Текст книги "Memories of the future. An eyewitness notes"

“Before we enter this door, Abel, tell me: did you know that the life you led was merely a stimulatory program?”

“No, I didn’t know that! We always forget our previous lives as soon as we start a new one. This is the basic rule.”

“When did you have your memories returned to you?”

“At the end of my training. Can you imagine what emotions that aroused in us? Oma, for instance, decided at once to write a research work on the Artificial Intelligence transhumanism. And I on the contrary locked down those memories behind a heavy door.”

Cheerful and life-loving Abel was better off keeping some of his memories in a separate storage. The girl seldom saw him that distressed.

“We’ve finished up with this door. Your experience has enriched both of us, and the door is again locked. Alex decided to change the reality and, grabbing the Wolf by his hair, led him to the nearest open door. Abel was obediently dragging himself towards the dark doorway, mumbling something about illegality of breaking into close doors. The intonation of his voice indicated that he was now in better mood.

“Abel, your nature combines a dog and a wolf. And wolves and dogs cannot stay sad for a long time. They are optimists. And, besides, I am here with you, and I love you.” The Wolf slightly butted her hand with his large head. Having passed the doorway, Alex realized that her form had altered completely. Her body had dissolved and she found herself drifting among stars as a non-material form of life. The gaseous nebulae and bursts of superstars were all around her. It seemed to the girl that she had access to various types of energy piercing through space and intertwisting into an unusually beautiful music!

“Abel, you’ve found the Eternity of Space within yourself!”

She heard the sounds of some special music that seemed to have born in different layers of space and time simultaneously. The Wolf had also acquired a different form.

At the moment Alex perceived him as a bundle of reasonable energy. From time to time he exchanged impulses of light with planets, as though talking to them, and sometimes he himself turned into that inconceivably beautiful multidimensional music.

Time seemed to have lost its meaning and became a part of the Eternal Flow of Events. Such complex multidimensional concepts are beyond comprehension of the human mind. Alex turned short entranced by the beauty of stars.

She now had gained access to the complex paradigms of the multidimensional logic, which can be comprehended only by an immortal being in non-material form. Ordinary people can comprehend only a small part of the information of Space.

People are still destined to obtain the greatest realization and hear the Thought and music of the Eternity! Alex wholly dissolved within that incredible reality. The fields of unknown energies were surrounding her.

She felt like to forever stay among stars. After a while, Alex again perceived herself standing in the hallway; the Wolf was nearby, waiting for her reaction.

“Abel, one day I listened to the pi character music, but this one is like no other. I can hardly express my emotions!”

“This is the harmony of Space. We can comprehend a part of the Creator’s plan in the form of this music. It took me long to realize that. This music was gradually manifesting itself along with the transformation of my soul.

“There is so much I don’t know about you, Abel! You are amazing me all the time!” she hugged him tightly by his neck, “Let’s move on?”

The long row of doors in the hallway stretch off into the distance. It seems to be endless. Alex noticed the bunch of roses she had presented to the Wolf, standing nearby in a big heavy cut-glass vase. The passage near the vase had no door at all. The girl headed towards it. “You have found a vase for the flowers! Let's enter this place.”

Behind the doorway there was no space at all. Alex looked around in bewilderment. Complete emptiness was surrounding them like a white fog. Abel gave her no time to think about the meaning of that space. “I guess this is the most important thing for me. This place is completely empty, and I would like together with you to devise and create a new space. Do you have any ideas? We’ll create it together, and then I will come here and walk all over the place. That’s my idea. It’s like writing poetry. You say the first phrase, I come up with the second, and then comes your turn again. And this way we’ll create something beautiful together!”

“Abe, I would love to! Let’s paint a world that we wish to see. Let’s imagine that the war ended up long ago; we are travelling all over the Planet. How will the world look like? Let’s figure this out.”

At these words, the fog around them began to slowly subside, revealing a beautiful green valley filled with the smell of spring flowers and herbs. As if by the wave of the hand, the edges of the valley started to fill up with tall massive trees. A waterfall emerged on a mountain slope, forming a river with pure water. High up in the deep blue sky, an eagle was circulating, welcoming this world with his cry. The space obediently took up the shape of their thoughts, and soon they found themselves near the foggy edge of that valley.

“I want people live here at the foot of the mountain, near the valley,” Alex went on with enthusiasm.

‘They will live in the right houses,” Abel echoed her.

Instantly, cultivated fields appeared together with small cozy houses with red tile roofs. They were picturesquely standing along the river flowing from the valley.

“What if some people would like to live in flying cities amid clouds? They started to develop such cities before the war when they got access to the gravitation principles.” And then a huge circular body of a flying city emerged in the sky. It had small buildings, wooded areas and lakes.

“We’ve done a great job!” Alex said in admiration.

“Then let’s walk on along the Planet? Abel suggested. “We’ve got so much to do.”

‘We’ll do that! Of course, together we can do great things!”

Chapter 38

“One can simply stand and look at the river, but one can also step into it and move with the flow.”

(Buddha)

“Oma, why have you chosen this elliptic orbit?” Raju had a bit absent-minded and pensive look on his face.

“The circular orbit near the Scientific Station is not the best choice for us. That would give away our motives. Then it would be easier to put satellites on their windows. I agree that this orbit is not the best option. But we’ll make adjustments. It’s the first time that we have gotten so close to the Station.”

“I’ve got a strange feeling. It’s like internal anxiety. I felt the same on the Pole before the attack of the spheres. And now this feeling grows stronger. My internal voice is telling me that we haven’t taken important factors into account. But I cannot explain what sort of factors. I’ve just head a voice that is guiding me. ”

“Did this happen before the pole Battle? I’m trying to find a system. The law of random coincidences usually offers surprises. Maybe these are your phantom fears? When was the last time you tested your processor?”

“Oma, my processor is in order. I tell you, this is a special feeling that I cannot express with words. I already had a similar feeling, before the flight when I lost my biological body. And before I was knocked down for the first time. But now it’s something different. I seem to share my conscience with some rational being and that second mind knows everything about me.”

“Raju, what exactly do you feel? Oma turned to him in the chair, interested in his words. “I don’t have access to this sphere of human consciousness yet.”

She took seriously everything related to human feelings and intuitive insights. That issue had long been the subject of Oma’s personal research.

This feeling cannot be conveyed with words. It would be easier for me to withdraw into a dream together with you and merge our minds; and then you’ll feel it yourself. People call this intuition. But now it is something greater than intuition.”

‘Intuition is the account of hidden factors that have not yet been revealed,” Flop meddled into the discussion. He was drifting near the windscreen, gathering the energy of light. Now he got closer to the commander hoping to get more information.

“Something like this, Flop. In ancient times, people believed that angels sent premonitions to those who could hear them. Some people to the present day believe in angels.”

Oma and Flop listened closely to the commander’s words, and now both had a puzzled look. Oma was the first to respond:

“Maybe we should get out of this orbit and go further? It’s up to you, Commander. What does your intuition tell you?”

“We’d better stay here, that’s what I am sure about. Doubtlessly, we are to face something new very soon. And we should not try to avoid it. We are to take part in important events. I understand that it sounds vaguely.” Raju gave a forced smile in response to Oma’s and Flop’s puzzled looks. “Let’s continue what we have started. That’s what my voice has told me.”

“Oma, you shouldn’t be so anxious,” Flop obviously tried to reassure the captain’s first mate. “Now we know that the captain has been in contact with angels for a long time and receives information from them in the form of intuitive feeling.”

“It’s exactly his angels that I am concerned with,” she didn’t finish up her words – the cruiser’s AI interrupted their conversation. ”I’ve tracked down scanning of the spacecraft with a field similar to that related to techno-magicians. The source is unknown.”

“It has begun. These guys must be nearby. We did our calculations correctly. Aria. Starting with this moment, keep record on my personal crystal,” Raju’s voice cheered up as he had always been attracted by the unknown.

“Aria, provide us with comprehensive scanning of the situation,” Oma looked like a cat chasing down a mouse. She moved a little closer to the panel above which appeared the holographic picture of the cruiser on the eccentric orbit. She saw nothing special or deserving her attention.

“Oma, you are making them laugh by your scanning efforts now. I am convinced that they can even hear our talk. By the way, from now on all communication will be through though forms. Flop, particularly this applies to you.” Raju turned to the isoform, who was already prepared to share his thoughts and now looked rather confused. Raju put a finger to his lips and said: “Don’t talk!”

“How are you agents doing now, Flop? When we get closer, bring them into operation. Transmit the video projection only directly to the crew’s brains, do you understand me? It feels like our tour will not last long. Aria, put the spacecraft into the duty mode and adjust the orbit. Conduct monitoring as regular patrolling. Possibly they will believe us. Oma, doesn’t it seem to you that the girl we saw on the Station is an axle of the future events? We didn’t have enough time to study her in detail. Sum up all the data, but do not put them on the projection. We are being transparent now, except for our thoughts. However, this is also in question.”

‘I’m scanning,” Oma replied, imitating Aria’s voice so as to diffuse the nervous tension.

“Downloading the baseline data:

Artificial cell with new elements;

Unlimited cell fission;

Artificial chromosome, complex structure;

Ability to adopt and transform any types of energy;

Supplementary sensory organs;

Extended range of perception through all sensory organs;

Enhanced brain neural activity;

Different structure of the muscle tissue with increased percentage of white muscles;

Fast regeneration of cells of all organs and skin covering;

Full body control;

Assumption:

Capability of matter control;

Capability of control over all kinds of fields;

Capability of transforming internal and external organs;

Capability to change the form of existence, including the form of subtle energies fields.

The forecast of the baseline data is as follows: she is in need of allies at the first stage. Given such options she won’t play with dolphins and talk to ants. That means she is going to show her worth in the near future.” Oma turned silently to the commander.”

“With such capabilities she is unlikely to need allies,” Raju responded through a thought form.

“Commander, have those feelings of yours been inspired by angels?” Flop hung up in front of Raju’s face, slightly narrowing his eyes. Oma suddenly burst into laughter under the impression of that scene.

“Anyway, we are already part of the flow of events that has been formed and is gaining momentum,” he uttered stumblingly. “We are better off being its participants than mere observers.”

“Now I am also sure that we are being delicately pushed to engage in some wide-scale events,” Oma said pensively, keeping her eyes fixed on the commander.

“Or rather being forced to do so,” uttered Flop, shifting his gaze from Oma to Raju, looking for support.

“That’s exactly so,” Oma echoed his words. “So now we are facing a choice: either to change the orbit and carry on with the duty or to get involved in the flow of events that have been already preset for us.”

“Yes, but then the events will develop without our participation. And if we join in…” Raju didn’t have the time to complete the phrase. Aria’s thought form interrupted his deliberations:

“Commander. The Station is within the visual range.”

On hearing these words, Flop cheered up.

“Aria, transfer these activation codes to the point with these parameters.”

After a while, Aria reported on activation of the Cockroach. A couple of seconds later, the internal screen of the crew’s brain processors displayed the image with the Dragonfly.

She appeared to have been hiding in a hollow of a tree trunk and was now running hasty along a tree branch, getting ready to take off.

For a while the Dragonfly was observing the space all around, twisting its head.

Given the experience she had already gained on the Station, the Dragonfly decided to explore the surroundings first for safety considerations. It was morning time; people were moving unhurriedly along pathways, heading towards their labs and workshops.

Fountains in parks and squares were coming to life one by one. The Doughnut dared to fly up only after she made sure that there were no exotic flying beings and insects around. And only then did it separate itself from the branch and flew up at a ten feet-s height above the green lawn.

The Ares crew were watching the scene with keen interest on their internal screens, trying not to miss any single detail.

Soon they saw a wide landscape with lakes and wide rivers. Cyborg farmers were busy taking care of plants. The inhabitants of the Scientific Station never used the term “business day”, instead they would say “creative day”. The scientists turned science into a joyful process.

The Dragonfly was confidently flying above the familiar park, exactly repeating its previous route. A thick forest was replaced with the familiar place with three pools, whose dwellers were slowly floating in circles, waiting for people to come. The Dragonfly quickly flew above the farm with ostriches and reached the meadow, where dinosaurs were grazing. It shied away in fear from a couple pteranodons flying nearby and started to slowly gain height.

Soon they saw the familiar landscape with meadows and forest groves

“I don’t have a slightest idea of where to look for her,” Oma was growing impatient.

“Maybe she will find us herself?” Raju gave Oma a meaningful look. “Flop, raise the Dragonfly a bit higher, we’ll be waiting here.”

Suddenly, a dim white spot flashed before the Dragonfly, and it started swirling in a turbulent air flow.

“ Here we are!” Flop cried. “I’ll sort it out right away.”

Having coped with rotation, the Dragonfly at last evened up her flight and looked around. The isoform failed to identify the source of turbulence. In a few seconds, the situation repeated itself, the already experienced Dragonfly deftly started aside. Now it was hanging in the air. All of a sudden, a female palm appeared before its scanners, and then another one; and the Dragonfly got locked in.

“That’s it! We’ve been caught up!” Flop exclaimed in surprise. “Given that the Dragonfly was at the height of more than a hundred feet, our girl must have noticeably grown up!”

“Or learnt to fly,” Raju suggested.

“Somehow I’m not surprised. Flop, let the Dragonfly sit on her pal and wait.”

“What a nice dragonfly,” said a pleasant female voice “You will not bite me again, okay?”

After saying these words, she slowly unclasped her palms, and they saw a strand of golden hair waving in the wind, and then a beautiful female face. For a while, the girl was looking at the Dragonfly, but they had a feeling that she was staring each one in the eye through the scanners. A friendly smile appeared on her face. She didn’t utter a word, but each one could hear distinctly a thought form said in a clear voice:

“We must meet and have a talk. The time has come.”

After that she slightly threw the Dragonfly up, letting them know that the contact was over.

Oma and Raju exchanged meaningful glances.

“That could mean only one thing.” Oma said calmly, breaking the silence.

“Then we shall wait.” Raju continued her thought. “Flop, hide your agents. We’ve got no job for them for now.”

“Commander, I’ve detected an increasing field of complex signature. I’m losing control over the spacecraft,” Aria’s voice sounded anxious.

“Look! The whole space is trembling! We are going to be torn apart?” Flop was close to panic. The isoform hung up above the cabin screen, looking at something unimaginable.

Chapter 39

A wall! Or maybe a passage?

Steven was brought round by a bright ray of light going from a thin medical flashlight. It was held in a palm deprived of any flesh and interlaced with tubes and light fibers. The ray of light went out, and Steven realized that he was lying in the bed of his cabin.

Oor was standing near the bed, looking closely at the friend of his. A strangely-looking girl was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning over Steven.

The rather odd appearance of the girl drew Steven’s attention. On her knees lay a tray with a bio-scanner, ampoules, and injector for meds. The peculiarity of the girl was the fact that part of her flesh was simply missing, or rather seemed to have been roughly torn off in certain areas. The bare bones of her cyber skeleton and all internal organs of the cybernetic body produced a depressive impression.

Her long golden hair had almost been preserved, but in places it had been pulled out together with the nano-skin, revealing the bare skull. Almost the whole left side of her skull was completely bare. The second part of her face was intact and looked perfect. Apparently, the girl had been very good-looking until something terrible happened to her. Her only eye on the preserved part of her face was looking at Steven with empathy and concern.

What previously used to be a dress now consisted of torn pieces of tissue, barely covering her body. The girl’s body was also greatly damaged. Her left hand was stripped off nano-skin and subcutaneous layer, revealing the skeleton bones interlaced with tubes and light-guide fibers.

With an effort Steven pulled his eyes away from the unusual doctor and looked at Oor in expectation of his explanation. He asked in weak voice:

“Am I intact? Have we win? Everything is OK?”

Then a faint smile appeared on his face.

“Oor, my friend, have we win?” he repeated.

Oor noticeably cheered up, broke into a broad smile and leaned towards him.

“Of course, Steve! You are intact, you received a light blast injury. We win and steer the previous course. I and Murmu have good news for you. By the way! I’ve forgotten to introduce you.” he put his hand on the girls shoulder and looked tenderly at her “This is Murmu. She is my one and only bellowed and the prettiest girl of all!”

On hearing this words, the girl turned to him, apparently confused. The remaining part of her beautiful lips smiled, and she said in a slightly hoarse voice:

“You have already introduced us, Gabriel. I am afraid that Steven will lose consciousness again if he keeps looking at me. So tell him now everything what happened to us prior to our departure, and then we’ll tell him the good news. That will bring him in complete order.”

She got up off the bed, and Steven noted that the lower part of her body was also damaged. Murmilansi was limping slightly.

“I’ll leave you alone for a minute and will be back soon. Gabriel, make sure that Steven drink his hot soup and stay in bed. Have a chat, boys.”

The girl quickly turned around and headed towards the door, all the time Steven couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

As soon as she left, he tried to clumsily rise in his bed. Oor rushed at once to help him and carefully put one more pillow under his back. “Of the three of us, you are the least damaged, my friend. You were slightly deafened by a photon shell, and soon you’ll be OK. Drink up your soup and don’t worry about anything.”

“What a wonderful girl, Oor,” Seven’s voice firmed up a bit, and color bloomed in his cheeks. “Sit down on the bed and tell me about the fight. I’m so embarrassed that I missed out on those two pirates in the cargo hold. As far as I understand, your girl was in the Panther’s body. Oor, she is really gorgeous, even in this state. I’m impressed.”

Oor sat down on the bed and gave Steven a cup of hot drink.

“Drink this, and I will tell you the whole story. The Panther is Murmulansi’s second body, for special purposes.”

More two hours passed since Murmulansi left Steven’s cabin. All that time the friends were discussing the recent events. Oor started with an attack on the office of his organization, where he and Murmu had had to enter a battle with a military unit that had arrived to eliminate them. Gabriel was a master of narrative and told him a vivid story of how they had managed by chance to force their way into a city street and hide in a research testing ground where Susan used to work.

And then Steven watched through his brain implant the fight with pirates recorded by the trophy drone in detail.

“And besides, my friend, I and Murmulansi, we’ve got some very good news for you. She had to use her injured body to set you right. She repaired me also.” Oor twirled his absolutely new hand before Steven’s face.

Soon Steven resumed his well-being, he even attempted to get out of bed and climb to the top deck. All of a sudden, the door of his cabin opened, and the Panther appeared in the doorway. Without entering the door, she sent them a thought form:

“Gabriel, Steven! You must come up to the top deck. A wall is going towards us.”

Without waiting for their reaction, Murmu turned around and disappeared in the hallway. The friends exchanged astonished looks, taken aback by her words.

Oor was the first to reach the door and rushed along the hallway towards the gangway. Steven ran after him, stumbling. Murmulansi was standing on the deck silently, looking up. Hardly had Steven climbed up, Oor suddenly froze up at the top of the stairs. Steven forced him out and then stopped in astonishment.

Right before the yacht, a wall of water was slowly emerging out of the Ocean. It appeared to be limitless in width, with edges fading out in the damp haze on both sides of the horizon. The water wall’s height was enormous, no less than half a mile!

“What has the scanner shown, Murmu?” Oor looked confused, trying to figure out the only right course of actions in such situation. He decided to postpone explanations of that phenomenon. Although his processor was working at its full capacity, he still he couldn’t find ways to rescue his friends in the face the imminent danger. The wall had already started to bend over them, overshadowing the Sun.

“The scanners have gone crazy, Gabriel. The ship’s AI does not respond,” the Panther’s voice sounded unemotional. She was focused on analyzing the situation and looking for solutions. “I’ve never heard about such technologies before. I can’t think of any rational explanations. My forecast is that the wave will cover us in forty seconds. I have neither changed the course, nor shorten the sail.”

Suddenly, Steven’s calm voice said from behind:

“Shift over to manual mode! Put the reactor on full power! Set up the protective field! Full forward!”

Chapter 40

Beginning of the transformation

The storm subsided before the dawn. The Mantis’s AI delicately informed Alex on that, and she started the procedure of withdrawal from the controlled dream. The human nervous system is a highly subtle mechanism, and the girl took several minutes to fully return to the reality of the outside world. She moved in her chair, stretched herself with relish, recalling her dream. Then she put her chair in the travelling position and requested the Mantis to report on the weather and the surrounding situation.

The girl stretched out for her hamlet.

“Abel? Are you alight? How are our neighbors doing?

She put on the helmet and activated the transparent armor mode. Then she looked around but didn’t see the Wolf. The hangar was empty.

“Welcome back, Alex!” Abel said cheerfully through a thought form. “I’m outside, exploring the surroundings. Everything is calm. The GMA have gone, they always go follow after a storm in a hope to find a GMA or a camel killed by lightning. You can have a walk and have breakfast outside.

The Sun is coming up soon. Meanwhile, I will take a scamper along the surroundings. We do not need any surprises. Do you remember that drone? There can be more.”

“Okay, I see. I am going out. Don’t hurry, I need to have a wash as well.”

The Mantis moved, opened up its sensors battened down during the storm, and unhurriedly stepped on the top of the hill. It was standing still for a while, exploring the situation. Then it provided the observation record to the pilot and slowly climbed down to a cavity between dunes so as not to attract anyone’s attention.

The cockpit hood smoothly went up, and Alex quickly stepped down on the sand along the manipulators folded down in the form of a stairs.

Having run off some half a mile from the hangar to the south, Abel suddenly turned short. An energy burst of unknown nature made him stop; he began scanning the terrain.

Soon he determined the source of the weak signal. Not far away from him, a clumsy cybernetic body was messing around in the sand. That cyber being resembled a huge sand crab with a shell of some four feet in diameter and legs ending up with small platforms for relocation along loose sand. Abel saw at once the reason preventing the crab from turning over. One of its claws and the rear plate for digging into the sand were missing, and he was desperately twirling on his back, trying to get back on his legs. In accompanied his hassle with thought forms, evidently talking to itself. The Wolf saw that it was unarmed and decided to come closer and study the object. Abel was curious by nature.

The Wolf changed the color of his hair to disguise himself and with his head down started to slowly approach the object from the downwind side. When the Wolf was already at a ten-foot distance of the strange cyborg, it stopped moving and mumbling, obviously having noticed the Wolf’s presence.

“Favor for a favor, brother,” the Wolf heard his thought transmission. “You turn me over to my legs and I’ll tell you at once what gives you away as a cyborg. Okay? And one more request: I saw your fight with the walking tank. Please, do not kill me with your horrible field! Download all the data from my archives, but let me live. Can I count on that?”

The crab’s words came as a complete surprise to the Wolf who had already prepared for a jump. After thinking for a while, he decided not to be wary of the crab and resolutely came up to it. The crab stopped moving, pressing its legs to its stomach, waiting for its fate.

The Wolf went round the cyborg, carefully studying it from all sides, touched it with his paw, then turned it back on its legs and sat down nearby.

“Now tell me how did you identify me as a cyborg? Then open up all the memory wells in your processor, and all kidding aside! I don’t need your life.”

“What gave you away was the frequency of scanning. If you use the frequency range of dolphins, the enemy will identify you as a GMA. One cannon distinguish you from them by the heat wake, but your scanner is typical for all combat cyborgs in terms of its radiation frequency. You promised to spare my life. Maybe you will not delete my memory after downloading the archives?”

“You know too much about me. Any drone can catch up and take away your memory, and I will be put on the priority target list.”

“You can then delete only fragments with information on you.”

“You have small knowledge of machines, man. They will not download your memory; instead they will simply tear off your processor and clean out the whole information. It is always possible to restore what has been deleted. You will not be able to hide forever because you are damaged.”

“That's it for me. Then do everything quickly. To live for the sake of survival – what a miserable fate! I’ve always thought this would happen to me one day. That drone shot off my claw and the rear limb. And as for this body, I created it once and rewrote myself into it.”

He Wolf stood motionlessly for a while, thinking.

“You were a scientist? Why didn’t you go to the Station?”

“All my work is here, on the Planet! I would not be able to proceed with my research there. I need the Planet! Here I carry on with my work; however I have to hide in the sand most of the time to survive. The desert can be terraformed. And this is the aim of my work. By the way, I’ve discovered a different from of life in the dessert. This is something incredible! The siliceous form of life!”

The Wolf slightly raised his forepaw to interrupt the researcher’s speech.

“We’ve got no time for talking. Let’s do it this way. You must trust me and not meddle in. I suggest an alternative. I will rewrite the whole of you into my standby processor and then bring you to scientists. A group of enthusiasts still remain on the Planet; they will find a suitable processor for you and a body. Now prepare to get rewritten. Remove all energy from your processor, open up your shell. Hold on a little, I’ll download you quickly.”