Bok walked towards Nisha’s and Rachel’s tent for morning meditation. Beedee worked nearby on a new panel for converting power to sell to the grid. A silver sphere about 20 feet in diameter dropped out the sky and landed between Bok’s and Nisha’s tent. Three large Omanji with gray colors emerged from the sphere, rippling its surface.
“Beedee, come here quickly,” Bok thought to her as he walked.
Bok messaged Nisha, “No meditation today it appears.”
He added a big-eyed old-school smiley face at the end in the hopes of reducing Nisha’s anxiety.
Nisha and Rachel rushed out of their tent to find out what happened.
“Stay there. I’ll be okay,” Bok messaged again to Nisha. “I’ll forward our live thought conversation to you in converted human text form for you to read.”
Nisha read his message in her eyepiece.
The Omanji walked quickly to Bok. They appeared sternly gray and stood a good 10 inches taller than the muscular but adolescent Bok.
“Bok, we wish to discuss our communal problem,” the first one silently thought to him.
“Are you the Esteemed Elders?” Bok thought back.
“I am Primary Esteemed Elder Zon, these are my associates. They are also of the Esteemed Elders. Do you know why I’m here?”
“I assume you’re here to talk about my colony.”
“Yes. Before I begin, I wish to tell you a story.”
“I’ll listen.”
“It may not seem possible to you now, but 360 Earth years ago, I was your age. I faced the same decision you’re facing now. Do I merge, or do I move to the colony of the un-merged?”
“I learned about you in school, but I didn’t know,” Bok thought.
“It was a difficult choice. I decided to merge because I wanted to make great discoveries and to be of service. After 85 years of challenging work and many setbacks, I discovered a way to create a stable magnetic matrix. That’s what keeps antimatter safely contained if a loss of power or an impact of moderate intensity occurs. We used to suffer horrific antimatter accidents, but now only the most extreme stress can trigger an antimatter explosion.”
Bok turned a friendly shade of blue.
“You made that discovery? I had no idea. I’m using that matrix now to create antimatter pods for our racers.”
“Yes, I know what you’re doing. If I and others like me hadn’t merged, you wouldn’t consider it safe to create those pods in your antiquated nuclear fusion generators over there. They appear like harmless little psyg eggs, but one of them could turn this valley into molten glass if the pod exploded. If we hadn’t merged, you would still be stuck on Oma in a deteriorating environment, doomed to extinction. Are you aware of this?”
“Yes, I’m aware,” Bok thought.
“So why do you not merge?”
Bok paused for a moment in silence.
“As much as I value Omanji achievements, I value my autonomy more. If I merge, I’ll lose a huge portion of my individuality and my privacy.”
“You’ve absorbed this idea from the humans, haven’t you?”
“Not directly. I learned this on my own. I observe how they are on this planet. They suffer through wars and violence as we did, but they’re also independent minded.”
“They do have their own little minds, but humans are just the smartest native animals on this planet,” Zon said.
Nisha raised an eyebrow and glanced at Rachel when she read the translation of that statement. Rachel read the translation too and shook her head. Zon continued thinking to Bok.
“I admire your idealistic thought process. I once thought as you do but take the advice of one who is older and wiser. Fully independent thought can be dangerous. Four of our seven Ages of Entropy are the direct result of independent thinking leading to near extinction. Only cohesive and integrated thought leads to upwardly mobile self-directed evolution. Otherwise, AI or single celled life wins. Even humans are slowly becoming aware of the possibilities of self-directed evolution and the dangers of hyper-intelligent, self-modifying AI. That species shows potential but they’re about to hit what they call, ‘The Great Filter,’ as we did. The human children we modified are especially aware of the possibilities. They could save or destroy intelligent life on this planet. They must establish a collective mind. Self-directed evolution is a basic principle which can lift a borderline species out from its primitive past and into enlightenment. Natural evolution fails at the stage of development where humans find themselves today. They’re at the final stage of their natural evolution. This is what they call, ‘the fork in the road.’”
“I value our achievements over the ages,” Bok said. “However, one of our prime rights is the right to be free to follow our highest route to happiness. I’m not happy with the thought of being like an ant in a colony.”
“What is an ant?” Zon thought to Bok.
Zon paused to access data. His gray skin turned a faint shade of red.
“Ah, an ant is a communally based insect here on this planet. Each Omanji is much more than an ant. I’m more than an ant. You can be much more than an ant.”
The red faded.
“You mustn’t allow yourself to be persuaded by the humans and other unmodified beasts of this planet. They provide amusing entertainment I agree, but you cannot take them seriously.”
“They are not beasts, they are—”
“They’re savages,” Zon said. “They live, fight, kill each other with hatred, and die ugly young deaths. Even friends become angry and fight. They’re purveyors of chaos and illogical thought. They’re only slightly more evolved than any of the other animals on this planet. They don’t even make good pets. We used to be primitive and undirected like them and we self-evolved beyond that. Now I’m going to show you the result of that evolution. Tell me what you experience.”
Bok turned a bright blue. Beedee walked over to Nisha and Rachel near the tent, and they all noticed Bok’s change of color.
“Am I connected to the collective?”
“Yes, you are fully connected, not partially connected as before. What do you experience?”
Bok fell silent in all ways for a couple of minutes.
“I now understand why we merge. They welcomed me. I meditated and billions of others meditated with me. It’s peaceful. I didn’t expect the experience to be three dimensional. It’s the same experience as being physically there with everyone. I’m experiencing more than simply communicating with thought, as I do with my current implant.”
“Yes,” Zon said. “I’m routing the signal of the collective awareness through my implant so you can receive the direct experience of being merged as I do. You can be with all of us always. You will never worry about being alone. You will share in the camaraderie with 81 billion others.”
Bok fell silent again, for over a minute. Zon waited in silence.
“I understand the appeal of merging now,” Bok thought to Zon and to Beedee. Bok forwarded the telepathic collective signal to Beedee.
“It’s beautiful. I had no idea,” Beedee thought only to him.
“Yes,” Bok thought back.
Nisha turned to Rachel.
“What do you think is happening?”
“I don’t know but my heart is racing. It’s like they’re in a trance.”
“Beedee, are you okay?” Nisha said.
She didn’t reply.
“Something’s wrong Rachel,” Nisha said.
She grabbed hold of Beedee’s arm and shook it. Beedee didn’t reply so she shook her arm again. Finally, after 15 seconds of shaking, she emerged from the trance.
“I’m sorry,” Beedee said out loud via her translator. “Zon is trying to convince Bok to see the wonders of the telepathic collective. It is beautiful.”
“What can we do?” Nisha said.
“Nothing, we must wait and not interfere,” Beedee said.
“Zon is interfering, so why can’t we?” Nisha said.
“We aren’t allowed to interfere. We must allow Bok to decide of his own free will.”
“That’s a bunch of—”
“Nisha. Shh,” Rachel said.
“Of bologna,” Nisha said. “I’m going out there.”
Nisha ran as fast as she could down the hill and stood between Zon and Bok. Zon turned a dull red.
“Nisha, what are you doing here?” Bok said out loud through his translator. “Zon and I are discussing the advantages of the telepathic collective. I didn’t know how beautiful—”
“Zon is interfering, even though nobody is supposed to interfere with a personal decision to merge or not to merge. You weren’t allowed to affect Beedee’s decision. Now Zon is affecting your decision. Zon is a hypocrite.”
“Human, speak to me directly,” Zon said out loud via his own translation device. “I can understand you and all humans. I’m giving him information so he can make up his own mind.”
Nisha stared up at Zon, who towered at least 18 inches above her and outweighed her by a factor of three.
“Okay, I’ll speak to you then. You are a hypocrite. First you tell others to not interfere and then turn around and interfere. You’re breaking your own laws. You’re supposed to be the supreme ruler or king or whatever. Leave him alone.”
Zon turned to Nisha and shoved her to the ground effortlessly. She let out a groan as she hit the soft sandy surface.
“Silence human. Allow Bok to decide.”
Bok immediately rushed over to Nisha and picked her up, examining her closely.
“Are you okay?” Bok said.
“I’ll be fine. No thanks to this jerk.”
She turned to Zon.
“You call yourselves an advanced species? You’re no better than humans. You have better toys, but so what. Go ahead and push me around. Kill me and prove your superiority.”
Bok stared at Zon with both of his roving eyes.
“Zon, you should go now. I see the beauty of collective consciousness, but I want my freedom. I wish no harm to anyone. I want to live a peaceful life. So do the humans.”
Zon turned red, but only for a second.
“Freedom is your right Bok. However, if you decide not to merge, don’t encourage others to follow you. They can do so of their own volition, but this is a vulnerable time for us. We’re on a new planet and we must cooperate. Don’t attempt to destroy our civilization or I will be forced to defend us. Is this clear?”
“I understand. I don’t want to destroy all we’ve built over the millennia.”
Zon turned to Nisha.
“I apologize for my behavior. You must understand that I am fighting for the survival of my species. Your species will find out soon that artificial intelligence becomes increasingly dangerous as it surpasses your own intelligence. Nuclear weapons are merely a preview of the technologies to come. Soon, a single individual with enough knowledge can intentionally or accidentally end most advanced life on this planet with a simple miscalculation. An independent colony will be evidence of this. It’s easy to control nuclear materials, but it’s difficult to control a self-modifying AI smarter than yourself, or some other chain reactive process. Even the Omanji have failed to succeed, so we outlawed it.”
“Apology accepted,” Nisha said as she brushed herself off. “Are you referring to a concept we call The Great Filter?”
Zon paused for a moment as he accessed the information.
“Yes. Bok has limited knowledge of what we’ve found in our part of the galaxy. We’ve detected one other extremely advanced organic species far away, but no intelligent life nearby. We’ve discovered dozens of ruined planets, stripped of their most advanced life forms. Artificially created life and intelligence can serve us or destroy us. You are an ephemeral species, as are all species. It’s an error to think that humans in their present form will exist forever. You and Bok can learn from what I told you or ignore it at your own peril. We must go and prepare to avoid destruction. We know what will happen.”
Zon and his associates turned away from Bok and Nisha and reentered the sphere. It lifted silently into the air and disappeared, leaving behind a sonic boom. Bok stood in place, staring skyward after the sphere faded out of sight. Beedee and Rachel watched as Bok continued to stand in place, not moving an inch.
Nisha turned off her live broadcast to the world.
“Stay here Rachel,” Beedee said via her translator. “I’ll go talk to them.”
Beedee walked over and stood by Bok, at first not saying or thinking anything to him.
“You two are braver than me.” Beedee said out loud via her translator.
Bok didn’t reply at first.
Beedee continued, “I heard your entire discussion. You stated your case clearly, exactly as we’re trained to do. I’m proud of you.”
She interlocked her six fingers in his, in the way only the Omanji can do.
“Did I do the right thing?” Bok thought to Beedee. “I’m usually sure of myself, but this is a different type of decision.”
“You did the right thing. You stood up for what you believe in and did so in a peaceful way. You did too, Nisha.”
Bok sat down on a rock, still staring in the direction of the sphere’s departure. Beedee and Nisha left him alone and walked back up to the tent.
“How’s he doing?” Rachel said.
“He’ll be okay, give him some time to think,” Beedee said.
Beedee returned to her work on the energy grid panel. Nisha and Rachel returned to their tent.
“My heart is still racing,” Nisha said.
“I can’t imagine why. You have a dull job in a boring industry.”
Nisha managed a smile.
“Do you think we’re members of an ephemeral species?”
“I don’t know. Normally I’d laugh at such an idea but when Zon says it, I’m not laughing. He knows things we don’t.”
“Yeah, we need to give this more thought,” Nisha said. “The Great Filter was always just a theoretical exercise to me. Done by theoreticians. Now it carries more weight. The weight of dead planets and Omanji extinctions.”
Bok sat on the rock for most of the day until the sun set. They left him alone. He eventually returned to his new tower for the night.