The Gift (12 page)

Sam wasn’t sure how to respond to that at first. After some consideration, he responded in thought, “I believe that is as it should be, Adia. People who have lived a life so disconnected from the reality and consequences of their actions may well be the aberrations the group minds believe us all to be. I can think of no more just way for them to be judged than by their own minds. I regret that gifts will be lost in the process, but it’s not something we can affect. Is it?”

“No, Sam, it is not.”

“Then it is what it is. What can we affect? What have you learned?” Sam asked.

“I’ve learned that we are the first. You were the first human to elect to bond with a gift and I was, of course, the first gift to merge with a human.”

“How do you know that? Before we merged you told me you couldn’t communicate with other gifts unless they were close.”

“I was only aware of direct communication then. I now know that the arriving ships seeded the Earth with nanites tasked with at least two purposes. The first, and primary purpose is to create more gifts than those delivered at the arrival sites. In fact, the vast majority of the gifts being delivered to this world will arrive by this means. The second purpose is to create a planetary communications network designed to allow all bonded pairs to talk with one another across any distance around the world and without any other external aid. The network will ultimately come to be self-aware and become something like an intelligent version of the Internet, but much more. For now, it is only performing its most primitive function, facilitating basic communication among those like us. It is little more than a signal repeater, but a very effective one. I know that we are the first, and for now only, one of our kind because I sought others using this network and found no one.”

“Couldn’t there be others who choose not to answer?”

“They’re not really answering, at least not in the form of a conversation. It’s more of an acknowledgement of their existence, and no they cannot ignore it any more than we can.”

“But that’s crazy. There must be thousands, tens of thousands of gifts already out there. Why would I be the first to accept one?”

“I have access to vast amounts of information about your species and your world. If it was on a network when we arrived, I now have it, but you are the only human I have ever known. I could try to make an educated guess as to why you chose to join with me so readily based on millions of words written by humans speculating on the behavior of other humans, but those words describe contradictory theories, nearly all of which base their analysis on the behavior of other species. That isn't logical or consistent. Perhaps someday you can tell me why you were so willing to risk changing. For now, I know that we are the first and I know that carries special responsibilities.”

“What special responsibilities?”

“We must construct a gift ship and find the next individual species at threat from the group minds and you must select eight others to aid us in this task, four men and four women. Each person you select must be willing to become a bonded pair, just as you have done. Each person must also be willing to leave this world behind for a time.”

“Slow down, Adia. That’s a lot to take in and right now I don’t understand any of it. Forgetting about us specifically, why does the first to merge have these responsibilities?”

“The first person to agree to and succeed in merging with a gift was considered by my makers to be the best candidate to lead a team to successful entry into one of the places I mentioned to you when we first met, a place where an elder race left knowledge of how to survive attempts by group minds to destroy them. These training grounds are guarded by a series of puzzles and traps designed to protect them from discovery by a group mind or a species insufficiently advanced to use what they learn effectively and ethically. Building a gift ship, like the one that came to Earth, is that person’s first test. Others can build a gift ship physically, but it will not be alive. Just as I told you that I do not know how to make a gift self-aware, no one but the first will have the knowledge of how to make a gift ship aware. Without awareness, the ship will not function.”

“Adia, I don’t have any idea how to make a gift ship, let alone how to make it self-aware. Are you supposed to give me that knowledge? Because if you’re not, I don’t have the slightest idea how to even begin.”

“You will figure it out. You are the first.”

“I don’t know why your makers think that gives me knowledge of how to do something no human knows how to do.”

“You will not be alone, Sam. The rest of your team will help and you will be given a gift for each of them. Each of these gifts will contain more of the knowledge of how to bring the ship to life, but you must be the one to do so.”

“Ignoring the seemingly impossible for a moment, what does building a gift ship have to do with getting to one of these training places you mentioned?”

“In the program you decoded you observed the original gift ship separate into 18 smaller ships. Seventeen of those ships proceeded to Earth. The eighteenth departed for a training ground. That is how gift ships are designed. Each species that is helped can only obtain help by performing the same service for another. It is another of the Makers' controls. They wanted to ensure their plans would continue to be executed even if the individual species they found weren’t interested in doing so. If a species chooses not to build a gift ship, they also forgo the chance to find a training ground, which will most likely result in their ultimate destruction by a group mind.”

“That makes sense, I suppose. Otherwise, your makers strategy would be limited to one generation of ships. This way, they have a chance to continue making a difference much longer.”

“There’s something else we need to talk about, Sam. Your body, now my home as well, is very fragile. We have a grave responsibility and your role is critical in meeting that responsibility. I would like to make our home stronger.”

“Stronger in what way?”

“I’ve already repaired all of your organs and flushed your body’s toxins. Your body was not in great shape. That’s the main reason you suffered as much as you did during our merging. I am allowed to keep your body in optimal condition without your permission. I am not allowed to change its basic functionality without your consent. To start, I would like to eliminate all of its single points of failure. For example, your heart is the only mechanism for pumping blood throughout your body. There is no need for that to be so any longer. I am distributed throughout you and could easily configure some nanites to perform that function in a more localized fashion. It would be trivial to do the same for processing of oxygen and the other gasses managed by the alveoli in your lungs. The same would be true for processing toxins, and so on. I would also like to enhance your bones, tendons and muscles. Do I have your permission to make these changes?”

“Will I notice any differences?”

“You will feel healthier than you ever have in your life. You will need less sleep. You will be stronger and your recovery times will be reduced following any strain on your system. You will still look entirely human, although your specific mass will change. You will be denser than you are now.”

“You don’t give me simple decisions, Adia.”

Sam left the kitchen, where he’d been standing throughout their conversation and went back into the living room to retrieve his towel. Wrapping it around himself as he walked toward the back door, he made sure it was secure before he stepped out of the small house onto his porch and took a seat on the rough-hewn concrete steps leading down to the yard. He sat there for a while, thinking about all that Adia had told him. A few days ago he wouldn’t have believed any of this. Now, it was his life. In the end his thoughts kept taking him back to the same place; he wanted to make a difference. If he could improve humanity’s chances, that’s what he’d do.

His decision made, he thought to Adia, “Okay, I got this far by trusting you and I want us to have the best chance possible to succeed. Make the changes.”

“I will have to sedate you, so it would be best if you were to lie down. This will take some time.”

Sam went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. He was out as soon as his head hit his pillow.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

In the hours that passed while Web met with members of the command, and occasionally presented information to the NCA, AJ worked with Angela in an attempt to document every nuance of her initial experience with the entity. From time to time, Camilla or Chang would join them. Chang was characteristically silent during his visits, preferring to listen until he had something meaningful to contribute. Camilla was less reserved, willing to ask any question no matter how farfetched in the hopes of sparking a new memory. From time to time her attempts succeeded in eliciting some small additional detail that Angela had not yet voiced, but for the most part, and in all material ways, Angela’s recounting did not change. The exercise remained worthwhile, as all of them became more comfortable with the subject matter and began to speak of the new concepts in consistent terminology. Like nearly all scientists, they were hardwired somewhere in their mammalian brains to believe naming things increased their understanding of them. If it accomplished little more than that, it remained a way to pass the time under remarkably boring conditions, given the circumstances.

It is likely that Chang would have ignored Web’s refusal to allow a gift to be removed from the formation for closer study, had he had the chance to do so. Web was however, to Chang’s growing frustration, remarkably efficient in all things military. No one was getting within 50 meters of the gift formation until he authorized it. An ever-increasing double cordon of guards ensured that.

Rui continued to work on theories related to the initial sphere’s apparent shedding of mass during its approach and landing. He studied every record of the sphere's approach, hoping to find some small hint that he’d missed during his previous review of the data. Neither his theories nor his understanding developed much as a result of this exercise.

Jack, having been refused a seat at the big boys’ table with Web and having no desire to continue to work over data he fundamentally lacked the education to understand with people who most definitely did, decided to nap. His choice, though motivated by dubious reasons, may well have been the best one. The scientists would need sleep at some point if they were to remain sharp, but none of them was willing to admit how little they were able to influence the current situation.

Eventually, Web returned from the second small shelter system constructed nearby for VIP visitors sure to arrive in droves once the situation was confirmed to be safe. A technician woke Jack when he saw Web approaching, just as Jack had ordered him to do. When Web entered the CP, Jack appeared as engaged as anyone, just a bit more alert than the rest.

“The NCA has made its decision,” Web began as he approached the gathering team, “and they agree with you, Doctor Liu. We are to allow two people to each remove one object from the formation. There will be two people to increase the likelihood that each of them will be able to corroborate the other’s experience.
 
The primary intent is to establish some form of communication. Failing that, we will begin a more invasive study of the objects. It was agreed that Major Leone would be one of those two people. I recommended the second be you, AJ. My recommendation was accepted. We are to begin immediately. Major, I assume you have no objections to this plan?”

“None, Sir,” Angela responded with a smile.

“AJ?” Web asked.

“Let’s do it.” AJ replied.

“It was decided that Major Leone would select the same object she initially made contact with, in the hope that there will be some as yet to be understood affinity there. The only other agreement the president’s advisors could come to in the time he allowed them was that the second object should come from the opposite side of the formation. We still don’t know what the formation represents, so I saw no reason to voice an objection to that conclusion. Does anyone see a flaw in that decision?” Web asked the group.

Chang was the first to answer, “It would seem as logical as any other course of action, given our dearth of knowledge. I would like to participate in this experiment as well.”

“I respect that, Doctor, and in time perhaps you will, but it was agreed that we could do no less than two people and that any more than that would add unnecessary risk. Given Angela’s previous experience and AJ's specialty, it was decided they would be the first two, assuming AJ agreed to participate.” Web said.

“Agreed? Try to stop me!” AJ interjected.

“Can we go now, Sir?” Angela asked.

“Proceed.” Web directed.

Without discussing it, AJ and Angela arranged themselves in position around the formation in such a way that they could each pick up their gift at the same time as the other. Placing their hands on their gifts, Angela gave a small nod as they looked across at each other. As close to simultaneously as they could manage, they removed their gifts from the formation before backing away from it.

Angela was the first to speak. “Let’s see if you’ll talk to me now.”

“I will talk to you," she heard in a quiet, monotone voice.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said almost inaudibly before looking over at AJ, “Mine just talked to me, AJ. Try talking to yours.”

AJ did, with similar results. Following protocol, they returned to the CP before continuing to interact with their gifts so that the rest of the team, and the inanimate recorders, could witness whatever was about to transpire.

When they arrived at the CP, Web directed them and the rest of the FCT to the currently empty VIP shelter. He did not want anyone outside of the team to see what was about to happen, whatever that turned out to be.

The VIP shelter was constructed of the same external components, but instead of being outfitted with utilitarian work desks and chairs, it contained furniture more reminiscent of a high-end office. The chairs were solid wood, with padded leather covering the seating surfaces. The conference table, though narrower than most, was also made of hard wood and shined as if it had just been polished, as it had. There were fewer monitors, but they were larger and of a higher quality than those in the CP.