We walked out of the locker room together, after arriving at Skyway.
I was concerned with the presence of Rama Ishmael, the space station physicist. But not overly. After all, I knew someone must be watching me. It was better that it was someone who I could watch in turn, rather than unseen eyes hidden behind cameras and spies.
It was easy to put Ishmael out of my mind. Because I had Lynn with me. She kept asking questions and I kept answering them. They were questions about who I was, what I was doing here, et cetera. I answered them without thinking. Organically. But they were all answers about Caldwell's past, not mine. The blend of human and Nerian was growing more seamless with every hour that passed.
Skyway University is an interesting place. It is a ring-shaped construct that drifts in an undisclosed area of space. It's probably the safest place in the universe, but I can't help but feel threatened by the raw human power around me.
The ring is eighteen hundred miles in circumference. A staggering figure. The arena in the center of the ring, protected by force fields but still a hard vacuum, is incredibly vast. I knew already that it was my arena, the place where I taught Starframe maneuvers to up and coming soldiers.
Skyway is home to over a million students, and about fifty-nine thousand professors. The professors stay at Skyway for most of the year, so they often bring their families with them. Other than the professors, there are always five thousand full-time teachers to continue the education of any children or spouses of professors that happen to be onboard.
The total population of Skyway fluctuates, but never really drops below one and a quarter million.
Because it's so big, there's still plenty of empty space. That is purposeful. Skyway doubles as an emergency refuge for all the important humans in the galaxy, in the event that they need a secure hideout.
I remembered all this as I walked alongside Lynn. We followed the inside curve of Skyway's ring, looking out into the field where a dozen pretend battles took place between legions of floating Starframes. They looked tiny from this distance. Because they were human-shaped, they gave the illusion of armored people of ordinary size fighting each other much closer to the window than they really were.
As we walked, Lynn told me a bit about herself.
She was also a professor. A full-time one. She had received tenure two years ago. She was now twenty-four, and taught battlefield triage. It was a course that involved emergency repairs in high-stress situations, to the Starframe, the Vitality Replicator, and the pilot. Sometimes, she said, it was necessary to cut certain senses so that pain feedback from them would not cloud the pilot's mind. This would cripple their fighting ability somewhat, but prevent them from going totally insane during important battle moments.
I assumed it was a much more complicated and theoretical subject than it sounded like.
Mostly, I was just focused on the way her breasts strained against her jumpsuit. I'm sure I was very obvious in these observations, but Lynn didn't seem to mind.
Edwin Caldwell was very happy. And that happiness bled over. I had no personal vendetta against Lynn. Her job was to protect people, not to kill them. So why not enjoy her company?
Alarm bells rang in the distant recesses of my mind. I'm not proud to say that I ignored them.
Chapter 9: Promise to the Future
The big, wrap-around screen declared the beginning of the summit. It urged all attendees to be silent until they were referred to directly.
The president of the human government stood in a focused beam of light, appearing like a deity before them.
"This summit will be one of the most important we've ever had," he said. "Conversely, it is also the least attended. The six of you sitting before me are high-level individuals. The cream of the crop. The most powerful in the galaxy. Out of humanity's hundred billion living individuals, you alone will hear what I have to say. You alone will be given the power and the burden of choosing the course of your species..."
The warning on the screen disappeared. It was replaced with an artist's rendition of the birth of the universe, a startling and awesome display of dispersing matter and cooling gases that soon stretched to every corner of the screen.
"In the beginning there was nothing much," President Tao added. "The very basic constituents of our current universe were all that existed at first. Finally, less than five billion years ago, the Earth formed. It took over half a billion years for the first life to appear, in the form of single-celled prokaryotic organisms. In the deep past, as the Earth cooled and solid rock formed, its ultimate destiny was already set in motion. Nearly a quarter million years ago, the first modern human stretched its legs. And now the Earth has gone to seed, pollinating the galaxy with its greatest creation. Someday, that pollination will spread across the rest of the known universe.
"At least, that is what we believe. No matter how advanced our technology becomes, no matter what great cultural leaps forward we make, the human mind simply cannot let go of certain superstitions and ancient feelings. One of those is the notion of destiny. We think our conquest of the universe is inevitable. This sort of thinking breeds complacency. Thankfully, there will always be the great people of each generation to keep humankind on the right path. These are the brave, the intelligent, the creative, the resourceful. The downright tough. We are of that group, ladies and gentlemen. And today I will ask you to make an important decision.
"Though humans naturally assume we are important, even integral, that isn't objectively true. After all, as we've discovered during our many years of conquest, life isn't all that rare in the universe. Intelligent life, sentient beings, are rarer, but still not unheard of. The rise of consciousness has always been shrouded in mystery. How did it happen? Why did it happen? The common answer involves natural selection. In order to survive, you had to be a little smarter than your competition. But then your competition would figure out how to be smarter than you. Which forced you to become smarter, yet again. This constant back and forth, this incessant battling, has been the driving force of evolution. After a long time, this process will always give rise to conscious entities.
"As humans, we actually are part of a select group. Our leading scientists predict that there are no more than a few hundred other races in the galaxy as intellectually advanced as we are. And probably less than half of them are spaceborne. So, the idea that we are special is somewhat supported by hard facts.
"Though we are rare, we were by no means the first. We have discovered on some worlds the relics of lost civilizations. Races that played the same game as us, but failed. They died out before ever leaving their planets. We have studied these civilizations and determined that some of them predate the dawn of the modern human by vast stretches of time.
"But now I must finally reveal something to you. Something that will alter your perception of yourselves and of the universe..."
The screen went blank. The light that shone on the president turned off. The huge amphitheater was plunged into blackness. Finally, a single green spark appeared on the screen and began swimming around, moving like an uncertain fish.
"The Green Seed," said the president, still lost in shadow. "Not quite alive, not biologically. But conscious. Verifiably sentient. These beings, or whatever you want to call them, have existed in the universe since perhaps a mere hundred thousand years after its birth. They are the original consciousnesses, flitting around space. They do not evolve; they sprang into being and stayed just as they were. No one knows why or how they exist, or what they think about. A lot of people assume they are God's little helpers, moving around the universe and making sure things go according to plan.
"Whatever the case may be, the Green Seeds are extremely rare. We have only ever witnessed two unique specimens. We know the current whereabouts of one of them. But we'll get to that in a moment. First, I must tell you of the powers held by the Green Seeds. Personally I do not believe in God, so I would say that the theory of the Seeds being God's helpers is wrong. But it i
s a fact that the Seeds have certain... abilities. Purposes, even.
"Picture an egg and a sperm. Both have the necessary information to take dead matter, such as proteins and minerals, and to somehow form a conscious being out of it. The Seeds have similar information. They can create anything. It is our working hypothesis that the Seeds are directly responsible for the formation of every star in the universe. They are the personification of natural law; they hold the genetic structure of the universe itself.
"Once you spend a few minutes pondering that, you would realize the huge potential the Green Seeds hold for changing the future. If we somehow were able to control one of them, we could alter the universe itself. We would never again need to worry about material things. Dead worlds could be made livable in hours, rather than the years it currently takes for us to terraform them. Rather than relying on jumpgates, we could open and close wormholes at will. We could be gods, rather than great apes pretending to be something greater. Perhaps it is best to return to the analogy of the egg and the sperm. In this instance we are the sperm, ejected from Earth, and the Green Seed is the egg with which we will build and birth a future we can't even dream of..."
As he spoke, the movements of the green spark on the screen had changed. Once uncertain and tentative, they became quick and full of purpose. Out of darkness, it plucked sparks of different colors and gathered them in the center of the screen. In the end, it had formed an image of the Earth.
Now, the light came back on and President Tao was visible once more. The screen changed to show Skyway University.
"Two years ago," said the president, "we rescued a young professor by the name of Edwin Caldwell. He had been chosen for a mission to the surface of Planet 14. It is ancient history by now, but some of you may remember the strange events there. Mainly, the strange disappearance of the planet's native sentient species. But I digress.
"Edwin Caldwell, during his time on the planet, had an accident. His arm was severed. A bionic replacement, of Nerian origin, chose him to be its host. And then a Green Seed, one of the two we've seen, chose him as well. It is still resting inside of his arm. We are not certain why it did this, or what it's trying to accomplish. But we know it must not be random. It has some kind of plan.
"Now, I will pose the question to all of you. This is the reason I asked you here. As I've said, the Green Seed has the potential to secure the position of humankind in the universe. It can make us immortal, unstoppable. And a Green Seed has chosen one of us already. This suggests that it is aware of humankind and wishes to help us. However, it doesn't seem ready to leave Caldwell any time soon. I don't know about all of you, but I'd like very much to get my hands on that Seed sooner, rather than later. There seems to be little choice but to take Caldwell's arm..."
As one, the attendees of the summit began muttering amongst themselves.
"The choice is yours," said Tao. "It's obvious where I stand, but I will leave my vote out of it. Should we wait, my friends, and see what the Green Seed has in store for us? That would be throwing caution to the wind. That would be admitting we are powerless, giving our future as a species over to an inhuman consciousness. Or do we act now, and secure our future?"
One of the attendees raised his hand.
"Yes?" said Tao.
"Will Caldwell be hurt?" the attendee asked.
Tao shrugged. "He will be without an arm. That's all I can say for sure."
"Then I say we get the Seed," the attendee replied.
A few minutes later, the discussions were finished. Almost unanimously, the summit decided to take the Green Seed by force.
"Then we will go to Skyway and take control of the future," Tao said. "If any of you ever feel a doubt about this decision, think of this; the universe is large. Perhaps infinitely vast. Cold and mostly dead. But somewhere out there, a threat lurks. Statistically, we know there is some civilization out there who is capable of destroying us easily. But as of now, they have no idea we exist. We are insignificant. We are so close to greatness, but we haven't achieved it yet. The Green Seed will catapult us to the very top of the food chain. No one will be able to touch us. We will be the masters of all creation. All other races will answer to us.
"The universe may end. Time may wind down like an old clock. All energy, heat, life and hope will dwindle into infinite blackness... but we will be there to see it happen. A bunch of apes from Earth, who once sat by fires and wondered what those sparkling lights in the night sky were. Us. If there is an escape from death, from the end of the universe, we are the only ones who will be able to find it. So, think of that. Think of all the wonderful things that will never happen without the Green Seed. When that ugly little voice called morality whispers in your mind, remember that morality is simply another word for weakness and short sightedness. Remember the Green Seed and the promise we all make to leave a better universe for future generations..."
***
I woke in the dead of the night, with the silence of the sleeping university all around me.
I felt that something was wrong. But it wasn't just a nightmare. In fact, before I woke I had been in the middle of a highly pleasant dream involving the woman who now snored beside me.
This was something else. My bionic arm, and the green light within, was pulsing stronger than it had in years. It was trying to communicate, or at least to prepare me for something.
But what?
I went to my computer - a hard link to the human database, no firewalls and no restrictions, a luxury provided by my status as professor - and looked through current events.
A freighter had run out of propulsion fuel out by Planet 16, and a rescue mission had been launched. At Planet 17, protests were in full effect regarding the unfair treatment of native fauna. I knew that the protestors would soon be neutralized and the normal state of human supremacy reinstated.
What, then? Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Nothing involving Skyway University or anyone I knew.
The light pulsed on. I had to cover my arm with a pillow so that I could go back to sleep.
Chapter 10: Onslaught
From the diary of Lynn Caldwell -
What is wrong with my husband?
He has always been a bit strange. That was part of his allure. There seemed to be a war raging in him, between two halves of his soul. None of those halves was disagreeable, even the one that was often surly and unsympathetic. I was fine with it, because he never really mistreated me, either way.
But now...
Ever since that night, when I woke to find him reading current events, I've been wondering. It isn't like my Edwin to lose rest. He's a heavy sleeper. Nothing will stir him before he's had his eight hours. He knows this, and always has to plan his bedtime accordingly. A lot of the time, I end up staying awake longer than him. It gets lonely, but I've never complained. We have a good life here, we're both highly successful, and we love each other very much.
Edwin loves me in both of his two moods. But when he's in that surly one, our sex life often suffers. That is tolerable; I just want the intimacy of being close to him, and that can be had in other ways. But it worries me sometimes, how he can flip so suddenly to his other personality. He hides it very well. I think I'm the only one who's capable of seeing his changes.
But some of his barriers are starting to come down. It has to do with that arm, and the weird green glow he's never been able to explain to me.
He's been losing more and more sleep. He has been arriving at his class sessions groggy. But he won't nap, no amount of caffeine seems to help, and he barely eats. You wouldn't know it, though; he never seems to lose weight. Sometimes I think he might be a mutant or something, but I quickly throw those thoughts away. I feel ashamed when they appear.
I think he needs my help. I'm the only one he really trusts, and that much is obvious. He never really opens up, and says what he feels, until we're alone in a room. Just the two of us.
Thankfully, he is talented and intelligent enough that hi
s recent problems haven't effected his work too badly. But it's only a matter of time. I don't want him to get any strikes. To risk losing the teaching certificate he worked so hard to get. Seeing him claw his way up, from that confused and frightened kid on the ladder to the confident, strong and professional man he is now, has been the greatest pride of my life.
What can I do, though? There are some secrets he keeps even from me. I can't penetrate that skull of his, not totally. No matter how hard I try, there's some hidden layer I can't quite get to.
"Do you love me?" he sometimes asks.
Yes, Edwin. I love you. I will love you forever. No matter what. You don't need to worry about that.
But he does worry. I just don't know about what.
Just tell me, Edwin. You can trust me. You know that.
I think I'll leave this journal out somewhere. He's always respectful of my privacy and never snoops, but maybe this will be enticing enough to attract his eyes.
***
"Out here," professor Caldwell said, broadcasting to all the drab, gray Starframes in front of him, "there isn't really such a thing as left and right, up and down. But you will always be aware of your position relative to the Starframe you're piloting. Up will refer to the direction of the head, down to the direction of its feet. And so on. Don't overthink directional commands. If you have a bad guy to your left, just say that. Your friends will see you, and be able to tell what you're talking about.
"Next, I'll tell you something very simple, yet easy to forget. This is the single most important thing to know when it comes to Starframe piloting. Remember that it's all about you. Your body, your physicality, your reflexes. You are not so much controlling the Starframe, so much as you are temporarily transformed into a giant, nigh invincible version of yourself. Your Starframe can do whatever you can do. It will respond instantaneously to all commands from your mind. There is no reason to ever even think of your Starframe whilst you are piloting it. You just need to react, and move. Sounds simple, but it's a tricky concept to get used to."
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