Nisha woke up at the first sign of light as usual. Several days had passed since she last heard from Bok. He gave her a connection to the Omanji and to the future. She enjoyed his company.
Rachel woke up a few minutes later. They walked to the mess tent to eat. The October high desert mornings were getting cooler, but they were still comfortable enough to eat breakfast outside on their favorite picnic table with the view of the immense colony of four billion Omanji. The 4,000 towers consumed 250 square miles of desert, an area more than half the size of LA. It mostly expanded east, but also west around the town of Mojave, encircling the town but not destroying it.
“What are we going to do about Mojave?” Rachel said.
Nisha gazed out over the colony.
“The residents are evacuating. General Sherman says they’ll be forced to leave if they don’t. The mining operations used to build the colony are creating earthquakes and the city is unstable now. So, the rest of the residents will be evacuated. I’m impressed the Omanji are avoiding human habitation as best they can. I’ll give them credit for—”
“Bok!” Rachel said.
Nisha turned around.
“Bok we’re so happy you’re here. We’re worried about you.”
“You’re worried about my welfare?”
“Of course,” Nisha said. “Friends worry about each other. That’s how humans are.”
“The Omanji worry about friends too, but we must follow the rules, or you lose your friends. You can lose your parents and the entire society.”
“I’d like to say it’s not like that for humans, but we have to follow rules too,” Rachel said. “What happened? How are you?”
“What happened is I didn’t follow the rules. I’m a disgrace to my parents because I won’t merge. My parents terminated our link.”
“They won’t talk to you now?” Nisha said.
“Correct but it’s more complicated than that. My limited adolescent-level connection to the greater telepathic collective awareness has been terminated. I can still connect with other adolescents but not with the elders.”
Nisha reached out and touched Bok on his hand. He didn’t move it away.
“I’m sorry to learn about this Bok. Oh, I hope it’s okay I touched you. Humans do that automatically sometimes.”
“That’s okay Nisha. I’m used to humans now. I like them. It’s the earth that takes some getting used to. Your star is bright, gravity is weak, and the atmosphere is thin and difficult to breathe although we’re modifying ourselves to adapt to the earth and its atmosphere.”
“What will you do now?” Nisha said.
“I’m not sure. I’m not allowed to live with my parents now.”
“They kicked you out of the house?”
Bok paused to understand.
“Yes.”
“Where will you live?”
“I can stay with friends, but they’ll become ostracized for supporting me. I need to find a different place to live until I can figure out what to do.”
Nisha glanced at Rachel.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Rachel smiled and nodded yes.
“Bok, we should set up a tent right near our tent,” Nisha said. “You can stay there. It’s not as nice as an Omanji tower though.”
Bok’s nose wiggled like a Yoot’s nose.
“Thank you. I would like that.”
Nisha smiled.
“Do the other younglings think the same way as you about merging?”
“Yes. Many of us oppose merging now. We discuss this often. Some of us give in and merge because there’s nowhere else to go. On Oma, we would go live and work at the colony of the unmerged.”
“I’d call it the colony of the free,” Rachel said.
“Well Bok, start your own colony,” Nisha said.
Bok said nothing for a long time.
“You’ve mentioned this before. It’s an intriguing idea. I’ll give this more thought.”
Nisha smiled.
“Take your time. I’ll find out if we can locate a place for you to start your colony. What would the Omanji do if you formed your own colony?”
“They would do nothing. To them, a new colony is like a drop of water in the ocean. Legally, all Omanji are supposed to have the right to live and work wherever we wish. Telepathic implants and peer pressure keep everyone in line. I didn’t understand peer pressure until I learned about human psychology.”
“Yes, it’s a prime motivating factor for humans,” Rachel said. “For the Omanji, conformity seems monolithic.”
“That’s because of our history. Remember those ‘Eras of Entropy’ I described? The small percentage of the population that survived each one tended to be of one mindset. This happened several times, which led to a monolithic way of thinking which survives to this day. The near extinctions acted as an evolutionary filter and catalyst. Near mass extinction has never happened to humans in recorded history except for about 70,000 years ago when as few as 10,000 lived on Earth, so personality types tend to vary widely. Over time, the human genome is becoming less monolithic because of a lack of near mass extinctions and increased genetic mixing.”
“Somehow, you’re different than the other Omanji. You’re resisting,” Nisha said.
“Yes, and so are many others. Almost 0.1% of our population back on Oma resisted merging. That’s why about 70 million lived in the colony of the un-merged. Now that we’re on Earth, something has changed. I don’t know if the change is because of Earth’s atmosphere, or the genetic modifications we did to survive here, or what we’ve learned about human society. Eventually I’ll understand this. All I know, is now I don’t want to live in the colony. Many Omanji my age agree with me.”
Nisha smiled and glanced at Rachel.
“Okay, it’s settled. We’ve got a new neighbor.”
They gave each other a high-five. Bok wiggled his nose again. Within hours Bok moved into his new tent. As dinner time approached, Nisha and Rachel came over to check on the progress Bok had made.
“This is the most unique tent living space I’ve ever seen,” Nisha said.
“I walked back and retrieved my belongings. My parents still think I’ll change my mind and return home. Most of us return after some time away to think. My parents did too. However, I won’t be coming back except to visit if they ever accept me. I couldn’t speak to them because the link has been terminated, but we used a few basic sign language commands to communicate briefly. I see how dependent we are on implants to communicate.”
“I’m sorry Bok. Things will get better,” Rachel said as she looked around the tent. “Is this round thing your bed? How do you sleep in it? Do you sleep?”
“Yes, we sleep. On our voyage to Earth, we had 40 Earth years to adapt to a 24-hour day night cycle. I was born in space under the new 24-hour cycle but most of the elders are having problems with it. Some of us reverted to the old system of much longer cycles of being asleep and being awake. Genetically it’s hard to change circadian rhythms. It’s too deep in the genome.”
“How do you sleep on this round bed?” Nisha said. “It reminds me of a bird’s nest.”
Bok walked over to the bed, leapt up and curled into a ball. His withering tail wrapped around his head from around the outside.
“You’re like a curled-up armadillo.”
“Thanks, they are one of Earth’s most beautiful species.”
Rachel spotted a silvery doughnut like thing in the corner of the tent, about the size of a truck tire. “What’s this?”
“That’s my food conversion device. You put raw elements in here, and the food comes out over there. My supplies will last for about 30 days. Afterwards, I’ll need more carbon, iron, and several other elements. The device creates simulations of our ancient animal and plant food sources.”
“Do you use electronic devices?” Nisha said. “I don’t notice any.”
“I use the one I hold in my hand. This serves as a translator, a weapon, a defensive shield, and as a place for processing data for my projects. This device integrates with my implant so I can control it with my thoughts. It does other things. I’ll explain later.”
“There’s no furniture,” Rachel said. “Do you stand all the time?”
“Lean back and you will see.”
Rachel furrowed her brow for a moment.
“Oh, that’s right. Energy field seating.”
She leaned back and a soft resistant force cushioned her fall. Nisha fell back too. Bok curled up in his nest.
“Bok, why don’t you sleep in an energy field?” Nisha said.
“I can, but I like the solid feel of my nest.”
“Everything you could possibly want seems to be here,” Rachel said.
“Almost. Except it’s not my own colony. I have no home.”
“We’ll find you a place to build a new colony Bok,” Nisha said. “Are you sure the elders won’t attack you if you build a new colony? I don’t want to get involved in some Omanji family squabble or a civil war.”
“Yes, they told me I’m allowed to do whatever I want and return when I’m ready.”
“Okay, let me take some time. In a few hours I’ll let you know what I find. For now, get used to being here. Contact me if you need anything.”
Nisha spent the rest of the day looking for open land in the desert nearby, but out of the range of the expected expansion of the colony when its population reached 80 billion. Rachel took care of the continuing efforts to return the abducted children to their families around the world. Yoova made plans to put on another concert the following weekend. Her first concert netted a total of $1,200,000. Nisha set up a bank account and tax ID for her, making Yoova the first extraterrestrial being to pay taxes.
Later that evening, Priya, Sophie, and Amy studied at Priya’s house for a big genetics test.
Priya glanced up from the text in her eyepiece.
“Amy, I’m not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. People are starting to blame us for school attendance being down 50%. They’re still afraid of us even after the Petri dish tests in the biology class didn’t show any dangerous forms of bacteria. I read a story saying protests will happen tomorrow on the sidewalk in front of the school.”
“What about remote schooling?” Amy said. “You can study at home and take the tests. At the rate you’re going you’ll be out of the 10th grade in a month and perhaps in a few months you’ll be out of high school. Test your way out.”
“Great idea Amy,” Sophie said. “Pree, what do you think?”
“Yeah, that might be the answer. I don’t think I can take much more of this. I can’t stand ignorance and racism. I’m afraid one of the kids is going to do something stupid.”
Sophie stood up and looked out the window.
“The kids might do something stupid? What about the adults at the chess tournament? Were they any better?”
“Good point. Let’s find out tomorrow what we can do,” Priya said. “I think the principal might let us go remote. It’s been done a few times before by millions. I’m sure we’re a pain in his neck right now. The timing might be right to make a deal.”
They finished studying and agreed to meet the next day in front of the school to plan out the day.