Immortality Lost

F.A.Hyatt

Lorilard and Severin stood fidgeting in their spacesuits, watching the slower bipedal tower of crystal approach. It stopped, to sway before what appeared to be the shore of a sea of glass, under a red sun.

The glassine mass, that was the sea, inducted a question towards it. “Data?”

The Bipedal crystal glittered a little more brightly, transmitting, “Has been evaluated and summarized. Report follows.”

“Proceed”

“The sentient agents are random developments of organic chemistry. The result of an almost infinite number of organic permutations.”

The mass searched its data cores. “An Anomaly?”

“No, a result of progressive process. A few, that environment and natural physics did not destroy, build chemical patterns that propagate. Nonviable patterns extincted. An instance of self-assembly chemistry, based on carbon compounds, quite convoluted ones.”

“A chemical process? Are you certain it is sentient?”

“The organic structures became successful in perpetuating the needed reaction states, allowing their peculiar chemistry to update. Various organic processes formed unusual correspondences one to another, forming mutually supporting reactions, though at the same time, parasitic ones. As a whole, the system became stable. Some developed specific chemicals that could store templates of their past progressions. A form of memory, or archiving. This evolved into a quasi-cognitive, seeking behavior, and eventually, sentience. They call the process 'evolution'.”

Severin put his suit helmet against Lorilards. to conduct a private conversation. “What's it doing now? I thought it was going to take us to someone in charge?”

Lorillard shook his head. “How would I know? Maybe some kind of rite. Just have to wait it out.”

The glassine mass surveyed the visiting pair dubiously using various spectra. “What energy drives their systems? Organic processes are either energy intensive, or very sluggish. Rarely self sustaining. ”

“The system is energy intensive”, inducted the crystal tower. “The sustaining ecosystem is a hierarchical pyramid. Slow growing organics process minerals and sunlight to create complex sugars, which are in turn absorbed by more mobile energy intensive organisms, which are in turn parasitized, or outright consumed by organics like these before you, to power higher mental functions and advanced motility.”

The tower turned left slightly, to better face the lowering red sun, increasing its energy input. “The more self aware each unit is, the more cannibalistic. For it must consume more complex proteins and fats to continue the higher metabolism.” The tower pinged a few radar pulses off the shuffling humans to assure their position. They wasted a great deal of energy in random movement, to no evident purpose, it seemed. "They never truly become dormant, to store power as we see it. The cognition achieved,” it continued, “is just an engine to further propagate its organic reactions, and evaluate the environment for more subtle ways to enable its chemistry. These individual examples,” the mobile noted, indicating the pair, “are equally capable of working toward common survival, or cannibalizing other units to achieve it, depending on whether stored patterns point to one reaction over the other.”

“I do not see how this amounts to self awareness. You describe them as being a kind of seed.”

“Their complexity leave them to believe they are masters of their own destiny. It is possible some are, after a sense. The systems propagate random individual gestalts, that sample and process huge amounts of their immediate environment each second. They evaluate, and respond, so qualify as sentient.”

The silicoid mass contemplated that. Cognition was always a rare outcome, an improbable result of the randomness of natural events. The chances of the mass itself occurring were astronomically improbable. It was powered by available radiation, either photonic, or cosmic. Originally a large plate of crystal and rare earths, bathed in benign radiations, it propagated by inducting data, into new, slowly grown crystalline masses as they developed over the eons, learning over time , to compress the needed data passed on more efficiently, so that more compact structures could be enabled. Eventually, mobile ones. But none of these were cannibalistic, whose very survival depended on on eating each other, or less advanced versions of each other.

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It was difficult to envision. Ghastly. It tried to think what it must be like, to only be able to exist by extincting other organic systems of its sort - by eating the results of its own struggling evolution.

It was aware of organic chemistry, and how friable such structures could be. A world of apologetic vampires, it thought. Chained to self consumption. It reviewed the report. Saw the science it had achieved, sampled the striving of its culture and art. It lived, it thought, it strove, even understood to a point, its failings.

And now, it was here. The mass continued to process the huge data file sent by the biped crystal tower.

One piece of art stood out, in the data stream. That of a snake eating its tail. Both of the aliens had orifices full of ripping teeth. Whose main purpose was to chew up and swallow other forms of life. Then the eaters died, for the organic chemistry could not sustain the extreme complexity of any one unit for very long, as it perceived it.. So consciousness was not preserved, just the insensate common mass of organic chemistry that spawned it, its ecosystem. A snake, eating its own tail.

Luckily, the form did not eat silicon though, so he could afford to be sympathetic, and certainly would outlive them and their ecosystem.

“What is their Query?”

“They wish mining concessions. A concept of payment, or exchange is offered.”

“I could provide a block of substrate, set to upload the electrical patterns that constitute their thought process. It could , over time, be grown to a size needed to store and run several billion such patterned processes, and remove them from the cycle of death they have inherited, the need to self consume itself.”

The motile turned to take in a far ridge. “I believe they are interested in the heavy metals to the south of us. The yellow ores, especially.”

“What do they offer?

“They have brought some generators with them, that convert magnetic excitation into electrical current. It would allow-.”

“I know what it would allow. But it allows it at an exchange loss. There are no power sources here, that I do not already access. What energy would they convert to power the generators?”

“The ones brought for trade burn an organic distillate of plant matter. They propose to exchange the fuel for rock, pound for pound.”

Self sacrifice? Further cannibalism?. The mass felt pain, remorse. Their need must be great, to diminish the very biomass that they consisted of, in trade for minerals.

The benefit was substantial, compelling. The mass stored available energy, expended it in activity until the energy waned, then went dormant, until supplies regenerated to sufficient operational levels. The generators would give it control over when, and for how long it could remain active. Still, the mass was not vampiric. It could not conceive of such an extension at the debilitation of another sentient. If their need was so great however, perhaps some limited exchange would, overall, be best for both.

“The ridge, and that ridge only. Just that four, what is there measure?” Consulting his data download, he found it. “Four square mile area only.”

More would be a cruelty, and control over the masses dormancy not all that important, just, useful. It concentrated, started a piezoelectric reaction and vibrated a section of itself nearest the alien visitors. It cracked, and separated. Into it, the mass inducted the needed support pathways and assets.

“Give them the crystal. Perhaps they will reconsider, and use it to break their chains of mortality and eating-of-self. The minerals for the generators.” He would need to explain its use, the mass realized. “Tell them...”

At this point, the mass went dormant, having depleted its charge reserves.

The motile waited a moment, realized the mass had went silent. Experience told him that the aliens would not stand and wait for the three cycles needed to recharge. They held to a belief, time progression, it was called. It had the answer to the query, and the gift to deliver. That much could be done now. It turned to the suited men.

“That piece of substrate is for you, a gift. For the generators and fuel, your query has been evaluated positively. You can operate within the four square miles comprising the ridge.”

Lorilard picked up the block of crystal, and shrugged at Severin. “ Some kind of agreement ritual, I guess.” Then to the crystal spike thing, “As agreed? One gallon of Kerosene for every troy pound of refined gold we mine?”

“Yes.”

The men retreated to their ship.

“Man oh man, we hit it rich this time.” Severin nodded at the foot square piece of milky glass. “What are you going to do with that, Lorrie?”

Lorilard turned it over clumsily with his suit gloves, squinting at it through his faceplate. There was oxygen here, but also toxic gasses.

“Might be something we are expected to keep. A contract token or, who knows? Make a good souvenir, I guess. I can chuck it later, after we've mined out that ridge. Good thing we had those spare generators on board. Lets get the equipment set up. Then file rights, and arrange to get a few tons of kerosene up here.”

He laughed, and picked up his pace.