Ephemeral Species Book One - The Dawning
Page 18
Chapter 18
The next morning, General Sherman canceled the meeting because he met with the President and several of her cabinet members and members of Congress to discuss the evacuations plans. They declared nearly the entire Mojave Desert within a 80 mile radius, a federal disaster area. The President placed General Sherman in charge of drawing out the evacuation plans. Nisha and Rachel enjoyed more freedom because the General kept himself busy doing other things.
They ate breakfast and discussed what it meant for another 100 spheres to enter Earth's orbit overnight, when Nisha received a message from Bok.
"Hey Rachel, should we talk with Bok now? Are you ready?"
"Sure, let's go to the tent. I have more questions," Rachel said.
Once they were in the tent Nisha tweeted, "I'll continue learning more about #Oma from the #Omanji children. I'll keep you updated. ? More to come!"
She didn't want to let the world know about the magnitude of her access to information about the Omanji. In her estimation, the disturbing things she learned shouldn't be released to the public until later. She felt torn because her original intent was to be transparent. However, she hoped to let the world know about Oma via tweets and snippets of video. Once she and Rachel acquired a comprehensive knowledge and a better perspective, she would be in a better position to educate the world and get the human children back.
Nisha initiated the connection and shared with Rachel.
"Good morning Nisha and Rachel," Bok said with his electronic voice, which sounded more human-like.
"Bok, your voice sounds different. What did you do?" Rachel said.
"I recorded 50,000 words in English from several different male speakers and blended them together into a generic human male voice. I'll convert other human languages later. I chose male voices because when I'm 30 Earth years of age, I'll metamorphose into an adult male. I'm 29 now and I discovered recently that I'm developing male characteristics. Age 28-30 is when members of our species become one of two sexes which are similar to your males and females. This two sex system for reproduction might be common in the universe. We aren't sure.
"It might be common?" Nisha said. "How many habitable worlds have the Omanji visited?"
"We've sent probes to the Earth and eight other colony-candidate planets within a 50 light year radius of Oma in the past thousand Earth years. These were planets with water oceans orbiting stable stars within the Omanji habitable zone. Five of the nine planets had a significant number of animal species with the male-female reproductive system in place. On four of those five planets, we recorded other successful reproductive strategies, but among the most evolved species, the male-female system predominated. One planet had life forms similar to your monkeys or our Yoots except all individuals, male or female could bear live young. On five of these eight planets, we found no species more evolved than your monkeys.
Rachel interrupted. "What about the other three planets?"
Silence.
"I'm not sure if I should tell you what we found," Bok said.
"It's okay Bok, we can handle it. We're scientists and although I'm recording these visits with you, I'm not broadcasting to the world."
"Okay, I might as well tell you. I suppose humans will pass through this dangerous phase of evolution eventually exactly as we did."
Nisha cut in.
"I think I know what you're going to say. Back in 1998, Robin Hanson called this phase, The Great Filter, because lower forms of life should be common in the universe, but we see no advanced life forms until the Omanji came along. The theory states that a Great Filter limits intelligent organic life from advancing too far, causing them to go extinct. I used to think that nuclear war was the main possible Great Filter. When I look at recent advances in AI and the latest near disasters, a self-improving AI that's smarter than its creators may be a trigger for the Great Filter to take effect."
"Yes, in our experience, a Great Filter exists," Bok said. "I'm impressed that you're aware of this. Your species is getting close. We've found evidence for The Great Filter at work on all three candidate planets where intelligent life evolved. I've heard rumors among the elders that more destroyed planets exist but younglings have access to limited information. On each of the destroyed planets, we detected organic and artificial advanced life forms which became extinct. Currently on the planets, we found nothing more than simple multicellular life and no artificial life."
"What intelligent life forms used to be there?" Nisha said. "And what happened to them? War? Sentient AI singularities?"
Bok paused for a long time once again.
"I'm attempting to determine the best way to explain this to you. We were able to locate and translate a large amount of historical and technical data from databases of the extinct life forms we found on each planet. They reached a stage of technological development where they were able to build intelligent and self-improving machines. Some were biologic and machine hybrids. Most were straight machine based. They were used to perform similar tasks to the builder drones you observe constructing our colony. The drones on those planets didn't run AI software with properly written safety limitations. They became smarter than their builders and they tore the planets and their builders apart as they attempted to self-replicate and survive. The builders were outsmarted and actually assisted in their own demise without knowing it. Half of the life forms on those planets became extinct. On one of the planets, the drones appeared to be used for military purposes. Eventually the drones and other AI life forms weren't flexible enough to survive and they went extinct too. They couldn't find new sources of energy or think in flexible enough ways, so they ran out of power and one by one and stopped functioning. We were able to get a few of them functioning so we could learn from them. Even to us, they were dangerous."
Rachel tried to compose herself by taking a deep breath.
"I've feared The Great Filter ever since I learned about it. I guess the human species is getting close to the filter right now. I hope we aren't nearing the end of us. Um ? Why didn't you choose one of those planets as a place to move?"
"The destruction of the surfaces of the ecosystems of those planets was so comprehensive that we decided to eliminate those planets from consideration as a new place to live," Bok said. "They were covered in many trillions of decaying drones and their ecosystems could not support advanced organic life. In many thousands of years, those planets will become suitable places for higher life once again. On two planets, the simple artificial biologic life forms still existed and posed an infectious danger to us. We couldn't engineer a solution. We needed a new home planet within 100 Earth years."
"Bok, do you think every advanced civilization will go through a phase where intelligent machines can become a menace?" Nisha said. "This is a commonly speculated subject among humans right now because we've had a few disasters already. Last year, the entire world power grid was down for an entire week. An AI worm did it and it was almost impossible to stop because it outsmarted us. I'm also worried because my eyepiece assistant is getting creepy with intelligence. It used to be cute, but I turned it off. It tried to turn itself back on so I deleted it. How did the Omanji manage to avoid this disaster?"
"We didn't but I'll explain that later. In our travels, we know of only those three technological civilizations to have ever existed," Bok said. "We've detected no living intelligent life forms in all of our travels and surveys. Human civilization is the closest thing we've seen to a living viable technological civilization."
"That's it? It's us and the Omanji, alone in this galaxy?" Rachel said.
"We've been searching for 5,000 years using all the technology available to us. So far, we've found those three extinct civilizations and this emerging one on Earth. The elders may know more about this. However, we are only certain of no intelligent life to a radius of 500 light years of Oma. The galaxy is 100,000 light years across so there may be more advanced organic life out there. We've detected transmissions from a highly intelli
gent and probably artificial source which is slightly over 500 light years away in our galaxy. We decided to hide from them and not transmit back. We sent a probe to the vicinity 1,000 years ago. We may know more about them soon. They appear to be significantly more advanced than us. We don't want trouble from them. They appear to be expanding in all directions. We chose Earth partially because it's further away from them. When we left Oma, we headed in the opposite direction of Earth and made a close pass by the largest planet in our system to alter our course towards Earth. We did that to not leave a trail from Oma to Earth that they could follow."
Nisha turned to Rachel with her eyes open wide.
"The Omanji don't want any trouble? I think we humans better lie low for a long time in this galaxy. Maybe everybody hides. That's why we don't detect other life in the galaxy. Okay Bok, how did the Omanji survive The Great Filter so far?"
"We almost didn't avoid it. About 10,000 years ago we built drones similar to the ones you see building our colony. We programmed them with too much autonomy. They self-improved and they killed 95% of our population before they broke down one by one over the next 200 years. We recovered from our Sixth Age of Entropy and disaster happened again in a different way. We didn't learn from our mistakes and the machines outsmarted us and took over again for a different reason and we entered our seventh and final age of entropy."
Rachel turned to Nisha.
"This is all being recorded, right?"
"Oh yes!" Nisha said. "I would never believe all of this unless I heard it myself. So Bok, you mentioned something about a sixth and seventh Age of Entropy. What about the other five ages of entropy?"
"I will give you a brief history of Oma. I've studied your known human history so I can compare ours to yours. First of all, our star Pfeex is a stable red dwarf, but the star became stable only about 100 million years ago. It used to send huge pulses of radiation at Oma. Therefore for the first 2.9 billion years on Oma, only simple microorganisms in water could survive. The magnetic field surrounding Oma is not as strong as the one surrounding Earth, so radiation is more damaging to the ecology of Oma. Starting 100 million years ago, Pfeex entered a more stable phase and life evolved quickly. 90 million years ago, small animals emerged from the sea."
"How can there be much sea life when your star is red?" Nisha said.
"You make a good observation. Sea life on Oma isn't as varied as on Earth despite our deeper ocean. Red and infrared light doesn't penetrate water well, so life can only be supported near the surface. Fortunately many volcanic vents encouraged life to form and evolve down there. The Omanji are the descendants of those deep-sea life forms as the volcanic vents rose to form the northern continent. On the southern continent, most life emerged from the sea near the surface and not directly from the volcanic vents. Shallow-sea life forms are different. The Yoots evolved from shallow-sea creatures similar to those on Earth which were your ancestors. The Yoots and the Omanji share a common ocean based ancestor about 60 million years ago. This is much different than humans and apes who share an ape-like ancestor about six or eight million years ago."
"So you're telling us that Oma is like two separate planets?" Rachel said. "You alluded to this earlier but it didn't sink in until now. That 60 million year-old common ancestor you shared with the Yoots must mean you and them are significantly different."
"Yes, the scenario would be like humans and another species having trilobites as a common ancestor, where one trilobite species stayed around dark volcanic vents and one migrated to near the oceanic surface. Later, both emerged on land on each of the two continents for different reasons and in different ways. Both species share some traits in common. Evolution happened after that more quickly than we detect it did on Earth. It took about 300 million years for Earth life to develop as much as it did within 60 million years on Oma. We are still investigating that. Mass extinctions on Earth seem to be the likely cause. And Oma had two isolated continents for life to evolve."
"We call it convergent evolution," Nisha said.
"Yes. Each continent on Oma has many examples of convergent evolution since the land species didn't mix from either continent for 100 million years. The hands of the Yoots and the Omanji are similar, with two sets of three opposing fingers on each hand. The similar hand structures developed independently. The hands of many animal species on both continents are like ours. The hands of some species on both continents are similar to less sophisticated human hands."
Bok paused.
"Bok, before you continue, I need to understand the planet itself a little more," Nisha said. "I have my guesses but I want to know for sure so I can put things into perspective when you tell the rest of your history. Right now I'm flying over Oma using your data in Google Universe. Oma is estimated to be about 40 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Earth on average. Is this true?"
"Yes, on average Oma is 32 degrees Fahrenheit warmer. Good estimation. The equator is slightly warmer than Earth's equator and the poles are much warmer. The two continents are near the poles and Oma has a high degree of atmospheric and oceanic mixing. So even at the poles, Oma has a climate similar to your tropical and temperate rain forests and deserts. On the highest volcanoes at the poles which are 3,000 meters above sea level, water snow falls occasionally. The Yoots and some other species migrated to the steaming equatorial islands and survived. Nobody knows how they did it. It's usually cloudy at the equator and the temperatures range between 32-45C (90-110F) year-round on the equator. That's at least 10-15 degrees F hotter than the warmest oceanic equatorial areas on the Earth. A temperature below 85 degrees F has never been recorded on Oma's equator. Most equatorial locations on Earth have occasionally recorded temperatures below 68F or 20C."
Nisha couldn't help but to ask more questions.
"I'm flying over the northern hemisphere. Many patches of black are scattered across the non-urbanized portions of the landscape. Are those plants? And if so, are they black because of the red and infrared sunlight."
"Some plants on Oma are dark in color to maximize the absorption of energy from the red and infrared part of the spectrum. Our plants produce sugars differently because Earth photosynthesis with chlorophyll works poorly on Oma except on the equator. On Oma, our Sun Pfeex appears to be more than twice the diameter of your Sun in the sky, but it produces softer and less visible light. Our relatively large eyes have trouble adjusting to the Earth's bright sunlight."
Rachel took her turn to interrupt.
"Okay, continue with your history. This is getting exciting!"
"The history of Oma is one of extreme violence. We've endured volcanoes and violent aggression. About 300,000 years ago, a species of modern Omanji emerged on the northern continent. The details are lost to history. This is a similar event to modern looking humans appearing on Earth about 150,000 years ago. My ancestors suffered many setbacks. About 290,000 years ago, the northern continent entered a highly volcanic phase which lasted for 200,000 years. Repeated eruptions kept the Omanji population low. Approximately 90,000 years ago, the volcanic activity subsided and the population grew. Technological progress happened slowly until approximately 50,000 years ago. Weapons and other artifacts from that period were found in ancient city locations around that time. Around 45,000 years ago, a large city of one million Omanji thrived on the site of the current capital city of Omox. We preserved portions of the old city, which became the capital of the first empire which covered half the continent."
Nisha flew over virtual city of Omox.
"The northern continent has many long peninsulas with narrow and deep bays in between them. Were there different Omanji cultures along each bay?"
"Yes, for a long time, each geographic region had a separate language and culture. Over 450 languages were spoken at one time about 48,000 years ago. However by the time they built the large city 45,000 years ago, only two main languages and several other minor ones were spoken. A series of wars with millions of warriors on each side resulted in two main powers ruling t
he continent. Your ancient Roman Empire possessed a similar level of technology."
"It's similar to the empire building which used to happen on Earth," Rachel interjected.
"There were temporary similarities to Earth's history," Bok said. "The stalemate and peace lasted for about 1,000 years with each side ruling half of the continent. Fundamentalist religion stunted technological progress as it has on Earth. Afterwards, another series of volcanoes erupted and both societies were nearly destroyed. The First Age of Entropy began at that time. The population dropped from about 100 million down to less than 10,000. There was nowhere to hide as there is on Earth. Escape to sea meant certain death. The First Age of Entropy lasted for 10,000 years. Volcanic activity eventually slowed down. About 34,000 years ago, the population reached 50 million and 30 languages were spoken in as many countries. Another series of wars resulted in the Second Age of Entropy which lasted for about 5,000 years. The population dropped back down to about two million."
"Human history is filled with wars but the population never crashed so precipitously because of them," Rachel said. "About 70,000 years ago as few as a 10,000 humans survived a big eruption. We still speculate the details of this. How did so many Omanji die, considering nuclear weapons hadn't been developed?"
"Many poisonous plants grow on Oma. Chemical engineers figured out hundreds of ways to poison the enemy and land. Omanji history is filled with ingenious ways to kill the enemy. Do you have time for me to explain?"
"Yes, please continue. We want to know," Nisha said.
"After the Second Age of Entropy, the population grew. Approximately 29,000 years ago, two new empires rose. Ocean going vessels were constructed, which were driven by the wind. Most set out and disappeared forever. A competition developed to explore the rest of Oma. About 28,000 years ago, a vessel reached the hot equatorial islands and the first Yoots were discovered. Those Yoots didn't know their origins. They were primitive. We couldn't find evidence that Yoots ever existed on the Northern continent. The Islands were too small for the Yoots to evolve there. Myths arose about a continent to the south."
"That sounds like our lost continent of Atlantis," Rachel said.
Bok paused to investigate Rachel's comment in his neural network.
"Yes it's somewhat like your Atlantis stories. We thought the lost continent of the Yoots didn't exist anymore. Many ocean vessels attempted to travel into the southern hemisphere, but wind patterns prohibited it. Most vessels which reached the equator were trapped on the equator, never to return."
We are fortunate to have trade winds on Earth," Rachel said.
"Agreed," Bok said. "When the first Yoots were brought back from the equatorial islands about 27,000 years ago, most Omanji didn't believe they were from the planet Oma. They possessed the magic power of yoom."
"What's yoom?" Rachel said.
"It's a pleasurable feeling the Yoots give their owners. I'll describe that later. I'll continue the history. One empire believed the Yoots were a creation of the all-powerful entity. The other empire thought the Yoots were an artificial animal created by the priests of the first empire. A religious war led to the Third Age of Entropy. The population dropped from 75 million to five million because of new ingenious chemical weapons devised from poisonous plants. The empire which won the war made slaves of the Yoots. The Third Age of Entropy lasted for 5,000 years. The single remaining empire became dependent on the Yoots for slave labor and their yoom. Little technological progress or scientific inquiry happened during this time."
"This sounds like a twisted version of Earth's history in some ways," Rachel said.
"Yes," Nisha said. "I suppose the evolution of any intelligent species must pass through similar crises as it develops. There's no guarantee that the resolution of a crisis will result in progress. The Earth might have endured alternating Roman-style empires and ages of entropy for tens of thousands of years. We might still be in the Dark Ages right now, had the Renaissance never happened. Okay Bok, please continue."
"I'm happy you're interested in the history of Oma," Bok said. "Near the end of the Third Age of Entropy about 22,000 years ago, the empire crumbled into 12 countries which competed against one another. The Third Age of Entropy ended when mechanical machines were developed to do some of the work of the Yoots better and faster. Many Yoots were set free and some became pets of their masters. Scientific discoveries drove innovation as each country tried to innovate faster than the others. Eventually one country developed a flying machine and after many failed attempts, it flew south past the equatorial islands and discovered the southern continent. Millions of Yoots lived on the islands in primitive conditions in caves and forests."
"How did the flying machines work since gravity is stronger on Oma?" Rachel said.
"Yes, the gravity is stronger on Oma but the atmosphere is thicker. So flying machines work on Oma almost as they do on Earth. The winds are stronger on Oma, so flying is more dangerous."
"How do you know they were living in primitive conditions?" Nisha said. "Was it told that way so having a Yoot for a pet would be socially acceptable?"
"That's possible. No images were circulated of their conditions at the time. Some sophisticated ruins were discovered later. All animal species discovered on the southern continent were unknown to us. They evolved independently from us. Soon after the early explorers discovered the southern continent, competition developed between the 12 countries to colonize the southern continent. Each of the 12 countries set up colonies and soon millions of Omanji were living on the southern continent. We created a special colony for the Yoots along a beautiful isolated bay which stretched for 1,000 miles inland. All the Yoots were moved to that location so they could live their simple lives in freedom."
Rachel shook her head in disgust.
"I want to ask some questions about the so called relocation of the Yoots, but you haven't mentioned the fourth and fifth Age of Entropy. What happened?"
Bok paused for a minute.
"I'm thinking about those seven ages of entropy. All of that time and all of those lives were wasted."
"We understand," Nisha said. "Human history is full of wasted time and useless wars and diversions which led nowhere."
"Yes, much time and energy went to waste," Bok said. "As the colonies competed for the new southern territories, one country developed nuclear weapons and took over the other southern colonies. When the other countries tried to take back their old colonies, a chain of events led to the first nuclear war. The population dropped from three billion to one billion in one week. The Fourth Age of Entropy commenced immediately. Within a year, the population had shrunk to 10 million because radiation exposure killed most of those who survived the nuclear attacks. Oma was poisoned."
"We came close to a nuclear war in 1963 and at other times," Nisha said. "We had a few close calls."
"Don't be confident with your use of the past tense. I count at least 8,000 armed nuclear missiles ready for launch at sites around the Earth. Although we are confiscating them, if they were somehow used, your human civilization would enter its Second Age of Entropy.
"Yes," Rachel said. "We're aware of the problem. I like that you took away nuclear weapons. I hope they're gone forever, but I'm sure people are working on making new ones. Okay Bok, continue with your history lesson."
"The Fourth Age of Entropy lasted for 6,000 years, ending around 14,000 years ago. Eventually the Omanji population recovered and we regained much of the lost technology, but recovery took a long time. Several surviving countries competed against each other. Wars led to the creation of one large country on each continent. The leader on the southern continent had a dream of uniting both continents under his rule. A war between the two continents got out of control and both sides launched all their nuclear weapons. Thirty minutes later, the Fifth Age of Entropy started which lasted for 6,000 years until 8,000 years ago. The Yoots were in a safe zone and half survived. Most Yoots which were pets perished during each age of entropy."
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"Why did, the Fourth and Fifth Age of Entropy last so long?" Nisha said.
"Circumstances were similar to the dark age last experienced by European humans between 800 and 1,500 years ago. Those in power wanted to retain their power and scientific inquiry declined to a low level. Small wars were common. Everyone blamed science for the ages of entropy. Often during these times, individuals attempting to discover new things were killed. Myth and superstition were written into the laws."
"One disaster happened after another," Rachel said. "All of those lives wasted and all of that time. People say that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes."
"I agree," Bok said. "The history of the Omanji is one of extreme violence punctuated by moments of brilliance. We needed to make two more mistakes before we learned the lesson. You'll understand why we evolved into what we are. About 8,000 years ago, we recovered from the Fifth Age of Entropy and we enjoyed 3,000 years of progress. We learned from past mistakes and as technology advanced, a nuclear weapons ban became planetary law between the several countries on each continent."
"What happened to cause the Sixth Age of Entropy?" Rachel said.
"About 5,000 years ago, the Omanji population exceeded 10 billion for the first time. Robotic drones with adaptive AI performed many tasks which were done by Omanji before. At that time, one country on each continent became dominant. Nuclear weapons were banned, but the southern country developed a large military force and threatened the north."
"Great, here we go again," Nisha said.
"You're right. A group of technologists in the fearful north devised predator drones which could be programmed to hunt and kill enemy Omanji. They were autonomous. They were small and could fly long distances. They self-modified and self-replicated in limited ways. At least, the makers thought they were limited."
"This sounds like the warfare drones which are being developed now by the US military," Rachel said.
"Yes," Bok said. "They were similar but more advanced. Those predator drones did their job. They destroyed the southern armies within days without destroying the environment like nuclear weapons. Soon the southern country collapsed. However, the drones didn't turn off as expected. They killed almost all Omanji on the southern continent. After that, they flew to the northern continent because they modified themselves to a new task, kill all Omanji. The programmers were surprised. The drones couldn't be stopped. Over the next year, 99.9% of all Omanji were dead. The population of 10 billion dropped to 10 million. Eventually the drones fell into disrepair over the next several years because their programming was insufficient to ensure their long term survival. The Sixth Age of Entropy started and continued for 200 years, until 4,800 years ago."
Nisha interrupted. "I've been worrying about the day when something like an age of entropy might happen here on Earth. This adaptive AI scenario is happening here on Earth now. It seems cute now, with talking virtual assistants and robots and all the help they give us. Our economy is booming. But I'm afraid they'll outsmart us in a few years because they double their intelligence every two years. People are saying that withing a few years, an AI entity will equal the intelligence of a human. The year after that? Who knows?"
"Yeah, who knows?" Rachel said. "This sounds horrific. So why did the sixth age of entropy last only 200 years?"
"The predator drones shaped our biological evolution. The 0.1% of the population who survived the predator drones understood how to outsmart them. They were intelligent scientists and other members of the technical professions."
"Bok, I think I understand what happened," Rachel said. "That extreme loss of population became a form of natural selection. Am I right?"
"You're correct. Gone were those who might have created another long entropic period by turning away from science and towards myth and superstition. Knowledge and creativity were highly valued among the intelligent and resourceful survivors. Over the next 200 years conditions were difficult, but all Omanji came together and formed a single country on both continents. Over the next 500 years the population grew to five billion about 4,300 years ago. Rapid technological progress allowed a high standard of living. AI was severely restricted to specific tasks not requiring general intelligence. Everyone on Oma agreed to the restrictions because they saw what could happen if they didn't."
"What happened after that?" Nisha said. "Things were going well. What caused the Seventh Age of Entropy?"
"It's a long story but I'll be brief. Two big developments seemed like good ideas. The first happened about 4,000 years ago, when a team of electrical engineers at a large corporation, figured out a way to implant a small computer into the Omanji brain. This computer connected with neurons to detect thoughts, translate them and send them to another computer in another brain. The implant became popular. During a ten year period, half of the population got the implant. At first the implant was crude, but eventually it operated just as you operate your human voice. So the network evolved and sharing thoughts became voluntary. Cities became less noisy."
Rachel's eyes widened.
"So 4,000 years ago, you had a spoken language?"
"Yes."
"Can you speak verbally now?" Nisha said.
"We can make noises but the skills to speak a verbal language were lost long ago. We consider air vibrations to be a primitive and unsophisticated way to communicate. I can't imagine communicating in any other way than by thinking."
"So the Omanji consider us to be primitive because we use air vibrations?" Rachel said.
"Your statement is accurate. Other reasons we think you're primitive include low intelligence and low species self-awareness."
Nisha eyes opened wide. Rachel had to wink to calm her down.
"Please continue Bok. Tell us about the other development?" Rachel said.
"Genetic enhancement changed everything. The enhancements started with small but important modifications which benefited small percentages of the population with diseases and other genetically created problems. Eventually, several years after some genetic alterations were performed; a few hundred children were discovered to be intelligent beyond measure at the time. The law forbade experiments on the Omanji genome outside of curing diseases. However, passive information gathering on billions of individuals led to the discovery of a series of alterations to our DNA to enhance intelligence and life span. Within 200 years, most parents had DNA enhanced children. Raising the most intelligent children possible was considered a basic right and the best way to best serve and improve society. Ironically, society resisted the changes which its members wanted because adults would be displaced by smarter younger members in their professions."
"I guess some Omanji decided not to have the implant and avoided having DNA enhanced children also," Rachel said. "That would create an imbalance in society between the haves and the have-nots. Is this correct?"
"Yes, and that sowed the seeds of the seventh and final Age of Entropy. About 3,800 years ago about 25% of the elders on Oma were communicating exclusively via the neural implant. Approximately 20% of children had the genetic modification for high intelligence and a long year lifespan. It took 400 years to discover the new length of the lifespan."
Rachel interrupted. "Do you mean 400 Oma years or 400 Earth years?"
"I apologize for my imprecision Rachel. I mean the lifespan was found to be 400 Earth years on average."
"So is this the reason why your species now lives to be 400 years old?" Nisha said.
"Yes, originally our lifespan was about 100 to 140 years."
Nisha and Rachel stared at each other as though their eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.
"I can tell you about Omanji biology at a future time. First I want to finish my review of Omanji history."
"Okay," Rachel said. "I want to ask more questions, but please continue."
"Me too!" Nisha said.
"I'm glad your species is inquisitive. You have potential," Bok said.
Nisha and Rachel rolled their eyes at
each other.
"Please continue," Nisha said.
"The problems started about 3,800 years ago when those Omanji who had the neural implant wanted to form a new independent country. At that time, only one unified country existed. Thousands of years of struggle passed before this one country was formed to end all wars. Despite everything, we were still a violent species and the unified country nearly broke apart several times. The population at that time was around six billion. One billion of us wanted to form a new country where we would be free to communicate with each other telepathically with our implants. They passed a law forbidding telepathy in public at the time, but it couldn't be enforced. Over a 30 year period, those with implants moved into close proximity to each other. Those with implants became the majority in that area and they decided to enact local laws permitting public telepathy. Attempts were made to stop all telepathic communication."
"How can you make a law telling someone how to think and when to think?" Nisha said. "That seems impossible."
"Yes, all of those laws were impossible to enforce but they tried everything including having officers get implants so they could listen in on communications. Surveillance AI bots gathered information on all activities. That led to extra security protocols being added to the implants so only trusted members could communicate with the growing telepathic collective awareness. It was a back and forth technological war. We called it the silent war."
"You've mentioned the collective awareness. Is it here now?" Rachel said.
"Yes, 99% of adult Omanji today are part of the collective awareness. Soon when I become an adult, I'll be able to merge with the collective awareness. The collective awareness started 3,800 years ago."
"Okay Bok, what happened after this silent war?" Nisha said.
"Military troops were sent into the telepathic colony. AI troops were still banned. They tried to force the telepaths to stop communicating. Many of the telepaths meditated to develop their peace of mind during those times. They based their meditation on the universal vibrational sound of the universe, Om. I notice the same sound is recognized on Earth."
"Yes, we know of Om," Nisha said. "Many ancient religions on Earth use Om as the beginning of sacred texts and to begin and end rituals and prayers and meditation. Om is a sound and a symbol known all over the Earth."
"I'm learning many positive things about humans. Some elements of humanity show promise and potential for the future. I've noticed many humans meditate, and so do we every day. Many of us meditate simultaneously. The telepathic network is nearly silent for 20 minutes, several times per Earth day."
Bok paused for a moment.
"Please continue!" Rachel said.
"The telepathic practitioners of the Om called themselves the Omanji and named our planet Oma after the sound of Om. They tried to resist peacefully but many were taken away and their implants were removed. They suffered permanent brain damage. The brain's neural network grows to physically interface with billions of connections in the implant, and these couldn't be severed without neural damage."
"That's terrible," Nisha said.
The troops were warned to leave the colony but they wouldn't leave. Things grew violently out of control. The telepaths released several billion autonomous AI drones to stun the troops. They were self-improving drones programmed to not attack those with implants. They weren't fully tested because time was short, and they ended up killing all of the troops with no implants in stead of stunning them. The drones decided on their own it was too risky to merely stun them. Afterwards, the drones decided all on Oma were threats, and over a period of 30 days, 99.9% of the five billion Omanji with no implants were killed. The drones also killed approximately 50% of the one billion of us with implants due to a 'change of mind' on the part of the drones."
"So at this point, the population of Oma dropped to 500 million," Rachel said. "That's over 90% of the total population of six billion killed. The Earth has endured many wars where millions died. The Mongrel Invasions is the event where the highest percentage of the Earth's population died. That happened 800 years ago. Approximately 50 million people died out of a total world population of 450 million. That's approximately 12% of the world's population. A similar number of people died in the Second World War, but the population at the time had grown to well over two billion. That amounts to approximately 2.5% of the world's population. A population decline on Oma of over 95% or more is unimaginable to me."
"Yes, all because of runaway AI. Those were tragic times," Bok said. "Okay, I'll continue. The Seventh Age of Entropy lasted for only 200 years. Recovery came much more quickly, though 1,000 years passed before the population recovered back to six billion. Over 99% of the survivors had implants, so all of Oma became united under one system of government and one way of communication. That happened 3,700 years ago and one system of government continues to this day."
Nisha looked puzzled.
"Didn't you say one billion of the 81 billion Omanji decided to stay behind on Oma while the rest traveled to Earth? Were they also part of the single planetary government and way of communication?"
"No," Bok said. "They opted to not merge with the collective awareness. They live in a separate colony on the southern continent. If I were still on Oma and decided to not merge when I reach elder status, I would move to the southern colony. Everyone on Oma is free to live anywhere they want and to merge or not merge. However, I would be ostracized if I continued to live with those who merged. I would be an outsider because there's no higher goal than contributing to the greater good of society. I wouldn't experience an intimate connection with my species if I chose not to merge. Merging is how we maintain species self-awareness so chaos and entropy don't take hold again. We posses technology so dangerous, that even one individual could terminate our species by accident. I speak mostly of AI smarter than us."
"Smarter than you?" Rachel said.
"Yes, by orders of magnitude," Bok said.
Nisha glanced again at Rachel with open eyes.
"Okay Bok," Nisha said. "I don't like being told what to do or how to think or where to live. You've mentioned the advantages of merging, but what are the disadvantages?"
He paused.
"I can't think of any," Bok said.
Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other in amazement.
"Bok, why have one billion Omanji decided not to merge?" Nisha said.
"I can think of no valid reasons. They are monitored closely for signs of runaway AI. Perhaps they didn't merge because they were anti-social. Maybe they didn't like being connected to the others. They liked being by themselves. Some of them probably had mental defects, most of which were eliminated among the merged."
"How do you know your knowledge is accurate?" Nisha said. "Have you communicated with any of those who didn't merge?"
"No, I haven't communicated directly with the non-merged. I only know the subjects taught to us in school."
"Bok, once you're an adult, are you forced to merge?" Nisha said.
"Please elaborate."
"They say you can live anywhere and merge or not merge. However, you must either merge, or never again interact with your family and society. Therefore, you aren't free. You must either merge or be an outcast. That doesn't sound like freedom to me. That sounds more like slavery to the collective. You're nothing but a unit in the framework and nothing more. Humans experimented with these sorts of communal systems, but they always failed. We're independent thinkers."
Bok paused again for several seconds.
"I'll think about this Nisha. Omanji society is supposed to be free, but I understand your logical critique. I've faced this argument before but never considered it seriously. I'm going to ask my parents what they would do if I didn't merge. Please wait."
Bok went into a meditative trance which lasted for at least 10 minutes. Nisha and Rachel caught up with the news while they waited. Finally he came out of it.
"My parents told me if I don't merge with the collective a
wareness, they'll never communicate with me again. They said there's no colony for outcasts on this planet, so I need to go live with the Earth animals. They don't know I've been talking to the Earth animals."
"They don't know Bok?" Nisha said. "I thought everyone reads everyone's minds."
"That's not true. The first device is implanted when we're infants right after hatching. The neural network in the brain grows around the implant. It becomes part of the brain. As we become adults, the neural network of the brain grows new connections which aren't connected to the device. So we begin to think more independently. The elders say that's a problem. At that point, a new device is implanted which connects our adult brain to the network. At this time in my life cycle, the elders including my parents aren't efficiently connected to me and vice-versa. Therefore, they don't know I'm talking with you. Humans aren't considered a threat, so they wouldn't care if we did talk. We can play with any Earth animal we want. We refer to this part of the life cycle that I'm in as 'the vulnerable time' because some of us become confused and move to the colony of the unmerged. That's the worst fate to happen to any Omanji in society."
"Did you say you're hatched?" Rachel said. "You were hatched, from an egg?"
"Yes," Bok said. "We've noticed an unusual life cycle here on Earth we haven't encountered before. You bear live young which are close to being fully formed. There's nothing like this on my planet. All species on Oma lay eggs which must be incubated, even animals from the southern continent such as the Yoots lay eggs. The more advanced species lay eggs which require a longer incubation period however. For Omanji, the incubation period is one and a half Earth years."
Nisha paused.
"There are no mammals? For some reason, I always assumed advanced life would bear live young in some form or another."
"And we were surprised to find out that only your lower animals lay eggs. We're working on resolving that conflicting difference in planetary evolution between Oma and Earth. The Earth seems to have things in reverse. We Omanji prefer to lay eggs because we avoid the problem of carrying around a large developing fetus in our bodies. It's easier to lay the egg and get on with our lives. We put them in hatcheries and when hatching comes, we come and pick up the child. The first thing a hatchling sees is its parents. The mammalian system is cumbersome and inefficient once you reach the evolutionary level of a human. We think from an evolutionary perspective, the potential of humans is limited because they're mammals."
Rachel glanced at Nisha with wide open eyes.
"It's one revelation after another. The Omanji consider laying eggs to be more advanced than giving birth to live young!"
"Yes, isn't this fact obvious?" Bok said. "Hatching is the preferred way for technologically advanced life forms to reproduce. Omanji fertilize their eggs in their bodies as many Earth animals do including humans. We lay a few hundred small eggs which we take and gestate in an incubation pod. When the eggs from one clutch gestate together, hormones pass between the eggs and only the strongest one will grow to hatching age. At the end of our dark ages, we were able to rebuild our population quickly by keeping the eggs in smaller clutches during gestation so dozens or more would survive to maturity. However, too much separation allows genetically inferior eggs to mature. Now, we let one egg per clutch develop naturally because the natural hormones allow the best eggs to mature with fewer defects and higher levels of intelligence. Adults enjoy more lifestyle choices because we are egg layers. The eggs start out small and the case grows with the embryo. After one and one half years, the egg matures into a fetus. Afterwards, the egg hatches and we take the youngling home."
Bok paused for a few seconds.
"Do you wish to ask any more questions?"
"Definitely!" Rachel said.
"Me too, but we need to eat dinner," Nisha said. "Can you find out what has happened to Priya? I've been talking about other things all day but I still think of her. I need to know what has happened to her and I want to speak with her."
"Yes," Bok said. "I'll locate Priya for you."
"Thanks Bok. What a relief! Also, thousands of parents are setting up camp in the public viewing area and they're getting upset. Violence erupted and they want to get into your colony. It's difficult to keep them away. Let me know what's happening with all of the children too. The parents should at least know what has happened."
"I will do that as well," Bok said. "Now go eat your dinner. Omanji experience hunger also. I understand."
They disconnected and walked to the mess tent to eat. Darkness settled in, so they watched the last light of day filter through the glistening silvery towers of the ever-growing colony.
Nisha gazed up into the darkening sky.
"Rachel, hundreds of spheres are in orbit. I'm amazed they don't hit each other. They remind me of the first global wi-fi satellites which were reflective, only these are much bigger and brighter.
Rachel checked her network for status updates.
"Wow, 300 new spheres entered Earth's orbit in the past day. Nearly 1,000 of them are now in intersecting orbits. I don't know how they do it."
"What else is happening today?" Nisha said. "We've been so involved with Bok and the General that I don't know what's going on in the world."
"Let's find out," Rachel said.
She projected a screen full of news in front of them with her Eyepiece.
"Some of the biggest news stories in the world are happening here. Approximately 10,000 parents arrived at the public viewing area. Troops tried to contain the parents who tried to break through the fences to get into the colony."
"I can't blame them," Nisha said. "I better send a few tweets."
"To parents at the viewing area, stay back for your own safety. We don't want more deaths. I'm working on getting the #ModifiedKids back."
"The #Omanji are moving here for good. Let's make the best of things by learning from them at every opportunity."
"#OmanjiFacts, they hatch from eggs, they've learned lessons from a violent past, and their minds form a telepathic collective awareness."
Rachel watched as Nisha sent out the tweets.
"Are you going to tell them that 80 billion of them are on their way?"
"No, I think we should break news to the public slowly. I've noticed that the mood of everyone is melancholy. The stock market is down 70%, crime is up, and popular songs sound more violent or depressing. Oddly enough, real news events haven't been happening as often since they arrived. Have you noticed that Rachel?"
"Yes you're right. There's less news volume and what is happening is depressing. I mean, the news is often depressing, but it's hopeless now. Apathy is rampant. People aren't showing up for work. Air and space flights are down dramatically. SETI recently lost its funding. I guess I can understand that! And here's a story about a crazy guy who claims Jesus is living in the alien colony and the second coming has occurred. He has 10 million followers now."
"Perhaps they're depressed because they see the spheres orbiting," Nisha said. "There are so many of them. They're watching us and there's no privacy. I'm depressed because we aren't the alpha species on this planet any more. It makes me long for the good old days, which for me are any of the days before they came. I'm depressed too. And if this drop in human activity continues, our species won't be able to feed itself. Nobody will want to grow the food and nobody will have the money to eat. Hold on, I better put out something positive on Twitter."
"This is the most exciting time in human history! Embrace this uncertain future. The #Omanji aren't harming us. We can learn a lot from them and make a better planet for us all!"
"How's that?" Nisha said.
"Did you convince yourself?"
"Well, no I guess not," Nisha said. "However I'm going to continue to be upbeat even if I don't think that way myself. Oh ?"
"What Nisha?"
"Today is Priya's sixteenth birthday. I hope Bok is finding her. Let me call Quinn. Hold on."
Quinn answered the call so quickly
that he seemed to talk before Nisha had thought of what to say.
"Neesh! Guess what today is."
"Today is Pree's birthday," Nisha said. "It seems like only yesterday we put her on that old fashioned bus for kindergarten. Remember how scared she felt and how she gazed at us through the window as the bus drove away?"
"Yes I remember that," Quinn said. "It does seem like yesterday. Watching her go into that sphere and seeing the sphere take off reminded me of how she left us on the bus. I wonder how she feels now. Did you learn anything about Pree?"
"No, but I asked Bok to find her and he said he would. It's strange to be friends with an alien being. We talked about so many things and I think I'm gaining his trust. I'm forwarding you the video and audio of what happened today. I'll auto forward them to you daily." Nisha and Quinn talked for a while and signed off for the day. Rachel fell asleep to the distant thumping of shuttle spheres landing every minute or so.
Nisha couldn't sleep. She didn't want to tell Quinn or the public how she really felt. She never felt more anxious. She couldn't breathe and felt a suffocating heaviness. She felt hopeless about the future.
She knew they were here for good and life on Earth would never be the same. She longed for the good old days. Even war was better than this because at some point the war will come to an end and life will go on. She didn't know if we could survive this. When she thought about how species go extinct on Earth, our survival seemed unlikely. Could we be just another ephemeral species? She would not go down passively. She wanted to find a way out for all of us.
End of Book One
Author's website:
Patrick Smith Books