“What do you mean?”
“The gravity and the atmosphere seem to be the same as Earth’s. I’m guessing the length of the day is also the same.”
“I suspect these criteria are things that the petrins looked for when selecting this world for humans. Given the vast reach of the collective, they had thousands of habitable worlds to choose from. God only knows what galaxy we’re in.”
“God? Is he in this picture too?”
Joshua laughed at the reference but made no reply.
Rachael sat quietly, lost in her thoughts as she twisted soft blades of grass between her fingers.
“What are you thinking about?” Joshua asked.
“It’s all still a big shock for me.”
“What? New Eden?”
“That, and that I died in the accident on the bridge. It’s like a fairy tale.” She paused and glanced at Joshua. “Sometimes fairy tales, like those written by the Brothers Grimm, are pretty scary and have terrible endings.”
“I guess you didn’t really die,” Joshua said. “At least not according to the petrin definitions of life and death. I lost you for a while, and I was completely devastated, but you’re with me now, and I’m never going to lose you again. I couldn’t go through it a second time.”
“But I can never go back to Earth. From what you told me, I can only exist on New Eden since Seth replicated only my brain there and nothing else.”
“Don’t worry. A lot of what you’re missing on Earth can be brought here. Seth told me that the petrins can transport virtually all accessible knowledge on Earth to New Eden. And you’ll never be without me. I’ll make sure of that.”
Rachael leaned over and wrapped her arms around Joshua. “This place is really amazing, especially with you here.” She sighed deeply, as with resignation. “I guess there are worse places to be stuck.”
“Stuck?”
Rachael smiled weakly. “There’s no reason to get your hands dirty here. There aren’t any challenges. Still, it’s got everything, and it sounds like humanity doesn’t have much of a choice given the viral outbreak on Earth.” She looked around her. “I have to admit that it’s quite beautiful.”
“Yes, and we still have a couple more days to explore it, but the best part of this paradise, hands down, is you being here.” Joshua gave Rachael a passionate kiss, and they lay in the grass, looking at the slow-moving clouds sailing overhead.
“We should head back home,” Joshua said after a few minutes. “It looks like the sun is starting to set.”
On their walk back, they’d noticed that some of the plants and shrubs exhibited bioluminescence, which made it easy to see their path. The sun had just set, and the first stars were becoming visible when they arrived at the front portal.
They bathed in the warm rain shower of the bathroom and then lay on the bed, gazing out the window. There were numerous stars in the sky, but none were familiar to them. A small glowing arc rose from the horizon as they snuggled.
“What do you think that is?” Rachael asked, pointing to the arc.
“Don’t know. It’s definitely not a moon. It’s too fuzzy.”
They lay in bed while the arc grew larger and eventually revealed itself to be a spiral galaxy encompassing half the sky, its arms casting a soft glow on the terrain of New Eden. Its light was like that emitted by a full moon in the skies of Earth. They pondered the fact that they were the first two humans to spend the night on a new world. Quite literally, they were Adam and Eve exploring a New Eden.
34
Just Like Heaven
The next morning, Joshua and Rachael awoke, sat on the couch in the living room, and ate breakfast. A light rain had fallen during the night, covering the trees and grass with thick dew, but the sun had risen over a clear sky. They grabbed their breakfast from the orchard and were better able to determine what a particular fruit would taste like from its outward appearance.
“Looks like a hiking day,” Joshua commented.
“I’m excited to see the forest, but this landscape goes on forever. How does Seth expect us to get a good idea of what New Eden is like in just three days?”
“I don’t think he expects us to get a complete picture,” Joshua responded. “He probably wants us to see what’s possible with genetic engineering. He told me that we could request changes if we wanted.”
After breakfast—the fruit tasted like bananas, bread, and a beverage that gave them the same clarity as coffee—Joshua and Rachael started on their trek towards the distant forest. They crossed several grass fields and another stream that Joshua surmised was the same one they had crossed the day before, but at an upstream point.
“There are a few things missing from New Eden,” Rachael remarked after they’d made it halfway to the forest. “For example, I don’t see any insects here.”
“That’s true, not that I miss being bitten by mosquitoes. Like bacteria, they’re probably not needed.”
“But there are no birds or animals either, at least none that we’ve seen. Also, there are no bees, and bees are necessary on Earth for pollination.”
“Maybe there’s no need for pollination on New Eden,” Joshua remarked.
“Why not?”
“Think about it. The petrins engineered life here from DNA for a specific reason. The flora is obviously how they want it. It’s a completely controlled ecosystem. The last thing they would want would be for independent reproduction or mutation to screw up their grand design.”
“So you’re saying the organisms here don’t reproduce?”
“Maybe not in the traditional sense,” Joshua said. “Maybe they’re immortal like the petrins, or perhaps they reproduce by cloning instead of sexual reproduction, which would preserve their genetic makeup.”
“Mitosis but no meiosis,” Rachael replied. “Just a theory, I suppose, but a logical one.”
The couple continued their walk towards the edge of the forest. In a field close to the edge of the tree line, they saw two enormous brown tree stumps.
“Those seem out of place,” Rachael said.
“Yes, strange that everything else has been perfectly manicured, and yet the two stumps mar the otherwise perfect landscape. They stick out like a sore thumb.”
“Oh, my God!” Rachael exclaimed as she grabbed Joshua’s arm. “I think one of the stumps shifted position.”
The stump on the left moved towards them, slowly at first, then faster. It spread out, and what they had mistaken for roots were actually articulated legs, eight in all, four on either side, all of them attached to a central body. Joshua and Rachael now knew what the creatures were.
“They’re arachnids!” Joshua exclaimed.
The second arachnid also started moving towards them. Both were large, about the size of a small elephant.
“Josh, I’m scared,” Rachael said as the creatures advanced.
“Don’t be. Seth told us that nothing here—”
“Yes, that nothing here can harm us, but I’m not a petrin. I have no idea what those things are doing.”
The lead arachnid stood and halted in front of Joshua. It was similar to the creatures Seth had shown them during the lab sessions, but these had only two of the snake-like sensory organs emanating from their carapace instead of four, like those from Petri. The carapace itself was also slightly different. Its top surface had the contour of a saddle, and in front of the curved seat was a T-shaped handle made of a white horn-like material. The second arachnid stood beside Rachael.
Standing beside Joshua, the first arachnid bent its front legs and assumed a kneeling position, which brought its body to within inches of the ground.
“What’s it doing?” Joshua asked, scratching his head. “Is it trying to fold up again?”
Rachael examined the position of the arachnid. “Josh, I think it wants you to climb on top. It’s kneeling, like a camel or elephant that’s been trained to carry a rider.”
“You may be right. Its top definitely looks like a saddle.�
� Joshua moved towards the creature and carefully touched one of its legs with his fingers.
“Be careful,” Rachael said. “It looks harmless, but I’m just going by appearances.”
“I’m going to try to climb up,” he said after taking a deep breath. “The top of its exoskeleton feels like soft fur.”
Joshua placed his foot on one of the creature’s legs and lifted his body to the carapace. He then swung his right leg over the top and sat on the arachnid. His hands grabbed the handle, and the creature, as if on cue, stood up from its kneeling position.
“Whoa,” Joshua exclaimed from his new perch as the second creature knelt in front of Rachael. “Climb aboard. It’s very comfortable. I think they’re here to serve us—to help us explore since there’s so much ground to cover.”
Rachael climbed on top of the second arachnid, which stood up once she was seated, and grabbed the handle.
“Cool,” Rachael replied. “Our own transports. Not limo service but suited for the terrain.”
“I wonder how you make them move,” Joshua said. He rotated the handle to the left, which caused the creature to spin in the same direction. The further he rotated it, the faster it spun. “So much for determining direction, but I’m not sure how to make it go forward.” He pushed and pulled on the handle but neither the handle nor the arachnid moved.
Rachael also spun her arachnid left and right. “Neat, but we’re pretty high in the air,” she said as she leaned left to take a look at the ground. Her creature immediately moved to the left.
“How did you get it to move like that?” Joshua asked.
“I just leaned left,” Rachael answered.
Joshua leaned to the right, and his creature moved in that direction. Left, right, forwards, backwards—the arachnid moved in whatever direction Joshua angled his body. “It works like a hover board. You simply lean in the direction you want to go, and they move in that direction. It’s like they’re trying to keep our center of gravity lined up with theirs.”
Rachael followed suit. “The further you lean, the faster they go,” she said. “It’s very stable since they match their center of gravity with ours. I think it’s virtually impossible to fall off.”
For several minutes, Joshua and Rachael practiced moving the arachnids around the field adjacent to the forest. Controlling the creatures was intuitive, and in minutes they were controlling the arachnids with ease.
“Let’s head into the forest,” Joshua said, Rachael following close behind.
The forest consisted of what looked to be evergreen trees with large brown trunks. The floor was covered with grass and ferns.
“It reminds me of the California redwoods,” Rachael observed after they had traveled for a few minutes. “I definitely smell pine in the air.”
After they’d spent an hour exploring, Joshua said, “Let’s see what these things can do.” He leaned further forward, and his arachnid sped through the forest, Rachael still following.
He then pushed his creature to go even faster. He estimated that he was skimming over the ground at twenty miles per hour, but the creature avoided obstacles with ease. It dodged trees by shifting left and right, but always tilted its carapace in the direction opposite the shift so that Joshua was never in any danger of falling off.
Sections of the forest floor were uneven, but the creatures navigated these with ease. Their long, articulated legs compensated for the uneven terrain so accurately that Joshua and Rachael felt as if they were floating. The creatures’ movements were smooth, without the jerkiness or bounciness associated with riding a horse.
“This is really fun,” Rachael said, bringing her creature next to Joshua’s as they continued their rapid advance, her hair blown backwards by the breeze.
They rode deeper into the forest at a fast clip, changing directions at will. It was exhilarating. At one point the creatures approached a narrow but deep ravine with a creek at its bottom. The arachnids didn’t slow down, but instead leapt into the air and jumped to the other side effortlessly.
“I wish we had some of these on Earth,” Joshua shouted to Rachael as the arachnids continued their relentless pace.
Joshua directed his mount towards a steep incline covered with trees. “Let’s see what’s on top of this hill.”
They raced up the hill which had an incline of about forty-five degrees. Even though the creatures were climbing the incline easily, they adjusted their legs such that their carapace remained level.
“It feels like we’re moving up a really fast escalator,” Rachael remarked.
At the top of the hill, Joshua and Rachael entered a large clearing covered with grass, and they stopped to take a look around. In the distance, Joshua saw an orchard. “Looks like a good place to stop for lunch,” he suggested.
“Sure,” Rachael replied.
Joshua suddenly moved his arachnid at high speed towards the distant orchard. “First one there gets to pick lunch,” he shouted looking back.
Rachael leaned forward and chased Joshua. “Not fair!” she shouted. “You got a head start!”
Joshua leaned forward as far as he could on his arachnid, which was now traveling at forty miles per hour. He had trouble keeping his eyes open as the wind blasted his face, and he turned back to see Rachael close behind. He stuck his tongue out since he was confident he would win the race. When he looked forward again, he was halfway there.
Joshua heard a low rumble and gazed up when he saw a dark shadow pass over him. It was Rachael on her arachnid, which was now flying! She glanced at Joshua from her elevated perch and, tongue out, returned the gesture.
“How did you get it to do that?” Joshua called out as Rachael took the lead.
Rachael’s arachnid had changed the configuration of its legs. They were sticking straight out, having spread sideways from its body. The front and rear two legs on either side were joined by transparent membranes that acted as wings. The four wings beat rapidly to move air downwards and backwards. As Rachael passed overhead, he thought to himself she’s riding a dragonfly. “How?” he shouted.
“Lift the handle!”
Joshua followed her instructions, and the handle clicked into a higher position. He felt the creature getting lower to the ground as its legs grew straight, and clear membranes grew from the center of the body to the tips of its legs. When the membranes reached the tips, the creature leapt into the air and beat its wings rapidly. Joshua was flying.
The arachnid’s movements were controlled the same as before now that it was airborne. Joshua could still lean to change the direction of flight, but the handle now moved forward and backward. Moving the handle forward caused the creature to point its front down and move closer to the ground, while pulling it backward caused it to veer up and climb. He chased Rachael, who now had a substantial lead. When he caught up, she was already at the orchard, but her arachnid hovered, its momentum in check.
Joshua leaned back, causing his creature to hover as well.
“You lose,” Rachael said. “That’s what you get for trying to get a head start.”
“These are unbelievable creatures.”
“A true testament to the power of genetic engineering.”
“I wonder how we get down,” Joshua said.
Rachael pushed down on her handle, which caused the creature to drift downwards and shift to its walking configuration. She then let go of the handle, and the creature knelt, allowing Rachael to dismount.
Joshua and Rachael sat on the grass and had a picnic. There was a small field close to the orchard that was covered with a variety of flowers, the fragrance of which filled the air as they ate lunch. The arachnids moved beneath nectars trees in the orchard and drank from vines to replenish their energy. After they had finished their meal, Rachael sat on the grass with Joshua’s head in her lap. “Do you know what’s amazing?” he asked.
“What?”
“Before we made contact with Seth, humanity saw no evidence for life beyond Earth. In the end, the evide
nce was there all along, but we just hadn’t recognized it.”
“How so?”
“How about von Neumann probes? We thought we had no evidence for them, but we ourselves were the probes. We were the evidence of life beyond Earth, but we never realized it.”
“I see what you mean,” Rachael said. “But by the purest definition, aren’t von Neumann probes supposed to replicate and reseed more of the galaxy? We weren’t doing that.”
“If the Petrins turn Earth into a new node for the collective and blast oceans seeded with primordial cells into space, aren’t they doing exactly that? Their timescale may be in the billions of years, but it really does meet the definition.”
“I guess so,” Rachael said. “Do you know what really amazes me?”
“What?”
“The petrins never physically left their home world and yet have colonized thousands of planets.”
“We’ve always thought of colonizing other planets with space ships, but they didn’t use any ships at all. We had tunnel vision once we entered the age of rockets. The petrins were far more ingenious.”
“It’s all just information, Josh—information transmitted by spookyons. Henry never knew how right he was when he said that information is everything.”
“Maybe he did know, but I’m sure he knew nothing of petrins.”
“Consider this: Seth is able to come to our planet, there’s petrin DNA growing on Earth, an entire world is created for humanity, and even my being alive—it’s all because of information transmitted via spookyons.”
“Feeling philosophical?” Joshua asked.
“Yeah, but it’s all true—and a result of information theory.”
Joshua thought for a moment about what Rachael had said. “Such a vast universe with incredible energy and matter, but in the end the only thing that counts is how that matter and energy are arranged. Information may be the only thing of significance in the cosmos. Without it, everything else seems meaningless.”
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