by Gadi Migdal
Ella joined in, “Commander, I would appreciate it if you would permit me to observe the cluster activity. No scientist has ever studied a mature, active cluster. The covenant forbids it on Neifar. It would be an amazing experience.”
“Of course, Ella, we’re no longer on Neifar. You may investigate the cluster as much as you desire, and I will make sure that all the cluster members know about it. You have permission to enter any place except the laying hall, which is out of bounds for human beings. I don’t want to hear that you tried to get in there again.”
Ella blushed a little. “Of course, Commander, that was a misunderstanding. It won’t happen again. Thank you.”
Nola nodded to her. Afterward, she turned to the others and said, “Tom, it would be great if you could assist Andre. Maya, if you could conduct a complete set of tests to ensure that all communication systems are functioning as they should I would be grateful. I remind all of you of the council’s instructions; you must not speak of or transmit a word regarding my existence to anyone outside of the ship. Ella, Guy, please help the others with whatever they need for their testing.”
They looked at her quietly and waited for her to continue. It seemed like coordinating humans was not different than coordinating cluster members. Did she have to say anything else?
Sudden confusion washed over her. Why had she given them these authorizations just now? Had she really done it or had the Whole done it through her? Panic took hold of her, had bringing them to the ship even been her idea?
“Forgive me, but I have a lot of other matters to attend to. We will speak after lift-off.” She hurried to leave the room without waiting for their response.
She ran to her room and ordered the computer to shut the door to her quarters and not let anyone in without her permission. She was overwhelmed by thoughts and worries; the Whole could not treat her like a marionette. She would speak with the Whole now or stop coordinating entirely. Let’s see the Whole manage the Whole cluster without her.
‘Come on! You know what I will do if you don’t contact me, talk to me!’ she thought angrily. There was no response.
‘I will order work to be halted in all of the gardens,’ she threatened.
No response.
Logical. She was part of the Whole. It could easily see through her lies.
How could you outsmart someone who shares all of your thoughts?
She cast her body onto the long couch in her office and put her face in the pillow. She couldn’t fight herself. She screamed into the pillow in frustration.
‘I want a sign from you, or I will just get off the ship and go home,’ she yelled into the room.
No response.
“Talk to me!” she screamed angrily, and felt the fear and rage rise inside her.
No response.
Exhaustion and desperation came over her. “Please, give me a sign,” she cried.
Why didn’t the Whole respond? Why did it ignore her so harshly? Did it also not make contact, just like the egg-layer? No. Evidently the Whole had contacted the city council. It just wouldn’t communicate with her.
She reached a decision. She would get off the ship and go home; let them wait for another coordinator. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life tense and afraid. She stood up at once and turned determinedly toward the door.
A feeling of sudden loneliness came over her. She froze in amazement. Her mind was flooded with fragments of sights and pictures: flowers, fruits, vegetables, crops, fertilizer, laying cells, transport wheelbarrows, guards, egg-layers, decorative gardens, service elevators, rest periods in the pleasure garden and laughter. Much laughter. Laughter filled with joy, a different joy, an unfamiliar happiness, the happiness of foreign human women.
No, she knew. Not foreign, just different. Other coordinators. For a split second, she had experienced the pleasure of existence of the other coordinators in the Whole. They were all so relaxed and calm in their work and happy with their lives. Heat rose within her. The feeling of loneliness disappeared, and serenity settled upon her. A clear thought took shape in her mind. She was a coordinator. The Whole would always look after the health and happiness of its coordinators. It was a few seconds until she understood what had happened; the Whole had answered her. She sat down on the couch again and looked around in confusion. The experience was different than what she had expected. “If you can calm me so easily, why did you let me get so alarmed in the first place?” she asked in a soft voice.
She received the reply before she finished asking the question. The answer grew within her. It was important to the Whole that she be aware of its existence. It let her experience the fear and anger in order to show her how unnecessary those feelings were. The coordinator within her took over and began to analyze the situation.
Her entire adult life she had lived and worked in a cluster. General Bud said that she had been part of the Whole ever since she had received her implant. That is, she had been experiencing the thoughts of the Whole for twenty-two years now. She always trusted herself and her own judgment, which actually meant that she relied on the Whole, without knowing it. Why should her awareness of its existence change anything?
It shouldn’t change. She was still Nola. She was still human. She was still a coordinator. A special coordinator whose arrival the Whole had been planning for decades.
“Did I invite the humans to the ship or did you?” she wondered aloud and immediately the answer arose within her. It had been her decision alone, a decision that the Whole respected.
“Alright, but whose idea was it to give them the authorization to do things around the ship?”
A feeling of embarrassment and apology came over her. The Whole had made her do that. It was making sure that the humans would have something to do throughout their long journey.
This was easier than she had expected. “Do you promise that you will never force actions or thoughts that aren’t mine on me again?” she sent her question into the room.
A clear sense of promise crystalized within her; the Whole would respect her will.
A wonderful calm came over Nola. She was part of it, and it was part of her. Why had the Whole not exposed its existence earlier? she wondered to herself. The Whole waited for the right moment; the answer bloomed in her.
“And why do you think that now is the right moment?” she wondered. The answer was there before the entire question was uttered. It was time to go out to the planets.
“What does the Whole want with a journey to the planets?”
The real reason for the journey sprouted in her mind. The Whole did not need this journey, humanity needed it. The surprising answer crystalized in a clear and indisputable way. The journey was meant to ensure the survival of the human race.
“Survival of the human race? Why would that matter to you?” she cried in a surprised voice. The Whole’s answer shocked her. “Loneliness? Why would you need to worry about loneliness?” she laughed into the room in surprise. The explanation came almost immediately. Humans had been flying all over the Milky Way galaxy for nearly two thousand years already. Until now they had only found plants and simple life forms - nothing of intelligence. Humans and the Whole were alone in the galaxy, and extinction of mankind would leave the Whole as the only intelligent entity in the galaxy, and the Whole was afraid of that moment.
The Whole was afraid? “But human extinction is still a long way off, and in any case, there are other intelligent animals that humans created.”
No. Only humans and the Whole were intelligent. The Whole didn’t believe in the existence of true intelligence among other animals that had been genetically enhanced by people.
Nola smiled to herself as she thought. ‘Very romantic, but you’re mistaken, whole. People aren’t the only intelligent beings that came from Earth.’ No insight was forthcoming this time. The Whole elected not to respond.
Nola smiled. Talking with the Whole was much more enjoyable than conversing with regular cluster members. “How do you intend to save humanity? Do you plan to give them something worth living for?”
The answer came instantly, and she was disappointed. The Whole did not know how to help humans, but it was convinced that the answer was not to be found on Neifar.
‘How do you know?’ she thought without speaking.
She was amazed by the understanding/realization that arose in her. The Whole had been aware of the human situation for a long time, hundreds of years, in fact. It had had more than enough time to gather information and reach its conclusions.
“Hundreds of years?” she cried out, surprised. “How long have you existed?”
She smiled cynically at the insight that answered her from within. The Whole had existed and been aware of itself since the day that the first cluster was created, for about a thousand years. In fact, the Whole was ancient.
‘But how did you gather information about humans?’ Nola wondered wordlessly.
The answer was unexpected. Over the course of the last few hundred years, the Whole had planted questions and doubts in the heads of many coordinators. They were persuaded to solve them by connecting to the city computers, through the robotic hovercraft computers. The Whole gathered and studied all of the human data that it could obtain. She felt a wave of sudden anger. “That is a flagrant violation of the covenant. You exploited the coordinators,” she shouted aloud.
Laughter arose in her mind; the Whole was amused by her response. Further understanding presented itself. “That is the reason that the first cluster refused to work and caused the city residents to understand that they should attach a city girl to each cluster to accompany the egg-layer. That is why the covenant exists between the clusters and the city. You demanded the covenant in order to learn more about the city. You planned this from the beginning,” she accused it.
She was flooded with admission without apology. The Whole was aware of the implications of its actions but didn’t apologize for them. It saw them as necessary. It was born curious and had to learn more about humans. “But why in that way? Why did you have to take advantage of the coordinators like that?”
Silence. The Whole refused to reply.
She yawned; the lack of sleep was soon to subdue her.
“We will speak about this further throughout the journey. I think I have to catch up on some sleep now.”
She was filled with a feeling of the Whole’s satisfaction. She would go on the journey.
“Yes, of course, I will go on the journey,” she laughed into the room.
It wasn’t just the Whole that was satisfied, Nola realized. The Whole was so much more perfect and noble than humans, she would enjoy traveling in its company.
If she wanted to sleep, someone else should probably look after the preparations for the trip. She stood before the mirror, wiped her eyes and smoothed her hair before activating the implant, “Tom, I would like to consult with you before we set off, and take advantage of your great experience commanding ships. Can you meet me in my quarters in ten minutes?”
The ship’s computer passed the message along to Tom.
“Of course, Commander. On my way.”
She smiled to herself and thought excitedly, ‘off we go,’ or perhaps it was the Whole that thought that? It no longer really mattered to her.
Chapter 12
Olivia
“Do you understand that if I ever want to meet a man, I’ll have to immigrate to Earth? There are no men awake on any other planet.”
Emily laughed, “That could be a nice adventure, my dear, to live on Earth.”
“No thanks, Mom. I have no desire to do anything that crazy. I don’t want to live in a polluted place without communication just to meet more lunatics.”
“Lunatics?” Emily laughed.
“Of course. They eat animals, they don’t even have printers. They live like people did before the Seventh.”
“You’re exaggerating, sweetheart. In any case, I am sure that there are many men in New Lisbon who would love to meet a beautiful, talented girl like you.”
Olivia shook her head firmly. “They may be happy to meet me, but how can they get to know me if they’re sleeping all the time?”
Emily hugged her daughter. “I know that these days people sleep much more than used to be acceptable when I was your age. They just need reasons to get up. Maybe we should arrange a summer party? A party is a good opportunity to meet people.”
Olivia smiled, sadly. “Don’t you understand, Mom? Nobody will come to a party. Nobody will bother to read the invitation. The Whole world is asleep. All of our friends went to sleep a long time ago. Maybe I should go back to sleep too. At least I will dream about normal relationships.”
She saw the concern in Emily’s eyes and laughed. “I was just joking, Mom. There is no chance I’m going to sleep and leaving you alone.”
The older woman sat beside the breakfast table and looked at her daughter with a melancholy expression. “I know that everyone is sleeping, honey. I’ve seen it for years. Maybe it really would be better for you to go to sleep and enjoy yourself like everybody else. I’ll manage. Really.”
“That’s out of the question, Mom. You are staying awake and that means that I’m also staying awake. I’m not abandoning you.”
Emily spread butter on a piece of toast and said, “It’s interesting why everyone went to sleep. When I was young, people didn’t sleep nearly as much.”
“I assume that the stories you had then weren’t as good. These days there are such good stories.”
“Maybe, my dear. I have no way of knowing,” answered Emily.
“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way, Mom. I am sure that if you were able to dream, you would also enjoy them.”
“Thanks, honey. I know that you didn’t mean to imply anything. Maybe it’s time for me to consult a medical brain again. I haven’t looked into it for decades. Maybe in the meanwhile, they’ve found some medicine for my kind of case, and I’ll be able to dream.”
“That would be amazing, Mom. Then the two of us can dream about a world where there are still men awake.”
They laughed and continued their quiet breakfast.
Olivia spent the morning hours as usual, looking for other people who were awake. That was how she spent every morning, roaming the network and leaving messages everywhere. Until a few years ago, there were several people awake in New Lisbon. But now, there was nobody left. All of New Lisbon had gone to sleep, aside from her mother and herself.
Olivia wiped the tears that sprang to her eyes. It was enormously tempting to dream and escape the boredom. But she would not abandon her mother.
She broadened her search to other planets, trying to connect through any network and channel in the galaxy. It didn’t help. There were no awake people left. No men, no women, and evidently, not even children. Olivia sighed in desperation and went to help her mother cook. To her great regret, her recent years had been mostly spent cooking.
That afternoon, Olivia met Max.
She was sitting and reading a book when Nathan informed her of an incoming call.
“Who is it, Nathan?” she asked, bored. “Another merchant?” The canine merchants could be very irritating when they wanted to sell something.
“I don’t know, Olivia. A young man I am not familiar with,” the house intelligence replied.
Olivia leapt to her feet in amazement. “A man? Don’t transfer the call yet, Nathan,” she yelled excitedly and ran to the makeup machine.
Two minutes later, she sat before the terminal and signaled to Nathan to transfer the call.
The young man that appeared on the screen made her heart beat faster.
A human. An awake human. Apart from her mother, she hadn’t seen an awake person for two years no
w. His hair was black, his eyes were grey, and his smile made her heart flutter.
“Hello,” the young man smiled. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, I just saw your message and thought I would try and contact you.”
“You’re not!” Olivia cried. “That is, you’re not disturbing me at all,” she added quickly, hoping he was not alarmed by her enthusiasm.
“Happy to hear it.” He smiled at her from the screen. He really had a great smile.
“My name is Olivia,” she smiled at the screen.
“I know. You wrote that in your message. Nice to meet you, Olivia. I’m Max.” He had a pleasant laugh. She laughed too.
“So how long have you been awake, Olivia?”
“I’m always awake, Max,” she enjoyed saying his name. Max.
“Of course. All of us are always awake, inside or outside of the machine. What I meant to ask is when did you last come out of the machine?”
“I finished my last story about a year and a half ago.”
He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “A year and a half?”
“Yes.” She laughed.
“You’re pretty and have strong will power. Very impressive.” He smiled, and Olivia blushed.
He landed at their farm that same evening. His parents’ farm was only two hours away by flight. They dined together at the small kitchen table.
“This food is amazing,” Max said enthusiastically. “Mrs. Costa, you have to tell me which printing program you use.”
“Thanks, Max,” Emily smiled. “We almost never print. Olivia and I cook most of our food ourselves.”
“Cook?” he repeated after her, astonished.
“Yes,” she laughed. “It’s a nice way to pass the time. You should know that Olivia is a very talented cook.”
“I’m sure,” he smiled over at Olivia.
She blushed again. ‘He’s so handsome!’ she thought.
His eyes widened as they passed over the large bookcase. “Are they real?” he asked.