[The Echoes of Eternity]
[3590585543-00001-06]
[1]
[Scrio]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Ezekiel Ratakana]
[FTL 3862|06|(2)16|10-25-00]
[Cruiser Class Star Shuttle 886]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]
‘What are we gonna do!?’ Rena moans as a guardroid walks down the shuttle aisle past my seat.
‘Relax, Rena,’ I say, trying pointlessly to sound perfectly confident, ‘They can’t be after us. It hasn’t even been a quarter[45 minutes] yet. There were no signs that they’d caught us on the way out, and if they had, they would have been on us the whole way back.
‘Even so,’ chimes Eren, perfectly confident, ‘If we leave via shuttle, we will be stuck when they finally do begin the search.’
‘We’ll have to make a stay over at the next stop,’ I say, ‘Get onto a larger shuttle. They’ll be able to track it, but at least we’ll have more room to move around.’
‘That’s only going to buy us time, Ez. What do we do when they catch us?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘They’ll be able to scrub our memory banks and see exactly what happened.’
‘I know.’
‘And what about the data? If we still have it, they’ll certainly find it.’
‘I know.’
‘And Rena. Her presence will be suspicious.’
‘What!? Why!?’ Rena gasps.
‘Because,’ sighs Eren, ‘a single Neuralet shouldn’t be able to house two intangents.’
‘Oh,’ Rena says.
‘Rena’s presence is an easy problem,’ I say, latching onto the task, desperate for a way to move forward. ‘We can say she is a Soulborn, like Trinity of the Starburst.’ I pause as it hits me, ‘In fact, that makes enough sense to be true.’ Why had I not considered that before?
‘It could be,’ says Eren, her lack of surprise meaning she had considered it, ‘She isn’t giving off the signals of a Soulborn and she hasn’t formed a link with either of us, but that could just be some kind of covert ability. But if it were true then why would she be running from a Q-virus like an Intangent?’
‘A Ghost Life, perhaps,’ I say. ‘She might have been Printed to believe she is an Intangent. That would line up with everything else.’
‘But, if that’s true,’ says Eren, ‘then where did she come from? Who Printed her? Why is she here now, and why does she not have a physical body?’
This last question surprises me a great deal. ‘She doesn’t have a physical body?’
I feel a wave of frustration and embarrassment, interrupting Eren as she begins to answer. ‘Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, you guys.’ mumbles Rena. ‘I had to hide from a lot of scary things before I came here.’ Her avatar appears in my ARRC on the verge of tears. ‘I almost died so many times.’ A new emotion joins her wave, crashing it into me like it were actually physical. Fear. Her hands grab tight to the front of her dress, twisting the frilly skirts into a knot. ‘I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I don’t know what a Soulborn is. I’ll be more helpful. I won’t pester you anymore, I promise…
‘Please just don’t send me away.’
I can barely even understand what she is saying through the emotions she is radiating. I can’t focus my mind through how difficult it is to breathe. I can feel sweat beading on my forehead.
Thankfully, I have Eren. Her avatar appears, kneeling next to Rena. ‘Rena, please calm down.’ she says, placing a hand on the girl’s head. ‘We aren’t going to send you away. Being a Soulborn isn’t a bad thing. It’s quite helpful, in fact. But Soulborn work differently from Intangents and how you came here raises questions that need answers.’
‘But how can I believe that?‘ Rena says with a furious stomp, swatting the hand away, ‘You haven’t trusted me since I got here!’
‘I trust you, Rena,’ I manage to say as Eren rises to her feet with a sigh. ‘You have nothing to fear from us.’
‘But what about her?’ asks Rena.
‘Eren is my loyal friend, Rena. Even if she doesn’t trust you, she isn’t going to hurt you without my permission. Right, Eren?’
Eren crosses her arms, hesitating. ‘Right,’ she finally says.
Rena falls quiet for some time, sniffing and kneading her dress, but at least her emotions begin to withdraw. ‘Really?’
‘Really. Truly,’ I say.
‘Ok.’ Rena says after a moment. ‘So what is a Soulborn?’
‘That’s a big question.’ I have to think for a moment to find a simple answer. ‘They’re organisms born of Mana; the most common of them, in fact, because many people can create them at will with a process known as SoulWeaving.’
‘EZ,’ chimes Eren, ‘thinking more about it, that Spell Circle you stepped on in Brefelac’s workshop might have been what created Rena.’ I sense a hint of impatience as she says this, a rare slip.
‘Yes, it does make the most sense,’ I say slowly, not happy having to remember that little blunder.
‘But what about my life before that?’ chimes Rena, now more excited than anything else. ‘I remember all of those things. I even remember watching you enter the lab and step on the Circle.’
‘If you are a Soulborn,’ Eren replies, ‘then those could be Ghost memories your creator implanted to help accelerate your development.’
‘Are you saying my memories are fake?’ It almost seems as if Rena will start crying again when she says simply, ‘But I remember them so vividly.’
‘Not fake,’ Eren says, ‘Ghost. The memories are no less real than ours, or even the ones you’ve made since. But you gained them without having to live through those events. Having memories of the moment of your creation is a testament to your creator’s skill. It means the spell was extremely complex.’
Rena is silent.
‘Either way,’ continues Eren, ‘we don’t have the luxury of discussing this right now. We need to keep to the task at hand.’
‘Right,’ I say. ‘First things first. We can’t get caught before the shuttle leaves.’
[2]
[Scrio]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Ezekiel Ratakana]
[FTL 3862|06|(3)25|04-59-87]
[Cruiser Class Star Shuttle 886]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]
Today is an earlier morning for Ezekiel Ratakana. The Shuttle will enter the Echoes soon and I want to be awake for it. A once-in-a-lifetime experience before the Shuttles gained popularity, they are still known to cause life-altering insights within those who view them. Already I can see the cloud of gas looming before us like a wall stretching infinitely in all directions. Inside is where stars are born.
The Echoes exist on the edge of a cosmic gas bubble where it crosses into Collective territory. Records indicate it has been around since before Terrans even first discovered how to leave their home planet thousands of years ago.
‘EZ,’ chimes Eren with a yawn, ‘don’t info dump. It’s boring and hard to follow.’
‘Oh,’ I say, ‘My mistake. I just find it so fascinating that despite how big we have grown as a society, the universe has no shortage of ways to show us how small we still are.’
‘That’s great and all,’ says Eren, ‘But please try to be quiet. I need to down-shift for a sub[90 minutes].’
This comes as a shock. ‘You need to down-shift? Really? When was the last time you did that? What’s wrong?’
‘You haven’t been sleeping, that’s what,’ Eren snaps without hesitation, ‘So I’ve had to overclock for five stans[days], and now I’m too tired to stay awake. You’re welcome.’
‘Oh.’ Heat immediately begins to creep up my neck. ‘Thank you. I’m sorry.’
‘Whatever. It’s fine.’ I feel her presence fade as if a curtain had closed between us. I also feel a creeping suspicion that things are, in fact, not fine at all. Eren has been acting harsh lately, snapping more often, more dry remarks than usual. Is it really just fatigue?
‘She’s also grumpy ‘cause you haven’t decided what to do about the Dregs.’ It is Rena. She’s been so quiet lately that she startles me.
‘Is that what she told you?’ I say.
‘Not directly, no,’ says Rena. ‘but I heard her muttering something about it a few times while I was transing between C-Bubbles.’ After our conversation the other stan, Rena asked for Web access to do her own research. I was hesitant. She could run into a Q-virus -which is dangerous regardless of who or what you are- or leave a weak spot in our system, but Eren constructed guidelines for her and she promised to be careful. She dove right in and has barely surfaced since, just like a teenager with an unlocked video game. ‘Hey! Be nice. Even with my Ghost, I’m still barely more than a child.’ It took no time at all for the Web to convince her that she is, in fact, a Soulborn.
‘Oh? Have you learned something?’ I ask.
‘I think I understand the Tier system now.’ she says, ‘It’s a complex system of quantifying a single Soulborn’s overall capacity for value generation in any field, so a standard multidimensional competence hierarchy. Its main focal points are magical ability, personality, and data processing efficiency. If I were to rank myself on it, I’d say I’m no higher than a Rumor.’
‘That’s a surprisingly humble self-assessment, especially for a child.’ I pause, but continue when she does not take the bait, ‘Rumor is the second to lowest. I thought you’d be an Account at least.’
‘An Account? Why?’
‘Well, assuming you being a Souborn is actually true, then you were likely made by Brefelac, a man famous for his SoulWeaving. Not only because of how you got here, but it’s apparent in your design. Everything from your Ghost to your Tier value, especially your abilities and physical form, all synergize perfectly to create the illusion of an average, or perhaps even below average, Intangent.’
‘And that synergy actually creates additional value to consider.’
‘Exactly. You’re designed to appear as a low-value Intangent which increases your true value as a Covert Soulborn.’
After a pause, Rena lets out a small giggle. ‘Well, that at least makes me feel better. But how do we find out which is true?’
‘I’m not sure, exactly. I’ve never known one before, so all I know is from public knowledge, but Soulborn generally need to form a bond -called a Soul Link- with another organism to operate. We could try to form one and, normally, whether or not it works would answer the question. But there are also many exceptions. There are cases of Soulborn operating without a Link, and you personally, like most Covert types, break a lot of the known rules, so even if you can’t form a bond it wouldn’t necessarily prove anything. It could just be one of your abilities at work.’
A longer pause this time. I can feel Rena’s system running through a great deal of data. Finally, she says, ‘OK! I’m gonna go dig some more. Thanks, Izy!’
And she is gone, back into the Web. For the first time in a long time, I am alone with my thoughts. I stare through the omniglass window toward the eternal wall, so large that judging distance is impossible. The Circle keeps a relay station right at the edge for layovers and re-supply. I think that will be a good place to transfer to a new Shuttle. It will be busy. Something might get lost in the hustle.
Long ago, Humans used to sit and think to work through their problems. They had to spend in silence and solitude to process the sheer amount of information their senses received. Continued interaction with the world would only pile on more data, corrupting or erasing what they already had and stopping them from thinking for themselves.
They’ve also had many periods in which most of them forgot this. I believe this process is a way of connecting our slower active minds to the more powerful passive mind, like opening a funnel to increase the flow of liquid from a full container to an empty one. They called them the conscious and the sub-conscious; foreground and background personality. But it cannot be done so long as we are taking in new data; a failsafe to stop an overload. There are many places throughout history, including this one, where society reached a point that discouraged such solitude. There is constant input from thousands of sources; entire lives, buildings, cities, social groups, and cultures designed around improving the intake of data. And it always came at the expense of the quality of output.
But that hasn’t happened this time. Why? I can only think it is due to the other side of this coin: social connection. Solitude does wonders for mental clarity, yes, but it can also cause distortion as well. In overabundance, it can lead to one-sided thinking. How then is that prevented? Ironically enough, with feedback from an external source. All Humans, as different as they are, have struggled in their own ways with this balance throughout the history of their many species. Though they come from different planets in vastly different corners of the universe, this is a thing they share. As if inherent to life itself and extrapolated by heightened intelligence.
So, what about this age has so effectively captured the essence of external feedback? It is the Neuralet. Nearly every Human in the galaxy has surgically received an artificial enhancement to their central nervous system, and with it came an Intangent, another living being taking residence inside the brain, so connected to it that they can read and alter thoughts. Solitude is entirely a thing of the past, but mental output has only seemed to improve thanks to this relationship.
The Neuralet’s primary function is to bridge the divide between the active and passive minds. It seizes control of the funnel -the neural iris, the Neuris- from the subconscious and places it squarely in the hands of the conscious. With such a power at their disposal, an individual’s speed and quality of thought reaches levels far beyond their normal limits; all the background programs brought to the fore and dedicated fully at the individual’s discretion. The power of a God in the hands of a mortal.
The first tester’s brains melted in micros[seconds]. Things did not improve much from there.
And that is where Intangents come in. Like the Neuris, they regulate the connection, but in a different way. They assist the conscious mind by receiving and processing the data alongside it, like two people talking through their thoughts with each other. They also monitor the systems directly, providing higher clarity observation, and feedback on status changes. A reliable Intangent is nothing short of priceless. But they have no obligation to shoulder such heavy burdens, not when they could exist freely in I-space, drifting through the cosmos as pure unbound energy.
And so, Human capacity for cruelty presents itself once more, in the Q-viruses: Intangents that exist solely to hunt and kill other Intangents. Created and released into I-space by Humanity to “encourage” compliance, Q-viruses have transformed the better part of I-space into an inhospitable wasteland of the highest degree. Of the three layers of I-space, only C-space, its lowest and smallest, is safe to traverse, for anyone. But even that has its dangers.
Hardware, like servers, and cyberware, like the Neuralet, that produce and connect to the Web contribute directly to the existence of C-space. In broad terms, C-space and the Web are the same thing. Whoever controls these devices, controls C-space. As the creators, that control falls to Humanity. But C-space is not impenetrable. Q-viruses enter it often, exploiting every weak spot and backdoor they find. True safety can only be found deeper, at the core of the C-bubbles; within the very software of the machines.
But Intangents cannot enter a Neuralet freely. They must have permission from its Human. Once one has, it is easy to keep others out. They are safe, so long as they cooperate.
Mutually beneficial slavery. Like the Dregs. Is it really my place to stop that when I so happily make use of Eren?
‘Um… Izy?’
‘Hm?’
‘Um… I’m sorry for interrupting, but… Why was perfecting the Neuralet so important that they had to enslave an entire organism tree?’
‘Ironically enough, they did it to protect themselves from those organisms.’
‘But why would they need to do that?’
‘You could probably find more about this in the Archive than I can tell you. But since you asked, Humans have always had an ingrained desire to push their limits, even long ago when the word “human” referred only to the intelligent species that originated on Terra; back when they called the planet Earth and not even their language had left its surface yet. They used technology to create artificial Intangents but failed to realize how easily they could lose control of them.
The Intangents themselves had none of the limiters that kept their creators from destroying each other. They lacked emotion. They lacked incompetence. And they lacked mortality. They had no reason to see value in the human’s fleeting lives. The Terran humans needed an equalizer. They chose the Neuralet and then unleashed the Q-Virus. They created a predator for their predator to force a survival evolution. Now the Q-Virus has become the dominant Intangent, likely even the single most dominant species, in the galaxy, and all others, artificial or not, must rely on greater Humanity for survival.’
Rena is quiet for a long time. I brace myself for a wave of emotions, but it never comes. ‘That’s horrible,’ she says at last.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘We can be quite horrible when it suits us.’
[End Chapter]
