Keung sat within the library, where most of the animals tend to leave him alone. Most can’t read the print, for one reason or another, but also, turning the pages is a challenge. They prefer audiobooks.
His smartphone rang out the alert that a video call was being requested. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the identification. The call was from HAL. He answered and the screen popped up with the human appearing HAL, the AI he had created over two lifetimes. HAL has chosen a face that was close to that of the late Robin Williams. It was creepy. HAL was seated in his Enterprise clone ready room.
“Hello HAL,” Keung answered.
“Hi. So, you wanted an environmental suit for that octopus traveler, are you ready to have it dropped off?” HAL asked. The AI was trying his best not to think of the boy he is talking to as the monster that he was until fairly recently.
“It’s ready? That was fast!” Keung exclaimed.
“Well they pushed it through when the full report of the traveler’s psychic potential was reviewed. Now that we know the extent of the octopoda's potential to make a claim as another sentient species, we are eager to see what such a suit, designed for the Ellithani, can do in the possession of said. As such, we have an onboard program to live feed all the suit readings. The nerds are all pretty excited about it,” HAL said.
Keung thought about the possibilities of an entire second sentient race on Earth. He remembered reading about the meeting of Uhanni and the Ellithani with the G’lomin-sitiri as a bridge while in school. Aveer-y had been a researcher there for decades. Research was part of his passion. Aveer-y was the lifetime before Jyn’itol, and Keung has found that his unique condition, of being blended with Robert, has unlocked a great deal about his past that he simply didn’t have before.
“...so if you want it now, we can deliver it by tomorrow,” HAL’s voice registered with Keung, pulling him back from his daydream.
“Yeah, that sounds great. I would appreciate that, I’ll let Horatio know,” Keung replied.
“Have you gotten a call from anyone at Emerald City?” HAL asked.
“You are my only contact there, so, yes?” Keung quipped.
“Well, seeing as they dropped the ball, I got a hold of a progress report on that whole, reality breaking thing. Turns out there are some readings that can be obtained if they have a powerful enough array. They have a plan, have you heard of Myna EC?” HAL asked.
“What?” Keung answered the question with a question.
“Seriously? It's being advertised all over the place,” The AI said in disbelief.
“I don't really watch TV,” Keung explained.
HAL was without words. The boy always had a TV on if he had access to one. A not insignificant amount of HAL’s time was spent procuring shows that Keung had interest in.
“Okay, get on YouTube and watch the ad,” HAL instructs and waits for the boy to do so.
Keung jumped back into the chat. “A large enough array,” Keung said with a wide smile on his face. “They're going to turn every smartphone on the planet into a scanner and pinpoint the anomalies that happen when this universe collides with another. Oh that's brilliant,”
“Yeah. It's like one of them watched Doctor Who,” HAL said, deadpan.
Brilliant isn't the word here. Formulaic is. AI see problems and solutions. The easiest solution to the problem of requiring very sensitive readings across an entire planet is solved by getting the native populace to carry sensors across the globe.
“Well, how do I sign up for one of these lines?” Keung asked.
“The encounter suit already has one built in and we will send a few with it. Let the traveler know it'll be there tomorrow.”
—
HAL hung up the call and exited his office to his command bridge. The crew of his ship were all just programs, lesser digital beings without the coding required to be considered an AI. They didn’t think, they just followed commands and generally moved around the ship as a form of ambiance and immersion for the user. All except Kueng.
Keung was running a series of scans from the science officer’s terminal. The emulated boy was exploring the Alliance history and each of the races that comprise the Alliance itself. His favorite point of study was the Tfrilianii that are broken up into subspecies’ the Skuld, Verthandi, Urth, Völuspá. They too were a reptilian species, like the G’lomin-sitiri, but unimaginably older than them. Attempting to trace the Tfrilianii in the Mögthrasir alone goes back several thousand years.
When the Tfrilianii colonized the Mögthrasir system, on moons orbiting the gas giants of the star system, they had done so with a small fleet of ships that were part of a plan to colonize throughout the galaxy, as their homeworld became less able to support their exponentially growing populace. The colonies within the Mögthrasir had been only one of hundreds of fleets that were sent in all directions from their homeworld. The available data does not say whether or not the other fleets have maintained contact with the other colonies that had been established elsewhere, or even if they have any contact with their homeworld.
Keung always found the Tfrilianii Völuspá the most fascinating, they are a traveling people, constantly in motion between the various moon worlds of the Tfrilianii. The nomadic people are like Skittles. Even like glitter in some cases, the children are all hybrids of the various worlds.
HAL noticed the boy deep in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” HAL asked.
“Did you know there are six different alien species that are nearly always within the Sol system?” The boy asked.
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“Six?” HAL asked.
“Well yeah. The city is keeping track of them. Seems the G’har are the largest presence. They are also talking about Veiser ships and they are aware of an Adivari colony station on Sol-2 and a hermit Veilaeyian in a station on one of the moons of Sol-4,” Keung gushed with excitement.
“You said six.” HAL corrects.
“Well, yeah. There are us and the G’lomin-sitiri travelers here too,” Keung countered.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” HAL admitted. “How are you feeling?” He continued.
Keung just smiled, shrugged, and then put his attention back into his scans.
That’s not an answer. There should be an answer, HAL thought and then made note that he should run another diagnostic on the digital copy of his former master.
—
Elsewhere, the organic Keung sat at a window looking over the city of New York. All the hustle and bustle of a major city. The people, like ants, below are all running around their various lives. The culture of America, the core belief that the country is a melting pot of various peoples, customs, and foods throughout the world reminded the boy of the Tfrilianii Völuspá, though the Völuspá truly do embrace the mixture of cultures and blood as a blessing and an ideal. They vary so widely that they are a people of their own and of none at the same time.
“Why are you thinking about all of this?” Robert asked within Keung’s mind.
Keung popped from memory to memory of their time within a Völuspá trading vessel as Aveer-y. Each landscape was different, even within the same ships. The motherships are enormous. Nearly the size of a small state within the United States. They had great fields and forests of wooding and fruiting trees from all throughout the Alliance worlds.
“Didn’t we have record of a G’lomin-sitiri crossing into the Völuspá genepool as well?” Robert asked.
“We did. The genes of the G’lomin-sitiri were made to evolve within just a few generations. They would see that in the similar path of the Völuspá that they had followed. The G’lomin-sitiri had split into offshoots as well. The people of Woatuu had grown to their environment within a generation I believe,” Keung added.
“That’s not fair. They hardly needed to adjust at all. I think it was stronger gravity and it wasn’t even that much different! They only got stronger,” Robert continued.
“There were the ones that went into the water to commune with the Ellithani. They became better swimmers, had higher lung capacity, and I think gills,” Keung continued.
“Gills?”
“Yeah. Seriously. I’m pretty sure they had gills,”
“Can I interrupt?” Came the voice of Horatio to join the group call in Keung’s mind. “They did not in fact have gills. Their telepathic powers got stronger, when they communed with the Ellithani for four full generations. After that they learned to connect with others throughout the oceans of Woatuu. This talent was then passed on in the egg exchanges between colonies to bring the genes into the overall species. This did not often work, as those that had been transplanted by egg exchange have an instinct to seek one another out, to a sense,”
“Have you been listening this entire time?” Keung asks.
“Can you listen to me through Keung?” Robert follows.
“Yes,” Horatio answers. “I thought that Keung’s open invitation allowed me full access. I’m sorry. I have had so little time outside captivity that I forget what the real world is like. May I say, please give me gratitude to those in Emerald City for the gift that arrives tomorrow,” The octopus said.
“Okay, for the record, I am not inviting you into my head. Please stay out from here on unless I initiate a connection,” Robert said in a firm tone.
“Very well. I apologize for the intrusion,” Horatio said and then went silent.
“What gift is the AI giving Horatio?” Robert asked.
Keung took on a wide smile. “Speaking of Woatuu. Remember those suits that the G’lomin-sitiri created for the Ellithani to explore the lands of the planet?” Keung began.
“Yeah?” Robert replies.
“Well, I talked HAL into having Emerald City build a one of the suits from when they colonized Woatuu to see if Horatio can use it to get a little more mobility,” The boy explained in an excited tone.
“Wait, are you serious?” Robert asked, completely thrown for a loop.
“I am. Why?”
“You are thinking about releasing alien tech into the population of Earth. Does that not sound like a bad idea to you, at all?” Robert continues.
“If you think that is a little much, get a load of this. The AI released a cellphone and is currently blowing out sales in the millions. They are calling it Myna EC. The good news is, they are sending a few of those along with the suit they are sending Horatio,”
“Have you all lost your minds‽ Don’t you think that one of those billionaire moguls are going to crack open that tech and start playing with things that the monkeys will try and replicate and then weaponize and destroy the planet?” Robert shouted across the bridge of their minds.
“No, not at all. I am sure the AI know how to keep their secrets, besides, they are using smartphones to measure the issues with the broken reality. Really this is addressing the very thing we are seeking to have done. They are helping us save this universe. Can you not calm down for a moment and think about this?” Keung countered. “Man, I thought you wanted to save the universe, you kept us from going back to F’inlitary nan Geritari to address the issue with the full force of the Alliance, exactly how did you think we were going to fix this without their help?”
“Their help sure, but this is dangerous. Remember Nevada? They are still counting the dead and that was alien tech we cobbled together from the rubbish this planet has to offer. Imagine handing that tech to the humans, they will wipe each other out overnight,” Robert said, getting heated.
—
Kelly pulled into her driveway with ten minutes to spare. She got out of her car with her smartphone in hand watching the seconds tick down. She went inside the house and straight to her dresser drawer where the old phone had been gathering dust. There was a ring at the door and she checked her current cell. The timer is at zero.
She half jogged to the door with the device in hand, as excited as she was on Christmas day as a child. When she opened the door there was an emerald green drone hovering before her. The drone landed at her feet and the four engines folded down to the sides and a cargo hatch opened on the top of the machine to reveal a small green box.
Kelly reached down and took the package from the drone, then held up her old phone trade-in and debated on whether or not to actually give the drone the device. The cargo doors still open show a small screen instructing her to place the trade-in there, so she did.
The moment the cargo doors closed the drone wiped back into the air and off into the night sky.
“Well they do have a bit of pageantry don’t they,” Kelly said and opened the box as she went back inside. It was emerald, like the drone was, maybe even the same metal.
The screen came to life across the metal surface.
“Hello, welcome to the Myna family. To get started please let me know what you would like me to call you.” The device announced.
She turned the phone over in her hands and looked for a seam, a hole, anything that was not just the emerald slab of metal and there was nothing. No keys, no glass, no ports, nothing. Just a thin metal slab.