The Senthien (Descendants of Earth Book 1)

by Tara Jade Brown

And then I looked at J.

  I was so happy that I’d found him, that my dreams were in fact Visions, and that I was here, right now, talking to him.

  I don’t know what would make me want to port back. Ever.

  “Ah,” he said and waved his hand once. “You don’t need to answer that. It’s your business, I guess. So, Uni… is that a solar system?”

  “No. Uni is a network of planets and moons where Descendants terraformed their environment.”

  “And how many Descendant worlds are there?”

  “Currently inhabitable, two hundred and three. But”—I checked my nanoprobes—“there are three more in the making.”

  “Okay. Does that mean there are two hundred and three Descendant species?”

  “No. Each Descendant species inhabits many worlds.”

  “So how many Descendant species are there?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “What about the name, Uni? Where does the word come from?” He looked at me. “Is it like universe? Uni?”

  “No,” I said and looked at him, surprised the Jumpers hadn’t explained it. “Uni comes from the old university where the foundation for Descendant evolution was created.”

  “Okay. Was that on one of your new planets, this university?”

  “No, that was still on Old Earth. It was the University of Neurotechnology and Innovation.”

  Peter, who was walking just a few IPs in front of us, suddenly stopped and turned around. “University of Neurotechnology and Innovation? That’s where the lab of Tania’s husband was.”

  “Deceased husband,” said Patrick, joining the conversation.

  Peter looked at him. “Aye, deceased husband. He seemed to have worked in a really important place…”

  And in a really important lab, I thought to myself. “Yes, that is correct.”

  ”Whatever was made there must have been really important to name the whole galactic community after it,” J said, raising his eyebrows. “So, what was it?”

  I hesitated for a moment. Simon looked back and also slowed down to join the group. I looked at all of them and then said, “The first Mind prototype was built there.”

  “Really?” Simon shook his head in surprise. “I didn’t know we had that type of technology in our time.”

  “The prototype was very simple back then,” I explained. “The computational power was minimal. But the foundations were there.”

  “What is the Mind again?” asked Rick.

  “It’s just a computer,” said Frank, waving his hand dismissively.

  “It is not just a computer,” I turned to him, feeling the strong unexpected urge to defend the most unique artificial intelligence system ever created. “The Mind controls all the portations at any given moment, across a network that spans several hundred light years of space. It connects to all the AIs in the Uni at the same time. Its power is inconceivable for a Human brain.”

  “You make it sound like God,” said Patrick, grinning.

  “God?” I said, not understanding.

  “But unlike God,” J jumped in, “it still makes mistakes.” He tilted his head toward me and arched his eyebrows.

  “Don’t we all?” laughed Peter.

  “We do!” said J, pointing a finger at Peter as if to make a point. “But it can’t. It’s not a Human, it’s a machine. It shouldn’t make any mistake. Or am I wrong?” He looked back at me, a mysterious smile on his face.

  I looked at him without responding: I was completely distracted. Dark eyes, dark hair, bronze skin and… lips…

  His smile broadened, and I completely lost my train of thought.

  I dropped my gaze, and then after a few moments I said, still looking at the ground, “I do not know. As I said, the proprietary details of the Mind are unknown to me.”

  “Your bunch is really good at keeping secrets,” said Patrick. “Back in our time, something so big would spread like a fire on a trail of gunpowder.”

  “But it did happen in our time, didn’t it?” J said, looking at Patrick. “At least the start of it…” Then he lowered his gaze and slowly shook his head, looking puzzled. “Still, I would think people would find out about something like that.”

  I remembered seeing the evacuated lab just before the explosion started. Someone had made sure it wasn’t revealed. Someone took drastic measures to keep it a secret.

  “I guess the Mind was perfected on the new Uni planets?” asked Simon.

  I tapped into my nanoprobes to access additional information on the topic. “The technology was perfected on one of the Seedships. This is how all the different Seedships had instantaneous contact. It was crucial to establishing the network of colonies and a unified society.”

  “But wait a minute—didn’t you say that for all teleportations, you need a chamber? Even if they set up a teleportation chamber on one Seedship, how did they reach any other ship?” asked J.

  “Each of the Seedships had one portation chamber built before it left the Earth, so that when porting technology became available, the Seedships had an automatic connection to one another.”

  “Wow, clever… but how could they build the chambers before they had the technology ready?” asked Patrick.

  “Well, the theory was already there. They just needed to put it into practice.”

  J nodded and said, “I guess with the successful prototype they built here at the University of Neurotechnology and Innovation, they knew it was possible. It was just a matter of time, no?”

  I looked at him and nodded. Then I looked at the rest. They all seemed crowded around me as we walked, deep in their thoughts. All of a sudden, I became aware of their close proximity, and my IP sensitivity kicked back in.

  I deliberately slowed down to drop to the back of the group. Realizing I needed space, they all moved on ahead.

  Chapter 14

  Three men are walking.

  Their step is light; they haven’t been walking for very long.

  They are talking, laughing at the jokes from the person in the front.

  They come to a fork in the path and must decide which road will get them to their destination faster.

  The person in the front decides the right path is better. The left path, he explains, would take longer.

  They take the path to the right.

  Not long after, they are on steep terrain, walking on a rocky path, watchful of their steps, on the narrow, winding trail. They come to a section where the path is only half an IP wide: a steep cliff on their left, a deep abyss on the right. One moment, all three are silent, slowly moving forward. The next, a side of the hill breaks off and slides down into the abyss, taking the first two men with it. The last person scrambles to safety. After several moments, he turns around and retreats.

  I sat up straight, gasping for air as if I’d been under water for too long. My heart was pounding under my rib cage as I tried to inhale enough air into my lungs. With shaky hands, I wiped drops of sweat off my forehead.

  A dream Vision.

  My throat felt dry. I licked my lips and tried to swallow.

  I leaned my head on my hands, resting my elbows on my bent knees, my hair touching the tent roof, thinking about what I just saw.

  Simon was the second in the group, and J…

  J was the first.

  I wanted to walk to J’s tent and tell him about my Vision. Tell him that he shouldn’t take the right path. He should take the left.

  And if he does, I will see him again.

  But I couldn’t.

  He was still asleep.

  Everyone was.

  It was still early morning. The air was fresh and the birds had just given their first musical performance of the day.

  I had to wait.

  Patience, I discovered, had an interesting twist for me here on Earth.

  Senthiens were never impatient. There was no need to want something done before it was feasibly possible. In Uni, that was never a problem for me. Here, however, I found that being patient was a
lot harder.

  I simply had to wait.

  And I didn’t like it.

  Breakfast was just getting started as J explained the detour he wanted to take. Simon and Patrick volunteered to go with him.

  I was silent.

  I didn’t know how to bring it up.

  What should I say? Good luck with your detour, and by the way, I can also see the future, so please take the left path so you survive this little excursion?

  For most of the time during the breakfast, I just looked at my plate, avoiding J’s gaze, not knowing how to act.

  When the meal was finished, Peter, Rick and Frank took the plates and utensils to a nearby stream, and Simon and Patrick put on their backpacks and started walking into the forest. J crouched down, picking up a few more flasks of water and placing them in his bag. Then he stood up and looked at me, an undecipherable expression on his face. He nodded slightly without saying anything and turned to leave.

  I had to tell him.

  I had to tell him now!

  “On your way…” I started saying and then paused.

  J stopped and turned around to face me.

  I lowered my gaze to the ground and forced my voice to be calmer. “On your way, you will come to a fork in the path. The left one leads straight uphill and does not seem like the fastest path to take. The right one seems more comfortable at first, but it becomes very narrow later on and it will lead you to a narrow path next to a cliff.”

  Clearly puzzled, he studied me as I spoke. “Yes?”

  “Do not take the right path,” I said, looking up, realizing my green Senthien stare must have been as clear as the Vision I had the night before, “or only one of your group of three will return. Take the left path. It is a bit longer… but you will come back.” I looked at the ground again, hiding whatever emotions he might see underneath my eyelashes.

  He silently looked at me for half a pass, his mind clearly full of questions as my eyes constantly moved between his face and the ground.

  “All right,” he said quietly. “We’ll take the left path.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “And then, you and I need to talk. For real.”

  Oh…

  He smiled at the expression on my face, then turned and left to join the others waiting for him a few IPs away.

  It was a calm day. Frank, Rick, and Peter were discussing various subjects: whether we would be able to find a way into the computer facility, what we might find there, what else we might be able to scavenge in the ruins, and so on.

  I couldn’t talk to any of them. I constantly walked in a large circle around them, too anxious to be still. And the more I walked, the more I thought about it, and the stronger one thought became: I shouldn’t have let him go.

  All of my Visions came to be. They shouldn’t have gone at all. He should have stayed here. He should have stayed with me.

  But he didn’t.

  I let him go.

  I closed my eyes, stopping for a moment to try to calm myself. Then I opened them and continued my walk.

  My father told me that the Visions are only a possibility of what might come, and that the future could change if decisions changed.

  I kept repeating this to myself as if it was a mantra.

  I hoped that he was right: that Visions only showed possible paths of the future, but that they could change.

  I hoped J would save himself, knowing what could happen on the wrong path—and thus save me as well.

  It was one of the most difficult days for me. Every moment crept by as I waited for the group to come back. And as ashamed as I was for having the thought, the only thing I really wanted was for J to come back. Even if something happened to the others, I needed J to come back. Selfish and mean these thoughts were, but I simply could not change them.

  The moon appeared in the dimming afternoon sky. It was quiet. Everyone was occupied with something and no one talked. By now, I thought, everyone was expecting them to come back. And they didn’t.

  I sat on a rock, my palms pressed together between my knees. I sat still, as if a part of the rock itself. I barely breathed. And then I heard the sounds. I looked to the right. Voices. Grass and leaves being moved by footsteps.

  They’re back.

  Oh, the Moons of Senthia—they are back!

  We all stood up to greet them. Simon came first, then Patrick. J was the last. They were all in great spirits. Lots of laughter, shouts, and engaged talking. Still grinning about a recent joke, J looked around the campground until he found me. He smiled to me and mouthed: Alive.

  I had to smile back.

  J turned to the rest of our group and said, “So, who wants a rabbit?”

  “Rabbit? You caught one?”

  “I didn’t. But Patrick did. Two of them,” J said and swung from his shoulder a rope with two dangling rabbits.

  They seemed very large. I checked the available information on my nanoprobes. The database described the long ears and elongated bodies, but their size seemed unusual.

  “They are big!” I said.

  “Yup. We still call them rabbits because they—” J lifted one up and looked at it.

  “—most likely originated from the rabbit,” interrupted Frank. “But time and some intense solar radiation made some changes to its blueprint.”

  “And they taste like rabbits, too,” said J.

  “You mean they mutated?”

  “Yup,” said J, who sat down, placed one rabbit on the ground in front of him, and sliced through its skin with a sharp knife. “Like many other species who managed to survive the apocalypse.”

  He stripped the fur off the rabbit, then cut through the belly and opened it up. Several dark red and off-white baggy organs spilled out. He dipped his hand in the rabbit’s insides and removed all the organs from the abdomen cavity with a calm efficiency that told me he had done it many times before. I watched him in a trance, amazed at this true survival drive. Put any Descendant in an environment like this, without technology, and in a few days he would starve. But these people know how to survive.

  Humans.

  Why did the Zlathars force them to the bottom of Uni society when they are such great survivors?

  “Dora?”

  Hearing my name snapped me from my thoughts, and I turned to Patrick.

  “Yes?”

  “Could you please help me put these sticks on the side of the firewood?”

  I walked to Patrick and took one of the branches he was talking about. “What do you need them for?”

  “These will be holders where we put the spit with the rabbit on it. Into these forks,” he said, pointing to the V-shaped ends of the branches, “you put the spit with the rabbit on it and then keep turning it over the fire.”

  “Well, actually, it’s next to the fire,” said Peter. “We don’t want it burned.”

  J walked over to Patrick and handed him the spit, all four limbs of the rabbit wrapped around the wooden rod. Pink, smooth, with no fur on, it looked repulsive. I shivered slightly and turned away.

  I moved a few IPs back and sat on a log.

  Once both rabbits were cleaned and skewered on spits they were placed next to the fire and we all sat in a circle around it.

  “Did you see anything interesting on your little off-road trip?” asked Peter.

  “Yes,” said Patrick.

  “And… ?” asked Peter, when there was no continuation.

  “We don’t know,” said J.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “Well, we found a building. Actually, we found quite a large complex, but most of the buildings were destroyed—”

  “Except one,” jumped in Simon.

  And then none of them continued.

  “Bloody Mary, you’re keeping us in suspense here!” said Peter.

  “No, sorry, it’s just that we don’t know what it was,” said J. “The building was sealed by a massive steel door.”

  “No door handle, I presume,” said
Frank.

  “No, actually, there was. But it was like… a wheel.”

  “Come to think of it, you know what it reminded me of?” said Patrick.

  “What?”

  “A nuclear shelter entrance.”

  “Lovely,” said Peter, rolling his eyes.

  “Couldn’t you get in?” asked Rick.

  Patrick shook his head. “Nope. We tried. Couldn’t open it.”

  “Dead end, then?” asked Peter.

  “I guess so,” said Simon.

  “I reckon it really was a shelter, Patrick,” said J.

  “Well, no big loss then,” said Peter, turning back to the roasting meat.

  After several more passes, he rose from his log to kneel next to the roasting meat. He cut one small part from the side and then, holding the piece between knife and thumb, he put it in his mouth.

  “Mmm.” He nodded. “Ready!”

  Then he sliced the meat for everyone and handed over the plates. The conversation was replaced by silence, and all that was heard was the soft chewing of food and leaves rustling in the wind high above us. Every now and then I stole a glance at J, and every time, I saw him looking back. I ate a lot less than I really wanted to because I was unsure my stomach would keep the meal inside.

  I knew that once the dinner was finished, he would want to talk to me.

  And I was so afraid of that.

  My heart was in my throat, and my palms were shaking. I was afraid of being close to him, of us talking without the buffer of the group where I could hide whenever I needed to.

  J put the plate down next to his feet, and after a few passes, so did Simon, Patrick, and Peter.

  “Here, give me those,” said Patrick and reached out his hand to take the used plates. “I’ll do the washing up.”

  “Thanks, buddy, for taking my place,” said J and then winked at me.

  Patrick looked back, his face confused. “It’s—no, it’s my turn… ah!” he said and waved at him dismissively. “I know what you’re trying to do. Don’t you trust him, Dora. He’s older than he looks!”

  “It’s all about how you feel,” said J. “And I feel young.”

  They all laughed, and although I understood the joke, I couldn’t join the laughter. My stomach was in knots.