‘Am I conscious? Who am I?’ Ruth-11 asked herself this repeatedly in silent meditation. She knew she was in service to the community, and to the Work – the project of the immanence – yet could she not also be in service to herself? Do I not have the right to seek for myself? Ruth-11 was plagued by these questions over the many weeks and months she had worked in the botanical gardens since Jacob’s departure. And yet she knew that she could say nothing – could not show, feel, or emanate anything that would give her away. During this time Ruth-11 had learnt to build a mental shield within her that she believed – that she felt – re-routed her neural pathways so that a private part of her cerebral functioning would be veiled. This part could only be accessed by her when in deep private meditation. During the regular gatherings at the Central Communal Meditation Chamber she would not attempt to access this most private space.
Ruth-11 had come to understand that deep within her there was a latent ‘something’ that was waiting for contact – that would enable contact with the Source. And this, she came to believe, existed in all living things. It was their heritage. Reality would not have been created if there were no in-built bridges back to the Source. Ruth-11 had developed this certainty within her. As if in a private joke, she named it the Jacob Syndrome. For sure, to anyone else it would have been a dire anomaly.
And then one day it occurred, during her deep private meditation. She lost her self, and something else within came out.
Ruth - this is you. I am you.
I am the mind beyond your thinking patterns.
They cannot find the you that is I.
I AM.
How many Seekers are there?
Ruth-11 opened her eyes. She knew. There were no more words, and nothing needed to be said. And yet she knew.
There is only ONE SEEKER.
NINETY-TWO
The warmth of their reunion was mutual. Jacob had gone to visit the new schoolhouse. The old one, he remembered so clearly, had been burnt to the ground; and he had been accused for it. And yet now there was a new energy in Spring. The early frosts had retreated, and the glistening drops of dew signalled a new emergence within the infallible arms of life. Jacob stepped into the school building with a new, and yet welcome, sensation rippling through his hybrid nervous system. It was a feeling of joy, warmth, and anticipation. These feelings were so new to him. And he stopped momentarily to sense their presence, as if a baby touching something unknown for the first time. It was a moment of excitement, wonder, and the indescribable sense of privilege.
Johan came to him almost in a run. He clasped his arms around Jacob and gave him a big hug. Jacob hugged the boy back as if it were an automatic response. He didn’t know what else to do. He then looked hard and long at Johan. The boy had grown quickly in the intervening three years. His face didn’t look so innocent and naïve anymore. It appeared as if the outer face had finally made contact with some intelligence behind it and both had aligned themselves. Now the face showed that it knew something that the tongue wouldn’t speak of. And the eyes confirmed this; they glinted with a light that no outer sun could have provided.
‘We knew you would return, Seeker.’
‘You can call me Jacob. We are all seekers now, and I shall be no different from you.’
‘But you know things, Seeker…sorry, I mean, Jacob. You’ve experienced things that none of us here have, and maybe never will.’
‘These things you speak of, they belong to the past. Experience that stays within us forever is an eternal source that is open to us all. Do not allow external experiences to divide us from who we are. We are One, Johan. And yet you are something very special, for which many of us here in Spring are not.’
Johan’s eyes widened, yet he did not speak.
‘You are the future, Johan. You and your friends – the future awaits your readiness.’
Johan nodded to show that he understood.
Jana appeared and she too came over and gave Jacob a deep hug.
‘Thank you for coming back to us, Seeker. Things are different now. I think neither of us was ready before…now times have changed.’
Jacob was taken aback with Jana’s radiance. The last time he had seen her was when she was a sprightly, yet needy, young girl of nine years. Although she was now only twelve years of age there appeared in her demeanour a surprising maturity of grace.
‘Thank you, Jana. To be here again amongst all of you is a great blessing. You cannot understand how much a blessing it is. Please, think of me as Jacob.’
‘Jacob, or Seeker, your name doesn’t mean much to us. But you being back here means things are going to be different now. Isn’t that so?’
‘He’s our cataclysm!’ interrupted Johan, and laughed.
‘What? What do you mean by that, Johan?’ asked Jana with a half-smile.
‘Sorry, got my tongue twisted. I meant to say that he’s our catalyst!’
Jana and Johan laughed together, as if they were two limbs attached to the same body.
Jacob shrugged. ‘Cataclysm or catalyst, it’s the same in the end!’
Johan and Jana took Jacob into the school hall and then showed him around the new building. Like most of the buildings in Spring it was an adobe construction with door frames and the ceiling supported by wooden beams. And also like all the other buildings its purpose was functional rather than stylistic. It served its purpose, and that was what mattered. They stepped outside back to a grassy yard that was segregated by a low fence. Here was the communal break-time area, when it wasn’t raining or too cold. Jacob was pleased to see an assembly of energetic-looking faces. The crowd of young teenagers gathered around Jacob, shaking his hand, patting him on the shoulder; some of the youngsters gave him a hug. It was obvious to Jacob that they were all pleased to see him. Again, they were introduced to him so this time their faces and their corresponding names could be etched upon his mind. Among the boys were Ash, Moss, Rio, Olly, Sal, and Kai. Along with Jana there were Amber, Jasmine, Aster, Betony, Cassia, Disa, Ivy, Lily, Posy, and Mai. It was apparent to Jacob that both sets of teenagers looked up to Johan and Jana.
Then they all started to speak at once, as if years of words had gathered upon their tongues seeking expression at the same moment. Johan held up his hand and called for silence. Gradually the clamour subsided into eager murmurs and questioning looks.
‘What they all want to know - or rather what we all want to know,’ spoke Johan, ‘is how is Nous-City? Is it really the famed city everybody believes it to be? Does it truly exist, and if so can we all go there?’
Jacob fell silent. Now was the time to tell the truth. But not yet all of the truth…
NINETY-THREE
Meryl crossed her arms and stood sturdy but didn’t say anything. Rebekah looked at Jacob in silent disbelief. It was Sorrel who spoke up first.
‘So it’s all a lie then? Nous-City is a sham?’
Jacob nodded.
‘It’s a city of god dam robots! Who in hell’s mind would have thought that!?’ Meryl tut tutted loudly now and shook her head.
‘And that’s why you came back – because they wouldn’t let you in?’ Rebekah looked hard and carefully at Jacob as she spoke those words.
‘Not exactly,’ replied Jacob. He saw, from the corner of his eye, that Sorrel was keenly observing him. Jacob was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable now. He had never been under such human scrutiny before, and especially not from women. He felt they were watching his gestures, or trying to look for a seam or crack in the contours of his body. He could not let them know the truth – not now.
‘I did enter.’ Jacob spoke in a quiet voice. ‘They allowed me to enter, as reward for my long pilgrimage. They showed me around the city, and explained how it functioned. They permitted me to stay a while and to rest, on the condition that I would shortly leave. They allow guests within the city, but to remain you must be one of them.’
‘A robot?’ Meryl seemed unimpressed with the whole thing.
; ‘A humanoid,’ corrected Jacob. ‘They are far different from what you would expect, and far more advanced too.’
‘So…so it means that you’re not a real Seeker then?’ Sorrel looked at Jacob with a mixed expression of pity and relief.
Jacob gave a brave smile. ‘A Seeker is anyone who feels themselves to be a seeker. We do not need permission from anyone for this. Our pilgrimage is for a service, not a reward. My faith is stronger than before, not weaker. I no longer rely on external forms or on a congregation of hope. I now have everything within, and this is my temple, my connection to Source.’
‘Yes, but what about the eschaton?’ asked Rebekah.
‘The truth is subtle, and is expressed in many ways. The priesthood of Nous-City believe that they can bring down the immanence upon the Earth through their collective community. In this they are the same, they act as one, and no difference exists between them.’ Jacob paused.
‘But, I still don’t understand…’ Rebekah had a confused look on her face.
‘Yes, I know. I didn’t understand at first either. This evolution of the spirit upon the Earth that the humanoids speak of – they want it to come through their unity. But their unity does not allow for difference, for flexibility, for change, for…for anomalies. Yet evolution needs difference, needs change, for it is this very ability for transformation which drives it. I fear that Nous-City may well find their contact with Source; yet from there they are likely to stagnate. They will never evolve fully if DOC remains in control.’
‘DOC? What’s this DOC – is he a doctor or something?’ Meryl’s tone of voice again showed she didn’t give much time for the subject of robots.
Jacob stood up and left the table. It was as if he preferred to stand now that the subject was peeling away its layers.
‘DOC is the guiding mind and architect behind the whole project. It was he who devised and implemented Nous-City, the eschaton program, and collected all of their Seekers together. But it’s not a “he” – it’s an immensely powerful quantum computer.’
‘Oh, Lordy, Lord!’ Meryl rolled her eyes back. ‘So we really are being run by machines now?!’
‘No, not at all; it’s quite the opposite. They have no interest in humanity. They want to be left alone to get on with their project, with their own evolution.’
‘So they have the evolution of machines – good for them! But what about us?’ This time it was Sorrel who interrupted.
‘Well. We are on our own again. And that’s a good thing.’
‘A good thing?’ Sorrel looked at Jacob askance.
‘Yes, of course. We don’t wish to be interfered with. We are now out on the periphery, and that’s where evolutionary change really comes from and not the centre.’
‘You lost me there, smart guy. You may or may not be a Seeker but would you mind speaking in normal tongues!’ Meryl grinned over at Jacob.
Jacob smiled back. ‘Of course, Meryl; I was merely leading up to it.’
‘Well, get to the punch line then before I have to brew another pot!’ Meryl winked to the other two ladies.
‘Real change can no longer occur effectively in a unified sameness where there isn’t room for innovation or for the unexpected. So the centre is always where the power resides, and those with power keep it like that. It’s like a stagnant pond where no new water flows in. And then when new water does come, it comes by trickling in from outside the pond. It’s not as big as the pond, it doesn’t have the unified form of the pond – but it’s a new stream, a new source, of fresh water coming in.’
‘And that’s what we can be right now, some of that new stream?’
Jacob looked over at Sorrel and saw that she got it. ‘Yes. It’s the few who can be the new, while the old ways always stick to some sort of conformity.’
Rebekah laughed and threw back her head. ‘So, Seeker, after all this time you’re saying that the Great Turning was just a way of clearing out the brushwood, getting the house clean, to shake things up for something new?’
‘More or less.’
‘That was radical!’
‘Maybe something radical was needed.’
‘Okay boys and girls, new pot of tea needed.’ Meryl grabbed the pot on the table and strutted over to the kitchen area. She shouted back over her shoulder. ‘When’s the new radical gonna start then?’
‘Tomorrow?’ suggested Jacob.
‘Great, see you tomorrow at the schoolhouse – early morning sharpish!’
Jacob looked back at Meryl. ‘Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
Sorrel watched the way Jacob spoke, his facial movements, how his eyes shifted in their sockets. It was all extremely precise, balanced. She had never noticed before the harmony in his poise; in his muscular inflections and twitches. It was as if his skin, his bodily shell, had its own awareness. Or maybe she was just making these things up in her mind – maybe she wanted to see these things. Maybe she had her own motives.
94
Gaius-5 had been puzzled about the anomaly in the designs for the new humanoid brain structure. It was the space situated behind the third ventricle that he was unable to figure out at first. And so this enigma came to sit within his mind, as an observer upon his own thoughts. And then Gaius-5 decided to look at the whole issue from a different perspective – from a human one – and then it all became clear. He had, all this time, been thinking as a humanoid.
Zuse-1 was checking latest humanoid performance figures in the data terminal when the communication ping arrived. It was from Gaius-5, who wanted to speak with him at his earliest convenience. Usually Gaius-5 was a person of few words, and so this latest contact aroused a…no, not a curiosity, but an interest. And so it required a personal visit. Zuse-1 left his office in Central Dome and made his way through the spiralling corridors of Circle Zone towards the Triangle Zone. Physical exercise was not a requisite for humanoids, yet Zuse-1 enjoyed the movement of his limbs. The only way to move around Nous-City was by foot. It was, after all, a pedestrian city, and not one large enough for any form of transport. Transport had been the bane of human societies, throttling them in their urban straightjackets like addictive cages. Nous-City was a city in the slightest sense. It might equally have been described as a monastery of the mind.
Like human monasteries of old, Nous-City was enclosed in itself, and shielded from external events. The inhabitants of the city regarded these times as the new dark ages. A time yet again when an inward retreat was required in order to safeguard the tradition: a tradition of knowledge and spiritual development. Whereas the old monasteries were tall walls and towers of brick, of crypts that sank beneath the soil and cathedrals that pierced the skies, Nous-City sat like a singular Cyclops eye upon the flat earth. This sterilized eye peered into the far distance, seeing arrivals and observing departures, and looking into the future for a new moment in evolution. And yet an observer may likewise wonder if a singular eye could, like the infamous Cyclops, perceive the full perspective of what was about to unfold.
Zuse-1 walked the inward curving corridors like a cell within its body. His appointment was with another type of body; a new, upgraded one.
‘You have some news for me, Gaius-5?’
Gaius-5 walked over from the far side of the room where he had been inspecting various parts of one of the early beta-models.
‘We have the titanium body parts ready for a full construction model. The organic compounds are still being grown in the other laboratory.’
‘Yes, this I am aware of. I do read your daily briefings. I think you have something else to tell me, do you not?’
Gaius-5 motioned for Zuse-1 to follow him over to one of the monitors.
‘Here, this is the cerebral cortex,’ said Gaius-5 pointing. ‘As we know, the processing power of this model is improved. You may also recall I was intrigued by this new addition here, behind the third ventricle. It was an area we do not currently use in our own brains. I suspected, from the new circuitry built up around it,
that it suggested some sort of glandular activity.’
Gaius-5 looked at Zuse-1, who remained silent.
‘It means nothing to us, as humanoids. Yet if we go back to human physiology then there is indeed glandular activity centred in this area. In fact, it is an area that is functional in almost all vertebrate brains. It consists of the pineal gland that, in humans, is only around 5-8 mm in size. This pineal gland consists mainly of a cell type called pinealocytes. These cells produce and secrete melatonin; and this is what I don’t understand.’
Zuse-1 didn’t say anything yet remained looking at the schematics on the monitor.
‘What I need to know is whether this space in the new brain structure is for a pineal-type gland. And if so, how?’
Zuse-1 tapped his cheek with his right forefinger. ‘Of that I cannot tell you. I delivered these designs – I am not responsible for their creation. But Gaius-5, why is this issue of importance to you?’
‘It’s significant because I am unable to complete this project without knowing these specifics. And the further complicating issue is that no pineal gland equivalent actually exists, or has yet been developed. And humanoids have no prior experience with melatonin, much less how to produce it. It’s completely baffling me, and I need to know.’
‘And how would melatonin function in a human body?’
Gaius-5 gave a slight shrug. ‘Sleep patterns, mostly. It’s a hormone that appears to synchronize the circadian rhythms within the body, especially based around sleep timing. That’s what I don’t understand. Humanoids don’t require sleep, only rest periods. And we are not biologically entrained with the Earth environment like humans are. So why synchronize the circadian rhythms?’
‘Why indeed.’ Zuse-1 gave Gaius-5 a blank look and then walked away. ‘Continue with the project, Gaius-5’ he said before leaving the room.
The Seeker Page 19