Profusion

by Stan C. Smith

  No response.

  Quentin gently pushed her eyelids shut to prevent her eyes from drying out, and then he sat back on his heels. Samuel said something beside him, but Quentin paid no attention. He should have stopped her. He should have immediately grabbed the lump from her hand and thrown it back at the tree kangaroo. Why in the hell hadn’t he stopped her?

  He turned to the creature, which was still sitting there watching. His first impulse was to grab the thing and tear it apart. “Samuel, what did it do? Ask it what it did!”

  “I’ll do what I can.”

  Quentin turned his attention back to his wife, but he saw Samuel and the mbolop exchanging gestures in his peripheral vision. Lindsey’s eyes had begun to twitch beneath the lids, as if she were in REM sleep. Maybe that was a good sign.

  Samuel spoke up. “I cannot determine if the mbolop is unaware of what it has done, or if I have simply failed to understand its meaning. Although the mbolop are more sophisticated than true wild tree kangaroos, still they are simple and brutish creatures, and I have long believed that they can do little more than follow elementary requests.”

  “Who would have asked it to do this?”

  “I cannot say,” Samuel replied. “I was not able to decipher all of its explanation. It seemed to be saying that Lindsey now belongs to it, or perhaps that they each belong to one another. I cannot be certain.”

  Quentin turned to Lindsey and watched her breasts rise and fall. Samuel’s explanation made no sense and only heightened his fears.

  Lindsey moaned. She opened her eyes and sucked in a lungful of air. Her eyes rolled around, searching, until they found Quentin.

  “Are you okay?” he said, so softly he barely heard his own voice.

  She blinked. “Was I asleep?”

  “You were unconscious. For several minutes.”

  She rubbed her eyes. ‘Oh god. I thought I was awake through the whole thing.”

  Quentin put his hand on her cheek. “Did you have a dream? A vision?”

  She shook her head. “It was real. I know it was.” She sat up and then rubbed her eyes again. She looked at Quentin. “It’s inside of me. I felt it—I even saw it. It put itself into me and spread to every part of my body. Even into my head. It’s still there. I can feel it.”

  He shook his head, confused. “What’s still there?”

  She nodded at the creature sitting a few feet away. “The mbolop.”

  “What?”

  She didn’t reply. Instead, she held a hand out toward the mbolop, palm down. The creature rolled off its haunches and ambled toward her. It sniffed her hand and then stepped even closer. She leaned forward and actually touched her nose to its snout.

  Quentin said, “Lindsey?”

  She turned to him and gradually formed a slight smile. As she gazed at Quentin, her hand moved to the mbolop. The creature held steady, allowing her to stroke its head.

  Eleven

  Helmich was inches from Bobby’s face, staring into his eyes with fascination. The central room had become very quiet.

  “They know!” Bobby said with his thoughts. “They know I’m talking to you.”

  The Lamotelokhai replied, “You believe that is a bad thing. Why?”

  Helmich nodded to the doctor next to them, and a pulse shot through the back of Bobby’s skull as the implants were turned off.

  “Well?” Helmich said. “Are you talking to it? Is it talking to you?”

  Bobby didn’t know what to do. The only thing in his favor up to this point had been that he could talk to the Lamotelokhai without Helmich knowing. Bobby said aloud, “I think it’s trying to talk to me. It’s kind of like a voice in my head.” He then pursed his lips shut and thought, “They know we’re talking! What should I do?”

  The Lamotelokhai replied, “I cannot know what to advise you to do because I do not know the outcome you desire.”

  “What is the voice saying to you?” Helmich asked.

  “It’s kind of hard to tell. It doesn’t think like us, so it doesn’t really talk like us. Just a minute.” Bobby wrinkled his brows, trying to look like he was concentrating on the voice in his head. Silently he said, “I want to put your parts back together so we can get out of here. I’m scared something bad will happen if we don’t.”

  “In this situation, what is bad?”

  “If people get hurt or killed, it’s bad.”

  “With my parts separated into subgroups as they are, your fears are justified. With the subgroups of my parts near, as they are now, my consciousness functions collectively, although physical movement is limited. However, when the distance between the subgroups is increased so that they cannot function collectively, I cannot predict what might happen.”

  “So what should I do?”

  “If you would like the others to understand this, perhaps you could explain it to them.”

  “They won’t listen to me. Is there any way you can tell them?”

  “If they wish to talk to me, they could recombine the subgroups of my parts.”

  “They won’t do that.”

  “Then perhaps they can put their hands upon one of the subgroups of my parts.”

  This was an idea. Bobby turned to Helmich. “It’s definitely talking to me. And it wants to talk to you.”

  Helmich raised his brows and smiled. “Well, okay!”

  “It can’t talk to you unless you put your hands on it.”

  Helmich frowned. “You don’t have your hands on it.”

  “Some of its parts are inside me. So I don’t need to touch it.”

  The voice spoke in his head. “Bobby, there is something I would like to tell you.”

  Bobby held a finger up to Helmich. “Just a minute. It’s telling me something.” And then silently, “I’m listening.”

  “You have told me you believe it is bad if people are hurt or killed. Since I cannot predict what might happen under the current circumstances, I have decided to give you some information. You should recombine the subgroups of my parts. If you cannot do this, you should convince the others to recombine the subgroups of my parts. If they cannot or will not do this, the following is information you may want to know. My ability to function cognitively is something you may think of as my consciousness, or perhaps my personality. Or perhaps you may think of it as my operating system. My consciousness, or my operating system, exists when my parts are together. As a precaution, I have previously duplicated and compartmentalized my consciousness into twenty-four packets of information. These twenty-four packets can be extracted and recombined to restore my consciousness if you ever feel the need to do so.”

  Bobby felt his gut tightening.

  The Lamotelokhai continued. “If circumstances occur that make you feel the need to restore my consciousness, you will need to access and recombine the twenty-four packets of information.”

  Helmich sighed loudly and gazed at Bobby.

  “Where are the packets?” Bobby asked silently.

  “One of them is within you.”

  Bobby stiffened. “Within me? When did you do that?”

  “Eight months, one week, and six days ago. Before that, the twenty-four packets of information were within men and women of the hanging village.”

  Bobby blinked, trying to process this new information. “Addison killed some of the villagers, so you put one of the packets in me?”

  “That is correct.”

  “I didn’t even know it was in me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Putting one packet within you would have little effect on your awareness, and so I did not tell you. I would like to tell you now how to access and recombine the twenty-four packets of information if you feel the need to do so.”

  Helmich grabbed him by the shoulders. “Bobby, if you want me to believe the Lamotelokhai is talking to you, you’ll need to tell me what you are experiencing at this time.”

  Frustrated, Bobby rubbed the itchy part of his scalp next to the implants behind his ears. “It’s trying
to tell me something. Please just give me a minute!”

  Helmich narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils.

  “You need to tell me!” Bobby thought. “I’m running out of time. Where are the other packets? How do I do it?”

  “In addition to your body, I have placed packets of my information within the bodies of the following people: Sinanie, Matiinuo, Ot, Jara, Rossa, Teatakan, Sirizo, Yerema, Korul, Kumbi, Kebuge, Anaru, Owa, Samuel, Quentin, Lindsey, Carlos, Ashley, and Addison.”

  Bobby had a hundred questions but no time. “Okay, how do I do it?”

  Helmich shook his head. “I am unwilling to play this game any longer.” He spoke to the entire room. “Move the chambers outward to ninety-meter radius.”

  The machinery below the floor kicked on, and the chambers began moving.

  “Wait!” Bobby said aloud. “Just listen to me—it wants to talk to you! All you have to do is go into one of the chambers and put your hand on it. Then it’ll send its particles into your body so you can talk to it in your head.”

  Helmich looked at the other doctors one at a time. It seemed like he was considering this.

  The machinery stopped. “Ninety-meter radius, sir,” a man said.

  “It’ll save you tons of time,” Bobby said. “Instead of doing all these experiments, you can just talk to it. It’ll answer all your questions.”

  “I’d like to volunteer to try it, sir.” It was the woman who had reported unusual activity with the high-density surface EMG.

  “Lamotelokhai, are you there?”

  No response. The chambers were too far apart.

  “Well, this certainly is an interesting turn of events,” Helmich said. He was pacing back and forth now. He stopped in front of Bobby. “I suppose it’s possible you are trying to trick us in some way. But are you capable of such a thing, particularly when you understand the consequences to you and your friends?”

  Was Bobby supposed to answer this? “It told me it can’t do anything physical while you have it separated. You know that’s true. That’s why you did it. I’m not trying to trick you.”

  Helmich started pacing again. He stopped in front of the woman. She got up from her workstation.

  “I’d like to try it,” she said.

  Helmich said, “I’m impressed by your dedication to this project, Eunice.”

  “I’ve waited my entire life to do something like this, sir.”

  Helmich nodded at her. “Very well. Verbally report every detail of your experience. Nothing is too small.” He turned to Bobby. “What does she need to do?”

  “It said it wants to talk, so she just needs to put her hands on one of the parts.”

  Helmich shrugged and nodded at Eunice.

  “Thank you, sir.” She got an earpiece from one of the other doctors and walked out of the well-lit center room and into the huge darkened space, headed for chamber one.

  “Wait a minute,” Bobby said. “I thought you were going to move the parts in closer first. They need to be in closer for it to talk to her.”

  “One thing at a time,” Helmich said while watching Eunice walk away.

  “But she might get hurt!” Bobby had raised his voice without meaning to. “The Lamotelokhai told me the parts need to be closer, so it can think and talk.”

  Helmich finally took his eyes off Eunice and turned to him. “As I said, one thing at a time.”

  “But that’s what it said! I’m trying to tell you what you need—”

  “That’s enough!” Helmich nodded at the doctor next to Bobby.

  Bobby twitched at the pulse in the back of his head. He immediately raised his hand.

  Helmich ignored him and returned his attention to the woman doctor. When she was almost to chamber one, Helmich sat down in his rolling chair, wheeled it to a computer monitor and said, “Display the feed from one of the cameras in chamber one.”

  Bobby lowered his hand. He got up from the wheelchair and walked to Helmich’s side so he could see the monitor. Helmich glanced up at him and frowned but didn’t tell him to sit back down. Chamber one was ninety meters out, too far to see much without the video.

  “She’s at the door,” Helmich said. “Let her in.”

  The video was from a camera on the chamber’s ceiling, and the wide-angle lens showed the entire room in high-def color. On one side of the screen, the hatch opened and Eunice stepped in. She closed the hatch behind her.

  “I’m in the chamber. Video and audio check.” Her voice came loud and clear from a speaker somewhere in the center lab.

  “Video and audio confirmed,” Helmich said.

  “And confirmed here,” she replied. “I’m going to remove the microchamber.” She stepped over to Addison’s head and neck. The body part was still on the floor where Bobby had left it, but a clear box had been placed over it. Wires and probes were attached to the box, and even more wires fed through a hole in the box directly to the body part itself. On each of its four sides, the box had a latch that had been bolted to the floor.

  Eunice got to her knees and flipped open one of the latches. She moved around the box, flipping the other three. She carefully tipped the box on its side so that the wires were still in place. She sat there on her knees, staring at Addison’s head.

  Bobby had to try again. He raised his hand and waved it to get Helmich’s attention.

  Helmich glanced at him and then sighed. “Let him speak.”

  The pulse came quickly. “I really think you should move the parts—”

  Eunice’s voice came over the speaker. “I feel a strange tingling.”

  Bobby turned to the monitor. She had already placed her hands on Addison’s head.

  “The sensation is moving up my arms. Perhaps when it reaches my brain the entity will be able to speak to me.”

  “Please move the chambers in closer,” Bobby pleaded.

  Helmich studied Bobby’s face, like he was trying to decide. “Okay, bring the chambers in.” The machinery below the floor kicked on. “Eunice, remove your hands from the entity, please.”

  Eunice said, “The sensation is almost to my head.”

  ‘Eighty-five-meter radius,” one of the doctors said.

  “Hello, Bobby.”

  Bobby clamped his lips shut. “Lamotelokhai. Is everything okay?”

  “It appears that particles of one of my portions have diminished somewhat.”

  “Eunice!” Helmich said. “Remove your hands from the entity now. We’re going to try again after bringing the chambers in.”

  Eunice hesitated a moment longer, as if she really didn’t want to pull her hands away. Finally she withdrew. “Yes, sir.”

  Bobby formed words in his mind. “A woman was trying to talk to you. Just now, when your parts were too far apart to talk to me.”

  “The results could be interesting.”

  Bobby stared at the monitor. “What do you mean, interesting?”

  “I mean the results will be unpredictable. The results will be interesting to me, but they may be dangerous for you.”

  “Something’s happening, sir.” It was Eunice. She was feeling the sides of her face with her hands. “I think it’s trying to communicate.”

  Bobby watched the video, his apprehension growing. “Why would it be dangerous to me?” he said with his thoughts, although he feared he already knew the answer.

  Helmich said, “What exactly are you experiencing, Eunice?”

  She didn’t answer him. Instead she kept rubbing her face.

  “Because my parts were designed to be used when they are together and fully functional,” the Lamotelokhai said. “My parts are not fully functional when separated. If you wish to minimize your risk, you could rejoin the subgroups of my parts.”

  Bobby turned to Helmich again. “I really think—”

  “Something’s wrong,” Eunice said. Still holding her face, she went to the chamber’s hatch and tried to open it. “Please open the door.”

  Helmich gazed silently at the monitor.


  “Sir?” one of the doctors said.

  “Don’t unlock it. Not yet. What’s going on, Bobby?”

  “I don’t know. But it just told me we should put its parts together to make it less dangerous.”

  “Open the door!” Eunice shouted. She yanked frantically at the handle. “Open it! Open the goddamn door!”

  “Do not unlock that door,” Helmich said forcefully.

  Eunice stumbled away from the hatch, holding her head. “Stop! Please stop it!” She started hitting her face with her fists. “Stop!”

  One of the doctors said, “Sir, we have to help her.”

  Helmich rose to his feet and wheeled around, facing a man who was standing by the elevator. “Wesley, draw your sidearm. If anyone attempts to unlock that hatch, shoot them.”

  The man pulled a pistol from his belt and stepped forward to where he could see everyone.

  “What the hell?” the man next to Bobby said.

  Bobby turned to him, thinking the guy was upset about the gun being pulled out, but the man was staring at the video feed. Bobby looked at the screen, and a lump formed in his throat. Eunice was running in circles within the chamber. But it was the way she was running. Every few steps she would spin around, bending at the waist so that her hands touched the floor. She would flop over, spin in a circle on all fours, stand up, run another few steps, and then flop over again, like a broken robot doll. Everyone fell silent as they watched. The only sounds were the strange grunts from Eunice as she flopped and stumbled around and the pulsating motor beneath the floor as it steadily moved the chambers closer to them.

  Bobby couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. He had never seen anyone move like that. It was both horrifying and mesmerizing. “Something terrible is happening,” Bobby said aloud. He had intended to say this silently to the Lamotelokhai.

  “I am detecting disorderly cognitive signals in the vicinity of one of the subgroups of my parts,” the Lamotelokhai said in Bobby’s head. “If you wish to minimize your risk, you could rejoin the subgroups of my parts. Once rejoined, I might have the ability to minimize the danger to you.”