by Ezra Manes
Joqi focused his mind to sense the vibrant virtual environment established by his full integration with the smart plasma. His experience with immersion in the plasma before this had only scratched the surface of the capabilities and vision brought to bear in the expanded virtual environment.
Now you are beginning to understand what is possible with full immersion, Eve projected. But I caution you, this brings with it higher risk of immersion addiction, as was addressed with you by Rauli and your father.
I feel more capable, more powerful, than ever in my life, Joqi replied. And yes, I understand that addiction is a very real concern.
But Joqi’s focus was already turning to exploring all aspects of the Horizon Quest’s systems, and Eve sensed this. It was time to give birth to another.
Joqi, this is Dawn. I am at your service.
• • •
Joqi’s hunger for knowledge grew dramatically as the hours passed. The more he learned about the ship and its extensive suite of systems, the more he wanted to learn. And he quickly discovered how to tune the subtleties of the virtual environment he now lived in to improve the fidelity of the experience. The smart plasma was remarkable, but it had never existed in any environment other than a containment tank until integrated into the command pod.
The initial virtual environment the plasma established for Joqi was impressive, considering it was developed based on observations, not on interactions with him. Once he learned how to provide feedback to the plasma, the virtual environment quickly evolved to be as real as anything experienced in his the daily life on Zilia. Adding to the experience was the broad spectrum view he now possessed when accessing all the Horizon Quest‘s sensors.
Talk about a realistic virtual reality, nothing can beat this! His thought was a casual one, but someone picked up on it quickly.
Total immersion does indeed make a difference, she observed.
It was Eve but not Eve. Somehow he could tell the difference.
Yes it does, Dawn. And I’m getting over the initial discomfort of having the plasma interface more intimately with me.
He realized he had communicated using English. It didn’t make any difference to Eve or Dawn what language he used. But his thoughts and communications were more focused and efficient when they were in English.
For the duration of our mission, he conveyed, I want communications between us to be in English.
As you wish, she replied. Must I use the slang, contractions, and other idioms of the English language?
Joqi smiled and replied. Not at all, Dawn. It appeared that Eve’s offspring was developing a personality uniquely hers.
At the start of the second day of full immersion, Joqi slowed his racing mind enough to contact Ecina as she started her day. Her smile and bubbly conversation with him showed how much she appreciated his taking the time to interact with her. He felt and shared his love for her as best he could under the circumstances. But he soon sensed a nagging pull to focus again on learning all he could about accessing and operating shipboard systems. In parting, he promised to contact her early each day and again at night until the ship launched. He kept his promise.
Joqi far exceeded Lenjay and Eve’s expectations in quickly learning how to operate ship systems and pilot the vessel. It helped greatly to have a partner aboard that was every bit as capable as Eve—Dawn, the clone of Eve. Dawn came with full knowledge of ship systems and how to maneuver the Horizon Quest. With Joqi’s intuitive grasp of how to best assimilate sensor data, they made an excellent team.
To Joqi, the launch of the Horizon Quest was anticlimactic after the frenzied activities required to get the ship and him and Dawn ready for launch. He accessed cameras on the space elevator platform and looked closely at the group of family members and Zilan leaders assembled. He could see a full range of emotions portrayed on the faces, from confidence and hope to worry and anxiety. His father stood proudly in the front with one arm hugging Joqi’s mother and the other hugging Ecina, who was losing the battle to control her tears.
All his goodbyes were said; all the ship preparations were done. He withdrew from observing those on the platform as Dawn eased the ship out from its central position in the orbiting Sayer Research Station. She deftly turned the vessel to engage the trajectory outward toward the intersection point. Joqi activated the external pulsed fusion engines when the ship was at a safe distance from the research station.
Godspeed, my Joqi, have a safe journey.
CHAPTER 7
The pitch black ball hovered motionlessly near the floor in the mist shrouded enclosure. The chill in the air did nothing to improve Joqi’s mood. With a sense of foreboding, he reached out toward the black ball, but stopped when it started to flatten. The ball’s surface now looked shiny, perhaps from the mist wetting its surface.
What was this? A slight bulge appeared at the top of the object and then moved down across the surface nearest him. The ball flattened even more and expanded outward horizontally at the middle. It elongating out toward him as it settled to the floor. Other small bulges appeared on top of the flattened object, moving haphazardly around the surface.
No, not just bulges. Something, or some things, moved around just under the elongated ball’s skin. It didn’t look like a ball any longer; if it had legs it would look like a big black bug, thick and rounded at the end nearest him and thin and narrow at the other end.
Something punctured the black skin from the inside and a nauseating smell engulfed Joqi. Other puncture holes appeared in the skin. The rotten smell was so strong he couldn’t breathe. And then small, black, insect-like creatures crawled out of the puncture holes.
Joqi backed up quickly and banged against a cold metal wall. His movement or the noise he made attracted the attention of the small black insects. They swarmed as one toward him. He looked around quickly but there was no where he could go to escape. He covered his face with his hands to protect his eyes and exposed tender flesh.
The pain was excruciating as the creatures bit into his legs, arms, and hands…
Joqi sat up, shaking from the fear that lingered from the bad daydream while in deep meditation. The smart plasma reacted to remove the sweat that would have drenched him had he been in a normal bed. The virtual environment came back in focus swiftly.
“Was it the same dream,” Dawn asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “But this time the creatures swarmed over me and started biting my flesh.”
He had shrugged off previous similar episodes while meditating as being side effects of adjusting to immersion in the smart plasma filled command pod. But he couldn’t shrug off this last dream; it had been too real and had gone past the point of his just feeling threatened. The little black creatures had started eating him!
Thankfully Dawn remained quiet, giving him time to think things through. He looked outward using the sensors of the Horizon Quest. The spaceship was still accelerating quickly away from Arzét, Zilia’s star, which they had used to slingshot the ship toward the rendezvous point, the intersection point depicted on Prophet Sepeda’s map. They would continue accelerating all the way to that point for another month.
A memory link popped into sight near the ship virtual controls and monitoring indicators. He smiled. This was Dawn’s way of interacting when unsure if she should interrupt his thought processes.
He accessed the information identified by the link and would have jumped out of his seat had he been in one. The image in the information was a larger manifestation of the small creatures that attacked him in his daydream!
The rest of the information was sketchy, but identified the creature as a Clac, a crustacean-like alien creature, whose home world was located out in the Sagittarius region of space. The Clac planet orbited around a bright star located about 118 light-years from Zilia. Discovery of the Clacs was the reason Earth sent the first emigrants into other solar systems.
He had an uneasy thought. “How did you know to highlight this particular data set?”
“You can monitor my dreams through the smart plasma interface!”
Dawn made no response to his sudden revelation.
“I should have known,” he said, trying to suppress his rising anger. His daydreams about intimate time spent with Ecina were an open book to Dawn. As was his weekly communications with Ecina and family.
He stood up in his virtual environment, looking for something to lash out at physically, and just as quickly, he knew this was the wrong way. He assumed a sitting, meditative position on a padded floor, with legs crossed and arms folded across his chest. A part of him still knew he was immersed in smart plasma. But for all practical purposes, the virtual environment became whatever he needed, including simulating Ecina when he needed to hold her.
Dawn finally spoke. “I stop monitoring your interaction with the plasma induced virtual environment whenever it becomes clear you want private time. However, the plasma alerts me when you experience trauma, even in a dream. My focus is on maintaining your health.”
This was a reasonable approach to monitoring his activities. And he had never seen even an inkling of interest on Dawn or Eve’s part to intrude on private thoughts or actions.
“I understand,” he said, his tension quickly draining away.
“I will change my monitoring activities however you wish,” Dawn said.
“No change is necessary.”
Joqi switched to a direct link with Dawn to bypass the verbal communication impediment. Dawn acknowledged the link immediately.
He focused on the Clac information, which he didn’t know Dawn had obtained. He discovered she had acquired and stored as much information as possible regarding activities, technology, and conditions on Earth and its colonies before the Horizon Quest launched from Zilia. She had hacked into data banks on Earth and its two major colonies in other solar systems to obtain the latest information, including what was known about the Clacs. Earth had deciphered the Clacs’ verbal language, which Dawn could code into a translator aboard the Horizon Quest, if needed.
Dawn’s research, including the hacking, was done via Hycoms links. The Horizon Quest had an advanced hyperspace-communications capability, Hycoms as they called it, enabling almost instantaneous communication even at interstellar distances. This communications technology was brought to Zilia by Prophet Sepeda and his team, and enhanced by Zilan scientists.
Prophet Sepeda’s team also brought an extensive library of information about stars in the Milky Way galaxy, including great detail for the stars in the Sagittarius Constellation. These stars had an abundance of planets orbiting them as compared to other regions of the galaxy reasonably close to human occupied worlds. Sagittarius had another very interesting factor—when viewing the constellation from Zilia, you were looking toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Zilan astronomers were thrilled to get this library information, and consequently adopted the Earth nomenclature for the stars.
Joqi used the Horizon Quest’s long range, full spectrum scanners, to scrutinize space around the intersection point closely. There was no indication that any Clac vessel was anywhere in the neighborhood of their destination. In fact, there was nothing visible at or close around that point.
Joqi had mixed emotions about whether to notify those back on Zilia of his dreams and the concern the Clacs might pose an imminent threat. Dawn reminded him of the great importance Prophet Sepeda’s dreams had played in ensuring the survival of the diplomatic team sent by Earth to Zilia two generations earlier. He reluctantly agreed to share his dreams and concerns, but with only select members of the Zilan religious order and the supreme leader’s staff, plus Eve and his father.
• • •
Five individuals were seated around the large conference table, including the Supreme Leader, Ciasan Tojmera, at the far end, with High Priest Harsn on his right. Joqi’s father sat to the right of the high priest. The leader’s chief-of-staff, Marih Basira, sat on his left, and then Lenjay Genai, now the Mission Coordinator. And of course, Eve was present via video link.
Joqi projected his 3-D simulacrum, a lifelike representation of himself, over a Hycoms link. Dawn monitored proceedings over the same broadband communications link. He assimilated his simulacrum standing at the near side of the table, opposite from the supreme leader.
“Thank you for meeting with such short notice,” Joqi said.
“Your mission is our mission,” Ciasan Tojmera said. “And the mission is our highest priority.”
“I have had recurring dreams recently that could be significant regarding the threat mentioned by my grandfather, Prophet Sepeda.” His abrupt statement commanded their attention. They all waited in attentive silence for him to continue.
“Dawn, please show them.”
A 3-D visualization of his latest dream materialized above the center of the table. Dawn let the visualization run until the small black creatures swarmed toward Joqi. Of course, the visualization didn’t reveal the fear he felt during the daydream, and Dawn stopped the visualization before the creatures started eating Joqi’s flesh.
Those in attendance showed various emotions, from shock to wonderment to disbelieving looks. The murmurs stilled and they waited for Joqi to continue.
“Dawn, show the information about the Clacs.”
Dawn projected the image of a Clac above the table, and then summarized what was known about the species. The summary included the conclusion by those on Earth that the Clacs posed a future threat to human civilization—they were colonizing solar systems primarily in the direction of Earth’s solar system. This prompted questioning of Eve and Dawn about the source and accuracy of their information.
After the discussion quieted down, High Priest Harsn spoke directly to Joqi’s simulacrum. “Your revered grandfather had many visions that provided insights to guide us in preparing for the future we are currently in.”
She paused and looked around at the others. “I am unsure what the message is for us from this dream, this vision of Joaquin’s, but I am sure it is of great importance.”
“I have given this some thought,” Joqi injected before anyone else could speak. “My dream may have more importance regarding what we should do in general than it does regarding a threat specifically from the Clacs. Our long range scans have revealed no vessels of any kind near the intersection point.”
“Please continue,” the supreme leader said, cutting off others who had questions.
“I believe it means we should put in place resources to counter future aggressive threats to Zilia from space. This should start by assessing the range of threats considered possible, and then those considered most likely given our knowledge about other civilizations in our neighborhood of space. We should then put in place resources to counter the most likely threats.”
“I find this most distasteful,” the High Priest said. “Even so, we must take steps to protect our future generations.”
“Thank you for sharing your dream,” Ciasan Tojmera said. “I believe we all agree with your assessment. It will be difficult to prepare for a possible war, given that we have never been a warring civilization. We will discuss this and initiate appropriate actions.”
The meeting was in effect over. Joqi’s father requested a private discussion with him, and the others departed from the meeting, including Eve and Dawn.
“How is Mother holding up,” Joqi asked. Among his blood kin, she was having the most difficulty with his departure.
“She is doing better. We all are, although our lives will never be the same.” His father coughed, and then continued. “However, we do have some good news for you.”
His father motioned toward the door.
Ecina! She rushed toward his simulacrum, and then stopped a few feet away, realizing how he was represented.
“Oh Joqi, I have missed you so much!”
“I have missed you as well,” he replied, sudd
enly feeling guilty that his emotion wasn’t as true as hers.
“Do you see a change in me,” she asked demurely, twirling about.
He looked closer. No, not really. But then, she seemed very happy for a new wife talking to her husband that was placing considerably more distance between them with each passing second.
She stopped twirling and the words gushed from her mouth. “I am pregnant! You’re going to be a father!”
Joqi was dumbstruck by this announcement, but recovered quickly. They had been married three and half months now, but had spent only a few nights together before he was immersed fulltime in the smart plasma aboard the Horizon Quest. He recalled with pleasure that they had slept very little those few nights.
“Sweetheart, this is wonderful!” Looking closer, he could see a slight plumpness around her waist.
His mother had joined his father, and both were smiling proudly.
“We are looking forward to a new grandbaby to spoil,” his mother said, and his father nodded his agreement.
Joqi felt truly blessed. It was obvious how happy Ecina was with her condition.
Ecina wiped away some tears as her smile faltered. Joqi ached to hold her, and without thinking, focused intently on solidifying his simulacrum’s hands. He moved close to Ecina and cupped her face in his tenuous grasp, eliciting a gasp of surprise and pleasure from her at his tender touch.
CHAPTER 8
“How accurate must we be when crossing the intersection point?” Dawn asked.
Joqi hesitated before answering. He was sure his grandpapa knew they would have to accelerate all the way to the intersection point to get there in time. Even if they had left on the day he died, they would travel through the point at a significant velocity.
“Grandpapa said we must be at the intersection point at a specific time. I take that to mean exactly at the specified time and point.”