelling.

  “Okay, Anna,” began the alien leader. “We’d like to do a few different types of tests. I’ll tell you about each as we get to them. First, we’ll ask you to tell us the card on top of the deck. After ten seconds, Steve will turn the card up for all of us to see. When we’ve run through all the tests, we’ll come back to this one and repeat it many times, each time with a longer delay before revealing the cards.”

  Anna confirmed her understanding and signaled her readiness, and less than five minutes later they had run the first test ten times. She had guessed the right card correctly in all cases. For eight of the trials the card’s identity had come to her as a hunch, while for the other two, she had actually flashed on an image of Redford turning it up. She had no doubt her clairvoyant abilities had already seen a dramatic boost, as Lisa Moore had predicted.

  The entire group was delighted by these results.

  “There is one thing I don’t understand,” said Anna when they had finished the first round. “I was right for all ten cards. But I’m not receiving any subconscious signals as to what others in the room might say, the words that they’re about to speak. Why would that be?”

  There was a long silence in the room as everyone considered this question, and everyone was equally stumped.

  “This is a tough one,” said Kaitlyn finally. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because the card task is a lot easier. It’s very well defined. Your subconscious has been told exactly what will happen, and exactly when. And the identity of the card won’t change based on subtle things you do. But the response of a sentient being with a quantum consciousness might. So perhaps when you’re interacting with another consciousness, their future responses are harder for you to see, since there are an infinite number of ways you can unknowingly impact them by your own actions.”

  Anna thought about this. “You may be right,” she said. “But as I listened to you, I realized there’s another good reason I wasn’t able to see what your answer would be just now. It was very complex, and my hidden mind is a poor communicator. It’s relatively easy for my subconscious to implant a hunch in my conscious mind that the next card will be the king of diamonds. A lot harder to communicate what you just said,” she added with a smile.

  Kaitlyn nodded. “You make an excellent point.”

  “I guess I’m ready to move on to the next test,” said Anna.

  “Okay then,” said Vega. “This test will be the same as the first one, with the following exception. When you have a vision of Steve turning the card up—and not just a hunch—tell us. And then tell us the identity of the card, as usual.”

  Anna nodded her understanding and the test began. During the third trial she let the group know that she had seen an image of the colonel turning over the five of clubs.

  Redford eyed the Vorians anxiously. “Okay then,” he said. “Let’s see if we can change the future.” Anna noted that he was clenching his teeth, as if lightning might come out of nowhere and strike him dead for having the audacity to even suggest such a thing.

  “Time!” said Vega, as he had done on twelve previous occasions when the timer hit zero.

  But this time, instead of turning the card face up to reveal it to Anna, Redford shoved it into the middle of the deck.

  Anna raised her eyebrows. “I assume you discussed this test and this possible outcome while I was sleeping,” she said.

  “We did,” said Vega.

  “So can one of you walk me through the significance of what just happened?”

&nb
sp; “Gladly,” said the colonel. “When you first tried to demonstrate your clairvoyance to me at the warehouse, you had no idea what number I had in my head. That must have been because there was no future in which I remembered to actually tell it to you in a timely manner. But here, I had every intention of showing you the card on time. I vowed to deviate from this plan only if I received new information from you. Namely, that you had actually seen me turn over the card in the future.”

  Anna paused in thought. “So there was a future in which you showed me the card,” she said. “The future I saw. But you were able to change things so that future never came about.”

  “Exactly,” said Lisa excitedly.

  “Now let’s do a variation of this experiment,” said Vega, handing her a notepad and pen. “This time I’d like you to write the numbers one through ten on the pad. Then we’ll begin. For each trial, if your subconscious provides you with the identity of the card, write a Y next to the trial number. If it doesn’t, write an N. But put the pad below the table so Steve can’t see what you’re writing.”

  “Are you going to tell me why?”

  “We will when we’re through,” said Vega. “Ready?”

  Anna indicated that she was, and minutes later the experiment was complete, accompanied by broad grins all around. For the first five trials, after Anna had written a Y or an N each time, Redford had randomly decided whether to go through with showing her the card, or not. Some he showed her at ten seconds, as planned, and some he buried. For the second set of five trials, after Anna had written a Y or an N, Redford had flipped a coin, showing her the card if it landed heads, and burying it if it landed tails.

  The results were conclusive. Anna’s clairvoyance had known the identity of every card Redford had ended up turning over. And it had not known the identity of every card he had ended up burying.

  “Okay,” said Anna, “so what does this mean?”