~~~Unit A1631039-Alpha, Monolith Strategist
It was early morning. At least it was on Earth. The Monolith obviously doesn’t have a day-night cycle, but I still woke up very recently, so I was drinking coffee while my partner A2268124-Delta was going through our archives at the computer in front of me.
“Well, what can I say?” he says. “There’s no lighter way to put it. We’ve seriously fucked up. Every version of the Empire we’ve angered – which is, to say, all of them – is actively monitoring their version of Earth. They’re also combing the galaxy for us, but the signal jammer seems to be doing the trick, they can’t see us. I still suggest we start sabotaging their scouting parties, you know, make it seem that they’re doing their best to find us when in reality, we are forcing them to cover us up.”
“That’s a great idea,” I respond. “But the question remains: how? Our squads are organized, but our strategic prowess is almost nonexistent – the fact that we are the best of the best strategists is proof of that. And even if that wasn’t the case, our face is on the first page of every top secret file out there; they’ll recognize us before we could hold up our fake IDs.”
“The neuroscience division is working hard on memory replacement. They hope we could get one of their leaders mind controlled on our side, to put it simply. Even then, it is only a matter of time until someone stumbles into us purely on accident. Everyone out there from a regular billionaire to some truck driver goes to space regularly. At this point, our last hope is to move the Monolith to a universe where the Empire simply doesn’t exist.”
“Are you insane? We barely have enough negative matter for personal use, and you want to move over three New York Cities?”
“Well, then we need to start looking for a more reliable source of the stuff. And build a very big wormhole generator while we’re doing that.”
“Maybe we could steal from the Empire again? Judging by their absolute defiance of gravity, they must have no shortage of the stuff.”
“Unlike wormholes, negative matter doesn’t fly off into the void when you use it for anti-gravity, so they don’t need much either. But I’ll look anyway,” my partner says as he begins typing on the keyboard. After a long pause, he continues: “Universe A4812856-Alpha has something here. The majority of that universe’s Empire’s negative matter comes from a gas giant practically on the opposite side of the galaxy from Earth. Fascinating planet. Clumps of negative matter form in the asteroids there, and as a result, floating islands appear. It is even inhabited by some unintelligent life. Shame that it’s right in the middle of Empire territory, the ecology team would kill to get their hands on that…”
“I’m sorry, but can we remain focused here?” I tell him.
“Yes, I’m sorry. Well, if we raid some of their mining bases, we could get a few tons of negative matter. Should be easy enough, they’ve got more important things to guard than negative matter mines. Wait a minute…”
“What?” I ask as I hand my empty cup to a small flying robot and lean in to get a closer look at the screen.
“Apparently a bunch of unknown aliens are attacking the mining bases. No one knows where they came from, it’s just another workday, and all of a sudden, these robots or armored soldiers or whatever just appear and open fire. They’ve put up quite a fight, but they seem to be losing now.”
There is an image of what looks like a soldier in an aggressive stance. The low quality makes it hard to tell, but it seems robotic in nature. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend…” I say. “Send squads to raid the facilities. Make it clear that the Empire is our enemy too.”
~~~A4153624-Beta, Monolith Soldier
The planet was unlike anything I had ever seen. There were massive floating islands everywhere. According to our previous scans, some of these islands can be the size of Australia. All of them had their tops covered with yellow-green grass. Other plantlife was completely alien. Although I didn’t see any animals, I knew there were all sorts of them, big and small. Perhaps the miners scared them all off. The sky was blue – almost the same as Earth – but the sun was white and several times brighter.
We were right next to the edge of the island to our left. In front of us was a small hill. Orbital command claimed the Empire’s base of operations on this planet was behind it. We all run to the top of the hill and see the base, with two armed guards. Two of our soldiers aim at the guards and fire. One of them hits and disintegrates a guard. The other guard runs for cover. An alarm is set off.
“Stay back, they got a minefield over there,” says A4812856-Alpha.
Another of our squads appears much closer to the facility and quickly kills the remaining guard.
~~~ A2406667-Gamma, Monolith Soldier (Second Squad)
“Orbital command reports no more hostiles outside the facility,” A0-Alpha tells us. “Move in.”
As we approach the entrance, an Imperial soldier peeks out of a hidden trapdoor and shoots A4271553-Gamma in the leg and drops back inside. Fortunately, the new material we’ve developed seemed to be doing the trick, as A4271553-Gamma was mostly unharmed.
“I’m alright,” he tells us. “Don’t let your guard down for surprises like that.”
“Cover me,” says another squad member, A3791890-Gamma, while preparing to open the door into the facility.
Another group of Imperial soldiers run in from the other side of the facility. We were ready and killed two of them. All of them retreated except for a massive apelike creature. The beast punched one of our squad with its fist in his chest, sending him to the ground. The brute then fired at another Monolithian, hitting him in the face and killing him. A3791890-Gamma, who was closest to the dying Monolithian, started panicking and killed the Brute.
“Unit down, another in need of medical attention!” A4336569-Delta says as he throws a grenade at the remaining Imperials, killing them.
A800321-Alpha begins examining the Monolithian that the Brute punched. “Several broken ribs… he needs to return to base,” he says as he uses a painkiller on the injured Monolithian.
I examined the dead one. His face was completely burnt off, sometimes even his skull was showing. I felt sick. “This one’s dead… there’s nothing we can do.”
“Orbital command reports movement of large objects,” says A0-Alpha.
“What direction?” A4812856-Alpha questions.
“Below, moving towards the edge of the island.”
“Get inside now!” A4812856-Alpha commands.
We finally got the airlock open and ran inside. Or so I thought. Turning around, I saw A3791890-Gamma kneeling in front of the dead Monolithian.
“Come on!” I yell at him. He then catches up with us in response, and we close the airlock door.
~~~A4153624-Beta, Monolith Soldier (First Squad)
Still on the hill, we waited for whatever ships were below the island. A2528608-Delta held a massive antimatter cannon, ready to blow something out of the sky. Finally, a grey ship rises from below the island.
“That’s no Imperial ship…” A4153624-Beta points out.
The ship hovers over the edge of the island as a platform extends from it. A group of what looked like robots walked out of it.
“Hold your fire!” A0-Alpha said.
As we put down our weapons and raise our hands, one of the “robots” starts walking toward us. Before it could reach us, more Imperial soldiers came from the other side of the facility and started shooting at the “robots.” Immediately, we picked up our weapons and began to shoot at the Empire.
Hours later…
The fighting was finally over. Our new allies were dragging dead bodies of their kind and Imperial soldiers back on their dropships. We stood aside to stay out of the way. Another dropship came to the island. Just like the others, it extended a platform. Unlike the others, it only carried three soldiers. All of them started walking toward us. Every time the one in the lead passed one of the soldiers that didn’t arrive on its dropship, they would grab their left arm just below the shoulder. Probably a salute. Finally, the soldier reached us and started speaking to me telepathically.
“We…we are the Monolith,” I say. “We are… a new faction in the galaxy.”
“We are looking for allies. You seem to dislike the Galactic Imperial State.”
The being responds by speaking out loud in its language and falling silent for a moment. No doubt communicating with some sort of authority.
“Yes. We are severely outnumbered by the Empire and need all the help we can get.”
The alien once again speaks in its language, translating to whoever it takes orders from. < The council shows great interest in your weapons. They are very effective against the armor of our enemy.>
“Of course. You help us, we’ll help you.”
~~~A3791890-Gamma, Monolith Soldier (Second Squad)
My squad returned with our hands full of negative matter. All of them went… wherever. I stayed behind at the cargo bay, holding the dead Monolithian’s dog tag. A22631562-Delta.
There was a voice in my head. It was like him, but… wrong. It was trying to tell me something, but I could not understand it.
“Shut up!” I yelled, throwing the dog tag to the ground. I stood there, panting for almost a minute. Then I took out my pistol and pointed it to my head with a shaking arm.
~~~A4153624-Beta, Monolith Soldier (First Squad)
“Well, that’s our story. Now you. Where are you from?” I ask the alien.
< This world is called Aleria. We live in the lower islands, where no starlight ever reaches us. We only learned of other worlds recently. Our enemy has been taking negative matter from the upper islands, causing them to fall, endangering us,> it responded.
“And here we thought you were fighting for resources… you were fighting for your very lives…”
< I have just received a message from the council. They approve of our diplomatic negotiations.>
“They approve. We’ve got ourselves some allies!” I say through my communicator.
“Finally, some good news. Ask them about telepathy,” A0-Alpha responded.
“We are also interested in the method you are using to communicate with us. We understand our and your scientists will be exchanging information? Does that include whoever understands this thing?”
< No one does. Psionics have been studied for most of history, and we understand very little.>
“Hmm. Well, can you let us speak to any scientists who understand a little bit?”
< There is not much to know. Rarely, an individual is born with the ability to exhibit force with thought and to communicate with other individuals without any evidence of speech. Some have a stronger psionic potential than others, and they can exhibit stronger force, and communicate with minds that are more… different from them. I am one of the most psionically capable of my kind. Differences in brain structure between normal and psionic individuals have been noted, but we are not certain how these differences cause our abilities. Mental development also seems to play a role, as cloned psionic individuals display no such skills.>
“Very interesting. Can you tell us about these differences in brain structure?”
< I do not understand this information, but it is stored in our archives. I can have one of our neuroscientists read it to you, and I will attempt to translate.>
“Ok. Do that, please.”
~~~A2646122-Beta, Monolith individual
Today was a good day. Not only did we finally get enough negative matter to escape from the Empire, we also made contact with aliens that were actually willing to cooperate. The death of one of ours was tragic, but it was bound to happen eventually. Honestly, I was surprised it didn’t happen sooner.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
My thoughts were interrupted by another Monolithian approaching me. I read his dog tag. A3791890-Gamma. He was carrying another dog tag.
“Hey, why are you carrying that?” I ask.
“One of us fucking died,” he responds.
“Oh, that’s his…? Yes, that’s very tragic, but I am honestly surprised we took so long with our first casualty. As much as I can hardly believe it myself, we ARE at war. And thanks to his sacrifice, we just might stand a chance.”
“We didn’t even give him a funeral or anything! We just let those… things carry him off for god knows what just like they did the dead Imperials! This!” he yells, as he held up the dog tag, “is all we have left of him!”
“Oh, so now we start burying people? Why? So he could feel better? He is gone. That dead body the aliens carried away is just an object now, an object we have no use for, but our allies want! If it makes you feel any better, he is being honored right now by being a diplomatic gift.”
“You don’t understand… I didn’t just watch him die… I felt his pain… his fear… I felt like I was the one who died… and now, I feel like his mind is still clinging to my own…”
“They’re testing memory manipulation in a few minutes, and are very confident that it could be available by tomorrow. We can remove that experience from your mind. Until then, try not to kill yourself, ok?”
For a moment, the traumatized Monolithian seemed reassured by this statement. Then, he clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. “But that won’t stop anything, will it? As long as we are at war, Monolithians will keep dying.”
“We’re also looking into advanced AI. War robots are expected to be available soon.”
“And when they come knocking at our doorstep, what then? No amount of memory erasure or warbots will change the fact that we would stand no chance if they found this base!”
“So what do you suggest? Hand them over the wormhole generator?”
“Exactly. Make peace with them before it’s too late.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this before. Today we hand over what they want, tomorrow we are at peace with 20 million Empires, and the day after that we are sent to space court for war crimes or ‘unethical experiments.’”
At this point, we had attracted the attention of a pair of guards. “I’ve heard enough,” one of them said. “Come with us.”
The rogue Monolithian responded by taking an EMP grenade out of his pocket and detonating it in his hand. The guards’ weapons were instantly disabled. He then takes out his wormhole generator and begins typing coordinates.
The Monolithian who gave me the syringe then dials a number on his phone. “Come on, come on, come on, pick up damn it!” he yells. He continues after a slight pause: “Erase all memories of the wormhole generation equations!” another pause. “There’s no time just do it!” he then promptly hangs up.
“Can I ask what that stuff was?” I say.
“I was supposed to bring those nanites down to the Neuroscience Division for tests on memory manipulation, and instead, I witnessed this spectacle,” he explains. “All we can do is hope it works, and that the Empire can’t reverse engineer his wormhole generator.”
“God, what a mess! And to think, all because he was using telepathy on a dying person…”
A few months later…
~~~ A4113729-Gamma, volunteer test subject
I was in a small room with A4215644-Beta, the Director of the Neuroscience Division himself. Behind him, there is a computer, and in front of him are me and a chair. Attached to the chair is a mess of wires and a pair of robotic arms ending with long, sharp needles.
“So, remind me again what I’m volunteering for?” I ask nervously as I examine the needles.
“Your mind will be downloaded into the body of an Alerian in an attempt to enhance your psionic abilities,” the director responds.
Until this moment, I was looking forward to this. But right now, I was having second thoughts for reasons I could not explain. “And why couldn’t you do this with one of your clones?” I ask.
“My previous experiments have confirmed our allies’ claims: psionic abilities require both the appropriate brain structure and a properly developed mind,” the director explains. “The clones, of course, do not have a properly developed mind, they’re conscious for hours before experimentation, and it doesn’t help that we engineer them to be dumb and obedient either. The procedure has been proven to be perfectly safe, you’ll be fine.”
“What about the Alerians being unable to survive outside their lower islands?”
“Obviously, we keep the containment room at a nice 16 thousand psi and filled with the proper gasses. If you don’t want to do this, just go, and I’ll find another volunteer.”
I considered this option for a second. I did not like the idea of simply leaving my body. But then I realized that anything I liked, every other Monolithian liked. If I deny, so will many others. It had to start with someone. “Alright fine, let’s do this,” I say as I sit in the chair and start attaching the wires to my head.
The director nods and says: “Fair warning, this will hurt like hell, and a painkiller isn’t going to do anything about it.”
“Great. Let’s just get this over with.”
The director nods again and turns around to press a button on the computer. The robotic arms insert their needles into the sides of my neck. Just as expected, it hurt like hell. Then there was a stinging sensation, and I fell unconscious.
I woke up in a different room. Everything felt wrong. I opened my eyes to see… heat. Alerian eyes pick up infra-red radiation rather than visible light. My sense of smell also seemed stronger, as I could detect the supposedly odorless disinfectants used all over the Monolith. I detached the wires from my head and stood up to examine this body. Firstly I noticed a strange weight on my back. I reached to feel it and discovered a pair of wings protruding from my shoulders, neatly folded onto my back. I accidentally scratched the membrane with my clawed hands. I decided to examine those next. For the most part, they were similar to human hands, save for having six fingers instead of five, and the razor-sharp claws. I started feeling my face and discovered that my mouth was surrounded by a mess of tentacles. I was also a lot taller.
One of the walls had a window in it, which I could see through. The infra-red in my vision spectrum had a wavelength short enough to behave a lot like visible light. The Neuroscience Director was behind that window.
“You’re awake,” he says.
“How long have I been out?” I ask.
“About an hour. Tell me, do you have any unusual sensations? Lapses in your memory?”
“I am suddenly two meters tall and have wings. What the hell do you think? As for lapses in my memory, not that I’m aware of. Why do you ask? I thought you said this was perfectly safe.”
“Just checking. Now – to do the thing we started all this for – there’s some blocks to your right. Try to pick them up with your mind.”
“And how the hell do I do that?”
“I don’t know, how do you move your arm?”
“I’ve had arms all my life.”
“If you’re anything like me, you also knocked over lamps from across the room all your life, too.”
“Fine, I’ll try,” I say as I turn my head to the blocks. I concentrate on lifting one of them. Almost immediately, it flies up and hits the ceiling.
“Good. Do you feel anything? Mental fatigue?” the director asks.
“No. Well… yes, but the mental fatigue equivalent of carrying a piece of paper.”
“Ok… can you try-” the director is interrupted by the Grim Reaper appearing. I then feel the worst headache I had ever felt in my life. I grabbed my head with both hands and screamed. And then, just like that, it was over. I looked up to see the director pressing various buttons repeatedly. Finally, he stops in frustration.
“What happened?” I ask him as I fold my wings back into place. They were completely unfamiliar, yet I was able to move them perfectly.
“You scared off the Reaper with some sort of shockwave that also busted all of my equipment,” he answers “Except the microphones and speakers, apparently.”
“So, I’m stuck like this?”
“Until we build another mind downloading device, yes.”
“And if I leave this room, I die?”
“Yes.”
“And there’s a limited air supply?”
“Yes. That is why I’ll get someone to fix the oxygen filter now. Don’t go anywhere.”
One week later…
~~~ A4215644-Beta, Director of the Neuroscience Division
A4113729-Gamma walked out of the door into the presentation room.
“Speak of the devil. How are you feeling?” I ask him.
“One week,” he said “That’s all it took to get used to that body. Now I’m going to have to get used to this one all over again.”
“Look I’m sorry, we worked as fast as we could-”
“Ugh,” A4113729-Gamma groans and walks out the other door.
One of A0-Alpha’s advisors, to whom we were giving this presentation, returned us to our previous topic: “When you called us over, you said this could revolutionize what it means to be human. How so?”
“We believe that if we could improve our computers and somehow connect them to our brains, we could download the mind post mortem and input it into a new body,” I say. “That way, we will achieve immortality.”
A4253157-Delta, the Director of the Biology Division, adds his own ideas to my response: “My team believes that switching into different bodies will make it possible to achieve genetic engineering. Whereas before we would have to alter a copied DNA sample and grow clones from it, now we could become that clone. Any body modification we could want would be available.”
The Director of the Engineering Division, A1214499-Beta, also has a few things to say: “And my team believes that if the genetics team is successful, they could create bodies engineered to not reject new organs, making cybernetic enhancements possible. With all due respect to the biology division, we simply do not believe that they could achieve as much as we could if they would let us build from their work.”
A0-Alpha responds: “I find these possibilities very tempting. Does this council have any objections to the usage of the technology described in the presentation?” No one says anything. “Then, you have my authorization to study these paths.”
Later…
A0-Alpha is standing on a small balcony high above a large crowd of Monolithians. He is giving a speech: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So it is said in the bible. I learned of this by accident, and just as anything else originating from religion, I dismissed it as a fairy tale, a simple superstition. Today, I stand corrected. Our spirit is willing to do anything to survive, but our flesh is too weak to provide any protection. But today, that is also no longer true. Today we have removed the need for flesh. Today we have conquered death. And all this thanks to inspiration from a tiny civilization just now reaching for the stars to our three science divisions! Some may think our purely rational ways of thinking are barbaric. Truly, we have done little to honor our dead. We have practically used our allies the Alerians to achieve godhood, while giving them nothing. But is it barbaric to do what we must to survive? To do what we must to crush our enemies?! We are gods. We are immortal. We are eternal.” He pauses to do the Alerian salute, and concludes: “Long live the Monolith!”
His audience responds in unison with the same salute and phrase: “Long live the Monolith!”