Spheria (16 page)

All the recent Polyan behaviors seem to indicate they are moving toward a new social zeitgeist or a “new age.” More and more, the most interesting things they have been doing, they are doing for the first time, and without any external stimulus. Examples consist of questioning traditions, trying new behaviors, exploring new regions, interacting outside their castes, etc. The biggest one that I have seen is their gaining an awareness, or rather a respect, for a higher power. Granted their folklore is ripe with mentions of “the gods,” due to our interactions in their formative phase when we helped them kick off a baseline culture. But since interactions from us are now forbidden, they have little cause to gain this heightened respect, other than to fill some kind of void. What this void is, we do not yet know. But once we figure it out, it may help us explain some of our own cultural evolution as humans. This is the point of this experiment, after all, and it is exciting to see us on the brink of rapid discovery.

Dana looked out her doorway at the other offices in Building 20. They’d all been deserted long ago for the night. Her team, which was way up on the 7
th
floor, would still be working hard past dinnertime. Soon, someone would start circulating a takeout menu. She texted Max that her vote was for Subway; she wasn’t in the mood for anything healthy. He said it’d probably be Thai food again. They seem to be hooked on it now that someone discovered the King & I restaurant. She said she would have the Lemongrass Chicken and would be up there soon.

She returned her attention to the daily logs. The new volatility Jean had written about in the Polyans’ culture intrigued her. This was an important insight, and it made her curious about the particular observations. So she drilled deeper into Jean’s video recordings and began looking through them. Most were labeled quite mundane titles such as “Building a new shelter” or “Searching for crystals.” A few were more interesting such as “Soldier patrols a new route” and “Lumenaries journey to the Rift.”

Dana played the latter video recording, watching the progression of Sa∙ma and Le∙ma with particular interest. Their entire journey wasn't captured, as it didn’t in and of itself constitute anything unusual. What was captured was a discussion on the edge of the Rift. Here Le∙ma questioned the purpose of the tradition of the shard throwing. Then again on the way back, she questioned the exclusivity of their knowledge.
It’s just the typical younger generation questioning authority
, she thought. That was the bulk of it. There were no entries for anything more intense than those discussions.

She started scanning the list of mundane entries. She stopped when she saw one titled, “Zalisk foraging.” This struck her as too boring to even bother recording. She opened it and began watching.

#

An instant message popped up on Jean’s screen. It was from Dana, and said simply, “Come to my office.”

Jean groaned.
What now?
she thought.

She locked her workstation, grabbed her mug, and headed to the kitchen. Max was there getting a refill of coffee, saw Jean’s empty cup, and motioned to fill it.

“Please,” said Jean.

Max poured the rest of the coffee into it and began making a new pot.

“So I get the high-test stuff, huh?”

“Yep, with the amount of time you spend jacked into the system, you need it,” commented Max. He placed a new filter in the coffee machine, tore open a pouch of grounds, and poured them in.

Jean looked at the floor. “I’m on my way to Dana’s office,” she stated, slouching her shoulders.

“Oh?”

“Got the dreaded instant message.”

“I’m sorry. Always a crapshoot. Either you did something great, or you're in big trouble.”

“Well, I can think of things that could qualify for both, so wish me luck.”

“Sure, good luck!”

#

“Close the door,” Dana ordered.

Jean shut the office door slowly, as if not wanting to cut off her only way of escape. She turned the handle so it wouldn’t make a click when the latch engaged.

“Sit,” Dana commanded.

Jean sat in the chair opposite Dana’s meeting table and smiled at her. “So what’s up?” She sipped her coffee, waiting for the answer.

Dana stared at her for a while in silence. Her eyes seemed to be squinting.

This made Jean uneasy. Trying not to show it, she took another sip which did not hide her fidgeting. Dana’s office was much sparser than Max’s. She had two bookcases, but only a couple books. The most prominent feature was a bronze figure of Atlas holding up the world, which stood on her desk. Jean fixed her gaze on the statue, avoiding eye contact with Dana.

“I know you're a Star Trek fan, Jean,” Dana finally said. “And I’m sure you can quote the Prime Directive, as we all can. But there is one particularly great quote from Jean Luc Piccard which I would like to read to you.” She looked at her screen where it was apparently displayed. “’The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proven again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous’.”

Shit
, Jean thought,
she knows.
“I agree with that,” she said.

“Do you?” Dana stared, unblinking.

Jean nodded.

“Of course. As an anthropologist, you, of everyone on our team, should be ultra-sensitive to this. You're trained to know the kind of damage that can be caused by breaking these rules. The effect of interfering with the development of the Polyan culture. So tell me, please, why you would resurrect a dead Polyan? And even worse, while in the presence of another Polyan to witness it?” Dana’s volume increased a bit. “Please let me know why you'd jeopardize the entire intent of this experiment and the efforts of everyone who’s worked so hard?”

Jean looked at the floor, searching for the words to answer. She took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. She finally whispered, “I know. I am truly sorry. With the new auto recycle program, I had to make a snap decision. In hindsight, I know I made the wrong one. But at the time, I was caught up in the moment. To me, this was the most wonderful social outlier I’d ever seen, and I wanted to reinforce that. I know it was stupid. I know I broke the rules, and I know how you're going to react. Again, I'm sorry, and I’ll go pack my stuff.”

“Wait,” Dana snapped. “What you did was unacceptable. You broke not only my rules but the agreed upon rules of the team. You may well have biased the results of this entire experiment. We can’t make meaningful observations of change if we’re in there pulling the strings. Your purpose of being on this team, as an anthropologist, is to make observations. Never before have we been able to observe an intelligent culture without influencing it.” Dana seemed to notice Jean’s blank expression. “But I'm preaching to the choir. You know this.”

“Yes, I do, which makes it all the more wrong that it was me.”

“I believe this was a terrible mistake, but one that you won't repeat. I'm going to give you a second chance, but not a third. If I find another such infraction, you'll be off this project. You'll be off any meaningful research projects for the remainder of your career. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, crystal clear. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Don’t make me regret this decision.”

Jean began to stand.

“Wait,” Dana snapped again.

Jean sat back down.

“Another reason I’m willing to let you off is that none of us are infallible. Certainly I could make a mistake like this along the way, as doubtful as that may seem. So should that happen, you'll look the other way, or I won’t be able to keep this incident hidden from an investigation.”

Am I being blackmailed?
Not quite sure, she replied, “I understand.” She rose and exited the office.

Chapter 19 - Crossing Over

“There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Max pulled off of Route 9 onto Route 84, heading east. He was late again.
When am I going to learn to stop snoozing my alarm clock?
he thought to himself. Sometime during the night, Graham was supposed to have arrived. He’d be waiting to see the fruits of their labor firsthand. It was going to be an exciting day and Max wasn't the least bit concerned. The project was going better than he expected and it still blew him away even after seeing it every day.

As the highway turned toward the UConn Health Center’s main building, Max was shocked by what he saw. Perched atop the building, like a giant yellow whale, was the enormous frame of an airship. One of Graham’s stipulations in the grant to the institution was to build a mooring mast on the roof. To most, it appeared to be a cell tower antenna, and indeed, it doubled as such. The nose of the airship was anchored to this.

Max had seen photos of Graham’s personal luxury airship before, but he didn’t expect it to look so big. Then again, from this location, the Health Center building appeared much larger that it actually was. This was due to the Ponzo Illusion, the same perspective trick that makes the moon look twice as large when it's next to the horizon. Because the building’s edges were obscured by trees along the road, the brain confused the relative sizes of the objects. This caused the sensation that they were much larger than they actually were (or much closer than they actually were). Max waited until he was close enough for the building to emerge from the obscurity of the trees, and as expected, it shrank in size, as did the airship. Max loved this effect, especially since it was his mind playing tricks on him.
Every single time
.

Even at this smaller scale, the airship was impressive. It sat on the building and was almost as long. The airship had a tapered nose that arched upwards to a hump and then downward to a long sloping tail. The side had two protrusions resembling fins. The tail swooped downward into a flared solid structure that was both a thrust exhaust port and downward facing turbofans. The side fins contained turbofans as well. The body was essentially shaped like the cross-section of an airplane wing. Underneath the bottom, which was flat, hung the living area. It was completely surrounded by reflective windows. The view must’ve been breathtaking.

Traffic on Route 84 was heavy because all the other drivers were also gawking at the airship. Max laughed to himself. Everyone probably thought it was a UFO making first contact with the human race. Of course, there were better places to make first contact than at the Health Center.
Crap.
He was going to be really late.

He called Min from his phone.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Min.”

“Yes?”

“Can you prep the Experience Room for me please? Set it to a roaming view of Spheria.”

#

Max opened the door but stepped aside, allowing Graham to enter first for the full effect. Graham stepped into a room that looked like the bridge of the original Enterprise. It was completely circular and the walls supported giant curved monitors. They connected seamlessly, except for across the door area, and were all on. In the center was a round table, matching the shape of the room, surrounded by wooden stools. Circling the table, outside the chairs, were segments of curved railing. Clearly, they had an issue with people losing their balance. Either that or they held crazy cosplay parties here.

“Welcome to the Experience Room,” said Max.

Displayed on the monitors, in a 360-degree view, was the landscape of Spheria. Their viewpoint was in motion, flying over it. Graham grabbed the nearest railing for stability. There were jagged mountains of blue and vast expanses of brown fragmented by red veins and scatterings of green vegetation.

Max joined Graham at the railing. “Isn’t it spectacular?”

Graham continued to look around, his eyes wide with rapt amazement. “Strewth,” he finally responded. “I think I need to sit down.”

“Of course. I keep forgetting with first timers,” replied Max. “Just look at the floor and you'll regain your balance. Pick a stool and then look up once you're sitting.”

Graham did as instructed and was soon sitting at the table. The stool rotated, so he was able to spin around slowly, taking it all in from every direction. The immersion was breathtaking. As they soared over the plains, a herd of six-legged creatures meandered across, not aware that they were being watched from above. “This is a beaut! So this is where you view all the action?”

“Well, this is where we do that as a group when we want to discuss something together. Normally we enter at our own workstations, where we get a full 3D view with a headset. But sometimes this is better because you can move around. It almost feels like you're standing inside the world. For the most part, this is where we bring guests. It’s much more approachable than attaching something to your head, and we can actually see each other while watching.”

Max closed the door, then retrieved a video game controller from a rack hung on the inside of the door
.
The same rack also, oddly enough, held six pool cues. Graham watched Max walk toward the table and sit next to him.