Dark Firmament

by Ezra Manes

  He could see that doors into the buildings along their route were about half as tall as he was. The delegates confirmed that hallways and rooms in the buildings also had low ceilings, but that common areas where residents convened to socialize had ceilings that were several floors high. He hoped he would never need to go inside one of the dwellings; just thinking about it raised claustrophobic feelings.

  “What do szswns eat,” Joqi asked the delegates. No farms were visible from the Horizon Quest, although they had observed many ships at sea that could be fishing vessels.

  “We make surlii from raw minerals,” the delegate on the right answered. “Surlii is our primary food. This is supplemented with creatures and plants harvested from the sea.”

  The delegate described surlii as a thick, porridge like soup, which was piped to feeding stations throughout the city. Citizens could access the feeding stations at will. The creatures and plants taken from the sea provided additional ingredients necessary to balance their diet, and were prepared in public kitchens throughout the city.

  “Do you harvest and eat any oscyspods,” Joqi asked?

  “We have found no oscyspods in our oceans for a very long time,” the second delegate said sadly. “We never consumed oscyspods unless it was part of the regen process. They were considered our equals thousands of years ago.”

  “What do humans eat,” the first delegate asked.

  Joqi described the wide variety of plant and animal products that humans consumed. He also described the many ways products were prepared to provide variety and stimulate the taste buds. The delegates seemed confused by the idea that humans varied their diet for pleasure.

  “Do you get pleasure from eating,” Joqi asked, guessing what was confusing the two delegates.

  “Consuming food is necessary to survive,” answered the first delegate. “That is its value.”

  “Now we understand why your food fabricators are much more complex than ours,” the second delegate said.

  “What do you do for entertainment,” Joqi asked. He wanted to know more about the personal lives of the szswns. This seemed to puzzle the delegates, so he explained various activities humans engaged in for sport and enlightenment.

  “We share experiences and generation history,” the first delegate finally answered.

  “We engage in philosophical discussions,” the second delegate added. “We quest for better understanding of the Everything.”

  “By the Everything, do you mean all in the observable universe?”

  “Yes, plus all you cannot see,” the second delegate answered. “We strive to become one with the All.”

  As I do through meditation, Joqi thought.

  “Do you have games you play in competition,” he asked. He explained the Zilan game of crossball.

  “Not as you describe,” the first delegate answered. “We constantly play thought games, challenging each other to find better explanations for the Everything. Also, special design activities, such as complex communication systems, become team competitions for the best design.”

  “Sometimes when linked we sense vast reaches of matter and energy in the unobservable part of the Everything,” the second delegate said. “This occurs when enough of us having similar philosophical ideas link and focus on the unobservable.”

  “How do individuals link and communicate when separated by great distance in the city,” Joqi asked. There were no antennas visible anywhere along their travel route, and no utility lines of any kind were apparent to support communication. None of the szswns had carried portable communication units that he could see.

  “Let us demonstrate,” the second delegate said.

  It began emitting the same high frequency hum the crowds had emitted on the trip into the city. The first delegate joined in, and then Joqi heard similar hums come from a few overhead balconies. Soon there were szswns on most of the balconies, adding to the concert of hums.

  “We have established social links with the many,” said the first delegate while it continued to hum. “Those close to us link with citizens farther away, expanding the network to all in the population that want to participate.”

  “Participate in what,” Joqi asked.

  “In our joy at sharing closeness with you,” the second delegate said.

  Uh oh, I better opt out of this sharing business, Joqi thought.

  You are probably only affecting the two delegates close to you, Dawn conveyed.

  Joqi was relieved to see they were approaching the spaceport. He had one other curious question for the delegates before disembarking to board the shuttlecraft.

  “How many szswns reside on your home world?”

  He was surprised at the answer—the population was less than five million, with most of them residing in the vicinity of the large city they had traveled through. Their global population had shrunk to a small fraction of what it was at the peak of their civilization. Having no one undergo regen in the past 200 years was only a symptom of the problem. Global environmental deterioration on the planet over the past several thousand years was the real culprit.

  On the shuttle flight back to the Horizon Quest, Joqi mentally reviewed what was accomplished while he was on the surface. He had made sure the szswns knew how to operate the food fabricators and could provide the raw materials required to support the machines continued operation. He learned the szswns had a communications system comparable to the Zilan Hycoms system that enabled fast communication over stellar distances. News of what was occurring around the home world was shared in near real time with their colonized worlds. A short discussion with the szswns about this communication capability revealed it was not compatible with the Zilan system.

  Joqi had agreed to keep his ship in orbit around the planet for several more weeks, but he expressed the desire to return soon to the brown dwarf for closer examination of it and the large orbiting planet. He wasn’t sure why he chose this path. At least the decision would provide time to look at other options for leaving the solar system. He had a nagging question about the brown dwarf sub-star; how much matter was actually tied up in the massive dwarf’s deep gravity well? A better estimate would provide a partial answer to where all the undetected matter was located in the universe, the so-called dark matter comprised of weakly interacting massive particles, among others.

  In the discussion with council members, Joqi had subtly brought up the question of how they intended to address the regen issue since they no longer had any oscyspod mammals to initiate the process. And he wasn’t about to stay around to work his charm on other szswns like he had with Cssyza.

  The regen issue discussion caused quite a stir among the council members. It became obvious they had no plan, but considered it the most critical problem to solve if they were to survive. Joqi had some ideas, but elected to explore them more before discussing any specific solution. He asked several questions to support sifting through options, and discovered a szswn never dreamed. They were a very logical, pragmatic species that never even daydreamed. The connection between dreaming and fantasizing was strong in humans, and fantasizing and anticipating the sexual act often heightened arousal. He had concluded discussion of the regen process by requesting every bit of data available regarding the special oscyspod sea mammal species.

  Even with the thin coating of smart plasma, Joqi was ready to collapse by the time he lay down in the command pod. It was a very draining but productive trip to the planet’s surface.

  • • •

  Hey Dad, wake up.

  Dad? Joqi heard the confusing query while in a light meditative state. It brought him to full attention in the smart plasma. Was this a joke by Dawn?

  No joke, Dawn replied. But I guess I am learning more of the human mannerisms.

  Joqi smiled in spite of the fact no one would see it.

  Okay, what does this dad reference mean?

  You in effect fertilized Cssyza by your close proximity to it. And now you have done the same to the two delegates that a
ccompanied you to and from the council meeting.

  Joqi sat upright to view the virtual control center display that Dawn opened. He reviewed the surface communications that she had intercepted. There was no doubt about it; the two delegates were celebrating starting their regen process.

  But what about those exposed to him in the council chamber? There was no mention of any of those individuals in any communication. Come to think of it, they had remained farther away from him than the two delegates had during the trips to and from the spaceport.

  I’m not about to hang around jump starting the regen process for a long line of szswns. There must be a better alternative.

  The next thought came like a lightning bolt—the szswns were capable of fantasizing if they got a nudge. They just didn’t realize it. He had provided the nudge Cssyza and the two delegates needed.

  I have an idea…he started to convey.

  I see it, Dawn interjected. It should work.

  Set up a communication link with Azlor and Lotsu.

  Minutes later Joqi’s projected simulacrum stood facing the two leaders alone in the council chamber. The two stood a goodly distance away even though they knew his projected image was not real. They exchanged brief greetings, and then Joqi began explaining why he wanted to meet.

  “In discussions with you and the other council members, I came to the conclusion those of your species do not dream or fantasize about events.”

  “That is correct,” Lotsu said. “As you described dreams and fantasizing events, they do not occur in our species.”

  “Does a szswn have subconscious reasoning and automatic control functions in its nine brain modules?”

  After he explained the functions he was asking about, Azlor and Lotsu affirmed that such functions were active in an adults integrated mind modules.

  “Then I believe an adult does fantasize about the regen process when near the appropriate stimulus, and this starts the process. The fantasizing occurs within the subconscious thought processes.”

  Both szswns began shuffling their feet, but remained quiet. So Joqi continued.

  “The stage is set for this fantasizing when a newborn consumes oscyspod meat for the first time after leaving the host’s body. Then much later, when an adult is ready for regen and encounters an appropriate mammal, the subconscious mind initiates the regen process.”

  He sensed that Lotsu was starting to accept the idea, but Azlor became agitated thinking about this possibility.

  “This is a new and difficult process to accept, I know,” Joqi said quietly. “I propose a simple test to see if this is indeed what happens. Let my ship project a virtual environment into a large surface facility that simulates the natural setting in which a szswn associates with an oscyspod to start the regen process. Then let a volunteer spend some time in the simulator relating to the sea mammal in something close to its natural environment”

  This proposal caused both Azlor and Lotsu to retire to the far end of the chamber. Joqi waited patiently and avoided looking in their direction as they conversed in private. After a few minutes, the two returned to their previous positions, and Lotsu addressed Joqi.

  “You are the Chosen One. Therefore we give serious consideration to your proposal. With some difficulty, we accept your proposal, contingent on our council’s approval. We go seek that now.”

  They turned to leave, and then Azlor turned back to face Joqi. “You should proceed with preparations for the test. Lotsu presents very strong arguments for his causes.”

  • • •

  Joqi and Dawn reviewed the oscyspod data, which were substantial. They needed the details to support programming a virtual environment setting that realistically portrayed the sea mammal in its natural environment.

  Their dark gray bodies were long and sleek, with strong flat tails that were half again as long as their body proper. Their bodies had a fin sticking up in the middle. The fin had a breathing tube up through its middle with an opening at the tip of the fin. The oscyspods’ tails provided powerful motive force for the creatures when swimming and when moving on land. Overall, the sea mammal’s length was about twice as long as Joqi was tall, or about four meters long.

  Joqi was astonished to learn that oscyspods had no eyes. They had wide stripes down both sides and a roughly square panel on their sloping foreheads. The stripes and panel essentially provided Doppler radar scanning to enable the mammals to “see” their surroundings. The square panel also provided the means to communicate with others of their species and with the szswns.

  An oscyspod’s body was covered with fine bristle hair that pressed smoothly against its skin when swimming, and fuzzed out to increase how large it looked when threatened. Bacteria thrived in the hair to eat harmful microbes and pollutants to minimize skin infections. When exposed to the atmosphere, hair movement caused the mammal to look dark blue-gray with iridescent purple highlights.

  In addition an oscyspod had a large mouth centered in the blunt nose of its tapered head. The mouth slits crisscrossed, and when opened wide, they revealed a chamber filled with cilia, long hair-like filaments that strained small creatures from sea water for food. The outer edge of the mouth was ringed with sharp teeth; a diet of small creatures filtered from the sea water was insufficient to sustain an oscyspod. There were gill-like slits just behind the head, which served as exit ports for sea water taken in through the mouth.

  An oscyspod also had leg-like appendages a little behind each of its gill slits. The two legs looked strong, with rotor joints where they connected with the body, giving them almost full circular movement. Each leg had another joint about halfway down the leg from the body, and appeared to function like an elbow. A stumpy, two-finger claw was at the end of each leg.

  The legs supported movement on land, in concert with the tail. The mammal moved on land by pressing its front legs against or gripping the surface, then arching its back pulling the rear forward, then pushing against the surface with its tail while releasing its leg hold on the surface. This pushed the front half of the body forward. The mammal then repeated the hunching and pushing action to make its way across the surface. It could move surprisingly fast on land.

  Once details about the oscyspods were assessed, Dawn programmed a virtual environment of a scene along a rough beach that had waves rolling in from an open sea. Joqi reviewed several videos of oscyspods frolicking in a frothy sea near shore, with several of the mammals splashing their way up onto the beach. He interacted with Dawn until the movements in the simulated environment were realistic.

  The major challenge was to simulate what a szswn would feel if it touched a sea mammal’s skin. Dawn programmed 3-D projectors used to establish the virtual environment so molecules of air would vibrate against an adult’s claw if it touched the boundary representing the mammal’s skin.

  Another challenge was simulating how an oscyspod would respond to queries from a szswn. Joqi had several communications with Lotsu before they could pin down realistic szswn to oscyspod conversation scenarios.

  Joqi also coordinated with Lotsu to have sand and rocks spread along one half of a large hall-like room to provide the appropriate feel to an adult walking across a beach. Sea water plumbing was installed, with hidden spray nozzles in the ceiling to simulate mist cast ashore by breaking waves. Scent projectors were added, and variable speed fans rounded out the physical aspects of the simulation. No szswns were allowed into the room once the sand, rocks and plumbing were in place. Then portable projectors were installed by Joqi’s robots, and the whole scene was fine-tuned by him and Dawn to look and feel as real as possible. The projectors had video cameras to provide feedback to the ship. Joqi insisted that no szswn except the volunteer view what transpired in the room.

  The day of the test had the ruling council in a nervous state, especially since they were not allowed to view what was going on. They had so many volunteers for the test that they had to select one randomly. One of Joqi’s robots led the volunteer into the darkened simulat
ion room blindfolded, then removed the blindfold and departed.

  Joqi was proud of the end results in constructing the environment, even though the projected virtual scene was nowhere near as good as what he experienced immersed in the smart plasma. He watched closely as the volunteer walked cautiously farther into the virtual environment scene. Surely it knew the scene was a simulation, but Joqi was counting on the szswn’s subconscious thoughts to assimilate enough from the sensory stimulus to initiate the regen process.

  The adult szswn walked to the middle of the beach and reached out curiously to see if the flat rocks there were real. It seemed surprised to discover the rocks were indeed real. It climbed up on the first of three large flat rocks, and turned to look at the rolling waves flowing under an overcast dark sky. It raised the front part of its body, looking like a creature surveying its turf. Suddenly two oscyspods broke the surface just off the beach. They frolicked there for several minutes, capturing the attention of the adult.

  After frolicking back and forth along the beach, one of the mammals headed for shore. The szswn reached out and communicated with the oscyspod as it rode a wave up onto the beach. The mammal raised its head as if sniffing the breeze, and then hunched and straightened its back in sequence to push itself to the rocks. It lay down at the foot of the rock the adult occupied, moving its flippers and making squealing noises. The szswn moved its legs nervously, and then reached down with one pincher leg to stroke the mammal’s back. The szswn calmed down, then lay down on the rock, still stroking the mammal’s back and communicating with it softly.

  After several minutes, the oscyspod rose and hunched its way back to the water’s edge. It splashed into the waves and swam to join its companion. Variations to the virtual environment sequence repeated for several hours, and then a small robot entered with a mask to cover the szswn’s eye stalks. The robot led the volunteer out of the simulation room while the virtual environment continued to run.