The Collective

by David McCahan

  “Well I hate to disappoint you General but you’re not in any danger of getting fat from that pie and whipped cream.” Rhonda advised him with a slight chuckle. “The pumpkin is lab grown and genetically enhanced to improve taste specifically for pie. Likewise, for the whipped cream. Lots of nutrition, better than natural spinach actually, high in protein and fiber but low sugar and carbohydrates. Actually your doctor advises seconds as your last check showed you were a little on the anemic side.”

  “Hey, finally medical advice I’m happy to follow. I thought I knew all the synth-foods we produced. Is this new?” Jeff asked.

  “Our genetics department has been experimenting during our transit and came up with a few new lab grown foods. If I was in a blind taste test and you put that in front of me along with my grandmother’s pumpkin pie, I think hers would lose out to what our mad scientists whipped up. I’ll forward you the list along with the dining hall menu so you know what to anticipate.” Glory told him while doing her best to contain her own laughter, especially when looking at his mortified expression and embarrassment.

  “I admit it; I’m not keeping up on my email very well lately. Only had someone try to blow our home out of the sky and all.” Jeff tried to look hurt but the twinkle in his eye gave him away and they all had a good laugh at his expense.

  We listen for you

  “We listen for you.” Glory responded. “Well looks like we’ll have our response soon as I can get to sleep. I’ve informed the rest of the team that out visitors have returned.”

  “You know where to find us when you’re done.” Rhonda said. “Pleasant dreams.”

  “Thanks Rhonda, see you in a bit.” Glory said as she got up from the table and headed for her quarters.

  As Glory walked back to her quarters she tried to reach out and sense those around her as she had after her last listening session before returning back to her body. She could sense the three friends she had just left, considering how familiar they are to her that was not surprising. She could feel several more beings that she could not quite place. These must be visitors. They felt different somehow. Intelligence, a presence but not human.

  We listen to you.

  “We listen to you.” She replied as she neared her room.

  You learn quickly and grow stronger.

  “We look forward to learning much from you.” Glory replied as she entered her quarters and then her bedroom. She could feel the visitor in the room with her but could not see him. It was tempting to carry on the conversation in this manner but she did not get the full meaning as she does in spiritual form. She laid down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

  “We listen to you.” She greeted the visitor as she rose from her physical form.

  We listen to you. We are one on this. We have listened about you and have decided to invite you to come closer to our home.

  “We are pleased to listen to you on this. We are anxious to listen to you and become friends with you. When may we come closer?”

  You may proceed when you will. We remember you measure of time. How long until you will be closer?

  “We are about 5 hours from orbit of the planet.”

  We travel almost that time to here in spirit form. We wish to learn from you how this is accomplished.

  “We have much to listen to each other. Is there more we need to listen to you now?”

  This much time from our physical form is very tiring. We will listen to you when you come closer but no more now. We are one on this.

  “We will listen to you then. We are one on this.” At that the visitor left the ship and Glory returned to her body and awoke. She sent a message to the Jeff and the doctors “We are go for orbit.” Glory left her quarters and met Jeff outside the common room.

  “Wow, that was quick. I can’t believe you even had time to fall asleep let alone finish negotiations.” Jeff said.

  “I think I have gained a measure of control and can either will myself to sleep or maybe actually will my spiritual form to separate, I’m not quite sure which. At any rate I lay down and almost immediately was in spirit. When we were done I was in physical. Also I can quite easily communicate with the visitor when awake and so we were listening while I was making my way to my quarters. It helped to speed things along, but I wouldn’t call it a negotiation though. They are pretty eager for us to get there. I found out it takes them a little under 4 hours to traverse the gap between us and so that explains the long delay. Just the travel time is a substantial amount of the delay but they had to rejoin to physical to rejuvenate before they could come back. I felt the decision to invite us took almost no time at all.”

  “Excellent. At the rate you’re picking this new skillset up it’s going to be interesting to see what all you learn to do. What do you think Rhonda?” Jeff asked.

  “At this point I have no idea. I would love to get a genetic sample of some of the natives and scans of their bodies to go with it and then I can compare and might be able to hazard a guess.” Rhonda responded.

  “How are the rest of the communicators doing?” Jeff looked back to Glory.

  “I feel that all of the visitors have left the ship and all of the team are awake. Reports from them are coming in now and …… it looks like all are reporting the same positive invitation.” Glory reported. “I’ve taken the liberty to call the senior staff together ASAP. Shall we join them Sir?”

  “What scares me about this new Glory is I think she’s going to start seeing the future on us. I figure it’s the only way she can improve her efficiency.” Jeff gave her a nudge and laughed. “Well if you’ve called my meeting then I guess we had better show up.” With that they headed for C&C and the Commander’s Conference Room.

  On arrival in conference room Jeff, Glory, Rhonda and Emma took their seat and Jeff began the meeting. “This should be a very short meeting seeing as Colonel Callaghan and the other communicators have secured our invitation to proceed to orbit of Eden. Astrometrics I take it you still have not spotted any satellites or other foreign objects in orbit?”

  “No Sir, nothing in orbit that we can spot and we still have not detected any electronic emissions from planet side either. We have plotted probable population centers from observing the lights of the planet. Luckily we can see a decent amount of the night side.” Captain Anderson reported.

  “Please feed that mapping information to Navigation as we’ll want to establish GeoStat orbit over the largest population center.” He said while glancing over at Eva Svenson who returned that glance with a nod of acknowledgment to the order.

  “Engineering let’s keep our damaged node away from the planet side as we approach. I don’t expect any problems but no sense inviting disaster.” Jeff said and Javier nodded acknowledgement. “I said this would be short and unless anyone has anything that needs to be added let’s adjourn and make ready to orbit Eden. Launch in 15 minutes.” With that everyone hurried to their duty stations for final departure systems checks.

  When the Command team entered the C&C was busy in preparation. Final systems checks were being performed and status’ confirmed. Glory connected to the systems dashboards and scrolled though the various systems and then verified the local space strategic plot for any obstacles or threats.

  “All boards show Green status and local space between us and Eden are clear of threats Sir.” Glory reported to General Fitsimmons.

  “Thank you Colonel. Nav do you have your course plotted?” Jeff asked Eva Svenson over the com.

  “Yes Sir. Course plotted, helm awaits your orders.” She replied

  “Engineering spool up the Grav Drives.” Jeff called over the com to Javier Rodrigues.

  “Yes Sir, Grav Drives online, active with good gravity bubble. Ion drives ready and available at Helm’s discretion.” Engineer reported back.

  A final glance to his side for a confirmation from Glory, to which she simply nodded her ascent that confirmed both of the reports he had just received over com.

  “Na
v you are clear for best speed to Eden. Launch!” Jeff said, while ignoring the cheers from the normally very disciplined crew.

  “Engaging Ion drive at 0.75 C now.” Eva announced.

  Once again the Columbia accelerated from all stop to three quarters the speed of light in almost an instant but because of the gravity bubble warping local space around it the ship’s crew felt nothing of the acceleration.

  “4.8 hours to Eden orbit Sir.” Eva commented over the com to Jeff.

  “Thank you Nav. Continue course and speed. Astrometrics keep a sharp lookout. We don’t want any surprises on this leg of the voyage.” Jeff said while again slipping at glance to his second in command next to him knowing that she would spot anything before Bobbie Anderson and her team would see it on their plots. Again Glory gave a small nod of acknowledgment to let him know she was watching as well.

  Glory decided to try and extend herself again to her surroundings and into the space around Columbia as an experiment. While doing her best to maintain some focus on the cyberlink information flow she tried to feel those around her and beyond. She had a sense of the personnel of the bridge, feeling the excitement and concentration. She pushed further out and felt person after person just lingering on each long enough to taste their being. Again the excitement among the crew was very pervasive. What about beyond the ship? She thought about the space in the path of Columbia and she felt the emptiness of space. Letting her senses continue on she could hear whispers but not quite make out the words. She focused on the voices she could not quite make out. The direction of them was directly ahead. Could these be from the Collective? Then suddenly

  We listen to you. We hear you approaching. We look forward to welcoming you to our home. We are one on this.

  “We listen to you. We are approaching you. We look forward to your welcome. We are one on this.” Glory thought back to them and then her focus retreated back to Columbia. At least she hoped she only thought that. Looking at the astonished look Jeff had on his face it was obvious that she had spoken it as well.

  “Sorry Sir, I was experimenting with sensing my surroundings and looked into the space ahead of us as well and actually connected with the Collective on Eden. I thought it might be a helpful addition to our scanning capabilities.” Glory said while blushing a brilliant red in her embarrassment.

  “I have to say that it would have been nice to have been forewarned but that is outstanding news. So you made clear contact at this distance?” Jeff was totally astonished.

  “Yes Sir. At first I just feeling the space ahead of it and how empty it was. At least I didn’t sense any danger ahead, it would be nice if that turns out to be correct. Then I heard faint whispers and focused on them. They were directly ahead towards Eden. As I opened to them they suddenly became as clear as the two of us talking. They KNEW I was listening and responded. Now that I have had a few seconds to reflect they might not have been on Eden. I think they were somewhere closer, watching the space in front of us for any danger. Yes, that seems right and nice to know.” Glory reported.

  “I think that you should keep an ear open for them then in case they need to talk. No harm in an extra set of eyes, or whatever you ESP types use.” Jeff said with a little chuckle.

  “Third Eye maybe? Guess we’ll have to think about that one sometime, but right now back to the system monitors.” Glory stated.

  The hours passed in routine fashion. At about halfway the commander ordered personnel rotations for a break. While most crew would prefer to stay at their stations for the five hours flight Jeff knew that they needed to take a break from that concentration level or they would lose concentration and not realize it until a mistake was made. Glory and Eva Svenson were relieved at the same time and walked together to the Mess Hall nearest C&C.

  “I wonder what the planet will actually LOOK like when we finally get to set foot there?” Eva wondered out loud as they talked over a quick lunch.

  “I can imagine it is going to be quite exotic to our eyes. Considering Epsilon Eridani is an Orange Sun I would expect everything to have a bit of a red shift to it. Can you imagine a green lake or ocean?” Glory said as she tried to picture the landscape on Eden and then she saw an image of a shoreline in her mind. It was not that different from one of her favorite spots in Ireland. A very rocky coastline rather than sandy. The water was indeed a hue of green rather than blue. The sky a shade of green also and indeed was the result of a shift in spectrum toward red. Behind her were rolling fields of grass, at least her impression was of grass but it was more yellow that green. So on this world the Emerald Isle would be the Amber Isle? Glory chuckled slightly at the thought.

  Eva brought her out of her vision then by asking “Hey dreamy, what’s so funny? Care to share the joke?”

  “Oh I’m so sorry Eva. As we were talking I was thinking about what it would look like on Eden and I think I connected with someone there and saw it through their eyes.” Glory said and was astonished then as she thought about it.

  “Wow, what will you do next? Transport yourself there ahead of us.” Eva said as a joke.

  “You know I’m beginning to wonder myself where this will all lead, but that would really be cool now wouldn’t it.” Glory replied laughing.

  “So, are you going to tell me or not.” Eva looked at her with wide eyes.

  At that Glory related the scene she saw for Eva and then when she returned to C&C reported the event to her commander.

  “You do realize that you are really starting to fit that nickname of yours. Our Glorious Glory.” Jeff kidded Glory.

  “Hey now, you know I really hate that nickname.” Glory said in mock indignation.

  “All I’m saying is if the shoe fits…” and then in a more serious tone “so was this only sensory or could you feel anything in addition to the visual?”

  “I must admit that I was so taken by the nature of the vision that I almost didn’t notice anything else. With a little reflection I could also feel the breeze and warmth. This was a temperate climate, not as chilly as Ireland but not tropical. The air smelled fresh but then after a year cloistered in a ship wouldn’t any air smell fresh. But no smell of salt water so either their oceans are not salty or this was a large inland lake. The red shift will take some getting used to but it was a beautiful scene. The person felt happy and safe that I shared this view with.” Glory concluded.

  “Once we actually make landfall and remove any disease worries, for us and them, we should see if we can visit this location then. In the meantime, we are only a little over an hour out from orbit so I suggest we resume our stations and bring her home.” Jeff said while pushing his chair back and standing go back to the main plot in C&C.

  “I’ll have to see if I can arrange that. It really reminded me so much of home despite the color skew.” Glory said as they reached the main plot. “Updating ships status and all indicators are green. We enter orbit in 61 minutes.”

  “Now that we are this close I wonder if you should try to contact the Collective like you did earlier? We have chosen a GeoStat orbit above what we perceive as their largest population center. What if their government seat is not at that location? We’d burn a lot of extra shuttle fuel if that is the case. So maybe you can get a recommendation as to our parking space and that way we do not have to move later?” Jeff asked.

  “So now I’m a parking valet in addition my other ‘Glorious’ duties?” Glory said while barely suppressing a laugh.

  “I’ll add it to your list then.” He replied.

  She gave him a smile and a nod as she began to think of the Collective and let her thoughts drift their direction. She thought of their selection of parking orbit and thought of that view as a question.

  We listen to you.

  “We listen to you.” She replied while staring past the plot with unfocused eyes.

  We understand you. This view would be better.

  “We listen to you. We understand. We are one on this.” She replied.

  We listen t
o you. We are one on this.

  At that Glory brought her focus back to C&C and looked at Jeff. “That was a good idea. We were not far off though.” Glory sent a query to the ship’s systems and a globe of Eden was displayed on the plot. Eva, having been alerted via message by Glory at the same time, made her way to the plot beside Glory. Bonnie Anderson joined them in a video conference window on the lower corner of the plot.

  “As you can see we initially targeted what we perceived is the largest population center on the planet. It may well be but the seat of authority, or at least where they suggest we park, is about 1/3 of the way around the planet in an Easterly heading. That would place us here. This is the view the Collective suggested we establish orbit.” Glory reported.

  Certainly doesn’t seem like much of anything there. Almost the opposite of most populated.” Bonnie interjected.

  “Looks to me like maybe they don’t want us directly overhead in case we fall out of the sky on them.” Jeff said.

  “Actually you might be closer to the truth than you think. They never had a concept of space flight, unless you count of spiritual wanderings around the solar system, until they sensed the invaders. Would you want a half mile wide golf ball parked above your head?” Glory gave him a little nudge at that. Slightly less discipline than she had intended for the middle of C&C, but Jeff laughed at the pun and agreed with the sentiment.

  “Alright then. Let’s not give our hosts anything to worry about. We don’t want to cause them any sleepless night wondering whether the ‘sky is falling’ now do we?” If he was worried about a slight breach of discipline at this moment, he didn’t seem to indicate it. “Eva, if you would be so kind as to park us over here away from any cities please?”

  “Yes Sir, it would be my pleasure.” She said and turned to make her way back to her station, with a smile on her face shaking her head as she went.

  “You know Glory, I think we’re corrupting our good Navigation Officer there.” Jeff said while watching her resume her station.

  “Well we’ve had a couple years total now, so it’s about time.” Glory agreed.