We Leapt Into the Sky

Chapter 26

Kendra descended the crystalline staircase, her boots tapping against the softly glowing stone. The being had created the staircase to connect the abandoned cavern of Asteracean ruins with the chamber where he lived. It gave Kendra a quicker path to him, which proved useful when they hauled lab equipment and a small generator from the rover to the cave.

The being sat on the floor, surrounded by cords as the generator humming softly nearby. With some effort, he flipped a switch with his finger, turning on an old machine used to visualize DNA in agarose gels. He bent over it, looking content as he sunned himself with UV light. It was strangely endearing.

"Hey," she said as she approached. "Is that helping?"

"I believe so," he said. "What was your term for the energy this gives off?"

"UV light. Ultraviolet light, that is." She sat on the ground beside him. "If you need to be above the atmosphere to draw in energy, I'd say it's likely you can use UVB or UVC light. They're shorter wavelengths, and typical atmospheres block UVC light."

He nodded. "That would explain why I have such difficulty absorbing energy here."

"Do you think these power sources can charge your ship, or do you have to transfer energy to it?" Kendra asked. Nearby, the massive columns of the ship vanished up into the darkness high in the cavern.

"Normally, the ship would draw in energy and recharge itself," he said. "In this case, I may have to funnel energy to it to wake the database—the ship's mind, that is. I am not sure of the correct term, but perhaps you would consider them to be an AI."

"Does the ship have a will of its own?"

"Yes, we believe so. In some ways its mind functions like a machine, and yet, the ship also possesses aspects of a collective consciousness."

Kendra nodded. "But the ship is a different type of being than you are."

"That's right," he said. "As we understand, the collective intelligence of our ships was born from the mind of a great entity. A long time ago, my people formed an agreement with this entity, whose mind had been fragmented. We created a technology the fragments of their mind could interact with, forming these ships."

He glanced over to the stone columns of the ship, sadness evident in his expression. "At some point, the great entity fell into a deep sleep, never regaining consciousness. The collective mind of the ships changed, becoming more influenced by our own technology. But there used to be many ships, many parts to make up the collective mind. Now there aren't."

"How many of the ships are left?"

"I don't know," he said as he met her gaze. "When we fled, we lost contact with the other ships. Some were wiped out instantaneously. Blinked out of existence, like a star disappearing from the sky. Those that might remain must be too far away to communicate." He folded his arms. "The ship's mind is intelligent and communicative, but they were meant to remain connected to the other parts of their collective."

"Like how you couldn't remove part of a physical brain and expect it to function exactly the same in isolation," Kendra said.

He nodded.

"I'm sorry the ship has lost its companions, but I appreciate learning more about them," she said and offered him a small smile.

"I'm happy to speak with you," he said.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you. For your help, that is."

"Yes?"

"When I ... died, the machines picked through my things and dumped what they didn't want into the sand pits. That was why I first visited this cavern, and I need to know if I've missed anything," Kendra said. "It's easy for things to slip through the cracks here."