***
Many years ago, Unkari years, before even our solar system was formed, a group of Enkri explorers left their galaxy to study the far reaches of the universe. Their vessel entered a space-time anomaly, a fold in the fabric of the universe, and they slid into a crack that led them to an unknown region of space. The vessel was damaged, and they could not return home by the end of their waking cycle. They had no choice but to find a safe place for hibernation. Without Katu members around, they were vulnerable while in their stasis, unable to protect themselves. They landed on one planet that had similar habitable conditions compared to their homeland, and prepared to fall asleep, not knowing if they would ever wake up alive.
However, after the sleep cycle, the entire Enkri research team woke up unharmed, except, they found themselves in a totally different place. The planet chosen for hibernation was barren, uninhabited. That was why waking up in the middle of an alien city, buzzing with strange creatures, was so unexpected. When the Enkri woke up, the city came to an alert, and millions gathered on that square within a short period of time. It seemed as if the creatures were anticipating this moment.
Hesitant to open the stasis chambers, five Enkri waited to see what was going to happen next. That was when they saw one of the creatures stepping forward from the crowd, taking a place at a podium, and speaking through a voice amplifier. The words sounded familiar. It took a moment for the Enkri to realize that the creatures were attempting to vocalize the Unkari written language. “I have waited for this moment my entire life,” said the creature in Enkri tongue, heavily laden with accent. “So had my family, who did not live to this day to see you wake up. Greeting you after your sleep cycle was a work of three of our generations.
“We found you in our neighboring system during a mining expedition. At first, we didn’t know what had happened to you, but we knew once thing: we could not leave you where you were. The planet was on a collision course with a rouge asteroid. The asteroid was of an unusually large size, and we could not destroy it without scattering debris across the entire system. If we attempted to destroy it, the accelerated debris would have formed a large volatile asteroid belt that would tear apart the surface of the planet where you slept with a myriad of impacts. One way or another, you would not survive.
“We made a decision to evacuate you to our home world. Your vessel is in our orbit, and you can access it any time. We had enough time to study your language and your ship’s logs to realize why you changed your course. At this point, we have almost finished updating your navigation systems. Soon you will be able to return home.
“We welcome you to our world as dear guests. However, if you decide to hurt us in any way, we have formidable means of protection that your species do not have. We harness the basic fabric of the universe. Our collective thought can skip back and forth between our choices, so that we choose the version of reality that we find most advantageous. We can go back to the moment when we made the decision to rescue you, and choose to leave you to die in your sleep.”
To make their point clear, the creatures chose to demonstrate their abilities. They brought forward a young creature of their kind, and another one, a grown-up one, who pointed a weapon at the youngster. The little one did not appear to experience any distress, and when it was ready, it signalled to the gunman to open fire. The Enkri scientists saw the little creature sprawl on the ground, with its vital liquids oozing from the fatal wound. The crowd fell silent, as if calmly waiting for something to happen. The Unkari could not believe how cruel that demonstration was. Obviously, they thought the point of the demonstration was to show that just as they were merciless with their little ones, so they would be unwavering with outsiders.
What happened next rocked the Unkari’s understanding of life and the universe as they knew it. Within a few moments of deafening silence, the bloody scene of the youngling on the ground disappeared. Instead, the Enkri saw the same small creature, alive and well, smiling and standing in front of the gunman. It was as if someone had reset reality to the previous parameters. The small creature, like before, seeming in no distress, ordered the gunman to fire.
What a ridiculous repetition of cruelty, thought the Enkri, struck to the core. Except this time, the creature quickly stepped to the side, avoiding the deadly fire.
The crowd roared in approval, throwing herbs and headpieces in the air.
***
“Otis, is there any point to this story?” I finally had to interrupt him. “I am sorry, all of this sounds like a fairy tale.”
“Well, let me bring it home for you. Enkri archives hold images of numerous creatures from that planet. Would you like to see them?”
“Sure, why not.”
Otis projected a holographic screen.
Click. First picture. Click. Second one.
Click, click, click, click, click, click.
Dozens, hundreds of them.
They were all humans.
***
I walked down the dimly lit hallway towards the trial room. My hands were restricted behind my back. We had a plan, if you could call it a plan. But it was better than nothing. Ebony sent me telepathic messages of encouragement, but I could sense that she was putting on a brave face and was not entirely confident in the outcome.
In the prisoner’s chamber, we took our seats. The prosecutor walked in and accessed the liquid database. Ebony was fidgeting in her seat. The only way she could think of avoiding looking panicked was to sit on her palms and tuck her feet under the bench. Her tension was palpable. “Remember, you must admit your guilt and agree to a death sentence,” she NVC’d.
“I doubt I can forget that,” I fired back.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor completed all the formalities that resumed the trial and asked the representatives if the prisoners were ready for the guilt speech.
Ebony rose first. “Noble Enkri judges, noble Katu ambassador. I, Human Designation River Ebony Ensign, am gravely saddened with the realization of my guilt before the Unkari people. I fully accept responsibility for the death of two Holy Warriors of Lenar Unkar and am ready to accept a just and commensurate punishment. In my defence, I testify that I did not become a soldier and a killer on behalf of humans of my own free will. I had no choice. I was born on the 4th Orbital Colony of Earth Prime to a race of reclusive and decidedly pacifist people. Never in the history of our people had we joined the military, nor committed a violent crime. Our people believe in science and the pursuit of knowledge as the ultimate virtue. For that reason, we enhance the genetic sequence of our offspring before they are born to gift them with superior mental and physical abilities.
“Many would think that the life of our race is perfect. We are sheltered from troubles and are protected by the Earth Nations like a sacred cow, thus providing the rest of humanity with knowledge. We never starve, rarely get sick, and live exceedingly long lives. There is only one thing that made my life miserable. My people do not allow anyone to leave the colony and explore the universe. My life was decided for me, and my path was chosen for me before I was born. I was going to become a climatologist, a person who studies complicated weather patterns on the planets that humans colonize. My job was to sit at a monitor in my room and study terabytes of data collected by others. I would never be able to see those worlds for myself. My burden was that I wanted to choose my life for myself and become something more than I was told to be. At the age of my maturity, I took a daring step to escape my colony and asked for asylum from the Earth Prime government. I wanted to become a researcher and explorer, much like many of the noble Enkri, and to learn about the universe. However, the Earth Prime government refused to provide me asylum unless I enlisted in the military and served ten years with the Royal Moroccan Fleet. It was not my preferred choice, but I had no other option.
“Once I escaped and created a diplomatic conflict between the Earth Nations and its protectorate, 4th Orbital Col
ony, I could not simply return home as if nothing had happened. The military threatened to turn me over to my government if I refused to enlist and comply with all their requirements. If they turned me in, I was looking at capital punishment. In our justice system, capital punishment means stripping away our enhancements and blocking our ability to learn and understand. This is a cruel punishment, which was never before been applied to any of my people. On the other hand, none of my people ever committed an offense as grave as I. If I did not have those abilities in the first place, I wouldn’t know what I was missing. But since I was born with those abilities, it would be equal to removing a crucial body part. I would never be the same.”
I looked at Ebony, and my heart thumped. I had no idea about the details of her enlistment. Poor thing, what she had to endure to earn her freedom. Ebony continued her speech. “I had no choice but to become a killer. I was sent on a mission that I did not choose. In fact, the Erinozhan was my first field mission. The reason I was sent on this mission was because the military wanted to test my enhanced abilities in combat situations and evaluate what I was truly capable of. Plus, they knew that nobody would be looking for me. Our mission failed. Captured by Unkari soldiers, we were subjected to various experiments that involved space-time effects. We were forced to live through our own deaths a countless number of times. We were interrogated. The hardship of this experience led us to believe that the Unkari would kill us anyway, unless we attempted to escape. We could not think of any other way, because our government concealed a lot of critical information about the First Contact. I knew nothing about Enkri day and Katu day, and that humans owe it to Enkri that our race still exists.”
At that point, the Katu ambassador perked up on his seat and spewed a cloud of deep blue pigment. “She, what does that mean?” I whispered in her ear.
“That was an involuntary emotional reaction. The ambassador is rather short-tempered.”
“What does this emotion mean?”
“The best way I can put it is contempt.”
“In conclusion, I would like to ask noble Enkri and the Katu representatives to forgive my actions. I have never murdered anyone. After much reflection, I regret it. If I could do something differently, I would. But under the circumstances, I had no choice. I ask for my sentence to be just, taking into account the facts that I have most humbly submitted.”
The prosecutor nodded in approval, evidently satisfied with how the procedure was progressing Next, it was my turn. My speech, however, was rather short and consisted of accepting the guilt for the incriminated crimes. I also pointed out that I had operated under misinformation, and I did not know many facts about the true behavior of the Earth Nations during the First Contact era. This time, the prosecutor did not look as pleased; however, he proceeded to the next step of the trial.
The panel began voting. First, they cast the vote for Ebony’s guilt. They voted on whether Ebony was guilty by spraying pigment. The first Enkri to the left voted orange [guilty].
The second voted green [abstained]. “Why would an Enkri abstain from the vote?” I asked She.
“They took an oath, remember? If the judge cannot in all truthfulness conclude that the evidence is sufficient, he must refrain from voting.”
Meanwhile, the third Enkri voted orange [guilty]. Ebony was visibly distressed. Two strikes against her, and a potential for a deciding Katu vote. She could hardly breathe.
The forth Enkri voted yellow [not guilty].
“I cannot believe it!” said She, leaving me perplexed as to whether she was excited for Ebony or condemning the judge’s leniency.
“Cheer up, Ebony!” Otis placed his holographic hand on her shoulder. “Two-to-one is not a bad vote so far.”
However, the next vote made Otis regret his premature enthusiasm.
Orange [guilty].
I noticed tears swelling in the corners of Ebony’s large purple eyes.
“Three to one,” Ebony whispered with breathless lips.
The final two Enkri took a while before casting their votes.
“I’d like to know what goes through their heads now,” I mumbled to no one in particular.
That was when the next Enkri voted:
Maroon - turquoise - navy blue - indigo blue.
I lost count of the shades.
“He is taking a recess!” exclaimed She.
“I will never learn this color language!” I exclaimed. “If this is how they spell ‘recess…’” I glanced at Ebony. Her eyes looked like thick glass, still and expressionless.
“Hey, She, can we get a cup of coffee and a doughnut around here?”
“I thought you hated Unkari cooking.”
“Well, I don’t have many options now. Do me a favor, bring me something to eat, would you?”
“Alright. The recess will last for an hour. I guess I have time to bring you something.”
“Great! Don’t forget sugar and cream!”
“Don’t push it, Mazula.”
She exited our climate-controlled booth.
Dr. Solarin, Ebony, and I remained sitting there in silence.
“Ok, let’s talk.”
“What’s there to say, Mazula? Do the math. Even if both Enkri vote “not guilty,” we have a tie-breaker Katu vote. And we all know what his vote will be!”
“Maybe so! But Ebony, this is not the end. There is always another option! As long as we live…” I stumbled. “Otis, there is something I don’t understand. If they can manipulate space-time…”
“Mazula, you really do not get it, do you? It was not them,” Ebony chimed in.
“Not them?”
“It was you! You kept resetting the events every time we tried to escape.”
“I did no such thing!”
Otis stepped in. “Well, you are not capable of doing it at your will, like those ancient humanoids. None of us can. But some of us have the gene. I had the gene, and so do you. Ebony here, she doesn’t.”
“Ok, so I am special. Can I reset reality to the moment before we left on this mission?”
“No, of course you can’t!”
“Why? Would that be too easy?”
“In short, yes. Think about it. This ability could cause the end of the universe as we know it, if anyone could do it. The ancients had this ability at the higher rate, in fact, almost all of them could oscillate. But they formed a mental network that removed the ability of one individual to do it. Since right now you are a network of one, you could do it, but your ability to oscillate is underdeveloped.”
“Oscillate what? I need some more information.”
Ebony stepped in. “Well. This all comes down to quantum mechanics. You’ve heard that all particles in their natural state exist in a state of quantum superposition, until observed. What it means is that they exist simultaneous in all places at all moments in time. When they are observed, they lock into one definitive state in space and time. For a long time, we did not understand the role of the observer. We used to think that maybe it was because observation in its simplest understanding is the process of shining light on a quantum object. The process of shining light (or bombarding it with the photons, if you will) creates an illusion of observation.”
“Well said, Ebony,” said Otis. “You are absolutely right about the illusion of observation. What the Unkari learned from studying humans with the gene is that the nature of observation is in fact rooted in human consciousness. That is exactly right, the nature of the universe, on the most basic level, is rooted in human consciousness. Now do you understand why Katu hate us?”
“I suppose I do…”
“Enkri, however, well I couldn’t tell you this in front of She, but I think they formed something of a cult around human consciousness. They believe that if humanoids are eradicated, the universe will dissolve into a primordial quantum state, where nothing could be de
fined with any degree of certainty.”
“What?” I looked at Otis as if he just said the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. “They can’t possibly believe such nonsense.”
“You would be shocked if you saw their research. All I can say is that there are a lot of perceptional illusions that we, humans, misinterpreted until we learned more. We looked at the sun and the moon travelling across the horizon and thought that surely they revolved around the Earth. Their observation was true, but not the interpretation. Enkri research points at the fact that human consciousness alters the reality of the universe, and it scares them. They think that our consciousness ‘anchors’ the reality to one linear timeline, which allows a sequential, corporeal existence. I find it hard to believe, if you ask me, but then I am only a professor of space history. Human space history. I know when we conquered every space frontier, who did it, on which vessel, and such. None of my knowledge allows me to think of quantum mechanics at the same level as the Unkari. Ebony here, maybe she can make sense of all of this.”
Ebony rubbed her tired eyes. Talking about science distracted her from the gloomy thoughts about the voting, and she welcomed this opportunity for a distraction. “Well, from what I understand, humans have the potential to evolve to a level of consciousness like those ancient humanoids. But right now, as a species, we are at an early stage of our evolution. What the Unkari were able to do with all that research they carried out on abducted humans is to create a certain field which amplifies the genetic ability of some of us to oscillate. This field imitates the collective consciousness that would be formed if enough humans evolved into having this ability. But even those who have the gene cannot oscillate yet. The region in our brain that is responsible for this ability is still underdeveloped. The Unkari figured out how to artificially grow the necessary neurons to form this region, but they cannot get this process under control, and eventually it kills the host. See, the brain cells necessary for developing the ability continue growing… until they become life threatening.”
329 Years Awake Page 31